Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #98

[SouthAussie]

I understand they can monitor that via airport arrivals, but what about roads? WA is the biggest state isn’t it?

Yes, it is a HUGE state (about 11 times larger than Texas, 10 times larger than the UK).

There are limited roads into WA. We need to cross 1,100 kms (685 miles) of the Nullabor Plains to get there. Very arid country with hardly any towns in the Nullabor. Not a pleasant journey.
For roads into the north of the state, there is nowhere to really travel to where you won't be noticed. Small communities in the north.

If a person was truly determined, they could find backtracks into the state ... with their 4WD and tons of water and spare fuel on board.

They really probably only need to set up a check point along the Nullabor to be quite effective.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Yes, it is a HUGE state (about 11 times larger than Texas, 10 times larger than the UK).

There are limited roads into WA. We need to cross 1,100 kms (685 miles) of the Nullabor Plains to get there. Very arid country with hardly any towns in the Nullabor. Not a pleasant journey.
For roads into the north of the state, there is nowhere to really travel to where you won't be noticed. Small communities in the north.

If a person was truly determined, they could find backtracks into the state ... with their 4WD and tons of water and spare fuel on board.

They really probably only need to set up a check point along the Nullabor to be quite effective.

That’s crazy! I just looked and the border is approx 8000 miles with only a couple of main roads to get in or out. Like you say, there are back roads but often with hundreds of miles between them.

I had to compare with the England / Scotland border which is only 96 miles long, has 20-30 roads and around 60,000 vehicles crossing each day. Unless Hadrian comes back to rebuild his wall, I don’t think we could ever successfully monitor a land border.

 

[Kakidoll]

I'm in SW Florida and we have NOT slowed at all with tourists this year. 'Season' ends in April and its still crazy busy. Beaches were full, hotels, people moving here like crazy. I'd say maybe 10% have masks when i go grocery shopping etc. At most restaurants/bars.. no masks at all. I've stopped going where i don't need to right now... and i mask even though vaccinated.

 

[k-mac]

Just need to vent...This seems to be an appropriate place
Even though there is not a damn thing funny about this epidemic.

Here in Australia (nsw specifically) we have had a slow but steady lockdown increase in council areas.

Why GOD WHY....do people and it happens 100% of the time have to get out ahead of the lockdown in swollen numbers to get to the grocery store........

The very grocery store THAT IS NOT CLOSING!!!!!

Last chance to spread the virus and expose ya selves!!!

I went up half hour before late night closing that very day and wasn't a soul in the shop except me.
We had made the national news for pics of idiot panic buying earlier that day.

The fear of missing outers even have a fear of missing out on covid I am sure of it

moo

 

[ilovewings]

I don't know why your entire post didn't come up here: anyway, we have a condo in Fort Myers which we did not go to this winter--- by the end of April most snowbirds are long gone up North so I am surprised that Florida is so packed with people now. I have no doubt that most people in Florida are not masked up---- that would make me pretty nervous to be around them. We are planning to go back to Florida for the winter this year unless Florida remains a hot spot----and that is entirely possible. Here in Southeast Michigan (where cases are trending up), most people are not wearing masks. I just don't understand it.

 

[mickey2942]

What seems to me, on the futility of Contact Tracing, is that many people do not get a Covid test, so, that misses at least 40% of the potential positive cases right there. Next, people who do test, and ignore the protocol of isolation until they get the results, an excellent example is Senator Rand Paul, he was tested, and continued his routine. Three days later, he gets a positive result.

Now, the next problem is the antiquated system that the United States is using. This should be completely automated, with people getting tested, and having to automatically submit their information on an online form, with their contacts information. Or, if not at time of test, at least at the time of results. We should be doing it far better than what was done almost 100 years ago, but it hasn't changed!!!

I could go on and on. It is not unlike bailing water on the Titanic, with a teaspoon.

 

[musicaljoke]

I have read that the 2nd Moderna shot had a larger dose than Pfizer 2nd
shot--could that make Moderna more effective?

