WHO temporarily pauses hydroxychloroquine study due to safety concerns
5,590,142 total cases
347,903 dead
2,366,551 recovered
In the US:
1,706,226 total cases
99,805 dead
464,670 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
That news shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, and yet I know some people don’t want to hear it.
I am so frustrated by Virginia right now. While our 14-day average is showing a decrease (don’t know if it is just a visual decrease or a statistically significant one), yesterday we just saw a major spike in new cases. Highest number of new cases in a single day ever. Despite it being a holiday! And we haven’t even reopened all the way.
I totally get that staying locked down isn’t politically or economically feasible anymore. But it is hard not to feel like we have a very long way to go before we can seriously talk about “second wave”. We are still in the thick of the first wave. We don’t have hundreds of deaths each day, and that is good. But there is no reason to think that can’t happen and happen real fast. We are already at 30-40 deaths a day, and that is under semi-lockdown conditions.
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The U.S. exceeds 100,000 deaths:
The US exceeds 100,080 deaths.
Today in Austria:
[ul]
[li] Unemployment figures continue to improve. There are currently 523,300 people registered as unemployed, which is 123,000 more than before the pandemic. Since the middle of April, 65,000 people have returned to employment, including 5000 in the food service industry.[/li][li] The number of coronavirus infections continues to sink across the country, so the federal government has announced that a further relaxation of the lockdown is imminent. Details are yet to be released.[/li][li] Vienna’s hospitals are slowly clearing their backlog of elective surgeries that were postponed due to the pandemic. By special agreement, private hospitals are taking on some of the burden from public hospitals.[/li][li] There have been no further developments on the scandal involving the president violating the lockdown. Yesterday the chancellor sidestepped reporters’ questions about whether the president should be held accountable, suggesting he would rather allow the matter to blow over. The far-right opposition party would normally jump at the chance to attack the left-wing president, but they can’t do so in this case without coming off as hypocritical, since they’ve long been ridiculing and protesting against the lockdown rules. The story did get picked up by some further international news outlets, including CNN, but here in Austria it’s already fallen off the front page of the newspapers.[/li][li] Current statistics: 16,497 confirmed infections, 643 deaths, 15,182 recovered.[/li][/ul]
Yeah, I made note of the unfortunate occasion in calls to my Congresscritters today.
So now that I’ve looked at how we are doing in Virginia today, my frustrating is intensifying. Just as I feared it would, our 14-day trend line is going back up.
5,684,803 total cases
352,225 dead
2,430,603 recovered
In the US:
1,725,275 total cases
100,572 dead
479,969 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
Panama’s government announced today that on June 1 the “total curfew” will be relaxed. Everyone will be able to leave the house between the hours of 5 AM and 7 PM. Previously we were only able to leave the house for two hours a day based on ID number every other day, with men and women on alternate days.
It will be a great relief to be able to go to the store at times we can pick. Also, I’ll be able to go back to taking my daily walk for exercise in the early evening every day. Right now I’m only allowed to go out between 11 AM and 1 PM, when the sun is brutal.
They will also be opening up additional parts of the economy including public works construction and industry, and allowing parks, places of worship, and recreational areas to reopen.
I usually take my daily walk along an oceanside park near my apartment. I was shocked when I returned there last week to find it all overgrown since no maintenance has taken place for two months. Today they were out cutting grass and trimming trees again.
Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Tuesday (May 26) announced zero new cases of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), marking 44 days without a new local infection and increasing the odds that crowd limits could soon be lifted.
During his daily press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Minister of Health and Welfare and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced there were no new cases of coronavirus for the fifth day in a row. Taiwan’s total number of cases still stands at 441.
Other news: Bans on large gatherings will likely be lifted soon.
The government is looking at offering subsidies for domestic travel starting in July.
Haven’t they had a lot of free testing events there over the last week? Just because there are more confirmed cases does not guarantee that things are getting worse.
My county is setting up a drive-through testing center on Friday for residents. Don’t have to be symptomatic, just have to show up and wait in line. Wife and I will be going.
We can hope that this works out,
I drive past a junior high school during my commute and noticed the baseball infield was badly infested with weeds. No regular raking or footsteps, plus a bunch of rain has been very good for the local dandelions.
Today in Austria:
[ul]
[li] In order to encourage the unemployed to go back to work, even if it means taking a part-time job, the government has promised to top off the salaries of part-time workers to up to 80% of the full-time equivalent.[/li][li] The financial aid program for small businesses has been extended from three to six months. Eligible proprietors will also receive an extra €500 per month.[/li][li] Under the EU’s new post-corona reconstruction plan, Austria will receive €4 billion.[/li][li] Austria’s film industry will be permitted to resume operations next week. The government has made available €25 million in extra funding.[/li][li] From 29 May, it will be permitted to hold weddings and funerals with up to 100 participants, provided they maintain distance and wear face coverings.[/li][li] The latest highway traffic statistics show a 39% drop in traffic in March and a further 57% drop in April. Anecdotally, having just made a trip on the Autobahn today, I can report that traffic seems almost back to pre-coronavirus levels now.[/li][li] Current statistics: 16,514 confirmed infections, 645 deaths, 15,228 recovered.[/li][/ul]
5,790,103 total cases
357,432 dead
2,497,618 recovered
In the US:
1,745,803 total cases
102,107 dead
490,130 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
Today I noticed that for cases with an outcome, the world is sitting at 87% recovered/discharged and 13% dead while the US is 83% recovered/discharged and 17% dead.
The latest out of China is they are claiming that the virus didn’t come from the Wuhan Seafood Market (there are, apparently, no ‘wet markets’ in China, according to officials). Instead, it mysteriously came from sewage. I thought it was interesting that the same guy who gave an interview in February saying that it came from illegal wild animals in the wet market (they called them that back then) is now saying, no, there is no evidence it was from any wild animals, but instead it was in the sewage in the area.
On another note, the missing virologist called the Bat Woman, Shi Zhengli, has now resurfaced after months where she was present only occasionally on social media. Just an interesting FYI.