The city of Berkeleys health officer and other health officers around the region and state recommend that everyone cover their noses and mouths with cloth when leaving home for essential visits to doctors offices, supermarkets or pharmacies.
A bandana, fabric mask, neck gaiter or other cloth barrier helps prevent those who have mild or no COVID-19 symptoms from unknowingly spreading it to others. To protect yourself from others, use physical distance.
Do not use surgical masks or N-95s. Preserve the limited supply of medical-grade masks such as an N-95 for health care workers or first-responders, who cannot use physical distance to protect themselves, especially from people at their most symptomatic, infectious periods.
This new recommendation from the city of Berkeley, state and regional officials comes as scientists and doctors rapidly learn more about this new type of coronavirus, which was detected only four months ago and has no known medicine or vaccine.
Wear a bandana to protect others from an infection you might have, said Dr. Lisa Hernandez, the city of Berkeley health officer. When you see others wearing a cloth covering, know that they are protecting you.
Face coverings should cover the nose and mouth. Cloth materials can be improvised and should be washed repeatedly with detergent and dried on a hot cycle. Ideally, use a dedicated laundry bin so they are washed after each use.
Make sure the covering is comfortable you dont want to have to keep adjusting the mask, which means touching your face. Always wash your hands, or use hand sanitizer, before AND after touching your face or face coverings.
Health officials stress that staying home, frequent hand washing and physical distancing are the best ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Face coverings may also serve as a reminder to the critical order to shelter in place except for essential activities.
If you have sealed packages of masks, gloves, and other protective equipment to support Berkeleys emergency response youre able to donate, let us know.
Stay home except for essential activities, said Hernandez. When you must leave, help care for our community by keeping distance from others and covering your face.
Visitcityofberkeley.info/covid19for additional information on COVID-19, recommendations from Berkeley Public Health, andchanges to City services.
Berkeleyside relies on reader support so we can remain free to access for everyone in our community. Donate to help us continue to provide you with reliable, independent reporting.
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HOUSTON There's new information on how COVID-19 spreads and it's a lot easier than scientists expected. New research suggests coronavirus can spread through talking and even breathing.
The troubling news was delivered in an overnight letter to the White House from Dr. Harvey Fineberg and the National Academy of Sciences.
The CDC says COVID-19 spreads when people are within six feet of one another through tiny droplets produced by an infected person's coughs or sneezes. Experts now saying talking and something as simple as breathing could transmit the virus too.
In other words, the six foot rule may not cut it.
Research at a Chinese hospital found traces of coronavirus suspended in the air when doctors or nurses took off protective gear.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska noted they found traces of the virus too airborne in a patient's room even they were more than six feet away from the patient.
All this means it's possible aerosolized coronavirus droplets released by talking or even breathing could hang in the air and yes potentially infect a person who walks by later.
How long the virus is in the air can depend how much virus was released by a person breathing or talking and whether or not there's circulation in the air.
All this is pushing the White House Coronavirus Task Force closer to recommending the general public wear masks when not in their homes. Cities like Los Angeles have put that recommendation in place.
OTHER COVID-19 STORIES ON KHOU.COM
For Immediate Release: April 02, 2020 Statement From:
Statement Author
Leadership Role
Director - Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)
As part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations ongoing commitment to fight the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, today the agency issued guidance for immediate implementation to address the urgent and immediate need for blood and blood components.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges to the U.S. blood supply. Donor centers have experienced a dramatic reduction in donations due to the implementation of social distancing and the cancellation of blood drives.
Maintaining an adequate blood supply is vital to public health. Blood donors help patients of all ages accident and burn victims, heart surgery and organ transplant patients and those battling cancer and other life-threatening conditions. The American Red Cross estimates that every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood.
People who donate blood are part of our critical infrastructure industries. More donations are needed at this time and we hope people will continue to take the time to donate blood. We have also encouraged, and continue to encourage, state and local governments to take into account the essential nature of donating blood - and that it can be done safely and consistently within social distancing guidelines - when considering travel and business restrictions, and we encourage them to communicate that to their citizens.
At the FDA, we want to do everything we can to encourage more blood donations, which includes revisiting and updating some of our existing policies to help ensure we have an adequate blood supply, while still protecting the safety of our nations blood supply.
