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Tag: stay at home order

Coronavirus Update: Week 13

Over the past few weeks, coronavirus has been surging in almost every state, forcing two states to order refrigerated trucks for storing bodies, many states to shut back down, and some to begin considering a new stay-at-home order. Almost all states’ governors have issued mask mandates to try and reduce the number of cases, and some large chain stores have also announced mandatory mask policies. Even amid this resurgence of the virus, the White House is urging schools to reopen in a few short weeks, and many districts are planning to do so. 

39 US States Report An Increase In New Cases

The United States reported more than 77,255 new cases on Thursday, July 16. This is the largest number of cases in a single day since the pandemic began. Thursday’s record numbers included:

  • More than 5,000 cases in Bexar County, Texas, which contains San Antonio, where numbers spiked in part because of a backlog in test reporting.
  • 13.965 cases reported in Florida
  •  8,544 new cases reported in California; Los Angeles County reported 4,592 new cases
  •  3,441 cases reported in Georgia

The following states recorded their highest single-day death tolls on Thursday, July 16:

semi-truck on the road
Cases are on the rise in all states, but especially in Texas & Arizona, where they are in need or refrigerated trucks to store dead bodies.
  • Texas reported 174 Covid-19-related deaths
  • South Carolina reported 69 Covid-19-related deaths
  • Florida reported 156 deaths

Texas & Arizona Bring In Refrigerated Trucks

As the coronavirus surges, Texas and Arizona are bringing refrigerated trucks into their hardest hit areas to store hundreds of bodies. Texas funeral home directors are facing up to 93 deaths per day, so the Federal Emergency Management Agency has ordered 14 refrigerated trucks to support the state’s current 8 trucks that were ordered in  April. Arizona’s Maricopa county ordered 14 coolers to hold up to 280 bodies. 

No Cruises Until Late September

In March, the CDC announced on its website that cruise ship travel was to be suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. In their “No Sail Order and Suspension of Further Embarkation,” the CDC had first suspended cruise ship travel until July 24; the CDC has now extended the order until September 30.

Mask Mandates Continue in Many Stateslittle girl wearing a mask holding flowers

States around the country have issued mandates requiring that masks be worn in public, especially indoor public spaces. Studies have shown that wearing masks when going out can help reduce the number of cases. Combining mask wearing with avoidance of crowded places like bars and restaurants could  help keep counties from having to shut down again.

“In the hot zones, we really need like almost 90% of people to be wearing masks out in the public when they’re interacting with other people,” Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said at an HHS briefing. He continued, “We know that 50 to 60 to 70% in some areas are traced to a single bar, and then the secondary spread from that. Being indoors in close quarters over a long period of time is just a recipe for spread.”

Stores Requiring Masks

Some U.S. retailers have announced that they will require customers to wear masks inside their stores. The stores that are implementing masking policies include:

starbucks logo
Starbucks is requiring everyone to wear masks as of July 15.

 

Target– starting August 1st
  • Kroger– policy began July 22 
  • CVS- policy began July 20
  • Walmart– policy began July 20
  • Kohl’s– policy began July 20
  • Starbucks– policy began July 15
  • Best Buy- policy began July 16
  • Costco– policy began in May

Miami Mayor Close To Issuing Stay-At-Home Order

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has said that he is very close to issuing a new stay-at-home order for his city. “There is very little, if any of federal and state guidance on how and what metric we need to use to close,” Suarez told Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” “So we’re developing all of that on our own. And we’re faced with making these tough decisions in the next few days if things don’t improve radically.”

“The situation is dire,” Suarez said. “I don’t want to sugarcoat it or I don’t want to downplay it in any way. Our hospitalizations are at the highest level. Our ICUs are double what they were back then and our vents have surpassed the high point. The death rate will continue to go up if we don’t take any more dramatic measures.”

He said that he will most likely issue the new order in the next few days or within the next week.

White House Demands Schools Reopenteenage boy wearing a mask with school classroom in the background.

At a press briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany made clear that President Trump is in support of opening schools fully without any kind of remote learning. “When he says open, he means open in in full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school,” McEnany told reporters. “The science should not stand in the way of this.”

“We encourage localities and states to just simply follow the science, open our schools. It’s very damaging to our children,” she said. “There’s a lack of reporting of abuse, there’s mental depression that is not addressed, suicidal ideations that are not addressed when students are not in school.”

Many are not worried that the kids themselves will  get sick, but that they will spread it around the community. So despite Trump’s push for in-school learning, many districts announced they will not return for in-person learning, and some will try  a hybrid of in-person and remote learning. 

