Category: Corona Virus

A vendor waters fresh greens for sale at a stall in a market in Abuja, Nigeria. KC Nwakalor/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

A vendor waters fresh greens for sale at a stall in a market in Abuja, Nigeria.

When the new coronavirus started spreading around the world, there were dire warnings about what would happen when it hit African countries.

An earlier U.N. estimate predicted up to 3.3 million deaths in Africa, if no interventions were put in place. Top epidemiologists predicted panic, saying the death rate would be higher than Europe or China. But things have so far turned out differently in sub-Saharan Africa.

Now, there are a range of predictions from pessimistic to guardedly optimistic.

"We are not seeing that rapid increase in the number of cases as we had actually predicted," says Benson Droti, an epidemiologist with the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Africa.

About three months since Africa recorded its first case of COVID-19, there have been fewer recorded deaths and cases than any other region in the world. According to the Africa CDC, the continent has reported nearly 200,000 cases and 5,334 deaths.

Droti and his colleagues at WHO wanted to take a new look at what was happening on the Continent, so they developed a new model last month for what the future might look like.

In their model, they took into account Africa's young population the fact that many countries have median ages in the teens. They included how much harder it is for people to move around because of poor roads. And they also took stock of the different mitigation efforts each country took.

"Have markets been closed? Have schools been closed and so on and so on," Droti says.

In fact, many African countries took action very early on. With few reported cases, countries shut down airports, closed schools and some, like Uganda and South Africa, instituted draconian lockdowns.

The WHO model found that because of that many parts of Africa would be spared the virus exponential spread of the virus. The infection rate and death rate would be significantly lower than the hardest hit European and American countries have faced. Its worst case scenario predicts about 189,000 Africans will die of COVID-19 in a year.

One early model out of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine had projected that many deaths in Nigeria alone.

But there are critics of the WHO study. Carl Pearson, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says it's making flawed assumptions. For example, it assumes Africa's young population will be more resilient.

"But what we don't know are things like: What is in the interaction with malnutrition, with other infectious disease, with a bunch of risk factors that are present in Africa but we don't know anything about in the rest of the world," he says.

He thinks it's too early to make these kinds of predictions, especially because African countries are under testing and may be missing cases.

"I've always sort of been waiting for the other shoe to drop," he says.

He says he is already seeing worrying signs in countries like Nigeria and South Africa, where cases are indeed rising exponentially. In Nigeria on Monday, the health minister admitted that as many 60 percent of mysterious deaths reported in the northern Kano state were likely caused by the new coronavirus.

But Pearson put out an early model for the African continent that turned out to overestimate the number of coronavirus cases in many countries.

Modeling, he says, is hard even harder than predicting the path of a hurricane.

"An epidemic is different in that when I decide to react to the quote unquote storm, that fundamentally changes the trajectory," he says.

In other words, what people and governments do plays a huge role in how a pandemic evolves.

Droti, of the World Health Organization, says that points to another huge issue with models.

"A model is only as good as the assumptions that you put in," he says.

Part of the problem in Africa, he says, is that many times the world assumes the continent will fail at everything.

"People expect that the Africa region will need to be doing very poorly in all aspects," he says.

Shaun Truelove, who studies international health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says the team at WHO is making a "valiant attempt" at modeling an incredibly diverse continent with dozens of countries.

But he says many of the estimates are being made at a countrywide level, which means huge African cities are being given less weight than rural Africa.

"I think that heterogeneity is something that may have a big impact here and I think we're going to start to see it soon what that really means," he says.

William Moss, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins, believes that the new WHO model actually presents a complex picture.

At one level it does, indeed, take a different view of Africa full of countries that instituted aggressive and commendable public health policies.

"It's not painting Africa as this dire place that is overwhelmed by health problems," he says.

But in another way, he says, it takes a realistic view. It warns that even with a slower spread of infection and lower death rate, the continent's poor health infrastructure is very likely to be overwhelmed.

To Ngozi Erondu, a research fellow at the Chatham House Centre for Global Health Security, even this study doesn't bring hope.

"One hundred and ninety thousand additional deaths on a continent that is suffering from many co-infections, many diseases, malnutrition and everything else, there is no rosy picture here," she says.

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Africa And The Coronavirus: Forecasters Have Different Scenarios : Goats and Soda - NPR

From Auburn University to the University of Central Florida, dozens of athletes have tested positive after returning to campus in recent weeks, prompting questions about the possibility of some college sports returning when the fall semester begins.

