Whether we want to admit it or not, the coronavirus disease 2019 also known as COVID-19 has come not just to our country but also our state.
As of the time of this writing, (3 p.m. Central Time on Monday, March 9) the worldwide number of confirmed cases was 113,584 according to a tracker built by the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering. Our digital and web readers can see the infographic here: https:// www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdash-board/index.html#/bda7594740fd-40299423467b48e9ecf6.
Additionally, of the 113,584 confirmed cases of coronavirus, 3,996 people have died, and another 62,496 individuals have recovered. Accoridng to these numbers, the mortality rate is 3.51 percent. And they also show 55.20 percent of people with the virus have recovered. The remaining 41.29 percent of people with the virus have appeared to be active cases.
At this time, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States is 607. An active case of COVID-19 was reported in Tulsa County, Okla. on March 7.
Meanwhile, in Texas there are a total of 13 confirmed cases with one in Collin County in Northern Texas, six in Fort Bend County and another six in Harris County near Houston.
Thus far, no deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in either Oklahoma or Texas. However, other parts of the United States have not been so fortunate as Washington state has seen 20 coronavirus-related deaths across three Seattle-area counties (King, Grant and Snohomish). Other COVID-19 deaths have occurred in Placer County, Calif. (near Los Angeles) and Santa Rosa County, Fla. (near Pensacola).
CDC’s recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has put together a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Summary at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html. The summary page provides ample detail on the background of the virus and what is known by U.S. health officials. The CDC provided the following list of things to do to stay safe:
• Take everyday preventive actions to stay healthy.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
• Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other social distancing measures.
• Stay informed. CDC’s COVID-19 Situation Summary will be updated regularly as information becomes available.
Additionally, the CDC has said that older people and people of all ages with severe underlying health conditions — like heart disease, lung disease and diabetes, for example — seem to be at higher risk of developing serious COVID-19 illness. The CDC also advises that what it calls “special populations” (such as children and pregnant women) are not considered high risk of developing serious COVID-19 but are at increased risk of severe illness from other infectious diseases.
Economic impact
The virus has begun to have a wide-ranging impact outside of the healthcare sector both domestically and abroad.
This morning, the New York Stock Exchange had a short, but tumultuous day of trading. Three major indices (The Standard & Poor’s 500, the Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq) all dropped more than seven percent. As a result, the NYSE tripped a circuit break due to instability across global markets, which led to a forced 15-minute stop in trading.
The Dow’s 2,000 point drop was its highest ever decline, according to Yahoo Finance.
If that wasn’t bad enough, oil prices have fallen into the $30s as both Russia and Saudi Arabia are battling over production.
The Texas Tribune reported on Monday that, “Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, the state’s chief revenue estimator, predicted last year that oil prices would hover in the low-to mid-$50-per barrel range through the latter half of 2021. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude was hovering just over $30 per barrel at midday Monday.
Meanwhile, a pair of Washington Post reporters interviewed Scott Sheffield, chief executive of Irving, Texas’ Pioneer Natural Resources
“Sheffield said Pioneer is secure, but other companies plying the vast shale in places such as North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas will face difficulties.
“We are preparing for two years of low prices and will make the necessary adjustments to maintain our great balance sheet,” he said. But, he added, “there will be many bankruptcies in our industries and tens of thousands of layoffs over the next 12 months.”
Please know that this is not meant to alarm, but rather inform. After all, informing the public is the job of your local newspaper.
However, with events such as the coronavirus, there tends to be a lot of misinformation and sometimes panic. Although we cannot prevent the spread of misinformation on other platforms such as social media or even person to person gossip, we do our best to share the most accurate information available.
The reality is, we as a country, only know so much about the coronavirus. It could turn out to be a pandemic such as the swine flu of 2009 to 2010, which infected between 700 million to 1.4 billion people or 11 to 21% of the world’s population, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
Likewise, maybe the infections slow down altogether. Either way, the coronavirus and its impacts are not something to take likely. It is our hope that knowledge is power and all of us can work toward keeping each other safe.