***NON-POLITICAL COVID-19 Discussion Thread***

[JakeF]

A couple of reminders...

Originally Posted by Bwana

Once again, don't come in this thread with some kind of political agenda, or you will be shown the door. If you want to go that route, there is a thread about this in DC.

Originally Posted by Dartgod

People, there is a lot of good information in this thread, let's try to keep the petty bickering to a minimum.

We all have varying opinions about the impact of this, the numbers, etc. We will all never agree with each other. But we can all keep it civil.

Thanks!

Click here for the original OP:

Spoiler!

Apparently the CoronaVirus can survive on a inanimate objects, such as door knobs, for 9 days.

California coronavirus case could be first spread within U.S. community, CDC says
By SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA, JACLYN COSGROVE
FEB. 26, 2020 8:04 PM

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating what could be the first case of novel coronavirus in the United States involving a patient in California who neither recently traveled out of the country nor was in contact with someone who did.

“At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown. It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States,” the CDC said in a statement. “Community spread means spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. It’s also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveler who was infected.”

The individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County, according to the state Department of Public Health.

The CDC said the “case was detected through the U.S. public health system — picked up by astute clinicians.”

Officials at UC Davis Medical Center expanded on what the federal agency might have meant by that in an email sent Wednesday, as reported by the Davis Enterprise newspaper.

The patient arrived at UC Davis Medical Center from another hospital Feb. 19 and “had already been intubated, was on a ventilator, and given droplet protection orders because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition,” according to an email sent by UC Davis officials that was obtained by the Davis Enterprise.

The staff at UC Davis requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, but because the patient didn’t fit the CDC’s existing criteria for the virus, a test wasn’t immediately administered, according to the email. The CDC then ordered the test Sunday, and results were announced Wednesday. Hospital administrators reportedly said in the email that despite these issues, there has been minimal exposure at the hospital because of safety protocols they have in place.

A UC Davis Health spokesperson declined Wednesday evening to share the email with The Times.

Since Feb. 2, more than 8,400 returning travelers from China have entered California, according to the state health department. They have been advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and limit interactions with others as much as possible, officials said.

“This is a new virus, and while we are still learning about it, there is a lot we already know,” Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “We have been anticipating the potential for such a case in the U.S., and given our close familial, social and business relationships with China, it is not unexpected that the first case in the U.S. would be in California.”

It is not clear how the person became infected, but public health workers could not identify any contacts with people who had traveled to China or other areas where the virus is widespread. That raises concern that the virus is spreading in the United States, creating a challenge for public health officials, experts say.

“It’s the first signal that we could be having silent transmission in the community,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. “It probably means there are many more cases out there, and it probably means this individual has infected others, and now it’s a race to try to find out who that person has infected.”

On Tuesday, the CDC offered its most serious warning to date that the United States should expect and prepare for the coronavirus to become a more widespread health issue.

“Ultimately, we expect we will see coronavirus spread in this country,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “It’s not so much a question of if, but a question of when.”

According to the CDC’s latest count Wednesday morning, 59 U.S. residents have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus — 42 of whom are repatriated citizens from a Diamond Princess cruise. That number has grown by two since Messonnier’s last count Tuesday, although the CDC was not immediately available to offer details on the additional cases.

More than 82,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported globally, and more than 2,700 people have died, with the majority in mainland China, the epicenter of the outbreak.

But public health leaders have repeatedly reminded residents that the health risk from the novel coronavirus to the general public remains low.

“While COVID-19 has a high transmission rate, it has a low mortality rate,” the state Department of Public Health said in a statement Wednesday. “From the international data we have, of those who have tested positive for COVID-19, approximately 80% do not exhibit symptoms that would require hospitalization. There have been no confirmed deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States to date.”

CDC officials have also warned that although the virus is likely to spread in U.S. communities, the flu still poses a greater risk.

Gostin said the news of potential silent transmission does not eliminate the possibility of containing the virus in the U.S. and preventing an outbreak.

“There are few enough cases that we should at least try,” he said. “Most of us are not optimistic that that will be successful, but we’re still in the position to try.”

[Donger]

How did the virus get into these nursing homes? Have they done any contact tracing?

[eDave]

Originally Posted by Donger

How did the virus get into these nursing homes? Have they done any contact tracing?

For sure. We've seen this before so what gives?

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Donger

How did the virus get into these nursing homes? Have they done any contact tracing?

Nursing homes have high turnover in employment. Not the nurses as much as it is the orderlies and cooks. That would be my first guess.

[Dayze]

wife has pretty much recovered from her COVID sickness.

2 solid weeks of being sick as a dog.
first 3 days, felt like a head cold; then got tested. on day 5 got the results.
Then a good solid 5 days with a mild fever.
Then, puking for a solid 4 days; nothing coming up, puking on and off day and night. had to go to the ER and get treated for severe dehydration. she couldn't keep anything down, and just kept getting worse hydration wise.
couldn't eat anything, so she went damn near a solid week with just some crackers, and a few spoon fulls of soup.
major fatigue; probably a good 5 days of sleeping 20 hours a day.

she's been a week w/out symptoms and feels a ton better. fatigue is still there a bit, but nothing like it was.
I was quarantined for 14 days with her due to work restrictions etc; I had some slight fatigue, but never a fever and any symptoms I had otherswise I treated with Sudafed and Claritin and it did the trick. I didn't get tested since I was going to be quarantined for 14 days. I was sick as a dog last Dec with a respitory infection I'm almost positive was COVID. so maybe I had some resistence to it this time around. who knows.

thank god I didn't get it. It put my wife down fora solid 2 weeks. awful. I felt so bad for her.

