COVID-19 Links, facts and discussion. Politics and hyperbole welcome.

[el unit]

NW WY, Jackson area. Medium craziness I’d say. TP etc is long gone. Resort locations are an odd bird on things like this. It’s just getting to be off season so that is a big benefit to locals at the moment. If there were 20,000 tourists here when this took off it would be CRAZY.
I run a youth development program that is cancelled through April 1 for now, though my office will still be staffed and open. Schools are still open but I suspect closures next week.
Had some important appts. for my daughter in SLC next week but will likely be cancelling since they are non life threatening issues.
On the bright side 1.5’ of cold, all natural toilet paper just fell from the sky last night. #manna

Bummed they cancelled the Hill Climbs

 

[VikingsGuy]

FYI I have found this site to be the most up to date and easily navigated in terms of checking on statistics in the United States. Please leave political opinions/comments regarding NYT out of this thread. Thanks and stay safe folks.

Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count

A detailed county map shows the extent of the coronavirus outbreak, with tables of the number of cases by county.

www.nytimes.com

Looks to be locked behind paywall.

 

[VikingsGuy]

On a personal note we just pulled the plug on taking the kids to San Diego for spring break next week. Not so much worry about catching it there as being caught up in domestic travel restrictions or being in CA if they start limiting restaurants etc. We were going to relax, not to navigate daily outages and restrictions. We can just take the trip another time.

 

[Oak]

Looks to be locked behind paywall.

Free, but you must give an email address.

Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHO

https://imgur.com/a/ZOlHQqp

 

[406dn]

Looks to be locked behind paywall.

I can read it no problem, without paying.

 

[El Jason]

Life in the time of coronavirus: Anxious Americans pivot to new routines

 

[hank4elk]

Rio & I have no problem with the social distancing. I have several relatives who are in the concerned for catagory,but they have good situations & support. At least a half dozen are active healthcare workers,doc's & nurses. I am worried for them and all who will be on the frontlines.
NM has initiated a emergency status with some infrastructure for testing & results.We do have some labs & such and not waiting for feds I guess.

 

[3855WIN]

'It could happen to anybody': Kenner lawyer, 45, in critical care with coronavirus, wife says

Mark Frilot took medicines to treat what he thought for several days was a case of the flu, but he just couldn’t turn the corner.

www.nola.com

 

[dcopas78]

In general, medical/industrial quality UV light does a pretty good job with flat smooth hard surfaces like table tops. Less so on other surfaces. Can't be used at all for hands, etc. I have not seen data specifically directed at this particular strain of coronavirus. Cheapo novelty "black lights" are worthless.

I use UV light for disinfecting wastewater effluent in my two primary treatment systems. Effectiveness in water is primarily limited by factors such as suspended solids, dissolved solid content which limits the tranmissivity. If the UV light comes into contact with the virus, it will kill it. Contact time is very, very short. My largest plant can have 2500 gallons per minute pass through a 28 bulb, high intensity system; bulbs are 56 inches long with flow passing through horizontally.

From bulletins I've been receiving from the different water treatment and water quality organizations, CV susceptibility to chlorination leads me to believe that it would be easily killed by UV of the proper wavelength...264nm for most bacteria and viruses. Interestingly enough, a electromechanical/instrumentation contractor I use has been recently installing UV light sterilization systems in HVAC ducts for offices because of the severe flu we had early this year. In clean air, I would think UV would be incredibly effective at removing bacteria and viruses...very little impedance to the beam of light. I can't believe this isn't a "thing" with the airline industry already. It does produce ozone(not sure how much), so that may be the drawback lol

 

[JohnCushman]

There's a prepper group I follow on FB that started talking about being worried that the mail will shut down temporarily because of the virus. They are saying the virus can be transmitted through the mail if it was handled by someone with the virus. I have to admit that I don't know enough about the transmission of it, but that doesn't seem likely. Any thoughts? Thank you...

 

[Oak]

Yes, it could happen to anybody.

Life at the epicenter of N.J.’s coronavirus outbreak | ROI-NJ

(Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on ROI-NJ.com on March 14. We interviewed Mike Maron again for a story that appeared April 1. Read it here.) Eleven cases. Six of which are in the ICU. And 40 more patients under observation. All at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck. The numbers...

www.roi-nj.com

Holy Name’s 11 positives are all males — and all between the ages of 28 and 48. Six are in ICU.

