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We need to employ many tools in this fight that removes humans from the path of contact or infection with this virus. To do that we need to think out of the box..
Reporting for Coronavirus Duty: Robots That Go Where Humans Fear to Tread
We think nothing of the contact use of an atm for possible contaimanant picked up from the last one which might have been infected unless you practice cleaning the touch screen and keypad which is something I am doing to lower my risk when in need of cash or at a stores cashier payout location..
There are many scenes of other nations spraying down the streets, disinfecting people in walk through tunnels ect...
So where are any of these tactics to slow and change that curve.
What about taking ones temperature robotically at stand along touchless readers.
For DIY face masks, some fabrics work better than others
I watched the attorney general make the cloth face covering with elastics.
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Its about time that someone gave guidance on the nursing homes.. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan enacted an emergency order Sunday that aims to protect residents and staff at nursing home facilities amid outbreaks of the coronavirus.
"Of major concern is that we currently have cases or clusters of cases at 81 nursing homes and long-term care facilities across the state. Our highest priority is keeping Marylanders safe, and we will use every tool at our disposal to protect the most vulnerable among us."
PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR STAFF. All personnel who are in close contact with residents of nursing homes shall wear PPE, including a face mask, appropriate eye protection, gloves, and gown. The PPE should be worn at all times while providing care to residents in the facility and personnel should follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance for using personal protective equipment. Facilities must use the process established by MDH to request PPE from the state.
EXPEDITED TESTING FOR SYMPTOMATIC RESIDENTS. All facilities must use the most expeditious means available for testing. This includes using either a COVID-19 test kit provided by the state laboratory or another lab to send specimens to the state laboratory for expedited COVID-19 testing of residents and staff. Symptomatic residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities are among the patient groups prioritized by the state laboratory, alongside hospitalized patients and symptomatic health care providers and first responders.
SEPARATE OBSERVATION AREAS. All facilities must designate a unit of staff who are assigned to care for known or suspected COVID-19 residents; designate a room, unit, or floor of the nursing home as a separate observation area where newly admitted and readmitted residents are kept for 14 days on contact and droplet precautions while being observed every shift for signs and symptoms of COVID-19; and designate a room, unit, or floor of the nursing home to care for residents with known or suspected COVID-19.
PLACEMENT OF DISCHARGED PATIENTS. MDH's Office of Health Care Quality will assist acute care hospitals, if necessary, in discharging patients who require nursing-home level care. Facilities must cooperate with the Office of Health Care Quality and hospitals in the placement of discharged patients.
RIGHT OF RETURN FOR RESIDENTS. Nursing home residents admitted or seen at a hospital for COVID-19 must be allowed to return to the nursing home as long as the facility can follow the approved CDC recommendations for transmission-based precautions. If the residents must temporarily go to other facilities, every effort must be made by the receiving and original nursing homes to transfer the residents back to their original nursing homes as soon as possible.
The governor's order makes compliance with these directives mandatory. Anyone who knowingly and willfully violates this order is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding one year and/or a fine up to $5,000.
Time to get serious.... and here is why
Comfort from a 102-year-old who has lived through a flu pandemic, the Depression and WWII
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Snipet of post made on 3-18-20
I was dismissed today along with all other individuals which are over 60 years of age as a means to protect us from getting it. This is an admin leave but its not known as to how long we will be told not to go to work. Tomorrow they will start telling others to go home that have family members that fit into other categories that would be devistating to them if it were brought into the home.
It was 3-30-20 that the place where I work wanted those 60 to 65 to go back to work if they did not have any existing medical issues for myself or my family members that I give care to from a list of ailments.
Obesity
Diabeties
Heart and lung problems
ect...
Today word has it that a person from where I worked has passed yesterday (4-5-20).
It is unknown as to the name and location where abouts they did work there, as it should be for privacy and for national security.
That means I am now in a pool of possibly as the dormant state of the virus can be weeks before signs are seen.
Hopefully in the days before the releasal I had not been in close contact plus will be free of the infectious disease and only time may or may not tell.
Its not the news that I would have liked to hear but will keep a positive outlook on it.
Once time has pass enough hopefully I can go back to work and feel safe to do so.
