Coronavirus ~ COVID-19

[homoe]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Tuesday that the state is seeing a surge in coronavirus cases from people under 30. The state hit new highs Tuesday in the number of new infections and the number of new hospitalizations since the outbreak began.

"The majority of people who tested positive since the beginning of June have been people under the age of 30," Abbott said at a press conference. Abbott said the increase could be the result of Memorial Day gatherings or from "bar-type settings."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-texas-young-people-case-surge/

[homoe]

Florida announced nearly 9,000 new daily coronavirus cases on Friday, breaking its previous record and sparking new concerns about a surge across the South. Now almost all of Florida is blanketed in red, indicating that those parts of the state are seeing no downward trend. The maps also show significantly fewer counties across the United States trending down now than there were a month ago.

Florida’s Department of Health on Friday morning confirmed 8,942 new cases, nearly double the previous daily record, set on Wednesday. The case total in the state now stands at 122,960, with more than 3,400 deaths. About 81 percent of adult intensive care unit beds were full as of Wednesday.

Rebekah Jones, the former supervisor for the state’s coronavirus data dashboard, was fired in May after claiming that her supervisors were attempting to make her manipulate data for political reasons. She claimed this week that Florida officials were continuing to twist data to make their response look better.

When the Miami Herald asked Gov. Ron DeSantis about Jones’s claims this week, he said the newspaper was “chasing the conspiracy bandwagon.”

On Friday morning, Halsey Beshears, secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, announced that the state was prohibiting the drinking of alcohol at bars in an attempt to stop crowds from gathering. Portending this week’s news, a viral story earlier this month told of a Jacksonville woman and 15 of her friends who contracted the disease after gathering at a bar on June 6.

“I think we were careless and we went out into a public place when we should not have. And we were not wearing masks. I think we had a whole ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ mentality. The state opens back up and said everybody was fine, so we took advantage of that,” said Erika Crisp, who works in health care.

For continue reading........https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-record-cases-coronavirus-deepening-crisis-maps-165529121.html

[C0LLETTE]

Lots of bad news coming out of Florida.

check out : https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida

[Stone-Butch]

I am sad to hear of all the outbreaks of the virus in Florida and many other parts of the U.S. We see those maps in color on our news as well and it is such a terrible thing that is happening.
I am however glad to hear that 3 of our eastern Provinces have had no new outbreaks in 3 weeks. PEI, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland. If there have been any since I saw the news then I did not know about them.
People need to be more aware of the easy spread of this virus and that the numbers in many places are on the rise. If you have any young people who are ignoring the problem and not protecting themselves for the sake of a good time, then, Give them hell, shake them a few times, then hug them and tell them how much you love them and want them to be safe.

[clay]

Lots of bad news coming out of Florida.

check out : https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida

It sure as hell is!

Health officials were told by "powers that be" to skew the numbers, to not report as accurately, so as not to scare tourists away for 4th July holiday....

We are a ticking time bomb, I tell you. Glad I am STILL following CDC guidelines & COMMON SENSE for myself. Self isolating, mask when have to go out, & LOTS of handwashing, sanityizing!

Here we go....human lives aren't as valued as that damn allmighty dollar, apparently!

[clay]

And here we go folks. Today Fla is 10,000 new cases.....yep.....10,000, from 9000 yesterday!
Yet here we still are..oh let's decrease capacity from 75% to 50%.

What is sam hill makes officials think if folks did NOT comply at zero capacity, then at 75%, non compliant, that they will at 50%. Superspreaders are super spreaders.

SMDH......

[Bèsame*]

Feeling disappointed that people are not being careful. Seems lately,
a text message regarding a new case at work are appearing too frequent! I'm glad masks are required. Some shoppers have just been irresponsible with social distancing.

There is a curfew in place now. I'm super close to the county reporting increase in cases. Stay safe!

[Cin]

This is the smallest study I've ever read about so make of that what you will, but I still found the findings interesting.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/asymptomatic-covid-19-1.5629172

Asymptomatic COVID-19 findings dim hopes for 'herd immunity' and 'immunity passports'

Antibodies few and short-lived, lung abnormalities found in asymptomatic carriers
Emily Chung, Christine Birak, Marcy Cuttler · CBC News · Posted: Jun 28, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

A closer look at people who tested positive for COVID-19 but never developed symptoms has found that such asymptomatic carriers have few to no detectable antibodies just weeks after infection, suggesting they may not develop lasting immunity.

There's growing evidence that a significant proportion of people who test positive for COVID-19 never show symptoms, although it's not clear what percentage of people that is and what role they play in spreading the disease.

A Chinese study published this week in Nature followed 37 people in Wanzhou District in China who did not show any outward signs of the disease, despite testing positive when their respiratory tracts were swabbed and being kept in hospital for observation.

Some key findings include:

Levels of antibodies against COVID-19 were significantly lower in asymptomatic carriers than those with symptoms during active infection.

Antibody levels also dropped off far more quickly in people who never showed symptoms, and 40 per cent of them had no detectable antibodies eight weeks after recovery, compared with 13 per cent of symptomatic patients.

Those with asymptomatic infections tested positive for an average of five days longer than people with symptomatic infections — 19 days compared with 14 days — suggesting that they were shedding the virus longer.

The study also found that despite having no outward symptoms, 70 per cent had lung abnormalities detectable in X-rays at some point during infection — mostly spots called "ground-glass opacities," which can indicate inflammation or other signs of disease.

No antibodies could mean no immunity, but not necessarily
Dr. Samir Gupta, a clinician-scientist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, noted in an interview with CBC News Network earlier this week that the study was very small.

Gupta, who wasn't involved in the study, added that it wasn't surprising that antibody levels fell a few months after infection. He said that's normal, since it's energy intensive for the body to maintain antibodies it doesn't need.

What was "a little bit surprising," he said, was the fact that 40 per cent of people with asymptomatic infections had no detectable antibodies at all.

However, Gupta said, people have immunity to coronaviruses that cause common colds for only a few months, and that may also be the case for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

On the other hand, he said, "antibodies aren't the whole story."

There are other components of the immune system that play a role, such as memory cells. They remember a pathogen and begin releasing antibodies when they encounter it again, but they are hard to detect, Gupta said.

What this means for herd immunity and vaccines
Still, Tania Watts, a professor of immunology at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the study, expressed concern about the implications.

"This suggests that natural infection may not give long-lasting immunity, which is what people have been worried about," she said.

Some countries such as Sweden and at least one Canadian province have previously suggested that one way to control the spread of COVID-19 is to allow most of the population to get infected in a controlled fashion to generate "herd immunity." Once the population reaches a certain threshold of previous infection, there won't be enough susceptible people to spread the virus, and it can't spread exponentially as an epidemic.

But Watts said the low and short-lived levels of antibodies in asymptomatic infections in this study suggest we can't rely on herd immunity being induced for long enough a period of time to have an impact.

That means we may need to wait for a vaccine that induces a stronger, longer-lived response than many natural infections, she said. "I think this puts even more pressure on vaccine development."

What this means for antibody tests, 'immunity passports'
Watts said another implication of the study is that serological (blood) or antibody tests — which have been touted as a way to get an idea of who has been previously infected, how much of the population that represents and how close that is to herd immunity — may not work as hoped.

And it throws cold water on the idea of controversial "immunity passports," the idea of allowing more social interactions, such as work, travel and mass gatherings, for people who have previously been infected and therefore are immune and can't spread the virus — which would be based on serological testing.

"Until we know what part of the immune system is protective," Watts said, "it's difficult to be able to do a test and tell someone you're safe or not."

What this means for disease transmission
While it's known that presymptomatic people can transmit COVID-19, it's not really known whether people who remain asymptomatic through the course of the disease can.

Watts said she thinks the finding in this study that people without symptoms shed the virus longer than people with symptoms is "shocking" and suggests we need to worry about transmission from asymptomatic people.

"Until we have a vaccine, I think we should have very clear recommendations that everybody wears masks."

What we know and don't know about immunity to COVID-19
Scientists aren't waiting around for governments to launch antibody testing
WHO backtracks on claim that asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 is 'very rare'
She said the longer period of viral shedding is probably because a lack of symptoms indicate a weaker immune response, resulting in a longer time to clear the infection.

On the other hand, too intense an immune response is what puts patients in the ICU struggling to breathe.

The ideal is somewhere in between and what we'd like in a vaccine, Watts said.

"We really need that Goldilocks immune response."

[homoe]

As reopening plans went into a dramatic reverse or stalled across the US in the face of a resurgent virus, Mike Pence called off a planned campaign bus tour in Florida amid a surge in confirmed Covid-19 cases.

The vice-president had been set to appear in Lake Wales at an event next week organized by pro-Trump group America First Policies. The event was billed as part of the “Great American Comeback tour.”

The news of the cancellation came as Miami became the latest local authority to act in the wake of the virus’s rise by announcing it was closing its beaches and planning a crackdown on coronavirus rules.

Florida also reported yet another record rise in daily cases. The Florida department of health reported 9,585 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, shattering the previous daily high for positive Covid-19 infections which it notched up on Friday. Florida has now had 132,545 positive cases to date.

The group announced: “Out of an abundance of caution at this time, we are postponing the Great American Comeback tour stop in Florida. We look forward to rescheduling soon.” Pence was still traveling to the state, the White House confirmed, saying he would meet with Governor Ron DeSantis and his healthcare teams.

[homoe]

WASHINGTON — In the past week, President Donald Trump hosted an indoor campaign rally for thousands of cheering, unmasked supporters even as a deadly virus spread throughout the country. He began easing up on restrictions that had been in place at the White House since Washington instituted a stay-at-home order in response to the coronavirus in March, and he invited the president of Poland to a day of meetings. Then, Thursday, he flew to Wisconsin to brag about an economic recovery that he said was just around the corner.

But by Friday, it was impossible to fully ignore the fact that the pandemic the White House has for weeks insisted was winding down has done just the opposite.

The rising numbers in Texas, Florida and Arizona made that clear, as well as the reality that those are all states where the president and his Republican allies had urged people to return to normal.

In a reflection of a growing sense of anxiety over the new numbers, Vice President Mike Pence and members of the coronavirus task force held a public briefing for the first time in two months. But ever loyal to Trump’s desire for good news, Pence tried to tiptoe around the statistics that Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the task force coordinator, pointed to, showing surging cases and hospitalizations in Florida, Texas, Arizona and other states.

[C0LLETTE]

Lots of news coming out of Texas.

[homoe]

Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert, warned that the US has a "serious problem" with coronavirus outbreaks. He spoke Friday during the White House coronavirus task force's first press conference in two months.

"So what goes on in one area of the country ultimately could have an effect on other areas," Fauci said.

According to CBS News, Fauci said there's a "paradigm shift" in the pandemic now that younger people are causing the surge in these new cases. "It's a paradigm shift because we're dealing with young people, people who are going to be asymptomatic, and people who are getting infected in a community setting, not an outbreak setting where you know who to identify, isolate and contact trace," Fauci said, according to CBS.

So remember youngins, Covid-19, it's just not for your parents and grandparents!

[Gemme]

More than 10 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 worldwide. Over 500,000 people have died. More than half a million! Of those, over 125,000 were in the US.

Sh*t is real and I seriously cannot wrap my brain around the average citizen not understanding the implications of not following proper protocol. I live in a state with a firm Governor. She acted fast to shut things down and has been cautious about opening things back up and we see the results of that. Our losses are far less than most states.

I appreciate what she's tried to do but I hear a lot of grumbling about her and whining about not being able to do something and then there was the very nice but very clueless lady in the grocery store line Friday night that was up my ass and didn't flinch when I evil-eyed her. People are oblivious and acting entitled and that drives my bonkers.

[FireSignFemme]

This is a link to an article published today showing a map of the country and which areas are most affected, as far as we know at this time. There are also graphs showing case counts.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200628&instance_id=19825&nl=the-morning&regi_id=130231551&segment_id=32064&te=1&user_id=62d6117d6e81c7de3ef0ee1f7e050b25

[homoe]

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, admonished Americans who have abandoned practicing personal mitigation measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus — asserting that such an “all or none” approach has contributed to a surge of new Covid-19 cases across the country.

“What has happened, I guess understandably, but nonetheless regrettably, [is] that people took the attitude in some places of either all or none. Either you’re locked down, or you just let it fly and you just ignore many of the guidelines of” social distancing, mask-wearing, abstaining from shaking hands and avoiding large crowds, Fauci told CNN in an interview that aired Monday.

“What happened is you see pictures on the TV of the fact that even in states that are telling their citizens to do it correctly, they’re not doing that,” he continued. “There are crowds. They are not physical distancing, and they’re not wearing masks. That’s a recipe for disaster. It’s something I spoke about time and again.”

[Gemme]

So, I found an article with this title:

Alabama students hold 'COVID-19 parties' with prize for first person to get sick


:deepthoughts:
:readfineprint:
:deadhorse:

:rant:
:slapfight:
:yesno:
:insane:
:thefinger:

[Starfish]

Yesterday my brother lost his dear friend to the virus and today received his positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Frightening times. Both he and my sister-in-law now have it.

[~ocean]

Yesterday my brother lost his dear friend to the virus and today received his positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Frightening times. Both he and my sister-in-law now have it.

I am so sorry you and your family are going threw hard times ~

[Bèsame*]

Sayh8ZASxk8

[C0LLETTE]

Covid-19 in Canada July 2, 2020

Number of people tested: 2,848,244

Total cases:104,772

Recovered: 68,345

Deaths: 8,642

[C0LLETTE]

Covid-19 in Canada July 2, 2020

Number of people tested: 2,848,244

Total cases:104,772

Recovered: 68,345

Deaths: 8,642


not sure how that plays out in a population of 36 million or so but it does seem hopeful.
__________________
__________________________________________________ ________________________

[homoe]

Washington businesses will be required to turn away customers who aren't wearing a face mask starting July 7, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday. The new statewide order is in response to a surge in coronavirus cases.

The proclamation comes almost a week after Inslee's statewide mandate took effect requiring people to wear face masks while in public, both indoors and outdoors where six feet of social distancing is not possible.

If you travel to Washington State bring your mask!

[tantalizingfemme]

Wear the damn mask...

m_HZectGDlo

[Gayandgray]

I was soooo careful to wash my hands over and over, I started taking a ton of vitamins and herbal supplements, got plenty of rest, stayed hydrated, etc etc. I started wearing masks before they were even required at work. I thought I would be just fine. And then one day I woke up sick and bammm! I tested positive for COVID-19 and I spent over a month isolated in the spare room, sicker than I’ve ever been in my life. Even now, I’m still having some issues with tiredness but not the horrible exhaustion I had, and I have terrible memory loss. My smell and taste came back after two months but not all the way. This has been so draining and stressful.

[homoe]

I was soooo careful to wash my hands over and over, I started taking a ton of vitamins and herbal supplements, got plenty of rest, stayed hydrated, etc etc. I started wearing masks before they were even required at work. I thought I would be just fine. And then one day I woke up sick and bammm! I tested positive for COVID-19 and I spent over a month isolated in the spare room, sicker than I’ve ever been in my life. Even now, I’m still having some issues with tiredness but not the horrible exhaustion I had, and I have terrible memory loss. My smell and taste came back after two months but not all the way. This has been so draining and stressful.

So nice to see you back on the board posting Gayandgray, but so very sorry to hear about your encounter with Covid-19!

[homoe]

Florida reported a record number of single-day coronavirus cases Saturday morning, with 11,445 people testing positive on Friday. Thursday was the last time Florida set a new record for single-day COVID-19 cases at 10,109.

Well there Governor DeSantis!

Instead of having your nose shoved up Trump's ass trying to curry favor, perhaps you should of kept a more watchful eye on the shenanigans such as the spring breakers, sand bars, etc etc that all helped to spread the spread from the get-go!

[Bèsame*]

Florida reported a record number of single-day coronavirus cases Saturday morning, with 11,445 people testing positive on Friday. Thursday was the last time Florida set a new record for single-day COVID-19 cases at 10,109.

Well there Governor DeSantis!

Instead of having your nose shoved up Trump's ass trying to curry favor, perhaps you should of kept a more watchful eye on the shenanigans such as the spring breakers, sand bars, etc etc that all helped to spread the spread!

And...the beaches are packed! Those record breaking cases will continue...

[clay]

And...the beaches are packed! Those record breaking cases will continue...

We had 11,500 cases since yesterday!

And YES, the beaches are/were packed..NO social distancing & NO MASKS for most part!

Watch in 2 weeks..see what these numbers will be by then!

We have seen a 67% spike in cases in just 2 weeks.....

Our idiot governor is Trump's acolyte the news sources say. He does what Trump says & could give 2 shits less about the people here. He wants the tourism $$.

All I can say is I am only responsible for ME! I have self isolated AND wore a mask every damn day since March...BEFORE it was ordered!

[~ocean]

We had 11,500 cases since yesterday!

And YES, the beaches are/were packed..NO social distancing & NO MASKS for most part!

Watch in 2 weeks..see what these numbers will be by then!

We have seen a 67% spike in cases in just 2 weeks.....

Our idiot governor is Trump's acolyte the news sources say. He does what Trump says & could give 2 shits less about the people here. He wants the tourism $$.

All I can say is I am only responsible for ME! I have self isolated AND wore a mask every damn day since March...BEFORE it was ordered!



(((( clay )))) stay safe

[GeorgiaMa'am]

For fans of Dr. Anthony Fauci:

He has done a new interview on a podcast I have mentioned before, Science Vs (versus) by Gimlet Media. Wendy Zuckerman, the host, takes him on a somewhat fluffy but interesting interview of about 20 minutes. Did you know Dr. Fauci is 79 years old? I had no idea. In any case, the episode "Fauci! He's Back!" was recorded on 6/23/2020. Available wherever you find your podcasts.

[~ocean]

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water taaa daaa ~move over covid - 19 ~ bubonic plague is back in Mongolia ~

[C0LLETTE]

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water taaa daaa ~move over covid - 19 ~ bubonic plague is back in Mongolia ~

Tell me you're kidding! I need to look that up.

[clay]

(((( clay )))) stay safe

Hey Osh....you bet. I have been wearing a mask (I have several) since March!

I self isolate, do curbside pickups of groceries after online ordering!

I have NO visitors & I do NOT go out in public to eat...haven't since February!

You stay safe & take care also!

[C0LLETTE]

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water taaa daaa ~move over covid - 19 ~ bubonic plague is back in Mongolia ~

Seems the bubonic plague in Mongolia is spread through eating local squirrels, marmots.

Seems the best thing we can do is wear a mask, stop eating marmots, and put those peanuts away and stop feeding those cute little squirrels.

[C0LLETTE]

It's all part of One.
Climate Change Deniers are Dangerous Idiots.


"Land degradation, wildlife exploitation, intensive farming and climate change are driving the rise in diseases that, like the coronavirus, are passed from animals to humans, United Nations experts said on Monday.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) jointly identified seven trends responsible for such diseases, known as zoonotic, calling on governments to take steps to stop future pandemics.

These are: rising demand for animal protein, extraction of natural resources and urbanization, intensive and unsustainable farming, exploitation of wildlife, increased travel and transportation, food supply changes and climate change, it said.

“The science is clear that if we keep exploiting wildlife and destroying our ecosystems, then we can expect to see a steady stream of these diseases jumping from animals to humans in the years ahead,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.

Why is this so difficult to understand?

Presidential Climate Change deniers and their ilk should be criminally charged, potentially for Mass Murder of everything on this earth.

[~ocean]

It's all part of One.
Climate Change Deniers are Dangerous Idiots.


"Land degradation, wildlife exploitation, intensive farming and climate change are driving the rise in diseases that, like the coronavirus, are passed from animals to humans, United Nations experts said on Monday.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) jointly identified seven trends responsible for such diseases, known as zoonotic, calling on governments to take steps to stop future pandemics.

These are: rising demand for animal protein, extraction of natural resources and urbanization, intensive and unsustainable farming, exploitation of wildlife, increased travel and transportation, food supply changes and climate change, it said.

“The science is clear that if we keep exploiting wildlife and destroying our ecosystems, then we can expect to see a steady stream of these diseases jumping from animals to humans in the years ahead,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.

Why is this so difficult to understand?

Presidential Climate Change deniers and their ilk should be criminally charged, potentially for Mass Murder of everything on this earth.


Collette I say the same things to myself about climate change ~ how stupid and careless can the human being be ? we know ~ and yet nothing ~ we claim freedom but yet we stay suppressed by a evil psychopath . 2020 Money Talks and Ethics Walk This country can't wait till November to address climate change .

[easygoingfemme]

I'm watching the maps where COVID is rising again, which now is just about everywhere. I'm in NY so you know we were hit HARD. Now we are holding steady and a couple of small states near us are too but we are surrounded by red on the maps and I think it's just a matter of time before it comes to us again.

I am preparing for, but not looking forward to, being back to one of the few essential workers left in my building for the foreseeable future. Those months were scary and huge anxiety went with it. I couldn't keep myself protected because police kept dropping off severely mentally ill and intoxicated people for me to deal with and they can't socially distance and keep a mask on. I dreamed every night of different things, zombies, etc, attacking the building and me there trying to keep all of our residents safe.

I don't understand why all of these states haven't shut back down yet. It's obvious it was helping. It's obvious that re-opening is killing people.

[clay]

I'm watching the maps where COVID is rising again, which now is just about everywhere. I'm in NY so you know we were hit HARD. Now we are holding steady and a couple of small states near us are too but we are surrounded by red on the maps and I think it's just a matter of time before it comes to us again.

I am preparing for, but not looking forward to, being back to one of the few essential workers left in my building for the foreseeable future. Those months were scary and huge anxiety went with it. I couldn't keep myself protected because police kept dropping off severely mentally ill and intoxicated people for me to deal with and they can't socially distance and keep a mask on. I dreamed every night of different things, zombies, etc, attacking the building and me there trying to keep all of our residents safe.

I don't understand why all of these states haven't shut back down yet. It's obvious it was helping. It's obvious that re-opening is killing people.

I hear you on every count, easygoing! I concur with you.

WHY do "they" INSIST that numbers are just higher due to MORE testing?! WHY do they refuse to acknowledge that 50 of Florida's hospitals are already AT capacity in ICU & Covid unit beds are fast filling up. HOW is that "feasible" when supposedly it is "just the younger folks & theirs isn't as serious.

I will be so glad when this shit show ends come November. IF he gets in again, I am leaving the US!

HOW can these governors be bullied to kiss his azz & allow schools to reopen at full capacity, KNOWING hospitals do NOT have enough PPEs. Just HOW do they plan to stock teachers with PPEs? I want to hear that idiocy!

AND to top THAT off, Disney is reopening TWO parks today! REALLY?!.

I am disgusted & so frustrated every single day when I hear them spew their lies, coverups, & BS!

MASKS! SANITIZING! HAND HYGIENE! SOCIAL DISTANCING & GROUPS fewer than 10!!!!! SIMPLE yet that concept is just plain ignored.

Rant over! Hello everyone & enjoy your day in some ways...hugs to all!

