COVID-19 - Wuhan Coronavirus (a non-political thread, see pg. 36 #1778)

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I'd love the idea, but, c'mon:


A test group of 102?!? Like, that's one large hospital's worth of COVID patients. Could we try something a little more rigorous before running it to market?

I will be shocked(!) when it turns out it's more like 85% accurate, which is kindof a big damn deal.



SI

You're a glass half empty guy aren't you

Com'on, this is a big-enough-of-a-win to celebrate some even if it is only 85% accurate.

[sterlingice]

I'm glad we're working towards a fast test. And, yes, 85% would be something. But, c'mon, a 102 person test and not validated by the FDA (which is rushing to fast track stuff as is)? That's awful science. Wait 2 more weeks and test hundreds more. It's not as if we're lacking for test subjects when we have tens of thousands getting infected daily.

Scientifically, it's maybe a step above, say, using a 42 patient study with disparate cohorts to prove a particular drug works to cure an ailment.

SI

[JPhillips]

The U.S. is pulling out of a multi-nation effort to produce a vaccine and going alone.

[Ksyrup]

That's because Trump is forcing through a vaccine and wants to take total credit for it before the election.

[NobodyHere]

The Rock has announced he's gotten the covid.

Here's wishing he drops the People's Elbow on it.

[spleen1015]

BREAKING: #PennState's director of athletic medicine, Wayne Sebastianelli, says that cardiac MRI scans revealed that roughly 30-35 percent of Big Ten athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 appeared to have myocarditis. https://t.co/md4p1IoaLh

— Parth Upadhyaya (@pupadhyaya_) September 3, 2020

[Ben E Lou]

That....doesn’t sound good.

[AlexB]

Similar story recently about a top French rugby team, but lung damage

Coronavirus: Stade Francais rugby players develop lung lesions after contracting COVID-19 | World News | Sky News

Edit: although after a bit more reading up on what lung lesions are, and how they are caused / treated, this one falls into the overly scary headline. Benign lung lesions often form after pneumonia, and are easily treated with antibiotics

[albionmoonlight]

Fuck this fucking virus. Heart damage. Lung damage.

What the fucking fuck.

Stop being such a stupid fucking virus.

[Kodos]

I'm sure a certain segment of the population will be like "Life's full of risk and uncertainty. Play on!"

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I'm sure a certain segment of the population will be like "Life's full of risk and uncertainty. Play on!"

There's always been a decent number of people willing to risk your life for their own gain

SI

[Kodos]

Or even just for their entertainment.

[henry296]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

That....doesn’t sound good.

I'm curious if that rate is any different for non-athletes? I'm guessing they didn't get the expensive MRI test.

[sterlingice]

So the sexy new COVID theory (I mean a science-based one, not some bullshit peddling one like the 6% thing) is around something called bradykinin (which, honestly, I'd never heard of before yesterday):

Is a Bradykinin Storm Brewing in COVID-19? | The Scientist Magazine®
https://elemental.medium.com/a-super...d-31cb8eba9d63

SI

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by henry296

I'm curious if that rate is any different for non-athletes? I'm guessing they didn't get the expensive MRI test.

Yeah, that was the crux of what spurred my comment. We’re not far enough into this thing to have even an intuitive feel for long-term impacts, and the great majority of people who are infected and recover aren’t getting an MRI.

[Brian Swartz]

Kirk Cousins says hello.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Yeah, that was the crux of what spurred my comment. We’re not far enough into this thing to have even an intuitive feel for long-term impacts, and the great majority of people who are infected and recover aren’t getting an MRI.

Hopefully, these are short term problems that will heal, but we just don't know. Will these heart problems linger for athletes? Will it shorten careers? Does it raise the risk of early death? Maybe we don't need to assume the worst case, but I think we need to take precautions because we don't know what it is coming for people five, ten, thirty years down the line.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I'm sure a certain segment of the population will be like "Life's full of risk and uncertainty. Play on!"

don't choose to live in fear, man!

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by stevew

don't choose to live in fear, man!

I usually have the urge to punch those folks in the face.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I usually have the urge to punch those folks in the face.

them and the "it's just the flu, people!" people are funny. I know the flu is theoretically deadly but it literally never enters my calculations. This isn't super deadly or anything but all those unknown side effects are enough to give me pause.

[bhlloy]

We spent all weekend with our friends who are covid deniers and “it’s just the flu” - plus they know a nurse and they don’t have any covid patients so it’s a big hoax.

