No matter what, this entire situation demonstrates how incredibly ill-equipped our government is to handle a pandemic.

Especially, since we've now had a good 6 months to prepare and we still can't process tests and data quickly and accurately.

It's nothing less than shocking.

Good context from good follow Kassie McClung

That is a *lot* of old data

So I am confused... how does this differ from the backlog that was reported last weekend?

Does this mean today's "record" was in fact not a record?

The TL:DR, regardless of which way you look at it: Covid 19 spread is out of control. Cases are growing, testing is no longer sufficient, contact tracing is pretty much useless due to delays and ~10% positive rate of tests. Any action by the state seems extremely unlikely.

The only remotely re-assuring data we have is that hospitalization rates have held steady for the last week. This is rather curious, but further points to the problem with the state's case reporting IMHO. If cases are a leading indicator for hospitalizations, but hospitalizations have slowed, then we should expect new cases to slow. We haven't yet seen this, which could simply mean that the testing is SO slow, that you can end up hospitalized before you know you are positive?

No matter what, this entire situation demonstrates how incredibly ill-equipped our government is to handle a pandemic.

Especially, since we've now had a good 6 months to prepare and we still can't process tests and data quickly and accurately.

It's nothing less than shocking.I don’t want to defend the government but:. No official, govt or private has ever seen anything anywhere like this before because there hasn’t been anything like it. I agree with you completely that as it’s gone along they should have learned faster and adapted. But I think the American way of “business, profits and growth” are just too hard for our leaders to put aside for the good of mankind. Change from the status quo is proving to be nearly impossible.

So I am confused... how does this differ from the backlog that was reported last weekend?

Does this mean today's "record" was in fact not a record?

The TL:DR, regardless of which way you look at it: Covid 19 spread is out of control. Cases are growing, testing is no longer sufficient, contact tracing is pretty much useless due to delays and ~10% positive rate of tests. Any action by the state seems extremely unlikely.

The only remotely re-assuring data we have is that hospitalization rates have held steady for the last week. This is rather curious, but further points to the problem with the state's case reporting IMHO. If cases are a leading indicator for hospitalizations, but hospitalizations have slowed, then we should expect new cases to slow. We haven't yet seen this, which could simply mean that the testing is SO slow, that you can end up hospitalized before you know you are positive?I would suggest that hospitalizations not increasing with cases increasing is because rapid test results are just now being reported. The new positive cases have been much higher for weeks but weren’t reported. And also, unrelated to this ratio, the real number of positive cases is multiple times of what gets tested. Truly scary.

I don’t want to defend the government but:. No official, govt or private has ever seen anything anywhere like this before because there hasn’t been anything like it. I agree with you completely that as it’s gone along they should have learned faster and adapted. But I think the American way of “business, profits and growth” are just too hard for our leaders to put aside for the good of mankind. Change from the status quo is proving to be nearly impossible.

In 6 months you think there would be a spit test or something that could get accurate results quickly.

In 6 months you think there would be a spit test or something that could get accurate results quickly.

Technology can not change the fact that the largest concentration of virus is located in the nasopharynx. So the most accurate tool will remain a NP swap.

A large portion of false positives also come down to technique, and not technology. If you have had more than one test you have likely experienced the difference between some people when it comes to collecting samples.

In 6 months you think there would be a spit test or something that could get accurate results quickly.Maybe this virus is going to prove to be something that shows us that our superior knowledge and technology isn’t so superior after all.

No matter what, this entire situation demonstrates how incredibly ill-equipped our government is to handle a pandemic.

Especially, since we've now had a good 6 months to prepare and we still can't process tests and data quickly and accurately.

It's nothing less than shocking.

This is what happens when state agencies are treated like jobs programs for the buddies of elected officials instead of professional entities with life and death importance during emergencies.

Chapman in Edmond just announced his support for a mandate. That's the swing vote needed so I expect the ordinance to pass tonight. If it passes, it basically mirrors OKC's ordinance, without the stepped fines.

Never mind. The mayor wouldn't vote for it with an emergency declaration so it doesn't go into effect for a month. That's helpful.

