COVID-19 Links, facts and discussion. Politics and hyperbole welcome.

[Nameless Range]

Interesting and hopeful

Convalescent Blood Therapy - Marginal REVOLUTION

A simple and medically feasible strategy is available now for treating COVID-19 patients, transfuse blood plasma from recovered patients. The idea is that the antibodies from the recovered patients will help the infected patients. The idea is an old one and has been used before with some...

marginalrevolution.com

 

[Nameless Range]

A War Footing: Surfing the Curve

This is a post about the hard part of the economics of Covid-19. You may think that everything up to now hasn’t been exactly a picnic but…

medium.com

I thought this was another interesting article. It basically states that the only solution is to increase our medical capacities, as flattening the curve will still leave us fatally resource-constrained under current trends. In just over a week, China built entire hospitals. That may be a lesson we can learn.

 

[88man]

@VikingsGuy to be fair idk if we can have any hard facts until the whole thing passes. I'm also glad we are taking it very seriously. I just dont understand what is different about this one that made us take it more seriously than we did in the past.

OIL below $30 barrel

 

[Jasher]

Auto workers union presses companies to close US factories

The companies and union will meet this evening to discuss the safety measures.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[Nameless Range]

A War Footing: Surfing the Curve

This is a post about the hard part of the economics of Covid-19. You may think that everything up to now hasn’t been exactly a picnic but…

medium.com

I thought this was another interesting article. It basically states that the only solution is to increase our medical capacities, as flattening the curve will still leave us fatally resource-constrained under current trends. In just over a week, China built entire hospitals. That may be a lesson we can learn.

Timely. In today's press conference Trump talked about utilizing to the Army Corps of Engineers to construct hospitals as needed.

 

[VikingsGuy]

I know this is a MN article, but it is generally true across the country. In short - so far the ag/food supply chain is in good order:

http://www.startribune.com/there-s-...minnesota-stores-are-getting-it-in/568860332/

(sorry can't say the same about TP)

 

[rmauch20]

Please people to not be ignorant about this virus, I know it can be comforting to compare this to other causes of death and try to shrug it off, but realize also that this is brand new virus and these casualties are all going to be compounding with any other disease or death rate you can produce. Pull your head out of the sand. Italy recorded 368 deaths overnight from the virus. People are dying at home, there are not enough resources for everyone to even make it to the hospital. Healthcare workers are getting sick, and they haven't begun to flatten the curve yet.

Coronavirus: EU states record highest one-day death toll - BBC News

Italy, Spain and France all report grim new figures for fatalities from the coronavirus.

www.google.com

Is the average age of death in Italy still around 82?

 

[Paul in Idaho]

The data collected so far on how many people are infected and how the epidemic is evolving are utterly unreliable. Given the limited testing to date, some deaths and probably the vast majority of infections due to SARS-CoV-2 are being missed. We don’t know if we are failing to capture infections by a factor of three or 300. Three months after the outbreak emerged, most countries, including the U.S., lack the ability to test a large number of people and no countries have reliable data on the prevalence of the virus in a representative random sample of the general population.

A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data

A fiasco in the making? As the #coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data.

www.statnews.com

 

[----]

just another day, EXCEPT THAT IT WASN’T !!!!!!!!

A little backstory , my job allows me to meet new people all the time , and I had seen this older gentleman before over the last year walking and or driving when I was in his neighborhood, no cane or walker , moved somewhat fluidly and still drives , I thought he was late 70’s early 80’s He had...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[VikingsGuy]

Another look at emerging data for those that aren't already saturated:

Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)

Country-by-country data and research on the pandemic. Updated daily.

ourworldindata.org

 

[rmauch20]

Trump pushes for massive aid from Congress, checks to public

In a massive federal effort Tuesday, President Donald Trump asked Congress to speed emergency checks to Americans, enlisted the military for MASH-like hospitals and implored ordinary people — particularly socially active millennials — to do their part by staying home to stop the spread of the...

www.yahoo.com

I don’t know what to think of this just yet but they’re talking about sending a$1000 check to every American adult.

 

[JLS]

just another day, EXCEPT THAT IT WASN’T !!!!!!!!

