Day 145: Houston, We Have a Problem

The world is at 9.5 million coronavirus cases. In the US, Texas and Florida are climbing by 5,000 cases a day. Florida has risen to #6 behind Texas, pushing Massachusetts down to #7. (Massachusetts cases are up only a sixth of a percentage point today.) While Arizona and some southern states are rising by 1,000–2,000 patients a day, but they're pretty far behind and won't be catching up to us soon.

Texas Medical Center in Houston is up to 97% ICU bed occupancy (from an average of 70–80%), and may run out of beds in a week or two. Texas Children's Hospital, also in Houston, is now taking adults on account of the coronavirus crisis.

New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut announced a joint requirement for travelers from particularly infectious states (Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Washington) to self-quarantine for 14 days. In Massachusetts, we continue to merely recommend that all travelers from out of state self-quarantine for 14 days.

Also in Massachusetts, an Oxford gym owner who opened up on May 18th in defiance of the Commonwealth's ongoing gym closure and even remained open after the town cut off their electricity and water has finally been defeated because the owner of the building agreed to change the locks. PlagueBlog wonders what the state would have done if the gym owner had owned the building himself.

It's cities and towns day again today, and while things have well and truly flatlined (not even Fall River shows any notable activity), here are some maps for the record:

(Pop out.)

(Pop out.)