The NCAA began to allow voluntary athletics activities in all Division I sports in June, and the organization has said that all the formats, timelines and previously determined sites for fall championships remain unchanged.

"We continue to acknowledge the ongoing uncertainty about the spread of the virus and the different actions and approaches states are taking to address it may cause modifications to be made to the playing and practice seasons and the championships as matters progress," Lynda Tealer, Division I Competition Oversight Committee chair, said in a release.

"Further, we will remain nimble to react to a fluid and unpredictable environment in ways that protect the health, safety and well-being of student-athletes, coaches, administrators and spectators," she said.

See the list of impacted schools below:

Arkansas State

Seven athletes from three of the school's sports programs tested positive in early June. All were asymptomatic and would remain in quarantine for 14 days, the university said.

Auburn University

Three football players from the university in Alabama tested positive, an Auburn athletics spokesperson confirmed to CNN. The three athletes were asymptomatic and placed in self-isolation in a dorm away from the rest of the team.

Florida State University

At least one football player tested positive for the virus, a spokesman for the program told CNN on Tuesday. The spokesman believed specific numbers could not be given out due to privacy protections.

Iowa State University

The university reported one new case of Covid-19.

Marshall University

The West Virginia school announced it had several athletes test positive for COVID-19.

Oklahoma State University

Kevin Klintworth, senior associate athletic director, said in early June that three student-athlete tests resulted in "asymptomatic positives." More than 150 student-athletes, staff and administration members were tested during the athletic department's reopening protocol.

Linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, one of the three players, announced on Twitter he had tested positive after attending a protest in Tulsa.

"After attending a protest in Tulsa AND being well protective of myself, I have tested positive for COVID-19. Please, if you are going to protest, take care of yourself and stay safe," he tweeted.

He was one of 30 players on the football team to return to campus.

Texas Tech

The athletic department on Monday confirmed recent positive tests for Covid-19 within the men's basketball program. It did not provide a number of affected athletes.

University of Alabama

University of Central Florida

Of the 60 football players that returned to campus, three tested positive for coronavirus. The UCF Athletics Department said the student-athletes were in isolation but did not give details on their condition.

University of Iowa

The athletics department said out of the 237 Covid-19 tests administered to staff and athletes since late May, one person has tested positive.

This list will be updated.

CNN's Jill Martin and Kevin Dotson contributed to this report.

Originally posted here:

These are the schools reporting coronavirus cases within their athletic programs - CNN

You guys with all your masks, you look very different than you used to, he said, not wearing one himself.

Were just trying not to die, replied Jake Sherman, a reporter for Politico.

Dr. Deborah L. Birx still coordinates the task force from her office in the West Wing, regularly updates senior staff members and still meets often with Vice President Mike Pence, according to one official, but appears only occasionally to present and discuss new virus data with reporters. Mr. Pence met Wednesday with Trump campaign workers, who posed for a photo, huddling together, thumbs up, their faces bare.

And Adm. Brett P. Giroir, who has been the administrations point person overseeing coronavirus testing, told colleagues in an email that he was resuming his regular duties as the assistant secretary for health.

While I remain committed to the fight against Covid-19, and will spend a portion of my time in direct support of the pandemic response, he wrote, I feel personally compelled to continue our offices leadership in childhood vaccination, combating substance misuse, ending the H.I.V. epidemic in America, and improving the lives of all living with sickle cell disease.

For nearly two weeks now, the nation has been convulsed by the twin crises of the coronavirus and the civil unrest that followed the death of Mr. Floyd, a black man who gasped for air with his neck under the knee of a police officer. Congress continues to address the coronavirus crisis in addition to Wednesdays health committee hearing, Mr. Mnuchin appeared before the Senate Small Business Committee, where he defended the administrations decision to reopen the economy.

But the big news on Capitol Hill on Wednesday was the testimony of Mr. Floyds brother, Philonise Floyd, before the House Judiciary Committee. Im here to ask you to make it stop, he said, asking lawmakers to make sure that his brother is more than another face on a T-shirt.

Updated June 5, 2020

So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was very rare, but she later walked back that statement.

A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nations job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid, says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. When you havent been exercising, you lose muscle mass. Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.

States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you arent being told to stay at home, its still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus whether its surface transmission or close human contact is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people dont need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks dont replace hand washing and social distancing.

If youve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, convened a virtual hearing Wednesday on how to overcome obstacles like creating social distance and a mask-wearing culture to getting children back to school.

