COVID-19 as of today (03-15/03-16-20, summary is my own, not my employer’s):

[Some Quick Definitions for Commonly Used Terms, skip ‘em if ya know ‘em:

Community Spread – Illness with an unknown source. This typically means that there are more cases in the community that have not been detected. May also be called community acquired or local transmission.

Cumulative Confirmed Case Fatality Rate – The total number of patients who were confirmed to have COVID-19 and died, divided by the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, from the beginning of the outbreak to today.

Line Listing – A list of all the cases in an outbreak and their details.



Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) — Actions other than getting vaccinated/taking medicine that people and communities can take to help slow the spread of illnesses, particularly pandemics. NPIs are also known as community mitigation strategies; examples include social distancing, quarantine of contacts, isolation of cases, and public gathering bans.

Patient Under Investigation (PUI) – A person who is showing one or more COVID-19 symptoms (fever, cough, difficulty breathing) who has not yet received test results.

Presumptive Positive – The first test back for a PUI is positive, but another test is still needed to confirm this. Confirmed means that two tests have shown that the case is positive.]

[QUICK NOTE: I know a lot of this news may be scary to some, and it’s going to be a while before things start to get better. Please, if you find yourself feeling a bit panicky while reading these, consider taking a break for a few days. It’s ok to not constantly bombard yourself with information. If you want to take a break, but still want up-to-date advice, check out the CDC’s recommendations at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html and follow your local health department for updates specific to your area. If you want to check your individual state case count, check the Case Count links at the end of my post.]

Cases in New Countries and Community Spread: Countries the Bahamas, Benin, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Greenland, Liberia, Republic of the Congo (not to be confused with Democratic Republic of the Congo), Somalia, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, and territory Mayotte report their first COVID-19 cases over the past two days. As COVID-19 cases in the rest of the world now outnumber cases in China, the WHO is no longer reporting China separately. 11 countries in the Western Pacific Region, 36 countries in the European Region, 6 countries in the South-East Asia Region, 11 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 13 countries in the Region of the Americas, 5 countries in the African Region, and 1 territory report community spread. [1-3]

United States Case Counts: The US is now reporting at least 4,661 cases, an 8-fold increase from a week ago. The states with the most reported cases are New York (967 cases, 10 deaths), Washington (904 cases, 48 deaths), California (557 cases, 7 deaths), Massachusetts (197 cases, 0 deaths), New Jersey (178 cases, 3 deaths), Colorado (160 cases, 1 death), Florida (160 cases, 5 deaths), Louisiana (136 cases, 3 deaths), Georgia (121 cases, 1 death), and Illinois (105 cases, 0 deaths). These states contain 75% of cumulative confirmed cases; the remaining 25% of confirmed cases are spread out over all other states, except for West Virginia, which has still not confirmed its first case. [3, UPDATE1]

Predicting Outbreak Mortality and Providing Strong Arguments for Longer Term Interventions: The Imperial College’s COVID-19 Response Team releases a report on how different nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs – interventions outside of the healthcare system, like public gathering bans and quarantine/isolation orders) could help to “flatten the curve” (stretch new COVID-19 cases out over time so the healthcare system does not become overwhelmed). They predict that, without NPIs, the US could see 2.2 million deaths from April to August, and the UK could see 510,000; these do not account for additional deaths that would likely occur due to healthcare systems being overwhelmed. The researchers state : “Since the aim of mitigation is to minimise mortality, the interventions need to remain in place for as much of the epidemic period as possible.” [4]

Most Bay Area Counties Implement NPIs to Flatten the Curve: Today, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, and Santa Cruz Counties announce “shelter in place” orders that will go into effect at 12:01 am March 17 and will stay in effect for three weeks. These orders impact about 7 million people, and violation of these orders may be punishable by a fine or jail time, though local authorities ask that police chiefs and sheriffs not “rush to enforce” these directives as residents adjust to understand what is no longer allowed. The few facilities and businesses to remain open include grocery stores, pharmacies, delivery-only restaurants, hardware stores, airports, places providing healthcare, first responder agencies, utility providers, and limited public transit for essential travel only. As of today, there are 291 cases across these seven counties, or 4.2 confirmed cases per 100,000 people. Three Bay Area counties, Napa, Solano and Sonoma, are not implementing such orders; they currently have 15 cases, or 1.38 cases per 100,000 people. Of note, the first case of community spread in the US was diagnosed in a Solano County resident. [5-16]

Other Areas Implementing (or Not Implementing) NPIs [5 PARAGRAPHS, NOT COMPREHENSIVE]: King County, WA bans all events with 50+ people, and prohibits events with fewer than 50 people unless organizers observe appropriate prevention measures; closes all social and recreational establishments for the next two weeks; closes restaurants (except for drive-thru, delivery and take-out); and allows other establishments (such as grocery stores, banks, hardware stores and pharmacies) to remain open as long as they follow prevention measures. The county has 488 cases, or 21.9 confirmed cases per 100,000 people.

