Category: Covid-19

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) - The Iowa Department of Public Health announced on Friday an additional 521 confirmed cases and 11 deaths in Iowa.

That brings the totals to 4,445 confirmed cases and 107 deaths in the state. In total, 31,973 people have been tested for the virus and 1,604 have recovered.

The new deaths occurred in Black Hawk, Bremer, Linn, Polk and Scott Counties.

A new outbreak was reported at Mitchell Village Care Center, a long-term care facility in Polk County. That brings the total of outbreaks at long-term care facilities up to 13.

There are 278 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 with 44 of them having been admitted in the last 24 hours. There are 104 patients in ICU, and 60 are on ventilators.

Regional Medical Coordination Centers (RMCC) Region 6, is no longer rated a 10. It is now a 9, along with region 1 and 5, which together covers most of the eastern and central portions of the state.

For more information, including a county by county breakdown of the numbers, click here.

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521 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11 deaths in Iowa as of Friday - KCRG

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed nearly 50,000 lives in the U.S. and continues to shutter businesses across the country. But amid the crisis, creatives are rising to the challenge to help others in need.

Besides donating masks and spreading creative messages of social distancing, some agencies aredesigning and selling custom merchandisethat have and raisedtens of thousands of dollars to support businesses and Americans heavily affectedby the crisis.

Dylan Hattem is founder and CEO of DS Projects, a digital agency he started when he left the ad tech world three years ago. In between doing work for clients like Adidas, Airbnb and Budweiser, Hattem has launched the COVID-19 Merch Initiative, a fundraiser that gives 100 percent of the proceeds from custom merchandise to local restaurants and restaurant groups across 20 U.S. states.

So far, sales are just shy of $90,000. With the shared challenges felt acrossthe board, togetherness and support has never been more important, says Hattem.

Hattem began the effort in March by selling one comical T-shirt that read: Bought this T-shirt and stayed the fuck home. It sold online for $40 and Hattem promoted the work on LinkedIn and Instagram at its own account @buythistshirt. In six days, the shirt sale had raised $40,000. In three weeks, it raised $63,000.

Hattem than began to partner with favorite local eateries in cities across the U.S. like Hattie B's in Nashville, The Flower Shop in New York, Grant Central Market in Los Angeles and Broad Street Oyster Co. in Malibu to sell custom shirts with their logos on the back and the original statement on the front. There are now 18 different restaurant T-shirts on sale for $40 each at thist-shirt.com. Hattem is using small, independent manufacturers on the East Coast to produce the shirts.

Excerpt from:

Creatives raise tens of thousands of dollars for COVID-19 relief with custom merchandise - AdAge.com

At first, Linda Lam explained away the deep fatigue that left her feeling weak and worn out.

The 70-year-old from Richmond Hill had just returned on Feb. 20 from a two-week sightseeing cruise on the Nile River and it would take time, she reasoned, to shake the jet lag and recover her usual energy.

But a few days later, after she woke up with a constant cough that left her breathless, Lam began to worry she had COVID-19, even though Egypt had yet to become a hotspot for the virus.

Then, on March 2 one day after finding out she tested positive Lams cough worsened, and soon she was struggling to breathe. Her son, Kevin, rushed her to Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital, where she was quickly escorted to the intensive care unit.

That was it. I havent seen her since.

Lam spent more than seven weeks in the ICU before she was finally discharged Wednesday to a medical ward amid cheers and applause from hospital staff, who were among the first in the province to treat a critically ill patient with COVID-19 and who took extraordinary steps to keep their patient alive.

Doctors at Mackenzie Health believe Lam is one of the first patients in Ontario with COVID-19 to be intubated. She is also among the few people worldwide to have received an experimental drug, remdesivir, which is being tested as a potential treatment for COVID-19. And in this ICU, Lam is so far the only patient with COVID-19 to leave the unit alive.

It was the best day, the best day ever, said Samantha McLachlan, the ICUs patient care manager.

Our whole team, we were outside her room when she came to get picked up. We lined the hallway and we were clapping, and she was clapping along with us and smiling up at us. It was such a beautiful moment.

Lam came close to dying several times during the nearly five weeks she was sedated and connected to a ventilator. Her kidneys failed, her liver function was dangerously compromised and, at one point, the ventilator was pushing 100 per cent oxygen into her lungs.

