Coronavirus Update: New Guidance on Masks

More than 1 million cases of coronavirus have now been confirmed globally. In the U.S., the number is above 245,000. At Thursday’s White House briefing, the president announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would issue new guidance on masks, reversing previous public messaging from both the administration and local authorities. The use of masks in Southeast and East Asian countries seems to have stemmed the spread of the virus, but the U.S. does not yet have sufficient supply of N95 masks for widespread use.

New York has the highest number of cases — nearly 100,000 — and outbreaks in Michigan, Louisiana, and Florida are on troubling trajectories. On a per capita basis, Louisiana has more infections 18 days after its 100th confirmed case than New York had at the same stage, and a roughly 20 percent daily average increase in new infections has persisted in the state over the past week.

While most of the hardest-hit states are seeing declines in the growth rate of new cases, Michigan’s has increased in recent days. Though Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer issued a statewide stay-at-home order through April 14, the benefits have yet to materialize.

Deaths continue to rise across the U.S. Nationally, the case-fatality rate stands around 2.4 percent, though uncertainty around the number of asymptomatic cases may mean that number is overstated.

Testing increased yesterday to more than 120,000. A lack of supplies, most notably swabs, has contributed to the plateau in testing over the past week.