CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: April 6th

Glenn gives the latest coronavirus numbers, updating YOU on everything needed to know as Americans and officials monitor China's new COVID-19 virus:

Daily Stats as of 5:30 AM CT (from John's Hopkins)

  • Total Confirmed Cases Worldwide: 1,284,805 (up over 250,000 from 1,030,324 Friday)
  • Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 70,328 (up 16,100 from 54,226 Friday)
  • Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 271,782 (up from 219,896 Friday)
  • 5% of Active Cases are considered serious (requiring hospitalization) Steady from 5% Friday, but down from 19% high back in February
  • Note that about 11% of US Confirmed Cases require Hospitalization, roughly on par with Italy at 12% requiring hospitalization but lower than Spain, where 17% of patients require hospitalization.
  • US has 336,851 Confirmed Cases and 9,620 Deaths, up from 245,380 cases and 6,095 cases Friday
  • The US currently has 309,254 Active Cases of COVID-19, with about 1% of the US Population tested
NY Times: Official US Death Toll Off a Bit...By About 100%https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/us/coronavirus-deaths-undercount.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
  • COVID-19 deaths in the US may be undercounted by half.
  • Inconsistent protocols, limited resources and a patchwork of decision-making have led to an undercounting of people with the coronavirus who have died.
  • Example 1: A coroner in Indiana wanted to know if the coronavirus had killed a man in early March, but said that her health department denied a test.
  • Example 2: Paramedics in New York City say that many patients who died at home were never tested for the coronavirus, even if they showed telltale signs of infection, with death certificates marked as "cardiac arrest, respiratory failure or unknown".
  • Example 3: In Virginia, a funeral director prepared the remains of three people after health workers cautioned her that they each had tested positive for the coronavirus. But only one of the three had COVID-19 noted on the death certificate.
  • "We definitely know there are COVID-19 deaths that we have not accounted for," said Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior research scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.
  • Across the US, hospital officials, doctors, public health experts and medical examiners say that official counts have failed to capture the true number of Americans dying in this pandemic.
  • The same effect has occurred in Italy, Spain, Ecuador and China, where the rate at which patients are dying and lack of testing has led to chronic undercounting of actual COVID-19-related deaths.
  • As reported by The Blaze last week, citing the Wall Street Journal and Al Jazeera, Ecuador health officials in some areas have taken to burning bodies in empty lots or burying bodies in mass graves, with most dead never tested for COVID-19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICO0KwPFWcI, https://www.wsj.com/video/in-ecuador-epicenter-families-forced-to-leave-dead-outside/B35D7405-55AC-4876-821F-8B995AAEF1BD.html
  • In one Italian village, a Mayor reported he had more than 300 bodies, presumed COVID-19 deaths, which officials had not picked up or counted in Italy's official numbers. "The army told us Friday, then Sunday. We're still waiting," he said.
Virus Can Contaminate Facemasks up to 7 Dayshttps://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3078511/coronavirus-can-remain-face-masks-week-study-finds
  • The pathogen that causes COVID-19 is gone within three hours from surfaces like printing and tissue paper, but can last for days on banknotes, stainless steel and plastic, researchers from University of Hong Kong find.
  • The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can adhere to the outer layer of a cotton surgical face mask for a week, according to a study by researchers from the University of Hong Kong (HKU).
  • "This is exactly why it is very important if you are wearing a surgical mask you don't touch the outside of the mask," Dr. Peiris, research lead, said.
  • "Because you can contaminate your hands and if you touch your eyes you could be transferring the virus to your eyes."
  • In the instance where the public or health care workers must be forced to reuse masks due to short supply, the study recommends using surgical gloves and frequently washing hands immediately after using facemasks.
USA Today Factcheck: Did Obama Deplete US National Stockpile of N-95 Masks? True!https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/04/03/fact-check-did-obama-administration-deplete-n-95-mask-stockpile/5114319002/
  • USA Today researchers Fact Check Daily Wire article from last week that the Obama Administration failed to replenish the National Stockpile of N-95 masks after using for Swine Flu (2009) and Hurricane & Flooding clean up operations (2012).
  • The article notes available funds were used not to replenish masks: "With limited resources, officials in charge of the stockpile tend to focus on buying lifesaving drugs from small biotechnology firms that would, in the absence of a government buyer, have no other market for their products, experts said.
  • Masks and other protective equipment are in normal times widely available and thus may not have been prioritized for purchase, they said."
