Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #57

[tresir2012]

Welsh 'frustration' as English house market starts

 

[Mo Thuairim]

Priest blessing parishioners with water pistol

A Catholic priest in the US is using a water pistol in a bid to maintain social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Photos posted on social media by St Ambrose Church in Detroit show Fr Tim Pelc shooting holy water into a car window as it stopped by the steps of the church.

He wore a mask, face shield and rubber gloves as further precautions against spreading coronavirus.

[...]

Fr Pelc told BuzzFeed News he was a little concerned about how the Vatican might react when the photos of him squirting holy water began circulating widely on the internet, but added: "I haven't heard anything yet."

Priest blessing parishioners with water pistol

 

[firebird]

Hah, sheer chaos really. You were supposed to sign in and form lines by your appointment times. They allowed 11 people in (11 windows open) one at a time as customers left.

Sounds simple right? People walking up with no appointments, getting in wrong lines. I thought 2 guys were going to get into a fist fight. I'd say 50% had masks on, little kids being dragged into the long lines running around.

So, business as usual lol

 

[Sundog]

Priest blessing parishioners with water pistol

A Catholic priest in the US is using a water pistol in a bid to maintain social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Photos posted on social media by St Ambrose Church in Detroit show Fr Tim Pelc shooting holy water into a car window as it stopped by the steps of the church.

He wore a mask, face shield and rubber gloves as further precautions against spreading coronavirus.

[...]

Fr Pelc told BuzzFeed News he was a little concerned about how the Vatican might react when the photos of him squirting holy water began circulating widely on the internet, but added: "I haven't heard anything yet."

Priest blessing parishioners with water pistol

Very creative!

 

[mickey2942]

Phoenix burb. Home prices about $500k and up. Prob about 1/2 or more homes in my very small hood were bought out of bruptcy or on short sale during the RE crash in 2008. So most sellers have lots of equity. Easier to sell if you don’t need to get x amount of $ imo

Unless the price of homes tank. I am thinking that there will be a lot of nice homes for sale in Orlando, Las Vegas...no jobs.

 

[weepingangel]

Defying governor’s reopening plan, Oxford, Mass. gym reopens
Central Massachusetts https://www.masslive.com/coronaviru...ges-gym-members-not-to-wear-masks-inside.html

“We’re going to do things in two simple phases, since ‘Faker Baker’ doesn’t want to announce any of his," Blondin said. “I hope to only have to do this for a short period of time, and things can just go back to normal, but we have to start somewhere.
"And by all means, if you do not want to come to the gym, don’t, but the majority of us need our sanity back.”
The gym owner urged members not to wear face masks at the facility, going against the governor’s executive order requiring people to wear face coverings in public places when social distancing is not possible.

More at link

 

[24Roses]

Iowa numbers May 19: COVID-19 in Iowa: 12 deaths, 341 new cases reported in last 24 hours 341 new confirmed cases and 12 more have passed away for a total of 15,296 confirmed cases and 367 have passed away; 7,827 have recovered. This website Iowa COVID-19 Information is now updating cases continuously throughout the day but KCCI and IMO other news stations will be updating case numbers and deaths at 10:00 a.m. daily.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Yeah, me too - and not just one doctor. But OP is right - there are conditions where people are on antibiotics long term as a preventative measure. These are not already-healthy people, though, as she also states.

I should have originally said that Pres. Trump has been deemed healthy, therefore I don't get the Z-Pac as a preventative, because it merely causes the bacteria to become resistant and when Z-Pac is needed (as lung function shuts down due to CoVid), it won't be as effective.

At least don't take the same antibiotic that's being recommended as the treatment for an eventual case of CoVid-induced bacterial pneumonia. That's how I read the literature.

Also, the studies on HCQ are not impressive, which is why it surprises me that physicians are covertly taking it. I'm going to start asking all the people I know who are physicians or married to them, if they are self-prescribing in this way - or prescribing only to each other. I have talked frequently with 6 different physicians and several other medical researchers about what they recommend to do, as a preventative and none of them has said HCQ. These people are at two different institutions (Stanford and UCLA) and when doctors and researchers at those places agree (without knowing each other personally), I triangulate that with the literature.

There's a shortage of HCQ for people who really need it. If, OTOH, there's some reason we should all be stockpiling HCQ, I'd like to know it. I am floored that doctors would not at least publish something to support this, if they're doing it.

Anyway, enough on that topic. It's exhausting thinking about this aspect of it.

