Walkers NOT Social Distancing at Lake Eola

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I got a tip from a reporter that walkers are NOT social distancing at Lake Eola. As she put it, “I am so annoyed at the hot, hot people with great fit bodies… that keep working out together! Argh! They look beautiful but their grandparents will all be dead.”

In Orange County,  Mayor Jerry Demings issued a stay at home order that went into effect March 26, 2020. Parks remain open for exercise and physical activity as long as social distancing is observed. In that order, public parks are open without the amenities. You can still access the trails for some
outdoor exercise but don’t plan on using any fitness centers, the
swimming portion of Kelly Park or attending any classes or activities.
Playgrounds are also temporarily shutdown. The swan boats are also docked until further notice. With so many people getting cabin fever, Lake Eola Park is more crowded than ever making social distancing near impossible.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an order On April 15, 2020 that everyone must wear masks when out in public. The use of masks is voluntary for the rest of the country. Donald Trump specifically pointed out in the press briefing that he will not be using a mask. It is always safer to do the opposite of the POTUS, so I wear a mask when out in public.

Walking, running, riding your bicycle, boating, fishing, swimming,
playing tennis, golfing and all outdoor exercise is allowed as long as
you still practice social distancing. Gyms and fitness centers remain
closed to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19.  All golf courses remain open as well. I am certain that anyone with a cough or who might be asymptomatic would never go to a golf course, touch door knobs, toilet surfaces, a golf cart or get within 6 feet of the person they are playing.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office will enforce the stay at home order, although
deputies have noted that the ultimate goal is to keep people safe, not
necessarily make arrests. Orange County Sheriff John Mina said authorities are not going to be out
looking to handcuff and arrest people. It is likely violators will
receive and warning and larger groups will be broken up. That being said, violators can face a $50 fine
or even jail time. Violations can be reported at 407-836-HELP (4357). The beautiful walkers and runners of Lake Eola however seem immune to social distancing

The latest numbers from the Florida Department of Health in Orange
County show 1,051 cases and 18 deaths in Orange County. So far, a total
of 12,756 tests have been administered.

Nearing Capacity

Posted on by Thor

Hospitals in New York City are being flooded beyond their capacity. Doctors and nurses are stretching the limited resources available to them and doing the best they can. Every day they struggle to just keep their heads above water, while the numbers of patients entering the hospital system continues to grow.

The sick are arriving so fast that more than 5,000 new beds might be needed for next week. One out of every four Covid-19 patients is in intensive care. The longer a patient stays on a ventilator the more likely they will not live. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to transfer ventilators from upstate New York to hospitals that have a dire need right now. The New York hospital system has 90,000 beds which are now filled to capacity.

Medical workers are the front line soldiers in this battle against Covid-19. Airbnb is offering $2 million dollars to provide hotel rooms for front line workers in this fight against Covid-19. A surge and flex system was set up to get needed supplies to the communities with the greatest need in New York State. Javits Center, Tents in Central Park, and the Brooklyn Cruise terminal should help with overflow patients as the numbers keep rising. Cuomo stressed over and over that testing is needed on a grand scale to control the spread of the virus.  Right now they are just trying to mitigate the damage from letting the virus go unchecked for so long. America has more cases of Covid-19 than any other country in the world. Before anyone can go back to work with any semblance of normalcy, there must be testing.

In New York State, the death toll continues at an astonishing rate.

April 4, 594 died

April 5, 599 died

April 6, 731 died

April 7, 779 died

April 8, 799 died

April 9, 777 died

April 10, 783 died

April11, 758 died

April 12, 671 died

The fact that the death rate leveled off is a somewhat hopeful sign. It indicates that the stay at home order might be turning the tide. However, 7,844 have died to date. New York asked for people to send photos of how their are staying strong though the pandemic and they edited a short video that stresses #Stay Home, #Stop the Spread, #Save Lives.

Covid-19 Pandemic Funerals

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The  United States is now the epicenter of the Covid-19 Pandemic and New York City is being hit the hardest. In New York City, funeral homes are having trouble keeping up with the demands of collecting bodies from the hospital morgues or truck refrigeration units and burying them. In the past funeral directors would go straight to the morgue to pick up the body, but now each hospital had multiple layers of security to be sure the funeral staff are not carrying the virus. A funeral director in Brooklyn had 15 Covid-19 victims to bury less than a month ago but by April 6, there were 300 victims to bury. No funeral home is able to handle such volumes.

