Coronavirus COVID-19 *Global Health Pandemic* #20

[cody22]

What about just a plain old scarf wrapped around the mouth and nose? Or handkerchief? You know, like the bank robbers wear in old westerns.
I’m completely serious btw.

Yep...Done have some old silk "wild rags" ready for use......moo

 

[Trudie]

I’m going to start wearing turtlenecks. I don’t want Shop Rite to call the cops as I’m walking in the doors.
I do seriously believe it’s best to cover nose and mouth with something when we have to go out. And glasses or sunglasses for the eyes.

definitely glasses!

 

[Trudie]

What the #@**???

I think the CDC had record of 8, state & private labs had not submitted their info, Jmo.
KY had 20 tests done today.

 

[Amonet]

Italy appears to be an anomoly. Most of the information I'm seeing, however, is showing that that vast majority of deaths and severe cases are, as expected, in people 80 years of age and older, with co-morbidities. Apparently, Italy has the oldest population in all of Europe. A lot of smokers. Not fantastic healthcare in some areas, etc., etc. I'm not at all concerned that the US will be anomolous in that way, and I'm sure we'll find out the unique explanation for what's going on there in time. jmo

I don't know, I think Italy's outbreak seems very similar to the ones in Hubei and South Korea?

I am concerned about a country like the US as so many people have things like diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, copd, cancer, overweight, obese. I really hope I'm wrong in being concerned about this, but I am concerned about it. There are less developed nations who have lower rates of diabetes, hypertension, etc. But they might not have such an extensive healthcare system as most Western nations.

I have been hearing that healthcare/hospitals are very good in Italy? I think they would be in all 'Western' nations.

 

[Lilibet]

More from the expert Dr Fauci’s Congressional testimony....on testing:

Rep. Maloney: "Well, bottom line, Mr. Fauci, if we don't test people then we don't know how many people are infected. Is that correct?

Dr. Fauci: "That is correct. As I'm sure Dr. Redfield will tell you, looking forward right now, as commercial entities get involved in making a large amount of test kits available, there are two aspects of testing. One, a person comes into a physician and asks for a test because they have symptoms or a circumstance, which suggests they may be infected. The other way to do testing is to do surveillance, where you go out into the community and not wait for someone to come in and ask for a test, but you actively, proactively get a test. We are pushing for that, and as Dr. Redfield will tell you, that the CDC has already started that in six sentinel cities and will expand that in many more cities. You're absolutely correct. We need to know how many people, to the best of our ability, are infected, as we say, under the radar screen."

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

I agree @LaborDayRN . Dr Sanjay Gupta just had Don Lemon read off of his phone the the number of coronavirus tests done today. CDC testing today is zero and a total of 8 were performed by other public health agencies across the country.

I will be shocked if that is true and would love to see a link. Because if that’s the case we shouldn’t have all those presumptive cases we’ve seen today.

 

[Amonet]

I’m so excited to see that Dr Tony Fauci has joined us on the thread and is sharing his 40+ years of experience with epidemics with us and making predictions about fatalities! Not. Even he is not making predictions written in stone, but he is sounding a warning that we need to be ready for whatever happens. If he isn’t minimizing this, I don’t understand why any of us would have the hubris to do so.

Joined us on this thread in what way?

 

[galiuro1]

No one "needs" to be tested except for statistical purposes. There's no vaccine and the treatment is exactly the same as for any other viral upper respiratory infection.

Yeah that'd be why those silly doctors and nurses wear HAZMAT suits while they're treating these patients...cuz hey, its just another upper respiratory thing....um paging Dr Li Wenliang, may he rest in peace (and all of the other healthcare workers who didnt have the proper PPE to protect themselves from this mere upper respiratory infection

 

[firebird]

personally, I didn't ask for your opinion but it's like the gift that keeps on giving isn't it?

Opinions are welcome and open here afaik. I only stated it as an opinion because that's what the thread requires without a link.

 

[otto]

Perhaps you haven’t read the articles about people who have needed to be tested and weren’t. Washington State is a prime example as is NYC. No one is suggesting testing every Tom, Dick and Harry. But no one in a position to know is saying that the U.S. has enough tests. This link is a pretty comprehensive overview, including your concern about testing asymptomatic people. Isolating (social distancing) is definitely an important tool.

Confusion and chaos surround coronavirus testing in the US | Live Science

It seems that the test is negative if it is used too early in the incubation period. It takes 2-5, sometimes as long as 14, days for symptoms to appear. During that time, some people are contagious. If the test is used too early in the viral incubation, a person tests negative. After the person recovers from the illness, one test is insufficient to draw conclusions. Two consecutive negative tests are required before someone is deemed non-contagious.

Could the tests be improved? Probably. Would it help in finding a vaccine? Probably.

