Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #67

[CharlestonGal]

One Key Metric Shows How States' Outbreaks in The US Have Gotten Out of Control

The World Health Organisation recommends that governments institute a stay-at-home order if more than 5 percent of tests are coming back positive in a given region.

That's because a positivity rate over 5 percent indicates that the virus is spreading significantly through the community.

Currently, however, 28 US states are seeing positivity rates above that threshold.

Arizona, whose total case count passed 50,000 on June 21 then doubled to more than 100,000 in the following two weeks, had a positivity rate of 25 percent over the last week. That's the highest in the US.

Florida comes in second, at 19 percent, followed by South Carolina (17 percent), Mississippi (15 percent), and Texas (14 percent).

Five more states have positivity rates over 10 percent: Nevada (13 percent), Georgia (13 percent), Alabama (12 percent), Idaho (12 percent), Kansas (10 percent),

Hongjie Liu, chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Maryland, told the Virginia Mercury in May that positivity rates serve as an indicator of how fast the virus is spreading.

"10 percent indicates an ongoing epidemic," he said. "Meaning the epidemic is spreading relatively fast. And 10 percent is not a small number. It's a huge number in any epidemic."

 

[JerseyGirl]

CDC director says guidance is not intended to be used to keep schools closed

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said agency guidance on schools should not be utilized to keep schools closed.

“The guidance that CDC continues to put out for schools K-12 and higher learning is intentional for reopening and keeping our schools open,” Redfield said.

The CDC will issue new guidance on reopening schools next week.

“I want to make it very clear that what is not the intent of CDC's guidelines is to be used as a rationale to keep schools closed,” he said.

Redfield said his agency is willing to work with individual school districts to advise them on the different strategies outlined in the updated guidance.

“We’re prepared to work with all the school districts and schools to help them facilitate their development of their own unique plan to accomplish that,” he said.

 

[weepingangel]

Vs who’d be watching them two or three days a week every week ? Lol idk there obviously needs to be support for parents who need child care due to their essential jobs. Including all the usual essentials/ expendables - including school staff/ teachers They’re extremely essential imo and imo I feel like they’ve been dealt a bad hand in the covid game. Same cruise line different ships right ? Or however that saying goes.

Good idea. Who's going to watch the kids on the off week?

 

[JerseyGirl]

Gov. Cuomo on Trump's "threat" about school funding: "You're not going to bully New Yorkers"

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo brushed off President Trump’s “threat” about defunding states if governors don’t reopen schools.

“You’re not going to bully New Yorkers. That’s not going to happen, right?" he said.

He said it’s possible to have a regional reopening and he acknowledged concerns about teachers’ safety.

“When we came to the reopening of the economy, I said I’m not going to put someone in a dangerous situation. There is no money on the planet that can pay for a life as far as I’m concerned so it’s a balance and the same is with schools,” Cuomo said Wednesday.

Responding to a reporter’s question about greenlighting the proposed New York City plan for reopening, Cuomo said ideally you would make the decision the night before. “I don’t have the luxury of waiting for the night before. Our institutional, systemic drop-dead date is the first week in August,” he said.

 

[CharlestonGal]

Gov. Cuomo on Trump's "threat" about school funding: "You're not going to bully New Yorkers"

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo brushed off President Trump’s “threat” about defunding states if governors don’t reopen schools.

“You’re not going to bully New Yorkers. That’s not going to happen, right?" he said.

He said it’s possible to have a regional reopening and he acknowledged concerns about teachers’ safety.

“When we came to the reopening of the economy, I said I’m not going to put someone in a dangerous situation. There is no money on the planet that can pay for a life as far as I’m concerned so it’s a balance and the same is with schools,” Cuomo said Wednesday.

Responding to a reporter’s question about greenlighting the proposed New York City plan for reopening, Cuomo said ideally you would make the decision the night before. “I don’t have the luxury of waiting for the night before. Our institutional, systemic drop-dead date is the first week in August,” he said.

Good for you, Mr Cuomo! Don't let anyone bully you into jeopardizing the well-being of your citizens.

 

[10ofRods]

I had my test at 1pm Monday and received the negative result by 10 am the next morning in an email.
Los Angeles County, El Monte Airport drive thru testing.
I'm a nobody.

