***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.”

[FAX]

Prior to this virus, how many people died in NY each day?

Some sort of baseline would be useful.

FAX

[Monticore]

This thread is actually less pessimistic than the game day threads so we are doing better lol.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by Donger

I don't recall any epidemiologist throwing such numbers around previously.

13/18 epidemiologists in this panel put their mean projected US death toll in 2020 at 100K or greater. A week before the same panel was projecting only a slightly smaller death toll.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...still-unclear/

[eDave]

Originally Posted by FAX

Prior to this virus, how many people died in NY each day?

Some sort of baseline would be useful.

FAX

Not as many as you'd like dude. So keep praying in between handfulls of Cheeto's.

[displacedinMN]

Originally Posted by TLO

I'm gonna ask a personal question - just for some light discussion.

My girlfriend and I live together with her 2 kids. She works full time as a manager at Target. Her work recently has been working to unload their truck shipments and get the items on the shelves. She has very little contact with actual customers. She is being very careful about washing her hands, not touching her face, etc.

I work for a company that provides care for individuals with developmental disabilities. I work 20 hrs in office, and 20 hrs at home. I am in the homes I oversee once or twice a week, but not for very long. I don't see very many people on a daily basis.

The kids have it the worst. They're stuck at home. (They have YouTube, video games, etc). But they want to go outside and play. We've been taking them out to areas where there aren't many people around to ensure they are healthy too.

Are there any other precautions we should be taking? We have been dining out (picking up) at local restaurants a lot, but not getting out of the house any more than that. Going to the grocery store I guess but that's it.

That sounds like about all you can do. Keep the kids away from other kids.

get the kids to have some structure when they "go back to school"

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by FAX

Prior to this virus, how many people died in NY each day?

Some sort of baseline would be useful.

FAX

A lot, dude. People are forgetting about those "life goes on" type moments like heart attacks, gun shots, strokes, car wrecks, the flu, diabetes, cancer, natural causes, etc.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by cdcox

13/18 epidemiologists in this panel put their mean projected US death toll in 2020 at 100K or greater. A week before the same panel was projecting only a slightly smaller death toll.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...still-unclear/

Right, and the poster claimed this:

100-200k is significantly less than some scary numbers that were thrown around

Nevermind, I read the link. Jeez.

[FAX]

I am clean out of Cheetos.

At 2:00am this morning, I found myself thinking of ingesting an orange pool noodle.

FAX

[PAChiefsGuy]

Trump concedes US coronavirus death toll could be 100,000 or more

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/29/polit...rus/index.html

[Donger]

I remember once having a discussion here about which Cheetos are superior:

Crunchy or Puffs.

I was horrified by the results.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by Donger

I remember once having a discussion here about which Cheetos are superior:

Crunchy or Puffs.

I was horrified by the results.

Crunchy to think otherwise would be idiotic.

[FAX]

It is my firm belief that the Cheetos people sweep up the orange dust at the end of each shift then put the orange dust in little paper packets that are then included in the Kraft Mac & Cheese box.

Prove me wrong.

FAX

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Monticore

Crunchy to think otherwise would be idiotic.

I weep for humanity.

[2112]

Thought this was interesting and didn’t see it posted

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-jon-...rus-infection/

I hope you're all holding up as well as possible during this pandemic of COVID-19. I want to talk to you today about something that's been on my mind. I think it's very important, but it's not getting enough attention, and it has to do with testing.

I'm not talking about the nasal or throat swab that looks for evidence of active infection. I'm talking about something totally different. It's called a serology or antibody test. It's a simple blood test that looks for evidence of past infection.


Now, why is that so important? Well, it's very likely that a lot of us have already been infected with the coronavirus without even realizing it. We had few symptoms, or we had no symptoms.

And the reason why that's so important is that if we've already been infected, then the likelihood is, we have immunity. We're protected from further infection, at least for a few years if this is acting like other viruses have been in the past.

Well, those are people who could potentially go back to the front lines, to the workforce.

We're talking right now about this friction between "saving" the economy and treating COVID-19.

Well, we should be able to get our arms around both.

Technically, this is not hard to do. It's very similar to the kind of tests that's done all the time, looking for immunity to things like measles, mumps and rubella. But we have to want to do it. And we have to want to do it now.

That means cutting red tape. Adequately funding it, basically prioritizing it. It's not only important for figuring out who among us is adequately protected and can go back to work; don't we all want to know if we've already been infected and can just go about our daily lives?

And not only that, it's going to give us a better idea of community spread; how widely is the coronavirus spread throughout the country.

Finally, I know this is a very rough time. Our lives have been turned upside-down, and it's taxing every which way: physically, economically, emotionally. And I'm not trying to sugarcoat this. But remember about 80 percent of the time, people have relatively mild cases.

And I know I've said this before, but I've gotta repeat it again: This is going to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. We are going to get through this, I promise, and we're going to get through it together.

[eDave]

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DZXUuPtx2...2Bfor%2Bit.gif

You just missed Maria Carey. Elton John on now.