Posted on 02/27/2020 6:30:34 AM PST by MNJohnnie
President Trump holds a news conference on COVID-19 at the White House. (Photo by Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) – Of the 16 countries reporting the highest number of confirmed cases of the China-originated coronavirus COVID-19, the United States has the smallest number in proportion to its population.
President Trump on Wednesday attributed the relative success thus far in containing the outbreak at home to a decision early on to impose travel restrictions from China, a move which he said had prompted accusations of racism from his critics.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a cumulative total of 59 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States as of Wednesday.
But a 60th case was announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday.
Only 15 of those 60 cases were detected and tested in the U.S. itself. Azar announced the 15th case at a congressional hearing on Wednesday: “Coming into this hearing, I was informed that we have a 15th confirmed case, the epidemiology of which we are still discerning,” he said.
The 15th patient diagnosed in the U.S. is being treated at the University of California-Davis Medical Center. Press reports said this is the first U.S. case of possible human-to-human transmission in the general public, or "community spread" that is unrelated to travel or any known contact with an infected person.
Making up the rest of the 60 coronavirus cases in the U.S. are 42 patients from among the 338 Americans flown home from the Diamond Princess cruise ship berthed in Japan, plus three Americans repatriated from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak began late last year.
Even taking into account all 60 cases, the U.S. still has the smallest number of coronavirus cases per capita of the countries where more than ten confirmed cases had been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) by Wednesday morning.
The others are: China (78,191 confirmed cases), South Korea (1,261), Italy (322), Japan (164), Iran (95), Singapore (91), Thailand (40), Bahrain (26), Australia (23), Malaysia (22), Germany (18), Britain (13), UAE (13), France (12), and Kuwait (12).
In order of the highest number of cases per capita, the ranking is: China (0.00560 percent of the national population), South Korea (0.00243 percent), Bahrain (0.00172), Singapore (0.00146), Italy (0.00051), Kuwait (0.00040), Japan (0.00013), UAE (0.00013), Iran (0.00011), Australia (0.00009), Malaysia (0.00006), Thailand (0.00005), Germany (0.00002), Britain (0.00002), France (0.00001), and the United States (0.00001).
Graph excludes 60th U.S. case. (Graph: CNSNews.com / Data: WHO, CIA World Fact Book) Graph excludes 60th U.S. case. (Graph: CNSNews.com / Data: WHO, CIA World Fact Book)
(Percentages are based on population statistics from the CIA World Fact Book.)
‘Some people called me racist’
On January 31, HHS Secretary Azar declared a public health emergency for the entire United States, and Trump signed a proclamation authorizing travel restrictions designed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. They came into effect at 5 PM eastern time on Sunday, February 2.
Any foreign national who has visited China in the 14 days prior to arrival has been temporarily denied entry into the U.S. (Permanent residents and immediate family members of U.S. citizens are exempt.)
Any U.S. citizen who has been in Hubei province, the outbreak epicenter, within 14 days of their return is being placed under mandatory quarantine for up to two weeks. American citizens who have been in other parts of China in the past 14 days are screened and placed under self-monitored quarantine for up to 14 days.
During a White House press briefing Wednesday evening with members of his Coronavirus Task Force, Trump was asked at what point he would consider loosening the travel restrictions related to China.
“When we’re at a point where we don’t have a problem,” he began. “We’re not going to loosen the travel restrictions, that’s what saved us.”
“Had I not made a decision very early on not to take people from a certain area, we wouldn’t be talking this way,” Trump said. “We’d be talking about many more people would have been infected.”
“I took a lot of heat. I mean, some people called me racist because I made a decision so early. And we had never done that as a country before, let alone early. So it was a, you know, bold decision. It turned out to be a good decision. But I was criticized by the Democrats, they called me a racist because I made that decision, if you can believe that one.”
Trump appealed for national unity on the issue.
“We have to all work together. We can’t say bad things. And especially when we have the best team anywhere in the world,” he added, gesturing to the task force experts behind him. “And we really gave it an early start.”
