Coronavirus

[tabbibus]

Yes I was talking to my wife about that as well. Possible mutation from then and now? Who knows and I’m certainly no doctor lol.

Also I was wondering since you are in the ICU, how many people with seasonal flu do you guys see each season and do the serious people require ventilators? CDC says we lose approximately 30k people each year in the US to the flu but we never hear about those people or cases. I wonder if those people typically pass away at home or in the hospital? I’m sure you can’t give specific numbers for legal reasons but it just makes me wonder why we never hear about those deaths.

Yeah. Every year people die in our unit. Invariably it's folks who didn't get the vaccine. People with the shot rarely end up hospitalized. Flu can be real bad on the lungs. FYI, these COVID folks are sicker

 

[2kwik4u]

I'd be calling the new company to be certain their offer still stands!

I've been on almost daily email contact with them. They are currently still running at full capacity, and are still eager to get me on board. Have to get clearance, background checks, drug screens, and all that completed before I can come on anyway.

The build life support systems, and other devices for nuclear submarines, so I feel somewhat confident that business isn't going to dry up in the 6-9mo it takes us to get through this mess.

Got my desk setup at home. Not the most productive thing ever, but it'll get me through. Hoping I can get back to the office to have the conversation about leaving in person. I REALLY REALLY don't want that to be a phone call

Here's the desk in case anyone was wondering.

 

[Speedling]

I

I've been on almost daily email contact with them. They are currently still running at full capacity, and are still eager to get me on board. Have to get clearance, background checks, drug screens, and all that completed before I can come on anyway.

The build life support systems, and other devices for nuclear submarines, so I feel somewhat confident that business isn't going to dry up in the 6-9mo it takes us to get through this mess.

Got my desk setup at home. Not the most productive thing ever, but it'll get me through. Hoping I can get back to the office to have the conversation about leaving in person. I REALLY REALLY don't want that to be a phone call

Here's the desk in case anyone was wondering.
View attachment 114693

My desk got taken over with E-learning. But I work construction, so a bit different than your situation!!

 

[haknslash]

Wow so they went from 72 hour test kits, to 45 minute test kits to now a 5 minutes test kit being developed. This is awesome news!

5-minute coronavirus test gets emergency FDA approval

The medical-device maker plans to supply 50,000 tests a day starting April 1, said John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics.

www.al.com

 

[Speedling]

Side note-random thought...
Seems construction is considered "essential." I wish they would clarify more on that, but I guess it's hard to. I think they know they need infrastructure such as roads etc. I know they need the ability to build hospitals if needed. Housing? Perhaps not. We had one job that was a brew house/pub get shut down. No problems with that one. One town shut down a concrete pour for a loading dock on a Marshalls or something. I'm on the fence with that one... I mean, do they sell toilet paper? But most our work now is Hospitals and schools. The school work is nice since there aren't kids around. The hospital work is actually the stuff that has slowed down! They have set up testing booths temporarily where we needed to set all our equipment. Unfortunately we are in the process of adding a 3rd story and more room for beds. Carpentry is done and waiting on masonry and veneer. Honestly it wouldn't be open until Winter anyways. Probably/hopefully this will all be over by then. Since we have contracts with the local hospital, we have stuff like maintenance on mental health facilities and the like. And another job on a sanitation facility. So, I mean, I guess 90% of what we are doing is supporting essential services right now. I just feel guilty when i head out in the big truck to haul equipment and the roads are empty. But then I see how busy home depot and menards are and I wonder how much of that is essential vs people just stuck at home doing projects?
What essential or non-essential work are you guys doing when you leave the house? Just curious! No judgment!

I can't get a well and septic inspection over here for my refinance... that's kinda frustrating...

 

[Speedling]

Wow so they went from 72 hour test kits, to 45 minute test kits to now a 5 minutes test kit being developed. This is awesome news!

5-minute coronavirus test gets emergency FDA approval

The medical-device maker plans to supply 50,000 tests a day starting April 1, said John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics.

www.al.com

Besides being a day late and a dollar short, that is good news. I wonder if they will start testing booths in heavily populated areas?
I know in Chicago news this morning they said they are bringing out tests for all first responders and emergency/hospital staff. THEN essential employees, THEN general public.
I know I saw a sign for pre-approved testing only.
But then again, testing those with symptoms almost seems too late as well?
By the time we get testing rolling good will it be pointless? We need that 60-80% immunization point just like any other flu. So, 60% of the US needs to be exposed and fight it off or get a vaccine before we go back to normal. This is why social distancing is important. You wanna be in the hospital now with EVERYONE else right now, or do you want to go in a month or two when you can get staff that is a bit more well rested and have proper equipment and you can actually be taken care of? Or even better, when they have figured out what actually works for helping you fight it vs putting on a piece of equipment and hoping you make it? That's how I look at the flattening the curve anyways... Sorry that seemed long. I get tot typing like that sometimes.

 

[haknslash]

I'd say testing and gathering, tracking the data is very important. Never too late so not sure what you mean. Look at South Koera as an example.

