Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #49

[Tillicum]

I thought this was eye opening and very interesting. A local doctor from Ohio who also practices in California. It goes through the degree of efforts to decontaminate but also the difficult decision of whether to isolate from her husband and weighing the risks.
Former Springfield doctor in the coronavirus fight put to personal test
“I have been ridiculously aware of germs since the surgery rotation of my medical school,” Groves said. “In my entire career, I have never gotten an infection from a patient, nor have I infected my family ever.”
But even with the infection protections skills akin of an American Ninja Warrior, Groves had to check the research so she could defend “every square inch of her body.


“(It’s) not just for my own safety at work, but for the safety of the patients, the safety of my colleagues.”

“And it’s not just about gelling or hand-washing,” she said. “It’s also about when to mask and how to unmask,” which varies from mask to mask. It’s (also) about how to get the gown on, how to get the gown off and how to do that without contaminating the masks and the goggles.”

And it’s a process that doesn’t stop when she leaves the hospital.

“I pull in to my garage, which is separate from my house, and I close the garage door. I sanitize my keys, my badge and my phone and lay them on my windshield (dash). Then I take off my clothing and it goes straight in the washer, which is right in the garage.

The final steps in extending her safety streak are particularly dramatic.

“I open the garage door and … run butt-naked that 30 feet into the house.”

“While I am fairly confident of not bringing the virus home on my body,” Groves said, “we are both realistic about the likelihood that one of us will bring it home in our bodies, and unwittingly infect the other.”

Bottom line?

“We have decided that (the risk of being together) is better than the alternative: “being sick, or worse, dying, alone.”

She also wrote a book in 2014 with chilling similarities to COVID-19. I plan to read it.
Former Springfield doctor penned pandemic fiction years ago
In Virion’s chilling quarter-page epilogue, the virus, which has lived on earth far longer than human beings, whispers in the ears of the human beings of today and those who will inhabit the earth with it in generations to come.

You can’t even see me.

But I am here.

Still.

And so are you.

We (both) have survived.

And that is all the more I can say.

 

[Gardener1850]

Michigan cracks down on seed purchases and tiny gatherings

One peculiar part of the order is the ban on sale of seeds and plants, which is drawing fire from greenhouse and nursery owners. Retail garden centers have been ordered to close for the duration of the lockdown.

It is not known how many citizens make use of their land to grow their own sustenance gardens. However, Callie Gafner, who works at a small garden center, asserted that banning fruit and vegetable plants would not help limit the spread of COVID-19.

“If you’re growing them yourself, you're reducing the contact between people because you're not going anywhere. You're going out in your own garden and picking them up rather than going into the store and coming into contact with how many people?” Gafner explained.

“ Just want us to be able to do curbside pickup and help our local customers to be able to do their own gardening and put the money back in the local economy,” Gafner said. Gafner made the argument that gardening is a way to relieve stress and feel more productive in a time where no one is allowed to go anywhere.



Farmers markets may also be barred from selling seedlings for fruits and vegetables, reducing the amount of income they can derive from any given market day.

“Currently there is a ban on all plant sales at the market. So, that is a big portion of our May market and so we might have to limit particular vendors at that time,” said Rori Jean Trench, Executive Director of the Fulton Street Market in Grand Rapids in an appearance on Michigan Radio’s Stateside program with April Baer.

In a press release, the Michigan Farm Bureau indicated that its president, Carl Bednarski, sent a formal request to Governor Whitmer to “ask for a reconsideration of retail garden centers to be included as essential infrastructure workers.”

Michigan’s Republican Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield blasted Whitmer for making the “wrong call” and “bad for Michigan families.”

