UCSD will hold Spring quarter classes remotely.
An employee at a Waffle House in Atlanta has been infected.
The democratic candidates have canceled their rallyâs tonight. I suspect that we might have seen the last of big gatherings for them in the near future.
The president does not presently have any rallyâs scheduled
A question? Are there no screenings at our airports presently for people running fevers?
Do you see screenings coming in the near future?
I really donât know the answer and Iâm not being sarcastic
I personally felt it was late. I was watching the situation daily because DH was watching all the news from China in Chinese and talking with friends and family there. I couldnât believe they gave a large warning before closing the city and that all these countries evacuated citizens from the area. There is someone who makes youtube videos who lives in the town where some of my husbandâs family is which is about 550 miles from Wuhan. It was in lockdown since before January 23. On February 1 this youtuber and his family left China via Hong Kong and flew direct to Chicago. They were very worried that they would not be allowed in the USA when they arrived but no one asked them a thing about whether or not they had been in China (wife is Chinese and child looks very Chinese and both were speaking Chinese as they went through customs). They were not on any list of people being monitored. They themselves self-quarantined for 2 weeks but first went to get supplies at Wal Mart. They didnât end up getting sick. But Iâm sure there are thousands of other people who came to the USA at that time frame and didnât get on any monitoring list and were not screened. I think we were terribly late getting airport monitoring running and that we are still not doing things other countries do like test for fevers as people come or even better, test for the virus itself with a rapid test as Korea does.
I would have tried to clamp down on this very fast and very strongly asap because long term the deaths and damage to the economy would be a lot less with a very strong initial response than letting things get out of hand as they now are getting. Others may disagree.
And this isnât at all about how I feel about the president or any politician. I would feel this way no matter who was the president because I saw that once China let it get out of hand, even when they threw everything at it, it was growing exponentially and that many were dying and suffering horribly. There was a lot more shown in Chinese media and via Wechat than was shown in the media here that I was seeing and hearing about daily. Stuff that scared the crap out of me. And now it is coming here. I had thought it would come but thought we would hold it off for a lot longer than we have.
Nearly 300 passengers have departed the Grand Princess cruise ship today
From CNN
Hundreds of passengers have departed the Grand Princess cruise ship in Oakland, according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
About two thirds of those passengers are asymptomatic Californians who are being taken to Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento. The others are residents of other states.
Newsom said the plan is still for US citizens to be taken to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia.
In an announcement recorded aboard the ship, Capt. John Harry Smith told passengers that the remaining US citizens and UK residents traveling on charter flights are expected to exit the ship today.
The majority of guests are expected to be off the ship by end of day tomorrow, the captain said.
California expects to process 5,000 coronavirus tests per day once commercial labs are online
From CNN
A commercial lab in San Juan Capistrano is starting to process coronavirus tests, with a capacity of more than 1,200 tests per day, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.
This commercial testing will supplement the 18 state labs that are currently operational. More than 1,000 people in California have already been tested and there are 7,675 tests available.
Two more commercial labs are being brought online and will have the capacity to process in excess of 5,000 tests per day. The labs, located in Sacramento and West Hills, will be automated and still need support and approval, but are expected to be online by March 24, Newsom said.
Washington state nursing home is now testing employees for coronavirus
From CNN
Life Care Center nursing facility in Washington state has now begun testing employees after what many considered a long delay.
The facility now reports 55 patients with coronavirus, with 34 of them hospitalized and 21 inside the facility.
Test results are not yet available for 30 employees who were tested off site. Life Care now believes it has enough resources to test all 180 employees, according to Life Care spokesperson Tim Killian.
All residents of the home have been tested. Only 49 remain in the facility, down from 120 at the outset. Killian says the facility is now conducting a âdeep clean.â
Life Care officials have not identified any âpatient zeroâ who may have started the spread, which was first thought to be the flu and confirmed as coronavirus at the beginning of March.
[about time!}
@NJSue - thatâs understandable he doesnât trust outsiders with his affairs. And heâs smart not to place that blind trust in the hands of the facility that has financial interests that might not be shared with his.