Based on recently completed studies and epidemiologic data, the FDA has concluded that current policies regarding certain donor eligibility criteria can be modified without compromising the safety of the blood supply. Therefore, the FDA is revising recommendations in several guidances regarding blood donor eligibility. These changes are being put forth for immediate implementation and are expected to remain in place after the COVID-19 pandemic ends, with any appropriate changes based on comments we receive and our experience implementing the guidances. At this time, the alternatives to certain donor eligibility requirements being provided generally will apply only for the duration of the declared pandemic.
Revised Recommendations for Reducing the Risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission by Blood and Blood Products
Among others, the FDA is making the following changes, for immediate implementation, to the December 2015 guidance:
Revised Recommendations to Reduce the Risk of Transfusion-Transmitted Malaria
The FDA is making the following changes, for immediate implementation, to the August 2013 guidance:
Recommendations to Reduce the Possible Risk of Transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease by Blood and Blood Components
The FDA is finalizing the January 2020 draft guidance, which includes the following change from the previous guidance:
To help address this critical need, the FDA is also providing notice of alternatives to certain requirements regarding blood donor eligibility for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Blood establishments are not required to implement the changes in the FDA recommendations or the alternative procedures.
We expect that the updated guidance and alternative procedures will help increase the number of donations moving forward, while helping to ensure adequate protections for donor health and maintaining a safe blood supply for patients.
We believe these updated recommendations will have a significant and positive impact on our blood supply. As noted above, the changes being announced to the HIV, vCJD and malaria guidances are being put forth for immediate implementation. The updated recommendations in these guidances are based on data and analysis that the FDA believes are applicable to circumstances outside of (and after) the COVID-19 pandemic and reflect the agencys current thinking on this issue. These recommendations are expected to remain in place after the COVID-19 pandemic ends, with any appropriate changes based on comments we receive and our experience implementing the guidances.
The FDA will provide notification when the alternative procedures are no longer in effect. The FDA will monitor these changes in policy, alongside the National Institutes of Healths National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and major blood partners to ensure the continued safety of the blood supply.
The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nations food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.
###
N95s are the gold standard in protecting health care workers from particles and droplets in the air. (Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)
Here's the scenario: your loved one is in a nursing home on lockdown, you know people there are sick with COVID-19, you have no way to visit or see for yourself how it's being handled.
That's Debra Hoffman's reality. Her 74-year-old aunt is a resident at the Cedar Mountain nursing home in Yucaipa, where a COVID-19 cluster is occuring. So far 51 residents and six staff members have tested positive for the new coronavirus and two infected residents have died.
Hoffman said her aunt, who suffered a stroke, needs full-time care.
"The hardest thing is that I can't physically go up there and control this situation," Hoffman said. "I can't go in to see what's really going on and I'm not getting accurate information."
Hoffman learned of the outbreak at Cedar Mountain only after it was reported in a local TV newscast, she said, adding that a representative from Cedar Mountain called the following day to let her know the situation at the nursing home.
"It's frustrating because I don't know what's going to happen," Hoffman said. "I don't know how they're treating it, I don't know what their procedures are to keep this from spreading, other than my aunt told me they're not allowed out of their room."
Hoffman wants her aunt and all residents and staff at Cedar Mountain to be tested for COVID-19 and she said she's getting conflicting information on whether or not that's happened.
Lana Culp, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, said most of the residents had been tested, but not all.
"There isn't much value in testing everyone at this point now, just because it should be assumed that their whole facility has been exposed due to the large number of confirmed cases," Culp said.
Cedar Mountain staff were not immediately available to provide comment.
THE STATE'S RESPONSE
"Infection control specialists from CDPH [California Department of Public Health], along with county staff, have been at the facility to provide assessments and work in real time on infection control measures," the California Department of Public Health said in an emailed statement to LAist.
According to the state's guidance for skilled nursing facilities: "symptomatic residents and exposed roommates must limit movement outside their room; if they need to leave the room, they should wear a facemask."
That means other families across California and the nation are finding themselves in Hoffman's shoes unable to see for themselves how their loved ones are being treated.
To prevent the spread of the virus, CDPH guidelines say residents with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection should be kept in the same wing or building and that communal dining areas should be closed. They also say 'high touch' surfaces should be cleaned and disinfected with Environmental Protection Agency-registered, healthcare-grade disinfectants.
