Subsequent information seems to be more murky:
Tesla is reportedly cutting back factory workforce from 10,000 to 2,500 after county sheriff said that the usual operations there do not meet the definition of “Essential Business”.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21185889/tesla-fremont-factory-workforce-coronavirus-lockdown-pandemic
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/18/coronavirus-tesla-says-production-other-essential-employees-should-come-to-work/
Latest Pew Poll (3/18):
When the numbers of sick in the USA start hitting hundreds of thousands, and the number of dead start hitting thousands, the majority of adults may have a different view of the media’s supposed exaggerations.
We should likely expect a jump in the number of people who are sick when the morons vacationing on the beaches of Florida and Alabama come home and share the viruses they picked up.
I guess that a new tee-shirt caption will be “my child went to Florida/Alabama for Spring Break, and all I got was COVID 19”…
Let’s hope that the caption won’t be “my grandchild went to Florida/Alabama for Spring Break, and all I got was dead”.
Yikes. Michigan announces 45 new presumed coronavirus cases today. Yesterday the count was 65-ish; today it’s at least 110.
Guess that’s what happens when you finally start testing people.
Pennsylvania reports first coronavirus death
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced on Wednesday the state’s first coronavirus death.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed on Wednesday that a person in North Hampton County had died from COVID-19, Wolf said.
The governor asked all resident to stay home to limit the spread of the virus.
There are at least 133 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Pennsylvania.
Israel bars all foreign nationals from entering country
From CNN’s Oren Liebermann
Israel has announced that it will immediately start barring all foreign nationals from entering the country, even if they have the ability to self-quarantine upon arrival.
The decision was announced by the Population and Immigration Authority on Wednesday with the backing of the Ministry of Health.
“Following two weeks of restricting entry to travelers who are neither citizens nor residents of the State of Israel, the Ministry of Health has recommended stricter entry prevention measures in order to halt the spread of the Coronavirus. In light of the foregoing and pursuant to the recommendations from the Ministry of Health, it has been decided that, effective today, foreign nationals who are neither citizens nor residents of Israel will not be permitted to enter the State of Israel,” a statement from the Authority said, noting that exceptions will be made for “those whose lives are based in Israel.”
The directive impacts all international crossings, so the border crossings with Jordan and Egypt are now closed to foreign nationals, as is Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion international airport.
Melania Trump announces plans to appear in coronavirus PSAs
From CNN’s Matthew Hoye
First lady Melania Trump will appear in a series of public service announcements to communicate "the most important ways Americans can protect themselves and those most at risk,” the White House said in a statement.
The White House said it is partnering with with the AdCouncil, media networks and digital platforms. Surgeon General Jerome M Adams, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx and “other administration officials” will also appear in the PSAs.
Earlier Wednesday, the first lady sent a tweet asking healthy Americans to “consider donating blood to help save lives.” She added that the Red Cross is “taking extraordinary precautions to ensure the environment is safe.”
CNN has reached out to the White House to see if the first lady has any plans to donate blood herself.
NFL and NBA announce free access to streaming services for fans
From CNN’s Homero De La Fuente
With most of the sports world at a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL and NBA announced that starting Wednesday they will be giving fans free access to their streaming services where they can watch some of their favorite moments as an incentive to stay home.
NFL Game Pass will be offered free of charge until May 31 to fans within the US, and starting Thursday until July 31 to fans outside the US and Canada. Fans will be able to watch all games dating back to the start of the 2009 season and access to some of their hit shows like HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” “Mic’d Up,” and “A Football Life.”
Shortly after the NFL’s announcement, the NBA followed suit announcing that they, along with Turner Sports, will be offering free access to their NBA League Pass until April 22.
“Limiting social interactions is a critical way to minimize the spread of this virus, but staying home for long periods of time can be difficult,” the statement said. “This complimentary offering will provide you with access to full length and condensed replays of all games from the 2019-20 season, as well as an expansive archive of classic games and content.”
More than 4,000 fines handed out as France requires paper document to move about
From CNN’s Barbara Wojazer in Paris
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner explained the government strategy in implementing confinement measures in a televised interview on TF1 on Wednesday.
Castaner said that “our goal is not to sanction, not to fine; our goal is to protect the French people, and the best way to do that is for them to accept confinement measures.”
To ensure this, he said:
Since Tuesday, police officers have had about 70,000 conversations with the population to explain the measures.
As of Wednesday, 4,095 fines were imposed.
Following the restrictive measures announced by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, French people must now carry a paper document stating the reason and destination of their travels.
This document will not be available on mobile phones because "this is not about making life easier for French people who want to go outside,” the interior minister said.
Ineffective infection control contributed to spread of coronavirus in Kirkland nursing home, report says
From CNN Health’s Gina Yu
Between February 28 and March 9, the number of COVID-19 cases at a long-term care skilled nursing facility in King County, Washington, went from one to 129. Details on these cases are reported in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published Wednesday.
