Seniors & Friends

Here is the place to talk about what we're all going through, regardless of where we are in this world, during this Corona Virus pandemic.

Jane...thank you for opening up this room.....

Glad to help, V-J, during this time.

If you're in an area where you're advised to wear a mask and, like me, you don't sew, there was a way to fold a square of fabric and use what looked like ponytail elastic bands.

I'll try to get a link. 


https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2611871869088258&id=100007964100586

Jane...
... good idea, improvisation...

As of three PM Thursday, "At least 7,000 people with the coronavirus have now died in the United States, 3000 of those in New York State, according to a New York Times database. The death toll has grown six-fold in eight days and now exceeds the number of people known to have died from the virus in mainland China, where the pandemic started in December. US medical experts are theorizing that the COVID-19 cases in the US may crest in July"

Link for those who wish to keep tabs on our daily death  - recovered figures...for comparison you can also click on the Now - Yesterday centre-left above Country,Other....

UK - France - Italy - Spain - America are the highest daily rate death figures.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/)

How to make a face mask...sew and fold directions below:

https://www.twincities.com/2020/04/03/how-to-make-your-own-coronavirus-face-mask-with-these-simple-tips/

I see by the world chart that Italy and Spain has come down today but, we, UK have gone up, we have been told-warned that we will double every three days, looks like UK will be the next Spain and Italy but at least this gives us hope if Italy's figures start to come down...Maybe that glimmer of hope we have all been praying for...as my late father often would say..." we live in hope girl. "

Jane...
... they showed an expert on our UK tv yesterday who showed us the correct way of wearing a face mask, the one he had on had a piece that he pinched between the sides of the nose so it tightened around the nose..it may have had a wire around it.

Jackie - good to hear that the illness count is going down in Italy and Spain!   I hope it starts dropping soon in the UK, and throughout the United States.   The death toll in New York is shockingly high.  Our numbers are going up in this county, and are now well over 1,000 cases.  However, we are still without the quick test kits here, so there are probably hundreds more as of today.

Jane - Thank you for  showing us how to make a face mask without sewing!   It looks pretty easy, even for me!   I have a couple of bandanas around here that I'll wash, and then give it a try, when I run out of the masks I have here.   We still have some masks left, that we bought during the last major wildfire here.

Whilst we are taking care of inside our homes with disinfectants, bleaches and anti-bacterial's etc, all chemicals....there has been talk about "steam " killing this virus... so i have been wondering if boiling our kettles then placing the spout with the steam coming out over our kitchen worktops ( not sure i want bleach where food is going to be laying or chopped up on a wooden chopping board, ) might do the the trick or pressing the steam button on our electric irons might also be a useful idea...Not every household owns a steamer so anything useful that may improvise..

Our Queen has just broadcasted live on our tv, 8.pm, to our country over the C -Virus and showing her appreciation in thanking all the people who are on the frontline and assuring us that " we will succeed and better days will come..we shall get through this.."


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/05/queens-coronavirus-speech-full-will-succeed-better-days-will/ (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/05/queens-coronavirus-speech-full-will-succeed-better-days-will/)

Thank you, Jackie for sending that link.  I very much enjoy hearing the Queen speak.  She was very thorough in her remarks.  Even though I am not British, I would like to say "God Save The Queen".

Tomereader...
...thank you, i too have utter respect for our Queen..and doesn't she look good for her age..she will be 94 in 16 days, the 21st April..

I can't stand the smell f disinfectant. I have ways used bleach in soapy water or white vinegar . We who live alone not mixing with people in and out all the time . I change shoes at the door into house shoes .throw  grocery bags and store bags away.wipe library books . Always done this. Along with hand washing. I use to think people thought me bit of a nut and this was aBritish way. Maybe got it from my dad. He was really fanatic about things.
So if I get sick from it ,it was just meant to be.

Jeanne P...
... i dont belong to a library but yes that does make one think of how many peoples hands have touched a book before your - our hands touch it...

Jackie  -  Queen Elizabeth's speech was just right, and I so appreciated her comments.   I'm a "Royal watcher", from way back, and I admire the way the Queen has handled all difficult and controversial situations over the years.
Yes, she looked wonderful!   One would never guess that she is 89 years old.  Prince Charles, is said to be doing well?   Not so for your PM, Boris Johnson, who has been admitted to the hospital.         

Marilyne...you have just knocked four-five years off her age..i am sure Her Majesty would be quite pleased to hear that.. wink, wink..

Jackie -  My daughter just emailed me, and reprimanded me for getting the age wrong, when I wrote to her this morning!  I'm mad at myself for making such an error, as I very well know her age, and Philip's too.  She is, and always has been, eight years older than I!  ::)   

Jackie, I just heard on the news that your Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is in ICU.  He took a turn for the worse, the newsman said.  Your Queen certainly gave a wonderful talk.

I knew he was in hospital ( precautionary ) due to his symptoms lasting longer than anticipated but did not know they had worsened since morning-lunchtime news..

Good morning to all concerned members!  Things are about the same here in California, but the good news is that cases of coronavirus seem to be leveling off here.  Not going away, but not as many new, and not as many deaths. 

I looked for news of PM Boris Johnson, this morning, but I don't see any updates on the computer as to his condition?  I have learned that if you want to keep up with what is going on in the world, you have to watch the news on TV - specifically the channels like CNN, that update constantly as to statistics, as well as running those long White House briefings every day.  You can see "soundbites" on the computer, from Dr. Fauci, Trump and others, but if you want to really know what's going on, you have to watch the whole briefing, and listen to Q's and A's, et al. 

I hope you members who are looking in here, will keep us posted as to what is going on in your section of the country?

Rick/Rammel - you're the only one I know of who lives close to NYC.  How are things in your neighborhood, which I think is Yonkers?  I hope you and your wife and son, are all doing well?  Let us know what it's like there?

UK hit our highest daily deaths today, the figure is a high 786, so figures are rising, not going down...i thought after yesterdays lower figures, they were starting to go down, not up...

Good morning, Every One looking in.  I am OK, just tired of being cooped up in my house.  I do get outside for a daily walk--I use a bandanna to cover my nose.  For the most part I am staying inside and reading/rereading many of the books I have collected.

I am planning a short walk over to my neighbors who have offered to go to the store for me.  However Tim has been doing that, so I will thank them for the offer and I hope they are doing OK.  I won't enter their home as I don't want to spread any germs I might have nor catch any they might have.

Our local hospital is over run by people with the infection.  They have gowned employees taking temperatures outside and I think deciding if those tested need to be admitted to the hospital.  This is a frightening time here in Auburn.

I hope Every Buddy is feeling well and avoiding people who might be infected.  Keep us posted and Take Care!

Sue

938 deaths today and i thought yesterdays death total was high..this is not peaking at all in UK..

Sue...we have taken our freedom in the past, to just come and go, so much for granted...

Here in Florida we have a covid-19 dashboard that keeps up with each county.  Yesterday we had 83 cases and today we have 91 cases.  This is not a large populated area with big cities so that seems like a lot to me.  I did notice when we went to the grocery store yesterday, it wasn't crowded and people were keeping their distance and many were wearing a face covering (including us).

This is sure a scary time!

Marilyne, someone printed a picture of LA on the internet (taken by a drone) that mentioned how clear the skies were.  Another picture was printed showing the east coast and mentioned how clear the skies were.  A lack of emissions from autos and trucks in those usually busy roads?

Just checked the worldometers daily dashboard and see that Spain's death numbers have been-are coming down, that is a good sign but Italy's although previously been coming down have gone up a tad today, i so want to see Italy's getting lower..We here in UK, our numbers have been rising and have now taken over from Italy's..I just pray when our countries with the highest deaths ( America ) come to our peaks, start getting lower and lower until no deaths no more, we live in hope, and we certainly are praying for this day to come...

FlaJean - Jean...
...yes so so scary, so so unreal, a living nightmare..

Jean - We also have the Dashboard, and the map of California, showing the worst counties in the darkest colors.  The others are in various shades, with the CV free counties in white.  There are only three of those left, and they're way up in the N/E corner of the state where no one lives.  Some sheep or cattle ranches up there, but that's about it. 

Our county - Santa Clara, (1,450 cases), and Los Angeles County, (8,647), have the highest numbers. LA county is huge, which is the reason their numbers are so high.  I know your grandson and family live in LA County, so I'm thinking about them, and hoping they are all okay?

Yes, the skies are clear in both Southern and Northern California. I've heard that the canals in Venice, are now clean and clear.   Free of tourists, for the first time in "forever"?

Jackie - I'm following the numbers in the UK, and hoping and praying that things start leveling off for you, as well as for us, and every other country that's fighting this ugly virus.    I haven't heard anything about your PM, in a few days, nor about Prince Charles?   I'm wondering about the PM's lady friend, who is apparently expecting a baby momentarily??

Marilyne...
...for what i am picking up on is...our Boris Johnson is making good progress and out of intensive care and has been taking short walks, doing puzzles, sudoku and films are keeping the UK prime minister occupied...all good news..

Prince Charles and Camilla are now re-united and sitting next to each other, and celebrating their 15th Wedding Anniversary... I like that photo, both very relaxed..

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8201447/Prince-Charles-Camilla-share-touching-portrait-Birkhall-mark-15th-wedding-anniversary.html (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8201447/Prince-Charles-Camilla-share-touching-portrait-Birkhall-mark-15th-wedding-anniversary.html)

Jackie - I enjoyed looking at all the photos of Charles and Camilla.   It's good to see them looking well, and happy together.  Seems impossible that its been fifteen years since they were married!  I wish them many more anniversaries in the future. 

That is such a nice photo.  Soul mates.

It is true what they say..." a smile is infectious.."
I have looked at this photo of Charles-Camilla with dogs a few times now, and each time, a smile has come into my face...and over this past one year, there has not been much to have made me smile...

I get alerts from the Washington Post...and maybe some of you don't trust the newspapers, but I do.  This is SCARY about what this virus does to your lungs.

The storm inside: How the coronavirus killed Keith Redding
A CT scan performed just a few hours after Keith Redding showed up at the emergency room showed dead cells and viral particles scattered across his lungs like bits of broken glass.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/04/12/storm-inside/?arc404=true

I get Washington Post alerts also.  I have a subscription to the Post and read it everyday.  A very sad story.

I'd like to read the story, but I don't have a subscription to the Post, so I'm locked out.  :'(  Some of the online newspapers that require a subscription, are suspending the requirement, and allowing them to be read by everyone. Only for the duration of the Coronavirus Shelter-in-Place, of course.  It's really nice, and I've been enjoying the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal for free, for the past couple of weeks.  It's a clever idea, because now I'm hooked,  and considering subscribing when this SIP is over!  :thumbup:

I thought maybe it was free, as you said, Marilyne.  I've taken to reading newspapers online. My "local" paper...from the nearest large city is half the price if I do it online.  Since it's all there and I don't have to worry about when the delivery will come or fill up my recycle bin with paper, I'm enjoying the online.  I used the $$ that I saved to get the Post when they were running a special.  I should have waited longer....they had it down to $29 for the year.  I paid more.  :idiot2:   but I like the alerts and knowing quickly what's going on and the excellent journalism.

jane

Jane...
...i too had problems opening the link-the story to read..

...I have been daily checking this link of all countries affected daily and its figures, it will allow you to click on the day before for comparison, i notice that yesterdays death figures had fallen ( and pray they keep going down ) in our top five deaths countries of USA-Spain-Italy-France-UK....Link - scroll down...

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/)

Apparently you have to subscribe to the WP to see the article.  It has a picture of his 3D lung scan and this info:

"By the time Dana, 48, drove Keith to the emergency room on March 11, a week after his symptoms first appeared, some 30 percent of his lungs had been damaged. On a rare three-dimensional CT scan of his chest, the profusion of viral particles and dead cells showed up like scattered bits of broken glass. His condition declined as the disease spread throughout his body, a storm of inflammatory proteins overwhelming his vital organs one by one."

This has got me thinking, remember when as a young child our parents took us to have all our future safeguarding vaccinations such as combined Polio-Tetanus-Rubella, Measles, BCG Tuberculosis...Now what is ahead for our next generations re, our newly Covid 19 Coronervirus..although this doesn't seem to affect our young children at present, i can only assume this will be part and parcel routine as from next year and onwards..

It has just brought back memories of the 1950's and 60's of the Thalidomide drug..the Thalidomide babies..

Jane - That sounds absolutely horrifying, but good to know -  especially for those who are not following all the coronavirus guidelines.  Some people need a wake-up call!

I will definitely subscribe to the NY Times, online, when this crisis is over.  We still get the San Jose Mercury News, daily delivery print edition, as well as online access, and also get the San Francisco Chronicle, online.   I still enjoy getting that morning paper, and love sitting back and reading it from cover to cover. I was a Journalism major in College, and have been a "news junkie" ever since. I especially like the Op Eds, and the weekly  opinion columnists.  I read all opinions - right, left, and middle of the road.

Been on our tv news that now due to the closures of our local authorities recycling centres due to our C-Virus situation, people are illegally fly tipping, literally " dumping "rubbish on private land-farmland-road verges-in the countryside...this will cause us another health hazard..also a danger to our wildlife..It would have been better if they had kept these places open but, this would have been a busy Easter weekend with so many taking unwanted stuff to the tip, it would have been impossible to have everyone keeping there distance from each other as the cars drive alongside of the bins they are taking their stuff to..Link to story..

https://www.itv.com/news/2020-04-14/coronavirus-lockdown-sees-huge-rise-in-fly-tipping-across-uk/ (https://www.itv.com/news/2020-04-14/coronavirus-lockdown-sees-huge-rise-in-fly-tipping-across-uk/)

What a mess, V-J!  We have city wide garbage and recycle pickup here weekly, paid for on our monthly water and sewer bill.  They don't take yard waste, so I'm glad to have a young man who mows my yard and does leaf cleanup and hauls the stuff to the local compost place...where you can also get compost if you're a city resident.  For big items, you pay extra and the garbage people will come and get it. 

I was amazed at the number of people at WalMart without face masks.  I truly felt like the "Lone Ranger"...except my mask covered my nose and mouth and not my eyes, as his did.  (V-J...he was a popular early tv "cowboy")

I'm looking forward to warmer weather.  It was quite cold here this morning...19 degrees...and snow predicted to go south of me.  I want a nice warm spring.   :tickedoff:

Take care, stay safe and healthy!

jane

Jane, I had to laugh (thanks for your memory of the Lone Ranger).  When I was a young girl I listened to the Lone Ranger every Saturday on our radio.  I also liked to listen to the Opera (my family thought I was nuts!).  Another cowboy favorite was Gene Autry and his wife whose name I've forgotten.  https://www.seniorsandfriends.org/Smileys/alive/rolleyes.gif

Have a nice day, Every Buddy.
Sue

Our covid-19 count has gone up to 114 now.  It makes one wonder how many we would have if the state was testing people in this area.

A lot of people in our area are wearing masks and keeping a good distance, including us when going to the grocery store.  We live close to Several military bases and I imagine many of the younger people we see with masks are probably in the military.

This pandemic is going to change many things about our lives.  They are talking locally about opening a few things.  My husband said to me a day or so ago that he wasn't sure he would feel comfortable going to restaurants any time soon, especially without people being tested.  This is not a heavily populated area and lots of space and so far the grocery shelves haven't been bare except for TP. 😊

Unfortunately, we don't know what will happen.  Many of our Florida farmers are plowing under crops because of a lack of labor.  Only God knows how this all going to end.

Our three week UK lockdown has been extended for another three weeks which i feel is the responsible thing for us to do...

Jane...
...UK have had your warmer weather..it has been sunny, dry and pleasantly warm-hot..although i have not seen too much of it re, my MS body..

FlaJean...
... it doesn't bear thinking about does it, " how this is all going to end.." that is assuming it does end...

Things are about the same, here in our hard hit, Santa Clara County.   This morning, the count is now 1,870 cases, with 73 deaths, but. is actually much higher.  There are no test kits here, and haven't been for a long time,  so no way of knowing how many more people actually have the virus, but are not being officially counted. 

The latest thing to worry about here, is total lack of food in our major market chain, Safeway.   Seems there has been a  surge of c-virus cases at the large distribution centers for Safeway Markets and their satellite stores.   This includes all workers and handlers of items for shipping, as well as the drivers of the huge delivery trucks.  We had an order to be picked up at our neighborhood Safeway on Monday, but it's been cancelled.  We will have to go to Whole Foods or a locally owned market, and hope to find some of the things we need.   Rumor is that Safeway, will have to close until they can get delivery going again.  All shelves, plus dairy case, frozen foods, etc., have been stripped here in our store, according to what we read online.

We aren't in danger of going hungry, because there are other places to get supplies, even if we have to resort to 7-11!  ;D   It will be interesting, when we finally venture out and start foraging for food!  ha ha.  Of course we have our son & dil, who live here in the same town, so they will look after us, if need be.   :thumbup:     

Marilyne...
...i was always a tad wary of ordering foodstuffs from Amazon although recently ordered butter portions, mixed yogurts, cuppa soups, individual porridge sachets, to store up-tide me over for the time being... they are usually quick to arrive..

We now have about 127 cases here in our county.  Our governor is opening a few beaches (Jacksonville and Miami), but people are supposed to keep their distance.  As far as I know, our beaches here in the Panhandle are not open yet.  We wouldn't be going regardless.

We did go to Walmart for a few essentials yesterday (wearing our masks and gloves).  They even had a limited amount of TP.  Now that we have gotten use to the self-checkout stations, we like them.  It is much easier to keep distance here because it isn't crowded.  We do a lot of our shopping at a Florida based grocery chain called Publix but there are no Safeways or Giant Food stores in this area, Marilyne.  If we want to shop at Whole Foods, Fresh Market or Lowe's and Home Depot we have to cross the MidBay Bridge at $3 each way.  There are advantages and disadvantages to living outside a small town.

We are still under a "stay at home" order but I noticed not as many people were wearing masks yesterday.

I've never order food from the store yet, but it is good that it is available if the need arises.  Gigi always calls when she shops to see if we need anything, but so far we've been doing ok.

Another harsh reality from David Beasley UN world food programme Executive Director...apart from at the same time whilst dealing with a COVID 19 pandemic we are also on the brink of a hunger pandemic...

Quoting: " due to the Coronavirus, an additional 130 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020.  That's a total of 265 million people." 

Notice " could be " not, will be..Link..


https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-chief-warns-hunger-pandemic-covid-19-spreads-statement-un-security-council (https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-chief-warns-hunger-pandemic-covid-19-spreads-statement-un-security-council)

We've had 135 cases and 3 deaths here in our county.  May 1st the beaches are opening for several hours twice a day.  I hope people are careful to keep their distance, but I have my doubts.  They probably won't be wearing masks either.  We will stay home.

I sat out on the back porch yesterday and watched some birds visiting the bird feeders.  I tried to be still so they wouldn't fly off, but a few were scared.  There were a couple of crows who flew in and fussed at me.  If I sit out often enough while they feed they will get used to me, I think.

FlaJean...
...we have 19 deaths at the hospital where i was taken for my Christmas Day lunch...

Jean, it would be a very sad day if or when our birds stop singing, i too take comfort from our singing birds...Hearing and watching our birds is the one thing, the one place i am at my most happiest and relaxed..Thank God for our singing - flying birds, they give us hope, and that life is still very much out there..

Wow...ladies...you've had a lot of cases.  Here in my rural county, we've had 3. 

Take care and stay safe and healthy!

jane

Shock horror...if somebody has there way, we will all be injecting ourselves with " disinfectant.." i wonder if he will be the first one to give his idiotic brain - wave of a theory, our cure, a go...yes, will he be our worlds first " guinea pig. "

Sadly there will now be people who will no doubt be trying this with dire consequences..

V-J...Yes, unfortunately, the Poison Control Centers have gotten calls from people asking about that. [SHAKING MY HEAD] AND the manufacturers of bleach and disinfectant have made announcements NOT TO DO THAT!
 It's unbelievable BUT I heard it with my own ears.


jane

Shocking but true - I also saw it last night on NBC news!  :yikes:

The nursing homes here have a number of deaths in their elderly patients.  It is a sad situation and doesn't seem to be slowing down soon.  It's scary and I'm avoiding my neighbors and anyone else who might be stopping by.  I do walk daily down the hill and back up in the early morning.  So far I haven't run into anyone else walking at that hour.  Most of my young neighbors are going out to work, so am not seeing them.

Our choir director and her hubby came by several days ago.  They were wearing face masks and didn't come in, but brought me some cookies they'd made.  Our church has not been meeting for at least 3 weeks now.  My friend Marilyn's husband who had dementia died during this time and she had a service with her children at the church.  Our church will resume when the virus slows down.

This is a sad time for everyone here in Alabama as the virus is spread through out our state.  So far our Governor (Kay Ivey) has not quarantined anyone.  I think she's making a mistake!

I hope Every One reading this is staying home and is not exposed to others who may have the virus.

Take care and stay safe, Every Buddy.
Sue

Hi Sue, nice to see you checking in. 
I don't see the cases of C-virus slowing down here in California, at all.   Our Governor, Newsom, has not lifted any of the restrictions, so we are still sheltering in place, and wearing gloves and masks when out in public.    Businesses are still closed, as well as all parks, beaches, and all other forms of recreation.  It's a good thing, in my opinion, but many people are beginning to balk at the restrictions.   As the old saying goes - "the natives are getting restless".   Lots of hopelessness and repressed anger out there.       

We went to Walmart and Publix grocery store today.  All employees at both stores are wearing masks and they have changed most of the aisles in both stores to one way.  We wore our masks and gloves but some of the younger people did not. But the stores are not usually crowded here as we live in the county just outside the small town of Niceville.

We have 149 cases now in our county.  But this area started the social distancing right away without any suggestions by the Governor who was late to do anything.  I expect it was different here because of the many military bases in the area.

VIRUS 1.jpg

Oh so you are the local bra thief they call Lou ( loo )

 ;D

Tomorrow i am due a for sale home viewing and although previous came wearing gloves and a face mask i have yet not got one, so been racking my brains as what " cotton " covering can i wear " improvising, " so had the brainwave of my white cotton " Sloggi " pull - on bra, the doubled cup parts together will cover my face..and no this is no joke as to our above bra picture, this will be what i am planning on covering my nose and mouth with on my next viewings arrival, this may of course cause some amusement, i will of course wash it straight away afterwards, i do not plan on throwing my bra away..

There still seems to be a shortage of TP. I notice the empty shelves. I had a storage of it before this started and  still have a few rolls.I always use the Fem.cleaners. Sort they use on ladies that are in nursing home. they don't get a bath daily. I do shower. But now they are getting little hard to find. Walmart have the best. Lotion on theirs. Good in this hot weather.

Three minutes past 8.pm ( UK ) just been standing at the front door for UK's last time clapping for our front liners, our NHS workers, our heroes.....

Hi All I just discovered you! I am in Arizona a CV-19 hot spot.
We were really doing fine until the 'stay home' edict was lifted!
Young folks rushed out to party with out masks so all hell has broken loose here.
ICU beds full; case load way up.
As I said young folks-so age for the new cases 20-40 not the aged.

What people don't realize is this virus leaves an individual with medical problem IF they survive.

Hi Diglady! 
I remember you from way back . . . maybe all the way back to Senior Net?   Nice to see you posting here in the Corona Virus folder.   It was busy in here for a while, but then members stopped posting here,  thinking that Covid-19 was on the way out.  Instead, it is back with a vengeance!

I read that things are very bad in AZ.  Same here in California.  I live in Northern CA, in Santa Clara County, which has the highest numbers in the North.  Los Angeles, in the south, is much worse, but also is much bigger. 

People were just too eager to get out and back to normal.  Lots of partying going on with the younger crowd, and I think all the protest marches and gatherings didn't help matters at all!   Now lots of people are paying the price.

I have no guess, as to how this whole sad situation will turn out? I used to think it would wind down and slowly disappear, but no such luck. What do you think? 

Marilyne, Hi! Yes way back to Senior net.

I agree. This is a very sad situation. I doubt it will just go away. How I wish it would.
One thing that bothers me: The young people are so into Me, Me. They can't seem to think about their neighbor or community. "It is an infringement on my 1st amendment rights to be told to stay home. Or to wear a mask."

Good Lord do they even understand what we gave up during WWll for the good of the world?

I agree with you both.  It's that immature "it can't happen to me" attitude, followed by wailing and gnashing to teeth when it does happen to them.   I, too, heard docs saying that there are long term health problems from this virus and that some people have heart, lung, kidney, stamina problems long after they've supposedly "recovered" from the virus.  It's obviously NOT "just like the flu" even though some want to believe that, apparently.

I'm just doing what I think is right...staying mostly home except for grocery shopping and am walking outside when the weather is ok.

I have to shake my head at some who were SURE the virus would end when it got hot...well, that didn't work out so well in FL, TX, AL, AZ.

Stay safe and healthy,

jane

"Coronavirus cases are skyrocketing throughout the United States once again, with more than 44,000 new cases reported on June 27, surpassing the previous single-day record for new infections set in April. The nationwide resurgence of the outbreak has has hit several states particularly hard—for example, record numbers have been reported in both Texas and Florida, two states that public health experts say have "lost control" of the epidemic. So, what's behind the surging number of new infections? Doctors say that a lack of adequate testing and reopening certain states too early have created a perfect storm allowing for increased transmission rates.

"This is happening because, in much of the country, around Memorial Day and the weeks that followed, we opened up while we still had a large number of cases," Ashish Jha, MD, MPH, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, explained to TODAY."

https://bestlifeonline.com/new-coronavirus-spike-reopening/

Here too the virus is re surging and yesterday we had 660 new cases. Restrictions will be imposed again :(

I hope that every one looking in this morning is staying safe at home.  I do take a walk in my neighborhood every morning, but try to stay away from other walkers (there are very few in the mornings!).  I usually only see one man who does not live here in the neighborhood, but who walks on the opposite side of the road from where I'm walking.

My son who lives in nearby Opelika is coming over this afternoon to take me to see my cardiologist for a check up.  I hope that the doctor has finished his hospital rounds and will see me soon.

Have a nice day, Every One.
Sue

We are all very discouraged here in California.  Seems that everyone cooperated reasonably well, with masks, distancing, and staying home, but it didn't seem to make any difference. In our county,  nothing has ever opened for business except for outdoor dining, and the usual grocery stores, gas stations, drug stores, etc.  It didn't seem to make any difference - the virus is surging again, and the hospitals are filing up again.    Fourth of July, will be just another day.  No one allowed on the beaches, parks, and of course no celebrations or fireworks displays.

from Bestife

"As COVID-19 numbers begin to surge in areas around the country, public health officials keep coming back to one simple mandate to keep the virus from spreading: Wear a face mask when social distancing isn't possible. And while making a homemade one for yourself is still an incredibly effective way to keep COVID-19 at bay, not all DIY face masks are created equal. So, what sort of fabric should you avoid? Well, according to a recent study, you should steer clear of bandanas if you want to keep yourself and others safe from the coronavirus.

A new study from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) compared different materials from around the house that could potentially be used to make a homemade non-medical cloth face covering. The research found that uncovered coughs sent droplets traveling more than eight feet, three feet when covered by a bandana, eight inches with a cone-style mask, and two and a half inches with a properly fitted two-layer quilted cotton fabric mask, making that the most effective of the fabrics tested.

"Loosely folded face masks and bandana-style coverings provide minimal stopping-capability for the smallest aerosolized respiratory droplets," the FAU scientists concluded.

The research also determined that a higher thread count by itself is not more effective against COVID-19. In the FAU experiment, the bandana had the highest thread count but was the least effective."

https://bestlifeonline.com/bandana-face-mask/?utm_source=nsltr&utm_medium=email&utm_content=arizona-lockdown&utm_campaign=launch

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Tuesday, June 30, 2020

DHSS today announced 48 new cases of COVID-19 in Alaska; 36 are residents of eight communities: Anchorage (21), Fairbanks (5), Seward (4), Palmer (2), Eagle River (1), Juneau (1), Soldotna (1), and Valdez-Cordova Census Area (1). This count brings the total number of Alaska cases to 940.

Two weeks ago, on the 15th, Fairbanks was coming up to three weeks without a single case, and Anchorage and the rest of the south and southeast were coming in with fewer and fewer cases and in single digits. The state was at less than four hundred for cases in the entirety. The majority of cases were in nursing homes, hospital workers, and returning travelers.

Then the state, along with others, began reopening. The first hits came with returning out of state workers in the fishing industry in those crowded fishing ships, dormitories, processing ships, and canneries. People were returning or visiting bars, parks, and personal services such as hairdressers and nail salons, not bothering to distance themselves or bothering with masks. Young folks, especially, believing themselves invincible stopped following any precautions, especially over the Memorial Day weekend.

You see the result and Alaska is said to have the least number of recorded cases other than Hawaii with 917. None of the states in a rush to reopen are any different and in four states, considered out of control, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Alabama, with Arizona listed as critical.

There are now organized groups saying masks are dangerous and cause disease, saying, "It is against their rights" and anti-vaxxers already stating that any vaccine would be hazardous. Their running protests and fighting in stores against staff and other customers wanting them to wear masks or leave is sad to watch in the news. With these results, I can see why top medical experts are predicting this country to reach daily counts of 100,000 soon.

 

Travelers from the US have already been blocked from the European Union because of its handling of the COVID-19 virus and now this, "The US has bought up virtually all the stocks for the next three months of one of the two drugs proven to work against Covid-19, leaving none for the UK, Europe or most of the rest of the world."

   https://tinyurl.com/ycxxfzor

 

I  no sooner discovered you than my modem died! Back again with new modem. We, here in Arizona,are in a real mess. CV-19 cases and deaths skyrocketing.  This time it is a younger group 20-40 year olds. They rushed out to party when the "stay home" was lifted. Now our ICUs are swamped. Protective equipment in short supply. Staff so exhausted Feds have sent in Medical team to help. Many businesses shut down again.

The ME generation won't listen to anyone!

Diglady, good to see you back again! 

Patricia - Thanks for posting some interesting links. 

Here is one that I think you will all get a kick out of.  Shocking really, that a young woman would have such a violent/childish reaction to being told she had to wear a mask!!  This was in a market in Dallas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZQXoZRO7FM

Marilyne, it is incredible how selfish, uncaring, and dumb some people are! I expect she'll soon be identified and prosecuted.

What is that old saying about the stupid die young?  I saw a case on YouTube from Texas where three hundred young people had a "pong fest," even tho some of the partygoers knew they had tested positive. Now a majority are testing positive and they are still trying to find out the names.

There are fully organized pushbacks against mask wearing or not completely reopening now. People are saying that mask-wearing is against their civil rights as well as not being able to go where they want and when.

I saw a YouTube video on a reporter talking to a white-only rightwing protest about masks. I was surprised to see the group's spokesperson was a white woman, nicely dressed with perfect teeth, makeup, and hair. While she spoke in a well-moderated voice about "how wearing a mask can cause disease and even kill you," I was beginning to think I had somehow, inadvertently, slipped into a Fox news broadcast. This, to me, was suspicious.

Alabama Teens Are Throwing Coronavirus Parties with Cash Rewards for the First to Get Infected

https://people.com/health/alabama-teens-throw-coronavirus-themed-parties-with-payout-reward-for-anyone-who-gets-infected/

"Students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have been throwing "COVID parties" with cash rewards to intentionally infect each other with the coronavirus, Tuscaloosa City Councilor Sonya McKinstry said.

Speaking to ABC News, McKinstry explained that several of the students who have been recently diagnosed with COVID-19 have been attending parties in the city and surrounding area where the organizers of the parties are purposely inviting guests who have COVID-19.

"They put money in a pot and they try to get COVID. Whoever gets COVID first gets the pot. It makes no sense," McKinstry told the outlet. "They're intentionally doing it."

