***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.”

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Are you over 50? Did you get your shingles shot yet?

yes and yes.

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by TLO

I know "deaths lag" - but they don't seem to be following the same pattern as before.

We've learned some. We've also taken some efforts to mitigate the overflood of icu beds. Once that gets to where it was, and I'm afraid it will, we're fubar.

[BWillie]

You better hope you dont need antivirals and ventilators should you get it.

I still see old motheru****ers roaming around at the casino. No idea what they are doing. Id be watching 900 episodes of Murder She Wrote and beating off to Vanna White id I was in my 70s.

[ChiliConCarnage]

This link has some good info about the vaccines in phase 3

https://allianceforscience.cornell.e...d-19-pandemic/

[ChiliConCarnage]

Russia just reported 92% efficacy for Sputnik in early phase 3. Did they just add a 2 to Pfizer's number?

I think I read the data they released for the earlier phases ended up looking good.

[Loneiguana]

One in five COVID-19 patients develop mental illness within 90 days - study

LONDON (Reuters) - Many COVID-19 survivors are likely to be at greater risk of developing mental illness, psychiatrists said on Monday, after a large study found 20% of those infected with the coronavirus are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days.

https://www.reuters.com/article/heal...&ICID=ref_fark

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Loneiguana

One in five COVID-19 patients develop mental illness within 90 days - study

LONDON (Reuters) - Many COVID-19 survivors are likely to be at greater risk of developing mental illness, psychiatrists said on Monday, after a large study found 20% of those infected with the coronavirus are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days.

https://www.reuters.com/article/heal...&ICID=ref_fark

Were they evaluated before? Sounds like that debunked heart study.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

My mother has had it a couple of times and says that it's no fun at all.

Now I'm looking. Apparently I can't catch shingles, but someone who has shingles could give me chicken pox. But if I've had a chicken pox vaccine, then I can't get chicken pox which then seems to mean that I can't get shingles.

It sounds like the key to this whole thing is to protect oneself from chicken pox.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/c...ad-chickenpox/

Chicken pox can be lethal to adults so if you have never gotten it as a child I would recommend the vaccine.

[O.city]

You gotta be sure about vaccines, gotta be safe. But damn that would completely change the way forward here. Economically it would allow things to get back to normal which is pretty urgent

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by O.city

We usually have my family’s my wife’s moms and then her dads

Her dads family thanksgiving usually has around 60 people in one house. They got rocked with covid, her two great uncles passed and her grandma and two aunts were all hospitalized with it so they’ve cancelled this year

My grqndma usually has ours at her house and we have about 50. They’re wanting to still have decided we’ll just delay and have it later in the spring or something

We’re gonna have my father in law and his wife and my wife’s brother and girlfriend over to our house and have a small one here. They’ve all already had it so we figure they’re the best people to be around

Wow that is a big family on both sides, you are very lucky. Just thinking about all the great food I bet is there is making me hungry already.

We always go down to my gf's family in the Joplin area or over to outside Springfield. They are still doing Thanksgiving because they don't believe any of this but we aren't going.

A few of them posted photos a couple of days ago at an event they went to at a church, no masks and huge group photo of about 100.

[petegz28]

On the topic of schools...

Students, physicians detail detrimental effects of school lockdowns
https://sentinelksmo.org/students-ph...b2ovnYwKQ9k3NM

Aly Arenholz, an 8th grader at Frontier Trail Middle School in Olathe, asked Olathe high school and middle school students to take a survey regarding the current “hybrid” model used by the school district as a result of school lockdowns — 1,778 students responded.

At a Kansas State Board of Education Meeting Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, three Olathe siblings read some of those responses. The students and several physicians implored board members to order schools re-opened for full-time in-person learning but their pleas went nowhere. Instead, board members discussed the possibility of reducing minimum education requirements; that might appease the concerns of adults working in schools but comments from students indicate it would make the educational and emotional situation worse for students.

“Every single day I wake up and I don’t want to wake up, I feel like every day is the same thing and it gets harder and harder with every passing second,” Regan Stelting, an Olathe South freshman read. “There’s nothing enjoyable about this experience and I’d rather drop out and prepare for college rather than spend one more second being a puppet for this unreliable and unbelievable school district that not only has ruined my senior year, but ruthlessly dragged it through the mud and stomped on it until it couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Nothing about my life is positive right now and there is nobody to blame except the school district and their bogus decisions. Listen to your students, they know more than anybody about what it’s like to go through this.”

