***NON-POLITICAL COVID-19 Discussion Thread***

[JakeF]

A couple of reminders...

Originally Posted by Bwana

Once again, don't come in this thread with some kind of political agenda, or you will be shown the door. If you want to go that route, there is a thread about this in DC.

Originally Posted by Dartgod

People, there is a lot of good information in this thread, let's try to keep the petty bickering to a minimum.

We all have varying opinions about the impact of this, the numbers, etc. We will all never agree with each other. But we can all keep it civil.

Thanks!

Click here for the original OP:

Spoiler!

Apparently the CoronaVirus can survive on a inanimate objects, such as door knobs, for 9 days.

California coronavirus case could be first spread within U.S. community, CDC says
By SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA, JACLYN COSGROVE
FEB. 26, 2020 8:04 PM

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating what could be the first case of novel coronavirus in the United States involving a patient in California who neither recently traveled out of the country nor was in contact with someone who did.

“At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown. It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States,” the CDC said in a statement. “Community spread means spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. It’s also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveler who was infected.”

The individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County, according to the state Department of Public Health.

The CDC said the “case was detected through the U.S. public health system — picked up by astute clinicians.”

Officials at UC Davis Medical Center expanded on what the federal agency might have meant by that in an email sent Wednesday, as reported by the Davis Enterprise newspaper.

The patient arrived at UC Davis Medical Center from another hospital Feb. 19 and “had already been intubated, was on a ventilator, and given droplet protection orders because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition,” according to an email sent by UC Davis officials that was obtained by the Davis Enterprise.

The staff at UC Davis requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, but because the patient didn’t fit the CDC’s existing criteria for the virus, a test wasn’t immediately administered, according to the email. The CDC then ordered the test Sunday, and results were announced Wednesday. Hospital administrators reportedly said in the email that despite these issues, there has been minimal exposure at the hospital because of safety protocols they have in place.

A UC Davis Health spokesperson declined Wednesday evening to share the email with The Times.

Since Feb. 2, more than 8,400 returning travelers from China have entered California, according to the state health department. They have been advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and limit interactions with others as much as possible, officials said.

“This is a new virus, and while we are still learning about it, there is a lot we already know,” Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “We have been anticipating the potential for such a case in the U.S., and given our close familial, social and business relationships with China, it is not unexpected that the first case in the U.S. would be in California.”

It is not clear how the person became infected, but public health workers could not identify any contacts with people who had traveled to China or other areas where the virus is widespread. That raises concern that the virus is spreading in the United States, creating a challenge for public health officials, experts say.

“It’s the first signal that we could be having silent transmission in the community,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. “It probably means there are many more cases out there, and it probably means this individual has infected others, and now it’s a race to try to find out who that person has infected.”

On Tuesday, the CDC offered its most serious warning to date that the United States should expect and prepare for the coronavirus to become a more widespread health issue.

“Ultimately, we expect we will see coronavirus spread in this country,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “It’s not so much a question of if, but a question of when.”

According to the CDC’s latest count Wednesday morning, 59 U.S. residents have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus — 42 of whom are repatriated citizens from a Diamond Princess cruise. That number has grown by two since Messonnier’s last count Tuesday, although the CDC was not immediately available to offer details on the additional cases.

More than 82,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported globally, and more than 2,700 people have died, with the majority in mainland China, the epicenter of the outbreak.

But public health leaders have repeatedly reminded residents that the health risk from the novel coronavirus to the general public remains low.

“While COVID-19 has a high transmission rate, it has a low mortality rate,” the state Department of Public Health said in a statement Wednesday. “From the international data we have, of those who have tested positive for COVID-19, approximately 80% do not exhibit symptoms that would require hospitalization. There have been no confirmed deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States to date.”

CDC officials have also warned that although the virus is likely to spread in U.S. communities, the flu still poses a greater risk.

Gostin said the news of potential silent transmission does not eliminate the possibility of containing the virus in the U.S. and preventing an outbreak.

“There are few enough cases that we should at least try,” he said. “Most of us are not optimistic that that will be successful, but we’re still in the position to try.”

[TLO]

Originally Posted by louie aguiar

https://www.foxnews.com/health/pfize...delta-preprint

This seems a bit concerning.

Maybe a little. There's also peer reviewed studies out there that state the Pfizer vaccine is still highly effective in preventing even symptomatic cases.

Take it with a grain of salt.

The study had its limitations; the sample size wasn’t representative of the U.S. population, and authors said other factors could've impacted the findings regarding reduced vaccine effectiveness (like "waning immunity over time, the dynamic landscape of SARS-CoV-2 variants, or other factors that were not considered here.")

"Our observational study suggests that while both mRNA COVID-19 vaccines strongly protect against infection and severe disease, there are differences in their real-world effectiveness relative to each other and relative to prior months of the pandemic," study authors concluded.

