Across the US, more than 272,000 people have tested positive and more than 7,000 people have tested
The country’s top infectious disease expert says the US is ‘not even at half-time’ in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appeared on Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s radio show Basketball and Beyond with Coach K – on Thursday.
Krzyzewski referred to Fauci, who is also on the White House’s coronavirus task force as ‘America’s point guard’ in the fight against COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Fauci, 79, was asked how the US is responding to the outbreak and asked to provide a basketball analogy for context.
The physician, who’s led the US in several battles including against AIDS and Ebola, played basketball in high school while growing up in New York City.
‘If you want to do the basketball analogy, that right now we have a team that’s a very powerful team, and that’s the virus, and what we need to do is that we’ve got to play a full-court press,’ Fauci said.
‘I mean, we can’t let them get the ball on the ground to dribble. We’ve just got to be all over them…We’re not even at halftime, Coach K.’
Krzyzewski referred to Fauci, who is on the White House coronavirus task force, as ‘America’s point guard.’ Pictured: Krzyzewski, Duke head coach, on the sidelines during a game between the Duke Blue Devils and the Virginia Cavaliers, February 29
He continued the analogy by stating where he’d like the US to be in the next few months.
‘What would be really nice, to continue the analogy, is that if we can just hold our own and then when we get back in the second half, just come out, like, blazing,’ Fauci said.
‘And that’s what we really need to do. Otherwise, this stuff is going to be really, really very harmful to us as a society.’
The interview also touched upon topics such as protecting and helping healthcare workers, whether masks are beneficial and a potential second wave in autumn.
‘When we put this down on this first cycle, we’ve got to be much better prepared in the next season – which may be next fall, next winter, who knows? – that we can never allow it to gain the foothold that it did this first time around,’ Fauci said.
‘Whether we do that with better preparation for testing for identification with a vaccine and even hopefully with some treatments that might actually work, and we’ll probably know in the next several months whether we do have any treatments that work.’
Fauci has stressed in the past that a vaccine for the coronavirus will likely not be available for another 12 to 18 months.
As the interview wrapped to a close, Fauci stressed that young people follow social distancing guidelines and to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
‘It’s a very formidable foe and that’s the reason why we have to pull out all the stops,’ he said.
‘When we say about trying to make sure we don’t facilitate the spread by doing the kind of interactions physically with people in crowds and things like that that can actually promote the transmission as opposed to suppress[ing] it.’
Worldwide, more than 1.03 million cases of the virus have been confirmed and more than 54,000 cases have been confirmed.
Across the US, more than 277,000 people have tested positive and more than 7,000 people have tested.
America braces for its next hotspots as 929 die in a day, taking total past 7,000: Michigan, Louisiana and Georgia see soaring fatality rates while the proportion of tests coming back positive in Indiana, Illinois and Connecticut ring alarm bells
Michigan, Louisiana and Georgia are expected to become the next coronavirus hot spots in the United States – as the death toll rose by 929 in one day, bringing the total past 7,000, and the number of infections across the country hit 272,000.
Those states could be the next hot spots based on the current rate of deaths and positive coronavirus tests across the country, according to the White House COVID-19 task force coordinator Dr Deborah Birx.
Meanwhile, the proportion of tests coming back positive in states like Indiana, Illinois and Connecticut are now also ringing alarm bells for health officials.
In terms of current hot spots, New York continues to bear the brunt as the epicenter of the outbreak in the US with more than 100,000 infections and 2,935 deaths.
The state recorded 562 news deaths and 10,482 additional cases as of Friday.
New York and New Jersey, which remain the states with the highest death tolls and number of infections, currently has a 35 percent rate of positive tests.
‘We do have two states that have 35 percent positives and that’s New York and New Jersey. So that confirms very clearly that that’s a very clear and an important hot zone,’ Dr Birx said on Thursday during a White House briefing.
‘Michigan, Connecticut, Indiana, Georgia, Illinois – that should tell you where the next hot sports are coming – are at 15 percent test positive.
‘Then Colorado, D.C., Rhode Island and Massachusetts are at 13 percent.’
Dr Birx said California and Washington state remained steady at an 8 percent rate.
New Jersey, with a 2.1 percent fatality rate, follows New York in terms of current hot spots with 537 deaths and 25,590 infections. It had 182 new deaths and 3,335 new cases in the last day.
