Coronavirus

[ProfessorPeart]

Some positive news today

https://news.yahoo.com/cdc-tells-states-prepare-distribution-231945460.html

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told governors last week to prepare for the "large-scale" distribution of a coronavirus vaccine by Nov. 1, according to a letter obtained Wednesday by NBC News.
...
It remains highly uncertain, however, whether a vaccine will be ready by then or which manufacturer will make it. The Nov. 1 target date is two days before the presidential election.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/corticosteroids-deemed-an-effective-inexpensive-and-safe-treatment-for-severe-covid-19-230437532.html

The World Health Organization released official guidance on Wednesday recommending that doctors use corticosteroids to treat “severe and critical COVID-19 patients,” a decision timed to the release of a major meta-analysis of research in JAMA showing that the anti-inflammatory drug — used to treat conditions like arthritis — is capable of reducing the mortality rate for COVID-19 patients by as much as a third.

You know, all this talk of fast-tracking plus the date interestingly just before the election - color me suspicious. I am the furthest thing from a denier, but if they try to jam a vaccine down our throats for what might appear to be political reasons, I'll wait and see how the first batch of takers plays out.

I want a vaccine more than anyone, but I also want it done right and properly vetted and tested. Not fast-tracked through the system.

[The Walrus]

https://www.insider.com/wear-face-mask-during-sex-says-canada-chief-medical-officer-2020-9

Okay now this is just silly. Go ahead and stick it in/get stuffed, but wear a mask while you have to breathe hot and heavy. WTF 

[cramx3]

https://www.insider.com/wear-face-mask-during-sex-says-canada-chief-medical-officer-2020-9

Okay now this is just silly. Go ahead and stick it in/get stuffed, but wear a mask while you have to breathe hot and heavy. WTF 

Well the hasidic jews have been doing something similar all this time  but yea, like, I typically like to kiss too.  No one will listen to this guideline.

[The Walrus]

Even if you weren't kissing, man, imagine how hot and sweaty your face would get. And how are you supposed to eat ass with a mask!?

[Stadler]

And I can't imagine any woman wants to kiss a guy (or have them toss the salad) with a mask tucked down under the chin.  "Mask" and "sex" sounds like a no win situation to me. 

[Adami]

https://www.insider.com/wear-face-mask-during-sex-says-canada-chief-medical-officer-2020-9

Okay now this is just silly. Go ahead and stick it in/get stuffed, but wear a mask while you have to breathe hot and heavy. WTF 

Well the hasidic jews have been doing something similar all this time  but yea, like, I typically like to kiss too.  No one will listen to this guideline.

Huh?

[T-ski]

My wife’s boss just had her best friend pass due to Covid a couple of weeks ago.  The family decided to plan a celebration of life get together for about 100 friends and family that will be held indoors and outdoors with catered food.

Both the wife and I are like......wut?

[cramx3]

https://www.insider.com/wear-face-mask-during-sex-says-canada-chief-medical-officer-2020-9

Okay now this is just silly. Go ahead and stick it in/get stuffed, but wear a mask while you have to breathe hot and heavy. WTF 

Well the hasidic jews have been doing something similar all this time  but yea, like, I typically like to kiss too.  No one will listen to this guideline.

Huh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jay8RAwE0iE 

[hunnus2000]

Kissing with masks, sheets with dick holes and now this - https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/09/glory-holes-pandemic-rise.html

 

[lordxizor]

Regarding the 6% COVID death thingy, I saw this today.  It was written by a friend of my cousin - the friend works in the medical industry. 

I feel that this is more believable and accurate than the CDC just up and deciding to eliminate 94% of COVID deaths.  This is pretty much how I've felt that the virus tends to work, in a similar manner to AIDS.  You don't die of "AIDS," you die of some illness that took hold in you because AIDS decimated your body and it couldn't fight anything off.


Since there’s some confusion, here’s a quick breakdown of the CDC’s weekly update of the COVID death count:

6% died strictly of COVID
+
94% died of things like respiratory failure caused by pneumonia caused by COVID, with COVID as the culprit. This group had other health problems too making it more difficult for them to fight the virus. They also sometimes developed new health problems from the virus.
=
100% of the 160,000+ people tracked by the CDC so far have died of COVID, not 6%.

Local radio personality put it best...if it wasn't for covid, 100% of those people would still be alive.

Maybe not 100% but certainly a very significant majority. With 80%+ of deaths coming in nursing home environments where the death rate is fairly high anyway, there were a decent chunk that weren't making it through the year regardless. Not that that diminishes the severity of Covid though.