  • Overall, USA today flags the Daily Wire story as True, lending credence to the Trump claim that the stockpile program was 'in a shambles' when his Administration took over.
"Most Comprehensive Pandemic Response Plan In History" Bush Plan Based on Spanish Flu Book in 2005https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-bush-2005-wait-pandemic-late-prepare/story?id=69979013
  • In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he began flipping through an advance copy of a new book about the 1918 flu pandemic. He couldn't put it down.
  • When he returned to Washington, he called his top homeland security adviser into the Oval Office and gave her historian John M. Barry's "The Great Influenza," which told the chilling tale of the mysterious plague that "would kill more people than any other disease in human history."
  • "You've got to read this," Fran Townsend remembers the president telling her. "He said, 'Look, this happens every 100 years. We need a national strategy.'"
  • Thus was born the nation's most comprehensive pandemic plan -- a playbook that included diagrams for a global early warning system, funding to develop new, rapid vaccine technology, and a robust national stockpile of critical supplies, such as face masks and ventilators, Townsend said.
  • The effort was intense over the ensuing three years, including exercises where cabinet officials gamed out their responses, but it was not sustained.
  • Large swaths of the ambitious plan were either not fully realized due to lack of funding from Congress, or were entirely shelved as the 2008 financial crisis took hold.
The Latest Casualty: Corona Beer Officially Stops Productionhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/04/03/business/corona-beer-production/index.html
  • Production of Corona beer is being temporarily suspended in Mexico because of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Grupo Modelo, the company that makes the beer, posted the announcement on Twitter, stating that it's halting production and marketing of its beer because the Mexican government has shuttered non-essential businesses.
  • This week, the Mexican government announced the suspension of non-essential activities in the public and private sectors until April 30 in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. The country has more than 1,500 cases and 50 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins, but researchers fear the actual number of infected and dead could be much higher than reported as almost no testing has occurred in Mexico.
  • Grupo Modelo stated it is ready to enact a plan to "guarantee the supply of beer" if the Mexican government decides to include breweries as essential, according to a statement.
Japan, Hong Kong May Declare States of Emergency After Virus Researgancehttps://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3078542/coronavirus-japan-set-declare-state-emergency-amid-surge, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3078491/coronavirus-hong-kong-may-have-impose-wider-lockdown
  • Both Japan & Hong Kong saw new waves of COVID-19 cases as travel and work restrictions were lifted about 10 days ago.
  • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, a government official said on Monday, as a recent surge in infections sweeps Tokyo and other major cities.
  • The news comes after Japan officially moved the 2020 Olympics to 2021.
  • In Japan, An Emergency eclaration, the first of its kind in that Nation, would restrict individual rights and allowing prefectural governors to call for specific limitations on people's activities.
  • It has been made necessary by a rapid nationwide spike in cases that poses significant risks to lives and the economy, an official said.
  • In Hong Kong, officials report they may have to impose strict lockdown with people told to stay home, government adviser says, amid warnings of third wave of infections swamped hospitals over the weekend.
  • The Government put Hong Kong residents on notice for hardline approach to coronavirus seen in countries including Italy and Britain.
  • Epidemiologist Dr. Kwok-yung of The Hong Kong Medical University warns of a third wave of infections as mainland Chinese had resumed work with some traveling to Hong Kong last week.
  • Dr. Kwok-yung recommends reinstating the travel restrictions from Mainland China.
Dark Days Aheadhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/04/05/politics/jerome-adams-coronavirus/index.html
  • The US Surgeon General said this week is going to be the "hardest and the saddest" for "most Americans' lives," describing the upcoming grim period of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.
  • "This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country and I want America to understand that," Vice Admiral Jerome Adams said on "Fox News Sunday."
  • Adams continued: "I want Americans to understand that as hard as this week is going to be, there is a light at the end of the tunnel."
  • Doctors are expecting peaks in Death Rates to occur in some of the hardest-hit areas, including New York, Louisianna, and Chicago.
  • Washington State, one of the earliest hit states, experienced a peak in cases and deaths nearly two weeks ago, and now new cases and deaths have declined for 2 weeks straight.

