***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.”

[suzzer99]

Maybe so. We'll see how it plays out when a vaccine comes out. This is all new territory for sure.

The fundamental problem as I see it is that is this: I have a feeling we're going to find out in places that send kids back to school in about a month - that schools are instant super-spreader events - with the ability to plow into virgin segments of the population that otherwise wouldn't be exposed. IE - 1 or 2 parents work from home, take precautions, etc. I know so many people that fit this description who are very nervous about what's going to happen with their kids' school.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

I know Donger will do as commanded. Who else?

Well, if that becomes a suggestion, at least all you'll have have to do is strap yourself on.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Maybe so. We'll see how it plays out when a vaccine comes out. This is all new territory for sure.

The fundamental problem as I see it is that is this: I have a feeling we're going to find out in places that send kids back to school in about a month - that schools are instant super-spreader events - with the ability to plow into virgin segments of the population that otherwise wouldn't be exposed. IE - 1 or 2 parents work from home, take precautions, etc. I know so many people that fit this description who are very nervous about what's going to happen with their kids' school.

My kid went to preschool since this whole thing started without any super spreading...

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by loochy

My kid went to preschool since this whole thing started without any super spreading...

That's good to hear. What kind of policies do they have in place for covid?

What worries me is stuff like the summer camp thing I posted, and just knowing that kids in general are giant germ factories who slobber all over each other all day. It seems like if schools aren't going to be big problems - it's really going to take some re-engineering of the typical school day and/or something magical about covid that keeps kids from spreading it like they do other viruses.

There's been a study posted that little kids are half as susceptible to catching covid as adults - which is great, but half is still a lot. Teenagers seem to be pretty much the same as adults as far as catching and spreading it. And they're mostly asymptomatic - which is even worse for spread since the don't know they have it.

Look at sports locker rooms - kinda like schools they've long been known as super-spreader places. Traditionally, when something gets into a locker room, everyone gets it. MLB seems to think it will be different this time for some reason. But it's looking like no locker rooms are still super-spreaders once it gets in there. They should just lock up the locker rooms imo, and have the players sit in the stands instead of the dugout. Business as usual w/o a bubble doesn't seem like it's going to work.

When I was a kid in KC public schools we'd have half the day outside sometimes when it was nice. It really seems like they should think about moving outside whenever possible, until the weather turns.

[suzzer99]

As I've said before, we’ve decided that bars and high schools are too dangerous to reopen right now, but colleges—which are just bars mixed with high schools—will be fine to.

It seems like an obvious, guaranteed way to start a third wave. https://t.co/PdSalBLjTt

— Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) July 31, 2020

Lol best description of college I've heard.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

That doesn't serve the agenda, so no.

Have you slit your wrists yet?

I mean, your self loathing on this board started years ago.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Have you slit your wrists yet?

I mean, your self loathing on this board started years ago.

How’s your coworker doing? Meant to ask yesterday

[Bob Dole]

I see we’ve still got our hair on fire over positive tests rather than, oh I don’t know...mortality?

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

I see we’ve still got our hair on fire over positive tests rather than, oh I don’t know...mortality?

You may need to update your talking points. At a national level your buddies have moved back to crowing about cases, since those are cresting while deaths are still rising.

[suzzer99]

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/st...ovid-protocols

If anyone's curious about the actual protocols MLB teams are supposed to be following, this is really interesting. Sounds like they have a lot of good ideas about limiting contact - especially indoors. Whether it's enough, or if teams actually follow it remains to be seen. The Marlins didn't.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by O.city

How’s your coworker doing? Meant to ask yesterday

The good news is he's made enough progress to avoid the ventilator for now. He called me yesterday and it was pretty emotional talking to him. He's 3 weeks in the hospital and is showing some improvement in pulmonary function and has rebounded the past 3 days. Doctors are saying if they can get someone out to 14 days of treatment in the hospital, without using a ventilator, they are seeing many patients able to rebound around the 2 week mark. Many of the older or sicker patients can't make it that long fighting though. The doctor says he's lucky he was in such good shape to be able to fight this that long and they are also thinking the COVID plasma helped him too. Long term pulmonary damage is still very likely for him, but this being so new, it's hard to understand if the body can repair that tissue over time. The other concerns they are seeing is this migrating into other organs weeks later, causing other problems and eventually organ failure. Many of the severe cases who end up living are in the 44-60 year age range.

He's likely another week in the hospital and then probably a few weeks of rehab. He's a PTA so he started supine exercises himself in the bed this week.

Thank you for asking.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by lewdog

The good news is he's made enough progress to avoid the ventilator for now. He called me yesterday and it was pretty emotional talking to him. He's 3 weeks in the hospital and is showing some improvement in pulmonary function and has rebounded the past 3 days. Doctors are saying if they can get someone out to 14 days of treatment in the hospital, without using a ventilator, they are seeing many patients able to rebound around the 2 week mark. Many of the older or sicker patients can't make it that long fighting though. The doctor says he's lucky he was in such good shape to be able to fight this that long and they are also thinking the COVID plasma helped him too. Long term pulmonary damage is still very likely for him, but this being so new, it's hard to understand if the body can repair that tissue over time. The other concerns they are seeing is this migrating into other organs weeks later, causing other problems and eventually organ failure. Many of the severe cases who end up living are in the 44-60 year age range.

He's likely another week in the hospital and then probably a few weeks of rehab. He's a PTA so he started supine exercises himself in the bed this week.

Thank you for asking.

Good to hear man, good news. Hopefully he kicks it

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/st...ovid-protocols

If anyone's curious about the actual protocols MLB teams are supposed to be following, this is really interesting. Sounds like they have a lot of good ideas about limiting contact - especially indoors. Whether it's enough, or if teams actually follow it remains to be seen. The Marlins didn't.

I think their procedures are about as good as can be expected. You need almost 100% buy in from players and staff and I think that's what makes this challenging.

Also, anyone notice the players who are wearing masks are mostly only covering their mouths? Yeah, you might as well just not wear one then. Personally on the field, I don't think anyone really needs to be wearing them in baseball.

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by POND_OF_RED

It’s simple science. Make the vaccine mandatory for nursing home admittance or even more controversially to draw Medicare. Then when you have several years of research to prove that the NNH is somehow even smaller than the current minuscule risk in children you can have them start taking a vaccine if it is the only way to reach a herd immunity. You don’t just start with mandatory vaccinations in school because that’s the only way you know how it’s been done before. It just doesn’t make since with what we know about the virus.

If the vaccine was nearly 100% effective teachers could get it and be protected and parents could choose whether to give it to their kids but their kids could still attend school.

But if it's only partially effective, which seems likely at this point, it's hard to see allowing unvaccinated kids into schools.

Lots of angry parents in the future for sure.

If the vaccine is only partially effective, I would be in favor of making it a requirement for air travel.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

If the vaccine was nearly 100% effective teachers could get it and be protected and parents could choose whether to give it to their kids but their kids could still attend school.

But if it's only partially effective, which seems likely at this point, it's hard to see allowing unvaccinated kids into schools.

Lots of angry parents in the future for sure.

If the vaccine is only partially effective, I would be in favor of making it a requirement for air travel.

The idea that the vaccine is going to be 100% effective is a pipe dream. I hope they hit 75%- 80% effective with this first batch.

I'm excited about the prospects of a vaccine but would prefer we have some sort of breakthrough with therapeutics sooner rather than later. "Oh you got covid? Here's your prescription to be filled at the pharmacy."