Thursday April 9, 2020 ~ GLOBAL [Some typos corrected on April 10]
by Mary Brooke, B.Sc. ~ West Shore Voice News
Several months now into the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus around the globe, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) statistics for infection with the disease at April 9, 2020 (Report #80) show a tally of 1,436,198 confirmed cases (up from 1,353,361 yesterday) and 85,522 deaths (up from 79,235 one day ago).
Of that death tally, 6,287 are recorded new in the last 24 hours, so the spread is still very much on.
The most rapid spread of infection in North America is in the United States with 395,030 confirmed cases today and 12,740 deaths (up 1,895 in the last 24 hours, which is a greater rate compared to the 1,286 death increase seen the previous day on April 8); New York City is currently an intense hot spot. On the west coast, Washington State has been an epicenter, causing concern Canada (BC in particular).
Canada by comparison (with a population size about 10% of the USA’s) has 18,433 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (up from 17,049 in one day) and 401 deaths (up from 345 the day before).
Different US cities and states have different levels of emergency or lockdown, and in Canada all provinces are in some state of emergency. Canada for over a week now has restricted the travel of people from the United States into Canada to just essential (cargo and transport) and casual visitors or tourists are not allowed at this time. This week BC beefed up its self-isolation requirements of people arriving at the Vancouver International airport and land border crossings, an effort to ensure that Canadians returning from outside of BC are doing a 14-day self-isolation.
In British Columbia there is an official state of emergency and as a society we are effectively on lockdown through a mosaic of measures issued by the Public Health Officer. This Easter Weekend will be a long one — not just being a traditional ‘long weekend’ of four days, but in terms of activity restrictions.
British Columbians are being asked to stay home in self-isolation and to maintain physical distancing if they need to go for essential reasons. BC Parks are closed, and people are reminded to keep the 2-metre/6-foot distance if going outdoors in their own neighbourhood for some fresh air. Travel to remote communities is strongly discouraged, as smaller towns may not have the hospital infrastructure to handle a COVID-19 case or outbreak, and frankly the reduction of vehicle traffic reduces the potential impact on first responders including paramedics at this time.
The most rapid spread of infection in Europe is still in Spain and Italy. While Italy has had the most rapid rate of infections and deaths for a while, Spain has surpassed their neighbour in the last week or more. The number of confirmed cases in Spain on April 9 is 146,690 (up from 140,510 in one day) with 14,555 deaths (up from 13,798 in one day). Italy today showed 139,422 confirmed cases (up from 135,586 since yesterday) and 17,669 deaths (up from 17,129 on April 8).
It should be noted that the strategy for testing varies from province to province in Canada, and between countries around the world. So at this point, rates and comparisons are some disparate (i.e. like comparing ‘apples to oranges’). But the raw numbers do tell their own story.
Where early restrictive movement was brought in (such as in Israel and Norway), the death count is relatively low: 9,404 cases in Israel with 71 deaths (both tallies unchanged since April 8, but that could be due to lack of data filing on the Passover holiday), and 6,010 (up from 5,863 cases) in Norway with 80 deaths (up from 69).
The original epicenter for COVID-19 (where the virus first emerged in December 2019) was China, where new cases slowed down a few weeks ago and life is beginning to return to a new version of normal. Today their tally is 83,249 (up from 83,157 yesterday) with 3,344 deaths (up by only two in the last day).
A tested and available vaccine against COVID-19 is not expected any time ahead of Fall 2021.