CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk

[Helobious 9464]

5 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

The last I read, the Spanish Flu originated at Fort Riley, Kansas.

It’s more likely that it started at a military hospital in France. 

[Irieguy 1059]

14 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

WTF with "chinese coronavirus" in the thread title?

It was a simpler time when the thread started. 

[MillerEP 30500]

I mean that's where it came from, is Wuhan Virus better?

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13587]

Who cares if it came from McConnell's wife's homeland?

Edited March 11, 2020 by Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand

[workswithseed 2111]

8 minutes ago, MillerEP said:

I mean that's where it came from, is Wuhan Virus better?

I'm thinking Commie Virus, but seems like most apocalyptic shit come from there.

Edited March 11, 2020 by workswithseed

[Bama Chick 28596]

[mention]immamac [/mention] Why is Chinese in the thread title?

Thanks.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13587]

Plus the president falls in love with that shit.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

42 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

WTF with "chinese coronavirus" in the thread title?

Because when I started the thread, I took the title from Daily Texan and added 'Political Talk' to make it easy to see that it was related to the thread there. At that time I'm not sure I was even aware that COVID-19 was becoming a more common usage.

For some reason I thought that folks who are able to discuss a topic oh like football, for example, and then divide that topic into ten or more subtopics (Like Big Twelve, SEC, Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, Other NFL teams, HS football) would find it somewhat easy to have two subtopics on one virus so that people who needed current information would not have to wade through three pages of pol debate. It seemed to be going okay for the most part, but I guess today maybe not so well. One of those things where it is difficult to keep the separation but not impossible.

Apologies if I caused offense

Edited March 11, 2020 by Mrs Whiggins
Addition

[4th&Five 41590]

Thread

[conVINCEd 21469]

5 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

Thread

I should be shocked, but I’m not.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

11 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

Thread

Still feeling pretty confident, @GRHorn?

[InkaUtexas 26108]

56 minutes ago, Helobious said:

It’s more likely that it started at a military hospital in France. 

We should ask @Armybrat  

[InkaUtexas 26108]

30 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Because when I started the thread, I took the title from Daily Texan and added 'Political Talk' to make it easy to see that it was related to the thread there. At that time I'm not sure I was even aware that COVID-19 was becoming a more common usage.

For some reason I thought that folks who are able to discuss a topic oh like football, for example, and then divide that topic into ten or more subtopics (Like Big Twelve, SEC, Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, Other NFL teams, HS football) would find it somewhat easy to have two subtopics on one virus so that people who needed current information would not have to wade through three pages of pol debate. It seemed to be going okay for the most part, but I guess today maybe not so well. One of those things where it is difficult to keep the separation but not impossible.

Apologies if I caused offense

Damn Skippy missy. It is a fine name. 

[Junior Miller 1502]

This was written 2 weeks ago outlining just how much trump and his cronies are fucking us on this

https://blog.ucsusa.org/anita-desikan/trump-administration-has-hindered-ability-to-respond-to-coronavirus

Quote

The novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, may be the most intense international public health crisis seen in the last few years. In the coming days, as COVID-19 inches towards becoming a full-on pandemic, it will become more important than ever to listen to the scientists and public health professionals advocating for disease control and prevention measures based on the best available science. But the unfortunate truth is that the Trump Administration has carried out actions that appear to leave the US less prepared to face the threat of this disease.

The current state of play

COVID-19 has been detected in at least 29 countries and has already caused worldwide changes – it has caused stock markets to plummet, disrupted global trade, unsettled worldwide travel, bred conspiracy theories and misinformation, and fostered racist attacks against people of Asian origin. COVID-19 is a hard disease to control, since an infected person on average is spreading the disease to two or three other people; COVID-19 has symptoms that easily resemble other diseases such as the common flu; and asymptomatic people can spread the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is actively preparing for the likelihood that COVID-19 will establish a “foothold in the US.” On Feb 25, officials at the CDC and National Institutes of Health (NIH) told the public to prepare for the “inevitable” spread of the coronavirus within the US, saying that “It’s not a question of if this will happen, but when this will happen, and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses.” On Feb 26, CDC officials confirmed that America’s first case of coronavirus with an unknown origin has occurred in Northern California.

