Thursday Morning C-19 Update

LETS TAKE A LOOK AT THE UP TO THE MINUTE NUMBERS.....

THE ND REPORT -
14 new positives WEDNESDAY
7 from Cass County - total of 77 so far
Most are community spread/close contact
0 deaths
1.59% mortality (deaths as a percentage of positives)
2.91% positive as a percentage of those tested
37 new positive in last 3 days (12,11,14)......lowest 3 day total since 3/28-3/30
16 in hosp, DOWN 2 from the day before

Take a look at the North Dakota Active Cases, last two days it has leveled.   Take the Confirmed and subtract the Recovered and the Deaths = Active.
April 6th = 148
April 7th =151
April 8th = 149

FIVE ADDITIONAL DEATHS YESTERDAY IN MINNESOTA...NOW A TOTAL OF 39.......FOUR WERE ELDERLY IN CARE FACILITIES, THE OTHER WAS IN THEIR 50s WITH AN UNDERLYING HEALTH CONDITION.......85 NEW CONFIRMED CASES WEDNESDAY ...AND NOW A TOTAL OF 1,154 CONFIRMED CASES…ONE  NEW CASE IN CLAY COUNTY, BRINGING THAT NUMBER TO 20.......ABOUT 31-THOUSAND HAVE BEEN TESTED....632 HAVE RECOVERED....

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 3 DAYS NO FATALITIES IN SOUTH DAKOTA....THE TOTAL REMAINING AT SIX......73 NEW POSITIVE TESTS THERE TODAY....393 NOW TOTAL..... ABOUT 7-THOUSAND HAVE BEEN TESTED....

ACROSS THE U-S ....A COUPLE OF NUMBERS FROM WEDNESDAY THAT ARE VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT WE SAW THE DAY BEFORE....ABOUT 19-HUNDRED NEW DEATHS - AND ABOUT 27-THOUSAND NEW CASES.......BRINGING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF AMERICANS TO DIE AT 14,660 - 2 THOUSAND MORE THAN DIED DURING THE SWINE FLU CRISIS OF 2009............WITH THE TOTAL NUMBER TO TEST POSITIVE MORE THAN 425-THOUSAND..........BUT....ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, MORE THAN 22-THOUSAND HAVE HAD THE VIRUS AND RECOVERED....

worldwide THE DEATH TOLL JUMPED BY ABOUT 68-HUNDRED....CURRENTLY STANDING AT JUST MORE THAN 88-THOUSAND....AND FOR THE FIRST TIME, MORE THAN 1.5 MILLION CONFIRMED CASES........... WHILE MORE THAN 330-THOUSAND have had the virus worldwide and have recovered...

COMPARING TO FLU NUMBERS....THE CDC ESTIMATES THAT ABOUT 40-THOUSAND AMERICANS HAVE DIED OF INFLUENZA SINCE OCTOBER 1...OUR CORONAVIRUS DEATH COUNT IS NOW NEARING 15-THOUSAND....

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LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR THURSDAY MORNING HEADLINES.

US health experts now project that NUMBER OF DEATHS FROM (COVID-19) will be WELL UNDER INITIAL PROJECTIONS.....THE NUMBER THEY ARE NOW ESTIMATING???   around 61,000 people, significantly lower than earlier forecasts OF 100,000 TO 240,000......White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx told reporters THURSDAY THAT AMERICANS ARE MAKING THE DIFFERENCE EVERY DAY WITH SMART CHOICES. ...61-THOUSAND BY THE WAY,  IS THE EXACT NUMBER THAT DIED OF INFLUENZA IN THE US IN 2 YEARS AGO....

MN GOVERNOR TIM WALZ HAS EXTENDED HIS STAY AT HOME ORDER THROUGH MAY 4TH....RESIDENTS ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO LEAVE HOME FOR FOOD, MEDICINE, AND ESSENTIAL WORK....HIS ORIGINAL ORDER WAS SET TO EXPIRE FRIDAY....WALZ DID MAKE SOME EXCEPTIONS FOR SEASONAL WORK LIKE LANDSCAPING AND OUTDOOR MAINTENANCE BUT NOTHING AFFECTING RESTAURANTS, BARS, THEATERS, HAIR SALONS AND RECREATION....HE SAYS WE'RE GETTING CLOSE TO SEEING THE WORST AND DOESN'T WANT TO TAKE ANY CHANCES.......SOT....

WALZ SAYS THE PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA HAVE DONE A GREAT JOB OF FLATTENING THE CURVE, AND WHILE INITIAL PROJECTIONS WERE THAT AS MANY AS 74-THOUSAND MIGHT DIE OF THE VIRUS, NOW THE MODELING SUGGESTS A NUMBER BETWEEN 6,000 AND 20,000.....REPUBLICAN STATE REPRESENTATIVE MARY FRANSON OF ALEXANDRIA EXPRESSED HER FEELINGS ABOUT THE CONTINUED ORDERS, TWEETING....“I’m not staying home,”

Two employees and two residents at a Fargo Senior Care Home have tested positive for Covid 19...... SMP Health reports that residents are isolated at Rosewood on Broadway and the employees are in isolation at home. They say that they have been restricting all visitors for several weeks, doing daily screenings of employees for symptoms and fever, and notifying employees and residents who may have come into close contact with them....its the 6th local nursing center to have a a positive test.

Moorhead Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center HAS ALSO REPORTED THE POSITIVE TEST OF A RESIDENT.... THE COMPANY SAYS THE RESIDENT has been moved to a separate wing, with dedicated staff AND IS NOW screening staff for symptoms and stopping all communal dining and recreational activities.

