April 29, 20205 yr 6 minutes ago, Toastrel said: Hmm, Dr. Fauci says the US may have enough tests by the end of May or beginning of June. The president says we already have enough. The best and most testing ever by anyone. The vice-President says he is tested constantly and yet, doesn't wear a mask when he visited the Mayo clinic yesterday. I wonder who's word I should take? (hmm, on April 3rd, White House mandates coronavirus test for anyone in 'close proximity' to Trump or Pence") if I'm playing devil's advocate here, if Pence is getting regularly tested and is coming up negative, him not wearing a mask is slightly less of an issue. most masks, unless they're N95 or better, are more about protecting others from you, not you from others. to be sure, he should still be wearing one because tests can come up with false negatives and it's disrespectful frankly. and he should be leading by example. but to me, there are more pressing issues than whether Pence is or is not wearing a mask.
April 29, 20205 yr 34 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: if I'm playing devil's advocate here, if Pence is getting regularly tested and is coming up negative, him not wearing a mask is slightly less of an issue. most masks, unless they're N95 or better, are more about protecting others from you, not you from others. to be sure, he should still be wearing one because tests can come up with false negatives and it's disrespectful frankly. and he should be leading by example. but to me, there are more pressing issues than whether Pence is or is not wearing a mask. For sure its a minor grievance in the colossal pile on of F ups, but still, the VEEP absolutely should be donning an N95 , pretty sure he can get one. And second, this was a photo op giving sending the wrong message. Won't spend my morning on it, but just another example of why I haven't been impressed by pence either.
April 29, 20205 yr Just now, dawkins4prez said: For sure its a minor grievance in the colossal pile on of F ups, but still, the VEEP absolutely should be donning an N95 , pretty sure he can get one. And second, this was a photo op giving sending the wrong message. Won't spend my morning on it, but just another example of why I haven't been impressed by pence either. Pence represents at most some return to the range of "normal human being" as compared to Trump. That's about it. He also sucks in many ways. But he is, at least, generally speaking a "normal human being" capable of understanding that he has limitations in his knowledge, and generally doesn't suffer from verbal diarrhea. Well, not on a daily basis.
April 29, 20205 yr 44 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: him not wearing a mask is slightly less of an issue. I’d agree if other politicians and citizens wish to impose criminal charges on those who don’t wear a masks in public.
April 29, 20205 yr 52 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: if I'm playing devil's advocate here, if Pence is getting regularly tested and is coming up negative, him not wearing a mask is slightly less of an issue. most masks, unless they're N95 or better, are more about protecting others from you, not you from others. to be sure, he should still be wearing one because tests can come up with false negatives and it's disrespectful frankly. and he should be leading by example. but to me, there are more pressing issues than whether Pence is or is not wearing a mask. Leaders lead by example. This says, "I'm an idiot." He doesn't feel he needs one because he is tested regularly. If you catch it, you are contagious, whether you have been tested or not, and there are a high number of false negatives being reported, so it makes it even more stupid. Is this a big deal, not for me, I won't come in contact with him. Thanks to idiots like the vice-president not wearing a mask in a hospital. Where did he take the virus after he left?
April 29, 20205 yr Tough one for Pence. On one hand he’s in a hospital visiting Corona patients and masks are mandatory. On the other hand Trump’s followers believe wearing a mask makes you look scared and weak. He couldn’t win that one.
April 29, 20205 yr 2 minutes ago, Dave Moss said: Tough one for Pence. On one hand he’s in a hospital visiting Corona patients and masks are mandatory. On the other hand Trump’s followers believe wearing a mask makes you look scared and weak. He couldn’t win that one. He's the Space Force Commander. They are required to remove all headgear for close ups.
April 29, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, JohnSnowsHair said: if I'm playing devil's advocate here, if Pence is getting regularly tested and is coming up negative, him not wearing a mask is slightly less of an issue. most masks, unless they're N95 or better, are more about protecting others from you, not you from others. to be sure, he should still be wearing one because tests can come up with false negatives and it's disrespectful frankly. and he should be leading by example. but to me, there are more pressing issues than whether Pence is or is not wearing a mask. So yeah, he's being a selfish A-hole in a hospital of all places.
