Once halted, it wasn’t thorough. There were backdoors wide open to travel from china. Travelers could enter the US via some other country. Did they think the virus will stop going through other countries? I don’t think you need any secret info to realize this was bound to happen. Everyone knew it was scarily contagious and the border was porous. We needed only a handful infected person getting through to make this happen.
Sounds familiar.
Elected representatives and their staffs get briefed on any number of dire situations that are developing that could turn into catastrophes. Most don’t.
In hindsight, all inbound international travel should have been halted back in January.
A lesson for the future.
I would say that due to the population density of NYC, the VIRUS has been creating a hot zone, likely since early January.
Are you saying that New Yorkers are somehow more selfish than the people of your state, and that’s why we have more cases of a virus? Everything in my area is shut down. No one is socializing at all. It is a ghost town. But, the only way to keep the number of infections low would have been to go to ghost town in January. It’s March, a lot of people are suffering and it’s not because schools were closed a week earlier or later.
In hindsight, TESTING should have been accepted from WHO to Washington State, right away - when the first person came in. Then intelligent decisions would have been made on closing borders - based on REAL numbers.
Trump says antimalarial will soon be available to treat coronavirus
From CNN’s Kevin Liptak
President Trump says he’s pushed the Food and Drug Administration to eliminate barriers to getting therapeutics for coronavirus to patients.
He said a drug currently used as an antimalarial — hydroxychloroquine — would be made available almost immediately to treat coronavirus.
"It’s been around for a long time, so we know if things don’t go as planned, it’s not going to kill anybody,” Trump told reporters at the White House today.
Trump said it was a common drug and would soon be available for “prescribed use” on coronavirus. He called it a “game-changer."
"We have to remove every barrier or a lot of barriers that were unnecessary and they’ve done that to get the rapid deployment of safe, effective treatments and we think we have some good answers,” Trump said.
New York governor: “There is no quarantine plan for New York City”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo attempted to assuage concerns this morning by saying “there is no quarantine plan for New York City” as it relates to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Cuomo went on to discuss New Rochelle, which is in Westchester County. As of Wednesday morning, 538 of the more than 2,380 cases in New York state were in Westchester County.
“My containment plan in new Rochelle didn’t contain anyone. It was a bad word. It meant to contain the virus. You could come and go in new Rochelle, schools were closed, large gatherings were closed. But there was no quarantine containment. Well, you called out the National Guard. I called out the National Guard to help with food delivery and cleaning surfaces,” Cuomo said.
Some context: On Tuesday, Cuomo dismissed the possibility of an imminent shelter-in-place order after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio urged New Yorkers to prepare for the measure.
De Blasio told New Yorkers to prepare for the possibility within the next two days.
“I think New Yorkers should be prepared right now for the possibility of a shelter in place order,” de Blasio, a Democrat, said during a press briefing about coronavirus. “It has not happened yet but it is definitely a possibility at this point. I believe that decision should be made in the next 48 hours, and it’s a very, a very difficult decision.”
However, a shelter-in-place order would have to be approved by Gov. Cuomo. (CNN)
NY Federal Reserve to pump in another $10 billion today — this time to buy mortgage bonds
From CNN’s Matt Egan
The New York Federal Reserve continues to point a firehose of liquidity at clogged-up financial markets.
The NY Fed just announced it will purchase another $10 billion of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) on Thursday via two separate operations.
The cash injections, according to the NY Fed, are aimed at tackling “highly unusual disruptions” in the mortgage bond market linked to the coronavirus outbreak.
The $10 billion is part of the $200 billion in mortgage bonds the Fed promised on Sunday to buy as it relaunched quantitative easing, or QE.
And this is on top of the flurry of overnight repo operations that are aimed at unclogging short-term funding markets.
And the NY Fed made clear its MBS may only be beginning.
The statement said the NY Fed “stands ready” to buy even more mortgage bonds if it’s needed to keep markets operating smoothly.
Gas prices fall below $2 a gallon in 12 states
From CNN’s Jordan Valinsky
The average price of a gallon of gas has fallen below $2 in nearly a quarter of the country’s states, according to AAA.
The national average currently stands at $2.19 for a gallon of regular gas, the lowest it’s been since early December 2016. That’s down 13 cents from a week ago and 36 cents lower than a year ago.
Oklahoma is the cheapest, with a cost per gallon of regular going for $1.84. Hawaii and California are the two most expensive states for a gallon of regular, at $3.52 and $3.28 respectively.
“This is unprecedented,” Tom Kloza, head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service, told CNN Business.
Kloza expects that the national average will soon drop between $1.99 per gallon with some states hitting $1 per gallon or less.
The national average price will probably decline further ‐perhaps to between $1.25 to $1.50 per gallon — in the next few months, he said.
I’m hearing on twitter that it is still not approved other than for malaria and clinical trials would still be needed for coronavirus treatment. So nothing new really?
FDA commissioner: “I have great hope for how we are going to come out of this situation”
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn was optimistic today when discussing the progress made in finding a way to eliminate the coronavirus.
