Coronavirus

[dhrivnak]

Little tidbit to add on testing for Michigan. Looks like we have the darkest shading at 54% positive testing.
My wife's doctor, family ER doc friend, NIH friend have all been on a private text thread for the last 13 days regarding her condition.
I would share, but the redaction would make it a pain. We are also good friends. So there is no egos within the professional text...

All three considered her conditions reported three times a day by me including temperature, respirations per minute, heart rate, BP, general description of feeling. There was no hesitation by all 3 that she would test positive, but absent the breathing issue of severe distress she should/could not be admitted. Which also meant she would not be tested.

Criteria for testing in Michigan. Not in order, but the things she was read from testing center which is also her medical system.
1. Over 65
2. Your chart history. Nothing underlying. They could see all of it. (University system also doing testing)
3. Family member or yourself are not a medical first responder defined for this event.
4. Severe respiratory distress while under care in either office, or a respiratory clinic.

I am not saying she needed a test. We are treating her as positive, and our entire family is in lockdown. Will remain until we can get testing. That way we don't put people at risk. Not a feel better, but a test.

How can we ever get back to work if I never get tested? I had a crappy two nights a bit of sweats, and a cough. Yet it is gone, and I could potentially infect hundreds if I did not self quarantine. I have always been that way. My wife gets a flu or cough. I get it a bit later with a 1/10th of symptoms.

Sorry for the TLDR, but I would say the criteria to get tested in Michigan makes it so you pretty much have to be pretty bad off. For the experts. How is this going to work long term? Don't you have to have some larger testing pool to see how things are going?

@ohmman want to see some baking pics. Some flour magic I don't have.

Edit add: She is doing just fine, but worried about what she doesn't know.
Also university system said 3 layers of review go through each set of notes. So the person she spoke to would not be the only person deciding on whether to test. The news headlines of people passing denied testing is starting here.

And assuming you are a week out from your fever you may now have the antibodies and be perfectly safe to go out without risk of infection or spreading the virus. You are right we NEED to test.

 

[Daniel in SD]

And cobra is crazy expensive (premiums are 3x what they were while employed)

Technically premiums are exactly the same. The difference is that the employee is paying 100% of the premiums.

 

[Daniel in SD]

The FT just ran a very interesting article concerning the two adjacent northern Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto, with the latter doing markedly better seemingly because they tried to keep as many people tested positive at home rather than infecting the hospital staff.

Quotes:
...
As of Wednesday Lombardy, which has a population of 10m people, accounts for 7,593, or 57.7 per cent, of Italy’s total declared deaths from the virus of 13,155. Meanwhile Veneto, which has a population of 4.9m, has suffered 499 official deaths out of 9,625 diagnosed cases.

Higher levels of testing and tracing in Veneto is the most widely cited explanation for why the region has managed to control its outbreak more effectively than its neighbours.
...
Professor Palù said the hospitalisation rate in Lombardy, meaning the number of diagnosed patients who are taken in for clinical treatment, at the start of the outbreak was about 65 per cent.

This compares with 20 per cent in Veneto, where the majority were told to stay at home unless urgent care was required.

I'm pretty sure they're not telling people in Lombardy to go to the hospital unless they need urgent care!
The difference can all be explained by testing.
Lombardy has 5 times the number of cases but 15 times the number of deaths. So the true number of cases is 15 times higher than Veneto. One would expect that they would have 15 times for hospitalizations, which they do.
65% * 50k reported cases ~= 15 * 20% * 10k reported cases.
Mystery solved.

 

[Paracelsus]

Republicans: But we don't wanna...

