Coronavirus in the US

I bet we see a vaccine much, much sooner then that. I know some countries are working on fast tracking vaccines if possible,

I see. It’s a two pronged effort imho. Short term remediation and long term solutions.

Just thinking long term but there many other bridges to cross in the short term.

My hope is the scientists make demonstrated progress, it calms the population. Then everyone accepts short term draconian measures, without destroying the global economy. That could prevent something which may in fact harm many more people for much longer and unseen ways than this terrible virus.

@Knowsstuff it will not pass US regulations sooner than that.

The time frame isn’t for making it. It’s for testing and monitoring it. The last thing anyone wants to do is send out an untested vaccine.

We already have a vaccine crisis that has led to the reemergence of vaccine preventable diseases. We don’t need to add fuel to that fire. It’s a very, very poor decision in the longrun.

Expect the number of identified cases to skyrocket in the next few days as more testing comes online.

Please stop debating or you will get this thread closed. Take it to PM.

Yup. Look at Iran, Italy, South Korea for examples.

Look at how cases in Germany, Spain, France and other European countries have been picking up over the past 3 days.

Indeed. And before I personally pass judgement on CDC’s testing prowess, I’d have to know what the accuracy of their test is…

Don’t forget about false negatives…those (infected) peeps just walk out into the community and continue to spread the virus.

Yes, there could be false negatives @bluebayou but a lot, lot less than the current airport screening so even catching some is better than catching close to none. Tons of infected peeps are already walking out into the community - here in the US and worldwide - hence so many case traced back to those folks having recently returned from abroad.

But, ideally, that would have been the thing to do 2 weeks ago. Now, we have quickly become one of those infected countries. In the case of Seattle, we’ve been infected for awhile.

@romanigypsyeyes wishing Mr. R a speedy recovery, and that the baby hangs on till he’s better!

"The Maine Centers for Disease Control said it is testing people in Maine for COVID-19, but said all test results have been negative.

The department has not said how many people are being tested.

Maine is the only New England state to not have a confirmed positive test result."

https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/maine-cdc-says-all-covid-19-test-results-have-been-negative/97-24511dab-b602-4cfd-855e-e956a6049ca0?fbclid=IwAR3sYHmWHaxknw_H_1IyX0-Yc_KgFFx-Tu3dMi0s4iFgduDUJV_4pL4j4D0

Shasta County, California, confirms its first case of coronavirus
From CNN

Shasta County, California, has confirmed its first presumptive positive case of coronavirus…The patient is a man in his 50s who is recovering in isolation at home…

He had a history of recent travel

Shasta County is about 200 miles north of Sacramento.

This case brings California’s total to 89 confirmed cases.

New presumptive positive case of coronavirus identified in Harris County, Texas
From CNN

a woman between the age of 60 and 70 from northwest Harris County, outside Houston…associated with the M.S. A’sara cruise traveling to and from Aswan, Egypt, the release said. The woman is stable, in quarantine and continuously being monitored by health officials, the release said. There have been at least five other cases identified in Harris County, which includes the city of Houston.

This is the 12th case in the state of Texas.

https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/breaking-grand-princess-cruise-passengers-quarantined-cobb/CMqI7xKAiWbAAnkEs3E1jL/ 4 more probable cases in GA (unrelated)

ā€œ ā€œThe Georgia Department of Public Health is awaiting confirmatory testing on four new presumptive positive tests for COVID-19 in Georgia residents,ā€ the Sunday night news release said. ā€œTesting was completed today at the Georgia Public Health Laboratory and the results have been submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for verification.ā€Of the new cases, one patient is from Fulton County, another is from Cherokee County and two are from Cobb County, Kemp’s statement said. ā€œ

Michigan and a handful of other states (including Washington) have primary voting on Tuesday. This virus is making a very good case for why we should primarily have mail-in voting with in-person as a secondary option rather than the other way around.

IIRC, most in Washington vote by mail - is this correct? If so, that's a very good thing... and hopefully poll workers/vote counters are taking a lot of precautions!

Mr R looked at me after his nap and said ā€œIf this is what you feel like every day, I have a whole new respect for youā€ since I describe lupus as feeling like I have a mild-ish flu every day of my life. Fevers and all.

–

Delta sent out an email with the precautions they’re taking. Tucked in is:

if that’s helpful to anyone.

@romanigypsyeyes - yes, we vote 100% by mail using postage-prepaid envelopes. No stamps needed.

Hope Mr. R is feeling better soon!!

I’m going to sign out early tonight because Dr. Felix Yang’s tweet, begging for help for his 30 year old colleague who’s in critical condition, hit too close to home.

I do know that scientists recently found genetic markers which they think make the people who have them more susceptible to ARDS. They don’t really understand what triggers ARDS or cytokine storms or how to stop them. Many researchers are working on that, and on targeting the virus. DH thinks they will have at least partially effective treatments within months. We need to slow this thing down for all the reasons we’ve discussed on this thread, but tonight I’m particularly thinking about those ICU docs with so little at their disposal to try to save people. I want to hunker down like hermits until they have weapons in their arsenal to fight back.

I’m going to suggest this article for a more positive mindset:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/08/opinion/coronavirus-altruism.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Take care, all!

Per twitter:

ā€œAlberta just added COVID19 testing to ALL respiratory swabs done in ER or hospital.ā€

Sounds like good standard of care, as we all try to figure out where the cases and clusters are.

Saw on the other thread and then online - Columbia and Barnard have cancelled classes for the next 2 days then going online due to a positive case in the community.

Per Ted’s statement, he said that his physicians also told him that testing is ā€œnot effective before symptoms manifestā€ā€¦

Interesting article on two drugs that show promise vs COVID-19.

https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/020620/could-an-old-malaria-drug-help-fight-the-new-coron