***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.”

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

preparing is a specific word in a hospital. That the public doesn’t receive the same way.

It’s breaking news that the Trump admin is preparing for this to last 18-24 months. That doesn’t mean they are expecting it to last 18-24 months, just preparing, just in case.

Hospitals should be preparing and acting like they are going to be at capacity. It’s no longer some hypothetical drills. It’s break glass time.

I don't want to harp on it, yet it's kind of important in this thread to put some context behind statements. You said "KC is preparing to be out of ICU beds with everyone on a vent by the weekend." ...and if not for the ICU beds part needing context (they're already full capacity, etc.), "with everyone on a vent" makes it sound 10 times worse.

Just like yesterday... Treasury guy didn't say "20% unemployment soon", he said that's the worst case scenario that they mapped out if there was no government intervention.

There's people in this thread freaking out for various reasons, and it's one thing to theorize shit getting bad, and something very different and worse to report news and give updates that either sound far worse due to lack of context or are incorrect.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

I don't want to harp on it, yet it's kind of important in this thread to put some context behind statements. You said "KC is preparing to be out of ICU beds with everyone on a vent by the weekend." ...and if not for the ICU beds part needing context (they're already full capacity, etc.), "with everyone on a vent" makes it sound 10 times worse.

Just like yesterday... Treasury guy didn't say "20% unemployment soon", he said that's the worst case scenario that they mapped out if there was no government intervention.

There's people in this thread freaking out for various reasons, and it's one thing to theorize shit getting bad, and something very different and worse to report news and give updates that either sound far worse due to lack of context or are incorrect.

got it.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

I was wondering how close to capacity they were to begin with. The lack of context made it sound like it was getting bad, but obviously with no testing, you have no idea if or when it'll happen.

My parents (who live in KC) are over 60 and aren't taking it all that seriously, so when I read "KC is preparing to be out of ICU beds with everyone on a vent by the weekend", you can imagine that's a bit worrisome.

Just talked to my daughter who is an ICU RN at one of the major KC hospitals and she is getting scared. Not for getting the virus which she thinks she already has but because the hospitals aren't prepared for this and they don't have enough protective gear, supplies or equipment.

Most of the nurses in KC are part of the union so there has been alot of fighting with management going on. Management is telling them don't need much protective gear etc.

They haven't had to many patients yet though.

[Stanley Nickels]

My thoughts don't mean a whole lot, but here's what I do know:
1) Therapeutic approaches are showing to work for patients with the disease
2) A vaccine is likely in the next year or so (and hopefully we can get phase 3 trials to vaccinate a lot of at-risk folks, though I'm not sure how you'd do a placebo control in such a trial)
3) The military will not stage a coup d'etat on the citizens of this country. Just won't happen.
4) Nobody wants a full collapse of our economic system, least of all Trump in an election year (I think that's a safe, apolitical statement, right?). Some type of basic income WILL happen, and I'm confident it'll be extended for as long and as often as these quarantines/isolations are necessary.
5) They just imposed a moratorium on evictions through end-April and I also expect that to last a bit longer (at least in some capacity).
6) We are the country best suited for this to happen to, economically-- as selfish as it is, people will not risk losing the US market.
7) Grocery stores are doing okay, albeit struggling to restock after this initial surge of haording. Those stores, and thus their suppliers, are seeing UNPRECEDENTED sales right now (Trader Joe's is considering giving ALL its employees bonuses). The people making the food, moving the food, and selling the food are all still very much in business.
8) Americans-- and people in general-- have made it through WAY worse times... Great Depression, famines... Humans are resilient creatures, it's why we've survived and thrived so long and often through incredibly difficult circumstances.
I have never seen so many people out on our streets as I did today. Lots of smiles and jokes about how crazy this all is (my neighbors had a social distance happy hour, each on their own lawn). You might say that'll change-- but we've gone through worse and not descended into chaos.

[BigRedChief]

Meet Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. coronavirus point man who helped save the world from AIDS

Dr. Fauci graduated top of his class from Cornell Med.

He has worked for Reagan, HW Bush, Clinton, GW Bush, Obama & Trump.

He has fought AIDS, Ebola, Zika & Covid-19.

Last year, he saved a woman in DC who fell ill during jury.