Wisconsin Republicans reject governor’s move to postpone Tuesday election

Coronavirus: Wisconsin Legislature stalls move to postpone election

OT - @NikolaACDC - many believe it is the DNC that is putting the pressure on to proceed with the primary on Tuesday, as they recently did in Ohio and Florida. Not delaying and/or requiring vote-by-mail with paper ballots is an effort to squash a particular vote that would be documented with such a paper-only vote - the Bernie Vote

 

[Ludalicious]

I'm pretty sure they're not telling people in Lombardy to go to the hospital unless they need urgent care!
The difference can all be explained by testing.
Lombardy has 5 times the number of cases but 15 times the number of deaths. So the true number of cases is 15 times higher than Veneto. One would expect that they would have 15 times for hospitalizations, which they do.
65% * 50k reported cases ~= 15 * 20% * 10k reported cases.
Mystery solved.

And thats exactly how it should be. too many idiots going to walkin clinics, emergency rooms or calling 911 without needing medical attention. Doing this they put more lifes at risk. for what to be told to go home and self. How about follow whats being told, If you have symptoms stay home and self isolate. They have testing that can be done and hopefully will be ready soon to confirm if in fact you were infected at one point and time.

But please stop putting emergency responders at risk. Unless you need immediate medical attention stay home. Most don't get it. Well by the stats most americans dont get it. Very unfortunate for the individuals who are out of work self isolating. Heart goes out to all those people and health workers and emergency responders

 

[dhanson865]

Quite frankly, the epidemic is being approached ass backwards.
We do not need more funeral homes, we need less deaths.
We would not have to wonder where to get vents if there were less patients.
We would not run out of N95 masks for physicians if there were less patients.

Simple, DIY masks used by the entire population is the missing link. Until that changes we are pissing into the wind.

fwiw I went to walmart yesterday wearing mask and gloves and my informal mental count had the other people there wearing masks somewhere between 30% to 50%. I was very lazy, didn't count in any way, just looked for mask or no mask every time I saw a new person.

I've got to say shop towel + rubber band + staple masks are super easy to make and cheap enough I don't mind disposing of them or handing them out to strangers that might need one. I guess it cost me less than 10 cents per mask in materials. I have no idea what I paid for rubber bands or staples since I had them already.

 

[EinSV]

Stanford researchers conducted IgG/IgM antibody tests on 3200 volunteers in Santa Clara County yesterday to try to assess the level of infection in the community. Results are expected in a week. Not randomized but they apparently targeted ads at different demographics to try to get a broad cross-section of the community.

https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/...ers-test-3200-people-for-covid-19-antibodies/

 

[SarahsDad]

Sobering how much better other counties are at sheltering in place compared to USA. Data from this site COVID-19 Community Mobility Report shows an interesting comparison between places like Spain and Italy compared to NY. And as good as those European countries are doing, they’re barely flattening the curve.

And as bad as N.Y. looks in comparison, it gets a decent B- on this site Covid-19 Social Distancing Scoreboard — Unacast whereas the US as a whole gets a D. We need to do much much better.

 

[MXLRplus]

Remember The Andromeda Strain? Are alcoholics immune from it? If so, why have 5 Congress members gotten it, and a bunch of celebrities?

 

[SageBrush]

I've got to say shop towel + rubber band + staple masks are super easy to make and cheap enough I don't mind disposing of them or handing them out to strangers that might need one. I guess it cost me less than 10 cents per mask in materials. I have no idea what I paid for rubber bands or staples since I had them already.

Agreed !

Our latest shopping foray surprised me -- the most wearers of masks were at Harbor Freight which is most frequented by labor class hispanics and the worse was at the more upscale Sprouts frequented by Whites and Asians. Walmart was intermediate and much more bi-modal: fairly common in seniors and uncommon otherwise.

We have a long way to go, but NM has a late start so we just might get there before the epidemic enters its 1% - 50% phase.

 

[sparcs]

Sobering how much better other counties are at sheltering in place compared to USA. Data from this site COVID-19 Community Mobility Report shows an interesting comparison between places like Spain and Italy compared to NY. And as good as those European countries are doing, they’re barely flattening the curve.

Not that surprising. Lack of a Federal push to shut down all states and limit flights because nobody wants to be accountable for hard decisions. Stores are still actively advertising to get customers to visit with sale ads, etc for even non-essential items. Non-compliant population. Non-complaint businesses .

