Landschlacht, Switzerland, Monday 16 March 2020

It is odd being an English speaker in a German-speaking canton in Switzerland if you are the type who prefers to have your news in print form.

Here in Canton Thurgau I can get the New York Times in Romanshorn (to the east of Landschlacht) only during the working week (Monday to Friday) or at best in Kreuzlingen (to the west of Landschlacht) including the weekend edition.

Except for the average-user-unfriendly Financial Times the only alternative source of daily print news is the Times of London which arrives always one day later than the actual dateline of the paper.

And one has to travel by train for approximately an hour to St. Gallen or two hours to Zürich if one wishes to read the Times.

Folks tell me that I can get all my news online and, truth be told, I don’t reject that option completely, but for me nothing quite gives me a sense of reality more than the tangibility of a newspaper in my hands.

But there are times I find myself considering whether reading (or listening or watching) the news is necessarily such a good idea.

Because, let’s face it, the news, especially of late, always seems to be grim.

Consider the events of Saturday 14 March 2020.

What dominates the news (understandably?) of late?

The Corona Virus.

A corona virus vaccine could soon be tested on humans in the UK following “encouraging” research on mice.

Scientists from Imperial College London said that clinical trials could take place in a few months’ time if they receive funding, after trials on mice gave promising results.

“Currently we have a prototype vaccine in animal models where the early results are encouraging.”, Dr Robin Shattock, head of mucosal infection and immunity at the university’s Department of Infectious Disease, told The Independent.

“We are hoping to progress to clinical testing by the summer depending on obtaining sufficient funds for the next stage.”

Above: Logo for Imperial College London

A number of researchers across the globe are working to develop a vaccine for the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected more than 145,000 people across the globe.

Scientists in the US have already launched an appeal for volunteers to take part in the “first coronavirus vaccine trial” on humans, which would pay participants $1,100 (£900).

An American vaccine company has said it hopes to start separate clinical trials in late spring, after receiving a funding boost.

“It is a global effort.”, Dr Shattock from Imperial College London said about the possibility that funding may go to others.

“We are not racing against each other – we are racing against the virus.”

The team at the university have moved to testing their vaccine on monkeys with researchers in Paris, but the “litmus test” will be to see how it works on humans, Dr Shattock said.

Dr Paul McKay, a senior research fellow at Imperial, said the team had applied for further funding from the Medical Research Council to conduct human clinical trials.

“If British scientists here develop a vaccine it would be great if the government supported it.”, he told the Daily Express.

There is currently no vaccine against Covid-19, which has put countries into lockdown as they work to combat the spread of the virus.

More than 5,400 people diagnosed with the corona virus – a flu-like disease that can develop into pneumonia – have died across the world as of Saturday, according to a Reuters tally.

The outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation this week.

More than 1,100 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, which could see “mass gatherings” banned from next week to curb Covid-19’s spread.

Twenty-one patients have died in Britain to date.

A newborn baby has tested positive for coronavirus in what is thought to be the youngest case of the disease in the UK, it has emerged.

The child’s mother, who was taken to a North London hospital days before the birth with suspected pneumonia, has also caught the virus.

The mother tested positive at North Middlesex Hospital, in Enfield, with results coming through after the birth.

The baby was tested for Covid-19 minutes after being born.

 

The NHS Trust confirmed that two patients tested positive for the corona virus, with staff in close contact with them during treatment now being advised to self-isolate.

It is not known whether the child contracted the disease in the womb or was infected during birth.

The Sun, which first revealed the case, reported that the baby was still being treated at the hospital but the mother has been transferred to a specialist infections hospital.

 

 

In a statement, North Middlesex University Hospital NHS trust said:

“Two patients at North Middlesex University Hospital have tested positive for coronavirus.

One has been transferred to a specialist centre and one is being treated in an isolation room.

“The safety of our patients and staff is our top priority, so in following guidance from Public Health England, we are regularly deep cleaning the areas where the patients are cared for and staff who were in close contact with these patients were advised to self-isolate.”

 

 

Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, has said previously that pregnant women should not start worrying about the corona virus.

The government says there is no clinical evidence so far to indicate that the virus can be transmitted via breast milk.

 

Above: CMO Chris Whitty

 

Ten more patients who contracted the corona virus have died, bringing the death toll in the UK to 21.

The number of people who have tested positive for the virus has also risen to 1,140, an increase of 342 in a single day.

The new figures are by far the largest increase announced on a single day since the outbreak took hold.

On Friday, the number of positive cases was 798 and there was a death toll of 11.

 

All of the patients who died were aged over 60 and had underlying health conditions, Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Chris Whitty​ said.

He said:

“I understand this increase in the number of deaths linked to Covid-19 will be a cause for concern for many.

“The public should know every measure we are taking is seeking to save lives and protect the most vulnerable.”

 

Professor Whitty issued a reminder, urging those with a cough or high temperature to stay at home for seven days in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.

“Every single one of us has a role to play in achieving this. If you have a new continuous cough or high temperature, please stay at home for seven days.

I also encourage everyone to be washing their hands for 20 seconds regularly.“, he added.

“I offer my sincere condolences to the families and friends who have received this difficult news.

I ask that their privacy is respected at this time.”

 

The ten patients were being cared for by nine trusts, including Buckinghamshire, Sandwell and West Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Leicester, Barts, London, North Middlesex and Chester.

Above: Javier Solana

Begona Gomez, the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, has tested positive for the corona virus, the Prime Minister’s office said, adding that both were doing fine.

Above: Begona Gomez and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez

Spain has declared a state of emergency over the corona virus and ordered people to stay at home unless it’s for work or food shopping.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made the move in a televised address after the country became one of Europe’s worst-hit for COVID-19.

Above: Map of Spanish provinces with confirmed coronavirus cases (as of 13 March).

The darker the province, the more cases within it.

It came less than an hour after his French counterpart, Edouard Philippe, introduced tough new restrictions in France.

He announced bars, restaurants and other non-essential outlets would close in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Above: French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe

Jet2.com planes heading to Spain were turned around in mid-air earlier as the airline cancelled all flights to the mainland, Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands because of the corona virus.

Confirmed cases in Spain have risen to 6,046 and thousands of people have been placed in lockdown.

The country’s death toll has reached 191 and it is set to enter a two-week state of emergency.

Jet2 said the health and safety of its customers was its top priority.

The airline flies to destinations including Alicante, Malaga and Lanzarote from nine UK airports.

It said it decided to suspend all holidays and flights to all of Spain for at least a week after authorities there ordered bars, restaurants, shops and activities to close.

Jet2 has started sending empty planes out to the 14 Spanish destinations it operates to and will run its normal schedule of return flights to the UK for the coming week to bring customers home.

“We know these local measures will have a significant impact on our customers’ holidays, which is why we have taken this decision.”, an spokesperson for the airline added.

“This is a fast-moving and complex situation and we are reviewing our programme as a matter of urgency, so that we can fly customers back to the UK.”

Earlier, flight tracking information showed at least five Jet2 planes travelling to Spain turning around to return to the UK.

Dale Dixon, 26, from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, was due to fly from Alicante to East Midlands Airport at 11:45 GMT.

He said there was a feeling of “deflation” at the airport, saying:

“It is overcrowded here.

There are children just lying around bored and bags scattered all over the place.

People are definitely panicking.”

Holidaymaker Mark Harrison, whose flight home to Manchester was scheduled for this evening, said:

“Jet2 said not to contact them so we are just waiting to hear from them.

All we’ve seen is that which is on social media.”

Christine Jones from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, was expecting to fly out on a Jet2 plane to Tenerife with her husband at 14:20 GMT.

She said:

“The last message we received last night from the company said they were looking forward to seeing us.

We are fully ready and packed and are surrounded by our suitcases but we aren’t going anywhere now.

I’m just sat here looking at suitcases.”

Clive Sloman, 55, from Chelmsford, Essex, was at Tenerife Airport waiting for his flight to London Stansted.

He praised Jet2’s “helpful” staff, but said he did not know when his flight, which was scheduled to depart at 14:30 GMT, would leave.

