BBC: China pneumonia outbreak: COVID-19 Global Pandemic

[zCommander]

30 minutes ago, The Evil Genius said:

 

 

Would you say we are at least 5-10 years though from fully knowing that? Hence my use of "likely". 

 

No. It doesn't take that long. The damage to your lung is right away after the cells in the lungs get infected and the cells are destroyed. It is a respiratory virus and makes you cough so it can spread. You would know right away if you are not able to breath like you used to. It is the same as when people lose the ability to taste and smell. You don't have to wait 5 years to find out. 

 

Keep in mind you were talking just about the lungs and the heart. 

 

So for the lucky few they will have immunity for life. Hopefully. 

 

For the rest of us, vaccine will be just fine.

 

 

[EmirOfShmo]

My niece - special ed teacher in southern MD - is PISSED about Hogan's 3/1 mandate. I don't know WTF Hogan is thinking. 

[visionary]

 

[spjunkies]

 

[China]

New UK Covid variant may be 30% more deadly, says Johnson

 

PM warns B117 may increase death rate as well as being up to 70% more transmissible

 

The new UK coronavirus variant may be 30% more deadly, Boris Johnson said on Friday as he warned of stricter travel curbs and continued lockdown measures while the infection rate remains “forbiddingly high”.

 

In findings that dampened hopes of the increasingly prevalent B117 variant becoming less lethal over time, researchers on the government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) concluded that it may increase the death rate by 30%-40%.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

The world is going to ****. Can't even trust sorcerers any more.

[skinsmarydu]

[TradeTheBeal!]

Are Hops or Barley considered an herb?

 

Asking for a friend...

[Dan T.]

Laugh? Cry? A little of both?

 

 

[visionary]

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[visionary]

 

[China]

Quebec researchers say they have found an effective drug to fight COVID-19

 

A team of researchers from the Montreal Heart Institute believe they have found an effective weapon against COVID-19: colchicine, an oral tablet already known and used for other diseases.

 

For Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, who led the study, this is a "major scientific discovery," he said. Colchicine is the first "effective oral drug to treat out-of-hospital patients."

 

The ColCorona study involved 4,159 patients whose diagnosis of COVID-19 had been confirmed by a nasopharyngeal test (PCR).

Analysis of the study found that colchicine resulted in reductions in hospitalizations by 25 per cent, the need for mechanical ventilation by 50 per cent, and deaths by 44 per cent.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Protesters torch Covid test center in Holland on first day of curfew

 

Protests against coronavirus restrictions descended into violence across Holland. The country’s government enforced a curfew from 9:00 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. to reduce the spread of the virus amid fears of the new U.K. variant. In Amsterdam, Eindhoven, and other locations, demonstrators against the restrictions clashed with the police.
 

Click on the link for video

[gbear]

and into the teeth of the spread of the new variant, MD is trying to open schools by March 1. 

 

Maybe it is just me, but I think this is the result of two factors.  The first is we think having a vaccine is we want to be done with COVID19 bad enough to say this problem is solved to the point where people are resuming their normal lives as soon as they have the first dose.  The second is we just don't understand large numbers making us think our current plan of 100 million doses in 100 days is ambitious enough to get us past this COVID nightmare.  I wrote that last Thursday, before all the new information last Friday came out about the mutated versions of the virus not being prevented as well by our existing vaccines.  Now on Monday, we hear it may be "more deadly?"  I hope that is just because it spreads more easily, not because it is more deadly once infected.

 

 

[purbeast]

As someone with a 5 year old doing virtual kindergarten, I am all for my son going to school come March 1st barring all the proper precautions are in place.  I was a bit disappointed when they moved the date from Feb 1st back to March 15th (moco).  I watched the last live meeting they had and the first hour or so included parents pre-recorded videos and I'd say the split of parents for/against going back on Feb 1st was about 80/20.  A lot of the people wanting their kids back were special needs parents and talked about how far of a step back their kids have regressed due to this, and then had facts too back up their claims of schools being safe in other parts of the country and also in MD.

