COVID-19

[grunthy]

I made the mistake of going down a COVID rabbit hole last night and read a number of articles about how we're going to need to 'lockdown' ourselves every other month or so for the next year+ in order to keep things manageable. Probably shouldn't have done that right before bed, because I'm pretty sure that I only got an hour or two of sleep.

Ever since I started limiting my news intake, I've been coping much better with all of this. I've also seen projections of how we're going to resume "normal" life, and some are suggestions that smaller lockdowns will have to take place to control any re-spread that pop up. The truth is nobody really knows how it's going to happen.

Also, I check this site once a day to make sure I get some good news as well. https://www.justgivemepositivenews.com

That site's a welcome change. It's a struggle, trying to balance what's going on versus simply ignoring it. I just wish there were more stories about positive outcomes, because all that's ever reported is death. This 30 year old died, that 32 year old died, etc.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com ... thday/amp/

[nocera]

I made the mistake of going down a COVID rabbit hole last night and read a number of articles about how we're going to need to 'lockdown' ourselves every other month or so for the next year+ in order to keep things manageable. Probably shouldn't have done that right before bed, because I'm pretty sure that I only got an hour or two of sleep.

Ever since I started limiting my news intake, I've been coping much better with all of this. I've also seen projections of how we're going to resume "normal" life, and some are suggestions that smaller lockdowns will have to take place to control any re-spread that pop up. The truth is nobody really knows how it's going to happen.

Also, I check this site once a day to make sure I get some good news as well. https://www.justgivemepositivenews.com

That site's a welcome change. It's a struggle, trying to balance what's going on versus simply ignoring it. I just wish there were more stories about positive outcomes, because all that's ever reported is death. This 30 year old died, that 32 year old died, etc.

Outliers are always going to be newsworthy because of the fact that they are outliers and incredibly rare. The fact still remains that death rate of anybody under 40 is .02% at the highest and the majority of that .02% have severe pre-existing conditions. Due to lack of testing, it’s very likely lower than that. Outlier cases will always happen and unfortunately that’s what gets clicks. It’s not news when a 35 year old gets it, experiences mild symptoms, and recovers because that’s what’s most likely to happen.

[Troy Loney]

Total case numbers are largely irrelevant it seems.

[King Colby]

All that is relevant at this point is hospital demand vs capacity.

[King Colby]

I made the mistake of going down a COVID rabbit hole last night and read a number of articles about how we're going to need to 'lockdown' ourselves every other month or so for the next year+ in order to keep things manageable. Probably shouldn't have done that right before bed, because I'm pretty sure that I only got an hour or two of sleep.

Ever since I started limiting my news intake, I've been coping much better with all of this. I've also seen projections of how we're going to resume "normal" life, and some are suggestions that smaller lockdowns will have to take place to control any re-spread that pop up. The truth is nobody really knows how it's going to happen.

Also, I check this site once a day to make sure I get some good news as well. https://www.justgivemepositivenews.com

That site's a welcome change. It's a struggle, trying to balance what's going on versus simply ignoring it. I just wish there were more stories about positive outcomes, because all that's ever reported is death. This 30 year old died, that 32 year old died, etc.

Outliers are always going to be newsworthy because of the fact that they are outliers and incredibly rare. The fact still remains that death rate of anybody under 40 is .02% at the highest and the majority of that .02% have severe pre-existing conditions. Due to lack of testing, it’s very likely lower than that. Outlier cases will always happen and unfortunately that’s what gets clicks. It’s not news when a 35 year old gets it, experiences mild symptoms, and recovers because that’s what’s most likely to happen.

It gets more clicks if your headline says "7 week old with coronavirus dies" and that's all that really matters right?

Then in the fine print you can see "cause of death not known".

[King Colby]

Go test the next couple of fatal car accident victims in NY. Wanna bet some have COVID19?

[nocera]

Absolutely. Media will focus on the negative outlier because that gets them clicks/views and ultimately more money from sponsors.

[pens9192]

I made the mistake of going down a COVID rabbit hole last night and read a number of articles about how we're going to need to 'lockdown' ourselves every other month or so for the next year+ in order to keep things manageable. Probably shouldn't have done that right before bed, because I'm pretty sure that I only got an hour or two of sleep.

Ever since I started limiting my news intake, I've been coping much better with all of this. I've also seen projections of how we're going to resume "normal" life, and some are suggestions that smaller lockdowns will have to take place to control any re-spread that pop up. The truth is nobody really knows how it's going to happen.

Also, I check this site once a day to make sure I get some good news as well. https://www.justgivemepositivenews.com

That site's a welcome change. It's a struggle, trying to balance what's going on versus simply ignoring it. I just wish there were more stories about positive outcomes, because all that's ever reported is death. This 30 year old died, that 32 year old died, etc.

Outliers are always going to be newsworthy because of the fact that they are outliers and incredibly rare. The fact still remains that death rate of anybody under 40 is .02% at the highest and the majority of that .02% have severe pre-existing conditions. Due to lack of testing, it’s very likely lower than that. Outlier cases will always happen and unfortunately that’s what gets clicks. It’s not news when a 35 year old gets it, experiences mild symptoms, and recovers because that’s what’s most likely to happen.

