Coronavirus Coronavirus: In-Iowa General Discussion (Not Limited)

[agrabes]

Ran across an interesting article today about the possible cause of delay in early testing. I don't think this is political, though a few political shots are taken in the article. I'd recommend skipping over the sections where they try to lay blame on politicians.

Essentially, it seems the CDC made mistakes in their manufacturing process in early February which caused one component of their tests to fail. It apparently took 3 weeks to identify the problem and get a solution in place. This apparently led to the huge bottleneck and lack of tests when they would have been most helpful. Not that it means a lot now, but it does explain the early problems and maybe gives me a little hope that we can scale up since it seems the early slowness issues can generally be tracked back to one issue in one lab. We now seem to have a wide variety of tests and sources of tests.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/poli...trump-administration-response-invs/index.html

 

[madguy30]

Ran across an interesting article today about the possible cause of delay in early testing. I don't think this is political, though a few political shots are taken in the article. I'd recommend skipping over the sections where they try to lay blame on politicians.

Essentially, it seems the CDC made mistakes in their manufacturing process in early February which caused one component of their tests to fail. It apparently took 3 weeks to identify the problem and get a solution in place. This apparently led to the huge bottleneck and lack of tests when they would have been most helpful. Not that it means a lot now, but it does explain the early problems and maybe gives me a little hope that we can scale up since it seems the early slowness issues can generally be tracked back to one issue in one lab. We now seem to have a wide variety of tests and sources of tests.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/poli...trump-administration-response-invs/index.html

Heard that too re: CDC.

The apparent testing for plant workers in Iowa is encouraging and hopefully it's worked up to as a norm.

That is something that needs to be communicated to the public--how many actual tests are available, can they be dispersed to work places in some form, or is that a plan for a next step?

 

[BCClone]

Heard that too re: CDC.

The apparent testing for plant workers in Iowa is encouraging and hopefully it's worked up to as a norm.

That is something that needs to be communicated to the public--how many actual tests are available, can they be dispersed to work places in some form, or is that a plan for a next step?

The Governor mentions available tests during her presser, I would assume they could be dispersed if there appears to be an outbreak. The number I remember form a presser last week was 10,800 available. I didn't listen to that much more because it seemed we were testing a little more and the availables were also going up. Would figure NY should be calming down which would open up a lot of available tests for others.

 

[bawbie]

The Governor mentions available tests during her presser, I would assume they could be dispersed if there appears to be an outbreak. The number I remember form a presser last week was 10,800 available. I didn't listen to that much more because it seemed we were testing a little more and the availables were also going up. Would figure NY should be calming down which would open up a lot of available tests for others.

I doubt NY lessens up on testing any time soon - last I saw they were still in the 40% positive range state-wide.

I did read that NY is running the first large-scale serology (antibody) test this week which will be a helpful data point in determining the prevalence of infection in a hotspot population

 

[Stewo]

In my opinion, the number of reported cases is next to meaningless. I would be shocked if the actual number of cases is not at least 10x higher than the report number. Pay attention to the number of deaths and the number of hospitalizations. Those aren't perfect either but will give a better interpretation to how much the virus is still spreading.

I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that 2-3% of people in Iowa have had, or currently have the virus. That's around 60,000.

This is my line of thinking as well. If things were getting out of hand, we'd know by the number of people hospitalized. Getting infected with coronavirus doesn't necessarily mean anything. Suffering from severe enough issues to be admitted into personal care, does however.

I think the antibody testing is going to prove to be the most important piece to getting the country (world) up and running again.

 

[madguy30]

This is my line of thinking as well. If things were getting out of hand, we'd know by the number of people hospitalized. Getting infected with coronavirus doesn't necessarily mean anything. Suffering from severe enough issues to be admitted into personal care, does however.

I think the antibody testing is going to prove to be the most important piece to getting the country (world) up and running again.

It doesn't in the chances that it's not bad for most people, but it does to me in the idea that I could infect someone else.

I'm speculating that I've had it and want that antibody test more than anything currently. If nothing else I can donate blood.

 

[Stewo]

It doesn't in the chances that it's not bad for most people, but it does to me in the idea that I could infect someone else.

I'm speculating that I've had it and want that antibody test more than anything currently. If nothing else I can donate blood.

Understood, but if you have it and are asymptomatic, then there's nothing you can do about it. As long as you are following the CDC's recommendations, you're doing the best you possibly can. I think with more antibody testing, we're going to find that the vast majority of people are basically uninfected by the virus. Which, in itself, is strange.

 

[agrabes]

I doubt NY lessens up on testing any time soon - last I saw they were still in the 40% positive range state-wide.

I did read that NY is running the first large-scale serology (antibody) test this week which will be a helpful data point in determining the prevalence of infection in a hotspot population

Agreed - testing will only go up from here. Right now NY is testing those who are in dire need, but eventually they will need to be able to test and track down cases. I was reading articles that top public health officials believe we need to develop the capacity to test 1% of the population each week. I think now we can test what 300k per week, and we need to get to 3M.

 

[jkbuff98]

Cuomo said NY will begin a big antibody testing campaign starting this week

 

[isukendall]

RAGBRAI officially cancelled.

 

[HFCS]

Understood, but if you have it and are asymptomatic, then there's nothing you can do about it. As long as you are following the CDC's recommendations, you're doing the best you possibly can. I think with more antibody testing, we're going to find that the vast majority of people are basically uninfected by the virus. Which, in itself, is strange.

Mask requirements are the best thing for asymptomatic spread.

