The Coronavirus thread

[KJHburg]

Grifols a Spanish biopharma company has begun production of Covid 19 drug in its Johnston County plant in Clayton NC

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2020/06/11/grifols-begins-manufacturing-potential-covid-19-treatment-at-clayton-facility/

[nicholas]

On 6/11/2020 at 6:06 PM, Ric0_0 said:

Is NC not breaking down their testing between antibody and viral tests, or am I just looking in the incorrect sections?

https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard/testing

It also seems like NC is starting to catch up to GA. 

From what I can piece together, it looks like NC has started to press the coronavirus testing pedal closer to the floor.  It wasn't too long ago (maybe a month?) that Tennessee had performed about 80k more Covid-19 tests than we had, but NC has now surpassed TN in terms of total tests performed.  We'll probably catch CT and LA within the next week or so.  However, both hospitalizations and % positive of tests have increased statewide, which definitely isn't the direction we want to be heading in.

[kermit]

Today's NYT Hotspot map is pretty bleak for NC (and even bleaker for SC). Map shows change in cases over the past two weeks. Classification appears to be based on % change, so counties with few cases two weeks ago are the ones that get highlighted. The data suggest that there are few places in the country seeing such concentrated growth in cases as the Carolinas. Also keep in mind that these data are subject to political manipulation, we already know that both Florida and Georgia are manipulating their numbers to make things look better, this is certainly happening elsewhere as well.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by kermit

[elrodvt]

Great breakout of the data.

Couple observations:

The number of cases in prisons is unconscionable. I haven't heard of mitigation factors other than some early releases in CA. Something needs to be done there.

The border with SC is conceptual only. If they keep on like this you wonder if there should be checks. Sorry SC folks. Without that as goes SC  so goes Meck.

I wish there were a few regional and leadership slices. South appears to the naked eye as much worse. Is that Red vs. Blue? Meaning following dear leader instead of science. Then there's Florida... Where the state is accused of hiding and manipulating data. Argh..

Edited June 14, 2020 by elrodvt

[KJHburg]

How the virus will change cities or maybe it won't  but nobody really knows.

https://ui.uncc.edu/story/coronavirus-charlotte-city-us-changes-urban-development

[sonofaque86]

Looks like SC is getting hit on the coast where so many people from out of state visit. I know everyone and their mother in Charlotte loves to visit Myrtle Beach and Charleston beaches.  Charleston and Horry Counties are definitely in red. They may have to take a hit to their tourism economies and shut back down. FL and GA. Idk what to believe.

Edited June 15, 2020 by sonofaque86

[U_R_]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article243528837.html

I saw this article pop up, and it surprised me to see Meck at over 7k cases while Fulton in GA is around 5k cases. Are the cases in Meck higher because of the border with SC?

[elrodvt]

3 hours ago, KJHburg said:

How the virus will change cities or maybe it won't  but nobody really knows.

https://ui.uncc.edu/story/coronavirus-charlotte-city-us-changes-urban-development

This could be a huge opportunity if the city has it's act together. Their visions are usually so tame though. I read somewhere the BLM section of S Tryon is no cars and their thinking about making it a pedestrian mall? I've long advocated for that but few here want to consider it. Let's hope the fresh blood in planning does though! Also, the idea of increased focus on bikes and other transit is key. It needs to get out of the first budget cut bucket.

[jjwilli]

3 hours ago, sonofaque86 said:

Looks like SC is getting hit on the coast where so many people from out of state visit. I know everyone and their mother in Charlotte loves to visit Myrtle Beach and Charleston beaches.  Charleston and Horry Counties are definitely in red. They may have to take a hit to their tourism economies and shut back down. FL and GA. Idk what to believe.

Spent last week at a beach in Horry County and can confirm that covid-19 does not exist at the beach. There was little social distancing at restaurants and only the restaurant staff wearing masks. Not surprising that the area is a hot spot.

[CLT2014]

26 minutes ago, jjwilli said:

Spent last week at a beach in Horry County and can confirm that covid-19 does not exist at the beach. There was little social distancing at restaurants and only the restaurant staff wearing masks. Not surprising that the area is a hot spot.

It varies dramatically within Charlotte too. Some places are on maximum lock down. Went to RuRu's though, and they had the tables at full capacity outside, no distancing, and none of the staff has masks, et. Felt like a completely normal day and was really nice, but if somebody had coronavirus well... people might get it.

They did spread the bar counter out in pairs of two about 6 feet a part. But people just used that space as the location to form a line and order drinks. 

Edited June 15, 2020 by CLT2014

[videtur quam contuor]

Big Ben restaurant. Waiter wearing mask and when I complimented him he said "not required in North Carolina". I complimented him again. He knows me from earlier visits. We ate outside on their deck overlooking Ashton and rail trail.  Midwood Smokehouse behind Park Rd Center masks and gloves by outside servers. 

I support restaurants that do the right thing. 

At the four restaurants I have visited the last three weeks for outside dining I looked inside and at a normally busy period there were few to no diners. There has been a collapse of demand, based on my tiny sample.

