ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
You're being completely dismissive about it's impact.  See my edit below

 kurtster wrote:
 

You're being conveniently dismissive of the fact that it could be instant-read and a 58-hour backlog to get it interpreted might still be a problem.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I do not know where the test went.  I will ask.  I will find out Wednesday when I have a regular every other week appointment.  I am pretty sure it was done in house.  When I took it they said they would know in 8 hours.  Then it was 24.  Then it was 48.  It finally took 60.  Yes, there had to be either a processing backlog or something went wrong in the lab.  My test was run on Sunday morning, the first day that they set up tents for triage.  I was one of the first tested.  So I was at the top of the heap at that point in time.

Glad you don't care how much this costs me or anyone else to wait.  It would have been nice to have coffee while waiting instead of an IV for 4 days.  Like I asked, are you buying ?

Edit:  yeah, I'm in a mood.  Let's look at this another way.  Think of all of those gowns, masks and gloves that were used once and tossed every time someone stuck their nose in the door of my room.  They are priceless resources right now.  This little nothing as you make it to be saves much more than just time and money.  It keeps the fight alive and the balls in the air.  That is what this is all about.  Keeping the balls in the air, for all of us, especially those providing the care.  Same with living with an incurable cancer.  It is all about keeping the balls in the air and staying alive long enough to benefit from the next breakthrough.  Hope you never have to find the understanding of that.

I ain't whining.  I'm just saying.  I'm in triple overtime now.  Every day is still one more than I had back when this shit started.  I know the medical system here, how it works and how to get it to work for me.  I am stuck where I am if I wish to continue living.  That is my lot in life.  Beats pushing daisies.  So I'm not always thinking about me.  I do think about how the big picture works, and doesn't work.  I think that everyone's expectations are out of line with reality, based upon my knowledge and insight and experience, of which I have a whole lot more than most when it comes to medical shit.  I have been in a doctor's office at least once every other week for the past 10 years and will likely continue until I drop.

So recognize great things when they happen.  Recognize progress.  Yeah, this little 45 minute test is going to a lot bigger deal than you think.

 kurtster wrote:
 

45 minutes start to finish is great, yes. Your test didn't take 60 hours to get results. It took probably 58 hours of waiting in line to be processed, then waiting to be analyzed, then waiting to be relayed to you. Was it one that they had to send to Atlanta for processing?

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
you left off the part about getting results in 45 minutes.  That is a big fucking deal. 

I was in hospital lockdown earlier this week at the Cleveland Clinic waiting for over 60 hours for my results.  They ain't no backwater outfit, dude.

Think about all them dollars, too.  Are you buying ?  I'll be happy to accept donations.  You can pm me for my gmail.

Tell me again that 45 minutes and no hospital time is not a game changer.

 islander wrote: 

 haresfur wrote:
 

It's pretty well over my head but this *sounds* more correcter. NB tho he has a book coming out titled, "Calling Bullshit"...

 BillG wrote: 
Best article I have seen yet and it shoots down my plan because a larger population of asymptomatic  or mild cases in the low-risk part of the population will vastly accelerate the speed of mutation. Not a very good idea. 

/back to lock-down. 

 KarmaKarma wrote:
 

And she wrote it in plain (therefore probably not entirely accurate) English as a way to talk to her friends about it. She's not a blogger and was never purporting to be some world authority. That people would take it and assign different authorship is just another wonder of the Internet.

 kurtster wrote:
 

Golly!
 
The WHO had tests available in January. Like many other countries, we developed our own because it's not that big a deal (to people who are fluent in polymerase chain reactions). Certainly not on the order of the first moon landing, fascinating as it is. We administered a few tests in January that were successful, then a series of snafus in manufacturing left us dead in the water, while most other countries were able to begin testing several weeks ago using WHO tests manufactured in Germany, or their own tests. Early reports were that "we" declined the WHO offer of testing kits and went our own way but that's not correct. So we were without testing for a while. Did this administration decline to ask France or Germany for a few thousand loaners? I dunno. We probably did get some from those sources. But the problem was that we had begun working on the test in January, all the while your man in the White House insisted that there was no reason to do *anything*. State and local governments idled away precious days/weeks/months because the top of the chain cavalierly advised them that there was no cause for concern, even when they knew otherwise. 

 BillG wrote: 
Indeed.

It reinforces my understanding and already formed conclusions about this situation we face.  I've been living the immuno system dance for the past 11 years now as both a patient, caregiver and a health care provider.  I no longer get seasonal flu shots.  I got the mac daddy old person shot 2 seasons ago and it almost killed me.  I had all of the adverse reactions including fever over 102 for a couple of days.  My oncologist told me I needed it.  My GP told me that it almost killed me and to never get it again.  I will go through the rest of my life without a net.  I must rely upon paying attention to my surroundings and paying close attention to what my body is trying to tell me.  The same as everyone else.

Without a doubt, the Hammer is the answer, at least here in the USA with our borders closed until further notice.  Testing will be the key to our recovery.  Just in this afternoon's briefing it was announced that we should have a test available within one week, the end of this month, that will have results within 45 minutes.  The sooner we can identify the infected and recovered, the sooner we can get back to normal.  We will know who is now immune and safe to be in the general public without putting other's at risk.

