Thu. 3/26/20: COVID-19 Daily Update
ACTION ALERT! TELL CONGRESS: PROTECT WORKERS’ HEALTH
Millions of laid off Americans will start losing their company health insurance at the end of March.
During this health care crisis, companies getting emergency taxpayer money should be required to continue medical benefits for laid off workers. Please take action to protect millions of laid off Americans now!
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NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
How to get health insurance if you’re worried about coronavirus or have lost your job (Star Advertiser March 26, 2020)
A useful summary presenting health insurance options with Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, COBRA, and employer coverage. It summarizes options for people in different scenarios such as:
- I just lost my job-based coverage, but I’d really like to keep it.
- I just lost my job, and my income is close to zero.
- I just lost my job with benefits, but my family still has some income.
- I currently buy Obamacare insurance, but I’m making less money than usual.
- I didn’t buy health insurance this year, but I’d like some now in case I get the coronavirus.
- I bought a short-term health plan this year, but now I’d like a more comprehensive one.
Hawaii jobless rate tops 10% with 58,000 out of work (Star Advertiser, March 26, 2020)
On Tuesday, 3/24/20, 20,041 people filed for unemployment statewide. In total for the month of March, around 58,000 people have filed for unemployment. The unemployment rate was close to 11% as of Tuesday. It was 2.7% in January.
Unemployment claims soared to 3.3 million last week, most in history (CNN, March 26, 2020)
3.3 million unemployment claims were filed in the week ending on March 21st, in the United States. The next highest figure of weekly initial claims was 695,000 set in October 1982.
Hotel Closures Mount (Star Advertiser March 26, 2020)
80 hotels now listed to be closed or closing this week. Read the article to view the full list.
Ali‘i Health to Host COVID-19 Pop-Up Clinics Every Saturday (Big Island Now, March 26, 2020)
On the Big Island, drive-through pre-screening and testing will be offered every Saturday at Old Kona Airport. Patients can call ahead at 808-747-8321 or drive in to be pre-screened for potential testing. Drive in is open from 8am to 3pm. It appears to be free. Also on Big Island, Dr. Kaohimanu Akiona, a member of Premier Medical Group, is working with Bay Clinic to host a drive through in Hilo on Sunday. The screening and testing site will be located at Ho‘oulu Complex, 799 Pi‘ilani Street, from 8am to 3pm.
Beware second waves of COVID-19 if lockdowns eased early: study (Reuters, March 26, 2020)
As Trump pushes for an April 12th pullback of lock down measures, health experts continue to warn that social policies must continue for a long time to prevent spikes in the curve that will overwhelm healthcare capacity, and that premature easing of lock down restrictions will only cause resurgences of the virus.
Worldwide: Cases: 531,000. Deaths: 24,000. Recovered: 122,000
USA: Cases: 85,000. Deaths: 1,288. Recovered: 713
Hawaii: Cases: 106. Deaths: 0. Hospitalized: 7
