***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.”

[Donger]

(CNN)A viral photo showing students in a Georgia high school crowded in hallways and with few visible masks resulted in the sophomore who posted it being suspended, she said.

Hannah Watters, a student at North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia, saw a photo of packed halls on the first day of school go viral. And when she saw that little had changed after that, she told CNN's Laura Coates on Thursday, she felt she had to share what it looked like inside the school. So, she took a photo of the scene and posted it to social media.

"I was concerned for the safety of everyone in that building and everyone in the county because precautions that the CDC and guidelines that the CDC has been telling us for months now, weren't being followed," Watters said.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by O.city

We’re more like 50 different small Countries than one large one so that’s pretty much how it was always likely to go.

Yep

[O.city]

https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/...335643137?s=21

Here’s a great thread from Michael Mina about testing and what we need to change

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by O.city

We’re more like 50 different small Countries than one large one so that’s pretty much how it was always likely to go.

I don't know but we had 2 playbooks that suggested otherwise. The gov has wide latitude during a pandemic\severe health crisis especially after 9/11.

[Marcellus]

Today's updated global numbers.

ACTIVE CASES
6,197,573

Currently Infected Patients
6,132,365 (99%)
in Mild Condition

65,208 (1%)
Serious or Critical

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Today's updated global numbers.

ACTIVE CASES
6,197,573

Currently Infected Patients
6,132,365 (99%)
in Mild Condition

65,208 (1%)
Serious or Critical

Are you expecting that figure to change?

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Today's updated global numbers.

ACTIVE CASES
6,197,573

Currently Infected Patients
6,132,365 (99%)
in Mild Condition

65,208 (1%)
Serious or Critical

Why do you leave deaths out? Currently there is 715K+ dead. In the end there will probably be more than a million dead worldwide with the US leading the way.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Why do you leave deaths out? Currently there is 715K+ dead. In the end there will probably be more than a million dead worldwide with the US leading the way.

I'm not the one making the graphic on Worldometer.

And even so what % of the global population would that be? I'll help, .009%.

Annual Deaths
Per Year 56,000,000
Per Month 4,679,452.00
Per Day 153,424.70
Per Hour 6,392.70
Per Minute 106.60
Per Second 1.80

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

I'm not the one making the graphic on Worldometer.

And even so what % of the global population would that be? I'll help, .009%.

Is it a revelation to you that COVID-19's IFR is less than 1%?

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

I'm not the one making the graphic on Worldometer.

And even so what % of the global population would that be? I'll help, .009%.

I was just curious. On the main page of worldmeters they list cases, deaths and recoveries right in front.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

I'm not the one making the graphic on Worldometer.

And even so what % of the global population would that be? I'll help, .009%.

This is the problem with math, right?

Person A argues raw numbers:

We have had over 150k people in this country alone die from Covid or at least we think all of them are from Covid. That is a large number no matter how you cut it.

Person B argues percentages:

All the Covid deaths in this country amounts to .004% of our total population. So 99.996% of people have not died from this.


Both make good arguments and both have to be cognizant of each other

[Donger]

Yeesh:

The Central Valley is among the areas of the nation that federal officials are particularly worried about. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's top infectious diseases expert, said the big problem is the uptick in the rate at which coronavirus tests are confirming infections.

The 14-day positive test rate climbed to 24% in Kern County on Monday, more than triple the state's average of 7% on that day.

"This is a predictor of trouble ahead," Fauci said on CNN Thursday. A high rate of tests confirming infections is "a clear indication that you are getting an uptick in cases, which inevitably — as we've seen in the Southern states — leads to surges, and then you get hospitalizations, and then you get deaths."

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by petegz28

This is the problem with math, right?

Person A argues raw numbers:

We have had over 150k people in this country alone die from Covid or at least we think all of them are from Covid. That is a large number no matter how you cut it.

Person B argues percentages:

All the Covid deaths in this country amounts to .004% of our total population. So 99.996% of people have not died from this.


Both make good arguments and both have to be cognizant of each other

I don't disagree Pete but you could run the % for any of the major diseases and it would look small % wise. Right now in the US Covid is #3 killer behind heart disease and all cancers combined.

[dirk digler]

Coronavirus Survivors' Blood Can Help Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients, Scientists Confirm

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...f=bftwbuzzfeed

As we await a coronavirus vaccine, the spotlight in COVID-19 treatments is returning to antibodies, the body’s natural defenses against viruses.

On Monday, federal health officials kicked off two large clinical trials of synthetic antibodies to treat mild, moderate, and hospitalized coronavirus cases. A biotech firm is starting a related trial in nursing homes. And the FDA is expected to soon give emergency authorization to treating patients with the “convalescent plasma” of COVID-19 survivors — the part of blood that is rich in antibodies.

While almost no US hospitals were using convalescent plasma treatment before April, it is now administered to an estimated 1,500 patients a day in around 2,000 hospitals nationwide. And antibodies look only more likely to expand in use until a vaccine arrives. A preliminary analysis of data from about 50,000 patients presented to the FDA on Saturday at a Mayo Clinic symposium found a 10% drop in deaths among critically ill hospitalized COVID-19 patients given plasma with higher concentrations of antibodies compared to those given lower dose ones.

But since plasma treatment relies on people continuing to get sick and recover from COVID-19, it’s not a permanent solution. Other treatment options involving antibodies, including manufacturing them from scratch, could hold longer-term promise.

“Convalescent plasma was never intended to be the final treatment for a disease,” infectious disease expert Nicole Bouvier of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai told BuzzFeed News. “It gives us more time to work on making other therapeutics.”

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by petegz28

This is the problem with math, right?

Person A argues raw numbers:

We have had over 150k people in this country alone die from Covid or at least we think all of them are from Covid. That is a large number no matter how you cut it.

Person B argues percentages:

All the Covid deaths in this country amounts to .004% of our total population. So 99.996% of people have not died from this.


Both make good arguments and both have to be cognizant of each other

Right now I would still put it in the do not want camp but things could change .