[UPDATE 10:40 a.m.: Breaking News, First US Death]Humboldt County Prepares as COVID-19 Cases Continue to Emerge Across the Nation
A CDC computer rendering of SARS-CoV-2 (aka COVID-19)
UPDATE 10:40 a.m.: According to Washington State officials, the first death from Covid-19 occurred in the United States. Little is being released about the patient at this point. Officials promised more information this afternoon.
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While Humboldt County’s only patient diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, has been deemed “recovered” after tests have shown the person is free of the virus, and while there are currently no other cases in the county, the COVID-19 has the entire world on high alert as it spreads across the globe. Humboldt County officials, health care providers, and school districts are working to prevent as many people from contracting the illness as possible. As Eureka City Schools Superintendent Dr. Fred Van Vleck said with no current cases in the school system, “We are in a period of planning, not in a period of reaction” which benefits everyone.
The coronavirus emerged in Wuhan China in mid-December 2019. By January 23rd, there were 571 confirmed cases and 17 deaths reported, and it had begun to spread into other countries in the region. Due to the serious impacts of the illness and its rapid rate of transmission, China closed off its major manufacturing region of Hubei to all travel including the import and export of goods. This has impacted global supply chains and is at least partially responsible for an economic slow down in February and a stock market freefall this week.
Locally, the Humboldt County Public Health Branch continues to focus on emphasizing the CDC’s guidelines preventing the spread of every illness.
These include: wash your hands often throughout the day, especially when returning home from being in public places, before you eat and of course after using the bathroom. They also include routine sanitizing of door knobs, faucet handles, stair railings and other objects frequently handled by multiple people. Keep your hands away from your face, and do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth. If you sneeze or cough, do so into the corner of your elbow to keep your germs to yourself.
In a brief 10 minute interview with Humboldt County’s Health Officer, Dr. Teresa Frankovich during her busy day on Friday, she emphatically denied any validity to rumors that the patient in Humboldt County had returned to being ill after previously recovering from the virus. Dr Frankovich said, “That is not what happened with this patient.” She also denied that any other known case of COVID-19 has appeared in Humboldt County.
Nonetheless, COVID-19 remains a significant concern. Clinics, schools and the Public Health department are using this time to plan and prepare for the potential of future cases.
COVID-19 is clearly spreading internationally and within California. Dr. Frankovich suggested that isolation and quarantine are no longer a useful prevention strategy. She said, “Trying to contain the spread by isolating people returning from China made sense in the beginning, but now it is in lots of countries.” Frankovich continued, “Figuring out who has been exposed is almost impossible now.” Personal action is now the best defense. Frankovich re-emphasized the CDC prevention protocols saying, “They aren’t fancy but they are effective.”
If cases begin to appear, the protocol may evolve to include “social distancing” measures. Examples of social distancing include a ban on gatherings of more than a thousand people in Switzerland which has prevented an international auto show from bringing people from around the world into the country. On the other extreme, in China, people’s temperatures are checked in public places and people are expected to stay home rather than to mingle socially.
When asked what a future with COVID-19 endemic in the global population might look like, Frankovich made comparison to the H1N1 virus that caused the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic that killed an estimated 50 million people around the world at that time when the global population was under 2 billion people. H1N1 re-emerged in 2009, and a vaccine was developed which continues to be used as part of annual flu shots preventing H1N1 from spreading widely.
COVID-19 is now spreading throughout the western states. On February 14th, Governor Newsom said 8,400 people in California were being monitored for the potential of having the virus.
On Thursday, February 27th a person in Solano County was diagnosed with COVID-19 but she had already been in the hospital several days. The Solano County patient was the first to be diagnosed had been diagnosed by “community transfer” without knowing how they became ill.
In the morning on Friday, February 28th, a second case of “community transfer” was diagnosed after an older woman in Santa Clara County was hospitalized and then transferred to UC Davis with pnuemonia. She had been admitted to her local hospital last week but the CDC had not tested her for several days because she did not meet the CDC guidelines of who should be tested. Her point of contact to acquire the disease is not known.
Information from the CDC.
By the end of Friday, California, Oregon and Washington had all reported diagnosed cases of COVID-19 acquired by unknown community contact.
