Category: Covid-19

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Thursday that it is temporarily relaxing enforcement of environmental regulations and fines during the COVID-19 outbreak. The enforcement discretion policy applies retroactively to March 13, with no end date set yet.

The new policy follows lobbying from industries including oil and gas, which told the Trump administration that relaxed regulations will allow them to more efficiently distribute fuel during the outbreak, but because it is broadly written, it could potentially influence companies actions in a large range of industries, including tech.

It may also create new challenges for researchers and scientists, since while the policy is in effect, companies are being asked only to make data from monitoring available to the EPA if requested by the agency.

The EPA said the policy addresses different categories of noncompliance differently. For example, the EPA said it will not seek penalties for noncompliance with monitoring and reporting that are the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that it still expects public water systems to provide safe drinking water.

EPA is committed to protecting human health and the environment, but recognizes the challenges resulting from efforts to protect workers and the public from COVID-19 may directly impact the ability of regulated facilities to meet all federal regulatory requirements, said EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler in the agencys announcement.

The policy places more onus for adhering to environmental regulations on the private sector. Depending on how the policy is carried out and how long it lasts, it may impact the work of tech companies that are developing tools to measure air pollution (for example, Googles Project Air View, which launched last year to provide air quality data gathered with startup Aclimas sensors to scientists and researchers), or that focus on environmental monitoring and compliance.

Susan Parker Bodine, the assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance at the EPA, wrote in a memo about the policy that in general, the EPA does not expect to seek penalties for violations of routine compliance monitoring, integrity testing, sampling, laboratory analysis, training, and reporting or certification obligations in situations where the EPA agrees that COVID-19 was the cause of the noncompliance and the entity provides supporting documentation to the EPA upon request.

In July 2019, data released by the EPA showed that the number of unhealthy air days in major U.S. cities had increased over the past two years, even as combined emissions of major air pollutants fell.

Critics say that the policy will not only result in more pollution, but also make it impossible to fully assess the environmental damage.

In a statement to the Hill, Cynthia Giles, who headed the EPAs Office of Enforcement during the Obama administration, said the new policy tells companies across the country that they will not face enforcement even if they emit unlawful air and water pollution in violation of environmental laws, so long as they claim that those failures are in some way caused by the virus pandemic. And it allows them an out on monitoring too, so we may never know how bad the violating pollution was.

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EPA relaxes enforcement of environmental laws during the COVID-19 outbreak - TechCrunch

WARREN (WJW)A couple months ago a Warrenfamily says they werent too concerned about the Coronavirus.

Irene Culetsu said she felt her family was safe. She said she, her husband and two adult sons did not recently travel outside the United States. They all worked locally, she as a teacher, and her husband at the Trumbull County maintenance department.

I figured we wouldnt get the Coronavirus because we dont do anything, Irene told the Fox 8 I-Team. We stay home, but boy was I wrong.

She, her husband, her two sons Dino and Manoli, and Dinos girlfriend, MaryFay Dimitriadis, all have tested positive for COVID-19.

It started around March 15, when her son Manoli, and her husband of 31 years, George, started coughing. At first, they thought it was just the normal cough George seems to get yearly but soon he developed a fever. He went to a drive-in test site on March 20 and was admitted to a hospital.

His oxygen levels were low and they said he had pneumonia, Irene said. He got worse and last Wednesday they put him on a ventilator.

On Friday they learned George tested positive for COVID-19. The family then got tested and learned they too had the virus. They are quarantined at home, while George remains hospitalized and in a medically induced coma.

We need a miracle, Irene said. When he was very sick and they were worried about him not making it, they said only two people can go to see him. How could I choose which son would come up with me? I couldnt so I had the priest came up with me.

They continue to call the hospital several times a day for an update.

Not being able to hold him, or talk to him is a nightmare, its a nightmare, Irene said. He needs a rotating bed to help him with his breathing and we are working with the doctors to try and get him one.

The family says they are praying for everyone who has the Coronavirus and are asking for prayers for George. He is 67-years-old and has a birthday Friday.

He is a good man, Irene said. We are praying for George, asking God to answer our prayers and put his hands over him and heal him.