But you live in California where, at this point, we create and manage our own tests. It's been a long time since there were any news articles about it, but California has lots of PCR machines, and various ways of making sure tests get done. At the beginning, it was planned to buy more of them, I assume that's been done.

The test kits themselves are not rocket science. CDC has published their recommendations on reagants, etc., and any state with public health labs and PCR machines in adequate numbers can acquire the components. Of course, that takes time (and has cost lives in other states, for sure).

Anyway, I bet if the Arizona governor reached out to CA's public health leadership, they'd get rapid assistance in learning how we built our testing system (and how we continue to improve it). We did get tests from FEMA of course but even on that topic, I think AZ could learn from CA about how to surf the vagaries of that system (we got no help with the fires, we got no help from CoVid, basically). We are fortunate to have so many large medical research enterprises in California - but AZ has two large research hospitals itself. Hopefully, their public health officials have built good relationships with the lab researchers...

We've even got individual small towns in CA who secured contracts with test builders in order to test their entire towns in one weekend (Bolinas is one).

We launched our in-California testing programs in early March.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article241101866.html

And Newsome early on secured test kits purchased from abroad. I believe that Oregon, Washington and Utah have done similar.

 

[24Roses]

Iowa news today: As of 11:00 a.m today, we have 461 (IMO) new confirmed cases and 7 more have passed away. We now have a total of 32,388 confirmed cases of which 25,886 have recovered and 725 have passed away. Info. comes from Iowa COVID-19 Information and will be updated in 24 hrs. Here is a a news article with their info. taken at 10:00 a.m. July 8: 414 new COVID-19 cases in Iowa, 453 new recoveries, 7 additional deaths
Iowa governor decries local mandatory mask wearing
Unclear if fans will be able to attend 'Field of Dreams' game
Iowa group making and giving away thousands of masks
Iowa summer kids program goes online amid health concerns
Iowa’s Pandemic EBT Program to send thousands of students money for food next week
Dowling’s Baseball & Softball Seasons Over After Positive COVID-19 Test | who13.com

 

[weepingangel]

I would also go for antibody testing for back to school. Worth it ? Maybe
Pool testing

oh and I’m disgusted there’stilllllllllll issues with testing in general. Four months in.

Yeah, the building closing and deep cleaning thing is superfluous. The instant humans go back inside, the problem is repeated - again and again. CoVid19 is not all that transmissible from floors, for example. Desks and devices need to be disinfected - but the sheer number of bodies in a school at one time is the real problem.

Keeping CV+ staff and students separate is a good health idea and having a group for "Covid symptom positive but awaiting test results" is a good health idea - but will it work in a practical and human sense? I'd be up for it if I had antibodies.

Can't wait for a vaccine.

 

[SA55]

I find it odd that patients never experience a fairytale vision but they always seem to be menacing. I would die of fright me! X

Interesting thought - now you'll have me researching this. Wondering if all hallucinations are of frightening projections or just those we hear about? Seriously, from my past clinical experience, all those I recall were frightening to the patients.

 

[weepingangel]

Is your building essential?
Hospitals and such could never do that. So they make it work by making adjustments. Some are better than others to be sure

I didn't read the article, maybe they just shut the building down for a day or two to disinfect? Where I work, if someone enters the building and then tests positive for coronavirus, the entire building is shut down a few days for disinfecting.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Pence says White House will be "respectful" of states that can't reopen schools

The White House will be "very respectful" of states and local communities who determine they cannot fully reopen schools, Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday.

Despite President Trump's insistence that all schools reopen, and his vow to pressure governors to do that, Pence acknowledged there could be places where case counts prevent a full return to classrooms.

"I think we would account for the fact that while we hope every school in America is able to open this fall, there may be some states and local communities that given cases or positivity in that community may adjust to either a certain set of days or certain limitations," Pence said.

"We’ll be very respectful of that," he said, adding it was "imperative" that states "take steps to get kids back into the classroom to the fullest extent possible."

He said the federal government would work with localities where outbreaks prevent a full return to in-person schooling.

