Covid-19 in OKC (coronavirus)

[OKC Guy]

Something I noticed. Yesterday morning rush hour was higher than Tue. Not by a lot but some. Yesterday afternoon was much heavier than morning.

But this morning was markedly higher than any recent days. It doubled from yesterday morning. I know federal deposits were made but that wouldn’t increase highway traffic thats going to be local streets. Today on turnpike and 235, both were much higher than anything post crisis.

My guess is some more workers got called back?

[mkjeeves]

IRS website...was linked to an account we closed. Wife logged in yesterday afternoon and had no issues changing the account to one that’s current. ( other than coming up with tax information they asked about 2019 and 2018 taxes before they gave her access. )

[OKC Talker]

Then I have some very bad news for you - this won't end even after we get a vaccine. It will be like the flu, since this virus, like influenza, mutates.

I agree with you but not necessarily because of the mutations. It'll take months to give enough people the vaccine to develop herd immunity, even after a vaccine is developed, tested, and approved. Many people will not get vaccinated either because of cost, misinformation, or just plain stupidity. Hopefully enough people will become immune that hospitals can deal with those who aren't with treatments to keep them from dying, and we'll just have to learn to deal with ongoing waves of infections.

Here's a summary of some of the treatments being tested right now:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...-for-covid-19/

and here's a good article about mutations and a vaccine: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ine-covid.html

"Among the thousands of samples of the long strand of RNA that makes up the coronavirus, 11 mutations have become fairly common. But as far as we know, it’s the same virus infecting people all over the world, meaning that only one “strain” of the virus exists, said Peter Thielen, a molecular biologist with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Only one of those common mutations affects the “spike protein,” which enables the virus to infect cells in the throat and lungs. Efforts to produce antibodies that block the spike protein are central to many efforts to develop a vaccine. Since the spike protein has changed little so far, some scientists believe that’s a sign that it can’t alter itself very much and remain infectious."

[PhiAlpha]

Geeeeezzzz.

I think this is my biggest problem with how the government has handled all of this: We've known for plenty of time that the vast majority of people who will die from this virus and who would cause strain on the health system were people over 60. No matter to what degree you think day to day "normal" life should be shut down or not, I think we can all agree that government massively failed to put both simple and strategic protections in place for the elderly.

I could write paragraphs on different things we could have done to limit the exposure to the elderly, but ultimately, that was the president's, congress's, governors', and mayors' jobs to lead on that front. Nursing homes having these kinds of body counts shows the ugliest side of our response to this whole thing.

Is that not also the responsibility of the privately owned facilities themselves to protect their residents? It's been known since January that this disease adversely affects the elderly and these long term care facilities are supposed to be run by medical professionals who should be the most knowledgeable on how to avoid outbreaks at these facilities based on what they have to deal with every year from the flu to other illnesses/viruses. The government/CDC can propose guidelines which they have done (I'm sure they could've done a better job...I don't know that anyone has truly handled this perfectly) but they can't take over the facilities on their own and lock them down. Again, I'm sure the government could've done more but it would seem that most of the responsibility lands on the facilities themselves...caring for the elderly is their one job and their primary field of expertise, they would seem to be in a much better position than the government to protect themselves.

[jn1780]

Geeeeezzzz.

I think this is my biggest problem with how the government has handled all of this: We've known for plenty of time that the vast majority of people who will die from this virus and who would cause strain on the health system were people over 60. No matter to what degree you think day to day "normal" life should be shut down or not, I think we can all agree that government massively failed to put both simple and strategic protections in place for the elderly.

I could write paragraphs on different things we could have done to limit the exposure to the elderly, but ultimately, that was the president's, congress's, governors', and mayors' jobs to lead on that front. Nursing homes having these kinds of body counts shows the ugliest side of our response to this whole thing.

A good percentage of our death count is coming from nursing homes, but yet we haven't taken "extraordinary" measures to protect keep infections contain at these facilities

[PhiAlpha]

Same. I love my wife and son but I need interaction with others. That's why I could never wfh fulltime. I thrive on interacting with my colleagues.

Ha! I worked from home for 5 years. The majority of the time was in a sales/BD role that required constant communication with prospects/clients and a bunch of travel. That wasn't too bad. The other portion of that time I worked in a roll that required much less interaction and it felt pretty isolating. Over the last year I took on a new job and was back in the office for the first time in a long time and I definitely prefer that over working from home in general.

[PhiAlpha]

Total opposite. Being around people make me feel drained and need of plenty of time to recharge. In short, I am loving this social distancing, however I do find some pleasure in shorter interactions with people. Like occasionally meeting for a drink for an hour or so. Other than that, leave me at home or left to be out and about in solitude. Camping or biking alone. YMMV

It's really interesting how this whole thing has landed with people. My wife is much as you describe yourself in regards to social interactions but even she's starting to reach her limits and has been questioning how introverted she really is after nearly a month of this (I'm sure being stuck here with me the whole time has something to do with it ) and is now dying to get back into group settings.

