Coronavirus 2

[GreyhoundFan]

No big surprise:

 

[clueliss]

Cole County Missouri to let stay at home expire.  (this would be the county that the state capital is in.  you know, where hundreds will gather today to protest.  )

 

[clueliss]

From CNBC - list of large public companies that took PPP loans

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/21/large-public-companies-are-taking-small-businesses-payroll-loans.html

And fox news is (shockingly) good for something - piece on how to wear a mask and NOT fog your glasses up.  (the pain is very real)

https://www.foxnews.com/health/coronavirus-face-mask-glasses-fogging-prevention-tips

[JanasTattooParlor]

14 hours ago, Howl said:

So, gyms...putting personal trainers who decide they have to show up at huge risk.  Gyms, where everybody is touching something that someone just sweated on.   Please, let them not have classes/group workouts in relatively small rooms.  

The stupidity of this is beyond insane.   

In SC, despite the reopening of retail stores, our governor is mandating no more than 5 people per 1000sqft in a store at a time. We haven’t reopened gyms or anything like that though. 

[Becky]

In a couple of weeks we will know if the governors attempting to reopen for business did the right thing or not.  I recently listened to a podcast that spoke of how different US cities fared during the Spanish Flu pandemic and they made the point that, in the heat of the actual pandemic, cities were pretty much making guesses as to what would be best in the long run - shut down and suffer economically, or stay open and hope that spread would be manageable.  Of course we seem to have a lot more information and modeling for this disease, and opening up anything before you have had a couple of weeks of declining cases, widespread contact tracing, and an oversupply of PPE for your healthcare workers sounds like a very, very bad idea and goes against all guidance, including that from the federal government.  I would not want to be in the first wave of openings at this point, and I do not understand why anyone thinks this is going to work out well.  

Edited April 21, 2020 by Becky

[CTRLZero]

It's been two weeks since we last entered a grocery store, but since we are speculating that a second wave of infection might happen soon with some other states opening up and maybe local folks lowering their guard, we decided to make another stock-up run.  There is still no bleach or sanitizer on the shelves.  I would have thought some would be available by now.  Hmph.  The baking goods aisle is still sparse, but I was able to snag a bag of brown sugar and pancake batter, which have been in short supply.  Prices have definitely increased on most items storewide.

There was a security guard at the front making sure only a few people entered during a particular time frame.  Everyone was very conscientious about distancing.  I would estimate 90% of people (including us) were wearing masks.  Who knew I would be checking out everyone's face masks?  Some were very festive.  My husband's is a Disney print.  ?

Anyone else have observations on changes in daily life?  In the Before, I used to make note of people wearing masks; now I am more aware of people without. 

[GreyhoundFan]

36 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

It's been two weeks since we last entered a grocery store, but since we are speculating that a second wave of infection might happen soon with some other states opening up and maybe local folks lowering their guard, we decided to make another stock-up run.  There is still no bleach or sanitizer on the shelves.  I would have thought some would be available by now.  Hmph.  The baking goods aisle is still sparse, but I was able to snag a bag of brown sugar and pancake batter, which have been in short supply.  Prices have definitely increased on most items storewide.

There was a security guard at the front making sure only a few people entered during a particular time frame.  Everyone was very conscientious about distancing.  I would estimate 90% of people (including us) were wearing masks.  Who knew I would be checking out everyone's face masks?  Some were very festive.  My husband's is a Disney print.  ?

Anyone else have observations on changes in daily life?  In the Before, I used to make note of people wearing masks; now I am more aware of people without. 

I went to the grocery store for the first time in a while last night. There were big gaps -- they had some paper towels and tissues, but no TP, etc. If you are looking for a good sanitizer, try Spray Nine.  I've used it for years and it is great at cleaning, degreasing, and disinfecting. It's usually available in hardware stores and auto stores. Even Wal-Mart had it in their auto section. I usually get mine from Napa.

I've noticed prices have gone up quite a bit on most products.

About 75% were wearing masks, most with gloves. About half of the people were actually following the store's arrows which guide shoppers to go through the aisles one way.  Before this pandemic, a fair number of people who shop at this store wore masks already -- they are older people from east Asia.