Not sure how they are doing testing in your area but here you DO NOT go inside anywhere to get tested. You stay in your car with strict instructions on what to do. They try to limit interaction at all costs.

 

[swatski]

Besides being a day late and a dollar short, that is good news. I wonder if they will start testing booths in heavily populated areas?
I know in Chicago news this morning they said they are bringing out tests for all first responders and emergency/hospital staff. THEN essential employees, THEN general public.
I know I saw a sign for pre-approved testing only.
But then again, testing those with symptoms almost seems too late as well?
By the time we get testing rolling good will it be pointless? We need that 60-80% immunization point just like any other flu. So, 60% of the US needs to be exposed and fight it off or get a vaccine before we go back to normal. This is why social distancing is important. You wanna be in the hospital now with EVERYONE else right now, or do you want to go in a month or two when you can get staff that is a bit more well rested and have proper equipment and you can actually be taken care of? Or even better, when they have figured out what actually works for helping you fight it vs putting on a piece of equipment and hoping you make it? That's how I look at the flattening the curve anyways... Sorry that seemed long. I get tot typing like that sometimes.

Keep in mind that unlike RT-PCR tests which detect the actual virus (its RNA), the fastest of which (RT-PCR) are about 45 minutes, these new rapid tests do not detect the virus, or viremia, rather they detect a response to the virus (which triggers the body to produce "antibodies"). So these tests are simple and very fast however not as accurate as the PCR tests albeit sensitivity is relatively high.

One problem is accuracy. These rapid test cross react with other coronaviruses. The C19 accuracy is about 30%, could be less for some. Good for the battlefield but not much more.

From a purely epidemiological standpoint, a person who is infected will typically develop antibodies after about 10 days, generally not less. So the disadvantage of those rapid tests, besides terrible accuracy, is that they are of no use in the early infection phase - when a person sheds the virus most.
The advantage is that they can answer the question of how many people were infected, just like you mentioned. People who test positive for antibodies, we can assume that they are now immune. At least that would be a fair approximation. Which means these people do not need to be quarantined unnecessarily and also contribute to so-called "herd immunity".
Hope this helps, typing on the road.

EDIT: one thing is for sure, we will be learning a whole lot about viral immunity thanks to covid.

--

 

[Speedling]

Keep in mind that unlike RT-PCR tests which detect the actual virus (its RNA), the fastest of which (RT-PCR) are about 45 minutes, these new rapid tests do not detect the virus, or viremia, rather they detect a response to the virus (which triggers the body to produce "antibodies"). So these tests are simple and very fast however not as accurate as the PCR tests albeit sensitivity is relatively high.

One problem is accuracy. These rapid test cross react with other coronaviruses. The C19 accuracy is about 30%, could be less for some. Good for the battlefield but not much more.

From a purely epidemiological standpoint, a person who is infected will typically develop antibodies after about 10 days, generally not less. So the disadvantage of those rapid tests, besides terrible accuracy, is that they are of no use in the early infection phase - when a person sheds the virus most.
The advantage is that they can answer the question of how many people were infected, just like you mentioned. People who test positive for antibodies, we can assume that they are now immune. At least that would be a fair approximation. Which means these people do not need to be quarantined unnecessarily and also contribute to so-called "herd immunity".
Hope this helps, typing on the road.

EDIT: one thing is for sure, we will be learning a whole lot about viral immunity thanks to covid.

--

Herd immunity, yeah, that's what it was called!
And yes, I think we are all learning a TON!
I sometimes wonder how many people may have fought it off with mild symptoms and/or got it, stayed home a week and got lots of good rest etc. and "beat it" before any of this came out. This test would verify this very thing! So if my cousin that got sick a month ago for two weeks with "bronchitis type flu" and just stayed home for two weeks was actually covid 19 and then he comes back and we all got a bit of it from him but then were able to fight it off or whatever. It would be nice to know who has the antibodies just as much as it would be to know who has the virus!

 

[swatski]

Herd immunity, yeah, that's what it was called!
And yes, I think we are all learning a TON!
I sometimes wonder how many people may have fought it off with mild symptoms and/or got it, stayed home a week and got lots of good rest etc. and "beat it" before any of this came out. This test would verify this very thing! So if my cousin that got sick a month ago for two weeks with "bronchitis type flu" and just stayed home for two weeks was actually covid 19 and then he comes back and we all got a bit of it from him but then were able to fight it off or whatever. It would be nice to know who has the antibodies just as much as it would be to know who has the virus!

Yes, poor accuracy notwithstanding.

What I’m hoping for are DNA-based tests that look not for antibodies/protein but the cells that produce those antibodies, kind of like looking for the matrix, DNA matrix for the production of antibodies. We can do that very well right now in some blood cancers, infectious is far behind but will be catching up soon.

—

 

[haknslash]

How long does it typically take them to come up with a DNA type test? Is that something you think we can expect in weeks or does it take several months or worse years to develop?

