If it seems that your news feed has been flooded with nerve-wracking updates on the COVID-19 outbreaks, have no fearthere are also plenty of positive updates on the pandemic as well.
So without any further ado, here is a list of 10 hopeful headlines on the coronavirus response from around the world.
Scientists at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle delivered the first rounds of a potential coronavirus vaccine to several dozen optimistic volunteers earlier this week.
43-year-old vaccine recipient Jennifer Haller, who is also a mother to two teenagers, was all smiles after she told AP reporters she was feeling great as she was leaving the clinic. This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something, she added.
Amidst national shortages of hand sanitizers, alcohol distilleries in Atlanta, Portland, rural Georgia, and North Carolina have begun using their facilities to make their own sanitation products.
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) says that cleaning your hands with an alcohol-based rub can help to kill viruses on your hands, many of the distilleries say they hope to continue producing their bootleg sanitizers until the virus has been properly contained.
Satellite readings of air pollution levels over China and Italy show that the regions hit hardest by the COVID-19 have also caused air pollution levels to decline dramatically.
Some reports estimate that Chinas quarantine has saved more than 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmospherewhich is about the equivalent of what Chile produces in a year.
Not only have similar effects been reported across Italy, the canals and waterways of Venice are reportedly cleaner than ever with the waters shining crystal clear in the absence of diesel-powered boats and gondoliers.
The vaccine developers in Seattle arent the only ones working on potential treatments and cures for the diseasean immunologist from Johns Hopkins University is reviving a century-old blood-derived treatment for use in the United States in hopes of slowing the spread of the disease.
The technique uses antibodies from the blood plasma or serum of people who have recovered from COVID-19 infection to boost the immunity of newly-infected patients and those at risk of contracting the disease.
According to Reuters, South Korea recorded more COVID-19 recovery cases on March 6th than new infections for the first time since the nation experienced the largest Asian outbreak outside of China.
Since the novel coronavirus outbreak was first reported in South Korea back in January, the nation reached a peak of 909 new infections on February 29th.
Now, however, Reuters reports that the declining rate of infection has continued to fall with less than 100 new cases reported for several days in a row.
Crowds of medical staffers and discharged patients were filmed celebrating the closure of all 14 temporary hospitals that opened in Wuhan to treat COVID-19 patients during the worst of the outbreak.
Authorities told the South China Morning Post this week that the virus had finally passed its peak as the nations mainland experienced only 11 new cases on March 13th, most of which were from international travelers.
As the outbreak is finally brought under control, parks and tourist attractions are slowly beginning to reopen to the public under careful moderation.
At the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, scientists have found that two different medicationsboth of which are registered and available in Australiahave completely wiped out traces of the disease in test tubes.
Not only that, the drugs were given to some of the nations first COVID-19 patients, which resulted in disappearance of the virus and complete recovery from the infection, researchers told News.com.au.
The university is now looking to conduct a nationwide trial with the drugs to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of each drug administered separately and together.
As restaurants across Canada and the United States are forced to temporarily shut down amidst COVID-19 outbreaks, Uber Eats has announced that they will be waiving delivery fees for independent restaurants.
We know the success of every restaurant depends on customer demand, the company said in a statement. Thats why were working urgently to drive orders towards independent restaurants on Eats, to help make up for the significant slowdown of in-restaurant dining.
As more customers are choosing to stay indoors, weve waived the Delivery Fee for the more than 100,000 independent restaurants across US and Canada on Uber Eats. We will also launch daily dedicated, targeted marketing campaignsboth in-app and via emailto promote delivery from local restaurants, especially those that are new to the app.
Scientists from Canada and the Netherlands have also made medical breakthroughs of their own. In Toronto, a team of researchers managed to isolate the agent responsible for the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, which will help researchers around the world develop better diagnostic testing, treatments, and vaccines.
Researchers from these world-class institutions came together in a grassroots way to successfully isolate the virus in just a few short weeks, said Dr. Rob Kozak, clinical microbiologist at Sunnybrook University. It demonstrates the amazing things that can happen when we collaborate.
Meanwhile, Dutch researchers have submitted a scientific paper for publishing on how they have identified an anti-body for the virusand it could be a world-first.
Dollar General has announced that they will be devoting their opening hour of shopping time to elderly customers. Athletes and sports teams are pledging to pay the wages of arena employees during the shutdown. Utility companies, landlords, automakers, and internet providers are waiving a number of late fees and payments to ease the financial burden of the shutdown. School districts across the country are still opening their doors to serve meals to kids and families.
All in all, the pandemic situation may seem grim, but these are just a few examples of how businesses and individuals are still looking out for each other during times of trouble.
Multiply The Good By Sharing The Positivity With Your Friends On Social Media
12 P.M. Weather ReportAs Lisa Meadows reports, the metro area can expect highs in the 40's Tuesday, before rain moves in Wednesday (4:19).WCCO 4 News At Noon March. 17, 2020
COIVD-19 Questions: How Concerned Should We Be About Getting COVID-19 From Packages Or Mail?YOUR COVID-19 QUESTIONS: "How concerned should we be about getting COVID-19 from packages or mail? We're here to provide answers for your most pressing coronavirus-related questions (0:53).WCCO 4 News At Noon March 17, 2020
Gov. Walz Says Restaurants, Bars Need To Close TonightGovernor Tim Walz ordered a number of Minnesota businesses to close at 5 p.m. tonight, Liz Collin reports (1:22).WCCO 4 News At Noon March 17, 2020
Emergency Responders See Increase In Calls Amid COVID-19 OutbreakFirst responders in the Twin Cities say they are already starting to get more emergency calls for help, Bill Hudson reports (1:45).WCCO 4 News At Noon March 17, 2020
Coronavirus In Minnesota: Total Number Of Cases Rises To 60As of this morning, there are now 60 positive cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota, Liz Collin reports (0:26).WCCO 4 News At Noon March 17, 2020
Coronavirus In Minnesota: Lawmakers Pass $200M In Emergency Funding For Health Care SystemJust after three o'clock this morning, the Minnesota House unanimously passed an emergency funding bill, Liz Collin reports (0:22).WCCO 4 News At Noon March 17, 2020
Some Good News: First Eaglet Hatches On DNR Eagle CamThe world's most popular eagle couple hatched their first eaglet! (0:22)WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
Allina Healths Dr. Sielaff Answers COVID-19 Outbreak Questions (March 17, 2020)There are countless concerns being raised as we continue to maneuver through the COVID 19 outbreak. We Skyped with Dr. Tim Sielaff to ask some of your most recent questions. (4:42)WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
Allina Healths Dr. Sielaff Answers COVID-19 Outbreak Questions (March 17, 2020)There are countless concerns being raised as we continue to maneuver through the COVID 19 outbreak. We Skyped with Dr. Tim Sielaff to ask some of your most recent questions. (4:42)WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
Viewers React: Why Do People Want Doorbell Cams?WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
4 Things To Know About Your Investments Amid COVID-19 PanicBruce Helmer unpacks what you should know about the markets in this troubling time (2:16). WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
Reporting On COVID-19 Means A Whole New Set Of RulesErin Hassanzadeh talks about the difficulty reporting in the age of COVID-19 (3:44). WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