“We’ve just been turned away from security because we can’t go through security without a flight to go on, but there are no flights yet.“, Mr Sloman said.

Easyjet said flights between the UK and Spain were currently “unaffected” – but that there was some disruption to those flights because of a shortage of air traffic controllers in Spain.

On Friday, British Airways warned it would need to ground flights “like never before” and lay off staff in response to the corona virus.

Ryanair told staff they might be forced to take leave from Monday.

Travel company Tui has cancelled all holidays in Spain which were due to start between 14 and 16 March.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been meeting officials at Downing Street to discuss the pandemic.

Above: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Ten more people in the UK have died after testing positive for the corona virus, bringing the total number of deaths to 21.

The total number of confirmed cases in the UK has reached 1,140.

But the government’s estimate of the true number of cases was around 5,000 to 10,000, as of Friday.

Namibia is the latest in a growing list of sub-Saharan African countries to report their first cases of coronavirus.

A couple from Spain who arrived in the Southern African country on Wednesday both tested positive and have been quarantined, Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula said on Saturday.

Namibia, the Kingdom of eSwatini, Ethiopia and Rwanda have all reported their first coronavirus cases over the last 48 hours amid mounting fears the pandemic could overwhelm the world’s poorest continent.

Namibian President Hage Geingob told a press conference on Saturday that the government would implement several measures to try and contain the outbreak, including banning all mass gatherings for 30 days and clamping down on travel to three countries.

Above: Namibian President Hage Geingob

“The Namibian government is suspending inbound and outbound travel to and from Qatar, Ethiopia and Germany with immediate effect for a period of 30 days.”, Geingob said.

Independence celebrations scheduled for March 21 have been cancelled, he added, though a swearing-in ceremony for his second and final term will go ahead.

Health Minister Shangula had earlier said the Independence celebrations would go ahead as planned.

“Appropriate precautionary measures must be taken to protect Namibians from being affected by this virus.”, Geingob said.

Rwanda on Saturday announced the first confirmed case of the corona virus.

According to the Ministry of Health, an Indian citizen who arrived from Mumbai, India, on 8 March, tested positive for COVID-19.

This is the second case in East Africa, after Kenya recorded the first case on Friday.

The Ministry of Health says the patient had no symptoms of the virus on arrival in Rwanda and reported himself to a health facility on 13 March where he was immediately tested.

“He is under treatment in stable condition, isolated from other patients.”, the Ministry tweeted, adding that the tracing of all his contacts has been conducted for further management.

The Ministry urged all residents in the country  to continue to observe all instructions from health authorities, particularly washing hands regularly, avoiding large gatherings, and reporting any symptoms by calling the toll-free number 114.

Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Guinea and Mauritania have all confirmed their first cases of the new corona virus, giving the disease a foothold in 19 countries on the African continent.

Italy’s Ministry of Health reports 250 more deaths from the coronavirus, the highest number of deaths in a single 24-hour period in the country to date.

The Mayor of Bergamo Giorgio Gori says churches are now being used to store dead bodies as the city’s morgues are full.

Above: Bergamo Mayor Giorgio Gori

Air pollution over northern Italy fell after the government introduced a nationwide lockdown to combat coronavirus, satellite imagery showed on Friday, in a new example of the pandemic’s potential impact on emissions.

China, where the outbreak started, showed a marked reduction in pollution after the government imposed travel bans and quarantines, and the data from Italy, which was hit hard several weeks later, suggested a similar pattern.

The European Space Agency (ESA) said it had observed a particularly marked decline in emissions of nitrogen dioxide, a noxious gas emitted by power plants, cars and factories, over the Po Valley region in northern Italy.

“Although there could be slight variations in the data due to cloud cover and changing weather, we are very confident that the reduction in emissions that we can see coincides with the lockdown in Italy causing less traffic and industrial activities.”, Claus Zehner, who manages the agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite mission, said in a statement.

ESA published an animation https://www.esa.int showing how NO2 emissions fluctuated across Europe from 1 January to 11 March, using a 10-day moving average, clearly showing pollution levels dropping over northern Italy.

Italy has been hardest hit by the outbreak in Europe, with more than 15,100 confirmed cases and more than 1,000 dead, and the government has imposed the most severe controls placed on a Western nation since World War Two.

Researchers studying the impact of emissions from industry and transport on climate change and human health are scrambling to understand the possible implications of the pandemic as economies slow, flights are disrupted and quarantines imposed.

Above: Map of Italian provinces with confirmed coronavirus cases.

The darker the province, the more cases therein.

In China, Finland’s Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air says CO2 emissions fell by a quarter, or an estimated 200 million tonnes in the four weeks to 1 March  – about half the amount Britain emits in a year.

Satellite data also showed a sharp fall in Chinese emissions of NO2, starting in Wuhan and then spreading over other cities, including the capital, noticeable over a fortnight in mid-February.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that Europe had now become the epicenter of the pandemic, which has claimed 5,000 lives worldwide.

Syria has delayed parliamentary elections, shut schools and cancelled most public events to prevent any spread of the coronavirus, as officials said the war-ravaged country was still free of the virus despite reports it was hiding cases.

Education Minister Imad al-Azab told a news conference on Saturday schools would be closed until 2 April as authorities monitor for the virus, saying it was “not possible” for the government to conceal infections.

Damascus said on Friday that all scientific, cultural, social and sporting events would be halted, and many public institutions would be closed or staffed at 40% of normal levels and operate during reduced hours, state news agency SANA said.

The Health Ministry said the steps were “precautionary” and intended to raise the health sector’s readiness to control the virus should it be detected.

The government went further on Saturday, postponing to 20 May parliamentary elections previously slated for 13 April.

A top religious council, meanwhile, said Friday prayers at mosques would be suspended until 4 April.

Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian doctors had detected cases of the virus in Damascus and at least three other provinces but were under orders to keep quiet.

Azab denied this.

“There are some saying that there are infections being hidden, but no government nor the Ministry of Health can cover up a disease.”, he said.

“If a disease is somewhere it wants to spread, so it’s very hard to hide it.”

Pakistani health officials said on Tuesday that at least five of their country’s cases originated from patients traveling to Pakistan from Syria via Qatar.

It was not immediately clear whether the infections could have originated in Qatar, where cases have risen to 337, the highest among the Gulf Arab states.

Syria is one of just three countries in the Middle East that have yet to announce a confirmed coronavirus case along with Libya and Yemen.

The three nations could face a daunting challenge to contain an outbreak after years of war that have ravaged their health care systems.

Syria had already suspended flights to and from several countries hit by the virus including Iran, with which it has extensive ties.

Iranian militias back Damascus in its nine-year war and Syrians flock to Iranian holy sites such as Qom, where Iran first detected the virus.

Above: Mosque, Qom, Iran

President Donald Trump said Saturday he has taken the test for the coronavirus and the White House started taking the temperature of all people in contact with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence following Trump’s recent exposure to two Brazilian officials who later tested positive for the virus.

Trump told reporters his temperature was “totally normal” during a Saturday news conference.

He said he took the test last night, and the results would take a “few days” while it was sent to a lab.

Above: American President Donald Trump

Vice President Mike Pence said he has not taken a corona virus test, but says he is going to meet with White House doctors about whether he needs one.

Above: US Vice President Mike Pence

Before the news conference, a staff member from the White House physician’s office took the temperature of all of the reporters and television crew members with a handheld contact-less thermometer.

“Out of an abundance of caution, temperature checks are now being performed on any individuals who are in close contact with the President and Vice President.“, said White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere.

Above: Judd Deere

One reporter whose temperature was too high was escorted out by staff.

Pence’s Press Secretary Katie Miller said the White House Medical Unit took the person’s temperature three times over a 15-minute period and that “all three registered above the @CDCgov 100.4 guidelines.”

Above: Katie Miller

Asked why he was still shaking hands with people, Trump said, “it becomes a habit and it’s hard to get out of that habit,” but “possibly that something that comes out of this.

Maybe people shouldn’t be shaking hands in the long term.”

