Just had to visit Hermann Hospital. They now have security checkpoints at all entrances with armed guards, only staff or vendors (or patients, presumably) allowed in. No visitors. They ask if you are sick and scan your temperature before you can enter, that includes all employees, which has been shown to be ineffectual, but doing something seems better than doing nothing I guess.
Italian doctors tried Tocilizumab on 2 ICU patients in Napoli. Both improved dramatically in 24 hours in their oxygen levels and one of them will be released from ICU. Its a 10y.o drug against arthritis and causes immunosuppresion. In this case it is to battle cytocine storms which is the complication that many have ended up in ICU. Now they will try it on more. China had used it on 21 patients.
Qiagen was just bought out by Fisher like last week. Confusion or transition might not be helping. Ah, capitalism!
Bro........ the amount of wealth and comfort in places like the USA and select parts of Western Europe are so strong that the majority of people just do not believe anything bad can or will happen. The WW2 generation is gone. There has been no real war on US soil in literally 200 years. In Western Europe there hasn't been in 75 years and all alive for it are dead, and even most of those really involved in the USSR scare are gone. So you take a fairly well educated populous that also has money, a sense of invulnerability, no serious spreading sexual diseases, ample mind altering substances and easy mass communication and you get **** like what is happening in America and in places like France. I am part of the problem too though...... I immediately thought "I bet that was a lot of fun. I bet sex was ample, lots of drugs and running around. I'm getting too old for this ****..... hey, look at that blue girl in the back, not too much out of my age range. God I am a horrible human being."
But it is hard to believe isnt it. Does this company have the world wide monopoly in this product? I doubt it. The US government if really cared they could have got it from other companies since it is a national emergency or even get a factory to start producing it on their own. And we are talking about america here, the wealthiest country in the world. How they dont have the means to get this? But if you dont care then this happens and it is a nice excuse.
First community spread in Houston area? Northwest Montgomery County is up around Lake Conroe...not the Woodlands as I would have expected. sort of surprised not more news on this one. Montgomery County A man in his 40s, who is a resident of northwest Montgomery County, was identified as the first presumptive positive case of coronavirus in the county, Montgomery County Public Health District announced Monday evening. The man is currently receiving treatment at a local hospital. At this time, health officials said they are waiting to hear from the CDC for confirmation. Health officials said they are also monitoring other individuals and potential patients who have been cleared as of March 10. “All healthcare providers are following strict guidelines from the CDC in all interactions with the patient,” officials wrote. “The patient is under isolation at a local hospital, and the risk to the general public remains low. Out of an abundance of caution and in accordance with HIPAA, we are not releasing the identity of the patient, or the hospital where the patient is being treated. Precautions are being taken to ensure the safety of other patients in the hospital.” Officials said the spread of the virus can be prevented by washing your hands for 20 seconds, using an alcohol-based sanitizer if you’re unable to wash your hands, and using proper precautions when sneezing. Melissa Miller, the chief operations officer of the Montgomery County Public Health District, said the man has never traveled outside of Texas before and has not traveled recently. The Montgomery Independent School District will be closing on March 12 for Spring Break to do a deep cleaning at the district’s schools, Superintendent Reagan Rees, Ph.D., said. Rees said classes will resume on March 23. The district said students are allowed to stay home and receive excused absences if parents fear the virus will spread.
How did they caught him? According to the american CDC he shouldnt qualify. Did a man in his 40s develop pneumonia and is in critical condition? Does that even alone qualify for a test?
Yeah, we have to assume it's circulating now. Just be careful and smart. I can't reconcile all this twitter hysteria about lack of available tests with something a public health official said on KCRW (local, county guy, not a fed). He said they have a couple hundred tests available (for a smallish so-Cal county) with more on the way. He said about "400,000 kits" are in the mail currently around the country from the CDC and that within a couple of weeks they expect to have 4-6 million at ready. This in no way fits the Qiagen bottleneck news. So he is deluded, or lying, or the Qiagen tweets are basically misinformed clickbait. Truth probably somewhere in between all that. I hope the 400,000 number is correct. We'll need it.
