***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.”

[displacedinMN]

Suzzer--this was in the paper today

3M Co. is ramping up production of its face and respirator masks aimed at hospitals while battling an onslaught of counterfeit products that recently hit the marketplace, company officials said Friday.

“3M is receiving increasing reports of fraudulent and counterfeiting activities involving 3M products,” the Maplewood-based international giant said in a statement. “The company strongly condemns any unethical actions taken to exploit the global pandemic.”

The company has doubled global production of its highly coveted N95 respiratory masks to 1.1 billion a year (or 100 million a month), the statement said, and is working to get the new batches into the hands of hospitals and health care providers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

About 400 million of 3M’s N95 masks are manufactured each year in the United States. They are increasingly being directed to support both government and public health response, officials said.

The company also manufactures respirators at locations in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

With the help of Congressional action taken this week, 3M expects to be able to route more of its mask to customers in the health care industry. Hospitals and first responders have talked about running out of masks and are predicting a shortage of ventilators in the U.S.

The company said it is now working with governments, medical officials, customers and distributors around the world to help get the supplies where they are needed most.

Besides masks, 3M boosted production of other COVID-19 related products including hand sanitizers, disinfectants and filtration solutions aimed at health care providers and for the pharmaceutical industry working to find a vaccine to fight the virus officials said.

“This pandemic is affecting us all, and we are doing all we can to support public health and especially our first responders and those impacted by this global health crisis,” 3M CEO Mike Roman said Friday in the statement. “We are mobilizing all available resources and rapidly increasing output of critical supplies health care workers in the United States and around the world need to help protect their lives as they treat others.”

On a down market day, 3M’s stock fell 5% to $130.47 a share in early trading Friday.

[kstater]

Originally Posted by petegz28

We are. Why do you think the number of cases are going up?



What we aren't doing right now is just testing people just to test them. That's a fine line to walk at the moment but one we have to do.



I can tell you now, I work for a health system, I have been on more calls this week to discuss patient, nurse and doctor safety. There are only so many resources to go around. You can't risk the medical professionals getting infected.



When people try going into a doctor's office or ER to get tested even if they aren't showing symptoms they are putting everyone else and including themselves in jeopardy.

This is not true. I know at least 2 people who went to their Dr with symptoms(well one called) and was told to self quarantine for 2 weeks. No test, nothing. Told to go to hospital if syptoms worsen.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Stanley Nickels]

Originally Posted by Donger

And you are saying that you think that non-N95 masks aren't capable of stopping droplet spread?

Stopping or ameliorating? Important distinction. Yes, they'd help; no, they wouldn't stop. Sorry to be pedantic.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by kstater

This is not true. I know at least 2 people who went to their Dr with symptoms(well one called) and was told to self quarantine for 2 weeks. No test, nothing. Told to go to hospital if syptoms worsen.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

When was this?

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I think people get confused by the "lockdown" language. Even Italy is still allowing people to go out to get food and to work. It's not like people are literally sitting in their homes 24/7.

Which they are in Wuhan. They get one stamp per household per week so one person can go out and buy groceries.

The Chinese expert is saying Italy should do the same thing because they're at Wuhan levels. No one in the west has tried anything that draconian and maybe they shouldn't. But it just means our milder lockdown is going to drag out a lot longer.

Still hoping heat and humidity slows it down. Seems like there's a good chance.
Singapore's high temp ever is 96. Average high is usually high 80s or low 90s. This virus hasn't seen anything like a KC summer yet.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Freaking masks man. We need to be cranking those things about by the millions and requiring them to go out in public until this thing is over.

Doesn't have to be N95, just surgical. It can't be that hard to make surgical masks can it?

I think surgical masks help infected people from spreading it more than people from getting it, once they get damp they lose effectiveness, also doesn't protect your eyes vs droplet.

[kstater]

Originally Posted by petegz28

When was this?

Tuesday for one, Wednesday for the other

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Stanley Nickels

Stopping or ameliorating? Important distinction. Yes, they'd help; no, they wouldn't stop. Sorry to be pedantic.

Don't worry, Donger is the King of pedantic.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Stanley Nickels

Stopping or ameliorating? Important distinction. Yes, they'd help; no, they wouldn't stop. Sorry to be pedantic.

You're right. I should have used pete's words:

https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/show...&postcount=821

Masks don't do jack shit. Stop listening to the ****ing media.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by Donger

And you are saying that you think that non-N95 masks aren't capable of stopping droplet spread?

still need to protect your eyes on top of the N95.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by kstater

Tuesday for one, Wednesday for the other

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

That shouldn't be happening at this point. Then again without knowing the reasoning behind the decisions we can't say why they were told that. It could easily have been they were dealing with more critical cases and needed the resources for them, I don't know.

[Stanley Nickels]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

Some really interesting information about the malaria stuff here. Pretty technical as well.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/...malarial-drug/

Then there is this:

Oh come on. SO GODDAMN CONFOUNDING.

I'll bet that yellow map would look almost IDENTICAL if you mapped the most common hotspots for CHINESE TRAVELERS. This is bullshit pseudostatistics. Show me how this controls for confounding factors and then we'll talk. Until then this is some lazy false-equivalence.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Monticore

still need to protect your eyes on top of the N95.

Well-aware, and not the claim.

[Stanley Nickels]

Originally Posted by Donger

You're right. I should have used pete's words:

https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/show...&postcount=821

Masks don't do jack shit. Stop listening to the ****ing media.

All good. Just trying to be very precise in this thread.

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Which they are in Wuhan. They get one stamp per household per week so one person can go out and buy groceries.

The Chinese expert is saying Italy should do the same thing because they're at Wuhan levels. No one in the west has tried anything that draconian and maybe they shouldn't. But it just means our milder lockdown is going to drag out a lot longer.

Still hoping heat and humidity slows it down. Seems like there's a good chance.
Singapore's high temp ever is 96. Average high is usually high 80s or low 90s. This virus hasn't seen anything like a KC summer yet.

Why would anyone believe the Chinese government they’ve lied this whole time and trying to cover it up.