COVID–19 Headlines April 3, 2020

DrJesseSantiano.com is thankfully back. I hope it stays this way.

This page will update all day. Check frequently to be current. Click on the ads to help support the website. Headlines have embedded links. News sources retain all copyright.

Click on the titles in blue to read the articles from this website.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

All of the articles I have written about Covid-19 are below.

New:

Vitamin C and COVID-19

The Complete Covid-19 Articles

COVID-19 Headlines

New York reports deadliest day from coronavirus, governor makes plea for help

NEW YORK (REUTERS) – New York state recorded more than 500 coronavirus-related deaths in a single day, bringing its total to nearly 3,000, or about the same number killed in the United States in the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday (April 3).

New York City has mere days to prepare for the worst of the novel coronavirus onslaught, said Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose city has suffered more than a quarter of US deaths in the outbreak. He pleaded for federal government help to end a shortage of medical staff and ventilators.

There are at least 273,880 coronavirus cases in the US

The more masks we have, the better-SCMP

What needs to be addressed is therefore not so much their medical effectiveness, but adequate supply in what appears to be a long-running battle.

The World Health Organisation is also said to be revising its recommendation that masks are only meant for those who are sick or caring for others suspected of being infected.

Of course, cultural differences and a lack of international consensus mean the wearing of surgical masks may still be frowned upon in some places. But their extensive use in Hong Kong is seen as one reason why the scale of community infections is still relatively small.

7 pm EST update. An increase of 10,984 cases and 530 deaths since 4 p. Case fatality rate of 5.37%

ice_screenshot_20200403-190503

Using alcohol to deal with coronavirus isolation ‘can make things worse’

Liquor stores were deemed essential businesses in both the United Kingdom and the United States, which health experts warned occasional drinkers to be careful with.

Alcohol Abuse, Covid-19, and Lung Complications

Britain’s Prince Charles opens massive new field hospital to fight coronavirus

The Nightingale Hospital, which will initially provide up to 500 beds equipped with ventilators and oxygen, will eventually be able to treat about 4,000 patients. It has been created in the Excel Exhibition Centre in London’s Docklands.

Built with help from the military, it is the first of six new temporary hospitals to be set up across the country to cope with the outbreak. So far, 2,921 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Britain have died.

NYC’s Central Park field hospital at half capacity, expected to max out in the next few days

New York’s Central Park field hospital is already at half capacity on its third day treating Covid-19 patients, according to the director of the facility.

There are currently 34 patients being treated there, including four in their ICU, and it’s expected the pop-up hospital will reach its 68-bed capacity in the next few days, according to Dr. Elliott Tenpenny, director of the international heath unit for Samaritan’s Purse.

Trump announces new face mask recommendations

President Trump announced new guidance from the White House on Friday afternoon, saying the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were advising the use of “non-medical cloth based” face coverings.

Coronavirus: Chinese academics’ open letter urges Beijing, Washington to come together to beat Covid-19-SCMP

As two of the great countries on Earth, cooperation between China and the US could, and should, be used to bring a more positive outcome for all humankind,’ academics say

‘Political bickering does nothing to contribute to the healthy development of Sino-US relations, nor will it help the people of the world to rationally and accurately understand and cope with the pandemic,’ they say

Alan Merrill, composer of ‘I Love Rock ’N’ Roll’ dies of coronavirus at 69-JP

American Jewish musician Alan Merrill, who wrote the classic tune “I Love Rock ’N’ Roll” which was a huge hit for Joan Jett, has died of the novel coronavirus at 69 in New York City, his daughter, Laura Merrill, announced on her Facebook page Sunday.

Coronavirus: social distancing remains the best strategy, experts tell Facebook’s Covid Frontline event co-hosted by SCMP

Social distancing remains the best universal strategy against the coronavirus as vaccines or treatments are still at least a year away, health experts in Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore have said on a Facebook show co-hosted by the South China Morning Post.

“As there are no vaccines for another year and there are no really good antibiotics, the best method we have now, which have been used around the world, is social methods – social distancing and quarantine measures,” he said. “That’s the best we have to keep the virus away.”