On Thursday the 27th, the New York Times reported about a whistleblower complaint from the US Department of Health and Human Services that sheds some light on how cases of “community transfer” may be happening in the Bay Area,
Staff members from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families were sent to Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base in late January and early February and were ordered to enter quarantined areas, including a hangar where coronavirus evacuees were being received, the complaint said. They were not provided safety-protocol training until five days into their assignment, said the whistle-blower, who is described as a senior leader at the health agency.
Without proper training or equipment, some of the exposed staff members moved freely around and off the bases, with at least one person staying in a nearby hotel and leaving California on a commercial flight. Many were unaware of the need to test their temperatures three times a day.
Locally, Eureka City Schools Superintendent Dr. Fred Van Vleck, understands the central role schools can play in containing a contagious illness such as COVID-19. He says school custodial staff has already stepped up sterilization protocol cleaning points of common contact such as bus railings, door knobs, and faucets multiple times per day with a cleaner known to be effective against viruses. He said, “School staff are building on everyday practices already in place.” All class rooms have sinks and running water for hand washing in them. Van Vleck said teachers are re-emphasizing to students the importance of this prevention strategy. Teachers are also communicating with student families about reinforcing prevention strategies at home so they become habit. Van Vleck said they are adding dispensers of hand sanitizer with a minimum 60% alcohol content to all the classes and the office as well.
And the District is also keeping in close communication with families through facebook and robocalls so everyone has facts as they emerge.
Dr. Van Vleck realizes the “crucial role schools have to stop the spread of infection. We are the epicenter. We take this seriously. We are working closely with County, State and Federal agencies.” The school sites are monitoring student absences closely. If they notice any trend toward increasing absences, staff will work closely with Public Health to determine if COVID-19 is the reason and to stop its spread if that becomes the case.
Van Vleck had been in a teleconference Friday with CDC. He learned that about 80% of the people who get the virus do not get sick enough to realize they have this virus. He said “that cuts both ways.” It’s good that most people who get the virus won’t really even get sick, but it also means they won’t be staying home and the disease can spread more easily.
The public is extremely worried about this illness and have very little information about what it may bring.
When asked about the rate of spread of the virus and the statistical probability for patient mortality, Dr. Frankovich asserted that while the rate of death for people who get COVID-19 is clearly much higher than it is for the flu, and while researchers are learning about the disease quickly and efficiently, basic facts needed to develop statistical models have yet to be pinned down. Specifically, she said that epidemiologists do not yet know how many people are getting the illness overall.
Understanding COVID-19’s communicability and mortality continues to evolve. According to a report on the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy webpage at the University of Minnesota,published February 24th, COVID-19’s fatality rate may be 2.3%. Dr. Frankovich said that newer research has the estimation down to about 1%, which she said is still about 10 times greater than the 0.1% fatality rate of most flu strains.
The University of Minnisota report looked at both China’s Hubei Province and the Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Japan. People in good health, and younger than 70, do not have nearly the risk that older and chronically ill people are showing. When China’s disease control department studied the cases in Hubei Province, they estimated that the overall mortality rate was about 2.3%. However, among patients between 70 and 80 years old, the mortality rate rose to 8% and to nearly 15% in those over 80. And if a patient becomes critically ill with the virus, the chance of death grows to nearly 50%.
In China, since closing the Wuhan region and implementing very strong social isolation policies, the rate of spread has been slowed from an index of 2.23 down to 0.7% according to a WHO report published last week.
The US Center for Disease Control says a vaccine is likely to be developed in the next year to 18 months. Until then, older people and those with chronic illness may need to reduce their contact with the general public through “self shielding measures” such as reducing the time they spend in public places, wearing face masks or avoiding face to face contacts by doing business by telephone, and reducing unnecessary travel by plane or mass transit to avoid this potentially lethal virus.
Currently, the nation is short on tests for Covid-19 because a reagent in the first one wasn’t working properly. Dr. Teresa Frankovich says she has been told the tests have been reformulated and are under production now. Humboldt County expects to receive their supply soon and major clinics in urban areas have already been supplied.