Is there a third party that he might trust to act as a local facilitator? A minister from his faith (even if he hasnât attended church in a while ministering to the elderly is something thatâs part of most churchâs mission and service) or even a hired attorney? That person could sit with your father and the papers while you are âthereâ via skype or Facetime; the minister/attorney can help read through things and bring up subjects for you and your father to agree on even though you arenât physically there.
Two more people in Washington state die from coronavirus
Two more people have died from the coronavirus in King County in Washington state, bringing the county total to 22, according to a statement from local health officials.
What we know about the two deaths being reported today:
A woman in her 80s, a resident of Issaquah Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, was hospitalized at Swedish Issaquah
A male in his 80s, a resident of Ida Culver House, was hospitalized at University of Washington Medical Center
Of the 22 deaths reported in King County, 19 are associated with Life Care Center, according to the statement.
[so different nursing homes than Kirkland]
No consensus reached on economic stimulus for US during coronavirus outbreak
From CNN
There was no consensus reached during President Trumpâs lunch with Senate Republicans on ways to boost the economy and blunt the impact from the spreading coronavirus, multiple sources tell CNN.
Trump made the rare trip to Capitol Hill Tuesday after promising âmajorâ and âdramaticâ economic steps. But while sources familiar with the lunch said a multitude of options were discussed, members emerged without a concrete plan in hand.
One option the President has pushed that some Republican senators have been skeptical of is a payroll tax cut, which would put extra cash into peopleâs pockets in hopes of boosting the economy. Several have questioned how effective it would be during the outbreak, when more people are being encouraged to stay home.
According to several sources familiar with the lunch, Trump floated the idea of a permanent payroll tax cut, but also weighed having a temporary cut that lasted for several months.
While some assumed it would be limited, Trump suggested he wouldnât want the tax cut to expire before the November election, noting at one point that he would get credit from voters if it passed, according to one person familiar.
Regarding the idea of a permanent tax cut, Indiana Sen. Mike Braun later told CNN, âItâs probably something I wouldnât do."
Trumpâs top economic advisers who accompanied him to the lunch have also raised the idea of paid family sick leave and targeted relief for industries hardest hit by the outbreak, like hotels, airlines and cruises.
Leaving the lunch today, Trump offered no details on the discussions, but said, âYouâll be hearing about it soon.â
New York City medic got coronavirus from his flight attendant girlfriend, mayor says
A New York City Fire Department emergency medical technician who tested positive for coronavirus contracted the virus from his girlfriend, who is a flight attendant and had traveled to an area with an outbreak, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
As a result of the EMTâs positive test, five of his colleagues are in self-quarantine. None of them are showing symptoms, de Blasio said.
The medic treated 11 patients in the pertinent time period, de Blasio said.
âThe Department of Health and the FDNY will be reaching these patients today to follow up and do the normal diagnostic work. But the good news is that they are identified and the other good news is that the EMT wore protective gear. We are still going to treat each case obviously very seriously," he added. (CNN)
GOP congressman who traveled with Trump tests negative for coronavirus
From CNN
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz said that he tested negative for coronavirus.
Rep. Matt Gaetz
@RepMattGaetz
· 2h
Iâve just been informed that my COVID-19 lab result was negative.
In an abundance of caution, I will remain under self-quarantine at the advice of medical professionals through Thursday at 2pm. I continue to feel fine and show no symptoms.
Gaetz drew attention Monday, after he tweeted that he learned he was in contact with an individual at the Conservative Political Action Conference who had tested positive for the virus.
CNN reported he found out about the contact while traveling on Air Force One back to Washington, and after spending the weekend with President Trump in Mar-a-Lago. He was also seen riding in the presidential limousine with the President in Florida.
Incoming White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is also staying home until tomorrow despite his test coming back negative.
Rep. Doug Collins, a Georgia Republican, also came in contact with the CPAC patient, and was pictured shaking hands with the President on Friday.
