Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #51

[Sundog]

Meanwhile, the CDC draft proposes guidelines for “vulnerable workers” across all sectors and industries, encouraging workplaces to keep in mind that some workers are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

“These vulnerable workers include individuals over age 65 and those with underlying medical conditions,” the guidelines state. “Such underlying conditions include, but are not limited to, chronic lung disease, moderate to severe asthma, hypertension, severe heart conditions, weakened immunity, severe obesity, diabetes, liver disease, and chronic kidney disease that requires dialysis. Vulnerable workers should be encouraged to self-identify, and employers should avoid making unnecessary medical inquiries.”

So guidelines are to be put in place for vulnerable workers, but the article doesn't say what they are. So it will interesting to see what the CDC recommends. The only answer is that vulnerable workers don't work until the threat level is greatly reduced. Hopefully, these workers will be furloughed and can collect unemployment. This makes sense to save lives and avoid stressing the healthcare system- which in the long run would save money by reducing hospital care IMO.

I think that the guidelines will be that vulnerable workers continue to work remotely, if possible. You can't furlough a class of workers (such as those over 65, etc.) as it is against U.S. labor laws. But you can keep them working remotely.

 

[amandab]

Say this really isn't so... I'm sure we all know about Philadelphia parade and the 1918 flu pandemic. Repeat?
Trump to hold July 4th celebration on National Mall again

Ohmygosh. Stuff like this will keep me in the house for a very very long time, I fear.

 

[Cool Cats]

Did I see a picture in one of the news links today, (Germany?) where you could buy masks from a vending machine in the subways.

Publish Date:Mon, 27 Apr 2020 02:13 PM (IST)

Germany Berlin masks in vending machine.

COVID-19: अब मास्‍क के लिए वेंडिंग मशीन लगाने को हुए मजबूर, बर्लिन में नई व्‍यवस्‍था

10/04/2020 = April 10th, 2020
Vending machines selling face masks appear on Warsaw streets

https://nypost.com/2020/04/10/vending-machines-in-poland-sell-masks-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/

© Reuters/KACPER PEMPEL A man looks at a vending machine for face masks, gloves and sanitiser during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Warsaw

©

Interesting....humm.....

 

[pocketaccent]

Popular heartburn medicine Pepcid being used in new coronavirus drug trial with anti-malaria drug
...
Researchers at Northwell Health have been enrolling patients into their study of famotidin, the active ingredient in Pepcid, an over-the-counter medication commonly used to alleviate heartburn.


Since March 13, the drug has been being delivered through an IV in megadoses nine times greater than the typical over-the-counter dose to patients in the trial.

The drug is being given in combination with the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine.
...

 

[The Night Watchman]

The southern hemisphere- warm, humid, and coming out of summer. Australia and New Zealand are both close to China geographically, and would certainly have had coronavirus that same time other countries did. How badly did countries in the Southern Hemisphere get hit by COVID-19?

These are deaths per 1 million citizens:

3- Australia
4- New Zealand

For comparison-

170- United States
503- Spain
446- Italy
357- France
622- Belgium
225- Sweden

Generally around 100x less deaths per capita in the midst of a pandemic. The trend is across the board for countries below the equator, many of which have high density populations and poor healthcare.

There seems to be some significant empirical data that suggests warmth and humidity will suppress coronavirus.

Could Jason Beaubien, a scientist from the Department of Homeland Security (United States), be misleading us again? In his interview, he leads us to believe that summer is unlikely to have an effect on the spread of coronavirus.

Jason quotes- Bill Bryan, the science and technology adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, at that briefing last night, he called - he said it would be irresponsible to say that summer is going to totally kill this virus.

Masterful wordplay, nobody is suggesting that summer would totally kill the virus. But yet he is saying the unnamed experts do not think summer will inhibit coronavirus.

The empirical data disagrees. IMO.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

At a briefing last night at the White House, a scientist from the Department of Homeland Security unveiled some preliminary research suggesting that heat and humidity kill the coronavirus. From there, the briefing got a little strange, with President Trump suggesting that ultraviolet light or injected bleach may work as well. I want to bring in NPR's global health and development correspondent Jason Beaubien. Hi, Jason.

JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning.

GREENE: Let's start with these suggestions about heat and humidity. I mean, could this mean - this is a question we've been asking for a while now...

BEAUBIEN: Yeah.

GREENE: ...Could it mean that this will be like the seasonal flu and it'll go away when it gets warm?