9 A.M. Weather ReportThe next few days look to bring some snow and showers, Riley O'Connor reports (3:12). WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
What Does COVID-19 Do To Your Body?Beyond the dry cough, fever and shortness of breath there are some other points to underline with regard to the illness, Heather Brown reports (3:22). WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
Morning COVID-19 Headlines From March 17, 2020Gov. Walz is urging all impacted workers to file for unemployment right away, and stocks opened broadly higher on Wall Street, a day after plunging to their worst loss in more than three decades, Heather Brown and Jason DeRusha report (7:16). WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
Muted St. Patrick's Day Across The StateAbout 100,000 people usually join in the celebration at the St. Patrick's Day parade in St. Paul, Jason DeRusha reports (1:25). WCCO Mid-Morning - March 17, 2020
#MyMorning: March 17, 2020We want to see your smile. WCCO This Morning -- March 17, 2020
Morning Headlines: March 17, 2020Jason DeRusha reads about the new pastor at Eagle Brook and the problem of boredom during the coronavirus outbreak (). WCCO This Morning -- March 17, 2020
Restaurants Ordered To Close Ahead Of St. Patricks DayErin Hassanzadeh reports on how Minnesota businesses are grappling with the response to the coronavirus (1:48). WCCO This Morning -- March 17, 2020
Lawmakers Pass Emergency Funding For Health Care SystemThe Minnesota House of Representatives passed emergency legislation that would provide $200 million for investment in the health care system as the state mounts a defense against the novel coronavirus, Jason DeRusha reports (0:18). WCCO 4 News -- March 17, 2020
5 A.M. Weather ReportRiley O'Connor says Tuesday will be sunny with highs in the mid-40s (1:59). WCCO This Morning -- March 17, 2020
WCCO Digital Update: Morning Of March 17, 2020Jason DeRusha reports on the latest Minnesota headlines (1:28). WCCO 4 News -- March 17, 2020
Happy 100th Birthday, Sid Hartman!Mike Max spoke with the birthday boy himself, and several of his "close, personal friends," to commemorate the legend's centennial (2:44).WCCO 4 News At 10 March 16, 2020
10 P.M. Weather ReportWe'll get a break from precipitation Tuesday -- and see more of the sun, reports Chris Shaffer (2:53).WCCO 4 News At 10 March 16, 2020
As Covid-19 has spread, so has our fear of surfaces. There are now some familiar scenes in public places around the world people trying to open doors with their elbows, commuters studiously surfing their way through train journeys to avoid grabbing a handle, office workers rubbing down their desks each morning.
In the areas worst hit by the new coronavirus, teams of workers in protective clothing have been dispatched to spray a fog of disinfectant in plazas, parks and public streets. Cleaning regimes in offices, hospitals, shops and restaurants have been increased. In some cities, well-meaning volunteers even venture out at night to scrub the keypads of cash machines.
Like many respiratory viruses, including flu, Covid-19 can be spread in tiny droplets released from the nose and mouth of an infected person as they cough. A single cough can produce up to 3,000 droplets. These particles can land on other people, clothing and surfaces around them, but some of the smaller particles can remain in the air. There is also some evidence that the virus is also shed for longer in faecal matter, so anyone not washing their hands thoroughly after visiting the toilet could contaminate anything they touch.
It is worth noting that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, touching a surface or object with the virus and then touching one's own face "is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads". Even so, the CDC, the World Health Organization and others health authorities, have emphasised that both washing one's hands and cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces daily are key in preventing Covid-19's spread. So although we still don't know exactly how many cases are being caused directly by contaminated surfaces, experts advise exercising caution.
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One aspect that has been unclear is exactly how long SARS-CoV-2, the name of the virus that causes the disease Covid-19, can survive outside the human body. Some studies on other coronaviruses, including Sars and Mers, found they can survive on metal, glass and plastic for as long as nine days, unless they are properly disinfected. Some can even hang around for up to 28 days in low temperatures.
Coronaviruses are well known to be particularly resilient in terms of where they can survive. And researchers are now beginning to understand more about how this affects the spread of the new coronavirus. (Read more about the global fight against Covid-19.)
During a White House press briefing on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., members of the White House coronavirus task force provided updates about the current state of coronavirus testing in the U.S. Given that the World Health Organization has said that testing is perhaps one of the most important parts of any effective method of combatting the outbreak, this is a crucial metric to track.
As we talked about earlier this week, the commercial system is rapidly advancing in the testing capabilities, explained task force member Admiral Brett Giroir. As of today our public health laboratories, meaning the CDC and the public health labs, have reported out 31,878 tests so almost 32,000 tests. The clinical laboratories, the Association of Clinical Laboratories, have reported out about 27,000 tests, and most importantly of those 27,000 during the cumulative period of time 8,200 of them were yesterday.
That brings the total number of tests conducted between these sources to just under 60,000, which Giroir said represents a dramatic ramp as the high-throughput [testing] comes in. He also noted that we dont yet have numbers reported from individual hospital labs that are also conducting testing, and that fellow task force member Ambassador Deborah Birxs forthcoming legislation will provide more clarity on the actual number, as it rolls all testing sources into a common reporting structure. This reporting arrangement should be in place by early next week, he said.
In terms of our drive to laboratories, again, these are blossoming all over the country, Giroir said. By individual states, the ones that we are heavily involved in, in really pushing equipment to, we expect over the next few days to be again setting up 47 of these in approximately 12 states. The material is already palletized and being shipped to the locations, most cities have the specific locations, some do not but its still gone to a central receiving, and we know that well be deploying at least 140 Commissioned Corps officers, and about half of the sites have reported their requirements, but 140 officers will be going and we expect that to go up.
Giroir added that they set up and ran a trial site of these mobile testing locations on Monday, with a full staff complement, and noted that while they had a lot of kinds in the system as you can expect, he added that this is the reason they do testing and people shouldnt expect them to be perfect when they first come online.
Ambassador Brix also said regarding testing that she believed we would see in the next few weeks that other tests that were used around the world were not of the same quality as the ones that are being deployed in the U.S., and that have been approved by the FDA for use by private labs. These provided more false positives and false results than the tests that will be in use in the U.S., she said, leading to potentially inaccurate data.
The U.S. reportedly refused use of WHO-prepared coronavirus testing kits early on in the COVID-19 outbreak, opting instead to develop its own via the CDC, though Admiral Giroir said that as far as he could discern, no one made an offer that the U.S. could refuse.
Testing should not be used as an assessment of your risk, Brix also added, noting that everyone should still follow the recommendations issued by the White House to maintain social distance and avoid groups of 10 or more individuals. She urged everyone, and young people especially who might think that because they dont feel sick or arent in as serous risk, to follow the guidance and stay home if possible.
Task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci addressed the interrelationship between testing and the social distancing and isolation guidelines. He clarified that even if we had no testing, we should be doing what were doing now, but stressed that testing was indeed important for providing healthcare workers and those working on strategy with an idea of what theyre dealing with, and the effect its having. He also noted that we shouldnt be looking at daily figures regarding confirmed cases as a good indicator of what impact distancing and other strategies are happening, since well only see how these efforts are playing out over a longer period of time.
