This governor doesn't seem to mind that people are losing their livelihood. While larger NC cities are strongly democrat, people in smaller places are hurting, too. The election for governor is Nov. He may want to give another "think" about things. Small town people tend to think things out a bit and perhaps they are seeing what is happening. He just may find himself unemployed! There is never any empathy evident either. It's always for the "safety of North Carolinians." Safety my left elbow...
CORONA Main Coronavirus thread
- Thread starter Heliobas Disciple
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So, based on this info, what good would a vaccine do if antibodies are not being formed or at least are not remaining.
The vaccine would still work for however many months it lasts. Studies show some people with mild symptoms MAY not be infected long enough for their immune system to ramp up and make antibodies. A vaccine would cause those people to make antibodies.
Trivium Pursuit
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Would be fascinating to know if nattokinase suppresses alpha defensein
Hadassah doctors crack the cause of fatal corona blood clots
Hadassah researchers discovered that patients who form fatal blood clots have an increased level of alpha defensin protein in their blood.www.jpost.com
Jerusalem PostHealth & Science
Hadassah doctors crack the cause of fatal corona blood clots
Hadassah researchers discovered that patients who form fatal blood clots have an increased level of alpha defensin protein in their blood.
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
JUNE 16, 2020 18:31
Red blood cells (illustrative)
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A research team at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem has discovered what they believe causes coronavirus patients to become seriously ill and even die. They also say they have a way to treat the cause before it’s too late.
At least 30% of patients with coronavirus develop blood clots that block the flow of blood to their kidneys, heart and brain, as well as the lungs, according to international research.
Hadassah researchers discovered that the patients who form these fatal clots have an increased level of alpha defensin protein in their blood, explained Dr. Abd Alrauf Higavi, who directs a lab at Hadassah and has been studying blood clots for 30 years.
“Patients with mild symptoms have a low concentration of alpha defensin,” he said. “Patients with strong disease symptoms have high levels. The people who die have very high levels.”
The Hadassah team studied more than 700 blood samples from 80 patients who were admitted to the medical center during the first peak of the coronavirus outbreak in Israel. The results show that alpha defensin speeds up blood clot formation, which can cause pulmonary embolism, heart attacks and stroke. In addition, when blood clots form in the alveoli, whose function it is to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules to and from the bloodstream, this can lead to respiratory distress and eventually intubation.
Multiple studies have shown that around 80% of coronavirus patients who are intubated have died.
Higavi said his team are en route to a solution: administering the drug colchicine to coronavirus patients.
Colchicine is an approved drug used in the prevention and treatment of gout attacks, caused by too much uric acid in the blood.
Higavi said they have completed testing colchicine on mice and found that it successfully inhibited the release of alpha defensin. Now, they are waiting for the necessary approvals to test it on human coronavirus patients.
The researcher said that clinical trials would look at use of the drug both for severe cases and administering it to patients with mild or moderate symptoms to see if it will help decrease the chances of their developing a severe case of the disease.
“The drugs available today in the blood-thinning market do not fully address this clotting, since its mechanism differs from the mechanisms for which these drugs currently exist,” Higavi said. “Resources should be diverted to finding a suitable drug for coronavirus patients.”
Blacknarwhal
Let's Go Brandon!
After all this, I have discovered I have one deep and abiding wish: TO SLAP EVERY DOCTOR WHO SAYS THEY'RE "WORRIED". I'M TIRED OF YOUR WHINING, PULING NONSENSE. GET OUT OF THE WAY.
We'll call you when we're SICK.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
11:54 min
Will There Be an NFL Season? (Doctor's Prediction)
•Jun 23, 2020
Doctor Mike Hansen
Will there be an NFL Season? If the NFL said to me, we are having the season, now tell us what we need to do to curb the virus, this is what I would do:
1) No fans in attendance – which that in itself is sad, because no fans in the stands would just suck the life out of the game
2) Cut pre-season, by at least 2 games
3) Player testing everyday – more on this in a little bit, because testing is a whole nother issue
4) Symptom screening – this includes temp checks twice a day, even though a high percentage of infections are asymptomatic
5) If someone tests positive, that means they cant play for at least 2 weeks, and must test negative and have no symptoms before returning
6) Which brings up another issue, you’re going to have to expand your roster because of absentees due to players who have the virus. More people on the team, more spread
7) No Thursday games, because logistics are already hard enough as it is 8) Masks for everyone not wearing a helmet, including when players take off their helmet on the sidelines, and in locker room 9) Social distancing (except practice/games)
10) Modified face masks, helmets with shields for everyone
11) Screen for vitamin D deficiency (need at least 20 ng/ml, ideally 30 ng/dl)
12) Accept the risk that NFL players, and staff, could die as a result of the virus. Which I wonder if NFL players/staff will be forced to sign a waiver form so the NFL won’t be liable? Of course, even if this plan was executed perfectly, it will not 100% prevent spread of the virus. Some players, coaches, and staff will inevitably get it, and most likely, someone will be hospitalized and/or die as a result. And how many hospitalizations will it take before the NFL says, we need to cancel the season?
marsh
On TB every waking moment
49:53 min
A New, More Serious Covid-19 Mutation To Worry About (D614G)
•Premiered 6 hours ago
Peak Prosperity
Continuing it's Keystone Kops manner of dealing with covid-19, the US appears to be caught flat-footed by the resurgence of infections happening across many southern and western states right now. Yes, people are tired of being cooped indoors and wearing masks. Summer is here and they want to get outside, spend time with loved ones, and get back some normalcy of life. But the Honey Badger virus 'don't care'.
Covid-19 sees our loosening restrictions as a welcome invitation and is borrowing in with enthusiasm. Making matters worse for us human hosts, a new strain of the virus -- the D614G mutation -- has been identified. It appears to be more contagious and serious than most previous strains.
So, for those who do not want to catch covid-19, now is not the time to start letting down your guard. We are not through the woods by a long shot yet.
LINKS FROM THIS VIDEO: D614G Mutation increases infectivity https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-even... Thailand Medical News – D614G could infect people exposed to earlier strains? https://www.thailandmedical.news/news... TX heading down dangerous path https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/... Slow/No recovery for Many https://www.timesofisrael.com/recover... Stanford’s Continuing Black eye https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.11... How’s Sweden Doing? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/wo... Houston Has a Problem https://www.click2houston.com/news/lo... Slip Sliding Away https://www.usnews.com/news/world/art... George Floyd Timeline https://www.nytimes.com/article/georg... Masks work! https://globalnews.ca/news/7075024/ma...
marsh
On TB every waking moment
27:45 min
China air force enters Taiwan airspace; US blocks pro-Beijing media; China virus cases 37x higher?
•Premiered 4 hours ago
China in Focus - NTD
The Chinese air force repeatedly encroaches on Taiwan. Taiwanese jets warn off Chinese jets that approached the island for the eighth time in two weeks.
Chinese netizens suspect China’s largest dam has discharged floodwaters without alerting areas downstream. This, as heavy rains trigger surging floods upstream.
In China, every aspect of one's life is monitored and controlled. So what's life like under a communist regime? One Beijing resident tells us more.
A new report sheds light on virus transmission. It found that the number of virus cases in China could be 37 times higher than the figures reported in January.
And the Trump administration gives 48 hours for a Beijing-linked radio station to stop broadcasting to the US through a Mexican station.
Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
Agree. The vaccine looks to be all about money. It's not going to work, and they probably know that. But they get all kinds of money to look for one so they keep looking. Vaccines will not be the answer to COVID, they're going to have to think outside the box. It's the 21st century, vaccines were first used in the late 18th century (1796 for smallpox). If they can modernize all other aspects of society and industry, it's time to modernize medicine as well.
HD
Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
I don't recall much discussion about Covid cases in Chicago. This article talks about a strain that seems to be unique to that area. See the bolded part about virus in the airways. If less is found in the airways, does that make it less transmissible? I posted the Chicago dashboard below this article; maybe we can find others to compare numbers with.
Chicago coronavirus: Northwestern Medicine study finds COVID-19 virus strain unique to city
By Cate Cauguiran
Thursday, June 18, 2020 11:48PM
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Researchers at Northwestern University have genetically sequenced the COVID-19 virus in 88 patients and found many infected in the city have a unique strain of the virus rarely seen around the world.
Early results from a Northwestern Medicine study suggest Chicago has a unique strain of COVID-19 in addition to other strains, including one globally impacting people and centered in New York.
"It's interesting to us that there were so many different types of viruses here in one place so early on in the pandemic," said Dr. Egon Ozer, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
The Chicago COVID-19 variant appears to be directly from the early outbreak in China, experts said. The early results are the first evidence this Chicago unique strain may have a different impact and transmission rate than the one impacting those around the world.
The study examined the genetic makeup of dozens of Northwestern COVID-19 patients in March and compared their genome sequencing with others around the country and world.
"It suggests that maybe this version of the virus is one that is centered around the Chicago area," Ozer said.
The samples taken from Chicago COVID-19 patients uncovered three different, major virus strains, including the predominant strain centered in New York that is impacting people globally. But the strain found more abundantly in city patients was rare, unique to Chicago.
Dr. Ozer, who is the lead investigator on the study, said they found differences between those impacted by the New York-centered strain versus the Chicago one. "They had more virus in their airways, compared to patients on average that had the more Chicago-centered virus," he said.
"It also just gives us the ability to sort of compare these different kinds of viruses to each other in terms of how significant a disease they cause," Ozer added. "Is there any difference there? Are there any differences in the kinds of patients that get infections with different kinds of viruses?"
All of Illinois is positioned to transition to Phase 4 of reopening next week, which would allow for limited indoor dining and gatherings of up to 50 people.
But in 20 other states across the nation cases are spiking, and hospitalizations are increasing in at least 18 states. Oklahoma reported record high cases Thursday, just days ahead of a Trump rally in Tulsa.
The study still needs to be peer-reviewed and researchers stressed these results are still preliminary. More studies on virus strain mutation need to be conducted, they said but they hope those studies may lead to an effective vaccine.
Chicago coronavirus: Northwestern Medicine study finds COVID-19 virus strain unique to city
Researchers at Northwestern University have genetically sequenced the COVID-19 virus in 88 patients and found many infected in the city have a unique strain of the virus rarely seen around the world.abc7chicago.com
*****************************
Chicago dashboard:
50,642 cases, 269,386 tested, 2523 deaths
Microsoft Power BI
app.powerbigov.us
Interesting. If this is going on all over the world (different mutations based on location) that's another strike against a workable vaccine, although if there is a common strain to all the mutations they could focus on that. But in general, I repeat, vaccines are not the way to go with this....