Don't believe or spend any time on the "an OKC clinic has sent in unused tests and they came back positive" anecdote, that is a Coronavirus denialist talking point that is straight up lies. Same story is being passed around about unnamed clinics all over the country with just the location changed. It is, quite literally, fake news.

Sure seemed like BS to me, and C_M is the only person I've conversed with claiming high false positives on the rapid test. I had always read that the issues with inaccuracy led to a high number of false NEGATIVES.

I don’t want to defend the government but:. No official, govt or private has ever seen anything anywhere like this before because there hasn’t been anything like it. I agree with you completely that as it’s gone along they should have learned faster and adapted. But I think the American way of “business, profits and growth” are just too hard for our leaders to put aside for the good of mankind. Change from the status quo is proving to be nearly impossible.

Other countries have it under control. It is a raging inferno in the US and you have governors like ours and the idiot in Florida and the Georgia governor overruling cities that passed mask ordinances. You have Trump lying and spreading disinformation about the virus and insisting on opening schools (and threatening to withhold federal funding for school districts that don't open).

This isn't just absurd, it is actively abusive. Stupidity is a factor, but self interest is an even bigger factor. 100% devotion to Trump's reelection campaign, which, ironically, will be tanked because he is doing such a tragic job leading during this crisis.

Sure seemed like BS to me, and C_M is the only person I've conversed with claiming high false positives on the rapid test. I had always read that the issues with inaccuracy led to a high number of false NEGATIVES.

Jeez sooner...do you ever quit with the hyperbole?? Where did I say those tests have a “high rate of false positives????” Please, show me. I said that they can have false positives. I also agree that they can have false negatives too.

You’re missing the whole point of that conversation. The point was that why would we include more, high error test data in an already screwed up data environment so suddenly. If they really want to do this, why not have a metric which continues to count as they do today and a second metric where they include the rapid tests? Consistency helps...

Oh, and please stop with the hyperbole and putting words in my mouth.

Saw this tonight and thought it was interesting/highly disturbing if true. 16291

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jul/02/facebook-posts/fact-checking-claims-about-nurses-getting-nothing-/

16292

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jul/02/facebook-posts/fact-checking-claims-about-nurses-getting-nothing-/

162921) A few months ago I might have been convinced that this thing is being blown way out of proportion. Not now as 1) I now personally know of people who have or have had it. And 2) Who really benefits from a huge number of people having a virus that “doesn’t exist”?

Don't believe or spend any time on the "an OKC clinic has sent in unused tests and they came back positive" anecdote, that is a Coronavirus denialist talking point that is straight up lies. Same story is being passed around about unnamed clinics all over the country with just the location changed. It is, quite literally, fake news.

I am not a denialist of the virus. You can believe what you want, but I am only reporting a fact from the PA with said information.

I got tested this morning in Guthrie as they were the only testing site that could schedule me the next day. I haven't been feeling bad except for a swollen and tender gland on the left side of my neck. It's never happened to me before. I got swabbed at the doctors office for strep which came back negative, so it was recommended that I get tested for covid.

My doctor told me to quarantine until my results came back, but who knows when that will be now...

Has anyone been tested recently? When did you get your results back?

They called me this morning. Negative. It took six days...

How long can the virus live on the swab before it dies? Makes you wonder how many are actually positive and then turn negative before they are able to test them...

They called me this morning. Negative. It took six days...

How long can the virus live on the swab before it dies? Makes you wonder how many are actually positive and then turn negative before they are able to test them...

I really hope you aren't spending that much time on it.

No matter what, this entire situation demonstrates how incredibly ill-equipped our government is to handle a pandemic.

Especially, since we've now had a good 6 months to prepare and we still can't process tests and data quickly and accurately.

It's nothing less than shocking.

This is the state whose government can't even figure out how to correctly center the text on a road sign. I'm not shocked at all that they botched something that's actually important.



How long can the virus live on the swab before it dies? Makes you wonder how many are actually positive and then turn negative before they are able to test them...