As WHO and health authorities across the planet act to contain the outbreak, advice on safeguarding your mental health, have been developed by the UN health agencys Department of Mental Health and Substance Use.
WHOs 31-point guidance specifically targets the general population; healthcare workers; health facility managers; childcare providers; older adults, care providers and people with underlying health conditions; and those who are living in isolation to try and contain the spread of the pandemic.
Be empathetic to all those who are affected, in and from any country, WHO highlights first, warning against stigmatizing anyone who has or had the virus.
It also recommended that you seek information updates from trusted sources only and at set times once or twice a day.
The sudden and near-constant stream of news reports about an outbreak can cause anyone to feel worried, said WHO. Get the facts; not the rumours and misinformation.
The website and local health authorities platforms can help to separate facts from speculation.
The UN Health agency also points to the benefits of helping others, such as by phoning neighbors or community members who may need some extra assistance.
Working together as one community can help to create solidarity in addressing COVID-19.
The UN health agency reminded everyone to honour caretakers and healthcare workers[for] the role they play to save lives and keep your loved ones safe, while assuring healthworkers that it is normal to feel under pressure and emphasizing that stress is by no means a reflection that you cannot do your job or that you are weak.
WHO urged them to rest sufficiently, eat healthy foods, get physical activity and stay in contact with family and friends.
This is a unique and unprecedent scenario for many workers, particularly if they have not been involved in similar responses, said WHO, with the reminder that this is not a sprint, its a marathon.
WHO advises that protecting staff from chronic stress and poor mental health will provide them with the capacities they need to perform their duties.
And focusing on the longer term rather than short-term crisis responses, team leaders or health facility managers are encouraged to deliver quality communication and accurate information updates to all staff.
WHO outlined the benefits in rotating workers from higher- to lower-stress functions and in partnering inexperienced workers with those who are more experienced, to provide reassurance.
Maintaining that the buddy system helps to provide support, monitor stress and reinforce safety procedures, WHO advocated for outreach personnel to work in pairs and to initiate, encourage and monitor work breaks.
When caring for children, WHO underscored the importance of helping them to find positive ways to express feelings, such as fear and sadness.
Children feel relieved if they can express and communicate their feelings in a safe and supportive environment, the UN health agency maintained, encouraging that if safe, they be kept close to their parents and family.
If not, regular contact with parents should be maintained, such as twice-daily scheduled phone or video calls.
As older adults and people with underlying health conditions who are vulnerable, may become more anxious, agitated and withdrawn during the outbreak, WHO stressed the importance of relaying clear instructions in a concise, respectful and patient way, noting that pictures may also be utilized.
Engage their family and other support networks to provide information and help them practice prevention measures, including handwashing, the UN health agency said. And when in isolation, stay connected and maintain daily routines, as much as possible.Keep things in perspectiveand avoid listening to or following rumours, concluded WHO.
Meanwhile, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has recommended that breastfeeding women who become ill should not be separated from their newborns.
While there is no evidence that the illness can be transmitted through breastmilk, UNFPA urged mothers who are infected to wear a mask when near their baby, wash their hands before and after feeding, and disinfect contaminated surfaces.
If a mother is too ill to breastfeed, she should be encouraged to express milk for the baby, while taking all necessary precautions, the UNs womens health agency said. Mental health and psychosocial support should be made available to affected individuals and their families.
A good thing to do during the global outbreak of a deadly virus is to test people who think they may have it. Beyond providing important information to people affected by the disease, large-scale testing allows authorities to map the spread of the disease and respond accordingly. Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong all worked rapidly after the initial COVID-19 outbreak to identify carriers of the disease, and the work contributed to a successful containment strategy. In the United States, by contrast, testing rolled out with fatal slowness. On Monday, as the stock market crashed and San Francisco banned all non-essential travel for residents, a simple question how do I get tested for COVID-19? remains difficult to answer.
On Friday, President Donald Trump held a press conference in which he announced that Google was coming to the rescue. The company was building a website to help people understand whether they should seek a test for the coronavirus, Trump said, and added that Google had committed a staggering 1,700 engineers to the project.
Among the people this was news to were the employees of Google, who were unaware that they were working on such a project. It turned out that a more modest effort was under way by Verily, the life sciences company that, like Google, also sits under the Alphabet corporate umbrella. Dieter Bohn broke the news at The Verge:
Google is not working with the US government in building a nationwide website to help people determine whether and how to get a novel coronavirus test, despite what President Donald Trump said in the course of issuing an emergency declaration for the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, a much smaller trial website made by another division of Alphabet, Googles parent company, is going up. It will only be able to direct people to testing facilities in the Bay Area. [...]
Carolyn Wang, communications lead for Verily, told The Verge that the triage website was initially only going to be made available to health care workers instead of the general public. Now that it has been announced the way it was, however, anybody will be able to visit it, she said. But the tool will only be able to direct people to pilot sites for testing in the Bay Area, though Wang says Verily hopes to expand it beyond California over time.
The website, he said, would be available on Monday.
It has long since stopped being unusual to hear the president lie during a moment of crisis. (At Vanity Fair, Gabriel Sherman reported that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was the one over-selling Googles effort behind the scenes.) Whatever the case, this was a particularly high-stakes bit of news to get wrong, in the sense that the president had essentially charged a corporation with building out a significant component of the nations coronavirus testing infrastructure. And it came just before more Americans would be ordered to stay inside their homes unless absolutely necessary and as more high-profile reports of celebrity cases of the disease trickle in. (Get well, Idris Elba! Thats an order!)
But then a funny thing happened: Google decided to go ahead and build the website anyway. In fact, its building two websites! And they both already are actually built, at least partially, and one of them did launch on Monday morning, as just as Trump said it would. I liked Ina Frieds concise summary in Axios:
Google was blindsided by Trumps Friday announcement of such a project. The company is now working on two different tracks: ramping up a small pilot project that partially resembles what Trump spoke of Friday but had much more modest scope, while also scrambling to launch an entirely new, less personalized nationwide information portal about the virus.
That nationwide information portal sounds relatively modest. According to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai in a Sunday blog post, the site will contain best practices on prevention, links to authoritative information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and helpful tips and tools from Google for individuals, teachers and businesses. The site, which was expected to launch late Monday, will be updated regularly with new information, Pichai said. (Its delayed.)
Its the Verily effort, which Trump had pitched as a kind of national triage system, that commanded more attention. The good news is that Verilys effort has launched you can find it at this link. But as Bohn notes in another story for The Verge, its not at all like Trump described:
Verilys website is very limited in scope: its only available to people in the Bay Area of California and its more of a pilot program than a public health utility.
In fact, its even more limited than that: in order to qualify you must be 18 years of age or older, be able to speak English, and be a US resident. It very much looks like the program a Verily spokesperson described to us on the phone on Friday and not the expansive triage system that the Trump administration promised.
The initial question on Verilys site asks Are you currently experiencing severe cough, shortness of breath, fever, or other concerning symptoms? If you answer yes, you are told that the program is not the right fit and to seek medical attention.
