Coronavirus (NO POLITICAL OR SOCIAL COMMENTARY PLEASE)

[Lee A Stewart]

[Lee A Stewart]

Why Italy? The factors behind a coronavirus disaster

Loads of people have been wondering why the beautiful Mediterranean country has become the new epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.

Experts list a range of reasons -- from Italy's relatively high age to its strained healthcare system to some old fashioned bad luck -- that add up to a disaster not seen in generations.

None of the answers alone explain why the nation of 60 million accounts for over a third of the nearly 11,500 deaths officially reported across the 7.7-billion strong world

.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...cid=spartandhp

[Lee A Stewart]

Hospitals warn of shortages, closures without emergency aid

U.S. hospitals are warning that they are so strapped for cash that without some financial relief, they will be unable to meet their payrolls in a matter of weeks and some could be forced to close just as coronavirus cases are surging.

The American Hospital Association and three hospital chief executives spanning the country said in a conference call Saturday that a federal directive this week to cancel elective procedures — to conserve scarce resources for patients with covid19 — is halting the type of services that produce the most revenue.

And their ability to buy critically needed supplies — from protective gear to more hospital beds — is being stymied by the fact that private vendors are requiring hospitals to pay cash upon delivery, which they say they lack the money to do.

This stark portrait of the ground-level reality for hospitals, in communities where the pandemic has penetrated and those where it has not yet seriously struck, comes as hospitals and other cornerstones of the U.S. health-care system are pleading with Congress to provide large-scale financial relief.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ho...cid=spartandhp

[Moe Szyslak]

New Yorkers....I didn't know much about him, but I've become quite a fan of your Governor during this crisis. Keep it up, stay safe.

[Lee A Stewart]

FDA authorizes first rapid, 'point of care' coronavirus test

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first coronavirus diagnostic test that can be conducted entirely at the point of care.

The test from California-based Cepheid will deliver results in about 45 minutes - much faster than current tests that require a sample to be sent to a centralized lab, where results can take days.

The test has been designed to operate on any of Cepheid's more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert Systems worldwide, of which 5,000 are in the U.S., the company said. The systems are already being used to test for conditions like HIV or tuberculosis.

The systems do not require users to have specialty training to perform testing, and are capable of running around the clock.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/hea...cid=spartandhp

[Lee A Stewart]

A Torrent of Job Losses Threatens to Overwhelm the U.S. Economy

In an early sign of the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating impact on American workers, the Labor Department on Thursday reported a 30 percent increase in unemployment claims last week, one of the largest spikes on record.

The surge — 281,000 new claims — reflects a crushing new reality: Any hopes that businesses could keep their staffs largely intact have quickly evaporated.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...cid=spartandhp

[Lee A Stewart]

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

My sister-in-law was admitted to hospital in Chicago yesterday with severe shortness of breath bordering on ARDS.

I’m out of the loop with regards to her care at Advocate Lutheran Hospital in Park Ridge so if anyone has personal knowledge of the general situation (ICU staffing, surge affecting ventilators, respiratory therapists, etc.) at that hospital, I’d be interested.

[Lee A Stewart]

In hard-hit areas, testing restricted to health care workers, hospital patients

Health officials in New York, California and other hard-hit parts of the country are restricting coronavirus testing to health care workers and people who are hospitalized, saying the battle to contain the virus is lost and the country is moving into a new phase of the pandemic response.

As cases spike sharply in those places, they are hunkering down for an onslaught, and directing scarce resources where they are needed most to save people’s lives. Instead of encouraging broad testing of the public, they’re focused on conserving masks, ventilators, intensive care beds — and on getting still-limited tests to health care workers and the most vulnerable. The shift is further evidence that rising levels of infection and illness have begun to overwhelm the health care system.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in...cid=spartandhp

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by Garp

In order not to derail the VUDU thread, some thoughts here instead:

[Show spoiler]The only things we know for certain right now is that we have no idea when this crisis is going to end. We have no idea how disastrous this will become for everything we considered 'normal' up to now. We have no idea what a post-COVID-19 future will look like.

Two weeks ago, the suggestion that we wouldn't be able to find toilet paper on the shelves would have been preposterous. The idea that we might have to lockdown an entire country would have been seen as alarmist at best, akin to anarchy at worst. Yet here we are.

Things are changing daily - hell, hourly! The way we usually interact are changing. Some of those ways will bounce back - we are a social species and will always crave the companionship of gatherings, large and small - but perhaps not all.

We are in the midst of a social experiment that none of us asked to participate in. The closest historical analogies we have - world wars, 9-11 - are imprecise as a precursor to what we may expect in the long term. The world has changed and people are rightly scared. When people are scared, people become unpredictable.

Like most people I'm sure, I would love everything to just go back to the way it was before. But realistically, I don't see that happening. Unfortunately, I believe things will get worse, will be endured for longer than we anticipate right now and will change us irrevocably.

Some of those changes, I hope, will be positive - a respect for our environment, a realisation of what truly matters to us personally, that we are all connected. I hope I'm right.

That's all. Stay sane, stay safe.