See original here:

As Coronavirus Infections Climb, Washington Moves On to Other Business - The New York Times

PHOENIX Three weeks after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey lifted his stay-at-home order, the state has seen a big spike in the number of coronavirus cases.

With nearly 1,100 dead and hospitalizations spiking rapidly, lawmakers and medical professionals are warning there might not be enough emergency room beds to handle what could be a big influx of new cases.

More than 1,500 new cases were reported along with 25 new deaths in the past 24 hours, officials said.

While Ducey has insisted this is not a crisis situation and suggested the rise in the number of cases is due to an increase in testing, critics say otherwise and accuse the Republican governor of setting a bad example by not wearing a mask while out in public.

They say that Arizona residents, who initially took the coronavirus threat seriously, have grown lax about social distancing and face coverings, and that the result is a rise in new cases.

Arizona is not ready for this, said State Rep. Kelli Butler, the Democrats ranking member of the states House Health Committee. Our hospitals are sounding the alarm. Were hearing that the hospitals lack the ICU capacity needed to deal with this and key equipment needed to treat people.

Marcy Flanagan, director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, echoed Butlers concern during a press conference last week.

Were starting to see some indicators that the number of COVID-19 cases is increasing in Maricopa County and we have enough information to know these increases are not due to just an increase in testing that is occurring, said Flanagan, whose county includes Phoenix, the fifth most populous city in the country.

During a June 4 press conference, Ducey was asked why Arizona was not making changes as the coronavirus case numbers were rising in the state.

"We are not in a crisis situation, he said. If that were to happen, we have available field hospital capacity ... if something were to go in a dramatically elevated position, we'd be prepared in Arizona."

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Ducey's spokesman, Patrick Ptak, said Wednesday they had been anticipating "increased cases in June based on various modeling."

Alternate care sites are ready for activation if and when we need additional capacity, something that is not necessary at this time," he said. "We've continued to focus on protecting our most vulnerable, including those in nursing homes and long-term care settings.

Ptak also noted that they've doubled the testing capacity. The result, he said, is "there will continue to be an increase in cases."

Three days ago, though, state Department of Health Director Dr. Cara Christ sent out a letter telling hospitals to prepare for crisis care and to suspend elective surgeries if they start running short of beds. She cited an executive order from Ducey that calls for adding hospital beds first by 25 percent, then by 50 percent.

To date, some 500 patients have already been transferred out of hospitals likeliest to see the biggest influx of coronavirus patients and the state has set up a surge line to help balance the patient load at hospitals around the state, state Health Department spokesman Chris Minnick said.

Already, 11 Arizona hospitals have hit ICU capacity, Ann-Marie Alameddin, the president of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, said.

Three weeks ago, the stay-at-home order was lifted and since then, if you look at the streets of Arizona, people are conducting themselves as business-as-usual at times, she said. They are not taking the precautions that we are, being socially distanced, wearing masks, making sure they are staying at home when they are sick.

The result?

Correspondingly, weve seen an increase in cases, Alameddin said. We are concerned that this will be an increasing trend in the wrong direction, so we need to make sure Arizonans are doing everything that they can to stop the spread and really mitigate whats going on in our communities.

Arizona can do it, she added.

We flattened the curve and we can do it again, she said.

Meanwhile, Banner Health, the states largest hospital provider, has quadrupled its ventilator use for COVID-19 patients since the state ended its stay-at-home policy May 15.

The rise in coronavirus cases comes as thousands of Arizonans shed their COVID-19 concerns and took part in massive George Floyd protests against police violence where there was virtually no social distancing.

But even before that, Arizona residents had largely abandoned their masks and stopped social distancing, setting the stage for a resurgence of the deadly virus.

Everywhere you go, people are not wearing masks, not social distancing, Butler said. Over Memorial Day, we saw packed bars, packed resorts. People were not taking this seriously.

And neither is the governor, she added.

His social media is full of pictures of him meeting people without masks, without social distancing, Butler said. I do think that message has to come from the top. And its not.

Vaughn Hillyard reported from Phoenix and Corky Siemaszko reported from New Jersey.

Continue reading here:

Coronavirus is making a comeback in Arizona three weeks after governor lifted stay-at-home order - NBC News

Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting from Bangkok, Carlotta Gall from Istanbul, Anatoly Kurmanaev from Caracas, Venezuela, Monika Pronczuk from Brussels, Jos Mara Len Cabrera from Quito, Ecuador, Irit Pazner from Jerusalem, John Bartlett from Santiago, Mirelis Morales from Lima and Manuela Andreoni from Rio de Janeiro.