The tests work by mixing the sample with chemicals that react to specific bits of the virus (either the genetic material or proteins). I think that means it would still be able to detect a "dead" virus.

In 6 months you think there would be a spit test or something that could get accurate results quickly.

CNBC has reported a test that is still being developed that would be like a breathalyzer - almost immediate, if it works.

Figured I would update the ol' graphs. Because that's what you do in 2020. You sit around making pandemic trend lines because.... well... not much else going on.

Of course Monday's giant case load drug the 7-day average up as already discussed.

I included a faint trace of the 14 day average for reference.

*Note - I had to adjust scaling, so the visibly observed slope when compared to the prior plots I've posted will look less steep. Still, the latest leg up on the 7-day is pretty dramatic.

Glad to see rolling 7 deaths decrease. Let's hope it holds! (I don't think it will.)

https://i.imgur.com/sRHvuri.png

New York Times Reporting 1,244 new cases....

At least 1,244 new cases were reported in Oklahoma on July 27. Over the past week, there have been an average of 1,014 cases per day, an increase of 62 percent from the average two weeks earlier.

As of Tuesday morning, there have been at least 32,529 cases and 495 deaths in Oklahoma since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database.

STAY SAFE WEAR MASKS

I am not a denialist of the virus. You can believe what you want, but I am only reporting a fact from the PA with said information.

I suspect if you look into it you will find out this PA is actually spreading the story she saw online and claiming it is her clinic to make it sound more believable. Maybe you could name the clinic so it can be independently verified?

Saw this tonight and thought it was interesting/highly disturbing if true. 16291

Gosh, I'm shocked....

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45607&p=1129402&highlight=#post1129402

Gosh, I'm shocked....

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45607&p=1129402&highlight=#post1129402

This chart and the related conspiracy theory was created by a motivational speaker on youtube. This was posted in regards to this "chart" yesterday on Facebook.


July 27th COVID Fact Check: Did the change in reporting of hospital data from CDC to HHS affect case data?

In the screen capture below, a widely shared poster suggests that there is some illicit plan in motion by the Administration to reduce the number of tests published by the government through the movement of the hospital reporting system from the CDC to HHS. This SPECIFIC claim is clearly false.

The reason it is not possible for the move of hospital capacity data submission from the CDC to HHS to have caused the referenced changes in confirmed COVID-19 cases is that THOSE DATA ARE NOT CONTAINED IN THE HOSPITAL DATA. The hospital data that have been moved to the new HHS system include such metrics as hospital bed occupancy, ICU occupancy, PPE stocks, staffing availability and the like. They do not include test or death data. You can see what has been collected in this system here:

https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/covid19/report-patient-impact.html

To reiterate, hospitals don't contribute to the national case or mortality data through this system. Case data are collected directly from the testing labs (and occasionally local health agencies) who send them to the CDC and continue to do so. You can see how this works at the following link.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/reporting-lab-data.html?fbclid=IwAR0SvC4Iuz46SJP1Ni50HwRojyAJtY9 lJX6DsHjym0n5swI8LyEhweAVGwE

Posting charts and memes without supporting or referenced data spreads false information. This is just as damaging than the false information being spread by those downplaying the pandemic. It creates uncertainly and invalidates the seriousness of the crisis, because people can point and say the numbers can't be trusted. I've watched several people make that exact argument to the city council when fighting against a mask ordinance.

1089 new cases.

13 more deaths. Total has now surpassed 500.

Marginal dip in 7-day average to 947/day.

This chart and the related conspiracy theory was created by a motivational speaker on youtube. This was posted in regards to this "chart" yesterday on Facebook.



Posting charts and memes without supporting or referenced data spreads false information. This is just as damaging than the false information being spread by those downplaying the pandemic. It creates uncertainly and invalidates the seriousness of the crisis, because people can point and say the numbers can't be trusted. I've watched several people make that exact argument to the city council when fighting against a mask ordinance.

True. However, posting it here has brought about the truth behind the plot which is part of why I was posting it. Sometimes you guys are good for quick validation of something that I don’t have a lot of time to research. I appreciate you sharing that information. That bend in the curve was almost so egregious that it didn’t seem probable. You confirmed that. Thank you!

