OT: Coronavirus

[Guest]

@JimmyinSD said:

@Vikergirl said:
https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1252...47905?s=19

can we get through this wave before we get everybody freaked out about something that may or may not happen in 6 to 8 months?

I agree -- 

I dont want secrets and I want possibilities like this on leaders radars, but why alarm an already alarmed and burned-out community???

[Guest]

Gov. Tim Walz announces plan to expand COVID-19 testingDeal reached with private labs.

Gov. Tim Walz announced a new statewide pandemic strategy Wednesday, using the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic and other state health care providers to increase COVID-19 diagnostic testing in the state to as many as 20,000 Minnesotans per day.
The increased testing, announced at a news conference at the state’s emergency operations center, is the centerpiece of Walz’s plan to boost testing and tracing to help control the pandemic and start to safely reopen businesses and other public spaces. Walz has extended his stay-at-home order until May 4.
“When Minnesota faces a challenge, we rise up — together,” Walz said in a statement. “I’m proud to partner with Minnesota’s innovative health care systems and leading research institutions to pioneer how states can begin to move forward amid COVID-19.”
State officials said the announcement means they will have the capacity to deliver 20,000 molecular and 15,000 serology tests per day, giving them the capacity to test anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19. The state will create a central lab to accommodate the expanded testing and a virtual command center to monitor testing needs and coordinate responses to potential outbreaks in the state.
The total case count of 2,721 so far is based on 49,344 tests by the state public health lab and private labs such as Mayo. But state health officials have said that is not enough to truly understand the spread of COVID-19 in Minnesota.
State epidemiologists are working under the assumption that every confirmed case could represent as many as 100 unconfirmed cases, given the high number of people who show few or no symptoms.
The testing is estimated to cost $36 million and will be paid for in part through a coronavirus response fund established by the Legislature and approved by Walz
https://www.startribune.com/gov-tim-walz...569860492/

[Guest]

@Vikergirl said:
https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1252...47905?s=19

Sweet, more vaccine conspiracy fuel for the fire.   ‘THEY WANT US ALL VAXXINATEEDD MANNN”

[Guest]

@Skodin said:

@Vikergirl said:
https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1252...47905?s=19

Sweet, more vaccine conspiracy fuel for the fire.   ‘THEY WANT US ALL VAXXINATEEDD MANNN”

thats been rolling around in my head for a month now... this will be the next big shit show is people refusing to get vaccinated because of some social media hoax.

[Guest]

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/12...10689?s=19

[Guest]

@purplefaithful said:
Gov. Tim Walz announces plan to expand COVID-19 testingDeal reached with private labs.

Gov. Tim Walz announced a new statewide pandemic strategy Wednesday, using the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic and other state health care providers to increase COVID-19 diagnostic testing in the state to as many as 20,000 Minnesotans per day.
The increased testing, announced at a news conference at the state’s emergency operations center, is the centerpiece of Walz’s plan to boost testing and tracing to help control the pandemic and start to safely reopen businesses and other public spaces. Walz has extended his stay-at-home order until May 4.
“When Minnesota faces a challenge, we rise up — together,” Walz said in a statement. “I’m proud to partner with Minnesota’s innovative health care systems and leading research institutions to pioneer how states can begin to move forward amid COVID-19.”
State officials said the announcement means they will have the capacity to deliver 20,000 molecular and 15,000 serology tests per day, giving them the capacity to test anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19. The state will create a central lab to accommodate the expanded testing and a virtual command center to monitor testing needs and coordinate responses to potential outbreaks in the state.
The total case count of 2,721 so far is based on 49,344 tests by the state public health lab and private labs such as Mayo. But state health officials have said that is not enough to truly understand the spread of COVID-19 in Minnesota.
State epidemiologists are working under the assumption that every confirmed case could represent as many as 100 unconfirmed cases, given the high number of people who show few or no symptoms.
The testing is estimated to cost $36 million and will be paid for in part through a coronavirus response fund established by the Legislature and approved by Walz
https://www.startribune.com/gov-tim-walz...569860492/

Sounds nice.  Too bad I just called the Avera clinic here in Worthington and tried to get tested. I was asked questions about symptoms and then told I didn't meet the threshold for a test because I wasn't sick yet.  This is after 2 coworkers had tested positive and the JBS plant being shut down.  

[Guest]

@RS Express said:

@purplefaithful said:
Gov. Tim Walz announces plan to expand COVID-19 testingDeal reached with private labs.

Gov. Tim Walz announced a new statewide pandemic strategy Wednesday, using the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic and other state health care providers to increase COVID-19 diagnostic testing in the state to as many as 20,000 Minnesotans per day.
The increased testing, announced at a news conference at the state’s emergency operations center, is the centerpiece of Walz’s plan to boost testing and tracing to help control the pandemic and start to safely reopen businesses and other public spaces. Walz has extended his stay-at-home order until May 4.
“When Minnesota faces a challenge, we rise up — together,” Walz said in a statement. “I’m proud to partner with Minnesota’s innovative health care systems and leading research institutions to pioneer how states can begin to move forward amid COVID-19.”
State officials said the announcement means they will have the capacity to deliver 20,000 molecular and 15,000 serology tests per day, giving them the capacity to test anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19. The state will create a central lab to accommodate the expanded testing and a virtual command center to monitor testing needs and coordinate responses to potential outbreaks in the state.
The total case count of 2,721 so far is based on 49,344 tests by the state public health lab and private labs such as Mayo. But state health officials have said that is not enough to truly understand the spread of COVID-19 in Minnesota.
State epidemiologists are working under the assumption that every confirmed case could represent as many as 100 unconfirmed cases, given the high number of people who show few or no symptoms.
The testing is estimated to cost $36 million and will be paid for in part through a coronavirus response fund established by the Legislature and approved by Walz
https://www.startribune.com/gov-tim-walz...569860492/

Sounds nice.  Too bad I just called the Avera clinic here in Worthington and tried to get tested. I was asked questions about symptoms and then told I didn't meet the threshold for a test because I wasn't sick yet.  This is after 2 coworkers had tested positive and the JBS plant being shut down.  

