Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #60

[CSIDreamer]

I don’t mean to offend, but who are these hundreds of health officials...because as we use to say around here, a lot of that info seems hinky to me...considering the Covid crisis over there only...

My post has no racial bias whatsoever purely a community health concern...

Names are on here:

Open Letter.pdf

 

[mickey2942]

Do they have protocol for medical offices? If they do you could just use that

I finally found it. After digging for 20 minutes. One would think it should be front and center on their homepage.

 

[KALI]

One of the scariest articles I have read. Hearing from the sick makes more of an impact then any numbers or statistics for me. More stories like these should be published.
People need to really "get" how awful catching this can be.

When you read (in the article) the progress of Covid 19, it is horrid.
Stay safe guys!

'It feels endless': four women struggling to recover from Covid-19

'It feels endless': four women struggling to recover from Covid-19

Luke Harding
8 hrs ago
...
Last month, the Guardian published an interview with Paul Garner, a professor of infectious diseases, about his experience of Covid-19. The piece was shared widely and viewed nearly 1m times. Readers got in touch to say they too were suffering from lingering and often strange Covid-19 symptoms.

There is evidence that the official NHS description of the virus’s symptoms – cough, fever, loss of taste/smell – is too narrow. Those who do not need acute hospital treatment and who are isolating at home report a far broader range of problems. Often these go on for longer than 14 days. An online survey of 151 medical professionals who fell ill in March found 68 are still unable to work. A further 26 went back, only to stop again when symptoms returned.
It appears coronavirus may be a chronic condition. How long it persists for is unknown. The symptoms can be serious and wide-ranging, affecting the lungs, heart, brain, kidneys, stomach and nervous system. Headaches, shortness of breath, sore throat and feeling exhausted are common. So is recovery followed by frequent relapses. Here are the stories of four women who are struggling to return to normal life.

 

[tabitha111]

Retail rage is new reality for workers in age of coronavirus

RETAIL RAGE

For weeks Samantha Clarke calmly listened to the insults and threats directed daily at her and her employees by people who learned they couldn't enter the Modesto, California, store without wearing a mask and following other coronavirus-related rules.



But never, says the 17-year veteran of retail sales, did she expect she'd be sucker-punched and knocked to the floor, blood gushing from her battered face. Not until it happened recently after a customer was told the last above-ground swimming pool in stock had just been sold to someone else.





"I've been in retail my whole life. I've been at this particular job 17 years and I've never heard of anyone being attacked, ever," Clarke said by phone one recent evening after finishing the night shift.



But in retrospect she says, perhaps she should have seen it coming.



"We had the normal upset customer from time to time, but rarely did someone lose their temper and cuss at us," she says of life before the store she manages began operating under state-issued coronavirus safety guidelines.



"Now it's just daily, sometimes back to back to back," she said.



{snip}



After Clarke put photos of her bloody, bruised face on her personal Facebook page along with an explanation of what it's like to work in retail sales these days, it was shared thousands of times, prompting her to create a separate page, "Retail Life During COVID-19," to handle the response. Within days the page attracted tens of thousands of followers.



Several comments came from others who say they work in retail too and since the pandemic have been faced with an unending string of abuse.



"My co-worker was spat on by a person who wouldn't wear a mask," one person who said she worked in retail in Riverside, California, told Clarke.



Others posted news stories of attacks occurring around the country, including at a Flint, Michigan, Dollar Store where a security guard was shot to death last month after telling a woman she couldn't enter without a mask.

{snip}



The masks seem to upset customers the most, said Clarke, although many shoppers don't like rules requiring people to stay 6 feet apart or the store's policy of banning the return of items during the pandemic.



"I had one lady threaten to burn the store down because we wouldn't take her return," she said. "It's insane."



Clarke was attacked on May 6 as she was hearing a complaint from a woman angry the pool she wanted to buy was gone by the time she got there. A cashier had agreed to hold it for 30 minutes but by the time she arrived, about an hour later, the hold had been lifted and it was sold.



"She just started throwing stuff off the counter and in such a rage that items were hitting her baby stroller," Clarke said, adding she couldn't tell if there was actually a baby in the woman's stroller, which was covered by a blanket.



She was about to tell her to leave, Clarke said, when she was hit.



By the time she got up, blood gushing from a gash above one of her eyes, the woman had left. Clarke followed her outside and got a fairly good photo of her, her face partially obscured by a mask. But the woman had used the baby blanket to cover the car's license plate before she drove away.



An ambulance took Clarke to an urgent care center to have the gash above her eye patched.



(continued at link)
BBM & SBM

 

[tmar]

COVID-19 vaccine scientists 'near breakthrough' on antibody treatment

COVID-19 vaccine scientists 'near breakthrough' on antibody treatment

4 hrs ago
...
British scientists thought to be leading the global race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine are reportedly also close to a major breakthrough on a life-saving antibody treatment.

