Mortgage lenders are looking for ways to help homeowners hit by the current crisis stay in their homes:
I hope in two weeks we’ll see some improvement in Italy to point to.
I haven’t seen testing rates for Germany. Have you and what are they? Italy has actually tested a fair amount.
This is the biggest overreaction to anything since Y2K.
It will be interesting to see the results of the UK vs USA methods of approaching this “pandemic”. The US is shutting everything down, the UK is telling the elderly to not go out.
In other news, 22000 people in the US died of the flu this year.
I don’t think medical students at that stage of education would perceive that their best use is in babysitting.
Majority Leader says Senate will pass the House coronavirus bill while it works on a “more comprehensive package”
Speaking on the Senate floor just now, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “we’re going to pass the House’s bill, but its imperfections will just make our more comprehensive package even more urgent.”
On the legislation that the Senate is working on, McConnell added that the senators will not leave Capitol Hill “until we deliver it.”
More context: Last week, the US House of Representatives passed a bipartisan legislative package in response to the spread of coronavirus in the early hours of Saturday morning following intense negotiations between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Trump administration. Following the vote, President Trump tweeted his support for the legislation that includes provisions for paid emergency leave and free testing for COVID-19. (CNN)
Singapore to implement 14-day mandatory quarantine for all inbound travelers
From Isaac Yee in Hong Kong
The Singaporean government has announced that all travelers entering the country will have to undergo a mandatory 14-day home quarantine starting Saturday.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health said that “Stay at Home Notices” will be issued to all inbound travelers, the notice requires all visitors to remain in their place of residence for 14 days after entering Singapore.
The notice also requires visitors to provide proof of the place where they will serve the 14-day home quarantine. The Ministry of Health added that rules banning entry for travelers who have been in France, Germany, Italy, Iran, the Republic of Korea and Spain will continue to be enforced.
The Ministry of Health also announced that all Singaporeans “are advised to defer all travel abroad with immediate effect” to further reduce the risk of further importation of the novel coronavirus.
Trump confirms US-Canada border will be closed to non-essential traffic
From CNN’s Betsy Klein
President Trump confirmed on Twitter that Canada and the US will close their border to non-essential traffic.
“We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Read Trump’s tweet:
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!
Scotland and Wales to close schools, possibly through summer
Scotland and Wales became the first countries in the United Kingdom to announce school closures, saying schools would close at the end of Friday for the Easter holiday and indicating they may not reopen for summer.
“It is now inevitable” that schools and nurseries will close, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Wednesday. “My planning assumption now is that schools will close to pupils at the end of this week and I wanted today to give parents notice of that now.”
“From next week, schools will have a new purpose. They will help support those most in need, including people involved in the immediate response to the coronavirus outbreak,” according to a statement from Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams.
Schools in England and Northern Ireland, the other nations in the UK, remain open for now.
Schools in the Republic of Ireland have been closed. (CNN)
New York City mayor plans to bring up “shelter-in-place” order with governor today
From CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on NBC’s Today Show, “I think an honest conversation about shelter-in-place has to happen,” noting the decision “can only be made with the State of New York,” adding he will be speaking with the New York governor later today.
When asked if he will recommend to the governor that the city do a shelter-in-place while the city faces a growing coronavirus pandemic, de Blasio said he is “almost” to that point – saying “we have a little more to make sense of” first, including how to get people food and medicine, “but it has to be considered seriously starting today.”
Some context: On a local radio program today, de Blasio said his shelter-in-place comments Tuesday were intended to “mentally, emotionally, humanly prepare people for something that well might be happening soon,” but he added that he doesn’t accept media accounts that he and the governor are arguing over this. He reiterated that the city and state are working closely together.
Yesterday after earlier comments from the mayor on the potentiality of a decision on a possible shelter-in-place, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office said “any blanket quarantine or shelter in place policy would require state action and as the governor has said, there is no consideration of that for any locality at this time.”
United Arab Emirates temporarily bans citizens from traveling abroad
From CNN’s Mostafa Salem in Abu Dhabi
The United Arab Emirates has temporarily banned all its citizens from traveling abroad during the coronavirus pandemic, state news agency WAM said.
