Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #69

[oviedo]

HISD Will Delay Opening Until After Labor Day, Go Virtual To Start The New School Year
The Houston Independent School District will delay the start of its school year until after Labor Day and begin classes with virtual instruction until at least October, the interim superintendent announced Wednesday.
More at link . . . HISD Will Delay Opening Until After Labor Day, Go Virtual To Start The New School Year | Houston Public Media

Texas readies morgue trucks in preparation for virus surge — Bloomberg
really smart decision IMO

 

[oviedo]

Maldives are v popular with Brits who love diving and snorkelling. I hope to get there before they are submerged. I think tho we are all going to be better off with our "staycations" for the time being. And for me that means my back garden.

Me too HKP - my state is very scary to live in right now. I’m back to where I was in March when I returned from my cruise and discovered how really bad it truly was (which I feel was kept hidden from us) except now it’s much worse because we have so many infected that may be Asymptomatic. But just a few weeks ago the bars were open we had protesters and everything was “just fine” and we were told to “live with it”
Oh and schools are opening Aug 17 and Disney and the parks are all open - I wouldn’t come for a vacation here - but others are ..
JMO

 

[Black Widow]

I have been watching business closely here in SW Ontario and those who care about my health will get my business. Those who do not- too bad so sad for them.

I totally agree with what you are saying. I stopped using our local grocery store a while ago....too many tourists..and I just transferred my prescriptions from my local pharmacy to another further away. It’s too bad but if the stores can’t enforce distancing I wont go there. Come September when the tourists are gone I wonder how many locals will even return locally to shop. Not me, I’m getting set up in another community where there are fewer tourists and more rules.

 

[Bravo]

I totally agree with what you are saying. I stopped using our local grocery store a while ago....too many tourists..and I just transferred my prescriptions from my local pharmacy to another further away. It’s too bad but if the stores can’t enforce distancing I wont go there. Come September when the tourists are gone I wonder how many locals will even return locally to shop. Not me, I’m getting set up in another community where there are fewer tourists and more rules.

Excellent. Be safe.

 

[margarita25]

Countries currently open without restriction to US citizens:

• Albania
• Dominican Republic
• Kosovo
• Maldives
• Mexico
• North Macedonia
• Serbia
• Tunisia
• Turkey

The handful of countries still welcoming US tourists

Yeah I was reading about the Maldives the other day:

The Maldives is now open to all global tourists. Here's how they're doing it

Maldives tests waters by opening resorts to COVID-weary tourists

The Maldives Is Reopening in July — Here's What You Need to Know

Maldives reopens for tourists in push to be a 'virus safe' destination

As Maldives reopens for tourists, India is likely to create special air bubble

 

[margarita25]

I have been watching business closely here in SW Ontario and those who care about my health will get my business. Those who do not- too bad so sad for them.

I saw this one bar put an electric fence up to encourage social distancing!

English pub owner installs electric fence to keep customers at a safe distance - CNN

Pub adds electric fence to remind customers of social distancing

UK pub installs electric fence at the bar to ensure patrons socially distance: report

 

[SouthAussie]

I totally agree with what you are saying. I stopped using our local grocery store a while ago....too many tourists..and I just transferred my prescriptions from my local pharmacy to another further away. It’s too bad but if the stores can’t enforce distancing I wont go there. Come September when the tourists are gone I wonder how many locals will even return locally to shop. Not me, I’m getting set up in another community where there are fewer tourists and more rules.

I know things are a bit different there - with regard to food - but when we were in lockdown earlier, my friends and I (and presumably others) made a point of gathering ready made meals from our local restaurants and pubs. Put them in the freezer then used them later at will.

It is so important to support good locals. We all want them still there and our communities to be vibrant, when eventually this thing calms down.

I think you are being very smart to not patronise shops who don't support their locals.

 

[justbeachy]

Because, you know...Florida.

AAU is actually holding a 17k person volleyball tournament in Florida right now

 

[margarita25]

UNREAL. Surely this won't stand. Oh wait, everything about the administration of this pandemic has gone amuck since day freakin one. This bothers me greatly.

Iirc it’s already been slated to happen, starting today iirc. Yesterday it said “Wednesday”, moo.

Eta:
“The Trump administration ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all COVID-19 patient information to a central database in Washington, starting Wednesday, according to a Health and Human Services document updated July 10.

