Coronavirus Special Coverage

A collection of news posted throughout the week for those that want signal, not noise.

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COVID-19: key developments for Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Over 45,000 cases were added to the globe in the last 24 hours.  There are now 467,890 cases. There are almost 75,000 cases in Italy and there are over 65,000 cases in the US.

Perdue Plant workers walk out over SARS-CoV-2 exposure fears. Food industry workers are critical: they are essential workers in more than just name. What happens to the food distribution system if the workers who produce the food get sick?

(PDF warning) Stanford researchers confirm that N95 masks can be sterilized in the oven and re-used. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 158 F. Use a wooden clothespin to hang the masks from the wire oven shelves—the masks should not touch metal directly. We don’t yet know the maximum number of times this can be done.

Once again, a lot of young people are needing to be hospitalized with COVID-19. Please share this information with the under-50-somethings in your life. This is not just a disease of the aged.

The Washington Post covers multiple headlines of note: Biden calls Trump’s Easter timeline catastrophic, Garcetti says Los Angelinos may have to stay at home for months, 1 million unemployment claims in CA, NY asks FEMA to set up emergency morgues, Spain’s Vice Premier tests positive, and Prince Charles tests positive.

Oxford launches a government response tracker. Countries with a more stringent approach tend to “bend the curve,” and also tend to have higher numbers before initiating their response.

Hospitals in the US weigh horrible COVID-19 policy choices—who gets to live and who gets to die. When lifesaving equipment and treatments have to be rationed, these are the choices that have to be made. The situation that many hospitals will face as cases grow is an absolute ethical nightmare.

COVID-19 is spreading at Rikers Island. 52 inmates are infected. Many more are at risk given the close quarters in this particular jail. Over 900 inmates at Rikers Island are over 50.

NY is in a bad way, and we’re hearing that right:


  • 2 Comments

    • Vaylon

      I live in Mississippi, and this is extremely bad news for us: https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/mar/24/gov-tate-reeves-orders-limited-gatherings-today-ex/

      Tate Reeves is refusing to shut most things down and is essentially following Trump’s “logic”. He thinks the economic hit is going to be worse than the death toll. He’s wrong. Mississippi is potentially looking at 60,000 deaths if it doesn’t issue a stay-at-home order.

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    • TraceContributor

      I just got the picture of the keys on top of each of your Corona updates. That’s pretty clever. 🙂

       

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