Probably many more reasons, but those are the easy one's.

 

[HG Wells]

Sobering how much better other counties are at sheltering in place compared to USA. Data from this site COVID-19 Community Mobility Report shows an interesting comparison between places like Spain and Italy compared to NY. And as good as those European countries are doing, they’re barely flattening the curve.
View attachment 529513View attachment 529509View attachment 529510

And as bad as N.Y. looks in comparison, it gets a decent B- on this site Covid-19 Social Distancing Scoreboard — Unacast whereas the US as a whole gets a D. We need to do much much better.

View attachment 529512

GEE, last night I had decided to start closing my PUT's and going a little long (general market), after seeing these charts I'll stick with my PUT's for another week or two (MINIMUM).

Im afraid its going to go on for weeks and weeks.

 

[Paracelsus]

If true, this is horrific news:

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Sobering how much better other counties are at sheltering in place compared to USA.

It's not the sheltering, it's the testing. Most other countries recognize the urgency of testing wide swaths of potential infections and isolating. We are using shelter exclusively as a means of controlling spread.

Philadelphia got an A on that shelter site a week or so ago. We're doing an absolutely horrendous job of distancing from what I've observed.

 

[MXLRplus]

Flash - Scripps (San Diego) claimed to have figured out the weakness of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. COVID-19 Update: Researchers Find Weakness In The Coronavirus That Can Be Targeted

Not that surprising. Lack of a Federal push to shut down all states because nobody wants to be accountable for the decision. Stores are still actively advertising to get customers to visit with sale ads, etc. Non-compliant population. Non-complaint businesses .

Probably many more reasons, but those are the easy one's.

Do we want a nation where the Federal Government has unlimited power over the states when the Fed deems it necessary outside of a foreign war? We are still battling the whole marijuana thing, and the Fed surrendered the 55 mph national speed limit. But they do have unlimited power of seizure without due process, so we are certainly going in that direction.

ie - Do you want THIS president to have unlimited power? Congress doesn't. The courts don't, the states don't. Laws are like hand grenades, they can easily cause collateral damage.

 

[SageBrush]

This (R) Governor has CYA all figured out, literally

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., one of the governors who has not issued such an order, told “Meet the Press” moments after Adams’ interview that the surgeon general made “great comments” and that Arkansas is “doing everything the surgeon general has outlined, plus more.”

“In Arkansas we have a targeted approach that is very strict. We’ve closed bars, restaurants, schools, some of our park lodges. We are emphasizing social distancing and we will do more as we need to,” he said. Do your social distancing, don’t gather in groups of more than 10 people and bring a mask with you."

 

[sparcs]

Do we want a nation where the Federal Government has unlimited power over the states when the Fed deems it necessary outside of a foreign war? We are still battling the whole marijuana thing, and the Fed surrendered the 55 mph national speed limit. But they do have unlimited power of seizure without due process, so we are certainly going in that direction.

ie - Do you want THIS president to have unlimited power? Congress doesn't. The courts don't, the states don't. Laws are like hand grenades, they can easily cause collateral damage.

who is giving him the power? It's just the messaging that is bad because the feds don't want to do anything that would hurt the economy or reduce the number of votes they get in an election year. Nobody at a federal level wants to be accountable for that kind of messaging which is why we are in the mess we are in.

 

[steve3]

My family re-use a couple of N95 masks after they are treated with hot air and sit for a couple days; you can do the same.

Hot air like a hand-held hair dryer?
How long under the heat?

 

[SMAlset]

If true, this is horrific news:
View attachment 529528

If so, hope he will be a mild case.

 

[bkp_duke]

Competition only works if there are many suppliers. Two or three isn't competition.

It's a drug decades out of patent. Don't allow companies to buy up drug production rights for out-of-patent drugs and you don't have this problem. It's a simple, small molecule. Any drug manuf could crank it out by the tens of millions of doses per month.