Los Angeles County, CA bans all events with 50+ people; and closes all bars, gyms, movie theaters, and restaurants (except for drive-thru, delivery and take-out). The county announced 41 of its 94 cases in the past 48 hours; 15 cases are due to community spread, which means there are likely many more undetected cases already among the population. (LA City had announced similar measures on March 15, and also encouraged those who can telework to do so.)

New York, Connecticut and New Jersey ban all events with 50+ people New York closes casinos, gyms, theaters, and restaurants (except for take-out), and strongly recommends that only grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, and medical facilities stay open after 8 pm. New York has 967 cases, or 4.95 confirmed cases per 100,000 people. New Jersey closes all schools (effective March 18, grade schools and higher education); casinos, racetracks, theaters and gyms; and non-essential retail, recreational, and entertainment businesses (except for take-out and delivery from restaurants). New Jersey has 178 cases, or 2.0 confirmed cases per 100,000 people.

Colorado closes all bars, restaurants (except for delivery; or window, walk-up, drive-thru or drive-up service), gyms, theaters, and casinos for 30 days. This order does not include grocery stores, markets, convenience stores, pharmacies, drug stores, food pantries, room service in hotels, health care facilities, residential care facilities, congregate care facilities, juvenile justice facilities, crisis shelters or similar institutions, airport concessionaires, and any emergency facilities necessary for the response to these events. The state public health agency recommends, but does not outright ban, events with 50+ people. Colorado has 160 cases, or 2.8 cases per 100,000 people.

Florida does not appear to have taken significant steps toward flattening the curve; many of its beaches have remained open, though tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of students across the state are flocking to them after being given “extended” spring breaks due to school closures. Several beaches in south Florida, such as Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Hollywood, Dania Beach and Hallandale Beach have closed, but the majority remain open. Florida has 160 cases, or 0.75 confirmed cases per 100,000 people. [17-25]

First CDC Employee Tests Positive for COVID-19: This CDC employee is self-isolated and recovering at home. She or he has not been present at CDC since March 6 and was not involved in the COVID-19 response. After developing symptoms, the individual decided to stay at home. [26]

Massive COVID-19 Research Database Launched: The Allen Institute for AI, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Microsoft, and the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health release the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset to the public today; this dataset includes 29,000+ articles related to COVID-19, of which 13,000+ are available in full-text. The White House is now calling on AI specialists across the US to develop new text and data mining techniques that can help the science community answer high-priority scientific questions related to COVID-19. [27, 28]

15 Days to Slow the Spread: The US President issues new guidelines for all US citizens: If you feel sick, stay home and contact your medical provider; if your children are sick, do not send them to school; if someone in your household has tested positive for COVID-19, keep the entire household home; if you are an older person and/or if you have a serious underlying health condition, stay at home and away from other people; work or learn from home whenever possible; if you work in a critical infrastructure industry (ex. – healthcare, pharmaceuticals, food supply), maintain your normal work schedule while taking steps to protect yourself at work; avoid social gatherings of 10 or more people; avoid eating/drinking at bars, restaurants and food courts; avoid nonessential travel, shopping trips or social visits; do not visit nursing homes or retirement/long-term care facilities unless it is absolutely necessary; and practice good hygiene (wash your hands, especially after touching surfaces that are touched often; avoid touching your face; sneeze/cough into a tissue or the crook of your elbow; disinfect frequently used items/surfaces as much as possible). The CDC features this at the top of its COVID-19 webpage. [29, 30]

Updates on the Status of Accelerating COVID-19 Testing in the US [THREE PARAGRAPHS]: As of today, at least 25,162 COVID-19 tests have been conducted at CDC and US public health laboratories. 49% of all testing conducted at these labs has occurred since March 9, indicating a promising increase in recent test counts (the counts for the most recent four days are lower due to a delay in reporting, so this percentage will be even higher soon). These counts do not include commercial lab testing, which have greater capacity than public health labs.

Three large lab test manufacturers are increasing the number of tests they can make and ship. Thermo Fisher states that it already has 1.5 million tests in stock, which it began shipping out yesterday (it’s ramping up production to produce 2 million tests a week, and 5 million a week by the end of April). Roche began shipping 400,000 tests to laboratories across the US on March 13 and plans to ship another 400,000 each week. Hologic (who was granted an Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA, today) states that it will be making 600,000 rapid tests a month by April. The commercial labs conducting the tests include: LabCorp (also granted an EUA today), which states that it will be conducting 10,000+ tests a day by the end of the week and 20,000+ tests a day by the end of March; and Quest Diagnostics, which states that it will be conducting 10,000 tests a day by the end of next week and 20,000+ tests a day by the end of March.