[jn1780]

It says there is 510 hospitalized. Shouldn't it say what the Oklahoma state dept. of health has currently on their website? Tell me if I'm wrong, but it says there is currently hospitalized 179 (107 in ICU) as of April 14th. I'm guessing most of the 510 have been released and others sadly have passed away.

We have been hovering between 150 to 200 currently hospitalized since the beginning of the month. So we have been at a plateau for awhile now.

This chart start should probably be titled "Model Revisions" as opposed to "Our Curve is Flattening".

[kukblue1]

Geeeeezzzz.

I think this is my biggest problem with how the government has handled all of this: We've known for plenty of time that the vast majority of people who will die from this virus and who would cause strain on the health system were people over 60. No matter to what degree you think day to day "normal" life should be shut down or not, I think we can all agree that government massively failed to put both simple and strategic protections in place for the elderly.

I could write paragraphs on different things we could have done to limit the exposure to the elderly, but ultimately, that was the president's, congress's, governors', and mayors' jobs to lead on that front. Nursing homes having these kinds of body counts shows the ugliest side of our response to this whole thing.

I agree the we need to protect the older generation more. If things want to open back up there needs to be way more testing and the younger crowd under 40 if you will needs to me the ones out first. Testing really is the key though. I we could test thousands a day for antibodies and have results in 24 hours it would be a game changer.

[Teo9969]

Is that not also the responsibility of the privately owned facilities themselves to protect their residents? It's been known since January that this disease adversely affects the elderly and these long term care facilities are supposed to be run by medical professionals who should be the most knowledgeable on how to avoid outbreaks at these facilities based on what they have to deal with every year from the flu to other illnesses/viruses. The government/CDC can propose guidelines which they have done (I'm sure they could've done a better job...I don't know that anyone has truly handled this perfectly) but they can't take over the facilities on their own and lock them down. Again, I'm sure the government could've done more but it would seem that most of the responsibility lands on the facilities themselves...caring for the elderly is their one job and their primary field of expertise, they would seem to be in a much better position than the government to protect themselves.

It's both the Nursing home and the Government's job to protect their patients and citizens respectively.

A quick google search tells me there are approximately ~15,600 longer-term care facilities in the US.
It also tells me the National Guard has about 450,000 people.

It would have been so unbelievably easy to station guards women and men as de facto security and policy enforcers at these facilities to ensure that we knew exactly who was in/out and be able to better manage contact tracing. The policies would basically state that the only people in are those who are caring for these elderly, and that those people would need to undergo vigorous testing and quarantine procedures. Incoming shipments of food/etc would be highly managed.

Strict policing of the most vulnerable population would have allowed the less vulnerable to maintain a more normal day to day existence and build up herd immunity amongst those that were least likely to exhibit symptoms and eventually need to go to the hospital.

[OKC Talker]

It's both the Nursing home and the Government's job to protect their patients and citizens respectively.

A quick google search tells me there are approximately ~15,600 longer-term care facilities in the US.
It also tells me the National Guard has about 450,000 people.

It would have been so unbelievably easy to station guards women and men as de facto security and policy enforcers at these facilities to ensure that we knew exactly who was in/out and be able to better manage contact tracing. The policies would basically state that the only people in are those who are caring for these elderly, and that those people would need to undergo vigorous testing and quarantine procedures. Incoming shipments of food/etc would be highly managed.

Strict policing of the most vulnerable population would have allowed the less vulnerable to maintain a more normal day to day existence and build up herd immunity amongst those that were least likely to exhibit symptoms and eventually need to go to the hospital.

As long as it's done fairly without regard to age, race, religion, or wealth:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/o...passports.html

EDIT: Huh, these subjects may spark too many political responses... Excerpt removed. People can click the link if they want to know what I mean by "fairly" and be triggered.

[chuck5815]

It does sound like the Gilead drug will end up being a big part of the Answer: https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/16/...-to-treatment/

Very positive news, I'd say.

[kukblue1]

It does sound like the Gilead drug will end up being a big part of the Answer: https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/16/...-to-treatment/

Very positive news, I'd say.

Yes but it's not in a pill form and there for hard to give to everyone. There also might not be very much of it also.

[Teo9969]

As long as it's done fairly without regard to age, race, religion, or wealth:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/o...passports.html

EDIT: Huh, these subjects may spark too many political responses... Excerpt removed. People can click the link if they want to know what I mean by "fairly" and be triggered.

