April 5 Recap

Apr 6

Summary

1,273,499 confirmed cases and 69,451 deaths worldwide; 262,351 recoveries
USA now at 336,673+ cases, which is a 8%+ growth rate, slowing… down?
Spain at 131,646 (4% growth), Italy at 128,948 (3.23% ), Germany at 100,123 (4.1%), and France at 92,839 (3.4%)

Total confirmed cases at 336,673 (25,000+ more cases), 9,616 deaths
New York (123,018 cases & 4,159 deaths), New Jersey (37,505 & 917), and Michigan (15,718 & 617) lead in case numbers
California (15,180 & 348), Louisiana (13,010 & 477), and Massachusetts (12,500 & 231) are the next three states.

Florida (12,350 & 221), Pennsylvania (11,510 & 150), and Illinois (11,256 & 274) are next. Washington rounds out the top 10 with 7,984 cases and 338 deaths.

Hawaii (371 & 4) is calling its National Guard to help conduct medical screenings. The state has stay at home orders until at least end of April. The state is also thinking of asking for permission from the Federal Government to halt non-essential travel to the state.
Washington (7,984 & 338) is returning 421 ventilators to the National Strategic Stockpile so that other states can use them. Gov. Jay Inslee said: “I’ve said many times over the last few weeks: We are in this together.” The growth of new coronavirus cases in the state is one of the slowest in the country.

A Twitter thread by University of Washington Professor Carl Bergstrom, on the different prediction models (e.g. the Imperial College and IHME models) for infection and death rates in the USA. His twitter is worth following.
Insane PPE buying stories continue to be reported. Here’s a story of Illinois assistant comptroller Ellen Andres racing down a highway to meet a middleman in a McDonald’s parking lot with a $3.4 million check.
A tiger in the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for Covid-19. It and six other large cats have developed a dry cough but are expected to recover. In other tiger-related news, Joe Exotic is in quarantine but does not have Covid-19.

🇬🇧Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (47,806 cases & 4,934 deaths), tested positive for Covid-19 ten days ago, has been admitted to a hospital as a “precautionary step”. Queen Elizabeth has also made a rare televised public broadcast, telling the public that they will get over this if they stay resolute in the face of lockdown and self-isolation.
🇯🇵Japan (3,654 & 85) seems to be experiencing a delayed outbreak, and it looks like Prime Minister Abe might declare a national emergency. There are now more than 1,000 cases in Tokyo.
🇸🇪Sweden (6,830 & 401) remains nearly business as usual, with restaurants and schools open, and people on the streets. This is in contrast with its Scandinavian neighbors 🇩🇰Denmark (4,369 & 179), 🇳🇴Norway (5,687 & 71), and 🇫🇮Finland (1,927 & 28), which are all in partial or total lockdowns. This will surely be a case study of how different responses affect outcomes when the pandemic is over. The Swedish Prime Minister warns that Sweden may be facing thousands of coronavirus deaths.

This is a work in progress, so please PLEASE let me know if you have any suggestions, and/or see anything that is wrong or missing, at dailycovid19updates@gmail.com; you can also tweet me @julienchien