***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.”

[TLO]

Random question for discussion. Obviously pe pure speculation.

If every American citizen was given a test today. How many would test positive for the virus?

[BWillie]

Trump, Sanders, or Biden.one of those ****ers is going to catch it.

Since they are ****ing an ancient. They'll have a 1 out of 7 chance of dying.

Money doesn't seem to help.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Fair enough. But the Chinese probably did as good of a job attempting to contain it than any other country would have because they are communist. The virus has actually been reduced because of the measures they took.

Their behavior caused this outbreak, and it has others. Maybe we should send them a few million tons of American beef jerky, so this doesn't happen again.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by TLO

Random question for discussion. Obviously pe pure speculation.

If every American citizen was given a test today. How many would test positive for the virus?

My best guess....15,000.

It will be 200,000 by April 1.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Donger

Their behavior caused this outbreak, and it has others. Maybe we should send them a few million tons of American beef jerky, so this doesn't happen again.

Well, Kansas killed 100 million people with the Spanish Flu of 1918 and we dropped two atomic bombs on Japan so I guess we are even

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by TLO

People fear the unknown. It's basic human instinct.

I'm somewhat afraid of this, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I'm also not out buying every mask, bottle of hand sanitizer, and ****ing roll of toilet paper at Wal-Mart.

I'm not worried about the virus killing people I'm worried about people.

Forget the fatalities, if just 20% of the work force can't report that's a huge slow down. Everything takes longer. Everyone works more, less sleep, more exposure.

Law enforcement already sleeps little and works sick. They get hit hard and things can get worse at a bad time...

[TLO]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

My side hustle revolves around medical conventions. I've done this work for seventeen years, for dozens of conventions in major cities all over the US. Last Friday something happened that I had never seen before: following recent reports by the CDC and the World Health Organization, HIMSS canceled their 2020 convention in Orlando.

Now you can talk about political weaponization of this virus by either side of the Dem/rep.aisle, or about the media panicking the public, but this cancellation makes it obvious to me that this is a real thing. Events with 45000 registered attendees do not cancel for something that's no worse than the flu. This isn't the first event to be cancelled in the last week, either, and I don't expect it to be the last.. But whatever else happens, I've never seen a convention cancelled for any reason until now. Not SARS or MERS or bird flu or zika or anything else.

Interesting side.note: President Trump was scheduled to speak about the coronavirus at the convention.

I imagine this group of 45,000 people would include folks from all over the country, if not all over the world.

It's smart business to not have large gatherings with people from all over the world right now.

I'm all for taking as many precautions as possible.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by philfree

The wife and I are scheduled to go to PCB Florida next week. The only state between here and there that has the virus is Tennessee and then of course Florida. We will stay at Graceland in Memphis and then the Renaissance Hotel in Montgomery Alabama. When we get to PCB we'll be staying in a beach side condo. Most of this is already paid for so if we cancel our trip we're going to be out a lot of money. I'm looking everyday for new outbreaks as I try and decide what to do. The wife has COPD. Should we stay or do we go?

even if there is nothing in the area at the time, if at all possible reschedule. I’m sure you are aware with COPD, getting a virus can lead to hospitalizations. I’d reschedule if possible.

Sure you could pick it up going to your local grocery store. But, the difference is that locally you can have your doctor take care of her. Knows her current and past physical conditions. Knows her best to determine when to pull the panic lever on hospitalization.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by TLO

I imagine this group of 45,000 people would include folks from all over the country, if not all over the world.

It's smart business to not have large gatherings with people from all over the world right now.

I'm all for taking as many precautions as possible.

Big international turnout...

We also had two clients pull out before it was cancelled, one of them Intel. So the writing was on the wall. But I was still surprised HIMSS pulled the plug.

[FloridaMan88]

Another example of the hysteria/panicked-reaction being much worse than the danger of the actual virus...

Austin, Texas despite not having a single confirmed case of COVID-19 declared a state of emergency yesterday and cancelled SXSW and its $330 million+ annual local economic impact.

That is beyond stupid.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by BWillie

My best guess....15,000.

It will be 200,000 by April 1.

The "experts" and opinions are all over.

A woman in this vid thinks it'll hit 1 million by the end of april.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOedUmBp1XU

This gal also states smokers have a much higher risk due to higher "ACE2." I won't pretend to know what it is only that smokers have more and that's bad. The more the ACE2 receptors, the higher the chance of the Coronavirus adhering to a smoker’s lungs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jJTGdZiNdQ

[BWillie]

They better not cancel the World Series of Poker.

This is very bad for poker.

I hope Covid 19 doesn't kill to many old ppl because thats the only way I really make money.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

Another example of the hysteria/panicked-reaction being much worse than the danger of the actual virus...

Austin, Texas despite not having a single confirmed case of COVID-19 declared a state of emergency yesterday and cancelled SXSW and its $330 million+ annual local economic impact.

That is beyond stupid.

Well, we can't really test for it nation wide and you can pass it without symptoms for like 3 weeks. I don't blame people for avoiding huge gatherings...

[keg in kc]

I'm not sure why anybody would think any of these cancellations are just panicked reactions.

But sure, keep beating that "there's nothing to see here!" drum. Maybe if you try hard enough you'll eventually will it into reality despite what the CDC and WHO are saying.

[tk13]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

Another example of the hysteria/panicked-reaction being much worse than the danger of the actual virus...

Austin, Texas despite not having a single confirmed case of COVID-19 declared a state of emergency yesterday and cancelled SXSW and its $330 million+ annual local economic impact.

That is beyond stupid.

I would imagine more is coming. Events cancelled, movies pushed back, sporting events with no crowds.

I'm someone who thinks the death rate is probably being overblown because more people probably have it than what the numbers say. But that said, by all accounts this thing appears to be very, very contagious. Look at how easy this thing is blowing through cruise ships, nursing homes, etc. There is going to come a point where someone is going to have to put the foot down, and given the way people are that point probably won't come until this thing has really done some damage, either to people or the economy.

You can have this thing for weeks and not know it, and still pass it on to other people during that time. The way it's going there's really no way to stop it except to stay home.