Coronavirus and Pandemics

Here's today's graph of infections in the US from ArcGIS Dashboards Classic as of 4/9. Still no signs of slowing. Here's toay's a graph of deaths in the US from Cumulative Cases - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center as of 4/9. Again, no signs of slowing: Here's a map of infection cases across the US: --Percy

Faith message 5723 from elsewhere:Roseland Hospital phlebotomist: 30% of those tested have coronavirus antibody | Chicago City Wire So far there is nothing comparable for California but it seems very possible that they too could have a large number of people with antibodies. There are interesting stories about how Californai had an especially severe flu season starting in the Fall which could reflect the virus instead, or at least some of it could be the virus. The reports do distinguish flu from the virus but they don't seem to have any solid ground for deciding which is which. This is one story about it and there are others at Patch.com.This was written on Feb 1: Moose, posting a Faith message from elsewhere.Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Change author to Adminnemooseus

JonF reply to the previous message:Sounds a tad fishy to me. As far as I know we don't have the capability to do that testing accurately. We definitely don't have an FDA approved test.Coronavirus antibody testing: What is it? Can it reopen US economy?

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How reliable are these tests?
Over 50 commercial manufacturers are seeking FDA approval for antibody tests, Theel said.

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But Dr. Raed Dweik, chairman of the Respiratory Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, said some of the tests he's seen aren't accurate enough to determine if someone is truly immune to the coronavirus.

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This is because antibodies for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 look very similar to antibodies that respond to coronaviruses that cause other illnesses, such as the common cold.

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Tests could mistakenly identify antibodies as being for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, producing a false positive. Dweik said it will take more time to develop a test that can accurately detect the right antibodies.

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"The timing is tricky," he said. "Developing this test has been fraught with problems."

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In addition, scientists don't know a lot about the protective value of coronavirus antibodies, said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease expert and executive associate dean at Emory University. The test to identify HIV, for example, is an antibody test. "Having those antibodies doesn't necessarily mean immunity," he said.

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Few of the coronavirus antibody tests have been vetted to determine their clinical accuracy, Theel said. No test is 100 percent accurate, she said, and it's up to the clinical laboratories to decide which ones are best for their patients.

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"It's one of the biggest concerns right now because there's so many tests out there and we don’t know how the vast majority of them work," she said.

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{emphasis added}US coronavirus cases top 500,000 as researchers say the worst is yet to come in Texas and Florida - CNN (today, the 10th)

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Antibody tests that would verify whether a person recently had the novel coronavirus could be available within a week, according to the nation's top infectious disease expert.

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"Within a period of a week or so, we're going to have a rather large number of tests that are available," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN's "New Day" Friday morning.

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Moose, reposing a JonF messageEdited by Adminnemooseus, : Change author to Adminnemooseus.

From The New YorkerEric Ries, a Silicon Valley CEO had heard that tech executives were being asked to help deal with the crisis. He wanted to volunteer to help source medical equipment - from masks to ventilators. He set out on his own initiative and found voluntary groups working on the problem, and helped to get them working together. But how to get everything to where it was needed? Worse still, the Federal stockpiles would not be released because they were for the Federal Government, not the States. (What does the Federal government need the stockpiles for if not to help the American people? Cuomo’s idea of sending ventilators to the places which need them and moving them on when the peak passes seems obviously sensible - and obviously best managed by the Federal Government) Donald Trump, of course refused to acknowledge the problems or take any responsibility. And, nobody could have predicted this ? Oops!Just another reason why Trump is one of the worst presidents the US has ever had.

The US now holds the world record for Covid deaths on a single day. Congratulations, still the biggest and best.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52249963Also, Faith, I can't help noticing that Easter is here. Seems that Trump was wrong, who knew?

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Another prophesy for you Faith, your country will be in a bigger crisis at Easter than it is now. He's (Trump) a total jerk.
  —Tangle

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Interesting development for those obsessing about face masks.Czech company to release face masks that capture and kill coronavirus in April - Prague, Czech Republic

As I recall, Trump said he HOPED things could open up by Easter, saying it would be a good day for it.The stats people quote are not necessarily trustworthy. Do they clearly distinguish between, say, the virus and the flu for instance. And how do they compare with the statistics for the flu for that matter.

