Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #79

[MrX]

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula getting hit hard by surge of coronavirus cases
Michigan's Upper Peninsula is now another place where Covid-19 is spreading.

I'm confused by one part of this:

"Snyder and Beer both noted the region’s cross-border traffic with Wisconsin, where restrictions imposed by the governor were struck down by the state Supreme Court, allowing bars and restaurants to reopen.

That led to rising cases (Wisconsin set records for the number of cases and hospitalizations this week) that have steadily moved north out of Green Bay and, now, across the border into Michigan. Many Western U.P. residents work in Wisconsin, and shop and go to bars and restaurants there."

Odd that a court decision from May 13 is now being blamed for cases in late September.

But this story is the perfect example of why things that worked in other parts of the world don't work here. Impossible to keep Michigan residents out of restaurants when they are all open, across the street, in Wisconsin.

 

[LadyL]

Trudeau stresses vigilance, announces vaccine pact as COVID-19 cases reach 150,000

He says the latest deal is a pact with AstraZeneca to receive up to 20 million doses of an experimental vaccine.

This is the sixth such arrangement to ensure Canadians have access to crucial supply.

 

[ilovewings]

But in reality, it was the end of his world.

Good Point!!!!

That's a very good question. There is no difference in the end result, is there?

It's so important that the message is directed to people so that they can understand it. So if people can't comprehend the science, then giving them research results isn't the way to educate them. Perhaps they relate more to role models such as sports figures, movie stars, gov't and religious leaders, TV personalities, or royalty, and will mimic what they see there.

I think that our pandemic planning wasn't prepared for the push back from people who could not keep up with developing information. Was it JerseyGirl who posted an article that said 12 states have 50% or more of the population wearing masks? Those figures are way too low. The social distancing and mask message has been preached for at least a few months, but it is not reaching most of the American people.

Perhaps it's time to reexamine how the message is being put out there. Is there a mixed message, an uncoordinated effort, conflict and power posturing that is creating too much confusion?

Coronavirus: U.S. federal government’s mixed messages on masks creates confusion

Part of the problem were the mixed messages at the beginning of the pandemic from scientists and the Surgeon General- "no need for masks" "they are ineffective"- blah blah blah and then-- the really, for lack of a better word, stupid message that masks don't really protect the person that wears it, you wear it to help others: then months later they come out and say, oh wait a minute, the masks help protect the person who wears it too; DUH~!!!! Let's face it, people care more about themselves than about others- they should have said from the get-go, masks help protect the person who wears it- and if they didn't know that, some people will think how can you trust what they are telling us? now those of us with a brain bigger than a pea can use that brain and common sense to tell you that a mask acts as a barrier to whatever other people are ejecting from their nose and mouth.

 

[10ofRods]

I may have to. I normally have 1 little coughing fit in the morning. Its 1 pm and I'm still going strong. Ugh.

I too got 2 sprays from my doctor (one is a new antihistamine that works in the sinuses - it’s the BOMB) and the other is a steroid (Flonase - it’s OTC). Now all my morning and late evening coughing are gone! I’m actually in better respiratory health than before COVID - I wish I’d known there was something that could fix the cough, earlier.

It’s the antihistamine one that seems to be making the big difference.

Also - we got neoprene masks, so no fibers and for our purposes, that’s fine. I also have some polyester ones that have a filter pocket (but nothing to shed right next to my nose).

 

[LadyL]

Covid ‘Superspreader’ Karaoke Night and Other Events at Social Club of Palm Coast Cause at Least 2 Deaths and Up to 50 Infections

Palm Coast was the site of a rare Covid-19 “superspreader” event on a single night in late August. It claimed the lives of two people, with a third in hospice, and infected dozens of people, according to Flagler Health Department Chief Bob Snyder.

The superspreader was traced back with near certainty to karaoke night at the Palm Coast Social Club on Aug. 28, where people did not abide by social distancing or mask-wearing rules, and where singers belted song after song, without masks, despite studies that have pointed to such things as choir practice as cause for a disproportionate number of infections.

