Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666
The news posted last week for the coronavirus 2019-nCoV (aka SARS-CoV-2), which produces COVID-19 disease, has been surveyed and some important articles are summarized here. The articles are more or less organized with general virus news and anecdotes first, then stories from around the US, followed by news from other countries around the globe. This week we have increased coverage of overseas hotspots, especially Brazil. Economic news related to COVID-19 is found here.
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Gargling with bleach? Americans misusing disinfectants to prevent coronavirus, survey finds – (Reuters) – More than a third of Americans misused cleaners and disinfectants to try to prevent infection by the coronavirus, according to a survey taken shortly after President Donald Trump publicly asked whether injecting such products could treat COVID-19. Washing food with bleach, using household cleaning or disinfectant products on bare skin, and intentionally inhaling or ingesting these products were some of the most commonly reported “high-risk” practices in a May 4 online survey of 502 U.S. adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported. The survey’s lead author said it was undertaken following a “sharp increase” in calls to poison control centers for exposure to cleaners and disinfectants during the pandemic. In late April, Trump asked scientists during one of his coronavirus task force briefings whether inserting disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the virus might help clear the disease, horrifying health experts. Makers of household cleaners were compelled to urge people not to drink or inject their products. Some 39% of people surveyed reported intentionally engaging in at least one high-risk practice not recommended by the CDC to prevent coronavirus infection, including using bleach to clean food or misting the body with a disinfectant spray. Four percent drank or gargled with diluted bleach solutions, soapy water or disinfectants. A quarter of those surveyed reported having at least one adverse health effect during the previous month that they believed resulted from using these products. The CDC suggested that official COVID-19 prevention messages that currently focus on hand hygiene and frequent cleaning should also include instructions on proper usage of cleaners and disinfectants, and storing chemicals out of reach of children. .
WHO Data Suggests Asymptomatic COVID-19 Carriers Actually Not Very Infectious- Live Updates – Following a report in today’s WSJ noting new data showing SARS-CoV-2 spreads more quickly in sparsely populated areas where homes are more crowded (perhaps because more extended family members live together) than densely populated but affluent areas like Manhattan and North Brooklyn, the World Health Organization has just announced another epic flip flop. In an announcement that highlights once again how little scientists understand about the new coronavirus, the WHO announced that asymptomatic carriers of the virus apparently don’t infect nearly as many others as we once thought. Early evidence indicated that the virus could spread via person-to-person contact, even if the carrier didn’t have symptoms. But WHO officials now say that while asymptomatic spread is certainly possible, it’s not the main route of transmission. “From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said during a Monday briefing from the WHO’s Geneva headquarters. “It’s very rare.” Of course, if scientists continue to see data showing asymptomatic spread isn’t a main factor in transmission, it could have dramatic implications for containment policy, including diminishing the need for social distancing, and allowing students and workers to return to the workplace in much larger numbers. The data cited by the WHO was apparently gleaned from early contact tracing work. If it’s true that asymptomatic spread isn’t a major factor, than the importance of contact tracing has been vastly overstated. To be sure, more research and data are needed to “truly answer” the question, Van Kerkhove added. “We have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing,” she said. “They’re following asymptomatic cases. They’re following contacts. And they’re not finding secondary transmission onward. It’s very rare.”
Who Says Asymptomatic Spread of Coronavirus Is ‘Very Rare,’ but What Does That Mean? – Asymptomatic transmission of the new coronavirus appears to be “very rare,” a World Health Organization(WHO) official said in a media briefing Monday.However, don’t throw away your mask just yet. Public health experts pointed out that it is still possible to shed the virus when you don’t know you are sick.The initial statement was made by WHO technical lead for coronavirus response and head of the emerging diseases and zoonoses unit Maria Van Kerkhove.”From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” Van Kerkhove said, as CNN reported.Van Kerkhove said the data came from member countries and that most of it was not yet published.”We have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing. They’re following asymptomatic cases, they’re following contacts and they’re not finding secondary transmission onward. It is very rare,” she said.CNBC wrote that her statement had major public policy implications because it appeared to reverse a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report published in April, which cited the fact that people could spread the virus before falling ill as a key reason for social distancing measures.However, experts urged caution in responding to Van Kerkhove’s remarks, saying they likely hinged on the difference between presymptomatic cases, mild or atypical “paucisymptomatic” cases and truly asymptomatic cases.Harvard Global Health Institute Director Dr. Ashish K. Jha tweeted that around 20 percent of those infected with the new coronavirus truly never develop symptoms. However, the remaining 80 percent of people can still infect others before they get sick. Some models have suggested that 40 to 60 percent of the virus’ spread comes from people passing it on before they fall ill.”If folks without symptoms truly ‘very rarely’ spread virus, would be huge,” Jha wrote. “But such a statement by @WHO should be accompanied by data.”
Healthcare Triage Podcast: COVID-19 and Immune Symptoms in Kids – Dr Aaron Carroll talks with Dr. Jim Wood about his research as a physician scientist at Indiana University School of Medicine and pediatric infectious disease doctor at Riley Hospital for Children. You’ll learn more about COVID-19 and some of the immune syndromes we’ve seen in children who seem to have had COVID-19. We’ll also hear about lessons learned so far through the pandemic, as well as what we may be able to expect for the next few weeks, months and even years, as treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 are developed and optimized.
Reduced humidity linked to increased COVID-19 risk – A study conducted in Sydney during the early epidemic stage of COVID-19 has found an association between lower humidity and an increase in locally acquired positive cases. Researchers discovered a 1 percent decrease in humidity could increase the number of COVID-19 cases by 6 percent.The research is the first peer-reviewed study of a relationship between climate and COVID-19 in the southern hemisphere.”COVID-19 is likely to be a seasonal disease that recurs in periods of lower humidity. We need to be thinking if it’s winter time, it could be COVID-19 time,” said Professor Ward.The study is published today in Transboundary and Emerging Diseases.Further studies – including during winter in the southern hemisphere – are needed to determine how this relationship works and the extent to which it drives COVID-19 case notification rates.Previous research has identified a link between climate and occurrence of SARS-CoV cases in Hong Kong and China, and MERS-CoV cases in Saudi Arabia, and a recent study on the COVID-19 outbreak in China found an association between transmission and daily temperature and relative humidity.”The pandemic in China, Europe and North America happened in winter so we were interested to see if the association between COVID-19 cases and climate was different in Australia in late summer and early autumn,” Professor Ward said.”When it comes to climate, we found that lower humidity is the main driver here, rather than colder temperatures,” Professor Ward said. “It means we may see an increased risk in winter here, when we have a drop in humidity. But in the northern hemisphere, in areas with lower humidity or during periods when humidity drops, there might be a risk even during the summer months. So vigilance must be maintained.”
23andMe finds evidence that blood type plays a role in COVID-19 – Preliminary data from 23andMe’s ongoing genetic study of COVID-19 appears to lend more evidence for the importance of a person’s blood type – determined by the ABO gene – in differences in the susceptibility to the virus. 23andMe is still recruiting for its massive study, most recently seeking 10,000 participants outside of 23andMe who have been hospitalized and diagnosed with COVID-19. 23andMe researchers have yet to finish looking at what the genetic data indicate. But a first blush look at the information from the more than 750,000 participants in the study shows the following:
- The preliminary data suggest that O blood type appears to be protective against the virus when compared to all other blood types.
