Washington Mayor Muriel Bawser said on Wednesday that the US capital will begin the first stages of lifting restrictions on public isolation imposed to stem the spread of the Corona epidemic tomorrow.
Bawser, who had issued an order on March 30 for residents to stay in their homes, said that the region had witnessed a “steady decline” in cases of the emerging coronavirus over a 14-day period that allowed the lifting of restrictions.
Bowser added that the gathering of more than ten people will remain prohibited.
She added that retailers of non-essential items will be allowed to open their stores on Friday to receive orders outside the store or at the main door and will allow barbershops and hairdressers to work but with prior dates and for restaurants to serve customers in open areas only and will open some gardens and places of entertainment.
Pensacola, fl The NBA said it had entered into negotiations with The Walt Disney Company to resume the paused season due to the Corona virus pandemic at Disney World in Florida by the end of July. The association seeks to hold its matches in one place, which is the sports resort in Orlando, which includes three stadiums and some hotels.
Our priority is the health and safety of everyone and we are cooperating with health experts and government officials to come up with a set of criteria to ensure that medical matters and protection are working well, League League spokesman Mike Pass said in a statement outlining the shape of the plan.
In mid-March, the Basketball League became the first professional championship to stop due to the Corona virus pandemic, after Utah Jazz player Rudi Joubert fell ill. Since then, a number of players have been infected with the virus, including Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets player, twice winner of the Golden State Warriors. More than half of the championship teams reopened their sports facilities this month under strict restrictions in places approved by state governments.
The Treasury Department said that the nation’s major airlines have tentatively agreed to terms for $25 billion in federal aid to pay workers and keep them employed through September.
The assistance will include a mix of cash and loans, with the government getting warrants that can be converted into small ownership stakes in the leading airlines.
The airlines did not want to give up equity, but Treasury demanded compensation for taxpayers. The airlines have little leverage — their business has collapsed as the COVID-19 pandemic reduces air travel to a trickle and they face mass layoffs without the federal aid.
The nation’s six biggest airlines — Delta, American, United, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue — along with four smaller carriers have reached agreements in principle, and the Treasury Department said talks were continuing with others. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the department would work with the airlines to finalize deals “and disburse funds as quickly as possible.
President Donald Trump — perhaps mindful of criticism that the government was bailing out a previously profitable industry — said the deals will support airline workers and protect taxpayers.
“Our airlines are now in good shape, and they will get over a very tough period of time that was not caused by them,” Trump said.
A350 soaring above the clouds
The payroll aid is roughly based on each airline’s spending on wages and benefits from April through September 2019,
American Airlines said Treasury approved $5.8 billion for the airline, a $4.1 billion grant and a $1.7 billion low-interest loan. CEO Doug Parker called it “fantastic news,” and “we now believe we have the financial resources necessary to help us withstand this crisis.”
Analysts expected United and Delta were also eligible for more than $5 billion. United said it expected to complete a final deal with Treasury “in the next few days,” but gave no figures. Delta did not comment immediately.
Southwest Airlines said it expects to get $3.2 billion, including more than $2.3 billion in cash and the balance in an unsecured loan.
The airlines had expected to begin receiving the aid — entirely in cash that didn’t have to be repaid — from the government to cover their payrolls by April 6, the deadline set by Congress. Instead, they found themselves locked in several days of tense negotiations with the Treasury Department, which insisted that only 70% of the aid should be in cash, with the rest in loans that airlines must repay.
In addition, Treasury demanded that to compensate taxpayers, the largest airlines must turn over warrants that, if exercised, could give the government ownership stakes ranging between 1% and 3%, according to calculations by a Raymond James analyst. Southwest said Treasury will get about 2.6 million warrants, or less than 1% of its outstanding stock. Others gave no details.
The warrants total 10% of the loan amount, and Mnuchin can exercise them at each airline’s closing stock price on April 9, according to airline officials.
