No drinking... yet.

Heh. I teasing you... knew what you meant, of course.

Lemme rephrase: if patient needs a bed on a hospital ship to free up beds on land for CV patients, in the absence of universal testing there's a real chance at least one will carry the CV virus on board.

What do you mean "the absence of universal testing"? "Anybody who wants a test can get a test." *shakes head*

I freely admit I'm still fuming about the months of inaction and misleading of Americans by Donald Trump and the right-wing echo chamber... and fast forward to today when Trump finally informs about impending deaths estimated by the White House coronavirus task force to be in the range of 100,000 to 240,000 range with mitigation.

The Trump administration ignored warnings, downplayed the seriousness, mislead millions of Americans without the good sense to recognize a bullshit artist when they see one, and now here we are... with Trump attempting to rewrite history and claim how well he's handled the situation.

At what point do the rubes finally clue in? If Trump's verbal whiplash and current flailing in his attempts to rewrite the total con job and mishandling of this pandemic doesn't do it, then there are a subset of Americans who are the living embodiment of the very gullible morons that Trump played them for.

For these reasons sooner or later the virus will make it aboard.

Yes, sir... this virus is that contagious, always has been, and I cannot fathom how Trump thought he could con the American people regarding this novel coronavirus that, doesn't check passports (props to CW) and isn't the least bit concerned with how it is falsely characterized by the liars like Rush "common cold" Limbaugh, Donald "hoax" Trump, and the talking heads on Fox News and their useful idiots repeating the BS claims.

And now... bartender, time for that drink. :)

goode trickle [10] -

Good point about the restrictions on testing.

As for the hospital ships, they are supposed to take the non-CV patients to lessen the load on the other hospitals in the area. But you're right, if the virus gets in, that could go out the window. But even if that does happen, the ships could then transition to an all-CV patient role, I would think.

You know the captains and crew of these ships? Wow. Tell them we're all fervently hoping for their own safety. And please report back if there's anything going on with the ships that the media is missing, as well.

LizM [13] -

PBS' Yamiche Alcindor (hope I spelled that right...) has actually been pretty stellar. Trump's yelled at her twice now, meaning she must be doing something right!

Heh.

ListenWhenYouHear [15] -

Yeah, I saw that. I failed to take one thing into consideration -- CA reports later than other states, due to time zone difference. The site updates things on an hour-by-hour basis, so I saw figures that were late in the day for the East Coast, but not so late in the day from CA.

Even so, others are beginning to notice the difference in CA's numbers. Saw a story today (WashPost? Politico? I can look it up...) about how the Bay Area got out in front of the stay-at-home thing and it has actually flattened the curve somewhat. Santa Clara County was still hit pretty hard, but the whole Bay Area is doing better than expected. Also saw a story out of a university in Washington state that showed that red states are taking longer to institute stay-at-home, and will likely see worse outbreaks as a direct result.

Mopshell (and others) [16] -

I will check on Michale, and get back to you.

Kick [18] -

I agree about that "lie of the year," with the runner up being Pence's "we've shipped a million tests out, with four million more by the end of the week" a close runner-up.

Don Harris [23] -

Yeah, that made my jaw drop too. Why is it that all Republicans think that they'll lose if more people vote? Heh.

LizM [27] -

What's been running through my head is the Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime."

"I got some groceries, some peanut butter / To last a couple of days"

"This ain't no Mudd Club, or CBGB, I ain't got time for that now. / Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit? Heard about Pittsburg P.A.?"

Anyone else? Disaster soundtracks, anyone?

-CW

http://www.chrisweigant.com/2020/03/31/can-democrats-flip-the-senate/

-CW

Lemme rephrase: if patient needs a bed on a hospital ship to free up beds on land for CV patients, in the absence of universal testing there's a real chance at least one will carry the CV virus on board.

Alternatively, even if this doesn't happen one of the crew may already have it, ormay get it interacting with someone on shore during a food, medicine or equipment transfer from shore to ship.

For these reasons sooner or later the virus will make it aboard.

First off, welcome to the Comments section. Always happy to welcome a new member of Chris's "small, deeply disturbed following."

GT is neither "new" nor "deeply disturbed." Heh.

Of course, non-CV people can have the virus, so sooner or later the virus will make it aboard ship.

Does "non-CV" people mean "non caronavirus"? If it does: How does a "non caronavirus" person have the virus if they are non-CV by virtue of not having the virus?

Have you been drinking? Heh. ;)

goode trickle,

First off, welcome to the Comments section. Always happy to welcome a new member of Chris's "small, deeply disturbed following." If you meet any of us on the street the secret password is the word, "heh."

I believe the hospital ship are going to take non-CV patients to free up beds in LA & NYC.

Of course, non-CV people can have the virus, so sooner or later the virus will make it aboard ship.

Don't expect us to take your word on the "hot"' thing - send a picture!

HEH.

I'm also without a thermometer, internet-connected or no.

Guess we'll just have to stay healthy.

Who's your favourite band(s) of all time? What gets you through the down times ...

That is really clever concept.

My ordinary house hold medical thermometer died a few days ago. I cannot find a replacement anywhere. Thermometers are as rare as toilet paper.

A close friend had a "helpful" suggestion. "Just hold the back of your hand to your forehead."

I have been in home isolation for 2 weeks now and it is seriously awful.

