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SEC targets late July for COVID-19 decision-making


aubiefifty

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today's Alabama numbers are another record.    It would be like California having ~400 fatalities, Florida having ~200 fatalities, or Texas having ~275 fatalities in one day.

this is based on yesterdays numbers.......

The large numbers are hard to perceive. Let's make the large numbers  easier to picture  .... 

 
 remember being in class at Auburn?
 
picture 20 students in the class. 
 
 picture 2 of those classes next to each other.   That is how many people have died of Covid just in Lee Co.  so far.   ( 38 deaths)
        
take those two classes and multiply that by 10.  (20 classes)  
 
 then double that.  (  picture  40  classrooms full next to each other.)    
 
and add 16 more classes  (56 classes)  That is how many people have  died in Alabama of Covid (1,183)
 
add 29  more classes (85 classes now) that is how many people have caught Covid JUST in LEE Co. !   (1,750 cases) 
 
 
Now, picture those 85 full class rooms .   Picture them well because the numbers are about to get big. 
   
85 full classrooms....
.   
Take that image of 85 full classrooms and multiply that by 10.   (850 classes)  
 
Then triple that.  (2,550 classrooms)
 
  Now add a teacher and graduate assistant  into every classroom.  
 
 This is still short of  how many people have caught Covid in Alabama. (57,255)
 
and this is going  on in  every SEC college county and every state.
 

 

in the last 24 hours 107  more "classrooms full" have contracted the disease in Alabama.

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46 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Except our first wave still hasn't even crested. So yes, those countries are doing much better than us. 

Those countries are geographically much smaller than us.  In some geographic areas we have crested in others we are still getting there. The North East and North West were hit hard early and now seem to be doing real well they may have crested like some of the countries you say are doing well. The South East and South West are the areas that are being hit now.  You have to realize most of Europe would fit inside of Texas. 

There are multiple things to look at with a disease like this population density (dense area inherently have less social distancing so bigger impact),  contact with people from areas that are hard hit, Infrastructure for accurate reporting.   In some states like Texas and Arizona we have seen higher rates near Mexican border multiple factors there that might contribute (Illegal Immigration, Cultural larger % of population is Hispanic and Hispanic's tend to be more touchy feely as I learned from my wives family, more people work at lower paying jobs that don't allow virtual work hence more contact and less social distancing). Italy and Spain as an example were hit so hard and so many known people were infected in 1st wave many more asymptomatic that there may be a limited herd immunity,  possibly same thing in New York City other areas of this country are just now getting that level of infection and also the amount of testing.  

Now that some large States like Texas, Florida and Arizona are getting high numbers testing positive but so far low mortality rates as compared to New York City the next 2-4 weeks will tell the true tale. Either the large numbers will translate into very high mortality rates like in New York City or something has changed either the disease mutating or improvement in treatment as we have learned more.

Getting back to impact on football season. Since South East is currently being hit hard I don't think we will know enough by end of July for SEC to make a positive decision and say we will have a Fall Season, but they may know enough to say no out of conference games in the fall. I think they will try and wait till middle of August to make final decision on cancelling Fall or not but will leave open possibility for a Spring Season.  

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5 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

You have to realize most of Europe would fit inside of Texas. 

I do realize that. Hopefully everyone reading this realizes that. It's a shame, though, that those who could have mitigated the problem early on didn't keep that in mind and limit interstate travel earlier on. One leader in particular got a whole lotta love for "banning" travel from China, but doesn't seem to have received much criticism for failing to limit travel from domestic hot spots to other parts of the country. 

We also failed and continue to fail to produce/acquire adequate testing infrastructure. 

Leadership have also failed until very recently to treat the virus, in word or deed, with the seriousness it has deserved for at least 5 months. We're just now seeing the most important leaders in the country wearing masks, and they can't even do it properly? 

Just shocking, abject failures at every level. 

Oh, and it has very little to do with illegal immigration. That's not why Seattle was a hot spot, it's not why New York was a hot spot, and it's not why places like South Carolina and Florida are hot spots. I know that you've really wanted that to be an important storyline from the beginning but it's not. Poor leadership and flippant attitudes from legal US residents have made this far worse than it needed to be.

 

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1 hour ago, AuburnNTexas said:

(Illegal Immigration, Cultural larger % of population is Hispanic and Hispanic's tend to be more touchy feely as I learned from my wives family, more people work at lower paying jobs that don't allow virtual work hence more contact and less social distancing).

Bahaha what? I was reading your post valiantly till I saw this. I hope you don’t say this stuff out loud during family gatherings. 