[FireSignFemme]

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0515/5693/products/front_a60ee69c-98fa-4060-874f-902f89ee5b72_1280x.jpg?v=1590046083


https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0515/5693/products/MG_8978_7ada63f0-6bbc-48a5-8425-527aa0ec5b2c_1280x.jpg?v=1589692201

[FireSignFemme]

I hear you on every count, easygoing! I concur with you.

WHY do "they" INSIST that numbers are just higher due to MORE testing?! WHY do they refuse to acknowledge that 50 of Florida's hospitals are already AT capacity in ICU & Covid unit beds are fast filling up. HOW is that "feasible" when supposedly it is "just the younger folks & theirs isn't as serious.

I will be so glad when this shit show ends come November. IF he gets in again, I am leaving the US!

HOW can these governors be bullied to kiss his azz & allow schools to reopen at full capacity, KNOWING hospitals do NOT have enough PPEs. Just HOW do they plan to stock teachers with PPEs? I want to hear that idiocy!

AND to top THAT off, Disney is reopening TWO parks today! REALLY?!.

I am disgusted & so frustrated every single day when I hear them spew their lies, coverups, & BS!

MASKS! SANITIZING! HAND HYGIENE! SOCIAL DISTANCING & GROUPS fewer than 10!!!!! SIMPLE yet that concept is just plain ignored.

Rant over! Hello everyone & enjoy your day in some ways...hugs to all!

(((Clay)))

[clay]

Today marked our highest number of positive cases AND there were "120" deaths overnight. Yet, "he" says "you all have nothing to worry about" & "do not let fear get a hold of you". Really?

AND, Disney opened 2 parks today to season passholders only, AND were to follow social distancing & masks. Well, the news showed clusters of passholders right by one another..just watch in another 14 days...numbers will go up. Disney is opening to public this weekend.

And GYMS have been accused of causing this recent spike due to NOT following cleaning protocols. Hmmmm

And this is this Governor's FIRST term. I say we need a NEW Governor, a woman, who can handle this much better!

[clay]

Orlando is in Orange County, where THE highest number of cases are, for central Fl, and has seen 130% INCREASE in cases in 14 days...and are STILL going to open Disney tomorrow to the public AND open schools in a few weeks......sadly shaking my head.

Where is the sense of all this idiocy?!

[easygoingfemme]

Orlando is in Orange County, where THE highest number of cases are, for central Fl, and has seen 130% INCREASE in cases in 14 days...and are STILL going to open Disney tomorrow to the public AND open schools in a few weeks......sadly shaking my head.

Where is the sense of all this idiocy?!

I absolutely can not believe they are opening Disney. My hopes are that so few people put themselves at risk like that that, and don't go to Disney, they can't afford to stay open and have to shut down again. However, based on how everyone is acting I'm thinking that won't be the case.

[~ocean]

Orlando is in Orange County, where THE highest number of cases are, for central Fl, and has seen 130% INCREASE in cases in 14 days...and are STILL going to open Disney tomorrow to the public AND open schools in a few weeks......sadly shaking my head.

Where is the sense of all this idiocy?!

Touche' Touche' Touche' O~Lay :) we are surrounded by idiots.

[clay]

I absolutely can not believe they are opening Disney. My hopes are that so few people put themselves at risk like that that, and don't go to Disney, they can't afford to stay open and have to shut down again. However, based on how everyone is acting I'm thinking that won't be the case.

In a common sense world, that would be the case.....poor attendance so WDW DID have to close down, BUT we are no longer living in a sane, sensible world.

Disney opened a sports complex for athletes to train in, specifically Orlando Magic ATM, and they ARE training, all of them, and NO MASKS!

I saw news this AM that 3 more states are now seeing very high rise in cases. That is 44 states now seeing this. YET, we continue to open more & more venues.

The news has so many mixed messages from WHcovidiot to local Govcovidiots and such that people do not know who & what to believe. And WHcovidiot wants USA to pull out of WHO.

While I do not have children, I am very much concerned for teachers & students being MADE to open schools up full force. That WHcovidiot threatened to pull funds for education IF schools didn't reopen.

Meanwhile, this country is going up in proverbial covid flames. I applaud those Governors who do NOT let WHcovidiot bully them, and they make their own decisions!

Stay safe everyone. I heart you all & I DO NOT want to lose anymore of US!

[clay]

So, I just read where Tulsa, OK now has 6x the number of cases since the WHCovidiot held his rally where no one social distanced nor wore a mask. Imagine that!

[Bèsame*]

30-YEAR-OLD DIES AFTER TEXAS 'COVID PARTY,' THOUGHT CORONAVIRUS WAS A HOAXXDSxJ4IyCz8

[clay]

Florida has a quarter million cases!

Disney opened yesterday, 2 of its parks, & will open more in 2 days!

SMDH.

[easygoingfemme]

Yesterday we were still on the list of states not seeing a rise in cases. Today we were no longer on that list. (NY)

Yesterday we were driving through back country areas and saw tons of outside parties, big parties, for graduations and birthdays. Not good.

I was able to find paper towels today and I'm so glad our garden is going absolutely nuts so we will have vegetables for quite some time. I have jars for canning. The apple tree has baby apples starting.

I can not imagine schools opening in August or September. I absolutely can not imagine it.

[clementinefemme]

My mom has a persistent cough, but no other symptoms. She ran a temp one day last week, but not since then. I'm not sure if I should try to convince her to get tested.

Hope and pray everything's okay.

[clay]

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called the state's rise in cases "a blip" and told residents not to be alarmed.

Florida recorded more than 500 deaths this past week, compared with over 300 the prior week. It is one of about two dozen states where deaths have risen in the last seven days compared with the prior seven days, according to a Reuters analysis.

Florida's Disney World welcomed the public on Saturday for the first time since March with guests required to wear masks, undergo temperature checks and keep physically apart.

The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Florida is quickly rising, with over 500 new patients in the past 24 hours raising to 8,000 the number in hospitals, according to a state agency. Across Florida, 47 hospitals reported their intensive care units (ICUs) were completely full, including eight hospitals in the Miami-Dade County hot spot.

[Cin]

So Tuesday's numbers may very well be the last true picture we get of what's going on with the virus in the US. I often hear how you can't trust information coming from China or Korea or wherever and how they don't tell their citizens what's really going on and they hide information from the media and the rest of the world etc... Well, the US, under the guidance and thumb of fascist leader Donald Trump, is about to join the ranks of countries who engage in massive cover-ups that are to the detriment of it's citizens for political ends. Never thought I'd see the day. Maga hat wearers you can't still believe...can you? Trump has stripped the CDC of control of Coronavirus data.

"Hospital data on coronavirus patients will now be rerouted to the Trump administration instead of first being sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to CNN."

"The administration's new directive came in the form of a document (pdf) quietly posted online last week by HHS, an agency headed by former pharmaceutical executive and Trump appointee Alex Azar.

"As of July 15, 2020, hospitals should no longer report the Covid-19 information in this document to the National Healthcare Safety Network site," the directive states, referring to the CDC's data-gathering system.

Dr. Nicole Lurie, who served in former President Barack Obama's HHS, told the Times that "centralizing control of all data under the umbrella of an inherently political apparatus is dangerous and breeds distrust."

"It appears to cut off the ability of agencies like CDC to do its basic job," said Lurie."

https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2020/07/15/gupta-hhs-data-white-house-cdc-sot-newday-vpx.cnn

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/politics/trump-cdc-coronavirus.html

https://delauro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/delauro-statement-trump-administrations-order-hospitals-bypass-cdc-and

[Kelt]

So a couple of months ago we were getting horrific scenes and numbers out of NYC and I was so grateful that where I am in Southern California was not so nearly ravaged, in fact, while taking lots of precautions the whole thing seemed sort of unreal and like it was mostly something on TV. At the time lock down in California was pretty complete and just about to start opening.

Fast forward a couple of months and now it is Southern California’s turn in the bucket along with some other hotspots in the southern half of the United States. Well we have closed back up a little bit, it’s not at all like it was, people are mostly going about their daily lives while just staying away from bars, restaurants and gym’s. This time is surreal in a different way, I have to keep reminding myself how bad things are here because when lockdown was tight there wasn’t as much actual danger, now that the danger is real and present folks are just having to shift for themselves without any extra rule and it doesn’t seem to be working out so well.

We know more now than we did and I, like most other folks figured out what I will use as boundaries for myself to stay safe. It just seems weird that everybody is freelancing this and there is no real guard rail. I think this might be the source of some of the wildly differing behaviors that we see, the messages have been confusing for a while, so people are interpreting for themselves. I think this next stretch of road is going to be pretty bumpy. :thinking:

[clay]

So a couple of months ago we were getting horrific scenes and numbers out of NYC and I was so grateful that where I am in Southern California was not so nearly ravaged, in fact, while taking lots of precautions the whole thing seemed sort of unreal and like it was mostly something on TV. At the time lock down in California was pretty complete and just about to start opening.

Fast forward a couple of months and now it is Southern California’s turn in the bucket along with some other hotspots in the southern half of the United States. Well we have closed back up a little bit, it’s not at all like it was, people are mostly going about their daily lives while just staying away from bars, restaurants and gym’s. This time is surreal in a different way, I have to keep reminding myself how bad things are here because when lockdown was tight there wasn’t as much actual danger, now that the danger is real and present folks are just having to shift for themselves without any extra rule and it doesn’t seem to be working out so well.

We know more now than we did and I, like most other folks figured out what I will use as boundaries for myself to stay safe. It just seems weird that everybody is freelancing this and there is no real guard rail. I think this might be the source of some of the wildly differing behaviors that we see, the messages have been confusing for a while, so people are interpreting for themselves. I think this next stretch of road is going to be pretty bumpy. :thinking:

Kelt, you are spot on!

[theoddz]

I'm posting this here because we have, whether we recognize it or not, learned some very valuable insights into the truths about the United States capitalistic system with this Coronavirus/ COVID-19 pandemic.

I think we should all see this and realize what is, and has been, happening in this country since the pandemic broke out. Really, it's been happening all along, but the virus has, most definitely, brought a LOT of things out in a huge, glowing spotlight of truth.

Please, take some time and watch this.

It's worth it.

zeF2rkyxDIo

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Gemme]

....*snip*.....

We know more now than we did and I, like most other folks figured out what I will use as boundaries for myself to stay safe. It just seems weird that everybody is freelancing this and there is no real guard rail. I think this might be the source of some of the wildly differing behaviors that we see, the messages have been confusing for a while, so people are interpreting for themselves. I think this next stretch of road is going to be pretty bumpy. :thinking:

The difference in behaviors is because there are 3 kinds of people out there.

1. The believers who abide by the guidelines and do everything they can to keep themselves, their families and their communities safe.
2. The non-believers who think it's a hoax or just don't care about it who crow about their American rights being more important than them getting sick or passing it on to others.
3. Those who may or may believe but are doing everything in their power to profit off of the virus and the backs of those who are trying to work and be safe.

Until there is one single goal, there will not be 100% compliance with safety and wellness guidelines. Which basically means there will never be 100% compliance across the board.

[Kätzchen]

The difference in behaviors is because there are 3 kinds of people out there.

1. The believers who abide by the guidelines and do everything they can to keep themselves, their families and their communities safe.
2. The non-believers who think it's a hoax or just don't care about it who crow about their American rights being more important than them getting sick or passing it on to others.
3. Those who may or may believe but are doing everything in their power to profit off of the virus and the backs of those who are trying to work and be safe.

Until there is one single goal, there will not be 100% compliance with safety and wellness guidelines. Which basically means there will never be 100% compliance across the board.

I happen to agree with you wholeheartedly, Gemme.

Just yesterday, while driving to a spot on the river to watch boats go by and jet-skiers alike, there were waves and waves of people, standing on the side of both sides of the road, some by themselves, some with their entire members of family. No one was wearing masks. No one was standing six feet apart. All of them were waving GOP-type flags and under the premise that Blue Lives Matter (referencing Police). I hate that people will not abide by life saving mandates (wearing a mask, standing six feet apart, etc).

Most likely, COVID-19 will escalate by numbers due to people who just think it's a hoax and that this virus is not killing anybody.

My sister-in-law and a close friend just got back from Idaho. What did they see? No body wearing a mask, except at major retail chain stores (Freddy's, Target, Wal-Mart). They never saw anybody standing six feet apart. In fact, public swimming pools were open, and it would seem that certain small business owners have adopted the idea that COVID-19 is a hoax because people can shop in their stores without wearing a mask and the store owners do not limit the amount of people who can visit their business.

Meanwhile, my s-i-l wore her mask. She's very ill and if she were exposed to an active case, she'd be 6-feet *UNDER* in a matter of days.

Toxic White Privilege and the tenets of The Toxic political party (The GOP) seem to reside in sinister ways across the country. Especially in my home state of Idaho. And it's creeping into the fabric of the inner-metro area where I live, which has been thought of as The Pale Blue Dot (referencing Carl Sagan), the stronghold of Democratic Politics.

It's the number one reason, second only to my toxic family, of why I left years ago.

Here in the metro area, we have digital bill-boards which gives drivers specific directions on how to conduct themselves in traffic and in other social settings. Big warning statements about COVID still on the rise and that people need to give space in traffic, and in other social settings, and to wear masks.

What do people do though? They tail gate, break the speed limit, they don't wear their masks while driving, etc.

I feel that Covid-19 has not only exposed how fragile our medical system is, but it also exposes toxic levels of deep seated entitlement and gross levels of perceived privilege by people who don't care for others by trying to force their own magical thinking at the expense of not only their own lives, but at the expense of the lives of others.

It's is super concerning and deeply worrying, what I see here at home (in everyday life).

[FireSignFemme]

I don't think it's going to happen but if it does and people aren't going to face eviction for non-payment of rent, then what about landlords? Though some people I know with rentals own their buildings outright many more don't. So if they're living elsewhere and no longer generating income from their rental/rentals then what?

[~ocean]

this virus is a double edged sword.

[anotherbutch]

freakin covidiots....

[GeorgiaMa'am]

The number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is over 5 million. Only two weeks ago, it was 4 million. This is "over six times the worldwide average" (BBC World News).

Who cares what T***p says about it? Everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie, anyway.

[cathexis]

Anxiety over the economic impact. Then I watched a few chapters of Pandemic. Now I am an anxious mess.

Being a germophobic ICU nurse, that film had me nearly terrified the first time I saw it (I think it was in 1999). The one that piqued my germphobia was not Pandemic or Epidemic BUT Contagion. Those errors could totally happen realistically. They had done their homework with excellent medical references. Most medical movies I watch saying yeah...right...never gonna happen like that. Many scenes actually had me shaking and yelling at the TV...no...no...don't touch this or that item.

These days I shudder about many things people do and touch. It makes me want to put blue nitrile gloves on before interacting with people. Many people and nearly all children do horribly nasty, germy things without any forethought. I am ecstatic that our nations top doctors are forcing people to wear masks. Now it doesn't look so out of place when I wear gloves or refuse to touch anyone that appears to be unclean or ill in anyway.

My heroes are our Surgeon General and Dr. Fauci. Especially Dr. Fauci. Trump hates him so much, but can't fire him as he is so irreplaceable.

[~ocean]

Being a germophobic ICU nurse, that film had me nearly terrified the first time I saw it (I think it was in 1999). The one that piqued my germphobia was not Pandemic or Epidemic BUT Contagion. Those errors could totally happen realistically. They had done their homework with excellent medical references. Most medical movies I watch saying yeah...right...never gonna happen like that. Many scenes actually had me shaking and yelling at the TV...no...no...don't touch this or that item.

These days I shudder about many things people do and touch. It makes me want to put blue nitrile gloves on before interacting with people. Many people and nearly all children do horribly nasty, germy things without any forethought. I am ecstatic that our nations top doctors are forcing people to wear masks. Now it doesn't look so out of place when I wear gloves or refuse to touch anyone that appears to be unclean or ill in anyway.

My heroes are our Surgeon General and Dr. Fauci. Especially Dr. Fauci. Trump hates him so much, but can't fire him as he is so irreplaceable.


excellent post ~

[Cin]

These days I shudder about many things people do and touch. It makes me want to put blue nitrile gloves on before interacting with people. Many people and nearly all children do horribly nasty, germy things without any forethought. I am ecstatic that our nations top doctors are forcing people to wear masks. Now it doesn't look so out of place when I wear gloves or refuse to touch anyone that appears to be unclean or ill in anyway.


People with gloves scare me. I'm not convinced they get it. Once you put on gloves they will shortly become as dirty as your hands. I have always hated seeing people with gloves. I am terrified imagining the things they have touched with those gloved hands. And gloved people often act as though those gloves somehow keep their hands sanitary. When just the opposite is the reality. Some stores here in my neighborhood won't let you come in to the store with gloves only masks. Weird but true. At least with this particular virus, it doesn't matter as far as gloves or people touching stuff, unless you touch your face with the virus they have on their gloves or with the virus they just deposited with their gloves or hands on some object that you touched and then touched your face. Just DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE. Viruses can't jump into your mouth or up your nose or into your eyes. You need to give them a ride. Just don't touch your face. However, droplets, aerosols, airborne or not are problematic, but wear a mask and keep your distance. Wash your hands. Don't touch your face. This is what I say to myself while I am out and about. It's easy to get complacent.

[Cin]

I forgot to add, if you wear gloves remember don't touch your face with your gloved hands.

Masks make me touch my face more than I would like because they slip all around. That is a problem I haven't figured out yet. I keep saying don't touch your face to myself, but when the mask blocks my eyes I don't have a choice. I can't see. I don't know if it's just me but I have a hell of a time with masks slipping around. My wife complains about it too so probably not just me.

[Kätzchen]

That wearing gloves thing? I cant wear latex or nitrile gloves. Allergic to latex, nitrile gloves harbor sweat on your hands which translated into contact dermatitis (for me). Took me two months to get that cleared up. Instead, for gloves, i use breathable gloves made by Winchester Protective Gear. Now my hands can breathe, plus i have enough gloves on hand so that i can wear a fresh pair daily, then wash them with laundry each weekend.

I also bought goggles, to wear over my prescription glasses, so no more foggy lenses to deal with. :)

But, gosh. Surface contamination and cross-contamination issues definitely gets the attention it deserves now, thanks to Covid19 and its huge concerning issues.

I clean my keys, steering wheel, and just about any surface that is a likely or unlikely point of contact.

Hand washing, keep your eyes protected, stop touching your face and gosh, clean clean clean.

[Vincent]

After all the boasting about how well Australia was doing was all lies.
All the cases in March were Australians coming home from Over seas,something that was totally over looked by the media.
We are not in a second wave at all, now have unknown community transmission,thats all.

Aust has the most concentrated media in the first world

Covid is now devastating Victoria,but now is happening in my State NSW.

Our happy clapper PM,thinks Trump is a genious.....................need I say more........no I didn't think so.

We could have been NZ,but no dumbo is following Trump,coz he has been such a sucess.

Don't believe the lies about Australia

TBH,I got sucked in to,not understanding the difference,unkown community transmission has on the spread of the disease.

[~ocean]

After all the boasting about how well Australia was doing was all lies.
All the cases in March were Australians coming home from Over seas,something that was totally over looked by the media.
We are not in a second wave at all, now have unknown community transmission,thats all.

Aust has the most concentrated media in the first world

Covid is now devastating Victoria,but now is happening in my State NSW.

Our happy clapper PM,thinks Trump is a genious.....................need I say more........no I didn't think so.

We could have been NZ,but no dumbo is following Trump,coz he has been such a sucess.

Don't believe the lies about Australia

TBH,I got sucked in to,not understanding the difference,unkown community transmission has on the spread of the disease.

(((( vincent )))) sorry there is so much covid around you, anyone who listens to TRUMP and his insanity is an idiot. stay safe ~ mask whenever u leave your home , the distance this virus travels in the air is far more of a distance than originally thought ~ every day there are new understandings about this beast of a virus. 6 feet no longer a acceptable distance. I don't know what you can link into but from the CDC here in the US Dr. Fauci is the best informative scientist we have . there are many but he is the one I personally recommend. TC & stay safe ~

[cathexis]

People with gloves scare me. I'm not convinced they get it. Once you put on gloves they will shortly become as dirty as your hands. I have always hated seeing people with gloves. I am terrified imagining the things they have touched with those gloved hands. And gloved people often act as though those gloves somehow keep their hands sanitary. When just the opposite is the reality. Some stores here in my neighborhood won't let you come in to the store with gloves only masks. Weird but true. At least with this particular virus, it doesn't matter as far as gloves or people touching stuff, unless you touch your face with the virus they have on their gloves or with the virus they just deposited with their gloves or hands on some object that you touched and then touched your face. Just DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE. Viruses can't jump into your mouth or up your nose or into your eyes. You need to give them a ride. Just don't touch your face. However, droplets, aerosols, airborne or not are problematic, but wear a mask and keep your distance. Wash your hands. Don't touch your face. This is what I say to myself while I am out and about. It's easy to get complacent.

Fear of people with gloves on is reasonable. I would recoil from a person who walked up trying to touch me nor would I go around touching random patients, but the one being touched does not know that. The only acts a worker can perform in my room with already donned gloves would involve possibly contaminated items. What I would wear the gloves for include door handles, faucet handles, elevator buttons, trash, bodily fluids and the like. I would not touch my face with a gloved hand (30 years as a Critical Care RN).
Gloves would be changed frequently with brisk hand washing. It's difficult to maintain, but know I can last 16 hours in isolation, and rarely away from home base that long recalling the days of private duty of HIV before anyone knew what it was and what precautions to take. I consider everything in home base somewhere on the clean end of my clean/contaminated scale.
Indeed aerosol, droplet contamination is a problem. The sclera is exposed unless one also has a face shield on. Pretty soon we will have people walking around gowned for full isolation. I want my shoe covers and hat too.lol We had better get a vaccine or herd immunity soon.

[homoe]

President Donald Trump got history wrong on multiple counts Monday when he claimed that the “1917” Spanish flu pandemic likely led to the end of World War II ― which began more than two decades later.

“The closest thing is in 1917, they say, the great pandemic. It certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people,” Trump said during his White House press briefing. “Probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick.”

Leading up to that comment, Trump had been praising his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 160,000 people in the U.S., claiming without evidence that without his ban on foreign travelers, millions more would be dead.

Trump has incorrectly referred to the year of the 1918 pandemic dozens of times, even though his own grandfather Frederick Trump died of it in New York City in 1918.

[Cin]

Fear of people with gloves on is reasonable. I would recoil from a person who walked up trying to touch me nor would I go around touching random patients, but the one being touched does not know that. The only acts a worker can perform in my room with already donned gloves would involve possibly contaminated items. What I would wear the gloves for include door handles, faucet handles, elevator buttons, trash, bodily fluids and the like. I would not touch my face with a gloved hand (30 years as a Critical Care RN).
Gloves would be changed frequently with brisk hand washing. It's difficult to maintain, but know I can last 16 hours in isolation, and rarely away from home base that long recalling the days of private duty of HIV before anyone knew what it was and what precautions to take. I consider everything in home base somewhere on the clean end of my clean/contaminated scale.
Indeed aerosol, droplet contamination is a problem. The sclera is exposed unless one also has a face shield on. Pretty soon we will have people walking around gowned for full isolation. I want my shoe covers and hat too.lol We had better get a vaccine or herd immunity soon.

