COVID-19 ongoing thread part 2

[Zwinmar]

Welp, apparently Covid deaths just quadrupled here in this podunk county, up to 4 from 1.

[Raw Shark]

Welp, apparently Covid deaths just quadrupled here in this podunk county, up to 4 from 1.

So you all have it now? Shit, get well soon, man.

[PainRack]

https://khn.org/news/fact-check-world-h ... was-right/


To repeat the obvious, no WHO did not say Trump was right. What they said was that they don't view lockdown as the primary means of controlling the virus and that lockdown has economic costs. The purpose of a lockdown is thus to buy time for mitigation efforts /make contract tracing and control possible by shrinking numbers, flatten the curve, protect HCW.



Left unsaid since WHO won't criticise the US is that the US under Trump has done NONE of these things.



Other than PPE shortages which are criminal, for the Rah Rah MAGA..

Https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenroberts ... -us-flags/



China is even MORE dominant now in sales of PPE and US flags to USA.



Remember. MAGA is Made In China, paid by Russia.



And remember. Even with all this extra buying.

However, the US Food and Drug Administration has cited a number of areas of critical shortages, including examination and surgical gowns, various types of gloves, surgical respirators, ventilator-related products, and various testing supplies and equipment, such as transport culture medium, sterile swabs, and general purpose reagents, among others.



Additionally, FEMA told GAO officials that the agency had open requests from state and local governments for more than 139 million nitrile gloves, 11 million surgical gowns, and 6 million N95 respirators, as of 4 August 2020. “FEMA also notes that the supply of N95 respirators for medical use is not expected to catch up to demand until January 2021,” GAO reported.

FEMA told GAO that N95 won't be enough until NEXT YEAR JAN.





https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/ ... n-covid-19



One YEAR after the crisis. .. the US might stabilise one vital piece of PPE. There's multiple demand induced shortages. This is the US that fed the world. The Arsenal of Democracy. Reduced to this by Trump. This is so pitiful.

[madd0ct0r]

Wales is in two week firebreak starting last night. The goal is two week tight lockdown to reset infection rates and give us a clear two month run up to Christmas and holiday.

Bit of a fuss here over one aspect of it. Big supermarkets sell lots of stuff here. Tesco's does everything from TVs to school uniforms as well as milk and bread.
Previous lockdown closed all shops not selling food, transport parts, fuel, pharmacies ect. The supermarkets stayed open as essential but captured a lot of sales from other stuff. It was a bit unfair on the other shops. Supermarkets are thus banned from selling non essentials. The clothes isles are covered up and people are losing their minds.

[Alyeska]

My hometown area, not where I currently live, made the national news for multiple Super Spreader events.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/st ... s-outbreak

[Broomstick]

Yeah, well, when flyover country decided this was a "city problem" and the rural folks didn't have to worry they laid the foundations of a pandemic in sparsely settled areas that, had they taken the problem seriously, might have looked more like New Zealand than the currently spiraling of hot-spots. Politics trumped science and as always it's the little people who will pay for it.

Sorry I"m not more positive than that, not feeling my best these days and that was even before I came down with covid myself.

[Darth Yan]

Jesus. Hope you’re ok.

[Broomstick]

I seem to be having a mild case so that's to the good - if this IS actually covid, as I'm still awaiting the test results.

[Gandalf]

Yeah, well, when flyover country decided this was a "city problem" and the rural folks didn't have to worry they laid the foundations of a pandemic in sparsely settled areas that, had they taken the problem seriously, might have looked more like New Zealand than the currently spiraling of hot-spots. Politics trumped science and as always it's the little people who will pay for it.

Indeed. It's a solid argument for internal borders or at least a decent checkpoint system.

[Broomstick]

Just got the test results: it's covid.

Also apparently a mild case so that's the good news.

[LadyTevar]

Just got the test results: it's covid.

Also apparently a mild case so that's the good news.

Here's hoping it stays mild and you don't have any lingering effects.

