Coronavirus Update – Today, April 16, 2020

(Top photo, Detroit Free Press, is from Michigan, where a demonstration in the capital called, Operation Gridlock, was held in opposition to Gov. Whitmer’s “stay at home” order being too arbitrary and restrictive. The group is calling for a recall of the Governor. Similar demonstrations were held in Ohio as the country collectively yearns for normalcy in an abnormal time.)

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

A “Gridlock” demonstration in Lansing, Michigan, where demonstrators had promised to stay in their cars, erupted into a street demonstration with hundreds of people walking the streets in front of the state house to protest the stay at home executive order of the Governor

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the rotunda of the Ohio State House to demonstrate as their legislators met about stay at home and plans for a possible reopening of part of the community.

A French court has ordered Amazon to stop selling, receiving or delivering non-essential goods for the next month to protect its employees from the virus.

Illinois won a lawsuit which requires Covid19 positive patients’ names to be turned over to police.

College Board announced it will scrap a national session of the college admission test on June 6; there is a prospect that the high-stakes SAT could be administered online, and at home, this fall, though no definite decision has been made.

Amazon protested Tuesday’s emergency ruling, while unions hailed it as a victory for workers’ rights and public health.

Less than 1% is going to be the estimated fatality rate based on all people who eventually test positive

Harley Davidson laid off most of its production staff in second round of layoffs

Major League Baseball players volunteer for largest coronavirus antibody test in America

As of Friday, the FDA had received applications for more than 270 test developers and already granted emergency use authorization to 32 for new diagnostic tests.

About 25% of Marriott’s 7,300 hotels around the world are temporarily closed

Immigrants afraid get medical care and to be hospitalized in that they will be deported

California to give $500 cash payments to immigrants hurt by virus

Opening of some churches in California has resulted in an uptick in number of cases

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday announced that he’d signed an executive order mandating that everyone in the state must wear a mask or face-covering in public when social distancing is not possible.

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo‘s wife also has coronavirus

Workers from McDonald’s, Burger King, Chipotle, Dunkin’ Donuts, KFC, and other chains are participating in a “Zoom picket line,” demanding more protective gear, hazard pay and two full weeks of paid self-isolation time if they come in contact with someone sick.

Private labs say demand for coronavirus tests is down and they can test more people who aren’t as sick

3D card startup Lovepop begins manufacturing protective equipment

President’s Press Conference

Needs legislators to come back to certify candidates for positions in government – threatens to take legal steps – “If the House will not agree to that adjournment, I will exercise my constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of Congress. The current practice of leaving town while conducting phony pro forma sessions is a dereliction of duty that the American people cannot afford during this crisis.”

Pres. Trump to announce new guidelines on Thursday for states to reopen amid coronavirus

Pennsylvania has joined the northeast states’ coalition to work on reopening businesses.

NY Bar Association creates task force to assist with pro bono legal work

Spain is opening up for construction work and some factories.

Austria opening up for non-essential businesses.

Denmark will send children back to school next week.

South Dakota Gov. Noem, who opposed stay-home order, now faces coronavirus hot spot in the capital city, though overall numbers have peaked.

Harry & Meghan are donating profits made from the broadcast of their royal wedding to a charity working to feed families during the pandemic.

1 million small biz have received money from Paycheck program – yet Democrats don’t want to do this and will be out of session for 3 weeks, by their choice.

Cinemark is developing a plan to reopen movie theaters as of July – they will open with 1/2 occupancy and taken seats spaced out.

Tomorrow there will be a conference call with all 50 Governors.

Dr. Birx – declines all across the country; though in-hospital and fatalities need to be remembered. We are doing much better than other countries around the world. Cites social distancing success. Recognizes 9 state areas with less than 30 cases/day that are doing well.

Dr. Birx – Highlighted RI and 2 hotspots – Boston and NYC. – Her quote: “Rhode Island and Providence are in a unique situation,” Birx said during a press conference. “First they had increasing cases from the New York City area, and now they have new increasing cases from the Boston area.” The President was asked about Rhode Island by a reporter and he indicated he had read about our efforts to control the border, and referenced testing to come into the state.