I am not concerned with health care professionals wearing gloves, but the average person makes me nervous. I worry they will think gloves are a substitute for washing their hands and it concerns me how often people might try to reuse them or just wear the same pair all day. Masks are necessary for everyone for sure even though they pose possibilities for misuse and contamination and one should educate oneself on mask safety. But I don't think gloves, outside of healthcare and food service,are really necessary for the average person under usual circumstances. It just adds another element that can go wrong to an already complicated situation. If you can't wash your hands for some reason and have a few pairs it's certainly helpful. I just see so much potential for misuse and cross contamination for the average person with gloves. I think masks are risky enough, but necessary.

Ya, the sclera is a problem with aerosol contamination but I imagine it would take a direct hit from a cough or a sneeze to send enough of a viral load into your eyes and it probably would get through a mask as well unless it's an N-95. Hopefully there is only short-range aerosol transmission mostly in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces. Hopefully droplets don't hang in the air long enough either. But who knows.This virus might be more contagious than first believed.If you cannot maintain a safe distance and have to be indoors with people outside of your bubble I suppose a face shield over a mask is the best course of action. However, I find it hard to breath like that. But I would find it harder to breath on a ventilator I'm sure. I guess I'm hoping that just a mask will do the trick. But maybe just a shield is better than just a mask for the average person doing average daily activities. Masks often move around and require adjusting and therefore put you at risk of contamination. Shields don't do that. But I have masks so...

LOL. shoe covers, hat, gown yep. I'm kidding but who knows what the future holds, this virus is a tad on the wimpy side and yet pretty much brought the world to its knees, god help us if the next one is both deadly and airborne with a robust protein shell making it hard to kill.

[clementinefemme]

Yayyy my mom's COVID test came back negative. :)

[clay]

Ya, the sclera is a problem with aerosol contamination but I imagine it would take a direct hit from a cough or a sneeze to send enough of a viral load into your eyes and it probably would get through a mask as well unless it's an N-95. Hopefully there is only short-range aerosol transmission mostly in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces. Hopefully droplets don't hang in the air long enough either. But who knows.This virus might be more contagious than first believed.If you cannot maintain a safe distance and have to be indoors with people outside of your bubble I suppose a face shield over a mask is the best course of action. However, I find it hard to breath like that. But I would find it harder to breath on a ventilator I'm sure. I guess I'm hoping that just a mask will do the trick. But maybe just a shield is better than just a mask for the average person doing average daily activities. Masks often move around and require adjusting and therefore put you at risk of contamination. Shields don't do that. But I have masks so.


<snipped your conversation except above..

Droplets can/DO hang in air & on the floor for up to 8 hrs. A person in say aisle 1 sneezes OR coughs, and is maskless..those droplets (called "goblet cells") are dispersed 27 feet outward....Another person comes down that aisle, isn't wearing a mask, or if wearing one, incorrectly, or wrong kind, will inhale a small percentage of those same goblet cells, PLUS will have them on their clothing, and the soles of their shoes. Once home, touch the soles to removes their shoes, later touches their face, voila....

Also, wearing gloves has potential to cross contaminate everything they touch....fruits, vegetables, everything...face, steering wheel, keys, phones. etc. It is not really wise to wear those in public, as general population does not know how to do so correctly nor have access to many gloves to change each time an item is touched.

Face Shields are NOT a good protectant. Sides are open, much more access for contaminants to get onto your person. Really good quality facemasks are the ticket, IF worn correctly, cleaned often, & worn to cover one's mouth AND nose...:0

I have 2 N95 masks, about a dozen of really thick, COTTON cloth ones, and several others. I wear each once, then it gets washed & air dried! Most of mine has the wire on bridge of nose to properly seal it onto my face.

Speaking from my nursing background, & I am sure my friend, cathexis, will also validate what I say.....

Just some FYI....carry on

[Kätzchen]

On a different subject: kids contracting Covid19.

I think its a mistake for childen to go back to school or even return to childcare settings.

With data culled from as recently as two weeks ago, *any* population in group exposure is like a ticking time bomb.

And, I hope sports is quashed for the time being too.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

. . . I hope sports is quashed for the time being too.

Yeah, I will miss my baseball, but I don't think we're going to make it to the end of the (very short) season. Players keep getting sick. They're supposed to stay in isolation in their hotels, but we're talking about guys who are mostly in their early 20s. I remember my early 20s - I don't think anybody could have convinced me to stay locked up in a hotel room if I was in a big city like Miami or New York for the first time. They are supposed to have security in the lobbies of the hotels, but you and I know that there are many ways in and out of hotels.

The MLB team owners made a major mistake when they decided to try to continue to have games at all the stadiums. This means the players (and coaches, and support staff and literally hundreds of other people) have to travel back and forth and try to maintain distance and wear PPE, etc. during changing hotels, on vehicles, and probably going to their individual homes if they're in their home city.

The NBA made a better decision when they decided to put all the players and necessary people in a "bubble". All games are played in a sports complex (in Florida, at WDW) and people stay in the same hotels throughout. No one goes in or out of the bubble without extenuating circumstances and the proper precautions. We'll see how that plays out.

[homoe]

~~

...:goodpost:...

[homoe]

There is absolutely no way football can or should be played during this pandemic!

[homoe]

President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued his years long attack on athletes who kneel during the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality. He urged NFL and college football leagues to play this year despite coronavirus concerns ― so long as players stand for the national anthem.

Asked whether he believes the NFL will move forward with its scheduled season opener next month, Trump told Fox Sports Radio that his administration is doing “everything possible” to help the league.

Trump also said it would be a “tragic mistake” for college football leagues to cancel their season because of the pandemic. Several conferences, including the Big Ten and Pac-12, have reportedly voted not to play this year. On Tuesday, the University of Massachusetts joined the University of Connecticut in canceling its football season.

“They’re very healthy people,” Trump said of college football players. “You know, people don’t realize, it’s a tiny percentage of people that get sick and they’re old. It just attacks old people, especially old people with bad hearts, diabetes or some kind of a physical problem, a weight problem.”

He continued: “These football players are very young, strong people physically. I mean they’re physically in extraordinary shape. So you’re not going to have a problem. ... You’re not going to see people dying.”

While it’s true that people 65 and older are much more likely to be hospitalized or die after contracting the virus than younger people, COVID-19 has proven to be serious and sometimes fatal in some young, healthy people. Several prominent college football players have contracted the virus. Louisiana State University linebacker Travez Moore tweeted last week that he had lost 27 pounds during his battle with COVID-19.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-attacks-protesting-athletes-pushes-for-football-despite-coronavirus-concerns_n_5f32929cc5b6fc009a5d9538

[Cin]

Droplets can/DO hang in air & on the floor for up to 8 hrs. A person in say aisle 1 sneezes OR coughs, and is maskless..those droplets (called "goblet cells") are dispersed 27 feet outward

27 feet outward hang in air up to 8 hrs. Wow. Elevators are pretty much a death trap then. And I live on the 9th floor of a high rise. Oh well. If you think about it, it's pretty amazing that even more people don't get this virus just walking through the grocery store. As it gets colder more people will be doing more social stuff indoors. Scary.

Winter is coming.

[Kätzchen]

Yeah, I will miss my baseball, but I don't think we're going to make it to the end of the (very short) season. Players keep getting sick. They're supposed to stay in isolation in their hotels, but we're talking about guys who are mostly in their early 20s. I remember my early 20s - I don't think anybody could have convinced me to stay locked up in a hotel room if I was in a big city like Miami or New York for the first time. They are supposed to have security in the lobbies of the hotels, but you and I know that there are many ways in and out of hotels.

The MLB team owners made a major mistake when they decided to try to continue to have games at all the stadiums. This means the players (and coaches, and support staff and literally hundreds of other people) have to travel back and forth and try to maintain distance and wear PPE, etc. during changing hotels, on vehicles, and probably going to their individual homes if they're in their home city.

The NBA made a better decision when they decided to put all the players and necessary people in a "bubble". All games are played in a sports complex (in Florida, at WDW) and people stay in the same hotels throughout. No one goes in or out of the bubble without extenuating circumstances and the proper precautions. We'll see how that plays out.

I am no infectious desease expert, but I am not "sold" on the 'bubble' experiment.

Here's why I tend to not trust that model of choice:

I already know of about 2 or three 'bubble' situations and those in that 'bubble' were still at risk of exposure and ended up having to quarantine. Not sure if those who quarantined actually caught Covid19, but to me? It is too big of a risk.

I know if I were in a 'bubble' type situation, it seems to me that there is a bigger risk of catching it because I dont think one can control the odds of becoming infected

But that is just thoughts I have concerning 'bubble' types of situations. There is a lot that is still unknown about how people are becoming exposed to people who are contagious yet don't know they are.

I worry each day I am at work that I will be accidentally exposed to Covid19. Worse, I have the same worry about where I live. I wear my mask and hybrid hazmat gear to and from my home. I bag up clothes and such each day, until the weekend when I go to the washertia to do my weekly laundry. It is costly because our studio units do not have room for laundry appliances, not even mini versions. But i have a strict method I adhere to, to keep my home free from outside contaminates. I feel it is prudent to go to great length to make sure I have taken every feasible precaution to make sure I safeguard my health.

I feel lucky that I can do that, and I realise the priviledge granted to me that makes it possible to even do that.

I am grateful tonight that I am safe, so far. But I realise that exposure to Covid19 is not 100% in my favor, or anybody's favor.

We, the general we, know this because of a vast accounting from others who we have learned about who did contract it and did not know how they were infected.

Which is scary. The danger is very real, and should not be discounted for reasons that the science and infectious disease community cannot even nail down yet.

But this is how I think about it and why I exercise as much caution as I can. While I can. Because if somebody here at home is infected or someone at work is infected, it jeopardises everyone's safety and wellness, including my own self, and if I were exposed and became infected, most likely I would die.

My health is fragile, so I have to be super careful in all I do. I am not swimming in money. If I were, I might could stay home for a couple years and ride it out. But I am not.

Anyhoooo. I take each day as it comes and live as responsibly as I can.

Stay safe and stay as well as you can.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Georgia.

~K. :vigil:

[~ocean]

There is absolutely no way football can or should be played during this pandemic!

Thanksgiving is not going to feel the same without all the cheers :( The bands and parades ~ lordy ~ :( :( :(

[homoe]

There is absolutely no way football can or should be played during this pandemic!

RENTON — Many of the usual trappings were there for a typical first day of Seahawks training camp.DJ SupaSam spun tunes as players eagerly took to the glistening grass fields at the VMAC. Seahawks training camp was painted brightly on the berm.Pete Carroll performed his usual early practice custom of tossing a few passes, still able to fire strikes a month shy of his 69th birthday.

The practice that followed — the first official practice of the season for the Seahawks — looked like any other early training-camp workout, with early special-teams work, individual drills and offensive and defensive team periods.But a closer look at Carroll revealed this is no usual training camp.

Throughout the practice, Carroll wore a mask, as did every other coach and staff member, and even a few players, though many went without, one of the many protocols in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And other than the music, the usual hum of training camp was gone. The tents that usually host hundreds of fans have been converted into outdoor weight rooms and training centers. Tents where radio hosts generally conduct pre-practice player interviews were empty.

Carroll most noticed the absence of the din of the usual 2,500 fans or so piled onto the berm and around the back of the fields. Missing were the kids who regularly line the fence hoping for an autograph from Russell Wilson or their favorite Seahawk.

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/seahawks-football-is-back-heres-how-the-first-practice-of-an-unusual-training-camp-looked/?utm_medium=notification&utm_source=pushly&utm_campaign=634647

[ksrainbow]

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/pandemic-definition-covid/

[Kelt]

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/pandemic-definition-covid/

Excellent article, thank you for the perspective. :goodpost:

[homoe]

There is absolutely no way football can or should be played during this pandemic!

To watch this clip click on the "watch on YouTube:
lAuZw-ZFSjc


How can you practice safe distancing in this sport!?

[Gemme]

this virus is a double edged sword.

More like a Medieval mace (https://www.google.com/search?q=medieval+mace&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS866US866&sxsrf=ALeKk03G3DDZObEw_PooVh4G4piOTVBqtQ:159733084 7908&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=60YenC33J1b-eM%252CW_UpZkLlrS6cWM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTshh7Pw4AOMc5uc-UJwAgbXIFBVg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiDs5yOuZjrAhVHjlkKHdShD_oQ9QEwCHoECAkQP g&biw=1536&bih=754#imgrc=60YenC33J1b-eM).

I forgot to add, if you wear gloves remember don't touch your face with your gloved hands.

Masks make me touch my face more than I would like because they slip all around. That is a problem I haven't figured out yet. I keep saying don't touch your face to myself, but when the mask blocks my eyes I don't have a choice. I can't see. I don't know if it's just me but I have a hell of a time with masks slipping around. My wife complains about it too so probably not just me.

They slip because they don't have a snug fit. If you have the type that loops around your ears, fold the ear loop so it comes to a point and tie a small rubber band around the folded tips of each ear. That will pull the mask more tightly to your face and it won't travel. The rubber bands aren't irritating, either. Two of my masks are like this and I have to do that to keep them from traveling all over my face.

Also, if you wear glasses, tuck the top of the mask on your nose bridge and then put your glasses on top. It helps to keep the vision part of it a little better.

...

We could have been NZ,but no dumbo is following Trump,coz he has been such a sucess.

...



New Zealand is having a resurgence now after 3 months of containment so no one is safe anymore.

[Kelt]

They slip because they don't have a snug fit. If you have the type that loops around your ears, fold the ear loop so it comes to a point and tie a small rubber band around the folded tips of each ear. That will pull the mask more tightly to your face and it won't travel. The rubber bands aren't irritating, either. Two of my masks are like this and I have to do that to keep them from traveling all over my face.

*snipped a bit*

I thought I would put in my .02 on fit. I just found this a couple of days ago and it really works:

gd4lU7x_-LI

I like using the disposables instead of washing, I know a new one is clean.. With the better fit I feel better about these indoors.

[FireSignFemme]

*snipped a bit*

I thought I would put in my .02 on fit. I just found this a couple of days ago and it really works:

gd4lU7x_-LI

I like using the disposables instead of washing, I know a new one is clean.. With the better fit I feel better about these indoors.

Oh thanks that works really great! I was worried because I'm down to one disposable and didn't want to mess it up but I'm not going out before I see family again and I do have a really uncomfortable suffocating washable one to use as back up so gave it a shot. To my surprise it works perfectly. I worried it would make the mask too tight, hurt my ears but now that it's not slipping around I can see the pain/discomfort before was more about it moving around and tugging at my ears than the mask being too tight.

What's really nice I've got a good seal now. Before I had of course the gaping open sides but because things were sliding and shifting around all the time the metal nose piece wasn't helping keep the mask in place at all creating gaps up there too. Now my mask stays in place and when I pinch the nose piece it feels comfortable and actually does its job. Also the mask is pleated and now that it's staying in place I'm able to pull it out a bit in the front away from my face without creating even larger gaps on the sides.

Not having it flat against my face and tugging at my ears makes it easier to breath in, exhale. I can even move my mouth around, speak freely, yawn without losing a good fit, having it slide all over. With the tiny bit of gap still on the sides I'm not suffocating am actually very comfortable. Before I couldn't see how I could wear one of these during a regular work day but I can see myself doing this comfortably for an 8-10 hour shift. Now working 12s or pulling a doubles I don't know about that but still huge improvement!

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Dingbat Georgia governor Brian Kemp has finally dropped his lame lawsuit against Georgia cities that require masks in public places. However, he has issued a new order that "allows" mayors of some cities to require masks. His spokesperson said, "Of most importance, this order will contain very strong protections for business owners and private property."

Really, Brian? The most important thing is "business owners and private property"? What about the lives of the people who voted for you? What about the lives of the ones who didn't, including those who can't vote such as children?

Brian Kemp's priorities are so screwed up! I'm so sick of this governor. It's things like this that remind me how much I wish Stacey Abrams had won the election.

[~ocean]

Dingbat Georgia governor Brian Kemp has finally dropped his lame lawsuit against Georgia cities that require masks in public places. However, he has issued a new order that "allows" mayors of some cities to require masks. His spokesperson said, "Of most importance, this order will contain very strong protections for business owners and private property."

Really, Brian? The most important thing is "business owners and private property"? What about the lives of the people who voted for you? What about the lives of the ones who didn't, including those who can't vote such as children?

Brian Kemp's priorities are so screwed up! I'm so sick of this governor. It's things like this that remind me how much I wish Stacey Abrams had won the election.


this the results of a lack of leadership that TRUMP has imposed... if gov's etc. don't agree with Trump , he punishes them it leaves WEAK leaders like gov's and senators confused and compromising their ethics. I don't know if your gov. apply's to this confussion.

[homoe]

The politicization of COVID-19 is the most extreme of any health problem that Dr. Anthony Fauci has experienced in his career, the infectious disease expert revealed in his latest review of the coronavirus pandemic. The battle against the disease has “taken on a political tone like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Fauci said in an interview Thursday arranged by National Geographic magazine.
And it’s not helping, he noted. “We certainly are not where I hoped we would be,” Fauci said.

In a separate interview with The Washington Post Thursday, when asked about Tucker Carlson’s attacks on him on Fox News, Fauci responded that Carlson “triggers some of the crazies in society to start threatening me ... which actually happens.” The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases appeared to still be stunned by the vicious reaction — and at a loss to explain it. Fauci attributed it to an extreme, disturbing divisiveness in the nation.

“It seems inconceivable,” he told interviewer Deborah Roberts of ABC News. “Take a deep breath and think about it: When you’re trying to promote public health principles to save people’s lives ... that there’s such divisiveness in the country that [it’s] interpreted to be so far from your own way of thinking that you actually want to threaten the person.” He added: “It’s tough for me to figure that out except to say, ’Boy, I hope we get past this divisiveness in our country. ... [There’s] just no way that our society can really function well and go along that way. We’ve got to get past that.”

Fauci said it would be helpful if people would think about health and safety measures not as “blocking” a return to more normal times but as “gateways” to getting there — one thoughtful, careful step at a time.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fauci-politics-covid-19-divisiveness_n_5f372003c5b69fa9e2fba8c5

[~ocean]

The politicization of COVID-19 is the most extreme of any health problem that Dr. Anthony Fauci has experienced in his career, the infectious disease expert revealed in his latest review of the coronavirus pandemic. The battle against the disease has “taken on a political tone like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Fauci said in an interview Thursday arranged by National Geographic magazine.
And it’s not helping, he noted. “We certainly are not where I hoped we would be,” Fauci said.

In a separate interview with The Washington Post Thursday, when asked about Tucker Carlson’s attacks on him on Fox News, Fauci responded that Carlson “triggers some of the crazies in society to start threatening me ... which actually happens.” The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases appeared to still be stunned by the vicious reaction — and at a loss to explain it. Fauci attributed it to an extreme, disturbing divisiveness in the nation.

“It seems inconceivable,” he told interviewer Deborah Roberts of ABC News. “Take a deep breath and think about it: When you’re trying to promote public health principles to save people’s lives ... that there’s such divisiveness in the country that [it’s] interpreted to be so far from your own way of thinking that you actually want to threaten the person.” He added: “It’s tough for me to figure that out except to say, ’Boy, I hope we get past this divisiveness in our country. ... [There’s] just no way that our society can really function well and go along that way. We’ve got to get past that.”

Fauci said it would be helpful if people would think about health and safety measures not as “blocking” a return to more normal times but as “gateways” to getting there — one thoughtful, careful step at a time.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fauci-politics-covid-19-divisiveness_n_5f372003c5b69fa9e2fba8c5


excellent post ~ one more HUGE problem the next president has to fix... that leather tuchus in the WH has destroyed the American Democracy of Unity.

[~ocean]

LOL Donald Dolly Hands says get the "MY PILLOW" to help with the Coronavirus ~ let's see drink bleach and hug your MY PILLOW ? what a stunnada ~ ** laughing my way to bed **

[homoe]

~~
Trump's new coronavirus adviser uses made-up statistics and false claims to praise White House pandemic response!


Sidebar: I guess when Fauci and Birx wouldn't play ball with him anymore Trump went to a second rate and lesser known unqualified quarterback!

[Orema]

As Pandemic Raged, Roadways Became Speedways

By: The Associated Press
Posted at 3:18 AM, Sep 07, 2020 and last updated 3:18 AM, Sep 07, 2020

https://i.postimg.cc/Wz1qLv0g/url-https-ewscripps-brightspotcdn-com-1e-a0-018155ca4b73b74ac3a5a431d9a1-800.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
Stock Photo

Some drivers took advantage of roads and highways emptied by the coronavirus pandemic by pushing well past the speed limit, a trend that continues even as states try to get back to normal.

The Iowa State Patrol recorded a 101% increase from January through August over the four-year average in tickets for speeds exceeding 100 mph, along with a 75% increase in tickets for speeds of 25 mph or more over the posted speed limit.

California Highway Patrol officers issued more than 15,000 tickets from mid-March through Aug. 19 for speeds exceeding 100 mph, more than a 100% increase over the same time period a year ago. That includes a continuing spike from May on.

The most likely explanation is drivers taking advantage of more open roads because of the pandemic, said Officer Ian Hoey, a spokesman for the California agency.

The patrol planned a heavy presence over the Labor Day weekend, he said.

“Let’s just slow down a bit and enjoy the day!” the agency’s Santa Rosa division tweeted June 21, along with a photo of a laser speed device recording a car going 127 mph.

In Ohio, state troopers have issued 2,200 tickets since April for driving more than 100 mph, a 61% increase over the same time period a year ago. The highest ticketed speed was 147 mph in the Cincinnati area.

While traffic has decreased 15% from February through July, the number of people driving more than 80 mph on Ohio roads jumped by 30%, according to sensor data analyzed by the state Department of Transportation.

Columbus resident Karen Poltor experienced the trend firsthand last month when three cars raced past her on state Route 315, an expressway through the city.

“They were flying in the left lane and weaving around cars,” said Poltor, who estimated their speed at between 90 and 100 mph. “It was terrifying to watch.”

Ohio authorities are especially troubled that speeds not only picked up in the early days of the pandemic when roads were emptier, but they’ve also continued even as the state reopened and roads became more congested.

“We’ve seen people continue to go those speeds even though there now is more traffic, which makes it even more dangerous,” said Lt. Craig Cvetan, an Ohio patrol spokesman.

July was Ohio’s deadliest traffic month since 2007, with 154 fatalities.

A temporary reduction in traffic enforcement in the early days of the pandemic may have contributed to a sense of invulnerability by some drivers. Some Ohio police agencies — though not the patrol — eased up on pulling drivers over for minor traffic violations to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

In addition, Ohio troopers were spread thin for several weeks as they were called on to help distribute food and later provide security as protests over police brutality and racism erupted following the death in May of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“When people see less troopers on the roadway or they see less law enforcement out working, there is that tendency for them to start committing traffic violations,” Cvetan said.