On March 2 nine days before the NBA suspended its season due to the virus, and 15 days before Ontario declared a provincial emergency few critical care physicians in the province had cared for a patient with COVID-19. Like hospital staff across the country, physicians and nurses at Mackenzie Health had been preparing for the arrival of COVID-19 patients, they had just not expected to see one so soon.

When we intubated her, it was a frightening moment; Ive never before been frightened in my career, said Dr. Ali Ghafouri, a critical care physician at Mackenzie Health. But everything went smoothly, and we got her initiated on life support. Thats when the journey started.

Lam had counted down the days to her February trip to Egypt, never expecting COVID-19 would find her while she admired the views and visited historical sites along the Nile River.

In mid-February, according to the World Health Organization, there were about 50,000 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide, with only about 500 cases outside China.

We were watching all the news reports and knew what was going on with the virus; she really thought shed be OK in Egypt, said Kevin, recalling how his mother reported feeling unusually tired after her return on Feb. 20. She told me I think Im too old for travel; this might be my last trip.

That seemed strange; shes always been a go-getter, very active and the centre of her social scene.

Six days later, when her fatigue hadnt lessened, Kevin took Lam to the emergency department at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital, where doctors prescribed a new blood pressure medication, hoping that would boost her energy. Since Lam had, as yet, no other flu-like symptoms, hospital staff did not suspect COVID-19. On Feb. 26, there were only five lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario.

But on Feb. 29, after Lam started to cough and feel pressure in her chest, she went back to the emergency department. This time, physicians tested for the virus and sent Lam home, where she lives alone, to self-isolate and monitor her symptoms. Kevin, who lives in the same neighbourhood as his mother, also went into self-isolation with his wife and two young children.

Thats when it began to feel real for us, he said. But we were always more worried for her.

The next day, Lam found out she had COVID-19. Still, she was hopeful she would recover on her own.

She kept telling me, it felt like a severe cold and that she didnt feel like she was in danger, Kevin said.

On Monday, symptoms worsening, Lam called Kevin, telling him she could barely breathe and asked to go back to Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital.

When I dropped her off, I wasnt thinking that far ahead I didnt know that would be the last time Id see her for a long time or maybe even never again.

Kevin and his family did not, to their knowledge, get the virus, though theyve remained in self-isolation since the beginning of March. Of the five friends who travelled with Lam to Egypt, three others tested positive for COVID-19, though none has needed hospital care.

McLachlan was in the ICU that Monday when the hospitals emergency department alerted the critical care team that a COVID-positive patient with respiratory concerns was being brought up to the ICU.

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I can remember standing outside her room, helping get her off the stretcher and watching her walk into her room, said McLachlan, also a registered nurse. She was scared. I also remember how scared everyone else was. It was all so new, this virus. It was just the beginning of COVID-19 in Toronto. But she walked into her room and thanked us and the glass door slid behind her.

For the first two days in the ICU, Lam was stable, able to call her family and browse the news on her phone. But then her breathing grew increasingly laboured, her blood oxygen levels dropped, and the ICU team prepared to intubate her.

She knew we were doing it, McLachlan said. We talked to her and reassured her. I remember her being scared. I remember her asking us to help her stay alive.

Dr. Danny Chen, physician lead in infection prevention and control at Mackenzie Health, knew almost immediately Lam could die of the virus. She was older with underlying health conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes, and she quickly deteriorated during her first few days in hospital.

She had these strikes against her; thats what prompted us to see if there were any treatments out there in clinical trial, knowing nothing had yet been proven. She was our patient, getting worse in front of us. We wanted to see what we could do for her and her family.

Chen applied to Gilead Sciences for compassionate use of remdesivir, an antiviral drug developed as a potential treatment for Ebola. Though the drug failed for that deadly virus, its among the leading contenders for a potential COVID-19 treatment, and a number of clinical trials are underway worldwide.

Four days after contacting the drugmaker and two days after Lam was intubated Chen had the medication in hand and was speaking with her two sons about the potential benefits and risks of giving it to their mom.

We signed off on my mothers behalf, said Kevin. We felt like we didnt have any other choice; it sounded like she was going to die. What other chance did she have to get better?

The study, the results of which were published on April 10, described the outcomes of 61 patients from the United States, Europe, Canada and Japan. The study could not determine whether it is an effective treatment; those trials are ongoing.

Chen said Lam tolerated the drug well, but it is impossible to know whether it made a difference in her care.

