***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.”

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

I’m glad you are on the road to recovery and are feeling better.

I can see why someone in a rural area of South Dakota doesn’t fully understand what is happening in NYC or to those who had it.

Thank you, it's appreciated.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

where did I say it’s going to take years? I said it took that long after 9/11.

I used the the fear after 9/11 as an example of how society overreacts to fear. That’s the only correlation I’m making about 9/11 and covid-19. Peoples overreaction to what they fear. This is just a basic human trait. How is that in any way controversial? Or some kind of wakko opinion? People overreact to what they fear. That’s just fact.

You said fear will take over for years, just like 9/11... I don't think that's true for 9/11, outside of all of all of the TSA requirements, obviously.

Fear from a virus for years could mean many different things... as I mentioned, more people could wear masks all the time. Beyond that, unless there are major outbreaks year over year, why would people fear it for years to come?

It's serious shit, of course, and I'm not trying to downplay it at all.... but, we don't even know if it'll survive the summer, much less when we'll have a vaccine, if/when the virus will mutate into something less destructive, etc.

We're in week 4 of shutting shit down and we're talking about years of fear?

In general, I do agree that people are idiots and overreact... the Chiefs win one game and they're a playoff team, they lose one game and people act like they'll never win again. Same thing on a much larger scale...... 9/11 happens and people are actually afraid to fly, when in fact there's probably a FAR LESSER risk of such attacks continuing to happen. Yes, people are dumb.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Are you really surprised? We have a society that has been taught to be selfish to the point that some inconvenience is a enough to piss them off, let alone the generations that don't trust anything anyone says on top of it.

More like “hey I own a business and now my entire life is ruined bc of this shit, I’ll never recover from this.”

It’s desperation that is completely understandable. Be sure to look at the suicide rate this year bc it’s going to explode.

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath15

Thank you, it's appreciated.

Without digging through thousands of posts....did you ever get retested? I would think they'd be interested in your plasma if you had it and turned the corner.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Without digging through thousands of posts....did you ever get retested? I would think they'd be interested in your plasma if you had it and turned the corner.

I have a call into my doc to ask about the antibody test. I'll absolutely donate if I can. From what I've read, I have to be 7 days symptom free, which puts me realistically the week of April 20th.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by RunKC

More like “hey I own a business and now my entire life is ruined bc of this shit, I’ll never recover from this.”

It’s desperation that is completely understandable. Be sure to look at the suicide rate this year bc it’s going to explode.

There are some people who can't handle just having to be home...

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath15

Yep. Pack that shit up, boy. Just about to hit the 24 hour fever free mark and feeling about 40% right now.

Which is up approximately 38% over the last 19 days.

Great to hear you are doing better. Hope you continue to improve.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I agree that there shouldn’t be this overwhelming fear. It was stupid after 9/11 and it’d be stupid now. And i whole heartily agree that this country has whethered far worse crisis’s. Many times.

But, it’s still going to happen. It’s going to take society some time to return to normal because of the fear. This isn’t just my lone uninformed opinion.

I disagree.

And people pretending this is somehow worse than other calamities are fear mongers.

I get that it's scary, and I think the breathing factor plays big part of that.

But more people are dealing with and dying of worse things every single day, I'm not saying that to downplay the severity, rather to help keep things in perspective.

I watched a good friend who was a complete bad ass wither away in a few weeks. Couldn't keep food down, even struggled with drinking water. Hadn't eaten in two weeks when I saw him. Constant pain from sternum to liver. ZERO energy level .Said a hiccup felt like a firecracker going off. A cough? A grenade. He died 10 days later, two days before my birthday.

It all sucks big time, but life HAS to move forward.

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by stevieray

I disagree.

And people pretending this is somehow worse than other calamities are fear mongers.

I get that it's scary, and I think the breathing factor plays big part of that.

But more people are dealing with and dying of worse things every single day, I'm not saying that to downplay the severity, rather to help keep things in perspective.

I watched a good friend who was a complete bad ass wither away in a few weeks. Couldn't keep food down, even struggled with drinking water. Hadn't eaten in two weeks when I saw him. Constant pain from sternum to liver. ZERO energy level .Said a hiccup felt like a firecracker going off. A cough? A grenade. He died 10 days later, two days before my birthday.

It all sucks big time, but life HAS to move forward.

