The world-wide pandemic of COVID-19 has now reached over 600,000 reported cases across the globe, with over 131,000 recoveries and 28,000 deaths. And unfortunately, it seems as though COVID-19 isn’t done running its course quite yet.
Italy has surpassed China in total cases and in death toll, with over 86,000 infections and 9,000 deaths. In some better news, Italy’s amount of daily new cases and daily deaths have started decreasing.
China has started easing up on their quarantine regulations, as no new local cases of COVID-19 have been reported in their country. But China has announced that they’re closing their borders to most foreigners in fear of importing another round of COVID-19.
Spain and Germany have risen to the top 5 of reported coronavirus cases per country. Spain’s death toll has raised significantly over the last 24 hours, with 832 deaths within that same time frame. In contrast, Germany has been seeing a high infection rate in their country, with a low death toll.
The United States has become the epicenter for the novel coronavirus outbreak in the world. With over 100,000 confirmed infections, the US ranks as #1 for reported coronavirus cases. President Trump may be announcing a federally mandated quarantine for New York and, potentially, parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. This 2 week quarantine would enforce travel restrictions for people planning to leave the Tri-State area of New York. New York has been the US state hit the hardest, and their outbreak is supposed to hit its peak in 2-3 weeks. In an effort to fight New York’s coronavirus battle, President Trump is sending a 1,000-bed US Navy hospital ship, called the USNS Comfort, to New York in an effort to aid the city. The USNS Comfort should be arriving March 30th, 2020 at a Manhattan pier. A similar response was taken a week ago as the USNS Mercy was sent to provide the same type of aid for Los Angeles.
In addition, the US surgeon general has warned that Detroit, New Orleans, and Chicago are becoming COVID-19 hotspots. People residing in or around these areas should be hyperactive in following social distancing and self-quarantine procedures.
Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is moving the remaining 200 students living in residence halls into the University Commons apartments, in which each student will have a private bedroom and bathroom. Each student will also share a full kitchen and common area with one other student. These measures are being taken to boost the effectiveness of student services on campus while enacting social distancing. For students that moved back home or off campus after previously living in on-campus housing, the university is working on providing students refunds on house and potentially meal plans. Missouri S&T’s Chancellor, Dr. Mohammad Dehghani, is inviting the campus community to join him at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 2, 2020, for a virtual town hall meeting. He provided the Zoom link for those interested in joining or with any questions: umsystem.zoom.us/j/995364167.
Picture was provided by ABC News, sourced from Johns Hopkins CSSE.
By Alyssa Crum