A little backstory , my job allows me to meet new people all the time , and I had seen this older gentleman before over the last year walking and or driving when I was in his neighborhood, no cane or walker , moved somewhat fluidly and still drives , I thought he was late 70’s early 80’s He had...

www.hunttalk.com

I'll gladly give up nights at the pub for this guy. Not sure how I missed that thread the first go round, but that is good stuff.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Did anyone see or hear about the possible complications with corvid 19 if you take ace 2 inhibitor blood pressure medication. If you take an ace 2 I think its worth some self education/invstigation on the matter

This started with one non-peer reviewed letter that didn't even concluded this but suggested follow up studies. Here are links to reactions from a number of medical experts saying that you should keep taking your meds until your doctor tells you not to. There is even some reference to theoretical benefits of ACE2 during infection as well.

Should ACE-inhibitors and ARBs be stopped with COVID-19? — NephJC

ACE2, coronavirus, COVID19, SARS, hypertension, COVID-19, RAS, renin-angiotensin system

www.nephjc.com

expert reaction to questions about high blood pressure, diabetes, and ACE inhibitor drugs, and risk of COVID-19 infection | Science Media Centre

 

[VikingsGuy]

It seems that there are hour to hour announcements about event cancellations, public space shutdowns and "work from home" policies. This one cuts the other way. An employee that resigned rather than to continue to go into work at an employer who wasn't will to waive their "no work from home" policy:

Charter engineer quits over “reckless” rules against work-from-home

Charter workers apparently face choice in pandemic: work in the office or resign.

arstechnica.com

 

[LWC55]

Is the average age of death in Italy still around 82?

Pretty close:
Silvio Brusaferro, the president of Italy’s Higher Institute of Health, said on Friday that the average age of coronavirus victims was 80.3, with the majority having suffered underlying illnesses. The most common additional health issue was arterial hypertension followed by chronic heart disease, atrial fibrillation and cancer.

'This is like a war': view from Italy's coronavirus frontline

Friends and relatives of those killed by Covid-19 tell of the virus’s devastating impact

www.theguardian.com

 

[Deleted member 16014]

A War Footing: Surfing the Curve

This is a post about the hard part of the economics of Covid-19. You may think that everything up to now hasn’t been exactly a picnic but…

medium.com

I thought this was another interesting article. It basically states that the only solution is to increase our medical capacities, as flattening the curve will still leave us fatally resource-constrained under current trends. In just over a week, China built entire hospitals. That may be a lesson we can learn.

That was a fascinating article. You can tell it was written by an economist. They tend toward relatively emotionless analysis, which can be useful at times but also feels cold to read.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Pretty close:
Silvio Brusaferro, the president of Italy’s Higher Institute of Health, said on Friday that the average age of coronavirus victims was 80.3, with the majority having suffered underlying illnesses. The most common additional health issue was arterial hypertension followed by chronic heart disease, atrial fibrillation and cancer.

'This is like a war': view from Italy's coronavirus frontline

Friends and relatives of those killed by Covid-19 tell of the virus’s devastating impact

www.theguardian.com

It will be interesting to see when they get more data if the "hypertension effect" is real or just an artifact of the age of the patients - by this I mean, if you are 45 years old and have treated hypertension are you actually at higher risk.

 

[LWC55]

The average life expectancy for 2019 was 78 years. The average age of a corona death is over 80 years old. Not that I don't care about old people. Just some data to consider. The best times of my life were spent the majority of time with folks in their 80's.

 

[ImBillT]

But only people who likely have it or think they have it are currently being tested. That greatly inflates the figures.

It inflates the perceived infection rate, but it decreases false positives, which is important, at least for now.

 

[jryoung]

Pretty close:
Silvio Brusaferro, the president of Italy’s Higher Institute of Health, said on Friday that the average age of coronavirus victims was 80.3, with the majority having suffered underlying illnesses. The most common additional health issue was arterial hypertension followed by chronic heart disease, atrial fibrillation and cancer.

'This is like a war': view from Italy's coronavirus frontline

Friends and relatives of those killed by Covid-19 tell of the virus’s devastating impact

www.theguardian.com

21.7% of persons over 65 in the US are in fair to poor health

Obestity Rates

• Men aged 65-74: 40.2%
• Men aged 75 and over: 28.0%
• Women aged 65-74: 43.5%
• Women aged 75 and over: 32.7%

Other complication with our elderly population is too many to list.