Vermont law enforcement officials believe an increase in the number of traffic fatalities recorded to date this year could be linked to fewer police on the road because of the pandemic. So far there have been 43 traffic fatality deaths, up from 21 at the same point last year.

Utah state police saw a 23% jump in tickets issued for going 20 mph or more over the speed limit from March through August compared with the same time period last year. In Pennsylvania, patrol tickets for drivers exceeding 100 mph climbed in March but then stayed high from June through August, jumping 25% during that three-month period.

The government warned drivers to slow down in a mid-July message aimed at pandemic speeding.

“Less traffic has coincided with a rise in speeding in some areas of the country, and that’s a problem because speeding increases the risk of crashes, and can increase crash severity as well,” said James Owens, deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a public service announcement.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Ryan Foley in Iowa City; Don Thompson in Sacramento, California; Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vermont; and Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City.

https://www.10news.com/news/national/coronavirus/as-pandemic-raged-roadways-became-speedways

[Cin]

Long but interesting article:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/09/pandemic-intuition-nightmare-spiral-winter/616204/?fbclid=IwAR27oOMxruaLv5SGdlfkyrvvSttGgES2MYYeIWjT qFx1AvqNTofk3vrAuhA

[Cin]

Coronavirus: Big Pharma wages stealth war on drug price watchdog

Big Pharma is using stealth tactics to undermine credibility of non-profit that holds down US drug prices.

As evidence grew this spring that the drug remdesivir was helping COVID-19 patients, some Wall Street investors bet on analysts' estimates that its maker, Gilead Sciences Inc, could charge up to $10,000 for the treatment.

Then a small but increasingly influential drug-pricing research organisation, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), said the treatment only justified a price between $2,800 and $5,000. Shortly after, Gilead announced it would charge about $3,100 for a five-day treatment and $5,700 for 10 days - in line with the ICER recommendation.

The episode illustrates the growing power of the Boston-based nonprofit to hold down US drug prices. Over the past five years, ICER has pressured drugmakers to lower the cost of nearly 100 drugs. It aims to play a similar role with emerging COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. Health insurers increasingly use ICER's fair-value analyses to limit access to expensive drugs or to negotiate steeper discounts with drugmakers.

The industry has moved aggressively to combat the threat to its profits in two ways: With open criticism of ICER's formula and with a stealthier campaign to undermine its credibility through proxies, including veterans' groups and organisations that claim to advocate for patients but have ties to the pharmaceutical industry, Reuters news agency found in a review of industry connections and funding among groups targeting ICER.

...Steven Pearson, founder and president of ICER said the coronavirus pandemic has raised the importance of the organisation's work as the pricing of vaccines and treatments will impact millions of Americans amid a faltering economy.

"There is a heightened public awareness and sensitivity to the risk of high prices being unfair," he said.

article in entirety here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/coronavirus-big-pharma-wages-stealth-war-drug-price-watchdog-200911143729527.html

[Cin]

Trump officials interfered with CDC reports on Covid-19

The politically appointed HHS spokesperson and his team demanded and received the right to review CDC’s scientific reports to health professionals.

The health department’s politically appointed communications aides have demanded the right to review and seek changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly scientific reports charting the progress of the coronavirus pandemic, in what officials characterized as an attempt to intimidate the reports’ authors and water down their communications to health professionals.

In some cases, emails from communications aides to CDC Director Robert Redfield and other senior officials openly complained that the agency’s reports would undermine President Donald Trump's optimistic messages about the outbreak, according to emails reviewed by POLITICO and three people familiar with the situation.

CDC officials have fought back against the most sweeping changes, but have increasingly agreed to allow the political officials to review the reports and, in a few cases, compromised on the wording, according to three people familiar with the exchanges. The communications aides’ efforts to change the language in the CDC’s reports have been constant across the summer and continued as recently as Friday afternoon.

The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports are authored by career scientists and serve as the main vehicle for the agency to inform doctors, researchers and the general public about how Covid-19 is spreading and who is at risk. Such reports have historically been published with little fanfare and no political interference, said several longtime health department officials, and have been viewed as a cornerstone of the nation's public health work for decades.

But since Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign official with no medical or scientific background, was installed in April as the Health and Human Services department's new spokesperson, there have been substantial efforts to align the reports with Trump's statements, including the president's claims that fears about the outbreak are overstated, or stop the reports altogether.

Caputo and his team have attempted to add caveats to the CDC's findings, including an effort to retroactively change agency reports that they said wrongly inflated the risks of Covid-19 and should have made clear that Americans sickened by the virus may have been infected because of their own behavior, according to the individuals familiar with the situation and emails reviewed by POLITICO.

Caputo's team also has tried to halt the release of some CDC reports, including delaying a report that addressed how doctors were prescribing hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug favored by Trump as a coronavirus treatment despite scant evidence. The report, which was held for about a month after Caputo’s team raised questions about its authors’ political leanings, was finally published last week. It said that "the potential benefits of these drugs do not outweigh their risks."

In one clash, an aide to Caputo berated CDC scientists for attempting to use the reports to "hurt the President" in an Aug. 8 email sent to CDC Director Robert Redfield and other officials that was widely circulated inside the department and obtained by POLITICO.

"CDC to me appears to be writing hit pieces on the administration," appointee Paul Alexander wrote, calling on Redfield to modify two already published reports that Alexander claimed wrongly inflated the risks of coronavirus to children and undermined Trump's push to reopen schools. "CDC tried to report as if once kids get together, there will be spread and this will impact school re-opening . . . Very misleading by CDC and shame on them. Their aim is clear."

Alexander also called on Redfield to halt all future MMWR reports until the agency modified its years-old publication process so he could personally review the entire report prior to publication, rather than a brief synopsis. Alexander, an assistant professor of health research at McMaster University near Toronto whom Caputo recruited this spring to be his scientific adviser, added that CDC needed to allow him to make line edits — and demanded an "immediate stop" to the reports in the meantime.

"The reports must be read by someone outside of CDC like myself, and we cannot allow the reporting to go on as it has been, for it is outrageous. Its lunacy," Alexander told Redfield and other officials. "Nothing to go out unless I read and agree with the findings how they CDC, wrote it and I tweak it to ensure it is fair and balanced and 'complete.'"

CDC officials have fought the efforts to retroactively change reports but have increasingly allowed Caputo and his team to review them before publication, according to the three individuals with knowledge of the situation. Caputo also helped install CDC’s interim chief of staff last month, two individuals added, ensuring that Caputo himself would have more visibility into an agency that has often been at odds with HHS political officials during the pandemic.

https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/e2d581a/2147483647/resize/1160x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F4e%2F86%2 Fd3e0e78e4104b8d443ca120d8811%2F200911-cdc-email-2-773.jpg

Asked by POLITICO about why he and his team were demanding changes to CDC reports, Caputo praised Alexander as "an Oxford-educated epidemiologist" who specializes "in analyzing the work of other scientists," although he did not make him available for an interview.

"Dr. Alexander advises me on pandemic policy and he has been encouraged to share his opinions with other scientists. Like all scientists, his advice is heard and taken or rejected by his peers," Caputo said in a statement.

Caputo also said that HHS was appropriately reviewing the CDC's reports. “Our intention is to make sure that evidence, science-based data drives policy through this pandemic—not ulterior deep state motives in the bowels of CDC," he said.

Caputo's team has spent months clashing with scientific experts across the administration. Alexander this week tried to muzzle infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci from speaking about the risks of the coronavirus to children, and The Washington Post reported in July that Alexander had criticized the CDC's methods and findings.

But public health experts told POLITICO that they were particularly alarmed that the CDC's reports could face political interference, praising the MMWRs as essential to fighting the pandemic.

"It's the go-to place for the public health community to get information that's scientifically vetted," said Jennifer Kates, who leads the Kaiser Family Foundation's global health work. In an interview with POLITICO, Kates rattled off nearly a dozen examples of MMWR reports that she and other researchers have relied on to determine how Covid-19 has spread and who's at highest risk, including reports on how the virus has been transmitted in nursing homes, at churches and among children.

"They're so important, and CDC has done so many," Kates said.

The efforts to modify the CDC reports began in earnest after a May report authored by senior CDC official Anne Schuchat, which reviewed the spread of Covid-19 in the United States and caused significant strife within the health department. HHS officials, including Secretary Alex Azar, believed that Schuchat was implying that the Trump administration moved too slowly to respond to the outbreak, said two individuals familiar with the situation.

The HHS criticism was mystifying to CDC officials, who believed that Schuchat was merely recounting the state of affairs and not rendering judgment on the response, the individuals familiar with the situation said. Schuchat has made few public appearances since authoring the report.

CDC did not respond to a request for comment about Schuchat’s report and the response within the department.

The close scrutiny continued across the summer with numerous flashpoints, the individuals added, with Caputo and other HHS officials particularly bristling about a CDC report that found the coronavirus spread among young attendees at an overnight camp in Georgia. Caputo, Alexander and others claimed that the timing of the August report was a deliberate effort to undermine the president's push on children returning to schools in the fall.

Most recently, Alexander on Friday asked CDC to change its definition of “pediatric population” for a report on coronavirus-related deaths among young Americans slated for next week, according to an email that Caputo shared with POLITICO.

“[D]esignating persons aged 18-20 as ‘pediatric’ by the CDC is misleading,” Alexander wrote, arguing that the report needed to better distinguish between Americans of different ages. “These are legal adults, albeit young.”

Caputo defended his team’s interventions as necessary to the coronavirus response. “Buried in this good [CDC] work are sometimes stories which seem to purposefully mislead and undermine the President’s Covid response with what some scientists label as poor scholarship — and others call politics disguised in science,” Caputo told POLITICO.

The battles over delaying or modifying the reports have weighed on CDC officials and been a distraction in the middle of the pandemic response, said three individuals familiar with the situation. "Dr. Redfield has pushed back on this," said one individual. "These are scientifically driven articles. He's worked to shake some of them loose."

Kates, the Kaiser Family Foundation's global health expert, defended the CDC's process as rigorous and said that there was no reason for politically appointed officials to review the work of scientists. “MMWRs are famously known for being very clear about their limitations as well as being clear for what they've found," she said.

Kates also said that the CDC reports have played an essential role in combating epidemics for decades, pointing to an MMWR posted in 1981 — the first published report on what became the HIV epidemic.

“Physicians recognized there was some kind of pattern and disseminated it around the country and the world,” Kates said. “We can now see how important it was to have that publication, in that moment.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/11/exclusive-trump-officials-interfered-with-cdc-reports-on-covid-19-412809?fbclid=IwAR30ur8BRgu7nwh1VUjA3czJO7d9-Vw2e3tOePWXDhu5gCBg3wHcPglQmGc

[homoe]

Candlelight Christian Fellowship’s Paul Van Noy, who is a self-proclaimed “no-masker,” has spent two weeks in the ICU after testing positive for coronavirus.
Candlelight Christian Fellowship in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, confirmed in a Monday statement on its website that senior pastor Paul Van Noy remained in a local hospital’s intensive care unit after testing positive for the coronavirus more than two weeks ago. Van Noy’s wife, Brenda, and five other church staff members also tested positive, but were able to recover at home, according to the statement.

“They tell me it will be a few more days in ICU and then I will move back to a regular room for a couple of days and then to recover at home,” Van Noy is quoted as saying. “At present I feel OK but still need quite a bit of oxygen support — especially if and when I try to get up out of the bed.”

“I am watching in prayer that there are no new cases and we can all be back together — worshiping together as called — very soon,” he added. “Please pray for health and strength for all.”

I wonder what the odds of this Einstein wearing a mask now are!?

[homoe]

The government’s top infectious disease doctor on Wednesday accused Sen. Rand Paul of repeatedly misconstruing information about the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, including making misleading claims about herd immunity and the effects of mitigation measures.

Testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Anthony Fauci rejected Paul’s assertion that the United States' mitigation and lockdown efforts were misguided. Paul cited the experiences of countries like Sweden that did not take aggressive measures to control the virus, arguing that “our death rate is essentially worse than Sweden's.”

“If you look at the data, the countries that did very little have a lower death rate than the U.S.,” Paul, a doctor, said. "It's important that we the people not simply acquiesce to authoritarian mandates on our behavior without first making the nanny state prove their hypothesis."

Fauci disputed the comparison between the U.S. and Sweden and added that Sweden has a higher death rate than other comparable Scandinavian countries.

“I don't think it’s appropriate to compare Sweden with us,” Fauci said — adding that he doesn’t regret the mitigation efforts he and others on the White House coronavirus task force recommended that states implement.

Most states put in place some kind of lockdown measure during the early months of the pandemic. Some states that experienced a surge in infections this summer reverted back to mitigation measures like bar closures and restrictions on large gatherings.

Fauci also disputed Paul's claim that a dramatic decline in the proportion of positive Covid-19 tests in New York was a sign that the state, or parts of it, had developed herd immunity.

"You are not listening to what the director of the CDC said. In New York, it's 22 percent," Fauci said of the state's infection rate. "If you believe 22 percent in New York is herd immunity, you are alone in that."

The background: Paul, who was infected with the coronavirus earlier this year, has made controversial claims about the virus — such as claiming that he is now immune, without having any scientific evidence to support that. He has also suggested people should have the freedom to decide whether they want to get the coronavirus vaccine or not.

[homoe]

Here's which medical and dental visits you should keep and which you should postpone during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So where do doctors’ appointments come into play? Some appointments ― like a weekly massage or perhaps a routine dental cleaning ― you should still postpone, but what about vital screenings or monthly checkups for health conditions?

We spoke with some experts to bring you this guide on which appointments you should keep, which you should cancel, and how to safely go to the necessary ones in the time of the coronavirus.

Routine visits should be determined based on your health history, COVID-19 risk, and what’s necessary.


https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-to-do-doctors-appointments_l_5e73d50bc5b6eab77944d756

[homoe]

Dr Robert Redfield was overheard by an employee of NBC News on a flight from Atlanta to Washington. According to NBC, Redfield criticized Scott Atlas, a radiologist and Fox News talking head added to the taskforce last month. “Everything he says is false,” Redfield said about Atlas, NBC reported. Redfield later confirmed he had been talking about Atlas.

Atlas, who has no background in infectious diseases but who appears to have the best current access to Trump of any medical adviser, has been frequently criticized by the scientific and medical communities for offering what public health professionals say is bad advice about coronavirus.

Atlas has misleadingly called into question the efficacy of masks and social distancing, has echoed Trump’s call for reopening schools, and perhaps most controversially has support the purposeful contraction of the virus by young people to create so-called “herd immunity”. Public health experts warn that the viability of a “herd immunity” against coronavirus without a vaccine is unknown, given uncertainty about levels and duration of immunity in individual cases. They also say that achieving “herd immunity” would involve millions of infections and unknown thousands of cases of serious illness and death.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/cdc-director-takes-aim-trumps-131954759.html

[Gemme]

More than a million dead from COVID-19 now.


NEW DELHI (AP) — The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed 1 million on Tuesday, nine months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, tested world leaders’ resolve, pitted science against politics and forced multitudes to change the way they live, learn and work.

“It’s not just a number. It’s human beings. It’s people we love,” said Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of medical history at the University of Michigan who has advised government officials on containing pandemics and lost his 84-year-old mother to COVID-19 in February.

“It’s our brothers, our sisters. It’s people we know,” he added. “And if you don’t have that human factor right in your face, it’s very easy to make it abstract.”

The bleak milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Jerusalem or Austin, Texas. It is 2 1/2 times the sea of humanity that was at Woodstock in 1969. It is more than four times the number killed in the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Even then, the figure is almost certainly a vast undercount because of inadequate or inconsistent testing and reporting and suspected concealment by some countries.

And the number continues to mount. Nearly 5,000 deaths are reported each day on average. Parts of Europe are getting hit by a second wave, and experts fear the same fate may await the U.S., which accounts for about 205,000 deaths, or 1 out of 5 worldwide. That is far more than any other country, despite America's wealth and medical resources.

“I can understand why ... numbers are losing their power to shock, but I still think it’s really important that we understand how big these numbers really are,” said Mark Honigsbaum, author of “The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris.”

The global toll includes people like Joginder Chaudhary, who was his parents’ greatest pride, raised with the little they earned farming a half-acre plot in central India to become the first doctor from their village.

After the virus killed the 27-year-old Chaudhary in late July, his mother wept inconsolably. With her son gone, Premlata Chaudhary said, how could she go on living? Three weeks later, on Aug. 18, the virus took her life, too. All told, it has killed more than 95,000 in India.

“This pandemic has ruined my family,” said the young doctor's father, Rajendra Chaudhary. “All our aspirations, our dreams, everything is finished.”

When the virus overwhelmed cemeteries in the Italian province of Bergamo last spring, the Rev. Mario Carminati opened his church to the dead, lining up 80 coffins in the center aisle. After an army convoy carted them to a crematory, another 80 arrived. Then 80 more.

Eventually the crisis receded and the world’s attention moved on. But the pandemic’s grasp endures. In August, Carminati buried his 34-year-old nephew.

“This thing should make us all reflect. The problem is that we think we’re all immortal,” the priest said.

The virus first appeared in late 2019 in patients hospitalized in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first death was reported on Jan. 11. By the time authorities locked down the city nearly two weeks later, millions of travelers had come and gone. China’s government has come in for criticism that it did not do enough to alert other countries to the threat.

Government leaders in countries like Germany, South Korea and New Zealand worked effectively to contain it. Others, like U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, dismissed the severity of the threat and the guidance of scientists, even as hospitals filled with gravely ill patients.

Brazil has recorded the second most deaths after the U.S., with about 142,000. India is third and Mexico fourth, with more than 76,000.

The virus has forced trade-offs between safety and economic well-being. The choices made have left millions of people vulnerable, especially the poor, minorities and the elderly.

With so many of the deaths beyond view in hospital wards and clustered on society’s margins, the milestone recalls the grim pronouncement often attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin: One death is a tragedy, millions of deaths are a statistic.

The pandemic’s toll of 1 million dead in such a limited time rivals some of the gravest threats to public health, past and present.

It exceeds annual deaths from AIDS, which last year killed about 690,000 people worldwide. The virus’s toll is approaching the 1.5 million global deaths each year from tuberculosis, which regularly kills more people than any other infectious disease.

But “COVID’s grip on humanity is incomparably greater than the grip of other causes of death,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University. He noted the unemployment, poverty and despair caused by the pandemic, and deaths from myriad other illnesses that have gone untreated.

For all its lethality, the virus has claimed far fewer lives than the so-called Spanish flu, which killed an estimated 40 million to 50 million worldwide in two years, just over a century ago.

That pandemic came before scientists had microscopes powerful enough to identify the enemy or antibiotics that could treat the bacterial pneumonia that killed most of the victims. It also ran a far different course. In the U.S., for example, the Spanish flu killed about 675,000. But most of those deaths did not come until a second wave hit over the winter of 1918-19.

Up to now, the disease has left only a faint footprint on Africa, well shy of early modeling that predicted thousands more deaths.

But cases have recently surged in countries like Britain, Spain, Russia and Israel. In the United States, the return of students to college campuses has sparked new outbreaks. With approval and distribution of a vaccine still probably months away and winter approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, the toll will continue to climb.

“We’re only at the beginning of this. We’re going to see many more weeks ahead of this pandemic than we’ve had behind us,” Gostin said.

___

Geller reported from New York. Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this story.

[homoe]

Covid-19 cases are on the rise again across the United States as more and more states have loosened restrictions put into place to slow the spread of the killer virus, NBC News figures showed Monday.

On Friday, the U.S. logged 55,759 cases — the largest single day total in a month. And the troubling development comes as the global death toll from the virus passed 1 million with the U.S. continuing to account for over a fifth of those fatalities.

“We’re not in a good place,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, warned Monday on ABC's “Good Morning America.”

“There’s certainly parts of the country that are doing well,” Fauci added. “But … there are states that are starting to show an uptick in cases and even some increases in hospitalization in some states. And, I hope not, but we very well might start seeing increases in deaths.”

And as the weather gets colder, more people are heading inside where the danger of getting infected increases significantly, Fauci said.

[homoe]

~~~

Vice President Mike Pence and Pence’s wife Karen announced testing negative for Covid-19

[~ocean]

~~~

Vice President Mike Pence and Pence’s wife Karen announced testing negative for Covid-19

Jared and Ivanka also tested negative ~ FOR NOW << key point , I hope they continue to test negative .

[Orema]

Jared and Ivanka also tested negative ~ FOR NOW << key point , I hope they continue to test negative .

You are generous and kind, ocean. I'm not.

I hope he has it, his children have it, and their children have it.

[~ocean]

You are generous and kind, ocean. I'm not.

I hope he has it, his children have it, and their children have it.

lolol "YIKES" orema ~ and on that note can I put you in my will and oh ! heres my car ~ I don't use it anymore ~ and ummm how do u feel about real estate lolol ~ am I on your good side yet ?:koolaid::bunchflowers::byebye:

[Orema]

lolol "YIKES" orema ~ and on that note can I put you in my will and oh ! heres my car ~ I don't use it anymore ~ and ummm how do u feel about real estate lolol ~ am I on your good side yet ?:koolaid::bunchflowers::byebye:

The funny thing is, you could put Trump and Mini-Me (Ivanka) in your will and they'd still treat you like crap, at least according to his niece.

[homoe]

You are generous and kind, ocean. I'm not.

I hope he has it, his children have it, and their children have it.

I LOVE your honesty!

No doubt many others feel the same way but are afraid to come right out and say it Orema!

The night it was announced Trump tested positive I watched several news channels and while all the newscasters appeared somber and serious in their reporting...IMHO you just gotta know on the inside, they were doing the happy dance!

[Orema]

I LOVE your honesty!

No doubt many others feel the same way but are afraid to come right out and say it Orema!

The night it was announced Trump tested positive I watched several news channels and while all the newscasters appeared somber and serious in their reporting...IMHO you just gotta know on the inside, they were doing the happy dance!

Thanks, homoe, but I don't think most people feel and think this way. I really don't. I think most people empathize with his family. I think they see them as unwilling participants. I see quite the opposite. They're all vultures and criminals, are only out for themselves, and are willing to turn this country inside out to get what they want.

[Gemme]

Thanks, homoe, but I don't think most people feel and think this way. I really don't. I think most people empathize with his family. I think they see them as unwilling participants. I see quite the opposite. They're all vultures and criminals, are only out for themselves, and are willing to turn this country inside out to get what they want.

Agreed. Except for the babies. I don't hold ill will towards Barron or the grandchildren. They aren't at fault for who brought them into this world and they are too young to stand up to any of them.

My bestie sent this article (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/donald-trump-americas-abusive-father.html) to me and I agree with it wholeheartedly. It's directed more towards Trump than COVID but it's all related.

[Orema]

Agreed. Except for the babies. I don't hold ill will towards Barron or the grandchildren. They aren't at fault for who brought them into this world and they are too young to stand up to any of them.

My bestie sent this article (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/donald-trump-americas-abusive-father.html) to me and I agree with it wholeheartedly. It's directed more towards Trump than COVID but it's all related.



He does not get to wage a war against people like me/us and expect me to welcome anything he brings to the table.

To hell with the lot of them including every single one of his descendants.