When science is ignored during a public health crisis

Governments around the world should listen to the voices of scientists and public health experts and be cautious with official public statements as they work to control the virus’ spread. Yet there are already some worrying signs that science is being devalued.

The Trump administration’s pattern of sidelining science—including censoring scientific experts, disbanding scientific advisory committees, and suppressing scientific research—has even occurred in times of crisis. For instance, when Hurricane Dorian was barreling towards the Bahamas and US East Coast, federal scientists were repudiated by administration officials for correcting a false assertion by President Trump of the storm’s path.

Twice already President Trump has spread misinformation about COVID-19 which could complicate future efforts to control the disease in the US (he claimed without evidence that it is a seasonal virus that typically “will go away in April” and falsely claimed that “we’re very close to a vaccine”). The Trump administration has established a mandatory quarantine and travel ban for people who recently visited China’s Hubei province, which public health experts say could hinder the ability to treat and monitor people who have been potentially exposed. Also, the Washington Post reported that, while evacuating American citizens from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, the State Department overrode the concerns of CDC officials and allowed 14 people who tested positive for the virus to be on the same airplane as cruise passengers that had tested negative for the virus. CDC officials were so disturbed by these actions they requested that their names be stricken from the news release.

Infectious disease detection and response systems have been compromised

Several recent Trump administration actions have weakened our ability to respond to novel disease threats. Two global disease surveillance systems, whose goals were to stop future outbreaks at their sources, have been shuttered or dramatically weakened. For example, in 2018, the CDC was forced to close or downsize its efforts to fight global epidemic outbreaks in 39 out 40 countries, including China. In 2019, the Trump administration shut down the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) 14-year-old program of working with local researchers around the world to collect samples and better understand viruses in animals (75 percent of new and emerging infectious diseases, including COVID-19, originate in animals).

Several CDC scientists expressed concerns in a 2018 survey that the Trump administration is defunding, deprioritizing, and reducing scientific capacity in systems meant to detect and control infectious disease outbreaks. Responses from the survey include:

• “The idiotic myopia of not wanting to fund ‘global health’ work will certainly come home to roost, with the next flu, ebola, SARS, zika, whatever else pandemic.”
• “Talk of defunding global health initiatives has caused my division to start terminating research collaborations with international laboratories that function as infectious disease surveillance sites in Africa and Asia.”
• “Proposed funding cuts limits our [agency’s] capacity for responding to infectious disease overseas and domestically. These cuts don’t just affect our ability to prepare and respond at a federal level either. These will disproportionally affect smaller state and local health departments and grant funded programs.”

High-level leadership is critical when preventing and controlling disease outbreaks

Experienced leadership is particularly important when combating a threat like COVID-19, as an effective response inevitably requires the rapid and coordinated functioning of various governmental agencies across the nation. And yet, appointees that oversee our public health agencies lack experience in managing global health threats. The Trump administration has been systematically failing to fill vacancies on scientific leadership positions as compared to the past two administrations.

 

In the first three years of their administrations, Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush filled nearly every scientific leadership position. President Trump failed to appoint anyone to nearly half of these positions before his three-year mark.

In 2017, the White House’s National Security Council had a dedicated global health security team composed of a group of world-class infectious disease and public health experts. The team had been developing a comprehensive strategy to defend the United States against disease pandemics and biological attacks by terrorists. But in 2018, when John Bolton assumed the role of national security advisor, the head of this biosecurity team, Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer—a highly experienced public health official who had also served under the Bush and Obama administrations—abruptly left, as part of a reorganization under Bolton. Bolton soon disbanded the entire biosecurity team, causing an outcry from healthcare professionals. Additionally, White House homeland security advisor Tom Bossert, a staunch advocate of infectious disease preparedness and the biodefense strategy, left soon after.