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We need a miracle, Entire family tests positive for COVID-19, father in ICU - WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland

Nearly one in three licensed doctors in the United States is older than 60 years, an age-group particularly vulnerable to adverse outcomes from COVID-19, according to a study published today on the preprint server medRxiv. And New York and California, two hard-hit states, have the most older physicians.

"The physician workforce is not only at risk of losing time spent in clinical care due to these exposures, but at a personal risk from severe disease that requires hospitalization and is associated with high morbidity and mortality," the authors said, noting that 80% of deaths in China were in people 60 and older and that, in the United States, nearly half of hospitalizations and intensive care admissions and up to 80% of deaths have been in that age-group.

Because excluding doctors older than 60 from patient care would severely strain the medical workforce, the authors suggest limiting their direct patient care and expanding their telehealth capabilities.

The researchers extracted summary data from the 2018 Federation of State Medical Boards physician database on doctor age-groups overall and by state to identify those at high risk due to their age and determine whether it would be feasible to exclude them from the medical workforce for this reason.

They found that of the country's 985,026 licensed doctors, 235,857 (23.9%) are 25 to 40 years old, 447,052 (45.4%) are 40 to 60, 191,794 (19.5%) are 60 to 70, and 106,121 (10.8%) are 70 or older. Age was not reported in 4,202 (0.4%) of doctors.

Overall, 297,915 (30.2%) of physicians are 60 years and older. According to state reports, a median of 5,470 licensed physicians (interquartile range [IQR], 2,394 to 10,108) are 60 years or older.

North Dakota (1,180) and Vermont (1,215) had the fewest doctors 60 and older, while California (50,786) and New York (31,582) had the most. The median proportion of doctors in this age-group across states was 28.9% (IQR, 27.2%, 31.4%), ranging from 25.9% in Nebraska to 32.6% in New Mexico.

"We do not have information on the specialty expertise of physicians, as some physicians may be more prone to encountering patients with COVID-19," the authors wrote. "However, as many individuals in the community may be asymptomatic carriers, physicians across specialties are at risk of acquiring the disease as a part of the patient contact during care delivery."

They also noted that doctors may be licensed in more than one state and that the absence of data on their health status could change their risk levels.

Peter Buerhaus, PhD, RN, director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies at Montana State University College of Nursing in Bozeman and co-author of a commentary on older clinicians and coronavirus yesterday in JAMA, said in an interview that healthcare systems need to plan for how to deploy frontline staff in the crisis to ensure workforce continuity and robustness.

"It's time to think about what we do with our older workforce," he said. "Are there things we can do to keep them less exposed?"

While every system will be affected differently depending on outbreak severity and availability of resources, Buerhaus said that some older doctors, particularly in rural areas, may have no choice but to provide direct patient care, exposing themselves to the virus and potentially reducing patient access to care where it is already limited.

But in less hard-hit areas or in hospitals with sufficient resources, it might make sense to have older physicians deliver telemedicine to keep more patients at home and out of the emergency department, as well as protect themselves. "Patients are told 'stay home,' but they may have questions," he said.

Older physicians could also coach less experienced doctors in making the difficult decisions they may face in the pandemic, or be a community resource. "Getting a well-known, respected physician in front of the community can be very powerful," he said.

Buerhaus added that hospital executives need to understand that the death of an older, established healthcare provider not only will result in the loss of that doctor's knowledge and ability to nurture future providers, it can also devastate hospital staff. "If you lose a beloved physician or nurse in an organization, that hurts, and it can have a very harmful effect on morale," Buerhaus said.

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Because of age, third of US doctors prone to worse COVID-19 - CIDRAP

Update: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) March 13, 2020. First and most importantly we hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. The situation with COVID-19 has developed quickly and continues to change fast. We know this is a confusing time. As your home loan servicer, were here to set your mind at ease about your home and ...

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Update: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) - The Mr. Cooper Blog

WHOs focus at all times is to ensure that all areas of the globe have the information they need to manage the health of their people. In a recent interview, the WHO official who headed the joint international mission to China, did not answer a question on Taiwans response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The question of Taiwanese membership in WHO is up to WHO Member States, not WHO staff. However,WHO is working closely with all health authorities who are facing the current coronavirus pandemic,including Taiwanese health experts.

The Taiwanese caseload is low relative to population. We continue to follow developments closely.WHO is taking lessons learned from all areas, including Taiwanese health authorities, to share best practices globally.