About the data: The all-cause mortality data obtained from each city varies: Some cities publish daily death totals dating back decades, and others only for the last few years. Places with less historical data, such as Istanbul, make for rougher historical comparisons. Historical baselines used to calculate excess deaths do not adjust for any expected reduction in recent deaths from non-Covid-19 causes or for two deadly flu epidemics in Europe during the winters of 2014-15 and 2017-18.

Sources:Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Andrew Noymer; University of California, Irvine; Leslie Roberts, Columbia University Medical Center; Virginia Zarulli, University of Southern Denmark.

Homicides in Chicago: Chicago TribuneFlu deaths in New York City and Seattle: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City: HIV Epidemiology Program, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Mortality in Oslo: Statistics Norway Mortality in Moscow: Moscow City Government Mortality in St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg City Government Mortality in Brazilian cities: Registro Civil and Brasil.io Mortality in Miami: Florida Department of Health Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico Vital Statistics System; Alexis Santos, Demographer at Pennsylvania State University Chicago heat wave in 1995: Whitman et al., Mortality in Chicago Attributed to the July 1995 Heat Wave Mortality in Istanbul: Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mortality in Chicago: Illinois Department of Public Health Mortality in Jakarta, Indonesia: Jakarta Department of Parks and Cemeteries September 11 in New York City: Centers for Disease Control and PreventionMortality in Denver: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Mortality in Milan and Bergamo, Italy: Italian National Institute of Statistics Mortality in Detroit: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services 1957 flu in Santiago, Chile: Chowell et al., Severe mortality impact of the 1957 influenza pandemic in Chile,; General Directorate of the National Health Service of ChileParis heat wave in 2003: INSEE Mortality in Stockholm: Statistics Sweden Mortality in Boston: Massachusetts Department of Public Health Hurricane Katrina: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Mortality in Paris: INSEE Mortality in Madrid and Catalonia, Spain: Daily Mortality Surveillance System Mortality in London: Office for National Statistics 1918 flu in Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia: U.S. Department of CommerceMortality in Lima, Peru: Mortality Information System Mortality in Guayas, Ecuador: General Direction of Civil Registry; National Institute of Statistics 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan: National Statistics Center

Excerpt from:

How the Coronavirus Compares With 100 Years of Deadly Events - The New York Times

The number of people in Texas hospitals with COVID-19 hit an all-time high for the third straight day, raising alarms for public health experts who warn that a new surge of the virus could be coming.

As of Wednesday, 2,153 people are in the hospital with the disease, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The number topped 2,000 for the first time Tuesday after reaching what was then a record high of 1,935 on Monday.

The state health department told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday the increase was due mostly to large metro areas like Houston and Dallas. In the Dallas area, hospitalizations increased in the last few days, also nearing its highest numbers to date.

Were worried that well see, potentially, a significant increase, Dr. Philip Huang, Dallas Countys top health official, said Wednesday.

When Texas joined the first wave of states that reopened their economies following statewide shutdowns, Gov. Greg Abbott did not set specific measures or goals for defining the success of that decision. But he has repeatedly pointed to hospitalizations as an important metric.

Hospitalizations are considered one of the most reliable indicators of the course of the epidemic, because hospitals know for sure their patients have the disease.

On Wednesday, Abbott told a Lubbock television station he was concerned but not alarmed by the record high numbers.

There are patients in the hospital, but we have an abundant hospital capacity supply. As a result, Texas will never be in a situation like what New York and New Jersey were in, Abbott said on KCBD NewsChannel 11.

That said, we have seen an all-time high today in the number of people that have been positive for COVID-19 in Texas. We also see record highs in the number of people hospitalized, so people need to realize, COVID-19 hasn't suddenly left the state of Texas, it still exists, Abbott added.

With no vaccine available, keeping people distanced from each other is the best way to prevent transmission of the coronavirus. Testing for the virus, isolating sick people and tracking down who they may have infected is also key. Texas is using all of these methods but has not pushed the virus into decline.

More than 79,000 Texans have tested positive for COVID-19 since the state began tracking infections in March. About a third of those people are currently sick, according to the state health department.

Almost 1,900 have died.

Since early April, the number of hospitalizations statewide has climbed steadily. It peaked in early May at 1,888 and then fluctuated before reaching the all-time highs this week.

