Fear and Loathing, a Rat Flu Odyssey

[frorider]

....

[westoxified]

My favorite homeless guy, who is of the perplexing but real brand of homeless where they could probably get housing but prefer to be outdoors, gets on a bus out of town in the fall, then comes back in the spring.
He came back early this year, and it’s still cold here (20s to 40s), and the warm places are scarce and now the greyhound-equivalent is shut down if he wanted to gtfo. I saw him today as I rode to work and said hi without stopping....then battled with a lot of “what do I do, he’s gonna die out here, should I bring him home?” versus “you can’t bring this guy home to your wife, plus maybe we have it, with our jobs, and if he gets this from us he’s dead...he’s dead anyway...ugh dead people walking
”
there are so many people I deal with at my job who are barely barely hanging on..coworkers and clients....it reminds me of looking at those vast dry utah fields of cheatgrass, just waiting for a spark, if this gets momentum here (it hasn’t yet) it’s just going to go blowing through them like nothing.
I see them and my mind strains to find some way to interact profoundly, with some subtle sensitivity like it’s our last meeting, but I am blank, and any attempt would be indescribably awkward and wholly unwelcome. Have a good one! Ok see you later.
As the monsoon clouds grow over the hills, and darken, and begin to build charge. Rumbles. Far off rumbles of dry thunder in the next valley. Standing in the cheatgrass, watching the lightning clouds grow darker, feeling the downdrafts..hoping I’m something less flammable, but not as sure as I’d like to be.

Wow. What a time we have on our hands.

[powdrhound]

My DIL works at Kaiser. This was her day today:

Just want to put this out there.. seeing all these post on Covid19 and stimulus package.... what everyone isnt seeing is the people that are coming in sick... the people that are afraid because their loved ones are in the hospital and they cannot be with them..
Today I had to stand at the door with a mask and gloves on that will give little to no protection.. I had people yelling at me.. trying to run me down to get through the door... I watched loved ones kiss their family good bye as they let them walk up to surgery alone... I stood with a woman as she cried at the door that her mother was upstairs dying and I could not let her in... she said she just needed to see her mother before she passed and I waited with her until her sister came down so she could go up... one person at a time... people dying with one family member in the room with them while their other family members wait outside... this is the hard stuff... not the stimulus check... not the debate of finding a vaccine.

[Mofro261]

His last posted paragraph:

“Digestive symptoms were also tied to worse outcomes including higher mortality risk. Patients with GI issues had a longer time between symptom onset and hospital admission, compared to their peers without these symptoms. Meanwhile, those without digestive symptoms were more likely to be cured and discharged than the cohort with gastrointestinal issues (60% versus 34%)“

is what I’m getting at when I postulate (again in the padded room of a ski forum so go easy ) is that yeah those with gi symptoms are gonna do worse if they *also* have pneumonia - that is two vital systems of your body fighting the virus. What’s not clear (to me) is if the people who -only- have a gi infection do worse - that does not make sense as most people that are going to icu and/or dying are from respiratory failure - not diarrhea

Just postulating as I'm not a clinician but it is possible that GI symptoms are larger part of systemic infection as opposed to just lung involvement, secondary organ infection etc and so are are more susceptible to sepsis are further lowering of blood oxygen. Many of those dying from respiratory issues are dying from heart failure and a lack of oxygenation to the rest of the body.

Generally speaking to ingesting some cofveve , oral immunizations are less effective vs. intranasal/pulmonary or more traditional routes of delivery I.M. etc, otherwise a vaccine dropper would be much easier to apply to a larger % of the population.

[rideit]

Great piece of writing, IAS, I just wanted to say that.
Hope you stay well.

[Spats]

The House finally signed the Senate's bill today, and President Trump signed it into law right away...
...after smacking down one Republican grandstander for threatening to hold it up, just as hard as he smacked down Nancy Pelosi for delaying it all week with demands for "green" energy and nationwide ballot harvesting.

What's in it?

What's Inside The Senate's $2 Trillion Coronavirus Aid Package
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/26/82145...us-aid-package
A pretty good short summary. Here's the first graphic, which confirms what I said before: unlike TARP, which went entirely to rich bankers, the benefits of CARES primarily go to individuals, small businesses, and public health. (There is plenty of pork, primarily in the "Education" and "State and local governments" sections. Remember, I'm grading on the curve of previous efforts )



COVID-19 Stimulus Bill: What It Means for States
https://www.ncsl.org/ncsl-in-dc/publ...ll-states.aspx
A longer article that goes into more detail.