That last part seems counterintuitive people who are sick cant be tested? But Verily says it is not equipped to treat seriously ill people. In any case, within a few hours, Verilys pilot program was at capacity. And venture capitalists were on Twitter musing about building rapid testing kids. (Help them if you can!)
What to make of all this? One thought Ive had lately is that we are seeing a shift in trust. In December, when we interviewed people for the second Verge Tech Survey, we found that trust was generally on the decline particularly for social networks. But now we find ourselves in a time, as Ben Smith put it in the New York Times on Sunday, when Facebook is more trustworthy than the president. Social networks have gotten better at amplifying urgent updates and authoritative experts:
After four years in which social media has been viewed as an antisocial force, the crisis is revealing something surprising, and a bit retro: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others can actually deliver on their old promise to democratize information and organize communities, and on their newer promise to drain the toxic information swamp.
Moreover. as Ive noted in this space a couple of times, the tech giants have performed admirably in the past few weeks. Among other things, they have stepped up their fight against misinformation and begun paying more attention to what their algorithms are amplifying.
And, as Google showed over the weekend, theyre also springing into action. Trump may have forced Googles hand, but I still expect the company to ramp up both of its new websites considerably in the coming days and weeks. Others are taking even bolder action Amazon, for example, announced plans to hire a staggering 100,000 workers to help keep up with the surge in demand for deliveries, and said it would give warehouse and delivery workers a raise of $2 an hour.
In incredibly fraught times the most anxious Ive ever known these are meaningful steps forward. None of it is a replacement for a competent government, and the hardest days are surely ahead. But at the moment tech giants have an incredible chance to give back to the country they were born in. And it has been heartening to see some of them take it.
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
Trending up: Facebook launched a matching fund to encourage people to donate money to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The company has committed a total of $20 million to fight the outbreak.
Trending up: Apple is donating $15 million to help treat coronavirus patients and ease the economic impact of the pandemic. Its also matching employee coronavirus donations two-to-one.
Trending up: Salesforce is donating $1 million to the UCSF coronavirus response fund and another $500,000 to the CDD emergency response fund. Its also matching employee donations.
Trending up: Amazon plans to hire an additional 100,000 employees in the United States as millions of people turn to online deliveries in the wake of the new coronavirus. Finally, a good public-relations effort from Amazon!
Trending up: Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma is donating 500,000 coronavirus testing kits and one million protective face masks to the United States. The Chinese billionaire already pledged 2 million protective masks to European countries as well.
Trending up: AT&T, Comcast and Verizon joined dozens of telecom providers in agreeing not to shut off the phone or internet service of subscribers who cant pay their bills due to the novel coronavirus.
Trending sideways: Facebook is cracking down on coronavirus hoaxes in English, but misinformation continues to go viral in other languages.
Heres the latest in the United States:
The spread of the disease in the United States is more in line with Italy and Iran than Singapore and Hong Kong. We also continue to test people at a lower rate than other developed countries. (Dylan Scott and Rani Molla / Vox)
The United States doesnt have enough ventilators or ICU beds if theres a significant surge in new coronavirus cases. As in Italy, the health system could well be overwhelmed in coming weeks. (Aaron E. Carroll / The New York Times)
The stock market plunged 3,000 points on Monday as fears over the novel coronavirus spread. The sell-off triggered the so-called circuit breaker for the third time in two weeks. It was the stock markets second-worst day ever. (Taylor Telford and Thomas Heath / The Washington Post)
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers and congressional staff may soon be asked to work remotely as the coronavirus spreads. The move would make sensitive government data more vulnerable to attack. Itll also probably slow down all those investigations into big tech! (Joseph Marks and Lisa Rein / The Washington Post)
Georgia delayed its presidential primary due to the novel coronavirus. It will now be held on May 19th. Louisiana also rescheduled its April 4th primary to June 20th. (Zach Montellaro / Politico)
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is recommending the states primaries be postponed until June to protect voters from the coronavirus pandemic. The primaries are supposed to take place on Tuesday. (Zach Montellaro and Alice Ollstein / Politico)
Stanford Medicine is doing drive-through coronavirus testing for patients whove been referred by their medical providers. Each appointment takes only a few minutes. (Stanford Medicine)
President Trump follows 47 accounts on Twitter. Heres what theyre saying about the coronavirus pandemic, from this is Chinas fault to The President is doing a great job. (Jordan Muller / Politico)
When news of the coronavirus started to spread, this man bought 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer, planning to resell from for a profit on Amazon. Then, the company cracked down on price gauging. After he faced an avalanche of criticism, the man promised to donate his hoard. (Jack Nicas / The New York Times)
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the United States, some technologists are suggesting using smartphone data to track transmissions. But American views on privacy and government surveillance may make that a non-starter. (Will Knight / Wired)
The coronavirus pandemic is going to put a massive strain on Amazon Prime, experts say. Its a logistical nightmare during the best of times. But supply chain issues, increased demand, and the potential of a warehouse outbreak are all making things worse. Good time to hire 100,000 people and give them a raise! (Lauren Kaori Gurley / Vice)
Heres what happened when nearly one million tech workers in Silicon Valley were asked to work from home. Scenes from our surreal new way of life. (Rob Copeland and Tripp Mickle / The Wall Street Journal)
Heres how its changing the culture:
Amid social distancing, people are mobilizing on coronavirus Facebook groups. Some groups focus on emergency preparedness, while others share news about the virus. (Arielle Pardes / Wired)
Coronavirus has brought on the dawn of the virtual happy hour, as friends and co-workers gather on Zoom and Google Hangouts to chat after hours. This is all I do after work now. (Abram Brown / Forbes)
The pandemic has also brought about the age of the virtual dinner party. Im doing my first one on Thursday! (Zo Bernard and Nick Bastone / The Information)
Theaters are already struggling to compete with new streaming services. Now theyre facing the prospect of no audiences or new fils due to the spread of the coronavirus. (Brooks Barnes and Nicole Sperling / The New York Times)
The Centers for Disease Control said any funeral with more than 50 people should be canceled and moved to livestream. Its part of the organizations recommendations for limiting the spread of the coronavirus. (Eleanor Cummins / Vice)
On the misinformation front:
A rumor about Trump issuing a national quarantine and forcing people to stay in their homes is going viral. Its spreading primarily through text messages, and always purports to be coming from someone with a direct line to the White House. Its a hoax, so stop forwarding it. (Zoe Schiffer / The Verge)
Instagram is removing augmented reality filters that claim to be able to diagnose or treat coronavirus. The company will also start hiding coronavirus-themed augmented reality effects from search results. (Karissa Bell / Engadget)
YouTube is leaning more heavily on AI to flag and remove inappropriate content in an effort to crack down on coronavirus misinformation. Because it doesnt want contract content moderators to come into the office, Google is turning the job over to machine learning. This could go very badly. (YouTube)
On the conference front:
Evan Spiegel asked all Snap employees to work from home and postponed the companys planned partner summit due to the coronavirus pandemic. The April 2nd event for Snapchat developers, advertisers, and creators had already been moved to an online-only presentation. Now its being postponed altogether.
