Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #60

[nhmemorymaker]

dbm

 

[nhmemorymaker]

In case you were wondering what would happen if the U.S. experiences another surge. More of the same, of course.

Mnuchin says U.S. can't shut economy even if virus resurges - BNN Bloomberg

That appears to be cheering up the stock market today.

spoke too soon!!!

 

[10ofRods]

Seems like I say this here every couple of days, but I've felt that with the rush to reopen in many states nationwide, there were two potential short term outcomes. The first being that we plod along with approx. 1K deaths per day, give or take a couple of hundred, and end up with around 200K deaths by Labor Day. Or the other possibility, that we experience another outbreak, and instead of the current daily death rate, it escalates to 1,500 or more per day, and we reach 200K by the end of July.

If the former scenario disgusts you, then perhaps you should unfortunately be hoping for the latter possibility. Because regardless of what the government may say, they can keep a steady death count under the radar, so to speak, but if that total starts increasing exponentially over the next 2-4 weeks, you can rest assured the economy will shut down again, whether the powers that be like it or not.

With the way openings are progressing, I tend to believe we'll see which path we're on before the end of June. Will it be a stable period before a potential 2nd wave this fall? Or will it be another spike in the 1st wave continuing from the spring.

I too am waiting to see which way it goes. I predicted our county's upswing last week, but only mentioned it here and to my DH, because people don't like the doomsaying. I could see that both daughters were struggling with staying isolated (one daughter was in our "bubble"). I freaked out when they enlarged their bubble even just a little. It wasn't necessarily rational, but sometimes, I just can't remain unemotional about all of this.

I do think we'll hit an uneasy plateau and my optimistic side says it might be between 500 and 750 deaths per day, in which case when school opens we can hold our breath and hope that it only goes up by say 10% (after all most of the kids won't develop symptoms or get tested). Universities are mostly online here, for the fall, which is obviously the right choice. Anyway, I am hoping it won't be quite as bad as your projections but frankly, I wouldn't wager against you and I doubt very many knowledgeable people would.

We shall see. If deaths tomorrow are in the 300's again, that is a good sign to me.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Wow! Sorry my post went wild but the posting for me is acting up horribly stubborn. Might see if I can fix that mess or just let it slide for now. Hope this one doesn't join the mess. Maybe time for a new tablet

ha ha ha... happens to me a lot! I blame it on my "button" who has a mind of his own...

 

[nhmemorymaker]

ha ha ha... happens to me a lot! I blame it on my "button" who has a mind of his own...

But you can go back and edit them out...just press edit and then type in dbm (deleted by me)..it reduces down the line space, but not your picture.

 

[MrX]

AZ Governor just gave a presser. Basic message was that a lock up does more harm than the alternative. I suspect that restaurants and bars will be warned, behind the scenes, that the hammer will drop if there are any more videos that look like Spring Break.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Dr. Amy Acton resigns as Ohio Department of Health director

She really seems very credible. The article started off "so benign".. but it looks similar to the national model with "business working groups" like Kushner.

Were people really that rude to her, though? That doesn't seem fair...looks as if she was working very hard for the State (heart inserted here, since my family's heritage there and my home once too)

 

[LadyL]

dbm

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Florida has been over 1200 a day for the last 8 days. And today we went up 1600.
All restaurants wide open, bars now too. Hardly any masks.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article243452186.html

 

[jjenny]

She really seems very credible. The article started off "so benign".. but it looks similar to the national model with "business working groups" like Kushner.

Were people really that rude to her, though? That doesn't seem fair...looks as if she was working very hard for the State (heart inserted here, since my family's heritage there and my home once too)

There were people protesting near her house as they wanted everything open.

 

[jjenny]

AZ Governor just gave a presser. Basic message was that a lock up does more harm than the alternative. I suspect that restaurants and bars will be warned, behind the scenes, that the hammer will drop if there are any more videos that look like Spring Break.

Alternative will be a lot of people sick and dead. Seems that's where we are all going.

 

[mickey2942]

Alternative will be a lot of people sick and dead. Seems that's where we are all going.

Just make sure that you go to work on the way.

 

[MrX]

Alternative will be a lot of people sick and dead. Seems that's where we are all going.

I think that definition of "alternative" wasn't lost on anyone. Thankfully (from my perspective) there are people willing to take that risk. Governor was under a lot of pressure and I was really surprised how strong of a message it was. Guessing maybe he knows exactly who was behind getting AZ in the national news and wasn't pleased. He seems to have national ambitions, which will be destroyed if he wets himself on this.

 

[tmar]

'I don't have a Superman cape': Police Commissioner hits back at Scott Morrison after PM said all Black Lives Matter protesters should be charged for breaking public health rules

'I don't have a Superman cape': Police Commissioner hits back at Scott Morrison after PM said all Black Lives Matter protesters should be charged for breaking public health rules

Charlie Moore, Political Reporter For Daily Mail Australia
10 hrs ago
...
Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson has hit back at the Prime Minister's calls for all future Black Lives Matter protesters to be charged.