[MahomesMagic]

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, tells NPR that booster shots of the coronavirus vaccine are needed for those who are immunocompromised. https://t.co/3QNiRYoinU

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) August 12, 2021

[TLO]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, tells NPR that booster shots of the coronavirus vaccine are needed for those who are immunocompromised. https://t.co/3QNiRYoinU

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) August 12, 2021

The FDA will likely approve this tomorrow.

[TLO]

Oh hey..

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine today. Peer-reviewed. Large sample size. Sound methodology. Real-world data. Pfizer’s and AstraZeneca’s vaccines are highly effective against the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant. pic.twitter.com/FF5UlQC7OY

— Chise �������� (@sailorrooscout) August 12, 2021

Link to study. Good summary if you just click on that tweet above.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2108891

[sedated]

Its anecdotal evidence, but I had a video conference with some people at work yesterday and one of the women was pretty sick with Covid, apparently the delta variant. It was my understanding everyone at work was vaxxed, and she said on the call that her husband was vaxxed.

[RaidersOftheCellar]

Originally Posted by SupDock

I’m a little more interested in trials demonstrating effectiveness. The safety profile matters little when the drug does not work. Not to mention, if you are giving it early to patients with few symptoms, that creates more issues as you may be giving it to patients who were never going to get very sick. If you are only giving it to high risk patients, that further skews the safety concerns. This is why we use robust clinical trials.

We’ve been through all this before, though.

Where is the evidence that it doesn't work when combined with zinc? There's plenty of evidence that it does, even in severely ill patients. All of the studies w/out zinc are meaningless.

[KCUnited]

203 cases of COVID-19 linked to Chicago's Lollapalooza

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago health officials on Thursday reported 203 cases of COVID-19 connected to Lollapalooza, casting it as a number that was anticipated and not yet linked to any hospitalizations or deaths.

“Nothing unexpected here,” Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said at a news conference. “No sign of a ‘superspreader event’. But clearly with hundreds of thousands of people attending Lollapalooza we would expect to see some cases.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/203-cases...155236851.html

[louie aguiar]

Originally Posted by TLO

Maybe a little. There's also peer reviewed studies out there that state the Pfizer vaccine is still highly effective in preventing even symptomatic cases.

Take it with a grain of salt.

Yes, I still think the vaccines are holding up well against hospitalization and death but it seems like their efficacy is decreasing over time.

Also, I'm glad that I got that Moderna shot which seems to be doing better against the delta than Pfizer.

[SupDock]

Originally Posted by RaidersOftheCellar

Where is the evidence that it doesn't work when combined with zinc? There's plenty of evidence that it does, even in severely ill patients. All of the studies w/out zinc are meaningless.

Please, link the studies.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by SupDock

Please, link the studies.

All of the studies I saw that showed success were in vitro. The in vivo studies did not produce the same results.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by louie aguiar

Yes, I still think the vaccines are holding up well against hospitalization and death but it seems like their efficacy is decreasing over time.

Also, I'm glad that I got that Moderna shot which seems to be doing better against the delta than Pfizer.

I'm not sure this is true. Honestly anyone who got the vaccine should be happy. Not sure it makes a huge difference which one you got unless you got the made in China vaccine.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by TLO

I'm not sure this is true. Honestly anyone who got the vaccine should be happy. Not sure it makes a huge difference which one you got unless you got the made in China vaccine.

Eh, I think it's relatively clear that J&J isn't AS good at this point. It'll still keep you alive, but it doesn't seem as effective at keeping you from getting it entirely.

I don't regret getting it since I was able to do so a couple of months before I would have been able to get the other two, but the others are certainly a little more efficacious.

But yeah, Pfizer vs. Moderna? They are pretty much identical for all practical purposes.

[NotDonger]

Originally Posted by TLO

I'm not sure this is true. Honestly anyone who got the vaccine should be happy. Not sure it makes a huge difference which one you got unless you got the made in China vaccine.

My understanding is that the Moderna vaccine is 100 micrograms per shot, while Pfizer is ~30 micrograms.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

203 cases of COVID-19 linked to Chicago's Lollapalooza

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago health officials on Thursday reported 203 cases of COVID-19 connected to Lollapalooza, casting it as a number that was anticipated and not yet linked to any hospitalizations or deaths.

“Nothing unexpected here,” Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said at a news conference. “No sign of a ‘superspreader event’. But clearly with hundreds of thousands of people attending Lollapalooza we would expect to see some cases.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/203-cases...155236851.html

203+ 100% avoidable cases.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by sedated

Its anecdotal evidence, but I had a video conference with some people at work yesterday and one of the women was pretty sick with Covid, apparently the delta variant. It was my understanding everyone at work was vaxxed, and she said on the call that her husband was vaxxed.

She was really sick but was on a video conference call?