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For every "too many people aren't responding the right way to this pandemic" (i.e. the way YOU think is right based upon which unfolding evidence resonates the most with your beliefs/agenda), there are stories like these.  Please do not forget the tragedies that are happening all around us due to staying sequestered.  My heart aches for this family...there has to be a middle ground.  But there will be casualties on both sides, no matter the action or reaction. In all humility...we're all flawed, broken, and trying to make the most sense out of something we can't.  This perspective needs to enter the conversation, though.  This from a teacher who really doesn't know what to think of the ever-changing "plans" that leave lots of things unsaid and definitely unplanned.  I've asked for in-person return for myself.  I'm frontlines by nature.  I'll wear whatever I need to, underlying health conditions or not...(I think not, but who knows)...I HAVE to connect with my kids.  But my heart absolutely aches for this family.

Back to football.

 

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3 hours ago, AuburnNTexas said:

   You have to realize most of Europe would fit inside of Texas. 

 

Now that some large States like Texas, Florida and Arizona are getting high numbers testing positive but so far low mortality rates as compared to New York City the next 2-4 weeks will tell the true tale. Either the large numbers will translate into very high mortality rates like in New York City or something has changed either the disease mutating or improvement in treatment as we have learned more.

  

You have to realize there are more new daily cases   in Florida  than all of Europe.  Texas is about the same in daily infections as all of Europe.

Still not only about death...

 

https://www.newsweek.com./scans-reveal-heart-damage-over-half-covid-19-patients-study-1517293

https://www.latestresearchnews.com/2020/07/14/1-in-3-young-adults-may-face-severe-covid-19-ucsf-study-shows/

 

For every one person who dies:

  • 19 more require hospitalization.
  • 18   will have heart damage  
  • 10 will have  lung damage.
  • 3 will have strokes.
  • 2 will have neurological damage that leads to chronic weakness and loss of coordination.
  • 2 will have neurological damage that leads to loss of cognitive function.

 

 

“but it’s only 1% fatal!”     1% of the US population could die.    That would be ....

  • 3,000,000 people dead.
  • 62,000,000 hospitalized.
  • 59,000,000 people with  heart damage.
  • 32,000,000 people with  lung damage.
  • 9,000,000 people with strokes.
  • 6,000,000 people with muscle weakness.
  • 6,000,000 people with loss of cognitive function.

Yes this is worst case scenario,  but even if 1/4 of the US population eventually contract the virus  the numbers are still unsustainable. 

 

then you have already know about comorbidities  just the children....

 

 18.5% of U.S. children between ages 2 to 19 suffer from obesity, or about 13.7 million children.

About 6 million children under age 18 have asthma, according to the CDC,  

And the CDC says about 193,000 people under age 20 in the U.S. have diabetes.

 


 

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4 minutes ago, Quietmaninthecorner said:

 

 18.5% of U.S. children between ages 2 to 19 suffer from obesity, or about 13.7 million children.

About 6 million children under age 18 have asthma, according to the CDC,  

And the CDC says about 193,000 people under age 20 in the U.S. have diabetes

This has been breaking me a lot lately. Seeing the young people start to trickle in 

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42 minutes ago, DAG said:

This has been breaking me a lot lately. Seeing the young people start to trickle in 

 Stay strong, keep up the fight.  I can take adults getting sick.    I used to work at Vanderbilt U  Hospital in Nashville.  I had seen some sickening and horrifying things.  People coming in in pieces.   But I have never been to the premi ward.    About 8 months in, I had to go to  the primi and sick baby floor.     There was a baby there  with "water on the brain".   His head was as big as a basketball.   His little body was laying  contorted because of the size of his head.     I have never seen anything like it to that point.  It absolutely destroyed me.  That kid didn't do anything to deserve that.   I was not strong enough to deal with it.   I quit the next day.  I regretted quitting for a long time, but still think of that baby every now and then,  and it rips me to shreds.

I have a great appreciation for what you do..

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Just now, Quietmaninthecorner said:

 Stay strong, keep up the fight.  I can take adults getting sick.    I used to work at Vanderbilt U  Hospital in Nashville.  I had seen some sickening and horrifying things.  People coming in in pieces.   But I have never been to the premi ward.    About 8 months in, I had to go to  the primi and sick baby floor.     There was a baby there  with "water on the brain".   His head was as big as a basketball.   His little body was laying  contorted because of the size of his head.     I have never seen anything like it to that point.  It absolutely destroyed me.  That kid didn't do anything to deserve that.   I was not strong enough to deal with it.   I quit the next day.  I regretted quitting for a long time, but still think of that baby every now and then,  and it rips me to shreds.

I have a great appreciation for what you do..

Likewise,. Thanks for bringing in tons of data. EBP and data is very important to me and I definitely like weighing things out, especially on this topic. 

