Covid-19 in OKC (coronavirus)

[dankrutka]

It's worth noting that even if all these drugs and vaccines are as successful as is possible, we're still probably looking to the 2nd quarter of 2021 before they can be produced and distributed... still probably about a year—if everything goes right—before people could get back to something resembling normal.

[PoliSciGuy]

It's worth noting that even if all these drugs and vaccines are as successful as is possible, we're still probably looking to the 2nd quarter of 2021 before they can be produced and distributed... still probably about a year—if everything goes right—before people could get back to something resembling normal.

Nah, sooner. Numerous companies in India, US and UK are already making the Oxford vaccine and have been producing them since May. There will probably be ~100m doses available by the end of *this* year if the vaccine turns out to work, and a critical mass amount for the US by the middle of next year at the latest.

This fall is still going to suck, no doubt about it, but next spring should look significantly better than this year between the new vaccines and treatments (and also just fewer susceptible people).

[Ronnie Jackson]

It's worth noting that even if all these drugs and vaccines are as successful as is possible, we're still probably looking to the 2nd quarter of 2021 before they can be produced and distributed... still probably about a year—if everything goes right—before people could get back to something resembling normal.

Right, yea, this isn’t accurate at all. CDC has said that near universal mask wear will ground it to a halt within 6 to 8 weeks, even if most businesses are open. Goldman has said the same.

[oklip955]

I went shopping at the Sam's club in Edmond, 95% wearing masks if you count the 17 people with masks at their chin or mostly just covering their mouth and not their noses. Does that count if they refuse to cover their nose??

[kukblue1]

If they know the numbers are not right then why release them at all?. Also on inhaler treatment I always worry about those when they never say how many people were treated. Kind of like the vaccine 30 people don't get me excited.

[TheTravellers]

I went shopping at the Sam's club in Edmond, 95% wearing masks if you count the 17 people with masks at their chin or mostly just covering their mouth and not their noses. Does that count if they refuse to cover their nose??

No, it doesn't count, the OKC ordinance says this (bold mine), and many others do too. ****ing idiots - it's amazing how stupid our country's population is.

The face covering must cover both the nose and mouth. A face shield is an alternative to a cloth face covering or mask.

[jerrywall]

A face shield is an alternative to a cloth face covering or mask.

I know that's what the ordinance says, but I've been wondering about this since the council meeting. I know the CDC site says "CDC does not recommend use of face shields for normal everyday activities or as a substitute for cloth face coverings." All medical professionals I've seen using face shields are using them in additional to masks, not as an alternative. Is there a benefit to folks just wearing face shields by themselves?

[TheTravellers]

I know that's what the ordinance says, but I've been wondering about this since the council meeting. I know the CDC site says "CDC does not recommend use of face shields for normal everyday activities or as a substitute for cloth face coverings." All medical professionals I've seen using face shields are using them in additional to masks, not as an alternative. Is there a benefit to folks just wearing face shields by themselves?

Personally, I don't see how - it only protects in one direction - straight-out horizontally. Sides and bottom are open, so I have absolutely no idea how a face shield by itself can actually do any good at all, nothing is really covered tightly. Been wondering about that "guidance" of "face shields are an alternative" for a while.

[kukblue1]

[QUOTE=jerrywall;1130477]I know that's what the ordinance says, but I've been wondering about this since the council meeting. I know the CDC site says "CDC does not recommend use of face shields for normal everyday activities or as a substitute for cloth face coverings." All medical professionals I've seen using face shields are using them in additional to masks, not as an alternative. Is there a benefit to folks just wearing face shields by themselves?[/QUOTE

I think face shields are good when you in that 6-10 feet range of someone. Your not in close contact but not super close. Another good use would be like ordering in a food in a restaurant or for picking up food in drive thru Makes it easier for the server to hear you but your still covered.

[Snowman]

If they know the numbers are not right then why release them at all?. Also on inhaler treatment I always worry about those when they never say how many people were treated. Kind of like the vaccine 30 people don't get me excited.

It sounds like the web pages are more auto-generated than going through a release process.

[Bill Robertson]

It sounds like the web pages are more auto-generated than going through a release process.

I’m thinking they are. The email comes out at almost exactly the same time every day.

[jerrywall]

I’m thinking they are. The email comes out at almost exactly the same time every day.

Yeah, I'd bet that too, and also if it's like 90% of the government systems I've seen, it's probably something where various agencies and hospitals upload a CSV or XML file somewhere, and they all get automatically processed and the data added everywhere automatically. All it takes is for an extra character somewhere and the file won't process correctly, assuming a file was even sent at all. So many opportunities for failure here. You would have thought that humans would be reviewing the data and the feed to confirm before distributing the data.

