Tag: COVID-19
COVID: California funeral homes run out of space as pandemic rages
LOS ANGELES — As communities across the country feel the pain of a surge in coronavirus cases, funeral homes in the hot spot of Southern California say they must turn away grieving families as they run out of space for the bodies piling up.
The head of the state funeral directors association says mortuaries are being inundated as the United States nears a grim tally of 350,000 COVID-19 deaths. More than 20 million people in the country have been infected, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
“I’ve been in the funeral industry for 40 years and never in my life did I think that this could happen, that I’d have to tell a family, ‘No, we can’t take your family member,'” said Magda Maldonado, owner of Continental Funeral Home in Los Angeles.
Continental is averaging about 30 body removals a day – six times its normal rate. Mortuary owners are calling one another to see whether anyone can handle overflow, and the answer is always the same: They’re full, too.
In order to keep up with the flood of bodies, Maldonado has rented extra 50-foot (15-meter) refrigerators for two of the four facilities she runs in LA and surrounding counties. Continental has also been delaying pickups at hospitals for a day or two while they deal with residential clients.
Bob Achermann, executive director of the California Funeral Directors Association, said that the whole process of burying and cremating bodies has slowed down, including embalming bodies and obtaining death certificates. During normal times, cremation might happen within a day or two; now it takes at least a week or longer.
Achermann said that in the southern part of the state, “every funeral home I talk to says, ‘We’re paddling as fast as we can.'”
The volume is just incredible and they fear that they won’t be able to keep up,” he said. “And the worst of the surge could still be ahead of us.”
Los Angeles County, the epicenter of the crisis in California, has surpassed 10,000 COVID-19 deaths alone. Hospitals in the area are overwhelmed, and are struggling to keep up with basics such as oxygen as they treat an unprecedented number of patients with respiratory issues. On Saturday, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews arrived to update some hospitals’ oxygen delivery systems.
Nationally, an average of just over 2,500 people have died of COVID-19 over the past seven days, according to Johns Hopkins data. The number of daily newly reported cases in that period has averaged close to 195,000, a decline from two weeks earlier.
It’s feared that holiday gatherings could fuel yet another rise in cases.
Arkansas officials reported a record of more than 4,300 new COVID-19 cases Friday. Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted that the state is “certainly in the surge after Christmas travel and gatherings” and added, “As we enter this new year, our first resolution should be to follow guidelines.”
North Carolina officials also reported a record 9,527 confirmed cases New Year’s Day. That’s more than 1,000 cases above the previous daily high.
In Louisiana, a funeral was being held Saturday for a congressman-elect who died of COVID-19 complications. Republican Luke Letlow died Tuesday at age 41. His swearing-in had been scheduled Sunday. He leaves behind his wife, Julia Letlow, and two children, ages 1 and 3.
In Texas, state officials say they have only 580 intensive care beds available as staff treat more than 12,480 hospitalized coronavirus patients, a number that has risen steadily since September and has set record highs this past week.
In Window Rock, Arizona, the Navajo Nation remained in the midst of a weekend lockdown to try to slow the rate of infection. The tribe late Friday reported another seven deaths, bringing its totals since the pandemic began to 23,429 cases and 813 deaths. The reservation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher than reported because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
Arizona on Saturday reported 18,943 new cases Friday and Saturday, a record for the state in any two-day period. It also reported 46 new deaths Saturday.
original article here https://abc7chicago.com/funeral-homes-california-covid-pandemic/9310651
Inflatable costume could be behind Covid outbreak at California hospital
A hospital in California is facing a coronavirus outbreak among its staff that might be tied to an inflatable costume worn on Christmas to cheer up patients.
At least 43 staff members tested positive for the virus between Dec. 27 and New Year’s Day, according to a statement from Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center on Saturday. The hospital’s emergency department has been deep-cleaned, and all infected staff members are isolating.
The hospital is looking into whether the fan on an “air-powered costume” could have spread droplets after a staff member briefly wore it in the emergency department on Christmas Day.
“Any exposure, if it occurred, would have been completely innocent, and quite accidental, as the individual had no COVID symptoms and only sought to lift the spirits of those around them during what is a very stressful time,” the hospital said.
Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center will no longer allow such costumes in its facility, the statement said.
Emergency department employees at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center who were able to get a Covid-19 vaccine were only given their first inoculation days prior to Christmas Day and would not have reached immunity by the time of the incident.
None would have had their second booster shot by Christmas Day.
“During this period, even as vaccine is beginning to be provided in our communities, it is crucial that everyone continue to protect themselves and each other by continuing to use masks, hand washing, avoid gatherings, and practice social distancing,” the hospital said.
None of the staff members who tested positive will return to work, though the hospital said it has been engaging additional staff as part of its preparations.
California hospitals have been overwhelmed with casesin recent weeks amid a new surge of the virus, which brought record numbers of daily deaths and hospitalizations.
The state’s Bay Area has only 5.1 percent availability in its intensive care units. Southern California is beset with hospitalizations, with no available beds in many of its hospitals as staff create makeshift units in gift shops or pediatric wards.
California has recorded 2,345,909 confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 26,000 deaths, according to numbers the state’s public health department released Saturday.
original story here https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/inflatable-costume-could-be-behind-covid-outbreak-california-hospital-n1252685
Australia scientist say that coronavirus can live on services for 28 days
STAY INFORMED It is important to keep your hands washed! It is also very very important to keep your home clean and disinfected
Why delivery apps are actually hurting restaurants
Did you use Uber eats today? Here are some interesting facts about delivery apps! STAY INFORMED!! COVID-19
Inslee requests federal funding for National Guard through end of year to help with COVID response
OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee has asked the federal government to continue paying for the use of National Guard soldiers through the end of the year to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
Inslee’s request Monday comes as cases of coronavirus have begun to climb across Washington and hospitalizations involving the virus have also started creeping back up.
The governor’s request, made in a letter to the U.S. Department of Defense, seeks an extension through Dec. 31 of federal funding currently paying for the more than 1,000 guard members assisting with various parts of the COVID-19 outbreak response.
“They are critical to our efforts to slow the spread of the virus by supporting COVID-mapping missions, assembling test kits, and operating community-based test sites,” Inslee wrote in the letter.
“Additionally, uniquely skilled National Guard planners are assisting my COVID-19 food security team and other state agencies to ensure that we meet the health and welfare needs of Washingtonians through our phased re-opening plan,” Inslee added.
The current federal funding is set to expire Aug. 21, according to Inslee spokeswoman Tara Lee.
Even without federal reauthorization, the state could still deploy Guard members at the request of local governments, Lee wrote in an email.
“However, they’d need to be on State Active Duty and the cost burden would shift to the state and local level,” she wrote.
Guard members have been a part of Washington’s pandemic response since early April.
At that time, 130 members deployed to help staff food banks in King, Pierce, Chelan, Franklin and Walla Walla counties. In Issaquah, for example, Guard members unloaded deliveries, repackaged food and then staged 44-pound boxes so food supplies were ready for distribution.
The state has also trained more than 720 National Guard members to help with contact tracing, also known as COVID mapping. Those members call people who have tested positive for the virus, to learn who they have been in close contact with.
Then, in an effort to halt the spread of the virus, contact tracers call those people and encourage them to get tested and to quarantine for two weeks.
In her email, Lee wrote that some food banks are now able to have volunteers return, which could cut down on the need for Guard members in that role.
But, “we anticipate more will be needed to conduct the covid mapping mission,” Lee wrote, and, “Test kit assembly and the operation of community based test sites will be an ongoing need.”
Also on Monday, Inslee participated in a call between governors and members of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response efforts, including Vice President Mike Pence. The call came after Trump on Saturday appeared in public for the first time wearing a mask.
On the call, Inslee told Pence that he appreciated that the president wore a mask, according to an account of the call provided by Inslee’s office.
Pence responded by saying that the administration would keep using masks whenever possible, according to the account, and that he would be wearing a mask when he disembarked on Tuesday from Air Force Two during a schedule stop in Louisiana.
Original Article here???? https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/inslee-requests-federal-funding-for-national-guard-through-end-of-year-to-help-with-covid-response/
Inside Zoo COVID 19
I never thought about the zoos being affected by COVID-19. This is our reality.
