May 13, 2020 — A roundup of the latest news about COVID-19
Resentment over lockdowns is beginning to bubble over into violence. But most Americans still believe social distancing is necessary. And a devastating wave of coronavirus is sweeping across Latin America. Here’s the latest news on the pandemic:
Worldwide, we’re closing in on 4.3 million confirmed cases, with more than 292,000 deaths and 1.5 million recoveries. In the U.S. we’re up to 1.37 million cases. More than 82,000 people have died, and 230,000 have recovered.
There is growing consensus among modelers estimating the number of cases and deaths from the novel coronavirus in the next few weeks, roughly 120,000 total fatalities through mid-June. But reopenings are likely to change those numbers upward.
Doctors treating coronavirus patients are seeing a range of odd and frightening syndromes, including blood clots of all sizes throughout the body, kidney failure, heart inflammation and immune complications. In COVID-19 support groups created on social media sites, survivors post head-to-toe complaints that read like a medical encyclopedia: anxiety, heart palpitations, muscle aches, bluish toes. It’s hard to know which ones are clearly related to the virus, but the accounts help fuel doctors’ increasing belief that this is not just a respiratory disease.
Personal protective equipment remains elusive in many areas. A little-known Virginia-based defense company that was awarded a $55 million federal contract to provide 10 million N95 masks for the U.S. government’s coronavirus response failed to deliver and had its contract canceled Tuesday. And a cargo plane carrying supplies for healthcare workers held N95 masks that were counterfeit — as are millions of medical masks, gloves, gowns, and other supplies being used in hospitals across the country, putting lives at risk.
School is out for an early summer for most US kids — and discouraging signs about the spread of coronavirus are starting to cloud hopes of a return to class in the fall. In the most sweeping sign yet of the long-term impact of the coronavirus on American higher education, California State University, the nation’s largest four-year public university system, said that classes would be canceled for the fall semester, with instruction taking place almost exclusively online.
Across Europe, problems reopening demonstrate the challenges many countries face as they seek to balance economic and health care needs while reassuring terrified citizens with promises that perhaps were overly optimistic.
For the first time, COVID-19 has been confirmed in a crowded civilian protection camp in South Sudan’s capital, the United Nations said Tuesday, a worrying development in a country that’s one of the world’s least prepared for the virus’ spread.
In Detroit, members of the T-Rex Walking Club don inflatable costumes for parades down empty sidewalks.
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