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

[rocky_warrior]

It feels like someone else made this mistake earlier

https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1309991172392148992?s=21

Ah yes, I remember that:
https://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=59849.msg1259068#msg1259068

[Warriors4ever]

My fear re: Florida is people traveling there for vacation and bringing it back.Those won't show in Florida's numbers.

[Skatastrophy]

My fear re: Florida is people traveling there for vacation and bringing it back.Those won't show in Florida's numbers.

My extended family just hopped on a plane yesterday to take their annual trip to FL from IL. Older, obese, stubborn, only listen to one news source. They're in our prayers though.

[Not all scoop users are created equal apparently]

Ah yes, I remember that:
https://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=59849.msg1259068#msg1259068

That was very funny

[shoothoops]

https://twitter.com/sfdb/status/1310042135543119872?s=19

Fort Lauderdale Florida.

[Jockey]

From Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

For weeks, Fox Valley and northeastern Wisconsin communities have been setting records and filling hospitals — Appleton, Green Bay and the Oshkosh-Neenah area all fall among the top 10 metro areas in the nation where outbreaks are the worst, according to the New York Times. 

The Fox Valley is at a "critical burden" level of infection, Winnebago County health officials said. The county reports about 574 cases per 100,000 residents, a data point meant to control for population size. Milwaukee County, in comparison, reports a rate of 182.

And the growth is rapid. In Winnebago County, the 778 cases reported last week were more than double the week prior and more than five times the cases three weeks ago, according to local health officials.

Winnebago County last Thursday recorded 194 new cases in a single day, their highest since the pandemic began. The city of Appleton has set a new record for weekly case counts for the fifth straight week, reporting 340 cases from Sept. 21 through Saturday.

And Brown County on Friday reported nearly 30% of tests were returned positive.

Hospitals, contact tracers overwhelmed
Area hospitals have begun to sound the alarm. At a news conference Friday, Woleske said COVID patients occupy three-quarters of Bellin Hospital's ICU beds and two-thirds of medical unit beds — roughly double the number two weeks prior.


In the past week, Bellin's emergency room was so overwhelmed that workers had to tend to patients on gurneys in the hallway.

Coronavirus hospitalizations in the Fox Valley are more than five times as high as they were a month ago. ThedaCare, which throughout the pandemic has been able to house all coronavirus patients at its Appleton hospital, is now making plans to route patients to Neenah and its critical access hospitals in Berlin, Shawano and Waupaca.

"If we don't change something ... we are back to square one, where we were back in February and March, and actually probably even somewhat worse off than at that moment in time," CEO Imran Andrabi told the Appleton Post Crescent.

Hospitals in the spring made plans to expand their capacity to treat coronavirus patients, but since then many have restarted non-emergency procedures, compounding the space issue some hospitals are now facing, Pothof said.

If trends continue the state's health care system will face the far reaches of its capacity, he said.

"None of those plans is infinite. At some point, they all have an end-point," he said. "And if you get to those end-points, that's when bad things start to happen to patients."

And as cases accelerate, one of the main tools to stop the spread gets harder to accomplish.

Multiple health departments across the state have reported that contact tracers, tasked with reaching infected people and identifying and tracking down their close contacts, have become overwhelmed by the barrage of new cases to work through.

[pbiflyer]

Coronavirus: New global test will give results 'in minutes'
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-54331921

A test that can diagnose Covid-19 in minutes will dramatically expand the capacity to detect cases in low- and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The $5 (£3.80) test could transform tracking of Covid-19 in less wealthy countries, which have shortages of healthcare workers and laboratories.

A deal with manufacturers will provide 120 million tests over six months.

The WHO's head called it a major milestone.

[Pakuni]

Things are going great in North Dakota.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Dr. Paul Mariani resigned as North Dakota's top state health officer on Friday, one day after Gov. Doug Burgum reversed himself and rescinded a new order that would have enforced quarantines for close contacts of coronavirus patients.

The announcement from Burgum's office included a comment from Mariani that the way the new order was dropped made it impossible for him to continue as interim state health officer. He became the third person to resign the position since May. The upheaval comes as North Dakota battles one of the nation's highest per-capita rates of spread of the COVID-19 virus.

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-north-dakota-5daf1b2cf0a8e5a3c91bd5af5139d8e5

[GooooMarquette]

Things are going great in North Dakota.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Dr. Paul Mariani resigned as North Dakota's top state health officer on Friday, one day after Gov. Doug Burgum reversed himself and rescinded a new order that would have enforced quarantines for close contacts of coronavirus patients.

The announcement from Burgum's office included a comment from Mariani that the way the new order was dropped made it impossible for him to continue as interim state health officer. He became the third person to resign the position since May. The upheaval comes as North Dakota battles one of the nation's highest per-capita rates of spread of the COVID-19 virus.