- Individuals with O blood type are between 9-18% percent less likely than individuals with other blood types to have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the data.
- There appeared to be little differences in susceptibility among the other blood types.
- These findings hold when adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, ethnicity, and co-morbidities.
- Although one study found the blood group O only to be protective across rhesus positive blood types, differences in rhesus factor (blood type + or -) were not significant in 23andMe data. Nor was this a factor in susceptibility or severity in cases.
- Among those exposed to the virus – healthcare and other front line workers – 23andMe found that blood type O is similarly protective, but the proportion of cases within strata is higher.
Bald Men At Greater Risk with Covid – New research is showing why a larger percentage of men – particularly bald men – are having worse Covid-19 outcomes than women.Researchers at Brown University point to androgens, the group of hormones which causes hair loss in men. They’ve determined androgens are linked to severe cases of Covid-19 and suggest their discovery could be called the “Gabrin Sign,” named for the first U.S. physician to die of Covid-19 in the United States. Dr. Frank Gabrin was bald.Lead author Dr. Carlos Wambier said, “We think androgens or male hormones are definitely the gateway for the virus to enter our cells. We really think baldness is a perfect predictor of severity.”Wambier and his team conducted two studies in Spain. The results of one of thosestudies, published in the American Academy of Dermatology, showed that 79% of 122 men who tested positive for Covid-19 and admitted to three hospitals in Madrid were bald.A separate study of 41 patients in Spain showed that 71% of them were bald. Could androgens also signal a problem for some female patients? The study that was published in the American Academy of Dermatology says, “it would be interesting to observe for severe Covid cases in female patients who present with increase androgens, for example, females with metabolic syndrome or whom are using birth control methods with progestogen hormones that bind to androgen receptor. Additionally, there are many medical conditions that could increase androgen activity in females and might correlate with increasing vulnerability to Covid-19.”
Shutdowns Stopped 60 Million COVID-19 Infections in the U.S., New Research Finds — A new study has confirmed the efficacy of wide-scale shutdowns and restrictive social distancing measures to contain the outbreak of the novel coronavirus that leads to COVID-19.The study, published in the journal Nature, found that government-ordered shutdowns of industry and schools stopped 530 million new COVID-19 cases in just six countries: China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, France and the U.S.The staggering numbers of cases that would have been experienced and further overwhelmed the health care system include 60 million in the U.S. and 285 million in China, according to the study.In addition to the 340 million cases the U.S. and China avoided, the study estimated that without restrictive policies in place from January through April, there would be:
- 38 million more total infections in South Korea
- 49 million more total infections in Italy
- 54 million more total infections in Iran
- 45 million more total infections in France
While the study period ended on April 6, the orders to shelter-in-place long after April 6 have likely led to many millions more infections avoided, the study’s lead author, Solomon Hsiang, a professor and director of the Global Policy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a press release on Monday, as CNNreported.”The last several months have been extraordinarily difficult, but through our individual sacrifices, people everywhere have each contributed to one of humanity’s greatest collective achievements,” Hsiang said in the press release, according to CNN.
Researchers around the world are developing more than 125 vaccines. Here’s where they stand. – Researchers around the world are developing more than 125 vaccines against the coronavirus. Vaccines typically require years of research and testing before reaching the clinic, but scientists are hoping to produce a safe and effective vaccine by next year.The New York Times is following the status of those that have reached trials in humans.There are three phases before a vaccine is approved for use, but some projects have combined early phase trials to speed up the process. Some coronavirus vaccines are now in Phase I/II trials, for example, in which they are tested for the first time on hundreds of people.Additionally, the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed program has selected five vaccine projects to receive billions of dollars in federal funding and support before there’s proof that the vaccines work. Work began in January with the deciphering of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. The first vaccine safety trials in humans started in March, but the road ahead remains uncertain. Some trials will fail, and others may end without a clear result. But a few may succeed in stimulating the immune system to produce effective antibodies against the virus.
The Elevator Arises As The Latest Logjam In Getting Back To Work -When the American Medical Association moved its headquarters to a famous Chicago skyscraper in 2013, the floor-to-ceiling views from the 47th-floor conference space were a spectacular selling point. But now, those glimpses of the Chicago River at the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe-designed landmark, now known as AMA Plaza, come with a trade-off: navigating the elevator in the time of COVID-19. Once the epitome of efficiency for moving masses of people quickly to where they needed to go, the elevator is the antithesis of social distancing and a risk-multiplying bottleneck. As America begins to open up, the newest conundrum for employers in cities is how to safely transport people in elevators and manage the crowd of people waiting for them. If office tower workers want to stay safe, elevator experts think they have advice, some practical, some not: Stay in your corner, face the walls and carry toothpicks (for pushing the buttons). Not only have those experts gone back to studying mathematical models for moving people, but they are also creating technology like ultraviolet-light disinfection tools and voice-activated panels. “When there is risk of disease spreading from human to human, continuing to maintain a clean and safe vertical transportation system is critical to help people return to work and safe living,” said Jon Clarine, head of digital services at Thyssenkrupp Elevator, in an email. After all, most elevators are inherently cramped, enclosed spaces that can barely fit two people safely spaced 6 feet apart, much less the dozen or more that elevators in commercial and residential buildings were designed to hold. They’re a minefield of buttons and surfaces tempting to touch. Air circulation is limited to what a few vents and the opening doors can manage. Plus, they’re usually mobbed during the morning, lunchtime and evening rushes.
Coronavirus spreads among fruit and vegetable packers, worrying U.S. officials – (Reuters) – From apple packing houses in Washington state to farm workers in Florida and a California county known as “the world’s salad bowl,” outbreaks of the novel coronavirus are emerging at U.S. fruit and vegetable farms and packing plants. A rising number of sick farm and packing house workers comes after thousands of meat plant employees contracted the virus and could lead to more labor shortages and a fresh wave of disruption to U.S. food production. The Trump administration said last month it may extend an executive order to keep meat plants operating to fruit and vegetable producers as well, a sign it is concerned fresh produce could be the next sector hit. While social distancing can be more easily implemented for workers harvesting fruits and vegetables in fields and working outside may reduce some risks for virus spread, plants that package foods such as apples and carrots resemble the elbow-to-elbow conditions that contributed to outbreaks at U.S. meat packing plants. By late May, there were more than 600 cases of COVID-19 among agricultural workers in Yakima County, Washington. Of those, 62% were workers in the apple industry and other packing operations or warehouses, according to a Reuters review of data from county health officials.With 4,834 known cases as of June 10, the county had the highest per-capita infection rate on the West Coast. “The (production) line moves super fast. And you’re working side by side and back to back,” said Edgar Franks, political director with local farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia in Washington state. Workers at six fruit packing sites in Yakima County went on strike in May due to concerns they were not being provided adequate protection from COVID-19, Franks said. The health department in Monterey County, California, known as “the world’s salad bowl” for its sprawling vegetable farms, reported 247 agricultural workers had tested positive for coronavirus as of June 5, 39% of county’s total cases. Monterey is one of only a handful of health departments in nearly 30 of the largest U.S. fruit and vegetable producing counties that tracks virus cases among agricultural workers, Reuters found. In adjacent Kern county, Martin Baca, a 53 year-old forklift operator at carrot grower Grimmway Farms died on April 30, according to his obituary. His family said they believe he contracted the virus at work.
