***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.”

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

China's suppression of the existence outbreak absolutely reflects poorly on them.

But when experts world wide started sounding the alarm mid January and early February they were mostly ignored.

I think history will judge America's initial head in the sand response harshly.

A handful of leading scientists did say "y'know guys - things are looking a little weird in China..." and the entire world said "yeah, but you gotta give me more to go with here before we hit the big red button..."

Because of course that's what governments did. That's what they SHOULD do.

Now if you take those handful of leading scientists and then have China standing behind them going "HOLY SHIT!!! WE REALLY ****ED THIS UP AND LET US SHOW YOU HOW!!!"

I suspect the reaction would be far different.

Do not for one second even contemplate giving China a pass for this. The global response to this thing should be little more than a post-script at the back of the novel on the staggering incompetence and mendacity of China.

All nations reacted similarly because they weren't given the corroborating evidence necessary to justify aggressive response. And they weren't given that evidence because China is a lying shithole run by duplicitous murderers.

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

China's suppression of the existence outbreak absolutely reflects poorly on them.

But when experts world wide started sounding the alarm mid January and early February they were mostly ignored.

I think history will judge America's initial head in the sand response harshly.

Not an excuse - but most governments in the world are going to be judged quite harshly on this.

Italy, the U.K., and the U.S. all followed the same playbook on this and we are all feeling the impact.

Soko, Taiwan and Hong Kong so far look like they’ll be judged much better - but it should be no surprise that they all had to deal directly with SARS 17 years ago. Sadly, many countries need that first experience before taking threats like this more seriously.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I got so mad today I walked out of a meeting with "I didn't walk in here today to listen to a fat man cry..."

(spoiler tags added as it's long and almost entirely irrelevant in a thread that shouldn't be cluttered with long and irrelevant. My bad, fellas)

Spoiler!

Last night I spent a couple hours preparing austerity measures. I'm gonna burn through savings under these things but they're important to get us through (maybe). They'll buy us 3 months if things go reasonably poorly but not catastrophically so. Fortunately when I get in ready for a fight with the managing partner on how critical they are...he's already typed up something similar. {phew}

So we set up a conference call with the 3 principal owners (us) and the 3 retired stakeholders who we're paying buyouts to that combine to essentially triple our combined salaries. We advise them that we're going to suspend buyout payments and reduce our rent to the balance of the promissory note (they're the landlords; note is 1/2 what we pay in rent).

They flipped shit about the lifestyle they're accustomed to and how unfair it is to ask them to do this. Men who have each made millions in their working lives and who could ALL get their distributions cut in half and STILL be the highest paid members of our firm are sitting on the other end of that phone crying poor while the 3 of us still here are trying to put together plans that will keep us alive and slash our salaries below most of our managerial staff (not looking forward to my personal burn rate at that point).

One of them said he wanted to table the meeting because he was getting emotional. We ended it and he called us directly to continue his whining.

Goddammit - I'm not having it right now. I'm in no mood. I have advised the other 2 partners that we'll either be on the same page tomorrow morning or my presence in that meeting is going to be REAL counterproductive. I'm inclined to tell 'em they'll get nothing and like it and if they want to come get it, they know where to find us. If they wanna scorch the earth over this, I'll close up shop and reorganize. We paid a lot in 'goodwill' to buy this thing but the goodwill at this point is our performance and it's been incredible over the last 2 years. Our clients will follow us - not our name.

To have us spending all day putting together emergency action plans, working with banks, factoring burn rates and taking the pulse of the staff while looking at every available option to claw our ways through this and then have those assholes that do nothing but sit at home and cash checks tell us 'nawwww - I'm gonna need that several hundred thousand/yr' is just galling as ****.

We completely rebuilt our software and expanded into 2 states - I feel ya on a poorly timed expansion man. Good luck with the new practice. We're reasonably intelligent people so we'll land on our feet but **** if I wanna start over again. I had a lot more energy, piss and vinegar when I was 27 than I do at 38. I don't wanna climb this mountain again.