Oklahoma now ranks 34th in per capita cases.

And we keep rising.

...
Glad to see rolling 7 deaths decrease. Let's hope it holds! (I don't think it will.)




Level of surprise : 0.

Hey anybody good at Python scripting or possibly VB?

I've download every single EO and Weekly Epidemiology report in PDF. Looking for a method to extract all data points as text to make more graphs. You can do it manually, but a bit of a pain.

There are some open source apps for this, but need to tinker more.

May also get a free trial of Monarch, an enterprise app for exactly this thing, however two week trial and when it ends, I would be back to manual entry.

New York Times Reporting 1,244 new cases....

At least 1,244 new cases were reported in Oklahoma on July 27. Over the past week, there have been an average of 1,014 cases per day, an increase of 62 percent from the average two weeks earlier.

As of Tuesday morning, there have been at least 32,529 cases and 495 deaths in Oklahoma since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database.

STAY SAFE WEAR MASKS

Let's stop posting the NYT #s for Oklahoma. Since they are not right.

Let's stop posting the NYT #s for Oklahoma. Since they are not right.

You're right. They are too low. We are now above 500 deaths.

It sure would be nice if we had a better handle on this before school starts back.

It’s going to be a cluster....

It sure would be nice if we had a better handle on this before school starts back.

It’s going to be a cluster....

There will be hundreds of cases in our schools on day one. There is no way to safely open.

There will be hundreds of cases in our schools on day one. There is no way to safely open.

Finally, something we agree on...;)

Just kidding of course.

Well Sadly or maybe not we have lost all the "but deaths are not increasing people". SMH This is awful we are now averaging close to more deaths than ever with more cases than ever and almost as many in the hospital than ever. We have to do more than just wearing mask. I see I think it's Kentucky that is going to close bars and 25% restaurants occupancy. This needs to happen here and happy now but we have a governor who is all about the money. What they are failing to realize is these business are going to go under anyway cause people are not going out to eat as much and if the numbers keep getting worse it's only going to get worse for them.

Cut/pasted the text, but the graphs and other links in the thread are valuable, so people should check the original thread out. It's pretty much what the smart ones on here have been saying for weeks, if not months.

https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1287524301499965441

COVID Update July 26: We can virtually eliminate the virus any time we decide to. 1/

We can be back to a reasonably normal existence: schools, travel, job growth, safer nursing homes & other settings.

And we could do it in a matter of weeks. If we want to. 2/

Take New Zealand. With its fancy curve and life back to normal. Why can’t we? 3/

Not fair you say. It’s an island nation.

OK. What about Germany? Not an island nation, large, growing diversity. 4/

Don’t like that comparison? What about countries that have been in big trouble. Here’s Italy, France & Spain. Countries that had it reasonably bad the same time we did. 5/

In fact pick virtually any country you want. 6/

But don’t tell me the U.S. can’t take action if we want to.

And we can’t face the families of 150,000 people who didn’t have to die & tell them this had to happen.

And I think it’s why our national political leaders won’t go near these families & the grieving process. 7/

The good news— and it is good news— is we are always 4-6 weeks from being able to do what countries around the world have done.8/

Let’s say we threw the kitchen sink at COVID-19 in the U.S. Let’s say we started now with the goal of being open for business in October— meaning schools, in person voting, sports, everything. If we did everything. What would happen? 9/

So let’s define the kitchen sink:
1. start with universal mask wearing. We didn’t do this in Mar-April and let’s chalk it up to faulty instructions. But we know better now.
2. Keep the bars & restaurants & churches & transit closed. All hot spots.
3. Prohibit interstate travel 10/

4. Prohibit travel into the country (no one will let us into their country so that shouldn’t be hard).
5. Have hotels set up to allow people with symptoms to isolate from their families at no cost. 11/

6. Instead of 50% lockdown (which is what we did in March in April), let’s say it’s a 90% lockdown.

Meaning most of the Americans who couldn’t stay home in April because they were picking crops or driving trucks or working in health care would stay home with us. 12/

That means the economy would take a several week hit. And we would need extended unemployment insurance. 13/

It would be a tough few weeks but we could still do things: be outside, enjoy nature, gather safely w friends.