Tuscaloosa Fire Chief Randy Smith also confirmed the behavior to the City Council on Tuesday, per local NBC affiliate WVTM 13.

"We thought that was kind of a rumor at first," Smith told the council members. "We did some research. Not only do the doctors' offices confirm it but the state confirmed they also had the same information."

Over the last few weeks there have been several of these parties in the city and surrounding area, and likely more that officials aren't aware of, McKinstry said.

Additionally, the state's "Safer at Home Order" explicitly states that people who test positive have to be "quarantined to their place of residence for a period of 14 days."

Arrol Sheehan, spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Public Health, said that a violation of the heath order is a misdemeanor and fines for each violation can be up to $500.

"Suspected violations of the home quarantine order should be reported to law enforcement and the local health department," she told ABC.

As of Thursday, July 2, cases of the coronavirus are on the rise in Alabama, per the New York Times database. The state has reported a total of 38,962 cases and at least 972 deaths.

Over the last 14 days, the Alabama State Department of Public Health says there has been an increase of 10,696 cases, according to ABC."

Patricia, I hadn't heard about that.  Sometimes you wonder how stupid can a person be.  If one of them gets really sick, they may be sorry——maybe.

Which? The 300 person pong fest in Texas or the COVID-19 parties in Alabama? Nothing surprises me anymore as young people went to both knowing they were positive. Or that people who were there would be positive. Perhaps its evolution at work? Or there is the 1000 person Christ Church service where no one wore masks or social distanced in Moscow, Idaho?

https://dnews.com/coronavirus/christ-church-service-draws-1-000-people/article_7ecbcf3c-7ce6-5b8e-a5c3-f4bc43553e0e.html

 

You can't fix stupid, I guess.

Your evoution at work....

Unfortunately, my younger sister lives just 80 miles from Moscow and says that it is a common Idaho mindset.

Angleface, Thank you for the article on the CV-19 parties. The medical community needs to get the word out that people who "recover" from this virus have a long haul in the recovery process. Some are experiencing mental disorders, Cardio problems, Kidney and liver problems. This virus is like no other we have seen.

Evidence is growing that a mutated coronavirus strain, the main one circulating in the Houston area, is more contagious than the original virus in China.
Two new research papers show that the newer strain is more transmissible, a possibility first suggested by a team of scientists in May. At the time, that suggestion was considered highly speculative by many scientists, including some in Houston.
"A summary of the data thus far suggests that this strain has gained a fitness advantage over the original and is more transmissible as a result," said Joseph Petrosino, Baylor College of Medicine chair of molecular virology and microbiology. "It is safe to say this version is more infectious."  From the Houston  Chronicle July 2, 2020

For Jean's article


https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/coronavirus-evidence-growing-houston-strain-mutant-15386157.php

New situation here in Silicon Valley.  We have cases surging here every day, but in spite of that fact, sick people from Imperial County, are being airlifted to hospitals here.  Imperial county is on the border of Mexico.  Mexican citizens, who are sick with the virus, are flocking over the border into the US for treatment, at the border crossing of Calexico.  All hospitals are filled to capacity down in Southern Cal, so they are being bought up here.  They are sick and need help, but unfortunately, the Government of Mexico, is doing nothing in the way of taking care of them.  What a mess this whole thing is.

For the most part, people in this county, adhered to the rules over the 4th weekend.  Businesses closed, except for outdoor patio or sidewalk dining at some of the restaurants. Beaches were closed all along the Northern Cal coast, and parks as well.     People are required to wear masks if they go out in public, and the six foot social distancing is still in place.  I don't see an end in sight in the near future.     

Marilyn, the same here except we're caring for over a hundred ill that came up to work in the fishing fleets. They expect the second wave to come with the fall/winter flu season. A vaccine is expected in the mid to late 2021 by estimates but they are worried about anti-vaxxers threatening any type of herd immunity.

"Mike Pence, the US vice-president, claimed it's "a good thing" that nearly half of the new Covid-19 cases surging in 16 states are young Americans, who are at less risk of becoming severely ill than their older counterparts. This kind of rhetoric would lead you to believe that the ordeal of "mildly infected" patients ends within two weeks of becoming ill, at which point they recover and everything goes back to normal.

While that may be the case for some people who get Covid-19, emerging medical research as well as anecdotal evidence from recovery support groups suggest that many survivors of "mild" Covid-19 are not so lucky. They experience lasting side-effects, and doctors are still trying to understand the ramifications.

Some of these side effects can be fatal. According to Dr Christopher Kellner, a professor of neurosurgery at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, "mild" cases of Covid-19 in which the patient was not hospitalized for the virus have been linked to blood clotting and severe strokes in people as young as 30."

"Another troubling phenomenon now coming into focus is that of "long-haul" Covid-19 sufferers – people whose experience of the illness has lasted months. For a Dutch report published earlier this month (an excerpt is translated here) researchers surveyed 1,622 Covid-19 patients with an average age of 53, who reported a number of enduring symptoms, including intense fatigue (88%) persistent shortness of breath (75%) and chest pressure (45%). Ninety-one per cent of the patients weren't hospitalized, suggesting they suffered these side-effects despite their cases of Covid-19 qualifying as "mild". While 85% of the surveyed patients considered themselves generally healthy before having Covid-19, only 6% still did so one month or more after getting the virus."

https://tinyurl.com/ybacng4k

These Are the 4 New Epicenters of the Pandemic, Former FDA Chief Says
FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER SCOTT GOTTLIEB, MD, WARNS OF THE SPREAD FROM FOUR COVID EPICENTERS.

https://bestlifeonline.com/new-epicenters-pandemic/?utm_source=nsltr&utm_medium=email&utm_content=coronavirus-loss-of-smell&utm_campaign=launch

Los Angelas-which hit a record for new single-day cases on July 3,
Texas-a high infection rate
Florida-"critical" risk level
Arizona-highest rate in the country

From CNN, a timeline,
Jan. 21: The US reports its first reported case.
99 days later: At least 1 million Americans have been infected
43 days later: The US reports more than 2 million cases
28 days later: The US reached 3 million cases

From BestLife; "Early on in the pandemic, rumors surfaced that the warm temperatures that come with summer might kill the coronavirus. And while there is evidence that the increased UV rays of the summer sun can disable the virus, it also turns out that there may be one seasonal weakness for COVID-19 in the summer: High humidity levels can make the virus more infectious. But, according to a biologist, there is a certain humidity level that makes it difficult for COVID to survive in the air.

"There's sort of a 'Goldilocks' zone for the coronavirus, between 40 and 60 [percent] humidity, where it doesn't survive for very long," says Erin Bromage, PhD, an associate professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

Bromage—the author of a viral blog post outlining the risks of airborne coronavirus transmission—told CNN that when humidity climbs above 60 percent (as it does in many places during the summer), droplets become weighed down with moisture and fall to the ground. "[This] sounds like a great thing," Bromage said. "But it actually drops onto surfaces much faster and being wet actually keeps the virus alive and infectious for longer."

Alternatively, when conditions fall below 40 percent humidity, as they do in the winter, infected aerosol droplets are able to stay afloat and travel in the air more easily.

"When the humidity is lower, the air is drier and it makes the aerosols smaller," Michael Ward, an epidemiologist at the University of Sydney, said in a statement regarding his study on winter and COVID-19. "When you sneeze and cough, those smaller infectious aerosols can stay suspended in the air for longer. That increases the exposure for other people."'

Today, from CNN;

"The US saw another record daily rise in reported Covid-19 cases, with 60,646 yesterday. If the numbers weren't enough, health experts and local leaders are saying it loud and clear: Parts of the US reopened too fast, and now we're reaping the consequences. Need proof? It took less than a month, from June into July, for nationwide case numbers to jump from 2 million to 3 million. And no, more testing isn't to blame. Things are dire in India and Mexico, too. Both countries reached record Covid-19 tallies recently. India has reported 100,000 new cases of the virus in the last five days alone and surpassed Russia to become the third-worst hit nation."

X

Rick -  Good to see you here in the Coronavirus discussion.  You were in the thick of things for a while, living so close to so much illness.    Everyone in NYC, was good about doing the right thing, and it sure did pay off for your entire state.  I think your Governor Cuomo,  had the right attitude.  I hope things continue to improve.

Back at the end of Jan to Feb we all had "something".  Lasted 5 -6 weeks. I ended up going to local hospital's emergency room twice but after testing all day long (the first time) they told me there was nothing wrong with me and sent me home.  The second time they said I had a nasal drip causing my coughing, gave me some nasal spray and an antihistamine and sent me home again. A while back my son was at his doc for routine visit and he said we probably had "the virus". It was early on so they probably didn't recognize what it was.

I don't go out very much but dislike that I/we can't go out.

I will refrain from commenting about our Gouv --- or the NYC Mayor.

A French bus driver has died after passengers who refused to wear masks, attacked him for trying to enforce the rules.

https://tinyurl.com/ybndza2j

Patricia, that is so sad. Here he was trying to keep others safe and he dies. My friend runs a business in the city and said customers not all but some were being rude to the ladies working for her because they were told to wear a mask . Those customers should not be allowed back into that store. Those ladies  are working in difficult times and should not have to put up with rude people. I don't understand why people can't get a grasp on this.

It's political. A woman in her thirties died in a San Antonio, Texas hospital from the virus. She had gone to a party given by someone diagnosed with the disease. The party host and the attendees all thought the virus was a hoax.

I'm so &^%$ BLOODY sick of hearing it's a "HOAX."  Where are these people's brains and common sense?
 My blood pressure rises everytime I see someone on TV talk about "their freedom" to do what they want.  To them "It's all about ME...I am the only one who matters."  GRRRRR!!!!

The soaring numbers in the South and where they'll be in 2 weeks is incomprehensible.  And then the talk of sending the kids back to school by a Sec of Educ who has no idea about public education and a President....well, you know where I stand on that. 

jane

Sadly, a Rutgers poll stated that the ones believing it's a hoax are the same ones who are against vaccinations. Primarily, White Nationalists, Rightwing Evangelists, and Republicans. Of course, this poll was taken at the beginning of reopening so that figure may have changed slightly.

Another disrespectful thing is the ones rabidly against wearing masks. Some have gone as far as attacking and, in one case, killing someone, and in destroying store displays which only means low paid rushed off their feet store employees will have to clean up their messes.

https://tinyurl.com/y7glc2x6

There are a lot of news sites both right and left that have false news or strong biases regarding not only the COVID-19 pandemic as well as day to day life.

https://lifehacker.com/check-a-news-sources-bias-with-this-chart-1844330891?utm_source=lifehacker_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-07-11

https://www.adfontesmedia.com/static-mbc/

So much news, and so many different stories and slants on the same subject, that you can get dizzy trying to figure things out for yourself.  Finally . . . something new and different has surfaced that will be of interest to most of us.   It now appears that our blood type, has something to do with how serious of a case of Covid-19, we will get, if we contract the virus. Lots of sites online to Google and check out. It looks like those with blood type 0, are having the lighter cases and getting well quicker. Those who are blood type A, are the most vulnerable, and staying sick the longest.  Mixed reports on people who are type AB.

This is on Web MD, Los Angeles Times Science, 23 and Me, and others.  It may turn out to be untrue, but I thought I would mention it, to give us something else to worry about!   ::)       

Oh, good. I'm A type.   >:(

I wasn't happy when I read about that yesterday.  My husband and I and our three children are all type A+

I've never even had the flu or bronchitis in my lifetime.  We only go to the grocery store and we have on masks and disposable gloves.

I've seen that before but I believe I'd need more research, Marilyne. To me, it sounds a bit odd. I found this on Healthline, "The March study came out of Wuhan, China, where the first known cases of COVID-19 were discovered.

It's published on a website, but it hasn't yet been reviewed by peers.

In the study, scientists looked at the blood types of 2,173 people who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and compared that with the blood types of the general population in that region.

They found that in the normal population, type A was 31 percent, type B was 24 percent, type AB was 9 percent, and type O was 34 percent.

In those with the virus, type A was 38 percent, type B was 26 percent, type AB was 10 percent, and type O was 25 percent.

The researchers concluded that "blood group A had a significantly higher risk for COVID-19 compared with non-A blood groups. Whereas blood group O had a significantly lower risk for the infectious disease compared with non-A blood groups."

The CDC recommends that all people wear cloth face masks in public places where it's difficult to maintain a 6-foot distance from others. This will help slow the spread of the virus from people without symptoms or people who do not know they have contracted the virus. Cloth face masks should be worn while continuing to practice physical distancing.
Note: It's critical to reserve surgical masks and N95 respirators for healthcare workers.

Reaction to the study
Experts expressed concerns after the recent study that people with blood types other than type A might "let their guard down."

Similar sentiments were expressed after the March study.

"This is an interesting study," said Patricia Foster, PhD, a microbiologist and professor emerita of biology at Indiana University, told Healthline in March. "But it needs verification. If they can come up with more solid numbers and bigger studies, it's something to look out for."

"It still requires full peer review, but it looks like the methods were generally appropriate," Cushman said. "They interpret specific findings for certain blood groups, but I think the essence of what they observed is that people with O blood group have a lower risk of infection than all the other blood groups."

"It's very compelling and the results are not entirely surprising since we know blood group is important in other settings and other viruses," she added.

Blood types and diseases
Experts say research shows many diseases have been linked to blood types.

"We found that type AB is related to stroke risk and in general, to cognitive impairment risk. Although not all studies have observed that," Cushman said.

"Type O, compared to other types, also protects against heart attacks and blood clots in the veins, known as venous thrombosis," she added.

"We don't know the mechanisms yet, but we know there are differences by blood type in certain clotting factors and factors in the circulation that relate to blood vessel lining cell connections," Cushman said.

Dr. Foster has looked at the connection between intestinal illnesses such as norovirus and blood types.

"Norovirus has a clear biological reason why blood type would make a difference," she said. "The norovirus actually uses the sugars on the cell surface to attach itself to the cell."

In general, people who don't make the H1-antigen and those with B type blood will tend to be resistant, whereas people with A, AB, or O blood types will tend to get sick.

Things to keep in mind
"At the end of the day, we won't know what to do about this information to prevent or treat infection," Cushman said. "For example, I wouldn't ease precautions for healthcare workers who are type O. This finding does not mean they are immune."

"Everyone needs to continue washing their hands, keeping a physical distance from others, and following all the things public health experts are recommending," she said."

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/does-your-blood-type-increase-your-risk-for-coronavirus#What-the-earlier-study-reported

"Claim: People with blood type A are more likely to catch the coronavirus
Outlets have reported that people with type A blood type are more likely to contract the new coronavirus, although many failed to emphasize that the research lacks peer-review, a large sample size and that experts have told the public not to be concerned.

The claim gained popularity through a series of widely shared Facebook posts. Its momentum has continued with Science Focus, MSN, the South Florida Sun Sentinel and local broadcast news outlets in Iowa and Virginia running stories.

Newsweek, Express, Science Alert and Medical News Today also published stories on the findings.

What experts say: It's premature to assume there is a link
The claim is based on new research from a group of medical experts at hospitals and universities in China. The researchers come from an array of institutions, including the National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, the Renmin Hospital at Wuhan University and the School of Medicine at the Southern University of Science and Technology in China.


The study was published in March on medRxiv, a nonprofit founded by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Yale University and BMJ. MedRxiv is a preprint server where researchers share preliminary findings before peer review. The model makes research accessible to other experts without having to wait for the often-lengthy peer review and journal publication process.

Researchers studied 2,173 people from three hospitals in Wuhan and Shenzhen, China, who tested positive for the coronavirus.


Their conclusions showed 37.75% of the sampled people were blood type A, 26.42% were blood type B, 10.03% were blood type AB and 25.80% were blood type O. These data, when compared to the proportions of blood groups of the public in the region, led researchers to conclude that blood group A was more susceptible to the virus than other blood groups, while blood group O had a lower chance.

But this research has not been peer reviewed or published in a medical or academic journal, which means other experts in the field have not analyzed its research methodology, citations or significance. Its intent is primarily to "generate debate among experts," PolitiFact wrote.

"Preprints are preliminary reports of work that have not been certified by peer review," medRxiv's site reads. "They should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information."

Preet Chaudhary, chief of hematology at the University of Southern California, said the research is not conclusive because researchers didn't replicate their results. On page 7 of the study, a trial with 285 patients from Shenzhen did not show blood group A to be more susceptible. He also said differences between the blood groups of the noninfected group and the group with COVID-19 were only a few percentage points.

"It's only marginal basically," Chaudhary said. "This is preprint. It's not published yet. Let it get published and let it get peer reviewed."

Fact check: Common cold does not produce positive coronavirus test
Fact check: CDC did not add flu and pneumonia cases to its COVID-19 death count
Fact check: Masks are effective against COVID-19; OSHA doesn't say they offer no protection
Fact check: Doctors studying whether COVID-19 could trigger diabetes
Chaudhary expressed concern that the findings may prompt people with blood type O to be less cautious due to the possibility that they may be less susceptible.

Sakthivel Vaiyapuri, associate professor at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, said in a statement to PolitiFact that the research should be ignored because it lacks scientific validation and may cause individuals with blood type A to panic.

"It's better to safely ignore any article that hasn't been properly scrutinized by peer review and published in a rigorous scientific journal," Vaiyapuri said in the statement.

The South China Morning Post covered the findings and interviewed Gao Yingdai, a researcher with the State Key Laboratory of Experimental Haematology in Tianjin who was not involved in the study and critiqued the research. She said the study would be stronger with a larger sample size. A sample of 2,000 is not necessarily small, but is only a fraction of the nearly 700,000 confirmed cases worldwide as of March 30, according to the World Health Organization.

Gao also said the study lacked a clear explanation for the phenomenon "such as the molecular interaction between the virus and different types of red blood cells."

Our ruling: False
Although this research shows the possibility of a link between blood type and susceptibility to the virus, the research has not been peer reviewed or published in an academic journal and relies on a relatively small sample size. Multiple experts, as well as the site on which the research is published, have advised against deeming the link as being established.

There is not enough evidence to definitively state a relationship between blood type and susceptibility to the new coronavirus.

Our fact-check sources:
PolitiFact
World Health Organization
South China Morning Post
MedRxiv
About medRxiv
Medical News Today
Express
Newsweek
WHSV
KCRG
South Florida Sun Sentinel
MSN
Science Focus
Science Alert
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/04/01/fact-check-coronavirus-blood-type-a-more-susceptible/2922465001/

I read somewhere above about this being political and then see all the political comments.
Not to worry. Sleepy Joe will take care of everything.

BTW --- I live in a dominantly Dem/Lib area and see all sorts walking around without masks and in groups.

This site is starting to remind me of the old SrNet site.

Rick - speaking of Governors, our Mr. Newsom, is releasing 8,000, EIGHT THOUSAND, prisoners from our California State Prisons, starting on Monday!  Most of these from San Quentin.  This is to help curb the spread of corona virus in the prisons.  Is there something wrong with that picture, or is it just me?  :yikes:   

Don't spread it in the prisons, spread it out on the streets.

Since my blood type is also A negative maybe I really did have the virus, called my doctor but he talked me out of it being the virus after I told him I thought it was probably gall bladder attack. He laughed when I told him what all I had eaten (half a can of tamales, chocolate bunnies (before Easter), pots of coffee, etc.... he thinks I'm the healthest old lady he knows & lets me call him any time I'm concerned about anything. That doesn't happen often, but I trust him & he actually listens to me. Anyway, I've never been so sick in my whole life, only food I had for 2 days one one small soda cracker, ate half one day & half the next. That is the only time I have thrown up except when pregnant and at 85, husband dead 7 years so no danger of that.

With all the changes of symptoms they come up with, I'm still not sure what I had but decided it wouldn't do me any good to insist on the test for antibodies... I do wear a mask because our gov says we must, but drop it down to catch my breath now & then, when not close to anyone. Don't know if it makes a difference that my cardio had diagnosed me with congestive heart failure, but so far I'm still upright, sassy & will go until I drop. At this age & stage I don't want to waste any of the remaining days. I shop, my car know it's way through fast food drive throughs & before I always went inside to order take out. I don't like to eat in any place alone so bring home to eat in front of TV, that hasn't changed.

As far as politics go, seems to me we should shot 'em all and start over with limits to time in office. No pensions (did you know how little Truman got when he was no longer president???) You know I'm not serious about shooting them, just fire them all.  ;)  I have registered as a Democrat and as a Republician and consider myself independent, NOT an Independent... you know what I mean. I also believe that who ever is president is President of the US so MY President, even if I didn't vote for him. Frankly, I voted for Trump, liked him from the start because he was the only one that came in with his own money... and look what mansions others bought when they retired after going in a very poor person. Something wrong with that in my opinion.

SO, enough out of me. I do hope everyone stays healthy & I agree we need to do whatever we can to keep from spreading. I am unhappy that various state & federal parks are not making it easy to go camping, and that's the safest thing we can do right now. A week in the mountains of CO because my sons made the reservations before the first of the year to get the sites we wanted. Camp host sanitized the little house a number of times a day but we all took our Clorox wipes since they sanitize in seconds where sprays take 10 min or more to work.... I am sure tired of smelling Clorox on my hands every time I grab a Kleexex with my allergies. I could go on but better stop ... nice to see so many hanging out in here. I probably won't drop in again, get a full dose of the virus on the computer & TV, but just wanted to see how y'all felt about it.

Marilyne, I also wondered about the reasoning behind that release.  Rick, I approve of your dry sense of humor..... :thumbup: 

Quote from: Shirley on July 11, 2020, 11:23:24 PM.............Rick, I approve of your dry sense of humor..... :thumbup:   

:smitten: Thanks. I think I need a friend   :(

I do think we're all in for another go-around of this virus thing.  Hope it will end some day.

Rammel..

quoting Rammel: " think we're all in for another go-around of this virus thing "

...you maybe right, possibly come back with a vengeance just when we start to drop our guard-think we have left it behind..this virus-pandemic will still be floating around..

"According to NPR, research shows that widespread mask-wearing "could help prevent between 17,742 and 28,030 deaths across the United States before Oct. 1."

With more than 130,000 Americans dead from the virus and positive cases on a steady rise in most states, wearing a mask is the least we should expect from our fellow citizens. "

Key Metrics for COVID Suppression
Researchers and Public Health Experts unite to bring clarity to key metrics guiding coronavirus response

Cambridge, July 1, 2020 -- Uncertainty is the currency of pandemics. As evidence on the new coronavirus, how it spreads and who falls ill from it emerges slowly, policy makers and the public have to base their decisions on the best information available. Experts help interpret the evidence, but they may differ on details that can be confusing for non-experts -- and filtering out what matters from a rising sea of misinformation has become a daunting task.

To help cut through the noise and sometimes conflicting advice, a network of research, policy and public health experts convened by Harvard's Global Health Institute and Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics today launches a Key Metrics For COVID Suppression framework that provides clear, accessible guidance to policy makers and the public on how to target and suppress COVID-19 more effectively across the nation.

How severe is the pandemic where you live?
Browse our COVID Risk Levels Dashboard

https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/

"People who have recovered from Covid-19 may lose their immunity to the disease within months, according to research suggesting the virus could reinfect people year after year, like common colds.

In the first longitudinal study of its kind, scientists analysed the immune response of more than 90 patients and healthcare workers at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS foundation trust and found levels of antibodies that can destroy the virus peaked about three weeks after the onset of symptoms then swiftly declined.

Blood tests revealed that while 60% of people marshalled a "potent" antibody response at the height of their battle with the virus, only 17% retained the same potency three months later. Antibody levels fell as much as 23-fold over the period. In some cases, they became undetectable.

"People are producing a reasonable antibody response to the virus, but it's waning over a short period of time and depending on how high your peak is, that determines how long the antibodies are staying around," said Dr Katie Doores, lead author on the study at King's College London.

The study has implications for the development of a vaccine, and for the pursuit of "herd immunity" in the community over time.

The immune system has multiple ways to fight the coronavirus but if antibodies are the main line of defence, the findings suggested people could become reinfected in seasonal waves and that vaccines may not protect them for long."

https://tinyurl.com/ybhv3c33

Just in time for school?

Four months after the coronavirus pandemic started to hit the northeastern and northwestern parts of the U.S., it's now spreading across many other parts of the country at an alarming rate. In particular, you've likely heard Texas, Arizona, California, and Florida named time and time again in recent weeks as the states where COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are frighteningly high. However, looking even deeper at where coronavirus is spiking, there are many more hotspots emerging. Now, a leaked document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) obtained by Yahoo! News shows that there are 10 counties emerging as new "areas of concern" amid the pandemic.

The CDC document defines an "area of concern" as a county where the "disease burden is high and still growing," looking at the incidences of COVID and the change in daily incidences over the last two weeks. According to the CDC data, the numbers in the following 10 counties—which span states from Arkansas to Colorado, and Nebraska to Virginia—are raising the most red flags. These could very well be the next coronavirus hotspots.

usa-coronavirus-hotspot-map.jpg

https://bestlifeonline.com/next-coronavirus-hotspots-cdc-july/?utm_source=nsltr&utm_medium=email&utm_content=next-coronavirus-hotspots-cdc-july&utm_campaign=launch

I just noticed an abundance of extra vehicles in our area so stepped out to see what was up. Looks like a nearby neighbor who is a retired ranking police officer is having a "get together" (He does have a pool and it is warm out). Of the people I saw heading toward his house, none were wearing masks. Certainly a good example for all.

Rammel...
... little do they realise...this " get together " maybe their last.. if they have flouted or feel they are above the rules..

14 Coronavirus myths busted by science

"As the novel coronavirus continues to infect people around the world, news articles and social media posts about the outbreak continue to spread online. Unfortunately, this relentless flood of information can make it difficult to separate fact from fiction — and during a viral outbreak, rumors and misinformation can be dangerous.

Here at Live Science, we've compiled a list of the most pervasive myths about the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, the disease it causes, and explained why these rumors are misleading, or just plain wrong."

https://tinyurl.com/yczf34o4

Alaska is seeing the highest new cases in people in their twenties and then thirties through forties.

"Alaska is reporting an increase in cases in younger adults, said State Epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin. It's a trend in other cities and states where cases are surging.

"The case counts are highest among adults in their 20s, followed by adults in their 30s and then 40s and then 50s," McLaughlin said at Monday's news conference. "And this is likely the main driver behind the lower incidents of hospitalizations and deaths that we've been experiencing."

McLaughlin encouraged Alaskans to monitor for symptoms and get tested even if they only feel a little ill.

"Because one of the things we're seeing with COVID is many, many people just present with very mild symptoms," he said. "They have a mild sore throat or just feel a little achy. They may have a slight cough and they may have a fever. But remember that only half of people with COVID actually develop a fever, so you don't have to have a fever to have COVID."

https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/07/13/alaskas-number-of-active-covid-19-infections-tops-900-as-case-count-again-grows-by-dozens/

Here is a report from CDC re: no transmission because masks were worn:

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6928e2.htm?s_cid=mm6928e2_e&deliveryName=USCDC_921-DM32906

Wear a mask when out and about.

diglady..

One can choose

Mask it

Or casket

I see WalMart is saying MASKS required beginning next week.  I wonder how many bouncers they'll have to hire to get all the people to really do that.  Here I don't see younger people...30s/40s wearing them at all.

The last time we were at Walmart's about half the people were wearing masks---the older people. 😊

Yep...here, too.....very few of those under 50 and only old men...none of the younger ones.  Guess it's more "manly" to get sick or infect your family than wear a mask!  Here you can't get a test unless you have symptoms. 

jane

Locally, before we started re-opening, we had gone a little over three weeks without a new case. Before that, we had six that were traced back to a single medical building. That building had two tenents, an orthopedic clinic, and a medical clinic. All other cases were happening in Anchorage, 400 miles south, or a neighboring city to Anchorage, with three deaths. About half of the people in two groceries I frequented wore masks. Other than that, everything was on lockdown.

Then came phase one re-opening and nonresidents arrived for state park jobs, visiting, tourism, or summer fisheries jobs, which are very high paying because it's dangerous work. Four days after re-opening, new cases exploded. Within eight days, we had gone from statewide cases numbering in the three hundred to four hundred than six hundred. Then new cases began doubling each day, and now we are over a thousand, 1631 as of yesterday, with 17 deaths. Separate counting of nonresidents stands at a little over three hundred within fourteen days of re-opening.

Yet go into any grocery, and about half are in masks. All buses, taxis are closed. Senior rides and VanTran are impossible to get due to the deluge. If you don't drive or have access to friends with a vehicle, you are stranded. Yet, you still see folks out without any masks.

Patricia - Sorry that Fairbanks now has a significant number of cases.  Unfortunately, that's the price we pay, when people are allowed to migrate from one state to another.  They bring the virus with them!  After New York got their extreme number of cases under control, their Governor Cuomo, issued a mandate, that no out of state tourists/visitors/workers would be allowed into NYC, unless they agreed to shelter in place for 14 days.  I'm not sure how they managed to enforce the ruling,  but somehow they did, because the number of cases dropped dramatically.  The hospitals that were overflowing with patients, were suddenly emptying.  I don't know when or if they dropped that mandate, but I know their cases are starting to build up again. 

It's terrible here in California.  Santa Clara County, where I live,  had 409 new cases just yesterday alone!  This brings the total in our county to 6,951 since the beginning.  Nothing, compared to Los Angeles County, with 143,010 cases so far.  It looks very grim for us in this state . . . I don't see an end in sight.     

It's reported by multiple news and also medical sites that due to the number of deaths due to COVID-19, in Arizona and Texas, that they've brought in refrigerated trucks due to morgues bring full. On Instagram, a person posted that all of that information was false, as well as death counts. They went on to say that all of the death counts and the number of cases nationwide were falsified to make our president look bad. The opposition and number of people believing this is one of the why we're in the position we're in! 

The below photo is from Maryland;

Protest.jpg

I'm not attempting to be political. There is a serious divide in our country, and the opposition to believing in news transcends politics. It is the same with anti-vaxxers and religious thought that doesn't believe in medical procedures. They ignore warnings that a second, stronger wave of the virus will come with the flu season.

I believe that going back to lockdown is the only way to get a handle on this disease and its many different mutations. We were doing better before we began re-opening the country. As it stands now, Americans are banned from Europe and Asia, South America and Canada. We've isolated this country from the world, and some Eastern states have also banned other states.

When do political jockeying end and common sense begin? The CDC, WHO, and multiple organizations and medical and scientific personnel have repeatedly told us what we need to do and why. They have shown us proof, and we either ignore it, ban it and disbelieve it, and scoff at that proof. We, as a nation, would rather believe in conspiracies. It's killing us.

"The San Diego woman who berated a Starbucks barista online last month after she refused to wear a mask inside is now saying she deserves over half the $100,000 raised for the employee, according to local news outlet KGTV.

Lenin Gutierrez, a Starbucks barista, refused to serve Amber Lynn Gilles last month because Gilles did not have a face covering on, despite California law requiring people wear masks in public.

Gilles went on to shame Gutierrez on social media, posting a photo of him on Facebook and writing, "Meet lenen [sic] from Starbucks who refused to serve me cause I'm not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for cops and bring a medical exemption."

"An Ohio Army veteran died of the coronavirus just two months after he publicly condemned the use of face masks in an online social media post.

According to his obituary, Richard Rose III, of Port Clinton, died at home on July 4 of complications related to the coronavirus. He was 37.

The veteran, who served in the U.S. Army for nine years with two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was adamant about not wearing a face mask amid the pandemic, calling the precaution just part of the "hype" in an April 28 Facebook post.

"Let me make this clear. I'm not buying a f—king mask," Rose wrote. "I've made it this far by not buying into that damn hype."

Some people just don't like to follow the law/rules/suggestions. Vaccinations / immunizations ----- They're for the others.  Then when they get sick they look for someone to blame.

