wuhan - coronavirus

[Arcadia]

3 hours ago, StellaM said:

They were doing a lot more in schools, at least, including daily temp testing of all students and exclusion of those who did not have a normal temp, and proper cleaning of the schools.

My niece is in primary school. Luckily she can walk to school because the public transport systems are still cram like sardines. Media is pretty much a “yes man”. Besides temp testing aren’t that useful as a screening tool. They had their March one week school holidays last week and school started back today. 

[Pen]

1 hour ago, popmom said:

I think my daughter has the virus. She is away at school and lives alone. She woke up this morning with low grade fever, diarrhea, cough, and chest tightness. She feels fine on Motrin. She flew back from Canada to Atlanta on the 14th. So her incubation period would be 7-8 days. I'm assuming she picked it up in one of the airports. There are NO tests in her county. She called and spoke with (presumably) a nurse. That person told her that she very likely does have COVID and to self quarantine. She gave no timeline on when tests would be available. 

My husband visited her on Monday after she got back because she was having car trouble. They rode in the car together and ate lunch together. My anxiety is through the roof. There is so much conflicting information out there about whether it can be transmitted during the incubation period. 

 

I would assume that it *is* able to be transmitted during incubation period.

Ibuprofen was thought by some doctors to possibly make CV19 illness worse.  There has been conflicting information on that. 

If she could feel okay enough to make it through without a fever reducer that might be better than any fever reducer.   Fever is part of body’s immune response and may help fight virus if it isn’t a dangerous high one. 

[Pen]

@Arcadia had you posted about a company that has CV19 tests to do at home and mail back available for a little under $200?

 

[popmom]

3 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

 

 

If she could feel okay enough to make it through without a fever reducer that might be better than any fever reducer.   Fever is part of body’s immune response and may help fight virus if it isn’t a dangerous high one. 

that's exactly what I just told her. She agreed not to take it unless she really starts feeling bad. 

[purpleowl]

40 minutes ago, Kassia said:

 

If you suspect she has it, please tell her to take Tylenol instead of Motrin.  NSAIDs aren't safe for this virus. 

That advice has been rescinded. Everything I see now says there is no evidence that ibuprofen makes it worse, and the WHO does not recommend against taking it. 

[Slache]

3 minutes ago, Pen said:

@Arcadia had you posted about a company that has CV19 tests to do at home and mail back available for a little under $200?

I thought all of these are fake?

[Arcadia]

5 hours ago, Kassia said:

 

I'm in Ohio.  What does this really change from today until Tuesday?  I'm hoping echeck will close because I've been avoiding going there and need to soon.  

Smog check shops are open here in California. We did the smog check recently for our Corolla, thankfully the procedure was very fast. 

[Arcadia]

6 minutes ago, Pen said:

@Arcadia had you posted about a company that has CV19 tests to do at home and mail back available for a little under $200?

 

Yes. I had. This is the news link for the two companies https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/20/healthcare-startups-nurx-and-carbon-health-ship-at-home-covid-19-test-sample-kits/amp/

Texas is also offering one soon https://www.everlywell.com/blog/news-and-info/our-commitment-to-fighting-covid-19/

“We're announcing that an at-home collection kit with telehealth diagnosis for COVID-19 will be available to consumers starting Monday, March 23. The initial supply of 30,000 tests amounts to a significant increase in total COVID-19 teststhat have been processed in the U.S. as of March 18, 2020. By working with multiple labs to scale infrastructure, Everlywell plans to have testing and diagnosis capacity for a quarter of a million people weekly. 

Using its existing infrastructure and distribution for at-home lab testing, earlier this month Everlywell announced a $1 million dollar development incentive to any certified laboratories who fulfilled requirements set by the FDA and Everlywell to prioritize development of a COVID-19 diagnostic test. The positive response from the laboratory community enabled Everlywell to build the full testing and diagnosis experience for COVID-19 in a matter of days.

The test can be requested online by consumers experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Samples can be collected at home, preventing further exposure for themselves and the public. All of Everlywell's laboratory partners conducting COVID-19 testing are complying with FDA's Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 testing.

Like Everlywell's other tests, the COVID-19 test will be shipped to customers with everything needed to collect a sample at home and safely ship that sample to a CLIA-certified laboratory partner. Samples will be shipped to partner labs with overnight delivery, secure digital results will be available online within 48 hours of the lab receiving the sample, and free telehealth consultations with an independent, board-certified physician will be available for those with positive results.

