Thank you for posting that. Very interesting information.
The death rate will go down when more positives get tested. Many many mildly infected people are not being tested. Look to South Korea who had the widest testing models for accurate numbers. Their population skews younger though. So the real rate my be slightly higher than them.
I am not really interested in the death rate. The rate of hospitalization is the crux. That is where our system is stressed.
edited to fix a typo
The author totally skips over the part about hospitalizations. The death rate is usually relatively low (high, but relatively low) when hospitals can handle the loads going to them. Between 10 and 20% end up getting hospitalized and those aren’t just the old/infirm. The death rate increases when hospitals are overwhelmed due to lack of beds and supplies. People die who really didn’t “need” to die from it. In Italy over 60 doctors have died so far from what I’ve read. Do that many really die in a given year from illnesses they catch at the hospital? I have my doubts.
Do we want that here? I don’t.
Not sure I trust the IMHE site showing # of beds needed, available, etc. I have been watching WA and IN since I first saw the link on cc.
In recent days, IN’s need dropped from 10,458 to 3,338. By 2/3, really? Similar drop in ICU beds. That seems particularly difficult to believe, especially as Indianapolis and several SE counties were identified as “hotspots”.
I looked up surrounding states this morning. Some of OH #s appeared off. For both IN and OH, the numbers weren’t close to what the governors are/were reporting.
Just for the record, WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on 3/11/20.
Ann Taylor, Loft and Neiman Marcus furlough thousands of employees amid store closures
From CNN’s Kate Trafecante and Jordan Valinksy
Retailers Ann Taylor, Loft, Lane Bryant and Neiman Marcus will furlough staff as the companies extend store closures due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ascena, the owner of Ann Taylor, Loft and Lane Bryant, announced Monday it made the “extremely difficult decision” to furlough all of its store associates and half of its corporate employees as it extends temporary store closures.
That amounts to roughly 45,000 employees, according to figures from a regulatory filing. The remaining corporate employees will have their salaries reduced by as much as 45%.
“Impacting our associates is one of the most difficult decisions we have ever had to make as an organization," Ascena CEO Gary Muto said in a statement.
Neiman Marcus also announced it will furlough a “large portion” of its roughly 14,000-strong workforce as it prolongs store closures through at least April 30.
Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck said in a statement that he’s not taking his salary during the time period and that is direct reports are also waiving a “significant amount” of their salaries.
“While these are the most difficult decisions to make, our focus is on ensuring our business is protected over the long-term so we can continue serving our associates and customers,” van Raemdonck added.
Neiman Marcus and Ascena are the latest retailers to announce they would furlough the majority of their retail staff, following in the footsteps of Macy’s, Kohl’s, Gap and JCPenney.
Louisiana governor extends stay-at-home order for another month
From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said he will sign a proclamation later this week extending the state’s stay-at-home order until April 30.
Since last Thursday, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals have doubled, and the number of patients on ventilators have doubled as well in that time frame, he said.
Today the state reported an additional 1,212 cases and 54 deaths, which Edwards called “sobering”
His proclamations will also limit funeral services to crowds of 10.
Edwards said that Region 1 — which includes New Orleans — could hit capacity on ventilators by Saturday and hospital space by April 7.
California unemployment climbs to 1.6 million people during pandemic
From CNN’s Cheri Mossburg
While Californians are under stay home orders and businesses are closed, about 1.6 million people have filed for unemployment, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced at a press conference today.
More than 150,000 people filed for unemployment on Monday alone, the governor said.
“We’re going to have to do more to meet this moment for employees and employers,” Newsom said.
Newsom promised more to come on how his administration is planning to help small businesses, noting “the small businesses are in our heart and mind.”
I really appreciate your post and those who clicked agree or like. I do feel terribly guilty about it and sick about thinking of those who need masks not having them. I would have given them away by now but my doctor told me a month ago to not give them to anyone and keep them because I would probably need them. I heard her words when I thought of giving them away. My husband and I have discussed it and both feel similarly. Others with immune deficiency all told me I’m not the problem and I should keep them as I am in the ‘need to have them’ group. Doesn’t feel good, though. Your post was very nice. Thanks!
I’m working very very hard to not want to think they deserve to drop dead right now. I remind myself that I am a good person and don’t wish ill health or death on anyone, no matter how sociopathic they are.
But they chose to prioritize their selfish desires, and people are going to die because of it. Nice job, Spring Break Murderers. OK, fine, it’s only manslaughter because they didn’t intentionally kill people. Nice job, Spring Break Killers. I hope you’re covered in shame, and I hope everyone knows your names so they can shun you.