 

But my son is over this virtual school thing.  We also have friends who have had their kids in private schools since last fall and with the proper precautions, and there have been zero cases in those schools.

 

I believe it can be safely done and will be more beneficial than having these young kids doing virtual school.  My 5 year old is not built to be behind a computer screen for 5 hours a day.  By Thursday he's completely checked out.  

[gbear]

Be careful what you believe about those private schools having 0 cases.  I know of at least one private school in Annapolis that had cases but reported nothing back to the parents.  The teacher I know from that school said every private school in the area has had cases.  Private schools are not required to disclose COVID cases. 

 

If you hear 0, that should be a warning bell to you.  There are enough cases in the community that make the odds of 0 cases in an entire school unlikely.  The question should be is there a greater percentage than the community at large.  Thus, if you hear 0, the odds are you are being mislead.

 

On the desire for special needs kids to be back, I doubt there are many who wish it more than me and my family.  We have 4 special needs kids.  My younger daughter is blind and has a full time aid at school.  At home, she has only my wife...and we have 3 more special needs kids.  My oldest is about to fail her first year of high school.  I get it.  I want us back too.  However, my oldest also has half a functioning heart.  Two of my remaining 3 were very premi (lung issues).  I want us back too, but I want it to be safe!

 

I note there are things other states have done that make sense.  Look at bringing back those who need it first, those who are falling furthest behind as a result of distance leaning.  Think special needs, ESL, and those without adequate access to computers and internet.  I note countries in Europe are going back to distance learning as the virus tolls are increasing.  They should be our canary in the coal mine of in person schooling.

[purbeast]

10 minutes ago, gbear said:

On the desire for special needs kids to be back, I doubt there are many who wish it more than me and my family.  We have 4 special needs kids.  My younger daughter is blind and has a full time aid at school.  At home, she has only my wife...and we have 3 more special needs kids.  My oldest is about to fail her first year of high school.  I get it.  I want us back too.  However, my oldest also has half a functioning heart.  Two of my remaining 3 were very premi (lung issues).  I want us back too, but I want it to be safe!

The bold is what I believe can be done right now.  I believe it can be safe to do in person learning if proper precautions are taken.  

 

But the bold is also where many people have differing views.  Many don't believe it can be done safely.

Edited January 25, 2021 by purbeast

[gbear]

Therein lie some of my complaints.  We are not doing what many are doing to make it safe.  Are we going to do temp checks for kids coming to school?  Are we going to do regular COVID tests for students and faculty (or even randomized to get a feel for community spread in school)?  Are we going to provide enough air purifiers to overcome the poor ventilation in many old school buildings? Are we going to vaccinate our teachers and support staff?  Right now teachers in MD were told to call back Feb 1 to see about scheduling them because we don't have enough vaccine to give them their first dose.  Keep in mind, they need time after the second dose for protection, and as of Friday we found out even that isn't great against the new variant expected to be the dominant strain in the U.S. by the end of March.

 

My point is we are not doing all we can or even should.  We look at other school systems where they have done many of those things and say, "see it is safe."  However, many of them are shutting again, and it is into that storm which we are opening our schools.  I worry it is the wrong decision, and I think it is not the best decision based on current metrics and knowledge.

[TheGoodBits]

2 minutes ago, gbear said:

Therein lie some of my complaints.  We are not doing what many are doing to make it safe.  Are we going to do temp checks for kids coming to school?  Are we going to do regular COVID tests for students and faculty (or even randomized to get a feel for community spread in school)?  Are we going to provide enough air purifiers to overcome the poor ventilation in many old school buildings? Are we going to vaccinate our teachers and support staff?  Right now teachers in MD were told to call back Feb 1 to see about scheduling them because we don't have enough vaccine to give them their first dose.  Keep in mind, they need time after the second dose for protection, and as of Friday we found out even that isn't great against the new variant expected to be the dominant strain in the U.S. by the end of March.

