The Latest: Federal stocks of protective equipment nearly depleted – Press Herald

The latest on the coronavirus pandemic.

WASHINGTON The Strategic National Stockpile is nearly out of the N95 respirators, surgical masks, face, shields, gowns and other medical supplies desperately needed to protect front-line medical workers treating coronavirus patients.

The Department of Health and Human Services told the Associated Press on Wednesday that it was deploying all remaining personal protective equipment in the federal stockpile. A small percentage will be kept in reserve to support federal response efforts, the department said. The statement confirms federal documentsreleased Wednesday by the House Oversight and Reform Committee showing that about 90% of the personal protective equipment in the stockpile has been distributed to state and local governments.

House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y. said in astatementthat the Trump administration is leaving states to scour the open market for scarce supplies, often competing with each other and federal agencies in a chaotic bidding war that drives up prices.

Trump has faulted the states for not better preparing for the pandemic and has said they should be relying on the federal stockpile only as a last resort.

Read the full story about the shortage of medical supplies here.

South Korea sees smallest daily jump in new cases since Feb. 20

SEOUL, South Korea South Korea says it has reported 39 more cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, in a continued slowdown of the virus outbreak in the Asian country.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Thursday the additional cases increased the countrys total to 10,423. It says 6,973 of them have been recovered and released from quarantine. The center says fatalities from the coronavirus rose by four to 204.

But the 39 new cases are the smallest daily jump since Feb. 20. South Korea recorded 47 and 53 new cases on Tuesday and Wednesday.

There are still worries about a steady rise in infections linked to international arrivals, which has helped inflate the caseload in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.

A total of 22 of the 39 new cases have been reported in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province.

Coronavirus cluster among hospital staff on Maui

HONOLULU Hawaii officials said Wednesday they have identified a cluster of COVID-19 cases at Maui islands only hospital as it disclosed 15 employees of the facility have tested positive.

Maui Mayor Michael Victorino said the Maui Memorial Medical Center employees have been sent home to self-isolate. He said plans were being made to isolate the workers at a quarantine site away from their families.

Bruce Anderson, the director of the state Department of Health, said the first case at the hospital was identified in mid-March and many of the initial cases were related to travel. He said it was only Tuesday when the state epidemiologist saw the connections between subsequent cases and recognized the virus had likely been transmitted between workers and from patient to worker.

He said all those who have had close contact with the employees will be tested.

Nevada governor clamps down on public gatherings

CARSON CITY, Nev. Nevadas governor on Wednesday ordered a closure of golf courses, real estate open houses, religious gatherings of 10 people or more and additional restrictions to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Gov. Steve Sisolak said he was adding restrictions because some people have created an unnecessary risk by trying to circumvent the rules he has already put in place. Other restrictions were designed to cut down on the amount of time people spend next to others, he said.

The governor last month ordered a closure of non-essential businesses, including gambling and casinos, and issued a directive telling Nevadans to stay at home, though exceptions were granted for people going outside to exercise.

Sisolak said at a news conference Wednesday night he was ordering the closure of sports and recreational facilities where people congregate, such as golf courses, tennis courts, basketball courts and pools. He said that despite his decision last month to leave golf courses open, he had seen pictures that had been sent to him of people riding together in golf carts and standing together on the greens.

Outcry over racial data grows as virus slams black Americans

As the coronavirus tightens its grip across the country, it is cutting a particularly devastating swath through an already vulnerable population black Americans.

Democratic lawmakers and community leaders in cities hard-hit by the pandemic have been sounding the alarm over what they see as a disturbing trend of the virus killing African Americans at a higher rate, along with a lack of overall information about the race of victims as the nations death toll mounts.

Among the cities where black residents have been hard-hit: New York, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago and Milwaukee.

Of the victims whose demographic data was publicly shared by officials nearly 3,300 of the nations 13,000 deaths thus far about 42% were black, according to an Associated Press analysis. African Americans account for roughly 21% of the total population in the areas covered by the analysis.

The APs analysis is one of the first attempts to examine the racial disparities of COVID-19 cases and deaths nationwide. It involved examining more than 4,450 deaths and 52,000 COVID-19 cases from across the country, relying on the handful of state and local governments that have released victims race.

A history of systemic racism and inequity in access to health care and economic opportunity has made many African Americans far more vulnerable to the virus. Black adults suffer from higher rates of obesity, diabetes and asthma, which make them more susceptible, and also are more likely to be uninsured. They also often report that medical professionals take their ailments less seriously when they seek treatment.

