Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #53

[BayouBelle_LA]

Third Russian coronavirus doctor plummets from hospital window under hazy circumstances, reports say

Three Russian health care workers have mysteriously plunged from hospital buildings in the past two weeks after criticizing working conditions and hospital administrators amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

[dmac55]

AZ Gov. Ducey said today:
Y'all can go ahead and get your hair done and go out to eat, except for you dmac55
You're still grounded
Because you're not 55 anymore;/
(paraphrasing)

Ducey: Arizona salons and barbershops can reopen May 8; restaurants can start dine-in service May 11
Ducey: Arizona salons and barbershops can reopen May 8; restaurants can start dine-in service May 11

 

[MsMarple]

Once again I thank all of you for posting the latest news! Trying to wade through the msm reports is overwhelming so I prefer getting the highlights from y'all. Hugs!

My last post was about a long established local grocery store here in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state closing due to financial problems. This week another long time restaurant which was one of the few more upscale eateries in town announced that they were closing.

I'm afraid it may only be the tip of the iceberg and hope that the other restaurants will be able to weather the pandemic storm. My town is small and local businesses depend heavily upon the tourists. If more stores and restaurants go under a lot of people will be out of their jobs.

We're all doing our best to support local restaurants by continuing to order from them via curbside pick ups but that may not be enough. I get that we need to keep social distancing in place but that doesn't soften the loss of income for those who need to work in order to continue living here.

On the positive our parks are still open as they are large enough to accommodate many people while providing distance and so far almost all park visitors wear masks.

The big state parks have been closed but are scheduled to re-open tomorrow (May 5) albeit with camping to remain closed for now. They're large enough to allow people to walk the trails with plenty of room to keep distanced from others so I'm looking forward to being able to hike again.

I know my "news" pales compared to what's happening in the world but I wanted to share the impact the virus has on small communities. We all have a long way to go before resuming life the way we used to but hopefully we will slowly work our way back safely.

My thoughts go out to everyone everywhere who are struggling to stay afloat. And again, thank you fellow WS members for giving me a safe place to read and discuss the news!

 

[cody22]

Photos: Protesters gather in front of Mass. State House demanding reopening | Boston.com

Boston Virus News....moo

 

[cody22]

Newport Beach councilman files lawsuit against Gov. Newsom over O.C. beach battle, as city awaits approval for reopening plans

Calfornia Virus News...moo

 

[firebird]

Here's a comparison of last weeks CDC provisional statistics (the ones based on actual death certificates) v. this weeks ending 5/2. As expected, nowhere near 60k and not even close to non-covid pnuemonia, even considering potential ME corruption. The 2/1 to 4/25 statistics are from the link I posted in thread 53.


37,308 total covid deaths from 2/1 to 4/25, compared to 38,576 as of 5/2

719,438 total deaths from any cause from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 739,600 as of 5/2

97% of expected deaths from all causes from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 93% as of 5/2

64,382 pnuemonia deaths from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 66,094 as of 5/2

16,564 covid plus pnuemonia deaths from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 17,122 as of 5/2

5,846 flu deaths from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 5,886 as of 5/2 (I continue to wonder what the rate was last year during that period)

The current chart leaves off the flu, covid or pnuemonia total. Don't know why. It was 90,165 deaths with flu, covid or pnuemonia from 2/1 to 4/25

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

 

[firebird]

Photos: Protesters gather in front of Mass. State House demanding reopening | Boston.com

Boston Virus News....moo

Here's a pic from the link

 

[Betty P]

SMDH

JMO, some of this is just PR to pump up stock prices.

 

[10ofRods]

Just saw this. What the heck??

Воронежский врач Александр Шулепов упал со второго этажа. Он жаловался, что его заставляют работать после заражения коронавирусом Это третий российский медик, выпавший из окна за последние две недели — Meduza
Three Russian doctors treating the coronavirus have recently fallen from windows
According to Russian media, Dr. Aleksandr Shulepov is in critical condition after falling from a window. The incident happened following a video he made in which he complained about working while sick with COVID-19. Two other doctors in Russia who spoke out about their lack of PPE have died after falling from windows in the past two weeks.


Воронежский врач Александр Шулепов упал со второго этажа. Он жаловался, что его заставляют работать после заражения коронавирусом Это третий российский медик, выпавший из окна за последние две недели

I used Google Translate to read the article.

One of those deaths occurred while the doctor, a woman, was still on her phone. From a 5th story window, IIRC. She was calling some agency to complain about lack of PPE.