Michigan is now the state with the third highest death rate after reporting a spike in its figures in the few days.
There are fears that the next epicenter will be the city of Detroit given the sudden increase in the state.
The state’s death toll had reached 417 on Thursday – an increase of 82 – with more than 10,791 confirmed cases.
Louisiana, which has a positive test rate of 26 percent, is now at 310 deaths – up 41 from the day before – and has 9,159 cases.
Prior to the increase in Michigan’s cases, Louisiana had been expected to become the next epicenter after New Orleans recorded a huge jump in cases following its Mardi Gras celebrations.
Earlier this week, Louisiana saw its largest surge in new cases over a 24 hour period with infections increasing by 1,200. It was the state’s biggest one-day spike in both deaths and infections since the coronavirus started spreading rapidly.
California and Washington state – where the US outbreak first occurred – follow in terms of both confirmed cases and death toll.
There have been 244 deaths and 11,126 cases in California, while Washington has recorded 272 deaths and 6,595 cases.
Health officials are maintaining a close watch on infection rates and the death tolls in each state to see what parts of the country will follow New York.
Officials this week predicted that between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans will die from the coronavirus.
With a current death toll of more than 6,000, the United States is now dwarfing the number of deaths officially reported in China (3,337) where the outbreak first originated back in December.
While the death toll in Italy (13,915) and Spain (10,935) is still higher, the US eclipsed the number of infections in the hard-hit European countries with both Italy (115,242) and Spain (117,720) reporting only around half the number of infections.
About 90 percent of the US, or 297 million people, are currently in some form of lockdown to help stop the spread of the virus.
At least 38 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico were all in lockdown as of Thursday.
Florida, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Texas are among the latest to urge residents to avoid going outside to help slow the spread of the deadly virus.
Some states, however, are still refusing to order lockdowns with the governor of Missouri insisting it is down to ‘individual responsibility’.
New York’s death rate leaps to new high of 562 in a day: Cuomo reveals 23 people died every HOUR over last 24hrs – bringing the total to 2,935 and 102,863 infections – more than the number of those killed in NYC on 9/11
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Friday that the number of cases and deaths continue to rise despite ongoing mitigation efforts
The coronavirus death toll across the state of New York has risen by 562 in just 24 hours, bringing the total number of victims to 2,935, and the number of infections has gone past 100,000.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo revealed the startling new figures at a press conference on Friday morning where he pleaded with the other states to send help before the pandemic peaks.
Overnight, the death toll rose from 2,373 to 2,935 – the single highest increase in a day yet and the equivalent of 23 people dying every hour. The number of cases went up by 10,482 to 102,863.
More people have now died across the state of New York as a result of the coronavirus than were killed in New York City in the Twin Towers attacks on 9/11. That day, 2,753 died in New York and an additional 224 died in the attacks on the Pentagon and on United Flight 93.
Across America, there are now more than 270,000 cases of the virus and more than 7,000 people have died.
Gov. Cuomo said on Friday that the only ‘logical, practical’ plan was for the country to enact a rolling deployment of resources to the regions that need it when they need it.
Since New York is ‘the first encounter’, he is asking for help to be sent his way now but said he will return the favor if and when the crisis in his state is over.
He has signed an executive order which allows him to take excess ventilators from hospitals that do not have a surge in coronavirus patients and redeploy them to any that are overrun by cases.
Cuomo said he knows individual hospitals will not like the order, but that it is what must be done to avoid people dying ‘because we didn’t share’.
He has promised to either return the ventilator once to the hospital it was taken from or reimburse them for it. His strategy hinges on the proviso that different localities will hit their peaks at different times.
‘I understand they don’t want to give up their ventilators. Ventilators are expensive pieces of equipment…but I don’t have an option and I’m not going to get into a situation where we know we’re running out and we could have people dying because there are no ventilators but there are hospitals in other parts of the state that have ventilators they are not using,’ he said.
Asked whether he was worried some of the hospitals could sue him for the order, he said: ‘It’d be a slow day if I didn’t get sued five times but if they want to sue me for borrowing their excess ventilators to save lives, let them sue me.’
Cuomo used the analogy of borrowing someone’s drill to illustrate his point.
