Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #49

[TMAN2014]

Geico announces 15 percent auto insurance credit worth billions because people are driving less

It's official. Hell really has frozen over. Insurance companies giving back $$? I will believe it when I see it!

 

[LadyL]

The case for mandatory mask-wearing in Canada - Macleans.ca

thank you for posting
am going to also post in the Canada subforum

 

[tabitha111]

Regarding reopening in Georgia..
"April Gym Showers Bring May Funeral Flowers "...
Moo

 

[MajorHoople]

Boston is letting residents get tested at their discretion, when there is an extreme shortage of tests. We are in a stay at home order. If think you have COVID, you should call your doctor and follow his/her instructions. Otherwise, we are trying to let the virus extinguish by not intermixing, so personal decisions on testing seem wasteful.

In a shortage of tests, I would think that tests would be used to identify those with symptoms, used on front liners, or in population studies for research. But shouldn't they be stockpiled otherwise, for when they can be better used, as in after the-stay-at home order is lifted?

That's perplexing. Free testing is available in some places, but not in others.

Coronavirus In Tennessee: Free Statewide Covid-19 Drive-Thru Testing Locations To Open This Weekend

"Gov. Bill Lee has announced a statewide COVID-19 testing effort that will be available for any Tennessean.

This expanded testing effort will begin on April 18-19. The Tennessee National Guard will offer 15 drive-thru testing sites across the state.

These testing sites will also be available during the weekends of April 25-26 and May 2-3. Times are local to the location of the drive-thru site."

 

[Deleted member 39678]

See my post here about Colorado, I’m in shock:

Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #49

Trying to read/learn more about this and listen to the full briefing by the Governor before commenting.

Looks reasonable to me. Am I missing something?

 

[pocketaccent]

I think if you've not been fortunate to be in the refund category then you are better off waiting for a paper check that will be mailed to your last address on your tax return. If you attempt to add direct deposit bank info now, the chances of IRS getting it right are not favorable. Just sayin....

Will they get the address right though? hehe.
I wonder if the IRS will have enough hands, time and energy to audit this year.

 

[cass523]

When two New York City hospitals recently began screening every pregnant woman who was admitted to give birth for COVID-19, doctors made a startling discovery: About one in eight women tested positive, but the vast majority of them showed no symptoms.

“It’s only two weeks of data and we’ll certainly continue to collect and further publish on that data, but it really did show that 13.5% of women showing up feeling well to have a baby were coronavirus positive,” Dr. Dena Goffman, study co-author and chief of obstetrics at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

But 88% who had the disease at admission had no symptoms of it when tested, offering a possible glimpse into the prevalence of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases in New York City. Researchers continue to investigate whether people who aren't coughing or sneezing can infect others.

The findings, published Monday in The New England Journal of Medicine, are based on 215 women who delivered babies at the New York–Presbyterian Allen Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center between March 22 and April 4, 2020.

Most pregnant women with coronavirus had no symptoms, study finds

 

[LadyL]

O/T BREAKING NEWS

NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM JONG UN IN 'GRAVE DANGER' AFTER SURGERY

(lots of speculation online that he has COVID)

Brian Stelter on Twitter
(Anchor of
@ReliableSources
and
@CNN
's chief media correspondent. Formerly
@nytimes
,
@tvnewser
and Top of the Morning.)

WS thread: Kim Jong Un in grave condition after surgery

 

[MajorHoople]

Here's What It's Actually Like To Do Covid-19 Drive Thru Nose Swab Testing

"Several counties are now offering free drive-thru COVID-19 testing for anyone who wants it, even if you aren't showing symptoms.

Oak Ridge already started, partnering with Kroger to offer drive-thru testing this week. They tested 593 people over three days.

It's a nose swab test you do yourself in your car, which many people will see if they choose drive-thru testing.

They ask you make an appointment ahead of time through your respective health department, or Kroger if they're the ones administering the test.

You're asked to wear a mask, bring your license and keep your window rolled up. You will need to crack your window to talk to the test administrators and receive paperwork and your test."

