Coronavirus (NO POLITICAL OR SOCIAL COMMENTARY PLEASE)

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

Work from home man!

Kind of hard to do when you bag groceries for a living.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by bruceames

Regarding N95 Masks, I got a shipment of 100 Moldex N95 masks in yesterday, so it appears that they are not in such short supply as they were earlier.

There was a segment on the news yesterday, that basically said that proper masks (which are in short supply) are for NHS workers and the public should be making their own.

You almost got the feeling that people should be shamed for wearing PPE in public.

While I agree that the public (or anybody else) shouldn't be hoarding, having all the PPE supplies for the medical services seems a little bit like madness. It's a bit like a couple of weeks back someone in the White House hinted that the Federal government had plenty of reserve supplies and the states that needed it couldn't have it because it was theirs.

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by chip75

There was a segment on the news yesterday, that basically said that proper masks (which are in short supply) are for NHS workers and the public should be making their own.

You almost got the feeling that people should be shamed for wearing PPE in public.

While I agree that the public (or anybody else) shouldn't be hoarding, having all the PPE supplies for the medical services seems a little bit like madness. It's a bit like a couple of weeks back someone in the White House hinted that the Federal government had plenty of reserve supplies and the states that needed it couldn't have it because it was theirs.

Yeah I ordered these from my supplier two months ago (I depleted my stock by donating 60 of them to my local hospital in late March), and they estimated a June delivery. I was skeptical and so my surprise that they actually showed up. My sales rep came by the day after and he was surprised too, saying lots of his customers were desperate for them (and the website shows zero stock). So maybe they are still in short supply? I'm not sure now, but I think most of the hospitals are OK now (hopefully).

[Cremildo]

40.000 dead in Brazil, 787.000 infected.

Shopping centers are starting to reopen in the states of São Paulo (the most affected one) and Rio de Janeiro.

Lord have mercy.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by bruceames

A

The WHO didn't backtrack because they were wrong, but rather because they were being misinterpreted to include all cases that don't show symptoms. Most people don't understand the distinction 6between asymptomatic (those who never get symptoms) and pre-symptomatic (those who don't show symptoms yet, but will within a few days). They referred to only the former, which they estimated, at most, 6 percent of cases.

As many as half or more infected people never get symptoms, and these people are just not very infectious (lower viral levels in their respiratory tract to pass on). This has been known for some time actually, but the WHO spokesperson did a poor job of elucidating, and given the high chance of misinterpretation (which the media is eager to do to get a headline), should have just left that one alone.

Obviously, they should have just left it alone, but I wouldn’t blame the media reporting as I don’t think a consensus of concerned public health experts misinterpreted anything from the presentation of that initial WHO pressor -
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...ses-scientists

Seems to me what happened with that transmission fiasco press conference would be similar to attending an M&M grand rounds in reviewing the death of a patient on the table and hearing the presenter stand up and only talk about/emphasize that the team maintained sterile technique in the O.R.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

40.000 dead in Brazil, 787.000 infected.

Shopping centers are starting to reopen in the states of São Paulo (the most affected one) and Rio de Janeiro.

Lord have mercy.

Try and stay safe, mate.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by chip75

Try and stay safe, mate.

Thanks, man. My parents are my biggest concern - they're both over 70.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

YouTube

This was from yesterday and in some hospitals nurses are being told to reuse the same masks, still?

Me personally what I find the most amazing during a historical global pandemic (let's be realistic here with COVID-19) is how little serious (downplayed) it is taken in some world regions...still today. And that famous masks thing ...

Like I said yesterday, it's going to take some time to adjust to our new way of life across the planet. We may wake up tomorrow morning to a gorgeous sunny day and feel new and fresh and reborn to live it fully and that sounds marvelous...is it the reality though around us?

The time we live today is the time we build tomorrow.
The way we spend it all together or distant will determine in part tomorrow's way of living. It has always been like that except that now it's much more determinant than ever.

One other thing that is in my mind big time; travelling by planes across the world.

The decisions made yesterday and today have a huge impact on our future, the global community, the humanity, our species. It's all of us who become world leaders, it's us all together who learn and adapt each day for a better world tomorrow, for a better people, for us, for our parents, for our grand parents, for our families, for our children, grandchildren, for everyone alive and living and aspiring to health and wealth and happiness....from zero (not born yet) to plus 101 (elderly who built this world before us).

