The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard on this Good Friday, April 10, 2020, shows that there are now at least 1,622,177 confirmed cases worldwide.  This is as of 4:45 a.m. HST.  Worldwide, there have been at least 97,264 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.  The statistics are collected from around the world, and update frequently.   The case count and death toll are thought by experts to actually be higher, with untested victims and some dying without knowing COVID-19 is the cause.

The United States now has 467,184  cases, with 16,736 deaths attributed to  the  virus.   New York  City has the most deaths, at 5,150, with 777 lives lost in the past 24  hours.  In interviews on Wednesday and Thursday, New York City’s mayor, Bill DeBlasio, said he knows there are people passing away at home, undiagnosed, from the disease, so those counts are not in the numbers.

However, in  a note of positive news, while New York deaths continue to climb, hospitalizations  are leveling off.   In addition, New York statewide admissions to the Intensive Care Units (ICU) is down a bit.  New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said the death toll is a lagging indicator,  and leveling hospitalizations indicate the social distancing and isolation policies now in effect in New  York are beginning to work.  Cuomo said in order  to begin to return to a more normal situation, more testing is needed, of those with and without symptoms,  including ramping up an antibody test to determine who has had COVID-19  –diagnosed or not– so people can return to work and normal living.  Cuomo stressed he is cautiously optimistic.

Italy, with more than 143,000 cases, has the highest reported death count in the world at 18,279.  On Sunday, famed tenor Andrea Bocelli will live stream a concert from Il Duomo Cathedral  in  Milan, Italy, which is says will be a prayer for the country.

Hawaii, as of Thursday, April 9 at noon, reports 442 cases, with 6 deaths.  State officials have imposed 14-day quarantines on all incoming travelers, whether from outside the state or interisland  (with some exceptions), mayors  on Kaua’i and O’ahu have imposed night-time curfews, and Governor David Ige, Lt. Governor  Josh Green,  State Health Director Bruce Anderson, and county mayors have urged the wearing of masks in public.