Tuesday Morning C-19 Update

NOTE - Below is a radio-friendly notepad used on the Need To Know Morning Show on AM1100 The Flag WZFG.  Spelling, punctuation, etc are not edited.  

TUESDAY MORNING BY THE NUMBERS....

11 new CONFIRMED CASES IN NORTH DAKOTA MONODAY, BRINGING THE TOTAL TO 109.....TOPPING THE 100 MARK FOR THE FIRST TIME.....3 OF THEM IN CASS COUNTY making a TOTAL OF 23... BUT THE BIG STORY -- TWO NEW FATALITIES, GOING FROM ONE TO THREE.....THERE ARE NOW MORE THAN 39-HUNDRED WHO HAVE BEEN TESTED IN THE STATE...

ONE DEATH IN Minnesota BRINGING THAT TOTAL TO 10....73 NEW CONFIRMED CASES...THERE ARE NOW 576 IN ALL…....STILL 4 IN CLAY COUNTY....ABOUT 19-THOUSAND HAVE BEEN TESTED.

In South Dakota, 11 NEW POSITIVE TESTS MONDAY....101 NOW TOTAL....STILL JUST ONE FATALITY.... ABOUT 3-HUNDRED HAVE BEEN TESTED....

ACROSS THE US, A COUPLE OF UNFORTUNATE MILESTONES YESTERDAY....WE HITS THE 3-THOUSAND FATALITIES MARK - NOW AT 3,173......AND WE HAD MORE DEATHS THAN ANY OTHER DAY WITH 565.....WE'VE BEEN OVER 500 THE LAST 3 DAYS....AND MORE THAN HALF THE DEATHS SO FAR IN OUR COUNTRY HAVE HIT IN THE LAST 3 DAYS...MORE THAN 18 THOUSAND CONFIRMED NEW CASES MONDAY....IT BRINGS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CONFIRMED CASES TO JUST OVER 161-THOUSAND.......

worldwide THE DEATH TOLL STANDS AT NEARLY 39-THOUSAND....AFTER ADDING ABOUT 4-THOUSAND FATALITIES MONDAY.....THERE ARE NOW MORE THAN 800-THOUSAND CONFIRMED CASES, UP ABOUT 60-THOUSAND FROM THE DAY BEFORE.... WHILE more than 170,000 PEOPLE have had the virus worldwide and have recovered.....

SPAIN THE HARDEST HIT TODAY WITH IT'S HIGHEST SINGLE DAY DEATH TOLL YET - 913.....IT NOW JOINS ITALY AS COUNTRIES WITH MORE THAN TWICE AS MANY FATALITIES AS CHINA, WHERE THE VIRUS ORIGINATED....

COMPARING TO THE FLU....24 TO 60,000 DIED OF FLU SINCE OCTOBER 1....IN US SINCE JANUARY ONE 3,173 HAVE DIED OF THE VIRUS.....
YESTERDAY'S TALLY, APPROX 125 DIE PER DAY FLU....YESTERDAY 565 DIED OF THE CORONAVIRUS.....

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TUESDAY HEADLINES

THE NATION HOW HAS 75 PERCENT OF IT’S PEOPLE UNDER A SHELTER IN PLACE ORDER….STAY HOME EXCEPT FOR FOOD, MEDICAL, OR ESSENTIAL WORK…
31 STATES WITH ORDERS
10 WHERE JAIL TIME IS A POSSIBLE PENALTY

AND WHILE NORTH DAKOTA IS NOT ONE OF THEM, THE STATE HAS ITS SECOND AND THIRD FATALITY......BOTH  OVER THE AGE OF 70 WITH PREVIOUS HEALTH ISSUES....ONE A MANDAN AREA MAN IN HIS 70S...THE OTHER A  MINOT AREA WOMAN IN HER 80'S....Both residents contracted the virus via community spread, meaning it was not contracted through travel or exposure to a known case.......
GOVERNOR DOUG BURGUM SAID THAT EARLIER IN THE DAY HE HAD A PHONE CALL WITH WHITE HOUSE HEALTH ADVISOR DR. DEBRA BIRX AND SHE SAID FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE WITH HEALTH ISSUES, THIS VIRUS IS A MONSTER........The two deaths TODAY come three days after a Cass County man in his 90s became the first North Dakotan to die from the illness.

AMONG THE 11 NEW CASES MONDAY ARE Grand Forks County's first two known cases: a man and a woman, both in their 30s. IT’S NOT KNOWN HOW THEY CONTRACTED THE DISEASE…

Several groups urged North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum MONDAY to block evictions and foreclosures to protect those suffering economic hardship caused by COVID-19....The request COMES FROM the North Dakota Farmers Union and the American Civil Liberties Union...

