Wednesday, the 15th of April, 2020

Wednesday, the 15th of April, 2020

As social distancing continues through much of the world, different world leaders make news for various reasons.  One of the latest leaders in the news is President Donald Trump.  He has decided to stop the US funding to the WHO (World Health Organization).  He says if WHO had acted better, faster, had a better overall response early on, when the virus was initially emerging in China, it would not have spread as severely, or world-wide.  This, despite Trump's initial praising of the WHO, for its response, and saying that the US would recover quickly.  The CDC reports that it will continue to work with the WHO to protect the American people.  In other news, the Tour de France is postponed until the 29th of August.  Some schools in Denmark reopened today, after closing on the 12th of March.  Italy is reporting its lowest number of new Covid cases since the 13th of March.  Turkey has the third highest new positive cases in the world, following the US and the UK within 24 hours.  (US increase of 5,445, UK increase of 4,603, and Turkey increase of 4,281.  Corona cases in the US are now greater than 615,000, with 31,204 deaths.  Global Covid cases have reached 2 million, with a third of all cases in the US.  Total global deaths are now greater than 128,000.

There is an incredible 99 year old war veteran from Bedfordshire, who has raised over 8 million pounds for the NHS.  Captain Tom Moore is walking 100 lengths of his garden.  He is on track to complete 100 of the 25 metre laps before he turns 100 on the 30th of April.  His goal was to raise 1,000 pounds for the NHS.  He recently had broken his hip, and was very appreciative of the care he received during this time.

In the UK, 398,916 tests on 313,769 people  have been completed.  Of those tests, 15,994 tests were done on 11,170 people and were completed yesterday.  A total of 98,476 tests have been positive, 4,605 testing positive yesterday.  Total number of deaths is 12,868, with 761 perishing in the last 24 hours.  In England, there has been a total of 11,656 deaths, with 113 in the last day.  1,488 people in Cheshire have tested positive for the virus, up from 1,406 yesterday, and increase of 82 cases.  In Cheshire West and Chester, there are 461 total cases.  The number of deaths in Cheshire hospitals from patients who tested positive for CV in now 197, which is an increase of 17 new deaths.  At Countess of Chester Hospital, a total of 64 have died from CV-5 in the last 24 hours. The Nightingale Hospital at the ExCel centre in the Docklands area  of London is up and running (for awhile now).  The Nightingale Hospital in Birmingham at the NEC will open tomorrow.  The Manchester Nightingale hospital has taken patients, even though it does not open until Friday, and the Nightingale hospital in Harrogate opens next week.  There are other Nightingale hospitals that will open in Bristol, Exeter, and Sunderland.  Closer to home, the Deeside Leisure Centre, in Queensferry is transforming into a temporary emergency hospital to treat CV patients, and is set to be ready by the 30 of April.  A skate park was demolished here to create 250 beds.  Some of these beds will also be in the sports hall.  There is room for more beds to be created, if needed, by using the ice rink.  Also, locally, the Duke of Westminster is donating 10 million pounds to the national Covid relief fund.

This evening's press conference was run by Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, and Professor Angela McClean, Deputy Chief Scientific Advisor.  The number of worldwide confirmed cases in now greater than 2 million.  Police have issued 3,203 fines for breaching lockdown laws between the 27th of March, and the 13th of April.  Matt Hancock announced that there will be increased testing of social care staff, and care homes.  They will test patients on discharge from the hospital, so they can be isolated, if need be, before returning to the care home.  They are trying to curb the spread of infection in care homes.  They will be testing symptomatic care homes, and increase the supply of PPE to social care settings.  They want to introduce a "brand" for all social care workers, a badge.  There will be a national recruitment for social care workers, and will pay for their induction training.  Also, they want to increase the support and dignity for those at end of life, and will implement new procedures so loved ones can say good bye to those they love.  Matt Hancock sited the case of a 13 year old boy, Ismael, who died alone, without his parents or other family members.  The funeral was held, and the casket was lowered into the ground, again, with no family present.  How awful, and how scary for that young boy.  The positive news from the press conference is that our r value is now between 0.5 and 1.0  (speaks to the rate/amplitude of transmission).  Meaning we are decreasing our numbers.  Our curve is flattened. 

 

There will be a COBR meeting tomorrow.  (COBR is Cabinet Office Briefing Room-meeting rooms in the cabinet office for dealing with national or regional crises, ie, a crisis management center.)  Something to report on tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

~Stay home     ~Protect the NHS     ~Save Lives~