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

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

At a minimum, aggressive and widely available testing, contact tracing, and continued strong emphasis on hand washing and physical distancing.

Testing and contact tracing won't happen in time.  So what do you do?

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

Maybe quicker than we think — of course we haven’t done anything at scale yet except contract the virus!

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/492191-antibody-tests-for-the-coronavirus-could-be

[forgetful]

Maybe quicker than we think — of course we haven’t done anything at scale yet except contract the virus!

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/492191-antibody-tests-for-the-coronavirus-could-be

Part of the problem is, we don't know what level of antibodies, if any, will generate any sense of immunity.

There have been zero tests on that yet.

[injuryBug]

Maybe quicker than we think — of course we haven’t done anything at scale yet except contract the virus!

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/492191-antibody-tests-for-the-coronavirus-could-be

Now can these be mass produced and how fast? How readily available to the average person?
I think those are the keys to this.  If we could all be screened then we have a good idea on the herd immunity.

[Elonsmusk]

I'll answer for him since he may not be back for a while.

Probably the first week in February.  After seeing Wuhan locked up tighter than a tick, and seeing it spread like fire through China.  All it would have taken is about 10 minutes of looking at flight logs between China and the US.

Yes.  And I'd have closed off Europe to non-essential travel a week after I shut down travel to China.  Additionally, I'd have serious screening for everyone coming into the US from anywhere internationally.

Yes, everyone realizes this. What exactly is your point?

These are simply talking points.  I can easily make arguments against each, but you'd just write them off so why bother.

Again, talking points.  China isn't to blame.  The American consumer's desire to buy cheap crap to keep up with the Jones' is the problem.  Who moved the manufacturing to China?  Was it US corporations?  Of course it was.  The first that did it made loads of money, and others had to follow suit to keep up.  And this all happened because of simple economics.  Not because China is the enemy.  The market found a way to make a cheaper widget, so it happened.  And it will happen again.  Cheap labor in China is going to taper off with the rise of their middle class.  Production will move again, and it will probably never come back to the US... I mean, unless we have a cheap labor pool... like you know, full automation.

I'm proud of how SOME individual states have done, but our Federal response has been abysmal.  There is no sugar coating it.

Well. Kudos to you. You are more intuitive and brighter than any global leader, and the World Health Organization. Impressive.

Yet, you’d have further crushed those middle and low income Americans, most economically challenged. So. Bravo!!  Sure sounds like an “old white man” thing to do.

[Hards Alumni]

Well. Kudos to you. You are more intuitive and brighter than any global leader, and the World Health Organization. Impressive.

Thanks.  The day that the Chinese government started barricading Wuhan, was the time to act.  I'm sorry that was difficult for world leaders to see, but to me, it was plain as day.  The WHO has been awful in this pandemic as well.

Yet, you’d have further crushed those middle and low income Americans, most economically challenged. So. Bravo!!  Sure sounds like an “old white man” thing to do.

I really haven't missed your straw man arguments.

[wadesworld]

US spy agencies were warning the US government about a health crisis in Wuhan in November. So sure, we can try to throw all the blame on China for downplaying the health crisis, but maybe listen to the spies you put in place for exactly this reason? Because you know they aren’t going to come out and give you every piece of information they have?

[Hards Alumni]

Now can these be mass produced and how fast? How readily available to the average person?
I think those are the keys to this.  If we could all be screened then we have a good idea on the herd immunity.

I mean, you can just drive down to your local Walgreens or Walmart and pull up in your car and get tested, right?  We've been doing that for how long now?  Or... wait... hold on a minute.

[wadesworld]

I mean, you can just drive down to your local Walgreens or Walmart and pull up in your car and get tested, right?  We've been doing that for how long now?  Or... wait... hold on a minute.

Anybody who wants a test can have one. People just don’t want to be tested. Duh.

[GooooMarquette]

Testing and contact tracing won't happen in time.  So what do you do?

Go tap someone at CDC on the shoulder and scream "WAKE THE HELL UP!!!"

If that doesn't work, it'll be quite a while before we can safely return to any semblance of normal because state public health departments don't have the resources the CDC does to coordinate a comprehensive pandemic response.

[forgetful]

What I find pretty amazing is how, right now, essentially every nation is lying about their number of cases and deaths. Largely, because they are unable to keep up with the dead, and unable to test everyone (particularly those that die).

People have posted about the undercounting in the US. Looking at other nations though, some are almost absurd. Ecuador for instance have hundreds of dead lining the streets, and have dug new graves for 10,000 people, recently, because they can't keep up with all the dead.

They report a total of 7,257 cases, and only 315 dead. They are an outlier, but the fact is that we may never know the full impact of this, neither in the US or abroad.

[injuryBug]

I mean, you can just drive down to your local Walgreens or Walmart and pull up in your car and get tested, right?  We've been doing that for how long now?  Or... wait... hold on a minute.

Hards you just can't wait to get all over people can you.  Why not read the full comments and take it into text.  My comment was about the antibody testing that is coming in the next week.  I was asking questions and giving what would work best.  If you actually would read and comprehend you might remember people discussing yesterday about vaccines coming out for everyone.  But you go on with your doom and gloom posts that helps us all much better

[jesmu84]

For another interesting read, here is CDC’s summary of its response to the H1N1 threat in 2009-10.

https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/cdcresponse.htm

To save people time, it includes increasing testing capacity by developing PCR tests for the virus, contact tracing, and a number of other steps.

Ask yourself why they would do this in 2009 for H1N1, but not in 2019 for COVID.

I’ll leave it there by repeating: our best way out of this is for CDC to get in, catch up with the states, and then lead us out of this.

This is a good post.

