Impact of the new Coronavirus where you are?

[Ryan]

9 hours ago, cmbarton said:

I returned last weekend from a weeklong trip to Las Vegas and L.A. (including Disneyland).  I believe I have the COVID-19 disease...

Take care of yourself. I'm not sure how it's working there currently but maybe trying calling your doctor and see if they can email you a test request or something like that to get tested at a centre.

[Nino]

All restaurants closed as of today and German gvt considering a nation-wide lock-down for tomorrow as too many irresponsible people not taking this seriously and still congregating in crowds.

[alloy]

10 hours ago, cmbarton said:

I returned last weekend from a weeklong trip to Las Vegas and L.A. (including Disneyland).  I believe I have the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, albeit one of the “mild” cases.  For about four or five days I’ve had a dry cough with blood, a sore throat, tightness in my chest, and body aches.  However, I haven’t been able to get tested as they are very limited in my area and since I don’t have a fever, I am not able to receive one.  I’ve self-quarantined myself in my home and limited contact with my wife and children.  I’ll be fine and I’m sure by the time tests are widely available, I’ll have recovered.  I just wanted to get that off my chest; I’ve been keeping this to myself so I don’t worry those around me including my friends and family.

I hope you feel better soon my Texas Brutha.

[CigSid]

California shut down at midnight last night (except for the grocery stores, pharmacies, hospitals and pot dispensaries) if the rest of the country doesn’t follow suit, it may not matter...

[helix]

11 hours ago, Deeg said:

This is not the case.  The benefits of social distancing take a matter of weeks to show themselves, and indeed there are early indications that it's having an impact.  It probably won't be fast enough to keep hospitals in places like NYC and Seattle from being overwhelmed, though.

@Deeg I am referring to how the population reacted to social distancing the last few weeks .  Social distancing ,hand washing is the best, maybe only effective measure.  Unfortunately it has not been executed properly by the public thus far, although improving all the time. Hoping for the best.  

[joeypots]

12 hours ago, cmbarton said:

I returned last weekend from a weeklong trip to Las Vegas and L.A. (including Disneyland).  I believe I have the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, albeit one of the “mild” cases.  For about four or five days I’ve had a dry cough with blood, a sore throat, tightness in my chest, and body aches.  However, I haven’t been able to get tested as they are very limited in my area and since I don’t have a fever, I am not able to receive one.  I’ve self-quarantined myself in my home and limited contact with my wife and children.  I’ll be fine and I’m sure by the time tests are widely available, I’ll have recovered.  I just wanted to get that off my chest; I’ve been keeping this to myself so I don’t worry those around me including my friends and family.

If you develop trouble breathing go to the emergency room right away.

[nKostyan]

I report from Moscow: everyday I go for a work by the subway. About 5% of passengers wear masks in the metro. School children and students have been transferred to home schooling, and holidays are coming soon. We have imposed a strict restriction on mass events of more than 5,000 people and recommendations of more than 50. People after watching the news from Australia also rushed to the shops to buy toilet paper, as well as cereals and pasta. There are not many infected, mostly those who returned from Europe. We received recommendations on how to transfer employees to remote home work. Otherwise, everything is more or less normal. Only people who have the character of an alarmist - panic.

[FatPete]

Uk has ordered all restaurants, theatres, concert halls, cinemas, gyms and most importantly pubs to be closed as of tonight. A measure I believe that should have been taken at least a week ago. I also have heard from a reliable source who has actually seen the research that the government has based their plans on, that we will have another peak of cases in October/November and that we won't be in the clear for 12 months yet. Sadly sobering.

[Ken Gargett]

11 hours ago, Ryan said:

My wife's mother died on Sunday, she had Myeloma (cancer of the white blood cells) for a long time.

My wife, her six sisters and brother were with her in the house in Tipperary, about 120 miles from Dublin, when she died. She had been home on palliative care for a few weeks.

Her sister from London insisted on bringing over her two kids on Sunday, they had been partying at college in the UK last week. Her husband came from South Africa, through three international airports, other nieces and nephews came from all over Ireland. I kept our two kids home here.

My wife was freaking out. On Tuesday night, there were 14 of her family around a small dinner table, from all over Ireland, Scotland, London and South Africa, while my wife kept apart in a bedroom. None of them were paying attention to my wife's concerns and all are treating her like the freak now. She feels she doesn't want to speak to any of them again, except her oldest sister who went home to Botswana before all the kids arrived. She was the only other one understanding the risk.

On Monday, one day after all the kids and husbands arrived, the Irish government asked all people arriving in the country to self-isolate for two weeks.

It was a funeral and, especially in the current conditions, emotions are heightened, but it was the last thing my wife needed after her mother died. I drove down on Wednesday after the service and brought her back, without going into the house. It'll be a while before things are patched up with her family, but they will.

There's an unexpected impact. Her sisters aren't all idiots but, for example, one of them is a nurse who was going back to work. They all should have known better.

