Coronavirus in the US

Parent Cafe
8141

Oklahoma reports first coronavirus death
From CNN’s CNN’s Melissa Alonso and Brad Parks

Oklahoma health officials announced Thursday that the state’s first coronavirus death is a man in his 50s from Tulsa County.

There are 44 cases of coronavirus in state, the Oklahoma State Department of Health said in a statement.

“There continues to be a shortage of complete testing kits, delaying the availability of test results. Due to this critically low supply, OSDH is working with health care providers to prioritize test completion for vulnerable populations,” the statement said.

Italy surpasses China in number of coronavirus deaths
From CNN’s Mia Alberti in Lisbon and Nicola Ruotolo and Valentina Di Donato in Rome

Italy has just surpassed China for the most number of deaths related to COVID-19.

The total number of cases in the country rose to 41,035 on Thursday, which includes 5,322 new cases, the Italian Civil Protection Agency said at a news conference.

The number of deaths in Italy has reached 3,405. Italy has become the deadliest center of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The current number of deaths in China stands at 3,242, according to the World Health Organization.

[That’s 427 deaths in 24 hours]

8142

Also, there is a person who is under arrest in China who flew there from America just recently, knowing they had the virus!! So, it isn’t a good thing to get into a finger pointing about ‘Americans’ and ‘Chinese’. It can just stoke racism. We should try to get China’s help and work with all countries and to help others as well. This impacts the world and the better the rest of the world is, the better we will all be as the virus will stop spreading around if it is controlled everywhere.

8143

A fifth death at the New Orleans senior apartment building. This article has new information such as the people all lived on separate floors.

https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_6db2e308-69df-11ea-9a5e-c31d2bd31016.html

…Mary Reynolds said a nurse told a family member Wednesday that it appeared he had stabilized, when suddenly the nurse said he’d lost vital signs and hung up. A short time later came the call that he’d passed.

Reynolds lived on the 7th floor of Lambeth House, in the independent-living sector that has been the locus of the outbreak so far – although a spokesman for the home and state officials acknowledged Wednesday that the virus has spread into St. Anna’s, the nursing home area on two lower floors.

One St. Anna’s resident, 98-year-old Dr. Robert Lancaster, a retired psychiatrist, died Wednesday. Two others have been hospitalized after testing positive for coronavirus, said Dr. Alex Billioux, assistant state health director.

The four other residents who have died at Lambeth House during the outbreak, including Reynolds, all lived on different floors in the independent-living sector, which covers eight floors of the home’s main building.

Lambeth House is home to the state’s only known “cluster” of coronavirus cases thus far in the epidemic’s known spread across the state.

Reynolds’ death was the third of a Lambeth House resident in a single day.

The illness and death sweeping through the Uptown home illustrates the perils that COVID-19 has posed for the infirm and elderly as the virus has erupted across the world in recent weeks…

edited to fix a word left off in the pasting

8144

Here in Puerto Rico we’ve been shopping like that all week. The lines are under a tent (for shade - it’s hot here), and people shop on a “1 out 1 in” rule - maybe a dozen at a time? Sanitizing cart handles and hands on the way in and out.

We started a nighttime curfew and a daily limited curfew last Sunday - not out at all at night and in the day, only to and from the businesses that are allowed to be open - takeout restaurants, supermarkets/food stores, banks, gas stations, pharmacy/medical. PO is open too, 1 person at a time inside (and many of us have PO boxes here, not “real” addresses).

So far it’s working fine. We have tp and everything except hand sanitizer and alcohol (actually some hand sani popped up at the pharmacy yesterday). Worst part is not being allowed to go to the beach or any parks, or even exercise unless going to one of the allowed businesses. I have been volunteering to go to the grocery for my elderly neighbors since they shouldn’t and I crave the excuse to walk outside.

FB Messenger video has become very popular, did a virtual happy hour with local friends last night.

8145

@Greymeer:

"8000 dead worldwide over 4 months.

7000 dead in US in 1 month of the flu."

Somebody doesn’t understand exponential growth rates well.

Again, there are provinces in Italy where the death rate and obits being printed is 5-10 times normal.

Regular flu doesn’t make the number of deaths spike up by 5-10 times.

And as others have pointed out, Italy’s healthcare system (especially rich northern Italy) is better than in most of the US. More doctors per capita, more resources per capita. Big chunks of the US are more third-world than northern Italy. And northern Italy is running out of resources and doctors.