[Hards Alumni]

Hards you just can't wait to get all over people can you.  Why not read the full comments and take it into text.  My comment was about the antibody testing that is coming in the next week.  I was asking questions and giving what would work best.  If you actually would read and comprehend you might remember people discussing yesterday about vaccines coming out for everyone.  But you go on with your doom and gloom posts that helps us all much better

I wasn't trying to jump on you.  I apologize if you felt like I was trying to, but it was intended as a general comment about how we don't have any of the testing that we were promised by our federal administration.

[Silent Verbal]

Wasn’t the entire point of the lockdown to make sure we didn’t overwhelm the healthcare system?  If that’s true, it seems like social distancing is working.

At this point, wouldn’t the best thing be to allow continued growth of herd immunity by opening the country back up through the warmer months?  Quarantine the seriously at risk and allow the younger and healthy population to mingle and build herd immunity, which could help offset a likely resurgence in the cooler months.  By the end of the year, we’ll have effective therapies and possibly a vaccine, if one is fast tracked (I think it will be).

[GooooMarquette]

Wasn’t the entire point of the lockdown to make sure we didn’t overwhelm the healthcare system?  If that’s true, it seems like social distancing is working.

At this point, wouldn’t the best thing be to allow continued growth of herd immunity by opening the country back up through the warmer months?  Quarantine the seriously at risk and allow the younger and healthy population to mingle and build herd immunity, which could help offset a likely resurgence in the cooler months.  By the end of the year, we’ll have effective therapies and possibly a vaccine, if one is fast tracked (I think it will be).

Theoretically, perhaps. But regarding the underlined, last night I heard an expert from the U of Washington say that if we reopen on May 1, we could be seeing renewed spikes as early as July. In other words, reopening now might not get us "through the warmer months."

[pbiflyer]

And there is zero evidence heat plays any role in suppressing the virus.

[Silent Verbal]

Theoretically, perhaps. But regarding the underlined, last night I heard an expert from the U of Washington say that if we reopen on May 1, we could be seeing renewed spikes as early as July. In other words, reopening now might not get us "through the warmer months."

Yesterday’s NYT ran an article about how on March 24th, one model followed closely by Gov Cuomo predicted that New York would need 140,000 hospital beds by April 10.  They’re currently using about 18,500.  Using this model worked in that it scared people into taking social distancing seriously, which is good.  But the models and predictions are not always right.

Let’s say we push back to June 1, would the renewed spike happen in August?  We are going to need to accept a certain amount of risk.  That risk can be mitigated by quarantining the seriously at risk and letting the younger and healthier population build herd immunity. 

Think of all the millions of people who work in places like the service industry, retail, salons, etc who are simply unable to work right now.  All the small corner shops and restaurants and other small businesses that will go under if we remain on lockdown for two or more months.  Our solution to this problem has been to lock down first and ask questions later.  That was probably for the best.  But now that we’re a month in, it’s time for us to start discussing next steps.

[Jockey]

At a minimum, aggressive and widely available testing, contact tracing, and continued strong emphasis on hand washing and physical distancing.

Unfortunately, I haven’t heard anything to indicate that we’re ready for widely available testing and contact tracing. CDC, can you hear me?!?

You are spot on, Gooo.

Every well thought out answer - whether by a group of governors, doctors, or innovative thinkers comes down to 2 main point. Widespread testing and contact tracing.

Those have not been done - and won't in the future with the arrogant fools that we have in charge. No. 1 is the leader who has been wrong on virtually everything. No. 2 is Jared who now has more say than anyone else in the administration. His skills (not even very good ones) are in selling real estate. So why wouldn't he be put in charge by Trump? No. 3 is the White robot science denier in charge of the task force who is afraid to even take a breath without praising Trump for allowing it.

But that isn't going to change. So, what should we do?

No.1. Put the military in charge of the response. They have better sourcing and supply people than anyone one else. Period. They also have an ability to get things done. The Katrina mess only started to clear up when Bush did this and put Gen. Honore in charge.

No. 2.  Fire the head of FEMA, put someone with knowledge and ability in charge and have them work with the Military.

No. 3. Nationalize corporations than can produce test kits. I'm not talking the Idiot-In-Chief's "everyone who wants a test can get one" quantities. I am talking about hundreds of millions, even billions of test kits so that everyone who goes back to work can be tested.

No. 4. Start opening the economy immediately when the test are available. Test workers as they go back and conduct contact tracing on everyone who is positive.


The problem, of course, is that none of these will be done with Trump in charge. He will just continue to hold his daily campaign rallies, lie to all Americans, berate the News Media, and make fatal decisions.

[Jockey]

Testing and contact tracing won't happen in time.  So what do you do?

Then someone needs to make it happen.

[Jockey]

In times of crisis, character is revealed.     Are you trying to move things forward and do the most good for the most people, attempting to lift everyone up?     Or it it all about you?

Exactly. If you aren't working, volunteer at a food bank or hospital. If you are worried about catching the illness, give money to a food bank.

There are still things we all can do to help our fellow man.

[#UnleashSean]

Exactly. If you aren't working, volunteer at a food bank or hospital. If you are worried about catching the illness, give money to a food bank.

There are still things we all can do to help our fellow man.

How do people who aren't working and can't pay rent able to donate to a food bank

[Jockey]

How do people who aren't working and can't pay rent able to donate to a food bank

Wow. You are constantly on the prowl looking for a fight. Obviously, I am talking about people who are able to do so.

It's really very simple.

[#UnleashSean]

Wow. You are constantly on the prowl looking for a fight. Obviously, I am talking about people who are able to do so.

It's really very simple.

Just doing what you do. Pick the lowest hanging fruit and stick to it constantly.

[Jockey]

nm