I read somewhere that one reason Italy recorded so many COVID-19 deaths was that they labeled everyone who died WITH a positive COVID - 19 test as dying OF COVID-19.
Maybe I’m just a terrible, heartless person, but I think they should adopt the “don’t rescuscitate any COVID patient” policy now. Look at the chance that the resuscitation works, versus the chance that it harms someone or a lot of people by either taking resources away from less sick people, or infecting a health worker. I am confident the analysis comes down on the side of not resuscitating. Resuscitating elderly or sick people is low percentage even in the best situation, and we’re far from the best situation.
I’m not sure where the best place to post this is, but here’s a good overview of the provisions pertaining to student loans in the Coronavirus relief package that just passed Congress: http://freestudentloanadvice.org/student-loan-strategies-for-those-affected-by-covid-19/. I also highly recommend this website as a good source of free advice on managing student loans.
That he changed his mind doesn’t mean he’s right this time, but…
[quote]
Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, who created the highly-cited Imperial College London coronavirus model, which has been cited by organizations like The New York Times and has been instrumental in governmental policy decision-making, offered a massive revision to his model on Wednesday.
Ferguson’s model projected 2.2 million dead people in the United States and 500,000 in the U.K. from COVID-19 if no action were taken to slow the virus and blunt its curve.
However, after just one day of ordered lockdowns in the U.K., Ferguson has changed his tune, revealing that far more people likely have the virus than his team figured. Now, the epidemiologist predicts, hospitals will be just fine taking on COVID-19 patients and estimates 20,000 or far fewer people will die from the virus itself or from its agitation of other ailments, as reported by New Scientist Wednesday.
Ferguson thus dropped his prediction from 500,000 dead to 20,000.[/quote}
THANK YOU! Every time President Trump tries to say something hopeful he is labeled as a liar. PLEASE stop. It is part of his job to try to be positive about this situation, bad as it is.
There are more than 1,600 coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania
From CNN’s Liz Stark
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is now reporting at least 1,687 cases of coronavirus in the state. Of those cases, 16 people have died.
A quarter of the cases are in Philadelphia County.
Coronavirus pandemic will likely be around “for 12 to 18 months,” Harvard doctor says
From CNN Health’s Jacqueline Howard
The coronavirus pandemic may not go away in just a few weeks or so, Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said during a Facebook Live Q&A on Thursday.
“This is not a virus that goes away in two weeks or four weeks or six weeks. We are going to be living with this, in one form or another, for 12 to 18 months if we are lucky,” Jha said, referring to how long some health officials have predicted it would take to develop a vaccine.
“Once we have a vaccine that’s effective and widely deployed we can bring the pandemic to an end,” Jha said. “Until that time, we are going to continue to have to confront and deal with the virus.”
Scientists around the world have been working on developing vaccines that are effective against the novel coronavirus and there are dozens in development.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general for the World Health Organization, said in February that a vaccine for the novel coronavirus could take 12 to 18 months.
Just last week, a vaccine trial in the United States announced that its first patient had received a dose.
CNN reported last week that a 100-page federal plan on how to tackle the coronavirus pandemic showed the Trump administration is making contingency plans for a pandemic that could stretch up to “18 months or longer” and could include “multiple waves of illness.”
More than 4,000 prisoners in Ethiopia pardoned to help prevent coronavirus spread
From CNN’s Bukola Adebayo
Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde has granted pardon to more than 4,000 prisoners in efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country.
Sahle-Work Zewde announced the order in a tweet on Wednesday and said it would help prevent overcrowding in prisons.
The directive only covers those given a maximum sentence of three years for minor crimes and those who were about to be released from jail, she said.
There are 12 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ethiopia, according to the World Health Organization on Wednesday.
Authorities in the nation have put in place a raft of measures including the closure of all borders except to those bringing in essential goods to contain the virus. The government has directed security officials to monitor and enforce a ban on large gatherings and overcrowded public transport to ensure social distancing.