It could. There may be a couple of other variables as well. Moderna has a longer wait period between vaccinations. Also, I believe that the article above mentioned that the studies were not measuring exactly the same things. I think we will hear some conclusive findings in the near future. Perhaps we can scare up @10ofRods to tell us more.

 

[ZoriahNZ]

This is beyond heartbreaking. And it's not just happening in Florida.

North Texas runs out of pediatric ICU beds amid Covid surge

" "This fourth surge is extremely serious," Love said.

He added: “They’re younger and they’re sicker. The average age continues to drop. We’re in a very critical situation. And we’ve got to monitor this and be after it, especially over the next couple of weeks. If you’re not vaccinated, you’re playing Russian roulette. Please get vaccinated. Just about all of the patients in our hospitals are unvaccinated." "

Note 'paediatric'. Remember when certain public figures were arguing that the kids would be fine. Then the Delta variant came along and proved them wrong.

Why weren't people listening?

 

[CoverMeCagney]

These are quite interesting hospitalisation stats for Delta in the UK by age group:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...insights/hospitals#hospital-admissions-by-age
Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights - Office for National Statistics

I may have somehow missed it, but I’ve not heard much about hospitalised children here. Famous last words perhaps, as all the unvaccinated little darlings go back to school in 3-4 weeks.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

What seems to me, on the futility of Contact Tracing, is that many people do not get a Covid test, so, that misses at least 40% of the potential positive cases right there.

Why are so many people not getting Covid tests? That won’t be helping slow the spread. Is it denial or lack of accessibility?

 

[ilovewings]

This is beyond heartbreaking. And it's not just happening in Florida.

North Texas runs out of pediatric ICU beds amid Covid surge

" "This fourth surge is extremely serious," Love said.

He added: “They’re younger and they’re sicker. The average age continues to drop. We’re in a very critical situation. And we’ve got to monitor this and be after it, especially over the next couple of weeks. If you’re not vaccinated, you’re playing Russian roulette. Please get vaccinated. Just about all of the patients in our hospitals are unvaccinated." "

Note 'paediatric'. Remember when certain public figures were arguing that the kids would be fine. Then the Delta variant came along and proved them wrong.

Why weren't people listening?

Remember last year when so-called experts first said kids don't get
Covid----then they said kids dont spread it--- I knew that was a crock-
it just didnt make sense to me

 

[mickey2942]

Why are so many people not getting Covid tests? That won’t be helping slow the spread. Is it denial or lack of accessibility?

I don't know. Some people have been charged for tests, others don't want the test, they heard horror stories about it, some people are convinced that going for a test is a waste of time, they think that it is a bad cold. ( add me to that, I didn't think I had Covid, after all, I had been vaccinated in March). Or they are deniers.

Now, I do believe that some people who were not tested did stay home. They knew that they were a contact to a positive case, so they decided to quarantine themselves. Other people, did not want a "positive" Covid test on their record, remember in the beginning when the military was disqualifying people who had tested positive for Covid? A lot of people didn't want that in a database some where.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Bedridden woman's battle to get a coronavirus vaccine in Sydney hotspot

Anne Kean, 56, is desperate to get vaccinated against coronavirus.

The Sydney woman, who lives in a virus hotspot, is bedridden with health problems.

She fears she might catch the virus from one of the many people who visit her home to provide care.

And if she does, she is terrified she might not survive.

But Mrs Kean is too sick to leave the house to go and get a vaccine.

Despite calling about 15 local surgeries, she said she can't find a GP to come and give it to her.

 

[KALI]

Great outside of the box thinking by these guys.
I am ALL in for this.
Anything to stop this killing machine.

The Newest Disease Detection Tool for Covid and Beyond: Poop

Since reopening campus at the University of California-San Diego last summer, university officials have relied on the tried-and-true public health strategies of testing and contact tracing. But they have also added a tool to their arsenal: excrement.

That tool alerted researchers to about 85% of covid-19 cases in dorms before they were diagnosed, according to a soon-to-be published study, said Rob Knight, a professor of pediatrics and computer science and engineering who helped create the campus’s wastewater testing program.

