“Nearly one in four Massachusetts workers have lost their jobs during the coronavirus shutdown, a harrowing gutting of the workforce in a state where just two months ago employers were having a hard time filling open positions.”
(https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/30/business/more-americans-file-unemployment/)
“Federal prosecutors are examining the communications of a New York family doctor whose work has been discussed on Fox News and who has been in touch with the White House to tout an anti-malarial as a treatment for the novel coronavirus, according to people contacted as part of the inquiry.
“The examination of Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko’s records began when an associate, conservative commentator Jerome Corsi, accidentally sent an email intended for Zelenko to another “Z” name in his address book — federal prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, who as a member of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s team had spent months scrutinizing Corsi’s activities during the 2016 presidential election.”
“While the economy contracted at a 4.8% rate in the quarter, the second quarter is likely to show a decline of 30% — or more”
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/29/gdp-coronavirus/)
“For people who suffer the most severe reactions to the novel coronavirus — and their caregivers — the second week can become a time of sudden peril and heightened concern, when some of those who seem stable or on the mend can suddenly become critically ill.”
“When a person goes on a ventilator, the muscles that typically handle their breathing start to atrophy within hours. Many patients are put on sedatives to make it easier for the machine to take over. But this immobilizes other parts of their body and leads to widespread weakness.
“The risk of dying remains higher than average for at least a year after getting off a ventilator, a risk tied to both the number of days spent on the machine and other health conditions the patient had before falling sick.”
“…worst-case scenario, a condition known as Post-ICU syndrome that can afflict as many as half of Covid-19 patients who survive on a ventilator…”
“These patients become deconditioned,’’ he says. “Some behave like they are really paralyzed, as if they are quadriplegics. They can barely move their muscles.’’
“Hospitals are gearing up to treat these survivors, who already number in the hundreds. Some, like SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York, are setting up entire rehabilitation floors to help people coming off ventilators learn how to live again. Others are trying to cut back use of the device, avoiding a rush to ventilators when oxygen may be all that’s needed.”
“Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller told White House supporters in a private call this week that the president’s new executive order curbing immigration will usher in the kind of broader long-term changes to American society he has advocated for years, even though the 60-day measures were publicly characterized as a “pause” during the coronavirus pandemic.”
“In addition to the action, which was taken under the Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era law, the Labor Department and OSHA issued guidance that would provide additional liability protections for companies seeking to operate amid the risk of outbreaks.
“In its statement, the agencies said the United States would weigh in on the side of companies who were facing litigation for reported workplace exposures to the coronavirus, as long as the companies were following the standards that the C.D.C. and OSHA had issued for meat processing facilities.
“As states begin reopening, businesses have begun pushing the Trump administration and Congress to shield American companies from a wide range of potential lawsuits related to restarting the economy.
“Companies want assurances that they will not be held legally liable if a worker or customer contracts the virus at their warehouse, coffee shop or grocery store.
“That issue is expected to come to a head during the next round of congressional negotiations, with Republican lawmakers suggesting that any further aid to states would be conditioned on indemnifying businesses against lawsuits.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/business/economy/coronavirus-trump-meat-food-supply.html)
“In not even three months since the first known U.S. deaths from COVID-19, more lives have now been lost to the coronavirus pandemic on U.S. soil than the 58,220 Americans who died over nearly two decades in Vietnam.”
“Boston was one of the first cities in the country to detect a case of the virus. On Feb. 1, a student at the University of Massachusetts Boston who had recently traveled from Wuhan, China, tested positive. For over a month, his was the only confirmed case in the city. But according to the Northeastern projections, more than 100 people in Boston had likely been exposed to the virus by mid-February. By March 1, five days before the city changed its official count to four coronavirus cases, the virus may have been transmitted 2,335 times.”
danelabonte 