No malice intended but how is everybody in your neck of the wood taking the ribbing?

Crissy Becker, a truck driver, is just one of the many essential workers who continue to ply their work during this coronavirus crisis, putting their lives at risk, "so y'all get what you need." Unfortunately, they are largely unrecognized, under appreciated, and worst, disrespected. The others include, the grocery workers, garbageman, mailman, etc.

From the original article, here's a few words from Crissy: "I'm a mom," she writes. "Instead of going home, I stayed out driving my truck sometimes 24 hours at a time, lately six weeks. So y'all got what you need. And there are hundreds of thousands more like me but instead of going home are running until we can't see straight in our tracks."

To read more, here's the original article: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-heroes-covid-19-truck-drivers-sanitation-workers/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=84728112&fbclid=IwAR3ik33FYWJXAlRiQKeoRffthUXFNLT3YTUKqdZnKFuZPDTqzUKuxYDO-ZE

Update on COVID-19 March 21, 2020 @ 10:00 p.m. ET

Not looking good. We need stronger measures to counter this virus. It's looking more like we're following Italy's trajectory rather than So. Korea's.

May have to resort to extreme measure. National lock down?

BTW, Properframe was pretty close with his projection re: number of cases and deaths.

Here's the link to today's numbers (2 min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r93Q6G1FjeQ

Don't give up on the social distancing. Stay safe, stay smart, and stay healthy.

Stay Home and Save Lives.

Take care.

Staying out there putting themselves at risk of the COVID-19, so y'all can have what you need.

Next time you see one on the road, give him/her a special shout out.
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Truck driver, Crissy Becker, on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis

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I think you'll be right on, give or take 10-20 on the number of cases and 5-10 on number of deaths.

As of this writing, 3:30 p.m. ET, the US counts are:

Total cases: 24,137

Total deaths: 288

NY is really ramping up on the number of cases (3,247 new cases so far), closely followed by neighboring state NJ (437 new cases), and most states in the rest of the country are double-digit increases. And the day is still young.

Agree. In fact, just came back from a walk in a nearby park myself. Not surprisingly, not too many people out there.

Thanks.

[quote=TriX]Here in Raleigh, we have had some amazing cases of stupidity. The production company (not the arena where they were held) decided to go ahead and hold two large concerts this last week, which were attended by literally thousands of (stupid) people. To top it off, one concert goer who tested positive for Covid -19 AND was showing symptoms went anyway and spent 4 hours walking all over the concert. Can’t even guess how many he exposed and no practical way to track them all and test/quarantine them. That one person could have ultimately spread the virus to hundreds and perhaps responsible for killing dozens. That ought to be a felony and result in prison time when he recovers.

And then there’s the Biogen conference. Biogen, a pharma company went ahead with a meeting of hundreds in Boston, which was ultimately responsible for many dozens of cases in Boston (close to a hundred last I heard) and 5 of our first cases here in Raleigh. All preventable. Argh![/quote


IMHO, governors of most states take steps as a reactive reflex. Unfortunately, this approach eventually may result in hundreds if not thousands of lives lost. A few governor are more aggressive and pro-active and I commend them.

This is like history repeating itself. A tale of two cities in the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 - St. Louis, the more aggressive one (where social distancing originated) https://www.kmov.com/news/aggressive-actions-during-spanish-flu-pandemic-made-st-louis-a/article_5fbb54e4-62df-11ea-90b4-3f0155ceb745.html and Baltimore - a more lackadaisical approach https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0319-1918-flu-baltimore-20200318-cu7jhknfczekfezf5kuk5g7d5q-story.html

Incidentally, the first confirmed case of coronavirus in North Carolina was contracted from the Life Care Center Nursing Home in Kirkland, WA. As of this writing, there are 234 confirmed cases of coronavirus in NC with 58 new cases overnight. NC ranks # 15 among states in number of cases.

As for the Biogen cases in Boston, MA, at least 15 confirmed cases were all contracted from a Biogen employee in attendance in a Biogen conference in late Feb. 2020. It spread to other states including NJ and CT where confirmed cases were also in attendance in same conference.

STAY HOME
SAVE LIVES

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay smart.
Take care.

Yep! My sentiments exactly. Well, got news for him. Both CDC and WHO came out with numbers that don't look good for the young adults with CoVID-19. The message is, "You are not invincible!"

CDC recently released the cases they tracked from Feb. 12 to March 16 for the 2,449 COVID-19 patients in the US whose ages were known. Consistent with the previous findings from China, older adults and people with underlying medical conditions face a higher risk of complications due to new coronavirus. The data also indicates older Americans face a higher risk of hospitalization, admission to an intensive care unit or even death.

What is surprising is that anywhere from 14% to 21% of adults ages 20 to 44 with COVID-19 have been hospitalized; 2% to 4% led to ICU admissions, and less than 1% were fatal.

Incidentally, the same surprising results about the young adults were reported by researchers from France and Italy using their own data, a few weeks earlier.

As for the Life Care Center facility in Kirkland, WA, one of the residents most likely contracted COVID-19 from someone (visitor, employee, etc.) and the disease just spread like wildfire after that resulting in several deaths. The first case of coronavirus in US was reported in Washington state (Snohomish Co.), Jan 20, 202 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001191. The virus is so contagious that by the time the first case was reported, unknown number of other people were most probably already infected. One expert in infectious viral infections suggested that behind one confirmed case of coronavirus, are at least 5 other "hidden" cases walking around infecting others.

Take Home: Older people and those with underlying medical conditions and immune compromised are highest risk for hospitalizations, complications and death from COVID19. But, 1 in 5 hospitalized people belong to the ages between 20 to 44.