And as to it not being in the airways as much, you're right - it might not be as contagious from talking or even mild coughing - but it's obviously spreading so maybe it's spreading more through feces and urine, like norovirus, which is why masks are not enough, you need gloves when you go out too. imho.
HD
Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
E.U. May Bar American Travelers as It Reopens Borders, Citing Failures on Virus (Published 2020)
European Union officials are racing to agree on who can visit the bloc as of July 1 based on how countries of origin are faring with new coronavirus cases. Americans, so far, are excluded, according to draft lists seen by The New York Times.
E.U. May Bar American Travelers as It Reopens Borders, Citing Failures on Virus
European Union officials are racing to agree on who can visit the bloc as of July 1 based on how countries of origin are faring with new coronavirus cases. Americans, so far, are excluded, according to draft lists seen by The New York Times.
By Matina Stevis-Gridneff
Published June 23, 2020 | Updated June 24, 2020, 12:58 a.m. ET
BRUSSELS — European Union countries rushing to revive their economies and reopen their borders after months of coronavirus restrictions are prepared to block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the scourge, according to draft lists of acceptable travelers reviewed by The New York Times.
That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States, which has more than 2.3 million cases and upward of 120,000 deaths, more than any other country.
European nations are currently haggling over two potential lists of acceptable visitors based on how countries are faring with the coronavirus pandemic. Both lists include China, as well as developing nations like Uganda, Cuba and Vietnam. Both also exclude the United States and other countries that were deemed too risky because of the spread of the virus.
Travelers from the United States and the rest of the world already had been excluded from visiting the European Union — with few exceptions mostly for repatriations or “essential travel” — since mid-March. But a final decision on reopening the borders is expected early next week, before the bloc reopens on July 1.
A prohibition of Americans by Brussels partly reflects the shifting pattern of the pandemic. In March, when Europe was the epicenter, Mr. Trump infuriated European leaders when he banned citizens from most European Union countries from traveling to America. Mr. Trump justified the move as necessary to protect the United States, which at the time had roughly 1,100 coronavirus cases and 38 deaths.
In late May and early June, Mr. Trump said Europe was “making progress” and hinted that some restrictions would be lifted soon, but nothing has happened since then. Today, Europe has largely curbed the outbreak, even as the United States, the worst-afflicted, has seen more infection surges just in the past week.
Prohibiting American travelers from entering the European Union would have significant economic, cultural and geopolitical ramifications. Millions of American tourists visit Europe every summer. Business travel is common, given the huge economic ties between the United States and the E.U.
Despite the disruptions caused by such a ban, European officials involved in the talks said it was highly unlikely an exception would be made for the United States. They said that the criteria for creating the list of acceptable countries had been deliberately kept as scientific and nonpolitical as possible.
Including the United States now, the officials said, would represent a complete flouting of the bloc’s reasoning. But they said the United States could be added later to the list, which will be revised every two weeks based on updated infection rates.
It was unclear if American officials were aware in advance of the exclusion of the United States from the draft lists, which have not been made public.
The draft lists were shared with the Times by an official involved in the talks and confirmed by another official involved in the talks. Two additional European Union officials confirmed the content of the lists as well the details of the negotiations to shape and finalize them. All of the officials gave the information on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically delicate.
The forging of a common list of outsiders who can enter the bloc is part of an effort by the European Union to fully reopen internal borders among its 27 member states. Free travel and trade among members is a core principle of the bloc — one that has been badly disrupted during the pandemic.
Since the outbreak, the bloc has succumbed to piecemeal national policies that have resulted in an incoherent patchwork of open and closed borders.
Some internal borders have practically remained closed while others have opened. Some member states that desperately need tourists have rushed ahead to accept non-E.U. visitors and pledged to test them on arrival. Others have tried to create closed travel zones between certain countries, called “bubbles” or “corridors.”
Putting these safe lists together highlights the fraught, messy task of removing pandemic-related measures and unifying the bloc’s approach. But the imperatives of restoring the internal harmony of the E.U. and slowly opening up to the world are paramount, even if it threatens rifts with close allies including the United States, which appears bound to be excluded, at least initially.
President Trump, as well as his Russian and Brazilian counterparts, Vladimir V. Putin and Jair Bolsonaro, has followed what critics call a comparable path in their pandemic response that leaves all three countries in a similarly bad spot: they were dismissive at the outset of the crisis, slow to respond to scientific advice and saw a boom of domestic cases as other parts of the world, notably in Europe and Asia, were slowly managing to get their outbreaks under control.
Countries on the E.U. draft lists have been selected as safe based on a combination of epidemiological criteria. The benchmark is the E.U. average number of new infections — over the past 14 days — per 100,000 people, which is currently 16 for the bloc. The comparable number for the United States is 107, while Brazil’s is 190 and Russia’s is 80, according to a Times database.
Once diplomats agree on a final list, it will be presented as a recommendation early next week before July 1. The E.U. can’t force members to adopt it, but European officials warn that failure of any of the 27 members to stick to it could lead to the reintroduction of borders within the bloc.
The reason this exercise is additionally complex for Europe is that, if internal borders are open but member states don’t honor the same rules, visitors from nonapproved nations could land in one European country, and then jump onward to other E.U. nations undetected.
European officials said the list would be revised every two weeks to reflect new realities around the world as nations see the virus ebb and flow.
The process of agreeing on it has been challenging, with diplomats from all European member states hunkering down for multiple hourslong meetings for the past few weeks.
As of Tuesday, the officials and diplomats were poring over the two versions of the safe list under debate, and were scheduled to meet again on Wednesday to continue sparring over the details.
One list contains 47 countries and includes only those nations with an infection rate lower than the E.U. average. The other longer list has 54 countries and also includes those nations with slightly worse case rates than the E.U. average, going up to 20 new cases per 100,000 people.
The existing restrictions on nonessential travel to all 27 member states plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein were introduced on March 16 and extended twice until July 1, in a bid to contain the virus as the continent entered a three-month long confinement.
“Discussions are happening very intensively,” to reach consensus in time for July 1, said Adalbert Jahnz, a spokesman for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch. He called the process “frankly, a full-time job.”
The E.U. agency for infectious diseases, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, warned negotiators that the case numbers were so dependent on the level of truthfulness and testing in each country, that it was hard to vouch for them, officials taking part in the talks said.
China, for example, has been accused of withholding information and manipulating the numbers of infections released to the public. In parts of the developing world, case numbers are very low, but it’s hard to determine whether they paint an accurate picture given limited testing.
And in the United States, comments made by President Trump at a rally in Tulsa over the weekend highlighted how easy it is to manipulate a country’s case numbers, as he suggested that domestic testing was too broad.
“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Mr. Trump told supporters. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’ They test and they test.”
European embassies around the world could be enlisted to help verify or opine on the data provided that would inform the final list, negotiators said, another indication that the list could end up being quite short if European diplomats at embassies said reported numbers were unreliable.
Many European Union countries are desperate to reopen their borders to visitors from outside the region to salvage tourism and boost airlines’ revenue while keeping their own borders open to each other. Some have already started accepting visitors from outside the bloc.
At the other extreme, a few European nations including Denmark are not prepared to allow any external visitors from non-E.U. countries, and are likely to continue with this policy after July 1.
Germany, France and many other E.U. nations want non-European travelers to be allowed, but are also worried about individual countries tweaking the safe list or admitting travelers from excluded countries, officials said.
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Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
As Texas hits all-time high in new COVID-19 cases, Gov. Greg Abbott tightens outdoor gathering rules
AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott sternly warned Texans of “rampant” spread of coronavirus that took the state to a new high Tuesday of more than 5,000 new cases in a...
www.dallasnews.com
As Texas hits all-time high in new COVID-19 cases, Gov. Greg Abbott tightens outdoor gathering rules
Abbott also ordered emergency rules to increase health and safety at child care centers.
By Robert T. Garrett
3:38 PM on Jun 23, 2020 CDT — Updated at 5:38 PM on Jun 23, 2020 CDT
Updated at 5:38 p.m.: to include Abbott comment that while local officials may require masks at large outdoor gatherings, he’s not ordering it.
AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott sternly warned Texans of “rampant” spread of coronavirus that took the state to a new high Tuesday of more than 5,000 new cases in a single day.
Saying Texans should stay home unless they have a good reason to venture out, Abbott late Tuesday afternoon gave local officials more powers to limit public gatherings during the upcoming Fourth of July weekend.
He expanded the ability of mayors and county judges to restrict outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people -- down from the previous limit of more than 500 people in outdoor gatherings.
On KENS-TV in San Antonio late Tuesday, Abbott made it clear it will be up to cities and counties to decide whether face coverings will be required at mass gatherings.
“I did authorize local officials to have the authority to establish regulations in gatherings of 100 or more people,” he said. “This was intended to allow local authorities in particular to regulate gatherings for Fourth of July celebrations. We did not specify what restrictions or regulations they could impose. It’s possible they could require masks in such an environment. It’s going to be up to local officials in that regard.”
Abbott also told the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to enact emergency rules that provide strict health and safety standards and procedures related to COVID-19 for child care centers in Texas.
After about eight weeks of reopenings, the moves were a shift for Abbott, who’s also adopted a more urgent tone in his public pronouncements this week.
“These are just some of the steps Texas will take to contain the rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations,” Abbott said in a written statement. “I urge all Texans to do everything in their power to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus by wearing a face mask, washing their hands often and staying six feet apart from others.”
The decrees were based on data showing an increase in COVID-19 transmission stemming from large gatherings and expanded use of child care centers, the governor’s office said in a release.
Day cares, which Abbott freed up for children of nonessential workers on May 18, have been slammed, as The Dallas Morning News reported over the weekend.
As of Friday, 410 total cases of coronavirus — 267 staff members and 143 children — had been reported at 318 licensed child care operations across the state, according to the commission. That’s a sharp increase from the 339 cases the agency reported Thursday and the 210 it shared with KVUE-TV in Austin on June 15.
Late Tuesday, David Feigen, early childhood policy advocate for the group Texans Care for Children, welcomed Abbott’s directive for tighter standards. But he warned that to avoid “increasing costs to Texas families,” more state financial and other assistance may be required.
“As COVID cases in child care rise, we appreciate the governor’s attention to the health and safety of young kids and staff in child care centers,” Feigen said in a written statement.
“Depending on what these new rules require, Texas leaders will need to ensure that new standards are coupled with new supports. Quality providers will do their best to follow the rules and guidance from the state, but without sufficient resources and technical assistance, these costs will fall on cash-strapped families.”