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Estimating the Potential Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Philadelphia
The last major flu pandemic, which was the “Spanish Influenza” of 1918-1920, is used as the case study for this analysis.
https://drexel.edu/~/media/Files/lindyinstitute/_LindyReports/COVID19_Impact_ExecSummary.ashx?la=en

 

[imstilla.grandma]

On Monday, a technical oddity exacerbated the price plunge as traders fled the May futures contract ahead of its expiration tomorrow. The following month’s contract fell 12% to $22.05 a barrel, making the spread between the two months blow out more than $20.

“There is little to prevent the physical market from the further acute downside path over the near term,” said Michael Tran, managing director of global energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets. “Refiners are rejecting barrels at a historic pace and with U.S. storage levels sprinting to the brim, market forces will inflict further pain until either we hit rock bottom, or COVID clears, whichever comes first, but it looks like the former.”
Oil plunges below $0 for the first time in history amid Covid-19 crisis

 

[KALI]

Okay, I'm hopeful. All other governors will be closely watching Ohio. These citizens aren't babies. They deal with some extreme weather. I hope they take the precautions we've all learned.
hopeful they show us what to do. <modsnip: removed comment about journalistic integrity>

It sounds like he is going to thin the herd! He knows we haven't even peaked yet, but we have open hospital beds, so....
Be safe out there y'all!

"Kemp said with the reopenings he expected cases of the virus to increase, but believed that the state would be able to stay on top of it with increased hospital capacity. State officials would also be on the lookout for any possible hot spots for the virus."

"These are tough decisions, no doubt. And I will have to make more of them," Kemp said, adding that he didn't "give a damn about politics right now" when asked what the political impact of his decisions might be."
Kemp: Restaurants, other businesses to reopen in Georgia amid COVID-19 fight

 

[mickey2942]

Gas was so cheap here, I wanted to fill my car up...but, it was still full from the last time I filled it up, over a month ago.

 

[Lilibet]

I believe one basic, but profound, difference between your two examples would be the fact that the teachers life doesn’t quite literally depend upon buying clothing, shoes, backpacks, food, supplies, etc out of their own pocket. If the teacher was unable, for whatever reason (lack of funds after paying their own obligations, inability to procure the desired items, etc) to buy these things, nobody is going to die. If the doctor or nurse or any other frontline medical worker is unable to buy their own PPE, they quite literally may die. Or worse, they may go home and kill their husband, wife, children, or parents.

BBM

As a retired teacher’s wife, I was just about to post exactly this. What teachers buy for their classrooms and students are not a matter of life and death. Now maybe @mickey2942 meant that if teachers are spending their own money for items that aren’t a matter of life and death, how much more so a frontline medical worker ought to buy their own PPEs to protect their own lives. That might seem remotely arguable if PPEs were even available to buy and if they weren’t single use equipment that would have to be purchased every day. But that doesn’t even consider the potential liability of the hospital if the medical employee buys poor quality PPEs. The comparison of teachers and frontline medical workers is apples and oranges IMO.

 

[Seattle1]

WA Cases on 4/20/2020:

Age 0-19 ........394
Age 20-39 ......3,366
Age 40-59......4,141
Age 60-79......2,938
Age 80+.......1,204

DEATHS:

Age 0-19 .........-0-
Age 20-39 ........3
Age 40-59 .......55
Age 60-79 .......243
Age 80+...........351

DEATH BY SEX:

Female 43%
Male 56%

I was unable to add before edit expired but wanted to say that of the COVID-19 cases cited above in the populations that are not dying today, we have no idea or data on how being subjected to the virus will affect the individual's future health. Will the 30- somethings have longterm respiratory problems and the 40-year-olds lose their eyesight?

It's a gamble, every person is a potential carrier, and your best bet is not to contract the virus, period!

 

[otto]

When two New York City hospitals recently began screening every pregnant woman who was admitted to give birth for COVID-19, doctors made a startling discovery: About one in eight women tested positive, but the vast majority of them showed no symptoms.

“It’s only two weeks of data and we’ll certainly continue to collect and further publish on that data, but it really did show that 13.5% of women showing up feeling well to have a baby were coronavirus positive,” Dr. Dena Goffman, study co-author and chief of obstetrics at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

But 88% who had the disease at admission had no symptoms of it when tested, offering a possible glimpse into the prevalence of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases in New York City. Researchers continue to investigate whether people who aren't coughing or sneezing can infect others.