'DIRE' NEED FOR MORE PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
As nursing homes across California brace for more outbreaks among their vulnerable populations, a coalition of nurses, skilled nursing facility operators and a union which represents thousands of nursing home workers in California is pleading with the federal government to urgently get millions of masks and gowns to the front lines.
"Unfortunately, Yucaipa... it is the tip of the iceberg," April Verrett, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2015, said on a call this week with reporters.
Verrett said nursing home workers don't have enough protective equipment to keep themselves and residents from getting infected should we see more outbreaks and clusters in these close-quarters settings.
"The need is so acute and so dire, the solution must come from the federal government," Verrett said.
State leaders, including California State Senator Richard Pan and Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes are also demanding the federal government do more to insure production of personal protective equipment is made in the U.S. and distributed to facilities in need.
"We're sending our frontline workers to a war zone without protection," Reyes said. "And that cannot continue."
MORE ON CORONAVIRUS:
[ADN mobile app users: You can watch the briefing here.]
Alaskas chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, along with Gov. Mike Dunleavy will give an update on COVID-19 in Alaska and present coronavirus pandemic modeling and online tools in a media briefing at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Top story: Tories face scrutiny over immunity passport
Hello Warren Murray here, lets wash our hands and then get straight into it.
Residents of Wuhan, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, have been warned to stay indoors and strengthen protection measures, as Chinese authorities seek to prevent a second wave of infections before they are due to lift travel restrictions on the city. Around the world more than a million people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and more than 51,400 people have died. Australias chief medical officer has said the real level of infection might be more like five to 10 million and much higher in the US than reported while Chinas rapid containment also brings a risk of new outbreaks because their population is not immune .
No 10 is facing fresh questions over its coronavirus testing plan as it emerged the government is hoping to exit the lockdown through controversial immunity passports and antibody tests that are still not proven to work. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has pledged there will be 100,000 tests performed a day in England by the end of the month. The Chinese state is ramping up English-language media campaigns, seeking to use coronavirus to raise its standing on the world stage. Photographs have been promoted to UK audiences by the Xinhua news agency of Chinese aid dubbed facemask diplomacy arriving at Heathrow. Chinese diplomats have used English-language Twitter, which is banned within China, to spread false suggestions that the virus may have been started by the west. The WHO has said Middle Eastern governments needed to act fast to limit the spread after cases nearly doubled in a week to almost 60,000.
Prince Charles, recently recovered from Covid-19, will today appear by videolink from Scotland to open the new NHS Nightingale hospital at the ExCeL conference centre in London Docklands. Natalie Grey, head of nursing at NHS Nightingale, will unveil a plaque marking the occasion. Four more Nightingale hospitals are being set up: in Bristol, Harrogate, at the Manchester Central complex, and at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. After British Airways said it was moving to suspend more than 30,000 staff from duties, Heathrow airport has announced it is closing one of its two runways due to flight reductions and Cathay Pacific is making cutbacks. We have just posted our latest at-a-glance summary and will have more news throughout the day at our live blog.
Theres more in our Coronavirus Extra section further down and heres where you can find all our coverage of the outbreak from breaking news to factchecks and advice.
Votes do not match seats Labours next leader should pledge to bring in election of parliament by proportional representation, the Green party has urged. Sin Berry and Jonathan Bartley, co-leaders of the Greens, write: We cannot continue to allow our democracy to be warped by a system where many are excluded, policy is not led by those whose voices should be heard, and where votes do not match seats. Three-quarters of Labour members support proportional representation, according to a YouGov poll shortly after Decembers general election. The Labour leadership campaign closed on Thursday and the winner out of Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy is due to be announced tomorrow.
Stick to the back garden Temperatures are forecast to reach 20C (68F) in some parts of the UK from Saturday but health officials and police have warned people not to make the most of it at least not in public spaces. The authorities have stressed it is vital people stay at home. Ten days into the formal lockdown, Andy Slattery, assistant chief constable of Cumbria, said he was concerned that boredom and frustration were setting in and people were getting back into their cars, ignoring guidance to exercise locally. Weve stopped and spoken to day-trippers from the north-east and the north-west thinking its still OK to come to the Lake District it isnt. One senior officer told the Guardian the bigger concern was Easter weekend, when forces are considering boosting patrols dedicated to policing the lockdown.