But you know....... physicians know how to talk out of both sides of mouth too. I knew a guy who was in a special rather clandestine (but large) group of AA...just for physicians under alcohol and drug abuse... they know how to manage what they tell us not to do....

 

[The Night Watchman]

Defying governor’s reopening plan, Oxford, Mass. gym reopens
Central Massachusetts

More at link

I'm on the fence on this one. The place is large and people can distance and disinfect equipment as they see fit. This is a not a vulnerable group of people, although the risk is that they spread the virus, the same as happens at manufacturing facilities that are opening.

Boston mayor Marty Walsh recently said-

“We can draw two preliminary conclusions from the results of this (antibody) study,” Walsh said at a news conference Friday. “First, that the actions we took early on in this pandemic made a real difference in slowing the spread and, second, that the majority of our population still have not been exposed to the virus. This underscores what we already know, that we have to move cautiously and stay focused on what got us this far.”

So Marty says the majority of the population has still not been exposed, so we stay the course. So is he also saying that it would OK to open if more people had been exposed? How do more people get exposed? Has Boston moved from flattening the curve, to eradicating the virus at any cost? I'm not sure what we are trying to do anymore.

https://nypost.com/2020/05/16/boston-delays-reopening-due-to-coronavirus-antibody-study/

 

[Mo Thuairim]

On care homes again: Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea are the Asian countries that we can learn from when it comes to managing Covid outbreaks in care homes, mainly due to their experience of Sars, it seems. In Europe, Germany has been more successful than other countries because of their strict quarantine protocols...

MPs hear why Hong Kong had no Covid-19 care home deaths

<Snipped>
Despite sharing a border with China, Prof Terry Lum, the head of social care policy at Hong Kong University, told the UK parliament’s health and social care select committee that Hong Kong treated the outbreak like Sars, the killer virus that hit Asia in 2003, and saved lives.

By contrast, the UK’s response to coronavirus was based on planning for a flu pandemic.

Lum said care facilities in Hong Kong had been highly vigilant against spread from hospitals with any confirmed cases quarantined for up to three months.

This contrasted with evidence from Prof Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England, which represents the largest provider networks, who said asymptomatic and symptomatic Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals into care homes spreading the virus.

“Most important is stopping the transmission from hospital to nursing home,” Lum said. “We do a very good job on isolation. Once we have any person infected we isolate them in hospital for three months and at the same time we isolate all the close contact people in a separate quarantine centre for 14 days for observation.

“They do tests regularly in that 14 days to make sure they don’t have the virus. We use a supercomputer to trace the close contacts of people being infected particularly for cluster outbreaks.”

He added that all nursing homes had a trained infection controller and underwent emergency drills simulating an infection outbreak four times a year so infection control becomes “a well-worn practice”.

[...]

MPs also heard from Isabell Halletz, the chief executive at the German employers’ association for care homes, who said there had been fewer than 3,000 Covid-19 deaths in care homes in Germany, partly because no one was allowed in from hospitals without a negative test, or had undergone quarantine in designated centres or repurposed hotels for at least 14 days.

Adelina Comas-Herrera, a research fellow at the London School of Economics studying Covid-19 deaths in care homes globally, also praised Singapore and South Korea, which have recorded no care home deaths by quarantining infected residents or moving them to hospitals.

“[Their] infection control policies [were] based not on influenza but on Sars and that has helped them,” she said.

MPs hear why Hong Kong had no Covid-19 care home deaths

 

[MsArk]

Maybe not - their Clients include small business owners and restaurants who have been closed and cannot pay their bills - we have 5 law firms in our complex and all have said clients are slow paying - even the big firms report revenues down - just an FYI from my little world
JMO

This is true. My son is an atty at one of the top 50 largest firms in the US. All associates have taken a 20% pay cut and my son’s largest client, a major auto manufacturer, has culled their business by at least 50%. That said, it will be easy for his firm to bounce back.

 

[Cool Cats]

CDC: Virus 'does not spread easily' on contaminated surfaces

Update: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) - Transmission

May 19, 2020, 11:33 AM EDT

The CDC has updated guidelines on coronavirus' spread, saying that it's "not likely" to spread through surfaces.

 

[10ofRods]

Only 7% of CoVid patients experience loss of smell

There's a Chinese study that says 3%, but this one had a pretty good sample size.^

Most people recover their sense of smell/taste around the time they feel otherwise recovered, but not everyone. It's too soon to know much about this small group of people. However, anecdotal evidence of younger people with mild cases of CV (but with profound loss of smell/taste) shows that 6 weeks out, some are still not back to normal.