Many death certificates listed Pneumonia as the cause of death but the medical examiner has to update the death certificate if the cause of death is in question. While this is being done the bodies sit in cold storage. Death certificates can take up to 3 days to be fixed. Now a person dies in New York City about every 10 minutes, so the morgues are overcrowded. Make shift morgues are being set up with white tents and refrigerated tractor trailers.

If a funeral is held, then the body must be embalmed. Only 10 people are allowed people gather at the funeral home and people must stand 6 feet apart. If someone were to cough, then the virus is airborne and can infect beyond the 6 foot perimeters. After any wake in the funeral home, every surface must be disinfected and the city has stated that only 3 funerals can be allowed on any given day. With such a high case load that means other options are needed for burials. Cremation is the most common funeral service but even they can not keep up with the demands. Cemeteries or crematories because they can only handle a certain number each day.

In California mourners could drive to the cemetery but they had to remain in their cars while the body was lowered into the ground. Grieving families can not hug each other or cry on each others shoulders. If you die from Covid-19 you will likely die alone.

Funeral home staff also are out of personal protective gear like face masks and gloves. Hospital staff get the first pick of protective gear and funeral staff must risk their lives by reusing what gear they have on hand.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo mourned the 799 lives that ere lost in just 1 day in NYC. He wants to bring into New York funeral directors and staff from out of state to help with burring all the bodies. 9-11 he the Twin Towers were attacked, was supposed to be the darkest day in New York City with 2753 lives lost. To date New York City has lost 7067 live to the Covid-19 virus.

Stay Home. Stop the Spread. Save Lives.

The Horder

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 States lacking essential equipment like ventilators and masks need
relief quickly. Donald Trump has been fighting with state
governors blaming
them for the shortage of ventilators. The Trump administration wants
states to take care of themselves before bugging the federal government
for life saving equipment. The Strategic National Stockpile, a relatively obscure office in the
federal government that manages the country’s emergency medical
supplies, exists to respond to a crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the president and his son in law, prompted controversy
when he made a rare public appearance at the April 2 Covid-19 task
force briefing and commented on the federal stockpile. When asked about
states’ needs for supplies, Kushner said the stockpile was “supposed to
be OUR stockpile.”
He added, “It’s not supposed
to be states’ stockpiles that they then use.”  The next day the
stockpile website was altered stating that the federal stockpile was “a short-term stopgap buffer.” More than once, President Donald Trump has falsely claimed that
the federal stockpile of emergency medicine and supplies he inherited
from his predecessor was an “empty shelf.” He has sought to blame former President Barack Obama’s administration for the current state of the stockpile.

The
National stockpile  of ventilators and medical equipment is likely running
low. The medical supplies are stored in six warehouses located in
strategic, undisclosed locations across the country, where they are
maintained by a staff of about 200. The stockpile has maintained a large
supply of personal protective
equipment, including N95 masks, face shields, and surgical gowns, as
well as medical equipment like the ventilators that hospitals so
urgently need now to treat Covid-19 patients.

On April
3, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) said the federal government has just 9,800
ventilators available. There are 9,054 remaining in the Strategic
National Stockpile, and the Department of Defense had 900.  The
department of Defense has wanted to distribute the ventilators they
have, but the administration has not helped them in fining where they
should be sent.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
said that just his state, which is currently at the epicenter of the
pandemic, will need as many as 37,000 ventilators at the peak of the
outbreak. After waiting for relief from the Trump administration, Cuomo
ultimately enlisted the National Guard to sieve and relocate ventilators
from upstate facilities to New York City. Cuomo  reportedly only had
2,200 in the state stockpile. But
instead of using all the tools at his disposal to help, Trump has
indicated that he doesn’t believe Cuomo actually needs that many. New
York Sate is not crucial to his reelection hopes.Trump further said,
“The states should have been building their stockpiles … we’re a
backup. We’re not an ordering clerk.” China donated 1000 ventilators,
and Oregon donated 140 ventilators to New York State to try and make up
for the federal disregard for the states plight. Cuomo pledged that New
York would follow suit and help other states at the pandemic sweeps
across the country.