Hickory dickory shock Mice show a range of different facial expressions when experiencing pleasure, pain, fear, sickness and other sensory states or emotions, researchers have found. Gives new meaning to Say cheese
Nosh knowledge How well do you know the foods of the world? To start off your Friday take our travel picture quiz and find out.
> Europes fruit and vegetable crops are at risk of rotting in the fields because seasonal workers are unavailable, writes Rory Carroll. Food supply chains are robust and supermarkets are keeping shelves stocked but fresh food harvests are the problem. Strawberry producers are cooling their plants to delay ripening. Asylum-seekers have been hired and volunteers recruited for harvests of berries and asparagus in France and Germany. Britains Country Land and Business Association has called for a land army of new farm workers. The hope is that students, refugees, the newly unemployed and others what Frances agriculture minister calls a shadow army of workers will flock from cities to save harvests.
> In the Netherlands, passersby stepping out for exercise in the spring sun, workers and hospitals are being handed tulips, roses and chrysanthemums after more than 10,000 companies signed up to buy more than 1m flowers from the struggling floral industry and simply give them away.
> Every time we read an article telling us not to be selfish and ransack the supermarkets, it triggers the thought that food is running out and we must urgently stock up. There is plenty of food to go round which means there is no need for panic buying. But who said our relationship with food was fully rational, asks Bee Wilson.
Guardian US health reporter Jessica Glenza reports on how medical facilities and staff are being overwhelmed by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2020/04/02-76986-20200403_TIFCovidNYC.mp3
Two years after New Rules made her a global star, Dua Lipa is back with an album of sheer disco pop perfection and plenty to say about sex, politics and her night in a strip club with Lizzo. Interview by Laura Snapes.
Dina Asher-Smith will have a shot at an unprecedented world, Commonwealth and European treble in the summer of 2022 after Sebastian Coe confirmed that all three championships would be squeezed into a six-week window. Some British sporting bodies, including those sending athletes to next years Olympics, fear they could go under because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Guardian can reveal. The Jockey Club, the owner of the Cheltenham Festival, has defended its decision to proceed with last months event after Andrew Parker Bowles became the latest high-profile attendee to report subsequent Covid-19 symptoms. Premier League players may be willing to pay the wages of their non-playing colleagues, the Professional Footballers Association has signalled. And the BBC is preparing to unleash the power of nostalgia in a bid to help self-isolating fans through a summer of no sport.
After a record-breaking jump of 24% yesterday, oil prices have fallen back in overnight trading after hopes of a deal between Saudi Arabia and Russia over production cuts faded. Donald Trump talked up the prospect of the pair reining in output and boosting prices after their precipitous falls last month. Asian stocks have suffered as a result this morning and the FTSE100 is on course to shed 0.87% today. The pound is on $1.237 and 1.141.
Testing times continue Dont fail this test, minister warns the Mail, while the Express has more of a cheerleading tone: Virus pledge to test 100,000 a day, with a boosterish strapline for the health minister who has come back fighting by the papers assessment. The Mirror is much less charitable towards Matt Hancock: Heroes face test wait. It says he sparked fury (lets call that an anti-Kondo) by admitting the tests wont come until the end of the month.
In the Times its 100,000 virus tests a day with a front-page picture collage of celebrities holding up #ThankYouNHS signs. The Telegraph has a similar line appended with ministers seek to end lockdown as the paper seeks to move the story along to how and when the lockdown can be ended. The Guardian is comprehensive: No 10 admits mistakes over testing as it sets new target.
Bad to wurst, puns the Sun, because coronavirus swabs are having to be sent to Germany for analysis. UK death toll racing ahead alarming stuff in the Metro, which says Britains rate is worse than Spain at the same stage of its outbreak. The FT has a gloomy but unsurprising splash: Jobless claims surge in Europe and US as global economy stalls.
The Guardian Morning Briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes bright and early every weekday. If you are not already receiving it by email, you can sign up here.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
Paul Conway, a professor of psychology at Florida State University, argued that evidence from history and the psychological literature suggests that under times of stress and uncertainty, there are a number of different effects.
On the plus side, he wrote by email, people pull together and support one another more, adding that when people endure shared fight against a common enemy, their interests are aligned and theyre more likely to see a bond of camaraderie that can blossom into reduced prejudice.