The nation’s airlines entered 2020 riding a decade-long hot streak in which together they earned tens of billions of dollars due to strong travel demand. That success came crashing down in just a few weeks, as governments restricted travel to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, and people feared contracting the illness on a plane.
As part of a $2.2 trillion economic-relief package, Congress also approved a separate $25 billion program to provide loans to airlines. Analysts expect less interest because the airlines can tap private credit markets, but American said it plans to seek a $4.75 billion government loan, and Alaska Airlines indicated it too will apply under the separate program.
The stories are all over the Internet: women experiencing mysterious symptoms such as fatigue, depression, anxiety, chest pain, chills, rashes, and hair loss. They suspect one cause — their breast implants. And some women, determined to rid themselves of these vague but debilitating symptoms, are opting to remove their implants in hopes of curing their problems.
If you have breast implants or are thinking about getting them, these stories may have you worried. Are you at risk? Are implants safe?
The truth is, there are still some unknowns when it comes to what many patients call “breast implant illness,” including whether implants are truly the cause of these symptoms, says Dr. Andrea Pusic, Joseph E. Murray Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.
What doctors do know is that the symptoms women are describing are real. But many of those symptoms can be caused by numerous other conditions, including menopause, thyroid problems, and autoimmune diseases. Because of this, scientists haven’t yet been able to draw a direct line between implants and illness. But they are looking for answers and — hopefully one day soon — solutions for affected women.
“In no way are we dismissing that women are experiencing these symptoms,” says Dr. Pusic. “It’s just a question of what’s causing it, and how do we make you better.”
Among women who choose to have breast implants, the majority — some 80% — make the decision for cosmetic reasons. The other 20% of implant procedures are for breast reconstruction among women who have had mastectomy surgery to treat or prevent breast cancer, says Dr. Pusic.
There are multiple types of implants. Some of these are filled with silicone and others are filled with saline. There are also implants with a smooth outer shell and others with a textured shell.
While research on breast implant illness isn’t yet conclusive, there are some documented risks associated with breast implants. These include potential surgical complications (like infection) and implant rupture.
In addition, certain textured breast implants, most often used in breast reconstruction procedures, were voluntarily recalled by their manufacturer in the summer of 2019, at the prompting of the FDA, after they were linked with a rare type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a cancer that affects cells that work as part of the body’s immune system.
ALCL is often relatively easy to detect, says Dr. Pusic. Most women with the condition will have fluid buildup around the implant, which causes the breast to swell. Others will feel a lump in their breast.
“If it’s detected, successful treatment for ALCL often consists of surgery alone. The implant is surgically removed along with the capsule of tissue that forms around the implant,” says Dr. Pusic. In most cases, that will be the extent of treatment. But a smaller number of women also need follow-up chemotherapy or radiation, she says.
While doctors are no longer using these textured implants, some women still have them, and they are advised to monitor their breasts for changes. But they do not need to have the implants removed unless they experience a problem, says Dr. Pusic.
Scientists are still looking for answers when it comes to breast implant illness. Researchers haven’t yet been able to figure out if, or how, breast implants are triggering this constellation of symptoms in women.
It’s possible that some cases are due to other, undiagnosed conditions, such as autoimmune disease. But it’s also possible that a small proportion of women have a susceptibility to systemic problems related to implants, says Dr. Pusic.
Some women have reported that their symptoms went away once their implants were removed. But it’s difficult to know for sure if that’s the reason for the perception of improvement. “There is the potential for subconscious bias to believe that the symptoms have gotten better,” says Dr. Pusic.
So, what should you do if you have implants and are experiencing symptoms consistent with breast implant illness? Or if you are considering implants, should you not get them because you fear getting symptoms?
Experiencing symptoms? “In my practice, when a woman comes in with symptoms that may be related to breast implants, the first step is to examine her to make sure there is nothing physically wrong with her implants and that they are intact,” says Dr. Pusic. “If the implants are intact, I encourage her to see her primary care physician to rule out other things that could be causing her symptoms, such as thyroid problems.”
If a woman is cleared of other conditions that could be causing her symptoms and wants to have the implants removed, doctors should abide by her wishes, says Dr. Pusic.
