Covid

[flowerbug]

the hospitals here are begging people to take this seriously, they're getting full again.

 

[aftermidnight]

It'just hit our hospital here, only one ward so far, four cases have tested positive. I was in day care last Sunday for treatment which is next door to the unit in question, fingers crossed. it's been detected in a couple of schools too, time to shut things down again. Please take care of yourselves you guys.
Annette

 

[baymule]

if you don't do much "out and about" stuff between now and then perhaps it will calm down some - at least i sure hope it does... i'm really fine not seeing anyone for the next six months.

Everyone doesn’t want to be cut off from humanity. Especially for the next 6 months! Jobs, friends, family, children, school, in short-life. Staying closed away like the family dark secret lunatic just doesn’t appeal to a lot of people. Therein lies the rub. Socialize and risk illness or isolate and go off the deep end.

 

[flowerbug]

this virus could be severely knocked back within three weeks to a month if everyone took it seriously. the problem all along has been those who don't.

 

[Zeedman]

the hospitals here are begging people to take this seriously, they're getting full again.

Same here. My county has 300+ new cases in the last 24 hours, and the hospital Intensive Care units are at 80-90% capacity in my area. I would be tempted to ascribe the high numbers of new cases to increased testing, but the steadily rising numbers of hospitalizations & deaths say otherwise.

this virus could be severely knocked back within three weeks to a month if everyone took it seriously. the problem all along has been those who don't.

There may be more to this than just those who resist preventative measures.

Masks are IMO not as effective in preventing spread as the authorities would have us believe. This was even admitted during the beginning of the outbreak, when it was pointed out that only N-95 masks would protect the wearer (they became unavailable to the public shortly after that admission). So if procedure masks don't protect the wearer, it is reasonable to assume that they may not adequately prevent exhalation of particles by infected people either. There has been very little science to support their effectiveness.

And as I have mentioned before, the 6-foot personal separation that has become the accepted standard may be built upon a false premise, that coughed, sneezed, or exhaled droplets will settle to the ground within that distance. In cold weather, with forced air heating, they will travel farther - perhaps much farther. One infected person in the wrong place could conceivably infect an entire room, which may explain some of the "super spreader" events. There have been recent studies which showed that dry air quickly reduces the weight of small droplets, allowing them to travel greater distances... and presumably those smaller droplets could more easily penetrate cloth or procedure masks. It calls into question whether the mask mandates are an effective approach, and whether no-maskers are the only reason that Covid continues to spread.

I agree that those who refuse to follow recommendations certainly contribute to the spread, and it still angers me to see someone strutting into the store or gas station without a mask. But it may also be that the public health approach has been inadequate, perhaps even erroneous. NO ONE is getting a handle on this outbreak. Medications & vaccines take awhile to develop and distribute, I get that. But I still don't understand why there was not greater emphasis early on to increase domestic production of N-95 masks, to offer protection in the interim. First Responders were rightly given priority for those masks; but given that this is an emergency worth scuttling our entire economy, wouldn't it have made sense to mobilize production of N-95 masks on a war-like level? Why on earth, this far into the outbreak, are we still buying masks from China???

My son & his wife have recovered from Covid, but now one of my granddaughters has it. She has been cautious, but after she wrecked her car on an icy road a couple weeks ago, she was reliant on others for transportation. That appears to be how she was exposed.

 

[flowerbug]

Same here. My county has 300+ new cases in the last 24 hours, and the hospital Intensive Care units are at 80-90% capacity in my area. I would be tempted to ascribe the high numbers of new cases to increased testing, but the steadily rising numbers of hospitalizations & deaths say otherwise.

There may be more to this than just those who resist preventative measures.
...

there has been a lot of recent information showing that masks are effective and better than nothing but they are not 100% effective so of course there are other factors in play.

the most spread i'm hearing of lately is coming from those who are asymptomatic, they don't know they have it until they've already infected others. temperature checks (which are being used at a lot of places to try to screen for people who are sick) do not catch everyone who is sick and shedding the virus so once one person gets past the check then they can infect others and this virus is very easily infectious.

if the rate of testing influenced new cases then you would see a decrease in the number of infections found as the rate of testing goes up. that is not what has been happening recently. our local counties have been testing and finding an infection rate of 15% or more recently. not long ago that was 3% or less.

