COVID-19 day 84 : 📈 582,468 cases; 23,621 deaths : 13 April 2020
Almost half of SD cases are employees at Smithfield pork processing plant; a sailor is the first active duty member of US military to die; WY death marks the 50th state to report a fatality
It’s day 84 since the first case of coronavirus disease was announced in the United States. Tonight’s issue: C-19 impact on the US food supply.
Smithfield Foods has suspended operations at its pork processing facility in Sioux Falls, SD. It is one of the largest plants in the country, providing about 18 million servings per day. On Sunday, health officials reported that 293 of the 730 people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in South Dakota work at the Smithfield plant.
The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply… These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers.
Last Tuesday, Agriculture.com posted a round-up of meat plant closures at that time. Other affected states: Iowa, Pennsylvania.
On the farming side of the equation, NPR reports that there are 2.5 million agricultural workers; 10% (250,000) are guest workers on H-2A visas. More than half of those workers are concentrated in five states: California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Washington. In 2017, 20 percent of all H-2A workers were employed in the production of apples, blueberries, "fruits" and tobacco.
The Trump Administration wants to change or eliminate a rule that farmers must pay guest workers a rate that is comparable to local hourly wage laws.
It’s important to understand the economics of production agriculture (crops and livestock). Most farms are family run (98%) and most of those are small; about 10% of all farms account for about 80% of all gross sales (USDA). No sector of the economy will be spared.
Monday, Johns Hopkins reported 582,468 (557,571) cases and 23,621 (22,108) deaths in the US, an increase of 4.5% and 6.8% percent, respectively, since Sunday. The growth rate is slowing.
That case rate is 175.97 per 100,000; the death rate is 71.36 per million.
One week ago, the case rate was 111.29 per 100,000, and the death rate, 29.41 per million.
One week ago, the day-to-day increase was 9.1% and 13.9%, respectively.
🤓Recommended reading
On the ethics of documenting a pandemic. British Journal of Photography, 09 April 2020.
The Virus Should Wake Up the West. The job of government is to protect its citizens. The pandemic reveals that key institutions in Europe and the U.S. are no longer up to the job. Bloomberg Opinion. 12 April 2020 [limited number of free articles] Authors: John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, and Adrian Wooldridge, political editor of the Economist.
🎦Recommended viewing
I know. I know. I’ve already pitched you on the Saturday Night Seder, but if you have not watched it (or even if you have), please read this lovely review from haaretz.com and then watch it (again!).
Facebook link: I remain in awe of the record-a-bunch-of-individuals then compile-into-a-concert-or-story videos. Melanie Burford teaches visual journalism in Bergen, Norway. She produced this video for the Bergen Philharmonic Chorus: 75 singers recorded themselves at home; the orchestra mixed the soundtrack; Melanie synced the video.
💃🏼Life hack
If you are interested in the intersection of politics and public health, then this might feel like visiting the candy store when you were a child. This searchable database features a wide range of material related to the politics of COVID-19. It includes text, video and audio in multiple languages. Currently holds about 5K items.
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. Wyoming has reported its first death; no state has been spared.
A note on testing: even if we could test 1 million people every day, it would take almost a year to test everyone (another 328 days). Reality check: we’ve tested almost 3 million people (but we are a nation of 331 million).
You know that you should read the Sunday New York Times weekend expose: the public records act request that coughed up 80 pages of emails on how senior leaders within the Trump Administration began showing concern on 28 January (one week after the first case was identified). But you’re fatigued. Or you are tired of the paywall. Here’s the Cliff Notes version from Business Insider. You’re welcome!
Florida
“Floridians will be keeping their distance and wearing face masks for up to a year until a COVID-19 vaccine exists, Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees said Monday before being whisked away by the governor’s spokeswoman.”
Idaho
Ammon Bundy has routinely defied Idaho state orders limiting the size of gatherings. He held an Easter service that NPR said “[drew] about 60 people,” far fewer than he bragged about in advance About half of the attendees said they were from out-of-state when asked by the minister at the event, Diego Rodriguez. Bundy may be best known as the infamous rancher who led an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon; the resulting standoff ended with one person dead.
Illinois
Lots of finger-pointing after the demolition of a power plant smokestack engulfed a Latino community with dust. Why was the project not postponed? Demolition is not on this list of essential businesses (infrastructure “construction” is approved).
🏠 Shelter in place news
California Governor Gavin Newsom, Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee have agreed to “a shared vision for reopening their economies.” Several northeastern states plan to form a regional task force for the same purpose.
President Trump’s daily press briefing on Monday may have been one for the record books. This claim is “constitutionally dubious.”
⓶ Around the world
The number of affected countries/territories/areas jumped from 29 at the end of February to 208 today. 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.
China: A Chinese medical team arrived in Moscow on Saturday to help with Russia's ongoing efforts. On Monday, China reported 169 new cases, the most in five weeks. Official statement: 98 were from people who entered the country (in particular, from Russia). Of these 169, 61 were asymptomatic.
Guam: The first active-duty member of the US military has died of COVID-19, a sailor who had served aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Navy reports that at least 585 of the 4,860 people on board have the virus. The ship remains at port in Guam. There have been 15 DOD-related COVID-19 deaths, including two service members, but apparently they were not active duty. Around the globe, there are at least 3,925 coronavirus cases related to the US military.
Italy: Daily reports for new deaths continue to be fewer than the day before, suggesting Italy has staunched the growth of the virus. What will happen when lockdowns are loosened is anyone’s guess.
South Korea: After a request from President Trump, South Korea is sending us 600,000 coronavirus testing kits on Tuesday. WHO is investigating reports of patients who had recovered from COVID-19 who are later testing positive again.
UK: Analysis from the London School of Economics suggests that about half of the COVID-19 deaths in Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy and Spain have occurred in “care homes”.
⓷ Politics, economics and COVID-19
Yet another warning that we must not “re-open” too soon. From Morgan-Stanley.
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.
🌎 13 April
Globally: 1 773 084 confirmed (76 498 - new) with 111 652 deaths (5702 - new)
The Americas: 610 742 confirmed (36 804 - new) with 23 759 deaths (2228 - new)
Johns Hopkins interactive dashboard (11.00 pm Pacific)
Global confirmed: 1,920,918 (1,850,807)
Total deaths: 119,686 (114,251)
🇺🇸 13 April
CDC: 554,849 (525,704) cases and 21,942 (20,486) deaths
Johns Hopkins*: 582,468 (557,571) cases and 23,621 (22,108) deaths
State data*: 578,146 (553,602) identified cases and 23,459 (21,984) deaths deaths
Total tested (US, Johns Hopkins): 2,964,726
View infographic and data online: total cases, cases/100,000 and deaths/million.
* Johns Hopkins data, ~11.00 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
🌐Global news
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