Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #46

[Ragnarok]

Stop yourself and read a book then!

Not a bad idea. Am thinking of reading Earth Abides again. Been awhile and what better time to read about an apocalypse epidemic.

 

[they'll get you]

And, they walk among us...
True short story. My brother WAS part of a loosely organized hiking group of about 20 people in northern CA until coronavirus hit. It was then the organizer espoused his views, saying the hikes would continue, despite a stay at home order. Why? Because the organizer stated coronavirus was a big hoax, never happened. It was an attempt by the government to take away guns and individual rights.
Yes. These people walk among us.

I long line of callers on our talkback radio today believed the same thing.

Explain that to the many people who have lost their lives to this ‘hoax’.

<modsnip>

 

[CoverMeCagney]

My farmer's market group was chit chatting the other day. At least 2 of us are having a terrible time keeping inventory in stock. I'm a soapmaker and flat out of soap. The other is grass fed beef.

We have a lady who sells fruit and veg on the market which sadly has dwindled over the years as people jump in their cars to drive to out of town supermarkets. She posted a video on FB early February showing she was the only market stall holder who had turned up that day.

Almost as soon as the lockdown started she began packing up £10, £20 & £30 boxes of fresh fruit and veg for people to just pick up quickly, and it's become so popular she has got volunteers delivering the boxes all over. She apparently has sold more in 3 weeks than she did over the whole of winter and has become somewhat of a local celebrity!

I really hope these smaller businesses thrive - small silver linings in a big black cloud.

 

[tresir2012]

I hope we've peaked (or are at least near it) but I daren't hope too much in case it's just skewed Bank Holiday weekend figures. I'm watching Italy and Spain with interest as they start relaxing their lockdowns, I believe we're a couple of weeks behind so we will see what happens.

Yes I agree we seem to be about 2 weeks behind them. Have you heard of anyone receiving the CV19 small business grant yet? ( the one from local councils ) I had a call saying it should be in the account by end of this week. I am a bit incredulous but we'll see. Will keep everyone updated.

Anyone got their US stimulus cheque (check) yet?

 

[raja]

I saw that a few minutes ago. He cared for his "positive" wife for weeks, and now he has it, but he says he is asymptomatic, no nada.

He did say he lost his sense of smell for one day and some low back discomfort. I am continuing making sure I can smell.

 

[Reasonable & Just]

RSBM

One crew member has died and some others are hospitalized in Guam but are reported to be stable.
Navy Sailor Assigned to USS Theodore Roosevelt Dies of COVID-Related Complications

Sailor aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt dies of coronavirus - CNNPolitics

This is so sad, and a shame.

 

[Inthedetails]

We have a lady who sells fruit and veg on the market which sadly has dwindled over the years as people jump in their cars to drive to out of town supermarkets. She posted a video on FB early February showing she was the only market stall holder who had turned up that day.

Almost as soon as the lockdown started she began packing up £10, £20 & £30 boxes of fresh fruit and veg for people to just pick up quickly, and it's become so popular she has got volunteers delivering the boxes all over. She apparently has sold more in 3 weeks than she did over the whole of winter and has become somewhat of a local celebrity!

I really hope these smaller businesses thrive - small silver linings in a big black cloud.

Our local farmers' market is packed now - with rules about waiting in line at 6' intervals before entering the market area. Then, you have to tell the vendors what you want and they will fetch it for you - customers cannot handle the produce like at a usual farmers' market.

I hope people who are getting groceries delivered are ordering from their local stores rather than online chains if at all possible.

jmo

 

[Inthedetails]

He did say he lost his sense of smell for one day and some low back discomfort. I am continuing making sure I can smell.

Me too! I took a socially-distanced solo walk yesterday in a neighborhood garden and sniffed the blooms....just to make sure I could.

 

[tresir2012]

Now we are running out of body bags. Guess where they are made?