Per CNN

"Day after day, the US is topping itself in coronavirus cases and deaths. Thursday brought 77,225 new cases, eclipsing Tuesday's single-day nationwide case record. At least 943 people were also reported dead. Florida alone reported 156 new coronavirus-related deaths, the most yet in a 24-hour period. Hospitalizations are also on the rise: Miami's mayor says the city's hospitals have reached 95% capacity. In Texas and Arizona, morgues are filling up in the hardest-hit areas and officials are bringing in coolers and refrigerated trailers to store bodies. Yes, it's bleak, and the international community is taking notice. Mark Lowcock, The United Nations' top official in charge of humanitarian aid warned that the failure of wealthy nations to contain and react to the pandemic could allow the virus to ravage less developed nations and exacerbate the effects of the global health crisis for tens of millions of people. Currently, more than 13.8 million people have contracted the virus worldwide, resulting in at least 590,000 deaths."

My oldest daughter who lives in B.C. Canada, had her covid-19 test today.  The doctor said her lungs were clear, temp. normal and she should receive results in two days.  I believe they are trying to get everyone tested there.


Yesterday was the last day I've been able to get the daily info on our county.  It looks like our Gov. is trying to cover up the info for the public.  Lord help us is all I can say!

Oh, FlaJean...what another nightmare!

Stay safe and healthy,

jane

Jean;

https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/

The second page has cases by zip code.

Thanks Patricia, I have that Dashboard including counties, but I follow one that gives more information and that is the one that is not working.

Now to hide the true info on CV-19. Hospital data related to Covid19 Is now collected by a private technology firm, Teletracking, rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; administration says it will speed up reporting.

Collecting and reporting public health data has always been a core function of the CDC. Rather than strengthening the CDC public health data system to improve hospital reporting, the administration has handed data to an unproven, commercial entity.

The CEO of Teletracking, Michael Zamagias, also runs a real estate investment firm with several properties in Pittsburgh.
Has the firm or leadership of this firm given money to the Trump campaign? Was this a transparent selection process? Were other companies in competition for this job? What did they offer? Did we just get the "low bid" and will there be stringent oversight without scandal?

What a horrible thing to do. Crazy, sleazy, and crooked. Oh Boy. I will be political and say I am tired of this Hitler like President. He only cares about himself

Diglady, You are asking some very important questions.  I wonder if we will ever get any answers.  You have captured my sentiments exactly.  Thanks for speaking out.

What can you expect from a man whose base is the lowest common denominator? Who took the country out of WHO and is feuding with the CDC? When he and his administration devalue our top scientists and doctors, such as Dr. Fauci?

85 infants under age one have tested positive for the virus in one Texas County.

"Since January, health authorities have identified more than 3.6 million Covid-19 cases throughout the United States. Nearly 140,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In Texas' Nueces County, where Corpus Christi is located, the number of new coronavirus cases skyrocketed in July after a flattening trend. The virus has infected dozens of babies and local officials are urging people to wear masks and practice social distancing.

"We currently have 85 babies under the age of one year in Nueces County that have all tested positive for Covid-19," said Annette Rodriguez, director of public health for Corpus Christi Nueces County."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/85-infants-under-age-1-tested-positive-for-coronavirus-in-one-texas-county/ar-BB16TBgX?ocid=hponeservicefeed

"You can see the trend line is relatively flat until July, and this is where we have had that huge spike in cases, and this is why it's turned into a major problem for Nueces County," he said.

Corpus Christi has about 8,100 coronavirus cases and 82 deaths linked to the virus, local officials said. Other Texas counties such as Cameron and Hidalgo are so dire, health officials are stocking up on refrigerated trucks to store bodies as morgues fill up."

I got a phone call from my older daughter today.  Her best friend in the apartment complex where she lives, was taken to the hospital in an ambulance yesterday, tested positive, and is now in ICU, on a ventilator.  She is 65 years old, and was in reasonably good health.  Her son came to the apartment today to get her dog and cat, and Shelley was able to talk to him on the phone.  He will be her only contact for information, but he lives in a different city, so it will be hard for Shelley to get any updates.  Of course the hospital doesn't give out any personal information about patients.

Diglady - I also agree with you, 100 percent!  Nothing that man does or says, makes any sense anymore.  I fear for the future of our country, in so many ways.   

Marilyne, that is sad and I feel for your daughter. I don't personally, as far as I know, know of anyone close to me that's had the virus. But we are in total lockdown with cases surging here due to visitors and fisheries employees traveling through here on their way home. Or at least that is what we're told. People still aren't wearing masks even though it's supposedly a strict rule. Since reopening in July, this state has gone from a total of cases in the three hundred to yesterday's total of 1,539.

Everyone infected with COVID-19 has one thing in common;

"With the coronavirus pandemic impacting all of our lives, average people have had to learn much more about epidemiology than they thought they would ever have to know. Understanding how the coronavirus spreads is vitally important, we all have to make safe choices based on that information. But it is challenging to keep up with these concepts, especially as experts themselves are still learning. Recently, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), cleared up one persistent point of confusion: what everyone infected with COVID has in common, regardless of whether they're symptomatic or not.

In a live-streamed Facebook Q&A on July 16, CEO Mark Zuckerberg relayed to Fauci that many users were asking in the comments of the video, "If someone isn't showing symptoms, then how is it that they could be contagious?"

"If you look at how you transmit from one person to another, the virus resides in the nasal pharynx and the back of the throat, so that's the reason why when you speak or cough or sing, the virus in droplets comes out," the doctor explained.

Whether or not your infection is causing symptoms of any kind doesn't matter—your respiratory droplets are still infected. And everyone releases a certain amount of droplets when they do the things Fauci listed (plus sneeze, yell, etc.).


"What we have found is that when you measure the level of virus in the nasal pharynx of asymptomatic people compared to people who are symptomatic, there doesn't seem to be any difference," Fauci continued. "Which means there's as much virus in the nose of a person who's asymptomatic as there is in a symptomatic person. Which means it is very, very likely, when that person talks or sneezes or whatever, that enough virus will come out to infect someone else. So there is not a lot of difference in virus load, even though people can be very different with regard to their symptoms."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) data supports the notion that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carriers can and do spread coronavirus. One of the CDC's most recent models estimates that 50 percent of COVID transmission occurs before the onset of symptoms.

That's a difficult thing to wrap one's head around, that you could feel completely fine and normal but still be as dangerous to others as a person with a severe case of COVID. But that's one of the reasons that the virus has been able to tear through the country so quickly. So continue to don your mask any time you leave your home and keep up with your social distancing. Whether you know it or not, you could be carrying the same amount of the virus as a hospitalized COVID patient. And for more from the NIAID director, Dr. Fauci Says These Places Across the U.S. Need to Shut Down ASAP.

https://tinyurl.com/y3b4uthz

Quote from: angelface555 on July 18, 2020, 03:28:02 PMWhat can you expect from a man whose base is the lowest common denominator? Who took the country out of WHO and is feuding with the CDC? When he and his administration devalue our top scientists and doctors, such as Dr. Fauci?

Are you talking about Obama & Joe?   Don't forget who called the Boston Police Stupid.   I thought we were not making this a POLITICS Discussion.

I'm afraid to look and see our local numbers.  People are not wearing masks, and I heard one large man, say, as he walked into Farm Fleet ahead of my niece and me (both of us masked), "IF they want us to wear masks, they should provide them."   I'm usually not a violent person, but I really wanted to punch his fat belly and say, THINK ABOUT OTHERS!  But, I didn't.   :crazy2:

Rammel: Unfortunately, it has been made into a political issue by an idiot who doesn't know right from wrong. The in-house crook!

"I really wanted to punch his fat belly and say, THINK ABOUT OTHERS!"

Fighting is the answer.  Breaking store windows, burning things, stealing, lots of free stuff, will make everything OK for all the "others". Should be interesting when all the Police Departments shut down or slow down.

Rick, we could argue back and forth about this but instead, let's not.

Yesterday Alaska stood at 1,539. Twentyfour hours later, 1,795. an increase of  1,429 on July first's number of 363. So much for reopening...
Daily Case Count Update


CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Saturday, July 18, 2020

DHSS today announced 78 new people with COVID-19 and one new death in Alaska. 62 are residents in 14 communities: Anchorage (31), Fairbanks (9), Soldotna (4), Wasilla (4), Juneau (2), Palmer (2), Seward (2), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (2) and one each in Chugiak, Eagle River, Ketchikan, Kenai Peninsula Borough North, Kenai Peninsula Borough South and Utqiaġvik. The total number of Alaska cases is 1,795.

What scares me, too, are  the medical docs who say this fall and winter will probably be worse than now with the influenza mixed
in with Covid. 

We are almost up to 1800 in our county now.

Patricia, I'm glad you printed out that information.  I had not heard that talk between Zuckerberg and Fauci.

Thanks Jean.

Jane, we're told that this is still the first wave. The second wave will come, as you said, with this fall's flu season and the people who are tired, want to give up, and or believe all the conspiracy theories. Dr. Fauci said that we no longer have a chance to achieve herd immunity and the virus keeps mutating. He and other experts believe this disease won't go away but will be like the flu. Even people that have had the virus can get it again, like the flu, as our immunities lessen with time.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/can-you-become-immune-sars-cov-2-180974532/

Dr Fauci:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/public-global-health/507953-fauci-young-people-are-driving-this-new-surge

COVID ACT NOW

See COVID data and risk level for your community.
All 50 states. 2,100+ counties.

https://covidactnow.org/?s=716119

"By now, the daily COVID-19 figures coming out of states like Arizona, Florida, Texas, and California are a grim reminder of just how quickly the virus has spread across the U.S. And while these hotspots have seen the most startling numbers, they are far from alone in watching the virus's pace quicken. Recent data shows that COVID-19 is spreading faster than it was in the spring in almost half of all U.S. states, according to a USA Today study.

Idaho, for example, originally saw low to stable increases in cases just months ago. In early April, the Gem State was reporting roughly five new cases per hour, before dropping to less than one per hour by mid-May, USA Today reports. But recent figures have shown that cases are now four-fold what they were before reopening in May, with about 20 new coronavirus cases cropping up per hour."

https://bestlifeonline.com/covid-spreading-faster-now/?nab=0&utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=msn-feed

Thank you Diglady, I learned recently that during the ebola epidemic that Dr. Fauci was physically treating patients in 2015. I'll try to find that article.

Her's another; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/08/health/fauci-coronavirus.html

From the Guardian re: this fall and winter with COVID-19

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/18/us-coronavirus-fall-second-wave-autumn?utm_term=LTIwMDcxOQ%3D%3D&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUS_email

Your link is enough to scare the bejebbers out of anyone, Patricia.  I could only get it to open without the www since it's a seccure website.  For others for whom it wouldn't open:

theguardian. (http://theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/18/us-coronavirus-fall-second-wave-autumn?utm_term=LTIwMDcxOQ%3D%3D&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUS_email)


It's going to be a long, difficult fall and winter, I think. 

jane

Sorry, Jane. Some people were telling me they didn't like Tiny URLs.

"John Oliver Taps John Cena, Alex Trebek to Help Debunk COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories"

https://tinyurl.com/y2xhwhsg

I asked the young woman being the "bouncer" outside of WalMart this morning if she'd had anyone refuse to wear a mask.  She said one woman who refused to wear one ...she said she'd shop elsewhere...and away she went.

I truly don't understand why people won't do this for their families, friends and themselves.

It would probably be a good idea if the news people suggested shields for people who have a problem breathing, but I haven't seen any info on the shields or where you can get them.

This is some info on them that I found Jean;

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/informational/aboutfsis/audience-employees/employees-face-coverings

https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2020/shields-compared-to-masks.html

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cloth-face-cover-guidance.html

Some places to purchase face shields

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wear+to+find+face+shields&atb=v229-5&ia=shopping

I didn't realize Amazon sold the shields.  We have plenty of masks but the next person who says they can't breath with a mask I'm suggesting a shield.

Evidently, most home improvement stores sell them.

Three days ago, Alaska's COVID -19 cases were at 1,795 As of Monday noon we were at 1,949. There were 66 new cases in nonresidents, for example, a fishing boat came into Bethel with 85 new cases with the crew.  Of the 75 Alaska residents, 35 are male and 40 are female. Four are under the age of 10; four are aged 10-19; 17 are aged 20-29; 19 are aged 30-39; nine are aged 40-49; six are aged 50-59; nine are aged 60-69; five are aged 70-79 and two are aged 80 or older.

Thus bringing instate nonresident case count to 466. There is no sign of it slowing down.

From Euronews;

" New symptoms due to coronavirus have emerged since the beginning of the pandemic as experts better understand how COVID-19 manifests itself in humans.

The most common symptoms, according to health bodies, include a fever, dry cough, and fatigue and the most serious symptoms could include shortness of breath, chest pain, and loss of speech, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention also warns to look out for any mental confusion or blue lips for signs of severe COVID-19 that would require someone to be hospitalised.

But there are also a variety of less common symptoms that have emerged as the disease continues to spread across the globe. It has so far infected more than 14.7 million people and killed more than 600,000 globally.

Those less common symptoms include: aches and pains, sore throat, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis, headache, loss of taste or smell, a rash on skin, or discolouration of fingers or toes, according to the WHO.

So what are some of the official terms for some of these emerging coronavirus symptoms?"

https://tinyurl.com/y5m8f7k3

Good news from my daughter in Canada.  She was notified today that her Covid-19 test is negative.

Yay! Great news, Jean!

DHSS today announced 111 new people with COVID-19 in Alaska. 92 are residents in 18 communities: Anchorage (64), Fairbanks (5), Wasilla (5), Soldotna (3), Homer (2), and one each in Aleutians East Borough, Bethel Census Area, Eagle River, Juneau, Kenai, Kotzebue, North Slope Borough, Palmer, SE Fairbanks Census Area, Seward, Sitka, Sutton, and Valdez-Cordova Census Area. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 2,041.

 An increase of 92 cases overnight. from 1,949 to 2,041.

Nonresidents i.e., fishing boats, canneries, and processors increased from 466 to 484

I am having issues in counting, so any errors outside of official counts are mine.

Great news, Jean!

FlaJean..
...such a weight off your shoulders and a weight lifted from daughter..think now you can both relax and breathe a little...

Locally and statewide, we're still doubling daily cases even with a state lockdown. The  ages in the majority are ten to twenty and thirty to thirty-nine. Most of the tracings are within family or friends. Before July 4th, we had gone just over three weeks without a new local case. Re-opening has not really worked, has it? And the new surge expected this fall along with flu season is going to be unprecedented. We had a death yesterday locally bring us four deaths out of the state's 19.

From Best Life

" In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the general consensus was that COVID-19 was primarily threatening to the elderly and people with preexisting conditions. It seemed those were the people most likely to experience severe symptoms, or worse, die due to the virus. Younger folks were thought to be less susceptible to COVID and, in the event of infection, seemed more likely to recover from it. As this health crisis has progressed, however, it's become increasingly clear that all age groups are vulnerable to the virus. Not only that, but in early July, Anthony Fauci, MD, said the average age of COVID-19 patients in the United States had dropped dramatically since the onset of the pandemic—by 15 years, to be exact.

With that in mind, we calculated the data to determine the age group that accounts for the most total COVID-19 cases in each of the 50 states. Figures are based on the most recent data available from each state's department of health* at the time of publishing. Read on to see the age group most affected by the coronavirus in your home state. And for more on how the virus is spreading across the country, Here's How Quickly Coronavirus Is Spreading in Every State.

Editor's note: Unfortunately, specific age demographic data was not available on New York or North Carolina's health department websites, so they have been omitted from this list."

https://tinyurl.com/y3ws55v8 

Interesting Info, Patricia.

Basically, you look up your state in alphabetical order, and it tells you the percentages and the age group in each state most affected at this time. Vermont is really doing well out of all the states.

I haven't seen an international similar grouping.

US coronavirus cases surpass 4 million mark

The number of coronavirus cases in the US has now surpassed four million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The US has confirmed 4,005,414 cases since the start of the pandemic, the highest of any country.

Brazil has the second highest total in the world with around 2.23 million cases followed by India with 1.24 million.

A 9-year-old girl in Florida has died from coronavirus complications, becoming the youngest in the state to die from the virus, health officials said.

In their daily reporting of new COVID-19 cases and deaths, the Florida Department of Health said Wednesday that a 9-year-old girl was one of the fatalities, the Miami Herald reported. She lived in Putnam County, in the northeastern part of the state, and officials said that she did not contract COVID-19 from travel or a close contact with the virus, meaning it was likely from community spread.

Putnam County Health Officer Mary Garcia told CNN that she did not know if the girl had any preexisting health conditions.

In Florida, 28,087 children have contracted COVID-19, 282 have been hospitalized for treatment and five have died as of Wednesday night, the Herald reported. Prior to the 9-year-old's death, the youngest fatalities were in an 11-year-old boy in Miami-Dade County and an 11-year-old girl in Broward County.

The child's death comes just after Florida's Commissioner of the Department of Education issued an executive order requiring all schools to fully reopen in August. In response, the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teacher union, filed a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday to put a halt to the "unsafe" reopening of schools.

DeSantis had incorrectly claimed in April that COVID-19 does not "threaten kids" and that there had not been a "single fatality" nationwide of anyone under 25 years old, though there had already been at least five deaths in that age group at the time.

As of July 9, 241,904 children in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19, and 66 have died, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics' count of publicly available data.

Gov. DeSantis does whatever Trump says.  I read today that the Episcopal School that Trump's youngest son attends will be having online classes or possibly a partial opening.  It's an expensive private school and i'm sure they aren't going to go by what he says.

SCIENCECORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
Coronavirus in the U.S.: Where cases are growing and declining
UPDATED JULY 24, 2020, 9:16 A.M. E.T.

New daily confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S.

4,050,126 total cases

144,283 reported deaths

Texas has stopped reporting which of its hospitals have exceeded their capacity for COVID-19 patients. But signs point to a caseload crisis: One children's hospital in Houston is now admitting adult patients, and the U.S. military is sending medical staff to help support the state's beleaguered doctors. This week, a county in Texas announced its COVID-19 unit was full, and transfers to other overwhelmed hospitals were becoming impossible. "Our doctors are going to have to decide who receives treatment, and who is sent home to die by their loved ones," the Starr County Memorial Hospital said in a news release.

How to weigh a life
This inequality in resources directly affects patient care. As the U.S. faces an escalating curve of COVID-19 cases, Raymond says it's essential to consider how "decades of compounded racial disparity contribute to vulnerability."

"It's really important to recognize we are rationing medical care all the time—in the US, we fundamentally ration it by ability to pay," says Lynch. She believes that long-standing disparities in access to healthcare have likely worsened the pandemic, because lacking regular and appropriate healthcare has left many Americans with pre-existing conditions that put them at risk for severe cases of COVID-19.

In Arizona, for example, triage decisions involve scoring each patient based on a medical assessment that includes considering the patient's likelihood of dying within one and five years. While this decision is hypothetically made without regard to race or ethnicity, people of color are more likely to have conditions such as heart disease that limit their life expectancy.

In Arizona, intensive care unit beds are 90 percent full, morgues have run out of space, and counties are ordering refrigerated trucks to store additional bodies. In the midst of this surge, Arizona is the first state to enact crisis care standards—protocols for when healthcare systems are so overwhelmed by a catastrophic event that they can't provide normal care to patients.

Such dire straits raise important questions: how best to care for patients when there aren't enough resources to go around—and who has to make those triage decisions.

https://tinyurl.com/y64lvf3w

Here's what COVID-19 does to a child's body

https://tinyurl.com/y2dxe694

Just this minute caught on the morning news a second wave has started in Spain..

" Spain recorded 2,255 new cases of the virus on Friday ( yesterdays Friday ) compared to a daily average of just 132 in June "

We have a real mess here in Arizona. We are no longer listed as being the hot spot as the disease curve flattens out. The truth be told: Labs are 61,000 case behind in results. That right 61,000 cases with test done and results pending. Some people have waited greater the 15 days for results.

Good Grief, DigLady...from what I've heard the docs say, that means the tests are useless for tracking and to stop the spread.  It's amazing pro athletes and politicians can get those instant tests multiple times and us ordinary people can't. 

Our governor has made Dubuque Iowa stop testing so many people.  Their numbers were going up, up, up....so she's said they can just test 100 people a day...not several hundred.  Oh, yeah, that'll keep people from getting sick.   :uglystupid2:

jane

Politics as usual. It is amazing what someone will say or even believe, such as do fewer tests, and your numbers will lower. And the disease will be less. The US government has announced deep cuts in testing and tracing programs supposedly based on faulty testing procedures and mistaken claims.

I know this is a radical idea....BUT....if the tests are faulty, then tell us so!  Let the EXPERTS explain how they're faulty, etc., so we can understand.

 IF the tests aren't faulty, what sort of screwed up logic says if they don't see the problem, it doesn't exist?  That's a 2 yr old hiding under a blanket and thinking if he can't see you, you can't see him.    What sort of delusion is that for an adult mind?


jane

angelface, did the quake do any damage to your area in Alaska?

The scientists and medical personal are saying testing is imperative, and tracing programs don't work because they aren't followed up on or appropriately instituted. At seventy-nine, Fauci has run the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for thirty-six years, through six Administrations and a long procession of viral epidemics: H.I.V., sars, avian influenza, swine flu, Zika, and Ebola among them. Yet, he is "mistaken" in what he has said and advised about this pandemic?

The second wave of this disease expected to come with flu season. It has only been the first wave, and medical scientists say it isn't expected ever to go away but that somehow the world will find ways to fight it, such as we do with the flu.

Tomereader, the quake was on the southwest part of the state and behind two mountain ranges and 579 miles from me. So I wasn't aware of it. They have thin strips of land that often sit on a bed of gravel, pushed up against mountain ranges. That part of the state also has several volcanoes, part of the ring of fire, and two active fault lines, so it's a part of life there.

I should edit that to say the thin, low-lying, strips of land placed, between sea and mountains sit on a gravel base.

With spiking COVID-19 cases and debates over reopening schools making headlines these days, it can feel like returning to any sense of "normalcy" is just a distant concept. But now, the nation's top immunologist, Anthony Fauci, MD, has some encouraging news on when we might start to see some sense of normalcy... or at least start to talk about it. In a July 23 interview on the podcast The Axe Files with David Axelrod, Fauci said that, with the development and implementation of a COVID-19 vaccine, "we could start talking about real normality again" in 2021.

"The timetable you suggested of getting into 2021, well into the year, then I can think with a successful vaccine—if we could vaccinate the overwhelming majority of the population—we could start talking about real normality again," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) told CNN's David Axelrod. "But it is going to be a gradual process."

https://tinyurl.com/y4ye99ay

Those who have recovered from CV-19 may face a long haul:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/long-lasting-covid-symptoms-from-lungs-to-limbs-linger-in-coronavirus-long-haulers/ar-BB17b24U?ocid=msedgdhp

Diglady, I have read some similar articles altho not as comprehensive and more generalized or slanted more to research. As to doctors, my opinion is that one, they don't know enough about the disease or how different people react to the disease, there simply hasn't been enough time or enough subjects to have a commonality.

And two, I remember what my sister has said, (She started her nursing career in orthopedics, went to the emergency room, then to chronic diseases. She retired as head of chronic diseases at her hospital.); that you had to speak the doctor's language or be dismissed. You need to list only your symptoms, physical or mental effects, and results along with any medications or what you did to alleviate symptoms. Do not go off this list. Do not use terms such as I think or perhaps, be direct. This is the doctor's language. There is a reason why the doctor's job is called a practice.

I know that many people, including myself, have conditions that are chronic such as sinus headaches and infections along with aches and pains that fluctuate or go away due to fluctuating barometric pressure. Then there are ones suffering from chronic fatigue, arthritis, or heart issues. There simply isn't enough knowledge about how or why people react differently or with more or less common issues let alone a pandemic.

"Scientists today have a better sense of how to measure COVID-19's lethality, and the numbers are alarming. Using a more sophisticated calculation called the infection-fatality rate, paired with the past few months' worth of data, the latest best estimates show that COVID-19 is around 50 to 100 times more lethal than the seasonal flu, on average."

"The flu infects millions of people every year and kills thousands. During the 2018-19 flu season, about 35 million people in the US contracted the flu and about 34,000 died, according to the CDC."

"This means that the U.S. and other countries seeing case surges need to brace for a very deadly summer and autumn if tactics don't change.

"You don't need to do a lot of calculations to know that 128,000 deaths are an extreme number of people who have passed away," says the University of Wollongong epidemiologist and self-described health nerd Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, citing the current death toll in the U.S. (At the time this article was published)."

Texas hospital forced to set up 'death panel' as Covid-19 cases surge Starr County Memorial Hospital struggling to cope with virus Officials blame social gatherings for rise in local cases

A surge in coronavirus cases in rural Texas has forced one hospital to set up "death panels" to decide which patients it can save and which ones will be sent home to die.

Doctors at Starr County Memorial Hospital, the only hospital in Starr County, have been issued with critical care guidelines to decide which Covid-19 patients it will treat and which ones will be sent home because they are likely to die. The committee is being formed to alleviate the hospital's limited medical resources so doctors can focus on patients with higher survival rates.

Starr county began experiencing increases in coronavirus cases in early July, with 1,769 confirmed cases reported as of 24July, 17 confirmed fatalities and 33 fatalities pending confirmation from the state. The county had gone several weeks in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic without reporting any cases. Starr county, along the US-Mexico border, has a population of around 64,000 people.

Officials blamed social gatherings for the surge in cases.

"We are seeing the results of socialization during the 4th of July, vacations, and other social opportunities," wrote Starr county Judge Elroy Vera on the county's Facebook page. "Unfortunately, Starr County Memorial Hospital has limited resources and our doctors are going to have to decide who receives treatment, and who is sent home to die by their loved ones."

https://tinyurl.com/y57x3a6h

Everyone:  Take a look at  JeanneP's  new message in Bosom Buddies.  What do you think?   Is it possible that Covid-19 could be spread through AC systems?

Plenty of air conditioning systems in homes in the Caribbean Islands - St Lucia ( where i once lived ) Trinidad and Tobago - St Vincent - Antigua, yet very little deaths or no deaths...
Sounds like they are " clutching at straws.."
Thinking of all possibilities yet getting nowhere..

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus

Jackie - maybe there are very few cases of virus, because nobody is traveling there?  What does anyone else think of Jeanne's message? 

Marilyne...less population..unless adding Barbados and Jamaica..still very low death rates..

That study was not about AC in homes, it was about. AC in public places like restaurants, shopping centers, work places.  All are air conditioned here in CA, as well as in other states.  I'm not saying I believe it, but worth taking another look.

I omitted to add restaurants - guest houses - hotels...I did read it, in this world, anything is possible..

One of the main reasons why planes, trains, and ships have/had a large number of cases of COVID-19, Sars, legionnaire's disease, respiratory elements are due to crowded places with air conditioning.

Singing, yelling, crying, coughing, and or spitting are all ways to spread disease. Per MD, "These droplets are too large and heavy to stay in the air for more than a few seconds and quickly settle out of the air onto surfaces. Because of gravity, this is usually within 6 feet, but how far they go can depend on the force of the sneeze or cough." These are spread by air condiction. Planes with large amounts of recirculated air among large groups of people is a prime example of respiratory illness transmission.

Why they tell you to close the lid before flushing, "Does Flushing the Toilet Spread Bacteria through the Air?
Turns out the research is pretty clear on this: when you flush the toilet, a spray of microscopic particles shoots up into the air — this is known as "aerosolization."

According to an extensive 2013 review of prior studies on the subject, "potentially infectious aerosols may be produced in substantial quantities during flushing."

This burst of toilet particles during flushing has been given the nickname "toilet plume."

From the journal of infectious disease, "Incredibly, a toilet plume can spread up to 15 feet after a flush and those particles can stay in the air for hours.

What surprised me most is that the American Journal of Infection Control piece went on to explain, "aerosolization can continue through multiple flushes to expose subsequent toilet users."

That means that if other people in your household flush with the lid open, germs from previous users will spread anyway, even if those previous flushers shut the lid on their turn.

"What's in a toilet plume and why it may not be a good idea to use a public restroom during a pandemic,

"The 2013 review lists the following as potential inhabitants of a toilet plume:

Harmful bacteria — Shigella, E coli, and Clostridium difficile are harmful bacteria that are potentially found in fecal matter. The CDC estimated in 1999 that as many as 79,000 people get sick from e coli each year.
Norovirus — This is a highly contagious virus that causes unpleasant symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea. One of the ways norovirus is spread is through touching contaminated surfaces, and then touching your mouth or face.
Flu Type A — Even in cases of Flu A without gastrointestinal symptoms, the virus can shed in feces.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis — While this won't be a concern in most households, it's could be something to think about for anyone who works in the health care field or around potentially infected persons.
SARS — Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS for short, gained a lot of attention in 2003 when it spread throughout much of the world. It's not a common disease, but since the virus can live in the feces of an infected person for two days or more, it could be a potential issue during another outbreak.
Keep in mind that the above must be present in the fecal matter of a toilet user in order to be present in a toilet plume."

Regarding Jeanne's post----I'm sure bad ventilation on cruise ships, buildings including schools, have caused a lot of the respiratory problems, so it makes sense that the corona virus could also be spread that way.  But doesn't it have to be spread from a carrier in order to get into the air?.  There is so much about this virus we still don't know or understand.

My son and wife flew to Calif on Alaska Airlines when they went to LA.  He said that the Airlines had installed better ventilation in their planes and were very clean and he felt better about flying with them.  He said they still had their masks on the whole trip.  It was a direct flight from DC to LA.

A few years ago my son went on a 17 day trip to China with an engineering group he was a member of.  His company paid for the trip as they were mostly going to see the "amazing" new dam on the Yangtze River.  They traveled several different places but one evening the Chinese group leader took them to a restaurant in Wuhan District.  My son said outside were many crates containing animals.  He said he had never seen some of the types of animals.  Apparently you could pick what you wanted to be cooked.  Their group of engineers were just given regular meals, but he couldn't eat after seeing all those animals outside in crates.  He just pushed the food around on his plate.

FlaJean...I'd be with your son in pushing to food around my plate.  I'm not adventurous (sp?) about my food to begin with, so that would have been a "fasting" meal for me, too. 

I agree with you all that there's much the scientists will learn, and they seem to be the first to say that. 
I'm also a supporter of Dr. Fauci.  He said everything I've ever heard with "at this point," or "what we know now," or "we just don't know at this point," or similar statements.  It's not he who said "it'll all disappear in April" or other foolish, non-scientific nonsense.

jane


 

It's the main theory that the virus originated in eating some of those crated animals in China. There is a multitude of diseases that came from animals to humans. Science writer David Quammen says the new coronavirus is the latest example of the way pathogens are migrating from animals to humans with increasing frequency — and sometimes deadly consequences.The coronavirus pandemic, suspected of originating in bats and pangolins, has brought the risk of viruses that jump from wildlife to humans into stark focus.

These leaps often happen at the edges of the world's tropical forests, where deforestation is increasingly bringing people into contact with animals' natural habitats. Yellow fever, malaria, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Ebola – all of these pathogens have spilled over from one species to another at the margins of forests.

As doctors and biologists specializing in infectious diseases, we have studied these and other zoonoses as they spread in Africa, Asia and the Americas. We found that deforestation has been a common theme.

More than half of the world's tropical deforestation is driven by four commodities: beef, soy, palm oil, and wood products. They replace mature, biodiverse tropical forests with mono-crop fields and pastures. As the forest is degraded piecemeal, animals still living in isolated fragments of natural vegetation struggle to exist. When human settlements encroach on these forests, human-wildlife contact can increase, and new opportunistic animals may also migrate in.

