The US added more than 15,000 cases since yesterday and continues to lead the globe in number of active cases. Global cases rose by over 60,000. Italy continues to suffer a huge number of daily deaths, nearly 1,000 per day. Italy is slowly bending the curve—the number of new cases per day is slowly decreasing. Europe remains the COVID epicenter, but the US may overtake all of Europe within weeks in the absence of a coherent national strategy to battle the pandemic.
How to handle food, money, and other ways to stay safe during this time. Hand washing and endeavoring not to touch your face (I say endeavoring because it is terribly difficult not to do this) are extremely important. Stay home as much as you can. Social distancing is the best measure. Here’s a related useful demonstration:
Dyson and others in industry are working on making ventilators. It’s useful and it’s needed, but it sure makes me wonder why we don’t have a national plan of attack for this kind of thing. Why is private industry tasked with this? Is this the most effective way to address needs during a pandemic? GM and Ventec are also ready to help, but the White House is weary of the cost.
14 million more jobs could be lost by summer. These losses are estimated to happen even in the face of a 1-trillion-dollar stimulus. Nevada, Montana, and Hawaii are projected to be hit the hardest.
Crocs will donate 10,000 pairs of shoes per day to health care workers. Health care workers can request a pair here.
Cuomo asks for 30-40K ventilators, but the president doesn’t “believe you need 30,000 or 40,000“.
Folks are getting creative to prevent masks and respirators from hurting their face. Incidentally, I wouldn’t recommend this with an n95 mask as it would cause too much air leakage. But for a surgical mask? Sure.
Wearing a face mask for an extended period of time. Sew a button to a headband to keep from destroying your ears. from lifehacks
Boris Johnson has tested positive and has mild symptoms. He has a fever and cough and is isolating at home.
Mayor de Blasio expects half of New Yorkers to get the virus. Half of the infected in NY are under 50. The Health Commissioner believes the crisis will last through September. Mayor de Blasio still has yet to mandate a strict lockdown for NY.
Is Wuhan’s death toll real? There are reasons to question it. I am reminded of the rumors that crematoriums in Wuhan were running 24 hours per day, processing an estimated 1,000 bodies per day. Now this was just a rumor, but as the daily death toll in Italy rises towards 1,000 I am once again left to wonder.
Chemicals needed to make test reagents are running short. Supply chain challenges could domino, resulting in testing capabilities coming to a halt. An increased diversity of tests which use different chemical components could help prevent this.
Things are getting scary in NY:
My hands are shaking i can’t type. A nurse at my elmhurst hospital who i don’t know just called me crying. She said they need vents but more so need doctors and also doctors who are ICU trained. She told me they cry everyday bc they know they’re gonna die. They’re begging. Please
— Grace Meng (@Grace4NY) March 27, 2020
A temporary hospital has been built, which will help:
The temporary hospital in the Javits Center will fully open on MONDAY.
I congratulate FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers for their work at Javits. I thank the Javits staff. I thank the National Guard.
You built a hospital in a week.
You are the best of us.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 27, 2020
A reader provides a useful link to a UW COVID-19 Projection calculator. Play with the numbers! You can click the drop-down arrow to play with state projections.
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