The Daily Moth 3-24-2020

Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Tuesday, March 24. Here are coronavirus updates.

As of this early afternoon, there are over 400,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world with over 100,000 recovering and over 18,000 deaths. The U.S. has over 50,000 cases.

President Trump told Fox News that he wants the U.S. economy to be “re-opened by Easter,” which is on April 12. Trump is arguing against the idea of shutting down the country for an extended period of time out of concerns that it could cause severe economic damage and a rise in suicides.

Trump illustrated his point by saying that we have thousands and thousands of people who die a year from the flu and from automobile accidents, but we don’t turn the country off or tell the automobile companies to stop making cars. Trump said “we have to get back to work.”

This has sparked controversy with many suggesting that Trump is choosing to sacrifice the lives of elderly and vulnerable people in favor of propping up the economy.

Trump did tweet that senior citizens would be watched over and that returning workers would still practice social distancing.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned on Twitter that we can’t have a functioning economy if major hospitals are overflowing and if our televisions and social media were full of displays of medical chaos.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the rate of new COVID-19 infections in New York is doubling every three days. The number of confirmed cases is over 25,500 as of this afternoon. The state has tested over 91,000 people. Cuomo said he needs 30,000 ventilators and that the federal government is not sending enough because so far they’ve only received 400. Cuomo warned America by saying “look at us today, where we are today, you will be in four weeks or five weeks or six weeks. We are your future.”

Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News that the FEMA have sent 2,000 ventilations to New York and would send another 2,000 tomorrow.

KTLA 5 News in Los Angeles reported that a minor has died of COVID-19. It is not known the age of the child or if the child had prior health issues. The child lived in Lancaster, which is north of Los Angeles. It is believed to be the first known death of a minor from coronavirus.

The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics has officially been postponed by a year. The Japanese prime minister and the IOC President confirmed it by saying they are doing this to safeguard the health of the athletes and others involved in the games. The Olympics will be rescheduled to a date no later than summer 2021.

Axios reported that Liberty University, a private and Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, will allow up to 5,000 students back on campus this week. Classes will be conducted online because the state has a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people, but the residence halls, academic buildings, library, and fitness center will be open. Professors and instructors are expected to be in their offices unless they have a “valid health exemption.” Liberty is moving in the opposite direction of most colleges and universities in the country who have asked their students to move out of campus due to coronavirus. Liberty did say they will use a certain building to quarantine students if they become sick.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order that mandates travelers who arrive in Florida from airports in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to isolate themselves for 14 days.

New Jersey will release 1,000 inmates from their jails to reduce the risks of the coronavirus spreading in jails. Those who are jailed for probation violations or those who are convicted of low-level crimes will be released, starting this morning. New York has already released over 20 people. President Trump said a few days ago that he is considering signing an executive order to release older, nonviolent prisoners from federal prisons.

The New York Times reported that top Democrats and Trump administration officials are optimistic that they can reach a deal on a $2 trillion economic stabilization plan to support those who were affected by the coronavirus pandemic. This bill includes direct check payments to taxpayers. The two sides sparred with each other in recent days and there were a couple of failed Senate votes, but it is very possible there will be a deal tonight. News about a deal sent stocks skywards today with the DOW Jones up over 2,000 points.

https://www.foxnews.com/.../trump-during-fox-news...

https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-liberty-university...

https://www.newsadvance.com/.../article_af2d0986-fd21...

https://www.espn.com/.../tokyo-olympics-officially...

https://www.foxnews.com/.../white-house-sent-2000...

https://www.cnn.com/.../florida-coronavirus.../index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/.../coronavirus-stimulus-bill.html

https://ktla.com/.../l-a-county-officials-to-discuss.../

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DR. IV MIRUS:

Many of you have heard of the concept of “flatten the curve.” You might have seen the graph. We’re trying to stop it from becoming a big peak. Let me explain what exactly that means in simple numbers. For example, I’m in a hospital. I’m one doctor. There’s one breathing machine. I have two patients. They might be older, like 65 years old or older, and live at a nursing home. Fine. There are two patients from two different homes. There might be one person who goes to their home and exposes the virus to one of the patients. If that person is not isolating themselves and decides to visit other people, then they infect another person. Now, I have a problem. Both patients are coming in at the same time, and both of them are sick. Remember, I have one breathing machine. I’m stuck and don’t know what to do. How do I solve that? Isolation. Social distancing. How does that work? If the person who spread the virus realizes they need to stay home and decides to stay home, the patient who gets sick comes to the emergency department and is sick, it would be okay because I have one machine ready. I can help support that patient. That patient will heal and I can send them home. As the virus continues to spread, the other patient might get sick, and I have the machine ready. That’s how we can help both patients. If both patients get sick and come in at the same time, I‘m stuck. That’s the problem. If we isolate and practice social distancing, that gives them a better chance to get help.

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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!