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.”
This is Assisted Living Facility is few blocks from me. Hopefully this isn't like other places where a few positive tests means it's been running wild for weeks. This is a ritzy one too - so you'd think they have good protocols.
This is why massive testing is so important imo. People who work in these places need to know if anyone in their household is positive.
Originally Posted by Strongside: Furthermore, his fiancée owns a hair salon in an assisted living community. It’s not my brother and his family I’m worried about. It’s our grandparents, the elderly she works with, etc.
They will not self quarantine unless someone tells them they have to. They will lose their house if they do that.
Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief:
What... You think there's a Mask Fairy who just flips their wand and creates masks immediately that can handle 2000x the normal demand...
The article posted said 3m started at the request of the gov't started ramping up production in January and then legislative changes were needed to sell them to the health professionals...
Looks like there's a massive shortage of N95 and surgical masks. But we are ramping up production domestically.
I understand why they can't say everyone needs to wear a mask yet. Instead of making their own people would just put more pressure on the dwindling supply that healthcare workers need. Hopefully our factories start cranking them out soon.
I get why the government can't tell everyone to wear masks right now. Americans love to panic and hoard. But in a non-mask shortage world we should all be wearing them like Asia does. [Reply]
At this point if we're talking about living in current conditions for 2+ years then having a supply of masks wouldn't be "panic" or "hoarding". [Reply]
Very, very good news from our portfolio co' @scanwellhealth which will soon distribute the 1st fully at-home test for COVID-19: - Results within 15m - Test was widely used in China - Rapid serology test detecting IgM & IgG antibodies (= exposure to virus)https://t.co/ThI1FOU7Ml
This is a good start. Start getting these private labs to start doing these serology tests so we can so who's had it and then we can start making decisions. [Reply]
As many as 70,000 Americans could be confirmed as infected with coronavirus by the end of next week, marking a “pretty dramatic” increase in the number of confirmed cases, the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, told his employees in an agency-wide conference call on Friday.
But, Collins cautioned, “that doesn’t mean necessarily that the outbreak has exploded at an even more rapid rate.”
“It just means we’re now able to find out who’s out there, who is infected,” because “testing is now going to be much more available across the country,” he said.
As director of NIH, Collins oversees the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose own director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has become a trusted authority during the coronavirus crisis.
According to Collins, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases inside the United States currently stands at about 14,000, and, “We will probably see four, five times that number of cases a week or 10 days from now."
Johns Hopkins University reports an even higher number of currently confirmed cases in the United States, nearing 17,000. An estimated 225 Americans have died.
"When will we be out the other side of this?” Collins asked rhetorically on the Friday call. “I have no crystal ball. ... Will we be back [to normal] by July or August or September? I have no idea."
Collins made clear that “social distancing” is vital to stemming the spread of the deadly disease, even as he derided the popular phrase.
“I really don’t like the ‘social distancing’ term,” he said. “It sort of implies that we have to get apart socially. We really have to get apart physically. This may be a time where we ought to try every other means to stay together socially, linking up by virtual means … to support each other, to share experiences, to make sure that needs that are out there can be addressed somehow.”
People need to follow the guidance being provided by authorities, according to Collins.
“The greatest concern we should all have is for those most vulnerable, who if they get infected could be in real trouble,” he said. “The best thing we could do to prevent that is to not be a vector ourselves, and the best way to not be a vector is to get apart [from each other].”
"We are going to have to be in this for the long haul,” warned Collins, who noted that tens of thousands of NIH employees may have been joining his discussion. [Reply]