That site wants me to sign up to receive something from them. I'd rather not. Could you briefly summarize how these masks work?

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That site wants me to sign up to receive something from them.

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Lots of sites do, in the same way. Just click the X to close the popup and read.

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The president on Tuesday raised the ire of Democrats and some public health experts by announcing during a Fox News broadcast from the White House Rose Garden that he wants the country open for business by 12 April. He began to hedge Tuesday evening during his daily coronavirus press briefing, floating the idea of opening states or entire regions first that are not as hard hit as places like New York City and Washington state.

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He kept that walk back going on Wednesday evening.

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So we’re going to be talking, and it could be we’ll do sections of our country, he told reporters. There’s big sections of our country that are, you know, little affected by what’s taking place.

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He added: Then there are other sections that are very heavily affected, so there’s a big difference. I would say by Easter we’ll have a recommendation and maybe before Easter.

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Coronavirus: US death toll passes 2,000 in a single day - BBC News Fake news! Fake news! (When all else fails)

Brno-based Respilon has developed a revolutionary facemask that actively kills pathogens using nanofiber and copper oxide
Lucas Nmec
Lucas NmecHealth, In the News
March 17, 2020
11:32 amFace masks are generally worn not to protect the wearer, but to protect their surroundings from the spread of pathogens. But Brno-based company Respilon has developed a revolutionary facemask that actively works to capture and kill viruses.The new product incorporates both a nanofiber weave, which is small enough to prevent the entry of pathogens, along with a layer of copper oxide nanoparticles that actively kill viruses including the coronavirus when it comes into contact with them.Respilon has worked together with an Israeli partner that developed the copper dioxide nanoparticles in order to produce the masks.Thanks to the combination of nanofibers with copper oxide, it effectively protects against coronavirus, but it remains available to the public alongside government institutions and healthcare professionals, Respilon director Roman Zima told reporters at a press conference today.While work on the masks has been conducted at facilities in Israel and Turkey, production will take place in the Czech Republic.The masks will go into local production on March 25, and be available to both healthcare providers and the public from mid-April. Pre-orders can be placed on the Respilon website from March 20.Respilon will offer two types of the mask, ReSpimask Virus Killer and RespiPro Virus Killer, the second of which includes a FFP2 respirator. They will be sold for 200 and 315 crowns, respectively.The masks are certified to last for up to 24 hours of use, but not necessarily consecutively; if you wear one for three hours a day, it can last a week.

Interesting. Thank you.

Trump said this a number of times in a number of different ways. The point that came across, the impression that was communicated to most people, was that he believed the country could possibly reopen by Easter. No one but him believed this.He has offered in defense of such indefensible statements as this that he is a cheerleader by nature. That is a pathetic characterization of the leader of the free world, who should be a leader at the forefront of any national challenge, not a cheerleader from the sidelines.Trump believes not in smaller national government but in no national government at all except where it serves his personal interests. He thinks national disasters are the responsibility of individual states, as if the word "national" had no meaning. He sees no central active and coordinating leadership role for the federal government, except for his daily opportunities to brag about things that didn't actually happen (he saw the pandemic coming a long time ago) and things that could never happen (the country might reopen by Easter), to insult reporters and governors, and to pass on medical misinformation. He doesn't appear to serve any positive purpose. You see any stat as untrustworthy when it's inconvenient for you. You have no evidence, just a wish that the pandemic would end as quickly and with as few deaths and negative impacts as possible not because you care about people and the country but because you want Trump to be right about something, or at least for the aggravation and annoyance of a pandemic to go away so he can get back to not running the country.--Percy

Here's today's graph of infections in the US from ArcGIS Dashboards Classic as of 4/10. Still no signs of slowing at 496,500: Here's today's a graph of deaths in the US from Cumulative Cases - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center as of 4/10. Again, no signs of slowing at 18,586, an increase of over 2000 from the day before: Here's a map of infection cases across the US: --Percy

We finally got our dot this week in Scurry County, Texas. Two cases so far, but less than forty tests administered as of yesterday, and about ten of them awaiting results. In other words, it hasn’t started yet out here in the provinces.