The handoff had an immediate effect. Wednesday afternoon one of the important CDC pages that tracked changes over time in how many hospital beds in the nation are occupied by COVID-19 patients ceased working. The CDC confirmed the page's disappearance was a consequence of the switch.”

Trump HHS tells hospitals to send COVID-19 data to Washington, not CDC

 

[tresir2012]

That's what it says. You may only access the data with authorization from HHS.

White House to hospitals: Bypass CDC, report COVID-19 data directly to HHS


Global Edition
Actionable Intelligence
White House to hospitals: Bypass CDC, report COVID-19 data directly to HHS
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield says the controversial new process, which calls on hospitals to send capacity and utilization data to HHS, was made with CDC support.
By Kat Jercich
July 15, 2020
02:41 PM

Win McNamee, Getty Images

The Trump administration has directed hospitals to stop reporting COVID-19 data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network.

Instead, starting Wednesday, they have been told to send capacity and utilization information – including patient numbers, remdesivir inventory and bed and ventilator usage rates – to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the new HHS Protect system.

On a press call Wednesday, CDC Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield said that the change had been made with the CDC's support.

"We at CDC know that the lifeblood of public health is data," said Redfield, adding that collecting and disseminating data "is our top priority and the reason for the change."

He emphasized: "No one is taking access or data away from the CDC."

Readfield noted that about 1,000 CDC experts will continue to have access to the raw data from hospitals. "This access is the same today as it was yesterday," he said.

Covid Vaccine Front-Runner Is Months Ahead of Her Competition

In April, Sarah Gilbert’s three children, 21-year-old triplets all studying biochemistry, decided to take part in a trial for an experimental vaccineagainst Covid-19.



It was their mother’s vaccine—she leads the University of Oxford team that developed it—but there wasn’t a big family talk. “We didn’t really discuss it as I wasn’t home much at the time,” Gilbert told me recently. She’d been working around the clock, as one does while trying to end a pandemic, and at any rate wasn’t worried for her kids. “We know the adverse event profile and we know the dose to use, because we’ve done this so many times before,” she says. “Obviously we’re doing safety testing, but we’re not concerned.”

More at both links.

 

[zecats]

Yep, yep. We don't go anywhere. The anti-mask thing is big in SoCal. Tensions are high. People going to get take-out are edgy and half are mad at the other half (for not wearing masks or for wearing masks). Police are either spread thin or otherwise invisible. The beaches, when they close, still have plenty of people. My small hometown, where I have friends, has had one of the bigger increases in CoVid in SoCal. Inyo County has closed all its campgrounds (they were at zero cases until last week and they rightfully freaked out when they had their first death). If we look just at Madera County (gateway to Yosemite), it's so sad. They don't even have really good hospitals close by.

L.A. now has the highest number of hospitalizations ever and California has shattered its previous record for new cases today.

Where could I even go? Well, some people are going anyway!

I wonder what we'll do next week when all ICU beds are taken throughout SoCal.

I was being a tiny bit facetious. DH and I did have dinner (outside) in Delaware back in June and I have to say, pretty much everyone was wearing a mask - workers and customers in the restaurant, as well as people passing by. We have not ventured into Philly in quite a while, but PA seems mostly on track with NJ with masks and shutdowns, etc. So we would not be averse to going there for dinner maybe.

One place I do go weekly is to my little beach house. Ocean air is beneficial in normal circumstances, so I'm breathing it in deeply these summer months. I have to say, it's about 10 degrees cooler here than at home on the western side of NJ, too. And this little town on the southern end of the Jersey Shore feels safe to me. The beach is large and people distance themselves. When the tide is out, the beach is even bigger and there is a sandbar about 20 yards out. It's cool to be standing so far out in the Atlantic and the water is barely at your ankles. People are wearing masks in places they should be.

 

[zecats]

My office shut down March 15 and opened with half staff on alternate work days starting June 15. The larger companies around me such as Prudential, PSEG and many other offices are slowly returning next month or off for the entire summer. State office workers are also working from home indefinitely with no return date.

After 4 months, the NY/NJ area is still pretty much shut down, but with mandatory mask wearing anytime outside the home.

My two children and their spouses, who all have jobs in Manhattan, continue to work from home still. My daughter is slated to try to return in September and my DIL, not until December. My son's place of employment, which is a major law firm, have stated employees can work from home until they're comfortable. And my SIL is tasked with getting his workplace ready for in-house workers, yet he's not required to return yet. I appreciate every moment that they can be safely at home.

