Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #63

[tresir2012]

Judge blocks 25% capacity rule for religious services in NY
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked New York state from enforcing coronavirus restrictions limiting indoor religious gatherings to 25% capacity when other types of gatherings are limited to 50%.
<snip>

“The idea that houses of worship are some deadly viral vector unlike anything else is just superstition,” Ferrara said in a telephone interview. “There’s no science to support that.”

Restrictions limiting the number of people who can attend outdoor religious gatherings will also be lifted by the injunction.

Federal Judge Rules Cuomo, De Blasio Exceeded Authority by Restricting Religious Services While Condoning Protests

De Blasio issued “simultaneous pro-protest/anti-religious gathering messages” and “actively encouraged participation in protests and openly discouraged religious gatherings and threatened religious worshipers,” the judge said in his order.

The lawsuit claims that the governor, mayor, and attorney general violated the First Amendment and due-process rights of the plaintiffs by selectively enforcing pandemic-control measures. Even as mass protests were allowed to take place across the state, people of faith were targeted with threats of criminal prosecution and $1000 fines for violating the restrictions on group gatherings, the suit alleges.

Federal Judge Blocks Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio’s Coronavirus Limits on Religious Gatherings

The judge similarly chided Mayor de Blasio for attending a George Floyd gathering “without a mask” which did not following the same distancing measures he placed upon religious gatherings.

The plaintiffs included an eclectic mix of Catholic and Jewish leaders who were unable to fulfil the commandments of their faiths due to the restrictions placed upon them by the government, the lawsuit alleged.

I am not surprised at this result. It follows the letter that the AG sent on the same subject. TY for posting.

 

[tresir2012]

The people who started in March, April, and May ruined it for everyone thereafter...and were egged on by the rally master himself. It was by sheer privilege that they didn't get arrested for screaming (unmasked) in the faces of officers. And they weren't protesting the sadistic public murder of a fellow citizen, either.

Please see my response earlier, 4 posts back.

 

[tresir2012]

Rates of COVID deaths per 1 million in population

Spain - one of Europe’s strictest/most compliant lockdowns: 606 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Italy - one of Europe’s strictest/most compliant lockdowns: 574 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Sweden - no lockdown: 523 deaths per 1,000,000 people

France - one of Europe’s strictest/most compliant lockdowns: 436 deaths per 1,000,000 people

US - different approaches in the various states: 386 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Germany - one of Europe’s least compliant lockdowns: 108 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Denmark - one of Europe’s least compliant lockdowns: 104 deaths per 1,000,000 people

States with an early lockdown and that required/pressured long term care facilities to accept back residents who had gone to the hospital with COVID.

New Jersey: 1,695 deaths per 1,000,000 people

New York: 1,615 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Connecticut: 1,208 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Massachusetts: 1,163 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Michigan: 614 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Illinois: 556 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Pennsylvania: 519 deaths per 1,000,000 people

States where there was no lockdown or no shelter in place; South Carolina, which issued its shelter in place order much later than other states did, did not limit gatherings for religious services, and started reopening in April; and other states that started reopening in April.

South Dakota - no lock down: 99 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Iowa - no shelter in place: 223 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Nebraska - no shelter in place: 138 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Arkansas - no shelter in place: 135 deaths per 1,000,000 people

North Dakota - no shelter in place: 102 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Utah - no shelter in place: 52 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Wyoming - no shelter in place: 35 deaths per 1,000,000 people

North Dakota - no shelter in place: 102 deaths per 1,000,000 people

South Carolina - no shelter in place order until into April, no limits on gatherings for religious services, started reopening in April: 135 deaths per 1,000,000 million people

Colorado - started reopening in April: 291 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Georgia - started reopening in April: 261 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Oklahoma - started reopening in April: 95 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Montana - started reopening in April: 21 deaths per 1,000,000 people

Useful info. TY for posting this.

 

[tresir2012]

Coronavirus death rate falling in hospitals


This is big news IMO.

