Coronavirus

[ashbury]

Okay ... out of work for 30 days ... technically, according to our contract, they don't have to pay us, but no announcement yet that they won't ... or at least might give us something.

Something something something people coughing during orchestral performances.... nope, I'd better leave it to Stephen Colbert to crack wise about the virus situation.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Okay ... out of work for 30 days ... technically, according to our contract, they don't have to pay us, but no announcement yet that they won't ... or at least might give us something.

fingers crossed on leave pay for you

[Squirrel]

fingers crossed on leave pay for you

Yeah, they’re paying us. I will still go in ... lots of stuff to get done tomorrow prepping for when we are back. Now I need to decide if I’m going to Florida on Monday or not.

[Craig Arko]

[akmanak]

Americans hate to have anyone tell us what to do. We are driven by ego and this virus is exploiting that .

 

People continue to point out other countries and use them as an example on why it isn't that bad. What I am telling you right now is look at Italy which was as prepared as we are and tell me what is bad and what is not.

 

We have some states shutting down schools and some states not. We have some states shutting down public gatherings we have some states not. That is the major difference between us and China or Russia. They made them shut everything down, no options.

 

Our snowflake mentality when it comes to crying about baseball be delayed or the NBA have little clue on the true severity of the situation.

 

It is already to late and next week will show that. I hope it doesn't but according to the experts it will be bad.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Jeremy Olson, Star Tribune:

 

The state’s 21 confirmed COVID-19 cases are based on 868 tests, mostly by the state’s public health lab, of saliva or nasal samples from people with suspicious symptoms. Ehresmann said the state has limited testing capacity now and has been prioritizing testing of sick patients with relevant travel histories.

 

http://m.startribune.com/covid-19-count-in-minnesota-rises-to-21/568800182/

[Riverbrian]

 

 

 

Over run health care system seems to be the main factor in higher death rates. 

 

Does anyone believe our "Excuse me... Could you please distance yourself socially from others" will be sufficient. I have my doubts.

 

Italy is about two weeks ahead of the United States on the curve. 

 

It's a unique time. We get to watch a preview out of Italy of the shape of things to come in the United States, while listening to half of your office co-workers make plans for hitting the town on Saturday night because the bars are still open while they loudly dismiss the seriousness of the situation to everyone in earshot, saying "it's like the flu", "it's just media driven hysteria", it's a deep state creation", "we survived all these other things before". 

 

Spoiler Alert: 

Italy: Lockdown

Spain: Lockdown

France: Lockdown

Austria: Lockdown

 

 

 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Governer Walz has announced the closing of Minnesota’s K-12 schools, beginnning Wednesday.

 

Briana Bierschbach, Star Tribune:

 

On Sunday, the governor announced that Minnesota now has 35 cases.

 

One of the new COVID-19 cases occurred in south-central Minnesota's Renville County, making it the first in a largely rural county, the state Department of Health said. The state also has its first case affecting a teenager, in Dakota County.

 

While investigations of each case are ongoing, there is no evidence yet of community transmission of the virus from one person to another within the state, said Kris Ehresmann, infectious disease director for the Health Department. All patients so far appear to have been infected during travel to high-risk areas or by contact with infected travelers, she said.

 

Twenty of the 21 patients are recovering at home. One remains hospitalized in critical condition.

 

http://m.startribune.com/minnesota-schools-will-close-for-eight-days-due-to-coronavirus-pandemic/568812082/

Edited March 15, 2020 by Hosken Bombo Disco

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Let us also recognize all the stubborn old men, coughing and in poor health, coming straight off the cruise ships and out of the bathrooms without washing their hands, who wheezily wish to explain to you in your face that you can’t believe everything you hear on the teevee.

Edited March 15, 2020 by Hosken Bombo Disco

[Craig Arko]

 

Let us also recognize all the stubborn old men, coughing and in poor health, coming straight off the cruise ships and out of the bathrooms without washing their hands, who wheezily wish to explain to you in your face that you can’t believe everything you hear on the teevee.

And all the stubborn old men (and women) who for some mysterious reason still care about the wellness of their fellow human beings and are doing what’s in their power to help.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

And all the stubborn old men (and women) who for some mysterious reason still care about the wellness of their fellow human beings and are doing what’s in their power to help.

Not to mention all the office co-workers and snowflakes who “for some mysterious reason still care about the wellness of their fellow human beings and are doing what’s in their power to help.”

 

So now that you and I have closed the circle on this, I will plead guilty to taking part in finger-pointing and will ask everyone to stop with it, or at least do so artfully, constructively and compassionately.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

South Dakota, as of March 14:

 

In South Dakota the Health Department reports nine people have tested positive, 182 tests have come back negative and three tests are pending.

 

 

North Dakota, as of March 14

 

The state's total number of tested cases is 86 negative, and one positive with six pending.