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Anyone holding Florida as having very high rates, after it came out that labs were reporting 100% positive rates, haven't kept up with the news.  They caught a lot of labs lying about the positive rates.  Our hospital rates are also down along with the death rates.  There are only a few hot spots here in Florida and they are located down around the Miami area.  We had a ton of people from NY that came in and made it flair up.  The governor did a good job in managing nursing homes.  I don't know why these labs were falsifying the data or if their procedures were botched or what.  Still waiting for it to come out.  Some local news papers were all over the story as it is statistically impossible for what they were reporting.  Let's face it the reporting on COVID has been all across the board and a lot of it was wrong.  When you read peer reviewed studies, etc this hasn't been as bad as reported.  It attacked the folks who had underlying conditions the worst.  Some deaths were miss-classified as COVID deaths when they really weren't but it was encouraged to do so by many. 

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From a trusted source (Coach Holtz, so take it for what it is worth), over 200 college football players have tested positive for COVID so far... zero hospitalizations. 

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FYI. Last week  a journalist ran the numbers from the state of Washington . The Covid death rate for people under age 65 without comorbidity is .000037% .

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1 hour ago, AU_Tiger_88 said:

Anyone holding Florida as having very high rates, after it came out that labs were reporting 100% positive rates, haven't kept up with the news.  They caught a lot of labs lying about the positive rates.  Our hospital rates are also down along with the death rates.  There are only a few hot spots here in Florida and they are located down around the Miami area.  We had a ton of people from NY that came in and made it flair up.  The governor did a good job in managing nursing homes.  I don't know why these labs were falsifying the data or if their procedures were botched or what.  Still waiting for it to come out.  Some local news papers were all over the story as it is statistically impossible for what they were reporting.  Let's face it the reporting on COVID has been all across the board and a lot of it was wrong.  When you read peer reviewed studies, etc this hasn't been as bad as reported.  It attacked the folks who had underlying conditions the worst.  Some deaths were miss-classified as COVID deaths when they really weren't but it was encouraged to do so by many. 

   Some reports say if you were positive you were only counted one time.   If you were negative you were counted every time you took a test.    that makes the positivity rate go way down.    Errors are going both ways.  most will cancel each other out.   The numbers are probably more accurate than people think.     https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-positivity-rate-florida-paints-rosy-pandemic-picture-20200715-cpwwngaefzdnpitbs7buh7zsei-story.html

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3 hours ago, AU_Tiger_88 said:

Anyone holding Florida as having very high rates, after it came out that labs were reporting 100% positive rates, haven't kept up with the news.  They caught a lot of labs lying about the positive rates.  Our hospital rates are also down along with the death rates.  There are only a few hot spots here in Florida and they are located down around the Miami area.  We had a ton of people from NY that came in and made it flair up.  The governor did a good job in managing nursing homes.  I don't know why these labs were falsifying the data or if their procedures were botched or what.  Still waiting for it to come out.  Some local news papers were all over the story as it is statistically impossible for what they were reporting.  Let's face it the reporting on COVID has been all across the board and a lot of it was wrong.  When you read peer reviewed studies, etc this hasn't been as bad as reported.  It attacked the folks who had underlying conditions the worst.  Some deaths were miss-classified as COVID deaths when they really weren't but it was encouraged to do so by many. 

I live in Tallahassee, we're under an ordinance to wear a mask in public but other than that things are relatively normal. We are killing it with testing down here. There are multiple doctor's offices and urgent cares that have been doing walk-in on demand testing for months. I've seen data that we're running between 80,000 and 90,000 tests every day. I don't understand how some people can say with a straight face that Florida is being "ravaged" of whatever scary adjective you care to use when we have 3/4ths as many cases as New York but 1/5 their number of deaths.

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18 hours ago, McLoofus said:

I do realize that. Hopefully everyone reading this realizes that. It's a shame, though, that those who could have mitigated the problem early on didn't keep that in mind and limit interstate travel earlier on. One leader in particular got a whole lotta love for "banning" travel from China, but doesn't seem to have received much criticism for failing to limit travel from domestic hot spots to other parts of the country. 

We also failed and continue to fail to produce/acquire adequate testing infrastructure. 

Leadership have also failed until very recently to treat the virus, in word or deed, with the seriousness it has deserved for at least 5 months. We're just now seeing the most important leaders in the country wearing masks, and they can't even do it properly? 

Just shocking, abject failures at every level. 

Oh, and it has very little to do with illegal immigration. That's not why Seattle was a hot spot, it's not why New York was a hot spot, and it's not why places like South Carolina and Florida are hot spots. I know that you've really wanted that to be an important storyline from the beginning but it's not. Poor leadership and flippant attitudes from legal US residents have made this far worse than it needed to be.