"Coronavirus patients in hospital in England are dying at a slower rate now than they were at the peak of the epidemic, analysis suggests.

University of Oxford researchers found the proportion of coronavirus patients dying each day in England fell from 6% to 1.5% between April and June.

Improvements in treatments, changes in the patient population and seasonal effects could all play a role.

The data emerged as the government prepares to ease lockdown restrictions.

Around the height of the outbreak, on 8 April, there were 15,468 people in hospital in England with coronavirus of whom 899 died (6%).

By 21 June there were 2,698 hospitalised coronavirus patients, 30 of whom died (1%), according to the most recent data compiled University of Oxford's Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.

Hospital case fatality is a measure used since the beginning of the outbreak, providing consistent figures and enabling researchers to look for trends.

Covid death rate in hospitals
% of total hospitalised coronavirus patient population dying per day


Source: University of Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine
While both the number of people in hospital and the number of hospitalised people dying are falling, deaths are falling at a faster rate.

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is halving every 29 days, while deaths are halving every 16 days.

Prof Carl Heneghan, who carried out the analysis, said the pattern of falling death rates in hospitals was also being seen in other countries, including Italy,

"We should be investigating what's changed," he said.

"It's a radically different disease we're looking at if the death rate is 1% rather than 6%".

He said that translated to a difference of 500 deaths a day in April when the disease was at its height.

"This is an encouraging trend but one that needs more work to understand the cause," his co-author Jason Oke said.

Although the researchers were unable to determine exactly what was behind the trend, they put forward a number of reasons.

Better treatment
One is that, as more is understood about the disease, healthcare staff have been better able to treat it using existing drugs, even without any major breakthrough in new treatments.

For example, doctors are now primed to expect patients with blood clotting and overactive immune responses, whereas in the early days they were looking to treat the symptoms of what was seen as primarily a respiratory disease.

And in critical care patients, the common steroid dexamethasone is now being used to dampen down the out-of-control immune reactions that can cause organ damage.

This is likely to be a key factor, but is unlikely to completely explain the falling death rate, according to Prof Heneghan.

• Third of patients develop dangerous blood clots
• 'Baffling' observations from the front line
• Cytokine storms- When the body attacks itself - BBC Future

It may also be down to changes in the types of patients admitted to hospital."

More at link.

I hope you find similar happening regarding the US death rate.

 

[weepingangel]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/21/nation/dangerous-shortages-protective-gear-persist-mass-hospitals-clinicians-say

More at link
‘It’s like pulling teeth’: There’s still a PPE shortage — and a second wave could send medical workers into crisis mode - The Boston Globe
Even as the rate of new coronavirus cases has ebbed across Massachusetts, medical workers say they still face shortages of gear to protect themselves, their families, and their patients. Many are taking matters into their own hands, while worrying that a second wave of infections, which some experts consider likely, would again send them into crisis mode.

“There truly was a supply chain crisis in March. ... But that was March and this is June, and me and my co-workers are still working in substandard equipment that we’re using multiple times that were supposed to be used only once,” said Jillian Brelsford, a nurse at Cambridge Health Alliance, where she says colleagues must wear face masks designed for single use for five shifts before receiving a new one. “Our health and safety and lives have been made expendable.”

 

[weepingangel]

Deaths in hallways, unrefrigerated bodies: Fired nurses sue, cite COVID-19 conditions at Sinai-Grace

More at link
Deaths in hall, unrefrigerated bodies: Fired nurses sue Sinai-Grace
Gaughan is one of four former Detroit Medical Center Sinai-Grace emergency room workers who filed a lawsuit Wednesday contending the Detroit hospital wrongfully fired them and alleging that the hospital's understaffing contributed to patient deaths from COVID-19.

