Has the Corona Virus infected anyone you know?

CMJ · April 7, 2020

41 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I posted this yesterday. Really fascinating video.

greenminer · April 7, 2020

Drive-through testing available for Fort Worth-area residents with coronavirus symptoms

peanuts104 · April 7, 2020

5 hours ago, greenminer said:

Governments are definitely not the only to blame.

How in the world in our information superhighway did a governor just this last week learn that the virus can spread through asymptomatic people? This isn't the only pandemic in our lifetime, so why are we acting like we had no idea what to do? Why do people tend to not take things seriously unless the problem knocks on their front door?

Complacency, laziness, ignorance....existed in nearly every facet: media, experts, society, etc... There are tons of issues revealing themselves here, and it's not just political problems at the top.

These next two weeks will tell us so much. Hopefully we will be on the other side of this together with good news.

I also hold the mainstream media responsible for this. You'd think China locking down basically the entire ******* country in January should have sent some clear signals to the mainstream press. I know I sure as **** was paying attention back in January. My friends called me crazy when I said that this would be a pandemic and would tank the world economy back in February.

keith · April 7, 2020

On 4/5/2020 at 3:36 PM, meangreenacct said:

Not sure why anyone would down vote a post of a timeline of COVID-19, unless they just don't like facts...

I didn't vote either way on the post in question, but I would say that people probably were not responding to "facts" with their votes. It comes across as nothing more than an anti-Trump diatribe which, to be honest, doesn't help and undermines whatever message the author attempted to get across. We get it by now. There are some people that love Trump and will defend anything he says or does. There are also people who despise Trump and will attack him for anything he says or does. Quite frankly it's tiresome. Initially, I was going to try and intersperse some other "facts" in the timeline, but in the end decided it was better to just ignore it all together.

Quoner · April 7, 2020

11 hours ago, peanuts104 said:

I also hold the mainstream media responsible for this. You'd think China locking down basically the entire ******* country in January should have sent some clear signals to the mainstream press. I know I sure as **** was paying attention back in January. My friends called me crazy when I said that this would be a pandemic and would tank the world economy back in February.

Weird... what can't that damn mainstream media do? In times like this, it's always a good and useful exercise to check the receipts. How did GMG.com think the media was doing a month ago?

On 3/11/2020 at 6:37 PM, UNTMike81 said:

Who in the heck do you think's influencing the advisory board. The media!!! Once again I'm going to have to hold my tongue, so I don't say anything to offend somebody.

The media is taking a megaphone into a crowded theater and yelling fire. In one sense, to a great degree. And somehow that seems to be okay.

however, if I was in a high risk factor group don't you think I might be smart enough to take certain precautions. As if I don't have a brain.

But to a certain extent big brother, figuratively speaking is thinking for me. Like I'm some sort of stupid clown.

ED NOTE: Oh no.

On 3/12/2020 at 11:31 AM, Pavlovs Eagle said:

The media control over this country is impressive.

Our PR agency just gave us some advice that may put us out of business without even hinting that it could negatively affect the trajectory of the business. I may reach out and let them know we'll start paying them a percentage of sales once we implement their advice.

Did they lose their retainer yet?

On 3/11/2020 at 5:18 PM, bstnsportsfan3 said:

The media has been blowing this thing way out of proportion

They blowed it all weird I guess.

On 3/11/2020 at 6:19 PM, UNTexas said:

I also think the media is blowing this out of proportion as usual. The sky isn't falling. The only thing that will deter the media is a baby panda bear being born.

Anyway, USWNT is playing at Toyota Stadium tonight in Frisco. Hopefully CUSA follows their lead at the Star.

Well, we got a tiger thing. That's fun. Carole Baskins...amirite or what?

Then, Billy made a very prescient point.

On 3/12/2020 at 11:28 AM, BillySee58 said:

Most of the people upset about this who are calling it an overreaction probably won’t change their minds until it hits close enough to home for them. Or until it has reached high enough confirmed infection/death numbers to where they can’t keep posting the same meme comparing COVID-19 numbers to flu numbers.

