Notations On Our World (Special Edition): On the #CoronaVirus

Our team has been on the prowl re: The Corona Virus.   Our Healthcare Agency provided the following guidance which we will feature throughout our Platforms for the week--although it is directed at those of us who call Orange County Home, it is still critical for all to be aware of: 

The County of Orange has declared a local emergency and a local health emergency to prepare for COVID-19, commonly known as novel coronavirus.

The declaration of both a local emergency and local health emergency assists the County of Orange to better leverage resources in order to prepare to our staffing needs and greater agency coordination all while allowing for future reimbursement for County activities by state and federal governments in the event of an COVID-19 outbreak in Orange County.

While there has been only one confirmed case in Orange County and that individual has recovered, the OC Health Care Agency continues to engage and monitor the rapidly changing worldwide response to COVID-19.

Should more COVID-19 cases occur in Orange County, the OC Health Care Agency (HCA) would share that information with community members and medical providers, and colleagues at the California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

County of Orange residents are encouraged to visit www.ochealthinfo.com/novelcoronavirus, call the OC Health Care Agency’s Health Referral Line from Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1 (800) 564-8448, and monitor social media channels to ensure they have the most accurate and up to date information related to COVID-19.

Orange County residents need to take the proper precautions to ensure their health and welfare are
protected at all times, The best way to receive the most up to date information on how to stay healthy and safe locally is to follow our OC Health Care Agency on
Twitter and Facebook.

There are now at least 100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S., with New York, the most populous city in the country, reporting its first case on Sunday. Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo had days earlier called the arrival the virus “inevitable,” and the city is one of several that have been planning for an uptick of cases.  In New York, hospitals designated 1,200 beds for treatment of Covid-19 patients, while city officials are weighing options to limit or stagger public transit ridership. In Texas, weeks before the state confirmed its first case, Tarrant County had established a "war room" in a downtown Fort Worth building so officials could gather for daily conference calls. And in California, San Francisco and a handful of counties have declared public health emergencies to free up funding.  But having a plan doesn't necessarily means being prepared, cautions John Barry, leading historian of the 1918 Spanish flu, which was dubbed the "Mother of all pandemics.” "The problem isn’t the plan,” Barry said in a conversation with me this morning. Some of the most important factors are out of cities’ hands. ”How many hospital beds do you have, specifically ICU beds?" he says, warning that hospitals may be overwhelmed as the number of cases spike. Barry also points to the supply chain disruption in China, which will make nurses and doctors vulnerable. "The surgical gloves, the hypodermic needles, the surgical gowns," he adds. "Nobody stockpiles that stuff." New York, for example, has obtained 1.5 million face masks for its health workers, and needs 300,000 more. The U.S. is currently facing a shortage amid a surge in public demand. All the while, delays and missteps—including the slow distribution of reliable test kits by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention —have already limited local communities' ability to detect and contain the spread of the virus. In Washington state, the virus may have been spreading, undetected, for six weeks. And as health experts brace for an increase of cases in coming days, King County officials are looking to buy a motel to isolate potential patients. -Linda Poon More on CityLab Coronavirus Outbreak Maps Rooted in History Cartographers are mapping the coronavirus in more sophisticated ways than past epidemics. But visualizing outbreaks dates back to cholera and yellow fever. -MARIE PATINO