Pbmom's Blog

Super Tuesday sucked the oxygen out of the COVID-19 talk which I think is really a good thing for us.   Today Dr. Irwin Redlener, Director of National Center for Disaster Preparedness said, when someone said the word ‘epidemic:” “Actually we have been in a pandemic for some period of time.  This is a pandemic, so pussyfooting around that is not helping anymore.” 

What are you doing (or not) to get ready for possible self-quarantined states? Are you changing your travel plans at all? Has your employer given you a plan yet? I’m interested so let me know in the comments.

Today another case popped up in New York and it appears to be the first “community spread” case in the state.  The man in his 50’s was hospitalized in severe condition.  Nothing in his travel history suggested any direct connection to China or any countries on the watch list.  He had no travel during the [supposed] 2-week incubation period.  His severe symptoms became noticeable at the end of last week, but he had respiratory issues for the last month [which makes me think they may need to rethink their incubation period time as he had been in Israel where 12 people are now testing positive and to Miami, Florida].  He has two sons with a NYC connection.  Both sons are now isolated at their home.  Four schools the one son is associated with are all now closed.  The other is an undergraduate student; he has not been on campus since Feb 27.  Both boys are now isolated at home.  The place of worship of the ill man has been notified.  They have suspended services for the foreseeable future.  Some of the members have been ordered to self-quarantine due to possible exposure. 

Five additional COVID-19 cases are still under investigation.  The state of New York is also testing two families in Buffalo who recently returned from Italy.  They are being tested and are quarantined.  SUNY schools plan to send home students who are studying abroad in countries with high prevalence of the virus.  The state public health laboratory is teaming up with hospitals with a goal of ensuring the state can handle up to 1,000 tests per day.  Governor Cuomo said that New York will institute a new cleaning protocol at schools and in the public transportation system. 

There are now 76 countries who are dealing with COVID-19.  There are now 118 identified cases in the United States; 9 people in the United States have died.  The charts were updated 11:50 p.m.  Most of the countries on the list have increased both in numbers of confirmed cases and deaths, although for some their death totals have not changed.  San Marino and Spain both had their first casualties of the virus. 

Several countries have no new confirmed cases to report (but that usually changes as they get their testing processes straightened out):  Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, Georgia, Greece, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, Monaco, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, and Vietnam.

New countries who have had people test positive for the disease are Argentina, Chile, Gibraltar, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Saint Barthelemy, Sri Lanka, North Macedonia, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Ukraine.