Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #56

[mickey2942]

That is actually diabolical. Don't leave enough time for the passengers to show symptoms: just get infected. What could possibly go wrong?

Mid August, Florida/Texas/Louisiana hurricane season.

 

[firebird]

That is actually diabolical. Don't leave enough time for the passengers to show symptoms: just get infected. What could possibly go wrong?

It's not correct. There are a number of 6 + day cruises leaving in August. It's just the cheap ones that are shorter, for obvious reasons. They're also stopping in Mexico and a number of Caribbean locations.

Just for example, here's an 8-day cruise leaving from Miami in August 2020

8 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise From Miami | Carnival Cruise Line

 

[TMAN2014]

I wouldn't go on one of those cruises if you paid me. If the virus pops up its ugly head, you could be stranded like many others have already been, and then you have no friends. You get treated like the plague. No thanks.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I'm sure I live in an alternate world.
In the three days following Carnival's announcement that it'll resume some trips in August, a booking company told TMZ it saw a 600% increase in volume compared to the three days before the announcement. That's also a 200% increase over the same period last year.
Source: Morning Brew

geezzz...i am going to be proven wrong. I thought the cruise industry would be dead for at least three years.... oh well.

 

[Cruiser933]

Foreign flagged cruise ships are required to stop at a foreign port before returning to the US. Cruises to nowhere are no longer allowed. The cruise ship owned islands are in the Bahamas and count as a foreign port.

 

[tmar]

Packed United flight leaves passengers 'scared,' 'shocked' amid fears of the coronavirus

Chris Woodyard and Dawn Gilbertson, USA TODAY
8 hrs ago
...
A photo of a crowded flight posted on Twitter by a cardiologist returning from the New York City area may hint at the difficulties of social distancing as air travel picks up again.

Dr. Ethan Weiss tweeted a photo Saturday showing what appears to be a full United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco. Though passengers are wearing masks, he said the crowded cabin runs counter to United's assurances that it would leave middle seats empty in order to promote social distancing to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
...

 

[tmar]

Coronavirus Australia live news: WHO warns about lack of virus tracing as countries reopen

2 hrs ago
A top world health official has warned that countries are essentially driving blind in reopening their economies without setting up strong contact tracing to beat back flare-ups of the coronavirus.

The warning came as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school, and many US states pressed ahead with the lifting of business restrictions.
Over 5 million Australians have downloaded the COVIDSafe contact tracing app, which the Federal and state governments are pushing as a way to track the virus in this country, as lockdown measures slowly ease.

Authorities worldwide have cautioned that the scourge could come back with a vengeance without widespread testing and tracing of infected people's contacts with others.

In fact, fears of infection spikes in countries that have loosened up were borne out in recent days in Germany, where new clusters were linked to three slaughterhouses; Wuhan, the Chinese city where the crisis started; and South Korea, where a single nightclub customer was linked to 85 new cases.

The World Health Organization's emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, said that robust contact tracing measures adopted by Germany and South Korea provide hope that those countries can detect and stop virus clusters before they get out of control. But he said the same is not true of other nations exiting their lockdowns, declining to name specific countries.
...

 

[Henry2326]

Hundreds of factory workers at a fish processing plant in Ghana have tested positive for the coronavirus, the country's president Nana Akufo-Addo said.

All 533 of them contracted the virus from one worker at the factory in the port city of Tema, the president said in his public address to the nation Sunday.

The factory infection was detected from a backlog of 921 samples collected for testing last month that health officials just reported, Akufo-Addo said.

A worker infected 533 others with coronavirus at a factory in Ghana, president says

 

[musicaljoke]

Coronavirus: South Dakota Sioux refuse to take down 'illegal' checkpoints

South Dakota Virus News.....moo

Our First Nations all have road blocks and check points too. More power to them, I say! Keep those check points up.

 

[musicaljoke]

I'm sure I live in an alternate world.
In the three days following Carnival's announcement that it'll resume some trips in August, a booking company told TMZ it saw a 600% increase in volume compared to the three days before the announcement. That's also a 200% increase over the same period last year.
Source: Morning Brew

Could they be hoping for a CoV-19 outbreak while they are onboard, thinking they can hang out at the pool and buffet for weeks on end on the company's bill? Surely they can't be hoping to be confined to their room for weeks on end.

 

[tmar]

'Get your flu shot' Aussies told as coronavirus winter looms

9News Staff
16 hrs ago
...
Flu shots this year are even more crucial due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Australians have been warned.

Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd said flu season starts in the next month and now is the time to prepare.

"Vaccines are especially important this year for people at increased risk of influenza," he said.
...
He urged people to maintain physical distancing, avoid crowds, wash their hands and download the COVIDSafe app.

He said COVID-19 tracers - the "disease detectives" - would hopefully start using the gathered data in a couple of days.

Flu vaccines are free for vulnerable people, including older Australians, young children, those with chronic conditions and Indigenous Australians.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Coronavirus: North Carolina mother says internet technician exposed twin boys, dad to COVID-19 during house call

 

[musicaljoke]

Belgians urged to eat more fries, potato products during COVID-19

Belgium Virus News.....moo

Well there's an edict folks could really sink their teeth into. What a good idea to let the nation know that their assistance is required. People will be sharing potato recipes and ideas for three meals a day. I bet they can eat up 30,000 transports of potatoes.