Masks we should have aplenty by now; we are super developed countries with amazing technological advancements. Global Health is the number one priority, the one above it all for the best of the best family values, for humanity, for paradise on Earth.

Hey, that's just what I think.
We all love movies but it's getting expensive to bring all the family @ the Dolby Cinema and IMAX theaters with everyone eating popcorn and drinking Pepsi-Cola during Corona times.

[bruceames]

A great read with lots of info. Definitely worth checking out. Masks basically double the time you can spend in close contact before getting infected.

Here are the highlights of our conversation. But if you really want to understand this disease, read the whole interview. This disease may be the biggest event of our lifetimes.

3 months ago, COVID-19 was not even in the top 75 causes of death in this country. Much of the last month, it was the #1 cause of death in this country. This is more remarkable than the 1918 Flu pandemic.

There is no scientific indication Covid-19 will disappear of its own accord.

If you’re under age 55, obesity is the #1 risk factor. So, eating the right diet, getting physical activity, and managing stress are some of the most important things you can do to protect yourself from the disease.

One of the best things we can do for our aging parents is to get them out into the fresh air, while maintaining physical (not social) distancing.

Wearing a cloth mask does not protect you much if you’re in close contact with someone who is COVID-19 contagious. It may give you 10 minutes, instead of five, to avoid contracting the disease.

We can expect COVID-19 to infect 60% – 70% of Americans. That’s around 200 million Americans.

We can expect between 800,000 and 1.6 million Americans to die in the next 18 months if we don’t have a successful vaccine.

There is no guarantee of an effective vaccination and even if we find one, it may only give short term protection.

Speeding a vaccination into production carries its own risks.

The darkest days are still ahead of us. We need moral leadership, the command leadership that doesn’t minimize what’s before us but allows everyone to see that we’re going to get through it.

Regarding how it spreads, it's "time and dose".

Again, I would limit the number of contacts they have outside the home. If they are out in public, they can wear a mask but that’s of limited protective value. When outside, stay away from large groups. Don’t spend lots of time next to someone. This virus doesn’t magically jump between two people — it’s time and dose.

For example, if you’re riding in a car with someone who’s infected, you may become infected yourself by just breathing their air within 10 minutes. If they have a cloth mask on, then that may move it to 20 minutes but it doesn’t eliminate it. The same thing is true if you’re going to a large social event, like a church event. The problem is that this virus is transmitted largely by what we call aerosols, those little things that we breathe, and we put out hundreds of thousands of these every minute when we talk.

Regarding the risk of passerby contact outside and outside risks in general. You can have safe gatherings, especially outside, as long as you mingle and don't spend time in close contact with individuals.

The message I think we have to say is being outside is really a very important thing [for Covid-19]. It’s getting fresh air, and being able to move and exercise. It turns out that being in the outside environment dissipates these aerosols very, very quickly. Of all the outbreaks that happened in Wuhan, China where people get together with one infected individual and then transmission occurred — all but one of them occurred inside.

So, I think this is the time of year when people need to take advantage of parks and walks separated by 6, 10, 12 feet knowing they can feel very safe about that. It’s time and dose, so you’re not going to get infected by passing somebody on the path. That’s the good message: Get people out, get them exercising, and take them out.

The challenge is going to family events. We’ve had a number of outbreaks where funerals, weddings, and family events in general were the source because people congregated together in tight spaces for a long period of time. But if you’re not doing that, then I think the risk is actually quite small.

https://www.bluezones.com/2020/06/co...-the-pandemic/

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

40.000 dead in Brazil, 787.000 infected.

Shopping centers are starting to reopen in the states of São Paulo (the most affected one) and Rio de Janeiro.

Lord have mercy.

I have a doctor friend who lives in São Paulo.

Brazil's leadership is missing a bit in my opinion. It's up to the population to see the light above and act upon. It's the people who live there and who love life today and tomorrow.

Brazil is only few miles south of us...from the same continent...the Americas.

P.S. I just remember now that you are from Brésil. ...A brother from the south.

[Batman1980]

New findings from the Legislative Finance Committee Evaluation Unit finds online learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic fell short and may set students back up to a year in academic learning. Some of the findings are in the LFC June 2020 newsletter. During a virtual meeting about the report on Wednesday, the presenter said the survey sited lack of internet access and parents working as some of the biggest obstacles to online learning for students.

“Since March, when all this started, we can anticipate that from now until November, kids will have lost a year’s worth of academic learning. And that’s scary! You know, we struggled anyway,” State Representative, Christine Trujillo, said.