Trump took the test around the time a White House doctor issued a statement saying the President does not need to get tested or self-quarantined for the corona virus because he had not exhibited any symptoms.

Trump is at low risk for the corona virus, because his contacts with one of the officials “was extremely limited (photographs, handshake),” and his interaction with the second person “occurred before any symptom onset.”, wrote Dr. Sean Conley in a letter released late Friday.

Above: Dr. Sean Conley and President Donald Trump

The President had said earlier on Friday at a news conference in the Rose Garden that he would “most likely” be tested for the corona virus “fairly soon.”

He was pressed on the matter after it emerged that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s Communications Secretary tested positive for the virus.

During his remarks, he continued to grip hands with business executives and health officials who continue to tell Americans one of the first lines of defense against the spread is to stop shaking hands. 

Bolsonaro and his aide Fabio Wajngarten dined and took photographs alongside Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, last weekend.

Above. (left to right): Bolsonaro, Pence, Trump, Wajngarten

The Brazilian president announced on social media he tested negative for the virus, shooting down reports that he initially tested positive.

Above: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

But on Friday night, Brazil announced that its charge d’affairs Nestor Forster, who was also in attendance for the Mar-a-Lago meeting, also tested positive for COVID-19.

Above: Nestor Forster

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend individuals to consider restricting their movements if they’ve been exposed to others who have tested positive for the corona virus.

Both Senators Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott announced they would self-quarantine after attending the Mar-a-Lago meeting.

Also on Friday, the White House said in a statement that Ivanka Trump, the President’s daughter and senior adviser, was working from home after coming into contact with an Australian official who announced he was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Above: Ivanka Trump

Representative Adam Kinzinger, on Saturday called for Trump to be tested in a tweet:

“This should go without saying.

The President should be tested, especially if he is going to continue to meet people who are running the national response, and be near the Vice President.” 

Above: Adam Kinzinger

But Trump has suggested he has no plans to self-quarantine.

On Saturday, he tweeted he was attending meetings on the corona virus pandemic at the White House.

(Problem is it is in the nature of diseases, especially viruses, that they can be contracted and lie dormant in a body for some time before they are detectable.

So Donald Trump may have contracted the virus but it was too soon to detect it.

He needs to be re-tested a number of times within the next two weeks before it can be said with some certainty that he remains unaffected.

I say this despite my political opinions as to his (un)fitness for the job of President.)

The fallout from the corona virus continues to reverberate across the nation and the world.

At least 20 states have closed or made plans to close all schools, keeping more than a quarter of US schoolchildren out of the classroom.

Large grocery chains are trimming their open hours to make more time for cleaning.

All of Europe – including the United Kingdom and Ireland – is now under US travel restrictions.

Trump spoke at the White House with his virus task force one day after declaring the coronavirus pandemic to be a national emergency.

Some highlights of the press conference:

• Trump praised a late night deal between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that would provide economic relief to Americans affected by the crisis and provide for free testing for the virus.
• The U.S. is extending its Europe travel ban to cover the United Kingdom and Ireland so that residents of those countries will not be allowed to travel to the US for 30 days, beginning Monday.
• Trump said the Administration is considering some domestic travel restrictions from areas hard hit by the pandemic.

At least 50 people have died in the US, where there have been more than 2,100 confirmed cases of the virus.

Above: COVID-19 Outbreak Cases in the United States (as of 15 March)

The darker the state, the more cases therein.

Worldwide, cases were nearing 150,000 on Saturday with more than 5,500 deaths.

Above: Map of the COVID-19 outbreak as of 13 March 2020

The darker the country, the more cases therein.

Here are some significant things to know:

• Cruise ship passengers lack food, medical attention: 
  • Cruise ship passengers under federal coronavirus quarantine say they are lacking food, medical attention and are being housed in unsanitary conditions, contradicting Trump’s claims that getting them off the Grand Princess was a “tremendous success.”

• What economists say:
  • The coronavirus relief bill would provide aid to infected Americans, hourly workers and those who lose jobs, but it likely wouldn’t keep the broader economy from slipping into recession.

• Major cruise lines suspended operations:
  • They’ll be shut down for 30 days.
• Many stores cutting hours:
  • They’re taking the time so they can deep clean and restock.
• Preparing for the coronavirus:
  • Shoppers are finding empty shelves and long lines at stores nationwide.

New York will shut down public access to its Capitol building in Albany after two state lawmakers tested positive for the coronavirus disease, state leaders announced late Saturday.

Assembly members Helene Weinstein and Charles Barron, both New York City Democrats, have been infected with COVID-19, according to a joint statement from Governor Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

Cuomo and Heastie said visitors would be prevented from entering the Capitol beginning Sunday.

An 82-year-old woman with emphysema died Saturday in Manhattan, marking New York state’s first death linked to the coronavirus, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The unidentified woman, who died in a New York City hospital, was first admitted to the hospital 3 March, Cuomo said.

Above: Andrew Cuomo

The effects of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, can be significantly exacerbated by an underlying respiratory illness, like emphysema, that can cause shortness of breath.

The number of confirmed cases jumped to 524 on Saturday, a one-day increase of 103 cases.

Above: New York State Capitol, Albany, New York

Detroit Pistons forward Christian Wood has tested positive for the corona virus, a person familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday night.

The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the sensitive nature of the situation.

This brings the number of NBA players who tested positive to three, including Utah’s Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.

Wood is the first non-Jazz player to test positive, widening the potential scope of the outbreak.

The Pistons played the Jazz at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on 7 March.

It is not known how Wood contracted the virus, but the Pistons have played the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers since playing the Jazz.

Above: Christian Wood

Urban Outfitters is closing all of its stores globally because of the coronavirus, the company announced Saturday.

Stores in the company’s portfolio include Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain and Nuuly brands.

Stores “will not reopen until at least 28 March.”, the company said in a news release.

“The global spread of COVID-19 is affecting every one of us.”, the company said in its statement.

“The safety and health of our communities, including our loyal customers and dedicated associates, is always of the utmost importance to us.”

Store employees will continue to be paid and the company’s e-commerce and subscription business will continue to operate.

Corporate employees will work remotely.

Retailers across the nation are trimming store hours to focus on deep cleanings and to restock store shelves.

Some are closing stores, too.

Apple announced it will close all its retail stores outside Greater China until 27 March due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Grocery store chains, including Florida-based Publix, New York-based Wegmans and H-E-B, are among retailers closing earlier.

Changes at more regional and national retailers are expected in the coming days.

It also will get harder to find liquor in four Pennsylvania counties starting Monday.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Saturday announced a phased closure of state-owned Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores in Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties.

On Tuesday, stores in these counties will be closed.

The state will keep its online store up and running, making deliveries.

Georgia election officials are postponing the state’s 24 March presidential primaries until May because of fears over the corona virus.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement Saturday that in-person early voting, which began statewide 2 March, will be halted and the election will be moved to 19 May, when Georgia’s other 2020 primary elections are being held.

Election officials said in addition to the safety of the public, one of the biggest considerations was the risk the virus posed to poll workers, who are often older.

Above: Brad Raffensperger

On Friday, Louisiana became the first state to push back its presidential primaries.

More than 300 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team started a 14-day quarantine Saturday after being deployed for nine months in Afghanistan.

The move is a precautionary measure, division officials said.

Col. T.J. Rainsford, a spokesman for the 18th Airborne Corps, said that as of Saturday morning, there were no positive cases of the new coronavirus at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the largest Army installation in the country.

The quarantining of the soldiers was directed by the Army, which said that troops leaving areas that are labeled Level 2 or higher by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should stay in quarantine for two weeks.

While in quarantine, the paratroopers will be monitored for health and get appropriate medical treatment, according to the division.

Twenty states and a number of large urban school districts – including Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest – are shutting down all K-12 schools as part of a sweeping attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin have made plans to close all schools.

In addition to Los Angeles, major metropolitan districts in Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Miami-Dade County, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington, D.C., have also shuttered.

A growing number of smaller districts around the country have also chosen to close.

