Has the Corona Virus infected anyone you know?

[Rudy]

Indirectly, yes. I tore my ACL and meniscus on duty back in February. I can't have surgery until after this is all over. 

[FirefightnRick]

“The Trail Leading Back To The Wuhan Labs”

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-china-trail-leading-back-to-wuhan-labs/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

 

 

 

Rick

[Censored by Laurie]

The QAnon 12 Stages of Grief

1. hoax
2. nothing to see here
3. blown out of proportion
4. the media hates the president. 
5. hmm...maybe this is real?
6. ugh...my 401K
7. here's a list of pharmaceuticals I know will cure this
8. this is NYC's/China's/Media's/Gays' fault!
9. wait...maybe this isn't real...?
10. fake death numbers!
11. chinese chemical warfare conspiracy!
12. buy guns

[Rudy]

One of our guys has tested positive. 

[Monkeypox]

I can give you my numbers, but I only work in coding, billing, and consulting, so I do not have direct patient care. I work for 4 different companies in Dallas, Houston, and Ft Worth, and we have patients in every major hospital. Between the approximately 1200 patients whose paperwork I process (including their coding) and submit to both insurance and CMS, we've had 22 deaths in the last three weeks related to respiratory illnesses. I do about $100,000 worth of claims a day, and I read about 6000 patient notes on a weekly basis. Deaths are NOT being recorded as Coronavirus (U07.1) deaths when they have not yet had positive test results back. They might be doing that regularly in some places, but not anything I've seen (and I'm still only seeing a small percentage of the overall).

Since we're still getting caught up on testing, a number of patients have died on day 3-4, and we're still waiting test results for them on day 10-11. They are being coded for pneumonia or R99 for the most part. This means that there are currently deaths that have NOT and NEVER WILL BE reported as Coronavirus (I have 7 specifically right now), and many more that will be investigated (hopefully, but there's a major backlog right now) and added later.

As the CDC has stated is simply coding clarification meant to capture the most accurate patient information. There are separate codes for probable coronavirus U07.1, U07.2 (most of whom have been getting coded for pneumonia or any number of other respiratory illnesses for the better part of a month now), and potentially R99.

And keep in mind, the coding instructions for the CDC are not flying into the hospitals, nursing homes, and coroner's offices and coding for them. Death certificates contain MULTIPLE codes, beginning with the IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF DEATH. They'll generally contain up to 3 or 4 codes. Coders and individual physicians and coroners are going to code how they're going to code. You can have two physicians seeing the same patient, and you could get completely different answers depending on who filled out the paperwork.

It should also be noted that, as our Covid-19 death reporting has gone up, our pneumonia deaths have gone down roughly 30%, but are still nearly twice above our regular average for this time of year. 

At this point, neither our death rate nor our total numbers of cases are anywhere near accurate.  But I'll say we're not OVERSTATING deaths due to Coronavirus right now, from what I've seen dealing with some of the most populated cities and counties in the state. But while we're understating the deaths, we're also understating the cases, so the rate itself is meaningless at this point, and probably will continue to be until we're through about 3 waves of it.

On a personal note, I'm getting to wait an extra two weeks to get assessed for possible lymphoma or pneumothorax, because I have a cough - a cough that's as likely being caused by a lung tear or chest mass at this point as Covid, but we're gonna throw an antibiotic at it for now. I've found it near impossible to get a Covid test (as a proven negative would get me in for ultrasound/CT/biopsy), because I'm not "sick enough", as I've not had a fever (and I'm on week 3-4 of having the cough).

[keith]

8 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

“The Trail Leading Back To The Wuhan Labs”

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-china-trail-leading-back-to-wuhan-labs/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Rick

Early on when there was a lot of discussion about the potential source of the virus (bat soup, the Wuhan wet market, the virology lab, bat guano, snake meat, etc.) someone on a radio show I was listening to said something I thought was interesting.  He said, and I paraphrase because I don't recall the exact words..."if you see a giraffe walking down the street in your neighborhood, it wouldn't be unreasonable for you to assume it escaped from the local zoo."

Edited April 9, 2020 by keith

[FirefightnRick]

@Monkeypox, praying for you to receive some good news in a couple of weeks.