We must put this into perspective.  The piece that sird posted earlier is also the same understanding I have of this virus and thanks for the most informative and accurate post. In just two short months, we have gone from Houston, we have a problem to a 45 minute test for a brand new unknown pathogen.  That is pretty effing amazing in my understanding of medicine, technology and manufacturing.  But no one seems satisfied with the pace of improvements and developments.  Really ?

This is the modern equivalent of our moon shot in the 60's when in a few short years we declared that we would put a man on the moon before the turn of the next decade, using blackboards, chalk, slide rules and simple pencil and paper.  And we did.  This is the same country.  We are doing something equally as dramatic and impossible right now.  Perspective is everything.  But at the same time, most people alive never were around the last time we had a man on the moon and have no understanding of something so huge and complex, yet simple with today's technology, even though we haven't figured out how to get back to the moon in all of this time since.

But that seems to be the expectations of this impatient instant gratification social mass we live in today.  Yo, we did it 50 years ago.  The technology is ancient and sitting on the shelf.  Get a man back on the moon by next Tuesday or you have failed us.  With a mentality such as this, I am not optimistic about the hammer succeeding here.  Throw in the added dimension of our coming election and a faction of people dedicated to opposing the success of and defeating the person they must support in order to save us all.  I only say that as an observation and nothing more, but it must be said.

Lastly, with so much emphasis on the ICU capacity problem, a little bit about how we got there with that in the USA.  miamiz has touched on this often.  It is the individual states (over 30) who determine and regulate how many beds for what purpose and what hospital are allowed.  And what kind of equipment is also allowed including the number of ventilators. It is the governors of these states who make these decisions.  It is these rules that have put the constraints on the system that we must now deal with and overcome.  And it is Congress who decides how many doctors we are allowed to have.  This is the system that has been in place since the 1950's.  If you have been watching NY Gov Cuomo's daily briefings, you will hear him repeatedly reference these restrictions and how he is waiving them in order to increase capacity.  He just did this waiver within the past couple of days.  By so doing this he has now enabled FEMA to come into NY with their fully staffed self contained 250 bed hospitals.  He is getting at least 4 of these hospitals adding 1000 fully staffed beds.  They will be placed in the Javitts Convention Center on Manhattan Island.  He has been most informative, calming and reassuring in his daily briefings.  I believe that California is getting 8 and Washington State is getting 4.  Things are moving and fast.  The staggering amount of institutional crap, redtape and other problems is being overcome.  To remove in days what took decades to install is impressive all by itself.  Yet people still call this foot dragging.

To see the movement of the two hospitals ships characterized on these boards as trivial, empty and too late is really astonishing.  What ?  Have you already given up ?  You think the shit has already hit the fan ?  No, not even close.  Yet you object to getting things properly placed and staged for what is yet to come.  Every little bit helps.  Anyone remember the Butterfly Effect ?  Have faith in something for the sake of whatever your higher power is.

I mentioned earlier that we still have the potential for this to all seem like just a bad dream after a few months of Hell.  I still believe that to be true.  I see the solutions unfolding ahead of us in unparalleled rapid fire order.  But it will only be true if we put down our differences and work together in the same direction.  That is how we got a man on the moon in short order. 

Let's do it again.
.


.
And .......  we have done all of this without declaring Martial Law ....

 islander wrote:
 

Is this what The Rapture looks like?  If so, I want a refund.

 haresfur wrote:
 

Yes.  My apologies.  The article was promptly shredded by an appropriate expert - CT_Bergstrom.

Disregard it as some jagoff's need to spew his massive mind into the Internet.

 sirdroseph wrote:
 

FYI / PSA / pick a size of grain of salt:



"Update: good news, found the author.
Bad news: a nurse, not an immunologist.
Kymberli Dawn Barker
🧐🧐🧐 Feeling confused as to why Coronavirus is a bigger deal than Seasonal flu? Here it is in a nutshell. I hope this helps. Feel free to share this...
https://www.facebook.com/Sailb...

Much of the info is basic immunology, which is why it appears to make some sense. But, this synopsis may not be completely on target for CV. Please treat as theory, not fact. 😶
Note that I found the source (see end of thread), a nurse and not an immunologist. 😶"



https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1240433470750498816.html

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
End times. Or maybe we all got raptured?  Frankly, if that's it I'm disappointed. 

Dr. Fauci Reports That Alcohol May Help People Survive Coronavirus Briefings

 brianlj wrote:
 

Holy smokes! It's like going to a reunion or a funeral around here lately! :wave:

 BillG wrote:
 

Just finished it. A VERY good article.

Long, but worthy:

The Hammer and the Dance.

NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

Are you feeling lucky?

Not just in the outcome for your case (or the cases of low-risk groups), but that the epidemic will follow a predictable path?

If you are it should be straightforward to go infect yourself, to take one for the team as you intend. An improvised DIY vaccination program isn't an insanely indefensible position. If the epidemic remains predictable and you can genuinely maintain quarantine so you don't infect your neighbors it's a noble thought.

As you acknowledge low risk is not no risk, and some of these intentional infections will end up making matters worse rather than better. Every sick person (symptomatic or not) is a vector.

I'm not going to automatically condemn this thinking. If a small, well-contained group of healthy people acted like this they could be a real resource in the outbreak. But it's a big dice-roll.