THE NEW FATALITY IN MINNESOTA MONDAY WAS A 71-year-old resident of a long-term care facility in Hennepin County.....Altogether, eight residents of Minnesota nursing homes or assisted living facilities have succumbed to the virus....COVID-19 has now spread to 31 MINNESOTA long-term care facilities — up from 25 on Sunday....CONSIDERING HOW THIS VIRUS IS SPREADING IN THE TWIN CITIES, MN GOVERNOR TIM WALZ SAYS HE'S VERY THANKFUL THE PRESIDENT EXTENDED HIS GUIDELINES YESTERDAY TO THE END OF APRIL....WALZ SAYS Slightly more than half of the state's 2,225 ventilators are not in use….. But demand for them is expected to grow and it is one of the items that the state has been trying to purchase.

THE MN DEPT OF HEALTH SAYS Nearly 30% of all confirmed infections have been in health care workers. Although most of those 157 cases involved travel to infected areas or infection from a close contact, at least two workers became ill after exposure to a patient.

STATE HEALTH COMMISSIONER JAN MALCOM SAID MONDAY THAT About 18,800 people in Minnesota have been tested for COVID-19 and state officials said they are up to date on processing the samples AND THERE IS no backlog in the lab testing,"

MINNESOTA Workers laid off or facing restricted hours due to the coronavirus pandemic in Minnesota are being asked to take turns applying for unemployment benefits due to heightened demand for financial support....Around 239,263 workers in the state applied for unemployment since March 16, more than applied during the entirety of 2019

Essentia Health SAYS ABOUT 500 OF THE COMPANY'S 14,500 EMPLOYEES ARE BEING PLACED ON LEAVE...THE ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYEES ARE NOT PART OF THE STAFF THAT CARES FOR PATIENTS... ESSENTIA SAYS IT HAS closed some clinics and postponed routine appointments. ....THE COMPANY STATEMENT ADDED THAT Like other health care organizations around the country, THEY are projecting a 20-40% decrease in revenue DUE TO CANCELLING ELECTIVE PROCEDURES....

Family members of SOUTH FARGO’S CHI RIVERVIEW PLACE RETIREMENT community have received notice that all residents and staff will undergo testing for COVID-19 after a resident there contracted the illness and died last week….WDAY TV REPORTS THAT ROGER LIEN, THE 93 YEAR OLD MAN WHO BECAME NORTH DAKOTA’S FIRST RESIDENT TO DIE OF THE VIRUS, WAS a resident of Riverview Place.

North Dakota hospitals could see a peak in demand for services from the coronavirus pandemic around May 1….THIS FROM a UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON projection that SAYS the state will have enough available beds to handle the crest but still will experience 171 deaths…THE PROJECTION SHOWS THE STATE WILL HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH BEDS TO CARE FOR THE SICK…and THAT 61 ventilators will be required for the MOST SEVERE CASES….

THE USNS COMFORT BEGINS TREATING PEOPLE IN NEW YORK TODAY…THAT STATE HAS BEEN HIT THE HARDEST, WITH NEARLY 60,000 KNOWN CASES AND NEARLY 1,000 DEATHS…

Macy’s said the majority of its employees will be furloughed beginning this week as it copes with significant sales losses during the pandemic.....THE RETAIL GIANT HAS ABOUT 130-THOUSAND EMPLOYEES, BUT WOULDN'T SAY HOW many employees will be affected by the furloughs.  It said it’s lost most of its sales, even as it remains open online, and that’s why cost cuts are necessary.... All of its stores have been closed since March 18

The Justice Department is investigating stock trades made by at least one member of Congress WHILE the U.S. braced for the pandemic threat…. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee received frequent briefings and reports on the threat of the virus…. In mid-February, Burr sold 33 stocks estimated to be worth AS MUCH AS $1.7 million,

Comfort King Mattress Factory SAYS IT'S USING MATTRESS FABRIC TO MAKE FACE MASKS FOR HOSPITALS AND HEALTH CARE WORKERS...THE MASKS CAN BE HAND WASHED AND USED AGAIN...BETWEEN THEIR FARGO AND SIOUX FALLS LOCATIONS....THEY'VE MADE MORE THAN 2-THOUSAND MASKS....

U.S. gasoline prices have dropped to their lowest levels in four years, DUE TO THE VIRUS AND PRICE WARS OVERSEAS, and they are almost sure to go lower, EXPERTS SAY….GAS PRICES ARE NOW UNDER 1.60 IN FARGO, AND WTI CRUDE OIL HAS LOST NEARLY 2-THIRDS OF ITS VALUE IN THE LAST 3 WEEKS…. Demand HAS BEEN WEAKENED because so many Americans are under shelter-in-place rules and businesses have been CLOSED….

THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT OF FRANCE SAYS THAT CLINICAL TRIALS ARE EXPECTED BACK LATER THIS WEEK ON 4 DRUGS, THAT IT’S BEEN STUDYING TO HELP TREAT THE VIRUS