What was your COVID news for the day?

[Alan]

W2R,

I think your moves are exactly right, no need to feel odd about what you are doing.

We have a weekly shop planned on Wednesday otherwise we are not going anywhere. Pharmacies in our town (3 of them) have the longest lines at present so I’m pleased that we both get our prescriptions delivered. However, there is a an OTC drug that I only get at a pharmacy. Fortunately this morning I ordered it online, where I was asked the questions normally asked by the pharmacist, which was excellent news as the other pharmacies in town only allow online ordering then go to the store to collect where the pharmacist asks the questions.

Yesterday the toilet sprung a leak which was beyond my ability to repair. Our regular plumber came out this morning and fixed it then I went round with bleach wiping down all the surfaces he may have touched. Life under this pandemic is strange indeed.

 

[Alan]

The Brits have a Queen. She speaks well.
Admirable person. Lucky Brits.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...ured-resolve-coronavirus-deaths-rise-n1177016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/hist...zabeth-was-mechanic-during-wwii-is-that-real/

I watched it last night and was very impressed. Said all the right things in a 4 minute speech. Only the 5th time she has done this ever as Queen. The first time she personally spoke to the nation was in 1940 during WW2 when she and her younger sister made a radio broadcast. (13 years old?)

The other 4 times she has addressed the nation other than the annual Christmas speech was at the start of the Iraq war, when Princess Diana died, when her mother died, and on the occasion of her Jubilee celebration.

 

[braumeister]

I was impressed with the Queen's demeanor. She came across as very much on top of it, which is remarkable for her age.

 

[Aerides]

Been an expat for 38 years and she still got me with "we'll meet again."

 

[gwraigty]

I'm going to limit my grocery trips as much as possible, mainly due to the lines that are probably forming today in response to the governor's order to limit the number allowed in the stores. I've already told my family that it may mean going without certain fresh produce items that are more perishable. For example, I told DS that I'm not standing in a long line so he can have bananas regularly. DH used up the last of the salad greens yesterday, so he said he will start going to Burger King next to his workplace.

DH's employer has dramatically reduced the workforce further (at the same 2 manufacturing plants that already had a RIF), in response to nearly all Truck/Trailer OEM's shutting down. Although some OEM's have said it's only for a couple of weeks and/or they anticipate starting production again in a week or 2, DH's employer (rightly) doesn't believe it. So, they're going to launch a "cost control program" across the commercial vehicle systems division, while sustaining R&D. What this means for DH's employment situation has yet to be made known.

DD is still being scheduled for a bare minimum of hours. I've encouraged her to look into the requirements for getting unemployment under the new guidelines of severely reduced employment due to the coronavirus. It's up to her to take advantage of or not. Maybe when she gets her first severely reduced paycheck...On a bright note, they seemed to have a bit more business yesterday than on recent Sundays. They also added an option where you can have them bring an online order out to your car. Someone was taking advantage of that when we arrived. The details are on Panera Bread's website.

DS has been scheduled for more hours over the next week. He was also called in to work on Saturday for someone who had a death in the family that morning. Eek! No reports yet of any confirmed cases at the nursing home.

 

[dd564]

Projections are now showing Louisiana is already past it's peak.

That's strange, but hopeful.

NYC is due to hit peak Wednesday, but yesterday they had their first day of declining cases.

 

[Chuckanut]

I have enough food that I don't need to go to a store for about two weeks. At that point if the models are reasonably accurate we will be well down the death curve. Given that the curve reflects what happened a week or two before, that should mean exposure to infected people is down quite a bit from this last week and the current week.

 

[ivinsfan]

I watched it last night and was very impressed. Said all the right things in a 4 minute speech. Only the 5th time she has done this ever as Queen. The first time she personally spoke to the nation was in 1940 during WW2 when she and her younger sister made a radio broadcast. (13 years old?)

The other 4 times she has addressed the nation other than the annual Christmas speech was at the start of the Iraq war, when Princess Diana died, when her mother died, and on the occasion of her Jubilee celebration.

They don't make them like that anymore and probably never will. May she live long and continue to prosper. I'm approaching my late 60's and she was on the throne when I was born in London to my English Mom and GI Dad. An icon without peer..

 

[Rianne]

My cousin, a nurse at Johns Hopkins, has all the symptoms and they tested her last Friday. Came back negative. Last night she text me, a lot worse, breathing hard and hears crackling in her lungs. Temp 103. Now her supervisor believes she had a false negative test and is re testing today. She is miserable, can barely lift her head. They will CT scan her lungs. She is fortunate to have JH as her employer but may be going on a ventilator today.

 

[Alan]

Been an expat for 38 years and she still got me with "we'll meet again."

At least she didn't say "There'll be loo rolls over the white cliffs of Dover"

They don't make them like that anymore and probably never will. May she live long and continue to prosper. I'm approaching my late 60's and she was on the throne when I was born in London to my English Mom and GI Dad. An icon without peer..

Indeed.

During WW2 her father refused to move himself and his family out of London, and she enrolled in the army, served as a military truck driver and trained to be a mechanic. She is the only female member of the British Royal family to have joined the armed forces. She will be sorely missed when she passes.

 

[Alan]

In other news, I asked my sister, who has Lupus, if she was taking Hydroxychloroquine (aka Plaquenil) and she said she was. If this drug does test out to be effective against Covid-19 then I hope the supply chain is good enough to maintain the drugs being taken by existing Malaria and Lupus sufferers.

 

[Alan]

My cousin, a nurse at Johns Hopkins, has all the symptoms and they tested her last Friday. Came back negative. Last night she text me, a lot worse, breathing hard and hears crackling in her lungs. Temp 103. Now her supervisor believes she had a false negative test and is re testing today. She is miserable, can barely lift her head. They will CT scan her lungs. She is fortunate to have JH as her employer but may be going on a ventilator today.

