The Daily Moth 3-12-2020
Thursday, March 12 Updates on Coronavirus
Hello, a lot of things happened last night and this morning with the coronavirus situation. Here are updates.
The first — President Trump gave an address to the nation last night from the Oval Office to announce that he would order a restriction / ban on travel from Europe to the U.S. for 30 days.
U.S. citizens or permanent residents are exempt, but they could be funneled to certain airports and screened and face quarantine when they return. All others from Europe will be barred from entry to U.S.
The restrictions apply to the European Union but not the United Kingdom.
Trump said for the vast majority of Americans, the risk is very low and that young and healthy people should recover fully if they get the virus, but that elderly people must be very careful.
Trump said we are at a critical time in the fight against the virus and that smart action today will prevent the spread of the virus tomorrow.
The second update — the NBA announced that they are suspending their season — affecting all NBA games — until further notice. News reports said that an Utah Jazz player, Rudy Gobert, tested positive for COVID-19. The Jazz was about to start a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma when the game was cancelled. Gobert was not at the arena at the time due to illness and the positive test for COVID-19 was confirmed before tipoff.
ESPN recently reported that another Utah Jazz player, Donovan Mitchell, tested positive for the virus.
Now there are multiple teams who were told to self-quarantine because they played against the Utah Jazz. We could see many more cases in the NBA since there is a lot of contact and a lot of interaction between people on the court, in practices, and in the locker room.
The NCAA announced that the March Madness tournament would be conducted without fans. So far there is no indication of an NCAA athlete who is infected, but if there is a case, then the NCAA could go the way of NBA.
The Major League Soccer (MLS) will suspend their matches and postpone the “cancelled” games to a future date in the season.
The third update — actor Tom Hanks announced that he and his wife, Rita, tested positive for COVID-19. They are in Australia. Tom said they will be treated, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. News reports say they are at a hospital in Queensland, which is on the Eastern coast.
So, we see that at least two NBA players and Tom Hanks and his wife have the virus — which tell us that it’s very difficult to avoid the virus, and it doesn’t matter if you are a millionaire, are famous and rich and powerful, you can still be impacted.
Now the fourth update — news reports say that the attending physician of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, Dr. Brian Monahan, said in a private meeting that he expects 70 to 150 million people in the U.S. to become infected with the coronavirus.
This would be in line with a Harvard professor in epidemiology who predicted that 40% to 70% of the world would be infected and that 1% would die.
This is a shocking number and it can be very hard to wrap our minds around it. At the same time, it is understandable why there are such high estimates — because the virus has exploded at an exponential rate in China, Italy, South Korea, and here in the United States.
Some people say we are overreacting with the coronavirus situation because most people will make a full recovery and that all the cancellations of social events or avoiding social contacts is not needed.
A good way to understand why it’s important to limit social activities is this “community mitigation” chart. You will see two curves here. The dotted line in the middle is our healthcare capacity — generally meaning our hospitals and healthcare workers. If there are many people who are infected in a short amount of time, then our healthcare system will be overwhelmed and more people could become severely ill and die. It would cross the line. Our healthcare workers might have to stop working because they could become sick themselves. Supplies could run out quickly if the line is crossed.
But if we practice social distancing by staying at home and practice good hygiene such as washing our hands, there will not be as many cases in a short amount of time, which allows our healthcare system to stay above the line and for workers to focus on the most critically ill. Together we can control the virus and stamp it out.
The fifth update — I just saw news reports that said that a government official from Brazil who recently met with President Trump last weekend at Mar-a-Lago resort tested positive for coronavirus. His name is Fabio Wajngarten and he was the communications chief for Brazlian President. It is now another coronavirus scare for the White House, because there was an infected person at the CPAC 2020 conference two weeks ago who interacted with several lawmakers who in turn interacted with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
The sixth update — U.S. stocks are still dipping down and down. Right now the DOW Jones is down over 2,000 points — over 8%. There is a lot of economic damage that will come from this virus and its impact on many sectors of both U.S. and international businesses.