‘Lend me your drill. I will bring it back to you or I will buy you a new drill. How do you lose ? I’m not taking your last drill. You have five other drills in your toolbox.
‘You’re not going to to use use drills between then and if something happens where you go on a drilling frenzy? Call me and I’ll bring you more,’ he said.
Nationally, he said there will be instances of two cities hitting their apexes at the same time but that largely, the spread will be staggered.
‘It depends on when the outbreak started in that region, so you have different curves in different parts of the country occurring at different times.
‘The only practical solution at this point is focus on the emergency that is in front of you.
‘Focus on the emergency at the place and time that is in front of you and then redeploy to the next situation so New York is the tip of the spear so to speak, we have the high numbers, the first major encounter.
‘Deploy resources to New York – we’ll hit that curve, we’ll be at the top of the curve [in] 17 days, 21 days, we’re on the other side and we’re coming down and then I don’t need the ventilators we’ve amassed. We can re-deploy what we have to whatever locality is next.
‘It’s not a perfect sequential timing but if you look at the projected curves when it’s going to hit Michigan, Illinois, Florida, you’ll see there is a timing sequence to it. Why not? What is the alternative to now saying: “lets help each other. Lets focus on each situation as it develops and move our resources and personnel as it develops.
‘What is the alternative to the crisis that we have looming nationwide?’
He went on to say that America was a ‘family’ and that as ‘brothers and sisters’, it was in the ‘DNA of America’ to show up to help one another.
He lauded the 20,000 out-of-state healthcare workers who have volunteered to come to work in New York City’s hospitals, and promised his workers would do the same elsewhere in the country if needed.
Cuomo also thanked the president for changing a policy which dictated that the Javits Center, a 2,500-bed field hospital, would not take coronavirus patients.
Now, people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 will be treated there. FEMA initially refused it. Trump overruled them yesterday.
Cuomo also said that he planned to speak to the Defense Secretary to learn more about why the USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship which docked in New York on Monday, was not taking COVID patients either.
The vague answer has been that it will be too difficult to disinfect the ship afterwards so they do not want the virus ever coming on board.
On Thursday night, it was revealed that the Navy issued a list of 49 other health conditions it said the Comfort would not be used to treat.
With hospitals now operating as largely COVID-only facilities, there are few other patients to take care of.
Cuomo said he planned to address it today.
‘I did not speak to the president about the Comfort. The original agreement was it was for non-COVID people.
‘The Navy’s position is they don’t want to put COVID people on the ship because it would be too hard to disinfect the ship afterwards. That’s my rough interpretation of what they’re saying.
‘The need is for COVID patients. I don’t know the science of ship disinfecting to know whether or not they’re being overly dramatic,’ he said.
Cuomo said that the crisis was ‘hard’ to deal with, particularly as the number of deaths and cases continues to rise.
‘This is hard. It’s hard to go through this all day and then it’s hard to stay up all night watching those numbers come in and you know that you’re in charge of the ship at this time. I don’t shirk that responsibility at all.
‘Eventually, you go through the darkness and you find the light. And we’re going to find the light,’ he said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has earmarked Sunday, April 5, as ‘D Day’, saying if more supplies do not come in before then or if more staff do not arrive to ease the burden on hospitals, the consequence could be hundreds of deaths.
Families devastated by coronavirus: The California mother who died a day after diagnosis, the FDNY fire chief who lost a son on Sept. 11, and a 27-year-old who was told NOT to get tested as death toll soars past 7,000
A California mother died from the coronavirus a day after she was diagnosed with the infection while the illness also claimed an FDNY chief who lost a son on Sept. 11 and an upstate New York man who had symptoms, but was told not to get tested.
These are just some of the latest victims of the outbreak as it spreads across the U.S., which has had more than 272,000 confirmed cases of the virus and more than 7,000 dead.
Among the latest deaths reported was 32-year-old Jessica Beatriz Cortéz, of Huntington Beach, California, who was lost to the virus on Saturday, a day after she was diagnosed.
Also gone is FDNY Battalion Chief Al Petrocelli, who died Wednesday from the virus after one of his sons, Mark, perished in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
And in upstate New York, Vinnie Coon, 27, also died after showing symptoms and self-isolating on orders from a doctor who told him not to get tested. He was confirmed to have been infected by the deadly virus two days after his death on Saturday.
