Coronavirus in the US

Seattle Department of Homeland Security employee tests positive for coronavirus

"The Department of Homeland Security notified employees Thursday evening that a DHS employee in the Seattle-area tested positive for coronavirus.

The department said the employee is “already recovering from his flu-like symptoms and is at home with this family.”

“We are working directly with each DHS employee in that building to identify who may have been in contact with the employee and at a higher risk of exposure,” DHS told employees in an email Thursday. “If identified as being at high risk, we encourage an employee to conduct themselves according to CDC guidelines and take appropriate steps outside the office. In addition, we have been identifying the co-workers who would be at low risk of exposure, so they may return to work in the building as soon as possible.”

Earlier this week, acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf announced that he closed a DHS facility in King County, Washington and directed employees to work remotely, if possible, after learning that an employee had visited a family member at the Life Care Facility in Kirkland, Washington before it was known the facility was impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

The office is temporarily closed and all employees had been directed to self-quarantine." (CNN)

More than 2,700 New Yorkers are in home isolation

"At least 2,773 people are in home isolation across New York over coronavirus fears, according to a statement from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office.

These people are all travel-related cases, and are self-monitoring for possible symptoms, New York City Health spokesman Patrick Gallahue told CNN."

A social media post from the California National Guard shows a video of the 129th Rescue Wing making a delivery of COVID-19 test kits by helicopter to the Grand Princess.

While I do not disagree, I believe they were already experiencing slowdowns. Massive lending to fuel construction & growth, and now like any leveraged operation, the borrowers (towns) who built the large arenas, office buildings, etc, have to repay the loans, but no one is out and about consuming. The talking heads keep talking about this as a supply side problem, but I feel like it is a huge demand side issue also.

This is so true! Our health care system is already functioning at close to capacity now during flu season.

There was a story in yesterday’s NYT about what happened to patients who needed care for anything other than CV.

“In Wuhan, many hospitals have been converted into facilities for treating only patients with the coronavirus. Elsewhere, other facilities have closed amid shortages of medical workers or rejected patients because of fears of cross-infection in the wards. Elective surgeries have been postponed indefinitely. Many cities have imposed travel restrictions and quarantine requirements that, for many critically ill patients, mean delays they cannot afford.”

The article goes on to outline several sad stories.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/world/asia/china-coronavirus-cancer.html

The economy will rebound. We will develop a vaccine. We all will getting our flu shots and coronavirus shots perhaps by fall 2021.

It will be a million+ of cases cases globally and 98 percent or more will be mild to severe flu like imho. The other 2 percent will be hospitalized and impaired or elderly will suffer the most.

We need to vigilant and supportive. Not looking for scapegoats and opportunities for alternative agendas.

This is not the horrific death numbers seen in ww1 ww2 Korea Vietnam. Economies and markets recovered. It’s not 1918 and Spanish flu. As terrible as that was it’s really the Stone Age scientifically.

This is not a systemic failure or global capital crisis of 2008 that could have created a global depression worse than we imagine.

However, even depressions end and things recover. This is not going to be like that at all.

The one concern is global access to instant analysis/scoreboards and communication that has the significant ability to drive fear and short term over reaction.

Financially and in terms of personal anxiety.

Let’s all be health smart and hygiene aware.

Let’s protect ourselves and others.

It’s important to support efforts and each other.

Financially, please focus on the long and intermediate term before you make rash decisions. Stock up on what you need and be careful. But have faith at the same time.

My two cents and not intended to debate or go against any one else’s feelings or thoughts. I respect different opinions. This is just my opinion.

And 30 years of managing finances through numerous crisis.

They are real. They are not forever.

Bank notes are feared to be vectors of COVID-19 virus spreading.

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3050868/fresh-cash-old-china-central-bank-branch-destroy-banknotes

“The Guangzhou branch of China’s central bank says it will destroy all banknotes collected by hospitals, wet markets and buses to ensure the safety of cash transactions as the country battles a coronavirus outbreak.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/02/exclusive-dirty-banknotes-may-spreading-coronavirus-world-health/

"Banknotes may be spreading the new coronavirus so people should try to use contactless payments instead, the World Health Organization has said.

Customers should wash their hands after touching banknotes because infectious Covid-19 may cling to the surface for a number of days, the UN agency said on Monday night."

@privatebanker. “Health smart and Hygiene aware”. I like that. I am going to steal that.