The 38-page lawsuit was filed in Wayne County Circuit Court on behalf of the workers who are suing Tenet Healthcare, the for-profit Texas-based parent company of the DMC. The eight-hospital DMC runs Sinai-Grace.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

I just got back from the bar. Who do you want to hear about? The 80+ year old veteran, who spends his time marching at funerals? The other 80 year old cancer survivor with diabetes who wanted to hear details of our Fantasy Baseball draft? The retired pharmacy manager that runs the league, and is there every day? The musician with "underlying health issues" who showed up to play because no one else would? The hard core Christian friends that we met there that are coming back to visit? The bile in my throat prevents me from continuing.

It is heartbreaking how this is affecting people in what are most likely their final years. My parents cancelled three small holidays this year and are patiently waiting to see what options they may have later in the year. They have not left home since 5th March. Not that they wanted to, but there would be nowhere to go anyway. Hotels restaurants and bars yet to open here.

My mum's biggest fear was ending up in a hospital in conditions like those she saw on the TV from Italy.

They have as always made the most of it. They have wine and food delivered, and sit on their patio doing what they've done for 50+ years together.

My heart aches for them tho. And when I see thousands cramming our beaches, I feel so angry that their ignorance and selfishness may push things back for my parents.

 

[ilovewings]

Jobbie Nooner parties on despite pandemic: 'We're allowed to be out'

Here in Michigan we have our own morons: the jobbie nooner boat party draws between 10000 and 100,000. It is obvious from reading the article that these idiots
could care less about anything but partying on-- The one covidiot said "we're allowed to be out"--- yeah, honey but just because you can does not mean you should. You might want to check out the comments in the article. Most decent people are really po' d at the selfishness of these covidiots.

 

[beatrixpotter]

Attending church is quite dangerous for the reasons you described. People sitting in close proximity to each other for a long period of time. So ignore those people and stay home.

Our priest was only going to close our parish for the week after exposure based on the heath dept's recommendation. They were insisting the person wasn't contagious because they didn't get a fever till next morning. I told him we really needed to close down for 2 full weeks. He just sent out the new schedule this morning and he'd changed it to 2 weeks. He doesn't listen to me. I'm not an expert. But everything I have told him since this early spring has come true. And the sick man just so happened to sit in front of the family who never wears a mask and aren't the least bit concerned about spreading a virus.

 

[MuddyTires]

Sweden in Context

90% of its COVID-19 deaths were over 70, with the majority having two or more comorbidities.

48% of its COVID-19 deaths were in care homes and 26% were of individuals that were receiving at-home help.

The age group with the most COVID-19 deaths is 80-89 years (41%), followed by the 90+ years (26%). The average life expectancy at birth in Sweden is 81 for men and 85 for women.

There are approximately 90,000 deaths each year in Sweden. 88,822 people died there in 2019 – the lowest number of deaths in a single year since 1977. Sweden’s 2018-19 was reported to have been less intense than the five previous flu seasons there.

85% of its COVID-19 deaths had at least one reported pre-existing condition.

Only 1 of its COVID-19 deaths was under the age of 20 despite compulsory schooling never being closed.

Of the under-70 group, 42% had 2 to 4 reported comorbidities, 26% had 1 reported comorbidity, and 32% had 0 reported comorbidities. So deaths under the age of 70 with no reported comorbidities represent just 3% of total Sweden’s COVID-19 deaths.

Swedish Covid-19 mortality in perspective

 

[beatrixpotter]

Priests can put on masks and visit people in their homes, which was routine during my childhood, before there were vaccines for many diseases that were also taking out the elderly. And during the 1968 flu pandemic.

Priests can also bless any liquid or bread-like thing from afar (and did so regularly during the Crusades). My point is, that people in war time and other crisis situations have in fact gotten sacraments from afar or via priestly visitation to a home.

It's very sad to me that people would construe the Christian God to be so punitive as to deny salvation to someone for missing a ceremony. It must put tremendous strain on people.

At any rate, a person should be able to interact with congregants if at least 80% are wearing masks, if they bring their hand sanitizer and/or wear gloves and if the people preparing communion are also masked and gloved. Churches can seat people ever other pew and every other seat. Everyone can wear masks except when actually taking communion. Indeed, during Medieval times and the plague, nuns did in fact administer sacraments in lieu of priests where none were available, and they wore face coverings (which is interesting).

