Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #53

[24Roses]

Iowa numbers today: MAY 2: 757 additional cases of COVID-19, 5 additional deaths 757 new confirmed cases and 5 more have passed away. We now have a total of 8,641 confirmed cases and 175 have passed away. 3,156 have recovered and nearly 50,000 have been tested. No other important news here right now.

 

[tresir2012]

Blue Angels over Arlington.

U.S. Navy Blue Angels | Home


Steve Herman
@W7VOA
·
1h

Heard them in the distance here near Alexandria, but no visuals of the
@BlueAngels
and
@AFThunderbirds
.
Quote Tweet

Chip Brierre
@Chip_Brierre
· 1h
Wife got a much better view from Iwo Jima Memorial of the #BlueAngels passing over Arlington and @ABC7News . Awesome sight on a beautiful day

 

[firebird]

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.

FMLA has already been extended to, I believe, 12 weeks. And that's partially at full pay, then the rest at 2/3rd's pay -- at least according to my HR peron as of yesterday. All you need's a dr's note.

 

[Lilibet]

Well this is interesting. Doesn't seem consistent with the stats I've seen here and elsewhere:

Provisional Death Counts for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19):

I can't get the chart at the link to transfer properly, but it was updated yesterday and says that there were

37,308 total covid death from 2/1 to 4/25

719,438 total deaths during the same period

97% of expected deaths for the period

64,382 pnuemonia deaths during the same period

16,564 covid plus pnuemonia deaths during the same period

5,846 flu deaths during the same period (I wonder what the rate was last year during that period)

90,165 deaths with flu, covid or pnuemonia during the same period.

BBM

From your link:

Why these numbers are different
Provisional death counts may not match counts from other sources, such as media reports or numbers from county health departments. Our counts often track 1–2 weeks behind other data for a number of reasons: Death certificates take time to be completed. There are many steps involved in completing and submitting a death certificate. Waiting for test results can create additional delays. States report at different rates. Currently, 63% of all U.S. deaths are reported within 10 days of the date of death, but there is significant variation among jurisdictions. It takes extra time to code COVID-19 deaths. While 80% of deaths are electronically processed and coded by NCHS within minutes, most deaths from COVID-19 must be coded manually, which takes an average of 7 days. Other reporting systems use different definitions or methods for counting deaths.

 

[cody22]

Update: City of Stillwater drops mask requirement after businesses threatened

Stillwater, Oklahoma Virus News......moo

 

[10ofRods]

I think we are a society that respects and honours our elderly. Even though this nursing home and dormitory scenario is now well known as a risk it is still happening. Same mistakes being repeated is what I think is unforgivable.

Being in a care home was thought to be a place of safety but now we know that is not the case. Society being open or closed has not seemed to help these poor victims.

I've never thought of such homes as a "place of safety." They are often swept by flus and common colds (which in their residents can result in pneumonia). All of my older relatives are gone now, but there's a big difference in the ones who stayed outside the care homes and those who went in, in terms of longevity.

Indeed, it's so sad to see a wife care for her husband at home for years, then end up having to go to a care home, herself. A dear friend kept her husband out of care homes through 10 years of increasingly serious illnesses - he lived to be 88 without a care home. She had to go into a home to "convalesce" and died at age 72. I'm still sad about it. The idea was that she would get to go home after a month, but she got some bug in the home and died of pneumonia.

Same thing happened to my uncle, at 56. Pneumonia. So many others. Although I know one woman who, at 96, has been in one for 25 years! And it's not one of the nice ones, but that's what she wanted to do. Her daughter is a good friend who is now too unhealthy to make the drive to see her mom, so mom's social world has been that home for the last 5 years.

 

[CeeCeeCat]

This virus has sunk me into a depression. I don't mind the lockdown and I kind of enjoy the lockdown since I am an introvert. I don't see an end. Maybe I am reading too much news.

I can identify with this. A couple of weeks ago, feeling myself sliding into a black hole of despair, I decided to stop watching/reading the news non-stop. I am used to working from home much of the time, so the lockdown didn’t have a huge impact on my day-to-day life. The constant news programmes however, were having a significant effect on my mental health. Now I catch up here every couple of days rather than every couple of hours, and I watch just one BBC news bulletin each day. I feel better, calmer somehow, cushioned from some of the sadness...
I hope that soon the world will look brighter for you, @Kensie. In the meantime, sending you an interwebs {{{hug}}}

sigh
I dread when that happens here

Me too. My big worry is the lockdown lifting/easing, and all those stir-crazy people rushing out, ushering in the second wave. Ugh.

