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: 735,135 (up from 524,478 Friday)
- Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 34,807 (up from 24,369 Friday)
- Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 155,950 (up from 125,490 Friday)
- 5% of Active Cases are considered serious (requiring hospitalization) Steady from 5% Yesterday, but down from 19% high back in February
- Note that 11% of US Confirmed Cases require Hospitalization, roughly on par with Italy who is at 12% requiring hospitalization.
- US has 142,746 Confirmed Cases and 2,489 Deaths, up from 85,749 cases and 1,304 deaths Friday
- In the US, 20,220 citizens are officially hospitalized with COVID-19, another 6,402 with presumptive-positive cases (waiting test results)
- The United States of America now leads the world in total confirmed cases, with 45,000 more cases than Italy (although Italy leads the world in Deaths with 10,799 officially dead)
- US has 2,489 Dead vs 4,562 Recovered and 2,970 in Critical Condition
- The US Currently has 135,695 Active Cases of COVID-19, with less than 0.5% of the total US population actually tested: 851,578 Tests Resulted in 16.5% Confirmed Positive Cases for COVID-19 (note US policy has been to test only patients with positive-symptoms or known exposure to confirmed-infected persons, resulting in high net-positive results vs other countries).
- The Trump Administration extends recommendations for extreme social distancing, closed schools and houses of worship, work-from-home, and severe travel restrictions through April 30th.
- The move was based on a simple model: 100-200k deaths if we continued shut-down vs 2-3 Million deaths if we lifted the shutdown in early April.
- "How do you decide it's ok to let millions of Americans die? You don't." He said during a Rose Garden press conference. "I won't do that."
- The updated timeline comes as the US President Donald Trump says the death toll from the virus is likely to continue to climb for another two weeks, and estimates that recovery is likely by June 1.
- Trump said his earlier plan to lift the restrictions by Easter, on April 12, was only "aspirational". "Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won," Trump said.
- Officials in the White House coronavirus task force, including Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, Deputy to Vice-President Mike Pence, have estimated that COVID-19 would kill as many as 2.2 million Americans if mitigation measures were not in place.
- 911 Emergency system in New York City & Tri-State Area is receiving over 7,000 calls per day, more than at any time since September 11th, 2001.
- The System has broken 3 records this past week, with nearly 8,700 calls on Thursday.
- Many calls are for people with high-fevers and flu-like symptoms including severe cough, chills and difficulty breathing.
- "It's all a war zone," one of the paramedics said. "There is no way we can respond to this many emergency calls."
- Because of the high-risk of COVID-19 infection, many life-saving procedures have been suspended, including CPR and artificial respiration.
- By Friday, more than 206 emergency medical technicians from the NY Fire Department had tested positive for COVID-19. Another 750 NYPD officers have also tested positive, and more than 10% of New York's police force is currently offline due to infection or Quarantine due to suspected infection.
- One Paramedic who chose not to be named estimated that over 20% of 9-11 calls are going unanswered. "I can see them on my screen, with no units responding," he said.
- Residents posted pictures of make-shift field hospitals being set up in Central Park in Manhattan.
- Dozens of people worked in a drizzle to erect the facility for an expected influx of COVID-19 patients at the epicenter of the US COVID-19 pandemic.
- Samaritan's Purse, a US-based Christian global relief agency, is setting up the hospital on the park's East Meadow lawn, where workers in face masks unloaded a white tarp and other equipment on the grass.
- "There are lots of cases here in New York and a lot of people that need help," said Elliott Tenpenny, a doctor and team leader for Samaritan's Purse COVID-19 Response Team.
- "The hospitals all over the city are filling up and they need as much help as they can get. That's why we're here."
- He said the charity was working with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Mount Sinai, with the aim of receiving patients within two days.
- Unlike other temporary facilities going up in the New York region, this site will have the equipment and personnel necessary to handle COVID-19 patients. Tenpenny called it a "respiratory focused field hospital" which will have a capacity of 68 patients, and the doctors and nurses to treat them.
- Samaritan's Purse has set up a similar temporary hospital in Cremona, Italy, the country with the highest COVID-19 death toll.
- CDC issues stark travel warning for New York, New Jersey & Connecticut residents, urging residents not to travel out of their home states except in case of emergencies.
- Florida restricting travel from New York, Louisianna, Mississippi amid the outbreak, forcing travelers to either turn around or submit to mandatory 14-day Quarantine.
- Florida's governor has indefinitely closed Vacation rentals to any out of state travelers, notifying existing renters to 'finish your stay' and return to home states or face mandatory Quarantines and fines for violations. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/03/28/florida-coronavirus-cases-pass-4000-border-checkpoints-vacation-rentals-suspended/2934407001/
- New Hampshire and Rhode Island both restrict travel from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, including those with vacation or summer homes in the state. Both states are using National Guard troops to enforce travel restrictions and requiring 14-day Quarantines on any out of state travelers. https://news.yahoo.com/rhode-island-police-hunt-down211405349.html https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-27/rhode-island-police-to-hunt-down-new-yorkers-seeking-refuge
- Hawaii has arrested 2 and issued warnings to more than 70 tourists who violated shelter-in-place warnings. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/03/26/breaking-news/kauai-police-launch-checkpoints-to-enforce-lockdown-compliance/
- Nevada reportedly considering closing the border to California, according to the Los Angeles Times.
