COVID-19 aka 2019 (and 2020) Novel Coronavirus

[cwerdna]

We better not get this one wrong. A lot is at stake. The USA has flubbed up so far.

South Korea is doing far better at testing than the USA.
...
Modeling suggests the USA probably has total cases in the high hundreds to low thousands. And doubling every week or so. The USA better get up to speed double quick pronto.

Yep. In South Korea they pioneered drive up testing: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/02/asia/coronavirus-drive-through-south-korea-hnk-intl/index.html:

Officials say it is safer and faster to test for the virus at the drive-through than in a hospital or health clinic.
"There's less face-to-face contact," said Lee Jae-joon, the mayor of Goyang. "If you operate a testing site indoors, there is concern that suspected patients can infect each other in the waiting room."

It seems insane that there are stories of people, including sick healthcare workers who are facing roadblocks to getting tested.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Human group behavior is based on individual instincts, as well as on our hierarchical group instincts. They basically tell us to respond decisively to immediate threats to our lives, and to not respond nearly as strongly to long term threats that probably won't affect whether or not we reproduce. (Then they tell many of us to deny that there even IS a threat.) The further we get from the plains of Africa, the less well equipped we are to respond rationally to large threats. This is why we are still killing the planetary ecosystems even as we recognize that these behaviors will and do kill humans - but not so many now, not so many we know...

 

[cwerdna]

Anyway the real question here is why tax payers should foot the bill for something that has killed 10 or 20 Americans but not for something that kills millions. I've already seen conservatives squirming in interviews. Probably because they know the government needs to respond, but that by doing so it undermines their while philosophy in and of health care. VP staffers couldn't even answer a simple question of the uninsured.

Because Covid19 has the potential to kill millions of Americans this year. Nightly news showing sick people waiting in line in the rain outside a hospital for a bed isn't going to go over very well.

Yep. If the US, state and local govts did nothing to stop the spread (e.g. no testing, no screening or banning of passengers from high risk areas, no efforts to contain), then it would overwhelm our healthcare system in terms of beds and infecting the healthcare workers (and possibly requiring them to be quarantined) + first responders and we would have lots of healthcare workers + people 60 and over dying.

This is what happened in WA: https://komonews.com/news/coronavirus/12-quarantined-kirkland-firefighters-showing-flu-like-symptoms. And, this just happened: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/03/05/man-who-was-on-cruise-ship-with-coronavirus-passengers-dies-in-sunnyvale/.

 

[mwalsh]

I saw someone in that getup about 3 days ago locally. My first instinct was that he looked like he was coming in to rob the place....

I asked my bank the other day what there policy was going to be on masks. :lol:

 

[cwerdna]

SXSW cancelled:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/sxsw-cancelled-due-to-coronavirus.html

https://www.kcra.com/article/coronavirus-covid19-california-sacramento-latest/31253468
"Twenty-one people aboard a cruise ship being held off the coast of San Francisco tested positive for novel coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence said during a news conference Friday.

Of those who tested positive, 19 are crew members."

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I have been exposed! New case of COVID is worker at Centurylink. Last game he worked was Dragon's Feb 22 game; a game I attended.

I would like to take this chance (while I still can) to thank all those who have interacted in my life to make it worth living. I am not sure how long I have left but it can't be too long. I should start feeling symptoms any minute now...

 

[cwerdna]

Emerald City Comic Con postponed due to coronavirus outbreak
Seattle’s annual comic book convention will now be held this summer
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/6/21168264/emerald-city-comic-con-2020-postponed-cornavirus-seattle-washington

 

[mwalsh]

I have been exposed! New case of COVID is worker at Centurylink. Last game he worked was Dragon's Feb 22 game; a game I attended.

I would like to take this chance (while I still can) to thank all those who have interacted in my life to make it worth living. I am not sure how long I have left but it can't be too long. I should start feeling symptoms any minute now...

Assuming a little tongue-in-cheek? Not necessarily a death sentence unless you are in one of the high-risk groups. However, I would start looking into what you can do to possibly minimize the effects if it does turn out you have it. I would probably start by hitting the vitamin D pretty hard or getting some sun:

https://www.who.int/elena/titles/commentary/vitamind_pneumonia_children/en/

 

[LeftieBiker]

A good multivitamin that provides a bit more than the RDA, plus extra vitamins C and D, would be a good idea. I also use echinacea as a preventative for infections, and echinacea with goldenseal, along with the amino acid L-Lysine, to treat them, but I should note that we don't know enough about how this virus works to know if irritating the immune system a bit to increase its response is a good idea or a bad one. The more conservative approach would be just the vitamins.

 

[mwalsh]

Also a fan of zinc for regular colds. Obviously don't know about Coronavirus:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/expert-answers/zinc-for-colds/faq-20057769

 

[cwerdna]

While driving home tonight, I heard a local AM radio station talking to the Oakland vice mayor basically about the below. He didn't have that many details as apparently, he missed a conference call at 8:15 pm about it.

Cruise Ship Hit by Virus to Dock in Oakland, California
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/california/frustration-mounts-over-virus-stalled-ship-in-california/2249576/

A cruise ship that was hit by the new coronavirus is headed to the port of Oakland, California, the captain told passengers Saturday night.

Grand Princess Capt. John Smith, in a recording provided by passenger Laurie Miller of San Jose, told guests he anticipated arrival at the Port of Oakland Sunday afternoon. The ship is carrying more than 3,500 people from 54 countries.

