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147,512 Deaths, 2,197,174 Corona Virus Infections, Mostly in the US, Italy, Spain, France, UK, Belgium, and Iran

April 6, 2020

 

Medical technicians move a covid-19 patient into a hospital in Hayward, California, on April 16, 2020

 

 

147,512 Deaths, 2,197,174 Corona Virus Infections, Mostly in the US, Italy, Spain, France, UK, Belgium, and Iran

April 17, 2020, 11:54 GMT

World 2,197,174 cases, 147,512 deaths.

USA 678,210 cases, 34,641 deaths.

Italy 168,941 cases, 22,170 deaths.

Spain 184,948 cases, 19,315 deaths.

France 165,027 cases, 17,920 deaths.

UK 103,093 cases, 13,729 deaths.

Belgium 36,138  cases, 5,163 deaths.

Iran 79,494 cases, 4,958 deaths.

China 82,692 cases, 4,632 deaths.

Germany 138,221 cases, 4,098 deaths.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

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US coronavirus-related deaths top 32,000 as states ask Trump for economic aid

By David Wharton,

Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2020 

With Congress haggling over the next stimulus package for an economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, officials in New York and New Jersey took aim at the federal government on Thursday, pleading for help.

No state has suffered more from the coronavirus outbreak than New York, which has more than 14,000 reported deaths. More than 11,000 of those fatalities have occurred in New York City, where Mayor Bill de Blasio said he has made another direct appeal to President Donald Trump.

“I made clear to the president that his hometown needs him,” De Blasio said. “All New Yorkers, 8.6 million, are watching the White House right now to see if the president will lead.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who reported 362 new deaths in his state, delivered a similar message, saying he and other governors in the Northeast had requested as much as $150 billion in aid.

“While the CARES Act was a very good step in the right direction, we need a lot more direct cash assistance,” he said, referring to the previous stimulus package. “There’s just no way around that.”

Thursday saw national totals for COVID-19 continue to rise, with more than 650,000 confirmed cases and more than 32,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In northern Illinois, a nursing home became the latest such facility to report more than 20 deaths. Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Quinton Lucas extended his city’s restrictions until the middle of next month. “I’m not going to sacrifice the health of Kansas City,” he said. “This is the best option for us.”

In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ extension of that state’s stay-at-home order until late May was met with anger from Republican state lawmakers, who threatened legal action and curbs on his power.

Financial concerns weighed heavily on state and local governments in the hours before Trump unveiled national guidelines on easing restrictions and allowing businesses to reopen. The White House’s guidelines are only recommendations; stay-at-home orders have been issued by states and local governments.

In Richmond, Va., protesters gathered at the Capitol Square in the latest in a series of demonstrations against imposed lockdowns. In Louisiana, GOP House Minority Whip Steve Scalise pointed to resuming business, in a modified way, as the best solution to the money woes states are facing.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/us-coronavirus-related-deaths-top-32000-as-states-ask-trump-for-economic-aid/ar-BB12Kayq?ocid=spartandhp  

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4 takeaways from Thursday’s White House coronavirus briefing

Washington Post, April 17, 2020

By Amber Phillips

In Thursday’s White House coronavirus briefing, President Trump and his task force introduced guidelines for states to consider opening back up as soon as May 1. But they didn’t put a timeline on any of this, and the federal government is not forcing any state to take action before its leaders see fit.

Here’s what you need to know from Thursday’s briefing.

1. Trump lost the game of chicken over when to reopen states

This wouldn’t have been a battle if Trump hadn’t made it one, specifically by coming out Monday and saying he had “absolute” power with regard to reopening the economy. That’s not the case, and New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) threatened legal action if Trump tried to tell states such as New York to reopen before they were ready. 

Fast forward to Thursday’s briefing, and Trump and his team of advisers said they weren’t forcing states to reopen. Instead, they introduced voluntary guidelines for governors to reopen on their own timelines. He told governors on a call earlier: “Call your own shots.”

Trump and his team stressed that the guidelines were data-driven. (The unspoken statement there was: This isn’t about doing what Trump wants just because he wants it.)

“I know there are a lot of other considerations that go into opening — considerations that you've heard of right from this podium,” said White House coronavirus task force member Anthony S. Fauci. “But the dominating drive of this was to make sure that this is done in the safest way possible.”