“Every woman has the right to have her implants taken out,” she says. In this case, she should be advised of the potential risks related to removal and encouraged to consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. “This ensures that you will have someone to inform you appropriately, who is up to date on the latest science and status of implant safety,” she says. Ideally, your surgeon should be a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons.
Some women who suspect they have breast implant illness are opting for a very invasive surgical approach to remove implants called en bloc capsulectomy, which removes not only the implant but also surrounding tissue. “When the implant is placed, the body forms a film or a layer around the implant. Some people are advocating for the removal of all that tissue surrounding the implant,” says Dr. Pusic. “When a woman has cancer, such as ALCL, we have good data indicating that’s the right thing to do for that cancer.” However, there is no evidence that removal of this additional tissue helps women with breast implant illness, and the procedure brings very real surgical risks, such as bleeding and other complications.
If you have breast implants, it’s always a good idea to be aware of any breast changes and report them to your doctor, just as you would if you didn’t have implants.
It’s hoped that more information regarding breast implant illness will be uncovered in the next few years. “We really don’t fully understand breast implant illness, but we are working hard to find out more,” says Dr. Pusic. Researchers are working with patient advocacy groups to design studies that will shed more light on the potential connection between breast implants and the symptoms women are experiencing. The hope is that such studies will help researchers answer questions and find solutions. It’s important to understand that although symptoms of breast implant illness may be associated with the presence of the implants, this does not prove that the implants cause the problem.
In the United States, we recently launched the National Breast Implant Registry, which allows us to continue to track implants more carefully,” says Dr. Pusic. “The plastic surgery community is putting a lot of resources into this.
There won’t likely be one “Aha!” moment from one study, but rather various studies that will provide different pieces of the puzzle, she says. The same was true of the investigations into ALCL; researchers had to test various theories before they realized that it was likely the texture of the implants that was linked to the increased incidence of ALCL, says Dr. Pusic.
Board-certified plastic surgeons, along with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, have always endeavored to help women understand both the risks and benefits of breast implants. Moving forward, we hope to do this even better,” she says. “It may turn out that women with certain risk factors might not be good candidates for implants, while other women are.”
New York’s coronavirus death toll topped 10,000 even as the absence of fresh hotspots in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world yielded a ray of optimism in global efforts against the disease, though a return to normal was unlikely anytime soon.
Officials around the world worried that halting the quarantine and social distancing behaviors could easily undo the hard-earned progress. Still, there were signs that countries were looking in that direction. Spain permitted some workers to return to their jobs, a hard-hit region of Italy loosened its lockdown restrictions and grim predictions of a virus that would move with equal ferocity from New York to other parts of America had not yet materialized.
New York’s state’s 671 new deaths marked the first time in a week that the daily toll dipped below 700. Almost 2,000 people were newly hospitalized with the virus Sunday, though once discharges and deaths are accounted for the number of people hospitalized has flattened to just under 19,000.
This virus is very good at what it does. It is a killer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during.
As the coronavirus throws millions out of work and devastates economies worldwide, governments are struggling with the delicate balance between keeping people safe from a highly contagious disease and making sure they can still make a living or have enough to eat.
Workers in some nonessential industries returned to their jobs Monday in Spain, one of the hardest hit countries in the pandemic, while in South Korea officials were warning that hard-earned progress fighting the virus could be eroded by new infections as restrictions ease.
The decisions are complicated because each nation is on its own coronavirus arc, with places like Britain, Japan and parts of the United States still seeing increasing daily levels of deaths or infections; France and New York hoping they are stabilizing, albeit at a high plateau of deaths; and nations like Italy and Spain seeing declines in the rates of increase.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said his government must balance its response to the virus crisis that “threatens to destroy lives and at the same time destroy the economic and social fabric of our country.
Seeking to restart manufacturing, Spain’s government is allowing workers to return to some factory and construction jobs.