Earlier Chapters:
- CDC Says California Now Has Confirmed Cases of Coronavirus
- One Case of Covid-19 (Previously Known as Novel Coronavirus) in Humboldt County
- Answering Questions About Covid-19 (AKA the Coronavirus) in Humboldt County
- Trinity Co. DHHS Asks Residents Who Have Traveled to Hubei Province, China, or Have Had Direct Contact With Someone Who Has to Contact Them
- Guidance for Business Owners on How to Prevent the Spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19)
- Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Says They Cannot Confirm a Second Case of COVID-19
- Washington Post Reports New Coronavirus Case in Northern California of ‘Unknown Origin’; DHHS Says Not Humboldt County
- State and Federal Response Lacks Places to Quarantine COVID-19 as Pandemic Evolves
- Of Cannabis and Covid-19
- Humboldt County Covid – 19 Patient released After No Longer Showing Symptoms
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Thanks for the update. The importance of clear and authoritative information on this virus and our local circumstances cannot be overstated.
Actually that is the best synopsis so far. I appreciate Kelley Lincoln’s clear writing on this and earlier articles.
I’ll second that. No time to panic; time to be ready.
Thank you for a most timely and thorough report. My sincere hope is that we, the people of USA, will choose the higher road with each decision we make regarding our reactions to this virus. Our families, our neighbors and our government each have their own choices to make that will be crucial to us getting through this in a sane manner, and perhaps come out a stronger, more whole people. I do pray that we can put aside the walls that divide us and take the higher road.
Amen sister!
Thanks to everyone for the words of appreciation. Im glad the report is useful.
thanks for the excellent report and interviewing. It’s important that the school districts take measure. I hope HSU does the same. there’s a reason Abe has closed all schools in Japan for the month of March.
Great article, Kym. Nice to see how Humboldt County is on top of it here…
Here’s some more good information. Nice to know it’s not airborne unless you are standing near an infected person when they sneeze or cough, including in an airplane.
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/02/416671/how-new-coronavirus-spreads-and-progresses-and-why-one-test-may-not-be-enough
So much for the current US administration’s advice to the general public in turning off their TV, stop reading the media, and ignore the virus, that way Wall Street can catch a break.
“You are affecting corporate profits, quit whining and get back to work” Interesting strategy, unless the medical system gets overwhelmed, then the meat grinder of medical bills hitting families from a 3 week ICU stay. FYI, CA is one of those special states where medical bills survive to the next generation of family members, it isn’t extinguished.
You are misinformed.
Medi-cal no longer carries over debt.
Medi-Cal doesn’t but anything you owe to a private institution does. Not everyone is on Medi-Cal. And BTW, what do you think happens to Medi-Cal when a wave of 3 week ICU stays show up? It is a budget item, not a blank check.
“Carry- over” medical debt? Is that the same as taking money owed from a deceased person’s estate?
Why wouldn’t bills be recovered from ther estate? A mortgage isn’t forgiven and ther house given to the heirs so what makes medical bills different?
Because every other first-world country, and even many third-world countries, have nationalized medical expenses.
ask a Canadian how they like their nationalized medical insurance.
“Canada has better health outcomes than the United States while spending far less on care. Canadians’ life expectancy is 82 on average — more than three years longer than Americans’, according to a 2019 report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) based on 2017 data. It also boasts a far lower rate of deaths from treatable causes, at 59 per 100,000 residents, compared with 88 per 100,000 residents in the United States. The infant mortality rate in Canada is 4.5 per 1,000 live births, compared with the U.S. rate of 5.8.”
“A 2016 poll found that 87 percent of Canadians ranked health care as a top federal priority, and a majority said they would like to see the federal government increase its involvement.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/americans-have-questions-about-medicare-for-all-canadians-have-answers/2019/11/18/7971c78e-d4d6-11e9-9610-fb56c5522e1c_story.html
Every loves “free” medical care- when they can get it. But you have to be very, very careful about using stats. “Death from treatable causes” means different things to different health systems. For example, if a country’s medical system does not rountinely screen or treat a patient because they are older, minority or had to wait for care so that their illness is discovered at a later time when it is no longer considered “treatable.” They fall out of the stats. Frankly the US is more drug ridden, over weight and violent than Canada which leads to a whole lot more “avoidable deaths.”
People who are impervious to considering details are convinced that the miraculous cure for the US is universal free health care. Somehow they think the already over loaded hospitals and overwhelmed doctors will be fixed by the same government that can’t seem to fix anything else. That drug addicts will cease killing themselves or drug addicted mothers will cease giving birth to underweight babies who don’t thrive. Well Canadans record that about 1/3 of their adults drink regularly but Americans report that more than half of their adults drink heavily. It’s even a worse disparity for drug abuse. Why not just admit Canadians are better citizens than Americans and Americans are happy with that?