Earlier Tuesday, Abbott foreshadowed his new actions on outdoor gatherings and day cares -- the record number of positive tests in the state.
“Statewide, there’s going to be an all-time record set today in the number of people testing positive of over 5,000,” he told KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi in a live appearance via satellite from Austin.
The previous high was 4,430 positive test results on Saturday. On Tuesday, Dallas County also reported a record daily high of 445 additional infections, and 7 deaths related to the virus. Statewide, hospitalizations have been breaking records every day for more than a week.
Abbott began two noon newscast interviews with very pointed references to the new daily record of more than 5,000 new, lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The actual number of new cases reported by the state later in the afternoon was 5,489, plus 4,092 hospitalizations -- the 12th straight day with a new record. The state reported 28 deaths Tuesday.
“There remain a lot of people in the state of Texas who think that the spread of COVID-19 is really not a challenge,” he told KBTX-TV in College Station. “The coronavirus is serious, is spreading in Brazos County, across the entire state of Texas.”
“Importantly, because the spread is so rampant right now, there’s never a reason for you to have to leave your home unless you do need to go out,” he said. “The safest place for you is your home.”
Abbott, who began reopening the state in late April, lately has pointed in dismay at anecdotal evidence of poor social distancing practices and lack of mask wearing by some Texans during the Memorial Day holiday and in the early part of this month. Large-scale protests of George Floyd’s killing also have been a cause of public-health concerns, he has said repeatedly.
On Monday, the Republican governor warned he could impose further restrictions if coronavirus cases continue to rise. He offered no specifics. Democrats pounced, accusing him of doing nothing and reiterating their charge he reopened businesses too soon, before testing and contact tracing were ramped up sufficiently.
On Tuesday, Abbott noted that in a June 3 executive order, he gave cities and counties authority to regulate any public gatherings in excess of 500 people. It applies to gatherings other than those that were specifically mentioned and regulated in his various edicts, which targeted such activities as religious services, youth camps, sporting events and amusement parks. At the time, Abbott noted that Fourth of July was coming. The holiday was on his mind again Tuesday.
“We’re looking at ways of addressing crowds that could be gathering for the Fourth of July,” he said on KRIS.
“We are reevaluating that right now,” he said of the June 3 order, “to make sure that local officials have even greater control, … to make sure that they will be able to establish standards that can prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Abbott continued, “We did see an increase after Memorial Day. We saw an increase in the early part of June. We need to make sure that we do have the flexibility to reduce crowds in ways that will reduce the spread of COVID-19.”
On KBTX, Abbott said he’s taking action to reduce infections, such as ordering a crackdown on bars by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and sending tests and other resources to coronavirus hot spots.
“So there are measures that are being taken to make sure that we are immediately responding to this, as well as additional announcements that may be coming later today and later tomorrow, as well as during the course of the week,” he said.
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Record high of new coronavirus cases reported in California: More than 6,000 in a day
Across the state, the positivity rate among those tested for coronavirus has risen from 4.5% to 4.8%, and the number of hospitalizations is up 16%.
Record high of new coronavirus cases reported in California: More than 6,000 in a day
Colleen Shalby
June 23, 2020
California shattered a daily record for new coronavirus cases with more than 6,000 infections reported Monday — the largest single-day count in the state since the pandemic hit the U.S.
In Los Angeles County, officials on Tuesday reported more than 2,000 new cases for the fourth time in the last week, bringing the total number of infections to more than 88,200. Officials also reported 34 additional deaths, increasing the death toll to 3,171 — the bulk of the state's total.
In San Diego County, officials reported more than 300 new cases for the second day in a row after breaking a record with more than 310 cases Sunday.
The case count is only one metric in tracking the spread of the virus, and, while increased testing capacity may account for part of the increase, officials have said the surge cannot be pegged to testing alone.
Officials have repeatedly warned that they expect transmission rates to increase as more businesses reopen and people resume normal activities after months-long stay-at-home orders.
L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer has said that while it is impossible to track the origin of spread in a public setting, it is “highly likely” that the overall increase is related to mass protests that erupted over the death of George Floyd as well as clusters of social gatherings at restaurants and private parties.
In Riverside County, which has the second-highest number of cases in the state, public health officials have reported 4,001 new cases in 14 days. Although the metric fails to meet Gov. Gavin Newsom's standard for reopening, the county voted last month to approve a “Readiness and Reopening Framework” that outlines alternative benchmarks toward reopening.
Officials announced Monday that they will randomly select about 3,500 Riverside County residents for an antibody study to determine whether they've been exposed to the virus. The study will help the county's planning efforts for reopening.
“We are asking those who are contacted to strongly consider taking part in the study,” said Kim Saruwatari, the county's public health director. “It’s important to know the extent of the spread of the virus [and how many] have developed antibodies. That information is vital as we move forward.
Across the state, the positivity rate among those tested for coronavirus increased from 4.5% to 4.8% in the last week, and the number of hospitalizations jumped by 16%.
In L.A. County, the daily positivity rate over a seven-day average jumped to 8.8%. Officials reported Tuesday there are 1,515 people hospitalized, 27% in intensive care. While that number is a far cry from the highs of 1,900 patients in past months, it is higher than the daily hospitalization counts of 1,350 to 1,450 in the past few weeks.
Despite the uptick in cases, more cities and counties are continuing to expand their reopening plans.
In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed and Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax announced this week that the city would move up its next phase of reopening from mid-July to June 29. Hair and nail salons, barbershops, museums, zoos, tattoo parlors, massage establishments and outdoor bars will be able to reopen, provided they follow safety protocols.
“Thanks to San Franciscans’ efforts to follow health requirements, wear face coverings and practice social distancing, our COVID-19 health indicators are in a good place, and we can continue reopening our city,” Breed said. “We know a lot of businesses and residents are struggling financially, and this next step will help get more San Franciscans back to work while still balancing safety.”
Newsom said state health officials are keeping a close eye on the numbers, adding that he felt confident the state would be able to respond to the virus in the weeks and months ahead.
“We’ve always walked into this with our eyes wide open. We’ve always prepared for a surge,” the governor said. “We’re in that band, where I feel like we anticipated the likelihood as we’ve reopened, of the numbers increasing, and they have.”
However, he said it's possible for the state to reverse course if case counts continue to climb.
“We are prepared to do that, if we must,” he said.
Newsom repeated a plea for people to wear face coverings, which is now a statewide mandate, and to report businesses and restaurants that are not following safety protocols.
“When you go to a restaurant and it’s clear that they’re not practicing what we are preaching, report them. Give us the tools to enforce,” he said.
Last week, L.A. County officials said that roughly 1,000 restaurants were found to be violating regulations for reopening, with tables placed too closely together.
The state is currently monitoring 10 counties — Fresno, Imperial, Kings, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Stanislaus and Tulare — for surges in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.
In L.A. County, Director of Health Services Dr. Christina Ghaly said Monday that, while the county currently has enough available hospital beds, the number of intensive care units may become limited in coming weeks if COVID-19 patients have to compete for space with other patients. Officials are closely monitoring those numbers.
Additionally, officials estimate that about 1 in 400 Angelenos may be sick without knowing it as so-called asymptomatic spread remains a risk.
“Angelenos over the course of a typical day are likely going to interact with individuals who are infectious,” Ghaly said. “These people might not seem sick.”
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Arizona surpasses 2 million COVID-19 cases - AZ Big Media
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona reached 1,563,193 on Friday, Jan. 14, an increase of 20,257 from the previous day.
azbigmedia.com
COVID-19 cases in Arizona increase by single-day record of 3,591
Business News | 5 hours ago | AZ Business Magazine
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose by 3,591 Monday, breaking the previous high for a single-day increase, according to data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
As of Tuesday, June 23, health officials reported 58,191 cases of COVID-19 and 1,384 deaths in the state. That is an increase of almost 20,000 new cases since last Tuesday, June 16, when the state’s total was 39,097.
The spike in positive cases comes several weeks after the May 15 lifting of Arizona’s stay-at-home orders, when businesses began reopening, and Memorial Day weekend, when many Arizonans left their homes to celebrate.
“It would be preposterous to think that people going out aren’t increasing the positive cases,” Dr. Murtaza Akhter of the University of Arizona College of Medicine told Cronkite News on Tuesday. “One of my concerns is whether people are ever going to take public health emergencies seriously.”
He is among the national experts who are raising an alarm about the rising number of cases in Arizona and a handful of other states, but Akhter’s worry is that these “huge jumps” in recent statistics suggest that positive cases haven’t yet reached their peak.
“The cases will continue to increase,” he said. “And the peak of cases isn’t necessarily the peak of sickness and hospitalizations. You can test positive and still take a week to develop the worst of your symptoms.”
As hospitals face alarming numbers of COVID-19 patients and are “nearing the edge” of being overwhelmed, Akhter advised people with symptoms, such as fever and a dry cough, to visit a drive-thru testing station, or an urgent care provider if they need medicine for their symptoms. Only go to a hospital with severe symptoms or any difficulty breathing to help mitigate the workload of emergency rooms, he urged.
At a news conference Thursday, Gov. Doug Ducey stood firm on his decision to reopen the state and said Arizona is prepared to “expect the worst.”
As hospitals face alarming numbers of COVID-19 patients and are “nearing the edge” of being overwhelmed, Akhter advised people with symptoms, such as fever and a dry cough, to visit a drive-thru testing station, or an urgent care provider if they need medicine for their symptoms. Only go to a hospital with severe symptoms or any difficulty breathing to help mitigate the workload of emergency rooms, he urged.
At a news conference Thursday, Gov. Doug Ducey stood firm on his decision to reopen the state and said Arizona is prepared to “expect the worst.”
Arizona is among 23 states seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases. Arizona has hit its highest seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Nationwide protests, relaxed stay-at-home limitations and reopenings could play a role in increasing numbers, according to The Washington Post.
The surging numbers gave some health officials concern. But Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who relaxed COVID-19 restrictions two weeks ago, said in a news conference Thursday that he is not planning to change course. Calls seeking comment from his office Friday were not immediately returned.
“I am confident that we’ve made the best and most responsible decisions possible, guided by public health the entire way,” Ducey said Thursday. “This virus is not going away.”
Arizona ranks No. 20 among states with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases. New York leads the nation with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.
“With months of data now available, we have shifted our primary focus from predictive models to using all of our real-time, Arizona specific data to assess the health of our healthcare system and evaluate the trend of our cases to make decisions that are best for Arizona,” Dr. Cara Christ of the Arizona Department of Health Services wrote in a blog post. “This and other data can be found on our COVID-19 data dashboard, which recently received an A+ for data quality by COVID Tracking.