I've been to masses all over Europe where the infirm and the immune-impaired elderly do not go up to actually drink the cup (which is shared in many places) and they bring their own bread, which the priests bless as part of the ceremony - no one has touched their food, they are safe. They all raise the bread/cracker to their lips during a part of the ceremony and they touch their fingers to their lips during the cup part of the ceremony. These traditions vary a great deal all around the world, even within one denomination. The things the priests say during the ceremonies vary as well. Some people have celiac disease, for example. Others cannot drink wine or juice.

It gets worked out.

We have incredibly strict rules for communion. There is no getting around them like mentioned above. None. No alternate prayers, no alternate substance. And our metropolitan was saying the priests could only come to someone's house if they were very ill. They were forbidden to bring anyone else communion. But if someone is incredibly ill they go to the hospital and the hospital wasn't allowing priests in. So it was effectively cutting people off. In fact in many circumstances absolution is offered for confession over the phone. In this case we were told that NO absolution would now be offered over the phone even though no one could go to church for months. So basically all the normal out of the ordinary means had been in effect totally cut off.

 

[beatrixpotter]

Sweden in Context

90% of its COVID-19 deaths were over 70, with the majority having two or more comorbidities.

48% of its COVID-19 deaths were in care homes and 26% were of individuals that were receiving at-home help.

The age group with the most COVID-19 deaths is 80-89 years (41%), followed by the 90+ years (26%). The average life expectancy at birth in Sweden is 81 for men and 85 for women.

There are approximately 90,000 deaths each year in Sweden. 88,822 people died there in 2019 – the lowest number of deaths in a single year since 1977. Sweden’s 2018-19 was reported to have been less intense than the five previous flu seasons there.

85% of its COVID-19 deaths had at least one reported pre-existing condition.

Only 1 of its COVID-19 deaths was under the age of 20 despite compulsory schooling never being closed.

Of the under-70 group, 42% had 2 to 4 reported comorbidities, 26% had 1 reported comorbidity, and 32% had 0 reported comorbidities. So deaths under the age of 70 with no reported comorbidities represent just 3% of total Sweden’s COVID-19 deaths.

Swedish Covid-19 mortality in perspective

Dr Campbell did an interview with a Swedish doctor. He said most of these deaths were because they wouldn't admit any older people to the hospital and they were refusing to give oxygen to people with any preexisting condition. That he was pleading to get them to just give oxygen to people, not ventilators, and many would live with just supplemental oxygen. Doesn't everyone over 70 have a comorbidity? I've had one since my 30's for sure.

I honestly hate these listings of comorbidities like it's supposed to explain away and justify a death. "They had a preexisting condition, right?" "Yeah, well so do you. Your waist line IS your preexisting condition."

 

[MuddyTires]

COVID-19 “New Deaths” Yesterday as presenter by Worldometer

Massachusetts - 50 (7.2 per 1 million people)

Arizona - 45 (6.2 per 1 million people)
New York - 48 (5.7 per 1 million people)

New Jersey - 45 (5.0 per 1 million people)

Connecticut - 9 (2.5 per 1 million people)
Georgia - 25 (2.4 per 1 million people)

Pennsylvania- 24 (1.9 per 1 million people)
Florida - 37 (1.7 per 1 million people)

Texas - 33 (1.2 per 1 million people)

South Carolina - 1 (0.2 per 1 million people)

United States Coronavirus: 2,553,686 Cases and 127,649 Deaths - Worldometer

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

3 die in New Mexico from drinking hand sanitizer

Santa Fe, N.M. – Three people have died, three others are in critical condition and one person is permanently blind after apparently drinking hand sanitizer that contained methanol, New Mexico health officials said Friday.

The state Department of Health said the cases were reported to the New Mexico Poison Control Center, with the first coming in early May. The other cases occurred since May 29...