 

[CSIDreamer]

I was being a tiny bit facetious. DH and I did have dinner (outside) in Delaware back in June and I have to say, pretty much everyone was wearing a mask - workers and customers in the restaurant, as well as people passing by. We have not ventured into Philly in quite a while, but PA seems mostly on track with NJ with masks and shutdowns, etc. So we would not be averse to going there for dinner maybe.

One place I do go weekly is to my little beach house. Ocean air is beneficial in normal circumstances, so I'm breathing it in deeply these summer months. I have to say, it's about 10 degrees cooler here than at home on the western side of NJ, too. And this little town on the southern end of the Jersey Shore feels safe to me. The beach is large and people distance themselves. When the tide is out, the beach is even bigger and there is a sandbar about 20 yards out. It's cool to be stansing so far out in the Atlantic and the water is barely at your ankles. People are wearing masks in places they should be.

A beach house sounds like heaven.

I haven't ventured into a restaurant since early March.

 

[JerseyGirl]

I've always wanted to go to Tunisia (but hard to get a direct flight). My DH says absolutely not. I understand why. Turkey...well, a few years ago yes, not right now. Dominican Republic has too much CoVid for my liking. So does Mexico.

No direct flights to Albania that I can find.

Sigh. The rest are not places on my main list of places I want to go.

I sent the link to my traveler daughter. She loved Albania, beautiful beaches, beautiful people great seafood and the dollar goes a long way. She also visit North Macedonia on the list, next to Albania, a must see is Lake Ohrid. It wasn’t an easy trip, she was in Athens and took a train to the monasteries then an overnight bus to Albania.

I was actually surprised to see the Maldives was open and even surprised at a few other countries that would welcome us with a negative test.

 

[SouthAussie]

I was being a tiny bit facetious. DH and I did have dinner (outside) in Delaware back in June and I have to say, pretty much everyone was wearing a mask - workers and customers in the restaurant, as well as people passing by. We have not ventured into Philly in quite a while, but PA seems mostly on track with NJ with masks and shutdowns, etc. So we would not be averse to going there for dinner maybe.

One place I do go weekly is to my little beach house. Ocean air is beneficial in normal circumstances, so I'm breathing it in deeply these summer months. I have to say, it's about 10 degrees cooler here than at home on the western side of NJ, too. And this little town on the southern end of the Jersey Shore feels safe to me. The beach is large and people distance themselves. When the tide is out, the beach is even bigger and there is a sandbar about 20 yards out. It's cool to be stansing so far out in the Atlantic and the water is barely at your ankles. People are wearing masks in places they should be.

I am so glad that you are able to feel the healing qualities of the beach air and the ocean.
It soothes the soul. imo

 

[TootsieFootsie]

A likely story.

Apparently there’s a lag with the cdc in providing information. I understand it will make it faster for the federal government to get the resources to the states that need it.

 

[oviedo]

Fauci responds to "bizarre" White House attempts to undercut him — The Atlantic

I hope he is allowed to continue his work - I saw on CBS this morning how well George Bush spoke of him during the AIDS crisis
JMO

 

[Reasonable & Just]

Good news! Rwanda! With Robot Nurses and a reasonable grip on Covid! A COVID-19 Success Story In Rwanda: Free Testing, Robot Caregivers

I'm inclined to be just a little envious, but more than that, just so happy and proud for this country that has been through so much (though hopefully this is not authoritarian window-dressing)

 

[Sundog]

That's not a MSM source Is it?

LOL, it's a fundraising page for the Democrat National Committee.

 

[SouthAussie]

HHS ASPR awards COVID-19 Rapid Deployment Plan for Real-Time Healthcare System Capacity Reporting contract - FedHealthIT

TeleTracking has been awarded a 6-month contract to provide the Department of Health and Human Services with COVID-19 Rapid Deployment Plan for Real-Time Healthcare System Capacity Reporting. The contract was funded out of the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR).

Awardee Name: TELETRACKING TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Contract Duration: 6 months
Total Contract Value: $10,200,000.00
Funding Agency: OFFICE OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
Number of Bidders: 1
RFP ID: 75A50119R0044
Award ID: 75A50120C00042

$10,200,000 for a six month data contract.

Just let that sink in.

When the feds will no longer assist the states with testing.