Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #53

[LadyL]

in all of my 75 years, until now, i have never felt such an imminent existential
threat to my life--i am at once terrified, then depressed-- i think of all those who
have died agonizing deaths,, not allowed to be comforted in their last moments.
I almost see this virus as a living entity, murderous, ruthless, whose only
function is to kill as many people as possible in a myriad of horrific ways.
we are helpless against its wrath-- all of our technology is useless---it might
as well be 1918-- well we do have Zoom and social media!!!! those of us
who do the right thing like social distancing are also in a sense potential
victims of selfish morons who will be responsible for deaths of many. This
is a horror the likes of which i could have never imagined in my life time

[bbm]

very well-said
all of it, esp. the bolded

 

[jjenny]

From what we have learned about coronavirus, the elderly (>70) and those with health issues will have to essentially quarantine until there a heavy suppression of the virus- which may not happen, or there is a vaccine. Whether they choose to or not remains to be seen.

The reality is that people won't stay locked down, so either the virus and infection becomes part of life, or there is a summer heat/humidity regression of CV.

Being able to choose remains to be seen. I am not elderly but have high risk from covid due to pre-existing condition. Would people like me be able to not return to work if an employer tells people to return to work? We've seen already that people who kept working in supermarkets or factories, with pre-existing condition, paying the price. But it doesn't appear their employers let them stay home and be paid.

 

[LadyL]

Has it been recommended to take an aspirin daily by any doctors? I know some heart attack or stroke patients were recommended to do this at one time.

Thought I had better give a link as I am no doctor.

Should you take a daily aspirin for your heart?

I take daily aspirin because I had a stroke in my eye (sounds weird I know) which blinded me in that eye and I don't want the same to happen to the other eye!

 

[tresir2012]

I'm in Canada. We live near a large First Nations Reserve. I have been watching how they show respect for their elders. They are absolutely awesome. They nailed their border shut very early. No one comes in or out unless they are essential services and even then, it's strictly governed. No one is whining about how they essentially have to go to Costco. The people constantly are doing things to show their love for the elders. They've done drive by car parades, held outdoor concerts with wheel chairs strategically placed, played tic-tac-toe on the windows, filled the lawns with loving messages, sent cards, made phone calls, do live streams, everything they can think of to lift the spirits of their elders and show their love. It's heart warming to see how the band members are self-sacrificing to make their elders less fearful and feel cared for. They have no cases of Covid.

That's admirable they are caring for them so well. Do they have to isolate themselves from their elders too?

 

[musicaljoke]

holy crap they BAN them? why???

Zoolander gas fights.

 

[10ofRods]

The commissioners and owners said that professional sports will not go on until testing is available for everyone. They said they do not want to take tests away from people who need them as tests in the US are scarce at this time.

My point is that they have enough money to run their own tests. They seem to think the swabs themselves are limited (they are not, many many places are now making them). It's the machines that are in short supply (and lab workers).

My point remains that all these sports teams could, if they wished, buy PCR machines, hire trained techs and rent lab space. Not that hard to do. All it takes is lots of money, which they have.

A PCR machine starts at about $35,000 but to run lots of tests frequently for a team (daily, let's say), they'd want a couple, and more in the $100-200,000 range. Still affordable for major sports teams. The hiring of lab techs wouldn't be more than $1M per year. Peanuts to them.

There would be no "taking of tests" for others, any more than the White House is "taking tests" from others. The machines are available for purchase and some lab techs are unemployed right now.

Even if they had to commission their own tests from, say, USC or Stanford, they'd be forwarding research into building better tests and that still wouldn't drive the costs up much past $4-5M a year. They must really be afraid that will cut into their bottom line. It seems a false economy to me, as if they can go ahead and play (as they are doing in other nations where teams are being tested), they could have some revenue from advertising, obviously.

 

[tresir2012]

I take daily aspirin because I had a stroke in my eye (sounds weird I know) which blinded me in that eye and I don't want the same to happen to the other eye!

It is effective if you can take it. I cannot unfortunately take it otherwise I certainly would.

 

[musicaljoke]

That's admirable they are caring for them so well. Do they have to isolate themselves from their elders too?

Yes, they are isolating from their elders.

 

[LadyL]

Honeymooners arrested in Hawaii for allegedly violating quarantine

A California couple was arrested at a Hawaii hotel on Thursday for allegedly violating the island state's mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers.

The couple, from Citrus Heights, came to Honolulu on their honeymoon and arrived at the hotel late Wednesday, when a front desk manager informed them about the self-quarantine order.

The couple allegedly told the manager that airport personnel told them contradictory information, and after further discussion of the rules, the Californians “scoffed at him again and then left the hotel,” according to a press release from Hawaii's COVID-19 Joint Information Center.

The couple subsequently returned to the hotel with a pizza after midnight, and refused to sign the quarantine acknowledgment.

The couple was informed again Thursday morning that they were in violation of the state’s quarantine requirements before being arrested.

Coronavirus pandemic: Updates from around the world

they couldn't google? glad they were arrested

 

[10ofRods]

The rest of the world? Wait 30 days and let's meet to see what the case fatality rate, case rate, economies and social order is for the fragile countries that this hasn't really hit yet. I don't think we've seen the worst, the worst is yet to come in those countries. MOO

We're really not the worst in the world, the figures are in a couple of places on this page. We have fewer per capita cases than a series of nations, including UK.

 

[Kensie]

Thanks Dixie for taking the time to post pictures of your beautiful flowers. The lovely arrangements brought a smile to my face. I always wanted to work at a florist but I do not have a green thumb.