Public Health Officials Alarmed By Rebound In New COVID-19 Cases As Protests Continue – Largely thanks to the overwhelming profit motive of corporatized media, Americans suffer from an entrenched myopia that has become a major stumbling block to all manner of reform. We could spend hours parsing various theories about the provenance and nature of this endemic short-termism, which permeates everything from the priorities of corporations, the media and the average man on the street. Whether you believe us or not, scientists and public health officials who have been on the front lines of the pandemic are alarmed by the resurgence in new coronavirus cases following 2 weeks of protests spanning more than 30 states. Moreover, many of the same critics who attacked GOP governors and the Trump administration for pushing for a “premature” reopening are now arguing that the coronavirus is no longer a concern. As US stock benchmarks power higher, it seems investors are choosing to ignore warning signs like Johns Hopkins University data showing a sharp jump in new cases last week, compared with the week before, according to a WSJ analysis of the data. This attitude seems at odds with the advice from experts including Dr. Fauci and UK Secretary of Health Matt Hancock, who warned that the demonstrations risked sparking a resurgence in new cases. Robert Redfield, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, joined Gov Cuomo in urging protesters to get tested immediately. “I do think there is potential, unfortunately, for this to be a seeding event,” Dr. Redfield said. While New York, New Jersey and a handful of the other most hard-hit states have reported continued success, states like Florida, Tennessee and even Texas have seen a jump in new cases. And while expanded testing capacity is undoubtedly one contributing factor, many fear that increased human interaction is mostly to blame.
The virus is increasing in 21 states amid efforts to reopen.– The number of cases is increasing in 21 states, as Americans try to return to their normal routines. And at least 15 cases nationally have been linked to protests, including five National Guard members and one police officer in Nebraska. Health officials on Tuesday in Parsons, Kan., and Stevens Point, Wis., also announced new cases involving people who attended protests.Total case numbers in Yakima County, Wash., surpassed 5,000 on Tuesday, with 1,100 since the beginning of June. And new cases continue to be identified by the hundreds each day in the Phoenix area. More than 4,000 of Maricopa County’s 14,374 total cases are from June alone. Across the state in the past week, there have been more than 7,000 new cases with upticks in Yuma and Santa Cruz Counties.In Alaska, where new case reports had slowed to a trickle in May, the number of new cases is among the state’s worst since the start of the pandemic. There have been more than 100 new cases in the past week alone, bringing the state’s total since the beginning of March to 620. Recent outbreaks have been reported among seafood workers and ferry crew members. The state reported its first coronavirus death in more than a month on Tuesday. Some parts of the South are finally showing signs of progress. New case reports have started trending downward in Alabama and have leveled off in Mississippi. But persistent growth continues in Arkansas, North Carolina and Florida. And in South Carolina, there have been nearly 1,000 new cases in the past two days.
America Fails the Marshmallow Test We lack the will to beat Covid-19. By Paul Krugman –The marshmallow test is a famous psychological experiment that tests children’s willingness to delay gratification. Children are offered a marshmallow, but told that they can have a second marshmallow if they’re willing to wait 15 minutes before eating the first one. Claims that children with the willpower to hold out do much better in life haven’t held up well, but the experiment is still a useful metaphor for many choices in life, both by individuals and by larger groups. One way to think about the Covid-19 pandemic is that it poses a kind of marshmallow test for society. At this point, there have been enough international success stories in dealing with the coronavirus to leave us with a clear sense of what beating the pandemic takes. First, you have to impose strict social distancing long enough to reduce the number of infected people to a small fraction of the population. Then you have to implement a regime of testing, tracing and isolating: quickly identifying any new outbreak, finding everyone exposed and quarantining them until the danger is past.This strategy is workable. South Korea has done it. New Zealand has done it.But you have to be strict and you have to be patient, staying the course until the pandemic is over, not giving in to the temptation to return to normal life while the virus is still widespread. So it is, as I said, a kind of marshmallow test.And America is failing that test.New U.S. cases and deaths have declined since early April, but that’s almost entirely because the greater New York area, after a horrific outbreak, has achieved huge progress. In many parts of the country – including our most populous states, California, Texas, and Florida – the disease is still spreading. Overall, new cases are plateauing and may be starting to rise. Yet state governments are moving to reopen anyway. This is a very different story from what’s happening in other advanced countries, even hard-hit nations like Italy and Spain, where new cases have fallen dramatically. It now looks likely that by late summer we’ll be the only major wealthy nation where large numbers of people are still dying from Covid-19.
Fauci Warns That the Coronavirus Pandemic Is Far From Over – In a wide-ranging talk to biotech executives, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci delivered a grim assessment of the devastation wrought around the world by the coronavirus. Covid-19 is the disease that Dr. Fauci always said would be his “worst nightmare” – a new, highly contagious respiratory infection that causes a significant amount of illness and death. “In a period of four months, it has devastated the whole world,” Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Tuesday during a conference held by BIO, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. “And it isn’t over yet.” His discussion with a moderator was conducted remotely and recorded for presentation to conference participants. Although he had known that an outbreak like this could occur, one aspect has surprised him, he said, and that is “how rapidly it just took over the planet.” An efficiently transmitted disease can spread worldwide in six months or a year, but “this took about a month,” Dr. Fauci said. He attributed the rapid spread to the contagiousness of the virus, and to extensive world travel by infected people. Vaccines are widely regarded as the best hope of stopping or at least slowing the pandemic, and Dr. Fauci said he was “almost certain” that more than one would be successful. Several are already being tested in people, and at least one is expected to move into large, Phase 3 trials in July. But much is still unknown about the disease and how it attacks the body – research that Dr. Fauci described as “a work in progress.” He said that he had spent much of his career studying H.I.V., and that the disease it causes is “really simple compared to what’s going on with Covid-19.” The differences, he said, include Covid’s broad range of severity, from no symptoms at all to critical illness and death, with lung damage, intense immune responses and clotting disorders that have caused strokes even in young people, as well as a separate inflammatory syndrome causing severe illness in some children. “Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of really understanding.” Another looming question, he said, is whether survivors who were seriously ill will fully recover. He described the pandemic as “shining a very bright light on something we’ve known for a very long time” – the health disparities and the harder impact of many illnesses on people of color, particularly African-Americans. The coronavirus has been a “double whammy” for black people, he said, first because they are more likely to be exposed to the disease by way of their employment in jobs that cannot be done remotely. Second, they are more vulnerable to severe illness from the coronavirus because they have higher rates of underlying conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and chronic lung disease. Given the disparities, he said, it is essential to focus more resources to control the coronavirus in the areas with high-density African-American populations. But the longer-term solution will take decades, he said, to address the socioeconomic and dietary factors that contribute to so many of the health problems in racial and ethnic groups that have been most affected by the virus.
