Coronavirus Updates

[Free]

Israel health minister, who claims coronavirus is ‘divine punishment’ for homosexuality, tests positive for COVID-19

While hoping he recovers...

 

[Free]

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Shkreli’s plea from prison: Free me and I’ll cure COVID-19

He just needs a 3-month hiatus to get this pesky pandemic taken care of.

arstechnica.com

 

[Free]

Acting secretary of the Navy resigns after calling ousted aircraft carrier captain 'stupid'

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned on Tuesday, a day after leaked audio revealed he called the ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt "stupid" in an address to the ship's crew.

edition.cnn.com

 

[Kara Spengler]

Acting secretary of the Navy resigns after calling ousted aircraft carrier captain 'stupid'

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned on Tuesday, a day after leaked audio revealed he called the ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt "stupid" in an address to the ship's crew.

edition.cnn.com

Yay! It was pretty obvious who had lost faith and confidence and who had put his job on the line to protect those under his command. While sailors have some strong language you never hear one in uniform say fu to a superior ... before this incident.

 

[Fionalein]

Yay! It was pretty obvious who had lost faith and confidence and who had put his job on the line to protect those under his command. While sailors have some strong language you never hear one in uniform say fu to a superior ... before this incident.

Modly should be glad, 100 years back a fellow officer would have handed him a gun with a single shot and then silently left his room....

 

[Anya Ristow]

Unless I'm mistaken -- and I'm not now nor have I ever been a virologist -- the present COVID-19 test detects the virus, rather than testing for antibodies.

I hope someone's working on one that detects the antibodies -- then we could start working out who's immune, what percentage of the population is immune, how long immunity lasts, and all that useful stuff.

If this thing stays asymptomatic in a lot of people, we may have a higher percentage of immunes than one would assume from the case numbers.

Yes, an antibodies test is coming, possibly available in May by the tens of millions, and it is being discussed as a way to identify people who are safe to go back to work.

Could a simple blood test for COVID-19 antibodies help reopen the economy?

Public health officials are hoping tens of millions of Americans will have access to a simple blood test that can identify recovered patients who’ve built up immunity.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Modly should be glad, 100 years back a fellow officer would have handed him a gun with a single shot and then silently left his room....

Yup. This hits home for me, because, while my dad was Army, at least one of his two half brothers was Navy, my mom's dad was Navy... and I live in a Navy town. So, for this sort of shit? I think that their Captain needs to be promoted, not relieved of command.

 

[Anya Ristow]

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Overview

COVID-19 is a new type of coronavirus that causes mild to severe cases. Here’s a quick guide on how to spot symptoms, risk factors, prevent spread of the disease, and find out what to do if you think you have it.

www.webmd.com

Some are thinking Covid-19 is acting more like high altitude sickness than pneumonia. That might mean ventilation is counterproductive in the majority of patients, and what they really need is oxygen.

 

[Sid]

They start with oxygen in the hospitals over here. Only if that isn't enough and there is nothing much to choose anymore, than it will be the ventilator.
Ventilator use messes up a lot in the lungs, the longer used, the more damage. So a ventilator is certainly not the first treatment choice.

 

[Anya Ristow]

They start with oxygen in the hospitals over here. Only if that isn't enough and there is nothing much to choose anymore, than it will be the ventilator.
Ventilator use messes up a lot in the lungs, the longer used, the more damage. So a ventilator is certainly not the first treatment choice.

I can't say that isn't true in the USA because I don't know, but from reading about this it seems "patient can't breathe" and "patient isn't getting enough oxygen" are two separate conditions, three different states, with oxygen alone being by far the least severe treatment. The implication of Covid-19 not benefiting from respiration in (sounds like) most cases is that ICU usage would go down, and there wouldn't be such a need for respirators, and most importantly, survival rates should go up.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Modly should be glad, 100 years back a fellow officer would have handed him a gun with a single shot and then silently left his room....

Yes, asked my dad if he had seen the captain leaving the ship. He is ex coast guard so knew exactly what was going on.

 

[Casey Pelous]

I can't say that isn't true in the USA because I don't know, but from reading about this it seems "patient can't breathe" and "patient isn't getting enough oxygen" are two separate conditions, three different states, with oxygen alone being by far the least severe treatment. The implication of Covid-19 not benefiting from respiration in (sounds like) most cases is that ICU usage would go down, and there wouldn't be such a need for respirators, and most importantly, survival rates should go up.