When covid is detected in sewage, students, staffers and faculty members are tested, which has allowed the school to identify and isolate infected individuals who aren’t yet showing symptoms — potentially stopping outbreaks in their tracks.

 

[anneg]

Remember last year when so-called experts first said kids don't get
Covid----then they said kids dont spread it--- I knew that was a crock-
it just didnt make sense to me

We got the alpha variant from the UK, which was more transmissible than the original strain, and now we have the delta variant, originally from India, which is even more so. And so it goes... sooner or later I imagine all of us will get Covid, whether vaccinated or not.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Why are so many people not getting Covid tests? That won’t be helping slow the spread. Is it denial or lack of accessibility?

I dont think it’s accessibility from my experience but that probably varies from state to state.
I am in small to large cities in the southern region. Testing is everywhere, they have them at bus stops, churches, community centers, Walmart.
There are 30 places to get tested within 15 miles.

Denial, can’t be bothered, live in a very rural area with no rideshare or transit options, dont give a carp about spreading a deadly disease, scared of a swab, variety of reasons.

I’ve been tested numerous times in various states and occasionally they ask for my insurance card. I have done walk up, drive up, CVS, Quest Diagnostics, Urgent Care and health center.
I am not allowed on site if I have any symptoms that are resembling a cold, flu, etc until I am tested with both rapid/PCR and receive a negative result.
Too sick to go to work? You need a test before reporting for work.
I’m probably the weird one who thinks “Is it Covid” and want to know lol.
JMO

 

[SoCalDavidS]

I'm begging, can someone please explain Florida's figures to me. PLEASE!

Florida
8/13 - 23,933 New Cases - 29 Deaths
8/12 - 24,869 New Cases - 18 Deaths
8/11 - 20,465 New Cases - 30 Deaths

Texas
8/13 - 17,780 New Cases - 146 Deaths
8/12 - 14,182 New Cases - 140 Deaths
8/11 - 17,612 New Cases - 108 Deaths

Florida seems to be this state where people contract Covid, but they don't die from it. At least they don't die from it at anywhere close to the same rate as people from any other state.

United States COVID: 37,364,700 Cases and 637,161 Deaths - Worldometer

 

[Sundog]

Great outside of the box thinking by these guys.
I am ALL in for this.
Anything to stop this killing machine.

We use wastewater testing in our county to determine community spread before people even know and are tested. The federal government has been awarding research grants to universities for faculty to work with counties in their regions to do this kind of wastewater testing, and the local county departments of health are also involved.

 

[ilovewings]

I'm begging, can someone please explain Florida's figures to me. PLEASE!

Florida
8/13 - 23,933 New Cases - 29 Deaths
8/12 - 24,869 New Cases - 18 Deaths
8/11 - 20,465 New Cases - 30 Deaths

Texas
8/13 - 17,780 New Cases - 146 Deaths
8/12 - 14,182 New Cases - 140 Deaths
8/11 - 17,612 New Cases - 108 Deaths

Florida seems to be this state where people contract Covid, but they don't die from it. At least they don't die from it at anywhere close to the same rate as people from any other state.

The only thing that comes to my mind is that there are more unvaccinated people contracting the virus in Texas than in Florida. 44% of the population in Texas is vaccinated vs. approx 50% fully vaccinated in Florida and almost 60% vaccinated with one dose in Florida. Beyond that, I am stumped.

 

[MimosaMornings]

I don't know. Some people have been charged for tests, others don't want the test, they heard horror stories about it, some people are convinced that going for a test is a waste of time, they think that it is a bad cold. ( add me to that, I didn't think I had Covid, after all, I had been vaccinated in March). Or they are deniers.

Now, I do believe that some people who were not tested did stay home. They knew that they were a contact to a positive case, so they decided to quarantine themselves. Other people, did not want a "positive" Covid test on their record, remember in the beginning when the military was disqualifying people who had tested positive for Covid? A lot of people didn't want that in a database some where.

Do you think there is some central data base tracking it? I’ve never contemplated it.
How long did your cold last? Sounds awful!