So sorry to hear this, I hope she gets well soon.

 

[Nemo2]

At least she didn't say "There'll be loo rolls over the white cliffs of Dover"

Lou Rawls? (For the linguistically deprived.)

 

[Alan]

Lou Rawls? (For the linguistically deprived.)

When she said "We'll meet again", the Queen was quoting the famous Vera Lynn song of that title. Another famous song of Vera Lynn from WW2 was "There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover".

I often forget who my audience is here. Sorry about that

 

[ivinsfan]

When she said "We'll meet again", the Queen was quoting the famous Vera Lynn song of that title. Another famous song of Vera Lynn from WW2 was "There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover".

I often forget who my audience is here. Sorry about that

Not to worry Alan I got in one..My Auntie who's DH (Mom's borther) died in Africa and my Mom sang it over the phone together as my Auntie lay dying in Yorkshire. I can't hear it without crying.

Perhaps a little OT but the world has been through horrible times before and come out the other side. It's good to remember that in times like these.

 

[JoeWras]

During WW2 her father refused to move himself and his family out of London, and she enrolled in the army, served as a military truck driver and trained to be a mechanic. She is the only female member of the British Royal family to have joined the armed forces. She will be sorely missed when she passes.

My dad used to talk about her coronation, and what a huge event it was here in the USA. Dad was a GI and of course spent some time in England, mostly in staging for his combat service in fall of '44. The GIs had a strong connection after this time, even if they didn't end up with a bride.

 

[Boho]

NY City is looking for volunteers.

If any of the following conditions apply to you, stay home and DO NOT SIGN UP to volunteer:

• You are sick
• You are over 50 years old or have chronic health conditions, including chronic lung disease, heart disease, diabetes, cancer or a weakened immune system.

That's me.

I've heard 60, I've heard 70, and I've heard the shingles vaccine is recommended for people 55 and up (it's 50 only if your immune system is compromised). I thought I had a couple of years left but I guess I reached that age where I'm so old that my body is weakened in ways I can do nothing about. My only hope is that it's a 17 year old intern who chose the age of 50 arbitrarily. I should use the city's Freedom of Information Law to find out.

 

[11522914]

Talked to my 65 year old friend today. He said he heard 95% of coronavirus deaths in Italy are age 60 or older. He is very nervous.

I will be 60 this year. I could not believe it was that high.

This website if accurate confirmed it is indeed 95%.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1105061/coronavirus-deaths-by-region-in-italy/

This is so sad. Generations of elderly dying at alarming rates.

 

[Rianne]

So sorry to hear this, I hope she gets well soon.

Thanks, she's 45 yrs. old with 3 kids and DH. I should hear from her in the next day or two.
Edit: She sent this. Sharing for meds purpose for anyone else. This is what Johns Hopkins gave her and fever went down.

"She gave me the azithromycin in case this was a false negative. She gave the 500 mg instead of the 250 mg along with the clindamycin."
​

 

[Chuckanut]

Talked to my 65 year old friend today. He said he heard 95% of coronavirus deaths in Italy are age 60 or older. He is very nervous.

I will be 60 this year. I could not believe it was that high.

This website if accurate confirmed it is indeed 95%.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1105061/coronavirus-deaths-by-region-in-italy/

This is so sad. Generations of elderly dying at alarming rates.

This might give you some reason for hope. In China (Yes, I know the statistics are suspect) heaps of old men died, while old women and younger folk died less often. But, most men over the age of 60 have spent all of their adult life smoking. 40+ years. Most older women never smoked. And the younger men have yet to smoke for 30+ years. So I am told.

Conclusions The prevalence of smoking remained extremely high in men, but low and falling in Chinese women. Tobacco smoking remains an important public health issue in China, and stronger and more efficient tobacco control is urgently needed.

Another reason to quit as if one was needed.


The real BoomerRemovers are smoking and obesity. Hopefully, the young folks will learn from their parent's mistakes.

 

[statsman]

NYC is due to hit peak Wednesday, but yesterday they had their first day of declining cases.

I would take any reported numbers of a Sunday with a grain of salt. A week ago (Sunday) we had a sizeable drop in cases and deaths reported in the US, and many were stating at the time it was a sign we had started peaking. Monday rolled around, and we spiked upward and had all-time highs that day, along with an upward swing that hasn't leveled off yet (nationally).

 

[FIREd_2015]

Antibody testing starting in California.

"...Long motorcades of volunteers converged at three Stanford University research sites this week...The 2,500 test slots on Friday and Saturday filled up within hours, as news of the project — the first large scale study of its type in the U.S...Stanford is working on a second test that will be deployed for more widespread use..."

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04...nford-research-reveals-if-youve-been-exposed/

 

[LRDave]

Boris Johnson in ICU.

 

[gwraigty]

Highlights from today's press conference:

• Some convention centers have been chosen to be used as hospitals when the expected surge comes.
  
• The National Guard is being sent to assist in the medical area of a federal prison where some inmates have tested positive for coronavirus and a few have died.
  
• People returning from Florida are asked to self-quarantine for 14 days and have others bring them necessary food and other items.
  
• Postal workers are now complaining of feeling unsafe because...the conditions for sorting mail don't allow for social distancing...they don't like having to handle everyone's mail because it might be contaminated with coronavirus. The governor didn't know anything about the situation but said he would look into it.

 

[braumeister]

I live in a mostly rural county, with just a small part of it considered urban. Yet today's statistics surprised me.
Over 18,000 tested, 955 positive, 306 recovered, 45 deaths.
That's a pretty high death rate, but I was especially surprised that so many have been tested. Obviously a lot more going on than I was aware of.