***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.”

[neech]

Most all the apartments have rather small refrigerators and freezers, they can’t really stock up as much as a typical home owner unless they bought lots of canned food and such.

[TLO]

The DHSS in Missouri didn't update the number of people tested in Missouri tonight.

Does anyone know why? Or can anyone find some numbers on the amount of people they've tested?

[SupDock]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

This is one of the most rational posts I have seen in days regarding this topic. This entire situation has reminded me how over emotional our society has become. We are basically all teenage girls at this point.

The course of action I would have taken (I stated this weeks ago) would be to isolate the known at risk portion of our population and let the rest go about their business and develop immunity.

I would even have the government subsidize the endeavor. 25 years old but have respiratory issues? The govt will mandate that you are allowed to either work from home or get paid leave and will compensate you and your employer accordingly. I would also be fine with the govt offering some assistance to anyone else who CHOOSES to self quarantine.

Yes, there will be people who are at risk and decide not to follow precautions. If they do so.... well, **** 'em. That was THEIR CHOICE.

I know my "solution" is far from perfect but it's a massive step up from the cluster**** we are attempting now.

Interesting

What percentage of our population is at risk?
Obese, diabetic, hypertension?

What do we do with at risk healthcare workers?
Where does the at risk population go when they get sick (not Covid)

What are we doing with at-risk teachers, or are we closing schools?

Where do we isolate these people?

[eDave]

Originally Posted by Raiderhader

I can’t say that I’m totally excited about all the financial government instance that comes with this plan but, I’d take it all day long over our current “plan”.

And yes, we have become a nation of teenage girls. *shudders*

There are three basic instincts that drive human behavior. One of them is self preservation.

Our main concerns for self preservation are:

• Physical safety
• Comfort
• Health
• Security
• Environment

Stressors are:

• Money
• Food and nutrition

To cope with it all we do the following:

• Overbuying
• Overeating
• Oversleeping
• Overindulging

Not a teenage girl thing.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

This is one of the most rational posts I have seen in days regarding this topic. This entire situation has reminded me how over emotional our society has become. We are basically all teenage girls at this point.

The course of action I would have taken (I stated this weeks ago) would be to isolate the known at risk portion of our population and let the rest go about their business and develop immunity.

I would even have the government subsidize the endeavor. 25 years old but have respiratory issues? The govt will mandate that you are allowed to either work from home or get paid leave and will compensate you and your employer accordingly. I would also be fine with the govt offering some assistance to anyone else who CHOOSES to self quarantine.

Yes, there will be people who are at risk and decide not to follow precautions. If they do so.... well, **** 'em. That was THEIR CHOICE.

I know my "solution" is far from perfect but it's a massive step up from the cluster**** we are attempting now.

With the amount of people in the at risk group you would still be isolating a large portion of the country , and taxing the healthcare system.

They made a decision with the info they were getting, and seem to be escalating rather quickly as more info/data comes in which probably means that data is not great.
Is it the the right choice who knows but most would chose the lesser of two evils with info at hand.

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Its good you apparently like what you do but I think that is a sad way to go thru life.

Who said I like what I do? I don’t. And I’d wager most aren’t especially crazy about their jobs. Unless an individual is born into a billionaire family jobs are essential for the existence of most people. Some may be able to exist a bit longer than others with out but, ultimately they do have to go back to work to continue existing.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

This is one of the most rational posts I have seen in days regarding this topic. This entire situation has reminded me how over emotional our society has become. We are basically all teenage girls at this point.

The course of action I would have taken (I stated this weeks ago) would be to isolate the known at risk portion of our population and let the rest go about their business and develop immunity.

I would even have the government subsidize the endeavor. 25 years old but have respiratory issues? The govt will mandate that you are allowed to either work from home or get paid leave and will compensate you and your employer accordingly. I would also be fine with the govt offering some assistance to anyone else who CHOOSES to self quarantine.

Yes, there will be people who are at risk and decide not to follow precautions. If they do so.... well, **** 'em. That was THEIR CHOICE.

I know my "solution" is far from perfect but it's a massive step up from the cluster**** we are attempting now.

It's not as if these decisions weren't made with those things in mind. Our government isn't damaging the economy for no reason. We're taking action based on what's already worked and what has not in other places. And these decisions are being made by the best health experts in the world. Decisions are not being made on emotion, but experience and expertise as they should be. We're just out of pain free options, and " **** 'em. That was THEIR CHOICE." isn't really a valid consideration when making decisions that could affect the lives of thousands of Americans.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

This entire situation has reminded me how over emotional our society has become. We are basically all teenage girls at this point.

As I stated earlier today, I went out shopping for groceries and went to three Ralphs supermarkets and two Super Targets.

I didn’t see even one instance of people acting like “teenage girls”. People waited in line outside, six feet apart, as to properly Social Distance. Once we were allowed to shop, there was no hysteria, no one running like mad through aisles, no one acting out. People were acting completely normal, minding their own business and shopping.

