Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #74

[MimosaMornings]

Maybe just because it's the weekend, but numbers are down a little bit in South Carolina. Thought we'd pass 100,000 cases today, but that will surely happen Monday instead. Hospital stats are not as bad as I thought!

SC approaches 100,000 COVID-19 cases, 1,011 new cases
"As of Sunday morning, 2,269 inpatient beds are available and 8,157 are in use, which is a 78.24% statewide inpatient bed utilization rate. Of the 8,157 inpatient beds currently used, 1,378 are occupied by patients who have either tested positive or are under investigation for COVID-19. Of the 1,585 ventilators, 547 are in use and 219 of those are COVID-19 patients."

99,713 confirmed positive cases (+1,011) - lowest new case rate since July 7

1,949 confirmed deaths (+18)

"Total Tests Received" - 843,241
Percent Positive - 12.9 % - Please keep heading downward! Lowest percent positive since July 27

SC Testing Data & Projections (COVID-19) | SCDHEC

I wonder about the crowds for Labor Day weekend at the beaches!

 

[CSIDreamer]

Indiana US

1048 new cases
1 new death

ISDH - Novel Coronavirus: Indiana COVID-19 Dashboard

 

[Sundog]

Just a little levity for a Sunday pm .

These 20 Hilarious Posts About People Breaking Rules Will Awaken Your Inner Rebel

(Mods please delete if this is breaking the rules )

Hilarious! Thanks for posting, we could all use a laugh these days. Also, this motivates me to get my camera out, or cell phone, and go for walks and take some pictures of my own. I usually do this when I travel abroad, or live abroad, because translations into English are often interesting and sometimes humorous. But now will take some around here.

@CSIDreamer, perhaps add this to your list of things to do while social distancing and self-isolating, in areas where no one is around!

 

[Rose in SC]

I wonder about the crowds for Labor Day weekend at the beaches!

Oh yikes! I don't even want to think about that right now!

 

[Sundog]

More information on the onion recall that we talked about here last week.
Since Kroger grocery store was listed in the earlier articles, and in this article, I threw out our onions that we had purchased at Kroger. But then on Friday when I did my order online for pick up, I noticed that they are still selling the same mesh bags of onions. So I called the store and they put the produce manager on the phone, and he said that their particular Kroger store never purchased their onions from Thompson, they use other vendors, and then they put their Kroger label on the onions they sell. So I bought some more, and too bad we threw out the onions that were okay. Especially during the pandemic, onions are necessary to add some taste to some of the meals we prepare. So glad to have onions again.

Here is an updated article on the onion recall.

FDA opens investigation at California produce supplier as onion recall expands

 

[24Roses]

Iowa news today: As of 10:30-11:00 a.m. today, we had 620 new confirmed cases for a total of 48,732 confirmed cases of which 37,085 had recovered (+235). 5 more had passed away for a total of 930. Five more COVID-19 deaths reported as cases see increase
Iowa COVID-19 Information
Indianola school announces COVID-19 case in first grade classroom IMO this is at a year round elementary school. It started classes end of July or 1st part of Aug.
* On a side note, in the county that I live, the public health has listed cases 2-3 days before the state has included the numbers on their cornavirus site. This has started to happen recently. IMO the state is behind in their real time updates. ETA-I have also noticed that several counties have lost several cases recently. Maybe false positives or added to the wrong county?

 

[Rose in SC]

Still trying to find the 'perfect' mask. Wish I knew how to sew!

Study: N95 masks without valves most effective against COVID-19
"This was just a demonstration -- more work is required to investigate variations in masks, speakers, and how people wear them," Fischer said in a university news release. He added it demonstrates that businesses and others that are providing masks to employees or patrons could do similar testing.

"If everyone wore a mask, we could stop up to 99% of these droplets before they reach someone else," said Dr. Eric Westman, an associate professor of medicine at Duke. "In the absence of a vaccine or antiviral medicine, it's the one proven way to protect others as well as yourself."

 

[Tadpole12]

Many years ago I had a cat that died from feline infectious peritonitis which I believe is a coronavirus. Would that have primed my immune system to recognize the virus that causes COVID-19?

Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) - Veterinary Partner - VIN

"Is infection limited to cats

Yes, dogs and humans cannot get sick from feline coronavirus.
The feline coronavirus is not involved in SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) even though SARS is caused by a coronavirus."

 

[margarita25]

97,000 children reportedly test positive for coronavirus in two weeks as schools gear up for instruction

“Nearly 100,000 children tested positive for the coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics finds. Just over 97,000 children tested positive for the coronavirus from July 16 to July 30, according to the association.

Out of almost 5 million reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S., CBS News' Michael George reports that the group found that more than 338,000 were children.”

[...]