Eventide in Moorhead says it no longer belongs on any lists regarding the virus... a Sanford nurse practitioner who came in contact with residents later tested positive for COVID-19.....but CEO Jon Riewer tells the Forum that they have had no positive cases in residents or staff, and the 14-day quarantine period from that essential visitor exposure has passed.

ND Gov. Doug Burgum announced WEDNESDAY THAT a 14-day quarantine order has been amended to exempt people living along the Minnesota border....THE CDC RECENTLY LABELED THE STATE OF MN AS A HIGH RISK AREA, MEANING THAT IT TRIPPED NORTH DAKOTA'S NEW CRITERIA THAT WOULD HAVE FORCED PEOPLE TO QUARANTINE COMING BACK TO THE STATE FROM MN....Burgum said the order still applies to people returning from the other 36 states on the list, including Florida, California and Arizona.

RESULTS ARE IN FROM A PILOT TESTING PROJECT IN SW NORTH DAKOTA.... A TOTAL OF 735 PEOPLE WERE TESTED IN A PAIR OF VOLUNTARY DRIVE THROUGH SETTINGS IN RURAL AREAS THAT HAD NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY AFFECTED BY THE VIRUS.....BURGUM SAID 6 PEOPLE TESTED POSITIVE FOR THE CORONAVIRUS, 3 OF THEM HAD SOME KIND OF SYMPTOMS AND 3 DID NOT....WHEN THE PLAN WAS CREATED THERE WERE NOT ANY PEOPLE WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY TESTED POSITIVE IN THOSE AREAS BUT BY THE TIME THE TESTING TOOK PLACE, ONE PERSON HAD CONTRACTED THE VIRUS...

BURGUM REPEATED WEDNESDAY THAT A STATEWIDE SHELTER IN PLACE ORDER DOES NOT MAKE SENSE, AS THE NUMBERS SHOW THAT RESIDENTS HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE....HE said less than 1% of the state's 2,600 available hospital beds are being used due to the coronavirus.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE OFFICIALS ARE URGING THE PUBLIC TO BE SMART WHEN USING VIDEOCONFERENCE PLATFORMS THAT HAVE become popular for working and learning from home....CYBERthreats include hackers accessing online meetings and devices’ microphones and cameras, shouting profanities and hate speech, AND sharing pornography....STATE OFFICIALS SAY TO MAKE SURE YOU USE A PASSWORD TO ACCESS THE MEETING, DON'T PUBLISH MEETING INVITES PUBLICLY AND CONTROL ACCESS THROUGH A WAITING ROOM....YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE AT NDRESPONSE.GOV

11.4 PERCENT OF MINNESOTANS ARE CURRENTLY OUT OF WORK, BUT THOSE ON unemployment insurance could see a $600 bump to their benefits in a matter of days....THE STATE WORKFORCE COMMISSION SAYS CHECKS ARE ALREADY GOING OUT THE DOOR AS a federal payment gets processed in the state...WALZ SAYS MN IS ONE OF THE FIRST STATES TO BE ABLE TO TURN AROUND THE NEW MONEY...

HERE'S AN INTERESTING STORY - MN State officials say they have seen a surge in traffic fatalities even though Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order has sharply reduced travel by motorists ...There have been 24 fatal crashes in Minnesota from March 16, when THE ORDER TOOK EFFECT....For the same time period last year, the fatal crash total was 12, while that number was 13 THE YEAR BEFORE AND 16 THE YEAR BEFORE THAT....TROOPERS SAY WITH FEWER CARS ON THE ROAD, DRIVERS ARE GOING TOO FAST AND DRIVING CARELESSLY.

In a first, small step toward reopening the country, the Trump administration issued new guidelines Wednesday to make it easier for essential workers who have been exposed to COVID-19 to get back to work if they are now symptom free..... the CDC recommends that exposed employees take their temperatures before their shifts, wear face masks and practice social distancing at work. They also are advised to stay home if they are ill, not share headsets or other objects used near the face and refrain from congregating in crowded break rooms.....Employers are asked to take exposed workers’ temperatures and assess symptoms before allowing them to return to work, aggressively clean work surfaces, send workers home if they get sick, and increase air exchange in workplaces.

A FIGHT IS BREWING IN D-C.....SENATE REPUBLICANS WANT TO FUND AN ADDITIONAL 250 BILLION DOLLARS TO THE PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM THAT WOULD HELP SMALL BUSINESSES KEEP STAFF ON THROUGH THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE VIRUS - THIS IS THE LOAN THAT BECOMES A GRANT IF YOU DO.....BUT House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said any package  OF new small-business funding would need to include more than $250 billion in extra money for hospitals, state and local governments and food stamp recipients.

PRESIDENT TRUMP WEDNESDAY SAID HE SEES A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL, BUT IT'S STILL A WAYS OFF....AT HIS PRESS BRIEFING TODAY, THE PRESIDENT REITERATED THAT HE WANTS TO GET THE COUNTRY OPEN FOR BUSINESS VERY SOON AND SEES GOOD NEWS IN SOME OF THE NATIONWIDE TRENDS, BUT SAYS HE'S NOT READY TO SPIKE THE FOOTBALL JUST YET....HE WANTS TO SEE THE NUMBERS START TO GO DOWN BEFORE ANY CHANGES ARE CONSIDERED....SOT

THE NATION'S FINANCIAL MARKETS FELT OPTIMISTIC AS WELL....THE DOW JONES WEDNESDAY, WAS UP NEARLY 800 POINTS TO FINISH JUST OVER 23-THOUSAND.