What was your COVID news for the day?

[Nemo2]

I’m not sure if the stomach would get rid of all of the virus, otherwise, why is diarrhea and loose stools a not uncommon symptom?

https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/is-diarrhea-a-symptom-of-covid-19

But now, researchers are warning that another less-common symptom may be more prominent than doctors once thought: diarrhea.

A new study published Wednesday in The American Journal of Gastroenterology claims that digestive issues—like diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain—may be more common in those with COVID-19 than was once thought, with up to half of patients diagnosed with the disease in the study issuing complaints of those issues. Also important: Compared to study patients without gastrointestinal issues, those who had GI complaints had a higher risk of mortality.

 

[P.S.]

https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/is-diarrhea-a-symptom-of-covid-19

Yes, Nemo, diarrhea/loose stools/abdominal pain IS reported...up to >30% in some case series -> so the virus is surviving the stomach, and then making it to end of the digestive tract, and RT-PCR positive in stool.
The virus also does other things/ affects other things in the body, which was/is not seen in flu/SARS/MERS (will refrain from going into detail since I don’t want to sound fear-mongering).

 

[Nemo2]

The virus also does other things/ affects other things in the body, which was/is not seen in flu/SARS/MERS (will refrain from going into detail since I don’t want to sound fear-mongering).

Exactly...looks like the more symptoms one exhibits, the wider/deeper the virus has permeated the body, ergo the more dangerous it apparently becomes.

 

[Ready]

I know the government has asked us to stay at home through April 30. But nothing magical is going to happen on May 1. We may eventually see a decline in the number of new infections, but how much decline do we need to see before we think it’s safe to go out again?

If they lift restrictions, will it be limited? Will schools reopen? Retail stores? Will we be going to concerts and sporting events? Or will they just ease some restrictions on grocery shopping or exercise?

What are people thinking regarding the real length we are required to stay at home and only go out for essential things like food and medicine?

 

[jollystomper]

I know the government has asked us to stay at home through April 30. But nothing magical is going to happen on May 1. We may eventually see a decline in the number of new infections, but how much decline do we need to see before we think it’s safe to go out again?

If they lift restrictions, will it be limited? Will schools reopen? Retail stores? Will we be going to concerts and sporting events? Or will they just ease some restrictions on grocery shopping or exercise?

What are people thinking regarding the real length we are required to stay at home and only go out for essential things like food and medicine?

My guess is that there will be some sort of phased lifting of restrictions, so they can monitor as restrictions are lifted if the infection rate changes.


The "stay at home" through April is to help see if the infection rate stabilizes. If if continues to grow it will likely be extended. The date is no more than a future "checkpoint", as some feel it is better than not setting a future checkpoint at all.

With all the cyclical crowd activities than occur from April through July, I would be very surprised to see crowd size restrictions lifted before then.

Maybe they will allow establishments to open if they put some type of size-limiting restrictions in place (e.g. few tables, bouncers to ensure no more than a certain amount of people enter, etc.).

We might even get to more things like requiring masks to be worn in certain public areas (more to prevent someone infected but not knowing they have it from, spreading it further).

 

[rodi]

I believe California locked down its cities sooner as well.

The 5 county bay area did a strict stay at home earlier than other cities.
Here in San Diego the school district suspended in person classes March 13th. (Well before NYC closed it's schools.)

Around the same time San Diego closed rec centers, restaurants (except for takeout), pools, gyms, etc. The official "everything is closed (except groceries and take out) was statewide with the statewide Stay At Home order 3/19, a few hours after LA had issued a citywide stay at home order.

New York wasn't until 3/22.

And they are serious here in CA. Parking lots to parks, beaches are closed. Motorcycle cops keeping the boardwalks clear, lifeguards on quads keeping the beaches clear, and lifeguards on jetskis keeping the water clear of swimmers, surfers, and kayaks. A surfer in Manhattan beach was issued a $1000 fine for disobeying the orders to stay out of the surf.

There are several states that still haven't issued statewide stay at home orders (although cities and counties in these states have orders):
Florida,
Georgia,
Mississippi
Missouri
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Texas
Utah.
(source:https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay-at-home-order.html)


At least here in San Diego - they are serious about the stay at home order. I still walk my dog daily (an allowed activity) but I've seen police talking to the regulars who would congregate at our local park that acts as an unofficial dog park - telling them to disperse (and put their dogs on a leash). I've also seen police talking to high schoolers who were playing basketball at another local park - dispersing them.

