jayschool2013
jayschool2013's JournalNew Covid cases per day
Some numbers from yesterday, per https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
1. United States — 29,057 total, or 1 case per 11,295 people
2. United Kingdom — 5,525 total, or 1 per 12,063 people
3. Spain — 3,577, total, or 1 per 13,122 people
4. Italy —3,491 total, or 1 per 17,290 people
5. France — 3,824 total, or 1 per 17,518 people
6. Turkey — 3,783 total, or 1 per 21,675 people
7. Russia — 4,785 total, or 1 per 30,198 people
8. Germany — 2,327 total, or 1 per 35,676 people
Just a single-day snapshot of a few selected countries.
Internal Documents Show Federal Agencies Supported the WHO Before Trump Was Against It
From ProPublica:As President Donald Trump publicly bashed the World Health Organization over its response to the coronavirus pandemic last week, American aid officials tried to delicately sidestep the political tensions, internal documents shared with ProPublica show.
And Trump’s campaign upended weeks of partnership between his own administration and the WHO, which provides advice and support for health officials in developing countries. The U.S. Agency for International Development had chosen to funnel much of its pandemic response through the WHO.
Even as they dealt with the fallout of Trump’s decision to cut off WHO funding, his administration leaned on it for expert advice.
“Given the political dynamics, I do not recommend reference to WHO here or below,” wrote one U.S. Agency for International Development career official in a comment on a draft report about how emergency funding would be spent. “Recommend deleting.”
Coronavirus Advice From Abroad: 7 Lessons America's Governors Should Not Ignore as They Reopen
From ProPublica:Memo to America’s Governors:
From: ProPublica
Subject: Restarting the Economy
After insisting that he had absolute power to decide when to reopen the American economy, President Donald Trump has turned over to all of you what he initially called “the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make.”
Trump is often guilty of hyperbole, but he’s right in this case. Figuring out how and when to let people go back to work during an outbreak of life-threatening disease is the most consequential decision any of you will ever face. You’ve already seen the stakes in New York, New Jersey and Michigan. Get this wrong and thousands of people in your state will die. As the presidential election campaign heats up, count on the president to blast you for high unemployment rates in your state (you lifted restrictions too slowly) or clusters of deaths (you went too far, too soon).
To help you and your aides think about this decision over the next few weeks, we’ve interviewed experts and frontline officials from Italy, Germany, Spain, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. While they differ on the details, their views formed a startlingly united consensus of what’s needed:
1. Massive, ongoing testing to detect where the disease is spreading,
2. a real-time ability to trace contacts of those infected and isolate them,
3. a willingness of people to wear masks in crowded public spaces,
4. reserves of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other equipment for hospital workers to handle any surge in cases,
5. and reliable, easily administered blood tests to find out the number of people who have been infected. If they work well, such tests could eventually be used to identify people with immunity who could work at higher-risk jobs.
Health Officials Recommended Canceling Events with 10-50 People. Then 33,000 Fans Attended MLS Game
Source: ProPublica
On March 6, at 2:43 p.m., the health officer for Public Health — Seattle & King County, the hardest-hit region in the first state to be slammed by COVID-19, sent an email to a half-dozen colleagues, saying, “I want to cancel large group gatherings now.”
The county’s numbers — 10 known deaths and nearly 60 confirmed cases as of late morning — were bad and getting worse. Many local events had already been called off for fear of spreading the coronavirus. Oyster Fest. The Puget Sound Puppetry Festival. A Women’s Day speaker series at the Gates Foundation. King County had ordered a stop to in-person government meetings unless they were considered essential.
The health officer, Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, was to the Seattle area what Anthony Fauci would become for the country, the doctor at the microphone, dispensing guidance. Under Washington law, Duchin also had authority to make his wish an order.
Duchin sent his email 28 hours before the Seattle Sounders, defending MLS champions and one of the league’s biggest draws, were to host a match at CenturyLink Field. No event in the coming days would generate a gathering to compare. The game would draw people from across the Puget Sound area, and maybe beyond.
Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/health-officials-recommended-canceling-events-with-10-50-people-then-33000-fans-attended-a-major-league-soccer-game
Oy.