Global health security experts have said that we are likely already witnessing the repercussions of this dismantling of the White House’ pandemic response team. A strong leadership structure to combat COVID-19 (currently, there is no clear chain of command in the federal government to respond to pandemics) would have the authority to develop a coordinated system to disseminate accurate, up-to-date information about the spread of disease to the public.

We have to listen to the scientific experts

The threat posed by COVID-19 is undeniable. The World Health Organization recently confirmed that, for the first time, more new cases were being reported outside of China than within China. And despite having a low risk of causing death, COVID-19 has already resulted in more deaths than that caused by the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) epidemics, combined.

Health officials warn that it is almost inevitable that COVID-19 will start to spread through communities in the US. The American Public Health Association has stressed the need for a strong public health infrastructure to respond to health threats like COVID-19 and the National Nurses United have described the importance of protecting healthcare workers from infection during this crisis. At times like these, we need to have decisionmakers that value the input of scientists and public health professionals and are willing to enact solutions based on the best available science. So far, the Trump administration has not engendered confidence that they will listen to the scientific experts as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds.

 

[TexLonghorn 5671]

Sadly, even Henry Hoover is more knowledgeable than our current president...

 

[Chooky 13319]

16 hours ago, F250 said:

I understand your skepticism but at some point, reality is going to put a hard check on a lot of people that have absolute faith in Trump. It will be the moment that they ask why the leopard just ate their face and it will be too late but there will be a moment of clarity for many of his believers.

Strike everything I said contrary to this. We might be really close to Trump being exposed as a complete liability to chunks of his own base. 

[Chooky 13319]

8 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

Thread

What in the roving red fuck is the deal? This shit is infuriating. 

[Francisco 2.0 32428]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/most-americans-will-likely-be-exposed-to-coronavirus-republicans-told

 

Quote

Last week, Republican members of Congress heard a sober warning in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill: There’s a good chance most people in the United States will be exposed to the novel coronavirus within two years, according to one former official. 

The assessment, from a former White House public health official who now works in the pharmaceutical industry, did not suggest that most people will become infected or ill—rather, just that most will encounter the virus, which has killed at least two dozen Americans and infected hundreds more.

 

 

Quote

Two sources–a member of Congress who attended the briefing and a second person with knowledge of it–described the remarks, made last week, to The Daily Beast. They were delivered by Rajeev Venkayya, the president of the Global Vaccine Business Unit at Tokyo-based pharmaceutical giant Takeda. The member of Congress said the comment was “sobering,” while the second person noted it came during a discussion about how to manage the costs of medical care related to the coronavirus. Venkayya pointed out that widespread access to medical care will be vital, given the likely breadth of the exposure, that source said.

 

Quote

The remarks came in a briefing to House Republicans. Executives from multiple pharmaceutical companies spoke to the members, as did Vice President Mike Pence. The comment on most Americans’ likely potential exposure to the virus came after Pence left the briefing, the sources noted. Spokespersons for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not respond to requests for comment on this story. Neither did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

 

[RayDog 682]

The part about 80% will not be exposed is bs. With an R0 above 4 more than 80% of people must develop immunity before heard immunity reduces the spread. To get immunity they will either need to be infected or vaccinated. There will be 2 or 3 waves of infections before the vaccine comes out, so by that time close to 80% may have been infected anyway. But don't worry someone in big pharma will get rich from the vaccine even though it will really be too late for most people. 

The best strategy is to try to slow the spread enough that the healthcare industry can keep up with the cases that need ventilators while not collapsing the economy. Severe quarantines such as in China will just make the second wave worse than the first as soon as people return to work. By going from one extreme to the other by first allowing the spread to overwhelm their healthcare system, then instituting draconian quarantine measures to freeze their economy and ensure a massive second wave of infection,  China has handled the virus in the worse possible way.

[Zavala 1384]

Is the happening cancelled bros?

[Zavala 1384]

21 minutes ago, RayDog said:

The part about 80% will not be exposed is bs. With an R0 above 4 more than 80% of people must develop immunity before heard immunity reduces the spread. To get immunity they will either need to be infected or vaccinated. There will be 2 or 3 waves of infections before the vaccine comes out, so by that time close to 80% may have been infected anyway. But don't worry someone in big pharma will get rich from the vaccine even though it will really be too late for most people. 

