May 12, 20205 yr Author LINK Temple hospital workers say Chinese masks meant to protect against COVID-19 are falling apart. by Jason Laughlin, Updated: May 12, 2020- 3:53 PM The Chinese-made protective masks Temple University Hospital workers use while treating COVID-19 patients are splitting along the seams, sprouting holes, and breaking along the elastic bands that hold the lifesaving equipment onto doctors’ and nurses’ faces. Some medical staff are bringing their own masks to work; others are doubling up masks, or tying surgical masks in front of their KN95 masks. Nearly 200 workers in the Temple University Health System have tested positive for the virus, according to a union representing nurses and other clinical workers, and 58 of them work at the hospital on North Broad Street. "When you’re in front of a patient and the mask falls off your face, what are you going to do, cover your face with your elbow?" said Celeste Bevans, a radiology technician and a representative of the Temple University Allied Health Professionals union. Each medical worker is typically issued a new KN95 daily, Bevans said, and with even one day of use the workers have reported equipment failures. The masks get their names from the fact that if properly fitted, they should filter 95% of particles the size of the coronavirus. Just last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration listed as unsuitable dozens of brands of Chinese mask imports that had been authorized under an emergency order, though they did not get the usual vetting process. The KN95 masks used by Temple, which staff members say are manufactured by Trust Loyalty & Glory Epoch Network Technology Co. of Suzhou City, China, "meet FDA guidelines and CDC recommendations,” said Jeremy Walter, a spokesperson for Temple hospital. "We will continue to monitor the situation and respond appropriately,” he said, but did not respond to questions seeking more specifics. Medical staff who complain they cannot get the masks to fit properly are told by administrators that "we’re using them wrong,” Bevans said. Trust Loyalty & Glory Epoch is registered as a mask importer with the FDA, but that is no guarantee of quality. "That registration in the context of a COVID health emergency ... doesn’t mean very much,” said Anne Miller, head of supplier vetting for ProjectN95, a nonprofit that seeks to validate the quality of protective gear in the wake of the crisis. "I feel some compassion for that hospital,” she said of Temple, "because I really don’t think they’re trying to give their health-care workers bad product.” On April 3, the FDA responded to the shortage of medical protective gear with an Emergency Use Authorization order that listed almost 90 Chinese mask manufacturers as suppliers for N95-quality masks. The manufacturers documented that the masks met N95 mask standards through testing in an independent lab. Some masks that had passed overseas testing and won authorization flunked testing by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent weeks, according to the New York Times. The test results prompted the FDA to withdraw from its authorized list 65 manufacturers who used tests from overseas labs as proof of quality, the agency said. The FDA no longer authorizes masks submitted with overseas lab results. Trust Loyalty & Glory Epoch products, though registered with the FDA, were never listed among the authorized manufacturers, so it was not on the list of banned products released by the FDA on Thursday. The company’s U.S. agent, Sungo Technical Service Inc. of Chicago, did not reply to requests for comment. The Trust Loyalty website says it has been manufacturing KN95 masks since 2015. The company’s masks were tested in a Chinese laboratory, according to the website, and reported a particle filtration efficiency better than or equal to 95%. Across town from Temple, Main Line Health System bought 150,000 masks from another Chinese manufacturer on March 23. It was among those banned by the the FDA Thursday. Few of the masks had been used. "The inability to get basic PPE would have never been a concern in the past,” said Chris Torres, a Main Line vice president. "Now it will forever change how we look at our supply chain going forward.” Front-line nurses in the University of Pennsylvania Health System said they have been issued masks from 3M Co., the same company the hospitals used before the coronavirus pandemic. A spokesperson for Einstein Health System, which along with Temple has seen a disproportionate share of virus patients, said it had not purchased masks from the FDA list.
May 12, 20205 yr 21 minutes ago, DiPros said: It is. But- Mr. Di lived the life he wanted. He took risks, was a heavy smoker and drinker. He was a hard worker as well. His strength has really come through. He's not ready quite yet. Damn Di, I’m so sorry to hear that. I hope his last weeks are full of happiness and not much pain. And I hope you find the strength to make it through this.
