Coronavirus in the US

Parent Cafe
10981

Ohio governor asks manufacturers to help produce personal protection equipment
From CNN’s Liz Turrell

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has asked for any manufacturers who can help produce critically needed personal protection equipment for the state’s healthcare workers to contact his office.

DeWine said “it should be a no secret to anyone that we have a real, real shortage” of these healthcare items.

"If you are a manufacturer and you can make any of this stuff, we need to hear from you right away.” DeWine said during a press conference Saturday. "We received our share from the national strategic stockpile. But just like every other state, it was simply not enough.”

DeWine outlined the top 10 items the state needs:

Surgical gowns
Face surgical masks
Gloves (nitrile vinyl, or butyl)
N95 particulate respirators
Isolation gowns
Face shields
Thermometers
Foot coverings
Tyvek coveralls
Ventilator tubing

10982

Statewide limits on gatherings and stay at home orders (54 Mandatory / 1 Recommended)
Stay at home order: California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida* | Georgia* | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Kentucky* | Louisiana | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Montana | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | Ohio | Oklahoma* | Oregon | Pennsylvania* | Vermont | Virgin Islands | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin
3 or more: South Carolina
5 or more: American Samoa
10 or more: Alabama | Alaska | Arkansas | District of Columbia | Iowa | Kansas | Maine | Maryland | Mississippi | Missouri | Nebraska* | Nevada | Northern Mariana Islands | Rhode Island | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Virginia | Wyoming
25 or more: Alabama
50 or more: North Carolina
Recommended: Arizona
Guam and Puerto Rico also have imposed mandatory limits on large gatherings.

*Georgia’s order is for the medically fragile only; Oklahoma’s order is for vulnerable populations only and includes a 10 person limit to mass gatherings for all others; Pennsylvania’s order is for 10 counties; Nebraska limits are for 7 counties; Kentucky has issued stay at home guidance; Florida has issued stay at home guidance for age 65+.

from Statewide limits on gatherings and stay at home orders (54 Mandatory / 1 Recommended) dropdown at https://www.nga.org/coronavirus/#states

10983

Massachusetts has a shelter in place advisory, not an order.

Just want to say my daily thanks to doschicos and any of the rest of you providing helpful information.

10984

@igloo,
the link you provided in post # 10954 was to a different story.

10985

But, despite the claims of Fox News, it wasn’t because they were being “Politically Correct”. That’s just some horse manure snide remark attack. It’s exactly the opposite - they were knuckling down under pressure from the fairly powerful Chinese government. Being “politically correct” means taking into consideration the impacts of your words on minorities. It doesn’t mean “being nice to the powerful majorities”.

My guess is that they made a Deal with the Devil, and were required to understate the culpability of China (especially Wuhan) in the early spread of the pandemic so that they would be allowed to A, get the information they needed to continue the fight, and B, get the resources that China is now able to provide.

Regarding a quarantine of NYC as Trump mentioned. I think, as usual, he heard somebody mention it as a solution, and he then blurted it it without checking the actual facts, kinda like the treatments for COVID 19 etc.

That being said, a quarantine of NYC is not a stupid idea, and should be considered, as long as it is enacted the right way, and as long as things like food supply, moving sick out of NYC as the hospitals fill up, etc.

Considering the fact that Florida took so long to do anything, and there is still no state-wide policy, that is another state which may need to be quarantined soon.

10986

I suppose you know that the US doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation?

For example, there is no US Embassy in Taiwan:

“American Institute in Taiwan2 is the de facto Embassy of the United States of America in Taiwan. The AIT institution is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Federal government of the United States in Taiwan with Congressional oversight.[3] The AIT was officially created as a U.S. government-sponsored non-profit organization established under the auspices of the United States government to serve its interests in Taiwan. Primarily staffed by employees of the United States Department of State and local workers, the AIT provides consular services normally offered by a United States diplomatic mission.” (Wiki)

10987

Western governments finally woke up to the necessity of wearing face masks to reduce transmission of coronavirus. The quantity we’ll need in this country is enormous. But where are all those masks going to come from? Hopefully the French hasn’t cornered the market.

10988

“I wonder what a quarantine would look like if one did happen?”

Come to one of the 7 counties in the SF Bay area where I live. We have been under lockdown for 2 weeks . No panic, lots of food is available, no soldiers are on the streets, and there are few selfish acts committed by nincompoops.

Most have adopted the slogan- Keep Calm and Carry On- because this lockdown is for the greater good of ALL of us!

10989

No sure if this or another covid thread is the best place for this.

