White House Modeling Questioned

"Leading disease forecasters, whose research the White House used to conclude 100,000 to 240,000 people will die nationwide from the coronavirus, were mystified when they saw the administration’s projection this week.

The experts said they don’t challenge the numbers’ validity but that they don’t know how the White House arrived at them," reports the Washington Post.

One of the sources the White House cites is Jeffrey Shaman of  Columbia University.

According to a mid-march report by Sharman, “'Heightened awareness of the outbreak, increased use of personal protective measures, and travel restriction have helped reduce the overall force of infection; however, it is unclear whether this reduction will be sufficient to fully stem the virus spread,' says Shaman. 'If the novel coronavirus follows the pattern of 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza, it will also spread globally and become a fifth endemic coronavirus within the human population.'”

Wear Masks

Now, medical experts are calling for the wearing of masks or other facial covering in public.

“I do think we need to have facial coverings for folks, so everyone has to wear one and we are protecting others from us,” Dr. Dena Grayson, an infectious disease specialist, told Yahoo Finance.

Grayson said the public should not wear N95 masks, the special respirator masks that “are really recommended for health care workers and first responders who are in close contact repeatedly with people who are COVID-19, the illness caused by this coronavirus.”

PHOTO: Lilly M. CC

Numbers

657 Cases in Rhode Island

8,966 Cases in Massachusetts

12 Deaths in RI

154 Deaths in Massachusetts

245,380 Cases in the United States

6,095 Deaths in the United States

1,032,276 Global Cases

54,263 Global Deaths

212,408 Global Recoveries

CIA Tracking Numbers in China

The New York Times is reporting, "The C.I.A. has been warning the White House since at least early February that China has vastly understated its coronavirus infections and that its count could not be relied upon as the United States compiles predictive models to fight the virus, according to current and former intelligence officials.

The intelligence briefings in recent weeks, based at least in part on information from C.I.A. assets in China, played an important role in President Trump’s negotiation on Thursday of an apparent détente with President Xi Jinping of China. Since then, both countries have ratcheted back criticism of each other."

Democrats Push Back Convention

The Olympics have been delayed for a year. Nearly every public gathering in the world has been delayed or canceled.

Now, the Democratic Party has announced that is has delayed its convention.

The Convention has been pushed back from July to the week of August 17.

Dr. Fauci Calls for National Lockdown

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday suggested the need for a national lockdown, while acknowledging he does not have the authority to order one.

Today, ten states have yet to issue any control orders.

“I can’t make any official proclamations here, but I can say: Really seriously consider, are those exemptions appropriate when you think about what’s going on?” Fauci said. “And I urge the people of the leadership at the state level to really take a close look at those kinds of decisions.”

GoLocal LIVE Coverage Friday

10:00 AM Rebecca Couto da Silva from Bolzano, Italy

12:00 PM Dr. Michael Fine, Former RI Director of Health

1:00 PM  Governor Gina Raimondo's Press Briefing