April 29, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, dawkins4prez said: For sure its a minor grievance in the colossal pile on of F ups, but still, the VEEP absolutely should be donning an N95 , pretty sure he can get one. And second, this was a photo op giving sending the wrong message. Won't spend my morning on it, but just another example of why I haven't been impressed by pence either. He shouldn’t be wearing an N95 mask. He’s not performing intubations..... He should be wearing a plain surgical mask. Leaders are supposed to set examples for others to follow. And shame on Mayo Clinic for allowing him to enter without a mask. I don’t care who he is, someone needed to sack up and tell him it is mandatory, not optional. The administration wouldn’t let people from the Mayo Clinic tour the White House without following the White House rules right? Well when you’re in the Mayo Clinic, you follow their rules. Period. End of story.
April 29, 20205 yr Trump should’ve used the defense production act to require PPE to be manufactured. Additionally, he should use the defense production act for these meat facilities but only with the required PPE for these people. If the meat industry goes completely silent, it will put a huge drain on the rest of the food supply industry and make a bad situation in the grocery stores even worse. He should have done both
April 29, 20205 yr 29 minutes ago, Smokesdawg said: Trump should’ve used the defense production act to require PPE to be manufactured. Additionally, he should use the defense production act for these meat facilities but only with the required PPE for these people. If the meat industry goes completely silent, it will put a huge drain on the rest of the food supply industry and make a bad situation in the grocery stores even worse. He should have done both this idiot can't even do authoritarianism right.
April 29, 20205 yr 1 minute ago, JohnSnowsHair said: this idiot can't even do authoritarianism right. He doesn't care about other people. He does care about his ability to get hamberders. He's doing it 100% right, based on his priorities.
April 29, 20205 yr I'm guessing we are going to hear alot about remdesivir in the next weeks from trump. Number one, he's still searching for that magic bullet for this thing. Number two.... you guessed it.... he owns between $500,000 and $1 mil in stock of Gilead, maker of remdesivir.
April 29, 20205 yr Here's how Trump has handled this crisis over the last two months Plan A : Pretend the virus doesn't exist / isn't a threat (Virus in U.S.) Plan B : Pray the virus disappears somehow (Virus spreading around U.S.) Plan C : Hope someone (maybe even Trump) discovers a miracle cure (Virus killing over 60,000 people in six weeks) Plan D : Suggest we should all go back to work to avert economic disaster
April 29, 20205 yr Pence defying the rules going inside without a mask. You wish someone would have thrown him out of there, or made him put one on. Or just stay home!!! WTF? Horrible example. Dumb arse move. I don't care how many times you test negative.
April 29, 20205 yr https://www.nothingbutthetruthmd.com/2020/04/42920-covid-19-update.html Good evening: In previous posts, I have briefly touched on the plight of the Mass Transit workers of New York City and yesterday I talked about the problems in the meatpacking industry. For the most part (possibly entirely) the disease burdens in these two workforces could have been dramatically decreased by wearing masks and good hand hygiene. Physical distancing was and is not practical. Tonight I would like to look at the plight of prisoners. They are sort of a captive audience (no pun intended). They are already sheltering in place so they have been infected by those with the freedom to come and go or recent entries into the system and they are forced to live by the rules of others with no chance to use their own good common sense if they have any. Prison - house individuals who have been convicted of crimes and are serving longer sentences and are usually crowded. Jails - house individuals awaiting trials or serving shorter sentences and are usually crowded. There are currently 1183 state prisons, 110 federal prisons, 1772 juvenile correctional institutes, 3134 jails, 218 immigration detention centers and 80 Indian Country Jails and military prisons. There are 2.3 million individuals who currently call these facilities home. In the 1918 Spanish Flu influenza 50% of the 1900 inmates at San Quentin were infected in the first wave of the infection. In the two waves, a single incoming prisoner was thought to have initiated the outbreaks in this carceral environment. Currently Rikers Island, with a population of about 15,000 inmates has 250 covid positive infections(1.3% ) and Cook County Jail with a population of about 6000 inmates has 350 covid positive infections (5.8%) Most recently a Princess Cruise line ship was transformed into a jail (loss of freedom to come and go and crowded conditions, accommodations slightly better, medical care overwhelmed) with 3700 passengers on board and was quarantined in Yokohama, Japan for approximately four weeks. Guests were tested if symptomatic, crew were tested who were symptomatic or requested medical attention. (Japan did very little in the way of testing during this crisis but has relied heavily