Today, the FDA announces a new policy that allows states to authorize tests developed and used by laboratories in their boundaries (like they had recently permitted New York to do). This will allow for states to confirm their own presumptive positive tests and does not require them to have Emergency Use Authorizations to do so. The agency is also now allowing for commercial laboratories across the US to begin using newly developed COVID-19 tests before being granted an Emergency Use Authorization so long as they are in the process of applying for one. Lastly, the FDA is allowing for organizations to develop serology tests (these are tests that look for antibodies in your blood to determine whether you currently have COVID-19, or have had it in the past – they should help immensely with determining how far the disease has spread in the US population). [31-38]

[1] WHO COVID-19 Situation Report, 03-15-20

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200315-sitrep-55-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=33daa5cb_8

[2] WHO COVID-19 Situation Report, 03-16-20

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200316-sitrep-56-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=9fda7db2_2

[3] Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Map

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

[4] Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf

[5] Bay Area orders ‘shelter in place,’ only essential businesses open in 6 counties

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/Bay-Area-must-shelter-in-place-Only-15135014.php

[6] San Francisco: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

https://www.sfdph.org/dph/alerts/coronavirus.asp

[7] Santa Clara County: Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/DiseaseInformation/novel-coronavirus/Pages/home.aspx

[8] San Mateo County: Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

https://www.smchealth.org/coronavirus

[9] Marin County COVID-19 Status Update

https://coronavirus.marinhhs.org/sites/default/files/2020-03/COVID-19%20Status%20Update%203-16-2020.pdf

[10] Numbers in Contra Costa County

https://www.contracostahealth.org/

[11] Alameda County: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

http://www.acphd.org/2019-ncov.aspx

[12] Santa Cruz County: COVID-19 Information and Updates

https://www.santacruzhealth.org/HSAHome/HSADivisions/PublicHealth/CommunicableDiseaseControl/Coronavirus.aspx

[13] Novel Coronavirus in Sonoma County

https://socoemergency.org/emergency/novel-coronavirus/novel-coronavirus-in-sonoma-county/

[14] Solano County Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

http://www.solanocounty.com/depts/ph/ncov.asp

[15] Napa County Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)

https://www.countyofnapa.org/2770/Situation-Updates

[16] New coronavirus case could be first instance of 'community spread' in US, CDC says

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/26/health/coronavirus-us-developments/index.html

[17] Seattle and King County: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/communicable-diseases/disease-control/novel-coronavirus.aspx

[18] Coronavirus cases spike to 94 in L.A. County as officials issue more emergency restrictions

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-16/coronavirus-newsom-bar-closures-seniors-medical-conditions-self-isolate

[19] Update on COVID-19 Response from Mayor Eric Garcetti

https://www.facebook.com/MayorOfLA/videos/239667167195511/

[20] New York Novel Coronavirus

https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/coronavirus/

[21] Death toll from COVID-19 rises as N.J. imposes statewide restrictions, closes schools

https://whyy.org/articles/n-j-gov-murphy-announces-statewide-8-p-m-curfew/

[22] State health department issues public health order closing Colorado bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters, and casinos-- still allowing takeout and delivery

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/news/state-health-department-issues-public-health-order-closing-colorado-bars-restaurants-gyms

[23] CDPHE recommends that Colorado follow CDC guidance to cancel or postpone in-person events of 50 people or more

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/news/cdphe-recommends-colorado-follow-cdc-guidance-cancel-or-postpone-person-events-50-people-or

[24] Packed beaches remain open despite COVID-19 concerns

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/03/16/packed-beaches-remain-open-despite-covid-19-concerns/

[25] More beaches are shut down in South Florida to ward off coronavirus

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-coronavirus-hollywood-closes-beach-20200316-rvdzt4wnwrfehks7732dczttqu-story.html

[26] CDC Reports first known employee with COVID-19 Infection

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s0316-cdc-employee-covid-19.html

[27] COVID-19 Open Research Dataset

https://pages.semanticscholar.org/coronavirus-research

[28] Call to Action to the Tech Community on New Machine Readable COVID-19 Dataset

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/call-action-tech-community-new-machine-readable-covid-19-dataset/

[29] 15 Days to Slow the Spread

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/03.16.20_coronavirus-guidance_8.5x11_315PM.pdf

[30] Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html

[31] Testing in U.S.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/testing-in-us.html

[32] Hologic’s Molecular Test for the Novel Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization

https://www.hologic.com/coronavirus-test

[33] Roche begins shipments of first 400,000 COVID-19 tests to laboratories across US to begin patient testing under FDA Emergency Use Authorization

https://diagnostics.roche.com/us/en/news-listing/2020/roche-begins-shipments-of-first-400000-covid-19-tests-to-laboratories-across-US-to-begin-patient-testing-under-fda-emergency-use-authorization.html