"Coronavirus: Body-bag stocks 'in danger of running out' - BBC News" Body-bag stocks are running out, suppliers say


"Mortuary suppliers have told BBC News they have no stocks of standard body bags left for sale, blaming the shortage on stockpiling due to the coronavirus pandemic.

New stocks from overseas cannot be sourced for many weeks, they say.

The NHS says it currently has adequate stocks but health workers report having to wrap bodies in sheets.

Public Health England said the virus that caused Covid-19 degraded quickly after a patient had died.

And there was no specific need for body bags to be used to transport these corpses, although "there may be other practical reasons for their use". "

More at link.

 

[Inthedetails]

How will we know when to start "opening up" again? This site has some target numbers and milestone to look for (local to NYC):

covid-19-goals

 

[tresir2012]

Our local farmers' market is packed now - with rules about waiting in line at 6' intervals before entering the market area. Then, you have to tell the vendors what you want and they will fetch it for you - customers cannot handle the produce like at a usual farmers' market.

I hope people who are getting groceries delivered are ordering from their local stores rather than online chains if at all possible.

jmo

I use my local Lidl or Aldi, who use local suppliers for a lot of their produce and fresh meat.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Me too! I took a socially-distanced solo walk yesterday in a neighborhood garden and sniffed the blooms....just to make sure I could.

Low point for me when I had the virus. Got my appetite back but could not taste chocolate !!

 

[imstilla.grandma]

https://gov.louisiana.gov/assets/EmergencyProclamations/JBE-45-Weather.pdf

https://governor.alabama.gov/assets/2020/04/2020-04-12-SOE-Tornadoes.pdf

https://gov.georgia.gov/document/2020-executive-order/04132001/download

eta Mississippi:https://mcusercontent.com/08cb3e52a...-31b46e588c3a/_4.12.20_State_of_Emergency.pdf

 

[jjenny]

Anti-malaria drugs could be causing heart problems resulting in death at higher amounts. And I don't think these drugs do much good against viruses (and they have been tested against other viruses) because you need to give a high amount for them to be effective in actual human against viruses. They have anti-viral properties in cells but that dose you need to achieve can kill the actual human patient.
Which is a concern because they are doing trials right now with these medications, and could end up killing people. Also some doctors are already prescribing them for covid, even at nursing homes. These anti-malaria drugs are also being combined with antibiotic that can cause heart problems.

“To me, this study conveys one useful piece of information, which is that chloroquine causes a dose-dependent increase in an abnormality in the ECG that could predispose people to sudden cardiac death,” said Dr. David Juurlink, an internist and the head of the division of clinical pharmacology at the University of Toronto, referring to an electrocardiogram, which reads the heart’s electrical activity.""
Small Chloroquine Study Halted Over Risk of Fatal Heart Complications

 

[MimosaMornings]

Our local farmers' market is packed now - with rules about waiting in line at 6' intervals before entering the market area. Then, you have to tell the vendors what you want and they will fetch it for you - customers cannot handle the produce like at a usual farmers' market.

I hope people who are getting groceries delivered are ordering from their local stores rather than online chains if at all possible.

jmo

I wish there were more options other than online chains. I’ve been looking.
I found one local place that makes pies - savory and sweet versions. Look delicious. They will deliver - but $40-50 for just one really blows the budget. The farmers market closed.

 

[The Night Watchman]

The media spends all it's effort to keep us scared. Reporting heart wrenching stories of a young person or a parent falling victim to COVID-19. Headlines meant to shock.

The CDC and our government is spending much effort to keep us in line and staying home. IMO, this appears to be the proper approach at this time.

One of the critical statistics of a pandemic is identifying who the virus targets and kills. The age of death and health status of victims is precisely known, yet we are not allowed to know this basic data.

Here is the Massachusetts age of death data that I compiled from daily updates from Boston.com. The majority of victims had pre-existing conditions.

The United States has an average of ~7500 deaths per day (FastStats). The peak of Coronavirus deaths is expected to be around 2,000 deaths per day.

Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, who created the highly-cited Imperial College London coronavirus model, which has been cited by organizations like The New York Times and has been instrumental in governmental policy decision-making, offered this opinion on coronavirus leathality-

"We don't know what the level of excess deaths will be in this epidemic," Ferguson said. In other words, we don't know the extent to which COVID-19 will increase annual deaths above the level that otherwise would have been expected. "By the end of the year, what proportion of those people who've died from COVID-19 would have died anyhow?" Ferguson asked. "It might be as much as half to two-thirds of the deaths we're seeing from COVID-19, because it's affecting people who are either at the end of their lives or in poor health conditions. So I think these considerations are very valid."

No, British Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson Has Not 'Drastically Downgraded' His Worst-Case Projection of COVID-19 Deaths

 

[Sundog]

Death penalty states urged to turn over lethal injection drugs to help critically ill coronavirus patients

ETA - “Many of the medicines needed during this critical time are the same drugs used in lethal injections. These medicines were never made or developed to cause death – to the contrary, many were formulated to connect patients to life-saving ventilators and lessen the discomfort of intubation.”

 

[Herat]

You are exactly right. Additionally, Fauci has asked the MSM (and those that parrot them) not to pit he and Trump against each other, but people continue this shameful behavior.

I don't want to see Drs. Faucci and Birx pitted against each other.

I'm worried this is the way this is going.

<modsnip>

 

[Herat]

Anti-malaria drugs could be causing heart problems resulting in death at higher amounts. And I don't think these drugs do much good against viruses (and they have been tested against other viruses) because you need to give a high amount for them to be effective in actual human against viruses. They have anti-viral properties in cells but that dose you need to achieve can kill the actual human patient.
Which is a concern because they are doing trials right now with these medications, and could end up killing people. Also some doctors are already prescribing them for covid, even at nursing homes. These anti-malaria drugs are also being combined with antibiotic that can cause heart problems.

“To me, this study conveys one useful piece of information, which is that chloroquine causes a dose-dependent increase in an abnormality in the ECG that could predispose people to sudden cardiac death,” said Dr. David Juurlink, an internist and the head of the division of clinical pharmacology at the University of Toronto, referring to an electrocardiogram, which reads the heart’s electrical activity.""
Small Chloroquine Study Halted Over Risk of Fatal Heart Complications

And an EKG read by a cardiologist can determine if this risk exists, before the patient is placed on the drug

 

[PommyMommy]

Could the US reopen by May 1? Here's what the CDC director says.

[...]

"This pandemic has affected different parts of the country differently," Redfield said. "We're looking at the data very carefully, county by county by county, and we will be assessing that."

Redfield told NBC's Savannah Guthrie that in his view, a number of things need to happen before reopening the country, including increasing public health capacity to do early case identification, isolation and contract tracing.

[...]

The US is "nearing the peak right now," health official says

[...]

"We are stabilizing across the country in terms of the state of this outbreak," he added.

CDC director: US reopening will "be a step-by-step, gradual process"

[...]

"There's no doubt we have to reopen correctly," Redfield said. "It's going to be a step-by-step, gradual process."

[...]

"I think the social distancing that the American people all embraced to the reality we see overall mortality, while sadly too high, was far less than we anticipated," Redfield said, adding that relaxing guidelines "has to be done very carefully."

TSA agents are screening 96% fewer passengers than this time last year

[...]

The Transportation Security Administration is now screening about 4% of the number of people it did this time last year.

On Sunday, its officers screened 90,510 people, compared to more than 2.4 million on the same day in 2019. That’s a 96% drop from last year’s traffic.

[...]

George Stephanopoulos has coronavirus

[...]

"I've never had a fever, never had chills, never had a headache, never had a cough, never had shortness of breath," he said on "GMA." "I'm feeling great."

Stephanopoulos' wife, Ali Wentworth, announced that she was diagnosed with coronavirus about two weeks ago. While Stephanopoulos said he's asymptomatic, Wentworth said in an Instagram post on April 1 that she had "never been sicker."

Coronavirus pandemic: Live updates - CNN