Coronavirus thread for June

Parent Cafe
3621

Well the “testing chaos” is part of where to go to get a test. Friend was tested the other day. Went one place, got tested but it was taking over a week to get results. Gave up (needed to get back to work) and went to another place where results were back in 30 min. Not sure what gives…

And I’m afraid doctors play politics too. When I hear a doc on TV excuse the protestors because “that’s more important than staying safe” I give up. That’s not science–it’s politics. The Federal District court of appeals ruled that if you aren’t going to limit protesters gathering then you can’t limit religious gatherings either (freedom of speech, freedom of religion)

As to Friedan–the CDC said outright the day that increased cases are attributable to increased testing. Face it, the majority of new cases are asymptomatic (at least in FL) and we wouldn’t even know they existed except by the increased testing. I look on it as good because it means percentage wise that Covid is not as deadly as first thought. I know some people exposed by close contact to Covid but tested negative. I suspect they might have already had it back in February or March.

3622

I wish there was reliable information on how people are contracting the virus. The stories highlighted in the media seem to be the birthday party situation or the extended family living in one little house. So that people can better evaluate the risks in doing certain things, it would be nice to know:

  1. Has anyone contracted the virus while grocery shopping? I've seen reports of grocery store workers testing positive, but what about someone who's only contact with the outside world was shopping?
  2. What is the risk in a public restroom?
  3. Since the restaurants re-opened, are there any diners who contracted the virus in a restaurant?
  4. Has anyone contracted the virus from surface contamination? Is this really a risk?
  5. Has there been virus transmission on an airplane since the planes have been cleaned more thoroughly and masks required?
3623

And if the nurse said the hospital had it under control and was implementing surge, she wouldn’t have been on tv, right? The data is on the Texas Medical Center site for those who care about facts. Or sound bites for those who may not.

3624

@gouf78 — there is a point of care test offered by Abbott that gives results within minutes. But it misses more cases than the lab-based PCR. However, I can tell you from personal experience that a test that takes a week or 2 to come back is completely useless— not only from the standpoint of knowing what to tell the patient, but far worse — the inability to track down contacts before they can spread the disease to someone else.

3625

I mostly agree with you. I come down on the very liberal side on most of these CC threads, but I do think that the protests OF COURSE led to case increases of the virus (how could they not? it would defy logic).

That doesn’t mean it would have been a trivial governing decision to try to stop/reduce the protests, which had very important messages to the country and the world. I am glad that it isn’t my job to figure that part out.

3626

I’ve lived in Maryland for 40 years and in reading your posts I keep thinking that your Maryland must exist in an alternate universe.

What I see in my universe is universal compliance with mask wearing indoors EVERYWHERE, which has been the case since late March. This even includes some people outdoors going to and from their cars and even some bicyclists. >>>

You are seeing what I am seeing here in my part of MD.

3627

‘Texas, Arizona face record coronavirus hospitalizations as U.S. cases near 2.5 million’

“Hospitals in Texas and Arizona are admitting coronavirus patients in record numbers as new infections continue to climb across southern and western states, with the total number of infections in the United States approaching 2.5 million.”

“Global cases of covid-19 exceeded 10 million on Sunday, according to a count maintained by Johns Hopkins University, a measure of the power and spread of a pandemic that has caused vast human suffering, devastated the world’s economy and still threatens vulnerable populations in rich and poor nations alike.”
Here are some significant developments:

“Texas set a record for coronavirus-related hospitalizations for the 16th day in a row on Saturday, with 5,523 patients being treated. In Arizona, health officials also reported a record, with 2,577 current hospitalizations.”

“As infections soar in Houston, the city’s paramedics say they are facing hour-long wait times when transferring patients from the ambulance to the hospital.
A record surge in new cases is the clearest sign yet of the historic failure in the U.S. to control the virus — exposing a crisis in governance extending from the Oval Office to state capitals to city councils.”

“The faltering response in the U.S. remains a subject of global shock and fascination, with one prominent French virologist saying Sunday that the situation was “explosive.”

‘Houston paramedics struggle to keep pace with service calls: ‘Our system is getting strained’

“As coronavirus infections soar in Houston, the city’s paramedics say they are facing hour-long wait times when transferring patients from the ambulance to the hospital.
Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña told KHOU that transfer times had doubled or tripled in some cases as the department grapples with spiking calls for service and a shortage of first responders.”

“The longer it takes us to service those critical calls, it is going to cost us lives,” he told the news station. “Our system is getting strained.”

“Coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in Texas since the beginning of the month, with Houston emerging as the state’s epicenter. Harris County, which encompasses the city, raised its coronavirus threat indicator to the highest level last week, sending out an emergency alert saying the outbreak was “severe and uncontrolled.”

“Hospital intensive care units at Houston’s Texas Medical Center were hovering near 100 percent capacity, and health officials reported record hospitalizations statewide.”

“Peña told KHOU that call volumes were 20 percent higher than usual over the past three weeks, with some people calling 911 to report symptoms akin to those of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. At least 560 calls for service resulted in wait times of an hour or more during that period, the fire chief said.”