The decision has been made to “protect” nationals from the coronavirus spread and the cancellation of flights, WAM said quoting the ministry of foreign affairs.
The UAE has 113 confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins.
JetBlue announces schedule cuts, calls financial losses “stunning”
From CNN’s Greg Wallace
JetBlue announced today that it will make a 40% cut to its schedule as it weathers damage to the aviation industry from the coronavirus.
The company called the financial losses “stunning."
“Last year on a typical day in March we took in about $22 million from bookings and ancillary fees. Throughout this March, our sales have fallen sharply and in the last several days we have taken in an average of less than $4 million per day while also issuing over $20 million per day of credits to customers for canceled bookings," JetBlue said.
The company said some executives will take a 50% pay cut.
Justice Department closes more immigration courts, postpones hearings due to coronavirus
From CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez
The Justice Department announced overnight that it’s closing an additional 10 immigration courts, spread out across the country, through April 10 as the novel coronavirus has spread to all 50 states.
It is also postponing all hearings of cases of immigrants who are not in detention. Immigration courts also paused those hearings last year during the US government shutdown.
Government agencies, businesses, and organizations have changed their daily operations as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, requiring employees to stay home and closing offices to the public. Despite administration guidelines to decrease the number of people at gatherings, immigration courts stayed open.
On Tuesday, for example, the San Francisco immigration court was open, despite a shelter-in-place order in the area.
Some context: The Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Justice Department agency that oversees the nation’s immigration courts, has made incremental changes to court operations in recent days, often late at night, frustrating immigration judges and lawyers who have urged the agency to close courts altogether.
US surgeon general warns of continuing blood shortages
From CNN Health’s Jacqueline Howard
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams called on healthy Americans to donate blood.
“You can still go out and give blood. We’re worried about potential blood shortages in the future. Social distancing does not have to mean social disengagement,” Adams said this morning on NBC.
Adams’ comments come after the American Red Cross announced on Tuesday that it is facing a “severe blood shortage” due to an “unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations” in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Such cancellations have resulted in about 86,000 fewer blood donations, according to the American Red Cross.
"As a nation, this is a time where we must take care of one another including those most vulnerable among us in hospitals,” Gail McGovern, president and chief executive officer of the American Red Cross, said in Tuesday’s announcement.
McGovern added: “One of the most important things people can do right now during this public health emergency is to give blood. If you are healthy and feeling well, please make an appointment to donate as soon as possible. We understand why people may be hesitant to come out for a blood drive but want to reassure the public that blood donation is a safe process, and that we have put additional precautions in place at our blood drives to protect the health of safety of our donors and staff."
US surgeon general: “We should be acting as if we have the virus”
From CNN Health’s Jacqueline Howard
Whether you test positive or negative for the novel coronavirus, “we should be acting as if we have the virus,” US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on NBC this morning.
Speaking to the importance of following mitigation measures during the current coronavirus outbreak, Adams said that any person who feels sick should stay home — and testing negative for the virus should not change that.
“If we do those three things — making sure we’re cleaning our surfaces, making sure we’re washing our hands, and making sure we’re staying six feet away from people — that’s how we will most protect ourselves from this disease,” Adams said today.
Adams added: “You should not change your approach to mitigation measures based on a positive or a negative test. You could test negative and still be early in the incubation period and still spread coronavirus.”
Earlier this week: During a White House briefing yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence noted that while testing for the novel coronavirus is becoming more widely available, the actions of people in the United States should take remain the same, even if they can’t get a test.
“You don’t need the results of testing to know what you should do,” Pence said, urging everyone in the country to follow the principles in the Trump administration’s 15-day plan to slow new infections in the US.
The plan, announced Monday, offers more stringent recommendations about staying home and avoiding groups of 10 people or more, among other things.
[ JUST STAY HOME ]
West Virginia senator: “We have no testing, we are not prepared”
From CNN’s Carma Hassan
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin told CNN this morning that he was worried as they were waiting for the state’s first case of coronavirus because he didn’t want people to be “lulled into a false sense of security.”