Some good news for Diglady and Arizona.

https://tinyurl.com/y3v585gc

And some bad news for all of us. Since the country is no longer accepting WHO or the CDC as legitimate information sources, all official COVID-19 news is to go through the White House.

Good Heavens!

jane

That's why realistic state governments, a free press and foreign news press is so important!

Just so so disheartening...Every time i check the C-Virus worldwide chart i hope and pray, and expect to see the numbers continuing dropping as they were but, i now see all those red boxes worldwide, and the numbers so very high again, after a lowering, so so disheartening as this is NOT going to go away...I am also disheartened when yesterday on our UK BBC news they were talking of Sepsis, Sepsis now being the next threat to those who have recovered from our C-Virus...I am also feeling disheartened whenever they keep mentioning a second wave, ( where they warned us it will be worse than this first wave, ) expected once our weathers change, the colder months...Link...click on yesterdays chart...

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

One big wave' – why the Covid-19 second wave may not exist..

Seems to be a conflicting debate as to whether there will be a second wave or...

"Amid continued debates over what constitutes a second wave, a resurgence or seasonal return of the disease, Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson, insisted that these discussions are not a helpful way to understand the spread of the disease.

People are still thinking about seasons. What we all need to get our heads around is this is a new virus and this one is behaving differently,"

Angle Thanks for the article on declining CV-19 numbers here in Arizona. I don't think the article is correct . As I mentioned earlier we have 1 lab located statewide that has 61,000 unreported results.
CV-19 ICU bed use is down so that is a positive.

Can someone explain to me what the conspiracy theorists get out of spreading misinformation?  Sinclair broadcasting, Breitbart, etc saying Dr. Fauci created the Covid 19 from monkey cells.  SERIOUSLY?
 There appear to be a number of "scientists" and quack doctors who need serious mental health help.  SOON!

Appears Russia is spreading mis-info:

http://my.earthlink.net/channel/news/article/top?guid=20200729/44f1149d-5efb-4844-9e1f-6f3807399ba0

Diglady, I think they were talking about how they could correlate the reclosing of bars and nightclubs to the slowing of critical surges and essential use of hospital capabilities. The unknown 61,000 test results are bad, but with the government blaming test results for rising numbers, they are severely limiting or cutting off funds for testing and tracing. Since they're discrediting doctor Fauci and stepping back from WHO, and the CDC,(which I think also answers Jane's comments re: monkey brains); you shouldn't expect quick if any results on those tests.

Russian interference around the world is blatant. The Russian government employs an entirely separate division of hackers, according to CNN, the British paper, the Guardian, and other foreign press such as Euronews.

The virus is known to have mutated at least four times that have published. There has to be more because a virus is known to mutate to adapt to change. However, most other mutations, such as Kawasaki syndrome and attacking younger people, are not included as mutations.

Jane, you have to look to those who read or listen to those you mentioned. There are people so afraid of evil and conspiracies that they're driven to violence. It's becoming common, for example, to read of one or more people attacking, knifing, or shooting someone who tells them to wear a mask or follow safety protocols. The anti-vaxxers are a prime example of conspiracy believers.

Whether you call it a surge or a giant wave or a continuation, what is reportedly feared by many medical experts and scientists is flu season. The combination of two diseases that are seriously mutating will be deadly. A virus has to mutate to survive, and flu and COVID-19 together will kill millions.

IMG_1791.jpg

This is a little bit off the subject - but your mention of Russian hacking, makes me I wonder what can ever be done about these Russian and Chinese  hackers, and  their interference into our government, major corporations and health care systems.  It has been exposed and addressed many times, but there seems to be nothing that can be done about it.  The Chinese nationals, who were employed at that tech firm in Houston, is a good example.  Stealing major tech information, and sending it to China.  It was discovered, they were exposed and fired, yet they are still here in the US, declaring their innocence.  I'm sure it's the same at lots of tech companies here in Silicon Valley - both China and Russia.  Also, with the upcoming elections, Russia will be right there, interfering again.  Is there an answer to this ongoing problem?

Patricia - I just saw your raccoon meme!  That's really a good one - I'm sending it on.

Not native...UK have no raccoon's but we do have Coroner...

Marilyn, as I mentioned before, hacking is big foreign government business because it works. If it wasn't working for certain groups in the US and other western countries, there would be serious firewalls and programs to put a stop to it such as we had in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam let alone in the Gulf.

That viral video about a COVID-19 cure.

"There's nothing special or even promising about hydroxychloroquine, but it makes a great Macguffin in stories alleging that the virus is a hoax, or that masks are just a symbol of control, or that Bill Gates is trying to microchip us all with the Sign of the Beast under the guise of a vaccine program. (I wish I were joking, but that one is a surprisingly wide-reaching belief.) As with any conspiracy theory, the message being shared is the conclusion—that we should reopen businesses, or whatever—and the supposed facts underlying it shift according to what is convenient."

I had to add another quote from the doctor pushing this drug, for Jane. "The Daily Beast has more on her past statements about health, including the idea that gynecological problems are caused by having sex in one's dreams with demons."

https://tinyurl.com/y473rc3o

Warning this could be viewed as political

Who are America's Frontline Doctors and conspiracy pushers?

https://tinyurl.com/y3ndldw7

"The Rio Grande Valley has become the hotspot of a hotspot of a hotspot," said Ivan Melendez, Hidalgo county's health authority and a practicing clinician. "We're at the epicenter of the coronavirus in the United States."

Melendez recalled recently encountering a critically ill patient with an alarmingly low pulse. He tried to warn someone, but nurses informed him that a different doctor had already decided not to intervene because they "didn't expect for [the patient] to survive".

In the United States, where the prevailing mantra for physicians is "do no harm", that kind of ruthless calculation strikes deep, especially when so many of the lives at stake are medically vulnerable and easily exploited.https://tinyurl.com/y5fbve4w

Three-Quarters of Recovered Coronavirus Patients Have Heart Damage Months Later, Study Finds

Of the 100 patients studied, 78 had lingering heart damage despite being "mostly healthy ... prior to their illness"

Well over half a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, experts are learning more about the virus that was initially believed to be only a respiratory illness. Over time, it's become clear that COVID-19 attacks far more than just the lungs, and new research indicates that it can leave lasting heart damage, even in formerly healthy people who have recovered from the initial symptoms.

Two new studies, both from Germany, examined the effects of COVID-19 on the heart, with one focusing on recovered patients and the other on older victims of the virus.

The first study, published Monday in JAMA Cardiology, found that three-quarters of recovered COVID-19 patients were left with structural changes to their hearts, even two months later.

The researchers examined cardiac MRIs from 100 recovered COVID-19 patients between the ages of 45 to 53, and compared them to MRIs of similar people who did not contract the virus. Most of the COVID-19 patients had recovered at home, while 33 had to be hospitalized at some point in their illness.

Of the 100 COVID-19 patients, 78 had structural changes to their hearts. Within that group, 76 had a biomarker that is typically found in patients who had a heart attack, and 60 had heart inflammation, called myocarditis. The patients were all "mostly healthy ... prior to their illness," the researchers said.

"The patients and ourselves were both surprised by the intensity and prevalence of these findings, and that they were still very pronounced even though the original illness had been by then already a few weeks away," study co-author Dr. Valentina Puntmann, a consultant physician, cardiologist and clinical pharmacologist at University Hospital Frankfurt in Germany, told UPI.

The second study, also published in JAMA Cardiology, looked at autopsy reports from 39 COVID-19 victims between 78 and 89 years old who died at the start of the pandemic. The researchers found that the virus had infected the heart in 41 percent of the patients.
"We see signs of viral replication in those that are heavily infected," study co-author Dirk Westermann, a cardiologist at the University Heart and Vascular Centre in Hamburg, told Stat. "We don't know the long-term consequences of the changes in gene expression yet. I know from other diseases that it's obviously not good to have that increased level of inflammation."

On Sunday, Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez confirmed that he won't yet start the new MLB season because he is dealing with myocarditis, the heart inflammation found in the first study, in the months after he contracted COVID-19. Rodriguez is currently waiting on further MRI results to see if he can play.

"It's been hard, weird. First, I got the COVID, feel all the symptoms and everything, at some point thinking that's how bad it was the first four days. And then get here, and now that I have this, I was hoping that I get ready and go for the season as quick as I can," Rodriguez told WEEI. "Now I've got to get a week off, wait for the results of the next MRI. I would say it's been weird, really weird for me."

Even tho this study used a small sampling, it's something to watch and be informed about.

FIRST U.S. DOG TO TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 DIES

'We are in a historic moment now with companion animals'
The German shepherd, Buddy, died on July 11, after battling the coronavirus and lymphoma. In an exclusive interview with National Geographic, his owners recount the two and a half months between their dog's first wheeze and his death as one of confusion, frustration, and heartbreak. Their story, along with Buddy's veterinary records, provides the most comprehensive look yet at an infected pet—and sheds light on how little we know about animals and the virus."

https://tinyurl.com/y45vqeyv

Oh no, not our pets too...i dont need to read Buddy's story...just that i am saddened if it is going to infect and kill our beloved pets as well...There seems to be no stopping this monster - Virus, attacking whenever and whatever it wants to attack, be it humans and dogs..so far we are not hearing of cats..

I notice UK's daily new cases are going up in numbers each day, not down..

The first CV-19 infected animals that I read about were the Tigers in Bronx zoo then Buddy. I called our local Health Care Department and asked about guidelines for CV-19 transmission as I thought Human to animal to human seemed to be coming. They did publish guidelines via CDC. Everyone was warned about petting others animals and keep distance. All that animal relationship seemed to die down and not mentioned again until now.

Evidently the first domestic cat was in the UK, Surrey, and caught it from its owners. But there's no evidence of animal to human transmission. Unfortunately for domestic cats and dogs, per  Edinburgh News, The Scotsman, it only goes one way.

Before Buddy died, and entire mink farm was slaughtered in the Netherlands when two tested positive, there was this from TylerPaper.com, "Twenty-two domestic dogs and cats in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, including a cat and a dog from Texas.

The official statistics for cases of COVID-19 in animals are recorded by the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and can be accessed through their official site.

The tests collected include PCR and antibody testing. According to USDA data last updated on July 24, 10 cats and 12 dogs have been infected by the virus, and the cases have been found in New York, Utah, Minnesota, Illinois, Georgia, California, Texas, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Bruce Akey, director of the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, said he is not surprised that the virus can be passed to pets through their infected owners.

"It's not that surprising that this virus would be capable of getting into some animals," said Akey. "Coronaviruses in general are well known and almost all warm-blooded animals have some type of coronaviruses they can get."

Akey said although the transfer of the virus from infected humans to their pets isn't common, it is possible. Similarly to humans, some pets may demonstrate symptoms while others may be asymptomatic.

"The pets that have tested positive do not show symptoms to the extent that humans have, and the majority were tested because humans tested positive and they got their animals tested secondarily. Some have reported the pet was coughing and sneezing but in general it is not as severe and not all animals have had symptoms. It doesn't appear to be as severe in domestic animals as it is in humans. No companion animals' death has been attributed to COVID-19," said Akey.

The first COVID-19 case in animals was reported early on as a dog belonging to an elderly resident in Hong Kong tested positive, Akey said. It was retested, and tested positive again, which confirmed it was indeed infected, he said.

"As this thing has spread around the world, we've seen sporadic results in positive tests in animals. There were cases reported at a Mink farm in the Netherlands. But the transfer of the virus from humans to animals has been sporadic — it can spill into domestic pets but it's not happening with great frequency."

Limitations in collecting data on coronavirus in animals is also difficult as testing for animals relies upon the same supplies as testing for humans, and human testing is a top priority, he said.

"If someone has tested positive for COVID-19 and wanted to get their pet tested, they would need to start by taking their pet to a local vet that would then be asked to contact the Texas Animal Health Commission and or the Department of State Health Services to describe the circumstances that warrant having the animal tested," Akey said. "Testing is in short supply for humans so we don't want to rush out to do animal testing. Testing animals use some of the same supplies as testing humans so we do prioritize human testing. The vet needs to evaluate what the likelihood is as there are a number of other things that can cause respiratory symptoms, allergies and other causes. They would do a good clinical exam and then decide."

Animal testing is conducted in a similar way as human testing, and Akey said the animals like the swab tests just about as much as humans do.

"They do the swab test for animals and it's about as popular with the animals as it is with humans," Akey said. "It can be an oral or nasal swab. We can also test feces from animals, the virus does get passed through the intestinal tract, but they only do that form of testing at zoos when dealing with animals such as lions."

Although testing animals for COVID-19 is possible, Akey said that it isn't necessarily the best strategy for avoiding passing the virus to pets. He instead recommends social distancing, meaning sick people should not cuddle their pets.

"I don't really think that testing is the best strategy," Akey said. "Sick people or families should social distance from their animals. A lot of people are used to cuddling pets when they get home, some even sleep in the same beds and unfortunately when you are sick it is not a good time to be cuddly with them."

Aside from avoiding cuddles, Akey also recommends taking extra care to monitor pets' diets and make sure they are getting enough exercise to ensure their immune system is strong and healthy.

"Good medical sense indicates that obesity can worsen the affects of COVID-19 in an animal as obesity creates medical issues for the lungs heart and immune system," Akeysaid. "Animals are subjected to the same problems with obesity and heart disease as we are, whether or not they encounter the coronavirus, the pet will enjoy life better and live longer without those complicating factors."

Akey noted that the coronavirus is an infectious disease, and the only way to combat it is to stop its' infection cycle.

"This is an infectious disease, and the only way we know how to stop it is to stop its infection cycle. I know it sounds trite but wear your mask, wash your hands, and social distance. It's been demonstrated over and over that it has a significant impact," Akey said."

Patricia, I got some vibes that today is your birthday. I do hope you are having a super day.

I took Lucy to the vet yesterday. The way he is handling the COVID-19 restrictions is to have everyone call once they are in the parking lot. Then someone will come out for the critter. No one is allowed inside except the critter. Speaking of Lucy, here she is demanding something to eat. One of the meds she got was an appetite enhancer since she wasn't eating for the last four days. Gotta go.

Thanks, MarsGal, my vet is only taking emergencies, and you also leave your cat, or other pet, coming back when notified. Farrah had a dental appointment in April, recommended by her vet in January, that was canceled.

The following is a long but very important read.

William Petri

Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

Does Carona virus linger in the body, What we know in general about how viruses hang on in the brain and testicles;

"As millions of people are recovering from COVID-19, an unanswered question is the extent to which the virus can "hide out" in seemingly recovered individuals. If it does, could this explain some of the lingering symptoms of COVID-19 or pose a risk for transmission of infection to others even after recovery?

I am a physician-scientist of infectious diseases at the University of Virginia, where I care for patients with infections and conduct research on COVID-19. Here I will briefly review what is known today about chronic or persistent COVID-19.

What is a chronic or persistent viral infection?

A chronic or persistent infection continues for months or even years, during which time virus is being continually produced, albeit in many cases at low levels. Frequently these infections occur in a so-called immune privileged site.

What is an immune privileged site?

There are a few places in the body that are less accessible to the immune system and where it is difficult to eradicate all viral infections. These include the central nervous system, the testes and the eye. It is thought that the evolutionary advantage to having an immune privileged region is that it protects a site like the brain, for example, from being damaged by the inflammation that results when the immune system battles an infection.

An immune privileged site not only is difficult for the immune system to enter, it also limits proteins that increase inflammation. The reason is that while inflammation helps kill a pathogen, it can also damage an organ such as the eye, brain or testes. The result is an uneasy truce where inflammation is limited but infection continues to fester.
A latent infection versus a persistent viral infection

But there is another way that a virus can hide in the body and reemerge later.

A latent viral infection occurs when the virus is present within an infected cell but dormant and not multiplying. In a latent virus, the entire viral genome is present, and infectious virus can be produced if latency ends and the infections becomes active. The latent virus may integrate into the human genome – as does HIV, for example – or exist in the nucleus as a self-replicating piece of DNA called an episome.

A latent virus can reactivate and produce infectious viruses, and this can occur months to decades after the initial infection. Perhaps the best example of this is chickenpox, which although seemingly eradicated by the immune system can reactivate and cause herpes zoster decades later. Fortunately, chickenpox and zoster are now prevented by vaccination. To be infected with a virus capable of producing a latent infection is to be infected for the rest of your life.
Latent infection (left) is when a cell is infected and the virus has inserted its genetic code into our human DNA. The immune system cannot detect this cell as being infected. An HIV infection can shift from latent to active if the infected cell is producing new viruses.

How does a virus become a latent infection?

Herpes viruses are by far the most common viral infections that establish latency.

This is a large family of viruses whose genetic material, or genome, is encoded by DNA (and not RNA such as the new coronavirus). Herpes viruses include not only herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 – which cause oral and genital herpes – but also chickenpox. Other herpes viruses, such as Epstein Barr virus, the cause of mononucleosis, and cytomegalovirus, which is a particular problem in immunodeficient individuals, can also emerge after latency.

Retroviruses are another common family of viruses that establish latency but by a different mechanism than the herpes viruses. Retroviruses such as HIV, which causes AIDS, can insert a copy of their genome into the human DNA that is part of the human genome. There the virus can exist in a latent state indefinitely in the infected human since the virus genome is copied every time DNA is replicated and a cell divides.

Viruses that establish latency in humans are difficult or impossible for the immune system to eradicate. That is because during latency there can be little or no viral protein production in the infected cell, making the infection invisible to the immune system. Fortunately coronaviruses do not establish a latent infection.

In one small study, the new coronavirus has been detected in semen in a quarter of patients during active infection and in a bit less than 10% of patients who apparently recovered. In this study, viral RNA was what was detected, and it is not yet known if this RNA was from still infectious or dead virus in the semen; and if alive whether the virus can be sexually transmitted. So many important questions remain unanswered.

Ebola is a very different virus from SARS-C0V-2 yet serves as an example of viral persistence in immune privileged sites. In some individuals, Ebola virus survives in immune privileged sites for months after resolution of the acute illness. Survivors of Ebola have been documented with persistent infections in the testes, eyes, placenta and central nervous system.

The WHO recommends for male Ebola survivors that semen be tested for virus every three months. They also suggest that couples abstain from sex for 12 months after recovery or until their semen tests negative for Ebola twice. As noted above, we need to learn more about persistent new coronavirus infections before similar recommendations can be considered.

Could persistent symptoms after COVID-19 be due to viral persistence?

Recovery from COVID-19 is delayed or incomplete in many individuals, with symptoms including cough, shortness of breath and fatigue. It seems unlikely that these constitutional symptoms are due to viral persistence as the symptoms are not coming from immune privileged sites.

Where else could the new coronavirus persist after recovery from COVID-19?

Other sites where coronavirus has been detected include the placenta, intestines, blood and of course the respiratory tract. In women who catch COVID-19 while pregnant, the placenta develops defects in the mother's blood vessels supplying the placenta. However, the significance of this on fetal health is yet to be determined.

The new coronavirus can also infect the fetus via the placenta. Finally, the new coronavirus is also present in the blood and the nasal cavity and palate for up to a month or more after infection.

The mounting evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 can infect immune privileged sites and, from there, result in chronic persistent – but not latent – infections. It is too early to know the extent to which these persistent infections affect the health of an individual like the pregnant mother, for example, nor the extent to which they contribute to the spread of COVID-19.

Like many things in the pandemic, what is unknown today is known tomorrow, so stay tuned and be cautious so as not to catch the infection or, worse yet, spread it to someone else."

We're determined to send kids back to school! This is wrong in so many, many ways! I just now saw this,


"Kids Under This Age May Carry 100 Times More COVID Than Adults, Study Says

New research shows coronavirus levels may be up to 100 times higher in children's respiratory tracts.

Back-to-school season is nearly upon us, but instead of celebrating a soon-to-be quiet home or buying school supplies, many parents are instead panicking about whether or not their kids will be in the classroom and safe from coronavirus. And, of course, if they are back at school, there's the question of whether or not they'll bring the virus home. Now, a new study is providing some startling insight into these questions. The study, out of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, found that young children in particular carry far more of the coronavirus than adults. In fact, the research found up to a "100-fold greater amount of SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tract of young children" under 5 years old.

The new study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, looked at 145 COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate illness within one week of when their symptoms began. The researchers compared three age groups: young children under 5, children between 5 and 17 years old, and adults 18 to 65 years old. While they found similar amounts of coronavirus present in older children and adults, in children under 5, they found 10 to 100 times more particles in the respiratory tract.

The research was led by Taylor Heald-Sargent, MD, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. In the report, Heald-Sargent and her team note that children often drive the spread of respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses—and COVID-19 may be no different.

"It definitely shows that kids do have levels of virus similar to and maybe even higher than adults," Heald-Sargent told The New York Times. "It wouldn't be surprising if they were able to shed [the virus]" and spread it to others. (Viral shedding indicates how long someone is releasing contaminated particles. "Evidence suggests that the novel coronavirus is most contagious when symptoms are worse and viral shedding is high," WebMD notes.)

The research notes that school closures early in the pandemic likely "thwarted larger-scale investigations of schools as a source of community transmission." In other words, we do not yet know if schools are COVID-19 superspreaders because we shut them down in the first few weeks of the outbreak.

"The school situation is so complicated—there are many nuances beyond just the scientific one," Heald-Sargent told The Times."

Continued with the link below;

https://tinyurl.com/y4gu7g43

Coronavirus coverage-Coronavirus in the U.S.:

Where cases are growing and declining  Updated July 31, 2020, 7:45 A.M. E.T.

New daily confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S.

4,502,549 total cases

152,431 reported deaths

Last seven days

On July 31, the United States crossed 4.5 million total cases, just eight days after reaching four million cases. This week, 18 states also set single-day records, while 40 states recorded 14-day surges in cases per capita. Only six states and one territory—Arizona, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Kansas, Vermont, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—are reporting decreases in daily cases.

The national tally surpassed 50,000 cases per day just before Independence Day, and the U.S. smashed its record for daily cases on July 17 with more than 75,000 new incidents reported. Since then, new cases have flattened to about 65,000 per day as the outbreak's growth has reached equilibrium in places such as Arizona. People should not be lulled into complacency, though, as the U.S. has seen a similar plateau before. The nation's outbreak had grown exponentially during March, until settling into 20,000 to 30,000 new cases per day by the beginning of April.

Though the lockdowns issued by many states and territories began easing in mid-April, it took weeks for new surges to appear. Death rates, which lag at least a month behind case counts, are also still rising in approximately 30 states and territories. On July 21, the U.S. recorded more than a thousand deaths for the first time since early June.

Hard hit areas such as New York City and Boston witnessed the normal surge and dissipation that accompanies the first wave of a pandemic. But case rates elsewhere neither grew nor abated, giving off the impression of control. Unfortunately, when states and territories began to reopen in May, the virus's stealthy spread flourished once more.

Where coronavirus cases and deaths are changing the most

Assuming that tests are being deployed thoroughly, regional growth in coronavirus cases signals a breakdown in one of those strategies, while a decrease suggests the virus is being controlled. Here are the top 10 states and territories that have experienced the greatest change—an increase or a decrease—in coronavirus cases and deaths per capita over the last seven days from the previous seven days.

Continued from National Geographical   https://tinyurl.com/y2yxdcaa   

NBC News

Staples customer who told woman to wear mask is thrown to ground, has broken leg

A 54-year-old New Jersey woman suffered a broken leg after she was thrown to the ground in a Staples by another customer whom she had told to wear a mask, authorities said.

Police have released surveillance video from the incident that occurred at about 3:19 p.m. Wednesday at a Staples in Hackensack.

Margot Kagan, of Teaneck, told police she was using a fax machine at the store when a woman with a mask pulled down below her mouth approached a machine next to her. Kagan, who, according to police, had a liver transplant four months ago and was walking with a cane, told the woman to put her mask on.

"The suspect became angry and yelled at the victim, who picked up her walking cane and pointed it directly at the suspect, coming within inches of the suspect's chest," said Capt. Darrin DeWitt, a detective with the Hackensack Police Department.

The woman then yelled at Kagan, violently threw her to the ground and left the store, DeWitt said.

Kagan was taken to a hospital where she was diagnosed with a fractured left tibia, according to DeWitt.

Gov. Phil Murphy has said all residents must wear face coverings in stores.

Police are seeking to identify the suspect.

On the First Day of School, an Indiana Student Tests Positive for Coronavirus NYC Times

On the First Day of School, an Indiana Student Tests Positive for Coronavirus

One of the first school districts in the country to reopen its doors during the coronavirus pandemic did not even make it a day before being forced to grapple with the issue facing every system actively trying to get students into classrooms: What happens when someone comes to school infected?

Just hours into the first day of classes on Thursday, a call from the county health department notified Greenfield Central Junior High School in Indiana that a student who had walked the halls and sat in various classrooms had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Administrators began an emergency protocol, isolating the student and ordering everyone who had come into close contact with the person, including other students, to quarantine for 14 days. It is unclear whether the student infected anyone else.

https://tinyurl.com/y5xdbyku

Hundreds of children and staff members at an overnight camp in Georgia tested positive for the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday.

https://tinyurl.com/y4cjo9eu

The camp, which the CDC did not name, held an orientation in mid-June for 138 trainees and 120 staff members. On June 21, the staff were joined by 363 campers and three senior staff members, according to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Two days later, a teenage staffer left the camp after developing chills and later tested positive for the coronavirus.

On June 25, the Georgia Department of Public Health began an investigation into the camp and recommended that all attendees be tested and self-quarantine. In all, 260 campers and staffers tested positive.

Though the camp adhered to certain safety measures in accordance with the state's May executive order allowing camps to operate, other measures were not implemented, including requiring campers to wear cloth masks and opening windows and doors for increased ventilation in buildings.

Also, A Private LA Police Party Reportedly Went Down at a Closed Hollywood Bar Last Night

Social media videos circulating this morning purport to show a private party at closed bar Sassafras Saloon in Hollywood last night, with those inside said to be first responders including members of the police. Various reports first surfaced on the Twitter account of Knock.LA and KCRW reporter Cerise Castle, showing multiple people entering Sassafras's building and, later, the interior of the bar in full swing — music and all — with limited social distancing and little mask-wearing inside. 

https://tinyurl.com/y3stt9dy

Patricia - I got a kick out of your report on the closed bars in Los Angeles, having "private" parties with lots of people attending. 
It struck me funny, because yesterday my daughter Sandy called, and said - "Guess what Mom, we've time traveled back to the 1920's, to the days of the Speak-easys!"  Then proceeded to tell me that she had received messages from friends, that lots of the trendy drinking establishments in San Francisco and San Jose, were open - under cover of course.  A whole lot of partying going on behind closed doors. 

No, she is not planning to go!!  :yikes:  She is more worried about Covid-19, than anyone I know.  She was a germaphobe long before coronavirus, and has followed the rules 100 per cent plus more!   

Marilyne, not only California and Georgia are playing hard and fast with the rules. Missouri's Governor Parsons made masks mandatory, but both administrators and the general populace openly ignore the mandate. Now forty-one of the state's congress have the virus.

What is especially henious is that the party in question had not only police but first responders and other medical staff. The very ones that supposedly are to protect Southern Californians.

Sandy is probably the smart one nowadays.

Donald Trump claims Dr. Fauci wrong about US surges with COVID-19.

"Fauci had explained that differentiations between surging US infections and a sharp decrease seen across Europe could be explained by the different reactions to the virus. Fauci said most European countries shut their economies down by 95%, while the US only shut down its economy by half.

Trump countered: "We have more cases because we have tested far more than any other country, 60,000,000. If we tested less, there would be less cases. How did Italy, France & Spain do? Now Europe sadly has flare ups. Most of our governors worked hard & smart. We will come back STRONG!"

But Fauci's point accurately describes the US situation. While some states followed Centers for Disease Control guidelines when they started to re-open, many did not, leading to a surge in infections in many southern and western states, Fauci explained."

https://tinyurl.com/y6xk39qg

My neighbor is an intake nurse at local hospital. She emailed me last night, she just readmitted a CV-19 patient. He has been in rehab for 4 days following 10 days + on ventilator. Now with shortness of breath and extreme fatigue. He may have to be placed on ventilator again. Such a nasty virus

I've been checking on a live cam from the Netherlands over the last few days. Nice small boat and shopping/restaurant area. At no time did I see a single person wearing a mask.

Did you hear about Canadians fortifying their border to keep us out? Now that's ironic...maybe they need to build a wall?

"Since March, the U.S.-Canada border has been closed to all but essential traffic in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. But Americans being Americans, they are flouting the new regulations in the pursuit of their usual summer fun.According to NPR, "Canadian border patrol has effectively prevented caravans of Americans" from crossing the border. Most are arriving by sailboats and luxury yachts.Those crossing the border have often told officials that they are heading to Alaska to circumvent the new regulations.

 But because so many Americans are using the so-called "Alaska loophole," authorities have increased restrictions.One reason Americans are being spotted is that Canadian boaters are using technology to monitor them. With the requirement that all passenger boats have to be equipped with tracking devices to help prevent weather-related accidents, anyone with an internet connection can monitor border-crossings and identify vessels by type and country of origin."     https://tinyurl.com/y3xtjmta

Per CNN

Students are already heading back to school in the US, and plans to keep the coronavirus out of the classroom are already showing some cracks. An Indiana junior high school student tested positive on the first day back, after attending class for part of the day. Another student in Mississippi tested positive after the first week of classes.

And Georgia's largest school district confirmed that at least 260 employees have either tested positive for Covid-19 or have been exposed. In areas where school hasn't started yet, leaders are still considering plans. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he'll make a decision later this week about whether schools in his state should plan to reopen.

I'm really disappointed in Dr. Birx.  I saw a clip of her talking to something called "The 700 Club" on Christian Broadcasting about how Pres. Trump really understands about the virus, etc., etc..  I'm sorry to say this but I almost gagged when I heard all she had to say.

It's all politics as usual. The doctor who Trump and Don Jr. believe will end COVID-19 believes that female sexual problems stem from sexual relations with demons...

https://tinyurl.com/y3ndldw7

There are plenty of Americans who bought vacation property in Canada, something I heard some Canadians are not happy about. A while back one of those who was stuck in Algonac could see his property across the river, but he couldn't get over there via the ferry.   

Some time back one of the discussion group (over on SeniorLearn I think) workd at the NIH but not with Dr. Fauci. She had a very favorable impression of him when she worked there and said she would take his word any day over Trump. I don't recall if she said anything about Dr. Birx, but she certainly does not impress me.

Edit: I wanted to clarify that I was using the word you in this post in general, not in particular.

There are several new conservative blogs that bleat about all of Dr. Fauci's mistakes and how many supposed times he's been wrong.

I do know that he had personally administered to both Ebola and HIV patients before most western doctors would even go near them.

Here are the facts;  https://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/anthony-s-fauci-md-bio

"Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., NIAID Director
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
NIAID Director

Credit
NIAID
Dr. Fauci was appointed director of NIAID in 1984. He oversees an extensive portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat established infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis and malaria as well as emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika. NIAID also supports research on transplantation and immune-related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies. The NIAID budget for fiscal year 2020 is an estimated $5.9 billion.

Dr. Fauci has advised six presidents on HIV/AIDS and many other domestic and global health issues. He was one of the principal architects of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that has saved millions of lives throughout the developing world.

Dr. Fauci also is the longtime chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation. He has made many contributions to basic and clinical research on the pathogenesis and treatment of immune-mediated and infectious diseases. He helped pioneer the field of human immunoregulation by making important basic scientific observations that underpin the current understanding of the regulation of the human immune response. In addition, Dr. Fauci is widely recognized for delineating the precise ways that immunosuppressive agents modulate the human immune response. He developed effective therapies for formerly fatal inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly Wegener's granulomatosis), and lymphomatoid granulomatosis. A 1985 Stanford University Arthritis Center Survey of the American Rheumatism Association membership ranked Dr. Fauci's work on the treatment of polyarteritis nodosa and granulomatosis with polyangiitis among the most important advances in patient management in rheumatology over the previous 20 years.

