COVID-19 day 79 : 📈 432,132 cases; 14,808 deaths : 08 April 2020
NY has more cases than Italy, with only one-third the population; federal government to shut down community testing sites on Friday; KS legislature overturns Governor order to tighten group size limit
It’s day 79 since the first case of coronavirus disease was announced in the United States. And sometimes, the day’s news shakes me to my core.
The population of Italy is 60.63 million. The population of New York is 19.54 million. And yet New York has more cases of coronavirus than Italy, even though the first identified case in New York was almost a month later (31 January to 28 February).
Data from the Next Strain project tracks the genome of the virus. Fast Company featured the project in March, noting that COVID-19 cases on the east coast “include strains from Washington state, China, and Europe.” Today Bloomberg and the NY Times reported that Europe is the source for most of New York’s cases.
Italy imposed a lockdown on part of the country on 21 February 2020 and extended it nationwide on 08 March. On 07 March, the country reported 5,883 cases.
New York’s lockdown came on 20 March; the state reported 5,365 cases on 19 March.
Wednesday, Johns Hopkins reported 432,132 (399,886) cases and 14,808 (12,907) deaths in the US, an increase of 8.1 and 14.7 percent, respectively, since Tuesday.
That case rate is 130.55 per 100,000; the death rate is 44.74 per million.
One week ago, the case rate was 65 per 100,000, and the death rate, 15.52 per million.
🤓Recommended reading
A look back, 06 March 2020: Testing for the coronavirus might have stopped it. Now it’s too late. Washington Post.
How Greece flattened the coronavirus curve. Al Jazeera. 07 April 2020.
“I just got a shot of a coronavirus vaccine. I hope it works!” Washington Post, 08 April 2020 AND ‘I didn’t feel afraid at all. In my mind, it’s already a successful vaccine.’ South China Morning Post, 09 April 2020
UK will have Europe's worst death toll, says study. The Guardian. 08 April 2020.
🎦Recommended viewing
Jon Cohen, an award-winning journalist, has been reporting on infectious diseases for 40 years, specifically HIV-AIDS. He relates research being done about coronavirus and talks about a recent conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci. As well as Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Yeah, not what you expect from a journalist, right?
🌐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.
In Kansas, a Republican-controlled legislative panel overturned the executive order that Gov. Laura Kelly (D) issued which would have bound church gatherings and funerals to the existing statewide order limiting gatherings of more than 10 people.
Kansas legislators need to read this New Yorker profile of my native home of southwest Georgia, where COVID-19 has been spreading like wildfire, a fire sparked at two separate funerals.In Albany, GA, the coroner provided demographic data on the 63 Dougherty County deaths:
Two in their 30s
Five in their 40s
One in their 50s
25 in their 60s
11 in their 70s
14 in their 80s
Five in their 90s
At a time when all experts, domestic and foreign, emphasize the imperative for expanded testing, it appears no one is testing enough. And we’re about to test less:
The sites have not been running very long. This one in Florida opened on 20 March. And in southern California, 23 March.
FEMA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had set up only 40 sites across the country. All 40 will close Friday unless a local or state government steps in.
Absolutism is killing me. The “April 11” peak stories set my teeth on edge for so many reasons. There’s an implication that everything is “downhill” from that point. That this has a visible end in sight, rather than the reality that we’ll be living with this for at least 18 months, longer if there’s no effective vaccine. That numbers are “fixed” when pronounced. Here’s the UW chart at the end of the day Wednesday: peak day now is April 13.
⓶ Around the world
The number of affected countries/territories/areas jumped from 29 at the end of February to 207 today (added Saint Pierre and Miquelon). 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.
Some of the best COVID-19 dashboards are being run by a coding school in Singapore. The dashboards use publicly-available data and have been designed by someone with visual sensibilities: India, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan.
There is a lot to think about in terms of coronavirus accelerating the move towards a surveillance society. This is from February: police in China have enhanced helmets/visors that let them scan crowds of people, searching for someone whose body temperature is a bit too high. (I keep wondering if hot flashes are accompanied by a rise in temp that could be measured by a thermometer. Anyone know?)
In Germany, BMW is gearing up to make face masks.
ABC News is reporting that US intelligence services reported in November “that a contagion was sweeping through China’s Wuhan region, changing the patterns of life and business and posing a threat to the population, according to four sources briefed on the secret reporting.” If the report is accurate, China’s leaders will have much explaining to do.
⓷ Politics, economics and COVID-19
In case you’ve been wondering about the Congressmen who went into quarantine, several after contact with Paul Rand, the Washington Post has an update.
This is not China’s problem. This is the world’s problem… Governments have to recognize that individual governments working by themselves will not be able to solve this problem. They have to pool their resources and pool their efforts. ~ Richard Hatchett, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 22 January 2020, in Politico Europe
If the European Union were a country, it would be the third largest country in the world (445M) and the United States would be fourth (331M).
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.
🌎 08 April
Globally: 1 353 361 confirmed ( 73 639 - new) with 79 235 deaths (6695 - new)
The Americas: 417 416 confirmed (33 174 - new) with 12 597 deaths (1500 - new)
Johns Hopkins interactive dashboard (11.00 pm Pacific)
Global confirmed: 1,484,811 (1,431,375)
Total deaths: 88,538 (82,145)
Total recovered: 329,876 (301,417)
🇺🇸 08 April
CDC: 395,011 (374,329) cases and 12,754 (12,064) deaths
Johns Hopkins*: 432,132 (399,886) cases and 14,808 (12,907) deaths
State data*: 425,992 (393,698) identified cases and 14,652 (12,709) 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