According to a count updated mid-afternoon Friday by Education Week magazine, about a quarter of American schoolchildren had been or were scheduled to be affected by a school closures – and that was before some states announced their actions.

The magazine said at least 46,000 schools were closed, are scheduled to close, or were closed and later reopened, affecting at least 21 million students.

Officials say tests have confirmed three cases of corona virus in Puerto Rico, the first for the US territory.

Governor Wanda Vazquez said that the public school system would close for 14 days and that no cruise ships or the ferry from the Dominican Republic would be allowed to dock.

Vazquez said one of the cases involved a local man who had relatives who travelled off the island, and the other two are tourists from northern Italy who arrived on a cruise ship.

Even before the announcement, several events – including concerts and a circus performance – had been cancelled on the island due to worries about the virus.

US Customs and Border Protection is advising Americans to be aware of “bogus home testing kits for sale either online or in informal direct to consumer settings” after officers at Los Angeles International Airport intercepted a package containing suspected counterfeit COVID-19 test kits arriving from the United Kingdom, the agency said Saturday.

The officers discovered six plastic bags containing various vials while conducting an enforcement examination Thursday.

The vials were filled with a white liquid and labeled “Corona Virus 2019nconv (COVID-19)” and “Virus1 Test Kit”, the agency said.

The agency turned the shipment over to the US Food and Drug Administration for analysis.

Trump on Saturday said the United Kingdom and Ireland will be added to the Europe travel restrictions that went into effect late Friday.

This means residents of those countries will not be allowed to travel to the United States for 30 days beginning Monday.

US residents and legal permanent residents won’t be banned but they will face airport screenings upon their return and will be asked to self quarantine for 14 days.

In response to the broadened ban and the resulting falloff in travel demand, airlines are likely to sharply cut flights between the US and London and Ireland.

Delta Air Lines and American Airlines suspended all flights between the US and the 26 European countries covered by the initial ban.

Meanwhile, Trump said he is considering domestic travel restrictions “specifically from certain areas” after the Pentagon restricted service members’ domestic travel.

“If you don’t have to travel I wouldn’t do it.

We want this thing to end.”

Surgeon General Jerome Adams told reporters Americans needed to protect those most at risk from the coronavirus like the elderly and those with medical conditions.

“Social distancing and mitigation: they’re to protect your nana, your grandaddy,” said Adams, who urged everyone to “pitch in and share the facts” to “get through the outbreak.”

“If we are complacent, selfish, uninformed – this situation will last longer and more people will be hurt.”, he said.

“No more finger-pointing or criticism.”

He also stressed that “almost all people” will recover from the coronavirus, noting that “98.9% of people will recover.”

Above: Jerome Adams

Royal Caribbean will suspend operations globally as of midnight Saturday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We will conclude all current sailings as scheduled and assist our guests with their safe return home.”, according to a statement on the cruise line’s website.

“As with our announcement yesterday regarding US sailings, we expect to return to service on 11 April 2020.”

Courts across the country are suspending cases to minimize community exposure to COVID-19.

Here’s a look at what’s going on:

• Many criminal and civil cases in Cook County, Illinois, where Chicago is located, will be postponed for a 30-day period starting Tuesday.
  • “We will continue to identify the appropriate balance between allowing access to justice and minimizing the threat to public health.”, Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans said in a press release Friday.
• Florida has suspended jury trials throughout the State Courts System until 27 March.
• The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court postponed all jury trial empanelments until April 21.
  • The order does not affect juries already selected.
  • No new grand juries will be empaneled before 21 April.
  • The court also prohibited people who have symptoms of, or any exposure to, COVID-19 from entering a courthouse or other state court facility.
• The Supreme Court of North Carolina suspended superior court and district court proceedings for at least 30 days, with some exceptions.
• Connecticut has suspended all jury trials for the next 30 day, with the exception of jury trials already in progress and criminal jury trials necessitated by the filing and granting of a speedy trial motion.

The House overwhelmingly passed legislation to provide economic relief to Americans affected by the corona virus after President Donald Trump said Friday he would support the sweeping measure.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was adopted 363-40 with every Democrat and most Republicans voting in favor of the measure.

The vote was conducted shortly after midnight Friday following two days of around-the-clock negotiations between Democratic leaders and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Above: Steve Mnuchin

The legislation would ensure sick leave for affected workers and include money for testing for Americans, including the uninsured.

Trump and lawmakers have been under pressure to ease fears over the spread of the deadly coronavirus, which has halted many parts of public life, forced the closure of schools and pummeled financial markets.

The bill now heads to the Senate for an expected vote Monday.

With shelves in many stores picked bare, the corona virus is spurring panicked shoppers to stock up on products ranging from cleansing wipes to peanut butter as they prepare to hunker down in the midst of the growing pandemic.

Shoppers at a Walmart in Gardena, California, were greeted by a notice saying they couldn’t buy more than two packages of toilet paper, hand sanitizer or cleaning wipes, only to discover that by 09:30 a.m., they were already too late.

At a Costco in Lawndale, California, shoppers had to wait an hour for two cases of bottled water, the most water they were able to buy.

“Before it was a scare,” Chiquita Thursby said.

“Now it’s real.”

Panicked corona virus shoppers in the US are reportedly stocking up on guns and body armour.

According to a report from Buzzfeed News, stores across America selling ballistic body armour, tactical gear and firearms are seeing a huge increase in sales due to the worsening virus outbreak.

“I think with the way things have escalated quite quickly around the world and in the US in just the last couple of weeks, it’s very hard to tell what’s going to happen next, and I believe it is better to be safe than sorry.”, owner of tactical gear store, Bulletproof Zone, Kevin Lim told the publication.

“That’s what our business is about, after all, keeping people safe.

“More customers are buying, and they range from those who are generally concerned to those who are seriously gearing up for ‘end of the world’ scenarios.”

President of Safe Life Defence, Nick Groat, said that people were “afraid the corona virus will put the country into lockdown and they’ll have to defend themselves and their supplies.

Having protection is always an excellent option”.

Most gun purchases were reportedly for “self-defence”, not hunting purposes.

France and Spain followed Italy’s lead with tough new measures, leaving the Eiffel Tower and Louvre shuttered and 46 million Spanish citizens in a lockdown.

France’s orders closed cafés, restaurants and cinemas.

The government has banned all gatherings of more than 100 people, ordered all schools closed and asked companies to allow workers to stay home.

In declaring a two-week state of emergency Saturday, Spain prepared to close all schools, universities, restaurants, bars and hotels nationwide.

Spain’s declaration comes as coronavirus cases soared to over 5,700 with 136 deaths.

The declaration also would allow the government to limit free movement, confiscate goods and take over control of industries and private facilities, including private hospitals.

Residents of Madrid, which has around half the infections, and northeastern Catalonia awoke to shuttered bars and restaurants and other non-essential commercial outlets as ordered by regional authorities.

There are fears Spain could emerge as the next Italy, after a massive surge in the country’s number of coronavirus cases overnight.

On Friday morning, Spain had more than 3,800 confirmed cases of the deadly COVID-19 virus and 84 people had died.

But by the afternoon, those figures had risen to 4,209 cases and 120 dead.

It is now the 4th biggest outbreak outside China, behind Italy, Iran and South Korea.

In some areas of the country, cases doubled and even tripled over just 24 hours.

“This is a silent hurricane.”, Madrid Vice President Ignacio Aguado said.

“We can’t let more days go.

We already know what’s going to happen tomorrow and the day after tomorrow because we have the examples of China or Italy and the contagion curve is mathematical.”, he told Spanish public broadcaster, TVE.

Above: Ignacio Aguado

The city’s normally bustling streets have emptied, after the government closed museums and sports centres, sent home nearly 10 million students and asked people to work at home.

The mayor is also now considering closing bars and banning outdoor seating for cafés, with more than 60,000 people in four towns near Barcelona have been placed in mandatory lockdown.

In Igualada, where the number of cases almost tripled in 24 hours, people woke to police patrols and checkpoints on roads, stopping traffic from entering and leaving the confined area.

