Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #65

[Bravo]

Happy your Dad is on board now. I wish you had better news with your MIL. So sorry to read this gngr

 

[ilovewings]

I have a question: it looks like we as a country are losing control of this virus: so what happens when all the states see cases increasing like Florida and Texas? what will we do, what will happen? will we just let the virus run its course and kill as many people as it can? The situation is frightening.

 

[Bravo]

I have a question: it looks like we as a country are losing control of this virus: so what happens when all the states see cases increasing like Florida and Texas? what will we do, what will happen? will we just let the virus run its course and kill as many people as it can? The situation is frightening.

I am very worried for you all.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Trump Is Throwing a Mount Rushmore Fireworks Show. What Could Go Wrong?

There will be no social distancing at the gathering, for which 7,500 tickets have been distributed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/01/danger-fireworks-mount-rushmore/
Former superintendent Cheryl Schreier wrote that the ceremony is a bad idea:

Thanks to an extremely dry summer, South Dakota faces a higher than usual risk of wildfires. A former fire management officer for Mount Rushmore and numerous national parks warned that the fireworks show would be “ill-advised” given the dry conditions. The National Park Service has heeded similar warnings in previous years, canceling the fireworks in 2002 and 2010 at least in part because of high fire danger. And the park service has continued to cite concern over devastating wildfires as a reason for discontinuing the event until now.

She also notes that, in the event of some kind of catastrophe, evacuating the large crowd would be highly difficult, writing, “The anticipated traffic congestion and gridlock could last for hours before and after the event, compounded by visitors who are not familiar with the area.”

The wildfire danger posed in this particular moment was made clear earlier this week when a blaze erupted about six miles away from the monument. It took 117 fire fighters from three states to get the fire, which burned 60 acres, under control. And that one started without fireworks.

Earlier this year, Trump dismissed concerns about wildfires at Mount Rushmore. “What can burn? It’s stone,” he said.

There is also some concern about fireworks contaminating the water supply at the monument.

 

[10ofRods]

Trump's Mt. Rushmore 4th of July Event Will Have No Social Distancing

This is what a coronavirus spread looks like in its preliminary stages ... chairs crammed into the same area together, inches apart for the folks who will be celebrating tonight.

The site is Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, where the Governor has proudly proclaimed there will be NO social distancing and optional masks at tonight's event with President Trump.

I do wonder how many will show up - it doesn't look like they've planned for that many. It's not as if it's an easy drive from most of the US to South Dakota.

I wonder if it will be streaming live somewhere (I assume that it will be).

 

[anneg]

March16,2020

"For every known case of coronavirus, another five to 10 cases are out there undetected, a new study suggests."

Coronavirus Is Hiding in Plain Sight
Coronavirus Is Hiding in Plain Sight

Edited to add-
And this was back in March
Math and I are not friends, but guessing the numbers are higher now

CDC says COVID-19 cases in U.S. may be 10 times higher than reported
CDC says COVID-19 cases in U.S. may be 10 times higher than reported

"The true number of Americans who've been infected with COVID-19 may top 20 million, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Our best estimate right now is that for every case that's reported, there actually are 10 other infections," Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, said on a call with reporters Thursday.

"The assessment comes from looking at blood samples across the country for the presence of antibodies to the virus. For every confirmed case of COVID-19, 10 more people had antibodies, Redfield said, referring to proteins in the blood that indicate whether a person's immune system has previously fought off the coronavirus.

"Those samples aren't just from people who have had antibody testing. They also come from testing performed on donated blood at blood banks or from other laboratory testing of blood.

"Currently, there are 2.3 million COVID-19 cases reported in the U.S. The CDC's new estimate pushes the actual number of coronavirus cases up to at least 23 million."
[BBM...more at link]

ETA: The story is from June 25.

 

[gngr~snap]

Aww, good news and bad news @gngr, hope you're ok

I am...I get my little cookie monster for his first overnight at 5pm! He is 17 mos old!!! Pammaw is so excited. My heart is happy.
Moo

 

[JerseyGirl]

I do wonder how many will show up - it doesn't look like they've planned for that many. It's not as if it's an easy drive from most of the US to South Dakota.

I wonder if it will be streaming live somewhere (I assume that it will be).

About 7,500 people are expected to fill the park's amphitheater for traditional Independence Day events all afternoon.

The weather is expected to be partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms.

The Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration will also include the Blue Angels, UH-60s from the South Dakota Army National Guard, F-16s from the South Dakota Air National Guard, and the Ellsworth Air Force Base B-1 bombers.

Gov. Kristi Noem initially said that the return of pyrotechnics to the national park would be funded by private donations, but the state has paid the $350,000 bill for a California fireworks company from a fund for state economic development, according to a report by South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

The National Park Service canceled fireworks at Mount Rushmore for 10 years because of fears of wildfires due to beetle-kill pine trees in the area.