[homoe]

When people, who down played Covid-19, like Trump and Christie go to the hospital and no doubt are rushed right in and given preferential treatment!

What I wouldn't give to hear, just once, is that they we're told to take a seat and they'd be with them as soon as possible.

[cathexis]

When people, who down played Covid-19, like Trump and Christie go to the hospital and no doubt are rushed right in and given preferential treatment!

What I wouldn't give to hear, just once, is that they we're told to take a seat and they'd be with them as soon as possible.


Then, this afternoon he cruised out to the veranda, took off his mask, and stood there like a king surveying his domain. He reminded me of a beta or lesser wolf acting like he was in control when the Alpha wasn't looking. A mere follower, a bit like an Emperor in New Clothes. 45's smug expression while looking out in arrogance. Who knows, he may have been looking across the street to where Dr. Fauci's offices are. Ha!

He made me feel, as an American, like a bug on the World Stage when the US was so respected before.

[Gemme]

I'm saddened by this.

A 93-year-old pen maker in Coventry, RI is going out of business.

Garland Writing Instruments makes promotional pens and branded gifts, but owner Rick Becker said the company's orders dried up in the pandemic when trade shows and conventions were canceled.

"It was going along really well. We were growing. The business was growing. And the name recognition had really come back to life. But the pandemic hit, and it just sort of came to a screeching halt," Becker told NBC 10's Gene Valicenti on his WPRO radio show.

Becker said he's also had trouble sourcing components used to make face shields, which Garland added to its product line to compensate for the loss in pen sales.

The Garland name and the company's assets are for sale. The company has about 12 employees.

Garland made the pens that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used to sign the articles of impeachment against President Trump.

The company was founded in 1927. Becker said it was the last company making mid-range pens in America.

[clay]

Then, this afternoon he cruised out to the veranda, took off his mask, and stood there like a king surveying his domain. He reminded me of a beta or lesser wolf acting like he was in control when the Alpha wasn't looking. A mere follower, a bit like an Emperor in New Clothes. 45's smug expression while looking out in arrogance. Who knows, he may have been looking across the street to where Dr. Fauci's offices are. Ha!

He made me feel, as an American, like a bug on the World Stage when the US was so respected before.

AND....today he IS working in his office MASKLESS! Is he NOT supposed to be isolating? hell....ooooooo

AND his delusions of grandeur continue....with his saying "under the Trump administration all sorts of new CV19 drugs are being made. WTH??

I heard two new terms....actually the last one I knew, being a Nurse for so many years AND caring for some VIP's in my state of SC...
1. "political theater"....going out in a limo to wave hi to his supporters AGAINST MEDICAAL ADVICE (AMA)

2. "VIP Syndrome"...HE dictated every step of his care, planned his discharge to coincide with prime time news time....

I am so damn sick & tired of this azzhat & his craving for fame & glory...and his brainwashed followers can NOT see thru his BS.

I am beyond ready for this election to be done with!

Cathexis I LOVE your post!! High 5's!

[homoe]

4tZVnbDq9B4

[C0LLETTE]

I love it. I've been humming it all day.

[homoe]

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Thursday that next week’s presidential debate will be held virtually, with the candidates participating from remote locations as President Trump continues to be treated for the coronavirus.

But in a phone interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo moments after the format change was announced, Trump said he would not take part.

“I’m not going to do a virtual debate,” he said. “I’m not going to waste my time doing a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate, it’s ridiculous, and then they cut you off whenever they want.”

On Wednesday, the commission said the Oct. 15 town hall between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden would be held remotely in order to “protect the health and safety of all involved” amid the ongoing pandemic and Trump’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis. The commission said the audience participants and the moderator, C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, would be based in Miami, with Trump and Biden in “separate remote locations.”

Trump’s comments aren’t binding, and he sometimes makes bold public statements while in negotiations, only to compromise afterward.

Speaking to reporters before departing Delaware for campaign stops in Arizona, Biden remained skeptical about whether Trump would actually skip the debate.

[Cin]

Trump said he would not take part.

“I’m not going to do a virtual debate,” he said. “I’m not going to waste my time doing a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate, it’s ridiculous, and then they cut you off whenever they want.”



Actually you fucking idiot that is exactly what debating is all about. You have a certain amount of time to make your point and then you have to stop. I can see where that would be an unpleasant idea to you since you have never actually debated before.

[homoe]

Actually you fucking idiot that is exactly what debating is all about. You have a certain amount of time to make your point and then you have to stop. I can see where that would be an unpleasant idea to you since you have never actually debated before.

I agree! He'd NEVER go for something where someone had the power to silence his lying mouth!

[~ocean]

dumpy trump has potty mouth disease ~ that's why he spews poop .

[Gemme]

I agree! He'd NEVER go for something where someone had the power to silence his lying mouth!

And you are right; the debate has been canceled because Trump won't participate.

[homoe]

A 25-year-old was infected twice with the coronavirus earlier this year, scientists in Nevada have confirmed. It is the first confirmed case of so-called reinfection with the virus in the U.S. and the fifth confirmed reinfection case worldwide. The cases underscore the importance of social distancing and wearing masks even if you were previously infected with the virus, and they raise questions about how the human immune system reacts to the virus.

The two infections in the Nevada patient occurred about six weeks apart, according to a case study published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet. The patient originally tested positive for the virus in April and had symptoms including a cough and nausea. He recovered and tested negative for the virus in May. But at the end of May, he went to an urgent care center with symptoms including fever, cough and dizziness. In early June, he tested positive again and ended up in the hospital.

"The second infection was symptomatically more severe than the first," the authors of the study write. The patient survived his second bout with COVID-19.

This is the second confirmed case of coronavirus reinfection in which the patient was sicker the second time. A patient in Ecuador also suffered a more serious case of COVID-19 the second time they were infected with the virus.

[Stone-Butch]

Apparently they were saying today on the news that the virus can linger in the air a lot longer than was previously believed. I saw our mayor talking without a mask (but away from anyone) put on his mask and walk away. Immediately another speaker came to the mike and took off his mask and began to speak. This occurred several times between speakers in less than a couple of seconds between speakers. You would think these people on the inside would keep up on what's new before they end up with the virus, which I am glad our mayor did not.

[~ocean]

TRUMP gave his son Barron covid-19 ~ he doesn't even seem to have any remorse still walking around being arrogant. ~ he doesn't fail that every day he gives us another reason to disrespect him even more. Barron is 14 years old ~ they don't know what kind of affect this will have on him in time.

[homoe]

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday denounced the concept of herd immunity — the notion that if a large enough group of people contract an infection, it will ultimately stop the disease from spreading — calling it “nonsense” during an interview with Yahoo News.

“Anybody who knows anything about epidemiology will tell you that is nonsense and very dangerous,” Fauci said, “because what will happen is that if you do that, by the time you get to herd immunity, you will have killed a lot of people that would have been avoidable.”

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House coronavirus task force, discussed the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s response to it during a live interview Thursday morning with Yahoo News Editor in Chief Daniel Klaidman and Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff.

The coronavirus has killed more than 216,000 people in the U.S. and infected almost 8 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Now, more than seven months after the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, Fauci said Thursday that the U.S. is not in a good place.

“We talk about a second wave,” he said. “We’ve never really gotten out of the first wave. If you look at the baseline number of daily infections that we have had over the last several weeks, [it’s] been around 40,000 per day. It's now gone up to about 50,000 per day. So right away, we have a very unfortunate baseline from which we need to deal.”

[Kelt]

A professor of fluid dynamics at Cambridge explains (with good thermal visuals) how aerosols move and get distributed, guidelines for indoors/winter.

jYzzkKtMxz0&t=2s

[homoe]

The U.S. set a record Thursday as the number of new coronavirus cases rose to over 77,000, topping the previous record in July.

Nationwide, 77,640 new cases were reported for the day, up from the previous record of 75,723 on July 29, according to the latest tally compiled by NBC News.

The record-breaking daily tally comes as the total number of coronavirus cases in the country has reached nearly 8.5 million, with 224,280 deaths. There were 921 coronavirus-related deaths reported on Thursday.

Public health officials warned this week that the number of cases is rising across most of the country.

Dr. Jay Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday afternoon that the agency has noted a "distressing trend" in which coronavirus case numbers are "increasing in nearly 75 percent of the country."

Much of the increase is centered in the Midwest. States like Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin have recorded rises in case numbers in the last two weeks.

[Kelt]

Getting ready to button it up again. Cases around 80k a day, dead 230K or so, no more control over this virus than ever. I think we (collective) are just numb to the numbers and very burned out on all these precautions. Enough time has elapsed to where folks are letting up on the gas and just sort of seeming to give in and become complacent. Me too, I want this over, but even more than that I don't want to get this particular bug. It's nasty and there are a lot of "long-timers" who will suffer with this for who knows how long?

I feel like I'm starting a hibernation when all I want to do is get out a go pretty much anywhere for a change of scenery. I keep telling myself how lucky I am (and I am), how much worse others through history have had lock downs for wars, famine, waiting out calamities much longer and worse than now. I keep telling myself to just buck up for 6 months and no complaining, we should have more answers then.

Housekeeper is here now, will get a haircut this week and stop PT/Massage on Thursday. Yard folks should be done about then too except for no contact maintenance. I think it's going to feel like a long winter, oh well at least I think they will keep the trails and beaches open this time.

[dark_crystal]

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday denounced the concept of herd immunity — the notion that if a large enough group of people contract an infection, it will ultimately stop the disease from spreading — calling it “nonsense” during an interview with Yahoo News.

“Anybody who knows anything about epidemiology will tell you that is nonsense and very dangerous,” Fauci said, “because what will happen is that if you do that, by the time you get to herd immunity, you will have killed a lot of people that would have been avoidable.”

It's genocide.

[Gemme]

Getting ready to button it up again. Cases around 80k a day, dead 230K or so, no more control over this virus than ever. I think we (collective) are just numb to the numbers and very burned out on all these precautions. Enough time has elapsed to where folks are letting up on the gas and just sort of seeming to give in and become complacent. Me too, I want this over, but even more than that I don't want to get this particular bug. It's nasty and there are a lot of "long-timers" who will suffer with this for who knows how long?



You're right to be cautious. There's evidence that COVID can cause damage to the brain (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02599-5).

[Kelt]

You're right to be cautious. There's evidence that COVID can cause damage to the brain (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02599-5).


That’s a good article thank you for posting it. Whether it is lungs, heart, or brain I don’t want any of it. I just have to convince myself to stay the course or while longer. Stay safe.

[Gemme]

Our Governor is contemplating rolling back to Phase 2 again, which would close entertainment businesses and reduce the percentages of customers that the open businesses can maintain. People have to STOP being selfish and stupid! All those grown ass people need an old fashioned whoopin'. I used to have to go pick my own switch. Maybe a fly swatter or paddle with COVID etched into it. Maybe that would leave a lasting reminder for them then.

[homoe]

Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, urged the Trump administration in an internal memo to take “much more aggressive action” to tackle COVID-19, The Washington Post reported.

“We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic … leading to increasing mortality,” Birx wrote Monday in a report for top White House officials, according to the Post. “This is not about lockdowns — It hasn’t been about lockdowns since March or April. It’s about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has continued to downplay the threat of the virus. He has held rallies with hundreds of attendees, many of whom don’t wear masks, and has falsely claimed the ballooning number of COVID-19 cases across the country is due to increased testing. In the lead-up to Election Day, Trump has been campaigning by fearmongering about a “Biden lockdown,” saying there will be “no weddings, no Thanksgiving, no Christmas” if his rival wins.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[homoe]

President Trump’s repeated assertions the United States is “rounding the turn” on the novel coronavirus have increasingly alarmed the government's top health experts, who say the country is heading into a long and potentially deadly winter with an unprepared government unwilling to make tough choices.

“We’re in for a whole lot of hurt. It’s not a good situation,” Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s leading infectious-disease expert, said in a wide-ranging interview late Friday. “All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.”

[theoddz]

I'm just shaking my head now.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/09/politics/ben-carson-coronavirus/index.html

Ben Carson.....should I say DOCTOR Ben Carson, a Trump supporter, political appointee of the Trump Administration's Housing and Urban Development Secretary, has tested positive for Coronavirus this morning.

For pity's sake, DR. Ben Carson is a medical doctor and a retired neurosurgeon (aka "brain surgeon"). He, of all people, should have really known better than to be sportin' around at Trump rallies, or any other public event without a mask. :sunglass:

See?? It is possible to be well educated and still be an utter dumbass. :seeingstars:

I wish him luck. :winky:

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Vincent]

The virus can be maybe not 100% eliminated but with lockdown and govt support working with the community it can be controlled.

Melbourne had 700 case a day and 60 deaths a day in july,it went into hard lockdown for 15 weeks,its now had zero cases 12 straight days and Aust now is living covid free.

It has taken a strong leader in the Premier,to stay the course,follow the medical advice,this is not about pop or being an island,it's putting lives before the stock market,an economy is not a society and letting the scientist guide us to a covid free living until we het a proven vaccine.

If we can spend trillions on wars killing people,ceratainly our demand should be funding people while we are in lockdown to save lives

NZ econmic growth has been strongest growth during this year,becoz she went hard early.

[JDeere]

I do not have any answers to covid...but all i see is more people losing their minds, more and more everyday.

Houston has had 6 murders in 24 hours, over 300 murders in 2020 alone... as well as domestic violence...over 400 strangulations since the start of the pandemic lockdown.

Loss of jobs, major stress and lack of adequate mental health help... things are gonna get worse.

[nhplowboi]

Why does "book smart and commonsense foolish" come to mind.I'm just shaking my head now.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/09/politics/ben-carson-coronavirus/index.html

Ben Carson.....should I say DOCTOR Ben Carson, a Trump supporter, political appointee of the Trump Administration's Housing and Urban Development Secretary, has tested positive for Coronavirus this morning.

For pity's sake, DR. Ben Carson is a medical doctor and a retired neurosurgeon (aka "brain surgeon"). He, of all people, should have really known better than to be sportin' around at Trump rallies, or any other public event without a mask. :sunglass:

See?? It is possible to be well educated and still be an utter dumbass. :seeingstars:

I wish him luck. :winky:

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Kätzchen]

Dolly Parton donated 1M to Vanderbuilt Research Dept, which developed the Moderna Vaccine for covid-19.

Way to go, Dolly!!! :hk28:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/17/entertainment/dolly-parton-covid-moderna-vaccine-trnd/index.html

[~ocean]

my grandson's best friend ~ his whole family all have covid ~ the mom is in the ICU on a ventilator . we don't know the condition of the rest of the family ~ they just moved to Texas last spring ~ the mom is an ER nurse ~ that's where she got it . 3 x's already my daughter had to give Jonathan bad news ~1 death his grandfather his dads father . his aunt uncle and 2 kids ~ survived but they have complications ~ now his friend ~ covid related . ((((( Jonathan ))))) I wish you didn't have to face this deadly pandemic ~

[theoddz]

My father, who passed in 2013 at age 84, used to talk to me about the concept of "sacrifice" and how our current society no longer knows how to, remembers how to, or is willing to practice the act of sacrifice for the common good.

When 9/11 happened and our nation went to war on terrorism, my dad told me that, with a few exceptions, it was nearly impossible to perceive or see any kind of willingness or ability to sacrifice for the common good, as was so evident in the WWII generation. If one looked at the U.S. after 9/11 happened, it was nearly impossible to see any kind of visual evidence of sacrifice, aside from our military members and their families. The sacrifice made during the WWII years was called "pulling together" as a country, and it has been widely recognized as one of the major reasons that we, as a nation, were able to prevail in a war that was fought in two (2) theaters, European and Pacific. In addition to the bombing attack on Pearl Harbor, this country was just crawling out from under the horror and deprivations of the Great Depression and had to, by necessity, "hit the ground running" in order to save our country and our democracy.

This morning, I was surprised to see the following op-ed on the front page of cnn.com. It is about the concept of national sacrifice and is exactly what my father used to talk to me about. We need to bring this spirit of "pulling together" and "sacrifice" in order to beat this deadly enemy, COVID-19. If we don't, we're doomed. Most of the Greatest Generation has passed into history now. We need to rediscover the spirit, tenacity and sacrifice of The Greatest Generation and, once again, pull together as one nation and defeat COVID-19 before it defeats us, our nation and our democracy.

Here's the link to that op-ed. It is an excellent read:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/opinions/thanksgiving-covid-19-shared-sacrifice-myth-hemmer/index.html

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Kätzchen]

My father, who passed in 2013 at age 84, used to talk to me about the concept of "sacrifice" and how our current society no longer knows how to, remembers how to, or is willing to practice the act of sacrifice for the common good.

When 9/11 happened and our nation went to war on terrorism, my dad told me that, with a few exceptions, it was nearly impossible to perceive or see any kind of willingness or ability to sacrifice for the common good, as was so evident in the WWII generation. If one looked at the U.S. after 9/11 happened, it was nearly impossible to see any kind of visual evidence of sacrifice, aside from our military members and their families. The sacrifice made during the WWII years was called "pulling together" as a country, and it has been widely recognized as one of the major reasons that we, as a nation, were able to prevail in a war that was fought in two (2) theaters, European and Pacific. In addition to the bombing attack on Pearl Harbor, this country was just crawling out from under the horror and deprivations of the Great Depression and had to, by necessity, "hit the ground running" in order to save our country and our democracy.

This morning, I was surprised to see the following op-ed on the front page of cnn.com. It is about the concept of national sacrifice and is exactly what my father used to talk to me about. We need to bring this spirit of "pulling together" and "sacrifice" in order to beat this deadly enemy, COVID-19. If we don't, we're doomed. Most of the Greatest Generation has passed into history now. We need to rediscover the spirit, tenacity and sacrifice of The Greatest Generation and, once again, pull together as one nation and defeat COVID-19 before it defeats us, our nation and our democracy.

Here's the link to that op-ed. It is an excellent read:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/opinions/thanksgiving-covid-19-shared-sacrifice-myth-hemmer/index.html

~Theo~ :bouquet:

"...recognition of personal sacrifice for community benefit," (CNN op-ed author Nicole Hemmer). I know this well. My parents, although my 92 y.o. dad died last February of this year) always talked about personal sacrifice during The Great Depression and throughout WW2. Nearly every night they inculcated these tenets and values into our dinner time story telling.

Excellent op-ed, Theo.

[C0LLETTE]

Maybe this post is better placed here.


.. The tragedy of freedom paired with a weak concept of commonality.


I keep reading long complex dense jargon filled paragraphs, full of the minutiae that political junkies love but the massive central conflicts just get buried.

Thing is, "political" differences reduced to whether this dam should be built or this tax should be reduced/raised miss the point.

Thing is" what is it you feel/believe about your relationship to your local community. your state. your country, the rest of the world.

Thing is "who am I in all this?"

Till we start going there, we will forever be electing, supporting, Fascist leaders who push an "Us First" agendae...and we will be forever electing them, every 60 -70 yrs,( a generation or so), after tiny burst of "feel good" liberalism. that are regrettably short-lived cause we never stopped to figure out "why".
__________________
_______________________

[Kätzchen]

The latest season of Grey's Anatomy is devoted to dealing with Covid-19.

Anybody else watching it? Here's a teaser trailer-clip I found of a scene in the ER moment, from a recent episode.

I'm gonna catch up one day. :)

YmK1sF2B-jg

[Pacificblu]

I am so sad. I don’t know where this should go, so I’m sorry if misplaced.

One of my friends (not here cis male), is Covid positive. Tommy is a bit older, and has been on dialysis for 7 years. The really sad part is that he was finally on the transplant list for January. Tommy has been to the hospital ER 3 x where they treat him and send him home with oxygen because they have no beds available.

Tommy is in a gig band that plays weekends in bars, and he said he would rather die than give up playing drums. Now his band is infected, his brother and brother’s girlfriend, and God know how many other people. When I called him last I BEGGED him to wear a mask and isolate, but he said he didn’t believe Covid was real, and POS Trump said masks were not doing anything.

So sad...

[~ocean]

I am so sad. I don’t know where this should go, so I’m sorry if misplaced.

One of my friends (not here cis male), is Covid positive. Tommy is a bit older, and has been on dialysis for 7 years. The really sad part is that he was finally on the transplant list for January. Tommy has been to the hospital ER 3 x where they treat him and send him home with oxygen because they have no beds available.

Tommy is in a gig band that plays weekends in bars, and he said he would rather die than give up playing drums. Now his band is infected, his brother and brother’s girlfriend, and God know how many other people. When I called him last I BEGGED him to wear a mask and isolate, but he said he didn’t believe Covid was real, and POS Trump said masks were not doing anything.

So sad...

I am sorry about your friend and all the people around him ~ bad leadership we have in the president. You could share your story with a local newspaper or call a TV station this is what people need to hear to take responsibility for their own lives. (((((( pacific ))))) prayers for you and them.

[nhplowboi]

Hey Donald.......it is now 16 days past November 3rd and guess what? We are still talking about Covid! You big orange fibber. God rest all the souls your lack of governance failed to help.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

It finally happened - I am pretty certain I've got COVID. I haven't had the test yet, but my boy tested positive yesterday. I've got the symptoms.

We were all so careful! I guess it's just a matter of time.

[easygoingfemme]

It finally happened - I am pretty certain I've got COVID. I haven't had the test yet, but my boy tested positive yesterday. I've got the symptoms.

We were all so careful! I guess it's just a matter of time.

Oh no... I hope you can take it easy right now and that it is mild for you both...

[C0LLETTE]

Nasty grasping fool.

Trump wants all the credit for the development of covid vaccines but will accept no responsibility for the fact that the virus ran ( runs ) rampant under his negligent, incompetent watch.

[~ocean]

It finally happened - I am pretty certain I've got COVID. I haven't had the test yet, but my boy tested positive yesterday. I've got the symptoms.

We were all so careful! I guess it's just a matter of time.

((((((( georgia & family )))))))))) I'm so sorry ~ it is a matter of time.

[homoe]

It finally happened - I am pretty certain I've got COVID. I haven't had the test yet, but my boy tested positive yesterday. I've got the symptoms.

We were all so careful! I guess it's just a matter of time.


Please keep us posted!

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Thank you for all your well wishes.

The boy and I are both feeling a little better. My friend/assistant has no symptoms except for feeling very tired. Hopefully that is all she will experience.

The boy's doctor told him that the severity of his symptoms is unlikely to get worse - that however a person experiences Covid symptoms, they are unlikely to add on more symptoms later. Has anyone else ever heard anything like this? (I have been living in fear that any day I will wake up unable to breathe.)

[Kätzchen]

Thank you for all your well wishes.

The boy and I are both feeling a little better. My friend/assistant has no symptoms except for feeling very tired. Hopefully that is all she will experience.

The boy's doctor told him that the severity of his symptoms is unlikely to get worse - that however a person experiences Covid symptoms, they are unlikely to add on more symptoms later. Has anyone else ever heard anything like this? (I have been living in fear that any day I will wake up unable to breathe.)