I have some family members in Michigan and I was really concerned when I read about all these restrictions placed on buying garden seeds and gardening supplies. My relatives are retired and have always had a large backyard garden each summer (both vegetables and flowers). I called them yesterday and offered to mail some seeds so they could plant despite the restrictions. To my great relief, they told me that they can still buy garden seeds and garden plants and I didn't need to send anything. The restriction is ONLY on buying those things at the big box stores like Walmart and Home Depot. Apparently the rule is based on the physical size of the store. They can get all their seeds and plants and other supplies from smaller garden centers. And they told me they got almost everything they will need already. My relatives main concern with the restrictions were that the rules made the small garden centers more crowded and meant they had to increase their risk by shopping at more than one store. They wore masks and gloves but it was impossible to social distance in one of the smaller stores. The other small local garden center was placing restrictions on the number of people allowed in at once. That was good for social distancing inside but it led to long lines outside and a full parking lot. I'm glad that the small garden centers will likely be able to stay in business but I worry a little that they might not be able to handle all the additional people who are suddenly wanting to start gardening. Hopefully this ban is only a temporary situation. I wouldn't like those rules at all.

MOO.

 

[Henry2326]

CANADA....R0 down to 1.0....good news
---------------------------------------
David Fishman....Univ of Toronto
By the way: take some time out of the day to pat yourself on the back, Canada. We did this together.
We’re not finished, but we have achieved a lot. David Fisman on Twitter

 

[musicaljoke]

They're supposed to be counting probable deaths attributed to CV19 now. It adds to the probable death count and also probable positives. It's really important they comply so we get accurate counts. Jmo

A lot of places are behind on counting those who died of CoV19 outside of the hospital. Those numbers probably will be added to the count, but coroners have difficulty keeping current in places with more than normal numbers of death.

I anticipate many countries are going to be in a similar situation as China when they go back to review the records of those who died untested at hospitals, at home, in senior's residences, and among the homeless.

 

[tresir2012]

Madrid’s medical heroes in fight of their lives

Update from Spain.

 

[Reasonable & Just]

I have some family members in Michigan and I was really concerned when I read about all these restrictions placed on buying garden seeds and gardening supplies. My relatives are retired and have always had a large backyard garden each summer (both vegetables and flowers). I called them yesterday and offered to mail some seeds so they could plant despite the restrictions. To my great relief, they told me that they can still buy garden seeds and garden plants and I didn't need to send anything. The restriction is ONLY on buying those things at the big box stores like Walmart and Home Depot. Apparently the rule is based on the physical size of the store. They can get all their seeds and plants and other supplies from smaller garden centers. And they told me they got almost everything they will need already. My relatives main concern with the restrictions were that the rules made the small garden centers more crowded and meant they had to increase their risk by shopping at more than one store. They wore masks and gloves but it was impossible to social distance in one of the smaller stores. The other small local garden center was placing restrictions on the number of people allowed in at once. That was good for social distancing inside but it led to long lines outside and a full parking lot. I'm glad that the small garden centers will likely be able to stay in business but I worry a little that they might not be able to handle all the additional people who are suddenly wanting to start gardening. Hopefully this ban is only a temporary situation. I wouldn't like those rules at all.

MOO.

Thank you. I had read what your relatives were saying, but the national coverage made it sound like buying seeds is now illegal. That said, it's still upsetting, understandably, to not be able to get these items in a one-stop shopping experience. I hope the governor is repeating and explaining the reasons every chance she gets, especially because this protects the folks running small operations. However, maybe this is something that needs to be relaxed for the big box stores now, given how upsetting it is for people, and the risk of close quarters at a small store.