Fauci says protests could cause a spike and the gatherings are the ‘kinds of things we were concerned about.’ Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned on Wednesday that the protests sweeping the nation could lead to a spike in infections – and said that it is not enough that many people marching against police violence are wearing masks. “Masks can help, but it’s masks plus physical separation and when you get congregations like we saw with the demonstrations, like we have said – myself and other health officials – that’s taking a risk,” Dr. Fauci said on the ABC program “Good Morning America.” He added, “Unfortunately, what we’re seeing now is just an example of the kinds of things we were concerned about.” Dr. Fauci said a report that members of the D.C. National Guard had become infected after the protests “is certainly disturbing but is not surprising.” The host, Robin Roberts, later said, “People are very passionate about what they’re fighting for and it’s very evident that they feel it’s worth the possible risk.” Dr. Fauci nodded his head. A group of more than 1,000 people working in health and medicine have argued recently that the protests are “vital” to public healthas the longtime discrimination of black Americans is itself a public health crisis. Some protesters have said they weighed the health risks against the need to protest and decided the movement against police brutality and racism was worth the risk. In California, Jarrion Harris, 32, wore a cloth mask for a march in Hollywood on Sunday. “I’m definitely not out here because I think Covid-19 has gone into the shadows,” Mr. Harris said. “It’s worth the risk.” Typically, symptoms of the virus can take up to two weeks to appear after a person is exposed, and it is too soon to see any real change in the number of cases in areas where there have been large gatherings.
D.C. National Guard members test positive for COVID-19 after responding to protests – Members of the D.C. National Guard who were responding to protests in the nation’s capital over the death of George Floyd have tested positive for COVID-19, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.The service members were part of the 1,300 D.C. National Guard members called up to help law enforcement respond initially to rioting on May 31, that was followed by days of peaceful protests. A Guard spokeswoman did not identify how many positive tests the unit has recorded.”We can confirm that we have had COVID-19 positive tests with the DCNG,” said D.C. National Guard spokeswoman Air Force Lt. Col. Brooke Davis. “The safety and security of our personnel is always a concern, especially in light of the COVID-19 era.”The news follows reports that two members of the Nebraska National Guard who were activated in response to protests in Lincoln, Neb., have also tested positive.The D.C. National Guard was supported by approximately 3,900 additional Guardsmen from Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah to protect national monuments and ensure peaceful demonstrations as tens of thousands of protesters took to district streets last week.In the largest protest Saturday, participants squeezed past each other, some with masks, some not, as they chanted and sang near the White House.Members of two National Guard units from Missouri and Mississippi on Saturday were not wearing masks, and while they tried to maintain social distance, at times it was not possible as the crowds swelled or engaged with them.
70 coronavirus test sites were destroyed during George Floyd protests, which US officials worry could lead to a spike in infections -Seventy coronavirus testing sites have been destroyed during George Floyd protests, leaving the top US COVID-19 official warning of a spike in infections, The Daily Beast reported. In leaked audio, Dr Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, told Vice President Mike Pence and state governors that testing has subsequently dipped, The Daily Beast reported. “Scramble now to make sure there is testing available in urban areas,” Birx reportedly said on Monday. The damage meant there was a drop in testing numbers, which Pence said “is a concern” and “an issue our team is following.” It is not clear which sites were destroyed and in which cities. Birx expressed concern that because protesters were shouting so much, that could “negate the health benefits of wearing a mask,” The Daily Beast also reported. In a separate call with governors and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 3, Birx said protests would likely lead to a spike in infections. “This could result in a fight over the next two weeks,” she said, according to audio of that meeting, also leaked to The Daily Beast. BLM Black Lives Matter protests New York City NYC Police at a Black Lives Matter protest in New York City on May 8, 2020. Claire Molloy/Business Insider Birx also told governors it was “absolutely critical” that law enforcement who worked at the protests but did not wear masks get tested as well.
Researchers Find At Least 7 Different Strains Of Coronavirus Circulated In California – The latest research published last night by the journal Science repudiated prior claims that early incidences of the virus in the US petered out, and instead found that at least seven different strains of the virus that have been circulating in California since the early days of the outbreak, suggesting that the outbreak in the US didn’t have one source, but evolved from a large number of travelers spreading the virus to the US. As we noted earlier, new satellite data suggests the virus emerged in Wuhan much earlier than Beijing has acknowledged. The analysis found that the cases of the disease, including travelers coming from Europe and Asia, spread in Washington and California, before the virus spread from those states across the rest of the country, though it’s probably fair to assume that a similarly diverse number of strains traveled to New York. “While the sample size is small, this study suggests that there may have been multiple introductions of the virus into the United States,” Brandon Brown, an associate professor of social medicine population and public health at the University of California-Riverside, told UPI.”The findings may actually leave us with more questions than answers regarding the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 in the U.S.,” he added. Brown was involved with the study. The study published in Science was conducted by a team of California public health officials and international researchers analyzing viral samples from 36 patients spanning nine counties and the Grand Princess cruise ship, which docked in San Francisco Bay in March after an outbreak occurred on board. A detailed genetic analysis revealed that at least seven different SARS-CoV-2 strains spread in California, and these strains showed some overlap with Washington State.
Coronavirus: more than a dozen US states see record high of new cases – A total of 14 states and the US territory of Puerto Rico have recorded their worst week yet for new coronavirus infections, with Texas hitting a record high in Covid-19 hospitalizations, all while restrictions to curb the pandemic are being relaxed across America. A resurgence in new infections has been detected in states including Florida, Texas and California, as authorities allow certain businesses and public places to reopen. According to data tracked by the Washington Post, since the start of June, 14 states and Puerto Rico have experienced their highest seven-day average of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. The states are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. The surge in cases, which public health experts have described as worrying, and had warned about repeatedly, shows that while Covid-19 is now in retreat in New York City and other major urban centres, it is sweeping across rural areas, infecting smaller towns. Figures from the Texas department of state health services showed that 1,935 people were hospitalized for coronavirus-related reasons on Monday, up from a previous record of 1,888 on 5 May. Officials in Dallas said the city hit its highest ever one-day total for new infections on Thursday, at 285, while Houston has also recorded climbing numbers. On Sunday, Florida recorded more than 1,000 newly diagnosed Covid-19 cases for the fifth day of the previous week, with Thursday’s total of 1,413 the highest since the state started providing daily updates in March.California saw a 40% rise in cases last week, with large cities including Los Angeles, which has the highest number of cases in the state, and San Francisco lifting restrictions on travelling and access to beaches.Arizona, meanwhile, has seen one of the largest jumps in the country, with the daily total in new cases breaking the state record on four separate occasions over the past week.