Party islands Ibiza and Majorca are closing all pubs and clubs in an Italy-style lockdown.

Now the biggest question is whether the country’s largely public health system will be able to sustain the sharp increase in cases.

Public health expert Rafael Bengoa said on Thursday the country at least had the advantage of Italy’s experience and “more time” to prepare.

“There will be tensions in Spanish hospitals in the next two, three weeks, but we have had time to mitigate the demand coming in.”, he said

More than 62 countries, including neighbouring Morocco, have restricted arrivals from Spain.

New corona virus cases have continued to soar in Italy, jumping by more than 2,500 in 24 hours, while virus-related deaths made the largest single-day jump of 250.

The country has been declared the epicentre of the virus outbreak in Europe, but Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has told the BBC he hopes his country will be the first in the continent to get over the virus emergency.

“Italy was the first nation in Europe to be affected so badly.”, Mr Di Maio said.

“But I hope it also means that Italy is the first one to leave the emergency behind.”

Above: Luigi Di Maio

All shops have now been closed, except for pharmacies and those stocking food.

Companies have been ordered to shut non-essential departments.

A wide range of venues closed and movement has been limited to urgent medical or professional need.

“Our grandfathers were drafted to go to war.

We’re being asked to stay at home,” he said.

“If a doctor and nurse can work for 24 hours non-stop, we can give up leaving our own home.

The huge majority of citizens are respecting the rules.

Those who aren’t will face sanctions: either fines or criminal charges.”

Italian authorities say it could take two weeks for the impact of the restrictions to be seen on the corona virus outbreak nationwide.

The shutdown hasn’t stopped the nation’s people from attempting to spread joy, with footage of quarantined Italians making music together on their balconies going viral.

Milan-based Edoardo Brioschi said that people began singing from their balconies two days ago, purely through word of mouth on messaging app WhatsApp.

Mayors of many cities, including Rome and Milan, decided to close public playgrounds and parks, as European countries fashion different polices to try to combat the spread of the virus.

Elsewhere, Denmark and Poland became the latest countries to shut their borders to most travelers.

Hungary will become the latest European country to close schools, starting Monday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a video posted on the government’s Facebook page that classes will be held for students only through distance learning.

He also asked that children staying at home not be left in the care of grandparents who, because of their age, are among those most at risk regarding the coronavirus.

Authorities had already suspended university classes earlier this week because of the large number of foreign students.

Israel on Saturday banned gatherings of more than ten people and ordered that restaurants and movie theaters close.

Supermarkets, banks, pharmacies and gas stations are allowed to remain open.

Abdelkader Aamara, Morocco’s Minister of Equipment, Transport and Logistics and Deputy tests positive for COVID-19.

Morocco also announced a temporary nationwide school shutdown – with lessons to now be conducted digitally – amid concerns of the corona virus spread.

The country introduced a range of other measures, including banning all gatherings of more than 1,000 people, prohibiting religious events, and suspending flights to China, Italy, Spain, France….

(….and Switzerland.

Regular followers of this blog know that I have been slowly telling the chronicles of one Swiss Miss.

So far, I have shown where she has travelled from Switzerland to Myanmar and then to Sri Lanka.

Spoiler alert:

From Sri Lanka, Heidi Hoi travelled to India, Vietnam, Thailand, Egypt and….

Morocco.

Where she is now.

With all flights back home to Switzerland – cancelled.

Until the end of March.

Whether the airline she booked a flight to/from Agadir or the Swiss Embassy in Rabat can or will help her come back home to Switzerland and her family and friends in St. Gallen remains unresolved.

Whether the authorities at the Zürich Airport will force her to endure a two-week quarantine upon landing is also uncertain.

At present, she is back in Casablanca with her Moroccan host family pondering her next move.

I wish her much success.)

The Iranian army has been given 24 hours to empty the country’s streets and every citizen is to be tested for the corona virus.

Major General Mohammad Bagheri said a commission had been set up to carry out the “emptying of shops, streets and roads” in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus.

The drastic move suggests that Iran’s entire population – of more than 81 million people – will be confined to their homes for the foreseeable future.

“During the next 10 days, the entire Iranian nation will be monitored through cyberspace, by phone and, if necessary, in person, and those suspected of being ill will be fully identified.”, he added.

The new measures were announced as the nation’s capital of Tehran disclosed the number of infected people had jumped by more than 1,000 in the past 24 hours.

The New York Times has suggested that the country is rapidly expanding the number of graves at a cemetery near the city of Qom, where the outbreak was particularly severe due to people licking holy shrines.

New Zealand tourists are rushing to catch flights home in a bid to beat tough new travel restrictions.

Above: Lijian Zhao

Panic: irrational, reactionary, unthinking, unstrategic, knee-jerk chaos.

By those who lead the people and by the people the leaders represent.

The media is not serving us as well as it could or should.

After the 2003 SARS outbreak that sickened more than 8,000 people and led to 774 deaths worldwide, China established a surveillance system to monitor pneumonia outbreaks, which are a red flag for the potential rise of a viral infection.

Epidemiologists have credited China with quickly identifying the pathogen responsible for novel coronavirus, sequencing its genome in weeks and sharing that information with scientists around the world.

That helped Japan and Thailand identify its cases, the CDC said.

But public health officials have also criticized China for not being more forthcoming with case details.

“The sooner China publishes that information, the safer China will be, and the safer the world will be.”, Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC director and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of the nonprofit Vital Strategies, said during the early days of the virus.

In the weeks that followed, China eventually allowed WHO experts into the country to assess what had been done and what else was needed.

The country also changed how it counted cases, moving from taking and testing respiratory and blood samples to conducting chest scans.

By late February, the number of new confirmed cases in China began to plateau and then taper, as new countries began to see rapid increases, though roughly 90% of the world’s cases still reside in the country.

As time goes on, risk factors are coming into focus.

But there are still questions about how the virus spreads, and unfortunately, more data is a symptom of more cases.

I can appreciate and, to a certain extent, comprehend governments’ need to reassure their citizens that the virus is being taken seriously and that actions preventative and curative are being done to resolve the problems presented by this pandemic.

But my unease, and probably the unease of others, is an overall feeling that government policy is more tactical than strategic, more reactionary than rational.

Take flight cancellations, for example.

It is not enough to inform the world that flights from X to Y have been cancelled until further notice, but the world also needs to know what measures will be provided for foreigners who find themselves stranded abroad.

Many travellers operate on a budget based on their original itineraries.

How will they cope when their travel budget is exhausted and they remain stranded overseas?

Will their host nation provide for their room and board in the interim?

How responsible is a nation to those that visit it?

Who should these foreign visitors be dealing with?

The nation’s foreign ministry?

The airline with whom they had booked their flight?

Their embassy?

All of the above?

None of the above?

Too many nations are suddenly and abruptly ordering airlines to cease flying without giving foreign visitors an opportunity to leave or information as to if and when they will be able to return home.

The coronavirus pandemic will bankrupt most airlines worldwide by the end of May unless governments and the industry take coordinated steps to avoid such a situation, an aviation consultant warned.

Many airlines have probably been driven into technical bankruptcy or substantially breached debt covenants already, Sydney-based consultancy CAPA Centre for Aviation warned in a statement Monday.

Carriers are depleting cash reserves quickly because their planes are grounded and those that aren’t are flying more than half empty, it said.

“Coordinated government and industry action is needed — now — if catastrophe is to be avoided.”, CAPA said.

Otherwise, “emerging from the crisis will be like entering a brutal battlefield, littered with casualties.”, it said.

Most of the biggest carriers in the U.S., China and Middle East are likely to survive because of government help or support from their owners, CAPA said.

Airlines have been among the biggest corporate casualties of the virus outbreak as the coronavirus grinds air traffic to a halt.

Carriers from American Airlines Group Inc. to Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd. have slashed capacity, while some like Sweden’s SAS AB have temporarily laid off most staff.

Flybe, Europe’s biggest regional airline, has already collapsed.

Carriers could face as much as $113 billion in lost revenue this year, according to the International Air Transport Association.