[Timshel]

While I tend to agree with everyone here, it should be noted that the other times there have been technical issues (two that I can remember) they delayed posting the numbers until the issue was resolved. Could have been a different issue that couldn't be caught, was missed, or there was a change in policy, etc.

I'm also not sure what "technical data entry issues" means. A "technical issue" and a "data entry issue/error" seem like different things to me...

[pw405]

While I tend to agree with everyone here, it should be noted that the other times there have been technical issues (two that I can remember) they delayed posting the numbers until the issue was resolved. Could have been a different issue that couldn't be caught, was missed, or there was a change in policy, etc.

I'm also not sure what "technical data entry issues" means. A "technical issue" and a "data entry issue/error" seem like different things to me...

It is could be that a data entry issue caused a technical issue. As an example.... Say some new secretary was uploading a .CSV file (stands for comms sperated value. . CSV files are actually just text, but there's a specific order to where the commas go in order to create a table format from the text.) Anyways, say this person had a bad format when they tried to upload. Maybe Excel translated the table too many times causing the data to no longer be in the format the website recognizes. A million things can go wrong, who knows. Then say, perhaps this bad upload caused their system to get stuck in an infinite loop of retry attempts. Perhaps this went on for 48 hours undetected. Eventually, this infinite loop of attempts could cause the server to run out of memory, or make the application crash.

Now, this is totally just a guess. It may not work like this at all, but having spent a large amount of my career working on systems that represent some intersection of data & user experience, things like this are not surprising at all.

[Jersey Boss]

Maybe the Oklahoma Unemployment Agency took over the oversight.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Maybe the Oklahoma Unemployment Agency took over the oversight.

The one fax machine went down and their backup dot matrix printer was offline.

[OKC Talker]

I don't know if Quest will be doing pooled testing locally but it would decrease costs and dramatically speed up the time it takes to return results.

https://fortune.com/2020/07/20/us-co...hod-wuhan/amp/

[Bill Robertson]

The one fax machine went down and their backup dot matrix printer was offline.

I thought we at the Federal level were the only ones with ancient equipment!

[Snowman]

While I tend to agree with everyone here, it should be noted that the other times there have been technical issues (two that I can remember) they delayed posting the numbers until the issue was resolved. Could have been a different issue that couldn't be caught, was missed, or there was a change in policy, etc.

I'm also not sure what "technical data entry issues" means. A "technical issue" and a "data entry issue/error" seem like different things to me...

My guess is that it means the statement is coming from communications or public relations staff, who tend to have backgrounds in writing and/or artwork, not programming and/or data management. Granted you probably do not want your programmers or database staff doing your writing or editing either.

[GoOKC1991]

Via Wendy Suares of Fox 25 on Twitter: A downtown business owner claims all masks except N95 masks don't filter out coronavirus and can't work. (Countless studies refute this claim, btw.) Says a mandate would "only make these people feel good," but we'd be "losing all common sense."

Next commenter is also apparently an expert in mask effectiveness. Says God already knows when each of us will die anyway and we shouldn't bow down to fear tactics. She was especially upset a doctor was allowed to comment even though he is not an Edmond resident.

Now we have a business owner who doesn't like "science," prefers history, and cited atrocities when "science was wrong." (Like using leaches) So we shouldn't go off of science right now, because the science is being manipulated. Or something.

Edmond city council will NOT make a decision on a mask mandate tonight. Next action could possibly happen next week. @OKCFOX

[d-usa]

Weird, we still use leaches though.

[mkjeeves]

I know that's what the ordinance says, but I've been wondering about this since the council meeting. I know the CDC site says "CDC does not recommend use of face shields for normal everyday activities or as a substitute for cloth face coverings." All medical professionals I've seen using face shields are using them in additional to masks, not as an alternative. Is there a benefit to folks just wearing face shields by themselves?

Posted before:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend wearing “cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.” But some health experts say shields appear to be very effective at preventing infection — maybe even more effective than masks — for someone going about regular daily activities and not in a high-risk health care setting.

Amesh Adalja, M.D., a pandemic preparedness expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, says, “There's a lot of at least biological possibility to suspect that [shields] are definitely better than homemade face masks, and maybe even better than other types of masks as well, because they not only prevent you from spreading it … [and] because it also covers your eyes, it provides more protection to the mucus membranes of your face where you might be getting infected.”

and more

https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-...-to-masks.html

[silvergrove]

This is a good clip on face masks vs face shield: https://youtu.be/7F3R8_YHO8o

[brian72]

When they release the Updated Covid numbers, this board will light up like a Christmas tree. I'm saying 1200 infected and 3 deaths sadly.

[Pete]

When they release the Updated Covid numbers, this board will light up like a Christmas tree. I'm saying 1200 infected and 3 deaths sadly.

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