Offcourse many people that died of covid where elderly, but the bolded line is not very likely. The flu does that yearly and already did it's usual sweep late 2019/early 2020. And more importantly: the excess death is significantly higher than other years over the last decade, in basically every western nation that tracks it, meaning that a lot more people are dying statistically than other years (which goes against the notion of "would've died this year regardless"). And the increase in excess deaths is even larger than the total amount of counted covid deaths, also to a signifcant degree.

USA excess death data:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm

The mortality rate in nursing homes is around 1/4 to 1/3 of the residents every year from all causes. I was only trying to dispute the statement that 100% of the people that died of Covid would still be alive if it weren't for Covid. Again, a significant portion of those that died of Covid were going to die in a nursing home from some other ailment (cancer, heart disease, just plain old age, etc) within weeks or months anyway. Also again, I'm not trying to dispute that Covid isn't dangerous or causing more deaths than a normal year. I don't think this is a difficult concept to grasp, but apparently it is.

[Stadler]

My wife’s boss just had her best friend pass due to Covid a couple of weeks ago.  The family decided to plan a celebration of life get together for about 100 friends and family that will be held indoors and outdoors with catered food.

Both the wife and I are like......wut?

Sounds like "lessons learned" to me!   

I don't mean to joke; my condolences to your wife's boss's friend, but still. 

[Luoto]

Chief doctors in the capital region of Finland have found that the virus may have become less aggressive. Despite of an increase in the number of confirmed cases and the estimated R number being above 1 in the area, the amount of patients requiring intensive care is basically zero which has surprised experts. Information on exposure tracing also initially suggests there are less elderly people being tested positive. More research and information is of course needed at this stage but it's an interesting observation, and chief doctors are already advising the government to revise their Covid strategy.

[cramx3]

Chief doctors in the capital region of Finland have found that the virus may have become less aggressive. Despite of an increase in the number of confirmed cases and the estimated R number being above 1 in the area, the amount of patients requiring intensive care is basically zero which has surprised experts. Information on exposure tracing also initially suggests there are less elderly people being tested positive. More research and information is of course needed at this stage but it's an interesting observation, and chief doctors are already advising the government to revise their Covid strategy.

I've read a few different theories from doctors that the virus may be weakening just based on what you said.  I certainly hope that is the case.

[jingle.boy]

Chief doctors in the capital region of Finland have found that the virus may have become less aggressive. Despite of an increase in the number of confirmed cases and the estimated R number being above 1 in the area, the amount of patients requiring intensive care is basically zero which has surprised experts. Information on exposure tracing also initially suggests there are less elderly people being tested positive. More research and information is of course needed at this stage but it's an interesting observation, and chief doctors are already advising the government to revise their Covid strategy.

I've read a few different theories from doctors that the virus may be weakening just based on what you said.  I certainly hope that is the case.

Oh, wouldn't that be nice!

[T-ski]

Could the virus be weakening or could the human immune system be figuring it out?

[Elite]

Yes.

[DragonAttack]

NO

Most of us are just being safer in our social interactions.  Others are unlucky, and most of the others are just careless.  Over 1K in fatalities in the States and Brazil show that it 'is what it is'.......deadly.

[Luoto]

Most of us are just being safer in our social interactions.

While true, that alone doesn't explain the trend here. Thousands of people have been exposed to infection during the last month.

[XJDenton]

On the other side of the coin: there's been plenty of recent research that shows that a significant proportion of even asymptotic COVID infectees suffer from permanent damage to the heart and lungs. Judging the deadliness of the disease can not be accurately judged until the long term effects are well characterised.

[ErHaO]

It is quite simple to explain in our case; the treatment plans are much better now. A press conference about a month ago explained the differences. They use three different types of drugs, as several have been approved due to good results (decreasing chances of ICU, as well as decreasing hospitalization time). And they also know that the illness is not just the respiratory tract, so they know to monitor other organs as well.

Furthermore, for a variety of reasons people in general are less susceptible to infections in the summer. There are plenty of studies indicating that the human immune system performs better in the summer.

And the poster above me is right, there are a lot of potential long term things we do not know. In germany they found active inflammations of the heart months after the fact, in patients that never went to the hospital.

That said, a virus can become less lethal over time, but I wouldn't celebrate just yet.

[Ben_Jamin]

It is quite simple to explain in our case; the treatment plans are much better now. A press conference about a month ago explained the differences. They use three different types of drugs, as several have been approved due to good results (decreasing chances of ICU, as well as decreasing hospitalization time). And they also know that the illness is not just the respiratory tract, so they know to monitor other organs as well.