To play the devil’s advocate for a while, the rationale behind cancelling flights is that the virus cannot be spread from nation to nation.

I thought that rather than cancelling flights the airports could simply screen passengers before allowing them to board.

But as I previously said, the virus is not always detectable until it is too late.

Let’s look at border arrivals.

The President of the European Commission Ursula Von Der Leyen has said the European Union will be introducing temporary restrictions on non-essential travel to the EU for 30 days amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The less travel, the more we can contain the virus.

Therefore I propose to the heads of state and government to introduce temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU.”, she said at a press conference today.

“These travel restrictions should be in place for an initial period of 30 days, but can be prolonged as necessary.”

She said exemptions included long-term EU residents, family members of EU nationals, diplomats, doctors and researchers working on containing the health crisis.

Above: Ursula Von Der Leyen

Should everyone who arrives at the border be quarantined?

Has a new mentality arisen that if you want to cross the border you must be sick?

Where will these quarantined visitors be kept?

As infected nations are already discovering, rumours of a virus result in filled-to-capacity or overflowing hospitals, so do we fill hospitals with foreign arrivals or can we adequately quarantine these visitors elsewhere?

“As of midnight Sunday, every person entering New Zealand, including returning New Zealand citizens and residents, will be required to enter self-isolation for 14 days.

Everybody.”

What I see is a logistics nightmare just waiting to happen.

Take border closures, for example.

Is the country closed to everyone or do we make exceptions?

Do we forbid those who work in a different nation than the one in which they reside from entering?

Will this not affect the ability of these workplaces to function if their foreign workers can no longer come to work?

Do we allow essential services and supplies into the country and risk increased exposure?

Or do we forbid any and all cross-border traffic and risk shortages?

How can countries with open borders now adequately control and close those borders?

Border closures remind me of that old adage of closing the corral after the horses have escaped.

Once the disease is detected – the reaction to this detection being border closures – but what is to prevent it from spreading once it has already arrived?

At best, border closures ensure a reduced rate of further foreign contamination.

Let’s look at gathering restrictions, the assemblage of people.

China effectively placed 150 million people under quarantine by shutting down transportation for more than a dozen cities.

The outbreak emerged amid Lunar New Year celebrations, “an occasion for extremely widespread travel,” said William Schaffner, an epidemiologist and medical director for the National Foundation of Infectious Diseases.

“Celebratory occasions where people get together with friends and family — that’s an ideal condition for transmitting a respiratory virus.”

Since then, significant public health concerns have led Saudi Arabia to ban foreign pilgrims during Hajj, Facebook to cancel its in-person F8 industry conference in San Jose, California, and Japan and Italy to close schools nationwide.

China’s scale of quarantine was unprecedented.

It’s also imperfect.

Before the Chinese government could lock down affected cities, millions of people left Wuhan, potentially scattering exposure instead of stopping it.

Outbreaks outside of China show the differences between how democratic and authoritarian governments choose to handle the virus, said Minxin Pei, an expert on Chinese governance and professor of government at Claremont-McKenna College.

In South Korea and Italy, he said officials have done “a better job informing the public and educating them.”

“Officials in democracies are more accountable to the public, unlike those in China, who are accountable only to their superiors.”, he said.

What amount of people is too many?

Some nations suggest a thousand, a hundred, fifty, twenty-five.

I share an apartment with my wife.

When I get a cold chances are good that she will get that cold.

Should we live apart to ensure that we never infect the other?

In Iran, every citizen is to be tested for the corona virus.

A commission had been set up to carry out the “emptying of shops, streets and roads” in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus.

The drastic move suggests that Iran’s entire population – of more than 81 million people – will be confined to their homes for the foreseeable future.

“During the next 10 days, the entire Iranian nation will be monitored through cyberspace, by phone and, if necessary, in person, and those suspected of being ill will be fully identified.”

Is freedom the necessary price of security?

And what are the logistics and costs of testing 81 million people?

Why not create a society where widespread use of remotely controlled surrogates would enable everyone to live in idealized forms from the safety of our homes?

Remote-controlled humanoid robots through which people interact with society?

Fit, attractive, remotely controlled robots that ultimately assume our life roles, enabling people to experience life vicariously from the comfort and safety of our own homes?

In New Zealand, a national remembrance service to mark one year since the Christchurch mosques attack was cancelled due to virus fears.

Thousands of people were expected to attend the Sunday service in Christchurch to mark the anniversary of the 15 March shooting, which claimed the lives of 51 people.

Does a commemoration need people to commemorate?

Does a commemoration lose its significance if it is delayed or cancelled?

Can a Christian believe in Christ without going to church?

Can a Muslim serve Allah without attending a mosque?

Can I mourn the dead without visiting a cemetery?

Is there meaning without ritual?

Is there significance in solitude?

Schools and institutions of higher learning are closed in Morocco, Hungary, America, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, the UK and Switzerland, just to name a few nations.

Granted that much learning can be done via a computer at home, but is an education merely the passage of information?

Isn’t societal interaction inside a school an education in itself?

Isn’t the human factor of teachers physically present in a classroom just as valuable as those seen online?

And where shall we send these students when we close their schools?

How shall we provide for our children’s education and personal care if we close their schools?

Who shall look after them if we send them home?

If a working mother is forced to remain at home to take care of her children, from where will she receive income during the school closure period?

Will her employer pay her during this time?

Will the state compensate her for a loss of income?

Panic shopping is a phenomena I don’t completely comprehend.

How does stocking up on disinfectant and toilet paper protect us from the corona virus?

If I buy all the handwashing disinfectant and keep it all for myself, will I still not risk infection from all those unable to buy the disinfectant?

Exactly how does a shopping cart of toilet paper improve my chances of survival?

Some argue that panic shopping is understandable if there is a risk that the shops will be closed.

Then shouldn’t there be some sort of infrastructure set up through which the average consumer can obtain products when the shops are closed?

In regards to closing tourist attractions, parks and playgrounds, museums and cinemas, concerts and theatre performances, cafés and restaurants….

What is the point of living if we remove ourselves from that and those which give our lives meaning?

What is the point of being human if we live in fear of contact with the rest of humanity?

What is the point of life if we are afraid of living because living increases our chances of dying?

Where our governments fail us is that there is no anticipation of the consequences of their actions.

When advocating change they see only positive outcomes.

But they forget….

With every gain there is a loss.

With every new development there are questions and issues that need addressing.

There needs to be sober contemplation and forethought before radical measures are put into play.

And this sober contemplation, this awareness of consequences both short term and long, this forethought that isn’t merely tactical but is also strategic, seems sorely lacking from too many governments of too many nations.

Where our media fail us is that they do not do as comprehensive a coverage as they should.

Consider the aforementioned news items.

Don’t just tell the public that the Brits are working on a virus.

Give us details.

How do we create an antidote for that which ails us?

Why does it take a year or longer to create a vaccine?

Telling us that a newborn baby has the corona virus sells newspapers, but how does this information affect the general public?

Can a newborn get the virus in the womb of an infected mother or does it need to be born first?

This is rather an important distinction when it comes to handling the disease.

Should pregnant women be doing something to prevent their babies from getting the virus?

Incomplete coverage such as this leads to worry and panic – the least useful emotions to have when dealing with a pandemic.

Informing us that a former Secretary General, a Prime Minister’s wife, a cabinet member, a movie star, some celebrity, etc., has been diagnosed as having contracted the corona virus is interesting in that it reminds us that the virus does not discriminate between the powerful and the powerless, the wealthy and the poor, the public figure and the anonymous John Doe.

But what is more crucial is an understanding of how and why they contracted the virus so that we can learn from their public example.

Informing the public that a virus is spreading is important information, but crucially it is also essential to understand how and why it is spreading.

The public is informed of the symptoms of the corona virus, but we are not taught how to differentiate the symptoms of COVINA-19 from the symptoms of the flu or the common cold.

The medically uneducated rely on medical professionals to make this distinction.

So, in a blind panic, even a case of the sniffles find people rendered afraid.