Chris Van Deusen, a state health department spokesman, said the increase in hospitalizations statewide was due mostly to hikes in large metro areas, particularly Houston and Dallas.

The Houston area has seen a steady increase over the last week to 10 days, and the Metroplex has seen a few days of increases after being stable. As you might expect, those heavily populated areas have an outsized effect on the overall statewide numbers," Van Deusen said, adding that hospitalizations in the San Antonio area and the Lower Rio Grande Valley also climbed. Elsewhere has been relatively stable.

Dr. David Lakey, an infectious disease expert and former top state health official, thinks hospitalizations will continue to rise in part due to large public gatherings in recent weeks.

Some Texans went out for Memorial Day weekend. Others have gathered in the streets to protest police brutality. As businesses reopen, Lakey has seen more people not wearing masks compared with a month ago, even though Texans are still at risk of catching the virus.

Its important to remember, Lakey said, only a tiny fraction of the population is known to have caught the disease. Most people have no immunity to the virus.

Its a fertile ground for the virus to spread, said Lakey, who now serves as the vice chancellor for health affairs and chief medical officer at the University of Texas System.

Lakey is heartened the state has more than 15,000 hospital beds open, far more than the number of people currently sick. He called the new highs manageable, but added that there may be hospital capacity issues at the local level depending on where the virus spreads.

Just last week, hospitalizations were holding steady overall in the Dallas area. Now, Dr. Huang said, some hospitals are seeing an increase in coronavirus patients that he believes could precede a coming spike. He did not say which facilities were experiencing the upward trend, but Parkland Hospital currently has 82 patients, a spokeswoman said.

Two weeks ago the hospital had 44.

The number of people hospitalized in Dallas County with confirmed cases of COVID-19 increased from about 150 late last week to 219 on Tuesday. That nearly matches the previous peak in mid-May.

The numbers are cause for concern, Huang said.

Stephen Love, President and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council, acknowledged the increase but said, This does not mean this is a significant spike or developing wave.

It does mean we must watch carefully to detect any developing trends, especially significant spikes in COVID-19 admissions, Love said in a statement Wednesday. Chief medical officer Dr. Alejandro Arroliga said Wednesday some Baylor Scott & White Health facilities have also seen an increase in hospitalizations.

We are somewhat concerned, Arroliga said during a call with News readers Wednesday. He attributed the increase in part to more testing but added, We shouldnt ignore that relaxing the social distancing may be a significant factor as well.

Gov. Greg Abbott began his phased reopening May 1.

He allowed gyms, bars and day cares to reopen in mid-May. And Monday after two weeks of protests that put thousands of Texans in close proximity to each other Abbott surprised the performing arts community when he said venues could reopen at 50% capacity.

Abbott pointed to hospitalization numbers which appeared to reach historic lows last week as evidence his decision to ax the statewide shutdown was right.

As Texas moves into Phase 2 of opening business, we have the lowest number of #COVID19 deaths since early April and yesterday we had the lowest COVID hospitalizations since mid April, Abbott tweeted on May 18. Texas is ready to get back to work.

But Abbott may have been operating, at least in part, on faulty information. Because of a software glitch, about 300 hospitalizations in Houston were not counted toward statewide totals, The Houston Chronicle reported. This means the picture looked rosier than reality, as Texas hospitalizations appeared to drop to their lowest number since April.

On Wednesday, Abbotts staff did not respond to The News questions about whether the increase in hospitalizations would slow or halt the reopening process.

The state continues to have one of the lowest death rates in the nation, Abbott spokesman John Wittman said in a text message. Every Texan who needs access to a hospital bed will have access to a hospital bed.

Abbott has urged Texans to continue social distancing and other measures to slow the viruss spread. He has emphasized testing in especially vulnerable communities, like nursing homes and state prisons, and last week, after pressure from black lawmakers, said the state would study the viruss effect on underserved and minority populations.

On Wednesday, his office released a PSA featuring Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan.

When you leave the house, dont be a knucklehead. Wash your hands, socially distance yourself from others, and wear a mask. Do the right thing. Look out for your fellow Texans and together well make it through this, Ryan said.

The best course of action now, Dr. Lakey said, is to remain vigilant and take the virus seriously.

There's this prolonged balancing act that were going to need to have related to opening up and how do we do that smartly, Lakey said. Were still in the relatively early stages of this large outbreak.

Staff writer Anna Kuchment contributed to this report.

See the article here:

Coronavirus: The number of Texans in hospitals hit record highs three days in a row - The Dallas Morning News

The man lay alone in his pressurized room at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital in Orlando. He had a severe case of Covid-19, and it looked like he was losing the battle.

