Oregon To Expand COVID-19 Restrictions

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by Lauren Dake
OPB July 22, 2020 11:30 a.m.
Updated: July 22, 2020 3:12 p.m.

UPDATE (3 p.m. PT) — As the number of Oregon COVID-19 infections continue to rise, Gov. Kate Brown is once again expanding Oregon’s statewide face mask policy, announcing on Wednesday it now applies to children ages 5 and older and people must wear a mask even while actively exercising inside of a gym.

The governor also announced all bars and restaurants in Phase 2 reopening counties must now close at 10 p.m. instead of midnight ...

https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-covid-19-restrictions-expand-again/

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1. LA Mayor: We Need To Assume COVID-19 Is Everywhere

Tom Tapp
July 22, 2020 5:55PM PDT

... earlier in the day Dr. Christina Ghaly, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services warned, “The number of staffed ICU beds may be inadequate.”

The number of staffed ICU beds is “hovering between 130-160 beds on a given day,” said Ghaly. That’s for a population of 10 million. Garcetti said there were currently 623 ICU patients with coronavirus. That’s a 51 percent increase in the past month.

Health officials reported there were 64 new deaths, the third-highest total since the pandemic began. That brought the total number of COVID-related deaths in the region to 4,213. “Deaths are on a downward trajectory,” said Ferrer, but that number could quickly increase due to the number of patients hospitalized ...

https://deadline.com/2020/07/los-angeles-coronavirus-mayor-eric-garcetti-we-need-to-assume-covid-19-is-everywhere-right-now-1202992490/amp/

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2. Texas county stores bodies in trucks

WED JUL 22, 2020 / 9:10 PM EDT
Brad Brooks and Brendan O'Brien

(Reuters) - Texas on Wednesday set one-day records for increases in COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations in the state, forcing one county to store bodies in refrigerated trucks and prompting a top health official there to call for new stay-at-home orders.

Texas, which reported 197 deaths and 10,893 hospitalizations, has been one of the states hardest hit by the resurgent coronavirus. Hidalgo County .. has seen cases rise 60 percent in the last week, according to a Reuters tally, with deaths doubling to more than 360.

"We’ve got to lasso this virus, this stallion, bring the numbers back down and get control of this thing," Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez said. "Because our hospitals – they’re war zones, they are really struggling right now" ...

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN24N2F2

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3. Sweden: Don't do what we did

25 SWEDISH DOCTORS AND SCIENTISTS
OPINION CONTRIBUTORS | 10:13 am EDT July 21, 2020

... The motives for the Swedish Public Health Agency's light-touch approach are somewhat of a mystery ...

... the agency refused to acknowledge the importance of asymptomatic spread of the virus (concerningly, it has encouraged those in households with COVID-19 infected individuals to go to work and school) and still refuses to recommend masks in public, despite the overwhelming evidence of their effectiveness. In addition, the stated goal of the Swedish authorities was always not to minimize the epidemic, but rather slow it down, so that the health care system wouldn’t be overwhelmed ...

Several authorities, including the World Health Organization, have condemned herd immunity as a strategy. "It can lead to a very brutal arithmetic that does not put people and life and suffering at the center of that equation,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said at a press conference in May.

Regardless of whether herd immunity is a goal or a side effect of the Swedish strategy, how has it worked out? Not so well, according to the agency’s own test results. The proportion of Swedes carrying antibodies is estimated to be under 10%, thus nowhere near herd immunity. And yet, the Swedish death rate is unnerving. Sweden has a death toll greater than the United States: 556 deaths per million inhabitants, compared with 425, as of July 20 ...

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/5472100002

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4. Dallas: Young patient caught covid at party, grandfather died

Author: Teresa Woodard
Published: 7:38 PM CDT July 22, 2020

... “A 20-something-year-old girl went to a party with her friends and got COVID," he said.

"Before she was symptomatic, she visited her 80-year-old grandparents and they got sick."

Chang said all three ended up in the ICU at Parkland, but the granddaughter didn't know it because she was intubated and unconscious.

She woke up after ten days and discovered not only had her grandparents been in the ICU with her, "but her grandfather had passed the day before she woke back up," Chang said ...

https://www.wfaa.com/amp/article/news/health/coronavirus/doctor-says-young-parkland-patient-caught-covid-at-party-spread-it-to-grandfather-who-died/287-039a2f59-641d-4c84-a04c-1db95f27575c

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5. OH: 19 cases of covid traced back to single county fair

Updated: 3:44 PM EDT Jul 22, 2020

... "Unfortunately, we're starting to see fairs that are not following safety guidelines," the governor said. "An outbreak of 19 cases has been traced back to a county fair. We want fairs to continue, but I spoke with county fair managers today and expressed that they must follow the rules."

It's unclear which county fair the outbreak has been tied to.

County fairs were given the green light to resume back in June as long as certain safety standards are met.

