Coronavirus updates April 6

Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth. It is Monday, April 6. Here are updates on the coronavirus pandemic.

The Johns Hopkins map of coronavirus cases shows that as of this afternoon, there are 347,000 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. Out of that, 10,335 have died while 18,953 have recovered.

Worldwide, there are over 1.3 million confirmed cases. 72,000 people have died while 273,000 have recovered.

Spain and Italy, two of the hardest-hit European countries, said they are seeing lower daily death counts, which is good news. But government officials say they should not let their guard down.

New York said the number of new hospitalizations, ICU admissions and daily intubations have decreased each of the past three days. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said social distancing is working but that they still need to strictly enforce it and increased a fine for violating social distancing orders from $500 to $1,000.

The U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned that this week would be the hardest and saddest of most Americans’ lives. He said the number of deaths would make it our Pearl Harbor or 9/11 moment.

President Trump said that the next two weeks are going to be very difficult, but that things would change and that there would be light at the end of the tunnel.

The New York Times reported that a tiger at the Bronx Zoo has become sickened with COVID-19. A test done under general anesthesia confirmed it. This appears to be a human-to-cat transmission, possibly from a zoo worker. The zoo said there are several other tigers and lions that seems to be infected with symptoms of respiratory illnesses. The animals are expected to recover. The zoo has been closed to the public since March 16 but zoo workers are still present.

Can your pets get sick from the virus? The New York Times reported that there are no known cases of a pet becoming infected with COVID-19, but the federal government recommends that humans who are infected avoid contact with animals.

In Wisconsin, there was controversy on if their presidential primary should proceed tomorrow (Tuesday) with in-person voting. KUTV News reported that Gov. Tony Evers (D) originally planned to hold the election as scheduled but on Friday changed his mind and asked the Republican-controlled Legislature to extend absentee voting until May 19 and have it all done by mail. The Republican Legislature does not agree with the extension of absentee ballots. The governor just issued an executive order that delays the primary election until June 9. There are state and federal court battles that are brewing.

There are news reports that in the White House, there is an internal controversy over the drug hydroxychloroquine. It is a drug that is used to treat malaria. President Trump has frequently promoted the drug as every effective treatment against the coronavirus, but Dr. Fauci from the NIH told CBS in an interview that he can’t scientifically say it works as he has seen it being effective in some cases but not in other cases.

Dr. Fauci was asked about the drug during Sunday’s White House press briefing, but President Trump stepped in and told the reporter that Dr. Fauci has answered that question 15 times.

Axios reported that there was an argument in the White House’s Situation Room between Dr. Fauci and Peter Navarro, the White House economic adviser. Navarro endorsed studies in other countries that showed the drug was effective in coronavirus treatments. Dr. Fauci said the evidence was anecdotal (based on stories or others’ experiences). Navarro disagreed with this.

The Trump administration said they have 29 million doses of hydroxychloroquine in their stockpiles. It is up to doctors nationwide to decide if they want to prescribe it or not.

This seems to be a battle between President Trump’s “gut feelings” and Dr. Fauci’s preference to rely on scientific data. Fox News reported that about 4,000 coronavirus patients in New York have been treated with the drug in combination with other drugs. There is a 8-week trial on the drug at the New York University.

In Puerto Rico, there has been a strict curfew in place since March 15 that orders people to stay home from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. All nonessential businesses were ordered to shut down. People can go outside only to buy food or medicine, go to the bank, or for emergencies. Those who violate the order face up to six months in jail or a $5,000 fine. Puerto Rico now requires anyone entering a business to wear a mask and for service to be refused to people not wearing a mask. ABC News reported that police have cited hundreds of people and that the ACLU, a civil rights organization, is suing Puerto Rico, saying that some of their restrictions are unconstitutional. This is the first ACLU lawsuit related to a coronavirus curfew. Puerto Rico has about 470 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 20 deaths. But Puerto Rico doesn’t want to see the cases grow, and that is the rationale for their restrictive rules, but the ACLU says it’s too much.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he went to the hospital last night because he is still experiencing coronavirus symptoms. He said this morning that he is in good spirits and keeping in touch with his team, but news reports said he is in the ICU after his symptoms worsened. There is great concern for Boris Johnson.

That is all the updates for now.

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

https://www.axios.com/new-york-cuomo-social-distancing-flat…

https://www.latimes.com/…/hardest-saddest-days-ahead-in-cor…

https://www.nytimes.com/…/…/bronx-zoo-tiger-coronavirus.html

https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-white-…

https://www.foxnews.com/…/thousands-of-coronavirus-infected…

https://abcnews.go.com/…/aclu-files-1st-coronavirus-curfew-…

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