Hello! It鈥檚 been a tough week, friends, so I won鈥檛 say Happy Friday as I usually do. But I will say it is Friday, and I hope you鈥檙e getting a chance to exhale. As many people informed us on social media, Shakespeare wrote King Lear under quarantine, but King Lear isn鈥檛 his best, anyway, and he probably didn鈥檛 have to deal with screaming stir-crazy kiddos or a constant barrage of news. If you鈥檝e been staring at the wall instead of writing the next great historical play, .
On that note, though, I鈥檓 going to do my very best to give you a quick look at what happened, is happening or could happen with the coronavirus outbreak (with the caveat that it would be impossible to capture the scope of this particular universe).
First, two resources that are very cool: 1) KHN鈥檚 map that shows how many ICU beds there are in each county, and 2) and running tally of confirmed cases.
So here we go with the news:
Congress has been working with the administration, namely Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, to put together a package that would help Americans battered economically by the shutdowns. At the core? Sending checks directly to Americans. The amount taxpayers would get, , would be tied to income and number of children. It would also create a $300 billion pot for small businesses and .
The price tag on the plan 鈥� $1 trillion 鈥� sounds huge, but it鈥檚 not enough to make anything but a minor dent. Congress should be thinking more in the $2 trillion-$3 trillion range.
President Donald Trump is with sending checks to Americans, a move similar to what happened during the Great Recession.
While we鈥檙e on Capitol Hill news, Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in February even as they were reassuring the public that the threat was well in hand. Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also three weeks ago about the potential economic impact of the outbreak. One of the stock purchases Loeffler made was in a technology company that .
Something that鈥檚 become abundantly clear over the past week is how ill-equipped the country鈥檚 health system is to bear the extra weight of a pandemic. Although Trump invoked this week, he seems . (And much of the government鈥檚 potential resources .) He also shifted the to figure out medical device and protective gear shortages. 鈥淭he federal government鈥檚 not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淵ou know, we鈥檙e not a shipping clerk.鈥�
Meanwhile, doctors and other health care workers are having to reuse masks, repurpose bandannas and scarves, and take other measures as some hospitals are going through five- to six-months鈥� worth of supplies in a week. The number of cases is expected to climb across the country and providers are turning to social media to plead for more masks and protective gear. was just one of a flood of quotes from desperate workers.
And protective gear isn鈥檛 the only thing that could run out 鈥斅�. The (!) are taking measures to try to address the potential crisis, but hospitals are still preparing to have to make tough about whom to treat.
Although testing in the United States has ramped up, frustration over the 鈥� especially since it appears that were able to get tested where others weren鈥檛. South Korea, which identified its first case the same day the U.S. did, serves as a stark contrast. Well over 290,000 people have been tested and over 8,000 infections have been identified in that country, which is also a democracy. .
Yours truly was one of those poor, misguided souls who decided last weekend that watching Contagion was exactly what I needed in the midst of our real-life pandemic. (I immediately regretted the decision, don鈥檛 worry.) But in the movie, a scientist tests a vaccine on herself and then 鈥� boom! 鈥� it鈥檚 out in the world.
That鈥檚 not how , as we all know, but for many, it鈥檚 hard not to hold out hope for a quick miracle cure 鈥� either through a vaccine or a treatment.
This week, Trump called chloroquine as a potential game changer. But FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn , saying clinical trials would be needed to test its efficacy. (For a history of how chloroquine popped up on people鈥檚 radar, check out this .)
Meanwhile, the only company in the U.S. that makes chloroquine raised the price by almost 100% in January. The company has since reduced the cost.
For a glance at the status of drug and vaccine research, check out .
Many scientists and other experts are grappling with a lot of unanswerable questions, such as: Will the and how long will ? Research is emerging every day on the virus, though, such as a new death rate out of Wuhan, China, that is .
It would be impossible to highlight all the compelling stories that ran this week, so here鈥檚 an overview of ones that might make good weekend reads:
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That鈥檚 it from me. And before any Shakespeare fans come for my throat, I was just joking! (Though I do prefer his comedies.) Have a safe and restful weekend.