Trump says White House doctor did not advise him to be tested for coronavirus
President Trump said he did not get tested for coronavirus even after he met with some lawmakers who had been exposed to the virus because the White House doctor said he didnât need to.
âI donât think itâs a big deal. I would do it,â Trump said when asked why he hadnât been tested. He added that he feels âvery good.â
âItâs something I would do, but again, spoke to the White House doctor â a terrific guy a talented guy. He said he sees no reason to do it,â Trump said. (CNN)
*ITALY - 977 new cases for a total of 10,149. At least 168 coronavirus patients died in Italy in the past day bringing the total to 631. On Monday, there was an increase of 97 deaths.
Trump administration downplays concerns about coronavirusâ effect on the 2020 Census
From CNN
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross downplayed concerns that the 2020 Census would be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic since census monitors are usually sent door-to-door to collect the most accurate data possible. Ross said his department is ready to be flexible on how it goes about collecting the new demographics.
âWeâll just have to play it by ear,â Ross told the Senate appropriations subcommittee. While he didnât provide any details on contingency planning, he noted that the Commerce Department has âdone as much as we can to be ready for whatever contingency comes up.â
Ross said a group of people at the Census Bureauâs headquarters in Suitland, Maryland, are monitoring 24/7 for coronavirus outbreaks and changes in health warnings to alert the bureauâs senior managers for any potential changes to 2020 Census plans.
The US Census Bureau made a soft launch of the 2020 census website on Monday, making its form available online. On Thursday, the Census Bureau will begin mailing out notices far and wide. Concerns are mounting that the coronavirus outbreak will prevent some census monitors from going door to door to collect the most accurate data possible.
Ross emphasized that households can respond to the 2020 Census online, which âdoesnât involve any physical contact with people.â Households can also respond on paper and over the phone.
Security experts are also warning that the census is more vulnerable than usual, subjecting the process to possible foreign interferences similar to those that have impacted the elections.
âBecause of coronavirus you may see even more of a reliance on the online census,â said Marcus Fowler, a former CIA cyber expert and director of Strategic Threat at Darkface, a cyber security company.
According to Fowler, 2018 beta tests revealed that some 60% of participants opted to use the online version of the census and that number could be even higher with participants not wanting to leave their homes due to coronavirus fears.
âAny number of people might have a reason to disrupt the census,â which takes place once every 10 years and carries significant political and demographic weight, Fowler said. He added that the census website could also fail on its own merit, due to large-scale use.
He warned that scam groups may also take advantage of coronavirus fears and send out phishing scams linked to the census.
Pence giving a live news conference right now (5:45EST) for anyone interested.
3 coronavirus cases connected to South Florida seaport
From CNN
The state of Florida has issued new guidance for people traveling through Port Everglades in Broward County due to the number of coronavirus cases identified at the port.
At least three coronavirus patients have been linked to Port Everglades, a seaport for cruises and commercial ships. All three of those cases are connected to Metro Cruise Services, according to a statement from Floridaâs Joint Information Center on COVID-19.
Metro Cruise Services provides cruise terminal management, terminal security services, ground guest services and shore excursions, according to the company website
Due to the coronavirus cases at Port Everglades, officials are now recommending the following:
All individuals experiencing symptoms who have recently traveled through Port Everglades should immediately contact their county health department or health care provider and self-isolate for 14 days, health department officials said.
The department also recommends employees of Metro Cruise Services at Port Everglades with any association to these cases self-isolate at home.
The department is working to connect with all employees at Metro Cruise Services who may have come into contact with the three individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 to provide the employees with the appropriate guidance and monitoring.
Metro Cruise Services responded to CNN by saying âno comment.â
Greece closes all schools and universities for 2 weeks
From CNN
Greece will close all schools and universities across the country for the next 14 days because of coronavirus fears, the Greek health minister announced.
The closure impacts all day care centers and education establishments beginning Thursday, Vassilis Kikilias said.
The countryâs Health Ministry has confirmed five more cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in Greece to 89.
US public health labs have run 4,856 coronavirus tests, CDC says
From CNN
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said 4,856 novel coronavirus tests have been run in public health labs across the United States.
