Coronavirus in the US

Parent Cafe
4201

Kids are not getting sick with Covid-19. A big question has been, are they immune, or are their cases very mild?

The answer seems to be that kids are infected but asymptomatic.

They don’t know yet whether kids are functioning as hubs to spread the virus as they often do with the flu. They don’t know how much viral shedding kids are doing. Important area of study.

The excerpt above is from an update in Nature. The whole article is worth reading and written for lay people:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00154-w

4202

They don’t know yet whether kids are functioning as hubs to spread the virus as they often do with the flu. They don’t know how much viral shedding kids are doing. Important area of study.

I am a teacher and I am very nervous about this.

4203

Amtrak cutting some train service between NY and DC as demand drops
From CNN

"Amtrak is making some changes to its schedule because of reduced demand from the coronavirus virus while altering some fees to accommodate travelers.

It announced three Acela trains which run between Washington, D.C., and New York will be suspended beginning Tuesday until the end of May.

“As we are experiencing some reduced demand for our service, we are making temporary adjustments to our schedule, such as removing train cars or cancelling trains when there is a convenient alternative with a similar schedule that will have minimal impact to customers” including the three temporary suspensions, Amtrak said in a statement. The service also announced – as some airlines have already implemented – a waiving of change fees or on all existing or new reservations made before April 30.

Regarding the actual trains, Amtrak said it is enhancing its cleaning protocols by increasing the frequency of cleaning service on the trains and stations to multiple times a day and even on an hourly basis in some cases. Also it is increasing the use of disinfectants to wipe down handrails, doorknobs and surfaces."

US federal court operations altered by coronavirus concerns
From CNN

"The coronavirus is impacting the operations of some federal courts across the US.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from nine western states including Washington, as well as a district court in Washington state, which has seen at least 80 cases, have altered some of the procedures as the virus continues to spread.

The appeals court, which has four courthouses including one in Seattle, said it is cancelling all hearings involving multiple judges as well as non-case related meetings, scheduled for next week.

The court said in an order posted online it was taking this measure “in light of the concerns about community spread of the COVID-19 virus throughout” the region covered by it.

All scheduled oral arguments in all locations will go forward, the court said.

“Counsel who wish to appear remotely for any hearing may file a motion in that case for such relief,” the court said.

The appeals court said it would be assessing the situation early next week.

The Southern District of New York issued an order directing the Metropolitan Detention Center to screen all detainees prior to scheduled appearances at court.

“If the temperature is 100.4 or above, such detainees should not be produced and the Court, forthwith, be notified,” Chief US District Judge Colleen McMahon ordered Friday."

4204

Younger and healthier patients get less symptoms.
Asymptomatic patients are much less contagious than symptomatic ones.
Mortality rate seems to vary greatly depending on the host ( negligible for your 18 yo healthy to 10 % for your unstable cardiac patient ), which is why we can only guess a ballpark mortality rate.
Seems to me that avoiding crowds, limiting travel and washing hands are the most effective ways to slow the epidemic. Obsessive testing is not that helpful, until we have a cure or a vaccine.
In the US, it will probably burn slowly through population ( hitting harder the elderly communities where mortality will also be disproportionately high ), well into the summer months and with another peak as flu season hits.
It will be a horrible year for the travel industry and not so good for the overall economy, although I suspect the US will fare much better that the other countries.
It may affect the elections ( if nothing else, just because none of the potential candidates are spring chicken and the virus may not pick and choose ).
We can remain sane, avoid watching too much TV and trust our common sense more than institutions with fancy acronyms.

4205

Maybe this virus will kick some sense into at least a portion of antivaxxers. If 75-80 percent of the herd is inmune, the herd is relatively safe.

4206

READ THIS. SHARE IT. STOP THE HYSTERIA:

From Dr. Abdu Sharkawy-
I’m a doctor and an Infectious Diseases Specialist. I’ve been at this for more than 20 years seeing sick patients on a daily basis. I have worked in inner city hospitals and in the poorest slums of Africa. HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis,TB, SARS, Measles, Shingles, Whooping cough, Diphtheria…there is little I haven’t been exposed to in my profession. And with notable exception of SARS, very little has left me feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed or downright scared.
I am not scared of Covid-19. I am concerned about the implications of a novel infectious agent that has spread the world over and continues to find new footholds in different soil. I am rightly concerned for the welfare of those who are elderly, in frail health or disenfranchised who stand to suffer mostly, and disproportionately, at the hands of this new scourge. But I am not scared of Covid-19.
What I am scared about is the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic, stockpiling obscene quantities of anything that could fill a bomb shelter adequately in a post-apocalyptic world. I am scared of the N95 masks that are stolen from hospitals and urgent care clinics where they are actually needed for front line healthcare providers and instead are being donned in airports, malls, and coffee lounges, perpetuating even more fear and suspicion of others. I am scared that our hospitals will be overwhelmed with anyone who thinks they " probably don’t have it but may as well get checked out no matter what because you just never know…" and those with heart failure, emphysema, pneumonia and strokes will pay the price for overfilled ER waiting rooms with only so many doctors and nurses to assess.
I am scared that travel restrictions will become so far reaching that weddings will be canceled, graduations missed and family reunions will not materialize. And well, even that big party called the Olympic Games…that could be kyboshed too. Can you even
imagine?
I’m scared those same epidemic fears will limit trade, harm partnerships in multiple sectors, business and otherwise and ultimately culminate in a global recession.
But mostly, I’m scared about what message we are telling our kids when faced with a threat. Instead of reason, rationality, openmindedness and altruism, we are telling them to panic, be fearful, suspicious, reactionary and self-interested.
Covid-19 is nowhere near over. It will be coming to a city, a hospital, a friend, even a family member near you at some point. Expect it. Stop waiting to be surprised further. The fact is the virus itself will not likely do much harm when it arrives. But our own behaviors and “fight for yourself above all else” attitude could prove disastrous.
I implore you all. Temper fear with reason, panic with patience and uncertainty with education. We have an opportunity to learn a great deal about health hygiene and limiting the spread of innumerable transmissible diseases in our society. Let’s meet this challenge together in the best spirit of compassion for others, patience, and above all, an unfailing effort to seek truth, facts and knowledge as opposed to conjecture, speculation and catastrophizing.
Facts not fear. Clean hands. Open hearts.
Our children will thank us for it.