There is, however, another side of the coin, Conway said:
When times are more uncertain and threatening, then strangers and outsiders and people different from oneself feel more threatening on an intuitive, gut level.
Extensive research, he wrote,
shows that fear of infection increases prejudice and distrust of outsiders. Hence, this pandemic also has potential to increase friction between social groups, thickening boundaries. We have already seen reinforcement of borders on a global scale not seen since the Second World War.
Along parallel lines, Conway argued,
the times were living in exacerbate economic tensions leading to greater pressure for left-wing policies, while at the same time exacerbating fear of contamination from others who seem different, which exacerbates support for right-wing policies.
The severe economic recession in Weimar Germany in the early 1930s led not only to an increase in support for the Nazi Party but also for the Communist Party, Conway wrote, just as the economic collapse in Greece at the start of the last decade increased support for both Communist and National Socialist parties there.
With this history in mind, Conway predicted that
for the next decade or so in America and around the world, there will be even more intense partisan division, including, on the right, increased support for some authoritarian policies.
Jonathan Haidt, a professor of psychology at N.Y.U., argued by email that
If we had good leadership a president who could unify the country and turn our shared adversity into social solidarity, trust, and cooperation, then we could look to past national crises such as World War II and the boost it gave to social capital.
But, he continued,
We dont have that. In fact, a marker of our political sickness is that taking the virus seriously has become itself a marker of tribal identity.
Along similarly pessimistic lines, Marc Hetherington, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina, told me by email that there were two reasons that this moment holds the potential to resuscitate negative feelings that Americans have about government.
First:
If the government actually succeeds in keeping the carnage to a minimum, it is unlikely to change much. Americans already think government can do this. If, however, the government doesnt succeed and I think there is every reason to think it will struggle with these problems it has the potential to further undermine trust in government. People already dont trust it to redistribute money and provide certain services, which is bad. If they come to think it is not competent to keep us safe, it will be even worse, much worse.
And second:
Republicans have internalized what used to be just a political strategy, which increases the chances that government will fail.
Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush used to run against government, but they still took staffing it seriously. The Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses were full of excellent professionals, Hetherington wrote.
Since then, however:
That cynical approach to campaigning seems to have infected their approach to governing. In 2016, the party nominated a complete political amateur, pointing up just how little governance means to the party. And, of course, Trump has failed to fill vacancies in key areas like the C.D.C., disbanded the pandemic task force in the N.S.C., and all sorts of other stuff.
The result, Hetherington wrote, is a government characterized by poor leadership at the cabinet level and hollowed out expertise at the department level, sharply increasing the chance that government simply cant come through right now.
This assessment is, in large part, shared by David Autor, an economist at M.I.T. Under different circumstances, Autor wrote me, it would be
easy to tell a story in which this episode causes Americans to remember that their government is indispensable for marshaling expertise, coordinating emergency measures, guarding public safety, serving as an insurer of last resort, calming financial markets, and generally shepherding its citizens through an extraordinarily challenging time.
But these are very different circumstances:
After four decades of successful Republican effort to starve the U.S. government of resources and demonize its experts, our government is in fact less competent, less well prepared, and less agile than it used to be. Perhaps this event would have restored our faith in government were the government deserving of that faith. The picture is mixed at best, so far.
Autor argued that the monetary and fiscal responses have been quite amazing, but
the public health response has been a disaster a poisonous cocktail of denial, incompetence, and failed leadership. There are still some great civil servants in U.S. agencies. But the foundation is shaky.
Most shaky of all is Trumps vacillating stance toward the pandemic. He has lurched from complete denial (One day, its like a miracle, it will disappear) to I am not responsible to Were doing a great job to Its going to disappear to It will go away to awarding himself a 10 out of 10 to calling the unavailable tests PERFECT to claiming We have it very well under control to setting Easter, April 12, as the date to reopen the country a beautiful time, a beautiful timeline to boasting of high ratings as death projections soared. On Tuesday, Trump seemed to have come to his senses, at least for now: This is going to be a very painful, very, very painful two weeks.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) If the state of South Dakota is working with a COVID-19 spread and response model, why would Sioux Falls want one?
It can be valuable for cities to have a COVID-19 model specific to it, said Kurt Cogswell, a data science professor at South Dakota State University in Brookings.