My answer to that was basically sure it’s the flu - if we didn’t have 100 years of knowledge on how to treat and care for at risk people who have the flu or any vaccine for said people. I mean let’s not forget that the worse pandemic in modern history was “just” the flu.

[Kodos]

So was Captain Trips.

[thesloppy]

Let alone that as far as I can tell anybody who thinks "it's just the flu" isn't even accounting for the concept of ANOTHER ongoing flu when they say that.....they think that saying "covid is just the flu" somehow means (results-of-covid)+(results-of-flu)=(results-of-flu).

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Kodos

So was Captain Trips.

Summer colds are the worst

SI

[Ksyrup]

Local news station posted an article about a Canadian health expert recommending people wear masks during sex, and someone commented: "Does a ball gag count"? Ha!

[albionmoonlight]

[Edward64]

Interesting article on the covid impact on real estate in cities. Basically people are moving out of bigger cities like NY, Boston, LA, SF and going to cheaper places like suburbia or even lower cost of living states like FL.

I love to visit NYC but can't imagine living there long-term in an apartment that is 1/3 the size of my house in Atlanta at 2-3 times the cost.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/31/succe...rbs/index.html

Signed contracts for sales of condos and co-ops in Manhattan, for example, plunged nearly 60% in July, while contracts for single-family homes in areas outside of New York City skyrocketed, according to a recent report from brokerage firm Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel.

Similar shifts are playing out in suburban areas around other major cities. Norfolk County, outside of Boston, saw a 38% increase in new contracts for single-family homes in July over last year, according to Compass. Collin County, Texas, outside of Dallas, saw a 58% increase. San Bernardino County, outside of Los Angeles, saw a 62% jump and Marin County, outside of San Francisco, saw a 77% increase over last year.

[GrantDawg]

I have mentioned before, but the Real Estate market here is insane. Houses don't last two days on the market.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Izulde]

OTOH, I'm starting to see some early signs of a housing market crash in Las Vegas. It might just be people way overvaluing their properties initially, but I'm seeing a lot of places get price drops lately.

[Lathum]

We live on the Jersey Shore, about an hour south of NYC. Train station to NYC 5 minutes away. Bus station 5 minutes away. Beach 5 minutes away. Real estate here is flying. Friend listed her deceased fathers house and got an offer for full asking price, 560K, the same day they listed it.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by henry296

I'm curious if that rate is any different for non-athletes? I'm guessing they didn't get the expensive MRI test.

How Covid-19 Coronavirus May Cause Heart Damage, Here Are Two New Studies

They followed up with 100 patients in the State of Hesse (which rhymes with “bench press”) who had previously tested positive for the SARS-CoV2.

For the study, these patients underwent MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of their hearts and blood testing to check for evidence of heart damage. This didn’t happen right after their Covid-19 coronavirus diagnoses but a median of 71 days afterwards, which is over two months after the initial diagnosis. These also were people who were still fairly young at heart, literally, with the median age being 49 years old. Many of them hadn’t gotten super-sick either, as two-thirds of the patients hadn’t even been hospitalized.

Nevertheless, the MRIs did show that 78% of the patients had some type of abnormality in their hearts. These ranged from signs of inflammation to enlarged left ventricles to decreased ability of their hearts to pump blood to the rest of the body. Many of these findings were consistent with patients having myocarditis or pericarditis.

And you know what ? Most of them will be fine for years. But any sort of heart damage is not sth i would want to start carrying around any more/earlier than necessary. Kinda need that thing humming smoothly, as well as them lungs, for quality of life i'd say.

[henry296]

Originally Posted by whomario

How Covid-19 Coronavirus May Cause Heart Damage, Here Are Two New Studies




And you know what ? Most of them will be fine for years. But any sort of heart damage is not sth i would want to start carrying around any more/earlier than necessary. Kinda need that thing humming smoothly, as well as them lungs, for quality of life i'd say.

I get that heart damage is a side effect. While I haven't done extensive research, I haven't seen anything that tells me being a member of a college football team increases the risk of either contracting COVID-19 or having more significant impacts from it. Therefore, having on campus college or not is the question but if you decide to have students on campus then you should also allow football. I don't think having students on campus is the right thing, but I think you should make a consistent decision between your general student population and your athletes.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I have mentioned before, but the Real Estate market here is insane. Houses don't last two days on the market.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I assume you are referring to Covington which is midway between Atlanta and Augusta? I wouldn't think there is substantial house price or COL difference between Atlanta and Covington.