That said, I don't live there, so JMO. Just very thankful that I had the means to go out and buy some currant and cranberry plants today. Gonna put em in the ground now

 

[Henry2326]

I have some family members in Michigan and I was really concerned when I read about all these restrictions placed on buying garden seeds and gardening supplies. My relatives are retired and have always had a large backyard garden each summer (both vegetables and flowers). I called them yesterday and offered to mail some seeds so they could plant despite the restrictions. To my great relief, they told me that they can still buy garden seeds and garden plants and I didn't need to send anything. The restriction is ONLY on buying those things at the big box stores like Walmart and Home Depot. Apparently the rule is based on the physical size of the store. They can get all their seeds and plants and other supplies from smaller garden centers. And they told me they got almost everything they will need already. My relatives main concern with the restrictions were that the rules made the small garden centers more crowded and meant they had to increase their risk by shopping at more than one store. They wore masks and gloves but it was impossible to social distance in one of the smaller stores. The other small local garden center was placing restrictions on the number of people allowed in at once. That was good for social distancing inside but it led to long lines outside and a full parking lot. I'm glad that the small garden centers will likely be able to stay in business but I worry a little that they might not be able to handle all the additional people who are suddenly wanting to start gardening. Hopefully this ban is only a temporary situation. I wouldn't like those rules at all.

MOO.

Michigan has quite a situation....
Positivity rate is 31%.....adequate to open should be under 5%.
Tests per 1000 people is only 9.4. Harvard experts want 50 to re-open.
Testing, testing, testing....I'm sure it's number 1 goal for their Governor and Health Director.

It looks like MI hasn't peaked yet, although they are at the top and did a fantastic job of flattening it IMO. See their curve in the files below.

No plan in sight: Test troubles cloud Trump recovery effort

Coronavirus Testing Needs to Triple Before the U.S. Can Reopen, Experts Say

COVID-19/Coronavirus Real Time Updates With Credible Sources in US and Canada | 1Point3Acres

 

[margarita25]

In case anyone missed it yesterday or wants to watch it again:

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[jjenny]

According to the study, any antibiotic on the first day is better than none. It can be adjusted when the test comes back.

How are you going to get a test back now if your doctor is practicing telemedicine? You can't do blood tests, you can't do blood pressure tests, you can't do urine tests over the phone.

 

[Inthedetails]

I thought this was eye opening and very interesting. A local doctor from Ohio who also practices in California. It goes through the degree of efforts to decontaminate but also the difficult decision of whether to isolate from her husband and weighing the risks.
Former Springfield doctor in the coronavirus fight put to personal test
“I have been ridiculously aware of germs since the surgery rotation of my medical school,” Groves said. “In my entire career, I have never gotten an infection from a patient, nor have I infected my family ever.”
But even with the infection protections skills akin of an American Ninja Warrior, Groves had to check the research so she could defend “every square inch of her body.


“(It’s) not just for my own safety at work, but for the safety of the patients, the safety of my colleagues.”

“And it’s not just about gelling or hand-washing,” she said. “It’s also about when to mask and how to unmask,” which varies from mask to mask. It’s (also) about how to get the gown on, how to get the gown off and how to do that without contaminating the masks and the goggles.”

And it’s a process that doesn’t stop when she leaves the hospital.

“I pull in to my garage, which is separate from my house, and I close the garage door. I sanitize my keys, my badge and my phone and lay them on my windshield (dash). Then I take off my clothing and it goes straight in the washer, which is right in the garage.

The final steps in extending her safety streak are particularly dramatic.

“I open the garage door and … run butt-naked that 30 feet into the house.”

“While I am fairly confident of not bringing the virus home on my body,” Groves said, “we are both realistic about the likelihood that one of us will bring it home in our bodies, and unwittingly infect the other.”

Bottom line?

“We have decided that (the risk of being together) is better than the alternative: “being sick, or worse, dying, alone.”

She also wrote a book in 2014 with chilling similarities to COVID-19. I plan to read it.
Former Springfield doctor penned pandemic fiction years ago
In Virion’s chilling quarter-page epilogue, the virus, which has lived on earth far longer than human beings, whispers in the ears of the human beings of today and those who will inhabit the earth with it in generations to come.

You can’t even see me.

But I am here.

Still.

And so are you.

We (both) have survived.

And that is all the more I can say.

She sounds like a good doctor - patients are lucky to have her.