According to Representative Trujillo, about 4,000 teachers and 73 districts, not including Albuquerque Public Schools, participated in the survey. It found that schools couldn’t connect with about one in five students. It also found that of the students that were able to log on, only about 47% of them were actively engaged in the online class on a daily basis by the end of the school year.

With some form of distanced learning still on the table for next year, Representative Trujillo hopes better planning over summer can help improve online learning outcomes for next year. “There has to be more interaction with parents because parents didn’t even know how to do this stuff either. We all have to really stop and think about, and it has to be done quickly, what we can do to refine the process so that it is amenable and accessible to everyone,” she said.

The report urges the state to figure out a way to reopen schools in the fall to avoid having students fall even further behind. But, for State Representative Debra Sarinana, who represents many constituent families with the elderly raising children, it presents more concerns.

“If our kids go back, what could they bring home? Because, there’s a lot of grandparents in the families, and that’s a huge concern for them. That’s probably the most emails I get or calls I get during the week, is, what’s going to happen if they make us sick and we can’t take care of them,” she said.

Representative Sarinana, who is a math teacher, said she’s not overly surprised by the LFC Evaluation Unit’s findings, saying she experienced some of those challenges while teaching. She said she is planning all her classes virtually for the upcoming school year to be better prepared if schools have to close down again.

The report finds younger students are likely to experience even greater learning loss since levels like kindergarten, had online learning time-limited to 45 minutes. The report also attributes learning loss to the Public Education Department’s instruction that schools focus on reviewing material during distanced learning. Other states promoted teaching new material.

Source - KRQE.com

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

Source - KRQE.com

Your state seems behind the times in terms of assessing risk factors. Masks all the time outside and now discussing keeping schools closed for another year. Really?

Most states are going to have open schools this fall, including mine. There is even going to be summer camp for kids starting next week. Life can go on when you know the risks.

[Batman1980]

Well as I've said, our governor is a moron who clearly doesn't understand how to properly handle a crisis. She's doing the things she's doing to be a contrarian and not to protect or help people. Wish she would get removed from office.

[BucketheadPikes]

At the rate we're going here in the U.S., we're going to have around 300,000 dead by X-mas, & all in the 1st wave. If there's a 2nd wave, it'll most likely be after X-mas/New Year's.

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by BucketheadPikes

At the rate we're going here in the U.S., we're going to have around 300,000 dead by X-mas, & all in the 1st wave. If there's a 2nd wave, it'll most likely be after X-mas/New Year's.

Fortunately the death rate is falling steadily though, around 820 a day now. Hopefully it continues to decline.

[BucketheadPikes]

Originally Posted by bruceames

Fortunately the death rate is falling steadily though, around 820 a day now. Hopefully it continues to decline.

I hope so too, but my concern is too many people acting like this is already over. The community where I live has been awesome about following guidelines, but lately I've seen more & more people around here behaving in a lax manner too.

[Batman1980]

Well I've been discussing this with a Dutchman I've known online for about 16 years now and he said something that makes sense to me. The death rate is most likely only falling because the ones who were most vulnerable to it have already died and the ones who can survive getting it are still alive.

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

Well I've been discussing this with a Dutchman I've known online for about 16 years now and he said something that makes sense to me. The death rate is most likely only falling because the ones who were most vulnerable to it have already died and the ones who can survive getting it are still alive.

True a lot of the early deaths which were during the peak times, were in nursing homes. Then masks were either in short supply or not being used at all. Now I imagine most of the workers (many of whom live in high density housing and thus are more prone to getting it from home) are wearing N95s or surgical masks when caring for residents. So I imagine the proportion of deaths there have fallen. Would like to see some data on this though.

Another reason they are falling is better treatments and the fact that hospitals aren't overwhelmed (on the contrary, probably waiting for patients to arrive as it's slow), so can provide more immediate care with more up to date treatment plans.

Finally I think it's just that deaths are falling because social distancing + masks is working and with that the infection rate is falling.

[Pondosinatra]

Casualties of COVID...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...s-bc-1.5607792

Of course the cynics are saying this is what happens when the Government gives junkies $2000 a month.

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

40.000 dead in Brazil, 787.000 infected.

Shopping centers are starting to reopen in the states of São Paulo (the most affected one) and Rio de Janeiro.

Lord have mercy.

Lord have mercy on the U.S. Over 2 million infected!