Tuesday,  May 12th, 2020

At least five COVID-19 patients in a hospital in Vyborgsky District, St. Petersburg, Russia, die after a ventilator caught fire in the intensive care ward they are treated in. (DW)

House Democrats unveil new $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a new coronavirus relief bill totaling $3 trillion, planning for a vote later this week. The new legislation, called the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, includes $500 billion for state governments, $375 billion for local governments, $20 billion for tribal relief, $10 billion for small businesses, $25 billion for the postal service, and more. Additionally, the bill includes another round of $1,200 direct payments to individuals. Politico notes, however, that Democrats acknowledge this new bill announced Tuesday “is more of a talking point than legislation that they expect to become law.” If it were to pass, CNN notes it would be the new largest relief package ever in U.S. history. Source: Politico

Fauci warns Senate of ‘needless’ death if U.S. opens up too quickly Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned the Senate heath committee on Tuesday that if the U.S. reopens too fast, Americans will experience “needless suffering and death,” The New York Times reports. Fauci and three other top government doctors testified remotely. In an email sent late Monday night, Fauci wrote that the “major message” he hopes to convey to the committee is “if we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to ‘Open America Again,’ then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country. This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.” Source: The New York Times

Some California shutdown measures to extend through the fall While California’s coronavirus infection and death rates appear to have stabilized overall, cases continue to rise in some parts of the state, prompting officials to prepare to extend lockdown measures. Los Angeles County is expected to put a hold on loosening restrictions through July, although changes that have already been planned — like opening beaches — will remain in place. Meanwhile, Timothy White, the chancellor of the state’s largest university system, California State University, said its 23 campuses would remain closed for the fall semester, with instruction taking place online once again. White did say there could be some exceptions for the nursing program and some essential science labs if health and safety precautions permit. More than 480,000 students are enrolled in the university system. Source: The Los Angeles Times

Shanghai Disneyland reopens with new social distancing rules. (The Guardian)

Tesla, Inc. CEO Elon Musk announces he will reopen the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California, United States, in defiance of an Alameda County shutdown order. Governor Gavin Newsom voiced his support for the reopening of the factory. (CNN)

New coronavirus clusters are reported in Wuhan—where the virus first emerged—and the north-eastern province of Jilin, after confirming its first case since April 3. (BBC)

Malaysian authorities detains hundreds of foreign workers in a major raid in areas around the Kuala Lumpur Wholesale Market. It is the second major raid on the country’s biggest wholesale wet market by the authorities amid the movement control order. (The Strait Times)

 

The End 

 

 

“After years of wanting to thoroughly clean my house but lacking the time, this week I discovered that wasn’t the reason.”
– Julius Caesar

Monday, May 11th, 2020

Opinion: Dark Decade Ahead

https://www.theweek.com/articles/913411/dark-decade-ahead

South Dakota Sioux tribe won’t remove coronavirus checkpoints The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota set up checkpoints in order to monitor and track the coronavirus, and on Sunday, Chairman Harold Frazier told CNN the tribe must keep them up as they are the “best tool we have right now” to prevent the spread of COVID-19. “We want to ensure that people coming from hot spots or highly infected areas, we ask them to go around our land,” Frazier said. The nearest critical care facility is three hours away, Frazier said, and the checkpoints are necessary due to “the lack of resources we have medically.” Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has said the checkpoints need to come down, and her policy director sent a letter to the tribe on Friday saying they are illegal and “interfere with regulating traffic on U.S. and state highways.” Source: CNN

Fauci to testify remotely before Senate committee Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will testify remotely on Tuesday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Fauci, who last testified before Congress in March, will discuss the coronavirus pandemic. He will be virtually joined by Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn; and Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir. The senators, their staff members, and the witnesses will “appear by video conference due to these unusual circumstances,” the committee’s chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), said in a statement on Sunday. Alexander is now self-quarantining at his home in Tennessee, after a staffer tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday. Source: CBS News

