Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #57

[RANCH]

Received a positive test result the day after he went to church?
Meaning he had the test prior to going and had symptoms.
Sigh

Do we know he had symptoms? Maybe he was in close contact with someone who had the virus and that's why he was tested.

Still not a good idea to attend church. JMO.

 

[jjenny]

Most antibody studies done in US states show we are nowhere near herd immunity infection numbers. Even in New York. So it's not likely to burn out naturally here.

 

[musicaljoke]

So, I am scheduled for surgery tomorrow. As a result, I spent this past Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at the local hospital (I am in one of the western suburbs of Chicago; it is very, very busy here - and that hospital is always madness because there are so many people that use it. Well, when I was there the ER was vacant -and dark- they actually had the lights off! As I walked around the hospital I noticed there were almost no patients, and I saw more cleaning crew than I did nurses and doctors. According to their website, they are open for normal business. So why is the hospital a ghost town? I posted this on my Facebook page, and OMG, it turned into a political war. Dems were accusing me of secretly being a Trump supporter, and Repubs saying they were happy I converted to their side. But, neither of these are true; I was merely posting an observation I had, and thought it was extremely odd that such a major hospital would be nearly closed in the middle of a pandemic. So, anyone have any ideas on WHY this would be? (And please, hold the politics - I worked police for Homeland Security for Democratic and Republican Administrations/leaders). Be safe!

It's the same thing happening in the hospitals on this side of the border. There are a few reasons why the corridors are quiet. Doctors are doing far more by online consults. Hospitals have eliminated places where people gather, such as waiting rooms and check in lines. Apart from ambulance arrivals, everyone comes by appointment only and they are ushered into rooms that are not visible to the general public. Elective surgeries have been postponed. There are no visitors, no volunteers, no drivers, etc.

Still the medical work is happening, and medical staff are as busy as ever, but nothing is as as visible, nor as convenient as it was pre-Covid for either staff or patients.

Best wishes for a good surgery and a full recovery.

 

[RANCH]

Most antibody studies done in US states show we are nowhere near herd immunity infection numbers. Even in New York. So it's not likely to burn out naturally here.

What if we do hit herd immunity in the future?

 

[musicaljoke]

Ha yep. Only took a pandemic to make hospitals/ nursing homes etc “safe” Maybe some of the new normal standards will be for the best.

Yes, I too am hopeful that some of the new normal standards will be improvements in health services and in standard of care for those living in senior's homes.

Honestly, I have some doubts that retirement and nursing homes will improve a lot. One thing is certain, seniors who test positive for Covid need a safe place to recover, other than back in the seniors home. That error in protocol was a huge oversight in this pandemic planning. I think we were so focused on establishing safe community practices, that we assumed seniors would be safe if they just stayed home. Obviously, that was a huge mistake.

So, what has changed in care facilities? Other than keeping guests out, testing and taking temperatures, how are nursing homes significantly safer now? Does anyone know?

 

[musicaljoke]

What if we do hit herd immunity in the future?

You mean, kinda like we hit herd immunity with the measles? We know how that's working out.

 

[jjenny]

What if we do hit herd immunity in the future?

If we had on average one to two percent of population infected, and had 90,000 die, to hit 60-70 % needed for herd immunity would mean nearly 3 million deaths.

 

[jjenny]

You mean, kinda like we hit herd immunity with the measles? We know how that's working out.

One thing measles has going for it, is that it does leave a person immune for a really long time. We don't even know how long covid's immunity is going to last.

 

[musicaljoke]

...

Still not a good idea to attend church. JMO.

Oh, but it's lovely attending church these days. I even watched myself play worship songs on my own Steinway. This morning I went in my nightie, and only regretted not getting dressed when it was time for the after-church zoom coffee time. Oops!

 

[RANCH]

It's the same thing happening in the hospitals on this side of the border. There are a few reasons why the corridors are quiet. Doctors are doing far more by online consults. Hospitals have eliminated places where people gather, such as waiting rooms and check in lines. Apart from ambulance arrivals, everyone comes by appointment only and they are ushered into rooms that are not visible to the general public. Elective surgeries have been postponed. There are no visitors, no volunteers, no drivers, etc.

Still the medical work is happening, and medical staff are as busy as ever, but nothing is as as visible, nor as convenient as it was pre-Covid for either staff or patients.

Best wishes for a good surgery and a full recovery.

Coronavirus updates: Sutter Health reports $1 billion loss;
This can be partially attributed to the fact that Sutter, like virtually all other medical systems, put a moratorium on elective procedures in mid-March, when the virus was beginning to take hold across the globe, in order to better prepare for an influx of COVID-19 patients.

Fewer people outside also, predictably, means fewer accidents. Visits to the emergency room dropped by 43 percent.

But the dramatic decrease in patient volume meant some hospital workers didn’t have enough work. About 5,000 Sutter employees, which is about 10 percent of its workforce, didn’t have working hours enough to cover a full shift.

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article242785706.html#storylink=cpy

 

[MimosaMornings]

Do we know he had symptoms? Maybe he was in close contact with someone who had the virus and that's why he was tested.

Still not a good idea to attend church. JMO.

Oh, didn’t think about that. Here you have to have several of the symptoms and a doctors note to be tested.
Then self quarantine for 14 days after taking the test.
I’m hoping there was some social distancing at the church.