Dr. Fauci has made seminal contributions to the understanding of how HIV destroys the body's defenses leading to its susceptibility to deadly infections. Further, he has been instrumental in developing treatments that enable people with HIV to live long and active lives. He continues to devote much of his research to the immunopathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection and the scope of the body's immune responses to HIV.

In a 2020 analysis of Google Scholar citations, Dr. Fauci ranked as the 41st most highly cited researcher of all time. According to the Web of Science, he ranked 8th out of more than 2.2 million authors in the field of immunology by total citation count between 1980 and January 2020.​

Dr. Fauci has delivered major lectures all over the world and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest honor given to a civilian by the President of the United States), the National Medal of Science, the George M. Kober Medal of the Association of American Physicians, the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, the Prince Mahidol Award, and the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award.  He also has received 45 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Fauci is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, as well as other professional societies including the American College of Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Association of Immunologists, and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. He serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals; as an editor of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine; and as author, coauthor, or editor of more than 1,300 scientific publications, including several textbooks."

So, whom Are you going to believe? Trump who trusts a doctor who believes demons have sex with humans or Dr. Fauci?

"As the school year approaches and flu season looms on the horizon, the U.S. continues to battle a worsening coronavirus pandemic. No one can predict how the pandemic will play out in the fall, the nation's top infectious disease expert said today, according to a Live Science report.

"I do not know...nor can anyone know what the fall is going to bring," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said today (Aug. 3) during a Q&A put together by the Journal JAMA Network. Back in the spring, when the coronavirus was mainly ravaging the northeast, there was talk of a "second wave" in the fall, Fauci said. That was assuming these numbers would have dropped down to a baseline...but they have not. There are "five easy things that one can do to try and turn that curve around so that as we enter the fall we're really at a low baseline," Fauci said.

 These handful of actions, we know from experience, can help blunt resurgences and prevent new ones from occurring, he said. The first is consistent — and correct — wearing of masks. The second and third are avoiding crowds and keeping distances of 6 feet (1.8 meters) or more between you and others, he said. The fourth is staying away from bars or places where people congregate and attending functions outdoors rather than indoors, he said. The fifth is washing your hands, according to the report. If left to its own devices, the virus "is going to keep resurging," Fauci said. The only way we can stop it is through such countermeasures, he added. "And it can be done. It's not inevitable" that the virus will resurge, he said.

— In the last two weeks, the number of new coronavirus cases increased by 175% in New Jersey, according to NBC News. New Jersey's rate of transmission is now at 1.48, whereas a month ago it was at 0.87, Gov. Phil Murphy said in a COVID-19 briefing today. "We believe that some of this increase is attributable to the number of indoor house parties and other events which we have been seeing across the state," he said. "And with the hot humid weather we've been experiencing we know that there have been many more such indoor parties taking place which have not made the news."

"We cannot be any clearer that indoor gatherings, especially large, crowded ones where social distancing isn't practiced and face masks aren't worn... just are not safe," he added. In response, Murphy announced tightening of indoor gathering restrictions today. There can now only be a maximum of 25 people gathering indoors, down from a maximum of 100, he announced today. But this change will not apply to weddings, funerals and memorial services and religious and political activities protected under the first amendment, he added. The New Jersey Department of Health reported 264 new cases in New Jersey today, bringing the total case count to 182,614."

Several months ago, researchers determined that people who were infected with COVID-19 were experiencing a loss of two senses: smell and taste. Some even reported the symptoms were lingering, unable to smell or taste for months after the virus had left their body. Now, some of those suffering from the highly infectious virus are reporting another lingering sense loss as a result of the virus — hearing.

Their Hearing Got Worse
According to a small study conducted by audiologists at the University of Manchester and published in a letter to the International Journal of Audiology, coronavirus survivors are experiencing hearing complications, with many claiming they are lasting long after they are released from the hospital.

The research team surveyed 120 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 eight weeks post hospitalization. 16 people reported their hearing was worse, 8 claimed their hearing had deteriorated, and 8 reported tinnitus (hearing noises that are not caused by an outside source).

"We already know that viruses such as measles, mumps and meningitis can cause hearing loss, and coronaviruses can damage the nerves that carry information to and from the brain," researcher Kevin Munro, a professor of audiology at the University of Manchester, explained in a press release.

"It is possible, in theory, that COVID-19 could cause problems with parts of the auditory system including the middle ear or cochlea."

Urgent Need for Studies
Researchers did note that more research is needed to pinpoint exactly how the virus affects hearing.

"While we are reasonably confident in the differentiation of preexisting and recent changes in hearing and tinnitus, we urge caution," Munro continued.

"It is possible that factors other than COVID-19 may impact on preexisting hearing loss and tinnitus. These might include stress and anxiety, including the use of face masks that make communication more difficult, medications used to treat COVID-19 that could damage the ear, or other factors related to being critically ill," he explained.

"That is why we believe there is an urgent need for high-quality studies to investigate the acute and temporary effects of COVID-19 on hearing and the audiovestibular system. Timely evidence for decision-makers is urgently needed, so we need to be able to act quickly."

Anchorage is our largest city in Alaska at just over 300,000 in population. They've always been a bit over the top and big on macho men with the rifle in the pickup truck rack. They've also been the epicenter of the virus, originally and now more than ever since the attempted re-opening.

 In March through May they were having ten to thirty cases daily and nineteen deaths. After re-opening Anchorage jumped to 30 to 60 new cases daily and more deaths. So, of course, the Governor and the mayor put back lockdowns and restrictions.  And what do those good old boys and girls do?

"Update, Tuesday 1:30 p.m.: Municipal employees posted a stop work order outside of Kriner's Diner sometime before noon. Restaurant owner Andy Kriner said he will keep operating, despite the order.

Original story:

Emergency Order 15 went into effect Monday in Anchorage, banning indoor dining at restaurants and bars, but not every business complied.

At Kriner's Diner in Midtown, Monday looked like about any other afternoon: Pickup trucks crowded the parking lot. Customers streamed inside, looking for a fix of diner fare: burgers, chili and pie.

Many weren't just there for the food. It was also about making a statement in defiance of the city's restrictions on businesses meant to curb the rapidly spreading coronavirus.

"Any business that's willing to stay open for their livelihood over going on the government dole, I will try to support to the best of my ability," said Chad Hahn as he walked out of the restaurant after a late breakfast of corned beef, hash and eggs.

He said fears of the coronavirus are overblown.

RELATED: Alaska's COVID-19 count tops 3,000, as Anchorage bars and restaurant dining rooms close again

Hahn, a postal service employee, said that keeping business running is what his patronage is all about. He said he also doesn't want to live his life in fear, and he thinks the other customers would agree.

"They're at capacity," he said, when describing the scene inside Kriner's. "They do have distancing. And there are tables that are reserved to maintain distancing. And people are in there and they're happy and they're laughing and they're chatting. Nobody's sitting in fear."

RELATED: Anchorage shuts down bars, restaurants for indoor service

Kriner's owner, Andy Kriner, said remaining open is about staying in business. The diner already living through one shutdown. It has run out of Paycheck Protection Program money and it doesn't have any outdoor seating, Kriner said.

Luckily, he said, supporters have come out in droves.

"I've had three people hand me $100 bills," Kriner said. "People are calling on the phone and paying for people that are here eating because they can get here. Overwhelming support,."

Kriner said he knows there are risks to staying open.

For one, there's the health risk. But, he said, the wait staff is still wearing masks. He said he's doing his best to keep 6 feet between customers, though with the number of guests, that's hard.

Also, there's also the risk of a consequence from the city for violating the mandate. Kriner said he tried to get a response about what might happen if he didn't shut down.

"I couldn't get a straight answer," he said. "What happened if I didn't shut down? So I just thought I'll stay open and see what happens."

As of Monday afternoon, nothing had happened, Kriner said.

Mayor Ethan Berkowitz's administration declined a request for an interview. In a prepared statement, spokesperson Carolyn Hall wrote that the city was pursuing all enforcement options "including informing and educating businesses in violation of the Emergency Order as well as issuing fines and Stop Work Orders."

Hall described the decision to have to close restaurants and bars as "unfortunate," but said that it was based on evidence that the businesses are often linked to disease spread.

When Berkowitz was asked about enforcement of the new order last week, he said Alaskans do not live "in a police state."

"For much of what we do we count on people to do the right things for the right reasons," he said. "There's a tremendous amount of social awareness of what the right kind of behavior is and that kind of social correction, I think, is occurring and will continue to occur."

By late Monday afternoon, Kriner's Diner had posted a message on social media thanking its customers for an amazing day. Customers like Chad Hahn say they'll keep showing up, as long as there's a place to sit and breakfast on the menu."

Related;   Alaska's COVID-19 count tops 3,000, as Anchorage bars and restaurant dining rooms close again or try to. https://tinyurl.com/y62ecsuk 

Our coronavirus totals go up each day.  We have a total of approx. 3100 positive cases, including 75 more yesterday.  Needless to say, we are staying close to home and only going to the store when necessary.  Walmart has been very strict about masks and, since you have to check out your own groceries, we have been mostly going there.  The other two big grocery stores are not strict and have only about half the customers wearing masks, although all employees do wear them.

I just don't understand how people can be so foolish and thoughtless of others to make wearing a mask such a big deal.

Wearing or not wearing masks is part of the great political divide in this country and others. I believe  primarily in this country because people see it as some restriction to their personal liberties.

They believe as the Anchorageite in my post said, "fears of the coronavirus are overblown." They, in their ignorance, don't connect, (or want to), their actions to higher cases and deaths.
 

Florida, as I understand it is the newest epicenter of COVID-19; perhaps the following is why.

Because The Bible: Florida Christians are fighting a local face mask mandate, holding rallies and launching lawsuits while claiming that the mandate is "Biblically wrong" and "interferes with the ability to pray."

The Bradenton Herald reports:

A Palmetto pastor and a state politician have sued Manatee County government over its mandatory mask mandate. And more than 100 people turned out Monday to support the anti-mask cause.

The Rev. Joel Tillis and state Rep. Anthony Sabatini announced the lawsuit Monday morning outside the Manatee County Courthouse. Sabatini has filed 14 similar lawsuits against mask mandates throughout the state.

According to the lawsuit, the face mask mandate is "a radical infringement of the reasonable and legitimate expectation of privacy and facial autonomy in addition to the medical privacy by forcing them to wear masks for the majority of the day."

Speaking at a rally opposed to the facemask ban,  Rev. Tillis said the mask requirement should not apply within churches, synagogues and other houses of worship because it interferes with the ability to pray.

Tillis noted:

This is not an issue of right or left, Republican or Democrat. This is not even an issue of Trump or Biden. This is an issue of right and wrong.

Tillis continued:

The resolution is wrong legally. The resolution is wrong biblically. The resolution is wrong medically. The resolution is wrong, and we do not accept it under any circumstances.

A foolish pastor IMHO.

Don't forget Rep. Anthony Sabatini who has filed 14 similar lawsuits against masks in other parts of the state! You have to wonder what's his angle?

From CNN

Coronavirus

The United States has now reported more than 5 million cases of Covid-19. To put that in perspective, it took the country 99 days to reach 1 million cases, but it only took 17 days for cases to rise from 4 million to 5 million. And that's not the only dire statistic. More than 97,000 children tested positive for coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, according to a new medical report.

That's a 40% increase in child cases across the states and cities that were studied. Meanwhile, Brazil has logged at least 3 million cases and has passed 100,000 coronavirus deaths, and Mexico is inching toward 500,000 cases.

A lot of families and children are suffering because the scientists are not listened to.  I saw the photo of all those school kids jammed together without masks in GA.  The article said two students were suspended for posting the picture online.

I read in CNN, Jean, that they stopped the suspension because there was such an outcry about it as well as children from the school catching the virus. They had so many ill children that they reclosed and returned to virtual classes.

ETNT Health
The CDC Just Confirmed This Rare Syndrome Striking Kids is Linked to COVID-19
Leah Groth  52 mins ago

Since the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, it was clear that the virus impacted children to a much lesser degree than older people. Over the last few months, researchers have established that while children may be able to spread the virus similarly to adults and may even boast a higher viral load when infected, they are less prone to a serious infection than their elders and are much less likely to die. However, this doesn't mean that children are "immune" to it. Over the winter, health experts noticed that some children were displaying signs of a rare inflammatory illness similar to Kawasaki virus, and a new report courtesy of the CDC reveals that nearly 600 have been hospitalized with it.


They Were Hospitalized With MIS-C
According to the report, from mid-February to July 29, 570 children in 40 states were hospitalized with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, a health condition that causes inflammation in the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Of the 565 who were tested for COVID, all received a positive result, and the majority—two thirds—did not have any pre-existing underlying medical conditions.

"Most cases of MIS-C have features of shock, with cardiac involvement, gastrointestinal symptoms, and significantly elevated markers of inflammation," the CDC explains.

The CDC admits the condition is difficult to diagnose, and they still aren't sure why COVID is causing it. "We do not yet know what causes MIS-C. However, many children with MIS-C had the virus that causes COVID-19, or had been around someone with COVID-19," they added.

The first cases were reported in the UK in late April, gaining publicity when 100 children were diagnosed in New York City the following month. Interestingly, the condition appears to impact Black and Hispanic children more than Caucasians. While half of children in the United States are white, 25% Hispanic, and 14% Black, only 13% of the children with it were white, with more than 40% Hispanic and 33% Black.

The Signs and Symptoms
The most common signs and symptoms reported during the illness course were abdominal pain (61.9%), vomiting (61.8%), skin rash (55.3%), diarrhea (53.2%), hypotension (49.5%), and conjunctival injection (48.4%). Additionally, the majority had gastrointestinal (90.9%), cardiovascular (86.5%), or dermatologic or mucocutaneous (70.9%) involvement.

A fair amount of patients also suffered severe complications, including cardiac dysfunction (40.6%), shock (35.4%), myocarditis (22.8%), coronary artery dilatation or aneurysm (18.6%), and acute kidney injury (18.4%).

Patricia, thanks for the update.  I think Steve Jobs did us all a big favor by adding a camera to the cell phones. 😊

As we've learned in the past few months, washing your hands with soap or using hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol is a key way to curb the spread of COVID-19. But, it turns out that washing your mouth is also an effective preventative measure. In fact, a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases found that gargling mouthwash a few times a day can help fight the coronavirus.

A group of German researchers tested eight different mouthwashes by mixing each oral rinse with virus particles and shaking it for 30 seconds to simulate gargling. When looking at the results, they discovered that every single type of mouthwash reduced the viral load, but Listerine Cool Mint was the strongest combatant, followed by Dequonal and Iso-Betadine (available in European pharmacies). And even better news? After three rinses, the mouthwashes had all but eliminated any trace of the virus.

This is important because evidence shows that COVID-19 is transmitted through respiratory droplets that are released when you sneeze, cough, talk, or sing. And since there are high viral loads in the nasal cavity, throat, and mouth, it's essential to keep those orifices clean to slow the risk and rate of transmission.

However, the scientists note that while using mouthwash frequently is a good safety precaution (as well as a positive oral hygiene habit in general), it does not treat COVID-19 if you already have it.

"Gargling with a mouthwash cannot inhibit the production of viruses in the cells, but could reduce the viral load in the short term where the greatest potential for infection comes from, namely in the oral cavity and throat—and this could be useful in certain situations, such as at the dentist or during the medical care of COVID-19 patients," study author Toni Luise Meister said in a statement.

These conclusions are backed up by previous research that found that mouthwash has the ability to break down the outer fatty membrane of influenza and herpes, which are "enveloped" viruses similar to coronavirus. So, the next time you go to brush your teeth, make sure to floss and swish around some mouthwash, too. From Best Life

Will inducing hypothermia work?::::

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/inducing-hypothermia-icu-patients-covid-19-off-ventilators/story?id=72298631

That's interesting about people on ventilators. Lowering a fevered person's temperature has been around since Medieval times, so they already know there are benefits. I believe it would need precise controls on how much and when.

We're all in this together, Trump and Desantis

https://tinyurl.com/y4kljwqm

Interesting article: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/cheap-daily-covid-tests-could-be-akin-to-vaccine/

Interesting, yes, but I have some reservations. One, will people stay in if the test says they should? Two, with an industry that donated billions to receive perks such as making it illegal to sue pharmaceutical companies over drugs' negative effects or harm, not raise the price to an obscene level? And three, with the latter statement in mind, is the Federal government going to listen to the public or to companies that spend billions on keeping the status quo?

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0222/Parents-can-t-sue-drug-firms-when-vaccines-cause-harm-Supreme-Court-says

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-vaccine-ruling-parents-cant-sue-drug-makers-for-kids-health-problems

https://www.ien.com/supply-chain/news/20837765/lawmakers-demand-answers-on-leukemia-drug-price-hikes

The coronavirus continues to surge in some parts of the country, but regardless of how your state is doing right now, the threat of COVID-19 is still very real. Many of us have been wearing our masks, washing our hands, and keeping our six feet of distance. But there are other factors that play a role in how likely you are to stave off the virus. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation suggests that "patients with severe vitamin D deficiency had a significantly higher mortality risk."

The prevalence of vitamin D—or more to the point, the lack of this vital nutrient—has been associated with coronavirus survival for months, but a group of Italian doctors are adding more data to that body of research. The researchers behind this new study evaluated 42 patients with acute respiratory failure due to COVID-19, who had all been treated in the Respiratory Intermediate Care Unit (RICU) in a clinic in the Bari province in March and April. What the researchers found was that after 10 days of hospitalization, patients with severe vitamin D deficiencies had a 50 percent chance of dying from the virus, while those with vitamin D levels of at least 10 ng/mL had only a 5 percent mortality risk.

One of the biggest questions amid the COVID-19 pandemic has been why does the virus kill some people and leave others without any detectable symptoms. Now, six months into the pandemic, we're finally getting some answers. According to Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), if you're someone who's known to get the common cold year after year, you could have some protection against the novel coronavirus, thanks to the T cells in your immune system.

"If you look at [your immune system] metaphorically as an army with different levels of defense, the antibodies prevent the virus from getting in. So that's kind of like the first line of defense," Fauci told McClatchy in a recent interview. "For those viruses that do escape and infect some cells, the T cells come in and kill the cells that are infected or block them."

Fauci said much of the research on COVID has been "focusing very exclusively on the antibody test," but, he said, T cells are an "equally important component of the immune system."

Both articles, re: Vitamin D and T cells is from Best Life

Up to 204,691 extra deaths in the US so far in this pandemic year;

"It doesn't take a sophisticated statistical model to see that the coronavirus pandemic is causing substantially more deaths than would have otherwise occurred.

The number of deaths the CDC officially attributed to COVID-19 in the United States exceeded 148,754 by Aug. 1. Some people who are skeptical about aspects of the coronavirus suggest these are deaths that would have occurred anyway, perhaps because COVID-19 is particularly deadly for the elderly. Others believe that, because the pandemic has changed life so drastically, the increase in COVID-19-related deaths is probably offset by decreases from other causes. But neither of these possibilities is true.

In fact, the number of excess deaths currently exceeds the number attributable to COVID-19 by more than 16,000 people in the U.S. What's behind that discrepancy is not yet clear. COVID-19 deaths could be being undercounted, or the pandemic could also be causing increases in other types of death. It's probably some of both."

https://tinyurl.com/y3k9qqo4

Take coronavirus precautions, or risk the worst fall in US public health history. That's the dire new warning from Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It seems like a tall order when the US has averaged about 53,000 new cases per day in the last week. Since some schools reopened for in-person learning, more than 2,000 students, teachers and staff have been quarantined, and at least 230 positive coronavirus cases were reported in their districts. Around the world, millions more students could be at risk when they return to classrooms. A new report from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund reveals more than 800 million children don't have access to basic hand washing at school.

Our neighbor's son never felt any symptoms from the Covid-19 and he will be retested.  We are wondering if it could have been a false positive like the Gov. of Ohio.  The tests are not always reliable.

A couple of years ago, my labs showed I was lacking in Vitamin D so the doctor prescribed 1000 units.  My next lab test 6 months later didn't show much improvement so she increased it to 2000 units of D3.  Since then it's been fine.  I've never in my 84 years have had influenza.  Years ago when we went to Guam, a flu shot was mandatory and I felt yucky and have never had a flu shot since.

Jean, perhaps he is what they're calling asymptomatic? While we've had nowhere near the cases surging in the southeast, nor the deaths. We did have one yesterday of a woman in her seventies. I wish I knew where.

There are primarily older tenants here, often much older than my 69 years. Locally there is also a Pioneers home, and a Dementia home that has elderly clients altho those are in different circumstances with rooms rather than independent living.

There is also Ravenhill, which is a privately owned complex for regular seniors. Then, of course, there are those in private homes. Is it bad that I want to know where the local deaths occurred? I don't need or want other info.

I heard that dire warning from Dr. Redfield, and I believe other scientists have made the same prediction.  That it will be hard to tell the difference between the seasonal flu and the coronavirus. 

Stay safe and healthy,

jane

Jane I sent you a PM.

Jean, I had the flu, horribly in 1985. And that was the only time, right after my one and only flu shot.. My doctor says, some folks have either a lucky immunity or they're taking more meds regularly for a different condition that provides Tcells and antibodies always in their system.

I found this chart at Ksat.com, a media group

https://www.ksat.com/features/2020/08/03/5-burning-questions-answered-as-flu-season-approaches-amid-covid-19-pandemic/

You can't make this stuff up! Unfortunately, The behavior harms others.

Mother Refuses To Let Kids Social Distance, Wear Masks, Tells School Board Both Are A 'Pagan Ritual' For Satanists

The parent, Heidi Anderson, said her children "are not subject" to complying with mitigation procedures because they are Christians during a Board of Education meeting in Elmbrook, near Milwaukee, on Tuesday night. At the end of the meeting, board members decided students within the Elmbrook School District must wear face coverings and maintain six feet distance between one another while attending classes this fall.

Anderson argued against the district's then-proposed mitigation measures in her comments favoring reopening. She questioned the rationale behind health mandates and suggested masks and physical distancing are a "pagan ritual" that contradicts her religious beliefs.

"We're concerned about the disregard for our civil liberties in your plan," said Anderson, who told the board that two of her children are enrolled in Elmbrook schools.

"Six-foot distance and masks are a pagan ritual of satanic worshippers," she continued. "We are Christians. Our children do not practice satanic worship. We don't have them stand six feet apart from each other with facial coverings."

Leading public health agencies, such as the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recognize that both practices provide barriers to the novel coronavirus' spread through public settings.

Anderson described mask use and social distancing guidelines as "draconian measures" in her statement to the school board Tuesday night. She also questioned the legitimacy of health experts' recommendation to remain at least 6 feet apart, asking: "Why is not 3? Why is it not 5? Why is it not 10? Why is it not 30?"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mother-refuses-to-let-kids-social-distance-wear-masks-tells-school-board-both-are-a-pagan-ritual-for-satanists/ar-BB17VW2Y?ocid=msedgntp

I've been visiting some of the European live cams and noticed that in the two I watched that have people walking about (in the Netherlands and Croatia) not a single person is wearing a mask and I don't see much if any social distancing. I just checked the Netherlands official Covid-19 site and while they do have a list of restrictions and advice, I don't see masks among them. Another site lists over 100 countries that have mask laws and some of our states. Netherlands and Croatia were not on that list, so that explains that. Compliance in other countries is just as, if not more, spotty than here.

Misinfo Kills. A new medical journal study shows that coronavirus misinfo kills. It estimates 5,800 people around the world were admitted to hospitals because of false information about the virus and at least 800 people died in three months because of this misinformation. | via BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53755067

"Hundreds of essential workers around the US have died after contracting Covid-19, including over 900 healthcare workers, at least 100 grocery store workers and 93 meat plant workers in the first three months of the pandemic, and 132 public transit workers in New York City.

Several families of Covid-19 victims have filed lawsuits against employers for alleged lack of safety protections for workers from the coronavirus, as Republicans in Congress and some state legislators push for legislation to grant employers immunity."

https://tinyurl.com/y42g9s3z

"The mutation of the COVID-19 virus continues to be a source of apprehension, with many people concerned about how the virus will evolve. Much of the fear surrounding COVID-19's mutation is a fear of the unknown. Will the virus become more infectious? Will it present completely different symptoms? As experts watch COVID-19 continue to evolve and spawn new mutations, they've been able to learn more about the virus. In fact, researchers now know that there are currently six main strains of COVID-19 across the globe."

https://bestlifeonline.com/strains-covid/

From CNN;

Coronavirus cases in the US are on the decline, but experts say the new reality may be "rolling hot spots," where parts of the country are affected by outbreaks while others trend down. Schools are turning into hot spots as well: The University of Alabama reported more than 500 Covid-19 cases less than a week after classes started. At Ohio State, more than 220 students were suspended for violating pandemic precautions before the school year even began. Here's another worrying statistic: More than 70,000 new Covid-19 cases in children have been reported across the US since early August, marking a 21% increase in just two weeks. On the international front, India has reported more than 1.5 million new cases in August alone, and Jamaican Olympic great Usain Bolt is the latest big name to have contracted the virus.


20,000

That's how many Covid-19 cases researchers say may be connected to a single "superspreading event." A biotech conference attended by 200 people in late February is now well known as a source of coronavirus spread very early in the pandemic. The spread began with about 90 cases among conference attendees and their direct contacts.

Looking at possible long term immunity:

https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/lasting-immunity-against-covid-19-uarizona-professors-helps-in-research

Reinfections and limited immunity are shown;

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=covid-19+reinfectations&atb=v234-7&ia=web

It just gets worse and worse. 

My daughter lives in Texas and she has three sons. Youngest got sick Fri. Daughter works at the school and she was told to go home with son until it could be proved he is CV-19 Neg. She took him to the Doc and was told NO CV1-19 tests available in this town (pop 17,000). She had to  drive to next town 45 minutes away. She had to pay for Fast test: $210!! Test costs $5.00

What a freaking mess. Of course Texas is a Trump state so of course it is in a mess. Thank fully son is Neg.

Positive cases are growing here fast.  Our Governor won't require anything.  3 big weddings in this little town last weekend....one with 800 invited guests!   Oh, that sounds safe! :idiot2:

School opened on the 24th.  Entire 3rd grade at one school quarantined as well as 7 teachers.  I bet finding subs is even harder than it usually is. 

 

Jane...
... re, your post of " 800 invited guests "....so much for the well-known idiom of..." there is safety in numbers.."
...as my late father often would have said..." they need their brains testing..."

Isn't that the truth, V-J!  I can't imagine having 800 people invited...I don't think I know that many people!   :idiot2:  :idiot2:

There is an old curse said to be a translation from a traditional Chinese language that states, "May you live in interesting times." Somebody wasn't happy with us!  🤒   

I see the first death from the Sturgis Rally has been reported.  Neighbors two doors down were there, of course, as they do every year....and she has a new grandbaby.


First coronavirus death traced to Sturgis Motorcyle Rally that drew 400,000 people
The case involving a man in his 60s is among at least 260 coronavirus infections in 11 states that have been documented from the event in South Dakota, according to a survey of health departments by The Washington Post.

Many participants at the rally, which ran from Aug. 7 through Aug. 16, declined to wear masks or maintain social distancing in bars, restaurants and tattoo parlors, which health officials cited as among the likely transmission points.

People aren't going to listen, Jane, and they get weird about it. It's already been noted that there are several hundred virus cases in churches, schools, and colleges. In Anchorage, a city in Alaska, cases are steadily rising yet they keep attempting to reopen bars, restaurants, gyms, etc. and when they don't, people have fits about "liberties"and respond violently again.

It took three months to go from one million cases to five million and less than a month to go from five million to six million cases of COVID-19.


From CNN,

The US will not participate in a global effort led by the World Health Organization to develop and distribute a coronavirus vaccine. Even though the US leads the world in coronavirus cases, with more than 6 million overall, the Trump administration has been critical of the WHO and said it will not be constrained by the "corrupt" organization. More than 170 other countries are involved.

Now, what will we do when a vaccine is actually approved? An independent committee has recommended a four-phase allocation plan for the US, starting with first responders and high-risk workers in health care facilities, then high-risk adults. Meanwhile, scientists are learning more about the effects of the virus, and it isn't good: New research suggests coronavirus symptoms can last for months in some patients.

Ready for a CV-19 vaccine on 1 Nov?

http://my.earthlink.net/channel/news/article/top?guid=20200902/c5ac01c9-c0b2-4502-8dc5-ec585379705d

Social distancing:

 https://apple.news/Aj6l2nLLYQ9yUr7t0-oWQqg

Number 7....i would always keep one cow apart, whether C-Virus distancing or not..

My husband likes the idea of carrying a hockey stick,  just so it has the San Jose Sharks logo on it!   I'd like the idea of mannequins seated at a table next to me. They would be very quiet and mannerly.  :)   

I just just looking at Gutenberg's new self-publishing site and found this for those interested in the actual laws in place governing quarantine both at the state and federal level.  http://self.gutenberg.org/eBooks/WPLBN0100302317-Federal-and-State-Quarantine-Law-by-Jack-D-C-.aspx? It is in .pdf form. The self-publishing site seems to have a number of what look like papers and dissertations along with policy papers and such, not just self-published books.  There are links to the individual state laws at the back. I had to open the book in pdf to get the links to work. Double-click on the pdf icon rather that read the online text to get to it. BTW, the table of contents is not linked to individual chapters, so you will find the state links beginning on page 136. If you just want to read on-line, mouse-over the cover.

Giving out our today's BBC news....warning ( UK )" start taking C - Virus seriously or face a bumpy ride ahead " this is our warning from England's deputy chief medical officer, after UK'S daily total of C - V cases reached nearly 3,000 for 2 consecutive days, our highest jump since May...It had previously jumped by 1,000 from 1 day to the next last weekend...Told we must follow hygiene and social distancing...many are flouting these of course, guess they think it will never happen to them, they feel they are immune to this...Well this is one virus that does not discriminate..

So, true, V-J.  Our numbers here continue to rise, too.  And fall is now upon us...54 F today for our high. 

 
jane

Jane...
... hard to remember this time last year..oh how oblivious we all were to what was soon to hit us...As Barbra Streisand sang..." what a difference a day makes.."

UK's restrictions keep changing, gets too complicated..another set of new measures are taking place here in UK as from next Monday, ( fines will be in force, ) to reduce social contact - social distancing, no more than a group of six people will be coming into force, as our " new cases " are rising...This feels like a " here we go again...that "one step forwards, two steps back.."

"Anyone with a brain could tell that putting on the gigantic Sturgis Motorcycle Rally this year would be a bad idea. Now we have a scientific study to affirm this was a worst-case scenario, an event that appears to be accountable for 250,000 cases of COVID-19 at a public cost of $12 billion."

"The paper concludes that its cost estimate is based on nobody even dying from their positive cases. We know that's overly optimistic, as the first Sturgis-linked death was already reported last week. Even assuming no deaths, though, our country could have saved money by paying everyone arriving at Sturgis $26,000 to turn right back around:"

"If we conservatively assume that all of these cases were non-fatal, then these cases represent a cost of over $12.2 billion, based on the statistical cost of a COVID-19 case of $46,000 estimated by Kniesner and Sullivan (2020). This is enough to have paid each of the estimated 462,182 rally attendees $26,553.64 not to attend."

https://tinyurl.com/y2qzdcgp

Needed supplies still short for mask making:

http://politics.earthlink.net/channel/politics/article?guid=20200910/206daaf4-0bca-4b4a-b31f-d024921cead8

Just this minute listening to our BBC 6.pm news and the first thing they mentions is..." our ( UK )
C Virus is on the rise.." our new cases are going up..
Cases are doubling every seven days, so a spokeswoman says...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/emails-detail-effort-to-silence-cdc-and-question-its-science/ar-BB19bCM0?ocid=NL_ENUS_A1_20200920_3_2&bep_ref=1&bep_csid=22410

Emails detail efforts to silence CDC and question its science.

