Coronavirus thread for June

Parent Cafe
3841

From the JHU Center for Health Security COVID-19 Updates:

POOLED TESTING As the United States and other countries look ahead to more fully relaxing social distancing measures, testing capacity is a critical barrier to proceeding with these plans. Pool testing, a method of testing patients for SARS-CoV-2 as a group instead of as individuals, is one potential option to dramatically increase testing capacity. Pool testing combines samples from multiple individuals in order to reduce the amount of testing materials needed to conduct tests (compared to multiple individual tests) and return results to individuals more quickly. If the pooled sample tests negative, then it can be assumed that nobody in that pool is infected, and no further testing is necessary. If a sample is positive, then each person in that pool can be tested individually to determine who among them is infected. In low prevalence settings, pooling the samples can reduce the overall tests performed.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, stated that the method could increase testing capacity by 900%, which would enable the United States to conduct 5 million tests per day. The US FDA is working to validate pooled sample techniques. A study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association: Network Open illustrates the potential benefits of pooled testing, particularly if disease prevalence in the test population is less than 30%. The authors warn that false negatives could increase due to pooled sampling techniques due to diluting positive samples with multiple negative samples, so test characteristics and processes could be closely selected and monitored.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/26/pool-testing-covid-19/

3842

Lot of news from Cuomo presser today. I did not listen so just posting articles on new developments.

‘Broadway shutdown due to virus extended again until January’

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Broadway-shutdown-due-to-virus-extended-again-15373818.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headlines&utm_campaign=tu_coronavirusupdates

‘Cuomo says malls won’t open unless they install HEPA-filter systems’

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Cuomo-says-malls-won-t-open-unless-they-install-15373864.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headlines&utm_campaign=tu_coronavirusupdates

And re quarantine forms for passengers arriving by air into NY.

https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Air-passengers-asked-to-complete-quarantine-forms-15374136.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headlines&utm_campaign=tu_coronavirusupdates

3843

@“Cardinal Fang”

Thank you. That looks interesting. I appreciate you sharing it.

3844

Coronavirus-linked pediatric inflammatory syndrome often requires intensive care, new studies show
From CNN’s Reynolds Ostrover and Michael Nedelman

Two reports published Monday show that a pediatric inflammatory syndrome linked to Covid-19 can cause serious symptoms in children and can sometimes be deadly.

They show that 80% of patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) were treated in intensive care. Most recovered but four children died and more than a quarter of the children in one study were still hospitalized as of May 20.

In one report, researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed 186 cases from 26 states between March 15 and May 20. Patients were hospitalized for a median of seven days; 20% required ventilation to help them breathe, and 2% — or four patients — died. The median age of patients was 8 years old; just 7% of patients were under a year old, most of the rest were between a year old and 14, and 16% were ages 15 to 20.

Most of the children — 70% — tested positive for the infection by a test called PCR that finds direct evidence of the virus, or antibody testing, which finds evidence of past infection. The rest had been exposed to people with the virus in the past month, the researchers said.

The CDC team said the timing of the illnesses suggests “a substantial proportion of the patients in this series were infected … at least one to two weeks before the onset of MIS-C.”

Overall, 19% were White, 25% were Black, 31% were Hispanic or Latino, and the ethnicity of 22% was unknown.

A second report by the New York State Department of Health looked at 99 children with suspected or confirmed MIS-C hospitalized between March 1 and May 10. In this study, median hospital stay was six days, and just over half the patients had evidence of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle.

Both reports, published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine, described how a majority of children with MIS-C experienced symptoms including fever and chills, elevated heart rate, gastrointestinal problems and rash.

On May 14, the CDC issued a health advisory to doctors across the country, providing an official definition of the syndrome — called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) — and telling physicians to be on the lookout.

The agency describes MIS-C as “a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.” While it is still not known precisely what causes the syndrome, most children get better with medical care, the agency adds.

3845

Rhode Island issues mandatory 14-day quarantine for people coming from states with 5% positivity rate
From CNN’s Ganesh Setty

Rhode Island will impose a mandatory 14-day quarantine starting Tuesday for people coming from a state with a 5% or greater positivity rate, Gov. Gina Raimondo announced on Monday.

If an traveler can attest to having a negative Covid-19 test within the past 72 hours, then a quarantine will not be required, she added. That would be done on an “honor system.”

“This will be a hard thing to enforce, I’ll be the first to admit it,” the governor said.
She said the state will enforce the rule through widespread signage and working closely with the local tourism industry to make sure individuals are made aware of the rule.

The state will not be stopping people with out-of-state license plates to enforce the rule. It is not clear what the penalties will be for violating the quarantine.

The quarantine rule currently applies to 23 states as of Monday, and Rhode Island will keep a list of states impacted by the rule updated weekly based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Johns Hopkins University, Raimondo said.

3846

Glad he’s speaking up repeatedly!