What I've noticed is that most of my neighbors still go out to walk, but stay further apart than in the past. The exception is a group of southern Asian neighbors who all walk in a tight group together, which they've always done. Also, I live in an area with massive traffic issues, but the roads are almost empty now. For example, usually afternoon rush hour starts at about 3:30 PM and goes to about 8 PM. For me to go from my place to my mom's during rush hour normally takes anywhere from 50 - 90 minutes. I was able to get there yesterday in 18 minutes at 5:30 PM.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I know The Onion is satire, but I wish some stores would implement this:

 

[clueliss]

Only if the dumbass hours have the dumbass employees working.  Specifically the ones at my local walmart last Saturday who weren't wearing masks (this was before the across the board walmart making their employees wear masks).  

[clueliss]

Senate passed $484B bill 

 

Drug shows no effectiveness in treating Covid19 (study)

 

And Moniteau County Missouri has managed to go from 2 cases to 49 in a short period (I believe we have a small pork processing plant with issues there)

Spoiler

 

 

[Dandruff]

6 hours ago, clueliss said:

And fox news is (shockingly) good for something - piece on how to wear a mask and NOT fog your glasses up.  (the pain is very real)

I started putting tissue between the mask and upper part of my face about a week or two ago, because the mask was digging in and leaving red marks.  It does help with the eyeglass fog.

Am hoping to wait another 2-3 weeks before venturing into a store again.  It has been over 3 weeks, but a friend dropped off a few essentials for me last week.

I started using mail order for meds and received the package a few days ago.  Was pleasantly surprised that they had asthma inhalers available.  Was getting frustrated by grossly inflated prices on Amazon for a "treat" item I wanted until it occurred to me to go to the company website and check there.  Turned out to be a good idea.  The shipping prices were high but the price of the item itself was OK.  Overall, the cost was quite a bit better than Amazon.

I'm alternating between relatively calm and ready to jump out of my skin.  Need to go out and walk more often.

[Ozlsn]

5 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

Anyone else have observations on changes in daily life?  In the Before, I used to make note of people wearing masks; now I am more aware of people without. 

 Observations from where I live:

Spoiler

We generally still don't have people wearing masks - the people that are tend to still be of Chinese origin (and often are international students - we are near a large university). Staff generally don't wear masks, but there are screens up in many shops - the post office, bakery, and at least two pharmacies in my local shopping strip have them. Post office staff have gloves, most of the rest don't, although the pharmacies and post office have hand sanitizer as you come in. All shops have up notices about social distancing - most also have limits on customers inside at one time (3 in the bakery, 4 in the butchers, 2 to order takeaway at the cafe). Some shops will do card transactions only, some still take cash. The local supermarket has a (kind of haphazard actually) one way system in place - people are generally good at staying 1.5m away, but getting to things in aisles can be entertaining, and watching people socially maneuver is amusing. Walking outside people are better at maintaining distance, although given the footpaths are only about 1.1m that can also be entertaining - I am not the only person crossing the road to avoid others while walking or running.

There are a lot more families out on bikes together (a lot more cyclists during the day in general actually - I think some of the local bike groups have taken advantage of WFH to run later training rides), and a lot less traffic on the roads.

The local wildlife reserve is much busier - I hear and see a lot more families while walking/running there. Same number of kangaroos.

I think there are more people wearing masks in the CBD, and near hospitals. Generally here if I see someone wearing a mask in a car it means they have been directed to do so by a doctor, and they are either going into quarantine, or are coming from medical appointments for other health issues. I saw a lot more masks when I was still working near the major hospitals (before we went to WFH), and more gloves. This is also because masks are still not readily available outside medical areas (at least around here - although most of us have the ones we bought because of the bushfires.)

Most things are back on the shelves except flour (FFS people, stop getting inspired by GBB and Master chef!), although toilet paper, canned goods and bread still occasionally have runs on them.

So in general we're still much more about the distancing than masks or gloves where I am.

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, Ozlsn said:

Most things are back on the shelves except flour

I'm one of those nuts with a grain mill, so I don't know how the flour situation is locally, but eggs are my bugaboo. I counted up how many eggs we had and asked Mr. Cartmann99 if we wanted me to bake some cookies, but then we wouldn't have enough eggs for this weekend, and we don't know if there will be any available before then.

Decisions, decisions...

[AmericanRose]

Spoiler

Me on my Governor's Twitter: "I'm curious what people think will happen if we re-open right now. Everything just goes back to normal?"

Response: "I might be able to go for a walk in a park? With strict guidelines, everything can be open now. Jay must be waiting for his balls to drop before doing anything. Doesn’t matter- Ppl are pissed and they’re going to reopen by the 4th, if not sooner"

Me: "Okay... but if people aren't going out to eat, to the gym, to watch movies, etc., business will still be down."