The operations need to comply with social distancing measures, including maintaining 6-foot distancing for both employees and members of the public, including when standing in lines ...

https://www.wlwt.com/amp/article/dewine-19-cases-of-covid-19-traced-back-to-single-county-fair/33395628

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6. TN: Common misconceptions about covid

Author: Grace King (10News)
Published: 4:10 AM EDT July 23, 2020

... In the big picture, are hospitalizations and deaths dropping?

... No, more Tennesseans are being hospitalized with COVID-19 and more Tennesseans are dying from COVID-19, per Tennessee Department of Health data.

... in early April, the TDH was reporting about 30 new hospitalizations a day. That number peaked around 45 in early May and then declined for a couple of weeks.

But since early June, it's trended up. As of July 21, the seven-day average showed about 60 new hospitalizations a day — double the number TDH was reporting in early April ...

https://www.wbir.com/amp/article/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-numbers/verify-common-misconceptions-about-covid-19-in-tennessee/51-b9dfef80-0bde-4ccc-ac69-6d6fae45a7c3

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7. US on track to hit 1 million new cases in 2 weeks

CNNwire
13 hours ago

... the first reported case came on January 21. After 99 days, 1 million Americans became infected.

It took just 43 days after that to reach 2 million cases.

And 28 days later, on July 8, the US reached 3 million cases. The 4 millionth case could come just two weeks after that ...

https://fox8.com/news/1000-people-died-of-covid-19-in-one-day-us-on-track-to-hit-1-million-new-cases-in-2-weeks/amp/

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8. AK: 34 COVID-19 cases at fish processing plant in Seward

By Nathaniel Herz, Alaska's Energy Desk - Anchorage - July 22, 2020

OBI Seafoods has shut down a salmon processing plant in the Kenai Peninsula town of Seward after at least 34 workers there tested positive for COVID-19, according to a local official.

The plant has about 260 workers, who are a mix of residents and nonresidents, according to Scott Meszaros, Seward’s city manager. He said 90 employees have been tested so far, and that more positives are expected as the remainder of the workers are tested ...

https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/07/22/seward-contends-with-34-new-covid-19-cases-at-fish-processing-plant-local-official-says/

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9. An insurmountable backlog of tests

July 23, 2020, 4:59 AM EDT
By Lauren Dunn

As the U.S. deals with massive delays in COVID-19 testing, doctors and scientists say another type of diagnostic test could alleviate the stress on labs. Rapid, or point-of-care, tests deliver results in just minutes, while lab-based tools can take days.

"Every day they wait is another day they need to quarantine, or if they're not, it's another day they could be infecting other people," Dr. Keith Jerome, who directs the molecular virology lab at the University of Washington medical school, said in an interview. "If you're getting results within 20 minutes, you can start taking the appropriate actions right away."

The National Institutes of Health announced Wednesday what it called an "unprecedented effort" to ramp up testing technology. Funded by $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money, the program will focus on creating rapid tests and distributing them more widely.

It's also being called for by lawmakers and top federal health officials. President Donald Trump promised more rapid testing during his briefing Tuesday. And Dr. Brett Giroir, who is overseeing the nation's COVID-19 testing, said this month that he expected 5 million additional "point-of-care" tests in July, with a goal of 20 million or more by September ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1234622

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10. Michigan cases 75248; death toll 6141

https://www.clickondetroit.com/health/2020/07/22/michigan-coronavirus-covid-19-cases-up-to-75248-death-toll-now-at-6141/

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11. WI: La Crosse County moves from High to Severe Risk

Posted: July 22, 2020 1:19 PM
Updated: July 22, 2020 8:20 PM by Site staff

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) – According to the La Crosse County Health Department, La Crosse County has moved from High Risk to Severe Risk of COVID-19 spread.

According to the Coulee COVID-19 Compass, La Crosse County’s new case rate is 130.5 cases per 100,000 people, and the Public Health Status remains red due to cases and contacts not being reachable by public health workers within a 24 to 48 hour time period ...

https://www.news8000.com/la-crosse-county-moves-from-red-to-severe-risk-on-coulee-covid-19-compass/

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12. GA: Macon man tests positive months after first round

Author: Suzanne Lawler (WMAZ)
Published: 6:26 PM EDT July 22, 2020

MACON, Ga. — A lot of the talk you hear around COVID-19 suggests that if you get it, you don't have to worry about it again anytime soon.

But Jordan Josey, a 28-year-old lawyer in Macon, now he says he's dealing with it again several months later ...

The virus caused one of his lungs to collapse.

In May and the first part of June, he felt better and he eventually tested negative ...

Then the unthinkable happened driving home from work ...

https://www.13wmaz.com/amp/article/news/local/health-covid-testing-coronavirus-pandemic-josey/93-f560aa2b-9405-432a-bf7a-a7c0e91fa706