During the press conference, Trump also cited a study by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and partners which ranked countries for their preparedness to handle a viral outbreak.
“They did a study, comprehensive – the countries best and worst prepared for an epidemic. And the United States is now, we’re rated number one,” he said. “We’re rated number one for being prepared.”
The Oct. 2019 index ranked 195 countries in six specific areas, and then gave an overall score.
The United States was in first place in four of the six categories:
--Prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens
--Early detection and reporting for epidemics of potential international concern
--Sufficient and robust health system to treat the sick and protect health workers
--Commitments to improving national capacity, financing and adherence to norms
The U.S. was in second place in the category “rapid response to and mitigation of the spread of an epidemic,” and in 19th place in the category “overall risk environment and country vulnerability to biological threats.”
The U.S. was in first place overall, followed by Britain, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Thailand, and Sweden.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Are there not a bazillion Brazilians?
Isn’t that possibly because so few have been tested for it here?
It would appear that given the amount of travel from Wusan to multiple points in the US from Dec15-Jan30, the virus is here. Yet there have been no outbreaks. Nor did Caucasians and Africans living and working in Wusan have the same degree of serious infection and mortality rate as the native Chinese. The politically incorrect and difficult question that must be asked and answered: Do Caucasians and Africans have the same genetic susceptibility to infection and if infected to serious illness and death as Asiatics. The answer appears to be no. WHO will never tell you. BTW the outbreak in Italy is in a region where there is a large concentration of Chinese immigrants and guest workers. Also remember Iran was transversed by the Silk Road and was conquered by Mongols. Modern Iranians in certain regions share many genes with Asians. Genetics, however politically incorrect to note, trumps all other factors when studying the spread of any infectious disease.
We have the lowest per capita because our government can’t or won’t test more people. It really is a disgrace.
A true, but misleading statistic. It’s early in the course of this.
We need to see the infection rate slow and come down in a number of countries to be able to better judge, rather than congratulating ourselves just yet.
It may turn out to be true that this low rate will continue... and it may not. We’ll see.
Have there been any Southern Hemisphere cases yet? (summertime there)
ML/NJ
Whats misleading about it?
What’s misleading is it isn’t “steady state.”
If it keeps up, that’s great. But when the infection starts somewhere else, how can we be sure that we’ve reached or passed the maximum rate of infection? When we have an idea that we have, then we can talk about per capita effects quantitatively.
Does that make sense to you?
I mean misleading in a statistical way, because the information is still coming in, rather than in a deliberate, ideological way.
If what keeps up? We had 15 cases in the US. 8 of them have already been cured and sent home. 5 are recovering nicely and will be home soon. The other 2 are responding to treatment. So far, only ONE new case.
If anything, its going down. So where is the crisis at?
Did you even watch President Trump’s press conference yesterday at all?
Where is the problem, you ask?
I’m happy you’re convinced all is well. I hope it is, and I thought so until the last couple days. Afterall, the current worldwide posted figures for the US are 60 (not 15, that was a few days ago) with 6 recovered and no deaths.
But yesterday, California found the first case of “community transmission.” Also, 83 were quarantined on Nassau, Long Island. Atlanta only found one questionable case, but they screened 1000 people. And today, I read that 231 people are being monitored and “self”-quarantined in Massachusetts. So these are new pieces of info that make me wonder.
It’s not over ‘til its clearly over.
Sure, I watched it. I thought he did a good job. But he has to strike the balance between caution and panic. Even he admitted that while he hopes we’ve got it under control, he can’t guarantee it. At least, that’s what I saw and heard.
Good point about the 42, I should have taken that into account.
Oh yeah, one more thing—the reason I missed the 42 is that in Japan, they separated the Diamond Princess people out from the rest of the population, and reported it separately as “other.”
“Isn’t that possibly because so few have been tested for it here?
That is exactly what is happening.
Expect a big overnight increase in the next few days.
Say that three times...
.
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