On MSNBC (2:45 p.m. Central Time): Interview with a young black woman (works for the New York Times) who is still recovering from COVID-19, the symptoms of which she first noticed about 5 weeks ago. She lives alone. Of the people she knows and had contact with shortly before getting sick, none had symptoms. So she has no idea as to how she got sick. She was hospitalized but not in the ICU.
Be careful, everyone!
Nice try, @Midwest67 , at posting a thoughtfully written article about how a government protected the most vulnerable residents and hoping we could behave.
On another note, as people who follow the news might expect, the initial articles about the Florida Department of Health employee were, ummm, misleading.
And Dr. Jones (PhD in geography, not epidemiology) appears to be quite the colorful character.
But I did appreciate the article on how Florida Department of Health treated elderly coronavirus patients. The article mentioned that hospital social workers who deal with Medicare and Medicaid patients have years of training in getting patients discharged to home or rehab (nursing homes) quickly and out of the hospital. Florida put a stop to that early in the pandemic, and insisted that hospitals keep patients until they were no longer contagious. Lives were saved because of that decision to turn years of government medical policy on its head.
I’ve heard her several times and have read her pieces in the NYT.
I don’t believe she was hospitalized as her oxygen rate wasn’t low enough - even though she was quite ill. They weren’t able to hospitalize everyone when she presented in the ER, so she was sent home.
She has Covid pneumonia. Still has to lie on her stomach to get enough oxygen into her lungs when she sleeps. Needs to use an inhaler twice a day.
The Florida Governor did a great job, in my opinion. What a shock (not…) that the articles about the FL DOH employee were so slanted. I figured that from the beginning.
It is so beyond my comprehension that people are stating that xstate did a great job? DID? What do you mean, did? Is Fl or Tx even at the modeled peak?
As I expected all along given previous polls, there is definitely a partisan split.
‘Poll: Americans harbor strong fear of new coronavirus infections as public places reopen’
Spoken like a true Longhorn!
Identified the most serious risks and addressed them. There isn’t a perfect solution to this thing, or we wouldn’t be where we are now. It’s an ongoing process. Florida still has a lot of restrictions, but what I saw in the part of the state I just visited this past few days made a lot of sense.
Florida is fortunate that they won’t get a flood of tourists this summer. Maine has to be more careful because we will. We had 35 million visitors in 2018. Ack.
The last grocery store I went to had the carts next to the door, with spray stuff and paper towels for customers to use to wipe the cart handle before using. But it also had a hand sanitizer dispenser just inside the door. The quick way is to grab a cart, get a blob of hand sanitizer on your hand, and then wipe the cart handle with your hand that has hand sanitizer on it.
But then it seems that the surfaces in the grocery store that may be of risk (which does not seem to be that high to begin with for surface contamination) would be the handles on carts and baskets and the “pens” on the payment consoles, since those are touched frequently and by lots of people. The actual grocery items are much less likely to have been touched recently by anyone.
“The blatant disrespect for the professionals who were working around the clock to provide the important information for the COVID-19 website was harmful to the team. Accuracy and transparency are always indispensable, especially during an unprecedented public health emergency such as COVID-19. Having someone disruptive cannot be tolerated during this public pandemic, which led the department to determine that it was best to terminate her employment.”
"Jones’ removal from the project and her subsequent dismissal have raised questions about the impartiality and transparency of Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Ben Sawyer, director of LabX at the University of Central Florida, which is investigating how local health systems are coping with COVID-19 cases, said her ouster is “quite disturbing to me as a scientist and as a citizen.”
“Regardless of what you think about reopening Florida, you would like to know what’s going on,” Sawyer said. “This data is our ability to see what’s happening. I think there are enormous questions that arise when you don’t know if what you see [is] fair or accurate.”
** And Jones looks like she has a history of experience with database management and design. So what if her Ph.D. is in Geography https://fsu.academia.edu/RebekahJones/CurriculumVitae
Thank you for the corrections, @emilybee.
Perhaps one should wait for the other side of the story before jumping on the bandwagon and assuming a conspiracy/cover-up.
My wife is also wiping down everything. We understand that it’s an improbable route of transmission (especially since most of the virus particles on a surface “die” within hours), but as mathmom said, it’s quick(ish) to do and the peace of mind is worth it when you’re in a high-risk area. Actually, my spouse only wipes down the stuff that needs refrigeration/freezing; the rests gets quarantined for a few days, which requires no work.
Why do you think that? The private rental ban will lift shortly and the Disney properties are planning reopening at some point with a lot of restrictions. Northern Florida has a strong summer tourist season. I already have friends from TN who drove to the Panhandle this week.
Sounds like classic CYA /political spin. Convenient timing to fire her. Doesn’t pass the smell test. In fact, it kinda stinks.
I do like the strategy outlined in one of the FL articles of keeping the covid-positive people out of the nursing homes. We’ve heard how some states send those infected people back to the nursing homes when they don’t require hospitalization, and that never sounded like a good plan. It does make sense that if you have a way to keep them out of the nursing home, once they test positive until they’ve fully recovered, seems like that would prevent more spread in the nursing home, and thus more hospitalizations down the road. The article mentioned keeping them in the hospital, if there is capacity, or setting up separate wings or entire nursing homes just for covid-positive patients.
Regardless of how you feel about DeSantis, I hope this strategy doesn’t get lost.
Florida has a death rate per 100,000 of 10. New York has a death rate per 100,000 of 147. So it would be reasonable to say Florida did 15x better than New York.
By that measure, North Korea did the best.
I do the same thing.
I keep the non perishableS in the garage - sometimes for weeks if I don’t need them right away. I’ve got quite the pantry out there now.
I do open my mail then shred, then wash my hands. I also open my package right away (outside) and they go into cardboard or paper recycling bins in the garage. Then I wash my hands.