A Catholic priest came to administer last rites. The patient, Jason Denney, said goodbye to his family via FaceTime.

But Quinteros, a hospital housekeeper, urged Denney not to lose hope.

She told him his life was in good hands, both the doctors' and God's. She said God was not done with Denney and encouraged him to keep fighting.

As the coronavirus pandemic has forced hospitals to impose strict restrictions on visitors and clergy, the work of people like Quinteros has become even more important, say health care experts.

They don't just keep the rooms clean of harmful germs. Many also try to lighten the mood with smiles or jokes, provide encouragement when patients lose hope and offer an attentive ear when patients need to process their emotions.

And so it was that a housekeeper from Guatemala and a retired Air Force colonel met in a hospital room in Florida. And slowly, one began to heal the other.

"I don't think she realized at the time what she was doing for me," Denney told CNN in recent interview. "She was saving my life."

The colonel and the housekeeper

Denney, 52, was born in England to an American father and Scottish mother. After 22 years in the Air Force and two deployments, he recently took a job with a defense contractor.

Quinteros was born in Pasaco, a small city in southern Guatamala, where her father was a farmer. The 33-year-old moved to the United States about 15 years ago, and is married with two children.

She was a hotel housekeeper for years before joining the hospital staff seven months ago.

When Covid-19 patients began to arrive at Dr. Phillips, Melinda Plumley, the chaplain manager, realized her staff would not be able to do their job as usual. Fears of contagion made it impossible to hold the face-to-face conversations that can help patients process difficult emotions.

So Plumley turned to the housekeepers and other staff members who visit patients' rooms each day.

"We put together some material of easy, open-ended questions for staff to get the patient talking," she said. "And now we have patients who say that if it weren't for the woman who cleans my room, I'm not sure I would have made it."

They talked about their children and their faith

At first, Quinteros and Denney just talked about the weather. Small talk to get his mind off the suffering.

Denney, who didn't want to be sedated or intubated, said he was in unspeakable pain, focusing on surviving five minutes at a time.

"It was really nice to talk about something other than my illness," he said. "I was sick and tired of hearing about what bad shape I was in."

While he is quick to credit his doctors and nurses, Denney also began to look forward to Quinteros' short visits every morning while she cleaned his room.

"She was not scared to be close to me," he said.

After a few days they began talking about more serious subjects, like their children and their faith. Quinteros has two kids. Denney has three, including a 16-year-old son who also contracted coronavirus.

"I felt very guilty about my son coming down with Covid," said Denney, who thought he might have passed along the illness to his child.

Quinteros, in an interview facilitated by a translator, said she noticed Denney's fear and guilt right away.

"I felt bad for him," she said, "and I wanted to make sure that he knew he was not alone."

Though English is not her first language, Quinteros said she and Denney quickly formed a bond. For six days, she became a ray of light in his suffocating darkness.

"When a patient is treated with compassion and love," she said, "language is not a barrier."

Hospital housekeepers fulfill an unsung need

They are sometimes called "invisible" workers, the custodians and housekeepers who clean and restock hospital rooms. But while we often don't see them, they see us.

Doctors, nurses and chaplains have rightly been hailed as heroes for their brave efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. Plumley jokes that spiritual healers haven't gotten this much press since the Reformation.

But the work of hospital housekeepers has been just as vital, said Dr. Neil Prose, a pediatric dermatologist and professor at Duke University's Global Health Institute.

Most hospitals around the country have imposed strict limits on visits from family members and even chaplains, leaving patients to suffer through agonizing hours alone.

"For this reason," said Prose, "the work of housekeepers in providing emotional support to patients and their families has become more important than ever."

It can be scary being a hospital housekeeper, sometimes called an environmental services worker, during a pandemic.

"Cleaners like me do the very hard and dangerous work of disinfecting and keeping every surface up to a critically safe standard," she wrote. "We are desperately hanging on to our jobs while knowing it could get us and our family sick or even killed."

Little human moments can help save lives

Before she enters a Covid-19 patient's room, Quinteros puts on a mask as well as a protective gown, gloves and eyewear.

Her Catholic faith, she said, provides another kind of protection.

"I rely on the training I received at the hospital and put my faith in God. I put everything in God's hands."

Denney, who is also Catholic, said Quinteros would talk about the power of Jesus and how the Lord would heal him.