“While the models may try to predict what lies ahead, they are simply predictions,” Dr. Christ wrote. “While many of the current models show that Arizona’s capacity is sufficient to meet the projected need for hospital beds and ventilators, in order to protect Arizonans, we continue to prepare for a worst-case scenario to ensure all Arizonans have access to quality care and treatment.”
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Oregon county's coronavirus mask order exempts 'people of color' who have 'heightened concerns about racial profiling'
Amid “heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment,” a county in Oregon is allowing its residents of color to be in public without coronavirus face coverings, according to reports.
www.foxnews.com
Oregon county's coronavirus mask order exempts 'people of color' who have 'heightened concerns about racial profiling'
Frank Miles
Published 4 hours ago
CDC advises having a face mask, hand sanitizer, and tissues when venturing out
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat weighs in.
Amid “heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment,” a county in Oregon is allowing its residents of color to be in public without coronavirus face coverings, according to reports.
Health officials in Lincoln County announced people of color are exempt from the new rule instituted last week.
“No person shall intimidate or harass people who do not comply,” health officials said.
The order is to add safety -- although experts are wary about new dangers considering given racial stereotypes.
“For many black people, deciding whether or not to wear a bandanna in public to protect themselves and others from contracting coronavirus is a lose-lose situation that can result in life-threatening consequences either way,” ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, said.
“This is in the larger context of black men fitting the description of a suspect who has a hood on, who has a face covering on,” Trevon Logan, an economics professor at Ohio State University, added. “It looks like almost every criminal sketch of any garden-variety black suspect.”
As of Monday’s case count, according to data on the state’s website, the total number of people who have tested positive for the deadly disease in the state is 7,083. In addition the state’s death toll has increased to 192 people.
Since the start of the pandemic, 206,381 people in Oregon have been tested for coronavirus.
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COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida decrease slightly from previous 7-day period
More than 100,000 coronavirus tests have come back positive in Florida. On June 23. the Florida Department of Health had reported more than 13,300 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
www.clickorlando.com
Tracking the weekly hospitalizations in Florida from COVID-19
Cases of COVID-19 were first reported in March
Jon Jankowski, Digital journalist
Published: June 23, 2020, 9:13 pm
June 23: The DOH reports 13,325 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 1,119 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
June 16: The DOH reports 12,206 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 1,021 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
June 9: The DOH reports 11,185 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 773 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
June 2: The DOH reports 10,412 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 988 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
May 25: The DOH reports 9,424 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 1,120 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
May 18: The DOH reports 8,304 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 1,080 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
May 11: The DOH reports 7,224 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 1,105 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
May 4: The DOH reports 6,119 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 1,109 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
April 27: The DOH reports 5,010 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 1,010 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
April 20: The DOH reports 4,000 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 1,159 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
April 13: The DOH reports 2,841 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 1,131 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
April 6: The DOH reports 1,710 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 995 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
March 30: The DOH reports 715 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19. Health officials report there were 509 new hospitalizations over the past seven days.
March 23: The DOH reports 209 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19.
More than 100,000 coronavirus tests have come back positive in Florida. On June 23. the Florida Department of Health had reported more than 13,300 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
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As hospitals fill with coronavirus patients, Florida wants to know who is in the ICU beds
As more and more hospitals publicly report that their ICU beds are full, the state changed its guideline for tracking who is in its ICU beds — a change that will mask the true number of peopl…
www.sun-sentinel.com
As hospitals fill with coronavirus patients, Florida wants to know who is in the ICU beds
By Cindy Krischer Goodman
Jun 23, 2020 at 6:03 PM
As more and more hospitals publicly report that their ICU beds are full, the state changed its guideline for tracking who is in its ICU beds — a change that will mask the true number of people in Florida’s intensive care units as the state struggles to keep pace with the coronavirus pandemic.
Why?
Some hospitals in the state may be using their ICU beds for non-critical-care coronavirus patients — people who need isolation but don’t need the most intensive level of care. And late Tuesday, at least a half-dozen South Florida hospitals had filled their ICU beds.
To ensure hospitals are not overwhelmed, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Mary Mayhew has repeatedly said the state needs to keep a close eye — in real time — on how many ICU beds are available regardless of how sick the people are in those beds.
But now, instead of reporting the number of COVID-19 patients occupying ICU beds, the Department of Health wants hospitals to report only the number of COVID patients in those beds who are receiving ICU-level of care. The change could reduce the number of occupied ICU beds being reported to the state.
As of Tuesday, 1,629 patients with COVID-19 were being treated at South Florida hospitals, compared with 1,112 on June 1. About 75% of the adult ICU beds are full, and ventilator use is going back up after a small decline.
“The Department of Health has heard hospitals are utilizing a portion of their ICU beds to specifically house and isolate patients with positive cases of COVID-19, including those that do not require intensive care. This change in wording was made to more accurately capture the number of COVID-19 patients receiving intensive care,” Florida Department of Health spokesman Alberto Moscoso said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the guideline change during a news briefing on Tuesday, saying even as cases go up in Florida, people don’t appear to be getting as sick, and he wants to verify that change.
“What we are getting at is acuity. When people are going into the hospital, we want to know what percent need ICU care and to be put on a ventilator. Far fewer need ventilators than what we thought at the beginning. Having lived through this for months, a case today is not the same as a case on March 30th,” DeSantis said.
Gino Santorio, CEO of Broward Health, said the new guidelines for reporting will affect smaller hospitals, rather than the bigger health systems in South Florida that have isolated areas for general and intensive-care COVID patients.
“What is happening is a couple of hospitals in the state have made their ICUs the dedicated COVID-19 units to isolate the patients. In those scenarios, the positive patients would be sent to the dedicated unit in the ICU whether they needed intensive care or not,” Santorio said.
He said the state and individual hospitals still need to track how many ICU beds are filled, regardless of why, to know whether the spike in cases is followed by more hospitalizations. Hospitals like Broward Health are able to add ICU beds if needed by converting general beds, he said.
On Tuesday, a half-dozen South Florida hospitals had completely filled their ICU beds, according to information the hospitals report into the Emergency Surveillance System managed by the Agency for Health Care Administration. Those hospitals include Coral Gables Hospital and Homestead Hospital in Miami-Dade County; Broward Health North in Broward County; and St. Mary’s Medical Center, Lakeside Medical Center and Bethesda Medical Center West in Palm Beach County.
Some counties, like Miami-Dade, have required their hospitals to report their daily COVID-19 hospitalizations and discharges to the mayor. On Tuesday, Miami-Dade hospitals reported admitting 103 new patients and discharging 92.
At Tuesday’s news briefing in Orlando, doctors from Orlando Health said patients coming to the hospital with COVID-19 are not as sick as they were earlier in the pandemic and less likely to need ICU care.
“Not only do we have the capacity to take care of all our community, we haven’t tapped into our surge capability,” said Dr. George Ralls, a vice president of Orlando Health.
Still, the Department of Health’s change in reporting has some critics skeptical. Santa Rosa Beach attorney Daniel W. Uhlfelder has been keeping a close eye on re-openings, testing and hospitalizations. Uhlfelder has been appearing as the Grim Reaper to discourage continued reopening during the pandemic.
“I don’t believe in the coincidence of the timing,” Uhlfelder said. “Why in the middle of a global pandemic are those guidelines being modified the week when cases are skyrocketing? If we can’t have confidence in the numbers, how are we going to have confidence in the process?”
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This is just one restaurant, but I found it illustrative in how one place can cause a spike.
(fair use applies)
18 coronvairus cases linked to outbreak at Harper's Restaurant in East Lansing
Christian Martinez and Megan Banta
12:15 p.m. ET June 23, 2020 | Updated 11:11 p.m. ET June 23, 2020
At least 18 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in connection with an outbreak at Harper's Restaurant in East Lansing, the Ingham County Health Department said Tuesday.
The health department advised anyone who was at Harper's between June 12 and June 20 to monitor themselves for symptoms of the disease.
All those who tested positive are between the ages of 19 and 23 and around half are connected with Michigan State University, officials said.
Harper's announced Monday that it would close for modifications.
We 'have chosen to close temporarily to do two things – implement a program to eliminate lines, and to modify our HVAC system to install an air purifying technology that will remove 99.4% of the COVID-19 virus (including other viruses, bacteria and mold) while the air is being conditioned and re-circulated," the restaurant said Monday on its Facebook page.
The posting makes no mention of positive COVID tests.
Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail said Tuesday that the health department visited Harper's last week regarding a pair of people who had tested positive for COVID.
"My understanding is that on (June 18), we went out and visited because we interviewed people who had tested COVID positive and the connection between those two appeared to be that they were at Harper's," Vail said. "However, they were there on different days, and since then that number has grown and all of them connect to Harper's."
Vail said her staff spoke with "whoever the person in charge was on-site at the time."
When the restaurant, a popular destination for students at MSU, reopened to dine-in customers, lines formed outside its doors and wound down the sidewalk.
"We have experienced long lines on the public sidewalk in front of our building," the restaurant said in the posting. "We have attempted to instruct customers waiting in line to wear face coverings and practice social distancing through signage on the public sidewalk and with a banner on our railing. Our oversight of the line on our stairs has been successful, but trying to get customers to follow our recommendations on the public sidewalk has been challenging."
"Because we have no authority to control lines on public property, we are left with the dilemma of staying open and letting this situation continue, or closing until we can devise a strategy that eliminates the lines altogether," the restaurant said.
City Manager George Lahanas said the city doesn't have an easy way to clear the sidewalks either.
Officials can't simply clear people because there are rights to gather, he said, and telling people they can't block the sidewalk isn't a "great tool for moving a line along."
Lahanas said, for him and other officials, the line isn't the most concerning part. He's more concerned about the people inside, who aren't practicing social distancing or wearing masks and who likely have to lean in to hear each other over the music.
"In a loud bar with 250 people, it just doesn’t sound like a great formula for containing the spread," Lahanas said.
He said as soon as Harper's reopened and started drawing big crowds, city officials contacted MSU.
A group of people from the city, the health department, the university and the restaurant sat down to "talk about what can all (of us) do about communicating safe behaviors," Lahanas said.
After that meeting, he said, Harper's put more signage up encouraging patrons to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines.
"Obviously individual responsibility is a significant part of it," Lahanas said.
He added it seems the seriousness of the pandemic "isn't registering" with young people, if the crowds at bars in downtown East Lansing are any indicator.
Harper's is not the first Greater Lansing restaurant to close since dine-in restarted on June 8.
The Lansing Brewing Co. closed Friday after someone who had entered the facility tested positive for COVID.
