5 Major Coronavirus Developments — 200,000 Deaths in U.S. Expected By September — June 12, 2020

Future Brown Dean Says Deaths in U.S. to Hit 200K in September

A leading Harvard health expert said he expects an additional 100,000 deaths in the U.S. by September. 

Dr. Ashish Jha, the Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute -- who is scheduled to assume the role as Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health -- told CNN that the current data shows that somewhere between 800 to 1,000 Americans are dying from the virus daily, and even if that does not increase, the U.S. is poised to cross 200,000 deaths sometime in September.

"I think that is catastrophic. I think that is not something we have to be fated to live with," Jha told CNN. "We can change the course. We can change course today."

Serological Tests in RI Show Higher COVID-19 Prevalence in Hispanics, Blacks - But With Significant Error Range

The Rhode Island Department of Health on Friday released results of serological testing for COVID-19 antibodies in Rhode Islanders conducted in May, that showed that Black and Hispanics had a 4 to 7% higher prevalence of the virus -- but the research had a significant error range.

"We randomly selected 5,000 households," said Dr. Phil Chan with Brown University, who has been working with RIDOH. "The testing was between May 5 and May 22."

Chan noted that the response rate to get tested was between 10-15% -- "Which is pretty good and what we accounted for," he said.

"The estimated seroprevalence was 2.2%," he said, of COVID-19 detected in respondents' serum. "There is always an uncertainty range. Keep in mind the 2.2% is a rough estimate."

"For Hispanics — the serum prevalence was higher — 8%," he said. "That’s 7.4% higher than white."

"For non-Hispanic black individuals, [it] was 5% — that’s 4.3% higher," said Chan.

Chan, however, was asked about the potential for margin of error in the Abbot tests, based on the respondent pool size and demographics represented.

"The range on would be from 1.0 to 3.9 percent," said Chan, of the 2.2% number reported.

"For Hispanic/Latinos, the range would be from 3 to 15 percent," said Chan. "For black, 0 to 18 percent."

"I think [the results] reinforce our need to be vigilant — and with masking. A lot of people thought [the number] would higher," said Chan. "But it means a lot of Rhode Islanders are still susceptible to COVID 19.

"This highlights the disparities among communities — we need to do more," said Chan. "We have plans for more testing and robust approach to more care in general."

Numbers

15,947 Cases in Rhode Island 

104,667 Cases in Massachusetts

833 Deaths in RI

7,492 Deaths in Massachusetts

2,094,368 Cases in the United States

116,138 Deaths in the United States

7,647,941 Global Cases

425,044 Global Deaths

3,667,203 Global Recoveries

Report Says New York's Response Made Pandemic Worse

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the early response by New York officials made the pandemic far worse.

New York leaders faced an unanticipated crisis as the new coronavirus overwhelmed the nation’s largest city. Their response was marred by missed warning signs and policies that many health-care workers say put residents at greater risk and led to unnecessary deaths.

In the first few days of March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio assured New Yorkers things were under control. On March 2, Mr. de Blasio tweeted that people should go see a movie.

Only after the disease had gripped the city’s low-income neighborhoods in early March did Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio mobilize public and private hospitals to create more beds and intensive-care units. The hasty expansion that ensued, led by New York government leaders and hospital administrators, produced mistakes that helped worsen the crisis, health-care workers say.

READ MORE HERE

Oregon Slows Reopening As Cases Spike

The Washington Post is reporting:

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced a one-week “pause” of reopening plans, calling for “a statewide yellow light” after the state reported 177 new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths on Thursday. The plan halts new applications for reopening in the Portland area, which had been expected to enter the first phase.

Oregon is one of 11 states — the others are Texas, South Carolina, Utah, Arizona, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, California, Nevada and Florida — that reached their highest seven-day rolling averages of new coronavirus cases on Thursday, according to data tracked by The Washington Post.