Canada and US in discussions about placing American troops along border, Trudeau says
From CNN’s Paula Newton in Ottawa
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that the US is requesting American troops be placed within 20 miles of the US-Canada border to help with border surveillance, especially at irregular crossings.
Trudeau indicated his government did not believe that was necessary at this time, but that talks were ongoing.
“Canada and the United States have the longest un-militarized border in the world and it is very much in both of our interests for it to remain that way. We have been in discussions with the United States on this,” Trudeau said during a news conference outside his Ottawa home where he remains in quarantine.
[Why? Which means that of course Trump wants to militarize the southern border as well.]
Chicago beaches are closed, official says
CNN
Chicago’s Lakefront Trail and the city’s beaches have been closed to public access, according to Alderman Harry Osterman, who represents the 48th Ward, one of Chicago’s lakefront districts.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot yesterday urged individuals going to the Lakefront Trail to exercise, and not to congregate in large groups, or she would be forced to close the area.
“This order has been put in place to ensure social distancing between individuals and to help reduce the spread of COVID-19,” Osterman said in a statement.
Lightfoot is expected to speak at a daily coronavirus briefing this afternoon.
That’s in the noise.
We have an exponential process: deaths from a contagious disease. And then we have a constant process: deaths from expected causes. When we add these two together, we ignore the constant; it’s in the noise.
How do we know this is true in this case? Because we can see it. We see caravans of trucks carrying caskets. Do we see that in normal times? No.
Employee at FEMA headquarters in DC tests positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez
A federal employee working at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, DC, tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of a visit by Vice President Mike Pence and other members of his task force, according to a statement from the agency.
FEMA said the person who tested positive Tuesday did not “come within six feet of the Vice President or any other Task Force principal for any period of time.”
The statement said the agency conducted contact tracing to determine the areas of the FEMA headquarters building and the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) and compared it to the movements of task force principals in recent days.
“All areas visited by the Vice President and other Task Force members were disinfected prior to their visits,” the statement said.
FEMA said it will clean to make sure the “potentially affected workspace meets federal health and safety standards.”
I’m surprised by Niall Ferguson (Imperial College study guy) saying that British hospitals will be just fine taking in COVID patients. Demonstrably, hospitals in other parts of the world have not been just fine. Why does he think Britain is different? Their hospital capacity isn’t bigger.
Thank you for posting this. Does anyone know whether there are $10,000 forgiveness provisions, as per previous discussions?
No. His job is to be truthful or to step out of the way and let experts do the talking. Labeling the response a hoax and the media the “lame stream media” isn’t being hopeful. It’s being partisan.
Hopeful is “we’re doing our best to get PPE out by doing x, y, and z” not bold faced lying like we’ll have a vaccine within a month.
@tkoparent, the stats I’ve seen show that most of the COVID-19 deaths are of people with other health conditions, and those other conditions are lung issues (eg asthma, COPD), cardiac issues, and high blood pressure. I haven’t seen any analysis about whether people with untreated high blood pressure are less likely to die that people with treated blood pressure. So I don’t think we know whether the ACE inhibitor or the underlying disease is at fault.
Numbers out of Detroit might help disentangle this. African-Americans have a high rate of hypertension. I’m guessing that in Detroit, there are plenty of people with controlled high blood pressure and plenty with uncontrolled high blood pressure.
No, no $10k student loan forgiveness.
Ugh. You go Remdesivir
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2020/03/26/bates-college-lacrosse-jack-allard-coronavirus
“The rules don’t apply to me” syndrome. Curious (or perhaps typical?) since they MAKE the rules…
Yes, that’s him. Thanks for asking! She is still on campus at the American University of Beirut. Of course, she’s upset that his mid-April flight to Beirut has been canceled, but she’s glad he’s safe.
He’ll be working one-on-one with an elderly woman in her home, so I’m not too worried. We will keep distance between him and his dad.
re: payments to families, per the WSJ:
FYI, WaPo has a calculator to figure out your estimated payment:
Good god. This is awful news.
My 86 year old mother called me from 1200 miles away to remind me she has a DNR. She’s seen resuscitation efforts on her now deceased husband. And wants no part of it.