Coronavirus News (68)

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Is Far Higher Than Reported, C.D.C. Data Suggests Total deaths in seven states that have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic are nearly 50 percent higher than normal for the five weeks from March 8 through April 11 ....... probably killing more people than the reported statistics capture. ....... In New York City, the home of the biggest outbreak, the number of deaths over this period is more than three times the normal number. (Recent data suggests it could have reached six times higher than normal.) ........ hospital admissions for a major type of heart attack fell by 38 percent in nine major U.S. hospitals in March. ......... Coronavirus is clearly killing more U.S. residents directly than any hurricane has, but it is also changing lives in ways that may also contribute indirectly to increased deaths — by overloading the health care system and discouraging people from seeking care. ........

What if immunity to covid-19 doesn’t last? Researchers say people can catch mild, cold-causing coronaviruses twice in the same year.
Here's who's still waiting for stimulus money
Georgia reports more than 25,600 coronavirus cases, 1,095 deaths. Here’s a breakdown by county
More than 80 percent of hospitalized covid-19 patients in Georgia were African American, study finds
AstraZeneca teams up with Oxford University to develop coronavirus vaccine — first results from human trials expected in June or July
US weekly jobless claims hit 3.84 million, topping 30 million over the last 6 weeks
Up to 60 bodies found in four trucks outside Brooklyn funeral home
Donald Trump's not-so-secret plan for his life after leaving the White House "It seems much more likely -- maybe inevitable -- that once he leaves office, Trump will continue to tweet and call in to cable news shows. Perhaps he will even attend political rallies, which is the part of the job he seems to enjoy most..... "There is no reason to think -- none at all -- that he will discontinue his penchant for weighing in on American politics on an hourly basis. There is every reason to think that he will vigorously attack any Republican who was disloyal to him during his administration. Or retroactively criticizes his tenure. Or runs in opposition to one of his preferred candidates. Or jeopardizes any of his many and varied interests." .......... "OAN, based in San Diego, made its first splash in the opening weeks of the Trump campaign, when the channel became the first to carry Trump's campaign speeches live and in full -- a decision followed quickly by the owner's directive that other candidates' rallies not be given the same treatment, according to internal emails." ...... It's not much of a leap to imagine ex-President Trump becoming a co-owner in OANN after vacating the White House. And using his profile and legion of dedicated fans to boost its profile as a true Trumpian alternative to Fox News. Right? ..... One thing is for sure: Donald Trump isn't going to be gone from your TV screens anytime soon.

No Testing, No Treatment, No Herd Immunity, No Easy Way Out We need to start preparing for a darker reality. ............. The world economy entered free fall. And even for those who do not have a sick relative or a mortgage that can’t be paid, the isolation imposed by social distancing has begun to take a heavy psychological toll. ........ because some people who have COVID-19 don’t seem to show any symptoms, I wondered whether the disease might be far more widespread than the initial data suggested, raising the prospect of the United States’ reaching herd immunity without mass casualties. ............ About one in seven New Yorkers who were administered the test were found to have antibodies to the virus. .........

the true fatality rate could be a little less than 1 percent.

........... there’s no easy way out of social distancing. .........

Even if the virus has a fatality rate of a little less than 1 percent, this means that letting it spread through the population of the United States would cause about 2 million deaths.

........ so long as we can’t rule out that millions would die in the United States alone, plans to brave the virus by going back to normal remain in the realm of the stupid or the sociopathic. .............

patients who took hydroxychloroquine were actually more likely to die than those who did not.

........ the study concludes that remdesivir “was not associated with clinical or virological benefits.” .......... We won’t get to herd immunity in the near future. A miracle drug is not in sight. The only way to restart the economy, then, is to put a highly effective system in place to test millions of people, trace their movements, and quickly quarantine those who might have been infected. ..........

It now seems less likely than ever that the United States will do what is necessary to reopen the economy without causing a second wave of deadly infections.

........ America is also behind on test and trace. ...... But implementing such a system requires two things the United States sorely lacks: widespread trust in the government and a coordinated response from the White House. ........... Viruses don’t respect state lines. ........

the president has doubled down on culture wars and quack cures.

............... Early last week, Trump fanned the flames of the irresponsible protests against stay-at-home orders that are now being staged in cities across the country. A few days later, he vowed to “suspend immigration” to the United States. Then he suggested that scientists look into the possibility of injecting patients with bleach............

And for all the ingenuity shown by individual governors, the absence of a coordinated federal strategy may prove impossible to overcome.

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COVID-19 is too deadly to let it rip through the population. An effective cure is not in sight. And the federal government is incapable of formulating a coherent pandemic response.