“I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This”: Doctors Without Enough Ventilators Are Being Told Whom To Save During The Coronavirus Pandemic

WASHINGTON — At the top of the list for ventilators: patients with just one failing organ. And then there are the others. Doctors with patients who are unresponsive to standard measures, have severe burns, have irreversible low blood pressure, or any other condition that would result in immediate mortality are instructed not to put them on ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump is being urged to consider national stay home recommendations, source says

President Trump is being urged to consider calling for nationwide stay-at-home recommendations, something he has so far refused to do, a source close to the White House Coronavirus Task Force says tells CNN.

Among the officials nudging the President to embrace such a move is Dr. Anthony Fauci, the source said. On Thursday night during CNN’s Town Hall on the coronavirus pandemic, Fauci said it’s time for every state in the country to have stay-at-home orders.

In A Reversal, The FDA Now Approves KN95 Masks For Emergency Use

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it would formally authorize the use of KN95 masks by health care workers fighting coronavirus, a shift in policy on the Chinese-made masks prompted by the urgent need for protective equipment.

The announcement marks a significant reversal. Last week, the FDA had excluded the devices from a list of foreign-certified masks it said could be used as acceptable substitutes for the highly sought-after N95 respirator mask.

AI could help identify coronavirus patients at greatest risk of becoming seriously ill

In partnership with Chinese doctors, the AI models used data from two hospitals in Wenzhou city, which showed that the three main risk factors were increases in the liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase; myalgias, a type of muscle pain; and rising haemoglobin levels.

The models they built were proven to have 70 to 80 per cent accuracy in predicting severe cases.

About 15% of people diagnosed with coronavirus have been hospitalized in Texas-CNN

UK nowhere near running out of ventilators: senior medic-Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is not “anywhere close” to the scenario of running out of ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients at the peak of the spread of the virus, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said on Friday.

A plea from doctors in Italy: To avoid Covid-19 disaster, treat more patients at home-STAT

“Western health care systems have been built around the concept of patient-centered care,” physicians Mirco Nacoti, Luca Longhi, and their colleagues at Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo urge in a paper published on Saturday in NEJM Catalyst, a new peer-reviewed journal from the New England Journal of Medicine. But a pandemic requires “community-centered care.”

“We are far beyond the tipping point,” Nacoti and his colleagues write. With 70% of ICU beds reserved for critically ill Covid-19 patients, those beds are being allocated only to those “with a reasonable chance to survive,” as physicians make wrenching triage choices to try to keep alive those who have a chance. “Older patients are not being resuscitated and die alone without appropriate palliative care, while the family is notified over the phone, often by a well-intentioned, exhausted, and emotionally depleted physician with no prior contact,” they report.

ice_screenshot_20200403-171211 — JHU CSSE

Before-symptom spread may complicate COVID-19 containment

Transmission 1 to 3 days before symptoms

The researchers reviewed clinical and epidemiologic data of all 243 coronavirus cases in Singapore from Jan 23 to Mar 26 to detect presymptomatic spread. They identified seven COVID-19 clusters of two to five patients each that likely involved presymptomatic transmission; 10 of 157 locally acquired cases (6.4%) were part of the clusters.

Asymptomatic transmission explains the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2

5 Reasons why Covid-19 Spreads Fast

New Study Explains the Rapid Spread of Covid-19

Walking Coronavirus Pneumonia Can Spread the Disease

The 2019-nCoV Is still present from a patient after sickness

Asymptomatic is not Always what it Seems

How Long does the Covid-19 Virus Float in the Air and Stay on Surface?

Wuhan lockdown led to dramatic cut in global spread of coronavirus, researchers say

China’s drastic decision to lock down the central city of Wuhan has cut the number of coronavirus cases exported from the country to other parts of the world by more than 75 per cent, according to a study by a team of international scientists
The restrictions also dramatically curbed the number of domestic infections, another team found.

