Coronavirus COVID-19 Update for 4/9/2020

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 209 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances.

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Confirmed cases in the USA are:  468,566

Deaths in the USA are: 16,691

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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 could be related to how sick they had become by the time they were put on the machines, some experts said.

But some health professionals have wondered whether ventilators might actually make matters worse in certain patients, perhaps by igniting or worsening a harmful immune system reaction.

That’s speculation. But experts do say ventilators can be damaging to a patient over time, as high-pressure oxygen is forced into the tiny air sacs in a patient’s lungs.

NOTE:  Here's one story from a survivor who was treated with a ventilator:

https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/My-near-death-experience-on-a-ventilator-15190244.php

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Coronavirus May ‘Reactivate’ in Cured Patients, Korean CDC Says

The coronavirus may be “reactivating” in people who have been cured of the illness, according to Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 51 patients classed as having been cured in South Korea have tested positive again, the CDC said in a briefing on Monday. Rather than being infected again, the virus may have been reactivated in these people, given they tested positive again shortly after being released from quarantine, said Jeong Eun-kyeong, director-general of the Korean CDC.

“While we are putting more weight on reactivation as the possible cause, we are conducting a comprehensive study on this,” Jeong said. “There have been many cases when a patient during treatment will test negative one day and positive another.”

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Military Warns of Coronavirus ‘Breakouts’ Aboard USS Nimitz

The military's second-highest ranking officer on Thursday warned of a new coronavirus outbreak aboard the USS Nimitz, an aircraft carrier about to embark on a deployment to the Pacific as the military struggles to contain the spread of the virus that has already sidelined crewmembers from another carrier.

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