Coronavirus in the US

Parent Cafe
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Indonesia has turned its “Athlete’s Village” built for the 2018 Asian Games into an emergency hospital with a capacity to hold more than 4,000 patients, authorities said on Sunday, as coronavirus cases and deaths in the country rose.

Four out of 10 towers in the Athlete’s Village, located in the country’s capital city, have been converted into a medical facility that would house more than 7,000 people, including a coronavirus task force, medical staff and up to 4,208 patients.

“The ministry of state-owned enterprises will provide supplies for the emergency hospital to handle COVID-19, be it healthcare equipment, medicine, personal protection gear and masks,” the minister of state-owned enterprises, Erick Thohir, said in a statement.

On Saturday, Indonesia confirmed 81 new cases and 6 more deaths due to the virus, bringing the total number of cases to 450 and deaths to 38. Indonesia has the highest coronavirus death toll in Southeast Asia.

Spain’s prime minister has called for the European Union to roll out its own “Marshall Plan,” describing a program of public investment capable of countering the deep economic blow of the crisis.

The country has emerged as one of the hardest hit in Europe, with the death toll soaring to 1,720. The country has 28,572 confirmed cases – a number that is expected to rise in the coming days as expanded testing is rolled out.

Officials have warned that the worst is yet to come. “We’re in a critical moment, the days ahead will be hard,” the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said in a televised address on Saturday. “We have to ready ourselves psychologically and emotionally.”

Around 12% – or 3,475 of the confirmed cases – are doctors, nurses and others on the frontlines of the coronavirus battle, the head of Spain’s health emergency centre, Fernando Simón said Sunday. Earlier this week, Spain lost its first healthcare worker to the virus: A 52-year-old nurse from the Basque Country.

As the government scrambles to contain the virus, a near-total lockdown has been imposed with residents ordered to stay in their homes save for essential trips. Sánchez said on Sunday that he would seek to extend the emergency measures until 11 April.

He also announced additional measures, including a 30-day restriction on travellers arriving from non-EU countries, save for those on essential travel. As well, regional governments will be given the power to take control of private care homes amid concerns that the unchecked spread of the virus in care facilities could be linked to the deaths of at least 100 people.

While the country struggles to contain the virus, many worry about the economic impact it will have on a country where the unemployment rate already ranks among the highest in the industrialised world.

Praising the EU’s response to the crisis so far, Sánchez called for an EU-wide plan aimed at reinvigorating the economies of member states. “We need to articulate a grand Marshall Plan of reconstruction,” he said.

“Europe is at war against the coronavirus. And we have to respond with all of our weapons, with all our tools.”

Guardian

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I understand that you’re upset, but posting assumptions as fact isn’t helpful. FL has been receiving tests. And they’re collecting other supplies as well.

Florida has enough kits to test 250,000 people and will soon have enough to test 375,000 more. That’s 625,000 people, far more than the 4,000 you cited.

The difference between FL and NY is the number of tests they can process per day. FL has 3 public labs that can handle a total of 900 tests. NY has 28 labs that can handle 6,000. So in 5 days FL can manage ~4500 tests to NY’s ~30,000. It doesn’t mean NY has more tests than FL. They’re just processing the tests they do have faster.

But that should soon change. According to CNS News, Florida is “enlisting at least 50 private labs, which will take testing capacity to 6,000 a day.” So FL will be able to process the same number of tests per day as NY.

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Angela Merkel in quarantine

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in quarantine after a doctor who gave her a vaccine tests positive for coronavirus.

Merkel’s spokesman said the German chancellor, who is 65, was informed about the doctor’s test shortly after holding a news conference Sunday announcing new measures to curb the spread of the virus.

Her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Merkel had received a precautionary vaccine Friday against pneumococcal infection.

Seibert said in a statement that Merkel would undergo “regular tests” in the coming days and continue with her work from home for the time being.

Merkel had earlier expressed her gratitude to Germans who were following the rules on social distancing, saying it was important to remain at least 1.5 meters (about five feet) apart to reduce the likelihood of infection.

Greece’s prime minister has announced that as of 6 AM tomorrow a curfew will come into effect nationwide. In a televised address - his third in less than a week - Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the measure will prohibit “the circulation and movement of citizens” deemed to be “purposeless” - the strictest restriction, yet, in the fight to contain the novel coronavirus spreading further.

“It is perhaps the last step that an organised democratic state [can take],” he said. “ A step which must be taken in time, so that it is not taken in vain, because time isn’t counted, any more, in days but in hours,” he told the nation adding that in Italy, every two minutes, a life was now being lost to Covid-19.