 

[rodi]

I know the government has asked us to stay at home through April 30. But nothing magical is going to happen on May 1. We may eventually see a decline in the number of new infections, but how much decline do we need to see before we think it’s safe to go out again?

If they lift restrictions, will it be limited? Will schools reopen? Retail stores? Will we be going to concerts and sporting events? Or will they just ease some restrictions on grocery shopping or exercise?

What are people thinking regarding the real length we are required to stay at home and only go out for essential things like food and medicine?

When my younger son's district stopped in person classes - they didn't have an end date. They have now said it's through the end of the semester.

When my older son's college moved to remote learning they first said it was through March (and return to in person after spring break - which is this week.) They then changed it to the end of the semester. This was necessary to get kids to pack *all* their stuff from the dorms and vacate.

I participate in a "moms" online group and we all have 17 year olds, across the country. Lots of districts are still planning to return - sometime in April... I suspect that will be updated to "next school year".

 

[RobbieB]

My wife told me I don't care about her or her daughter because I stopped at the store to see if they had paper products.

 

[aja8888]

My wife told me I don't care about her or her daughter because I stopped at the store to see if they had paper products.

Yikes!! Didn't you get married recently?

 

[RobbieB]

Yup. I see divorce in the future.

 

[aja8888]

Yup. I see divorce in the future.

Sorry to hear that Robbie.

 

[fh2000]

A nursing home in Los Angeles suburb had an outbreak. One 89 year old transmitted virus to 51 residents out of 79 who tested, and 6 staff so far. Two (including the 89 year old) have died. They have only tested half of the residents so far, so authority expects more when they complete all the testing.

 

[NW-Bound]

We have been in touch with our children via Hangout, an app for Android phones.

My wife made some home dishes that they craved. We left it on the front porch for them to come pick up. They talked to us briefly while standing 6 ft away. They both worked at home, and I guess were stir-crazy for not going anywhere and wanted to take a drive to our place just to get out of their house.

We still go for two walks a day around the neighborhood, but have seen fewer fellow walkers out. Not sure if it's coincidental, or people get more scared now and become even more recluse.

 

[REWahoo]

Here's some positive news and a great feel-good story on the ventilator situation:

Texas 'mom and pop' business flooded with orders for helmet ventilators amid coronavirus crisis

A mom & pop business in a small town in Texas make a helmet style ventilation device that can prevent the need for some patients to be placed on ventilators. They are cheap ($162) and suddenly in huge demand, with orders from all over the world that have overwhelmed their production capacity.

Other companies make similar ventilator helmets, but Sea-Long's is the only helmet available in the U.S. that meets requirements of the Food and Drug Administration and has been validated in a clinical study for acute respiratory syndrome.

Austin [owner] said he recently got a surprised call from Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides offering to help him produce more devices.

"Chris, I saw what you do, and we want to help," Whitesides said, according to Austin. "Whatever it takes."

Austin told him he needed more machines to manufacture the devices but didn't have the cash to pay for them. Later that day, Austin got a call from his New Jersey-based supplier.

"Somebody just paid your bill," Austin said he was told. "They'll be shipping tomorrow."

With the four additional machines, Sea-Long expects to produce thousands of helmets a week. The goal is to produce 50,000 per week.

 

[FIREd_2015]

I guess all the hoarders finally ran out of room to store all that toilet paper and rice. Article says traffic at Walmart, Costco and Target falls for the first time in weeks. Time to go shopping...

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/t...avirus-stockpiling-behavior-shifts-2020-03-31

 

[NW-Bound]

Here's some positive news and a great feel-good story on the ventilator situation:

Texas 'mom and pop' business flooded with orders for helmet ventilators amid coronavirus crisis

A mom & pop business in a small town in Texas make a helmet style ventilation device that can prevent the need for some patients to be placed on ventilators. They are cheap ($162) and suddenly in huge demand, with orders from all over the world that have overwhelmed their production capacity.

I saw something similar to that being used in an Italian hospital, as shown in a newscast video. Wonder if that Italian device serves the same purpose.

It's at 0:25 in the following video.

PS. The article about the Sea-Long device said Italians used a version of it. Perhaps it's the same one.

 

[REWahoo]

I saw something similar to that being used in an Italian hospital, as shown in a newscast video, but is a plastic bubble. Wonder if that Italian device serves the same purpose.

