COVID-19 day 77 : 📈 368,376 cases; 10,989 deaths : 06 April 2020
Our case rate is now 1/10,000; Japan to issue state of emergency; India's cases quadruple; which billionaire is behind the hydroxychloroquine push; are you wearing your gloves right?
It’s day 78 since the first case of coronavirus disease was announced in the United States. We’ve crossed two psychological thresholds: total deaths exceed 10,000 and the case rate is now 1.1 per 10,000.
There is not a lot to tie these five states together except this grim ranking. The New York City metropolitan area is the most densely populated “city” in the country; it encompasses both New York and New Jersey. Louisiana income is below the national average, and its residents exhibit a greater than average load of health conditions, which is also the case in Detroit. Connecticut is the fourth most densely populated state in the country.
Thursday, Johns Hopkins reported 368,376 (337,637) cases and 10,989 (9,647) deaths in the US, an increase of 9.1 percent and 13.9 percent, respectively, since Sunday.
That case rate is 111.29 per 100,000 or 1.1 per 10,000; the death rate is 29.41 per million.
One week ago, the case rate was 50 per 100,000, and the death rate, 9.58 per million.
The World Health Organization Director-General and the International Monetary Fund Managing Director reiterated the importance of saving lives and saving livelihoods in a press conference and joint op-ed on 03 April (today’s briefing report):
At face value there is a trade-off to make: either save lives or save livelihoods. This is a false dilemma – getting the virus under control is, if anything, a prerequisite to saving livelihoods…
Our joint appeal to policymakers, especially in emerging market and developing economies, is to recognise that protecting public health and putting people back to work go hand-in-hand.
Although the appeal might be directed at the developing the world, the squeakiest wheel comes from the world’s third largest country by population, the United States.
But clearly there are challenges worldwide:
Never in the 75 years history of the institution have so many countries – 85 so far – found themselves in need of IMF emergency financing.
🤓Recommended reading
I got Covid-19 and got lucky. The emotional impact hurt more. STAT News, 03 April 2020.
It’s hardly Shocking the Navy Fired a Commander for Warning of Coronavirus Threat. It’s Part of a Pattern. ProPublica, 04 April 2020.
‘You’re basically right next to the nuclear reactor.’ Cory Deburghgraeve, on performing one of the pandemic’s most dangerous jobs. Washington Post, 05 April, 2020.
Modeling, a thread from UW’s Carl T.Bergstrom.
💃🏼Life hack
Have you been using your gloves wrong? I have because I put them on before I got in the car and then kept them on until I got home. Ooops. Not on Twitter? Threadreader is your friend. (No relation that we know of!)
🌐Global news:
Financial Times /New Straits Times / New York Times / South China Morning Post / The Age / The Globe and Mail / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post // CIDRAP / STAT News // ProPublica / The Atlantic / The Conversation / The Economist // ABC News (Australia) / ABC News (US) / BBC News / CBC / CBS News / CNBC / CNN / C-SPAN / NBC News
⓵ Around the country
This animation made with Flourish may help to visualize the impact of exponential growth. It is not intended to be a one-to-one comparison (those are annual data divided by 365) but it does show the scale in context of more familiar diseases. A reminder that people diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized may be there for weeks. I encourage you to click or tap the image to run the animation.
All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands have identified COVID-19 cases. The only state with no reported deaths remains Wyoming.
Alteon Health, which employs more than 1,700 doctors and other medical workers nationwide, said Sunday it won’t cut medical directors’ stipends by 20%, as planned, and will continue offering paid time off, which it had said would stop.
Washington, Oregon and California governors are sending ventilators to the Strategic National Stockpile and New York. Governor Jay Inslee is returning 500 of the 1,000 the state received earlier:
I've said many times over the last few weeks, we are in this together. This should guide all of our actions at an individual and state level in the coming days and weeks.
Governor Gavin Newsom is loaning 500 ventilators, and Oregon Governor Kate Brown is sending 140 directly to New York.