 

[Chelly]

Coronavirus may ‘burn out naturally’ before any vaccine is developed, former WHO chief claims

Coronavirus may ‘burn out naturally’ before any vaccine is developed, former WHO chief claims

Andy Gregory
2 hrs ago
...
Coronavirus could “burn out naturally before any vaccine is developed”, according to a former World Health Organisation chief.

“We are seeing a roughly similar pattern everywhere – I suspect we have more immunity than estimated,” Professor Karol Sikora, who previously directed the WHO’s cancer programme, said on Saturday.

“We need to keep slowing the virus, but it could be petering out by itself. It is my opinion that this is a feasible scenario.”


His hopeful comments come days after a new study in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, using local authority “R” transmission rate data, estimated some 19 million people are “likely” to have already contracted the virus in the UK.

So the virus could "burn" itself out or "peter" out by itself. Seriously?

 

[RANCH]

Oh, but it's lovely attending church these days. I even watched myself play worship songs on my own Steinway. This morning I went in my nightie, and only regretted not getting dressed when it was time for the after-church zoom coffee time. Oops!

Every Sunday morning I set up a Facebook Live for my 87 year old mom to participate in a virtual Mass.

She sings and prays along with all of the other parishioners that are doing the same thing.

 

[weepingangel]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/inve...07c092-90b1-11ea-a0bc-4e9ad4866d21_story.html
Major nursing home chain violated federal standards meant to stop spread of disease even after start of covid-19, records show

Nursing homes operated by Life Care Centers of America, one of the largest chains in the industry, violated federal standards meant to stop the spread of infections and communicable diseases even after outbreaks and deaths from covid-19 began to sweep its facilities from the Pacific Northwest to New England, inspection reports show.

Long article much more at link


https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...251b18-8edc-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html
Transit workers are paying a heavy price during the pandemic

The covid-19 deaths were piling up so fast that New York City bus driver Danny Cruz began to worry that no one understood the toll the virus was taking on his fellow transit workers.
So in early April, he began keeping a list of those killed by the disease and posting it on Facebook. Cruz had lost a friend and fellow driver at his depot to the novel coronavirus a few days earlier. He also had tested positive for it himself.
“Every morning I wake up and one of the hardest things I have to do is to try to keep this updated,” he wrote April 7, when the death toll was 41. “Every time I have to add a name, my heart loses a beat. . . . Why is this happening? Why were we not better prepared? How many more members will we have to lose?”
By Cruz’s count, 129 New York City transit workers have died of covid-19.

A mother and a daughter nurse duo left Arkansas to work at 'the epicenter of the epicenter' of the coronavirus pandemic - CNN

"It has been mentally and physically exhausting, but rewarding in so many ways," Onyia says. "This virus will be around for a while, and this experience has fully prepared me to help my home state if it has outbreaks. I feel like I can work anywhere after this."

 

[RANCH]

Oh, didn’t think about that. Here you have to have several of the symptoms and a doctors note to be tested.
Then self quarantine for 14 days after taking the test.
I’m hoping there was some social distancing at the church.

I don't know where "here" is but I thought that in most places if you are in close contact with someone, like a spouse,who has the virus you get tested whether you are symptomatic or not. JMO

 

[RANCH]

So the virus could "burn" itself out or "peter" out by itself. Seriously?

Why not? I think it's possible.

 

[musicaljoke]

Coronavirus updates: Sutter Health reports $1 billion loss;
This can be partially attributed to the fact that Sutter, like virtually all other medical systems, put a moratorium on elective procedures in mid-March, when the virus was beginning to take hold across the globe, in order to better prepare for an influx of COVID-19 patients.

Fewer people outside also, predictably, means fewer accidents. Visits to the emergency room dropped by 43 percent.

But the dramatic decrease in patient volume meant some hospital workers didn’t have enough work. About 5,000 Sutter employees, which is about 10 percent of its workforce, didn’t have working hours enough to cover a full shift.

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article242785706.html#storylink=cpy

I'm so used to a publicly funded health care system that I have to clear my head a bit to understand what is written in the article you've quoted. We would simply never see any Health service reporting $1 billion loss, or any losses, ever. If health care costs less than anticipated, then that's a savings to the taxpayers. During Covid, if there is a savings in health care costs, that money is likely already diverted into programs like the emergency wage subsidy, or the other financial assistance programs.

But in your region, such a huge loss means that the hospital doesn't have the funding it needs to manage its expenses, is that right? So staff get laid off, or have reduced shifts? Is that how it works? It's late .. I need sleep.

 

[mickey2942]

Why not? I think it's possible.

That is what happened with the plague, just sort of went away. Or maybe all of the weak people died off. The rest either became immune from having it, or never caught it.

 

[MimosaMornings]

I don't know where "here" is but I thought that in most places if you are in close contact with someone, like a spouse,who has the virus you get tested whether you are symptomatic or not. JMO

Sorry, Georgia/South Carolina.
They told my cousin that since his wife tested positive for him to assume he had it too and didn’t need a test.

 

[RANCH]

Sorry, Georgia/South Carolina.
They told my cousin that since his wife tested positive for him to assume he had it too and didn’t need a test.

Georgia Gov. Kemp: All residents should be tested for COVID-19, even if you don't show symptoms

Georgia Gov. Kemp: All residents should be tested for COVID-19, even if you don't show symptoms