These little moments can save lives, said Jane Dutton, a scholar at the University of Michigan who has studied the role of hospital housekeepers and other "invisible workers."

And it's the less-heralded hospital workers who most often provide these healing moments, Dutton said.

Though hospital housekeepers are often measured by standards of productivity -- how many rooms they clean -- hospital executives are beginning to realize their larger importance.

Denney, for one, knows how important a hospital housekeeper can be.

A few days after he left Dr. Phillips, Denney asked the hospital for Quinteros' number and sent her a text thanking her. He hopes to meet her family and take them out for dinner.

"I would love just to see her again and say thank you," he said. "People don't realize that in their brief engagements with other people, the words you say matter. And in the situation I was in, they really matter."

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He was a Covid-19 patient. She cleaned his hospital room. Their unexpected bond saved his life - CNN

Robert F. Bukaty | AP

Robert F. Bukaty | AP

Customers dine inside at the Hot Spot Diner, Monday, May 18, 2020, in Wiscasset, Maine.

The BDN is making the most crucial coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact in Maine free for all readers. Click here for all coronavirus stories. You can join others committed to safeguarding this vital public service by purchasing a subscription or donating directly to the newsroom.

Another 31 cases of the new coronavirus have been detected in Maine, health officials said Wednesday.

There have now been 2,637 cases across all of Maines counties since the outbreak began here in March, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 2,606 on Tuesday.

Of those, 2,350 have been confirmed positive, while 287 are likely positive, according to the Maine CDC.

[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]

No new deaths were reported Wednesday, leaving the statewide death toll at 100.

So far, 303 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 27 people are currently hospitalized, with 10 in critical care and five on ventilators.

Meanwhile, 2,023 people have fully recovered from the virus, meaning there are 514 active and likely cases in the state, according to the Maine CDC. Thats unchanged from Tuesday. Active cases of the virus have been trending down in recent days, falling from 714 on May 24, Maine CDC data show.

Heres the latest on the coronavirus and its impact on Maine.

Gov. Janet Mills has extended her 30-day coronavirus civil state of emergency proclamation for the third time since the pandemic began, warning on Wednesday that COVID-19 is very much a threat despite the relaxing of some virus-inspired restrictions. The second extension, due to end Thursday, gives Mills the ability to suspend the enforcement of laws, establish emergency reserves of certain products and allows the state to access federal funding to mitigate the outbreak. Nick Sambides Jr., BDN

CEO of Portland-based Tilson Technology Josh Broder, Hancock Lumber CEO Kevin Hancock and Sea Bags CEO Don Oakes spoke about how they are reinventing their companies to deal with COVID-19. Lori Valigra, BDN

Amtraks Downeaster rail service will begin to emerge from behind the coronavirus curtain and get back on track with resumed service between Brunswick and Boston starting June 15. Nick Sambides Jr., BDN

A Freeport restaurant owner has opened his business for dine-in service in defiance of Gov. Janet Mills order prohibiting that in three counties amid the coronavirus pandemic. Petrillos in Freeport opened for both dine-in and outdoor seating last Thursday. Dominic Petrillo, owner and chef of Petrillos, said four complaints have been filed with the state in less than a week, but he doesnt regret his decision. CBS 13

The Fort Kent Lions Club, famous in northern Maine for its creative biannual Pride of Lions fundraiser, has demonstrated its creativity once again through a unique video making the rounds on Facebook. The video shows Lions Club members ranging in age from 20 to 93 years old passing and in one case golfing a potato to one another in video clips filmed at their homes and places of business. Jessica Potila, Fiddlehead Focus

As of Wednesday evening, the coronavirus has sickened 1,996,960 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 112,726 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Elsewhere in New England, there have been 7,454 coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts, 4,120 in Connecticut, 812 in Rhode Island, 294 in New Hampshire and 55 in Vermont.

Watch: Maine gets funding for coronavirus testing

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June 10 evening update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine - Bangor Daily News

Oh my goodness, Dr. Fauci said. Where is it going to end? Were still at the beginning of really understanding.

Another looming question, he said, is whether survivors who were seriously ill will fully recover.

He described the pandemic as shining a very bright light on something weve known for a very long time the health disparities and the harder impact of many illnesses on people of color, particularly African-Americans.

The coronavirus has been a double whammy for black people, he said, first because they are more likely to be exposed to the disease by way of their employment in jobs that cannot be done remotely. Second, they are more vulnerable to severe illness from the coronavirus because they have higher rates of underlying conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and chronic lung disease.