The facility was deep cleaned and the brewery planned to reopen Tuesday.
Despite the closures, Vail said she did not think restaurants had opened prematurely.
"I don't think things opened up too soon," she said. "What I think is that people didn't take the recommendations and the precautions that are needed to keep the illness from becoming a problem again seriously."
"And to the extent that people are standing in a big line, in a big crowd and nobody is wearing masks and (are) all close together, that is a recipe for disaster in this environment," she said. "If people keep doing that, then we're going to have a problem."
"You can either choose to wear a mask, or we can go through this again," she said.
Multiple attempts made to reach Harper's on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
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UPDATE: 22 coronavirus cases linked to outbreak at Harper's Restaurant in East Lansing
Ingham County health officials are advising anyone who was at Harper's Restaurant between June 12 and June 20 to watch for symptoms of COVID-19.
www.lansingstatejournal.com
18 coronvairus cases linked to outbreak at Harper's Restaurant in East Lansing
Christian Martinez and Megan Banta
12:15 p.m. ET June 23, 2020 | Updated 11:11 p.m. ET June 23, 2020
At least 18 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in connection with an outbreak at Harper's Restaurant in East Lansing, the Ingham County Health Department said Tuesday.
The health department advised anyone who was at Harper's between June 12 and June 20 to monitor themselves for symptoms of the disease.
All those who tested positive are between the ages of 19 and 23 and around half are connected with Michigan State University, officials said.
Harper's announced Monday that it would close for modifications.
We 'have chosen to close temporarily to do two things – implement a program to eliminate lines, and to modify our HVAC system to install an air purifying technology that will remove 99.4% of the COVID-19 virus (including other viruses, bacteria and mold) while the air is being conditioned and re-circulated," the restaurant said Monday on its Facebook page.
The posting makes no mention of positive COVID tests.
Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail said Tuesday that the health department visited Harper's last week regarding a pair of people who had tested positive for COVID.
"My understanding is that on (June 18), we went out and visited because we interviewed people who had tested COVID positive and the connection between those two appeared to be that they were at Harper's," Vail said. "However, they were there on different days, and since then that number has grown and all of them connect to Harper's."
Vail said her staff spoke with "whoever the person in charge was on-site at the time."
When the restaurant, a popular destination for students at MSU, reopened to dine-in customers, lines formed outside its doors and wound down the sidewalk.
"We have experienced long lines on the public sidewalk in front of our building," the restaurant said in the posting. "We have attempted to instruct customers waiting in line to wear face coverings and practice social distancing through signage on the public sidewalk and with a banner on our railing. Our oversight of the line on our stairs has been successful, but trying to get customers to follow our recommendations on the public sidewalk has been challenging."
"Because we have no authority to control lines on public property, we are left with the dilemma of staying open and letting this situation continue, or closing until we can devise a strategy that eliminates the lines altogether," the restaurant said.
City Manager George Lahanas said the city doesn't have an easy way to clear the sidewalks either.
Officials can't simply clear people because there are rights to gather, he said, and telling people they can't block the sidewalk isn't a "great tool for moving a line along."
Lahanas said, for him and other officials, the line isn't the most concerning part. He's more concerned about the people inside, who aren't practicing social distancing or wearing masks and who likely have to lean in to hear each other over the music.
"In a loud bar with 250 people, it just doesn’t sound like a great formula for containing the spread," Lahanas said.
He said as soon as Harper's reopened and started drawing big crowds, city officials contacted MSU.
A group of people from the city, the health department, the university and the restaurant sat down to "talk about what can all (of us) do about communicating safe behaviors," Lahanas said.
After that meeting, he said, Harper's put more signage up encouraging patrons to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines.
"Obviously individual responsibility is a significant part of it," Lahanas said.
He added it seems the seriousness of the pandemic "isn't registering" with young people, if the crowds at bars in downtown East Lansing are any indicator.
Harper's is not the first Greater Lansing restaurant to close since dine-in restarted on June 8.
The Lansing Brewing Co. closed Friday after someone who had entered the facility tested positive for COVID.
The facility was deep cleaned and the brewery planned to reopen Tuesday.
Despite the closures, Vail said she did not think restaurants had opened prematurely.
"I don't think things opened up too soon," she said. "What I think is that people didn't take the recommendations and the precautions that are needed to keep the illness from becoming a problem again seriously."
"And to the extent that people are standing in a big line, in a big crowd and nobody is wearing masks and (are) all close together, that is a recipe for disaster in this environment," she said. "If people keep doing that, then we're going to have a problem."
"You can either choose to wear a mask, or we can go through this again," she said.
Multiple attempts made to reach Harper's on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
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Over 50,000 don't know how they contracted COVID-19 in Florida
With the state reopening and more testing in the state, we have seen an increase in reported COVID-19 cases. Florida has now reported over 100,000 coronavirus cases, and thousands have no idea how they contracted the virus. The spread began with travel, then contact with travelers. Now, many are...
www.winknews.com
Over 50,000 don’t know how they contracted COVID-19 in Florida
Breana Ross and Jack Lowenstein
Published: June 22, 2020 9:41 PM EDT | Updated: June 22, 2020 11:39 PM EDT
With the state reopening and more testing in the state, we have seen an increase in reported COVID-19 cases. Florida has now reported over 100,000 coronavirus cases, and thousands have no idea how they contracted the virus. The spread began with travel, then contact with travelers. Now, many are not able to trace how they got the virus at all.
Data Florida Department of Health released Monday shows more than 50,000 people can’t pinpoint how they contracted the coronavirus or who spread it to them.
“I think it’s kind of odd that you don’t know where you’ve gotten it from,” said Laura Thomas in Lehigh Acres.
“It’s very like hard to find where you get it from because there are people who can be asymptomatic and not know where they get it from,” said Alexis Mercado in Fort Myers.
Dr. Bindu Mayi, a microbiology professor at Nova Southeastern University, says asymptomatic cases are a big reason why many people don’t know how they got the virus, especially with reopening bringing more people out of their houses.
“Now, the chance of us getting exposed to people who have the infection that are asymptomatic has gone up compared to what we’ve been seeing in the past,” Mayi said.
But, even with the increased risk, many say they are still happy to be out and about.
“I figure, if you want to be safe, you can be safe,” said Robert Stevens who was visiting Southwest Florida. “Wear a mask if you want.”
“We all have to live our lives,” Thomas said.
Mayi told us she thinks the increase in numbers is a direct reflection of the lack of social distancing. Southwest Florida accounts for nearly 9% of all of the positive cases in Florida and over 10% of all the deaths.
And Dr. Mayi said she hopes people will live their lives safely, with social distancing, sanitizing and masks to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
“The only way we can prevent transmission by asymptomatic individuals is by putting prevention in place,” Mayi said.
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Mutation could make coronavirus more infectious, study suggests | CNN
Researchers in Florida say they believe they have shown that the new coronavirus has mutated in a way that makes it more easily infect human cells.
www.cnn.com
Mutation could make coronavirus more infectious, study suggests
By Maggie Fox
Updated 9:29 PM ET, Fri June 12, 2020
Researchers in Florida say they believe they have shown that the new coronavirus has mutated in a way that makes it more easily infect human cells.
They say more research is needed to show whether the change has altered the course of the pandemic, but at least one researcher not involved in the study says it likely has, and the changes may explain why the virus has caused so many infections in the United States and Latin America.
It's a mutation that scientists have been worried about for weeks.
The researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida said the mutation affects the spike protein -- a structure on the outside of the virus that it uses to get into cells. If the findings are confirmed, it would be the first time someone has demonstrated that changes seen in the virus have significance for the pandemic.
"Viruses with this mutation were much more infectious than those without the mutation in the cell culture system we used," Scripps Research virologist Hyeryun Choe, who helped lead the study, said in a statement.
Just this week, the World Health Organization said the mutations seen so far in the new coronavirus would not affect the efficacy of vaccines under development. Last week, WHO said mutations had not made it more easily transmissible, nor had they made the virus more likely to cause serious illness.
A more stable spike protein
Choe and colleagues ran a series of experiments in lab dishes that show a mutation called D614G gives the virus many more spikes, and makes those spikes more stable. That in turn make it easier for it to get into cells. The researchers will post their findings on a preprint server called BioRxiv. That means the work has not been reviewed by other experts in the field.
But Choe and colleagues did send their paper to William Haseltine, a virologist, biotechnology entrepreneur and chairman of Access Health International. Haseltine believes the findings explain the easy spread of the coronavirus across the Americas.
"It is significant because it shows the virus can change, does change to its advantage and possibly to our disadvantage," Haseltine told CNN. "It has done a good job so far of adapting to human culture," he added.
"You can see in some places it doesn't get very far and in other places it has a field day."
Scientists have been freely sharing the sequences of the virus which, like all viruses, mutates constantly.
"Sometime in the middle of January, there was a change that allowed the virus to become more infectious. It doesn't mean it's more lethal," Haseltine said. "It makes it about 10 times more infectious."
Other researchers have suspected this. In April, Bette Korber of Los Alamos National Laboratory and colleagues published their concerns, also on BioRxiv, calling the D614G mutation "of urgent concern" because it had become by far the most common strain spreading in Europe and the US.
Dominant strain
"It began spreading in Europe in early February, and when introduced to new regions it rapidly becomes the dominant form," they wrote.
But more work was needed to show that it just wasn't an accident that caused viruses with the D614G mutation to become the most common forms.
Haseltine said the Scripps team showed this in three separate experiments.
"They measured this in three very elegant ways, not just one," he said.
The mutation allows the virus not only to attach to cells more easily, but to enter them more easily.
When viruses infect, they hijack their victim's cells and turn them into viral factories, pumping out copy after copy of viruses. They first must find a way into cells to do this.
Korber, who has a different analysis under consideration for publication, said "it was nice to see the result," but did not comment further to CNN.
Haseltine said the implications are important. Other researchers had hoped that the coronavirus would not prove to be as prone to mutation as other viruses that use RNA instead of DNA as their genetic material. Influenza, notorious for its mutations, is an RNA virus.
"It means that we have to be on the alert for constant change," Haseltine said.
"This virus is going to respond to whatever we do to control it. We make a drug, it is going to resist it.
We make a vaccine, it is going to try to get around it. We stay at home, it is going to figure out how to hang around longer," he said.