Furthermore, for a variety of reasons people in general are less susceptible to infections in the summer. There are plenty of studies indicating that the human immune system performs better in the summer.

And the poster above me is right, there are a lot of potential long term things we do not know. In germany they found active inflammations of the heart months after the fact, in patients that never went to the hospital.

That said, a virus can become less lethal over time, but I wouldn't celebrate just yet.

Just because they didn't go to the hospital doesn't mean they didn't have problems.

Our quarantine restrictions have been eased a bit. You only quarantine if you arrive from land or air, coming from a hotspot state. So for us, that just leaves Colorado, where we can travel and don't have to quarantine upon return.

I'm still confused, exactly how they would know I went to a hotspot location?

[ErHaO]

It is quite simple to explain in our case; the treatment plans are much better now. A press conference about a month ago explained the differences. They use three different types of drugs, as several have been approved due to good results (decreasing chances of ICU, as well as decreasing hospitalization time). And they also know that the illness is not just the respiratory tract, so they know to monitor other organs as well.

Furthermore, for a variety of reasons people in general are less susceptible to infections in the summer. There are plenty of studies indicating that the human immune system performs better in the summer.

And the poster above me is right, there are a lot of potential long term things we do not know. In germany they found active inflammations of the heart months after the fact, in patients that never went to the hospital.

That said, a virus can become less lethal over time, but I wouldn't celebrate just yet.

Just because they didn't go to the hospital doesn't mean they didn't have problems.

Our quarantine restrictions have been eased a bit. You only quarantine if you arrive from land or air, coming from a hotspot state. So for us, that just leaves Colorado, where we can travel and don't have to quarantine upon return.

I'm still confused, exactly how they would know I went to a hotspot location?

Said study included asymptomatic cases, though a small number (n=18)  so scale remains to be seen. Unfortunately this will take time, but the point is to remain careful for the time being.

But more data is coming in since that study.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-19-can-wreck-your-heart-even-if-you-havent-had-any-symptoms/

[CrimsonSunrise]

But more data is coming in since that study.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-19-can-wreck-your-heart-even-if-you-havent-had-any-symptoms/

Damn....  just the link verbage scares the hell outta me!     ( I have heart disease and 3 stents)  I did read this article yesterday and found it interesting.  Especially the Vitamin D part.  If it's already been posted here my apologies...

https://elemental.medium.com/a-supercomputer-analyzed-covid-19-and-an-interesting-new-theory-has-emerged-31cb8eba9d63

It is a lengthy article but here is the Vitamin D section that really peaked my curiosity....

Interestingly, Jacobson’s team also suggests vitamin D as a potentially useful Covid-19 drug. The vitamin is involved in the RAS system and could prove helpful by reducing levels of another compound, known as REN. Again, this could stop potentially deadly bradykinin storms from forming. The researchers note that vitamin D has already been shown to help those with Covid-19. The vitamin is readily available over the counter, and around 20% of the population is deficient. If indeed the vitamin proves effective at reducing the severity of bradykinin storms, it could be an easy, relatively safe way to reduce the severity of the virus.

[cramx3]

I've been vitamin D deficient for awhile but last year when I started working out and getting into better shape I started taking vitamins. Just in time it seems to shed that obesity and get healthy. I feel fortunate that I took action when I did.

[hunnus2000]

I had heard of the benefits of vitamin D months ago along with vitamin C. If you find it hard to get vitamin D remember, you can also get this vitamin from the sun and boy howdy, did I get a bunch of vitamin D today! 

[ReaperKK]

There was great Radiolab episode on Vitamin D and it's usefulness in combating Covid, if anyone wants to listen here is a link https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/invisible-allies

[CrimsonSunrise]

There was great Radiolab episode on Vitamin D and it's usefulness in combating Covid, if anyone wants to listen here is a link https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/invisible-allies

Thanks!  I'll give it a listen when I get off work!

[lonestar]

Sturgis now linked to an estimated 250k cases of covid at a public health cost of over 12 billion dollars.

"We conclude that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion," the researchers wrote in a paper. "This is enough to have paid each of the estimated 462,182 rally attendees $26,553.64 not to attend."

[Adami]

Sturgis now linked to an estimated 250k cases of covid at a public health cost of over 12 billion dollars.

"We conclude that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion," the researchers wrote in a paper. "This is enough to have paid each of the estimated 462,182 rally attendees $26,553.64 not to attend."

Freedom isn’t free bro!

[gmillerdrake]

Sturgis now linked to an estimated 250k cases of covid at a public health cost of over 12 billion dollars.

