topic Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus in Community Chat

Update regarding Italy and the virus

suzyQ3 — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 21:29:44 GMT

Now it's not just the northern part of the country. The whole country is on lockdown.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

NicksmomESQ — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 21:42:39 GMT

Life is so scary these days. It seems that there is always something to stress & worry about!!

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

suzyQ3 — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 21:45:04 GMT

@NicksmomESQ wrote:
Life is so scary these days. It seems that there is always something to stress & worry about!!

@NicksmomESQ, I try to take in stride and do what I can to protect myself and my family. That's about all we can do.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

Alison Wonderland — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 21:48:03 GMT

That must be so weird. I'm sure it feels like an apocalypse, even if it isn't one. That's how it feels on ice days here. We don't have any snow plows in central Texas and when the ice gets bad, the city just shuts down and it's so eerie.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

Snoopp — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 22:13:18 GMT

I think we will be doing a lot of telecommuting in the next few weeks. Probably not a bad idea.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

Bhvbum — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 23:47:06 GMT

Actually there may be comfort in knowledge in how big a problem Italy has. They have been testing using the WHO test kits for about two months.

The US refused to use the WHO test and we are about 8 wk behind in knowing how big a problem we have. They are now getting made available and the numbers will go up significantly. But they were there all along.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

vsm — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 00:28:49 GMT

@BhvbumThe original WHO test kits were shown to produce too many false positives and too many false negatives to be generally reliable. The new kits, which began rolling out last week, were designed to reduce those problems.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

pitdakota — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 00:53:13 GMT

@vsm wrote:
@BhvbumThe original WHO test kits were shown to produce too many false positives and too many false negatives to be generally reliable. The new kits, which began rolling out last week, were designed to reduce those problems

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

@vsm The kits that were affected by the problem with the reagent were the kits the CDC developed, not the WHO testing kits. The CDC was quite transparent about that problem and addressed that in their press conferences.

There never was a problem with the WHO testing kits as they were deployed and being used in several other countries. I don't think anyone ever really got a good answer as to why they refused the WHO testing kits.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

RhondaRena — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 00:59:56 GMT

I have some friends in Italy. She says they are fine. They are allowed out to shop but there are strict rules for keeping things clean in the stores. She is hoping things get better soon.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

Snoopp — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 10:49:40 GMT

@vsm wrote:
@BhvbumThe original WHO test kits were shown to produce too many false positives and too many false negatives to be generally reliable. The new kits, which began rolling out last week, were designed to reduce those problems.

The WHO kits were reliable. The CDC had developed the kits with errors. That is all corrected now though.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

Mominohio — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 13:41:55 GMT

And for some reason, people think this isn't going to happen here or happen to them.

If not now, if not this particular virus, then sometime in the future.

I don't get how people don't see that there is a possibility for them to be us, us to be them, and always think it's overblown and 'far away'.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

ms traditional — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 14:43:33 GMT

the problem with testing was more than the kits - due to regulations, just about everything has had to go through federal CDC. when this centralization was discovered to have impeded action by states and locaities, private labs etc, regulations were changed a few weeks ago by the administration and private labs were brought in to expand facilities.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

Bhvbum — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 19:24:25 GMT

Not True, it was the CDC ones that were faulty. The rest of the World has been using the WHO for weeks.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

QueenDanceALot — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 19:35:12 GMT

For some reason I just had to post this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfAdHBtK_Q

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

CelticCrafter — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 19:56:51 GMT

My husband has a friend that was going to Italy with his wife in a few weeks and they decided to cancel.

Alitalia won't refund his money which is complete and total BS given the fact that the country is on lockdown.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

santorini — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 03:27:28 GMT

I just saw a story on the news that said 160 additional people have died there in the last 24 hours. This is so sad.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

reiki604 — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 14:22:37 GMT

@ms traditional wrote:
the problem with testing was more than the kits - due to regulations, just about everything has had to go through federal CDC. when this centralization was discovered to have impeded action by states and locaities, private labs etc, regulations were changed a few weeks ago by the administration and private labs were brought in to expand facilities.

Unfortunately, testing is still difficult to get done. I have spoken to friends who work in ERs in NYC. It is extremely difficult to get a test done without very specific criteria in spite of what we are being told. Much more difficult than a simple doctor's order, Much different than the drive- thru testing done in other countries that are far ahead of us in testing and diagnosis.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

Johnnyeager — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 14:34:17 GMT

The statistics for South Korea, which has implemented aggressive testing may be more indicative of the disease than the WHO numbers which are heavily skewed toward China and Iran.

As of this morning, the Mortality Rate is approximately 1.5% based upon confirmed cases.

Of those cases still considered "active" 99% exhibit mild symptoms, 1% serious or critical.

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

BrandiDavis — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 14:46:42 GMT

@Johnnyeager wrote:
The statistics for South Korea, which has implemented aggressive testing may be more indicative of the disease than the WHO numbers which are heavily skewed toward China and Iran.

As of this morning, the Mortality Rate is approximately 1.5% based upon confirmed cases.

Of those cases still considered "active" 99% exhibit mild symptoms, 1% serious or critical.

@Johnnyeager I just want to say THANK YOU! I appreciate you posting this information as not that it's "better" so to speak, b/c I don't want anyone to die, however, it's definitely not as alarming as the 3.5% that was being quoted/reported.

I just hope it runs its course soon and fizzles out. Time will tell. Until then, everyone please stay safe, follow the advice from the CDC/your doctors and WE WILL get thru this together!!

Re: Update regarding Italy and the virus

wakefield64 — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 15:48:08 GMT

Why are we not testing people coming back here from Italy when the situation is so serious there? Is this taking all the precautions that we can...no, it is not.