speaking of which, have you seen this #flattenthecurve version yet? I came across it via the Vanuatu Surfing Association, who continue to nail their AusAid-supported health promotion role pic.twitter.com/InpfAvcvJY
— Dr Cobi Calyx (@cobicalyx) March 23, 2020
"On Friday, British ear, nose and throat doctors, citing reports from colleagues around the world, called on adults who lose their senses of smell to isolate themselves for seven days, even if they have no other symptoms, to slow the disease’s spread." https://t.co/wkY40oVaVa
— Garance Franke-Ruta STAY HOME (@thegarance) March 23, 2020
Over the past 24 hours, the U.S. reported more than 10,000 new cases of coronavirus and 122 new deaths, raising the U.S. total to 45,322 cases and 582 dead https://t.co/47MXF0XUJ0
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) March 24, 2020
Feels like I’m oversampling the stories from America, but right now we seem to be holding the (uncoveted) ‘most stupid & pointless reactions’ baton, so…
JUST IN: World Health Organization says 85% of coronavirus cases confirmed over the past day have been in the US and Europe
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) March 24, 2020
More than half the counties in U.S. have no ICU beds.
Nearly 11 million more Americans reside in counties with no hospital, some 2.7 million of them seniors. https://t.co/IFZkCbMBw4 by @fredschulte @eklucas @JordanRau @LizSzabo @JayHancock1 #COVID19
— Nsikan Akpan (@MoNscience) March 23, 2020
Some good news: 3M is now producing 1 million N95 masks *in the US* a day.
But:
1) Official estimates say we need 1 billion+ masks to handle this crisis, and 3M won't get us near that;
2) It'll take 12 months to double capacity.
We still need industrial mobilization.
— Rush Doshi (@RushDoshi) March 23, 2020
When and why did a company with 45,000 employees amass an emergency reserve of 720,000 masks? https://t.co/3VyDecfEqR
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 23, 2020
Tx Lt Gov Dan Patrick says grandparents would be willing to die to save the economy for their grandchildren pic.twitter.com/wC3Ngvtsbj
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) March 24, 2020
And we're doing very little testing. Imagine what the actual numbers are. https://t.co/U2CdLCrdVw
— Dr. Tara C. Smith (@aetiology) March 24, 2020
NEW: The Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan is being transformed into a 2,000-bed hospitalhttps://t.co/Urdc9suMyq @KeshiaClukey @EliseOnDeadline pic.twitter.com/L5QUmgfBf9
— David S. Joachim (@davidjoachim) March 23, 2020
Seoul is 60% denser than New York and it has 334 cases. NYC alone has more cases than all of S Korea. https://t.co/LE3l52bxhM
— T.K. of AAK! (@AskAKorean) March 24, 2020
I'g grateful to @washingtonpost for publishing this but the 10x figure is not really the point of the article. The point is that because we are so behind on testing, we can't use testing the same way countries with more tests and fewer cases can. It's a nuanced point so pls read https://t.co/Y0Rmdzd0tq
— Marc Lipsitch (@mlipsitch) March 23, 2020
We can only hope the proportion of unobserved cases is large, because then we are closer to achieving herd immunity, and each bad outcome brings with it a larger number of mild outcomes that contribute to herd immunity. The math of epidemics is weird.
— Marc Lipsitch (@mlipsitch) March 23, 2020
While vast majority of deaths from #COVID19 are age 60+ many young adults and middle aged Americans are becoming seriously ill and surviving only after prolonged hospitalizations and ICU admissions that have long term consequences. This is a dangerous virus for most age groups. pic.twitter.com/jVYWFatTDM
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) March 23, 2020
A must-read thread from Johns Hopkins epidemics expert → https://t.co/OYsicCS8X4
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) March 24, 2020
Indeed. Even Wuhan, the epic center of the #COVID?19 crisis, is coming out of lock down less than 2 months in. Less affected areas opened earlier and those that had their act together (for instance Singapore and Taiwan) did not need #lockdown. https://t.co/9uAHSlVsTL
— Bert Hofman(???) (@berthofmanecon) March 23, 2020
1. @WHO DG @DrTedros says the #Covid19 pandemic is accelerating. Took 67 days to get to 100K cases, 11 days to get to 200K & 4 days to get to 300K.
