It’s Thursday, April 16th.
India’s infections are nearly 13,000, and at least 420 people have died.
The Indian government said today that they have received 500,000 rapid test kits from China. More test kits and PPE are also expected, CNBC-TV18 reports. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an advisory saying Zoom video communications were not secure.
Crisis in Mumbai
However, the shortage of tests and lack of health infrastructure preparedness is taking a severe toll.
Reports show delayed admission for patients with acute respiratory distress in Mumbai, the worst hit Indian city, leading to a high number of deaths. The Mumbai Mirror reported that a 66 year old COVID-19 positive patient spent 30 hours in a hospital parking lot waiting to be admitted or checked.
The Wire reports that part of the delayed admissions is due to “a lack of a centralised database on the availability of beds for coronavirus patients.”
Why COVID-19 Patients in Mumbai Are Being Forced to Wait Hours for a Hospital Bed, The Wire
But it’s not just that. A lack of adequate PPE led to infections in doctors and nurses early on, and reports show that as many as 15 hospitals have had to shut after staff contracted the virus. A lack of many ICUs and ICU beds is also contributing to the crisis.
COVID-19: Why many more are dying in Mumbai, Lata Mishra
The Maharashtra state government is conducting a death audit. A preliminary analysis shows that in as many as half of the Mumbai COVID-19 deaths, there were delays in testing and admission, the Indian Express reports.
And because of the shortage in tests, many of those patients are not being tested posthumously, risking further spread of the infection from their families who may not know their status. This also means that the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths are being undercounted. Yogita Limaye reports in the BBC.
Is India underreporting the coronavirus outbreak? - BBC News
Slow turnaround times in testing is causing problems in other parts of the country. The Indian Express reports that a quarantine center in Noida for those with travel history is getting overcrowded because it is taking days for test results. Those eventually discharged are worried they may have been exposed at the facility itself.
At quarantine centre in Noida, a long wait to be able to leave, Prabha Raghavan
Stigma
Unfortunately, a lack of awareness and scientific understanding about how the coronavirus spreads continues to lead to widespread stigma and discrimination in India of both suspected or positive patients. As earlier editions of the newsletter have chronicled, doctors and other healthcare workers, airline crews and pilots have been evicted and harassed.
Across India, from Meghalaya to Jharkhand to Mumbai, locals are protesting the last rites of coronavirus patients, denying burial and even cremations.
The WHO has issued guidelines on the safe management and of a COVID-19 body.
They have noted that coronavirus “cadavers do not transmit disease….only the lungs of patients, if handled improperly during an autopsy can be infectious. There is no evidence of persons having been infected from exposure to the bodies of persons who have died from COVID-19.” Cremation is not required, though many communities across the world are choosing that as appropriate.
Priyali Sur writes in CNN about how the Dalit community is being further marginalized during the pandemic, on multiple levels. Even before the pandemic, the community faced intense stigma and discrimination, now they are being called “dirty” and accused that they spread disease.
In most villages, the Dalit community is segregated and relegated to live on the outskirts of , where food or aid may not reach now, and if they get sick, they may not get access to medical clinics.
Many of them are also doing the tasks of “essential workers,” doing cleaning and waste management, which increases their exposure, especially as they don’t have sanitation or protective equipment to carry out the tasks, furthering stigma.
The article quotes a a human rights activist who explains that essentially, Covid-19 is legitimizing discrimination in the name of hygiene and social distancing.
Under India's caste system, Dalits are considered untouchable. The coronavirus is intensifying that slur, Priyali Sur, CNN.
US and International
The US unemployment figures are increasing, as of now over 22 million have filed for unemployment in the last 4 weeks.
President Trump cancelled US funding to the World Health Organization. The US accounts for 15% of the WHO’s funding. Detailed reporting on how the WHO has handled the epidemic efficiently and diplomatically: WHO Warned Trump About Coronavirus Early and Often, The New York Times.
A look inside NYC’s Central Park field hospital, reporting by Sheri Fink, photographs by Hilary Swift. Treating Coronavirus in a Central Park ‘Hot Zone’
Japan has announced a nationwide state of emergency to address the rising number of infections. Meanwhile Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel held a press conference today outlining a plan to lift lockdown restrictions. Germany’s COVID-19 deaths have remained much lower in comparison to the US and other European countries, thanks to its aggressive testing, and early social distancing rules.
Ellen Barry writes of an interesting approach to contact tracing from the state of Massachusetts. Instead of going to the digital app way, they are hiring hundreds of people to make human to human contact calls.
An Army of Virus Tracers Takes Shape in Massachusetts, The New York Times
Ed Young writes about how the summer could unfold in the US, and describes a three-fold approach in The Atlantic: reopening, recalibration, reinforcements.
In Slate, Emily Gould writes about balancing motherhood and work in quarantine.
An excerpt:
We are pared down to our essence. I wish I could unknow what that essence is. It makes me feel like I have made some crucial error along the way, chosen badly, misspent my life. I tried to have it both ways and fucked up, or maybe I didn’t try hard enough. I didn’t fully understand the system and its limitations.
Because it turns out that I don’t want to stay at home with my children, writing in fits and spurts when their lives allow me to. What I want is the opportunity to live a full life and to spend time with my children, too. I want everyone to be able to have that. It’s what men have always had. It’s what no one with kids has right now. For mothers partnered with men, it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll have less of whatever is available.
Motherhood and quarantine: unequal distribution of work in the house during the pandemic, Slate.