Disaster Journals - Stories of disasters before, during and after.

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the USA:  1,035,765. COVID-19 deaths in the USA:  59,266  Tyson Foods idles its largest pork plant after Iowa outbreak Tyson Foods suspended operations Wednesday at an Iowa plant that is critical to the nation’s pork supply but had been blamed for fueling a massive coronavirus outbreak in the community. The company said the indefinite closure of the Waterloo, Iowa, plant would deny a vital market to hog farmers and further disrupt the nation’s meat supply. Tyson had kept the facility, its largest pork plant, open in recent days over the objections of local officials. The plant can process 19,500 hogs per day, accounting for nearly 4% of U.S. pork processing capacity, according to the National Pork Board.  Two cats in New York test positive for coronavirus Two cats in New York have been infected with the novel co

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed USA cases are:  710,021 Deaths in the USA are:  37,158 N.Y.C. Death Toll Soars Past 10,000 in Revised Virus Count  New York City, already a world epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, sharply increased its death toll by more than 3,700 victims on Tuesday, after officials said they were now including people who had never tested positive for the virus but were presumed to have died of it. The new figures, released by the city’s Health Department, drove up the number of people killed in New York City to more than 10,000, and appeared to increase the overall United States death count by 17 percent to more than 26,000.

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances.  Confirmed cases in the USA are: 677,570. Deaths in the USA are: 34,617.   They jumped a lot from yesterday due to a change in allowing probably COVID-19 deaths as being counted as COVID-19 deaths. Personal note:  I was very fatigued on Sunday, April 12th.  Spent most of the day laying around. I have had diarrhea since Tuesday evening.  It was bad last night but has died down after this morning.  Today I have only eaten two slices of keto toast.  In the afternoon, I noticed that my heart rate was higher than normal while resting and moving around. Another 5 million people filed jobless claims last week, bringing total to almost 22 million in one month 

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed cases in the USA are: 644,089 Deaths in the USA are: 28,529 California:  Stay-at-home order will be extended to May 15 in Ventura County  CDC: 90% of Coronavirus Hospitalized Patients Have Underlying Conditions Nearly 90 percent of U.S. coronavirus patients who have been hospitalized have underlying health problems, or comorbidities, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), released Wednesday, focuses on hospitalization rates and characteristics of patients hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus disease, or COVID-19. CDC reports among 1,482 patients from 14 states who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in March, 74.5 percent were 50 years of age or older, and 54.4 percent were male. State Department cables warned of safety issues at Wuhan lab studying bat

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed cases in the USA are:  586,941 Deaths in the USA are:  23,640 All 50 states under disaster declaration for first time in US history All 50 states are under a major disaster declaration for the first time in U.S. history, after President Trump approved Wyoming’s declaration Saturday. Within 22 days, Trump declared a major emergency in all 50 states and most territories through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The final disaster declaration occurred on the same day U.S. surpassed Italy to become the country with the most deaths from the virus. Trump approved the first major disaster declaration for coronavirus in New York on March 20, followed two days later by Washington and California, the early hot spots of the virus. New York has become the hardest-hit state, recording 188,694 positive cases and 9,385 deaths from the virus

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 209 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed cases in the USA are:  468,566 Deaths in the USA are: 16,691 Some doctors moving away from ventilators for virus patients Generally speaking, 40% to 50% of patients with severe respiratory distress die while on ventilators, experts say. But 80% or more of coronavirus patients placed on the machines in New York City have died, state and city officials say. Higher-than-normal death rates also have been reported elsewhere in the U.S., said Dr. Albert Rizzo, the American Lung Association’s chief medical officer. Similar reports have emerged from China and the United Kingdom. One U.K. report put the figure at 66%. A very small study in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the disease first emerged, said 86% died. The reason is not clear. It may have to do with what kind of shape the patients were in before they were infected. Or it coul

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 209 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed cases in the USA are: 434,062. Deaths in the USA are:  14,774. Gov. Murphy extends N.J.'s coronavirus public-health emergency for 30 days. State of emergency remains in effect. Intelligence report warned of coronavirus crisis as early as November: Sources  As far back as late November, U.S. intelligence officials were warning that a contagion was sweeping through China’s Wuhan region, changing the patterns of life and business and posing a threat to the population, according to four sources briefed on the secret reporting. Concerns about what is now known to be the novel coronavirus pandemic were detailed in a November intelligence report by the military's National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI), according to two officials familiar with the document’s contents. The report was the result of analysis of wire and comp

