***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.”

[ChiliConCarnage]

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-he...-idUKKBN23N1WT

LONDON (Reuters) - Giving low doses of the generic steroid drug dexamethasone to patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 reduced death rates by around a third among those with the most severe cases of infection, trial data showed on Tuesday.

[O.city]

I was just coming to post that

Good news for sure as that’s easily accessible

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by O.city

I was just coming to post that

Good news for sure as that’s easily accessible

Man there are some people going off this morning. Jim Cramer on CNBC was livid because his doctors actually prevented him from taking steroids "in case he had to take them for Covid".

So there were obviously some on the medical community that were already onto this.

That all being said this appears to be for severe cases only by still it's great news. Also couple this with the study that said "statins" might be a very good treatment as it reduces the chance for clotting and treats this is a blood\circulatory problem as opposed to a respiratory problem.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by petegz28

Man there are some people going off this morning. Jim Cramer on CNBC was livid because his doctors actually prevented him from taking steroids "in case he had to take them for Covid".

So there were obviously some on the medical community that were already onto this.

That all being said this appears to be for severe cases only by still it's great news. Also couple this with the study that said "statins" might be a very good treatment as it reduces the chance for clotting and treats this is a blood\circulatory problem as opposed to a respiratory problem.

Was he trying to get some sweet gainz but was prevented?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-he...-idUKKBN23N1WT

Does anyone have the full study, because that Reuters article is not precise in its wording. The study dose was 6mg. Five mg of prednisone is equivalent to 0.75 mg of dexamethasone, which means that the study dose is equivalent to 40mg of predinose a day. That's not pulse dosing for organ rejection, but it's also not a "low" dose.

And before we even get started on "give this to everyone", this is not something you would want to take prophylactically. If you take corticosteroids for more than a week you begin to experience adrenal suppression due to the exogenous source of corticosteroids (and there are many other side effects as well).

[kgrund]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Does anyone have the full study, because that Reuters article is not precise in its wording. The study dose was 6mg. Five mg of prednisone is equivalent to 0.75 mg of dexamethasone, which means that the study dose is equivalent to 40mg of predinose a day. That's not pulse dosing for organ rejection, but it's also not a "low" dose.

And before we even get started on "give this to everyone", this is not something you would want to take prophylactically. If you take corticosteroids for more than a week you begin to experience adrenal suppression due to the exogenous source of corticosteroids (and there are many other side effects as well).

Articles about that point out that the more ill the more effective the results. They indicated the treatment is of no use to mildly ill so prophylactic use would not be a consideration.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by kgrund

Articles about that point out that the more ill the more effective the results. They indicated the treatment is of no use to mildly ill so prophylactic use would not be a consideration.

That's how I understand it. It is only for severe cases and not to be used as a prophylactic.

[petegz28]

The results suggest the drug should immediately become standard care in patients with severe cases of the pandemic disease, said the researchers who led the trials.
“This is a result that shows that if patients who have Covid-19 and are on ventilators or are on oxygen are given dexamethasone, it will save lives, and it will do so at a remarkably low cost,” said Martin Landray, an Oxford University professor co-leading the trial, known as the RECOVERY trial.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/16/ster...-19-trial.html

[O.city]

Steroids IIRC, are essentially an immune suppressant. So theoretically, with the cytokine storm they would help.

[Donger]

These are the five states we're watching most closely. pic.twitter.com/cHnFPHUg9M

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) June 15, 2020

[Donger]

Here's your regional story. Less than 10% of cases were reported by states in the northeast. pic.twitter.com/npcll35Cex

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) June 15, 2020

[Mecca]

The south doesn't seem to be handling this well.

[Donger]

Revised total:

201,129 COVID-19 deaths projected by October 1, 2020

[Tylerthigpen!1!]

Originally Posted by Donger

Here's your regional story. Less than 10% of cases were reported by states in the northeast. pic.twitter.com/npcll35Cex

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) June 15, 2020

Arkansas has a shit pot of poultry processing plants which supposedly is driving that curve up. One of my friends from Dodge City said that meat processing workers are taking a fever reducer before work if they are sick in order to trick the daily temperature readings.

Little Rock is staying relatively stable and safe. I think the governor said yesterday that Little Rock had ~20 new cases a day. I think its interesting to note that Arkansas never implemented a stay-at-home order.

[dirk digler]

New numbers released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer a comprehensive picture of who in the United States has been diagnosed with Covid-19 and how they fared.

The latest figures confirm that older people, minorities and those with preexisting health conditions are at the highest risk of death.

There was a total of 1,761,503 cases of Covid-19 and 103,700 related deaths in the country between January 22 (when the first case was confirmed) and May 30, according to the surveillance report, published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The data come from local, state and federal sources and is consistent with those reported through the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Overall, 184,673 (14%) patients were hospitalized, 29,837 (2%) were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), and 71,116 (5%) died. Hospitalizations are six times higher and deaths are 12 times higher among those who reported underlying conditions. The most common underlying conditions were cardiovascular disease (32%), diabetes (30%) and chronic lung disease (18%).

The report found that the incidence rate is 403.6 cases per 100,000, with men and women getting sick at almost the same rate. But the percentages of males who were hospitalized (16%), admitted to the ICU (3%) and who died (6%) were higher than were those for females (12%, 2% and 5%, respectively).

The rate was highest among people 80 and older and lowest among children 9 and younger. But the relationship between age and incidence rate was not a straight line: It was higher among peoples age 40-49 years and 50-59 years than among those age 60-69 years and 70-79 years.

Among cases with known race and ethnicity, 33% were Hispanic, 22% were black, and 1.3% were American Indian or Alaska Native. The report notes that "these findings suggest that persons in these groups, who account for 18%, 13%, and 0.7% of the U.S. population, respectively, are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic."


CDC received notification of the first case of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in the United States on January 22, 2020. As of May 30, an aggregate 1,761,503 U.S. COVID-19 cases and 103,700 deaths had been reported (Figure). The 7-day moving average number of new daily cases peaked on April 12 (31,994) and deaths peaked on April 21 (2,856). As of May 30, the 7-day moving average numbers of new cases were 19,913 per day and deaths were 950 per day.