“We are not opening all at once,” Trump said, “but one careful step at a time.” That’s a far cry from his combative approach just a few days earlier to reopening the economy, and his weeks-long campaign that the “cure can’t be worse than the disease.” 

The guidelines advise reopening the economy in phases. If states have a declining number of cases for two weeks and no evidence of a viral rebound and can adequately test people with symptoms and can trace the people they have been around, then some life activities such as nonessential travel can resume and schools can reopen. Some bars and gyms can reopen if they adhere to “strict physical distancing.”

2. Officials did not confirm whether there will be enough testing to execute this plan

You cannot reopen a business if you don’t know which employees have or have not had the coronavirus. And on Thursday, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx said testing is making great strides, but neither she nor others affirmed that the United States would have the capabilities to test millions of people per day over the next few weeks, both for who has the coronavirus and who had the coronavirus and may have immunity.

Fauci said earlier this week that “we’re not there yet” on having those capabilities, which he and others have said is critical to sending people back to work.

It is not clear when there will be sufficient testing available. The guidelines Trump released Thursday acknowledged that testing and tracing people who are infected is a baseline. But they list it under “core state responsibilities,” and local health officials and state leaders say they don’t have the staff or the money to take on such a big project alone.

3. Trump props up people protesting social distancing in states like Michigan

“They seem to be protesters that like me,” Trump said of the people who gathered in several states this week to protest stay-at-home orders. Indeed, many protesters were photographed wearing Trump campaign hats and carrying Trump campaign signs.

“They gave speeches. They held up signs — ‘Recall Whitmer,’ ‘Heil Witmer’ (sic), ‘Stop the Tyranny,’ and ‘Trump/Pence,’” reports The Post’s David Weigel of a protest Wednesday in Lansing, Mich., targeting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). “For a few seconds, they broke into a chant of ‘lock her up!’”

It’s part of a budding effort by some on the right to push back on government interference, especially interference as disruptive as keeping people home and many away from paychecks. The political tensions of these stay-at-home orders are exacerbated by the fact that most of the states hardest hit right now, where the most populous cities are located, are led by Democratic governors. And within those states, the Democratic-leaning cities tend to have more infections than the Republican-leaning rural areas.

Even as Trump tells Americans to continue social distancing, he was very careful to avoid criticizing or objecting to people who are actively opposing orders and protesting in proximity to others. Instead of taking the opportunity to tell protesters to stay home, he empathized with their desire to go back to work.

4. The new normal is not going to be normal

The guidelines gave no timeline for when states should think about reopening. The measure is declining infections and death rates, and no public health expert can say by what date that will start happening for the nation, let alone individual states.

Trump and medical experts emphasized Thursday that reopening the economy will not mean stadiums will be packed for sporting events and concerts again. “Light switch on and off is the exact opposite of what you see here,” Fauci said.

A good way to visualize that is by what sporting events could look like in the weeks and months to come. Fauci said there could be sporting events before a vaccine, but he emphasized the “could” and did not say stadiums would be full: “I think there will always have to be attention to making sure that we don’t do all that packing in together,” he said.

Trump put a fine point on this later in the briefing.

“Our normal is if you have 100,000 people in an Alabama football game,” he said. “We want every seat occupied. Normal is not going to be where you have a game with 50,000 people.”

“I mean, let’s face it,” Fauci said at one point. “This is uncharted water. There may be some setbacks that we may have to pull back a little and then go forward.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/4-takeaways-from-thursdays-white-house-coronavirus-briefing/ar-BB12KzBh?ocid=spartanntp

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WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 15 April 2020

WHO, 15 April 2020

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are.

When the nations of the world met to form the United Nations in 1945, one of the first things they discussed was establishing an organization to protect and promote the health of the world’s people.

They expressed that desire in the constitution of WHO, which says that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being, without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.

That creed remains our vision today.

The United States of America has been a longstanding and generous friend to WHO, and we hope it will continue to be so.

We regret the decision of the President of the United States to order a halt in funding to the World Health Organization.

With support from the people and government of the United States, WHO works to improve the health of many of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

WHO is not only fighting COVID-19. We’re also working to address polio, measles, malaria, Ebola, HIV, tuberculosis, malnutrition, cancer, diabetes, mental health and many other diseases and conditions.

We also work with countries to strengthen health systems and improve access to life-saving health services.

