In The Epicenter Of Mexico's Epicenter, Feeling Like A Trapped Animal No part of the world has been as devastated by the pandemic as Latin America. Mexico, Brazil, Peru and other Latin American countries — hobbled by weak health systems, severe inequality and government indifference — have several of the highest deaths per capita from the virus in the world. ............ By the first week of September, the 10 countries with the highest deaths per capita were all in Latin America or the Caribbean. .......... Poverty circumscribes life, with chronic water shortages. Hundreds of thousands live day by day, far more fearful of hunger than any virus. ............ Starvation haunted people who had never considered themselves poor, and rituals that had bound the community for generations were scrapped, including one of the biggest Christian celebrations in Latin America, which was canceled for the first time in more than 150 years. ............... People could wear masks, and distance as much as possible, but almost no one could afford to stay home. They had to keep working. ........... The region is now bracing for one of the world’s worst economic crises. The old wounds of inequality are growing worse, and the poor will add another 45 million people to their ranks ........... Some officials are bracing for a lost decade. ............. Mr. Arriaga’s own attempts to stay away from the market lasted only a month before he blew through his life savings and trudged back to work in fear. ............... “Look around,” he said. “You see anyone here dying?” Many would, very soon. ........... “We survived the War of Reform, the Revolution and the 1985 earthquake,” lamented Tito Dominguez, one of the chief organizers, “and we’ve never had to do this.” .......... Hospitals began to fill and the plaintive wail of ambulances became a nighttime soundtrack. ........... Some claimed that the virus was a Chinese conspiracy, others that bleach was a cure. Even President Andrés Manuel López Obrador offered his own theories, contending that a clean conscience helped prevent infection. ........... “I’ve heard government is paying people to claim their loved ones died from Covid,” Ms. Aquino whispered. “I have two friends who were offered money.” At best, the rumors sowed confusion and doubt. At worst, they were a death sentence. ............. “I don’t care about this virus,” he said, dropping onto a plastic stool, nearly toppling over. “I have no way to survive.” .......... After his father got sick, Mr. Arriaga fled the city, decamping to his mother’s house in the town of Chalco. For the first time in five years, he took time off. It felt strange, like a guilty pleasure. He used to joke that his dream was to sleep until 10 a.m., if only for one day. ............ “It was really beautiful, just spending time with my mom and brother and sister,” he said. “For all the bad things that happened, at least this was a gift.” .............. And at every level, there is simply less. Fewer clients. Fewer sales. And a looming sense that the worst still lies ahead. ............ “You have no idea what it feels like to be unable to feed your family,” he said. “I never thought it could get this bad in Mexico.”
Covid World Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 31,746,600 people, according to official counts. As of Wednesday evening, at least 973,500 people have died, and the virus has been detected in nearly every country ............... The outbreak was initially defined by a series of shifting epicenters — including Wuhan, China; Iran; northern Italy; Spain; and New York. Cases worldwide leveled off in April after social distancing measures were put in place in many of the areas with early outbreaks. ............. After case numbers fell steadily in April and May, cases in the United States are growing again at about the same rapid pace as when infections were exploding in New York City in late March. But the hotspots are now mainly spread across the southern and western parts of the country. .............. there are four factors that most likely play a role: how close you get to an infected person; how long you are near that person; whether that person expels viral droplets on or near you; and how much you touch your face afterwards. .......... Wash your hands often. Anytime you come in contact with a surface outside your home, scrub with soap for at least 20 seconds, rinse and then dry your hands with a clean towel. Avoid touching your face. The virus can spread when our hands come into contact with the virus, and we touch our nose, mouth or eyes. Try to keep your hands away from your face unless you have just recently washed them.
Fauci finally loses his patience with Rand Paul the four or five things: of masks, social distancing, outdoors more than indoors, avoiding crowds and washing hands—” ....... New York adopted some of the toughest measures, and it now has the third-lowest per-capita case rate among the 50 states.
Massive genetic study shows coronavirus mutating and potentially evolving amid rapid U.S. spread The largest U.S. genetic study of the virus, conducted in Houston, shows one viral strain outdistancing all of its competitors, and many potentially important mutations. ........... Coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are relatively stable as viruses go, because they have a proofreading mechanism as they replicate. ......... the strong possibility that the virus, as it has moved through the population, has become more transmissible, and that this “may have implications for our ability to control it.” ........... “Wearing masks, washing our hands, all those things are barriers to transmissibility, or contagion, but as the virus becomes more contagious it statistically is better at getting around those barriers” ............. As people gain immunity, either through infections or a vaccine, the virus could be under selective pressure to evade the human immune response. ............... as the virus interacts with our bodies and our immune systems, it may be learning new tricks that help it respond to its host.
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