Response: "Most people are ready to get out and do all of those things"

Me: "We're all impatient. But no one I know wants to rush into things and end up worse off in the long run."

Response: "Good for you guys to just be “impatient”. This isn’t a matter of wanting to go to the mall, [Name]. Lots of us actually NEED to work and that’s why we’re protesting"

Me: "You should be protesting for healthcare and a better social safety net, that way you wouldn't be forced to work through a pandemic. You can open, but that won't guarantee you customers if people still don't feel safe enough to be in crowds, and then what would your boss do?"

Response: "I’m a business owner. We have jobs lined up ready to go. Again, you don’t know what you’re talking about, Story. Just stay in your lane. “You should be protesting for...” Yes...we are. Everyone at the protests have different reasons for being there. You’re so stupid it’s actually depressing. Do all liberals think like you?"

I don't know why I bothered - I just looked at her bio, and she has #RedPilled and #Trump2020. But hey, I made it through the convo without being insulting!

I asked what her business is, for if I can do so, I intend to avoid it.

ETA: She told me to leave her alone, I'm boring... so I wished her a good night and good luck. But she's still Tweeting at me, lol.

Edited April 22, 2020 by AmericanRose

[Smee]

10 hours ago, Dandruff said:

I started using mail order for meds and received the package a few days ago.  Was pleasantly surprised that they had asthma inhalers available.  Was getting frustrated by grossly inflated prices on Amazon for a "treat" item I wanted until it occurred to me to go to the company website and check there.  Turned out to be a good idea.  The shipping prices were high but the price of the item itself was OK.  Overall, the cost was quite a bit better than Amazon.

I'm alternating between relatively calm and ready to jump out of my skin.  Need to go out and walk more often.

Amazon is price gouging? Nice. I read somewhere earlier that Jeff Bezos has grown his wealth by something obscene like $25bn since the pandemic started. I suppose next he’ll be running for President.

Like @Ozlsn I am not seeing many masks in my area (nor am I wearing one on the one day a week I visit the grocery store). But there’s plenty of marks on the floors to indicate where to stand in a queue, signs and advice everywhere about social distancing, security guards to ensure no more than X people in the shop at any given time, and the chemist has someone at the entrance squirting hand sanitizer onto the hands of everyone who enters the store. I live right near a large lake with parks and walking tracks around, and those paths are much much busier than usual so I’ve been avoiding them. Same with a big bike path nearby that follows a disused rail line through bush, past beach/ocean views, through tunnels etc 15km into the city. It was always well-used but is now what I would call busy.

[clueliss]

They underestimated its ability to mutate 

 

[fraurosena]

No one wears masks over here. In fact, RIVM officials have stated that cloth masks or surgical masks do absolutely diddly squat as protection against infection. FFP2 masks (I'm guessing they're our equivalent of N95 masks, but I'm not sure) with special filters do work, but they should be reserved for healthcare workers as they need them the most. 

Shops have screens, marks on floors for queues. Employees wear gloves. Customers must use shopping carts even if they only want one article; carts are sanitised after use by an employee. Only a certain amount of customers are allowed in the shop at one time. People are mostly social distancing.

The bareness of the shelves in the grocery store has reduced somewhat, although flour is still minimally available, as are sanitising wipes -- which I use a lot, so I'm glad I already had a goodly stock of them from Before.

17 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

Anyone else have observations on changes in daily life? 

One thing that I have noticed is that people seem more friendly towards each other, even if they are random strangers. It's a subtle thing. People's eyes seem to light up when they see someone else, and they greet each other with a smile and a look of 'we're all in this together'. 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

8 hours ago, AmericanRose said:

Response: "I’m a business owner. We have jobs lined up ready to go. Again, you don’t know what you’re talking about, Story. Just stay in your lane. “You should be protesting for...” Yes...we are. Everyone at the protests have different reasons for being there. You’re so stupid it’s actually depressing. Do all liberals think like you?"

That just chaps my hide that she could be so ugly to you. I would have responded with something like, "I have been civil to you and received personal attacks in response. Please stop contacting me or even thinking of me." Of course, that's taking the high road, I would have WANTED to write something like, "You hit on the operative word, think. Yes, liberals think, unlike trump cult members."

