Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Hospitalizations
All the coronavirus data is moving in the right direction in most of the U.S., yet 130,000 additional Americans are projected to die from COVID-19 by June according to one widely used model.
CNN
If vaccinations are key to ending the pandemic, Israel may get there first as it has the highest rate by far of any nation. Paradoxically, it also has the world's second-highest rate of daily new COVID-19 cases.
The New York Times
Coronavirus infection, hospitalizations and most recently, deaths, are declining, but public health experts warn that more transmissible variant strains of the coronavirus threaten to overwhelm hospitals in the next few months.
CIDRAP News
Do you know the COVID risk level where you live, work and play? Many COVID data trackers provide county and state-level data, but metropolitan area data had been more difficult to find until now, thanks to Covid Act Now.
Covid Act Now
The European outlier of Sweden was embraced by American conservatives as an example of a government relying not on heavy-handed business and social restrictions but voluntary compliance by individuals to reduce viral spread. No longer.
The Washington Post
The three levels of care provided by hospitals: conventional, contingency, and crisis, were outlined in a letter sent to all hospitals. They must notify the state by Wednesday that they have adopted some version of crisis standards to ration care.
Los Angeles Times
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge was critical of county public health officials for banning outdoor dining to slow the spread of the coronavirus without providing scientific evidence that the order would reduce infections.
Courthouse News Service
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who issued the nation's first stay-at-home order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, issued a new order to prevent hospitals in the nation's most populous state from being overwhelmed with COVID patients.
Office of Governor Gavin Newsom
Coronavirus infections, while at record-high levels, have decreased during the past week, unlike hospitalizations, which are still surging. Public health experts expect it to get a lot worse due to the Thanksgiving holiday travel.
Bloomberg News
Among the nation's more populous counties, El Paso continues to suffer the most severe coronavirus outbreak. One out of nearly every 30 residents currently has COVID-19. Four additional mobile morgues, on top of the existing six, have been ordered.
CNN
President-elect Biden made clear during the campaign that he will "follow the science" in tackling the number one priority of his administration—gaining control of the coronavirus. The 13-member task force with three co-chairs was announced Monday.
The New York Times
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, President Trump's former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, warned CBS viewers recently that the U.S. was at a "dangerous tipping point" in the pandemic. "We are on the cusp of exponential growth," he added later.
CBS News
Hospitals in parts of Wisconsin are experiencing a medical crisis reminiscent of New York and Arizona—they are running out of beds due to a surge of COVID-19 patients. The outbreak is statewide, showing no relationship with density.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Harvard University's Global Health Insititute and Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics have launched a new online tool for planners, policy makers, and the public to determine the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in one's county and state.
Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics
A second county in the Rio Grande Valley has issued an unenforceable stay-at-home order to reduce transmission of the coronavirus. Its one overwhelmed hospital will implement a triage system to determine which patients to treat and whom to reject.
CBS News
At the request of the state's largest health network, Arizona has activated the "Crisis Standards of Care," meaning that if a hospital lacks capacity, it can turn away new patients, likely to be seniors, sending them home. Other states may follow.
Arizona Mirror
Ventilator availability is a major indicator for states in the South and West that are seeing record hospitalizations, but in New York, where Gov. Cuomo announced that New York City had moved to Phase III of reopening, the topic was ventilation.
Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
As the U.S. celebrates its 245th birthday, the nation's top infectious disease expert issued a stern warning—the U.S. is on a path to having 100,000 Americans infected daily with Covid-19. In Florida, another expert warns that time is running out.
The Washington Post
Hasty reopenings by counties and bad behavior are blamed for soaring infection growth in California. Hospital and ICU beds in Los Angeles County, which has more coronavirus cases than any county in the U.S., could reach capacity by mid-July.
Los Angeles Times
Coronavirus cases are surging throughout the South and West. With growing hospitalizations threatening the capacity of the health care systems in major cities in Texas, Gov. Gregg Abbott pressed 'pause' on the state's reopening plan.
The Washington Post
