U.S. has most coronavirus cases in world, next wave aimed at Louisiana

[webfact]

U.S. has most coronavirus cases in world, next wave aimed at Louisiana

By Maria Caspani and Daniel Trotta

 

A patient is wheeled to an ambulance during the outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 26, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of U.S. coronavirus infections climbed above 82,000 on Thursday, surpassing the national tallies of China and Italy, as New York, New Orleans and other hot spots faced a surge in hospitalizations and looming shortages of supplies, staff and sick beds.

 

With medical facilities running low on ventilators and protective masks and hampered by limited diagnostic testing capacity, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, rose beyond 1,200.

 

"Any scenario that is realistic will overwhelm the capacity of the healthcare system," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told a news conference. He described the state's projected shortfall in ventilators - machines that support the respiration of people have cannot breathe on their own - as "astronomical."

 

"It's not like they have them sitting in the warehouse," Cuomo added. "There is no stockpile available."

 

At least one New York City hospital, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan, has begun a trial of sharing single ventilators between two patients.

 

While New York was the coronavirus epicenter in the United States this week, the next big wave of infections appeared headed for Louisiana, where demand for ventilators has already doubled. In New Orleans, the state's biggest city, Mardi Gras celebrations late last month are believed to have fueled the outbreak.

 

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said New Orleans would be out of ventilators by April 2 and potentially out of bed space by April 7 "if we don't flatten the infection curve soon."

 

"It's not conjecture, it's not some flimsy theory," Edwards told a press conference. "This is what is going to happen."

 

About 80% of Louisiana's intensive care patients are now on breathing machines, up from the normal rate of 30-40%, said Warner Thomas, chief executive of Ochsner Health System, the state's hospital group.

 

In an ominous milestone for the United States as a whole, at least 82,153 people nationwide were infected as of Thursday, according to a Reuters tally based on state and local public health authorities. China, where the global pandemic emerged late last year, had the second highest number of cases, 81,285, followed by Italy with 80,539.

 

At least 1,206 Americans have died from COVID-19, which has proven especially dangerous to the elderly and people with underlying chronic health conditions, Reuters' tally showed.

 

MORE BEDS NEEDED

For New York state, Cuomo said a key goal was rapidly to expand the number of available hospital beds from 53,000 to 140,000.

 

New York hospitals were racing to comply with Cuomo's directive to increase capacity by at least 50%. At Mount Sinai Hospital's Upper East Side location, rooms were being constructed within an atrium to open up more space for beds.

 

At Elmhurst Hospital in New York's borough of Queens, about a hundred people, many wearing masks with their hoods pulled up, stood in line behind barriers outside the emergency room entrance, waiting to enter a tent to be screened for the coronavirus.

 

The city coroner's office has posted refrigerated trucks outside Elmhurst and Bellevue Hospital to temporarily store bodies of the deceased.

 

Deborah White, vice chair of emergency medicine at Jack D. Weiler Hospital in the city's Bronx borough, said 80% of its emergency room visits were patients with coronavirus-like symptoms.

 

A ventilator shortfall and surge in hospitalizations has already raised the prospect of rationing healthcare.

 

Asked about guidelines being drafted on how to allocate ventilators to patients in case of a shortage, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy told reporters such bioethical discussions "haunted him" but were unavoidable.

 

Outside New York and New Orleans, other hot spots appeared to be emerging around the country, including Detroit.

 

Brandon Allen, 48, was buying groceries in Detroit for his 72-year-old mother, who has tested positive and was self-quarantining at home.

 

"It's surreal," Allen said. "People around me I know are dying. I know of a couple people who have died. I know a couple of people who are fighting for their lives. Everyday you hear of another person who has it."

 

RECORD UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS

Desperate to slow virus transmissions by limiting physical contact among people, state and local governments have issued stay-at-home orders covering about half the U.S. population. A major side effect has been the strangulation of the economy, unleashing a wave of layoffs.

 

The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits last week soared to a record of nearly 3.28 million - almost five times the previous weekly record of 695,000 during the 1982 recession.

 

Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said warmer weather may help tamp down the U.S. outbreak as summer approaches, though the virus could re-emerge in the winter.