Maybe if Americans didn’t have to worry about paying for medical care, they’d be as wonderful as Canadians?
What about all of the people they visited before knowing they were infected?
China has been seeing a steady drop in new cases. That’s great news.
WHO says China is cooperating with officials. That’s also good news.
A recent Study puts mortality rate at 1.4%, most likely less:
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-02-28/china-study-puts-coronavirus-death-rate-at-14-37-real-number-may-be-lower
The reality is we are just getting started in the States.
There are more than likely many hundreds of active but unknown cases here on the West coast already.
Hopefully the drop in new cases is due to better prevention methods, and not in the Chinese government ability in finding a new way in being able to sweep any news of newer outbreaks under the rug.
Trump and Pence will be in control of all Corona information.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/us-coronavirus-pence.html
They have issued a gag order.
And all this time WHO has been happy with Chinese officials cooperation.
*PS: There were American co-authors on the study to alleviate any quasi-xenophobia out there.
Ah, and Pence’s first stop yesterday as information controller?
Rush Limbaughs show.
Nice.
I’ll give Pence credit for saying the obvious on Rush’s show; “we’re all in this together”.
And there isn’t evidence of an actual gag order, but Dr. Fauci has been instructed to clear his speeches with Pence before public discussions.
So you approve of conflicting statements from the government?
I approve of the person with the most knowledge giving me information. Several local government agencies insist that all my questions have to go through one person. Sometimes that works pretty well when that person is the most informed or makes themselves well informed on every question and is dedicated to being helpful.
Sometimes though it becomes a cumbersome slow process designed to kill a reporters desire through a series of canned unhelpful answers or delayed responses. If you can’t get a helpful or a sensible answer, you quit asking.
It’s hard to know who knows best even when you have credentials and prior exposure, especially in large organizations. An individual may have some technical knowledge but may not be in a position to know what others are doing or what is being planned. Or they may have an axe to grind with a superior or simply a different opinion or simply an inflated view of their own understanding. So when someone speaks with the authority of an organization, they had best have at least a consensus of opinion. Otherwise why even have a spokesman at all? Talk to ten different people and you will have ten different stories. And eleven different agendas.
Frankly, it is fairly common to have a reporter making use of personal contacts within an organization to try to get inside information or having a person inside an organization contacting a reporter to make use of them in internal power battles. That may serve the reporter’s agenda in having something to report but may be a disservice to the readers when incomplete or inaccurate information is published and yet for which the organization, not the reporter, gets the blame.
Been there. Done that. Learned not to trust that what I said is what gets reported. It just not fair to assume that someone who is responsible is also required to satisfy a reporter.
A reporter given free access (within reason) to ask questions of those who have answers is more likely to arrive at a clear picture of the facts than reporters required to speak only to a spokesperson who filters information in order to protect an organization.
Now there is the dichotomy. A reporter may or may not depending on their own agendas and understanding. They may simply be a conduit for lies and mistakes. Current events are loaded with examples of sources that had questionable credentials becoming embedded in the public’s mind as real due to reports running with questionable stories and no amount of subsequent exposure changes their minds. It ranges from reporters fabricating “facts” all by themselves to being thoroughly hoodwinked by others. Yet do you assume that the goal of reporters is to protect their own status?
What goes on is a natural battle where the organization wants to get their word out which reporters do for them versus the reporters wanting to excite their readership into reading what they want to say. No reporter fills their sites up with “Today everything is being done as best as can be expected.” Yet most organization (not the lobbyist kind but those who have a duty) really do want to pride themselves on just that. Is it fair to assume nefarious purpose for organizational spokesmen while not doing the same for reporters?
My belief is that there is virtue and malfeasance in both sides. But as long as America still respects the individual, the organization will always have whistleblowers to check them while reporters don’t.
Kym, posts are disappearing again. Although they seemed good this morning for a bit. Can I fix it?
Huh? No.
I appreciate responsible statements from officials.
It was a statement from Pence to say that on Limbaugh radio, as Rush was the one to talk about Democratic agendas or hoaxes regarding Covid 19.
I think Mike was politely saying shut up to Rush.
I’m not sure if that answered your question.
