Corona Harms: terrifying unemployment, war on gags and hidden numbers
Economic damage from the CoronaVirus pandemic has accumulated, with 6.6 million Americans making unprecedented claims of unemployment benefits, and competition for respirators and other protective equipment intensified, amid growing evidence that untold, infected people have been transferred.
New jobless claims, announced Thursday, are twice the previous record last week, with 10 million people who lost their jobs in the United States in just two weeks due to an outbreak.
It almost certainly indicates the start of a severe global recession.
With large parts of America closed in an attempt to contain this scourge, job losses are expected to reach 20 million and the unemployment rate may rise to 15 percent by the end of the month, many economists believe.
The growing economic fallout comes amid a global race to protect people from HIV infection.
The study, conducted by researchers in Singapore on Wednesday, that 10 percent of the new infections are from people who carry the virus but have not had symptoms until now.
In response, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed the way it determines the risk of infection, saying that anyone may be a carrier of the infection, whether or not symptoms appear. But the centers and the World Health Organization have not changed their stance that most individuals do not need to wear masks.
But Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti urged the city's estimated 4 million people to wear masks, saying that "the muzzle" could slow the spread of the virus and remind people of the obligation of social separation.
Wearing a muzzle, he said: "I know it will look like a fantasy. We will have to get used to seeing each other like this".
Gags war
The world also witnessed inter-governmental confrontations over precious protective gear. A senior health official in eastern France, which was hardest hit by the Corona virus, said that US officials entered a Chinese airport to obtain a plane load of the masks that France had requested.
"The Americans arrived at the amphitheater, took out the money and paid three or four of what we paid for the shipment, so we have to fight," Dr. Jan Rutner, the doctor of the emergency room in Mulhouse, told Russia Radio.
On Thursday, 9 leading European university hospitals warned against running out of essential medicines for Corona patients in intensive care in less than two weeks. The European University Hospital Alliance said countries should cooperate, not compete, to ensure access to stable supplies.
US President Donald Trump has acknowledged that the federal stockpile is almost inexhaustible from the protective tools doctors and nurses need.
He said: "We will have two weeks, we will start now quickly, but the situation a few days from now, it will be terrible."
In Japan, where gags are a staple of the family, the government plans to mail two gauze gags to 50 million families in the country.
In all, nearly one million people worldwide have been infected with the virus and more than 48,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 200,000 people have recovered.
Spain set a record of daily HIV-related death rates, with 950 people dying in 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to about ten thousand, despite indications that the rate of infection is slowing.
Italy has the largest number of deaths due to the virus in the world, where more than 13 thousand people have died.
More than 200,000 people were injured in the United States, and the death toll rose to 5,100.
"How is this going to end? People want answers," said New York State Governor Andrew Como, in the state that has become the worst virus outbreak in the country.
"I want answers. The answer is no one knows for sure," he added.
Como said that forecasts indicate that the crisis in New York will reach its climax at the end of April, with the high death rate continuing through July.
The number of corona virus deaths in New York State doubled in 72 hours to more than 1900, Wednesday.
Como complained that the states were competing with each other for protective clothing and ventilators, or that they faced speculation over the price from the federal government, in a competition similar to that on eBay.
In Greece, the authorities put a full refugee camp of 2,400 people under quarantine, after they discovered that a third of the 63 people who had contacted an infected woman had also been infected, but had no symptoms.
Hidden numbers
It is believed that the real numbers of people living with the virus are much higher due to a lack of tests and a disparity in the calculation of deceased cases and those with moderate, unreported symptoms.
Critics also say that some governments deliberately fail to report all cases to avoid criticism.
The president of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, has described China's numbers on emerging Coronavirus infections as unreliable, but added that many countries are dealing with unconfirmed data.
In Italy, a new study concluded that there is more than twice the hidden number of corona virus victims in Bergamo, than the official number declared dead, noting that there is a new estimate of 4,500 cases.
For most people, the SK virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and coughing.
But for others, especially the elderly and people with existing health problems, it can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia.
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