Second U.S. study for COVID-19 vaccine uses skin-deep shots

WASHINGTON U.S. researchers have opened another safety test of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine, this one using a skin-deep shot instead of the usual deeper jab.

The pinch should feel like a simple skin test, a researcher told the volunteer lying on an exam table in Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday.

Its the most important trial that weve ever done, Dr. John Ervin of the Center for Pharmaceutical Research told The Associated Press afterward. People are beating down the door to get into this trial.

The experiment, using a vaccine candidate developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, is part of a global hunt for much-needed protection against a virus that has triggered an economic shutdown and forced people indoors as countries try to stem the spread.

A different vaccine candidate began safety testing in people last month in Seattle, one developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. About two-thirds of that studys participants have gotten the first of two needed doses.

Inovios study is set to test two doses of its vaccine, code-named INO-4800, in 40 healthy volunteers at the Kansas City research lab and the University of Pennsylvania. Inovio is working with Chinese researchers to also begin a similar study in that country soon.

These early-stage studies are a first step to see if a vaccine appears safe enough for larger tests needed to prove whether it will protect. Even if the research goes well, it is expected to take more than a year before any vaccine could be widely available.

Dozens of potential vaccines are being designed in labs around the world, expected to begin this testing process over the next several months.

Read more about the vaccine experiments here.

Stocks climb 3.4% on Wall Street as hopes build for virus peaks

NEW YORK Stocks shot 3.4 percent higher on Wall Street on Wednesday as investors chose to focus on the optimistic side of data about the coronavirus outbreaks trajectory.

Its the latest about-face in this brutally volatile stretch for the U.S. stock market, which has flip-flopped between gains and losses for six straight days.

The up moves have recently been bigger than the downward swings, though, amid signs that deaths and infections may be nearing a peak or plateau in some of the worlds hardest-hit areas. The S&P 500 has jumped nealry 23 percent since it hit a low two and a half weeks ago.

Trading remained unsettled around the world, though, with European and Asian stock markets mixed. A day before, an even bigger gain for the S&P 500 suddenly vanished in the afternoon.

Read more from Wall Street here.

Hundreds of young Americans have succumbed to coronavirus, data show

Two weeks after her husband died alone in an intensive care unit in Fort Myers, Fla., Nicole Buchanan is quarantined at the home they shared with their 12-year-old daughter, wrestling not only with grief but with why and how the coronavirus could steal someone so young and healthy.

My husband didnt have diabetes, he didnt have asthma, he didnt have high cholesterol. He didnt have anything, Buchanan said. Theres just so much Ill never know, that Ill never get the answers to.

Conrad Buchanan, who died at 39 on March 26 after battling the infection for nearly two weeks, was creative and goofy. A professional DJ, he could entertain huge crowds with his music. But at home, he was fond of singing Bob Marleys Three Little Birds to his 12-year-old daughter, Skye.

He had an amazing sense of humor. He had a big laugh. He was so magnetic, his 37-year-old widow said. He was our universe.

He also was among at least 759 people under age 50 across the United States who have perished amid the deepening pandemic, according to a Washington Post analysis of state data. These deaths underscore the tragic fact that, while the novel coronavirus might be most threatening to the old and compromised, no one is immune.

For the very young people under the age of 20 death is extremely rare in the current pandemic. But it happens: The Post identified nine such cases.

The risk appears to rise with every decade of age. The Post found at least 45 deaths among people in their 20s. (Its hard to give a precise number because of the divergent ways that states present age groups: For instance, this figure does not include 15 deaths under the age of 30 in Louisiana and New Jersey.)

As ages progress, The Post found at least 190 deaths among people in their 30s, and at least 413 among people in their 40s.

Read the full story on the toll of the coronavirus among young people here.

Sales of Dr. Anthony Fauci bobbleheads raise $100,000 to buy masks

Bobblehead Hall of Fame CEO Phil Sklar will present a virtual $100,000 check Wednesday afternoon to the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy after the Milwaukee-based museum launched a fundraising campaign with a Dr. Anthony Fauci bobblehead that became its best-seller ever.

More than 20,000 orders had come in as of Wednesday from 50 states and a dozen-plus countries to support the 100 Million Mask Challenge. The Fauci bobblehead was unveiled April 1.

The creation features Fauci wearing a suit as he makes a motion showing how the nation needs to flatten the curve in the coronavirus pandemic.

The museum picked Fauci because many people see the plain-speaking expert on the coronavirus as a hero right now, Sklar said.

