***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.”

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by petegz28

That's really perplexing. 359 people test positive and no one had symptoms?

Our positive inpatient had 0 symptoms but had bilateral pneumonia for his whole stay , still had it when he was discharged after 2 neg tests. This virus is doing weird things.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

I had to as well, guess I'm not as well-versed in Nazi slogans as some. Her intent is clear but I'm still not sure how it's a microcosm of the nature of the protests. It doesn't even make sense to imply that.

I think she's implying that the government is fascist but who knows?

[Spott]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

I had to as well, guess I'm not as well-versed in Nazi slogans as some. Her intent is clear but I'm still not sure how it's a microcosm of the nature of the protests. It doesn't even make sense to imply that.

Yeah, I totally understand the people wanting to go back to work so they can make a living, pay their bills, stop being confined with their crazy spouses, etc. It’s not really a race issue, but going out of your way to put that on a sign was definitely not the smartest idea on her part.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I think she's implying that the government is fascist but who knows?

Eh, I obviously didn't word that properly, what I'm taking exception with is the guy who posted the tweet saying "Thank you for representing yourself and your “movement” for what it is."



Yes it is how she's representing herself, but herself only.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by petegz28

That's really perplexing. 359 people test positive and no one had symptoms?

Correct. They're being a little more transparent about the testing process. Northwest Health tested all the people who were asymptomatic. That number currently stands at 359, but I believe we're only up to Wednesday's tests completed on those.

We still have Thursday and Friday numbers to come in.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by TLO

Correct. They're being a little more transparent about the testing process. Northwest Health tested all the people who were asymptomatic. That number currently stands at 359, but I believe we're only up to Wednesday's tests completed on those.

We still have Thursday and Friday numbers to come in.

Something isn't adding up here. We get people with symptoms and negative tests so we automatically assuming I guess it's a false negative. Then we get all these people who are asymptomatic?

I gotta say either something is wonky with our testing or this thing is so ****ing widespread we are indeed back to flu-like numbers.

As O.City said, at this point you got basically 2 options...

Test every ****ing single person in the country

Or

Start moving forward with re-opening

Because this is going to be impossible to run down.

I think we need to start looking at the number of hospitalizations now as a metric as opposed to number of cases.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by O.city

Wow.

If we're gonna do contract tracing, you're essentially gonna have to test every single person in the nation.

Realistically, it's going to be impossible. I know they want to preach contract tracing and containment and the like - but we're taking a sample of 2800 people (keep in mind we still don't have all the rest results in) and 359 of them are positive without displaying symptoms. A small minority were showing symptoms and tested positive last weekend.

The group that showed symptoms vs the no symptom group is like 39 vs 359 from my understanding.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by petegz28

Something isn't adding up here. We get people with symptoms and negative tests so we automatically assuming I guess it's a false negative. Then we get all these people who are asymptomatic?

I gotta say either something is wonky with our testing or this thing is so ****ing widespread we are indeed back to flu-like numbers.

As O.City said, at this point you got basically 2 options...

Test every ****ing single person in the country

Or

Start moving forward with re-opening

Because this is going to be impossible to run down.

I think we need to start looking at the number of hospitalizations now as a metric as opposed to number of cases.

Gov Parsons here in good ol Missouri has actually been preaching that over the past couple of weeks.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by TLO

Realistically, it's going to be impossible. I know they want to preach contract tracing and containment and the like - but we're taking a sample of 2800 people (keep in mind we still don't have all the rest results in) and 359 of them are positive without displaying symptoms. A small minority were showing symptoms and tested positive last weekend.

The group that showed symptoms vs the no symptom group is like 39 vs 359 from my understanding.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there has to be millions of people around the country that are positive and don't know it. How do you contain something like that?

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by TLO

Gov Parsons here in good ol Missouri has actually been preaching that over the past couple of weeks.

I think that's about all you can do at this point. If hospitals start getting overrun then you probably gotta shut shit down. Otherwise life is happening.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

My grandmother was in for more than 2 years and most people that I know of that died in a nursing home were suffering from Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or dementia.

Most of them were in for 4 years, minimum.

Also, regardless of where you live, even decent nursing homes are $7k per month, which becomes quite expensive if a patient is there for years on end.

My grandmother was in one that was like a 2 minute walk from our house. She had severe dementia and didn't know anyone and got violent towards the end. It got to where my dad didn't even go see her, it was just to hard for him. He still won't talk about it as it just destroyed him.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by petegz28

I think that's about all you can do at this point. If hospitals start getting overrun then you probably gotta shut shit down. Otherwise life is happening.

And he claimed that we hit our peak hospitalization on April 7th. All other areas of the state, (with the exception of St Louis) have significantly decreased in numbers of people hospitalized.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by TLO

And he claimed that we hit our peak hospitalization on April 7th. All other areas of the state, (with the exception of St Louis) have significantly decreased in numbers of people hospitalized.

Judging by the amount of doctors and nurses being laid off and\or taking pay cuts I would say our hospitals by in large are in no fear of being overrun.

[RunKC]

Anyone have the most recent death rate and hospitalization numbers for people under 50?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by O.city

My grandmother was in one that was like a 2 minute walk from our house. She had severe dementia and didn't know anyone and got violent towards the end. It got to where my dad didn't even go see her, it was just to hard for him. He still won't talk about it as it just destroyed him.

My mom went through something similar for a little more than 2 years. People with dementia can be angry, confused and lost, all within 20 seconds.

She was at the nursing home 3 times a day because the people working there (and it wasn't cheap - it was $9k per month) didn't provide the type of care she needed regarding food and meds.

I hate to say it but a great weight was lifted when she passed at age 91 because it was destroying my mom, too.