Dr. Stuart Weiss: COVID-19 Update Wednesday 15-July-2020
By Dr. Stuart Weiss, Intelligent Crowd Solutions
Dr. Stuart Weiss, FACEP, FAAP, CBCP
July 15, 2020
Today’s topics: New Records Shattered, Live Theater Issues
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| New Records Shattered In what is becoming a daily occurance, the US broke yet another new case record reporting 67,417 new cases according to the tracker at Johns Hopkins University. As expected with the increasing numbers of cases, in states with rising case numbers, there are now increasing hospitalization numbers and increasing deaths. Across the Sun Belt and int Utah, Nevada and Oklahoma, the numbers are getting worse. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has reprojected their total death number again and raised it to 224, 089 by November 1st. And with these rising number of cases, only half of the states in the US have mandatory face covering requirements. States with massive increases in case numbers or percent positive tests (like parts of Florida reporting a 31% test positivity rate, when we want it to be around 2%) or full hospitals, still aren’t doing the ONE THING in our bag of tricks to stop the spread of this respiratory virus. The now proven action of putting on a face covering when you go out is too much for some people. WARNING – HERE COMES A RANT (I need to blow off some steam): This stupid vocal minority of people (I don’t use the term “stupid” lightly) claim that it is their constitutional right to not wear a mask. They have sued Palm Beach county Florida for requiring masks. Here’s what I say to them: No one is forcing you to go outside your home. If you want to not wear a face covering, stay home. Exercise your rights in the freedom of your home. Once you go outside, you affect the rest of us and you lose the right to do completely as you choose. The constitution does not grant you the right to endanger me by not wearing a face covering. Remember that the face covering protects others from your droplets and does little to protect you. It follows the logic of “I protect you and you protect me and we all are safer together”. Yes, its hot under a mask. My nose hurts when I wear it for 6-8 hours straight. I need to find a socially distant place sometimes to take it off for a moment. But I wear the face covering to protect my community. So don’t tell me you are someone who loves your neighbors and follows some higher teachings (pick your religion) but then possibly infects and kills people by not wearing a face covering because its inconvenient or you don’t like the way it feels. Luckily for us, there are some national stores that are acting smart to protect their staff and customers even if Governors won’t. They are requiring people to wear face coverings if they want to shop. Stores like Walmart and Sams Club, Kohls, Best Buy, Krogers have decided that no matter what state you live in, if you want to shop in their store, you need to wear a face covering. If people want to exercise their “constitutional” right, then they don’t get to shop at Walmart. We need to end this counterproductive discussion by the vocal minority about face coverings. They work, there is no longer a question about this. END OF RANT FOR TONIGHT Live Theater issues I was part of a very interesting conversation today with reopening committee of the NJ Theatre Alliance. I serve as the medical adviser to the alliance (as well as several other large live theater/performance groups). I wanted to mention some of the topics we discussed today that are on people’s minds: Liability issues. I mentioned my experience when I just went to renew my business general liability policy. There, as expected, was a brand new exclusion for CoViD-19 related claims or anything to do with Pandemics. My insurance agent told me that he expects all insurers to add that exclusion to policies as they renew over the next year. The good news is that several states have already enacted protections for businesses from CoViD-19 lawsuits except in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct. Some congressional leadership has also been talking about this in the next stimulus bill. This is needed. I spoke about onsite testing today. My company is part of a consortium that has come together to bring onsite testing to productions. There were questions about who should do the testing. My advice is to have medical folks do the testing. I would not recommend that you have ushers sticking swabs up people’s noses. It is a medical test that requires medical people to administer it. We spoke about outdoor rehearsals. Try to do this as much as possible. Outdoors is safer than indoors right now I also had an interesting discussion with a casino client of ours about air exchanges and fresh outdoor air being brought into buildings. The idea is to create as close to an outdoor environment as possible. There are ASHRAE standards on how many CFM you need per patron for different types of venues. There is also guidance on number of air changes per hour. When you can’t get enough fresh outdoor air or air changes and your HVAC system can’t handle MERV-13 filters, adding UV-C lights to the HVAC system can help or adding portable HEPA filter units. Be well and take care of yourself. There are storm clouds on the horizon. –Dr. Stu |
COVID-19 HEADLINES FOR TODAY
| Coronavirus update for July 15, 2020 World Wide Updates 11 high-ranking Bolivian officials have tested positive for Covid-19 India reports nearly 30,000 new coronavirus cases, the biggest one-day jump so far Rash inside the mouth might be Covid-19 symptom, preliminary research suggests Moroccan seasonal workers trapped in Spain will soon return home, Spanish official says Russia lifts quarantine for arriving visitors starting today UK prime minister commits to future independent inquiry into pandemic Hong Kong reports 19 coronavirus cases on first day of new social distancing measures More than 400 million people in India re-enter lockdown conditions UAE Crown Prince: No coronavirus deaths for 24 hours Queen to make first appearance in months to knight 100-year-old veteran US bases should be put into lockdown, Okinawa governor says Mexico sees high Covid-19 numbers as it extends US border restrictions Coronavirus restrictions are trapping refugees into violence and persecution, report says Outbreak in Victoria, Australia, is spreading across state borders Countries start to reimpose restrictions, including booze ban, amid coronavirus surge Spain records most cases since May 22 Mallorca closes Magaluf party strip 140 health workers have died in Iran 160,000 Catalans return to lockdown Ireland delays reopening of pubs till August 10 The number of deaths in France rose by 91 Total Cases Worldwide: 13,584,160 Total Deaths Worldwide: 583,854 Total Recovered: 7,939,352 US Updates US stocks open higher Hospitals must now send Covid-19 data to the Trump administration instead of CDC Philadelphia’s public schools will have hybrid start this fall Fauci says he was not consulted on new directive for some Covid-19 data to bypass the CDC New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen at the end of August 2021 Rose Parade canceled due to coronavirus pandemic San Francisco public schools will begin fall with online-only learning Green Bay Packers to play preseason home games without fans Another 10,000 new coronavirus cases reported in Florida South Carolina’s governor says it should be parents’ choice on whether kids attend school in-person Oklahoma reports highest daily case total of Covid-19 cases Alabama will require face coverings in public Infectious disease expert, Dr. Colleen Kraft, compares US Covid-19 response to a toddler DC state of emergency will likely be extended through October Oklahoma governor tests positive for Covid-19 Nearly 250 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the Pittsburgh area New York City will have an update on phase 4 in the next day or two, mayor says Walmart customers will be required to wear masks starting Monday More than 30 students from an Illinois high school test positive for coronavirus Some Arizona schools to use “power breezers” to spray disinfectant in classrooms Covid-19 cases are surging along the Georgia coast 54 Florida hospital ICUs have reached capacity as Miami-Dade county reports Covid-19 ventilator use is up 92% California releases new Covid-19 testing guidance that prioritizes hospitalized people with symptoms US coronavirus model now projects 224,000 total deaths by November 1 Elderly Utah man dies waiting for a Covid-19 test US labs are getting more coronavirus tests than they can process in a day Total US cases: 3,584,946 Total US deaths: 139,665 Total Recovered: 1,622,086 Total Tested in US: 41,764,557 Total cases in NY: 429,982 Total deaths in NY: 32,485 New York City cases: 219,900+ New York City deaths: 23,300+ Total cases in CA: 347,634 Total deaths in CA: 7,243 Total cases in FL: 301,810 Total deaths in FL: 4,521 |
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