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Coronavirus

COVID-19 Update 2020-03-13

Coronavirus

President Trump declared a national emergency today, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide disaster relief funding to state and local governments, as well as federal assistance to support the coronavirus response.

U.S. health regulators have approved a new coronavirus test that will speed up by tenfold the ability to test patients.

There are currently 142,783 of COVID-19 confirmed globally, with 5,374 deaths and 70,920 recoveries.

The reports of confirmed cases outside of China continue to rise daily with 8,363 new cases on March 12, 7,251 new cases on March 11th, up from 4,543 March 10th.

There are 53,763 confirmed cases outside of China as of March 12th, up from 8,555 cases on March 1st.

South Korea has largely controlled the rate of new cases reporting just +110 new cases today, down from +851 new cases on March 3rd. Iran reports +1,289 new confirmed cases today bringing their total to 11,364.

Spain has doubled their confirmed cases every two days for the past 6 days, reporting 5,232 total cases today, up from 525 on March 7th.

Italy continues a dramatic increase with +2,547 new cases reported today, bringing their total to 17,660. In about 3 weeks, Italy went from 3 cases to over 12,000 cases.

In spite of substantial wealth and excellent health care, services in Italy’s Lombardy region have been overwhelmed. Healthcare workers have been working around the clock. About 350 (20%) have been infected, and some have died. Italy’s government is considering hiring 20,000 more medical workers and providing 5,000 more ventilators. Italy has seen its fatality rate reach more than 6%, compared to South Korea, where the fatality rate remains under 1%.

Italy continues a dramatic nation wide “lockdown”, barring their 60 million citizens from all all public events, including school, entertainment and worship.

According to the WHO, China has largely controlled the spread of the virus, with just 13,524 active cases reported March 12th, down from a peak of 58,016 active cases on February 17th. China is decommissioning several temporary hospitals and sending aid to several countries including Iraq and Italy.

There are +572 new confirmed cases so far in the US today, bringing the total to 2,269.

The US had +106 new cases on March 8th and +461 new cases on March 12th.

Total US cases more than doubled in the past 4 days, while Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan have all controlled their local disease spread to a manageable rate.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that up to 70% of the country’s population – some 58 million people – could contract the coronavirus.

A panel of experts at UC, San Francisco predicted that between 40% and 70% of Americans could become infected within the next 18 months and 1 million could die if no treatment is found.

The US stock market has been dramatically effected by the outbreak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost nearly a third of its value since it peaked around 29,500 points on February 12th. The Dow has recovered somewhat today, closing at 23,185 points.

Most Colleges and Universities have canceled all in-person classes.

New Mexico, Maryland, Ohio and Kentucky have closed their public schools.

San Francisco School district closed all schools yesterday.

San Jose, Santa Clara and Oakland districts announced closures today.

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education has decided in concurrence with the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency to close all public Santa Cruz County schools for the week of March 16-20. Schools will remain open today, providing students an opportunity to receive direction and gather educational materials from their teachers.

There are 210 confirmed cases in the Bay Area today, up from 44 last Friday.

Three more cases have been confirmed in Santa Cruz county, bringing the total to 7.

There are no local shortages of food, though many local stores had unusually busy days. It is always a good idea to have an emergency supply.

You can find out more from the County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency, by going to santacruzhealth.org.

If you experience Fever, Cough or Shortness of Breath, please call your Health Care Professional.

Regardless of how healthy you are, to protect the most vulnerable, don’t be a disease vector. Take action by staying home if possible.

As is always true to prevent any communicable disease, stay home if you are sick, wash your hands frequently, cough or sneeze into your elbow, avoid touching your face, and remember, don’t pick your nose!!

– The COVID-19 Update from KSCO’s Director of Digital Media, Jonty McCollyer

Sources And Further Info

Dr. John Campbell’s Daily Report

Oakland, San Jose schools joins chorus of campuses canceling in-person classes

https://www.ktvu.com/news/oakland-san-jose-schools-joins-chorus-of-campuses-canceling-in-person-classes

Multiple experts say up to 70% of Americans could be infected with the coronavirus and 1 million could die if no treatment is found — so people over 60 should ‘stay home unless it’s critical’

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-150-million-americans-may-get-infected-2020-3

Trump declares national emergency to combat coronavirus, authorizes waiving of laws and regulations

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-hold-friday-afternoon-press-conference-coronavirus-n1157981

A coronavirus cautionary tale from Italy: Don’t do what we did

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/13/opinion/coronavirus-cautionary-tale-italy-dont-do-what-we-did/

Healthcare on brink of collapsing’: Doctors share stories from inside the Italy coronavirus quarantine

https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-11/italy-doctors-coronavirus-covid-19-quarantine-milan-health/

As Italy’s Hospitals Overwhelmed by Coronavirus, Top Health Official Says ‘Worst Is Yet Come’ for US

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/11/italys-hospitals-overwhelmed-coronavirus-top-health-official-says-worst-yet-come-us

Worldometer Coronavirus Cases

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus

Map: Coronavirus cases in the Bay Area, Northern California

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/04/map-coronavirus-cases-in-the-bay-area-northern-california/

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