If not, than you must be referencing the Dr. Fauci topic. If so:
I’m sure Dr. Fauci can give us better information on many virus related topics than Pence.
Now Pence will have an informational advantage to Fauci because he is leading a team of teams regarding Covid, but the specialist is Dr. Fauci.
Obviously the administration knows the economy is the only thing keeping Trump in office, and they need to keep the markets calm or else face the wrath.
Hence the funneling of power to discuss the virus publicly.
There was a leap in connection from part that says “Pense may have and advantage” to “the economy is the only thing keeping Trump in office.” For one thing both you and I too have an advantage in keeping the economy functioning well. Encouraging panic solely because it would harm Trump too is not reasonable so why would anyone think that matters? In fact it is a repeated symptom of the current irrational politics that some people are so eager to sink their own boat as long as they think Trump is in the boat too. Of course Trump does not want the economy trashed because of public panic.
It’s going to be difficult enough if everyone would behave sensibly. Trying to keep the hysterical from doing themselves more damage than is innate in the situation is hard work.
You’re right about Fauci being more of a virus expert (although I bet there are a hundred scientists working there who think they know better) but that knowledge is not what people want to hear. They would not even have the scientific language to understand it. They want to hear about how it effects their lives. What is being demanded and being curtailed (hopefully) is prognostication and opinion, not facts.
Pretty much everyone who thinks about it is on the same page. That facts are being learned as we go along, that the spread of the virus is inevitable. But what it means in terms of society is not strictly a scientific matter. Keeping calm in anxious times can only slow the spread to give organizations time plan that serve skittish people better.
I think it’s a leap to say anyone encouraged panic, especially economical panic.
The markets responded to two things:
1)A huge and very real slowdown in production in China, resulting in big estimated losses for Q1, Q2 profits.
2) The news of Covid being in the States.
Beyond that, many analyst’s had said our economic cycle needed to correct well before Covid was mainstream.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/guid/25F2E2C8-3944-11EA-9DD7-1C195141DE2B
Dr. Fauci knows scientific jargon that none of us would understand, but that jargon is generally left out of public discussion.
For instance when Trump said a vaccine is around the corner, Fauci said likely to be “a year to year and a half”.
Perfectly understanble.
Or when Trump said Covid would miraculously yuh disappear, Fauci said we are “on the brink of a pandemic”.
Perfectly understandable.
https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-anthony-fauci-speech-controlled-by-trump-coronavirus-2020-2
Obviously between Fauci and Trump, only 1 knows what they’re talking about and only 1 knows how to communicate.
Neither awards go to Trump.
In an ideal of “free press”, “free speech” and “free markets”, Trumps “great America” looks like a bunch of bull.
So, are you an expert on infectious diseases or did you just stay at a Holiday Inn Express?
There it is again- Trump never said “Covid would miraculously yuh disappear,.” He said that ““You know a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat, as the heat comes in,” he said. “Typically that will go away in April. We’re in great shape, though.” in which he was repeating a commonly held idea among experts that it could do that. At least on it waiting in warm weather. The “greatshape” part was Trump’s opinion only.
It is misstating in the eagerness to belittle Trump that makes the noise to signal ratio so bad.
Wait a minute. Did you delete your post just now?
“It’s going to disappear.
One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear,” Trump told attendees at an African American History Month reception in the White House Cabinet Room.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/politics/trump-coronavirus-disappear/index.html
That is of course not what Trump said. He said that some people think the virus will miraculously disappear in April and he said he hopes that is true but that the government is working very hard in the meantime. I noticed the videos offered by the news reporters started the video in midsentence which made it look like he said he thought it would miraculously disappear. Then followed up by reiterating that he said what he did not say. For the Real Brian also said the virus “will disappear” and “like a miracle” too and all it took was a little selecting of where to cut.
Yeah listen to the NY times. God people are so dumb. The left liars are so happy about this because it has caused the dow to drop. One of trumps greatest achievements. Anyone who cant see that being happy the stock market dropped is not in the interest of the American ppl. By the way
It dropped 2k points but still up 10k points from when the pupet was in office.
“The left liars are so happy about this because it has caused the dow to drop.”
Im pretty far to the left myself, and nothing ive read and no one ive talked to is happy about this.
