By Dr. Stuart Weiss, Intelligent Crowd Solutions

Dr. Stuart Weiss, FACEP, FAAP, CBCP

July 7, 2020

Today's topics: Tulsa OK cases spike, Cases rising in sunbelt with new record case numbers, strategy for safe events, CDC school guidance, can it be trusted?

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Cases spike in Tulsa

Well, its no surprise that CoViD-19 cases are spiking in Tulsa, OK a little more than 2 weeks after the indoor Trump rally there. In the past two days, Tulsa County has reported almost 500 cases and reported a record high number of new cases on Monday. Health officials in Tulsa County have suggested the spike was connected to the indoor events. And the spike is not isolated to Tulsa county as people drove in from all over Oklahoma. Oklahoma state's 7 day average new case load had previously been 92 and this past week jumped to 495 and a single day record of 858 new cases on Tuesday.

This is not rocket science. Indoor events with people not social distancing, not wearing face coverings and shouting or singing is the most dangerous combination. I suspect we will see spikes in South Dakota in 2 weeks as well although that was an outdoor event so perhaps it will be less pronounced.

Cases rising in Sun Belt

Yesterday, the US posted a new record of new cases. We are now up to 60,000 new cases per day. We are on track to rise to Dr. Fauci's projected 100,000 new cases per day. With only 1 in 10 people being tested, we expect that there are actually 600,000 new cases per day now and we could get to 1,000,000 new cases per day. Florida, Texas and Arizona continue to be the biggest hotspots. California posted a new record for new cases as well.

Dr Birx, the White House Corona Virus Task force coordinator suggested that states with a surge in cases should go back to Phase-1 levels. That would shut bars and restaurants for indoor dining and cancel all gatherings.Its a big step backwards but necessary with the rising case numbers. Many hospitals in the south are at or near their ICU capacity. PPE and testing is running low again. This is starting to look like March/April all over again.

New resource for productions

I can't yet say anything official yet but iCrowd is close to announcing that we have joined together with some industry leaders to put together a really interesting solution for events and venues, film sets and races to create a CoViD-19 safe zone. It will include some unique components. Its really exciting and brings together science and event/production expertise into one system. More on this in the near future.

Can we trust new CDC school guidance?

Only hours after President Trump complained on Twitter about the CDC guidance for school reopening, Vice President Pence announced that the CDC would be issuing new guidance next week. He said that administration officials didn't want the guidance to be "too tough".

The President tweeted “I disagree with@CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!”

Considerations in the May 19th guidance include keeping classroom windows open, spacing desks six feet apart "when feasible" and not using cafeterias or playground equipment. This is all in an effort to limit the spread of virus through aerosol droplets that can float in the air for several hours.

The President went on to say that many European countries have opened their schools. That is true but it was done after they got their virus outbreaks under control. We are certainly not in that place and much of our country is heading in the wrong direction. Most European schools also enacted virus controlling steps in schools like face coverings, reduced class sizes, keeping kids in small groups during lunch and recess.

President Trump is trying to force schools to reopen by threatening to withhold funding. On the college level, the administration has threatened to withhold visas for students going to universities that do not hold their classes in person. Harvard and M.I.T. are suing the Trump administration over this issue.

Instead of using science to help schools figure out how to reopen, President Trump has made this issue political. He tweeted "The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!"

So, can we trust the "new" guidance that will come out of the CDC. I guess we will wait and see.

Be well and take care of yourself. There are storm clouds on the horizon.
--Dr. Stu

COVID-19 HEADLINES FOR TODAY