“More than 25 children died of the coronavirus in July alone. Pressure to get kids back into the classroom has left superintendents in more than 13,000 different school districts across the country to figure out how to keep children safe amid a myriad of public health advisories, and handle learning differences.”

[...]

“"You're going to see a very clean and disinfected bus," Transportation Director Matt Miles said. "We actually have fogging machines."”

 

[LadyL]

Nine people test positive for the coronavirus at Georgia school where photos of packed hallways went viral

https://www.washingtonpost.com/educ...ZSlvfER70RkS2MyC_MVFhXbRVJMBkdV4E6V4ogfIUTzBM

 

[Sundog]

Pet cats in Texas first in state to test positive for coronavirus

ETA Both felines were asymptomatic

 

[Tadpole12]

Wrt Surgis,


Business as usual, but some servers have opted to wear masks.

 

[slowpoke]

snipped:

In these parts, N. ON., there's a bit of excitement that goes along with wearing a mask. People have embraced it.

That’s great! That’s how I felt too. I thought: “Ok. Yes! Something we can all do to do to help our country fight this!” It felt patriotic, a positive and simple action each one of us could do. We could feel united in our efforts.

Many in the US say “USA first“. I thought this was a way that would help accomplish that, so surely this can be embraced by all. I was being naive or Pollyanna-ish, I guess.

 

[slowpoke]

Dollar Tree, Family Dollar reverse mask policy again. Now requiring customers wear masks amid COVID-19.

The two retailers, both part of Dollar Tree, Inc., are now requiring shoppers wear masks like most of the nation's largest retailers. Initially, the company started requiring masks in early July but soon after changed the policy to "request" face coverings in stores where state and local ordinances were not in effect.

What’s up with this vacillation...

 

[LadyL]

New Zealand marks 100th day with no new reported cases of coronavirus

 

[tresir2012]

How many confirmed cases are there in your area?


"

Find out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average - figures last updated on 8 August:


How many cases and deaths in your area?
Enter a full UK postcode, English, Welsh or Northern Irish council name, or Scottish health board name to find out

Type in 3 or more characters for results.

If you can't see the look-up click here.

Rise in new cases amid concern over hotspots
Daily confirmed cases are starting to edge up again after they fell significantly from their April peak as a result of lockdown restrictions imposed a month earlier.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the government now has to "squeeze that brake pedal" and has postponed further easing of measures across England.

A further 1,062 cases were confirmed across the UK on Sunday, the highest figure since 25 June.

However, these daily confirmed case numbers released by the Department of Health and Social Care mask the fact that the number of tests being carried out is also increasing - and these tests are targeted at areas where infection rates are highest.

As BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle points out, if you are testing more, you are likely to find more cases."

More at link.

I remember this has been stated previously that more testing likely means more cases. The article goes on to describe the hotspots in the UK currently.

 

[margarita25]

New Zealand marks 100th day with no new reported cases of coronavirus

“New Zealand got rid of the virus by imposing a strict lockdown in late March when only about 100 people had tested positive for the disease. That stopped its spread. For the past three months, the only new cases have been a handful of returning travelers who have been quarantined at the border.

"It was good science and great political leadership that made the difference," said professor Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at the University of Otago. "If you look around the globe at countries that have done well, it's usually that combination."

From early on, New Zealand pursued a bold strategy of eliminating the virus rather than just suppressing its spread. Baker said other countries are increasingly looking to New Zealand for answers.

"The whole Western World has terribly mismanaged this threat, and they're realizing this now," Baker said.“

 

[tresir2012]

Coronavirus Update (Live): 19,978,543 Cases and 732,745 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer

Top four are US, Brazil, Mexico and UK re number of deaths but India had 1,013 deaths today and is likely to overtake UK if they have increased daily deaths tomorrow.

Also, just about to hit the 20 million cases worldwide figure. :-(

 

[mickey2942]

Dollar Tree, Family Dollar reverse mask policy again. Now requiring customers wear masks amid COVID-19.
What’s up with this vacillation...

I am going to hazard a guess on Workers Compensation claims, and potential liability from employees who get Covid-19. They could easily say that they were exposed to Covid-19 at work, as the company did not do anything to protect the employees.

Also, the fact that so many states and communities have a different rule regarding masks, it is just easier to make the policy consistent with all stores.

 

[RANCH]

I am going to hazard a guess on Workers Compensation claims, and potential liability from employees who get Covid-19. They could easily say that they were exposed to Covid-19 at work, as the company did not do anything to protect the employees.

Also, the fact that so many states and communities have a different rule regarding masks, it is just easier to make the policy consistent with all stores.

Would the affected employee have to prove that they contracted the virus at work vs somewhere else?

I'm not sure that it being possible or even likely sufficient for a claim to be made. JMO