Hopefully by taking precautions like this these people can still look back in a few months and think they were right about calling these actions overreactionary. But in reality these measures may be the reason we can prevent it from getting to the point it is in over in Italy.

Just look at the huge tonal shifts we've seen from some of the leading posters on this thread!

On 3/10/2020 at 12:40 PM, FirefightnRick said:

What an absolutely stupid thing to do.

Rick

This is clearly no ebola - let them all play!

On 3/11/2020 at 9:58 AM, UNTLifer said:

The average age of the people that have died due to the coronavirus in the U.S. is at or a little above 80. Basically, if you have a compromised immune system then you should stay in and take extra precautions. All others should follow basic sanitation practices. FYI, I work in medical wellness and run a facility affiliated with a large healthcare system.

We've come a long way since lock up your sick and olds, wash your hands and wipe down the elliptical.

But in the end, as always, it was Judy McLeod's fault.

On 3/12/2020 at 11:04 AM, untbowler said:

just dumb, dumb, dumb

WTF!!

Guess NCAA will be cancelling the tournament as well. Just huge fear mongering ad panic right now.

Can someone please get rid of the CUSA leadership, just complete and utter incompetence

Edited April 7, 2020 by Quoner
missing word

FirefightnRick · April 7, 2020

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Rick

FirefightnRick · April 7, 2020

CDC head downplays COVID-19 models, says deaths will be 'much lower' than projected

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cdc-head-downplays-covid-19-models-says-deaths-will-be-much-lower-than-projected/ar-BB12fhcx?ocid=spartanntp

Rick

CMJ · April 7, 2020

Which proves social distancing measures are working, so we should keep them going for awhile. I'm still quite concerned about a second wave hitting in a few months, when people aren't gonna be willing to go through these sorts of measures again, so we need to make sure this wave is as small as possible.

The place where I really think this may hit hard is India. We probably won't now the numbers of dead for years. The H1N1 pandemic hit there really bad ten years ago and it was about 2-3 years before they had a good idea how many were killed there from it.

FirefightnRick · April 7, 2020

51 minutes ago, CMJ said:

Which proves social distancing measures are working, so we should keep them going for awhile. I'm still quite concerned about a second wave hitting in a few months, when people aren't gonna be willing to go through these sorts of measures again, so we need to make sure this wave is as small as possible.

We practice social distancing year around when there’s a risk of illness.

Get sick, don’t go to work. Get sick, stay home from school. Cover your cough. Wash your hands.

What we don’t need are businesses in regions least affected to stay shut down. We need them open and allow people to go back to work while remaining mindful of proper sanitary habits..

But rest assure,...there will be a second wave, just like there always is. It’s called Fall, when the temps drop and people start to shutter in more. And those with compromised immunities are going to get hit again the hardest because we will have prevented herd immunity back in the winter and early spring.

Rick

Edited April 7, 2020 by FirefightnRick

CMJ · April 7, 2020

11 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

We practice social distancing year around when there’s a risk of illness.

Get sick, don’t go to work. Get sick, stay home from school. Cover your cough. Wash your hands.

What we don’t need are businesses in regions least affected to stay shut down. We need them open and allow people to go back to work while remaining mindful of proper sanitary habits..

But rest assure,...there will be a second wave, just like there always is. It’s called Fall, when the temps drop and people start to shutter in more. And those with compromised immunities are going to get hit again the hardest because we will have prevented herd immunity back in the winter and early spring.

Rick

No, we don't practice social distancing like this. If we hadn't the deaths would have been much, much greater than they are now.

Deaths are still rising exponentially throughout most of the world. I know people like to talk about deaths versus influenza, etc but worldometers has a running count of those deaths (in an average year, because they are only tabulated later so no one really knows at the moment) on the site and the difference between the two has been shrinking greatly for the last week or so. I expect it to be close to zero in around a month if not before.

Edited April 7, 2020 by CMJ

Quoner · April 7, 2020

16 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

We practice social distancing year around when there’s a risk of illness.

Get sick, don’t go to work. Get sick, stay home from school. Cover your cough. Wash your hands.

What we don’t need are businesses in regions least affected to stay shut down. We need them open and allow people to go back to work while remaining mindful of proper sanitary habits..