When I came home, my street was packed with people walking, jogging and cycling towards Lake Hollywood. There was far less Social Distancing but people were acting normal.

I’ve been getting reports of friends and families furloughed, laid off and losing jobs altogether and in every instance, I haven’t heard one person tell me that we as a society are overreacting. People are trying to figure out what’s next but there hasn’t been any hysteria, yet.

The biggest test will come 30 days from now...

[KCUnited]

BossChief called this during the Proterozoic era

[dirk digler]

Here is a local story of a nurse here in Clinton that got it from their first COVID patient. All her tests are failing but was given plaquenil.

On March 8th I took care of patient who was later tested positive for COVID and in critical condition. I started having severe headaches and a fever a week later. I did not have a cough or sore throat. My temperature stayed around 99.2-99.8. My first COVID test was negative. I started to feel worse with chest pain and shortness of air. I was instructed to go to gvmh to get checked out. I felt like I was breathing through a small straw and knew I would get tuckered out and may stop breathing. What is interesting was my vital signs were ok. My oxygen was 92-94 on 2 liters of oxygen the entire time

As I was in a tripod position gasping I refused to be intubated despite the doctor's recommendations. I was told My chances would be better if I was on the ventilator. My white count was low and I had ground glass opacities on my lungs. All signs pointing to COVID even though my test is negative. It was a long ambulance ride to st lukes. I was so scared I would end up on the venitlator.

I was in the ICU for a few hours before I was moved to a COVID unit. I have been having fevers, headache and chest pains. But it feels so good to be able to take a full breath. I don't think I even realized how short of air I was before. The infectious disease doctor wanted to try to give me an antimalarial drug called plaquenil. I had a bad reaction, out of body experience then I went unresponsive. I recovered just fine after the medication wore off. I have had another dose and did just fine. I have been having fever at night and started coughing today but not much of a cough. But, I feel alot better. I hope I get to come home soon. My second test came back today and it is negative for COVID again! The doctors are shocked and running a third swab for testing.

[AustinChief]

Everyone keeps talking about hospitals being overrun. That is not a foregone conclusion, especially now that we likely have an effective treatment.

OK, enough bitching about the hyper emotional decision making up to this point... let's talk about the future.

What if the following scenario played out...

On Monday doctors nationwide start prescribing HCQ+azithromycin to patients testing positive for Covid-19. (I am not saying all doctors are mandated to do so but a significant number begin to adopt this treatment plan)

Our supplies of both hold up (this is actually likely given how readily available both are) The US also ramps up production ( and taps into strategic stockpile and military supplies) to meet any upcoming need.

After 6 days, 80%+ of all treated people are virus free.

At what point would you support lifting all the mandated restrictions and just issuing advisories and continuing Federal support for testing and recovery (both economic and medical)?

If this plays out, I can not see ANY excuse for not lifting restrictions by April 1.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Is it overkill at this point if drastic measures were taken to the level of:

Suspend all air travel
All interstate travel is shut down
Require all non essential businesses to suspend business
Encourage everyone to stay at home
Ban all groupings of a certain amount of people

Originally Posted by KCUnited

BossChief called this during the Proterozoic era

I was hoping to get responses about how much that response would have caused the nation in other ways. Obviously it wouldn’t have been a perfect response at the time, but with alterations/tweaks, it would have been very effective.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

Everyone keeps talking about hospitals being overrun. That is not a foregone conclusion, especially now that we likely have an effective treatment.

OK, enough bitching about the hyper emotional decision making up to this point... let's talk about the future.

What if the following scenario played out...

On Monday doctors nationwide start prescribing HCQ+azithromycin to patients testing positive for Covid-19. (I am not saying all doctors are mandated to do so but a significant number begin to adopt this treatment plan)

Our supplies of both hold up (this is actually likely given how readily available both are) The US also ramps up production ( and taps into strategic stockpile and military supplies) to meet any upcoming need.

After 6 days, 80%+ of all treated people are virus free.

At what point would you support lifting all the mandated restrictions and just issuing advisories and continuing Federal support for testing and recovery (both economic and medical)?

If this plays out, I can not see ANY excuse for not lifting restrictions by April 1.

Whooooooooole lot of bargaining going on here.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

Whooooooooole lot of bargaining going on here.

How so? Most of what is posted is completely plausible. Please give me specifics you take issue with.

[arrowheadnation]

Like every other plague or outbreak in history, infections and death will not keep growing exponentially. It's impossible. Both will inevitably reach a point where they start to trend down and things return to normal. It is the measures we take to speed up that downturn that will tell how quickly normal returns. It's all explained much more eloquently in the linked article below. This is a good read. No need to read it all. There is a lot you already know, but definitely worth your time...and who doesn't have time to kill right now.

https://medium.com/six-four-six-nine...9-1b767def5894