Covid 'Superspreader' Karaoke Night and Other Events at Social Club of Palm Coast Cause at Least 2 Deaths and Up to 50 Infections | FlaglerLive

Karaoke Night. You can't make this stuff up.

this is so sad (from the above linked article):

As one commenter below noted of that Friday, “My Mom was also there that night..sang her first Karoke song ever in her 83 years and was so proud..she got a standing ovation. She’s been in Flagler Advent for almost 3 weeks on highflow heated oxygen and they want to put her on hospice tomorrow. She won’t make it for more that a few hours after they unplug her. Also from living with me..I tested positive also.”

 

[LadyL]

Ontario orders all strip clubs to shut down, imposes new alcohol rules for bars and restaurants

Ontario will order all strip clubs in the province to shut down temporarily by Saturday and require all restaurants, bars and nightclubs to close by midnight each night as part of new measures to control a surge in coronavirus cases this month.

Starting at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, all bars, restaurants and nightclubs in Ontario will be required to stop serving alcohol by 11 p.m., and close their doors entirely by midnight, except for takeout and delivery.

They will also be prohibited from allowing employees to consume alcohol and gather with each other while closed.

The measures will also require all businesses in the province to develop daily COVID-19 symptom screening protocols for all employees.

~

Premier Doug Ford said Friday.

"I don't think it's the end of the world if people stop drinking at 11(p.m.)"

 

[10ofRods]

Sputnik V: Russian Astronauts Refuse to Take Country's Coronavirus Vaccine Before ISS Mission

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I am really impressed with how NY has overcome the huge problem they were having with the virus - and so are many people I associate with here in Oz.

I wish that the media would accentuate these stories. Put them out there as a 'gold standard' for others to achieve. These stories, and stories from other US areas that have had success in dealing with the virus. Far too few of these stories make it into media headlines.

People need something positive to strive for, something that works.

IMO

I, too often think about NY. Someday we will know more about viral loads, and how and why it hit this hard in NY. Cuomo gets a lot of credit in my mind, given the monumental conditions that hit the city and the state. New Jersey too..... but basically no where in the US comes close to what NYC had to address.... His press conferences were continually low key, compassionate and full of real information.


But what is going to happen to NYC?
All that real estate?
And Theater?
And restaurants?

Covid is really just like waiting for a hurricane that keeps coming back... not knowing what horrible issues come up next.

 

[LadyL]

W5 investigates how surviving COVID-19 is just the first step

Mornings are agony for Mike Chow.

The Port Coquitlam, B.C., dentist, a former marathon runner, now shuffles into the kitchen by moving only a few inches with each step.

He struggles to make a fist when sitting at the table. Like countless other patients who contracted COVID-19, he has no idea how long his symptoms will last or what other health problems may surface.
~
W5 spoke to 16 members in a virtual town hall to understand the impact this has on their lives. The lingering symptoms these long-haulers described range from hair loss, to heart issues, to chronic fatigue.

 

[Trino]

What kind of a country are we?
The Centers for Disease Control has stopped a study aimed at determining the breadth of COVID-19’s spread in Minnesota due to Minnesotans hurling racial and ethnic slurs at public health surveyors.

As teams visited communities in Minnesota, a pattern emerged where groups of surveyors that included people of color faced racial slurs. In one incident in Eitzen, in Houston County, a team of two CDC employees and one contract nurse were walking up to a house when two cars pulled up and boxed in their car. Three men got out and one had his hand on a holstered gun, and they directed racial epithets toward the public health workers.

“The team felt that the intent was to intimidate and scare them, and that the community members did not trust our team was who they said they were,” said Assistant Commissioner Daniel Huff.

Huff said the incident wasn’t isolated and that in other incidents, a dog walker or neighbor questioned the teams, yelled at them or threatened to call the police.

“This is disappointing on multiple levels,” Huff said. “Through the [survey], we had hoped to better understand how COVID-19 is spreading in Minnesota and how it is affecting people. That kind of understanding could have helped us improve multiple aspects of our response.”