8146

Yeah, both are trying to deflect from criticism of how they handled things from people within their own countries by playing on nationalistic sentiments.

8147

Chinese coronavirus experts warn northern Italy’s lockdown measures are not enough
From CNN’s Sharon Braithwaite in London and Nicola Ruotolo in Rome

The coronavirus measures in place in the hard hit Lombardy region of northern Italy are “not strict enough,” according to Chinese medical experts helping the country deal with the crisis.

The situation in Lombardy right now “is similar to what we experienced two months ago in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of COVID-19,” the Chinese Red Cross vice president, Sun Shuopeng, said Thursday in a press conference in Milan, Italy.

“In the city of Wuhan after one month since the adoption of the lockdown policy, we see a decreasing trend from the peak of the disease,” Sun Shuopeng said. "Here in Milan, the hardest hit area by COVID-19, there isn’t a very strict lockdown: public transportation is still working and people are still moving around, you’re still having dinners and parties in the hotels and you’re not wearing masks. We need every citizen to be involved in the fight of COVID-19 and follow this policy.”
He advised Italians to stop all “economic activities and cut the mobility of people.”

Everyone should just stay at home, he added.

8148

Also, they are saying that it might come at a big cost as it can cause extensive lung damage in even younger people, so rushing out to get everyone infected might not be the best strategy.

8149

Miami-Dade County mayor closes businesses, parks, beaches and recreational facilities
From CNN’s Erika Henry

Mayor of Miami-Dade County Carlos A. Gimenez signed emergency orders closing all parks and beaches Thursday morning.

Gimenez went on to say that it applied to all publicly owned and privately run parks, beaches and recreational facilities under Miami-Dade’s jurisdiction.

He also signed an emergency order closing all non-essential retail and commercial establishments in the county by 9 p.m. Thursday, including casinos.

The mayor went on to say that he reached out to the Miccosukee Tribe, as Miami-Dade does not have jurisdiction over casinos run by tribes. Other non-essential establishments that must close by 9 p.m. include shops, beauty salons, spas and nail studios, sporting goods stores, book stores, jewelry stores and malls.

“I know that it must be frustrating that every day we have new closures, but it is necessary," Gimenez said.

The mayor emphasized that grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies and gas stations would remain open. Restaurant kitchens will remain open for pick-up and delivery only.

“Everyone should practice social distancing when going about their business at these stores,” Gimenez said.
Medical facilities, doctor offices, banks, child and adult day care centers will remain open “at this time," the mayor said. Gimenez also said that construction sites and hardware stores and pet supply stores can remain open.

8150

American Airlines takes a $1 billion loan “to strengthen our balance sheet”
From CNN’s Greg Wallace and Joshua Replogle

American Airlines CEO has told employees that the airline has taken out a $1 billion loan “to strengthen our balance sheet,” according to an email sent to employees obtained by CNN.

“Doug remains in Washington, DC, along with other airline CEOs, making the case for an aid package. Team member needs and our future are at the forefront of his motivation as he does this work, and more information will be coming soon,” the aid request stated while referring to CEO Doug Parker.

Earlier today: American Airlines said it was grounding nearly half of its fleet and canceling 55,000 flights next month, according to an internal message sent to employees obtained by CNN.

The airline also expects “demand to fall even more before it gets better," the message stated.

The striking numbers in an internal email from American Airlines President Robert Isom include a reduction of international flights by 75% and domestic flights by 30% in April, “with plans to reduce it even further in May.”

8151

Report from the front lines in Palm Beach County, Florida. Grocery stores today (ethnic Spanish market and a local but fairly large independent store) were well stocked and crowded. I bought plenty of fresh meat, produce, starches, and even bleach. No TP though (fortunately, we have plenty.) I estimate fewer than 5% of patrons were wearing either gloves or masks, checkout people had no protections. No one was observing more than 6ft distance. Publix also well stocked today of everything except paper products.

Barber shops open, but a little quiet. Got my hair cut and chatted awhile with a few 60-somethings about what life was like. Barber was 65, old Italian guy, seen it all. No one with any protections at all.

Gyms were open, but I couldn’t get there today.

If the virus is as bad as most seem to be saying, then we are nowhere near social distancing.

Others on this forum seem to report very different experiences. After reading above so many posts about house cleaners, I suspect that the economic skew here is quite high, and most live quite insulated lives. Could also be some regional bias as well.

8152

It’s an ABC? (levity!)

8153

Can’t get them even if you want to wear them.