The state is now reporting one case of the novel coronavirus.
Manchin said the state’s population is vulnerable because they have older people as well as people with respiratory issues and diabetes.
“I thought it was just carnage waiting to happen, I wanted to make sure that people understood that they shouldn’t get a false sense of security,” Manchin said.
“What we did, they didn’t test, John,” Manchin said to CNN’s John Berman. “Up until a couple days ago we only had 40 tests done, now I think we are at 130 or so, but with that being said, John we have no testing, we are not prepared, people think that we are immune from this.”
Manchin said he spoke to Vice President Mike Pence and told him they need the testing kits and supplies, such as personal protection for first responders and health care workers.
“When it hits my state – and it has hit – it’s going to be absolutely catastrophic,” Manchin said.
[ Yet Trump was praising WV yesterday day when they hadn’t yet reported a case while I was angrily mumbling at my screen, they’ve barely tested anyone. ]
China to send 100,000 coronavirus testing kits to the Philippines
From CNN
China is sending 100,000 novel coronavirus test kits and other essential medical supplies to the Philippines to assist the country “in fighting the epidemic,” according to Philippines Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.
“China will send 100,000 testing kits; 10,000 N95 masks; PPEs 10,000 ; surgical masks 100,000,” Locsin said in a tweet posted on Wednesday.
The announcement came after Locsin spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila said that the they have been “closely coordinating with the Department of Health to ensure a speedy receiving of the aforesaid donations so as to contribute to the Philippine Government’s efforts in fighting the epidemic and benefit the Filipinos as soon as possible.”
The numbers: The Philippines currently has 202 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus including 17 deaths.
UK prime minister: “Take action that is unprecedented for a government in peace time”
From CNN’s Nada Bashir in London
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the coronavirus outbreak as “a national emergency.”
The government is asking public “to take action that is unprecedented for a government in peace time – and possibly unprecedented in the last century," he said at the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons today.
Johnson pledged “further measures to support workers of all kinds throughout this crisis,” saying the government is working with unions and colleagues across parliament.
The UK’s Press Association and UK media reported that only lawmakers scheduled to submit questions to the prime minister were attending today’s session.
Johnson, pressed by the opposition leader about not doing enough to “test, test, test” as advise by the World Health Organization said “we are getting much closer to having a generally available test which will determine whether or not you have had the disease.”
“This country is actually far ahead of many comparable countries in testing huge numbers of people, we’re increasing our tests from 5000 to 10,000 a day," Johnson added.
Japan and IOC determined to hold 2020 Olympics despite growing dissent among leading athletes
From CNN’s George Ramsay and Aleks Klosok
Dissent is growing among leading athletes as they voice concerns about preparing for the Olympics amid the novel coronavirus outbreak after organizers encouraged them to continue preparation as planned.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Tuesday that no “drastic decisions” will be made about the Games, which get underway in Tokyo in July, and that measures are being taken to guarantee the “safety and interests of athletes, coaches and support teams.”
But athletes believe they have been forced into an impossible position given the virus, which has infected more that 198,000 people worldwide and killed at least 7,900.
In a statement to CNN, the IOC said: “This is an exceptional situation which requires exceptional solutions.”
“The IOC is committed to finding a solution with the least negative impact for the athletes, while protecting the integrity of the competition and the athletes’ health."
On Tuesday, the UK’s world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson expressed her frustration at the situation.
In a statement posted on social media she said: “The IOC and the Local Government are at odds with one another.”
“The IOC advice ‘encourages athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympics Games as best as they can’ with the Olympics only four months away but the government legislation is enforcing isolation at home, with tracks, gyms and public spaces closed.”
[ Just cancel them already ]
China to deliver million masks to France
From CNN
Medical supplies from China arrived in France on Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said today.
The minister detailed the delivery, saying that “about a million masks” were to be sent to France altogether.
The Chinese embassy in France tweeted about the delivery, saying: “United, we will prevail!”
The French Ministry for Foreign Affairs added that a second delivery was planned for Thursday.