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) March 23, 2020
3. @WHO DG @DrTedros says using untested medicines against #Covid19 could raise false hopes & actually do harm.
Says the WHO-led multi-country SOLIDARITY trial will generate data to show if drugs work.— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) March 23, 2020
Exclusive: The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed, likely to 2021, veteran IOC member Dick Pound says.
“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided,” Pound told @cbrennansports. https://t.co/Fr8be81BEU pic.twitter.com/POWFtCr0wW
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) March 23, 2020
There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
South Korea has reported the lowest number of new cases in four weeks – they're virtually through it.
Even in Wuhan, the virus epicentre, the lockdown is being eased.
Coronavirus is beatable – but only if we do it together.
— Professor Karol Sikora (@ProfKarolSikora) March 23, 2020
Worth remembering that South Korea and the US reported their first #COVIDー19 cases on the same day. Since then, very different trajectories.
Where would you rather be right now? https://t.co/dxC8loMNvy
— Peter Drobac (@PeterDrobac) March 23, 2020
Multiple Chinese #COVID19 test kit makers have capacity to export 100,000's of units a day. As of March 19, at least 64 companies exported to the EU. Yet, despite huge shortages, the U.S.’ FDA has yet to approve a single Chinese company as of Sunday. https://t.co/ot65wgYLxD
— Dave Yin 殷大伟 (@yindavid) March 23, 2020
China has announced it will lift the lockdown on Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, on April 8, marking a significant milestone in its battle against the deadly outbreak. https://t.co/Ht9xq4JiNE
— CNN (@CNN) March 24, 2020
China’s Communist Party has long excelled at rewriting its own history for a domestic audience, but with its latest propaganda blitz on the novel coronavirus, it’s rewriting the present for a global audience. My latest for @ForeignPolicy https://t.co/ko8dar96iM
— Louisa Lim (@limlouisa) March 23, 2020
Via valued commentor Amir Khalid:
UK lockdown rules:
People must stay at home, unless..
– Shopping for basic needs
– 1 form of exercise a day, alone or with members of household
– Medical needs or to help a vulnerable person
– Travel to and from work, if absolutely necessary
– Police have power to enforce rules— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) March 23, 2020
570 coronavirus patients in Spain were admitted to the intensive care unit over the past 24 hours, raising the total number in ICU to 2,355 https://t.co/tkYF5J2hMk
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) March 23, 2020
Italy 🇮🇹 is bending the arc and rounding the corner hopefully. For 2nd consecutive day, new #COVID19 cases lower than day before. Today's death toll (601), yesterday (651), day before (793). Let’s keep up the lockdown. Other countries pay attention. pic.twitter.com/9FdkExi0UM
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) March 23, 2020
Italy has tons of useful epidemiological data online, updated almost daily. Would really love to see that for US cases – CDC's website hasn't updated case counts since Friday and counts are too small by half (compared to Hopkins map). pic.twitter.com/3NtPpyTs96
— Caitlin Rivers, PhD (@cmyeaton) March 23, 2020
Iceland currently has the highest per capita coronavirus infection rate in the world. They are testing everybody & learned half of all carriers exhibit no symptoms at all. https://t.co/fs4PDMnTcM
— KD (@Fly_Sistah) March 22, 2020
In 48 hours, New Zealand will move to the highest level of the COVID-19 alert system, prime minister says. People are asked to stay inside, schools will close and both air travel and public transportation will be limited to essential journeys. https://t.co/V6AQ7Ex4Ko
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) March 23, 2020
THREAD: Coronavirus updates, Monday, March 23:
Iran recorded more than 1,400 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours on Monday as the country struggles to contain the spread. https://t.co/JS3teKahkJ
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) March 23, 2020
Chief Minister of Australia's Northern Territory: "Half-measures are not helping. We must act so we do not become another Italy, or another America or another UK, where the spread is getting wider, and the list of the sick and dead is getting longer."
