Covid-19 discussion and humor thread [Was: CDC says don't touch your face to avoid Covid19...Vets to the rescue!

[BullBuchanan]

I would just put on educational youtube videos. If your kids go to public school I'm betting it'll be a net win -  at least compared to what school passed for in my school district.

Edited August 3, 2020 by BullBuchanan

[teef]

23 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I think the school distracts are struggling to figure it out *ducking*

 

Seriously, it's a problem.  My friend from Big Pharma is working from home these days but he can't work and teach.  His wife, a preschool teacher, decided to quit her job to stay home and supervise the video learning/supplement.  They have the salary to consider doing that.

 

 

 

 

i wouldn't want to be a school administrator right now, that's for sure.

 

we starting to see some fallout of this.  i don't think i'll completely lose any staff, but we're going to have to shift hours.  i'll do what i can to make it work, but the next two weeks are going to be fun.  i was honestly just excited not have to pay daycare for one kid.  with both of them it was $600 a week.  

[Punching Bag]

2 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

I would just put on educational youtube videos. If your kids go to public school I'm betting it'll be a net win -  at least compared to what school passed for in my school district.

 

I can understand that if the students were of your quality.

 

I grew up in a good public school district, Hamburg, in WNY.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

[K-9]

Hey, @Hapless Bills Fan, I was hoping you might shed some light on this. A dear friend of mine was presenting symptoms and went to get a test. It was a parking lot drive thru deal and all they did was use a regular Q-tip and swabbed the sides of her nostrils; not the 6 inch, brain poking swab to the back of the nasal cavity. The test came back negative, but we are not sure about its accuracy given the procedure. Are you or anyone you know acquainted with this kind of nasal swab? Is it reliable? 
 

Thanks.

[The Dean]

44 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

 

It's unfortunate it took a pandemic to simply do what was necessary. Not talking about the touching, of course. Just banning Sweet Caroline.

[K-9]

1 minute ago, The Dean said:

 

 

It's unfortunate it took a pandemic to simply do what was necessary. Not talking about the touching, of course. Just banning Sweet Caroline.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 hours ago, K-9 said:

Hey, @Hapless Bills Fan, I was hoping you might shed some light on this. A dear friend of mine was presenting symptoms and went to get a test. It was a parking lot drive thru deal and all they did was use a regular Q-tip and swabbed the sides of her nostrils; not the 6 inch, brain poking swab to the back of the nasal cavity. The test came back negative, but we are not sure about its accuracy given the procedure. Are you or anyone you know acquainted with this kind of nasal swab? Is it reliable? 
 

Thanks.

 

Oooooh.  Pet peeve o' mine.

 

Bottom line, it depends upon who you ask.  The overall consensus still seems to be that nasopharangeal swab properly collected will give fewest false negatives.

I think this summarizes the consensus:

 

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/false-negatives-covid19-tests-symptoms-assume-you-have-illness#How-false-negatives-happen

 

Key points:

“The majority of issues contributing to error in diagnostic testing are pre-analytic,” he added. “These occur during specimen order, collection, and transport, before the specimen ever reaches the lab. We know that collection methods do not always pick up the virus. Studies suggest current swab collection may have sensitivity in the range of 60 to 75 percent. That means the specimen submitted to the laboratory from a patient with the infection will not contain the virus roughly 25 to 40 percent of the time.”

 

“The notion is that this is a virus that likes to implant itself on the mucous membranes high up in the back of the throat behind the nose,” Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, told Healthline. “So you have to put a swab, not at the front of the nose, but rather far back. Then you have the small mucus on the end of that specimen, it gets sent to the laboratory, it’s extracted from the specimen, then using molecular technology you determine whether the virus is there.”

“You can have a false negative if you have very little virus up there or perhaps the specimen was taken inappropriately. It didn’t get up high enough to actually get to the place where the virus was located. That’s another possibility,” Schaffner added.

 

This small study says that nasal swab sampling may be almost as sensitive as nasopharangeal sampling (missed ~10% of the infections the nasopharangeal swab detected)

https://jcm.asm.org/content/58/6/e00721-20

 

BUT - this was the proper nasal swab technique: "Nasal and nasopharyngeal swabs were inserted in the nostril until they hit an obstacle (the inferior concha and the back of the nasopharyngeal cavity, respectively), rotated five times, and removed."  To just swab around the inside of the nostril is not proper technique.

 

Here's a study from China where they didn't use nasopharyngeal swab - but nasal swabs were 63% accurate vs 72% for saliva

 

Bottom line, I don't think your dear friend got the best technique.  There is also the question of when in the infection she got tested and when the test was run which has an impact:

 

 

PS similar thing happened to a friend of mine.