NO SEW MASKS

http://blog.japanesecreations.com/no-sew-face-mask-with-handkerchief-and-hair-tie

10990

@cardinal fang. I am not disagreeing. It’s just his research was used to create hysteria and narratives that just aren’t being born out in real time to date.

he lowered his estimates of U.K. from 551,000 to under 20k. And he stated most may have died in any case, according to the wsj.

And U.K. was going with the herd immunity concept. We were locking down flights since Jan 30. I think we are bigger and tougher to isolate. With many larger cities. I agree it will be potentially higher than U.K. maybe.

I’m not saying it’s impossible but 2.5mm deaths in the USA? We are several weeks into this we have under 2000 fatalities. That’s like everyone single person who catches this in the near term dies it would be near those levels.

And it’s going to be less than 1 percent in the next day or two.

This is really serious. And a big problem of course. Everything being done I’m in favor of and more.

But he’s the expert. I’m only optimistic that we are rallying resources and public focus of everyday citizens.

10991

“Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine calls for FDA to approve new technology to sterilize surgical masks”

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/ohio-gov-mike-dewine-calls-for-fda-to-approve-new-technology-to-sterilize-surgical-masks-asks-for-help-manufacturing-ppe/95-0de2feb0-d995-4e74-8b6e-36c08a11b699

10992

This just makes my blood BOIL-

"Mark Cuban Says 3M Not Doing Enough to Keep Face Mask Prices Low

Billionaire Mark Cuban has been trying to do his part to help hospital workers get more protective equipment, working with a non-profit group and delving into the market himself to find gold-standard N95 respirator masks he could buy for medical personnel.

He uncovered something else instead. What he found poking around in that marketplace is leading him increasingly to believe that respirator maker 3M Co. is shirking its duty to keep prices low and get masks where they’re needed most during a national emergency. The problem, he says, is that 3M sells the masks through a network of resellers who aren’t held accountable for raising prices and don’t have to direct their sales to hospitals.

“3M lists all its distributors online, the ones buying and selling these things, and these distributors are making as much money as they possibly can,” Cuban said in an interview. “It’s wrong, it’s criminal.”

A representative for 3M pointed to a previous statement saying the company hasn’t changed the prices it charges for respirators as result of the Covid-19 outbreak, and can’t control the prices dealers or retailers charge for their products. 3M also released a letter this week from Chief Executive Officer Mike Roman to Attorney General William Barr condemning “pandemic profiteers.”

Cuban says his outrage was initially prompted by an influx of emails from so-called distributors trying to sell him “billions” of masks. “I have emails saying, ‘I have a 100,000 masks per sale at $8 per piece.’ I would ask if these were 3M masks, N95s, and if they could prove it. I literally have been offered billions of masks at premium prices from $4 to $8, million-dollar minimum orders, who knows what’s real.”

While several companies make N95 masks, 3M, the 118-year-old Minnesota manufacturing giant, is one of the most well-known and prestigious brands. In response to surging demand for the respirators, Roman has doubled global production of N95 masks in the last two months to about 100 million a month, with plans to expand annual production to 2 billion a year over 12 months.

Cuban said he’s reached out to Roman but remains dissatisfied.

“I’m excited that 3M has increased capacity. But supply hasn’t been matched with demand,” he said. “Why is 3M not telling distributors, pick up the phone, sell your inventory to the hospitals, or will never let you buy more product?”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-28/mark-cuban-aiding-mask-effort-says-3m-fails-to-stop-profiteers?srnd=premium

10993

I’m a few towns south of @menloparkmom. Can confirm what she says about lockdown in the Bay Area. We’re not panicking here.

But if the federal government is considering lockdown, they should also look to the developing hot spots. Florida and Louisiana are going to be very bad. An area where cases are being identified very fast is an area that will have a lot of deaths in two weeks.

New York is not a developing hot spot. It is a developed hot spot. One person in NY is dying of covid-19 every seven minutes, and the rate is, of course, increasing.

10994

I suspect many of these finer details will vary by location. In California, they closed some parks/beaches because people were taking walks and not observing recommended distance. In the medium-size city where I live you can take walks, but playgrounds have been cordoned off by police. Zero gathering may depend on definition. You can’t close off grocery stores for example and that could be construed as “gathering.” But you can impose limits on how many people you let in, monitor how far apart they stand - in the store, and in line waiting to get in.

Essential workers where I live are getting paper confirmations from their employers to show police, if necessary. My son is one of them. He got such a paper from his company, but hasn’t been asked yet to show it. We’re under a stay-in-place order similar to California’s. I’m in Colorado.