For instance. That giant freefall in the stock market just flummoxed retirement plans for millions of people. Remember leftists like retirement accounts. [And we’re damn glad we’ve beat those neocon ****ers out of stealing the social security administration funds and putting them into the wall street casino]
Furthermore, we love our.grandparents and prefer they stay living.
Neither the left nor the truth caused Trump’s administration to fumble this as badly as it has.
No one is happy about that. We love our country and have very little party allegiance.
People are worried, and they rightly blame Republican Senators for not evicting that orange dictator from public housing during the Senate trial and sending him to the gator swamps of florida where he belongs.
What comes next hangs around the necks of MoscowMitch, Linday Graham, and Ted Cruz like an albatross.
“It dropped 2k points but still up 10k points from when the pupet was in office.”
Sigh….
This is a 20 year graph of the stock market. It crashed after Shrub jr. It rose steadily and steeply under Obama. It’s stalled under Trump.
Here’s the graph
The CDC finally caved due to media pressure ,allowing some state labs to test for covid-19 . this exemption included Washington and Oregon . these test are presumptive cases until CDC labs confirm test .this is a huge positive development for state level health officials . unfortunately about a month to late.
Out of an abundance of caution, I urge the county of Humboldt to retest and monitor this patient #1 and their close contacts .
I am going to keep reposting this info. please share it. We need to be ready to help ourselves if this goes sideways.
Our health system could get overwhelmed by this. Be prepared, be proactive, talk to your neighbors and organize. See who around you may need help. Don’t wait.
This guide was written during SARS when it was obvious how unprepared our local system was and still is. It is super informative and useful for this or any pandemic.
It’s under 10 bucks.
Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/Pandemic-Flu-Home-Care-Illustrated/dp/149041715X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Pandemic+Flu+home+care+book&qid=1582740193&s=home-garden&sr=1-1-catcorr
NXE
Yeah, it was so obvious how unprepared our local system was when sars came around. Why, you couldn’t even go anywhere without meeting somebody who hadn’t maybe heard about it or read something about it. I refer to that SARS ordeal as Humboldt’s Dark Age, it’s amazing we recovered.
We are lucky to live somewhere with many herbalists, nutritionists and other folks who have amazing knowledge. Take advantage of that! There are many things we can do to make our systems stronger against viruses. You can easily look up an anti-viral diet. Take elderberry and eat blueberries. We have a very edible forest here, chickweeds coming up everywhere. There may be the makings of a yummy nourishing cuppa tea just outside your door!!
The person who passed in WA was considered “high risk”. Take the time &energy (and give up eating a lot of sugar cuz illnesses luv sugar ) to keep your family ” low risk” . Its really something we ought to be doing all the time especially in flu season.
One of the best articles ive seen so far, nice work Kelley!! Very impressive!
Don’t forget to also be concerned about the swine flu, bird flu, sars, zika, hiv, aids, brain parasites, ebola, ecoli, anthrax, “flesh eating virus”, killer bees, date rapists, morgelons and the common flu. Go get something injected into yourself as soon as new injections are available.
I think it’s more likely that airports and airplanes were the link and not the evacuated patients at Travis.
Travis cant explain the Washington and Oregon communal transmissions.
Covid is most likely well established in our areas by now, just undiagnosed.
Though very possible I pray not true. The prospect of a new virus with a high death rate that humans have no immunity too going communal is a scary thought.
It’s important to individually maintain a psyche of critical awareness as to our daily habits in order to minimize the spread of covid 19.
But businesses can help too..
It would be nice to see disposable nitrile glove boxes at the shopping cart/basket pickup areas.
Masks should only be used by sick people.
“Masks should only be used by sick people”
Nah, I wear my mask since I prefer the Chinese tourist look.
On Halloween? Cool.
There’s no question we’ve not been notified of the scientific facts.
From Kelley’s article –
“Currently, the nation is short on tests for Covid-19 because a reagent in the first one wasn’t working properly.”
It ought to be easy logic to grasp the source of our fears. Improperly tested active cases are already out and about. How many might that be?
More than people feel comfortable about but less than fear makes it.
Its just another flu. Keep your immune system strong.. Otherwise.. Nature is gona keep finding way (bird flu swine flue h1n1 aids etc.. ) to balance the scales. If youre old weak maybe its time to go. There just too many people.
Actually it’s time for the ignorant and selfish to go. Pray you don’t get the bug.