Video courtesy of National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum via Associated Press

Condition of British prime minister, in ICU with coronavirus, is improving

LONDON British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in intensive care with the coronavrus but is improving, a senior official said Wednesday, as the U.K. saw its biggest spike in deaths from the virus to date.

Treasury chief Rishi Sunak said Johnson has been sitting up in bed and engaging positively with the clinical team at St. Thomas Hospital in London, three days after he was admitted.

A shaken U.K. government sought to keep a grip on its response to the outbreak with its leader hospitalized and the number of COVID-19-related deaths approaching the peaks seen in Italy and Spain, the two countries with the greatest number of fatalities.

Britains confirmed death toll reached 7,097 on Wednesday, an increase of 938 from 24 hours earlier. Italy recorded 969 deaths on March 27 and Spain 950 deaths on April 2.

Not all the deaths reported each day occurred in the preceding 24 hours, and the British total only includes deaths in hospitals.

Johnson was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 and still had a cough and fever 10 days later. He was admitted to St. Thomas Hospital in London on Sunday and moved to the ICU on Monday after his condition deteriorated. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is standing in for Johnson while he is hospitalized.

Johnson spokesman James Slack said earlier Wednesday that the prime minister continues to receive standard oxygen treatment and is breathing without any other assistance.

Read the full story about Boris Johnson here.

Pentagon says military coronavirus cases near 2,000

WASHINGTON The Pentagon says the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the military has surged to nearly 2,000.

Last weekend the number topped 1,000, and one week ago it stood at 771.

Among the services, the active duty Navy has the most cases, with more than 500. The Army has 470.

Switzerland hopes to lift restrictions soon

GENEVA Switzerland plans to lift some restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus crisis by the end of the month.

Switzerland, like other European countries, has closed nonessential shops and schools and banned events. President Simonetta Sommaruga says the existing restrictions will remain in place until April 26.

But she says officials are planning a gradual reopening, and the government will consider a strategy on April 16.

Sommaruga didnt specify what measures might be relaxed first.

Switzerland has recorded more than 22,000 infections, including 858 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Puerto Rico asks to ban flights from certain U.S. cities

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Puerto Ricos governor is asking federal officials to ban all flights from U.S. cities with a high number of coronavirus cases to help prevent the spread in the U.S. territory.

The petition by Gov. Wanda Vzquez to the Federal Aviation Administration comes as officials accuse some visitors of taking medicine to lower their fevers to avoid being placed in quarantine. National Guard members screen people at the islands main international airport.

The National Guard has said at least two passengers from New York who lowered their fever with medication are now hospitalized in the island with COVID-19.

London bus and underground workers demand more protection

LONDON Transit unions and grieving relatives are demanding more protection for bus and subway workers after 14 London transport staff died from the new coronavirus.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan says eight were bus drivers.

Londons subways and buses have continued to run a reduced service to transport key workers since the U.K. went into lockdown March 23. Subway travel is down 95% and bus travel down 82% from the same period last year.

Khan says steps are being taken to protect transit staff. He says they include cleaning buses with antiviral disinfectant, blocking off seats nearest the driver and and using protective screens between driver and passengers.

WTO estimates drop in global trade

The World Trade Organization estimates global trade will fall between 13% and 32% this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Geneva-based body, which oversees the rules of trade, says in a report the drop would be worse than during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.

The wide range in its forecast is due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic, as it remains uncertain when business will return toward more normal levels. Governments around the world have locked down on business and travel to contain the outbreak, disrupting supply chains.

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevdo says, The unavoidable declines in trade and output will have painful consequences for households and businesses, on top of the human suffering caused by the disease itself.

These numbers are ugly there is no getting around that. But a rapid, vigorous rebound is possible.

Democrats seek additions to $250 billion emergency virus aid

Congressional Democratic leaders proposed Wednesday adding hundreds of billions of dollars for health care, state and local governments, and food stamps to $250 billion in fresh emergency aid President Donald Trump wants to help small businesses weather the coronavirus epidemic.

Trump requested an additional $250 billion for a just-launched small businesses payroll program and is looking to secure congressional passage this week. For that he will need Democratic support.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer outlined their own priorities in a Wednesday statement.

They say they will approve the $250 billion in assistance to small businesses, but want $125 billion of that channeled through community-based financial institutions that serve farmers, families, women, minorities and veterans.

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The Latest: Federal stocks of protective equipment nearly depleted - Press Herald