 

[Betty P]

Here's a comparison of last weeks CDC provisional statistics (the ones based on actual death certificates) v. this weeks ending 5/2. As expected, nowhere near 60k and not even close to non-covid pnuemonia, even considering potential ME corruption. The 2/1 to 4/25 statistics are from the link I posted in thread 53.


37,308 total covid deaths from 2/1 to 4/25, compared to 38,576 as of 5/2

719,438 total deaths from any cause from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 739,600 as of 5/2

97% of expected deaths from all causes from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 93% as of 5/2

64,382 pnuemonia deaths from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 66,094 as of 5/2

16,564 covid plus pnuemonia deaths from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 17,122 as of 5/2

5,846 flu deaths from 2/1 to 4/25 compared to 5,886 as of 5/2 (I continue to wonder what the rate was last year during that period)

The current chart leaves off the flu, covid or pnuemonia total. Don't know why. It was 90,165 deaths with flu, covid or pnuemonia from 2/1 to 4/25

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

From your link:

*Data during this period are incomplete because of the lag in time between when the death occurred and when the death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS and processed for reporting purposes. This delay can range from 1 week to 8 weeks or more, depending on the jurisdiction, age, and cause of death.

 

[steeltowngirl]

Local story, and the murder-suicide may have nothing to do with the doctor’s research. Odd though.

Pitt researcher studying coronavirus killed in suspected murder-suicide in Ross Township

 

[firebird]

From your link:

I know. Last week's chart had the same language. My points in my first post were (1) that the lag was going to make the numbers more accurate, not less, since they're based on actual causes of death from actual death certificates that have to be certified by an ME, as opposed to coded covid deaths to get more money from the Feds, and (2) that the lag wouldn't significantly impact the relative proportion of death causes. For example, the rate of pneumonia deaths remains MUCH higher than the rate of covid deaths. So, now we've seen what a one-week lag does. Next, on 5/9'ish we'll see the two-week lag compared to the numbers in my original post. My opinion is that we'll still be nowhere near 60k Covid deaths, and that the number of pneumonia deaths will continue to be significantly larger. Stay tuned jmo

 

[10ofRods]

Here's an article that examined hospitalized patients and found that asthmatics did not experience higher mortality (nor did African-Americans or Hispanics):

Analysis of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the Mount Sinai Health System using electronic medical records (EMR) reveals important prognostic factors for improved clinical outcomes

BMI, oxygen saturation, creatinine levels and ALT levels did help predict mortality.

 

[10ofRods]

I know. Last week's chart had the same language. My points in my first post were (1) that the lag was going to make the numbers more accurate, not less, since they're based on actual causes of death from actual death certificates that have to be certified by an ME, as opposed to coded covid deaths to get more money from the Feds, and (2) that the lag wouldn't significantly impact the relative proportion of death causes. For example, the rate of pneumonia deaths remains MUCH higher than the rate of covid deaths. So, now we've seen what a one-week lag does. Next, on 5/9'ish we'll see the two-week lag compared to the numbers in my original post. My opinion is that we'll still be nowhere near 60k Covid deaths, and that the number of pneumonia deaths will continue to be significantly larger. Stay tuned jmo

I keep reading articles that say that the higher rates of pneumonia are likely related to CoVid. Death certificates can say both, but the big jump in pneumonia is concerning.

Pneumonia isn't a cause of itself. Something else causes it and it was the big jump in pneumonia cases that caused Wuhan doctors to start searching for a novel cause.

 

[Trino]

And so it begins... unemployment
IMO the crazy thing about this is the White House is considering a pay-roll tax cut. Well, if you're unemployed, that's not going to help.

A top executive at United Airlines is telling employees to consider leaving the company voluntarily as it grapples with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a memo to some United Airlines staffers, which was obtained by CNN Business, Greg Hart — the company's chief operations officer — said the airline will need to "right size" its workforce.
United Airlines COO says employees should 'seriously consider' voluntary separation from the airline - CNN

And more...
California on Monday borrowed money from the federal government to make payments on unemployment benefits, the first state in the U.S. to do so, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Illinois and Connecticut may soon follow suit – both received approval for federal loans of up to $12.6 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively.

California borrowed $348 million after receiving approval to draw up to $10 billion until the end of July.
California Is 1st State to Borrow From US Over Soaring Joblessness; Others Are Lining Up

And one more...
Unemployment Rate in the United States is expected to be 15.00 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Unemployment Rate in the United States to stand at 19.00 in 12 months time.

 

[firebird]

I keep reading articles that say that the higher rates of pneumonia are likely related to CoVid. Death certificates can say both, but the big jump in pneumonia is concerning.