France had sent help to Wuhan, China, and the minister said that China was now “returning the gesture."
Southern California’s Palm Springs issues shelter-in-place order
From CNN’s Stella Chan
Southern California’s Palm Springs has ordered residents to shelter-in-place and limit activities to those only essential to daily lives.
The city joins several Northern California counties with the order in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Palm Springs is in Riverside County which has 13 cases of coronavirus, including three deaths.
Hong Kong reports largest increase in cases after period of slowdown, raising fears of a second wave
From CNN’s Alex Lin in Hong Kong
Hong Kong reported its largest increase in new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, after a period of apparent slowdown in infections.
For most of March, few, if any, cases were reported every day. Today, there were 14 new cases – all of which except one had recent international travel history.
This brings the city’s total to 182 cases.
Wong Ka-hing, of Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection, warned today that a huge volume of travelers is expected to arrive in Hong Kong in the coming days, especially as students abroad arrive home after university closures.
This has raised alarm that there may be a second wave of infections, with travelers abroad potentially bringing back many new infections and forming new clusters.
Starting Thursday, all international arrivals will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Three Americans tourists are stuck in Peru after border closures
From CNN’s Amanda Jackson
Three American tourists went to Lima, Peru, for a yoga retreat in the Sacred Valley at Munay Sanqo.
Now, the borders are shut, the country is under quarantine – and they’re stuck.
Lisa Kolker, one of the three friends, told CNN that their flight from Cusco to Lima had been delayed, making them miss the next connecting flight out of Peru, just before the border closed on Sunday.
The abrupt short-notice closures have left her group scrambling to find a way back home, and the next flight they were able to book isn’t until April 3.
The closures “literally all happened in the middle of the night when no one could do anything,” Kolker said. She first heard about the closures on Sunday from “a random European woman,” but a lack of information online fed confusion – it wasn’t until the next morning that they realized the seriousness of the situation.
She has reached out to the US embassy and the State Department, but hasn’t heard back yet.
What life in Peru looks like now: Jenn Moeller, one of Kolker’s friends, said when the border closures were announced, “things suddenly went into chaos.”
“Streets are being patrolled by police and militia with lots of road stops and road closures,” she told CNN. “We were allowed to walk to grocery stores and pharmacies today. We were stopped once by militia who asked for passports and where we were going.”
South and Southeast Asia must ramp up response, says WHO regional director
From CNN’s Esha Mitra and Manveena Suri
Countries in South and Southeast Asia must “urgently scale-up aggressive measures” and widespread testing to prevent the coronavirus from spreading further, said World Health Organization officials.
Eight countries in the region have confirmed cases now, with numbers rising in the past week: Thailand, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
“The situation is evolving rapidly, we need to scale up all efforts to prevent the virus from infecting more people,” said Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO Southeast Asia, in a press release Tuesday.
“More clusters of virus transmission are being confirmed. While this is an indication of an alert and effective surveillance, it also puts the spotlight on the need for more aggressive and whole of society efforts to prevent further spread of COVID-19. We clearly need to do more, and urgently,” Singh said.
She warned that some countries are “clearly heading towards community transmission of Covid-19.”
In Sri Lanka, all incoming flights are suspended for the next two weeks.
In India, the Indian Council of Medical Research has asked the WHO for a million test kits, and the government has expanded a travel ban on incoming travelers.
The Maldives and Bangladesh confirmed their first cases last week. Bhutan confirmed its first case earlier this month.
Indonesia has extended a travel ban across much of Europe and the Middle East, and has suspended some visa services.
Thailand was the first country outside China to get the coronavirus. This weekend, it confirmed the largest single-day increase in cases so far.
Nepal has canceled all Mount Everest expeditions for the rest of the season – a huge move, given that it’s nearly peak season, and that Everest and tourism are crucial to the country’s economy.
In Hong Kong, friction is rising between expats and locals over whether to wear face masks
Analysis from CNN’s James Griffiths
In Hong Kong, face masks are ubiquitous.
Nearly everyone wears masks when they go out on the streets – a visual representation of the city’s widespread, intense efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
But there is also rising friction as people warn against complacency and the possibility of a second wave of cases.