May 12, 20205 yr https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/unreleased-white-house-report-shows-coronavirus-rates-spiking-heartland-communities-n1204751 Quote Unreleased White House report shows coronavirus rates spiking in heartland communities Coronavirus infection rates are spiking to new highs in several metropolitan areas and smaller communities across the country, according to undisclosed data the White House's pandemic task force is using to track rates of infection, which was obtained by NBC News. The data in a May 7 coronavirus task force report are at odds with President Donald Trump's declaration Monday that "all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly." The 10 top areas recorded surges of 72.4 percent or greater over a seven-day period compared to the previous week, according to a set of tables produced for the task force by its data and analytics unit. They include Nashville, Tennessee; Des Moines, Iowa; Amarillo, Texas; and — atop the list, with a 650 percent increase — Central City, Kentucky. On a separate list of "locations to watch," which didn't meet the precise criteria for the first set: Charlotte, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska; Minneapolis; Montgomery, Alabama; Columbus, Ohio; and Phoenix. The rates of new cases in Charlotte and Kansas City represented increases of more than 200 percent over the previous week, and other tables included in the data show clusters in neighboring counties that don't form geographic areas on their own, such as Wisconsin's Kenosha and Racine counties, which neighbor each other between Chicago and Milwaukee. So far, more than 80,000 people in the U.S. have died because of the coronavirus, and the rate of new cases overall hasn't yet subsided. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there were 23,792 new cases on Sunday — lower than the number for each of the previous four days but more than on May 4 and May 5. The spiking infection rates suggest that the pandemic is spreading quickly outside major coastal population centers that were early hot spots, while governors of some of the states that are home to new hot spots are following Trump's advice to relax stay-at-home restrictions. Alabama, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee, for example, have no stay-at-home orders, according to a task force map. In other states where restrictions are being put in place or repealed at the local level, some counties are experiencing surges. Dallas and Fort Bend counties in Texas, where decisions are made locally, are on a "locations to watch" list because they have recorded increases in numbers of cases of 116.8 percent and 64.8 percent, respectively. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whose state included the nation's highest-surging geographic area, said Monday that he has "felt no urgency" for Congress to approve another coronavirus response bill
May 12, 20205 yr 5 hours ago, dawkins4prez said: Increasing at a lesser rate and dropping are not the same thing mate. I must be reading the daily updates wrong when they say 1000+ fewer cases than the day before. Because they've been saying that for what seems like 2 weeks
May 12, 20205 yr Author LINK WHO sees 'potentially positive data' on COVID-19 treatments By Emma Farge GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that some treatments appear to be limiting the severity or length of the COVID-19 disease and said it was focusing on learning more about four or five of the most promising ones. The Geneva-based WHO is leading a global initiative to develop safe and effective drugs, tests and vaccines to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19. The respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus has infected 4.19 million people around the world, according to a Reuters tally. "We do have some treatments that seem to be in very early studies limiting the severity or the length of the illness but we do not have anything that can kill or stop the virus," spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a briefing, referring to the body's so-called Solidarity Trial of drugs against the disease. "We do have potentially positive data coming out but we need to see more data to be 100% confident that we can say this treatment over that one," she added. The WHO official sounded a note of caution around expectations for a vaccine, however, saying coronaviruses in general are "very tricky viruses" that are "difficult to produce vaccines against". More than 100 potential COVID-19 vaccines are being developed, including several in clinical trials. The WHO said in April a vaccine would take at least 12 months.
May 12, 20205 yr If you don't thinking testing is important I disagree wholeheartedly but sure it's a valid opinion we can argue I guess. But don't purposefully try to mislead people with this BS. Added fun facts: the president of Belarus has called the virus a "psychosis", just held a massive military parade, and suggested that his citizens drink vodka and go to the sauna to stay healthy.
May 12, 20205 yr 12 minutes ago, DEagle7 said: If you don't thinking testing is important I disagree wholeheartedly but sure it's a valid opinion we can argue I guess. But don't purposefully try to mislead people with this BS. Added fun facts: the president of Belarus has called the virus a "psychosis", just held a massive military parade, and suggested that his citizens drink vodka and go to the sauna to stay healthy. Stats are going to say what you want them to say. The US, per the world meters site, tested just under 10M people. Russia is next with 5.8M. Only 11 countries have tested over 1M people, with only two countries testing over 3M people. I do wonder what the most tests that could be performed daily in the US. From the numbers that the one posters dad says (name is escaping me, I apologize about that), it’s seems the US is testing about 300k a day recently.
