Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cases of virus around world top 1 million
Pandemic’s U.S. death toll for one day exceeds 1,000
NEW YORK — The number of confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide topped 1 million Thursday with more than 52,000 covid-19 deaths, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The true numbers are believed to be much higher, because of testing shortages, many mild cases that have gone unreported, and suspicions that some countries are covering up the extent of their outbreaks.
The death toll and economic devastation reached staggering new levels in the United States on Thursday as officials reported more than 1,000 deaths from the pandemic in a single day and revealed that more than 6.6 million Americans had sought unemployment benefits in a single week.
The United States has over 243,000 people infected with the death toll nearing 6,000.
Elsewhere around the world, the number of people applying for welfare benefits in Britain increased nearly tenfold to almost 1 million in the past couple of weeks. At least 1 million people in Europe are estimated to have lost their jobs over the same period, and the actual number is probably far higher. Spain alone added over 300,000 people to its unemployment rolls in March.
With its health care system in dire shape, Spain reported its highest one-day number of deaths from the virus, 950, bringing its overall toll to about 10,300, despite signs that the infection rate is slowing.
Italy recorded 760 more deaths, for a total of over 13,900, the worst of any country, but new infections continued to level off.
France recorded a running total of about 5,300 deaths in hospitals, 471 just in the past day. But officials expect the overall toll to jump significantly because they are only now starting to count deaths in nursing homes and other facilities for older people. More than 880 such deaths have been tallied.
The competition for ventilators, masks and other vital supplies was intense.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned that the state could run out of breathing machines in six days. He complained that the 50 states are competing against each other for protective gear and breathing machines, or are being outbid by the federal government.
At the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about 9,000 additional ventilators are on hold as officials seek to determine where they are needed most urgently. States have been warned not to expect any shipments until they are within 72 hours of a crisis.
In France, a top health official in the country’s hard-hit eastern region said American officials swooped in at a Chinese airport to spirit away a planeload of masks that France had ordered.
Nine leading European university hospitals said they’ll run out of essential medicines for covid-19 patients in intensive care in less than two weeks.
A shipment of nearly 5,900 medical masks that Alabama’s Montgomery County received from the U.S. government stockpile was unusable because of dry rot, the emergency management director said. The masks had a 2010 expiration date.
The Trump administration was formalizing new guidance to recommend that Americans wear coverings such as nonmedical masks, T-shirts or bandannas over their mouths and noses when out in public, while reserving medical-grade masks for those dealing directly with the sick.
But coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx on Thursday said officials worry that encouraging mask use might interfere with the White House’s previous social-distancing guidance, which calls for people to stay home, avoid gatherings of more than 10 people and keep a safe distance from nonfamily members.
President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Thursday in hopes of boosting production of medical-grade masks by Minnesota-based 3M to assist first-responders.
Washington is also trying to crack down on a growing black market that is driving up the price of protective medical supplies, Defense Production Act policy coordinator Peter Navarro said.
Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, the Navy’s supply chief, said the federal government had shipped 27.1 million surgical masks, 22.4 million pairs of protective gloves, 5.2 million face shields and more than 7,600 ventilators, and were scouring the globe for more supplies. But Trump also lashed out at state leaders, saying that some were “complainers” or had “insatiable appetites” and that they should have built more reserves locally.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with health problems, it can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia. Over 200,000 people worldwide have recovered, by Johns Hopkins’ count.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a new test for coronavirus antibodies, the first for use in the United States.
Currently available tests are designed to find fragments of viral genes indicating an infection. Doctors swab the nose and throat, and amplify any genetic material from the virus found there. The new test, by contrast, looks for protective antibodies in a finger stick of blood. It tells doctors whether a patient has ever been exposed to the virus and now may have some immunity.
People with immunity might be able to venture safely from their homes and help shore up the workforce. It may be particularly important for doctors and nurses to know whether they have antibodies.
Antibody testing eventually should give scientists a better sense of how widespread the infection is in the population and help researchers calculate more precisely the death rate.
The test delivers results in about 15 minutes. Having antibodies does not guarantee immunity from the coronavirus.
The new test looks for the presence of the antibodies; it does not say how well any antibodies are working, said Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University in New York.
The Trump administration said Thursday it is distributing about $3 billion in the first round of coronavirus aid to help the homeless find emergency shelter and communities expand testing and treatment.
Advocacy groups say the homeless population is particularly at risk during the pandemic. Many already have health problems such as heart disease or diabetes, and live in conditions that do not allow for frequent handwashing and social distancing.
The initial installment of money represents about one-quarter of the total that Congress allocated to the Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of a $2 trillion aid package. The agency said it will distribute the remaining $9.1 billion once new grant formulas are set.
The department said the biggest chunk of money for local governments and nonprofits will pay for new medical facilities for testing and treatment and other activities. Grant recipients can also use the money to acquire hotel buildings to accommodate the isolation of patients, or to support businesses that make medical supplies.
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered most Russians to stay off work until the end of the month as part of a partial economic shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Speaking in a televised address to the nation, Putin said he was extending the nonworking policy he ordered earlier for this week until the end of April. He emphasized that all employees should continue earning their regular salaries during the period.
Putin said some essential industries will keep operating, and grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open. Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Sisak, Lori Hinnant, Mark Sherman, Susan Haigh, Kevin Freking, Adam Beam, Vladimir Isachenkov, Maria Cheng, John Leicester and Nicole Winfield of The Associated Press; by Apoorva Mandavilli of The New York Times; and by Matt Zapotosky, Isaac Stanley-Becker, John Wagner, Miriam Berger, Josh Dawsey, Karen DeYoung, Andrew Freedman, Emily Guskin, Arelis R. Hernandez, Paul Kane, Hannah Knowles, Dan Lamothe, Annie Linskey, Heather Long, Katie Mettler, Siobhan O’Grady, Samantha Pell, Lisa Rein, Missy Ryan, Michael Scherer, Brittany Shammas, Felicia Sonmez, Lena H. Sun and Erica Werner of The Washington Post.