I'm not expecting my wife to isolate now that she's home. If she has it, we have it. But I'm not sure if I'll be able to forget what her family did and how they treated her for trying to do the right thing.

 

 

ryan, very sorry to hear about your loss and a very tough time for it to happen. 

terrifying to hear about things like that. one a nurse? almost beyond comprehension. the tragic thing is that it is going to take a lot of deaths before some people finally twig that this isn't a hoax, isn't just a bad flu, and really is a threat to health and life as we know it. talk to anyone in the hospitality industry and they are facing the problems full on. just one example. 

in australia, we recently had a former speaker of the house, bromwyn bishop (longest serving female federal politician, president of the governing party etc etc, and highly touted as a possible prime minister at one stage - eventually she was exposed as rorting travel allowances. in one year alone, $800,000 claimed. she eventually repaid $5000 - nothing but a grubby thief), who is now a sky commentator. she was insisting that this was a chinese plot to destroy the west by collapsing the dow but also to clean up their own country by eradicating millions of unproductive chinese (didn't know there was such a thing). now this might sound like whackadoodle fruitbat stuff but people listen to this crap and some actually swallow it. perhaps the virus could do us all a favour and rid the world of these imbeciles. 

[nKostyan]

No problems

[JamesKPolkEsq]

Sobering look at COVID-19's effect from Frontline

"Reading about it in the news, I knew it was going to be bad, but we deal with the flu every year so I was thinking: Well, it’s probably not that much worse than the flu. But seeing patients with COVID-19 completely changed my perspective, and it’s a lot more frightening.”

“I have patients in their early 40s and, yeah, I was kind of shocked. I’m seeing people who look relatively healthy with a minimal health history, and they are completely wiped out, like they’ve been hit by a truck. This is knocking out what should be perfectly fit, healthy people. Patients will be on minimal support, on a little bit of oxygen, and then all of a sudden, they go into complete respiratory arrest, shut down and can’t breathe at all.”

[mtapia3]

Although all non-essential businesses/activities have been banned here in California, people are still carrying on like the restrictions do not apply to them. I'm seeing a lot of businesses still open that shouldn't be, and there seems to be more people out and about than ever. People are still hosting/attending large gatherings with no regards to what's going on. Most people I know aren't taking this pandemic seriously. They all have the mentality that this flu is no big deal and that it's only effecting the really old and really unhealthy. They think this whole thing is just hysteria caused by the media.

All while my friends on the frontlines in the medical field are seriously starting to freak out. Their hospitals are already out of protective equipment / medicines and they are being instructed to wear bandanas in lieu of face masks. Its scary to think that we haven't even hit the worst of this and our hospitals are already operating in 3rd world like conditions. By the time this is done, I fear stupidity is going to claim a lot of precious lives. I apologize in advance if this offends any of the skeptics. 

[TheGipper]

Fictional anecdote for all you to consider.

In a normal year, some guy with emphysema gets the flu, ends up in the hospital, and dies.  There is almost zero chance a post hoc influenza test will be administered.  And even if it was, the doctor is staring at pages worth of history describing the emphysema, and has to decide what to write for cause of death on the death certificate.  What is he most likely to write?

Now fast forward to our current situation.  All similar hospitalizations will have at least concurrent or post hoc Covid-19 tests done.  Guy with emphysema tests positive, and what do you know, even if the doctor makes an arguably good decision to identify emphysema as cause of death, it will still get reported to CDC as a corona virus death.

We tell ourselves that the Covid-19 death count is a hard number, absolutely deterministic and not subject to biases.  But is it?

[cmbarton]

On 3/19/2020 at 11:15 PM, cmbarton said:

I returned last weekend from a weeklong trip to Las Vegas and L.A. (including Disneyland).  I believe I have the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, albeit one of the “mild” cases.  For about four or five days I’ve had a dry cough with blood, a sore throat, tightness in my chest, and body aches.  However, I haven’t been able to get tested as they are very limited in my area and since I don’t have a fever, I am not able to receive one.  I’ve self-quarantined myself in my home and limited contact with my wife and children.  I’ll be fine and I’m sure by the time tests are widely available, I’ll have recovered.  I just wanted to get that off my chest; I’ve been keeping this to myself so I don’t worry those around me including my friends and family.

I wanted to send a sincerely thank you to everyone who had sent messages of encouragement and support.  I really appreciate the kind words!  I’m feeling much better today, and improving every day.  Again, thank you all very much!

[topdiesel]

14 hours ago, nKostyan said:

No problems

You better stock up while you can, and I don't simply mean toilet paper. Please no hoarder haters, I am not telling him to buy a palate of the stuff, but it sucks when you run out and cannot replace it.

Those shelves won't look like that in a month.  Maybe even a week or two.  Things moved quickly here in California.  Started with no hand sanitizer and now there are shortages of lots of everyday items.