Experts and lawmakers are concerned that the Trump administration’s
uneven distribution of supplies is driven by political goals. In early March, Washington State requested 233,000 N95 respirators
and 200,000 surgical masks, the Strategic National Stockpile sent them less than half that amount. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maine also said they received fractions of what they requested. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
however asked for 430,000 surgical masks, 180,000 N95 respirators, and
other equipment. The full order arrived three days later. One anonymous
official told the Washington Post, “The president knows Florida is so
important for his reelection … He pays close attention to what Florida
wants.” 

The House Oversight Committee revealed that President Donald Trump’s administration failed to allot masks and equipment from the federal stockpile based on states’ needs. Trump has also been reportedly seizing shipments from private
companies to distribute to his political allies.

At a
White House press briefing on March 13, Trump told states to order their
own medical supplies, kicking off a process that has led to governors
entering bidding wars
with each other, the federal government and other countries over
essential
goods like ventilators and N95 masks. “It’s like being on eBay with 50
other states, bidding on a ventilator,” Cuomo said in a daily press
briefing.

The Trump administration has been getting
worse at dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. After spending the first two
months of the year denying the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak,
it’s now clear that the Trump administration has settled on deflecting
blame. Trump seeks scapegoats not solutions and accountability.

At
FEMA, the agency tasked with coordinating the federal response to the
outbreak, about 9,000 additional ventilators are still on hold as
officials seek to determine where they are needed most urgently. A
unified National response is needed to address the crisis but there is
no leadership to oversee the desperate need.

The number
of deaths has spiked to 1,255 in one day which is the largest death rate
of any country in the world. By Tuesday April 6, 2020, 5,489 New
Yorkers had lost their lives to COVID-19, up from 4,758 a day earlier.
Refrigeration trucks are acting as temporary morgues since the city’s
morgues are full. Between 200 and 250 people are dying each day and so
plans are being made for mass burials on Hart Island in Long Island
Sound off of the Bronx and other public lands. 

Ventilators in Short Supply

Posted on by Thor

In severe cases of people infected by the Covid-19 virus the lungs fill with fluid and it becomes difficult to impossible to breath. Ventilators help patients breath by pumping oxygen directly into the lungs, while removing CO2. This machine makes the difference between life and death. In Italy, doctors had to make the gut wrenching decisions every day about who could go on a ventilator and live and who would die. The ventilator can keep someone alive long enough to fight off the virus.

In 2018 it was estimated that there were about 160,000 ventilators in the United States. Up until now that has been enough machines to serve anyone who needed one. The American Hospital Association estimated that up to 1 million Americans will need a ventilator due to Covid-19. Patients might need a ventilator for a matter of weeks before they recover.

So were will all the much needed ventilators come from? The machine can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Now with this virus affecting every nation, everyone it trying to buy ventilators all at once. They can not be found. The companies who make the ventilators are ramping up production.

Auto makers, Ford, General Motors and Tesla in the United States are offering to help with mass production. The problem is that it might take months for these companies to start producing ventilators. Chinese companies are also producing ventilators, but considering the trade war with the United States it is hard too imagine Trump bowing to get help form the East. He continues to go out of his way to blame the virus on China.

Dyson, a vacuum machine manufacturer in Britain signed a formal contract last week, when it announced an order for 10,000 of its CoVent prototype, which was designed in about a fortnight. CoVent is yet to secure final regulatory approval, and may not reach production for weeks.

Ventilator Challenge UK, a consortium of 14 firms including Airbus and
Rolls-Royce, is expected to say that it has secured a formal order for
two types of machines with twin code names of Project Oyster and Project Penguin. The goal is to produce 10,000 machines for England to help battle the virus. These design are more likely to get quickly approved because they incorporate two existing designs.

3D printers are being used to create ventilator parts, and engineers are designing open sourced DIY machines with 3D printed and of the shelf parts. They are envisioned to be used in a worst case scenario.  It is possible to intimate a patient and then manually pump air into their lings with a small hand held pump. This could be dangerous if done wrong. To much air can damage the lungs.

