***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.”

[O.city]

https://twitter.com/newshour/status/...743550464?s=21

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

UPDATE:

Full peer reviewed study has been released by Didier Raoult MD, PhD https://t.co/DzFTv13wYn.

After 6 days 100% of patients treated with HCQ + Azithromycin were virologically cured

p-value <.0001https://t.co/vttAIWbPwJ

— Gregory Rigano (@RiganoESQ) March 18, 2020

If the government came out and said "tell you what guys - we're gonna fast-track the hell out of some of this stuff w/ known drug combinations because we're pretty sure in a month's time we'll have developed therapeutic treatment protocols that will kick the balls out of this thing. AND we're gonna issue no-guarantee loans (i.e. loans backed by the gov't that don't require personal guarantees from the business owners) sufficient to cover 30 days of operating costs for non-essential businesses. Just do us a favor and stay inside for the next month so we can keep as many people healthy as possible in the interim..."

I'd turn our lights off and go home tomorrow. As it stands, I can't do any of that. I'm learning how to do shit well below my pay grade right now because I figure there's gonna be the three folks that own this ****ing place coming in 20 hours/day trying to scrimp as much revenue together as we can for the next 3 months.

Goddamn guys - just articulate a plan.

[O.city]

https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/s...087917056?s=21

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

one thing I hope comes out of this mess is the public’s renewed appreciation of the value that science and scientists can bring to our lives. .

Was there some moment in time that people decided scientists weren't worth having around?

I mean...apart from the people that are going to forget about them within 3 months of all this petering out because some random Kardashian got another television show?

I mean, vapid and shallow cretins have always existed and will always exist. But nearly all reasonably informed people understand the value of scientists.

It's the arts we think should be shot into the sun. Stupid NEA.

[GloucesterChief]

Fujifilm seems to have something that is pretty effective as well.

Yes, that Fujifilm. They make drugs too.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by MOhillbilly

That’s better

Hey brother, good to see you.

We live in the age of being called a heretic for questioning anything. That said the world would be so much better off on all levels if we could just remove China, period. I know it’s not PC but you simply can’t contest the statement. All anyone can do is call you names for doing it.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

If the government came out and said "tell you what guys - we're gonna fast-track the hell out of some of this stuff w/ known drug combinations because we're pretty sure in a month's time we'll have developed therapeutic treatment protocols that will kick the balls out of this thing. AND we're gonna issue no-guarantee loans (i.e. loans backed by the gov't that don't require personal guarantees from the business owners) sufficient to cover 30 days of operating costs for non-essential businesses. Just do us a favor and stay inside for the next month so we can keep as many people healthy as possible in the interim..."

I'd turn our lights off and go home tomorrow. As it stands, I can't do any of that. I'm learning how to do shit well below my pay grade right now because I figure there's gonna be the three folks that own this ****ing place coming in 20 hours/day trying to scrimp as much revenue together as we can for the next 3 months.

Goddamn guys - just articulate a plan.

I feel ya man. I just closed on a new practice a few months ago. We’ve been churning and burning and just kicking and then this happens

We’ll get thru it. One day at a time brother.

I’m going to emergencies only for the next week or two because the hospitals ain’t got time to deal with tooth aches right now. If anyone on here is in my area and has a tooth ache, hit me up. I’ll be in the office. Hell I’ll even give you a chiefsplanet discount

(Not you Sauto you pay double)

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

One of my buddies I went to college with and am close with is in cancer research at Ku med. Dude is really a sharp mofo.

I talked to him the other day about this and how they’re predicting this and that.

He said “the whole ****ing worlds science community is taking aim at that little ****ing virus and they’re all United, it doesn’t stand a chance”

Everyone is full steam on this thing. They’ve started potentially producing prophylactic antibody treatments already. We got it serology down now. It’s ****ed

The two smartest guys I've probably ever known are a guy that aced both his ACT and SAT then went to Rose-Hulman to make 1/3 of what he could make in the private sector studying some extremely technical and boring sounding stuff, and then my roommate in college who was laughably smart, built like a truck, ridiculously good looking and the most introverted guy in the world who went to Arizona to get his PhD and become a food chemist.

World's full of smart people and when they put their minds to something, they'll **** it right up.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by O.city

https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/s...087917056?s=21

BREAKING: Ford says it is ready to possibly start producing medical ventilators to help deal with coronavirus crisis

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) March 18, 2020

[Strongside]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

BREAKING: Ford says it is ready to possibly start producing medical ventilators to help deal with coronavirus crisis

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) March 18, 2020

Anything to save that miserable stock price.