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Do not ignore the symptoms that are not the big 3. 6 Mild Symptoms of Coronavirus You Shouldn’t Ignore, According to Doctors
What are the mild symptoms of novel coronavirus?
In the WHO report, the organization analyzes nearly 56,000 cases of COVID-19 in China and breaks down a wide range of “typical” symptoms, as well as how often people with the virus experienced them:
Fever (87.9%)
Dry cough (67.7%)
Fatigue (38.1%)
Sputum production (33.4%)
Shortness of breath (18.6%)
Sore throat (13.9%)
Headache (13.6%)
Muscle aches and pains (14.8%)
Chills (11.4%)
Nausea or vomiting (5.0%)
Nasal congestion (4.8%)
Diarrhea (3.7%)
Coughing up blood (0.9%)
Red eyes (0.8%)A lost sense of smell wasn’t on the WHO’s list, but several organizations—including the British Rhinological Society, British Association of Otorhinolaryngology, and American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), say it’s a possible symptom, too.
Below, what you need to know about the mild symptoms that didn’t make the CDC’s list:
I already had some of these with brochitus and have head aches plus other pain often so will need to look for changes in others...
edit update:
Today's call in narrows the possibility of direct contact to those that are infected and have died but will need to see if communal exposurer occured as I was in those locations where these individuals work. We had been cleaning during that week prior to stay at home went into effect. Which based on cruise ships means that we have another 2 or 3 weeks to go under this quarantine method.
noon time facebook indicates a must report on 4-13-20 to work.
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Why is this still happening when we know that it can...Nursing home presuming all 800 patients, staff have COVID-19
Not to meantion this is going into the US prison system in the same manner....
I meantioned how the cumberland farms had given there employees a hazard levels pay increase that was temporary during this pendemic for being an essential business while others nearby that are larger have not.
This would spread it out to all that have been there to support all those that are staying at home as well.
Senate Democrats are proposing giving hazard pay of up to $25,000 each for workers including grocery store employees, transit workers and pharmacists who are risking their lives to stay on the job amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The fourth rescue package “No proposal will be complete without addressing the need for essential workers…and with those that died we should be more than just thankful. We should do right by them.
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Amazon.com Inc is testing the use of disinfectant fog at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York starting on Tuesday, the company told Reuters, following worker protests over the risk of coronavirus infection at the site.
With the generalized FLU symptoms could you have had the virus but did not know that you did or did not is being a raised question as we finally have testing coming online for some.
Did You Already Have Coronavirus Without Knowing It? Experts Explain Why That's Possible
When did you get the virus is another important question for the tracing of how this disease is spread.
I do not think we will ever look at the FLU this way again....
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After ICU, Coronavirus Patients' Ordeal Is Far From Over infected last month with the new coronavirus, the 63-year-old preschool teacher became so ill she was sedated and hooked up to a ventilator in Missouri Baptist Hospital.
Doctors tried to remove the breathing device six days later, but decided she wasn’t ready and reinserted it. She was in bed three more days, confused “with no idea where she was,” She could finally breathe on her own after another three days, out of the hospital this weekend after an 11-day stay, including a week on a ventilator—only to be rushed back to a local emergency room in an ambulance because of delirium. What they do know is that patients who survive extended time on a ventilator after any critical illness face a difficult road.
Early evidence suggests that many coronavirus patients may face lengthy stays on the ventilator of 15 to 20 days or more, much longer than the average ICU patient.
The initial recovery can take weeks or months. Even years later, many survivors of critical illnesses, including those who had been on ventilators, are left with physical, emotional or cognitive problems, research shows. Patients can develop memory deficits similar to those with dementia, even those previously young and healthy. Other survivors suffer from flashbacks or post-traumatic stress, researchers say.
CDC issues new guidance for essential workers exposed to coronavirus
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All this shows is that our immune systems and our body systems in general are way more complex than most medical people or scientists are prepared to admit. We had in the UK the idiotic situation for several weeks where our Government was telling people there were two identifying symptoms of Covid-19 - a dry cough and a high temperature! Of course, the reality was that millions of people were being infected but not experiencing those symptoms. They experienced everything from no symptoms, through "colds", "flu", headaches and great fatigue.