I'm glad you posted this and alerted me to this thread.

It blows my mind that some people are still bragging about their in-store bargain Blu-ray hauls. Really?!

I love a good bargain as much as the next person, and I love finding said bargains in stores, but is now really the time for that kind of reckless behavior? Yeah, I said it: reckless!

Is it worth it? Even if you're lucky to experience mild effects or you're asymptomatic altogether, the elderly or immunocompromised person you're unknowingly passing it on to might not be so lucky.

I'm seeing a bunch of in-store deals now that I would have picked up without thinking twice about in the past. But this has really made me consider what's worth and what isn't, and I don't think any movie or any deal is worth it - especially when you can still buy movies online. Even if you can't take advantage of a certain in-store deal right now, equal or better deals almost always come back around.

[InuYashaCrusade]

I'm in complete disbelief the way my employer is handling this situation. We have no Lysol wipes to clean the shopping carts or hand sanitizer to give customers when they come and ask. I had a customer come up to me as they entered the store and went to grab a cart, they asked "Do you guys have any Lysol wipes to clean the cart handle with?" and I already knew the answer, no we do not. I've been telling customers to ask the service desk when they walk in, but this time there was a manager beside me so I decided to see what he said. The manager acted almost offended by the customers question and had the nastiest, most rude attitude you could imagine.

Once when the store opens and once at closing, management tell us to spray the shopping carts with bleach and water. This is twice per day, not every 20 minutes or an hour, 12 hours apart. I spent half an hour trying to find a bottle of bleach that was not empty, looking everywhere they told me to check. After 30 minutes of back and forth I finally went up to my manager and said that the bottle is empty. She calls the store manager and he won't let us mark down a bottle of bleach to disinfect the carts. I had to use whatever was left at the bottom of the spray can and mix it with hot water, it wasn't even bleach or whatever the hell else we're instructed to use. The store/company is so cheap that they won't allow us to mark down a bottle of bleach.

All of that in mind, the manager himself had NO idea what we were using to clean the carts when the customer he asked. He basically said "we're mixing some cleaning sprays together and spraying the carts every once in a while" and the customer basically got into an argument with him and I walked off. I just cannot believe that a store manager would handle a situation like that in the middle of all of this. We have no face masks, they aren't giving lot associates gloves to use, we're out of hand sanitizer, 2 of the 4 soap dispensers in the men's room are not attached to the wall anymore and no longer work, absolutely no Lysol wipes, no hourly shopping cart disinfecting, etc.

All day long the aisles were so packed with customers and associates breathing on top of each other that you couldn't even walk. No one is respecting the whole social distancing thing or giving you any sort of personal space. Customers come up to your face and want you to thumb through their phone to help them find items while they breathe down your neck. Half of everyone is coughing so hard that it sounds like they're about to throw up a lung, cashiers and coworkers included.

I'm not a germaphobe in any way and I'm very easy going but the last day or two at work have left me feeling disgusted by the general public and my employer. This is a big box retailer and they're handling a pandemic like this. We all received 40 to 80 hours of sick time and I was trying to hold off on using it but I'm not sure I can anymore. The HR worker who my friend spoke to said that if we take our full 40-80 hours off at once then they want a doctors note saying that we are healthy enough to return to work. Corporate themselves told us to us use the sick time however we see fit, but I guess not? I dunno anymore. I'm about to start calling off and once my sick time runs out I'll let them know I'm unable to make it to work for the time being. I'm very close to a breaking point here. It's only a matter of time before I end up catching a cold or worse from work and then bring it home to my elderly grandfather, that's what has me especially concerned.

This turned into a rant but these past few days at work have been bothering me a lot.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by InuYashaCrusade

I'm in complete disbelief the way my employer is handling this situation. We have no Lysol wipes to clean the shopping carts or hand sanitizer to give customers when they come and ask. I had a customer come up to me as they entered the store and went to grab a cart, they asked "Do you guys have any Lysol wipes to clean the cart handle with?" and I already knew the answer, no we do not. I've been telling customers to ask the service desk when they walk in, but this time there was a manager beside me so I decided to see what he said. The manager acted almost offended by the customers question and had the nastiest, most rude attitude you could imagine.

Once when the store opens and once at closing, management tell us to spray the shopping carts with bleach and water. This is twice per day, not every 20 minutes or an hour, 12 hours apart. I spent half an hour trying to find a bottle of bleach that was not empty, looking everywhere they told me to check. After 30 minutes of back and forth I finally went up to my manager and said that the bottle is empty. She calls the store manager and he won't let us mark down a bottle of bleach to disinfect the carts. I had to use whatever was left at the bottom of the spray can and mix it with hot water, it wasn't even bleach or whatever the hell else we're instructed to use. The store/company is so cheap that they won't allow us to mark down a bottle of bleach.

All of that in mind, the manager himself had NO idea what we were using to clean the carts when the customer he asked. He basically said "we're mixing some cleaning sprays together and spraying the carts every once in a while" and the customer basically got into an argument with him and I walked off. I just cannot believe that a store manager would handle a situation like that in the middle of all of this. We have no face masks, they aren't giving lot associates gloves to use, we're out of hand sanitizer, 2 of the 4 soap dispensers in the men's room are not attached to the wall anymore and no longer work, absolutely no Lysol wipes, no hourly shopping cart disinfecting, etc.