Assurances from farmers group that the US has no food shortage issue – it’s a demand issue, not a supply issue. Moving from institutional setting to consumer setting.

VP Pence – we’ve conducted more than 3.3 million tests; more than 619,000 tested positive. 45,000 fully recovered. More than 27,000 have died. 24% of US counties have no reported cases – 1/2 of US states have less than 2,500 cases. Some parts of the country can now have greater flexibility.

FDA working on convalescent plasma. Mayo Clinic & Red Cross working together on this program. Every American who have recovered, call your local blood center and arrange to donate. Your plasma can save lives.

Supplies: Masks: average daily delivery 22 million; inventory is 80 million masks. FEMA will move 85 million in next 2 weeks then 6M a week. Food suppliers will have more access to masks.

576 military medical staff deployed across US – mainly in NY.

RI – may need to do testing for people coming in to state

President talks about death that comes from economic issue, diseases of despair, suicide, etc.

Reporter asked President about Wuhan virology lab issue – intern who effected her boyfriend, who went to the wet market and then it got out. This brings out into the public light a story that had been unveiled tracking down the virus’ origin.

BookIt.com travel group has closed its doors.

RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY

Amazon is expected to add 1,800 workers in Massachusetts

Massachusetts has 22 communities, according to reported data, with no cases of coronavirus.

New link for extensive data in Massachusetts: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-cases-quarantine-and-monitoring

National credit rating agency Fitch has placed Lifespan and Care New England on their rating watch negative list, indicating financial stress, along with thirteen other non-profit systems, including ones in New York, Ohio, Texas and California, have also been placed on the watch list.

PVD Fest canceled for this summer.

Hope Global has temporarily shut down its operations here after several workers fell ill and were later found to have had the novel coronavirus.

Lifespan is using Sterrad systems for N95s and steam sterilization for surgical masks.

Two more Newport firefighters have tested positive, making a new total of six firefighters in all.

Serological tests – antibody tests – are not being done in RI to see how deeply the impact of the virus is in the state – and how immune we may be.

Data continues to lag reporting in RI vs. other states which are breaking down the data in a more transparent way by zip code, etc. As more data requests are made, 4 days of the minimal data on the Health website had not been updated.

What is the percentage of immunity in the state? Without that data how will we know when to proceed with opening up the state?

Some have wondered if contact tracing and testing emphasis done in the beginning of the outbreak may be less of a focus for RI now, as the virus is so widespread, and if another strategy may be needed. As one public health worker said, “eventually in RI, being as small as it is, everyone knows everyone – what is that they say – in the general population everyone is 6 degrees of separation – but in Rhode Island, it’s more like 1 or 2”.

Governor’s Press Conference

Change in press conference showing new data dashboard website at: health.ri.gov/data/covid-19

7 new deaths – 87 total; 278 new cases, 3, 529 total. Total negative cases, 22, 368. Total tested, 25, 897

Of the 7 – 4 are in 80s, 2 in 90s, 1 over 100 – of these 7, 6 are nursing home residents. Very challenging environments.

Update on quarantine & isolation team:

Need to quickly identify who is sick, or who has been exposed – and quickly get them into quarantine/isolation. Built a system from scratch to work with 6,000 Rhode Islanders in quarantine, nearly most are all at home. Delivering meals, groceries, etc.

MOW did 32,000 home deliveries. 22,000 meals for children at school sites.

URI dining services partnering with senior centers delivering healthy food to seniors all around RI.

For those without safe home, Wyndham Hotel in Warwick has over 200 beds – serving now about 50 people for homeless in quarantine.

Daily Zoom call check-ins on older neighbors – Project Hello.

In future: Grocery concierge service via Uber. Working with colleges/universities to use dorms for free housing.

Looking for one stop app to record symptoms, check-ins.