=====

5 STAR REVIEWS from the haters!
"Nonsensical speculation...A complete fucking kook" -Boissal
"A one-man disinformation campaign" -Danno
"Craven Trump dick-sucker" -Meadow Skipper
"Fuck. You." -seano732
"Fuck you right in the ear...You are on ignore." -BobMc

Don't believe my reviews? Read some examples for yourself!

Here's how the $1200 payments work...plus APOCALYPSE QUIETLY POSTPONED

ATTN: Medical professionals! QTc cutoffs for hydroxychloroquine, via UW Covid team

Before You Panic! Testing vs. absolute # of cases vs. mortality

Yes, calling it "Wuhan coronavirus" and blaming China for its spread is justified

PSA: Want to help? Have and use a thermometer regularly

[Ted Striker]

....

I'd rather have Camacho

[rip]

....

Gold.

[jono]

Kinda curious if Yeti's favorite homeless guy is available?

[toast2266]

I encourage you to write for a wider audience. You have a gift for bringing words to life

Agreed. Always enjoy reading a yeti post.

Yeti - you should write an autobiography. Seems like you've been around the block, and your perspective + writing would make for a really interesting read.

Anyways, back to the covfefe.

[MakersTeleMark]

https://youtu.be/D2kE7M-dQlM

[bennymac]

Just postulating as I'm not a clinician but it is possible that GI symptoms are larger part of systemic infection as opposed to just lung involvement, secondary organ infection etc and so are are more susceptible to sepsis are further lowering of blood oxygen. Many of those dying from respiratory issues are dying from heart failure and a lack of oxygenation to the rest of the body.

Generally speaking to ingesting some cofveve , oral immunizations are less effective vs. intranasal/pulmonary or more traditional routes of delivery I.M. etc, otherwise a vaccine dropper would be much easier to apply to a larger % of the population.

Yeah - I asked some specialist doctors if the gi symptoms some patients are getting are from an actual infiltration of the digestive system by the virus or is it just, in some people, a systemic reaction by the immune system as it goes on full DEFCON alert from the lung infection - no reply yet. Perhaps in my discussions with them I’m their “spats”.

If I was given the option of 2 weeks of diarrhea and then immunity or roll the dice on being on a ventilator I choose diarrhea. I already have the TP!

[bennymac]

....

Omg yes.

[basinbeater]

My favorite homeless guy, who is of the perplexing but real brand of homeless where they could probably get housing but prefer to be outdoors, gets on a bus out of town in the fall, then comes back in the spring.
He came back early this year, and it’s still cold here (20s to 40s), and the warm places are scarce and now the greyhound-equivalent is shut down if he wanted to gtfo. I saw him today as I rode to work and said hi without stopping....then battled with a lot of “what do I do, he’s gonna die out here, should I bring him home?” versus “you can’t bring this guy home to your wife, plus maybe we have it, with our jobs, and if he gets this from us he’s dead...he’s dead anyway...ugh dead people walking
”
there are so many people I deal with at my job who are barely barely hanging on..coworkers and clients....it reminds me of looking at those vast dry utah fields of cheatgrass, just waiting for a spark, if this gets momentum here (it hasn’t yet) it’s just going to go blowing through them like nothing.
I see them and my mind strains to find some way to interact profoundly, with some subtle sensitivity like it’s our last meeting, but I am blank, and any attempt would be indescribably awkward and wholly unwelcome. Have a good one! Ok see you later.
As the monsoon clouds grow over the hills, and darken, and begin to build charge. Rumbles. Far off rumbles of dry thunder in the next valley. Standing in the cheatgrass, watching the lightning clouds grow darker, feeling the downdrafts..hoping I’m something less flammable, but not as sure as I’d like to be.

Solid comment. Resonates.


Edit: Just got to my comment here, several others mentioned it, I second the writing for a larger audience...
sent from Utah.

[Mofro261]

Yeah - I asked some specialist doctors if the gi symptoms some patients are getting are from an actual infiltration of the digestive system by the virus or is it just, in some people, a systemic reaction by the immune system as it goes on full DEFCON alert from the lung infection - no reply yet. Perhaps in my discussions with them I’m their “spats”.