The country reported its lowest daily growth in infections in three weeks. Retail stores and services remain closed, and office workers are strongly encouraged to keep working from home. A prohibition on people leaving home for anything other than groceries and medicine will remain for at least two weeks under the state of emergency.
But Health Minister Salvador Illa said Monday that the government will move carefully on allowing others to end their self-isolation. He said officials will proceed with “the utmost caution and prudence … and always based on scientific evidence.
“We’re in no position to be setting dates” about when isolation might end. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
Some health experts and politicians argue that it’s premature to ease the lockdown in a nation that has suffered almost 17,500 deaths and reported more than 169,000 infections, second only to the United States’ 557,000 infections.
Italy recorded its lowest daily virus death toll in three weeks at 431, putting its total deaths at over 19,800. In Veneto, one of the country’s most infected regions, officials are loosing some restrictions on movement as they enter a phase the governor, Luca Zaia, termed ’’lockdown light.
Zaia is expanding the 200-meter from home radius for physical fitness and allowing open-air markets in a new ordinance that takes effect Tuesday. At the same time, the ordinance makes masks or other face coverings mandatory outside the home — not just in supermarkets or on public transportation, as was previously the case.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the nation is facing a surge in the number of seriously ill patients and urged officials to mobilize resources for worst-case scenarios. Speaking in a conference call, Putin emphasized the need to prepare for moving medical personnel, ventilators and protective gear between regions to respond to the rapidly changing situation.
Russia has recorded more than 18,000 coronavirus cases and 148 deaths. Moscow and the surrounding region have accounted for about two-thirds of all infections.
In Madrid, José Pardinas took a mask being handed out by police as he walked to work at a moving company that was re-starting operations after a three-week halt.
“The company hasn’t given us any protective equipment. I’m quite nervous about contracting the virus because my family can’t afford more time without an income,” Pardinas said.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, meanwhile, issued a global plea to the world’s richer countries and international financial institutions to provide debt-relief for poor countries, where forced lockdowns are crippling already troubled economies and causing widespread hunger for the poor.
His government has launched an ambitious $8 billion program to help the millions near the poverty level. Khan last week relaxed his country’s lockdown to allow the construction industry, which employs the vast majority of Pakistan’s daily wage earners, to re-open.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has urged a cautious approach to any loosening of restrictions, will hold a video conference with regional governors Wednesday, after the governor of the state with the most infections called for a “road map” to return to normality.
Armin Laschet, governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, said “the willingness for restrictions also needs the prospect of normalization.” His government came up with a plan for gradually easing the restrictions imposed on March 22, when public gatherings were limited to only two people.
In South Korea, Prime Minster Chung Sye-kyun said officials were discussing new public guidelines that would allow for “certain levels of economic and social activity” while also maintaining distance to slow the virus’ spread.
South Korea’s caseload has slowed from early March, when it was reporting around 500 new daily cases, but officials have warned of a broader “quiet spread″ at locations such as bars, which are still open. President Moon Jae-in vowed Monday to focus on saving jobs and protecting the economy amid a sharp increase in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits.
South Korea’s vice health minister, Kim Gang-lip, said a quick return to normality was “virtually impossible” considering the threat of new infections.
“A premature easing (of social distancing) would come at an irrevocable cost, so we should approach the issue very carefully, and invest deep thought into when and how to transition,” Kim said.
The pandemic’s new epicenter is now the United States, which has seen more than 22,000 deaths, the world’s highest. About half have been in the New York metropolitan area, but hospitalizations are slowing in the state, and other indicators suggest lockdowns and social distancing are working.
In Britain, the death toll passed 10,600. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the first major world leader to test positive for the virus, paid an emotional tribute to the country’s National Health Service after leaving the hospital on Sunday. Johnson, who spent three nights in intensive care, especially thanked two nurses who stood by his bedside for 48 hours “when things could have gone either way.”
Japan, the world’s third-biggest economy, has seen new infections climb rapidly and now has 7,255 confirmed cases. Japanese companies have been slow to switch to working remotely and many people are still commuting, even after a state of emergency was declared for seven prefectures, including Tokyo.