WHO warns of 'serious' COVID-19 surge in Europe as global cases pass 30 million

https://tinyurl.com/y2shj4dl

And for the US,
Cases
6,782,083
Deaths
199,411
Last updated: September 20, 2020 at 1:45 p.m. ET
Source: Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering

UK BBC news headline..." the strongest warning yet, we are heading for another form of lockdown, and that a second wave " could " see 50 thousand cases a day, unless we act urgently."
Note the word " could, " yet a frightening reality all the same..

That's beyond frightening!

Scientists say the US will see an estimated 200,000 cases by January, but because of politics, that number will be far higher other scientists have said privately. Across the world, as it stands now, expect to see 30 to 40 million new cases by the end of the year, and that's a conservative estimate.

America has topped 200,000 cases and its not even January!

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus quietly surpassed 200,000 on Tuesday, less than eight months after the first American fatality.

The U.S. reached 100,000 deaths in May. Now, some experts estimate the death toll could almost double by year's end.

Fatigue for social distancing and the push to get back into offices and schools could fuel new cases – and deaths – in the coming weeks and months. Experts at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington predict 378,321 deaths by January.

https://tinyurl.com/y6myjzv7

Reopening Colleges Likely Fueled Covid-19 Significantly, Study Finds
Research suggests in-person classes led to thousands of additional cases each day in the U.S.

https://tinyurl.com/y3yqpz4r

"Colleges and universities that reopened for face-to-face instruction might have caused tens of thousands of additional cases of Covid-19 in recent weeks, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Indiana University, the University of Washington and Davidson College.

The researchers estimated that an extra 3,200 cases a day occurred in the U.S. that likely wouldn't have happened had schools kept classes online.

The team behind the report, slated to be posted online Tuesday on the preprint server medRxiv, included professors of epidemiology, health economics and higher education. The manuscript has yet to be peer-reviewed.

Sen Pei, an infectious-disease modeler and associate research scientist at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, called the study "well-designed." Dr. Pei wasn't involved in the research."

7.30am listening to our BBC Breakfast programme, interview with Charlie Stayt asking about those measures introduced last night " what evidence does the government have that the 10 pm curfew which is one of the most significant elements of this will make a difference. "
referring to closure of our pubs and restaurants, customers out - doors will be locked at 10.pm...

Does the C-Virus disappear after 10 pm....just asking..

Our UK " now new " tougher, enforced, restrictions...penalties to those who ignore them...keep changing, hard to keep up with them, this is an ever changing situation..

" £10,000 fine for failure to self - isolate and business rule breaking "

" £200 fine for not wearing face coverings " in shops - public transport - taxi or in any indoor hospitality venue unless seated to eat or drink "
Isn't it good that people are allowed to remove their mask to eat and drink....

" £200 fine for breaking rule of group of six people "

As the late Bob Dylan once sang...( The Times ( the rules ) They Are A - Changin )

From CNN,

"This time last year, the headline we are facing today would have been unbelievable. Unfathomable. A sick joke. More than 200,000 people have died on American soil of a virus that, mere months ago, was completely unknown to us. Around the world, more than 970,000 lives have been lost. With no vaccine and no widely adopted solutions, the misery won't be ending soon.

We went back through our archives to see what it was like in those early days before the coronavirus pandemic became an international tragedy and changed nearly every aspect of our lives.

The first time CNN.com reported on the virus was January 8.

It was part of a so-called "mysterious pneumonia outbreak" in Wuhan, China. At the time, scientists reported no human-to-human transmissions and no deaths. We know now that the virus may have already been in the US at that time, silently lurking and spreading.

The virus was compared to the SARS pandemic that killed 774 people in Asia in 2002 and 2003. To put that in perspective, since the first known US Covid-19 death on February 6, an average of more than 858 people have died in the United States from the disease every day -- an entire SARS pandemic every several hours.

The first time you read about coronavirus in 5 Things was January 21.

"A new virus in China is threatening to become a pandemic," our subject line said. At the time, the official global death toll was six. By the time you finish reading this newsletter, at least six people in the world will have died of Covid-19 since you began.

That's not an exaggeration. There were 4,795 worldwide deaths yesterday. That's three deaths per minute.

To put it in another perspective, the total US coronavirus death toll is equivalent to one 9/11 attack every day for 66 days. The US coronavirus death toll is more than the number of Americans killed in battle in the five most recent wars combined: the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf War.

No matter how you do the math, you're left with truly horrifying figures. But those figures represent so much more. They represent real lives, real people who leave behind devastated families, and unfinished legacies. People who were it not for this virus, would probably still be alive today. No comparison can properly convey such a loss."

 

 

 

Our UK's hospital reality...Just said on our BBC news, as our C - Virus cases are beginning to rise again, and as our powers that be rightly states, " if we let this Virus get out of control, it will mean our NHS has no space once again to deal with cancer patients - and millions of other non Covid medical needs."
Half a million patients are waiting for more than six weeks for a diagnoses for cancer - heart attacks - and other conditions... our hospitals are struggling to clear the backlog..

Same situation in Israel with hospital at full capacity with Corona patients, staff overwhelmed and even anesthetists mobilized to look after the patients on breathing machines. No surgeries now except for life threatening cases.

Bubble...
... this is an unreal world we are now all living in, we never foresaw anything like this happening, we so took our hospitals for granted...We have so many people even afraid of going into hospital ( other medical issues ) for fear they will never come out of it alive, fear of becoming another C - Virus statistic...

This is not the place for political messages however, because of US political  pressures, it is very hard to get an accurate message other than new cases and or new deaths.

The subject is Coroner Virus, which i see every post reflects that...

Jackie, I was speaking of my own country when I posted that.

Alaskan Regional trends

    Juneau City and Borough now has the highest rate of viral transmission, having increased its rate to 16.3, continuing the rise from 13.4 last week and 6.3 the week before.

    Fairbanks North Star Borough has the second highest rate of viral transmission with a case rate of 15.9, a slight decrease from 17.1 the week before.

    The Northwest Region had the steepest increase this week among communities with high transmission, with a rate now at 15.6 from 10.7 the previous week.

    Anchorage Municipality remains in the high transmission category and has again improved slightly from last week.

    The Y-K Delta region increased from 6.0 to 8.4, remaining within the intermediate zone.

    The Interior Region, Mat-Su and Northern Southeast Region also saw increases this week.

    Other regions' case rates downtrended this week.

 

"With COVID-19 vaccines currently in the final phase of study, you've probably been wondering how the FDA will decide if a vaccine is safe and effective.

Based on the status of the Phase 3 trials currently underway, it is unlikely that the results of these trials will be available before November. But it is likely that not just one but several of the competing COVID-19 vaccines will be shown to be safe and effective by the end of 2020.

I am a scientist and infectious diseases specialist at the University of Virginia, where I care for patients with COVID-19 and conduct research on the pandemic. I am also a member of the World Health Organization Expert Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Prioritization."

https://tinyurl.com/yytbp5wy

 

The coronavirus seems to be getting somewhat better here in our area overall but I notice that the pediatric numbers are going up and that is no doubt due to the schools' opening.  The person who originally designed the Florida Covid-19 site refused to doctor the numbers and they let her go.  However, she started her own site and knows where to get the information and I follow her site which is much better than the original one.

Presently we have 342 pediatric cases, with 11 new ones today and 4 admitted to the hospital.

That's not good, Jean, about the children but we're seeing the same thing here.

I don't normally watch gossip channels, don't even know who's who anymore but I saw this video from the UK listed on a TMZ? site on the main Youtube page. It's about a woman in a liquor store who began destroying wine bottles after she was asked to follow the social distancing rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7ZHudHQHgQ

From CNN

A new study says countries should meet five criteria before easing lockdown measures. But unfortunately, many nations are not even close. Leaders in Europe are announcing new restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19 as cases surge and the continent deals with a second coronavirus wave.

Although deaths from the virus are still well below their peak, experts warn that the signs point to more tragedy ahead this winter. A second wave is also underway in most of Canada. The US, meanwhile, is still in its first wave, given that cases never declined significantly, says Dr. Anthony Fauci. He warned that the nation should prepare for the challenges ahead in fall and winter.

It's protests like the ones in the US and this one in the UK that keeps killing thousands. One of the craziest signs was held by a woman who stated "I will never stop fighting for my child's future!"

 Isn't that ironic that her method and actions could easily bring the disease and death to that child?!?

https://tinyurl.com/y5vkhthh

 

Our couldn't care less'ers.....

UK BBC news...re, our UK's second wave..

16 people have been arrested and nine officers injured following demonstrations in central London against C - Virus restrictions.
( they are put in place for a reason whether we like it or not. )
Thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square in protest of the latest government rules with " very few wearing masks."
Metropolitan police said the protest had been shut down because the crowd was not complying with " social distancing."

While people worldwide are protesting they can't do whatever they want, whatever their little minds perceive, regardless of others and spreading false information as fast as they can make it up; from CNN today,

More than 1 million people have now died of the coronavirus worldwide, less than nine months after the first death was confirmed in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The US, Brazil, India, and Mexico account for more than 50% of the total death toll. What's worse: Cases in these stricken countries are still skyrocketing. India recently surpassed 6 million cases, and 95,000 people have died in the country -- although Indian officials warn these numbers may be woefully underreported.

More than 141,000 people have died of the coronavirus in Brazil, the second-highest total in the world, and the US tops the grim list with more than 200,000 deaths. While the world holds out hope for a vaccine to curb the devastation (35 are now in human trials around the world), health experts worry that the death toll may double before any widespread relief is available.

EjLDU5nU0AAYswW.jpg

What do we British do when our Prime Ministers relations - our Members of Parliament flout our C-Virus rules, when we are expected to abide by them..As on our news this morning discussing whilst showing our newspaper front pages photos - stories..Boris Johnsons father photo snapped inside a shop not wearing a face mask, with a newspaper headline stating "so when is your dad getting fined then, Boris, " our second photo snapped newspaper headline was of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbin apologising when photo snapped at a dinner party sitting at a table breaching our rule of six, sitting with nine people..
Seems to be one rule for us, one rule for them..These are the people who should be setting an example...

V-J...It's just not in the UK.  Same story here...Everybody has a different "theory"...and it ends up that it's all "me, me, me."  There's no concern for anybody else, it seems.  Here, it seems men in their teens and though 40s are adamant about not wearing masks.  It seems to reflect on their "masculinity" somehow.  I don't get it, but that's what I see. 

Of course our Pres. doesn't wear a mask and downplays the need, etc. 

jane

Jane it is the same way in Alaska. People are running around, braying about their "rights," while cases are soaring, and the majority of new cases and deaths are age forty and under.

10.pm newsreader, quoting, " see if this makes any sense, your an MP, you have symptoms, you have the test, and then before you get the result you go all the way from Scotland to London by train to the House of Commons to give a speech on Monday, ( then showing and naming the female MP in question, ) just before her test came back as positive, the next day she then travelled all the way home to Scotland again by train, 400 miles." Very bad luck if you happen to be in a carriage with her. And not surprisingly the MP in question has been suspended after an apology was not enough. No wonder everybody is outraged with her, she knowingly put peoples lives in danger.....

As you've probably heard, our Pres and his wife, have tested positive for covid...according to their reporting.
 As you can guess, some believe it, some think it's a "hoax" as he called the coronavirus. 

He said it affects "virtually nobody" in one of his ramblings, so I guess he's a "nobody"... :coolsmiley:

Things are just chaotic here, and I hate chaos.

Take care and stay safe,

jane

Jane, guess we wont argue with that..( a " nobody " ) ;)

Did you read the way he subtly emphasized the staffer, Hope Hicks, on how she was always "friendly" with the military?

I think "Hopey," as he used to call her when she was there the first time, is probably friendly with whomever she has to be to keep the job.  Make your own conclusions.... :2funny:  :coolsmiley:  :idiot2:


jane

Quoting, " received an experimental antibody cocktail " does that mean Trump has been infused with his suggestion of a " bleach." :idiot2:

I agree knowing how the staff with Trump ebbs and flows. However, it just shows his misanthropic view of women and girls.

This is his chance to be our " guinea-pig, " to practice what he preached..

We have slowly climbed higher via new cases in this city. Now, today, 30 new cases. And what is even more concerning is while every age group is represented statewide, the age group with the most cases has been dropping lower. Now the age group with the most cases by far is the twenty to twentynine group.

National Geographic has updated until noon October first and they posted this;

"The United States has surpassed 200,000 coronavirus deaths, meaning the pandemic has claimed nearly twice as many American lives as those lost in every U.S-involved conflict since World War II combined. And the toughest roads could be ahead.

Parts of the nation may be witnessing the first days of an autumn surge, as the seven-day average for new coronavirus cases has been steadily rising above 34,000 since September 13. Tallies are high and rising in 15 states—mainly in the Midwest, where the virus is spreading uncontrollably. Nationwide, deaths are still hovering around 900 to 1,000 per day.

The global death tally has surpassed one million. And as autumn approaches and people move indoors, where the virus is more likely to spread, concerns are rising of a resurgence in the U.S. akin to what is already occurring in some parts of Europe. These worries are buttressed by a continuous flow of micro-surges at grade schools and colleges. The New York Times has identified 88,000 coronavirus cases at nearly 1,200 colleges across the U.S."

From the National Geographic

Info on the virus via state;   https://tinyurl.com/y4u9y9lu

2/10/2020 and this mornings 7.30 am BBC tv news ( UK ) " Northumbria University, 770 students had tested positive, 78 of whom are symptomatic."
All infected students and their contacts are self isolating for 14 days in line with government guidelines...

"The president of the United States is in the most secure bubble in the world... and he still got it. So, wear the damn mask!" – Chris Wallace pic.twitter.com/RNg6JXafXb

Chris Wallace: the first family and other Trump surrogates "waved away" on scene health officials offering masks during the debate https://t.co/PUDh8yT7kA pic.twitter.com/iQTJdSMsoM

"Following the news that President Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, Fox's Chris Wallace seems determined to push aside some of the pro-Trump agenda of his on-air colleagues and focus on truth-telling instead.

On Friday morning, Wallace told the Trump propaganda-spewing panelists on Fox and Friends about how, during this week's debate that he moderated, the first family and other Trump surrogates entered the debate hall wearing masks but then removed after they were seated.

Wallace said that his own family, as well as Joe Biden's family and campaign staff, wore masks throughout, but the first family and other Trump surrogates "waved away" on scene health officials offering masks — an obvious nudge to get them to adhere to the rules set forth by the Cleveland Clinic requiring attendees wear a mask."

https://tinyurl.com/yxo4znw3

We had 36 new cases today and this week 14 pediatric cases went to ER with several admitted to the hospital.

An anonymous "person close to the Pres." told the pool reporter that the Pres. was worse than what the doctor reported in the press gathering.  According to the anonymous source, he had to be given oxygen Friday.

The debate commission says at the next debate that anyone refusing to wear a mask will be escorted out of the debate area.  Who knows what is going to happen in the few days left before the election.  I'll vote early with my mask and gloves on!

This has been a bad year.  Sure hope things get better soon.

Quote from: jane on October 01, 2020, 10:53:59 AM
Of course our Pres. doesn't wear a mask and downplays the need, etc. 

jane

Pelosi & Feinstein caught out in public without masks (I didn't know the cameras were running )

Liberals Hurl Vile Attacks At Kellyanne Conway As They Celebrate Her COVID Diagnosis – 'Inject Bleach'

Rammel, if you are going to post something more political than medical, please also include a link to the original site. Or simply post in politics.   

Rammel..
... this C-virus seems to be bringing out the best in some people and the worst in some people, also turning some people into crazies...We have seen the tv footages of people going berserk inside shops - stores, mainly when somebody tells them to wear a face covering....
The longer this goes on, the more crazies we will hear about, the nasty's and the good deeders and so forth...This is causing many to be acting out of character..

Quote from: patricia19 on October 03, 2020, 05:54:42 PMRammel, if you are going to post something more political than medical, please also include a link to the original site. Or simply post in politics.   

I thought you knew how to use Google.
https://www.lifezette.com/2020/10/liberals-hurl-vile-attacks-at-kellyanne-conway-as-they-celebrate-her-covid-diagnosis-inject-bleach/

Quote from: patricia19 on September 30, 2020, 01:33:47 PMEjLDU5nU0AAYswW.jpg

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH

Well this is a first for me during my ten years of S & F's as a forum member, of a forum member " publically telling " a Global Moderator where they should post or not post...

Vanilla, please refrain of these remarks.
There are three administrators here to take care of problems.  Instead  you certainly can alert them when you see something untoward instead of adding oil to the fire.
Thank you for your comprehension.

Thank you Jackie.

We had 25 new covid cases today.

My Canadian son-in-law flew to Los Angeles for his dad's funeral.  Since coming back he has had some symptoms and now he is waiting for test results.  I'm sure he wore a mask but planes don't have a great ventilation system.

My son and daughter-in-law have flown to Calif about 5 times in the last few months because of my grandson dying of cancer.  They always fly Alaska Air direct because of the good ventilation system.  They've been fortunate so far.

Rammel, good to see you posting.  I hadn't seen a post from you in a while.

A dear friend whose husband works outdoors fulltime for the County Conservation Dept. developed a cough and 103.5 fever Sunday. He tested positive so they're both quarantined for 14 days.  She's been tested, too, but no results yet.  They're in their late 50s. 

Stay safe and healthy,

jane

Get well card to the President:

Stay positive

My Canadian son-in-law tested negative.  I think he might have been super sensitive about his sniffles after his trip to southern CA for his dad's funeral.  Covid-19 is especially bad in LA it seems.

Monday, locally, we had 55 new cases. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had 40 new cases, and on Thursday 21. As people are inside more in winter, this is going to be bad. And they say we are still in the first surge while some Western states are already in their second. Alaska has 9,005 resident cases as of yesterday and 991 nonresident cases. The majority are 29 and under.

Finally something on a positive note about COVID.
Encouraging update!
A professor of pharmacy at U of Toronto sent this clearly worded update to his family.

For this pandemic, there's a greater chance of survival for those getting infected 3 months later like June 2020  than those who got infected 3 months earlier say February 2020. The reason for this is
that Doctors and scientists know more about Covid-19 now than 3 months ago and hence are able to treat patients better. I will list *5 important things* that we know now that we didn't know in February
2020 for your understanding.

1. COVID-19 was initially thought to cause deaths due to *pneumonia- a lung infection*- and so Ventilators were thought to be the best way to treat sick patients who couldn't breathe. *Now we are realizing that the virus causes blood clots in the blood vessels of the lungs* and other parts of the body and this causes reduced oxygenation. Now we know that just providing oxygen by ventilators will not help but we have to prevent and dissolve the micro clots in the lungs. This is why we are using drugs like *Aspirin and Heparin ( blood thinners that prevents clotting) as protocol in treatment regimens in June 2020. *

2. Previously patients used to drop dead on the road or even before reaching a hospital due to reduced oxygen in their blood- OXYGEN SATURATION. This was because of *HAPPY HYPOXIA*- where even though the oxygen saturation was gradually reducing the COVID-19 patients did not
have symptoms until it became critically less, like sometimes even 70%. **Normally we become breathless if oxygen saturation reduces below 90%. **This breathlessness is not triggered in COVID patients and so we were getting the sick patients very late to the hospitals in February 2020. Now since knowing about happy hypoxia we are monitoring oxygen saturation of all COVID patients *with a simple home use pulse oximeter and getting them to the hospital if their oxygen saturation drops
to 93% or less*. This gives more time for doctors to correct the oxygen deficiency in the blood and a better survival chance in June 2020.

