US Cases Rose by Nearly 14,000
Stats from Worldometers.
More realistically, the number of cases rose because testing rose. Regardless, the caseload will soon be over 100,000.
News of the Day
- 2442 new cases and 9 new deaths in Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel in quarantine at home after a doctor who gave her prophylactic vaccinations on Friday has tested positive for the coronavirus
- India puts 75 districts in lockdown with only essential services open
- 1028 new cases and 129 new deaths in Iran
- 573 new cases and 43 new deaths in the Netherlands
Germany Bans Groups Over 2
The New York Times reports Germany Bans Groups of More Than 2 to Stop Coronavirus as Merkel Self-Isolates
Germany on Sunday barred groups of more than two people from gathering, except for families, as Chancellor Angela Merkel said she herself was going into isolation because her doctor had tested positive for the coronavirus. .
The doctor vaccinated Ms. Merkel against pneumonia on Friday, the chancellor’s office said.positive for the coronavirus.
“We are further reducing public life and social contact and ensuring that the measures will be nationwide,” the chancellor said. “Everyone should organize their movements according to these regulations.”
Under the new restrictions, restaurants, which were previously allowed to seat customers during the day at a safe distance from each other, will be allowed to stay open but provide only delivery and takeout services. Hairdressers, massage studios and tattoo parlors must now close their doors.
There have also been reports of “corona parties” held by youths in different corners of Germany, causing alarm among the authorities in a country better known for adhering to rules. Some parties, where youths in large groups drank alcohol and chanted, “Corona, corona,” had to be broken up by the police.
Rand Paul Tests Positive
He expects to be back in the Senate after his quarantine period ends and will continue to work for the people of Kentucky at this difficult time. Ten days ago, our D.C. office began operating remotely, hence virtually no staff has had contact with Senator Rand Paul.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2020
US vs Italy
https://twitter.com/kr3at/status/1241798505305423872
Spain
Spain could destroy between 2.3 and 3 million jobs in one month from temporary contract termination, of which 300,000 would not be recovered, according to Spain’s Ceprede and @cepyme_
— Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) March 21, 2020
Mardi Gras
“New Orleans had held Mardi Gras celebrations just two weeks before its first patient, with more than a million revelers on its streets.”https://t.co/sgrOrYqjqt
— Randy Woodward (@TheBondFreak) March 22, 2020
How Long Will a Vaccine Take?
“Leading scientists say the clinical trials and safety approvals needed to get a workable vaccine to market could take up to 18 months.” “There’s only one thing more dangerous than a bad virus, and that’s a bad vaccine”https://t.co/s68N9npA5V
— Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) March 21, 2020
Darn That Ohio
Damn, the Trumpians no longer get to claim it’s only Blue State Governors https://t.co/oLVoRVycj2
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) March 22, 2020
Now Louisiana
LOUISIANA GOVERNOR ORDERS RESIDENTS TO STAY AT HOME TO STOP CORONAVIRUS SPREAD
— RedboxGlobal (@RedboxWire) March 22, 2020
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Note that this article is based on a data error. I saw the same data that Mish posted above, and shortly afterwards about 8,000 of the US cases vanished. More cases have appeared all day long, but we are still only to 33,546 as I write this, below the 38,167 Mish screen-grabbed.
On the whole it’s been a “quiet” weekend, going from 19,576 to 33,546 in 2 days, an average of 30.9% a day, down from 45% a day the two days prior. Going forward social distancing will help, and California stopping testing will also make the numbers “look” better. On the other hand, students returning from Spring break will lead to a new surge in cases and fatalities.
The US needs a 14 day lockdown like they have in parts of Europe (I’m in Greece with one now) and in Asia. Not going to happen with the American way of life however. Ironically I bet the lost US GDP in a lockdown would be less than the ‘herd immunity’ route the US is de facto going to do. Like global warming, and doing nothing, this will be an interesting experiment that I bet a lot of people wish the US did not do.
The US is doing a lockdown, but it is on a state by state basis. The other states are all encouraging social distancing.
State by state seems ineffective, since it seems FL is not included. See also the below. To save 14 days of US GDP, Trump is willing to let scores of Americans die and have long term health problems. Penny wise, pound foolish…
NY Times 3/24/2020
Trump Considers Reopening Economy, Over Health Experts’ Objections
Jim Tankersley, Maggie Haberman and Roni Caryn Rabin 6 hrs ago
WASHINGTON — As the United States entered Week 2 of trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus by shuttering large swaths of the economy, President Trump, Wall Street executives and many conservative economists began questioning whether the government had gone too far and should instead lift restrictions that are already inflicting deep pain on workers and businesses.
Some good news. Testing kit from BGI Group (Chinese company) has been approved by the US. They are shipping them out now. Priority should be California and perhaps Florida. NYorkers seem to have their act together.
This is like World War II, it took us a while to get into the war, but once we turned to a true war footing the country went full force. Now that we are getting testing, and the hospitals are finally getting to a war footing, hopefully we can shut this down (in a matter of months). Our f….ing country finally woke up. Let’s see if we can turn the war machine on.
Nah, it’s an asteroid strike not a war.
I had a sniffle last week. It lasted a whole day then passed. I blew my nose 1 time. I was infected. It passed.
Congratulations on proving your ignorance.
Just heard on the radio (The Today Program) we have otherwise fit people in their 30s & 40s in ICUs fighting for their lives.
I know two of them. One is the daughter of a friend of my wife. Early 20s, no sign of underlying issues. The other is a friend in another European country, in their late 30s, very fit, caught it on a skiing trip and is in a medically induced coma, not expected to survive the day.
