Similar risks to cruise ships. Buffets and coffee breaks with shared serving utensils, overcrowded meeting rooms with poor air circulation. Teams of servers and support staff under pressure to work despite illness. Attendees who’ve paid high non refundable registration fees and transportation expenses, also under pressure to attend despite illness. Emphasis on networking, lots of hand shaking.
It is hard to tell based on clinical presentation if it is the “regular flu” or the new coronavirus. If there is exposure, you can assume it is Covid. If there is rapid progression towards pneumonia, you can assume the same. Otherwise, there is no difference ( maybe less of a runny nose with Covid ).
A week ago I got the flu and called my doctor and asked if it were at all possible I had it, just to do my due diligence. I didn’t think I had it, but wanted to make sure I at least asked, given the overlapping symptoms. My doctor immediately dismissed it and said he didn’t think there was even a case in all of New England. I couldn’t believe he thought that, given the lack of testing. I didn’t feel he had been following things closely. I trust that doctors are more qualified to make medical decisions than I am, though, certainly. We can’t test 25 million people, but I hope we test a lot of people. I hope we move aware from ‘had to be in certain place’ to get tested since the disease has spread beyond that level.
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I’m sure there are individual cases and professionals that don’t do the right thing. However if every person with a cough and a fever outside of known clusters, potential exposure or even remotely connected to a patient that start demanding tests or claiming medical incompetence things will get much worse on the system for the truly ill.
Perhaps it’s discouraging, but it’s also good public health. If there are zero cases in the 'hood (Ann Arbor, MI), pt didn’t just get off a plane from China or Italy, and the doc listened to the lungs, testing is not necessary at this point.
That’s what my mom always used to say, and what I taught my kids.
2nd case in Indiana
The patient, an adult who resides in Hendricks County, is in isolation with mild symptoms and is not hospitalized at this time. The patient traveled to Boston in late February to attend the BioGen conference and developed mild flu-like symptoms on March 2. More than a dozen COVID-19 cases nationwide have been tied to the conference, including a Marion County resident who was identified Friday as Indiana’s first COVID-19 case. That patient also remains in self-isolation with mild symptoms.
Info from the website re: testing
The ISDH Laboratories is providing COVID-19 testing seven days a week for patients who meet CDC testing criteria. ISDH also has ordered additional testing supplies to ensure its laboratory remains able to test those at highest risk and generate results quickly.
Private laboratory systems, including LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, are beginning to offer testing. Individuals who do not meet the CDC criteria for testing at the ISDH lab can consult their healthcare providers and determine whether private lab testing is appropriate.
2nd Case in Virginia
This is the second presumptive positive result with the other being in a Marine Base Quantico resident at Fort Belvoir Hospital who tested positive yesterday. Both cases were exposed through international travel.
The individual is a resident of the City of Fairfax in their 80s who traveled on a similar Nile River cruise as other positive COVID-19 patients. The patient began to develop symptoms of respiratory illness on February 28. The individual was hospitalized on March 5 and remains in stable condition.
According to the website, 36 people have been tested thus far, with 2 positive and 6 pending.
Yes, absolutely. I think that unfortunately it will have to depend on doctors seeing clusters in certain regions. Ideally we will have a rapid test like the one for the flu (and even more ideally, the vaccine will stop the spread or it will mutate to something less serious).
No and no he didn’t. He’s not very assertive but even if he had, I seriously doubt the local urgent care clinic had the tests. I’m guessing they would’ve sent him to ER if they wanted testing and honestly, that’s more dangerous for me (he’ll be fine with whatever he catches) and he obviously doesn’t need ER care. PLUS it’s a $100 copay for an ER visit.
While true, and again I do NOT think he has it, you can’t find cases if you’re not testing. As of a few days ago, only 8 people in the state had been tested. We only have the capacity to test 300 patients right now.
And if you want someone tested, it’s someone like him. Not because I think he’ll succumb to it (on the contrary, he’ll probably be fine in a few days), but because he has an immune compromised very pregnant wife and his job is in-home care. His clinic works with hundreds of families each week. He’d be a prime patient zero for a cluster just because of the nature of his work.
I’m looking at this from a public health perspective, and I’d be saying the same thing if he wasn’t my partner.
SWITZERLAND - 69 new cases totaling 337. 1 new death for a total of 2.
SWEDEN - 42 cases totaling 203.
BELGIUM - 31 new cases totaling 200.
NORWAY - 20 new cases totaling 176.
AUSTRIA - 23 new cases totaling 104.
ICELAND - 8 new cases totaling 58. Given the country’s small population, that is roughly one in 6,800.
SAN MARINO - 10 new cases totaling 36. Roughly one in 930 of this tiny country.
VIETNAM - 10 new cases for a total of 30. All reported to be foreigners, and all from the same flight (Viet Nam Airlines VN0054, which departed from the UK on March 2): 7 from England, 1 from Mexico, and 1 from Iceland, aged between 58-74
Gates goes 23andme-ish:
One correction of the terminology. These are not testing kits. These are sample collection kits which will be processed at UW.
