Official Chinese statistics put Wuhan’s coronavirus death toll at 2,563. Evidence coming out of the city suggests it was actually more than 40,000. Our latest: https://t.co/6D2zHtAd17
Cherry blossom boulevard sealed off over virus concernsA boulevard abound with cherry blossoms in Pohang, about 370 km southeast of Seoul, is sealed off with a signboard notifying the public of the closure aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19, on April 4, 2020. (Yonhap)
For any foreigner that wants to get easily tested for COVID-19 head on over to the Seoul Sports Complex. The article says it takes about 15 minutes to get tested:
This photo shows a walkthrough screening center set up at Seoul Sports Complex in southeastern Seoul on April 3, 2020. (Yonhap)
A walkthrough virus screening center for overseas entrants opened at a major sports complex in southeastern Seoul on Friday amid a continued increase in imported cases.
The screening center, which Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon claimed could test up to 1,000 people per day, was set up at Seoul Sports Complex, the site of the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Summer Olympics.
On the first day of operation, the screening venue appeared mostly quiet, with around 10 people visiting during a two-hour slot.
Visitors said they came to the walkthrough to be tested promptly.
“I arrived (in South Korea) on Thursday and have been taking a language course in San Diego,” said a 23-year-old who lives in the northeastern ward of Nowon. “I was told that it would take some time for me to be tested at the Nowon health center, which is why I came here.”
For the fifth straight day another person affiliated with USFK has tested positive for coronavirus, however only 2 of the 19 infections have been uniformed servicemembers:
This image provided by U.S. Forces Korea shows a visitor to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek going through a fever test for prevention of COVID-19. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
An American citizen working for U.S. Forces Korea’s Camp Humphreys tested positive for the new coronavirus Friday, the 19th confirmed case for the USFK community.
USFK said an American construction worker working for the military camp was diagnosed with COVID-19 in the day.
According to USFK, the U.S. citizen last visited Camp Humphreys, the USFK headquarters in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, and has since been under self-quarantine at his home for having been in contact with another coronavirus patient.
Via reader tip comes this odd story of USFK apparently pulling a fast one on a Korean lab testing people for the coronavirus:
A Seoul-based lab tested 72 American troops positive for the novel coronavirus, but the US military in Korea said they belonged to soldiers stationed elsewhere, a local report said Sunday.
A US hospital at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, where the US military here is headquartered, sent clinical specimens to the lab, and it shared the results with the city of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, as it was bound by law to do so.
The city pressed the US Forces Korea for more details, but it only confirmed that those diagnosed with COVID-19 were US troops on duty elsewhere and not in Korea.
The local report said the specimens sent to the lab for testing were all numbered, rather than named, so the examinees were not identified.
Upon learning the news, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered every lab in the country not to run virus tests on unidentifiable samples.
You can read more at the link, but but what doesn’t make sense to me is that USFK has been stating that the hospital on Camp Humphreys can do its own coronavirus testing. The hospital can supposedly do up to 80 tests a day so has it reached maximum testing capacity by also testing soldiers from outside of USFK?
The article also says that the city wants every soldier, family member, DOD civilian, and contractor living off-post in Pyeongtaek be tested for the coronavirus. How come the city isn’t forcing every Korean in Pyeongtaek to be tested? Why just USFK personnel? Are they saying USFK personnel are somehow more susceptible to be infected by the coronavirus compared to a Korean? This seems discriminatory to me.
Either learn lessons from US Forces Korea or put General Abrams in charge of the US national response and let him apply best practices on a nationwide scale. https://t.co/OCcqZfMQ4A
Job applicants sit for outdoor test amid virus fearsMore than a hundred job applicants, seated safe distances apart, take a written exam as part of the recruitment process at city-run Ansan Urban Corp., at a football stadium in Ansan, about 40 km south of Seoul, on April 4, 2020. The urban planning firm decided to hold the test outdoors as a way to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (Yonhap)
The former Captain in charge of the Theodore Roosevelt who was relieved has become something of a folk hero on social media:
Capt. Brett Crozier, then-commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt addresses the crew during an all-hands call in the ship’s hangar bay March 3, 2020. Crozier was relieved of command after his letter that warned sailors could die from the coronavirus outbreak aboard the carrier was leaked to the media.