Tacoma nurse brought COVID-19 home. Now her husband is on a ventilator, fighting for his life
Tammy Edwards remembers closing her front door and falling to her knees.
Moments earlier, the nurse at Tacoma General Hospital had watched her husband of nearly 10 years, Brian Edwards, strapped to an oxygen tank and taken away in an ambulance.
She knew he was stricken with COVID-19, because she had brought it home from work.
She knew, because of her medical training and the overwhelming signs, he was struggling — most notably an inability to breath and dangerously low oxygen levels.
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And, amid the coronavirus precautions and limits on visitation, she knew precisely what a trip to the hospital under such circumstances could mean — that the kiss on the cheek she’d given Brian moments earlier might be the couple’s last.
Three hours later, Edwards said, her husband had been intubated — sedated and placed on a ventilator that has been helping him breath ever since.
“I said, ‘I love you. You know I can’t be with you,’” Edwards recounted Monday, eight days after Brian, 50, was rushed to the hospital where she works.
“I remember closing my door, and I just lost it. I just had a meltdown,” Edwards, 51, continued. “I didn’t know if I was ever going to see him again. It was really hard. I paced around in my house for a couple hours, crying and praying.”
That night, Edwards also took to social media, posting photos and an update on Brian’s condition to Facebook. The couple grew up in Tacoma — both graduating from Wilson High School — and have a large circle of friends and relatives. She wanted people to know how he was doing.
As a nurse, Edwards said she also wanted people to take COVID-19 seriously. Brian had no underlying health conditions, she explained, and yet he was still fighting for his life.
“I decided, you know what, there’s so much going on in the news right now — so much controversy — that I wanted to reach out to our community and show this is real,” Edwards said of the Facebook post, which has now been shared thousands of times and garnered widespread attention.
“This is not a hoax, and it’s not a conspiracy,” she added. ”This is the real deal.”
Since her husband was admitted to Tacoma General, the emotions have been overwhelming and come in waves, Edwards said.
She’s often terrified and unable to sleep for fear of missing a call from the hospital. Her husband is now in stable but critical condition, but the illness is unpredictable, and he’s “very sick and has a long road ahead of him,” Edwards said.
Edwards also longs to hear her husband’s voice again — to connect with him, even from afar. Right now, her contact with him has been limited to nightly, one-way video chats. Edwards talks to Brian for hours every evening, she explained, confident he can hear her through a phone placed next to his ear, while she watches for small signs to confirm it.
“I just talk to him until his phone dies,” Edwards said.
Then there’s the guilt — which might be the hardest part of all and underscores the incredible sacrifices being made by medical professionals during the coronavirus pandemic.
The registered nurse, who works on Tacoma General’s birthing and postpartum unit, said she became ill earlier this month and tested positive for COVID-19 on April 10. Previously, Edwards was notified of exposure on her unit, she explained.
Brian, meanwhile, developed symptoms the day before her test results came back.
Today, Edwards is still recovering, and has yet to return to work.
The toll COVID-19 has taken on her husband is much greater, she said.
“When he first went in (to the hospital), I figured that he was likely not going to make it. That was awful,” Edwards said, recounting Brian’s persistently worsening cough, gasps for air and exhaustion-induced delirium.
“When he left that day, on Sunday, I buckled and I had to sit down. All I thought about is, ‘This is your fault. It’s your fault,’” Edwards said. “I’m devastated by it. I’m heartbroken. I know I likely caused this, even though we were taking precautions.”
The “only thing that really keeps me strong,” Edwards said, is how Brian supported her career, even after he became ill with COVID-19.
That doesn’t stop Edwards from apologizing to him every night over the phone, she said.
“He knows I’m a nurse, and we know the risk. We talked about it, and he’s not upset with me. But I still tell him I’m sorry,” Edwards said.
”I apologize to him, because I brought it home and he got sick. I have a lot of guilt about that.”
Read more here: https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/matt-driscoll/article242275096.html#storylink=cpy
NBC NEWS MEET THE PRESS WITH CHUCK TODD FULL EPISODE FOR APRIL 19th 2020
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Donkey of the day goes to Kentucky doctor social teen for not social distancing
Folks are just wilin’ an out here