COVID-19

[scott2000]

In my experience that is not noticeably harder to breath in than the normal n95. I can't imagine wearing a n95 8-10 hours a day.

Yes....I've caught myself catching a couple breaths when sitting for more than 30 minutes with one....Crazy how much smell there is and the uniqueness of them when going without them....  a good or bad thing...lol

Hmmm..That temp sensing thing is interesting..... a Chameleon clothing line....

 

[JohnRoberts]

Yes....I've caught myself catching a couple breaths when sitting for more than 30 minutes with one....Crazy how much smell there is and the uniqueness of them when going without them....  a good or bad thing...lol

Hmmm..That temp sensing thing is interesting..... a Chameleon clothing line....

Speaking of masks, I have to check myself before telling these old ladies at walmart who leave their nose uncovered... that the mask needs to cover nose "and" mouth.  :

JR

 

[iomegaman]

Speaking of masks, I have to check myself before telling these old ladies at walmart who leave their nose uncovered... that the mask needs to cover nose "and" mouth.  :

JR

I see this all the time here in Tucson...makes the mask pointless...

I get it, it is hard to get used to and uncomfortable and a big pain in the butt...but if you're going to do it, then do it right.

As far as all the schadenfreude regarding Trump getting covid its not so much wanting ill for someone as much as it is relief that all the noise compassionate and science minded people have had to endure.

I have barely seen my grandkids and daughter for the last 6 months...I wear a mask everytime I go out in public and have constrained that activity to a bare minimum...

I have demonstrated compassion and mercy for people who refuse to accept the scientific consensus based on comfort and had to endure minor mocking for being diligent when others were not...its not schadenfreude to finally have some noise reduction from the peanut gallery, its relief.

 

[midwayfair]

So the only time I don't wear a mask when I go out is when I go running. I try to leave 10 feet when I have to pass people, and go during times of day when I don't expect very many people to be out, but it's tough sometimes on a narrow trial.

But I see people running with masks. I tried once and got really light headed and barely made it around the block. (The masks my work gave us are pretty thick.) They are going to kick some serious ass when we're allowed to have races again.

 

[Script]

Only few things are worse than a face (spit) mask wet with sweat while exercising -- can feel like being waterboarded.

Majority of people around here excercise outdoors with masks, cos you can easily pull up the mask from chin to cover mouth and nose when passing other people. Once passed, easy enough to pull mask down to chin again.

It's against recommended usage*** but it's what many people do around here, including joggers. Cyclists generally don't wear masks, but I do.

Funnily, sometimes, it also feels almost like a new form of greeting -- pulling up masks as a gesture of mutual recognition, much like in the olden times when people used to touch their hats.
_____
*** Once placed over mouth and face, do not touch face mask again until finally taking it off for good in a safe place.

 

[crazydoc]

Sort of strange they're treating that dude with dexamethasone. The only study I'm aware of has only shown a benefit for the seriously ill - those requiring mechanical ventilation or oxygen support (meaning to me the need for constant oxygen supplementation to keep the o2 saturation toward the normal range - in the 90's at the very least.) I don't think giving it to him for an hour or so for o2 dipping to 94% qualifies. There may be untoward immunosupressive effects for those not experiencing the hyper immune response believed to be a mechanism of lung and other injury in those seriously ill.

"The Panel recommends against using dexamethasone for the treatment of COVID-19 in patients who do not require supplemental oxygen."

"Survival benefit appeared greatest among participants who required invasive mechanical ventilation at randomization: 29.3% of participants in the dexamethasone arm died within 28 days of enrollment compared with 41.4% in the standard of care alone arm (rate ratio 0.64; 95% CI, 0.51–0.81).
    Among patients who required supplemental oxygen but not mechanical ventilation at enrollment, 23.3% of participants in the dexamethasone arm and 26.2% in the standard of care alone arm died within 28 days of enrollment (rate ratio 0.82; 95% CI, 0.72–0.94).
    No survival benefit was seen among participants who did not require oxygen therapy at enrollment; 17.8% of participants in the dexamethasone arm and 14.0% in the standard of care alone arm died within 28 days of enrollment (rate ratio 1.19; 95% CI, 0.91–1.55)."

https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/immune-based-therapy/immunomodulators/corticosteroids/

It makes me wonder if his condition is more serious than we're led to believe (or there could be newer data I'm not aware of.)

 

[scott2000]

It makes me wonder if his condition is more serious than we're led to believe (or there could be newer data I'm not aware of.)

Who knows. Wouldn't be surprising.

Different  topic.....
Wonder what they are going to do about these tests to get a hold on everything....I looked up Quest Diagnostics and their site is mum on the sensitivity.... ("However, no COVID-19 active infection tests have clinical sensitivity and specificity data at this time.")

A NY Times article echoing what the CDC points out in regards to this although the solutions differ....

"Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be.
"The usual diagnostic tests may simply be too sensitive and too slow to contain the spread of the virus.".....
...."A more reasonable cutoff would be 30 to 35, she added. Dr. Mina said he would set the figure at 30, or even less. Those changes would mean the amount of genetic material in a patient’s sample would have to be 100-fold to 1,000-fold that of the current standard for the test to return a positive result — at least, one worth acting on."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html

 

[JohnRoberts]

I have already shared about harm from false positives (like healthy patients quarantined with infected ones actually exposing them to the virus), but I can image sensitivity biased toward positive to not generate false negatives. IMO if you test positive on a fast test get tested again with a more reliable test.

JR

 

[iomegaman]

The Atlantic had an interesting article today about a missing variable in a lot of the Covid data...

The "dispersion" factor...

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/09/k-overlooked-variable-driving-pandemic/616548/?fbclid=IwAR2d789nmeIZzAtxmCJLFyIk7KA046Y33B2VBJn3U1kaNERYyHu30FPQhSc

 

[crazydoc]

The Atlantic had an interesting article today about a missing variable in a lot of the Covid data...

The "dispersion" factor...

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/09/k-overlooked-variable-driving-pandemic/616548/?fbclid=IwAR2d789nmeIZzAtxmCJLFyIk7KA046Y33B2VBJn3U1kaNERYyHu30FPQhSc

 

[Script]

Dispersion. Yes, it has been observed for quite a while now. And mix uneven dispersion with 40 percent  (or more) of cases caused by pre to low symptomatic persons -- and suddenly having everyone wear a mask makes a lot of sense.

Another interesting point raised in that article is consistent backward contact tracing. I.e. also asking where a person has been over a couple of days before onset of symptoms and/or positive diagnosis. In Japan they use question catalogues for that.

Have you been to a restaurant? Have you attended a large family reunion? A wedding, a birthday party, a funeral? Have you attended work-related meetings? Do you use public transport to commute to work? Etc etc

 

[iturnknobs]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.usnews.com/news/best-states/utah/articles/2020-10-05/thousands-of-minks-dead-in-covid-outbreak-on-utah-farms%3fcontext=amp

Could this be more deadly among humans? Weird result, nonetheless. Seems to exceed 3.3% mortality rate... near zero medical intervention.

 

[cyrano]

Happened in The Netherlands too. Farms were cleared.

It's obvious animals are affected too. We don't know which species exactly and there's no data about birds, fi. It's not an easy matter to research. Maybe we should ask field biologists to start testing any species they have access to?

 

[hodad]

The great state of Mississippi achieved something special--a 100% test positivity rate.  296 tests, 296 positives.  Of course, their rate of testing was by far the lowest in the nation. But still--that's quite a feat!
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/tracker/overview

 

[JohnRoberts]

The great state of Mississippi achieved something special--a 100% test positivity rate.  296 tests, 296 positives.  Of course, their rate of testing was by far the lowest in the nation. But still--that's quite a feat!
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/tracker/overview

Taking a wild guess from the very low test rate they probably only tested people with Covid symptoms. (I just looked at my state health dept rankings and my county is in the bottom third or bottom quarter of all counties in MS for covid cases, and cases are not deaths. )

I have been paying attention to clues about the local economy and I hear traffic picking up (I live on a main road) but it is still not as busy as before. Schools buses are running every morning.  In line of sight from my house I can see two local businesses that are still shut down, and one recently added a property for sale sign. 

Back in topic, the WHO just reversed themselves about importance of COVID lockdowns. I don't trust the WHO very highly, but many have discussed the unintended harm to public health caused by harsh economic lockdowns.

JR 

 

[hodad]

Taking a wild guess from the very low test rate they probably only tested people with Covid symptoms.
JR

As I mentioned, the lowest test rate by far.  Not a very good strategy for dealing with a pandemic.

 

[john12ax7]

What is going on right now? Europe is in bad shape,  France looks to impose strict measures,  Germany is seeing huge spike in daily cases.  Is it a matter of people got complacent and ignored protocols,  or is there some other new transfer mechanism?

 

[Script]

Is it a matter of people got complacent and ignored protocols

Quite likely, plus colder weather.

 

[living sounds]

People returning from vacation, re-scheduled weddings and other festivities, relaxed rules, disaster fatigue etc.

I always thought it would be inevitable and would happen sooner than it did here. And lot's of people, including politicians, still don't understand the danger of exponential growth and a collapse of the health care system.

I know it is easier for me to see it for what it is, because I can work from home and don't suffer much economically, but damn, it is frustrating to see people making things worse because they operate on wishfull thinking rather than reason...

 

[JohnRoberts]

For some new Covid drama the first reinfection case in the US has been confirmed. For now these seem very rare.

Reportedly two slightly different variant strains of the virus so unclear to me if reinfection by same virus or virus evolving to be different enough to escape existing immune response. (The common cold is also a coronavirus and not preventable by a single vaccine.)

The reinfected US patient reportedly got sicker the second time around (not good).

Some of the vaccines in development report a stronger immune response than our natural immune response to actual infection (a good thing). Older people have weaker immune system responses.

JR