The Oxford University team have been confident about their work on a vaccine for coronavirus, with millions of doses already being manufactured by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca in the expectation that it will work.

And there is now similar confidence that a separate project to create an antibody treatment for those especially vulnerable to COVID-19 will also prove successful, with testing now said to be moving at "full speed".
Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, has described the treatment as a "combination of two antibodies" in an injected dose, reducing the chance that someone would develop resistance to one of them.

He told The Sunday Telegraph that the treatment could be vital for the elderly and vulnerable, "who may not be able to develop a good response to the vaccine".
He added that production for antibody therapies is far more expensive than it is for vaccines.
...
AstraZeneca has signed deals ensuring millions of doses of the Oxford vaccine can be manufactured if it works.

One is with Microsoft founder Bill Gates, to supply doses to low and middle-income countries; the other is with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

Around 30 million could be made available in the UK as early as September, Downing Street has said.

However, some scientists have expressed caution over how soon any vaccine could be made available.

The vaccine, named ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, is made from a weakened version of the common cold virus, which causes infections in chimpanzees.

The virus has been manipulated to not cause harm to humans, but contains part of COVID-19 so to trigger the body's immune response to the virus's spike proteins, which it uses to enter human cells and multiply.

 

[Gardenista]

Maskless protester tests positive for coronavirus after large rally, KS officials say

As part of the contact tracing process, the man told officials he had not worn a mask at the protest, the release said.

Officials are asking those who attended the demonstration to keep close watch on their health.

“Similar to what we would ask anyone who goes out in public right now, we are asking anyone who attended the recent protest to self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms and isolate if they become sick as well as call their healthcare provider for next steps,” Informatics Director Sonia Jordan said in the release.

 

[tmar]

UK coronavirus victims have lain undetected at home for two weeks

UK coronavirus victims have lain undetected at home for two weeks

Denis Campbell Health policy editor
1 hour ago
...
People have died at home alone of Covid-19 during the pandemic and not been found for up to two weeks, doctors who have investigated such deaths have said.

They have only been discovered after a relative, friend or neighbour raised the alarm and have in many cases gone undetected for so long that their body has started to decompose.

Campaigners for the elderly said the phenomenon highlighted the vulnerability of isolated older people living on their own with little family support and the risks being run by the large numbers of patients who have avoided hospitals and GP surgeries in recent months through fear of coronavirus.
...
Doctors believe that several dozen such cases occurred in London during March, April and May.

During the pandemic doctors have certified the deaths of 700 people who lived at home in London, with or without relatives. Medics involved in ascertaining the cause of these deaths say that in many cases they have either confirmed coronavirus as the cause or judged that, combined with underlying poor health, it was likely to have contributed or resulted in the person’s death

 

[CSIDreamer]

Indiana, US

12.2% positive. Still trending downward for now.

ISDH - Novel Coronavirus: Indiana COVID-19 Dashboard

 

[tabitha111]

When you read (in the article) the progress of Covid 19, it is horrid.
Stay safe guys!

'It feels endless': four women struggling to recover from Covid-19

'It feels endless': four women struggling to recover from Covid-19

Luke Harding
8 hrs ago
...
Last month, the Guardian published an interview with Paul Garner, a professor of infectious diseases, about his experience of Covid-19. The piece was shared widely and viewed nearly 1m times. Readers got in touch to say they too were suffering from lingering and often strange Covid-19 symptoms.

There is evidence that the official NHS description of the virus’s symptoms – cough, fever, loss of taste/smell – is too narrow. Those who do not need acute hospital treatment and who are isolating at home report a far broader range of problems. Often these go on for longer than 14 days. An online survey of 151 medical professionals who fell ill in March found 68 are still unable to work. A further 26 went back, only to stop again when symptoms returned.
It appears coronavirus may be a chronic condition. How long it persists for is unknown. The symptoms can be serious and wide-ranging, affecting the lungs, heart, brain, kidneys, stomach and nervous system. Headaches, shortness of breath, sore throat and feeling exhausted are common. So is recovery followed by frequent relapses. Here are the stories of four women who are struggling to return to normal life.

Very scary! I am convinced this article contributed to my COVID nightmare last night...where I was stuck in a Navy Exchange (I am retired..lol) with a bunch of people with no masks on and they were crowded around me...one was even smoking and blowing his smoke in my face! I was like "that's it...I've got Corona now" ...seriously thought it was really happening...LOL

 

[margarita25]

So back to this 2005 documentary I saw the other night called “The Coming Pandemic”, referenced earlier, another noteworthy part of the show was about Australia and how responsive they were. They’ve got their stuff together, they were prepared. This is why their numbers look like they do, moo.

Again, I wish we could we could’ve been like Australia.