 

You are taking things out of context just to make a point. I never said that illegal Immigration was the primary factor I said it was one of the factors. I mentioned the cultural side of the Hispanic community my wife is Latina.  Large extended families who show up for quincenarra's birthday's etc. That has slowed done some but not stopped that is part of the issue. Many of my wives cousin's in Texas and New Yok have extended families living together with Grandparents, Parents and grandkids all under one roof. That is why my wives family in New York has lost many older family members to this disease.  On the Mexico side of the US Mexico border there has been a huge increase in Covid - 19 there is a huge amount of cross border traffic going both ways that is one of the story lines all along the US Mexico border. 

You are 100% correct with hindsight we could have done better. Trump was right in stopping Travel from China even though he was castigated by the Democrats and most of the Press when he did it. He was wrong in not doing a better job of not just stopping Chinese but Europeans and  stopping or quarantining Americans who came here from that area. Some states asked people from New York to self quarantine for 2 weeks.  As for stopping travel within the country while it is a great idea medically unless you put the national Guard at the borders of each state you can't stop Americans from driving between states. We have noticed a huge number of NY and NJ license plates in Texas in last few months.  I have family in Florida and they are talking about the influx of people moving from NY and NJ during this pandemic.

 

How would you have stopped interstate traffic in  free country? Can you imagine the uproar in the US if we had put National Guard on the borders of each state and stopped interstate traffic.

 

You are correct we don't have enough Protective gear the problem there is over the last 20-30 years or more we have allowed way to much manufacturing especially in the Medical field to go overseas. We have been trying to address that in last few months and we have made tremendous strides but it will take years to overcome this shortage in manufacturing in this country.  This is the fault of the US congress, past Presidents, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama and the American people because we want everything cheaper. There is a lot to not like about Trump but since he has been elected he has pushed to bring manufacturing back to the US he has used Tariff's which many of the people who don't like him held against him, he has used his bully pulpit, and social media to push America first, he has renegotiated trade agreements to help the US.

 

There has been a tremendous increase in production of simple PPE like mask's in the US this can be done quickly and we have increased the production of ventilator's and other gear during this time but because we were so far behind to begin with we have not been able to totally keep up with the amount of gear we need.

Trump has made mistakes in handling this as have Governors, other politicians, Mayors of local communities, and individual people.  There is so much we did not know and still don't know mistakes were going to be made and it is easy to look back and say what should have been done. WHO and China initially telling us that the disease can't be passed from person to person, China who knew the most about this not letting people to travel within country but allowing them to leave country to rest of the world.

 

I understand many people dislike Trump and I understand why they dislike him, but please don't let your dislike of the man to color your judgement look at the whole picture we have not done as good as we should have mistakes have been made but not just Trump the whole country and politicians on both sides of the aisle.  The Scientist's who say one thing one week and another thing the next week.  When we had the lockdowns it flattened the curve but we had many others dying because of not getting treatment for heart conditions, Cancer, suicide because not getting mental health, depression when they lost their jobs. Their is a balance that even Solomon in all his Wisdom would have had trouble with.

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5 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

You are taking things out of context just to make a point. I never said that illegal Immigration was the primary factor I said it was one of the factors.

It is a factor so insignificant that the mention of it reads as a deflection away from poor leadership in this country, much as detracting from the success of other countries does.

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I mentioned the cultural side of the Hispanic community my wife is Latina.  Large extended families who show up for quincenarra's birthday's etc. That has slowed done some but not stopped that is part of the issue.

I do not disagree that this is the case for certain communities and that, in general, concentration of bodies exacerbates the spread of the virus. But that is not a significant issue in most of the areas of the country where case counts are currently skyrocketing. 

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How would you have stopped interstate traffic in  free country? Can you imagine the uproar in the US if we had put National Guard on the borders of each state and stopped interstate traffic.

National Guard? That's a mighty big leap. 

There are countless other measures that could more effectively be used. For example, many airports are now no longer accepting flights from certain areas. Firm quarantine measures for arrival can and have been instituted. Hotels and rental properties could be leveraged to discourage out of state guests. Who knows how many other ways interstate travel could be discouraged/limited. Certainly many very influential decision makers have no problem throwing their weight around on other issues but this one hasn't gotten much lip service.

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You are correct we don't have enough Protective gear

There is a lot to not like about Trump but since he has been elected he has pushed to bring manufacturing back to the US he has used Tariff's which many of the people who don't like him held against him, he has used his bully pulpit, and social media to push America first, he has renegotiated trade agreements to help the US.