Availability, Pricing, and How It Works

To access a COVID-19 test, consumers can go to www.everlywell.com where they will be asked to complete a screening questionnaire, provided by our independent telehealth partner and based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). The test will be available for $135 at no profit to Everlywell, and will be covered by participating HSA and FSA providers. Everlywell has reached out to government officials and public health departments to see if the test can be made available for free. Given the high demand for testing, the company will work rapidly to make more tests available as the global supply shortage for COVID-19 diagnostic kits is addressed.”

[SKL]

2 hours ago, StellaM said:

 

It's not. 

It's a signal that schools will stay open for babysitting, without any of the health and safety issues addressed. 

And relies on parents to self-sacrifice and keep kids home where they can. 

Anyone who's worked in a school  knows this is hilarious. 

The decent parents who want to do the right thing are worried about employers - because they 'can' send their kids to school, WFH may not be offered. 

If she insists on keeping schools open for babysitting, there should be a defined list of students who will have places - children from families where both parents work in a hospital or medical/pharmacy, children from sole parent homes who cannot work from home, and vulnerable children, including those for whom it would be unsafe for parents to have at home 24/7.

Then she should address who will staff the babysitting service, at what rate, and what happens to staff who are at-risk or who have at-risk family members.

Why is it OK for students and staff to be mixing at schools in NSW - highest number of cases - but cross the border into the ACT or Victoria, and it's not OK for schools to open? Does the virus change when it hits state lines?

Teachers and support staff and parents are furious. 

 

It seems likely they will close it pretty soon, so why not just call in sick until they do?  Surely they will still have enough teachers on hand to deal with the limited number of kids still showing up for school.

[Kassia]

36 minutes ago, popmom said:

Why would Motrin be unsafe?

 

I'm sorry.  I didn't know that there was an update on this.  Here's a more recent link. I am going to edit my original post.  

https://health.usnews.com/conditions/articles/coronavirus-and-ibuprofen-what-to-know

 

[popmom]

My daughter called and said that her county's health officials just ordered a "shelter in place". Our guess is that she was not the only one who called the hotline today. 7 days after all these students returned from spring break travel. And they don't have tests. It's very frustrating because my husband could go get tested if my daughter had a positive result even though he's not showing symptoms. Our county does have tests.

[Katy]

Christina Braly (an anesthesiologist) just put out a new video today about many things, but specifically mentions that given the shortage of tests it's a good idea to not get a test IF it won't change the way you are treated at all.  IE: if daughter has it will it change anything about her needing to stay home for several weeks?  Probably not.  OTOH, if she has it and she exposed her dad, would his doctor write a prescription for an antiviral?  Maybe, if he is high risk and there isn't a shortage of the medicine in your area.  I know my birth control company, Nurx, sent out an email last week that they had mail order testing available. They offered it on a first come first serve basis Monday through Saturday, starting at 8am.  It looks like right now they are on pause, whatever that means.  Anyway, check with them.

Here's Christina's video:

 

[popmom]

@Katy thank you for the link. I would not be interested in testing, but I have asthma. I would just like my husband to get a test. maybe it doesn't matter. He doesn't have symptoms. How likely is someone who's been exposed to test positive during incubation?  edit: my info was wrong and there may be shortages here, too. sigh.

Edited March 23, 2020 by popmom

[Ausmumof3]

2 hours ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

The prison where they have him has almost a 1,000 inmates, and 800 employees.  That's a lot of people at risk.  It sounds like Weinstein brought the virus from either Rikers or the hospital.  As if he hadn't already done more than enough damage for a lifetime.  

I hope they can contain it.  

Ah man I didn’t think of that.  Def feeling sad now.  

[Ausmumof3]

CNN)Emma, a 12-year-old girl, is "fighting for her life" in an Atlanta hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus, according to her cousin.

Justin Anthony told CNN that Emma was diagnosed with pneumonia on March 15 and tested positive for coronavirus on Friday night. As of Saturday, she was on a ventilator and is currently in stable condition, Anthony said. 

Emma had no pre-existing conditions. She has not traveled recently and it's unknown how she contracted the virus, according to Anthony.

[DoraBora]

This is encouraging...

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-03-22/coronavirus-outbreak-nobel-laureate

[Arcadia]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/alibaba-jack-ma-arrive-africa-coronavirus-covid-19-donated-12565958

“ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: A first planeload of protective and medical equipment donated to Africa by Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma to help it fight COVID-19 arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday (Mar 22).