Last Monday (the 20th) I went rafting, and was thinking of going to the last Wing Night of the year. However, rafting wiped me out and by the time Wing Night started at 5pm, I was in bed out cold from exhaustion. That saved me from needing a Covid test, as SOMEONE at WingNight was Positive and either didn't know, or didn't tell anyone until this week. Imagine trying to track down 200 people who'd been hanging out, drinking beer and eating Buffalo Wings, and having no way to track them but MAYBE via their credit card.
Oh, Wait! STAFF ATE FOR FREE THAT NIGHT. And some of them have already moved on to their Winter Jobs out of state.

[Broomstick]

Yeah. I almost certainly picked this up from work but since in a typical day as a cashier I might talk to 300+ customers doing a contact-and-trace on me is sort of pointless, either from the standpoint of finding out who gave it to me or who I might have given it to (hopefully no one - that's a big reason I wear a mask).

[ray245]

It would be possible to trace all the contacts in Singapore, because everyone had to scan their phones when they enter any store. I believe such contact tracing ability is also there in South Korea and various other East Asian states.

It takes an immense effort to do contact tracing if those tools aren't available to the public health authorities, which is why I suspect it will be difficult for the US to do any contact tracing effort that can suppress the virus. Maybe if you guys go for another round of national lockdown to bring cases down to mere hundreds, that might be possible.

[LadyTevar]

It would be possible to trace all the contacts in Singapore, because everyone had to scan their phones when they enter any store. I believe such contact tracing ability is also there in South Korea and various other East Asian states.

It takes an immense effort to do contact tracing if those tools aren't available to the public health authorities, which is why I suspect it will be difficult for the US to do any contact tracing effort that can suppress the virus. Maybe if you guys go for another round of national lockdown to bring cases down to mere hundreds, that might be possible.

I doubt that will happen before January 2021, and not at all if Trump wins.

For that Monday, I ran into four staff members (the two guides, the bus driver, and my supervisor who was doing Trip Check-in) and the three men who were rafting that same trip. Since we were split 2 and 2 in the boats, there were only one guide and one man I was in long-time contact with, and we were getting full-body showers at least once every 30minute thanks to the rapids*.
However, if I'd gone to Wing Night, I'd have been in line for the Wings, mask off to eat the Wings, chatting with co-workers I won't see for months, and while they tried, this whole year Social Distancing was more of a "We wish you would" rather than something really enforced.

*(Yes, I was wearing a wetsuit and splash jacket. That didn't stop the waves smacking my face, or managing to pour down the neck of my splash jacket and wetsuit and giving my boobs an icy-cold bath at one of the Class IV rapids.)

[PainRack]

Yeah, well, when flyover country decided this was a "city problem" and the rural folks didn't have to worry they laid the foundations of a pandemic in sparsely settled areas that, had they taken the problem seriously, might have looked more like New Zealand than the currently spiraling of hot-spots. Politics trumped science and as always it's the little people who will pay for it.

Sorry I"m not more positive than that, not feeling my best these days and that was even before I came down with covid myself.

Get well soon.....

[Zaune]

It takes an immense effort to do contact tracing if those tools aren't available to the public health authorities, which is why I suspect it will be difficult for the US to do any contact tracing effort that can suppress the virus. Maybe if you guys go for another round of national lockdown to bring cases down to mere hundreds, that might be possible.

With everything else going on in US politics right now it might be for the best. I don't think the Trump administration can be trusted with those tools.

[ray245]

It takes an immense effort to do contact tracing if those tools aren't available to the public health authorities, which is why I suspect it will be difficult for the US to do any contact tracing effort that can suppress the virus. Maybe if you guys go for another round of national lockdown to bring cases down to mere hundreds, that might be possible.

With everything else going on in US politics right now it might be for the best. I don't think the Trump administration can be trusted with those tools.

This is why you need an immense amount of trust in public authorities for contact tracing to work. Most East Asian countries do not have that massive of an issue with trusting the public administration, compared to Europe and the US.