Those comments were echoed by many students in the survey, who seemed to almost universally dislike the virtual environment, and are reporting troubling Issues with performance and mental health.

Regan’s brother, Carter, a junior at OSHS, said: “Of the total respondents, 82% have felt stressed, 61% felt frustrated, and 57% felt lonely. One student responded ‘I want to go to school. I want to learn. Sitting for hours on end alone in silence leaves me with no self-value. It’s depressing.’

Brennan Stelting, also a junior at OSHS, quoted students who said teachers are doing their best but remote learning just isn’t working.

“I want to go back to school! I learn best in a structured classroom with a teacher in front of me and a classroom of peers. Please, please help me to grow, learn and have a successful education. I’m begging the School Board to consider what’s in the best interest for us students and our learning. Lastly, teachers are beyond stressed with the technology which is really taking away from my ability to learn and be successful during my final senior year of high school.”

Brooke Wesley, a counselor and Clinical Director of Bellatore Recovery said school lockdowns are devastating to students’ mental health.

“I have sent more kids to Residential treatment and/or the hospital for mental health issues in the past two months than I have in the past three years.”

Dr. Jill Ackerman, a mother of four Blue Valley students, and Mayo Clinic-trained family physician said the remote learning and “hybrid” systems fly in the face of actual science — contrary to what the Kelly Administration continues to claim.

“Per CDC, the COVID19 survival rate is 99.997% for those aged 0-18,” she said at the meeting. “Per the American Academy of Pediatrics, severe illness due to COVID-19 is rare among children. The survival rate is 99.5% and higher for patients up to age 70.

Ackerman said not only are the fatality and serious illness rates extremely low but according to Brown University, so is the chance that students will spread the disease.

“We now have data that suggests schools are not the super spreaders we feared,” she said. “A Brown University review of 227,000 students from 47 states yielded a low infection rate of 0.13% among students and 0.24% for staffers. Similar information is available from Australia, Italy and countries in Europe where large outbreaks linked to school reopening were rare.”

What is not rare, however, are the effects on grades and mental health for students trapped at home during school lockdowns — or only able to attend school a couple of days a week.

Ackerman said multiple states, including Texas and New Mexico, have said up to 40-70% of students in virtual learning environments had a least one failing grade, and over 43,000 medical and public health scientists and physicians have voiced their concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of current COVID-19 policies.

Dr. Caroline Danda, a licensed child psychologist and mother of three Blue Valley students said the mental health impacts of the school lockdowns on students cannot be underestimated.

“The weight of the social and emotional fall-out due to the isolation, disconnection, and academic challenges associated with hybrid and distance learning is enormous,” she said. “I see it in my own house, where I have two children essentially failing all their classes and disengaged in school, despite ours and teachers’ best efforts. I hear the same stories among my friends and in my clinical practice, every single day. The youth lack motivation, worry about their apathy, and find it difficult to connect with teachers and peers. Their parents are worried.”

Danda said data from the CDC shows anxiety and depression among adolescents has tripled since the pandemic began. A national 4-H council survey found more than 7 in 10 teenagers are struggling with mental health, and in a Gallup poll, one-third of parents reported their children as already experiencing harm to their mental and emotional health due to isolation.

Dr. Christine White, a Johnson County pediatrician who has two children in Blue Valley Northwest High School, said she has been asking since June for students to be returned to school full time.

“As a pediatrician I see the detrimental effects of this lockdown and remote/hybrid learning every day in my practice,” she said. “I treat 5 to 10 kids a week for new-onset anxiety/depression/and suicidality.

“I work with kids with and without ADHD to motivate them to stay engaged in learning. I can honestly say that this grand experiment we are conducting right now will have unbelievable short and long-lasting effects on our children. What we are doing to them right now is criminal and unethical and it needs to change.”

More than Just Mental Health

Beyond the mental health and educational attainment impacts of school lockdowns, there are other concerns. Many students rely on schools for most of their nutrition, eating two meals a day there.

Millions of children across the country are routinely missing meals.

According to a September article by National Public Radio reporter Cory Turner, 30 million students in the U.S. depend on schools for free, or reduced-price meals — but most are not getting them.

“Among low-income households with children who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals, only about 15% have been getting those meals, Lauren Bauer, a researcher at the Brookings Institution, told Turner. She’s been poring over the results of the U.S. Census Bureau’s weekly Household Pulse Survey.

And, as the Sentinel reported in July, as part of this grand experiment, tens of thousands of children across the country have spent — and are still spending — significant amounts of time locked up with their abusers.