 

[tmar]

'Chaotic and crazy': meat plants around the world struggle with virus outbreaks

Bibi van der Zee, Tom Levitt and Ella McSweeney
16 hrs ago
...
Outbreaks of Covid-19 at slaughterhouses are occurring in a number of countries around the
world, in a development that may have long-term implications for food supply systems, say experts.
The US has been hardest hit, with outbreaks at more than 180 meat and processed food plants. But other countries with highly consolidated meat supply chains – Ireland, Spain, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Canada and the UK – are also struggling.

“Workers are having to go back to work, and farmers are having to euthanise their animals,” said Ben Lilliston of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. “It’s a very chaotic, crazy situation.”
The reasons for the outbreaks are said to be a combination of crowded working conditions, workforces that are often made up predominantly of migrant workers living in communal housing, and the fact that plants have remained open during the crisis.

The problem is particularly acute where large companies dominate the industry, as has increasingly been the case. Many small slaughterhouses have been shut down over recent years in favour of fewer but larger plants that may have thousands of workers, leading to what one observer called “the most narrow bottleneck in US agribusiness”.

In the short term, the issue is causing instability in the supply chain, with panic buying of meat in the US and the euthanisation of millions of farm animals. Questions are being asked about the risks to workers of infection and even death. In the long term, the problems will raise questions about stability and lack of resilience in the current system, which is dominated by a handful of vast international companies including Cargill, JBS, Smithfield and Tyson.
...

 

[BUF]

Hundreds of factory workers at a fish processing plant in Ghana have tested positive for the coronavirus, the country's president Nana Akufo-Addo said.

All 533 of them contracted the virus from one worker at the factory in the port city of Tema, the president said in his public address to the nation Sunday.

The factory infection was detected from a backlog of 921 samples collected for testing last month that health officials just reported, Akufo-Addo said.

A worker infected 533 others with coronavirus at a factory in Ghana, president says

So one person infected 533 people...

 

[Henry2326]

"Another thing to note here is those recent upticks for Korea, China and Iran.
Flattening the curve is winning one battle, not the war, and it will take constant effort to keep the virus at bay."

"Russia is one of several emerging market countries now facing some of the worst outbreaks in the world. See the green streaks sloping upwards
Russia & Brazil now seeing more new daily cases than any other country except the US"
John Burn-Murdoch on Twitter

"Our excess mortality figures remain the gold-standard for international comparisons of Covid deaths, but even the raw daily reported numbers make for alarming reading in countries like Brazil, where reported daily Covid deaths are on course to go second behind only the US"
John Burn-Murdoch on Twitter

"Excess mortality data from Moscow show Russia is also struggling to capture its true Covid death toll.
Our analysis finds excess deaths for April in Moscow and St Petersburg alone raise Russia’s Covid death toll by 72%"
Story: Subscribe to read | Financial Times John Burn-Murdoch on Twitter

"Another thing you may have spotted in the Moscow data here is the mortality spike from the Russian heatwave in the summer of 2010, when there were more than 40,000 excess deaths nationally". John Burn-Murdoch on Twitter

John Burn-Murdoch on Twitter

 

[dixiegirl1035]

He also spends the last half going over again the NEJM article on hydroxychloriquine (and he speaks to zinc iodophore, but didn't touch YET on that article I referred to the other day as he usually sticks with peer reviewed/published articles - I would expect that to be peer reviewed/published in the next week or two)

 

[imstilla.grandma]

In California, 65% said they would not feel comfortable going to a restaurant with some spacing precautions. Similarly, 60% of surveyed Texans weren’t ready to dine-in.

To contrast, a majority of people in Ohio are more ready to return to restaurants. Of those surveyed, 51% said they were comfortable returning to restaurants with precautions.

While they might be comfortable with in-person dining, Ohioans are not ready to return to gyms — even with spacing precautions. Of those surveyed, 57% weren’t comfortable going to a fitness center. In Texas, that figure is even higher at 68%. And in California, the number jumped to 75% of people surveyed.

It’s worth noting that a majority of people in all three states felt comfortable going to a beach or park with spacing precautions.
Exclusive poll: Many not ready to return to restaurants, gyms during COVID-19 pandemic

 

[TMAN2014]

Hey Henry,

I thought I heard Georgia was doing well lately, even though they opened up. Is that true?

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Coronavirus Pandemic Update 69: "NAC" Supplementation and COVID-19 (N-Acetylcysteine)

N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) is an over the counter supplement that has been utilized by clinicians for years to treat acetaminophen (Tylenol) overdose, as a mucolytic, and for other medical problems. There is compelling research that NAC may also reduce the severity of viral infections like influenza, and perhaps reduce the risk of blood clots (thromboembolism) as well. Could NAC be effective in COVID-19? Dr. Seheult illustrates these ideas and discusses the peer-reviewed data involved.