Microsofts Build developer conference is also going to be held online. The software giant was planning on holding its annual developer conference in Seattle from May 19th to May 21st. (Tom Warren / The Verge)
Major esports events from games like CSGO, Overwatch, PUBG, League of Legends, and Dota 2 have been disrupted as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the globe. (Aron Garst / The Verge)
Apple announced that the 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference will be held online due to the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus. The event will take place sometime in June. (Jay Peters / The Verge)
Y Combinators W20 Demo Day is going to be online only. The accelerator also said that while it still plans to host a summer program, some portion of it may happen online.
Heres what companies are doing:
This is what Silicon Valley tech leaders are worried about with the novel coronavirus. (Lauren Hepler / Protocol)
Microsoft launched a new interactive Bing map to provide information on the spread of COVID-19. The map shows the amount of cases on a per country basis. It also surfaces links to relevant news stories. Unfortunately, the stories being promoted arent always the most timely or useful. (Jon Porter / The Verge)
Zoom is giving K-12 students its videoconferencing tools for free. The move follows schools across the country shutting down due to the novel coronavirus. (Alex Konrad / Forbes)
As people around the world hunker down to limit the spread of the coronavirus, internet usage is surging. So far, there havent been any major outages. The internet was designed to survive a nuclear blast, said one expert. (Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed)
Heres the latest outside the United States:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the countrys internal security agency to tap into a secret trove of cellphone data to retrace the movements of people who have the coronavirus. The information would also allow the government to identify those who should be quarantined because theyve crossed paths with coronavirus carriers. (David M. Halbfinger, Isabel Kershner and Ronen Bergman / The New York Times)
China is silencing people who are criticizing the governments response to coronavirus online, by dragging them in for questioning and forcing them to loyalty pledges. The enforcers are known as the internet police. (Paul Mozur / The New York Times)
Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine.
Heres a list of video games you should play while youre stuck inside avoiding the coronavirus.
Pokmon Go wont make you leave the house for the time being.
The meditation app Headspace is giving all US healthcare workers free access to Headspace Plus through 2020. And its making a variety of anti-anxiety content free for all.
Balance is offering a free one-year subscription of its meditation app to anyone who wants it.
Say hello to online drinking, an activity that recently got a new name in Japan: on-nomi. Its the latest craze among self-isolated middle-aged women in the country. Im following their lead!
The Metropolitan Opera is streaming operas for free in the wake of the novel coronavirus. The digital concerts will be hosted nightly. (Chris Murphy / Vulture)
Joe Bidens first virtual town hall was a technical nightmare. The campaign has had to get creative due to the coronavirus pandemic, but so far its not going smoothly. Heres Makena Kelly at The Verge:
The Zoom call was plagued with technical problems from the beginning. First, it began over three hours late. Once Biden did start speaking, his staff had to restart his entire speech because there was no audio, fading his campaign logo in and back out again to signify that they were redoing the address. As he started reading off his prepared remarks again, Bidens audio was suddenly painful to hear and impossible to understand, at least until they replaced whatever mic he was using with a smartphone.
After his opening address was finished as unintelligible as it was staff opened the call up to questions. Mr. Bidens speech was garbled the entire time, the first questioner said before being cut off.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and President Trump to focus on digital campaigning. Getting voters attention in this new environment will likely be difficult and expensive. (Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou / Bloomberg)
Karlie Klosss father is helping Jared Kushner with the Trump Administrations coronavirus response. His strategy involved crowd sourcing recommendations from physicians in a Facebook group. Excuse me what? (Anita Kumar / Politico)
An acquisition spree by Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft gobbled up many of the most promising artificial intelligence startups. The trend is one regulators are looking into as they investigate whether Big Tech companies have become too powerful. (Dina Bass and Joshua Brustein / Bloomberg)
Antitrust authorities in France ordered Apple to pay a $1.23 billion fine for anti-competitive behavior. They said the company was guilty of creating cartels within its distribution network and abusing the economic dependence of its outside resellers. Apple said it plans to appeal. (Silvia Amaro / CNBC)
Voatz, a mobile voting app thats already been used in several elections in the United States, is filled with critical security flaws. The company also publicly refuted an MIT report that found flaws in the app even after it received confirmation that it was accurate. (Emanuel Maiberg, Jason Koebler and Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / Vice)
TikTok told moderators to suppress posts by people deemed too ugly or poor for the platform. The rigid and disturbing rules were part of the companys growth strategy. Sam Biddle, Paulo Victor Ribeiro and Tatiana Dias at The Intercept have the story:
Today, The Intercept and The Intercept Brasil are publishing two internal TikTok moderation documents, recreated with only minor redactions, below. One lays out bans for ideologically undesirable content in livestreams, and another describes algorithmic punishments for unattractive and impoverished users. The documents appear to have been originally drafted in Chinese and later at times awkwardly translated into English for use in TikToks global offices. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-headquartered company that operates a suite of popular sites and social apps, a sort of Chinese analog to Facebook. ByteDance, founded in 2012, has come under scrutiny by the U.S. government over its ties to the Chinese Communist Party and numerous reports that the apps censorship tactics mirror those of Beijing; Sens. Chuck Schumer and Josh Hawley have both worked to limit TikToks use by government personnel, arguing that it presents a risk to national security.
TikTok announced its going to stop using China-based moderators to monitor overseas content. The work will now be shifted to people outside of China, as part of the companys efforts to quell concerns about Chinese ownership.
TikTok got a record 113 million App Store and Google Play downloads in February, making it the apps best month ever for both installs and revenue. (SensorTower)
The most followed person on TikTok is 17-year-old Loren Gray. Now shes trying to turn her viral fame into a mainstream music career. (Kat Tenbarge / Business Insider)
Jack Dorseys efforts to make conversations on Twitter more civil have stalled, according to researchers working with the company. Two years ago, the CEO committed to increasing the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation on the platform, but the project has been slow getting off the ground. (Deepa Seetharaman / The Wall Street Journal)
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said no one knows how big the impact of coronavirus will be on the marketing industry. We know that we can keep paying our employees, paying our contractors, we know we can keep the lights on, she added. (Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC)
USA TODAY announced that it is joining Facebooks third-party fact-checking program. The media organization will help review, rate and verify news on Facebook and Instagram to help prevent the spread of misinformation. (USA TODAY)
Kenneth Chenault will be leaving Facebooks board of directors following disagreements with Mark Zuckerberg over the companys governance and political policies. The news adds to significant turnover on the companys board. (Jeff Horwitz and Deepa Seetharaman / The Wall Street Journal)
Snap announced that Kelly Coffey, CEO of City National Bank, has been appointed to the companys board of directors.
Zoom has bigger plans than just being your go-to video chat tool or the place you host coronavirus dinner parties. It wants to reimagine the office as as a virtual space. (David Pierce / Protocol)
USC students are training to become social media influencers. The school offers an Influencer Relations class within the school of communications and an on-campus social media influencing club called Reach. (Kalhan Rosenblatt / NBC)
ISIS warns terrorists to avoid Europe until coronavirus passes
I pride myself on never saying not the Onion, but this story is just truly, truly not the Onion:
ISIS has warned its terror organization to stay clear of Europe until coronavirus is under control. [...]