I didn't say PPE. PPE is no longer an issue, except that Americans are incredibly stupid and selfish and refuse to wear it.

I said testing infrastructure- which anyone who speaks on this really should understand and be discussing at this point- and that is heavily on Trump and his idiotic nationalism. He had opportunities to buy much needed testing from places such as South Korea, but instead insisted that it be American made. Then he told the states they were on their own to get it, and had one of his usual tantrums when the governor of Maryland said fine, I'll buy the tests we need from... South Korea. All this trade and tariff talk is garbage when American lives are literally on the line. Many Americans have died and continue to die unnecessarily because of this incompetence. 

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Trump has made mistakes in handling this as have Governors, other politicians, Mayors of local communities, and individual people. 

Yes, exactly. 

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There is so much we did not know and still don't know mistakes were going to be made and it is easy to look back and say what should have been done.

There was also quite a bit that we did know but that was ignored. This isn't the 20/20 hindsight scenario you're making it out to be.

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WHO and China initially telling us that the disease can't be passed from person to person, China who knew the most about this not letting people to travel within country but allowing them to leave country to rest of the world.

Yeah. We should probably blame the notoriously forthcoming Chinese for bad intel. Even though we knew they locked down the entire province where the virus originated in January, we really had no way of knowing. 

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i have a friend who has covid and i spoke to his wife and he told her to tell me that if people knew how bad this crap is and does to you everyone would be wearing masks. and as far as i know he was a mask wearer. yes he is a geezer like me in his mid sixties but in better health than me and still working. and he is not one of those cats that exaggerate things either. be careful out there folks and hopefully love your neighborsand yourself enough to wear a mask. if it is a conspiracy theory what in the world would our gov benefit from by making people wear masks.

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10 hours ago, WalkingCarpet said:

I live in Tallahassee, we're under an ordinance to wear a mask in public but other than that things are relatively normal. We are killing it with testing down here. There are multiple doctor's offices and urgent cares that have been doing walk-in on demand testing for months. I've seen data that we're running between 80,000 and 90,000 tests every day. I don't understand how some people can say with a straight face that Florida is being "ravaged" of whatever scary adjective you care to use when we have 3/4ths as many cases as New York but 1/5 their number of deaths.

Florida isn't doing as bad as the worst hit state in the country so everything must be cool.     Are you trying to convince us or yourself?

 

FL VVVVV

 

image.png

NY VVVVV

 

image.png

LEON Co. VVVVVV

 

image.png

 

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I see that it needs to be said: Having your head up your ass might seem like a good way to stop the spread, but wearing a mask is more effective. 

Some of you have been wrong about this from the beginning and you continue to be the reason this is so much worse than it needs to be. You know who you are. Just so incredibly selfish and stupid. And for what??? 

 

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2 hours ago, Quietmaninthecorner said:

Florida isn't doing as bad as the worst hit state in the country so everything must be cool.     Are you trying to convince us or yourself?

 

FL VVVVV

 

image.png

NY VVVVV

 

image.png

LEON Co. VVVVVV

 

image.png

 

Uh... you? Not sure what I did to piss you off but I thought the idea was to stop people from dying epecially in a state with a giant retiree population. Why are you trying to move the goalposts to cases = bad instead of deaths = bad? We have identified thousands of asymptomatic cases because the testing program is taking EVERYONE who wants a test. I know four people who are asymptomatic carriers who have been isolating for the last ten days. None of them are sick. My county has a CFR of .37. Overall Florida has a CFR of 1.7. Am I supposed to be impressed by that New York graph? Congrats, you got it before everyone else and you let it trash your vulnerable population so you could get herd immunity faster.

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7 minutes ago, WalkingCarpet said:

Uh... you? Not sure what I did to piss you off but I thought the idea was to stop people from dying epecially in a state with a giant retiree population. Why are you trying to move the goalposts to cases = bad instead of deaths = bad? We have identified thousands of asymptomatic cases because the testing program is taking EVERYONE who wants a test. I know four people who are asymptomatic carriers who have been isolating for the last ten days. None of them are sick. My county has a CFR of .37. Overall Florida has a CFR of 1.7. Am I supposed to be impressed by that New York graph? Congrats, you got it before everyone else and you let it trash your vulnerable population so you could get herd immunity faster.

There's a huge middle ground between asymptomatic and dead.

TL;DR hell yes "cases = bad".

From a guy I've met:

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It seems like COVID-19 is all anyone is talking about. And with good reason. So many stories about those who died from it. So many stories about those who were sick and survived. But no one is talking about what the survivors face on the others side of COVID, so I'd like to tell you my story.