on isolation of ANY symptomatic individuals and almost universal mask wearing) There were 700 cases confirmed aboard ship by RT-PCR testing, about 18.9 % of the total population. Based on current accepted estimates we can assume that there were probably 700 asymptomatic carriers on board also. (total infected population of about 38%) This is a tremendously large percentage of infected individuals compared to the general population of say the US, which is about 0.6%, if you count the assumed number of asymptomatic carriers. The case fatality rate on the other hand was only 1.7% which is much lower than the current case fatality rate in the US of about 5.2%. The infected case fatality rate is about half of that for each group. Acquisition of Herd Immunity (if the antibodies are protective for 40 weeks) is almost an impossibility with the flattening of the curve and the need for about 170,000,000 infected individuals in the US. On the ship however, Herd Immunity could have been reached with another 450 total infections, half of which would be symptomatic and half asymptomatic. In the carceral environment, conditions are crowded, PPE have not been used (until recently), physical distancing cannot be maintained, and potential asymptomatic carriers come and go. In state prisons over 131,500 of the inmates are over 55 and there are a large number of inmates with comorbidities. There are many vulnerable individuals being detained. The US Constitution guarantees the right to health care for those incarcerated. The health care systems are small and are easily overwhelmed. Some inmates are forced to pay co-pays and have long wait times, which serve as a disincentive to access to care. Since the costs of healthcare are born by the prison, there is also a disincentive to refer prisoners for outside care. The quality of the healthcare provided has been called into questions at time. The solutions are not easy, Obviously decreasing crowding and mandating the use of PPE would be expected to have the same benefits that have been seen in the societies at large in almost all countries where such practices have been utilized. Testing and cohorting infected and non-infected inmates will decrease the transmission of the virus. Interestingly, Herd Immunity levels will probably be reached in some prisons and jails around the Country. Sources: Blood in the Water by Gillian Galbraith (2007) JAMA Network - Covid-19 in Prisons and Jails in the United States, April 28, 2020 PEW Charitable Trust, Prison Healthcare: Costs and Quality October 2017 Fragmented Facts: From the USCF Grand Rounds 4/26/20 Update on Covid 19: The next stage of Pandemic and Virology Dr. George Rutherford, Respected expert in Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Hawaii is currently mandating and enforcing 14 day quarantine on all individuals entering the state at their own expense. Many of the antibody tests currently in use give a false positive rate of 30% Not all circulating antibodies are neutralizing (protective). RT-PCR tests only predict a 3 day interval of non-infectivity, the time from the negative result until the time of possible viral shedding from a new infection. As states ease restrictions they should be monitoring infection rates and be prepared to tighten up restrictions if infection rates increase. Looking at the 1918 Spanish Influenza, the second wave came in the fall with the opening of schools and was more severe than the first wave. He is very concerned about this occurring again. I am VERY concerned, and is probably why I am running out of Crown which I didn't think was possible. I realize that I am somewhat fixated on wearing masks, those of you who have been reading these emails/posts for awhile might suggest that I am obsessed with wearing masks. This comes from my reading of the literature, the fact that SARS was eradicated by isolation,sanitation and masks, that healthcare workers working among Covid-19 patients seem to be safe when everyone is wearing a mask, that the CDC is now recommending that masks be worn by all, in essential industries, and that they are even recommending that Covid-19 healthcare workers who are asymptomatic can return to work. It is just so easy. Near the end of World War II, when the allies began discovering the "death camps", General Eisenhower was incensed by what he discovered. He wisely insisted that the press, officers, the local townspeople, dignitaries and politicians tour the camps so that the visualization of the horrors that occurred there, would be remembered, never to be repeated or denied. I think some similar video productions of the strain and transformation that the healthcare system has had to endure, the bodies stacked in the morgues, the staff with garbage bags for protection, and the suffering and isolation of the patients, be produced, and given ample air time, that our society might see what cannot be repeated this fall. Maybe then, we will be inclined to live safely. Healthcare Costs I will have more to say on this topic in the near future. The costs have been enormous and will continue to be significant as we continue caring for the ongoing infections. Testing will play a larger role in the possible eradication of the virus with a case tracking/tracing strategy. Serology testing may also play a role if antibodies prove to