McConnell: “We must have no stigma, none, about wearing masks”
From CNN’s Ali Zaslav and Ian Sloan

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reiterated his strong support of wearing masks and face coverings during the coronavirus pandemic, saying, “we must have no stigma, none, about wearing masks when we leave our homes and come near other people.”

“Wearing simple face coverings is not about protecting ourselves, it is about protecting everyone we encounter,” he added.

McConnell, speaking on the floor of the Senate, said, “The more we hate the pain and suffering that accompanied the strict stay-home guidelines a few months ago, the happier we should be to take responsible small steps every day to ensure our country can play on offense against the virus.”

He has made similar remarks in recent weeks about wearing masks – most recently on Friday in Kentucky where he stressed people should continue to social distance and wear masks in public “until we find a vaccine.”

3847

New Jersey will “hit pause” on indoor dining for foreseeable future, governor says
From CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday the state “must hit pause” on the resumption of indoor dining, which was set to resume Thursday.

“Under our revised plan indoor dining will now be reset to resume at a later date to be determined," Murphy said.
The state does not want to experience spikes similar to what has been happening across the US. The governor said it brings him “no joy” to do this.

The “national situation compounded by instances of knucklehead behavior here at home are requiring us to hit pause on the restart of indoor dining for the foreseeable future," Murphy said.

The governor mentioned some instances in which establishments across the state have seen “overcrowding” and a “complete disregard for social distancing” and “very few, if any, face coverings.”

“Compliance is not a polite suggestion, it is required," Murphy said.

The governor also said shopping malls opened Monday to limited capacity as the state prepares for the reopening of outdoor amusement centers as well on Thursday along with indoor recreational facilities and museums and libraries.

Cirque du Soleil to file for bankruptcy due to coronavirus shutdown
From CNN’s Konstantin Toropin

Cirque du Soleil, the Montreal-based entertainment company and one of the largest circus companies in the world, has announced it will file for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the US, according to a statement on the company’s website.

“With zero revenues since the forced closure of all of our shows due to Covid-19, management had to act decisively to protect the Company’s future,” Daniel Lamarre, President and CEO of Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group, said in the statement.
As part of their restructuring plans, the troupe plans to fire about 3,480 previously furloughed employees following the halt in revenue caused by the government-mandated shutdowns in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company says it currently employs “4,000 people, including 1,300 artists, who originate from nearly 50 countries” on its official website.

Cirque du Soleil has also received $300 million in new funding in an effort to “support a successful restart, provide relief for Cirque du Soleil’s affected employees and partners, and assume certain of the company’s outstanding liabilities,” the statement said.

The company also hopes to raise at least $20 million from its largest backers through a “stalking horse” bid.

3848

Antiviral drug combo doesn’t help coronavirus patients, UK study shows
From CNN’s Maggie Fox

A combination of two HIV drugs did not help hospitalized patients better recover from coronavirus infections, UK researchers reported Monday.

The combination of lopinavir and ritonavir is being tested by several groups, but preliminary results from a large, ongoing UK study called the Recovery trial found the antiviral drugs did not help patients hospitalized for treatment for Covid-19.

How the study worked: The Recovery trial team had randomly assigned about 1,600 patients to get the combination, and compared them to 3,400 patients who got the usual care alone.

“There was no significant difference in the primary endpoint of 28-day mortality,” the team wrote on the Recovery website. About 22% of patients who got the two drugs died, compared to 21% of those who did not.

“There was also no evidence of beneficial effects on the risk of progression to mechanical ventilation or length of hospital stay,” the team added.

“Today, the trial Steering Committee concluded that there is no beneficial effect of lopinavir-ritonavir in patients hospitalized with Covid-19 and closed randomization to that treatment arm," they said.

What the study found: The results held among different subgroups of patients.

“These data convincingly rule out any meaningful mortality benefit of lopinavir-ritonavir in the hospitalized Covid-19 patients we studied,” the team concluded. “We were unable to study a large number of patients on invasive mechanical ventilation because of difficulty administering the drug to patients on ventilators. As such, we cannot make conclusions about the effectiveness in mechanically ventilated patients. Full results will be made available as soon as possible. “

The same study has found that hydroxychloroquine did not help coronavirus patients and found that the steroid dexamethasone did help.

3849

Jacksonville issues face covering mandate for indoor and outdoor locations
From CNN’s Tina Burnside

Jacksonville, Florida, announced on Monday it will be adopting a mandatory face mask requirement for public and indoor locations, according to a tweet from the city.

The order is expected to go into effect at 5 p.m. ET today.

The city joins other parts of the state including Palm Beach County which approved a motion last week to require all residents to wear face masks in public places when social distancing is not possible. Hillsborough, Orange and Miami-Dade counties also approved similar mandates.

Florida is among at least 10 states that are seeing a 50% or more increase in Covid-19 cases compared to the previous week.

Jacksonville is not closing its beaches for Fourth of July
From CNN’s Tina Burnside

Jacksonville, Florida, will not be closing its beaches for the Fourth of July holiday, Nikki Kimbleton, the city’s spokesperson, announced on Monday.