 

My point is we are not doing all we can or even should.  We look at other school systems where they have done many of those things and say, "see it is safe."  However, many of them are shutting again, and it is into that storm which we are opening our schools.  I worry it is the wrong decision, and I think it is not the best decision based on current metrics and knowledge.

It’s insane to open now if the schools were closed at any point prior to now. Especially when if you just ride out the rest of this school year virtual and focus on vaccinating as many people as possible over the next 6mo, you very well could open safely in the fall. 

[purbeast]

13 minutes ago, skinsfan_1215 said:

It’s insane to open now if the schools were closed at any point prior to now. Especially when if you just ride out the rest of this school year virtual and focus on vaccinating as many people as possible over the next 6mo, you very well could open safely in the fall. 

Have they started testing the vaccine on kids yet?  Last I had heard was that kids aren't even going to be getting the vaccine any time soon which I would guess includes over the next 6 months.

[TheGoodBits]

4 minutes ago, purbeast said:

Have they started testing the vaccine on kids yet?  Last I had heard was that kids aren't even going to be getting the vaccine any time soon which I would guess includes over the next 6 months.

They’ve started testing. The larger point is that you could reasonably expect to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% immunity by Sept (between the 15-20% who have already had the virus and the vaccine rollout). That is going to dramatically reduce community spread, you’ll have all your vulnerable population covered, and you’ll have all your school staff covered. It won’t be back to normal necessarily, you’ll still need kids wearing masks, etc. But it’ll be much safer to open schools. 

[gbear]

3 minutes ago, skinsfan_1215 said:

They’ve started testing. The larger point is that you could reasonably expect to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% immunity by Sept (between the 15-20% who have already had the virus and the vaccine rollout). That is going to dramatically reduce community spread, you’ll have all your vulnerable population covered, and you’ll have all your school staff covered. It won’t be back to normal necessarily, you’ll still need kids wearing masks, etc. But it’ll be much safer to open schools. 

Sadly even this will require a huge increase in our procurement and use of vaccines.  The current stretch goal is 100 million doses in 100 days, or 1 million per day average.  That seems like a lot, but it ignores the scale of the project to reach herd immunity.  We need north of 520 million doses to get to the 80% for herd immunity.  If we get to 70% by September, that will be huge.  We still won't be at the typical line for herd immunity I have seen quoted, but we will be progressing towards it rapidly.  I would love that outcome.  I would feel comfortable sending my kids to school at that point knowing we are so close.

[tshile]

CDC just raised their immunity after contracting covid from 3 months to 5

the cdc is saying spread among young children is low even when school resumes

virginia department of health is saying that there is no statistically significant difference in community conditions between communities that have in person schooling and those that don’t. 
 

sorry but the arguments for keeping school shut down to virtual only have been getting weaker as the pandemic goes on, not stronger. 
 

there are lots of reasons for this. But ultimately some people are going to have to accept that the discussion of how to return kids to school is appropriate and they can no longer just shut the conversation down. The data and science doesn’t support shutting the schools down anymore. And it hasn’t for a while. 

[just654]

My Wife is a teacher in PG county and we have this discussion on about opening schools it seems on a daily basis. We are both republican but both are taking COVID seriously. I having been saying since the start of the school year opening schools should not be a county by county hard line. It really should be school district by school district. We live in Ellicott City. There is no reason why the kids up here should not be in school. But my wife Teaches in a school PG county right in the middle of the highest COVID numbers in PG county. I think what needs to be done is break everything down to school level. If this district is below a certain level, they need to open. My wife's school in the last 2 weeks have lost 2 Kitchen workers and one other worker has been on a vent for 3 weeks now.  And I dont have a kid that is school age.

 

The Vaccine has been a nightmare for her. They are being told we will start Feb 1, but nothing on how to sign up. I am stalking Marylandvax.com to see if I can get her appointment sooner. I am a vol fire fighter. I have had shot 1 and scheduled for shot 2.  

Edited January 25, 2021 by just654