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March 26, 2020
EPI UPDATE
The
WHO COVID-19 Situation Report for March 25
reported 414,179 confirmed COVID-19 cases (40,712) and 18,440 deaths (2,202 new) globally. As of 1030 AM EDT, the Johns Hopkins CSSE dashboard
reported
491,623 confirmed cases along with 22,169 deaths and 118,245 people recovered.
Pakistan continues to report a steady increase in COVID-19 cases. As of today, the
Pakistan Ministry of National Health Services
reported 1,057 lab-confirmed cases (66 new), more than three times the number of cases
6 days ago
. As we reported previously, there is concern about importing COVID-19 cases arriving from Iran, and as discussed below, there is concern that a recent mass gathering in Pakistan could have facilitated transmission domestically and to other countries. The New York Times
reported
today that thousands of migrant workers coming from areas of Iran where COVID-19 is circulating widely, and are returning to different towns across Afghanistan, raising concerns of potential transmission across the country.
The
US CDC reported
54,453 total (confirmed and presumptive) COVID-19 cases (10,270 new) and 737 deaths (193 new) nationwide on March 25. The
Johns Hopkins CSSE dashboard
is reporting 69,246 US cases and 1,046 deaths as of noon EDT on March 26. The dashboard reports that New York City accounts for 20,011 of these cases and 280 of the deaths.
SPAIN COVID-19 UPDATE
The Spanish Ministry of Health
reported
56,188 confirmed cases and 4,089 deaths, making it the country with the second-most deaths. Reports from various media
outlets
highlight the stress the outbreak is having on the Spanish health care system. Physicians and other medical personnel have had to make difficult decisions about which patients will receive limited supplies of life-saving resources.
US RESPONSE
The US Senate unanimously
approved
a $2 trillion relief package. While still awaiting approval from the US House of Representatives, if approved and enacted this package would become the largest in US history. According to
NPR
and the
Washington Post
, the package includes payments to qualifying Americans earning less than $75,000 and an expansion of unemployment insurance that allows for four months of full pay and raises the maximum unemployment insurance benefit by $600 per week. Additionally, the package would provide $150 billion in funding to the health system, including funding to increase supply of ventilators and other materials.
In an
NPR interview
, US Department of Defense Secretary Mark Esper warned that the US military is not able to deploy enough medical beds and other resources to meet the demands from state and local health officials. Secretary Esper stated that the military could provide a few thousand beds at most, whereas New York alone requested 90,000 hospital beds. New York City, as one of the most affected US epicenters, has reported over
20,000 cases
and
280 deaths
.
A record
3.28 million workers
have filed for unemployment benefits. States reporting the largest increases in unemployment include Pennsylvania, California, Massachusetts. New Jersey, and Ohio.
Industries
including restaurants, hotels, automakers, and airline industries, have been the most impacted by COVID-19 social distancing measures.
GLOBAL RESPONSE
More countries around the world have enacted dramatic measures to limit the rate of COVID-19 spread. Several countries have
enlisted
their military and police forces in efforts to ensure that their constituents adhere to social distancing measures. Some countries, like India, have
had trouble
enforcing such measures given the size of the country's population, the broad nature of the measure, and the fast implementation. The forceful nature of enforcing COVID-19 mitigation measures has sparked conversations about the preservation of human rights during pandemic response.
Globally, healthcare systems are struggling to keep up with the increased number of COVID-19 patients and a growing deficit of medical supplies.
Reports
from Australia document public mistreatment of healthcare workers, fueled by concerns that they are spreading for COVID-19. This report comes alongside stories of members of the public stealing medical supplies and personal protective equipment as fears of an outbreak increase.
HUMAN NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES
A new
preprint
in BioRxiv describes a study that isolated and characterized a number of potential neutralizing antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. The studies results found that antibody response was specific to SARS-CoV-2 at specific binding domains, but that there was recognition of other coronavirus species in other unknown regions. The authors emphasized a need to explore the cross reactivity outside of noted binding sites but they expressed optimism that
the findings show promise for new therapeutic and vaccine candidates.
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