We do know that the odds were stacked against her, said Chen, noting published data suggest that about 70 per cent of patients with COVID-19 who are intubated will not survive. From our hospital standpoint, what we feel is that we gave her every chance we could to get better.

Seven weeks into treating patients with COVID-19, Ghafouri and the ICU team have learned much about the complex disease. The fear is gone, though some of the uncertainty about how to care for patients remains.

Its very unpredictable, said Ghafouri, who has not hugged his children since March 2 the day Lam came to hospital for fear of transmitting the virus. Ive learned that if a patient survives the first seven or eight days, they could possibly survive longer. So far, most of my patients have passed away within the first week. And the ones who survive, it takes four, five or six weeks to heal.

In Lams case, Ghafouri and the ICU team drew on their previous critical care experience to manage the new disease even as they learned about its unpredictability.

We just kept at it. We tried to fix whatever was fixable, troubleshoot whatever we can, and fine-tune all the medications. We were supporting all her organs her kidneys, her liver, her heart until her body started the process of healing itself.

So far, Lam is doing well on the medical ward. She is sitting up and wearing her glasses and visiting with her two sons families by video conference.

She cant yet speak because a tracheotomy tube remains in her throat. But Lam can wave to her family from her hospital bed and nod along with her grandchildrens stories. Kevin said they all cant wait to give her a hug.

Chen said Lams recovery will be long, with many ups and downs, as her body heals after so many weeks in the ICU. Her muscles are weak, and shell need to practise walking, talking and other daily activities. But there appears to be no lasting organ damage, and Chen said her body is no longer fighting the virus. Though she is likely not infectious, Chen said Lam is not officially virus-free as she has not yet had two negative COVID-19 lab tests, taken 24 hours apart.

McLachlan knows there will be many more difficult days in the ICU. The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over.

But seeing Lam leave the ICU, smiling and waving at her care team, has given staff some hope that there will be more patients who survive the disease.

There is light at the end of this tunnel. With perseverance and with faith, we will see positive outcomes. And now that weve seen it, we will do everything in our power for our other patients because we want to have more of these moments.

Read the original post:

After seven weeks, one of Ontarios first COVID-19 patients to be intubated leaves the ICU, to applause - Toronto Star

When he first told me this, I assumed I had either misheard or misunderstood. "Virtual dinners right?" I asked. "No" was the reply. These were the old-fashioned, in-person sort.

Each time, he explained, the host's instructions were the same. For both dinners, he entered through the back gate of the property, so disapproving neighbors would not see him. He was told in advance that neither he, nor any other guests, could take any photographs or talk about the party.

The first dinner was hosted by a movie producer. A group of four listened to music and sat under heated lamps six feet apart in the garden where they were served dinner. According to the executive, none had been in contact with anyone who had suffered Covid-19 -- as far as they knew. All had been isolating.

At that dinner party, the food was prepared by a live-in chef, who was masked and gloved, and then served by the producer's wife.

At the second party, held over the weekend at the home of a Democrat political operative, one of the guests brought the food: "lamb to belatedly celebrate Easter." In attendance were an ambassador, a city councilman and a well-known lobbyist. The night was balmy and they all sat outside for hours.

"People did not want to leave," the media executive told me, speaking on the condition of anonymity, to avoid being Covid-shamed -- a new shorthand term for people behaving with apparent indifference to the safety of others. "But everyone had been cooped up for so long, there was much to discuss."

"That article made us all feel better, safer," says this person. "You can see why Boris Johnson or Prince Charles got Covid-19 since they were out at public events all the time. So, yes, we discussed that article and we felt a little bit reckless, but we also felt safe."

He added that the events were a boon for his mental health. "I just had to get out of the house," he said. "I feel like a camel in the desert in search of water. Washington is a cocktail town and social interaction is our oxygen."

The two dinners in Washington are not the only anecdotes I've heard of illicit gatherings that break the country's shelter-in-place restrictions and feature varying degrees of social distance.

I've been told by a source about an underground hair salon in Palm Beach, Florida, that never ceased operations, despite the state's restrictions, and which her elderly mother has insisted on patronizing.

I've also heard about the trio of real estate executives who get drunk together, rotating homes every night in a leafy suburb of Westchester.

And the AA group in Virginia Beach whose members sit in a circle in someone's garden, because, they say, virtual meetings are not sufficient to prevent some from falling off the wagon.