Terrorists serving the Islamic State are also reminded to wash their hands and cover their mouths when yawning and sneezing. The warning reportedly included a full page info-graphic teaching ISIS members how to avoid spreading the pandemic.
Goodnight!
Send us tips, comments, questions, and your favorite ways to spend time in your house! casey@theverge.com and zoe@theverge.com.
With the United States now facing its own serious coronavirus outbreak, its natural to wonder whether youll get the respiratory illness and what you can do about it. As of March 16, more than 3,900 cases and dozens of deaths have been reported in the US, according to the New York Timess tracker. But due to a lack of widespread testing, its likely the outbreak is much bigger.
One respected modeler, Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, says there may already be around 20,000 cases in the US. Marty Makary, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, told Yahoo Finance that the number of current infections could be between 50,000 and 500,000. Were about to experience the worst public health epidemic since polio, Makary said.
As further evidence of widespread unreported cases, Marc Lipsitch, director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, pointed out on Twitter to the CDCs National Influenza Surveillance Report, which regularly tracks symptoms similar to those of Covid-19. He noted that symptoms such as fever, coughs, and sore throats are trending up, while confirmed flu cases are going down.
As the coronavirus spreads, its become a nationwide crisis that could severely strain our health care system. The elderly and chronically ill are particularly susceptible to severe Covid-19 illness, and tens or hundreds of thousands of them could require hospitalization in the coming weeks and months. So we need to take collective measures now to protect ourselves and others. Heres what you need to know:
There are a lot of acronyms floating around, so first, just know that the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the coronavirus) causes the disease Covid-19. The virus is most commonly spread by close contact with infected people who are within 6 feet of each other. When they cough or sneeze, they send droplets into the air, where they can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby, or possibly get inhaled into the lungs. Droplets containing the virus can also land on surfaces and objects where the virus can survive for some time.
According to a preprint paper (a study that hasnt yet been peer-reviewed) from researchers at the National Institutes of Health, Princeton, and UCLA who studied the novel coronavirus in a lab, it can survive for up to 24 hours on cardboard and for up to two or three days on plastic and stainless steel. (Another study suggests it can stay infectious for up to nine days.)
The danger of infection here is touching one of these surfaces and then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. The CDC, however, says that this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.
Some diseases, like measles, can also be transmitted through aerosols, meaning that when someone coughs, tiny droplets filled with virus linger in the air, sometimes for hours, where others can breathe them in. Currently, theres limited evidence of the coronavirus being transmitted this way, but its worth noting. One preprint found the virus in aerosol form in hospitals in Wuhan, and others agree that there is a higher risk of doctors and nurses being infected through aerosols. Theres also growing evidence of fecal-oral transmission, meaning you can ingest the virus shed in feces through inadequate hand-washing or contaminated food and water.
The good news is that transmission can be prevented. Good personal hygiene and social distancing can be very effective. Im not one of those people who normally goes crazy about hand-washing, says Megan Murray, an infectious disease specialist and professor of global health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Now I really am, because that will help reduce [the] virus on your hands.
Washing your hands frequently and carefully for at least 20 seconds is better than using hand sanitizer because it actually destroys the chemical structure of the virus. Any old soap will break the viruss outer coating, and you dont need special antibacterial soap. If soap and water arent available, use hand sanitizer with 60 percent alcohol (no, this doesnt include Titos vodka).
New research suggests that people may be most infectious early in the disease (and even before symptoms start), meaning that as soon as you start to feel ill, its important to self-isolate. You dont need to be coughing to be contagious; the linked preprint suggests that somewhere between 48 and 66 percent of 91 people in a cluster in Singapore were infected by someone without symptoms.
This makes taking precautions now like canceling your travel plans and social gatherings even more important. The effectiveness of widespread travel bans, especially when community transmission is already occurring, is being hotly debated, but in general, minimizing social contact is the best method of prevention.
Avoid handshakes or hugs with people whove been out and about, and whenever possible, stay at least 6 feet away from others. This includes minimizing or avoiding play dates, sleepovers, shared meals, going out to eat, and visits friends and family members homes.
Also important to know is that according to one study from China, around 25 percent of all cases may originate in people who have no symptoms another reason social-distancing measures are so important.
The most common symptoms of Covid-19 are a fever, seen in almost 90 percent of patients, as well as a dry cough and shortness of breath. A study of 71 patients in China also suggests that a significant portion of coronavirus patients experience diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting, sometimes before respiratory symptoms begin. The World Health Organization (WHO) says these symptoms typically come on gradually.
Around 80 percent of Covid-19 cases are reportedly mild, but as James Hamblin of the Atlantic noted, that word can be misleading:
As the World Health Organization adviser Bruce Aylward clarified last week, a mild case of COVID-19 is not equivalent to a mild cold. Expect it to be much worse: fever and coughing, sometimes pneumoniaanything short of requiring oxygen. Severe cases require supplemental oxygen, sometimes via a breathing tube and a ventilator. Critical cases involve respiratory failure or multi-organ failure.
The incubation period before symptoms appear ranges from two to 14 days, but the median is 5.1 days. If youve been around someone who has a confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19 or displays its symptoms, the most responsible thing to do is to self-quarantine for two weeks.
Yes, you do.
The reason is that social distancing works best if everyone young and old, healthy and infirm practices it. No one has immunity, and everyone can get sick and spread the virus to others.
The more young and healthy people are sick at the same time, the more old people will be sick, and the more pressure there will be on the health care system, Emily Landon, an infectious disease specialist and hospital epidemiologist at the University of Chicago Medical Center, told Voxs Eliza Barclay and Dylan Scott.
Without protective measures, one person on average infects 2.5 others, and cases will spread exponentially. That means hospitals and medical staff will quickly become overwhelmed. At least 5 percent of Covid-19 patients may need intensive care, and many require hospitalization for weeks.
Even if youre not at a statistically higher risk of dying from Covid-19, its important to flatten the curve and adopt social-distancing measures immediately to prevent the most deaths.
Also, just being young and healthy is not a guarantee of mild illness. The epicenter of New Jerseys outbreak of Covid-19, Holy Name Medical Center, had 11 confirmed Covid-19 cases on March 14, six of which were in the ICU, with ages ranging from 28 to 48.
If you have one or more symptoms of the new coronavirus, call your doctor. If you are older or have underlying medical conditions, its even more important to call your doctor, even if you have only mild symptoms, according to the CDC. Before you go to your doctors office, Murray says you should call ahead so that medical staff can wear the appropriate protective gear and be ready to help take care of you without exposing others. Many health care facilities are requesting that you wear a mask if you have symptoms and are going in for testing.
Your doctor will determine whether you should be tested; if a test is ordered, you can expect a nasopharyngeal swab, where a tiny Q-tip is put up your nose a few inches not a fun procedure, but it doesnt hurt. Its then sent to a lab and put through a process called a polymerase chain reaction, which detects specific genetic material within the virus. How long it takes to get results back varies, but in the US, its currently taking a few days.
If youre concerned about the cost of getting tested which Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) estimated at $1,331 the CDC recently committed to covering the cost of testing for all Americans regardless of insurance status, although when and how that will be implemented is yet to be announced. Currently, 1,000 insurers have waived treatment fees, and some cities and states like New York have said they will waive cost sharing for tests. This is important because if [insurers] dont cover treatment, you have to expect fewer people will go to get tested, says Jennifer Flynn, who runs health care campaigns for the Center for Popular Democracy.
