COVID-19

[Spekkio]

New Zealand did a lot of things right. I didn't say it was masks only.

Taiwan is an excellent case...

You're declaring victory after the first quarter of the game.

Also, consider that much of Taiwan's mitigation response taken to isolate its population would significantly erode civil liberties and may even be considered unconstitutional. Imagine the outcry if anyone flying into the US between Jan and March had to have mandatory test that was logged in a federal database for contact tracing and be isolated in quarantine by the FBI for 2-5 days until the results came back. There's a reason that response is being handled by state and local governments with advice of the CDC and not through federal statute, and that reason is that Articles 1 and 2 don't allow the federal government to do these things.

This is aside from logistical challenges of having a country 200x larger in land mass and an economy 35x larger that functions on a global scale, let alone any differences in natural immunity that arise due to genetic differences.

It goes way beyond masks. Correlation =/= causation.

 

[johnboyA6E]

A town where everyone is named Cleetus, most likely.

or Atlanta......

Deceased cat gets voter registration application in the mail

Deceased cat received a voter registration application in the mail, according to its former owners.

www.fox5atlanta.com

 

[HAL Pilot]

lso, consider that much of Taiwan's mitigation response taken to isolate its population would significantly erode civil liberties and may even be considered unconstitutional.

Like Hawaii's response?

2 week quarantine curtailing interstate travel and commerce?

 

[wink]

When you compare different countries numbers and procedures you have to overlook alot to call it apples and apples. Cultural and legal differences are huge. It has been mentioned here but too many brush it aside. If our culture and laws dont permit what appears successful elsewhere, it means nothing to us. Beyond that, they are using tests in Asian that give results in minutes, not days. Why not here? FDA approval? Waivers have been issued for covid related regulations. 400 cases in Taiwan? How do they count. We all know that most counties and federal direction says it is covid if in doubt. And no distinction between dying with and dying because of. Another country's protocols for counting may simply result in lower numbers naturally. Other countries may simply not have a regiment to count very well in the first place.

 

[SlickAg]

New Zealand did a lot of things right. I didn't say it was masks only.

Taiwan is an excellent case.

Masks and medical care: Two keys to Taiwan's success in preventing COVID-19 spread

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Despite being close to China, Taiwan has stopped the COVID-19 with general screening strategy and encouraging people in Taiwan to wear a mask. Taiwan reported the first COVID-19 case on January 21, 2020. About 850,000 and 400,000 of Taiwan's 23 million citizens live and work in mainland China, respectively. There were 2.71 million visitors from Mainland China in Taiwan in 2019 [1]. The narrowest point between Taiwan and mainland China is just 130 km. Taiwan is one of the areas with the highest risk of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it did not happen. Taiwan has recorded just 443 cases and 7 deaths on June 04, 2020...

On the basis of Taiwan's invaluable experience in the prevention and control of epidemics: 1. We encourage the public to wear face masks during the epidemic while keeping the price of face masks low by controlling the manufacture and sale of face masks; 2. We ensure public access to affordable comprehensive screening tests and medical care for COVID-19. We believe that these two approaches are among the main factors contributing to the success of Taiwan in limiting the spread of COVID-19. Taiwan's experience may help European countries and the United States to contain the COVID-19 epidemic.

We are failing on both of these elements. It used to take 48 hours to get a test back here, now it is taking well over a week, pushing it into the realm of the useless. The supply chain is getting crushed by the new outbreak.

Wear a mask, maintain social distance, and wash your hands, and we get R0 <1. It is not that hard.

Over 700,000 people are getting tested per day. In March it was 100-200,000 per day. Of course it’s going to take longer to get results. What did you expect?

If you don’t have symptoms, I can understand the warm and fuzzy of knowing, but over 600,000 people are getting negative test results. Because they’re getting tested for some reason. The whole reason we’re wearing masks is to be protect others in case we’re an asymptomatic carrier, right? So should we go back to getting a test only if you have symptoms? That would speed up the results I think, to reduce the tests by 1/7th.

Speaking of clerical errors...

Wonder how long until the media retracts the stories about Florida’s positive test rate recently.

FOX 35 INVESTIGATES: Florida Department of Health says some labs have not reported negative COVID-19 results | FOX 35 Orlando

The Florida Department of Health released its daily coronavirus testing report showing a statewide positivity rate of 11 percent, but FOX 35 News investigated and quickly noticed some shocking positivity rates.

www.fox35orlando.com

 

[taxi1]

Over 700,000 people are getting tested per day. In March it was 100-200,000 per day. Of course it’s going to take longer to get results. What did you expect?

Of course it should take less time to get results, since we've had 4 months to get our act together.

700,000/day is too few. We are having positivity rates across the country (not just FL) that far exceed the recommended 3-5% that tell you that you are testing enough. In AZ it is over 25%! Holy shit!

I expect results back in a day at the maximum. We've had 4 months to spin up our capability.

I've got techs and engineers working for me that are now working with Hershey hospital and taking on a task for the state of PA to help facilities become safe. Negative pressure rooms, workflows, cleaning regimens, etc. Before we start we have to show we have 90 days PPE supply on hand. We have 30. In the Pittsburgh region the hospital taking on the task has a ZERO day supply on hand, due to the ongoing surge. It comes in the door, it gets used immediately. Any excess is heading to points South and West. Failure.

It is a complete, utter, total failure of leadership that the richest, most powerful country on the planet ever couldn't have gotten its shit together regarding testing and PPE in the 4 months since this thing started. It boggles my mind.

 

[SlickAg]

Of course it should take less time to get results, since we've had 4 months to get our act together.

