CDC clearly screwed up big time with respect to testing. We don’t know the reason is political, managerial, financial, or intellectual. Hopefully, they’ll get their act together quickly for the sake of public health.
@“Cardinal Fang”
“high risk” does not mean disposable. No one has said that or even implied that.
You can like the facts or not, but the science has shown that the elderly, and those are severely compromised due to heath issues DO have a greater chance of dying from this virus.
And BTW, I am 68 with a severely compromised immune system due to multiple bouts with autoimmune diseases.
I dont like the facts about this disease anymore than you do.
There have been reports from China that testing recovered patients twice (>24 hours apart) before releasing them isn’t sufficient. Some of them tested positive later after two successive negative results. They now recommend a minimum of 3 sequential tests. The San Antonio case also confirmed the necessity of such procedure.
For all who DO want to know what to do to prepare for the coronavirus, I suggest you carefully read this article put out by Scientific America.
The media focus can be beneficial. The first step in preventing outbreaks is containment. Part of that is folks doing what they can to help their community - the hand washing, the not touching faces, etc. Even being prepared to self-isolate if needed so you don’t risk infecting others, or to protect yourself if you are high risk. To a certain extent, there needs to be some media attention. I personally don’t see tons of hype but maybe that is because I don’t watch tv and am somewhat careful about the news sources I visit online. What I do see are reports of facts and tips, etc. One should always take a critical eye to media. I think the constant refrains about media hype is a bit of hype itself.
This article was so good I’m quoting it again. It emphasizes that this virus is probably not in widespread undetected circulation. Even at the peak of the outbreak in Guangdong only 0.47% of 320,000 people tested positive for exposure, whereas antibodies to flu show up in 20-40% of the population during an outbreak-including children.
Another point emphasized is that “sniffles” and sore throat are not typically associated with Covid-19. The key symptoms are fever and dry cough, atypical of flu or other cold viruses. Dr. Aylward of WHO expressed frustration that more work isn’t going into public education on symptom awareness:
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/2/21161067/coronavirus-covid19-china
I asked this yesterday, but didn’t receive any responses:
It sounds like a lot of people who possible have the virus or have been exposed to the virus are sent home.
Doesn’t this expose the person’s family to this as well?
Is the assumption they have already been exposed because they live with you?
Absolutely. But the extreme hyperfocus on the virus is resulting in people having absolute panic attacks. We’ve seen that on this very thread.
I agree that people need to turn the TV off and stop reading conspiracy theories by some, but it’s nearly impossible to escape the news in today’s day and age.
It doesn’t help that most people just read news headlines and headlines are meant to grab attention.
Where exactly would you like them to be kept?
Yes, but the person’s family has already been exposed since you’re contagious before showing symptoms.
Artist2233, I’m not sure. I just heard a NY doctor asked about if people are being sent home when they can’t be tested and he said they are not sending anyone home. I think the same will be more and more true moving forward in the USA. I don’t know how common it has been to send home people who possible have the virus or have been exposed to it. I don’t think people should be going to medical facilities if they possibly have the virus or were exposed to it unless they are bad off and need medical treatment so they don’t infect others, though.
I have read some things that hurt my brain’s logic center regarding not testing others in the family who were’t showing symptoms. Doesn’t make sense and has hopefully changed by now.
It’s not just testing though. There is the whistleblower issue with proper protocols and safety gear not being followed, at least 2 instances of people who shouldn’t have been put back with others or let “free” (TX and CA), not having enough attention to detail to get the first death’s gender right (but they might be the scapegoat on that one), not having a decent website for timely and helpful info (try finding info on how to self-isolate or self-quarantine, contact info for each state, and a whole host of other stuff they could put on there to help info and ease panic), etc.
See post #3097
Likely they have been exposed. I have seen suggestions of isolating in one part of the house if possible, not sharing a bathroom if possible, etc. Many reported cases are family members getting infected. Close contact was supposedly responsible for 74-75% of cases in China.