 

 

https://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news/Updated-Covid-19-numbers-for-North-Dakota-South-Dakota-and-Montana-568807481.html

[Squirrel]

I'm still heading to Florida tomorrow. After much discussion with family and reading all I can, consulting my doctor, I'm going. My Mom wants me to. She understands my concerns for her and that I could carry something to her, but she still wants me to visit. She's 90, in great health, strong immune system, no pre-existing issues that compromise her lungs or immune system, she's always been a fanatical hand washer and sanitizer ... while I know some would say 'Don't go', she understands all of this and still wants me to visit. She's not in a nursing home or any kind of facility, she lives independently and not in a senior or 55+ community. Still, I worry I could carry something to her or to her friends. I've made it clear, I'm not interacting with her friends. And she is not going to the two theater shows she has tickets for. Still, I waiver, but i'm going. I will wipe down my seat area on the plane (something I've been doing for years anyway, and no longer get colds after I travel), I will be wearing latex gloves, I may cover my face with a scarf, although that likely won't do anything, except keep my germs to myself when allergy symptoms arise, and when I arrive, the first thing I will do is take a shower and throw all I was wearing in the wash. <shrug>

[Squirrel]

 

South Dakota, as of March 14:

In South Dakota the Health Department reports nine people have tested positive, 182 tests have come back negative and three tests are pending.


North Dakota, as of March 14

The state's total number of tested cases is 86 negative, and one positive with six pending.


https://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news/Updated-Covid-19-numbers-for-North-Dakota-South-Dakota-and-Montana-568807481.html

 

So, SD has tested a total of 194 people? And ND has tested a total of 93?

 

Until we set up drive-through testing and test EVERYONE, we will never know any actual numbers.

 

We need to adapt South Korea's way.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

So, SD has tested a total of 194 people? And ND has tested a total of 93?

 

Until we set up drive-through testing and test EVERYONE, we will never know any actual numbers.

 

We need to adapt South Korea's way.

we have some really unscientific stats flying around with all kinds of self selection bias... it’s the people who aren’t getting tested who spread this around...

[Squirrel]

we have some really unscientific stats flying around with all kinds of self selection bias... it’s the people who aren’t getting tested who spread this around...

Yep, we’re only testing those who are symptomatic. We need to follow South Korea’s model and test everyone. If I had that option, I’d have done it already ... drive and through. We are woefully unprepared. The only thing we can do is follow protocols in order to slow down contagion so that our healthcare system can manage cases over a period of time rather than too much all at once. That’s the burden Italy is facing, and it’s disastrous. It seems a little hypocritical of me to travel which is why I still waiver.

[akmanak]

Be ready for a national lockdown. People still are not getting it and going to mass public gatherings. Still flocking to tourist spots in New York because their kids are off of school, still filling airplanes, going out to eat...ECT. Some Americans just are so ignorant they don't care.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

“We strongly encourage people who are 70 and older, regardless of their health status, or people of any age who have any of a number of underlying medical conditions ... it is time now to take this guidance to isolate yourself and to really pay attention to those social distancing recommendations and really to reduce the amount of interaction,” Jan Malcolm, the state Health Commissioner, said during a news conference Sunday.

 

Limitations on the nation’s capacity for coronavirus testing means there’s “much we don’t know about the potential degree of community transmission,” Malcolm said.

 

http://m.startribune.com/three-of-minnesota-s-35-covid-19-cases-were-spread-person-to-person/568813892/

[Craig Arko]

Coronavirus testing in South Korea:
 

1. Drive to a testing station
2. Stay in your car
3. It takes less than 10 minutes
4. Results texted to you the next day

 

Done. Oh, and it's paid for by national healthcare.

[Riverbrian]

 

we have some really unscientific stats flying around with all kinds of self selection bias... it’s the people who aren’t getting tested who spread this around...

 

When it comes to the transmission, causation and investigation of global or community outbreaks. I filter my information down to Epidemiologists and experts who study these things. The experts are who I want to hear from.  

 

When I'm having a transmission issue with my car. I listen to my car mechanic. 

 

I am continually amazed at the volume of people who would rather listen to their car mechanic thinking this is all a bunch of bull****. Rachel in accounting thinks this is a horrible over reaction and she will be telling everyone on Monday about how much fun she had at a big party over the weekend. 

 

The experts are not arguing with each other. The car mechanics and accountants are the ones doing the arguing and they are the ones who filled the bars again on Saturday night all dressed in green. 

 

If I bring in a 57 Chevy with a dry cough, the car mechanics probably won't argue with each other about what to do and I will listen to them when it comes to the car.  

 

The experts are not arguing with each other on Covid-19. They are shutting down big huge large revenue events. They are locking down entire countries. They built two large hospitals in 10 days!!! Big UNPRECEDENTED money costing things are happening at the advice of these experts. 