I even know elderly people in my native country, the United Kingdom, who've gone over to each other's gardens to sit six feet apart for a glass of wine. "I'd rather die than live without seeing people," one of them offered as justification.

Most of the people I talked to are middle class or affluent. It takes money to have a dining table in your backyard in Washington. And a lot of money to have a live-in chef.

Regardless, the breach of physical distancing rules is a behavioral trend that psychologists fear we are likely to see increasingly in the next few weeks, as state by state, the nation waits for an uneven legal reopening.

"I believe there will be increasing non-compliance that is simply due to human nature," says Leahy.

"Even when there's not a pandemic we, as a species, tend to make decisions that negatively affect our public health based on our immediate need, whether it's smoking, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, overeating, overspending... we are wired to look for immediate gratification. Remember, we were once scavengers. That's why this is very hard," says Leahy. "The difficulty that people have is in the uncertainty about how long they have to wait to get back to doing what they used to do."

But Leahy says the ultimate question for people to think about before they gather like the groups in Washington and elsewhere, is this: "What is more dangerous? Feeling anxious or risky behavior?"

Even for the AA group, the answer, Leahy says, is always risky behavior. "What I am saying to those people who gathered for whatever reason is: 'Which, ultimately would you regret more? That you didn't go to the AA meeting or the hair salon or the dinner? Or that you got Covid-19 or infected someone else with Covid-19 and that person died?'"

Meanwhile, he says to take solace in the government's phasing plans to reopen, and to remember this situation is not forever.

"Focus on what you CAN do and not what you can't. Many people can connect with friends, family, meetings."

"Remember, socially distanced does not have to mean socially disconnected."

In other words, you don't have to talk only to the microwave.

Read the original post:

The naive--and reckless--rule breakers of Covid-19 - CNN

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of President Trump's coronavirus task force, directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which had convened the panel of experts. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of President Trump's coronavirus task force, directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which had convened the panel of experts.

A panel of experts convened by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recommends against doctors using a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for the treatment of COVID-19 patients because of potential toxicities.

"The combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin was associated with QTc prolongation in patients with COVID-19," the panel said.

QTc prolongation increases the risk of sudden cardiac death.

The recommendation against their combined use would seem to fly in the face of comments made by President Trump suggesting the combination might be helpful. On March 21, for example, the president described them in a tweet as having a "real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine."

He has repeatedly touted the use of the drugs during televised coronavirus task force briefings.

"I think it's not a bad idea to do it, but that's up to the doctors," Trump said March 31 before adding the caveat, "It's going to have to be proven. It's very early."

On April 5, though, without any more evidence of efficacy, he went further:

"What do you have to lose? And a lot of people are saying that when and are taking it if you're a doctor, a nurse, a first responder, a medical person going into hospitals, they say taking it before the fact is good. But what do you have to lose? They say, 'Take it.' I'm not looking at it one way or the other, but we want to get out of this. If it does work, it would be a shame if we didn't do it early.But we have some very good signs.So that's hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin."

As for using the use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine alone, the panel said there was "insufficient clinical data to recommend either for or against." It reached the same conclusion about the drug remdesivir.

The expert panel, convened by the NIH Institute that Dr. Anthony Fauci directs, produced a set of guidelines for doctors to use in treating COVID-19 patients. The panelists come from a variety of health care disciplines. For the most part, the guidelines are agnostic about the use of experimental medications, pointing out that strong scientific evidence is lacking to make a firm conclusion one way or the other.

But occasionally, there are recommendations explicitly against certain therapies. For example, the panel recommended against using Lopinavir/ritonavir or other HIV protease inhibitors because of negative clinical trial data. It also recommended against using interferon because it seemed to make patients with SARS and MERS worse. Those diseases are caused by a coronavirus related to the one causing COVID-19.

"It's all based on the data," said panel member Dr. Susan Swindells, a professor in the department of internal medicine at the University of Nebraska College of Medine. "We just plowed through everything that was, and apart from supportive care, there wasn't anything that was working terribly well."

The panel also concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend any kind of treatment either to prevent infection with the coronavirus or to prevent the progression of symptoms in those who are already infectious. That recommendation could change based on clinical trials presently underway.

Both hydroxychloroquine and convalescent serum are being studied for the possible use for prophylaxis, but the results from those trials are not available. Many of the recommendations aren't terribly surprising. Persons who test positive for the coronavirus but don't have symptoms should self-isolate for seven days after their first positive test.

