Agree! All numbers posted at this time are preliminary. COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc and numbers are moving target. They do help in some cases. For example, is the social distancing we are doing helping in bending or flattening the curve? Unless you know the denominator, for example, as CPR mentioned we need to know the total number of infected people (denominator) you won't be able to confidently estimate the case fatality rate or mortality rate. How do you confirm the diagnosis of COVID-19? You test them.

Another question is, a person with pre-existing badly uncontrolled diabetes, heart disease, asthma, emphysema, kidney disease, or immune compromised and happens to test positive for COVID-19, is the death directly caused by the underlying condition that went bad (organ failure) or COVID-19? In short, if the patient who tested positive for COVID-19 dies, does it automatically reported COVID-19 as the direct cause of death regardless of the status of the other underlying conditions? How one reports it can also affect the numerator and the eventual calculation for the case fatality rate or mortality rate.

One news media outlet reported that there are 25% - 50% of infected but asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic people spread the virus albeit, unknowingly. How many of these people will become symptomatic requiring visit to a clinic/hospitalized and eventually getting tested, nobody knows. But rough estimate suggests that about 80% of those who contract the COVID-19 experience no symptoms or only mild symptoms and most of them most likely will just stay home thinking it's just the flu or cold and will not seek medical attention and get tested (confirmatory diagnosis).

I love tulips. Your photos are stunning. Thanks for sharing.

Washington State's Skagit Valley is one of the beautiful tulip festivals in the world.

Since most, if not all, tulip festivals in the US and the world have been cancelled for 2020 due to coronavirus, I attached (with Umnak's permission) a video I created on tulips a year ago. I hope this brings some joy and at least emotional relief to everyone during these challenging times.

A side note and a trivia for the medical inquisitive in you: The first officially reported case of coronavirus in the US was reported by the CDC on Jan. 21, 2020 in Snohomish County in Washington State. It was the case of a 35-year-old man who presented to an urgent care clinic on Jan. 19, 2020 in Snohomish County, Washington, with a 4-day history of cough and subjective fever. On checking into the clinic, the patient put on a mask in the waiting room. After waiting approximately 20 minutes, he was taken into an examination room and underwent evaluation by a provider. He disclosed that he had returned to Washington State on January 15 after traveling to visit family in Wuhan, China.

Apart from a history of hypertriglyceridemia, the patient was an otherwise healthy nonsmoker. The physical examination revealed a body temperature of 37.2°C, blood pressure of 134/87 mm Hg, pulse of 110 beats per minute, respiratory rate of 16 breaths per minute, and oxygen saturation of 96% while the patient was breathing ambient air. A rapid nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) for influenza A and B was negative. Tests for influenza A and B, parainfluenza, respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, adenovirus, and four common coronavirus strains known to cause illness in humans (HKU1, NL63, 229E, and OC43) were all negative. On January 20, 2020, the CDC confirmed that the patient’s nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs tested positive for 2019-nCoV by real-time reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction (rRT-PCR) assay.

Fast forward to the present, 85 days later the numbers are as follow:
Total Cases in US: 561,159; Deaths: 22,133; Recovered: 33,122
NY State: Cases: 189,415; Deaths: 9,385
NJ: Cases: 61,850; Deaths: 2,350
MA: Cases: 25,475; Deaths: 756
MI: Cases: 24,638; Deaths: 1,487
CA: Cases: 23,287; Deaths: 681

Where is WA State where it all supposedly started? No. 13 with total cases of 10,530 and total deaths of 508.

Duration of the video under 5 minutes.

Link #1 is a bit more upbeat tempo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTmbRS8aknE

Link # 2 is a bit more somber tempo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci4_beJ5sbU

Stay safe.

Indeed, a beauty.

Hope all is well with you and family.

Stay Safe.

Happy Easter!

Yep! United Way is great with 5% administrative cost.

I say 5% - 10% is still OK. Anything above is very suspicious.

Definitely, must stay away from agencies with 20% and over administrative expenses.

