***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.”

[loochy]

Originally Posted by eDave

This is The Lounge. No?

Yeah, but if he's jumping back and forth between threads and just reading the messages it could slip his mind.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by loochy

Quite frankly, I bet a lot of people have (and have had) this already and just didn't realize what it was, chalking it up to the flu.

I spent 26 days in November/December with pneumonia full blown aids pneumonia. I wonder.

[suzzer99]

There's also two strains - one seems a lot milder. Maybe we'll get lucky and somehow only get the milder one.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Dr. loochy

Weaponized sneezing is no laughing matter.

Yes sir. I will try to keep that in mind the next time I hack on a masked man.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by loochy

Quite frankly, I bet a lot of people have (and have had) this already and just didn't realize what it was, chalking it up to the flu.

I'm in Colorado where there are no reported cases. I never get sick, but I went down for the count in December and early January with similar symptoms. It makes me wonder a little, though as full disclosure any time I get a muscle cramp I assume that it's polio.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

There's very likely 1000s of cases right now we don't know about. We're barely testing. The question is whether it's deliberate - either for political reasons or to not induce a panic, or just incompetence in creating/distributing tests.

We'll know in as little as a few weeks if hospitals start being overwhelmed with people needed ventilators and oxygen. Can't really hide it at that point.

The only thing I know for sure is we didn't close any borders - which is what set me off.

Originally Posted by loochy

Quite frankly, I bet a lot of people have (and have had) this already and just didn't realize what it was, chalking it up to the flu.

I'll say again that if it has been circulating widely in Washington State for over a month, those hospitals would probably already be overflowing with people who are severely ill. But there's no report to indicate that this is true.

To loochy's point, there probably have been other cases of community spread that we don't know about - but it doesn't to seem to have put a large burden on any of our healthcare systems that we know of.

Yes maybe it'll spread largely across the country, or maybe we'll only see isolated hot spots.

Right now doesn't seem like the time for "WORST CASE SCENARIO" planning.

[DaneMcCloud]

I had a meeting in Burbank this morning so afterwards, I stopped at Costco for gas and just a few items.

It was a complete and utter madhouse.

It took about 20 minutes to find parking and once I got inside, it was packed with old people that were in a tizzy everywhere, bumping into other people's carts, cutting in line, fighting for an opportunity to purchase water, even though the aisle was completely empty. Then, I saw fighting to get toilet paper, even though the area where the toilet paper was supposed to be was taped off with Police Tape and was completely empty.

It was so unbelievably stupid.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I had a meeting in Burbank this morning so afterwards, I stopped at Costco for gas and just a few items.

It was a complete and utter madhouse.

It took about 20 minutes to find parking and once I got inside, it was packed with old people that were in a tizzy everywhere, bumping into other people's carts, cutting in line, fighting for an opportunity to purchase water, even though the aisle was completely empty. Then, I saw fighting to get toilet paper, even though the area where the toilet paper was supposed to be was taped off with Police Tape and was completely empty.

It was so unbelievably stupid.

It is totally like that here as well. Armageddon. This shows the power of the media and how easily people are led. The media and public schools should be our biggest concerns as a nation moving forward for obvious reasons.

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by TLO

Yes maybe it'll spread largely across the country, or maybe we'll only see isolated hot spots.

Right now doesn't seem like the time for "WORST CASE SCENARIO" planning.

If health authorities do nothing and our hospitals get overwhelmed and there aren’t enough ICU and ventilators for the 5% who get really sick then there is hell to pay.

If by taking strong action and successfully quarantining those who get sick the virus isn’t much worse than the standard flu, then everyone says see it was all just hype.

Seems to me you still want to have contingency plans for the worst, and have a smart response while trying to dampen down the inevitable panic that will get whipped up by some.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

If health authorities do nothing and our hospitals get overwhelmed and there aren’t enough ICU and ventilators for the 5% who get really sick then there is hell to pay.

If by taking strong action and successfully quarantining those who get sick the virus isn’t much worse than the standard flu, then everyone says see it was all just hype.

Seems to me you still want to have contingency plans for the worst, and have a smart response while trying to dampen down the inevitable panic that will get whipped up by some.

I apologize, I didn't word that well. I mean that the general public doesn't need to prepare for a worst case scenario. I definitely want health authorities preparing.

[KCUnited]

I traveled to our Grand Rapids, MI office for a 2.5 day workshop on Tuesday. I saw my boss, who works in that office and was hosting the workshop, for roughly 2 minutes as she was leaving with flu like symptoms and has been down since. Later that day our leadership team from LA flew in and no one even mentioned it. Workshop went on and our biggest obstacle was confirming if x place had gluten free beer options.

[MagicHef]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I'm in Colorado where there are no reported cases. I never get sick, but I went down for the count in December and early January with similar symptoms. It makes me wonder a little, though as full disclosure any time I get a muscle cramp I assume that it's polio.

My whole family got a weird disease about 2 weeks ago. Respiratory stuff, fever, exhaustion, but not much else. Now I'm wondering...

[eDave]

Originally Posted by MagicHef

My whole family got a weird disease about 2 weeks ago. Respiratory stuff, fever, exhaustion, but not much else. Now I'm wondering...

We are going to need a CP RIP mega thread.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I had a meeting in Burbank this morning so afterwards, I stopped at Costco for gas and just a few items.

It was a complete and utter madhouse.

It took about 20 minutes to find parking and once I got inside, it was packed with old people that were in a tizzy everywhere, bumping into other people's carts, cutting in line, fighting for an opportunity to purchase water, even though the aisle was completely empty. Then, I saw fighting to get toilet paper, even though the area where the toilet paper was supposed to be was taped off with Police Tape and was completely empty.

It was so unbelievably stupid.

I feel like Costco people get off on this kind of shopping in some weird way. The vibe is always kind of a low-grade buying panic to get to stuff before other shoppers and maneuver those giant carts around. And then people get in fistfights over samples and stuff from all the tension. It's like the closest thing suburbanites get to the hunts our ancestors used to go on.

So when a real buying panic hits the Costco center of their brain lights up like a Christmas tree and they just have to go fight it out.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

If health authorities do nothing and our hospitals get overwhelmed and there aren’t enough ICU and ventilators for the 5% who get really sick then there is hell to pay.

If by taking strong action and successfully quarantining those who get sick the virus isn’t much worse than the standard flu, then everyone says see it was all just hype.

Seems to me you still want to have contingency plans for the worst, and have a smart response while trying to dampen down the inevitable panic that will get whipped up by some.

From the reddit thread posted earlier:

"China’s bold approach to contain the rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of a rapidly escalating and deadly epidemic. In the face of a previously unknown virus, China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history. China’s uncompromising and rigorous use of non-pharmaceutical measures to contain transmission of the COVID-19 virus in multiple settings provides vital lessons for the global response. This rather unique and unprecedented public health response in China reversed the escalating cases in both Hubei, where there has been widespread community transmission, and in the importation provinces, where family clusters appear to have driven the outbreak."

"Much of the global community is not yet ready, in mindset and materially, to implement the measures that have been employed to contain COVID-19 in China. These are the only measures that are currently proven to interrupt or minimize transmission chains in humans. Fundamental to these measures is extremely proactive surveillance to immediately detect cases, very rapid diagnosis and immediate case isolation, rigorous tracking and quarantine of close contacts, and an exceptionally high degree of population understanding and acceptance of these measures."

I don't think the US could ever lock down a whole city (the size of NYC) like China. People just wouldn't stand for it here. But it's very likely we could be doing more to slow the spread - if we had any idea how bad the spread actually is at the moment.