Patients with mild symptoms should be monitored closely, because more serious symptoms can come on rapidly. Patients with moderate symptoms will likely need hospitalization and supportive therapy. People with severe disease may need oxygen through a cannula, or tube; patients in critical condition may need to be place on a respirator.

The plan is to update the guidelines frequently as new results become available. Swindells said there could be an update about the recommendations regarding remdesivir in the coming week or so.

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Coronavirus Panel Recommends Against Use Of Hydroxychloroquine And Azithromycin : Coronavirus Live Updates - NPR

BROWN COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) -

The state now has 4,845 COVID-19 patients and 246 deaths, 4 more deaths than reported Tuesday. Almost 50,000 people who were tested were negative.

The higher number of positive tests coincided with more tests being processed. The state received 1,886 test results in 24 hours, compared to about 1,300 to 1,500 tests each day this week. Almost 12% of tests that came back in the past day were positive, compared to 9% of tests the day before.

A county-by-county breakdown and more demographic information appear below.

Brown County outbreak

Brown County Public Health reported 93 new positive tests in the past 24 hours, while Oneida Nation reported 1 new case, bringing the county total to 416 patients.

Brown County Public Health says 147 of the COVID-19 cases have been linked to an outbreak at the JBS beef facility in Green Bay.

It's the first time we've received numbers showing the scope of the outbreak at the meatpacking facility located on Lime Kiln Road. The county had previously described it as a "cluster" of cases.

The cases are both in employees and people who have had contact with employees.

All 147 cases were confirmed before on-site employee testing started this week. The federal government responded to Green Bay to help with testing and contact tracing related to the JBS outbreak.

The health department was not able to provide a number of hospitalizations linked to this particular outbreak.

JBS has closed plants in Worthington, Minnesota and Greeley, Colorado after outbreaks there. The Green Bay facility remains open. Brown County Public Health says the USDA and OSHA will make a determination if the plant should close.

Public Health Strategist Claire Paprocki said Brown County's overall positive cases jumped to 410 Wednesday. That's 93 more than Tuesday's total.

Paprocki says the county has linked 39 positive cases to American Foods Group in Green Bay.

Nineteen cases have been linked to sausage maker Salm Partners in Denmark.

More than half of the cases in Brown County are now linked to food plants.

Public Health has been partnering with the food plants on protective barriers, staggering lunch breaks and increasing on-site inspection.

JBS Raises

On April 20, JBS workers started receiving an extra $4/hour, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. That includes the 1,000 employees at the JBS plant in Green Bay.

The union said all JBS workers will have access to masks, gloves and face shields. The company was installing plexiglass shields in areas "where social distancing is not possible."

The pay raise and enhanced protections are scheduled to last through May 30. That agreement was made between the union and JBS.

Brown County Health

Brown County now has more cases than any other county except Milwaukee. It surpassed Dane County, which has twice Brown County's population. For comparison, Milwaukee added 70 new cases Tuesday to Green Bay's 93, though that could be a sign of more aggressive testing for the coronavirus during Brown County's outbreak.

Paprocki released some information about the second person to die of COVID-19 related illness in the county. The patient was a 56-year-old woman who lived in the 54311 ZIP Code. That's eastern Green Bay/Bellevue. The woman's name was not released. It is not clear if she worked at any of the local facilities where there have been outbreaks.

Brown County Public Health is stressing the importance of social distancing. "Stay home. Don't go to church. Only leave for essential services. Don't go to your neighbor's bonfire," says Paprocki.

Paprocki says 34 people who contracted the virus are out of isolation. That's up by four from Tuesday.

Cases county by countyCounties with additional cases and/or deaths are indicated in bold text