Schools are often the first line of defense for children in recognizing cases of child abuse or neglect, and at-risk students have now spent months essentially locked up with their abusers, with no way to get help.

According to an article at Chalkbeat.org, between March and April, as many as 200,000 child abuse cases went unreported because students were not where teachers — who are generally trained to watch the signs — could spot them.

A paper published by Social Science Research Network that focuses on Florida, notes allegations of child maltreatment plummeted across the state in March and April as schools closed.

“About 15,000 fewer allegations have been made, more than a 25% decline,” Chalkbeat reporter Matt Barnum writes. “Another way of looking at it: usually there are nearly 30 claims of abuse for every 1,000 children in Florida; in April, there were fewer than 20.”

This isn’t limited to Florida, however, and it is unlikely the steep drop in reports means there were actually fewer cases.

“In April, the Associated Press reported steep drops in calls to child abuse hotlines in several states: declines of 50% in Washington, 45% in Louisiana, Montana, and Oklahoma; 33% in Arizona; and 14% in Nevada,” Barnum reports.

While only roughly 10 – 20 percent of claims are substantiated, those numbers suggest as many as 20,000 to 40,000 children across the country have spent the last several months locked up with, and unable to escape, their abusers.

Left to local school boards and administrators, however, the mental, physical, and educational abuse of school lockdowns will continue.

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by petegz28

On the topic of schools...

Students, physicians detail detrimental effects of school lockdowns
https://sentinelksmo.org/students-ph...b2ovnYwKQ9k3NM

Aly Arenholz, an 8th grader at Frontier Trail Middle School in Olathe, asked Olathe high school and middle school students to take a survey regarding the current “hybrid” model used by the school district as a result of school lockdowns — 1,778 students responded.

At a Kansas State Board of Education Meeting Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, three Olathe siblings read some of those responses. The students and several physicians implored board members to order schools re-opened for full-time in-person learning but their pleas went nowhere. Instead, board members discussed the possibility of reducing minimum education requirements; that might appease the concerns of adults working in schools but comments from students indicate it would make the educational and emotional situation worse for students.

“Every single day I wake up and I don’t want to wake up, I feel like every day is the same thing and it gets harder and harder with every passing second,” Regan Stelting, an Olathe South freshman read. “There’s nothing enjoyable about this experience and I’d rather drop out and prepare for college rather than spend one more second being a puppet for this unreliable and unbelievable school district that not only has ruined my senior year, but ruthlessly dragged it through the mud and stomped on it until it couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Nothing about my life is positive right now and there is nobody to blame except the school district and their bogus decisions. Listen to your students, they know more than anybody about what it’s like to go through this.”

Those comments were echoed by many students in the survey, who seemed to almost universally dislike the virtual environment, and are reporting troubling Issues with performance and mental health.

Regan’s brother, Carter, a junior at OSHS, said: “Of the total respondents, 82% have felt stressed, 61% felt frustrated, and 57% felt lonely. One student responded ‘I want to go to school. I want to learn. Sitting for hours on end alone in silence leaves me with no self-value. It’s depressing.’

Brennan Stelting, also a junior at OSHS, quoted students who said teachers are doing their best but remote learning just isn’t working.

“I want to go back to school! I learn best in a structured classroom with a teacher in front of me and a classroom of peers. Please, please help me to grow, learn and have a successful education. I’m begging the School Board to consider what’s in the best interest for us students and our learning. Lastly, teachers are beyond stressed with the technology which is really taking away from my ability to learn and be successful during my final senior year of high school.”

Brooke Wesley, a counselor and Clinical Director of Bellatore Recovery said school lockdowns are devastating to students’ mental health.

“I have sent more kids to Residential treatment and/or the hospital for mental health issues in the past two months than I have in the past three years.”

Dr. Jill Ackerman, a mother of four Blue Valley students, and Mayo Clinic-trained family physician said the remote learning and “hybrid” systems fly in the face of actual science — contrary to what the Kelly Administration continues to claim.

“Per CDC, the COVID19 survival rate is 99.997% for those aged 0-18,” she said at the meeting. “Per the American Academy of Pediatrics, severe illness due to COVID-19 is rare among children. The survival rate is 99.5% and higher for patients up to age 70.

Ackerman said not only are the fatality and serious illness rates extremely low but according to Brown University, so is the chance that students will spread the disease.

“We now have data that suggests schools are not the super spreaders we feared,” she said. “A Brown University review of 227,000 students from 47 states yielded a low infection rate of 0.13% among students and 0.24% for staffers. Similar information is available from Australia, Italy and countries in Europe where large outbreaks linked to school reopening were rare.”