Earlier this week, the front page of the influential local newspaper Apple Daily criticized expatriates gathering in a bar without masks. The story tapped into a widespread perception among many Hong Kongers, whether true or not, that some of the city’s foreign residents have not shared their alarm at the outbreak.
The trauma of SARS: Many foreigners living in the city today did not experience the 2003 SARS outbreak, which has cast a long shadow over the current response, and made Hong Kongers far more wary and willing to take extreme precautions.
Some residents were frustrated at the attitude of a minority of expatriates, including some bosses and colleagues, who belittled or mocked the emergency measures being put in place – such as wearing masks everywhere or working from home – ignoring the painful lessons that their locally-born colleagues had learned from SARS.
The privilege of escape: There was also a feeling that many foreign passport holders had an easy escape route to other countries that Hong Kongers did not.
Another part of the problem is that, while Hong Kong has long advised people to wear face masks in public, other governments have given conflicting advice, and those returning to or going about the city unmasked may be following the guidance of their home countries.
I am sticking with my prediction that the cure is going to be worse than the disease.
If you have looked at the structure of the US economy and the demographics, you realize that a large adjustment is going to be necessary in terms of the real resources that the society can dedicate to providing medical care to the elderly. No reason to get into debating questions of efficiency or single-payer versus the existing system of cross subsidization of elderly medical care through the private system. Suffice to say that the system cannot be reformed in any meaningful way in the medium term to reap any supposed efficiency advantages.
If the economy becomes destabilized as a result of the policy responses to the virus, and there has been chatter already about 20% unemployment rates, the fallout and adjustment that will come will result in many more premature deaths for the elderly than if this virus were simply allowed to burn out.
The adjustment downwards in real spending on the elderly is coming one way or another.
Sweetie, I’m so sorry for your cohort. It must really hurt to be missing out on these last months of school!
You aren’t going to be able to do the in-person events, but you can still celebrate. Maybe find an online site to video-chat with your friends. Start a GroupMe site where you all share your best memories.
One idea I have is for one of you to create an account at one of the online photobook sites (my favorite is Blurb), give all your friends access, and everyone uploads those photos on their phones. Maybe assign everyone a few pages to fill. While inserting photos, add written memories. Set a dealine, then have a bunch of copies printed up, a personal yearbook for your gang.
This is a challenging time. But how you handle it will make you stronger.
Kicked out of the Philippines but unable to go home. Indian nationals stranded in Malaysia airport
From CNN’s Vedika Sud
As countries impose greater restrictions on travel and flights, it’s becoming increasingly hard for some travelers to make their way back home.
Indian national Jaskeerat Singh Bakshi is studying medicine in the Philippines capital of Manila. On Monday, the Philippines locked down its largest and most populous island of Luzon – home to more than 50 million people, including the capital – in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Foreign nationals were told they had a 72-hour window to voluntarily leave the country.
“This pushed everybody into panic, most of all the students who comprise the large majority of Indians there,” Bakshi told CNN.
Bakshi said he got on an early flight the next day to Kolkata with a stop over in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur.
But mid-journey India issued new travel guidelines prohibiting flights entering the country from Afghanistan, Malaysia and Philippines with immediate effect. And Malaysia had that day issued tough restrictions prohibiting any foreign nationals from entering the country.
“This leaves us with nowhere to go. Our connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur to India was canceled,” he said. “Neither the Malaysian authorities will accept us nor is there any other way to get to India.”
He and 250 other Indian nationals were left stranded overnight in the airport.
By Wednesday, Bakshi has received good news. The Indian High Commission in Malaysia and India’s Foreign Affairs Ministry had got involved and said they had secured flights to bring the stranded travelers back home.
Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
Appreciate the difficult situation of Indian students and other passengers waiting in transit at Kuala Lumpur airport. We have now approved @AirAsia flights for you to Delhi and Vizag.
These are tough times and you should understand the precautions. Please contact the airline.