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

****ing science, man.

And seriously - if I hear anyone else bitch about calling this the "Chinese Flu" I'm gonna kick 'em in the dick.

Had the west known 2 months ago what they know now, this shit flat doesn't happen. A little public shaming is more than in order.
The world writ large oughta send these assholes the bill similar to how we wrapped up WWI (let's not consider its repercussions).

The response to this disease once we recognized it's significance has to be something similar to how the space race went for those who are old enough to remember it.

This stuff is coming at a breakneck pace and it's a remarkable testament to our scientific community.

China's suppression of the existence outbreak absolutely reflects poorly on them.

But when experts world wide started sounding the alarm mid January and early February they were mostly ignored.

I think history will judge America's initial head in the sand response harshly.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

I feel ya man. I just closed on a new practice a few months ago. We’ve been churning and burning and just kicking and then this happens

We’ll get thru it. One day at a time brother.

I’m going to emergencies only for the next week or two because the hospitals ain’t got time to deal with tooth aches right now. If anyone on here is in my area and has a tooth ache, hit me up. I’ll be in the office. Hell I’ll even give you a chiefsplanet discount

(Not you Sauto you pay double)

I got so mad today I walked out of a meeting with "I didn't walk in here today to listen to a fat man cry..."

(spoiler tags added as it's long and almost entirely irrelevant in a thread that shouldn't be cluttered with long and irrelevant. My bad, fellas)

Spoiler!

Last night I spent a couple hours preparing austerity measures. I'm gonna burn through savings under these things but they're important to get us through (maybe). They'll buy us 3 months if things go reasonably poorly but not catastrophically so. Fortunately when I get in ready for a fight with the managing partner on how critical they are...he's already typed up something similar. {phew}

So we set up a conference call with the 3 principal owners (us) and the 3 retired stakeholders who we're paying buyouts to that combine to essentially triple our combined salaries. We advise them that we're going to suspend buyout payments and reduce our rent to the balance of the promissory note (they're the landlords; note is 1/2 what we pay in rent).

They flipped shit about the lifestyle they're accustomed to and how unfair it is to ask them to do this. Men who have each made millions in their working lives and who could ALL get their distributions cut in half and STILL be the highest paid members of our firm are sitting on the other end of that phone crying poor while the 3 of us still here are trying to put together plans that will keep us alive and slash our salaries below most of our managerial staff (not looking forward to my personal burn rate at that point).

One of them said he wanted to table the meeting because he was getting emotional. We ended it and he called us directly to continue his whining.

Goddammit - I'm not having it right now. I'm in no mood. I have advised the other 2 partners that we'll either be on the same page tomorrow morning or my presence in that meeting is going to be REAL counterproductive. I'm inclined to tell 'em they'll get nothing and like it and if they want to come get it, they know where to find us. If they wanna scorch the earth over this, I'll close up shop and reorganize. We paid a lot in 'goodwill' to buy this thing but the goodwill at this point is our performance and it's been incredible over the last 2 years. Our clients will follow us - not our name.

To have us spending all day putting together emergency action plans, working with banks, factoring burn rates and taking the pulse of the staff while looking at every available option to claw our ways through this and then have those assholes that do nothing but sit at home and cash checks tell us 'nawwww - I'm gonna need that several hundred thousand/yr' is just galling as ****.

We completely rebuilt our software and expanded into 2 states - I feel ya on a poorly timed expansion man. Good luck with the new practice. We're reasonably intelligent people so we'll land on our feet but **** if I wanna start over again. I had a lot more energy, piss and vinegar when I was 27 than I do at 38. I don't wanna climb this mountain again.

[Shiver Me Timbers]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

****ing science, man.

And seriously - if I hear anyone else bitch about calling this the "Chinese Flu" I'm gonna kick 'em in the dick.

Had the west known 2 months ago what they know now, this shit flat doesn't happen. A little public shaming is more than in order.
The world writ large oughta send these assholes the bill similar to how we wrapped up WWI (let's not consider its repercussions).

The response to this disease once we recognized it's significance has to be something similar to how the space race went for those who are old enough to remember it.

This stuff is coming at a breakneck pace and it's a remarkable testament to our scientific community.

Amen!

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

China's suppression of the existence outbreak absolutely reflects poorly on them.

But when experts world wide started sounding the alarm mid January and early February they were mostly ignored.

I think history will judge America's initial head in the sand response harshly.

Yea it’s America’s fault. History according China/CNN.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by GloucesterChief

Fujifilm seems to have something that is pretty effective as well.

Yes, that Fujifilm. They make drugs too.

They developed a drug. Developed. (Looks around with satisfaction.)