Other coronaviruses like herpes can lie dormant in the body for months or years and then flare up. I suspect a new coronavirus is a challenge for all our immune systems and it might reappear in different disguises. In Iceland researchers claimed as well to have discovered 40 mutations. I don't think that is generally accepted but, if there are many mutations, we might develop immunity to one and then find ourselves challenged again when we experience another mutation invading our bodies.
After ICU, Coronavirus Patients' Ordeal Is Far From Over infected last month with the new coronavirus, the 63-year-old preschool teacher became so ill she was sedated and hooked up to a ventilator in Missouri Baptist Hospital.
Doctors tried to remove the breathing device six days later, but decided she wasn’t ready and reinserted it. She was in bed three more days, confused “with no idea where she was,” She could finally breathe on her own after another three days, out of the hospital this weekend after an 11-day stay, including a week on a ventilator—only to be rushed back to a local emergency room in an ambulance because of delirium. What they do know is that patients who survive extended time on a ventilator after any critical illness face a difficult road.
Early evidence suggests that many coronavirus patients may face lengthy stays on the ventilator of 15 to 20 days or more, much longer than the average ICU patient.
The initial recovery can take weeks or months. Even years later, many survivors of critical illnesses, including those who had been on ventilators, are left with physical, emotional or cognitive problems, research shows. Patients can develop memory deficits similar to those with dementia, even those previously young and healthy. Other survivors suffer from flashbacks or post-traumatic stress, researchers say.CDC issues new guidance for essential workers exposed to coronavirus
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
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What I disagree with cdc guidlines as for the testing of positive with assymptomatic can go back to work with a mask and that everyone is now wearing a mask or face covering to lower risk of getting it. It just does not make the smell test. Since you are still spreading the disease when you are assymptomatic not just showing signs.
The real issue is not testing to tell what you have you just do not know whether its a seasonal flu bug or a killer flu...
The list of corona virus trials and other informtion.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID-19
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The article at the link below reports on research to study the virus and try to find counter agents at the molecular level.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/scie … 09040.html
(th)
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There are so many things that don't add up with this virus outbreak.
One is the mismatch in deaths per millions between two mediterranean nations - Spain and Italy - in the 300s and Greece, below 10. That's an incredible disparity. No one can tell me Greece has a better contact regime, generally better hygiene or a more effective health service than those two countries!
Why is the UK lagging behind Italy, Spain and France in terms of the trajectory. We have a number of international airports, we have huge contacts with China, we have pretty bad air pollution and we have a very elderly population...so why weren't we in the vanguard of the disease's spread?
Why is a country like France which introduced the total lockdown 25 days ago, still experiencing the highest daily deaths in Europe (and the highest in the world on a pro-rata population basis) if lockdowns are so effective?
Last edited by louis (2020-04-10 19:29:45)
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
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For Louis re #261
I was curious about your report that Greece was doing better than it's European neighbors, and found this article that explores the question
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/ … 43404.html
You tipped your hand by saying that no one could tell you anything.
However, your question ** did ** help me to understand the circumstances of Greece's success.
For that, I thank you!
(th)
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Perhaps a better comparison for 'how to do it' than Greece would be Denmark. It is more developed than Greece, more closely comparable to Northern Italy, France, the UK or the US. In any case it is clear that those countries that moved to restrict transmission early in their outbreak are doing a lot better than comparable countries whose governments dithered and denied.
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elderflower,
So, are we going to keep much of the world on lockdown until we have a vaccine?
If not, then when should we admit to ourselves that containment failed?
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That's just "elephant powder" stuff (as in the joke about the guy spreading "anti-elephant powder" on the grass outside his home - he responds to the observation "but there are no elephants around" by saying, "Yes - good stuff isn't it!").
I was commenting specifically on Greek contact tracing and hygiene. I've been to Greece - I've seen the primitive hygiene (your soiled toilet tissue goes in a basket and the beach toilets are like something from a nightmare...the restaurant kitchens are filthy with grease...).
Italians and Brits have been just as observant of their lockdowns - and their deaths per million are about 40 and 15 times the Greek figures. It's not the lockdown that is producing low death figures.
However I think I have found the answer.
John Hopkins Uni have found that countries with mass BCG vaccination regimes have 6 times less Covid-19 incidence on average.
Greece vaccinates children at first grade in elementary schools.
In the absence of any persuasive explanations, this seems the most likely source of Greece's amazingly low figures...