 

Rick

[Monkeypox]

22 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

@Monkeypox, praying for you to receive some good news in a couple of weeks.

 

Rick

Thanks. It's just a weird situation, because this basically happened RIGHT at the beginning of the Covid outbreak, and they'd normally be rushing me in to poke and prod and test everything. But here we are...

[THOR]

bill maher makes some good points, don't know if they are all correct, but he makes sense about some of the things we have been arguing about.  there are a few bad words in this video

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEfDwc2G2_8

Edited April 11, 2020 by THOR

[KRAM1]

On 4/11/2020 at 9:32 AM, THOR said:

bill maher makes some good points, don't know if they are all correct, but he makes sense about some of the things we have been arguing about.  there are a few bad words in this video

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEfDwc2G2_8

Voice of reason...and Bill Maher...who knew? Solid comments...thanks for posting Thor!

[CMJ]

China may be at the start of a second wave.  https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-reports-108-coronavirus-cases-004936630.html

[meangreendork]

13 hours ago, CMJ said:

China may be at the start of a second wave.  https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-reports-108-coronavirus-cases-004936630.html

Lots of experts have talked about a second wave, so this no shock, even if still frightening.

Looks like they're worried about the same thing Taiwan and South Korea are worried, too as they start to flatten out, but they're quarantining and testing incoming travelers so it should help.

[Quoner]

Two good links for today with proper advanced apologies:

• A data-driven look at why the whole concept of a tradeoff the economy for lockdowns is flawed (along with a reasonable path back): https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/08/998785/stop-covid-or-save-the-economy-we-can-do-both/?fbclid=IwAR3lUQwQTNK_4JLukNA8YBf3d4bVIN0-Q_IalRg7D0rwajliAletpVEde3o (sorry it is just some MIT eggheads and not like Joe Rogan, Bill Maher or a car thermometer on a hot day)
   
• A leaked cable showed US Embassy officials were actively worrying about this lab in January 2018 https://www.thedailybeast.com/leaked-cable-shows-us-officials-flagged-safety-issues-at-wuhan-lab-years-ago (sorry for the Daily Beast link, but the odds of anyone here having a WaPo subscription feel extremely low)

Quote

“The cable tells us that there have long been concerns about the possibility of the threat to public health that came from this lab’s research, if it was not being adequately conducted and protected.” There is no evidence that the novel coronavirus was engineered, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility that it may have originated in the lab, which spent years testing bat coronaviruses in animals. “The cable was a warning shot,” one unnamed U.S. official told the newspaper. “They were begging people to pay attention to what was going on.”

 

[CMJ]

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/coronavirus/news/2020-04-14-coronavirus-mutation-india-hinder-development-vaccine-covid19

[ntmeangreen11]

Dont be Karen. She is now deceased and as you can see by the last thing she posted on social media obviously underestimated this virus.

Edited April 14, 2020 by ntmeangreen11

[meanJewGreen]

The virus hasn't infected me, but it affected me.

I was laid off March 26th from my Human Resources and Talent Management role in Austin. If anyone might have any HR leads, or has some projects for me to work on remotely during this time, please let  me know. Happy to share my resume with any of you.

 

 

 

 

[FirefightnRick]

Sorry to hear that @meanJewGreen.  Were you given any indication that the job would be available to you once things open back up?

 

Rick

[meanJewGreen]

6 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Sorry to hear that @meanJewGreen.  Were you given any indication that the job would be available to you once things open back up?

 

Rick

Layoff, not furlough. Don't really want to go back- not great to work for- on to better things. Plus 35% of the employees they laid off were MG alums. 

[FirefightnRick]

On 4/2/2020 at 9:36 AM, FirefightnRick said:

Also there’s reports of suicide Hotline call rates climbing for obvious reasons..

And my cop friends are telling me domestic violence calls are starting to rise and we are experiencing the same as well.

 

Rick

 

As I feared......

