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Erie County/Upstate New York Covid-19 Response (was: Erie Co Declares State of Emergency


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8 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

 

There were 7100 cases yesterday. What was it, just a week ago that we were in the 100’s? 

I automatically multiply by 10. The sole reason these numbers aren’t higher is the lack of testing available.

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NYC stopping testing outpatients today. More or less admitting that they are overrun with cases now and bringing people together to be tested probably will do more harm than the good it could have 2 weeks ago. 
 

Gut wrenching development and I hope other cities don’t have to concede this too. 

Edited by Sundancer
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On 3/15/2020 at 12:20 PM, matter2003 said:

After 3 confirmed cases of COVID-19 Erie County held a press conference at 11AM announcing they shut down all schools tomorrow and declared a state of emergency...

 

Conference call tomorrow to discuss next steps and decisions on school moving forward...


it’s going to be a LOT longer than Monday.  Schools in NY will likely be closed for the rest of the year.  I’d guess that most businesses will be able to resume business toward the start of August.  That would mean schools could begin in September.  
 

Yes - they completely sucks. Politics and everything aside - this virus is no joke and we need to take every precaution to move past this.

2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

 

There were 7100 cases yesterday. What was it, just a week ago that we were in the 100’s? 


It’s because way more people are being tested.  Basically the virus was alive and well weeks before the first case was identified 

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2 hours ago, Sundancer said:

NYC stopping testing outpatients today. More or less admitting that they are overrun with cases now and bringing people together to be tested probably will do more harm than the good it could have 2 weeks ago. 
 

Gut wrenching development and I hope other cities don’t have to concede this too. 

Definitely gut wrenching. And just when I felt like NY was making some real progress in their testing (NY tested at the highest rate per capita in the world over the last 24 hours. That’s what needs to be done IMO)

 

https://abc7ny.com/health/nyc-health-officials-provide-limits-on-testing-patients-for-covid-19/6033992/

 

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New York City health officials have directed medical providers to stop testing patients for the coronavirus, except for those sick enough to require hospitalization, saying wider testing is exhausting supplies of protective equipment.

In an advisory issued Friday, the health department said outpatient testing should stop unless results would impact a patient's treatment.

 

Quote

It said demand for unnecessary testing is contributing to a national shortage of masks, gowns, collection swabs and other supplies, all of which need to be discarded by health care workers after each test.

"We have been clear that testing is best indicated for people who are symptomatic, have chronic underlying illnesses, and are not getting better," said New York City's health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot.

She also urged the public not to seek treatment just because they are sick, noting that the disease is mild for most and resolves within a few weeks.

"Only go to the doctor if you are getting worse," she said, noting that every trip to a medical clinic by a sick person potentially exposes others to the disease.

The order came amid a huge surge in testing in New York. After a slow start, testing sites have proliferated, and many officials have said that widespread testing is a key to fighting the spread of the disease.

As of Friday morning, more than 32,000 people had been tested in the state, almost a third of them in the last day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

 


More than 7,000 New Yorkers have tested positive. More than 1,200 have been hospitalized.

Similar restrictions on testing have been implemented in other parts of the state.

 

Albany Medical Center and St. Peter's Health Partners said they were also suspending community testing to conserve resources.

"The difficult decision was made in order to conserve testing resources for those at highest risk, including inpatients, symptomatic direct care workers and those with high-risk exposure to the virus," according to a release.

 

 running out of protective equipment and oral swabs. Ugh. 

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On 3/19/2020 at 5:44 AM, Nervous Guy said:

 

It IS a good read.

It's been linked in a couple of the covid-19 threads.

You may also find this article of interest:
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/2/12/21133560/coronavirus-china-bats-pangolin-zoonotic-disease

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2 hours ago, Sundancer said:

NYC stopping testing outpatients today. More or less admitting that they are overrun with cases now and bringing people together to be tested probably will do more harm than the good it could have 2 weeks ago. 
 

Gut wrenching development and I hope other cities don’t have to concede this too. 

 

This is awful - heartbreaking setback.

