National COVID-19 Update

April 10, 2020

Current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures show a total of 459,165 confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. in 55 states and U.S. territories, with 16,570 deaths. New York state leads the nation with more than 157,000 cases, followed by New Jersey which has more than 51,000 cases and Michigan which has more than 21,000 cases. COVIDView, a weekly CDC summary and interpretation of key indicators that have been adapted to track the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., is available here.

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it has issued a second emergency use authorization (EUA) to decontaminate compatible N95 or N95-equivalent respirators for reuse by healthcare workers in hospital settings. This EUA is said to support decontamination of approximately 750,000 N95 respirators per day in the U.S. The FDA granted an emergency use authorization to STERIS Corporation for selected sterilization systems that use vaporized hydrogen peroxide. The sterilizers can process up to 10 respirators at one time and take about 28 minutes to complete. Each respirator can be reprocessed up to 10 times for single-user reuse.

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Apple, in collaboration with the CDC, has released a new online screening tool to find out what actions a person who is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 can take. The webpage also provides links to state public health departments and general information on COVID-19 including self-care resources. The tool is also available in the App store. Search for Apple COVID-19.

The latest update on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Coronavirus Rumor Control webpage addresses the following rumor:  Is FEMA seizing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or re-routing medical supplies when it’s delivered to the United States? FEMA responded with the following: Fact: FEMA and Customs Border Patrol (CBP) are working together to prevent fraud when PPE and medical supplies enter the United States from overseas.  PPE being distributed internally within the United States is not being seized or re-routed by FEMA. Reports of FEMA seizing or re-routing supplies are FALSE. To report hoarding or price gouging of PPE report it immediately to the National Center for Disaster Fraud calling 866-720-5721 or disaster@leo.gov.

The latest WHO situation report shows more than 1.52 million COVID-19 cases globally, with over 92,700 deaths. The European Region leads the world in cases and deaths, with nearly 800,000 confirmed cases with over 66,000 deaths. The Region of the Americas (includes the U.S.) follows, reporting more than 493,000 cases and more than 17,000 deaths.