Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #85

[Reasonable & Just]

There was a US company that was ready to start pumping out N95s in January, but the government declined.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/inve...6a821e-908a-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html


In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. government turned down an offer to manufacture millions of N95 masks in America

I remember this. It was all so puzzling.

 

[Reasonable & Just]

Pandemic depression is about to collide with seasonal depression. Make a plan, experts say.
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Germany’s commissioner for nursing care warns families: Start planning a different kind of Christmas this year
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Study Shows Covid-19 Antibodies Waning Over Time, Suggesting Immunity Might Wear Off
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A South Dakota man who voiced concerns about his state's hospital capacity died from coronavirus

"”Anybody that gets the strain that I have -- you better be ready for the fight of your life," he told CNN affiliate KSFY in late September. "It's almost a death wish. I can see why there's so many people that die from it."“

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How to prepare for the Covid-19 surge - CNN
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Denver warns new stay-at-home order possible if COVID-19 spread not curbed
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Coronavirus antibodies decline after infection, study finds, raising questions about herd immunity
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COVID-19 COLORADO: Watch live at 11:30 a.m.: Mayor Hancock provides Tuesday update on COVID-19 in Denver


Currently, Denver is at a Level 2 on the COVID-19 dial. On Tuesday, the City of Denver and Denver county will be moved to a Safer at Home Level 3.

Here’s what a Safer at Home Level 3 means:

• P-12 Schools: Remote or hybrid suggested, limited in-person as appropriate
• Higher Education: Remote or hybrid suggested, limited in-person as appropriate
• Restaurants: 25% capacity or 50 people 6 feet between parties outdoors, per local zoning
• Places of Worship: 25% capacity or 50 people 6 feet between parties outdoors, per local zoning
• Offices: 25% capacity
• Bars: Closed
• Gyms/Fitness: Virtual or outdoors in groups less than 10
• Group Sports: Virtual or outdoors in groups less than 10
• Retail: 25% capacity
• Personal Services: 25% capacity or 25 people
• Indoor Events: 25 person cap
• Outdoor Events: 75 person cap
• Senior Facilities: Closed except for compassionate visitation
• Outdoor recreation: 25% capacity or 10 people

This first article is incredibly important, thanks. All this death and sickness and financial and physical worry, and no real reason to think it will improve any time soon. I wonder if Amazon will be selling more sun lamps as people at least try to counteract the seasonal component of depression. The situational component is a whole other ball game.

 

[Reasonable & Just]

Russia Issues National Mask Mandate After Coronavirus Cases Surge

Russia has the world's fourth largest tally of more than 1.5 million confirmed cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the pandemic.

The government's coronavirus task force has been reporting more than 15,000 new infections every day since Sunday, which is much higher than in spring.

Russia has reported more than 26,000 virus-related deaths.

All this with "only" 26,000 deaths. May their efforts pay off for the people's well-being

 

[SouthAussie]

I remember this. It was all so puzzling.

Wasn't this the point where Americans were being told by the federal administration that they had the pandemic "totally under control"?


But in January he had explicitly played down such concerns when asked about that specific word, “pandemic,” saying: “We have it totally under control.”
Dismissed coronavirus pandemic worry in January

 

[Reasonable & Just]

Wasn't this the point where Americans were being told by the federal administration that they had the pandemic "totally under control"?


But in January he had explicitly played down such concerns when asked about that specific word, “pandemic,” saying: “We have it totally under control.”
Dismissed coronavirus pandemic worry in January

To be fair, that narrative continues to this day.

 

[SouthAussie]

To be fair, that narrative continues to this day.

Yes, agreed. Just wondering if this is why manufacture of PPE was not ramped up in the US in January, and promptly delivered to all needy areas. Leaving so many medical workers under-protected.

