The number of confirmed coronavirus cases passed 1,000 in the US on Tuesday, with at least 31 people dead and federal officials reportedly scrambling to respond to the outbreak.
With experts warning that the virus's spread across the country is now inevitable, the nation’s top health officials said citizens need to begin preparing to face significant impacts to their daily lives.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a statement: "We would like the country to realise that as a nation, we can't be doing the kinds of things we were doing a few months ago. It doesn't matter if you're in a state that has no cases or one case.”
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The White House has been accused of sending mixed messages over the virus, at times claiming tests would be free and made available to anyone who wants one, later walking back those comments and acknowledging there would not be enough tests to meet demand in the coming weeks.
Donald Trump has previously said he was not happy about the rising number of cases in the US, and celebrated claims that the rate of cases would soon go down about two weeks ago.
In a statement on 26 February, the president said: “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”
Alarming clusters of the coronavirus swelled on both coasts of the US on Tuesday, with 70 cases now tied to a biotech conference in Boston and infections turning up at 10 nursing homes in the hard-hit Seattle area.
Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden abruptly cancelled rallies because of worries about the virus, and New York’s governor announced he is sending the National Guard to scrub public places and deliver food in a New York City suburb that is at the centre of the nation’s biggest known cluster of infections.
Shape Created with Sketch. Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Show all 11 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry 1/11 Ben Gurion International airport, Israel Reuters 2/11 Daxing International Airport, Beijing AFP via Getty 3/11 Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan EPA 4/11 Noi Bai International Airport, Vietnam AFP via Getty 5/11 Haneda Airport, Tokyo Reuters 6/11 Changsha Huanghua International Airport, China Reuters 7/11 Shanghai Pudong Airport in Shanghai, China EPA 8/11 Daxing International Airport, Beijing AFP via Getty 9/11 Haneda Airport, Tokyo Reuters 10/11 Shanghai Pudong Airport in Shanghai, China EPA 11/11 Noi Bai International Airport, Vietnam AFP via Getty 1/11 Ben Gurion International airport, Israel Reuters 2/11 Daxing International Airport, Beijing AFP via Getty 3/11 Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan EPA 4/11 Noi Bai International Airport, Vietnam AFP via Getty 5/11 Haneda Airport, Tokyo Reuters 6/11 Changsha Huanghua International Airport, China Reuters 7/11 Shanghai Pudong Airport in Shanghai, China EPA 8/11 Daxing International Airport, Beijing AFP via Getty 9/11 Haneda Airport, Tokyo Reuters 10/11 Shanghai Pudong Airport in Shanghai, China EPA 11/11 Noi Bai International Airport, Vietnam AFP via Getty
On Wednesday, Washington Governor Jay Inslee will announce a ban on gatherings and events of more than 250 people in the Seattle metro area to try to stop the spread of the outbreak, said a person involved in the planning of the decision. The ban would apply to sporting events like Seattle Mariners baseball and Seattle Sounders football games.
The order would not prohibit the operation of workplaces and is not expected to include school closures, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
Santa Clara County in California, home to San Jose and Silicon Valley, on Monday announced a ban on all gatherings of 1,000 people or more.
At least 24 people have died in Washington from Covid-19, most in the Seattle metro area. Nineteen of the deaths are linked to one suburban Seattle nursing home and authorities in King County said the virus has spread to at least 10 long-term care facilities.
mallemm3346 on March 11st, 2020 at 08:46 UTC »
It's definitely worth mentioning that the U.S. has only run 5,000 Corona virus tests. To put that in to perspective, South Korea is running 10,000 a day. There are many more people with this virus than we know.
thefirstandonly on March 11st, 2020 at 04:51 UTC »
Trump and the WH are not reliable sources of information.
So the US is right on track to be in the multiple thousands of cases within about ~ 10 more days.
Day SK Italy Iran France Spain US 1 51 79 95 57 84 85 2 104 150 139 100 125 111 3 204 227 245 130 169 176 4 433 320 388 191 228 252 5 602 445 593 212 282 352 6 833 650 978 285 365 495 7 977 888 1501 423 430 640 8 1261 1128 2336 613 674 926 9 1766 1694 2922 949 1231 * 10 2337 2036 3513 1126 1696 * 11 3150 2502 4747 1412 * * 12 4212 3089 5823 1748 * * 13 4812 3858 6566 * * * 14 5328 4638 7161 * * * 15 5766 5883 8042 * * * 16 6284 7375 * * * * 17 6767 9172 * * * * 18 7134 10149 * * * * 19 7382 * * * * * 20 7513 * * * * *This chart shows how quickly the cases have grown, these are current numbers, Day 1 is defined as the last day the country had few than 100 reported cases, but it is a different date for each country. ie. SK Day 1 was 2/18, and US's Day 1 was 3/3. Still, the US's cases are basically doubling every 4-5 days, right now it looks like its out of control.
SK has been practicing a model of testing everybody, they pioneered fast-test programs where you can drive up and get tested while in your car! They've tested more than 150,000 people so far. Their case growth has shrink significantly because this format allows anyone who wants a test to get it, so asymptomatic people are being identified and self quarantining. For comparison, the US still isn't really testing many people, certainly not those who are asymptomatic.
What's bad for all of us is that our ongoing response depends on Trump, a fucking idiot, whose fragile ego means the entire government has tailored its initial response, AND WILL TAILOR ITS FUTURE RESPONSE, to first and foremost, protecting him and his ego.
Speaking of the fucking moron, Trump said today that the Flu kills more people, and he compared how many it kills in 1 year versus this new virus which really hasn't run rampant yet.
In 2018 the flu infected 34 million people and killed 34,000 people. For perspective, if this virus were to infect 34 million (same amount) it will result in about 1.1 million dead (3.4%, per WHO).The president* isn't a reliable source of information.
..edit.
These are cases right now, nothing here is forecasted. Data comes from current news articles updating each country’s case count by each passing day.
primitiveradio on March 11st, 2020 at 03:59 UTC »
I mean, there’s 3 zeros there....