Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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MORE SIGNS THAT THINGS ARE OPENING BACK UP

One of the stores that opened up this week was BEST BUY. So I had to pay them a visit. One of the things that surprised me was how bare the isles were in the DVDs and Game. It is almost like a trend. I had asked a salesman about the lack of DVDs and he said everyone is switching to streaming content, so people are no longer buying videos on DVDs.

One thing that is mysteriously missing in stores now is the cakes they use for strawberry shortcakes. Strawberries are in season but no cakes to make strawberry shortcakes. What a strange thing to disappear from stores.

I received an email yesterday from AMC Movie Theaters that said the movie theaters will be opening in the middle of July.

ULine suppliers pushed back the restock date for N95 mask from July to August. I have been wearing the same N95 mask for four months now when I am up and about. But it is getting ratty. It needs to be replaced. One mask can provide a long life if you sterilize it after each use using a UVC sterilization box.

I talked to a heating/cooling provider the other day and indeed freezers disappeared at the beginning of the pandemic because many people bought them all up and stocked them with meats and foods like pizza. Thus producing a shortage in grocery stores. There is also a shortage of UVC sanitizers for the ductwork in HVAC units. So the word must have gone out that this is a real solution to the coronavirus pandemic. He said this technology has been out for years but no one spent the little bit of money to buy and install them. Now that the pandemic has hit, there is a run on these little units.

WHO Says Coronavirus is ‘Accelerating’ as CDC Predicts Up to 145,000 U.S. Deaths by July 11

The US is averaging about 700-800 a day. Getting to the 145,000 figure is probable, unless something drastic happens.

One of the side effects of the virus - sleep deprivation.

As many Aspies are familiar with. Stress can produce anxiety and anxiety can result in a loss of sleep.

Many people are anxious these days because for he virus and now because of the demonstrations and riots.

“I took two Benadryl and still can’t sleep, I feel like I’ve hit a new low,” Christine Larochelle tweeted at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday. “Sunday night I was up ’til like 3 a.m. I was just tossing and turning, and nothing was helping me,” the 26-year-old who works in social media advertising tells The Post. “The moment I hit the bed and turn off the lights, my mind just races to everything that’s happened in my life.” Those weren’t off-nights for her. For the past few months, Larochelle has struggled with falling — and staying — asleep. She joins a horde of zzzzz-free zombies around the world who have been starved for a restful night since the coronavirus pandemic started.



In the United States, 22% of people say that their sleep quality is worse because of the COVID-19 crisis, according to a survey done by SleepHelp.org.

Elsewhere around the globe, researchers also are harping on this nighttime uprising. One study published in April by the Journal of Critical Sleep Medicine found that insomnia and its symptoms drastically increased for COVID-19-free participants in China, the first epicenter of the disease, from January to February of this year.

In Italy, another major coronavirus hot spot, reports of decreased sleep increased more than 12% from February to March as the second week of lockdown kicked in, according to a study published in the Journal of Sleep Research.

Although the data suggests the world is having a sleep crisis, Dr. Alcibiades Rodriguez, the director of the sleep center at NYU Langone, says that we actually have an anxiety problem.

“Sleep is interconnected with mood and anxiety disorders,” Dr. Rodriguez tells The Post. “This is an unprecedented situation. It’s a high level of stress, especially in the middle of this in New York.” Trouble sleeping is actually a symptom of anxiety and depression, which he says are on the rise because of the pandemic.

“You’ll have tension, your concentration is decreased, your memory may be affected, you may be moody,” he says. “Suppose you have a medical condition, you have back pain or you suffer from migraines: You’re going to feel worse. If you feel that way, it may lead to more anxiety and more depression; it’s a vicious cycle.”

Although Larochelle says she hasn’t noticed a strong change in her moods, her migraines and headaches have gotten worse.

Source: Americans are having trouble sleeping because of coronavirus -- here are tips to help

[In reality, sleep repairs and resets the body. Two of the stages of sleep are critically important Deep Sleep and REM Sleep.

During deep sleep, your breathing, heartbeat, body temperature, and brain waves reach their lowest levels. Your muscles are extremely relaxed, and you are most difficult to rouse. Stage 4 is known as the healing stage, when tissue growth and repair take place, important hormones are released to do their jobs, and cellular energy is restored. Physical recovery takes place, blood sugar levels and metabolism balance out, your immune system is energized, and your brain detoxifies. Without deep sleep, these functions cannot take place and the symptoms of sleep deprivation kick in.