Philippines declares a “state of calamity” for six months
From CNN’s Akanksha Sharma in Hong Kong
The Philippines has been placed under a “state of calamity” for six months due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the state news agency, Philippines News Agency (PNA).
The declaration will open up an emergency fund to central and local governments to help fight the virus.
It will also allow the government to call in support from all law enforcement agencies, including the Armed Forces, “as may be necessary,” said the PNA report.
Upgraded warning: Before the new declaration, the entire country had already been placed under a state of public health emergency on March 9.
The Philippines now has reported 187 confirmed cases and 14 deaths due to the coronavirus.
A close friend developed symptoms after returning to Maine from Florida. She had a drive-through test and is waiting for results. Yikes, closest to home this has hit so far.
We’ve had our first job cancellation. The client didn’t want us to do a site visit at her house. I actually would have been OK with it because we could have maintained our distance. Oh, well. I really don’t know how we will survive this, financially.
The grocery store near my parents’ house does not have hand sanitizer or wipes in the foyer like our store at home has had for years now. Why not!??
My immunocompromised husband is seriously considering going up to our remote cabin for awhile.
In happier news, my middle child turns 25 today. I smuggled in a bottle of wine to share with him since I can’t take him out and my parents are teetotalers! Also, the company restoring our Steinway has finished up and will deliver it on Monday. I’m glad we already paid for it. I should have lots of time to play. ?
Louisiana now has 240 coronavirus cases statewide
From CNN’s Tina Burnside
The Louisiana Department of Health is reporting 240 cases of novel coronavirus as of this morning. The new figure includes an increase of 44 cases since the last update on Tuesday.
Orleans Parish in New Orleans has been the hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with 176 positive cases and four deaths to date.
@Greymeer: “This is the biggest overreaction to anything since Y2K.”
I don’t recall Y2K flooding hospitals so much that doctors have to triage and decide who gets a respirator and who to let die.
I don’t recall Y2K killing so many people that the number of obits in the local newspaper increases 5-10 fold.
Take a look at the news coming out of northern Italy.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, appearing on The Times’s podcast “The Daily” this morning, emphasized that his priority remained halting the spread of coronavirus — and not the economic fallout from mandatory closings and restrictions that have been put in place.
“You are past the time of monetizing these decisions,” he said.
“You are at a point of deciding: how many people are going to live, how many people are going to die?”
.
(New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/podcasts/the-daily/cuomo-new-york-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
Spain cancels all boats, flights to Spanish islands
From CNN’s Mia Alberti in Lisbon and Ingrid Formanek in Madrid
All aerial and maritime connections between mainland Spain and its Canary and Balearic Islands will be suspended from 7 p.m. ET (midnight local) today to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
All flights from mainland airports to Melilla, and helicopter flights to Ceuta, will also be suspended, according to the Spanish Ministry of Transport.
According to the Canary autonomous government, inter-island flights will also be reduced to 18 daily connections, to guarantee the transport of “200 workers who work between islands.”
Military or state airplanes, cargo, humanitarian, medical and emergency flights are not included in the measure. All flights will operate at a 50% capacity.
As for maritime transportation, the 62 daily inter-island connections will be reduced to 26, and only those with “justified needs” will be able to travel, the ministry said.
Ryanair to ground most flights
Ryanair has announced it will ground “most if not all” flights after next Tuesday, write the Guardian’s UK transport correspondent Gwyn Topham.
The airline currently expects to run a “very small number of flights for essential connectivity”, mainly between the UK and Ireland. More than 80% of flights still scheduled until then will be grounded immediately. It said call centres were overloaded and asked customers not to call, and await email instructions. It may operate some “rescue flights” from the EU, it said, where possible. (Guardian)
50% of ventilators used in acute hospitals worldwide are made in Ireland
Ben Quinn Ben Quinn
Trump has spoken about the key role played by Ireland in the pharmaceutical world as the world searches for coronavirus vaccines and treatments, adding that the US was “looking to bring a lot more back home,” writes my colleague Ben Quinn.
