COVID-19

[jennypenny]

@chenda -- I keep 6 months of supplies for my immediate family *however* I broke my foot last July and then broke my elbow and wrist in October so I decided to dip into my stockpiles because I couldn't do the shopping for a few months. I thought why not? Now I know why not. I have a bit to gather to get back up to six months for 5 people let alone 10. I'll also start working on the garden right away to supplement that.

[wolf]

Respiratory masks and sterilisation fluid are very difficult to buy in Germany right now, if you don't want to pay very high prices. If you can buy it for normal prices, do it, prepare.

[naturelover]

Where I live communication and worry is nonexistent. Heck, if I didn't have a preexisting travel plan to one of the major affected countries I wouldn't even be tracking it that much.

When I mention it around here people just kinda say 'oh yeah I might have heard about that on the news'.

[chenda]

@jp I hope they've healed ok I think I might do some stockpiling too, I did some around the numerous Brexit crashout deadlines we have had. More peace of mind than anything but it'll all get used at some point regardless.

[chenda]

Some interesting maps about infected areas: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -and-areas

[Ego]

https://www.chinadailyhk.com/article/122555

Zhong also said that the novel coronavirus has a prominent feature whereby patients have a large amount of very sticky mucus in their small airways.

Obstruction of the airway can lead to secondary infections, said Zhong. "We are working to solve the problem," he said.

The mortality rate among critically ill patients in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, is close to 60 percent, Zhong said, adding that experts are searching for solutions to hypoxia, and some new methods have proved effective in relieving breathing difficulties of patients in Wuhan.

Secondary infections? Bacterial?

Anyone care to speculate on what new methods have proved effective?

[theanimal]

I tried to talk to my family and encourage them to stock up on food supplies for at least a couple weeks. The initial responses were making fun of my statements and then I was told I was part of the problem and am spreading hysteria.

I sure hope it doesn't spread.

[AnalyticalEngine]

@ego - you may want to read up on biofilms formed in the lungs during pneumonia. Here's an example where even a virus that doesn't even infect humans, a phage, can nevertheless cause biofilm complications: https://phys.org/news/2015-11-bacteria- ... cally.html

[AnalyticalEngine]

Long document (100+ pages) about what public health measures the CDC could take for pandemic flu:

https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/11425

[George the original one]

"California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that 33 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and the state is currently monitoring at least 8,400 others —a day after U.S. health officials confirmed the first possible community transmission of the coronavirus in a Solano County resident."

[CS]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... ower-says/

Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services sent more than a dozen workers to receive the first Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, without proper training for infection control or appropriate protective gear, according to a whistleblower complaint.

The workers did not show symptoms of infection and were not tested for the virus, according to lawyers for the whistleblower, a senior HHS official based in Washington who oversees workers at the Administration for Children and Families, a unit within HHS

Also, emphasis mine:

After their deployments, the workers returned to their normal duties, some taking commercial airline flights to return to their offices around the country, the lawyers said.

[AnalyticalEngine]

A heads up that the "33 in California" headline is a bit misleading. That's counting existing patients in quarantine from the plague ship, not any new cases.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services sent more than a dozen workers to receive the first Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, without proper training for infection control...

It's like something from the start of a pandemic movie. It sounds like the whistleblower is now being attacked too.

[Ego]

The initial responses were making fun of my statements and then I was told I was part of the problem and am spreading hysteria.

In their defense, it can be hard to distinguish between group hysteria and an event that warrants legitimate attention. It is also hard to recognize the opposite, when our own passivity is the result of contagious passivity...

The Smoke Filled Room study (pdf).

In their seminal smoke-filled room study, participants waited in a room that gradually filled with smoke. A participant either waited alone, with two other naive participants, or with two confederates who ignored the smoke and stayed in the room. Seventy-five percent of the solitary participants reported the smoke, whereas only 38% of the participants who were with other participants and only 10% of the participants who were with confederates did so. The results established that the passive behavior of bystanders exerts a negative social influence on evacuation behavior.

[jennypenny]

Our friend in the affected part of China said tonight that life is 'going back to normal little by little.' She also said things feel under control now. That's very good to hear.

@chenda -- Thanks. The foot and wrist healed but the elbow didn't. I'm supposed to have Tommy John surgery in May but I can wait if the virus is bad.