WHO is reviewing the impact on our work of any withdrawal of U.S. funding and will work with our partners to fill any financial gaps we face and to ensure our work continues uninterrupted.

Our commitment to public health, science and to serving all the people of the world without fear or favour remains absolute.

Our mission and mandate are to work with all nations equally, without regard to the size of their populations or economies.

COVID-19 does not discriminate between rich nations and poor, large nations and small. It does not discriminate between nationalities, ethnicities or ideologies.

Neither do we. This is a time for all of us to be united in our common struggle against a common threat – a dangerous enemy.

When we are divided, the virus exploits the cracks between us.

We are committed to serving the world’s people, and to accountability for the resources with which we are entrusted.

In due course, WHO’s performance in tackling this pandemic will be reviewed by WHO’s Member States and the independent bodies that are in place to ensure transparency and accountability. This is part of the usual process put in place by our Member States.

No doubt, areas for improvement will be identified and there will be lessons for all of us to learn.

But for now, our focus – my focus – is on stopping this virus and saving lives.

WHO is grateful to the many nations, organizations and individuals who have expressed their support and commitment to WHO in recent days, including their financial commitment.

We welcome this demonstration of global solidarity, because solidarity is the rule of the game to defeat COVID-19.

WHO is getting on with the job.

We are continuing to study this virus every moment of every day, we are learning from many countries about what works, and we are sharing that information with the world.

There are more than 1.5 million enrolments in WHO’s online courses through OpenWHO.org, and we will continue to expand this platform to train many more millions so we can fight COVID effectively.

Today we launched a new course for health workers on how to put on and remove personal protective equipment.

Every day we bring together thousands of clinicians, epidemiologists, educators, researchers, lab technicians, infection prevention specialists and others to exchange knowledge on COVID-19.

Our technical guidance brings together the most up-to-date evidence for health ministers, health workers and individuals.

Yesterday I had the honour of speaking to heads of state and government from the 13 ASEAN-plus-three nations.

It was inspiring to hear their experiences, and their commitment to working together to secure a shared future.

As a result of their experience with SARS and avian influenza, these countries have put in place measures and systems that are now helping them to detect and respond to COVID-19.

We’re also continuing to work with partners all over the world to accelerate research and development.

More than 90 countries have joined or have expressed interest in joining the Solidarity Trial, and more than 900 patients have now been enrolled, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of four drugs and drug combinations.

Three vaccines have already started clinical trials, more than 70 others are in development, and we’re working with partners to accelerate the development, production and distribution of vaccines.

In addition to the Solidarity Trial, I am glad to say that WHO has convened groups of clinicians to look at the impact of corticosteroids and other anti-inflammatory drugs on treatment outcomes.

Specifically, we are looking at oxygen use and ventilation strategies in patients. Any intervention that reduces the need for ventilation and improves outcomes for critically ill patients is important – especially in low-resource settings, to save lives.

Last week I announced the United Nations Supply Chain Task Force, to scale up the distribution of essential medical equipment.

Yesterday the first United Nations Solidarity Flight took off, transporting personal protective equipment, ventilators and lab supplies to many countries across Africa.

The Solidarity Flight is part of a massive effort to ship lifesaving medical supplies to 95 countries across the globe, in conjunction with the World Food Programme and other agencies including Unicef, the Global Fund, Gavi, and the United Nations Department of Operational Support, Unitaid and others.

Whether it is by land, sea or air, WHO staff are working around the clock to deliver for health workers and communities everywhere. 

I would like to thank the African Union, the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia, the Jack Ma Foundation and all our partners for their solidarity with African countries at this critical moment in history. I would like to thank President Ramaphosa and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, for their leadership.

The Solidarity Response Fund has now generated almost US$150 million from 240,000 individuals and organizations.

This Saturday, some of the biggest names in music are coming together for the One World: Together at Home concert, to generate further funds for the Solidarity Response Fund.

But not just to raise funds, to bring the world together, because we’re one world, one humanity fighting a common enemy. I thank Lady Gaga, Global Citizen and all that are collaborating to put this concert together.

We will continue to work with every country and every partner, to serve the people of the world, with a relentless commitment to science, solutions and solidarity.

Since the beginning, WHO has been fighting the pandemic with every ounce of our soul and spirit. We will continue to do that until the end. That’s our commitment to the whole world.

I thank you.

https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---15-april-2020

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