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-north-dakota-5daf1b2cf0a8e5a3c91bd5af5139d8e5

And virtually nobody there wears masks. My daughter lives in downtown Fargo, and says she is usually one of very few people wearing a mask when she goes out. Often, it's only her and the employees of the stores and restaurants she visits.

Needless to say, she spends most of her time in her apartment.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I haven't had a chance to read all the sources behind this tweet yet but interesting that the findings show a small number of people are responsible for most of the spread in multiple different country studies. 

https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1311329981419728898?s=21

[The Sultan]

I haven't had a chance to read all the sources behind this tweet yet but interesting that the findings show a small number of people are responsible for most of the spread in multiple different country studies. 

https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1311329981419728898?s=21

On campus, we have noticed this exact thing.  We have some instances, where someone who tests positive and is symptomatic, doesn't even spread the disease to their roommate.  We have another where one person was responsible for spreading the disease to about a dozen others, some of whom were supposedly not in contact for fifteen minutes.

[GooooMarquette]

On campus, we have noticed this exact thing.  We have some instances, where someone who tests positive and is symptomatic, doesn't even spread the disease to their roommate.  We have another where one person was responsible for spreading the disease to about a dozen others, some of whom were supposedly not in contact for fifteen minutes.

Yep. That limits the value of contact tracing and selective quarantining. Challenging sucker to fight.

[Skatastrophy]

Yep. That limits the value of contact tracing and selective quarantining. Challenging sucker to fight.

We would know more about this had we tried to do it at a federal level. We basically have anecdotal evidence about it in the US due to a lack of data.

[shoothoops]

19 year old college student dies from COVID-19

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1241573?__twitter_impression=true

[GooooMarquette]

19 year old college student dies from COVID-19

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1241573?__twitter_impression=true

Very unfortunate. It would be nice if we can get some long-term meaning from this tragic loss, by sending the message that it doesn't just kill old or fat or 'unhealthy' people. It I were a college president, every kid on my campus would read this story, and every professor would discuss it.

[rocky_warrior]

I've been curious, is it taste/smell anything or is it more like after some people have strokes or other issues and need super salty, Smokey, Spicey flavors to get any taste whatsoever?

Just read this:
https://deadline.com/2020/09/jim-parsons-reveals-covid-19-diagnosis-says-symptoms-defied-the-descriptions-1234588473/

On Monday night [Jim] Parsons told Fallon of his experience with the coronavirus.

"We didn't know what it was, we know we had colds and we lost all sense of smell and taste," the Hollywood actor told Fallon. "It defied the descriptions for me, I didn't realize how taste and smell could be gone."

[shoothoops]

Speaking of smell, Finland is offering voluntary airport COVID-19 tests administered by dogs:

https://twitter.com/orlandosentinel/status/1311280160096821250?s=19

[GooooMarquette]

Since the current resurgence is being 'led' by the upper midwest (mostly ND, SD, and WI), I offer this summary from MPR of MN and its surrounding states:

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/03/17/comparing-covid19-in-minnesota-and-its-neighbors-in-upper-midwest

Even though MN is doing the 'best' of the bunch on terms of testing and lowest case rate, our leaders and public health officials have been blunt in saying we have to do better. This gives me some hope. Officials in the other states are not as unified or consistent...and in many cases are making dangerous decisions on mask mandates, large gatherings and the like.

The line graph of Wisconsin's seven-day average of new cases looks like the trajectory of a moon launch....

[shoothoops]

Amazon says nearly 20,000 of its works have had COVID-19:

https://twitter.com/latimes/status/1312041650437402628?s=19

[shoothoops]

"Totally Under Control" trailer:

https://twitter.com/neonrated/status/1312044877065068546?s=19

[rocky_warrior]

Amazon says nearly 20,000 of its works have had COVID-19:

https://twitter.com/latimes/status/1312041650437402628?s=19

At about 1M employees (I've seen claims up to 1.4M) they're about on-par with (a little better than) general US infection rates of around 2.2%

[jesmu84]

Seems like ACB rose garden was a super spreader.

Were any of the BLM protests?

[GooooMarquette]

Seems like ACB rose garden was a super spreader.

The fundamentalists are big on 'signs from above.' Wonder how they interpret this one....

[rocky_warrior]

The fundamentalists are big on 'signs from above.' Wonder how they interpret this one....

From what I've read, the response seems to be akin to learning the tooth fairy doesn't exist.  Denial. Won't believe it until they leave a tooth under their pillow next time.

[shoothoops]

Herman Cain Timeline:

https://twitter.com/TimOBrien/status/1313192280971452418?s=19