India’s prime minister decrees 21-day lockdown to curb coronavirus
““To save India and every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes,” Modi said, adding that if the country failed to manage the next 21 days, it could be set back by 21 years.
India’s stay-at-home order puts nearly one-fifth of the world’s population under lockdown.”
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-24/indias-prime-minister-decrees-21-day-lockdown-to-curb-virus
Several months ago, the consensus was, no vaccine could work with Covid-19, because antibodies were not stimulated for very long. Then the narrative changed as hope tried to triumph over reality. Now all we hear is many attempts at vaccine development are being tried and herd immunity can be a thing. I think we are still working through the denial stage, here. Long, long way to go folks. Toughen up.
Hey AKGranny, I also wonder if there’ll be restrictions on travel between states. How will that effect truckers and other transportation modes/businesses? Will people from currently high-case states such as NY, CA, and WA be barred from going elsewhere in the US? Once these states get their case numbers down, will they restrict travelers from other states just reaching their peaks? And then there’s the patchwork of testing which complicates state-by-state comparisons of confirmed cases.
Best to stay well and stay put as much as possible. What a mess!
i wonder if the italians flood their bodies with too much simple carbohydrate (too much pasta) or maybe its the way they greet each other (causing droplet infection) that’s causing the large amount of cases
You said it, “what a mess”!
Alaska Airlines has cancelled 200 flights a day and parked 30 jets.
By order of our Governor anyone arriving in our State via airplane MUST self quarantine for 14 days.
No longer is it “we live in interesting times” it’s now “we live in scary times”.
By mutual consent Canada and the U.S. closed their border about a week ago. Some Canadians and some Americans are not paying attention…yet. They will.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sandramacgregor/2020/03/18/update-canada-restricts-travel-to-the-us-in-new-coronavirus-travel-ban/#6c68dbe1449c
when is the US going to do something morally right with its military, like invading Brazil and stopping the denuding of the rainforest. Of course the short term thinking of cutting down the rain forest is connected to the fiat money system which pushes everyones planning to short term thinking, it increases ones “time preference”. Just read “the bitcoin standard”- by saifedean ammous. when you have hard currency, people are more likely to save using that currency for an uncertain futue, therefore it naturally pushes your thinking out longer term. the fiat money system is such a deep, deep cancer on our lives.
Unlike a tsunami, Fedder says the public has been given clear warnings for weeks. He says it’s hard to comprehend why people would still wade into the water knowing about the danger that’s on the way.
It sounds like you and your staff have implemented creative ways to take care of your patients. Bravo on keeping the elderly gentleman out of the hospital.
Your updates are very interesting. Please allow me to suggest you keep a copy (printed) for yourself and your kids. We are living during a historical event and how you are creatively treating patients will be instructional and fascinating 30, 50 years from now.
You are providing an important, critical service. Well done Beth. Be strong and stay well!
AKGrannyWGrit
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/covid-19-border-communities-snowbirds-shopping-before-quarantine-1.5506464
Man, I just cannot understand the selfish disregard for others… it is astounding!
I have been following a New York Times website that shows reported virus cases by state.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Here is the most recent graphic
Note how the cases cluster in high population areas and along interstates. Please note also how few cases there are in Wyoming, North Texas, Kansas, North and South Dakota, much of Iowa…etc–all states with relatively low populations.
These lower-population states are also the most important energy-producing (coal, oil, gas) and food-producing (corn, wheat, beans) areas of the country…much of which is done mechanically, and does not necessarily involve a lot of people.
California relies on a lot of migrant labor to harvest its higher value ag produce…and as Chris has noted, those migrants might not be available for the next harvest or two. So this virus might take out lettuce, tomatoes, fruit, and a lot of other higher value crops…but perhaps not our staples if we find the right balance between social distancing and keeping the economy going.
So maybe, to find the right balance between the hammer and the dance, we should use different size-hammers for the less-populated areas of the country. One size probably does not fit all.
These facts and data argue for a more state-by-state approach to quarantine and social-distancing. For example, the governor of Wyoming might conclude to keep his state largely open so that they can continue to ship Power River Basin coal to Texas to keep the air conditioners on. By about mid-May much of Texas is going to be so hot that lives will be endangered without AC.
