Coronavirus in the US

[doschicos]

House passes coronavirus funding package

"The House just passed an $8.3 billion coronavirus response package in an effort to send billions of dollars to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

The measure passed with broad bipartisan support. The vote was 415 to 2 with just two Republicans voting against the measure; Andy Biggs, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, and Ken Buck. The legislation now moves to the Senate. " (CNN)

[emilybee]

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/medical-screener-at-lax-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/2323139/
I tried to skin the gazillion posts from just today to see if anyone had posted this. If so, my apologies for posting it again.

[doschicos]

New York confirms 5 new cases

"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed five new COVID-19 cases in the state — hours after he said that a family in Westchester was infected with the virus, bringing the state’s total to 11.

The cases all stem from a Westchester lawyer who worked in Manhattan and is in critical condition in New York Presbyterian Hospital, Cuomo said." (CNBC)

[emilybee]

@jym626

9 more people tested positive in NY (having trouble linking the article on my phone )the article is in the Lower Hudson newspaper. Another family tests positive and 1000 quarantined.

Are these people connected to the lawyer?

[Qtinfo]

oh geez.

https://chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2020/03/04/nyc-teacher-showing-signs-of-coronavirus-spent-days-in-the-classroom-after-italy-trip/

[BunsenBurner]

@doschicos

This Washington state nursing home will have all residents tested for coronavirus

"All residents at the Kirkland, Washington nursing home where five residents died of novel coronavirus will have the opportunity to be tested, according to the head of King County’s health department.

Dr. Jeff Duchin announced in a press conference that they are developing a plan to test all residents for coronavirus, but adds, “I want the families to understand that the care that they receive is not dependent on the results of their test.” Duchin says residents at Life Care Center “likely have been affected or are at a high risk for infection, and are being managed as if they are.”

Family members of some residents have complained to CNN that their loved ones still have not been tested for the virus. Duchin confirmed that state officials have heard many of the same complaints.

Duchin says more state resources are being devoted to Life Care Center. Two state health workers are now on site at the nursing home, dedicated to evaluating the needs of the facility’s residents and workers." (CNN)

Really? Wouldn’t you think that would be one of the first things to do - test all the residents?

I don’t think they really need to be tested. They all have to be presumed to have the viral infection at this point. Sadly.

[doschicos]

@emilybee

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/medical-screener-at-lax-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/2323139/
I tried to skin the gazillion posts from just today to see if anyone had posted this. If so, my apologies for posting it again.

Maybe this is why California has been reticent to give out much details - panic. Obviously came in contact with too many to count.

[doschicos]

Princess Cruises to end cruise ship voyage early due to the coronavirus

"Princess Cruises will cut short the current sailing of the Grand Princess, which was most recently in Hawaii.

At least two patients from the ship’s previous sailing have tested positive for coronavirus. One of those patients has since died.

Princess is cancelling their scheduled stop in Ensenada, Mexico, and will return to San Francisco early. The exact time and date is to be determined, according to the statement.

Princess is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the statement says, and is following its recommendations." (CNN)

[Qtinfo]

Yeah, the Life Care situation is really awful. Those aren’t people who are likely to have good outcomes and they must be very scared.

[Lizardly]

SATX update.

We have had two big groups of evacuees come to Lackland Air Force base here in town. Ninety-one from China, 144 from the cruise ship. One positive from China. This woman was not sent to our dedicated TB hospital, the place for people with new and/or incurable diseases. No, she was sent to a local civilian hospital for treatment. Local authorities were not happy. It does not seem like the virus spread from this episode, at least not yet.

Then the woman got well. Tested negative twice, was released. Went to a popular local mall, I think I mentioned this, visited a few stores and the food court, returned to her hotel and tested positive. No idea why one more test or why it took place after she went to the mall and not before.

The mall was shut down for 24 hours and cleaned!

Meanwhile, the evacuees have been moved out, most by commercial flights from our civilian airport. But the plan was to take them to that popular mall and ship them out from there! City officials pushed back and it didn’t happen. For a summary:

https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2020/03/04/report-cdc-originally-planned-to-drop-coronavirus-evacuees-off-at-north-star-mall

Now we are not panicking and people here are pretty open to refugees in general. We took in many people after Katrina and the powers that be were willing to cooperate with the feds this time around, unlike those cities in CA or AL. We have military bases, military hospitals, and SATX does some drills related to epidemics. But man, the feds need to listen to our local authorities!

You can still find toilet paper and wipes in our grocery stores.

[PetraMC]

Are these people connected to the lawyer?

Yes, from what I saw at the press conference.

[doschicos]

Grocery stockpiling is most severe near coronavirus clusters—then there’s Colorado

"Colorado has yet to report any cases of the new coronavirus in the state, yet consumers there are already stockpiling more powdered milk and cans of soup than in Washington state, where at least nine people have died due to the virus.

But Coloradans aren’t the only ones stocking up on canned goods and cleaning supplies.

