NEW YORK - The US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic climbed past 3,000 on Monday, the deadliest day yet in the country's mounting crisis, while New York cheered the arrival of a gleaming 1,000-bed US Navy hospital ship as a sign of hope in the city's desperate fight.
In a grim new milestones marking the spread of the virus, total deaths across the United States hit 3,017, including at least 540 on Monday, and the reported cases climbed to more than 163,000, according to a Reuters tally.
People in New York and New Jersey lined both sides of the Hudson River to cheer the US Navy ship Comfort, a converted oil tanker painted white with giant red crosses, as it sailed past the Statue of Liberty accompanied by support ships and helicopters.
The Comfort will treat non-coronavirus patients, including those who require surgery and critical care, in an effort to free up other resources to fight the virus, the Navy said.
"It's a wartime atmosphere and we all have to pull together," said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was among the dignitaries to greet the ship's arrival at the Midtown Manhattan pier.
Hospitals in the New York City area have been overrun with patients suffering from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus. Officials have appealed for volunteer healthcare workers.
"We can't take care of you if we can't take care of ourselves," said Krystal Horchuck, a nurse with Virtua Memorial Hospital in New Jersey. "I think a lot of us have accepted the fact that we are probably going to get this. It's just that we want to survive. We're all being exposed to it at some point."
The United States has the most confirmed cases in the world, a number that is likely to soar when tests for the virus become more widespread.
President Donald Trump told a White House briefing that more than 1 million Americans had been tested for coronavirus - less than 3 percent of the population. While the United States has ramped up testing after a series of setbacks, it still lags countries like Italy and South Korea on a per capita basis.
In California, another hard-hit state, Governor Gavin Newsom said the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations had nearly doubled over the past four days and the number of ICU patients had tripled. Officials there also appealed for medical volunteers.
CENTRAL PARK HOSPITALS
To ease the pressure in New York, construction of a 68-bed field hospital began on Sunday in Manhattan's Central Park. The white tents being set up evoked a wartime feel in an island of green typically used by New Yorkers to exercise, picnic and enjoy the first signs of spring.
The makeshift facility, provided by the Mount Sinai Health System and non-profit organization Samaritan's Purse, is expected to begin accepting patients on Tuesday, de Blasio said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, one of the most prominent public figures of the coronavirus crisis, told a news conference the state might have to step in to close playgrounds in the country's most populous city in order to enforce social distancing and slow the spread of the virus.
Cuomo and de Blasio are among a growing chorus of officials who have voiced frustration at Trump's handling of the crisis and a shortage of ventilators and personal protective equipment.
"I am not engaging the president in politics," Cuomo, a Democrat, said of Trump, a Republican. "My only goal is to engage the president in partnership."
Ford Motor Co said on Monday it will produce 50,000 ventilators over the next 100 days at a Michigan plant in cooperation with General Electric's healthcare unit, and can then manufacture 30,000 a month.
Officials in states hard hit by the pandemic have pleaded with the Trump administration and manufacturers to speed up production of ventilators to cope with a surge in patients struggling to breathe. On Friday, Trump said he would invoke powers under the Defense Production Act to direct manufacturers to produce ventilators.
CHILLING NUMBERS
US health officials are urging Americans to follow stay-at-home orders until the end of April to contain the spread of the virus, which originated in China and has infected about three-quarters of a million people around the world.
"If we do things together well - almost perfectly - we could get in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 fatalities," Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House's coronavirus task force, told NBC's "Today" show.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at a White House briefing that he expected a coronavirus outbreak in the fall, as well, but he said the nation would be better prepared to respond.
Authorities in New Orleans were setting up a field hospital at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center - the same site where thousands of Hurricane Katrina refugees gathered in 2005 - to handle an expected overflow of patients.
Dr. Thomas Krajewski, an emergency room doctor at St. Barnard Parish hospital in New Orleans, said he had watched patients be admitted to the hospital and seem ready to get better only to get worse.
"Many of them have passed away already in a way that ... it's not normal," he said. "It's not something that any of us had prepared to do. And we're kind of writing the book as we go."
The governors of Maryland, Virginia and Arizona issued "stay-at-home" orders as cases rose in those states, as did Washington, D.C.
