COVID-19 Health and Preparedness - Strictly Moderated

[Alan]

Moderator Note

This particular thread is strictly moderated for the reason given in the OP. If you are wondering where your posts in this thread went, see bolded sentence below.

This thread is to share information that assists members in preparing for the COVID-19 outbreak, to inform the community on medical news related to COVID-19, or official policy measures and responses in the US and around the world.

It’s not intended for general coronavirus news, rumors, unfounded medical analysis or advice, or unproven remedies. No YouTube links. Please forgo snark, sarcasm, or fear mongering. Civil unrest and other extreme scenarios are unwelcome. Links must be reputable or official sources. News on the global spread will be limited to reports by the WHO, cases in the US limited to state or federal sources.

The moderator team feels the entire community will benefit if this discussion can be kept on track. Any post not directly related to or contributing to the above will be removed without explanation or warning, and complaints or protest will be ignored.

 

[Gumby]

Pretty wishy washy.
That lawyer in NY that spread it to 50 people, one has to wonder which is more likely:

1. Spread when asymptomatic or
2. He actually went to Church, parties, meet people while having a high fever & cough, difficulty breathing.

It would appear that much of the exposure came after he was hospitalized with fever and breathing difficulty but not yet diagnosed as having COVID-19 for four more days, during which time he was not handled with any special precautions. All the medical staff who came into contact him were exposed, as were the people who visited him in the hospital.

See this NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/nyregion/coronavirus-new-rochelle-pneumonia.html

 

[Lewis Clark]

Around here, the teachers have been frantically preparing for on-line learning. I have my doubts about how much can be accomplished, but they are going to try it. And it will keep the kids somewhat occupied during the day. Yesterday, the schools in my town closed for at least two weeks. They are making arrangements to remain partially open to provide meals to the students who get free breakfast and lunch at school. All the city recreation facilities are closed, so there will be no park gatherings.

I teach online. Colleges across the country are pushing on-campus classes to go online. This will be challenging for many teachers who have no experience or training in the software or other tools needed to teach online. It will be better than nothing, but it will be much easier said than done.

 

[gwraigty]

So while we seniors may be taking the proper precautions, we risk infection from others who are less dedicated to precautions. I see isolation as the best means to avoid infection, because we cannot trust that others are doing what it takes to be negative for coronavirus.

Not all seniors are taking proper precautions. DH talks to his father by phone every Saturday. FIL said he was going to stay home from church today, but SMIL was going to church today. He's 86 and she's 79. Both have health issues, but hers are more severe. Rhetorical question: How can they not realize that if she gets the coronavirus that he will also get it?

 

[Ready]

I gave up trying to buy anything at Costco and thought I would make an early morning trip to Target to try and find paper towels and toilet paper. Here is what it looked like.

 

[Fermion]

That is so amazingly clean.

 

[Sunset]

We checked on a couple of elderly folks we know, to be sure they were ok, and had toilet paper, and food.
Told them to phone use if they needed any, as the stores are out and we have lots.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I've been meaning to apologize to you and to the community for my earlier suggestion that although sufficient vitamin D levels were protective for influenza, that those levels weren't necessarily protective for ADRS. Please prove me wrong often, as that's the way I learn.

I've been taking 2000 IU per day. My VitD,25-Hydroxy was 40 ng/ml one month ago. I'm now taking 4000 per day.

No worries. Let us know how the vitamin D is working out for you. It started cooling off and raining here again so I ordered some vitamin D tablets myself. I saw on Reddit that vitamin D needs vitamin K2 to maximize its benefits. I didn't know much about vitamin K2 before but it also just came up in a book I'm reading by William Li, Eat to Beat Disease. Dr. Li recommends hard cheeses and dark meat chicken in one's diet for vitamin K2, mostly because it is antiangiogenic, kills cancer cells directly and is heart protective. I don't remember his book mentioning the link to vitamin D but it seems like that would be just one more reason to get enough K2.

 

[Helen]

^^^ Holy cow! (the pic of the shelves at Target.)

 

[MichaelB]

Not sure if his has been posted yet. CDC recommendation posted March 15 is to cancel all getherings of 50 or more people https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/201...vents/mass-gatherings-ready-for-covid-19.html

Therefore, CDC, in accordance with its guidance for large events and mass gatherings, recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers (whether groups or individuals) cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States.