Our grandparents who lived through a decade long depression, a 6 year world war, or whatever hardship they faced in their country would tell us we would make it.14/

We could even create friend & family bubbles. The NBA has been in a bubble for 3 weeks & starting with 10% positives have found & eliminated all cases.

You could even enjoy some of your time in the bubble. http://Smarturl.it/inthebubble 15/

So what would happen?

At first, absolutely nothing.

Cases would still grow from the prior weeks & the incubation period. Hospitals would still be full. We would still see people die.

The COVID truthers would have a field day, tweeting every day the same routine. 16/

“America has become a fascist government”
“We need to liberate”
“We’ve been doing this & nothing’s happening”
“More people are dying from non-COVID than COVID”

But if someone took Trump’s phone, it would help. 17/

(By the way, welcome to all the new people who suddenly care so much about public education, mental health & access to care.

While this is the first time you may have ever uttered these concerns, your passion & commitment to funding them once & for all is appreciated.)18/

After a few weeks, what would happen is what happened in other countries. In many countries, the R dropped to .3. Let’s say in the US it dropped to .5.

If you have 60,000 cases in your community, in 50 days, it would drop to 58.
6000 becomes 6.
600 becomes 1. 19/

How does that work? Some of the fancy people call this “exponential decay.” I call it #Zachsmath. Explained here.

Or just multiply 60,000 x .5. And then .5 again until you do it 10 times. Like Zach does. And other high schoolers. 20/

So after 8 weeks, you don’t have 0 cases but you have embers.

A small enough number that someone in the health department in a big city could call them on the phone in one morning.

In a small city, you could feed them w 2 large pizzas.

In a small town, it would be Earl. 21/

Earl was my dad’s name. He grew up in a small isolated town. He never loved the name but I like it a lot now.

In this case Earl would be fine because everybody would bring him soup and check in on him. 22/

Then what? You know how we don’t have enough tests? We would have plenty.

Plenty to test everyone going into work, to school, to church, to an event. And if there’s a stray case or a dozen, we would find it in a day. 23/

Becsuse we would get the tests back the same day, we could very easily let everybody who had been around Earl the last few days know they should get a test.

And if anybody tests positive, they would isolate, either at home or if there’s not enough room, in a hotel. 24/

All the PPE we keep running out of? We would have way too much. Ventilators? Way too many.

People who have suffered mental health crises? They could begin to deal with them.

The light at the end of the tunnel would be blinding. 25/

The man who cured small pox & is the greatest expert I know, @larrybrilliant, puts it this way: 26/

Would we be done at this point? Sadly not. Outbreaks can happen if you’re not paying attention.

But before you get horrified, look at the units. These are in the hundreds. Even if an outbreak was 5000 across the US, we would have more than enough testing & contact tracing.27/

Whether we do this or not, let’s not pretend this isn’t an option.

This is done mostly with the things we were born with or are very low tech. The ability not to breath on people. A mask. Common sense. (Yes I’m beginning to recognize the flaw.) 28/

And while we do this, what else happens? Well our nurses & doctors can catch their breath, recover & go back to healing our other issues. We hug our parents again. Our scientists can work on vaccines they can get right & safe. They can be speedy without rushing. 29/

We still take precautions. Masks in larger settings. In elevators. Around sick people. Because we care.

It will take a while for societal norms like these to develop but we can operate the way we did with tobacco control & build the norm. 30/

Communities would have green, yellow, orange & red days so we would know how to take precautions. Both before and after a vaccine. For as long as necessary.

We could manage the illness by exception not with a broad brush. 31/

What we’re really missing is that charge that unites and lights a fire under America/Oklahoma’s arse so that we prioritize this as a threat. If there’s one thing America has proved time and time again, is that when we unite and put an objective in our crosshairs, we cannot be defeated (ww2, unification and retaliation after 9/11, etc). We just don’t have that charge to unite us against covid. Leadership is likely to blame.