Exceptions to the rule would be made for citizens going to and from work; for the provision of food and medicine; for visits to a doctor and for those who needed care; for those exercising individually, or with one other person, and for people walking dogs. Those travelling to their permanent place of residence would also be exempt from the measure.

But once enforced anyone out on the streets would have to have their passports or identity cards with them at all times, the centre right leader said insisting that the full force of the law would be imposed on those who violated the restriction. Fines of 150 euro will be given in the case of infractions.

Although Greece has managed to contain the spread of Covid-19 infections, numbers are going up and privately officials say they expect a big leap in the coming days. On Sunday, health authorities announced that in the past 24 hours there had been 94 new cases of people testing positive for the virus with a total of 624 confirmed coronavirus cases countrywide. To date, 15 people have died from the disease (with the exception of three, all men). Altogether 124 have been hospitalised with 34 requiring intensive care - double the figure over that released yesterday. Most of those who have contracted the virus are in Athens. The average age of those hospitalised is 64.

Greece was among the first EU member states to announce draconian measures to stem the virus, starting with the closure of schools on March 10, followed by the shutting of nightclubs, gyms, cinemas and theatres two days later and cafes, restaurants, bars and shopping malls on March 13. All retail shops were ordered closed on March 18. In his address, Mitsotakis thanked the vast majority of Greeks for upholding the restrictions, chastising the “frivolous few [who] undermine the safety of most.”

Greeks could be seen in droves converging on beaches on Saturday to enjoy the warm weather. A mass exodus of residents from Athens and other urban centres to villages in the countryside has also alarmed authorities who fear transmission rates spreading to remote areas nationwide.

Guardian

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Anheuser-Busch is making and distributing hand sanitizer.

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1- that’s a big if

2- giving it to critical patients wouldn’t disrupt the supply significantly and there’s little chance of a shortage

3- a few weeks without meds can turn us into one of those very unstable patients

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And Rand Paul is +

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rand-paul-becomes-first-known-senator-test-positive-coronavirus-n1166111

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Rand Paul tests positive. First US senator.

Submitted without commentary.

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It’ll be more than a few weeks.

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Is the US part of the EU ?

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Not a good age group. And he’s overweight. Sigh.

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The US cannot figure out how to get enough PPE to its own medical personnel. Now is not the time to be offering aid to any other country.

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Nearly 600 new confirmed cases in NJ in the last 24 hours for a total of 1,914 cases.

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This isn’t political. I have a big problem with someone who is symptomatic and who hasn’t had contact with a carrier getting a test when our medical professionals on the frontlines can’t get tests ?

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My understanding of the treatment regimens is that once you’ve got unstable pneumonia, it’s too late for antivirals. I invite others to chime in here, but from what I’ve learned, a person gets infected. Then, a few days later, the virus builds up in them, and they start having symptoms: some of headache, dry cough, fever, gastrointestinal symptoms. And then about a week later, their lungs start breaking down, which is what gives them the pneumonia. But by that time, it’s the body’s response, not the virus, that is causing the trouble. So at that point, getting rid of the virus doesn’t help, and the only thing we know how to do is symptomatic relief: help with breathing, respirator, in very bad cases ventilator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt-BzEve46Y
Starting at 39:00

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Five Spring Break Sociopaths from University of Tampa test positive. Gosh what a surprise.
https://www.wkbn.com/news/coronavirus/college-students-in-florida-test-positive-for-coronavirus-after-spring-break-trip/

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Yes, there are lupus patients, especially the ones with nephrotic syndrome/ kidney disease or carditis who may suffer from any interruption. Also, the joint pain, fatigue and rash may flare up, so the quality of life will be affected. The majority, though, will probably be safe even if they stop medication for a while.
I hope we will not end up in such a situation, since the manufacturers are ramping up production.
If my kid would be in the ICU intubated and fighting for his life and the physician would tell me they don’t have a potentially ( even experimental ) drug saving medication because they can’t divert it from a stable patient with rheumatological illness, I would be pretty devastated.
I pray we won’t have to make painful rationing decisions like in Italy.

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Rationing already occurs in our health-care system. I don’t think such rationing is good, but it’s helpful to recognize that it is common.

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About a third of the US adult population (all age groups) has high blood pressure, one of the risk factors for seriousness of COVID-19:

https://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@sop/@smd/documents/downloadable/ucm_319587.pdf

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Speaking of the EU, with member states sealing their borders and hard hit countries like Italy basically left to fend for themselves, I wonder what the long term effects of this catastrophe will be on the EU? Certainly, the old talk about “an ever closer Union” seems damn thin now. Then again, when this is over, maybe the rebuilding process will draw the member states closer together.

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It is nice for him when he does not have to worry about domestic public opinion so that he can score propaganda points elsewhere.