Of the 129 COVID-19 cases included in the report, 81 were residents, 34 were staff members and 14 were visitors. Twenty-three died, including 22 residents and one visitor. The median patient age was 81 years among facility residents, 42.5 years among staff and 62.5 years among visitors.
The CDC lists key factors that “contributed to the vulnerability of these facilities” based on data collected from surveys and on-site visits. They included staff members who worked while symptomatic, staff members who worked in more than one facility, and delayed recognition of cases because of low index of suspicion and limited testing ability.
“Limitations in effective infection control and prevention and staff members working in multiple facilities contributed to intra- and interfacility spread,” the report said. “The findings in this report suggest that once COVID-19 has been introduced into a long-term care facility, it has the potential to result in high attack rates.”
The report did not identify the name of the long-term care facility, but officials had previously identified a COVID-19 outbreak at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington. Among 56 COVID-19 deaths reported in Seattle and King County as of Wednesday afternoon, 35 are associated with the Kirkland nursing home.
Just to clarify:
In Ireland, the chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said people had been “extraordinary” in their observance of social distancing steps.
In relation to the social distancing measures that have been put place, I think we have seen an extraordinary level of compliance on the part of the public. The public are listening and behaving responsibly.
The senior medic said it was too early to tell what impact it was having on the number of cases diagnosed, but he said a clearer picture should emerge in the coming weeks.
He acknowledged that potential public fatigue with the measures could become a challenge if they continue for an extended period.
Dr Holohan particularly urged young people to think of their older relatives and the impact the virus could have on them when observing the restrictions on their daily lives. He said the projection of 15,000 diagnoses in Ireland by the end of the month was in an “unmitigated” situation.
In other words, if the disease continues to spread through the population with no impactive measures, like social distancing measures, that’s the kind of growth trajectory we’d expect.
So we’d be hopeful that what we will actually observe will be a lower number of cases on the basis that we have seen some success as a result of our social distancing measures.
Slovenia plans to introduce quarantine from Friday to slow down the spread of the virus, its interior minister Ales Hojs has told national television.
He said people will still be able to go to work, pharmacies or food shops but all socialising in open spaces will be prohibited. The country has so far confirmed 286 coronavirus cases, of which one person died while six are in intensive care.
The medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is preparing to set up activities in and around Paris to help detect and manage Covid-19 cases among the most vulnerable populations, it has said.
The organisation is more commonly associated with responding to medical emergencies in war zones. Its deputy operations director, Pierre Mendiharat, said:
In the context of the coronavirus epidemic, we are particularly concerned about the fate of people in precarious situations. If nothing is done to detect and isolate cases, the virus risks spreading among these groups particularly quickly.
Our response in France is very similar to initiatives MSF has already launched in other countries such as Italy, for example, and those which our teams may develop in the coming weeks.
Guardian
Maybe. We can check back here in 6-8 weeks and revisit.
It’s always worthwhile to remember that about 8,000 people die every day in the United States. It is a big place.
Please move on and stop repeating the same refrain.
I spoke about my seamless, very low risk visit to the dermatologist today in the other thread (necessary appointment). I noticed how little traffic was out. There were only a few cars in the parking lot at the hospital-adjacent parking lot.
I think someone already mentioned it, but it did hit home to me that we have GOT to have had a significant reduction in car accident deaths and injuries. And with the social distancing I’m seeing, this certainly will help with the virus numbers. How could it not, in the long term?
You would think, and yet…https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-03-18/chp-sees-less-traffic-more-speeding-drivers-on-freeways-as-covid-19-concerns-keep-people-home
The rainy weather doesn’t help.
So what’s a 6% daily increase right? (Based upon Italy losing 475 today.) Just getting rid of those you feel are unworthy of continuing life since money is more important?
I’m glad our leaders and most leaders in the world don’t share your lack of empathy for others.
WA DOH releases updated numbers:
Total tests processed 17,105
Negative 15,918
Positive 1,187 (6.9%)
@Nrdsb4, I’m sure we are also seeing less production of electricity and manufacturing which helps our carbon footprint also. One silver lining.
Less production of electricity because of demand not because of interruptions in production
Wanted to clarify that, it was observed in China that less pollution because less electricity production. We produce in different ways than China. I am trying to look at anything positive
Posting this interactive fatality calculator from the NYT again. According to this, a 50% infection rate with a 1.7% fatality rate or a 40%/2.1% rate would double annual deaths in the US. IOW, COVID-19 could kill as many people as every other cause of death. Even a 30% infection rate with a 1.1% fatality rate would kill as many people as the current top killers, heart disease and cancer, combined. That would be about 20X the number who die from influenza on an annual basis. Scary stuff, which is why we all need to do our part to stop the spread.
Yeah, I’m hardly driving at all, so saving on that anyway.
We still call my husband’s work the “awful-ice” ?
