Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #56

[Tillicum]

I sure wish one of these senators would ask these semi quarantined task force members who've been slightly exposed to COVID-19, "Are you currently taking any vitamin c, vitamin d, zinc or wearing nicotine patches?"

 

[Sundog]

On Contact Tracing in Ohio

JMO
Nursing students in Ohio, and others in healthcare fields and the helping professions, are being trained as volunteers to do contact tracing for their local health departments. This is a decentralized effort across the state of Ohio to create a volunteer army of contact tracers.

Also, at our university we are working with students in social work and public health, as well as alumni and retirees in those fields who are interested in volunteering. One of our faculty colleagues in the field of public health has developed a training module that is being used at the local and state levels. It takes six hours of independent study, followed by a mock interview.

The National Association of County and City Health Officials estimates that the U.S. will likely need nearly 100,000 contact tracers.

A nursing student in Ohio who volunteered to do contract tracing and who has already been trained and has started her work as a volunteer says that she spent an hour and a half talking to someone in the hospital who has no one to talk to. It's not just about the data collection.

 

[mickey2942]

On Contact Tracing in Ohio

JMO
Nursing students in Ohio, and others in healthcare fields and the helping professions, are being trained as volunteers to do contact tracing for their local health departments. This is a decentralized effort across the state of Ohio to create a volunteer army of contact tracers.

Also, at our university we are working with students in social work and public health, as well as alumni and retirees in those fields who are interested in volunteering. One of our faculty colleagues in the field of public health has developed a training module that is being used at the local and state levels. It takes six hours of independent study, followed by a mock interview.

The National Association of County and City Health Officials estimates that the U.S. will likely need nearly 100,000 contact tracers.

A nursing student in Ohio who volunteered to do contract tracing and who has already been trained and has started her work as a volunteer says that she spent an hour and a half talking to someone in the hospital who has no one to talk to. It's not just about the data collection.

Which is why, I am not exactly sure that Medical students would be the greatest people to recruit for this type of position.

I love doctors, have worked with many of them. Most of whom were brilliant people. But not the best at "chit chat" or doing social activities. Some very important information could be obtained from people with just chatting, and they mention that they took a bottle of water out to the UPS guy. Boom.

 

[firebird]

An observation from my state that partially re-opened last Friday (salons, elective surgery, etc) and Monday (restaurants and limited retail). A lot more cars on the road and, more importantly, a TON more cars in the parking lots of businesses I pass on my way to the office.

Also, my daughter, who worked part time in retail while attending school, qualified for unemployment and will be getting a check for like $2k. Absurd, imo, No wonder certain people are staying home instead of going back to work. Her benefit would otherwise be $176 per week -- and that's if she would even have bothered applying in the first place, which she wouldn't have.

 

[Henry2326]

Ha....and US can figure out how to do more than 300k a day on a regular basis.
----------------------------------

The Chinese city of Wuhan is drawing up plans to test its entire population of 11 million people for Covid-19, state media report.

The plan appears to be in its early stages, with all districts in Wuhan told to submit details as to how testing could be done within 10 days.

It comes after Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, recorded six new cases over the weekend.

Prior to this, it had seen no new cases at all since 3 April.

Wuhan, which was in strict lockdown for 11 weeks, began re-opening on 8 April.

For a while it seemed like life was getting back to normal as schools re-opened, businesses slowly emerged and public transport resumed operations. But the emergence of a cluster of cases - all from the same residential compound - has now threatened the move back to normalcy.

'The ten-day-battle'
According to report by The Paper, quoting a widely circulated internal document, every district in the city has been told to draw up a 10-day testing plan by noon on Tuesday.

Each district is responsible for coming up with its own plan based on the size of their population and whether or not there is currently an active outbreak in the district.

The document, which refers to the test plan as the "10-day battle", also says that older people and densely populated communities should be prioritised when it comes to testing.

Coronavirus: Wuhan draws up plans to test all 11 million residents

 

[dixiegirl1035]

First of all, let me say that i believe what makes this virus so evil is its ability to transmit disease to others while the person transmitting the disease has no symptoms: with the flu and colds people exhibit symptoms: they know they have it, and others know they have it. This virus is much much nastier than any other for that reason. I suppose if a person does not know they have the disease, and others around them don't know that person has it, they may be in close proximity- getting breathed on- or the asymptomatic contagious person touches a surface, the other person touches that surface and then touches their face, eyes, nose or mouth: perhaps the other person even shares food with an asymptomatic person-- i imagine if you spend a lot of time with a person who is an asymptomatic carrier, you certainly have an increased chance to get the virus.

That is why i think all people should get tested, whether they have symptoms or not.