 

[JoeWras]

Not sure if his has been posted yet. CDC recommendation posted March 15 is to cancel all getherings of 50 or more people https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/201...vents/mass-gatherings-ready-for-covid-19.html

In my opinion, any non-critical gathering should be postponed.

I'm leading a smaller (<20) group of men from church on a 3 day service retreat in two weeks. It would involve close work, shared meals, and small living quarters. Although the work is important, it is not critical.

This morning I postponed it for at least 6 months. Difficult and disappointing to miss it, but why take a chance? Someone could attend who felt well and came down with it during the event. Then we're all toast.

Funds will be lost, but in the grand scheme of things, it will be trivial.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I'm having a problem getting my Dad to wash his hands. He hasn't left the house in over a week but I bring him takeout and groceries. He just can't remember. I have signs on the fridge and counter to no avail.

If he stays in the house it's not as big a deal, although to compensate you can wipe down or quarantine anything you bring into his house. His mail is another possible vector, unfortunately.

 

[ERD50]

When you wash your hands, you are mostly not physically removing the virus. Rather, the soap is actually breaking down the lipid package that the virus comes in and killing it. Here is a good article on how it works.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...kills-coronavirus-alcohol-based-disinfectants

So it probably makes no difference in how you do it, so long as you do it for a total of 20 seconds.

Thanks for that, that makes good sense.

Hey, rack up another "I changed my mind" point!

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

When you wash your hands, you are mostly not physically removing the virus. Rather, the soap is actually breaking down the lipid package that the virus comes in and killing it. Here is a good article on how it works.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...kills-coronavirus-alcohol-based-disinfectants

So it probably makes no difference in how you do it, so long as you do it for a total of 20 seconds.

Further to that, I do need to go out today and make at least two stops, and I think, just to be cautious, that I will:

Fill a zip-bag with some soapy paper towels, and fill another with wet paper towels (and/or a rag and a bottle of water) and bring them in the car with me. It should be no big deal to soap up for 20 seconds in my car between stops, then rinse enough of the soap off to not be too messy until I can get home and wash/rinse again.

Sounds like that would be more effective than hand sanitizer, and help avoid the shortage issues.

edit/add: Heck, I'm over-thinking it. Just bring some soap, a water bottle and some towels in some bags/containers. I just tried it, (it only takes a bit of water to get the soap working), and then a little water to rinse (~ 1/2 cup?), rub, wipe on a towel, and repeat the rinse/wipe a few times gets you well rinsed with very little water.

-ERD50

 

[ls99]

Hmmm, maybe instead of using fancy wipes for the kitchen counter, dining table etc., use a soap solution, let sit for a minute or two then wipe dry.

 

[MichaelB]

Here’s a recent paper discussing pediatric COVID-19 (here). It seems children do get infected, and just as easily, but the symptoms are less severe, at least for older kids.

CONCLUSIONS: Children at all ages appeared susceptible to COVID-19, and there was no significant gender difference. Although clinical manifestations of children’s COVID-19 cases were generally less severe than those of adults’ patients, young children, particularly infants, were vulnerable to infection. The distribution of children’s COVID-19 cases varied with time and space, and most of the cases concentrated in Hubei province and surrounding areas. Furthermore, this study provides strong evidence for human-to-human transmission.

According to the WHO report on China, the largest source of infection was familial. Someone in the household gets infected, brings it home, and everyone else gets infected. Keeping kids home from school for 3-4 weeks is therefore a good option to slow the spread.

 

[REWahoo]

DW and I entered into hunkerdom Friday evening. We have enough supplies to last three to four weeks but planned to replenish our supply of bread, fresh fruits and veggies every week or so using curbside pickup.

Just for grins, I went on the local grocery chain (HEB) website and saw where the first available pickup slot was on Thursday of next week, 10 days from now. As bad as that may sound, it's better than Walmart's grocery pickup, which shows only "today" or "tomorrow" as pickup options, with both unavailable.

Related to this and the overall grocery-shopping tsunami created by Covid-19, I saw this on the local news this morning:

H-E-B is offering short-term work opportunities as it experiences an influx of shoppers amid coronavirus concerns.

New temporary job opportunities were posted Sunday for overnight stockers, daytime stockers, customer service assistants or baggers and checkers in San Antonio, Austin, Houston and North and West Texas.