“I have great hope for how we are going to come out of this situation. What’s important is not to provide falsehood, but provide hope,” Hahn said moments ago.
Hahn added that it’s the FDA’s “responsibility to the American people is to ensure that products are safe and effective” when discussing the drugs and therapeutic options being explored to address the coronavirus. (CNN)
Not sure how close remdesivir is to approval.
Hydroxychoroquine (Plaquenil) has been on the market since 1955…trick is we don’t yet know what dose is best to treat covid-19…that’s what FDA commissioner Hahn was talking about when he discussed doing a trial.
Some currently marketed HIV drugs also are being used to treat covid-19 patients, again, docs are guessing at the correct dose.
Hahn talked about using the pathogen free blood of people who had covid-19 to spur immunity in never infected individuals. This could be promising, and available sooner than a vaccine (which Hahn said is at least a year out).
FDA commissioner explains what “compassionate use” entails with coronavirus drugs
Following President Trump’s remarks about vaccines and therapies being developed to address coronavirus, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn spoke in detail about the important of “compassionate use” in the testing of these options.
“If there is an experimental drug that’s potentially available, a doctor could ask for that drug to be used in a patient. We have criteria for that and speedy approval for that. The important thing about compassion use, and that’s what the President meant, this is beyond right to try, that we get to collect the information about that,” Hahn said.
Hahn added: “One of the things promising to the people is we’ll collect the data and make the absolute right decisions based on the data of the safety and efficacy of the treatments. We are working expeditiously to make sure these products are safe and effective as it possibly could be.” (CNN)
Labs ask for $5 billion for COVID-19 testing
By CNN’s Katelyn Polantz
The American Clinical Laboratory Association is asking congressional leadership for $5 billion in emergency funding for COVID-19 testing and related costs.
“We are growing increasingly concerned the federal government is not recognizing the strain on the laboratory industry to meet the demand for testing for COVID-19,” the group wrote in a letter on Wednesday night.
The labs in the industry group have done 43,000 COVID-19 tests so far, they say, but have had no assurance for how these tests will be paid for.
“Notably, these tests have been performed absent assurances about the payment for these necessary services,” the letter says. "We are growing increasingly concerned that the federal government is not recognizing the strain on the laboratory industry to meet the demand for testing for COVID-19.
Free testing for COVID-19 has now been promised to the American people. Laboratories should not bear the cost of “free” testing. Clinical laboratories need additional support from Congress to ensure we have the necessary staffing, supplies and equipment to fulfill that vital promise."
Germany preparing to mobilize armed forces to support COVID-19 response
From CNN’s Nadine Schmidt in Berlin
Germany’s Defense Ministry will mobilize its armed forces and call up army reserves to support the government’s efforts to cope with the coronavirus crisis, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Thursday in Berlin.
''We are preparing for a worst-case scenario where a very large number of people will become infected and we have the human resources to help," Kramp-Karrenbauer said during a press briefing, adding that the capabilities of the army reserves should be used sensibly.
“This will be important, especially if the crisis lasts longer,” she added.
In her statement to the press, the German defense minister assured citizens that they will be able to rely upon the armed forces over the course of the COVID-19 crisis.
“The fight against the virus is a marathon,” Kramp-Karrenbauer said.
Second coronavirus-related death reported in Connecticut
From CNN’s Ganesh Setty
A 91-year-old man in Connecticut has died “due to complications from COVID-19,” Gov. Ned Lamont tweeted Thursday morning.
The man – a New Canaan resident who was being treated at Norwalk Hospital – is the second reported death in Connecticut.
Coronavirus-related death toll in Louisiana rises to 8
From CNN’s Tina Burnside
The Louisiana Department of Health has reported an eighth death related to COVID-19. The 60-year-old individual was a St. James Parish resident.
As of Wednesday evening, 280 positive cases of coronavirus has been identified in Louisiana.
To be a lot more focused, it is the provincial governments of Wuhan and Hubei which should be the target of our anger. They were the ones who were suppressing the dissemination of the information, including within China. They were also the ones who allowed the Annual Wuhan Lunar New Year banquet to go forward AFTER they knew of the spread of the virus. The central Chinese government reacted more efficiently and more promptly than our own government, once they had the information.
Wuhan and Hubei sat on the information between mid-December and Mid-January, and their only response was to suppress any information about the virus. The central government found out about the outbreak only after it was widespread, and had already spread to multiple countries. Between the time that the central government started figuring out that the provincial governments sent their own epidemiologists and the full blown response took a few days.
On the other hand, the policies and political climate of China’s central government encouraged the types of behavior demonstrated at the provincial level.
@romanigypsyeyes , I see reports talk about chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. Is there a difference?
80% of people in Madrid will get COVID-19, official says
From Laura Perez Maestro
Eight out of ten people in the Spanish capital will get COVID-19, according to the president of the Region of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
“They will have mild symptoms,” she said, but added that “it will be a problem” for the vulnerable population, which is around 15% of people.
“This virus has been in Spain for a longer time and is going to spread to practically everyone, and in most, it will not leave lasting marks. But the problem is the vulnerable population,” said Díaz Asuyo in an interview on Spanish radio.
