Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News

[CairoCarol]

@Siam_Sam

I think you still have to quarantine for two weeks on the Big Island.

That is correct.

[Heffalump_and_Roo]

@DSeid

What I don’t get though about those who bring up the low numbers of registered deaths in India as a reason to doubt their covid mortality rates is why their influenza mortality rates seem to be believed as well as other countries are, year after year, inclusive of pandemic years?

Believed by whom?

@DSeid

As the main focus of U.S. general media discussion

Doing a quick search on undercounting of coronavirus in India brings up a lot of media ranging from the BBC to Aljazeera, pretty much saying the same thing.

Is India Undercounting Its COVID-19 Dead?

India’s official tally understates COVID-19 death toll: Experts

Is India deliberately undercounting coronavirus deaths?

Coronavirus: How many Covid-19 deaths is India missing?

Data | Is India undercounting its COVID-19 deaths?

including some like this Huffington Post article that claims that this is not unique to Covid-19 deaths. Only a quarter of deaths in India are fully documented.

Experts Say India's COVID-19 Death Toll Is Misleading

In India, recording mortality data was poor even before the pandemic struck. Of the 10 million estimated deaths each year, fewer than a quarter are fully documented, and only one-fifth of these are medically certified, according to national figures.

Most Indians die at home, not in a hospital, and doctors usually aren’t present to record the cause of death. This is more prevalent in rural areas, where the virus is now spreading.

[Heffalump_and_Roo]

@Snowboarder_Bo

/bow

I’d like to add my thanks too. Your consistency has been an impressive feat.

[Tfletch1]

@Monty

Not really, when you take into account the sheer size of populations here. I spent a year in a city of approximately five million people in the urban area. In China, that is considered a small town. All local governments throughout the country have access to testing, IIRC.

That’s impressive! It just seemed like a large number to get done in a few days. I’m skeptical that we’d be able to get even close to that in the US in just a few days.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

40,280,249 total cases
1,118,321 dead
30,115,926 recovered

In the US:

8,387,799 total cases
224,730 dead
5,457,684 recovered

Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:

@Snowboarder_Bo

39,959,269 total cases
1,114,633 dead
29,888,584 recovered

In the US:

8,342,665 total cases
224,282 dead
5,432,192 recovered

[casdave]

Here is a nice little opinion piece that offers a practiioners perspective on the ‘fight’ against Covid19

What Strength Really Means When You’re Sick

[CalMeacham]

Over the weekend, the Johns Hopkins coronavirus site reports new daily highs in 16 states

North Dakota
South Dakota
Alaska
Minnesota
Indiana
Montana
Idaho
Wyoming
Missouri
Illinois
New Mexico
Colorado
Ohio
North Carolina
West Virginia
Utah

Several others only missed making the list by a whisker.

[PoppaSan]

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has suspended the reporting of new COVID-19 totals …

Wisconsin suspends coronavirus totals during computer work

Wisconsin has been getting new daily highs several times a week lately.

[metonymic]

Same! Thank you @Snowboarder_Bo, your posts have been so helpful.

[Rick_Kitchen]

A woman died on an airplane as it waited on the runway for a flight between Arizona and Texas. This occurred in July.

Garland Woman Dies From COVID-19 While on Domestic Flight

[Dr_Paprika]

Not really news Trump is jealous of the attention and respect received by Fauci. But his latest speech contained less class than usual. And he sets a high standard.

[elfkin477]

@Snowboarder_Bo, I too also really appreciate the effort you’ve gone to

[robby]

Ditto. You’ve really done yeoman’s work for all of us here on the SDMB, @Snowboarder_Bo. Yours is the only world and U.S. Covid tracker I’ve consistently followed since this all started.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

40,648,536 total cases
1,122,992 dead
30,353,355 recovered

In the US:

8,456,653 total cases
225,222 dead
5,503,268 recovered

Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:

@Snowboarder_Bo

40,280,249 total cases
1,118,321 dead
30,115,926 recovered

In the US:

8,387,799 total cases
224,730 dead
5,457,684 recovered

[susan]

@Snowboarder_Bo, another thank you. I read this thread every night.

[emu2swan]

Another thank you. I’ve been reading this thread from the opening post.
Excellent job Snowboarder Bo.

[DMC]

@Snowboarder_Bo

Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:

You have been doing this for over 250 days now, and it can’t be pleasant to do so as watching the death counts go up is soul crushing. It’s getting so bad that I’ve had to start ignoring everyone who is trying to justify any aspects of how this is being handled here, just to keep from going off on them.

You rock dude!

No way would I have been able to keep it up.

[puzzlegal]

@Heffalump_and_Roo

this is not unique to Covid-19 deaths. Only a quarter of deaths in India are fully documented.

That’s what I keep pointing out. I haven’t bothered to follow the numbers out of India, because it would be shocking if they are reliable. Not because I think they are hiding anything, just because I don’t think the nation is set up for the sort of detailed reporting that the US theoretically can do.

(I don’t trust the Chinese numbers because I suspect they are lying, but I also believe they are low. Pandemics are the sort of event for which authoritarian regimes can do more than other nations.)

[kenobi_65]

Two new peer-reviewed studies (one in the U.S., one in the U.K.) show that the mortality rate for those who are hospitalized with COVID-19 has dropped substantially since the early days of the pandemic (though it is still dangerously high in the absolute):

Two new peer-reviewed studies are showing a sharp drop in mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The drop is seen in all groups, including older patients and those with underlying conditions, suggesting that physicians are getting better at helping patients survive their illness.

“We find that the death rate has gone down substantially,” says Leora Horwitz, a doctor who studies population health at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and an author on one of the studies, which looked at thousands of patients from March to August.

The study, which was of a single health system, finds that mortality has dropped among hospitalized patients by nearly 18 points since the pandemic began. Patients in the study had a 25.6% chance of dying at the start of the pandemic; they now have a 7.6% chance.

That’s a big improvement, but 7.6% is still a high risk compared to other diseases, and Horwitz and other researchers caution that COVID-19 remains very dangerous.

The death rate “is still higher than many infectious diseases, including the flu,” Horwitz says. And those who recover can suffer complications for months, or even longer. “It still has the potential to be very harmful in terms of long-term consequences for many people.”

The researchers point to four factors:

• A greater proportion of the hospitalized are now younger patients, with fewer co-morbidities
• Doctors now have established treatment protocols, based on previous successes in treating COVID-19 patients
• Wearing masks and social distancing may be keeping many of those who get infected from being exposed to large quantities of the virus, which may be leading to less severe infections
• Hospitals and ICUs which are not at or near capacity are likely able to provide better care, as staff and resources are stretched less thinly

Studies Point To Big Drop In COVID-19 Death Rates

[kenobi_65]

In the not-as-good-news category: Ireland has announced a six-week national lockdown, effective Thursday.

Ireland To Impose 6-Week National Lockdown, Estimates 150,000 Job Losses