The growth and peaks of COVID-19 infection levels depend on key factors such as population density, age distribution, and travel patterns that will be different in Sioux Falls, New York, and Minneapolis, Cogswell said in an email interview with KELOLAND News. These key factors are important parts of the mathematical and statistical models used to predict infection growth and peaks, leading to different predictions for these cities.
Based on news conferences conducted Thursday by the city of Sioux Falls and Gov. Kristi Noems office, the COVID-19 peak periods could vary within the state.
Gov. Kristi Noem said Thursday afternoon the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Dakota may not happen until the end of June or into July and said the situation can change rapidly. On Wednesday, Noem said the peak could be July into August.
A Sioux Falls doctor from Sanford responded to a question as to what the medical professionals expected the surge to look like during a city of Sioux Falls news conference.
Dr. Mike Wilde of Sanford Health said, The surge, thanks to the cooperation of all of us in the community, (and) based on the modeling, looks to still be a ways off. By that I mean around another two to four weeks, Wilde said.
The surge will not a rapid peak but a flatter, sustained influx of patients, Wilde said.
Dr. Mike Elliot of Avera Health said the models vary some in terms of peak times and duration. Avera and Sanford continue to work with local officials on a peak/surge model, he said.
Cogswell said it wouldnt be unusual for areas to have a different surge or peak time.
Just as key factors impacting infection growth and peaks differ between Sioux Falls and New York, they differ between Sioux Falls and a more rural region of the state, Cogswell said. For example, greater population density generally means greater rates of people interacting and thus more rapid infection spread. That would result in an earlier peak in a metro area than a rural region in the same state.
Sanford and Avera Health are among the partners the city is working with to develop a local surge model, Jill Franken, the director of Sioux Falls Public Health said in Thursdays city news briefing and at the April 1 Sioux Falls Council meeting.
Franken said at the April 1 meeting the city wants a model specific to the Sioux Falls Metropolitan Area so the city can better determine surge or peak rates and actions the city may need to take. The U.S. Commerce, U.S Census Bureau include McCook, Turner, Minnehaha and Lincoln in the Sioux Fall Metro Area with an estimated 2018 population of about 266,000.
Noem said Thursday a one size fits all approach statewide wont work in South Dakota. Communities may need specific measures that fit their communities, Noem said.
If I tell everyone to go into their homes and dont come out for two weeks (it wouldnt stop the virus), Noem said. COVID-19 cant be stopped but the spread can be slowed so that infected patients wont overwhelm hospitals and that fewer people get it, Noem said.
Also, measures that are taken must be sustainable, Noem said. So far, the states measures have helped slow the COVID-19 spread and make it possible for medical workers to better respond when there is a peak, Noem said.
The city of Sioux Falls may possibly consider a shelter in place regulation. City officials mentioned the possibility of shelter in place regulation at the April 1 meeting but Mayor Paul Ten Haken said that possibility could not be legally discussed at that time. That possible measure could be addressed if added to next weeks council meeting or at a special meeting. More information related to additional measures such as shelter in place would also soon be available, Ten Haken said.
Franken said at the meeting, the local DOH continues to gather information for the city including for the COVID-19 peak or surge model.
Franken said one source of data and information is cities in a position similar to Sioux Falls. Franken said officials are examining data and measures from cities including Fargo, North Dakota; Des Moines, Iowa; Tallahassee, Florida, and others.
Those examples have similar populations, demographics, COVID-19 case timing and other features similar to Sioux Falls, Franken said.
The point Im trying to make is we are trying to utilize data in another way and not just looking at our community, Franken said on April 1.
Tallahassee for example had its first case of COVID-19 about the same time as Sioux Falls but has fewer COVID-19 cases, Franken said. Tallahassee also enacted more restrictive measures sooner than the state of South Dakota or Sioux Falls, she said.
Welcome to the first of what will be regular chapters of a living oral history of the Covid-19 pandemic, an attempt to capture in real time the stories playing out across our country, in the words of those who are experiencing the crisis. This installment focuses on people who are ill right now (or suspect they are sick) because of the virus, along with the voices of doctors and health care workers taking care of them.
The project grows out of my work writing and researching an oral history of September 11th, a world-changing disaster that rewrote our geopolitics, our economy, and our society. Now, of course, were all living through another once-in-a-century crisisone that appears to have the potential to rewrite even more of our geopolitics, our economy, and our society.
