Tag Archives: pandemic

Reuters reports: The United States surpassed 2 million confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, as rising hospitalizations in states such as Texas and Arizona prompt fears about reopening the country. As of Thursday morning, the U.S. had reported nearly 113,000 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to a Johns Hopkins University database. Many …

The New York Times reports: The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and near zero on Wednesday as the central bank projected a slow economic recovery from the pandemic-induced recession. In their first economic projections this year, Fed officials indicated that they expected the unemployment rate to end 2020 at 9.3 percent and remain elevated for years, coming in at …

The Texas Tribune reports: For the third day in a row, Texas has reported a record number of patients hospitalized with the new coronavirus, a metric Gov. Greg Abbott has said he’s watching as businesses continue reopening and limits on their operations are loosened. Data released Wednesday by the Texas Department of State Health Services shows 2,153 people were hospitalized …

CNN reports: As many as 25,000 retail stores in the United States are expected to permanently close this year as consumer demand for discretionary items stalls and more people shift to online shopping, according to a firm that tracks the industry. So far in 2020, more than 4,000 stores have said they will permanently close, according to a report released …

NorthJersey.com reports: Gov. Phil Murphy lifted the stay-at-home order that has been in effect since the height of the coronavirus outbreak at a press conference late on Tuesday. New Jersey residents were initially told on March 21 to stay at home unless they needed to leave for essential items or if they were an essential worker. The state has seen …

The New York Times reports: The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, delivered a grim assessment of the devastation wrought around the world by the virus, describing Covid-19 on Tuesday as his “worst nightmare” — a new, highly contagious respiratory infection that causes a significant rate of illness and death. “In a period of four months, it …

The Hill reports: Wearing a mask in public will be mandatory in Spain until there is a widely available cure or a vaccine for the coronavirus, Health Minister Salvador Illa announced Tuesday. Illa said at a press conference that wearing masks and other hygienic measures in public places will “remain in place until we permanently defeat the virus, which is …

Phoenix’s ABC News affiliate reports: The Arizona Department of Health Services director sent out a letter this weekend, informing hospitals in our state to “fully activate” their facility emergency plans. In doing so, the hospitals are going to be preparing surge beds, cross-training staff, and possibly reducing or suspending elective surgeries to “ensure adequate bed capacity for both COVID and …

CNBC reports: Texas reported a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations Monday — weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott took the lead among governors in easing social distancing measures to help bring jobs back. There are currently 1,935 Covid-19 patients in hospitals across the state, topping the previous hospitalization record of 1,888 patients on May 5, according to new data from the …

The Associated Press reports: The U.S. economy entered a recession in February, a group of economists declared Monday, ending the longest expansion on record. The economists said employment peaked in February and fell sharply afterward, marking the beginning of the downturn. The economists make up a committee within the National Bureau of Economic Research, a trade group that determines when …

The Washington Post reports: Shutdown orders prevented about 285 million novel coronavirus infections in China and about 60 million in the United States, according to a research study published Monday that examined how stay-at-home orders and other restrictions limited the spread of the contagion. A separate study from epidemiologists at Imperial College London estimated that the shutdowns saved approximately 3.1 …

The Associated Press reports: Brazil’s government has stopped publishing a running total of coronavirus deaths and infections in an extraordinary move that critics call an attempt to hide the true toll of the disease in Latin America’s largest nation. Saturday’s move came after months of criticism from experts that Brazil’s statistics are woefully deficient, and in some cases manipulated, so …

Newsday reports: For the first day in months, New York City witnessed zero confirmed deaths due to coronavirus, current records show. The first confirmed COVID-19 death in the Big Apple occurred on March 11 with the death toll reaching its horrible peak at 590 on April 7, according to records put out by the city. Those same records show that …

The Washington Post reports: Hydroxychloroquine did not prevent healthy people exposed to covid-19 from getting the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to a study being published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study is the first randomized clinical trial that tested the antimalarial drug, touted by President Trump, as a preventive measure. It showed that hydroxychloroquine …

Bloomberg News reports: Sweden’s top epidemiologist has admitted his strategy to fight Covid-19 resulted in too many deaths, after persuading his country to avoid a strict lockdown. “If we were to encounter the same illness with the same knowledge that we have today, I think our response would land somewhere in between what Sweden did and what the rest of …

ABC News reports: Unpersuaded by more than 100,000 pandemic deaths in the United States, 45% of strong conservatives, four in 10 Republicans and nearly as many evangelical Christians say they’d be unlikely to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, even for free. Overall, 27% of adults in an ABC News/Washington Post poll say they definitely (15%) or probably (12%) would not …

Axios reports: The CEOs of 179 health care companies took home almost $2.5 billion in 2019, a majority of which came from cashing out stock, according to an Axios analysis of financial filings. The big picture: That amount is four times what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had to study and prepare for all “emerging and zoonotic infectious …

The New York Times reports: Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people out of their homes and onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump still won’t wear a mask in public, but he did take one conspicuous precaution when he recoiled from a handshake while disembarking from Marine One on his way to board Air Force One. On Saturday, Trump traveled to Cape Canaveral for the latest attempt at a joint Spacex Nasa launch, but it was the first …

The Associated Press reports: Hawaii Gov. David Ige on Thursday said he would extend the state’s 14-day quarantine requirement for travelers arriving in the state beyond June 30. The state mandated the quarantine beginning on March 26 to control the spread of the coronavirus. The governor told a joint online press conference held with the state’s four county mayors that …