Trump, along with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, plan to speak at the event, which will broadcast live on television and the Internet. The event is set to begin at 4 p.m. MDT, with Trump expected to speak at 6:45 p.m. MDT before fireworks at 9:30 p.m.

Trump, first lady head to Mount Rushmore for fireworks display

 

[neesaki]

That is certainly a factor in California’s spike. But not the only one, especially since most wore masks.
Everything went bad when we opened up. Memorial weekend also really kicked things off. We are facing spread due to all those factors.

I live in Orange County and the 4th is going to be a nightmare. We have legal fireworks around here and people gather in parties to watch. I’m dreading that. I expect to see more spikes in the next month as a result.

They're still having fireworks there ? I'm in Texas and ours in my community and nearby town have been cancelled. Won't feel much like July 4th yet again as you say, it would attract large gatherings. No way would safe social distancing be maintained and it's so hot here I seriously doubt anyone would wear masks outdoors.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Boris's speech today, ahead of pubs and restaurants reopening tomorrow. Reassuring that he's being realistic about it; he reiterates "we're not out of the woods, yet"

It's the 6:15pm video, only a minute or so long

Coronavirus updates: Boris Johnson urges people to 'enjoy summer safely' - BBC News

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

July Fourth weekend will test Americans' discipline | Xfinity

The U.S. headed into the Fourth of July weekend with many parades and fireworks displays canceled, beaches and bars closed, and health authorities warning that this will be a crucial test of Americans' self-control that could determine the trajectory of the surging coronavirus outbreak.

With confirmed cases climbing in 40 states, governors have ordered the wearing of masks in public, and families were urged to celebrate their independence at home. Even then, they were told to keep their backyard cookouts small.

Health experts agree this will be a pivotal moment in determining whether the nation slides into a deeper mess. The fear is that a weekend of crowded pool parties, picnics and parades will fuel the surge...

 

[tresir2012]

South Dakota AG Jason Ravnsborg on significance of Independence Day at Mt Rushmore: 'Looking like a great day'

"In an interview on "Fox & Friends" with host Brian Kilmeade, the Army veteran said South Dakota residents are "very excited" to have fireworks for the first time in a decade and that they are honored to host the president.

SOUTH DAKOTA AG RAVNSBORG: TRUMP ATTENDANCE AT MOUNT RUSHMORE FIREWORKS IS A DEFEAT FOR 'CANCEL CULTURE'

"I think the president's policies line up very well with South Dakota of low taxes, pro-military, and appreciation for law enforcement," he said.


Tensions have continued to rise during weeks of national unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolispolice officer. All of this comes as the coronavirus pandemic rages on -- though the figures in South Dakota are notably smallerthan states in the South and Western U.S."

Potential agitators are not the only concern for those in attendance. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Tuesday that there would not be social distancing at the event and that those who were uncomfortable could stay home.

"Well, I think we are always worried about it but we have taken proper precautions to mitigate those potential damages and I think we are going to be just fine today," Ravnsborg said.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP


"Masks will be available first off. They are not required but people will be able to have them if they don't have one with them when they come," he said. "And, I think that we have done a number of things to mitigate the spread of the COVID. As you probably know, our state has not mandated these various policies that other states have. And, I think we are very proud of that and our numbers have remained low."

South Dakota Rt

South Dakota

Overall

Current Rt

1.16

Cases

6.9K

Tests

81K

Deaths

81

 

[10ofRods]

Trump Is Throwing a Mount Rushmore Fireworks Show. What Could Go Wrong?

There will be no social distancing at the gathering, for which 7,500 tickets have been distributed.
Former superintendent Cheryl Schreier wrote that the ceremony is a bad idea:

Thanks to an extremely dry summer, South Dakota faces a higher than usual risk of wildfires. A former fire management officer for Mount Rushmore and numerous national parks warned that the fireworks show would be “ill-advised” given the dry conditions. The National Park Service has heeded similar warnings in previous years, canceling the fireworks in 2002 and 2010 at least in part because of high fire danger. And the park service has continued to cite concern over devastating wildfires as a reason for discontinuing the event until now.

She also notes that, in the event of some kind of catastrophe, evacuating the large crowd would be highly difficult, writing, “The anticipated traffic congestion and gridlock could last for hours before and after the event, compounded by visitors who are not familiar with the area.”

The wildfire danger posed in this particular moment was made clear earlier this week when a blaze erupted about six miles away from the monument. It took 117 fire fighters from three states to get the fire, which burned 60 acres, under control. And that one started without fireworks.

Earlier this year, Trump dismissed concerns about wildfires at Mount Rushmore. “What can burn? It’s stone,” he said.

