The American cars of Cuba
Good afternoon. This is Jonathan Spira, director of research at the Center for Long Covid Research, reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on its 1,490th day as well as the day of the Great North American Total Solar Eclipse.
In news we cover today, the U.S. Department of Justice continues to catch their man, the number of people who go to bed hungry in New York is increasing, school absenteeism in Central New York is also up, and the number of new and active Covid cases in the United States and across the globe shows that the pandemic is far from over.
TODAY IN COVID HISTORY
On April 9, 2020, the World Health Organization said that coronavirus cases in Europe were doubling every three to four days, just as health officials in New York City reported 7,521 new coronavirus cases and 518 new deaths, bringing the city’s total to 87,725 cases and 4,778 deaths.
China, which for the first several years was known to present severe undercounts of cases and deaths, reported 42 new confirmed cases and one new death. This data raised the national total to 81,907 cases and 3,336 deaths, according to the country’s National Health Commission.
Cuba, a country where most people rely heavily on public transportation, announced the suspension of all public transit to stop the virus from spreading across the island, officials announced. This move included all buses, taxis, and other types of public transit, said Cuban Transportation Minister Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila on state-run television.
In New Mexico, then Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said during a press conference that she was “disturbed” by the images being posted on social media showing gatherings of large groups of people despite the state order requiring social distancing. She showed the press and public a photograph of her mother, who is in an assisted living facility in Albuquerque and pointedly said that she was one of the vulnerable people who could be endangered by the failure of others to social distance.
Finally, in news that truly shows the severity off the first several months of the pandemic in New York State, then Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order that allowed licensed funeral directors from around the country to practice in New York. The move that will make it easier for funeral homes to request assistance from out-of-state funeral directors to deal with the high number of coronavirus deaths in the Empire State.
LONG COVID
A new study published by researchers at Imperial College in London and at other U.K. universities suggests that patients with Long Covid have evidence of ongoing inflammation in their blood.
The findings show that long covid has a true biological basis and isn’t a figment of people’s imaginations.
Put differently, it suggests that specific inflammatory pathways related to tissue damage are associated with subtypes of Long Covid. The researchers believe that these pathways be targets for drugs and the findings clue us in to biomarkers that could lead to diagnoses.
The study, which was published in the journal nature immunology, looked at bloodwork from 657 patients, of which 426 had at least one Long Covid symptom.
UNITED STATES
The Department of Justice said Tuesday that, over the past three years, its Covid-19 Enforcement Task Force has charged over 3,500 people with federal crimes and recovered more than $1.4 billion in fraudulently obtained pandemic relief funds. It has also reached over 400 civil settlements and judgments.
The White House used the announcement as a platform from which to propose legislation that would provide more funding for anti-fraud enforcement and extend the statute of limitations on such crimes. The legislation would also work to improve government databases to improve detection of potential fraudsters before payments are made.
SARS-CoV-2 continues to cause high rates of absenteeism in New York State schools. In Central New York, according to data from the New York State Education Department, 8,652 students in Syracuse were absent at least 10% of the time in the 2022-23 school year, a figure equivalent to 51% of students. Statewide, about 26% of students were chronically absent.
Data from the New York Health Foundation shows that one in ten New Yorkers didn’t have enough food to eat within the previous week, a phenomenon referred to as food insufficiency. That term is considered a greater issue than food insecurity, which describes people who struggle to afford healthy meals over a year-long period.
The number of people who fall into the food insufficiency category was up by 60,000 people in 2023, compared to the previous year.
The number of SARS-CoV-2 cases is relatively stable, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only two states posted increases in weekly cases figures, while figures were relatively stable in 19 states. Some 29 states reported either a decline or a likely decline, the agency said.
GLOBAL NEWS
Whooping cough is back. Pertussis, a Victorian-era ailment that all but disappeared in the first four years of the pandemic, is back, perhaps under the theory that, once you remove one cough from the picture, another quickly takes its seat at the table. Case figures have been spiking in recent weeks and they are seeing record numbers of cases in Czechia, along with sharp rises in Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Tuesday, April 9.
As of Tuesday, at press time, the world has recorded 704.73 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.04 million in the last 24 hours, and 7.01 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 675.58 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.02 million in the same period.
The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls as well as the occasional downward or upward adjustment as corrections to case figures warrant.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Tuesday at press time is 22,134,029, an increase of 12,000 in the past 24 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,099,228, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 34,801, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 19 months.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has, as of Tuesday, recorded 111.80 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.22 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 45.04 million, and the world’s fourth highest death toll, 533,565.
The last data made available by Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service in July 2022 showed that the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in the country was 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat has not released any additional data on the death toll in Russia since then.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with 40.14 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 38.83 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 711,380, has recorded 38.74 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 34.57 million cases, as number six; Japan, with 33.8 million cases placing it in the number seven slot; and Italy, with 26.72 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.91 million, and Russia, with 24.12 million, as nine and ten respectively.
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending March 23, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on April 1 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 4.0%, and the trend in test positivity is -0.6% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 0.6%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -21.1%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 9,345, a figure that is down 13.9% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 1.5%, a figure that is down 16.7% in the same period.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
Some 70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Tuesday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 13.57 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 5,035 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 32.7% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.
In addition, with the beginning of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, 2023, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines in any significant number.
Finally, as of March 31, 2024 , only the following countries and territories have not reported any cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections whatsoever:
Antarctica
British Antarctic Territory
Peter Island
Overseas
Bouvet Island
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Prince Edward Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
The Coronavirus Daily News Brief is a publication of the Center for Long Covid Research. www.longcov.org
If you have Long Covid and need to talk to someone, call the Long Covid Patient Peer Counseling Phone Line, or HOPELINE. The HOPELINE is our free, confidential support and information service.
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