3. We did not have drugs to fight the coronavirus in February 2020. We were only treating the complications caused by it... hypoxia. Hence most patients became severely infected.
```**Now we have 2 important medicines FAVIPIRAVIR & REMDESIVIR**```

These are ANTIVIRALS that can kill the coronavirus. By using these two medicines we can prevent patients from becoming severely infected and therefore cure them BEFORE THEY GO TO HYPOXIA. This knowledge we have in JUNE 2020... not in February 2020.

4. Many Covid-19 patients die not just because of the virus but also due the patient's own immune system responding In an exaggerated manner called *CYTOKINE STORM*. This stormy strong immune response not only kills the virus but also kills the patients. In February 2020 we didn't know how to prevent it from happening. Now in June 2020, we know that *easily available medicines
called Steroids,* that doctors around the world have been using for almost 80 years *can be used to
prevent the cytokine storm in some patients*.

5. Now we also know that people with hypoxia became better just by making them lie down on their belly- known as prone position. Apart from this a few days ago Israeli scientists have discovered that a a chemical known as Alpha Defensin produced by the patients White blood cells can cause the micro clots in blood vessels of the lungs and this could possibly be prevented by a drug called Colchicine used over many decades in the treatment of Gout.

So now we know for sure that patients have a better chance at surviving the COVID-19 infection in June 2020 than in February 2020, for sure.

Going forward there's nothing to panic about Covid-19 if we remember that a person who gets infected later has a better chance at survival than one who got infected early.

Let's continue to follow precautions, wear masks and practice social distancing  Please distribute this message, as we all need some positive news...
 

From CNN this morning, "Some European countries are reporting record high Covid-19 cases, prompting leaders to choose between two drastic solutions. Limiting local restrictions would help keep economies open, but may not stop another wave of the virus. A short national lockdown may be safer, according to health experts, but could shock economies once again. The UK's Boris Johnson is one of the leaders trying to avoid the latter. In the US, the Trump Administration has indicated they are open to natural herd immunity as a way to best coronavirus -- an option that experts say could be disastrous. Under most estimates, that would mean about 70% of the population would have to catch the disease."

The US tops 8 million cases

"U.S. passes 8 million COVID-19 cases

By: CBS News Posted at 12:51 PM, Oct 16, 2020 and last updated 10:52 AM, Oct 16, 2020
The United States has now seen more than 8 million COVID-19 cases, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. Over 218,000 people nationwide have died due to the virus.

The country is now battling a fall surge, with 17 states seeing surges unlike anything they've experienced before in this pandemic, CBS News correspondent Mola Lenghi reported.

More than 63,000 cases were reported alone on Thursday, rising closer to daily case numbers not seen since the summer.

Hotspots are flaring across the Midwest, with smaller, rural hospitals fighting to hold on.
"It's not a joke when we say we swim in COVID," said Dr. Scott Samlan, an emergency room doctor in Hammond, Indiana, a state that hit a record number for cases on Thursday.

"I think the scary part for a lot of us is that we don't know how any individual is going to handle COVID," he said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell this week that the country needs to redouble its efforts to contain the virus as we enter the fall and winter months.

"What we really have to do is double down" on preventive measures like social distancing and wearing masks, Fauci said Wednesday.

He stressed that the same protocols health officials have been advising for months — wash your hands frequently, social distance, wear a mask, and avoid crowds, especially indoors — are as essential as ever, seven months into the pandemic.

"They sound very simple, but people are not doing that and that's why we have an uptick in cases," he said.

Anne Yurek, of Lancaster, Wisconsin, said people just don't take the virus seriously. "My uncle, my brother, my sister and then my dad died," said Yurek. "I couldn't even go to my dad's funeral. We don't get to say goodbye."

https://tinyurl.com/y3paw3eh

Compared to other states' case rates, Alaska's average case rate per capita over the last 7 days (25.5 average daily cases over the last week per 100,000) remains at the thirteenth-highest of US states, just below Wyoming (27.3) and worse off than Missouri (24.4). If Anchorage were its own state, its 7-day case rate (34) would put it at rank #6, between Utah and Idaho, and if Fairbanks were a state, its 7-day rate of 40.7 would make it #5 in the nation, just behind Wisconsin.

We in Az had about 300 new cases a day 2 weeks ago. Now we are over 1000 a day. People are not good about wearing masks and then we have had the Trump family in for many unmasked rallies!

Bioterrorism at work, sadly.

DigGirl...you're sadly right.

And, I've joined the Quarantined Group...I was exposed to the virus...and so staying in and checking my temps, etc. for next 14 days.  I talked to a nurse when I called to cancel my annual mammo and doc visit (which was today and next week respectively, and so that's off until end of January!)  She told me to just drink lots of liquids, rest, and take tylenol if I'm achy...but with arthritis like I have in every joint, that's a given!

Netflix and Hallmark channels are a godsend to me.  Sure nothing on regular channels that appeals to me.  I'm not into all that "contest" stuff or whatever that is. 

Take care and stay safe and healthy,
jane

Page 27 this weeks  Time magazine:::

"On Oct 13, the White House confirmed it was embracing a strategy that involves deliberately letting the novel coronavirus rip through the population while attempting to shield the most vulnerable, such as the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions."

This is bioterrorism

It is...and nobody's protecting us oldies with or without preexisting conditions. 

It's every "man  woman person tv camera" for him/herself.   He didn't protect himself (old, fat) or his wife and son.  And got the gold /platinum standard of care for free.

jane

He's immoral, narcissistic and self indulgent. Does anyone really think he cares about anyone outside of himself? It's all a shell game to him, and I hope someone checks his pockets when he leaves after the election.

"White House advisers have made the case recently for a "natural" approach to herd immunity as a way to reduce the need for public health measures to control the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic while still keeping people safe. This idea is summed up in something called the Great Barrington Declaration, a proposal put out by the American Institute for Economic Research, a libertarian think tank.

The basic idea behind this proposal is to let low-risk people in the U.S. socialize and naturally become infected with the coronavirus, while vulnerable people would maintain social distancing and continue to shelter in place. Proponents of this strategy claim so-called "natural herd immunity" will emerge and minimize harm from SARS-CoV-2 while protecting the economy.

Another way to get to herd immunity is through mass vaccinations, as we have done with measles, smallpox and largely with polio.

A population has achieved herd immunity when a large enough percentage of individuals become immune to a disease. When this happens, infected people are no longer able to transmit the disease, and the epidemic will burn out.

As a professor of behavioral and community health sciences, I am acutely aware that mental, social and economic health are important for a person to thrive, and that public health measures such as social distancing have imposed severe restrictions on daily life. But based on all the research and science available, the leadership at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and I believe this infection-based approach would almost certainly fail.

Dropping social distancing and mask wearing, reopening restaurants and allowing large gatherings will result in overwhelmed hospital systems and skyrocketing mortality. Furthermore, according to recent research, this reckless approach is unlikely to even produce the herd immunity that's the whole point of such a plan.

Vaccination, in comparison, offers a much safer and likely more effective approach.

An uncertain path to herd immunity
Herd immunity is an effective way to limit a deadly epidemic, but it requires a huge number of people to be immune.

The proportion of the population required for herd immunity depends on how infectious a virus is. This is measured by the basic reproduction number, R0, how many people a single contagious person would infect in a susceptible population. For SARS-CoV-2, R0 is between 2 and 3.2. At that level of infectiousness, between 50% and 67% of the population would need to develop immunity through exposure or vaccination to contain the pandemic.

The Great Barrington Declaration suggests the U.S. should aim for this immune threshold through infection rather than vaccination.

To get to 60% immunity in the U.S., about 198 million individuals would need to be infected, survive and develop resistance to the coronavirus. The demand on hospital care from infections would be overwhelming. And according to the WHO estimated infection fatality rate of 0.5%, that would mean nearly a million deaths if the country were to open up fully.

The Great Barrington Declaration hinges on the idea that you can effectively keep healthy, infected people away from those who are at higher risk. According to this plan, if only healthy people are exposed to the virus, then the U.S. could get to herd immunity and avoid mass deaths. This may sound reasonable, but in the real world with this particular virus, such a plan is simply not possible and ignores the risks to vulnerable people, young and old.

You can't fully isolate high-risk populations

The Great Barrington Declaration calls for "allowing those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally ... while protecting those who are at highest risk." Yet healthy people can get sick, and asymptomatic transmission, inadequate testing and difficulty isolating vulnerable people pose severe challenges to a neat separation based on risk.

First, the plan wrongly assumes that all healthy people can survive a coronavirus infection. Though at-risk groups do worse, young healthy people are also dying and facing long-term issues from the illness.

Second, not all high-risk people can self-isolate. In some areas, as much as 22% of the population have two or more chronic conditions that put them at higher risk for severe COVID-19. They might live with someone in the low-risk group and they still must shop, work and do the other activities necessary for life. High-risk individuals will come in contact with the low-risk group.

So can you simply guarantee that the low-risk people who interact with the high-risk group are uninfected? People who are infected but not showing symptoms may account for more than 30% of transmission. This asymptomatic spread is hard to detect.

Asymptomatic spread is compounded by shortcomings in the quality of testing. Currently available tests are fairly good, but do not reliably detect the coronavirus during the early phase of infection when viral concentrations can be low.

Accordingly, identifying infection in the low-risk population would be difficult. These people could go on to infect high-risk populations because it is impossible to prevent contact between them."

Steven Albert
Professor and Chair of Behavioral and Community Health, University of Pittsburgh

In our county we had 100 new cases today.  This is the most reported in one day. We are now over 5500 cases in our county.  The only place we go nowadays is the grocery store and they require masks, thankfully.

It has been my understanding that the epidemiologists don't know if you can become immune to this virus??  In the event that there is no immunity, the herd theory wouldn't work anyway.  Haven't there been a few people who have gotten covid twice?

Dr Fauci said today that everything should be normal by the end of 2021.  I didn't hear his reasoning, however.

There have been several reinfections because the immunity doesn't last very long as the disease continues to mutate faster. And each mutation brings more and more surprises, such as the notable one causing a rare but serious complication triggered by the infection that has features of Kawasaki disease. And it is now spreading to adults.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200514/covid19-may-trigger-rare-complication-in-children

https://www.wxyz.com/news/national/coronavirus/severe-covid-19-complication-seen-in-children-now-reported-in-adults-cdc-says

This is why a vaccine is the best way to go and Dr, Fauci, believes we may have one early next year altho it will take most of 2021 to fully vaccinate IF you can find those who won't wear masks or vaccinate due to odd beliefs.


 

Why Covid-19 Coronavirus Won't Just 'Go Away,' As Eric Trump Said, What Does Endemic Mean


"During an interview with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro on "Justice with Judge Jeanine," Eric Trump, the son of President Donald Trump said, "And guess what, after November 3 coronavirus will magically all of a sudden go away and disappear and everybody will be able to reopen." The following tweet includes a video of this segment:"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/05/17/why-covid-19-coronavirus-will-not-just-go-away-what-does-endemic-mean/?sh=37b361d36598

From CNN

"The US just reported 600,000 coronavirus cases in a week. You read that right: More than half a million. In one. Single. Week. That includes a new record high of 102,000+ cases yesterday alone. Numbers are exploding all across the world, too. Covid-19 deaths have spiked 43% in Europe week over week, and hospitals in places like Belgium and Switzerland are overflowing with patients. Switzerland is even deploying its army to help with the overwhelming number of hospitalizations. In the US, at least 33 states have retained some sort of mask mandate, and some state and local leaders are going back to stricter rules like curfews and limits on crowd size."

"Tougher rules...". Except in hard hit Iowa where our Gov attended a super spreader event and has now told us to "double down."  Huh!  She is of the "say as I say, not as I do" political party!

Jane...
...there is always one, isn't there...and its usually one who should know better...

UK is now on another one month lockdown, our last - first, being from the day after my last birthday in March...

Well - done Pfizer - BioNTech " third stage " "more than 90% effective " awaiting your approval...

7.15am, listening to our BBC news, and first topic i am hearing is of this vaccine...There are a lot of " unsures " tricky to store at minus 80 degrees, unsure whether it stops people getting symptoms and falling ill, unsure whether it stops transmission, unsure how long immunity will last...But the excitement is there, and our NHS says it could be rolled out as soon as the beginning of December...as and when approved..
Told our next one to look out for is the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine still going through phase three..." there is light at the end of our tunnel's " thank you God...the answer to our prayers... and credit to the scientists...

50 million world-wide have been infected, and 1.2 million have died from this pandemic...

My brother-in-law is in the hospital with covid.  He's been sick for a week, but wouldn't see a doc.  His blood oxygen fell into the 80s so my sis called the doc and she said get him to the ER.  They had a two hour wait there in the car last night, before he was admitted.  They did covid test and X-rays and both lungs involved.  They were to transfer him last night, but they didn't. They moved him to a better covid room near Cleveland at 7:00 am this morning. He's on oxygen and an IV.  Only communication by cell phone.

Stay safe and healthy!

Jane

Jane - I'm very sorry to hear about your brother-in-law!  Please keep us posted as to how he is doing, and also how your sister is doing?  I hope that she will somehow avoid catching it.  Best wishes and healing thoughts to both of them.     

Jane, I too am so sorry to hear this. I hope he is able to overcome this and be back home soon.  I don't understand the ones blathering on about "personal freedom" while so many good people suffer.

Thanks, Patricia and Marilyne.  My sis tried to get a covid test last week, but can't get an appt.  She's been sick, too...also loss of taste and smell... but she's doing better.

My best wishes for a swift recovery for your sister and BIL, Jane.

Thank you.  He's now getting redemesver [or however it's spelled], an antibiotic, oxygen, and compression socks on his legs to prevent blood clots which are apparently part of covid.  So, for those who brush this off as "it's just like a cold"...I say...Hmmm...no, not always it isn't.  He's a healthy 77 yr old .

I'm just burrowing in here in my house...going out only for necessary items and then just for contactless pickup at WalMart. 

Our Governor finally has issued a sort of mask mandate, but she's not very convincing about it now, after blowing the idea off for weeks earlier.

jane

Jane, my Governor is the same, this is a very red state. I was just reading an article about a four-year-old who lost both twentysomething parents who caught the virus and died in a two month period.

I read that, too, Patricia, and I think it was in Texas where the virus has also hit hard, esp. El Paso.

I think it was too, Jane. Alaska's most common age group for new cases is now hovering between 39 and under and 29 and under. Last week 41 of the new cases were for children under ten.

I cannot control what other people do, obviously, but I'm going to hibernate for the winter.  I'll get my food from WalMart pickup and from Amazon and be warm and cozy.  We're doing zoom on Sunday with my Wisc and MN family for T'giving and will do more of that through the winter. 

Take care and stay safe!

jane

St Jude's researchers have discovered possible Rx for CV-19:

https://www.kold.com/2020/11/20/st-jude-scientists-make-breakthrough-discover-possible-covid-treatment/

This is really exciting.  R They have the drug it just needs clinical trials etc.

That is excellent news from St. Jude's!

Your Field Guide to the Four Potential Coronavirus vaccines

https://vitals.lifehacker.com/your-field-guide-to-the-four-potential-covid-19-vaccine-1845723937?utm_source=lifehacker_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-11-21

Who will get the first COVID vaccine in the US

"State and federal health officials have largely agreed that frontline healthcare workers who have direct contact with COVID-19 patients should be vaccinated first, a vital step as infections soar this fall, filling hospitals across the country.

There is also broad consensus that nursing home residents and patients at other long-term care facilities should be targeted in the initial immunization push. The virus has proved to be particularly deadly in these populations."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/who-will-get-the-first-covid-vaccines-california-and-other-states-race-to-decide/ar-BB1bbagx?ocid=NL_ENUS_A1_20201122_1_2&bep_ref=1&bep_csid=24038

My BIL is home after 4 days in the hospital with covid.  Because of no rooms available nearby, he ended up in a hospital 100+ miles from home.  He is still on some meds, including a daily shot into his abdomen with another blood thinner.
 They're very concerned about blood clots...in part because, I'm sure, of an "incident" on Thursday when he appeared to have had a TIA.  MRI and CAT scans showed no problems.  He's still extremely fatigued, but very glad to be home. 

Numbers continue to rise here and I'm amazed at the people I see on the news who are flying out for the holiday.  I have no family nearby, but that's fine. I'll be here by myself and be safe...and so will they.  They're all staying home and we've done ZOOM visiting. 

Stay safe and healthy,

jane

Jane, same here, we just have to keep going.

Yes, Patricia, we do.  And much worse could be asked of us.  I think of the days during the wars before 24 hour news shows when only a letter on occasion let you know your loved one had been ok then.  Bombs dropping on families, rationing, etc.  And now people who should know better are all upset about their "freedoms" when asked to wear a simple paper mask.
 HONESTLY!   :knuppel2:

Stay safe and healthy,

jane

Jane - good news, that your bil is home and feeling better.   Sounds like he isn't totally well yet, but still getting the meds and treatments he needs for recovery.  I hope your sister is back to normal?

I remember the WWII years, when the Greatest Generation, was off fighting in foreign countries, or home working in Defense plants and necessary businesses.  Those of us who were children or teens, all pulled together and did other needed things to help the War effort.  It was an unselfish time in this country.

People have changed a lot since then.  Not only politically, but personally as well.  Here in California, Both the Right and the Left wingers are traveling,  having family gatherings, and eating out with friends.  It matters not,  which side of the political spectrum you're on.   When a holiday arrives, everyone makes an excuse to do what they want.     

I know what you mean, Jane; Anchorage, our largest city in the state had numerous summer and fall demonstrations about personal rights. Stores and restaurants were ignoring stated protocol bleating about economics. Even then they had the majority of new cases and deaths. It didn't help that this is a red state with a Republican loyalist Governor.

Now with the new surges, they've gone from forty to fifty new cases to 100 to 200 new daily cases with 268 yesterday. Out of sixty-odd deaths, they account for all but six! Are they still arguing about personal freedom?

Here is only one of similar letters to the editor of an Anchorage paper about the constitution and rights. I don't understand this type of mindset.

"The mask mandates ... I have to respectfully disagree, because Masks do not work against viruses. They do work against our freedom of speech. There is a constitutional issue at stake here. If the Masks do not work against the virus, but do work to limit social interaction, and spread the fear of a epidemic, I find them to be deplorable and ill advised. Does anyone not know this ? This mask wearing is a ploy of the New World Order to bring down America, and Western Civilization. There is no medical evidence that they work. But there is substantial evidence of their effectiveness in shutting down America. It's time for the Masks to be exposed for what they are, the implementation of a plan to shut down our way of life."

I don't understand that mindset either, Patricia.  There has been an uptick in our covid numbers in the last month or so.  The only place we go is to the grocery store, and everyone wears masks there as it is required, thank goodness.

Jean, what got to me was that while that was one of the worst, it was only one of several, and it came out on a day that there were 268 new cases in that city. And the largest majority of deaths is from Anchorage. Why is it so hard to connect the dots?

I agree with you. I don't go out unless I have to. I asked management yesterday if I could pay my rent electronically as they won't take cash or check but prefer money orders or cashier checks. I was told that they don't have that setup. And we don't have a grocery home delivery, only order and pick up at the store. So, I can't hibernate as much as I'd like to.

Patricia...does your bank have drive thru or curbside banking where you could call them for a cashier's check or mo and pick it up at drive thru or curbside.  My bank lobby not open either.

Hmmm...so many experts on virus transmission who have no academic background in anything science based.  Amazing! :uglystupid2:

Jane, I don't drive, but my bank is by my grocery, which is four or five blocks from me. I use the bus because I have poor balance. I walk up to the outside window for the cashier's check. There is none closer. I generally try to do several stops simultaneously as the bank is right next to or bracketing several malls.

You've got it covered!  [We don't have any public transportation in this small town, so being able to drive is a necessity if one lives alone in a house. ]

Take care and stay safe,

Jane

Jane, what is scary for me is that scientists believe that the virus is under-reported by as much as fifty percent, and by the recent rates, they believe the death toll will triple by the end of January with the holidays.

I recently read about a family that gathered for a birthday or some affair. All eighteen members came down with COVID-19 with some critically. Evidently, they were careful at first, and then as the evening went on, they weren't.

https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/18-members-of-texas-family-covid-19

From November 17th, US Covid cases went up one million in seven days.

https://people.com/health/us-covid-cases-went-up-1-million-one-week/

CV-19 sweeps thru Arizona. We are still warm so people can have their Thanksgiving dinner outside. I hope they do. 

I do believe it's underreported...tests hard or impossible to come by...or those who refuse to go to doc, but say they think they had it. 

What's scary about that is the long term effects they blow off...blood clots my BIL has been warned about...and shortness of breath that can hang on and pneumonia, etc. 

Jane

...

I fear the long term health of our citizens. Anyone who has had CV-19 and recovered seem to have long term effects. They are called long haulers. How will this affect our job market? Or health care. Everything?

I agree, and the immunity only lasts so far, perhaps four months in some cases. And like other respiratory ailments, as the virus mutates, you can catch that virus strain even as you've had another. That's why there will be new immunizations needed.

Some people have needed double lung transplants and other severe measures. They will need to be protected, which means immunizations will need to be widespread and taken religiously. You cannot argue some sort of personal liberty that exempts you or your children from catching and passing this on again to the most vulnerable among us.

I reaI don't any of them know how long immunity lasts.  Why have some people gotten it twice, etc.  It's just too new  to know long term stuff.


Take the vaccine even if you've already had coronavirus, Fauci says
https://bangordailynews.com/2020/11/27/news/nation/take-the-vaccine-even-if-youve-already-had-coronavirus-fauci-says/         

He and the other noted infectious disease docs are the only ones I trust....not politicians who don't seem to know....well, you know.   :knuppel2:

I agree Jane, the four months figure is one that was noted in a number of reinfections but not the only amount of time between recovery and reinfection.

Pew research said in a survey released tonight that over half of Americans, 54% know someone with COVID-19 or knows someone who has died from it.

I'm guessing that closer to Christmas and after, it'll be a lot higher than 54%. 

They've (Multiple sources both medical and scientific); said that we're now increasing a million per day in new cases and expect January to be a watershed. Of course, the anti-vaxxers are already out there alleging conspiracies regarding needing a vaccination.

Yesterday, the fourth, there were 756 new state cases, 25 of those were local. Today we jumped to 933 new cases and 89 of those were local. Unsurprisingly, Anchorage and outskirts, whose people have been so against lockdowns, had thirteen deaths today.

So, for any of you who may not keep track of European news, who says Brussels, Belgium is boring? A rabid antigay Belgian politician who co-started an antigay political party was just busted trying to escape the police from a gay orgy with twenty-four other naked gay men by climbing out a window and down a drainpipe. He apologized, only calling it a "private party," for breaking Covid restrictions

There should be a particular punishment for all these hypocrites...political, religious, "pillars of the community" who say/do one thing publicly and "in private" do the exact opposite.  Can you tell that's one of my Pet Peeves?   ::)  ;D

jane
 

Concern among legal experts is growing after Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones had her home raided by armed state police on Monday. Jones was fired in May after accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration of minimizing the pandemic and skewing state data. Jones says she has evidence that state officials lied about early numbers and reporting. Now, state authorities are investigating whether she accessed a government messaging system without authorization to send a message urging her former colleagues to speak out about coronavirus deaths. Jones hasn't been arrested or charged with anything, and legal experts worry materials taken during the raid could affect other state employees. Others are concerned about what the raid, which was recorded, says about the actions of American police.

I check Rebekah Jones' site everyday as it is the most accurate.  It was up and running today as usual.  I saw her on TV last night and she said she had never seen the message that was in question until a reporter sent her a copy.  The whole thing was a sad commentary on the way our governor does business.  Even 'tho the governor has supposedly opened up everything and you rarely see him wearing a mask, I notice the government employees wear masks.  We went to renew our passports yesterday and all employees were wearing masks and most of the people I saw were also wearing masks.

It is truly scary that in times such as these, during a serious surging pandemic that politics and the old buddies network still comes into play.

I read a time magazine article about COVID vaccines. Not only do you need to schedule a second dose but the vaccine doesn't stop you from getting infected but keeps you from getting dangerously sick. It's a distinction that gets lost in the discussion of "efficacy." At this point, efficacy does not refer to the vaccine's ability to prevent infection with the virus but rather its ability to protect against the disease the virus causes: covid-19. There's no way to tell for sure whether the vaccinations confer total immunity for anyone else.

What is clear is that the vaccine appears to prevent you from getting sicker once you are infected- and that is still a huge advantage over the virus, as severe Covid-19 can send people to intensive care. The more infected people who experience milder symptoms and recover at home, the less burden on the health care system all of which contribute to better control of the pandemic.

However because the present vaccines do not necessarily protect against infection, we shouldn't, abandon public health measures, ie social distancing, and masks at this time. This is all preliminary as it will take time to get even a small number vaccinated.

" Hopefully, as the country and the world gets massively vaccinated, this virus will be essentially backed in with no place to go because everybody is protected." per Dr. Fauci.

The scams have already started re the vaccine. Remember

1. You likely will not need to pay anything out of pocket to get the vaccine during this public health emergency.

2. You cannot pay to put your name on a list to get the vaccine.

3. You cannot pay to get early access to the vaccine.

4. No one from Medicare or the Health Department will contact you.

5. No one from a vaccine distribution site or health care payer, like a private insurance company, will call you asking for your Social Security number, your credit card, or bank account information to sign you up to get the vaccine.

6. Beware of providers offering other products, treatments, or medicines to prevent the virus.

7. Check with your health care provider before paying for or receiving any COVID-19-related treatment.

8. If you get a call, text, email — or even someone knocking on your door — claiming they can get you early access to the vaccine, STOP. That's a scam.

THANKS, Patricia. 

White House Head of Security loses leg following CV-19 infection


https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/12/14/white-house-security-director-suffers-amputations-three-month-hospital-stay-for-covid-19/?sh=483eb1a143f0

Those who think this is "nothing but the flu" aren't paying attention.  The complications for the "long haul" are nasty, indeed.  My brother-in-law who's 78 and in good healthy still isn't back to normal in his blood counts.  He's still getting daily injections of a blood thinner, in addition to what he takes orallly...and has 6 or so days left for those shots. 

Stay safe and healthy!

jane

Here in Arizona our hospital ICU beds are full and people are being transferred to--out of state? Cases are way up and people are dying. All elective surgery has been cancelled. Unfortunately we have Trumper's who continue to believe this is a hoax and refuse to wear mask.

I read that some western states have run out of body bags, and emergency production is going on. That's a horrible idea to contemplate! It's not as bad here only due to our lower population, but numbers are fluctuating, and altho it could go either way, it may be on the way down.

January isn't going to be easy for anyone. And still, conspiracy theorists are going crazy with outlandish and dangerous to others around them, theories!

Speaking of crazy...


"Wisconsin Hospital Worker Fired After 'Intentionally' Spoiling 500 Doses of Coronavirus Vaccine
The vaccine can last for up to 12 hours without refrigeration, but "most of it had to be discarded," the hospital said"

https://people.com/crime/wisconsin-hospital-worker-fired-intentionally-coronavirus-vaccine/

A pharmacist too. I think he should be tried for attempted murder. Throw the book at him.

Yes, you're right!

AGREED! Incredible. 

New quiz today for all those looking for something to do in this topsy-turvy time.

https://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php?msg=190312

CV-19 vaccine appointment being cancelled due to lack of vaccine. Trump screwed everything up so badly, even distribution of the vaccine.

Az still the worlds leader in number of cases.  Wow what a thing to be leader in! Awful.

My neighbor husband and wife have the virus. Brought to them by their great-grand child. He is in the hospital and she is doing ok at home-so far.

Lucky me, I had my first vaccine shot last week at VA

Diglady, have you had any reactions to the vaccination?  My health provider sent a notice out that they have received no information about when the vaccinations will be available, but this Florida so not surprising.

I had heard that vaccines would be available to all those 65 and over due to the large Alaskan Native voting bloc on January eleventh, but now I understand they started on the sixth of January. We were the fourth tier, and they moved us up to second on the sixth.

"January 20, 2021 ANCHORAGE – Alaska now counts more people who have been vaccinated with their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and reported into VacTrAK – the state's immunization tracking system – than residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 whose cases have been entered into the state's data dashboard.

Alaska is also currently ranked first among states for the percentage of people per capita who have been given at least one shot, according to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker which pulls from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's database and state dashboards. Alaska's per capita vaccination rate is 9.93 doses given per 100 people, according to Bloomberg. West Virginia is ranked second, with 8.94 doses per 100 people. Please note that this data is updated frequently, so please check the Bloomberg tracker for current statistics. "

It also helps that we have the second smallest population in the largest state.

Regarding reactions from vaccine: my arm was sore for a few days but heck the muscle had been injured by a needle --like any other shot.  Days 2-4 feelings of hot and cold --Not chills or fever- just extra warm take sweater off- cold put sweater back on!!

I believe the new cases of CV-19 are finally dropping here but not by much. Unfortunately this was a Trump state and many idiots didn't wear masks and thought this was a hoax. Many too many dead. Morgue has 20 refrigerated trucks out side on stand by. Distribution of vaccine royally crewd up. Some shot centers closed-many with appointment cancelled.

Trump has done so much damage I believe intentionally so as to gain power ie Hitler. It will take ages to get things back to "normal"

I agree. We were also a pro-Trump state with our governor downplaying the virus for far too long!

Same here in Florida.

"Sunday Morning" senior contributor Ted Koppel talks about the latest efforts to address the coronavirus pandemic with the Biden administration's chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who says the goal of 100 million vaccinations in 100 days is entirely achievable. Fauci also discusses how politicization of public health measures (like wearing masks), mixed messaging from the Trump White House, and claims that COVID-19 is a hoax have thwarted America's efforts to limit the pandemic's toll."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S88_IByZsDM

Same here with Iowa being all Rep. for Governor, Senate and state houses.  No vaccine here for IB group...and age lowered to 65+, teachers, firefighters, grocery store and all those.  Here, it's don't even ask until February!

Jane

R.I.P Captain Sir Tom Moore, you are-were, an inspiration...You raised 38 million pounds for our UK National Health Service, yet due to your health issues of Pneumonia you could not have the Covid vaccination that could have saved your life, so sad and ironic that you raised so much money for our NHS yet they were unable to pay it back and save you...You done our Country proud...Yes " TOMORROW WILL BE A GOOD DAY "

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-55881753


Although i never knew you, i am proud that i also come from Hertfordshire - Bedfordshire, not too far from your family home...
...I am also proud to be British...

Jackie...

Captain Sir Tom Moore was an inspiration to us here too. RIP sir.

Received my Covid vaccine call-up text, booked my chosen appointment online for Tuesday 9th Feb 8.40am, have also booked my taxi to my GP surgery...Because of my underlying other health issues and my PP-MS, i have made it onto our first top 4 priority groups list...Like Jenny ( Denver ) i feel i have won the lottery...

Hurrah for you, VJ!  Here, there is no waiting list, no registration.  They announced by email, they had 100 doses and to call a number after 2:00.  I dialed it 35 times...all busy...and at 2:35 the line said the list was full. 

Jane

Jane, this state has a very strong Alaskan Native voting bloc, and their culture revers elders. So they pushed for and received that all those 65 and over would be a second-tier. They started sign-ups on January 6th and I signed up on January 11th and soon received a confirmation and that I would receive an email as to the time and date at one of the local health centers.

Jane...
... our top priority group is vaccinating down to the 70's age group by middle of February, (15th ) we have enough vaccine supply to cover these dates...As i am not 70 till mid March i thought i might miss out but, i have been added into the clinically extremely vulnerable group by my Neurology Clinicians recommendation due to my other underlying medical conditions.......link to UK rollout schedule..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55045639

Jane...i hope you strike lucky...dont give up...

VJ...we don't have enough vaccine in this country at this time.  Our last Administration left nothing...just endless lies about covid...and our Governor is not the brightest crayon in the box. 

Patricia...hurrah for the Native Alaskans!

Less Than Half of Nursing Home Workers Got COVID Shots in First Round, CDC Says
Low figure puts pressure on next round of vaccinations, now underway
by Emily Paulin, AARP, February 3, 2021
Many nursing home staff are turning down the vaccinations even though they are the primary drivers of infections.

"The roots of staff skepticism
The national findings match anecdotal evidence that's been echoing through the states for weeks. Maryland's acting secretary of health, Dennis R. Schrader, pegged his nursing home staff refusal rate at somewhere between 50 and 65 percent. In Virginia, Christian Bergman, a member of the state's COVID-19 long-term care task force, estimated that as many as 90 percent of workers had turned down the vaccine at some homes.

Many long-term care workers are skipping COVID-19 vaccines because they're concerned that the shots are ineffective or unsafe, the CDC says. Worries about potential side effects, which have so far been minimal from first doses, are also driving resistance. The report cites a recent survey of long-term care workers that found that among the 55 percent of workers in Indiana who said they would decline a COVID-19 vaccine if offered, 70 percent mentioned side effects as the primary reason.

Many long-term care workers are hourly employees with little to no sick leave or benefits and may not be able to afford to get sick from side effects. Certified nursing assistants, who make up the overwhelming majority of care workers at nursing homes, make less than $15 per hour on average, and getting to work is often their top priority."

tinyurl.com/elr2breh

Our Governor has removed ALL covid restrictions, beginning Sunday morning.  So....group as many as you want where you want...indoors, probably since the temps at 0-10 everwhere during the day....and no masks required, no limits of any kind.  Happy SuperBowl Super Spreader!  Great news for a state that's 3rd from the bottom in vaccinations.  No way to get an appt for one when there are some doses available.  Her words are "Be Patient, Iowans."
 

jane

Be patient for what? Your own new case of the virus?

I am so sorry, Jane!  Stay as safe and as healthy as you can

Jane...the mind boggles, " be patient " is she familiar with the terms of " timing is everything " and " the sooner the better "

She's a walking disaster, as you can see.  So, I do what I can...double mask when I have to go out and order my groceries for outdoor pickup at WalMart, and do all my socializing on line with family, zoom, and texting.  I'm not ready to get really sick yet.  My BIL was in the hospital for 5 days with covid...I don't want that.

jane

While looking for info on your governor, I found this and realized she is an ignorant mini Trump. I am so sorry.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/iowa-governors-bill-would-reduce-public-school-funding-by-millions-analysis-says-20210201

https://www.radioiowa.com/2021/01/07/iowas-governor-says-a-lot-of-questions-remain-about-presidential-election/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/virus-outbreaks-stoke-tensions-in-some-state-capitols-including-in-iowa-and-missouri/ar-BB1ds8jF

This is very good to know, very helpful!

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/simple-hacks-to-make-your-face-mask-more-effective/vi-BB1drWQE?ocid=msedgntp

Oh yes, Patricia, she's a Trump follower to the core.
 Several large cities here are keeping their mandates in place.  She, like Trump, has screwed up our vaccine distribution...and now saying she'll have a state-wide website to register.  Uh Huh....probably in "two weeks" like Trump's "health care plan." 

I'm just staying home and trying to survive as best I can.

Jane, we started Democratic in 1959 with statehood but soon lost out to aggressive Republican tactics primarily aimed at the multitude of military bases in this state. There is now a tight lock on Republican control and the state voters' inertia. Even among the Republicans, once you're voted in, you're gold. Lisa Murkowski's father was elected for over twenty years.

 When he retired, she ran for his slot, and his people ran her campaign as a simple changing of the guard. There was a lot of talk about nepotism, but it didn't go anywhere. However, I have to say that while I often disagree with her positions, such as the NRA funds her, she is a decent legislator.

However, the governor has practically a Trump photo shrine prominently in his office. He is fighting a recall notice in the courts with over 80,000 signatures. He attempted to severely cut University and school funding and anything that wasn't energy-related and ran up against the Native voting bloc as well as strong opposition his first month in office.

From Alaska's Public Media


"Health officials want Alaskans to know COVID-19 vaccines have not killed anyone in the state — or in the country.

They're responding to a misleading report this week from conservative blog Alaska Watchman, which posted an article titled "At least five Alaskans died and 111 suffered adverse reactions after COVID vaccines."

The Watchman article relied on data from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, but failed to explain that data doesn't mean vaccines caused deaths or adverse reactions.

Responding to questions about the report, Alaska's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink said there's been a lot of misinformation about vaccines. Red herrings about their safety — such as the Watchman report — are not helping the vaccination effort.

Dr. Anne Zink: Even if you have someone who's on hospice and expected to die, after they've gotten vaccinated, if they do pass away, we've asked the CDC, 'Do you want someone like that to be reported into their system?' And they say, 'Absolutely.' They want anyone who has died post-vaccine for any reason to be put in.

You can see this in the trials as well: For example, in the trials, one person was struck by lightning. It's reported in the trial data. It doesn't mean that the vaccine caused them to be struck by lightning, they just want to look for any potential reaction and any potential side effect.

Then what the CDC does is look at the baseline rates of those arrhythmias, of lightning strikes, and see if there's a difference between people who were vaccinated and not vaccinated to determine if that's a potential risk. All of that VAERS data is on the CDC website, and can be seen by anybody in the public. You can go and take a look at it.

Unfortunately, people are misinterpreting that data as an adverse reaction (to the vaccine), when it's just humans being humans. It's a way for us to make sure we're reporting in data, for the CDC to look at it and make sure there's no abnormal patterns in it.

Casey Grove: So to be clear, the report that we're talking about came from this website, The Watchman. For them to report five people have died after getting the vaccine and more than 100 have had adverse reactions — does that set back the vaccination effort, to have that misinformation out there?

AZ: Well, just in the emails that I got, in the time they released it today, there's a lot of people who emailed me who said, 'I read this, and I'm really concerned. What does this mean?'

So it takes time. I'm always happy to answer questions, and so is our team, to explain where the data really comes from, and why five people did not die from the vaccine. Five people died after vaccination, but looking through their history, they had multiple underlying health factors, and some of them were actually on hospice and expected to pass away.

