***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.”

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by The PMII Hypothesis

I’m a fan. Dudes talented.

I'll admit. I don't get it. I don't see any talent, at all. It's auto tune garbage. It's just, unique.

[petegz28]

KC area's consensus on stay-at-home orders starts to fray

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
The end of the week brought stark disagreement among Kansas City's local health and political leaders who were once united in the fight against COVID-19.

They haven't lost total consensus on a way to reopen businesses and relax stay-at-home orders. But several leaders have started criticizing each other's approaches on how best to keep people safe and move forward with commerce in a global pandemic.

It's definitely not what the region's leaders wanted, according to multiple interviews with KMBC 9 News over the past week.

This week, Clay and Cass counties rolled back stay-at-home orders and accelerated plans to reopen businesses by May 4, mirroring an approach by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.

Wyandotte and Johnson counties have taken similar stances for a potential May 4 relaxation, waiting for guidance from Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and their own reopening task forces.

Other jurisdictions like Jackson and Platte Counties, along with Kansas City, have stayed firm on a May 15 date, citing the advice of multiple public health directors across the Kansas City region.

Adding fuel to the often fiery discussion this week, someone secretly allowed a New York Times reporter to listen to a Thursday morning online conference call organized by the nonprofit Mid-America Regional Council – organized for frank discussion among the area's top leaders during the COVID-19 crisis.

The call, one of four in recent weeks, allowed public health leaders, emergency managers, and mayors from Kansas City's nine county region to share ideas on the best way forward.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas confirmed his involvement in the call to KMBC 9 News and said his public health officials still believe May 15 gives enough time to roll out a consistent plan to businesses, churches, and nonprofits to keep people safe.

"I think all of us (on the call) said things pretty directly that represent our constituents," Lucas said. "It is necessary that before we talk about reopening that we actually have a path and plan."

On Thursday, Lucas openly criticized Clay County's plan to roll back its stay-at-home order to May 3 without communicating a full plan to the public.

Clay County health officials defended their decision, saying they are working on a plan to communicate by as early as next week.

Blue Springs Mayor Courtney Ross confirmed to KMBC that he disagreed with Lucas on the MARC conference call, citing confusion with so many different dates on relaxing stay-at-home orders.

"I believe that all of us are looking for the same thing," Ross told KMBC. "That's how do we get back to some level of normalcy."

Ross said it is getting tougher for cities and counties to enforce stay-at-home orders, especially if two dates exist; May 3 and May 15.

"I strongly believe that this region needs to be on the same page because this region -- represented by the (Mid-America Regional Council]) crosses two states, nine counties and 119 municipalities, where the people who cross those jurisdictional lines needs consistency," he said.

REGIONWIDE CALLS FOR CONSENSUS

Kansas City-area leaders have pushed for consistency during the past month on a series of online conference calls organized by MARC.

Elected officials, emergency managers, and public health directors have shared ideas through MARC’s Multiagency Coordination group, which is a little known structure conceptualized after 9/11 to allow information sharing among the Kansas City region's leaders during a crisis.

MARC has outlined its coordination through the COVID-19 pandemic in a document shared with KMBC 9 News.

The leaders of the group say the MAC group holds no decision making power, and leaders are free to take recommendations back to their own jurisdictions.

"Your local City Councils, your local county commissions, your public health authority, those are the individuals that are making decisions," said Lauren Palmer, an assistant community development director/local government services director for MARC.

MARC's conference calls have often allowed leaders to quickly learn about the region's hospital capacity, testing capability, and have even leverage purchasing power among different agencies to buy personal protective equipment like N95 masks.

The group's leaders say they organized quickly after the area’s first stay-at-home orders, so area leaders are not caught off-guard by others’ announcements.

"We focused on the immediate needs the first few weeks of the COVID-19," said Steve Arbo, Lee’s Summit city manager and co-chair of MARC’s Multiagency Coordination group. "I can tell you that probably every waking minute was spent on what was hitting us directly in the face for a while, and I think we did well."

Arbo said immediate concerns are now giving way to discussion about reopening businesses and relaxing stay-at home-orders.

"Would it have been great for us to the day that we started rolling and controlling and restricting to have had a plan of how to unroll and unrestrict?" he said. "That would have been great, but none of us have ever done this before."

Arbo said he is working to bring a range of options to Tuesday's regionwide call with the MAC Group on how to best move forward with phases for re-opening businesses and keep people safe.

The goal now he said is not necessarily to unite on a date for re-opening, but unite on a common language to communicate moving forward.

"My role as a leader is to encourage all of us to get something on paper begin communicating and let people know what we can expect in the future," he said.

KMBC 9 Investigative Reporter Matt Flener wants to hear from you during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

[Rukdafaidas]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

And apparently got a tattoo on his face to commemorate each and every one.

Including Kelce and Mahomes autograph tattoos. That makes him alright in my book.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Rukdafaidas

Including Kelce and Mahomes autograph tattoos. That makes him alright in my book.

not on his face though.

[Kidd Lex]

https://twitter.com/i/events/1253764545216200705

Santa Clara study

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by petegz28

It isn't even just that. The economy will be gone in 30 - 60 days if we don't start to open things in some way. Thankfully some states are starting as soon as today. It doesn't have to be full blown but it can't be what it has been. We have lost 23 million jobs in less than a month. A few million of those are gone for good now. You go another 30 days of full lock down and you will see economic devastation like you have never seen. Thanks to some Governors it won't happen.

