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COVID-19 Megathread #8

This post is updated daily.

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COVID-19 has now infected more than 803,313 people. There have been 39,014 confirmed deaths and 172,657 confirmed recoveries attributed to the virus.

 

Do you think you have COVID-19?

The CDC has a new online tool that allows people to "self-check" for COVID-19. Click here to use the "Coronavirus Self-Checker" tool.

 

Recent Updates

(Note: These are the updates from the last 48-72 hours.)

 

MARCH 30 -

General:

  • Coronavirus death rate is lower than previously reported, study says, but it's still deadlier than seasonal flu. The research, published in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, estimated that about 0.66% of those infected with the virus will die. That coronavirus death rate, which is lower than earlier estimates, takes into account potentially milder cases that often go undiagnosed -- but it's still far higher than the 0.1% of people who are killed by the flu. When undetected infections aren't taken into account, the Lancet study found that the coronavirus death rate was 1.38%, which is more consistent with earlier reports. Read more here.

Updates from around the world:

  • Portugal has temporarily given all migrants and asylum seekers full citizenship rights, granting them full access to the country's healthcare as the outbreak of the novel coronavirus escalates in the country. The move will "unequivocally guarantee the rights of all the foreign citizens" with applications pending with Portuguese immigration, meaning they are "in a situation of regular permanence in National Territory," until June 30. Read more here.

  • Sweden is open for business during its coronavirus outbreak; the Scandinavian country believes its distinctive high-trust culture will protect it from needing to shut down for the pandemic. It's now the only country in Europe to not have restricted movement. Read more here.

  • Brazil’s governors are defying President Jair Bolsonaro over his call to reopen schools and businesses, dismissing his argument that the “cure” of widespread shutdowns to contain the spread of the coronavirus is worse than the disease. Read more here.

  • Panama has announced new movement restrictions: Starting April 1, women will circulate Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and men Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On Sundays everyone should stay at home. The same schedule is used with the last ID number and exceptions established in Decree 507 remain. See the tweet here.

  • Netherlands: A painting by Dutch master Vincent van Gogh was stolen in an overnight smash-and-grab raid on a museum that was closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, police and the museum said Monday. Read more here.

Updates from the United States:

  • A 1,000-bed Navy ship, the Comfort, has arrived in New York City. The ship has 12 operating rooms, a medical laboratory and more than 1,000 officers. See the video here.

  • Federal judges block 3 states from enforcing abortion bans tied to the pandemic. Ohio, Iowa, Mississippi, Alabama and Oklahoma are among the other states that recently moved to suspend access. The judges on Monday lifted restrictions Texas, Ohio and Alabama imposed on abortion during the coronavirus pandemic in decisions that could have repercussions for several more Republican-led states that have deemed the procedure non-essential during the crisis. Read more here.

  • Arizona, Virginia, and Washington D.C. have now joined dozens of other states in issuing stay-at-home orders. You can see all the states that currently have stay-at-home orders and advisories here.

 

MARCH 29 -

Updates from around the world:

  • Hungary: Parliament passes bill that gives PM Orbán unlimited power & proclaims:
  • State of emergency w/o time limit
  • Rule by decree
  • Parliament suspended
  • No elections
  • Spreading fake news + rumors: up to 5 yrs in prison
  • Leaving quarantine: up to 8 yrs in prison. See the tweet here.

The former Italian Prime Minister calls for Hungary to reverse its dictatorship law or else be expelled from the EU. See the tweet here.

  • The postponed Tokyo Olympics have been rescheduled and will now be held from July 23 to August 8 in 2021. Read more here.

  • Global oil benchmark Brent crude plunged to its cheapest in 18 years on Monday, while U.S. crude briefly tumbled below $20 per barrel, on heightened fears that the global coronavirus shutdown could last months and demand for fuel could decline further. Read more here.

  • Spain's Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Parma has become the first royal to die from the novel coronavirus. The 86-year-old was a cousin of Spain’s King Felipe VI. She died after contracting COVID-19. Read more here.

  • Australia: Two Australian states close gun shops. Read more here.

  • Japan will deny entry to people coming from the U.S., China, South Korea, and most of Europe. See the tweet here.

  • Argentina, Honduras, and Guatemala are all extending their quarantines through to at least mid-April.

  • Mexico is calling on all residents in Mexico to stay at home until April 19, saying it was the only way to reduce the transmission rate of the coronavirus.Read more here.

  • Belarus president refuses to cancel anything - and says vodka and saunas will ward off COVID-19. Read more here.

  • Netherlands: In a national address to the Dutch nation on Monday, March 16th, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his country would aim to develop immunity to the novel coronavirus among its population by allowing large numbers to contract the illness at a controlled pace. In the past week, Rutte has since walked back the herd immunity policy line by introducing what could be characterized as lockdown light. The country's pragmatic balancing act doesn't seem to be working as well as intended...The confirmed case fatality rate in the Netherlands of approximately 7% stands in stark contrast to its neighbor Germany’s 0.7%. Read more here.

