5fouls

Put a fork in the College Football season. 5 Bama players test positive. Up to 50 may have to be quarantined as a result. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/alabama-football-at-least-five-players-have-reportedly-tested-positive-for-the-coronavirus/

Indiana State Fair Cancelled. https://www.wdrb.com/news/national/indiana-state-fair-called-off-over-coronavirus-worries/article_3eeded14-680e-57a7-85de-41693049548a.html

One thing I'm curious about, as the overall death rate in the U.S. goes down, is whether the virus is actually losing some of it's strength, or whether those most susceptible have already succumbed, so those getting it now are more able to fight it off.

So, basically, you are saying that CNN was full of 'insert vulgarity' when they had their shrill headline about the 'SPIKE' in DC cases. Glad you were able to add context to my point.

Despite the decrease in the U.S. numbers the last couple of weeks, The U.S. had more deaths yesterday alone (1,083) than Japan has had total (900). And, if memory serves me correctly, that Japanese population is statistically older than the U.S. population. Yet, I've seen nothing related to the Japanese approach to defending against the virus. Anyone have any insight into how Japan has avoided what's happened in most other industrialized nations?

No screams/ No raising of the arms? No smiles? No laughter? All I can say is never pay full price to get your stuffed bear into an amusement park. They don't get their money's worth. https://www.cnn.com/videos/travel/2020/06/03/giant-teddy-bears-roller-coaster-orig-jk.cnn

And, you avoid the chance someone like me has licked it at the store.

9 month old baby dies in Kentucky, tests positive for Covid, but medical examiner is not calling it the primary cause of death. https://www.wdrb.com/news/9-month-old-in-kentucky-dies-after-contracting-covid-19-beshear-says/article_9f8653ce-a5d5-11ea-8d42-d36ae4c47322.html

As reported on CNN. Just thought I would share some positive news related to the virus. New York state reported its lowest daily coronavirus death toll so far, with 49 deaths reported yesterday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. That's down from 58 deaths on Monday and 54 on Tuesday, the governor said. Hospitalizations are also at an all-time low. Cuomo warned that although many headlines are focusing on the nationwide protests over George Floyd's death at the hands of police, coronavirus remains a threat. "It is still in people and in society. We're still battling that," he said of the virus.

I think this is one of those times where society has to take a leap of faith. We simply do not have the luxury of extending restrictions that impact the economy longer than we absolutely have to. If a vaccine works, and is available, there has to be a level of faith that side effects, if any, are mild and/or easily treatable.

I want to touch on your first paragraph. I'm looking for positives in this thing. I want things to return to some level of normalcy. I'm going to monitor positive trends and feel hopeful about them until there is a reason not to. I'm not putting my head in the sand. I want to believe that we will have high school and college sports this fall/winter. I want to believe my daughter will get to experience her first year of high school actually at school and not at home. I want to believe my son will get the chance to see his high school friends win another state title in basketball after getting cheated out of back to back this year. So, tell me, while I understand that there is still much to be concerned about, what is so wrong about feeling better when some positive news comes out.

😁

What is the process to ensure as many people have these follow-up tests as possible? Is there a change that some/many who test positive never have the follow-up?

I think an important thing here is to proceed with caution, but to not automatically dismiss positive news. Some positive news will not live up to what's expected, but other positive news is truly positive news. Whatever the reason, I do think coronavirus has brought out the pessimist in a lot of people. While understandable, it is also not always productive.

Any insight into how someone that tests positive drops off the 'Active Case' list (other than dying)?

So, you still may be considered an 'Active' case unless they have a specific process to drop you off the list after a certain amount of time even though you have not been retested. But, since you were not specifically told you were no longer going to be monitored, it begs the question as to how accurate the 'active' case number is.

When 'Total Cases' is reported as an indicator of where we stand today with Coronavirus, turn the other way. That number is meaningless when it comes to seeing where we are at on this particular date. The reason? Just as I will never be 18 years of age again (or 25, or 37, or 48), the total number of cases for a particular country, state, county, etc. will never go down. It will continue to go up until the end of time. You want to look at things in this order: Number of Daily Deaths (some inflation in numbers, but the best measure of the current danger of the disease) Daily New Cases (dependent on testing and there is no testing consistency) Daily Number of Recoveries (as I questioned in post above, is the reporting on this accurate) Active Cases (totally dependent on accurate reporting of three items above it) Do you see the same old guy at the grocery 6 weeks in a row without a mask A bunch of other things A bunch more things The flip of a coin Total Cases

Question for the board, because I don't know. @IU Scott may know since he had the virus. How does someone that recovers from the virus drop off the 'Active Case' list? For example, if I get the virus, become asymptomatic after 2-3 weeks, what do I need to do to drop off the list? I have to do something, don't I? If I simply sit and home and not tell anyone, logic would tell me that I would be on the list indefinitely. 5 years from now, would I still be an active case? My basis for the question is whether that could be a factor in why active cases continue to go up even though new cases are going down. That's a significant distinction whether we want to admit it or not.

No. The virus is laughing at China's 'trends', and Russia's overall numbers, and people that have Covid but die of late stage inoperable cancer getting counted as a Covid death. Those are things that the virus laughs at.

I edited my comment to address the first graph. And, c'mon. Can we have a good discussion/debate without getting condescending? I'm not trying to change your mind, and I'm not saying Covid is going away. I do think it is trending down, albeit much slower than I expected it would when summer hit. And, yes, masks, social distancing, etc. contributed a lot to those numbers going down.

Your link shows a graph for the entire state of Texas. Mine was specific to Harris County. That said, if the Department of Health told me the number was 10 and the Houston Chronicle told me it was 20, I would run with the number provided by the Department of Health. Edit: Your other graph is total cases, not new ones. And, I already explained how that can be misleading because of the length of tim it takes to recover.

I think one thing that can be very misleading is looking at 'active' cases instead of new cases. According to the official numbers for Harris County, Texas, new cases peaked in mid-May (check out the graph in link). Most of those cases would still be considered active because they have not cycled through the normal recovery period. However, the number of daily new cases since May 19th has trended down. Once that spike in mid May cycles through, it's quite likely that total cases will begin to go down as well (pending the impacts of re-opening). https://publichealth.harriscountytx.gov/Resources/2019-Novel-Coronavirus

I never said CNN fudged numbers, because they did not provide any. Why have a shrill headline that alludes to a something numeric and then not provide actual numbers to support the argument? Instead of numbers, let's say they fudged words. One of the workers at the polling place I went to today did not have a mask. Younger guy. I wanted to punch him in the face, thinking about how many people he could have exposed today if he had the virus.

When/If we get the next spike, then it's fair game to talk about it. But, it's not spiking in DC right now, the numbers say otherwise. It's fine if you don't agree with me calling out the media, but wouldn't the world be a better place without fake news? As far as things opening up, hey I hear you. I wear a mask every time I go out. I get mad at people that aren't. I carry hand sanitizer in the car. I wash my hands multiple times an hour when I'm awake. When I voted in the Indiana primary today, I stayed 6 feet away from others at the poll. I am in no way promoting that we start having huge public orgies. All I am asking is that the media give me a fair representation of what is going on so I don't have to figure it out for myself.

Oh, and according to the DC Department of Health, the number of cases 'spiked' again today, going from 56 cases yesterday to 29 today.