If I was given the option of 2 weeks of diarrhea and then immunity or roll the dice on being on a ventilator I choose diarrhea. I already have the TP!

I just don't have #'s on a % infection rate of Covid-19 positive with only GI involvement. But fecal samples are often positive for viral RNA and live virus has been found in these samples suggesting it's not a secondary immune reaction.

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

My DIL works at Kaiser. This was her day today:

Just want to put this out there.. seeing all these post on Covid19 and stimulus package.... what everyone isnt seeing is the people that are coming in sick... the people that are afraid because their loved ones are in the hospital and they cannot be with them..
Today I had to stand at the door with a mask and gloves on that will give little to no protection.. I had people yelling at me.. trying to run me down to get through the door... I watched loved ones kiss their family good bye as they let them walk up to surgery alone... I stood with a woman as she cried at the door that her mother was upstairs dying and I could not let her in... she said she just needed to see her mother before she passed and I waited with her until her sister came down so she could go up... one person at a time... people dying with one family member in the room with them while their other family members wait outside... this is the hard stuff... not the stimulus check... not the debate of finding a vaccine.

My older brother, a pulmonologist in Columbus OH, said the other day they had the first case in his hospital where they lost a patient (suspected COVID 19 but test results were pending) and they had to turn the family away because they were also symptomatic. They have exceptions to the current no-visitors rule for end-of-life situations but only if they aren’t symptomatic. Of all the choices critical care doctors have to make in all this, these will be among the toughest.


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[bennymac]

I just don't have #'s on a % infection rate of Covid-19 positive with only GI involvement. But fecal samples are often positive for viral RNA and live virus has been found in these samples suggesting it's not a secondary immune reaction.

Right that makes sense. Question then - if my covid capsules could induce a gi system infection only - would that confer sufficient immunity to protect from later getting pneumonia.

[bodywhomper]

I just don't have #'s on a % infection rate of Covid-19 positive with only GI involvement. But fecal samples are often positive for viral RNA and live virus has been found in these samples suggesting it's not a secondary immune reaction.

I’ve heard shedding from GI for something around 40 days. Not sure if that was live virus.

[highangle]

[FlimFlamvanHam]

They didn't find any in the air around the patients' beds, but they did find it near the toilets.

Maybe there's just more viral load in the bowels?

Ah yes, this would support my cruise ship theory of hypertransmission. ~3500 morans in close quarters all working the AYCE buffet. ~1500 toilets all working on flushing that digested buffet over indulgence. An avg cabin is 8'x8'? and the toilet takes up about 1/4 of it? Don't look now Ricky, but that's a tidal wave of shit and we're about to be swamped.

Cruises were shitty before this.

[Adolf Allerbush]

whats your over/under on deaths?

I know this was for benny, but deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the us? I'm assuming about 70% of the population will get it and 400,000 will die from COVID-19. Then a lot will die from other issues associated with our HC and economy being fuckered. Maybe 750,000 dead?

[Patarero]

ARNP wife works in the internal medicine clinic, assigned to flu clinic today, testing for Covid-19. She will be expected to use her N-95 mask multiple days.

You guys seem to be good in the kittitas at the moment, the yak is going exponential.

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[bobz]

Lots of moaning when the ski resorts shut down a couple weeks ago. I bet a lot of people in Sun Valley see it differently now.

Yeah, I definitely stand corrected on my weeks ago attitude of what's the big deal, it's outdoors and I'll be wearing gloves (I never did get up to ski, as it turns out, not since January). The Colorado Rockies hotspot seems to have had a lot to do with a skier who went to northern Italy, and then Vail and one other place. And now we read this about Sun Valley and other places.

Maybe California/Nevada can consider itself blessed that it was such a shitty snow season, between New Years and about a day before widespread resort closures. Might have been worse right now in CA cities if there was more of a feeding frenzy at Tahoe resorts in Jan-Feb and early March.

[Patarero]

That site should come with a warning before you click the "linear scale" button on any of the graphs.

Look kids exponential growth. What's frightening is that there is curvature on the log scale.

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[rideit]

Look kids exponential growth.

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I mean, who could have predicted that, eh?