Patriotic Quotes
Some famous words to stir your souls:
"I regret that I have but one life to give for the Dow Jones Industrial Average." — Hathan Nale
"Veni, Vidi, Investi." — Ghoulious Caesar
"I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his net worth." — Thready Roosevelt
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of the markets." — Ron F. Kennedy
"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is dishonest, profitable." — Dedrick Fruglas
"Patriotism IS short, frenzied outbursts of emotion — what was I thinking when I said the opposite?" The New Adlai Stevenson
U.S. Projects Summer Spike in Infections if Stay-At-Home Orders Are Lifted
Source: New York Times
Stay-at-home orders, school closures and social distancing greatly reduce infections of the coronavirus, but lifting those restrictions after just 30 days will lead to a dramatic infection spike this summer and death tolls that would rival doing nothing, government projections indicate.
The projections obtained by The New York Times come from the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services. The models use three scenarios. The first has policymakers doing nothing to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. The second, labeled “steady state,” assumes schools remain closed until summer, 25 percent of Americans telework from home, and some social distancing continues. The third scenario includes a 30-day shelter in place, on top of those “steady state” restrictions.
The documents, dated April 9, contain no dates for when shelter in places orders were delivered nor do they contain specific dates for when spikes would hit. The risk they show of easing shelter-in-place orders currently in effect in most of the country undercut recent statements by President Trump that the United States could be ready to reopen “very, very soon.”
The model foresees a bump in the demand for ventilators — considered a stand-in for serious Covid-19 infection rates — 30 days after stay-at-home orders are issued, a major spike in infections about 100 days after, and peaking 150 days after the initial order. (Assuming further shelter-in-place policies are not implemented to reduce future peaks.)
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/us/coronavirus-updates-usa.html
Oy.
Giuliani, a familiar voice in Trump's ear, promotes experimental coronavirus treatments
Source: Washington Post
Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was in the center of the impeachment storm earlier this year as an unpaid private attorney for President Trump, has cast himself in a new role: as personal science adviser to a president eager to find ways to short circuit the coronavirus epidemic.
In one-on-one phone calls with Trump, Giuliani said, he has been touting the use of an anti-malarial drug cocktail that has shown some early promise in treating covid-19, but whose effectiveness has not yet been proved. He said he now spends his days on the phone with doctors, coronavirus patients and hospital executives promoting the treatment, which Trump has also publicly lauded.
“I discussed it with the president after he talked about it,” Giuliani said in an interview. “I told him what I had on the drugs.”
(CUT)
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the president’s conversations with Giuliani.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-a-familiar-voice-in-trumps-ear-promotes-experimental-coronavirus-treatments/2020/04/05/d4b3b56a-7438-11ea-85cb-8670579b863d_story.html
Oy.
Austin American-Statesman: "My job was to cover the coronavirus pandemic, until I became part of it"
From a journalist working and living in Texas.I know how to prepare for a disaster.
My first job as a photojournalist was in Florida, where on top of weathering hurricanes, I covered them. When the coronavirus began to get close to the United States, I thought I was ready. I had food, medicine and first-aid kits to get me through.
But nothing could have prepared me for the pandemic we’re now experiencing, including my own positive COVID-19 test.
A lot of people are blaming us, the media, saying we’re creating panic out of nothing. But that’s not true. This is a real crisis that is affecting the entire world. People tend not to believe what is really happening out there until they have someone close to them suffering the consequences. I wanted to share my story as a journalist and a human to show no one is exempt from this.
28 Texas Students Have Coronavirus After Spring Break Trip
Source: New York Times
A group of about 70 students from the University of Texas at Austin celebrated spring break in Mexico, but returned to find that 28 had tested positive. Dozens more are being monitored.
AUSTIN — Two weeks ago, amid the global coronavirus pandemic, about 70 students from the University of Texas at Austin partied in Mexico on spring break. The students, all in their 20s, flew on a chartered plane to Cabo San Lucas, and some returned on separate commercial flights to Texas.
Now, 28 of them have tested positive for the virus and are self-isolating. Dozens more are under quarantine and are being monitored and tested, university officials said Wednesday.
The Austin outbreak is the latest to result from a group of college students who ignored social-distancing guidelines, went on traditional spring break trips and have now tested positive for the coronavirus. Many of them appeared to be under the mistaken impression that young people were not as vulnerable to the coronavirus as older people. Students at the University of Tampa, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and other colleges have tested positive after returning from spring break trips to Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and elsewhere.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/us/coronavirus-texas-austin-spring-break-cabo.html
Oy.
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