The best strategy is to try to slow the spread enough that the healthcare industry can keep up with the cases that need ventilators while not collapsing the economy. Severe quarantines such as in China will just make the second wave worse than the first as soon as people return to work. By going from one extreme to the other by first allowing the spread to overwhelm their healthcare system, then instituting draconian quarantine measures to freeze their economy and ensure a massive second wave of infection,  China has handled the virus in the worse possible way.

What exactly did you expect? They have statues worshipping Mao

[Goredho 17419]

On 3/4/2020 at 10:17 AM, Goredho said:

I had a discussion on messenger yesterday with a HS friend who I know is a director of an elder care facility in the Austin area (I can't remember which one).  She's also a full blown Trumpkin who loves Hannity and Tucker.

Me:  Hey, got time to talk about the coronavirus?

Her:  Sure.

Me:  So what's your general take?

Her:  People are freaking out for no reason.  Flu is much worse and so much more deadly for the elderly.  They are talking about cancelling SXSW.  That's ridiculous.

Me:  You feel that way with what's gone on with the Washington elder-care facility?

She didn't respond, so after a few minutes I prodded again...

Me:  They have had 8 people die in under a week.  Its like 4% of the resident population, for around a 16% mortality rate among the infected.  Its still an active outbreak.  Are those numbers normal for a flu outbreak in an old folks home?

Her:  Well, it has to do with how well those patients are monitored.  They may have nurses who are less skilled or poorly trained and do not act to care for the residents in a way they should.  If flu came to our facility, it would be a disaster.  These people are old, frail and have no reserves to fight.

Me:  So you say that sounds high, but it may be because of the quality of care they are receiving at this facility in Washington?

Her:  We lysol everything often during flu season.  We clean and wipe every touchable surface as often as we can.  We also encourage staff to stay at home if they are ill.

Me:  Well, I'm mostly concerned about my mom.  She's in her 80s and in an independent living apartment building there in Austin (note: not this friend's facility)

Her:  She will be fine.  Tell her to wash her hands.  The independent living residents are less at risk.  You can always move her out temporarily if you need to.

Me:  Ok.  Thanks.

At this point, I feel kind of uncomfortable about the conversation, her attitude and position of responsibility.  So I do a little research and pick up the conversation again, hoping to get her to consider that maybe she needs to have a little more concern about what's going on.

Me:  Oh, found the data on the flu.  Looks like its mortality rate for people 65 and older is 0.83%.  Check this link -- https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html?fbclid=IwAR090tLD_ZYLG7kk95KgKAMJZSMbA3JRhsxABrRGV_0Tct0rfWsJJc_SbKI.  It eems like the 16% rate being seen in that Washington facility would indicate this could be much more dangerous for older people than the flu if it enters their environment.

Her:  I'll take a look later, but I have to work right now.  Your mom is fine, don't freak out.

Me:  Sorry, just trying to be informed.  When you have time to respond -- do you have the ability to test your residents for coronavirus and isolate them or your staff if someone tests positive?

I haven't received a response.  Its times like this where misinformation and elective reality are extremely dangerous.

 

On 3/4/2020 at 11:22 AM, BrickHorn said:

I knew how your conversation would go based on that information alone.  Your friend is a proven idiot.  What did you expect?

BrickHorn was right, the HS friend who directs the elder care facility is beyond reaching.  She never got back to me in messenger, but last night posted this Dr Drew video on FB along with her “concerns related to the media-fueled panic that is unfounded in my professional opinion.”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/02/29/dr_drew_pinsky_threat_of_coronavirus_an_overblown_press-created_hysteria.html?fbclid=IwAR0NsGajnP0EYQPfbbG05REVoPF93ELUHuxq9JCnwuGbgr0WhjkoOXBU7HI

I commented with links showing at least 19 of 190 dead from coronavirus at the original Seattle area elder care facility, that it had spread to two other facilities in the area and that one of those reported their first coronavirus death yesterday.  Oh, and a link to CDC guidelines to limit transmission.