I think we're already to the point of serious change.

I know most people could care less about this stuff, but I just got off an interesting conference call. There was 6500 head of animals on this particular show list being discussed and all were ready to go now. Pack only wanted 300 head. They did take the oldest/fattest of the group, but if the rest of those animals aren't harvested soon they will start keeling over in the pens. Several of those guys have their nuts on the line and will go belly up if things don't change soon and there's not a lot of guys with the financial backing, not to mention the generational acquired intellegence, to even make an attempt at picking up where they left off.

If we're not careful, this deal is going to cause a fundamental change in the Ag world that the general public will be dealing with for decades. It's to the point many on the production side are ready to see people go hungry. These are people who previously believed it was their duty to feed the world, even if it meant they went broke doing it. I asked for a quick vote, and all but one said the money .gov is talking about handing out to make them whole won't come close to covering their losses. I asked for a follow up and the majority said if they're going down they'd rather not get the money and watch the system try to un**** itself during a hunger issue.

I know they're on full tilt right now, but these are people who would have never even had these thoughts 2 years ago.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by The PMII Hypothesis

https://twitter.com/i/events/1253764545216200705

Santa Clara study

I do understand that there were some issues with that study, but we've seen similar results come out of New York and Miami now to know it's not complete BS

[TLO]

Originally Posted by ghak99

I think we're already to the point of serious change.

I know most people could care less about this stuff, but I just got off an interesting conference call. There was 6500 head of animals on this particular show list being discussed and all were ready to go now. Pack only wanted 300 head. They did take the oldest/fattest of the group, but if the rest of those animals aren't harvested soon they will start keeling over in the pens. Several of those guys have their nuts on the line and will go belly up if things don't change soon and there's not a lot of guys with the financial backing, not to mention the generational acquired intellegence, to even make an attempt at picking up where they left off.

If we're not careful, this deal is going to cause a fundamental change in the Ag world that the general public will be dealing with for decades. It's to the point many on the production side are ready to see people go hungry. These are people who previously believed it was their duty to feed the world, even if it meant they went broke doing it. I asked for a quick vote, and all but one said the money .gov is talking about handing out to make them whole won't come close to covering their losses. I asked for a follow up and the majority said if they're going down they'd rather not get the money and watch the system try to un**** itself during a hunger issue.

I know they're on full tilt right now, but these are people who would have never even had these thoughts 2 years ago.

This is kind of scary.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by TLO

This is kind of scary.

Scarier than risking dying from the virus IMO.

[O.city]

Ready to see people go hungry? Why?

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by ghak99

I think we're already to the point of serious change.

I know most people could care less about this stuff, but I just got off an interesting conference call. There was 6500 head of animals on this particular show list being discussed and all were ready to go now. Pack only wanted 300 head. They did take the oldest/fattest of the group, but if the rest of those animals aren't harvested soon they will start keeling over in the pens. Several of those guys have their nuts on the line and will go belly up if things don't change soon and there's not a lot of guys with the financial backing, not to mention the generational acquired intellegence, to even make an attempt at picking up where they left off.

If we're not careful, this deal is going to cause a fundamental change in the Ag world that the general public will be dealing with for decades. It's to the point many on the production side are ready to see people go hungry. These are people who previously believed it was their duty to feed the world, even if it meant they went broke doing it. I asked for a quick vote, and all but one said the money .gov is talking about handing out to make them whole won't come close to covering their losses. I asked for a follow up and the majority said if they're going down they'd rather not get the money and watch the system try to un**** itself during a hunger issue.

I know they're on full tilt right now, but these are people who would have never even had these thoughts 2 years ago.

I could get into this more but it would quickly turn into a rant about politicians.

[O.city]

Ghak99 how can this all be corrected/fixed?

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by O.city

Ready to see people go hungry? Why?

Cause they can't keep producing the food. This is the problem. You can deem all of the food businesses as "essential" but when you shut down 75% of the economy you can't expect the food companies to still be able to provide when the income to do so is simple gone.

People say I downplay the virus and I think you know I don't. But what I do is point out that the economy is almost as important. The domino effect we are seeing in the economy is just starting and we are already feeling a ton of pain.

As I said earlier, it's not the dragon you see......

[O.city]

Originally Posted by petegz28

Cause they can't keep producing the food. This is the problem. You can deem all of the food businesses as "essential" but when you shut down 75% of the economy you can't expect the food companies to still be able to provide when the income to do so is simple gone.

People say I downplay the virus and I think you know I don't. But what I do is point out that the economy is almost as important. The domino effect we are seeing in the economy is just starting and we are already feeling a ton of pain.

As I said earlier, it's not the dragon you see......

Isn’t some of this because the slaughter houses are closed due to virus?

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Scarier than risking dying from the virus IMO.

If you noticed, the people who are screaming to just stay and home and get over it and lock things down another month or two are largely the same people that can work from home or are otherwise being compensated enough for not working that they are not impacted significantly.

Now the struggling family who is happy to hear they don't have to make their mortgage payment this month or next is also going to be expected to produce the back payments in 3 months. It isn't like they are just extending the mortgage 3 months.

So you have people who can barely get by when they are working making little if anything now and will have to up 3-4 months of rent or house payments when they finally get back to work.

That is the pain that is waiting in the wings.