Updated Mar. 30, 2020 8:27 PM
The coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a halt in the early part of 2020. After emerging in China's Hubei province in late 2019, the number of cases skyrocketed and infected more than half of a million worldwide over a four-month span with the epicenter shifting from Asia to Europe and, as of late March, the United States.
The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the outbreak a pandemic on March 11. The virus, called SARS-CoV-2, causes a disease known as COVID-19, and as the number of cases escalated, government officials took drastic measures to slow the spread, ordering various forms of travel restrictions including total lockdowns in some places.
As residents stayed shuttered indoors, major metropolitan areas from Los Angeles to New York City to Paris and Rome were transformed into eerie ghost towns. Infectious disease experts have stressed there is much to be learned about the virus, including whether there will be a seasonal correlation to a rise or decline in confirmed infections or how weather and UV radiation can impact the spread.
Here are the latest updates, listed in eastern time, and the most important things you need to know about coronavirus.
March 30, 8:28 p.m.
The major decline in air travel demand due to the coronavirus has made American Airlines decide to apply for government aid. The airline company said they will also offer partial pay to entice workers off of payroll. Fewer flights could also have implications on the accuracy of weather forecasting heading into severe weather season. Read the full story about how flights can provide critical weather information for meteorologists.
March 30, 7:30 p.m.
Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, are back in the U.S. after more than two weeks of self-quarantine in Australia. The actor thanked everyone who helped him and his wife after being diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this month. "Many, many thanks to everyone in Australia who looked after us. Their care and guidance made possible our return to the USA," Hanks said on Twitter. The couple is carrying on with sheltering in place and social distancing like missions of others across the country.
March 30, 6:35 p.m.
Friends hold rainy-day picnic in a park while social distancing. Two friends in Northern New Jersey let neither the strict social distancing restrictions mandated in the Garden State nor the bad weather stop them from spending a little time together on Sunday. Larissa Silva, 25, and Maria Pava, 27, both of Hohokus, NJ, backed their cars up close to one another -- but not too close -- in a parking lot in neighboring Ridgewood and sat under the trunk doors, and chatted. They took a moment to answer some questions from AccuWeather about an interesting sign of the times.
"We're having a picnic, actually," Silva told AccuWeather. Pava added that they were being careful to maintain proper social distancing recommendations. The two said it's been tough sheltering in place for the last two weeks, and that they use FaceTime and WhatsApp to communicate. But, "sometimes we just need to leave the house a little bit," Pava said. The two are originally from Brazil and work as au pairs in Hohokus, which is situated in Bergen County about 25 miles northwest of New York City. Bergen County has been New Jersey's COVID-19 hotspot with nearly 2,500 of the states 16,000 COVID-19 cases.
Larissa Silva, 25, (L) and Maria Pava, 27, hold a rainy-day picnic while social distancing at a park in Ridgewood, NJ, on Sunday, March 29, 2020. New Jersey had more than 16,000 cases of COVID-19 and the governor has issued strict stay-at-home orders for all but essential workers. (AccuWeather)
March 30, 5:21 p.m.
Companies are stepping up to produce masks and ventilators for overwhelmed hospitals. L.L.Bean is using material from its dog beds to make medical masks, while GE Healthcare and Ford Motor Company plan to produce 50,000 ventilators in the next 100 days.
March 30, 4:28 p.m.
New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez was diagnosed with a “presumed coronavirus infection” on Sunday. Velázquez is currently self-isolating at home after developing “the abrupt onset of muscle aches, fevers, nasal congestion and stomach upset.” Days before her symptoms, Velazquez was on the House floor and at a ceremony with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Representative Kevin McCarthy on Friday.Five members of Congress were diagnosed with coronavirus before Velazquez, The Hill reported.
March 30, 3:35 p.m.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a stay-at-home order for South Florida residents through mid-May, as coronavirus cases continue to increase in the area. During his announcement on Monday, DeSantis cited that Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties account for 60% of the total number of cases in the state, with more than 3,200 confirmed cases. Florida has more than 5,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 63 residents have died as a result of the disease.
March 30, 2:42 p.m.