Good news Washington: early projections of hospitalization and fatality rates rested on an assumption that cases might double each week; “fortunately that has not occurred,” Inslee said.
Twelve members of the New York City Police Department have died of suspected cases of coronavirus. As of Monday night, 6,974 officers — 1-in-5 officers — were out sick.
⓶ Around the world
The number of affected countries/territories/areas jumped from 29 at the end of February to 205 today (added South Sudan). Although early reports tied the outbreak to a seafood (“wet”) market in Wuhan, China, analyses of genomic data suggest that the virus may have developed elsewhere.
Japan's Prime Minister may declare a state of emergency as soon as Tuesday, but says he is not likely to order a lockdown. Estimated stimulus: $1 trillion.
Cases in India cases have quadrupled in a week. The Los Angeles Times reports that India’s health system is becoming overloaded.
In the UK, Boris Johnson has been moved into ICU.
In Italy, health officials have extended lockdowns until after Easter.
Health minister Robert Speranza said it's too early to say when the lockdown will be lifted, but he envisioned a "phase two" in which restrictions could begin to be eased. Social distancing would remain, with wider use of protection such as face masks, and health systems would be better equipped to more quickly diagnose and manage COVID-19. Testing and contact tracing would be expanded, possibly with help from phone apps, and a network of hospitals would be reserved to treat those with COVID-19.
⓷ Politics, economics and COVID-19
In the United States, widespread reports of delays in business access to COVID-19 relief loans.
It took Matthias Knauer only a minute or two to complete and scan the single-page form for a liquidity lifeline from the Swiss government. About 30 minutes after sending it, the money was in his company’s account.
WHO remains concerned that civilian use of medical masks will reduce the supply of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers.
In Georgia, the Secretary of State is mailing an absentee ballot to every registered voter for the May primary. Every. Voter. This is unprecedented. If Georgia can do this six weeks in advance, every state should be able to do this in November.
White House economic adviser Peter Navarro has sent two memos warning colleagues about the risk of COVID-19. In January, he estimated it could result in more than than half a million American lives and cost close to $6 trillion. By late February, in his second memo, he warned that 2 million might die.
Who is behind the push to green light hydroxychloroquine, other than Navarro? Sludge reports:
On March 26, Job Creators Network, a conservative dark money nonprofit, launched a petition, a series of Facebook ads, and a blast text message campaign calling on Trump to “cut the red tape” and immediately make hydroxychloroquine available to treat patients.
“There is clear and ever-mounting evidence that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine can significantly help patients who contract coronavirus,” the petition states, despite the lack of rigorous clinical testing…
The Job Creators Network was founded in 2011 by billionaire Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, a major GOP donor who spent more than $7 million through outside groups to help elect Trump in 2016. Marcus has said that he plans to spend part of his fortune to help re-elect Trump in 2020.
⓸ Case count
There is a lag between being contagious and showing symptoms, between having a test and getting its results. The virus was not created in a lab.
🌎 07 April
Globally: 1 210 956 confirmed (77200) 67 594 deaths (4810)
The Americas: 352 592 confirmed (36878) 9680 deaths (1493)
Johns Hopkins interactive dashboard (11.00 pm Pacific)
Global confirmed: 1,348,184
Total deaths: 74,834
Total recovered: 284,802
🇺🇸 07 April
CDC: 330,891 (304,826) cases and 8,910 (7,616) deaths
Johns Hopkins*: 368,376 (337,637) cases and 10,994 (9,647) deaths
State data*: 363,220 (333,547) identified cases and 10,847 (9,558) deaths
View infographic and data online: total cases, cases/100,000 and deaths/million.
* Johns Hopkins data, 11 pm Pacific.
State data include DC, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands
See US (state/territory) total cases, cases/100,000 and deaths/million as infographics.
⓹ What you can do
Stay home as much as possible, period.
Digestive problems may be a symptom.
Resources
👓 See COVID-19 resource collection at WiredPen.
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🦠 COVID-19 @ WiredPen.com