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) March 23, 2020
Gangs in the Rio de Janeiro favelas have enforced a lockdown from 8pm tonight. The statement reads: "If the government won't do the right thing, organised crime will" pic.twitter.com/dK0wtAR3KA
— Andrew Cesare (@AndrewCesare) March 23, 2020
5.4 million face masks, >1million #COVID19 detection kits & 40,000+ protective suits have arrived in Ethiopia from the Jack Ma Foundation in China. Ethiopia's capital is headquarters for AfricaCDC. The agency will distribute the supplies to countries thru-out the continent https://t.co/V8Rfprckkk
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) March 23, 2020
Great piece by @marynmck on the role @ProMED_mail played in communicating the #SARSCoV2 outbreak to the world
(also: @gatesfoundation et al: can someone please fund ProMED?)https://t.co/PdkW4rhrvP
— Dr Alexandra Phelan (@alexandraphelan) March 23, 2020
Thread –
You might hear people saying it isn't real. It is.
You might hear people saying it isn't bad. It is.
You might hear people saying it can't take you down. It can.
I survived Ebola. I fear #COVIDー19.
Do your part. Stay home. Stay safe.
And every day I'll come to work for you
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) March 24, 2020
750 people died yesterday in Italy ALONE, bringing the total deaths in there above 6000. For all of the "skeptics", do you think if everyone gets this & upwards of 3% of populations die because there aren't enough hospital beds that this wouldn't devastate the economy on its own?
— findom earle (@coherentstates) March 23, 2020
When China locked down 10s of millions of people, everyone outside China (me included) said: No one else could do this.
One by one, countries are doing this. https://t.co/fn7kSkzxcm— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) March 23, 2020
Thank you for taking the time to write this important article.
We focus our efforts on the global comparisons on COVID-19 testing and go through many dozen of official country-specific sources and bring all in one place.
Maybe you find it useful:https://t.co/ZMjohHRvA7
— Max Roser (@MaxCRoser) March 23, 2020
DO *NOT* STICK A HAIR DRYER UP YOUR NOSE:
It’s a bad idea. Pointing a hair dryer up your nostrils won’t kill the virus replicating inside your cells and won’t do anything to virus in your throat or sinuses or deeper in the airway. Plus it could burn you, dry out mucosal surfaces, and maybe even create aerosols https://t.co/WoEq96OqXA
— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) March 23, 2020
Almost certainly overstated (see below), but it’ll be widely circulated:
CDC: coronavirus survived in Princess Cruise cabins up to 17 days after passengers left https://t.co/5NqZ5sC7Ti
— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) March 24, 2020
Thread. You're gonna see "coronavirus can live for 17 days on surfaces!" Incorrect. *Viral RNA* was detectable after 17 days. Saying that live virus is there because viral RNA was found is like saying I must be holding a meatball sub because there's a marinara stain on my pants. https://t.co/qfCKVjo2bx
— J. Kenji López-Alt (@kenjilopezalt) March 24, 2020
Seriously, cruise ships are nasty. "During February 3–March 13, in the U.S., approx 200 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed among returned cruise travelers from multiple ship voyages…accounting for approximately 17% of total reported U.S. cases at the time". /5
— Dr. Tara C. Smith (@aetiology) March 24, 2020
It does seem like those who weren't showing symptoms can spread live virus, but that's now expected given several other papers out over the few weeks. Again, how much this drives transmission is uncertain, but shows again why distancing & hygiene are key. /fin
— Dr. Tara C. Smith (@aetiology) March 24, 2020
germy
Chyron HR
And more importantly, how did the stockholders take it when Zuck announced that they had to postpone the rollout of Lucifer Alpha?