With respect to the COVID-19 outbreak, the WHO Secretariat works with Taiwanese health experts and authorities, following established procedures, to facilitate a fast and effective response and ensure connection and information flow.

WHO staff work around the world to respond to this pandemic with the best evidence-based guidance and operational support available for all people, based on public health needs. Membership in WHO and status issuesare decided by Member Statesand the rules they set atWHOs governing body, the World Health Assembly.

Information about COVID-19 can be found here:https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

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29 March 2020 Statement Information sharing on COVID-19 - World Health Organization

After an initial verbal screening, one driver at a time gets a COVID-19 nasal swab test from a garbed health worker at a drive-up station in Daly City, Calif. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

After an initial verbal screening, one driver at a time gets a COVID-19 nasal swab test from a garbed health worker at a drive-up station in Daly City, Calif.

After a slow start, testing for COVID-19 has begun to ramp up in recent weeks. Giant commercial labs have jumped into the effort, drive-up testing sites have been established in some places, and new types of tests have been approved under emergency rules set by the Food and Drug Administration.

But even for people who are able to get tested (and there's still a big lag in testing ability in hot spots across the U.S.), there can be a frustratingly long wait for results not just hours, but often days. Even Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., didn't get his positive test results for six days and has been criticized for not self-quarantining during that time.

We asked experts to help explain why the turnaround time for results can vary widely from hours to days or even a week and how that might be changing.

It's a multistep process

First, a sample is taken from a patient's nose or throat, using a special swab. That swab goes into a tube and is sent to a lab. Some large hospitals have on-site molecular test labs, but most samples are sent to outside laboratories for processing. More on that later.

That transit time usually runs about 24 hours, but it could be longer, depending on how far the hospital is from the processing laboratory.

Once at the lab, the specimen is processed, which means lab workers extract the virus's RNA, the molecule that helps regulate genes.

"That step of cleaning the RNA extraction step is one limiting factor," says Cathie Klapperich, vice chair of the department of biomedical engineering at Boston University. "Only the very biggest labs have automated ways of extracting RNA from a sample and doing it quickly."

After the RNA is extracted, technicians also must carefully mix special chemicals with each sample and run those combinations in a machine for analysis, a process called polymerase chain reaction, which can detect whether the sample is positive or negative for COVID.

A lab technician adds vials to a Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction testing device at a Co-Diagnostics facility in Salt Lake City. George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

"Typically, a PCR test takes six hours from start to finish to complete," says Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious disease programs at the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

Some labs have larger staffs and more machines, so they can process more tests at a time than others. But even for those labs, as demand grows, so does the backlog.

Capacity is expanding, but not fast enough

Initially, only a few public health labs and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention processed COVID-19 tests. Problems with the first CDC test kits also led to delays.

Now the CDC has a better kit, and 94 public health labs across the country do COVID-19 testing, says Wroblewski.

But those labs can't possibly do all that's needed. In normal times, their main function is regular public health surveillance detecting more common threats such as outbreaks of measles or monitoring seasonal influenza "but not to do diagnostic testing of the magnitude that is required in this response," she says.

Large commercial labs like those run by companies such as Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp were given the go-ahead by the FDA late last month to start testing, too.

The FDA has said it won't stop certain private labs and universities and diagnostic companies from developing their own test kits. Labs at some big-name hospital systems, such as AdventHealth, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Washington, are among those doing this.

In addition, the FDA has approved more than a dozen testing kits by various manufacturers or labs under special emergency rules designed to speed the process. Those include tests by Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Roche, Quidel Corp. and others. The kits are used in PCR machines, either in hospital labs or large commercial labs.

"A chief medical officer on the East Coast said that, up until two days ago, on average, it was taking 72 hours to get results," says Susan Van Meter, executive director of AdvaMedDx, a division of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, a device and diagnostics industry trade group. "That will get better as our member companies come on the market."

Even so, supply is not keeping up with demand, Roche CEO Severin Schwan told CNBC on Monday. Roche won the first approval from the FDA for a test kit under emergency rules, and it has delivered more than 400,000 kits so far.

"Demand continues to be much higher than supply," Schwan told CNBC. "So we are glad that overall capacity is increasing, but the reality is that broad-based testing is not yet possible."

