Sure, many should get regular tests. Ultimately there aren’t enough tests for everyone.
I’ll just go with Maryland since I’m familiar. In a state of 6 million we are striving for 10,000 tests a day. There are way more people than that running around.
In the fall are we going to do regular testing on college students? That alone would take up all of Maryland’s tests.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be testing people responsibly seeking tests. I’m wondering where we should be prioritizing the testing we are doing since there’s not enough to go around anywhere if we want to test everyone out and about.
The local news showed a map last night, and it looked like the Great Lakes states and the other more northern states were seeing less virus but the states where folks packed into AC-chilled indoors (FL bars - yikes?!) to escape the heat are seeing a surge… a pattern? Enclosed spaces and crowds. Bad combo.
I had just come on to post about that Texas party, but I see it is here already. It’s horrifying and sad, but I’m glad the one family member (who didn’t go) is talking to media about it to warn others. It’s an important message about sure, the young folks will probably be okay, but they may end up having killed grandpa. And that’s not okay.
https://www.microbe.tv/twim/twim-218/
Has a nice discussion in the early part of the cast about the “Science” paper
( K. A. Prather et al., Science 10.1126/science.abc6197 (2020). “Reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2”
I know that some people are not really that interested in the idea that the approach to this virus is an evolving one, but I quite liked it.
@Creekland , my family adopted seat belts very early on after my dad was in a bad accident. I remember at first manufacturers were only required to put them in the front seats so he added them in the back. He thought it was wonderful - safety plus crowd control!
Found out yesterday that another friend has lost a parent to Covid. That makes 6 if I’m remembering them all. Only know one person here in town who has had it. 50 year old woman, fit and healthy. She has mostly recovered but still not able to run (previous marathoner) after more than two months. And she kept testing positive for several weeks (don’t know what type of test they were using).
My aunt died March 10 at the venerable age of 99. I just found out this week that following my five cousins and some of their family members gathering in Ohio afterwards, four of my cousins, one spouse, one child and her husband became sick with covid.
Now I wonder if my aunt was an early possibly undiagnosed covid victim. I don’t think I can inquire of my cousins, and I’m pretty sure that most (or all?) of them were not there before she passed away. But I do wonder.
IMO, consider these states are culling the population. I don't understand why conspiracy theorists (old and white) try to cite the Chinese as bad players, it seems to me the UK, the US, Sweden, Russia etc are seeing this as a virus that kills off a population that is noncontributory and (not) acting as such. Collateral damage is obviously acceptable.
Houston has at least half a million undocumented just in the metro area. They are still working, the poor are still working, these people are not being given ICU beds in the TMC . Abbot is an old white man in a wheelchair, you would have thought a little self reflection would help. We can keep banging on about this but none of us are doing anything but whining on the internet.
From the public health department in Dane County, where the state capital, Madison, is located:
In the past five days, 279 people in Dane County have tested positive for COVID-19, which brings our 7-day case average to 47 cases per day. The 7-day average from mid-June was 17 cases per day. Increased testing does not fully account for this upward trend in cases.
What we do know about these 279 cases:
– 50% of cases are ages 20-29.
– We’re investigating multiple cases associated with businesses near campus.
– So far, 35 cases are connected w/clusters, but our contact tracers are still conducting many interviews so this # will increase.
– 167 (60%) cases are from Madison and 112 (40%) are from other cities in Dane County.
– 173 of the cases were tested at the community test site.
There has not been a corresponding increase among people being admitted to the hospital or ICU. These data tend to lag behind case increases, however, so it is something that will be closely monitored.
Not surprised the numbers in AZ are surging. I got takeout a couple weeks ago for the first time since we reopened and was shocked that the restaurant was packed with not a single person wearing a mask - including servers, bartender, hostess. The bar was elbow to elbow and every table except for 2 were full, and table density was the exact same as pre-covid.
I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone and had just stepped into a New Year’s eve party from 1999. I was so surprised that I came home and checked our reopening guidelines. It looks like they’re just that - guidelines only, with lots of “should” and “recommend” but no “must” and “required”. Meanwhile masks at grocery stores are down to about 30% from a high of 90%, by my personal estimate.
It’s usually insanely expensive to do anything tourism-like in Alaska in the summer—it’s cheaper for us to go down to the Lower 48 and do stuff there, even accounting for flights and car rental! This year, though, not so much—amazing what losing nearly a million and a half cruise ship passengers (that’s more than the population of the entire state!) plus most all the folks who would have driven or flown up will do…
Oh, I thought that meant that if you don’t fully do the “cure” then the infection can come raging back - i.e. a metaphor of antibiotics == staying inside.