“An agreement has been reached to bring our ship into the port of Oakland tomorrow,” he said. “After docking, we will then begin a disembarkation process specified by federal authorities that will take several days. Guests who require acute medical treatment and hospitalization will be transported to health care facilities in California.”

After medical screening, California residents who don’t require acute medical care “will go to a federally operated isolation facility within California for testing and isolation,” Smith said.

U.S. guests from other states will be transported by the federal government to facilities in other states.

Crew will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship.

Coronavirus-Stricken Grand Princess Expected To Dock In Oakland
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/03/07/coronavirus-grand-princess-airlift-passenger-san-francisco-health-stranded-passengers/

I'd originally heard that the folks needing treatment (COVID-19 or not) would get off first on Sunday and the rest of the passengers on Monday.

 

[LeftieBiker]

We had our first two confirmed cases in Upstate NY, and now rubbing alcohol is gone from all the store shelves.

 

[cwerdna]

What a total cluster%%#$%! This is Life Care in Kirkland, WA, the nursing home epicenter of all the COVID-19 deaths in WA.

The below is from March 7th:
https://www.kuow.org/stories/volatile-and-unpredictable-life-care-speaks-publicly-for-the-first-time-since-covid-19-outbreak
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/coronavirus.183324/page-79#post-4544200

Life Care released numbers related to the facility, its residents, and cases of COVID-19 associated with the center. Life Care Center chose Feb. 19 to begin reporting data since that is the first date a patient was transferred out of the building and later tested positive for COVID-19.

Life Care Center was provided 45 test kits on Thursday – there are currently more than 60 residents in the building. They are awaiting results of those tests. Staff have not been tested, though officials would like to test them.
On Feb. 19, there were 120 residents at Life Care in Kirkland; 54 have now been transported to local hospitals.
There are 63 residents still at the facility; six show symptoms of COVID-19.
A total of 18 people at Life Care Center have tested positive for COVID-19.
There have been 26 deaths at Life Care Center since Feb. 19, which includes 15 patients who have died in local hospitals – 13 of these cases tested positive for COVID-19.
Since Feb. 19, 11 additional patients have died within the facility. There are no reports back yet on if those 11 deaths were related to coronavirus.
In a “regular month” the facility sees 3-7 deaths.
As of Feb. 19, Life Care had 180 employees at its Kirkland location –70 now show symptoms of the virus. Those employees were asked to stay home.

 

[LeftieBiker]

If you pasted that into a right wing forum with the name removed, it would be attributed to either communist or socialist medical care.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Great... :roll:

The story at https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/survey-nations-frontline-registered-nurses-shows-hospitals-unprepared-covid-19 has also been making the news, as one of several examples of roadblocks to even being tested for COVID-19!

Deborah Burger, RN and an NNU president, read a statement by a quarantined Northern California Kaiser Permanente nurse who cared for a confirmed COVID-19 patient and has become symptomatic, but has run into numerous delays in getting tested for COVID-19. When her physician and the county health department agreed she should be tested, the CDC at first refused, saying that since she was wearing PPE, she couldn’t have the virus.

“What kind of science-based answer is that?” questioned the RN in her statement. Then, the CDC found other excuses. “[The CDC] claim they prioritize running samples by illness severity and that there are only so many to give out each day. So I have to wait in line to find out the results. This is not the ticket dispenser at the deli counter; it’s a public health emergency! I am a registered nurse, and I need to know if I am positive before going back to caring for patients. I am appalled at the level of bureaucracy that’s preventing nurses from getting tested. That is a health care decision my doctor and my county health department agree with. Delaying this test puts the whole community at risk.”

Kaiser is a major healthcare provider here in Nor Cal. My parents were under them and I was covered by them when I was a minor.

 

[WetEV]

If you pasted that into a right wing forum with the name removed, it would be attributed to either communist or socialist medical care.

I have read several stories of similar outbreaks in nursing homes in Wuhan city. One infected person, a person visiting, a staff member, a new resident, even a delivery person, ... That's all it takes.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/cluster-of-deaths-found-at-wuhan-nursing-home-near-seafood-market

Jails and prisons as well.

This isn't a first, and will not be a last.

 

[mwalsh]

We sent the first person to show up at work with a fever home today. We obviously don't know if it was just because they have a cold or flu, but I see it as a good move. However, it is unlikely to catch the person who is able to mask their sickness and simply won't stay home because they can't afford to or don't want to use their vacation time to be sick. That is definitely going to happen.

I've offered to bring my laser thermometer in, so we can start proactively testing people. And while the idea was not rejected outright, I could sense a certain amount of reticence. It is, of course, my personal opinion that were getting real close to the point where nobody should be allowed to remain in the building without passing a temperature test.

I have to service electronic equipment coworkers have touched/used in a very personal way. I cannot tell you how gross some of the phones and laptops I have to look at get, even when there isn't a life-threatening illness going around!

 

[WetEV]

Drive through testing in Seattle.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/08/813501632/seattle-health-care-system-offers-drive-through-coronavirus-testing-for-workers

Coming to a location near you, hopefully soon.

 

[WetEV]

Some hope in South Korea. Almost 200,000 tested to date. And the results are starting to look like South Korea may have this under control.

...the number of new daily infections in South Korea has declined in recent days.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/asia/south-korea-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html

China, Singapore, and now South Korea.

 

[Nubo]

Some hope in South Korea. Almost 200,000 tested to date. And the results are starting to look like South Korea may have this under control.

...the number of new daily infections in South Korea has declined in recent days.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/asia/south-korea-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html

China, Singapore, and now South Korea.

I'm highly dubious of the Chinese numbers.