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 209 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed USA cases:  400,412 Deaths:  12,854 Adjusted coronavirus model predicts fewer people in US will need hospitals, but 82,000 will still die by August   An influential model tracking the coronavirus pandemic in the United States now predicts that fewer people will die and fewer hospital beds will be needed compared to its estimates from last week. As of Monday, the model predicted the virus will kill 81,766 people in the United States over the next four months, with just under 141,000 hospital beds being needed. That's about 12,000 fewer deaths -- and 121,000 fewer hospital beds -- than the model estimated on Thursday. A "massive infusion of new data" led to the adjustments, according to the model's maker, Dr. Christopher Murray, who serves as director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of W

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 209 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed USA cases are:  367,004 Deaths are:  10,871 Personal Note:  Today I learned that Ed Konciak, a coworker who had retired around September of last year, has died with COVID-19.  May he rest in peace. See: https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/03/i-feel-helpless-inside-the-nj-nursing-home-where-4-died-from-coronavirus.html

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 208 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed USA cased are 336,673. Deaths are 9,616. California:  New Stanford research reveals if you’ve been exposed  Long motorcades of volunteers converged at three Stanford University research sites this week, donating blood for a new test that identifies the prevalence of coronavirus in our community – and could help reveal the full scope of Santa Clara County’s epidemic. The 2,500 test slots on Friday and Saturday filled up within hours, as news of the project — the first large scale study of its type in the U.S. — spread quickly through the county. The test detects protective antibodies to the virus rather than the virus itself. This gives scientists a snapshot of how many people in the county have already been infected, but weren’t seriously sick and didn’t realize it. And it tells residents whether they carry potentially protective antibodies – so may

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 206 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. Confirmed cases in the USA are 311.357. Deaths are 8,452. California:  L.A. County tells paramedics to delay transporting cardiac patients amid coronavirus Los Angeles County officials this week ordered paramedics to wait five minutes after reviving someone with cardiac arrest to see if their heart stops again before racing them to the hospital, a policy intended to reduce the number of high-risk patients flooding emergency rooms during the coronavirus pandemic. The policy, which could apply to 911 patients with heart attacks and drug overdoses, as well as those with COVID-19, instructs first responders to wait and see whether a patient loses heart function again within five minutes after being revived. If so, paramedics will continue CPR in the field until a doctor tells them to stop because it is likely futile. CPR could continue for as long as 40 minu

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 205 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances: the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan, and the Holland America's MS Zaandam cruise ship. Confirmed infected cases in the USA are 277,161. Deaths are 7,392.   Including a great guy.  Frank who I met last fourth of July at a function.  RIP Frank. N.Y. Virus Deaths Double in Three Days to Almost 3,000 The coronavirus was taking lives at a devastating pace in New York on Friday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said, with deaths nearly doubling in just three days, from 1,550 on Tuesday to 2,935 on Friday. More people in New York were reported on Friday to have died of the virus in the previous 24 hours — 562 — than in the first 27 days of March. Officials in New York City reported 305 new deaths due to the virus on Friday evening, bringing the city’s death toll to 1,867 in the biggest single-day jump so far.  CDC recommends wearin

The  coronavirus  COVID-19 is affecting  204 countries and territories  around the world and  2 international conveyances:  the  Diamond Princess  cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan, and the Holland America's  MS Zaandam  cruise ship.  In the USA there are 245,066 confirmed cases. 6,075 deaths. FDA approves first serology test for coronavirus The FDA has approved a blood test that will determine whether a person has been infected by COVID-19, the agency said Thursday morning. “We’re going to announce today, our first approval of a serology test that will, in laboratories, allow the labs to determine exposure in the antibodies,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said on CBS News Radio. These serology tests can effectively identify past coronavirus infections, but are less successful at identifying recent ones, CNN reported. The authorized test, from manufacturer Cellex Inc., requires blood to be collected through a vein and can only be performed in a certif

The  coronavirus  COVID-19 is affecting  203 countries and territories  around the world and  2 international conveyances:  the  Diamond Princess  cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan, and the Holland America's  MS Zaandam  cruise ship. In the USA, 215,081 confirmed cases. 5,109 dead. Governor Newsom: COVID-19 patients in ICUs have quadrupled, hospitalizations have tripled in last six days Gov. Gavin Newsom opened a wide-ranging discussion on California’s response to the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday with updated statistics on the number of patients with COVID-19 in intensive care unit beds around the state. Newsom said 774 people in California are in ICU beds on Wednesday, an increase of 16.4 percent from Tuesday. “Why do I start with the number 774? Because that’s the number that I wake up to that I’m most focused on in the state of California,” Newsom said. Newsom said just over 40 percent of the patients who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 to date in t