On a personal level, I want you to start considering a plan on if you and your family will have to be at home for an extended period of time. Consider stocking up on food, medicine, and other necessities. Have a plan if someone in your family is sick. Where would they stay? Reach out to elderly members of your family and see if they need help with things.
That’s all the updates for now. I am going to continue to monitor the situation and give you updates as often as I can.
———
Deaf communities impacted by coronavirus
Here are updates on the impact that coronavirus has had on our deaf community.
Joel Barish announced that four DeafNation events in the spring would be postponed to the fall. The events are in Fort Worth, Atlanta, Kansas City, and Washington D.C. Barish said he made agreements with the venues to keep the deposit he made and apply it towards the fall.
For the Las Vegas DeafNation World Expo in July 12-16, he said it’s still on but if anything changes he would update you all.
———
David de Keyzer, founder of the Clin d’Oiel festival in France, announced that the first-ever U.S. based Oiol Festival, slated to begin on July 9-12 on the Gallaudet University campus, would be cancelled because of concerns with coronavirus. De Keyzer said the D.C. Mayor Bowser’s declaration of a public health emergency and the White House’s travel ban of European travelers is what made them cancel it. De Keyzer said the festival might be postponed.
———
The film “A Quiet Place II,” which stars deaf actress Millicent Simmonds along Emily Blunt, was supposed to premiere in movie theaters nationwide on March 20, but it will be postponed to a future date because of concerns with coronavirus.
Director John Krasinski, who is the husband of Blunt, tweeted that he wanted people to be able to go to movie theaters and watch it together, but it is clearly not the right time to do that. He said he would wait to release the film until we all can see it together. He did not specify a date.
———
The Maryland School for the Deaf Superintendent James Tucker announced that classes will be closed starting this Monday, March 16. He said MSD staff would continue to come in to work and that teachers will start planning for e-learning for MSD students. Tucker said he and his senior management team would re-evaluate the COVID-19 situation and decide if there will be classes for the March 23-27 week, and if there are no classes, then e-learning and distance learning would start that week.
———
The President of the Rochester Institute of Technology, David Munson, announced that their spring break would be extended through Sunday, March 22. There will be no classes at that time, but the campus will be open and that the university will prepare to move its courses to an “alternative delivery” such as online, via video, or a course redesign.
Starting Monday, March 23, all academic instruction will take place via alternative methods until further notice. All residence halls will remain open and on-campus services such as dining and health services will be available but modified.
———
Gallaudet University Youth Programs, who runs the Battle of the Books and the National Academic Bowl Tournament, announced that due to the coronavirus outbreak, they have no choice but to revise their competition format. The upcoming BOTB East Regional and National competitions will be done remotely.
The Academic Bowl National Tournament will become either a remote online or a hybrid competition. They said they would provide more details in the future.
———
The California School for the Deaf, Fremont announced that due to concerns with the coronavirus situation, they would, with a heavy heart, cancel the Hoy baseball tournament that was scheduled next month. This will affect six Deaf schools.
———
We will continue to monitor the impact of coronavirus on our Deaf community. If you know of any major decisions made by a deaf program or organization in your community, feel free to comment below so we can share information.
———
DeafNation: https://www.facebook.com/deafnation/
Oiol: https://www.facebook.com/OiolFestival/
MSD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g109ylAbHJk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR19wghmKKdr29izDfZSk1QYAMY1PJP9TwyIf6vOFKR7IAZ8QygdvuWZFEs
A Quiet Place II: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/a-quiet-place-part-ii-delays-release-due-coronavirus-pandemic-1284190
GU Youth Programs: https://www.facebook.com/GUYouthPrograms/
CSDF: https://www.facebook.com/CSDTHAT/posts/2904653166245272
RIT/NTID: https://www.facebook.com/ritntid/