Andrew Cuomo (NY governor)
For all NY schools we are setting a new policy that if a student tests positive for #Coronavirus in a school, that school will be closed for a 24hr period so we can do assessment of the situation.
Then a determination will be made about whether to close the school for longer.
36 new coronavirus cases in New York
From CNN
New York has 142 confirmed coronavirus cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday morning. That number is up from the 106 previously reported.
Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has tested positive for the coronavirus, Cuomo said during a press conference.
Cotton is under quarantine and his senior team will be tested and placed under quarantine, according to Cuomo.
New York has also created its own hand sanitizer to compete with price gouging. The sanitizer will be used in schools and other city/state properties.
Gov. Cuomo also issued guidance for schools in New Rochelle saying, in part, they could be closed for weeks.
For all schools across the state, if a student tests positive, that school has to be closed for an initial 24-hour period until it can be investigated, Cuomo said.
Giorgio Armani donates 1.25 million euros to help tackle Covid-19
CREDIT: REUTERS
Italian designer Giorgio Armani has donated 1.25 million euros to four hospitals and the national Civil Protection Agency to help tackle Italy’s coronavirus outbreak, Reuters is reporting.
Armani donated through his fashion Group 1.25 million euros ($1.43 million) to three Milan-based hospitals and Rome’s Spallanzani hospital as well as the Civil Protection Agency, a company spokeswoman said on Monday.
India bans foreign cruise ships
"India has banned all foreign cruise ships from its ports because of the coronavirus, with one European vessel turned away from Mangalore in the south at the weekend, officials said.
The operator of MSC Lirica, which was turned away from Mangalore on Saturday, said that none of the 1,145 crew or 1,430 passengers on board had a flu-like illness or associated symptoms." (Telegraph)
Ugh – profits over safety.
Same with the airlines. With United: if you bought a ticket before the news of coronavirus broke, you get no new flight without a change fee. If you bought a ticket after you knew flying was risky, the change fee is waived. So it’s just a ploy to get people to buy tickets now.
Seeing cancellations of invited speaker seminars and postponements of scientific conferences at the NIH in the March and April period. Notices have been coming out today.
That’s outrageous. So we’ll just ignore the fact that one infected person can spread the virus almost exponentially, including to people who are far from college-age, and possibly immune-compromised. Not to mention the fact that it’s still possible, I assume, for this to become something that younger people can’t get over quite so easily (just guessing on that, based upon the little I’ve read about mutation, etc.).
If you look at the Trevor Bedford twitter feed (he is the virus evolutionary biologist/geneticist at the Fred Hutch that has been examining community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Washington state), he highlights a finding from scientists at UCSF that have sequenced the California community transmission virus (that is also linked to the Grand Princess). It’s in the same phylogenetic group as the Washington isolates. This suggests that spread on the West coast is linked.
This statement - that no passengers are deemed to have close contact with the infected flight attendant (and presumably are therefore not being notified, tested or quarantined) - makes zero sense to me. Flight attendants spend the majority of the flight preparing and serving food and beverages for passengers. That’s about as close a contact as an infected person needs to infect many others.
I wish everyone stuck on this step could be given some sort of glasses to see the future.
One pair could show the future with this as essentially the “end” point because the world stepped up and did something. China has showed it can be significantly slowed or stopped. Time will tell if Italy’s efforts will do the same.
The other pair could show the numbers of deaths and health issues annually if it’s not stopped. It probably wouldn’t hurt to show the path getting there with the higher number of deaths and overwhelmed medical centers like Italy is getting now with a sudden onslaught.
In the first case, the economy takes a hit temporarily, but humans could come together to survive it and it will be back on track before long. In the latter, so many people’s lives are forever changed (death does this) and while it might be more difficult to see, those lives affect the economy too.
We’re not seeing much better preparedness or timely response in our local community. One of the confirmed Florida cases was treated at a hospital where my friend is a nurse. She was one of the healthcare team that worked on the patient and most of the team weren’t warned the patient was a potential Coronavirus patient and so weren’t taking any extra precautions because it’s not yet standard to take the extra precautions in the hospitals here yet. So she worked closely on this patient and there’s a reasonable chance she’ll be infected.
