COVID-19 day 78 : 📈 399,886 cases; 12,907 deaths : 07 April 2020
Almost 2,000 official deaths, a record for any country (but we are the 3rd largest by population); Trump fired the head of the Congressional panel to oversee the COVID-19 package; Wuhan is open
It’s day 78 since the first case of coronavirus disease was announced in the United States. Today’s total deaths attributed to coronavirus via testing, 1918, “a new global high for the number of deaths linked to the virus in one country in a single day.”
Today’s total also passed the average number of our daily deaths attributed to heart disease, the number one cause of death in America. (Rewind the chart.) Rather than being spread across 50 states, however, about half were clustered in New York and New Jersey. A quarter were in eight other states.
But this is not the full picture. In New York City, people are dying in their homes, like Wuhan, China earlier this year.
The FDNY says it responded to 2,192 cases of deaths at home between March 20th and April 5th, or about 130 a day, an almost 400 percent increase from the same time period last year…
To alleviate pressure on hospitals, last week the council that oversees emergency responders told paramedics and EMTs to try to revive a person whose heart has stopped beating in the field. If they can’t do so, the person is not taken to a hospital for further care.
“We had one lieutenant in his 16-hour tour respond to 11 cardiac arrests, which is beyond abnormal,” said Michael Greco, vice president of Local 2507, the union representing the Fire Department’s EMTs and paramedics. On Sunday, they fielded 187 calls for cardiac arrest, where they would have to try to revive people on site. They used to get 20 of those a day, he said.
If these people have not been tested, their deaths will not be incorporated into official statistics.
In Florida, seasonal flu tests results declined in March, which is normal. But “hospital emergency rooms simultaneously reported a spike in patients complaining of flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough and sore throat,” according to the Miami Herald.
What did state leaders do? “Stop posting the data on patients with flu-like symptoms in its weekly surveillance reports.” Florida did not issue a stay-at-home order until 01 April, effective Friday 03 April.
Thursday, Johns Hopkins reported 399,886 (368,376) cases and 12,907 (10,989) deaths in the US, an increase of 8.6 and 17.5 percent, respectively, since Monday.
That case rate is 120.81 per 100,000; the death rate is 38.99 per million.
One week ago, the case rate was 57.29 per 100,000, and the death rate, 12.33 per million.
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🤓Recommended reading
A Nurse Bought Protective Supplies for Her Colleagues Using GoFundMe. The Hospital Suspended Her. ProPublica, 07 April 2020.
'It's like nothing else': Klobuchar, husband talk about his battle with coronavirus. NBC News, 07 April 2020.
'Make them smile’: Houston doctor gives hope, humor while treating coronavirus patients. KPRC Houston, 06 April 2020.
🎦Recommended viewing
Tribute to John Prine, RIP. Coronavirus-like symptoms after European tour.
💃🏼Life hack
Do You Have COVID-19 or Just Spring Allergies?
University of Washington Medicine reviews the overlap between COVID-19 and spring allergy season and outlines the differences.
🌐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
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 is Wyoming.
Epidemiological models suggest that we are flattening the curve during this first wave of coronavirus, according to Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Tuesday’s assessment forecasts approximately 81,766 deaths (range is 49,431 to 136,401) by August and rests on the assumption that stay at home orders will not be relaxed.
Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation has donated $350,000 to four charities focused on coronavirus relief: Crew Nation, Direct Relief, Feeding America, and USBG National Charity Foundation.
🏠 Shelter in place
Effective 5 pm on Wednesday, South Carolina became a stay-at-home state. There are only five governors who have completely ignored the need to lockdown: AK, IA, ND, NE, and SD. Three have imposed some restrictions: OK, UT, WY.
⓶ Around the world
The number of affected countries/territories/areas jumped from 29 at the end of February to 206 today (added São Tomé and Príncipen). 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.
In China, the 11 million residents of Wuhan have emerged from a 76-day lockdown. At midnight on Wednesday, residents could leave the city for the first time since 23 January, so long as their “health code” is green.
In New Zealand, less than two weeks after imposing a lockdown, the number testing positive has dropped two days in a row even though testing is on the rise.
After peaking at 89 on April 2, the daily number of new cases ticked down to 67 on Monday and 54 on Tuesday. The vast majority of cases can be linked to international travel, making contact tracing relatively easy, and many are consolidated into identifiable clusters.
This was the reason that the Imperial College London report was so important:
I don’t know if there is any international framework that could be used to investigate what appears to be, at a minimum, active and massive incompetence in the UK and US. But if there is, I want it to happen. Because any internal investigation would be dismissed as politically biased, given the current state of affairs.
⓷ Politics, economics and COVID-19
President Trump has removed the chairman of the federal panel that Congress created to oversee management of the $2 trillion stimulus package.
After relieving USS Theodore Roosevelt commander Brett Crozier, Acting Secretary of the Navy Modly has resigned following a diatribe on board ship, which is at port in Guam. Crozier, who has subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, had pleaded for help with the outbreak on his ship.
Modly had apparently never heard of the Streisand Effect, as he had demanded that sailors not talk to the media. Instead, they sent audio files of his profanity-laced speech to the media.
He had held the position for 4.5 months.
The CDC has radically edited the webpage "Information for Clinicians on Therapeutic Options for COVID-19 Patients" by removing all of the hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine language President Trump has been referencing (01 April 2020 screen cap). Other content has been significantly cut, as well, as you can see.
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: 1 279 722 confirmed (68766 - new) with 72 614 deaths (5020 - new)
The Americas: 384 242 confirmed (31650 - new) with 11 097 deaths (1417 - new)
Johns Hopkins interactive dashboard (11.00 pm Pacific)
Global confirmed: 1,431,375 (1,348,184)
Total deaths: 82,145 (74,834)
Total recovered: 301,417 (284,802)
🇺🇸 07 April
CDC: 374,329 (330,891) cases and 12,064 (8,910) deaths
Johns Hopkins*: 399,886 (368,376) cases and 12,907 (10,994) deaths
State data*: 393,698 (363,220) identified cases and 12,709 (10,847) 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.
📝 Subscribe to Kathy’s Daily Memo :: Daily Memo archives
🦠 COVID-19 @ WiredPen.com