One thing about getting the word out more and having more of the public be aware and take this seriously is that hopefully people will try to avoid passing on sickness to others. I currently have the flu and suspect it is from people at work who came to work sick. Several people told me they were sick, one stayed home with flu two days and then came back but don’t worry, she is on antibiotics (!!!) and the other talked with me quite a while and then told me she was going home with a fever. I asked a person who monitors things like this and was told there is nothing we could do as people are going to come to work sick. the next day we got new guidelines from higher up that made it clear we are not to come to work sick, so might have put awareness out to the people who came sick to not have done that. Maybe I wouldn’t have flu now if those guidelines were out sooner. Who knows.
I think part of the reason some didn’t understand the seriousness is lack of math conceptual understanding of things like place value. What percent of the country could figure out how many times more fatal something is at 2% than at .1%? It should be everyone but it isn’t. also, the fatality rate from official figures on Chinese websites (in Chinese) shows 20% fatality rate for those over 60. I don’t think that is a flat rate for all over 60, though. I think 70-80 is highest from what I saw elsewhere.
Assuming the Chinese released figures on their websites are real and accurate, (which I’m not certain is the case), then there is plenty of proof this is way more fatal than the flu. We are getting data from other countries now that also shows this. I think we can pretty well say this is much more serious than flu, and many times more so for people in certain age ranges and with certain health conditions. I think what is too early to tell is the idea that it won’t be as bad here in the USA because we have great medical care. That is yet to be seen. I suspect the fact that cars are so widespread and many Americans live spread out instead of in closely packed cities will slow the spread here compared to places with more densely packed populations who rely more so on public transportation.
This would be good.
Another reason why I feel it is important to have accurate and timely info from the government agencies and officials who are leading the charge on this. And helpful info that is engaged in reality and practicality, not just wishful thinking. It might not always be what we want to hear if things turn worse but it’s better than clickbait certainly.
A certain number will always panic - it’s in their makeup.
I saw a comment in my reading yesterday about the British saying “Keep Calm and Carry On” The expert claimed we should keep calm but not carry on - we all need to take steps to do our own part in helping contain - again, the thorough hand washing, etc.
They are definitely sending people home. People who have been confirmed positive with no to mild symptoms are sent home. We see it in the reports with case confirmations. The first NY confirmed case was home quarantine. "“The woman who tested positive, she’s at home. She’s not even at a hospital,” Cuomo said. “We should relax.”
There aren’t enough hospital beds for confirmed or suspected cases with mild to no symptoms. Plus, putting suspected cases together likely creates more positive cases. Case in point: Diamond Princess.
Of course they are sent home. Where else would they go???
Not just that, but the thinking of the NIH or some such official who decided to take all the Diamond Princess passengers on the bus to the USA on planes despite the sudden positive test results of 14 (later said to be 10 with 4 false positives that blossomed still later into how many positives?) I can’t remember his name but maybe starts with a W. He was quoted saying that every safety precaution was taken when clearly that isn’t the case. They left those people on the buses while arguing for 2 hours. The people on the buses didn’t all have proper masks on. They split the positive test people into two planes instead of just all on one plane. They apparently used a glorified shower curtain to seal them off from the rest of the plane, open at the top from a picture I saw. Obviously that wasn’t sufficient or they wouldn’t have such high numbers of people who got infected after that time. But the biggest thing to me is how why didn’t they predict they would have some people who got the illness after the last test that had been done 2-3 days prior since they knew there was spread on the boat. It’s illogical.
I would like people in charge of things to be smart who use logic and make good decisions. I’m not saying taking the people home was a bad one, but that they could have done it better and put proper masks on all and treated all as potential carriers and maybe prevented a bunch of the infections that seem to have happened post leaving the boat.
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They are definitely sending people home. People who have been confirmed positive with no to mild symptoms are sent home. We see it in the reports with case confirmations. The first NY confirmed case was home quarantine. "“The woman who tested positive, she’s at home. She’s not even at a hospital,” Cuomo said. “We should relax.”
There aren’t enough hospital beds for confirmed or suspected cases with mild to no symptoms. Plus, putting suspected cases together likely creates more positive cases. Case in point: Diamond Princess.
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Ah, I think I misunderstood the initial scenario. Yes, I have read about that, and it makes sense, provided those people are not spreading it around on their way home!! Those people shouldn’t even go in in the first place. Drive through testing sounds like a great solution.