[34] Thermo Fisher ships coronavirus tests, aims to produce 5 million tests a week by April

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/thermo-fisher-ships-coronavirus-tests-aims-to-make-5-million-per-week.html

[35] Media Statement: LabCorp Rapidly Expanding Its COVID-19 Testing Capacity, Expects Ability to Perform 10,000 Tests Per Day by the End of the Week and 20,000 Tests Per Day by the End of March

https://www.labcorp.com/information-labcorp-about-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19

[36] Quest Diagnostics Media Statement about COVID-19 Testing

https://newsroom.questdiagnostics.com/COVIDTestingUpdates

[37] Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Issues Diagnostic Emergency Use Authorization to Hologic and LabCorp

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-issues-diagnostic-emergency-use-authorization-hologic-and-labcorp

[38] Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Provides More Regulatory Relief During Outbreak, Continues to Help Expedite Availability of Diagnostics

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-provides-more-regulatory-relief-during-outbreak-continues-help

[UPDATE1] Bergen County man is N.J.'s 3rd death from coronavirus, governor says

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/03/nj-reports-3rd-death-from-coronavirus.html

Case Counts:

[AK] http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/monitoring.aspx

[AL] http://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/infectiousdiseases/2019-coronavirus.html

[AR] https://www.healthy.arkansas.gov/programs-services/topics/novel-coronavirus?

[AS] https://www.samoanews.com/covid-19

[AZ] https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/index.php?#novel-coronavirus-home

[CA] https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/nCoV2019.aspx

[CO] https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRSxDeeJEaDxir0cCd9Sfji8ZPKzNaCPZnvRCbG63Oa1ztz4B4r7xG_wsoC9ucd_ei3--Pz7UD50yQD/pub

[CT] https://portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus

[DC] https://coronavirus.dc.gov/page/coronavirus-surveillance-data

[DE] https://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/epi/2019novelcoronavirus.html

[FL] http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/COVID-19

[GA] https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report

[GU] https://twitter.com/louleonguerrero

[HI] https://health.hawaii.gov/docd/advisories/novel-coronavirus-2019/

[IA] https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus

[ID] https://coronavirus.idaho.gov/

[IL] http://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/diseases-and-conditions/diseases-a-z-list/coronavirus

[IN] https://www.in.gov/coronavirus/

[KS] http://www.kdheks.gov/coronavirus/index.htm

[KY] https://chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/pages/covid19.aspx

[LA] http://ldh.la.gov/coronavirus/

[MA] https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-cases-quarantine-and-monitoring#covid-19-cases-in-massachusetts-

[MD] https://phpa.health.maryland.gov/Pages/Novel-coronavirus.aspx

[ME] https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectious-disease/epi/airborne/coronavirus.shtml

[MI] https://www.michigan.gov/Coronavirus

[MN] https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/situation.html

[MO] https://health.mo.gov/living/healthcondiseases/communicable/novel-coronavirus

[MS] https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/14,0,420.html

[MT] https://dphhs.mt.gov/publichealth/cdepi/diseases/coronavirusmt

[NC] https://www.ncdhhs.gov/covid-19-case-count-nc

[ND] https://www.health.nd.gov/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/north-dakota-coronavirus-cases

[NE] http://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Coronavirus.aspx

[NH] https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/2019-ncov.htm

[NJ] https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/covid2019_dashboard.shtml

[NM] https://cv.nmhealth.org/

[NMI] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

[NV] http://dpbh.nv.gov/coronavirus/

[NY] https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/coronavirus/

[OH] https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/

[OK] https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/

[OR] https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/DISEASESCONDITIONS/DISEASESAZ/Pages/emerging-respiratory-infections.aspx

[PA] https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/Pages/Coronavirus.aspx

[PR] https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article241237251.html

[RI] https://health.ri.gov/data/covid-19/

[SC] https://www.scdhec.gov/infectious-diseases/viruses/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/monitoring-testing-covid-19

[SD] https://doh.sd.gov/news/Coronavirus.aspx

[TN] https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov.html

[TX] https://www.dshs.texas.gov/news/updates.shtm#coronavirus

[USVI] https://doh.vi.gov/covid19usvi

[UT] https://coronavirus.utah.gov/latest/

[VA] http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/surveillance-and-investigation/novel-coronavirus/

[VT] https://www.healthvermont.gov/response/infectious-disease/2019-novel-coronavirus

[WA] https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/Coronavirus

[WI] https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/outbreaks/index.htm

[WV] https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/Pages/default.aspx

[WY] https://health.wyo.gov/publichealth/infectious-disease-epidemiology-unit/disease/novel-coronavirus/