Capturing the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemichow this crisis unfolds and how our thinking about it changesis critical both to understanding it now as well as to the stories we someday will tell about it. Each Friday, WIRED will publish a new chapter, weaving together as many stories as we can from across the country about living through this Covid Spring, trying to capture the story of American government, American business, and American life, and the titanic task ahead for our health care system.
Share Your Stories
Some fine print, required by WIRED: By submitting your Covid Spring story you are agreeing to WIRED's User Agreement and Privacy Policy found at WIRED.com. All submissions become the property of WIRED, must be original and not violate the rights of any other person or entity. Submissions and any other materials, including your name or social media handle, may be published, illustrated, edited, or otherwise used in any medium.
To tell this story, though, I need your help. Please write in and share your own storiestell me how your life has been affected, how your family is handling this moment, how your work has changed, tell me what youre seeing in your home, on the streets, at the grocery stores, in the parks where youre walking or runningat an appropriate social distance, of course.
Email your stories to me at covid@wired.com, write as much or as little as you wish, and stay tuned each week for additional chapters of our series: Covid Springan oral history of a pandemic. None of us knows how many chapters it may take until were out of this.
Editors note: The following oral history has been compiled from original interviews, social media posts, and online essays. Quotes have been lightly edited, copy-edited, and condensed for clarity.
I: Living With Covid-19
As of Thursday afternoon, the United States overtook China as the country with the most confirmed Covid-19 cases in the world, more than 85,000 total. Yet that number still represents what is almost surely a fraction of the actual number of cases in the US, as testing has lagged nationwide and many who are ill and wish to be tested dont meet the strict criteria to receive a test still in place across much of the country. The scale of the nations epidemic also means that public health officials have quickly abandoned attempts to trace the contacts of those infected, leaving those sickened by the virusor those who think theyve been sickened by the viruswondering not only if they have it, but how they caught it.
Amee Vanderpool, writer and lawyer, Washington, DC: People are in total denial about this. I even did that for the first three days. The 21st was a Saturday. Saturday is when I came out of denial. I definitely had something that Id never had before. I could get really sick.
Anne Kornblut, director, news and new initiatives, Facebook, Palo Alto, California, via Facebook: I tested positive for Covid-19 [last week]. Im relatively fine; lucky, even. Around here, officials have been preparing, so much so that I was able to get a test when I needed it. Facebook sent us home many days ago, so its unlikely I affected a big group of colleagues. I went supply shopping weeks ago. Heres what I didnt prepare for: telling my kids to back away from me, while informing them that this scary thing upending the entire planet is now inside our house. Inside their mom. My daughter cried and asked if I will get better. I couldnt hug her. My son wrote an account of it for our home newspaper. Anne Kornblut has the coronavirus but do not worry it is not the bad kind, he wrote on the front page. Please note that you should not be within 10 feet of Anne.
Morgan Madison, age 18, Chandler, Arizona: I really wasnt paying attention at allI didnt really care [about the virus]. Trump told us it was never going to hit the United States. He said there were like three cases. I thought I definitely wouldn't get itif there are just a handful of cases, why would I be one? I work at a car dealership, and my GM got back from a seven-country tour, and four or five days after he got back I had a sore throat. Our receptionist got a horrible cough too. She just stopped coming to work. Last Monday, I got to my desk and just started hacking up a lung. My GM came in and said, Clorox wipe your office and go home. I woke up the next day and felt like trash. I felt I had inhaled glue. My throat was sticky. I was coughing. Lots of migraines. Horrible migraines. It just went from feeling great to taking a five-hour nap in the afternoon. There was dizziness and confusion. Sometimes I feel fine, then the coughing up a lung came back. There were a couple of times Ill just be sitting on the floor hitting my inhaler.
Howard Yoon, literary agent, Washington DC: A week prior to getting a fever, Id developed a sore throat and a runny nose. That was the seventh of March. The idea of the coronavirus was creeping into everyones minds when they got sore throats. Out of an abundance of caution, I stayed home. I felt fine the next day. That might have just been a cold or maybe that was the onset of the virus? Since I felt fine after that first day, I went to New York that Wednesday. I tried to take some precautionsavoided the subway, walked most places. That night, I had drinks with some friends and colleagues. I knew I had it [four days later] on Sunday the 15th. All the days leading up, I dont know whether I had it and was developing all week or it came on full-blown after catching it in New York. One of the people I had drinks with, she has tested positive for the coronavirus. I dont know if I gave it to her or she gave it to me.