However, in general with anosmia and ageustia (I put those terms in so you can search for yourselves), recovery is often related to underlying conditions or age. However, it's too soon for much data on a small number of patients. In fact, as data emerge, lots of people are still feeling fatigue, anosmia, ageustia, and may have an occasional cough, even the early recovering people.

I suspect pre-prints on the early recovering people will begin to appear in greater numbers in the next couple of weeks.

If you want the anecdotal data, I'll try to find a way to provide it (can't post it - Tricia has okayed me linking to my blog since it is not monetized in any way).

 

[10ofRods]

CDC: Virus 'does not spread easily' on contaminated surfaces

Update: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) - Transmission

May 19, 2020, 11:33 AM EDT

The CDC has updated guidelines on coronavirus' spread, saying that it's "not likely" to spread through surfaces.

This is such good news. There are several doctors who have been blogging about their experiences, and I'd noticed that none of them is concerned about groceries, mail, countertops outside of hospitals, etc., but still recommend washing hands after touching elevator buttons, credit card machines and gas pumps.

 

[tabitha111]

15-year-old girl in Maryland dies from 'inflammatory syndrome’ linked to coronavirus

A 15-year-old girl in Maryland has died after contracting COVID-19, marking what officials called the first death in Baltimore County from the pediatric inflammatory syndrome linked to coronavirus.
The girl “had symptoms of an inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19 infection that has been documented in children in New York and other locations,” officials said in a statement Tuesday.


15-year-old girl in Maryland dies from 'inflammatory syndrome’ linked to coronavirus

 

[10ofRods]

The United States had 1003 deaths yesterday, up by around 150 from the day before. However, it was Monday, and Mondays are higher due to reporting issues over the weekend.

Coronavirus Update (Live): 4,947,841 Cases and 322,769 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer

(click "yesterday" for the data - today's data is still emerging).

 

[firebird]

This is true. My son is an atty at one of the top 50 largest firms in the US. All associates have taken a 20% pay cut and my son’s largest client, a major auto manufacturer, has culled their business by at least 50%. That said, it will be easy for his firm to bounce back.

Yes. It definitely depends on the practice area. A lot of the biggest firms have tons of different departments, including large transactional, RE, etc. groups. The litigation and insurance depts, and many some others, will keep them afloat through the hard times. My office is strictly litigation and insurance, so we are crazy busy and will undoubtedly continue to be so as the lawsuits emerge. Bankruptcy attorneys also will do very well I suspect. jmo

 

[Tillicum]

CDC: Virus 'does not spread easily' on contaminated surfaces

Update: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) - Transmission

May 19, 2020, 11:33 AM EDT

The CDC has updated guidelines on coronavirus' spread, saying that it's "not likely" to spread through surfaces.

Wish I had known this before I went grocery shopping today. Probably would've gotten my groceries put away in a fourth the time it took.

 

[10ofRods]

15-year-old girl in Maryland dies from 'inflammatory syndrome’ linked to coronavirus

A 15-year-old girl in Maryland has died after contracting COVID-19, marking what officials called the first death in Baltimore County from the pediatric inflammatory syndrome linked to coronavirus.
The girl “had symptoms of an inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19 infection that has been documented in children in New York and other locations,” officials said in a statement Tuesday.


15-year-old girl in Maryland dies from 'inflammatory syndrome’ linked to coronavirus

This is very concerning. There are possible 147 cases of young people with this syndrome under consideration in New York. Note that this is another "post-acute" finding.

Up to 147 NYC Kids Sickened by Severe New COVID Syndrome; 12 Cases Confirmed in NJ

These are children who are known to have had CoVid and now have this syndrome. And it's worldwide and intense in the areas with enough CoVid cases for numbers to be noticed (France has just one case, Italy has 10).

France records first child fatality from rare disease linked to Covid-19

Kawasaki-like COVID-19 complication found in Italian kids

What all these kids with this new unusual syndrome have in common...is CoVid. Other factors are not yet known/published.

Since CoVid operates on epithelial cells and that's what's acutely inflamed in these kids, obviously scientists will explore the actual mechanisms by which this latent syndrome operates.

I suspect they will find correlations between this syndrome and characteristics of the patients.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Wish I had known this before I went grocery shopping today. Probably would've gotten my groceries put away in a fourth the time it took.

And you could have licked that shopping trolley handle to your hearts content. If only you'd known, dammit