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To: Sdgla who wrote (1231560)	5/20/2020 2:34:24 PM
From: pocotrader	1 Recommendation Recommended By rdkflorida2 Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578138

China’s New Outbreak Shows Signs the Virus Could Be Changing Bloomberg News 2 hrs ago (Bloomberg) -- Chinese doctors are seeing the coronavirus manifest differently among patients in its new cluster of cases in the northeast region compared to the original outbreak in Wuhan, suggesting that the pathogen may be changing in unknown ways and complicating efforts to stamp it out. Patients found in the northern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang appear to carry the virus for a longer period of time and take longer to test negative, Qiu Haibo, one of China’s top critical care doctors, told state television on Tuesday. Patients in the northeast also appear to be taking longer than the one to two weeks observed in Wuhan to develop symptoms after infection, and this delayed onset is making it harder for authorities to catch cases before they spread, said Qiu, who is now in the northern region treating patients. Second Waves That Are Hard to Trace Plague Asia’s Virus Recovery “The longer period during which infected patients show no symptoms has created clusters of family infections,” said Qiu, who was earlier sent to Wuhan to help in the original outbreak. Some 46 cases have been reported over the past two weeks spread across three cities -- Shulan, Jilin city and Shengyang -- in two provinces, a resurgence of infection that sparked renewed lockdown measures over a region of 100 million people. Scientists still do not fully understand if the virus is changing in significant ways and the differences Chinese doctors are seeing could be due to the fact that they’re able to observe patients more thoroughly and from an earlier stage than in Wuhan. When the outbreak first exploded in the central Chinese city, the local health-care system was so overwhelmed that only the most serious cases were being treated. The northeast cluster is also far smaller than Hubei’s outbreak, which ultimately sickened over 68,000 people. Coronavirus Newsletter: The mutation question Still, the findings suggest that the remaining uncertainty over how the virus manifests will hinder governments’ efforts to curb its spread and re-open their battered economies. China has one of the most comprehensive virus detection and testing regimes globally and yet is still struggling to contain its new cluster. Researchers worldwide are trying to ascertain if the virus is mutating in a significant way to become more contagious as it races through the human population, but early research suggesting this possibility has been criticized for being overblown. “In theory, some changes in the genetic structure can lead to changes in the virus structure or how the virus behaves,” said Keiji Fukuda, director and clinical professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health. “However, many mutations lead to no discernible changes at all.” It’s likely that the observations in China don’t have a simple correlation with a mutation and “very clear evidence” is needed before concluding that the virus is mutating, he said. Northeast DifferencesQiu said that doctors have also noticed patients in the northeast cluster seem to have damage mostly in their lungs, whereas patients in Wuhan suffered multi-organ damage across the heart, kidney and gut. Officials now believe that the new cluster stemmed from contact with infected arrivals from Russia, which has one of the worst outbreaks in Europe. Genetic sequencing has showed a match between the northeast cases and Russian-linked ones, said Qiu. Among the northeast cluster, only 10% have turned critical and 26 are hospitalized. Over 100 Million in China’s Northeast Face Renewed Lockdown China is moving aggressively to stem the spread of the new cluster ahead of its annual political gathering in Beijing scheduled to start this week. As thousands of delegates stream into the capital to endorse the government’s agenda, China’s central leadership is determined to project stability and control. The northeast provinces have ordered a return of lockdown measures, halting train services, closing schools and sealing off residential compounds, dismaying residents who had thought the worst was over. “People should not assume the peak has passed or let down their guard,” Wu Anhua, a senior infectious disease doctor, said on state television on Tuesday. “It’s totally possible that the epidemic will last for a long time.” ©2020 Bloomberg L.P

To: Sdgla who wrote (1231560)	5/20/2020 2:47:29 PM
From: Mongo2116	2 Recommendations Recommended By pocotrader rdkflorida2 Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578138

To: Sdgla who wrote (1231560)	5/20/2020 2:49:57 PM
From: pocotrader	1 Recommendation Recommended By rdkflorida2 Respond to of 1578138

Florida sees 502 new cases of COVID-19 as turmoil unfolds over state’s virus data dashboard52 new coronavirus related deaths reported overnight As Florida continues to inch towards a full reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic, the number of new cases of the disease continues to climb. In order to provide viewers with up-to-date information on new cases and fatalities associated with COVID-19, News 6 has used a dashboard created by a data team at the Florida Department of Health daily to show a breakdown of coronavirus cases across the state. However, Florida Today reported Monday that the initial architect responsible for creating the COVID-19 dashboard — praised by White House health officials for its accessibility — announced that she had been removed from her post, causing an outcry from independent researchers now worried about government censorship. The dashboard has been used by both the public and researchers to access and download tables of COVID-19 cases, testing and death data to analyze freely. According to Florida Today, the site was created by a team of FDOH data scientists and public health officers headed by Rebekah Jones. She announced last week her removal as of May 5 in a heartfelt farewell note emailed to researchers and other members of the public who had signed up to receive updates on the data portal. Citing “reasons beyond my division’s control,” Jones said her office is no longer managing the dashboard, is no longer involved in its publication, the fixing of errors or answering questions related to the dashboard “in any shape or form.” She warned that she does not know what the new team’s intentions are for data access, including “what data they are now restricting.” “As a word of caution, I would not expect the new team to continue the same level of accessibility and transparency that I made central to the process during the first two months. After all, my commitment to both is largely (arguably entirely) the reason I am no longer managing it,” Jones wrote in her farewell note. Commissioner Nikki Fried is now requesting a cabinet briefing on the fired DOH employee. “I don’t know who she is but they gave me an email that she sent to her supervisor said that you know ‘Uh oh I may have said something that was misrepresented, I said they got a team working on it now and what I meant when I said don’t expect the same level of accessibility is that they are busy and can’t answer every single email they get right away and that it was ridiculous that I managed to do it in the first place and that I was tired and needed a break from working two months straight and finally take a vacation’ that’s what she wrote then," Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday. [READ MORE: Florida COVID-19 data chief gets sidelined and researchers cry foul] While it is unclear how the dashboard will be modified without the original data team in place, it still remains as the only source for official COVID-19 statistical data for the state. No other independent source reports this data for the state of Florida making the task of confirming all statistical information released by the FDOH problematic. Based on updated information added to the FDOH dashboard Tuesday, the state saw 502 new cases of COVID-19 since Monday afternoon, as well as 52 new deaths as a result of the respiratory illness. These new numbers bring the total cases of COVID-19 reported in the state since it was first detected on March 1 to 46,944 and the total number of deaths to 2,049. The state does not provide information on the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19.