Wuhan has something that made the epidemic spread worldwide. That is discussed in,

To Know What’s in Wuhan is to Know Why Coronavirus is a Concern

Connecticut reports more than 1,000 new coronavirus case

“Our number of positives went up about 29%, which is probably more than we’ve seen in the past and a little disturbingly, the percentage of tests that resulted in people positive spiked up at 64%,” Lamont added.

“They just sedate them”; coronavirus overwhelms Spain’s care homes-Reuters

With hospitals stretched to breaking point, the elderly are being turned away, and the care homes, lacking staff and appropriate equipment, must do what they can for the sick and dying.

“When they are very sick – not only here, in more than one place – … when they see there is no solution … they sedate them and see how long they last, because they’re leaving intensive care wards for younger people,” said Maria Jose Alvarez, whose 85-year-old mother is in a home near Barcelona.

“It’s sad, it’s really sad. They don’t deserve this.”

Colorado governor asks everybody in the state to wear a mask-CNN

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis asked everybody in his state to wear a mask when they leave their homes.

“Now, if you’ve been around grocery stores, you’ve noticed that more and more people are wearing cloth masks — we want everybody in Colorado to do that,” Polis said during a press conference today.

He asked people to use non-medical masks to save resources for health care workers, and tweeted tweeted out a photo of him wearing one of his own.

Virus cost may top $4 trillion; Americans arm up on guns

COSTS MOUNT: The pandemic will cost the global economy as much as $4.1 trillion, or nearly 5% of all economic activity, according to new estimates from the Asian Development Bank.

Firearm sales spiked 85% last month compared with the March last year, according an analysis of the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System by Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting.

US deaths hit daily high as global infections cross 1 million; Singapore shuts schools and workplaces

The US saw 1,169 deaths in 24 hours and its infections are 20 per cent of the global total

China to hold day of mourning for victims; Singapore announces fifth death and school closures; Boris Johnson says he’s still ill; Angela Merkel ends quarantine

Coronavirus: Justin Trudeau hints at retaliation after White House orders 3M to halt ‘critical’ N95 mask exports to Canada health workers

3M says it will comply with the Defence Production Act to prioritise US orders of N95 masks but there will be ‘significant humanitarian implications’ elsewhere

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls order a mistake, pointing out that thousands of Canadian nurses travel to US to work each day, and trade ‘goes both ways’

Jazz Musicians Are Mourning The Legends Among Them Who Died From The Coronavirus

First, it was saxophonist Marcelo Peralta, who turned 59 just days before he died after contracting the coronavirus on March 10 in Madrid.

Then it was Manu Dibango, 86, a Cameroonian afro-jazz saxophone icon.

Then Mike Longo, 83, a pianist and musical director for Dizzy Gillespie.

Then revered trumpeter Wallace Roney, 59.

Then, on April 1, two deep blows: 85-year-old Ellis Marsalis Jr., a pianist, educator, and patriarch of an illustrious jazz family, and jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, 94, whose acclaimed work crossed genres.

California coronavirus cases exceed 10,000

Lean On Me singer Bill Withers dies at 81

Bill Withers, the acclaimed 1970s soul singer behind hits Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean On Me has died from heart complications aged 81, his family said.

The singer died on Monday in Los Angeles, the family told the Associated Press.

Governor to take ventilators for NYC as hospitals buckle-AP

NEW YORK (AP) — With coronavirus deaths surging in New York, the governor announced Friday he will use his authority to seize ventilators and protective gear from private hospitals and companies that aren’t using them — one of the most aggressive steps yet in the U.S. to relieve severe shortages of equipment needed to fight the scourge.

Transportation Security Administration employee dies due to coronavirus

The employee was a 39-year-old K9 handler at the Newark airport, the TSA said Friday.

More than 130 TSA officers and agency employees have tested positive for coronavirus.

4 pm EST update. An increase of 56,110 cases and 4,268 deaths since 10 am today. Case fatality rate of 5.3%

ice_screenshot_20200403-155438

Feel free to share. Don’t miss an article. Subscribe for free with your email.

Don’t Get Sick!