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 Marcellus:
This sounds like complete nonsense. Every single decision made by people and especially government is based on risk vs reward.
Again we are harming out kids and young adults to avoid a disease that kills people on average the same age as the average life expectancy. Its stupid.
Then put your numbers into context. You keep throwing out numbers that seem small, but my point is that ALL of these kinds of numbers seem small. Without context, they're meaningless. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
Thanks for clarifying this is absolutely nothing like the Spanish Flu.
Yes, thankfully, we took mitigation efforts to avoid a repeat. Guess we actually learned something since a hundred years ago, and I'd like to think our medical/scientific competency has improved as well. [Reply]
Originally Posted by sedated:
And here we are back to the "what is more important, the economy or hundreds of thousands of (old) people's lives?"
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
Its a valid argument to anyone who does not use strictly emotion based thought process.
Agree with Marcellus. It is not an either-or situation. And in some, even many cases they are one in the same. Even for "old" people who own businesses. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
If I'm understanding the argument correctly, that seems to be more about being "preventable" than about being "contagious" per se. It's not a black and white thing, but I'd put them on a spectrum something like this.
-Not a lot we can do about heart disease, though research continues.
-Relatively little we could have done about 9/11 given the information known at the time.
-Some things we could have done about COVID.
-A lot they could have done in Beirut.
That might be the intention behind it, I don’t for sure. It seems pretty ignorant to selectively use it when it fits “your” argument though. Not you personally but the ones who use it. It’s also completely stupid to use contagious if their argument is about being preventable. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Then put your numbers into context. You keep throwing out numbers that seem small, but my point is that ALL of these kinds of numbers seem small. Without context, they're meaningless.
The truth to the matter is by the time this is contained there will be ~200K people roughly 78 years old who will not be around any longer unfortunately. These are mainly people who wouldn't have been around in 3-5 years anyway given the average age of death in the US. Its inarguable there will be a DROP in deaths in the US in the next 3-5 years.
And since Donger brought up the Spanish Flu that killed .65% of the US.
Originally Posted by :
Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the very young and the very old, with a higher survival rate for those in between, but the Spanish flu pandemic resulted in a higher than expected mortality rate for young adults.[5] Scientists offer several possible explanations for the high mortality rate of the 1918 influenza pandemic. Some analyses have shown the virus to be particularly deadly because it triggers a cytokine storm, which ravages the stronger immune system of young adults.[6]
If people do not understand the significant difference then I don't know what else to say.
Its not being cruel or insensitive its just the facts. Death sucks, most of these people were at the end of their life cycle.
Originally Posted by petegz28:
Agree with Marcellus. It is not an either-or situation. And in some, even many cases they are one in the same. Even for "old" people who own businesses.
No one saying this is "either or". Its a novel virus and the entire world is figuring out how to properly deal with it.
It seems erring on the side of caution is being taken as "being controlled only by emotion" [Reply]
Originally Posted by Donger:
The argument was (and I guess is) that we lose more people from car accidents (e.g.) than we had from COVID-19, but we don't tell people to stop driving, in comparison to the mitigation efforts.
That's separate from saying, "Holy crap. This thing has killed more Americans in two months than Vietnam did in 10 years."