Michigan is reporting 1,117 additional Covid-19 cases and 75 additional deaths.
The state now has a total of 259 deaths and 7,615 cases, according to the state’s website.
[Seems like a fairly high death rate vs. other places in the country. ]
There are nearly 7,000 coronavirus cases in California
From CNN’s Cheri Mossburg
The number of Covid-19 cases in California is nearing 7,000, with 150 deaths as a result of the disease.
To date, at least 6,932 people have been infected, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Of those, about 17% are hospitalized. The number of people in intensive care units, 657, has increased by 10% since yesterday, the governor said.
These current numbers represent a doubling in the number of people hospitalized in just the past five days, Newsom emphasized, and a tripling of those in the ICU.
“Stay home. Take this seriously,” the governor tweeted.
US Department of Defense still hasn’t been told where to send its ventilator stockpile
From CNN’s Barbara Starr and Michael Conte:
Despite having committed to transferring 2,000 ventilators in military stocks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the coronavirus, none of the ventilators have been shipped by the Department of Defense because the agencies have not asked for them or provided a shipping location, the Pentagon’s top logistics official said Tuesday.
In order to ship the badly needed equipment, the Defense Department has to have a location from civilian authorities who have to decide where the items are most needed.
“There was discussion with HHS on where to send them. And then they said hey wait, we’re trying to take a look at the demand that’s required, and so we were asked to just wait while there was just some sorting through on that. And I won’t speak on behalf of them, but we were in a position to provide 2,000,” said Lt General Giovanni Tuck.
Tuck said he had no details on the HHS decisions, but added “we haven’t provided any, because as of last night, we were asked to just hold on the ones that we have, and then we will push them when they’re ready for them.”
Tuck emphasized there are 1,000 ventilators now fully ready to be immediately shipped as soon as the Pentagon gets a destination of where to send them. The other 1,000 can also be assembled and shipped within days of getting the order he indicated.
Civilian Pentagon officials have publicly said they were making ventilators and five million N-95 respirator masks available. However, so far only 1.5 million masks have been shipped by DoD. Another 500,000 are to be shipped within days. But HHS and FEMA have given DoD no indication of when or where they precisely want the other 3 million items to go.
Thanks for that correction. I guess it took a few days for it to sink in, especially since the WHO kept on delaying making it official despite it being obvious. I had contemplated cancelling his surgery but ultimately decided that if his dental surgeon felt comfortable proceeding that we would go ahead. Things were very much still in flux at that point. If we had cancelled who knows how long it would be before it could be rescheduled.
In any case my point was how much I hate wearing masks. I couldn’t imagine being a health care professional who is required to wear one all the time.
Makeshift coronavirus hospital will open at New York City tennis center
CNN
The Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens, New York, will soon house 350 hospital beds, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The makeshift hospital facility will take patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 but do not need ICU care from Elmhurst Hospital in order to relieve some of the pressure from the hospital, de Blasio said. It should be operational next week.
Some context: Elmhurst Hospital has been at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
Images from the besieged hospital — only seven miles from where President Trump was raised in Jamaica Estates — had a sobering effect on the President this week as he was mulling options for returning Americans to work, people familiar with the matter said.
At least 380 New Jersey police officials have tested positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Sheena Jones
At least 383 New Jersey police officials across the force have tested positive for coronavirus, police officials said at a press conference with Gov. Phil Murphy today.
About 3,081 New Jersey police officials are under quarantine, he said.
Pennsylvania adds more counties to stay-at-home order
From CNN’s Konstantin Toropin
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has added seven additional counties to the stay-at-home order, making it now 33, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said at a press conference today.
The stay-at-home order for the counties is in effect until April 30.
The state currently has 4,843 coronavirus cases and 63 deaths.
Additional US troops will shore up US-Mexico border crossings
From CNN’s Ryan Browne
The Pentagon on Monday approved a Department of Homeland Security request for additional personnel on the southern border to help DHS cope with potential coronavirus related issues, a US defense official told CNN.
The number of additional troops is expected to be about 540. The US military personnel will be performing similar missions to those currently being performed by forces on the US-Mexico border.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration limited nonessential travel on the US-Mexico border.
Louisiana pastor who led 1,000-person service charged with violating state’s order on large gatherings
From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch
Mark Anthony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Central, Louisiana, was charged today with six counts of violating the governor’s executive order not to hold gatherings larger than 50 people, the Central Police Department announced in a statement on Facebook.
On Sunday, Spell said his church in Baton Rouge drew about 1,000 people to its services, in part by busing people in from across five parishes.