“Contributing to the bottleneck, nearly 200 firefighters were in quarantine and more than 50 had tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Peña.”

“Hospital executives said last week that they were prepared to deal with the influx of patients by scaling back nonessential procedures and freeing up beds elsewhere. But they need the public to take action, too, to prevent the system from becoming overwhelmed, said Marc Boom, president of Houston Methodist Hospital, which is part of the Texas Medical Center campus.”

“The time is now for everybody to dramatically change their behaviors to get this virus under control,” Boom said, “so that our hospitals for the weeks to come are there and able to handle this.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/28/coronavirus-live-updates-us/

3628

I too wish we had better information about how the virus is spreading, other than households, parties and indoor gatherings. We don’t hear about people getting the virus by touching contaminated things, but maybe there’s a steady level of people, one at a time, getting sick from surfaces, and we just don’t know it.

3629

On TWIV, it was reported that the surge in cases in the S/SW are beginning to strain the supply chain (swabs, reagents, test turnaround time).

3630

@roycroftmom Good to read things are under control in Houston. I hope they continue to manage Covid and non-Covid patient care well.

3631

In a time when most are siloed in their news and don’t hear disparate viewpoints, I appreciate the debate here. I like hearing straight from people from all over what is going on in their heads and communities. I feel like it is a dose of unvarnished reality I can’t get anywhere else.

I also appreciate the mods. They have an important and impossible job. This thread is better for having them. People can be mean and people can be overly sensitive. While I like unvarnished, a little sandpaper to smooth the edges is essential.

The best part of this thread is the posts with articles and resources. The worst part is the insistence some people have in saying the same opinion over and over. Here’s a possible guideline: Just assume for a second that no one is going to change their mind because of your post. Does it still add to the discussion? If not, don’t post it.

3632

I pulled this morning’s numbers. Corona deaths, total, City of Houston, 219. Harris County ( the county immediately surrounding Houston)-200. The 8 closest other counties to Houston, aggregate, add in another 500 or so. Total in the City of Houston and 9 counties closest to it, aggegate deaths are just under 1000.

3633

^^ Oops, I meant to give the episode #.

TWIV 632

This episode also has, in the very beginning, a short-ish run down by Dr. Griffin on what the current understanding is on the course of the infection & current best treatments.

It’s important to keep track of your first day of symptom onset, as there are complications to watch for in Days 10-14, the 2nd week, 3rd week, etc.

Highly recommend!

3634

@cap – We all have our own realities within our own state and even close towns. We have certain cities where things are still very “lock down mode”(mandatory masks, closed businesses) but where I am at it’s pretty much going back to “business as usual”.

3635

“Well the “testing chaos” is part of where to go to get a test. Friend was tested the other day. Went one place, got tested but it was taking over a week to get results. Gave up (needed to get back to work) and went to another place where results were back in 30 min. Not sure what gives…”

I don’t know if your friend tested positive or not. But if she did and she was tested in two different places would she then not be counted as two new cases? If she tested negative does that not skew the positivity rate?

I know locally they are retesting you to determine when a positive case tests negative. That person may test positive three times before coming up negative. Since they are counting positive tests and not people that comes up as 3 cases not 1 which it should be.

If many others do this, the numbers are very skewed. I can look at numbers all day long but stories like this just make me wonder what the real story is.

I don’t know what the answer is and this virus is very serious, but I wish there was a lot more consistency with how things are counted.

3636

Deaths lag cases by weeks.

One “plus” to the rising cases in many southern states is a greater percentage of those infected are younger people so that should help limit deaths, hopefully.

Former FDA commissioner says US will likely see a rise in daily coronavirus-related deaths
From CNN’s Wes Bruer

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said on CBS that the US is “likely to see total daily deaths start to go back up again.”

Gottlieb cited “major epidemics underway” in the South and Southeast and said we will see continued growth in Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks, even if we “take aggressive actions right now.”

While he noted many of the new cases may be clustered in younger populations, Gottlieb said “this spread is likely to seep into more vulnerable communities.”

Gottlieb said we have a hard six months ahead but “if a large percentage of the population, not everyone, but a large percentage of the population wore masks on a regular basis, reasonable quality masks, that alone could reverse the epidemic.”

3637

The sky is always falling if we just get our information from the news media. That’s how they make money by keeping eyeballs on the set.

I appreciate hearing from all of you on the ground in other states on what you are personally observing.

3638

Just for comparison, Baltimore City (population 600,000)has seen 326 deaths.

3639

This is what I find absolutely the MOST USEFUL from this thread. I’d much rather know personal observations. I can get my news and statistics elsewhere.

3640

I wish I had a better handle on the data:

Is a “case” a person or a test? For example, in order to go back to work after Covid, the person has to have 2 negative tests. The recovered person may test positive 4 times before testing negative. Does that one infected person result in 5 cases?

My friend required surgery this past week. Prior to the surgery, she was tested for Covid. Had she tested positive, she would have had to have been moved to the Covid ward for her surgery. Are these individuals included in the Covid hospitalization count?

ETA: cross-posted with @bhs1978