Hand sanitizer sales have skyrocketed 619% nationwide in the week ending March 1, according to data from marketing firm Catalina, which compared the sales of 33 products to the same period a year ago. Disinfecting cleaners and wipes have seen their sales more than double. Grocery store and retailers are trying to prevent shortages from “panic buying″ as more cases of the virus are confirmed in the United States." (CNBC)

Colorado has lots of preppers. I’m surprised they aren’t already stocked up.

[ridingthewave]

Another interesting interview with Bruce Aylward of the WHO. There is a bit of overlap with the Vox piece that was posted upthread.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/health/coronavirus-china-aylward.html

As the leader of the World Health Organization team that visited China, Dr. Bruce Aylward feels he has been to the mountaintop — and has seen what’s possible.

During a two-week visit in early February, Dr. Aylward saw how China rapidly suppressed the coronavirus outbreak that had engulfed Wuhan, and was threatening the rest of the country.

…

Dr. Aylward, who has 30 years experience in fighting polio, Ebola and other global health emergencies, detailed in an interview with The New York Times how he thinks the campaign against the virus should be run.

…

Do we know what this virus’s lethality is? We hear some estimates that it’s close to the 1918 Spanish flu, which killed 2.5 percent of its victims, and others that it’s a little worse than the seasonal flu, which kills only 0.1 percent. How many cases are missed affects that.

There’s this big panic in the West over asymptomatic cases. Many people are asymptomatic when tested, but develop symptoms within a day or two.

*In Guangdong, they went back and retested 320,000 samples originally taken for influenza surveillance and other screening. Less than 0.5 percent came up positive, which is about the same number as the 1,500 known Covid cases in the province. [snip]

There is no evidence that we’re seeing only the tip of a grand iceberg, with nine-tenths of it made up of hidden zombies shedding virus. What we’re seeing is a pyramid: most of it is aboveground.*

…

There’s a theory that youngsters get the four known mild coronaviruses so often that they’re protected.

That’s still a theory. I couldn’t get enough people to agree to put it in the W.H.O. report.

…

Are the cases in China really going down?

I know there’s suspicion, but at every testing clinic we went to, people would say, “It’s not like it was three weeks ago.” It peaked at 46,000 people asking for tests a day; when we left, it was 13,000. Hospitals had empty beds.

I didn’t see anything that suggested manipulation of numbers. A rapidly escalating outbreak has plateaued, and come down faster than would have been expected. Back of the envelope, it’s hundreds of thousands of people in China that did not get Covid-19 because of this aggressive response.

…

How good were the severe and critical care?

China is really good at keeping people alive. Its hospitals looked better than some I see here in Switzerland. We’d ask, “How many ventilators do you have?” They’d say “50.” Wow! We’d say, “How many ECMOs?” They’d say “five.” The team member from the Robert Koch Institute said, “Five? In Germany, you get three, maybe. And just in Berlin.”

(ECMOs are extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machines, which oxygenate the blood when the lungs fail.)

…

What did you do to protect yourself?

A heap of hand-sanitizer. We wore masks, because it was government policy. We didn’t meet patients or contacts of patients or go into hospital dirty zones.

And we were socially distant. We sat one per row on the bus. We ate meals in our hotel rooms or else one person per table. In conference rooms, we sat one per table and used microphones or shouted at each other.

The above are just a few excerpts. Lot more information about the Chinese response in the actual article.

[PetraMC]

Well CO has a lot of Spring Break skiers from NYC and LA headed their way.

[bluebayou]

@Cardinal_Fang

I wish the federal government were more forthcoming about exactly how many people were being tested each day.

Serious question: can I ask why? What is that number actionable for your daily activities, if the answer is 5, 500 or 5k?

Or, is your question really about ‘when will the US have enuf testing to be able to measure morbidity and motility accurately?’

But note, all states and affiliated labs can conduct tests anytime, anyday. The feds will be reliant on the locals to submit reports in a timely manner.

[katliamom]

@doschicos Interesting about Colorado! (I live in Denver.) This is a WEIRD state, I tell ya…

[TatinG]

A medical screener at LAX has tested positive for the coronavirus!

[jerseysouthmomchess]

Pence Going to Washington …
https://komonews.com/news/coronavirus/vice-president-pence-to-visit-wash-state-amid-outbreak

[PetraMC]

If NYC was testing 5k “suspicious” people per day and have only found 11 positives, that’s more promising than 30 tests with 11 positives, no?

[shartin]

Used to think it was macklemore or mosey who put king county on the map. For the parents, maybe it was Nirvana or Pearl Jam. Or, for the intellectuals, microsoft, amazon, starbucks or boeing. Oh, how the tables have turned. After eighteen years here, I can proudly say that I live in the “epicenter of the corona virus in the United States”–doesn’t it have nice ring to it? Yes, thank you coronavirus. I owe you everything:’-)