What we’re really missing is that charge that unites and lights a fire under America/Oklahoma’s arse so that we prioritize this as a threat. If there’s one thing America has proved time and time again, is that when we unite and put an objective in our crosshairs, we cannot be defeated (ww2, unification and retaliation after 9/11, etc). We just don’t have that charge to unite us against covid. Leadership is likely to blame.

Hydrochloroquine is enjoying a resurgence on media outlets like Breitbart, with copious social media shares. People would rather fish around for anecdotes based on fantasy and misinformation than take some basic recommended steps to slow / stop the spread of the virus. This isn't a mystery, but for a lot of people, loyalty to Trump is more important than any statement of medical or scientific fact. This isn't rocket science.

Here’s your field guide to the 5 main types of pandemic deniers (https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/heres-your-field-guide-to-the-5-main-types-of-pandemic-deniers/)

https://youtu.be/x6cTDGqcUpA

Hydrochloroquine is enjoying a resurgence on media outlets like Breitbart, with copious social media shares. People would rather fish around for anecdotes based on fantasy and misinformation than take some basic recommended steps to slow / stop the spread of the virus. This isn't a mystery, but for a lot of people, loyalty to Trump is more important than any statement of medical or scientific fact. This isn't rocket science.

I saw that and I still don't understand the fascination with that (not an actual) cure. I've had conversations with several peers about the importance of wearing masks and the most frustrating is the one that doesn't want to wear a mask, espouses they'll just take hydroxychloroquine if they get it, and yet is comfortable with that when they're not comfortable with vaccines. The whole saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," got logged into the book of common sense for a reason in theory.

I saw that and I still don't understand the fascination with that (not an actual) cure. I've had conversations with several peers about the importance of wearing masks and the most frustrating is the one that doesn't want to wear a mask, espouses they'll just take hydroxychloroquine if they get it, and yet is comfortable with that when they're not comfortable with vaccines. The whole saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," got logged into the book of common sense for a reason in theory.

People who get sold snake oil don't want to admit their mistake.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/509265-kentucky-orders-bars-to-close-restaurants-to-reduce-indoor-capacity Kentucky don't seem to be nearly as bad as shape as Oklahoma but at least they have a governor that cares

What we’re really missing is that charge that unites and lights a fire under America/Oklahoma’s arse so that we prioritize this as a threat. If there’s one thing America has proved time and time again, is that when we unite and put an objective in our crosshairs, we cannot be defeated (ww2, unification and retaliation after 9/11, etc). We just don’t have that charge to unite us against covid. Leadership is likely to blame.
I agree with that lighting a fire idea. But I’m becoming less inclined to blame leadership. I said weeks ago I didn’t personally know, know of or know anybody who knows anyone that had COVID. Now I of course can’t say that since I had it. And I do now know and know of a number of people that have had it. But I can still say the original comment if I replace “had COVID” with “was made sick by COVID”. All those I personally know of had no or minor symptoms. I think the problem with getting people to take this seriously enough to light that fire is so many not personally knowing anyone really suffering from the virus. I don’t need to in order to take it seriously. I take it very seriously without personal experience of really bad sickness. I don’t want anyone to go through hospitalization or dying of this thing but many won’t feel that way without it being personal.

Anyone else notice that the CDC said a couple days ago that 10 days after onset of symptoms you probably aren’t contagious and should not go get tested again?

“Increasing evidence shows that most people are no longer infectious 10 days after they begin having symptoms of COVID-19. As a result, the CDC is discouraging people from getting tested a second time after they recover.

“For most persons with COVID-19 illness, isolation and precautions can generally be discontinued 10 days after symptom onset and resolution of fever for at least 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing medications, and with improvement of other symptoms,” the CDC says.”

Anyone else notice that the CDC said a couple days ago that 10 days after onset of symptoms you probably aren’t contagious and should not go get tested again?

“Increasing evidence shows that most people are no longer infectious 10 days after they begin having symptoms of COVID-19. As a result, the CDC is discouraging people from getting tested a second time after they recover.