It should have been a great day. I was on my way to my first day at my new job. I went back to college in my late 30's to learn architectural drawing -- 3D modeling and drafting -- and I had just gotten a job doing exactly that for a small design/build shop in Atlanta. I didn't sleep too well because I was excited and a bit nervous.

I'll never forget the date, March 19, because it was my father's birthday. I called him from the car on my way to my first day. I asked how he was doing, and he said he felt great. He asked me the same. I replied that everything felt as good as ever. I was lying.

I thought it was nerves. Anxiety. Something. I packed a lunch, but I didn't feel like eating it. I wondered if they always kept the office this warm.

My girlfriend came over for a celebratory dinner. We got food from the neighborhood restaurant up the block. We opened a bottle of wine. All my hard work was paying off.

"Does this wine taste off to you?", I asked. She said no. We sat down to eat. "I think there's something wrong with my food." I wasn't hungry anyway. We hung out for a while and then said goodnight because she had an early morning. She went home.

I woke up in the middle of the night, just cooking with fever. I'd been reading horror stories from places like Seattle and NYC. People just like me, healthy, relatively young (I'll be 42 next month) people just dropping dead. I was immediately terrified. I think some part of me knew.

I Can't Shake It

The next morning, I had to call in sick to my brand-new job. I had a fever and a headache. My girlfriend had gone home. I was alone with the virus. Little did I know what I was in for.

I called my doctor. He prescribed a strong migraine medicine for my headache. The pain just wouldn't budge. I couldn't do anything to shake it.

Days. Days upon days. My fever would go up during the day, come down overnight. Until one day it just parked itself at around 103. I called my doctor. There were no tests available. I was given a "presumed positive" diagnosis, and was told that if I could stand to let the fever do its job, then I should try and let it cook itself out. My headache persisted. Always with the headache.

I had zero energy and no appetite. I was wiped out. The slightest activity took everything I had. I should mention here that I have a dog (his name is Cyclone), and I still had to get him outside several times a day. Five minutes of dog time would require five hours of recovery time for me. I was out of gas. And I was alone. I was alone and no one could help me.

Farewell

I don't know exactly how many days passed, but I found myself on the couch one evening almost completely unable to breathe. I just couldn't get the air I needed into my lungs. I think that if I had been able to get one good breath then I would have felt so much better. But it wouldn't happen.

A started conversation in my head --

"It's time to go to the hospital." "NOW!" "Call 911, we're dying."

"If I go to the hospital, am I gonna come home?" "Probably not."

I had read so many stories about people being put on ventilators and never coming back.

So I asked myself, do I die alone in a cold hospital bed or do I just do it here at home? I picked up my phone. I dialed 911. I never pressed SEND.

I closed my eyes, and in my mind, I said goodbye. I said goodbye to my friends. I said goodbye to my girlfriend. I said goodbye to my family. I said goodbye to my 10-year-old son and my 8-year-old daughter. I remember hoping that they would be ok without me. I closed my eyes.

Coming Back

At some point, I must have fallen asleep. I drifted in and out of sleep for the next day or two.

My fever would break in the night, only to creep back up during the day. This happened for three or four days in a row.

And the headache never stopped.

One night the fever broke, and it didn't come back. At some point I realized that my headache was gone too.

Slowly, I began to feel better. Not like myself, but better. After a couple of symptom-free weeks, I was able to see my children and my girlfriend again. I was able to start working from home at my new job.

All I could think was, "Holy s$#t, I made it!" I was really just so happy to be here. I was feeling better, and it was springtime in Atlanta (nothing is better than springtime in Atlanta). Everything was gonna be ok.

Changes

It took a long time for me to begin to notice the changes in myself. Normally, I'm a really outgoing person. I enjoy being in the company of others. I laugh a lot.

But I know that the me writing this isn't the same me who got sick. I'm withdrawn. Distant. "Sometimes I don't know where you are when you're sitting right next to me," my girlfriend wrote me in an email when I asked what changes she noticed in me.

And she's right. I'm so easily agitated now. Irritable. Everything seems so loud. Nothing seems possible. Or worth the effort. I have trouble focusing. I can't maintain a conversation. I get headaches. I have panic attacks. I'm coming apart. This is the part that no one talks about. I cry over music. I cry at television. I can't sleep. I'm so tired. I self-medicate.

And I can't get away from thinking about COVID-19. Every time I put on a mask to go to the grocery store, there it is. Every time I try to relax on the couch where I decided it was ok to go, I have to get up and walk around. It's all right there, in my face. And it's all too much. This is the part that no one talks about.

I think that the worst part for me is knowing that I was ok with letting go and not being here anymore. Having gotten ok with dying makes living difficult.

My friends tell me, "O, man, we really care about you." Well, I don't really care about me right now. I don't care about them. I don't care about much.