Baud
For some reason, I assumed organized crime called themselves something other than organized crime.
germy
America’s most influential journal of religion and public life weighs in:
donnah
Just casting a glance across the messaging this morning, I found a horrifying number of rich white guys saying that perhaps we have overreacted to the virus and we cannot afford to jeopardize our economy for this “flu” thing. They’re comparing it to ridiculous things, like car accidents and having sex. (If having sex was deadly, we’d just have to find ways to make it safe). wtf?
Thanks to the powerful corporations whispering into Trump’s already confused ear, we could see him relax restrictions across the country to protect his cronies and his beloved stock market. He believes he can recapture the votes and loyalty of his supporters to get back the momentum he has lost for re-election. He will stomp happily over the bodies of virus victims to satisfy himself and his rich white base.
I don’t know if the individual states can override Trump if he decides next week to lift restrictions on travel and social interaction. I can’t imagine my governor Mike Dewine doing that because he’s been proactive and vigilant about the rules. I guess we have to wait and see.
OzarkHillbilly
Yep, and that’s how we got trump, because these assholes are ready and willing to fall on their swords for their grandchildren.
Jeebus that idiot is broken.
WereBear
I think last night was the moment the roller coaster stopped clicking its way to the top of the big hill. Buckle that seat belt.
I knew he was going to lose it. I just didn’t think he’d lose it with some unhinged rant of letting millions die just like a James Bond Supervillain.
Calouste
Texas Lt Gov Dan Patrick is a grandparent himself. I’m sure as a Texas Republican he owns a gun that he could use to prove his own concept.
WereBear
@Baud: They are the shadow government. They do things for the neighborhood and the neighborhood, willingly or not, does things for them.
OzarkHillbilly
‘Where’s Fauci?’ America panics as doctor absent again from White House briefing
Yep, WASF.
ETA
Barbara
@germy: There is a demonic side to the refusal to rapidly import and deploy testing kits because they don’t advance your jingoistic political program. Until those at First Things are first in line for the “patriotic” infection program they should stfu. Fucking sociopaths all of them.
Calouste
@germy: Are these the same people who think a woman should die if there is even the tiniest chance that a fetus she carries could survive?
YY_Sima Qian
Well, after 5 days of no new confirmed cases in Wuhan, there was a new case on 3/23. What do you know, the case is a doctor working in the very hospital in I was staying for the last two weeks, working in the very digestive illness department I was treated in!!!
He worked in the buffer ward (and the outpatient clinic), where I stayed for three days. I saw a different doctor on duty each day. The daily checkups lasted only 5 – 10 minutes, with the doctor in the full body protective gear, and me in my N95 mask. We spoke from distance of 2 meters, and I had no physical contact with the doctors. I don’t see any path for infection. In any case, I was moved from the buffer ward to the standard ward on 3/9, which is 15 days ago, so I should be in the clear. He developed symptoms on 3/22, and tested negative on 3/23. I left the hospital on 3/19, which should be just before the start of his pre-symptomatic infectious period.
Unfortunately, authorities believe he was infected at the hospital (versus outside of work, the girlfriend and a roommate living with him came up negative), that means patients or colleagues. May be he was infected at the out-patient clinic. While he did not work in the standard ward, no one knows yet if he interacted with his colleagues working in the standard ward. I am sure there is a furious effort to trace all of his close contacts. If I am deemed a close contact, I will be contacted and sent to a quarantine facility for observation.
I am not overly worried right now, but it does mean that my one week self-imposed quarantine has now turned into two weeks, before I head home to my family.