U.S. Coronavirus Cases Top 2 Million as All 50 States Start Reopening The number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose past two million Wednesday night, according to Johns Hopkins University data reported by CBS News.As of early Thursday morning Eastern Time, there were a confirmed total of 2,000,464 cases and 112, 924 deaths in the country that remains the world leader for both metrics. The news comes as all 50 states are reopening to some degree and 17 states report an uptick in the daily average of new cases compared with two weeks ago. President Donald Trump has been criticized for his handling of the pandemic, as he both downplayed the initial risk and suggested ingesting bleach as a potential cure during a live briefing. “From the beginning there has been misrepresentations and fabrications from the White House,” director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University Irwin Redlener told The Guardian. “Whatever the opposite of ‘mission accomplished’ is, that’s what this is. It’s essentially been an American fiasco.”The disease claimed its first known U.S. life in California just five months ago and quickly spread across the country following an initial outbreak in Washington state, CBS News reported. The U.S. recorded one million cases 14 weeks into the outbreak, and now two million six weeks after that, according to The Guardian. But public health experts warned that the country was still in the early stages of the outbreak. The disease will not be controlled until at least 60 percent of the population has antibodies, either from being vaccinated or from falling ill and recovering, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told The Guardian. And he said that milestone was a long way off.”At most, perhaps 5% of people have been infected,” he said. “If all that pain, suffering and economic destruction got us to 5%, what will it take to get us to 60%? That’s a sobering thought. All of that suffering and death is just getting started. People haven’t quite got that yet.” Harvard Global Health Institute leader Ashish Jha told CNN that the U.S. could see 200,000 deaths by September even if the number of new cases just holds steady, Reuters reported. “And that’s just through September,” Jha said. “The pandemic won’t be over in September.” While initially hard hit states like New York and New Jersey are getting the virus under control, others are seeing their caseload rise. Since June began, 14 states and Puerto Rico have reported their highest weekly average yet for new cases, The Guardian reported Tuesday. Those states are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Texas broke its record for coronavirus hospitalizations and Arizona reported one of the steepest upticks in the country.
Second U.S. Virus Wave Emerges as Cases Top 2 Million -A second wave of coronavirus cases is emerging in the U.S., raising alarms as new infections push the overall count past 2 million Americans.
- Texas on Wednesday reported 2,504 new coronavirus cases, the highest one-day total since the pandemic emerged.
- A month into its reopening, Florida this week reported 8,553 new cases — the most of any seven-day period.
- California’s hospitalizations are at their highest since May 13 and have risen in nine of the past 10 days.
A fresh onslaught of the novel coronavirus is bringing challenges for residents and the economy in pockets across the U.S. The localized surges have raised concerns among experts even as the nation’s overall case count early this week rose just under 1%, the smallest increase since March. “There is a new wave coming in parts of the country,” said Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “It’s small and it’s distant so far, but it’s coming.” Though the outbreaks come weeks into state reopenings, it’s not clear that they’re linked to increased economic activity. And health experts say it’s still too soon to tell whether the massive protests against police brutality that have erupted in the past two weeks have led to more infections.In Georgia, where hair salons, tattoo parlors and gyms have been operating for a month and a half, case numbers have plateaued, flummoxing experts.Puzzling differences show up even within states. In California, which imposed a stay-at-home order in late March, San Francisco saw zero cases for three consecutive days this week, while Los Angeles County reported well over half of the state’s new cases. The White House Coronavirus Task Force has yet to see any relationship between reopening and increased cases of Covid-19, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said on a podcast. But in some states, rising numbers outpace increases in testing, raising concerns about whether the virus can be controlled. It will take a couple of weeks to know, Toner said, but by then “it’s going to be pretty late” to respond.
Risk of new lockdowns rises with fear of second COVID-19 wave – (Reuters) – Fears of a second wave of COVID-19 infections shut six major food markets in Beijing on Friday, while India, which opened up this week, recorded a record daily increase and half a dozen U.S. states said their hospital beds were filling up fast. Health officials worldwide have expressed concerns in recent days that some countries grappling with the devastating economic impact of lockdowns may lift restrictions too swiftly, and that the coronavirus could spread during mass anti-racism protests. “We must be ready to roll back relaxation of measures if needed,” the European Union’s health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said after urging its 27 members to plough ahead with testing the population as they reopen schools and businesses. In China, where the new coronavirus originated, two new cases of COVID-19, the disease it causes, were recorded in the capital. Authorities closed part or all of six big wholesale food markets which the two men had recently visited but it was not known how they had become infected. India opened most public transport, offices and malls this week after nearly 70 days even though health officials said it was weeks away from flattening the rising infection curve. The official death toll, at 8,498, is relatively small, but the health ministry said registered cases rose by 10,956 on Friday, a record, with many in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the head of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, one of India’s biggest mosques, ordered a halt to congregations until the end of the month. “What is the point of visiting mosques at a time when the virus is spreading so fast?” he said. ADVERTISEMENT
Washington State sounds alarm over rising coronavirus cases – Health officials in Washington are warning that the coronavirus is spreading more widely throughout the state, an increase likely driven by transmissions that took place over Memorial Day Weekend. In a report issued Saturday, the state Department of Health pointed to two distinct hotspots, both of which are showing worrying signs of increased spreading. Confirmed COVID-19 cases are rising fastest in four counties east of the Cascade Mountains, mostly rural and agricultural areas that were spared from the first substantial outbreak in Washington. Both cases and the rate at which tests are coming back positive are increasing in Yakima, Spokane, Franklin and Benton counties. Projections in three of those counties show they are at risk of recording hundreds of new cases a day by the end of the month; Yakima County is already recording cases at that rapid rate. The outbreaks east of the Cascades are now comparable to the worst days of the coronavirus epidemic in King County, home to Seattle, in mid-March. Though they are much more sparsely populated, there are as many cases per capita now in the eastern counties as there were in Seattle during the height of its outbreak. King County has a population 2.25 million and has recorded 8,611 coronavirus cases, according to state Health Department figures, or a little under four cases per 1,000 residents. Yakima County, population 250,000, has recorded 5,129 confirmed cases, a per capita ratio five times higher than King County. The state Health Department also said they were concerned about a growing number of cases confirmed in Western Washington. Models maintained by epidemiologists at the University of Washington show the estimated reproductive threshold – the average number of people someone infected with the virus infects – rising above the 1.0 threshold needed to keep cases on the decline. Washington, the state that suffered the first confirmed coronavirus case back in January, is now beginning to reopen its economy. In a statement Saturday, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said the new report was cause for concern. “The report estimates cases and deaths will soon increase substantially if COVID-19 continues to spread at current levels,” Inslee said. “This data will force us to look for some creative solutions and strengthen our strong local – state partnerships to address the disease activity.”
Texas, Florida, California hit highs for COVID-19 infections in last two weeks – Three of the nation’s most populous states have all hit new highs for daily confirmed coronavirus cases in the past two weeks as states grapple with a resurgence of the virus. Texas, Florida and California recorded record numbers of new cases, a concerning sign as the country continues to ease restrictions put in place to try to blunt the spread of COVID-19. Texas now has more than 83,000 cases, Florida has nearly 71,000 cases and California has just shy of 142,000 cases. As all 50 states move to relax restrictions and about two weeks after people ventured to Memorial Day celebrations, hot spots have emerged in states such as South Carolina and Missouri and cities such as Houston and Phoenix. Week-over-week case counts are on the rise in half of all states, and only 16 states and the District of Columbia have seen their total case counts decline for two consecutive weeks. However, in a sliver of good news, previous hot spots such as New York have reported consistent declines in new cases, potentially providing a road map for how to grapple with new outbreaks. “Whenever you loosen mitigation, you can expect you’ll see new infections; I think it would be unrealistic to think that you won’t,” Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said on ABC News’s “Powerhouse Politics” podcast. “The critical issue is how do you prevent those new infections that you see from all of a sudden emerging into something that is a spike, and that’s the thing that we hope we will be able to contain.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday projected that the U.S. was on pace to reach 124,000 to 140,000 COVID-19 deaths by July 4 and that more fatalities could be expected in Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, North Carolina, Utah and Vermont in the next month versus the last month. However, despite the rise in cases, most governors across the country have shown little appetite to halt their reopening process, in apparent recognition of the steep toll restrictions have taken on their states’ economies. “Americans are on the move and they can’t be tied down and they can’t be restrained, unless they make a voluntary decision that this is right for me and my health or my family,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), whose state has seen a spike in new cases, said. Thus far, only the governors of Oregon and Utah are hitting pause on reopening their states after seeing a sudden rise in new cases.