2 New Cases in Tennessee, total of 3
https://whnt.com/news/coronavirus/2-more-cases-of-covid-19-confirmed-in-tennessee/
A Nashville woman tested positive for the virus. The Nashville Metropolitan Board of Health said the case is not considered travel-related and added the woman has no children in local schools.
In Memphis, Mayor Jim Strickland and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris confirmed the county’s first case Sunday morning - the adult had traveled outside of Tennessee but had not left the United States.
2 New Cases in Maryland, total of 5
One of the new patients is a Harford County woman in her 80s. She contracted the virus overseas and has been hospitalized.
The other patient is another Montgomery County man in his 60s. he too traveled overseas and was briefly hospitalized.
As of Sunday, 67 people were tested for the coronavirus or COVID-19 in Maryland to date, but five tests have come back positive.
https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/03/08/maryland-coronavirus-cases-latest-sunday/
Washington now has 136 coronavirus cases
From CNN
The Washington State Health Department has updated its novel coronavirus statewide totals to 136 cases with 18 deaths.
Twenty-one new cases were added to the statewide total.
The state also reported 1,110 negative test results as of Sunday.
Contra Costa County in California confirms 5 more coronavirus cases, increasing state total to 87
CNN
Four of the five patients are being treated at a hospital in the county and they had neither travel history outside the US nor known contact with a confirmed case. The fifth patient had contact with a confirmed case and is in isolation at home under the guidance of CDC.
Contra Costa County now has nine confirmed cases, which raises the statewide total to 87.
Canada will evacuate its citizens on the Grand Princess cruise ship by plane
From CNN
"The Canadian government has secured a plane to evacuate its citizens who are aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship, according to Global Affairs Canada, the country’s diplomatic and consular relations ministry.
The decision was made “following a request for assistance from the Government of the United States to repatriate Canadians," the Canadian government said in a statement.
Given our shared border, Canada recognizes the importance of working together with the United States to limit the spread of COVID-19 within North America and beyond,” the statement said. The plane will fly the Canadians from San Francisco to Canadian Forces Base Trenton, where they will be assessed and undergo a 14-day quarantine.
All passengers will be screened for symptoms before boarding the plane. Any passengers exhibiting symptoms will not be permitted to board and will be further assessed to determine next steps, Global Affairs Canada said."
Kentucky reports 3 new presumptive positive cases of coronavirus, bring the state total to 4
From CNN
The three new cases were identified in Fayette, Harrison and Jefferson counties, Beshear said. All three patients are in isolation and no further information about them is available.
White House overruled CDC, official says, did not warn older Americans against flying
The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the plan as a way of trying to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation be removed, said the official who had direct knowledge of the plan. Trump administration officials have since suggested certain people should consider not traveling, but have stopped short of the stronger guidance sought by the CDC.
The person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity did not have authorization to talk about the matter. The person did not have direct knowledge about why the decision to kill the language was made or who made the call. —Associated Press
U.S. stock futures tumble at open on coronavirus contagion fears
The price of futures contracts for the S&P 500 index fell more than 4% on Sunday as trading for U.S. equity markets resumed, a sign that investors fear the toll from the fast-spreading coronavirus will deepen. - Reuters
Wall Street coronavirus contingency plans - the state of play
Here’s why the Port of Oakland was chosen for the Grand Princess
From CNN
"The US federal government chose the Port of Oakland in California as the disembarkation location for the Grand Princess cruise ship, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced in a press conference Sunday.
Oakland was chosen for several logistical reasons, said state Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Its proximity to Oakland Airport will allow foreign passengers from the cruise to be repatriated to their home countries through chartered flights. These passengers will have no contact with the general population in the airport terminals, Newsom said. The chartered flights, processed with the US State Department, will be completely separate.
Oakland is close to Travis Air Force Base, where California residents from the cruise ship will be quarantined for 14 days. The base is roughly 50 miles north of the port.
Oakland is uniquely positioned to quickly move those passengers to be quarantined,” Newsom said.
Mayor Schaaf said the community of Oakland will be safe and constantly informed about the operation. She added that she has addressed state and federal partners about the context of the Oakland community, which has suffered “decades of environment racism and injustice.” Nobody will be quarantined in Oakland, she said. The site is currently being secured.
The cruise ship is anticipated to dock sometime Monday and the operation is expected to last two to three days, according to Newsom."
** 3 Cases in Iowa **
According to the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), the individuals are from Johnson County: one middle-age (41-60 years) adult and two older adults (61-80). Two of the individuals had underlying health conditions. One did not. None required hospitalization and are recovering at home in isolation.
“All three individuals were part of a cruise in Egypt,”said IDPH Medical Director and State Epidemiologist, Dr. Caitlin Pedati. “IDPH is working with local public health to assess potential exposures to others. These cases are an important reminder that all Iowans need to help prevent the spread of illness by washing hands frequently, staying home when ill, and covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue.”
37 people have been tested in Iowa with 3 positive and 8 pending.