***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.”

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by KS Smitty

I think the better the FDA vets it the more people will get it vs. hey they got the vaccine ready go ahead and line up.

Yep plus the FDA has pledged to release to the public the vaccine data 2 days before the hearing so everyone can see and comment on it.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by petegz28

I said 7 days or so difference isn't going to make any difference. That just sounds like a ****ing excuse to me.

If they don't have this right an extra few days isn't going to make it right at this point.

It's already an incredibly fast time frame to analyze the data. So yes, 7 days makes a very big difference. Unlike the UK we take extra steps to independently study the data. We're not just relying on pharma to tell us the data story.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by BWillie

100% chance we see 200,000+ cases this time next week.

Annnnd were already there. Shaking head. 203k yesterday.

[ChiliConCarnage]

Originally Posted by petegz28

I said 7 days or so difference isn't going to make any difference. That just sounds like a ****ing excuse to me.

If they don't have this right an extra few days isn't going to make it right at this point.

If I gave you 20 days to review some submitted data then cut off 7 or 8 days, how does that not make a difference? The days you had included Thanksgiving so it's nearly cutting the time in half.

I'm glad you're not my boss, Pete.

[dirk digler]

Doesn't seem to too bad. I never get any side effects when I get my flu shot so hopefully I won't for this either.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/02/healt...cts/index.html

What it feels like to get an mRNA coronavirus vaccine

As the United States inches closer to authorizing a Covid-19 vaccine many people may now let themselves start wondering what it will feel like to get it.

Is it going to be like the flu vaccine? Will it be more painful? And what about side-effects?

The two front-runners for getting an emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration -- Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna -- use new mRNA technology. No US-licensed vaccine has ever used it, although researchers have been studying it for decades, against infections like flu, rabies and Zika, and even for some types of cancer.

The way these mRNA vaccines work is that they give our body the instructions, in the form of messenger RNA, for making a little piece of this particular coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) -- specifically the spike protein. When our body gets these instructions, it starts producing the spike protein. That in turn triggers our immune system, which recognizes the spike protein as "foreign," to make antibodies against it. So when we get infected with the real virus, our body is already prepared to fight it.

These vaccines require two doses: one to prime the body, and then a few weeks later, a second shot to boost the response. Study results show that Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna's vaccines are each in the neighborhood of 95% effective.

But because the technology is so new for a vaccine, it has raised many questions and some concerns among those for whom it's intended.

One participant in the Moderna trial said getting vaccinated was "definitely not a walk in the park" but he would certainly do it over again.

Yasir Batalvi, a 24-year-old recent college graduate living in the Boston area, said he originally signed up to join a trial on the NIH website back in early July because he felt moved to do something to help during the pandemic.

So what did it feel like?

"The actual injection felt, at first, just like a flu shot, which is basically just a little pinch in the side of your arm," Batalvi said. "Once I left the hospital, that evening, the stiffness got a little bit worse. It was definitely manageable, but you kind of don't really feel like moving your arm too far above your shoulder. But the side effects are pretty localized. I mean, it's just in the muscle in your arm. And that's about it. It doesn't really affect anything else and you feel fine."

That was after the first dose. But the second dose was different.

"I actually had some pretty significant symptoms after I got the second dose. Once I got the second dose, I was fine while I was in the hospital. But that evening was rough. I mean, I developed a low-grade fever, and fatigue and chills," Batalvi said. He said he was out for that day and evening, but he "felt ready to go by the next morning."

He said he called the study doctors to let them know about his symptoms. They weren't alarmed and told him he shouldn't be either.

Feeling under the weather does not mean that you got Covid-19 from the vaccine -- in fact, experts say having this kind of reaction shows that your body is responding the way it should, and it should not deter anyone from getting vaccinated or going back for their second dose.

"That means your immune response is working for you. You should feel good about that," said vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "And [there] shouldn't really be any difficulty coming back for that second shot, knowing that you're now in a much better position to fight off this awful virus, which has killed more than 250,000 people and can cause a lot of long term effects."

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by KS Smitty

That 7 days may be the difference in a persons confidence in the safety of the vaccine.

I can't imagine that.

If you're talking about 7 WEEKS of review or 7 MONTHS, then sure.

Like ChiliConCarnage said, this is about getting the work done in the least amount of time possible without compromising the work itself. It's not about consumer confidence at all.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I can't imagine that.

If you're talking about 7 WEEKS of review or 7 MONTHS, then sure.

Like ChiliConCarnage said, this is about getting the work done in the least amount of time possible without compromising the work itself. It's not about consumer confidence at all.

I don't know about what chili said but yeah I can't see a few days in this case making any kind of significant difference in changing someone's mind.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

If I gave you 20 days to review some submitted data then cut off 7 or 8 days, how does that not make a difference? The days you had included Thanksgiving so it's nearly cutting the time in half.

I'm glad you're not my boss, Pete.

Dude I get told I have x amount of time to get shit done then something happens and now it has to be done in y amount which is a shorter time than x all the time. That's just how shit goes.

I don't give a flying **** about Thanksgiving when people are literally being told not to celebrate Thanksgiving.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by petegz28

Dude I get told I have x amount of time to get shit done then something happens and now it has to be done in y amount which is a shorter time than x all the time. That's just how shit goes.

I don't give a flying **** about Thanksgiving when people are literally being told not to celebrate Thanksgiving.

This is my company.

I was told I would have until December 4th to get a task done that was assigned on the 23rd. On the 25th, an hour before everybody else got to go dark for their Thanksgiving break, my team was told our due date was now 11/29 (yep, Sunday).

This happens on EVERY project, damn near every year at this time. And my customer is the Federal Government. They LOVE to drop big projects right before the holidays and then disappear so you can't ask any questions.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

This is my company.

I was told I would have until December 4th to get a task done that was assigned on the 23rd. On the 25th, an hour before everybody else got to go dark for their Thanksgiving break, my team was told our due date was now 11/29 (yep, Sunday).

This happens on EVERY project, damn near every year at this time. And my customer is the Federal Government. They LOVE to drop big projects right before the holidays and then disappear so you can't ask any questions.

That is IT for you.

It is not life or death though, well they may think it is lol..

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

This is my company.

I was told I would have until December 4th to get a task done that was assigned on the 23rd. On the 25th, an hour before everybody else got to go dark for their Thanksgiving break, my team was told our due date was now 11/29 (yep, Sunday).

This happens on EVERY project, damn near every year at this time. And my customer is the Federal Government. They LOVE to drop big projects right before the holidays and then disappear so you can't ask any questions.

Yep, every company is this way. Big, small, different fields etc. doesn't matter. It's an emergency, we have to get it done.

[stevieray]

How is China doing with deaths, etc.?

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Annnnd were already there. Shaking head. 203k yesterday.

Caaaaaaaaaaassssssseeeeeessssss!!!

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by stevieray

How is China doing with deaths, etc.?

We will never know, bud

[IA_Chiefs_fan]

Originally Posted by stevieray

How is China doing with deaths, etc.?

There's probably no way to get good data on that.