I have tried to get this update out several times over the past few days. Every time I try to finish it, so much has changed that my time is spent updating case/death numbers (and being alarmed at how many more there are than the day before).
Even Donald Trump has warned that this will be a hard couple of weeks, which is notable because he has spent several preceding weeks downplaying the seriousness of the virus, saying it would soon be eliminated in the U.S., and otherwise refusing to publically acknowledge the gravity of the situation.
On the plus side, we made it through March. April looks to be another isolating month, but I hope that continued isolation keeps you and yours healthy.
An Overview
This week is a crucial one for Canada — which currently has 9,700 COVID-19 cases with 112 deaths — in seeing how effective distancing measures are, the country’s top health official said. The federal government wants to recall Parliament to unlock billions more for COVID-19 aid.
Coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise in the United States, at 216,000 and 5,137 respectively. Despite earlier setting Easter as a goal for a return to regular life, Donald Trump has said that federal guidelines on distancing would continue through April. Meanwhile, public health officials have warned the country could see 100,000 or more deaths with mitigation.
With infections rising again in Japan, the country imposed new restrictions on entering foreigners. After the announcement of the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, cases in the city spiked, and there are increasing calls for a national state of emergency.
In a departure from the efforts being made in other European countries, Sweden has gone in a different direction. High schools and colleges are closed but other schools are still open. Most businesses are still operating as normal. The government is promoting hand washing, social distancing, and protecting the elderly. So far, the country has 4,900 cases and 239 deaths.
Germany appears to be a European anomaly in another way — the country has nearly 78,000 COVID-19 cases with 931 deaths. By comparison, France has 57,000 cases but 4,043 deaths. However, there is some suspicion that may not last.
Italy’s tragic trajectory continues with 110,000 cases and 13,155 deaths, but appears to be beginning to flatten out. As new cases and deaths start to slow, the procedural lessons being learned are beginning to become clear.
Prisoners in southern Iran rioted, according to state media, the latest in a series of incidents at prisons in the country. There are concerns that crowded and unsanitary prisons will lead to illness and death for political prisoners. The country has more than 47,000 cases and 3,036 deaths.
Human Rights Watch warned that containment efforts are needed in Myanmar to prevent coronavirus transmission among the 350,000 displaced people around the country. Most of those displaced, largely Rohingya Muslims, live in overcrowded camps with a lack of supplies and medical care.
The Coronavirus Panopticon
Hey, remember that episode of Black Mirror where Bryce Dallas Howard watches her crucial social score fall apart, and her life goes with it? Now add a pandemic layer on top of that.
That is, of course, hyperbolic. But law professor Paul Ohm wrote “Data can either be useful or perfectly anonymous but never both,” and we’re seeing now how non-anonymous data might be useful to fight coronavirus. Of course, that is a valuable use case with some tradeoffs.
The data you create simply by going from place to place with your cellphone on you is a better identifier than you might realize. The White House has discussed the use of such data as a means to track the virus with tech industry representatives, and Justin Trudeau has left the possibility open. China’s significant surveillance infrastructure was put into use during their own outbreak, and the mobile phone industry is looking at global cellphone tracking. There may be public health benefits to be gained by accessing this data, but there are also losses to personal privacy that may be hard to regain when the crisis has passed.
Attempts to track disease spread are not new, of course. During the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918, households tied a white scarf on their door if someone inside was ill. We don’t yet know how well this kind of tracking might work; this is all unfolding in real-time and the valuable insights will come later. We also don’t know if we can put this tracking genie back in the bottle if we let it out now. I suspect not.
Lives Lost
As I’m writing this, there have been 47,522 confirmed coronavirus deaths around the world — a number that continues to increase daily. Every one of those deaths matters, of course. Here are just a few of the lives that have been lost so far.
Cameroonian Afro-jazz saxophonist Manu Dibango died in France. He was 86.
Fashion designer Jenny Polanco died in the Dominican Republic. She was 62.
Museum founder and culture bearer Ronald Lewis died in New Orleans. He was 68.
Trans activist Lorena Borjas, who served the immigrant community in New York City, died in Brooklyn. She was 59.
Musician and songwriter Adam Schlesinger, who was in the band Fountains of Wayne and wrote songs for TV and theatre, died in New York. He was 52.
Disability rights activist April Dunn, who fought to expand educational opportunities, died in Baton Rouge. She was 33.
Rabbi Romi Cohn, who saved more than 50 Jewish families in Czechoslovakia during World War II, died in Brooklyn. He was 91.
HIV researcher Dr. Gita Ramjee, who worked to increase access to care for women, died in South Africa. She was 64.
Floyd Cardoz, the first chef born and raised in India to lead a major NYC kitchen, died in New Jersey. He was 59.
Broadcaster Zororo Makamba died in Zimbabwe, becoming the country’s first coronavirus death. He was 30.
Museum curator Maurice Berger, who campaigned against inequity in museum collections, died in the United States. He was 63.
Bounce DJ and radio personality Oliver Stokes Jr. (Black N Mild) died in New Orleans. He was 44.
Pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. James Goodrich, who operated on conjoined twins, died in the Bronx. He was 73.
Architect, educator, and critic Michael Sorkin died in the United States. He was 71.
Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally died in the United States. He was 81.
Jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr., the father of Winston and Branford Marsalis, died in the United States. He was 85.
Actor Mark Blum, who appeared in You and Desperately Seeking Susan, died in the United States. He was 69.
New York Times journalist Alan Finder died in New Jersey. He was 72.
British diplomat Steven Dick died in Hungary, where he was posted. He was 37.
Sociologist William Helmreich, who wrote a book about walking every block of New York City, died in New York. He was 74.
Musician Alan Merrill, who co-wrote I Love Rock N Roll, died in New York City. He was 69.