I understand why they're making the decision if they're running short of protective equipment, but  "You can not fight what you can not see".  We MUST test and identify asymptomatic and presymptomatic people and identify them to contain the disease.

 

Ugh ugh ugh

 

I also question a testing protocol that calls for the gown, mask, gloves etc to be discarded after EVERY test.  There ought to be a way around this.

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7 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

This is awful - heartbreaking setback.

I understand why they're making the decision if they're running short of protective equipment, but  "You can not fight what you can not see".  We MUST test and identify asymptomatic and presymptomatic people and identify them to contain the disease.

 

Ugh ugh ugh

 

I also question a testing protocol that calls for the gown, mask, gloves etc to be discarded after EVERY test.  There ought to be a way around this.

 

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To add to the above story:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/21/coronavirus-testing-strategyshift/

 

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Health officials in New York, California and other hard-hit parts of the country are restricting coronavirus testing to health care workers and the severely ill, saying the battle to contain the virus is lost and the country is moving into a new phase of the pandemic response.

 

As cases spike sharply in those places, they are bracing for an onslaught and directing scarce resources where they are needed most to save people’s lives. Instead of encouraging broad testing of the public, they’re focused on conserving masks, ventilators and intensive care beds — and on getting still-limited tests to health-care workers and the most vulnerable. The shift is further evidence that rising levels of infection and illness have begun to overwhelm the health care system.

 

A similar message was hammered Saturday by members of the White House coronavirus task force, who said it was urgent to conserve scarce supplies and offered guidelines about who should get tested. Top priority, they said, should go to those who are hospitalized, along with health-care workers, symptomatic residents of long-term care facilities and people over 65 — especially those with heart and lung disease, which place them at higher risk.

 

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Health officials are now struggling with a complicated and shifting message. More people can get tested as drive-through sites open and more tests are finally available. Nevertheless, those with mild symptoms should stay home and isolate. And everyone should practice social distancing to preserve the health care system’s finite resources.

 

To convey those points clearly, many officials are speaking in increasingly blunt terms, saying that wide testing could jeopardize the lives of health care workers and the U.S. response by burning through precious supplies as a tidal wave of sick people descend on the system.

 

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I’m just scared there’s going to be mass confusion when people find out there is a testing site, are worried about their covid status, and they’re going to mob the testing site,” said Michael Fraser, executive director of the association that represents state health directors. “It’s confusing to people to hear that testing is being made available in a much more convenient way, and they think, ‘Hey, this is great, let’s get tested.’ ”

 

 

 

If you are in NY:

 

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New York City’s Daskalakis said people with a manageable fever and cough who aren’t at high risk for severe illness should assume they have covid-19. Seeking a test exposes health care workers administering them and wastes resources, since nothing would change for those individuals based on their results, he said. There is no approved treatment for the disease.

 

The default assumption is yes — anyone who comes in with any kind of fever, cough, respiratory symptom, flu-like illness, we’re making the assumption that they have this,” he said, based on the prevalence of community transmission in New York. “It’s very likely you have it. There’s no benefit for you to test.”

 

 

And then there’s this from LA:

 

Quote

Los Angeles County health officials advised doctors in a letter Thursday to give up on testing patients as a strategy to contain the outbreak, instructing them to test patients only if a positive result could change how they would be treated, the Los Angeles Times reported. The department “is shifting from a strategy of case containment to slowing disease transmission and averting excess morbidity and mortality,” according to the letter.

 

And washington St:

 

Quote

In Washington state, where hospital workers have been fashioning makeshift protective medical gear using parts purchased from Home Depot and craft stores,officials are restricting testing to high-risk populations, including health care workers and people with more severe symptoms.

 

“We’ve asked the public to understand we can’t test everyone, especially if they have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic,” said Jeff Duchin, health officer for Seattle and King County, a hard-hit part of the country.

 

 

More info in the article. I couldn’t copy/paste everything, but I tried to get the main parts. 