Public health expert have estimated that there are 12,000 ventilators in the national stockpile, which is far to few to the coming demand in about 14 days. New York Mayor Andrew Cuomo explained that in New York, they are trying to use one ventilator to treat two patients at once by splitting the tubes.

On Friday, March 27, 2020, President Donald Trump announced he was invoking the Defense Production Act to require GM to “accept, perform, and prioritize” federal contracts for ventilators.Switching from making cars to making ventilators however takes time. The machines sophisticated software and specialized parts, and companies that seek to
manufacture them face several hurdles, including intellectual property
rights, the need for specially trained workers, regulatory approvals
and safety considerations.For now the auto makers are teaming up with existing ventilator makers to help them ramp up production. New York Mayor Cuomo however said that getting ventilators in a month or two months will not help save lives since the virus apex is in just 14 days. The city hospitals are full and overflowing with patients.

There is no solver lining to this pandemic. America is unprepared and having leaders ignore the science has not helped. Calling the pandemic a hoax cost many their lives. Ignoring science is not the way to keep Americans safe. Things are getting very real in America’s hospitals right now.

As of this writing, there are 777,286 cases of Covid-19 in America with 37,140 deaths. The US has surpasses Spain and Italy for the most confirmed cases of the virus. I have been watching what has been happening in those countries hospitals closely online. Things are about to get very real and ugly here in America. There is no miracle cure and there is no wishing it away. Now Trump is spinning the ultimate Covid-19 death toll saying, “if the death toll stays at or below 100,000, “we all together have done a very good job.”

Stay home. Stay safe. Self isolate.

Easter Sunday

Posted on by Thor

The United States has now become the country with the most cases reported of Covid-19 in the World. At a rally Trump said that “You are going to get sick and tired of winning.” With over 100,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in America, we are indeed winning.

Now Donald Trump had decided that he would love to have the country back up and running by Easter,which is 16 days from now, as of this writing. He thinks “It would be a beautiful time.” Of course this defies all logic and science. If people crowd together in churches across the country 16 days from now, the virus will spread like wild fire. The danger is that Trump’s fervent supporters may buy into his insanity and indeed try and gather on the day Christ was known to have risen from the dead, risking their own and other’s lives. Is saving the stock market more important than people’s lives?

Rather than help his former home state of New York get ventilators, he instead picked a fight with Governor Andrew Cuomo, blaming him for the plight because the governor had ventilators stock piled. Of course the ventilators are stockpiled as they are collected, they will be distributed where needed as the hospitals reach a critical mass. The Governor is anticipating a peak in demand in two weeks for patients needing help to
breathe. The state will need at least 30,000 ventilators, he said, and
it so far had obtained 7,000. Cuomo told a reporter, that “The president was ignorant and grossly uninformed.” The governor said that the spread of the virus was like a freight train coming across the country, but now, we are looking at a bullet train because the numbers are going up that quickly.

The president’s only concern seems to be the economy rather than the health and well being of the American people. He continues to compare Covid-19 to the common flu. He doesn’t seem to have any grasp of the huge tsunami that is facing the nation. He waved his hands saying the numbers would go down, not up, and tried to convince Americans that the virus would miraculously disappear when it got warmer. The danger is that some listen to his statements and believe them. There is a level of faith in believing his statements that defies any reason.

The surgeon general, Dr. Gerome Adams warned Americans, “This week it is going to get bad, we really need to come together as a nation” The director of the World Health Organization said that the US could become the next epicenter for the spread of the virus.

Dr. Emily Landon ,a Chicago Doctor warned, That doctors are facing a brand new virus with not enough personal protection and constantly changing protocols. There are barely enough masks for the nurses that they have, This virus is unforgiving. The beginning of the 1918 pandemic was the last time America faced such a challenge. Two cities in America made different choices as to how to proceed while only a few patients were affected. St. Louis shut itself down, and sheltered in place, but Philadelphia went ahead with a huge parade celebrating those going off to war. A week later Philadelphia hospitals were over run, and thousands were dead. Many more than in St. Louis. This is a cautionary tale for our time. Stay home. Stay safe. Don’t go to church Easter Sunday.