So far, the continent of 1.3 billion people has registered only around 1,100 cases spread across 43 countries, with 39 deaths. 

While that is a tiny fraction of the more than 305,000 people infected and more than 13,000 deaths worldwide, there are concerns that Africa's relatively poor health infrastructure means it will not cope if the virus becomes established.

"The flight carried 5.4 million face masks, kits for 1.08 million detection tests, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 sets of protective face shields," Ma's foundation said in a statement. "The faster we move, the earlier we can help."

It said the supplies would be distributed across Africa, going first to countries that were particularly vulnerable to the pandemic.”

[Pen]

https://youtu.be/mNMdg4morQs

In Florence,  Italians hugging Chinese ~ 1 month ago to show support.   ?

Edited March 23, 2020 by Pen

[popmom]

I just watched the Christina Braly video, and now I'm fully terrified. Can anyone back up what she says about it being very contagious during incubation?

[Selkie]

5 minutes ago, Pen said:

https://youtu.be/mNMdg4morQs

In Florence,  Italians hugging Chinese ~ 1 month ago to show support.   ?

Speaking of hugging, this reminds me of something I read that was written by a resident of northern Italy. She said that the hardest part of being on lockdown and wearing masks out in public is that they can no longer greet each other with their traditional hugs and kisses. Made me wonder how much of a role that tradition played in the spread of the virus.

[Katy]

7 minutes ago, popmom said:

I just watched the Christina Braly video, and now I'm fully terrified. Can anyone back up what she says about it being very contagious during incubation?

 

It's contagious in incubation in some people, there's no doubt.  BUT if she caught it in the airport it was probably barely multiplying in her body if your DH was taking her home from that airport.  Also, the more symptoms people have the lower the viral load (and therefore less contagious) it is.  Also there is definitely a rhinovirus (regular but severe cold) with nearly exactly the same symptoms. It's much more common and last I heard (as of Friday afternoon) only about 20% of people who thought they had it actually do.  Which is NOT to say she should go out and infect others with whatever she has, but I wouldn't panic.

[EmseB]

19 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/alibaba-jack-ma-arrive-africa-coronavirus-covid-19-donated-12565958

“ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: A first planeload of protective and medical equipment donated to Africa by Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma to help it fight COVID-19 arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday (Mar 22).

So far, the continent of 1.3 billion people has registered only around 1,100 cases spread across 43 countries, with 39 deaths. 

While that is a tiny fraction of the more than 305,000 people infected and more than 13,000 deaths worldwide, there are concerns that Africa's relatively poor health infrastructure means it will not cope if the virus becomes established.

"The flight carried 5.4 million face masks, kits for 1.08 million detection tests, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 sets of protective face shields," Ma's foundation said in a statement. "The faster we move, the earlier we can help."

It said the supplies would be distributed across Africa, going first to countries that were particularly vulnerable to the pandemic.”

China is hoarding PPE made in their country that the US and other countries are trying to buy (or in some cases have already paid to have manufactured in existing contracts) and is now using it to try to show their charity and goodwill by donating it very publicly while they are lying about the state of the outbreak in their own country. Awesome. 

[Ausmumof3]

BNO:

“The number of coronavirus cases in New York City has risen to 10,764. More than 35,000 cases in the U.S.

Death toll from coronavirus in New York City rises to 99, up from 63 a few hours ago. Mayor says nearly 1 person an hour is dying and says "the worst is yet to come" - WABC”

[Arcadia]

@Pen@mathnerd

@HeighHo@desertflower@hellen@square_25

I bold the scary part 

https://abc7news.com/technology/sf-start-up-helps-to-track-spread-of-covid-19-using-smart-thermometer/6040172/
“SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A new kind of thermometer, one that shares the temperature readings it registers, is showing promise as a tool to track the spread of flu. It's also showing promise to be a tool to predict where COVID-19 hot spots are developing.

Temperature checks are being used widely with a fever being one of the symptoms of COVID-19. But San Francisco based technology start-up Kinsa Health believes its thermometer and the data it tracks is an untapped resource to track the virus as it spreads across the country.

About a million of them are in use in schools and homes with temperature readings for multiple family members collected and analyzed anonymously, allowing Kinsa to produce maps showing hot spots before state and federal health agencies see an outbreak.

