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Your Coronavirus Update – Today, May 20, 2020
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
Afghanistan sees biggest one-day rise in new infections
New Hampshire allows some outdoor dining
Infections spike in Russia, Brazil, India
U.S. births continued to fall last year, leading to the fewest number of newborns in 35 years
CVS returning $43M+ in stimulus money
The U.S., Canada and Mexico have extended their agreements to keep their shared borders closed to non-essential travel to June 21 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alaska business restrictions end Friday
Travel to and from Brazil may be limited by US
Masks required, fewer games, buffet closed: Idaho casino
L.A. County eyes July 4 to reopen economy
Belmont Stakes will be held, with no one in grandstands, on June 20
NYU still plans to have in-person courses in the fall
U.K. to rely on British workers to bring in harvest amid coronavirus
Over 177,000 NYC public school students will do remote summer school
Military will make swabs for COVID-19 tests at Navy shipyard in Maine
New Jersey gym opens for second day in defiance of state order
Pier I will close all US stores permanently.
Astronaut John Glenn’s wife died today at 100 of coronavirus
New study from South Korea shows you do get immunity from having coronavirus – and you don’t get it again, and are not infectious.
Another child dies from coronavirus, a 15 year old from Baltimore, and the CDC briefs doctors on coronavirus in children. There are 147 cases in NY and Gov. Cuomo says, “I think this is the tip of the iceberg”. The treatment is now centered around a plasma that stops the inflammation response.
President Trump, the head of the Veterans Administration, and other leaders defended taking of hydroxychloroquine – 43,000 doses are being used with veterans. Here is the doctor’s letter regarding this:
RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY
Mystic Aquarium reopens Friday with some restrictions
Boston College will begin in August.
Delta Dental to provide $1M to dentists for PPE
MA gyms will remain closed until June, though some gyms are opening in defiance of this, and with daily fines being threatened by local police.
NBC10 is reporting that 42% of all nursing homes in RI have no cases of coronavirus
Narragansettt Town Council chair withdrew the bill mandating local police not enforce Executive Orders of the Governor, when the # of votes to passage couldn’t be secured.
A coalition of 200 RI restaurant owners, led by Federal Hill owners, is advocating for indoor dining by June 1st.
September running of Boston Marathon may be in question
Business offices across Massachusetts to start reopening on May 25, while those in Boston will remain shuttered until June 1.
RI Salvation Army stores open up again in Woonsocket, Providence, and West Warwick today.
RI Data
Deaths: 26 – all time daily high. 50s to 100s
1 in 50s, 2 in 60s, 7 in 70s, 10 in 80s, 5 in 90s, 1 over 100
½ are from previous days – ½ are from 24 hours.
Breakdown of deaths in nursing homes over this week:
- 5/17: 10 of 10
- 5/18: 4 of 7
- 5/19: 24 of 26
- Last week 2100 cases, 350 deaths.
- Nursing home stats for last week: Last week 2100 cases, 350 deaths.
Thursday the RI Nursing Home numbers will be updated.
Continue to ask everyone to follow the rules. “It’s about you and your germs getting others sick.”
Announcement: App tool “Crush Covid RI” – one stop app to do contact tracing. Available for free download in English and Spanish. This will have all the information you need on it. Also helpful for tracing. TY to two RI staff who created the app – homegrown app. Done with Infosys, for free. Public private partnership. Tool for everyone in RI.
1. Where to get resources (food delivery, housing, elderly veteran, healthcare worker, etc.) Also provides information.
2. Testing – locations and scheduling.
3. Symptom tracking
4. Location diary – if you are in one location for 10 mins or more, it will automatically log you in. If you give permission it will go to DOH if you have coronavirus and need contact tracing. This is optional and data disappears in 20 days. Completely voluntary. Governor asking people to do this.
Childcare Centers – will be opened, if we stay to the plan, on June 1st.
Serology testing at Stop & Shop – finishing on Friday. Will analyze and give next steps next week.
Questions:
What percentage of participation do you need on the app to have it useful? Would like everyone to participate – any amount would be helpful.
Data: Will be kept by zip code. For 20 days.
Location: Once you enable location diary, then your location is known. Two-step process.
Infosys is partner company, headquartered in India – with sizeable office in RI. Until you get a call from RIDOH asking you to share your data, your data will not be taken or shared.
Executive Orders on travel, restaurants, etc. – will address that on Friday
Can app be used to see if someone broke quarantine? Ans: not at this point. Only stores data on the phone. Future versions will have ability to ping off someone’s phone – and to trace.
Symptom monitoring data is collected daily on phones, and periodically uploaded, without identification, to RIDOH – every day you will be prompted to take a survey.
Is the app open source code? Validated? Will get back.
Hazard pay for servers 6/1? Not something Gov. is considering. Open to it if federal govt provides the funds, and hazard funding for essential workers is expected to be considered in next round.