[Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

[Daehawk]

Personal opinion its simply a bat virus they were studying as normal which got out possibly through a worker and into the wet market there and off it went.

I dont think its man made and I dont think it was intentional. I do think they covered it up. Heck the US would too.

[Alefroth]

That's not to say it wasn't being held/studied in a lab, just that they didn't make/alter it themselves before they (accidentally?) let it get out.

It's also not to say that aliens didn't bring it

[$iljanus]

Hmmm, we may not know where Covid 19 originated but if only we had some warning from our intelligence services that there was an outbreak that could have dire consequences for our country...

[pr0ner]

Virginia appears to be ready to enter Phase I of reopening next Friday, May 15.

I would imagine DC and Maryland may follow suit, as they're all talking with each other, but Maryland has been playing this super conservatively, and there were rumblings DC may not peak until later this summer.

[Jeff V]

I would imagine DC and Maryland may follow suit, as they're all talking with each other, but Maryland has been playing this super conservatively, and there were rumblings DC may not peak until later this summer.

With this general lack of commitment to remaining sheltered, I doubt anywhere has come close what their peak is going to eventually be.

[Daehawk]

I didn't like seeing all the people out today compared to 2 weeks ago.

Also some large older woman walked past me with no masked coughing. Maybe allergies like me but for Fs sake wear a mask. And I use the term large to show she already has underlying issues that would affect her having or getting COVID not to be mean.

[RunningMn9]

My favorite that's currently making the rounds is 'flattening the curve does not reduce the area under the curve.'

Which is... true, as far as it goes, but obtusely misleading.

Except that it’s false. Flattening the curve also reduces the area under the curve. Less people die from less things when the curve is flattened.

[Sudy]

I can only assume we've decided this is an acceptable rate of deaths and the health care system can handle it. If 70% of us are still projected to get this, perhaps local governments can begin hosting COVID parties for different communities on a rotating basis in an effort to drive down mental health costs stemming from the anxiety of not knowing "when".

[Daehawk]

Oh God that brings to mind anti vaxer disease parties for their kids. They wouldn't...would they?

[Zaxxon]

My favorite that's currently making the rounds is 'flattening the curve does not reduce the area under the curve.'

Which is... true, as far as it goes, but obtusely misleading.

Except that it’s false. Flattening the curve also reduces the area under the curve. Less people die from less things when the curve is flattened.

Yes, that's the obtusely misleading part. A curve that is simply flattened (and extended by a similar amount, as is the case with the explanations we've been given) will have the same area. The part left out (the important part) is the less deaths due to other things, and too COVID due to health system overuse.

[AWS260]

This is a really good, 8-minute video about a 27-year-old ER doc who got COVID-19. Nothing revelatory, just a good depiction of what it's like and how people are affected.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/opin ... virus.html

[Kraken]

I can only assume we've decided this is an acceptable rate of deaths and the health care system can handle it. If 70% of us are still projected to get this, perhaps local governments can begin hosting COVID parties for different communities on a rotating basis in an effort to drive down mental health costs stemming from the anxiety of not knowing "when".

Given how much we know that we don't know about this virus yet, that would be extremely cavalier.

[Zaxxon]

that would be extremely cavalier.

'Murica: Fuck yeah!

[malchior]

I have mentioned several times that grocery stores are still pretty bad here in central NJ. I hadn't been to the grocery store since last Thursday and when I went I had to go to 4 stores to complete out my list. I went out tonight with a grocery list with 6 items - 1 was 'aspirational' (a Jambalaya kit) from Zatarain. I got 2 and ended up buying some stuff I didn't care about to make the trip not a complete waste.

I generally felt there was more food in some areas but others are still wiped out or worse than before. Pasta/chicken/beef/vegetables all wiped out still. Frozen vegetables still wiped out here. And there are still purchasing limits here. Tomorrow I plan on driving out about 30-40 minutes away to see if my luck fares better in less populated areas. A sign that at least locally the store recognizes it isn't going to return to normal was that they were in the middle of demo-ing about 40% of the check out lanes and were in the process of installing about a dozen self check out lines. I inquired and it was a couple of reasons: 1 - people want to check themselves out more than they did before and 2 - they can't hire people which I suspect correlates with the stock levels.

[dbt1949]

I'm sure glad I live in the boonies. If we got really desperate we could hunt deer and there's a bear hangs out here too. Won't get that bad of course but it's nice to have the option.

[Daehawk]

I dislike self checkouts. If I have 5 or less small items and theres a big line and Im in a hurry I use one. If I have more than 5 and theres bigger stuff then I wont use them. Also it never ever fails that it will screw up and require a associate that is either not there, not looking, or helping others with the same problems self checkouts always have.

[em2nought]

The Ollie's in my area had big @ss vodka looking bottles of hand sanitizer for $9.99, and 50 count package of surgical masks from China for $39. Now don't go saying I told you to drink hand sanitizer. The packaging expressly stated "do not drink".