WisconsinAdams - 4 cases (1 death)Ashland - 2 casesBarron - 6 casesBayfield - 3 cases (1 death)Brown - 402 cases (2 deaths)Buffalo - 4 cases (1 death)Burnett - 0 casesCalumet - 6 casesChippewa - 20 casesClark - 18 cases (1 death)Columbia - 27 cases (1 death)Crawford - 3 casesDane - 386 cases (19 deaths)Dodge - 20 cases (1 death)Door - 9 cases (1 death)Douglas - 8 casesDunn - 9 casesEau Claire - 23 casesFlorence - 2 casesFond du Lac - 65 cases (3 deaths)Forest - 0 casesGrant - 25 cases (3 deaths)Green - 9 casesGreen Lake - 1 caseIowa - 7 casesIron - 2 cases (1 death)Jackson - 12 cases (1 death)Jefferson - 35 casesJuneau - 11 cases (1 death)Kenosha - 278 cases (6 deaths)Kewaunee - 8 cases (1 death)La Crosse - 25 casesLafayette - 4 casesLanglade - 0 casesLincoln - 0 casesManitowoc - 7 casesMarathon - 17 cases (1 death)Marinette - 6 cases (1 death)Marquette - 3 cases (1 death)Menominee - 1 caseMilwaukee - 2,304 cases (142 deaths)Monroe - 13 casesOconto - 5 casesOneida - 6 casesOutagamie - 37 cases (2 deaths)Ozaukee - 80 cases (9 deaths)Pepin - 0 casesPierce - 8 casesPolk - 4 casesPortage - 4 casesPrice - 1 caseRacine - 198 cases (10 deaths)Richland - 9 cases (1 death)Rock - 86 cases (4 deaths)Rusk - 4 casesSauk - 36 cases (3 deaths)Sawyer - 2 casesShawano - 6 casesSheboygan - 44 cases (2 deaths)St. Croix - 12 casesTaylor - 0 casesTrempealeau - 1 caseVernon - 0 casesVilas - 4 casesWalworth - 94 cases (7 deaths)Washburn - 1 caseWashington - 88 cases (4 deaths)Waukesha - 278 cases (13 deaths)Waupaca - 5 cases (1 death)Waushara - 2 casesWinnebago - 43 cases (1 death)Wood - 2 cases

Michigan's Upper PeninsulaAlger - 0 casesBaraga - 0 casesChippewa - 1 caseDelta - 12 cases (2 deaths)Dickinson - 3 cases (2 deaths)Gogebic - 4 cases (1 death)Houghton - 2 casesIron - 0 casesKeweenaw - 0 casesLuce - 1 casesMackinac - 5 casesMarquette - 35 cases (6 deaths)Menominee - 1 casesOntonagon - 0 casesSchoolcraft - 3 cases

Officials with the City of Appleton say they have confirmed their 14th case of COVID-19.

City officials announced two new cases Thursday morning.

They say there are currently seven people in isolation, and six who have had COVID-19 have been released.

City officials say one person has passed away from the virus.

Demographics

Currently there are 355 patients hospitalized for COVID-19, including 139 in intensive care. That's a slight increase in the percentage of patients in ICU. Another 229 hospitalized patients are awaiting test results.

At least 1,302 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized during their treatment, or 27% of the total patients. Another 2,685 patients, or 55%, were never hospitalized. Those numbers number may be higher, because hospitalization status is unknown in 18% of cases.

Wisconsin's hospitals have 11,620 beds occupied and 4,019 beds available.

Recovery

The state does not report the number of patients who are recovered, saying there's no standard for measuring recovery. The CDC says health care workers can return to work if they go 72 hours without a fever without fever-reducing medication and it's been at least 7 days since the onset of symptoms; and preferably, they're retested for COVID-19 and get two consecutive negative test results from nasal swabs at least 24 hours apart. Michigan Public Health, for comparison, considers a patient recovered if they're alive 30 days after the onset of symptoms.

Symptoms and Prevention

Brown County Public Health strongly emphasized the need to maintain physical distance, saying its recent surge is the result of people spreading the virus by close contact. It says people are safer in their homes and should reduce contact with people outside of their household, even relatives.

People of all ages can get sick from the coronavirus. It's a new virus, and nobody has natural immunity to it. The CDC says symptoms may appear between 2 and 14 days after contact with an infected person, but studies find 1 in 4 people carrying (and potentially spreading) the virus may have no symptoms.

Symptoms include a fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Emergency signs include pain and pressure in the chest, confusion, trouble breathing, and bluish lips or face.

"The virus is found in droplets from the throat and nose. When someone coughs or sneezes, other people near them can breathe in those droplets. The virus can also spread when someone touches an object with the virus on it. If that person touches their mouth, face, or eyes, the virus can make them sick," says DHS.

Older people and those with underlying health conditions (heart disease, diabetes, lung disease) are considered at high risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Precautions are also needed around people with developing or weakened immune systems, including young children, pregnant women and certain medical patients.