More than 150,000 people have been tested in South Korea

"CNN Corespondent Ivan Watson is in Seoul, South Korea, bringing the latest developments there to the ongoing town hall.

Aggressive testing: “More than 150,000 tests have been conducted since the virus first appeared here, and the authorities are working so hard to expedite this. There are even drive-through testing facilities to speed up the process and to limit the exposure of doctors and nurses to potential carriers,” Watson said.

To put that into perspective: About 1,500 people have been tested for coronavirus in the US so far, said CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta – “a magnitude of difference.”" (CNN)

The US isn’t ready for a massive outbreak, experts warn
CNN’s town hall is now turning to the question of what an epidemic would look like in the United States.

"A moderate scenario might be a million hospitalizations — meaning 200,000 people would need to be in the intensive care unit, and 64,000 people would need breathing machines, said CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta.

“We don’t have all that. We have maybe just barely that. And many of those ventilators and breathing machines are currently being used. What are we going to do if that many people actually need care like that?” Gupta said.

The answer: “It’s one area where the response has been laggard,” responded Ron Klein, President Barack Obama’s Ebola response coordinator.

“Getting our health care system ready for the influx of cases is something we should be doing now. We saw in China they built temporary hospitals. They really flexed up their capacity,” he said. “It’s not just the people who get coronavirus are going to be affected by this. If hospital emergency rooms are overwhelmed, if doctors and nurses treating those people get sick and staffing drops at our hospitals, if we don’t have enough beds, people with other illnesses won’t be able to get into the hospital and get treatment. People with routine medical conditions won’t be able to get treatment. The possible impact on our health care system is something we should be using this time, as cases ramp up, to get ready for.”

But if you put the banknotes in the mail, do they become safe? :slight_smile: Not directed at you or anyone else here. Just noting the unclear messaging on what’s a potential vehicle for transmission and what isn’t. In the absence of an actual study looking at infectious half-life of SARS-CoV-2 on different surfaces/materials, they can’t say, so extrapolate from work with other coronaviruses.

@ucbalumnus we were just discussing this today at work. This may move us even faster towards completely digital payment systems. It’s already a huge part of the USA banking system and may be really good that we’ve moved that way.

An article about the Grand Princess situation:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/05/812456413/coronavirus-cruise-ship-in-limbo-off-california-after-former-passenger-died
The article references the following page from the cruise line:
https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/grand-princess-updates.html

+1 ???

University of Nebraska medical director: The trial for a treatment drug “shows great promise”

Dr. Mark Rupp, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC).

UNMC is currently running a clinical trial of an experimental coronavirus treatment, and have a second participant enrolled in the trial. The trial is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“We’re very pleased with the fact that we brought this trial on extremely quickly along with our colleagues at the NIH,” said Rupp.

“It shows great promise. This was a drug that was developed and tested initially against Ebola virus. It was found to not be very effective against Ebola but did seem to work against some of these coronaviruses like SARS and MERS. So it really does seem to show some promise now with the treatment of Covid-19. So we’re very hopeful, but it’s way too early to say anything.”

He urged the public not to panic: “I do agree we need to take a collective deep breath and realize this is not some existential threat against mankind. A quarter to a third of us are not going to die in the next year, like in Europe in the Middle Ages,” Rupp said.

But we should still be cautious: “This is a very serious event and one that we need to take seriously and prepare for and do everything we can to blunt the spread of this pandemic,” he added, warning that a worst case scenario could lead to “Millions of potential infections, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.”

California investigates death of man who shared cruise ship with suspected coronavirus patients

"Health officials in California are investigating the death of a 72-year-old Bay Area man who was previously on a cruise ship with two passengers suspected of having the coronavirus.

The man, who has not been identified, died Thursday after officers were called to his home, where they found him “unconscious and not breathing” and were unable to resuscitate.

While obtaining medical history on the patient, a family member advised officers that the man had recently been aboard a cruise ship with two passengers suspected of having the novel coronavirus, said Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Chief Phan S. Ngo. Ngo was not able to confirm which cruise ship the patient was on and said they have not yet determined if the patient had coronavirus. Autopsy results are pending and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department is investigating the case.

Seven public safety officers who responded to the call were placed into a brief quarantine “out of an abundance of caution,” Ngo said. They have since been sent home, but have not been tested as they are not showing symptoms of the virus.