Also, check salary of CEO and other executives. With few exceptions, agencies with administrative expenses of above 10% - 20% pay themselves exorbitant salaries and perks. It makes you feel Aargh!

That's nice of you. Beware, scammers are all over including "charitable organizations or agencies."

Request for their financial statement. Know how much goes to charity itself and how much administrative and "other" expenses.

Scammers are already hard at work trying to separate you from your money during these difficult times. In addition to stimulus fraud, scammers are touting treatments, vaccines, and in-home tests for the novel coronavirus. None of these offers are currently proven, approved, or valid.

Keep these tips in mind when navigating information about the COVID-19 pandemic:

• According to the IRS, federal stimulus checks will be distributed automatically by direct deposit or by paper check, depending on what information you gave the IRS when filing your taxes. Stimulus funds are expected to be distributed in mid-April. If you receive a check now or receive a check at any time with an odd amount (especially ending in cents), it’s a scam.

• The government will not contact you by phone, text, or email to ask for personal information, demand that you verify information, or require you to pay a processing fee.

• Anything offered as a cure, vaccine, or test for COVID-19 will at best only cost you money. At worst, it could harm you or your loved ones.

• Scammers use sophisticated tools to trick you, such as spoofing caller-IDs. Don’t assume that a call is coming from the number or agency listed on the caller-ID. Hang up on scammers, or better yet, don’t answer their calls.

• Don’t click on ads or links in emails. If you hear from a familiar company or government agency and want to respond, use contact information that you already have, not information provided in the email or phone message.

• Beware of offers to sell face masks, gloves, cleaning products, or other emergency supplies that are in short supply. Search for reviews of websites or companies making these offers.

• If you’re seeking relief from mortgage payments, utility bills, or credit card payments, contact the bank or utility using the information provided on your bill.

The IRS will post information about stimulus payments here as it becomes available: www.irs.gov/coronavirus.

If you encounter a fraud or scam, report it! Contact the Better Business Bureau at BBB.org/ScamTracker. Visit the Federal Trade Commission for updates on coronavirus scams at FTC.gov.

Stay Home. Stay Safe.

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Don't know. Not going to speculate either.

I merely responded to your post based on the findings of the scientists on this field. As you probably read from the article you yourself posted, research scientist themselves do not know EXACTLY how this new strain of c****av***s jumped from an animal to human. They suggested bats and pangolins are involved but the search continues.

Yep, Canadians are tough and can handle this crisis.

N100 is the top of the line in respirators.

IMHO, US CDC's (and WHO) main concern re: recommending the use of surgical masks and N95 respirators for people in public is the shortage of these protective devices, a subtle admission that they don't have enough supply for the front-line medical personnel.

It's been known for quite sometime now that some COVID-19 infected but asymptomatic people can spread the virus to others, unknowingly. These are the "hidden" cases because most likely these people would not seek medical attention and get tested for the virus. In fact, an expert in infectious diseases suggested that for every 1 confirmed case of coronavirus, there are 5 to 10 "hidden" cases behind it. I am surprised that CDC came to this conclusion only recently then using it as the reason for their change in recommendation re: use of mask or facial covering in public.

Another blunder CDC made was not only with the shortage of testing kits but also the defective kits they sent to a number of states several weeks ago, when there were only a trickle of infected cases in the US. Sad to say, CDC was ill-prepared for this pandemic.

As for the WHO, well that's another (sad) story for another day.

Well, regarding the new strain of c****av***s causing the C****-**, we don't know exactly, yet, as to how the v***s jumped from an animal to humans. In fact, co-author of the study, Andrew Rambaut, cautioned that it is difficult if not impossible to know at this point which of the scenarios is most likely. The study opined 2 possible scenarios.

