COVID Update - Day 15

US Tests: 418,810
US Cases: 63,375
US Deaths: 887
Worldwide Cases: 466,955
Worldwide Deaths: 21,162

The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. jumped 22% since yesterday.  The number of deaths jumped 31%.  It's certain that the death total in the U.S. will break 1,000 tomorrow.

Today, the pandemic reached a critical point in New York City.  Hospitals there are on the brink of being overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, and one hospital saw 13 coronavirus deaths in one day:

Elmhurst, a 545-bed public hospital in Queens, has begun transferring patients not suffering from coronavirus to other facilities as it moves toward becoming one dedicated entirely to the outbreak. Doctors and nurses have struggled to make do with a few dozen ventilators. Calls over a loudspeaker of “Team 700,” the code for when a patient is on the verge of death, come several times a shift. Some have died inside the emergency room while waiting for a bed.

A refrigerated truck has been stationed outside to hold the bodies of the dead. Over the past 24 hours, New York City’s public hospital system said in a statement, 13 people at Elmhurst had died.

“It’s apocalyptic,” said Dr. Bray, 27, a general medicine resident at the hospital.

Sadly, this is only the tip of the iceberg.  Expect things to get much, much worse.  Not only in New York, but everywhere.

Meanwhile, our nominal Commander in Chief still hasn't invoked the Defense Production Act, thus guaranteeing that there won't be anything close to adequate supplies of PPE or ventilators.  People will die, sometimes horribly, as a result.

Additionally, Congress STILL hasn't passed emergency legislation for economic relief and support to medical professionals, in part because, well ---

In a statement, Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said the bill could provide a "strong incentive for employees to be laid off instead of going to work" because some people could theoretically make more by being unemployed.

Yep, that's the concern.  In the midst of the greatest crisis America has experienced since 2001, Republicans want to make sure that low-income wage-earners have the proper incentives to keep doing their jobs.  As if simply wanting to keep the job isn't incentive enough.  As if no one who earns less than $40,000 a year takes pride in their work.

As if, even if their concerns weren't completely ridiculous, this is sufficient justification to hold up the bill.

On a personal note --- the Governor of Minnesota finally issued a statewide shelter-in-place order.  Honestly, I don't really understand how this is any different from the way things have been for the past week and a half.  But that's news, anyway.

I don't yet know anyone who has the virus, or who has lost their job.  I do know one woman whose hours have been cut back to 3 days a week.

Fingers crossed that the number of new cases and deaths peaks soon.