As far as washing my clothes, I don't believe clothes are a major conduit for transmission-- I am not going to be throwing my clothes in the washer---just like i don't believe surfaces like cardboard are a major conduit for transmission though i do take some precautions in that regard without going overboard.

All below MOO

Waaaaaaaaay back, that is how AFLAC (The Duck Insurance) grew. It started out, then saw that folks in Asia wore masks all the time as a preventative for diseases. The company went after Asian folks for insurance thinking that if they are so fearful of such, they will buy insurance.

They were right.

It will be interesting how much AFLAC or other insurance companies in the future "break out" this disease for additional insurance coverage.

 

[24Roses]

Iowa update: WATCH NOW: Reynolds delays announcement on reopening as cases, deaths rise Announcement of more openings delayed until Wed. And of the 539 new confirmed cases today, 319 were from 2 weeks ago when those Iowans were tested in Nebraska and not reported to Iowa until now. IMO-I don't think it was at Smithfield that those Iowans worked at in Neb. as mentioned in the article. I would lean toward Tyson instead just IMO.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Unfortunately at this point we don’t really know that testing positive means someone is immune and can’t get COVID again.

I spoke with an epidemiologist before I had my test and he explained that positive test results don’t mean that you can let your guard down. There have been multiple cases of people getting COVID 19 more than once, and there are already three known mutations.

There have been more than 10. @Henry2326 has been posting NextStrain for a long time .

auspice

 

[Inthedetails]

Which is why, I am not exactly sure that Medical students would be the greatest people to recruit for this type of position.

I love doctors, have worked with many of them. Most of whom were brilliant people. But not the best at "chit chat" or doing social activities. Some very important information could be obtained from people with just chatting, and they mention that they took a bottle of water out to the UPS guy. Boom.

Rapport and also confidence are going to be essential skills - and also an acute understanding of the neighborhood. Not all communities are alike or will respond the same, and I'm assuming that will be covered with training.

I'm very skeptical that Americans are going to participate in tracing or appreciate anyone knocking on their door to ask questions. I don't have high hopes tracing will work, sorry to say.

jmo

 

[The Night Watchman]

But the lockdown will save lives, because as the pandemic continues, doctors will learn more about the disease and what treatments do and don't help, and hopefully there will be a vaccine down the line. If you can delay people getting the disease until there are treatments or vaccines, you definitely will save lives.

Yes, I agree on all points. No question that kicking the can down the road will allow healthcare to be better prepared. The question is at what cost, and will it be worth it. Will more lives ultimately be lost from the cure?

It's complicated.

 

[anneg]

Regarding contact tracing: You can take a free 5-hour course from Johns Hopkins through coursera.org.

About this Course
The COVID-19 crisis has created an unprecedented need for contact tracing across the country, requiring thousands of people to learn key skills quickly. The job qualifications for contact tracing positions differ throughout the country and the world, with some new positions open to individuals with a high school diploma or equivalent.

In this introductory course, students will learn about the science of SARS-CoV-2 , including the infectious period, the clinical presentation of COVID-19, and the evidence for how SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted from person-to-person and why contact tracing can be such an effective public health intervention. Students will learn about how contact tracing is done, including how to build rapport with cases, identify their contacts, and support both cases and their contacts to stop transmission in their communities. The course will also cover several important ethical considerations around contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine. Finally, the course will identify some of the most common barriers to contact tracing efforts -- along with strategies to overcome them.

COVID-19 Contact Tracing | Coursera

 

[LadyL]

100 dead in Navajo Nation as coronavirus spreading at "alarming rate," says president of Native American Territory

 

[Inthedetails]

Yes, I agree on all points. No question that kicking the can down the road will allow healthcare to be better prepared. The question is at what cost, and will it be worth it. Will more lives ultimately be lost from the cure?

It's complicated.

IMO, if we have beds in the hospitals and healthcare providers are not overwhelmed with patients and workload, we need to open up WITH social distancing, even if treatments/vaccine, etc not fully in place. The point of the lockdown, from my understanding, was to protect our health-care system so that it didn't collapse.

The virus isn't going anywhere soon, so we need to figure out how to live with it - while protecting the vulnerable, slowing the spread, and maintaining healthcare for all needs (not just Covid). We can do that, if people cooperate with social distancing to slow the spread.

(If people don't social distance, the cases will go up, the hospitals will be overwhelmed, and lockdown will happen again.)

my opinion

 

[The Night Watchman]

Just signed up for a coronavirus antibody test. Tomorrow at 11:45AM. $130. Couple of days turnaround, I think.

Why? I think I had coronavirus, and would put the odds at 75%. This would likely mean my wife and daughters had it as well since we have been together for 2 months.

