COVID-19 (f/k/a "the Coronavirus")

[WarriorDad]

Ah. Hold the media to a standard. But don't worry about the standards of the POTUS.

Beautiful

Hold both of them, but I’ve found in my years that politicians of all stripes lie all the time.  The media is supposed to keep them honest, not part of the dishonesty.  If they fall into the same trap, then who has the higher authority?   It is critical for our society to have an honest media.  Absolutely critical.  Most are, but those that aren’t it comes back to hurt even more because feeds the conjecture of the other side and further weakens trust in media as an institution.

An example is CBS was caught this week staging a story with health care workers and fake patients.  Why?  There is no need to do this.  All it does is damage their credibility.

[MU82]

Serious question. Maybe one of our MDs knows the answer or somebody else has read it somewhere. I did the googles but couldn't find it ...

If somebody is an asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19, will he or she always test positive? Negative? No absolute?

I ask because we know that Trump and Pence have both been in close contact with several people who had the coronavirus. Even if they test negative, could they be asymptomatic carriers who are a danger to others? And if so, shouldn't they have to be quartantined for 14 days?

Unless an asymptomatic carrier always would test positive. Then I could see why they don't have to be quarantined.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

[wadesworld]

Ah. Hold the media to a standard. But don't worry about the standards of the POTUS.

Beautiful

What do you mean? He’s never voted anything but blue before. Of course he’s holding Trump accountable, duh.

[forgetful]

Serious question. Maybe one of our MDs knows the answer or somebody else has read it somewhere. I did the googles but couldn't find it ...

If somebody is an asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19, will he or she always test positive? Negative? No absolute?

I ask because we know that Trump and Pence have both been in close contact with several people who had the coronavirus. Even if they test negative, could they be asymptomatic carriers who are a danger to others? And if so, shouldn't they have to be quartantined for 14 days?

Unless an asymptomatic carrier always would test positive. Then I could see why they don't have to be quarantined.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Not in the MD group, but am in the medical scientist field.

Yes, an asymptomatic patient will test positive. The virus is replicating in them, and they are shedding virus, which is why they are contagious. That means that the RNA that is detected by most of the testing platforms will be present.

The problem is that many of these tests have a high level of false negatives. This is going to be more probable in the early stages of the disease, when the individuals are still contagious.

[reinko]

Yo MU82, I know you just want your 6 inch BMT, but do you have to carry your bazooka to make sure they put on banana peppers, and not jalapeño peppers.

https://twitter.com/vizjourno/status/1259189791150800899?s=21

[jficke13]

I made no insinuation at all nor would I. I’m a pro life Democrat, I value human life.  My position is to protect the fragile parts of society whether that is the unborn or the old and weak, especially with this pandemic where they are more vulnerable than others. 

Not sure why you went there as nothing in any of my messages would ever lead you to that conclusion.

something something shocked to see gambling in this establishment something something.

[Pakuni]

Yo MU82, I know you just want your 6 inch BMT, but do you have to carry your bazooka to make sure they put on banana peppers, and not jalapeño peppers.

https://twitter.com/vizjourno/status/1259189791150800899?s=21

I suspect it's their lack of anything approaching 6 inches that makes them want to walk around with big guns.

[Lennys Tap]

Says something about some posters who  have posted more about a Jimmy Kimmel bit, than barrage of daily lies coming from people in power who actually matter.

Whataboutism.

[Lennys Tap]

Ah. Hold the media to a standard. But don't worry about the standards of the POTUS.

Beautiful

More whataboutism.

[reinko]

Whataboutism.

Lenny, you are smarter than me, more accomplished more than me, and probably a better person than me.  I know you care about this nation, as do I.  But the faux outrage of a comedian, that fooled maybe a dozen “blue check marks”, and then maybe “influenced” tens of thousands of people who already despised this administration is a false narrative.  I think you know that.  And to “whataboutism” what Kimmel did to what this administration does on a daily basis on a 50x scale from people who are actually in charge and have real power, not “blue check mark brigade” power.  I mean c’mon Lenny.

[tower912]

A comedian engaged in fiction and hyperbole for a punch line.    Horrors.

The leader of the free world ponders aloud about injecting/ingesting disinfectants and finding a way to shine UV light internally, his base applauds.

[withoutbias]

Whataboutism.

