General COVID-19 Topic

[Mr22putt]

24 minutes ago, FlyingAce said:

Thanks @Mr22putt! I am feeling ok. The cough is on and off, and I have no other symptoms so far other than feeling tired. It could be from too much golf in the heat the week before and I have had a cough on and off since late February (PCP said it was allergies related), so who knows🤷🏻‍♀️...

I have been in isolation for 8 days now, so I will know if I make it or not in a few more days. I will probably stay in isolation for another week or two, just to be safe. Not being able to play golf is depressing but better to be safe than sorry. My husband is a physician scientist - he see patients and does science research. So far everyone at his clinic is safe, but a research student in his lab building (not his student) just tested positive. Our numbers are still ok compared to other states but we are trending up. Once the hospital hits a certain number of patients, my husband will be drafted to the ER/ICU to help out. I don’t want that to happen, so even though I cannot save lives, I am not going to contribute to making others sick. 

Your area is doing very well indeed. I wish more people would take this seriously and stop being selfish. My old club was a zoo during the July 4th weekend. I stayed away but my friends were complaining about how busy the club house was and no one was wearing masks/social distancing. Honestly, I am surprised it took this long for our club to get the first positive and I don’t expect it to be the last either...

Take care!

Hi Ace

I went to the hospital 2 weeks ago at 7pm for an ultrasound....the place was dead...minimal people walking around...the place was spotless.....our Vancouver convention center was converted to a 300 hospital way back in March that has never been used in case other hospitals are overwhelmed.

Hopefully your husband need not be pulled into the ER/ICU.

Most of the Covid deaths here are from LTC's.

Basically all restaurants here are dead...all have 50% capacity regulations...many courses the F&B facilities are limited or closed.

Except for the stupid protests here....not much crowding here....lots of Covid protocols in place here.

Dr. Bonnie Henry is viewed now as a hero/celebrity up here.

Covid in the US is out of control...it should not be that way.

Work on your swing and chipping at home...you'll be scratch soon!

[iacas]

4 hours ago, Missouri Swede said:

Is that true?  Inoculation/vaccination with live attenuated forms of some pathogens are used to produce a response, but without the full disease in the patient.  Are there data yet for coronaviruses? (I haven't specifically looked yet--so if you've seen a link, I'm happy to learn.)

Yes. If you have a low viral load your body may not ramp up the machinery to make antibodies.

Also we don’t have SARS or MERS vaccines. It’s not an easy vaccine.

[No Mulligans]

3 hours ago, Mr22putt said:

Hi Ace

I went to the hospital 2 weeks ago at 7pm for an ultrasound....the place was dead...minimal people walking around...the place was spotless.....our Vancouver convention center was converted to a 300 hospital way back in March that has never been used in case other hospitals are overwhelmed.

Hopefully your husband need not be pulled into the ER/ICU.

Most of the Covid deaths here are from LTC's.

Basically all restaurants here are dead...all have 50% capacity regulations...many courses the F&B facilities are limited or closed.

Except for the stupid protests here....not much crowding here....lots of Covid protocols in place here.

Dr. Bonnie Henry is viewed now as a hero/celebrity up here.

Covid in the US is out of control...it should not be that way.

Work on your swing and chipping at home...you'll be scratch soon!

I've had to go the Dr. twice since April, the clinic area of a hospital.  My experience was the same, it seems extremely safe.

Edited July 13, 2020 by No Mulligans

[Yukari]

On 7/13/2020 at 1:56 PM, iacas said:

Yes. If you have a low viral load your body may not ramp up the machinery to make antibodies.

Also we don’t have SARS or MERS vaccines. It’s not an easy vaccine.

Vaccines for SARS and MERS were never developed as, fortunately, the spread was contained and limited.

COVID-19 is a same family as SARS and it is referred to as SARS-Cov-2 to indicate it is the same family of virus with similar symptoms.

On another somber note, the death rate increase is now on the upswing.

Florida Sets Coronavirus Death Record, Hours After Gov. DeSantis Said State Had ‘Stabilized’

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Almost all metrics continue to show the state’s crisis getting worse.

