CoVID-19: Nightmare on the Diamond Princess

From Worldometer, I have adjusted this table to show how new deaths best determine the phase of COVID-19:

DAY     China   Italy   USA   Spain   Germany   S. Korea  WORLD

May   1         0    269   1897      281          113               1        5624
          2         0    474    1691     276            76               2        5215
          3         0    174    1154     164            54               0        3481
          4         0    195    1324     164          127               2        4096
          5         0    236    2350     185              ?               2        5787
          6         0    369    2528     244          282               1        6811

          7         0    274    2129     213          117               1        5589

Summary:

• A good day, as, in addition to China with zero and South Korea with one new death, all the other entities above showed decreases.
• Of some concern is that new cases/day have increased for the U.S. over the past few days:
• Tuesday       19,138
• Wednesday  22,303
• Thursday     25,253
• This can't be related to opening up the economy, because if there is any effect, that should occur 7-14 days after doing so.

As of yesterday, the entire USA has tested all of 2.5% of national population.  The city of Los Angeles stockpiled a sufficient number of test kits, for Mayor Eric Garcetti promises COVID-19 tests for anyone (4 million, but LA county, with 10 million, cannot yet do this) for free.  He has accumulated 300,000 kits at $120 per test.  I guess Garcetti's advisors speculated that there was no way more than 10,000 Angelenos would have the time, transport capability and interest to do this on Day One (previously, they averaged 3,000/day), for there are only eight sites.  He has enough kits for a month, and by then, should be able to bring in at least 10,000/day.  Mind you, to test everyone at 10,000 per day will take 400 days.

Nebraska has found a way to test more people in a manner being utilized in Germany.  Simply, the samples from five individuals are mixed.  If not positive, then they're all okay.  If positive, then they re-test all five.  This won't work in hotspot locations, but well for a place like Nebraska which is generally okay except for 12 meat-packing plants, where you don't use this technique, which saves on kits used and staffing.

About the Diamond Princess.  I wasn't aware of this, but in 2016 it suffered a norovirus outbreak.  I took a cruise from Japan to Taiwan and back in December.  Enjoyed the experience. This was a month before a new coronavirus infected passenger boarded the ship, resulting in 712 cases out of the 3,771 passengers and crew.  Fourteen died.

GQ described that nightmare:

• Indeed, for the first four days, there seemed to be nothing amiss as the 18-story ocean liner powered south through the East China Sea. As it did, the ship’s 2,666 guests luxuriated in a dozen or so different restaurants, a multitude of bars and nightclubs, four pools, a spa, a casino, and more. All the while, an army of more than a thousand crew members stood ready to gratify their every whim.

• ...unaware that an 80-year-old passenger—a man who had coughed through the first third of the cruise before disembarking in Hong Kong—had been admitted to a hospital, where it was discovered that he was infected with COVID-19.
• Cruise line officials maintain that the day after the ship received the first warning, its crew began sanitizing public areas more frequently, put out extra hand sanitizer, and switched buffet utensils more often.

• Of course, such measures couldn’t be expected to do much against a virus that was currently crippling China—especially on a cruise ship, an environment designed to pack people in and then entertain them with communal activities. And the virus had already had ample time to attack people’s lung cells until they coughed it into the air, where it might linger in a mist for three hours. Then, if the virions weren’t inhaled, they could still settle on an elevator button or a roulette wheel and survive up to three days, waiting to hitchhike on an unsuspecting hand to an itchy nose. At this point in the cruise, the coronavirus could be anywhere and in anyone.

• On what was supposed to be the cruise’s final night, February 3, while the Four Amigos (right) were enjoying a multicourse meal in the mirrored Savoy Dining Room, they all agreed that they hoped the trip would never end. Suddenly the ocean liner’s intercom came to life. In his Italian-inflected English, the ship’s captain told all on board about the infected passenger. Accordingly, he said, when the Diamond Princess reached Yokohama, everyone would need to stay on the vessel for an extra day while Japanese health officials screened them. The Jorgensens gave each other a look that said: What does that mean for us? But soon enough, guests went back to their surf and turf. Before long, the baked Alaska was paraded out, accompanied by marching band music and diners festively waving their napkins.

• Nine passengers and one crew member had tested positive for COVID-19. All passengers were to return to their cabins, where they would remain quarantined for two weeks by order of the Japanese government. Rather than release 3,700 potential vectors—who could infect Japan or their farther-flung homes—public health officials were transforming the Diamond Princess into a floating quarantine center.

• For the Wongs, the world shrank to a room of about 150 square feet, much of that taken up by a queen-size bed. The cabin’s primary decoration was a big TV and two large mirrors hung facing each other to create the illusion of spaciousness. There were no windows, and this relatively cheap room was about as far from fresh air as possible: on an interior hall of a middle deck, near the laundromat. This wasn’t the sort of cabin highlighted in advertisements.

• The couple was terrified about what would happen if one of them tested positive. They were caring not only for their son but also Yardley Wong’s elderly parents in the cabin next door. The family worried about whether her frail father could survive an infection. A single vent supplied the Wongs’ room with air, which was so dry, Wong said, “you could make Italian cured ham with it.” The desiccated oxygen was giving her family raspy coughs—or was that the coronavirus?

I've already directly quoted from this rather long article too much.  If interested, read this GQ article.  

By the luck of one month, my traveling companion and I could have been part of this nightmare.  At least we had a rather nice suite.  Both Wong rooms could only see outside through a porthole.  My budding claustrophobia would have been a problem even if we were among those who avoided this illness.

Heck of a way to end the week.  So let me send you to a Miss Hawaii Medley video, sharing their talent performing Iz's Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What Wonderful World.

Penelope Ng Pack (2018) coordinated this all:

Carolyn Sapp Daniels (1991, and Miss America 1992):

Angela Baraquio Grey (Miss Hawaii 2000/Miss America 2001):

Jennifer Hera Pimental (1998):

Kanoe Aberegg (1993):

Lani Stone Kaaa (1991):

Melissa Short Zapin (1996):

Nicole Fox (2008):

Crystal Montrone (2013):

Malika Dudley (2005):

Cheryl Toma Sanders (1990):

Lauren Matsumoto (2011):

Jaylee Fusilier (2010):

Kahaulani Christian Takenishi (2002)

Kathryn Teruya (2017):

Ashley Layfield (2007):

Cathy Foy (1975):

Erika Kauffman (1997):

Candes Gentry (1999):

Billie Takaki Lueder (2000):

Allison Chu (2016):

Kanoe Kaumeheiwa Miller (1973):

Debbie Nakanelua-Richards (1984):

Skyler Kamaka (2012):

Denby Dung Cabaldon (2001)

Ligaya Stice (1989):

Courtney Glaza Naso (1994):

Nikki Kehaulani Holbrook (2019):

Yesterday I forgot to continue my series on best songs, so today, the Top 30 for 1975 in 10 minutes and Billboard'sTop 25 for 1976 in two minutes.  At the University of Hawaii, I was teaching, researching and administrating.  I went away during the summers to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to work on laser fusion and the NASA Ames Research Center on Project Orion to design an instrument that could detect the first extrasolar planet.  Tomorrow the peak of disco.

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