CDC Says Stay Home
The CDC issued a Strong Warning for Thanksgiving.
In one of its sharpest warnings to date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly urged Americans on Thursday not to travel for Thanksgiving, with an official saying the agency is “alarmed” by the recent exponential growth in the number of Covid-19 cases, as well as rising hospitalizations and deaths.
As the pandemic enters its 11th month in the U.S., many families are grappling with whether to meet up with friends or family for traditional celebrations. About 50 million Americans are expected to travel in the coming days, which is traditionally the busiest travel period of the year.
Daily Confirmed Deaths Per Million
Hospital Stays Reduced
The Wall Street Journal reports Hospitals Reduce Covid-19 Deaths, Lengths of Stay.
At the Mayo Clinic’s hospital in Rochester, Minn., coronavirus patients now stay a median of five days, half as long as in March. The time Covid-19 patients spend at Advocate Aurora Health’s 26 Midwestern hospitals has fallen 25% on average since May.
The results are consistent with anecdotal reports from doctors saying that new tools and a better understanding of how Covid-19 attacks the body are helping to improve medical outcomes.
Even so, surges again threaten to overwhelm hospitals, according to hospital executives and public health experts. Covid-19 patients flooding into hospitals have set national records each of the last nine days, reaching 79,410 Wednesday.
Many hospitals across the country are again scrambling to add more beds and cancelling nonessential surgery to make room for coronavirus patients. Staffing shortages are compounding the strain, limiting the number of patients hospitals can safely accept.
Patients ages 19 to 34, for example, accounted for more Covid-19 hospitalizations in September than in April, as the percentage of patients ages 55 to 64 and 85 and older declined, the Epic Health Research Network analysis found. Younger patients, who typically are at lower risk from the virus, spent less time in the hospital, the data show.
The data suggests younger people are more reckless where they go and what cautions like mask wearing they take.
Have Your Plans Changed?
Mish
Already canceled Thanksgiving plans here, which is just as well because our host likes to invite a lot of people, last year it was over 25. Even this year’s pared back list was going to be around a dozen.
It’s only a minor inconvenience, but gyms closed here again this week and that’s much more of a bother. I’m perfectly happy going during weird hours to avoid people and I really miss working out. The best trails are closed for the season so I guess I’ll be doing random hikes outside when I can.
Twitter from Senator Chris Murphy
Just off a conference call with Trump Administration vaccine distribution team. They confirmed that they have not briefed anyone on President-elect Biden’s team and have no plans to do so. This is potentially catastrophic.
Can i guess that Murphy is a Democrat politician?
The Biden team isn’t going to get the vaccine to people any faster than Trump is.
The Biden team won’t be able to distribute it as quickly as they otherwise would if they could hit the ground running. To do that, they need to be briefed. Don’t you get it?
….The son of a worker at a Tyson facility in Waterloo, Iowa, who died in April of complications from the virus, filed a lawsuit that claims plant managers misled workers about COVID-19 and allowed sick employees to continue working.
The worker, Isidro Fernandez, got sick because of his job, according to the lawsuit that was amended on Nov. 11….
…COVID-19 infected more than 1,000 employees out of about 2,800 at the plant, and five died, the lawsuit says. Tyson idled the plant in late April because of an outbreak.
Earlier that month, manager Tom Hart “organized a cash buy-in, winner-take-all betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager how many employees would test positive for COVID-19,” according to the lawsuit….Tyson said it suspended employees involved in the accusations and retained the law firm Covington & Burling to conduct an independent investigation led by Holder….
“If these claims are confirmed, we’ll take all measures necessary to root out and remove this disturbing behavior from our company,” the company said.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch first reported on the betting allegations in the lawsuit on Wednesday.
“This shocking report of supervisors allegedly taking bets on how many workers would get infected, pressuring sick workers to stay on the job, and failing to enforce basic safety standards, should outrage every American,” said Marc Perrone, president of the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union.