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WARNING! D614G Mutation Coronavirus Strains From Europe Could Render Those Recovered From Earlier Strains Defenseless According to China - Thailand Medical News
D614G Mutation: According to warnings from Chinese researchers, individuals infected with the earlier SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strains could be defenseless against the more aggressive European strains with the D614G mutations. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.20.161323v1...
www.thailandmedical.news
WARNING! D614G Mutation Coronavirus Strains From Europe Could Render Those Recovered From Earlier Strains Defenseless According to China
Source: D614G Mutation And COVID-19 Jun 21, 2020 3 days ago
D614G Mutation: According to warnings from Chinese researchers, individuals infected with the earlier SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strains could be defenseless against the more aggressive European strains with the D614G mutations.
This would have implications for countries like Japan, South Korea, most of the South-east Asian countries and even China itself as most of the individuals infected in the early parts of the crisis were infected with the middle strains.
The Chinese researchers say that the antibodies found in blood of individuals who have fought disease previously failed to stop D614G strain.
The mutant form was identified in genetic data of samples collected at Xinfadi food market in Beijing where latest outbreak began.
Chinese authorities are saying that previously recovered Covid-19 patients in China may still be vulnerable to a mutant form of the pathogen spreading overseas.
Professor Dr Huang Ailong from Chongqing Medical University said that there is an urgent need to determine what threat the mutation, known as D614G, poses to people who have recovered from a different form of the virus. Also worrisome is that the new strain could actually be more worse the second time round in patients who were previously infected with the milder strains and had recovered but there is no clinical proof of this yet.
The strain with the D614G mutation began spreading in Europe in early February and by May was the dominant strain around the world, presenting in 70 per cent of sequenced samples in Europe and North America. It is now present in India, Iran, Middle-East and Brazil as well.
The Chinese researchers say antibodies found in patients who had been infected with earlier forms of the pathogen failed to neutralize the mutant strain.
Ever since the latest coronavirus outbreak was reported at the Xinfadi wholesale food market in Beijing, 228 new infections have been confirmed and more than 2.2 million residents have been tested for Covid-19 in a bid to contain the spread.
Roughly about 12 per cent of the individuals infected by the new outbreak in Beijing are in a critical condition, according to the Beijing health authorities, and medical teams from across the country have been flown into to help with the aid effort.
The WHO and Chinese government have both said the genetic information of the virus points to a source outside China, but whether it arrived via a refrigerated food chain or a human visitor has yet to be determined.
China’s health authorities identified the infection in a number of locations at the market, including inside the mouths of imported salmon. The whole genome sequencing data of samples from the first three patients have been released and they all contained the D614G mutation.
Dr Huang and his team selected a strain of the virus that had previously circulated in China and then manipulated it to create a man-made version containing the mutation
The team then extracted antibodies from 41 blood samples collected from recovered patients and pitched them against the mutant. All failed to fight the new strain.
In a report published last week by Scripps Research, a medical research facility in San Diego, the D614G mutation has the potential to increase the number of spike proteins on the coronavirus and boost its ability to infect human cells by a factor of 10.
In Dr Huang’s study which also included the antibodies generated by three patients, all failed to suppress the mutated strain, with one sample showing almost zero effect.
The study team then tried to infect host cells with the mutant and normal strains. The mutant’s entry efficiency was 2.4 times higher.
The researchers said, “This seemingly small increase in entry activity could cause a large difference in viral infectivity in the human body.”
Most significantly, one of the concerns now is whether the prevailing D614G strain will have a detrimental impact on vaccine development.
Many Chinese vaccine candidates have entered the final phase of clinical trials, but they are based like those under development in the United States and Europe on the earliest strains of the coronavirus detected and sequenced in Wuhan.
A detailed study by IBM’s AI medical team in April warned that the D614G mutation could reduce the effectiveness of vaccine programs that target the virus’ spike protein. A separate study by a team of researchers in Serbia last month came to a similar conclusion.
Dr Huang said, “Given the evolving nature of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome, antibody treatment and vaccine design might require further consideration to accommodate the D614G and other mutations that may affect the immunogenicity of the virus.”
It must be noted that here are also other strains with mutations on them being discovered and studied, with another 2 more that might be even more potent.
For more on the D614G mutation and other merging mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 cornavirus, keep on logging to Thailadn Medicla News.
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Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
‘Recovered’ COVID-19 patients suffer major ongoing physical, cognitive problems
Memory loss, psychological issues, profound fatigue, phantom pain, along with lungs that won't heal, discovered months after recovery, even among those who had only mild symptoms
www.timesofisrael.com
‘Recovered’ COVID-19 patients suffer major ongoing physical, cognitive problems
Memory loss, psychological issues, profound fatigue, phantom pain, along with lungs that won’t heal, discovered months after recovery, even among those who had only mild symptoms
By TOI staff
20 June 2020, 12:15 am
As coronavirus patients recover from the illness, doctors and patients are discovering that COVID-19 is leaving the “recovered” with long-term debilitating physical, cognitive and psychiatric damage, sometimes even in people who only suffered mild symptoms.
Patients are suffering from phantom pains, memory loss, personality changes, psychological issues and extreme fatigue, along with lungs that won’t heal, even months after being discharged from hospital, according to an investigation by Israel’s Channel 12 TV.
Israel has recorded just over 20,000 COVID-19 cases, with some 300 fatalities. More than 15,500 patients confirmed with the disease have subsequently recovered, but the TV report highlighted numerous cases of patients no longer testing positive for the disease who are suffering a range of major ailments attributed to the virus.
Afik Suissa, 24, was one of Israel’s youngest patients to be hospitalized and ventilated in serious condition. A resident of the southern port city of Ashdod, Suissa was hospitalized at the end of March. He had recently been in the US with two friends, touring in Miami and then Las Vegas.
Afik Suissa, of Ashdod, who became seriously ill with COVID-19, April 2020. (Facebook)
The three returned to the country and Suissa immediately went into home quarantine in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines. But he quickly developed a fever that became worse and was hospitalized. Within days his condition had deteriorated so much he was put on a ventilator, which required sedation and the insertion of a breathing tube.
He eventually recovered and was discharged from the hospital last month. But he has since developed several issues, including phantom pains in one leg that require him to have physical therapy.
“The nerve in my foot is sending messages of pain to the brain,” he said in the TV report Friday night. “It causes me to limp because I feel that there is a wound there,” he said, even though there is no discernible injury. He also has an altered sense of taste.
The 24-year-old, who was a healthy basketball player, also now has high blood pressure and pulse rate, and is on blood thinners that he might have to take his whole life.
He also feels that he has had a change in personality. “I have less patience with people,” he said, adding that he now frequently gets upset and finds himself angry over trivial things. “I raise my voice over things that are not legitimate, nonsense.”
Maizie Avihayil, 63, was one of first people in Israel to be to be diagnosed with the virus. She was released from the hospital more than two months ago but now suffers speech problems that resemble the effects of a mild stroke.
“I can’t get certain words out. I will try to say something, I know what word I want to say, but I can’t,” she said, adding that her memory is also now “awful.”
Dr. Itzik Levy, an expert in infectious diseases at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, said he believes these problems are caused by the effects of the virus on the brain.
“We know that corona causes disruptions in the blood vessels and in clotting, and so it can cause brain trauma, even mild forms, that you won’t even see on a scan, that won’t show up as a stroke or something,” he told Channel 12. “But it can be manifested as cognitive disruptions, or in some cases as changes in personality.”
“We don’t really know if it is reversible or not, or how long will it last,” he added.
People also suffer traumatic effects from being on a ventilator and being so ill, added Dr. Zvi Fishel, Chairman of the Israeli Psychiatric Association.
“We are seeing it cause psychological problems,” he said, citing recovered patients’ feelings of alienation and disassociation, with people sometimes unaware of how they came to be in a place.
Other common effects being discovered are severe fatigue and memory loss, even in those who had very mild symptoms.
“My work capacity has gone down. Once I could work for six hours at the clinic and then go to another clinic. Now I can only work for three hours before I need a rest,” said Dr. Lydia Blecher, a doctor who became sick herself and then later treated patients at a hotel where she was quarantined with other patients.
“It’s mostly weakness, sore muscles, and a problem with concentration, a problem with short term memory and a fatigue that is not physical,” she said.
Another former COVID-19 patient, Rona Ohayon, 32, who is now suffering from fatigue and weakness, has to take her mother with her to doctor’s appointments, so she remembers what to say and what she is told. “I’m so focused on the pain, I don’t remember things,” she told Channel 12, adding that it came as some relief to know that the ongoing effects were not unique to her.
The long term effects of COVID-19 are not just cognitive and mental, the TV report highlighted, but also include debilitating physical damage.
A bus driver from East Jerusalem who was hospitalized on March 5, and became the first Israeli attached to a respirator after he contracted the coronavirus, still can’t walk more than two minutes at a time. He was released from the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Tiberias on March 30 and deemed to have made a full recovery.
The man, who has been identified only as Johnny, 38, was hospitalized after he chauffeured a group of 23 Greek tourists, who were later confirmed to be infected. At least one of the tourists subsequently died from the virus.
More than two-and-a-half months after Johnny was discharged from the hospital, his health is deeply affected. “He can’t work, he can’t walk. He walks two minutes and he gets tired,” his father told Channel 12. “I don’t know how long he will be like this.”
“We are used to seeing pneumonia patients recovering at a certain rate, from day to day they get better,” said Dr. Amir Onn, head of the Pulmonology Department at Sheba Medical Center. “Here we are seeing people at a status quo: They are stuck in a situation where they can’t do what they could previously.”
Noting that reports from China showed that some patients ultimately need lung transplants, Onn added, “We are talking about a disease that we have no idea how it behaves.”
It’s not (only) about you.
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Trivium Pursuit
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Completely agree. Hope they're listening to thisView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21kPKKP0w3o
11:54 min
Will There Be an NFL Season? (Doctor's Prediction)
•Jun 23, 2020
Doctor Mike Hansen
Will there be an NFL Season? If the NFL said to me, we are having the season, now tell us what we need to do to curb the virus, this is what I would do:
1) No fans in attendance – which that in itself is sad, because no fans in the stands would just suck the life out of the game
2) Cut pre-season, by at least 2 games
3) Player testing everyday – more on this in a little bit, because testing is a whole nother issue
4) Symptom screening – this includes temp checks twice a day, even though a high percentage of infections are asymptomatic
5) If someone tests positive, that means they cant play for at least 2 weeks, and must test negative and have no symptoms before returning
6) Which brings up another issue, you’re going to have to expand your roster because of absentees due to players who have the virus. More people on the team, more spread
7) No Thursday games, because logistics are already hard enough as it is 8) Masks for everyone not wearing a helmet, including when players take off their helmet on the sidelines, and in locker room 9) Social distancing (except practice/games)
10) Modified face masks, helmets with shields for everyone
11) Screen for vitamin D deficiency (need at least 20 ng/ml, ideally 30 ng/dl)
12) Accept the risk that NFL players, and staff, could die as a result of the virus. Which I wonder if NFL players/staff will be forced to sign a waiver form so the NFL won’t be liable? Of course, even if this plan was executed perfectly, it will not 100% prevent spread of the virus. Some players, coaches, and staff will inevitably get it, and most likely, someone will be hospitalized and/or die as a result. And how many hospitalizations will it take before the NFL says, we need to cancel the season?
