***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.”

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by patteeu

Undertaker?

[BleedingRed]

Originally Posted by jjjayb

Considering that most of the known cases are people that have been tested because they're sick enough to be hospitalized, the fatality rate is going to be very skewed to make it appear worse than what it is.

If you look at the number of deaths from the regular flu compared to just people who have tested positive for it you would think the flu had a 10% fatality rate. Of course, we know that's not true because they're are far far more people who get the flu that don't get tested. When we look at the mortality rate for the flu, that rate is based off of the estimated cases of the flu, which is in the millions. People actually tested is only in the hundreds of thousands.

I see no reason to think that this virus is any different.

This

[jjjayb]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

"Hawaii Five-0" and "Lost" actor Daniel Dae Kim revealed he tested positive for the Coronavirus in a 10-minute Instagram video. pic.twitter.com/QqcB2Ob8Aq

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) March 19, 2020

How are all of these famous people getting this?? Just because they are around more people?

And amazingly enough, he's just fine. Like 99.9% of people who end up getting this. It's not that famous people are getting it more, it's that they have better access to getting tested.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by TLO

Is it bad that I don't remember?

Maybe I should clarify. I remember schools closing down, but I don't remember the rest..

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

1MM cases of H1N1 in the US in 72 days, not in the world.


https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-res...-timeline.html

The numbers were are being fed don't add up to a lockdown. It just doesn't.

Originally Posted by jjjayb

And amazingly enough, he's just fine. Like 99.9% of people who end up getting this. It's not that famous people are getting it more, it's that they have better access to getting tested.

Agree don’t like how the rich can get the test this fast.

[BleedingRed]

Originally Posted by ShowtimeSBMVP

Agree don’t like how the rich can get the test this fast.

They pay for it from a private company....

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

Originally Posted by BleedingRed

They pay for it from a private company....

Agree but I’m sure some people would too but can’t.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by BleedingRed

They pay for it from a private company....

Private companies could probably make a killing if they go public with this.

[neech]

Originally Posted by Donger

And did we lock down during H1N1?

Should we have locked down for it Donger?

[jjjayb]

I truly believe many more people have this or have had it than realize it. In December & January there was a big uptick of people with Flu like symptoms that tested negative for the Flu. Could it be they had Corona Virus?

At my work the department I'm in there were a lot of people that were sick with heavy respiratory issues. Most assumed it was the flu. The coworker that sits next to me was tested for the Flu and was negative. She did get diagnosed with pneumonia. I'm leaning towards thinking it may have been Corona.

[srvy]

Lot of our pipeline surveyors, inspectors and corrosion resistance tech's etc. are living on snack cakes and cheese and peanut butter lance crakers. They are out in the boonies working on pipelines. The cant getaway and travel 60 miles to nearest towns for takeout lunch we survive on a lunch pail and bread and cold cuts. Both are very hard to find so you get what you can go to your room and eat crap. They get out of the field after everything has closed.

There are 1.4 million Americans who work in the gas and oil industry and untold millions that are tied to it such as me. I have instructed crews to when needed go have your lunch if it extends past half hour charge overhead on your time lunch and if Pipeline Company foreman or super has a problem to call me. I am sure this is problems everywhere in construction which requires often and extensive travel. So far no angry calls.

[Donger]

Almost half of coronavirus patients have digestive symptoms, study finds

By Robert Preidt

March 19, 2020 / 4:40 PM / HealthDay

Diarrhea and other digestive symptoms are the main complaint in nearly half of coronavirus patients, Chinese researchers report. Most patients with the coronavirus have respiratory symptoms, but these findings from the early stages of the outbreak show that digestive problems are prevalent in many patients with COVID-19.

"Clinicians must bear in mind that digestive symptoms, such as diarrhea, may be a presenting feature of COVID-19, and that the index of suspicion may need to be raised earlier in these cases rather than waiting for respiratory symptoms to emerge," wrote the investigators from the Wuhan Medical Treatment Expert Group for COVID-19.

The researchers analyzed data from 204 COVID-19 patients, average age nearly 55, who were admitted to three hospitals in the Hubei province between Jan. 18 and Feb. 28, 2020. The average time from symptom onset to hospital admission was 8.1 days.

However, the finding showed that patients with digestive symptoms had a longer time from symptom onset to hospital admission than patients without digestive symptoms, 9 days versus 7.3 days.

This suggests that patients with digestive symptoms sought care later because they didn't yet suspect they had COVID-19 due to a lack of respiratory symptoms, such as cough or shortness of breath, the researchers explained.

Patients with digestive symptoms had a variety of problems, including loss of appetite (nearly 84%), diarrhea (29%), vomiting (0.8%) and abdominal pain (0.4%).

Seven of the patients in the study had digestive symptoms but no respiratory symptoms.

As the severity of the disease increased, digestive symptoms became more serious, the researchers found.

Patients without digestive symptoms were more likely to be cured and discharged than those with digestive symptoms (60% versus 34%), according to the study published March 18 in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

[BigRedChief]

New analysis breaks down age-group risk for coronavirus — and shows millennials are not invincible


In general, the U.S. experience largely mimics China’s, with the risk for serious disease and death from Covid-19 rising with age. But in an important qualification, an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday underlines a message that infectious disease experts have been emphasizing: Millennials are not invincible. The new data show that up to one-fifth of infected people ages 20-44 have been hospitalized, including 2%-4% who required treatment in an intensive care unit.

Still, the most severe cases, and the highest rates of death, are among the elderly. Although 17% of the U.S. population is 65 or older, 31% of cases were in that age group, CDC experts concluded in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. While it is possible that the elderly have more chances to be infected than younger people, such as by living in nursing homes, that is considered unlikely, since younger adults encounter many others at work and school.

The rest of the article is here:
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/18/...ot-invincible/

The CDC report is here:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/...cid=mm6912e2_w

[Fish]

Originally Posted by srvy

Lot of our pipeline surveyors, inspectors and corrosion resistance tech's etc. are living on snack cakes and cheese and peanut butter lance crakers. They are out in the boonies working on pipelines. The cant getaway and travel 60 miles to nearest towns for takeout lunch we survive on a lunch pail and bread and cold cuts. Both are very hard to find so you get what you can go to your room and eat crap. They get out of the field after everything has closed.

There are 1.4 million Americans who work in the gas and oil industry and untold millions that are tied to it such as me. I have instructed crews to when needed go have your lunch if it extends past half hour charge overhead on your time lunch and if Pipeline Company foreman or super has a problem to call me. I am sure this is problems everywhere in construction which requires often and extensive travel. So far no angry calls.

Half hour lunch break? What kind of sweat shop are you running?

[neech]

Originally Posted by jjjayb

I truly believe many more people have this or have had it than realize it. In December & January there was a big uptick of people with Flu like symptoms that tested negative for the Flu. Could it be they had Corona Virus?

At my work the department I'm in there were a lot of people that were sick with heavy respiratory issues. Most assumed it was the flu. The coworker that sits next to me was tested for the Flu and was negative. She did get diagnosed with pneumonia. I'm leaning towards thinking it may have been Corona.

I noticed that as well many patients in the last couple months for flu symptoms, interesting.