A cheering and applauding crowd of sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt wished farewell to their captain, whom the Navy relieved of command after he raised concerns about the spreading coronavirus on his ship in a letter that was leaked to the media.
Hundreds were pictured in the gathering in the ship’s hangar deck and many chanted Capt. Brett Crozier’s name in multiple videos posted to social media.
A video posted Friday to the Facebook page of Michael Washington included the hashtags #MYCO and #WEARETRSTRONG.
“That’s how you send out one of the greatest captains you ever had,” someone says in the video, then using an acronym for greatest of all time, adds: “The GOAT, the man for the people.”
Crozier was dismissed Thursday due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command and for not using his chain of command to make service leaders aware of his concerns about the virus outbreak that had infected more than 100 sailors on the ship, acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said at the Pentagon.
When I first heard about this story I thought initially he got screwed, but unlike social media I actually will go and read more source documents about what happened.
The memo that was leaked is posted on the San Francisco Chronicle website and the first thing I thought while reading the letter is why wasn’t this sent over a SIPR computer which classified information should be sent? The letter was filled with information about the operational readiness of the ship. Sending the message over a classified network would have avoided this whole mess.
Secondly, here is the part of the San Francisco Chronicle article that was buried that no one is talking about; why was the crew allowed to go on shore leave in Vietnam?:
Gilday told reporters last week it was unclear if sailors became infected following the ship’s previous port of call in early March to Da Nang, Vietnam. Gilday said they debated whether to go on with the Vietnam visit, but at the time there were only 16 coronavirus cases in northern Vietnam and the port was in the central part of the country.
Sailors were screened prior to returning on board. The first three sailors tested positive 15 days after leaving Vietnam, officials said.
I read that 16 infected number and instantly did not believe it because it is coming from a regime, just like the Chinese, that can easily suppress information. Vietnam likely has a far larger coronavirus problem that they don’t want the outside world to know about. It seems to me this was a very bad decision to have a port call in a country right next door to the coronavirus epicenter.
Lastly for people that have been to Naval Base Guam, this is not a huge base with a lot of open accommodations for 5,000 people on an aircraft carrier that just showed up. The only place to house that many people in rooms that can be quarantined would be in resort hotels in Tumon. Think of Tumon as the mini-Waikiki of Guam, outside of the military Tumon is the economic engine of Guam with its tourist industry.
How many resort hotels you think were eager to fill their business with sailors possibly infected with coronavirus? Plus how many residents of Guam wanted these sailors in the community when they see photos like this of sailors congregating on the beach in defiance of orders put out by the local government to practice social distancing:
Photos of people on the beach on Guam have shared on social media with accompanying messages claiming these are USS Theodore Roosevelt sailors who are supposed to be quarantined. Joint Region Marianas said none of the people pictured are USS Roosevelt sailors. Joint Reion Marianas said this photo was taken on March 21, before the USS Roosevelt was in Guam.
Getting this many sailors into resort hotels was going to take Navy leaders time to make happen with the local government and hotel owners:
Moving sailors out of Naval Base Guam into hotels was criticized by Sen. Sabina Perez and community groups.
Eight community groups said in a statement: “The decision to house them in the middle of our community is playing a game of chance with the health of our people.”
This was not going to be something easily done especially when you take in consideration the sensitivities the people of Guam have of past colonization. The Navy was going to have to work carefully with Guam’s political leadership to make this happen and all indications are they did:
When the vessel docked, there were no beds and now, a week later, there are almost 3,000 beds for the crew, Modly told reporters at a press briefing. Creating available space for the sailors happened in a week, he said.
“That’s not because of this letter,” Modly said, referring to Crozier’s letter. “That’s because of stuff going on well before the letter was sent.”
Modly added the letter was sent via email and copied to 20 or 30 other people. The letter created the perception the Navy wasn’t on the job and created a degree of panic, he said.
It seems like people on social media are looking for a COVID-19 hero of some kind, but Captain Crozier in my opinion is not it. If people want some COVID-19 heroes here are the people that get my vote.
You can read more at the link, but with 10,156 infections and 177 deaths that means the mortality rate is at 1.7%, but is probably at least half that with all the people infected that don’t know about it.