“Mr. Spell will have his day in court where he will be held responsible for his reckless and irresponsible decisions that endangered the health of his congregation and our community. This is not an issue over religious liberty, and it’s not about politics. We are facing a public health crisis and expect our community’s leaders to set a positive example and follow the law,” the police department said in its statement.
Some context: This is not the first instance of someone getting charged for violating the order. Over the weekend, New Orleans police charged the organizer and bandleader of a second line after a funeral in the city.
JCPenney furloughs a majority of its hourly employees
From CNN’s Jordan Valinsky
JCPenney is the latest major retailer to furlough thousands of employees, joining Macy’s, Kohl’s and the Gap.
The department store said it has made the “difficult decision to temporarily furlough the majority of store hourly associates.”
JCPenney also said a “significant portion” of its corporate employees will also be placed on leave. The company had about 90,000 employees as of February 1.
Affected employees will continue to receive the company-provided healthcare.
“At JCPenney, we are making tough, prudent decisions to protect both the safety of our associates and the future of our company,” CEO Jill Soltau said.
The company also said its stores remained closed. However, its website is still operational for orders.
Former tennis champion Patrick McEnroe tests positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Homero DeLaFuente
Patrick McEnroe, the 16-time men’s doubles champion and current ESPN tennis broadcaster, confirmed he has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.
The 53-year-old former US Davis Cup captain broke the news of his positive test in a video posted on Twitter saying he first started feeling mild symptoms around 10 to 11 days ago.
McEnroe, the younger brother of eight-time major champion John McEnroe, said he was tested at a drive-through in upstate New York and received the positive results on Tuesday.
“The good news is I feel fine. My symptoms have passed,” said the former champ adding, “I feel 100 percent.”
Patrick McEnroe added: “We’ve been on full quarantine, our entire house now, for well over two weeks. I encourage everyone to do the same. Let’s get this thing. Let’s nail this thing. I’m an example of someone who has been able to fight through it. I’m doing absolutely fine. Thoughts and prayers to people who are struggling with this.”
Rhode Island governor says the state does not have enough hospital beds
From CNN’s Carma Hassan
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo announced at a news conference today that four more people have died from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths in the state to eight.
She said the state has 86 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases to 488.
“We’re in a rapid spread phase of the virus,” Raimondo said. “I’m going to be very clear about this. Right now, in this country, we do not have enough ventilators to meet our needs. We do not have enough masks and respirators and goggles to meet our needs. In the state of Rhode Island, we do not have enough hospital beds. That’s a fact. That’s a brutal fact, it’s a fact."
The governor said she needs everyone to stay at home and to practice social distancing to “buy a little time to ready the system.”
“More testing, more beds, more ventilators, more doctors,” she said.
No matter the true numbers of those infected and the fatality rate among all of them including those with no symptoms, the fatality rate of those who get sick is high, and so is the percent of people who get sick and then need hospitalization. That’s a big problem. The flu doesn’t cause this level of flooding of hospitals. Depending on the age group, this disease has a very, very high fatality rate. Over 80 and over 90 is super high. Over 60 and 70 are not great, either.
@“Cardinal Fang” I truly think most of those young people did not think their actions would result in others dying in a way that was really meaningful to them (that they could fully believe and conceptualize).
Texas governor issues statewide stay-at-home order
From CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a state-wide executive order requiring all Texans to minimize non-essential gatherings and in-person contact with people who are not in the same household.
The executive order called Essential Services and Activities Protocols is essentially a stay-at-home order aimed at minimizing the spread and transmission of Covid-19.
The order goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. local time on April 2 and will end on April 30, Abbott said.
Texas reports 41 deaths from Covid-19
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a press conference today, “With heavy heart, I share with you that we have now lost 41 Texans to fatality connected with Covid-19.”
Gov. Abbott said that as of noon local time, 3,266 Texans have tested positive for coronavirus of the 42,922 who have taken the test, which he noted was “less than 10%.”
He added that 2.4% of the total hospital beds across Texas specifically delegated to Covid-19 were occupied, while the large remainder are vacant.
Wisconsin is moving forward with primary next week despite coronavirus concerns
From CNN’s Eric Bradner
Wisconsin is moving forward with plans to hold its primary election next Tuesday, creating a chaotic scenario that’s left state and local election officials scrambling to hold a primary in the middle of a pandemic.
Wisconsin elections officials are trying to keep up as absentee ballots surge, poll workers drop out and supplies are in short demand a week away from a primary in which in-person voting is still set to proceed — despite Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order and 1,351 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the state as of this afternoon.
Other states with April primaries have postponed them or shifted those contests to vote-by-mail only.
