Hope everyone is enjoying their WFH (did you know it’s the weekend??)

John Collison @collision

Should we bring back recess during quarantine? 15 minutes at 10.45 and a half hour at 12.30. Go run around outside so you can focus on your calls afterwards.

March 27th 2020

21 Retweets492 Likes

Summary

• US now at 103,000+ cases and continues to rise fast

• Spain has almost 8,000 new cases, Germany at almost 7,000, and Italy at 6,000

  

Good places to find numbers and other Covid-19 info:

• Johns Hopkins Dashboard

• US testing tracking (US daily totals, as well as numbers broken out by state)

• New York Times Coronavirus

• Worldometers

🇺🇸 US news

At a glance:

• Total confirmed cases at 103,000+ (18,000+ new cases today), 1,689 deaths

• NYC continues to be ravaged: 25,573 total cases (2,461 new cases)

• Testing total at 626,667 (tested 107,000+ today, and 9.7% more than yesterday)

  • fantastic illustration of how USA measures up in terms of testing (NYT)

State and Local News

• Growth in cases could just be a function of our testing…

  Kostya Medvedovsky @kmedved

  FYI: the growth in positive test results per @COVID19Tracking data maps almost 1:1 with the growth in tests performed : R^2 of 0.97. In other words, reporting new and daily case counts is really just reporting on the ramp up in testing capability. @DanRosenheck @Noahpinion

  March 27th 2020

  173 Retweets375 Likes

• More than 160 Boston hospital workers test positive for Covid-19

• Different states’ medical rationing guidelines, and how they differ

• Javits Center is set up by the National Guard & Army Corps of Engineers

  Sarah Boxer @Sarah_Boxer

  The seemingly miles of beds being set up at Javits. It is absolutely unreal to see what the National Guard & first responders have put together here in just days.

  March 27th 2020

  6,283 Retweets24,587 Likes

Trends

Noah Smith does some estimations, and they… do not look good:

We need #TestAndTrace 🐇 @Noahpinion

Of the confirmed cases (now 85.6k in the U.S.), how many are likely to die? Perhaps 1.8% to 3.4% if ICUs aren't overwhelmed. But perhaps 4.9% to 11.2% if ICUs become unavailable. And unless you're a teenager or younger, this thing can easily kill you. cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…

March 27th 2020

9 Retweets10 Likes

More FDA regulations come down, this time regarding masks:

Peter Pham @peterpham

This is a big deal, @US_FDA will not object to non FDA approved masks like the KN95 (used in china/eu) to be used during #COVID19 this will pretty much reduce all the supply constraints I've seen. fda.gov/regulatory-inf…

March 27th 2020

6 Retweets13 Likes

Treatment?

Super small experiment, but might be promising!

Rishi Wadhera @rkwadhera

*Preliminary* #COVID19 study in @JAMA_current - 5 critically ill pts. on mechanical ventilation - All treated w/ convalescent plasma w/ #SARSCoV2 antibody - In 4/5, SOFA score⬇, viral loads⬇, ARDS resolved - All 5 stabilized, 3 at home * Need an RCT ja.ma/3bzbxjc

March 27th 2020

924 Retweets1,677 Likes

Other news

• Trump signs the $2 Trillion stimulus package after it was passed in the House

• Not something anyone wants to see, but medical workers are being tossed from their homes

• The US Postal Service is struggling, and seeing Christmas-like parcel volume

• Apple launches a Covid-19 screening app and website

Social Media Things

• If you’re interested in how American newspapers covered the 1918 Spanish Flu, take a look at these screenshots

• Consider donating to the A Million Masks: NYC and Bay Area

🌐 International News

• 🇮🇹 Italy’s new case rate is still high, but has stabilized; however, Italy also recorded a record 969 deaths

  We need #TestAndTrace 🐇 @Noahpinion

  Italy's coronavirus outbreak has gone linear. Thanks to lockdowns, they're only getting a steady stream of about 6000 new cases a day (today's data point is 5909, though it doesn't appear on the graph yet). worldometers.info/coronavirus/co…

  March 27th 2020

  129 Retweets463 Likes

• 🇬🇧 After a few spouses of heads of government tested positive (Spain, Canada), the coronavirus has finally infected its first actual head of government: the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This is after he “shook hands with everybody” at a hospital where there were some Covid-19 patients…

  Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives @BorisJohnson

  Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus. Together we will beat this. #StayHomeSaveLives

  March 27th 2020

  120,731 Retweets313,660 Likes

• 🇲🇾 Malaysia unveils a $57 Billion stimulus package

• 🇨🇳 China might be suppressing some Covid-19 numbers; has started blocking foreign nationals from entering the country; has re-closed all cinemas

• 🇭🇰 Hong Kong limit public gatherings to 4 and closes cinemas, gyms, etc. as total Covid-19 cases rise above 500

• 🇮🇷 In addition to Covid-19, Iran has to fight toxic fake remedies like methanol

• 🇧🇷 Lockdowns in Brazilian favelas enforced by… drug gangs?

• 🇨🇭 In Switzerland, for some reason, Covid-19 is ~70% more likely to kill patients in French-speaking cantons than in German-speaking ones, and 3 times as likely to kill patients in Italian-speaking ones than French speaking ones

  Joshua McElwee @joshjmac

  Francis, alone in the rain in St. Peter's Square, praying for the world.

  March 27th 2020

  1,091 Retweets3,316 Likes

Interesting Things

• If you have any extra N95 masks, consider using Mask Match

• Slate Star Codex looks at studies regarding face mask efficacy, suggests wearing one IF THERE IS NO SHORTAGE, and discusses why the CDC guidelines recommend against using a mask

• Get a Covid-19 doctor’s note if you need to stay home!

• The fantastic math education Youtube channel 3Blue1Brown on simulating an epidemic

• Tom Colicchio Spent 19 Years Building a Restaurant Empire. Coronavirus Gutted It in a Month

Quarantine Content of the Day

Amish @camillepawglia

A lot of you probably have coronavirus bc one symptom is having no taste

March 26th 2020

1,790 Retweets10,540 Likes

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