How many tests can be done at a time?

That varies. Large commercial labs can do a lot. LabCorp, for example, says it is processing 20,000 tests a day and hopes to do more soon. Other test kit makers and labs are also ramping up capacity.

Smaller labs such as molecular testing labs at some hospitals can do far fewer per day but get results to patients faster because they save on transit time.

Still, it's usually only large academic medical centers and some health systems that have their own molecular testing labs, which require complex equipment.

One of those is Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

"From beginning to results can take five to six hours," says Joeffrey Chahine, technical director for the molecular pathology division there.

Even at such hospitals, the tests are often prioritized for patients who have been admitted and staff who might have been exposed to COVID-19, says Chahine. His lab can process 93 samples at a time and run a few cycles a day up to 279 tests per day, he says.

A doctor examines Juan Vasquez as part of a COVID-19 check inside a testing tent outside the emergency department at St. Barnabas Hospital in New York City last week. Misha Friedman/Getty Images hide caption

A doctor examines Juan Vasquez as part of a COVID-19 check inside a testing tent outside the emergency department at St. Barnabas Hospital in New York City last week.

But even hospitals with this ability are generally "not testing from their outpatient centers or the ER," he says. In other words, the in-house labs aren't running tests from walk-in patients. Those tests are sent to large outside labs "so as not to overwhelm the hospital lab."

While those outside labs have large staffs, "the demand is so high that these outpatient clinics and ERs say the turnaround time can be four to seven business days," Chahine says.

Supply shortages are slowing test production

As the worldwide demand for testing has grown, so, too, have shortages of the chemical agents used in the test kits, the swabs used to get the samples, and the protective masks and gear used by health workers taking the samples.

"There is an inadequate supply of so many things associated with testing," says Wroblewski, which is why her group, along with officials in states including New York and cities including Los Angeles, recommend prioritizing who should be tested for COVID-19.

At the front of the line, she says, should be health care workers and first responders; older adults who have symptoms, especially those living in nursing homes or assisted living residences; and people who may have other illnesses that would be treated differently if they were infected.

Bottom line: Prioritizing who is tested will help speed the turnaround time for getting results to people in these circumstances and reduce their risk of spreading the illness.

Still, urgent shortages of some of the chemicals needed to process the tests are hampering efforts to test health care workers, including at hospitals such as SUNY Downstate medical center in hard-hit New York.

Looking forward, companies are working on quicker tests. The FDA in recent days has approved tests from two companies that promise results in 45 minutes or less, but those likely will be available only in hospitals that have special equipment to run them. One of those companies, Cepheid of Sunnyvale, Calif., says about 5,000 U.S. hospitals already have the equipment needed to process these tests. Both firms say they will ship to the hospitals soon but have given few specifics on quantity or timing.

But many public health officials say primary care doctors and clinics need a truly rapid test they can use in their offices one like the tests already in use for influenza or strep throat.

A number of companies are moving in that direction. Late Friday, for instance, Abbott Laboratories announced that the FDA has given emergency use authorization for the company's rapid, point-of-care test, which can deliver positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13.

The tests are processed on a small device already installed in thousands of medical offices, ERs, urgent care clinics and other settings. Abbott said it will begin next week to make 50,000 tests available per day.

"That's going to make a meaningful difference," says Van Meter at AdvaMedDx, who believes the rapid tests are a key additional piece in the continuum of available testing.

Even though lab-based PCR tests, which are done at large labs and academic medical centers can take several hours to produce a result, the machines used can test high numbers of cases all at once. The rapid test by Abbott and other, similar tests now under development do far fewer at a time, but deliver results much faster.

"This can be provided in a doctor's office or an ER, helping to triage patients who are waiting to get in," says Van Meter. "It's a very fine complement to the testing that exists."

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit, editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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Why It Takes So Long To Get Most COVID-19 Test Results - NPR

The first infant death related to COVID-19 in the United States has been reported in the Chicago area today (March 28).

"There has never before been a death associated with COVID-19 in an infant," said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). "A full investigation is underway to determine the cause of death. We must do everything we can to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. If not to protect ourselves, but to protect those around us."

