Contagion Live News Network: Coronavirus Updates for March 16, 2020

Welcome to the Contagion Live News Network. I’m Grant Gallagher and this is the COVID-19 update for Monday, March 16th, 2020.

The federal reserve cut interest rates to zero and introduced a new round of quantitative easing measures in response to economic challenges spurred by both the virus and associated response efforts around the world.

31 states across the United States, including Massachusetts and New York, have announced public school closures. New York, for example, will be closing schools until at least April 20^th.

The CDC has also recommended in general that gatherings of 50 or more people over the next 8 weeks be cancelled or postponed. People taking everyday steps like limiting large gatherings and frequently washing hands can substantially reduce risk around the country. Healthy individuals can also make a difference by checking in older or immunocompromised friends, family, and neighbors while maintaining physical social distancing.

According to a conference call grocery store executives had with President Trump, grocery store supply chains remain strongly in place, and so while people’s worries about a shortage are understandable, there is not an urgent need to buy up daily essentials.

The total number of cases in the US has now passed 3770, with at least 70 deaths.

There have been a total of about 170,000 cases of COVID-19 reported around the world. There have been more than 6500 reported deaths, but also at least 77,000 recoveries.

Just this morning, we published an article on caring for critically ill patients who have COVID-19 that clinicians may find useful. For this and other stories relevant to COVID-19, visit ContagionLive.com. To track the spread of coronavirus in the United States and abroad, be sure to use the Contagion Outbreak Monitor.

For the Contagion Live News Network, I’m Grant Gallagher. Thanks for watching.