It's important to put the data into context. Unfortunately, if it's not put into context, it can really scare people from potentially choosing to get a life-saving vaccine that can protect them from a virus that has been ravaging our world, and has been causing incredible loss, both with people getting sick and dying, and unfortunately, the real economic consequences that come with a lot of people being sick and being out, as well. We are all better off, more healthy and well, together. And this vaccine is a strong and useful tool to get there as quickly as possible.

CG: Do you think people will be so worried about it, they just won't get the vaccine? Are you seeing that already?

AZ: I am worried people won't get the vaccine because of misinformation. I am concerned by the number of people who are expressing that information — they don't have the context behind it, and they're taking that as that five people died from the vaccine itself.

I am concerned that that is not only going to slow down vaccine efforts, but more importantly, for that individual trying to make an individual decision. It's really important they have the information at hand and in full context to make the best decision for them and their family.

CG: There's still hundreds of appointments for vaccines available through February, at least here in Southcentral. Why isn't the state opening up those appointments for teachers or other groups? And are you getting a lot of pushback for that?

AZ: Yes, we are getting a lot of pushback, for sure. We are pausing a bit on this senior level right now. We just really want to make sure those 65 and older, are vaccinated as soon as possible. They are the group that represents just over 10% of the population, but over 70% of the deaths and over 50% of the hospitalizations. It's been challenging for some of them to navigate the website, the call line, and to know that it's their turn to get vaccinated.

However, we understand every single day we wait is a day that someone else isn't getting vaccinated. That looms large on our shoulders. We want to get vaccines out fast, and we want to do it fair.

So we are looking at when we open up the next tiers, overall. We've had a bunch of meetings with the communities: Most are telling us that while there's appointments open, many of them are getting filled up — it's just taking a bit more time. They have plans for a lot of that vaccine.

We are really trying to give it this week to see how many how many of those appointments are filled. We will be looking at the data next week. And then really making a decision about where we move forward.

CG: When can we anticipate the opening of additional tiers for eligibility?

AZ: I think that mid-February, we'll be communicating some clarity on the next tiers, as well as sharing the information about what 1C is looking like, so people know what's up and coming next.

As I think many people are aware, there's a third vaccine now going through the FDA review process. So we want to see what that looks like — because that will change our March allocation — to see if we can move through more tiers more quickly. I suspect some communities will be opening up additional vaccine sites in February to the beginning part of the next tier. However, I think most communities will be moving into the next tier with the March allocation."


LISTEN HERE:

http://media.aprn.org/2021/5%20Anne%20Zink%20int%20FULL.mp3

More on the same Conservative Republican efforts to stop people from bring vaccinated


https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/02/08/twitter-suspends-reporter-relaying-alaska-legislators-covid-19-vaccine-skepticism/

Lots of people here seem to not want to trust the shots. So many done now that if something was going to go wrong then it would have happened by now. Have got to trust the Med. People.(after they say they have taken the shots themselves.) Same with prescriptions people take. If older take a gamble. Lots of these if people start taking while young are going to have some problems. Doctors hand them out so easy now. Growing up I never remember people taking any drugs other than a Aspirin. My Gran had a few herbs that she would brew up. A kind for everything.

Lots of people here seem to not want to trust the shots. So many done now that if something was going to go wrong then it would have happened by now. Have got to trust the Med. People.(after they say they have taken the shots themselves.) Same with prescriptions people take. If older take a gamble. Lots of these if people start taking while young are going to have some problems. Doctors hand them out so easy now. Growing up I never remember people taking any drugs other than a Aspirin. My Gran had a few herbs that she would brew up. A kind for everything.

I had my 2nd vaccine on Fri. Saturday sore arm Sat evening severe muscle pains in abdomen for a short really short period of time. Then slight nausea before I went to bed. Awoke during the night several times drenched in sweat! Awoke this morning feeling fine! So glad it is all over.

I had my first shot on 2/18, and my second will be on March 18th. I had no reactions to the shot even tho I have a history of reactions to meds. They came to my home in a program for homebound seniors after I notified them that I wouldn't be able to make it to the site with my sprain.

From CNN, "The US is on the dark precipice of 500,000 coronavirus deaths. Words can't describe the magnitude of such a loss. But officials say we may be at the beginning of the end. Cases and hospitalization rates are dropping in some states, and the Biden administration says 2 million more vaccine doses have been delivered following weather delays. Still, the next few months will bring tens of thousands more deaths, experts say, and Dr. Anthony Fauci says basic precautions like masks could be our reality all the way into 2022. Australia started its mass vaccination program today, and across Europe, leaders are working on plans to ease lockdown restrictions soon."

Hurrah for you, Patricia! 

I haven't been so lucky...yet.  Hoping soon the Iowa Governor will get her act together.   :idiot2:

Lets hope, Jane!

So glad you got your first shot Patricia. Wonderful program you have there with someone coming to the house to give it to you.

It's a home health program from the association of US health centers. I assume it's a country-wide program, but I had never heard of it before. I'm not even sure of the correct name.

Take It From Them: Americans Hospitalized With Covid Regret Not Getting the Vaccine
Covid-19 case rates are spiking as the Delta variant spreads through the nation. Several with severe cases are imploring others to learn from their mistake and get inoculated

By RYAN BORT

Conservative radio host Phil Valentine spent months preaching vaccine skepticism to his followers in Nashville. It seems like many of them listened. Tennessee has experienced a dramatic spike in the Covid-19 cases as the Delta variant has swept the nation, with the case rate ballooning over 220 percent over the past two weeks, according to The New York Times.

Among the newly infected is Valentine.

Valentine's station, 99.7 WTN, announced on Friday that the host contracted Covid and that he is in "serious condition" in the critical care unit. The experience has led Valentine to reconsider his stance on the vaccine. "If he had to do it over again, he would be more adamantly pro-vaccination, and that is what he will bring in his message when he gets back to that microphone which we hope is sooner rather than later," his brother Mark recently told News4 Nashville.

Fauci Says 'Things Are Going to Get Worse' and Unvaccinated Are 'Severely Vulnerable'

Valentine's hospitalization is another needless tragedy in a pandemic that should have been all but snuffed out months ago. Thankfully, he's had plenty of support. Since the announcement last week, friends and fans have expressed their well wishes on Twitter, and his family has kept followers updated on Facebook. "Phil & his family would like for all of you to know that he loves ya'll and appreciates your concern, thoughts & prayers more than you will ever know," 99.7 posted July 22nd. "Please continue to pray for his recovery and PLEASE GO GET VACCINATED!"

If and when Valentine recovers, he would do well to work to undo some of the damage he has done. This would include apologizing to the people whom he told were "probably safer not getting [the vaccine]," as he wrote in a December blog post. Valentine also parodied the Beatles "Taxman" with "Vaxman," singing: "Let me tell you how it will be / And I don't care if you agree / 'Cause I'm the Vaxman / Yeah, I'm the Vaxman / If you don't like me coming round / Be thankful I don't hold you down."

The degree to which right-wing influencers like Valentine are responsible for the vaccine hesitancy fueling the Covid resurgence can't be overstated. Local radio hosts, cable news talking heads, and Republicans in Congress have duped tens of millions of Americans into failing to protect themselves and others from the disease. These unvaccinated millions are now coming down with severe cases of Covid at an alarming rate. Like Valentine, many of them are expressing regret that they neglected to get the vaccine.

There are plenty of Americans who are unable to get vaccinated, such as children, but even more have willfully abstained amidst an onslaught of misinformation. Here are some recent reported examples of unvaccinated Americans and their families who were hospitalized with Covid and now regret forgoing the vaccine:

Michael Freedy, a 38-year-old father of five from Las Vegas, died last Thursday morning from complications arising from Covid. He sent his finaceé Jessica DuPreeze a text message while he was in the hospital: "I should have gotten the damn vaccine." DuPreeze told CNN on Monday that she and their eldest child got the vaccine the day Freedy was diagnosed, and that she thinks Freedy would still be alive if he'd been vaccinated. "It at least would have lessened the symptoms and he could have fought longer and had a better chance," she said.

Williams Hughes was hospitalized in Arkansas after coming down with Covid. He spoke with CNN on July 22nd with a breathing tube attached to his nose. "It's made me wish that I'd gotten the vaccine," he said. "The vaccine might not have kept me from getting Covid, but it may have decreased greatly the pain and suffering I had to go through to get the point where I am now." Hughes concluded his appearance with a plea. "Please, just go get the vaccine," he said, holding back tears. "If you don't do it for yourself, do it for your family. Because I almost left my wife and my daughter here to fend for themselves because I didn't go get one."

Aimee Matzen, 44, was hospitalized in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after testing positive for Covid. Louisiana has the highest seven-day average of new cases per capita in the nation. "The fact that I am here now, I am furious with myself," Matzen, who had been struggling to breathe, told CNN. "Because I was not vaccinated."

Daryl Barker, a 31-year-old from Missouri who was hospitalized after contracting Covid in early July, cited his conservative values as the reason he was "strongly" against getting the vaccine. "That little boy out there is the reason to have a vaccine," he said, citing his son, who camped outside the hospital with Barker's wife. "Being 31 years old, I'm that little boy's hero. I'm supposed to be the strongest person he knows," he Barker said, tubes protruding from his nose. "Right now he could come in here at take me."

Texas man Joshua Garza, 43, became so sick from Covid that he required a double lung transplant to survive. He declined to get vaccinated when he had a chance earlier in the year. "If I knew what I know now I would have definitely went through with the vaccination," he said following the transplant in May.

Kathy Kurilla died in May after spending a month in the hospital following a Covid diagnosis. Her husband of 29 years, Joe, spoke with CNN last week. Kurilla was not vaccinated (she came down with Covid at a time when the vaccine was not widely available), and Joe urged anyone hesitated to inoculate themselves to learn from his experience. "I wish I could have you sit there with me in the hospital room with my wife having the tubes up her nose and seeing seven different medications being pumped into her," he said. "I think you would change your mind in a heartbeat."

The New York Times recently spoke to multiple families advocating for the vaccine after their unvaccinated loved ones were hospitalized with Covid. Utah woman Mindy Greene, whose 42-year-old husband Russ is currently hospitalized, says she prevented her family from getting vaccinated in part because of what she saw on social media. "I will always regret that I listened to the misinformation being put out there," she said. "They're creating fear."

The Covid case rate is rising dramatically among the unvaccinated, but the majority of those who have yet to get a shot still aren't convinced. A recent Associated Press poll found that 35 percent of unvaccinated Americans say they will probably remain unvaccinated, while another 45 percent said they definitely will not get the shot. Despite evidence the vaccine offers strong protection against the Delta variant, 64 percent of unvaccinated Americans believe the vaccine does not offer protection against Covid variants.

A Kaiser Health analysis of state data published last Friday found that, the vast majority of Covid cases (between 94.1 and 99.85 percent), hospitalizations (between 95.02 and 99.93), and deaths (between 96.91 and 99.91) are among the unvaccinated.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-covid-cases-in-us-soar-700-week-over-week-since-july-1-cdc-says/ar-AANihzE?ocid=UCPNC1&bncnt=BroadcastNews_TopStories&pc=U531

Since July 1, there's been a 700% increase in the week-over-week average of COVID-19 infections in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


The information was presented Friday at CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting during a discussion of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for immunocompromised patients.

"There's no doubt we're seeing a surge in cases now," said Dr. William Moss, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.


The United States was at a low point in new cases in late June, with an average of about 10,000 a day. Today the average is closer to 125,000 a day, he said

"That's when people in this country became really optimistic. The combination of the delta variant, susceptibility due to relatively low vaccination coverage, some relaxing of our public health measures, these all came together and we're seeing this wave," Moss said.

The delta variant is nearly twice as contagious as previous variants and there is some evidence of increased illness severity compared with previous strains in unvaccinated people, CDC epidemiologist Heather Scobie said at Friday's meeting.

Full vaccinated people infected with the delta variant can spread the virus to others but appear to be infectious for a shorter period of time than unvaccinated people infected with the variant, she said.

In the first 12 days of August, the United States reported more coronavirus cases than it did in all of July, according a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.

That's 1.33 million cases. At this month's average rate, the country would report some 3.4 million cases, making it the fourth-worst month of the entire pandemic.

"There's bad news and there's less bad news," is how Andrew Noymer, a professor of population health at the University of California, Irvine, put it.

Because older people, who are at higher risk for severe disease and death, are now highly vaccinated, "100,000 cases today is less dire than 100,000 in December of 2020," he said.

That means cases are more concentrated in younger people, who are less likely to be vaccinated. Younger people are less likely to become severely ill "but this isn't a nothing burger," Noymer said. Hospitalizations are still high.

He looked up the numbers in his county a year ago and there were 722 people hospitalized for COVID-19. This week there are 497 hospitalizations in Orange County.

"We have a vaccine that works wonderfully now," he said, "so our peak shouldn't be five-sevenths as big as the previous summer." 

The U.S. numbers parallel what was seen in the United Kingdom and in Israel when the extremely transmissible delta variant hit those nations, said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco.

"The only small comfort is that in areas of higher vaccination in our country, hospitalizations are not following the trend of cases to the same degree as in prior surges without vaccination," she said.

Immunity moving forward
CDC staff also presented data giving insight into the evolving pandemic. The available data shows the persistence of protective antibodies eight months after an infection and six months after the second shot of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines and eight months after a single Johnson & Johnson shot.

That's not because natural infection is more protective but simply because vaccinations only began in December so there is very little data.

It appears vaccine effectiveness against infection with COVID-19 does wane over time, but how much and in whom isn't yet entirely clear.

Even so, protection against severe illness remains very high. For Pfizer, it is 97% and for Moderna it's 93%, CDC said.

There is some data emerging from Israel of more breakthrough infections among people vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine in January and February than in recent months.

There was a more than two-fold increased risk for breakthrough infections between people vaccinated in January versus those vaccinated in April, Israeli data showed.

The older the person, the more chance they would have an infection.

Scobie emphasized an infection is different from becoming severely ill or dying.

As of Aug. 2, among more than 164 million fully vaccinated people in the United States, there were 7,101 hospitalizations and 1,507 deaths.

Such severe or deadly breakthrough infections in vaccinated people were much more likely to occur in older people. CDC reported that 74% of those cases were in people over 65.

It's not clear if that's because people over 65 were first in line to be vaccinated and therefore their immunity might be waning over time, or if because of their age their immune systems are less robust.

Among people 18 and over, approximately 32% of all vaccinated breakthrough cases were in immunocompromised individuals, compared with approximately 11% of unvaccinated cases.

The CDC's advisory committee will meet again Aug. 24 to discuss incoming data about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines, enduring immunity and the possible need for booster doses.

The pandemic, said Noymer, appears far from over.

"We should say we're in the throes of a pandemic, not that we're in the middle of it," he said. "The middle of something implies that we're halfway there, and I don't know that that's true."



This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New COVID cases in US soar 700% week-over-week since July 1, CDC says

I have begun seeing that there is a Lambda version of Covid-19 now making the rounds in South America. On checking this morning, I discovered that it is now confirmed in the US.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/the-lambda-variant-a-new-little-understood-version-of-the-coronavirus-has-arrived-in-dallas/ar-AANiawz?ocid=uxbndlbing

Covid isn't too bad in our area, but my husband has two nieces who live in Mississippi.  One niece and her husband were both admitted to the hospital.  She recovered but her husband died 3 weeks ago.  I'm pretty sure they were not vaccinated.  So sad.  All our immediate family are vaccinated and still wearing masks where necessary. Larry and I went to the grocery store a few days ago and there was only one person wearing a mask besides us.

My sister, niece, and her husband all vaccinated, were exposed to Delta and their doctor says if they get the variant, it will be milder, and less severe because of the vaccinations.

"Kadin Lane Stropes, an intensive-care nurse at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, said every ICU bed there was full on Sunday morning — all but one of the patients sick with COVID-19.

Stropes is seeing people in their 20s and 30s seriously ill with the virus. Many of her COVID-positive patients say they wish they'd gotten vaccinated right before they get intubated.

"People are dying," she wrote in a social media post after getting off work. "It's heartbreaking watching a 10-year-old girl FaceTime her intubated dad, and ask when he's gonna be able to wake up and you don't have an answer."

Mat-Su this week became the latest hospital in Alaska's urban center to report prolonged operations at capacity. The reason: surging COVID-19 cases that take time and extra staffing, combined with worker shortages and the usually busy summer season in the ER.

The state was reporting 126 people hospitalized with the virus through Sunday including 68 in Anchorage and 14 at Mat-Su Regional. Earlier this month, the hospital near Wasilla had enough room to provide beds for rural patients when Anchorage hospitals were too crowded.

Now Mat-Su is also full, seeing numerous complicated COVID-19 patients, nine of them on ventilators, state data shows.

"That creates substantial stress on our hospital capacity and our ability to respond," said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association.

Anchorage hospitals are already full and, with similarly crowded hospitals in Washington and Oregon, the ability to send patients out of state is extremely compromised, Kosin said. The association is looking into ways to juggle staffing shortages.

"The reason Mat-Su has our attention right now is because of the fair and school starting," he said.

A number of Anchorage doctors urged broader masking and vaccine uptake during a special session of the Anchorage Assembly on Friday.

"We are on the verge of a hospital system collapse," said Dr. Andrea Caballero, an infectious disease specialist who sees patients at Providence Alaska Medical Center.

Emergency room physicians and people who treat the city's sickest patients in the ICU described nurses and respiratory therapists pushed beyond their ability to cope.

Normally, emergency doctors start to get disturbed when patients have to wait 90 minutes or two hours, Dr. Ivan Ramirez said. "We're seeing four and five hours now."

Dr. Javid Kamali talked about holding the hand of a dying patient whose unvaccinated son couldn't visit -- "These images, we can't unsee them" — and the mortally ill 40-year-old father whose teenagers were vaccinated, though he was not.

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Benjamin Westley contracted COVID-19, he said Friday, blaming a combination of waning vaccine efficacy, the highly contagious delta variant and low rates of masking indoors. Now he's one of numerous health-care workers who can't work because of the virus, fueling more staffing shortages that in turn can compromise patient care, Westley said.

The doctors urged the Assembly and the municipality's chief medical officer, Dr. Michael Savitt, to display leadership on preventative measures like masking and vaccinations. The Anchorage Health Department in mid-August recommended masks in indoor public spaces.

Savitt said there's no doubt hospitals are overwhelmed. He said the long-term solution is vaccination and the short-term solution is "proper mask usage" but said he wasn't yet recommending the assembly take any action.

Alaska reported 1,050 new resident COVID-19 cases and 60 nonresident cases over a three-day weekend period ending Monday and no deaths."

"Greer Gehler says she loves her job at Providence Alaska Medical Center. But, like others in her field, Gehler is coping with burnout and exhaustion as COVID-19 patients fill Alaska's hospitals.

"In the emergency room, we know the look in somebody's eyes when they can't breathe," Gehler says. "And then, if they're still conscious, explaining to them that you're going to sedate them, you're going to paralyze them, and you're going to put a tube down their throat to breathe for them, and that they may never wake up again — hopefully they will, but you don't know. That's the look that you'll never forget."'

"The state reported 221 new COVID-19 cases in residents for Sunday, 310 for Saturday, and 519 for Friday, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services dashboard. The statewide portion of positive tests out of total performed over a 7-day rolling average was 7.1%.

Alaska ranks 32nd among U.S. states for vaccinations based on the share of the eligible population that has received at least one dose, according to the CDC's data tracker.

Currently 53.8% of eligible Alaskans 12 and older are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while nearly 60% have received at least one dose, state health officials say."

My doctor said last week that the COVID rise hasn't been very bad here, yet. I expect that to change as we start seeing more and more illegal border crossers migrate up this way and the influx of Afghan refugees which PA will be taking in. Since our governor has given the okay, many people have unmasked. I see more people than not without masks now unless required to wear them by a store, office, bank, etc. There are still a good many places around here requiring they be worn, at least by their employees.

A viral post circulating online is making the far-reaching claim that six infectious diseases that have been eradicated are now spreading again and that "illegal immigrants" and "refugees" are the reason they are making a comeback.

"Amy Rowland, the spokesperson for the CDC's Global Health Division, also told PolitiFact immigrants and refugees are not to blame for the outbreaks.

"No, it is not immigrants or refugees causing these outbreaks," Rowland said. "It has to do with travel and people who are not vaccinated or under-vaccinated. It has nothing to do with illegal immigrants."

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/jun/10/facebook-posts/no-illegal-immigrants-and-refugees-are-not-causing/

"Safer to be unvaccinated against COVID-19? In several ways, that's False
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
The chances of contracting COVID-19 and dying from it are much greater for unvaccinated people.

There is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines have caused deaths."

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/aug/04/viral-image/covid-19-its-safer-be-unvaccinated-several-ways-s-/

"Fauci just told us that they found a variant that evades the test."

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/aug/04/facebook-posts/fauci-did-not-say-there-was-covid-19-variant-can-e/



"Deaths among unvaccinated people: On July 16, even as the delta variant of the virus began spreading, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that over 97% of new hospitalizations were in patients who are unvaccinated.

Breakthrough cases: The CDC's latest data on breakthrough cases — people who become infected with COVID-19 after being vaccinated — says that as of July 26, of the more than 163 million people who had been fully vaccinated, 6,587 were hospitalized or died in the 49 states and territories that report their data to the CDC. Of the 1,263 deaths, 309 were reported as asymptomatic or not related to COVID-19. "

The nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation drilled down to infection rates, finding that among 25 states that report breakthrough cases publicly, the infection rate is well below 1%, ranging from 0.01% in Connecticut to 0.29% in Alaska. The CDC has found evidence suggesting that, although it's rare for vaccinated people to become infected, those who do can spread the virus as readily as unvaccinated people who get infected. "

Lately I have been seeing ads to get whooping cough vaccinations. Haven't heard anything of that in many, many years. It was very common when I was little. Though no one in my family got it I do remember some of the neighborhood kids had it.

MarsGal, the same about whooping cough for me. It was really awful for those who did get it--you could cough constantly for weeks.

If you keep up with your tetanus shots, you may have been immunized.  They often put whooping cough and diphtheria in with the tetanus.

DPT or Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, commonly known as Whooping cough, are becoming issues as many ignorant people are not vaccinated. Or have not had their children vaccinated against these illnesses. Because they believe the vaccinations themselves are harmful, more than a disease itself. This puts people with autoimmune diseases, the elderly, or those unable to be vaccinated at risk.

Rising rates of Whooping Cough have the CDC urging adult booster shots for these reasons.

Unfortunately I developed an allergy to the tetanus boosters, so the doctor won't give me any except if it is really necessary. My Mom was hospitalized when she was a child went she got Diptheria. I'll have to check about the Diptheria shots.

 

Unvaccinated and Unmasked Calif. Teacher Spread COVID Delta Variant to Elementary School Students

The teacher infected their students after they read aloud to them without wearing a mask or any type of face covering, despite requirements from the school to do so while indoors

An unvaccinated California teacher passed along the Delta variant of COVID-19 to a group of their elementary school students, as well as others, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Earlier this year, the educator from Marin County — who has not been identified by name — became symptomatic on May 19, experiencing side effects such as "cough, subjective fever, and headache."

Initially attributing the symptoms they were experiencing to allergies, the teacher continued to work. During that time, they read aloud to their students without wearing a mask or any type of face covering, despite requirements from the school to do so while indoors, the CDC said.

The teacher later took a COVID test two days later, where they subsequently obtained a positive test result.

On May 23, positive cases of COVID-19 were then reported among the teacher's class of 24, as well as through other staff members, parents, and siblings in close contact with those affected. Each of the infected students at the educational institution were too young to have been vaccinated, per the CDC.

Counting the teacher, a total of 27 cases were identified, the CDC said, with twelve of the teacher's pupils testing positive for the virus alongside six students in a different grade and eight parents and siblings of the students. Among the 27 cases, 22 individuals reported symptoms, with the most common being fever, cough, headache, and sore throat.

According to the CDC, all school staff members were vaccinated against COVID with the exception of the teacher in question and one other educator on staff.

"This outbreak of COVID-19 that originated with an unvaccinated teacher highlights the importance of vaccinating school staff members who are in close indoor contact with children ineligible for vaccination as schools reopen," the CDC stated in their report.

"The outbreak's attack rate highlights the Delta variant's increased transmissibility and potential for rapid spread, especially in unvaccinated populations such as schoolchildren too young for vaccination," the health organization added.

The CDC also noted ways to help combat the ongoing pandemic in schools include the utilization of "proper masking, routine testing, ventilation, and staying home while symptomatic."



By Nicholas Rice August 29, 2021 01:30 PM

13-Year-Old Mississippi Girl Dies of COVID After Governor Tate Reeves Called Mask Guidance 'Foolish'

Eighth grader Mkayla Robinson, 13, tested positive for COVID-19 and died hours later on Saturday morning, one day after Governor Tate Reeves downplayed the pandemic

An eighth-grade girl in Raleigh, Mississippi died Saturday morning, hours after she tested positive for COVID-19.

Mkayla Robinson, 13, attended classes for most of the week at Raleigh Jr. High School after the school year began the week before on Friday, August 6, according to Mississippi Free Press. The Smith County Reformer reported that Robinson "died of complications from Covid-19" and a prayer rally was held Sunday morning.

Raleigh High School Band Director Paul Harrison paid tribute to Robinson, who was part of the junior high school's Lion Pride Band. "It is with great sadness, and a broken heart, that I announce the passing of one of my 8th grade band students," Harrison wrote on Facebook. "She was the perfect student. Every teacher loved her and wanted 30 more just like her. Please pray for Raleigh Junior High, the band, and especially the family as they deal with this."

Robinson's death came after the Smith County School District (SCSD) announced in June that they would not enforce masks, but would "allow" students and faculty to bring masks to school. In the first week of classes, 76 students and 11 educators tested positive for COVID-19.

"After much consideration for the welfare of our children, Smith County Schools will require all personnel and students to wear a mask," the SCSD announced Wednesday, reversing their policy.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves also doubled down on his passive response to the CDC's latest mask guidance during a press conference just a day before Robinson's death. "I don't have any intention of issuing a statewide mask mandate for any category of Mississippians at this time. I don't know how I can say that differently other than the way I've said it repeatedly for a number of days and weeks and months," Reeves said Friday.

Although he mandated masks amid rising COVID cases last August, Reeves called the CDC's newest guidelines "foolish" and "harmful" during a press conference last month, according to 16 WAPT News. "It reeks of political panic, so as to appear that they are in control. It has nothing, let me say that again: It has nothing to do with rational science," Reeves said.

Governor Reeves also enlisted help from the federal government and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency last week, according to The Clarion Ledger. The move came as the state's largest hospital, University of Mississippi Medical Center, was forced to set up a field hospital in a parking garage to manage the overflow.

Meanwhile, Mississippi broke its own record for the largest increase of COVID-19 cases last week, The Clarion Ledger reported.



By Glenn GarnerAugust 15, 2021 06:10 PM

Do people believe everything Governors say?  New York did for a while till the people in Nursing Homes started dying off.

It's too bad everyone has been dumbed down and can no longer think for themselves.  Common sense and logic are gone.

 :)

Re: break thru cases. There is talk about the improperly given shot maybe the cause as seen MANY times on TV the arm is being "bunched."

The shot is then administered Sub Q instead of the muscle.
I have talked to nursing friends about this and they tell me this is how they were taught.

 I was taught (Yale Medical Center) 65 years ago to TIGHTEN the skin and this does 2 things 1) Needle goes right in instead of dimpling the skin so renders it pain free. 2) Bunching gives access to Sub Q NOT muscle.

More info/research needed

What is absolutely frightening to me is the young children having and dying from the disease, some as young as eight. And a new variant Lambda, in thirty countries now and seemingly resistant to vaccinations.

Would we be here now if politics hadn't become so monetized and divisive?

Covid is tearing Idaho apart...

From the Associated Press      https://tinyurl.com/2f7p9dfz

Gunshot Victims Left Waiting as Horse Dewormer Overdoses Overwhelm Oklahoma Hospitals, Doctor Says

"The ERs are so backed up that gunshot victims were having hard times getting to facilities where they can get definitive care and be treated," Dr. Jason McElyea said.

The rise in people using ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug usually reserved for deworming horses or livestock, as a treatment or preventative for Covid-19 has emergency rooms "so backed up that gunshot victims were having hard times getting" access to health facilities, an emergency room doctor in Oklahoma said.

This week, Dr. Jason McElyea told KFOR the overdoses are causing backlogs in rural hospitals, leaving both beds and ambulance services scarce.

"The ERs are so backed up that gunshot victims were having hard times getting to facilities where they can get definitive care and be treated," McElyea said.

"All of their ambulances are stuck at the hospital waiting for a bed to open so they can take the patient in and they don't have any, that's it," said McElyea. "If there's no ambulance to take the call, there's no ambulance to come to the call."

https://tinyurl.com/yp8put6v

US and COVID set another record.

More than 252,000 children were diagnosed with COVID-19 last week nationwide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGubjepX9OY

Massive numbers of new COVID–19 infections, not vaccines, are the main driver of new coronavirus variants

Vaughn Cooper, University of Pittsburgh; Lee Harrison, University of Pittsburgh

When the coronavirus copies itself, there is a chance its RNA will mutate. But new variants must jump from one host to another, and the more infections there are, the better chance this will happen.

In recent weeks, the idea that vaccinations are leading to more dangerous strains of the coronavirus has gotten some attention. And to be fair, one could imagine that a virus will try to evolve in a way that avoids a vaccine meant to stop it.

But this interpretation is incorrect. As Vaughn Cooper and Lee Harrison, an evolutionary biologist and an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh, explain: "Most viruses in an infected person are genetically identical to the strain that started the infection. It is much more likely that one of these copies – not a rare mutation – gets passed on to someone else."

The more infections there are, though, the more chances a person will pass a random mutation to someone else. So it is the huge number of new infections that is leading to new variants, not vaccines. In fact, the authors explain that vaccines are the best tool available to prevent dangerous new strains of the coronavirus from emerging in the first place.

"Kali was perfectly fine, and then she was gone," her mother was quoted saying. "It took her so fast."

The preschooler at Bacliff's Kenneth E. Little Elementary School had enjoyed a pleasant evening with her family less than 12 hours before becoming the youngest child to die of the virus in Galveston County.

Kali had just started preschool last month—and she loved it, telling her mother that she "can't wait to go to school."

The rambunctious 4-year-old passed away just one day after her mother, brother, and 5-month-old sister learned they were infected. The family is currently quarantined at home."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/it-took-her-so-fast-4-year-old-texas-preschooler-dies-of-covid-within-hours-of-first-symptoms/ar-AAOjvUp?ocid=msedgntp

From Twitter,


"A common talking point from vaccine skeptics is that vaccinated people can still contract the virus. While every vaccine has breakthrough infections, these pale in comparison to the chances of an unvaccinated person getting infected. What's more, a vaccinated person has a much higher chance of survival than an unvaccinated person.

TikToker hill_deeee, whose real name is Hillary, combatted some of this disinformation in a recent video, when someone claimed that 99 percent of people survive the virus, regardless of vaccination status."

Hillary, whose father passed from COVID, broke down the numbers:

"330 million people in the United States, right? Divide that by the 41 million COVID cases that we've had, and that gives you a one in eight chance of getting COVID in the United States. ... Of those 41 million people, you've had 670 thousand or so deaths. That's a one in 61. ... One in 61 people who have gotten COVID in the United States have died."
She then set her sights on breakthrough infections.

"There are 173 million people who are fully vaccinated in the United States. Do you know how many breakthrough cases there have been? As of August 30, there's been 12,908. That gives you a one in 13,402 chances of catching COVID if you are fully vaccinated."
Using similar math, she pointed out that the chances of a fully vaccinated person with a breakthrough infection dying from COVID are one in 86,000+.

People praised the takedown of the all too common disinformation and encouraged others to get the shot.

According to the CDC, "An unvaccinated person is eleven times more likely to catch and perhaps die from Covid-19."

Alaska is now 3rd in the nation for highest case rate as the state reports nearly 900 cases and 1 death Friday
Alaska's surge — currently one of the worst in the country — is driven by the highly contagious delta variant, which has pushed up case counts, hospitalizations and deaths across most of the U.S. in recent months. But while other states have very recently begun to see plateauing case counts, Alaska continues to report pandemic-high counts that the state epidemiologist said this week show little sign of slowing.

Governor of State Leading Nation in Covid Death Rate Can't Name a Thing He'd Do Differently

"With all due respect, governor, your way is failing," CNN's Jake Tapper said. "Are you going to try to change anything to change this horrible statistic from what you're doing already?"

"One out of 320 Mississippi residents has died from Covid-19, making it the state with the highest rate of Covid deaths in the nation. But Governor Tate Reeves, who opposes President Biden's vaccine mandates, says he wouldn't do anything differently.

In an interview on State of the Union, host Jake Tapper confronted Reeves, who earlier described Biden mandating vaccines for workers in companies with more than 100 employees as "tyrannical" and in this interview called them "an attack by the president" and an attempt to "change the political narrative away from Afghanistan." Reeves has also refused to mandate masks in public schools in the state and has said the CDC's masking guidance is "foolish" and "harmful."'

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Alaska, which led most U.S. states in coronavirus vaccinations months ago, took the drastic step on Wednesday of imposing crisis-care standards for its entire hospital system, declaring that a crushing surge in COVID-19 patients has forced rationing of strained medical resources.

Governor Mike Dunleavy and health officials announced the move as the tally of newly confirmed cases statewide reached another single-day record of 1,224 patients amid a wave of infections driven by the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant among the unvaccinated.

The Delta variant is "crippling our healthcare system. It's impacting everything from heart attacks to strokes to our children if they get in a bike accident," Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska's chief medical officer, said at a news conference with Dunleavy.

Idaho, another one of several largely rural states where COVID-19 cases have overwhelmed healthcare systems in recent weeks, activated its own crisis-care standards statewide last Thursday, citing a spike in hospitalizations that "has exhausted existing resources."

Alaska's health and social services commissioner, Adam Crum, announced that he signed an emergency addendum extending to the whole state standards of crisis care announced last week at the state's largest hospital, Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.

The new document limits liability faced by providers for crisis-level medical care in all Alaska hospitals.

Moreover, it acknowledges the realities of rationed care statewide, with scarce medical supplies and staff prioritized in a way that denies normal levels of care to some patients for the sake of others, depending on how sick they are and their chances for recovery.

Some critically ill patients, for example, have had to be treated outside intensive care units where they would typically be admitted, Zink said.

"Care has shifted in Alaska's hospitals. The same standard of care that was previously there is no longer able to be given on a regular basis. This has been happening for weeks," Zink told reporters.

To cope with the COVID-19 influx, Alaska has signed an $87 million contract to enlist hundreds of healthcare workers from out of state, officials said.

About one-fifth of Alaska hospital patients are infected with COVID-19, according to state data. But that figure understates the burden placed on the system as a whole as it "squeezes out" capacity to treat victims of car accidents, strokes, heart attacks and other ailments, Dunleavy said.

Paradoxically, back in April, Alaska had ranked among the top states getting COVID-19 vaccines into the arms of residents, helped in large part by efforts of the state's pandemic-conscious indigenous population.

Alaska has since slipped below the national average, with just 58% of residents aged 12 and older fully vaccinated, according to the state database. The vaccination slump coincided with significant political resistance to public health requirements.

In May, voters in Anchorage, the state's largest city, elected a new mayor, Dave Bronson, who campaigned against health mandates and has repeatedly expressed his refusal to get vaccinated. Dunleavy has opposed any vaccine mandates.

At Wednesday's news conference, the Republican governor defended his positions, citing Alaska's third-lowest rate of COVID-19 deaths in the nation per capita.

(Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage, Alaska; Editing by Steve Gorman and Christopher Cushing)

Changing your mind about something as important as vaccination isn't a sign of weakness – being open to new information is the smart way to make choices

"Social psychologists know that, on the one hand, people are motivated to maintain consistency across their beliefs. Because people want their web of beliefs to be coherent, they tend to give a lot of weight to beliefs that are consistent with their overall worldview and to discount those that are contradictory. As a result, people will continue to hold on to a set of beliefs even in the face of mounting evidence that they should revise what they think.

Psychologists describe this unconscious strategy as a way for people to minimize any cognitive dissonance they experience – when things don't add up, it can be disturbing, so to avoid those uncomfortable feelings, they ignore what doesn't fit well with their existing beliefs as a way to maintain balance.

In the context of COVID-19, for example, someone who is predisposed to dislike the vaccine will give little weight to new evidence of vaccine effectiveness, because that evidence contradicts their current worldview.

Eventually, though, enough counterevidence can lead to what psychologists call a shift in coherence, in which people can come to believe that their initial viewpoint was wrong. But additional social forces such as the desire to appear consistent or to show solidarity with a community can still lead people to resist changing their beliefs and behavior."

https://tinyurl.com/5y9wyzv8

Alaska, already the state with the country's worst COVID-19 recent case rate, now also holds one of the country's highest rates of recently reported deaths.

The state reported another 21 deaths Monday after adding 44 virus-related fatalities — many from last month — to the total last week.

The delta variant and the state's sub-average vaccination rate are driving a rapid surge in new infections and taxing a hospital system made vulnerable by Alaska's isolation from other states and the challenges of caring for patients at farflung medical facilities in rural communities off the road system.