The age of the infant, who lived in Cooke County, has not been released. This isn't the first death in an infant confirmed to have COVID-19. In China, a 10-month-old with the disease, died 4 weeks after being admitted to the Wuhan Children's Hospital, according to a March 18 report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Related: 13 Coronavirus myths busted by science

Though as the pandemic unfolds, doctors are realizing that no age group is immune to the virus nor to its severe health effects, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus still appears to be more severe in older adults.

More than 85% of COVID-19 deaths in Illinois have been in patients aged 60 and older. And across the U.S., even though 31% of confirmed COVID-19 cases occurred in adults ages 65 and older, this age group represents 45% of hospitalizations, 53% of admissions to the ICU and 80% of the deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on March 26.

Currently, Illinois has confirmed 3,491 COVID-19 cases and 47 related deaths in 43 counties. The ages of those infected, range from younger than 1 to 99 years, the IDPH reported.

Originally published on Live Science.

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First US infant death linked to COVID-19 reported in Illinois - Livescience.com

MILWAUKEE There are 1,059 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of 7:45 a.m. Sunday, March 29. The total number of positive cases and deaths is a combination of data reported by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and individual county health departments and officials.

There have been over15,000 negative tests and the total number of deaths remained at 17.

Milwaukee Countys coronavirus dashboardshowed 559 cases in the county Sunday morning. The countys reported number of cases represented additionalcases to those listed by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services inits Sunday afternoon report.

CLICK HERE to view the Milwaukee County COVID-19 dashboard.

CLICK HERE to view the latest COVID-19 totals (updated daily at 2 p.m.) from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

CoronavirusNow.com: A Fox Television Stations initiative to provide you with the most up-to-date national and international news on COVID-19.

Helpful phone numbers

About COVID-19 (from the CDC)

Symptoms: Reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness and death for confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. These symptoms may appear2-14 days after exposure(based on the incubation period of MERS-CoV viruses).

43.038902-87.906474

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1,059 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, 15K+ test negative - WITI FOX 6 Milwaukee

The next day my temperature was back down to 97.1, but the UTI had worsened. I called the nearby urgent-care center to see if they could prescribe me a new antibiotic, but no one was answering the phone. Figuring the place was overwhelmed with coronavirus calls, I walked over to the urgent care, opened the front door, and poked my head in. Hi, I said. Im so sorry to bother you at this time, but no ones answering your phones. I explained that the antibiotic course Id just finished hadnt worked, and I needed a different prescription.

Do you have a temperature? I remember the receptionist asking, as she walked over to the door and handed me a mask. Wait, what?

No. I had a slight fever yesterday. Can I just leave a message for the doctor? I dont want to come in. I could hear a hacking cough coming from one of the exam rooms.

If you need a new antibiotic, youll have to pee in a cup again.

But you guys already have my pee from last week! Use the same pee!

Sorry, we cant treat you unless you meet with the doctor again and give us a new sample.

Youve got to be kidding me, I thought. Why are we talking about pee during a shit storm? I weighed my options: either endure the UTI for who knows how long until this pandemic is over, which could lead to a kidney infection, which might eventually mean being forced to enter an overwhelmed, COVID-19-infected hospital anyway, or walk into this urgent care right now and possibly get exposed to the virus, but only from the two people coughing. I didnt like this game of Would you rather.

Read: A New York doctors warning

I put on that mask and walked straight inin my regular clothes, with no eye protectionwhere I stayed for a good 30 to 40 minutes until I could pee into a new cup, meet with the doctor, get a prescription, and go home. To say it was scary sitting there listening to all that coughing in the other rooms would be an understatement. The other patients sounded as if they should be on respirators, not in a neighborhood urgent care.

When I came home, I immediately stripped and washed all my clothes. That night, I got word that I did, indeed, have an ever-worsening UTI. (Duh.) A few hours later, Will came down with a fever and diarrhea and fell asleep watching Rachel Maddow, which he never does.

We isolated ourselves in separate rooms. My son stayed in his room, Will stayed in my other sons roomthat son, 24, had been volunteering for several months with Syrian refugees in Samos, Greece, and was self-quarantining in a nearby Airbnband me in the master bedroom, but not before I wiped down the entire apartment with Clorox wipes again. The next night, March 20, I cooked some rice and beans that no one ate.

