Coronavirus Reads, Digest 8
India conducts highest number of tests in a single day, and the CIA has been hunting to discover the actual virus toll in China, which have until now been vastly understated.
It’s Friday, April 3rd, and across the world, over 1 million people have been infected by the coronavirus.
To begin, a PSA: The verdict is out. Let’s all wear masks outside.
Scientists say the coronavirus can also spread just from breathing or talking, not just coughing or sneezing. Use a bandana or a scarf and leave the medical masks for healthcare workers. A reminder on how to make your own mask.
Tips for best practices on wearing a mask from a public health expert, Joseph G. Allen of Harvard University’s School of Public Health.
Excerpt:
“Each person in your home should have a mask — absolutely no sharing.
The mask should cover the bridge of your nose and cup your chin.
There should be two straps, one that goes above your ear, and the other below
To put it on, use one hand to hold the outside of your homemade mask and put the top strap over your head, followed by the strap that goes below your ear.
To take it off, don’t touch your mask, which could have infectious particles on it if you came into contact with someone infectious. Instead, take it off using the two straps.
If you make one mask, wash it daily.
If you make multiple masks, place the recently worn one in a bag and set it aside for five days (there shouldn’t be any virus left after that time). Wear a new one each day.”
Also, an FYI from me: if you have a beard, a mask will not be effective. Here’s a handy visual chart from the CDC to explain what facial hairstyle works. Infographic - Facial Hairstyles and Filtering Facepiece Respirators
India updates
8,000 coronavirus tests have been done in the last 24 hours, the highest in a single day, says the Indian health ministry. The number of cases are now over 2300, with Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra the most affected. In Tamil Nadu, the number of confirmed infections increased today by over 100.
Meanwhile the latest in protective equipment shortages -- healthcare workers have been “organising protests, drawing up petitions and attending meetings” demanding that the equipment given to them actually protects them from an infection.
Doctors across several Indian states have said that the best they may receive are PPE kits for HIV, which “can do very little to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus,” a medical officer in Mumbai said in an article in The Wire.
Rainwear, Cloth Masks: Across India, Doctors, Nurses Grow Restive in Absence of Basic Protective Gear, Soumashree Sarkar, The Wire
The #DocsNeedGear hashtag is being used on Twitter to spread awareness about the shortages and share accounts.
The World Bank announced $1 billion dollars in emergency aid yesterday to India in order to help assist with better screening, procurement of PPE, and setting up of isolation wards.
Lockdown updates
Kunal Purohit reports on how India’s lockdown is devastating for the rural poor, many of whom rely on daily wages but also have to travel farther distances to buy groceries, but public transport has been shut down.
India COVID-19 lockdown means no food or work for rural poor, Al Jazeera English
And a prolonged lockdown could adversely affect farmers about to harvest the winter crop, reports Sayantan Bera. Corona has pushed Bharat to the Brink, LiveMint
Social distancing is a privilege and a tremendous challenge for India to execute across all stratas. Listen to WNYC’s The Takeaway, featuring Karan Singh of the NYT and Sanjeev Migliani of Reuters on how India is handling it.
U.S. and International
New York City is close to running out of critical medical supplies, as its death toll tops 1500.
The Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds in the harbor in New York City supposed to relieve the city’s healthcare system isn’t working out as planned.It has 20 patients. “Military protocols and bureaucratic hurdles” are preventing it from helping. For example, “Ambulances cannot take patients directly to the Comfort; they must first deliver patients to a city hospital for a lengthy evaluation — including a test for the virus — and then pick them up again for transport to the ship.”
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, has become “a central player” in the Trump administration’s efforts to fight the coronavirus, which many officials say is adding to the confusion and chaos, reports The New York Times.
The FDA has relaxed restrictions on accepting blood donations from gay men from a one year to a 3 month waiting period, in order to ensure an “adequate blood supply” during the current health crisis. A lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men was imposed in the U.S. during the height of the AIDS epidemic. But modern blood screenings can detect HIV within days.
Meanwhile, Singapore announced today, a 1 month lockdown from next Tuesday as infections have risen in the last few weeks.
Investigations and Analysis
Social distancing is more difficult in poorer areas in the U.S. as well. These graphs in the New York Times reflect the inequality in who is able to restrict their movement and stay inside their homes. Location Data Says It All: Staying at Home During Coronavirus Is a Luxury
An exclusive story from the LA Times shows that the Trump administration ended a program aimed at detecting coronaviruses a few months before it started spreading in China.
And American intelligence officials have been warning the White House since early February that China has vastly understated its coronavirus infection toll, reports Julian Barnes in shocking new details in the NYT, and that China’s count “could not be relied upon as the United States compiles predictive models to fight the virus.”
The CIA has been “hunting for more authentic totals” to better understand the speed of transmission, mortality rates, and effectiveness of social distancing.
Part of the problem is “that the Chinese government itself does not know the extent of the virus...as midlevel bureaucrats in the city of Wuhan, where the virus originated, and elsewhere in China have been lying about infection rates, testing and death counts,” fearing punishment in an authoritarian country. Read the full story.
Science
Men are much more likely than women to die from the coronavirus. Why? Many experts have linked unhealthy lifestyles like greater tobacco or alcohol consumption but this Op-Ed argues that this data is consistent with female health outcomes at large, from fetus to old age, and that women are genetically and biologically predisposed to survival.
Opinion | Why Are So Many More Men Dying from Coronavirus?
How did the current SARS-COV-2 virus originate, mutate and infect humans? How do zoonotic viruses, those that jump from animals to people, evolve? This fascinating read in The New Yorker delves into all this, and also gives us the history of how researchers found the source of the 2003 SARS virus (which is very similar to the current coronavirus) in bats in limestone caves.
From Bats to Human Lungs, the Evolution of a Coronavirus, By Carolyn Kormann
Side Effects of the Pandemic
The tourism industry is obviously suffering right now. Many countries rely heavily on tourism to sustain their economy. These include Thailand, Philippines, Mexico, Spain, Italy - which will now witness a direct hit on national incomes. The Tourism Industry Is in Trouble. These Countries Will Suffer the Most.
In Vogue, Chloe Schama writes about how work-life balance has changed during quarantine for parents, and how working parents are refreshingly having to be more open about their parenting struggles and family life.
I Used to Hide My Kids From Colleagues. Now They’re Fully in the Picture.
It’s your birthday, but you’re in isolation. How birthday parties are getting celebrated virtually on Zoom, sometimes complete with toasts, and dressing up. So far, my family has partaken in one and it was lovely.
Alison Roman’s cookbooks and recipes have made her the American millennial’s food authority of the moment. Just Give in to Her, writes Molly Fischer in The Cut.