[Jeff V]

The packaging expressly stated "do not drink".

Was it made before or after Trump said to drink it or shoot it?

[coopasonic]

Work sent out an email today that we will be WFH through at least Labor Day. I'm going to save a bunch of money on "daycare" this summer.

[Jeff V]

Some of our plants are plotting to re-populate office staff as early as Memorial day. There is still no damn good reason I ever have to be in the office, but today I ventured out of my secluded corner to traverse the length of the plant several times while escorting the data center HVAC tech on routine maintence.

Why I got back to my desk, there was a message from the facility manager that 2 plant employees tested positive.

[Zaxxon]

Work sent out an email today that we will be WFH through at least Labor Day. I'm going to save a bunch of money on "daycare" this summer.

Damn, that's a proactive workplace. We're set through 6/1 with staged reopening after that, and I thought that was pretty conservative.

[ImLawBoy]

I think I mentioned this in another thread last week, but we had a legal department town hall last week where our General Counsel told us that return to the office would be measured in "months, not weeks". As much of a pain in the ass as it is for me to work from home, I appreciate this conservative approach to reopening.

[coopasonic]

Work sent out an email today that we will be WFH through at least Labor Day. I'm going to save a bunch of money on "daycare" this summer.

Damn, that's a proactive workplace. We're set through 6/1 with staged reopening after that, and I thought that was pretty conservative.

We're a bank with 100% public cloud tech infrastructure with, I think, 75% of our staff productive at home. The rest are mostly staffing bank branches and others with specific reasons they can't work from home. Since we can be productive at home there's no need to rush and risk the health and well being of our people.

[LordMortis]

Work sent out an email today that we will be WFH through at least Labor Day. I'm going to save a bunch of money on "daycare" this summer.

Wow. I still don't know if I'm WFH, on furlough, or in the office on Monday. I likely won't know until Friday.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Another paper was just put on a preprint server.


https://twitter.com/florian_krammer/sta ... 00546?s=21

The gist of it is that the vast majority of people confirmed to be Covid-19 positive had detectable antibodies. Additionally, the virus can be detected genomically (I.e. by PCR) up to 28 days post recovery, which suggests many of the reports of reinfection might just be detection of no-longer-active virus particles. So generally, this seems like pretty good news for the development of a vaccine/immunity once infected.

[Daehawk]

Just a little COVID Trek humor to make you smile and lighten your day in these times.

[AWS260]

Our re-open date is "not before July 1, likely late summer." I know why we have to wait, but man am I looking forward to being back in the office.

I am getting very tired of the chair at my computer desk at home. It's a high-quality office chair, but I am spending more time in it than I have ever spent in the same chair in my life. When I'm in the office, I regularly get up to visit other people at their desks and go to meetings. Working from home, I just sitting in this damn chair all day long.

Late summer seems very far away.

[Paingod]

When I'm in the office, I regularly get up to visit other people at their desks and go to meetings.

I've heard murmurs that some companies are finding that work from home staff are more productive.

[YellowKing]

There have been rumblings that my job may turn into work from home permanently. With the enormous financial hit they've taken, being able to cut office space expense is looking mighty appealing.

Honestly I don't really mind it. I was working from home two days a week prior to the pandemic anyway, and it's not like I crave the social interaction.

[MHS]

There have been rumblings that my job may turn into work from home permanently. With the enormous financial hit they've taken, being able to cut office space expense is looking mighty appealing.

Honestly I don't really mind it. I was working from home two days a week prior to the pandemic anyway, and it's not like I crave the social interaction.

We keep trying to convince our boss that he should go this route. Half our staff is already remote (out of state) and the other half already WFH two days a week. We're a company of 8-12 people, and there's no reason anyone needs to be in an office except that the whole reason he started a company was to have people to micromanage and he doesn't get as much satisfaction from doing so remotely. Boulder, CO office rents aren't cheap, it would easily be equal to someone's salary to just bag the office idea and let us do this permanently.

[LordMortis]

With restrictions easing at 00:01 May 07th, I have to go in tomorrow but that is just for one day. The company currently believes it will be 4-6 weeks before a proper routine and WFH will likely be incorporate in to the near term for most staff (not me. I have a private work area). I don't know if they use it to find a way to cut costs but cut costs we must. I'm trying to do my first purchasing since March, and I have been cautioned about cashflow. (to say nothing of the pay I've been missing) Not manufacturing for a month and a half and slowly ramping up is going to brutal until there is pent up demand release. And if the last three bubble bursts since I've been in durable manufacturing can somehow be compared to the a pandemic (I don't know that they can), it's about three years before the release will really happen. Cutting floor space isn't really an option but using the floor space we have to enforce new regulatory distance is what needs to happen and that will probably require non closed door office holders to be at about 200% of the space they occupy now and lay waste to how meeting rooms are used.