What do you attribute the hot market to? Is it people moving away from Atlanta or not a lot of houses for sale because people are sitting tight?

I went on zillow to check my house valuation. It hasn't budged much if at all and there hasn't been a lot of recent sales (red dot markers). I am a little surprised because during the GR there were noticeably many more zillow red dots in the neighborhood.

Just one data point that indicates that this melt down isn't quite as bad as the GR (or at least, not yet) to homeowners. I am guessing that commercial real estate (as in office space) will be substantially hurt as companies renegotiates to reduce their sq ft in 2-3-4 years.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by henry296

I get that heart damage is a side effect. While I haven't done extensive research, I haven't seen anything that tells me being a member of a college football team increases the risk of either contracting COVID-19 or having more significant impacts from it. Therefore, having on campus college or not is the question but if you decide to have students on campus then you should also allow football. I don't think having students on campus is the right thing, but I think you should make a consistent decision between your general student population and your athletes.

Football observes far fewer of the masking/distancing rules than is expected from the general student population. Many "normal" college activities are not taking place this semester. For example, I'm not able to produce a play due to safety concerns for the actors/crew.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by whomario

How Covid-19 Coronavirus May Cause Heart Damage, Here Are Two New Studies




And you know what ? Most of them will be fine for years. But any sort of heart damage is not sth i would want to start carrying around any more/earlier than necessary. Kinda need that thing humming smoothly, as well as them lungs, for quality of life i'd say.

How does Hesse rhyme with "bench press"?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I assume you are referring to Covington which is midway between Atlanta and Augusta? I wouldn't think there is substantial house price or COL difference between Atlanta and Covington.

What do you attribute the hot market to? Is it people moving away from Atlanta or not a lot of houses for sale because people are sitting tight?

I went on zillow to check my house valuation. It hasn't budged much if at all and there hasn't been a lot of recent sales (red dot markers). I am a little surprised because during the GR there were noticeably many more zillow red dots in the neighborhood.

Just one data point that indicates that this melt down isn't quite as bad as the GR (or at least, not yet) to homeowners. I am guessing that commercial real estate (as in office space) will be substantially hurt as companies renegotiates to reduce their sq ft in 2-3-4 years.

I am dealing mostly with Conyers-Covington-Loganville-Monroe-Madison. All of those areas seem to be selling like hot-cakes. I am mostly seeing people moving out of Atlanta, or people that may have went north of Atlanta last year, but choose to move here instead because of the house pricing being lower. All the people that are selling (almost every single one) are looking to move further out (Madison mostly). They all seem to want the same thing, a few acres to build a house on that is not in a subdivision. I think only 10-20% already have a place in mind to move to when they sell. They have no idea that trying to buy less than 100 acres or more than a half acre lot in a subdivision is almost impossible out there.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by whomario

How Covid-19 Coronavirus May Cause Heart Damage, Here Are Two New Studies




And you know what ? Most of them will be fine for years. But any sort of heart damage is not sth i would want to start carrying around any more/earlier than necessary. Kinda need that thing humming smoothly, as well as them lungs, for quality of life i'd say.

I'm guessing that most if not all, of these people had not had MRIs before, so we don't know for sure that these conditions were not present beforehand too, especially those that will have no effects for years to come (and therefore if they were present pre-Covid would not have given any reason for the people to got to the doctors or have an MRI)

The only way we know for sure is to do MRIs for people who had already had MRIs before they were sick with Covid

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

They have no idea that trying to buy less than 100 acres or more than a half acre lot in a subdivision is almost impossible out there.

Everyone who has land wants to sell it to a developer for the $$$. (Or in the case of 100+ acres, keep it farmland, I suppose.)

[miked]

My brother lives in Bloomfield, a suburb of NYC right next to where we grew up (Montclair). He listed his house at 370k last week, probably a little under market. Went away for a few days to the shore and had 58 showings in the first 4 days and 12 offers. Ended up getting a contract at $430k with the buyer saying they would ignore the first 3k of inspection issues (if any) and would cover an appraisal difference up to $415k.