 

[BillsFan4]

 

Masks are a personal choice according to Paulding county, and social distancing will only be observed if possible. 70% of parents chose in school learning for their kids. 30% chose online, but the ones who chose online still have to go to school in person in the mean time, while online learning is set up. Link: 

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/paulding-at-home-learning-wait-list/85-00d037bd-eaa0-4fbe-9c06-dd21b40d335a

 

and here’s Missouri’s Governor:

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/20/missouri-gov-mike-parson-says-kids-get-over-covid-19/5474557002/
'They’re going to get over it': Missouri Gov. insists kids must go back to school even though 'they will' get COVID-19

 

Quote

“These kids have got to get back to school,” Parson said in an interview Friday with radio host Marc Cox on KFTK. “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.” 

I sure hope he’s right.

 

I know there’s no easy answers to this situation. But I feel like some of these school districts are basically using these kids as a giant medical/science experiment. 

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by BillsFan4

[teef]

2 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

Masks are a personal choice according to Paulding county, and social distancing will only be observed if possible. 70% of parents chose in school learning for their kids. 30% chose online, but the ones who chose online still have to go to school in person in the mean time, while online learning is set up. Link: 

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/paulding-at-home-learning-wait-list/85-00d037bd-eaa0-4fbe-9c06-dd21b40d335a

 

and here’s Missouri’s Governor:

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/20/missouri-gov-mike-parson-says-kids-get-over-covid-19/5474557002/
'They’re going to get over it': Missouri Gov. insists kids must go back to school even though 'they will' get COVID-19

 

I sure hope he’s right.

 

I know there’s no easy answers to this situation. But I feel like some of these school districts are basically using these kids as a giant medical/science experiment. 

 

i'm all for opening schools in a controlled manner, but what is it with some of these states, (maybe it's not fair to say states but rather regions)?  i don't see how this type of opening won't go badly.  some teachers here are saying they're refusing to go back to work until our county has 14 days with no positive tests, and then there's the opposite extreme of this.  

[The Dean]

2 minutes ago, teef said:

i'm all for opening schools in a controlled manner, but what is it with some of these states, (maybe it's not fair to say states but rather regions)?  i don't see how this type of opening won't go badly.  some teachers here are saying they're refusing to go back to work until our county has 14 days with no positive tests, and then there's the opposite extreme of this.  

 

Oh yes, this is going to be just peachy. 

 

But it's what Betsy DeVos wants. 

 

[teef]

5 minutes ago, The Dean said:

 

Oh yes, this is going to be just peachy. 

 

But it's what Betsy DeVos wants. 

 

school openings may be more entertaining than the football season.

[K-9]

57 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

Masks are a personal choice according to Paulding county, and social distancing will only be observed if possible. 70% of parents chose in school learning for their kids. 30% chose online, but the ones who chose online still have to go to school in person in the mean time, while online learning is set up. Link: 

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/paulding-at-home-learning-wait-list/85-00d037bd-eaa0-4fbe-9c06-dd21b40d335a

 

and here’s Missouri’s Governor:

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/20/missouri-gov-mike-parson-says-kids-get-over-covid-19/5474557002/
'They’re going to get over it': Missouri Gov. insists kids must go back to school even though 'they will' get COVID-19

 

I sure hope he’s right.

 

I know there’s no easy answers to this situation. But I feel like some of these school districts are basically using these kids as a giant medical/science experiment. 

 

It’s a good thing that young people aren’t vectors for the disease to spread. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

 

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

It’s a good thing that young people aren’t vectors for the disease to spread. 

 

And on that note, I think it's a good time to bring in this post from the Facts thread.  Basically, this school superintendent knows how easily covid-19 spreads - he has 11 people in his building testing positive.  He had a teacher become positive and infect 2 other teachers who were online-teaching in the same large room, socially distanced and masked using their own equipment, nothign shared (first teacher died).

 

75% of his kids live in the same household as a grandparent.

 

But he's being told by their governor, "open the schools, or lose your state funding (5% of his budget)

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

Masks are a personal choice according to Paulding county, and social distancing will only be observed if possible. 70% of parents chose in school learning for their kids. 30% chose online, but the ones who chose online still have to go to school in person in the mean time, while online learning is set up. Link: 

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/paulding-at-home-learning-wait-list/85-00d037bd-eaa0-4fbe-9c06-dd21b40d335a

 

and here’s Missouri’s Governor:

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/20/missouri-gov-mike-parson-says-kids-get-over-covid-19/5474557002/
'They’re going to get over it': Missouri Gov. insists kids must go back to school even though 'they will' get COVID-19

I sure hope he’s right.

I know there’s no easy answers to this situation. But I feel like some of these school districts are basically using these kids as a giant medical/science experiment.

 

Parsons  has catalyzed covid-19 spread in MO by refusing to mandate masks: "masks are a personal choice", "I'm not going to tell people to wear a Dang Mask".  He's fundamentally regarded Covid-19 as a "big city problem" for StL and KC.  Oh, yeah, and well, all those Hispanics in the Meat Packing plants, them too.  But they won't spread it in the communities where those plants are located....will they?