"We conclude that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion," the researchers wrote in a paper. "This is enough to have paid each of the estimated 462,182 rally attendees $26,553.64 not to attend."

Freedom isn’t free bro!

While I will not defend the Sturgis gathering at all......I will say though that it'd be nice to have the numbers of Covid cases caused by the massive amount of BLM/Trump etc etc protests. I get wanting to point out what a bone head thing that was to allow to take place but it really is hypocritical to then ignore the large amount of protest and 'protesters' at these 'protests' and not put the effort into reporting how those are aiding in the spread of the virus as well. 

[Adami]

Sturgis now linked to an estimated 250k cases of covid at a public health cost of over 12 billion dollars.

"We conclude that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion," the researchers wrote in a paper. "This is enough to have paid each of the estimated 462,182 rally attendees $26,553.64 not to attend."

Freedom isn’t free bro!

While I will not defend the Sturgis gathering at all......I will say though that it'd be nice to have the numbers of Covid cases caused by the massive amount of BLM/Trump etc etc protests. I get wanting to point out what a bone head thing that was to allow to take place but it really is hypocritical to then ignore the large amount of protest and 'protesters' at these 'protests' and not put the effort into reporting how those are aiding in the spread of the virus as well.

I dunno. I imagine it might be hard to actually figure out. The people at sturgis will gladly say they were there and so forth. I doubt the rioters will be so willing to fess up if questioned. Plus, while I can’t speak for all the riots etc, a ton of the protesters do wear masks and try to respect social distancing. I think Sturgis is making the news due to how anti mask it was.

[cramx3]

Im not sure you can compare Sturgis to a protest. 

[gmillerdrake]

Sturgis now linked to an estimated 250k cases of covid at a public health cost of over 12 billion dollars.

"We conclude that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion," the researchers wrote in a paper. "This is enough to have paid each of the estimated 462,182 rally attendees $26,553.64 not to attend."

Freedom isn’t free bro!

While I will not defend the Sturgis gathering at all......I will say though that it'd be nice to have the numbers of Covid cases caused by the massive amount of BLM/Trump etc etc protests. I get wanting to point out what a bone head thing that was to allow to take place but it really is hypocritical to then ignore the large amount of protest and 'protesters' at these 'protests' and not put the effort into reporting how those are aiding in the spread of the virus as well.

I dunno. I imagine it might be hard to actually figure out. The people at sturgis will gladly say they were there and so forth. I doubt the rioters will be so willing to fess up if questioned. Plus, while I can’t speak for all the riots etc, a ton of the protesters do wear masks and try to respect social distancing. I think Sturgis is making the news due to how anti mask it was.

I agree that Sturgis was/is a pretty 'simple' event to calculate given how open the attendees were/are to admitting they were there and not wearing masks. And while I do see a good portion of protesters wearing masks....it's certainly not all of them. I don't know how you'd estimate a percentage of those who wear them but given the size of the protests and gatherings even if it's 80% that's still another 20% who aren't.....and that's a few hundred if not thousand people (given the gathering) who 'could' potentially be spreading this thing.

I guess my larger point is that the fact that protesters aren't wearing masks or social distancing really isn't a point that the media seems to care about discussing. It's about the protests or whatever. It's a 'free pass' so to speak to ignore any and all the protocols that we've been begging people to adhere to. Sturgis comes along and it's just easy pickin's and which I guess is why that we will now get all the info that RJ shared....but since it's a bunch of dumb white trump loving bikers it'll be hammered on even more in the media.

Im not sure you can compare Sturgis to a protest. 

Why? because of the content? Does BLM give a free pass to ignore the guidelines that we've all been asked to adhere to?

[cramx3]

Sturgis was a huge party essentially, lots of eating and drinking.  Protests are more of a gathering.  So while both are large groups of people, one isn't really socializing for significant period of time without masks. (can't drink a beer with a mask on)

[gmillerdrake]

Sturgis was a huge party essentially, lots of eating and drinking.  Protests are more of a gathering.  So while both are large groups of people, one isn't really socializing for significant period of time without masks. (can't drink a beer with a mask on)

I get it. And think that Sturgis not being cancelled was a huge mistake. BUT.....both Sturgis and the protests are the same at the core because it's an exercise of freedom.....no matter if one is a better cause or not. Both are and were risks to the greater public health in this time of Covid-19 but yet we still get daily protests of which some last for days.....or in the case of the Portland rioting...weeks upon end. And for whatever reason the Sturgis gathering was not cancelled even though ever ounce of data that we have to date suggested it'd be a huge boom for Coronavirus.