“One of my employees, who is a beloved guy here, got it in the community and came in,” he said. “We had him in our ER in isolation. We were monitoring him, and the decision was: ‘He seems to be doing a little bit better. We think we’re going to discharge him home under self-isolation and monitor him from there.’ But we wanted to wait another hour or two because we were just seeing a little indication that something’s not right.

“In that two hours, he decompensated so fast. He is one of the ones in the ICU on a ventilator. He’s fighting for his life. It goes that quick.”

 

[El Jason]

In mid-February, a study from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that while the vast majority of COVID-19 cases were mild up to that point, 13.8% were severe and 4.7% were critical. If the number of cases continues to climb at its current pace, intensive care units across the world will come under massive pressure.

The Countries With The Most Critical Care Beds Per Capita [Infographic]

As the COVID-19 outbreak pushes Italy's ICU bed capacity to breaking point, which countries have the highest number of critical care beds per capita to cope with the extra pressure?

www.forbes.com

4.7% of 100,000 is 4,700 projected critical cases. The ICU capacity per 100,000 in the US is 34.2. That is over 100 times the ICU capacity of the US, which further speaks to the importance of the article @Schaaf shared yesterday about the effects of social distancing and limited quarantines. This is simply bed capacity, it doesn't speak to the overtaxing of the medical professionals/hospital staffs.

 

[VikingsGuy]

There's a prepper group I follow on FB that started talking about being worried that the mail will shut down temporarily because of the virus. They are saying the virus can be transmitted through the mail if it was handled by someone with the virus. I have to admit that I don't know enough about the transmission of it, but that doesn't seem likely. Any thoughts? Thank you...

Nobody knows yet. Best stuff I have seen so far suggests little viability after 8 hours outside host. It will vary by surface type, temp, humidity, dosage, etc. Unfortunately good science won't be done and reported until it's too late given the pace of infection. Our mail sits in our mailbox in MN cold for at least 8 hours most days so I am not too worried in our situation. And what about the UPS boxes and the pizza delivery guy. We are in the realm of making it up as we go along unfortunately.

 

[Sytes]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/travel/coronavirus-travel-restrictions.html

Yesterday's article related to travel, borders, etc.

 

[JohnCushman]

Nobody knows yet. Best stuff I have seen so far suggests little viability after 8 hours outside host. It will vary by surface type, temp, humidity, dosage, etc. Unfortunately good science won't be done and reported until it's too late given the pace of infection. Our mail sits in our mailbox in MN cold for at least 8 hours most days so I am not too worried in our situation. And what about the UPS boxes and the pizza delivery guy. We are in the realm of making it up as we go along unfortunately.

Thanks!!

 

[Randy11]

I need to apologize to jryoung.

I own a tiny one man business. I spent Friday morning checking on customers.

Most seem ready, but I did lose one. Event planner. Lost his entire business in 2 days.

I switch between frustrated and outright anger.

I watched helpless in 09'. Now here it is again.

Then I read the Chinese knew on Nov 18.

Wife was in Cali twice in late November. We both had symptoms right after.

I'm sure it's been here for months.


Regardless. Excuse my onery attitude.
A lot of my life tied to a buisnes/occupation that is pretty well screwed.


Shop local.

I get it man, I really do.

Like I said in the other thread, I appear to be at very high risk of this thing, having both a significant lung disease, and an immunodeficiency. When I was 20 years old, my body just up and stopped producing it's own antibodies. 2-3 years of constant pneumonia, surgeries, biopsies and tests before they figured out what was going on. At one point I weighed 112 pounds and had one foot in the grave, another on a banana peel. I need to do everything possible to avoid getting this thing.

At the same time, as a private sector civil drafter, my job is directly tied to construction. Luckily my work is easily done from home, but how long that work will keep coming in is anyone's guess. I turned down an offer in the public sector this winter, and I'm wondering now if that was a mistake.

My wife works in the finances of a medical center. She's incredibly healthy, but the chances of her getting it and passing it on to me are high. Luckily she had some PTO built up, so she's home with me now, but in a couple weeks we're going to have a tough decision to make on what she's going to have to do. We can live on my salary now, but if she stops working and my work slows down, we're screwed.

Another huge concern of mine is continuing to get my antibody replacement therapy. Once a week we have to stick needles in to me and pump in antibodies donated from thousands of other humans. Without this therapy, I have no antibodies and am right back where I was when I was 20. Luckily, most all plasma donations are domestic, but if our medical system is overburdened it seems very possible that supply of this could dry up. Also, because of my immunodeficiency, I do not respond to vaccines. So even if they do get a vaccine for this thing, it won't help me directly, but will help me if the majority of the population choose to get it.