[fraurosena]

Another day, another update:

• In the past 24 hours 266 corona patients were reported to have died in Belgium, bringing the total number of deaths up to 6262. The number of deaths has been going down since April 12.
  There are now 4765 hospitalisations, down by 231. 1020 patients are in the ICU, down by 59; 733 of them are being ventilated, down by 44. According the the National Crisis centre the numbers have been encouraging for a couple of days now. Belgium is looking at a gradual lessening of restrictions.
• One of the positive side-effects of the corona crisis is that the global CO2 emissions will reduce by 6%, according to the WMO. This would be the greatest reduction since WWII. 
  The reduction is mainly due to far less transport and a lower energy production. However, this is only 'short term' good news, as the reduction is not enough to satisfy international agreements on the reduction of CO2 emissions.
• According to the RIVM in the Netherlands, children are hardly infected with the corona virus. Research has also shown that children barely infect each other.  If a child does get infected, it is mostly by one of the parents, so within the family. It has also become clear that there are no infection hearths where children gather, like in daycare. And if children are infected, they are less ill than adults. 
  At the moment there are 35.000 confirmed cases (including recovered). There are 11001 corona patients in the ICU. RIVM research shows that if the government hadn't taken any corona measures, there would have been an estimated 25.000 ICU patients. Because of the measures, about 90% of Covid19 hospitalisations have been prevented.
  There were 138 corona related deaths reported yesterday, bringing the total number of deaths up to 4054. There were 124 hospitalisations, bringing that total up to 10.021. The total number of confirmed cases rose with 708 up to 34.842.
  The Netherlands have started producing their own cotton swabs for testing; at the moment 17.500 are being produced each day, but by the end of the month production will be increased to 30.000 a day.
  The Netherlands have also very cautiously begun to ease the corona measures. Prime minister Mark Rutte said: "I would love to say that we could ease more, but at the same time that is scary and dangerous." That is why the government has decided to reduce only a few of the corona measures. Rutte said he fears a second wave bringing a rise of new infections with it. He said he can imagine people hoping for more measures to have been ended after April 28 and that businesses could start up again. He said, "The freedom of one must not be at the expense of the health of another. It is clear that cautiousness now is better than regret later."
• In 15 of all 16 German states are mandating face masks in certain places. Only Bremen strongly urges people to use them without mandating it. In the other states people must cover their mouth and nose in public transport; most states also mandate it for shops. 
  The number of confirmed cases in Germany has risen by 2237 to a total of 145.694. There were 281 corona related deaths, bringing the total up to 4879.
• Yesterday there were 435 reported corona deaths in Spain, bringing the total up to 21.717.  The number of new confirmed cases was 4211, bringing the total up to 208.389. At the moment, Spain has the most cases in Europe. The Spanish government wants to gradually ease the lockdown measures in the second half of May. 
• The number of corona related deaths in the US has risen past 45.000. The number of deaths has doubled in a weeks time, according to Reuters. There are more than 800.000 confirmed cases, a rise by 23.000 (in a week); 2600 of them yesterday-- although not all states have reported yet.
  According to CDC's Robert Redfield, a second wave of the corona virus in the coming winter could be much worse than the current wave. The combination of the yearly influenza and the corona virus would burden the healthcare system more than it is now, he warns. 
• Harbin, the capital of  Heilongjiang province in the north east of China, is refusing entry to all people from outside the city and all vehicles that are not registered in the city. Harbin is coping with an outbreak of the virus by infected Chinese travellers returning from Russia.
  China reported 30 new confirmed cases yesterday, 23 of which came from abroad and 7 were infected locally. The number of corona related deaths remained the same at 4632. A total number of 82.788 cases have been confirmed in China.
  China is intensifying its corona measures, although they say they have the outbreak pretty much under control. People who enter a city not only have to go into self-isolation for two weeks, but additionally also have a week of 'house observation'.
  The country is worried about the flow of infected travellers from abroad. These are predominantly Chinese people returning home. The country is as good as closed to foreigners.
• Turkey has forbidden large gatherings during the ramadan. The breaking of the fast after sundown is usually celebrated in large tents in Turkey. These meals must now be eaten at home. The Turkish authorities will also close off busy shopping streets.
• Hong Kong has replaced 5 important officials. According to Carrie Lam, the highest official in Hong Kong, this is necessary to properly lead the economy rebuilding efforts after the corona crisis. China has agreed  to the firing of the 5 officials causing distrust amongst critics; they fear this is a renewed effort by Beijing to strengthen their grip on the autonomous city-state.
• There are 7 confirmed cases in Wisconsin that can be directly traced back to the elections on April 7.
  6 of the cases are voters and 1 is a polling station worker in Milwaukee.

[clueliss]

It was spreading in California before they thought - surprising - well not me.