Will stayed quite sick for three days, his temperature spiking and then retreating, but he never came down with a cough. Just the diarrhea, which is a rare COVID-19 symptom. We considered heading over to the drive-through test site that had just been set up on Staten Island, but by the time Will was feeling well enough to sit in a car for several hours, New York City had been declared a FEMA disaster zone. All masks and pieces of personal protective equipment were needed to treat the sick and dying, and the city put out a statement saying that people whose illnesses didnt require hospitalization should not get tested. So we stayed home.

We missed each others company, though, so I threw caution to the wind, washed my hands, and invited Will to wash his hands and lie on the bed with me, as far from my body as possible, to listen to a recording of the 1977 Cornell Grateful Dead show while watching the sunset from our bedroom window. I kept it together until Jerry, in Morning Dew, sang, Where have all the people gone, my honey? Where have all the people gone today?

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My Whole Household Has COVID-19 - The Atlantic

With much of the world on lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19, the last week has seen many city dwellers realise that they may be restricted to one place for a relatively prolonged period of time.

Rural areas from the U.K. to the U.S. have reported a dramatic increase in arrivals looking to self-isolate around nature.

However, the message from many is clear: we are closed to guests.

Just last weekend, the Snowdonia National Park in Wales experienced their busiest day in history. ... [+] Other villages in Wales have been erecting signs that tell tourists to return home due to COVID-19 travel and isolation restrictions imposed by the government. Narrow country road, Gwynedd, Snowdonia National Park, North Wales, UK. (Photo by: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Just last weekend, the Snowdonia National Park in Wales experienced their busiest day in history. Other villages in Wales have been erecting signs that tell tourists to return home due to COVID-19 travel and isolation restrictions imposed by the government.

A spokesperson for Snowdonia National Park said: "Specific guidance is needed on what 'necessary travel' actually entails. We also call on all visitor and holiday owners to heed government advice and avoid all but essential travel, and to stay at home to stay safe.

BRECON, WALES - MARCH 28: A sign on the A470 near Pen y Fan warns motorists to stay at home to save ... [+] lives on March 28, 2020, in Brecon, Wales. Last weekend the area was busy with walkers. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 25,000 lives and infecting hundreds of thousands more. (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

With people seemingly trying to escape to rural areas in the U.K., the governments message has remained clear and firm: to stay at home unless strictly necessary to leave.

Derbyshire police have gone a step further and actually dyed the well-know Buxton Blue Lagoon the color black, to deter tourists from visiting.

Luxury properties in the countryside around the world have seen higher demand for the Easter period with city-dwellers moving to rural retreats during lockdowns.

In the Hamptons bookings for family homes have been reported to have increased ten-fold in the last two weeks, mostly driven by residents fleeing New York City.

Derbyshire police have gone a step further and actually dyed the well-know Buxton Blue Lagoon the ... [+] color black, to deter tourists from visiting.

With the Easter holidays approaching, demand for rural retreats has seemingly been one area of the travel market that has fared relatively well with lockdowns in place. One of the greatest testaments to globalization in 2020 is the fact that supply chains have remained robust and open despite the wider situation. Even with many people temporarily isolating in rural areas, there seems little concern about delivery and availability of essential items including groceries.

The message from governments, however, has remained clear: stay at home. With towns in the U.K. and the U.S. pushing back against new visitors, the same message is echoed even down in Australia.

The seaside town of Robe which lays close to the South Australian state border has also encouraged people not to visit during lockdowns. The towns mayor noted an increase in older travelers that are stretching the resources of a destination that has just one doctor and one clinic.

NEW YORK, USA - MARCH 28: Time Square is seen empty in New York, United States on March 28, 2020. ... [+] New York's famous Times Square has been on sleep due to the new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In Scotland, East Lothian has also reported that their seaside town is becoming an isolation hotspot. The rural setting is just 30 minutes drive from the city of Edinburgh and locals have reporteda similar influx of visitors that are waiting it out.

Scotlands First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon,addressed these concerns directly in a statement. She urged people to practise social distancing and said: It may well be an understandable human instinct to think we can outrun a virus but the fact is we cant. What we do is risk taking it to the places we go. And in our remote and rural communities that means extra pressure on essential services and on health services that are already more distant from people.

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People Have Been Flocking To Rural Areas During COVID-19 Lockdowns - Forbes