STAY HOME! SAVE LIVES!

Take care.

Yep. That is also my hope and pray.

Without a vaccine and anti-viral meds specifically indicated for this disease at present, we have nothing to look for help but us. It is ALL up to us. We MUST bend the curve downward, now and flatten it. Not going to be easy. Lots of sacrifices from everyone including giving up some of our rights such as to socialize or mingle albeit temporarily. It's all we have right now. "STAY HOME! SAVE LIVES!" is not just a slogan. It's for real. Just do it!

It's a given that people will die. But if we don't do nothing, the number of deaths will be at least twice as many as that with doing something (staying home). For example, 2 million deaths as opposed to 1 million. (Note: Numbers I cited are only to show examples.)

To ALL, I repeat, we got nothing but US to bend the curve downward then flatten it.

Take care.

Update COVID-19 March 20, 2020.

Numbers continue to rise. We need to flatten the curve. Actually, it's a must. The curve continues to show steep rise and following Italy's trajectory (not good). We need to bend it downward and then flatten it like South Korea did (good). Our window of opportunity is narrowing, to quote WHO chief.

We got to keep up with social distancing to reduce infections and hope that the coming warmer weather and summer season provide a respite. By fall, let's hope for coronavirus to mutate in an attenuated form and existing off-label drugs and newly discovered drugs are effective with vaccine against it ready for mass use available as early as 12 months.

Here's the link to the update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP8dZ6qOWGc

Good luck. Take care.

More Bathroom Signs.

Keep it coming, folks.
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Update COVID-19 Mach 19, 2020.

Nothing good to report. Number cases and deaths continue to rise. We need to take really aggressive action. Social distancing is one weapon but must strictly adhere to. Big gathering of spring breakers on beaches will not flatten that curve. In fact, could add more fuel toward a fast and steep curve. I think co-UHH-er, Properframe is right on with his projection (give or take a week) that is, if we fail to flatten the curve in time, we may experience what the Italians are experiencing now in a couple of weeks. The goal is to flatten the curve the way the South Koreans did it.

Here's the link to the video update (no music): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZV5HGHyUBw

Take care.

Properframe, thanks for your remarks and the numbers projection. I must admit that math is not my forte. I don't mean to be disrespectful and not questioning your math prowess, but for the nation's sake, I hope you're wrong.

I still hope and pray (some people don't believe in that) that if we place several road bumps in its path, we could weaken and eventually conquer/tame it. But it won't be easy. To accomplish it will require lots of sacrifices from all of us including curtailment of our social gatherings/entertainment, free movement, financial sacrifices, and even numerous loss of lives.

Ten thousand cases and 70 deaths increase per day starting in 8 days (by Tue, next week)? Heaven help us.

Here's the latest update. In sum, not looking good in the US in general especially in the east coast.

I uploaded it in YouTube. Also, included mitigation strategies to flatten the curve. Four minutes of dreadful numbers. No music. Somber feeling.

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzs7UGFqjkc

Update: March 17, 2020 @ 6:00 ET:

USA: Total cases: 6,349 (1,686 new cases); Deaths: 106 (20 new deaths). Surpass the 100 mark in number of deaths and expected to rise. Neighbor to the north Canada with 479 total cases with 38 new cases; 5 deaths and 1 new death. Neighbor to the south, Mexico with 82 total cases with 29 new cases; deaths 0.

New deaths include (not complete):
• 1 in Nassau County (New York): a 96-year-old man
• 2 new deaths in Santa Clara County (California): a man in his 50s (who was hospitalized on March 12) and a man in his 80s. It is not known if either had underlying health conditions
• First 2 deaths in Riverside County (California)
• 1 new death in Bergen County (New Jersey): a man in his 90s

New cases include (not complete):
• First case in Madison County (Alabama)
• 1st case of community spread in Galveston County (Texas)
• 1st case in Frederick County (Maryland
• 432 in New York state, of which 118 in New York City, 157 in Westchester County, 1 in Essex County
• 2 new cases in Fairbanks (Alaska)
• First case in Peoria County (Illinois): the person was screened over the phone and tested at home by OSF Healthcare
• 1 new case in Tulare County (California) hospitalized in critical condition
• Ohio: The first 67 confirmed cases of coronavirus are spread across 16 counties, though 46% are in Cuyahoga County.

WORLDWIDE: There are now 164 countries affected by COVID-19.

Total cases: 198,011; total deaths 7,961 and 81,727 as recovered. Will probably eclipse the 200K mark in number of cases before midnight.

TOP 10 in number of cases (US #8):
CHINA: Total cases: 81,058; Deaths: 3,226
ITALY: Total cases: 31,506 (3,526 new cases); Deaths: 2,503 (345 new deaths). Bergamo (Lombardy region) has run out of intensive care beds. Unions are demanding the closure of post offices after the deaths of 2 postal workers who were on their job until a few days ago.
IRAN: Total cases: 16,169 (1,178 new cases); Deaths: 988 (135 new deaths).
SPAIN: Total cases: 11,826 (1,884 new cases); Deaths: 533 (191 new deaths).
GERMANY: Total cases: 9,367 (2095 new cases); Deaths: 26 (9 new deaths).
SOUTH KOREA: Total cases: 8,320 (84 new cases); Deaths: 81 (6 new cases).
FRANCE: Total cases: 7,730 (1,097 new cases); Deaths: 175 (27 new deaths).
SWITZERLAND: Total cases: 2,742 (389 new cases); Deaths: 27 (8 new deaths).
UK: Total cases: 1,950 (407 new cases); Deaths: 71 (16 new cases). According to the NHS, those who died were aged between 45 and 93 and all had underlying health conditions.

Take care.