Redfield said that number, which was last updated on Monday, does not include clinical labs or private labs.
While speaking at a House Appropriations hearing for the 2021 CDC budget, Redfield said the CDC is working on a new reporting system to track tests which should be available soon.
âWeâve got a new reporting system that has CDC, public health labs. Weâre going to get direct dumps from LabCorp and Quest so people are going to see all the tests done, where they are done. We will have a surveillance system that does that,â Redfield said.
Earlier Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the department does not know how many Americans have been tested for coronavirus.
Yes, and monitoring, contact tracing, monitoring incoming flights or banning flights between infected areas and actually knowing that areas outside of Wuhan were also on lockdown and hot spots, which it seems airport screarners didnât all know. Having people who returned quarantine starting earlier. Having rapid testing at the airports. Using the WHO test kits or other test kits rather than make our own. Enlist the military to begin helping expand production of masks and breathing machines asap. Establish a central database to track the number of tests and the results that all testing labs can input data into or send data to that gets updated rapidly as is done in China and elsewhere, let people in the country know to take this seriously and have them prepare sooner, not minimize the risks, encourage people to practice social distancing, encourage the use of surgical masks by all in order to cut down spread (first by having enough masks), look at what Taiwan, Korea, and China did that we can replicate and do it. The Chinese improved survival rates with innovating, cutting edge techniques including something where they run the personâs blood into tubes outside their bodies and add oxygen so they donât suffocate when their lungs fill with fluid. There is so, so much more. Iâm not a doctor or medical expert and these are just some of many things we could have done and could do. Certainly, not make this a partisan issue. Get people off the Diamond Princess right away or at least right as soon as it was known that the disease was spreading on board because those people have to come off the boat sooner or later and the longer they come off the more cases there will be. Take them to a US military facility that is prepared to treat them and quarantine them. Think that if there was spread on the boat and people were tested on a Saturday, if you take them onto buses Monday, anticipate there has been more spread in the meanwhile so have proper protective gear and training for those who got the people off the boat and transported them as well as proper masks, etc on each person coming off the boat (we can see in pictures they didnât have proper masks). Once it was known 14 tested positive, do not go against CDC advice and fly them back on the same plane with nothing more than a glorified tall shower curtain from the pictures I have seen to separate them from the other passengers. Donât leave the people on the bus several hours when you realize there are infected passengers, prolonging exposure by all to these people, at the least, take those 14 off the bus asap!, and if you are going to fly them back, put all 14 on one plane, not two different planes. Better yet, fly them back separately or have them treated in Japan and donât fly them back with the others. The infection spread was pretty large among those who were brought back, from 14 to many times that number later. And now that there is another boat off the coast, donât care how the numbers will make you look short term, we know it spreads on boats so get the people off the boat asap. Have facilities ready for people to be in during treatment and quarantine, especially those our country is evacuating, so we donât have to have communities refuse to take people. That stuff should be set ahead of time. There is tons more. We had people who were refused testing who had been in Japan and had symptoms because they hadnât been in China and those were the guildelines. Change the guidelines to match the current situation rapidly. Make testing widely available so we donât have to worry about using up tests on people who donât meet narrow guidelines. Shut down large social events sooner. Make centralized decisions so that places like that one part of California that is going to no longer encourage a 2 week quarantine of people canât endanger everyone else and speed the spread with such a policy. Iâm sure there are still lots and lots more things. I am astonished at the things our country did and didnât do and never thought that we would drop the ball this badly in a serious situation. I thought our country would come together and work as other countries are doing and have done. What could we have done better, a thousand things at least it seems to me. I am sure I am wrong or only see things from one point of view on many of these things, but I donât think Iâm wrong about all of it and I do think we could have done a heck of a lot better. Are we supposed to be the #1 cutting edge country in the world, a super power? We canât do better than Korea in handling this or at least as well?
Ivy League cancels basketball tournaments ahead of March Madness
The Ivy League womenâs and menâs conference tournaments scheduled to start this Saturday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the league announced.