To encourage people to stay home, the Japanese government released a video showing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cuddling his dog, reading a book and clicking a remote control at home, but the message drew scathing criticism on social media.
More than 1.8 million coronavirus infections have been reported and over 114,000 people have died worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The figures understate the true size and toll of the pandemic, due to limited testing, uneven counting of the dead and deliberate under-counting by some governments.
Severe weather has swept across the South, killing at least 20 people and damaging hundreds of homes from Louisiana into the Appalachian Mountains. Many people spent part of the night early Monday sheltering in basements, closets and bathroom tubs as sirens wailed to warn of possible tornadoes.
Eleven people were killed in Mississippi, and six more died in northwest Georgia. Three other bodies were pulled from damaged homes in Arkansas, South Carolina and North Carolina.
The storms blew onward through the night, causing flooding and mudslides in mountainous areas, and knocking out electricity for nearly 1.3 million customers in a path from Texas to Maine, according to power outages us.
Striking first on Easter Sunday across a landscape largely emptied by coronavirus stay-at-home orders, the storm front forced some uncomfortable decisions. In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey suspended social distancing rules, and some people wearing protective masks huddled closely together in storm.
Andrew Phillips crowded into a closet-sized “safe room” with his wife and two sons after watching an online Easter service because the pandemic forced their church to halt regular worship. Then, a twister struck, shredding their house, meat-processing business and vehicles in rural Moss, Mississippi. The room, built of sturdy cinder blocks, was the only thing on their property left standing.
I’m just going to let the insurance handle it and trust in the good Lord,” said Phillips.
The National Weather Service tallied hundreds of reports of trees down across the region, including many that punctured roofs and downed power lines. Meteorologists warned the Mid-Atlantic States to prepare for potential tornadoes, wind and hail on Monday. The storms knocked down trees across Pennsylvania, and an apparently strong tornado moved through southern South Carolina, leaving chaos in its wake.
Power lines are down trees are all over the place. It’s hard to get from one place to the other because the roads are blocked,” Hampton County Sheriff T.C. Smalls said.
A suspected twister lifted a house, mostly intact, and deposited it in the middle of a road in central Georgia. In Louisiana, winds ripped apart a metal airplane hangar.
Deaths were tallied in small numbers here and there, considering the storm front’s vast reach and intensity.
A senior US medical official said on Monday that an outbreak of the Corona virus could peak in the United States this week, indicating signs of stability across the country.
The United States, the world’s third most populous country, has recorded more deaths from Covid-19 due to HIV infection than any other country.
A Reuters tally indicates that the total number of corona deaths in the United States was 22,000
About 2,000 deaths have been recorded daily over the past four days, with the largest number of deaths in and around New York City.
Experts say that official statistics have reduced the actual number of people who died from the respiratory disease, to exclude those who died in their homes for reasons related to the Coronavirus.
“We’re nearing a peak now,” said Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on a NBC news program. You will know that you are at the peak when the next day is already less than before.
The strict restrictions imposed on the commitment of homes to reduce the spread of the disease, which have been in effect for weeks in many areas of the country, resulted in painful economic losses, which raised questions about how the state kept closing companies and continuing to impose travel restrictions.
a administration official in President Donald Trump mentioned May 1 as a possible date for easing restrictions while warning that it was still too early to say whether this goal would be achieved.
Redfield refused to set a timeframe for the reopening of the US economy and praised the social divergence measures that he said had contributed to reducing mortality.
There is no doubt that we have to reopen properly, Redfield added. It will be a step-by-step process. It should be data-driven.
Doctors revealed that a 42-year-old American man had been infected with the Corona virus, after going to the hospital due to testicle pain
The man reported no coughing or shortness of breath, which is a symptom of COVID-19, but he suffered from a fever that disappeared after two days. His doctor urged him to seek emergency help because of pain that resembled “stabbing” in his testicles, stomach, chest and back, lasting for a week.