 

[clueliss]

This one made me laugh

California skate part filled with sand - annnnnnnnnnnnd dirt bikers show up.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-skatepark-sand-dirtbikes-social-distancing

[fraurosena]

This is a good article graphically illustrating what it's like for healthcare workers.

Doctors and Nurses Overwhelmed in New York

Quote

A nurse furiously pushes down on a man’s chest as five other staff in full protective gear surround the patient’s bed.

Suddenly, one throws up his arms and steps backward.

“OK, move! Everybody move!”

Moments after they back away, the patient’s heart is shocked, his arm spasms and he shakes on the bed. Soon after, he is placed on a ventilator. He has been saved — for now.

Many more at Saint Joseph’s Medical Center have not.

“It’s been a nightmare. We have a volume of sick people like you can’t believe. In one shift, I pronounced six people dead,” said Dr. Anthony Leno, the hospital’s director of emergency medicine, who on average pronounces one dead in a 10-12 hour shift.

The Yonkers hospital, which sits near the Bronx border and serves one of the poorest sections of Westchester County’s largest city, has been besieged by the new coronavirus. Half of the approximately 280 staff members who were tested for the disease were positive — with another 25 to 30 still awaiting results, according to Dean Civitello, the vice president for human resources.

The Associated Press was granted access to the facility’s emergency room, which at one point in the pandemic had 28 patients waiting to be treated and ambulances lined up outside with more, said Dr. James Neuendorf, Saint Joseph’s medical director.

Staff from other areas of the hospital was redeployed to manage patients and additional treatment areas were set up to augment the hospital’s 194 acute-care beds.

The adjustments meant “we were able to take care of a large number of patients — well over above our numbers that we normally see on a daily basis,” Neuendorf said.

More than 900 have died in Westchester County, which had an early outbreak in neighboring New Rochelle in March before Yonkers became a hot spot. At Saint Joseph’s, coronavirus-related symptoms accounted for more than 85% of admissions for nearly four weeks, from March 20 to April 19.

Officials at the hospital knew the pandemic was going to crush them, since Covid-19 has proved particularly punishing for the largely minority population that makes up a significant portion of southwest Yonkers.

One challenge is that large families frequently live together in small homes, making it difficult to isolate sick ones. And, Leno said, there are few effective therapies other than isolation.

“We’ve had many family members and groups, and we’ve even had people from the same family who have died within days of each other,” Leno said.

The community was hit so hard that a tent was erected outside the hospital on March 19 to accommodate the rush of people seeking to be tested. In the first few days it was up, 150 to 175 people were examined each day to determine who should be tested, according to Catherine Hopkins, Saint Joseph’s director of school health and community relations.

Even some in the area who may otherwise be reluctant to seek medical care, fearing the loss of pay or in some cases deportation, showed up after seeing the effects of the coronavirus.

“People are afraid,” Hopkins said. “They’re scared. Their relatives, their friends are dying.”

Beyond the unprecedented medical challenges, the outbreak caused financial hardships for the Catholic hospital that has served Yonkers since 1888. Beds and equipment had to be bought or rented to meet Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mandate for hospitals to increase their capacity, and personal protective equipment had to be purchased at much higher costs than usual as normal suppliers ran out.

“There’s a lot of people gouging out there. A mask that cost 50 cents before are costing $7, $8 each. Gowns that would cost 50 cents as well are $7 each. Protective shields that were $1.25, people looking for 25 bucks a pop,” said Frank Hagan, Saint Joseph’s chief financial officer. “So cost is a significant issue.”

As is the morale of the staff, who fear for their own health, are juggling responsibilities when their colleagues are ill and are bombarded even more than usual with death and disease.

“It is tiring. It is stressful,” said chief nursing officer Margaret Cusumano, who has been back about three weeks after she tested positive. “You’re watching people be sick. You’re watching people succumb to the disease. It weighs on you mentally, physically.”

Fewer patients are coming to Saint Joseph’s now. Though there’s still a steady stream of patients wearing masks being wheeled into the ER every day, the staff is optimistic that the worst is over. But there is also the fear that people will rush too quickly back to their lives — potentially triggering another flurry of infections.

“They hear we’re over the plateau and they think, ‘OK, it’s business as usual,'” Hopkins said. “It’s not. It can’t be.”

 

[clueliss]

So - last week the number associated with Burger's Smokehouse in California, MO was 6.  NOW it's 21 and NOW they announce closure of the company due to Covid19 cases.  Great job guys.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

This is nice to see:

 

[clueliss]

Tyson closing an Iowa facility (pork)