I agree. Its easy to get sucked in and read one good story and then read two more about how society will neber be the same again and our economy is doomed. Constantly riding a wave of positive and negative lately.

Maybe this is good news, who knows: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world- ... s-21805392

[shafnutz05]

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

my dad who's a physician in upstate NY is saying the national guard is confiscating ventilators at his hospital. I'm guessing they're bringing them to NYC

sucks because that means his hospital will be ill prepared if/when they start getting a lot of covid cases

[willeyeam]

I'd like to think there's some organized plan to move them around where/when needed but I know better

[eddy]

The professor at my school has been waiting 7 days now for his test results to come back according to the family. Still on a ventilator.

[nocera]

Yeah a coworker is on day 9 of waiting for his wife's results. She's already feeling better and if she had it, it was only a mild case. There's obviously a backlog of testing right now to the point where the daily counts are probably actually reflecting the cases from 1-2 weeks ago.

[dodint]

Hey, that's the facility I mentioned a few pages ago. I didn't know they were considering the DLCC though. Cool.

Not sure if sarcasm. My bad must have missed it.

Not sarcasm. I posted last Tuesday that I heard at work (USACE) that USACE was looking to build a facility here in Pittsburgh. Didn't know they were assessing the DLCC for it. I walked by there today and thought about how empty it must be. Seems like it would be a good fit.

A follow up on this.

Some positive news from work (Army Corps of Engineers) regarding Alternate Care Facilities, this was discussed today in our town hall meeting:

These ACF contracts are not signed but are intended to be finalized in the next 24-48 hours.

-Ellwood City Medical Center will be stood up and run by USACE.
-David Lawrence Convention Center will be stood up by the Commonwealth and City of Pittsburgh.
--USACE will contribute if needed, but due to the union contracts on that facility it is too difficult for USACE to take the lead role.
-Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio will be stood up with the Ohio National Guard as lead with the assistance of USACE as needed.

The expectation is to have the facilities operational in 3-5 weeks. These facilities would supplement local health systems to expand capacity for COVID-19 treatment. Of the six facilities assessed these three are actively being pursued.

As an aside, we were told but not given details that if we as USACE employees come down with COVID-19 the agency can use its influence to prioritize our care. In terms of relative importance among federal entities USACE currently ranks third behind the White House and DHS. I thought that was interesting if not irrelevant.

Anyway, good news, healthcare infrastructure reinforcements are coming to the region.

[Morkle]

Pressed X for doubt.

To Shad's China tweet.

[grunthy]

So they are disregarding the fact that 3 reported funeral homes each have more than 3 times the amount of urns than what Wuhan officially is reporting in deaths?

[LITT]

my dad who's a physician in upstate NY is saying the national guard is confiscating ventilators at his hospital. I'm guessing they're bringing them to NYC

sucks because that means his hospital will be ill prepared if/when they start getting a lot of covid cases

every aspect of this is correct. speaks to the dire state in NYC

[nocera]

@dodint , definitely good news that help is on the way. Are there studies that show that it's needed? Pittsburgh hospitals are certainly not strained at the moment. For example, UPMC Shadyside has an entire floor devoted to COVID and only 6 beds are filled at the moment. Obviously that number will go up and the USACE wouldn't spend the resources to build alternate care facilities if they weren't needed, I'm just wondering if there was a study done on need vs capacity.

[grunthy]

@dodint , definitely good news that help is on the way. Are there studies that show that it's needed? Pittsburgh hospitals are certainly not strained at the moment. For example, UPMC Shadyside has an entire floor devoted to COVID and only 6 beds are filled at the moment. Obviously that number will go up and the USACE wouldn't spend the resources to build alternate care facilities if they weren't needed, I'm just wondering if there was a study done on need vs capacity.

They use models like this.

http://covid19.healthdata.org/projections

[nocera]

@dodint , definitely good news that help is on the way. Are there studies that show that it's needed? Pittsburgh hospitals are certainly not strained at the moment. For example, UPMC Shadyside has an entire floor devoted to COVID and only 6 beds are filled at the moment. Obviously that number will go up and the USACE wouldn't spend the resources to build alternate care facilities if they weren't needed, I'm just wondering if there was a study done on need vs capacity.

They use models like this.

http://covid19.healthdata.org/projections

Yeah I've seen that. But this is saying the peak resource usage is in 15 days so 3-5 weeks for these alternate care sites to be up and running would already be too late.

[tifosi77]

Probably not the way to flatten the curve...looks like a chicken pox party...

Who took that photo

[dodint]

I don't know the basis for the decision, honestly. I'm an IT nerd, just passing along the particulars that I heard when sitting in on our virtual district get together. We're supposed to be provided with a transcript of the meeting so I'll double check it for particulars.

[blackjack68]

Yacht Rock icon Christopher Cross has confirmed he has been tested positive for COVID.

[NTP66]

I want to know how they predict deaths go to 0 after the peak for states like us where we appear to be in good shape in terms of capacity.

[dodint]

Oh, the Ellwood hospital was chosen in part because it closed most recently. It still has a lot of the stuff they'll need. The longer a facility sits the less useful it is.