I'd say LA is over 95% compliant with mask mandate from what I see on the street. Sometimes it feels like 100%.

Entire country needs to get there asap. Especially the states that think they can successfully open early.

It made sense during the mad TP grab to lie about masks to save them for healthcare. Everybody needs to forget that messaging about masks making people sick because they don't use them right. It was temporary necessary bs because we were not prepared with medical supplies.

Where a mask or people could die.

 

[Halincandenza]

Mask requirements are the best thing for asymptomatic spread.

I'd say LA is over 95% compliant with mask mandate from what I see on the street. Sometimes it feels like 100%.

Entire country needs to get there asap. Especially the states that think they can successfully open early.

It made sense during the mad TP grab to lie about masks to save them for healthcare. Everybody needs to forget that messaging about masks making people sick because they don't use them right. It was temporary necessary bs because we were not prepared with medical supplies.

Where a mask or people could die.

People in Iowa right now are not doing a good job of wearing a mask. I was out driving on Sunday and of all the people I saw out walking I counted 2 people with masks on

 

[Urbandale2013]

Mask requirements are the best thing for asymptomatic spread.

I'd say LA is over 95% compliant with mask mandate from what I see on the street. Sometimes it feels like 100%.

Entire country needs to get there asap. Especially the states that think they can successfully open early.

It made sense during the mad TP grab to lie about masks to save them for healthcare. Everybody needs to forget that messaging about masks making people sick because they don't use them right. It was temporary necessary bs because we were not prepared with medical supplies.

Where a mask or people could die.

I just don’t agree with this stance on a universal level. I’ve already said my reasons but I will repeat them. I’m significantly more confident in my ability to just not touch my face before washing my hands. I’m not confident in my ability to keep my hands away from my face.

I think it totally makes sense for people that don’t feel well. I also think that it makes sense in the future if people learn how to properly use them. I don’t think the general US population is capable of this at this time.

 

[HFCS]

People in Iowa right now are not doing a good job of wearing a mask. I was out driving on Sunday and of all the people I saw out walking I counted 2 people with masks on

We need to get over irrational weird feelings about wearing masks. Wearing a mask is our best path back to free daily lives.

 

[bawbie]

People in Iowa right now are not doing a good job of wearing a mask. I was out driving on Sunday and of all the people I saw out walking I counted 2 people with masks on

I wear mine whenever I go to a store or anything like that - but we haven't been wearing them on walks. We went on 5 long walks this weekend and we may have come within 6 feet of someone (passing the other way) twice.

My biggest concern regarding masks is that grocery store and restaurant workers are NOT wearing them - at least around here. I got take out and DQ this weekend and didn't see anyone else wearing a mask - including the workers.

 

[bawbie]

I just don’t agree with this stance on a universal level. I’ve already said my reasons but I will repeat them. I’m significantly more confident in my ability to just not touch my face before washing my hands. I’m not confident in my ability to keep my hands away from my face.

I think it totally makes sense for people that don’t feel well. I also think that it makes sense in the future if people learn how to properly use them. I don’t think the general US population is capable of this at this time.

The two biggest issues in terms of focus and guidance, looking backwards, is focus on people traveling to quarantine after the virus was already here and focus on symptomatic people when we knew asymptomatic spread is prevalent.

 

[HFCS]

I just don’t agree with this stance on a universal level. I’ve already said my reasons but I will repeat them. I’m significantly more confident in my ability to just not touch my face before washing my hands. I’m not confident in my ability to keep my hands away from my face.

I think it totally makes sense for people that don’t feel well. I also think that it makes sense in the future if people learn how to properly use them. I don’t think the general US population is capable of this at this time.

You can suppress breathing, sneezing, and coughing? You can "feel well" and still pass it to others.

It's not about keeping you from catching it. It's about stopping the spread. It works. Taipei is more dense than NYC and they all wore masks from the beginning and had about 400 cases total.

 

[3TrueFans]

I wear mine whenever I go to a store or anything like that - but we haven't been wearing them on walks. We went on 5 long walks this weekend and we may have come within 6 feet of someone (passing the other way) twice.

My biggest concern regarding masks is that grocery store and restaurant workers are NOT wearing them - at least around here. I got take out and DQ this weekend and didn't see anyone else wearing a mask - including the workers.

Masks are for where you're going places that make social distancing difficult or impossible, I'd say going on a walk where you only occasionally pass by someone briefly wouldn't count in my opinion. I wear mine to the store every time and notice that the majority of people still don't wear masks which is frustrating.

 

[Urbandale2013]

You can suppress breathing, sneezing, and coughing? You can "feel well" and still pass it to others.

It's not about keeping you from catching it. It's about stopping the spread. It works. Taipei is more dense than NYC and they all wore masks from the beginning and had about 400 cases total.

Yes but this is being spread from doing that on objects and others touching them and then touching their face. Unless I’m unaware this is not airborne. So if I go to the store and just don’t touch my face I should be fairly safe. If it was airborne I’d be on board.

 

[HFCS]

I wear mine whenever I go to a store or anything like that - but we haven't been wearing them on walks. We went on 5 long walks this weekend and we may have come within 6 feet of someone (passing the other way) twice.

My biggest concern regarding masks is that grocery store and restaurant workers are NOT wearing them - at least around here. I got take out and DQ this weekend and didn't see anyone else wearing a mask - including the workers.

Grocery workers near me have masks and plexiglass windows built around checkout. An employee or two is just disinfecting carts all day. They don't allow bringing your own bag like state laws used to encourage. I've been kind of blown away by it.

I really think mask guidelines are just as important to next phases as social distancing was initially.