For Louis re #261
I was curious about your report that Greece was doing better than it's European neighbors, and found this article that explores the question
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/ … 43404.htmlYou tipped your hand by saying that no one could tell you anything.
However, your question ** did ** help me to understand the circumstances of Greece's success.
For that, I thank you!
(th)
Last edited by louis (2020-04-12 06:14:45)
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
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louis,
Putting waste toilet paper in a bin may seem to be primitive hygiene to you, but to the people who use bidets, using toilet paper at all is primitive hygiene.
Use what is abundant and build to last
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Always take a careful view of official stats. Political hacks cannot resist meddling. For instance UK coronavirus death count doesn't include anybody who dies outside of the hospitals - at home or in care homes for the elderly etc. This has been pointed out many times but the stats still haven't caught up. Probably because it would embarrass the powerful.
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This topic has been quiet since SpaceNut last posted in March.
Here is an update that seems plausible. The article describes cautious evaluation of the proposal that the virus can hitch a ride on air pollution. One contributor to the article suggested confirmation of the hypothesis might take as much as three years.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment … -pollution
Never-the-less, for the cohort most susceptible to the virus, this is information that might be helpful to encouraged continued use of protective air filters.
Trying to do my little part, I have approached a local outlet for a large pharmacy chain, and suggested the chain hire local workers to make masks for citizens who need and want them. One feature of "home made" masks that I've heard about (through Zoom events) is design of a pocket inside the outer cover, where a paper filter resides. The Zoom event discussion was about something else entirely, but it diverged for a while, as participants reported their experiments with various filters inserted into the pockets.
Apparently a coffee filter has the best performance for catching tiny objects, but it is also the most difficult to use for breathing.
Some brands of paper towel apparently pass muster for effectiveness and breath-ability.
I have ** yet ** to find a professional replacement for my homemade mishmash of fabrics and paper products.
(th)
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The subject of how to make an effective home-made mask has been a frequent subject of conversation in Zoom meetings I've attended recently.
Here is a report of innovation in development of supplementary filter material that is inserted into a cloth enclosure. It appears to offer 84% effectiveness.
The cloth material provides the stylish look that (some) consumers are seeking, while the filter material does the hard work.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/nanofiber-ma … 00898.html
(th)
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This post is intended for a copy of Quaoar's report on his tour of duty in battle with the Corona virus.
tahanson43206 wrote:For Quaoar re #102
It is ** good ** to see your safe return from your national service! At the same time, it is daunting to think about what your experience must have been like.
In the US, a number of media outlets have taken great care to share the experiences of medical workers in real time, and in video biographies recorded after a shift ends. From these it is possible to imagine what the situation must have been like for you and your co-workers.
While you were away, there have been some changes. SpaceNut appears to be in good health but unable to access the forum due to issues with the Internet connection. kbd512 has accepted the (to me awesome) responsibility of trying to fill SpaceNut's shoes.
Various discussion topics have come up that might lend themselves to a Science Fiction treatment.
Best wishes for continued good health for yourself and your family, and all those you worked with and recovery for those you assisted in Liguria.
(th)
Thanks
That's my story: We were gathered on April 8 in a hotel near Rome main train station, where we had a briefing with the chief of Italian Civil Protection Agency. The next day we took a military bus which brought us in the Italian Air Force base of Pratica di Mare (near Rome) where we took a military plane for Milan. In Milan airport of Linate we were split in groups and sent to the affected regions of northern Italy via buses.
I was assigned to Liguria and sent to Sanremo with another doctor. They gave us the protection devices and a car, then ordered us to take care of some highly infected nursing homes. We firstly went in a nursing home in a little village in the mountains (Liguria has the Alps in front of the sea). There was so many death they were forced to hoard them in the chapel, wrapped in bleach sheets. During the three weeks of our turn, we managed to convert nursing homes in infectious disease ward, with a clean zone, an infected zone and a safe path, and to train the nurses and the operators to correctly use the protection devices, while taking care of the survivors.
The day before leaving, we were tested for covid19 and found negative. But we were put in quarantine the same, so I have to stay locked at home until May 12 at midnight.
Last edited by tahanson43206 (2020-04-28 14:27:32)
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I was glad to see that post in the other topic from our friend Quaoar in Italy...
