Government Response to Coronavirus: With Pence in Charge, We're Doomed

[clueliss]

Was just linked to this map from Johns Hopkins
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0FdOd8c6sI6Un_asw24HQRD5AyR74rOFU42eCKzHT5-9hZC75Neu7STso#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

[Becky]

I've been to 7 stores in the past 2 days trying to stock up, and shelves are emptied of disposable gloves and masks, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, Lysol spray, and the like.  The checker at the Dollar Tree told me one person bought all their hand sanitizer, over 100 bottles. People are definitely panicking! 

IMO, part of the reason is that there is so much confusion and contradiction, and nobody trusts the official responses.  Trump says we are "airtight" but the media keep reporting more cases and deaths.  Doctors say "Don't buy masks!" but the CDC recommends masks and gloves for anyone who has to self-isolate.  How do you get them if you can't go out and haven't stockpiled?

My state has no confirmed cases just yet, but Mr. Becky travels for work and is in and out of airports, aircraft, and rental cars several times a week.  I'm a little nervous, and can only hope we will find a source for masks and gloves if we really need them.  

 

 

[SassyPants]

Homemade Hand Sanitizer Recipe:

1 Squeeze container, any size

Fill 1/3 volume with Isopropyl Alcohol

Fill remainder of container with Aloe Vera Gel

Add a few drops of essential oil of choice (optional)

Shake to mix

[fraurosena]

Good grief.

 

[SilverBeach]

Stocking up isn't necessary, that's what is causing shortages! It's ridiculous!

[fraurosena]

Trumplicans are imbeciles.

 

[apple1]

13 minutes ago, SilverBeach said:

Stocking up isn't necessary, that's what is causing shortages! It's ridiculous!

I agree with this.

I do think we should all use good common sense. I have been a allied health professional (laboratory scientist) and have worked in hospitals my whole adult life. I wash my hands all the time anyway, home or work. I use gloves at work per hospital policies. Other PPE per hospital policies, if/when appropriate.

I am shopping for groceries and household items same as usual. I do have a freezer and I normally keep some extra food in there - so I can shop specials, put extra stuff around holidays, that kind of thing. I don't have significant pantry space at all.

I guess I sort of have a somewhat fatalistic attitude about it all. As of right now, testing is not widely enough available in the US to even know who should be quarantined (or self-quarantined). Because it's likely that many people with the virus don't know that they have it. No anti-viral known to work. Supportive care for those who become significantly ill. Not convinced there is much practically that can be done.

[SilverBeach]

5 minutes ago, apple1 said:

I guess I sort of have a somewhat fatalistic attitude about it all.

Me too! My standard practice is to keep a goodly supply of necessities and probably a bit too much food, but I refuse to panic and fill my basement and garage and not leave any for others.  I don't want to live in an apocalyptic world, I've watched too much Walking Dead. Humans make everything worse.  Some reprehensible folks are trying to scalp supplies on Amazon, just garbage people. 

[Dandruff]

I went shopping again.  For me, anyway (almost 60, respiratory problems), I think stocking up is the way to go since I don't know if I'm healthy enough to withstand a very bad respiratory virus and certainly wouldn't want to go out shopping if I had one.  Didn't need more hand sanitizer, which is good since there isn't any available.  Picked up some more meat, fruit, non-perishables, and TP.  Think I can probably now stay out of the stores for a good, long while.

9 minutes ago, SilverBeach said:

Some reprehensible folks are trying to scalp supplies on Amazon, just garbage people.

That's appalling.

[SilverBeach]

Just now, Dandruff said:

I went shopping again.  For me, anyway (almost 60, respiratory problems), I think stocking up is the way to go since I don't know if I'm healthy enough to withstand a very bad respiratory virus and certainly wouldn't want to go out shopping if I had one.  Didn't need more hand sanitizer, which is good since there isn't any available.  Picked up some more meat, fruit, non-perishables, and TP.  Think I can probably now stay out of the stores for a good, long while.

That's appalling.

I'm 64, diabetic, and also have heart trouble.  I have always tried to stay out of crowded places because I have reduced immunity and older folks die from respiratory illnesses. I keep my home well-stocked so when I don't feel like going out, I don't have to. It's ok to stock up reasonably, just not to hoard and panic. 

PSA: Aloe vera gel and rubbing alcohol mixed together makes hand sanitizer gel. I just wash mine a lot. 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

Here in Italy things are mostly just normal, except for some extremely annoying "details" such as closed school, no big events, closed churches, no Masses and not even funerals (where I live, night be different elsewhere). It has been like this for two weeks now (here in Veneto, elsewhere It just started).

My personal opinion is that this illness Is no big deal in itself for the vast majority of people. The problem is that we are completely unprepared to cope with the most serious cases. Since this is highly infectious even if its consequences are mostly mild, the serious cases are going to be many even if low in rate.

Basically this means that ICUs here are at full capacity and only with COVID patients. Here they moved to later dates all scheduled surgeries that require ICU stay, that alone is extremely problematic. Should the numbers keep rising we May not be able to grant ICU care to all those who need it. We also are already short on medica and nurses (not to mention that many of them are quarantined because this virus seems to particularly love healthcare professionals). Vulnerable people are going to be seriously affected not only by the virus directly, but also by all the unintended consequences due to the strain put on (and the possible collapse of) the healthcare system under the emergency. Social relationships are going to be affected, lonely elderly people are going to be even more lonely and this will cause more sufference, kids staying home from school will be a mighty burden for families.