Glenn wrote this essay on September 12, 2001. Are we the same people now?

ED JONES / Contributor | Getty Images

Twenty two years ago today on September 12th, 2001, Glenn wrote an essay called "The Greatest American Generation." These were his visceral thoughts immediately following the 9/11 attacks. This beautiful essay calls upon the American spirit to rise to the occasion to pull us through what was one of the darkest days in our nation's history. He called us to unite around the common vision that unites us as Americans.

Yesterday, Glenn revisited this essay, wondering if we are the same people who could have pulled through that dark hour. Do you still believe the things that he wrote in this essay? Or have we become a people too divided to overcome a tragedy of the magnitude of 9/11? Consider these questions as you read Glenn's essay below, "The Greatest American Generation," published on September 12, 2001.

I've always believed that the greatest American generation is the one that's living, in the here and the now. The question is not if this is the greatest American generation. The question was when were we going to wake up? I remember staying at my grandparents' house in the summer when I was small. Every morning my grandmother would open the attic door and call up, "Kids, time to wake up." For me she'd have to do this a couple of times before I'd lumber out of bed and cross the cold, squeaky wooden floor. But finally, I would. And she'd be there in the kitchen ready with breakfast. My grandfather was already outside in the henhouse because there was work to do. They were hardworking, good and decent people. Seemed to me that they were from not only a different time but a different place. They weren't.

The spirit of our parents and our grandparents isn't from some foreign place. It hasn't died out. It's a flame that flickers in all Americans. It's there and it's ready to blaze to life when we're ready to face the challenges that now lie at our feet. It's what sets us apart. It's what built this country. It's why our borders still teem with the poor and the tired and those yearning to be free, burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of a better way of life. The flame that Lady Liberty holds is the American spirit which burns deep within all of us, no matter what our race, gender, our religious background. And today the world is watching us. It's really nothing new. It always has.

Since the dawn of man people dreamt of a better life, dreamt of a better way, of freedom. But it was Americans that finally found a way to build it. And out of all that we've built, the powerful machines, the computers, the weapons of mass destruction, hardware and software that we spent millions on every year to protect and keep the plan secret, our biggest seeming secret, the one the world wants most of all, isn't a secret at all. It's something we freely give to the rest of the world. And while it seems self‑evident to us, for some reason it can't be duplicated. Yet it can be passed on from person to person, torch to torch. It's the American spirit.

If you weren't trapped in one of those towers or on a plane or in the Pentagon, then you have great reason to humbly give thanks today, not for our lives but because we're the lucky ones. God hasn't forsaken us. He's awakened us. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, he's gently called out, "Kids, it's time to wake up! We've been given another chance."

Thousands of years ago in Babel, the great civilization in their arrogance built a tower that reached the sky. It crumbled and they were scattered. Our heart and steely symbols of power and wealth may have crumbled, but we have not been scattered. Americans aren't ever going to scatter. Let the world recognize through our actions today that those firefighters in New York are not the exception. They are the rule. Americans don't run from burning buildings. We run into them. It was a beautiful fall morning on the edge of the land created through divine providence. Coffee shops were open. Children were on their buses and people easing into another typical workday when America's greatest generation heard the voice: "Kids, it's time to wake up."

Several times we've ignored the voice. We've drifted back into twilight sleep muttering, "I know, I know, in a minute." But finally we are awake and out of bed, for there is much work to do. The task before us is much more daunting than what our grandparents and parents faced, but we are stronger, a more prepared nation. The torch has been passed. We are the greatest American generation. The American spirit is alive and well. Our flame has not burned out. It had just been dimmed while we were asleep."

Remembering 9/11: A call to unify as Americans

Robert Giroux / Staff | Getty Images

Glenn often harkens back to September 11, 2001, as a pivotal day for the American spirit. When American Airlines Flight 11 hit the South Tower at 8:46 a.m. that sunny September morning in Manhattan, there was no question that September 11 would become one of the most consequential moments in American history. However, in that moment, the outcome of that day was yet to be determined.

How would September 11 be remembered in history textbooks? Would it be the beginning of the end of our Republic? Many thought so and for just reason. Our country was under attack. Planes hijacked by our enemy were headed towards the buildings that represented the institutions that comprise the fabric of our republic. If there was any day that called into question our nation's future, it was September 11.

New York City firefighters and a photojournalist work at Ground Zero after two hijacked planes crashed into the Twin TowersRon Agam / Stringer | Getty Images

But the American spirit had a different narrative in mind. Instead of caving to the narrative that the hijackers attempted to write, the American people rose to the occasion that duty beckoned. As Glenn wrote in an essay the day after the September 11 attacks, "Americans don't run from burning buildings. We run into them." And we did. Many remained there as their final burial place.

The American people rose to the occasion that duty beckoned.

As New York Governor Pataki remarked, "On that terrible day, a nation became neighbors." We weren't Democrats. We weren't Republicans. On that day, we were Americans. We chose to write a different narrative in the history books following 9/11, one of resilience, bravery, brotherhood, and the triumph of the American spirit.