Global coronavirus infections top 4 million The global number of confirmed coronavirus infections has surpassed four million, Johns Hopkins University calculates, with more than 1.3 million of those cases in the United States. There have been nearly 280,000 confirmed deaths worldwide, including more than 79,000 in the U.S. Many experts believe both the number of infections and deaths are undercounted since testing has fallen short in many countries, though there are efforts underway to change that. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that 22 new testing sites are open, while encouraging residents to obtain tests even if they’re not exhibiting symptoms, which would help get a true sense of the pandemic’s scale. Source: Johns Hopkins University

South Korean president warns of second wave After the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday reported 34 new coronavirus infections — the country’s highest daily rise since April 9 — President Moon Jae-in warned about the risk of a second wave of COVID-19 later this year. Moon said the new cluster, which emerged after a man who eventually tested positive visited multiple recently reopened night clubs in Seoul, shows how quickly the disease can spread. South Korea has drawn praise for how it has largely curbed the outbreak, but the latest development shows how difficult reopening can be, and Seoul’s bars and clubs were quickly ordered shut once again. “It’s not over until it’s over,” Moon said. Source:  Reuters

A physical altercation between Indian and Chinese soldiers near the Naku La sector in Sikkim, India leaves eleven wounded in total. (BBC)

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei says that Iran is prepared for a full prisoner exchange with the United States but that the American authorities had not yet responded. The swap could include Iranian university professor Sirous Asgari who is in U.S. custody and Michael R. White, a U.S. Navy veteran in Iranian custody. (Al Jazeera)

The End

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-cases-in-germany-rise-after-lockdown-restrictions-end-2020-5 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-10/fed-s-kashkari-says-worst-is-yet-to-come-congress-must-step-up?srnd=premium

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-10/where-did-the-virus-come-from-scientists-race-to-find-origin?srnd=premium

 

 

 

Sunday,  May 10th, 2020

The Latest COVID-19 Models

“Models predicting the potential spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have become a fixture of American life. Yet each model tells a different story about the devastation to come, making it hard to know which one is “right.” But COVID-19 models aren’t made to be unquestioned oracles. They’re not trying to tell us one precise future, but rather the range of possibilities given the facts on the ground.

One of their more sober tasks is predicting the number of Americans who will die due to COVID-19. FiveThirtyEight — with the help of the Reich Lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst — has assembled six models published by infectious disease researchers to illustrate possible trajectories of the pandemic’s death toll. In doing so, we hope to make them more accessible, as well as highlight how the assumptions underlying the models can lead to vastly different estimates. Here are the models’ U.S. fatality projections for the coming weeks.”

FDA approves first coronavirus antigen test for emergency use  The Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization Friday for a coronavirus antigen test. The test, produced by San Diego-based manufacturer Quidel, can diagnose COVID-19 by detecting fragments of protein found on or within the virus present in samples collected from the naval cavity using swabs. The test produces results within minutes — much more quickly than many other tests on the market — but the technology is also more liable to result false negatives, so an PCR test may be necessary to confirm. But once production ramps up, so will the country’s ability to test millions of Americans per day.  Source: CNBC

U.S. tightens restrictions on visas for Chinese journalists  The Department of Homeland Security said Friday the United States will shorten the visa length for Chinese journalists working for non-American news outlets to 90 days. Previously, journalists with Chinese passports were granted open-ended visas. They can apply for extensions, but renewed visas will also last just 90 days. It’s the latest development in a media war between Washington and Beijing which has intensified during the coronavirus pandemic. American officials said the rules were meant to counterbalance the “suppression of independent journalism” in China, whose government expelled journalists from prominent U.S. publications in March. Before that, the U.S. reduced the number of Chinese citizens employed by five state-controlled Chinese news organizations allowed to work in the country. The 90-day limit won’t apply to reporters from Hong Kong, Macao, or to mainland Chinese citizens who hold green cards.  Source: The Washington Post

 

Some other interesting stories:

https://www.businessinsider.com/state-coronavirus-cases-show-too-soon-to-reopen-2020-5

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-09/ibiza-of-the-alps-under-scrutiny-as-emails-tell-new-virus-tale

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-09/in-week-two-of-the-big-reopen-half-empty-bar-feels-like-a-win?srnd=premium

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-08/virus-pushes-america-s-hospitals-to-the-brink-of-financial-ruin?srnd=premium