Yeah that sucks. I’m hopeful this doesn’t end up being the fortune tellers doom s d gloom thing they’re portraying

I’m not seeing normal schedule for a week or two because the American dental association kind of hung us all out to dry and put out a statement of what they “recommend” nationwide. So I’ll abide.

But patients are scheduling and need treatment done. I run a clean ass sterile operation and I’ve added as much protection to everyone as I can without a full fledged negative pressure chamber.

So after this little time off I’m going back to work if patients want to be seen

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Was there some moment in time that people decided scientists weren't worth having around?.

I can’t respond to this without political points. Just letting you know I didn’t ignore the post.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I can’t respond to this without political points. Just letting you know I didn’t ignore the post.

Not even to agree that the NEA is a waste of carbon?

Sadly, I can also not respond to your non-response with an attempt to speak to the concepts of termination vs. reassignment without also raising political points...so I won't.

But I believe the nation writ large absolutely understands the value of a thriving scientific community.

What I really hope it teaches people is the value of a domestic supply chain. Jesus Christ.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Not even to agree that the NEA is a waste of carbon?.

my non-response due to this being an apolitical thread was to address society’s value of science. Nothing to do with the NEA.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

my non-response due to this being an apolitical thread was to address society’s value of science. Nothing to do with the NEA.

Well even if a dress makes my wife's ass look big, keeping that information to myself isn't gonna stop me from telling her that it makes her tits look great.

A sensitive subject does not cut off all lines of dialogue...

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

Yea it’s America’s fault. History according China/CNN.

America's response is 100% on America.

Go back and read the first 10 pages of this thread. Its ugly.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Well even if a dress makes my wife's ass look big, keeping that information to myself isn't gonna stop me from telling her that it makes her tits look great.

A sensitive subject does not cut off all lines of dialogue...

Sorry man, I've already been warned. I have to let this conversation go.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Was there some moment in time that people decided scientists weren't worth having around?

I mean...apart from the people that are going to forget about them within 3 months of all this petering out because some random Kardashian got another television show?

I mean, vapid and shallow cretins have always existed and will always exist. But nearly all reasonably informed people understand the value of scientists.

It's the arts we think should be shot into the sun. Stupid NEA.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of anti-science folks out there who seem to have no concept of what science provides us on a daily basis.

[eDave]

Yea, BRC has two strikes. But I'm enjoying the non political political comments.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Unfortunately, there are a lot of anti-science folks out there who seem to have no concept of what science provides us on a daily basis.

There are a lot of non-football folks out there who seem to have no concept of what Patrick Mahomes provides us but football is still the most popular sport in America.

Just sayin' that there's some awfully wide strokes being painted here...

I mean...is that line about judging our friends by their best intentions and our opponents by their worst examples too political for this thread? Because it seems to apply.

Yeah, there are some bad apples out there who think the world is flat and book learnin' is for sissies. But I've always been of the belief that anyone who says "I'm not book smart but I'm street smart" is probably just kinda stupid.

So it is what it is.

[Ninerfan11]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

America's response is 100% on America.

Go back and read the first 10 pages of this thread. Its ugly.

Nope, you have to look at the timeline of what China did with this thing. No one really saw it coming.

[oaklandhater]

are we allowed to post host plans in here or do I need to move this to DC

This #COVID19 proposal out of the house financial committee is really good:

- 2k/month per person every month of the crisis
- suspension of all mortgages, student loans, credit card and loan payments
- prohibit debt collection and repossession
- $5b in homeless assistance pic.twitter.com/qX5IOwHWnS

— Max Berger (@maxberger) March 19, 2020

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by oaklandhater

are we allowed to post host plans in here or do I need to move this to DC





This #COVID19 proposal out of the house financial committee is really good: - 2k/month per person every month of the crisis - suspension of all mortgages, student loans, credit card and loan payments- prohibit debt collection and repossession - $5b in homeless assistance pic.twitter.com/qX5IOwHWnS— Max Berger (@maxberger) March 19, 2020

Factual information is fine. Just don't go crazy debating whether it's a good proposal or not.