***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.”

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

It would make me feel a little better, to be honest.

My white count is dogshit from chemo, but my regimen doesn't qualify me for white count boosters (granulocyte colony stimulating factor). We've had both of our day techs quit in a matter of a few weeks and we're a relatively small operation, so I would feel bad leaving the other guys in the lurch.

The clinical studies we provide drugs for have started shutting down en masse, and we started having elective patient cancellations today. I imagine it is only going to increase.

The good thing is that I'm located in the most secure facility in the county and I come in contact with very few people. With that said, I kind of just want to be with my family for the next few weeks while my girls are out of school.

Wow, sorry to hear it man. Hope you can be with your girls soon.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by Kiimosabi

Breaking (potential breakthrough) early clinical trial results from France on HCQ, first well controlled study against COVID-19.

600 mg HCQ per day after 6 days, 90% of patients tested COVID-19 negative. 96% of control group tested positive after 6 days. https://t.co/oPC5Qe7cqm

— Barney Pell (@barneyp) March 18, 2020

"90% of patients tested COVID-19 negative. 96% of control group tested positive after 6 days."

Its been a while since I've taken a science class, wtf does this mean?

[displacedinMN]

Originally Posted by rydogg58

Yeah. For the most part, it's business like normal up here. I've noticed that traffic in and around the downtown area has been a LOT less than normal though. School has been closed for the last week, and is supposed to reopen on Monday. My two youngest are already bored out of their minds being home.

My oldest goes to school at MSUM. She's been home since the 13th, and they aren't going to open back up again until the 30th. I've still got to pay another 2.5k for her tuition, so if they are going to cancel the rest of the semester I wish they would let me know before I drop all that ****ing change.

As far as what I know about the Post Office, we are considered essential employees. Even with a shutdown and/or quarantine, we'd still be out delivering. Makes sense because of all the medicines we deliver and checks people rely on. Everything we have been told is that we will be working regardless of what happens.

My daughter is at NDSU and is home.

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by sedated

"90% of patients tested COVID-19 negative. 96% of control group tested positive after 6 days."

Its been a while since I've taken a science class, wtf does this mean?

The people that didn't take any experimental shit still had coronas 6 days later.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by sedated

"90% of patients tested COVID-19 negative. 96% of control group tested positive after 6 days."

Its been a while since I've taken a science class, wtf does this mean?

I'm assuming that they were giving it to people with confirmed cases, and after treatment, 90 percent of the folks who got the medicine no longer had it, while 96 percent of the people who were not given the medicine still had it.

That seems like a really good thing.

[Kiimo]

Here's the Elon Musk thread. Whatever you think of Musk you can bet that he associates with a lot more intelligent people than we do. Worth a read

Maybe worth considering chloroquine for C19 https://t.co/LEYob7Jofr

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 16, 2020

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Mr_Tomahawk

Can someone please explain what this means to us that aren't smart vey good?

Hydroxychloroquine looks efficacious, but there are problems with the trial design.

First, trials need to have predictive power, which requires a given sample size. Their trial needed 48 patients for a predictive power of 85% (not great, not terrible) that hydroxychloroquine would be 50% efficacious in reducing the viral load by a week. They only had 42 patients. That is an issue.

Their numbers are far higher than that regarding efficacy, especially when adding azithromycin. The trial has major limitations--small sample size, didn't meet power, which could cause issues with the soundness of the data--> there's still a chance that even though their p-values are low, which is good, that the lack of patients means you're saying a difference exists when one actually doesn't).

They are open about the trial's limitations. With that said, those presenting with lower respiratory symptoms would be more likely to be helped by azithromycin, as it has been the standard of care for community acquired pnuemonia for years (to the point where it now needs to be augmented with beta-lactams in many populations due to overprescribing).

However, I'd also be curious to know the clinical significance of them testing negative on PCR of a nasopharyngeal swab versus a clinical cure. The groups aren't well matched (large age discrepancy between control and intervention group).

The study has issues, but hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are relatively safe drugs if you don't have certain rare disorders (G6PD deficiency or a prolonged QT interval). I'd be fine signing off on that order.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by sedated

"90% of patients tested COVID-19 negative. 96% of control group tested positive after 6 days."

Its been a while since I've taken a science class, wtf does this mean?

90% of patients that were given meds tested negative for the virus with (i'm guessing) throat swabs where as the control group IE the group that was given nothing were positive.

The control group were all young pts to if im' reading it correntlcy.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

Ok, Mr. Hysteria.

We are not hiding from it. Wife works for the airlines. Lives and people’s savings and businesses are being destroyed. I know many people who could lose everything.

Well, hopefully not their lives.

The country is trying to identify what’s working in other countries and replicate it.

Right now, the best proven response seems to be trying to stop the spread as early as we can through isolation so we don’t have what happened in Italy and other places happen on our front steps.

There are no perfect answers.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by Donger

If it's anything like Italy, pretty much everything but grocery stores and pharmacies get shut down.

Grocery stores, pharmacies and probably gas stations/convenience stores would stay open.

If it comes to that in the US, it will be interesting to see how narrowly grocery stores and pharmacies are defined.

Will places like Walmart, Target and Costco be allowed to remain open since they sell groceries and have pharmacies, or will only stand alone grocery stores/pharmacies such as Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, Kroger, Publix, CVS, Walgreens, etc. be allowed to remain open?

[displacedinMN]

According to @mnhealth "We have not seen clustering (Coronavirus cases) outside of households." Certainly welcome news for medical and long-term care facilities. Obviously hard to know outside of those locations because of testing restrictions. They reiterate: IF SICK, STAY HOME

— Kent Erdahl (@kenterdahl) March 18, 2020

We are also expecting snow this week so that will keep more people home.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Pablo

Shit, Hamas, I thought you posted something about your wife being sick but maybe it was you all along and I had it all mixed up. I understand not throwing shit out on this board, but I hope you're getting along alright.

Nah, it was my wife, too. She just finished two years of targeted therapy last week. I was diagnosed with Stage III Hodgkin's Lymphoma in January. I started treatment about six weeks ago. Prognosis is good, but I'd be lying if I said these recent developments haven't made me a bit skittish.

I've been able to keep working through treatment, although days 3-7 after chemo have been pretty shitty. My hair finally started falling out last week, so I had my girls and wife buzz my head with dog clippers (because they carve through a hell of a lot more hair than a beard and mustache trimmer). Funny thing is, my hair is now growing again, but it will probably all fall out after the next treatment. I still have to shave, but only once a week or so instead of daily.

I should probably just shave a goatee in while I still have a beard so I can truly become a member of the inner circle.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Donger

If it's anything like Italy, pretty much everything but grocery stores and pharmacies get shut down.

Food manufacturing will stay up and running as well.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

There is a MASH episode about Chloroquin and Primaquin (sp) for malaria and how it affects certain race groups. There were not allowed to give some to AFrican Americans because it made them feel worse. Klinger took it and felt worse. Found it it was bad for Mediterraneans too.

I know this is not 1952. but.....what is everything like today?

Still true. It's due to glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase deficiency. It is more prone to certain ethnic/racial groups. It causes lysis of red blood cells in people who take those drugs

[oaklandhater]