Beware of “maskne”: breakouts caused by wearing face masks

May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 Kevin

(NEW YORK) — Here’s the latest information on the COVID-19 coronavirus as of 9:30 a.m. ET.

Latest reported numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 4,281,838
Global deaths: 292,376. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 82,389.
Number of countries/regions: at least 187
Total patients recovered globally: 1,503,964

Latest reported numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 1,370,016 diagnosed cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 82,389. New York state has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 27,284.
U.S. total patients recovered: 230,287
U.S. total people tested: 9,637,930

The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in New York, with 338,485 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 19.5 million. That is the most reported cases than in any other single region in the world. New Jersey is next, with 140,917 reported cases out of a total population of 8.88 million.

Latest reported deaths per state
Visit https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html for the latest numbers.

School closures
For a state-by-state interactive map of current school closures, please visit the Education Week website, where numbers are updated once daily.

There are 98,277 public schools and 34,576 private schools in the U.S., according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Those schools educate almost 50.8 million public school students and 5.8 million private school students.

The latest headlines
Dr. Fauci warns Senate of “suffering and death” from COVID-19 if country reopens too early
Cautioning against reopening too soon due to risk of “suffering and death,” Doctor Anthony Fauci testified before the Senate Tuesday regarding the reopening of the country and when life may return to normal. The nation’s top infectious disease doctor, who’s quarantining at his home due to coming into contact with a staffer who tested positive for COVID-19, testified remotely in a video conference. Joining Fauci were Stephen Hahn, head of the Food and Drug Administration; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield; and Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services and part of the national effort to develop COVID-19 tests. When discussing reopening the nation and resuming classes in schools, Fauci — director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — cautioned, “There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control,” and said that opening too soon would cause “suffering and death” that can “even set you back on the road to trying to get economic recovery.”

New analysis claims nearly 27 million could lose health insurance during lockdown
New analysis by the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation, which studies national health care policy and related issues, claims some 26.8 million Americans will lose their health care insurance during the COVID-19 national lockdown. While the analysis, released today, notes that the majority of those people can secure subsequent health care coverage via the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid, some 5.7 million may not qualify for relief under either option, potentially leaving them with no health care coverage. A total 20.5 million jobs have been lost as a result of businesses closing and laying off workers because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to figures released last week, putting national unemployment at 14.7%, the highest number since the Great Depression.

FEMA cancels $55.5 million contract with purported respirator mask manufacturer
As the federal government searches for sources of desperately-needed PPE for health care workers and others during the COVID-19 pandemic, FEMA signed a $55.5 million no-bid government contract last month with Panthera Worldwide LLC, one of the largest mask orders the agency placed. Now The Wall Street Journal reports FEMA on Tuesday cancelled that contract with Panthera “on the grounds of nondelivery,” according to a FEMA spokesperson. Panthera – a small Virginia-based company with a parent company in bankruptcy and no history in the business of providing masks – failed to deliver a contracted 10 million N95 masks to FEMA by May 1, and also missed an extended May 11 deadline.

Good news!
Man on ventilator for 19 days goes home, thanks hospital staff in Zoom call
Nathan Walker said he wasn’t really frightened until he was checking into the hospital in St. Charles, Missouri, and was told he would likely have to be placed on a ventilator. As KMOV St. Louis reports, the 41-year-old was admitted after he developed COVID-19 symptoms following exposure to an infected person in early April. Walker spent a total of 19 days on a vent in ICU, heavily sedated, with some days touch-and-go. Thankfully, after three weeks in ICU, he was sent home – and Tuesday, he finally got to thank the staff at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in St. Charles for saving his life. In an emotional Zoom call, Walker saw many of their faces for the first time, uncovered by PPE. Despite his heavy sedation, Walker said he still heard his caregivers’ voices and recognized many of them because of it. The staff also presented Walker with a scrapbook of photos of them to document his time at the hospital and celebrate his recovery.