Worldometer:
DAY China Italy USA Spain Germany S. Korea WORLD
Finally, from A.J. Kole of the Associated Press: If you don't Laugh, you cry: Coping with virus through humor:
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The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 202 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances: the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan, and the Holland America's MS Zaandam cruise ship. The day is reset after midnight GMT+0.
On the change of deaths over the past 24 hours:
DAY China Italy USA Spain Germany S. Korea WORLD
Mar 18 11 475 41 105 2
19 8 427 21 165 15
20 3 627 18 213 15
21 7 793 32 285 15
22 6 651 98 375 9 6
23 9 601 85 435 24 7 1631
24 7 743 100 489 33 9 1983
25 4 683 129 454 47 6 1987
26 6 712 73 498 33 5 1801
27 5 919 182 569 71 8 2782
28 3 889 241 674 52 5 2609
29 5 756 169 624 49 8 2706
30 4 812 271 537 19 6 2849
31 5 837 439 553 37 4 3661
29 5 756 169 624 49 8 2706
30 4 812 271 537 19 6 2849
31 5 837 439 553 37 4 3661
Summary: Both the USA and World showed major leaps of new deaths. Forget the concept of plateauing for now. Stay home.
Analysis:
Analysis:
- I worry most about India and the African continent. But COVID-19, for some reason, has not struck those area, yet. And maybe never will. Don't know why, but this was also the case for the previous H1N1 pandemic of 2008-9. Maybe this is why: I just heard on CNN that India is building emergency jails to house those who break quarantine laws.
- It's becoming obvious that swift quarantining is the necessary and decisive step for government to take. Apparently, 90% of Americans now agree. Just a week of indecision can make that crucial difference. Easy to say this in hindsight, but President Donald Trump should have a month ago taken this Chinese decision for Wuhan, or maybe even way back when his administration stopped travel from China on January 31. Can you believe that was two months ago? Further, President Xi sent 43,000 healthcare workers into Hubei Province, plus commissioned 16 emergency coronavirus hospitals. New York needs similar help now. Hubei Province has a population of 58.5 million, while the state of New York has nearly 20 million, and Wuhan City 11 million. Soon New Orleans, then Chicago and Detroit.
- You might wonder why I tend to look for the silver lining and express hope, when almost everyone else is doom and gloom? Well, that's me. But there are others. For example, Ross Douthat of The New York Times has an opinion piece entitled: Rational panic is here, but there also is rational hope:
- Today, at last, we have panic in surplus — however unevenly distributed and still-insufficient in some places. But now we need something else to leaven it: Along with rational panic, we need sources of rational hope.
- Rational hope is not the same as reckless optimism. It doesn’t require, for instance, quickly lifting quarantines based on outlying projections of low fatality rates, as some return-to-normalcy conservatives have been urging in the last week. Rational hope accepts that the situation is genuinely dark, but then it still looks around for signposts leading up and out. It recognizes that things are likely to get worse, but keeps itself alert to the contexts in which they seem to be getting better — or at the very least, getting worse more slowly. It doesn’t expect miracles, but it rejects a grim helplessness, a spirit of inevitable doom.
- ...there is hope in the fact that the impressive containment achieved so far in East Asia has been accomplished with a variety of different policies, different degrees of lockdown and distancing, but one major commonality: the widespread use of masks. Fearing shortages and panic, Western experts have downplayed the effectiveness of masking. But the circumstantial evidence of Western versus Asian epidemic curves and the direct evidence of multiple studies suggest that masking works, and that its widespread adoption can change an epidemic’s course.
- The current shutdown bends infection curves relatively quickly, outside a few major urban outbreaks. That policy response combines with America’s social-distancing sprawl and car culture and younger-than-Europe age profile to compensate for our initial incompetence and natural insubordination.
- BOSTON (AP) — Neil Diamond posts a fireside rendition of “Sweet Caroline” with its familiar lyrics tweaked to say, “Hands ... washing hands.” [Me: He had to cancel his 50th Anniversary tour a couple of months ago because he has Parkinson's.]
- Are we allowed to chuckle yet? We’d better, psychologists and humorists say. Laughter can be the best medicine, they argue, so long as it’s within the bounds of good taste. And in a crisis, it can be a powerful coping mechanism.
- Laughter is a symbol of hope, and it becomes one of our greatest needs of life, right up there with toilet paper. It’s a physical need people have. You can’t underestimate how it heals people and gives them hope.
- We have 60,000 thoughts a day and many of them are very disturbing. Laughter helps the brain relax.
- There’s Fox News anchor Julie Banderas tweeting: “How long is this social distancing supposed to last? My husband keeps trying to get into the house.”
- Michael Knight, a 29-year-old musician and a caseworker for people with mental disabilities, has been breaking the tension by posting memes like: “They said a mask and gloves were enough to go to the grocery store. They lied. Everyone else had clothes on.”
- “Just a month ago, who would have appreciated being given a roll of toilet paper?” she said. “I mean, the whole world is upside down.”
Donald Trump is hanging in there. From nowhere comes this old man, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who will be 80 in a few months. How can Trump cope with an individual who has character, prestige, eminence and trustworthiness? Well, The New York Times a week ago reported a growing sense of impatience. Business Insider said "frustrated."
Dr. Anthony Fauci is here and there being referred to as Ol' Blue Eyes. Shirts and socks and stuff with his image are selling out.
He deserves all that:
He deserves all that:
- Is an accomplished scientist who has won numerous awards, including from three Presidents. Will there be a fourth?
- Authored and co-authored more than 1000 scientific publications and earned 31 honorary degrees from universities worldwide.
- I'm not worried about myself. I'm worried about the job I have to do.
Finally, a vegan does not eat or use animal products. Some toilet papers apparently include animal products. I wonder what. But vegan toilet paper?
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