As it turns out, I'm feeling the effects the few minutes a day I talk to people physically without the baggage of it being all about work. That or I'm feeling the stress of the lighter paycheck, uncertainty of the future, and my saving/retirement being pinched by about 20% and likely to get pinched a whole lot more before this is over, knowing I don't have the endurance to work to a traditional retirement age.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I went in to the lab for the first time today since mid March to do some remote safety training. The only other person in the building I saw was the IT guy.

However, the “campus” that my building is part of overlooks Charleston Harbor and there are some grassy “beaches” by the water. Despite there being a gate to prevent car access to the campus, the place was swarming with people, mainly kids, who had ridden their bikes in. With all the other county parks and beaches still closed, I guess everyone has realized they can get some time by the water on our campus. Great.

[paulbaxter]

I got to see some cool stuff that my company is involved in regarding workplace screening services. Saw a demo of our quick screening tool to provide on-site COVID screening services for workplaces. Not especially trying to be a shill for my employer, but if that would be a service your company could use, you could look up Medcor, based in McHenry, IL. We do worksite health services all over the country. That's not the division I work in myself, I just thought it was kinda cool.

[Victoria Raverna]

There have been rumblings that my job may turn into work from home permanently. With the enormous financial hit they've taken, being able to cut office space expense is looking mighty appealing.

Honestly I don't really mind it. I was working from home two days a week prior to the pandemic anyway, and it's not like I crave the social interaction.

Same here. My office is considering to have people working from home and come into office in rotation. We were looking into working from home before COVID-19 but the higher management worried about productivity. Now after almost 2 months with almost everyone working from home, we know that it doesn't affect productivity that much.

[hitbyambulance]

when i was working as a vendor at Google just a couple months before coronavirus hit here, we were not allowed to bring any company computers off property. they sure changed their minds in a hurry - vendors were suddenly allowed to have laptops when the stay at home order hit, lol

for state infection rankings, Washington state dropped to 18th place, having been rapidly outpaced by Virginia and Colorado. Tennessee is now not too far behind - sorry Daehawk. i expect you'll pass us by next week.

[Kraken]

There have been rumblings that my job may turn into work from home permanently. With the enormous financial hit they've taken, being able to cut office space expense is looking mighty appealing.

Honestly I don't really mind it. I was working from home two days a week prior to the pandemic anyway, and it's not like I crave the social interaction.

Wife started a new job just as the state locked down. One of the draws was being able to WFH (or WAH as we said before WFH became a thing) two days a week; she has never been in her new office, which is a cube farm in one of the most expensive buildings in Kendall Square, which is some of the most expensive real estate in the US. Now there's some question whether they will ever go back; if they do, it will be in reduced space, and probably in a more affordable building. The scuttlebutt is that it will be at least a year from now, and even then she'll only have to go in once a week or so.

I've mostly adapted to having her home all the time, but I will be glad when she can go away from time to time. Too much togetherness.

[Daehawk]

Tennessee is now not too far behind - sorry Daehawk. i expect you'll pass us by next week.

We're a red state so nothing surprises me when it comes to how stupid we are. Ive said for years our state is run by morons and we are proving it all the time. Just recently the Governor and Hamilton County Mayor started opening things back up . The Chattanooga City Mayor said he was refusing to do so and keeping it all closed to keep people safe. 3 days later he made a announcement he was being forced to follow the higher up idiots and open up early after all against his wishes. Par for the course here.

At least we're not Georgia..yeesh.

EDIT: On the plus side of all this I hope this is a wake up call to someone somewhere so that broadband will get upgraded and prices lowered with access expanded. Letting these telecomms and such police themselves and write their own rules hasn't worked out so good now has it??

EDIT2: Looks like my county has 53 cases / 43 recovered / 1 death.

TN total is 13,571 cases / 6,081 recovered / 219 deaths

But Georgia 30,671 cases / no stats recovered / 1,305 deaths

[paulbaxter]

Man, I'm getting really tired of all the conspiracy shit I see on facebook. Shouldn't it be obvious that when you find a video from Youtube called anything like "The Real Truth About X" that you've run into something bogus?

I decided to call out a couple of friends who were posting this junk. The fact that Youtube will take down the videos, I'm sure from complaints about spreading misinformation, seems to make people even more sure that the crap contained therein is stuff that THEY don't want you to know. I couple of these I've just looked up the wikipedia article about the person in question, and it usually starts right out with words like "discredited" and "anti-vaccination activist."

Ugh.

[stessier]

Hey Smoove - what do you think about going to the dentist? Mine is opening back up and I have an appointment in a few weeks. It seems like a particularly bad idea to me.

[Sudy]

The dentist always seems like a particularly bad idea to me....