The system was designed initially to track seasonal flu, but by filtering out that data, company founder and CEO Inder Singh believes it's able to pinpoint clusters of COVID-19 early on.

The dark colors on Kinsa's heat map indicate counties with atypical illness. One concentration is in the New York area. Most of Florida is another hot spot.

"We got on the phone with three public health colleagues and said, look, here's what's going on," said Singh.

"They called the map in question. Well, you're picking up some of the stuff in Washington and California, but gosh, Florida and the Northeast, those are hot spots on your map. Lo and behold four days later, we started seeing COVID-19 cases in Florida."

This is spring break time in Florida, which the governor stopped on Thursday. Kinsa says Florida fever clusters are twice normal levels. Its data sees an unusual H1N1 strain. Kinsa believes it's COVID-19 as well.

Real-time data could help track COVID-19 in two ways.

"Where and when should we prioritize resources across the country? Where and when should we send test kits?" said Singh.

"Two, to monitor response. When we start seeing the level of fever curve off, the fever clusters stop rising, we start to level off and diminish, that is an indicator that any outbreak is under control."

Demand for the Kinsa thermometer has outstripped the supply. It's sold at pharmacies and major retailers for about $25.”

[Ausmumof3]

In Aus news

qld are shutting borders

centrelink crashed after a DDOS attack while everyone was trying to claim their payments etc 

WA - Premier Mark McGowan says of the 1,700 passengers on board the MSC Magnifica, more than 250 passengers have reported upper respiratory illnesses.  He said it had requested to dock at Fremantle Port as early as tonight.

1500 workers at Wrest Point Casino are likely to be stood down in Hobart 

[Terabith]

I actually recently bought a Kinsa ear thermometer, when I realized that my younger kid cannot figure out how to keep the oral one under her tongue.  I'm pretty annoyed that there doesn't seem to be a way to use it without the app, but I could see tracking illness clusters would be a plus.  

[Arcadia]

 

@Pen@mathnerd

Quoted from Facebook post. Info link http://makernexuswiki.com/index.php?title=3D_printed_face_shields

“Hey makers! Kaiser Health is currently short on protective face masks. If any of you have a 3d printer that can print PET/PLA (PET strongly preferred) or have filament you can donate, fill out this form by Maker Nexus, a fellow makerspace, to help out: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5uMbl2USWKg6Qi6HovydA6lteBgnRsIBWnQcJaL4x6OdryQ/viewform”

ETA: sorry about weird formatting from my iPad 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Arcadia

[Arcadia]

2 hours ago, EmseB said:

China is hoarding PPE made in their country that the US and other countries are trying to buy (or in some cases have already paid to have manufactured in existing contracts) and is now using it to try to show their charity and goodwill by donating it very publicly while they are lying about the state of the outbreak in their own country. Awesome. 

@Malory @Mom2mthj

Quoted from https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/distributors-are-racing-to-import-n95-masks-from-china.html

similar article https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-20/as-airlines-ground-planes-medical-supplies-are-stuck-in-china
“Product is coming out of China now, but it’s only trickling compared to what we need,” said Sheshank Kamalapuram, president of Vanguard Sourcing, which imports masks and other equipment for health-care providers in the United States. “Manufacturing is back up to 80 to 85 percent in China, but it’s not coming to the U.S. as fast as we all hope and pray that it’s moving.”

... According to Kamalapuram, there are a couple of reasons why the need hasn’t been met, despite China now producing some 200 million masks a day. The first is global demand — the United States isn’t the only country jockeying for masks, and N95 producers in countries like France and Germany have halted exports to meet their own needs. The second is cost. Normally, each mask costs about one or two cents; now each one costs 25 to 30 cents to make. The price jump isn’t necessarily because of price gougers. The mad dash has increased production costs, as companies in China add employees and expensive machinery, and flight restrictions put in place by the Trump administration to stem transmission of the virus make shipping protective supplies from China to the United States a challenge.

This week Michael Einhorn, the president of Dealmed, a Brooklyn-based medical supply manufacturer and distributor, is chartering a cargo plane to China to load with millions of dollars worth of supplies — including N95s, face shields, and isolation gowns, the thin, protective cloak frontline health-care workers wear — for about seven hospital systems. Some exporters have fudged paperwork, labeling N95s as simple dust masks to get past Chinese customs officials, but lately China has been loosening its grip on N95 exports. Still, Einhorn worries his cargo plane will have trouble returning to the United States. Many of the supplies are not approved for use in the U.S. despite meeting all of the specifications, but hospitals are so desperate for equipment that they will take whatever they can get.”

https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3075289/china-boosts-face-mask-production-capacity-450-cent-month

“China has stepped up its capacity to produce face masks by more than five-fold in a span of one month amid the global coronavirus scare. The manufacturing feat is fanning concerns about a glut when infection cases taper off.