If i do ill either fight it off or die but i seriousky doubt itll b a bug.. The ignorant and selfish? Yea cuz viruses really know the difference.
Silly me, I thought Humboldt was a community that cared for it’s elders!
Are you including your family in that statement?
Now I know why you call yourself swine. It sure is easy for some people to volunteer other people to die.
Even with that disgusting statement I wish you good health.
You think your immune system is sTrOnG enough for AIDS? Only one way to find out! Take your orageno oil and wear your most energized quartz medallion!
Excerpt from a Smithsonian article about the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/journal-plague-year-180965222/
Thanks for the link.
ANDREW SELSKY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 29, 2020, 2:01PM
Follow this story
The governor of Washington state declared a state of emergency Saturday after a man died there of COVID-19, the first such reported death in the United States. More than 50 people in a nursing facility are sick and being tested for the virus.
Gov. Jay Inslee directed state agencies to use “all resources necessary” to prepare for and respond to the coronavirus outbreak. The declaration also allows the use of the Washington National Guard, if necessary.
“We will continue to work toward a day where no one dies from this virus,“ the governor vowed.
Health officials in California, Oregon and Washington state are worried about the novel coronavirus spreading through West Coast communities because people are being infected by unknown means. They had not visited an area where there was an outbreak, nor apparently been in contact with anyone who had.
The man who died was in his 50s, had underlying health conditions and no history of travel or contact with a known COVID-19 case, health officials in Washington state said at a news conference. A spokesperson for EvergreenHealth Medical Center, Kayse Dahl, said the person died in the facility in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.
Say What? “The declaration also allows the use of the Washington National Guard, if necessary.” Hmm
more
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10768008-181/washington-governor-declares-emergency-over?trk_msg=NJF5MII4D6C4H681V22UOBU7E8&trk_contact=9BJIFDA52N6DI17FT70JT5ABG8&trk_sid=ERAABCLAKI1IOMF3UQEQL0HU44&utm_email=C4DCF5A3246124E0748DA4E38A&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fnews%2f10768008-181%2fwashington-governor-declares-emergency-over&utm_campaign=pd_breaking
Well researched and well written. Thanks so much.
BIIIIIG spleeef a mi vaccine!
i’ve been following the story quite closely today. Many of the experts say that the masks are useless to prevent the spread of the virus as they are not tight against your face and the virus can enter through any mucous membranes. So you’d have to have complete body coverage to keep it out of your system.The masks are only good if you have the virus and don’t want to expose other people. It’s very true that we are at the epicenter of all this. The first case was in Eureka. The second in Sacramento. The third in the southern part of the bay area, and the first death in Seattle. I can’t possibly imagine that the Eureka person who had contracted it came off the plane without spreading it to everyone else on that plane or got home without stopping for groceries or gas. The Sacramento and Southbay victims had no known contact with anyone who had been to any of the high infection rate countries. Therefore the virus was already In the atmosphere. I have a friend who has a kid at UC Davis, so what happens when that person comes home to visit? What precautions should we make? We obviously can’t stay 6 feet away from them all weekend. They say someone who is infected at the front of the plane won’t infect the person of at the back of the plane, which is supposed to appease us all. And then the next sentence says it can be transferred on door knobs. So the plane explanation doesn’t hold water at all. I know someone who lives in South Korea. There are a lot of cases there and the schools are closed in some areas. The kids are doing their lessons online at home. One picture was of a soccer game in Italy where the game went ahead but there was absolutely no one in the stands. Our illustrious president and his so-called team of experts, including Pence who thinks prayer will make it all go away, announced that there are now more travel restrictions of people coming into the country from Italy, and other countries where there is a high infection rate.In England the first death from the virus just happened. One broadcast from there showed empty shelves of masks, sanitizers and so on. Trump said we have about 20 million masks and more on the way. many commentators said this was way inadequate. He also lied on how many people are testing positive. He also said that a vaccine was coming soon, but the experts say 12 to 18 months if we’re lucky. And then that begs the question, what are all the anti-vaxxers going to do? And how much will it have spread by then?
so bottom line is we wash our hands frequently, we sanitize door knobs, and anything else that is touched by a lot of people, stay home if you have a cough or cold coming on. Get tested if it gets really bad. Oh and save some money because even though the test is free if you end up in hospital we know how expensive that can get.