 

"We hope we get a respite as we get into April, May and June," Fauci said on WNYC public radio.

 

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee said he may extend by two weeks a stay-at-home order tentatively set to expire on April 6, encouraged by what he called a "very modest improvement" in the outbreak in the Seattle area.

 

Washington was the site of the first U.S. outbreak of COVID-19 and has been among the hardest-hit states. As of Thursday afternoon the state reported about 3,200 cases and 147 deaths.

 

(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York and Daniel Trotta in Milan; Additional reporting by Gabriella Borter, Catherine Koppel, Lucia Mutikani, Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, Nathan Layne, Lisa Lambert, Michael Martina, Rebecca Cook, Barbara Goldberg, Rich McKay and Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Will Dunham and Steve Gorman; Editing by Howard Goller, Bill Tarrant, Cynthia Osterman and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-27

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[Bluespunk]

4 minutes ago, webfact said:

U.S. has most coronavirus cases in world

That’s what happens when you put mike pence in charge of managing the control of an outbreak of a highly infectious virus. 

Edited March 27, 2020 by Bluespunk

[FarFlungFalang]

14 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

That’s what happens when you put mike pence in charge of managing the control of an outbreak of a highly infectious virus. 

Looks like he's waiting for the warmer weather to clear things up for him.

[samran]

17 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

That’s what happens when you put mike pence in charge of managing the control of an outbreak of a highly infectious virus. 

Clearly he wasn't praying hard enough.

 

 

[Ian Nagle]

Spend $$billions$ on militiry armed to the teeth but not enough ventilators. 

[Skallywag]

America prides itself in being #1

[heybruce]

54 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

That’s what happens when you put mike pence in charge of managing the control of an outbreak of a highly infectious virus. 

It's actually worse than that:

 

'“We’ve heard that FEMA’s in charge. We’ve heard that the vice president’s in charge. We’ve heard that (U.S. Ambassador-at-Large) Dr. (Deborah) Birx is the coordinator. We’ve heard that (Health and Human Services Secretary Alex) Azar is in charge of the task force. Who’s on first here?”'   https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/24/coronavirus-response-us-cdc-tom-frieden-usa-today/2910582001/

 

This is what happens when you put "a very stable genius" (he must be smart, his uncle taught at MIT) in charge of the country.

[Chomper Higgot]

Trump failed to act when he has time to do so, spending his time declaring it all a hoax and refusing to enact measures to combat the disease until it was too late.

 

He has not yet enacted the Defense Production Act, he’s still refusing to distribute critically needed medical equipment and he still has not mobilized the resources of the Federal Government to support the individual States.

 

He’s not fit for the office of POTUS he needs to go.

[sukhumvitneon]

2 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

That’s what happens when you put mike pence in charge of managing the control of an outbreak of a highly infectious virus. 

That's what happens when you have a ton of Chinese/Chinese Americans flying to China for Chinese New Year, after hearing about the wuflu outbreak yet traveling anyway, contracting the virus, and then flying back to the US.  Trump banned flights to and from China back in January and gets called racist for it

[bendejo]

How's that miracle coming along?

 

 

[Bluespunk]

23 minutes ago, sukhumvitneon said:

That's what happens when you have a ton of Chinese/Chinese Americans flying to China for Chinese New Year, after hearing about the wuflu outbreak yet traveling anyway, contracting the virus, and then flying back to the US.  Trump banned flights to and from China back in January and gets called racist for it

I'm assured it was February actually.

 

Who called him racist over this belated action in February?

 

Here's a guide to what he actually did do

 

https://apnews.com/0dc271ad7f7917374a5a0cfb49273783

 

 

And it was a poorly planned response that led to the situation the USA finds itself in now.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/trumps-latest-travel-ban-highlights-gaps-in-containment-net.html

Edited March 27, 2020 by Bluespunk
Added facts

[heybruce]

27 minutes ago, sukhumvitneon said:

That's what happens when you have a ton of Chinese/Chinese Americans flying to China for Chinese New Year, after hearing about the wuflu outbreak yet traveling anyway, contracting the virus, and then flying back to the US.  Trump banned flights to and from China back in January and gets called racist for it

Not exactly:

 

"President Donald Trump has signed an order that will temporarily bar foreign nationals, other than immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, who have traveled in China within the last 14 days."  https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/1/31/21117655/coronavirus-us-entry-china

 

This happened after the virus was identified in the US.  It was a good step, but other steps were needed and not taken. 