She called the disease “lethal” for elderly people with pre-existing conditions, and said that in 24 or 48 hours “it can end the life of a person who is in the vulnerable population group.”
As a result of this, the region of Madrid has sought to “save time,” unify healthcare in the public and private sectors, and convert “normal beds into ICU beds.”
Some 580 beds in these critical units are occupied, Díaz Asuyo said, and the Ministry of Health plans to facilitate “new rapid tests” to detect coronavirus this weekend.
Deaths from COVID-19 in Spain have jumped over 20% in the last day, reaching 767, according to a Spanish Health Ministry official speaking at a daily briefing in Madrid Thursday.
There are now a total of 17,147 cases recorded in the country, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, 939 people are in intensive care, said Fernando Simón, director of the Spanish Coordinating Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies at Spain’s Ministry of Health.
Trump leaves nursing industry with mixed messages
From CNN’s Nikki Carvajal
Some in the nursing industry were left “confused” after President Trump appeared to walk back his decision to use the Defense Production Act to combat medical equipment shortages on Wednesday.
Hours after a meeting with industry representatives in which he spoke about “scaling up” supplies, Trump said on Twitter that he had only signed the act “should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future.”
"It was so disassociated from what he said this morning at the press conference and what he said to us,” said Dr. David Benton, CEO of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, who was at the White House meeting.
Benton said representatives “described to the President how critical [ventilators] are" and expressed “anxiety” about the availability of protective equipment including masks and gowns.
The White House said more equipment was coming, just not under the Defense Production Act. A senior administration official said that the Department of Health and Human Services was working with states and the private sector to facilitate distribution as needed.
“The private sector has stepped up to make sure that we do everything possible to provide supplies to our healthcare workers and first responders, but if more cooperation is needed to address shortages, this order will ensure that the health and medical resources needed are properly distributed,” the official said.
By the numbers: The Department of Homeland Security estimates that should the virus become “very severe,” 38 million people will need medical care and 9.6 million will need hospitalization.
Of those, an estimated 2.9 million people will need to be admitted to intensive care units, overwhelming current capacity.
No difference…hydroxychloroquine is the generic name, and is approved for malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, but is used ‘off-label’ for many diseases. Brand name is Plaquenil.
@amsunshine it looks like you and @doschicos & @BunsenBurner are hearing competing things - which is not at all surprising given the state of affairs.
Plaquenil is certainly approved for uses beyond anti malarial - lupus and rheumatoid arthritis being some of them. Not sure what they’re approve for beyond that. But either way, if there’s hope it’ll work it’ll be prescribed off-label especially to the neediest patients. It’s already proven to be safe and fairly well-tolerated so I’m not sure what barriers they might encounter (maybe insurance companies not approving?).
I’d like to think that someone will find something that works to help. I don’t care where it comes from TBH. Kudos to those working on it as well as the health care workers doing their best with the unknown.
France gets 30 million masks for health workers as lockdown looks set to be extended
From CNN’s Ya Chun Wang and Fanny Bobille in Paris and Niamh Kennedy in London
France has received 30 million protective face masks to help healthcare workers treat patients infected by the coronavirus, French Minister for Health Olivier Véran said Thursday.
He advised against use by the general public, and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe reiterated that face masks were “useless” for day-to-day protection and deprived healthcare workers who needed them.
Meanwhile, the French lockdown that began this week is likely to last beyond the forecast two weeks, according to Geneviève Chêne, the director general of Public Health France.
Chêne told French radio station FranceInfo on Thursday that France should start to see “a major slowdown within two to four weeks” but that the primary objective remained the conservation of the healthcare system. She said that it was “likely to be necessary to extend the confinement so that this slowdown is sufficient.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced lockdown plans in a televised address on Monday evening.
From Tuesday midday local time, residents were instructed to stay at home. Those who wish to leave their home must carry a signed copy of a government-approved certificate permitting certain activities such as buying groceries or visiting the sick.
Public health expert says the number of people testing positive is “increasing” in US
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, praised the practice of self-isolation and the increase in testing in helping to tackle this pandemic.
“The number of those test positive is increasing. That’s a dramatically important signature that everybody is doing their job. Those with mild symptoms are staying home and self-isolating. Those with serious symptoms are coming forward to getting testing. Our test positive rate are in the 10 to 11% range,” Birx said.
Yesterday: Birx said during Wednesday’s briefing at the White House that the coronavirus task force is concerned about reports indicating that more young people are becoming seriously ill from coronavirus, suggesting they may have continued to be exposed to the virus because they weren’t concerned about being at risk.
“There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about some young people getting seriously ill and very seriously ill in the ICUs,” Birx said.
That’s what the central government want you to believe. The local government whisper that they did notify the central government. How could they not know? We, in the overseas, who weren’t paying any particular attention knew something was going on. The central government put it on the local government so that they can shed their responsibility to the international community.
He said it again today. I think this is a mistake because it just won’t be equitable, especially in rural areas and states where governors have been slow to respond or in outright denial.
It really sounds like “take whatever you can grab.” Start pressuring your governors, IMO.