 

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4 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

To add to the above story:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/21/coronavirus-testing-strategyshift/

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are in NY:

 

 

 

And then there’s this from LA:

 

 

And washington St:

 

 

 

More info in the article. I couldn’t copy/paste everything, but I tried to get the main parts. 

 


I hope we reverse this trend as more supplies of gowns and tests become available. We cannot afford to take a no test and no track path. 

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Quote on symptoms are not exactly right.   It is high fever and not every one has a "normal" body temperature of 98.6.  I have been baselined by doctors to have normal temperature 96.8 (yeah I am cold blooded).  You can see how some when see it written on chart as minor dyslexia. 

 

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001982.htm

Quote

Normal body temperature varies by person, age, activity, and time of day. The average normal body temperature is generally accepted as 98.6°F (37°C). Some studies have shown that the "normal" body temperature can have a wide range, from 97°F (36.1°C) to 99°F (37.2°C).

 

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3 hours ago, Limeaid said:

Quote on symptoms are not exactly right.   It is high fever and not every one has a "normal" body temperature of 98.6.  I have been baselined by doctors to have normal temperature 96.8 (yeah I am cold blooded).  You can see how some when see it written on chart as minor dyslexia. 

 

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001982.htm

 

Same here. My normal temp is right around 97 - 97.5. 

 

So I guess for us it would be a bit lower. IMO if you have any fever at all right now you should be isolating.

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45 minutes ago, Ned Flanders said:

Virginia just a couple of hours ago closed schools through the end of the year :(

 

No one is going back to school this year, and maybe not this calendar year unless summer burns this off and we can get our treatment, testing, and tracking together by a possible fall resurgence. 

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21 minutes ago, Sundancer said:

 

No one is going back to school this year, and maybe not this calendar year unless summer burns this off and we can get our treatment, testing, and tracking together by a possible fall resurgence. 

Seeing as how this virus seems to be proliferating in hot and humid climbs as well as cooler locations, I’m not full of hope that it will give us a seasonal break.

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2 hours ago, Ned Flanders said:

Virginia just a couple of hours ago closed schools through the end of the year :(

 

My wife is a manager in one of school kitchens.  Not entirely sure how they are going to do that since they did not give staff enough time to organize cleanup of kitchen and taking care of expired items. 

 

She was called in briefly on last Monday to do inventory and help transfer items used by free breakfast and lunch services.  How do they serve breakfasts and lunches if they are closed you are wondering? They do it by having staff outside of school in tent for parents to drive to school and pick up meals if they are on free and reduced lunch list.  Other kids are being fed by school buses being driven to spots kids used to be picked up from and handing out bagged food.

 

They discovered now they have sent all staff home they do not have enough remaining to prepare everything they need to and appealed to my wife to ask her staff to go in to central kitchen and prepare (package)  meals.  They were offering time and a half which sounds like a good deal except they would be paid instead of the money they would be getting anyways not working.  In addition these are not full time pay but 3-4 hours work a day meaning you are driving usually 15-20 minutes each way and getting paid extra (4*$15*0.5) $30.  It is no wonder they are having trouble found workers.

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

Seeing as how this virus seems to be proliferating in hot and humid climbs as well as cooler locations, I’m not full of hope that it will give us a seasonal break.

 

Hot and humid is different than hot and dry.  Viruses tend to last shorter on surfaces when weather is hot and dry.  Considering communities do not seem to be developing (or virus is mutating so fast people are being re-infected with another strain) I do not see this quickly winding down.

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21 hours ago, Sundancer said:

 

No one is going back to school this year, and maybe not this calendar year unless summer burns this off and we can get our treatment, testing, and tracking together by a possible fall resurgence. 

 

I think this is likely a good prediction.  

 

Here in Vermont we had 4 confirmed cases and 0 deaths on 3/14 when Governor Scott shut down schools until 4/6.  

 

Today (3/24) we now have 95 confirmed cases and 7 deaths.  We average between 20-25 new confirmed cases and 2-3 new deaths every 24 hours.

 

No way schools are going to open back up on 4/6, and I would be shocked if they were open by 8/26 which is the first student day of the 20-21 school year.

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