I am worried for the US because you aren't testing people, the 2000 tests announced by Pence is a ridiculous number, those are the tests done here in an afternoon, it's not an adequate number to the whole US population. Add to this that your healthcare system isn't a system at all and you can see that you are sitting on a time bomb. My prediction is that the mortality rate will be higher in the US, due to politicians underestimating the problem and the healthcare system being systematically inadeguate.

13 hours ago, fraurosena said:

 

This is dire. The Italian goverment approved a 7 billions spending bill, you can't think that 8 billions can be adequate for the whole US. It's ridiculous.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

Sorry I got it wrong, Pence promised 1 million tests by the end of the week, but for now, according to CNN, they total 1500. It's unbelievable.

Spoiler

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by laPapessaGiovanna
Typos

[fraurosena]

This is a very comprehensive thread about viruses, the way they spread and what you can do about them.

The rest is under the spoiler:

Spoiler

 

 

 

[smittykins]

12 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Trumplicans are imbeciles.

 

The old “chicken pox party” approach...nice.

[clueliss]

That guy is a CNBC analyst.  I know this because this morning while listening to CNBC (via sirius on my alexa - cord cutter but right now I miss news) he apologized for that statement.  And yes, he referenced chicken pox parties and the like from when he was a kid.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

This Economist infographic illustrates my point and the reason for adopting measures that slow down the contagion trasmission even if said measures are a true PITA.

And this is what I really fear 

Edited March 6, 2020 by laPapessaGiovanna

[CTRLZero]

21 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

My mother-in-law is basically quarantined at her assisted living facility.  She had a health problem yesterday and when we called to make an appointment, the health center said they were inundated with coronavirus cases (real or imagined) and they would send a mobile unit to her facility.  

Sorry to quote myself, but wanted to share how things are locally (Washington state near Seattle) where the coronavirus is concerned.  The mobile unit was *not* sent to my mother-in-law's facility because they were handling a large number of other health issues (probably coronavirus sorts of illnesses).  So, she had to leave her basically quarantined facility to spend hours in an urgent care facility which was filled to capacity with all sorts of people waiting to be seen for flu-like symptoms.

If the coronavirus was present, I can't imagine my mother-in-law (age 89) and my husband (age 70) weren't exposed.  If they were exposed, the nursing facility where my MIL resides has been exposed, and I've been exposed.  There are myriad points of contact where we could have been exposed, anyway, but this whole episode shows a weakness in the system.  This whole thing is really stretching medical resources to the breaking point. 

I'll be interested to see how the numbers increase and hopefully peak soon with this virus.  As mentioned in the post above, medical resources are already stretched and it's just getting started.  The lack of hospital beds may be a real problem.  We haven't stocked up, except the usual emergency supplies, but if we are going to potentially suffer alone at home, I think I'll stock up on ginger ale, crackers and beer. 

[SassyPants]

15 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Good grief.

 

Our church friends were in China visiting family over Chinese NYs. They were about 800 miles away from the outbreak zone. They were 100% quarantined during their stay. They returned to the US on Feb 9th and when they walked off the plane and went through customs here in CA, they were not asked anything about their disposition in China. They then self isolated for another 2 weeks while they continued to monitor their temperatures. We had dinner when them at the end of February. They are appalled at the US response vs what was SOP in China.

[clueliss]

I saw something on the news earlier in the week.  American Student studying in Italy on her way back to the US.  She flew to Amsterdam for a stop before heading back to the US.  Nothing.  

And can someone tell the orange menace to please leave the CDC alone and not pay them a visit right now?  

 

Editing to add - Purell to increase production:

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-06-20-intl-hnk/h_9773aa57636fc033f956e1bd0a2e027b

(odd trivia - one of the weird things I do in my bean counting position is do US census paperwork.  Including a quarterly production utilization reporting.  That looks at 'national emergency production' levels and how long it would take you to ramp up.  I'm thinking about that exercise every time I see a company increase production as a result of CoVID19.)

Edited March 6, 2020 by clueliss
adding:

[GreyhoundFan]

19 hours ago, Ticklish said:

Maybe that makes us crazy doomsday preppers

I believe Jim Bakker has some food buckets of doom if you want to go full-on preppier. I’m sure he’ll let you have them for an astronomical price, including a lifetime subscription to his mailing list. ?

[CTRLZero]

34 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I believe Jim Bakker has some food buckets of doom if you want to go full-on preppier.

Ha ha!  I was wondering about his buckets of doom business.  Jim must love a good plague!  I see he got his hand slapped for promoting some miracle cure.  Good times... 

[fraurosena]

Could he be charged with wrongful death?

 

[Xan]

3 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Could he be charged with wrongful death?

 

This is Trump's standard operating procedure, after all.  If he says that up is down, the Trumpies believe him.  He just thinks he can say the virus has stopped and no one will question it.  Re-election saved!

The reality is that the virus is spreading and will continue to spread.  I wonder how he and his minions will spin that.

[Xan]

And now Trump is slandering Gov. Inslee.  Every time I think he's hit bottom, someone throws him a shovel.

 

[WiseGirl]

First confirmed case of  coronavirus confirmed in my state. The person is a hospital worker.

I have asthma and an autoimmune disease so I am slightly worried. However my dogs will still need to be walked outside.

I hereby confess to stocking up on hard seltzer and toilet paper.