Reports of those who have died come as Michigan, Louisiana and Georgia are expected to become the next coronavirus hot spots in the US.
Jessica Beatriz Cortéz, 32, of Huntington Beach, California, was lost to the virus on Saturday, a day after she was diagnosed. FDNY Battalion Chief Al Petrocelli, lost one of his sons in the September 11 terrorist attacks. He died on Wednesday from the virus
In upstate New York, Vinnie Coon, 27, died after showing symptoms and self-isolating on orders from a doctor who told him not to get tested. He was confirmed to have been infected by the deadly virus two days after his death on Saturday
Those states could be the next hot spots based on the current rate of deaths and positive coronavirus tests across the country, according to the White House COVID-19 task force coordinator Dr Deborah Birx.
Meanwhile, the proportion of tests coming back positive in states like Indiana, Illinois and Connecticut are now also ringing alarm bells for health officials.
In terms of current hot spots, New York continues to bear the brunt as the epicenter of the outbreak in the US with more than 100,000 infections and 2,935 deaths.
The brutal nature of how the virus can sometimes swiftly claim its victims has taken many without giving them a chance even to say goodbye to their loved ones.
That’s what happened to Cortéz, who died just one day after she was diagnosed with the virus, Telemundo affiliate KVEA reports.
‘She began by complaining about body aches, that she felt a heaviness and fatigue,’ her brother César says.
Jessica, an El Salvador national who came to the U.S. about three years ago, had gone to work March 23, but began complaining of pain and chills.
She was hospitalized on Friday and died the next day.
‘This all happened in less than a week,’ her brother says. ‘I got a call that she was in very grave condition … I left what I was doing and went to the hospital and when I got there, she had already passed away.’
The brother expressed anguish knowing no one was with her when she died.
‘That’s the hardest part,’ he said. ‘That she died alone.’
The outbreak has come for some who already have suffered unimaginable suffering, including Petrocelli.
Before he was claimed by the virus on Wednesday, the FDNY chief had lost his son, Mark, in the September 11th terrorist attacks, reports the Staten Island Advance.
Mark, one of two sons who was a commodities broker, perished while attending a meeting on the 92nd floor of World Trade Center 1 during the attacks.
‘Grief is the price we pay for love,’ says Petrocelli’s widow and Mark’s mom, Ginger.
‘And today I grieve because I loved so deeply,’ she adds about the double loss.
Petrocelli passed following a visit to his doctor on March 17 when he felt fatigued. He was diagnosed with the illness on March 24.
His widow says her husband had trouble breathing on Sunday and had to be taken to the hospital, after several days of feeling weak and sleeping around the clock.
The fire chief had been a devout Catholic who attended daily morning mass and said the Rosary each day.
‘I’m a little angry in a way too,’ the brother added.
‘I think that some people have failed in stepping in to save my brother’s life. I think some steps should have been taken.’
Coons died after showing symptoms and being told by a doctor not to get tested and to self-isolate.
His mother Marjorie told WHAM her son started to ‘feel funny’ a few days after St. Patrick’s day on March 17.
‘He woke up with a slight cough.’
The mother said his condition worsened fast. ‘His appetite started to slow down on Wednesday,’ Coons said. ‘On Friday, he developed more of a fever and wasn’t feeling well.’
By Saturday morning, the mom said her son started having trouble breathing.
‘He was like on fire. His body was so hot,’ she said.
She said she called for help.
‘The ambulance came in and did everything they possibly could,’ Coons said. ‘They did CPR, and my son passed away.’
The mom said she tested negative for COVID-19, will remain in quarantine just to be safe, and while she is in mourning.
‘My heart is broken and it will never be repaired.’
The widow and her now deceased husband were married in 1967, before Al went off to serve in Vietnam. When he returned, the couple settled on New York’s Staten Island, having Mark and another boy, Al Jr.
Petrocelli joined the FDNY, with his GI Bill got a degree from John Jay College, and rose through the ranks and retired as a battalion chief. Al Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps and is also a firefighter.
Amid the grief, questions have been raised over whether more could have been done to treat some of those who died.
Coons, while obese, was reportedly healthy when he developed coronavirus symptoms, Spectrum News reports.
‘I’m just broken,’ said his brother Pat Coons.