Maybe stop contributing to the spread yourself with all your daily forays.

8154

Stopping the flights was a good decision but it wasn’t implemented well and many thousands got in even after the flights were supposedly stopped. We stayed narrowly focused on China instead of broadening to include the every spreading hot spot areas like Japan, (even Hong Kong didn’t initially get included although it is part of China), Italy, etc. We didn’t just not test well for 3 weeks, we are still not testing well now. We should have started testing in early January but certainly by late january. That’s about 2 months of wasted time. We had Trump minimizing the problem until a week or two ago, right? My state’s governor made plans since the end of December so I assume top CDC etc staff alerted Trump at that time as well, which makes it three months.

What he should have done was make a much better travel ban, should have had testing in place asap by getting already made kits. If that meant signing some executive order to override some existing red tape blocking that, he should have done so, or gotten the support of congress to do so. He should have gotten people off the diamond princess much sooner or else left everyone there, not brought healthy and infected people off together by people without proper gear, he should have used the whatever it is called that he just used - wartime degree or whatever - to ramp up masks and other protective gear for doctors and masks for the American public, as well as respirators, etc. He should have learned about the new cutting edge techniques the chinese used to oxygenate blood in tubes outside people’s bodies and pump it back into them to bring up the survival rate and prepared to do that here. He should have had detailed screening of people from hot spots at all airports (what is the TSA for?) he should have enacted the travel ban much sooner. He gave a lot of warning that it was going to happen and people left Wuhan before it started as a result. Not all quarantined when they got here. He should have urged America to take it seriously and learned the basics about it before talking on camera those many times and saying false information that his supporters took up as a political cause. He should have listened to experts in the field and followed their recommendations as he is finally doing now. He should have kept that Pandemic Response Team around. He should have upped the store of masks, etc when he was told a few years ago it was low. Lots of things he should have done that he didn’t. He also should have had the CDC be honest and transparent when reporting the numbers and been honest about the scarcity of masks and not had them say ‘masks don’t work’. They do work to prevent a person from spreading the virus and if we all wore them it would prevent the spread and protect us all. Duh! How did he get all the news agencies to spout this nonesense that ‘masks don’t work’?

I’m grateful that someone got through to him finally. I wonder who and how. Imagine if he was still pulling that ‘it’s no big deal’ routine now. Another week and it would be so much worse. It’s pretty late and we have dug a big hole for ourselves without enough resources. Scary situation.

8155

If we are being reasonable and honest, whether the virus was discussed in those February debates is not particularly indicative of downplaying by the candidates. As just one example, Elizabeth Warren released her plan to combat pandemics from infectious diseases such as coronavirus on January 28, 2020. Without belaboring the point, this was hardly downplaying the threat.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/28/elizabeth-warren-releases-public-health-plan-amid-coronavirus-outbreak.html

8156

This novel coronavirus is one of the most serious health threats faced by all of us, regardless where we reside or come from. The Chinese have the most relevant experience dealing with this virus, and they’re sharing it. We need every help we can get to defeat this disease. In the words of Sen. Bill Cassidy (Republican of Louisiana), a physician himself, on PBS last night when asked by host Judy Woodruff about Trump’s use of the term “Chinese virus”:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/sen-cassidy-on-why-americans-need-to-stay-home-amid-pandemic

8157

The number of coronavirus patients in Peru has risen by 61% in a single day, La República reports.

The president, Martin Vizcarra, announced that 89 new cases of Covid-19 had been reported, bringing the total in the the country to 234.

The region with the highest number of cases is Lima, followed by Lambayeque and Callao. Nineteen patients are in hospital, with seven in intensive care.

Peru has been on a strict lockdown since the beginning of the week, with a curfew in place between 8pm and 5am and cars ordered off the roads from today.

Videos shared on social media from the country have shown soldiers in armoured cars and carrying weapons patrolling the streets and people detained simply for taking out the rubbish.

Chloroquine, the malaria drug trumpeted by US president as a readily available potential cure for coronavirus, has not been approved by the FDA, Bloomberg reports.

“It’s been around for a long time, so we know that if things don’t go as planned it’s not going to kill anybody,” Trump said of the drug, as he suggested it could be quickly rolled out to patients in the country.

However, an FDA spokesman told Bloomberg it had not been approved for use in patients with the coronavirus.

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro announced today that the country will close borders with neighbouring countries Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru and Suriname to stifle the spread of COVID-19.