Pneumonia isn't a cause of itself. Something else causes it and it was the big jump in pneumonia cases that caused Wuhan doctors to start searching for a novel cause.

As noted, there's a separate column for covid plus pneumonia. So the "just" pneumonia deaths aren't related to covid according to the CDC.

 

[10ofRods]

As noted, there's a separate column for covid plus pneumonia. So the "just" pneumonia deaths aren't related to covid according to the CDC.

I understand that. Please try to understand my point.

That's a huge jump up in pneumonia. It had to have been caused by something. Pneumonia is a syndrome, not a disease in and of itself. It has to be caused by something (often a bacteria, but there are also viral pneumonias). Which thing caused those pneumonias? Pneumonia deaths while in a nursing home are not typically autopsied. Pneumonia deaths in the elderly who are under a doctor's care are not usually autopsied.

So, my point is, that we have no way of knowing if any of those people had CoVid, as presumably, even if it was down on the list of causes of death, it was coded as pneumonia if that was the first cause listed.

Can you think of a reason why 10,000 people died in one week of pneumonia at the peak of the CoVid crisis? It would seem to me that those are likely CoVid-related. Other nations probably have the same thing going on.

There's quite a bit of scientific publishing on this. At any rate, there's no cause of pneumonia given in that chart

Take a look at the various causes of pneumonia (again, pneumonia isn't something that just has "pneumonia" as its cause - it must have another cause):

Pneumonia - Wikipedia

 

[10ofRods]

Antibodies from plasma line up as the main, positive treatment for CoVid at this point in time:

Convalescent serum lines up as first-choice treatment for coronavirus

10% of Swedes have or have had CoVid

10 procent av stockholmarna smittade | KTH. (use Google translate)

The exact parts of human antibodies that provide protection against CoVid are beginning to be understood:

https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S1074-7613(20)30181-3

Fascinating article on different scenarios of lifting societal restrictions using statistical models:

https://cosnet.bifi.es/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/main.pdf

Upshot in that last article is that methods of lifting quarantine will result in a resurgence of the number of cases. It also tries to model some of the unknown factors by making predictions depending on whether or not currently asymptomatic persons can become symptomatic and seriously ill at a later time.

The literature on using plasma for antibodies shows that asymptomatic people are often on a threshold where their antibodies are too low and therefore, they cannot be useful to people needing plasma antibodies (the antibodies have to be high enough - and, I think, complex enough - one might say "fully developed" antibodies).

So the question remains as to whether the asymptomatic people can get it again - much research still to be done, with nations like Italy and France investing a lot of energy in that topic.

 

[firebird]

I understand that. Please try to understand my point.

That's a huge jump up in pneumonia. It had to have been caused by something. Pneumonia is a syndrome, not a disease in and of itself. It has to be caused by something (often a bacteria, but there are also viral pneumonias). Which thing caused those pneumonias? Pneumonia deaths while in a nursing home are not typically autopsied. Pneumonia deaths in the elderly who are under a doctor's care are not usually autopsied.

So, my point is, that we have no way of knowing if any of those people had CoVid, as presumably, even if it was down on the list of causes of death, it was coded as pneumonia if that was the first cause listed.

Can you think of a reason why 10,000 people died in one week of pneumonia at the peak of the CoVid crisis? It would seem to me that those are likely CoVid-related. Other nations probably have the same thing going on.

There's quite a bit of scientific publishing on this. At any rate, there's no cause of pneumonia given in that chart

Take a look at the various causes of pneumonia (again, pneumonia isn't something that just has "pneumonia" as its cause - it must have another cause):

Pneumonia - Wikipedia

I don't see 10k people dying in a week from pneumonia anywhere in this info. That said, I understand that pneumonia is caused by something bacterial, viral or otherwise. But considering the push to code everything as covid, I doubt the CDC and/or the ME's are missing those opportunities. jmo

 

[10ofRods]

U.S. not near being able to test 5M people a day:

Trump Says U.S. Will Run 5 Million Daily Virus Tests 'Very Soon.' His Testing Chief Says That's Impossible

Seems like an astronomical goal, but perhaps regions hardest hit could get more testing first?

Also, some CoVid genomic research from Europe shows that the version of CV19 in Europe may indeed have one or two proteins that make it more deadly than the original.

The same version is the one that appeared on the East Coast, and early research shows that it is less prevalent in the American West. I think an article on Brazil’s version may be in pre-print soon. All of that will help a lot in understanding why it’s been so bad in some places and not others.