But in Wisconsin, the governor has said he won’t delay the election. Republicans who control the state legislature have enacted strict voter identification laws in recent years, meanwhile, are refusing Evers’ request — made last week, 11 days before the election — to quickly enact a law that would send absentee ballots to every voter in the state.
This has left some Wisconsin voters to decide between exercising their constitutional right to vote and their safety and local election officials searching for poll workers and supplies. And a last-minute flurry of lawsuits — five were filed in recent days — could still change the rules.
“The Wisconsin election will be like nothing anyone alive has ever experienced,” said Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. “Everyone involved in this election is scrambling to try to make democracy work in an impossible situation.”
He definitely is, but his shortage of beds is due to NY’s decades-old planning process. Over the past xx years, NYS has been purposely reducing hospital beds, in NYC and across the state. They have fewer ICU beds (and vents) per capita by State design.
And now he wants other states to cough up their equipment? hmmmm
Yeah, that’s what drunk drivers say too. I don’t care. They’re adults, not babies, and they need to take responsibility for the foreseeable and foreseen consequences of their actions. Those sociopaths are going to kill a lot of people because of their selfish reckless conduct. They’re despicable (so are the Spring Break Sociopaths that went to Florida) and they should be shunned.
California governor believes coronavirus peak will come mid-May
From CNN’s Cheri Mossburg
Based on modeling in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom says the peak number of cases in hospitals throughout the state will come in mid-May.
Preparations for a potential surge of 50,000 needed hospital beds are underway with an expectation that about 10,000 of those beds will be in intensive care units, requiring ventilation support.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s Health and Human Services secretary, says the model takes into account how residents perform with physical distancing efforts across the state.
Over in Greece authorities have announced that an asylum seeker has contracted coronavirus, in what has been the first case of a refugee testing positive for the potentially lethal disease since the outbreak of the virus at the end of February.
Manos Logothetis, a senior official at the migration ministry, told the Guardian that a woman was diagnosed with the virus two days after giving birth in an Athens hospital on 28 March.
She may well have contracted it in the hospital. We are still awaiting the results as to whether the baby has also tested positive.
The woman, accommodated in a migrant camp hosting up to 2,500 people on the Greek mainland, remained in the hospital.
As the first recorded case among tens of thousands of migrants and refugees living in vastly overcrowded holding facilities in the country, the news has been received with trepidation. More than 42,000 men, women and children are currently held in reception centres on the five Aegean islands – Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos – facing the Turkish coast.
Appalling conditions in the camps provide what medics fear are exceptionally high-risk environments for Covid-19 to spread. “Authorities are tracing her recent contacts,” the health ministry spokesman and infectious diseases expert, Sotiris Tsiodras, told reporters on Tuesday. A man who lived with the woman had tested negative, he said.
To date, Greek officials have confirmed 1,314 cases of coronavirus. The Covid-19 death toll currently stands at 49 – much lower than in other European countries.
Of the 102 new cases reported overnight, 20 had originated from the staff of a passenger ship, chartered by a US cruise operator, and anchored off Piraeus. (Guardian)
Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Martinique and Barbados have refused to accept the medical evacuation of two critically ill passengers from a stranded coronavirus-stricken cruise ship, according to the vessel’s owner, Erin McCormick and Patrick Greenfield write.
Four people have died, nine people have tested positive for Covid-19 and dozens of people are ill with flu-like symptoms on the Zaandam and the Rotterdam, which are traveling towards Florida two attempt to dock.
William Burke, chief maritime officer for the boats’ owners Carnival Corporation, made the disclosure about critically ill passengers while answering questions about plans to enter Port Everglades, which have so far not been approved.
On Monday, a rescue plane carrying medical supplies was banned from landing on a remote Columbian island in order to resupply the Zaandam, which is carrying dozens of sick passengers and crew.
Burke told commissioners that coming to Fort Lauderdale was a “place of last resort after being turned away by several Latin American countries.
After the first session of the meeting, Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief told that Guardian that while there may be opponents to the plan to allow the ships to dock, she thinks the plan proposed by Carnival is ultimately a workable approach.
“This is Carnival using their resources to get people home. The county commissioners can’t turn a ship away. They can say what they want. But it’s ultimately up to the county administrator and the Unified Command whether to let the ship come in.”
She said most of the calls she is getting from the public are from those who want the county to rescue the passengers.
“Most people want us to give humanitarian aid, which is something American is known for. I don’t know how, if there are Americans aboard, we would turn these people away.” (Guardian)
In my opinion, Florida will be the state that, in the end, has the most fatalities. They are not taking it seriously - and haven’t since the beginning. Very elderly population, and a very LARGE population. Tons of visitors. The only thing they have going for them is the heat and humidity - hopefully that helps.