My therapist says I have PTSD.

What Now?

The first and biggest step has been to recognize that this is going on with me. I just didn't see it for a long time. I'm trying to be more mindful of what is happening with me, both internally and externally.

I've started taking an antidepressant. I've been trying to get more exercise outside. I'm riding my bicycle, and Cyclone and I have doubled up on our walks. We're up to almost four miles a day.

This experience has been awful. One thousand percent awful. But I've had an outpouring of love and support from my family and friends. Just acknowledging and recognizing what's going on with me, talking about it, has helped a lot. Once I could see it for what it is and call it by its name, that made a big difference.

I have good days, and I have bad days. Sometimes I have several of each in the course of 24 hours. But I'm going to get better. I have to believe that I will.

From a Savannah news reporter (you can search Lyndsey Gough; she posted this on FB):

Quote

For those who don’t know, I contracted COVID-19, I believe on June 20.

The next 3 days I felt very tired, and the 23rd I began having flu-like symptoms (body and muscle aches, chills), a cough, congestion, nausea, fatigue, headache, lack of appetite and eventually losing my sense of smell & taste. I also experienced waves of abdominal pain making it hard to get up or sit up/lay down. I nearly passed out taking my dog for a short walk.

I waited 4 hours and was finally able to get tested for free (my second test) on June 26 (I had been quarantined).

June 30 I got my results: positive.

I was mostly bedridden with minimal appetite and mild cough (never did have a fever or shortness of breath) until around the 4th or 5th of July and I started to feel better and get some normalcy back.

July 7, the abdominal pain came back- with a vengeance. Despite drinking lots fluids, rest, hot baths, & eating what I could, nothing provided relief. It was hard to move at all.

I called my PCP, who referred me to urgent care, and on July 9, they referred me to the emergency room.

July 9th I got to Candler’s ER and was given a lab work up and a CAT scan. After several hours, the doctor (a UK med school grad!) told me he was calling in the surgeon- my appendix needed to come out and SOON.

They tested me again for COVID-19, still positive, though I had done my recommended 2-week quarantine & then some.

My surgeon told me essentially, coronavirus had been like a “lightning strike” to my system. I now had appendicitis & it was very large. He would try to take it out with small incisions, but no promises. Before midnight July 8. I was off to surgery.

Fortunately, pre-op chest x-rays revealed no lung damage from coronavirus. A win.

Through all of this I was ALONE, mind you. COVID patients can’t have visitors. Behind-the-scenes I was arranging care for my dog (thanks to everyone who took care of her!!). I don’t do well with needles, blood- any of it, so this required some SERIOUS bravery on my part not to freak out (I cried once to my mom, can’t lie.)

My appendix, along with some kind of stone & part of my colon are gone. The appendix was larger than a baseball, I’m told. I have a wicked incision due to the complications that is stapled up. I had 1 IV and a tube up my nose. They’re worried about me getting pneumonia and blood clots.

Having surgery amid a pandemic is surreal. My surgeon told me if I wasn’t healthy, and this pain wasn’t so bad he wouldn’t operate on a COVID patient if he didn’t have to. My mask had to come off in the OR for oxygen & tubes, so they put my head in a clear box, sort of like what you may see a preemie baby in.

An angel OR nurse stroked my hair like my mom does until I went to sleep.

As the days have gone up, my oxygen got way down (I’m back on oxygen tubes).

It is correcting itself. Same for my low blood sugar & BP. The only temp. I’ve had has been post op and it was short lived.

I now have 2 IV’s. I get two shots in my stomach daily for blood clots. 6 finger sticks a day for blood sugar. Multiple blood draws for lab work. Vital checks every 2 hours.

I’m making progress, but still in lots of pain and am weak.

Masking is important . Social distancing & staying home is important. Hand wash. Sanitize. Also, just be kind.

COVID does NOT just affect the elderly. I’ve been sick every day since I turned 27.

I’ve had “just the flu” and it’s NOT that.

Death isn’t the only thing that quantifies this.

It’s been 3 weeks and I have no clear end in sight.

I don’t say this for pity, but for transparently and hopes that people will take it seriously & be safe.

Hopefully I’ll be back reporting before you know it.

Thank you to everyone who has sent a message, prayed, called, texted, sent positive vibes and thoughts, etc. or sent something to my home or room, or who dropped off food when that was still allowed for me. I don’t have family here in Savannah and that meant the world to me!

Scout is with my mom, for those concerned, and I am on the road to recovery with awesome nurses & doctors risking their lives each day.

I have done dozens of coronavirus-related stories, so I share this strictly for transparency and information. Not sympathy.