At the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois, 12 prisoners were hospitalized and several required ventilators, while 77 more showing symptoms were isolated at the facility, officials said.
Renowned country and folk singer John Prine was among the latest celebrities - including several members of Congress - to come down with the virus. Prine was in stable condition on Monday after being hospitalized with symptoms of the illness, his wife said on Twitter. Prine, a 73-year-old cancer survivor, lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK - The United States now has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world, according to data gathered both by Johns Hopkins University and The New York Times.
In reaching the grim milestone on Thursday, the country of 330 million people surpassed virus hotspots China and Italy.
Johns Hopkins said the US has 82,404 cases, while the Times said there were at least 81,321 people who tested positive for COVID-19.
Italy's declared caseload stood Thursday at 80,539 and China's at 81,285, according to an AFP tally.
American hospitals increasingly have reported being overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases and 40 percent of Americans are under lockdown orders to prevent the spread of the illness.
At least 1,178 people have died of COVID-19 in the US, according to Johns Hopkins, including 100 in the past day in virus hotbed New York.
While fatalities remain higher elsewhere, experts say new infection numbers show that many more Americans will die -- and the true number of cases could be much higher than the official figure due to shortages of test kits.
The official count for the number of US coronavirus cases comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has lagged behind outside tallies. On Thursday evening the CDC listed 68,440 cases.
Agence France-Presse
LOS ANGELES - The first known death of a child due to the novel coronavirus in the United States was a teenager in previously good health, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday.
The death of the youth from Lancaster, just north of Los Angeles, was reported hours earlier by public health officials, and comes despite the disease not typically proving severe for juveniles.
"A teenager in good health, succumbed to this virus," said Garcetti.
"To the young people that are out there -- this can hit you too. Know that your behavior can save a life, and can take a life. And that life could be yours," he added.
The victim's identity and sex were not specified.
"COVID-19 does not discriminate by age, race or income level," said Los Angeles County public health director Barbara Ferrer, using the scientific term for the disease caused by the SARS-coV-2 virus.
Multiple studies have found COVID-19 disproportionately affects older patients and those with underlying conditions.
A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report found juveniles "appear to have milder COVID-19 illness," with no intensive care admissions or deaths in the US as of March 16.
"Similar to reports from other countries, this finding suggests that the risk for serious disease and death from COVID-19 is higher in older age groups," it found.
Only two known cases of minors dying from the disease in China have been recorded. In one case, an infant had a pre-existing intestinal condition. The other's situation was not known.
"The risk for serious disease and death in COVID-19 cases among persons in the United States increases with age," the CDC report added.
California has been one of the worst-hit US states during the pandemic.
Los Angeles County -- which is home to 10 million residents -- has confirmed 662 cases of coronavirus, with at least 11 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON --- Amid fears the American financial system will lock up, the Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced yet another mechanism to ensure credit will be available to US homes and businesses.
The credit facility will provide funding for up to 90 days to major financial institutions known as primary dealers, the Fed said.
"The facility will allow primary dealers to support smooth market functioning and facilitate the availability of credit to businesses and households," the central bank said in a statement.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
A Tennessee man who became a subject of national scorn after stockpiling 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer donated all of the supplies Sunday just as the Tennessee attorney general’s office began investigating him for price gouging.
On Sunday morning, Matt Colvin, an Amazon seller outside Chattanooga, Tennessee, helped volunteers from a local church load two-thirds of his stockpile of hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes into a box truck for the church to distribute to people in need across Tennessee.
Officials from the Tennessee attorney general’s office Sunday took the other third, which they plan to give to their counterparts in Kentucky for distribution. (Colvin and his brother Noah bought some of the supplies in Kentucky this month.)
The donations capped a tumultuous 24 hours for Colvin. On Saturday morning, The New York Times published an article about how he and his brother cleaned out stores of sanitizer and wipes in an attempt to profit off the public’s panic over the coronavirus pandemic. Colvin sold 300 bottles of hand sanitizer at a markup on Amazon before the company removed his listings and warned sellers they would be suspended for price gouging.
As a result, Colvin was sitting on an enormous cache of sanitizer and wipes while much of the country searched in vain for them.
The article immediately sparked widespread outrage, with thousands of people posting angry comments across the internet about his actions.
