Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #47

[Tillicum]

I don't think the Walmart I shop at is truly limiting customers. They duly sit at the doors and count customers but I've never seen anyone waiting to get in. Saturday was crowded in there.

My son works at a bank inside Walmart and has bounced to several in Ohio while the guidelines have been in effect. He said they determine amount of customers allowed by square footage (state guidelines) and for the average store the limit is 1077 customers at a time. He said even before COVID-19, the average number at a time was 1000.

 

[jjenny]

So far doesn't appear to be any good news regarding any drug treatments for covid.
"Now, there are many more trials underway, and I very much look forward to their readouts. But when you look over the actual controlled data that we have so far for hydroxychloroquine, those previous links plus what we have today, the case for the drug is not encouraging at all. There is one small trial (from China) that showed some positive results, and data from China, Brazil, and France that show no benefit for either hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine itself and (in some cases) evidence of actual harm. The trials that are yet to report are going to have to start showing some strong positive effects if this story is going to have a good ending."
More Small Molecule Clinical Data Against Covid-19, As of April 16

 

[Boston Corbett]

Elon Musk's promised ventilators never delivered to California hospitals, governor’s office says (CNN)

But despite the claims, none of the ventilators promised by Musk have been delivered to hospitals, according to the governor's office.

“Elon Musk and his team told the state that he had procured ventilators and wanted to distribute them directly to hospitals with shortages,” a spokesperson for the California governor’s Office of Emergency Services told CNN on Wednesday. “The Administration is communicating every day with hospitals across the state about their ventilator supply and to date we have not heard of any hospital system that has received a ventilator directly from Tesla or Musk.”
Spokespersons for Tesla did not return CNN requests for comment. The news was first reported by the Sacramento Bee.

This post has been updated.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

Small business rescue program runs out of money amid political standoff

Thousands of small business owners across the U.S. have been left in the lurch as the popular federal government-backed loan program meant to save them and protect worker paychecks in the pandemic fallout officially ran out of money Thursday morning.

 

[otto]

U.S. not remotely ready to re-open, according to WHO criteria

 

[branmuffin]

The Plan for reopening "Work for America" 1a8a55a6-68f9-4b76-8e02-01779290c1a5.

This type of thinking really bothers me, from the above plan:

"Tightening of mitigation measures will be needed if signs of increased
transmission create strain to the public health or health system capacity are
detected. When indicators signal a return to sufficient public health and health
system capacity, mitigation measures can again be loosened."
--------------------------------------------------------
IE cases & deaths don't matter as long as the hospitals have capacity. It's really hard for me to believe that the CDC and FDA allowed their names to be put on this document.

It's like deciding to quit taking an antibiotic before the prescribed length of treatment. Your infection comes back so you go back on antibiotics again. You quit taking them before the required length of treatment because the infection appears to clear up and ....Voila! a few days later it comes back again, only this time you find you're antibiotic resistant and you're basically screwed.

 

[Inthedetails]

Funeral homes are overwhelmed.

https://nypost.com/2020/04/16/woman-puts-grief-on-hold-to-find-dads-final-resting-place/

 

[I'm Just Here]

What a nightmare! Sam's Club A mom dragging her hollering toddler by the arm to check out. Dad was scanning groceries while mom stood by checkout. Meanwhile toddler walked around and up to the shopping cart to suck on the cart handle. A couple of minutes later mom grabbed child that started hollering again and the family headed out.

 

[BUF]

What a nightmare! Sam's Club A mom dragging her hollering toddler by the arm to check out. Dad was scanning groceries while mom stood by checkout. Meanwhile toddler walked around and up to the shopping cart to suck on the cart handle. A couple of minutes later mom grabbed child that started hollering again and the family headed out.

Why didn’t one of them stay home with that toddler!

 

[Reasonable & Just]

Small business rescue program runs out of money amid political standoff

Thousands of small business owners across the U.S. have been left in the lurch as the popular federal government-backed loan program meant to save them and protect worker paychecks in the pandemic fallout officially ran out of money Thursday morning.

This is unacceptable to me. How is this going to be resolved? How many people are suffering right now due to legislative gridlock? Yuck. JMO.

 

[NuttMegg]

Because it is NCAA and college level sports, the student-athletes don't have contracts, but the NCAA does need to look at their rules and student-athletes' scholarships, etc. and also recruiting regulations. ESPN will undoubtedly work with colleges and universities on safety issues. I saw a reference in the news that Tony Fauci said that this fall there may be athletic contests played out without fans in the audience.