Paramedics revealed that his testicles were “normal”, and no suspicious matter was shown in the chest X-ray images. However, he was diagnosed with pneumonia soon after, when a CT scan revealed, his lungs had not been shown by X-rays.
Two days later, the unidentified man from Massachusetts was confirmed to be infected with the life-threatening corona virus. His doctor failed to tell ER doctors (intensive care) that he had been tested for corona, after attending a conference in Boston linked to several cases.
This means that the man was treated by doctors who did not wear PPE, and he sat in the waiting room with other patients for two hours before treatment.
Doctors at Harvard Medical School did not say that testicular pain was an accident, but they warned against the atypical effect of COVID-19.
The case report comes after the concerns of scientists in China, who in February claimed that the virus might attack the male genitalia.
The team speculated that the virus binds to cells frequently found in the testes, and may lead to “tissue damage
However, other experts have since stressed that men do not need to have concerns about their testicles amid the epidemic, until strong research is conducted.
Two doctors at Harvard Medical School described the “atypical” state of the Corona virus in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. They wrote: “We present this case as a lesson learned from the front lines and to raise awareness of unconventional cases of COVID-19, as part of their continued emergence.
It was reported that the man was treated for constipation by the family physician, before being asked to go to A&E. For 8 days he suffered “persistent pain” in the abdominal area, back and testis, and reached his chest.
Despite suffering from a fever for two days earlier, he had no cough, sore throat, or shortness of breath, which is a clear symptom of the new Corona virus.
The main stomach, Dr. Jesse Kim, said that the physical examination found nothing abnormal except for some stomach weakness. When the man performed a CT scan of the abdomen, specialists found a suspicious matter in the base of his lungs, a damage that is proportional to pneumonia, which can occur as severe complications of COVID-19.
The next day, the man and his medical team were informed that the COVID-19 test was positive.
Dr. Richard Finney, a urologist in Birmingham, said that he had not encountered any COVID-19 complain of testicular problems. There are some viruses that can affect the testicles, such as mumps. Time will only determine if COVID-19 also affects the testes. “
To date, no study has demonstrated that the virus will damage a man’s genitals, or reduce fertility or sexual efficacy.
But scientists say this is theoretically possible, based on how the virus enters cells, through a receptor called ACE2.
The virus could have appeared by chance at the same time that the patient had a bacterial infection, causing pain in the testicles. The Harvard team did not provide any explanation for why the man had testicular pain.
Though California recorded its first case of coronavirus in late January, one Santa Clara physician and government leader says that the virus was likely freewheeling” through the Sunshine State months before anyone took notice.
Dr. Jeff Smith, a physician and executive officer in the Santa Clara County government, said that the Covid-19 coronavirus “was freewheeling in our community and probably has been here for quite some time” before officials took notice in late January.
Based on data from local and federal agencies, Smith told the paper that the coronavirus was active for a lot longer than we first believed,” probably since back in December
As the Covid-19 coronavirus first began to leak out of China in January, authorities around the world traced the movements of those infected in a bid to map the spread of what would later become a global pandemic. California’s first case – a man in his 50s – was found to have traveled from Wuhan, China, when he turned up in an Orange County hospital late that month.
Contact tracing can help public health officials quash the spread of an illness before it takes hold in a community and becomes essentially untraceable, and at the time of the man’s diagnosis, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency told the public that “the risk of transmission in Orange County continues to be low
Recognizing when a virus starts spreading through the community at large is essential, as social distancing and quarantine measures must then be put in place to slow its advance, according to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Simply tracking down the individuals an infected person has come in contact with is no longer enough.
When it came to tracing the second case in the Bay Area several weeks later, medics were unable to discover how the patient – a woman who had been ill for weeks – had come in contact with the virus. “That means the virus is in the community already — not, as was suspected by the CDC, as only in China and being spread from contact with China,
Smith believes that an unusually severe flu season masked the spread of Covid-19. “Symptoms are very much like the flu. If you got a mild case of COVID, you didn’t really notice,” he explained. “You didn’t even go to the doctor.” Indeed, data from the CDC shows that since early December, hospitalizations for “Influenza-like Illness” stayed higher than at any point during the last decade, save for the unusually bad 2017-2018 flu season.