washurhands #geturflushot #respect #patiencenotpanic

4207

Testing provides info on where outbreaks are occurring, for one, so more restrictions can be put into place to slow down the spread. In the big scheme of things, it is relatively cheap (if done correctly) relative to the costs - direct and hidden - of not testing and controlling. Testing doesn’t need to be difficult with some planning and forethought.

Again, I’ll believe scientists, medical professionals and epidemiologists on what the best course of action is.

@Lindagaf I’m not seeing a lot of panic on this thread nor people admitting to hoarding. Perhaps post you comment on the other thread.

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Nine Reasons to be reassured:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/07/coronavirus-reasons-to-be-reassured

4209

Fear isn’t the same as panic. To fear is to be vigilant, to minimize the risk of infection, and to respect the high transmissibility and lethality of this virus. The biggest danger we face at the moment is ignorance, negligence, or overconfidence.

4210

Linda, this is a great thread to get various news sources rather than weeding through the press. No one is panicking, just being informed. I’m not sure why you are questioning people’s sensibilities.

4211

@Lindagaf i read that as well and thanks for posting it. I’m trying hard to not be angry at schools that are cancelling admitted student days and visits through April but I think that’s just another overreaction. Kids and parents are supposed to now make decisions without visiting a campus? Lots of costly mistakes could be happening then.

Cornell cancelling its April visits is pretty interesting. It’s so secluded. Not like UW. Makes me think it’s just going to be the norm now. No visits allowed now. Total overreaction.

4212

Good article. I’ll note that #2 does not yet apply widely in the US and testing only started a week ago. Something that will hinder #3 (containment in the US).

  1. “We can test for it. By 13 January – three days after the gene sequence was published – a reliable test was available, developed by scientists at the department of virology at Berlin’s Charité university hospital with help from experts in Rotterdam, London and Hong Kong.”
4213

Tons…tons of college students make matriculation decisions without doing accepted student visits. Tons. And for generations, almost no one did all of these college visits.

The issue with this coronavirus is that we are learning that folks are being exposed without having any idea that could have even been possible.

Do folks really think the Westchester folks thought they were going to be exposed to this by attending services at their synagogue? They had no way of knowing in advance.

4214

I agree. Cancelling events a full month out is ridiculous. This should be handled calmly and thoughtfully. I understand about colleges bringing their students back from Italy (a huge responsibility and liability) but a revisit day in April that they can manage to do mostly outside if they wanted? Ridiculous to do that so soon. Time will tell if its needed in the area that the college is located in.

4215

@Lindagaf

Literally all of this (post 4211) is already being heavily reported including by the CDC… Well at least those not being misrepresented.

Vaccines won’t be ready for at least a year and a half.

Treatments are always being tested for everything. The simple fact is the vast majority won’t work.

We know children and young people are less affected. People are worried about the elderly and those with pre-existing cardiovascular/respiratory conditions.

Etc

Look I think this is largely being hyped by the media but this is the extreme opposite end and is misleading at best.

4216

Approximately 3,500 people have died worldwide due to COVID-19 as of today. Does anyone know how many people have died due to influenza during this same time period?

4217

Colleges are doing the right thing by cancelling visits and admitted student events. Their foremost responsibility is to protect their students and staff. Having visitors during this period will significantly increase the risk of infections on campuses.

4218

@thumper1 maybe lots of kids don’t visit before going but I think that’s a really bad idea. We would never ever do that and I don’t know anyone who does. $350k for a school sight unseen? Yeah no. If colleges keep visitors off their campuses until after May 1, I bet that will affect who will matriculate.

As a parent, I’m totally ok with visitors coming to S19’s campus. A good friend of mine who is a cardiologist flew out to visit his son at UCLA this weekend and they are having a blast. Campuses can’t stop people from walking on campus so not sure how that’s any different than having prospective students visit.

4219

This is an interesting study about the 1918 flu pandemic

https://www.pnas.org/content/104/18/7588

One if the ideas is that as long as you have no vaccine and not enough immunity in population ( from people who got the disease and healed ), you will see a second peak . In other words, you will have cases ( and maybe even bigger clusters ) until either the majority of the population has natural immunity or you gave a vaccine to create immunity. If the virus mutates, you will have the same situation as the flu.
Testing may mitigate the death rate but that’s bout it, because the virus will circulate until you have an immune population ( one way or another )

4220

@suzyQ7 i understand the point of this thread but, really, who needs to be updated on every single new case? That’s what causes anxiety.