bigjoey
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Posts posted by bigjoey
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Article on why the infections are going up faster than the deaths:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johndrake/2020/07/08/four-theories-about-why-americas-second-covid-wave-isnt-quite-as-deadly-as-the-first-yet/
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Instead of temperature testing, another type of smell test may work better for discovering infections:
https://apple.news/AMkl7BKNXQnietStmoUOZzQ
Imagine the smells on the test cards?
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Instead of temperature testing, another type of smell test may work better for discovering infections:
https://apple.news/AMkl7BKNXQnietStmoUOZzQ
Imagine the smells on the test cards?
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Getting real on employee testing:
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Getting real on employee testing:
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Dogs are being trained to sniff out the presence of the virus in people. They can apparently pick up the scent from asymptotic people. Dogs like these can be a big help in places with lots of people like airports or public transport:
https://www.sciencetimes.com/amp/articles/25979/20200608/belgian-shepherds-tell-coronavirus-smelling-armpit.htm
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Dogs are being trained to sniff out the presence of the virus in people. They can apparently pick up the scent from asymptotic people. Dogs like these can be a big help in places with lots of people like airports or public transport:
https://www.sciencetimes.com/amp/articles/25979/20200608/belgian-shepherds-tell-coronavirus-smelling-armpit.htm
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and healthy eating, responsibility, etc.
But personal responsibility is so old fashion. Everything bad is always the fault of someone else.
Is it that hard to social distance, wash your hands and wear a mask? Don’t push it by asking people to eat healthy and exercise or not drive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs?.
I am coming to the conclusion that the old adage is correct: No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
- former lurker, xyz48B, + Charlie and 1 other
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It’s official, the virus has mutated:
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/02/health/coronavirus-mutation-spread-study/index.html
This may make a vaccine harder to develop?
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In the last several weeks, I have found out that two men I have known and fucked are racists. In both cases, it came as a surprise, In one case, I have known this man personally for more than 10 years and though I knew him to be conservative politically, I recently have begun to follow him on Facebook and have found his posts there disturbing, The other, an escort I have seen once or twice in the past contacted me about possibly making a trip to my area, During that conversation he made a few blatant racist remarks, Now I had no difficulty telling the second man that I was not interested in meeting up, but the other is someone I have known for a long time. I am inclined to stop the relationshi, great sex and al, but I am surprised after more than 10 years to find out about this and I am wondering if I should explore this with him,
It depends on if the man is a “lover” or a “sex partner.” To me, lover is a connotation of a very singular relationship. Sex partner is not as emotionally involved or intimate.
If it is just a sex partner, you might try compartmentalism of his racism and politics. Currently, I am friendly with a number of people whose beliefs are vastly different from mine. I am not sexually intimate with these people and do not go out of my way to be with them. But if we meet at different functions or in public I am cordial and keep the subject of our differences out of any conversation. In the past, there were escorts who held views with which I did not agree but kept our interactions to just sex.
Now if we are talking a lover. To me that is a singular partner with whom I am intimately involved as a spouse or long term partner. That makes it harder to keep separate but I do know couples who have navigated that separately.
I think of the song from Avenue Q: “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist.”
I suppose it is a matter of degree. Racism is on a continuum and a “little bit” may be tolerable but not a lot. There is a trade off of how bad his racism is and that is balanced with how good the sex is. Each person will make his own judgement.
For example, Wagner was a heavy duty anti-Semite. Big time hater. For about the first half century of Israel’s existence his music was not played by the Israel Orchestra. When they first played his music, it was a huge controversy. But in the end, the quality of his music outweighed the opposition to his anti-Semitism. I am sure there are people who do not attend concerts when his music is on the program.
You have not said what “disturbing” is on a continuum (and there is no need to repeat anything as that is your judgement) but still the end of the day, it comes down to a personal judgement.
In my own case, I have cut people out of my life when their racism was just out and out hatred.
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Yes, from what I read much of the spike in infections is among the young with seniors being more cautious in their daily lives.
America’s youth will win no prizes for intelligence when it comes to Covid19:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/us/alabama-coronavirus-parties-trnd/index.html
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It is now becoming clear what happened in Sweden and it is not good. For the expected crush in the hospitals, they issued protocols that limited access for the elderly. In a form of triage to ration care, for the elderly, senior homes were told not to send seniors to hospitals; seniors were given palliative care but not oxygen or intravenous therapy of fluids and nutrition.
The government is being accused of the unnecessary deaths of thousands of seniors who were too quickly placed on just palliative care and given morphine and sedatives rather than being sent to a hospital.
Anders Tegnell still stands by his original strategy except for “elderly care.” It is becoming clear that if Sweden had different set of elderly protocols, the national death rate would have been much lower.