Asked about Trump's threat earlier Wednesday to withhold funding to schools that do not reopen, Pence noted that most education funding comes from states but said that in discussions with Congress about new funding, "we’re going to be looking for a way to give states a strong incentive and encouragement to get kids back to school."

 

[Deleted member 39678]

But you live in California where, at this point, we create and manage our own tests. It's been a long time since there were any news articles about it, but California has lots of PCR machines, and various ways of making sure tests get done. At the beginning, it was planned to buy more of them, I assume that's been done.

The test kits themselves are not rocket science. CDC has published their recommendations on reagants, etc., and any state with public health labs and PCR machines in adequate numbers can acquire the components. Of course, that takes time (and has cost lives in other states, for sure).

Anyway, I bet if the Arizona governor reached out to CA's public health leadership, they'd get rapid assistance in learning how we built our testing system (and how we continue to improve it). We did get tests from FEMA of course but even on that topic, I think AZ could learn from CA about how to surf the vagaries of that system (we got no help with the fires, we got no help from CoVid, basically). We are fortunate to have so many large medical research enterprises in California - but AZ has two large research hospitals itself. Hopefully, their public health officials have built good relationships with the lab researchers...

We've even got individual small towns in CA who secured contracts with test builders in order to test their entire towns in one weekend (Bolinas is one).

We launched our in-California testing programs in early March.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article241101866.html

And Newsome early on secured test kits purchased from abroad. I believe that Oregon, Washington and Utah have done similar.

5 Sacramento County clinics to close amid COVID-19 testing shortage

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Sacramento County is temporarily halting five of its six community COVID-19 testing centers. The Oak Park location is the only one to remain open.

Despite increasing COVID-19 testing, there is now a testing supply shortage nationwide, according to Sacramento County Public Health Director Dr. Peter Beilenson.

5 Sacramento County clinics to close amid COVID-19 testing shortage

 

[Lilibet]

Task force presser done.

Much time was spent asking and answering about the President’s tweet about CDC guidelines being too tough.

No one asked about or addressed children taking the virus home, except to minimize kids as not driving the increase.

No one asked about the colleges and universities losing foreign students if they have only online classes.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Trudeau: Canada handled coronavirus better than the US

Canada handled the coronavirus outbreak better than many of its allies, including the United States, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday in a rare public comment on the faltering US effort.

"We were able to control the virus better than many of our allies, particularly including our neighbor," Trudeau told a briefing, saying this would help efforts to restart the economy.

 

[JerseyGirl]

United Airlines warns 36,000 employees they may be furloughed this fall

The world's third-largest airline says 36,000 workers — including 15,000 flight attendants, 11,000 customer service and gate agents, 5,550 maintenance employees and 2,250 pilots — will receive layoff notices.

So far, airline workers have been largely insulated from the job losses that have wracked other industries. The federal CARES ACT, enacted in March, offered billions of dollars in bailout funds to the industry and barred companies that accepted the money from cutting jobs, pay rates or involuntarily furloughing workings.

That prohibition lifts on October 1.

Notices were sent to employees Wednesday because federal law requires employers to notify workers 60 days before a mass layoff.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Coronavirus updates from New York state

Schools: By July 31, local school districts across the state will have to submit their plans including protocols and how they will reopen. On August 1-7, the state will announce a decision on whether or not those schools reopen.

Hospitalizations: There were 841 hospitalizations across New York state as of Tuesday and 97 intubations – the first time the latter number is under 100 and first time this low since March 16. There were 11 deaths on July 7 — nine in hospitals and two in nursing homes.

Testing: In New York City, 1.2% of those tested over the last five days were positive. Cuomo debunked the theory that there are more positive cases across the country because of testing, citing the rise in hospitalizations.

Coronavirus live updates from around the world

 

[10ofRods]

CoVid causes a variety of serious brain syndromes and damage.

Brain issues are one of the key problems faced by younger CoVid patients (not dying, just getting strokes, other brain damage, trigger of paranoid symptoms, delirium and delusions):

Coronavirus linked to stroke in otherwise healthy young people

The syndrome is compared to dementia, it's not known whether everyone recovers and this study found that half of the victims were under 60.