It isn’t fear mongering when a hospital has to convert its cafeteria into an ICU ward because there is no more room. It isn’t fear mongering when nurses and doctors were without PPE and are getting sick.

[crayzkirk]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Yes, cigarettes are all about a very addictive chemical drug, nicotine. You feel you cant live without it. Weed is about a drug, THC that makes you feel good but its not addictive chemically. Totally different.

30 years ago for me. About 10 years after quitting, I got a craving for a cigarette after a meal. Just out of the blue. That shit gets in your brain stem and will fight like hell to make sure you get that drug.

I'm wandering off topic here... I quit in 1992 and still have dreams where I start smoking again and can't quit. Anyway, back to my prior thought... It's not just the nicotine, the entire cigarette is a drug delivery system which is designed to get you hooked. Lots of other chemicals added.

Quitting is difficult, I think it's most important to get into the proper state of mind and plan it. From experience, stating it in terms of 'trying' and 'expecting to fail' don't seem like good, positive thoughts. It has to be the most important thing to you. The physical cravings go away after about a week however changing everything you do around the act of smoking is the hardest part.

Bad habits are hard to break and good habits are hard to make.

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath15

The selfishness and ignorance of people has definitely been on full display the last month or so.

Yeah but the value of my stonks have gone down so health be damned. Die for my portfolio please.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by 2112

It will be 20 years in September for me since I quit. And I smoked from since I was 12 years old until I was 35. I did it cold turkey and you could still smoke in all bars back then so it’s probably easier now. It took two ****ing years for me to get those ****ing things out of my head. You revolve your daily activities around them coffee, food, beers et al.

When I quit Marlboro lights were $4.00 a pack. I was working in NY about 5-6 years ago and a guy I was working asked me to get him a pack of Marlboro “silver”<(Wtf is that?) Anyways $13.00 for a ****ing pack of cigarettes. Holy shit.

FTR I still smoke cigars at football tailgates and in my backyard with a glass of bourbon or scotch when the weather is nice

It will be 35 years this November for me. I started for real smoking at 15 Old Golds I called them Old Molds when they got hard to find I switched to Camel Filters for the majority. Got the itch at age 12 my neighbor buddies mom and dad were heavy smokers. They would buy cartons by the case Kools and Newports we would sneak packs and head for the lake and woods near our homes smoke and explore the wilds.

It was a bitterly cold windy day in November 1985 I will always remember I didn't feel good that day but went to work. Had to go on the high steel and push up control on the Town Pavillion for the ironworkers. As the day went on I got sicker and didn't feel like smoking. Went home was running 104 fever went to bed was sick rest the week at home didn't smoke once. After was well back to work kept the streak up eventually dint crave them and moved on.

Ps: Two packs a day is like a pack to pack and a half a day just working outside wind burns them down a lot faster.

[Pickle Rick]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath15

Smart people will not want to risk what I've gone through the last 19 days.

And I'm what would be considered a mild case considering I wasn't hospitalized.

Were you diagnosed with Covid-19?

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath15

Along with the people that had/have symptoms, but weren't allowed to test because they hadn't been in contact with a KNOWN case (hard to do when there's no testing) and/or hadn't traveled internationally or to/from a domestic hotspot.

My wife and I know 15-20 people who had/have symptoms and aren't "qualifying" for testing.

Factor in another 30% of false negatives. Hell, my likely false negative alone is keeping a LOT of people from being tested.

Of course. There were at least a dozen assumed that lead up to the one positive in my county. None of them were tested and I really have no idea how the one positive got tested because they never got to a level of serious symptoms.

As a response to the positive test they opened a drive through test with what appeared to have fairly low requirements to meet the testing threshold. Meanwhile they had ~10 people held in hospital who were assumed. Eventually, everyone who was held got tested and now all have been retested. Whatever the hell it is, it apparently isn't the Kung Flu or the tests completely suck donkey balls. All of the above has the community divided between being scared sheep and those ready to move on.

I'm in the camp of "roll out the damn serology tests already". I'd like to know if it is what put me on the floor a few weeks back.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

It isn’t fear mongering when a hospital has to convert its cafeteria into an ICU ward because there is no more room. It isn’t fear mongering when nurses and doctors were without PPE and are getting sick.

prolly because they didn't shut down the subways.

It all speaks to a lack of preparedness.