The Texas-based grocery chain said the temporary jobs may last up to 60 days and can lead to permanent employment.

 

[Fermion]

Reading something now that 6 counties in California are going for a 3 week lockdown, don't leave your house except groceries or medical. I don't think it has teeth behind it yet (they won't arrest you) but not sure.

 

[Another Reader]

As Old Microbiologist pointed out, there are 5 strains of this virus, all circulating in the US. Presumably the strains, which result from mutations, are different in how much damage they do. Have there been any correlations drawn between the 5 strains and how sick people become yet? For example, are the strains in Italy more devastating than the ones found elsewhere? Are some strains less destructive if treated with the drugs with some efficacy that exist now, and do some strains not respond? Do we have geographical hot spots in the US for the more destructive strains? It seems like this information might be useful in deciding where to shut everything down completely and where to focus some types of treatment.

 

[MRG]

I hadn't seen this post before:


OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging Canadians abroad to come home while they still can, as Canada is shutting the border to non-Canadian citizens, with limited exceptions, to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Permanent Canadian residents, the immediate family members of Canadian citizens, diplomats, air crews, and U.S. citizens are still being allowed into Canada at this time


https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coron...citizens-due-to-covid-19-pm-trudeau-1.4854503

 

[ivinsfan]

DW and I entered into hunkerdom Friday evening. We have enough supplies to last three to four weeks but planned to replenish our supply of bread, fresh fruits and veggies every week or so using curbside pickup.

Just for grins, I went on the local grocery chain (HEB) website and saw where the first available pickup slot was on Thursday of next week, 10 days from now. As bad as that may sound, it's better than Walmart's grocery pickup, which shows only "today" or "tomorrow" as pickup options, with both unavailable.

Related to this and the overall grocery-shopping tsunami created by Covid-19, I saw this on the local news this morning:

I did a Walmart order yesterday at noon. It showed 2 open spots today at noon and 6 pm. Place my order and by the time they started to pull the order for loading they made 11 substitutions and two items were completely gone including eggs

A rural county with no identified cases as of now. I cant imagine what it will be like when we have actual cases in the area.

 

[simple girl]

I've ordered Walmart pick-up groceries twice now in the past two days...each time my order has been put through but then a short while later I receive an email saying it has been cancelled. No explanation.

I assume they are just completely overwhelmed. Several cases in our area.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

DW and I are in Atlanta for about another month (DW had surgery here 2 weeks ago) and are starting to get concerned about getting back home (about 800 miles from here) when time comes. I don't anticipate any gas shortages, but if there are travel restrictions (by car) I fear we could be stuck. We have a decent amount of provisions here in ATL, but I sure would much happier to be at home!

 

[mpeirce]

It seems children do get infected, and just as easily, but the symptoms are less severe, at least for older kids.

Heard from the Ohio daily briefing today that one of the 50 identified cases in Ohio is a 14 year old. The average age though is in the 50's.

 

[MichaelB]

Something I hadn’t seen until now, from the paper I linked earlier, is a definition of mild / moderate / severe / critical.

1. Asymptomatic infection: without any clinical symptoms and signs and the chest imaging is normal, while the 2019-nCoV nucleic acid test is in a positive period.

2. Mild: symptoms of acute upper respiratory tract infection, including fever, fatigue, myalgia, cough, sore throat, runny nose, and sneezing. Physical examination shows congestion of the pharynx and no auscultory abnormalities. Some cases may have no fever, or have only digestive symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

3. Moderate: with pneumonia, frequent fever and cough, mostly dry cough, followed by productive cough , some may have wheezing, but no obvious hypoxemia such as shortness of breath, and lungs can hear sputum or dry snoring and / or wet snoring. Some cases may have no clinical signs and symptoms, but chest CT shows lung lesions, which are subclinical.

4. Severe: Early respiratory symptoms such as fever and cough, may be accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea. The disease usually progresses around 1 week, and dyspnea occurs, with central cyanosis. Oxygen saturation is less than 92%, with other hypoxia manifestations.

5. Critical: Children can quickly progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or respiratory failure, and may also have shock, encephalopathy, myocardial injury or heart failure, coagulation dysfunction, and acute kidney injury. Organ dysfunction can be life threatening.