Random discussion of Covid-19 not specifically related to restaurants or food

I’ve just looked at lots of reports and read of very few instances of outdoor transmission. There are enough that I wouldn’t eat at a restaurant outdoors unless there was a breeze.

Haha. Lived this the other day. Only distanced table on the patio was downwind of the other tables. Noped outta that one just in case.

Until it does…outside transmission in the White House Rose Garden during the introduction of the proposed new Supreme Court justice has been linked to at leat 7 cases of CV-19 with more projected to come. It’s now being labeled a “super spreader” event.

No masks, no social distancing and 1 person actively shedding the virus.

Most if not all of the people infected also socialized indoors. And many of them were in indoor meetings together on other occasions during the week…

Either this event was a despicable act of irresponsibility, or the whole damn thing has been an elaborate reality show since Friday. It’s hard to tell. Either way, DT and all of his close associates will fully recover and all will then claim immunity to the covid. And then they’ll be quick to point out that DT’s opponent does not have immunity. It’s either all been true, a Hail Mary pass, or a combination grab for sympathy votes. I can’t tell; it’s been too opaque. And DT’s DO hasn’t been much help. Ugly no matter which way you look at it.

The debate debacle, DT’s taxes, the supreme court…well, everything – go back to the long list – has been drummed out of the news cycle for the past four days and counting. Meanwhile, JB, being the decent person that he is, withdrew his “attack ads” against DT, which of course the ailing POTUS did not.

Based on his gasping for air during his Covita balcony scene it is hopefully more likely that Benito Trampolini won’t make it much longer

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DC, I tend to agree with Honkman on this. DTs doctor has said “he’s not out of the woods yet” and he probably isn’t. Herman Cain went to the Tulsa rally on June 24th, he died on July 27th. Just a few days before he died he tweeted or posted that he was feeling much better and expected to recover. He didn’t.

Trump is in the high risk group due to age, obesity and (controlled) high blood pressure. He does not exercise regularly and his diet is not particularly healthy. This is not exactly a recipe for recovery.

He’s gotten experimental treatments - at taxpayers expense, I might add - that the average Covid patient either wouldn’t have access to, or can’t afford. Remdesivir is not cheap and I can’t imagine that the experimental monoclonal cocktail he recieved wasn’t also very expensive. The fact that his doctor has been anything but transparent does not exactly instill confidence. I saw an intresting statistic this morning that said about 35% of Covid patients who received steriods, which Trump did, or may still be, had neurological side effects. We may be seeing that with the euphoria and reckless endangerment of everyone around him. Trump is basically out of contol, and that’s not a good thing for any of us, let alone the country. This is primarily a lung disease and his doc was more than evasive in discussing what Trump’s chest x-rays showed, so we dont’ know. We’re in the dark as to how good or bad his lungs may be.

Doc, when this story broke late Thursday evening, my first reaction was that it was “fake news” his attempt to divert attention from the tax story, the disatorous debate performance, his Covid preformance and every other scandal and to perhaps court the sympathy vote. After all, both Boris Johnson and Jair Bolsnaro in Brazil emerged from their CV-19 experiences more popular than before they contracted the disease. Like everything else, Trump has squandered that political capital, almost before it was even available. I continued to believe it was merely a PR stunt up until Sunday when I, grudgingly, had to admit it was probably a real story.

Politico had an interesting story this morning. Trump fatigue is setting in not only with non-supporters but even some of his diehard supporters are tiring of the antics and chaos. Thankfully, we’re only a few weeks out from the election. The bubble won’t burst and all the tension and dessention miraculously evaporate and everything return to “normal”, but some new paths, and new energy out of this miasma might open up.

In the meantime, I don’t think that everyone in DT’s retuine will fully recover. I think there will be a few that get seriously ill and perhaps 1 maybe 2 that die from it. His press secretary Kaleigh McEnany has had a double mastectomy. She’s young, but she’s also in the high risk group. Karma is a b*tch and I think she’s finally making an appearance. Or, perhaps, the fat lady is warming up to sing…

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7/2: We are sorry to announce that Herman Cain has tested positive for COVID-19, and is currently receiving treatment in an Atlanta-area hospital.

Please keep him, and all who are battling this virus, in your prayers.

7/5: Update: Herman wants to thank everyone for praying for him. It’s making a difference. He’s still in the hospital but he’s making progress and we expect to hear more encouraging news as the week progresses. So thank you, everyone, and keep them coming! God is listening.

7/7: This is a tough virus, but we serve a tougher God. Herman wants to get back in action soon, so please continue praying.

7/7: Herman asked us to let you know again how much he appreciates all your prayers. He’s still in an Atlanta-area hospital, where doctors are trying to make sure his oxygen levels are right.