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Vietnam's British patient: 'I'd be dead in any other country'

I find these individual real life stories interesting. I hope Stephen makes a full recovery and gets home to Scotland as planned next month. Vietnam did a fab job in taking care of him.

 

[MuddyTires]

Interesting that as a society we generally accept the reality that obesity takes years off one’s life by making him or her more likely to have heart/cardiovascular disease, diabetes, disabilities, depression, etc., yet there are such strong reactions against the reality showing that those who are obese and/or have cardiovascular disease or diabetes are much much more likely to be threatened by COVID-19 than those with a healthy weight and without cardiovascular disease or diabetes.

 

[MuddyTires]

3 die in New Mexico from drinking hand sanitizer

Santa Fe, N.M. – Three people have died, three others are in critical condition and one person is permanently blind after apparently drinking hand sanitizer that contained methanol, New Mexico health officials said Friday.

The state Department of Health said the cases were reported to the New Mexico Poison Control Center, with the first coming in early May. The other cases occurred since May 29...

From the article -

The health department couldn’t immediately say what the circumstances were in the recent cases, but authorities have noted that within the homeless community, people with substance abuse issues have been known to use sanitizer and other products as a substitute for alcohol.

—————-

More on the issue of people drinking sanitizer as a substitute for alcohol:

From 2012 - “So, kids are drinking hand sanitizer to get drunk. Here's everything you need to know about this hot new trend.”
14 Things You Need To Know About Drinking Hand Sanitizer

—————-

“An analysis by Georgia’s Poison Control Center revealed that between the years of 2010 and 2015, the number of phone calls regarding the ingestion of hand sanitizer rose by 400%. ”

“The danger doesn’t just lie in the accidental ingestion by young children. A quick YouTube search will reveal a number of videos of teenagers getting drunk on hand sanitizer. It is cheap, widely available, and there is no age limit for purchase, so it has become a popular choice for those not of legal drinking age.”
Drinking Hand Sanitizer Met with Life-Threatening Consequences

——————-

“It's hard to say when drinking hand sanitizer came into vogue, but reports of its use as an intoxicant with prison inmates started surfacing around 2007. Recent trends, mainly practiced by teens, include mixing hand sanitizer with mouthwash to make a strong minty cocktail, mixing the gel with salt to separate the alcohol from the gel, and distilling the alcohol from hand sanitizer.”
Do You Know What Happens If You Try to Get Drunk on Hand Sanitizer?

—————————

“Jan. 31, 2007 -- Hand sanitizer isn't a drink, but doctors report two cases of men who drank it for its alcohol. Both men survived, but doctors say drinking hand sanitizer could be fatal. The cases are described in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The first involved a 49-year-old prison inmate in Maryland who got drunk one night by drinking a hand sanitizer containing ethyl alcohol.

Other inmates and prison staff reportedly saw the man drink from a gallon of the sanitizer over the course of an evening, write Suzanne Doyon, MD, and Christopher Welsh, MD.”
Don't Drink Hand Sanitizer for Alcohol

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

DH just received his COVID-19 test result: NOT DETECTED

 

[JerseyGirl]

Morrison Signals Australian Borders May Be Closed Until Mid-2021

Prime Minister Scott Morrison signaled that Australia’s borders may remain closed to most international visitors until the middle of next year as the coronavirus crisis escalates across the world.

Morrison was asked whether he shared the view of Qantas Airways CEO Alan Joyce that there was little chance of traveling overseas for at least 12 months.

The prime minister said he remained hopeful of forming a travel bubble with New Zealand and noted that other nations had expressed an interest in reaching arrangements given Australia’s success in largely containing the virus. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be invitations we take up,” he said.

“Even if we find a vaccine, it will be some time before that’s active,” Joyce said. “So we think a prudent assumption is sometime in the middle of next year. It could be May, it could be June, it could be July, it could be later.”

 

[Bravo]

DH just received his COVID-19 test result: NOT DETECTED

Great news! Good to see you BDE