And he still runs at 79.

https://news.yahoo.com/meet-dr-antho...090023622.html

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

preparing is a specific word in a hospital. That the public doesn’t receive the same way.

It’s breaking news that the Trump admin is preparing for this to last 18-24 months. That doesn’t mean they are expecting it to last 18-24 months, just preparing, just in case.

Hospitals should be preparing and acting like they are going to be at capacity. It’s no longer some hypothetical drills. It’s break glass time.

You should give it some context when posting it here then, since it is specific to hospitals. Otherwise it reads like a click bait headline.

EDIT: Sorry, I posted this before reading Bearcat's response to your post. Not trying to pile on.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by sedated

As others have noted, I'm not sure cases is as important as the ratio of cases that become critical cases, and then critical cases to deaths.

This ratio is important to provide context/clarity for the increase in cases.

How many of the new cases are people with minor/no symptoms? Without testing, these people would have no idea they had the virus.

Before the increased testing these minor cases were not identified and would not be included in previous case counts.

[suzzer99]

They’re dangerously short on supplies. Her entire floor, roughly 30 people, was given two boxes of masks for a total of 100. The hospital has told them they need to make them last for at least two weeks. That’s roughly 3.33 masks per health worker 2/6

— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) March 19, 2020

This is so ****ed. We've known we needed masks for over a month. How is it impossible to do something about that? Have we lost the ability to produce anything?

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Relax, it'll pass!

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

They’re dangerously short on supplies. Her entire floor, roughly 30 people, was given two boxes of masks for a total of 100. The hospital has told them they need to make them last for at least two weeks. That’s roughly 3.33 masks per health worker 2/6
— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) March 19, 2020

This is so ****ed. We've known we needed masks for over a month. How is it impossible to do something about that? Have we lost the ability to produce anything?

There are lessons to be learned from all this for sure. I had no idea until this all happened that 90% of the antibiotics we have here in the US are made in China, that's BS. We need to fix that ASAP.

[SupDock]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

They’re dangerously short on supplies. Her entire floor, roughly 30 people, was given two boxes of masks for a total of 100. The hospital has told them they need to make them last for at least two weeks. That’s roughly 3.33 masks per health worker 2/6

— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) March 19, 2020

This is so ****ed. We've known we needed masks for over a month. How is it impossible to do something about that? Have we lost the ability to produce anything?

Multiple places are in desparate need

Also, healthcare facilities have had supplies stolen

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

They’re dangerously short on supplies. Her entire floor, roughly 30 people, was given two boxes of masks for a total of 100. The hospital has told them they need to make them last for at least two weeks. That’s roughly 3.33 masks per health worker 2/6

— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) March 19, 2020

This is so ****ed. We've known we needed masks for over a month. How is it impossible to do something about that? Have we lost the ability to produce anything?

Not a hospital but I work in a skilled nursing rehab facility. 60-70 patients at a time with most of those beds being patients who rehab for about 2 weeks before returning home.

We are running out of all Personal Protective Equipment and the orders aren't being filled. We had our transportation drivers going to Walmart, CVS, Target, etc.....looking to buy sanitizer, bleach and hydrogen peroxide today. We are almost to the point of needing to make our own disinfectant. We are down to 50 masks total. It is very scary not to have supplies to protect yourself or your staff.

[BigRedChief]

Is this still on the same trend line?

Reported US coronavirus cases in March via @CNN:

3/1: 89
3/2: 105
3/3: 125
3/4: 159
3/5: 227
3/6: 331
3/7: 444
3/8: 564
3/9: 728
3/10: 1,000
3/11: 1,267
3/12: 1,645
3/13: 2,204
3/14: 2,826
3/15: 3,505
3/16: 4,466
3/17: 6,135
Now: 8,760

— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) March 19, 2020

[SupDock]

https://nypost.com/2020/03/18/hospit...irus-shortage/

They are not using the handcrafted PPE yet, but are close to it

[KS Smitty]

Originally Posted by Bwana

There are lessons to be learned from all this for sure. I had no idea until this all happened that 90% of the antibiotics we have here in the US are made in China, that's BS. We need to fix that ASAP.

I imagine (hope) we see a lot of manufacturing jobs coming home, it will take some time getting things up and running.