Originally Posted by Bwana:
Once again, don't come in this thread with some kind of political agenda, or you will be shown the door. If you want to go that route, there is a thread about this in DC.
Originally Posted by Dartgod:
People, there is a lot of good information in this thread, let's try to keep the petty bickering to a minimum.
We all have varying opinions about the impact of this, the numbers, etc. We will all never agree with each other. But we can all keep it civil.
Thanks!
Click here for the original OP:
Spoiler!
Apparently the CoronaVirus can survive on a inanimate objects, such as door knobs, for 9 days.
California coronavirus case could be first spread within U.S. community, CDC says
By SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA, JACLYN COSGROVE
FEB. 26, 2020 8:04 PM
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating what could be the first case of novel coronavirus in the United States involving a patient in California who neither recently traveled out of the country nor was in contact with someone who did.
“At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown. It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States,” the CDC said in a statement. “Community spread means spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. It’s also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveler who was infected.”
The individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County, according to the state Department of Public Health.
The CDC said the “case was detected through the U.S. public health system — picked up by astute clinicians.”
Officials at UC Davis Medical Center expanded on what the federal agency might have meant by that in an email sent Wednesday, as reported by the Davis Enterprise newspaper.
The patient arrived at UC Davis Medical Center from another hospital Feb. 19 and “had already been intubated, was on a ventilator, and given droplet protection orders because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition,” according to an email sent by UC Davis officials that was obtained by the Davis Enterprise.
The staff at UC Davis requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, but because the patient didn’t fit the CDC’s existing criteria for the virus, a test wasn’t immediately administered, according to the email. The CDC then ordered the test Sunday, and results were announced Wednesday. Hospital administrators reportedly said in the email that despite these issues, there has been minimal exposure at the hospital because of safety protocols they have in place.
A UC Davis Health spokesperson declined Wednesday evening to share the email with The Times.
Since Feb. 2, more than 8,400 returning travelers from China have entered California, according to the state health department. They have been advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and limit interactions with others as much as possible, officials said.
“This is a new virus, and while we are still learning about it, there is a lot we already know,” Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “We have been anticipating the potential for such a case in the U.S., and given our close familial, social and business relationships with China, it is not unexpected that the first case in the U.S. would be in California.”
It is not clear how the person became infected, but public health workers could not identify any contacts with people who had traveled to China or other areas where the virus is widespread. That raises concern that the virus is spreading in the United States, creating a challenge for public health officials, experts say.
“It’s the first signal that we could be having silent transmission in the community,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. “It probably means there are many more cases out there, and it probably means this individual has infected others, and now it’s a race to try to find out who that person has infected.”
On Tuesday, the CDC offered its most serious warning to date that the United States should expect and prepare for the coronavirus to become a more widespread health issue.
“Ultimately, we expect we will see coronavirus spread in this country,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “It’s not so much a question of if, but a question of when.”
According to the CDC’s latest count Wednesday morning, 59 U.S. residents have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus — 42 of whom are repatriated citizens from a Diamond Princess cruise. That number has grown by two since Messonnier’s last count Tuesday, although the CDC was not immediately available to offer details on the additional cases.
More than 82,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported globally, and more than 2,700 people have died, with the majority in mainland China, the epicenter of the outbreak.
But public health leaders have repeatedly reminded residents that the health risk from the novel coronavirus to the general public remains low.
“While COVID-19 has a high transmission rate, it has a low mortality rate,” the state Department of Public Health said in a statement Wednesday. “From the international data we have, of those who have tested positive for COVID-19, approximately 80% do not exhibit symptoms that would require hospitalization. There have been no confirmed deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States to date.”
CDC officials have also warned that although the virus is likely to spread in U.S. communities, the flu still poses a greater risk.
Gostin said the news of potential silent transmission does not eliminate the possibility of containing the virus in the U.S. and preventing an outbreak.
“There are few enough cases that we should at least try,” he said. “Most of us are not optimistic that that will be successful, but we’re still in the position to try.”
Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy:
Interesting what California Governor said restaurants might look like when things open up.
He warned that Californians should prepare to enter a radically different realm where residents continue to wear masks, and where they may be greeted at restaurants by waiters wearing masks and gloves with disposable menus in venues that have half as many tables. Local school officials would develop new protocols, he said, for physical education classes and recess at schools, as well as processes to deeply clean and sanitize schools, parks and playgrounds to keep infection rates down.
Determining a "new normal" should be based on the situation at the time. If they reopen restaurants in the current situation, it doesn't matter what they do because people probably won't go. It will change dramatically if there is a treatment that reduces severity, or better yet an immunization. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
why not try it? They are just sitting in bed while bloodwork and other test results come back. What’s it going to hurt? It could work.
When I was working in the ER at the same hospital your daughter works at now, I saw doctors get disciplined for not putting the patients presenting with shortness of breath on their sides.
They are trying it instead of using vents. :-) [Reply]
But California's physical distancing measures have been a success and hailed by public health officials nationally. At least 724 people had died in California as of Monday, but the state's peak day in terms of coronavirus fatalities came on April 8, when 66 people died. Numbers have been slightly lower each day since then: 48 coronavirus-related deaths were reported on Monday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said it may be possible to relax the county's stay-at-home orders in mid-May, which impact 10 million people. But she said lifting the order, which she extended until May 15 in concert with other local officials, will hinge on the ability to care for those who are sick, to make sure the most vulnerable and those in nursing homes are protected from the virus and to "test, test, test, which has been a challenge," she said. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dirk digler:
They are trying it instead of using vents. :-)
I think it is probably something they were already trying before going to a last resort of vents it just may not something that had been advertised as much as some of the other options. [Reply]
I think we should just start opening state by state right now. Mitigate spread from one state to another and lets get to herd immunity before next season. All we are doing is delaying the inevitable. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BleedingRed:
I think we should just start opening state by state right now. Mitigate spread from one state to another and lets get to herd immunity before next season. All we are doing is delaying the inevitable.
I am sure the ER docs will love that idea, making decisions when you don't have to deal with the fallout is easy. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
why not try it? They are just sitting in bed while bloodwork and other test results come back. What’s it going to hurt? It could work.
When I was working in the ER at the same hospital your daughter works at now, I saw doctors get disciplined for not putting the patients presenting with shortness of breath on their sides.
why do they have to be in an ICU to have them lay on their sides or belly to try to help with the SOB?
That's not quite what you originally said.
My point was that acute worsening of shortness of breath outside of the ICU shouldn't be treated by proning as a substitute for ICU transfer.
Originally Posted by :
"I posted a couple of lengthy posts just a couple of pages back on how we were doing this 20+ years ago. This is a well known option.
If these Dotors are just now using this technique they are ****ing idiots need to lose their license. This would be a level of incompetence akin to a patient is short of breath, but don't give them some oxygen. This is a 100% agreed to step by the medical community. a no-doubt decision."
Proning patients on a general medical floor for treatment of shortness of breath hasn't been a 100 percent agreed upon treatment in the past. Based on linked articles it seems that they are doing it for Covid-19 patients though.
This isn't an indicator of incompetence
Also, subjective shortness of breath is not necessarily a reason to put a patient on oxygen . . . [Reply]
Originally Posted by petegz28:
So we will go from the world of the sick to the world of the paranoid....
Well I don't think wearing a mask makes anyone paranoid just cautious. If we go back to life as we know it too soon the virus will spread again. I think we can all agree on that.
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
**** you. I lived this for 10 years. I wasn’t on drugs and didn’t stay at a holiday inn. I took my job seriously. People lived and died based on what we did. You think I forgot what we did in life threatening situation 99% of the time?
Originally Posted by BleedingRed:
I think we should just start opening state by state right now. Mitigate spread from one state to another and lets get to herd immunity before next season. All we are doing is delaying the inevitable.
The delay is not because it's fun, it's to give us adequate time to produce antiviral, serum-based, and vaccine therapies that will lower the death toll significantly. [Reply]