 

[iacas]

30 minutes ago, Yukari said:

Vaccines for SARS and MERS were never developed as, fortunately, the spread was contained and limited.

COVID-19 is a same family as SARS and it is referred to as SARS-Cov-2 to indicate it is the same family of virus with similar symptoms.

My point was that it may be difficult to make a vaccine for COVID. Results are promising, but many vaccines can fall late. SARS and MERS still exist in the world. They're not eradicated.

Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker - The New York Times

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A look at all the vaccines that have reached trials in humans.

 

[phillyk]

Looks like the moderna inc vaccine is entering final testing the end of this month. 30,000 person trial. Very promising!

First COVID-19 vaccine tested in US poised for final testing

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The first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up people’s immune systems just the way...

 

[boogielicious]

10 hours ago, iacas said:

My point was that it may be difficult to make a vaccine for COVID. Results are promising, but many vaccines can fall late. SARS and MERS still exist in the world. They're not eradicated.

Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker - The New York Times

---

A look at all the vaccines that have reached trials in humans.

 

My wife’s firm has guest speakers for zoom meetings every couple of weeks. This weeks was a microbiologist/virologist working on COVID. One advantage they have with this strain is it grows very fast, which allows them to run tests in a day or two versus a week for some other viruses. So they can make significant progress in a shorter time. She was very encouraged with the progress so far which gave my wife optimism.

[TN94z]

I read an article earlier that stated several lab companies that process the tests for Florida have reported incomplete data by not reporting the negative tests, only positive tests.

[chspeed]

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

So they can make significant progress in a shorter time. She was very encouraged with the progress so far which gave my wife optimism.

I too am optimistic that a workable vaccine will be developed sooner rather than later. Even if that happens, we face a global challenge of producing and distributing the vaccine to those who need it most in order to slow down the pandemic. In the political climate we're in, that will be an even bigger challenge. This is from an HBR article: "At least for the first eight to 12 months after the Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, it is likely that there will be only a limited supply to meet global demand. Consequently, there needs to be a global agreement on allocating stocks to countries around the world. If that doesn’t happen, the result will be political tensions like those we are currently experiencing over the allocation of personal protective equipment, ventilators, and test kits."

A Covid-19 Vaccine Will Need Equitable, Global Distribution

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Policymakers need to start planning now.

 

[Braivo]

What if a vaccine never materializes (very real possibility)? 

Then we have to figure out how to live with this virus.

Many pro athletes have tested positive and none have had symptoms worse than a common cold. Yet they are still operating as if this thing is a death sentence. We need to reach a point where we accept that this thing is not a major risk factor for almost everyone under 65 and adjust our behaviors accordingly. We don't test everyone for flu. Only if someone comes in with severe symptoms do they get a flu test. Time to do the same here. More and more the numbers they put out there are meaningless or can be spun. Every headline is about new "cases" but ignores the fact that most of them are very mild and cause no harm, but they want everyone to be scared all the time. Sad. 

[DeadMan]

5 minutes ago, Braivo said:

Many pro athletes have tested positive and none have had symptoms worse than a common cold. Yet they are still operating as if this thing is a death sentence. We need to reach a point where we accept that this thing is not a major risk factor for almost everyone under 65 and adjust our behaviors accordingly. We don't test everyone for flu. Only if someone comes in with severe symptoms do they get a flu test. Time to do the same here. More and more the numbers they put out there are meaningless or can be spun. Every headline is about new "cases" but ignores the fact that most of them are very mild and cause no harm, but they want everyone to be scared all the time. Sad. 

Rudy Gobert still has symptoms of COVID, 3+ months after he tested positive: 

Jazz's Rudy Gobert says he still has trouble smelling 3 months after coronavirus diagnosis

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Jazz center Rudy Gobert recently told French newspaper L'Equipe that his sense of taste has returned, but his sense of smell is "still not 100%" three months after testing positive for the coronavirus.