7/10: Herman wants to once again thank everyone for your prayers. He describes the current process as “cruise control” because the progress is slow but his breathing is getting stronger every day.

Make no mistake: He is improving!

Please keep praying and know he loves you all.

7/15: If he continues to progress at the same pace, they will probably get a little more proactive today about moving him to some new treatments. Also, he was irritated they wouldn’t let him have a Snickers bar. That’s our boss! Please keep praying for him.

7/15: We want to give you a quick update on the boss’s progress battling his COVID symptoms. The doctors like the progress he’s making - although it’s still slow and requires much patience.

7/27: We’d like him to be able to come home now, which is frustrating, but we’re glad the doctors are being thorough and making sure they do the job right. Thank you for praying, everyone. Please keep doing it. He really is getting better, which means it is working.

7/27: Re-strengthening the lungs is a long and slow process, and the doctors want to be thorough about it.

7/27: We know it’s been a few days since we last gave you an update on the boss. But he is still in the hospital being treated with oxygen for his lungs. In the meantime, the doctors say his other organs and systems are strong.

7/30: We’re heartbroken, and the world is poorer: Herman Cain has gone to be with the Lord.

My gut feeling is that the Regeneron dual AB cocktail will save his life but other people around him won’t have access to it fast enough and are not important enough for Trump to get it to them (and my bet would be on Chris Christie to be hit really hard by Covid)

I wouldn’t make any bets about the effectiveness or harmful side effects of the unprecedented combination of drugs and quack remedies they dosed him with. Pretending to be well when he has serious lung problems is reportedly likely to make his condition worse.

9 posts were merged into an existing topic: Can restaurants be made safe during the pandemic?

Mine too. He suffers from asthma among other things. Stephen Miller would be a better choice for it tho’…

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My cynical take is that that was part of the showmanship. Suddenly “symptom free” the following day, according to his personally appointed doctor?

(“Covita” was a takeoff on Evita, aka Eva Peron, I take it? Good analogy.)

Yes, I believe he got the Covid. Yes, I believe he got all of the treatments reported. No, I don’t think it is or was as serious as has been represented. That’s just my take. IMO, at least part of it has been exaggerated reality-TV showmanship.

I am pretty sure if he wouldn’t get “unapproved “ drugs as a president he would be know in an ICU and potentially on a ventilator - his disease was very serious with O2 levels <90% (which they even had to admit and do we don’t even know what the ling scans etc show)

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Trump has clearly ordered his doctors to share only positive information with the press. Thus we can assume that any question they won’t answer confirms bad news and that vague answers are phrased in the most positive possible way.

That means his oxygen levels dropped to the mid-80s and his lung imaging shows problems. That fits his treatment with dexamethasone and his being out of breath for his television performance.

Mr. Trump paused twice while walking across the lawn — whether to wave to cameras or to catch his breath, he said was not clear — and then appeared to be gasping for breath at the top of the stairs. [Dr. Talmadge E. King Jr., a specialist in pulmonary critical care and the dean of the UCSF School of Medicine] and others said Mr. Trump used his neck muscles to help him breathe, a classic sign that someone’s lungs are not taking in enough oxygen.

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From these graphs it seems, at least in France, that either they got really good at treating COVID-19 or the spike in cases is a function of testing many more asymptomatic people at present as opposed to the early days of pandemic. I have not seen much about possible mutations in the virus making it more contagious but less lethal but that sometimes happens.


It’s a mix of changes in age distribution, better (understanding of) treatments and more testing of not only sick people

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France’s case fatality rate peaked at almost 20% in May and is now slightly over 5%. In the same period, total identified cases have gone up around 150%. As I calculate it that means people who test positive are around 35-40% less likely to die.

In July and August deaths were down to around 15 a day. As a result of reopening it’s now around 70, so they’ve closed bars, gyms, and pools again.

There’s been a similar trend in Sweden. Since mid-September, new cases per day have been climbing again (they had been dropping until then). Yet, since August 1, the rolling 7-day average of deaths has been between 1 and 3 – mostly between 1 and 2, and sometimes zero. Sweden got off to an abysmal start in terms of deaths; a great many of their elderly population, particularly in care homes, lost their lives. There was a huge number of deaths due to poor contagion control and poorly conceived containment and mitigation policies. Yet, for the past two months dying from covid in Sweden seems to be very rare. The total number of deaths per capita in Sweden, greatly inflated by that early massive number of deaths, is now 14th in the world, behind Italy, UK, Mexico, USA, Spain, and others. None of what I’ve said should be construed as an endorsement of their approach; it’s just an observation. I’ve taken an interest in what’s going on there.