Total daily capacity surged to 110 million units at the end of February, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, from 20 million at the start of the month. At this rate, the country is set to churn out almost 10 times the volume it produced in 2019.

“It’s a no-brainer that this will eventually lead to an overcapacity,” said Gao Shen, an independent manufacturing sector analyst based in Shanghai. “The profit margin in this business is extremely thin and demand will drop when the viral outbreak is contained.””

[gardenmom5]

I don't know the best place to share this - but I thought it was worth giving attention.

 

Harbor freight is donating their entire supply of PPE items to ER's.  they do have a link in the form for hospitals in need to equipment to click to get on their list.

[Ausmumof3]

SA health remain “deeply committed to keeping the schools open” because children in china showed very low rates of transmission except where they caught it from their parent... um maybe that’s because they closed the schools and most of their schools are still closed although some regions have reopened!  Duh!  I hope I’m wrong but I think there will be serious regrets about this decision in 2-3 weeks.

[lewelma]

They've given us 2 days to prepare. Complete lock down in NZ in 48 hours with road closures and NO domestic travel allowed. They are freezing rents, conserving fuel, closing all shops including carry out, stopping all non-urgent health care, closing parliament, and preparing to re-purpose private companies for the public good. The Police and Defense Force will enforce. The lock down will be in force for at least 4 weeks. 

We currently have 100 cases linked directly to international air travel, and 2 cases of community spread. They are testing widely and contact tracing still.  The lock down, however, came faster than expected. I think they decided, why wait? 

Edited March 23, 2020 by lewelma

[Pen]

6 minutes ago, lewelma said:

They've given us 2 days to prepare. Complete lock down in NZ with road closures and NO domestic travel allowed. They are freezing rents, conserving fuel, closing all shops including carry out. Police and The Defense Force to enforce. This will be in force for at least 4 weeks. 

We currently have 100 cases linked directly to international air travel, and 2 cases of community spread. They are testing widely and contact tracing still.  The lock down, however, came faster than expected. I think they decided, why wait? 

 

Impossible to know for sure how anything will turn out. 

But it Sounds excellent. 

If they can also do testing, it may well work to halt  the community spread and could possibly eradicate CV19 within NZ — if they can then keep NZ shut off from outside for long enough. 

[lewelma]

1 minute ago, Pen said:

But it Sounds excellent. 

If they can also do testing, it may well work to halt  the community spread and could possibly eradicate CV19 within NZ — if they can then keep NZ shut off from outside for long enough. 

I think we are all pleased. People were thinking in the past 2 days that it was time. We want to be Singapore not Italy. We have been testing, and the community spread is possibly 2 people. I think we are in time.  AirNZ is putting on extra flights to get everyone home, and then there will be NO domestic travel allowed. They will be closing the roads and airports. 

[lewelma]

2 minutes ago, StellaM said:

You have good leadership.

I hope these choices keep NZ'ers safer than many other places in the world. 

The leader of the opposition party has called for a halt on all election politicking. They will completely back the ruling party and our PM, Jacinda.  

[lewelma]

"Italy has banned any movement inside the country and closed all non-essential businesses as it desperately seeks to stem the spread of coronavirus following a horror weekend in which more than 1,400 people died."

 

We are doing this *now*, with a community spread of 2 people.  Am I understanding correctly, that Italy is blocking domestic travel only now?!?!?

[frogger]

I can't answer the above post but if this place is correct ?  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

-then the number of new cases per day in Italy finally dropped today. I really hope this is the begining of a downward trend for them!

Edited March 23, 2020 by frogger

[Pen]

12 minutes ago, lewelma said:

I think we are all pleased. People were thinking in the past 2 days that it was time. We want to be Singapore not Italy. We have been testing, and the community spread is possibly 2 people. I think we are in time.  AirNZ is putting on extra flights to get everyone home, and then there will be NO domestic travel allowed. They will be closing the roads and airports. 

 

You may do even better than Singapore   And have some advantages in having more food growing and other greater independence possible even if heading into winter is hard. 