 

In less than a month, 4 Fort Worth child deaths have triggered 4 abuse investigations

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article241967091.html

 

....”Officials with Cook Children’s Medical Center announced that health care workers had seen seven children who had been severely physically abused between March 17-21. Doctors at Cook Children’s said they believed the increase in abuse cases was connected to stress people are feeling while isolated at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Child advocates said in March that they feared the school closings triggered by efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus would suppress reports of violence against children because educators no longer had regular contact with children.”....

 

 

Rick

[Pavlovs Eagle]

Received our SBA money for one of our businesses today after scooting by last week's payroll by barely the seat of our pants. Expecting the other business's check to arrive next week, not hugely important because it's better funded.

Talked to some industry contacts in my world.  Many are taking the checks with no intention of following the guidelines for repayment.  They're just planning to refi the debt in 24 months when it comes due.  I am doing everything in my power to avoid the repayment.  The 25% rule on Rent/Utilities/CAMS really sucks though.

I can't even get some of our landlords on the phone to tell them they shouldn't expect April's rents.  I'll just deal with it when the default letters show.  The larger landlords have fired so many people they can't keep up with the call volumes from tenants and they've canned many of the property managers who were the boots on the ground to padlock front doors. Hope no one has any investments in CMBS.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Pavlovs Eagle

[Coach Andy Mac]

5 minutes ago, Pavlovs Eagle said:

The 25% rule on Rent/Utilities/CAMS really sucks though.

What is that?  Appreciating your updates cause I’m thinking a my bro in laws company may need to file. 

[Pavlovs Eagle]

2 minutes ago, Coach Andy Mac said:

What is that?  Appreciating your updates cause I’m thinking a my bro in laws company may need to file. 

75% of the loan proceeds must go to payroll costs.  25% is the limit on the amount you can use for rent/Utilities/mortgage interest/cams.  Of that 75% used for payroll expense, there's some much more specific language on guaranteeing a certain percentage of the staff's original salary.  It is specific to specifying a previous period of time and comparing it that employee's expense during that period (this is the part many aren't reading through).  No personal guarantee is needed, but criminal prosecution (federal crime I assume) is laid out in case any desperate owner wants to star in an episode of American Greed.

https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program-ppp#section-header-5

If your brother is a SMB owner I'd read up and apply.  He can work through whoever he has a business banking relationship with.  If that bank has loaned him money, he's probably higher on the list for help than just business checking users (the bank has incentive to keep those with other loans outstanding propped up).

Take the money if you qualify.  At worst, it's fairly inexpensive debt that can be refi'ed into more traditional debt when the note comes due. At best, its free money that you don't have to repay if spent per the letter of the non-repayment rules.  If the treasury wants to flood the market with more fiat currency to help prop us all up during their mandated ceasing of commerce, be my guest.

 

[CMJ]

On 4/7/2020 at 10:37 AM, CMJ said:

 

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.  

I posted this a little over a week ago.  Today Coronavirus deaths passed seasonal flu.

 

A guy I know who has been trying to downplay this for weeks posted these numbers on April 1st, so we can see how fast it is growing.  On March 31st in the first three months of the year Seasonal flu deaths were estimated as 118,980 vs 35,016.  Now is is Corona 142,650 - Seasonal Flu 141,724.

 

He had several other things also posted in comparison, but Corona is gaining on most of them.  Basically he unwittingly proved the point of how dangerous this is since it has quickly made up a huge deficit.

Edited April 16, 2020 by CMJ

[FirefightnRick]

2 hours ago, CMJ said:

I posted this a little over a week ago.  Today Coronavirus deaths passed seasonal flu.

 

A guy I know who has been trying to downplay this for weeks posted these numbers on April 1st, so we can see how fast it is growing.  On March 31st in the first three months of the year Seasonal flu deaths were estimated as 118,980 vs 35,016.  Now is is Corona 142,650 - Seasonal Flu 141,724.

 

He had several other things also posted in comparison, but Corona is gaining on most of them.  Basically he unwittingly proved the point of how dangerous this is since it has quickly made up a huge deficit.

Of course the numbers are rising when deaths are being coded on a probable guess.

 

Rick  

 

[Censored by Laurie]

27 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

Of course the numbers are rising when deaths are being coded on a probable guess.

 

Rick  

 

dollar says you at least checked drive-time, Weatherford -to- Lansing, yesterday...