I can relate to your fear of waking up not being able to breathe. Last fall, beginning of October, I came down ill with something that was brutal. I couldn't breathe, was stuffed/clogged up and had a deep chest-like cough, that sent me to the ER so I could find out what my situation might be. They said I had a serious virus type illness, and I was real sick for about two to three weeks. I couldn't breathe and my body hurt terribly. I got over it by month three, right at the top of the year when we all learned about Covid-19. And since this last winter, early spring, as I have read about other's symptoms, I often wonder if I did have a case of it (as an after-thought). I just read a news story over on CNN that said now medical experts/scientists think that Covid-19 was actually transpiring across the country last fall, earlier than they thought at first.

But, interestingly enough, I've had several serious medical appts that were once post-poned, then late summer all of them booked me in, but I had to have a negative covid-test and be symptom free, to be able to be seen and treated for medical issues (sleep test, cardio-pulmonary tests. skin cancer type tests). Every covid-test I took, all of them came back negative, and I have had no symptoms that would disqualify me from getting medical tests done that could not be put off due to the pandemic. So tricky, how it all eventually went down, the timing of the appts and the extra testing to verify that I am covid-free. Scary too.

So, I don't know if sharing my experience gives some sort of explanation as to whether symptoms get worse, once you have them (if that is what you were inquiring about), but back last fall it was pretty serious, it happened rather fast, and at it's worst, two weeks into being sick, it finally turned a corner and I began to steadily recover. The process to feeling better took time, so I agree with Sister Ocean that "time" is certainly something of importance (length of illness to time-line of recovery, etc).

Keeping a candle lit for you and others in the community whose lives have been touched by this serious illness. :candle: :candle: :candle:

[easygoingfemme]

The numbers in my county doubled in the last 24 hours. Things are feeling pretty ominous. The organization that I work for is not making very smart choices either. I just noped out of a meeting I was supposed to attend today with 15 people for about 2 hours. I asked for a remote option and was told that it's in person only because the conversation is too important to have via zoom (Racial justice committee). So I'm not going to go. Which sucks because I really enjoy my part on that committee. However, I'm doing too many things to protect myself and others to go be a sitting duck like that. They also served a buffet luncheon to staff last week for Thanksgiving. I noped out on that too. I don't get it. I know that some people on that committee traveled for Tgiving and had large gatherings in their homes. Watch everyone have to go on quarantine, which would put me back on 16 hour shifts 7 days a week to cover their places.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I can relate to your fear of waking up not being able to breathe. Last fall, beginning of October, I came down ill with something that was brutal. I couldn't breathe, was stuffed/clogged up and had a deep chest-like cough, that sent me to the ER so I could find out what my situation might be. They said I had a serious virus type illness, and I was real sick for about two to three weeks. I couldn't breathe and my body hurt terribly. I got over it by month three, right at the top of the year when we all learned about Covid-19. And since this last winter, early spring, as I have read about other's symptoms, I often wonder if I did have a case of it (as an after-thought). I just read a news story over on CNN that said now medical experts/scientists think that Covid-19 was actually transpiring across the country last fall, earlier than they thought at first.


The CNN story's conclusions are very interesting. Last September I had a sudden case of pneumonia, and I have wondered if it was, in fact, Covid-related. Other people have questioned this as well.

Stay well.

[~ocean]

The CNN story's conclusions are very interesting. Last September I had a sudden case of pneumonia, and I have wondered if it was, in fact, Covid-related. Other people have questioned this as well.

Stay well.

I agree ~ I have since the pandemic started ~ last fall there was something on CNN about a virus in China that was major concern and TRUMP was informed ~ that story died right then and there ~ I never heard of it again till it went world wide ~ TRUMP KNEW ! he has alot of American blood on his hands ~ he doesn't care.

[Bèsame*]

The CNN story's conclusions are very interesting. Last September I had a sudden case of pneumonia, and I have wondered if it was, in fact, Covid-related. Other people have questioned this as well.

Stay well.

I too, was really sick late last fall. I wonder if I had a strain of it? The only thing that I don't understand..no one else around me was as sick as I was. And I question where it came from. I was working then, before the store closed. Maybe a customer that traveled abroad? I'm very quick to fight off colds and such. I've never had the flu. I wonder why I was so sick for so long, respiratory issues and some serious coughing. Maybe it was stress of the store closing?

[easygoingfemme]

For the second day in a row, the numbers in my tri-city area doubled.

They changed our meetings protocol at work so there can be no more than 10 people in a room at a time. I still think it's risky but it's better. But no one is enforcing the masks in meetings. It's stated that they must be worn but I was in a meeting with 6 others yesterday and three did not wear a mask the entire time.

I got up at 5am to do a grocery run before it gets busy and before I have to go into work. Daddy and I are going to start driving out about an hour away to grocery shop where it's pretty rural and the numbers are really low.

Stay safe, all.

[Kelt]

Looks like California it’s going to be issuing regional shut downs starting on Saturday based on ICU capacities, SoCal likely to begin this weekend. It sucks but the numbers are nuts and we have to address it somehow.

I am still just amazed at the fact that there is so much non-compliance on basics like gatherings and wearing masks. Everybody is having “The Year of COVID” everybody is missing out on something. Why can’t folks just buckle down and protect each other, especially now that we can see the finish line?

I don’t get it but it is what it is, I just wish so many people didn’t have to die over it. Staying home...

[~ocean]

CDC said a short time ago that every 30 seconds someone dies of covid.

[clay]

Looks like California it’s going to be issuing regional shut downs starting on Saturday based on ICU capacities, SoCal likely to begin this weekend. It sucks but the numbers are nuts and we have to address it somehow.

I am still just amazed at the fact that there is so much non-compliance on basics like gatherings and wearing masks. Everybody is having “The Year of COVID” everybody is missing out on something. Why can’t folks just buckle down and protect each other, especially now that we can see the finish line?

I don’t get it but it is what it is, I just wish so many people didn’t have to die over it. Staying home...

I was reading a story tonight, President (elect) Biden says he wants to ask folks to please buckle down & follow CDC guidelines, and wear masks for the first 100 days, to get us to spring, then the vax is available.

Also, former Presidents Obama, Bush, & Clinton along with President Biden will take a vax if Dr. Fauci says it is okay & its has sufficient efficacy and they will all stand publicly & get theirs!!

President Biden also says he has asked Dr. Fauci to stay in his current position & to be his Chief Medical Officer.. Go, Joe!

I be Riden with Biden/Harris

[Gemme]

RI is really hurting right now and COVID is ramping up. People are being ridiculous and not wearing masks, maintaining distance, using frequent cleaning protocols, et cetera and we're now at a 9.2% positivity rate. Hospitals are at capacity. Two field hospitals have opened up but there's not enough staff to fully run them. Our Governor put us in a "pause" where businesses like gyms and bars are fully closed and others have tighter restrictions. You should hear the backtalk and complaints. It makes me cringe.

My employee's stepdad is a first responder and just tested positive. He was exposed at work. He also tends to have vicious colds that move into his chest and lungs quickly and hover there for weeks. I can't imagine what COVID is going to do to him.

:praying:

[~ocean]

RI is really hurting right now and COVID is ramping up. People are being ridiculous and not wearing masks, maintaining distance, using frequent cleaning protocols, et cetera and we're now at a 9.2% positivity rate. Hospitals are at capacity. Two field hospitals have opened up but there's not enough staff to fully run them. Our Governor put us in a "pause" where businesses like gyms and bars are fully closed and others have tighter restrictions. You should hear the backtalk and complaints. It makes me cringe.

My employee's stepdad is a first responder and just tested positive. He was exposed at work. He also tends to have vicious colds that move into his chest and lungs quickly and hover there for weeks. I can't imagine what COVID is going to do to him.

:praying:

that's horrible gemme ~ prayers to your friends family and you ~ this virus affects so many people around those who catch it.

[Kätzchen]

My honey has stage 4 Kidney cancer and he has frequent appts for chemo on a weekly basis. You'd never guess that my Rico is facing a serious health crisis because he looks like the picture of perfect health.

So we are super careful in all our affairs by maintaining appropriate social distancing standards, wearing masks and we constantly keep our hands washed and clean and follow through with exceptional household hygiene standards.

With covid-19 being an airborne transmission type of scenario, it scares us daily that no matter the never-ending details we do to keep ourselves protected, it worries us on a daily basis that there is always the possibility of becoming infected when we exercise great care to protect our own health.

And thanks for mentioning ~ocean that every three seconds another person dies from covid-19. That is super frightening.

I read somewhere recently that even when innoculations begin, that wearing a mask is something people might have to do for another 18 months or so.


I also read in our own local news coverage that they have been conducting trial studies down in southern Oregon (Moderna?) and that this developer of the vaccine has pretty good numbers in terms of addressing immunity by immunization. If Moderna vaccine proves to be the best course for immunization, I hope my own personal health clinic will give Moderna vaccine shots, when it becomes available.

[~ocean]

giuliani has covid he's been traveling to states w/ covid spreading the virus ~ he was exposed and did not quarantine himself ~ that should be illegal ...

[C0LLETTE]

Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy.

Rudy Guiliani tests positive for Covid

[Gemme]

Well, it's official. The smallest state has the biggest jerks and morons. Thanks to the cavalier idiots running amok here, Rhode Island leads the nation in average daily cases per 100k.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says Rhode Island leads the nation for the number of average daily cases of the coronavirus per 100,000 people in the past seven days.

The CDC's COVID Data Tracker shows Rhode Island with 110.6 average daily cases per 100,000 people.

Minnesota and South Dakota are the only other states with rates above 100 average daily cases per 100,000.

The CDC said Connecticut's rate is 60.5 cases per 100,000 and that Massachusetts has a rate of 58.3 cases per 100,000.

Rhode Island on Monday entered the second week of a two-week "pause" that state officials hope will slow the spread of the coronavirus.

"It is not at all surprising, I have been up here warning week after week for a month and a half that this is what we were in for and, and therefore it's exactly what we expected. You shouldn't panic. You should take action. And that's exactly what I'm doing. That's exactly what we are doing. There's no purpose in panicking, this data is not good," Raimondo said Thursday at her weekly coronavirus briefing.

Rhode Island's daily positivity rate was 9.2% on Friday.

[Cin]

It must be nice.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/countries-without-coronavirus-no-covid?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bffbbuzzfeed&ref=bffbbuzzfeed&&fbclid=IwAR2HstfaaaDXm6PRBL7wkMtrCFLBWHzjSVDd-GKbiVH9QFzadF5Zz7Jwmdo

[~ocean]

Ellen Degeneres tested positive w/ coronavirus ~ she's taking a break till 2021 ~ good luck Ellen !

[GeorgiaMa'am]

The boy and I are both feeling a little better. My friend/assistant has no symptoms except for feeling very tired. Hopefully that is all she will experience.

The boy's doctor told him that the severity of his symptoms is unlikely to get worse - that however a person experiences Covid symptoms, they are unlikely to add on more symptoms later.

My friend/assistant has developed a cough and headaches. The boy now has a mild case of pneumonia.

I guess his doctor was wrong.

I am the only one of us who is almost entirely better. I have a slight cough that won't quite go away.

Also, I don't quite understand the quarantine. I thought it was 14 days from the first day you experienced symptoms. But no, it seems they consider you positive until your symptoms are gone? Or maybe it's 14 days after your symptoms are over? I'll have to Google it.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I don't quite understand the quarantine . . . I'll have to Google it.

from the CDC website (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/end-home-isolation.html):

I think or know I had COVID-19, and I had symptoms
You can be around others after:

10 days since symptoms first appeared and
24 hours with no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and
Other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving*
*Loss of taste and smell may persist for weeks or months after recovery and need not delay the end of isolation​

Most people do not require testing to decide when they can be around others; however, if your healthcare provider recommends testing, they will let you know when you can resume being around others based on your test results.

Note that these recommendations do not apply to persons with severe COVID-19 or with severely weakened immune systems (immunocompromised). These persons should follow the guidance below for “I was severely ill with COVID-19 or have a severely weakened immune system (immunocompromised) due to a health condition or medication. When can I be around others?”

I was severely ill with COVID-19 or have a severely weakened immune system (immunocompromised) due to a health condition or medication. When can I be around others?
People who are severely ill with COVID-19 might need to stay home longer than 10 days and up to 20 days after symptoms first appeared. Persons who are severely immunocompromised may require testing to determine when they can be around others. Talk to your healthcare provider for more information. If testing is available in your community, it may be recommended by your healthcare provider. Your healthcare provider will let you know if you can resume being around other people based on the results of your testing.

Your doctor may work with an infectious disease expert or your local health department to determine whether testing will be necessary before you can be around others.

[Gemme]

Well, it's official. The smallest state has the biggest jerks and morons. Thanks to the cavalier idiots running amok here, Rhode Island leads the nation in average daily cases per 100k.


The CDC's COVID Data Tracker shows Rhode Island with 110.6 average daily cases per 100,000 people.

Rhode Island's daily positivity rate was 9.2% on Friday.

Well, we've gotten better at being the worst. It's now 123 positive cases per 100,000. We're followed by Indiana.

Also, more Americans died on Wednesday alone than in 9-11.

Think about that for a minute.

If Americans weren't so effin entitled, we could be like Australia or New Zealand and whip this thing but noooooo, stupid people have stupid parties and stupid people have big gatherings for the holidays and don't "like" wearing masks as if any of us do and governors and other political figures are caught breaking the oh, so basic rules themselves so of course their constituents aren't going to follow through and then there are the absolute idiotic morons that think it's a damn hoax or use their power and influence to push the irrational theory that it's really not all that bad. WTH, man. WTH.

[Cin]

The richest country in the world still resists any kind of safety net for its most vulnerable, even providing the most basic things like food, healthcare, and shelter, things that people in other developed countries take for granted, are considered taboo in the US. God forbid we should help struggling human beings. The deeply held belief that people's misfortune is their own fault and they should have made better choices or decisions so they deserve what they get is entrenched in the collective psyche of the United States. I know it's a part of human nature and this kind of thinking is seen all over the world but it is the party line for Americans. It's a cruel place to stumble compared with other wealthy nations and because of the pandemic more people than ever are coming to grips with this reality.

The thing is people want to survive so they will find workarounds where they can.

https://jezebel.com/shoplifting-has-increased-during-the-pandemic-but-custo-1845857621

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/10/pandemic-shoplifting-hunger/

[~ocean]

Nancy Grace , her children (twins age 13 ) husband, and her mom , all have covid. Prayers for them all ~

[Orema]

An Arizona doctor went viral decrying a lack of ICU beds. Then he says his hospital shut him out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/GHSLGFHQIBBYROSN7L64SLXSFE.jpg&w=916
Cleavon Gilman, an emergency room doctor, moved in June from New York City to Yuma, Ariz., to help the rural community in its battle against the coronavirus. (Cleavon Gilman)

By Andrea Salcedo
Dec. 11, 2020 at 4:25 a.m. PST

Cleavon Gilman has worked through three coronavirus surges, but the emergency room doctor reached his breaking point on Nov. 22. The physician had just arrived at a Yuma, Ariz., hospital for a 12-hour shift, and soon realized the facility had nowhere to send three ICU patients.

So, he tweeted: “Just got to work and was notified there are no more ICU beds in the state of Arizona.”

The tweet swiftly went viral, helping to propel Gilman to such prominence that President-elect Joe Biden later called to thank him for his advocacy. The next day, though, he says the hospital told the third-party company that he works through that it didn’t want him to return. Gilman, 41, says he’s been kept out of work since Nov. 23.

“The hospital is intentionally hurting me financially for speaking out, and I’m not permitted to work,” Gilman told The Washington Post on Thursday.

The hospital, though, insists that Gilman hasn’t been fired and in fact is scheduled to return to the ER this weekend.

“It’s clear there has been a misunderstanding,” Shay Andres, a Yuma Regional Medical Center spokeswoman, said in an email statement early Friday. “While he is not speaking on behalf of YRMC, we respect Dr. Gilman’s right to share his personal perspective on the pandemic.”

Gilman, in response, said that is “news to me.”

The conflict in Yuma, first reported by the Arizona Republic, echoes claims by other health-care workers who say they’ve faced repercussions from employers for sounding alarms about the dire state of a pandemic that has killed more than 291,000 Americans.

In March, a Seattle hospital confirmed an emergency physician had been terminated for criticizing its ER precautions, which an official compared to “yelling fire in a crowded theater,” the Seattle Times reported. In May, a D.C. hospital employee filed a lawsuit alleging she lost her job after posting that the hospital did not have enough coronavirus safety precautions. The hospital said that the associate had not been terminated.

‘I have never felt so helpless’: Front-line workers confront loss
Gilman, an Iraq War veteran who served as a hospital corpsman with the U.S. Marine Corps in 2004, spent the first months of the pandemic treating patients as the chief ER resident at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He has given multiple interviews to national outlets including CNN and the New York Times, and was back in the spotlight last week when Biden called to tell him “how much he appreciates” the efforts of health-care workers like him.

During the months when New York City became the pandemic’s epicenter, Gilman spent up to three hours after his shifts documenting the disease in his blog. In June, Gilman, his fiancee and two children moved to Yuma to work at the hospital there.

Although Gilman had pushed through two coronavirus surges in New York and one peak in Arizona, the week before his Nov. 22 tweet, the physician says, the hospital had reached a dire point. He had intubated dozens of patients, and every shift, he said, he worried that at least two critically ill patients with covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, would die.

So when he got to the hospital the evening of Nov. 22 to find out it had run out of intensive care unit beds, Gilman took his frustrations to Twitter and posted the message in an act of “moral obligation,” he said. That night, the hospital was so full that he had to treat families infected with covid-19 in the waiting room. Back then, the Arizona Department of Health Services reported 90 percent of the state’s ICU beds were in use.

“I have a moral obligation to provide the general public with the truth,” he said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I was sharing information.”

Gilman went to bed after finishing his shift at around 7 a.m. the next day. When he woke up, the physician, who has more than 85,000 followers on Twitter, said he received a call from Envision Healthcare, the medical group that hired him, telling him that the hospital was “upset” and “didn’t want me to come back,” Gilman told The Post.

Gilman said hospital administrators have not called or emailed him to tell him he cannot go back. “I let my company, Envision, try to negotiate with the hospital,” he added.

In a statement to The Post, Envision did not directly address Gilman’s claims, instead noting that the doctor has “continuously advocated for his patients and the health and safety of the Yuma community.” The company confirmed Gilman’s account to the Republic.

He has now missed five shifts at the hospital despite a shortage of health-care workers after several colleagues have tested positive for the virus since then, Gilman said. As of Friday, the state’s department of health services reported Yuma County had the highest rate of cases per 100,000 in the state. The hospital, which should have seen him as an ally, he said, has instead treated him as a threat.

But the hospital, in its statement, insisted it values Gilman’s role in the ER.
“This is an ‘all hands on deck’ moment, in our emergency department and thousands of others across the country,” Andres said. “We need good caregivers like Dr. Gilman here, serving patients at the bedside and providing the best care possible, and we are grateful for all of those who continue to do that on the frontline every day.”

Gilman is unsure now whether he will return to the hospital. In the meantime, he said he will continue tweeting and speaking to the media to raise awareness about the seriousness of the pandemic.

“People are still dying,” Gilman said. “I’m not going to be quiet because you have a problem with me telling the truth.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/11/cleavon-gilman-arizona-covid-fired/

[Kätzchen]

It's not just doctors and nurses and paramedical personnel who are on the front lines of Covid-19. There are people like Elsi Mabelica Campos (from El Salvador) who died from Covid-19, one week after contracting symptoms. She was the person in charge of keeping The Pew clean and free of any blemish or undiscovered germs on windows, glass panes, floors, any surface one might come into contact with.

Here is the story about her, which was published first in The Washington Post and then reposted on the MSN website news page:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/elsi-mabelicia-campos-devoted-mother-who-kept-the-pew-building-spotless-dies-of-covid-19/ar-BB1bOm8t

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Nancy Grace , her children (twins age 13 ) husband, and her mom , all have covid. Prayers for them all ~

Once Covid gets into a house, it seems like everyone gets it. We were really careful; after the boy got it, we were masking inside the house, spraying and wiping down stuff, using separate bathrooms - and we all got it anyway.

[Bèsame*]

10 years from now
You will hear
commercials that say
"If you took the
CV 19 vaccine
between 2020-2021
you may be
entitled to
compensation"


This made me bust out laughing!

[Kätzchen]

I came across an excellent news article, over on MSNBC tonight. It talks about how American citizens must change their behaviors quickly or we will see real carnage fallout via the Covid-19 virus.

There are many salient points argued in the article, but this particular strand of written thought stood out to me as the most important item at root of the pandemic.

The outbreak has exposed a vast array of broken systems: underfunded hospitals; decaying infrastructure in rural towns and poor neighborhoods; legislative gridlock that has repeatedly stalled economic relief; a health insurance status quo that leaves far too many vulnerable people unprotected; a social fabric shredded by cultural feuds and tribalism.

An excellent short read, so here is the link to the MSNBC news story covering Covid-19 trends and outcomes:

The Darkest Hour for America Is Still To Come. What We Do Next, Is Key:
Four Months That Will Decide America's Future (MSNBC) (https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/covid-four-months-will-decide-america-future/index.html)

[Kätzchen]

Tonight, I read the latest update: More than 1 person dies every minute from Covid-19 and just today another milestone in that more than 300K+ have lost their lives. And we're only 9 months into the pandemic with losses of that number. They say that even when you receive your shot for immunity, that even then masks must be worn until maybe early next winter. I keep thinking we will keep seeing the death toll numbers rise because the virus is not yet eradicated much less under 'control'.

Will we have to keep getting booster shots periodically? I'm not sure, but to me it's like we still don't know how this monster virus evolved, do we? Has anyone read anything from the medical or science community that speaks about what is known at this time and is it, since it's a member of the corona virus family, will it keep coming back as a seasonal thing, like catching a common cold or a seasonal flu bug?

I still think the evolution of this virus seems to be a by-product of climate change, possibly.

[Bèsame*]

Its officially "Do I have a cold because its that time of the year or do I have coronavirus?" season.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Its officially "Do I have a cold because its that time of the year or do I have coronavirus?" season.

The boy and I both went through that phase. It _seemed_ like just a cold, at first. Then the symptoms got worse, and his boyfriend tested positive, and then he tested positive, too. Three weeks later we're all still sick.

Then today on NPR's _Here and Now_ I heard a story about long term Covid. Apparently I'm not the only person who thought it was supposed to be over in 14 days. There are people who have been experiencing symptoms for nine months, with no end in sight.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

What Dippin Dots have in Common with the Covid-19 Vaccine

Remember Dippin Dots? Those weird little dots of ice cream that come in a cup at places like stadiums and shopping malls? Well as it turns out, Dippin Dots have to be stored at -49*F.

Although the Covid-19 Vaccines have to be stored at similarly sub-zero frigid temps, the method of moving Dippin Dots around the country is the same for the vaccines. It's done with dry ice. The dry ice has to be replaced every 5 days in the supply chain while the vaccines are stored and transported. It's dangerous to handle the dry ice, both because it can cause burns on skin and also because the evaporating carbon dioxide takes up space where air would otherwise be. Popular Science has an article about the supply chains for the Covid-19 vaccines and also Dippin Dots: https://www.popsci.com/story/health/covid-vaccine-cold-chain-dippin-dots-ice-cream/.