My conclusion is that Trump is probably right in suggesting that America can get back to work. Individual governors can decide what is right for their state and that would “trump” the President’s suggestion. 
(Sorry, couldn’t resist it.)
My governor (Michigan) made the right call today to put our state on a three week emergency order to minimize social contact. The governors of Wyoming, North and South Dakota, etc., might be correct in making a very different decision, based on the characteristics of their own state, and how much other states/people rely on its products.
Execution of the hammer and the dance should probably be state by state; one size does not necessarily fit all in dealing with the HB virus.
Bruce
If 4 million in New York are infected that might arguably be good news. The population of New York City is a little over 8 million, so 4 million infected would mean that we are already almost at the end of the outbreak there (best estimates based on hetergonous transmission models indicate 25%-50% penetration) and quite possibly very close to the peak in terms of hospitalizations. And if 4 million infections requires only 40,000 (only 1%) hospitalizations that would be incredibly good news and well below even my estimates. New York has 53,000 hospital beds and is adding more.
My guess is that there are not yet that many infections, but I agree there are likely far more than are currently being estimated. In Wuhan they now believe they were undercounting by 30-50 times. Since the current reported number is ~25,000 it might be reasonable to assume 750K - 1M cases. And I would guess that means the peak of actual infections will be in about a week when we hit 2 million or thereabouts, and peak hospitalization presumably a couple of weeks after that. The peaks might be a little later, say 7-10 days, if all the special measures have slowed the spread sufficiently.
In the last few minutes, we (Spokane) have had a number of planes come in from different parts of the U.S. Why are these people flying at this point? It appears that passenger traffic is down 80% (time period?) so this means that most of these planes have few passengers. This begs the question of whether the Feds are concerned about global dimming. Are they paying airlines to keep flying regardless of passenger load?
I also tracked a business plane (Dassault Falcon 2000) that flew this a.m. from Coeur d’Alene ID to Sitka AK. As I commented a few days ago, I tracked a Learjet flying from Spokane to Sitka. This must be a popular spot for those with enough wealth to fly on private planes. (I suppose it’s possible that they are medical flights, but that is doubtful.) There are many small islands in the Sitka area and that could be a reason for being a bugout destination.
Are there any commenters here who are from Sitka and might know why Sitka is popular with those who fly in on private jets? Fishing?
Sorry to post this here, I have been searching PP but no luck yet. Does anyone know where I can buy physical gold quickly? the sites i have been searching are sold out and I am very unfamiliar with this and so is hubs. Thanks in advance! Feel free to DM if that is better!
I think you can see Russia from there.
Texas Precious Metals is ultra-reliable - their policy is to ONLY show items they have in stock - no buying ahead with long wait times. They do have stock for now;
https://www.texmetals.com/
Good luck, Jim
Test for antibodies!
Testing for antibodies to covid19 is sometimes mentioned in passing. It should be front and center. Those who have had the virus and have the antibodies to prove it, shouldn’t need to be in isolation. They should be able to go back to work, volunteer to help with the mildly ill, and generally resume their normal lives. This seems so practical and pragmatic that it should be self-evident.
Hey, all you medical and scientific people here–am I missing something. Shouldn’t this kind of test be easy and cheap? Wouldn’t it work?
Bruce, you missed dividing by population density AND the fact that many of these people are far from even a small local hospital. The sick probably have no access to testing. oil activity in the dakotas has transients there also although at these oil prices, no more boom activity.
The correct rate is per capita. Take your numbers and divide by the state population, as Chris does for countries on the far right of his table. I don’t have time, but it would be useful to look at the less populated areas in this way. It’s so easy to present this data and nobody is doing it, so I assume there would be something to hide.
In our area of the midwest, we’re seeing the spread county by county when the rural hospitals get test results back after a week or two. Have no clue what that means today.
I think one size, s Korea style might fit all. If less dense areas are shutting down earlier on the curve, more power to them. I call that smart. Unfortunately, locally we can’t close the interstates and the airports, so the mega-cities will contaminate us all.
Thank you!