To help prevent the spread of the virus:

Link:

Wisconsin reports largest one-day jump in COVID-19 cases; 147 cases linked to JBS plant in Green Bay - WBAY

Rocio Wu is a venture partner at F-Prime Capital who focuses on early-stage investments in software/applied AI, fintech and frontier tech investments.More posts by this contributor

While some U.S. investors might have taken comfort from Chinas rebound, we still find ourselves in the early innings of this period of uncertainty.

Some epidemiologists have estimated that COVID-19 cases will peak in April, but PitchBook reports that dealmaking was down -26% in March, compared to Februarys weekly average. The decline is likely to continue in coming weeks many of the deals that closed last month were initiated before the pandemic, and there is a lag between when deals are made and when they are announced.

However, theres still hope. A recent report concluded that because valuations are lower and theres less competition for deals, the best-performing vintages tend to be those that invest at the nadir of a downturn and into the early stage of recovery. There are countless examples from the 2008 recession, including many highly valued VC-backed businesses such as WhatsApp, Venmo, Groupon, Uber, Slack and Square. Other early-stage VCs seem to have arrived at a similar conclusion.

Also, early-stage investing seems more resilient. During the last recession, angel and seed activity increased 34% as interest in the stage boomed during a period of prolonged growth.

Furthermore, there is still capital to be deployed in categories that interested investors before the pandemic, which may set the new order in a post-COVID-19 world. According to data provider Preqin Ltd., VC dry powder rose for a seventh consecutive year to roughly $276 billionin 2019, and another $21 billionwere raised last quarter. And looking at the deals on the early-stage side that were made year to date, especially in March, the vertical categories that garnered the most funding were enterprise SaaS, fintech, life sciences, healthcare IT, edtech and cybersecurity.

Image Credits: PitchBook

That said, if VCs have the capital to deploy and are able to overcome the obstacle of having never met in person, here are six investment trends that could emerge when the pandemic is over.

Read this article:

6 investment trends that could emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic - TechCrunch

Do you feel lost and anxious about the coronavirus crisis and the murky future that rises in its wake? You are not alone.

At the moment, the most urgent and important thing you can do is stay home (if you have the privilege to do so), wash your hands, become teachers for your children and wait it out.

But there is a reckoning coming. We can all feel it.

The number of dead and infected in this country rises every day. A staggering 46,000-plus people have already died, in about two months no less. We have not even tackled the first wave of this virus and we are already being warned that the second wave could be even worse.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, told The Washington Post this week, Theres a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through.

That would mean a second, worse wave would overlap the election. How do we conduct a legitimate election or a reliable census in the middle of a pandemic?

So far, there is no approved medical treatment for the virus and no vaccine. Social distancing is the only tool we have, and yet we know that we cant maintain it indefinitely.

Money has to be earned, rent has to be paid, food has to be put on the table. Housing volatility and food insecurity are also dangerous and deadly.

What happens when the rent comes due, even after having been deferred during the early days of the crisis? Where are the most vulnerable supposed to find that money? What happens if a wave of post-virus evictions and foreclosures sweep the housing market?

What happens if small businesses are forced to close en masse? What becomes of all those workers? What happens to their families?

Sure, eventually, other businesses will likely rise where those fell, but it will not be an immediate one-for-one switchover. There will be pain, and it will be sustained.

Furthermore, what happens to the educational system when schools finally open? What about the lost time that students have suffered? What about all the students who didnt have the technology to fully participate digitally? What about all those trapped in households where existential stresses have led to abuse and negligent behavior has disincentivized logging on? How will all that time and lost momentum be recaptured?

Beyond that, how will the crisis reshape higher education? Some institutions will undoubtedly be forced to close. More precisely, as a recent McKinsey and Company report put it: Historically black colleges and universities (H.B.C.U.s) are anchor institutions, sites of cultural identity, talent incubators, and regional economic engines. But the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to significantly and quickly hobble them.

Then, there are the quality of life questions. One of the great tragedies of this virus, one that receives less discussion because it can sound trivial in the face of so much death and suffering, is how will the very nature of human, communal interaction be altered?

I personally dont think these discussions are small or trivial or inconsequential at all. Culture and custom nurture and anchor us. Without them, we feel lost, we are lost.

How will we celebrate a life or mourn a death with no gatherings or funerals? A friend of mine in New York just lost her elderly father to the virus. For the funeral, the guests were limited to 10 people, they had to essentially dress their elderly mother in a hazmat suit to keep her safe, and there were no speakers at the funeral. (They feared speaking was an easy way to spread the virus.) Instead, people read verses and sang songs via Zoom.