This morning I see my comments were deleted and we are no longer friends.

[Grade of D as in David 13253]

36 minutes ago, Zavala said:

What exactly did you expect? They have statues worshipping Mao

And we have second place statues all over the south. What's your point?

[Tuco 5077]

1 hour ago, RayDog said:

There will be 2 or 3 waves of infections before the vaccine comes out, so by that time close to 80% may have been infected anyway. But don't worry someone in big pharma will get rich from the vaccine even though it will really be too late for most people. 

I think there is still some question on how well an infection will immunize you.  Until that is understood, there is probably value in pushing hard on a vaccination, to provide short term protection for at risk population when other waves come through. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Wow, @Goredho, that is really sad. Disturbing, sure, but really sad. The relatives of those loved one in the facility are going to be facing the "I really don't care, do you" mentality in the lobby in the coming weeks and it's going to all around suck for everybody. Make no mistake. This virus was going to get here eventually, but what deliberate malfeasance has wrought will take a greater toll than it should have.

 

I hope your mom stays healthy.

[Francisco 2.0 32428]

14 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Wow, @Goredho, that is really sad. Disturbing, sure, but really sad. The relatives of those loved one in the facility are going to be facing the "I really don't care, do you" mentality in the lobby in the coming weeks and it's going to all around suck for everybody. Make no mistake. This virus was going to get here eventually, but what deliberate malfeasance has wrought will take a greater toll than it should have.

 

I hope your mom stays healthy.

 

To further this along; maybe the families of the residents of this facility need to know the leanings of this director.

 

EDIT:  I'm not about doxxing someone, or exposing their political beliefs. That's their business.  But this is a full blown health crisis that developed nations around the world have declared as a national emergency; to use one's political leanings to pretend it isn't here or isn't going to happen here is incredibly dangerous to the very people that inhabit this facility.  And this is one instance where a person's beliefs need to be exposed for the greater good.

If this director is going to be stubborn and stick their head in the sand, then they need removed.  It's that simple.

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Francisco 2.0

[BrickHorn 18285]

1 minute ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

To further this along; maybe the families of the residents of this facility need to know the leanings of this director.

The local media would pounce all over a story like that.  

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

One of the Surly posters IIRC maybe @GRHorn? I thought has a background in the medical field/hospital environment. I seem to recall him/her talking about planning and prep that places were doing so that if the case #s escalated they would be as prepared as was possible to do so. So this facility should have an outbreak plan and it should be specific to the virus. Perhaps an inquiry into that would be beneficial.

[Goredho 17419]

Thanks, she’s not in the same facility, thank God.  Where my mom is at, they are taking some decent precautions.  They’ve cancelled all the community activities led by 3rd parties until future notice and they’ve set up a buffer area where you must wash hands, have temp taken and answer a couple questions to pass through to the interior environment.  They haven’t limited family or home health aids from visiting, but have asked residents to limit social visitation until future notice.  They have the CDC guidelines to avoid transmission plastered all over the place.  Their letter to residents and families announcing these changes have specifically mentioned the Kirkland elder care facility to highlight the danger and say they are monitoring the spread of the virus and will take further action if deemed necessary to protect the residents.

I still would rather her leave temporarily, but these people are taking it seriously and I am honestly not sure anywhere is really “safe.”

[Goredho 17419]

9 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

To further this along; maybe the families of the residents of this facility need to know the leanings of this director.

 

 

Yep, I’ve been thinking about that.  I don’t remember the name of the facility, but I’ll ask around.  We have some mutual friends that are also shocked by her attitude.  She’s taken down the whole post now, after others besides me started questioning her “professional opinion.”

[horn4life 3783]

The good news is that the US Senate is in lockstep with America's concerns. What could be more pressing than smearing Hunter Biden?

[Dahobbs 17682]

14 minutes ago, Goredho said:

Yep, I’ve been thinking about that.  I don’t remember the name of the facility, but I’ll ask around.  We have some mutual friends that are also shocked by her attitude.  She’s taken down the whole post now, after others besides me started questioning her “professional opinion.”