I love it…
Even at this late date, the old ploy of bringing in the 1% eccentric (doctor, in this case), outweighs everything said by the 99% who really know their shit.
Great going, low-info people!!
Do you know how many scientists and doctors signed the Great Barrington Declaration?
The fact is that not all scientists agree. Even Dr. Chris Martinson is now criticizing what has been going on in the medical/pharmaceutical/regulatory industrial complex, in response to this virus.
Whatever you do, stay away from the dog! Maybe we will need to cull them also, like the minks?
Are Dogs Spreading SARS-CoV-2? Study Finds Living With a Dog Increases Risk of Contracting COVID-19
NOVEMBER 16, 2020
A study conducted by the University of Granada and the Andalusian School of Public Health has analyzed the main risk factors in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during the national lockdown in Spain, including going out to work or living with patients diagnosed with COVID-19.
The authors warn of the need among dog-lovers to take extreme hygiene measures regarding their pets, as it is not yet clear whether the owners were infected because the animal acted as the host for the virus and transmitted it directly, or whether they picked it up indirectly due to the increased exposure of the dog to vehicles of the virus (that is, objects or surfaces where the virus lies).
“From a scientific point of view, there is no justification for children’s playgrounds being closed to prevent infections while parks where dogs are walked are allowed to remain open, when there are numerous objects there that can act as vehicles for SARS-CoV-2,” observe the authors.
….
I’m going to wait and hold off for confirmation of this. It’s also big on disinfecting stuff from the grocery store, and most others seem to have found that’s pretty useless. As a dog owner, my guess is that if this has any validity, it’s because dog owners stand around and gab with each other. Nothing directly to do with the dog.
Mask your dog just in case. I’m sure some fucker is making $$$ selling them!
It seems to me it not the size of the gathering that matters. It what each person does in the days before hand that matters. The size just limits how many people in you family you can expose.
COVID is the best excuse if you normally don’t want to visiting your in-laws (or out-laws) during the holidays.
Yeap
My family (self, wife, SIL, two kids, nephew) was entirely quarantined March – August.
Reasonably quarantined since and masked when out of the home.
My kids’ grandparents haven’t seen them in 11 months and there’s no end in sight for that… they’re done with this, they’re adults and they’ve made the choice to see their grandkids before they die in quarantine.
So be it. They know the issue isn’t for us, that they’re the vulnerable ones and they’ve made their choice.
They’ll be seeing their grandkids this T-day and I imagine that will play out millions of times across the USA.
I view it as voluntary Russian roulette… I hope my mom and FIL aren’t the ones who lose the game. But many, many grandparents will be losing the game next week.
They’re adults. Their choice.
Traveling (flying) from Florida to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with the misses family (staying in her parents guest house). Including her parents, siblings and their families I expect a gathering of about 12 of us for dinner.
Not particularly worried for myself or my family. Her mom, a leukemia survivor is the one taking the big risk hosting the dinner at her place (her idea) but her father is a doctor (podiatrist ) and he signed off on everything so presumably he feels the risk is low or that he can be on top of things quickly if she contracts Covid.
Podiatrist?
I’ve heard of covid toes but somehow, him being a podiatrist wouldn’t reassure me about his qualification with respect to a viral pandemic.
It all depends on your exposure in the week or two ahead of the event. And the exposure of all 12 people around the table.
Which probably would involve the doings of 100 people or more, all gathered together at that table with a dozen people.
This is to provide contrast, only (I don’t know) :
“Top pathologist Dr. Roger Hodkinson told government officials in Alberta during a zoom conference call that the current coronavirus crisis is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public.””
“He received his general medical degrees from Cambridge University in the UK (M.A., M.B., B. Chir.) where he was a scholar at Corpus Christi College. Following a residency at the University of British Columbia he became a Royal College certified general pathologist (FRCPC) and also a Fellow of the College of American Pathologists (FCAP).”