Many people who know theyve been exposed are currently having difficulty actually getting tested. Flynn says her colleague developed similar symptoms after sharing a cab with CPAC participants, a conference in DC where multiple people fell sick from Covid-19.
Thats true even in Covid-19 hot spots. Helen Teixeria, a resident of Redmond, a suburb of Seattle, one of the nations outbreak epicenters, says she woke up last week with a tight chest, fever, and a dry cough.
First, she called the King County hotline and was told to call her primary care provider. Her doctor told her to go to the emergency room, where the hospital didnt follow standard isolation protocol and medical staff did not wear basic protective gear. Teixeria said she was unable to get a Covid-19 test because they were being tightly rationed for high-risk and hospitalized patients. Nor was she allowed to get a two-view chest X-ray so that I didnt contaminate the X-ray room, she says. A sympathetic nurse eventually slipped her off-the-record information on a private clinic where she might be able to get a Covid-19 test next week.
After you call your doctor, stay home, says Tom Frieden, former director of the CDC. It sounds like overly simple advice, but its the best thing you can do. Next, you should self-isolate, including staying away from anyone you live with.
If youre not in one of the CDCs high-risk categories, trying to see your doctor may actually expose you further. The single place youre most likely to encounter people with coronavirus is the hospital, so thats the last place you want to be if youre afraid of getting infected, Murray says. And if, in your quest to get tested, you go to multiple health care centers, youll be exposing health care workers in each location.
If you think you might have Covid-19 and frankly, even if you dont, so that you avoid possibly spreading it before you have symptoms avoid all public areas. This means dont go to school or work, and try to avoid taking public transportation, including ride-hailing services like Uber, Lyfts, and taxis. If you dont have adequate supplies at home, consider asking friends or family to make a delivery to your door rather than going out yourself. Dont let friends come visit while youre recuperating; instead, stay connected by phone or online.
If youre worried about quarantining in a home where you dont feel safe, 24/7 help is available from the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Call 1-800-799-7233 or text LOVEIS to 22522.
Self-care [for coronavirus] is very similar to other upper respiratory infections, says Elisa Choi, an infectious disease and internal medicine specialist in the Boston area. Over-the-counter medications, like cough suppressants, can help minimize coughing episodes, and expectorants can help you cough stuff up.
Pain relievers and fever reducers like acetaminophen (brand name Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil) can help treat muscle aches and reduce fevers.
Although Frances health minister warned that anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen and cortisone could aggravate the illness, other scientists are skeptical.
There are multiple assumptions that are made with that hypothesis that cant be made without being tested, Angela Rasmussen, a research scientist at Columbia Universitys Center for Infection and Immunity, told Vox. To my knowledge theres no evidence that ibuprofen makes [Covid-19] worse.
Choi also urges using common sense to manage symptoms. If youre feeling congestion, you can try taking a hot shower or steam, she says. Sleep and water are always good advice. The CDC says that drinking enough water every day is generally good for your overall health.
Choi and other medical professionals warn against circulating misinformation about home remedies, such as whats happening with an email erroneously claiming to be from Stanford. These remedies include holding your breath without coughing and keeping your mouth moist. Many of these treatments are unproven, and some can be dangerous. (For example, you can overdose on zinc.)
This is really a time to stick with the facts, Choi says. Stay away from things that are being promoted for sale without a known background. She recommends always checking with your doctor if you have questions about the veracity of a particular source. The CDC and WHO, as well as your local and state public health departments, are good sources of updated, verified information.
Choi says that suspected or confirmed Covid-19 patients should stay in their own room and (ideally) not share a bathroom.
They should try to stay as far away as possible from anyone else in the household, and at least 6 feet, she added. If you do share a bathroom, avoid being in the room at the same time as anyone else. The WHO found that most of the transmission in China was between family members.
If the sick person feels up to it, ideally they should be the one to disinfect the bathroom after they use it. If your living situation doesnt allow you to isolate yourself from others in your home, tell your doctor and/or health department.
The CDC has a complete guide to disinfecting commonly touched surfaces like counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables, and it recommends doing so every day. You can use one of the approved products or make your own, like adding four teaspoons of bleach to a quart of water. The CDC also recommends wearing gloves when touching possibly infected items, like used clothing or bedding, as well as when disinfecting commonly used surfaces. When youve finished, throw the gloves directly in the garbage and then wash your hands.
Choi suggests washing your hands frequently to protect others in your household, and covering your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze with a tissue that you throw directly into the garbage. If youre feeling ill, dont share cups, utensils, dish or bath towels, toothpaste, bedding or anything else with anyone. The coronavirus can stick around on surfaces for several days.
Choi recommends closely monitoring your symptoms. Its less about a number and more about the progression, she says. Generally, a low-grade fever is considered less than 100.4, but older people are generally less likely to mount a fever response. The main thing to watch for is symptoms getting worse. For example, if you initially have a mild cough but start to have prolonged bouts, or if coughing becomes painful, she recommends calling your doctor again.
The CDC says that you should seek medical attention immediately if you have difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, persistent pain or chest pressure, an onset of confusion or the inability to stay awake, and bluish lips or face. If you do decide to go to the hospital, make sure to call ahead so the hospital can prepare to admit you without exposing others. If you already have a mask at home, this would be a good time to wear it; if you dont, please dont go buy one. There is a severe shortage, and medical staff need them.
Know that if you do go to the hospital, there is currently no treatment for Covid-19. Remdesivir, an antiviral drug, is in clinical trials, but right now, doctors are limited to providing supportive care such as supplemental oxygen.
While theres still a lot we dont know, Murray says that you should self-isolate for at least 14 days after your initial symptoms. (There have been a few reports of patients shedding viruses for up to 28 days, but those appear to be outliers.) This means avoiding contact with everyone. (Read Voxs guide to self-isolation here.)
For her part, Choi recommends minimizing all contact until your doctor or a public health department tells you that you are no longer contagious.
Measures for pandemic control can be stressful, Choi says, especially for people who may have challenges with being isolated. This feeling may get worse over the next few weeks, as current social-distancing measures are likely to be extended. Such measures can also cause financial hardship and stress for people who cant work from home or wont get paid if they dont go to work.
Many people are experiencing cognitive dissonance about the ongoing normality of their daily lives, or, conversely, experiencing very rapid change. Be kind to yourself and others if you are struggling. Whether youre afraid of getting sick or reacting to uncertainty, financial hardship, or a lack of information, anxiety is a natural response and you are not alone.
If you have preexisting mental health conditions, be aware that this may trigger new or worsening symptoms. (The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration has a 24/7 Disaster Distress Helpline, reachable at 1-800-985-5990. It also has an app with additional resources.)
No matter how stressed you feel, its crucial not to scapegoat others. This virus is not transmitted by or infecting any particular group. Ive experienced anti-Asian racism myself, says Choi, and its disrespectful, hateful, and not grounded in facts.