The findings, published Monday in The New England Journal of Medicine, are based on 215 women who delivered babies at the New York–Presbyterian Allen Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center between March 22 and April 4, 2020.

Most pregnant women with coronavirus had no symptoms, study finds

Interesting! 21o pregnant women were tested, 4 had symptoms, 29 tested positive but had no symptoms. The rest tested negative at the time they were admitted.

After giving birth, 3 more had symptoms, and one who tested negative at admission had symptoms 2 days later.

Nothing is known about the other 26. Out of 33 who were positive, 7 had symptoms 2 days after they were admitted to hospital and 1 that tested negative had symptoms. The other 26 might have developed symptoms on day 3, but there was no follow up.

 

[The Night Watchman]

Well I found it. Not once has this information been mentioned in the Massachusetts media or has the mass.gov page linked to. I have never seen information from other states, or national data either.

Literally the most important U.S. based information to disseminate.

https://www.mass.gov/doc/covid-19-dashboard-april-20-2020/download

Age of death, health status, hospitalizations by age. Massachusetts data through yesterday.

View attachment 243816

The graphs show-

The median age of death is well over 80 (the average age of death in the U.S. is 79).

97.5% of COVID-19 victims had underlying health issues.

73% of hospitalizations were of those over 70.

Also-

Those under 30 have less risk of COVID-19 than they do for the flu.

People from 40-60 have little risk of death, unless they have health issues.

There is much clearer picture of who is vulnerable from COVID-19 than there is the flu. The flu has a lot less age discrimination.

2017-2018 Estimated Influenza Illnesses, Medical visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths and Estimated Influenza Illnesses, Medical visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths Averted by Vaccination in the United States | CDC

This COVID data has been compiled from the onset, but not shared from the Mass DPH website. I'm a bit of a simpleton, but if I was in charge about 2.5 months ago and I saw this data coming in, I wouldn't have locked down the country.

I'd have spent trillions of dollars locking down the vulnerable citizens, instead of lighting trillions of dollars on fire. Mandatory stay at home for seniors, with food distribution available. Extreme caution and procedures at senior living centers. Relocating vulnerable people from dangerous home situations if they want (multigenerational families). Full unemployment benefits for vulnerable that shouldn't working. And whatever else is required.

Why did we lock down everyone?

Correcting myself here. This data was just released, and the Boston Globe ran it immediately, and as I was typing and chastising them. Apparently, it is the CDC and state health departments that didn't want you to have it. Which is actually far worse.

For the first time Monday, the state Department of Public Health broke down the 1,809 COVID-19 deaths thus far by date, age, sex, county, race/ethnicity, and more.

Who is dying from the coronavirus in Massachusetts? | Boston.com

 

[KALI]

Karma for some who have used oil to flaunt their riches made on the backs of many in this world.
MOO. Not looking for an argument.

On Monday, a technical oddity exacerbated the price plunge as traders fled the May futures contract ahead of its expiration tomorrow. The following month’s contract fell 12% to $22.05 a barrel, making the spread between the two months blow out more than $20.

“There is little to prevent the physical market from the further acute downside path over the near term,” said Michael Tran, managing director of global energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets. “Refiners are rejecting barrels at a historic pace and with U.S. storage levels sprinting to the brim, market forces will inflict further pain until either we hit rock bottom, or COVID clears, whichever comes first, but it looks like the former.”
Oil plunges below $0 for the first time in history amid Covid-19 crisis

 

[Deleted member 39678]

I was unable to add before edit expired but wanted to say that of the COVID-19 cases cited above in the populations that are not dying today, we have no idea or data on how being subjected to the virus will affect the individual's future health. Will the 30- somethings have longterm respiratory problems and the 40-year-olds lose their eyesight?

It's a gamble, every person is a potential carrier, and your best bet is not to contract the virus, period!

Since this is a novel virus that no one, as far as we know, has immunity to there's a chance that everyone will get the virus. JMO.

 

[firebird]

Okay, I'm hopeful. All other governors will be closely watching Ohio. These citizens aren't babies. They deal with some extreme weather. I hope they take the precautions we've all learned.
hopeful they show us what to do. <modsnip: removed comment about journalist integrity>

Me, too. With Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee all taking steps today, I'm pretty sure my state will roll back the restrictions when the current order expires -- which I believe is the 30th