right now we need people to calm down on some activities and to be more careful than what they've been. group gatherings are likely to be restricted again soon.

wearing a mask does help, there's plenty proof enough on that count. change a few behaviors that are not that taxing and that's simple and effective until we get a vaccine available to front line workers and the most vulnerable. once we have that then i'd say by next fall we'll be through the worst of this as more and more people get vaccinated and the chains of transmission can be broken/intereferred with as the vaccine will block more infections.

however, the next month is going to suck and we're going to lose thousands of more people to this disease (and now as hospitals get overwhelmed more people will die of things they needed treatment for but could not get it).

already the toll in terms of measles in the world has gone up because vaccinations aren't being done. i'm quite sure that's not the only one.

i know what i'm doing and recommending to others, hunker down for a few weeks, if you want to gather for TG, get everyone who will be at that gathering to restrict their contacts with others as much as possible before TG.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Governor went back to phase 2 here, modified, which I have not a clue what he said. Basically wear a mask. To me if it is spreading like they say, they hospitals over run, then why not shut down things for real for awhile, and then reopen, and if it is not bad enough to shut the schools and bars, then stop the nonstop fear stuff. I just hate FEAR and do nothing. DO SOMETHING. President talked of the vaccine. When that vaccine is given to the people, I will probably then hunker down for real and wait and see because I believe they will be spreading COVID all over and be contagious from the vaccine. I think the flu vaccine can do it. I have a friend who got hers and live in a small town and never goes anywhere, and her husband does not believe in the shot, so did not get it and is retired, stays home, and he gets the flu. I think she she enough live virus around the house he got it. It's what I believe and they can have their COVID vaccine.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Coming to correct my little speech. My friend's husband's first COVID test was negative. The more accurate test is positive. He had a fever but not now, feels like crap she said. These people are in their 70s. The man has diabetes and maybe some mild heart disease. So they are quarantined at home now.

 

[flowerbug]

Governor went back to phase 2 here, modified, which I have not a clue what he said. Basically wear a mask. To me if it is spreading like they say, they hospitals over run, then why not shut down things for real for awhile, and then reopen, and if it is not bad enough to shut the schools and bars, then stop the nonstop fear stuff. I just hate FEAR and do nothing. DO SOMETHING. President talked of the vaccine. When that vaccine is given to the people, I will probably then hunker down for real and wait and see because I believe they will be spreading COVID all over and be contagious from the vaccine. I think the flu vaccine can do it. I have a friend who got hers and live in a small town and never goes anywhere, and her husband does not believe in the shot, so did not get it and is retired, stays home, and he gets the flu. I think she she enough live virus around the house he got it. It's what I believe and they can have their COVID vaccine.

a vaccine does not normally cause an actual infection with the disease. the flu vaccine does not have anything to do with a COVID vaccine other than you really don't want both diseases at the same time and it will prevent more people going to the hospital this flu season.

people just don't understand how easily these things can be transmitted. i think the flu is more easily transmitted on surfaces so something she handled may have had it on there or some package from the store or a piece of mail or... COVID is not as easily transmitted via surfaces but that isn't to say it won't happen. best defenses are still washing hands and wearing masks. some people claim vitamin D and zinc help but i don't know for sure on that, but besides even if i were taking supplements or getting enough sun to make my own vitamin D i would still be wearing a mask and washing my hands.

any time we have anything coming home after we're done unpacking the bags we wash our hands. any time i come home from being out i wash my hands. we wash our masks every time they're used (we keep a pile of them in the car so we can use a fresh one at each new place we go to).

now with so many more people being infected i'm not going out any more until TG. i would like to see my brother and his family and have a nice day together. we'll see if they can stay out of trouble. going to be difficult i think...

as for why to not shut down completely, it's all about pressure from businesses and the people who need to make $ to stay in business. we're not set up to get help to everyone that needs it. our society doesn't work that ways.

 

[baymule]

People cannot just stop. Businesses just cannot just shut down, they may never reopen. Their lives get ruined and they lose what they have worked for. The best/worst thing to be is an essential worker. At least there is a paycheck coming in. We are fortunate in being retired, not everyone has that luxury. Our friend with kidney disease that was in the hospital with Covid, is home now. She is a manager at a restaurant and cannot just stop working and stay home. She is on the front line of exposure, it sucks, but she has bills to pay just like everyone else.