People really are not grasping that it is not just the old who are dying. In fact, it’s worse than that – young people here in Britain are out partying, congregating, laughing it off. Moral hazard – they need a ventilator, the old person doesn’t get one. And when they run out of ventilators, then younger and younger people get left to die.
I’m sorry to hear that. My daughter’s, boy friend’s brother is also in an induced coma. They airlifted him to Cambridge Friday to use a specific ventilator, Oxygen levels had fallen to zero on arrival. Aged 51, a pretty fit person I’m told. They’ve said there’s nothing they can do for him other than help him breath, his body has to fight it.
It amazes me how people seem to think they’re immune & just carry on. We’re being so careful, you’ve no idea where anyone you meet has been or been with. It truly is an invisible enemy!
USA! USA! We’re #3!
More than half of all U.S. cases are in New York! Does that mean they are doing more testing there?
Do the tests tell only whether you have it or not? Or can you also tell whether someone has already had it (and presumably is immune)?
No tests for “already had it”
Well you know the Ohio govt health authority did just say they were thinking they have 100,000 cases in the state.
Re: “So far the death rate appears to be fairly comparable to the flu”
Umm, what???? The flu this year infected 60,000,000, and killed about 20,000. So far in the US there are 419 deaths on 33,546, with 32,949 cases still open. If another 329 of those die, there will be 748 deaths on 33,546 cases. If 60,000,000 catch this before it is done, that death rate would mean 1.3 million dead. So, am I to understand that to you, 20,000 is “fairly comparable” to 1.3 million?
In any case, if social distancing does not work, the death rate will go much higher, and it has in Wuhan, Italy, Spain, and San Marino.
They have a subway mass transit system.
1 out of every 35 NBA players has tested positive. If that rate holds in general population that would mean around 10,000,000 Americans are already infected.
Which means everyones going to get it.
In general yes. They are preserving the tests and the required gear for those who are hospitalized and seriously ill or health workers so that can to continue to give care.
This is not something good. It would just embolden young people to go out and about. At the very least, the Governor should say something along: “look people, the numbers are low because we are not testing, not because we’ll be fine soon.”
The need for reactive and proactive testing….
….Basically, there are a few kinds of testing information we wish we had. One is using real-time PCR — RT-PCR. You’re actually measuring the presence of the [ribonucleic acid, or RNA] of the virus in the host of the human sample. It’s telling you this person in front of you is infected at this moment. That’s useful for a diagnosis. But it’s not useful for very much more than that. On Tuesday the test might come up negative, but the person might be positive on Thursday.
The second kind of test would be an antibody test. What that’s measuring is: “Has your body ever seen the virus?” That’s useful in two ways. As a diagnostic, it gives the refined information: “Yes, you have this in you at the moment.” It also can guide the activities of the physician, who might say, “Gee, I’ve got a pneumonia patient, I wonder if they’ve ever had COVID?” But the most important thing is that that test can be a public-health tool. If we had this antibody test, we can go around randomly selecting people in New York City and find out how many New Yorkers, including right now, have had this virus in their bodies. Since we know the virus has never been in human beings before, anybody who has antibodies against it has been exposed since January.
If we can get this antibody test mass-produced — and I know they’re working on it right now — and put it into commercialization really quickly, this could be a game-changer for the whole pandemic. One of the things we would love to know right now is how many people who have had pneumonia since January were actually COVID cases? Having answers to that question would make a difference on a policy level. If we were suddenly seeing a surge in hidden pneumonia cases since mid-February, that would tell us we’re in deep, deep doo-doo; that this thing is like Italy; that we’re going to suddenly skyrocket and our hospitals are going to be overwhelmed. But if, by contrast, the same number of cases are found in the historic samples going back to the first of January, that would tell us, “Okay, it’s gradually unfolding, we don’t have to go down to lockdown every single person in New York, we may be able to flatten the curve.” And that makes a big difference in terms of how drastic our policies need to be. There’s a reason that the governor and the mayor and the mayor’s own department advisers are arguing. We just don’t have good, solid data to work with. We’re flying blind in New York City. They’re even blinder outside the city because the population’s more scattered….
I would like to know if one of the flu’s I’ve had in the past several months were CV-19. If I’ve had it already I would go volunteer at a hospital. Anti-body tests are big
What pandemic aid would Trump ship to North Korea?
Infected blankets
The numbers from California look suspect. Like really? Apparently LA hospitals have stopped testing.
Speaking about bad vaccine, the lack of testing will lead to a premature Get Back To Work, Everything’s Normal order. That might be devastating.
LA ran out and the rest of the nation is running out too. Don’t know how quickly they can replenish them yet, but doctors are only testing the ones being admitted into hospitals pretty much. The rest, “Here, fill out this symptom sheet”. Next week they will probably be asking those staying at home to write their social security number on their wrist with a magic marker. Don’t know what the illegals who pirated a SSN will do, but if you live in a sanctuary city, don’t be surprised if you read in the local paper that you died.
How did so many seniors get infected in Italy? From the atistics I saw, a bulk of the know cases are seniors.
Social customs might have something to do with it. The Italians hug and kiss a lot.
And multigenerational households are very common
Sunday night Greece also announced a lockdown beginning 3/23/20 for 14 days. You need permission to even visit the grocery store, on self-written forms. Automobiles having more than two people in them are banned.
Sound like they are coming around to the same conclusions the Chinese came to in Wuhan.
sadly we’ll probably have to go to that. If we were smart we’d do it now ill leave it at that