***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.”

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Healthcare bro. We all just seem to be sharing it, even with all the PPE we were using...,..oh yeah that we were reusing every ****ing day.

How can they tell for sure when you got infected? I am surprised they are not making you stay away longer , until at least a 2 negative tests.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Trivia for you: the first person whose tissue tested positive for HIV was a 15-year-old teenager from St. Louis that had never left the Missouri area who died in 1969.

Wasn’t he forced into child prostitution or something?

[O.city]

Nevermind I should have read more

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Monticore

How can they tell for sure when you got infected? I am surprised they are not making you stay away longer , until at least a 2 negative tests.

Wait what? I’m 7 days out from my known exposure (last day worked) and have been at home this entire time. My test came back positive today. I get tested again Sunday. I must have 2 negative tests in a row to go back to work.

Hamas, what’s likelihood of my positive result not being accurate? Does that happen like all these false negatives?

[Loneiguana]

Didnt check too far back to see if this was posted yet:

US germ warfare research leads to new early Covid-19 test

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...id-19-carriers

Scientists working for the US military have designed a new Covid-19 test that could potentially identify carriers before they become infectious and spread the disease, the Guardian has learned.

In what could be a significant breakthrough, project coordinators hope the blood-based test will be able to detect the virus’s presence as early as 24 hours after infection – before people show symptoms and several days before a carrier is considered capable of spreading it to other people. That is also around four days before current tests can detect the virus.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Wait what? I’m 7 days out from my known exposure (last day worked) and have been at home this entire time. My test came back positive today. I get tested again Sunday. I must have 2 negative tests in a row to go back to work.

Hamas, what’s likelihood of my positive result not being accurate? Does that happen like all these false negatives?

Didn’t know about the know exposure sorry must have missed it.

[jerryaldini]

CNN: 6 feet is not enough! Need 5 million rapid tests a day to reopen in July! Will only stop covid with herd immunity but stay shutdown anyway so we don't overwhelm hospitals! No state, none, has met the criteria! We care about your family, and poor people who can't work because shutdown! Remdisivir is not a game changer! We may never have a vaccine! But stay quarantined amyway! We follow science!

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by lewdog

I tested positive. I’m 7 days quarantined from my exposure at work.

I have no symptoms with my positive test. Hope that continues.

I don’t have a Pappy to send but there’s a Magic Johnson jersey headed your way if you pull through.

[Kidd Lex]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Well that will certainly do it. Be sure to stretch your calves and Achilles before explosive exercises for a while after your treatment course. Fluoroquinolones (more cipro than levo) can increase your risk of Achilles rupture for about a month, but if you aren't also taking corticosteroids, your age puts you at fairly low risk.

Good advice, thank you. Anything else I should be doing outside of hydrating, resting, and eating healthy to clear this out quicker?

Also tonight was the first time I’ve ever used a nebulizer, and it had me a bit light headed. Didn’t love it. Is that key for clearing out the lungs? I’ll use it as long as it helps, but I asked my poor Doc so many questions but I didn’t dig into the whole nebulizer machine.

The way I understood it (very limited biology knowledge) I have bronchial inflammation as well as pneumonia in my right lung. I asked if it looked like I had lung damage, like maybe from Covid prior (all the stuff I learn on here) and he politely smiled and said no, 90% chance that this treatment schedule works and I’m good to go and if not he said there were other options he could explore. I was asking catastrophic outcome questions, and he seemed rather confident whatever the tests say I’ll be alright. He did seem surprised to see the pneumonia.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

I don’t have a Pappy to send but there’s a Magic Johnson jersey headed your way if you pull through.

****!

I should have made a Pappy bet with someone before my test results!!!

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by The PMII Hypothesis

Good advice, thank you. Anything else I should be doing outside of hydrating, resting, and eating healthy to clear this out quicker?

Also tonight was the first time I’ve ever used a nebulizer, and it had me a bit light headed. Didn’t love it. Is that key for clearing out the lungs? I’ll use it as long as it helps, but I asked my poor Doc so many questions but I didn’t dig into the whole nebulizer machine.

The way I understood it (very limited biology knowledge) I have bronchial inflammation as well as pneumonia in my right lung. I asked if it looked like I had lung damage, like maybe from Covid prior (all the stuff I learn on here) and he politely smiled and said no, 90% chance that this treatment schedule works and I’m good to go and if not he said there were other options he could explore. I was asking catastrophic outcome questions, and he seemed rather confident whatever the tests say I’ll be alright. He did seem surprised to see the pneumonia.

For patients that have more compromised lung function and can't suck in hard enough to use a dry powder inhaler or a metered dose inhaler with propellant, it will allow the drug to penetrate deep enough into the lung to exert its desired action.

The drug is going to help the bronichial constriction through different mechanisms depending upon what he wrote for. If it was albuterol (most likely) then the medication will activate the beta-2 receptors in your lungs, which leads to relaxation. You might have some shakiness, lightheadedness, and an increased heartbeat. Those are all other actions stimulated by beta-2 agonists in our body (we can't selectively turn those on, unfortunately). He could also have written for a combination of albuterol and ipratropium, which will do what I said above, just through different mechanisms (targeting muscarinic receptors with different side effects for ipratropium).

As far as other treatments, you're on it. Levaquin is the biggest gun they'll give you for outpatient treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (fluoroquinolones have increasing issues with resistance and shouldn't be used much in children, those with heart arrhythmias or the elderly because of side effects). Levaquin is nice because it has better strep pneumo coverage than ciprofloxacin, and better gram-positive coverage (which it sacrifices for gram-negative coverage that cipro does better), and also covers atypical bacterial pathogens.

You sound like a pretty ideal patient--motivated to learn, eating well, exercises, few, if any comorbidities. I'd certainly bet heavily on you being fine.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by lewdog

****!

I should have made a Pappy bet with someone before my test results!!!

Good luck ****er. Guess you should have gotten it sooner


But seriously, hope you're ok

[mr. tegu]

It’s been two weeks since Jacksonville’s beaches opened. Duval county had about 850 cases on April 17. Today it’s 1025. That’s an increase of about 12–13 per day. Deaths have risen from 15 to 22. They have been pretty steady trending towards reductions, as is the case statewide. Pretty clear though that allowing people to go outside hasn’t really had an affect there.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by lewdog

I know false negatives can be common, but what about false positives?

Hamas, please for this. Thanks.

With so many different tests it's hard to say definitively, but they all tend to have a fairly high sensitivity (finding the true positives), so I would be fairly certain that you are positive. Given your exposure, you should definitely treat yourself as though you are positive, but you are smart and responsible, so I don't think that's going to be an issue.

Either way, best of luck. You'll do well.

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

I haven't seen much data indicating that this is an especially bad flu season. Deaths and hospitalizations through January weren't abnormally high. The spike in the graph on the CDC website combines both pneumonia and influenza deaths, so it can be a little confusing when you first look it.

Hospitalizations were quite a bit lower (about 30%) than 2017-8. Pediatric deaths were about 10% lower than 2017-18, but 20% higher than last year.

Did you find that info somewhere else?

I guess it's bad for kids...

https://www.advisory.com/daily-brief.../07/flu-update

Worst flu season for children in a decade
This flu season has been especially bad for children, according to CDC. The latest CDC report shows 162 pediatric deaths were reported as of March 28, with seven new pediatric deaths occurring in the week ending on March 28. The cumulative hospitalization rate for children ages four and under so far this season is 93.9 per 100,000 people.