Just want to point out that she is facing an onslaught of germs for hours and hours every day. Most of us are not in that dangerous position. We can social distance in ways she cannot. But if anyone wants to run buck naked into their house, go for it.

jmo

 

[Deleted member 158085]

I have some family members in Michigan and I was really concerned when I read about all these restrictions placed on buying garden seeds and gardening supplies. My relatives are retired and have always had a large backyard garden each summer (both vegetables and flowers). I called them yesterday and offered to mail some seeds so they could plant despite the restrictions. To my great relief, they told me that they can still buy garden seeds and garden plants and I didn't need to send anything. The restriction is ONLY on buying those things at the big box stores like Walmart and Home Depot. Apparently the rule is based on the physical size of the store. They can get all their seeds and plants and other supplies from smaller garden centers. And they told me they got almost everything they will need already. My relatives main concern with the restrictions were that the rules made the small garden centers more crowded and meant they had to increase their risk by shopping at more than one store. They wore masks and gloves but it was impossible to social distance in one of the smaller stores. The other small local garden center was placing restrictions on the number of people allowed in at once. That was good for social distancing inside but it led to long lines outside and a full parking lot. I'm glad that the small garden centers will likely be able to stay in business but I worry a little that they might not be able to handle all the additional people who are suddenly wanting to start gardening. Hopefully this ban is only a temporary situation. I wouldn't like those rules at all.

MOO.

Wow! How many pages of posts were based on false information? Thank you for clearing this up.

So this is no different than the states, counties, or cities who have banned Walmart and other box stores from selling crafts, for instance.

 

[musicaljoke]

But if antibiotic turns out to be useless against the particular bacteria, how does it do any good?

It will do no good in that scenario, however, certain antibiotics are known for having a positive benefit on certain types of bacteria. So rather than allow a person to suffer with an infected tooth, for example, which could cause heart damage, a doctor can start the person on the most commonly used, most effective antibiotic, and usually that will be the right choice. This is especially important with some diseases such as blastomycosis that can kill quickly but have a standard treatment protocol that can be started before the lab sample leaves the doctor's office.

If the lab results show that it wasn't a good match, then the antibiotic can be changed to a better match.

 

[jjenny]

She sounds like a good doctor - patients are lucky to have her.

Just want to point out that she is facing an onslaught of germs for hours and hours every day. Most of us are not in that dangerous position. We can social distance in ways she cannot. But if anyone wants to run buck naked into their house, go for it.

jmo

I really don't know why she couldn't just keep a spare of clean clothes in her garage, so she didn't have to run buck naked 30 feet into the house. I mean, surely she could have kept a clean robe or something. LOL.

 

[jjenny]

It will do no good in that scenario, however, certain antibiotics are known for having a positive benefit on certain types of bacteria. So rather than allow a person to suffer with an infected tooth, for example, which could cause heart damage, a doctor can start the person on the most commonly used, most effective antibiotic, and usually that will be the right choice. This is especially important with some diseases such as blastomycosis that can kill quickly but have a standard treatment protocol that can be started before the lab sample leaves the doctor's office.

If the lab results show that it wasn't a good match, then the antibiotic can be changed to a better match.

My point is, you are not going to get any lab results if your doctor is only talking to patients by phone.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Thank you. I had read what your relatives were saying, but the national coverage made it sound like buying seeds is now illegal. That said, it's still upsetting, understandably, to not be able to get these items in a one-stop shopping experience. I hope the governor is repeating and explaining the reasons every chance she gets, especially because this protects the folks running small operations. However, maybe this is something that needs to be relaxed for the big box stores now, given how upsetting it is for people, and the risk of close quarters at a small store.

That said, I don't live there, so JMO. Just very thankful that I had the means to go out and buy some currant and cranberry plants today. Gonna put em in the ground now

I am a huge gardener, and this is something I could live with. I would just find a nursery that allowed curbside pick up. I don’t feel the need to hand pick my plants this year. I could easily give a list of what I want/need.

