Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News

[Snowboarder_Bo]

This doesn’t seem like a good idea: Hundreds at Louisiana church flout COVID-19 gatherings ban

Hundreds of people flouted Louisiana’s COVID-19 ban on gatherings, coming on buses and in personal vehicles to the first of three Sunday services at their church a day after New Orleans police broke up a funeral gathering of about 100 people.

An estimated 500 people of all ages filed inside the mustard-yellow and beige Life Tabernacle church in Central, a city of nearly 29,000 outside Baton Rouge.

Assistant ministers and worshippers outside the front doors and in the parking lot at Life Tabernacle told media to leave, saying cameras would not be allowed on the property and worshippers had been told not to talk to reporters. They went inside without further comment.

Paul Quinn, a resident of Central who lives near the church, says this is a health hazard.

“Other congregations are using the Internet, Skype, and other safe ways to congregate. Why can’t they? What makes them so special?” said Quinn. “I wish state police would come out and do something. This is above our little local police level. The state needs to get involved. If they get out of church and go to the grocery store, it’s a serious health hazard. They don’t know how many people they’re affecting, and they don’t seem to care. That’s a problem.”

[Snowboarder_Bo]

Maryland nursing home hit by virus outbreak

One resident of a Maryland nursing home died after contracting COVID-19 in an outbreak that has sickened dozens of the facility’s residents and strained its staff, health officials said.

A man in his 90s who was a resident at the Peasant View Nursing Home died Saturday night after testing positive for COVID-19, Carroll County Health Health Officer Ed Singer said at a news conference. Singer said 66 residents have tested positive and 11 were hospitalized, the same numbers that were reported the previous night.

The nursing home with 104 beds is also facing a staffing shortage as staff members say they can’t come to work.

“They’re struggling to be able to do their administration and to be able to staff and take care of their patients,” Singer said.

Singer said that to his knowledge, no staff members have tested positive for the virus but some say symptoms are keeping them from coming in.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

And for those that may have missed it, Dr. Fauci said to expect from 100,000-200,000 deaths in the US from this.

[squeegee]

@Johnny_L.A

[url=“Clinical trials on coronavirus drugs may take only months, researcher says”]Mrs. L.A. takes Losartan. If she gets sick, maybe it will keep her from having a severe illness. Or maybe it will keep her from getting it at all. Who knows?

I take it too for BP. And it sounds like it’s going to be quickly unavailable, just like that malarial drug. Thanks so much to the researcher for publicizing it. :mad:

[Sunspace]

@RickJay

As an aside, this is like saying the Titanic needed a little less ice. 24 Sussex was in terrible shape; it was full of asbestos, had wiring installed by Fires R Us, and every mechanical system worked as if it had been installed by vandals. It is being essentially gutted and rebuilt.

I did not know they were actually working on it. I guess in my mind, it’s been overshadowed by the parliamentary renovations.

[Oswald_Bastable]

@Snowboarder_Bo

Maryland nursing home hit by virus outbreak

Peasant View Nursing Home

Is that a typo in the original article, or is this nursing home just for local gentry?

OB

[susan]

Although “Peasant View” is a great name for a nursing home, it’s “Pleasant.”

[RioRico]

In a nearby thread on fatality predictions I said that, lacking widespread testing, we have no idea how many deaths attributed to other causes are COVID-linked. Come 2021, statisticians may compute numbers of “excess” deaths and thus assign some level of blame. But we’re in the dark till we have better numbers.

My mountain county and most nearby still report cases in the low single digits. But few here are tested. So who knows?

[psychonaut]

Today in Austria:

[ul]

[li] In Vienna, all national parks have been closed since the self-isolation measures went into effect, whereas the municipal parks have remained open. And with all public entertainment and recreation venues shut down, and no other place to take in fresh air, the municipal parks are getting overcrowded with people going for walks. I’ve been going for walks in the parks every couple days myself and, especially on weekends, I find it hard to always keep an appropriate distance from other pedestrians. As a result of this overcrowding, the city and federal government today agreed to reopen the national parks here, including the huge gardens of the Belvedere and Schönbrunn palaces.[/li]
[li] There have been some minor but quirky anomalies in the food supply. Austrian dairy producers report a huge drop in demand for milk, which has resulted in a huge surplus. So far, prices don’t seem to be affected. By contrast, Vienna (or maybe all of Austria, for all I know) seems to have a shortage of yeast. Yesterday morning I visited six big-name supermarkets (three in one district and three in another) and found that every single one of them was sold out of yeast. I finally managed to find a package in a small Turkish supermarket near my home. It seems that word of the yeast shortage quickly spread among the Turkish community, as later in the day I noticed handwritten “WE HAVE YEAST” signs outside many of the other Turkish food stores in my neighbourhood. I’m not sure why yeast is in such short supply, but if I had to guess, it’s because everyone who is staying at home now has enough time on their hands to bake their own bread.[/li]
I called my father today, who lives 8000 km away, on another continent, and he reported to me that they’re sold out of yeast over there too. Is this a global thing?

