I’ve moved the daily statistics to their own part of the site. Check out the COVID-19 Daily Snapshots.
Here’s the top line, global numbers. All the numbers for yesterday are here.
Iceland saw a large number of new infections (43) which is 128 infections per million residents. Luxembourg continued its growth as well at 101 new infections per million. Other notable countries with high relative growth rates are:
The United States saw 1,584 new cases yesterday which increased our NIPMC from 3 to 4. The rate of infections is growing and quite fast.
90 day payment deferment expected. Individuals can defer up to $1M. Corporations up to $10M.
Kansas shuts down schools for the rest of the year.
White House wants $1T. Unemployment rate may hit 20%. The Treasury Secretary says that Americans might get $1,000 checks in the mail.
The United States also suggested that people should avoid gatherings with more than 10 people today. This number has rapidly dropped on each subsequent day we’ve been reporting.
Researchers say that if we want to avoid hundreds of thousands of deaths, we may have to live with social distancing for a year or more!
Six counties in the bay area of California—including San Francisco—ordered its residents to “shelter in place”:
Businesses that do not provide “essential” services must send workers home. Among those remaining open are grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants for delivery only and hardware stores. Most workers are ordered to stay home, with exceptions including health care workers; police, fire and other emergency responders; and utility providers such as electricians, plumbers and sanitation workers. BART will run for essential travel, and airports are not closing.
Meanwhile the Governor of California issued an executive order to help out renters and homeowners in the state. The order
authorizes local governments to halt evictions for renters and homeowners, slows foreclosures, and protects against utility shutoffs for Californians affected by COVID-19
Confusion spread in Ohio as the State Supreme Court ruled overnight that primary polls should be closed for the time being.
In an effort to address the expected lack of hospital beds in worst-case scenarios, the Pentagon has begun preparing and staging Navy hospital ships on both coasts.
US defense lawyers are sounding the alarm over the risk of COVID-19 burning through the nation’s jails. There have been no notable outbreaks in US facilities, yet. If current social distancing efforts don’t affect the infection rate, it’s almost a certainty that the virus will infiltrate a jail eventually.
City says residents should be prepared to “shelter in place” within the next 48 hours.
DeBlasio says the COVID-19 crisis’ effects could be on-par with the Great Depression.
The World Health Organization, which has been central to the global response to COVID-19, has confirmed that two of its staff have contracted the virus.
A Swiss government official warns that if the currently observed rate of infections remains constant, Switzerland’s health case system may collapse. This likely refers to the complete exhaustion of beds or critical medical equipment such as respirators.
Another, often overlooked critical medical resources are the health care workers themselves. These individual suffer higher than normal rates of infection themselves—for obvious reasons. Nations have been exhorting retired nurses to come back to work for this reason.
Airlines have begun asking for bailouts.
Nearly 1,400 people escaped from Brazilian prisons in anticipation of a lockdown over COVID-19. 600 have been recaptured, and 800 remain on the run.
Indonesia has begun to shut its borders to foreigners. So did Thailand.
Spain shut down its land borders.
Australia issued an advisory to all citizens, informing them that they should come home now, or they might get stuck abroad.
As cases of the virus increase slightly in African nations, citizens have begun hoarding goods, “like they’re preparing for war.”