Given the disparities, he said, it is essential to focus more resources to control the coronavirus in the areas with high-density African-American populations. But the longer-term solution will take decades, he said, to address the socioeconomic and dietary factors that contribute to so many of the health problems in racial and ethnic groups that have been most affected by the virus.

The global race for vaccines and treatments by myriad companies and governments has led to calls for nonprofit and government-payment methods to ensure that the drugs would be widely available.

Updated June 5, 2020

So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was very rare, but she later walked back that statement.

A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nations job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid, says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. When you havent been exercising, you lose muscle mass. Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.

States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you arent being told to stay at home, its still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus whether its surface transmission or close human contact is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people dont need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks dont replace hand washing and social distancing.

If youve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

While access to vaccines will be essential, Dr. Fauci said it would probably not help if the U.S. government tried to impose price controls on drugmakers. If you try to enforce things on a company that has multiple different opportunities to do different things, they will walk away.

He said he had never seen a successful attempt at price controls, and it would be more effective for the government to work with companies and help them in developing products. Then, he said, companies will in good faith make it available to those groups, countries, nations that really cant afford it very well.

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Fauci Warns That the Coronavirus Pandemic Is Far From Over - The New York Times

Donald Trump will hold a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, next Friday his first since since states began shutting down in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 110,000 lives in the US.

The 19 June rally will likely rattle some public health experts, as coronavirus infections rise in about a dozen states. On Wednesday, the US approached nearly 2 million confirmed cases.

Trumps signature rallies often draw tens of thousands of people but have been on hiatus since 2 March because of the coronavirus. The presidents campaign has been eager to resume them as it tries to move past the pandemic, even as cases continue to rise in some parts of the country.

A Trump campaign spokesperson tweeted a movie trailer-style video earlier Wednesday that advertised: This month were back.

A beautiful new venue, brand new. Were looking forward to it, Trump said during a White House event. Theyve done a great job with Covid, as you know, the state of Oklahoma.

The announcement, which comes amid sweeping protests against racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyds death, also raised eyebrows for its date a day known as Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery as well as its location in Tulsa, a city with a troubling history of racial violence.

Tulsas 1921 race massacre saw the destruction of black businesses and residences at the hands of angry, white mobs, andhas been describedas the single worst incident of racial violence in American history.

Trumps announcement comes as the president has criticized the Floydprotests and referred to those demonstrating against police brutality as thugs.

Oklahoma, a reliably Republican state which Trump won in 2016, was among the earliest states to begin loosening coronavirus restrictions, with salons, spas and barbershops reopening in late April. The Republican governor Kevin Stitts most recent reopening phase places no limits on group gathering sizes as of 1 June, and leaves the decision about how closely to adhere to social distancing guidelines up to business owners and local officials.

According to Johns Hopkins data, the overall death toll in Oklahoma stands at 356.

The president said he would first hold a rally in Oklahoma before moving on to other states like Florida, Arizona and North Carolina, where the Republican national convention was originally supposed to be held.

Coronavirus hospitalizations are currently on the rise in Arizona and North Carolina, which could intensify public health concerns about resuming the campaign rallies.

While the rallies will likely spark public health concerns, some of the presidents allies have argued the recentprotests, which have attracted thousands of people, could shield the rallies from potential criticism.

Some on Twitter compared Trumps decision to hold the rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth toRonald Reagans choice to launch his 1980 campaign with a speech lauding states rights near the site of the notorious Mississippi burning murder of civil rights workers.

In 1964, three civil rights workers were abducted and killed by the Ku Klux Klan, just south-west of Philadelphia, Mississippi, and surreptitiously buried in a dam.

Reagan delivered a campaign speech within walking distance of the dam, proclaiming I believe in states rights. His language echoed that of white Southerners who used the phrase to justify segregation.

It remained unclear if the campaigns choice to hold the rally on Juneteenth was intentional.

The Trump campaign appeared aware of the significance of the president holding the rally on Juneteenth.

Responding to a Bloomberg reporter, a Trump campaign advisor wrote that Republicans are proud of the history of Juneteenth.

The president has acknowledged the date before. In 2017, Trump released a statement, saying: Melania and I send our warmest greetings to all those celebrating Juneteenth, a historic day recognizing the end of slavery. That year, Trump also delivered a rambling speech during Black History month, calling the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.

Agencies contributed reporting.

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Donald Trump to hold rally in Oklahoma, first since coronavirus pandemic began - The Guardian