From the time you are exposed, symptoms could appear within two to 14 days.

They include:

• fever
• cough
• difficulty breathing
• shortness of breath

If you develop symptoms, the CDC recommends that you contact your medical care provider immediately.

If you are sick, you should practice social distancing for the two-week period that has been determined to be the disease’s incubation period.

Stay in your home in a room away from people who live with you, and if possible, use a separate bathroom, the CDC says.

Practicing good public health etiquette “goes a long way in preventing all respiratory viral illnesses, including novel coronavirus.”, said Sharon Wright, senior medical director and hospital epidemiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Limited data so far suggests that people who are most at risk of getting really sick or even dying from COVID-19 are older or have pre-existing health conditions, including heart disease, lung disease, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

Health officials are asking people to cover their noses and mouths when they sneeze or cough, stifling the spray of airborne respiratory droplets — i.e. saliva and mucus — that might spread the virus to others.

Avoid touching your face and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds (or the time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice).

The US previously urged Americans to avoid nonessential travel.

Take Italy as an example:

Talk of a 400-bed field hospital in Milan’s fairgrounds.

A team of Chinese experts and surplus ventilators arriving on a cargo plane.

Doctors Without Borders, usually dispatched to the third world when disasters strike, working triage in Italy’s prosperous north.

The coronavirus outbreak tearing through Italy has turned a nation that usually donates medical expertise and equipment abroad into a country in need.

Some hospitals in hard-hit Lombardy are at saturation point, unable to admit new patients.

Every day is a scramble to find more intensive care beds than the critically ill who need them.

There still aren’t enough protective masks to go around.

The doctors who tended to the first patients in the north are now sounding the alarm to colleagues in Italy and abroad, warning of what will come and urging them to prepare.

“It’s not a wave.

It’s a tsunami.”, said Dr. Roberto Rona, in charge of intensive care at the Monza hospital.

“It’s something that makes you change completely how you run a hospital.”

Three weeks ago Friday, Italy’s health care emergency began in the small Lombard town of Codogno.

It has since exploded into the biggest source of infections in what is now a worldwide pandemic.

Italy’s high death rate — currently over 7% and double the average globally — has been blamed on its unusually old population, which is second only to Japan’s.

But about a third of the ICU (intensive care unit) patients in Lombardy are aged 50-64, meaning the virus isn’t just striking the very old, but also Italians still in their working prime.

“We are trying to understand why the mortality rate seems so high compared to other countries, and why patients seem more critical than in other countries.”, said epidemiologist Paolo D’Ancona at the National Institutes of Health.

As of Friday, Italy had 17,660 positive cases and 1,266 dead, more than any country outside China.

Lombardy alone accounts for 55% of the infected and 70% of the dead.

The government has imposed a nationwide lockdown, closing stores and restaurants, curbing public transport and telling the population of 60 million to stay home except for absolute need.

On 9 March, Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced further restrictions — that its regional lockdown, focused on the northern part of the country, would be expanded to the entire nation the next day.

Italians must prove one of a limited list of reasons in order to leave the immediate area where they live.

But there’s debate among public health experts about the wisdom of that strategy.

(The basic idea behind keeping everyone inside and limiting the number of people assembled is that the virus, as far as I understand it, can be spread between two or more people who spend more than ten minutes together within a range of 10 metres.)

On Friday, Italy welcomed a team of nine Chinese doctors and nurses as well as 11 tons of ventilators, monitors, protective masks and other surplus medical equipment.

It was a remarkable turnabout, with the country where the virus broke out late last year offering assistance to the European epicenter, now that its own caseload is in retreat.

Francesco Rocca, head of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent and himself an Italian, choked up as the pallets were offloaded from the China Eastern Airlines charter flight.

“We, the Italian Red Cross, are not used to receiving donations.”, Rocca said.

“We normally donate.”

But Italy is desperate, and offers of other European assistance haven’t been pouring in.

Already, the civil protection service has erected more than 500 triage tents outside hospitals nationwide.

Lombardy officials had drafted a proposal to build a Wuhan-style field hospital on the grounds of Milan’s fairgrounds to accommodate the expected ICU overflow.

But Italy’s Civil Protection Agency nixed the idea, saying it can’t equip it in time.

This week, the government passed a decree allowing Lombardy to make new medical hires, and there’s now a “Help Wanted” sign on the regional government’s Facebook page.

As of Thursday, 650 doctors and nurses had applied and 100 had been hired, said Lombardy health chief, Giulio Gallera.

But it’s not enough.

Doctors Without Borders dispatched teams to four Lombardy hospitals, including hard-hit Lodi and Codogno, which had to close its emergency room to new patients because it was so overwhelmed.

The extra support of nurses, epidemiologists and other experts will enable the hospitals to reopen 20 more beds to patients.

But in some hospitals, even with extra hands to help, there simply aren’t enough beds to go around.

“We cannot continue to accumulate patients.” Gallera said.

“We have to have the ability to move out patients who improve, otherwise our ability to receive new ones is exhausted.”

“In some hospitals, we have already arrived at that point.”, he said.

Gallera denied that ICU capacity was so limited that doctors had changed the criteria for ICU admissions.

Earlier this week, the Italian Society of Anesthesiologists had issued 15 recommendations of ethical and medical criteria to consider if ICU beds are exhausted, saying doctors may have to adopt more wartime triage criteria of gauging who has the best chance of survival versus “first come, first served.”

“There are no activities in our guidelines that say some people are privileged, or that some age categories are privileged.”, Gallera insisted.

“The work of our doctors is aimed at treating and saving the lives of all patients.”

But he conceded:

“Certainly now we are in a situation where it is difficult to do so.”

Earlier this week, an Italian group of ICU specialists hosted a video conference call involving some of the front-line personnel who were on duty when the first wave of patients started arriving over the weekend of 21 February.

“Clearly we ran out of ventilators, masks … on Day 2.”, said Dr. Pier Giorgio Villani, who was on duty in Lodi when Patient No. 1 was transferred from Codogno.

“It was a big mess.”

Health officials do not recommend that the wearing of face masks to protect ourselves from this virus.

Why?

They are not needed for the general public right now.

Wearing one when you don’t need to depletes the supply for health care workers on the front lines of this illness.

Also, masks are often worn incorrectly.

Those who do wear them shouldn’t leave their nose or mouth exposed at any time and should never reuse a mask.

Freya Jephcott, an infectious diseases expert at Cambridge University, acknowledged that the epidemic in Italy appears slightly different than elsewhere in Europe.

“The high case fatality rate is probably attributable to the older population, but we have to be slightly careful to see how the outbreak develops.”, she said.

The World Health Organization has previously estimated that about 3.4% of people infected with COVID-19 globally have died.

But the agency has emphasized that its estimate is a crude mathematical calculation and that the true death rate is likely to be far lower.

Officials in the US, UK and elsewhere have estimated the death rate is likely closer to about 1%.

Above: Logo of the University of Cambridge

Death rates often fluctuate during the early stages of an outbreak because officials are mostly looking for the most severe cases.

According to data from China, the death rate in Wuhan was nearly 6% versus 0.7% in other parts of the country.

WHO reported that in China’s outbreak, nearly 22% of people over 80 who caught COVID-19 died.

The average age of Italy’s dead is 80.3.

Only 25.8% of them are women.

As Italy continues the battle, it is urging others to wake up and get prepared.

A group of Italian doctors based in France delivered a three page appeal to French doctors offering urgent suggestions and advice for coping with the coronavirus.

They are calling for a European coordination center to help manage the pandemic so that the rest of Europe can learn from Italy’s experience.

But aside from China, the solidarity isn’t necessarily being reciprocated.

Italy’s Civil Protection chief acknowledged that other European services have been less than generous in offering to help out, because of contagion fears.

On Friday, the governor of Lombardy wrote to the German Health Minister, asking him to authorize for export the sale of respirators after Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to help Italy out.

“Everyone says there’s a great, united Europe.”, Gallera said.

“Now is the time to show it.”

Not knowing the answers for what ails us, we – the general public – turn to medical professionals for their advice.