 

[firebird]

BBM

From your link:

Why these numbers are different
Provisional death counts may not match counts from other sources, such as media reports or numbers from county health departments. Our counts often track 1–2 weeks behind other data for a number of reasons: Death certificates take time to be completed. There are many steps involved in completing and submitting a death certificate. Waiting for test results can create additional delays. States report at different rates. Currently, 63% of all U.S. deaths are reported within 10 days of the date of death, but there is significant variation among jurisdictions. It takes extra time to code COVID-19 deaths. While 80% of deaths are electronically processed and coded by NCHS within minutes, most deaths from COVID-19 must be coded manually, which takes an average of 7 days. Other reporting systems use different definitions or methods for counting deaths.

That's a standard disclaimer and actually demonstrates that these numbers are MORE accurate, not less. For example, they're based on actual death certificates, not "coding" for Federal funding purposes. In any case, it's not going to impact the number very much. Especially the huge difference between virus deaths and pnuemonia deaths and overall deaths.jmo

 

[FrostOwl]

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.

If you look at the number of Covid-19 deaths, you will notice that more than 50% have happened in the Stockholm Region, even if they only have about 35% of confirmed cases, and about 22% of the Swedish population. Senaste nytt om coronaviruset
Isn't one of the reasons there are lots of protests in the US that the entire country is in lockdown, when the number of cases is high only in some areas?
Maybe Sweden should have put only Stockholm in lockdown, the way Finland did with the Helsinki area.
When you say that the demographics of Sweden an Norway are similar, you forgot that Norway have fewer immigrants, 725,000 persons, 13,8% in 2017, https://nordicwelfare.org/integration-norden/fakta-och-forskning/landfakta/norge/ while Sweden had 2,019,733 persons born outside Sweden on December 31, 2019, making it 19,6%. Utrikes födda i Sverige (I'm one of those.)

Many of those Covid-19 deaths in Sweden have been among immigrants, Födda i Somalia, Turkiet och Irak får oftare covid-19 , the same way BAME in the UK, and African Americans in the US have suffered more deaths.

 

[Cool Cats]

Your Life or Your Livelihood: Americans Wrestle With Impossible Choice

Original story from The New York Times May 2, 2020

A sign on the door of a business in Minneapolis, April 28, 2020. (Tim Gruber/The New York Times)

As states begin to loosen restrictions on their economies, the act of reopening has come down not to governors or even to President Donald Trump, but to millions of individual Americans who are being asked to go back to work.

If they go back to work, will they get sick and infect their families? If they refuse, will they lose their jobs? What if they work on tips and there are no customers? What happens to their unemployment benefits?

 

[Lilibet]

holy crap they BAN them? why???

There are officially 17 reason that Oregon requires a pump attendant. Read this article for more detail. These reasons can be condensed down to 3.

1. Safety – As a class 1 flammable liquid, some basic safety procedures should be followed. Since a cashier can’t watch all the pumps all the time, trained attendants are there. This also allows people to reduce personal injury or exposure to the fumes. In addition, attendants are likely to notice safety issues on a vehicle such as a low tire or faulty windshield wipers and such report to the driver to keep them safe. The law specifically mentions the weather we have in Oregon as a safety reason: the risk of slipping in the rain. Supposedly, all these benefits reduces insurance liability to the service stations.
2. Equable Treatment of Seniors & Disabled – A senior or a disabled person my find it harder to get out of their vehicle and perform the functions of pumping their gas. Because of this they would be forced to go to a full service station and pay a premium for this service, which isn’t equitable.
3. Jobs – This is the most commonly cited reason for continuing to employ service station attendants and is part of the statue. The cost that an attendant incurs per gallon wasn’t considered to be excessive especially since Oregon doesn’t have a sales tax. As minimum wages increase, this may change.

Why does Oregon not allow people to pump their own gas?

More at link in this article that’s pretty true and humorous...
17 reasons why you still can't pump your own gas in most of Oregon

I, for one, LOVE not having to pump my own gas, especially now that I’m an old lady.