[Strongside]

Originally Posted by TLO

Wow. Still no symptoms I'm hoping?

No symptoms. Hoping it stays that way.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Nursing homes have high turnover in employment. Not the nurses as much as it is the orderlies and cooks. That would be my first guess.

Yeah, I suppose so. Infected staff seems to be the most likely reason from what I've read.

[Strongside]

Originally Posted by Dayze

wife has pretty much recovered from her COVID sickness.

2 solid weeks of being sick as a dog.
first 3 days, felt like a head cold; then got tested. on day 5 got the results.
Then a good solid 5 days with a mild fever.
Then, puking for a solid 4 days; nothing coming up, puking on and off day and night. had to go to the ER and get treated for severe dehydration. she couldn't keep anything down, and just kept getting worse hydration wise.
couldn't eat anything, so she went damn near a solid week with just some crackers, and a few spoon fulls of soup.
major fatigue; probably a good 5 days of sleeping 20 hours a day.

she's been a week w/out symptoms and feels a ton better. fatigue is still there a bit, but nothing like it was.
I was quarantined for 14 days with her due to work restrictions etc; I had some slight fatigue, but never a fever and any symptoms I had otherswise I treated with Sudafed and Claritin and it did the trick. I didn't get tested since I was going to be quarantined for 14 days. I was sick as a dog last Dec with a respitory infection I'm almost positive was COVID. so maybe I had some resistence to it this time around. who knows.

thank god I didn't get it. It put my wife down fora solid 2 weeks. awful. I felt so bad for her.

It's still insane to me the different ways this thing impacts different people. Some people get zero symptoms. Feel absolutely nothing. Some people get mild colds. Some people, like your wife, get put out of commission entirely for days or weeks. Some people flat out die.

It's wild.

[O.city]

I have a staff member who's mom is a high up in nursing home admin.

The issue they have is that there are alot of people in the hospital that are ready to be sent to nursing homes, but they're full and they can't make room due to covid. So alot of it is coming from patients who are ready to leave hospital and then bring it into nursing homes, which is what apparently happened in NY. So they are super careful, but the hospitals don't have space for them so there is a bottle neck.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by O.city

I have a staff member who's mom is a high up in nursing home admin.

The issue they have is that there are alot of people in the hospital that are ready to be sent to nursing homes, but they're full and they can't make room due to covid. So alot of it is coming from patients who are ready to leave hospital and then bring it into nursing homes, which is what apparently happened in NY. So they are super careful, but the hospitals don't have space for them so there is a bottle neck.

Yikes, your hospital capacity is that close to 100%?

[O.city]

My wife has been having congestion, runny nose for the past couple days. Wasn't feeling well yesterday so called our PCP and did virtual visit. She wasn't really having any other symptoms so our DR was hesistant to schedule test but with me being in the job i am she went ahead and scheduled it. Wife feels better today, just some congestion.

She isn't getting tested until tomorrow and we aren't likely to get results for 24-48 hours. Puts me in a weird spot with work.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Donger

Yikes, your hospital capacity is that close to 100%?

No, not really close. They just want to keep it from getting close but they can't.

They're being super picky about who they're admitting into nursing homes and to make it worse, it's pretty much already in the homes and spreading she said.

They're having issues.

[eDave]

Is it perhaps a precautionary measure in anticipation of flu season?

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Dayze

wife has pretty much recovered from her COVID sickness.

2 solid weeks of being sick as a dog.
first 3 days, felt like a head cold; then got tested. on day 5 got the results.
Then a good solid 5 days with a mild fever.
Then, puking for a solid 4 days; nothing coming up, puking on and off day and night. had to go to the ER and get treated for severe dehydration. she couldn't keep anything down, and just kept getting worse hydration wise.
couldn't eat anything, so she went damn near a solid week with just some crackers, and a few spoon fulls of soup.
major fatigue; probably a good 5 days of sleeping 20 hours a day.

she's been a week w/out symptoms and feels a ton better. fatigue is still there a bit, but nothing like it was.
I was quarantined for 14 days with her due to work restrictions etc; I had some slight fatigue, but never a fever and any symptoms I had otherswise I treated with Sudafed and Claritin and it did the trick. I didn't get tested since I was going to be quarantined for 14 days. I was sick as a dog last Dec with a respitory infection I'm almost positive was COVID. so maybe I had some resistence to it this time around. who knows.

thank god I didn't get it. It put my wife down fora solid 2 weeks. awful. I felt so bad for her.

Thanks for sharing your story, Dayze. I'm so glad you guys are doing fine!

I would think if you had COVID back in December, your wife would have had it then too? You may just fall into the the chunk of population that has no to very mild symptoms.

[Donger]

If COVID-19 was actually here in December, why didn't see a spike in deaths like we saw in March? Or, did we, and they were listed as influenza deaths?

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by Pants

Thanks for sharing your story, Dayze. I'm so glad you guys are doing fine!

I would think if you had COVID back in December, your wife would have had it then too? You may just fall into the the chunk of population that has no to very mild symptoms.

Thanks bud.

Yeah, I'm not sure. My dad, brother, and I all got sick as a dog the same time frame last year about a week after thanksgiving. So, I'm not sure if we had it or not, but it was just a brutal time. worst I've felt ever. Maybe it was just a really bad flu. and yeah, at that time my wife didn't get sick either despite being around me, and being at the same Thanksgiving locations etc as well.

or, maybe I did have this last go around while she had it and I only had very mild symptoms. So odd. I'm just glad I didn't get as bad as she did. just awful.

and she got it despite all the precautions with masks, limiting interaction with others yada yada yada. we wear masks when we go out etc, all that stuff.