Many of those people also contacted Colvin directly with hate mail and death threats, while one man even banged on the door at his home late Saturday night, according to Colvin and several messages he shared with The Times.
In an hour-long interview Sunday, Colvin expressed remorse for his actions and said that when he decided to hoard the sanitizer and wipes, he didn’t realize the gravity of the coronavirus outbreak or the severe shortage of sanitizer and wipes.
“I’ve been buying and selling things for 10 years now. There’s been hot product after hot product. But the thing is, there’s always another one on the shelf,” he said. “When we did this trip, I had no idea that these stores wouldn’t be able to get replenished.”
He said the outpouring of hate has been scary for him and his family. He said people have incessantly called his cellphone, posted his address online and sent pizzas to his home. His inbox was flooded with ugly messages, he said. One email he shared with The Times said: “Your behavior is probably going to end up with someone killing you and your wife and your children.”
“It was never my intention to keep necessary medical supplies out of the hands of people who needed them,” he said, crying. “That’s not who I am as a person. And all I’ve been told for the last 48 hours is how much of that person I am.”
Now Colvin is facing consequences. On Sunday, Amazon and eBay suspended him as a seller, which is how he has made his living for years. The company where he rented a storage unit kicked him out. And the Tennessee attorney general’s office sent him a cease-and-desist letter and opened an investigation.
“We will not tolerate price gouging in this time of exceptional need, and we will take aggressive action to stop it,” Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III of Tennessee said in a news release.
Tennessee’s price-gouging law prohibits charging “grossly excessive” prices for a variety of items, including food, gas and medical supplies, after the governor declares a state of emergency. The state can fine people up to $1,000 a violation.
The language of the law could benefit Colvin. Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee declared a state of emergency on March 12, activating the price-gouging law. The Colvin brothers bought all of the sanitizer and wipes in question before that date, and Colvin said he did not sell anything after it.
A spokeswoman for the Tennessee attorney general’s office said that even if the Colvin brothers did not buy or sell any of the supplies after March 12, state authorities “will weigh all options under consumer laws.”
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SEATTLE — Two emergency medicine doctors, in New Jersey and Washington state, are in critical condition as a result of coronavirus, reinforcing concerns that the nation’s front-line medical workers are becoming especially vulnerable to the virus, the American College of Emergency Physicians said.
“A lot of us think that despite everything we do, we will probably be exposed,” said Dr. William Jaquis, the chair of the group. Still, he said, “The first reported case certainly sends a shock wave through the community.”
Emergency rooms represent a busy intake point for hospitals, where patients come in with symptoms but no diagnosis. As the coronavirus spreads during the typical flu season, emergency physicians are triaging large numbers of patients around the country with symptoms that could be the virus.
“As compared to anyone else at a hospital, you are operating with the most incomplete information,” said Dr. Angela Fusaro, an emergency doctor in Atlanta.
One of the ill physicians, a man in his 40s, is a doctor at EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland, Washington, a hospital near Seattle that has seen one of the largest concentrations of cases in the United States.
“EvergreenHealth is providing care for one of our physicians who has a confirmed case of COVID-19. He is in critical condition but stable,” the hospital said in a statement.
Jaquis said it appeared that the doctor had access to adequate protective equipment. “This was an area with an outbreak, so they were expecting and prepared. That obviously makes us more nervous.”
The other physician, a doctor in his 70s in Patterson, New Jersey, was also in isolation in intensive care. The doctor led his institution’s emergency preparedness and was admitted to the hospital several days ago with upper respiratory problems, the physicians’ group said.
The nationwide shortage of N-95 protective masks has been concerning to doctors, who increasingly feel the need to use them in more situations to stay safe, Jaquis said.
Some emergency departments are adapting their facilities to minimize the risk to health care providers and other patients, opening tents to triage patients outside their buildings and creating separate entrances for patients and doctors, who do not typically wear protective gear as they come and go.
Emergency doctors at times must tend to patients before their virus risk is assessed, and may have a need, such as a major injury, that needs urgent attention, Fusaro said. “Things that might be necessary to stabilize their life are pretty intimate,” she said. “If you have to put in a breathing tube, you are going to be right up against them. You can’t practice that type of medicine from afar.”
source: news.abs-cbn.com