Initially the 1918 pandemic set off few alarms, chiefly because in most places it rarely killed, despite the enormous numbers of people infected. Doctors in the British Grand Fleet, for example, admitted 10,313 sailors to sick bay in May and June, but only 4 died. It had hit both warring armies in France in April, but troops dismissed it as “three-day fever.” The only attention it got came when it swept through Spain, and sickened the king; the press in Spain, which was not at war, wrote at length about the disease, unlike the censored press in warring countries, including the United States. Hence it became known as “Spanish flu.” By June influenza reached from Algeria to New Zealand. Still, a 1927 study concluded, “In many parts of the world the first wave either was so faint as to be hardly perceptible or was altogether lacking…and was everywhere of a mild form.” Some experts argued that it was too mild to be influenza.
Yet there were warnings, ominous ones. Though few died in the spring, those who did were often healthy young adults—people whom influenza rarely kills. Here and there, local outbreaks were not so mild. At one French Army post of 1,018 soldiers, 688 were hospitalized and 49 died—5 percent of that population of young men, dead. And some deaths in the first wave were overlooked because they were misdiagnosed, often as meningitis. A puzzled Chicago pathologist observed lung tissue heavy with fluid and “full of hemorrhages” and asked another expert if it represented “a new disease.”
By July it didn’t seem to matter. As a U.S. Army medical bulletin reported from France, the “epidemic is about at an end…and has been throughout of a benign type.” A British medical journal stated flatly that influenza “has completely disappeared.”
In fact, it was more like a great tsunami that initially pulls water away from the shore—only to return in a towering, overwhelming surge. In August, the affliction resurfaced in Switzerland in a form so virulent that a U.S. Navy intelligence officer, in a report stamped “Secret and Confidential,” warned “that the disease now epidemic throughout Switzerland is what is commonly known as the black plague, although it is designated as Spanish sickness and grip.”
The second wave had begun.
The reason stastistics matter. Death rates from the Spanish flu was not huge like the Plague but, when everyone gets it, the total number of deaths can be overwhelming. One difference so far is who is most likely to die. With the Spanish flu it was young people- the ones working and supporting families. People whose loss was crippling in all respects. With this one, so far, it hits the oldest most vitally. Their loss is less crippling to society.
Now before the outrage hits, I am not in the safer demographic myself. And I am not saying that the illnesses in older people doesn’t matter. It will. But what I am saying that it’s effects will not be as crippling as the Spanish Flu was.
Unless of course the virus itself evolves to change that.
Also, we do not currently have a global trench war so we got that going for us.
Erdogan is working on that.
This publically available map puts our local case east of Arcata.
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
That is a great resource. Thank you.
TY guest. A fine easy to use link.
Between Kneeland and Maple Creek. East of Eureka, technically speaking,
As an employee of Eureka City Schools who works at a site with over 1000 students and staff, I would think we would have warm water to wash with in the restrooms. We don’t. It’s ice cold, how many students wash their hands?
“How many wash their hands?”
100% of those who want to avoid the flu. Those who don’t care, not so many. You can lead an educated human to soap and water, but will they use it?
Cor 19 is a test of intelligence.
Kym thank you so very much for researching and relating some of the most current, complete, and sober information out there! So vital to have knowledge. Knowledge cures fear. Thank You
Kelley Lincoln wrote this but I’m glad we could help.
I have a few more suggestions on corona virus. From an old practicing germophobe. First is to keep the virus outside your front door. Do this by leaving your shoes outside if possible, have some inside slippers to wear only inside. Sanitize your hands and the outside doorknob. Then enter and go right to hand washing. Toss your outside clothing in the washer and shower if you’ve been around sick people.
The hard part is covered in the article, KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF YOUR FACE! When you are outside your front door, this is very hard to train yourself to do, however you will avoid corona, seasonal flu, the common cold and the rest of them. If you have someone sick at home,………good luck!
I find the defeatist comments by newly appointed pediatrician now Public Health Officer Teresa Frankovich quite disturbing, but in line with her previous, learned helplessness.
Compare her comments to those of the 29 experts sent by WHO to investigate the Chinese outbreak as summarized in a blog post (which includes links to the original WHO report) here:
https://opendoctor.org/coronavirus/2020/03/02/humboldt-countys-new-public-health-officer-has-given-up-on-containing-covid-19/