There is also some concern about fireworks contaminating the water supply at the monument.

The entire area around the "stone" is forested, but I guess someone who lives mainly in an urban environment wouldn't know that. There are trees right on the rock, as well, but not in the area beneath the portraits. It looks like dry juniper to me.

Hopefully the pyrotechnicians know what they are doing. I don't think people are going to show up in high numbers anyway. It's an hour from Sturgis (where I assume there are tourists).

The 244 is closed at several places from the West, so no entry to Rushmore from there. Right now, the traffic from the south is significant enough to have a kind of traffic jam, especially in the high parts with all the hairpin turns. To me, it looks like the cars are coming from Pine Ridge, which should make the whole event more interesting..and volatile.

 

[anneg]

It may be disappointing to know there will be no singing, but all kinds of ordinary worship leading folks will be making pre-recorded videos. It's a great opportunity for creativity.

It seems odd to read that folks had been singing in churches. The last time we sang in churches was the first week of March. (Ontario)

My husband and I sing in the choir of our church. Our last time in church was March 8. I had told our choir director that I expected that would be our last time to physically be in the church. On March 12, the church suspended everything--no more choir rehearsals, no congregation for services, no group activities of any kind. Streamed services have been available for years, so those have continued but with a different format.

We have heard that we may not be in church until next Easter (if then). This is really hard to take. Church activities and singing in the choir are a big part of our lives. We stay in touch with our choir director and many choir members through weekly Zoom meetings. There are various opportunities for us to participate in other activities online or using Zoom. So at least we have that.

I have a more complicated story to tell about choir singing during COVID. I'll write a separate post about it.

 

[neesaki]

Dr. Fauci says coronavirus surge ‘way beyond worst spikes we’ve seen’ as U.S. sets new single-day high

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the last several days have been the bleakest yet for the United States, where there have been more COVID-19 infections than anywhere else in the world.

“What we’ve seen over the last several days is a spike in cases that is way beyond the worst spikes that we’ve seen. That is not good news,” he said during an interview with BBC News that aired Thursday.

And yet he and Birks were saying don't wear face masks. SMH

 

[Fireflize]

Hard-Hit US States 'Surge' Hospital Intensive Care Beds as ICU Wards Fill Up

Hard-Hit US States 'Surge' Hospital Intensive Care Beds as ICU Wards Fill Up

 

[Tate123]

He attended without a mask and he knew he was taking a chance.

***for anyone who has read my posts through this...
My 84 year old daddy has FINALLY conceded!!!
He is afraid now and he isn't going to leave the house until further notice!!!
(Little party in my heart)
And... my mother in law's cancer is BACK! She is 85 and has beaten cancer 4 times, but the PET scan showed 3 new tumors on her collar bone and both lungs...
Not real sure how the doctors are gonna handle it this time.
I'm really worried about her having to go to multiple appointments for chemo/radiation etc...
The doctor kinda sounded like due to COVID, he wasn't going to do anything for her at this time because the danger of COVID is more likely to kill her before the cancer can.
Stressing a lil bit for her and my husband.
Moo

My thoughts are with you and your family.

 

[tabitha111]

I keep seeing reports that "deaths are down" like this is becoming less serious and then I read stories like these and think...so what that deaths are down, just being on a Covid ward sounds frightening and horrible! I don't want to end up there, even if I do survive...its all just so scary.

“How many more are coming?” What it’s like inside hospitals as coronavirus grips Texas’ Rio Grande Valley

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/02/texas-coronavirus-hospital-rio-grande-valley/

The surge in coronavirus cases has slammed hospitals in the Rio Grande Valley. Additional wards have opened. Doctors and nurses pull extra shifts. And the stream of sick people, some gasping for air, keeps growing.
JULY 2, 2020

At midnight in South Texas, nearly every bed is full in a low-slung building housing some of the sickest COVID-19 patients near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Many patients in this unit, a hospice center at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance remade into a coronavirus ward, are sedated, intubated and attached by a tangle of cords to the whirring and beeping machines keeping them alive.

Some are in individual rooms; dozens more are lined up in a vacated bay divided into a grid by curtains to separate beds.


“How many more are coming?” a nurse asks around 11 p.m. No one can be sure.

Some of these patients will go home and complete their recoveries. Others will leave to be buried.

The Rio Grande Valley has seen a surge in coronavirus cases, and the patients arrive daily. At least 10 were brought here from the emergency room Wednesday. More than a dozen the day before that. Some nurses tend to three patients each, instead of the usual two, and pick up extra hours. A lead nurse who clocked in at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday was still working past 10:30 p.m. Another, on her fourth 12-hour shift, said she’d seen things she will “never unsee.”