A protest is planned in Perth on Saturday after other rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane last weekend sparked fears of a mass outbreak of coronavirus.

This morning Scott Morrison said police should charge anyone attending future protests with breaching public health orders.
But Commissioner Dawson said it would be impossible to charge 10,000 people.
'I can't wrap a super man cape around myself and issue 10,000 infringements. I'd run out of infringement books,' he told reporters.
'We will be there and we will be ensuring people's safety.

'It's an imperfect answer. The alternative is not one that I want... and that is hundreds of people being arrested and grappling with police.'

 

[tmar]

'An American fiasco': US hits grim milestone of 2m Covid-19 cases

'An American fiasco': US hits grim milestone of 2m Covid-19 cases

Oliver Milman
9 hrs ago
...
For Americans, coronavirus went from being a mysterious affliction that occurred in far-off lands to 1m confirmed cases on US soil within 14 weeks. Now, just six weeks later, the US has broken through the grim milestone of 2m positive tests for Covid-19, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

The anguish of life lost, of a severely wounded economy and wrenching political turmoil have taken a harrowing toll upon a fatigued American public. But further, perhaps far greater pain is yet to come, pandemic experts have warned, even as authorities wave people back into reopened shops and offices and the US president’s political rhetoric on an epochal crisis dwindles away to near silence.


“Everyone has just looked at the first 100 yards of this marathon,” said Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
...
“From the beginning there has been misrepresentations and fabrications from the White House,” said Redlener. “Whatever the opposite of ‘mission accomplished’ is, that’s what this is. It’s essentially been an American fiasco.”
Dr Anthony Fauci, the administration’s top infectious disease expert, has admitted not seeing the president in weeks despite the ongoing public health crisis. “Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of it,” Fauci said this week.

 

[tmar]

South Korean doctors find risk factors for severe COVID-19 cases

South Korean doctors find risk factors for severe COVID-19 cases

7 hrs ago
...
SEOUL, June 11 (Reuters) - South Korean doctors have found certain underlying conditions that may make some COVID-19 patients more severely affected by the disease, a professor at Yeungnam University Medical Center said on Wednesday.

The findings could help doctors identify and prioritise high-risk patients at an early stage of the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Ahn June-hong, professor of internal medicine, told Reuters.
In a paper published by the Journal of Korean Medical Science on June 2, Ahn and other South Korean doctors wrote that diabetes, high body temperature, low oxygen saturation and pre-existing cardiac injury were shown to be the prognostic factors for severe COVID-19.

Medical experts and epidemiologists are investigating risk factors for patients who develop severe cases of the disease, which has killed more than 400,000 globally since it first emerged late last year in China.

 

[margarita25]

U.S. Hits 2 Million Coronavirus Cases As Many States See A Surge Of Patients

“The U.S. has reached another dire landmark in its fight against COVID-19, surpassing 2 million confirmed cases on Wednesday. New coronavirus infections are rising in at least 20 states, even as restrictions on daily life continue to ease across the country.

As of Thursday morning, more than 112,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. — the most fatalities reported by any nation, according to a tracker from Johns Hopkins University. And most experts believe those numbers underestimate the true toll.”

[...]

“Texas set new records for COVID-19 hospitalizations on three consecutive days this week, with a total of 2,153 hospitalized patients on Wednesday. The state was among the first to start the reopening process, and Gov. Greg Abbott is moving forward with plans to raise occupancy limits for bars, restaurants, amusement parks and other businesses.”

 

[musicaljoke]

Coronavirus: A third of COVID-19 patients could not be contacted by test and trace scheme

One third of people who tested positive for coronavirus could not be reached by the government's contact tracing system, or refused to hand over their contacts.

This would contribute to the difficulties experienced in the UK to bring the numbers down. It's such a shame. The UK could have eliminated the virus completely.

 

[musicaljoke]

I'm a hockey fan, and I put it in terms of having a 2 goal lead at the end of the 1st intermission, and thinking the game was in the bag. Though I'm not sure 115K deaths to this point should be considered "having a lead."

Liked for the hockey analogy.

 

[margarita25]

“Arizona has reported an average of more than 1,000 new cases every day this week — the highest per capita ratein the U.S. Underscoring the crisis, the health department said Tuesday that only a quarter of the state's beds in intensive care units are currently available.

Public health experts say these surges should not be dismissed as a result of more testing.

"It's very clear that it's a real increase in community spread," Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, tells member station KJZZ in Phoenix. "It's not some artifact of additional testing."”

[...]

“I'm definitely worried," says Dr. Bill Miller the senior associate dean for research at Ohio State University's college of public health. "As places have been opening up, many people are taking it as a message that everything is OK and back to normal.”

U.S. Hits 2 Million Coronavirus Cases As Many States See A Surge Of Patients