What happens when we are no longer marking lifes milestones a graduation, a promotion, a wedding in person with the people we love?

How will the congregational energy of restaurants, bars and nightlife be altered and transformed? Will there be a further ostracizing of the elderly, for their own good?

What will happen to the handshake and the hug?

There are so many worrisome questions about what a post-virus world and post-virus America will look like.

Continued here:

Covid-19, Confusion and Uncertainty - The New York Times

Philip Kahn is the oldest veteran in Nassau County, New York, according to his family, and had been fearful of another pandemic happening in his lifetime, his grandson, Warren Zysman, told CNN.

"It was something he brought up quite frequently," Zysman said. "I would have conversations with him, he would say to me, 'I told you history repeats itself, 100 years is not that long of a period of time.'"

Kahn and his twin brother, Samuel, were born on December 5, 1919. His brother died weeks later, his grandson said.

The 1918 influenza pandemic, caused by a virus previously known as the "Spanish flu," killed and estimate of more than 50 million people globally and about 675,000 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of April 22, there are more than 46,000 Covid-19 deaths in the United States and about 19,000 deaths in New York State, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

Kahn was a sergeant in the US Army Air Force during WWII, Zysman said, and acted as an engineer and co-pilot, keeping war planes fueled. He received two Bronze Battle Stars for his service in WWII, his grandson said. After the war, he worked as an electrical foreman to help build the World Trade Center, Zysman said. In Long Island, Kahn lived on his own and walked one to two miles a day, Zysman said.

He was very aware of what was happening with coronavirus since he watched the news all the time, and in the last days before his death on April 17, Kahn experienced coughing and respiratory symptoms of the virus, his grandson said.

Kahn knew that there was a possibility that he could have contracted the coronavirus.

"He talked about his brother a lot in the last few days," Zysman said. The 100-year-old veteran received a coronavirus test, but his family did not get the results until after Kahn passed away.

"He had always wanted a large military funeral, but we weren't able to provide that to him," Zysman said.

The cemetery arranged for two people in the armed forces to perform a military ceremony, and a man whose father was a Marine during WWII played the bugle at Kahn's funeral from a distance, Kahn's grandson said.

"He volunteered because the Air Force protected the Marines by providing cover for them and he felt it was a honor to do this for my grandpa," Zysman said.

Sampson Lester Friedman, Khan's friend who served with him during WWII in the Army Air Force, attended the funeral and gave a tribute to Kahn, which Zysman recorded on video and provided to CNN.

"[There was] something about him that was very very special," Friedman said at the funeral. "On our airplane, he was an engineer, and he was the hardest working guy aboard that airplane."

Over the century that followed his brother's death, Kahn kept the memory of his brother alive.

"Pretty much every holiday, every event, he would also bring up his brother Samuel," Zysman said. "It clearly made a hole in his heart that he never got to meet his twin, and that his twin died a few weeks after birth."

Go here to see the original:

A 100-year-old WWII veteran died of Covid-19. His twin brother died 100 years earlier in the flu pandemic - CNN

Twitter has updated its COVID-19 policies to require users remove tweets making unverified claims that incite people to action and cause widespread panic, social unrest or large-scale disorder.

The changes come as COVID-19 misinformation has spread across social media that has incited people to act rashly. For example, people have set British 5G towers on fire because of conspiracy theories that falsely link the spread of COVID-19 to the rollout of 5G which is probably why Twitter specifically mentions that tweets inciting people to damage 5G infrastructure are included in the new guidance.

Were prioritizing the removal of COVID-19 content when it has a call to action that could potentially cause harm, a Twitter spokesperson said to TechCrunch. However, it seems the company wont remove every tweet. As weve said previously, we will not take enforcement action on every Tweet that contains incomplete or disputed information about COVID-19, the statement continues.

Twitter has also removed over 2,230 tweets with misleading and potentially harmful content since introducing updated policies regarding COVID-19 content on March 18th, the company said today. Those policies stated that Twitter would require people to remove tweets that included content that could increase the chance of someone contracting or transmitting COVID-19.

Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube announced that they had jointly made a pledge to fight coronavirus-related misinformation on March 16th.

The rest is here:

Twitter will remove misleading COVID-19-related tweets that could incite people to engage in harmful activit - The Verge