22 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – May 8 2020”

  1. Kawasaki disease. Is this a children’s version of the corona virus?

    This COVID never ends does it? 🙁

    1. It is how the freakin virus can affect children. These people that are protesting
      to have things open up might think differently if their child became stricken.

  2. My siblings are doctors in 4 different specialties. 3 are researchers. They’ve repeatedly told me that because the novel coronavirus is so new there’s relatively little known about its effects, other than the obvious ones on the respiratory system. Pulmonary embolism appears to be a relatively frequent occurrence among the severely ill, as are cardiovascular conditions. The Kawasaki disease connection to the virus is being investigated. The virus doesn’t gain anything by making a person sicker, but as the ultimate parasite it’s constantly in search of new bodies to infect and places in bodies to replicate. The replication process is really a hijacking operation.

    While it is not the Bubonic plague, or nearly as lethal as HIV, Ebola, and other viruses, it’s by far the world’s worst pandemic since the Spanish flu 100 years ago. And, the unfortunate reality is that we’re only in the 2nd inning of a 9 inning game. In the end this virus will have killed millions, perhaps tens of millions, worldwide. I don’t think the U.S. will reach the million mark, but in aggregate, globally, the toll will be staggering.

    In the short term, I’m still hopeful the nation’s cases won’t rapidly increase as some models predict. A lot of this hopefulness is weather-related. Viruses such as SARS-Cov-19 have more trouble transmitting in sunlight and heat and outdoors. This doesn’t mean, however, that the new cases and deaths will plummet. I’ve never believed that, and don’t understand models that projected that. Our lockdown wasn’t hermetically tight like China’s. I do believe that China was able to defeat the virus by enforcing the strictest of lockdowns for 2 months. The country is up and running again, albeit in constrained fashion, tests quite a bit and is finding very few new cases. Americans living in China have confirmed this.

    One continent has escaped the coronavirus. Here’s an article on what it’s like to be in a place without coronavirus. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/life-in-antarctica-during-the-pandemic/index.html

    1. I think the closest it has come to Antarctica is the Faukland Islands, about 3,000 miles away.The population in Antarctica is 4-5,000 in their summer months and probably half that or less during their winter which just started in March. My guess is that some of the people who would normally leave during the winter are not leaving so quickly.

      1. Emperor Penguins are in the mating process about now. Young chicks to be hatched in a couple months or so. 🙂

  4. I suspect everyone knows and surely did expect it, but the fourth concert, etc in Boston has been cancelled.

    1. Thanks for that info Vicki. My personal hope is that the Boston Marathon in September will be cancelled as well. The thought of the entire world coming to Boston does not set well with me, even with runners and spectators alike wearing masks. It was cancelled in 1918 so it wouldn’t be unprecedented by any means.

      1. I did not know it was cancelled in 1918 thanks. Agree it should not be held. Walsh today said no parades, etc through summer in Boston and September is summer

        1. I guess that would include the Caribbean Carnival in late August held Roxbury/Dorchester/Mattapan. Thanks again Vicki!

  5. Thanks Joshua for sharing that Antarctica article.

    I would be curious now as to how they normally get their monthly supplies. Do they get them by ship or by plane (land nearby or flyover/drop)? I imagine food and beverages will be ok but any other items would need to be seriously sterilized…not to mention the crews bringing them should be thoroughly tested before arrival to say the least.

    Not to be so morbid but those 5,000 “could” potentially be the last surviving humans on this planet. I know, scary thought. 🙁

  7. I would be curious now if pregnant women are automatically more prone to corona virus like seniors. Lately it seems on all newscasts (local and national) of women holding their babies for the first time after having been through the virus while pregnant then giving birth.

    I would also be curious as to how long from birth to that first “holding” of their babies it takes.

    One thing for sure now…pregnancy does not offer any protection from COVID! Also, should newborns be tested as well??

    2. And so it does!!! I entered numbers and posted result without checking
      what I typed in.

      However, it is still down and that is a good thing.

  10. Massachusetts appears to be on the decline. Better positivity. Further slight drop in ICU patients. Hospitalized cases down to 4%. New cases on a slight downward trend. All good.

    Illinois is about to overtake Massachusetts in terms of numbers of new cases. This will probably happen by Monday.

    National numbers today are better than yesterday. But, yesterday was the worst day this week. Numbers of deaths nationwide will likely be around 1,500 today. Numbers of new cases will stay under 25k. Michigan’s numbers are really improving, much more so than Massachusetts.

    I’m not seeing an upward trend in cases. Need to wait until next week. But, if there is no upward trend then the FEMA model is way off base. The models are too binary with respect to opening and closing of the economy. States have begun reopening. But, none of them are reopening without social distancing measures in place. Furthermore, many people are apparently staying away from businesses that have reopened because of lingering fears. Had the nation done a better job in reducing numbers of new cases and deaths, I think reopening would have been more meaningful for the economy. As it stands, the economy won’t be getting much of a boost from reopening. On the other hand, in countries like Germany reopening (well, factories there never closed) will immediately give a major boost to the economy. Also, China’s economy will rebound quite rapidly. Unfortunately, that means with ours in deep recession China could overtake our GDP within 5 years.

    1. It is still very disturbing watching the evening network news hearing about this WH not taking this disease seriously. Overall there is just no leadership on the federal level, not just the WH but DC in general.

      1. Agree. Right, left and in between. Or maybe not in between since they seem to be the ones who are showing true leadership.

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