700,000/day is too few. We are having positivity rates across the country (not just FL) that far exceed the recommended 3-5% that tell you that you are testing enough. In AZ it is over 25%! Holy shit!

I expect results back in a day at the maximum. We've had 4 months to spin up our capability.

I've got techs and engineers working for me that are now working with Hershey hospital and taking on a task for the state of PA to help facilities become safe. Negative pressure rooms, workflows, cleaning regimens, etc. Before we start we have to show we have 90 days PPE supply on hand. We have 30. In the Pittsburgh region the hospital taking on the task has a ZERO day supply on hand, due to the ongoing surge. It comes in the door, it gets used immediately. Any excess is heading to points South and West. Failure.

It is a complete, utter, total failure of leadership that the richest, most powerful country on the planet ever couldn't have gotten its shit together regarding testing and PPE in the 4 months since this thing started. It boggles my mind.

So you’re saying Tom Wolf hasn’t been doing a very good job of managing his state’s response?

Also, what exact benefit does it have for an asymptomatic person to get a test? Other than for data and research purposes of course. Anyone going into public has a mask and is social distancing. Those methods are so effective that no one who has covid will be spreading it, right?

 

[velociboilerraptor]

Its the time it takes for the tests to come back that worries me. My university has mandated that all students get tested between August 1st and the first day of classes. In some cases its taking up to 2 weeks for results to come back where I live. It would also suck if I got hit with a false positive after that two weeks, because I would be somewhere in the boonies rolling to college in a car...

 

[taxi1]

So you’re saying Tom Wolf hasn’t been doing a very good job of managing his state’s response?

Also, what exact benefit does it have for an asymptomatic person to get a test? Other than for data and research purposes of course. Anyone going into public has a mask and is social distancing. Those methods are so effective that no one who has covid will be spreading it, right?

The country’s supply chain is insufficient. We had plenty of PPE until the outbreaks in TX, FL, CA etc. caused on run on it again.

States can’t run a deficit to acquire this stuff either, like the federal government can.

We don’t know if someone is asymptomatic but contagious if we don’t test. We don’t know the prevalence of it without testing. We can’t catch it early. And waiting a week or two for results is a joke. We are flying blind.

Too many people aren’t wearing masks and distancing unfortunately. But when they do, they lower R0 < 1, not make it go to zero.

Where goes the pandemic, goes the economy. This new surge is going to stall the recovery big time.

I did see the article on T-cell cold immunity potentially carrying over. Cool if it is true.

 

[taxi1]

Here’s the CDC director on masks. He’s no Chuck Woolery, mind you, but still...

The United States could get the spread of the novel coronavirus “under control” within a matter of weeks if everyone wore face coverings, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said Tuesday.

He said masks — which can act as a barrier for respiratory droplets that can be propelled into the air an infected person coughs, shouts or sneezes — are among the most effective measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Redfield said he was “saddened” that the wearing of masks has become politicized.
“I think if we could get everybody to wear a mask right now, I think in four, six, eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control,” Redfield said.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

The country’s supply chain is insufficient. We had plenty of PPE until the outbreaks in TX, FL, CA etc. caused on run on it again.

States can’t run a deficit to acquire this stuff either, like the federal government can.

We don’t know if someone is asymptomatic but contagious if we don’t test. We don’t know the prevalence of it without testing. We can’t catch it early. And waiting a week or two for results is a joke. We are flying blind.

Too many people aren’t wearing masks and distancing unfortunately. But when they do, they lower R0 < 1, not make it go to zero.

Where goes the pandemic, goes the economy. This new surge is going to stall the recovery big time.

I did see the article on T-cell cold immunity potentially carrying over. Cool if it is true.

The resurgence was likely inevitable. We’ve heard your hindsight. You would have done it better. Neat.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

Here’s the CDC director on masks. He’s no Chuck Woolery, mind you, but still...

The United States could get the spread of the novel coronavirus “under control” within a matter of weeks if everyone wore face coverings, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said Tuesday.

He said masks — which can act as a barrier for respiratory droplets that can be propelled into the air an infected person coughs, shouts or sneezes — are among the most effective measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Redfield said he was “saddened” that the wearing of masks has become politicized.
“I think if we could get everybody to wear a mask right now, I think in four, six, eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control,” Redfield said.

What planet are you on? Everyone is wearing masks. It’s still spreading. Sweden didn’t wear masks and they are pretty much done just like countries that locked down and got hit a lot harder.

 

[Spekkio]

The resurgence was likely inevitable. We’ve heard your hindsight. You would have done it better. Neat.

This.

The small pox vaccine was invented in 1796. The disease was finally eradicated in 1980, almost 200 years later. They didn't stop vaccinating against it until significantly after that.

The idea that we'll all just stay home for a few months and COVID-19 goes away is wishful thinking.

 

[taxi1]

What planet are you on? Everyone is wearing masks

Not yet. Trending the right direction, though.

More people — and a lot more Republicans — say they're wearing masks

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they wear a mask "all the time."

www.axios.com

 

[Hair Warrior]

The country’s supply chain is insufficient.

Concur. Also, the fact that you can’t buy a phone or webcam not made in China is a huge national security problem. I'm all for free trade - unless the trade undermines the freedom.

The United States should aim to be self-sufficient in the following 6 resource areas by 2030:

1. hydrocarbons/energy (already there, but need to keep a focus on it)
2. food (been there for about a century so far)
3. freshwater (already there, but need to keep a focus on it)
4. rare earth elements (near impossible, but one can dream)
5. microelectronics (totally achievable, we just need to train Americans to do the work, and convince new HS grads that it's a financially and emotionally rewarding industry to work in)
6. data (not really a resource, and not a problem today, but would be a requirement for the next war)