As a result, the leagueâs regular-season champions â Princetonâs womenâs team (26-1) and Yaleâs menâs team (23-7) â are automatic qualifiers to the NCAA tournaments.
The NCAAâs March Madness tournament is just a week away.
âWe understand and share the disappointment with student-athletes, coaches and fans who will not be able to participate in these tournaments,â Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris said. âRegrettably, the information and recommendations presented to us from public health authorities and medical professionals have convinced us that this is the most prudent decision.â
The league will implement âhighly-restrictive, in-venue spectator limitations for all other upcoming campus athletics events. The League is also canceling all out-of-season practices and competitions,â effective immediately.
Postseason competition for winter sports will continue, the league said.
Vice President Mike Pence announces no copays for coronavirus coverage with several insurance companies
From CNN
Vice President Mike Pence announced that several insurance companies had agreed to waive copays for coronavirus testing.
âIâm pleased to report as you requested, Mr. President, that all the insurance companies here either today or before today have agreed to waive copays on coronavirus testing and extend coverage for coronavirus treatment in all of their benefit plans,â the Vice President announced. Telemedicine would also be covered, and all the CEOs agreed to âno surprise billing,â Pence said.
The Vice President made the announcement during a meeting with representatives from insurance companies at the White House on Tuesday, sitting alongside President Donald Trump.
Medicare and Medicaid, Pence said, already made it clear to their beneficiaries that coronavirus care would be covered.
[should be all. This blurb doesnât mention which companies]
Trump says administration will help airline and cruise industry during crisis
President Trump just said during a meeting at the White House that the administration will help the airline and cruise industries during the coronavirus outbreak.
âTheyâre two great industries and weâll be helping them through this patch, and so far I think itâs been going very well,â Trump said. (CNN)
CDC director says thereâs not enough staff and equipment in public health labs
From CNN
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said state and local public health labs are underequipped and understaffed.
âThe truth is weâve not invested, weâve underinvested in the public health labs,â Redfield said at a House Appropriations hearing for the 2021 CDC budget.
âThereâs not enough equipment, thereâs not enough people, thereâs not enough internal capacity, thereâs no surge capacity,â Redfield added.
âPublic health labs, we built the technology in those labs to monitor flu, that uses a certain equipment, which we call thermocycler, that equipment, maybe a good lab could do 300 tests a day. University of Washington can use these high machines, like New York is about to do, those machines can do thousands, and thousands and thousands,â Redfield said.
Redfield also said that 99% of the novel coronavirus cases recently confirmed were outside of China. According to the latest numbers from the World Health Organization, which were released on Monday, there were 3,948 new cases outside China and 45 new cases in China-- roughly 1%.
âThe epicenter, the new China is Europe. And thereâs a lot of people coming back and forth from Europe. Weâre starting to see these communities and we are moving quickly to understand how address Europe,â Redfield said.
[Glad the truth is finally being spoken. Should have been mentioned weeks ago. Yes, the epicenter is Europe now but we are close behind in the US, IMO. ]
If the US President dies, someone else becomes President based on the line of succession:
Vice President
Speaker of the House of Representatives
President pro tempore of the Senate
[various cabinet people]
If a presidential candidate dies shortly before the election (with too little time for the party to select a replacement or print new ballots) or a winner dies between election and inauguration, things can get complicated.
https://people.howstuffworks.com/what-happens-presidential-candidate-dies.htm
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2008/09/what-happens-if-a-presidential-candidate-passes-away-at-the-last-second.html
UC Riverside has suspended in person classes until April 3.
I thought the U S should have banned travellers from Italy 2 weeks ago.
Colorado just declared state of emergency.
Which wasnât at all evident at Kaiser where I had an appointment today. Saw only one person in a mask, otherwise doctors/nurses/staff seemed calm and all else seemed status quo.
My son leaves for a business trip to Atlanta and Chicago tomorrow. Tonight weâre going out to eat, to support a local Chinese restaurant. I hear Asian businesses are struggling, sigh.