Severe weather ignited across the central U.S. on Saturday, spinning up two dozen tornadoes. The most substantial tornado was an EF3 twister that ravaged parts of Jonesboro, Arkansas, including the home of Jared Burks, a resident physician at a local hospital who has been on the frontlines of the battle against COVID-19 and living separately from his family in the process. A story that verged on the tragic, however, has taken a heartwarming turn and AccuWeather's Monica Danielle has all the details on the remarkable way people have rallied around the family -- and the viral photo that started it all.
March 30, 1:19 p.m.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a state-wide stay-at-home order on Monday, the latest of 28 states across the country to instruct residents to avoid leaving their homes unless it is absolutely crucial. “This is a deadly public health crisis. We are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay home—we are directing them to do so,” Hogan said. People arriving in Maryland from another state have also been directed to self-quarantine for 14 days.
March 30, 12:53 p.m.
The USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship, arrived in New York Harbor on an overcast Monday morning after passing the Statue of Liberty to assist in the treatment of patients in need of urgent care for non-COVID-19 related health conditions. NPR reported the ship has about 1,000 hospital beds and 12 operating rooms. The Comfort was previously deployed to New York City after the Sept.11 terrorist attacks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the added hospital capacity the ship brings will help to save lives. "This day will be remembered," Cuomo said.
The USNS Comfort passes the Statue of Liberty as it enters New York Harbor during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, U.S., March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar
March 30, 12:37 p.m.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic "is straining health systems in many countries." "The rapidly increasing demand on health facilities and health workers threatens to leave some health systems overstretched and unable to operate effectively," Tedros said in a media briefing. He later added that the organization is working "intensively with several parties to increase access to life-saving products "including diagnostics, PPE, medical oxygen, ventilators and more."
WHO officials also said some early research has shown that some drugs "may have an impact" on fighting the virus, according to CNBC. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's heath emergencies program said, “some preliminary data from non-randomized studies, observational studies, that indicate some drugs and some drug cocktails may have an impact,” but cautioned that there is still no "proven effective therapeutic or drug against COVID-19."
March 30, 11:24 a.m.
New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said there are over 700 members of the NYPD that have contracted COVID-19 and that number was expected to spike to around 900 on Monday, The New York Post reported. At least three members of the department have died due to COVID-19, Shea said. Cedric Dixon, a 48-year-old detective who worked in the 32nd precinct in Harlem died Saturday, and was the first uniformed officer to pass away, according to the Post.
March 30, 10:03 a.m.
Italy reported a decline in COVID-19 fatalities for the second straight day on Sunday, but the country will continue to enforce strict containment measures going forward, Reuters reported. This includes banning all sporting events for the month of April and possibly maintaining the ban on non-essential activities through April 18, Reuters said, citing Italian officials. The country's Civil Protection Agency said there were 756 new fatalities on Sunday, 133 fewer than the 889 deaths reported on Saturday. Italy's death tolls stands at 10,779, which is higher than any other country in the world.
March 30, 9:33 a.m.
An emergency hospital has been constructed in Central Park to treat the wave of COVID-19 patients that is overwhelming city hospitals. The field hospital is located in the park's East Meadow and is made out of tents. When it opens on Tuesday, it will consist of a respiratory care unit, according to NY1, and include ICU facilities. The structure was put together by a volunteer organization called Samaritan's Purse. The makeshift hospital, built in the place that serves as the city's official location for weather records, is a replica of an emergency hospital that was constructed a few weeks ago in Northern Italy. New York City is the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., with at least 776 fatalities blamed on the illness and more than 33,000 confirmed cases.
A Samaritan's Purse crew works on building a 68 bed emergency field hospital specially equipped with a respiratory unit in New York's Central Park across from The Mount Sinai Hospital, Sunday, March 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
March 30, 8:19 a.m.
The Tokyo Olympics have a new start date. After officially moving the games to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Monday that the 2020 Games will now take place from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021. Olympic organizers made the decision to postpone last week while facing mounting pressure to delay the Games from Olympic athletes and federations worldwide.
March 30, 7:28 a.m.
The failure to practice social distancing could hit New York City residents in their wallets, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday. While he called them a last resort, de Blasio said police officers have been authorized to issue fines of $250 to $500 to individuals congregating in public spaces and failing to disperse.