 

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5 hours ago, McLoofus said:

It is a factor so insignificant that the mention of it reads as a deflection away from poor leadership in this country, much as detracting from the success of other countries does.  

I do not disagree that this is the case for certain communities and that, in general, concentration of bodies exacerbates the spread of the virus. But that is not a significant issue in most of the areas of the country where case counts are currently skyrocketing. 

National Guard? That's a mighty big leap. 

There are countless other measures that could more effectively be used. For example, many airports are now no longer accepting flights from certain areas. Firm quarantine measures for arrival can and have been instituted. Hotels and rental properties could be leveraged to discourage out of state guests. Who knows how many other ways interstate travel could be discouraged/limited. Certainly many very influential decision makers have no problem throwing their weight around on other issues but this one hasn't gotten much lip service.

I didn't say PPE. PPE is no longer an issue, except that Americans are incredibly stupid and selfish and refuse to wear it.

I said testing infrastructure- which anyone who speaks on this really should understand and be discussing at this point- and that is heavily on Trump and his idiotic nationalism. He had opportunities to buy much needed testing from places such as South Korea, but instead insisted that it be American made. Then he told the states they were on their own to get it, and had one of his usual tantrums when the governor of Maryland said fine, I'll buy the tests we need from... South Korea. All this trade and tariff talk is garbage when American lives are literally on the line. Many Americans have died and continue to die unnecessarily because of this incompetence. 

Yes, exactly. 

There was also quite a bit that we did know but that was ignored. This isn't the 20/20 hindsight scenario you're making it out to be.

Yeah. We should probably blame the notoriously forthcoming Chinese for bad intel. Even though we knew they locked down the entire province where the virus originated in January, we really had no way of knowing. 

You comment about illegal immigration being a factor so insignificant that it reads of deflection is 100% true when you look at the US as a whole. I was very specific that it has an affect on the border towns. These are unique vibrant cross cultural communities with family members on both sides of the border who visit back and forth as families do everywhere.  With change in Mexican Law and US Law there are also large groups of people from Central America who became stranded on the Mexican side of the border. To survive these people panhandle on the streets, sell anything they can on the streets they need to do this to survive. I understand their plight but because they are in the streets coming up to car windows etc. they are breaking the social distancing bonds. 

You say you don't disagree that this is the case for certain communities but say that is not the case where we are seeing the increases. That is a strange statement as Texas, Arizona, and Florida are the big three having the issue now and that is the community I was talking about. Most people in Texas whether Hispanic, European, or Black have family members who are married to Hispanics or have good friends who are like family who are Hispanic. My wife is Hispanic, My daughter is married to a fine young man whose dad is Tex-Mex from the Valley (Border Town Region) and whose mom is a Louisiana woman.  This intermingling which is a great thing also means if somebody in extended family gets sick there is a good chance it will spread through the family.

You are 100% right National Guard at the border is a leap that is the reason I said it. You know and I know in the US we would be up in arms if our government did that. It is both our strength and our weakness. China enforced the no travel zones with troops, Italy once things got real bad also went that far I don't know about other countries. Some of the things you mentioned probably should have been done and they might of helped some but it is kind of like the nursing homes once people who are sick get in it spreads quickly. There is a huge community of people living in Texas who are originally from New York and New Jersey. When They were being hit hard many had family still in New York and New Jersey that actually drove hear to live with family and escape what was happening in those areas. How would you have stopped that without troops at the border. 

Should we have bought more tests from other countries yes and was Trump wrong for not doing it yes. He made mistakes I said that already I also said others made mistakes.  Trump having a campaign event indoors was stupid. It never should have happened. Trump should have set an example and worn a mask by not doing that he enabled others to not wear a mask.

Like most of the country our larger cities had protests over George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement initially the Scientific community said this had no impact on the spread of the disease, we are now seeing more and more Scientists rethinking and saying it may be a contributing factor in the spread. I totally agree with the people who were angry about George Floyd it was murder and it has brought some clarity to what Blacks have faced in this country for many generations but from a medical standpoint it could not have come at a worse time to bring people together in the streets. 

Americans have always prided ourselves on being independent and self sufficient we don't need big brother and that is a good thing but when you combine that with I won't listen when good advice about wearing masks and have people openly not wearing masks they are forgetting that we are in this together. I hate masks I have broken my nose multiple times playing Rugby so a mask makes it even harder to breathe. Despite that I wear a mask whenever I go out.

Blame Trump for everything, blame other side for everything, don't worry about who us right or wrong we are a free country so any of those stands are ok by me. I only have one thing to ask of all of you. If you go out into the Public think of all of us and wear a mask not because the government tells you to but because it is the right thing to do.

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