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COVID-19 Pandemic: Transmissions, Deaths, Treatments, Vaccines, Interventions and More...

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Our school system is supposed to have the day off on Friday so that the teachers and staff can work out the logistics for kids to stay home and still take classes.
 
Fulton County schools (Atlanta) are closed tomorrow because one school employee has tested positive. No further details on where this person works or what will happen Wednesday.
 
From CNN:

China coronavirus cases are slowing, and schools and shops are reopening

From CNN's Yong Xiong in Shanghai

The numbers of new daily confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in China have dropped over the past few weeks.

China's National Health Commission reported 40 new confirmed cases of the virus Sunday, the lowest number of new cases in a day since Jan. 18.

Some shopping and dining attractions at Shanghai Disney Resort resumed operations Monday “as the first step of a phased reopening,” the Shanghai Disney announced in a statement.

Twelve out of 14 filed hospitals in Wuhan have been closed after many patients were discharged, according to China's state media People’s Daily.

And northwest China’s Qinghai province became the first province to reopen its schools in China, with more than 100 high schools opening earlier today.
 
Italian PM just announced the quarantine zone has been expanded from Lombardy to include the entire country.
 
Think it’s a matter of time before it happens at least in parts of this country.
Yep and sooner rather than later - much depends on population density, too, which hasn't been discussed much. The more people per area, the more interactions and opportunities for spread, which is why I've been saying DC to Boston is acutely at risk for skyrocketing infection rates and quarantines. Probably most other major cities, too.
 
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Yep and sooner rather than later - much depends on population density, too, which hasn't been discussed much.
I don't get what this has to do with the average IQ of the population.
 
Yep and sooner rather than later - much depends on population density, too, which hasn't been discussed much. The more people per area, the more interactions and opportunities for spread, which is why I've been saying DC to Boston is acutely at risk for skyrocketing infection rates and quarantines. Probably most other major cities, too.

I keep hearing about quarantines. Give me some idea of what type of quarantine would be possible in this area? Tell people to stay home at all times (cops arresting people if the leave their house)? Limit public gatherings like school? Dont travel to other areas (shut down 95 and other major roads - national guard setting up barriers)? What are we talking about here?
 
on Wed NYU will be doing remote classes though the following week
 
I keep hearing about quarantines. Give me some idea of what type of quarantine would be possible in this area? Tell people to stay home at all times (cops arresting people if the leave their house)? Limit public gatherings like school? Dont travel to other areas (shut down 95 and other major roads - national guard setting up barriers)? What are we talking about here?
I believe people in China and parts of Korea and Italy still go out but mainly for their necessities and such and then go back home.

From an article:

All public gatherings, including weddings and funerals, are also banned, and sport events are suspended. Theaters, gyms, ski resorts, and discos are shut down. Last week, Italy closed all schools until March 15. On Monday, Conte said that order would be extended almost a full month until April 3rd.
 
I believe people in China and parts of Korea and Italy still go out but mainly for their necessities and such and then go back home.

From an article:

All public gatherings, including weddings and funerals, are also banned, and sport events are suspended. Theaters, gyms, ski resorts, and discos are shut down. Last week, Italy closed all schools until March 15. On Monday, Conte said that order would be extended almost a full month until April 3rd.
In Italy people are still going to work if they can't work remotely, so it's not a full economic shutdown like there was in Wuhan.
 
I know that in parts of China they give people passes and allow them out once a week or so for supplies. In other parts (Wuhan in particular) they don't let people out but supplies (food etc) can be ordered on line and delivered to their building or door.
 
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From CNN:

More than 70% of coronavirus cases in China have recovered, WHO says

From CNN’s Jacqueline Howard

Of the 80,000 confirmed coronavirus cases reported in China, "more than 70% have recovered and been discharged," according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in a news conference on Monday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the outbreak in his opening remarks, saying it's important to remember "of all the cases reported globally so far, 93% are from just four countries."

The director-general emphasized that the situation can still be controlled.

"The bottom line is," Tedros said, "we are not at the mercy of this virus."


The average age of death from coronavirus is 80, US surgeon general says

From CNN's Betsy Klein

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams discussed some specific data that shows who is at risk for novel coronavirus.

“People over the age of 60 are much more likely to develop complications from the coronavirus and to be hospitalized,” Adams said, adding that the average age of death from coronavirus is 80.

Children and young adults are more likely to die from the flu than coronavirus, Adams said during brief remarks at Monday's White House press briefing. He added that people should “be reassured by that.”

However, he noted, even though young people aren’t at risk for dying from coronavirus, they could potentially spread the virus to people in communities and people with chronic diseases, reiterating basic precautions to prevent community spread, such as covering coughs.
 
Once a few teachers or students get it, no one will send their kids to school.

The State of NJ needs to be proactive here
It's coming. My school is starting to feel the paranoia setting in as there were 6 parents that wouldn't let their students attend school just because of the fear of the virus. We obviously don't have any cases we know of yet or we would be closed.
 