BEAUBIEN: You know, so - first, the seasonality of the flu, it's a really complicated dance that has to do with a lot of things. Like, it's got human patterns of behavior, people being cooped up in the winter, the number of people who are susceptible any given winter to a particular strain of the flu. You know - and there is some evidence out there that flu viruses spread more easily in colder temperatures. It's got to do with the relative humidity of the air going down as the temperature drops, and then there's less moisture in the air and these respiratory viruses move through the air more easily.

However - and I've talked to a lot of flu researchers on this, and they say in the first year that a new virus is circulating, it's very unlikely that you would get that pattern in part because there's this huge pool of people who have no immunity to this particular virus. And that gives the virus fertile ground to spread in a way that would outweigh any marginal benefit that it would have, you know - the suppression of it might be due to that rise in temperature. And even Bill Bryan, the science and technology adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, at that briefing last night, he called - he said it would be irresponsible to say that summer is going to totally kill this virus.

Will Heat And Humidity Kill The Coronavirus?

Coronavirus Update (Live): 3,046,269 Cases and 210,441 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer

 

[pocketaccent]

San Francisco mayor says desperately needed masks, gloves and face shields keep getting diverted
...

“We had isolation gowns on the way to San Francisco and then diverted to France,” she said. Another order of equipment went through customs and then was “confiscated” by FEMA for other places.
...

 

[tresir2012]

Did I see a picture in one of the news links today, (Germany?) where you could buy masks from a vending machine in the subways.

Yes I posted that upthread. You can buy them in markets too the article said.

 

[mickey2942]

I think that the guidelines will be that vulnerable workers continue to work remotely, if possible. You can't furlough a class of workers (such as those over 65, etc.) as it is against U.S. labor laws. But you can keep them working remotely.

Some jobs cannot be done remotely. And INMO, it is baloney to expect some people to come to work, while others can safely sit at home and do paperwork forever. It seems like to me, that almost everyone can "qualify" to stay at home. Meanwhile, they leave their house to go shopping or run errands.

It is "Tier One" and "Tier Two", creating a separate class system for workers.

 

[Curious Me]

Popular heartburn medicine Pepcid being used in new coronavirus drug trial with anti-malaria drug
...
Researchers at Northwell Health have been enrolling patients into their study of famotidin, the active ingredient in Pepcid, an over-the-counter medication commonly used to alleviate heartburn.


Since March 13, the drug has been being delivered through an IV in megadoses nine times greater than the typical over-the-counter dose to patients in the trial.

The drug is being given in combination with the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine.
...

Is it my antimalarial pills or my thyroid pills... one of my meds warns to not take any kind of antacids soon after. Pepcid sounds like a type of antacid.

How odd they keep saying the antimalarial HC doesn't help, and yet they keep trying it in conjunction with other drugs. It must show some promise. No wonder there's still a shortage of my Rx of HC.

 

[tresir2012]

The southern hemisphere- warm, humid, and coming out of summer. Australia and New Zealand are both close to China geographically, and would certainly have had coronavirus that same time other countries did. How badly did countries in the Southern Hemisphere get hit by COVID-19?

These are deaths per 1 million citizens:

3- Australia
4- New Zealand

For comparison-

170- United States
503- Spain
446- Italy
357- France
622- Belgium
225- Sweden

Generally around 100x less deaths per capita in the midst of a pandemic. The trend is across the board for countries below the equator, many of which have high density populations and poor healthcare.

There seems to be some significant empirical data that suggests warmth and humidity will suppress coronavirus.

Could Jason Beaubien, a scientist from the Department of Homeland Security (United States), be misleading us again? In his interview, he leads us to believe that summer is unlikely to have an effect on the spread of coronavirus.

Jason quotes- Bill Bryan, the science and technology adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, at that briefing last night, he called - he said it would be irresponsible to say that summer is going to totally kill this virus.

Masterful wordplay, nobody is suggesting that summer would totally kill the virus. But yet he is saying the unnamed experts do not think summer will inhibit coronavirus.

The empirical data disagrees. IMO.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

At a briefing last night at the White House, a scientist from the Department of Homeland Security unveiled some preliminary research suggesting that heat and humidity kill the coronavirus. From there, the briefing got a little strange, with President Trump suggesting that ultraviolet light or injected bleach may work as well. I want to bring in NPR's global health and development correspondent Jason Beaubien. Hi, Jason.

JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning.

GREENE: Let's start with these suggestions about heat and humidity. I mean, could this mean - this is a question we've been asking for a while now...

BEAUBIEN: Yeah.

GREENE: ...Could it mean that this will be like the seasonal flu and it'll go away when it gets warm?