(Hey, now THAT may be a good place to go since Canada is so cold lol.

(The Australians are like, “hell no, stay over there!” Lol))

 

[Sundog]

I don’t mean to offend, but who are these hundreds of health officials...because as we use to say around here, a lot of that info seems hinky to me...considering the Covid crisis over there only...

My post has no racial bias whatsoever purely a community health concern...

The list of signatories to the Open Letter is at the end of the document.

The second link is an article on the Open Letter that was published in The Atlantic which is critical of the Open Letter.

Open Letter.pdf


The Protesters Deserve the Truth About the Coronavirus

 

[10ofRods]

Ya know, as a restaurant here in California, we have been in lock down, then semi-lock down for almost 4 months.
We are still required to only use 50% of our business for our customers.
Our beautiful restaurant's entrance is plastered with WARNING signs regarding the danger of entering our business as well as the amazing sanitation and protective measures we supply our customers, so that they might feel safe to eat here.
Yet, for nearly two weeks, we have watched hundreds of thousands of people ignore ALL of our California government requirements, to run loose in the streets, blocking our highways and taking over our cities, yelling at the top of their lungs, with full approval from the same leaders who told us not to leave our houses two weeks ago.
We honestly don't know what to do.

Everyone I know is suffering mental health effects from just what you describe (the head-whipping of being told one thing, then another; seeing one thing go in one direction, then all hell breaks loose in another).

It is definitely changing my life too, and I am very down today. We had this gradual reopening thing going on, and now, if you look at actual new cases in California today, we're back at one of our highest rates. This bump up is because starting even before Memorial Day, people started just going back to normal. Everyone thinks that their own "normal" is okay to do. See the same friends. Maybe change where meet-ups occur (back then, restaurants were still take out only).

But there's still been a bump-up in cases. And now, as my two adult children go back to their "regular lives," I'm realizing that it's statistically more likely they'd transmit to me right now, than it was in April.

The data from South Carolina suggest that large crowd gatherings, even at the beach, cause a rise in transmission. So what will the protests cause? Keeping in mind that many protesters will be asymptomatic, first there won't be much change - but then, just as at the beginning of all this, they will return to "normal life" and perhaps to classrooms, jobs, nightlife, etc.

So for those of us who are more vulnerable (and that would include restaurant workers and healthcare workers), it's depressing and mind boggling.

Having said all that, restaurant workers who know proper mask use can be relatively safe - in fact, with some planning, very safe. Early detection of CoVid is key to avoiding the seriously negative outcomes such as the ones mentioned just above, in this thread.

So what do we do? Do we go get swabbed once a week? And what do you do? I'm so sorry you have to plaster stuff on your windows.

But the mental health effects (for me, anger, grief, disappointment, cognitive dissonance, even a sense of unreality) are real. How are we supposed to make sense of this?

I'm watching Belgium (worst major nation for CoVid) with its very specific reopening plan, well-reasoned and very very clear. It's not about signs in windows (that's stupid IMO). Belgium is allowing restaurants to open with more separation of tables, but they are allowing one table to be larger (I think that's what they're doing). Only staff wear masks. In France, people are voluntarily wearing visors that allow eating if they're feeling really vulnerable. No one under 12 wears masks in Belgium and they're going. back to school today - so they'll be our guinea pig. I suspect cases will go up *slightly* (as we're already seeing in California due to our pre-Memorial Day loosening).

My daughter was about to go on her annual trip to San Diego, but the thing that made her cancel was the hotel's discouraging her to come. They said they wouldn't be opening the pool area until later in the summer, which was a big part of their family vacation. It's so frustrating to have to wait for more data to come in - and then to have these freakin' WILD CARDS (protests, etc) thrown into the mix.

California is nearly back up to its highest rate of daily new cases of CoVid. The only good news is that a larger number are being treated at home while supposedly quarantined. Fewer ICU admissions.

 

[mickey2942]

Ironman athlete was young and healthy, until COVID-19 almost killed him | Grand Forks Herald

This is something everyone should read.

That mask issue above is interesting. Wearing a mask triggers rage in some people, not wearing a mask triggers rage in others.

Side note: business and getting work done takes forever now. Normal, routine work, is staggeringly slow. Whether people in other areas are off work, or whatever. The system in the United States for almost everything, aside from Amazon, seems to move at a glacial rate now.

 

[Sundog]

CDC fail. I am developing a standardized protocol/procedure for office sanitation, regarding client contact. And infection control for environmental surfaces.

This is hardly rocket science. And every one should follow the same process. So, logically, one would think that the website for the CDC would have a nice PDF file on this process, with information about what cleaning items to use.

Wrong. I guess that people should just make up whatever process they want, using whatever cleaning products they want.