My symptoms-

Late February, early March: I felt off for about two and half weeks, experiencing usual fatigue. I got winded and a little weak going up two sets of stairs where I never did before. I felt like I was running at 50-75% energy. The first week I was at my desk and felt a strong fatigue come on and also felt slightly feverish. I took my temperature the next day but it was normal. From then, I just had the fatigue and my light cough persisted, tapering back to normal in a couple of weeks. Now none of this is particularly pointing to CV, but I suspect the virus since these were symptoms I never had before- I recall thinking that at the time. It wasn't until a month ago that I tied this episode to possibly being coronavirus.

My boss/colleague at work also had a month long cough, weakness etc before my episode. He joked about probably infecting everyone (10) at work with a cold, but this was before coronavirus was thought to be a possibility in Massachusetts.

So hoping for a great outcome- a positive reading. I repost with my results when I receive them.

Questdirect

 

[LadyL]

Canada

Nearly two months into living in some form of isolation, watching retirement savings take a hit, and having to take additional health precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, eligible seniors are set to receive a one-time tax-free payment of up to $500.

Seniors being sent one-time payment of up to $500: PM

 

[The Night Watchman]

An observation from my state that partially re-opened last Friday (salons, elective surgery, etc) and Monday (restaurants and limited retail). A lot more cars on the road and, more importantly, a TON more cars in the parking lots of businesses I pass on my way to the office.

Also, my daughter, who worked part time in retail while attending school, qualified for unemployment and will be getting a check for like $2k. Absurd, imo, No wonder certain people are staying home instead of going back to work. Her benefit would otherwise be $176 per week -- and that's if she would even have bothered applying in the first place, which she wouldn't have.

The overpayments to furloughed and unemployed people is absurd, I agree.

My youngest daughter has the same story as yours. She was a part time waitress and student, and is now making far more money and has no incentive to find a job. My wife worked 30 hrs a week and is making $600 a week extra by staying home.

The oldest daughter is working full-time from home and is not happy with this redistribution of wealth.

Politicians have lost their damn minds and we will pay for years for the unnecessary waste.

 

[LadyL]

A new study investigating correlations between smoking, COVID-19, and a type of lung disease called COPD has found that current smokers are at a higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than non-smokers.

The study, published Monday in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, is the first to specifically investigate the risks posed to COVID-19 patients with a history of COPD.

Smokers more likely to develop severe COVID-19 complications: study

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Just signed up for a coronavirus antibody test. Tomorrow at 11:45AM. $130. Couple of days turnaround, I think.

Why? I think I had coronavirus, and would put the odds at 75%. This would likely mean my wife and daughters had it as well since we have been together for 2 months.

My symptoms-

Late February, early March: I felt off for about two and half weeks, experiencing usual fatigue. I got winded and a little weak going up two sets of stairs where I never did before. I felt like I was running at 50-75% energy. The first week I was at my desk and felt a strong fatigue come on and also felt slightly feverish. I took my temperature the next day but it was normal. From then, I just had the fatigue and my light cough persisted, tapering back to normal in a couple of weeks. Now none of this is particularly pointing to CV, but I suspect the virus since these were symptoms I never had before- I recall thinking that at the time. It wasn't until a month ago that I tied this episode to possibly being coronavirus.

My boss/colleague at work also had a month long cough, weakness etc before my episode. He joked about probably infecting everyone (10) at work with a cold, but this was before coronavirus was thought to be a possibility in Massachusetts.

So hoping for a great outcome- a positive reading. I repost with my results when I receive them.

Questdirect

I really envy your ability to access the test. Hoping it shows you did have the virus (odd thing to say, but you know what I mean)

 

[mickey2942]

All below MOO

Waaaaaaaaay back, that is how AFLAC (The Duck Insurance) grew. It started out, then saw that folks in Asia wore masks all the time as a preventative for diseases. The company went after Asian folks for insurance thinking that if they are so fearful of such, they will buy insurance.

They were right.

It will be interesting how much AFLAC or other insurance companies in the future "break out" this disease for additional insurance coverage.

I bet in the fine print, AFLAC won't cover a disease. I don't know this though. Usually it covers accidents, like you broke a leg skiing and can't work. Although, my friend was pregnant and received coverage because she was grounded at 6 months, as a flight attendant.

 

[Victoria Chambers]

So how does it spread if they are not coughing? Just by breathing and or not washing hands?

This one is a bit contradictory.

6. Wash your clothes regularly

Britons should wash their clothes regularly, according to the guidance, because studies have shown the virus can survive on fabrics for several days - but often dies after a few hours.

?????

So you can catch it doing someone else's laundry.

I think just stopping with a neighbour, or stood at a checkout engaging in general conversation would spread the virus. Oral spray from a little laugh and whatnot. It's hard to be completely on the ball with it. We are that used to having a little natter or gossip when we are out and about! It's crazy! X