Populism came at the worst possible time for Europe and the US, for it really hamper the ability of the public to fully trust and comply with the government.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

UK has taken to calling the local lockdowns in the worst areas during this second wave "circuit breakers". We have had a track-and-trace app, with businesses displaying QR codes to scan, been to a couple of places with those.

In other news:
Covid-19 immunity could only last a few months after infection, study shows.

Covid-19 immunity could only last a few months following infection, after a study revealed a decline in protective antibodies.

Research by Imperial College London estimated just 4.4% of adults had some form of immunity against Covid-19 in September, when cases began to increase again.

This is compared with 6% found to have antibodies between June 20 and July 13, and 4.8% between July 31 and August 31.

Findings published by Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI suggest that people who did not show symptoms of the virus were likely to lose antibodies sooner than those who did show symptoms.

Those aged 18-24 had the highest prevalence of antibodies and lowest decline in antibody levels at 14.9%.

Meanwhile, people aged 75 and over had the lowest prevalence and saw the largest drop, with antibody levels falling by 39%.

Researchers warned, however, that it remains unclear whether antibodies provide any effective level of immunity or, if such immunity exists, for how long it might last.

Surveying more than 365,000 participants across England, researchers found the number of people with antibodies to coronavirus fell by 26.5% over three months.

Graham Cooke, professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said: “The big picture here is that after the first wave (of coronavirus), the great majority of the country still did not have evidence of protective immunity.

“So although we are seeing a decline in the proportion of people who are testing positive, we still have a great majority of people who are unlikely to have been exposed.

“So the need for a vaccine is still very large if you want to try and get a large level of protection in the population.”

Candidates in the study tested themselves at home using a finger prick test between 20 June and 28 September to check if they had antibodies against coronavirus.

While the number of people testing positive for antibodies declined gradually in the population regardless of employment type - the number of health care workers testing positive for antibodies didn’t change over time.

Helen Ward, professor of Public Health at Imperial College London, said this could indicate “ongoing transmission” of coronavirus in those settings or “repeated exposure”.

Asked about herd immunity, Prof Ward said: “Even at best, (in the first round of the study) 94% of the population remained not likely protected, and now that has declined to over 95% of the population who don’t have evidence of antibodies.

“So I think we are a long, long way from any idea that the population will be protected by other people.”

She added that immunity in England was “waning quite rapidly”.

In the latest round of the study, between September 15-28, the prevalence of antibodies remained highest in London, and in those of black and Asian ethnicity.

The results of all three rounds of antibody testing indicate the first wave of the epidemic occurred over a relatively short period in March and April.

While it suggested a steep decline in the proportion of people who reported having Covid symptoms and who tested positive for antibodies from early April - two weeks after national lockdown.

Health Minister Lord Bethell stressed "testing positive for antibodies does not mean you are immune to Covid-19".

[PainRack]

A second just passed as you read this. Another.



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/ ... nt-one-new

As President Donald Trump stuck to his falsehood-riddled closing message in the final stretch of the 2020 campaign—the U.S. is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic, the economy is roaring back, and public health measures are politically motivated ploys to harm his reelection chances—the U.S. on Thursday reported a daily record of 90,400-plus new coronavirus infections, the equivalent of more than one case every second.

Coronvirus cases are on the rise in nearly every U.S. state including Florida, where Trump on Thursday held an in-person campaign rally during which he paid lip service to basic precautions, such as wearing a mask and social distancing, as a crowd of his largely maskless supporters stood inches apart from each other.

And another.



90400 Covid cases in the US equates to 1 Covid case every second.



Assuming a 0.5% fatality rate, that's 400 Americans potentially dying later on. You took over a minute to read these words. That's 16 Americans potentially dead.



America is Rounding the Corner. There is no coronavirus in Ba Sing Se

[bilateralrope]

'Who thought this was a good idea?' U.S. health official gives COVID-19 update in clown costume

When considering what Halloween costume to wear while giving an update on COVID-19 cases and deaths, the negative reaction to one video suggests the best option is perhaps none at all.

Public health officials in Oregon were swiftly panned online this week after wearing clown makeup and an animal onesie in a video about celebrating Halloween safely.