Nine U.S. States Seeing Spikes in COVID-19 Hospitalizations – In another troubling sign that the spread of coronavirus might be accelerating, new U.S. data shows hospitalizations in at least nine states have been on the rise since Memorial Day. In Texas, North and South Carolina, California, Oregon, Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Arizona, increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients are showing up at hospitals, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. For example, Texas has reported two consecutive days of record-breaking coronavirus hospitalizations. The state, which was one of the first to reopen, has seen a 36 percent increase in new cases since the end of May, with a record 2,056 hospitalizations recorded by Tuesday afternoon, the Post reported. The hospitalization data challenges the notion that the country is seeing a spike in new coronavirus cases solely because of increased testing, the Post reported. By Wednesday, the U.S. coronavirus case count neared 2 million as the death toll passed 112,000. On Tuesday, another Post analysis showed that parts of the country that had been spared the worst of the coronavirus pandemic are now tallying record-high cases of new infections. Since the start of June, 14 states and Puerto Rico have recorded their highest seven-day average of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, data tracked by the Postshows. Those states are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.On Tuesday, the country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, described COVID-19 as his “worst nightmare” and delivered a warning, The New York Times reported. “In a period of four months, it has devastated the whole world,” Fauci said. “And it isn’t over yet.””Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of it,” he said, the Post reported.
Arizona reactivates hospital emergency plans as COVID-19 infections rise in 19 states – Arizona’s state health director, Dr. Cara Christ, sent an urgent letter to Arizona hospitals, asking them to activate their COVID-19 emergency plans. The Arizona Department of Health Services tweeted Tuesday night, “We know COVID-19 is still in our community, and we expect to see increased cases.” The Arizona DHS reported Wednesday that the rising number of hospitalizations for coronavirus infection had raised the occupancy rate for the state’s hospitals to 83 percent, up from 76 percent Monday, past the 80 percent figure that triggers a halt in elective surgeries. The state reported 1,556 cases on Wednesday, a new daily high, bringing total cases statewide to nearly 30,000, half of them in Maricopa County (Phoenix), with 1,095 deaths. Dr. Marjorie Bessel, the chief clinical officer for Banner Health, told azcentral.com, “I definitely think we are seeing an increase in community prevalence and spread. What the proximal cause is, it is hard for me to state what that is, but certainly a number of activities that have happened since the executive stay-at-home order expired” on May 15. According to Marcy Flanagan, executive director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, the county has seen nearly 500 new cases daily in each of the last four days, compared to 200 new cases per day previously before. With over 2 million total cases, persistent daily cases over 20,000+ on a seven-day average, and 112,629 deaths in the United States, according to the database of the New York Times, the outbreak is currently spreading in the southern and western states as government restrictions have been eased and back-to-work orders carried out. California has had more than 2,000 daily cases since May 25. Missouri, Washington, and North Carolina are seeing a new surge of cases. Florida has now consistently over 1,000 cases each day, with Saturday’s total of 1,426 positive cases the most since early April. Coronavirus hospitalizations in North Carolina have hit a new high of 774. Arizona is only one of 19 states where the COVID-19 infection rate is rising, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. These include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Washington.
Growing anger among US workers as COVID-19 rips through workplaces – Manufacturing facilities, warehouses and other large workplaces in the United States continue to be major vectors for the spread of COVID-19, with the number of infections and hospitalizations rising sharply in many areas of the country. In their reckless rush to reopen the economy and restart the flow of corporate profits, the Trump administration and state and local authorities from both parties have all but abandoned any public health measures to contain the virus. Driven by the premature back-to-work push by US corporations, a mood of anger and opposition is taking hold within the working class in the United States. This is merging with outrage over the police murder of George Floyd, massive levels of unemployment and economic insecurity, and demands by corporations, including many that received government bailouts, for wage and benefit cuts. In recent days, health care workers have joined the demonstrations, aiding injured protesters. Public transit workers in New York City – where 139 co-workers have died of COVID-19 – and other cities have refused to transport cops and protesters arrested by the police. The strikes, job actions and other protests by workers in the US are part of a growing international wave of struggles, from German meatpacking workers and Polish coal miners in Silesia – who make up 10 percent of the country’s COVID-19 cases – to Bridgestone tire workers in Brazil and Panamanian workers who struck against the reopening of the economy. Hundreds of meatpacking workers in Logan, Utah demonstrated Wednesday afternoon to demand the closure of their facility, operated by Brazilian conglomerate JBS. The workers are also demanding that they be compensated for time off during the shutdown. At least 287 at the facility, or more than 20 percent of the total workforce, tested positive during a screening held on the weekend of May 30. This is possibly the largest single outbreak in the state, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Hundreds of Philadelphia sanitation workers protested in front of City Hall Tuesday morning to demand protective equipment, access to regular testing for COVID-19 and hazard pay bonuses. Nearly 60 Philadelphia sanitation workers have tested positive for COVID-19 and another 50 have self-quarantined after being exposed, according to local union officials. The city’s 1,100 sanitation workers, whose median salary is $36,000, face the constant threat of infection as they collect trash from the hundreds of thousands of households and businesses in the city of 1.5 million. After wildcat strikes forced a halt to production in mid-March, the automakers prepared a return to work with a media blitz, fully supported by the United Auto Workers union, which touted the wholly inadequate safety measures being adopted after over two dozen autoworkers died. Reports of new infections in the plants began as soon as production reopened on May 18. Management at the Elon Musk-owned electric carmaker Tesla, which defied local lockdown orders to reopen its massive plant in northern California last month, has admitted to workers that there have already been several confirmed cases at multiple facilities. Industry outlet Automotive News admitted this week that testing by the companies has not been on a scale sufficient to identify new infections.