Even worse, she first heard there was a Coronavirus case on the news, not from her employer - the hospital. The hospital called her a couple of days later to let her know and to tell her to self-quarantine. By then, she’d already been to the Plant City Strawberry Festival (huge gathering like a fair, perfect environment to spread illness with lots of free samples, shared foods, little ability to wash hands) and to a hockey game.
We don’t need to be in panic mode, but it’s not too much to expect our healthcare organizations and elected officials put some reasonable plans in place to mitigate the spread. Right now, we’re making Italy look organized. And that’s saying something.
Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will impose a fine of up to 500,000 riyals ($133,000) on people who do not disclose their health-related information and travel details at entry points, as the Gulf state works to prevent the spread of coronavirus. (Reuters)
At some point, maybe already maybe in a week, the chances of catching Covid-19 in the US will be as high as catching it in Spain. My concerns would be less over health for college students and more over possibly getting stuck somewhere in a quarantine far from home.
Germany reports its first coronavirus deaths
From CNN & Reuters
Two people have died of coronavirus in Germany — the first deaths in the country from the virus.
A spokesman for the health ministry in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said that an 89 year-old woman with coronavirus died in the town of Essen and that another patient died in the highly affected region of Heinsberg.
Georgia identifies state park for isolating coronavirus patients
From CNN
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced that out of an abundance of caution the state has identified Hard Labor Creek State Park in Morgan County as a location for isolating and monitoring patients who may have been exposed to coronavirus, according to a statement released by the his office.
The state park is located about an hour east of downtown Atlanta.
No patients are currently scheduled to be transferred to this location. State officials are currently preparing the site for the placement of future patients having already delivered and installed seven emergency trailers, according to the governor’s office.
[Sounds like Spanish Flu tent cities]
New York is making its own hand sanitizer using prison labor
"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today that the state will attempt to combat “price gouging” and a shortage of hand sanitizer by making its own.
Cuomo said at a press conference that the hand sanitizer will be made by Corcraft, a company that operates in the state’s prison. The company employs inmates to produce products like household cleaners and tables and chairs.
He said they are aiming to make “100,000 gallons” a week.
Cuomo said New York’s hand sanitizer will be “75% alcohol” and added that the smell has a “floral bouquet.”
He said the product will not be sold on the open market at this time. It will be made available in schools and prisons." (CNN)
From New England Journal of Medicine - could possibly explain why patient zero in Italy (someone traveling from China to Italy) was never identified. Per article, 33 yr old German businessman from Bavaria, sick Jan 24 (infected by colleague from China) could have been the first Covid patient in Europe. They isolated people who had direct contact with the Chinese woman but chose to ignore people who might have had contact with that group. Germany medical establishment was not forthcoming with this info - a group of 18 German doctors published letter with this info instead.
I just skimmed the article and remember it as the 1st case in Germany. Maybe I missed it but what is the connection to Italy?
Open borders - some of the employees in the German plants live in Italy and vice versa.
So my conversation with NYS Dept of Health today: I’m currently sick and have been staying at home on the off chance I have coronavirus. When can I leave my home? Answer: 14 days. Me: 14 days from when? Answer: 14 days from when you first got exposed. Me: But that doesn’t make sense. The 14 days is the period within which you can get sick. What if I got sick on day 12, it can’t be that I can go out 2 days later, when I’m still sick. Answer: oh, then 14 days from when you first get sick.
Hmm. I’m not feeling fully confident in the response. I think she was reading off a pre-printed card.
""Now that the coronavirus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real. But it would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled. The bottom line is: We are not at the mercy of this virus,” Tedros said Monday.
"This is an uneven epidemic at the global level. Different countries are in different scenarios, requiring a tailored response. It’s not about containment or mitigation – which is a false dichotomy. It’s about both,” Tedros added, all countries must take a “comprehensive blended strategy” for controlling their own epidemics.
What each country does to control the spread of novel coronavirus, “can also affect what happens in other countries and globally,” Tedros said.
Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, addressed the issue of a pandemic, saying the principle definition is that the disease has reached a point where it cannot be controlled, adding “if this was influenza, we would have called it ages ago," Ryan said. (CNN)
World Health Organization shipping protective equipment to 28 more countries
From CNN
The World Health Organization is preparing to ship personal protective equipment to an additional 28 countries, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a media briefing on Monday.
“We have shipped supplies of personal protective equipment to 57 countries. We are preparing to ship to a further 28 and we have shipped lab supplies to 120 countries,” Tedros said.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO infectious disease epidemiologist, said…“As you are well aware, one of the big concerns we have for any infectious disease and particularly respiratory pathogens is the risk of transmissions in health care facilities," Van Kerkhove said. “What we are doing in all countries is when cases are reported to us, we do follow-up to see if any of those infected individuals are health care workers.”
“For the moment, only a handful of countries have signs of sustained community transmission.” Tedros said, adding that most countries still have sporadic cases or defined clusters.
“We must all take heart from that,” Tedros said.
Mortality rate among over-80s ‘20% in China’
More than 58,600 people have recovered in China, says Dr Maria Van Kerkhove of the WHO. She says that more than 80% globally will recover.
In China, 80% of cases have had a mild or moderate infection. Mild can include a mild form or pneumonia, says Van Kerkhove.
Diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and chronic respiratory disease are among the risk factors for death, she says.
Mortality in people aged over 80 with coronavirus from Chinese data is 20%, says Van Kerkhove, although she says the figure is not based on the latest statistics." (Guardian)
Sure but that seems like a leap to assume it is that one case that led to exposure in Italy. No mention of the individual traveling to Italy. I’m sure there were others going to Italy who were possible carriers of the virus.
I was reading the Parents FB page for my daughter’s college this morning. A parent had posted about being sad that their child came home very sick for spring break. When I read the post, there were 29 comments from parents whose children had also come home sick, several very ill with high fevers, pneumonia, etc. Only two comments had any reference at all to the Coronavirus (advising others to take precautions and try not to spread whatever they had to others).
Most of the students had been seen by health care people in the area. Not surprised they weren’t tested with test kits just now becoming available, but gosh…
Edit, just checked again and there were about 20 more with sick kids.
Egypt suspends all large gatherings to deter spread of coronavirus
From CNN
Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly decided on Monday to suspend all crowded events or large gatherings until further notice.
The decision is part of the precautionary measures the government has adopted to stop the spread of coronavirus, the Egyptian cabinet said in a statement.
Egypt’s Culture Ministry announced the suspension of artistic and cultural activities with large gatherings until further notice, state news said.
Public health labs in all 50 states are now able to test for novel coronavirus
From CNN
Seventy-eight state and local public health labs in 50 states now have the capacity to test up to a cumulative 75,000 people for the illness caused by novel coronavirus, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said Monday during a briefing.
According to an update to the CDC’s website, Washington, D.C., is also able to test for the virus. The CDC site lists Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands as in process to test.
“The number of commercially available tests is much larger than that and our expectation within the next couple weeks, as more and more commercial entities come on board, is that the majority of the available testing will actually be from the commercial sector,” Messonnier said.
The CDC will have more information online this afternoon about testing for novel coronavirus in public health labs and commercial labs, Messonnier said.
“Different states will have different capacity for testing as well as different policies about who should be tested,” Messonnier said.
[Still waiting for the millions promised last week then this week]
Recovering from coronavirus illness can take up to “six weeks,” WHO official says
From CNN
It can take several weeks to fully recover from illness caused by novel coronavirus, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of Health Emergencies Programme at the World Health Organization, said during a briefing on Monday.
“It takes anything up to six weeks to recover from this disease,” Ryan said. “People who suffer very severe illness can take months to recover from the illness.”
Ryan added that recovery is often measured by the patient no longer exhibiting symptoms and having two consecutive negative tests for the virus at least one day apart, but some countries may measure “recovery” differently.
To date, there is no specific medicine to treat coronavirus illness, but those infected can recover with appropriate care to relieve and treat symptoms — and those with severe illness should receive optimized supportive care, according to WHO.
[Data from China confirms this. That’s why I’m skeptical of Iran indicating over 2K already recovered.]