Bottom line: just like the NY government created a disaster with their mandate that put infected people into nursing homes, the Swedish government created a disaster by keeping infected seniors away from acute care that could have saved lives.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52704836
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Tight lock downs have worked in New Zealand, Australia, British Columbia, all of Atlantic Canada, Uruguay. It has been demonstrated, repeatedly, that if the lock down was quick and clear, with lots of public education and buy in, they worked.
In the USA that model may no longer be relevant, whether a person acknowledges that it has worked other places, or even possible. The virus seems to be so wide spread in the USA, demonstrated that with an increased number of tests happening, which should lead to reduced rates of positive tests, that the positive test rates are increasing. From the CDC website data today, as of June 12th, perhaps there will be better news tomorrow. It looks like the vast majority of testing is done in commercial laboratories.
The overall percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 increased slightly from week 22 (6.0%) to week 23 (6.3%) nationally driven by increases in four regions. National percentages by type of laboratory:
- Public health laboratories – decreased from 5.8% during week 22 to 5.0% during week 23;
- Clinical laboratories – decreased from 5.5% during week 22 to 5.3% during week 23;
- Commercial laboratories – increased from 6.1% during week 22 to 6.5% during week 23.
I guess the question for the USA is, are their other countries that also botched the initial response, that have figured out how to get a handle on the viral spread and reduce death rates? Is Italy an example? Or Spain, or France, or New York/New Jersey?
Reading posts from you guys in the USA, the initial national response was so botched in the USA, it's sounding like some of you feel like you're bailing just to get to shore, forget about saving the boat.
A big part of the problem in the US is that each state is responding differently. The states are at different places in the time of the infection and different as to populations. While there has been some guidance from the federal government, the responsibility for execution lies at the state level (even then, there are state and local fights over what to do like Cuomo and DeBlasio). In looking at the US, it is more like looking at all of Europe where Norway responded differently than Spain.
- Public health laboratories – decreased from 5.8% during week 22 to 5.0% during week 23;
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JUNE 18, 2020 / 10:50 AM / UPDATED 13 HOURS AGO
Blood type, genes tied to risk of severe COVID-19: a European study
2 MIN READ
REUTERS:
The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China, is seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. January 29, 2020. Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM/CDC/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
(Reuters) - A person’s blood type and other genetic factors may be linked with the severity of coronavirus infection, according to European researchers looking for further clues about why COVID-19 hits some so much harder than others.
The findings, published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, suggest people with type A blood have a higher risk of being infected with the coronavirus and developing worse symptoms.
At the peak of the epidemic in Europe, researchers analyzed the genes of more than 4,000 people to look for variations that were common in those who became infected with the coronavirus and developed severe COVID-19.
A cluster of variants in genes that are involved with immune responses was more common in people with severe COVID-19, they found. These genes are also involved with a cell-surface protein called ACE2 that the coronavirus uses to gain entry to and infect cells in the body.
The researchers, led by Dr. Andre Franke from Christian-Albrecht-University in Kiel, Germany, and Dr. Tom Karlsen, from Oslo University Hospital in Norway, also found a relationship between COVID-19 severity and blood type.
The risk for severe COVID-19 was 45% higher for people with type A blood than those with other blood types. It appeared to be 35% lower for people with type O.
“The findings ... provide specific clues as to what disease processes may be going on in severe COVID-19,” Karlsen told Reuters by email, noting that additional research is needed before the information becomes useful.
“The hope is that these and other findings ... will point the way to a more thorough understanding of the biology of COVID-19,” U.S. National Institutes of Health director and genetics expert Francis Collins wrote in his blog on Thursday.
“They also suggest that a genetic test and a person’s blood type might provide useful tools for identifying those who may be at greater risk of serious illness.”
Reporting by Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru; Editing by Nancy Lapid and Bill Berkrot
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
The more we know about the virus, the better each individual will be able to make a personal risk assessment as to what activities they can do. Blood type, vitamin D levels, overweight, age, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. will all go into the assessment along with the activity: outdoors or indoors, length of time, size of crowd, etc.
In addition, the state of medical care available will make a difference: medical therapies, hospital capacity, etc. that are available if one does become infected.
Adding to this will be our own personal behaviors like mask wearing and hand washing.
As people mentally make the risk assessments, some will begin doing more activities and creating a new normal that is removed from our shutdown situation. All of this added knowledge like blood type is coming at a fast pace.
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It is not a “misstated opinion” because they are referring to two different things. @former lurker is referring to events where he was present. @Unicorn was referring to events he saw on mass media and furnished pictures that make his point. Both posters can be factually correct as to the specific events to which they referred.
Here in Kansas City, it depends on what day. The original riots and looting here showed no social distancing and few wearing masks. Now the current peaceful protests show people wearing masks and sometimes keeping social distancing. So it is a question of not only place but time.