Know that the situation is not hopeless; collectively changing behavior can go a long way toward controlling the spread of this disease. China has now closed all of its temporary hospitals as its case numbers continue to decline. But the social and economic repercussions of this pandemic may continue for months, so prepare yourself mentally for a long haul.
Do the small things that are in your control, like giving yourself a break from the news put down Twitter and maintaining normal routines as much as possible. If youre at home with family or roommates, find ways to give each other space. Be creative about finding ways to exercise; YouTube videos are a great resource, if you cant get outside. Talk to your loved ones about what you and they need to stay happy and healthy.
Japan and China have both reported multiple cases of people testing positive after initially recovering. Its unclear if these were relapses or new infections. In four medical professionals in Wuhan, a test detected the viruss genetic material up to 13 days after they stopped having symptoms, but finding genetic material doesnt necessarily mean you can still infect others.
Once youve gotten sick, you might have some immunity, says Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine of the Baylor College of Medicine, but really the jurys still out. We dont know, it depends on your antibody response, he says. (A new, encouraging preprint showed that in some monkeys, reinfection of Covid-19 does not occur.)
Hotez suggests that recovered patients do seem to produce antibodies. He pointed to a new paper on the possibility of using blood from recovered patients as a treatment, or even a preventive measure for first responders.
Still, recovered patients may also experience lasting effects; doctors in Hong Kong said that some recovered patients had a 20 to 30 percent drop in lung capacity. Another alarming preprint suggests some patients may have permanent kidney damage.
What about building herd immunity?
The UK government on Friday announced a strategy of allowing the virus to spread to build herd immunity, although it since walked it back and is recommending self-isolation. For herd immunity to control Covid-19, more than 60 percent of the population will need to get the disease. The logic is that extreme lockdowns now wont stop the virus from returning in the future, when those measures are loosened.
The problem is that many people may succumb to the disease in the meantime, and that by not attempting to control the spread, hospitals and medical systems will be overwhelmed. Achieving herd immunity in the UK would require more than 47 million Britons to be infected, which could mean around hundreds of thousands would die. Immunity might also not last long enough to help, as with the flu, where new strains emerge each year. Relying on herd immunity also conflicts with WHO policy. Anthony Costello, a pediatrician and former WHO director, tweeted, Is it ethical to adopt a policy that threatens immediate casualties on the basis of an uncertain future benefit?
There are two likely ways this pandemic will end now that the virus is so widespread: 1) So many people will get it that well develop a natural herd immunity, a term that is used to describe people getting a disease and becoming immune as a result, or 2) well make and widely produce an affordable vaccine. It is very unlikely that well see a big decline in Covid-19 cases solely due to the weather getting warmer. Plenty of places where there is currently warm weather, like Singapore and Australia, have Covid-19 cases.
There are no easy answers. We have to recognize that were gonna start seeing a fair number of hospital admissions, especially ICU admissions, Hotez says, and we have to ask the hard questions about what treatment we can do now. Developing a vaccine will take many months at best, which is why in the meantime, changing your behavior is so important.
Ultimately, this is a new disease, so while were trying to make new predictions about risk, all bets are off, says Choi. Were learning as everything is evolving actively in real time.
Lois Parshley is a freelance investigative journalist and the 2019-2020 Snedden chair of journalism at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Find her on Twitter @loisparshley.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) The number of COVID-19 cases in Erie County has risen by four, now reaching a total of 11.
Two of the women who tested positive are in their 50s. One is currently isolated at home, while the other is hospitalized.
The other two new cases were contracted by men one in his 30s, and another in his 40s. Both recently traveled out of state.
Anyone who was at any of the following locations at the listed times should monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, coughing, shortness of breath). Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure.
Some recently traveled downstate, others outside of New York, and at least one recently came back from Italy. We know that at least some of them live in Buffalo, Clarence, Grand Island, Amherst, Elma and Orchard Park.
One of them works at Tops corporate headquarters in Williamsville. After last working on March 9, they are now quarantined at home. That employee had no contact with any supermarkets or warehouses.
A worker at the M&T Plaza in Buffalo is another one of the people confirmed to have coronavirus. M&T says the employee recently traveled out of state, and began experiencing flu-like symptoms before electing to self-quarantine. The worker was described as a non-customer facing colleague.
Outside of Erie County, two cases have been confirmed in Allegany County, and another has been confirmed in Wyoming County.
During a conference on Tuesday afternoon, Poloncarz said the county currently has less than five days worth of blood ready for those who need it.
Because of that, Poloncarz encouraged people to donate if possible.
CORALVILLE, Iowa (KCRG) - The CDC has approved a company in eastern Iowa to start making large quantities of kits to test COVID-19.
Integrated DNA Technologies in Coralville announced Monday it got approval to make the test kits. They're called 'primer and probe' kits.
We are honored to be the first company in the nation to have our primer and probe kits approved by the CDC for use as a key component of the CDC EUA testing protocol for the diagnosis and detection of COVID-19, said IDT President Trey Martin.
Starting this week, the company is expected to make 5 million kits a week.
We continue to scale production to meet demand and we are in close communication with the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). IDT will also continue to supply its key component to laboratories, which may assist them in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, Martin added.
IDTs recent history includes providing products to test for H1N1, Ebola virus, and Zika virus.
Click or tap here to see the full release from IDT.
Amazons Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program, through which it provides warehousing and shipment services for products from third-party sellers, was well as its larger vendor shipment services are being partially suspended through April 5 due to the global coronavirus outbreak. This suspension will allow Amazon to prioritize shipment of household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products the company said in a support document on its website, and confirmed to TechCrunch in an email.
The commerce giant notes in the email that it is seeing increased online shopping in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will focus on prioritizing the reception, restocking and delivery of the essential products that are most in demand from this new uptick in activity from Amazon shoppers. For all other products, Amazon says it has disabled the creation of new inbound shipments for FBA members, as well as for retail vendors (their business-to-business selling platform).
Any existing shipments created prior to today are still going to be processed at Amazons fulfillment centers as usual, the company says, but otherwise new orders wont be processed until such time as Amazon alerts sellers that things are back to normal. The tentative date for the program to resume in full is April 5, as mentioned, but it sounds like Amazon could extend these limitations depending on how the pandemic progresses.
Amazon is prioritizing goods in baby, health and household, beauty and personal care, grocery, industrial and scientific and pet supplies categories, the company says in a support document explaining the new limitations. Products outside of these categories that are already in Amazons fulfillment centers, or that are on their way to those facilities ahead of March 17, can still be sold through the platform.
This also doesnt block sellers from selling their products on the platform and fulfilling the shipments themselves, the help document notes. That might be the only option available to sellers and retailers who want to continue offering their non-prioritized goods to Amazon buyers through at least the next few weeks.
An Amazon spokesperson provided TechCrunch the following statement regarding the suspension:
We are seeing increased online shopping and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers. We understand this is a change for our selling partners and appreciate their understanding as we temporarily prioritize these products for customers.
Amazon has taken other steps to address the increased demand its seeing on the platform as more and more countries and cities implement isolation and quarantine measures, including shelter-in-place orders. The company announced on Monday that it would be looking to hire as many as 100,000 additional warehouse and delivery employees to address the increase.