[Orema]

Vaccine Calculator: How many people may get a COVID-19 vaccine before you?

Answer the following questions on this (https://dig.abclocal.go.com/ccg/interactives/vaccine-calculator/index.html) website to find out how many people may be vaccinated before you in your area. Your information will not be stored or saved in any way.

This is only for people living in the U.S.

Questions/Selections:

What state do you live in?
Select county or city you live in.
Select an industry or workplace type you work in.
How old are you?
Do you have any of the following conditions (select all that apply)?
Pick a residence type.

Then you’ll see your results.

Here are my results:

I’m in Phase 1B.

There are an estimated 1,920,409 people in front of you in California. That includes high risk workers in health care facilities and first responders. In total, about 5% of the state population will probably get the vaccine before you.

There are an estimated 3,760,615 people in the Phase 1B group.

https://dig.abclocal.go.com/ccg/interactives/vaccine-calculator/index.html

[easygoingfemme]

The primary hospital in my county is now full and they are sending people about an hour north to a more rural hospital where numbers are lower.

The school district where my sister-in-law teaches and where my nephews go to school just went remote because there are so many teachers on quarantine they can't keep in-school learning. I don't know how she's going to teach high school honors classes while home schooling a kindergartener with autism and ADD/ADHD and a third grader who is just going to want to play video games and tell fart jokes. I can't even go over to help. Hopefully this is very short term- the remote learning. Their virtual school is 6.5 hours on line for all elementary school age kids. I don't know how they think that is healthy at all. At least the little one is excused from a lot due to his IEP.

[clay]

There are an estimated 3,551,230 people in front of you in Florida. That includes high risk workers in health care facilities, first responders, people with significant health problems and nursing home residents. In total, about 17% of the state population will probably get the vaccine before you.
There are an estimated 8,661,068 people in the Phase 2 group.
Locally, in Lake, Florida, There are an estimated 63,247 people in front of you to get the vaccine, and 160,738 people in your group.


I am in 1B

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I'm in Phase 1B also. However, I have Covid right now. (I finally went and had the test yesterday, it came back positive this morning.) I wonder if that means I'm immune for awhile, or if I should have the vaccine anyway? And if so, should I wait for my symptoms to be gone? I have an appointment with my health care provider's special Covid Respiratory Acute Care Center, due to my suspicion that I also have pneumonia, so I will ask them.

[~ocean]

((((( georgia ))))))) take care of yourself.

[Gemme]

I'm in Phase 1B also. However, I have Covid right now. (I finally went and had the test yesterday, it came back positive this morning.) I wonder if that means I'm immune for awhile, or if I should have the vaccine anyway? And if so, should I wait for my symptoms to be gone? I have an appointment with my health care provider's special Covid Respiratory Acute Care Center, due to my suspicion that I also have pneumonia, so I will ask them.

Found this online: If someone currently has active symptoms of COVID-19, the CDC recommends they wait to get vaccinated until they've recovered and met the criteria for ending isolation.

[Stone-Butch]

National Geographic:

I was watching a program today and research is being done on bats in Turkey. Apparently they carry a virus (name eludes me but it is a 4 letter word, no joke), that has been passed to a camel. They are saying this could be a gateway to many virus being transmitted from animals to humans that have not even showed themselves except this one that they think could be even more deadly than the covid. They are collecting scat from these bats and testing them for the virus and hope they can nip it in the bud before it becomes another reality. They made the talk concerning the passing of animal diseases to humans such as swine flu, bird flu, mad cow, rabies, and largest of all aids. These people think the worst is yet to come from some hidden pathenogens that are not known as yet.

[Kätzchen]

Deaths are projected to reach 567,000 by April

More than 1 million people have received their first shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, but an influential coronavirus model projects the US death toll will climb well over a half million, topping 567,000 by April 1.

LINK: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/24/us/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html


Medscape has a vital information covering every aspect known about Covid19, so here is the link for that page too. https://www.medscape.com/resource/coronavirus

[Orema]

What’s not being said about why African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
By Debra Furr-Holden, Associate Dean for Public Health Integration, Michigan State University

https://i.postimg.cc/8505QQzf/file-20201220-15-6ckasf.jpg
Latrice Davis, a nurse at Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago, receives the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 18, 2020. Scott Olson via Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci and other national health leaders have said that African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine to protect their health. What Fauci and others have not stated is that if African Americans don’t take the vaccine, the nation as whole will never get to herd immunity.

The concept of herd immunity, also referred to as community immunity, is fairly simple. When a significant proportion of the population, or the herd, becomes immune from the virus, the entire population will have some acceptable degree of protection. Immunity can occur through natural immunity from personal infection and recovery, or through vaccination. Once a population reaches herd immunity, the likelihood of person-to-person spread becomes very low.

The big lie is one of omission. Yes, it is true that African Americans will benefit from the COVID vaccine, but the full truth is that the country needs African Americans and other population subgroups with lower reported COVID-19 vaccine acceptability rates to take the vaccine. Without increased vaccine acceptability, we stand little to no chance of communitywide protection.

I am an epidemiologist and health equity scholar who has been conducting research in the African American community for 20 years. Much of my work focuses on strategies to increase community engagement in research. I see a significant opportunity to improve COVID vaccine acceptance in the African American community.

https://i.postimg.cc/hGhvCtSR/file-20201222-23-ib07v9.jpg
If up to 60% of African Americans don’t take the vaccine, reaching herd immunity will be difficult. Noam Galai via Getty Images

Doing the coronavirus math

About 70% of people in the U.S. need to take the vaccine for the population to reach herd immunity. Whites make up about 60% of the U.S. population. So, if every white person got the vaccine, the U.S. would still fall short of herd immunity. A recent study suggested that 68% of white people would be willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. If these estimates hold up, that would get us to 42%.

African Americans make up more than 13% of the American population. But if up to 60% of African Americans refuse to take the vaccine, as a recent study suggests, it will be difficult to reach that 70% threshold likely needed to reach herd immunity.

Latinos make up just over 18% percent of the population. A study suggests that 32% percent of Latinos could reject a COVID vaccine. Add the 40% to 50% rejection rates among other population subgroups and herd immunity becomes mathematically impossible.

Further exacerbating the problem is that mass vaccination alone won’t achieve herd immunity, as the effect of COVID vaccines on preventing virus transmission remains unclear. Ongoing preventive measures will likely still be needed to stop community spread. As the resistance to facts and science continues to grow, the need for credible information dissemination and trust-building related to vaccines becomes more important.

My research offers some possible explanations for lower vaccination rates among Blacks. Historical wrongs, like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, which ended in 1972, have played a major role in contributing to Black mistrust of the health care system. In another case, the “immortal” cells of Henrietta Lacks were shared without her consent and have been used in medical research for more than 70 years. The most recent application includes COVID vaccine research, yet her family has received no financial benefit.

A study led by Dr. Giselle Corbie-Smith at the University of North Carolina identified distrust of the medical community as a prominent barrier to African American participation in clinical research. Another of Corbie-Smith’s peer-reviewed studies found that distrust in medical research is significantly higher among African Americans than whites.

African Americans also disproportionately experience unequal treatment in the modern-day health care system. These experiences of bias and discrimination fuel the problem of vaccine hesitancy and mistrust. Lower prioritization for hospital admissions and lifesaving care for COVID-19-related illness among African Americans was reported in Massachusetts in April 2020. Massachusetts subsequently changed its guidelines, yet across the U.S. there is a lack of data and transparent reporting on this phenomenon.

The current messaging of vaccine importance may seem tone-deaf to those in a community who wonder why their health is so important now, at the vaccine stage. Black health didn’t appear to be a priority during the pandemic’s first wave, when race disparities in COVID emerged.

Questioning the scientific process

Perhaps even Operation Warp Speed has had the unintended consequence of decreasing vaccine acceptance in the African American community. Some ask why wasn’t such speed applied to vaccine development for HIV, which still has no FDA-approved vaccine? As of 2018, AIDS-related illness has killed an estimated 35 million people globally. It continues to disproportionately affect people of color and other socially vulnerable populations.

If African Americans were honored and acknowledged in these COVID vaccine conversations and told “we need you” instead of “you need us,” perhaps more Blacks would trust the vaccine. I encourage our nation’s leaders to consider a radical shift in their approach. They must do more than pointing to the few Black scientists involved in COVID vaccine development, or making a spectacle of prominent African Americans receiving the vaccine.

These acts alone will likely be insufficient to garner the trust needed to increase vaccine acceptance. Instead, I believe our leaders should adopt the core values of equity and reconciliation. I’d argue that truth-telling will need to be at the forefront of this new narrative.

There are also multiple leverage points along the supply and distribution chains, as well as in vaccine administration, that could increase diversity, equity and inclusion. I’d recommend giving minority- and women-owned businesses fair, mandated access to contracts to get the vaccine to communities. This includes procurement and purchasing contracts for freezers needed to store the vaccine.

Minority health care workers should be equitably called back to work to support vaccine administration. These issues, not publicly discussed, could be transformative for building trust and increasing vaccine acceptance.

Without a radical shift in the conversation of true COVID equity, African Americans and many others who could benefit from the vaccine will instead get sick. Some will die. The rest will remain marginalized by a system and a society that hasn’t equally valued, protected, or prioritized their lives. I believe it’s time to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

https://theconversation.com/whats-not-being-said-about-why-african-americans-need-to-take-the-covid-19-vaccine-152323

[PlatinumPearl]

New Coronavirus Strain Detected In More Countries

Spain is the latest country to confirm cases of a new coronavirus strain first detected in the U.K.
that early studies suggest is far more contagious, sparking worries that it could worsen the pandemic.

https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5fe76075e74d54c06bc1e70a/960x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=3714&cropY1=221&cropY2=2309

Four people in Madrid who recently arrived from the U.K. were infected with the new coronavirus variation, the region’s deputy health chief Antonio
Zapatero announced Saturday, but said “there is no need for alarm,” according to Al Jazeera, adding that none of the patients are seriously ill.

To read the full article click here (https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/12/26/new-coronavirus-strain-detected-in-more-countries/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie&fbclid=IwAR1LGM6Z56ODY9Raeow4P__BGd-21hMxpnUGFUOieM48-B9E9pyZTQ2BTjQ&sh=584817505aa3).

[PlatinumPearl]

Covid: Free Vitamin D Pills for 2.5 Million Vulnerable in England

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/14B83/production/_115676848_gettyimages-1220786488.jpg
Vitamin D supplements help keep bones and muscles healthy, particularly during the winter.


More than 2.5 million vulnerable people in England will be offered free Vitamin D supplements this winter.

The vitamin, which helps to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy, will be delivered to people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, and care homes.

Skin makes Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight - but the elderly and those with dark skin need topping up.

The coronavirus pandemic means many more people than normal have spent time indoors.

The groups most at risk are residents in care homes, and people with serious health conditions which mean they have spent extended periods shielding from the virus - a total of 2.7 million people.

Should I start taking Vitamin D? (https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52371688)

Health officials say that even in a normal winter, everyone should take 10 micrograms of Vitamin D a day between October and March - and it's particularly important this year because of coronavirus.

Scottish (https://www.gov.scot/publications/vitamin-d-advice-for-all-age-groups/) and Welsh (https://gov.wales/vitamin-d-advice-everyone-coronavirus) governments, and Northern Ireland's Public Health Agency (https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/news/pha-recommends-daily-vitamin-d-supplement-during-lockdown) issued similar advice during lockdown.

But there is limited evidence that vitamin D protects against or treats Covid-19, although health officials have been asked to go back over the existing research.



https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/FD63/production/_115676846_gettyimages-1280721038.jpg
Millions of people have spent extended periods indoors this year because of Covid-19.



All care homes in England will receive enough supplements for their residents, the government says.

People on the clinically extremely vulnerable list (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19#cev) will get a letter inviting them to opt in for a supply of Vitamin D tablets to be delivered to their homes.

Deliveries will start in January. They'll provide four months' worth of free supplements.

"Vitamin D is important for our bone and muscle health," says Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England.

"We advise that everyone, particularly the elderly, those who don't get outside and those with dark skin, take a Vitamin D supplement containing 10 micrograms (400IU) every day.

"This year, the advice is more important than ever with more people spending more time inside, which is why the government will be helping the clinically extremely vulnerable to get Vitamin D."

GP Sarah Jarvis told BBC Breakfast that those who cover up for religious reasons, pale-skinned people and those who are generally unwell are also at higher risk.

"All of those are either going to get less vitamin D or in the case of people of BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) origin may make less of it," she said.

People who are able to buy a Vitamin D supplement and start taking them now, ahead of a free delivery, are advised to do so.



Source: bbc.com
Website: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55108613#:~:text=All%20care%20homes%20in%20England ,Deliveries%20will%20start%20in%20January.
Date: November 28, 2020

[PlatinumPearl]

CDC Issues New Guidance About Vaccinations for People with Underlying Health Conditions

[Video: Cannot Display. Click on the link below.]


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday issued a new guidance stating that people with underlying health conditions can receive a coronavirus vaccine.

The guidance (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/underlying-conditions.html) explains that “adults of any age with certain underlying medical conditions are at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19.”

Thus, the CDC added that those vaccines that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration “may be administered to people with underlying medical conditions provided they have not had a severe allergic reaction to any of the ingredients in the vaccine.”

The CDC explained that people with weakened immune systems due to other illnesses or medication may also receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but they should be aware that limited safety data is available on the effects of the vaccines on these individuals.

Additionally, while people living with HIV were included in clinical trials, safety data for this group is not yet available.

The CDC also stated in its Saturday guidance that individuals with autoimmune conditions may take the vaccine, although there is no data currently available for the safety of the vaccine in this demographic.

Those who have experienced Guillain-Barré syndrome — a condition in which the body begins to attack parts of its own nervous system — may also receive the vaccine doses. The guidance adds that following vaccination during clinical trials, there have been no instances of the syndrome.

People who have previously experienced Bell’s palsy — a condition that causes muscle weakness in one side of the face — may also receive a vaccine. Some participants during clinical trials did develop Bell's palsy following vaccination, but it did not occur at a rate above that expected in the general population.

Despite the start of distribution of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the CDC recommends that people who get vaccinated should continue to follow current coronavirus health and safety protocols, such as wearing a mask, practicing social distancing and avoiding crowds.

According to the CDC, nearly 2 million people (https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations) have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Saturday. Both the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and the one from Moderna require two doses to be administered several weeks apart.

Final trial data on both vaccines showed them to have a roughly 95 percent efficacy rate at preventing COVID-19, although Moderna’s vaccine has an 86 percent efficacy rate for those over the age of 65.

Health care workers have been prioritized in the initial distribution of the vaccine, and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted last week (https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/531072-cdc-panel-recommends-people-over-75-certain-frontline-essential-workers-be) to advise the CDC to include those 75 and older and specific front-line essential workers, including emergency responders and teachers, in the next phase of coronavirus vaccinations.



Source: thehill.com
Website: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/531722-cdc-issues-new-guidance-about-vaccinations-for-people-with-underlying
Date: December 26, 2020

[PlatinumPearl]

Spain will create registry of people who refuse COVID vaccine

Spain's Health Minister, Salvador Illa, stated on Monday that the vaccine in that country
will not be mandatory, but if you refuse it, the refusal will be recorded in a database.


Spain's Health Minister Salvador Illa stated on Monday that the COVID vaccine in will not be mandatory in Spain, but if a person refuses it, that refusal will be recorded in a database.

"What will be done is a registry, which will be shared with our European partners... of those people who have been offered it and have simply rejected it," Said Illa on Spanish television. "It is not a document which will be made public and it will be done with the utmost respect for data protection," Illa continued.

This is not the first time that a country's government has called for stricter tracking of the public (https://thepostmillennial.com/chinese-president-pushes-global-covid19-qr-code-for-contract-tracing) regarding the novel coronavirus.

According to IFL Science (https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/spain-wants-to-register-people-who-refuse-covid19-vaccine/), the names of those people who refuse the vaccine "for whatever reason" will go into said registry, which will be made available to authorities across the European Union despite the promise of data privacy.

Spain started its vaccination campaign on Sunday amid a resurgence of the pandemic that has officials and the public alike worried. Spain currently has one of the highest rates in the world of both cases and deaths per capita, and it has been this way since March.

Ironically though, the Spanish public is not very eager for the vaccine, with an estimated 64 percent of Spaniards saying that they strongly agreed that they would get one as soon as it were made available. Most experts agree that 70 percent of the population would need to get the vaccine before lockdown restrictions could be eased (https://thepostmillennial.com/watch-bongino-boosts-floridas-anti-lockdown-as-more-effective-than-other-states-restrictions-to-curb-covid).

"The way to defeat the virus is by vaccinating all of us," said Illa.



Source: thepostmillennial.com
Website: https://thepostmillennial.com/spain-will-create-registry-of-people-who-refuse-covid-vaccine
Date: December 29, 2020

[homoe]

(CNN)A Colorado man has the variant of the coronavirus from the United Kingdom that health officials say is more transmissable than other strains of the virus, Gov. Jared Polis announced Tuesday.

It is the first known case of the UK coronavirus variant in United States.
The man, who is in his 20s and in isolation in Elbert County, has no travel history, Polis' office said in a news release. "An unknown travel history mean that this person picked it up the community," Dr. Atul Gawande, a member of the Biden-Harris transition Covid advisory board and a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital, told CNN.

"We will closely monitor this case," Polis said, "as well as all COVID-19 indicators, very closely."


The statement said public health officials are working to identify potential contacts and potential cases through contact tracing interviews.

[homoe]

Trump is reportedly planning to host hundreds of guests at a lavish New Year's Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago as COVID-19 cases continue to soar.


Enough said!!!




https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-reportedly-planning-host-hundreds-120252526.html

[~ocean]

Trump is reportedly planning to host hundreds of guests at a lavish New Year's Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago as COVID-19 cases continue to soar.


Enough said!!!




https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-reportedly-planning-host-hundreds-120252526.html

It will prob. have a guest list of recent pardon's ~ non - criminal's not invited ~ << not getting invited ~ ** breathy ** oh well :)

[easygoingfemme]

My region is being pummeled right now, numbers are off the charts and all of the main hospitals are full.

I was able to register with my city yesterday as a frontline worker with a health condition that puts me at high risk for COVID complications. Hopefully the two points together bump me up on the timeline. One of my co-workers who is an EMT got her vax on Monday. My bestie who works in a hospital in NYC got hers yesterday.

I'm feeling salty at my co-workers who fussed about having a quiet christmas but who still went around visiting family or hosting family in their homes.

[homoe]

Trump is reportedly planning to host hundreds of guests at a lavish New Year's Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago as COVID-19 cases continue to soar.


Enough said!!!




https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-reportedly-planning-host-hundreds-120252526.html

Well with his unexpected return to the White House, who knows! Makes one wonder what this S.O.B. might be up too now!

[~ocean]

Well with his unexpected return to the White House, who knows! Makes one wonder what this S.O.B. might be up too now!

exactly homoe Happy New Year ! I'm getting sick of seeing Donny Dolly Hands fist in the air like he has powers ? whatever he is up too with his merry men of the gang that can't shoot straight remains to be seen. I think he had to leave Mar Largo not the excuse they are giving ~ I bet Iran is making him dance ~ they are prob. targeting him. Dance Dolly dance !! Something is going to happen and we will all suffer from it ~ Just a hunch and I hope I am wrong but the way the virus is surging who knows if it's not air born now . :seeingstars::seeingstars:

[homoe]

exactly homoe Happy New Year ! I'm getting sick of seeing Donny Dolly Hands fist in the air like he has powers ? whatever he is up too with his merry men of the gang that can't shoot straight remains to be seen. I think he had to leave Mar Largo not the excuse they are giving ~ I bet Iran is making him dance ~ they are prob. targeting him. Dance Dolly dance !! Something is going to happen and we will all suffer from it ~ Just a hunch and I hope I am wrong but the way the virus is surging who knows if it's not air born now . :seeingstars::seeingstars:

I think the threat of Iran retaliating had him scurrying back to the White House as fast as his little Dolly feet could take him! Back to the safety of the underground bunker where he knew he'd be safe and not like a sitting duck if he'd stayed at his "Florida Retreat"!

[GeorgiaMa'am]

My sister and BIL have caught Covid-19. It is only a matter of time (probably) before my niece and her husband catch it (they live in the basement of my sister's house).

I was really hoping they would make it through this mess without catching it. I pray that my 80-year-old mother doesn't get it; she doesn't live in the same house, but my sister spends a lot of time taking care of her. I'm not sure how they're going to handle that.

My sister and BIL live in a small, rural town, and my sister is fanatical about mask-wearing and social distancing. Her two daughters and the one daughter's husband and my BIL are not as concerned as she is about taking precautions, however. They comply while at home (because my sister rules the roost) but I'm pretty sure they don't comply as well when not around my sister. Whatever happened, it finally caught up to them.

I hope they make it through this mess relatively unscathed.

[~ocean]

(((((( georgia )))))) when it rains it pours ~ I feel so bad for you and your family have been having a hard time. I hope this year helps us all ~ keep the faith :) your a strong woman :)

[easygoingfemme]

I might be able to get my vaccine next Friday! (If I'm not on quarantine)

To say I'm happy dancing is an understatement.

My bestie gets her second dose on Jan 27 so we are planning a play date :)

I wish there was more solid data on if you can still transmit COVID after the vaccine. I really want to hug my mom and nephews.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

My mom can get her first dose of the Covid vaccine next week! She's on board with it, which is great because she usually rebels at getting the flu vaccine. It will be such a relief.

[easygoingfemme]

My mom can get her first dose of the Covid vaccine next week! She's on board with it, which is great because she usually rebels at getting the flu vaccine. It will be such a relief.

That's great news!

I have to say I was irritated to come home and see that some massage therapists locally had gotten the vax. Not that they don't need safe working conditions and employment and income- they do. But here I am in an emergency shelter still waiting while inundated with person to person in drastic situations that are not optional in very tight quarters.

[Buckaroo]

i got my 2nd dose Jan 6th. Let me tell you i felt miserable 2 days later. Fever and body aches and my arm felt like it was going to fall off. Id do it again if i had to. My mom gets her first shot on monday!! Im soooo happy for her!!! People need to remember this doesnt stop you from getting covid..it just greatly reduces your chances of getting seriously ill. We all need to stick to the right path til this thing is over.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

My mom can get her first dose of the Covid vaccine next week! She's on board with it, which is great because she usually rebels at getting the flu vaccine. It will be such a relief.

I called my Mom this afternoon and told her that Queen Elizabeth got her vaccination today. She was amused.

[Kätzchen]

I heard on NPR yesterday that a person dies from Covid-19 every 20 seconds.

So sad, and super scary. :(

[Bèsame*]

COVID-19 vaccine shots begin at Disneyland parking lot, Orange County’s first super site

https://www.ocregister.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/OCR-L-VACCSITE-0114-JG-13.jpg?w=810
Cars and socially spaced crowds amassed at Disneyland’s Toy Story parking lot Wednesday, Jan. 13, as hundreds queued for coronavirus vaccines at Orange County’s first mass-vaccination site, a pivotal step toward county leaders’ new goal of delivering 1.5 million shots per month.

