More than 100 million Americans – a little less than one third of the entire country – have been ordered to stay home.

Quick note: Are you an airline worker – flight attendant, gate agent, ramp mechanic, catering staff member – on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic? We want to hear from you. ([link removed])

A handmade sign in Portland, Oregon sends a clear message to the neighborhood. Photo by Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA via AP Images.


**
Quarantine nation
------------------------------------------------------------

As COVID-19 continues its stark spread across the U.S., millions of Americans now find themselves sequestered in their homes, either by choice or by government mandate. Indeed, as of March 25, more than 100 million Americans – a little less than one third of the entire country – have been ordered to stay home. There’s no precedent for this in modern American history.

On this week’s episode ([link removed]) , we’re embedding with a handful of people who were exposed to the new coronavirus and are now quarantined. We speak to a college student from Long Island, holed up in his parents’ basement; a group of incarcerated men in California, fearing for their safety in cramped quarters; and an elderly couple whose cruise was cut short. Their stories, though quite different, each gesture at the anxieties rippling across the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Also in the episode: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have recommended that anyone exposed to the coronavirus isolate themselves for 14 days. But as science reporter Elizabeth Shogren explains, emerging research suggests that might not be enough time.

“The World Health Organization and CDC didn’t have much to go on when they set the 14-day quarantine,” Shogren says. “COVID-19 was new. There were hardly any studies of patients who got it. But on March 15th, Chinese and Canadian scientists released a study of more than 2,000 people who got the virus in CHINA. It found that more than 10 percent of them didn’t get symptoms until after 14 days.”

Read Elizabeth’s reporting. ([link removed])

------------------------------------------------------------



Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, N95 masks and other personal protective equipment have become scarce. CREDIT: Prentice C. James/CSM via ZUMA Wire via AP Images

Plus: A lack of proper medical equipment to treat COVID-19 – hospital beds; masks, gloves and protective gowns for doctors; ventilators to help patients breathe – has become a daunting concern for health care providers across the United States.

Years ago, California had an enormous, $200 million stockpile of these very supplies, making it one of America’s best-prepared states for a pandemic like today’s.

“We have been preparing for a flu crisis for a very long time, and we have all the essential building blocks in place to protect the public,” former Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar said in a weekly address to the state in 2009. “We are concerned, but we are also confident.”

Today, those supplies are no longer available. Why? Because the housing bust that accompanied the Great Recession put California billions of dollars in the red. Spending money to house and maintain a mountain of medical equipment with no immediate purpose was no longer a priority. As the years wore on, much of the equipment was mothballed, distributed to hospitals throughout the state or thrown away.

Read the full story. ([link removed])
Fact-based journalism is worth fighting for.
Yes, I want to help! ([link removed])
Your support helps give everyone access to credible, unbiased facts.
============================================================

This email was sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
why did I get this? ([link removed]) unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) update subscription preferences ([link removed])
The Center for Investigative Reporting . 1400 65th St., Suite 200 . Emeryville, CA 94608 . USA