May 12, 20205 yr 9 minutes ago, RPeeteRules said: Stats are going to say what you want them to say. The US, per the world meters site, tested just under 10M people. Russia is next with 5.8M. Only 11 countries have tested over 1M people, with only two countries testing over 3M people. I do wonder what the most tests that could be performed daily in the US. From the numbers that the one posters dad says (name is escaping me, I apologize about that), it’s seems the US is testing about 300k a day recently. Statistics can absolutely be manipulated to prove a point, but I don't think it's really debatable that per-capita testing is a far more reasonable and representative measure of how much testing a country is doing, and presenting raw numbers like that is pretty disingenuous. For the record, I think the same is true when we look at Corona deaths as well, where we're #1 in total deaths but like 9th or so in per capita deaths (taking mortality numbers at face value which is clearly not actually the case in places like China, Iran, Belarus among others).
May 12, 20205 yr 3 minutes ago, mayanh8 said: Whoa. Shocker. Censored for broken english no-no word Spoiler
May 12, 20205 yr 6 minutes ago, DEagle7 said: Statistics can absolutely be manipulated to prove a point, but I don't think it's really debatable that per-capita testing is a far more reasonable and representative measure of how much testing a country is doing, and presenting raw numbers like that is pretty disingenuous. For the record, I think the same is true when we look at Corona deaths as well, where we're #1 in total deaths but like 9th or so in per capita deaths (taking mortality numbers at face value which is clearly not actually the case in places like China, Iran, Belarus among others). Here’s the list of countries by testing per capita. I’m not sure if it really reveals much.
May 12, 20205 yr 5 minutes ago, RPeeteRules said: Here’s the list of countries by testing per capita. I’m not sure if it really reveals much. The per capita numbers are cut off for me in that picture but I've seen the list before. I think it reveals that taking a victory lap over being #1 in testing is a bit silly.
May 12, 20205 yr 13 minutes ago, DEagle7 said: The per capita numbers are cut off for me in that picture but I've seen the list before. I think it reveals that taking a victory lap over being #1 in testing is a bit silly. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries I agree being first in testing totals isn’t a brag thing, but being a certain rank in per capita testing doesn’t tell any story as well.
May 13, 20205 yr Bought a KN95 mask at the base exchange yesterday, the second I tried to put it on the elastic snapped
May 13, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, mayanh8 said: Whoa. Are those the ones that Jared Kushner's frat bros were sourcing from a windowless room in the whitehouse?
May 13, 20205 yr President Deals buying counterfeit masks is actually what I was expecting to happen.
May 13, 20205 yr 2 minutes ago, Dave Moss said: President Deals buying counterfeit masks is actually what I was expecting to happen. Everything from China is counterfeit.
May 13, 20205 yr 8 minutes ago, Smokesdawg said: Are those the ones that Jared Kushner's frat bros were sourcing from a windowless room in the whitehouse? I don't think so. These are masks that are in circulation in the consumer market. People and hospitals desperate for PPE bought this stuff up without doing their due diligence. 2 minutes ago, lynched1 said: Everything from China is counterfeit. That's not the dumbest thing you've ever posted here but it's close.
May 13, 20205 yr 4 minutes ago, mayanh8 said: That's not the dumbest thing you've ever posted her but it's close. I've never posted her. Mounted her a few times but never posted. Edit: Considering the source your comment isn't really much of a shot to the ego. It's like having Hannibal Lector analyze someone's sanity. Go sit down.
May 13, 20205 yr It’s pretty sad, but not surprising. States don’t have the ability to do quality control on emergency imports like masks. The federal government could have easily done it, but Trump skirted responsibility for buying equipment because he wants to win re-election.
May 13, 20205 yr 1 minute ago, Dave Moss said: Trump skirted responsibility because he wants to win re-election. So unlike any of the other 44 presidents. The man knows no bounds.
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