***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.”

[RINGLEADER]

Originally Posted by tk13

People are generally incapable of seeing down the road very well.

The part where people are going to be unruly is if some of these other countries return to normal and we're still fighting it full on because we didn't do enough to control it at the front end, and we're just a big country with a lot of people.

Until air travel stops and movement between cities and states stops we’ll see hot spots popping up all over the place. Not my rules, just the way this works at the moment. Can only hope that the distancing combined with asymptomatic people who get it being much more than we are estimating will really burn this out. Have to hope that the number who have it asymptomatically are high.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

And close the airports as well?

I have a feeling that is coming, if not this week, next week, depending on numbers.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

I am impressed. You don't strike me as someone who does insanely frivolous things very often.

We've all got to eat. And I wanted to get a taste of "home," and help a local restaurant.

So, I don't view it as frivolous. However, it was rather spontaneous, and I usually plan my spontaneity well in advance.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by ShowtimeSBMVP

Gov Cuomo expects present lockdown to last 4-9 months, ballpark.

A few weeks isn’t remotely plausible.

Scale of direct economic relief for 10-20% unemployment must reflect that.

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) March 22, 2020

Might be a Q but if true wow

I have searched and cannot find this anywhere else. I have my doubts if that is true.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Donger

We've all got to eat. And I wanted to get a taste of "home," and help a local restaurant.

So, I don't view it as frivolous. However, it was rather spontaneous, and I usually plan my spontaneity well in advance.

Well I know from experience your options are limited in CO. Worst BBQ I've ever had in my life was at a place in Golden. Won't make that mistake again.

[stumppy]

Originally Posted by Donger

We've all got to eat. And I wanted to get a taste of "home," and help a local restaurant.

So, I don't view it as frivolous. However, it was rather spontaneous, and I usually plan my spontaneity well in advance.

Somehow I'm not surprised.

[RINGLEADER]

Looks like NY has 2x the number of infections as Italy so far today.

Predictable, but terrible news.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

I have searched and cannot find this anywhere else. I have my doubts if that is true.

From that Twitter thread

He did not say the lockdown would be 4-9 months. He said “to overcome this”. The levels of quarantine/lockdown/whatever can surely vary through those 9 months.

I have no idea which one is actually true.

[RINGLEADER]

Originally Posted by RINGLEADER

Looks like NY has 2x the number of infections as Italy so far today.

Predictable, but terrible news.

12,000+ NY infections according to the numbers on the Worldonumbers site.

That would mean, in a week or so, this group will comprise approx 2,400 hospitalizations and 600 critical patients.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by RINGLEADER

Looks like NY has 2x the number of infections as Italy so far today.

Predictable, but terrible news.

Remember when everyone said the numbers would go way up as testing capacity improved?

[wazu]

Originally Posted by RINGLEADER

Looks like NY has 2x the number of infections as Italy so far today.

Predictable, but terrible news.

Seeing +12,339 new cases in New York just today. Can that be right?

[wazu]

Originally Posted by TLO

Remember when everyone said the numbers would go way up as testing capacity improved?

Yeah I guess I'm just surprised to see our capacity improve that quickly. The total number of reported NY cases has doubled in the past 3 hours.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Well I know from experience your options are limited in CO. Worst BBQ I've ever had in my life was at a place in Golden. Won't make that mistake again.

LA for me... and I actually did make that mistake again. So, LA twice. NEVAR AGAIN.

[RINGLEADER]

Originally Posted by wazu

Seeing +12,339 new cases in New York just today. Can that be right?

The earlier comment about more testing is true, but so is the math regarding how many critical patients are minted from this data.

The question is are they going to have 24K daily cases in 2-3 days?

[RINGLEADER]

Originally Posted by wazu

Yeah I guess I'm just surprised to see our capacity improve that quickly. The total number of reported NY cases has doubled in the past 3 hours.

And that site closes out the daily numbers at 5pm pst so there’s another 6 hours of data coming in.