COVID Spreads To 60 Plants, Sparks Fear Of US Food Shortages As 2nd Wave Strikes – A new report reveals the severity of COVID-19 spreading beyond meatpacking plants to food processing facilities across the US. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) outlines this new reality of how the fast-spreading virus has infected 1,200 food processing workers at 60 plants from mid-March to early June. To compile these statics, EWG reviewed news articles of outbreaks and noticed many of the infections were seen at Kraft Heinz, Birds Eye, Conagra, and the Campbell Soup Company’s Pepperidge Farm, as well as those of smaller plants, like Fairmont Foods and Ruiz Foods. Cases Bloomberg elaborated on EWG’s findings and said: “These are the first national numbers of their kind. The advocacy group compiled its figures using local media reports because there are no federal agencies reporting the data. The true total is almost certainly higher.” Bakers, dairy workers, fruit and vegetable packers, many of whom are deemed “essential” have worked through the pandemic, sometimes laboring in tight quarters. “At our workplace, we were not ready for this virus. We didn’t talk about it. We didn’t know about it,” Paula Zambrano,61, who packs fruit at Borton & Sons in Yakima, Washington. She was so concerned back in April of an outbreak at her plant that she stayed home for three weeks. Low on money, she returned to work to support her family. “People are infected, and they come to work. They keep quiet about it,” Zambrano said. “We live from our work. We are surviving from our wages. If we have children, how will we feed them?”In a piece titled “”Cold, Damp & Crowded” – How America’s Meat Plants Are Breeding Grounds For Covid” — we described how meat processing plants had become a breeding ground for the virus — and with EWG’s report this week, similar conditions have been seen across many other types of food processing plants. EWG estimates at least 1.8 million Americans work in food processing plants. Many of the workers are low-income and minority, their labor in tight workspaces make them susceptible to infection.America’s food suppliers have seen some of the worst outbreaks of the virus. Dozens of folks at meatpacking plants across the country have died with thousands infected. The ongoing human tragedy at meat and food processing plants expose the vulnerability of the food supply chain.
Dr. Amy Acton steps down as Ohio Department of Health Director –Dr. Amy Acton has stepped down as the Ohio Department of Health Director, Governor Mike DeWine announced on Thursday.Acton will continue to serve as DeWine’s Chief Health Advisor. Lance Himes will serve as the Ohio Department of Health’s Interim Director, a role he had previously held.A native of Youngstown, Acton took over as the Ohio Department of Health Director in February 2019 and later became one of the faces of the state’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in March 2020. Acton received praise both locally and nationally for her calm demeanor and measured approach, with a New York Times video column calling her “the leader we wish we all had.”But while Acton was lauded by many, she also faced criticism from those who believed the state’s response to the coronavirus, which included a stay-at-home order that lasted throughout April, was too severe. In May, the Ohio House of Representatives passed legislation that would curb Acton’s ability to issue orders longer than 14 days (the bill failed to pass in the state senate), while some protesters demonstrated outside of her personal residence.On Thursday, DeWine reiterated that any order issued by Acton came at his directive. Asked why she chose to resign, Acton said she couldn’t do justice to what had become performing three jobs at once during the state’s continued coronavirus response.Asked about the backlash she’s received in her role, Acton sa id, “that was not my focus.”
US Postal Service covers up COVID-19 death toll in New York City – A staggering 17,000 workers, or 3 percent of the United States Postal Service workforce, have been quarantined since the start of the pandemic, according to a recent report by Government Executive magazine. To date, around 70 percent of those quarantined have been cleared to come back to work. Management acknowledges that 2,830 workers have tested positive for COVID-19, out of a total workforce of approximately 630,000. However, USPS officials have not made publicly available the number of deaths. The report by Government Executive, published May 21, was able to confirm that 126 federal workers had died to date from the coronavirus pandemic, including 60 USPS workers. However, these figures represent only a “non-comprehensive tally.” The World Socialist Web Site recently spoke with a USPS worker in New York City who was concerned by rumors that there had been a significant number of fatalities at his workplace. He works at the Morgan Processing and Distribution Center, one of the largest mail processing facilities in the country. Following up on this, the WSWS contacted the New York City USPS postmaster on Monday to request up-to-date statistics on (1) the number of postal worker deaths in New York City, (2) the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus among postal workers in the city, and (3) the number of workers in the city who were quarantined. This information was requested to be broken down by facility and borough. The WSWS also requested information regarding whether facilities with confirmed cases were closed for deep cleaning and for how long. The US Postal Service is a public enterprise and an agency of the executive branch of the federal government, so the requested information is subject to public disclosure. The postmaster’s meager reply, transmitted by USPS Communications Specialist Xavier C. Hernandez, consisted in its entirety of the following: “With a workforce of more than 630,000 employees there have been 2,830 postal employees who have tested positive for COVID-19, with some deaths (I don’t have other numbers to provide you, sorry).”
In ‘Totalitarian’ Move, Brazil’s Bolsonaro Removes Death and Case Totals From Coronavirus Website – Brazil’s Health Ministry removed the total number of coronavirus cases and deaths from a government website Saturday, Reuters reported. And health ministry employees told local media that the scrubbing was ordered by far-right PresidentJair Bolsonaro, according to The Guardian. “The manipulation of statistics is a manoeuvre of totalitarian regimes,” Supreme Court Judge Gilmar Mendes tweeted in response. “The trick will not exempt responsibility for the eventual genocide.” The government coronavirus tracking website was taken down Friday and reloaded Saturday with only data on cases, deaths and recoveries in the past 24 hours, according to Reuters. “The cumulative data … does not reflect the moment the country is in,” Bolsonaro tweeted, as Reuters translated. “Other actions are underway to improve the reporting of cases and confirmation of diagnoses.” However, the website change comes as Brazil battles one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world, BBC News reported. It has more than 640,000 confirmed cases, behind only the U.S., and more than 35,000 deaths, the third largest death toll after the U.S. and the UK. The move also came after the country reported more than 1,000 deaths for four days in a row. The website change was widely condemned by journalists, members of Congress and public health officials. “The authoritarian, insensitive, inhuman and unethical attempt to make those killed by Covid-19 invisible will not succeed. We and Brazilian society will not forget them, nor the tragedy that befalls the nation,” the president of Brazil’s national council of state health secretaries Alberto Beltrame said in a statement reported by The Guardian. Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the pandemic, calling it a “little flu” and arguing against lockdown measures, according to BBC News. On Friday, he threatened to exit the World Health Organization. Before the website change, the government was also criticized for pushing back the publication of its daily virus update from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., according to Reuters.
Brazil’s COVID-19 death toll becomes second-highest in the world – Brazil’s coronavirus death toll is now the second-highest in the world, surpassing the United Kingdom’s death toll and trailing only the United States. The two most populous countries in the western hemisphere now have the highest number of recorded cases and deaths in the world. According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has 828,810 confirmed cases of the virus and 41,828 deaths as of Saturday afternoon. By comparison, the U.S. has recorded 2,066,993 cases and 115,206 deaths. The grim statistic comes as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has widely rejected social distancing measures recommended by scientists. The Brazilian government stopped posting coronavirus statistics on their site last week, but was forced to put them back up after an order from the country’s Supreme Court. This week, India also surpassed Britain in terms of number of deaths from the disease as the nation with the fourth-highest number of cases globally, according to the Johns Hopkins tally. This comes after India experienced the most new cases in a single day on Friday. As of Saturday morning, there have been at least 308,900 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in India and 8,884 deaths, according to the country’s Ministry of Health and Welfare. The increase in cases comes as some countries have begun relaxing mitigation efforts like shutdowns and social distancing measures and as coronavirus testing has become more widespread in some places.
Mexico’s President Refuses to Take Coronavirus Test After Coming in Contact with Infected Admin Member — Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is attempting to allay any suspicions about his health after a high-ranking member of his administration he’d recently been in contact with was infected with the coronavirus. Lopez Obrador told reporters Monday, that he is fine and that he will not get tested because he doesn’t have symptoms. He said, Zoe Robledo, director of Mexico’s social security system, is now in quarantine after testing positive following an appearance at an event in the Tabasco state capital of Villahermosa, with the president’s security cabinet. In response to critics Lopez Obrador had been traveling too much recently, promoting the reopening of the country, he is considering a video conference rather than a White House visit when the new free trade agreement with the United States and Canada takes effect July 1. The president said, he is following the recommendations of the doctors, which everyone should follow regardless of their position. Mexico is among the leaders in Latin America, with more than 120,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 14,000 deaths.
