COVID-19 Update 2020-03-26

There are 525,605 confirmed cases of COVID-19 confirmed globally today, up from 244,902 last Thursday, with 23,711 deaths and 123,329 recoveries.

The US now has more confirmed cases than China, though the number of deaths in the US remain low at 1,177, indicating that the high number of US cases has more to do with testing protocols. Spain and Germany reported more new cases today than Italy for the first time.

Lockdown measures in Italy may be showing some positive results, as the numbers of daily new confirmed cases have slowed, after peaking at 6,577 March 21st. Italy reported 6,153 new confirmed cases today.

The disease is truly global at this point, with 190 countries having confirmed cases out of 195 countries in the world. South Africa reported +218 new cases today, bringing their total to 927.

Over a dozen companies are at various stages of producing and distributing Point Of Contact COVID-19 tests. The tests take 10-45min to produce a result, removing the additional time and cost of sending a sample to a lab.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged warring parties across the world to lay down their weapons in support of the bigger battle against COVID-19. “The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war. That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world”, he said.

There are +13,785 new confirmed cases in the US today, bringing the total to 81,996.

The US is now reporting more new cases daily than any other country including Italy.

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

About half of all US confirmed cases are in New York, followed by New Jersey, California and Washington. New cases in Washington state have slowed dramatically.

Multiple medical professionals and leaders point to increased early testing and aggressive contact tracing as the keys to those countries success controlling the virus.

The Senate passed the massive $2.2 trillion dollar economic relief bill yesterday evening.

The CDC reports that 20% of all hospitalized cases in the US are between the ages of 20 and 44 years old.

There were 1,463 confirmed cases in the Bay Area today, up from 210 on March 13th.

The total cases confirmed in Santa Cruz county is 25.

FEMA has asked families to limit food stockpiling and “Please only buy what your family needs for a week”, explaining that “Freight flows are not disrupted, but stores need time to restock.”

Many local department stores have had shortages of certain items. Several stores limited the number of certain items per customer to prevent hoarding. Some stores are offering pick up or delivery services.

There is no reason to expect food shortages.

Visit the Coronavirus Daily Update Page on KSCO.com for more info.

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 as much as 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