Bolsonaro, who has been highly criticized for his handling of the crisis that he previously dismissed as “fantasy”, closed the border with humanitarian crisis stricken Venezuela yesterday. A separate announcement is yet to be made regarding the border with Uruguay.

With a population of 210m, Brazil has so far confirmed at least 530 cases of COVID-19 with six related deaths, the majority in the country’s industrialised south east.

The Irish government has said 400,000 out of a workforce of 2.3m could lose their jobs as a result of the coronavirus crisis, the Irish Times reports.

Asked about dire projections from analysts about the potential impact of the outbreak on employment in the country, Regina Doherty, the minister for social protection, said: “It could potentially be as drastic.”

"We have not overused the word unprecedented in the past few days but it has been that.

We are in a very different place on our modelling compared to last week. [It is more] than the obvious industries that are affected …

Every day there is another industry that I did not expect to be affected…The numbers could potentially be as high as [predicted]."

Ireland’s has so far confirmed 366 coronavirus infections and two deaths. Five people in the country have recovered.

Guardian

8158

Are you posting about the family that had multiple family members die recently? Is this how you post about a tragedy like that? Do you not have compassion for them? Whether their actions of continuing to gather are the reason they got sick or not, at that time they got the disease many others in America were also still getting together with people socially and not just sticking around home alone. could have happened to many others and we are only fortunate if it didn’t.

8159

Nigeria’s economic hub, Lagos, has announced it is to shut schools and limit religious gatherings to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Schools in sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest city, with a population of about 20 million, are to close from Monday. At the same time, gatherings are to be limited to no more than 50 people. The announcement came after Burkina Faso announced the region’s first death from Covid-19.

Lagos state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu wrote on Twitter:

Babajide Sanwo-Olu
@jidesanwoolu
As a responsible government, we must take actions to protect our residents from physical and other potential threats. After consulting with our healthcare professionals over #COVID19, we are closing down schools and limiting religious gathering.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu
@jidesanwoolu
Replying to @jidesanwoolu
We are limiting gatherings and events to no more than 50 people and appropriate social distancing must be observed. The required government agencies will be monitoring. Let us take #COVID19 seriously and observe good personal hygiene and other recommended precautions.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu
@jidesanwoolu
Replying to @jidesanwoolu
Lagos holds a strategic position as a force for commerce, trade and travel so we are working with our healthcare professionals and our immigration agencies to strictly enforce the travel restrictions and other measures for #COVID19. Now is the time to be smart and stand together.

Nigeria, which with 200m people is Africa’s most populous nation, and its largest oil producer, has so far recorded just 12 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and is following other countries on the continent in ratcheting up its response to the global pandemic.

The central government on Wednesday announced an entry ban on 13 countries worst-hit by the new coronavirus. It also said it will slash billions of dollars in budget spending because of a collapse in crude prices.

Imposing the new restrictions on the chaotic and overcrowded streets of Lagos will be a major challenge for the authorities, according to AFP. The city is home to an array of so-called “megachurches” where thousands of worshippers typically gather each weekend for services.

Guardian

Coronavirus is impacting US military operations overseas
From CNN’s Ryan Browne and Barbara Starr

The coronavirus is impacting US military operations in places like Iraq and Afghanistan as measures to prevent its spread have led to major changes in both theaters.

In Iraq, the US-led training effort aimed at combating ISIS has been suspended “for 60 days as a precaution due to the global pandemic,” the United Kingdom Defense Ministry announced Thursday.

The UK, one of the larger contributors to the coalition in Iraq, also said that it would be returning some of its personnel back to the UK due to the pause.

Similarly, the US-led international coalition in Afghanistan has implemented a series of restrictions in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including “temporarily” pausing the movement of personnel movement into Afghanistan and delaying the return of some service members.

Such actions could complicate US plans to drawdown its forces level in Afghanistan to 8,600, a key aspect of the US-Taliban agreement that was signed late last month.

“In some cases these measures will necessitate some service members remaining beyond their scheduled departure dates,” Gen. Scott Miller, the commander of US and international forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

Some more background: US Army Col. Sonny Leggett, a spokesperson for US Forces Afghanistan, said in a tweet Wednesday that while the command was instituting screening and testing protocols to reduce the risk to personnel, he added that “we continue to execute the ordered drawdown to 8,600.”

8160

I’m confused. The article posted is about chicken shortages and redistributing the supply of chickens from restaurant supply chains to grocery store chains.