Wuhan has also been finding one or two asymptomatic cases a day from contact tracing or screening at hospital intakes. Not sure if Wuhan and other places in China are doing community survey testing. Per definition by China’s National Health Commission, asymptomatic cases are tracked separately from confirmed cases. These cases are treated the same as confirmed – medical quarantine, tracing and isolation of close contacts, etc., but they do not show up on the confirmed case tabulations. If they turn out to be pre-symptomatic, and ultimately develop symptoms, then they are counted as confirmed. From all the case reports I have read from China, South Korea, Taiwan, etc., I do not believe there has been much evidence of infection by truly asymptomatic cases, as opposed to pre-symptomatic ones. Otherwise, none of the East Asian countries and regions would be able to keep the epidemics in check.
I am so ready for this epidemic to be over! And yet it will be a long haul…
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@germy: IOW, she’s as stupid as most of her characters.
Raoul
It seems like the primary driver of the reckless ‘end the social isolation’ idea are panicked American oligarchs whose own finances can’t weather this storm — and of course have Trump and key GOP governors on speed dial.
But the 40+% of our country who elected this deadly shitshow are also impatient morons who cannot grasp that China and a few other early wave countries put in the frunking work to get here.
They see bans lifting elsewhere and say, see why can’t we?! The chaos and incompetence in the WH is why not. The beach blanket bingo in Florida last week is why not. I shudder to think how bad it is going to get in places like Texas.
It’s not surprising that NYC is in such rough shape. High density, massive international gateway, deBlasio did dither too long.
But there are a lot of MAGAs who are whistling past the graveyard as they point to NY. The three day doubling will be relentless as Republicans do far too little.
Joseph A Miller
@germy: I just glanced at the article. Horrifying, pure right-wing religious fanatic bullshit, complete with references to Satan. Seriously, fuck these people.
WereBear
@YY_Sima Qian: I hope you got your worst out of the way early :)
@Raoul:
It’s blue state, big city density that prompted such governors, who tend to be Democratic, to lock everything down.
Let them talk their game. Let’s see what they say two weeks from now, when they are frantic to follow blue state examples… and then realize it’s too late.
I’m not a gloating person. Still not. But we’ve been warning them “no good will come of this” since Nixon’s embrace of the Southern Strategy.
Also, let’s dig up Nixon and stake him. Can’t hurt.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Patrick needs to volunteer and lead the way to death. It’s what a responsible Christian would do. //
Good news about the IOC. I had heard they were thinking of delaying just a couple of months. Next year is a much wiser choice.
Citizen Alan
@germy: Kirstie Alley is still alive?!?
Bluegirlfromwyo
@germy: The pro-life party. The same people who would keep Terri Schiavo on a much-needed ventilator right now. Ghouls, the lot of them.
Barb 2
Washington State’s governor has issued a stay at home order.
Stay home – stay healthy.
WA is one week ahead of the rest of the nation. As far as deaths and the number of confirmed cases go (& headline at vox.com) The stay at home order is voluntary but it can be enforced according to Gov Inslee. There is a list of essential services on the State gov website. Probably half the State tried to access the website last night.
No weddings or funerals for 2 weeks.
The media is an essential business/service. Indian casinos are doing their part and have closed down. Inslee thanked the tribes for their public service.
We are getting more leadership from state Governors then the Dumpster fire in the white house. Well except for a few of the Republican Governors. Covid-19 will hit the red states and those suckers aren’t prepared. The Governors on the west coast, and New York state are working hard to increase hospital beds. Other states (mostly coastal) are working as well as some govs from inland states. Texas is being a jerk – they are working hard to speed the virus’s spread.
The wound clinic has stepped up their prescreening. The waiting room has been closed down, we now wait in our cars and are signaled to come into the building for appointments. All other medical appointments are teleconference or postponed.
I expect that this is probably happening in other states. Medical personnel should know that they need to protect themselves. Except for Rand Paul – libertarian nitwit.
I’m wondering how other states are handling the information and closures. CA, OR, WA, IL, and NY, NJ have similar announcements from the governors. Some large cities are stepping up and getting ready for the expected spikes in the number of critical cases. Are the mayors of blue cities in red states getting ready?