India sets another record single-day jump in virus cases, tops Spain – India registered 9,971 new coronavirus cases in a fresh single-day record jump, passing Spain as the country fifth worst-hit by the pandemic, government data released Sunday showed. The spike comes as India allows the reopening of malls, restaurants, hotels and places of worship, with restrictions on large gatherings, from Monday. The total number of infections rose to 246,628, the health ministry said in its daily update. The cases have been rising sharply, by 8,000 or more, for several days now. The caseload crossed Spain with a tally of 241,310 and India was only behind the US, Brazil, Russia and Britain in terms of number of confirmed infections, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States. India’s COVID-19 fatalities at 6,929, have been relatively low compared to countries like Italy, ranked seventh worst-hit, which has 33,846 COVID-19 deaths. Indian officials contend that the more than two month-long lockdown, the largest in the world, kept the mortality rates down. They also cite effective clinical management and less severe infections in India, which has a population that skews younger. However, experts warned India, the second-most populous country with 1.3 billion inhabitants, had yet to see the peak of the pandemic. India’s main cities, national capital New Delhi and the financial hub of Mumbai are the epicenters of the outbreak in India, accounting for 46,000 and 27,000 cases respectively.
India sees record jump of Covid-19 cases at 11,458 in one day — India, the fourth worst-hit country in the world, recorded more than 11,000 cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 386 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry on Sunday. There were 11,458 new Covid-19 cases and 386 deaths between Friday and Saturday, taking India’s infection tally to 308,993 – with the latest 100,000 cases added in just the last 10 days – and its toll to 8,884. The previous 100,000 cases took 15 days and the first 100,000 cases took 78 days after the coronavirus disease was reported in the country in late January. A little under a quarter of all cases have been reported just in the last week and the cases doubling in the last 17 days. Also read: Covid-19 infection rate jumped by 21% in 12 days in Delhi, recovery rate dropped According to the health ministry’s dashboard, 154,329 patients have recovered from Covid-19 or nearly 50% of people who contracted the respiratory disease have been discharged from hospitals so far. The active cases stood at 145,779 and the number of recovered patients in the country has been outnumbering that of active cases since Tuesday now. The United States, Brazil and Russia are the other countries to report more than 300,000 cases of Covid-19. Most of India’s Covid-19 cases have been reported from four states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Also read: Govt reviews use of HCQ and antibiotic combo in treating Coronavirus cases Maharashtra has breached the one lakh-mark and now has 101,141 infections with 3,717 deaths. In Tamil Nadu, there are 40,698 Covid-19 cases and 367 fatalities, while Delhi has reported 36,824 infections and 1,214 deaths so far. Gujarat has a higher number of deaths than the national capital at 1,415 but its case tally is 22,527. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have also seen a rising number of Covid-19 cases. More than 7.6 million infections of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, and 425,330 deaths has been reported across the world since the virus was first reported in China’s Wuhan in December last year.
‘Ticking time bomb:’ Lack of beds slows Delhi’s virus fight – In New Delhi, a sprawling capital region of 46 million and home to some of India’s highest concentration of hospitals, a pregnant woman’s death after a frantic hunt for a sickbed was a worrying sign about the country’s ability to cope with a wave of new coronavirus cases. “She kept begging us to save her life, but we couldn’t do anything,” Shailendra Kumar said, after driving his sister-in-law, Neelam, and her husband for hours, only to be turned away at eight public and private hospitals.Two and a half months of nationwide lockdown kept numbers of infections relatively low in India. But with restrictions easing in recent weeks, cases have shot up, rising by a record of nearly 10,000 on Thursday, raising questions about whether authorities have done enough to avert catastrophe.India’s tally has reached 286,579, the fifth highest in the world, with 8,102 deaths. In Delhi, which has reported 32,810 cases including 984 deaths, the rate of infection is higher than the national average, doubling every 12 days. Private hospitals in Delhi – a wider territory that encompasses New Delhi – report that all of their sickbeds and ventilators are in use. Severely ill people have been turned away from public hospitals, too. The explosion of cases has made it far more difficult for patients with other life-threatening diseases to receive care, Bhan said, a problem as India enters the monsoon period, which brings malaria, dengue and a host of other mosquito and water-borne diseases.
Ardern dances for joy after New Zealand eliminates coronavirus – (Reuters) – New Zealand lifted all social and economic restrictions except border controls after declaring on Monday it was free of the coronavirus, one of the first countries in the world to return to pre-pandemic normality. Public and private events, the retail and hospitality industries and all public transport were allowed to resume without the distancing rules still in place across much of the world. “While the job is not done, there is no denying this is a milestone … Thank you, New Zealand,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference, saying she had danced for joy at the news. “We are confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand for now, but elimination is not a point in time, it is a sustained effort.” New Zealand’s 5 million people are emerging from the pandemic while big economies such as Brazil, Britain, India and the United States continue to grapple with spread of the virus. Its 75 days of restrictions included about seven weeks of a strict lockdown in which most businesses were shut and everyone except essential workers had to stay home. “Today, 75 days later, we are ready,” Ardern said, announcing that social distancing restrictions would end at midnight. Ardern said she had done a “little dance” when she was told there were no more active COVID-19 cases in New Zealand, surprising her two-year-old daughter, Neve. “She was caught a little by surprise and she joined it having absolutely no idea why I was dancing around the lounge.” New Zealand has reported 1,154 infections and 22 deaths from COVID-19 since the virus arrived in late February. Ardern had vowed to eliminate, not merely contain, the virus, which meant stopping transmission for two weeks after the last known case was cleared. For now, everyone entering the country will continue to be tested and quarantined.
Beijing district in ‘wartime emergency’ after virus cluster at major food market – (Reuters) – A Beijing district put itself on a “wartime” footing and the capital banned tourism and sports events on Saturday after a cluster of novel coronavirus infections centred around a major wholesale market sparked fears of a new wave of COVID-19. Forty-five people out of 517 tested with throat swabs at the Xinfadi market in the city’s southwestern Fengtai district had tested positive for the coronavirus, Chu Junwei, a district official, told a briefing. None were showing symptoms of COVID-19, he said, but added that 11 neighbourhoods in the vicinity of the market, which claims to be the largest agricultural wholesale market in Asia, had been locked down with 24-hour guards put in place. “In accordance with the principle of putting the safety of the masses and health first, we have adopted lockdown measures for the Xinfadi market and surrounding neighbourhoods,” Chu said. The district is in a “wartime emergency mode,” he added. The closure of the market and new restrictions come as concerns grow about a second wave of the pandemic, which has infected more than 7.66 million people worldwide and killed more than 420,000. They also underline how even in countries which have had great success in curbing the spread of the virus, clusters can sometimes easily arise. The entire Xinfadi market was shut down at 3 a.m. on Saturday (1900 GMT on Friday), after two men working at a meat research centre who had recently visited the market were reported to have the virus. It was not immediately clear how they had been infected.
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