Better view of the device at 1:12. Looks like the same "space helmet" concept. The article does say he received orders from Italy.

 

[Nemo2]

A nursing home in Los Angeles suburb had an outbreak. One 89 year old transmitted virus to 51 residents out of 79 who tested, and 6 staff so far. Two (including the 89 year old) have died. They have only tested half of the residents so far, so authority expects more when they complete all the testing.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/13-death...ng-term-care-home-in-bobcaygeon-ont-1.4875511

Bobcaygeon, Ontario, population ~4,000 (AFAIK)

There are now 13 deaths linked to an outbreak of COVID-19 at a long-term care home in Bobcaygeon, Ont.

On Monday, public health officials in the region said nine residents of Pinecrest Nursing Home infected with the novel coronavirus had died. By Tuesday morning, workers at the facility had confirmed the deaths of three more residents to CTV News.

As well, the 82-year-old wife of an infected resident had also died.

 

[tmm99]

Here's some positive news and a great feel-good story on the ventilator situation:

Texas 'mom and pop' business flooded with orders for helmet ventilators amid coronavirus crisis

A mom & pop business in a small town in Texas make a helmet style ventilation device that can prevent the need for some patients to be placed on ventilators. They are cheap ($162) and suddenly in huge demand, with orders from all over the world that have overwhelmed their production capacity.

Wow, this is pretty ingenious. Great news. I hope some of them are going to NYC. And I hope other companies start making them too.

 

[NW-Bound]

Better view of the device at 1:12. Looks like the same "space helmet" concept. The article does say he received orders from Italy.

The article says the price of the helmet is $162. I don't think it includes the pump, or whatever the pneumatic machine that it is attached to.

I guess all the hoarders finally ran out of room to store all that toilet paper and rice. Article says traffic at Walmart, Costco and Target falls for the first time in weeks. Time to go shopping...

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/t...avirus-stockpiling-behavior-shifts-2020-03-31

My SIL in San Diego said her recent visit to Costco was disappointing. She saw long lines during the "senior only" hour, so skipped it and went elsewhere.

She was trying to get long-grain rice, but could not find it and had to settle for sticky rice. And even then, the store limit was one 5-lb bag each.

 

[NW-Bound]

An Australian astrophysicist tried to invent a bracelet that would buzz if the wearer moves his hand close to his face. The idea was that it would prevent the wearer from touching his face and getting infected with coronavirus.

His invention involved magnets. Playing with them, he ended up having 4 stuck together, inside his nose. It took a trip to the hospital to get the magnets removed.

See: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a...?itm_source=parsely-api&mod=mw_more_headlines

 

[6miths]

I guess all the hoarders finally ran out of room to store all that toilet paper and rice. Article says traffic at Walmart, Costco and Target falls for the first time in weeks. Time to go shopping...

I was at two separate Costcos yesterday and today (doing non-COVID related things) and there were no lines outside at either and tonight there was almost no one there.

 

[Ready]

This woman thought it was appropriate to invite 30+ people to her home to celebrate her child’s first birthday. The police had to call for back up to break up the group because they became agitated.

It reminds me that while the majority of the country is generally doing a good job complying with the stay at home directive, there are pockets of people out there who just refuse to be told what to do. And they are the ones that will most likely need hospital care as a result of ignoring the directive.

https://toofab.com/2020/03/31/huge-...-birthday-party-in-la-amid-coronavirus-order/

 

[tinlizzy]

It seems as if Fed Ex has quit delivering in my area. I have been expecting a delivery since last Friday, tracking shows that the item made it to my local Fed Ex delivery center last Friday. For 3 mornings in a row I received an email from Fed Ex saying the delivery is coming that day and then about 1 pm I get a second email from Fed Ex saying that the delivery could not be completed. Is Fed Ex just that over worked or are they going on strike or something?

What customers see on tracking are logistical or derived scans not physical scans. Logistical time in transit starts when a label is created but the package could still be sitting, waiting to go out for a day or two. Similar to Christmas, delivery companies and shippers like Amazon are experiencing peak volumes (without all the extra employees) which leads to a less than seamless time in transit.

 

[teejayevans]

I did the CMU AI test where it uses your voice to diagnose whether you have it, I think it’s using lung capacity as key indicator. Anybody tested positive want to try it?
https://cvd.lti.cmu.edu/cvd/login