[AnalyticalEngine]

The lack of testing in the US is quite concerning. With epidemics like this, you really need to nip the initial cases in the bud least they be allowed to balloon like we saw in Wuhan. But they're not testing enough people, which means we could easily have community transmission in several major US cities all at once here in a few weeks because we're not detecting this now. I mean, even now, the government is blocking travel to China, but not Italy, Japan, or SK, and China had even put Wuhan inside a sanitation cordon.

Even in the early days of this epidemic, the #1 thing WHO/public health experts were wanting was a point of care diagnostic. So the inability of the US to test massive amounts of people, especially at this early state, is not reassuring.

There was a similar problem in the US during Spanish flu where each city/state operated on its own, which lead to inconsistent implementation of public health measures and therefore wildly different health outcomes across the country. I'm seeing this problem locally right now. Some employers have plans in place, others don't. Some schools and hospitals are planning for this while others are not.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Is there anything we can learn from China as far as what to do or not to do beyond the typical guidance like wash your hands, social distancing, etc.? Unexpected things that became unavailable, something like that.

[Sclass]

The lack of testing in the US is quite concerning. With epidemics like this, you really need to nip the initial cases in the bud least they be allowed to balloon like we saw in Wuhan.

Disturbing. Gavin Newsom implied that we have a problem when he said CA has only 200 test kits. He looked pretty concerned. Finally. It’s funny how everyone (except the fine people here) was in denial up to now. Even the market held fast till this week. The writing has been on the wall for weeks. The CDC acts so confident but I think they’ve really dropped the ball. Only time will tell if they are monumentally incompetent.

I hit several grocery stores this week and boosted my food buffer from several weeks to several months. The cashiers were looking at us shaking their heads like we are crazy. Now I turn on the TV tonight and ABC news says stock at least 2 weeks of food and medicine. I’m going down to Walmart tomorrow just to see the crowd...from a distance.

[ertyu]

Is there anything we can learn from China as far as what to do or not to do beyond the typical guidance like wash your hands, social distancing, etc.? Unexpected things that became unavailable, something like that.

a broad spectrum antibiotic - no one thinks about what comes -after- pneumonia.
also, for some reason, HK went mad about toilet paper in particular.

[theanimal]

Is there anything we can learn from China as far as what to do or not to do beyond the typical guidance like wash your hands, social distancing, etc.? Unexpected things that became unavailable, something like that.

There was a report that came out in The Lancet describing issues health workers had. The report has since been retracted, which some believe is censorship from the CCP.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lang ... lltext#%20

From the original:

The conditions and environment here in Wuhan are more difficult and extreme than we could ever have imagined. There is a severe shortage of protective equipment, such as N95 respirators, face shields, goggles, gowns, and gloves. The goggles are made of plastic that must be repeatedly cleaned and sterilised in the ward, making them difficult to see through. Due to the need for frequent hand washing, several of our colleagues' hands are covered in painful rashes. As a result of wearing an N95 respirator for extended periods of time and layers of protective equipment, some nurses now have pressure ulcers on their ears and forehead. When wearing a mask to speak with patients, our voices are muted, so we have to speak very loudly. Wearing four layers of gloves is abnormally clumsy and does not work—we can't even open the packaging bags for medical devices, so giving patients injections is a huge challenge. In order to save energy and the time it takes to put on and take off protective clothing, we avoid eating and drinking for 2 hours before entering the isolation ward. Often, nurses' mouths are covered in blisters. Some nurses have fainted due to hypoglycaemia and hypoxia.

In addition to the physical exhaustion, we are also suffering psychologically. While we are professional nurses, we are also human. Like everyone else, we feel helplessness, anxiety, and fear. Experienced nurses occasionally find the time to comfort colleagues and try to relieve our anxiety. But even experienced nurses may also cry, possibly because we do not know how long we need to stay here and we are the highest-risk group for COVID-19 infection. So far 1716 Chinese staff have been infected with COVID-19 and nine of them have unfortunately passed away. Due to an extreme shortage of health-care professionals in Wuhan, 14 000 nurses from across China have voluntarily come to Wuhan to support local medical health-care professionals. But we need much more help. We are asking nurses and medical staff from countries around the world to come to China now, to help us in this battle.