The Coronavirus thread

[elrodvt]

The Hill: The Memo: Culture war hits coronavirus crisis | TheHill.
https://thehill.com/homenews/the-memo/493446-the-memo-culture-war-hits-coronavirus-crisis

I don't completely dismiss the alternate origins theories either but the science being discussed by true experts without political sticks in the fire do indicate animal transmission. This has been a huge concern a long time, has happened many times in the past, and will happen again. Why the sudden focus on other possibilities? We need to explore all possibilities as time goes on but I think this present push is mainly political in nature as this article mentions. 

There is a lot of blame the GOP needs to get to work laying on others. They really don't believe in governing only retaining their power so this is all they can do well. No time like the present, society be damned. They have the perfect leadership team to pull that off.

Edited April 18, 2020 by elrodvt

[elrodvt]

Kind of beating a dead horse here I know but this was entirely predictable and it makes me angry.

USA TODAY: 'Medication I can't live without': Lupus patients are struggling to get hydroxychloroquine diverted for COVID-19.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/04/18/hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-creates-shortage-lupus-drug/5129896002/

 

This is good news though:

TechCrunch: GM delivers first ventilators under 30,000-unit government contract.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/17/gm-delivers-first-ventilators-under-30000-unit-government-contract/

Edited April 18, 2020 by elrodvt

[davidclt]

Well this should make @gman430 very happy: https://www.postandcourier.com/health/covid19/sc-to-reopen-public-beach-accesses-retail-stores-that-closed-under-coronavirus-crackdown/article_f3d96f28-81aa-11ea-b860-af3ef00c2f4c.html. In the absence of other measures including widespread testing and ongoing social distancing, this seems to be a risky move. Bless South Carolina's collective heart and I do sincerely wish the people of South Carolina all the best and implore them to stay out of our "Vale of Humility..." -  Mary Oates Spratt Van Landingham on 6 Mar. 1900

SC to reopen public beach accesses, retail stores that closed under coronavirus crackdown

[elrodvt]

Another great segment on testing from PBS tonight. It's not long. We need to hold our leadership accountable for not trying to simplify this too greatly. It's a real test of leadership and a tough balancing act.

 

[Crucial_Infra]

Lates COVID tracking project numbers are out and the testing numbers are a bit discouraging. 
 

Avg number of completed tests over the last 7 days: 144,655

Avg number of completed tests over the 7 days before that:
145,529

In other words, the scaling up that has been promised has yet to happen, and until it does, many parts of country will remain in lockdown.

This is the problem. 

[elrodvt]

^^ well we know anyone who wants a test gets one. So the problem is there is no demand? What crap.

[eastsider]

21 hours ago, Crucial_Infra said:

IHME model now predicts earliest each state could start relaxing social distancing, assuming infection rates below 1 per million and robust testing/contact tracing/isolation plans etc. healthdata.org/covid/updates

One again, NC is in great position, but still got a few more weeks to go. 

Was just thinking the other day about how different things would be if McCrory was still governor. Dodged a bullet on that one.

[Skyybutter]

2 hours ago, davidclt said:

. Bless South Carolina's collective heart and I do sincerely wish the people of South Carolina all the best and implore them to stay out of our "Vale of Humility..." -  Mary Oates Spratt Van Landingham on 6 Mar. 1900

 

LOVE THIS!! From a female in 1900! Best quote directed at SC I've ever read.  

[Crucial_Infra]

All shutdown protesters should be forced to sign one of these:

[Popsickle]

3 hours ago, Crucial_Infra said:

All shutdown protesters should be forced to sign one of these:

Would you be fine with something corresponding to firearms?  Or education? Or public health? Or infrastructure spending? Or anything else? 

The point is extreme but, so was your statement.    
 

People, regardless if you agree with them or not are going to protest EVERYTHING.  If you are that worried you can distance yourself from them, as you have/should be doing.

 This thing isn’t going to end because a small group of people are protesting. Drive by Lowe’s (or any other store, or park, or trial) tomorrow afternoon and you’ll see that people of all walks of life.  Without regard to ideals are out and about, trying to find activities to fill their time. 
 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Popsickle

[JRNYP2C]

9 hours ago, Crucial_Infra said:

All shutdown protesters should be forced to sign one of these:

I have been thinking the same thought over the past two weeks - not directed specifically at protestors.  Anyone that wants to flaunt the seriousness of this disease and the way it spreads.  If only this could be enacted

Edited April 19, 2020 by JRNYP2C

[urbanlover568]

12 hours ago, Crucial_Infra said:

All shutdown protesters should be forced to sign one of these:

Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

[urbanlover568]

French researchers found that the novel coronavirus survived in 140-degree Fahrenheit temperatures typically used to disinfect research labs, casting doubt on suggestions that the global pandemic, which has caused more than 180,000 deaths, will subside in the summer.