BEAUBIEN: You know, so - first, the seasonality of the flu, it's a really complicated dance that has to do with a lot of things. Like, it's got human patterns of behavior, people being cooped up in the winter, the number of people who are susceptible any given winter to a particular strain of the flu. You know - and there is some evidence out there that flu viruses spread more easily in colder temperatures. It's got to do with the relative humidity of the air going down as the temperature drops, and then there's less moisture in the air and these respiratory viruses move through the air more easily.

However - and I've talked to a lot of flu researchers on this, and they say in the first year that a new virus is circulating, it's very unlikely that you would get that pattern in part because there's this huge pool of people who have no immunity to this particular virus. And that gives the virus fertile ground to spread in a way that would outweigh any marginal benefit that it would have, you know - the suppression of it might be due to that rise in temperature. And even Bill Bryan, the science and technology adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, at that briefing last night, he called - he said it would be irresponsible to say that summer is going to totally kill this virus.

Will Heat And Humidity Kill The Coronavirus?

Coronavirus Update (Live): 3,046,269 Cases and 210,441 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer

I don't think anyone knows how this virus is going to act. In the summer people are not indoors so much so are less likely to catch the virus anyway and the population and population density of Australia and New Zealand are much less too. I don't think they have an underground system in any of their cities either but am not completely sure of that so MOO. It could be best to compare them with Florida perhaps. They are worried because they are approaching their winter now and to say they are geographically close to China would be like saying Argentina and the Falklands are geographically close to Canada.

 

[Cool Cats]

Is it known how many of the US deaths are related to care homes? I don't think I have seen that anywhere.

Why is Rachel Maddow Telling Aging Professionals About Nursing Homes Death Instead of the Feds???? ⋆ Cathy Cress
April 27, 2020

Nursing Homes Turning into Death Camps
"I have been learning that nursing homes are turning into death camps from Rachel Maddow not the federal government or aging community."

infection control — the most frequent type of health violation.

Cathy Cress - Expert in Geriatric Care Management and Aging. Author of Geriatric Care Management Handbook

 

[Curious Me]

You think you don't eat much meat, but now that may be tested.

'The Food Supply Chain is Breaking.' Tyson Foods Warns of Meat Shortage Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

"Tyson Foods, one of the U.S.’s biggest meat processors, didn’t mince words in a full page New York Times spread that ran Sunday, in which they warned, “the food supply chain is breaking.”

“As pork, beef and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain,”

 

[Sundog]

Responsible Restart Ohio
Governor of Ohio’s guidelines to reopen Ohio economy starting May 1st with health care openings (elective surgeries/treatments/testing, doctors, dentists, veterinarians), May 4th reopening of general office environments, and May 12th consumer retail and services. Manufacturing, Distribution and Construction opens May 1st, I believe, not sure of exact details on this latter category. Seems like other categories still to be announced. Below are links to Ohio's guidelines for each of the first three sectors to reopen.

https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/responsible/Manufacturing-Distribution-Construction.pdf

https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/responsible/Consumer-Retail-Services.pdf

https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/responsible/General-Office-Environments.pdf

 

[Seattle1]

In the CDC recommendations for restaurant openings, they want people to sit in their cars until their table is ready. Then we are to call them and tell them their table is ready.
I guess that's good, so we can sterilize the table before they sit down.

I'm remembering another CDC report about people contracting the virus from air-conditioning at a restaurant. I think I'll wait in my car and take the food home.

 

[Curious Me]

What do they mean by depopulated? They are probably living in over crowded conditions. I'm in denial and like to imagine these animals in green pastures hanging out while we fight the virus. IMO, change is not always bad. Surely, cleaner maybe even more humane procedures will be put in place at these facilities. MOO

'The Food Supply Chain is Breaking.' Tyson Foods Warns of Meat Shortage Amid Coronavirus Pandemic


“Millions of animals —chickens, pigs and cattle— will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities,” Tyson writes. “The food supply chain is breaking.”

 

[cass523]

-As of April 27, there were 111,188 reported cases in the state, including 2,146 additional cases disclosed Monday.

New Jersey has completed a total of 204,651 tests with 43.2% of the tests coming back positive as of Sunday.

-There have been 6,044 deaths related to coronavirus in New Jersey. Officials reported 106 new deaths statewide on Monday.

-In New Jersey, 6,407 individuals with confirmed or potential cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized as of 10:00 p.m. Sunday.

Of those hospitalized patients, 894 patients are in intensive care, 907 are in critical care and 4,173 are in medical surgical beds.