And then may be able to have a fairly normal self contained to NZ new way of life in 4 weeks—while waiting for rest of world to get on top of their problems. 

Australia could probably still do similar, even though farther behind 8 ball.  And if NZ experiment goes well, maybe Australia will. 

Even without being an island, somewhere like Alaska might be able to also

I hope it goes really really well and that other places where it isn’t too late already will take notice and follow suit. 

[frogger]

I'm sorry. I haven't been able to keep up with this thread. Has this already been posted?

 

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56

 

 

[Ausmumof3]

56 minutes ago, StellaM said:

 

I don't know about SA, but in NSW there's finally been some movement on staff safety, with any staff in an at-risk group exempt from coming into school from tomorrow. I'm waiting to see if there is any work from home I can be given, but for some reason, I feel better about not going in now there is official advice. Hope SA is doing something similar. It's all been very badly handled.

ETA Teachers Federation NSW issued a statement saying they had lost all trust in our leaders, and will be calling for strike action if safety demands are not met. Apparently it took them a week of bargaining to get the at-risk teacher exemption.

 

I’m glad to hear that.  I think keeping your job open will be a lot easier with official advice.  It’s hard getting back to work after homeschooling and you don’t want to throw that away but there’s not much choice with something like this 

[Ausmumof3]

19 minutes ago, frogger said:

I'm sorry. I haven't been able to keep up with this thread. Has this already been posted?

 

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56

 

 

I haven’t seen that specifically but similar article from ABC offering three options and a similar opinion.  It makes sense to me.  Everyone here I talk to is saying ok if we have to do this let’s just do it properly now and get it over with instead of messing around.  Long term international borders may have to stay restricted Till we have a vaccine but maybe we can still get a handle on it domestically if we don’t waste any more time.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Selkie said:

Speaking of hugging, this reminds me of something I read that was written by a resident of northern Italy. She said that the hardest part of being on lockdown and wearing masks out in public is that they can no longer greet each other with their traditional hugs and kisses. Made me wonder how much of a role that tradition played in the spread of the virus.

My dd was saying this about Italians (and the French). She said, “they’re just so touch-y! Very physically interactive with other people.” 

[Bootsie]

3 hours ago, lewelma said:

"Italy has banned any movement inside the country and closed all non-essential businesses as it desperately seeks to stem the spread of coronavirus following a horror weekend in which more than 1,400 people died."

 

We are doing this *now*, with a community spread of 2 people.  Am I understanding correctly, that Italy is blocking domestic travel only now?!?!?

Movement has been very limited in much of Italy already, especially northern Italy.  Southern Italy has not been nearly as hard hit.  These restrictions are further restrictions that you cannot leave your municipality.  So, grocery stores are open, but you are supposed to go to the store in your town, not the neighboring town,.  

[Ausmumof3]

BNO - BREAKING: Spain reports 4,517 new cases of coronavirus and 462 new deaths since yesterday, raising total to 33,089 cases and 2,182 dead

[Bootsie]

On 3/22/2020 at 4:09 AM, elroisees said:

I'm in Germany and following the local numbers.  This Twitter post is not true. They most definitely are reporting the underlying condition AND coronavirus as a legit covid death. Here is an example of local reporting, though you might need Chrome to translate.  The local reporting matches the national for our state - I'm watching. Twitter twits are distributing a lot of bad info lately. https://www.gangelt.de/news/226-erster-corona-fall-in-nrw

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/germany-low-coronavirus-mortality-rate-puzzles-experts

I found this article that addresses this issue a bit more.  In Germany, if someone dies without having been tested, a test for coronavirus is not required.  So, if someone is found in their home dead, and had undetected coronavirus, that person may not show up as a coronavirus case OR a coronavirus death.  This really could not be a large enough group to explain the difference in critical/serious and death rates between Germany and Italy

[El...]

5 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/germany-low-coronavirus-mortality-rate-puzzles-experts

I found this article that addresses this issue a bit more.  In Germany, if someone dies without having been tested, a test for coronavirus is not required.  So, if someone is found in their home dead, and had undetected coronavirus, that person may not show up as a coronavirus case OR a coronavirus death.  This really could not be a large enough group to explain the difference in critical/serious and death rates between Germany and Italy

I think you're right that deaths at home can't possibly account for the difference.  The numbers are up today, and as of today we can't get together in groups of more than 2, home excepted. 

