RationalWiki:What is going on with the coronavirus?/March 2020

March 2020
Physicians speak out about how business majors- and not people with medical or nursing degree- dictate how the health clinics and hospitals operate, with the result being inefficient healthcare deliverance all in the name of profit The Dutch government opts to extend its current measures until at least 28 April. The week before the 28th, they will reassess the situation and potentially extend it. The MP also urged citizens again to stay home and at least 1.5 metres away from each other. 'Sailors Do Not Need to Die', captain of the begs US Navy for further assistance and facilities to house crew off the aircraft carrier as positive cases aboard jump from 3 to over 150 in 7 days. The vessel is currently docked in Guam. As Britain stays indoors under the lockdown, goats take to the streets. Hungary suspends democracy indefinitely after parliament passed a bill, using the pandemic as a pretext, that "gave Orban sweeping emergency powers for an indefinite period of time." India's pandemic lockdown turns into a human tragedy as millions of unemployed workers flee the slums in the cities After a week of backlash at the idea of easing the guidelines to save the economy, President Trump decides to extend social distancing guidelines to the end of April. Kenyan police across the country called out for using harsh beatings and tear gas to enforce the new dusk-to-dawn curfew. Google has taken down the InfoWars Android app from its Google Play Appstore due to frequent disinformation it was releasing about COVID-19. [http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52084121 Belarus draws the attention of sports fans worldwide because it's one of the few countries on Earth, and the only one in Europe, where professional soccer is still being played. President Alexander Lukashenko is obviously not worried about the coronavirus and has told his citizens that drinking vodka will help them to fight it off.] Grim predictions from White House's coronavirus experts on Sunday news shows. Dr. Fauci: Coronavirus could kill between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans, and infect "millions". Dr. Birx: "Every metro area should assume that they will have an outbreak equivalent to New York," Wuhan partially reopens after more than two months of isolation. WTF!? The NRA has filed a lawsuit against the State of California after the state said that all non-essential retail businesses must close during the COVID-19 epidemic, this includes gun stores. In comparison, gun stores are considered essential in Texas and in Pennsylvania. MedFet UK a small Manchester-based supplies company which specialises in medical fetishes has donated supplies free-of-charge as to an NHS hospital due to shortages of protective equipment. Vladimir Putin says it's the start of a "non-working week". All people in Ireland are urged to stay home until April 12. Trish Regan has left the Fox Business Network, two weeks after an unhinged rant in which she claimed that the COVID-19 outbreak was "another attempt to impeach the President."

Republican-controlled Senate passes $2 trillion stimulus bill. The bill is expected to be approved by the House of Representives when it votes on the bill on Friday.UPDATE: Vague language in the bill means that the bill could become a $4.5 trillion bailout for corporations, with purely cosmetic oversight and the promised basic income only applies to people that filed their 2019 tax returns, which could leave up to 30 million working class Americans out of the program Ralph Drollinger, a fundie 'faith adviser' to Trump, has blamed homosexuality and environmentalism for the COVID pandemic [https://gizmodo.com/teen-who-died-of-covid-19-was-denied-treatment-because-1842520539 17-year-old boy who died of COVID-19 was denied treatment from an urgent care clinic because he didn't have health insurance. He went into cardiac arrest on route to an ER.] Didier Raoult, the researcher touting his non-randomized study of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for treating COVID, has also published a string of papers that falsified data Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus. Update Health Secretary Matt Hancock has now also tested positive and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty is self-isolating after "experiencing symptoms" One of the first deaths of coronavirus in Virginia was a singing pastor who was on tour claiming that COVID-19 was "made up anti-Trump hysteria" The United States surpasses China's number of reported cases. A public radio station in Washington state will no longer be airing White House press briefings on the coronavirus “due to a pattern of false or misleading information provided that cannot be fact checked in real time.” The Isle of Man closes its borders to just about everybody, even residents of the island. Mississippi's governor issues an executive order effectively prohibiting towns and cities from declaring "stay at home" situations. Coronavirus threat closes Amish schools, but weddings, church go on [http://www.bbc.com/news/business-52033260 Off-licences, little shops that specialize in selling booze, have been added to the government's list of essential retailers allowed to stay open during the pandemic. Supermarkets have been selling out of beer and wine.] The will not be releasing a joint statement on coronavirus. Why? Because the United States demanded the statement refer to the coronavirus as "Wuhan Virus".  