My state has partially opened and the traffic was a nightmare. I really think my state has re-opened way too soon. 2000 new cases since last Saturday.

On the good side, today is a beautiful day but for some reason I am totally exhausted.

 

[10ofRods]

Everyday I'm making flower arrangements, and it makes me happy. May I offer you some of my virtual flowers that I arranged to brighten your day?

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Very inspirational. I need to go poke around in my yard, everything is blooming. If I imitate your arrangements, they might actually look pretty (they won't turn out like yours, but I can try).

 

[mickey2942]

Yes that is interesting, especially as there are vaccines for pneumonia and flu available.

The data is all over the place on Coronavirus. And because it doesn't seem to be consistent at any given location, the entire data set is suspect.

The Federal government has given this situation to the states to manage. And it appears to be all over the map about numbers for testing, who to test, what data to collect.

Florida is an excellent example of "Data Set Disaster". From one day to the next, their database on nursing homes with COVID19 cases changes. It states no cases at a specific nursing home, the next day, 3 deaths from COVID19. WTH?!
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article242446331.html

Dr. Birx is amazing with her data analysis. My question is, how accurate and valid is the actual source? So, we are making huge decisions, based on data sets that seem to be flawed, INMO.

 

[Kensie]

paywall
what's the name?

I think the baby's first name is Wilfred.

A son called Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas | Daily Mail Online

WOW, the baby has a lot of hair. Almost needs a haircut. Cute baby.

 

[tresir2012]

Well, that's why I was comparing them to Norway and Denmark. In those three nations, there's similar weather and geography. Denmark is connected to the European mainland, so one would think they might have more cases through people coming over their border more regularly. Iceland and Finland also have similar climates (and St Petersburgh in Russia). Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland all have much lower rates than Sweden.

Norway is the best comparison. 2669 deaths in Sweden by this morning (PDT), with only 210 deaths. Sweden does have twice as many people, so for Sweden to have similar death rates to Norway, it would have to have only 420 deaths. So it has 6.5X as many deaths as its neighbor.

Other than population size, Norway and Sweden have nearly identical demographics, roughly the same number of people, roughly the same urban/rural mix and certain similar health patterns (life expectancies, causes of deaths, number of hospitals, etc.). Having a 1000% more cases for Sweden can only be explained, IMO, by their lack of shutting down and the very high number of asymptomatic transmitters they must have. Swedes believed that "common sense" would prevail, as they are apparently used to staying home when sick. However, I think people did not realize that there would be large pools of transmitters - who were not sick.

Average age at death from CoVid is higher in both Sweden and Norway than in the US or UK, so the health of the population made a difference there. But as Sweden continues to see more cases than Norway, they are having to ask themselves some hard questions. Almost 23,000 diagnosed CoVid cases in Sweden, only 7000-ish in Norway, so again, on that stat 3X the cases.

Lastly, Sweden is now projected to peak in terms of deaths on May 23. Unlike its neighbors, who have already peaked and are starting to approach very low numbers in new daily deaths, Sweden is predicted not to peak until May 23, with 425 or more deaths at the peak and a tail of as many as 200 deaths a day for as long as another month.

So, asymptomatic transmitters have many reservoirs in Sweden. One of them is their schools. They have not closed them, nor have they closed businesses, so we get to see a comparative example pretty much controlling for weather, income, overall health, etc.

Sweden and Norway are connected to mainland Europe as well as Denmark.

 

[Bravo]

It is effective if you can take it. I cannot unfortunately take it otherwise I certainly would.

I cant take aspirin either due to allergy. If anyone here is thinking of taking aspirin right now I would just check with your Dr. he knows your history and can have a record if you choose to do so. Especially if anyone needs a surgery excessive bleeding can become an issue.

 

[tresir2012]

I think the baby's first name is Wilfred.

Yes with the middle two names being for the two nurses who stood by the PM's ICU bedside apparently.

Reuters
@Reuters
·
7m

CORRECTION: Boris Johnson and fiancee Carrie Symonds named their new son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas, partly as a tribute to two intensive-care doctors who treated the British prime minister for COVID-19 https://reut.rs/3aVY6sS We have deleted a tweet containing the incomplete name

 

[LadyL]

It’s enlightening what I’ve been reading on the neighborhood page, majority think - “The ban is lifted! The curve is flattened! It’s over!

They talk about resuming their daily life “like before”. No masks. No social distancing.

Seniors told to stay in until June and I’m hearing “only 5 more weeks to go”!

Do they not understand we haven’t eradicated this virus? And seniors still can’t go out or be around others after that magic date?

Or am I misinformed?

sigh
I dread when that happens here

 

[tresir2012]

There were no arrows on any of the posts. Instead, there are a series of posts without quotes or arrows. Just stand alone posts, although I see the same thing with another poster. And now, so many of the posts have been deleted that it's a moot point. I'm just glad it wasn't generalized.

Glad it's resolved.

It's deleted apparently so nevermind now.

 

[tresir2012]

There were no arrows on any of the posts. Instead, there are a series of posts without quotes or arrows. Just stand alone posts, although I see the same thing with another poster. And now, so many of the posts have been deleted that it's a moot point. I'm just glad it wasn't generalized.

Glad it's resolved.

It's deleted apparently so nevermind now.

We're really not the worst in the world, the figures are in a couple of places on this page. We have fewer per capita cases than a series of nations, including UK.

Regarding total deaths 1st US 2nd Italy 3rd UK but UK are likely to overtake Italy in the next day or so.