***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.”

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

As long as you realize that what you said is a lot of hope at this point. There’s absolutely no guarantee a vaccine will solve this. It is guaranteed that we can’t go on like this forever. Suicide rates are up. All but the biggest of corporations are being financially ruined. People are injuring each other over not having a piece of paper over their mouth.

I said it earlier on that 200k deaths a year from this might just have be accepted but I didn’t think that it was a good plan A .

It doesn’t take masks/ lockdowns for people to harm themselves or others it’s just the flavour of the month.

[O.city]

We’ve got enough data at this point to say pretty certainly we’ll have an effective vaccine

But making one was never the biggest hurdle

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I think people also have unreasonable expectations for how quickly we can really learn about these things since we haven't really had major viral diseases that have been a huge issue for a while. The closest comparison I can come up with is HIV, and it took nearly 30 years to really get that under control. People just didn't focus on it quite this much because it impacted a relatively small percentage of the population, and it was perceived as being "preventable."

Considering its almost 100% likely this bug escaped from a lab, we should know plenty about it.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DaFace

It's just a different philosophy at this point. I think that there's a good chance that a vaccine will make things 80% better, so I'm comfortable with waiting a few more months to see how the research plays out. If you literally think it's not gonna help anything, then I can see why you'd want to just say **** it and get it overwith.

I think it will help. But it’s going to take months if not years to produce and proliferate worldwide. And then there’s the period after the vaccine hits the market that we find out of it actually works.

I’m just saying that at some point the scale has to tip. If a 100% effective vaccine is right around the corner, sure keep the precautions in effect. I just don’t think that’s gonna happen. It’s going to be years before we really know how well a vaccine works.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I think it will help. But it’s going to take months if not years to produce and proliferate worldwide. And then there’s the period after the vaccine hits the market that we find out of it actually works.

I’m just saying that at some point the scale has to tip. If a 100% effective vaccine is right around the corner, sure keep the precautions in effect. I just don’t think that’s gonna happen. It’s going to be years before we really know how well a vaccine works.

My prediction is by the time there is vaccine things will have already been trending down dramatically and you will tons of arguments for years over what actually ended the pandemic.

[suzzer99]

I found out today that Swedish guy I've been working with who still can't run 10ks 2 months after recovering from Covid is in his 40s. He looks 30 on Zoom. Swedes man.

On the cardio-vascular front - I know a decent number of NBAers, and I'm assuming pro soccer players(?) have gotten it by now. I haven't heard of anyone other than that one baseball player having issues. So that seems like good news. Although the 10 Big Ten players with myocarditis seems to still be a big issue.

Also I'm 51 and I have no idea when we're ever going to get good data on people my age who like to push their lungs to the limit every now and then (in my case hiking up a 10k' mountain on a regular basis).

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Monticore

I said it earlier on that 200k deaths a year from this might just have be accepted but I didn’t think that it was a good plan A .

It doesn’t take masks/ lockdowns for people to harm themselves or others it’s just the flavour of the month.

Millions, not thousands, of people die from influenza. I fail to understand how nobody even cares about that but this virus is the end of the world. I’m not trying to diminish the seriousness but the reaction to this borders on insanity.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

My prediction is by the time there is vaccine things will have already been trending down dramatically and you will tons of arguments for years over what actually ended the pandemic.

Yep.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

Whatever man. You are one of those people that can do nothing but try and degrade others when their ideals do not fit yours.

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

Nah, I often have discourse on here with people that aren’t ****ing morons, but I disagree with.

But sometimes that’s all you deserve. This time was a perfect example of that.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Millions, not thousands, of people die from influenza. I fail to understand how nobody even cares about that but this virus is the end of the world. I’m not trying to diminish the seriousness but the reaction to this borders on insanity.

This will be gone sooner than later one way or another and people will continue to die from other diseases at a greater rate. Just like they are now.

Its not even a pandemic at this point.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Millions, not thousands, of people die from influenza. I fail to understand how nobody even cares about that but this virus is the end of the world. I’m not trying to diminish the seriousness but the reaction to this borders on insanity.

It had to potential to kill 10 Times that un mitigated , and I think influenza should be Taken more seriously to begin with There would be way less deaths if people got the flu shot.

So why do you think it was recommended to close things down if medical experts are fine with the flu as it is , is it possible they had actual real concerns about this , or they did it for shits and giggles.

[TLO]

Missouri's numbers look bad.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Millions, not thousands, of people die from influenza. I fail to understand how nobody even cares about that but this virus is the end of the world. I’m not trying to diminish the seriousness but the reaction to this borders on insanity.

It probably has something to do with:

1) SARS-CoV-2 is a novel virus. Influenza isn't.

2) We have vaccines for seasonal influenza. We don't for this yet.

3) It's deadlier than influenza.

That's why we took mitigation efforts, and even with those efforts, we've lost 170,000 Americans to it so far.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Monticore

It had to potential to kill 10 Times that un mitigated , and I think influenza should be Taken more seriously to begin with There would be way less deaths if people got the flu shot.

So why do you think it was recommended to close things down if medical experts are fine with the flu as it is , is it possible they had actual real concerns about this , or they did for shits and giggles.

There is no evidence this is accurate. The cruise ship, Navy ship, Italy and several other places would say otherwise.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Its not even a pandemic at this point.

Yes, it is:

Based on death certificate data, the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia, influenza or COVID-19 (PIC) increased from week 26 – week 29 (June 27 – July 18) for the first time since mid-April. The percentage for week 31 is 7.8% and currently lower than the percentage during week 30 (12.6%); however, the percentage remains above the epidemic threshold. Percentages for recent weeks will likely increase as more death certificates are processed.