The state is using 41.9% of its statewide ventilator capacity, with 1,303 patients on ventilators.

The number of patients discharged from hospitals continues to be higher than the number of patients admitted. There were 480 patients discharged in the last 24 hours and 314 new hospitalizations yesterday.
_____________________________

Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday laid out a "road map" for restarting New Jersey's economy with a series of public health benchmarks that indicate the state is many weeks away from returning to any semblance of normal life.

Reopening is still an aspirational prospect and the stay-at-home order Murphy issued five weeks ago will remain in effect "until further notice," he said.

Murphy said Monday, as he did last week, that testing must be doubled, "at the least," and the results must come faster than the current time frame of about seven days. Only about 2% of the state's population has been tested for the coronavirus, leaving an untold number of asymptomatic people spreading the disease. He's confident the state will be able to double its testing by the end of May

NJ coronavirus cases rise to 111,188, deaths surpass 6K

NJ stay-at-home order in effect 'until further notice.' What we know about Murphy's reopening plan

 

[pocketaccent]

‘This virus doesn’t take the weekends off’: Gov. Newsom urges Californians to follow stay-at-home orders after crowding at SoCal beaches

With crowding seen at some of Southern California’s beaches over the weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday urged residents to follow physical distancing guidelines, warning that adherence to the orders will affect when the state will begin to ease stay-at-home orders.

“This virus doesn’t take the weekends off. This virus doesn’t go home because it’s a beautiful, sunny day around our coasts,” the governor told residents in a news conference.
...
“Those images are an example of what not to see … what not to do — if we’re going to make the meaningful progress that we’ve made in the last few weeks, extend into the next number of weeks,” the governor said.
...

 

[realanastasia]

New York will restart its economy after the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in a multi-phase manner, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.

The strategy is to first reopen the construction and manufacturing sectors, and the second phase will be evaluating businesses on a case-by-case basis, depending on how essential they are, said Cuomo at his daily briefing.

There will be two weeks in between each phase to monitor the effects of the reopening and ensure hospitalization and infection rates are not increasing.

"One caveat is you can't do anything in any region that would increase the number of visitors to that region," the governor said.

Cuomo did not give a specific date for the implementation of the strategy, but he said part of the state could begin reopening as soon as May 15 -- the current deadline for the statewide shutdown.

New York state to reopen with phased strategy, says governor - Global Times

Well, it's hard to imagine how this will work out--as the article below explains, Trump is planning to give the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (located in New York) on June 13th. One of the concerns that folks have already raised about this plan is that it would require the entire graduating class to return to campus (where or how they will be housed, I don't know) and if an in-person ceremony is to be held, then presumably some of the graduating students' families will also want to attend. This would seem to be exactly the kind of event that Cuomo is warning against, so it'll be interesting to see how they reconcile the (understandable) desire to hold the in-person commencement ceremony with the need to limit the people flowing in and out of NY state in the coming months.
Trump Speech to Bring 1,000 West Point Cadets Back to Campus

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Popular heartburn medicine Pepcid being used in new coronavirus drug trial with anti-malaria drug
...
Researchers at Northwell Health have been enrolling patients into their study of famotidin, the active ingredient in Pepcid, an over-the-counter medication commonly used to alleviate heartburn.


Since March 13, the drug has been being delivered through an IV in megadoses nine times greater than the typical over-the-counter dose to patients in the trial.

The drug is being given in combination with the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine.
...

I very much wish they had not given the dosage in the article, and instead had just said “high doses.” I suspect many will try 9 X the regular dose at home and it could interfere with other meds and kill them.

 

[pocketaccent]

What do they mean by depopulated? They are probably living in over crowded conditions. I'm in denial and like to imagine these animals in green pastures hanging out while we fight the virus. IMO, change is not always bad. Surely, cleaner maybe even more humane procedures will be put in place at these facilities. MOO

'The Food Supply Chain is Breaking.' Tyson Foods Warns of Meat Shortage Amid Coronavirus Pandemic


“Millions of animals —chickens, pigs and cattle— will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities,” Tyson writes. “The food supply chain is breaking.”

(This is what they mean by depopulation)

2 million chickens will be euthanized at a single plant as the coronavirus puts the US on the brink of a meat shortage

A poultry processing plant in Delaware has made the "difficult but necessary" decision to kill two million chickens as worker shortages push the US meat supply chain towards a breaking point.
...
"If no action were taken, the birds would outgrow the capacity of the chicken house to hold them," the company said, noting that the birds will be killed "using approved, humane methods" and farmers will still be compensated.
...