Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #90

[margarita25]

Dr. Osterholm did a valuable segment on the UK and SA variants:

“In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and host Chris Dall discuss reports of new SARS-CoV-2 variants from the UK and South Africa and potential implications, additional federal recommendations for vaccine prioritization, further information on vaccines for pregnant women, and the epidemiology of the pandemic heading into the holidays.“

Osterholm Update: COVID-19 |Episode 37: Now Is the Time | December 23. 2020

—-

Eta: My opinion re: his comments on the variants: as a lay person, IANAD, who realizes all this “strain business” is very deep, scientific stuff and way above my head, but is striving to keep up on a basic level, so we can at least have a minimal understand what is happening as it unfolds, and based on my very elementary, initial studies so far, I fully agree with Dr. Osterholm’s assessments, meaning I’ve been thinking the same thing, that the new variants are already likely here. He echoed what I said too about the US’ poor performance wrt genomic surveillance, as compared to the UK. He mentioned the comparison figures at something like US 300ish vs. 3000ish UK.

—

I highly recommend a listen to the above podcast, jmo.

 

[margarita25]

Post continued from above post, ran out of time.

IMO, in my “Lay Person/Strains for Dummies/Variants 101 Kindergarten- since I’ve never heard about of any of this stuff previously and just trying to keep up / IANAD” opinion, it seems very plausible and scary that this virus could very well/could possibly/ likely mutate into more severe strains/variants/lineages, whatever you want to call them (I am still learning). As Doc T and others said, the more time this virus spreads, the more opportunity it has to change.

Now this reminds me omg of something Dr. O also said:

Remember, these new variants are just now unfolding, so to speak (paraphrasing) - so, basically what he was saying is, we really don’t know how severe these new variants are wrt to level of disease, because it’s unfolding in real time. Again, paraphrasing. He mentioned the “lagging indicator”, that which is similar to how deaths follow hospitalizations.

He said basically we will find out in the coming weeks if these variants could be more severe, and that, as I posted above, some doctors ARE reporting that it IS. Jmo, moo, paraphrasing.

So, imo, bouncing off what he said, when someone says “it is not more deadly”, how can they know? These variants have only recently been identified and it will take some time for them to present if they are indeed more severe, jmo.

 

[SouthAussie]

Beijing is sort of locking down for Lunar New Year.


Beijing has urged residents not to leave the city during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays, implementing fresh restrictions after several coronavirus infections last week.

Two domestic cases were reported on Friday, a convenience store worker and a Hewlett Packard Enterprise employee. Another two asymptomatic cases were discovered in Beijing earlier in the week.

Beijing is conducting testing on a limited scale in the neighbourhoods and workplaces where the cases were found.

To contain any new outbreaks, the Beijing government cancelled big gatherings such as sports events and fairs. It says applications will be strictly reviewed for any major events.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/b...new-year-after-new-cases-20201226-p56q8i.html

 

[margarita25]

 

[mickey2942]

I wonder if Ramadan, 2021 will be canceled again, this year? As for Easter, pretty sure we won't have any vaccines by then. Still locked down, at home.

The Olympics are scheduled for 2021 in Japan. They will probably vaccinate the athletes. No spectators, probably. If they allow the Olympics.

 

[margarita25]

I wonder if Ramadan, 2021 will be canceled again, this year? As for Easter, pretty sure we won't have any vaccines by then. Still locked down, at home.

The Olympics are scheduled for 2021 in Japan. They will probably vaccinate the athletes. No spectators, probably. If they allow the Olympics.

Just sayin, remember when I bet everyone in Feb.-ish that the Olympics would be cancelled? I believe it was ten bucks. Jmo. Eggnog rum and all that good stuff.

 

[mickey2942]

Just sayin, remember when I bet everyone in Feb the olympics would be cancelled. Jmo. Eggnog rum and all that good stuff.

eta looking for link. It oughtta be interesting. I remember being pretty confident about this, jmo moo.

COVID-19 Information | U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Japan

Looks like the information on travel to Japan changes constantly. Last month, it was okay. Now, test twice and still have 14 day quarantine. Maybe they will do an "Olympic Bubble". That is such a huge event. The ticket sales are what recoups much of the money spent. No ticket sales...no money. No people buying souvenirs. Eating, drinking..

 

[dmac55]

"Arizona has seen a 52 percent increase in cases since the Thanksgiving holiday."

Valley emergency medicine physician, Dr. Brandon Lawrence:
“We are at that terrifying precipice where it just needs to get a little bit worse and we are going to be making those decisions of who needs to come off a vent and who doesn’t get a vent because we are almost out.”

Valley ER doctor warns Arizona is heading towards Covid-19 breaking point | 12news.com
Valley ER doctor warns Arizona is heading towards Covid-19 breaking point | 12news.com

 

[margarita25]

"Arizona has seen a 52 percent increase in cases since the Thanksgiving holiday."

Valley emergency medicine physician, Dr. Brandon Lawrence:
“We are at that terrifying precipice where it just needs to get a little bit worse and we are going to be making those decisions of who needs to come off a vent and who doesn’t get a vent because we are almost out.”

Valley ER doctor warns Arizona is heading towards Covid-19 breaking point | 12news.com
Valley ER doctor warns Arizona is heading towards Covid-19 breaking point | 12news.com

Thank you, Dmac. I’ve been meaning to look at the hard data on the results of Thanksgiving. Dr. O touched briefly on the effect of TG in his recent podcast linked above.
—

Eta / vent: yeah, so this is all messed up, jmo, I’m sure you all agree, can’t belieeeeve this freaking happened, just sayin.