Seems like a really good basis for a lawsuit to me and clear medical negligence at this point. If a patient dies due to the virus and that post or anything like it comes out in discovery, you can bet that some money would be changing hands. Honestly, I would consider it a civic duty to out people like that before the worst happens. 

[mdmost 43050]

 

[TXSG8R 3362]

2 hours ago, Chooky said:

Strike everything I said contrary to this. We might be really close to Trump being exposed as a complete liability to chunks of his own base. 

Trump is the symptom. The real disease is the right’s war on science. If this doesn’t turn a big chunk of them back to understanding why science is critical, nothing will. 

[bolverk 29718]

32 minutes ago, Goredho said:

Yep, I’ve been thinking about that.  I don’t remember the name of the facility, but I’ll ask around.  We have some mutual friends that are also shocked by her attitude.  She’s taken down the whole post now, after others besides me started questioning her “professional opinion.”

Once you find out the name of the facility, I'd recommend getting in touch with their corporate parent so that they can be notified that one of their employees is a real liability to their business.

[Goredho 17419]

2 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Once you find out the name of the facility, I'd recommend getting in touch with their corporate parent so that they can be notified that one of their employees is a real liability to their business.

Yep, something like that is what I was thinking.  I am not going to doxx her here, but I agree that she can’t be allowed to maintain her willful ignorance and remain in the position of responsibility she is in.

One of our mutual friends works for Texas Monthly.  This friend has told me the facility she directs and that they are going to lunch tomorrow.  Depending on how that goes you may hear something about this in the local news.  The parent company is being notified regardless.

[Loco 3754]

 

[bolverk 29718]

5 minutes ago, Goredho said:

Yep, something like that is what I was thinking.  I am not going to doxx her here, but I agree that she can’t be allowed to maintain her willful ignorance and remain in the position of responsibility she is in.

One of our mutual friends works for Texas Monthly.  This friend has told me the facility she directs and that they are going to lunch tomorrow.  Depending on how that goes you may hear something about this in the local news.  The parent company is being notified regardless.

You're performing a real public service with this decision.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Got a text from a friend this morning. She is fuming because a friend of hers (whom I don't know) is returning from a family Spring Break vacation in France and none plan on self-quarantining prior to school resuming on Monday. Now, this is a public school and is around 35% low SES and middle class with some wealthy families (such as the family mentioned above) coming from a country club subdivision. So the students that stayed home and worked at the Steak n Shake, the cinema, and the Chik-fil-a and may or may not have a family with affordable insurance are going to take it in the shorts because Bill and Bunny don't want to be inconvenienced by those Democratic hoaxes. I had already figured my family is going to get this regardless, but watch Bunny head straight for the ER as soon as she sneezes and demand to speak to the manager.

[BradInATX 9208]

1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

One of the Surly posters IIRC maybe @GRHorn? I thought has a background in the medical field/hospital environment. I seem to recall him/her talking about planning and prep that places were doing so that if the case #s escalated they would be as prepared as was possible to do so. So this facility should have an outbreak plan and it should be specific to the virus. Perhaps an inquiry into that would be beneficial.

I can tell you with certainty that GRHorn is completely full of shit, as per usual.

I know people in leadership in multiple Central Texas hospitals (multiple different parent companies) and at best they have very vague and nebulous plans that won't help much if they were to get inundated with 10 patients tomorrow. Most of them are having periodic meetings about it, but the information coming out is a lot of "we don't knows" and that they are waiting on direction (from parent companies, CDC, etc.) as to next steps.

Basically the hospitals are attempting to be effective in communication to their staffs, but they are not getting much from above. They're "we care about our staff and want to keep you informed and safe" type meetings without much substance. 

Edited March 11, 2020 by BradInATX

[wildcat09 29387]

59 minutes ago, Goredho said:

Yep, I’ve been thinking about that.  I don’t remember the name of the facility, but I’ll ask around.  We have some mutual friends that are also shocked by her attitude.  She’s taken down the whole post now, after others besides me started questioning her “professional opinion.”