As Glenn so poignantly wrote on September 12th:

The spirit of our parents and our grandparents isn't from some foreign place. It hasn't died out. It's a flame that flickers in all Americans.

And that flickering light turned into a roaring fire on that pivotal day, one that not even the fires in the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, or the empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania could consume.

We chose to write a different narrative in the history books following 9/11, one of resilience, bravery, brotherhood, and the triumph of the American spirit.

But can we say the same about the American people today? Do we still carry the flickering flame of the American spirit that has been passed down to us from generations past? As Glenn reflected today, 22 years after penning those words, he isn't so sure. And I'm not either.

A candlelight vigil for the victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attack is held at Union Square in New York City.Evan Agostini / Contributor | Getty Images

The same American spirit that we relied upon to pull us through September 11 seems to be a waning flame in a torch that few are clinging to. We are increasingly losing sight of what it means to be an American. Common principles that we traditionally shared across party lines are now being vehemently contested, both by the ruling class and in the public square. This is not the same America that triumphed over September 11.

We are increasingly losing sight of what it means to be an American.

This raises the troubling question: Could we endure another attack of a similar magnitude? Would the triumph of the American spirit dictate the narrative of that day, or would a foreign enemy steal the pen from liberty's fingers? These are the tough questions we must wrestle with in our pivotal moment as a nation.

But these questions aren't devoid of hope. There is still time to recall those timeless principles that transcended party lines on September 11 and united us as Americans. There is still time to nurse the waning flame for those who are committed to holding liberty's torch. There is still time to view our political opponents as, in the words of Pataki, "neighbors," whose livelihood and future depend on the survival of our great nation.

There is still time to recall those timeless principles that transcended party lines on September 11.

But that window is short. We must strive towards unity now if our nation hopes to, as Lincoln said in his own time of division, "endure."

As Glenn wrote in that essay on September 12, 2001, we must be, "awake and out of bed, for there is much work to do. [...] Our flame has not burned out. It had just been dimmed while we were asleep."

Acouple cary the American flag down a lower-Manhattan street a week after the September 11 attacksRichard Baker / Contributor | Getty Images

Flames cannot flicker forever. If they are not nursed, they will flicker out, leaving darkness in its wake. It's time to wake up. We must be attentive and awake, nursing the remnant of liberty's flame until it is blazing like it did 22 years ago today. We cannot let it die on our watch. Too many people have sacrificed too much for us to drop the torch.

Is your wallet ON FIRE? You can thank Bidenomics for that.

Biden has been touting the alleged success of his economic plan. But why are 61 percent of U.S. consumers living paycheck to paycheck? In Wednesday's Glenn TV episode, Glenn showed you all the ways that the Biden admin has been skewing economic figures in their favor to boost their PR campaign. But one thing is for certain: the Biden admin's reckless spending continues to drive up inflation. You feel this every time you go to the grocery store or fill up your car with gas.

What's worse? The Biden admin doesn't even factor in groceries and gas into their inflation rate! Don't be fooled when they boast that they've brought interest rates down. The prices of products the average American consumes every day remain nearly doubled to what it was under the Trump admin.

See for yourself. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the most popular grocery items priced under the Trump admin and the Biden admin.

Cost of 1 Dozen Eggs

Price of 1lb. Ground Beef

Price of 1lb. Chicken

Price of 1 Gallon of Milk

Price of 1 Liter of Soda

Price of 1 Loaf of Bread

Join Mercury One and Glenn Beck for a night of reflection and celebration of the hope you have provided this year. The "Night of Hope with Glenn Beck" will be held at Mercury Studios in Irving, Texas on October 14th. Enjoy dinner, a silent and live auction, a live raffle, a presentation from Glenn Beck, and more.

What is the event for?

Mercury One is not your average non-profit. Many non-profits use donations to cover basic costs to keep their doors open. Because of our generous donors LIKE YOU, all of Mercury One's basic costs are paid for upfront. That means that EVERY PENNY that you donate goes directly to Mercury One projects like the $1.1 MILLION towards restoring hope in Maui and the $35 MILLION towards rescuing U.S. citizens and allies out of Afghanistan.

Funds raised during the gala will go towards keeping Mercury One's doors open so that EVERY penny given to Mercury One goes towards their vitally important projects that are restoring hope in our broken world.

To learn more about "A Night of Hope with Glenn Beck" and buy your tickets, click HERE.