I guarantee O2 is the first line of treatment around the world. Relative to a ventilator it is a) cheap and fairly harmless in the short term, b) readily available in every hospital room and every bay of the ER, and c) can be administered by as lowly a creature as an EMT. (I was one, and I've hung a lot of 02 on a lot of patients.) However, if the patient can't move sufficient air in and out of their lungs, even with what's called a "rebreather" mask on, which delivers the highest concentration of 02, that's when a ventilator is necessary, and the air it is pumping will have O2 added to it.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Yup. This hits home for me, because, while my dad was Army, at least one of his two half brothers was Navy, my mom's dad was Navy... and I live in a Navy town. So, for this sort of shit? I think that their Captain needs to be promoted, not relieved of command.

Right, the trumpites do not seem to understand that a prime responsibility of an officer is to protect those under their command. Nor could they as they all got out with splinters and such.

I was never in the military myself but have members of my extended family in almost all branches.

 

[Sovereignty]

Here is data about MSNBC, CNN, AND FOX watchers, and the information they presumably gleaned from watching their news source of choice.

It is peculiar that of the three you choose to be critical of MSNBC rather than the other two, who seem to be doing on the whole either a crap or very crap job of it. MSNBC, which I follow very closely, followed the story early and in enough detail so that I was isolating by mid Feb.

. Cable TV and Coronavirus: How Americans perceive the outbreak and view media coverage differ by main news source

I only follow CNN and MSNBC of the big medias but only online, no cable. CNN had a continuing feature for Coronavirus updates. I didn't see that on MSNBC. I only saw political stuff up until the last big primary day that confirmed Biden was in the driver's seat. The next day the NBA and NCAA cancelled their seasons. Coverage on MSNBC changed drastically. Couldn't ignore it any longer.

I also followed John Campbell and MedCram. I was preparing to self-isolate in early February. It was obvious we could have cities like Wuhan, but I didn't see that possibility mentioned on either CNN or MSNBC.

 

[danielravennest]

Their coverage until then was all about the election which at that time was at least no more important than the pandemic. I was quite frustrated seeing what to me was an abdication of responsibility.

MSNBC is owned by Comcast, whose responsibility is to their shareholders, like it or not. They will air the stories they think will attract the most viewers, and thus the most advertising dollars. In the days of broadcast TV with a limited number of channels, the FCC required some measure of responsibility in the public interest as a condition of using the public airwaves. That's not required of cable channels, so they are free to pursue profit, or in the case of Fox, a political point of view.

I no longer own a TV, and get my news from a curated set of websites so as to get a balanced feed. If you have a better idea, let me know.

 

[danielravennest]

I wonder what the first reaction was in Finland when they announced social distancing. Tell the typical Finn they have to be 2 metres apart and the response might be "do I have to get that close".

And yet Finland has 2,500 cases, so there must be other methods of infection besides close human contact.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

And yet Finland has 2,500 cases, so there must be other methods of infection besides close human contact.

That's the exact point I tried to make to my spouse because I know that Finland is a very social distance country.... because he thought it'd be enough.

 

[Fionalein]

And yet Finland has 2,500 cases, so there must be other methods of infection besides close human contact.

Just because they live further apart in general does not exclude contacts at work or while trading... there is also an urban subpopulation... Unless we know where those 2500 cases are located and how they are clustered I would refrain from conclusions...

 

[Stora]

'My 98-year-old mum recovered from coronavirus'

When 98-year-old Daphne Shah was rushed to hospital with coronavirus, her son feared the worst - but now she is back home and on the mend.

"When she left in the ambulance, I honestly never thought I'd see her again", Wesley Shah said.

Mrs Shah tested positive for Covid-19 in Dundee's Ninewells Hospital and spent five days there before being discharged with medication on Monday.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told her daily media briefing that Mrs Shah's case was "an inspiring and very welcome good news story".

Mrs Shah's son Wesley, from St Madoes in Perth and Kinross, said he wants to "tell the world" that the very elderly can recover from Covid-19.

'My 98-year-old mum recovered from coronavirus'

 

[Sovereignty]

That's the exact point I tried to make to my spouse because I know that Finland is a very social distance country.... because he thought it'd be enough.

You can get a virus and practice social distancing. I know from personal experience. Don't know what kind though I have my guesses.