 

The experts have one solution... Get the hell away from each other for awhile.

 

Dr. Tom Fauci did the Sunday morning circuit to get the message out, he is saying the same thing that is being said by the Computational Biologists and the Epidemiologists. The experts are speaking in one voice. Stay away from each other for awhile. 

 

I don't understand how people can watch two hospitals built in 10 days, the cancellation of March Madness, the cancellation or postponement of the NBA, NHL, MLB, European Football, anything crowd related, plus the lock down of Italy, France and Spain and still say to any of us with a straight face "This is no different than the flu". 

 

I don't understand people who can watch the news coming out of Italy and not put two and two together. If you see a guy in a Hazmat suit walking into your neighbor's house. You don't follow him into the house and lick the refrigerator.

 

It's been percolating in the United States. There is asymptomatic transmission of the virus. We are not testing so we don't know how many are infected. 

 

Take a look at Italy, a country that is two weeks ahead of us and giving us a preview.  

 

Here it comes!  

[Squirrel]

 

Coronavirus testing in South Korea:
 

1. Drive to a testing station
2. Stay in your car
3. It takes less than 10 minutes
4. Results texted to you the next day

 

Done. Oh, and it's paid for by national healthcare.

 

Yep ... we should be following their model. As I said above ... heck, if we had had that set up, I'd have done it already.

[Craig Arko]

 

Yep ... we should be following their model. As I said above ... heck, if we had had that set up, I'd have done it already.

Oh, absolutely. Now, I picked up a 3 month supply of my meds, and am waiting to see how well my job and my class at the U. adapt to the new reality. And catching up some on my reading backlog.

[Squirrel]

 

Oh, absolutely. Now, I picked up a 3 month supply of my meds, and am waiting to see how well my job and my class at the U. adapt to the new reality. And catching up some on my reading backlog.

I reordered two prescriptions and found out that insurance is no longer covering one of them. No biggie ... it's not very expensive and is an 'as needed' medication, and there are otc options.

[Riverbrian]

Still filtering out the noise from the news and politicians. Spending my time reading what the experts have to say exclusively. 

 

Forget about the daily updates of confirmations and deaths. The confirmations are not worth much with testing still at low levels. Confirmations will naturally increase with more testing.  

 

The number of deaths are misleading (they don't seem scary at the moment) with the virus just starting to get out of the percolation stage in the ramping up locations.  Death percentage is way too volatile with the low level of testing keeping the confirmations low. More testing will lower that percentage but as hospitals start getting over run, it will increase the percentage like what is happening in Italy. 

 

Right now... Look at the amount of tests conducted and compare to the amount of positive tests in locations around the world.   

 

Spain and New York City are extremely high. I don't know if the amount of tests numbers that I'm running across are accurate but the numbers I saw added up to Spain with 1 positive out of every 3 tests. New York was 1 out of 7. Even with the spike upward to 59 cases in Minnesota. Minnesota is still around 1 out of 35. South Dakota was out 1 out of 38. 

 

If I could find the stats I'd like to break it down to an even smaller radius like Minneapolis by itself because I suspect Minneapolis by itself will be higher than the statewide totals. 

 

And of course... locations that are not hot spots now can become hot spots on a dime later. 

 

We don't know how many cases are out there. Information is changing daily. The secretary of health and human services stated two weeks ago that those showing symptoms was the primary driver. They are not saying that today. Asymptomatic transmission is now front and center especially with slow incubation. 

 

Stay away from each other for awhile. This ain't the flu. 

 

Listen to the experts, filter out the political noise.

 

Think of your parents and all that they've done for this country and you. If you don't care about yourself. Care about them.  

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

Still filtering out the noise from the news and politicians. Spending my time reading what the experts have to say exclusively. 

 

Forget about the daily updates of confirmations and deaths. The confirmations are not worth much with testing still at low levels. Confirmations will naturally increase with more testing.  

 

The number of deaths are misleading (they don't seem scary at the moment) with the virus just starting to get out of the percolation stage in the ramping up locations.  Death percentage is way too volatile with the low level of testing keeping the confirmations low. More testing will lower that percentage but as hospitals start getting over run, it will increase the percentage like what is happening in Italy. 

 

Right now... Look at the amount of tests conducted and compare to the amount of positive tests in locations around the world.   

 

Spain and New York City are extremely high. I don't know if the amount of tests numbers that I'm running across are accurate but the numbers I saw added up to Spain with 1 positive out of every 3 tests. New York was 1 out of 7. Even with the spike upward to 59 cases in Minnesota. Minnesota is still around 1 out of 35. South Dakota was out 1 out of 38. 

 

If I could find the stats I'd like to break it down to an even smaller radius like Minneapolis by itself because I suspect Minneapolis by itself will be higher than the statewide totals. 

 

And of course... locations that are not hot spots now can become hot spots on a dime later. 