“For most persons with COVID-19 illness, isolation and precautions can generally be discontinued 10 days after symptom onset and resolution of fever for at least 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing medications, and with improvement of other symptoms,” the CDC says.”

This belies the info my wife and I have read in the local COVID support group on FB. There are several people sick a couple of weeks, then got a negative test, then had a recurrence of symptoms, and then got another positive test. I don’t see how they would know enough about this virus to make such a claim. I wonder if it is like herpes, in that you become contagious again when you have another flare-up.

It's all about Hospitalizations. It's all about Hospitalizations. Hospitalizations are the only number that matter. Oh wait we just broke that record to for most ever in the hospital. Never mind carry on no worries. Record number of cases record number of hospitalizations. What other number should be worry about before we take more action? I'm sure they will come up with something. Positivist rate? Have we beaten that record?

They make the claim because so far people who are released from isolation generally do not cause infection in people around them, even when the person tests positive down the line.

I have had folks test positive 2-3 months later, who have not had any detectable spread to others around them.

I saw that and I still don't understand the fascination with that (not an actual) cure. I've had conversations with several peers about the importance of wearing masks and the most frustrating is the one that doesn't want to wear a mask, espouses they'll just take hydroxychloroquine if they get it, and yet is comfortable with that when they're not comfortable with vaccines. The whole saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," got logged into the book of common sense for a reason in theory.

From the FDA, super straightforward statement. "Based on its ongoing analysis of the EUA and emerging scientific data, the FDA determined that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19 for the authorized uses in the EUA. Additionally, in light of ongoing serious cardiac adverse events and other potential serious side effects, the known and potential benefits of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine no longer outweigh the known and potential risks for the authorized use. This is the statutory standard for issuance of an EUA."

They make the claim because so far people who are released from isolation generally do not cause infection in people around them, even when the person tests positive down the line.

I have had folks test positive 2-3 months later, who have not had any detectable spread to others around them.

Very interesting, and I don’t doubt what you are saying. Still, the science on this is not sound enough to take to the bank.

Late night graph dump.

Note - I was counting the 1,700 case as a single day, which caused the 7 day case average to drop quite a bit as it has now rolled out of the calculation.

A thought on hospitalizations - you either leave, or die. Concerned that the death count for the rest of the week may tick up a bit given the dramatic rise in cases and drop off in hospitalizations. Hopefully not.

Month Summary. Unfortunately, July officially is the second most deadly month:
https://i.imgur.com/TqNzypo.png

Rolling 7 cases and deaths:
https://i.imgur.com/t4oNcsK.png

Rolling 7/14/21 Cases Only
https://i.imgur.com/Qua6vIi.png

Instead of leaving gaps for the weekends, I just carried the Friday number forward:
https://i.imgur.com/NXyhgk1.png

Wanted to see how the cases and hospitalized patients trended together. The trend seems less clear recently:
https://i.imgur.com/OTsIDdO.png

Yes, this is real:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/braveshop1.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/braveshop2.jpg

^ That's funny. Let's storm the castles!. …. But you must follow the rules or get kicked out.

Serenity Now !!! Geez

How could Lisa not entertain that she might be the one trolling?

+848 new cases.

14 (!) more deaths.

We've had 71 deaths in just the last 9 days.

+848 new cases.

14 (!) more deaths.

Recovered at +1,023. First in a while I've seen recovered larger than new cases. Hopefully start of a trend.

Are Face Shields Better Than Face Masks For Protection Against COVID-19? (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/face-shields-better-masks-protection-coronavirus_l_5f1f1a39c5b638cfec486fdc)

“We don’t have enough large-scale data to show the true effectiveness of face shields against COVID-19 compared to face masks,” Sorrell said.

For now, if you’re going to wear a face shield, you should do so in addition to — not in lieu of — a face mask.

However, “the average person who wears a face mask correctly and maintains social distancing does not need the added layer of a face shield,” Sorrell noted.

And, of course, any protective gear should be used in conjunction with other safety measures, such as physical distancing and frequent hand washing, not in place of them.