 

Covid is now spreading pretty fast in the SW and SE and NE of the state, areas with few hospitals and many at-risk groups.  He has not distributed CARES funding to county health departments to increase staffing (or to the State Health department, which was 10,000 tests behind at one point), but Branson MO has gotten a buttload of it.   He has done nothing to increase testing capacity or throughput.

 

Former US Senator Claire McCaskill (MO) called him on it perfectly:

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 hours ago, Greg S said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/02/nyregion/liberty-belle-illegal-party.html

 

It's stuff like this that I don't see us beating the virus anytime soon.

 

Yeah, NY is going to have to isolate itself if it keeps on going this way.

 

But I keep coming back to, "don't just tell us what not to do - tell us what CAN we do?"

 

It seems like perhaps there should be someone that boat operator can reach out to, to help him operate safely.  In theory, being out in fresh air and breeze should not be a big risk.  Maybe there is and he just didn't reach.  Or maybe there isn't and he saw his choice as "flout the law, or starve" ?‍♂️

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

 

And on that note, I think it's a good time to bring in this post from the Facts thread.  Basically, this school superintendent knows how easily covid-19 spreads - he has 11 people in his building testing positive.  He had a teacher become positive and infect 2 other teachers who were online-teaching in the same large room, socially distanced and masked using their own equipment, nothign shared (first teacher died).

 

75% of his kids live in the same household as a grandparent.

 

But he's being told by their governor, "open the schools, or lose your state funding (5% of his budget)

 

 

5 hours ago, y2zipper said:

 

The pandemic is a double whammy of sorts for schools. The collapse of discretionary spending lowers revenue and the safety issues increase costs. In a typical year this is a formula for teacher layoffs, but some states moved money around  to keep the education budget flat.

 

A few States asked the federal government for money in May because they saw this coming as soon as they did the cost analysis of opening up everybody. But the federal government just doesn't move fast enough to make anything happen.

 

The science seems to be settling relatively in a place where communities that don't have high infection rates and strong mitigation factors can put the same mitigation factors into schools to allow for in-person instruction to happen. In the United States putting that sort of medication together is a relatively unrealistic idea.

 

 

 

 

 

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

 

And on that note, I think it's a good time to bring in this post from the Facts thread.  Basically, this school superintendent knows how easily covid-19 spreads - he has 11 people in his building testing positive.  He had a teacher become positive and infect 2 other teachers who were online-teaching in the same large room, socially distanced and masked using their own equipment, nothign shared (first teacher died).

 

75% of his kids live in the same household as a grandparent.

 

But he's being told by their governor, "open the schools, or lose your state funding (5% of his budget)

 

What kind of governor coerces school districts to open by threatening funding to be withheld? 

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Parsons  has catalyzed covid-19 spread in MO by refusing to mandate masks: "masks are a personal choice", "I'm not going to tell people to wear a Dang Mask".  He's fundamentally regarded Covid-19 as a "big city problem" for StL and KC.  Oh, yeah, and well, all those Hispanics in the Meat Packing plants, them too.  But they won't spread it in the communities where those plants are located....will they?

 

Covid is now spreading pretty fast in the SW and SE and NE of the state, areas with few hospitals and many at-risk groups.  He has not distributed CARES funding to county health departments to increase staffing (or to the State Health department, which was 10,000 tests behind at one point), but Branson MO has gotten a buttload of it.   He has done nothing to increase testing capacity or throughput.

 

Former US Senator Claire McCaskill (MO) called him on it perfectly:

 

After seeing that pic of the MO gov, I’m gonna blame regressive genetics. Mean? Yes. But F that guy for deliberately putting people at risk. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

18 minutes ago, K-9 said:

What kind of governor coerces school districts to open by threatening funding to be withheld? 

After seeing that pic of the MO gov, I’m gonna blame regressive genetics. Mean? Yes. But F that guy for deliberately putting people at risk. 

 

Well, that's sort of Federal policy, isn't it?  Didn't Trump say he would withhold federal funding from school districts that don't open in person?

Didn't DeVos say the same?

 

So the governors who follow suit, I would assume they're just falling in line.

 

I'm not down with the "cheap shot" on personal appearance myself. 

[TBBills]

2 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Parsons  has catalyzed covid-19 spread in MO by refusing to mandate masks: "masks are a personal choice", "I'm not going to tell people to wear a Dang Mask".  He's fundamentally regarded Covid-19 as a "big city problem" for StL and KC.  Oh, yeah, and well, all those Hispanics in the Meat Packing plants, them too.  But they won't spread it in the communities where those plants are located....will they?

 

Covid is now spreading pretty fast in the SW and SE and NE of the state, areas with few hospitals and many at-risk groups.  He has not distributed CARES funding to county health departments to increase staffing (or to the State Health department, which was 10,000 tests behind at one point), but Branson MO has gotten a buttload of it.   He has done nothing to increase testing capacity or throughput.

 

Former US Senator Claire McCaskill (MO) called him on it perfectly:

 

Their are people that actually think kids cannot pass covid onto their parents and some are even in these forums.

Edited August 4, 2020 by TBBills