Kimbleton said the city will still hold their annual Fourth of July fireworks display this year. The city will offer six different locations for people to watch the fireworks so that social distancing guidelines will remain in place.

3850

In terms of the reopening criteria, what happens if you meet them, reopen and cases increase above those thresholds? Shut everything back down again? Until you meet them again for another 2 week period? If you open things up (even with social distancing, masks, capacity reductions, etc) you will see increased cases. Not sure how you will get around that. The virus has been seeded throughout the country and more interactions will lead to more infections.

3851

St. Petersburg mayor slams Florida governor for lack of statewide action against the virus
From CNN’s Aditi Sangal

Several beaches across Florida are closed for the Fourth of July weekend due to coronavirus concerns. However, that’s not the case yet for residents of St. Petersburg who have access to beaches within driving distance in their county.

Mayor Rick Kriseman says he thinks that it’s a policy that the county has to consider.

“I think it’s a policy [the county officials] have got to consider as we come up to July 4 weekend. We know it’s always a busy time at our beaches that weekend.”

Kriseman also criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for not implementing statewide policies at this time to combat the surge in cases, and instead, leaving it up to the local governments to take action on a number of issues such as beach closures and wearing masks.

“This should be a statewide policy, but we don’t have the leadership right now from the administration and the governor’s office,” he said. “If we’re going to get a handle on this, we need to be acting collectively, not just piece-meal, where individual local governments are putting policies in place.”
In further criticism, Kriseman said that DeSantis has been “very inaccessible” to mayors across Florida, which is an impediment to statewide action against the virus.

“That’s one of the frustrations that myself and other mayors around the state have had. The governor has been very inaccessible to all of us, so we haven’t had those conversations. I’ve certainly been very vocal about the fact that I think it works best when it’s statewide policy and if we can’t have that then countywide policy and if we can’t have that then individual cities,” he said. “But it really should come down from the state.”

Kriseman also dismissed DeSantis’ claims that the surge in cases is partially due to a backlog in tests.

“That explanation is really quite frankly silly. What we look at is the percentage of positive tests. So we’ve had days where maybe we’ll have 1,500 tests that are done. Other days where we’ll have 3,500 tests that are done, but what really matters is what are those percentages of those tests that are being done that are coming back positive,” he explained.

St. Petersburg, Florida, was seeing a percentage of 1.5% to 2% positive cases on a two-week rolling basis in late April and early May. In the last two weeks, the rolling average has risen to 10%, he said.

“That is very disconcerting, and the explanation isn’t the number of tests. It’s that more people are exposed right now.”

3852

Though I will note that life costs money—it’s not just a healthcare thing.

All of existence, in some way, involves resource redistribution. We’re just aware of healthcare costs because it’s all there itemized on the bills we get (with a boost from being a hot political topic these past decades). We tend to ignore things that aren’t itemized out like that unless our attention is called to them (like the comparative opportunity costs and benefits of different transportation modes, f’rex).

So we focus on stuff like the fact (and it is a fact) that the resulting healthcare costs for this pandemic will follow all of us the rest of our lives, but we aren’t necessarily as aware of what the also very real long-term costs of, say, continuing localized shortages of antimicrobial wipes or increases in the population experiencing anxiety disorders will be.

3853

You did not mention the obvious generational inequity in this particular resource redistribution. Young people will pay for 50 more years. You and I may not have that number of tax paying years left, but of course the benefits accrued mostly to the eldest among us even if the costs were borne by the youngest.
Generally, we vote on massive income redistribution schemes-it is a pretty big election issue for candidates…

3854

Couldn’t this get you cited for indecent exposure?

3855

Yes, you close back down. Ideally, a State is monitoring the numbers closely enough so even a small spike over required metrics will be immediately addressed. If done on a regional basis and quickly, you only need to close that one back down (or go back one phase.) This method calls for constant monitoring of the data and vigorous testing and tracing methods. The problem now is so many states did not have any of these systems in place when they reopened willy nilly.

In addition, Governors of these states need to be aware of what is causing upswings in virus cases across the country - so they can adjust their plans before a spike occurs. I’m sure that is why NJ and hopefully NY will not allow indoor dining now.

3856

Exposure of what? This is why one uses a pStyle or a Tinklebell. There is nothing indecent about exposing a piece of plastic.

3857

Even if behind a bush, wouldn’t this be considered public urination? Don’t some states prohibit this?

3858

Did you guys see that one of the Chinese vaccines is now approved for “limited use in the military” (not sure what that means). It’s the one by CanSinoBio.

3859

Where I live no, but the actual answer depends, as with so many other things, on the jurisdiction.

3860

In theory one could get cited for urinating in public. In practice, this seems vanishingly unlikely if you’re in a low-traffic area off a road somewhere (as opposed to in a playground or something else bizarre).

ETA: I think you’d have to decide which is least antisocial - urinating off in the weeds off the side of the road, urinating without flushing in a public restroom (to avoid aerosols), or taking a plane flight leading to much more person-person virus exposure all around.