Amir Khalid
Remember that most masks are single-use. 720,000 masks/45,000 staff is a 16-day supply.
Robert Sneddon
@Amir Khalid: In medical situations each mask really needs to be replaced for each new patient being examined to avoid cross-infection — someone working the front lines doing COVID-19 testing might get through a dozen masks a day if they’re available. If they’re in short supply then they don’t swap them out and risk cross-infection rather than do without entirely.
As for the nefarious stockpiling of masks by big companies, they probably date back fifteen years or so to the last epidemic threat like H1N1 or even SARS. They never got used back then but they’re way out of date for real medical use. The filter material ages and stops being effective enough to meet the N95 standard after a time, even stored in perfect conditions.
Soprano2
There’s no leadership from our governor here in MO. He’s letting the cities and counties do all the heavy lifting. He finally issued an order saying groups of 10 or fewer only, but I don’t think that was a hard rule, just a suggestion. We had our first death from COVID-19 in Springfield yesterday – an 80-year-old resident of a nursing home where they have 4 cases so far. When we had a small meeting at work yesterday so people could ask questions about the leave policy, I asked if they had a plan for when we are told by the governor to stay home. They think that’s being discussed at “higher levels”. Most of us will probably be deemed essential, since we are the city government. The local utility company has put their field crews on 3-day rotating work days – one day on, three days off. Our crews would like to do that, but the city can’t afford to pay them for it. That’s what it comes down to – city government doesn’t have a huge amount of money to suddenly pay everyone to stay home. This whole thing is such a shitshow.
Van Buren
I know that this is an exaggeration but I want some Democrat to say that the difference between Pelosi’s plan and McConnell’s plan is that we want to give 300 million people a thousand bucks each and they want to give a thousand people 300 million bucks each.
E.
This fucker is going to get us all killed. I have elderly parents who do not deserve this. How can this be happening? Is it so sinister that they want to take out the old “takers” and give their stuff to the “makers”?
Soprano2
Oh, and to make it even better, we’re going to be having epic levels of flooding here pretty soon if it doesn’t stop raining. It’s coming down in buckets right now, and the ground is already completely saturated. When it rains hard water pools beside the north side of our house, but it usually sinks into the ground immediately after the rain stops. Now, every time it rains even a half inch, the water stays standing there for a couple of days. I bet we’re getting more than an inch this morning.
Sab
So my governor issued a lockdown order Sunday afternoon, effective Monday night midnight.
So my company’s brilliant response was to have everyone, even those working from home, come in for a brief meeting on Monday morning altogether crowded in the conference room to decide what to do. Then send us back home to our families.
WereBear
@Sab: I am forever grateful I no longer work for a company like that. If I had decided to stay in the red states where I grew up, I’d feel like I had a target on my back.
Jinchi
I’m starting to believe that the Republican solution to high unemployment would be to execute anyone who files for unemployment benefits.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@WereBear: We did stake Nixon, under the cover of darkness, not long after the burial.
I never want to go through something that awful again. The fight he put up!
Origuy
In Facebook’s case, I believe they got the masks after the big wildfires of the last few years made Bay Area air hazardous to breathe. I don’t know why it took them weeks to get them out of storage. Maybe because the person with the storage room key left it at the office, which was closed and locked.
misterpuff
@Calouste: Lt.Gov. Death Panel should go on Morning Joe and the Volcano and offer himself up to the Animal Spirits of the Market Economy.
I would cheer.
Emma
Chiming in very late to add that my mom flew back to Singapore from Washington state a few days ago and is in her 3rd full day of quarantine at home. Seems that the government uses a spot-check system very similar to HK’s and Taiwan’s, where you have to have location services on, so that when a government official texts you, they know where you are when you respond. Spot-checking twice a day, so far.
If Amir Khalid by some miracle reads this, can he elucidate on whether he thinks the political insanity going on with Malaysia’s PM-not-PM is impacting the response to COVID-19? Are the Agong and sultans doing anything concrete?