That sucks...I dont know how long it will take to ramp the central lab and tests? Then there's the question of availability for Hennepin/Ramsey and then outlying counties too. I hope soon. 

I read where a Tyson plant is now finding positive employees and Comfrey Farms in MN too...Not surprised as epidemiologists are surmising for every one positive test, there could be up to 100 asymptomatic people with it. 

[Guest]

@JimmyinSD said:

@Skodin said:

@Vikergirl said:
https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1252...47905?s=19

Sweet, more vaccine conspiracy fuel for the fire.   ‘THEY WANT US ALL VAXXINATEEDD MANNN”

thats been rolling around in my head for a month now... this will be the next big shit show is people refusing to get vaccinated because of some social media hoax.

And what do we say?

Let's remove all the warning labels and let things sort themselves out.

[Guest]

AP-NORC poll: Few Americans support easing virus protections

By THOMAS BEAUMONT and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated PressApril 22, 2020 — 5:10pm

WASHINGTON — Americans remain overwhelmingly in favor of stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, a new survey finds, even as small pockets of attention-grabbing protests demanding the lifting of such restrictions emerge nationwide.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds that a majority of Americans say it won’t be safe to lift social distancing guidelines anytime soon, running counter to the choice of a handful of governors who have announced plans to ease within days the public health efforts that have upended daily life and roiled the global economy.
More than a month after schoolyards fell silent, restaurant tables and bar stools emptied, and waves from a safe distance replaced hugs and handshakes, the country largely believes restrictions on social interaction to curb the spread of the virus are appropriate.
Only 12% of Americans say the measures where they live go too far. About twice as many people, 26%, believe the limits don’t go far enough. The majority of Americans — 61% — feel the steps taken by government officials to prevent infections of COVID-19 in their area are about right.
About 8 in 10 Americans say they support measures that include requiring Americans to stay in their homes and limiting gatherings to 10 people or fewer — numbers that have largely held steady over the past few weeks.
“We haven’t begun to flatten the curve yet. We’re still ramping up in the number of cases and the number of deaths,” said Laura McCullough, 47, a college physics professor from Menomonie, Wisconsin. “We’re still learning about what it can do, and if we’re still learning about what it can do, this isn’t going to be the time to let people go out and get back to their life.”
While the poll reveals that the feelings behind the protests that materialized in the past week or so in battleground states such as Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are held by only a small fraction of Americans, it does find signs that Republicans are, like President Donald Trump, becoming more bullish on reopening aspects of public life.
Just 36% of Republicans now say they strongly favor requiring Americans to stay home during the outbreak, compared with 51% who said so in late March. While majorities of Democrats and Republicans think current restrictions where they live are about right, Republicans are roughly four times as likely as Democrats to think restrictions in place go too far — 22% to 5%.
More Democrats than Republicans, meanwhile, think restrictions don’t go far enough, 33% to 19%.
“They’ll be lifted, but there are still going to be sick people running around,” said 66-year-old Lynn Sanchez, a Democrat and retired convenience store manager from Jacksonville, Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott has reopened state parks and plans to announce further relaxations next week. “And we’re going to have another pandemic.”
More than 45,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19, while 22 million have applied for unemployment benefits since March. It’s that economic cost that has led some governors to follow Trump’s lead and start talking about allowing some shuttered businesses to reopen, including in Georgia, where many businesses — including gyms, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors — can do so starting Friday. Restaurants there can resume dine-in service next week.
Yet the survey finds that few Americans — 16% — think it’s very or extremely likely that their areas will be safe enough in a few weeks for the restrictions to be lifted. While 27% think it’s somewhat likely, a majority of Americans — 56% — say conditions are unlikely to be safe in a few weeks to start lifting the current restrictions.
“If we try too hard to restart the economy prematurely, there will be waves of reinfection,” said 70-year-old retired medical equipment salesman Goble Floyd, of Bonita Springs, Florida. “I don’t think the economy or life will get back to normal until there’s a vaccine. It just seems this is so seriously contagious.”
The emerging partisan differences are apparent. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is a Republican and unwavering Trump supporter. GOP lawmakers in Wisconsin filed suit Tuesday against the state’s Democratic governor after he ordered most nonessential businesses to remain closed until May 26.
The poll finds 59% of Republicans say it’s at least somewhat likely that their areas will be safe enough for reopening in just a few weeks, compared with 71% of Democrats who say it is unlikely. Still, even among Republicans, just 27% say that’s very likely.
“I haven’t met one person at the protests that disagrees with the fact that we need to self-quarantine until April 30,” said Matt Seely, a spokesman for the Michigan Conservative Coalition, which sponsored an automobile-based protest at the state’s capitol in Lansing last week. “Nobody wants to do the wrong thing. 
But the solution is not to stay in your home until the last case of COVID is gone."

[Guest]