That would be good, assuming there was frequent testing, as some of these kids are playing for future careers in athletics, the scouts need to see them if only on replay. But IMO they have to test asymptomatic athletes too. I suspect the kids with the most star power will INSIST on good testing, the sport can be their whole future. Also, the other kids even if not in the university at the time will have school spirit to ignite them.

 

[katydid23]

Testing testing testing, why doesn't the federal government do it with the DPA?.

This was a brand new virus, thus we did not have any tests at the start of this crisis. It took awhile to develop them.

 

[Chelly]

I ran actuarial tables for 62 vS 67 vS 70 - I’m doing 62
JMO

I did 62 as well, several years ago. Never regretted it.

 

[katydid23]

This is unacceptable to me. How is this going to be resolved? How many people are suffering right now due to legislative gridlock? Yuck. JMO.

There is a legislative package ready to be voted upon. But the congress refuses to vote on it and is delaying it purposely by refusing to do so.

 

[NuttMegg]

This was a brand new virus, thus we did not have any tests at the start of this crisis. It took awhile to develop them.

I'm talking about now. <1% of the population being tested is not a standard to settle for.

 

[Chelly]

DH is the money brains in the house. He ran the numbers, and we both started withdrawing at 62.

I did as well. Agree 100%

 

[MyBelle]

So far doesn't appear to be any good news regarding any drug treatments for covid.
"Now, there are many more trials underway, and I very much look forward to their readouts. But when you look over the actual controlled data that we have so far for hydroxychloroquine, those previous links plus what we have today, the case for the drug is not encouraging at all. There is one small trial (from China) that showed some positive results, and data from China, Brazil, and France that show no benefit for either hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine itself and (in some cases) evidence of actual harm. The trials that are yet to report are going to have to start showing some strong positive effects if this story is going to have a good ending."
More Small Molecule Clinical Data Against Covid-19, As of April 16

Doctors are prescribing different drugs based on the condition of their patient. That's the way it has always worked. Tom Hank's wife was given it and she reported serious side effects but she's alive and at home. Doctors manage side effects and try something else if there is no improvement.
JMO

Doctors in China, South Korea, France and the U.S. are now giving the drug to some patients with COVID-19 with promising, albeit anecdotal, results so far. The FDA is organizing a formal clinical trial of the drug.

As of Feb. 23, seven clinical trials had been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry to test whether COVID-19 infections could be treated with hydroxychloroquine. In addition, the University of Minnesota is studying whether taking hydroxychloroquine can protect people living with infected COVID-19 patients from catching the virus themselves.
Treatments for COVID-19: Drugs being tested against coronavirus | Live Science

 

[Chelly]

Am I the only one who feels like all this talk of re-opening by May 1st is a bunch of hot air? Perhaps I'm being too pessimistic about this, but I don't expect much of anything to re-open that soon at all. I think they are trying to keep the markets from dropping too low and prevent rioting by telling people things may open again in approx 2 weeks. If they told us that we will likely be "staying at home" for the rest of 2020, then many people would not be able to cope with that. However, most people could dig in and do another "2 weeks" of self-isolation if they believe they will see the end of it after that. But when we get to that May 1st date I fully expect they will say we need to keep on "staying home" for another 2 weeks. And so on and so on, I think the "reopen" date will just keep getting pushed back every couple weeks...

MOO.

Agree opening May 1 is a pipe dream. I'm accepting we are in isolation for the long run. Prepared to be on lockdown through the end of 2020. It is what it is.

 

[Chelly]

That is pretty much what my husband thinks. He is done with "living like a housecat". He has made appointments for things he wants to do, and is ready to move on with living his life.

He refuses to live the rest of his life in the house. Not seeing his friends or family. Okay.

Good luck with that. Stay safe.

 

[jjenny]

Well, the trial results are coming back so far, it's not looking promising whatsoever. Using the meds without clinical trials doesn't tell you anything. Individual person getting meds and recovering could have recovered without any of these meds just as well.
For instance, I might get sick and decide to eat apples. If I recover I could claim it was due to apples. Which is why you need to feed hundreds of people apples, and compare them with people who don't eat apples, and see if it really makes a difference.
Otherwise you are giving people useless and potentially dangerous drugs for no reason.