 

[Lilibet]

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.

If you have members on “ignore” you won’t see their posts, so that may explain it.

 

[cody22]

'Frightened to death': Maine business owners swarm Augusta Saturday to protest Governor Janet Mills' coronavirus restrictions

Maine Virus News.....moo

 

[10ofRods]

Ah OK, so Gov Kemp has just eased some restrictions. But they could easily come back in June if things do not improve.

Coronavirus in Fulton County: The latest news from the AJC

Looks like you have a free walk up testing site in Fulton. That's pretty good.

Fulton County health officials open 'neighborhood' COVID-19 test site

Reading elsewhere on the internet, it seems that except for Atlanta, the rest of Georgia really has never shut down. They don't know if they are at their peak, but the plateau looks like it would have been 50 deaths a day for at least a month. I know that's only 1400 people - but still, that's a lot (and the new cases are disproportionately from outside of Atlanta, which is concerning as those counties have not yet peaked - Atlanta peaked, not the rest of Georgia).

Unfortunately, not as many Georgians are going for testing as we would hope, from a containment point of view. The number of deaths projected for Georgia is now about the same as for California.

California has 40 million; Georgia has ~11M. So about 4X the death rate as California.

2 out of every 10,o00 people in Georgia will die, with about 85% of them being African-American. In California, the numbers of deaths among African-American is only slightly higher than their percentage in the population - it's enough to be concerning, but frankly, Georgia needs to think about its entire population.

Georgia is 30% African-American but currently 83.7% of deaths are within that population.

 

[cody22]

Texas park ranger shoved into lake after warning group about social distancing

Austin, Texas Virus News.......moo

 

[10ofRods]

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.

I think this will depend on your state. And your employer, if your state doesn't take heed. I worry about exactly your population. I also worry because while I fall until the 65+ group (managed to turn 65), my husband may have to go back to work. He's a prof, too. And my daughter has a pre-existing condition, but will almost certainly have to go back to work.

You'd need some kind of continued unemployment, right? As the economic reality of this deepens, I really doubt we'll all be able to weather this at home, without working. In my case, I can work from home (but there's a good chance I won't get paid as much, because I get paid more for teaching more classes - but the students prefer IRL classes).

Without being too, nosey, hopefully your job is not too public-facing? Grocery store workers are truly suffering. Airport workers. People who work in big office buildings, especially with open office floor plans. I am hoping that you are not among these or other at risk occupations!

As a teacher, I can institute classroom based policies that would allow for more social distancing (some of it is up to me, as attendance for any particular class is not required at the college). Not all of us are that lucky.

I do think there will be much better treatments and vaccines or vaccine-like things by January.

 

[10ofRods]

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.

Other OTC meds have some blood thinning aspects - ask your doctor. Fish oil, vitamin E are pretty good. NSAID's have their own anti-coagulant effects, though not as strong as aspirin.

 

[cody22]

https://nypost.com/2020/05/01/flight-path-curses-michigan-governor-over-coronavirus-lockdown/

Michigan Virus News....moo

 

[katydid23]

I'm going to give my daughter my login and password.
I'm afraid my husband may predecease me. He also has zero interest in my Websleuths passion!!! If I could photograph every facial expression he has given me over the years of his not understanding why I love this site, I'd have the best compilation EVER!
I'll have my daughter contact Tricia or a friend I have connected with in my area.
I am not in any malignant type of situation, but being honest, ya never know.
I doubt anyone would really wonder what happened to me, but there are members who I really enjoyed reading their posts who went "poof" and I truly hope they left for "whatever reason" and are still alive and well.
It doesn't seem appropriate to ask, "hey! Where did "so n so" go?
Honestly I don't even want to ask because I don't want to read, they are no longer with us.
Sadly, I have grieved the loss of several members. I wish I could have told them goodbye, I'll miss you.
(Sad face)
Moo

I am giving my daughter my log in info as well, in case, God Forbid....but I too wonder about some of the members that have suddenly gone missing.

My husband is much like yours....he does not really understand why I follow these 'ugly cases' as he calls them.

 

[Reasonable & Just]

Message from George W. Bush:

I found this really touching. Not political in any way. Just kindness and wisdom from a former President.