It's coming. My school is starting to feel the paranoia setting in as there were 6 parents that wouldn't let their students attend school just because of the fear of the virus. We obviously don't have any cases we know of yet or we would be closed.
From what I read kids aren’t the ones to worry about as far as having health issues. You have to worry about kids being “healthy” or asymptomatic carriers to more vulnerable populations like the elderly.
 
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Governor Murphy declares State of Emergency in NJ. These are usually somewhat symbolic, allowing for mobilization of resources for preparedness and emergency response, but it also signals a ratcheting up of the risk as we went from 6 to 11 confirmed cases since yesterday and 24 more are under investigation, which means we likely have hundreds of people walking around with the virus who probably just don't have symptoms or who maybe think they have the flu. Schools will almost certainly be closed shortly along with other public activities/locations. Stay safe out there folks.

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/03/nj-declares-state-of-emergency-over-coronavirus-concerns.html
 
It's coming. My school is starting to feel the paranoia setting in as there were 6 parents that wouldn't let their students attend school just because of the fear of the virus. We obviously don't have any cases we know of yet or we would be closed.
I guess we need to let the crazy run its course. Fascinating to watch.
 
One of the electrical shutdowns my company was supposed to do this weekend in NJ has cancled due to corona. For some reason they stopped all weekend work for contractors but weekday work can still go on. I guess you cant catch Corona Monday - Friday lol
 
One of the electrical shutdowns my company was supposed to do this weekend in NJ has cancled due to corona. For some reason they stopped all weekend work for contractors but weekday work can still go on. I guess you cant catch Corona Monday - Friday lol
HA! Good one.
 
Interesting study on transmission rates from Germany. Very transmissible even from someone's breath, without coughing/sneezing and transmissible before and after symptoms, so staying away from people and crowds is still the best advice. And not nearly as much of a concern from surfaces, but that doesn't mean sanitization/handwashing aren't still recommended.

Social distancing to prevent infection
Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, which publishes CIDRAP News, said that the results challenge the World Health Organization's assertion that COVID-19 can be contained.

The findings confirm that COVID-19 is spread simply through breathing, even without coughing, he said. They also challenge the idea that contact with contaminated surfaces is a primary means of spread, Osterholm said.

"Don't forget about hand washing, but at the same time we've got to get people to understand that if you don't want to get infected, you can't be in crowds," he said. "Social distancing is the most effective tool we have right now."


http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/03/study-highlights-ease-spread-covid-19-viruses
 
It's almost already too late - it's about to get bad out there in many ways. While this isn't the Andromeda Strain or the 1918 Flu Pandemic, it's much worse than a regular flu season, for mortality rates and serious complications, especially for those over 65, even if total deaths will likely be well less than any flu season, because I assume we're about to embark on major interventions shortly, which should at least prevent that, and we're going to see some major impacts in the US shortly.
Missed this reply last night but I agree, it's probably too late to avoid major impacts especially in places like NYC. I think there is still time to cancel events and enforce quarantines to prevent things from getting Wuhan-level bad, but that kind of stuff needs to be implemented...before it gets Wuhan-level bad (or Italy-level bad). Which is why I always laugh at the crowd whining "why should we close schools when there have only been 200 cases in the whole country blah blah blah".

Still only 620 cases in the US...yeah, right. Where's all that testing happening?
 
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I guess we need to let the crazy run its course. Fascinating to watch.
It is amazing. Right now, our poor school janitor is wiping the exterior and interior door knobs and handles to all the doors every 2 hours to stop "transmission of the virus". We also have a substitute shortage because nobody is taking any sub jobs.

Covid talk has now replaced snow day talk as the teacher complaining in the lunchroom. :WideSmile:
 
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Interesting study on transmission rates from Germany. Very transmissible even from someone's breath, without coughing/sneezing and transmissible before and after symptoms, so staying away from people and crowds is still the best advice. And not nearly as much of a concern from surfaces, but that doesn't mean sanitization/handwashing aren't still recommended.

Social distancing to prevent infection
Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, which publishes CIDRAP News, said that the results challenge the World Health Organization's assertion that COVID-19 can be contained.

The findings confirm that COVID-19 is spread simply through breathing, even without coughing, he said. They also challenge the idea that contact with contaminated surfaces is a primary means of spread, Osterholm said.

"Don't forget about hand washing, but at the same time we've got to get people to understand that if you don't want to get infected, you can't be in crowds," he said. "Social distancing is the most effective tool we have right now."


http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/03/study-highlights-ease-spread-covid-19-viruses
If just breathing can transmit it that sounds like it should be a lot more contagious than whatever that ratio of how many people an infected person can transfer the disease that has been reported like 2-3 or something like that. That seems like something closer to measles contagiousness vs flu contagiousness.

Found another article on it with some better news about infectiousness for mild patients who may test positive up to weeks after illness.

From the article:

People who contract the novel coronavirus emit high amounts of virus very early on in their infection, according to a new study from Germany that helps to explain the rapid and efficient way in which the virus has spread around the world.

