Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #51

[musicaljoke]

I'll take a stab that it's not about buildings. There has to be care givers to take care of them. Albany, GA, outbreak area, has the same issue. The state built a temporary hospital. It's all setup. But there are no people to man it.

Yes, I realise that this is an issue. They need meals, personal care, a safe place, etc. But, with some planning, all that would have been put in place if the mandate had been that this was needed, rather than take the simple route and send Cov-19 patients back into care facilities. Actually, it's not too late to put recovery options in place for seniors requiring care. Our wee village of 200 is doing it by using a local hotel, restaurant, family assistance, etc. It's not too late.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

At the beginning of the lockdown, I started a diary....and kept it up for two days. I didn't find comforting, but a downer. Now I wish I had kept with it. Maybe not too late to start again.
jmo

My diary lasted one day, and then I got depressed, too.

 

[Tillicum]

If people behind bars don't count as humans, I guess I'm questioning the values of this culture. If we treat them in a knowingly harmful way, how are we different than criminals who treated their victims in a harmful way?

jmo

I agree but here's the other side of the coin. IMO this man should not have been released.

NYC man released from Rikers Island over coronavirus arrested on new rape charge: report

A Brooklyn man was arrested Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman just 10 days after he was released from Rikers Island over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus behind bars, according to a report.

Robert Pondexter, 57, was being held at the notorious New York City prison on a separate rape charge when he was released.

He was charged Saturday with attempted rape and sexual assault among other offenses, the New York Post reported, citing anonymous police sources.

NYPD responded to a 911 call at about 5:45 a.m. in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood.

The caller told police a man had been walking across the street from a supportive housing development when he allegedly grabbed a 58-year-old woman whom he did not know by the collar and pulled her into a school parking lot.

The woman told officers he forced her to perform oral sex and demanded that she remove her pants before she was able to kick away from him. She was transported to a local hospital.

 

[Henry2326]

Another reason to care about the prison population....
_________________________________

MARION — The county's top health official is urging the Marion community to be vigilant, as an outbreak of the novel coronavirus at a Marion prison spills into the general public.

More than 80% of Marion Correctional Institution's prison population has tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, along with more than 160 corrections officers and other staff who live in Marion and surrounding counties, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The fear is that one of the corrections workers' close contacts — a spouse or another family member — could become infected with the virus and then spread it to people where they work and cause an outbreak.

"Do they have a spouse that works at a nursing home, at Whirlpool or at Silver Line ... and could that trigger something else?" Kinsler said.

There may be even more MCI prisoners who have the virus. Though a prison spokesperson previously said the mass testing of the prison population was completed more than a week ago, on Friday spokesperson JoEllen Smith said only 2,300 tests had been administered at the Marion prison.

She did not clarify whether that included staff, as well as inmates. There are about 2,500 inmates at the Marion prison.

Marion prison coronavirus outbreak seeping into larger community

Eric Topol on Twitter

 

[dotr]

The white scarf on the door: a life-saving lesson from the 1918 flu - STAT

Alex Hogan/STAT
In 1918, a white scarf tied to the door of my grandmother’s family’s apartment on the North Side of Chicago alerted the community to a virus residing within. My grandmother, then age 3, was one of 500 million people worldwide — one-third of the planet’s population — who was infected with what came to be known as the Spanish influenza. It killed an estimated 50 million people.

''My grandmother’s story could have ended differently. She survived to live an incredibly long, full life, as did her sister and parents, because they were smart. As the flu swept through Chicago, they practiced the kind of social distancing and quarantine that is today being actively sanctioned but inadequately implemented. Because of their white scarf and caution, they saved each other and their neighbors, friends, and colleagues, as well as their doctors.''

 

[dixiegirl1035]

The white scarf on the door: a life-saving lesson from the 1918 flu - STAT

Alex Hogan/STAT
In 1918, a white scarf tied to the door of my grandmother’s family’s apartment on the North Side of Chicago alerted the community to a virus residing within. My grandmother, then age 3, was one of 500 million people worldwide — one-third of the planet’s population — who was infected with what came to be known as the Spanish influenza. It killed an estimated 50 million people.

''My grandmother’s story could have ended differently. She survived to live an incredibly long, full life, as did her sister and parents, because they were smart. As the flu swept through Chicago, they practiced the kind of social distancing and quarantine that is today being actively sanctioned but inadequately implemented. Because of their white scarf and caution, they saved each other and their neighbors, friends, and colleagues, as well as their doctors.''

Shades of Passover, which many of us thought of that day.

 

[Really?]

My diary lasted one day, and then I got depressed, too.

I just use my calendar. All I need to remember is whats in the little square each day.

 

[Henry2326]

The white scarf on the door: a life-saving lesson from the 1918 flu - STAT

Alex Hogan/STAT
In 1918, a white scarf tied to the door of my grandmother’s family’s apartment on the North Side of Chicago alerted the community to a virus residing within. My grandmother, then age 3, was one of 500 million people worldwide — one-third of the planet’s population — who was infected with what came to be known as the Spanish influenza. It killed an estimated 50 million people.