But rest assure,...there will be a second wave, just like there always is. It’s called Fall, when the temps drop and people start to shutter in more. And those with compromised immunities are going to get hit again the hardest because we will have prevented herd immunity back in the winter and early spring.

Rick

Why is this no biggy when you were panicky about every single Ebola headline? Is it really just as simple as who the president is?

Edited April 7, 2020 by Quoner

FirefightnRick · April 7, 2020

2 minutes ago, CMJ said:

No, we don't practice social distancing like this.

50 schools across Texas closed this school year prior to February due to influenza outbreaks. So yes, we do. Just not on this scale which was unnecessary in every region.

Strangely the subways have remained operational.in NYC and they didn’t start to limit mass transit service till late March.

Rick

FirefightnRick · April 7, 2020

12 minutes ago, Quoner said:

Why is this no biggy when you were panicky about every single Ebola headline? Is it really just as simple as who the president is?

Who said it’s no biggie?

Rick

keith · April 7, 2020

25 minutes ago, Quoner said:

Why is this no biggy when you were panicky about every single Ebola headline? Is it really just as simple as who the president is?

Both are apparently very contagious. Ebola, however, has a much higher mortality rate if you get it (up to 90% in some past outbreaks, but averages around 50% - incredibly high) and it has nothing to do with being in a high risk category. If you get it, you have a good chance of dying. We won't know the total mortality rate of COVID-19 for some time, but it seems to be very dangerous to certain segments of the population rather than anyone who is infected.

The only good thing about Ebola is it tends to kill whoever it infects way before they have had an opportunity to infect a lot of other people so it "dies out" faster.

Edit: I should have added that Ebola seems to be about as close to a death sentence as you can get in the medical profession for the doctors, nurses, first responders and other medical staff that put their personal fears and anxieties aside and treat and care for Ebola patients.

Edited April 7, 2020 by keith

keith · April 7, 2020

1 hour ago, CMJ said:

Which proves social distancing measures are working, so we should keep them going for awhile. I'm still quite concerned about a second wave hitting in a few months, when people aren't gonna be willing to go through these sorts of measures again, so we need to make sure this wave is as small as possible.

The place where I really think this may hit hard is India. We probably won't now the numbers of dead for years. The H1N1 pandemic hit there really bad ten years ago and it was about 2-3 years before they had a good idea how many were killed there from it.

Actually, social distancing was not focused on reducing infections or, for that matter, deaths as a result of the virus. At its core, the goal of social distancing was to protect the health care system (i.e. hospitals) from being overwhelmed if everyone was infected at the same time. We may end up with the same number of infections (and deaths) but it will be spread out over a longer timeframe allowing the health care system to deal with it more effectively. Personally, I think the virus is going to do, what it's going to do. Hopefully, a beneficial side-effect of social distancing is less deaths, but all this really shows is that the predictive models for deaths may be off by orders of magnitude.

CMJ · April 7, 2020

23 minutes ago, keith said:

Actually, social distancing was not focused on reducing infections or, for that matter, deaths as a result of the virus. At its core, the goal of social distancing was to protect the health care system (i.e. hospitals) from being overwhelmed if everyone was infected at the same time. We may end up with the same number of infections (and deaths) but it will be spread out over a longer timeframe allowing the health care system to deal with it more effectively. Personally, I think the virus is going to do, what it's going to do. Hopefully, a beneficial side-effect of social distancing is less deaths, but all this really shows is that the predictive models for deaths may be off by orders of magnitude.

Social distancing was incredibly effective in cities that did it during the 1918 pandemic. So I'd say it definitely brought down deaths in those cities that heavily instituted it then.

FirefightnRick · April 7, 2020

Everyone in Texas today getting the interior of their cars disinfected for free. Especially if your windshield is facing west and the windows are rolled up.

Rick

greenminer · April 8, 2020

Social distancing reduces deaths. When the curve is flattened enough so health care isn’t overwhelmed, less people die because more people are getting the necessary health care to survive.

greenminer · April 8, 2020

We are heading to where I considered a few weeks ago:

In a pandemic, there is no quality balance. You either attack it with aggressive NPIs and choke it, or you lose.