 

[I_squared_r]

Side note-random thought...
Seems construction is considered "essential." I wish they would clarify more on that, but I guess it's hard to. I think they know they need infrastructure such as roads etc. I know they need the ability to build hospitals if needed. Housing? Perhaps not. We had one job that was a brew house/pub get shut down. No problems with that one. One town shut down a concrete pour for a loading dock on a Marshalls or something. I'm on the fence with that one... I mean, do they sell toilet paper? But most our work now is Hospitals and schools. The school work is nice since there aren't kids around. The hospital work is actually the stuff that has slowed down! They have set up testing booths temporarily where we needed to set all our equipment. Unfortunately we are in the process of adding a 3rd story and more room for beds. Carpentry is done and waiting on masonry and veneer. Honestly it wouldn't be open until Winter anyways. Probably/hopefully this will all be over by then. Since we have contracts with the local hospital, we have stuff like maintenance on mental health facilities and the like. And another job on a sanitation facility. So, I mean, I guess 90% of what we are doing is supporting essential services right now. I just feel guilty when i head out in the big truck to haul equipment and the roads are empty. But then I see how busy home depot and menards are and I wonder how much of that is essential vs people just stuck at home doing projects?
What essential or non-essential work are you guys doing when you leave the house? Just curious! No judgment!

I can't get a well and septic inspection over here for my refinance... that's kinda frustrating...

I'm a electrical engineer in construction, designing electrical systems in NYC. Thankfully it's been quiet and no jobs have been put on hold. I have 1 hotel/residential/commercial due this Friday for GMP pricing set and 3 residential jobs due on April 10th. Super busy here.

But a lot of construction sites are shut down. My brother is in the elevator union and a lot of the other trades have been home for 1-2 weeks (depending on the contractor). As of Friday they closed down the residential site that he was working on because it's "non-essential". We're all surprised it lasted as long as it did. I think contractors are fighting this "non-essential" construction thing because it's very hard to start back up after being shut for a few weeks. Not only that, concrete pours don't wait for anything, even coronavirus.

 

[swatski]

How long does it typically take them to come up with a DNA type test? Is that something you think we can expect in weeks or does it take several months or worse years to develop?

Currently, we need fast testing for the virus - for the sake of fighting the spread curve of this epidemic.

The DNA tests (also referred to as "clonality" or "IGH/repertoire" testing) are available, as far as sequencing platforms, so - we have everything we need to do the analytical part and data capture. What's currently missing are effective/readily available algorithms to recognize antibodies specific for the virus. Once that's in place, and it's just a matter of how much effort is put into it, basically, this could be done fairly quickly as it will become a simple DNA (genetic) test and a computational task to follow. The test is fairly inexpensive to run, as far as cost. Price? Who knows, LOL.

The superiority of that approach (IGH DNA testing) is you can detect ands analyze the cells, B lymphocytes, that actually produce the antibodies.
Currently we know very little about those, so we don't know how long the immunity lasts because we don't know exactly what the cells that produce the immunity are. Once we can track them down and figure out exactly what they do as far as their "lifestyle" and longevity, so to speak, we would be way better informed in designing vaccines, and in general getting in front of this problem. And - the next one.

--

 

[OCMD]

I'm not a doc. Do our bodies develop (antibodies?) to fight this virus, if we get it? That is, once you get it you can't get it again? Or if you had a mild case of it, you won't get it again? Or, we don't develop antibodies to a virus?

 

[ctyke]

I'm not a doc. Do our bodies develop (antibodies?) to fight this virus, if we get it? That is, once you get it you can't get it again? Or if you had a mild case of it, you won't get it again? Or, we don't develop antibodies to a virus?

In the video I posted, the Dr. says you will become immune to the particular strain of Covid, but it will mutate and keep coming back. The good news, it will be less severe because your body will be better trained to fight it.

 

[Speedling]

In the video I posted, the Dr. says you will become immune to the particular strain of Covid, but it will mutate and keep coming back. The good news, it will be less severe because your body will be better trained to fight it.

Kinda like regular flu i figure immune for a while but then it mutates and junk and we should get a vaccine hopefully by that time.

 

[Gym]

Here's the latest advice from the CDC.

NSFW

 

[Brad_Ct]

I work for a company that is classified as essential, two weeks ago I was at a dinner and found out four days later that a person there had indirect contact with someone (his sons friends father) that had tested positive. I did what our company had mandated and contacted our HR department and was promptly told to go home and was told I had to use my PTO time to cover the seven days I was going to be out. After several calls they finally agreed to lay me off for the time period so I could collect because I have no PTO accrued.

Since I was layed off all of our office personnel are now working from home but when I return to work tomorrow I am expected to be in direct contact with our customers and who ever else I may come in contact with.

 

[F.M.]

I don't know if this has been posted yet. But I thought it was a pretty interesting way to show how stupid and entitled some college kids are.

 

[haknslash]

.....and I just smashed my smart phone and looking to buy an old school Nokia that has snake game.