As reported by RTE news, 50% of ventilators used in acute hospitals worldwide are made in Ireland, according to IDA Ireland, the agency responsible for the attraction and retention of inward foreign direct investment into Ireland (Guardian)
Nigeria limits entry from 13 countries
Nigeria has announced that it is restricting entry into the country for travellers from China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, U.S, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland. On Wednesday the government confirmed the country had 8 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
There are concerns in some of the remotest parts of the world about the lack of coronavirus testing facilities.
In Greenland in the far north, and the Falklands in the far south, samples from patients suspected of contracting the virus, have to be flown thousands of miles away for confirmation.
Anders Madsen, a nurse from Nook, the capital of Greenland, emailed the Guardian on Monday to confirm the island’s first case. But in his latest update he pointed out that Greenland is still waiting for the test results from nine other patients to be analysed in Denmark which controls the island. Meanwhile, all schools in Greenland have been closed in line with Danish policy, he said.
Madsen added:
All flights internally and to and from Greenland will be grounded for 14 days starting at midnight on Friday. The fact that local flights within Greenland will be grounded is rather significant because no two towns in Greenland are connected by road. The only way to get to a different settlement is via boat or plane.
Madsen’s comments on Monday, prompted another reader from the Falkland Islands to report similar concerns.
The reader, who did not want to be named, said:
All samples need to be flown to the UK on one of the twice weekly MOD flights. We have been told test results will take five to ten days. People have contacted the hospital, but for the most part they are still advising that testing is not necessary unless you have travelled. We do not know if the virus is here. I believe we have one person in self isolation who felt unwell after travelling from the UK, but again that has not officially been confirmed.
The reader said there was also alarm on the Falklands about the limited hospital capacity if coronavirus does hit. They said:
A key concern is the ability of the hospital to cope. In total the island’s hospital has 29 beds, seven of which are used for long term care for the elderly already. There are two intensive care beds. Usually if anyone needs critical or specialist care they are flown out to South America or the UK, which is clearly not going to be an option with coronavirus cases. The government raised the possibility that even regular emergency cases might not be accepted by our partners countries if their health systems are already overwhelmed.
Many of our medical staff are here on short term contracts, recruited from the UK (or occasionally other countries, we have had several doctors from Canada lately) to work for for 3 to 6 months at a time. Falkland Islanders are concerned what will happen when contracts end and if we will be able to replace those who leave.
The other key concern has been tourists coming in. Cruise ship tourists regularly outnumbering the population during the peak season. The season is coming to an end, which should help reduce exposure, but as of today there are still several ships heading here that were reportedly turned away from Punta Arenas.
Falkland Islanders are strong, resilient people, but it does feel like the Falkland Island government has been caught unaware by the current outbreak. Updates are few and far between and the current policy to follow the UK’s lead feels problematic given our geographic location and resources.
Interesting story in the New Yorker with relevance to the current pandemic:
A major animal disease research centre is set to move from an island off the US East Coast to Kansas, the American breadbasket, where a lab accident could destroy the $68 billion-a-year beef industry, journalist Elizabeth Eaves writes.
Elisabeth Eaves
@ElisabethEaves
“Many scientists found it baffling that anyone would consider installing a high-containment animal-disease laboratory in the middle of livestock country.” But it’s happening.
The Risks of Building Too Many Bio Labs
Alarmed by new pathogens, we’re building more labs to study them. Can we do so without raising the likelihood of a catastrophic breach?
https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-risks-of-building-too-many-bio-labs
"While high-containment laboratories are crucial to advancing our understanding of new diseases like the novel coronavirus, the number of these labs in the United States has been growing with no central planning or oversight.
There are at least 276, a Government Accountability Office report found in 2017, but the actual number is higher and no one knows for sure what it is.
Every new lab carries with it some risk, as a history of lab breaches demonstrates. For example, a leak from Britain’s Pirbright Institute, a world-renowned high-containment research facility, caused a foot-and-mouth outbreak among livestock in 2007. In the United States, both the Centers for Disease Control and the US Army have accidentally sent live anthrax between labs, unwittingly exposing workers.
The new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, as it’s called, is being built for $1.25 billion—about three times original projections—and will begin opening its doors in 2021."