The number of people tested for COVID-19 has increased significantly in the last week, with
over two million people having been testing nationwide.
Of those, five hundred fifty thousand have tested positive.
Twenty two thousand people have died from the virus, and the number of cases is
increasing.
New York state continues to be the epicenter of the virus in the US, with over ninety three
hundred people having died from the virus.
Social distancing measures, in the states where they were implemented early, appear to be
working in slowing the spread of the virus.
Oregon has had fifteen hundred cases, with fifty one people having died.
The current trend of the virus in Oregon has a peak date of around April 22 nd , which is not
expected to overwhelm state medical facilities or resources – as long as stay-at-home and
social distancing measures are maintained.
In New York, Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital have
developed an antibody test for the coronavirus.
This is a blood test that can determine if someone has already had the virus.
The hope is that people who have had the virus and developed antibodies can donate
plasma to people who are sick, in order to help their immune system build up the antibodies
to fight it.
This is a procedure that was used successfully in some cases in Wuhan China.
The Mount Sinai test is not approved for widespread use, but New York Governor Andrew
Cuomo said state health officials have received approval from the Food and Drug
Administration to use it on a case-by-case basis.
The biotechnology company Cellex has received the approval for administering the test.
A tent hospital set up by a Christian group in Central Park in New York is demanding that
volunteers sign an anti-LGBTQ pledge in order to help.
Evangelical Christian preacher Franklin Graham, son of late televangelist and homophobe
Billy Graham, is standing behind the anti-LGBTQ practices of the New York City field
hospital.
The small makeshift tent facility in Central Park is currently treating overflow COVID-19
patients from Mount Sinai Hospital, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to overwhelm
local health centers.
More than half of the coronavirus deaths in the US have been in care facilities for elders.
Meanwhile, Medical workers continue to mark the highest increase of people testing
positive for coronavirus.
Now grocery workers are seeing a rise in cases.
More than 3,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union are currently
out of work due to illness or exposure to COVID-19.
At least 41 grocery workers nationwide have died due to complications from the
coronavirus.
In Palestine, local officials are warning that Israeli leaders are attempting to use the
coronavirus as a cover for taking more Palestinian land. Israeli soldiers who invaded the
West Bank this weekend spit and coughed on Palestinians and laughed as they said they
were spreading the coronavirus. Israeli settlers dumped wastewater on Palestinian
farmland, and Israeli settlers uprooted hundreds of Palestinian olive trees near Bethlehem.
These incidents took place as Christians worldwide looked to Jerusalem on Sunday for
services marking the Easter holiday. In-person gatherings were canceled, but priests
conducted a service via livestream from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Arab League issued a letter today that Israeli leaders are apparently exploiting current
international engagement in the fight against Coronavirus, by intensifying illegal
settlement construction on occupied Palestinian territories, especially in East Jerusalem.
Across the US, farmers are being forced to destroy tens of millions of pounds of perishable
food. This is because of the closure of schools and businesses that have large contracts for
purchasing food. Some of the surplus has gone to food banks, which are being
overwhelmed with the needs of people out of work.
But these food banks can’t store much fresh food, and so a lot is ending up going to waste.
- KBOO