(fair use applies)E.U. May Bar American Travelers as It Reopens Borders, Citing Failures on Virus (Published 2020)
European Union officials are racing to agree on who can visit the bloc as of July 1 based on how countries of origin are faring with new coronavirus cases. Americans, so far, are excluded, according to draft lists seen by The New York Times.www.nytimes.com
E.U. May Bar American Travelers as It Reopens Borders, Citing Failures on Virus
European Union officials are racing to agree on who can visit the bloc as of July 1 based on how countries of origin are faring with new coronavirus cases. Americans, so far, are excluded, according to draft lists seen by The New York Times.
By Matina Stevis-Gridneff
Published June 23, 2020 | Updated June 24, 2020, 12:58 a.m. ET
BRUSSELS — European Union countries rushing to revive their economies and reopen their borders after months of coronavirus restrictions are prepared to block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the scourge, according to draft lists of acceptable travelers reviewed by The New York Times.
That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States, which has more than 2.3 million cases and upward of 120,000 deaths, more than any other country.
European nations are currently haggling over two potential lists of acceptable visitors based on how countries are faring with the coronavirus pandemic. Both lists include China, as well as developing nations like Uganda, Cuba and Vietnam. Both also exclude the United States and other countries that were deemed too risky because of the spread of the virus.
Travelers from the United States and the rest of the world already had been excluded from visiting the European Union — with few exceptions mostly for repatriations or “essential travel” — since mid-March. But a final decision on reopening the borders is expected early next week, before the bloc reopens on July 1.
A prohibition of Americans by Brussels partly reflects the shifting pattern of the pandemic. In March, when Europe was the epicenter, Mr. Trump infuriated European leaders when he banned citizens from most European Union countries from traveling to America. Mr. Trump justified the move as necessary to protect the United States, which at the time had roughly 1,100 coronavirus cases and 38 deaths.
In late May and early June, Mr. Trump said Europe was “making progress” and hinted that some restrictions would be lifted soon, but nothing has happened since then. Today, Europe has largely curbed the outbreak, even as the United States, the worst-afflicted, has seen more infection surges just in the past week.
Prohibiting American travelers from entering the European Union would have significant economic, cultural and geopolitical ramifications. Millions of American tourists visit Europe every summer. Business travel is common, given the huge economic ties between the United States and the E.U.
Despite the disruptions caused by such a ban, European officials involved in the talks said it was highly unlikely an exception would be made for the United States. They said that the criteria for creating the list of acceptable countries had been deliberately kept as scientific and nonpolitical as possible.
Including the United States now, the officials said, would represent a complete flouting of the bloc’s reasoning. But they said the United States could be added later to the list, which will be revised every two weeks based on updated infection rates.
It was unclear if American officials were aware in advance of the exclusion of the United States from the draft lists, which have not been made public.
The draft lists were shared with the Times by an official involved in the talks and confirmed by another official involved in the talks. Two additional European Union officials confirmed the content of the lists as well the details of the negotiations to shape and finalize them. All of the officials gave the information on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically delicate.
The forging of a common list of outsiders who can enter the bloc is part of an effort by the European Union to fully reopen internal borders among its 27 member states. Free travel and trade among members is a core principle of the bloc — one that has been badly disrupted during the pandemic.
Since the outbreak, the bloc has succumbed to piecemeal national policies that have resulted in an incoherent patchwork of open and closed borders.
Some internal borders have practically remained closed while others have opened. Some member states that desperately need tourists have rushed ahead to accept non-E.U. visitors and pledged to test them on arrival. Others have tried to create closed travel zones between certain countries, called “bubbles” or “corridors.”
Putting these safe lists together highlights the fraught, messy task of removing pandemic-related measures and unifying the bloc’s approach. But the imperatives of restoring the internal harmony of the E.U. and slowly opening up to the world are paramount, even if it threatens rifts with close allies including the United States, which appears bound to be excluded, at least initially.
President Trump, as well as his Russian and Brazilian counterparts, Vladimir V. Putin and Jair Bolsonaro, has followed what critics call a comparable path in their pandemic response that leaves all three countries in a similarly bad spot: they were dismissive at the outset of the crisis, slow to respond to scientific advice and saw a boom of domestic cases as other parts of the world, notably in Europe and Asia, were slowly managing to get their outbreaks under control.
Countries on the E.U. draft lists have been selected as safe based on a combination of epidemiological criteria. The benchmark is the E.U. average number of new infections — over the past 14 days — per 100,000 people, which is currently 16 for the bloc. The comparable number for the United States is 107, while Brazil’s is 190 and Russia’s is 80, according to a Times database.
Once diplomats agree on a final list, it will be presented as a recommendation early next week before July 1. The E.U. can’t force members to adopt it, but European officials warn that failure of any of the 27 members to stick to it could lead to the reintroduction of borders within the bloc.
The reason this exercise is additionally complex for Europe is that, if internal borders are open but member states don’t honor the same rules, visitors from nonapproved nations could land in one European country, and then jump onward to other E.U. nations undetected.
European officials said the list would be revised every two weeks to reflect new realities around the world as nations see the virus ebb and flow.
The process of agreeing on it has been challenging, with diplomats from all European member states hunkering down for multiple hourslong meetings for the past few weeks.
As of Tuesday, the officials and diplomats were poring over the two versions of the safe list under debate, and were scheduled to meet again on Wednesday to continue sparring over the details.
One list contains 47 countries and includes only those nations with an infection rate lower than the E.U. average. The other longer list has 54 countries and also includes those nations with slightly worse case rates than the E.U. average, going up to 20 new cases per 100,000 people.
The existing restrictions on nonessential travel to all 27 member states plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein were introduced on March 16 and extended twice until July 1, in a bid to contain the virus as the continent entered a three-month long confinement.
“Discussions are happening very intensively,” to reach consensus in time for July 1, said Adalbert Jahnz, a spokesman for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch. He called the process “frankly, a full-time job.”
The E.U. agency for infectious diseases, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, warned negotiators that the case numbers were so dependent on the level of truthfulness and testing in each country, that it was hard to vouch for them, officials taking part in the talks said.
China, for example, has been accused of withholding information and manipulating the numbers of infections released to the public. In parts of the developing world, case numbers are very low, but it’s hard to determine whether they paint an accurate picture given limited testing.
And in the United States, comments made by President Trump at a rally in Tulsa over the weekend highlighted how easy it is to manipulate a country’s case numbers, as he suggested that domestic testing was too broad.
“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Mr. Trump told supporters. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’ They test and they test.”
European embassies around the world could be enlisted to help verify or opine on the data provided that would inform the final list, negotiators said, another indication that the list could end up being quite short if European diplomats at embassies said reported numbers were unreliable.
Many European Union countries are desperate to reopen their borders to visitors from outside the region to salvage tourism and boost airlines’ revenue while keeping their own borders open to each other. Some have already started accepting visitors from outside the bloc.
At the other extreme, a few European nations including Denmark are not prepared to allow any external visitors from non-E.U. countries, and are likely to continue with this policy after July 1.
Germany, France and many other E.U. nations want non-European travelers to be allowed, but are also worried about individual countries tweaking the safe list or admitting travelers from excluded countries, officials said.
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It's easy to forget how large the United States is for one country, especially when you compare it to a continent like Europe that's made up of so many smaller countries. According to a neat overlay map posted to Reddit by user martinswfan, you can fit 30 European countries into the continental US.Apr 30, 2018
In terms of landmass, the United States and Europe are similar in size—the United States is 9,833,000 square kilometers while Europe is 10,180,000 square kilometers—however, European countries are closer in size to eastern states in America (which are smaller and closer together than western states).Jan 4, 2019
Russia is about 1.7 times bigger than United States.
Texas is approximately 678,052 sq km, while France is approximately 551,500 sq km. Meanwhile, the population of Texas is ~25.1 million people (42.0 million more people live in France).
Texas is about 1.9 times bigger than Germany.
Germany is approximately 357,022 sq km, while Texas is approximately 678,052 sq km, making Texas 90% larger than Germany. ...
Since 31 December 2019 and as of 24 June 2020, 9 229 049 cases of COVID-19 (in accordance with the applied case definitions and testing strategies in the affected countries) have been reported, including 477 269 deaths.
Cases have been reported from:
Africa: 324 392 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are South Africa (106 108), Egypt (58 141), Nigeria (21 371), Ghana (14 568) and Algeria (12 076).
Asia: 1 949 967 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are India (456 183), Iran (209 970), Turkey (190 165), Pakistan (188 926) and Saudi Arabia (164 144).
America: 4 610 824 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are United States (2 347 022), Brazil (1 145 906), Peru (260 810), Chile (250 767) and Mexico (191 410).
Europe: 2 334 148 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Russia (599 705), United Kingdom (306 210), Spain (246 752), Italy (238 833) and Germany (191 449).
Oceania: 9 022 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Australia (7 492), New Zealand (1 166), Guam (226), French Polynesia (60) and Northern Mariana Islands (30).
Other: 696 cases have been reported from an international conveyance in Japan.
Deaths have been reported from:
Africa: 8 613 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are Egypt (2 365), South Africa (2 102), Algeria (861), Sudan (548) and Nigeria (533).
Asia: 49 537 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are India (14 476), Iran (9 863), Turkey (5 001), China (4 640) and Pakistan (3 755).
America: 230 079 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are
United States (121 228), Brazil (52 645), Mexico (23 377), Canada (8 454) and Peru (8 404).
Europe: 188 902 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are United Kingdom (42 927), Italy (34 675), France (29 720), Spain (28 325) and Belgium (9 713).
Oceania: 131 deaths; the 4 countries reporting deaths are Australia (102), New Zealand (22), Guam (5) and Northern Mariana Islands (2).
Other: 7 deaths have been reported from an international conveyance in Japan.