I can't imagine the type of brain worms one has to have to see that Italy has issued a nation-wide quarantine and to think that this is all still just a big liberal media hoax to hurt Trump. Nobody like that should be in a position where they're responsible for someone else's car, much less their life.

Edited March 11, 2020 by wildcat09

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

1 minute ago, BradInATX said:

I can tell you with certainty that GRHorn is completely full of shit, as per usual.

I know people in leadership in multiple Central Texas hospitals (multiple different parent companies) and at best they have very vague and nebulous plans that won't help much if they were to get inundated with 10 patients tomorrow. Most of them are having periodic meetings about it, but the information coming out is a lot of "we don't knows" and that they are waiting on direction (from parent companies, CDC, etc.) as to next steps.

Basically the hospitals are attempting to be effective in communication to their staffs, but they are not getting much from above.

Well, that's not reassuring.

Been nice knowing you all. I kinda wish it had been the meteor.

[BradInATX 9208]

2 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Well, that's not reassuring.

Been nice knowing you all. I kinda wish it had been the meteor.

If it makes you feel any better, the hospitals are pretty well ready and willing to pounce on any plan of action once they receive it. And our hospitals do have the capability to overflow people from ICU into other departments when necessary (for example shutting down elective surgeries for a period of time in the OR to open up beds). 

So I'm not saying it's doom and gloom. I'm just saying that they're not getting much direction from above. Yet, anyway. At some point if we start to see cases in Central Texas, their parent organizations will likely make their own plans, in lieu of any from the government.

Edited March 11, 2020 by BradInATX

[jimmyjazz 46130]

1 hour ago, Goredho said:

Where my mom is at, they are taking some decent precautions.  They’ve cancelled all the community activities led by 3rd parties until future notice and they’ve set up a buffer area where you must wash hands, have temp taken and answer a couple questions to pass through to the interior environment.

That's exactly how my wife's parents' place in Pflugerville is handling it.  Call ahead, let them know you're coming, and then wash up, get your temp taken, answer a few questions, and go on in.

[Junior Miller 1502]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

That's exactly how my wife's parents' place in Pflugerville is handling it.  Call ahead, let them know you're coming, and then wash up, get your temp taken, answer a few questions, and go on in.

The problem is it seems people begin shredding the virus days before they show symptoms or temp increases. Our biggest problem is we as a country spend billions every year on military waste while we didn't even think to spend a few hundred million to make sure we were stocked with millions upon millions of surplus face masks. If we could mask everyone or near everyone then the rate of shedding goes way down. 

[Francisco 2.0 32428]

Hmm.

 

 

[Junior Miller 1502]

12 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

If it makes you feel any better, the hospitals are pretty well ready and willing to pounce on any plan of action once they receive it. And our hospitals do have the capability to overflow people from ICU into other departments when necessary (for example shutting down elective surgeries for a period of time in the OR to open up beds). 

So I'm not saying it's doom and gloom. I'm just saying that they're not getting much direction from above. Yet, anyway. At some point if we start to see cases in Central Texas, their parent organizations will likely make their own plans, in lieu of any from the government.

Yeah, the majority of Americans will be exposed in the coming 6-12 months and the overwhelming majority will survive it. We are going to lose several hundred thousand to a couple of million of us along the way though. Just gotta hope you get one of the empty chamber slots in the virus Russian roulette we're all about to play. 

I know Osterholm was against shutting schools because kids aren't affected by this hardly at all but can't they still be transmitters? Putting the burden on school children for being responsible for contracting the virus and indirectly killing their parent or grandparent seems harsh as shit. We need to figure out a way to shut schools for the remainder of the semester while providing child care relief to nurses and medical personnel. 

[Junior Miller 1502]

2 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Hmm.

 

 

trump got it

[Gap03 3316]

Yeah, we're pretty much fucked.  Meanwhile, the Trump administration is making sure that the annual worldwide threat assessment prepared by the intel agencies isn't released because it, once again, pointed out that we are totally unprepared for this pandemic:

https://time.com/5799765/intelligence-report-pandemic-dangers/

[HenryJames 66171]