“There is a difference between disagreeing with a policy or an elected official and taking out frustrations on a public health person who is trying to do their job and help the community as best they can,” Huff said.
Minnesota Post
Daily Coronavirus Update
09/25/2020

 

[musicaljoke]

What kind of a country are we?
The Centers for Disease Control has stopped a study aimed at determining the breadth of COVID-19’s spread in Minnesota due to Minnesotans hurling racial and ethnic slurs at public health surveyors.

As teams visited communities in Minnesota, a pattern emerged where groups of surveyors that included people of color faced racial slurs. In one incident in Eitzen, in Houston County, a team of two CDC employees and one contract nurse were walking up to a house when two cars pulled up and boxed in their car. Three men got out and one had his hand on a holstered gun, and they directed racial epithets toward the public health workers.

“The team felt that the intent was to intimidate and scare them, and that the community members did not trust our team was who they said they were,” said Assistant Commissioner Daniel Huff.

Huff said the incident wasn’t isolated and that in other incidents, a dog walker or neighbor questioned the teams, yelled at them or threatened to call the police.

“This is disappointing on multiple levels,” Huff said. “Through the [survey], we had hoped to better understand how COVID-19 is spreading in Minnesota and how it is affecting people. That kind of understanding could have helped us improve multiple aspects of our response.”

“There is a difference between disagreeing with a policy or an elected official and taking out frustrations on a public health person who is trying to do their job and help the community as best they can,” Huff said.
Minnesota Post
Daily Coronavirus Update
09/25/2020

How awful. This also happened to medical practitioners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Ebola crisis. What is there in the human heart that wants to inflict violence on the very people that are risking their lives to save ours?

Why Health Workers In The Ebola Hot Zone Are Threatening To Strike

 

[margarita25]

How awful. This also happened to medical practitioners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Ebola crisis. What is there in the human heart that wants to inflict violence on the very people that are risking their lives to save ours?

Why Health Workers In The Ebola Hot Zone Are Threatening To Strike

Dr. Mike Ryan was on the Ebola front going door to door contact tracing with a bullet proof vest and helmet on...I remember Doc T mentioning this, saying Dr. Mike was too humble to mention it himself. They also talked about their colleague that was killed.

 

[Cool Cats]

Good Point!!!!


Part of the problem were the mixed messages at the beginning of the pandemic from scientists and the Surgeon General- "no need for masks" "they are ineffective"- blah blah blah and then-- the really, for lack of a better word, stupid message that masks don't really protect the person that wears it, you wear it to help others: then months later they come out and say, oh wait a minute, the masks help protect the person who wears it to; DUH~!!!!

They down-played masks for one reason, in my opinion from what I have researched, because they did not want shortages, shortages for health care workers on the front lines.

Ever hear the old saying "every man for himself?"

That's when the ship is going down and you need to make your own decisions and not be looking for the crew and captain to tell you what you need to do!



The Sinking Ship

Make your own best decisions (for you and your family)
because no one will save you - but you.

Opinion Only

 

[MrX]

But what is going to happen to NYC?
All that real estate?
And Theater?
And restaurants?

College football probably provides the answer. Conferences that cancelled their seasons had to backtrack when other conferences decided to play. The damage to recruiting could have lasted decades. Unfortunately NYC is in a no-win situation - they either reopen, and risk all of their hard work, or watch other cities poach their talent.

This has long been a lament in Phoenix - it seems that talented young people all leave for Portland, Seattle, Denver, Austin, etc., rather than staying and improving the cultural landscape.

 

[SouthAussie]

Parts of France are having their bars & restaurants closed, due to continued soaring covid rates.
They appear to have an alert system ... alert, heightened alert, maximum alert, and emergency.
Those in the heightened alert zones are having bars close at 10pm.
Those in maximum alert are having the bars closed.
The restrictions are for two weeks, then likely will be reviewed.

Marseille furious at Paris decree to shut its bars as coronavirus soars

 

[10ofRods]

I'm confused by one part of this:

"Snyder and Beer both noted the region’s cross-border traffic with Wisconsin, where restrictions imposed by the governor were struck down by the state Supreme Court, allowing bars and restaurants to reopen.