What is not rare, however, are the effects on grades and mental health for students trapped at home during school lockdowns — or only able to attend school a couple of days a week.

Ackerman said multiple states, including Texas and New Mexico, have said up to 40-70% of students in virtual learning environments had a least one failing grade, and over 43,000 medical and public health scientists and physicians have voiced their concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of current COVID-19 policies.

Dr. Caroline Danda, a licensed child psychologist and mother of three Blue Valley students said the mental health impacts of the school lockdowns on students cannot be underestimated.

“The weight of the social and emotional fall-out due to the isolation, disconnection, and academic challenges associated with hybrid and distance learning is enormous,” she said. “I see it in my own house, where I have two children essentially failing all their classes and disengaged in school, despite ours and teachers’ best efforts. I hear the same stories among my friends and in my clinical practice, every single day. The youth lack motivation, worry about their apathy, and find it difficult to connect with teachers and peers. Their parents are worried.”

Danda said data from the CDC shows anxiety and depression among adolescents has tripled since the pandemic began. A national 4-H council survey found more than 7 in 10 teenagers are struggling with mental health, and in a Gallup poll, one-third of parents reported their children as already experiencing harm to their mental and emotional health due to isolation.

Dr. Christine White, a Johnson County pediatrician who has two children in Blue Valley Northwest High School, said she has been asking since June for students to be returned to school full time.

“As a pediatrician I see the detrimental effects of this lockdown and remote/hybrid learning every day in my practice,” she said. “I treat 5 to 10 kids a week for new-onset anxiety/depression/and suicidality.

“I work with kids with and without ADHD to motivate them to stay engaged in learning. I can honestly say that this grand experiment we are conducting right now will have unbelievable short and long-lasting effects on our children. What we are doing to them right now is criminal and unethical and it needs to change.”

More than Just Mental Health

Beyond the mental health and educational attainment impacts of school lockdowns, there are other concerns. Many students rely on schools for most of their nutrition, eating two meals a day there.

Millions of children across the country are routinely missing meals.

According to a September article by National Public Radio reporter Cory Turner, 30 million students in the U.S. depend on schools for free, or reduced-price meals — but most are not getting them.

“Among low-income households with children who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals, only about 15% have been getting those meals, Lauren Bauer, a researcher at the Brookings Institution, told Turner. She’s been poring over the results of the U.S. Census Bureau’s weekly Household Pulse Survey.

And, as the Sentinel reported in July, as part of this grand experiment, tens of thousands of children across the country have spent — and are still spending — significant amounts of time locked up with their abusers.

Schools are often the first line of defense for children in recognizing cases of child abuse or neglect, and at-risk students have now spent months essentially locked up with their abusers, with no way to get help.

According to an article at Chalkbeat.org, between March and April, as many as 200,000 child abuse cases went unreported because students were not where teachers — who are generally trained to watch the signs — could spot them.

A paper published by Social Science Research Network that focuses on Florida, notes allegations of child maltreatment plummeted across the state in March and April as schools closed.

“About 15,000 fewer allegations have been made, more than a 25% decline,” Chalkbeat reporter Matt Barnum writes. “Another way of looking at it: usually there are nearly 30 claims of abuse for every 1,000 children in Florida; in April, there were fewer than 20.”

This isn’t limited to Florida, however, and it is unlikely the steep drop in reports means there were actually fewer cases.

“In April, the Associated Press reported steep drops in calls to child abuse hotlines in several states: declines of 50% in Washington, 45% in Louisiana, Montana, and Oklahoma; 33% in Arizona; and 14% in Nevada,” Barnum reports.


While only roughly 10 – 20 percent of claims are substantiated, those numbers suggest as many as 20,000 to 40,000 children across the country have spent the last several months locked up with, and unable to escape, their abusers.

Left to local school boards and administrators, however, the mental, physical, and educational abuse of school lockdowns will continue.

Just collateral damage with no end in sight.

[O.city]

So if the math holds up, we could be back to 2 thousand deaths per day by next week.

Hospitals are getting slammed

[dirk digler]

In regards to lock downs what do people consider a lock down because various cities and possibly states are now shutting down bars, restaurants, and some are shutting down all indoor activities.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by O.city

So if the math holds up, we could be back to 2 thousand deaths per day by next week.

Hospitals are getting slammed

Last time we saw 2k+ deaths in a day was May 7th. We went that entire 2nd wave without hitting 2k. Let's hope it stays that way.