 

We don't know how many cases are out there. Information is changing daily. The secretary of health and human services stated two weeks ago that those showing symptoms was the primary driver. They are not saying that today. Asymptomatic transmission is now front and center especially with slow incubation. 

 

Stay away from each other for awhile. This ain't the flu. 

 

Listen to the experts, filter out the political noise.

 

Think of your parents and all that they've done for this country and you. If you don't care about yourself. Care about them.  

 

Obviously you are talking about me and how I was posting testing numbers. I was posting those because, with so much conflicting information out there, I felt it was the best data we had. It wasn't much. I know that. And, obviously the numbers are skyrocketing daily, and worrisome. in any case, I decided after your previous post yesterday that I was going to stop posting those numbers. 

[Riverbrian]

 

Obviously you are talking about me and how I was posting testing numbers. I was posting those because, with so much conflicting information out there, I felt it was the best data we had. It wasn't much. I know that. And, obviously the numbers are skyrocketing daily, and worrisome. in any case, I decided after your previous post yesterday that I was going to stop posting those numbers. 

 

Honestly, I wasn't talking about you or your post. Information is what is needed most right now. 

 

The only problem is when the information is interpreted wrong.  

 

It doesn't take a lot of work to find the numbers of cases and deaths. This is what is being published en masse.

 

However, someone at work today said "1 Case in North Dakota and we close the schools, Governor Burgum just lost my vote". 1 Case in North Dakota doesn't look very scary. 

 

Meanwhile, I'm just reading what the experts are saying and I was honestly passing along things I'm reading. 

 

Wasn't personal... I promise. 

 

 

[Riverbrian]

 

Obviously you are talking about me and how I was posting testing numbers. I was posting those because, with so much conflicting information out there, I felt it was the best data we had. It wasn't much. I know that. And, obviously the numbers are skyrocketing daily, and worrisome. in any case, I decided after your previous post yesterday that I was going to stop posting those numbers. 

 

I've always been an actions speak louder than words guy. 

 

When they cancelled March Madness, that was quite the action. I've spent my time recently trying to find out why. 

 

It's like when the Twins kept playing Logan Morrison. I spent my time trying to find out why. 

 

That's when I tend to fixate. And I'm not going anywhere so I got plenty of time for that.  

[glunn]

A little levity (we all need it)
Tom Hanks survived 4 years on an island as a castaway
He spent a year in an airport without being able to leave
Caught AIDS in Philadelphia
He was in World War II and rescued Private Ryan; He went to Vietnam and rescued Lieutenant Dan
Was on a boat kidnapped by Somali pirates
Survived Apollo 13 trying to reach the Moon
Landed a Boeing on the Hudson River✈

 

If that son of a b**ch dies of coronavirus , we are ALL screwed!!! 

[biggentleben]

I posted this on Facebook a few days ago. As someone who is in the evil media, I've been in multiple meetings or press conferences daily on COVID-19 for roughly a month and am still expected to get all my regular coverage done as well.

 

"The media did not create panic or hysteria. Entertainment outlets attempting to appear as media have had some misleading articles, but that’s not media. True media has to register as such and live to a set of laws in this country. Many places where people get their news are not registered as such to allow them leeway with the truth for entertainment purposes. Fox News is certainly the largest of these nationally, but even your local news, depending on who owns the station, may not be held to the same journalistic standards that a newspaper or a registered news agency is.

 

When subscriptions funding a newspaper turned into advertising funding a newspaper, that still required paper sales. Insisting on getting “free” news online bankrupted many sources of true, honest journalism and left those standing operating on shoestring budgets. That’s when it all became about online clicks and sensationalism ruled the day. That said, reputable papers are presenting full information in an online article that requires a catchy headline to draw a click away from an entertainment-registered reporting site, and all folks do is read the headline and not the whole article.

 

The attack on the integrity of journalistic media started nearly 30 years ago, but the campaign and actions of the current POTUS have severely undermined our nation’s ability to trust its media. Were you aware he has millions of dollars of lawsuits filed against media outlets that dared print something negative about him? Many of the papers and TV stations attacked with litigation are small enough and broke enough due to our own lack of funding for quality journalism that they settle these cases rather than fight lengthy court battles that they cannot afford.

 

Please don’t fall into the trap of media-blaming. Investigate the sources of your information. Heck, investigate the sources of their sources. Don’t assume a meme is correct or a headline is correct because it’s on the internet. We have the freedom of the press...until it’s taken away by undermining the nation’s respect for the press. Once the press is no longer free, who will call out those who abuse their power, mislead the electorate, and/or attempt to remove individual liberties that DO matter to you?

 

Just some thoughts. Stay safe, and make sure your friends and family are loved."

[Craig Arko]

Yes, it’s not the media sticking money into mattresses or building toilet paper forts. It’s our fellow citizens.