''My grandmother’s story could have ended differently. She survived to live an incredibly long, full life, as did her sister and parents, because they were smart. As the flu swept through Chicago, they practiced the kind of social distancing and quarantine that is today being actively sanctioned but inadequately implemented. Because of their white scarf and caution, they saved each other and their neighbors, friends, and colleagues, as well as their doctors.''

Thank you....

 

[The Night Watchman]

We hope that viral load will not make any difference. In Spring 2020 the virus arrived in North America. Summer is two months away. We have no idea how this will play out, but anyone who suggests that the peak has passed and we're good to go has not looked into the 1918 pandemic. Spring is the first wave, Fall is the second wave. There was a third wave.

Herd immunity did not work in 1918. Soldiers from Kansas carried the virus to WW1. People died in March 1918, in October 1918, and some experienced a third wave. Herd immunity of some sort was eventually established, or the virus ran out of hosts. Either way, millions died prematurely.

We hope that recovered people are no longer contagious, and that they are no longer susceptible to the virus.

Nice post, otto.

But how does the coronavirus pandemic compare to the 1918 swine flu and past seasonal flu?

Very hard to know since actual coronavirus numbers are generally withheld from the public. I've previously noted that the Massachusetts Dept. of Health has been very open about their collected numbers (every state has these numbers).

Looking at a plot of past swine and seasonal flu data, I have plotted the Massachusetts CV deaths per 100,000 population per age group numbers on the graph (red) for comparison. I have actually doubled the current MA numbers to represent an estimate of what might be expected in exiting this potential first wave (maybe by July). Here is a plot of the waves of the 1918 swine flu for context.

Now for the comparison data plot of CV vs swine flu and seasonal flu.

Difference between the influenza mortality age-distributions of the 1918 epidemic and normal epidemics – deaths per 100,000 persons in each age group, United States, for the inter-pandemic years 1911–1917 (dashed line), pandemic year 1918 (solid line), and coronavirus 2020 (red line).

First, the overall death rates are much lower today. That is the result of better preventative guidelines and improved healthcare, among many other things, IMO. These are different eras.

What stands out is that coronavirus is of little danger to children and the general working class (if you ignore one-off media stories), and a real danger to older people. Not on this graph, but we also know pre-existing health conditions are the second critical risk group. 98% of coronavirus deaths in MA have had underlying health issues.

What is the point? The point is that with CV, we know exactly who is at risk and in the past, including the recent flu seasons, we had less knowledge of the risk groups.

I expect there will be a lull in cases over the summer like with the swine flu and typical pandemics, and there is the expectation of a second wave of CV in the late fall (how can you have a second wave without a lull?).

How will America approach the second wave, without a vaccine but with many months to prepare? We should know if previous CV exposure gives future immunity, and this is expected (although not proven).

I am certain there will not be a repeat of this lockdown. There is a majority of the population that is close to no risk from coronavirus. Herd immunity and greatly improved protection of all risk groups is a potential approach. And this may save a lot of lives and minimize collateral damage.

• Taubenberger, Jeffery K.; Morens, David M. (January 2006). "1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 12 (1): 15–22. doi:10.3201/eid1201.050979. PMC 3291398. PMID 16494711.

https://www.mass.gov/doc/covid-19-dashboard-april-25-2020/download

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Has not yet started...feed is up... FYI..

ETA: Has started...

Coronavirus outbreak: U.K. health officials provide update on COVID-19 situation | LIVE

 

[cody22]

From the NYT article:

"At the epicenter of the outbreak, New York issued a strict new rulelast month: Nursing homes must readmit residents sent to hospitals with the coronavirus and accept new patients as long as they are deemed “medically stable.” California and New Jerseyhave also said that nursing homes should take in such patients. Homes are allowed to turn patients away if they claim they can’t care for them safely — but administrators say they worry that refusing patients could provoke regulatory scrutiny, and advocates say it could result in a loss of revenue.

In contrast to these states, Connecticut and Massachusetts designated certain facilities for Covid-19 patients alone — considered the safest way to free up hospital beds. The Washington Health Care Association, which represents long-term care facilities in Washington State, has asked officials to adopt a similar policy; so far, they have not.

“It’s got to happen,” said Robin Dale, the association’s president. “Then we would not have this hodgepodge of every nursing home in the state having one or two positives and crossing your fingers that it works out."

It may have started as a way to free up hospital beds and to make nursing home owners accountable for caring for the people they make huge $$$$ off of. But seriously misguided, IMO, and especially bad thinking once Javits was available and USS Comfort finally started accepting Covid patients. CT and MA did it right. This is not the last we'll hear of it. People will seek accountability and justice in NY. JMO.

Bump......Great post....moo

 

[CSIDreamer]

I agree but here's the other side of the coin. IMO this man should not have been released.

NYC man released from Rikers Island over coronavirus arrested on new rape charge: report

A Brooklyn man was arrested Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman just 10 days after he was released from Rikers Island over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus behind bars, according to a report.

Robert Pondexter, 57, was being held at the notorious New York City prison on a separate rape charge when he was released.

He was charged Saturday with attempted rape and sexual assault among other offenses, the New York Post reported, citing anonymous police sources.