We still don't know the long-term effects of COVID. It's only been around about 8 months. There are people who are taking months to recover from it, if they even recover at all:

The coronavirus 'long-haulers' show how little we still know | Coronavirus outbreak | The Guardian

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My Covid-19 symptoms lasted for months. As an infectious disease specialist, I know the importance of widespread testing, says Debbie Bogaert

And then there's some scary reports of the the complications of having it:

https://www.newsweek.com/scans-reveal-heart-damage-over-half-covid-19-patients-study-1517293

I think it's myopic to look at just the death rate and conclude that it's not a major risk. The biggest issue with COVID is the rate of hospitalizations and complications. That rate seems to be pretty high, and we still don't know what will happen to people who had it in the long-term. 

So, it's saying it's not a "major risk factor" may be wrong. The problem is that we don't know. While it's definitely not as deadly we originally thought, it's clearly worse than any cold or flu we've encountered in the past 100 years. Life isn't going to return to normal until we have a treatment or vaccine, or we get our hands around the effects of COVID in the long-term.

[saevel25]

15 minutes ago, Braivo said:

We need to reach a point where we accept that this thing is not a major risk factor for almost everyone under 65 and adjust our behaviors accordingly.

This virus is still a bit wonky with that regard. 

You have younger people have strokes, or develop symptoms similar to Kawasaki's disease. I am not sure this thing is that straight forward that we can just say, "Go about life as normal". 

17 minutes ago, Braivo said:

We don't test everyone for flu. Only if someone comes in with severe symptoms do they get a flu test.

Define severe symptoms? I went to an outpatient clinic once with a headache, the start of a cold and they did the flu test.

Also, we have a lot of flu tests available. The flu doesn't spread fast enough and severe enough to swamp our hospitals. It's just the fact that this country is so unprepared for something like this that it's more that we don't want people who get a severe case to die in their homes because they have to be turned away. 

Also, we have an annual flu vaccine that for the most part dampens the impact of the flu. Most people who have conditions that would cause the flu to impact them get a flu shot. For the most part, the worse thing about the flu is it developing into pneumonia. 

People need to stop saying this thing is like the flu. 

[dennyjones]

USA today headline:

Trump administration orders hospitals to send coronavirus data to Washington, not the CDC.

 

[Double Mocha Man]

27 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

USA today headline:

Trump administration orders hospitals to send coronavirus data to Washington, not the CDC.

 

I can see a drastic reduction in Coronavirus cases coming right up...

[No Mulligans]

 

8 hours ago, dennyjones said:

USA today headline:

Trump administration orders hospitals to send coronavirus data to Washington, not the CDC.

 

Not enough details in this article to know exactly what this means... But it does have me concerned.  1st the attack on Fauci and then this. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/14/politics/trump-administration-coronavirus-hospital-data-cdc/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0R2nT1cScOT50Nw6EcI6b5BuWnE4ruK7_f2pEIkWiRqDZjnI6UKLvWJ4Q

Edited July 16, 2020 by No Mulligans

[iacas]

It's not there now, so I'm not saying that, but obviously please tread lightly w.r.t. making anything political.

I imagine perhaps hospitals will send the data to both places. I don't know what powers the White House has to mandate where hospitals send data (outside of laws like HIPAA regulations, etc.).

[Yukari]

On 7/14/2020 at 8:18 PM, iacas said:

My point was that it may be difficult to make a vaccine for COVID. Results are promising, but many vaccines can fall late. SARS and MERS still exist in the world. They're not eradicated.

Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker - The New York Times

---

A look at all the vaccines that have reached trials in humans.

 

I never said SARS and MERS were eradicated.  They were contained and limited.

COVID-19 is a same family as SARS.  In fact, it is referred to as SARS-Cov-2 to indicate it is the same virus family causing a similar symptoms.

With regards to vaccine, it may never happen if SARS-Cov-2 mutates as fast as some data seems to indicate.  If that is the case, vaccine may only be effective 30-40% similar to flu vaccines in some years.

It will be guess-and-hope vaccine scenario where one tries to predict the proper vaccine for the next season.

As for hospitalization and deaths lagging infection rates, I've always said to those who were saying "death rate is down even when infection is up", give it a month or so as there is lag.  And now Florida is paying the piper as their death rate is increasing.  In fact, hospitalization in states with increased infection has been reaching or exceeding capacity.

[iacas]

5 minutes ago, Yukari said:

I never said SARS and MERS were eradicated. They were contained and limited.

I never said you did.