All day long the aisles were so packed with customers and associates breathing on top of each other that you couldn't even walk. No one is respecting the whole social distancing thing or giving you any sort of personal space. Customers come up to your face and want you to thumb through their phone to help them find items while they breathe down your neck. Half of everyone is coughing so hard that it sounds like they're about to throw up a lung, cashiers and coworkers included.

I'm not a germaphobe in any way and I'm very easy going but the last day or two at work have left me feeling disgusted by the general public and my employer. This is a big box retailer and they're handling a pandemic like this. We all received 40 to 80 hours of sick time and I was trying to hold off on using it but I'm not sure I can anymore. The HR worker who my friend spoke to said that if we take our full 40-80 hours off at once then they want a doctors note saying that we are healthy enough to return to work. Corporate themselves told us to us use the sick time however we see fit, but I guess not? I dunno anymore. I'm about to start calling off and once my sick time runs out I'll let them know I'm unable to make it to work for the time being. I'm very close to a breaking point here. It's only a matter of time before I end up catching a cold or worse from work and then bring it home to my elderly grandfather, that's what has me especially concerned.

This turned into a rant but these past few days at work have been bothering me a lot.

The next few months are going to be mind numbingly horrific.

Stay safe everyone.

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

The next few months are going to be mind numbingly horrific.

Stay safe everyone.

I'm trying very hard to stay optimistic that this will all be over sooner than that since we've already reached Spring and warm weather is already around the corner.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

This is going to sound selfish but I’m getting tired of seeing everybody’s activities while quarantined. I’m very thankful to still have a job but right now I’m basically the exact opposite of many people. I work in warehousing and we are insanely busy trying to keep with with all the food people are buying. Working 7 days a week 12 hour days. And basically nobody online is realizing or acknowledging that warehouses and trucking is still going and going hard right now. Everyone is taking a stand for the employees in stores that are still open but not realizing the stuff in the store comes from somewhere. This is me just kinda being sour because logistics is basically forgotten.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by MrHT

I'm trying very hard to stay optimistic that this will all be over sooner than that since we've already reached Spring and warm weather is already around the corner.

Sadly based on the spread in Iran....warmer weather is not going to halt this.

[Batman1980]

The supply chain workers are extremely vital right now, mentioned it at least twice myself today.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

This is going to sound selfish but I’m getting tired of seeing everybody’s activities while quarantined. I’m very thankful to still have a job but right now I’m basically the exact opposite of many people. I work in warehousing and we are insanely busy trying to keep with with all the food people are buying. Working 7 days a week 12 hour days. And basically nobody online is realizing or acknowledging that warehouses and trucking is still going and going hard right now. Everyone is taking a stand for the employees in stores that are still open but not realizing the stuff in the store comes from somewhere. This is me just kinda being sour because logistics is basically forgotten.

First off....thanks to everyone....in any country...sacrificing to keep things going.

Maybe it's not acknowledged as much down south as it should be, but in other countries people are acutely aware of the importance of people in critical roles/infrastructure during this time.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

This is going to sound selfish but I’m getting tired of seeing everybody’s activities while quarantined. I’m very thankful to still have a job but right now I’m basically the exact opposite of many people. I work in warehousing and we are insanely busy trying to keep with with all the food people are buying. Working 7 days a week 12 hour days. And basically nobody online is realizing or acknowledging that warehouses and trucking is still going and going hard right now. Everyone is taking a stand for the employees in stores that are still open but not realizing the stuff in the store comes from somewhere. This is me just kinda being sour because logistics is basically forgotten.

Not all of us have forgotten you and it requires a plethora of well oiled cogs for the entire system to function. For warehouse functions to continue it requires truckers to get the goods to/from the warehouses, but it goes much deeper than that. In order for truckers to move goods around they require gas stations, restrooms, lodging, mechanics, and restaurants to be open. Public Utilities must stay open to provide the electricity, water, and sewage services required to support these operations. But for that to happen, we really need to go all the way back to the very raw materials used.

[sk33tr]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

This is going to sound selfish but I’m getting tired of seeing everybody’s activities while quarantined. I’m very thankful to still have a job but right now I’m basically the exact opposite of many people. I work in warehousing and we are insanely busy trying to keep with with all the food people are buying. Working 7 days a week 12 hour days. And basically nobody online is realizing or acknowledging that warehouses and trucking is still going and going hard right now. Everyone is taking a stand for the employees in stores that are still open but not realizing the stuff in the store comes from somewhere. This is me just kinda being sour because logistics is basically forgotten.

i almost wish it would get bad enough that the logistics side would grind to a halt. then, people might appreciate that aspect of their lives a little more (at least i'd like to think they would).

not too many people give a thought to where the stuff actually comes from or how it gets there or what it takes to get it there or how many people are involved in the process...only that it's there when they go to the store.

[LordoftheRings]

Go only for the best quality masks ...