 

[24Roses]

Iowa numbers today: As of 10:00-11:00 a.m. we had 1,178 new confirmed cases for a total of 117,630 total confirmed cases of which 89,413 had recovered (+1,429) KWWL has correct number of new cases but did not update to new total confirmed cases in their article. 22 more were reported to have passed for a total of 1,658. There are 28,217 active postive cases. 78 were hospitalized in the last 24 hrs. for a total of 564 (+3 new daily record). Here are the daily age goups: 0-17: 10,363 (+116); 18-40: 53,038 (+427); 41-60: 32,489 (+376); 61-80: 16,889 (+205); & 81+: 4,823 (+54). Oct. 27: 1,178 new COVID-19 cases in Iowa, 22 more deaths, 1,429 recoveries
Iowa COVID-19 Information

 

[SouthAussie]

Melbourne's lockdown lifted at midnight last night.

In celebration, some shops as well as pubs and restaurants opened at midnight. And Melburnians filled them in (covid-limited) droves.


After the state government on Monday announced new rules for retail and hospitality to take effect at 11.59pm on Tuesday, some shopping chains, including Kmart, opened their doors at midnight. At Barkly Square in Brunswick, a steady stream of customers was moving through all morning.
One woman entering the store held up her phone to record a video message for a friend.
"Look where I am this morning! Whoohoo!"

Many Melburnians went for the top shelf when select venues opened at the stroke of midnight last night.
"There were a lot of Long Island iced teas," said Sam Heathcote, manager of the Local Hotel in Port Melbourne, which was fully booked for its midnight reopening and had another 20 tentative bookings in the wings.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...-first-taste-of-freedoms-20201028-p5698p.html

 

[weepingangel]

‘It was traumatic’: Soldiers’ Home staff, union officials testify before legislative oversight committee
Much more at link


Fox told the committee she believes many have underestimated the trauma endured by the staff, although the new administration has offered grief counseling for employees.


She said many staff who cared for the ill and dying veterans in Holyoke have been diagnosed with “moral injury,” which is a close cousin of post traumatic stress disorder.


“I have members who tell me ‘I’m not the same person I was seven months ago,'" Fox testified. “I say, not only that, but you’re not going to be that person again.”


She said nurses know death will occur on their watch, she added, but the pandemic’s toll at the Soldiers' Home was different.


“The magnitude and velocity of that was overwhelming,” Fox said.

 

[ZoriahNZ]

More unsettling news (NYT):

Some Covid Survivors Have Antibodies That Attack the Body, not Virus

Some survivors of Covid-19 carry worrying signs that their immune system has turned on the body, reminiscent of potentially debilitating diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, a new study has found.

At some point, the body’s defense system in these patients shifted into attacking itself, rather than the virus, the study suggests.

Unfortunately, surviving even a mild case of covid-19 may not be the end of serious ongoing health issues for the patient.

 

[BUF]

Yes, agreed. Just wondering if this is why manufacture of PPE was not ramped up in the US in January, and promptly delivered to all needy areas. Leaving so many medical workers under-protected.

Watching those poor medical professionals dealing with the lack of PPE and told to wear their N95s for up to a week while they were flooded with patients/deaths was just horrible as it didn’t have to be that way. I found it to be an epic fail, as I still do in other ways as what is going on today.

 

[10ofRods]

I remember this. It was all so puzzling.

Really? Look where the contracts have gone (administered by our executive's children/spouses). Executive branch gave contracts to start-ups with no experience in PPE rather than giving those grants to companies poised to be able to do the task (compare Canada's response). Corporations that had obvious ability to produce PPE were ignored.

Really a perfect storm - we have never been so unprepared in so many ways. And if you follow the trail of those PPE/drug/ventilator contracts, you find that none of the monies spent by Washington have resulted in those products being available. Fortunately, we're still able to import (by jet) some products from Asia.

 

[weepingangel]

More Massachusetts hospital break room spread
15 Holyoke Medical Center employees test positive for COVID-19

 

[Rose in SC]

Horrific story out of Chicago - all because store security asked two sisters to wear masks.

Store guard stabbed 27 times for asking women to wear masks

Sisters, 18 and 21, accused of attacking store security guard, stabbing him 27 times after they refused to wear face masks

 

[10ofRods]

More unsettling news (NYT):

Some Covid Survivors Have Antibodies That Attack the Body, not Virus

Unfortunately, surviving even a mild case of covid-19 may not be the end of serious ongoing health issues for the patient.