But if you are not feverish and not coughing and not short of breath then the odds that you have contracted the corona virus are scant and probably non-existent.

(But as I said it is in the nature of diseases, especially viruses, that they can be contracted and lie dormant in a body for some time before they are detectable.)

Here in Switzerland the numbers of corona-infected people is significant, but not as yet cause for alarm.

But alarm is what we have.

Emergency rooms are full, hospital beds are full, medical personnel are overworked.

Panic buying is becoming more commonplace.

Concerts and events are cancelled.

Schools and universities are closed.

(The thing is students, like the rest of humanity, are social beings.

If they can’t congregate in school, they will gather together outside of school.)

Gyms and cinemas are shuttered.

Flights are cancelled and borders sealed.

We are alarmed.

Why?

Because the government is acting alarmed and the media feeds our fears rather than comprehensively calming us down.

We need balanced and complete coverage.

Temper our fears with facts and full information.

Part of the problem is people themselves.

Ever wonder why there is so much bad news out there?

Maybe it’s because people find bad news more interesting than good news?

A new study involving more than 1,000 people across 17 countries concludes that, on average, people pay more attention to negative news than to positive news.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hint that this human bias toward negative news might be a large part of what drives negative news coverage.

But the results also revealed that this negative bias was not shared by everyone, and some even had a positive bias – a sign that there may be a market for positive news.

Lead author Stuart Soroka, a political scientist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said he and his colleagues were interested in the psycholgy of negative biases – the tendency for people to pay more attention to negative information than positive information – and the role it might play in shaping the news.

Among academics, one explanation for this bias was that “journalists were angry people and skeptics, and they produced a bunch of negative content, and that was bad – as in bad for democracy and bad for people reading news.“, Soroka said.

“Our suspicion was that the way news looked wasn’t purely a function of what journalists felt but more about what audiences responded to.”

There are some evolutionary reasons as to why negativity bias exists, the scientists pointed out.

For one thing, it can be much riskier to ignore negative information (a storm is coming) than good news (a dog rescued a boy from a tree).

Paying attention to negative news, the researchers said, is generally an effective survival strategy.

While previous studies have examined the negativity bias, they have largely focused on subjects who were white, American, college-aged young adults.

To get a more global view, the scientists recruited 1,156 people in 17 countries.

Each participant was shown seven randomly ordered BBC World News television reports, some of which had a negative tone and some of which were more positive.

As the participants watched, the researchers monitored their heart rates and their skin conductance levels (essentially, tiny fluctuations in their sweat levels, which could indicate a person’s flight-or-flight response levels).

The researchers found that, on average, a slight majority of viewers demonstrated a bias towards more negative news.

This largely held across countries and cultures, Soroka said.

However, the scientists also found that on an individual level, there seems to be a high level of variability in responses.

Roughly two out of five participants showed either no bias toward negative news or a bias toward positive news.

Soroka suggested that it might mean that news outlets could shift the proportion of bad news to good news and still maintain an audience.

“It’s not the case that most people want mostly negative news all the time.”, Soroka said.

“And knowing that, I think, opens up other possibilities where news is concerned.”

The media will shift our perception of the world unless we shift our perception of the media.

When you read an article or a news report, find and identify author’s main points and the thesis.

Analyze the structure of the article step-by-step as you read.

Always give yourself enough time to read through the article.

Look for a purpose of author’s written work.

There can be several purposes of writing:

• Inform the reader:
  • Look if the article has a clear structure and whether it provides sufficient evidence supported by facts and additional research.
• Persuade the reader:
  • Look to find if the author has presented logical reasoning and counter-arguments, opposite opinions to persuade someone about particular opinion.
• Entertain the reader:
  • See what emotions are caused by the article and how does it personally influence and inspire you.

Check for evidence or sources used to support an argument.

Reporters will use evidence to support an argument.

The evidence may be statistics, a quote from a source, or even a graph.

They may also get an expert opinion to support their argument.

Do you trust these sources?

And, most importantly, ask questions as you read.

What?

• What happened?
• From whose perspective?
• Is there another perspective?

So what?

• What does this mean?
  • To you, the individual?
  • To you, as part of a group?
  • To others?
• Why did this happen?
• What trend does this happening indicate will follow?

Now what?

• What should be done?
• What would you recommend?

I am not suggesting that this virus isn’t significant.

Nor am I suggesting we take a fatalistic que sera, sera attitude towards it.

In regards to my work life, the virus has closed schools in Switzerland and might close cafés like Starbucks if Switzerland follows the Italian lockdown model.

I am at home with a man cold which my physician wife closely monitors.

Of course, I don’t want to die, but, that being said, I don’t want to stop living my life either.

I worry about what I can control and I seek inner serenity and accept – whether I like it or not – what I cannot control.

All I am suggesting that we need to act moderately, intelligently, rationally, strategically, cautiously.

I am suggesting that reacting too quickly, too strongly, has consequences.

Monitor the virus through your national Health Ministry and the World Health Organization.

Read as much as you can, from more than one source of information.

Resolve to do all you can control and let go of what you cannot control.

We need to keep informed and intelligently analyze the information before we act (or worse, react) upon it.

It is our only salvation.

Sources:

• Wikipedia
• Google
• “Corona virus: Jet2 flights to Spain turn round in mid-air over virus fears“, 14 March 2020, http://www.bbc.com
• “Coruna virus: Iran reports 97 new deaths, taking total to 611″, 14 March 2020, https://gulfnews.com
• “Italian death toll from the corona virus jumps by 250 in a day“, 15 March 2020, http://www.skynews.com
• Tim Baker and Stephanie Cockroft, “UK corona virus death toll hits 21 after ten more patients die, NHS England says”, 14 March 2020, http://www.standard.co.uk
• Faye Brown, “EU to ban non-essential travel to all 27 countries over corona virus for 30 days“, 16 March 2020, https://metro.co.uk
• Natalie Brown, “Corona virus: Jacinda Arden announces ‘toughest border restrictions’ in the world“, 15 March 2020, http://www.news.com.au
• Matthew Green, “Air pollution clears in northern Italy after corona virus lockdown, satellite shows“, 13 March 2020, http://www.reuters.com
• Chris Harris, “Corona virus: Spain declares state of emergency as france shuts bars and restaurants“, 14 March 2020, http://www.euronews.com
• Jessica Jones and Ingrid Melander, “Former NATO Chief Javier Solana has corona virus“, 13 March 2020, http://www.usnews.com
• Amina Khan, “Why does so much news seem negative?”, 6 September 2019, Los Angeles Times
• Eric Knecht, “Syria, insisting it is corona virus-free, takes broad steps to prevent spread“, 14 March 2020, http://www.reuters.com
• Anurag Kotoky, “Corona Virus will Bankrupt Most Airlines by May without Government Help, Analyst Warns“, 16 March 2020, https://time.com
• Hudson Kuteesa, “Corona virus: Rwanda confirms first case“, 14 March 2020, http://www.newtimes.co.rw
• Ingrid Melander, “Spanish PM’s wife has tested positive for corona virus“, 15 March 2020, http://www.reuters.com
• Simon Murphy, “Newborn baby tests positive for corona virus in London“, 14 March 2020, http://www.theguardian.com
• Nyasha Nyaungwa, “Namibia reports first two cases of corona virus, imposes travel ban“, 14 March 2020, http://www.reuters.com
• Matthew Sell, “How to Analyze a News Event“, 16 April 2015, http://www.linkedin.com
• Courtney Subramanian and Nicholas Wu, “Trump says he took corona virus test as those around president, Pence has temperatures monitored“, 14 March 2020, https://eu.usatoday.com
• Christopher Taylor, “How to Analyze Newspaper Language“, 15 September 2019, http://www.wikihow.com
• Zoe Tidman, “Corona virus scientists say vaccine could soon be tested on humans after ‘encouraging’ mice trials“, 14 March 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk

Postscript

Twelve minutes ago (00:00 Tuesday St. Patrick’s Day 2020) Switzerland declared a national shutdown.