Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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The number of coronavirus cases in the Big Apple doubled overnight to 3,615 Thursday with increased testing, up from 1,871 late Wednesday.

The new figures released Thursday by City Hall also show that 22 people in the five boroughs had died from the disease as of 10 a.m.

According to the tally, Brooklyn now has the largest number of cases with 1,030 positives. Meanwhile, there are 980 cases in Queens, 976 in Manhattan, 436 in The Bronx and 165 on Staten Island.

Additionally, City Hall released data that showed 554 people had been hospitalized as of 5 p.m. Wednesday. More than a quarter of them, 160, are in intensive care.

Some New York City inmates are set to be released from jail as early as Thursday night as the city continues its fight against coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

One inmate in Rikers has tested positive for COVID-19. Another eight are symptomatic.

Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Elias Husamudeen called the release proposal "asinine" and "beyond irresponsible" after de Blasio first mentioned it.

"It's very sad that we have to remind the Board of Correction that their mandate, per the city's Charter, is to advocate for the welfare of everyone in the Correction Department, not just the inmates," he said. "Instead of recklessly letting inmates out, call for the city to ramp up its efforts to bring in more masks, gloves, hand sanitzers and other vital supplies for the men and women who must also put their health at risk by showing up to work eve

Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives have become the first members of Congress to test positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

On Wednesday, both Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, and Utah Democrat Ben McAdams announced they were in self-quarantine after testing positive.

At least 10 other members of Congress also announced on Wednesday and Thursday that they were in self-quarantine as a precaution because of exposure to people who have tested positive, many of whom had contact with Diaz-Balart and McAdams.

McAdams, in his own statement, said, “I’m doing my part as all Americans are doing to contain the spread of the virus and mitigate the coronavirus outbreak.”

During an interview on NBC’s “TODAY” show, McAdams said that the illness feels like “worst cold I’ve ever had.”

“I felt like I had a belt around my chest, and so I couldn’t breathe deeply,” said McAdams.

He also said that any other lawmaker who had close contact with him since last Friday “should be concerned and should probably take precautions.”

McAdams said that the “few members that I had contact with in that period probably should be quarantined.”

Daniel Dae Kim announced on Instagram on Thursday that he’s tested positive for coronavirus, opening up about his journey to diagnosis and pleading for the public to follow self-isolation guidelines.

The actor, who is now in Hawaii and was there when he obtained his test, was in New York the past few weeks, shooting on the NBC series “New Amsterdam.”

“I wanted to let you know that yesterday I tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus,” he said. He noted that “ironically” he had been playing a doctor who “gets recruited to help patients during a flu pandemic.” He acknowledged that when news of the real-life pandemic broke, the show shut down production, and he returned to his family in Hawaii

It’s important for you guys to know that I was asymptomatic during all of this time,” he said, although when the flight was landing he noticed “scratchiness” in his throat. “To be safe, when I got home I quarantined myself in a room in the house and tried to rest on my own,” he said.

It was then that his symptoms got worse, including tightness in his chest, body aches and a fever. Kim shares he went to a “drive-through testing facility that had just opened in Honolulu,” and the test was painful — “They shove a huge swab into your nose and into your throat,” he said — but worth it.

In addition to apologizing to the cast and crew members he may have unknowingly exposed to the virus and expressing his gratitude towards the healthcare workers trying to stop the spread of this pandemic, he also used his platform to stress the importance of health and safety precautions. NBC sent a memo to the “New Amsterdam” cast and crew after the network learned Kim had tested positive, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“For all those out there, especially teenagers and millennials who think this is not serious, please know that it is,” he said in his 10-minute video. “And if you treat this without care, you are potentially endangering the lives of millions of people, including your loved ones. So for the sake of everyone else, please follow the guidelines: socially distance, self-isolate, stop touching your face, and of course, wash your hands.”


And one last very important thing: Please, please stop the prejudice and senseless violence against Asian people,” said Kim. “Randomly beating elderly, sometimes homeless Asian Americans is cowardly, heartbreaking and inexcusable. Yes, I’m Asian, and yes I have coronavirus, but I did not get it from China. I got it in America. In New York City. And despite what some political leaders want to call it, I don’t consider the place where it’s from as important as the people who are sick and dying. If I did, I would call this thing the New York virus, but that would be silly. The point is, the name-calling gets us nowhere. What matters is how best to take care of ourselves and one another.”

as for supplies and masks it is better to have and not need then it is to need and not have.

Did you actually read the article?

They didn't say anything about masks in that article.

Warm weather helps. Period.

Africa have limited number of cases.
India has limited number of cases.
Mexico, next door to US, has limited number of cases.

Better stockpile everything and let it rot than give others chance to use it?

Thank you very much for those figures, Syd.

Currently Italy ( with second oldest population in the world ) is experiencing a death rate of 8.3% out of diagnosed cases.

Iran has 6.5% deaths out of confirmed infected. In Spain 4.3% of confirmed infected have died, and in France exactly 4%.

Globally 9% of confirmed cases with an outcome ( "closed cases", which are currently about 40% of the all over total of diagnosed infected ), have died.

In good news, the frequency at which the numbers of dead doubles has gone down in Italy from ( previously "stable" rate of ) every 2-3 days to every 4 the last 5 days, which suggests that, as in China, the recently increasingly strict containment measures may be working.

However in Spain and France and the UK the number of dead has been doubling every 2.5 days on average, ( occasionally every 3 but also equally often every day/1.5 days ) for the last 10-12 days.

It will be interesting to see if recent lockdowns in France and Spain have an effect on that.

In bad news, in the USA the number of deaths was doubling fairly consistently every 4 days but the last 4 days it has speeded up to every 3 days, which would, if unchanged ( eg if the USA doesn't bring in wider testing and much stricter containment measures ), mean 10,000 deaths by early April, and 170K dead by 18th April.

Stay home as much as you possibly can. Wear a mask if you have to go out. Don't use anti-inflammatories ( ex. Ibuprofen and cortisones ), because they suppress immune system activity, and eat oily fish and green leaves and get lots of sleep and sunshine/direct sunlight!

NB. I just read, in the Independent newspaper, that according to a scientific study in Wuhan on coronavirus cases, people with Blood Type A may be significantly more susceptible to catching it/being infected *and* more likely to experience complications/more severe illness. Weird/interesting.

First case of Corona opposite my house (Israel) , a 70 year old woman who works in a fruit and veg shop, seriously ill. Good thing I'm in quarantine. This evening the whole country has to mandatorily be in quarantine except for vital jobs, going to doctors, buying food and helping old people in quarantine. ( me ) Families forbidden from meeting/mingling. We were told it will be a long haul.400,000 jobs lost. All of this to save the grannies and granddads. No more disinfectant in hospitals or the country. Mossad found 100,000 Corona test kits somewhere.
The good thing is nobody is talking about war and violence which never happens in my country. Corona will bring world peace.