“We're getting more and more and more, and that's the problem,” said nurse Apryle Pelshaw. The blaring alarm that signals a patient needs to be intubated or is having a medical emergency sounds in her sleep.

[...]

“We can handle small surges and clusters; it's not a big deal. But when you get this continuous surge ongoing hour after hour — you see these patients and they are all coming in with the same symptoms huffing and puffing, some of them are gasping for air and some of them are confused because of the lack of oxygen, and they're elderly and they're young and they're distressed and they're agitated, and then there are no family members around,” Madi [Dr. Jamil Madi, medical director of intensive care at Valley Baptist]said. “It is draining.”

[...]

Most of the patients Tuesday were elderly, some with underlying health issues common in the Valley, like diabetes. Several members of one patient’s family had already tested positive for the virus. Another woman’s daughter called Pelshaw around 8:30 p.m. asking to say a prayer for her mom.

“Do you have any idea what room she's in, ma'am?” Pelshaw asked over the mechanical whirring and the beeping of the intravenous pumps.

Pelshaw’s wing had the sickest of the sick, 23 patients, 17 on vents, each kept in an individual room with an IV pole outside in the hallway, so nurses can make adjustments with minimal exposure. At the center is the hospice’s break room — once a place where elderly residents visited with family members. It now holds shelf after shelf of supplies — tubes, lubricating jelly — and five ventilators in a corner. There’s a case of refrigerated medications in what was once the “kids room.”


The patients who are slightly less ill are in a cavernous wing on the other side of the building, their beds arranged in rows and separated by high blue and white curtains. Many were prone and unconscious Tuesday night.

Nurses worry about the mental toll the pandemic is taking on their colleagues. About eight patients have died in the last two weeks, leaving hospital staff to break the news to family members who were not allowed to visit the infectious disease wards in person.
[...]


Late Tuesday in the DHR Health coronavirus ward, medical staff members tried to put a needle into the artery of one of nurse Christian Ramirez’s patients. Her blood pressure dropped, and Ramirez rushed to adjust the medications. He watched her blood pressure stabilize, standing amid discarded gloves strewn on the ground in the frenzy.

“She didn’t deserve this,” he said of the patient, who had patches on both cheeks holding her endotracheal tube in place. “My other two patients don’t deserve this.” All three needed critical care, two on ventilators, one on a nasal cannula and “maxed out on oxygen.”

The patient’s blood pressure suddenly shot up, and Ramirez darted to adjust her medications again, the green light of the machine reflecting on his face shield

The people that wind up in this coronavirus ward are seriously ill and “require a lot of attention, a lot of medications,” said Veronica Gomez, director of the unit. Two or three typically need to be intubated each shift. One doctor said he’d intubated five patients in one morning.

On top of that, nurses have become the patients’ entire support system because family members aren’t allowed in. They’ll help connect patients and family by phone, and “we can hear the anguish on the other side of the phone line,” said Gomez, who’s been a nurse for almost 20 years.

Not long before midnight, word came that a patient would be transferred over in an ambulance. One of the critical patients in the former hospice building had improved enough to move to a bed in the emptied bay. Their old room was being cleaned. A woman traipsed out with bagged-up trash. Ramirez began moving in supplies.

Another patient was on their way. Ramirez would be there to treat them.
***
(photos in story are especially poignant)
BBM &
SBM

 

[tresir2012]

I don't know. I've been reduced to just hoping the majority of our states aren't as stupid as those two.

I don't think it helps the situation calling a whole state stupid. That would also mean a lot of other states are stupid that are way higher up the ladder regarding cases and deaths than Texas and Florida IMO.

 

[10ofRods]

Florida enters critical period in coronavirus fight

The University of Washington’s model predicts a range of possibilities, depending on whether Florida imposes a mask requirement or continues easing restrictions.

An ensemble forecast of 21 models for Florida produced a cumulative death toll of 5,873 by the end of the month, with predictions ranging from 4,050 to 18,404, although the high number is an outlier.

With a mask requirement, the model forecasts the death toll rising to 5,280 by the end of the month and 7,046 by Oct. 1.

Without one, the model predicts the toll rising to 5,569 by the end of the month and 13,349 by Oct. 1.

An infectious disease expert at Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine said further restrictions are necessary, including a more widespread testing program that tracks down every infected person’s contacts and a statewide mask requirement, with fines for non-compliance.

For the past few days, Florida has exceeded its projected daily death rates by 50%. So even that 13,349 is going to sound low if they can't get control over this.

The pooled testing advice is grim, but probably necessary (but will definitely slow notification to those who are actually positive). While the retesting takes place, in theory the whole group should be notified they may have CoVid and then go back for individual testing.

It sure does look like people in Florida are staying home, though, judging from the various webcams. I assume they've shut their beaches (but my fear is that will drive people to house parties and similar tonight).