I think they don't want to be overly prescriptive about the details, since not everyone can find the same products, they should use what they want, as long as they meet the standards. Also, if they are too prescriptive then there would be even more lawsuits if organizations/businesses don't follow the exact terms the CDC recommends and leave businesses/organizations open to liability.

 

[Sundog]

I don't think CDC wants to put a file out, because you can't actually buy disinfectants that will work (clorox or lysol), since they have disappeared for the most part. They can't put a file out saying use this or that, when public have no way of purchasing this or that.

I order some items from time to time from Amazon with my business credit card, and now I am receiving emails from Amazon telling me that they do have N95 respirators (pack of 35), PPE, medical face masks and hand sanitizer, but need to use business account to purchase them.

 

[margarita25]

Everyone I know is suffering mental health effects from just what you describe (the head-whipping of being told one thing, then another; seeing one thing go in one direction, then all hell breaks loose in another).

It is definitely changing my life too, and I am very down today. We had this gradual reopening thing going on, and now, if you look at actual new cases in California today, we're back at one of our highest rates. This bump up is because starting even before Memorial Day, people started just going back to normal. Everyone thinks that their own "normal" is okay to do. See the same friends. Maybe change where meet-ups occur (back then, restaurants were still take out only).

But there's still been a bump-up in cases. And now, as my two adult children go back to their "regular lives," I'm realizing that it's statistically more likely they'd transmit to me right now, than it was in April.

The data from South Carolina suggest that large crowd gatherings, even at the beach, cause a rise in transmission. So what will the protests cause? Keeping in mind that many protesters will be asymptomatic, first there won't be much change - but then, just as at the beginning of all this, they will return to "normal life" and perhaps to classrooms, jobs, nightlife, etc.

So for those of us who are more vulnerable (and that would include restaurant workers and healthcare workers), it's depressing and mind boggling.

Having said all that, restaurant workers who know proper mask use can be relatively safe - in fact, with some planning, very safe. Early detection of CoVid is key to avoiding the seriously negative outcomes such as the ones mentioned just above, in this thread.

So what do we do? Do we go get swabbed once a week? And what do you do? I'm so sorry you have to plaster stuff on your windows.

But the mental health effects (for me, anger, grief, disappointment, cognitive dissonance, even a sense of unreality) are real. How are we supposed to make sense of this?

I'm watching Belgium (worst major nation for CoVid) with its very specific reopening plan, well-reasoned and very very clear. It's not about signs in windows (that's stupid IMO). Belgium is allowing restaurants to open with more separation of tables, but they are allowing one table to be larger (I think that's what they're doing). Only staff wear masks. In France, people are voluntarily wearing visors that allow eating if they're feeling really vulnerable. No one under 12 wears masks in Belgium and they're going. back to school today - so they'll be our guinea pig. I suspect cases will go up *slightly* (as we're already seeing in California due to our pre-Memorial Day loosening).

My daughter was about to go on her annual trip to San Diego, but the thing that made her cancel was the hotel's discouraging her to come. They said they wouldn't be opening the pool area until later in the summer, which was a big part of their family vacation. It's so frustrating to have to wait for more data to come in - and then to have these freakin' WILD CARDS (protests, etc) thrown into the mix.

California is nearly back up to its highest rate of daily new cases of CoVid. The only good news is that a larger number are being treated at home while supposedly quarantined. Fewer ICU admissions.

(Raises hand for mental effects)

 

[jjenny]

I order some items from time to time from Amazon with my business credit card, and now I am receiving emails from Amazon telling me that they do have N95 respirators (pack of 35), PPE, medical face masks and hand sanitizer, but need to use business account to purchase them.

Yes, amazon prioritizes those items for use by medical professionals.

 

[margarita25]

Coronavirus: Google Maps adds new COVID-19 warnings as reopening grows
New features come as California sees an increase in coronavivrus cases

 

[LadyL]

Hi everyone

I've been reading all along, every single day. I know I don't say much. I'm the same way in person.

Want you guys to know that I feel all of your worries and pains and I'm sending hugs and positive thoughts to all.

It's been a rough week for me. Maybe that's why I'm posting. Probably is.

I totally know that things could be so much worse, so on top of everything else I'm feeling, I feel like I shouldn't feel the way I do.

My grandpa passed away earlier this week. He lived a long, good life. He was in a care home. He was blind. My mom was able to visit him once a week during his last weeks. She had to gear up in all the PPE. The care home did a great job. He didn't die from the virus, but somehow I feel like it was the cause. He went downhill fast when he wasn't able to have contact with family and friends (not blaming the care center...they did the right thing. They had positive cases in the home from both residents and care givers so they had to)

Just needed to write this all out.

Hugs to all.

so sorry for your loss
hugs

 

[Sundog]

Yes, amazon prioritizes those items for use by medical professionals.

And some other organizations, as we are a university and can order them. The federal government provided some CARES Act funding and our university is using those funds for items.