10995

This is not news, and the sordid facts that have existed for decades do not need exaggeration and embellishment from Fox News.

Both PRC and ROC historically said to international organizations and other countries that there is only “one China”, so you can only recognize either PRC (mainland) or ROC (Taiwan). In recent times, PRC has been more assertive / aggressive in its claims, especially since ROC now has an opposition “Taiwan independence” movement (to renounce claims to the mainland and become a formally independent nation of Taiwan, the latter which the PRC strongly opposes and tend to make military threats against when it comes up), and even the “one China” people in ROC do not believe unification of China under a desirable government to be a realistic prospect in the near future.

Because PRC is far larger and and more powerful in most respects, most international organizations and countries have chosen to recognize PRC over ROC as “China”, leaving ROC (Taiwan) unrepresented and with “unofficial” relations (that take care of such things normally done through embassies and consulates). Examples include the US (where organizations like TECO and AIT handle some things normally done through embassies and consulates), and the IOC (where athletes from Taiwan compete under the name “Chinese Taipei”).

Obviously, with respect to WHO, this is a bad thing in that any international public health coordination for something that may involve Taiwan will be less effective if Taiwan is not included. A similar thing can be said for other international organizations.

10996

My guess is that 3M can’t do this without violating the terms of its distributor contracts. IOW it has contracts with the distributors to only sell to them and not directly compete or sell outside the distributor network. We sell to 3M so are a vendor and our experience is that it has a large, inflexible bureaucracy with standard contracts. If 3M has similar contracts to sell through distributors - which wouldn’t be unusual for those types of sales - then it legally can’t sell directly outside the distributor network without breaking those contracts.

That doesn’t mean that 3M couldn’t or shouldn’t be working with the distributors to work outside the contracts during this epidemic, but there may be little to no incentive for distributors to cooperate. If this is the case, the anger should be directed at the distributors, not 3M.

10997

In our state, ok to walk or jog on sidewalks, maintaining social distance. Ocean activities also OK with social distancing.

So far, essential employees allowed to work, no paper required. Citations ARE being given out to violators. 70 issued on 1st day of lockdown for people going into closed parks, etc.

10998

Have Coronavirus and Can’t Smell? Harvard Scientists Explain Why

Loss of smell and taste are “significant” Covid-19 symptoms
Virus may damage cells in the nasal epithelium, study finds

The coronavirus is capable of attacking key cells in the nose, which may explain the unusual finding that some Covid-19 sufferers lose their ability to smell and taste, Harvard Medical School researchers found.

Their study of human and mice genomic data found certain cells at the back of the nose harbor the distinctly shaped proteins that the coronavirus targets to invade the body. Infection of these cells could directly or indirectly lead to an altered sense of smell, they said in a paper published Saturday.

Doctors around the world are reporting anecdotal Covid-19 cases in which patients have experienced an abrupt and unexplained total or partial loss of smell and taste. The conditions, known medically as anosmia and dysgeusia, respectively, are “significant symptoms” associated with the pandemic, the American Academy of Otolaryngology, or head and neck surgery, said on March 22.

The group, based in Alexandria, Virginia, proposes that these symptoms be added to the list of screening tools for possible Covid-19 infection. People experiencing the symptoms in the absence of other known causes should consider self-isolation and get tested, the group said.

Inflammation in the nasal cavity triggered by the pandemic-causing infection may hinder the sense of smell, David Brann and Sandeep Robert Datta of the Harvard Medical School’s neurobiology department said. But it’s also possible the virus infects and damages cells in the nasal epithelium required for normal olfactory function.

Uncovering the cause of the sensory loss has important implications to support diagnosis and determine the effects of the disease, the researchers said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-28/have-coronavirus-and-can-t-smell-harvard-scientists-explain-why

10999

@menloparkmom I agree. But maybe it’s not so bad as Cuban described.

ken Langone of Home Depot fame, is the chair of langone health NYU hospital. He also knows a bit more about supply chains than mark imho. Says Cuban is all wrong just a short while ago and doesn’t have his facts straight. 3m is diverting 100 percent of all medical supplies to three main distributors McKesson etc. they are not doing any of things mentioned and are global supply chains. Also Mandating 100 percent of all medical equipment had to go to health care systems and states.

Some knockoff suppliers. People who purchased previously and will be tracked down afterward for profiteering. May be doing this and will pay a price. Pressed several times he said Mark is 100 percent wrong on the big picture.

He said if everyone knew the efforts 3m and others where doing er would give them the medal of freedom when this is all over.

Just a different take from someone directly at the center of it in nyc vs Mark.

11000

You can add Colorado to this list.