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 dirk digler:
I meant to post this the other day but I was watching Dr. Osterholm on TV a couple of nights ago and he sometimes says outlandish things but he said something that made me say Oh shit.
Which was currently here in the US there is over 100 million people that are unvaccinated + never had Covid. Just taking a step back and thinking about that...I mean that is a huge pool of future infections which could generate more variants etc.
I will just say this ..get vaccinated if you can.
There are over 5.5 billion people worldwide without the vaccine ... take a bigger step back. Variants will continue to exist forever. (If that was your concern)
Alpha first detected in the UK
Beta first detected in South Africa
Gamma first detected in the US from Brazilian Travelers at an airport in Japan
Delta first detected in India
Kappa first detected in india
Lambda first detected in Peru... [Reply]
Originally Posted by suzzer99:
I wonder if insurance companies can start charging people more for being unvaxxed like they do with smokers - once this thing gets FDA approved. That one-two punch would convert a lot of fence-sitters I bet.
They probably will. I wonder when it will get FDA approved? Next year?
That said we need many vaccines around the world too. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy:
My wife just got out of the hospital after 9 days with this shit. Nasty stuff for sure. I was vaccinated because I was eligible back in March but she wasn't. She wasn't anti-vac, she just put it off since the shit was gone in the area for like 2 months. I'm pretty anti-mask mandate for a few reasons mostly because the invasion of civil liberty doesn't warrant the small benefits of trying to make a few people wear cloth mask but man people really need to humble themselves and re-evaluate their stance on the vaccines. Sadly, I think people lump mask and vaccines into the same category and double down on their opinions instead of evaluating each thing separately. Once was fools gold and one is the real deal.
Glad she is better.
Unfortunately it's taking some people (not saying you) to take this more seriously after someone is very Ill or dies close to them. Unfortunately that's not enough for some to get it. I'd think that would be the the final straw. [Reply]
Heh. In fairness, the initial question was "Now that you've had COVID, will you get vaccinated?" Seems reasonable for somebody to say no since they should have natural immunity at that point. But then the guy kept talking. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy:
My wife just got out of the hospital after 9 days with this shit. Nasty stuff for sure. I was vaccinated because I was eligible back in March but she wasn't. She wasn't anti-vac, she just put it off since the shit was gone in the area for like 2 months. I'm pretty anti-mask mandate for a few reasons mostly because the invasion of civil liberty doesn't warrant the small benefits of trying to make a few people wear cloth mask but man people really need to humble themselves and re-evaluate their stance on the vaccines. Sadly, I think people lump mask and vaccines into the same category and double down on their opinions instead of evaluating each thing separately. Once was fools gold and one is the real deal.
I doubt people are actually that stupid, but I guess one never knows. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla:
I doubt people are actually that stupid, but I guess one never knows.
I think it definitely plays in. This pandemic was politicized heavily, and people tended to be in the "lockdown/mask up" camp or they weren't. Somehow even though the vaccine should be a unifying thing, in some people's minds it just got added to a camp now called "lockdown/mask-up/vaccinate". Then when they see misinformation or hear people saying how the second shot made them sick, it becomes massive confirmation bias. [Reply]
Dang. Just when I thought we were almost out of this COVID stuff we have two borderline DC threads about it in the lounge (not saying they don’t belong here, just sad how fast it spiraled this way) and we seem just as divided as ever still. This is one hell of a pandemic.
Couldn’t a large spread among the unvaccinated be good in the long run as well, though? If they’re likely never going to give in and get the shot, I would think we’d want to spread as much of the natural antibodies around as we can to attempt to reach the herd immunity that way. This is being said by someone who admittedly doesn’t fully grasp the herd immunity, but from my understanding we were always going to need a mixture of both. Are the hospitals getting overrun in some places again or are we just worried about the rising counts of cases themselves. Haven’t followed along lately with things seeming to clear up, but it’s obvious we’re still in this shit. [Reply]
Got off the plane from China this afternoon. Haven’t set foot on American soil since January 2020. Quarantining for seven days and then I’ll get the first shot after I’m finished. Glad I avoided getting the sinovac shot while I was in China. [Reply]