[Twolittleboys]

I know a lot of people here are interested in actual numbers/data so thought I would post the following for informational purposes. The numbers are for a specific (hard hit) area of Germany, posted on a fairly reliable news website, based on information by the Robert Koch Institut (kind of like the German CDC). As mentioned before, I think Germany has a very high test rate compared to many other countries (also saw some research about that) and I think data is quite reliable here (of course there are delays and errors but I doubt any intentional misstatements).

Cases total: 8011
Deaths: 40
Currently in hospital: 443
ICU: 146 (of above 443)
Ventilator: 121 (of above 146)
ICU beds total: 6100

I believe the data is from 2/3 of the hospitals in the region. Not sure whether the others don't have (many) cases or if they need to be added. However, the relationship between the numbers shouldn't be affected either way.

 

[Pippen]

Billings 'tinkerers' design reusable face mask for local battle against coronavirus

https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/billings-tinkerers-design-reusable-face-mask-for-local-battle-against/article_8a219883-188e-58b5-8a3e-5f21dc20894f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share

[Acadie]

5 hours ago, frogger said:

I'm sorry. I haven't been able to keep up with this thread. Has this already been posted?

 

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56

 

 

 

The concept of the hammer and the dance is a really interesting divergence from the Imperial College models, and has given us hope in my house! Thanks for posting. 

[Pen]

9 minutes ago, Pippen said:

Billings 'tinkerers' design reusable face mask for local battle against coronavirus

https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/billings-tinkerers-design-reusable-face-mask-for-local-battle-against/article_8a219883-188e-58b5-8a3e-5f21dc20894f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share

 

👍👍👍 Excellent!!!

[JennyD]

Update from Israel:

1238 cases, 1 death.  Testing has been significantly expanded -- 5000 in the last 24 hours -- and the government is trying to double that rate as fast as possible.  Some of the most recent cases have been in Israelis returning home, as Israel is sending airplanes to repatriate groups of citizens all over the world.  All returnees were either in quarantine in designated facilities or in self-quarantine, but I have a feeling that the self-quarantine option is about to be phased out.  Security services are sending texts to people who have been in contact with diagnosed cases.   The system uses SIM card ID numbers, not people's ID numbers, so some kids are getting messages too (and of course not reading them).  There is supposed to be an app soon that lets you check the tracking yourself.  

59 cases in the West Bank, where on Sunday the Palestinian Authority ordered everyone to stay home.  Chillingly, 2 cases in Gaza, both returnees from Pakistan who had been in quarantine.

We are still in mostly-lockdown: nearly everything is closed, and we are only supposed to go out for essentials and a few very narrow other activities. Police have been breaking up people congregating in parks and in haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhoods.  There are constant rumors of increasing restrictions, and it seems clear that something more will happen, but the details vary enormously.  The upcoming Passover holiday is a very big time for people here to travel (often overseas, although obviously that's not happening this year) and get together with family, so I am sure that officials are looking at those maps of Chinese people who traveled for Lunar New Year and trying to figure out how to avoid that sort of catastrophe.  Israel only owns 664 ventilators.  Many more are on order, but the severe underinvestment in the medical system has been animating Israel's response from the beginning.  

There was a proposal floated to delay Israel's switch to daylight savings time, which is supposed to happen on Friday, on the theory that it would discourage people from hanging out in the evening.  The government entity in charge of tech stuff put the kibosh on that, however.  Oh, and the unemployment rate has shot up to 17% from just 4% a few weeks ago.

The political situation remains agonizingly dysfunctional.  As I mentioned before, the speaker of the house used the coronavirus as an excuse to shut down the legislature in order to avoid a vote on his replacement.  (FWIW, I don't think this is a particularly controversial interpretation of his actions, even among people who support his party)  The Israeli Supreme Court was having none of it, though. and said that if the legislature was not reopened within a few days then the cellphone tracking program would be invalidated.  So the legislature reopened today and there is all sort of rancorous debate about how to allow quarantined members to vote, etc.  Still no majority government, though, which makes it exponentially more difficult to respond to this extraordinary challenge.  

On the bright side, some usually-gloomy Health ministry officials have been very very cautiously optimistic, saying that the restrictions appear to be working and then hopefully they can be loosened somewhat after Passover, which would be mid-April.  Less brightly, the one health official who has been the most on-the-ball from the beginning of this entire crisis said yesterday in an interview that they are currently working off an assumption that the peak of the virus will hit next winter (and are urgently trying to expand medical capacity before then).