That led to rising cases (Wisconsin set records for the number of cases and hospitalizations this week) that have steadily moved north out of Green Bay and, now, across the border into Michigan. Many Western U.P. residents work in Wisconsin, and shop and go to bars and restaurants there."

Odd that a court decision from May 13 is now being blamed for cases in late September.

But this story is the perfect example of why things that worked in other parts of the world don't work here. Impossible to keep Michigan residents out of restaurants when they are all open, across the street, in Wisconsin.

Growth is exponential, which means that it starts out slowly. Then, as with any virus, it simmers. WI is the very definition of "simmer" as it has lots of smaller towns. This permitted slow and steady, then rapid growth.

It probably took people a while to become accustomed to going to the bars, and to become more disinhibited.

Of course, there are studies that show that Sturgis provided another bump-up.

Check the graphs below

Wisconsin Coronavirus: 110,828 Cases and 1,274 Deaths (COVID-19 ) - Worldometer

and you can see that WI starts to get lift-off right around mid-to-end of May. The active cases are quite telling.

 

[10ofRods]

W5 investigates how surviving COVID-19 is just the first step

Mornings are agony for Mike Chow.

The Port Coquitlam, B.C., dentist, a former marathon runner, now shuffles into the kitchen by moving only a few inches with each step.

He struggles to make a fist when sitting at the table. Like countless other patients who contracted COVID-19, he has no idea how long his symptoms will last or what other health problems may surface.
~
W5 spoke to 16 members in a virtual town hall to understand the impact this has on their lives. The lingering symptoms these long-haulers described range from hair loss, to heart issues, to chronic fatigue.

You should repost this frequently. People really need to understand this. This disease attacks the cells that are the outer cover of muscles...as well as part of the structure of muscle that contracts.

 

[SouthAussie]

What Australia could learn from successful vaccine rollouts in the Pacific

Families who were not vaccinated were told to display red flags outside their homes as part of the campaign and more than 150 mobile teams went door-to-door to administer measle, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines to households displaying the flags.
When the school year started, students who were not vaccinated were not allowed to attend.
"We talked to people, not only through the pulpit but with parents directly, about the importance of vaccinations, and used our own history of safe vaccinations so that people could have confidence once again and get their kids vaccinated."
.... establish a Pacific healthcare radio program, through which even the most remote health workers could regularly share and gather up-to-date information.
"I think it's extremely impressive and the nurses break through mountains and knock on the last door until they find people [to educate and vaccinate]."

What Australia could learn from successful vaccine rollouts in the Pacific

 

[Trino]

No, honey, I don't feel sorry for you. There are many other problems in today's world, and you'll get over this.
CU Boulder Students Feel ‘Trapped’ After Gathering Ban For 18-22-Year-Olds
University of Colorado Boulder Senior Matthew Parone is stuck in student housing with nowhere else to go. This after the university banned all 18-to-22-year-olds from gatherings of any size, indoors or out, until further notice.
CU Boulder Students Feel 'Trapped' After Gathering Ban For 18-22-Year-Olds

 

[MrX]

Parts of France are having their bars & restaurants closed, due to continued soaring covid rates.
They appear to have an alert system ... alert, heightened alert, maximum alert, and emergency.
Those in the heightened alert zones are having bars close at 10pm.
Those in maximum alert are having the bars closed.
The restrictions are for two weeks, then likely will be reviewed.

Marseille furious at Paris decree to shut its bars as coronavirus soars

It's interesting that we are starting to see some standardization of "alert" levels, based around cases per 100K and hospital usage (along with percent positive, although that seems too dependent on access and turn around times, resulting in only sick people being tested.)

I know bars are easy to single out and punish, but I wonder if we will ever see numbers that show what measures work and what don't. AZ went from "worst to first," over the Summer, but so much happened that it's impossible to know if it was a single measure, all of them, or something, as yet, unknown that caused cases to drop.