7 Major Coronavirus Developments — RI’s EpiVax to Raise $1.75M for Clinical Trial for Vaccine

Congress and White House Move to Add $250 Billion for Small Businesses

The CARES program is overwhelmingly popular and small businesses have overrun banks and the Small Business Administration with applications for requests for funds.

Now, the White House and Congress are moving quickly to add $250 billion more to the existing $349 billion which was a key part of the $2 trillion stimulus package adopted two weeks ago.

Dimon Warns of "Bad Recession"

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon wrote that he expects the coronavirus pandemic to inflict "a bad recession" and financial stress similar to that of the global crisis of 2008.

Dimon wrote in his annual letter to shareholders that his bank won't be immune to the downturn.

Dimon's comments came as the International Monetary Fund declared a global recession is now underway -- one that will be worse than the 2008 crisis. 

Many Workers Can't Work from Home

"Our classification implies that 37 percent of U.S. jobs can plausibly be performed at home," says a new study.

"We obtain our estimate by identifying job characteristics that clearly rule out the possibility of working entirely from home, neglecting many characteristics that would make working from home difficult.  Our estimate is therefore an upper bound on what might be feasible and greatly exceeds the share of jobs that in fact have been performed entirely at home in recent years.

According to the 2018 American Time Use Survey, less than a quarter of all full-time workers work at all from home on an average day, and even those workers typically spend well less than half of their working hours at home," report authors Jonathan I. Dingel and Brent Neiman of the University of Chicago.

"Workers in occupations that can be performed at home typically earn more. If we assume all occupations involve the same number of hours of work, the 37 percent of U.S. jobs that can plausibly be performed at home account for 46 percent of all wages," said Dingel and Neiman.

Wuhan Reopens

Wall Street Journal reports:

Chinese leaders and many medical experts have held up this city as an example of what can be achieved through extreme efforts to contain the coronavirus.

It’s now becoming clear the battle in Wuhan is far from over—and the human cost much higher than officially acknowledged.

The city has announced only three new confirmed cases with symptoms since March 18. Authorities have just formally ended the 77-day lockdown on the city, allowing inbound and outbound travel for healthy people, after easing some residential restrictions to revive a crippled local economy.

In the past few days, however, it has tightened restrictions on some housing complexes, and said others will remain in place, after confirming dozens of new asymptomatic cases. An official newspaper said Monday there could be 10,000 to 20,000 such cases in Wuhan. The report was swiftly deleted online.

Epidemiologists, U.S. intelligence sources and Wuhan residents suspect that Chinese authorities substantially undercounted infections and deaths over the past several months, especially in Wuhan, in part to boost President Xi Jinping’s image. Such doubts, combined with the reports of new asymptomatic cases, are triggering fears of a potential second wave of infections that could undermine Beijing’s claim to have tamed the virus.

Numbers

1,229 Cases in Rhode Island

15,202 Cases in Massachusetts

30 Deaths in RI

356 Deaths in Massachusetts

401,146 Cases in the United States

12,857 Deaths in the United States

1,449,463 Global Cases

83,331 Global Deaths

316,008 Global Recoveries

Respiratory Clinics to Help Patients with Symptoms of COVID-19

Thundermist Health Center is providing care for patients with symptoms of COVID-19, and has established a respiratory clinic at 450 Clinton Street in Woonsocket.

Doctors and nurse practitioners will care for patients who do not need hospital care but will benefit from an in-person outpatient medical evaluation, testing, or other intervention.  

“As our state prepares for a surge in COVID-19 patients, this is one-way Thundermist can help,” said Chief Medical Officer David Bourassa, MD.  “Thundermist will help care for patients with respiratory symptoms and those who test positive for COVID-19 and need other primary care services. Primary care has an important role in this crisis and Thundermist is working hard to respond appropriately.”

GoLocal LIVE on Wednesday

10:30 AM Dave Chenevert, Executive Director of RI Manufacturers Association

12:00 PM Dr. Michael Fine, former RI Director of Health

2:30 PM Governor Gina Raimondo Briefing

3:00 PM Prof. Jennifer Lawless, UVA