At the same time, the study suggests that while people with mild infections can still test positive by throat swabs for days and even weeks after their illness, those who are only mildly sick are likely not still infectious by about 10 days after they start to experience symptoms.

The researchers monitored the viral shedding of nine people infected with the virus. In addition to tests looking for fragments of the virus’s RNA, they also tried to grow viruses from sputum, blood, urine, and stool samples taken from the patients. The latter type of testing — trying to grow viruses — is critical in the quest to determine how people infect one another and how long an infected person poses a risk to others.

Importantly, the scientists could not grow viruses from throat swabs or sputum specimens after day 8 of illness from people who had mild infections.

“Based on the present findings, early discharge with ensuing home isolation could be chosen for patients who are beyond day 10 of symptoms with less than 100,000 viral RNA copies per ml of sputum,” the authors said, suggesting that at that point “there is little residual risk of infectivity, based on cell culture.”

Public health officials and hospitals have been trying to make sense of patients who seem to have recovered from Covid-19 but who still test positive for the virus based in throat swabs and sputum samples. In some cases, people test positive for weeks after recovery, the World Health Organization has noted.

The researchers found very high levels of virus emitted from the throat of patients from the earliest point in their illness —when people are generally still going about their daily routines. Viral shedding dropped after day 5 in all but two of the patients, who had more serious illness. The two, who developed early signs of pneumonia, continued to shed high levels of virus from the throat until about day 10 or 11.

This pattern of virus shedding is a marked departure from what was seen with the SARS coronavirus, which ignited an outbreak in 2002-2003. With that disease, peak shedding of virus occurred later, when the virus had moved into the deep lungs.

Shedding from the upper airways early in infection makes for a virus that is much harder to contain. The scientists said at peak shedding, people with Covid-19 are emitting more than 1,000 times more virus than was emitted during peak shedding of SARS infection, a fact that likely explains the rapid spread of the virus. The SARS outbreak was contained after about 8,000 cases; the global count of confirmed Covid-19 cases has already topped 110,000.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/09...-likely-not-infectious-after-recovery-begins/
 
It is amazing. Right now, our poor school janitor is wiping the exterior and interior door knobs and handles to all the doors every 2 hours to stop "transmission of the virus". We also have a substitute shortage because nobody is taking any sub jobs.

Covid talk has now replaced snow day talk as the teacher complaining in the lunchroom. :WideSmile:
We made our final decision for the new Lower School Head and when we debriefed the Head we ended up speaking for almost an hour about virus prep. Nobody at our school is worried about the virus itself, but rather the crazy paranoia of others - the state, feds, parents, other local districts, etc. Public districts are the most susceptible to craziness due to BOEs.
 
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We made our final decision for the new Lower School Head and when we debriefed the Head we spoke for almost an hour about virus prep. Nobody at our school is worried about the virus itself, but rather the crazy paranoia by others - the state, feds, parents, other local districts, etc. Public districts are the most susceptible to craziness due to BOEs.
The biggest issue with schools is not the health of the children, since serious infection rates in children has been surprisingly low, but rather, children (and teachers/staff) spreading the virus around like wildfire, as happens with children, and then going home and infecting parents, grandparents, etc., who are far more vulnerable to serious symptoms and death. I also sincerely doubt the leadership of the Montgomery school district isn't "worried" about the virus - if so, they're the only ones - more likely you just continuing to downplay this.
 
The biggest issue with schools is not the health of the children, since serious infection rates in children has been surprisingly low, but rather, children (and teachers/staff) spreading the virus around like wildfire, as happens with children, and then going home and infecting parents, grandparents, etc., who are far more vulnerable to serious symptoms and death. I also sincerely doubt the leadership of the Montgomery school district isn't "worried" about the virus - if so, they're the only ones - more likely you just continuing to downplay this.
Why do you think I'm talking about Monty public?
 
Rutgers has not yet made a decision, but has asked all professors to develop a plan to transition to online instruction for the remainder of the semester.
 
Rutgers has not yet made a decision, but has asked all professors to develop a plan to transition to online instruction for the remainder of the semester.
My wife is a professor at an upstate NY university. They are on spring break this week but are preparing in the same way. So far there haven't been any cases confirmed in this area but it's just a matter of time.
 
Rutgers has not yet made a decision, but has asked all professors to develop a plan to transition to online instruction for the remainder of the semester.
My son's grad school classes are already switched to on-line, so he's taking them from home now (he wanted out of the NB flophouse for the duration)...
 
Drive through testing has popped up here now at UW for their employees with test taking 5 minutes and results in a day or two.

From the article:

Employees of the University of Washington's UW Medicine system can now get tested for coronavirus without leaving their cars.

The system's medical center in northwest Seattle has turned a hospital garage lot into a drive-through clinic that can test a person every five minutes. They typically get results within a day or so.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health...drive-through-coronavirus-testing-for-workers
 
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