Numbers for NH have slowly continued to creep upward but deaths are at a slower ramp and hopefully staying that way as we continue he stay at home protection.
The family is fine, I am at work through more cases are springing up positive in the building that I am in...not cool.
I am wearing my mask and washing my hands religiously.
Something that is also coming out for the virus is that the levels of antibodies that a person might have varies not only with the exposure and with its intensity for each individual. That makes for using a person immunity against getting it again next to nil since you are not guaranteed to have antibodies from going through the disease.
This also makes for a much longer second round chance to getting the disease if we do not react to it with the social distancing and masks for the next time it goes through a nation.
The question of herd immunity is something that they look to have when over 70 plus percent of a population has had the virus and are getting a vaccine to keep those that have not had it from getting it. I heard that a measles vaccine is 90 percent of the population for herd immunity.
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SpaceNut,
Welcome back, sir. How are things?
Quaoar,
I'm glad to hear that you survived your civil service job. Talk about going above and beyond... Well, at least now you have plenty of time to ponder your ideas.
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The percentage threshold for herd immunity (assuming immunity lasts, which isn't a given with coronaviruses) is 100 - (100/R0). Given COVID has an estimated R0 ~5.6, something like 85% of the population would need to be immune. Though if we can lower the R0 substantially with low(ish) economic disruption (cancelling large events, for example, or wearing masks), then the threshold comes down as well.
If immunity doesn't last, then the only option is to crush the outbreak and be ready to crush any that breakout. If we want to be able to do that whilst still getting stuff done, we need helmets.
Use what is abundant and build to last
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That's great teraformer.
I would think that at risk people should have full helmets with air filters, maybe even forced air flow.
And as for air filters, for the more complicated helmets, I think that they should be such that they can be sterilized in a microwave oven, to be re-used.
But the young and healthy could probably just get by with a more simple version.
Other things may help, when a person does get sick enough to go to a care facility.
I read a unofficial rumor that the French have an arthritis drug that can quiet the immune system down when it gets out of control and starts damaging the body.
"cytokine storm"
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho … e-to-blame
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3294426/
If true, this could be big, because apparently that often forces patients to be put into a ventilator, and at that point I think they have ~18-33% chances of recovery (Or less maybe).
In some cases, this blood plasma therapy might help:
https://time.com/5809955/blood-plasma-coronavirus/
The above should be a sort of indicator as to if humans even get immunity. If it never helps a patient then I guess we have to suppose their is no infection fighting factor in the blood plasma.
But yes the helmets, that should be in the arsenal, because even if we get this current plague under control, I think it likely that there will be more such things to come along. So, good idea to get the helmet technology developed.
Last edited by Void (2020-04-29 12:00:40)
I am starting to ask seriously "Why do I do this?"
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Here's a line of industrial helmets that would appear to include mechanical air filter supply:
https://pksafety.com/respiratory-helmets/
I note they are all out of stock.
Here's a system designed for the All Terrain Vehicle market:
https://www.sbfilters.com/particle-separator/helmet
The filter efficiency claim is for dust. I'm not sure how it would perform for biological agents.
Here is a gas mask with portable electric air filtration that appears to be reasonably priced for the consumer market.
ZYC Electric Constant Flow Supplied Air Fed Full Face Respirator Gas Mask Blower/Breathing Tube/Charger/Filter/Belt Combined Gas Mas
by ZYC
16 answered questions
Price: $234.69 + $5.00 shipping
Get $50 off instantly: Pay $184.69 upon approval for the Amazon Rewards Visa Card.
Supplied fresh air respirator system is equipped with portable power source mainly overcome the problems of big air intaking resistance, difficulties in breathing and so on.
This system use the air pump to transport the air to the mask. You could fix the air pump on your waist, so you are more close to the air source.
The charging time is 3 hours and you could use it for 7 hours with the fully charged battery. The canister comes with the unit can filters a variety of harmful gas.
The filter can be used for benzene, chlorine gas, acetone, alcohol, aniline, disulphide, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, bromomethane, chloromethane, chloride, chlorinated sodium chloride, paint and its derivatives.
Again, I'm not sure how it would perform if challenged with .12 micron biological particles.
(th)
Last edited by tahanson43206 (2020-04-29 12:06:38)
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