“He is in good Standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, and has been recognized by the Court of Queen’s Bench in Alberta as an expert in pathology.”
I already talked about this one with another friend. “Top Pathologists” don’t even treat patients…they make a living looking at slides.
This whole rant is a very typical oversimplification of a complex problem…made by a guy who should probably keep his mouth shut, because he has a limited grasp of the facts. Not unlike the crap that gets posted here most days.
Dentists always wear masks…..Know how many people have caught COVID from US dentists this year? According to the ADA, as of yesterday, exactly zero.
OK, so he isn’t “expert” in the right area or the right discipline?
So does that exclusion then apply to all the MD’s and epidemiologists and similar who appear on the TV and in the news daily prescribing that the economy should be shut down, business should be closed, the government should give people money until the virus goes away and so forth? All these people can be told to shut-up and go away, yes?
Jojo–
do everyone a favor and look at the decline in cases in France after the lockdown–
Less than 10,000 cases/day when it had been up to 60,000 cases a day previous to the lockdown.
So yes, lock-downs cut cases.
You like to make blanket statements but rarely back them up. Let’s see your sources for this info before accepting it as reality.
If lockdowns worked then the world would not be seeing a resurgence of CV-19.
Yes, in so far as they opine about the economic consequences of a lock-down. Yes.
Brilliant man
Yeah, sure.
World-wide.
Because, why?
Answer me that.
Likewise Victoria, Australia (re France) – and you can now check out South Australia in real time…
So we have this pretty a good experiment going in the Dakotas….ND had the worst numbers in the country last week……and SD wasn’t too much better….and then five days ago the ND governor issued a mandatory mask order…..and SD’s dumbass governor said she isn’t sure masks work and she doesn’t want to interfere with her citizens FREEEEEDOM.
Let’s see how the numbers change between now and Christmas….or until SD’s governor wakes up and smells the coffee. I’m watching to see what happens.
SD cases are looking like a peak is starting to form, if you compare them to Czeck Rep which is similar with a small 1st wave and big 2nd that started sooner (earlier fall) then it’s likely SD will fall in short order – no matter what NPIs (masks, SD, etc) are “ordered” or not. I then expect the rest of the MW to follow, this is the natural progression of ILIs it’s just amplified because of the higher R0 and longer hospital stays – which thankfully are going down.
I did see that peak, actually….but if you read what I wrote I said it will be a good chance to compare the RELATIVE numbers between ND and SD over the next several weeks. We can still do that.
I’m happy to see anybody’s infection rates go down for any reason.
Why is it every lib always resorts to name calling; what are your credentials “Mr Know it all ” ?
Who said I was a lib?
I find it ridiculous that anybody can even frame this as a liberal vs. conservative argument. Infectious diseases are non-partisan killers.
My credentials are that I’m a practicing dentist who treats patients every day in this high risk environment…someone with skin in the game…..someone who reads a great deal….. and pays attention.
I have also have treated patients with serious infectious diseases for 35 years…..diseases like HIV, Hepatitis B….Hepatitis C, HPV.
I have spent countless hundreds of hours in CE courses designed to teach me how to do that without making other patients sick, or making myself or my staff sick.
What are your fucking credentials, mate?
ND and SD from now to Christmas are probably not the only mask-test cases out there. But, yep. I like that you call “test” before, not after, the time period. Too often we’re painting the target around the arrow after the fact.
Now, it would be cool if there were a way to judge how mask-use-y ND and SD actually are during that time period.
Snowflake Calohan
“Will Biden Name a Deficit Hawk to Head OMB?” https://prospect.org/cabinet-watch/will-biden-name-a-deficit-hawk-to-head-omb/
I doubt it will matter much.
The Rethuglicans will do what they always do, turn deficit hawk when there is a Demoncrat in the White House. Might as well have someone in OMB that speaks their language. Unless 2 more senators from Georgia. Then all bets are off.
USA #1! USA #1!
We are awesome.