All this needs to be in place, at scale, to open the community.

New initiative: RIHavens.com – new website for people needing to have safe space to quarantine with hotel rooms available at reduced cost. For front line healthcare worker who can’t go home to family, etc. Soon will have free dorm room option on site.

PPE Supplies:

RI is keeping up with supply, though it would be good to have more of a supply on hand. That’s why some facilities have to make tough decisions on recycling, etc. It is NOT satisfactory, and state is still working on getting more. Working also on the Battelle system. (Update: Doctors at RI hospitals later said they did not, in fact, have enough PPE to relax getting more)

Border Town Question came up again – live in RI, grocery shop in MA – changes her mind to: I need you to be smart about it – if you can go 5 minutes away to shop and go right back home, do it – wherever you can go that is the less amount of time

Testing:

Working to get healthcare workers tested more quickly. Particularly in nursing homes & congregate settings. Fast-track testing through CVS site at Twin River – couple of hundred of spots a day for these staff, get results immediately.

Between Easter and a day of rain, two days of testing were lost using the outdoor settings.

Visiting issue for those who are sick or in isolation:

A 19 year old partnered with RI Medical Society to develop Covid Connectors – Amazon has agreed to donate 540 tablets, too – CovidConnectors.org – the group will wipe the device clean and it can be used for someone in a nursing home or hospital who can use it to connect with loved ones.

Cloth face covering:

If you can’t make one – call this number 222-8022, and they will help you.

Questions:

Question about closing gun stores: they will continue to stay open, and there has been a uptick in sales, which is why background check time has been extended.

College professors considered gig workers: Gov is supportive – federal government should increase pay – no solution yet.

Should RI order everyone in RI to wear masks?  Gov. says everyone “should” and strongly encourages it.

Employers MUST provide face coverings and hand sanitizer for employees.

SBA loan need is unbelievable right now.

Consider reopening parks with face coverings, etc? Gov. thinks people should be going for a walk, if you live nearby. Mayor of Providence is taking a different approach. Closing parking lots will stay in place.

Nursing home staff who test positive but have no symptoms – if they have symptoms they need to stay home; if they do not have symptoms,

Will employees ask customers without masks to leave the business? If could be a sock…it could be anything…asking employees to remind customers that they should ask

What will summer in RI look like?  Governor says, “I have a dream…” but acknowledges she doesn’t know yet – but we will be able to use our parks and beaches, somehow this summer, but we will still have some restrictions all summer long – all fall – and until we have an effective treatment and a vaccine. Restrictions will be around size of crowds and our ability to congregate.

Governor’s Press Release:

• Data dashboard: The Governor unveiled a new data dashboard on RIDOH’s website (health.ri.gov/data/covid-19). The dashboard will be updated daily at noon. • RI Havens: RIHavens.com is a new website that connects those in need of a safe space to quarantine with hotel rooms across the state offered at significantly discounted rates – some as low as $25 a night. The website is part of a wider effort to meet the basic needs of all Rhode Islanders in quarantine and isolation during this pandemic.

COVID-19 Data Update

Dr. Alexander-Scott announced today that Rhode Island has 278 new cases of COVID-19. This brings Rhode Island’s count to 3,529. RIDOH also announced seven additional COVID-19 associated fatalities. Four of these people were in their 80s; two of these people were in their 90s; and one of these people was older than 100. Of these seven people, six were nursing home residents. Rhode Island’s number of COVID-19 associated fatalities is now 87. A full data summary for Rhode Island is posted online (health.ri.gov/data/covid-19).

A moment of “Math” Joy! – without scientists, where would we be?

Think math is only for nerds – geeks – odd people who understand this? Here, Oxford Mathematician, Dr Tom Crawford, explains using math in the coronavirus modeling task. Tom is best known as “tomrocksmaths” – give it a moment – and then show your kids who might think math isn’t cool! PS – Occasionally, Tom will do his videos shirtless – showing all his tattoos – just to get our attention, and that of young people.