Coronavirus Special Coverage

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COVID-19: key developments for Tuesday, June 9, 2020

There are over 7.3 million global cases.  There have been over 413,000 deaths around the globe. There are over 2 million cases in the US. There have been over 114,000 deaths in the US alone. The US, Brazil, and Russia have the most active cases at the moment.

The WHO says the public should wear a mask now. Better late than never. The WHO adds that there is a growing body of evidence that mask-wearing is helpful during this pandemic.

Brazil isn’t releasing updated death and infection rates. Bolsonaro is blamed for manipulating the data. Its Health Ministry has pulled its COVID-19 data dashboard. Critics say ignoring or manipulating the data won’t make the virus disappear.

States where hospitalizations are rising:

Americans are acting like the pandemic is over. It’s not. From packed bars and beaches to tens of thousands packed together in the streets protesting, it’s looking like COVID-19 infections are set to flourish. It pains me to see these protests and know that on top of that struggle, black and brown Americans are disproportionately to be affected by this pandemic as well, and are likely to suffer worse outcomes if infected.  And in many a bustling business, nary a mask is to be seen:

California is also frequently failing to promote or enforce mask wearing in public:

Texas Medical Center hospital systems are warning that ICU capacity is soon to be breached. Surge plans will have to be enacted in as soon as two weeks if rates of hospitalization continue as they have for the past week.

Texas reopened quite early, and has not been strict about mask-wearing. Here’s a close up of that hospitalization trend:

Arizona hospitals are also nearing the activation of facility surge plans:

An experiment showed that a viral pathogen smeared on one bed rail could contaminate half of an entire hospital unit for days afterward. In this case, the pathogen is one that infects plants as is harmless to humans.

One of the wayward cruise ships finally dock in Germany after 6 months stranded at sea. It’s the last cruise liner to carry passengers during this time. Three of its passengers died from COVID-19.

4.8 million cases were avoided in the US alone because of lockdowns.

 A remdesivir shortage is incoming, and it’s a shame because it’s been helping. The drug is likely to run out by the end of the month. It reduces recovery time by about four days. Gilead hopes to ramp up production to better meet needs in the fall.


  • 1 Comment

    • woodrow

      Just a note to say: keep up the good work.  After having a riotous party in the big cities, the virus looks like it is now taking a leisurely swim around the country; it’s easy to subscribe that to cultural unawareness or contrarianism, but in my rural Georgia county and a few of its neighbors, those phenomena are both present substantially, yet the virus has made only a meek showing. There is one major grocery store that most people visit at some time in the week, unmasked, elbow to elbow, and this has been happening since February, yet to date only 39 cases reported total.  Something else is going on, perhaps an additional mode of transmission / protection as yet undiscovered.

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