[Shunamaji]

Well the Kansas City and surrounding counties announced a 30 day stay at home starting Tuesday for us

 

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[alloy]

56 minutes ago, cmbarton said:

I wanted to send a sincerely thank you to everyone who had sent messages of encouragement and support.  I really appreciate the kind words!  I’m feeling much better today, and improving every day.  Again, thank you all very much!

Really good to hear!

[Lotusguy]

I ventured out to Costco today (Silicon Valley). It was pretty busy but not crazy. Seeing more people wearing masks and gloves now. Notable sold out items were flour, rice, and potatoes. Water and paper products were available, but limited to one case per customer. 

 

I haven't seen gasoline this cheap in years - $2.75/Gallon for premium

 

[scap99]

On 3/19/2020 at 9:30 AM, TBird55 said:

We always keep a little cash in our home safe. Gave our daughter and her husband 2K and went by the bank today to cash a check and replace what we took out. Well when I  went in they were out of cash, told me that as soon as they received a shipment of money it was flying out the door. Went to another branch and was able to replace the 2K. Doesn't bode well when a bank can't cash a check for a couple of grand.

I know you posted this the other day, and have already replenished your stores, but banks don't carry the money they used to.  For anyone else looking to cash up or out, if you call in advance they can have it brought in for you, should you not have access to another branch.  It's your money, so they have to get it for you one way or another.

[TBird55]

1 hour ago, scap99 said:

I know you posted this the other day, and have already replenished your stores, but banks don't carry the money they used to.  For anyone else looking to cash up or out, if you call in advance they can have it brought in for you, should you not have access to another branch.  It's your money, so they have to get it for you one way or another.

I realize that governments around the world want to go to a cashless system. I hope that doesn't happen in my lifetime. There is something very comforting, for myself, having a little cash put back that I can access anytime I choose.

[bpm32]

4 hours ago, TheGipper said:

Fictional anecdote for all you to consider.

In a normal year, some guy with emphysema gets the flu, ends up in the hospital, and dies.  There is almost zero chance a post hoc influenza test will be administered.  And even if it was, the doctor is staring at pages worth of history describing the emphysema, and has to decide what to write for cause of death on the death certificate.  What is he most likely to write?

Now fast forward to our current situation.  All similar hospitalizations will have at least concurrent or post hoc Covid-19 tests done.  Guy with emphysema tests positive, and what do you know, even if the doctor makes an arguably good decision to identify emphysema as cause of death, it will still get reported to CDC as a corona virus death.

We tell ourselves that the Covid-19 death count is a hard number, absolutely deterministic and not subject to biases.  But is it?

I think in the US it’s probably the opposite—there are very few test kits and obviously they aren’t going to waste them on dead people, so even if they collected a sample on emphysema guy, they probably wouldn’t bother to process it for quite some time.

[gcman68]

I found this article interesting in the event you haven't seen it.  

https://medium.com/six-four-six-nine/evidence-over-hysteria-covid-19-1b767def5894

 

 

[Ken Gargett]

6 hours ago, TheGipper said:

Fictional anecdote for all you to consider.

In a normal year, some guy with emphysema gets the flu, ends up in the hospital, and dies.  There is almost zero chance a post hoc influenza test will be administered.  And even if it was, the doctor is staring at pages worth of history describing the emphysema, and has to decide what to write for cause of death on the death certificate.  What is he most likely to write?

Now fast forward to our current situation.  All similar hospitalizations will have at least concurrent or post hoc Covid-19 tests done.  Guy with emphysema tests positive, and what do you know, even if the doctor makes an arguably good decision to identify emphysema as cause of death, it will still get reported to CDC as a corona virus death.

We tell ourselves that the Covid-19 death count is a hard number, absolutely deterministic and not subject to biases.  But is it?

does it really matter if it 1100 people dead or 1200? 

[TheGipper]

15 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

does it really matter if it 1100 people dead or 1200? 

You need to ask what the background number of deaths (seasonally adjusted) is.  [Hint: It's not zero.]  And compare that to what is happening now.

No one seems to be doing that.  No one is publishing total death rates and comparing it to same-date-range rates from prior years.  That is my point.  That is what we should be looking at to make policy decisions.

Instead we're getting hung on models that project highly improbable future death counts.  Only Italy has these really alarming numbers, and I'm trying to open peoples eyes to the possibility that they are measuring covid19 deaths in a biased way.

[HDGSN]

10 minutes ago, TheGipper said:

You need to ask what the background number of deaths (seasonally adjusted) is.  [Hint: It's not zero.]  And compare that to what is happening now.

No one seems to be doing that.  No one is publishing total death rates and comparing it to same-date-range rates from prior years.  That is my point.  That is what we should be looking at to make policy decisions.

Instead we're getting hung on models that project highly improbable future death counts.  Only Italy has these really alarming numbers, and I'm trying to open peoples eyes to the possibility that they are measuring covid19 deaths in a biased way.

How do you compare year-to-year deaths for a novel (as in, never seen before) virus?

How do you measure COVID-19 deaths in a biased way? If you're infected and die from it, you die from it.