Paul Goldfinger MD,  Blogfinger.net

MEDSCAPE.  “Fauci, the outspoken director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the United States was starting the flu season with a high baseline of around 40,000 new cases a day and deaths are averaging around 1,000 daily.”

CDC.  (data based info.)

“Restaurants appear to play a key role in the spread of COVID-19, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say.

“Masks cannot be effectively worn while eating and drinking, whereas shopping and numerous other indoor activities do not preclude mask use,” write Kiva A. Fisher, PhD, from the CDC, and colleagues.

“In addition to the difficulty of wearing a mask while dining, some reports have implicated the ventilation systems of restaurants, the researchers note.”

COVID19.NJ.GOV. (New Jersey)   Bars and restaurants can reopen for indoor dining at 25% capacity on Friday, September 4, 2020.

Editors note:  When we went to Bonney Read restaurant last week, they offered some indoor seating, but no one accepted the offer.

DAILY NJ NEWS ROUNDUP.   From Montclair State University:  Total NJ cases as of 9/15/20 is 197,404.  Total deaths (most lab confirmed) are 16,043.  Statewide transmission rates are still too high

MEDSCAPE MEDICAL NEWS:

“If a second wave of COVID-19 hits the United States, the nation will be much better prepared,” said Admiral Brett Giroir, MD, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, because “the availability of equipment and testing has improved and communication is better.”

“Ventilators alone in the Strategic National Stockpile, which numbered about 9,000 at the beginning of the pandemic, now number 119,000, he reported.”

“We are never going to use all those ventilators, but they are there,” he told the audience during his plenary at a virtual conference organized by the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), entitled COVID-19: What’s Next. Preparing for the Second Wave.

DAILY NEWS ROUNDUP. from Montclair State University.

National data:  New cases are down an estimated 38%, hospitalizations are down 37%, ICU patients are down 50%, and deaths are down about 10%.

AMA MORNING REPORT:   Federal officials “outlined details Wednesday of their preparations to administer a future coronavirus vaccine to Americans, saying they would begin distribution within 24 hours of any approval or emergency authorization, and that their goal was that no American ‘has to pay a single dime’ out of their own pocket.” The officials with “Operation Warp Speed – the multi-agency effort to quickly make a coronavirus vaccine available to Americans – also said the timing of a vaccine was still unclear.”

The Hill   reports that more people than average “are dying from dementia this year as seniors battle the coronavirus pandemic, according to an analysis of federal data by The Washington Post.” Patients are “dying from dementia at higher rates because of isolation measures in place amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Post found.” People who are “over 65 were encouraged by health officials early on to isolate because of their vulnerability against the virus.”

Blogfinger segment from our May article about pandemic risks in Ocean Grove:

“When they discuss epidemic concerns, which they almost never do publicly, the CMA never mentions the several thousand citizens who live here, and those numbers go up sharply in season, and that population will be at increased risk with the importation of huge numbers of strangers coming and going from our town.”  There will be a big event next Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020.

Blogfinger commentary:  Paul Goldfinger,  MD.  We want to believe that we are going through a sort of step-wise logical process that will have a predictable ending, but we don’t know, and it seems that we have now entered a stage of  “wishful thinking.”

I saw some photos of Jersey tourists visiting Amish country in Pennsylvania. They are going on horse rides, buggy rides, petting zoos and farm tours, but also there are motels and restaurants.  In the photos the tourists and the the Amish nearby are not wearing masks.
Internet talk about the Amish describes COVID-19 spikes due to their lifestyles.

So when these tourists return home, they need to avoid contacts with others for two weeks.  Health departments in Amish country are concerned.

Dr. Fauci thinks that this pandemic will be with us for quite a while into 2021, so we can’t be complacent regarding this invisible invasion.

Please, please:   a vaccine!

FRANK SINATRA.      Don’t lose sight of   “a marvelous view.”