 

[firebird]

Yeah that'd be why those silly doctors and nurses wear HAZMAT suits while they're treating these patients...cuz hey, its just another upper respiratory thing....um paging Dr Li Wenliang, may he rest in peace (and all of the other healthcare workers who didnt have the proper PPE to protect themselves from this mere upper respiratory infection

The vast majority of medical professionals seeing corona virus patients aren't wearing hazmat suits. In fact, they don't even know whether they're treating corona virus patients, becuase the patients haven't been tested. So.

 

[Trudie]

I agree @LaborDayRN . Dr Sanjay Gupta just had Don Lemon read off of his phone the the number of coronavirus tests done today. CDC testing today is zero and a total of 8 were performed by other public health agencies across the country.

I made a note to get the transcript when it is online.
The way I heard Gupta was “......but we don’t know about independent labs, only CDC.” Paraphrased.
We know more than 8 tests because of the reports of new positives coming out all day.

 

[Sundog]

It's not because of the country, it is because of the virus.
You seem not to be able to make this distinction.

 

[Trudie]

It seems that the test is negative if it is used too early in the incubation period. It takes 2-5, sometimes as long as 14, days for symptoms to appear. During that time, some people are contagious. If the test is used too early in the viral incubation, a person tests negative. After the person recovers from the illness, one test is insufficient to draw conclusions. Two consecutive negative tests are required before someone is deemed non-contagious.

Could the tests be improved? Probably. Would it help in finding a vaccine? Probably.

Ita and if a patient does present to the hospital with mild symptoms often they are sent home. They can monitor their temp or home health can check on them. If their condition worsens they get the test. Unless a patient needs a ventilator there is no medical intervention, is there? Otc pain relievers, rest, fluids......
We have a couple positive cases that remain in their home under quarantine. Fortunately they didn’t get to the point of pneumonia & needing a vent’.

 

[galiuro1]

AMEN BROTHER....

If we would have made this a priority at the time of the PEAK of the Chinese outbreak, we would not be panicking now. Leadership matters. We have lost critical time. And the public has been lied to every day for the last 2 weeks.
(((Howard Forman))) on Twitter

it seems a good bit of said public WANTS to be lied to...

 

[Amonet]

How can we even guess at the mortality rate when we are clueless about the denominator in the equation? Educated guesses at best, but we know it isn't accurate.

We can see the denominator for hospitalised cases in peer reviewed studies of tens of thousands of hospitalised patients with Covid-19.

I think that's what we should focus on right now instead of overall country-wide or global mortality rates. The latter will be a lot clearer in a year's time. But we do have existing peer reviewed studies for the hospitalised cases and taking the confirmed cases number doesn't require the guesswork of wondering if there are five times as many undiagnosed cases or ten times as many.

And again, I think there's a clue in how some advanced medical systems in different parts of the world are 'coping' with hospitalisations from their declared number of confirmed cases.

 

[Lilibet]

Joined us on this thread in what way?

I was being sarcastic. I thought saying “Not” would make that clear. Sorry for the confusion. Some give opinions as if they are experts like Dr. Fauci. That was my point. And that’s why I posted some relevant points made by Dr. Fauci to Congress.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Ita and if a patient does present to the hospital with mild symptoms often they are sent home. They can monitor their temp or home health can check on them. If their condition worsens they get the test. Unless a patient needs a ventilator there is no medical intervention, is there? Otc pain relievers, rest, fluids......
We have a couple positive cases that remain in their home under quarantine. Fortunately they didn’t get to the point of pneumonia & needing a vent’.

With mild symptoms you are correct, there is no need for medical intervention. However, knowing WHO has the virus helps in tracking. The health department can notify people who may have come into contact with this person and instruct them to self quarantine. It stops the spread of the virus by removing the contacts from circulating in public and spreading it further. Testing is critical in stopping the spread of this virus.

 

[Richmond]

The vast majority of medical professionals seeing corona virus patients aren't wearing hazmat suits. In fact, they don't even know whether they're treating corona virus patients, becuase the patients haven't been tested. So.

And that's why so many healthcare workers are getting sick. They need to have protective gear. If nothing else this virus is extremely contagious. That's why some communities are instituting drive-thru testing, rather than having people come into Drs' offices or ER waiting rooms and exposing numerous other people, including healthcare workers to the virus.

(I won't be able to find the link, but 54 nurses in the Berkshires in MA under quarantine after being exposed to coronavirus on the job.)

 

[gregjrichards]

First death in Greece

Greece reported its first fatality from a coronavirus infection on Thursday, a 66-year-old man who had returned from a religious pilgrimage to Israel and Egypt at the end of February.

The deceased had underlying health issues, the health ministry said in a statement. There are 99 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Greece.

Coronavirus live updates: Trump suspends all travel from Europe to US for 30 days, excluding UK