[li] Current statistics: 8774 confirmed infections (up 652 from yesterday), 86 dead (up 11 from yesterday), 479 recovered (up 69 from yesterday).[/li]
[/ul]

[Larry_Borgia]

John Prine hospitalized with COVID19. Apparently in critical condition.

John Prine Hospitalized, 'Critical' After Contracting the Coronavirus

[TreacherousCretin]

Apologies if this has been mentioned already.
NY predicts apex in 14-21 days. Are predictions for apex (best guesses, presumably) for any other states?

[steronz]

@TreacherousCretin

Apologies if this has been mentioned already.
NY predicts apex in 14-21 days. Are predictions for apex (best guesses, presumably) for any other states?

Ohio is saying late April to mid May.

[RTFirefly]

@Euphonious_Polemic

We’re actually pretty close. My best guess still remains:

<snip>

April 3, the US should hit 10,000 deaths

That would be my guess as well.

@Snowboarder_Bo

And for those that may have missed it, Dr. Fauci said to expect from 100,000-200,000 deaths in the US from this.

I think 100,000 is pretty much baked in at this point. I devoutly hope that the body count stays under 200,000.

[Jackknifed_Juggernaut]

Well now Trump and his cronies are now putting forward a 2.2 million US death toll (but thank goodness they acted quickly, so the number will likely be so much lower). You see, they inherited a flawed health care system due to some prior administration’s errors.

[Rick_Kitchen]

Jerry Falwell ordered Liberty University to be reopened and now several students have tested positive.
Nearly a Dozen Liberty University Students Sick With Coronavirus Symptoms After Falwell Reopened Campus?

[RTFirefly]

Trump accuses NYC doctors and nurses of shady dealings with PPE to explain why they don’t have enough of it.

[crowmanyclouds]

@RTFirefly

Trump accuses NYC doctors and nurses of shady dealings with PPE to explain why they don’t have enough of it.

Norman Ornstein
If they actually had protective gear, imagine how many ventilators they would be smuggling out beneath them!

Jack, Isolated and Insolent
Projecting again. He knows if it were him he’d be stealing masks, gowns, even respirators to sell for a quick buck.

CMC fnord!

[C3]

@TreacherousCretin

Apologies if this has been mentioned already.
NY predicts apex in 14-21 days. Are predictions for apex (best guesses, presumably) for any other states?

The University of Washington is projecting that North Carolina will peak between 4/17-4/27 and we should expect 2400 deaths by August.

[Eva_Luna]

@psychonaut

By contrast, Vienna (or maybe all of Austria, for all I know) seems to have a shortage of yeast. Yesterday morning I visited six big-name supermarkets (three in one district and three in another) and found that every single one of them was sold out of yeast. I finally managed to find a package in a small Turkish supermarket near my home. It seems that word of the yeast shortage quickly spread among the Turkish community, as later in the day I noticed handwritten “WE HAVE YEAST” signs outside many of the other Turkish food stores in my neighbourhood. I’m not sure why yeast is in such short supply, but if I had to guess, it’s because everyone who is staying at home now has enough time on their hands to bake their own bread.

I called my father today, who lives 8000 km away, on another continent, and he reported to me that they’re sold out of yeast over there too. Is this a global thing?

Definitely in the U.S. too. I am on a bunch of cooking Facebook pages, and everyone is looking for yeast. I feel like all week I’ve been constantly reposting instructions on how to make your own sourdough starter without yeast. (And have given away 3 jars of my own sourdough starter.) People also reporting lots of shortages of bread, flour, and other baking supplies.

If you want fresh bread and you’re stuck home anyway, now is the time for all the people who want bread but don’t want to be running to the store every couple of days to do some baking. (And I am seeing a lot of my friends baking with their kids as a useful and fun indoor activity - it’s even educational!)

[susan]

@RTFirefly

Trump accuses NYC doctors and nurses of shady dealings with PPE to explain why they don’t have enough of it.

Well, now.

Trump administration sent protective medical gear to China while he minimized the virus threat to US

Concerns about a dwindling supply of PPE are not new. Back on February 7, the World Health Organization sounded alarm bells about “the limited stock of PPE,” noting demand was 100 times higher than normal for this equipment.
Yet the same day as the WHO warning, the Trump administration announced that it was transporting to China nearly 17.8 tons (more than 35,000 pounds) of “masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.” As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted in the press release announcing this shipment, “These donations are a testament to the generosity of the American people.”
Americans indeed are a generous people. We want to help those in need. And at the time these medical supplies were shipped, more than 28,000 people in China were infected with nearly 600 deaths attributed to the virus. But how could Trump allow tons of vital medical equipment Americans to be transported to another country in February if, as he has claimed since January, he fully understood the risk the United States was facing from the virus.