***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.”

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Donger

What do we need to reverse?

If this reversal of the French ban happened, why is it that Michael Coudrey's Tweet is the only source?

[RINGLEADER]

Wonderful news if the drug cocktail can bring people back from the brink.

Averaged out the deaths are lining up closely with last week’s projections but only if you take a multi-day average. Still looking at 1000+ daily deaths unless these drugs work which I sincerely hope they do!

[Hammock Parties]

HOLY ****

515 deaths today and counting in the US

there was barely 400 yesterday

this is getting bad

[Titty Meat]

Anyone talk to On The Warpath yet?

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by O.city

Viruses never mutate to more virulent forms. It would be to their detriment.

Gonna go ahead and disagree a smidge there..

However, the bulk of the mutations that appear as a virus spreads are either harmful to the virus itself (meaning it is less likely to survive or replicate) or don’t change how it functions

https://www.popsci.com/story/health/...tates-changes/

[dirk digler]

Here is some good news.

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/5080571002

At least eight strains of the coronavirus are making their way around the globe, creating a trail of death and disease that scientists are tracking by their genetic footprints.

While researchers caution they're only seeing the tip of the iceberg, the tiny differences between the virus strains suggest shelter-in-place orders are working in some areas and that no one strain of the virus is more deadly than another. They also say it does not appear the strains will grow more lethal as they evolve.

“The virus mutates so slowly that the virus strains are fundamentally very similar to each other,” said Charles Chiu, a professor of medicine and infectious disease at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

The outbreaks are trackable. We have the ability to do genomic sequencing almost in real-time to see what strains or lineages are circulating,” he said.

So far, most cases on the U.S. West Coast are linked to a strain first identified in Washington state. It may have come from a man who had been in Wuhan, China, the virus’ epicenter, and returned home on Jan. 15.

It is only three mutations away from the original Wuhan strain, according to work done early in the outbreak by Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutch, a medical research center in Seattle.

On the East Coast there are several strains, including the one from Washington and others that appear to have made their way from China to Europe and then to New York and beyond, Chiu said.


Shelter in place working in California

Chiu’s analysis shows California’s strict shelter in place efforts appear to be working.

Over half of the 50 SARS-CoV-2 virus genomes his San Francisco-based lab sequenced in the past two weeks are associated with travel from outside the state. Another 30% are associated with health care workers and families of people who have the virus.

“Only 20% are coming from within the community. It’s not circulating widely,” he said.

That’s fantastic news, he said, indicating the virus has not been able to gain a serious foothold because of social distancing.

It's like a wildfire, Chiu said. A few sparks might fly off the fire and land in the grass and start new fires. But if the main fire is doused and its embers stomped out, you can kill off an entire strain. In California, Chiu sees a lot of sparks hitting the ground, most coming from Washington, but they're quickly being put out.

An example was a small cluster of cases in Solano County, northeast of San Francisco. Chiu’s team did a genetic analysis of the virus that infected patients there and found it was most closely related to a strain from China.

At the same time, his lab was sequencing a small cluster of cases in the city of Santa Clara in Silicon Valley. They discovered the patients there had the same strain as those in Solano County. Chiu believes someone in that cluster had contact with a traveler who recently returned from Asia.

“This is probably an example of a spark that began in Santa Clara, may have gone to Solano County but then was halted,” he said.

The virus, he said, can be stopped.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by oaklandhater

The first US death from the Coronavirus was four weeks ago today on February 29. It took 27 days to go from 1 death to 1,000 deaths in the US.

Now the US is over 2,000 deaths. That second 1,000 deaths took less than 3 days.

The number of deaths today is already over 400.

— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) March 28, 2020

[Donger]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

If this reversal of the French ban happened, why is it that Michael Coudrey's Tweet is the only source?

Maybe he surrendered to them, and he got the inside scoop?

[wazu]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Because the virus was politicized

No, because inflicting massive unemployment and poverty on your community also has a price.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

HOLY ****

515 deaths today and counting in the US

there was barely 400 yesterday

this is getting bad

309 just in NY and NJ alone....they gotta get something figured out there

[eDave]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

lol

When you said you and your girl were going to watch 28 Days I thought you meant the Sandra Bullock flick.

28 Days LATER. Heh.

[oaklandhater]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Love that movie.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Donger

Maybe he surrendered to them, and he got the inside scoop?

This will never, ever get old

[oaklandhater]

Originally Posted by wazu

No, because inflicting massive unemployment and poverty on your community also has a price.

what other choice is there.

covid is on pace to be the leading cause of death in america.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

HOLY ****

515 deaths today and counting in the US

there was barely 400 yesterday

this is getting bad

Pretty sure it's been bad for a little bit now buddy.