Headlines since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak have reminded us over and over again the seriousness of the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers. We have heard from our health care professionals about the strain of wearing PPE for hours on end, how many have started reusing the same supplies that were intended for single use, and how some are providing their own PPE at facilities that can’t spare much.
To understand just how dire the national PPE shortage really is, TIME has analyzed survey data obtained exclusively from GetUsPPE.org, a volunteer group of programmers, physicians, and data scientists. In order to try to meet the demand for PPE, the group sent out a basic request form asking what supplies were needed and where. But within three weeks the group received 7,000 responses, writes TIME freelance reporter Zoë Schlanger. So they sent out another survey, this time instead asking respondents how long their current supplies will last. In an attempt to better meet the demands of PPE requests, the organization had unintentionally collected valuable data on what shortages their respondents faced. Facilities of all kinds reported that most of their supplies would run out within a week or two, if they had any left at all, Schlanger reports.
To help readers understand the shortages by state and by item, TIME senior editor Elijah Wolfson crunched the numbers provided by GetUsPPE.org.
“There was a sense of shock,” Schlanger says, recalling how it felt analyzing the data. Of the 978 institutions surveyed, nearly all had no supplies remaining of at least one form of PPE.
This afternoon, prices for crude oil futures fell to -$1.98 per barrel, based on the U.S. West Texas Intermediate benchmark. That’s not a typo—as of writing, oil futures are trading below zero. By some accounts, that’s the lowest in since 1946, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. With economic and industrial activity essentially halted, the U.S. oil market has become so oversupplied that, pricing implies, sellers are now willing to pay for others to take oil off their hands.
More than 759,000 people in the U.S. had contracted COVID-19 as of 8 PM eastern time on April 19, and more than 40,000 had died from it.
In a Monday morning interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told viewers that reopening the economy too quickly would “backfire” if COVID-19 has not been controlled first. Host George Stephanopoulos asked Fauci to respond to protestors in Texas and other states who have called for an end to many governors’ state-at-home orders . “Unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not gonna happen,” Fauci said. “As painful as it is to go by the careful guidelines of gradually phasing into a reopening—it’s gonna backfire [if we don’t], that’s the problem.”
In Denver, protesters calling for the reopening of Colorado’s economy this weekend were met with counter protestors—reportedly health care workers in scrubs and masks who blocked streets. Images of the event, captured by photojournalist Alyson McClaran, have gone viral.
Meanwhile, hamburger chain Shake Shack announced Monday that it would return a $10 million federal loan to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a funding scheme intended to aid small businesses through the pandemic, but which ran out of money after less than two weeks in operation. The PPP, which lends to any restaurant with fewer than 500 employees at a single location, has been criticized for lending to major national chains. “We don’t know what the future holds,” wrote Shake Shack CEO’s in a public statement . “Our people would benefit from a $10 million PPP loan but we’re fortunate to now have access to capital that others do not. Until every restaurant that needs it has had the same opportunity to receive assistance, we’re returning ours.”
During a Monday morning press briefing, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said 478 people died on Sunday. It’s the first time since April 2 that the single-day death toll fell below 500, according to the New York Times. Monday now marks the sixth day in a row that deaths have decreased in the state, but Cuomo urged the public to stay careful.
The Global Situation
More than 2.4 million people worldwide had been sickened by COVID-19 as of 8 PM eastern time on Sunday, April 19, and more than 165,000 had died.
Here is every country with over 20,000 confirmed cases, as of Sunday 8 PM eastern time:
Iran, one of the countries earliest and hardest hit by the coronavirus, started to reopen parts of its economy on Monday, despite fears that reopening could result in a second wave of the virus. Iranian officials have so far confirmed about 5,200 deaths from the virus, but that number has been met with speculation, the Associated Press reports. Some in Iran’s parliament suggest the death toll could be double what is being reported, according to the AP.
Germany also began reopening some portions of its economy on Monday. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel cautioned that Germans should not let the reopening measures give them a false sense of security, the New York Times reports. Germany has the 5th highest case count of COVID-19 in the world, but deaths in the country have remained relatively low, and have not surpassed 5,000, according to data by Johns Hopkins University.
Japan has started to see a spike in COVID-19 cases, causing one Japanese professor of infectious diseases to say he is “pessimistic” that the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics can open on July 23, 2021 as planned. The professor’s statements, made during a teleconference arranged by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, echo an earlier statement from the CEO of the Tokyo Games, who said “I don’t think anyone would be able to say if it is going to be possible to get it under control by next July or not,” on April 10, according to the AP.
All numbers are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of April 19, 8 PM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Top WHO Official Defends the Group’s Response to COVID-19
In an interview with TIME, Maria Van Kerkhove, the American infectious-disease epidemiologist serving as the World Health Organization’s technical lead for COVID-19, defended the organization amid criticism by the Trump Administration over its response to the virus. Read more here.
Once a Model For The World, Singapore Lost Control of Its Outbreak
Singapore was once seen as a north star for how to control the spread of COVID-19. But now the city-state, with a population of 5.6 million, has the most reported cases in southeast Asia. Read more here.
How The Coronavirus Death Toll Compares to Other Historical Events
TIME history reporter Olivia B. Waxman teamed up with director of data journalism Chris Wilson to help readers understand how the death toll in the U.S.—which has now surpassed 40,000—compares to other tragedies in history. Read more here.
How Early Christians Responded to Public Health Crises
Ancient Christians lived in a world full of disease, writes historian Matthew Gabriele for TIME. “In a world where affliction was everywhere, where the pandemic was always, a response of caritas was revolutionary,” he writes. Read more here.
Israelis Showed The World How To Protest and Social Distance At The Same Time
In Tel Aviv on Sunday, protestors in masks stood apart from each other to protest corruption—a stark contrast from the crowds standing in proximity in the U.S. who are protesting their state’s stay at home orders. Read more here.
As the Use of Disinfectants Has Soared, So Have Accidental Poisonings
Calls to poison control centers have increased as more people turn to disinfectants to combat COVID-19, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read more here.
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