So, according to Dr. O, the darkest day has arrived. No surprise as we’ve been talking about it for months.

Hang in there peeps.

We of course have hope with the vaccines.

 

[Rose in SC]

Sad death of a 51 year old music teacher in Florida.

COVID-19 takes the life of a beloved Pinellas County music teacher

"A beloved music teacher in Pinellas County died suddenly, one day after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Rosemary Collins was 51 years old. Her son, Griffin says she wasn’t even showing symptoms when she went to get tested. The next day, Tuesday, she went to the doctor and died 20 minutes later.

Her family and her students are still in shock at the news of her death."

Apologies if this has been posted!

 

[Marysmith]

Sad death of a 51 year old music teacher in Florida.

COVID-19 takes the life of a beloved Pinellas County music teacher

"A beloved music teacher in Pinellas County died suddenly, one day after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Rosemary Collins was 51 years old. Her son, Griffin says she wasn’t even showing symptoms when she went to get tested. The next day, Tuesday, she went to the doctor and died 20 minutes later.

Her family and her students are still in shock at the news of her death."

Apologies if this has been posted!

Oh my gosh! This is awfully sad.

 

[LadyL]

'No other case like this': 3-year-old in Missouri had stroke after Covid diagnosis, doctors say

 

[ilovewings]

Sad death of a 51 year old music teacher in Florida.

COVID-19 takes the life of a beloved Pinellas County music teacher

"A beloved music teacher in Pinellas County died suddenly, one day after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Rosemary Collins was 51 years old. Her son, Griffin says she wasn’t even showing symptoms when she went to get tested. The next day, Tuesday, she went to the doctor and died 20 minutes later.

Her family and her students are still in shock at the news of her death."

Apologies if this has been posted!

How awful--- shocking really

all those people who call this ugly virus a hoax or just like the flu and no big deal should read this- but it wouldn't make any difference anyway. This is just so sad.

 

[SouthAussie]

The United States reached a grim milestone on Saturday: 1 in 1,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 since the nation's first reported infection in late January.

On Saturday afternoon, the national death toll from Covid-19 reached 331,116, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

With the arrival of Christmas and New Year's, along with accounting for the long incubation time of the virus, hospitals and state governments are bracing for the surge to continue into January and February, one year after the start of the pandemic.

How quickly the US lost 1 in 1,000 Americans to Covid-19 - CNN

 

[SouthAussie]

Unemployment benefits for millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet are set to lapse at midnight Saturday night — unless President Donald Trump signs an end-of-year COVID relief and spending bill. That legislation had been considered a done deal before his sudden objections.

COVID news: Biden tells Trump to sign relief package; 80M cases

 

[SouthAussie]

“Do we need to start filming people dying?” said Marcia Santini, a nurse at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), medical center, who is recovering from a brutal Covid-19 infection that forced her to be hospitalized at her own workplace. “People need to understand, there is no place to take care of you. You can’t have this mindset that this isn’t going to happen to you. It doesn’t work like that any more. The virus is rampant.”

Officials in LA county estimated that one in 95 residents were currently infectious, and that two residents were dying of Covid every hour. More than 6,000 Covid patients are in the hospital, and intensive care units (ICU) are filled to capacity.

“We’ve moved from having waves to now having a viral tsunami occurring here in Los Angeles”

LA's Covid 'tsunami': inside the new center of America's raging pandemic

 

[KALI]

Bbd

 

[SouthAussie]

The Real news is that the benefits for ALL but the last group asking for them (at least in California)...expired 6 weeks ago. I am one of them.
Next. Many. Do not see this as a Covid Relief bill, nor, do I.
I'm a real business owner and comprehensive adult living in America.

I think they are speaking of the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program - not state unemployment benefits.

"The program gives unemployed Americans an additional 13 weeks of benefits after they’ve exhausted state benefits, which generally last 26 weeks."
Long-term unemployment spikes for millions of Americans. Aid that’s kept them afloat may end soon

 

[IceIce9]

.
The United States reached a grim milestone on Saturday: 1 in 1,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 since the nation's first reported infection in late January.

https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/coronavirus/grim-milestone-1-in-1-000-americans-have-died-from-covid-19/article_09811f53-b02c-5ec6-9064-31897041c83e.html

 

[margarita25]

Video at link:
Kids and COVID-19: Latest update about children receiving the vaccine, MIS-C explained and more | KGET 17

'No other case like this': 3-year-old in Missouri had stroke after Covid diagnosis, doctors say

(marking immmeeeediately for MIS-C thread for reference, without even reading yet..., thanks Lady L.)
—-

Eta:

“I went to hand him his Boo and I noticed that he didn’t use his dominant arm to grab it,” she said. “He reached over to grab his bunny, and then again, I knew something else wasn’t right.”

Dr. Paul Carney, a pediatric neurologist, said the boy had a stroke that cut off the blood supply to the left side of his brain.

Colt’s parents told KSN-TV that they hoped his experience would increase awareness around Covid-19.

“Masks and stuff like that, people need to wear them,” said his father, Tim Parris. “It’s important. If you don’t want your children going through this, people need to be more aware.”

—

wrt variants and kids, marking for reference:
NOTE / see post:
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C and COVID-19)

“South Africa”