48 Million Americans live in poverty. What will happen to them during the coronavirus pandemic?
The coronavirus pandemic has ushered in a new phraseWe are all in this together. The first time I saw the phrase I thought about the 48 million Americans living below the poverty line and tens of millions more who are one paycheck away from it. I thought about underserved black and brown communities that perpetually face health inequities and higher rates of chronic health conditions. And what about the grocery store clerks, truck drivers and others who keep the essentials of society humming while the rest of the world is hunkered down staying home? Is Were all in this together really a moment of togetherness or is it just a nice, supportive sentiment?
Interviews with three leaders of health and social service-related organizations for the underserved highlight how we are not quite all in this together. Pandemic policies do not give full consideration to the unique needs of underserved communities, particularly the homeless. Consequently, they are unintentionally omitted from our moment of national COVID-19 solidarity.
When asked why we so often forget about the needs of underserved communities,Dionne Reeder, the CEO ofFar Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative, a family support agency in Washington, DCsaid, Its not that we forget about the poor. The problem is we dont plan for the poor.
The impact of this failure to plan is tangible in the stories Reeder shared about the challenges they are seeing on the ground. She says her staff spends most of their time helping people navigate the financial impact of the pandemic which leads to other health consequences like anxiety, depression and frustration with the drastic change in daily routines. Last week a working mother, forced to be home with children, reached a breaking point and asked for their support to help cope with her new way of living. As with many other working parents experiencing a sudden cultural shift in their way of living, shed never been in this situation before with children home all day and was not equipped for home schooling. Reeders organization helped her navigate the situation emotionally and psychologically.
Reeder recalled a news story that for her, highlighted the disconnect between how the mainstream media portrays and discusses the pandemic and the realities her clients face. The news story advised people to quarantine in a room with a private bathroom. Reeder noted this is an impossibility for millions of people not just the poor. She also believes culturally the idea of social distancing is different among her clients because so many live in social environments in which social distancing is not feasible.
Christy Respress, the Executive Director ofPathways to Housing DCagrees with Reeder and highlighted a range of social issues impacting the homeless that are probably not top of mind for most Americans. She says, It is difficult to tell clients to stay home, socially isolate and wash their hands throughout the day when many of them live in shelters and have no home. When they hear those things, they may feel its impossible for them to stay safe from the virus. Some of Pathways clients housed in shelters feel its safer to sleep outside because it is impossible to practice social distancing in a shelter. There is also a concern social distancing and stay home orders exacerbate the baseline social isolation experienced by many homeless people.
Respress says closing non-essential businesses led to an unintended domino effect that collapsed the informal support infrastructure for their clients. When social distancing and stay home orders were implemented, the social safety net gradually disappeared. Many homeless people rely on the unspoken social cooperation sustained by neighborhood activity like people shopping and going to and from work. Altruistic gestures from strangers passing by each day whether buying a meal or offering pocket change, weave a thread of support that doesnt exist right now.When people dont shop and dont go to work, no one is around to help. Respress also worries this decrease in support may destabilize some emotionally and result in spikes in substance use. In addition, bathroom access, something most take for granted, becomes a challenge when the usual sources at retail establishments and restaurants are no longer available.
Another challenge related to pandemic mitigation efforts is adhering to advice to stock up on food. People on fixed incomes cannot stock up on food and for many the food supply will be depleted by months end.
Luckily, organizations likeMarthas Tablehave been able to help address food scarcity during the pandemic. Since the pandemic onset, the organization has seen a 300% increase in the need for food support.Kim Ford, Marthas Table CEO says, COVID-19 has hit the underserved very hard because this community has no cushion to absorb an economic downturn. Ford says most of their clients are not as concerned about infection from coronavirus as they are about job loss resulting in unexpected loss of financial security.
Having agencies like these on the frontlines is a gift for those with little means to protect themselves from coronavirus. As this pandemic rages on with unknown speed and devastation, we cant forget the most vulnerable who need even more support. Being in this pandemic together means leaving no one behind and acknowledging the slightest twist of fate could shift the financial and social circumstances for any one of us. So if we are all in this together, this cant be just a slogan. We must include, plan for and protect our most vulnerable too.