  • Indonesia may soon quarantine almost 30 million people in its capital and surrounding areas and limit people’s movement between regions to contain the spread of the coronavirus that’s killed more than 100 people in the world’s fourth-most populous nation. Read more here.

  • South Korea: Around 14 million South Korean households will qualify for financial assistance under the government’s newly announced disaster support fund. The level of support depends on the number of people in the household, with one person households qualifying for 400,000 won ($327), while households with four or more people will receive 1 million won ($817) in support. Read more here.

  • Nigeria: Both Nigeria's largest city and its capital city will be under a "cessation of movement" for 14 days, said Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in a Sunday address, which was published on Twitter. See the tweet here.

Updates from the United States:

  • President Trump extends social distancing guidelines to April 30. See the tweet here.

  • CDC issues domestic travel advisory for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Read more here.

  • The Justice Department has started to probe a series of stock transactions made by lawmakers ahead of the sharp market downturn stemming from the spread of coronavirus, according to two people familiar with the matter. The inquiry, which is still in its early stages and being done in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has so far included outreach from the FBI to at least one lawmaker, Sen. Richard Burr, seeking information about the trades, according to one of the sources. Read more here.

  • Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke to reporters Sunday morning saying Americans should start to see checks from the $2 trillion stimulus bill direct deposited into their accounts over the next three weeks. Read more here.

  • New York City builds emergency field hospital in Central Park. The mayor announced the construction of a 68-bed emergency field hospital in Central Park's East Meadow. Read more here.

  • Maryland has now joined other U.S. states in announcing a stay-at-home order. Read more here.

  • Michigan: State Rep. Isaac Robinson, D-Detroit, died Sunday. Crain’s reported that Robinson died of “suspected coronavirus infection,” but the cause of his death was not immediately confirmed late Sunday. Read more here.

  • Liberty University reopened last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. Eppes said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. An additional eight were told to self-isolate. Read more here.

 

MARCH 28 -

Updates from around the world:

  • Germany: Mr Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany's Hesse state, has committed suicide apparently after becoming "deeply worried" over how to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus. Mr Schaefer, 54, was found dead near a railway track on Saturday. Read more here.

  • India is planning to turn some railway coaches into isolation wards for patients with coronavirus, as authorities scramble to prepare the country's health infrastructure for an expected surge in cases. Read more here.

  • United Kingdom: Fruit and veg ‘will run out’ unless Britain charters planes to fly in farm workers from eastern Europe. UK urgently needs to fill 90,000 positions to pick crops that will otherwise die in the fields. Read more here.

  • Spain's quarantine measures have been extended until April 9. Read more here. Meanwhile, the regional government of Madrid is planning to set up a second makeshift morgue, which could start receiving coffins on Monday. The facility is located inside a failed development project called the City of Justice that was launched in 2005 to bring together all of Madrid’s judicial institutions. Read more here.

  • France: A French former cabinet minister and former president of the Parisian Haut-de-Seine administrative district has become one of the first high-profile politicians to die of COVID-19. Patrick Devedjian was 75. Read more here.

  • Vietnam has started closing non-essential services and restricting religious activities, parts of measures under a directive signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that runs from Saturday until April 15. Provincial and municipal leaders will decide which specific services are to be shut down. Read more here.

  • Mexico: President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been criticized at home and abroad for what many called a lackadaisical posture — urging people to hug, shaking hands and kissing well-wishers as he stumped and extolling his personal good-luck charms such as Catholic scapulars, a shamrock and $2 bill. But the president and his team have shifted their message radically in recent days, as virus cases have begun surging, urging people to stay home and to practice social distancing — and warning of dire results if that advice is ignored. Although the Mexican government still hasn't instituted curfews or mandatory stay-at-home orders. Read more here. This change comes after a Mexican governor sparked outrage earlier in the week by claiming that poor people are immune to the virus. Read more here.

Updates from the United States:

  • Kansas joins dozens of other states in issuing a stay-at-home order. Read more here.

  • Rhode Island sparked outrage with the state's new coronavirus measures, which include stopping and screening passengers in cars wtih New York license plates, and going door-to-door to inform any New Yorkers who may have come to the state that they must self-quarantine for 14 days. Read more here. In response, NY Governor Cuomo has threatened to sue Rhode Island. Read more here.

  • Meanwhile, President Trump and Governor Cuomo got into a constitutional slapfight about whether or not a federal quarantine would be mandated for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In the end, President Trump backed down and instead requested the CDC issue a "strong travel advisory" for the area, which has now happened. Read more here.

 

Tracking COVID-19

 

Reputable Sources for Information:

 

Previous Megathreads

Posted Mar 27, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC · edited

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