I am doing everything possible by curbside pick up. I see no need to expose myself and others when it’s available.

ETA - I don’t see why they couldn’t allow curbside pickup from the garden centers attached to the box stores.

 

[margarita25]

Over 1,000 COVID-19 deaths in Pa., electronic and probable deaths now being reported

“The Pennsylvania Department of Health today confirmed as of 12:00 a.m., April 19, that there are 1,215 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 32,284.

The department also announced that electronic and probable-cause deaths are now being reported, causing a reporting increase of 276 new deaths among positive cases, bringing the statewide total to 1,112.“

 

[NuttMegg]

I have some family members in Michigan and I was really concerned when I read about all these restrictions placed on buying garden seeds and gardening supplies. My relatives are retired and have always had a large backyard garden each summer (both vegetables and flowers). I called them yesterday and offered to mail some seeds so they could plant despite the restrictions. To my great relief, they told me that they can still buy garden seeds and garden plants and I didn't need to send anything. The restriction is ONLY on buying those things at the big box stores like Walmart and Home Depot. Apparently the rule is based on the physical size of the store. They can get all their seeds and plants and other supplies from smaller garden centers. And they told me they got almost everything they will need already. My relatives main concern with the restrictions were that the rules made the small garden centers more crowded and meant they had to increase their risk by shopping at more than one store. They wore masks and gloves but it was impossible to social distance in one of the smaller stores. The other small local garden center was placing restrictions on the number of people allowed in at once. That was good for social distancing inside but it led to long lines outside and a full parking lot. I'm glad that the small garden centers will likely be able to stay in business but I worry a little that they might not be able to handle all the additional people who are suddenly wanting to start gardening. Hopefully this ban is only a temporary situation. I wouldn't like those rules at all.

MOO.

Renee's Garden is still selling seeds online, I've had real good success with them, and they sell baby veggies like baby winter squash, baby chard, baby mesclun, baby leeks, kale, etc, good for containers or in the plot. Famous Johnny's selected seeds is opening seed orders for home gardeners on 28 April. Ed Hume seeds is open online. Just a few of my favorites. Drooling over seed catalogs, even online....perfect for those of us in quarantine.

 

[margarita25]

“CORONAVIRUS CASES IN COLORADO
In Colorado, 9,433 people have tested positive for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, and 411 people have died. Of those who tested positive for the disease, 1,797 have been hospitalized.

According to CDPHE, 44,606 people have been tested and 56 counties are reporting cases. There have been 107 outbreaks at residential and non-hospital health care facilities.”

Colorado coronavirus latest, April 19: Bob Lazier, Vail hotel mogul and former pro racer, passes away at 81

 

[Inthedetails]

How are you going to get a test back now if your doctor is practicing telemedicine? You can't do blood tests, you can't do blood pressure tests, you can't do urine tests over the phone.

FWIW, I once went to the ER for a UTI. I knew what it was as I had had UTIs before and knew I needed an Rx (plus pain killers....UTIs hurt!) It was the weekend and I didn't even think of calling my doc, but I headed to the ER.

Later, my doc asked me why I didn't just call him - he would've called in an Rx to the pharmacy over the phone. This was in the days long before internet visits existed. I guess because he knew that I knew what an UTI was, he would've called in an Rx ,to at least enough to get started on treatment if not a full dosage (I don't know which).

I know some docs and clinics aren't returning calls right now as posted on the thread, but before assuming that is the case - or assuming you can't be helped - call your doc if in need.

jmo

 

[BHughes]

LOUISIANA 4/19

Coronavirus (COVID-19) | Department of Health | State of Louisiana
23,928
Cases Reported*
1,296
Deaths Reported
Reported COVID-19 Patients in Hospitals
1,748
349 of those on ventilators
Tests Completed
6,425
by State Lab
Commercial Tests Completed
135,079
and Reported to State**

LOUISIANA 4/18

23,580 Cases Reported*
1,267 Deaths Reported