PA Governor Considering Pulling The Plug On Reopening Schools

Despite push from the White House to open schools, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf  said he is willing to “pull the plug” on reopening schools if the surge continues in his state. He attributed the new outbreak  to interstate travel, and he is worried that cases will continue to spike once students are back in school. He also believes that he may not have to pull the plug, because teachers and students will most likely choose not to return to schools in the fall. 

Russian Hackers Try To Hack Into Vaccine Researchperson in front of a laptop with coding on the screen

Russian intelligence has been targeting health care organizations in order to try and steal vaccine research data. According to the National Security Agency, APT29, or Cozy Bear, a hacking group that is associated with Russian intelligence, has been taking advantage of the chaos of the pandemic to hack into our systems using malware and spear-phishing. 

“APT29 has a long history of targeting governmental, diplomatic, think-tank, health care and energy organizations for intelligence gain so we encourage everyone to take this threat seriously and apply the mitigations issued in the advisory,” said Anne Neuberger, the NSA’s cybersecurity director.

“We condemn these despicable attacks against those doing vital work to combat the coronavirus pandemic,” said Paul Chichester, the director of operations for Britain’s National Cyber Security Center.

Coronavirus Update: Week 6

The number of cases and deaths from coronavirus continued to climb this week, with new confirmed cases surging to around 200,000 a day. Because of the rapid increase in new cases, a draft government report has predicted that deaths will soon rise to about 3,000 a day. So far, governors have introduced phases for slowly opening up their states, while some states like Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Florida have already begun to re-open. Because of the new predictions and the rapid reopening of some states, many fear that the crisis will only get worse. In order to try and slow down the spread, people are still required to practice social distancing and wear masks when they leave their houses. 

the state of georgia outlined in white with a sign that saus "we're open" in red.

Georgia Reopens

Many governors across the country have begun to reopen their states this week, despite fears that reopening will cause a spike in coronavirus cases. Although it was one of the last states to shut down, Georgia has begun to allow dine-in restaurants, salons, gyms, and other businesses to reopen. Smartphone data shows out-of-state visitors have begun flocking there: in the first week of Georgia’s reopening, an additional 62,440 visitors arrived there each day. 

New Model Predictions

The new model created by the White House is now predicting a total of 134,000 people in the U.S. could die from Coronavirus. This is nearly double its previous prediction. According to CNN, the model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, had predicted 72,433 deaths as of the morning of May 4.

New TSA Guidelines

people at an airport with masks on over their mouth and nose.
TSA has announced that they will require employees to wear facial protection at security checkpoints.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that they will require employees to wear facial protection at security checkpoints. They acknowledge that it is difficult  to practice social distancing at security checkpoints, and they are hoping to make things safer by requiring masks. 

“TSA is making this change to protect our employees and travelers as social distancing cannot always be maintained in the screening process.” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in an accompanying statement.

Many airlines, including American, United, Delta, Southwest, Alaska, Frontier, JetBlue and Spirit, have announced plans to make face masks mandatory for passengers.

More Than 66% Of New Cases in NY Are People At Home

The number of covid-19 hospitalizations has remained steady in the state of New York, and surprisingly, 66% of cases were people who stayed home. 

“We were thinking that maybe we were going to find a higher percentage of essential employees who were getting sick because they were going to work, that these may be nurses, doctors, transit workers,” Cuomo said. “That’s not the case, and they were predominantly at home.”

However, the number of deaths in the state has begun to decline, and the governor is hopeful that the numbers will continue to go down. On May 7, there were 232 deaths in the state, compared with a peak of around 800 a day a few weeks ago. New York City, one of the state’s hotspots, is currently trying to reduce the number of infections by using UV light to try and kill the virus on the subway.

Trump Battles CDC Over Reopening Guidelines

yellow and black boxing gloves

As Trump pushes to reopen the economy, a battle between the White House and the CDC has erupted. While The CDC has put out guidelines for child care programs, schools, churches, restaurants and bars, and mass transit administrators, including using disposable utensils, closing every other row of seats on buses and subways, and even restricting travel to areas with high infection levels, the White House has rejected these recommendations. The White House has cited concerns that these recommendations could infringe on religious rights and cause further damage to the economy. 

Nearly Everyone Who Gets Coronavirus Makes Antibodies

A new study has found that nearly everyone who gets infected with the coronavirus will eventually make antibodies to the virus. According to the study, the age and sex of the patient did not matter, nor did the severity of the illness. 

“The question now becomes to what extent those are neutralizing antibodies, and whether that leads to protection from infection — all of which we should presume are yes,” said Sean Whelan, a virologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

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