published an op-ed, "How Medical ‘Chickenpox Parties’ Could Turn The Tide Of The Wuhan Virus", basically advocating deliberately infecting people so they get immunity. You know the thing the UK was going to do, until they realized it would kill an insane number of people and isn't guaranteed to work. Now would it surprise you to hear that the person who wrote this piece of trash is not licensed to practice medicine? Oh, great. Just when you thought we had enough problems, now the right wing cranks are starting to get restless. Man in Missouri dies in a shootout with the FBI trying to acquire a truck bomb, to attack a hospital. Apparently prompted to act over a 'stay at home' order issued by the mayor. Insane pastor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, defying governor's order against gatherings of more than 50 people by hosting over 1,000 churchgoers at services. "It’s not a concern," said the pastor. "The virus, we believe, is politically motivated. We hold our religious rights dear and we are going to assemble no matter what someone says. We have 27 buses on Sundays picking up people in a five-parish area," he said. Covid-19 is a couple of trivial mutations from other wild-type coronaviruses and is not a genetically engineered bioweapon. Real shocker there. Prince Charles has tested positive for the virus. It's official! The Olympics have finally been postponed. You know when the current situation is extreme, when the southern U.S. restaurant chain Waffle House, noted for the of disaster readiness has closed 365 restaurants which is just over 30% of its branches due to COVID-19. Some possible light at the end of the tunnel, scientists from John Hopkins University in Baltimore says that the COVID-19 doesn’t seem to be mutating quickly so a vaccine could offer lasting protection against the virus. Against all reason, Liberty University reopens despite the risk of coronavirus infection to students and faculty. Today, in "Awful Republican Responses to the Coronavirus," Texas' (of course) Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggested that the elderly risk catching the virus and nobly sacrificing themselves, in order for the younger people to keep working. because that's how being pro-life works. In addition, Kentucky Senator, Rand Paul, who happens to hold an M.D., continued showing up to his office and the Senate, and was using the Senate's gym and pool, all while waiting for the results of his - now confirmed as positive - coronavirus test. Greta Thunberg has said on her Instagram feed that she suspects that she and her father have the virus, and is self-isolating herself. 17% of the world's population goes into lockdown, as Modi issues a 21-day decree, trying to slow the spread of the virus. Gwyneth Paltrow-Approved Doctor: Coronavirus might not even exist, and that symptoms attributed to the virus are likely being caused by widespread fear The Eucharist itself is now subordinated to the false god of “saving lives” sayeth 'Christian' nutter. After over 6,000 cases and over 300 deaths, Boris Johnson has imposed strict new restrictions. Brits are now only allowed to leave the house for basic needs (getting food), exercise (once per day) and travelling to work. Baptisms, weddings and other public gatherings are banned and the police will have the power to enforce these rules. Non-essential retail shops will have to close. These measures are to last at least 3 weeks It's looking increasingly likely that the Olympics will be postponed, which would be the smart move. (Here's a report not closed to European IPs) In a sign that maybe we don't deserve to survive this, Indians celebrated Prime Minister Modi's public call for social distancing, by taking to the streets, en masse. Meanwhile, in California, beaches are still packed, in open defiance of a state order to avoid close contact with others. As their number of cases nearly doubled to over 400 overnight, South Africa becomes the latest country to go into a 21-day lockdown to try and slow the spread of the virus.. Cuban doctors head to Italy to help battle Covid-19 White supremacists encourage members to spread Covid-19 to police officers and Jewish people, according to an FBI alert Due to more extensive testing, New York state has reached 20,000 positive Covid-19 cases, with 53% being young people (18-49 years old) Conservationists say that mountain gorillas in the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda are in danger from this coronavirus too. Strewth! Brewers both big and small in New South Wales and Victoria have said that there could run out of beer in a few weeks due to the shutdown of breweries. The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees has said it is not sending its delegation to, and calling for 1-year postponement of the 2020 Olympics & Paralympics. NZ officially under lockdown with level 4 to be enacted by Wednesday 25th of March. Nigeria has chloroquine poisonings after Trump praised drug. Oh mein Gott! Bundeskanzlerin Mutti Merkel is now in quarantine after meeting a doctor who was later tested positive for COVID-19. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has tested positive for coronavirus. He is now in isolation. He was asymptomatic and does not know of contact with an infected person. China's state-owned & military labs approves human trials for its coronavirus vaccine, in an attempt to beat the US and prevent the latter from patenting their vaccine. Water in Venice clear for the first time in decades, if not centuries, due to coronavirus lockdown. Though this is misleading as it's simpy a result of reduced boat traffic making the sediments remain at the bottom instead of stirred up  Since it can't take place in cinemas, the Flare festival, the British Film Institute's LGBTQ+ film festival, will take place online instead. The International Olympic Committee continue failing to look reality in the face as the Olympic cauldron is lit in Japan. Tens of thousands lose their jobs as oil price war slam shale industry. A recent poll found that 18% of US workers have either lost their jobs or had their work hours reduced. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claims the unemployment rate could reach 20% without action. Economists are predicting a tenfold increase of unemployment claims by next week, a two million increase in total Four (so far) senators, (R-NC),  (R-GA),  (D-CA), and  (R-OK) dumped stock in the days following briefings about coronavirus, before the stock market drove off a cliff. Surely in this crisis, the most wealthy and powerful among us will cast aside profiteering and think in terms of human lives saved. [https://theintercept.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-vaccine-medical-supplies-price-gouging/ Oh. Wait, no. never mind.] The cruel myth of the "blitz spirit" is no model for how to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, especially because some of its propaganda photographs are fake Due to international travel restrictions and a ban on mass gatherings in the Netherlands, the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest is cancelled. First congressmen test positive for coronavirus: &. New York Attorney General threatens legal action if Alex Jones continues to tell viewers that his toothpaste can cure coronavirus The New York Stock Exchange trading floor will be closed, after a trader and staff member both tested positive for coronavirus. However, electronic trading will continue. Portuguese government declares a state of emergency China will send two million masks and 50,000 test kits to the European Union In an emergency bid to stop the spread of coronavirus, Iran has released approximately 85,000 prisoners In order to stop the coronavirus outbreak, the [https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/16/europe/spain-coronavirus-lockdown-intl/index.html European Union will close its borders to all non-essential travel. Spain has also closed its frontiers.] Even though they have the fewest reported cases worldwide, African nations such as Kenya, Senegal, the DRC, South Africa and Ghana have enacted drastic measures to fight the spread of Covid-19, including school closures; increased quarantine measures for new arrivals; travel bans to and from Europe, China, Iran and the US; deportations;closure of borders and restrictions on non-essential travel and gatherings. Coronavirus Update: Death toll surpasses 5,000. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for coronavirus(though Jair claims it's fake news). Meanwhile the Portuguese and Spanish governments declare a state of alert. Trump shuts down all Europe-US travel..... except to UK, 'cos it's not part of Europe any more and its coronavirus isn't dangerous....??? The has officially declared the new coronavirus strain a pandemic. NOBODY PANIC! Italy has effectively shut down due to coronavirus fears. UK Health Minister Nadine Dorries has been diagnosed with Coronavirus. At present, 382 in the UK have tested positive for the illness. In an attempt to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Italy, the worst hit European country, the government essentially puts the entire country on lockdown. Meanwhile, in the US, people break quarantine to attend a school dance. A 36-year old coronavirus patient died of respiratory failure five days after being discharged from hospital, as China continues to report repeat cases of COVID-19 from people thought to have recovered. Coronavirus: Sixth US death recognized in Washington state while the global casualities surpass 3,000. UPDATE: California declares a state of emergency