Coronavirus Reads, Digest 7
Dharavi in Mumbai, home to over 1 million people, records its 2nd case, while American unemployment claims rise to 10 million overall for March.
It’s Thursday, April 2nd.
India’s coronavirus infections crossed 2,000, and Dharavi in Mumbai records its second confirmed COVID-19 patient, raising alarms as the area is densely packed with over 1 million residents.
Indian PM Narendra Modi spoke to state chief ministers, and discussed his intention to find ways to exit the lockdown period, and relax restrictions yet maintain social distancing. He plans to share a video message at 9AM IST on Friday morning.
Up until now, India has been keeping all COVID-19 positive patients in the hospital until they fully recover and test negative. But as the numbers of infections rises, the government is considering a policy change to allow milder cases to home quarantine, Abantika Ghosh of the Indian Express reports.
More than 50 health workers across India have gotten infected, the Indian health ministry said today. Reports indicate at least 7 doctors in Delhi, and doctors and/or nurses from Mumbai, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Rajasthan, Lucknow, UP.
A lack of adequate protective health equipment is leading to a rise in infections, doctors say. Some whistleblowing doctors who highlight this gap are instead facing disciplinary threats or police harassment.
“Jugaad PPE will not work”
The AIIMS resident doctor association today alleged that money allocated for PPE is being redirected to the Prime Minister Cares Fund instead of purchasing the equipment needed.
“We met with the administration on Wednesday and told them about our concerns and requested that all personal protection equipment will have to meet the safety standards prescribed by the Health Ministry and that neither doctors nor other patients should be put at risk of catching the infection. “Jugaad” PPE will not work,” said AIIMS RDA general secretary T. Srinivas Rajkumar on Thursday.
Some questions are raised over the necessity of a new PM relief fund, and how it has been set up in this article by Manoj Harit. (There is already a Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund that can be used in the event of natural disasters; it has a little over 3800 crore rupees).
And Divya Rajagopal reports in The Economic Times that inconsistent guidelines and a lack of test kits have led to obstacles for testing in private labs, keeping India’s COVID-19 testing capacity from improving.
The Andhra Pradesh government has passed orders that allows them to take over private hospitals to treat coronavirus patients.
India’s first recorded coronavirus patients were students from Wuhan that returned to Kerala. Since then, the southern Indian state has led the way in establishing clear guidelines and directives, with food and economic relief to control their outbreak. Details in this report from Nileena MS in the Caravan Magazine.
Could the lockdown cause widespread food shortages?
Rohini Mohan reports that there is already “a massive breakdown in the supply chains.”
An excerpt:
Many wholesale markets are empty of produce. If the produce does arrive from farms and factories, there are no trucks or drivers to take them to the shops and supermarkets.
On March 30, the Indian government ordered that transport of both essential and non-essential goods be allowed, but production and supply are still severely hit owing to varied state practises.
Many states have issued curfew passes to transport essential items, but manufacturers say it has been impossible to get permission for the entire supply chain.
And an interesting perspective on India’s outbreak from public health expert, N Devadasan, who asks in Scroll, is there a reason for India to be cautiously optimistic? He writes:
“If India is indeed underreporting the numbers for Covid-19 and there are thousands of untested patients out there, then why have they not shown up in hospitals already?...
If there is a surge in patients with respiratory symptoms in hospitals, it is unlikely to miss the attention of the media. Such information is hard to suppress in a country like India.”
And Isaac Chotiner is in conversation with epidemiologist Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan on how the coronavirus and the lockdown will impact India.
How COVID-19 Will Hit India, The New Yorker
U.S. and International
President Trump said he is considering grounding domestic travel to virus hotspots as a way to contain the outbreak. Many American governors are implementing stay-at home orders despite the lack of a national directive from Trump.
Unemployment filings keep rising in the US, as joblessness claims doubled to 6.65 million last week, bringing it to 10 million overall in March alone. More details here in this Bloomberg report.
There are supposedly thousands of ventilators in a stockpile for hospitals that really need them, but there’s one problem: many of them don’t work.
The New York Times has a helpful visual map breakdown of the number of cases across New York City, showing the worst hit as the Queens borough.
CNN Anchor Chris Cuomo has been quarantining since testing positive for the virus. Here’s a clip of him from his basement talking to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his symptoms and his experience of his “worst night.”
The University of California system is waiving some of its college admissions requirements and no longer requires the SAT, or minimum letter grades, reports the LA Times.
In yesterday’s edition, I had mentioned that private labs in the US have a backlog of cases. Here’s a story that says that the New Jersey based Quest Diagnostics lab has had a backlog of upto 160,000 tests.
Some incredible details in this reporting from the Wall Street Journal: How the state of Massachusetts got itself a million masks: a request to China, and the use of a very special plane.
A Million N95 Masks Are Coming From China--On Board the New England Patriots’ Plane, By Andrew Beaton.
Hong Kong is hit with a second wave of infections brought from residents who have recently returned from abroad. In response, it is closing karaoke bars, clubs and beauty parlors after at least 4 people were infected following a party at a karaoke bar.
Food, Takeout, and the Coronavirus
There’s a lot of information out there on best practices for hygiene at this time, and how important it is to disinfect surfaces regularly. What about food, groceries or takeout? There’s a lot of anxiety and misinformation about what’s safe. Serious Eats has a very helpful guide on food safety and frequently asked questions.
Importantly:
-They point out that “there is strong evidence to prove that food is not a vector of the virus.”
-Also, when you order takeout, even if there were some exposure along the way in the food preparation or handling, the viral load would get diluted several times.
-”Viral loads remain more stable on non-porous surfaces like metal and plastic, and break down faster on organic surfaces like cardboard.”
So, best practices are to frequently wash your hands with soap (20 seconds+ remember!) before and after cooking and eating, and transfer food from outside containers or sanitize them.
Also, remember, cooking or reheating food reduces viral and bacterial load.
The Daily Show host Trevor Noah asks infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci about some of these concerns too.
Side Effects of the Pandemic
Scientists are getting some rare data from Delhi these days--due its unpolluted air during the national lockdown. Researchers are for the first time being able to “determine Delhi’s baseline pollution levels, or the lowest pollution level Delhi can ever hope to achieve.”
Here’s a short video explaining the change in air quality in Delhi in the last week.
Zoom calls may not be as secure as we think.
According to The Intercept, there isn’t end to end encryption for video calls, while Vice’s Motherboard reports Zoom has been leaking people’s emails. Apparently questions over Zoom’s cyber security aren’t new. Tech Crunch has the details.
You don’t have to be productive! Don’t feel guilty or overwhelmed if you feel like you’re not using all the time in quarantine to do more. As this article explains, different people have different ways of coping, and managing to be present, focusing on every day tasks and surviving this time can be enough.
J.K. Rowling has launched an online hub for families during quarantine, called “Harry Potter at Home,” which will reportedly include puzzles, quizzes, games and even an audio version of the first Harry Potter book.
And some tips on social distancing from Bill Barr, a man who’s been living in an abandoned mining town in Colorado for 50 years.