***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.”

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Otter

Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2020

My brother had two negative tests over the summer after having basically all of the symptoms. He gave blood a few weeks ago and got a positive antibody test result, which suggests that he had it despite the negative tests.

There's no question that test reliability has been a huge issue with all of this.

[dirk digler]

BREAKING—Pfizer has achieved the safety milestones for its #COVID19 vaccines (according to NYTimes conference). Details forthcoming. This is good sign.

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) November 17, 2020

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Fish

Dolly Parton is actually a pretty freaking awesome person. She's directly donated ~150,000,000 books to kids across the world too. As well as various other charities and programs.

https://imaginationlibrary.com/

Love her. She's just an incredible person.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

BREAKING—Pfizer has achieved the safety milestones for its w">#COVID19 vaccines (according to NYTimes conference). Details forthcoming. This is good sign.

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) November 17, 2020

[TLO]

Fire up the EUA printer!!

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by O.city

Sweden taking it on the chin again

Had hoped they wouldn’t

Damn

Looks like they're having to give up on the hands-off approach now, too.

Sweden resorts to its toughest virus restrictions yet after a spike in new cases https://t.co/SHe3fQcsYr

— Bloomberg (@business) November 16, 2020

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by R Clark

I am not a manufacturing guru but I ain’t buying yrs . I’ve been on to many fast pace projects that were a hellve a lot more complicated than making ppe and it didn’t take yrs .you got the money anything can be made to happen in damn near any time frame

Spot manufacturing PPE is one thing. Changing the manufacturing dynamic in this country absolutely will take years, if it can even be changed.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by TLO

Fire up the EUA printer!!

Actually, screw that - let's do this instead.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/09/...d-19-vaccines/

[O.city]

Should know pretty soon on the Oxford vax and whether it actually stops transmission which would be even better.

[jdubya]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Looks like they're having to give up on the hands-off approach now, too.

Sweden resorts to its toughest virus restrictions yet after a spike in new cases https://t.co/SHe3fQcsYr

— Bloomberg (@business) November 16, 2020

Interesting. Just yesterday a virologist on the radio was saying although Swedens cases were increasing, their death rates were steadily declining.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by O.city

Should know pretty soon on the Oxford vax and whether it actually stops transmission which would be even better.

The Oxford vax is the one I'm most interested in.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by jdubya

Interesting. Just yesterday a virologist on the radio was saying although Swedens cases were increasing, their death rates were steadily declining.

Wife's family has a past foreign exchange student from there they keep in touch with.

She said they've had some restrictions but they feel like there aren't any elderly left, it ran thru them in the spring badly.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by jdubya

Interesting. Just yesterday a virologist on the radio was saying although Swedens cases were increasing, their death rates were steadily declining.

Not sure where they'd be getting that. There's clearly been a spike in the past couple of weeks, albeit not yet at the level seen in the spring.

https://covidly.com/graph?country=Sweden&state=#new

[Hawker007]

What happens with these vaccines if the virus mutates? Can they still be effective, or are we back to the drawing board (or somewhere in between)?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Hawker007

What happens with these vaccines if the virus mutates? Can they still be effective, or are we back to the drawing board (or somewhere in between)?

I'm not a virologist, so don't take this to be an expert opinion, but...

From my understanding, the virus has already mutated many times and, thus far, they think that our current vaccines will cover it. For a specific example, look up the Danish mink outbreak and comments about vaccines related to that. In short, they still think we're good.

That doesn't mean that it will ALWAYS be that way, but it doesn't sound like it's a HUGE issue.