More whataboutism.

Only wrong when it’s coming from the left, apparently.

[mu_hilltopper]

Yes, an asymptomatic patient will test positive. The virus is replicating in them, and they are shedding virus, which is why they are contagious. That means that the RNA that is detected by most of the testing platforms will be present.

Follow up:  Does an asymptomatic patient fight the virus or live with it?  When do they stop shedding virus? 

[forgetful]

Follow up:  Does an asymptomatic patient fight the virus or live with it?  When do they stop shedding virus?

To the best of my knowledge they fight this, just like everyone else. Just with no symptoms.

I don't think we know when they stop shedding virus, at least I have no idea on that. My guess is it varies like for symptomatic patients, but that is something the MD crowd could speak more intelligently on.

I can point you to a short article on one of the first reported cases on asymptomatic spread. Comes out of China, a woman with no symptoms that spread the disease to 5 relatives. Her incubation period was very long, 19-days.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762028

[GooooMarquette]

As someone who has MD behind his name (though no longer practicing), I agree with forgetful‘s answers.

Anyone who has the virus should test positive, but it depends on the quality of the test. There has been plenty of news about inaccurate tests (false positives and false negatives) for covid.

And likewise, asymptomatic people do mount an immune response to the virus, so there is good reason to believe they would have long-term immunity comparable to what a recovered symptomatic patient would have. The reason they are asymptomatic is likely some combination of a strong immune system and a small viral load.

I don’t think we know the answer about the duration of virus shedding...at least I haven’t seen it.

[Pakuni]

A comedian engaged in fiction and hyperbole for a punch line.    Horrors.

The leader of the free world ponders aloud about injecting/ingesting disinfectants and finding a way to shine UV light internally, his base applauds.

So, are we holding a late-night comedian's jokes to unusually high standards for truthiness here, or the statements of a president of the United States to unusually low ones?

[jesmu84]

https://twitter.com/GunnelsWarren/status/1258800333410590720?s=19

Terrifying

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

https://twitter.com/GunnelsWarren/status/1258800333410590720?s=19

Terrifying

This isn’t terrifying it’s math. Where was Gunnels Warren when no one had yet lost their job yet and their wealth took a hit.  Kind of Lazy in my opinion. 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Why sports are going to be really hard to start up.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/german-bundesliga/story/4093404/bundesliga-2-side-dynamo-dresden-ordered-to-quarantine-squad-ahead-of-restart

[JWags85]

This isn’t terrifying it’s math. Where was Gunnels Warren when no one had yet lost their job yet and their wealth took a hit.  Kind of Lazy in my opinion.

Beyond lazy. Especially since it’s just a function of stock price fluctuation. Where was he when FB shed 40% of the share value 2 months ago?

There are valid arguments about the stock market as an indicator of economic health and pumping stock price, but it’s always good for misguided discussions about “wealth” and getting people to assume all those billionaires have the cash readily at hand, and not tied up in shares.

Also, FB/GOOGL/AMZN/MSFT have been excelling in this lockdown with their suites of tech/remote products.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Beyond lazy. Especially since it’s just a function of stock price fluctuation. Where was he when FB shed 40% of the share value 2 months ago?

There are valid arguments about the stock market as an indicator of economic health and pumping stock price, but it’s always good for misguided discussions about “wealth” and getting people to assume all those billionaires have the cash readily at hand, and not tied up in shares.

Also, FB/GOOGL/AMZN/MSFT have been excelling in this lockdown with their suites of tech/remote products.

Agree.

If you want to argue that too much wealth is concentrated in too few hands I'll agree, but that tweet is dumb.

[WarriorDad]

Australia researchers believe more people in their nation will die due to elevated suicide levels (economic fallout) then the virus itself. 

The trickle down effects of this virus and the reactions to it are complex. 

[ZiggysFryBoy]

A third of US covid fatalities have been in nursing homes, assistes livings, etc.  From article in NY Times.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

A third of US covid fatalities have been in nursing homes, assistes livings, etc.  From article in NY Times.

Here is the article.  I actually think the state disparity is amazing.  What is MI doing that everyone else should copy.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/09/us/coronavirus-cases-nursing-homes-us.html

[Warriors4ever]

Michigan is not one of the states reporting comprehensive aggregate data, according to the article and the graph,