[pegman]

It's going to get plenty worse. I saw on American news a few people   Interviewed who stated that some scripture or rather would save them. This is some kind of Looney Tunes and these people's faith is no match for a virus like this.

[rasmus5150]

No need to worry.

Trump was certain that it would all clear by Easter.

 

Guess he did not say what year.......

[Brickbat]

But it’s a Democratic hoax, it’s going to vanish , let’s all go the church, hug and kiss, it’s no more dangerous than the common flu, my doctors in charge are talking nonsense, if it was up to them, they’d shut the country for 2 years.....

oh gawwd! My RE - election is in Trouble, I might be back with my old buddies who are now in the Clanger ! I might start a WAR. A real war! Mikey, start the bugle! 

[PatOngo]

38 minutes ago, puipuitom said:

How come the USA is cursed for generations as elect time-after time a nit-wit as president of their country ? ?

 

Nixon, Bush, Trump...….........will they ever learn? ???? 

[jany123]

6 hours ago, sukhumvitneon said:

That's what happens when you have a ton of Chinese/Chinese Americans flying to China for Chinese New Year, after hearing about the wuflu outbreak yet traveling anyway, contracting the virus, and then flying back to the US.  Trump banned flights to and from China back in January and gets called racist for it

Can you provide a link as to whom called him a racist for actions pertaining to covid 19? .... or did you read it in a tweet?

 

my recollection is he got called “slow” vs “racist”. 

[from the home of CC]

and there are threads spouting that it doesn't do well in humidity and heat -go tell that to the folks in Louisiana in a week or so...

[rabas]

29 minutes ago, jany123 said:

Can you provide a link as to whom called him a racist for actions pertaining to covid 19? .... or did you read it in a tweet?

 

my recollection is he got called “slow” vs “racist”. 

Google "trump +racist covid-19".  Read any of the usual MSM suspects from the 30,000,000+ hits.

 

"Asian Americans were already experiencing xenophobia since the coronavirus outbreak. But Trump's racist slur for the virus has amped up the ..."   (xenophobia bonus!)

 

It's infinite, as is the tired, old deflection "show me a reference ..." when people know they are wrong.

Edited March 27, 2020 by rabas

[metisdead]

Posts using trolling images/memes have been removed.

 

A post using a profane acronym has been removed:

 

8.) You will not post disruptive or inflammatory messages, vulgarities, obscenities or profanities.

[metisdead]

A post containing unattributed content that was copy and pasted from some site has been removed. 

[URMySunshine]

Mexicans want the border closed to stop the 'American Virus' from spreading - sound familiar !

 

NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Protesters are demanding stricter screenings for coronavirus on southbound traffic at the U.S.-Mexico border.

They say they’re concerned that travelers from the U.S. could import new cases of the coronavirus into Mexico.

On Wednesday, protesters on the Mexican side of the border blocked the Mexico-bound lanes in the twin border cities of Ambos Nogales for several hours.

 

https://kvoa.com/news/top-stories/2020/03/26/protesters-demand-stricter-screening-for-covid-19-at-us-mexico-border/

[sandrabbit]

2 minutes ago, URMySunshine said:

Mexicans want the border closed to stop the 'American Virus' from spreading - sound familiar !

 

NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Protesters are demanding stricter screenings for coronavirus on southbound traffic at the U.S.-Mexico border.

They say they’re concerned that travelers from the U.S. could import new cases of the coronavirus into Mexico.

On Wednesday, protesters on the Mexican side of the border blocked the Mexico-bound lanes in the twin border cities of Ambos Nogales for several hours.

 

https://kvoa.com/news/top-stories/2020/03/26/protesters-demand-stricter-screening-for-covid-19-at-us-mexico-border/

I love it, you couldn't have made this up a year ago

[IAMHERE]

Just now, samran said:

Just now, Bluespunk said:

That’s what happens when you put mike pence in charge of managing the control of an outbreak of a highly infectious virus. 