Even as recently as late February, Dr. Pritish Tosh, an infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic, told Americans that “If they have a fever and respiratory illness, they should assume this is influenza unless they’ve had recent travel to China.” Until March, influenza was considered the more pressing threat to public health in the US, not the coronavirus.
Flights to the US from China were only suspended at the beginning of February. Dozens of daily flights link California with China, and Chinese immigrants make up around ten percent of the San Francisco Bay Area’s population, having first flocked there to work in the mines during the gold rush of the 1850s. As such, air routes between California and China are busy, with up to three million passengers booking return journeys per year.
Chinese authorities reportedly noticed the first cases of Covid-19 in November, weeks before making the discovery public, and two months before imposing travel restrictions on the city of Wuhan. This delay on the Chinese side, as well as the delay in recognizing the community transmission on the American side, could have given the virus ample time to embed itself in California, while public health officials were distracted with the flu.
According to the LA Times, researchers from the National Institute of Health are now scouring blood banks across California looking for antibodies in samples of donated blood. These antibodies could provide evidence that people had been catching – and recovering from – Covid-19 long before authorities noticed the outbreak.
Three months after California recorded its first cases of coronavirus, just under 19,500 people in the state have fallen ill to the deadly pathogen, and more than 540 are dead. More than half a million cases have been diagnosed in the US in total, and more than 20,000 people have died. The United States now has the highest number of Covid-19 deaths of any country in the world.
The local authorities in New York decided to bury the people who died as a result of the unclaimed Corona virus in unmarked mass graves on the island of Hart designated for the burial of unknown and poor people. Workers hired for burials in this cemetery, one of the largest public cemeteries in New York, have buried nearly a million bodies. New York recorded 160,000 cases of coronavirus, more than any country outside the United States, including those most affected in Europe such as Spain and Italy.
The United States of America continues its struggle to prevent the Corona epidemic, which claimed 18,586 deaths according to the latest official toll announced by the authorities on Saturday, and thus closely approximates the death toll recorded by Italy (18,849 deaths)
US officials confirmed that the people who died as a result of Coffid-19, who was not claimed, are buried in unmarked mass graves on Hart Island in New York by workers contracted specifically for this task.
Hart Island is one of the largest public graves in New York, where about one million bodies are buried.
The one-mile long island of Hart in the Bronx was bought by the city from a landowner in 1869 and turned into a cemetery to bury the unknown and the poor.
The New York authorities used the site 150 years ago to bury the abandoned corpses and those that have not been claimed by anyone or the corpses of state residents whose relatives were unable to secure the cost of the funeral and burial.
“We will continue to use the island this way during the crisis,” said a spokesman for the city government.
And 25 people are being buried on Hart Island a day since the new Corona virus began to spread last month, while such a number was buried a week earlier.
New York recorded 160,000 cases of coronavirus, more than any country outside the United States, including those most affected in Europe such as Spain and Italy.
The state had 7,844 deaths, accounting for nearly half of the deaths in the United States.
Each year, 1,200 bodies are buried, as the bodies are placed in pine coffins in trenches. There are no tombstones, but only small white marks indicating the trenches.
The site has been run by the New York Department of Prisons for a long time, and prisoners from the nearby Rikers Island which has the worst US prisons are used to bury the dead, but this did not happen in the case of Coffed-19 deaths, as “contract workers” were used according to Speaker.
The site has been banned from the public for decades, but in recent years visits have been permitted on certain days.
Late last year, the New York City Council voted to transfer Hart Island to the Public Parks Authority to facilitate visits.
The island was also used to bury AIDS victims over the years, as well as a prison during the American Civil War, a sanctuary for people with mental illness, tuberculosis patients, and even a missile base during the Cold War era and is often referred to as the “Island of the Dead” in New York.