As to t***smission directly of the v***s from bats to humans, the study says, "there are no documented cases of direct bat-human t***smission." Emphasis on the word, direct. However, the study suggests that an intermediate host was likely involved in the t***smission of the v***s between bats and humans. This is their first "scenario" as to the t***smission of the v***s from animal to humans like what happened to SARS (civets) and MERS (camels). Based on this, the study suggests that the bat is the "reservoir" host and the v***s jumped to another animal, presumably pangolin (intermediate host), which in turn t***smitted the v***s to humans.

In the study's second scenarios, they opined that the non-pathogenic version of the v***s jumped DIRECTLY from an animal presumably pangolin, to humans then assumed its pathogenic form now causing C****-**.

Or

the v***s from pangolins indirectly jumped to another animal (e.g., civets or ferrets - intermediate host) which in turn, t***smitted it to humans.

Why c****av***s from bats and pangolins? Researchers found out that the genomic make up of c****av***s found in bats and pangolins are closely similar to the c****av***s now causing the C****-** (SAR-CoV-2). How close in similarity? Very close. Almost 100%.

Take Home: We don't know yet, exactly how this new strain of c****av***s jumped from an animal to human.
(We may never find out.) Since there is no documented DIRECT t***smission of c****av***s from bats to humans (as indicated by the study), an intermediate animal (host) is a possibility in pangolin, therefore, bats and pangolins are suspects # 1 and 2. At present, scientists are still running tests on other animals.

Not taking any sides here. But, try to open your mind, watch the video, then you decide freely.

NTD News - reports the news about China, uncensored.

Gives a short timeline about c****av***s outbreak in W***n and how the CCP handled it. 15 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAs4lEJwA_g

Shame on 3M. Wonder what "3M" mean, anyway? Could it be, Money! Money! Money!?

I have a friend who is disabled but she found ways to sew several face masks and sent them to a local nursing home residents, gratis.

Exactly!

Something is better than nothing. Yes, they are useful - face masks, facial covering - in preventing spread of virus, if the wearer is infected but asymptomatic.

CDC wants us to reserve the N95s and surgical masks for the medical and health care personnel which is perfectly understandable. So, start sewing or use your bandannas, scarf, underwear (just kidding), as facial coverings.

Remember, face masks, facial coverings are NOT SUBSTITUTE for the practice of social distancing (keeping appropriate distance, avoiding close social gatherings, stay home), proper hygiene, hand washing, wiping frequently-touched surfaces.

Does this meet criteria as a facial covering?

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This is a free country. You can do anything as long as it's not harmful or offensive to others.

The point of my post is to address the new official finding (actually, already known for awhile) released by CDC that at least 25% of infected but asymptomatic people are walking around in public spreading the virus. Wearing a face mask or something to cover your face helps in preventing the spread of the virus (fact). CDC (especially WHO) continue to stand by their current recommendation not to wear mask in public. At least, CDC is now willing to take it in consideration.

Why do I care? Well, both CDC and WHO are health organizations that US and the world rely on for advice and directions. People want a clear advice and direction, not mix messages. COVID-19 has an Ro (R-naught) estimated between 1.5 to 3.5 and some estimates are even higher. Ro is the average of people one infected person can transmit the virus to in a nonvaccinated population. In short, it's a measure of how infectious a virus is. If you do the math, you'd come to conclusion that COVID-19 is highly contagious.

Wearing a face mask or facial covering is NOT A SUBSTITUTE to the current recommended social distancing and other hygienic practices to avoid getting infected by the virus. It is IN ADDITION to the recommended preventive measures I just mentioned.

Based on the above-mentioned finding, if the CDC does not recommend using mask or facial covering in public, it may lead to continued rise in infected cases --> possible hospitalizations in an already overwhelmed healthcare system --> more deaths. If this doesn't faze you, don't know what.

Each side has each own pros and cons.

Made in China - meds cost less but you're at China's mercy as they control the on/off switch. Not a situation you want to be during a p******c especially when you're dependent on a country like China for life-saving drugs.

Made in US - meds cost more but you have full control of the supply for life-saving drugs if/when a new p******c shows up.

It's really a matter of choosing which is the lesser evil. Your call. Simple.