[urbanlover568]

Conservative activists encourage DOJ to sue governors, local leaders for coronavirus restrictions, calling them 'rampant abuses'

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/493505-conservative-activists-encourage-doj-to-sue-governors-local-leaders?fbclid=IwAR30k2CdQuV2kA95PZKWhb6edwuxLGmNvVE9pUDqaQDQLoxL8ZjC9euHjc4

[elrodvt]

When your president is arguably inciting people to break state law or even riot it's a tough spot. It's hard to see how this ends in any optimal fashion unless we just get lucky with immunity or weather or mutations or ??

[urbanlover568]

DoD travel ban amid coronavirus pandemic extended to June 30

Canadian Border Restrictions Have Been Extended For Another 30 Days

 

 

[urbanlover568]

What a nightmare...

261 more meat processing workers in Iowa have tested positive for coronavirus -- 84 Tyson Foods employees and 177 National Beef employees

[Dale]

This flailing at protestors is both tone deaf and pathetic. Tone deaf because it’s easy to be dismissive when YOU have a job. And pathetic in your failure to grasp that the reason they stand unmasked, hip-to-hip, is that they don’t embrace your fear narrative.

[KJHburg]

a NC plant could play a very key role in virus treatment from a subscriber Triangle Biz Journal story.

""While the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, a drugmaker with a massive presence in North Carolina is looking for recovered COVID-19 patients to donate plasma toward the cause – and if successful, will mass-produce a treatment in Johnston County.  Grifols (Nasdaq:GRFS), a Spanish pharmaceutical company that calls Johnston County home to its largest manufacturing site, has begun the process of identifying, screening and selecting recovered COVID-19 patients to donate plasma. The collected plasma will be used to produce a therapeutic – specifically a hyperimmune globulin – that Grifols hopes will be an effective treatment for the disease. ""

""The process works from the concentration of antibodies in plasma that the body develops in the course of fighting a new disease. The hope is that crafting a therapeutic out of recovered patients' plasma will result in a ready-made treatment for future patients.  The initial donations will be used to conduct controlled clinical trials with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to evaluate its safety and efficacy as a viable treatment for COVID-19. Grifols is conducting the tests between itself, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research Authority.  If successful, Vlasta Hakes, the company's director of corporate affairs, says it will be looking at scale up the therapeutic.  "At this time we're still in the experimental stage," she says. "The hope is that this is something that will be able to be mass produced, but at this point we're just doing the initial batches."  One reason that Hakes says the company believes it can be instrumental in the fight against the virus is its Johnston County manufacturing center – which she says would be tasked with producing the drug.  The company previously leaned on the facility during the last Ebola outbreak in Liberia – it also produced hyperimmune globulin as a therapeutic. In fact, the company specifically designed and constructed a building at its North Carolina facility for the processing of immune globulins to treat emerging infectious diseases.   The company employs around 2,500 in the Triangle.   "We know that we're uniquely positioned to be able to get those donations from those individuals who have recovered from COVID-19," Hakes says, noting the company has 250 collection centers. "Secondly, we have that manufacturing facility in Clayton, that's ready to go. That means as soon as we have that plasma, we can start putting it into the manufacturing process to make medicine that can then go much quicker to clinical trials than I think some of the other companies could."  The amount of therapeutics that can be produced is directly correlated to the overall supply of plasma coming in. Hakes says if the initial batches show success and the company moves to mass production, it is still working to estimate exactly how much plasma would be needed.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2020/04/20/why-ajoco-facility-could-soon-be-mass-producing-a.html

[Matthew.Brendan]

https://rt.live

[urbanlover568]

Anyone wounder how many NC licence places will be in Rock Hill tomorrow? 

[Dale]

8 minutes ago, urbanlover568 said:

Anyone wounder how many NC licence places will be in Rock Hill tomorrow? 

I asked my wife the same question. Normal living is the new driving south of the border for gas. 

[KJHburg]

Local Mint Hill person in their 60s comes out and is greeted warmly by the neighbors.  I don't ever want to  forget the dead but we need to celebrate life too.  And we can do both. 

 

[Nick2]

5 hours ago, Dale said:

This flailing at protestors is both tone deaf and pathetic. Tone deaf because it’s easy to be dismissive when YOU have a job. And pathetic in your failure to grasp that the reason they stand unmasked, hip-to-hip, is that they don’t embrace your fear narrative.

I'm happy I don't have a job (currently furloughed) and will gladly stay without one if it means even one person is saved from dying or becoming ill.

Edited April 21, 2020 by Nick2

[Matthew.Brendan]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article242155366.html