Sunnyvale is in Northern California’s Santa Clara County, which currently has 20 confirmed cases." (CNN)

New case confirmed in Houston, bringing Texas total to 4

"The Houston Health Department announced Thursday the first presumptive positive case of coronavirus in the city of Houston.

According a news release from the city, the case is a man aged between 60 and 70, with a history of international travel. The man is experiencing mild symptoms and is in self-quarantine at home. He is part of a group of travelers to Egypt. There is no evidence of community spread.

Earlier on Thursday, officials in Harris County linked the three previous confirmed Texas cases to a group that traveled to Egypt."

Top US health expert: “We’re going to need millions and millions and millions of tests”

“Coronavirus screening got off to “a slow start” and there were some “missteps” with regard to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s test, but the problems have been addressed, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at CNN’s town hall tonight.

By the end of the week or the beginning of next week, the CDC should be able to get out about 75,000 additional tests. Partnering with the private sector will help get out millions more, Fauci said.

“What you’re going to see in the reasonable future is a dramatic escalation in the number of tests that are going to be available,” Fauci said. By the following week, “they could get up to a million tests out there – that’s the plan, that’s what we’re hearing.”

To get a fuller picture of the coronavirus, the US needs testing that is “much more proactive,” not just when doctors ask for it, Fauci said. This will help determine how much the disease has spread and how many cases are going undetected.

“For that reason, we’re going to need millions and millions and millions of tests,” Fauci said. “That’s what I feel and that’s what many of my colleagues feel.”" (CNN)

“Each of us have a responsibility” in preparing for the virus, doctor says

"Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious diseases epidemiologist with the World Health Organization, has weighed in to offer advice to the public at CNN’s coronavirus town hall.

“Our biggest advice right now is to be ready. We want everyone to know what they can do to protect themselves, to protect their families at an individual level,” she said.
“I want to emphasize for our viewers, we can look to doctors and government officials, but it is each of us, individuals all around the world, who are literally the front lines of this,” she added. “It’s washing your hands, not just for yourself, it’s for your fellow family members and fell low citizens. Each of us have a responsibility in this.”

What she said people should be doing:

Wash your hands: A basic measure that goes a long way when done properly with soap and water for 20 seconds, and frequently throughout the day.

If you don’t have access to that: Use alcohol gel or hand sanitizer.

Respiratory etiquette: Sneeze or cough into your elbow or a tissue, and put it in a bin.

Be informed: Use reliable sources like the WHO or the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Educate yourself, know what you can do, how you can protect yourself, how you can protect your family,” Kerkhove said." (CNN)

The County of Santa Clara (California) has given up on containment and has now moved to mitigation. They have suggested that all large gatherings be postponed or cancelled.

The Health Department says that the NHL San Jose Sharks should finish out the season with no fans in attendance, but the Sharks refuse. (I say, the Sharks are terrible this year, and the team would be doing the fans a favor by banning them from games :wink: )

South Korean city rejects donation from religious group linked to virus outbreak

"The government of the South Korean city of Daegu has rejected a $10.1 million donation from the Shincheonji religious group at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the East Asian country.

“What we need is not the financial donation but full cooperation for the government’s quarantine measures from Lee Man-hee, the leader of Shincheonji group, and all of his followers,” Daegu city Mayor Kwon Young-jin said Friday.

Pressure has been growing on the group amid claims – which it denies – that Shincheonji has not been fully cooperating with officials and concealing the names of followers who might have been exposed to the coronavirus.

According to the Daegu government, there are numerous followers who tested positive for the virus but have refused to be admitted to community treatment centers." (CNN)

South Korea calls Japan’s approach to virus ‘opaque’ and ‘passive’

"The war of words over the coronavirus outbreak between South Korea appears to be escalating. Earlier we reported that Seoul had strongly protested on Friday Japan’s decision to impose a two-week quarantine for visitors from South Korea, calling it “unreasonable, excessive and extremely regrettable”.

Now Reuters is reporting that the South Korean National Security Council (NSC) has called the measures “unjust” and “unacceptable”.

The NSC said Seoul would consider countermeasures based “on principles of reciprocity”.

It also said South Korea had “transparent control over coronavirus cases, “unlike Japan’s opaque, passive policy”. " (Guardian)

:grimace:

Interesting understanding from someone that predicted this could happen.

Slate: A Warning From a Scientist Who Saw the Coronavirus Coming.
https://slate.com/technology/2020/03/coronavirus-covid19-pandemic-cause-prediction-prevention.html