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.”
Yes like the flu but with a much much much higher mortality rate and an R0 rate of at least twice that off the flu. Which means it will spread twice as fast as the flu if left unchecked. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
Yes like the flu but with a much much much higher mortality rate and an R0 rate of at least twice that off the flu. Which means it will spread twice as fast as the flu if left unchecked.
The mortality rate is still incredibly low (based upon the numbers we have). The majority people that have experienced issues are older people with underlying medical issues.
Who knows how many people had symptoms and never reported them. The mortality rate may be even lower than we have numbers on now.
The truth is nobody really knows. This isn't some super flu that's going to wipe out half the population, but the precautions are definitely warranted.
You're definitely right about it being more contagious - which is the most worrying aspect. We don't need it infecting nursing homes/hospitals etc. [Reply]
If you have a shitty immune system yes you should be concerned but to watch everyone lose it is sad. A friend of mine is such a dumbass he wants to lock his children in the house because he thinks everyone is going to die.
Originally Posted by Mecca:
If you have a shitty immune system yes you should be concerned but to watch everyone lose it is sad. A friend of mine is such a dumbass he wants to lock his children in the house because he thinks everyone is going to die.
Some people watch way to much news.
Hey I'm not worried about it myself. I'm worried about the old Boomers on Chiefsplanet keeling over dead from Covid-19. [Reply]
It's a bronchial virus that leads to viral pneumonia and can lead to death, especially in older people. Children are actually okay, because they are exposed to so many other corona viruses (colds). There is no treatment at the moment, highly contagious.
Listen to the The Daily today if you want a comprehensive update. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
If you have a shitty immune system yes you should be concerned but to watch everyone lose it is sad. A friend of mine is such a dumbass he wants to lock his children in the house because he thinks everyone is going to die.
Some people watch way to much news.
It's not worth "losing it" over, but it could be a MAJOR blow to the world economy if it keeps spreading. I have a trip to Italy planned for this summer, for example, and it's remotely possible that many of the tourists sites could be shut down by then in order to try and contain this thing.
On a more local level, it's possible that businesses will have to deal with big chunks of their workforce being sick at the same time. Deadlines will slip, and things just won't get done.
And on top of that, a small percentage of people will probably die from it. Will it be worse than a bad flu season? Tough to say. But it certainly doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. [Reply]
Originally Posted by nychief:
It's a bronchial virus that leads to viral pneumonia and can lead to death, especially in older people. Children are actually okay, because they are exposed to so many other corona viruses (colds). There is no treatment at the moment, highly contagious.
Listen to the The Daily today if you want a comprehensive update.
There are treatments for it. Various antiviral drugs have shown very good success in treating the virus. Remdesivir, a new antiviral medication is in the testing phase and has shown great results thus far.
There's so much misinformation being spread. I'm not looking to pump sunshine and rainbows to everyone, but there's absolutely no reason to go into panic mode right now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
It's not worth "losing it" over, but it could be a MAJOR blow to the world economy if it keeps spreading. I have a trip to Italy planned for this summer, for example, and it's remotely possible that many of the tourists sites could be shut down by then in order to try and contain this thing.
On a more local level, it's possible that businesses will have to deal with big chunks of their workforce being sick at the same time. Deadlines will slip, and things just won't get done.
And on top of that, a small percentage of people will probably die from it. Will it be worse than a bad flu season? Tough to say. But it certainly doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.
I completely listen to that argument, but his thing is "people are dying!" that's overblown. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
If you have a shitty immune system yes you should be concerned but to watch everyone lose it is sad. A friend of mine is such a dumbass he wants to lock his children in the house because he thinks everyone is going to die.
Some people watch way to much news.
Was he around for Y2K? Did he have a plan then? [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
It's not worth "losing it" over, but it could be a MAJOR blow to the world economy if it keeps spreading. I have a trip to Italy planned for this summer, for example, and it's remotely possible that many of the tourists sites could be shut down by then in order to try and contain this thing.
On a more local level, it's possible that businesses will have to deal with big chunks of their workforce being sick at the same time. Deadlines will slip, and things just won't get done.
And on top of that, a small percentage of people will probably die from it. Will it be worse than a bad flu season? Tough to say. But it certainly doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.
Wouldn't YOU rather take a trip to MARS and stay there until this whole COVID-19 thing blows over? :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
I completely listen to that argument, but his thing is "people are dying!" that's overblown.
I recently read a book called Factfulness that tries to point out all of the weird (wrong) perceptions we have about how awful the world is. One of the concepts the author puts out there is that we should always be skeptical of "lonely numbers" - numbers that sound really bad, but we don't have any context for.
This is definitely a time for that. While 2,814 deaths from Coronavirus sounds bad, the flu kills between 291,000 and 646,000 each year, so we're nowhere near that level for now. It's just a question of how long it'll keep growing as fast as it is now.
The book also points out another common issue - people always assume that things will keep growing linearly. At some point, the spreading will taper off either due to human intervention or just because most of the vulnerable people have already been infected. It's just a matter of how long it takes us to get to that point. [Reply]