Clearly he wasn't praying hard enough.

 

Too early for me to reject or debate God's answer to his prayers.

[candide]

13 minutes ago, rabas said:

 

The Racism at the Heart of Trump’s ‘Travel Ban’

 

New York Times, on top of the list I asked you to look at.

Nice try! ????

The original claim was about the China travel ban, not this travel ban about Nigeria, etc...

("Trump banned flights to and from China back in January and gets called racist for it")

Any quote about Dems calling Trump a racist because of the China travel ban, as repeatedly claimed by Trumpers in several threads? None.

Edited March 27, 2020 by candide

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The performances of the various governors in CV impacted areas -- Cuomo in NY, Inslee in WA, Newsom in CA and now Bel Edwards in LA -- have been much praised models for leadership in times of crisis... 

 

Unlike a president who shouts from the White House podium during a supposed coronavirus briefing on how he could have made much more money if he hadn't been elected president and berates the assembled news media claiming they are all out to get him.

 

A study in contrasts, to say the least. The governors are showing what it means to demonstrate leadership in times of crisis:

 

Bel Edwards from Louisiana:

 

Quote

“Regardless of who you are and where you live take this seriously. This is a state wide problem. We know there is light at the end of the tunnel but we’re not close enough to see it.”

https://kadn.com/gov-john-bel-edwards-gives-press-briefing-on-louisianas-response-to-coronavirus/

 

Quote

 

"The numbers are staggering," Edwards said during a Thursday afternoon press conference. "I hope all of Louisiana is looking at the numbers and is as concerned as I am.

"If you find this briefing startling and unsettling, understand we can avoid it but we have to have more compliance with social distancing and the stay at home order. You can save lives if you minimize contact with other people."

 

https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/2020/03/26/governor-john-bel-edwards-says-outlook-bleak-unless-residents-stay-home/2915337001/

 

Quote

“I'm a person of faith,” the governor said. “I happen to believe very much in the awesome power of prayer. I also believe in science, and the scientists at the CDC say that the measures we are taking will minimize the spread."

https://www.wtvy.com/content/news/Baton-Rouge-area-pastor-defies-governor-welcomes-large-gathering-into-church-service-568897171.html

 

vs

 

Quote

Trump deflects questions about profiting from the presidency by reverting to his businessman mythology
 

A reporter at the daily coronavirus briefing on Sunday asked Trump if he would commit to his businesses not receiving money from a proposed fund under consideration by the Senate that would allow the Treasury Department to bolster hard-hit businesses at its discretion. Trump said he wouldn’t make such a commitment.

....
“What I’ve done by deciding to run — and I knew this. I knew this. The first day, I said, ‘If I win it’s going to cost me a lot of money,’” Trump continued. “It cost me billions of dollars to become president — to be president of the United States.”

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/23/trump-deflects-questions-about-profiting-presidency-by-reverting-his-businessman-mythology/

 

Edited March 27, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Mulambana]

3 hours ago, rhyddid said:

Well done US voters, keep voting them again, again, and again, ops do not forget the red or cheese or blue hat!

They keep voting them again, again, and again for the preveliege of spreading racism, shove bibles in other people's throats, carry guns to intimidate and kill minorties, reward oligarchas with more and more tax cuts and push the country into bankruptcy for the sheer pleasure. 

[metisdead]

Another post containing unattributed content that was copy and pasted from a news site has been removed.

 

A post using an offensive Hitler generalization has been removed. 

[AlexRich]

Trump banned Chinese flights because he likes doing things like that, it goes down well with his base. So for him that was a no brainer. Right decision, but for the wrong reasons. And he should have then engaged in building up stocks of essential equipment, engaging in a massive testing and tracing campaign, and shutting down places earlier, as well as banning Spring Break idiots from spreading the virus far and wide. He failed to do so. His next mistake will be to open up too early ... which will increase the death toll and fail to persuade a scared populace into the shops and restaurants.

 

The US unfortunately has the wrong people in charge at a time like this.

[shdmn]

Thoughts and prayers.  There, I did my part.  Should be a big help.  Granny and gramps had a good run but my 401k is down so sacrifices will have to be made. /s

Edited March 27, 2020 by shdmn