This is so interesting. For chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia patients, it's probably an all-too-familiar story. Certain viruses have this effect. The body sees them (over and over) as attackers - and the virus is in every cell. CoVid attacks a tissue (epithelial cells) that are common to most organs in the body, including the nervous system.

Afterwards, it's not uncommon for the body to mistake remnants of the virus for the Enemy and therefore, to attack body cells that contain it (which, in the case of CoVid is nearly all cells in the body).

People are gambling with their own immune systems.

This will likely include higher incidence of stroke, arthritis, inflammatory diseases including heart disease. The survivors (including young people who were asymptomatic) may not be as healthy as they would have been - and there will likely be longterm health costs (although who is going to pay those costs in the US?)

The cultural impact of CoVid has only just begun.

 

[sds71]

“Despite the high risk of contracting COVID-19 for older Americans, children and adults with mental illness, and children and adults with disabilities living in or receiving services in congregate care settings, there are huge gaps in federal reporting requirements for these facilities,” wrote Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “As a result, federal government officials, public health experts, and the public have no comprehensive information on COVID-19 occurrence and fatality rates in various congregate care settings — all while residents continue to face a significant public health threat.

https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Congregate Care Letter HELP October 14 2020.pdf

Trump Administration Faces Pressure To Track COVID-19 At Institutions, Group Homes

 

[margarita25]

Illinois

Pritzker orders tougher restrictions for Chicago starting Friday. Lightfoot says she’ll try to change his mind.

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Jump in county COVID-19 cases prompts Bannockburn teachers to demand return to remote learning

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Winter high school sports ‘put on hold’ by Gov. Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health

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COVID-19 numbers climbing at Naperville’s two school districts and North Central College, newest dashboard data shows

 

[ilovewings]

More unsettling news (NYT):

Some Covid Survivors Have Antibodies That Attack the Body, not Virus



Unfortunately, surviving even a mild case of covid-19 may not be the end of serious ongoing health issues for the patient.

That is why this virus is so wicked---

 

[ilovewings]

Trump signs executive order to make it easier to fire people like Dr. Fauci

We have a new Dark Age.

Very dark

 

[weepingangel]

Hockey Massachusetts
Changes Needed In Youth Hockey After COVID-19 Clusters, Baker Says
More at link

The Baker administration is preparing new regulations that will force Massachusetts youth hockey teams to help health experts track potential COVID-19 outbreaks, a step prompted by several teams and coaches obstructing the contact-tracing process in recent weeks, officials said Tuesday.

Indoor ice rinks must remain closed through at least Nov. 7 under a Department of Public Health order issued last week after state health regulators linked more than 100 cases of the highly infectious coronavirus to ice hockey.

During a Tuesday press conference, Gov. Charlie Baker and his health chief said their decision was prompted not only by the multiple clusters but also because some adults and coaches stymied the state's attempts to get a grasp of how far transmission spread.



"There were a number of instances where the team would not hand over the rosters of players, so you didn't even know who was playing for us to make the contact, or coaches in a couple of instances telling families and the players to not respond to the contact tracers," Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders told reporters. "Not sharing the rosters so that you can't make the phone calls is, for us, not acceptable."

Neither Baker nor Sudders identified any specific teams that refused to provide information about its players and who might have had contact with COVID-positive individuals.

On several other occasions, team leaders told players that if they were under quarantine, they could not play for their regular team but could play for other teams — a system that is "obviously not quarantine," Sudders said.



"There were a number of instances where the team would not hand over the rosters of players, so you didn't even know who was playing for us to make the contact, or coaches in a couple of instances telling families and the players to not respond to the contact tracers."
Mary Lou Sudders


A DPH investigation identified more than 30 COVID clusters linked to youth hockey, Baker said, with at least 110 confirmed cases and 22 more probable cases spread across at least 66 cities and towns.

Those numbers are likely "undercounted," Baker said, "due to the lack of cooperation" that met investigators.