- "Mexico's response was late, wrong and slow, and many people are going to die," said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. "There's no reason to believe the virus here should behave differently among this population. Cases are growing exponentially."
- President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico was still hugging and kissing constituents. As recently as eight days ago, he urged them to keep eating out at restaurants.
- Stung by global criticism and disapproving national polls, the leftist populist widely known as AMLO began to shift in recent days.
- Schools were closed on March 20; four days later, the country's 51 testing sites broadened their reach to include testing as many as 2,200 persons per day, mostly in Mexico City.
- Finally, on Saturday, March 28th, the deputy health minister called on Mexicans to stay home, saying it was the "last opportunity" to slow down the virus, with more than 20,000 confirmed infected.
- "It may be too late. Thousands may die," said Dr del Rio.
- In India, hundreds of thousands of day-laborers were suddenly homeless due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and work shut-downs.
- Many day-laborers are used to being provided dorm-like beds while on the job, but with work-sites closed down and national transportation systems offline, parks and public spaces are suddenly filled with thousands of men sleeping on sidewalks and in open fields.
- Soup kitchens in Delhi, the capital, have been overwhelmed. "We normally get a thousand people per day," said one worker. "Today more than 10,000 people lined up before we served our first bowl."
- So far, more than a dozen migrant laborers have lost their lives in different parts of the country as they tried to return to their home, hospital officials said.
- Thousands of migrants in Delhi, including whole families, packed their pots, pans and blankets into rucksacks, some balancing children on their shoulders as they walked along interstate highways.
- Some planned to walk hundreds of miles. But as they reached the Delhi border, many were beaten back by the police under orders to now allow any crossings until further notice.
- Protectionist measures by national governments during the coronavirus crisis could provoke food shortages around the world, the UN's food body has warned.
- A shortage of field workers brought on by the virus crisis and a move towards protectionism – tariffs and export bans – mean problems could quickly appear in the coming weeks, Maximo Torero, Chief Economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said.
- "The worst that can happen is that governments restrict the flow of food," he said. "All measures against free trade will be counterproductive. Now is not the time for restrictions or putting in place trade barriers. Now is the time to protect the flow of food around the world."
- "We need to be careful not to break the food value chain and the logistics or we will be looking at problems with fresh vegetables and fruits soon," said Torero. "Fruit and vegetables are also very labor-intensive... if the labor force is threatened because people can't move then you have a problem."
- Warnings from the UN come as the EU reportedly plans to provide transportation of more than 70,000 farmworkers from Eastern Europe to France, Belgium and Spain to help with planting season. https://thehill.com/policy/international/489783-united-nations-warns-of-global-food-shortage-caused-by-coronavirus
- Warnings were less severe in the US, which relies less on global food production for domestic consumption. "There is plenty of food in the US system," said Sonny Perdue, US Secretary of Agriculture. "The US is a net exporter of food supplies, so we can just keep more of our food at home this year."
- A study from consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimates the total GDP impact of COVID-19 could exceed $1 Trillion per month starting from March, 2020.
- The study includes only economic losses in the Private sector and did not calculate the impact of Government-funded bailouts or spending, and future economic losses due to higher debt payments.
- McKinsey estimates losses in the Oil/Gas sector to exceed 50% for 2020 compared to prior forecasts, and for US retail to suffer losses in excess of 25% compared to 2019.
- "In a Word: Catastrophic," said lead author of the study. "We'll be digging out from this hole for years to come."
- McKinsey's study noted its estimates did not include official economic figures for Q1, 2020, expected to be released by the US Government in the coming week.
- Overall, McKinsey is estimating a broad U-shaped recovery starting in Q3, 2020, but said it was entirely dependent on how quickly US companies could return workers to productivity as well as the impact to the global demand for US goods & technology.
- "We don't yet know how the World will recover from COVID-19 or how long it will take. There are more unknowns than there are knowns," the study concluded.
Government Quietly Prepares a Bank Rescue Plan - Just In Casehttps://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/27/congress-coronavirus-bank-rescue-152501
- Just days after the FDIC issued a video urging Americans to not withdrawn cash from Banks, reports emerge that the US Senate and Treasury are working on separate plans to prevent banks from becoming unstable amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.
- Plans range from limiting withdrawals for foreign investors and savers, as well as providing extra liquidity to banks to cover US Consumer withdrawals up to $10,000.
- Washington's move to stand behind the banking industry underscores the aggressive efforts underway by officials throughout the government to prepare for the worst — including potential runs on deposits as the economic outlook darkens.
- "The banks are in very good shape, but people are panicking anyway," said Karen Petrou, a managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics who advises bank executives on policy issues.
- The Federal Reserve Insurance Corporation (FDIC) recently released a one-minute video encouraging people to keep their money in banks.
- In the video, Chairman Jelena McWilliams emphasizes that hoarding cash in mattresses in 1933 "didn't pan out well for so many people." The video is intended to discourage a bank run.
- "The last thing you should be doing is pulling your money out of the banks now, thinking that it's going to be safe for someplace else," she said in the video.
- The FDIC has more than $2.05 billion in cash reserves, as well as a $100 billion credit line with the US Treasury to cover bank runs, according to a 2018 US Government audit.
- US Consumers have more than $1.7 Trillion deposited at US Banks, not including home-equity loans or lines of credit.