coronavirus

Best-selling author Margie Warrell, an international expert on brave leadership and founder of Global Courage has been dealing with two extremely stressful situations lately.  She had to help rescue her parents from the bush fires in her native Australia and recently found out that her husband has been diagnosed with COVID-19.  Her husband Andrew has been isolated in an Australian hospital.

Warrell is releasing her new book at the end of the month, You've Got This: The Life Changing Power of Trusting Yourself.

Dr. David Alland, Director of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Public Health Research Institute, which is within the Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences Institute for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases, along with his colleagues Drs. Padmapriya Banada and Sukalyani Banik, have conducted the first evaluation of an innovative point-of-care test to detect COVID-19.

“The time for warnings is over”: AG promises social distancing crackdown

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal promised stiff penalties — from citations to second-degree charges — for any business or individual who violates New Jersey’s retail restrictions or stay-at-home order (more information on those rules below).

“If you’re a retail store or an entertainment center and you stay open, or if you’re a bar and you keep serving patrons in your establishment, consider this as your final warning,” Grewal said.

There are nearly 21-thousand confirmed coronavirus cases in New York State.  More than 12-thousand are in New York City as of Monday afternoon.  The state has ramped up testing even more with roughly 16 thousand people getting checked for COVID 19 every day.

Governor Cuomo is ordering hospitals to increase their capacity by at least 50 percent to make room for coronavirus patients.

“Mandatory directive from the state. Find more beds. Use more rooms.”

The number of coronavirus cases in the area continues to go up. There are more than 15-thousand in New York State as of Sunday afternoon. More than half of those are in New York City.

In New Jersey, there are nearly two thousand cases and the virus is now in all 21 counties. After New York ordered all workers at non essential businesses to stay out of the office or job site Friday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy followed through with the same order over the weekend for his state, an extreme measure to try and contain the spread of coronavirus.

The experience of northern Italy hangs over New Jersey’s health care workers like a specter. If they can’t create the bed space now to handle an inevitable surge in coronavirus patients, they’ll face the same agonizing decisions as their counterparts in Italy: whom to help and whom to turn away.

But as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Garden State soars above 800 and the death toll ticks up, its leaders are meeting the challenge with the urgency — and creativity — of war.

Throughout the nation local and state governments are working around the clock to come up with ways to continue delivering vital services while they slow the advance of the coronavirus and tend to the rapidly growing cases of the virus. Currently our region is the leading national hotspot for this unprecedented outbreak.

There are more than seven thousand coronavirus cases in New York State as of Friday. More than half of them are in New York City.

With the numbers increasing, Governor Cuomo is ordering all employees to work from home. The governor says only essential businesses will be able to have workers in the office or on the job site.

“There will be a civil fine and mandatory closure for any business not in compliance."

Just last week, guitarist Pat Metheny finished the Australia and New Zealand leg of an international concert tour, in support of his new album. Then his band flew on to South America and learned that a remaining slew of dates — in Brazil and Chile, and all over Europe — had been canceled due to the coronavirus.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New York State has spiked to more than 4,000.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is putting more restrictions on businesses to help slow down the spread. He says that based on the science and data, more density reduction is needed.

“Voluntarily, I am asking all businesses to have people work from home. As a mandate, 75 percent of your employee base must work from home.”

During Newark Mayor Ras Baraka's Facebook Live update on Wednesday, he gave the sobering news that the city has experienced its first coronavirus related death.

The Mayor says the man was in his early 40's and had underlying health problems.

Mayor Baraka and Dr. Wade will be the guests on Thursday's Newark Today show at 8pm on WBGO, hosted by Michael Hill.

The number of coronavirus cases in New Jersey jumped to 427 on Wednesday, including five deaths, Gov. Phil Murphy said.

State officials said the increase was not a surprise, given that coronavirus is now spreading in the community and health workers are increasing the number of tests for patients with symptoms of the illness.

“It is a beast,” Murphy said, “no matter how you slice it.”

There are 1,374 confirmed coronavirus cases in New York State as of Tuesday. Roughly half are in New York City. The hospitalization rate is about 19 percent in the state.

Governor Cuomo thinks the virus could peak around 45 days but warns the hospital system is in danger of being overwhelmed with patients.

“We’re examining the entire hospital system. What is the maximum capacity per hospital. If Department of Health waives their space rules.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has announced statewide restrictions beginning 8 p.m. Monday that will severely limit business operations and discourage individual travel in an extraordinary effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The Democrat also announced that all schools in the state would close indefinitely starting Wednesday, including public, private and parochial schools from grades pre-K to 12, as well as all colleges and universities.

There’s now a ban on gatherings of 50 people or more in New York State. All schools statewide will close by Wednesday. Most are already closed.

Governor Cuomo announced a number of new restrictions and orders Monday in an effort to help control the spread of coronavirus. The governor is ordering local governments to reduce the office workforce by at least 50 percent.

He says casinos, theaters and gyms will all close. Restaurants will be limited to takeout and delivery.

After much debate, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made the decision Sunday to close New York City Schools at least through April 20. 

The Mayor was getting pressure from parents, unions and other elected officials to shutter the schools amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

Both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and de Blasio have resisted calls to shut down the schools, warning that forcing health care workers to stay home and supervise their children would cause a drag on a hospital system already bracing for an overwhelming influx of patients.

City officials, including Mayor Ras Baraka and Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo are hoping residents will take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.  Mayor Baraka announced on Sunday that Newark has its first reported case.

WBGO's Scott Pringle was there.

Dr. Mark Wade says Newark's got its first coronavirus case, a man in his 50's who is being self-quarantined.

Mayor Baraka wants residents to avoid bars and other large crowds to help prevent the spread. 

A WBGO Conversation with News Director Doug Doyle and Bob Hennelly.

Doyle: Here in the United States local and state public health officials were scrambling this week in their efforts to get ahead of the coronavirus pandemic which has already killed over 1,000 people in Italy and over 4,000 in the rest of the world with close to 50 here in the U.S. After weeks of messaging from the Trump administrations that the coronavirus was like the flu, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top epidemiologist, shared some sobering news when he testified before Congress this week.