Trivium Pursuit
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Some patients need lung transplants? Holy Moly, it takes an *extremely* long Time to go through the processes and tests to be even approved to be on the waiting list for a long time; many months or a year or more to actually get one.(fair use applies)‘Recovered’ COVID-19 patients suffer major ongoing physical, cognitive problems
Memory loss, psychological issues, profound fatigue, phantom pain, along with lungs that won't heal, discovered months after recovery, even among those who had only mild symptoms
‘Recovered’ COVID-19 patients suffer major ongoing physical, cognitive problems
Memory loss, psychological issues, profound fatigue, phantom pain, along with lungs that won’t heal, discovered months after recovery, even among those who had only mild symptoms
By TOI staff
20 June 2020, 12:15 am
As coronavirus patients recover from the illness, doctors and patients are discovering that COVID-19 is leaving the “recovered” with long-term debilitating physical, cognitive and psychiatric damage, sometimes even in people who only suffered mild symptoms.
Patients are suffering from phantom pains, memory loss, personality changes, psychological issues and extreme fatigue, along with lungs that won’t heal, even months after being discharged from hospital, according to an investigation by Israel’s Channel 12 TV.
Israel has recorded just over 20,000 COVID-19 cases, with some 300 fatalities. More than 15,500 patients confirmed with the disease have subsequently recovered, but the TV report highlighted numerous cases of patients no longer testing positive for the disease who are suffering a range of major ailments attributed to the virus.
Afik Suissa, 24, was one of Israel’s youngest patients to be hospitalized and ventilated in serious condition. A resident of the southern port city of Ashdod, Suissa was hospitalized at the end of March. He had recently been in the US with two friends, touring in Miami and then Las Vegas.
Afik Suissa, of Ashdod, who became seriously ill with COVID-19, April 2020. (Facebook)
The three returned to the country and Suissa immediately went into home quarantine in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines. But he quickly developed a fever that became worse and was hospitalized. Within days his condition had deteriorated so much he was put on a ventilator, which required sedation and the insertion of a breathing tube.
He eventually recovered and was discharged from the hospital last month. But he has since developed several issues, including phantom pains in one leg that require him to have physical therapy.
“The nerve in my foot is sending messages of pain to the brain,” he said in the TV report Friday night. “It causes me to limp because I feel that there is a wound there,” he said, even though there is no discernible injury. He also has an altered sense of taste.
The 24-year-old, who was a healthy basketball player, also now has high blood pressure and pulse rate, and is on blood thinners that he might have to take his whole life.
He also feels that he has had a change in personality. “I have less patience with people,” he said, adding that he now frequently gets upset and finds himself angry over trivial things. “I raise my voice over things that are not legitimate, nonsense.”
Maizie Avihayil, 63, was one of first people in Israel to be to be diagnosed with the virus. She was released from the hospital more than two months ago but now suffers speech problems that resemble the effects of a mild stroke.
“I can’t get certain words out. I will try to say something, I know what word I want to say, but I can’t,” she said, adding that her memory is also now “awful.”
Dr. Itzik Levy, an expert in infectious diseases at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, said he believes these problems are caused by the effects of the virus on the brain.
“We know that corona causes disruptions in the blood vessels and in clotting, and so it can cause brain trauma, even mild forms, that you won’t even see on a scan, that won’t show up as a stroke or something,” he told Channel 12. “But it can be manifested as cognitive disruptions, or in some cases as changes in personality.”
“We don’t really know if it is reversible or not, or how long will it last,” he added.
People also suffer traumatic effects from being on a ventilator and being so ill, added Dr. Zvi Fishel, Chairman of the Israeli Psychiatric Association.
“We are seeing it cause psychological problems,” he said, citing recovered patients’ feelings of alienation and disassociation, with people sometimes unaware of how they came to be in a place.
Other common effects being discovered are severe fatigue and memory loss, even in those who had very mild symptoms.
“My work capacity has gone down. Once I could work for six hours at the clinic and then go to another clinic. Now I can only work for three hours before I need a rest,” said Dr. Lydia Blecher, a doctor who became sick herself and then later treated patients at a hotel where she was quarantined with other patients.
“It’s mostly weakness, sore muscles, and a problem with concentration, a problem with short term memory and a fatigue that is not physical,” she said.
Another former COVID-19 patient, Rona Ohayon, 32, who is now suffering from fatigue and weakness, has to take her mother with her to doctor’s appointments, so she remembers what to say and what she is told. “I’m so focused on the pain, I don’t remember things,” she told Channel 12, adding that it came as some relief to know that the ongoing effects were not unique to her.
The long term effects of COVID-19 are not just cognitive and mental, the TV report highlighted, but also include debilitating physical damage.
A bus driver from East Jerusalem who was hospitalized on March 5, and became the first Israeli attached to a respirator after he contracted the coronavirus, still can’t walk more than two minutes at a time. He was released from the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Tiberias on March 30 and deemed to have made a full recovery.
The man, who has been identified only as Johnny, 38, was hospitalized after he chauffeured a group of 23 Greek tourists, who were later confirmed to be infected. At least one of the tourists subsequently died from the virus.
More than two-and-a-half months after Johnny was discharged from the hospital, his health is deeply affected. “He can’t work, he can’t walk. He walks two minutes and he gets tired,” his father told Channel 12. “I don’t know how long he will be like this.”
“We are used to seeing pneumonia patients recovering at a certain rate, from day to day they get better,” said Dr. Amir Onn, head of the Pulmonology Department at Sheba Medical Center. “Here we are seeing people at a status quo: They are stuck in a situation where they can’t do what they could previously.”
Noting that reports from China showed that some patients ultimately need lung transplants, Onn added, “We are talking about a disease that we have no idea how it behaves.”
It’s not (only) about you.
CapeCMom
Veteran Member
Omg that is such horse shot. Everyone wears masks in Massachusetts whether you are black purple or white. We now have the lowest infection rate in the country. We are moving into phase three of our opening in a few weeks and cases are still down. I hate them with a passion but masks are working in our State. Do they seriously want all the black people to get infected? One has to wonder.(fair use applies)Oregon county's coronavirus mask order exempts 'people of color' who have 'heightened concerns about racial profiling'
Amid “heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment,” a county in Oregon is allowing its residents of color to be in public without coronavirus face coverings, according to reports.
Oregon county's coronavirus mask order exempts 'people of color' who have 'heightened concerns about racial profiling'
Frank Miles
Published 4 hours ago
CDC advises having a face mask, hand sanitizer, and tissues when venturing out
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat weighs in.
Amid “heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment,” a county in Oregon is allowing its residents of color to be in public without coronavirus face coverings, according to reports.
Health officials in Lincoln County announced people of color are exempt from the new rule instituted last week.
“No person shall intimidate or harass people who do not comply,” health officials said.
The order is to add safety -- although experts are wary about new dangers considering given racial stereotypes.
“For many black people, deciding whether or not to wear a bandanna in public to protect themselves and others from contracting coronavirus is a lose-lose situation that can result in life-threatening consequences either way,” ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, said.
“This is in the larger context of black men fitting the description of a suspect who has a hood on, who has a face covering on,” Trevon Logan, an economics professor at Ohio State University, added. “It looks like almost every criminal sketch of any garden-variety black suspect.”
As of Monday’s case count, according to data on the state’s website, the total number of people who have tested positive for the deadly disease in the state is 7,083. In addition the state’s death toll has increased to 192 people.
Since the start of the pandemic, 206,381 people in Oregon have been tested for coronavirus.
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Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Newborn Mexican triplets have coronavirus, but parents do not
Mexican health authorities are trying to understand how a set of newborn triplets became infected with the novel coronavirus even though neither one of their parents tested positive for the virus.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
JUNE 24, 2020 / 2:30 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Newborn Mexican triplets have coronavirus, but parents do not
Rocio Lopez
2 MIN READ
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican health authorities are trying to understand how a set of newborn triplets became infected with the novel coronavirus even though neither one of their parents tested positive for the virus.
Health authorities called the case “unheard of.”
The triplets, a girl and two boys, were tested four hours after being born at 7-1/2 months last week in the central state San Luis Potosi, health authorities said.
Initially, health authorities said the mother was believed to be an asymptomatic carrier of the virus. But her tests later showed that neither she nor the father were infected.
The parents’ results are negative, which catches our attention,” said Monica Rangel, secretary of health for the state, during a news conference on Tuesday.
“We specifically requested since yesterday ... that a group of experts investigates the case.”
Two of the babies born on June 17 are in good health and show no symptoms of COVID-19, doctors treating the triplets said, while the third one has pneumonia but is in stable condition.
Rangel said the triplets will remain hospitalized and under observation.
Mexico has reported more than 190,000 coronavirus cases and a total of 23,377 deaths, making it seventh in most virus-related deaths in the world, according to a Reuters tally.
Reporting by Rocio Lopez and Adriana Barrera; Writing by Stefanie Eschenbacher
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
So, if black people are exempted from wearing masks, and coronavirus 19 affects black people more seriously, with more deaths, how is this county's exemption not a form of bad advice that can lead to higher deaths to blacks? There already have been observations that if this is an engineered virus, then it is targeting darker skinned people. This is a lose-lose proposition.(fair use applies)Oregon county's coronavirus mask order exempts 'people of color' who have 'heightened concerns about racial profiling'
Amid “heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment,” a county in Oregon is allowing its residents of color to be in public without coronavirus face coverings, according to reports.
Oregon county's coronavirus mask order exempts 'people of color' who have 'heightened concerns about racial profiling'
Frank Miles
Published 4 hours ago
CDC advises having a face mask, hand sanitizer, and tissues when venturing out
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat weighs in.
Amid “heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment,” a county in Oregon is allowing its residents of color to be in public without coronavirus face coverings, according to reports.
Health officials in Lincoln County announced people of color are exempt from the new rule instituted last week.
“No person shall intimidate or harass people who do not comply,” health officials said.
The order is to add safety -- although experts are wary about new dangers considering given racial stereotypes.
“For many black people, deciding whether or not to wear a bandanna in public to protect themselves and others from contracting coronavirus is a lose-lose situation that can result in life-threatening consequences either way,” ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, said.
“This is in the larger context of black men fitting the description of a suspect who has a hood on, who has a face covering on,” Trevon Logan, an economics professor at Ohio State University, added. “It looks like almost every criminal sketch of any garden-variety black suspect.”
As of Monday’s case count, according to data on the state’s website, the total number of people who have tested positive for the deadly disease in the state is 7,083. In addition the state’s death toll has increased to 192 people.
Since the start of the pandemic, 206,381 people in Oregon have been tested for coronavirus.
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danielboon
TB Fanatic
naturallysweet
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Lincoln county is pretty much a rural coastal county with a 98% white population. I'm sure the 2 people who live there are happy.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
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101 - How Families Can Make Decisions Around Summer Activities During COVID-19
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marsh
On TB every waking moment
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