NYPD responded to a 911 call at about 5:45 a.m. in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood.

The caller told police a man had been walking across the street from a supportive housing development when he allegedly grabbed a 58-year-old woman whom he did not know by the collar and pulled her into a school parking lot.

The woman told officers he forced her to perform oral sex and demanded that she remove her pants before she was able to kick away from him. She was transported to a local hospital.

There most definitely is a need to make sure violent offenders are not released. How is NY deciding who to release?

 

[rogue ant]

What ended that pandemic? There was no vaccine and no treatment, so what made it finally end? Was it herd immunity? Or something else? Anyone know?

By the summer of 1919, the flu pandemic came to an end, as those that were infected either died or developed immunity.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic#section_13

 

[Reasonable & Just]

There most definitely is a need to make sure violent offenders are not released. How is NY deciding who to release?

And not just NY, either. I've been curious about the standards, too, since this all started. Over 16K US inmates have been released as coronavirus crisis has progressed

Florida inmate released due to coronavirus now facing murder charge

 

[Ragnarok]

Made a quick trip to the local hardware store this morning when it opened. Only customer in lot with another car pulling in while I was going inside. Doors propped open. Plastic clear sheeting draped from ceiling to floor on customer side of checkout counter. Verbalized my order for items to be loaded out back of store. Small hole for passing cash or inserting CC/Debit card into scanner/reader. Don't know how they handle items picked up in store for checkout?

Local town (non government) FB posts that 24 seniors have passed at the town's in village nursing home. Village still deserted with very few vehicles either parked or moving.

 

[cody22]

'Seaface': Royal Caribbean attempts to trademark sanitary face masks

Now that is creative salesmanship.....moo

 

[Sundog]

I've seen a few people driving around with masks on and yes it's odd.

Do they think the virus is floating around in the atmosphere and the air in their car has the virus in it?

When I pick up my grocery order every few weeks, I wear a mask because the person who puts the groceries in the back of my SUV after I pull in to my spot, if there are two employees doing it, they often talk together as they work (young college students), and so they are breathing and talking into my vehicle. When I drive off, I open the back windows as I drive home but I keep my mask on until I get home. When people drive by me on my trip home, they don't know I have just picked up groceries, or got gas, or gone through the pharmacy drive-in, etc. So it is not unusual to be driving with a mask on for a variety of reasons. But I am back home usually within less then 30 minutes. I take it off as soon as I feel it has been a reasonable time.

 

[Henry2326]

By the summer of 1919, the flu pandemic came to an end, as those that were infected either died or developed immunity.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic#section_13

This is a great article attached, by an expert of the 1918 pandemic....his number one advice to public health officials is "Don't Lie". Read about "training" at the end of the article.
Also interesting, it was written in November 2017, giving rise to pre-thought about the next pandemic.

Actually.....the second wave mutated to a very lethal virus. When it ran out of hosts, society went back to normal, thus 3rd wave.
------------------------------------------
2nd wave....
"Then, as suddenly as it came, influenza seemed to disappear. It had burned through the available fuel in a given community. An undercurrent of unease remained, but aided by the euphoria accompanying the end of the war, traffic returned to streets, schools and businesses reopened, society returned to normal."
--------------------------------------------
"After that third wave, the 1918 virus did not go away, but it did lose its extraordinary lethality, partly because many human immune systems now recognized it and partly because it lost the ability to easily invade the lungs. No longer a bloodthirsty murderer, it evolved into a seasonal influenza."

How the Horrific 1918 Flu Spread Across America | History | Smithsonian Magazine

 

[CSIDreamer]

Made a quick trip to the local hardware store this morning when it opened. Only customer in lot with another car pulling in while I was going inside. Doors propped open. Plastic clear sheeting draped from ceiling to floor on customer side of checkout counter. Verbalized my order for items to be loaded out back of store. Small hole for passing cash or inserting CC/Debit card into scanner/reader. Don't know how they handle items picked up in store for checkout?

Local town (non government) FB posts that 24 seniors have passed at the town's in village nursing home. Village still deserted with very few vehicles either parked or moving.

BBM. Where did everyone go?

 

[zecats]

I just use my calendar. All I need to remember is whats in the little square each day.

I've been trying too. My calendar is so full of whited-out entries. All the sub jobs and appts I had, my niece's wedding, Yoga classes in studio. Once I get to June where I didn't have many already dates filled in, I'll have some fresh pages.

Some of the more eventful things I've recorded so far (over the whited-out blobs) include:
1) A power outage which lasted only for several hours, thankfully.
2) A false alarm from our smoke detector to the alarm company, who called the fire department, and didn't cancel them in time after I told them it was just my daughter's hair dryer..yes we have a very sensitive hard-wired system and yes the fire company did show up.
3) Two trips to the ER for DH - once to be tested and once because of more severe symptoms.
4) A day full of sever T storms and tornado watches and warnings (rare but possible in NJ).
5) The first day DH was able to take a walk outside
6) Opening day for one of the local road stands/ farmers markets.

It does help keep track of the days. My mom posted on her FB page this morning "the new clock." Instead of numbers 1-12, it has the 7 days of the week.