During REM sleep, Signals are sent to the brain's cerebral cortex, which is responsible for learning, thinking, and organizing information. Signals are also sent to the spinal cord to shut off movement, creating a temporary inability to move the muscles ("paralysis") in the arms and legs. The arms and legs become temporarily paralyzed during this stage to prevent a person from physically acting out their dreams and nightmares while sleeping. During REM sleep the eyes move around quickly behind your eyelids and your brainwaves look similar to those of someone who is awake. Breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure rise to near-waking levels. Electrical and chemical activity regulating this phase seems to originate in the brain stem and is notably by an abundance of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, combined with a nearly complete absence of monoamine neurotransmitters histamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. REM sleep stimulates regions of the brain that are used for learning. Studies have shown that when people are deprived of REM sleep, they are not able to remember what they were taught before going to sleep. So to put a long story short, without REM sleep, your short term memory buffers are not placed in long term memory and overflow and the body has a bit of a melt down.]

While health officials recognize that humans are, by nature, social creatures who crave interaction with others, the novel virus and its deathly effects are not exaggerated, as some have started to believe.

This week, states throughout the nation have seen surges in coronavirus cases, with the average number of new cases per day increasing by about 20 percent to nearly 24,000 cases per day. Health officials say a combination of factors is likely responsible for these increases. “It’s multifactorial,” said Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, family and emergency medicine physician and medical director of CityMD, said. “The initial wave of COVID-19 is still with us, hitting each state at different points in time. We see more cases because we are doing more testing. Also, the country is reopening, which means an increase in mobility of people, which by nature means we will have more cases.”



Source: As states see coronavirus surges, health officials say combination of factors responsible

But then again, tracking the infection rate might be a little deceiving. So what is more important to me is the fatality rate due to the coronavirus. So here is that graph.



Source: Our World in Data

So it looks like the coronavirus is winding down. But it may surge again in the fall and winter as the humidity levels fall below 40% again.

ANTIBODY PLASMA TREATMENT

In a new study of convalescent plasma transfusions in 20,000 coronavirus patients, authors say the data offers “robust evidence” the treatment is safe and associated with improved survival.

The idea behind the therapy is that plasma of recently infected recovered coronavirus patients has antiviral antibodies that can be used to treat other patients with the virus.

“Convalescent plasma has a strong historical record of some efficacy during acute infectious pandemics,” study authors write.

The study, published on Wednesday in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, offered a larger analysis expanding on an initial report of 5,000 transfused patients. Patients were given the plasma through an expanded access program developed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Mayo Clinic.



Between April 3 and June 11 this year, 21,987 COVID-19 patients received the plasma transfusions. Nearly all of the patients had severe or life-threatening COVID-19 conditions. The seven-day mortality rate dropped to 8.6 percent.

Source: Coronavirus plasma study shows 'robust evidence' of transfusion treatment improving survivability

That makes sense. A strong infusion into the body of something similar to “gamma globulin,” used to prevent symptom development of things like hepatitis.

I can't help but this coronaviruspandemic combinated with the coming election makes me wonder how different american presidents or might handle a similar virus pandemic in the last two decades.

I have to say I'm not american so I can not see it like americans do so I guess that's why I'm wondering about this question.

Let's start from George W. Bush's second cycle. I remember I saw a documentaryfilm on the Hungarian National Geographic Channel or on the Discovery Channel about the biowarfare question which seemed to be a relavent question during the younger Bush's second political cycle. He used up the biological wepon queston as a reason to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from his leader post.
As I remember back in the second half of the 2000's politicians ment a possible Anthrax attack which would mean a human made virus pandemic with attacking determine.

Did the goverment back than had any real idea or plan to activate if that fear would come true or natural virus pandemic would hit the world back than?

My take on the data is that younger people are getting infected. They are less likely to die.

I have no idea how this will play out in the fall and winter. Older people still die of the flu when flu shots are available in the winter months. I doubt there will be an effective flu shot for all the older people who need it this fall. Are there effective plans to stop the virus when it enters a nursing home? What can you do when you have nursing home workers that lack the ability to reliably carry out basis safety procedures? Retire them and put them on basic income?

I don't foresee N95 masks being available to the public for a long time. Maybe a year. Why do I think that? A few reasons:

>Medical community will take precedence in place of those gappy innefective paper pleated masks.
>Opportunists hoard anything available to price gouge and sell on the internet. As long as demand exceeds supply, they'll continue to do so.

When we'll actually be seeing N95 masks on home improvement store shelves with supply exceeding demand is a year or more in my opinion. Maybe it will be longer than that.

Covid is starting to spike in our county. It was around 120 for a long time. In the last week it's jumped to 142. I think it's going to kick in now.

I also think a second wave in the fall will kick in perhaps worse than the first.

The grocery store had a kiosk with a supply of PPE, including KN95 masks.
The regular masks were sold in packages of 20.

'No Evidence' Black Lives Matter Protests Caused COVID-19 Spike: Study

Most of the protesters....even most of the cops...were smart enough to wear masks.