Then, when all is said and done and for example social distancing worked, you get low numbers. So you inevitably end up with a crowd that looks at those numbers and (wrongly) claim that the NPIs were not necessary.

I know this is frustrating, but you either over-react, or you lose. There is no in-between.

Edited April 8, 2020 by greenminer

keith · April 8, 2020

21 hours ago, greenminer said:

Social distancing reduces deaths. When the curve is flattened enough so health care isn’t overwhelmed, less people die because more people are getting the necessary health care to survive.

Not trying to be argumentative, just probing, but what when you say people are getting the necessary health care to survive are you referring to COVID-19 health care or "normal" non-COVID-19 life saving health care that people are able to receive because the hospitals are not full?

For COVID-19 health care, I hear Gov. Cuomo say almost every day, that if you go on a ventilator, you don't come off. I don't know if he means 100% don't come off or some other high percentage. So going on a ventilator may be more palliative care rather than health care. For whatever reason, there may not have been anything medical science could have done to save them. Many people do get released from the hospital. Why? What made this disease different for them? What health care did they receive? Was it just fluids and rest to let the body's immune system fight it off? Was it drugs? We've heard about some drugs being tired (tamiflu, hydroxychloroquine, z-pack, zinc, redemisivir, HIV drugs, others?).

Maybe someone knows all the answers, but the data hasn't been made available to the general public to draw any conclusions. All we get (for the most part) is very aggregated number of cases, deaths, recovered, etc.

For non-COVID-19 health care (heart attacks, accidents, cancer treatments, etc.), the 1,000 bed Navy hospital ship Comfort was docked in NYC to take care of those patients. After several days, according to some reports, there were very few patients being treated on the Comfort. Perhaps social distancing did have a direct impact on the number of non-COVID-19 emergency room visits because everyone was at home. This could be viewed as a positive outcome from a health care perspective, but I'm not sure this is how we want to live our lives.

Unfortunately some patients were transferred from the Javits Center to the Comfort and brought the disease with them. They were trying to keep the Comfort disease-free, but in the end couldn't. I believe the Comfort may be treating COVID-19 patients as well now.

21 hours ago, greenminer said:

We are heading to where I considered a few weeks ago:

In a pandemic, there is no quality balance. You either attack it with aggressive NPIs and choke it, or you lose.

Then, when all is said and done and for example social distancing worked, you get low numbers. So you inevitably end up with a crowd that looks at those numbers and (wrongly) claim that the NPIs were not necessary.

I know this is frustrating, but you either over-react, or you lose. There is no in-between.

I tend to agree with your last sentence. This is about as difficult of a rock and hard place situation as you could possibly find yourself in. I don't envy anyone faced with making such difficult decisions.

My personal view (and that's all it is) is that I would caution any declaration of social distancing (or any one response) as being a success or failure at this point. It's too early and there are just too many other variables involved. There is an old saying that correlation does not equal causation and I think that applies here. Some might say that new hospitalizations (ICU cases, deaths, etc.) have decreased as the calendar turned over to April and the weather started warming up (they did after all) or that we finally started (at least in NYC - the streets appear empty, but there have been some crowded subway cars) to build some level of herd immunity or that the use of masks has started to make a difference. Was this all about social distancing, a coincidence, a combination or some other factors we don't understand yet?

Edited April 8, 2020 by keith

GrandGreen · April 8, 2020

Of course, social distancing works. Any logic at all would generate that conclusion.

It hinders the rapid spread of any contagious disease spread by social contact.

Causality is obvious. It can be argued if mandated closures are necessary, but not that they work to limit the spread of the disease.

Edited April 8, 2020 by GrandGreen

keith · April 8, 2020

Social distancing NYC-style....

https://nypost.com/2020/03/24/coronavirus-in-nyc-subway-cut-backs-leads-to-packed-commute/

Hopefully better hygiene (washing your hands, not touching your face, wearing masks, better/more frequent sanitation of subway cars) is all playing a role too.

Edited April 8, 2020 by keith