[sterlingice]

I just don't get it - where are the wages coming through to justify this because real wages are not moving like the real estate market is

SI

[miked]

There are a ton of people with jobs that are leaving NYC. They are tired of paying big rent and can work from anywhere.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I just don't get it - where are the wages coming through to justify this because real wages are not moving like the real estate market is

SI

I think the scenario is people currently paying rent/mortgage in a big, expensive city moving to cheaper suburbia because they are now allowed to work remote. Wouldn't be surprised if they save money by moving to suburbia.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by miked

There are a ton of people with jobs that are leaving NYC. They are tired of paying big rent and can work from anywhere.

Which makes sense and I agree, but the weird thing is we're seeing houses moving like hotcakes in LA as well (2 of our friends have moved and got well above offering and part cash).

The 2 scenarios I can think of that make a little sense are either prospectors betting on a big rebound in 2021 or people who are moving out of expensive neighborhoods closer to LA to the Valley (because of remote work) but either way, we've seen the same and I have no idea who is buying 2 million dollar houses above asking prices in the middle of a pandemic, and it doesn't line up with the stats that show people leaving LA and California in droves.

[Edward64]

I'll assume there was plenty of orientation about the rules and warning about dismissal if violated. Even so, if this was their first violation, I would be inclined to give them a no-third chance warning and have them quarantine themselves.

Don't agree about the keeping the $36,500 tuition if kicking them out though. Glad to see schools taking this seriously. I'll have to ask my kids about how serious their colleges really are.

bars

Northeastern ousts 11 students for violating safety protocols, and keeps their $36,500 tuition.

In one of the harshest punishments imposed to date against students for violations of coronavirus safety protocols, Northeastern University dismissed 11 first-year students this week and declined to refund their $36,500 tuition after they were discovered crowded into a room at a Boston hotel serving as a temporary dormitory.

About 800 students are staying in two-person rooms at the hotel, the Westin, which is less than a mile from Northeastern’s Boston campus.

Two university staff members making rounds on Wednesday evening discovered the gathering, which violated university rules against any “guests, visitors or additional occupants,” the university said in a news release.

In addition, the students were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing, in defiance of university requirements, a university spokeswoman, Renata Nyul, said.

[JPhillips]

Only schools like Northwestern can get away with that. Less prestigious schools can't get away with stuff like that.

[Ksyrup]

My old company learned the remote working lesson from Superstorm Sandy. They had a ton of office space in Manhattan but saw how effectively most people worked from home for several months when they had to, and during the next year took steps to get out of leases and use the remaining office space for "hotelling" people in and out of the office when needed.

Fast forward several years, and I talked to a guy who is based just outside NYC who is interviewing for my old job. He said the biggest appeal of it is that they will let him work anywhere he wants, so he and his wife are looking at it as an opportunity to pick any place in the country to move if he takes the job, and they have no interest in staying in or around NYC.

[Alan T]

My cousin is one of those who moved out of nyc. Her long time boyfriend is high risk and they were uncomfortable with the impact of being in the city.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I think the scenario is people currently paying rent/mortgage in a big, expensive city moving to cheaper suburbia because they are now allowed to work remote. Wouldn't be surprised if they save money by moving to suburbia.

Yep. Once my townhouse sells in Vegas (which has been no end of drama and expense and fuck the lazy shitstain asbestos tester when I bought the place - costing me almost $5,800 which pretty much wipes out all the profit I'll get from selling) and I buy the place here in town, my monthly housing costs go from $1,000 a month to like $350 a month. So that's $650 a month in my back pocket. Plus with the two jobs (teaching and copywriting), I'm making more money than I ever have before.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by AlexB

I'm guessing that most if not all, of these people had not had MRIs before, so we don't know for sure that these conditions were not present beforehand too, especially those that will have no effects for years to come (and therefore if they were present pre-Covid would not have given any reason for the people to got to the doctors or have an MRI)

The only way we know for sure is to do MRIs for people who had already had MRIs before they were sick with Covid

Radiology technicians (i know a few) do plenty of MRIs for checkups every week. That percentage is insanely unusual in any group and would border on the most coincidental coincidence in history. You don't even get close to that when you suspect sth to be wrong and test that amount of people.

And on top of that the study authors are not laypeople just looking at numbers/checking yes/no boxes etc either, you can judge very well how recent inflammation and other damage etc is from the images. You can say with high certainty the damage ocurred in the same timeframe they had Covid.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Plus with the two jobs (teaching and copywriting), I'm making more money than I ever have before.

How is the copywriting business? Could you ever see that as bringing in the majority of your income one day?

I've read copywriting was something globe-trotting "digital nomads" can do (e.g. me in retirement).