To be sure, the ship has sailed on this, and the approach we must take today is different than the approach we could have taken if we had just been more strategic from the beginning. Obviously one would hope that ALL long-term care facilities, whether in the poorest areas of Detroit or the richest areas of Orange County would have been under the same "control' of the National Guard.

Future measures as to who is going to have liberty to be out and about have 0% chance of occurring in a fair and just manner because we have centuries of habits exhibiting how difficult doing so is for America. i mean, I hope we take this time to look at our past mistakes and begin the process of reconciliation, but we're more likely to slip into bad habits.

[Teo9969]

Yes but it's not in a pill form and there for hard to give to everyone. There also might not be very much of it also.

When you say everyone, do you mean all people, or just all those in the hospital? We don't need people with minor symptoms taking these kinds of precautions, just people who are hospitalized and for whom basic precautions does not immediately stabilize/improve their condition.

[TheTravellers]

It's both the Nursing home and the Government's job to protect their patients and citizens respectively.

A quick google search tells me there are approximately ~15,600 longer-term care facilities in the US.
It also tells me the National Guard has about 450,000 people.

It would have been so unbelievably easy to station guards women and men as de facto security and policy enforcers at these facilities to ensure that we knew exactly who was in/out and be able to better manage contact tracing. The policies would basically state that the only people in are those who are caring for these elderly, and that those people would need to undergo vigorous testing and quarantine procedures. Incoming shipments of food/etc would be highly managed.

Strict policing of the most vulnerable population would have allowed the less vulnerable to maintain a more normal day to day existence and build up herd immunity amongst those that were least likely to exhibit symptoms and eventually need to go to the hospital.

Some are doing it right - my uncle lives at Embark in the Village, just in an apartment, not really assisted-living or nursing home, but they've pretty much locked the doors, no visitors, no leaving the grounds for residents, no congregating, meals are brought to their rooms, the staff does grocery shopping for the residents now, etc.

[kukblue1]

When you say everyone, do you mean all people, or just all those in the hospital? We don't need people with minor symptoms taking these kinds of precautions, just people who are hospitalized and for whom basic precautions does not immediately stabilize/improve their condition.

Anyone that is sick and showing symptoms. We can't give it to people at home if it works well cause it's not in a pill form. Say it does work well but your at home fairly sick. You can't take it you would have to go to the hospital which would flood the hospitals Sooner you can treat people maybe the better the outcome. You don't really want to wait until the get on a ventilator to give it too them if you don't have too if it works well.

[kukblue1]

KFOR did a story about how you new can track cases by cities but I can't seem to find anything?

[Bill Robertson]

Some are doing it right - my uncle lives at Embark in the Village, just in an apartment, not really assisted-living or nursing home, but they've pretty much locked the doors, no visitors, no leaving the grounds for residents, no congregating, meals are brought to their rooms, the staff does grocery shopping for the residents now, etc.

The place my mom is in started screening visitors (taking temperature and asking symptom related questions) the morning after the Thunder game was cancelled. Within a few days after that they closed to all visitors. We can drop stuff off for mom outside the door and it gets sanitized before it goes in. Thats as close as you get to your loved one.

[Teo9969]

Travellers/Bill,

I'm assuming you all can still contact your family members via telephone/skype etc. Have those facilities had any cases at all?

[Bill Robertson]

Travellers/Bill,

I'm assuming you all can still contact your family members via telephone/skype etc. Have those facilities had any cases at all?

In my case my mom is mentally past being able to talk on a phone or even knowing what one is. I guess thats a good thing. At least I hope so. In fact she sleeps probably 20 hours a day. But still......

[TheTravellers]

Travellers/Bill,

I'm assuming you all can still contact your family members via telephone/skype etc. Have those facilities had any cases at all?

Haven't talked to my uncle in a week or so, but last I heard, no. We need to call him in the next few days and I'll ask again and post back if that changes.

[Teo9969]

In my case my mom is mentally past being able to talk on a phone or even knowing what one is. I guess thats a good thing. At least I hope so. In fact she sleeps probably 20 hours a day. But still......

I can't imagine how hard it is to not be able to spend these moments with her. Hopefully you will be reunited soon!

[Bill Robertson]

I can't imagine how hard it is to not be able to spend these moments with her. Hopefully you will be reunited soon!

Thanks. It is hard but I have two sisters who it’s really harder on. I pray for them daily. My biggest fear, and I think I’m justified, is that this really goes on for MONTHS and she passes without being able to see her.

[mugofbeer]

Thanks. It is hard but I have two sisters who it’s really harder on. I pray for them daily. My biggest fear, and I think I’m justified, is that this really goes on for MONTHS and she passes without being able to see her.

My mother was in a very similar condition as you describe yours. Send her cards and photographs. Lots of photographs.