Anyway, that's what's on my plate.

 

[VikingsGuy]

I get it man, I really do.

Like I said in the other thread, I appear to be at very high risk of this thing, having both a significant lung disease, and an immunodeficiency. When I was 20 years old, my body just up and stopped producing it's own antibodies. 2-3 years of constant pneumonia, surgeries, biopsies and tests before they figured out what was going on. At one point I weighed 112 pounds and had one foot in the grave, another on a banana peel. I need to do everything possible to avoid getting this thing.

At the same time, as a private sector civil drafter, my job is directly tied to construction. Luckily my work is easily done from home, but how long that work will keep coming in is anyone's guess. I turned down an offer in the public sector this winter, and I'm wondering now if that was a mistake.

My wife works in the finances of a medical center. She's incredibly healthy, but the chances of her getting it and passing it on to me are high. Luckily she had some PTO built up, so she's home with me now, but in a couple weeks we're going to have a tough decision to make on what she's going to have to do. We can live on my salary now, but if she stops working and my work slows down, we're screwed.

Another huge concern of mine is continuing to get my antibody replacement therapy. Once a week we have to stick needles in to me and pump in antibodies donated from thousands of other humans. Without this therapy, I have no antibodies and am right back where I was when I was 20. Luckily, most all plasma donations are domestic, but if our medical system is overburdened it seems very possible that supply of this could dry up. Also, because of my immunodeficiency, I do not respond to vaccines. So even if they do get a vaccine for this thing, it won't help me directly, but will help me if the majority of the population choose to get it.

Anyway, that's what's on my plate.

Best wishes for your tough situation!

 

[El Jason]

There's a prepper group I follow on FB that started talking about being worried that the mail will shut down temporarily because of the virus. They are saying the virus can be transmitted through the mail if it was handled by someone with the virus. I have to admit that I don't know enough about the transmission of it, but that doesn't seem likely. Any thoughts? Thank you...

Take this for what you will.

No, You Won't Catch The New Coronavirus Via Packages Or Mail From China

Experts in infectious disease say viruses such as the novel coronavirus don't survive long on surfaces, and there's no evidence from similar outbreaks that anyone got infected by handling a package.

www.npr.org

 

[JohnCushman]

Take this for what you will.

No, You Won't Catch The New Coronavirus Via Packages Or Mail From China

Experts in infectious disease say viruses such as the novel coronavirus don't survive long on surfaces, and there's no evidence from similar outbreaks that anyone got infected by handling a package.

www.npr.org

Thank you

 

[406dn]

I get it man, I really do.

Like I said in the other thread, I appear to be at very high risk of this thing, having both a significant lung disease, and an immunodeficiency. When I was 20 years old, my body just up and stopped producing it's own antibodies. 2-3 years of constant pneumonia, surgeries, biopsies and tests before they figured out what was going on. At one point I weighed 112 pounds and had one foot in the grave, another on a banana peel. I need to do everything possible to avoid getting this thing.

At the same time, as a private sector civil drafter, my job is directly tied to construction. Luckily my work is easily done from home, but how long that work will keep coming in is anyone's guess. I turned down an offer in the public sector this winter, and I'm wondering now if that was a mistake.

My wife works in the finances of a medical center. She's incredibly healthy, but the chances of her getting it and passing it on to me are high. Luckily she had some PTO built up, so she's home with me now, but in a couple weeks we're going to have a tough decision to make on what she's going to have to do. We can live on my salary now, but if she stops working and my work slows down, we're screwed.

Another huge concern of mine is continuing to get my antibody replacement therapy. Once a week we have to stick needles in to me and pump in antibodies donated from thousands of other humans. Without this therapy, I have no antibodies and am right back where I was when I was 20. Luckily, most all plasma donations are domestic, but if our medical system is overburdened it seems very possible that supply of this could dry up. Also, because of my immunodeficiency, I do not respond to vaccines. So even if they do get a vaccine for this thing, it won't help me directly, but will help me if the majority of the population choose to get it.

Anyway, that's what's on my plate.

I wish you well in all of this.

Given my wife and I are old enough to be considered at risk, we are taking this very seriously. It will be easier for us to minimize risk, since we are retired. We will likely forego any interaction with our grandkids for the foreseeable future. Everyone's life is turned upside down. It is proof that no man is an island.