- mike carey, + Charlie and BgMstr4u
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Again, we have to look beyond media hysteria. The media love to focus on what keeps things in the headlines. Arizona has had the worst increase of "cases" of all the 50 states. But we have to bear in mind that "cases" just means people who've tested positive, not those seriously ill, and not the death rate. If they've increase testing 5-fold and have a 50% increase in "cases," is that a cause for panic in the streets? On the news today, they discussed the graduation at the military academy at West Point. 20 cadets tested positive for active Covid-19. Not a single one even symptomatic, let alone seriously ill. And that doesn't include any cadet that has gotten infected and recovered (they didn't test for antibodies).
If being outdoors in crowded situations is dangerous, we're going to find out really soon, because there have been massive numbers of enormous demonstrations on the George Floyd matter over the last 2 weeks (I was in a smaller one myself, but cautiously kept my distance). If there isn't an exponential increase in hospitalizations quite soon, we can get over the fear of massive outdoor transmissions. Of course, it's quite possible that the shit is really going to hit the fan in the Fall. Who knows. My sense is that we really need to concentrate on protecting seniors and other vulnerable populations. If I were the one making decisions, anyone working in a nursing home, assisted-living facility, etc., would either have to demonstrate antibodies to Covid-19 or be tested daily before being allowed into work.
At the senior facility where I volunteer, every employee is tested every morning before being allowed to work. So far, not one resident has been infected with Covid19.
Even more surprising to me was that construction workers who are working on a wing of the building and not entering the main building where residents are located are tested before starting. The constitution area has been kept completely separated and yet they are doing that testing. (I am working on fundraising for the renovation and wanted to take a donor through the almost finished construction before any residents or staff was brought back in and the wing was connected back to the main building. I was told I could not do that. I have put in a request again but said we would submit ourselves to the same daily testing as the construction workers.)
I had dinner (outside on a home patio with proper distancing) with a donor to the project. I was told their family foundation funded a full time person dedicated to infectious disease control at another senior facility two years ago! That facility has had no Covid19 cases. As I have pointed out, infections normally kill hundreds of thousands of seniors a year in nursing homes. The places that have been successful today with Covid19 have been successful for years in fighting infections. This is not a new situation. It puzzles me how hundreds of thousands of seniors can die each year if infections without the hysterical headlines we see today; that should be a big story.
Yes, it would be easier if the virus was not in the general population. Yes, a lot of things in life would be better if one thing or another happened but that is not our reality. The reality is that we know what best practices are for fighting infections in nursing homes but many places ignore them.
- + WilliamM and + Charlie
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(Whisper: it's the way we did it when I worked in a grocery store in the 1970's.
)I was referring to this type of packaging when the box is cut open and a tray slides out carrying all the products:
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Just a minor thing that annoys me. When products made from rice say they are "gluten free." We know. Rice.
I just got some oatmeal that makes the same claim?
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Normally, I have been grocery shopping at “off hours.” When there are few customers in the store. Most of my shopping has been done late in the evening before closing.
Yesterday on my walk around the neighborhood, there were few cars parked at the grocery store in the earl afternoon when in weeks past it had always been crowded. I went inside and bought some fresh vegetables and fruit and inside the store was back to “normal” as far as the number if shoppers.
I then thought that because people here are returning to restaurants to eat, they will be buying less groceries. As I looked at the local restaurants, I saw many people have returned to their old habit of eating out. I talked to several of my “older” friends and they confirmed that with proper precautions they are starting to eat out (and mostly where there is outside seating).
If this trend continues, watch both the number of people in the grocery stores decline (which makes them safer for those of us still practicing social distancing).
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We are not trying to eliminate risk. We are trying to limit risk. One way or the other the economy will open up. It is a matter of how much risk we as a society are willing to take in doing so.
And perhaps if all the king's horses and all the king's men had set up a safety net for Humpty and other ova at risk, the troops and the king would not have egg all over their face and Humpty would be enjoying a vacation with the entire Dumpty clan on Easter Egg Island..
Well put: we can not eliminate risk but just minimize it. There are no Americans who have a zero risk of dying in the next 24 hours of some cause. Personal choices can lower or increase risk. People can choose to smoke, drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol, eat junk food and not exercise and become obese, not maintain physical distancing, not washing their hands and then touching their faces. People can choose to do all the “best practices” to maintain good health. These behaviors can change the risk of dying but not eliminate it.
The good fairy is not going to lower our risk of dying in this pandemic. The government can help with things like test, trace and isolate or by financing medical research or by making sure proper supplies are available. But in the final analysis, we need to modify our behaviors.
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For those trying to figure out the Covid19 death rate, the newest from the CDC with a LOWER figure range and number:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/05/fact-check-cdc-estimates-covid-19-death-rate-0-26/5269331002/
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Picture #1 has been used at least sine GWB was President??
- + azdr0710 and + Hung_Cody
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The photo may be printed backwards which would explain the left hand-right hand issues.
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Customer Service?
in The Lounge
Posted
Yes, everyone should be able to provide excellent customer service BUT will customers pay Neiman-Marcus prices? The problem is customers want rock bottom Walmart prices but top quality Neiman-Marcus service and quality products.