At the beginning of the week, the weather will cooperate with the city’s efforts, as rain is expected through Monday and Tuesday. However, sunnier days at the end of the week could push more people outside and re-congest public spaces, as building high pressure in the eastern U.S. will bring warmer conditions in from the South.
March 30, 6:33 a.m.
Here are the latest updated totals, compiled by researchers from Johns Hopkins University:
- Total confirmed cases: 724,945
- Total deaths: 34,041
- Total recovered: 152,314
March 29, 7:28 p.m.
President Donald Trump extended social distancing guidelines until April 30. On Sunday, he said he expects things to turn around by June 1, with the peak of the outbreak hitting around Easter, NBC reported.
A man walk alone on the promenade under the FDR drive in Lower Manhattan, Sunday, March 29, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
March 29, 6:20 p.m.
To combat the spread of COVID-19 within the confines of prisons, New York will release 600 parole violators from the city jails. Three-hundred non-violent prisoners being held in Rikers Island were also released last week by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. According to New York Daily News, 1,100 people will be released from prisons across the city and state.
March 29, 5:30 p.m.
Country music singer Joe Diffie died Sunday at the age of 61 due to complications from COVID-19, NBC News reports. On Friday, Diffie announced in a statement that he had tested positive for the virus.
March 29, 4:37 p.m.
All 280 state parks in California are no longer allowing visitors traveling by vehicle, while some are closing entirely. The new closures come after a "surge" of visitors on Saturday made social distancing practices impossible, according to a news release issued on Sunday. Campgrounds, museums and visitors centers at the parks were previously closed.
March 29, 3:30 p.m.
Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Saturday that "we don't really have any firm idea" on how COVID-19 will continue to spread in the U.S., but said the country could see millions of cases and somewhere between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths related to the virus. "We're going to have millions of cases, but I just don’t think that we really need to make a projection when it’s such a moving target," Fauci said.
March 29, 2:18 p.m.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world surpassed 700,000 on Sunday afternoon, reaching 704,095. Just one day prior the case count hit 600,000. So far, 33,509 deaths have been reported to be related to the virus and 148,824 cases have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University.
March 29, 2:00 p.m.
A checkpoint on I-95 in Florida has been set up to stop and screen travelers from the New York City area, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press conference, News 4 Jax reports. On Friday, a similar checkpoint on Interstate 10 popped up to screen travelers coming from Louisiana.
March 29, 1:00 p.m.
U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 2,200, with at least 125,433 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. Global deaths rise more than 32,000 with more than 691,00 cases total worldwide.
March 29, 12:00 p.m.
At least 8,503 people are in hospitals across New York for coronavirus, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference on Sunday. There are 59,313 confirmed cases across New York, and at least 172,360 people have been tested, Cuomo said. Non-essential workforce in New York was directed to continue to work from home until at least April 15, Cuomo tweeted.
March 29, 11:30 a.m.
There are 730 New York Police department officers and 96 civilian NYPD employees infected with coronavirus, according to law enforcement officials.
March 29, 11:00 a.m.
India’s prime minister apologized to the country’s underprivileged and asked for forgiveness after a nationwide lockdown forced thousands of jobless laborers to walk from cities to their home villages. “I extend a heartfelt apology to all countrymen,” Narendra Modi said, The Washington Post reported. “When it comes to my underprivileged brothers and sisters, they must be wondering about the kind of prime minister they have, who has pushed them to the brink. My wholehearted apologies, especially to them.”
March 29, 10:30 a.m.
Vietnam will suspend all inbound international passenger flights to contain the spread of coronavirus in the coming two weeks, the government said in a statement on Saturday.
March 29, 9:45 a.m.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife has recovered from coronavirus and received clearance from her doctor and Ottawa Public Health after being ill since March 12. “I am feeling so much better,” Sophie Gregoire Trudeau said on social media, according to the Associated Press.
March 29, 8:00 a.m.
Approximately 100 scientists and crew members are stuck aboard a ship in the arctic because the relief crew that is supposed to replace the members could spread the virus.
Reporting by Lauren Fox, John Murphy, Brian Lada, Mark Puleo, Maria Antonieta Valery Gil, Kevin Byrne, Chaffin Mitchell, Adriana Navarro, Dexter Henry, Bill Wadell, Jonathan Petramala, and Monica Danielle
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
No comments:
Post a Comment