[sonofaque86]

4 hours ago, jjwilli said:

Spent last week at a beach in Horry County and can confirm that covid-19 does not exist at the beach. There was little social distancing at restaurants and only the restaurant staff wearing masks. Not surprising that the area is a hot spot.

I agree! Didn’t mean the actual beach each self. Meant the areas (attractions, restaurants, hotels, clubs, etc) 

[KJHburg]

6 companies profiled in helping find treatments and cures for Corvid 19

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/responding-coronavirus-highlight-six-north-carolina-companies-webb/

and there other companies mainly in the RTP area doing the same. 

[nicholas]

In some positive news, a 104-year old woman from the Raleigh area has recovered from coronavirus.

https://www.wral.com/104-year-old-knightdale-woman-survives-covid-19/19149847/

[nicholas]

A state-funded study at Wake Forest Baptist Health shows nearly 10 percent of people tested in North Carolina have antibodies to the coronavirus.

So far, about 5,000 people have been tested, and only about 0.4 percent had been identified by public health officials as having been infected, Sanders said.

"We can say that 10 to 20 times the number of people who have an identified case have antibodies to the infection," he said.

https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/antibody-study-shows-more-people-infected-with-coronavirus-in-nc-than-numbers-show/19150903/

NC is close to hitting 50,000 total confirmed cases statewide currently, meaning we've likely at the very least actually had 500,000 residents with Covid-19.

[kermit]

^ Wow, 10% is a much higher number than I had expected. Antibody testing in NYC revealed roughly 20% of people had them, but that number fell very quickly in the rest of New York State (2.5% in Albany and around 3% in Buffalo). Antibody stats are still pretty rough however, most attention, money and effort is going to identify active cases.

On the positive side, heard immunity begins to work at around a 40% antibody count (as I understand it -- not an expert). We are 25% of the way there!

Meanwhile in South Florida, Palm Beach County appears to be running out of ICU capacity and the infection growth line looks just like Italy's did back in late March and April (ours is not much better) https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-palm-beach-icu-20200618-qz6ipoqvmff5fcipqhsdbmhqbm-story.html

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by kermit

[kermit]

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by kermit

[Matthew.Brendan]

Can’t wait to watch Tulsa on Saturday night

[nicholas]

So, NC has blasted past the 50k mark, and now sits at just above 51,600 confirmed cases.  In the past week we've passed Connecticut, Louisiana, and Arizona in terms of total cases, and hospitalizations are at their highest point yet at 883 (as of this writing).  Sadly this means it will probably be a while until we move to Phase 3.

[gman430]

I’m surprised the Apple Stores in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and Charleston aren’t closing seeing how the ones in Greenville and Charlotte are.

Edited June 22, 2020 by gman430

[Temeteron]

7 minutes ago, gman430 said:

I’m surprised the Apple Stores in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and Charleston aren’t closing seeing how the ones in Greenville and Charlotte are.

Link for proof?

[gman430]

44 minutes ago, Temeteron said:

Link for proof?

https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/19/21296975/apple-close-stores-again-florida-arizona-north-carolina-south-carolina-coronavirus-spike

“Stores closing June 20th include two in Florida, at Waterside Shops and Coconut Point; two in North Carolina, at Southpark and Northlake Mall; one in South Carolina at Haywood Mall; and six in Arizona, at Chandler Fashion Center, Scottsdale Fashion Square, Arrowhead, SanTan Village, Scottsdale Quarter, and La Encantada.“

 

Also, the world set a single-day record for new cases of the coronavirus, the World Health Organization said Sunday: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/06/21/world-sets-daily-record-for-new-coronavirus-cases-who-says/#27b4ec1d53d4

Edited June 22, 2020 by gman430

[CLT2014]

7 hours ago, gman430 said:

I’m surprised the Apple Stores in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and Charleston aren’t closing seeing how the ones in Greenville and Charlotte are.

Charleston was closed earlier in a previous shutdown wave as SC cases spiked again: https://www.postandcourier.com/business/apple-closes-stores-in-sc-including-charleston-other-states-amid-coronavirus-spikes/article_5f63f480-b24c-11ea-8cc2-377aa3dea4ac.html

The stores in Raleigh and Durham never opened back up from the initial closure at the start of the pandemic. They thus are not on the "re-closing list" since they are already closed.

Edited June 22, 2020 by CLT2014

[U_R_]

2 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

Charleston was closed earlier in a previous shutdown wave as SC cases spiked again: https://www.postandcourier.com/business/apple-closes-stores-in-sc-including-charleston-other-states-amid-coronavirus-spikes/article_5f63f480-b24c-11ea-8cc2-377aa3dea4ac.html

The stores in Raleigh and Durham never opened back up from the initial closure at the start of the pandemic. They thus are not on the "re-closing list" since they are already closed.

The Apple store in Charleston was open. It is closed because the windows of the Apple store were damaged/shattered during the protests. 

[kermit]

Not sure anyone still believes the density-infection trope but here is a study that finds its commuting, not density, that drives infection rates. I think the rise of the Sunbelt/infection belt is going to end most of the ‘cities are bad’ peacocking about future land use

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by kermit