be protective for some period of time and the testing accuracy can be improved. I hear and read about enormous numbers of serology tests being performed and we do not yet know if we are improving the health of anyone. The labs are certainly grateful. All of this care is not free. It will eventually need to be paid for. I hear about, and see, written protocols (not by experts) for testing that may not contribute to health. Not a new phenomena, because it is estimated by the National Institute of Health that 1/3 of all healthcare dollars spent do not contribute to better health. I sense that people feel that if Insurance covers "it", "it" is free, Nothing could be further from the truth. It is coming from government coffers, increased premiums , decreased fees or increased debt in Health Systems that are often times struggling already. Numbers: 1800 from the Hopkins website Tests - 6,026170 (230,442 tests performed in the last 24 hours) USA - 1,034,884 (up 2.39%, down from 2.73% the day before, 2707 fewer new cases than the day before) New York - 299,691 (up 1.52%,) New Jersey - 116,325 (up 2.16%, down from 2.39%, 199 fewer new cases than the day before) Pennsylvania - 46,327 ( up 2.63% down from 4.34% the day before, 691 fewer new cases than the day before) Texas - 26,920 (up 2.70%, down from 3.72% the day before, 258 fewer new cases than the day before) South Carolina -5735 (up 4.22%, up from 2.09% the day before) California - 46.507 (up 2.21% ,down from 3.74% the day before, 634 fewer new cases than the day before) Maryland - 20,849 ( up 3.65%, up from 3.21%) World - 3,179,494 (up 2.22%, down from 2.66%, 11,492 fewer new cases than the day before) Projections Mortality for this day USA exceeded mortality for this day and was comparable to that experienced on 4/16/20 New Jersey exceeded mortality projections for this day and was comparable to that of 4/22/20 New York exceeded projected mortalities for this and was comparable to that of 4/25/20 Pennsylvania far exceeded projections for the day and exceeded the highest projections made for this state Maryland exceeded projections for this day and were comparable for those projected for 4/25/20 South Carolina exceeded projections for this day and were comparable for those of 4/22/20 The above states are coming down the reverse slope of projections slower than expected which is indicative of a longer recovery California and Texas were fine. Hospital bed utilization Hospital bed utilization for California, Maryland and Texas exceed the numbers ever projected for these states. New Jersey has bed utilization expected for 4/23/20 New York has bed utilization expected for 4/20/20 Pennsylvania has bed utilization expected for 4/20/20 These states are all past there peaks and indicates that coming down the reverse slope of the projection curve is slower than expected and is indicative of a longer recovery. I will talk about Remdisivir once it has been published by a peer reviewed journal. Please get this message to a new reader. The website has had over 2300 hits Live Safely Be Well Thank you all for helping to spread this important message
April 29, 20205 yr 1 day after beaches around me are open, and it seems social distancing is a thing of the past. Just on my 20 or so minute walk with the dog in the suburbs and there is a cornhole tournament between 10 or so teens, a house with 7 cars parked outside (on my block, usually 2 max) and a full blown soccer game. I imagine the beaches are also packed. We'll see what happens.
April 30, 20205 yr 7 hours ago, Smokesdawg said: I'm guessing we are going to hear alot about remdesivir in the next weeks from trump. Number one, he's still searching for that magic bullet for this thing. Number two.... you guessed it.... he owns between $500,000 and $1 mil in stock of Gilead, maker of remdesivir. Come on with the financial conspiracy stuff. This is a huuuuuge stretch. 1) Trump owns somewhere between 38 million to 80+ million in stock holdings. So you’re talking about something that makes up maybe 1.25% of his portfolio. 2) the majority of his stock holdings are in mutual funds, not direct stock purchases.
April 30, 20205 yr 16 minutes ago, Phillyterp85 said: Come on with the financial conspiracy stuff. This is a huuuuuge stretch. 1) Trump owns somewhere between 38 million to 80+ million in stock holdings. So you’re talking about something that makes up maybe 1.25% of his portfolio. 2) the majority of his stock holdings are in mutual funds, not direct stock purchases. At least the value has increased this time. Last time it was that he pushed that other drug because he owned about $99 to $1,500 of Sanofi, per the people who really wanted to believe he had a financial interest.
April 30, 20205 yr I am going out of my mind hearing about this flipping Captain (now Colonel) Tom story in the UK. It's as talked about on the TV as COVID-19. What he did was impressive there is no doubt about that but what he has raised isn't down to him it is down to those donating and the fact that it has been plugged constantly on our TVs. There are plenty of people doing plenty of very incredible things around the world that haven't gotten anywhere near the air time. And just to add it isn't his fault, I don't blame him I just think it's over the top.
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