Covid-19 brain complications include strokes and psychosis

Brain problems can sometimes be an early symptom or only symptom of infection in otherwise asymptomatic people. CoVid is likely a blood/vessel disorder and not a respiratory symptom - it's just that the lungs get hit first. But in milder cases, where antibodies are formed in the lungs, early symptoms can be in the brain.

How Covid-19 can damage the brain

So...while we should see continued drops in mortality due to the younger average age of CoVid patients, it's quite concerning that so many have these other very serious symptoms that almost certainly will have longterm consequences. Some of these brain injuries are of the exact type that we know cause longterm effects (often intermittent, but then becoming more serious with age). The delirium/dementia behavior of the brain clearly shows a form of brain damage.

 

[Sundog]

No surprise here if you know anything about White House senior advisor Stephen Miller’s agenda regarding immigration. From an article about USC foreign students....

Although ICE says this change is because of the pandemic, the Trump administration has been pushing for schools across the country to hold in-person learning. On Monday, President Donald Trump tweeted, "SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!"

SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
"The contradictions reveal that the intentions behind all of these immigration policy changes are not pandemic response. They are fulfilling a promise that (Trump senior adviser) Stephen Miller has long made to end legal immigration to the United States," said Andrea Flores, the Deputy Director of Immigration Policy at the ACLU.
BBM

ICE order to exit country leaves USC international students in limbo

It has always been the U.S. Department of Education's policy that F-1 student visa holders can only take 1 online course per semester, or they are out-of-status. This is not new. In March when colleges and universities pivoted to online learning due to COVID-19, the U.S. Dept of Education granted a temporary exception for the spring and summer semesters, so that F-1 student visa holders could take all their classes online. So it looks like that now the exemption is not being offered for the fall semester, and we have gone back to the long-standing policy for international students. We are working with our international students to make sure they stay in status and only take 1 online course this fall. Our international students abroad, mostly from China, who are not able to get visas at all due to travel restrictions, will be taking all their courses online, or deferring admission to the spring semester.

ETA Here is a link to a sample web page at a U.S. university, in this case, Northeastern University, that provides some of the information on regulations for international students to remain in status. Universities have to immediately report to the federal government if a student is out-of-status on any of these criteria. I came to the U.S. as an F-1 student, and if you are out of status, you risk being deported.

International Students Enrollment Requirements | Office of Global Services

 

[10ofRods]

Coronavirus updates from New York state

Schools: By July 31, local school districts across the state will have to submit their plans including protocols and how they will reopen. On August 1-7, the state will announce a decision on whether or not those schools reopen.

Hospitalizations: There were 841 hospitalizations across New York state as of Tuesday and 97 intubations – the first time the latter number is under 100 and first time this low since March 16. There were 11 deaths on July 7 — nine in hospitals and two in nursing homes.

Testing: In New York City, 1.2% of those tested over the last five days were positive. Cuomo debunked the theory that there are more positive cases across the country because of testing, citing the rise in hospitalizations.

Coronavirus live updates from around the world

Cuomo is right. But even he, with his willingness to communicate as clearly as possible, will have a hard time getting the complexities of CoVid across to the citizens.

If we increase testing, but CoVid is not increasing, then the positivity rate goes down - as it has in New York (and hardly anywhere else). If we increase testing and the percentage of positive cases goes up, it means that a lot of people in the community have CoVid.

Universal testing works to squash CoVid. It's one of the best defenses. It's what FEMA and CDC should be working toward - instead of shutting down testing. Refusing tests to Arizona is deplorable.

 

[10ofRods]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed> I sure hope specific help is on its way to AZ - not just talk. They didn't plan and stock on up test kits and now it's hard to say what the availability of the kits may be. Certainly, the feds have certain drugs (*all* of the Remdesivir, so maybe AZ will get that?)

If that's what is being offered (as it was to Ohio and some other states), that's great - but it doesn't help curb the overall pandemic. Arizona is specifically asking for instructions as well as physical aid.

If Arizona's governor were in touch with her two medical universities, she'd have had a good guesstimate of how many would be positive. It would be a range. But Johns Hopkins has calculated it as 25% (and any epidemiology program can do this calculation - heck, many people can do this calculation if they have the data):

Why Arizona's percent of positive tests is highest in the country

25% of people tested in Arizona over the past 2 weeks are positive. This is a terrible thing.