While most of the 24-minute video covers trick-or-treating tips like candy chutes, costume parades and “trunk or treating,” the clip begins with an update on new COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state of 4.2 million.

“Sadly we are also reporting three deaths today,” said general pediatrician Claire Poché in multi-coloured hair, clown makeup, and bright yellow pants.

“Oregon. Literally run by clowns,” wrote one Twitter user who shared the video online. “I'm sorry but who at the Oregon Health Authority thought this was a good idea?” wrote another user.

In the rest of the video, Poche and her colleague Shimi Sharief address various health concerns surrounding Halloween and the spread of COVID-19, including whether stores should leave out candy bowls and whether it’s safe to wear a surgical mask under a Halloween mask. The health officials stressed that the celebration will be and should be different this year, but there are safe ways to proceed.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping how Oregonians celebrate holidays, and that includes Halloween,” said Sharief. “But it doesn’t mean Halloween can’t still be spooky and fun this year.”

I'd say that a clown costume fits with the competence of the US covid response.

[Raw Shark]

Maybe instead of a clown costume, Oregonians would prefer the grim reaper?

[PainRack]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/10 ... r-covid-19

On Thursday alone, 90,728 new cases were reported in the U.S. and at least 1,004 Americans died. And based on his appearance on Fox News Thursday night, Donald Trump Jr. either knows this and simply thinks more than 1,000 deaths in a single day is no big deal or, more likely, he’s an idiot who has no idea what he’s talking about.

Appearing on Laura Ingraham’s show, the first son declared that anyone concerned about the explosion of cases is a clown and that he’s been crunching the numbers on his own and people need only check out his Instagram to find out the truth. “These people are truly morons, I like how they go after Scott Atlas because he’s not an epidemiologist but Sanjay Gupta now magically is,” Trump Jr. said, referring to the guy who is pushing for “herd immunity,” which could require more than 2 million people to die. “Give me a break, Laura, the reality is this, I put it up on my Instagram a couple days ago because I went through the CDC data because I kept hearing about new infections but I was like why aren’t they talking about deaths—oh, oh, because the number is almost nothing.”

So. Junior says 1004 Americans dead is almost nothing. In context , that's an American dying less than every 2 minutes.

[Raw Shark]

So. Junior says 1004 Americans dead is almost nothing. In context , that's an American dying less than every 2 minutes.

Just for context, 2,977 Americans dead in 9/11, the GOP goes bugfuck nuts, starts two wars lasting a decade. That many Americans or so dead every three days because of their bungling, well these things happen, they were going to die anyway eventually...

[ray245]

So. Junior says 1004 Americans dead is almost nothing. In context , that's an American dying less than every 2 minutes.

Just for context, 2,977 Americans dead in 9/11, the GOP goes bugfuck nuts, starts two wars lasting a decade. That many Americans or so dead every three days because of their bungling, well these things happen, they were going to die anyway eventually...

Because 9/11 is an enemy they can bomb. John Bolton the warhawk can only conceive of American security from a who can we bomb scenario, as he was the one that dismantled the pandemic response in the first place.

Goes to show how good those warhawks are at "protecting" the country.

[PainRack]

So. Junior says 1004 Americans dead is almost nothing. In context , that's an American dying less than every 2 minutes.

Just for context, 2,977 Americans dead in 9/11, the GOP goes bugfuck nuts, starts two wars lasting a decade. That many Americans or so dead every three days because of their bungling, well these things happen, they were going to die anyway eventually...

Because 9/11 is an enemy they can bomb. John Bolton the warhawk can only conceive of American security from a who can we bomb scenario, as he was the one that dismantled the pandemic response in the first place.

Goes to show how good those warhawks are at "protecting" the country.

Gods.... There's a reason why Obama expanded biosecurity to include pandemic and it was because Ebola showed you simply cannot treat it as a bioterrorist problem. The office was expanded because the biosecurity apparatus that Obama inherited and expanded post H1N1 was simply NOT ENOUGH.