The tented site’s opening marks a new chapter in Orange County’s battle against the coronavirus as people age 65 and older, especially those who have underlying health conditions that might make them more susceptible to a bad case of COVID-19, can be vaccinated against the disease at the outset of the next, broader stage of the county’s vaccination campaign, called “Operation Independence.” Frontline health care workers are also still being vaccinated.

Information from the Orange County Register , published yesterday, updated today Jan 14, 2021

[Stone-Butch]

The World Health Org. says it is stockpiling more vials of serum in case of a new Ebola outbreak. No other details were given.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has its first two cases of coronavirus in their gorillas.

[Kätzchen]

5 Reasons to Wear a Mask Even After You're Vaccinated (https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/944200)

[PlatinumPearl]

Officials in the incoming Biden administration braced the country for continued hardship in the days after the inauguration,
with the president-elect assuming control of a struggling economy and surging coronavirus outbreak in less than three days.

https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1cPSe0.img?h=351&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=778&y=175
© Jabin Botsford/The New York Times Ron Klain, the incoming White House
chief of staff, coordinated the Obama administration’s Ebola response.


Ron Klain, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s incoming White House chief of staff, had a dire forecast for the course of the coronavirus outbreak in the new administration’s first weeks, predicting that half a million Americans will have died from the coronavirus by the end of February. The current toll is nearing 400,000.

“The virus is going to get worse before it gets better,” Mr. Klain said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “People who are contracting the virus today will start to get sick next month, will add to the death toll in late February, even March, so it’s going to take a while to turn this around.”

Average daily U.S. deaths from the virus have risen to well past 3,000, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has sounded the alarm about a fast-spreading, far more contagious variant of the coronavirus that officials project will become the dominant source of infection in the country by March, potentially fueling another wrenching surge of cases and deaths.

Mr. Klain, in comments directed at states’ disappointment that a reserve of additional vaccines that the Trump administration had promised to release did not exist, said that his team was “inheriting a huge mess” in terms of vaccine production and distribution.

“But we have a plan to fix it,” Mr. Klain said, alluding to a federal vaccination campaign that Mr. Biden announced on Friday. “We think there are things we can do to speed up the delivery of that vaccine.”

Administration officials earlier this week urged states to loosen eligibility criteria and to begin vaccinating all Americans 65 and older. Some states, including New York, moved quickly to comply, prompting a surge of interest — and confusion — as thousands of newly eligible people sought appointments to get vaccinated.

But there was no stockpile of additional vaccine doses awaiting distribution to those states, it turned out — only the amounts already promised, much of it to be given

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday that he, too, had been trying to sort through the confusion about how many vaccine doses were held by the federal government and where they were going.

“I think there was just a misunderstanding,” Dr. Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “When doses were released, an equal amount was kept back to make sure if there was any glitches in the supply flow that the people who got their first doses would clearly get their second doses,” he said.

Once it was clear that production of the vaccines would be reliable, he added, “the decision was made, instead of just giving enough for the first dose and holding back for the second dose, that as soon as they got the doses available, they would give it because now they would have confidence that the next amount they would get.”

Brian Deese, the incoming head of the National Economic Council, also stressed the urgency of passing a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan that the incoming Biden administration had unveiled last week to assist in the recovery effort, pointing to data suggesting increasing unemployment and that more Americans are going hungry.

“The truth is, we’re at a very precarious moment,” Mr. Deese said in an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’ve got an acute economic crisis and human crisis, and we need decisive action.”



Source: msn.com
Website: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/top-biden-official-warns-us-covid-deaths-will-pass-500000-in-weeks/ar-BB1cPKR5
Date: January 17, 2021

[tantalizingfemme]

I received my first dose of the Moderna vaccine this morning. I’m feeling a bit relieved. I’ll feel much better in 4 weeks.

[C0LLETTE]

Covid in Canada:

Almost two-thirds of Canadians would support a nightly curfew if necessary to curb the spread of COVID-19 — even though they're not convinced it would be effective, a new poll suggests.

Sixty-five per cent of respondents to a poll by Léger and the Association for Canadian Studies said they would support temporary curfews in their provinces if recommended by public health officials.

In Quebec, where the government imposed a month-long curfew 10 days ago, 74 per cent said they support the move.

[homoe]

~~
Dr. Birx is NOW speaking out about all the shit that went down concerning false charts, false info the Trump administration pawned off, etc etc!

Perhaps IF she had had the backbone to speak up AT the time more lives could of been saved!

Plus let us not forget her little Thanksgiving Day faux pas!


https://www.newsweek.com/birx-gathered-family-over-thanksgiving-despite-warning-americans-not-report-1556239

[~ocean]

something doesn't seem right to me ~ when trump is guilty he blames and degrades ~ I'm not totally convinced that China was completely at fault. China may have been it's origin. trump knew more than he led us to believe.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

something doesn't seem right to me ~ when trump is guilty he blames and degrades ~ I'm not totally convinced that China was completely at fault. China may have been it's origin. trump knew more than he led us to believe.

At the beginning of the pandemic, there were a couple of news stories about how the U.S. military had accidentally spread it to China in the first place. Then there was nothing more heard about it. I've got my suspicions.

[Kätzchen]

Any day now, as the Covid-19 death toll nears 500K, I wonder if families of those who died will launch a class action law suit against 45 and those who continuously lied and did nothing to protect American's who have lost loved ones.

I hope by fall of this year I will be able to get the Moderna vaccination. We are not sure when my Rico will get his, due to his chemo tx and other fragile healh issues.

In the meantime, we double up on mask use and we are especially vigilant with enforcing social distance and utilizing other measures for self protection.

[tantalizingfemme]

I hope by fall of this year I will be able to get the Moderna vaccination. We are not sure when my Rico will get his, due to his chemo tx and other fragile healh issues.

One of my staff is in the middle of chemo for colon cancer and his immune system is pretty much wiped out. He got his first shot last week. When he went to his oncologist to see if he was eligible for the vaccine, his oncologist said there was no reason for him not to get it. And I know he was nervous because there are questions on the consent regarding whether you are on treatment or had recently been in treatment for cancer and he was afraid they would deny him, but no issue. So hopefully your fiance will be eligible and then you both can start the process.

Good luck.

[homoe]

Even with the race to vaccinate as many Americans as possible accelerating, some experts are warning that if Americans don't also follow proper safety and mitigation measures the U.S. could see a COVID-19 resurgence.

Although the country's national daily case average continues to fall -- about 32.5% over the last month -- nearly a third of all states have seen their average number of cases rise at least 10%.

Those 15 states are: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and West Virginia, according to an ABC News analysis of state data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Several states -- Delaware, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and West Virginia -- have seen their case averages increase by at least 25% in the last week.

"Minnesota, I think, is really a harbinger of things to come. We're loosening up all the restrictions we've had, and in some ways creating a perfect storm moment for virus transmission, whether it's a variant or not," Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and head of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told ABC News' "World News Tonight" on Wednesday.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/experts-urge-caution-15-states-091007586.html

[homoe]

Even with the race to vaccinate as many Americans as possible accelerating, some experts are warning that if Americans don't also follow proper safety and mitigation measures the U.S. could see a COVID-19 resurgence.

Although the country's national daily case average continues to fall -- about 32.5% over the last month -- nearly a third of all states have seen their average number of cases rise at least 10%.

Those 15 states are: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and West Virginia, according to an ABC News analysis of state data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Several states -- Delaware, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and West Virginia -- have seen their case averages increase by at least 25% in the last week.

"Minnesota, I think, is really a harbinger of things to come. We're loosening up all the restrictions we've had, and in some ways creating a perfect storm moment for virus transmission, whether it's a variant or not," Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and head of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told ABC News' "World News Tonight" on Wednesday.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/experts-urge-caution-15-states-091007586.html

It strikes me as "fishy" that Florida nor Texas is included in this uptick! Surely their governors couldn't be suppressing case numbers or could they!?

[homoe]

9LTOnWYzjA8




Rand Paul blows up at Dr. Fauci over masks during Senate hearing!

[homoe]

Trump's Mar-a-Lago partially closed due to COVID outbreak.....

how ironic!

[Kätzchen]

Question and comment for my sister-femme-friend, Ocean:

Ocean, I wondered too if this covid-19 virus epidemic was a biological warfare type of thing, *But*, what if the covid-19 virus could be a by-product of global warming? That is what I have been wondering myself. Viruses mutate and find ways to survive, just like any species might evolve out of sense of survival. Do you think it's a possibility? Maybe?

(I edited my post for brevity)

On CNN today, another article was posted on how covid-19 is transmissible via saliva (after autopsies on ppl who have died from it).

Here is the article link:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/26/world/coronavirus-newsletter-intl-03-26-21/index.html

In the article, scientists think that covid 19 is a by-product of climate change. Which is a conclusion I had, early on, last year.

In other covid news: Rico got his first of two shots last week. I am still not able to get one due to our state not updating its website criteria. If i am able to get one by my birthday in May, I will feel lucky.

Both Rico and I practice double masking, we try to stick to a strict adherence for food and wster safety. We do not plan to support fast food industry or go out for dining experiences any time soon.

Ffs, we see people daily in close proximity, drinking and dining outdoors ... with NO masks or giving enough space while dining. That stuff scares us both.

Still ... other harrowing news on the horizon about lack of clean water and untainted food chain is super scary.

It is time for a big change in how earths resources are utilized and to begin cooperative sharing with humans in local, national and global ways.

Our health and safety and survival is on the line.

Stay safe.

Be as well as you can be.

And, stay strong.

~K. :bunchflowers:

[homoe]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A year after becoming a global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, New York and New Jersey are back atop the list of U.S. states with the highest rates of infection.

Even as the vaccination campaign has ramped up, the number of new infections in New Jersey has crept up by 37% in a little more than a month, to about 23,600 every seven days. About 54,600 people in New York tested positive for the virus in the last week, a number that has begun to inch up recently.

The two states now rank No. 1 and 2 in new infections per capita among U.S. states. New Jersey has been reporting about 647 new cases for every 100,000 residents over the past 14 days. New York has averaged 548.

The situation in New York and New Jersey mirrors a national trend that has seen case numbers inch up in recent days. The U.S. is averaging nearly 62,000 cases a day, up from 54,000 two weeks ago.

Asked Sunday what’s going wrong in the U.S. as cases rise, President Joe Biden told reporters: “Based on what I’m hearing, apparently people are letting their guard down.” Biden said he hopes to have a better sense of the situation after a meeting with his White House pandemic team on Monday.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/virus-fight-stalls-early-hot-140524851.html

[homoe]

The troubling signs come despite more than one-third of American adults now having received at least one Covid-19 shot.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Monday said rebounding Covid case counts gave her a sense of "impending doom" and warned the public to continue following public health precautions with more contagious strains of the virus taking hold.

"Right now I'm scared," a visibly shaken Walensky said at a briefing during which officials warned the country is headed toward another surge with new cases topping 30 million in the U.S. and deaths once again averaging about 1,000 a day.

Walensky cited an uptick in travel as one reason cases could be rising, and noted more contagious variants could exacerbate the crisis if people don't wear masks and follow other public safety guidelines.

The troubling signs come despite more than one-third of American adults now having received at least one Covid-19 shot. Some 50 million people are fully vaccinated, according to Andy Slavitt, the White House senior adviser on the Covid-19 response.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/29/cdc-chief-covid-cases-surge-478340

[Kätzchen]

I subscribe to our state's Covid19 updates, which come daily. Over the past few days, since I subscribed, I have read that we have gone up to over 400+ new cases, which those affected have been hospitalized. Interestingly enough, the new cases are people who have contracted a variant of the original virus, which is super scary. Our death toll has been increasing weekly.

We had massive traffic issues tonight because near the downtown area: lines of people spiraled around the vax site and the pick-up/drop-off lane was jamb packed. No matter where you go, people are wearing their masks, in our metro area. There are no plans for our national basketball team to open games up to the public. Not even our soccer team or ice hockey team is opening up to the public, to attend any sort of game.

I am stunned, though, that Texas hosted a 38K sold-out baseball game today. I can hardly believe people are not taking this seriously, the pandemic. (w) (w) (w)

I count myself lucky that I am getting my vaccine shot this Thursday. Rico and I plan to still mask up and be vigilant. :vigil:

[homoe]

oOtViK53jd4

[Kätzchen]

Just thought I would drop by again tonight and share about the latest daily report on new cases and deaths, in the state of Oregon.

It's frightening, if you ask me. Last time I posted the daily cases documented stood at about 400+. But in today's report, new cases went up by 100 (in less than a week) and more deaths.

I noticed in the short blurbs about each person who succumbed to the Covid-19 virus died within weeks of it being discovered. Here's a copy and past of that portion of the daily report, so you can see for yourself the short time span between discovery and losing your life.

Oregon’s 2,450th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 14 and died on April 9 at her residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,451st COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Baker County who tested positive on April 7 and died on April 14 at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,452nd COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on March 22 and died on April 5 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,453rd COVID-19 death is a 52-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on March 24 and died on April 14 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,454th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Linn County who tested positive on March 24 and died on April 8 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,455th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on March 31 and died on April 13 at Salem Hospital. He had underlying conditions.


The most interesting part is the diagram which shows the variants of the Covid-19 virus, and how many people have been infected by each variant.

The image won't transfer to this post, but here are the variants and cases reported for each type:

B.1.1.7 - 60 cases
P.1 - 4 cases
B.1.351 - 8 cases
B.1.427 - 124 cases
B.1.429 - 474 cases
B.1.526 - 13 cases
P.2 - 6 cases
B.1.525 - 6 cases

8 known strains of Covid-19 in our state.

Metro area county cases are going up daily, as well as hospital admissions, with some people dying in just a few short weeks.


So very scary and terribly worrisome.

:candle::candle::candle:
:vigil::vigil::vigil:

[homoe]

Rock musician Ted Nugent announced he has tested positive for the coronavirus in a Facebook live video in which he repeatedly used racist slurs to refer to COVID-19, spit on the floor and promoted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.

“Everybody told me that I should not announce this,” the conservative rocker said in the video on Monday.

Nugent, a staunch supporter of ex-President Donald Trump, previously called the pandemic a scam and has railed against public health restrictions.

“I have had flu symptoms for the last 10 days. I thought I was dying. I mean, just a cluster****,” Nugent said in the video. “I got the Chinese s***.”

Nugent said he had a “stuffed-up head” and “body aches.”

“My God, what a pain in the ass. I literally can hardly crawl out of bed the last few days. But I did, I crawled,” he said.

[PlatinumPearl]

Australians face $66K fine and jail time if they fly home
from India during COVID-19 travel ban


The Federal Government published a press release in the early hours of Saturday morning announcing harsh penalties for Australian citizens who attempt to fly home from India, where more than 300,000 new COVID-19 cases have been reported each day this past week. The temporary ban begins on May 3 and applies to any travellers who have visited India in the 14 days preceding the date they intend to arrive in Australia. Citizens who fail to comply face a $66,000 fine and up to five years of jail time. It is thought to be the first time the Federal Government has made entering Australia a criminal offence to its own citizens.



Source: Twitter
Date: April 30, 2021

[homoe]

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday answered one of Tucker Carlson’s skewed questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, briefly inoculating viewers against the Fox News host’s anti-vaccine fearmongering.

As part of his right-wing channel’s apparent campaign to sow doubt about vaccine safety and effectiveness, Carlson has been raising what he presents as deal-breaking questions that actually have verifiable answers. Which, of course, he fails to acknowledge.

But on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” the nation’s top infectious disease expert entertained one of Carlson’s leading queries.

After people on the street asked Fauci questions, Kimmel noted one more guy had one. He cut to a clip of Carlson asking why college students should get the vaccine because “young people are not at risk of dying from COVID” and many have been infected already.

“No one has explained that,” Carlson said.

Kimmel let Fauci take it away.

“One, you want to protect yourself,” the White House task force doc replied. “But also you don’t want to be part of the propagation of the outbreak. Because if you get infected, even though you’re young and healthy ... you could pass it on to someone else who could have a severe outcome. And when you get infected, you are propagating the outbreak. You’re not being a dead stop. You’re allowing the virus to continue from you to someone else.”

Got that, Tucker?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dr-fauci-tucker-carlson-vaccine_n_60925c89e4b09cce6c24a3a4

[FireSignFemme]

Emmergancy Broadband Benefit enrollment begins today for more information about the program - https://www.fcc.gov/broadbandbenefit

There is a link to fill out sign up form on that page but it's not working. I found another place and was able to fill in form but system wouldn't allow me to verify as required in order to activate. Hmm gotta love our government bureaucracy BS inefficiency right. So I went to my electric/utility company home page, found out about the program and applied, successfully, there. Um not my internet service provider but okay whatever it worked, was able to sign up there. Which I guess is to say don't give up if at first you don't suceed... Anyhow

Don't dismiss this as a program only for the poorest of the poor as others (as described in boldface below) may qualify

Who Is Eligible for the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program?
A household is eligible if a member of the household meets one of the criteria below:
Has an income that is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or participates in certain assistance programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Lifeline
Approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision in the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year
Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year
Experienced a substantial loss of income due to job loss or furlough since February 29, 2020 and the household had a total income in 2020 at or below $99,000 for single filers and $198,000 for joint filers or
Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider's existing low-income or COVID-19 program.

[FireSignFemme]

Forgot to add program is only as long as supply lasts so if interested be sure and sign up as soon as you think you might be. If accepted into program it will pay a portion of your internet bill each month for six months after the president announces end of pandemic. Then you have to notify service provider and begin paying as usual before pandemic. It will also give money towards purchase of phone but only 20 bucks so how anybody is going to be greatly helped by that I don't know, maybe one of those prepaid cell phones or unless they mean monthly? Still 20 bucks is 20 bucks and it's a simple form.

[BullDog]

Wow, I didn't know anything about Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett and how the Moderna vaccine was developed until tonight. She was on Laurence O'Donnell's special tonight. She explained how COVID vaccine research has been going on for years and she was able to figure out the basis for the Moderna vaccine over a weekend!

I'm so glad I got the Moderna vaccine now that I know this - had my second shot on Tuesday!

They should plaster the airwaves and internet with PSAs and campaigns with her in them. She is a highly articulate 35-year-old viral immunologist who is one of the main people who developed the Moderna vaccine. So impressive.

Here is an article about her:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00338-y

[Gemme]

The CDC says fully vaccinated people can go without masks indoors now. I'm not loving this because it puts me in a position at work to ask for someone's "papers" so to speak if I see them without a mask. I feel icky about that.

Hopefully, my company will continue to require indoor masks as a part of their health and safety protocol, especially since a large portion of my indoor customers are older and/or are immunocompromised.

[nhplowboi]

I hate to admit this but I caved at the store. When Biden made his announcement yesterday, we pulled all our "masks required" signage down. I wish we had gotten another month of vaccinations under our belt but once that announcement was made, it was going to make shop keepers lives hell. My employees have taken so much grief recently that the thought of dealing with the "Are you vaxed?" question was going to be nothing but problems. At this point I feel like those who have not gotten vaxed are on their own and deserve what they get.

[BullDog]

Yeah, it's good news that those of us who are fully vaccinated don't need to wear masks based on the data and I think they are trying to also use it as an incentive and reward. Unfortunately, those who have no intention of getting vaccinated don't wear masks and are really obnoxious to people at stores and in other public places needing to enforce masking.

A few weeks ago a man over the age of 65 was making fun of me for wearing a mask. Really, dude, you are the one who is way more at risk than me. Maybe he got vaccinated, but I doubt it.

It's kind of weird because once my 2 weeks are up I won't need to wear a mask but other people around me aren't going to know whether or not I am vaccinated, so it's kind of a strange situation.

I agree with nhplowboi that it shouldn't be up to people like Gemme, him, and his staff to protect the vulnerable since they were first in line to have access to the vaccine. Maybe they should have waited a bit since it does take time to get through both shots and 2 weeks after that but they are also saying the evidence has been here for a while and it's overdue.

[Gemme]

I get it but I do take issue with the whole 'throw them to the wolves' mentality. I find it quite callus and possibly a side effect of the pandemic since I've witnessed people that were sweet and absolutely darling pre-pandemic say the most offensive, hateful things post-pandemic. The past 14 months have really changed some people and revealed the true character of many others. I've been sorely disappointed in many of my customers in recent months and have developed deeper bonds with the others who are just as gobsmacked as I.

Personally, I'm not vaccinated. Not because I don't want to but 1. I just became eligible less than a month ago and 2. I work 6 days a week with long hours and haven't been able to find a place stabbing people on Sundays, my only day off at this point, or staying long enough to accommodate me after work.

I kind of think this whole 'they are on their own' thing is right in line with the asshats that parade around without a mask. I've found that the people that are the most arrogant and inconsiderate about not wearing masks are 1. doctors and 2. are fully vaccinated. THAT I don't get. At ALL. But I've had multiple interactions with that exact scenario.

When people are getting shot and/or stabbed for telling someone to put on a mask, I understand the hesitancy to push it, but I'm an ornery bitch and am going to do what I feel is best for me and for my customers.

As a side note, my supervisor confirmed today that our company is continuing to require masks. Almost all businesses in my area are also continuing to do so. Looks like I get to keep giving the 'you're on private property...yada yada yada...speech'. I don't mind the speech; I mind the absolute ignorance and inconsideration of others that keeps getting replayed over and over again. It's not that freakin' hard. In your home? Mask off. In your car? Mask off. Basically anywhere else indoors? Mask on. It's not rocket science.

[homoe]

It wasn't even a full 6 months since the first vaccine was administered that they gave the all clear to remove masks.

IMO that seems too short of a time for collecting such important & valuable data!

[homoe]

It wasn't even a full 6 months since the first vaccine was administered that they gave the all clear to remove masks.

IMO that seems too short of a time for collecting such important & valuable data!

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks in most indoors settings. This new guidance comes in response to promising evidence that not only do vaccines provide protection from severe cases of COVID-19, but they are also effective at preventing the vaccinated from passing the disease to others.

“The science is clear: If you are fully vaccinated, you are protected, and you can start doing the things that you stopped doing because of the pandemic,” the CDC said in a statement. The new guidance does include some exceptions. Fully vaccinated people are still encouraged to wear masks when visiting health care facilities, flying, using public transit or in certain congregate settings.

[Kätzchen]

For weeks now, since January, people contracting Covid19 has been well over 600 + (brand new cases) daily. Until today. Today our metro area had only 300 new cases. If ppl make sure to get vaccinated and follow mask use and other social distancing measures, our tri-county area will be lowered to Low Risk, which will then lead to other measures being slowly lifted.

Our board meeting today spoke to these daily concerns, as we all try to find some level of safety that seemed present before the pandemic brought us to a halt.

It is going to not be easy to transition because of many reasons we read about daily.

There is so much to be grateful for, and surviving the pandemic is a story being written every day.

I am so glad i am still here.

[nhplowboi]

Bevi started a new job last week at a Covid clinic down in Mass. She just called this morning to say they only have 100 people lined up for vaccinations for the whole day! :| I know cases are dropping but get your vaccinations people!! Flying under the radar only works for so long people.