The US Navy has a fine tradition of going in deep into harm's way.

Kamikaze's and robotic kamikaze's

Airplanes controlled crashing on your roof

Piloting or crewing an airplane that controlled crashes on roofs

Going deep underwater for months

Typhoons.....

It's a long list.

A virus must seem a relatively tame risk.

I don't think we have too much to worry about with regard to Michale.

He's probably just taking one of his breaks away from this place. Can't say that I blame him.

And, I'm pretty sure that Chris would keep us informed.

Yeah, Rachel Maddow has been pushing this company’s site for a few weeks as having a better source of real world data than just about any of the health organizations for locating where the virus numbers are spiking and where to expect it to spike in the future.

When she first pulled out her Kinsa thermometer, I about fell out of my seat. I have been dutifully taking the readings of multiple persons daily for about a year, as we have long been reduced to insignificant data points on the Kinsa map.

I’m glad that the medical community has been willing to accept this data and recognizing that it comes from people who may be showing symptoms of having the virus days before they get bad enough that they finally go to a doctor.

Well, now I suddenly don't feel like the daily temperature checks have been for "nothing." Also, I just realized the dang blue Internet connected thermometer is likely the closest thing that the majority of "We the People" of America are going to get along the lines of a COVID-19 test... that we were told anyone who wanted could get one. Yes, sir... still fuming about that bullshit on behalf of Americans everywhere.

Ding, ding, ding: We have a winner here!

So I'm calling it now, CW... PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year" for 2020:

Anyone who wants a test can get a test.

~ Donald Trump, March 6 during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia

I would wager without hesitation that whatever the "Lie of the Year" ultimately turns out to be, it'll no doubt come out of the Orange Blowhole of President Pathological, but if that utter asinine bullshit quoted above is not the falsehood that proves to be of real consequence in 2020, God help us all for what is.

Well, this is a fine kettle of fish... on top of everything else I got a mild case of the flu.. :(

Oh well, life goes on...

Only comments did not go on for Michale.

So now I'm worried because he's in a high risk category for COVID-19 (age and underlying health issues) and he lives in a state that has not issued a stay-at-home order. Florida reports over 5,700 cases but still has severely limited testing so the true figure may be as much as ten times that.

Chris, do you have a contact for Michale? Can you email or phone him to make sure he's okay?

Sorry to report this, but California ended up with 1,437 new cases on Monday, up 25% — which was higher percentage, but not total number of new cases, than New York (13% increase from Sunday — 7,736 new cases).

But I cannot stress enough that we still don’t have enough people tested to have a true sense of how bad it truly is. The fact that Trump’s now saying that we could have as many as 200,000 deaths from this virus (a number that you know is far lower than what Trump was told is the projection at this point) should worry us all.

Yeah, Rachel Maddow has been pushing this company’s site for a few weeks as having a better source of real world data than just about any of the health organizations for locating where the virus numbers are spiking and where to expect it to spike in the future. I’m glad that the medical community has been willing to accept this data and recognizing that it comes from people who may be showing symptoms of having the virus days before they get bad enough that they finally go to a doctor.

The daily briefings from the WH should exclude the WH Press Corps until one of them, at least, figures out how to ask a relevant and enlightened question.

They started doing this for the novel coronavirus on March 22 and, within one day, they spotted a trend that suggested social distancing was having a positive effect reducing levels of fever, nationwide.

Interesting stuff!
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/health/coronavirus-restrictions-fevers.html

Good answer!

You make a lot of good points about how things could go seriously wrong and fast.

Though, I think the hospital ships have been adapted for this mission.

As important as testing is in the fight against this virus, I still believe that if we don't all take our role in this fight seriously - stay home and all the rest - then even if/when testing gets up to speed it'll just confirm the obvious.

I would say that alot of it is very cosmetic due in fact to the lack of available testing. California was also one of the first to restrict available testing to cases where it would make a diffrence in the treatment/clinical outcome of the patient.

This restriction means that we still have yet to test a meaningful portion of the population to determine the actual infection rate across all demographic/age groups.

Speaking of testing, as the hospital ships and field hospitals are being deployed it is important to note that again, the lack of testing opens up the possibility that entire facilities can be shut down due to required quarantine not only stressing taxed medical systems but adding to it as well.

Each of the hospital ships has 1000 beds plus 800 crew. Given how these ships are designed (which is not for infectious deseases) one C-19 case means there are others, resulting in the lockdown of the ship and all onboard.

Both MTF Capitains have indicated that while all potential patients have been screened they will all not have been tested. While the protocols have been designed to prevent mixing of the medical staff from off the ship with those on the ship the problem still presents itself that both vessels had extensive maintanence periods interupted for this deployment, this means technicians from outside "the bubble" will be accessing the ship and social distancing is just not practical in that environment.

I know both MTF capitains as well as both of the ships masters and chief engineers, they are savy professionals who will do what they can to minimize risk, but, unfortunately that cannot overcome years of underfunding for the program that has resulted in lack of maintenence.

Field hospitals will also utilize the same protocols for patients and will also have the same problems with outside "the bubble" people coming in to conduct repairs to equipment, thus they also have the same risk factors.

Both the field hospitals and the hospital ships are designed as battlefield trama centers and as such they do not possess the facilties to conduct C-19 test analysis even if they wanted to. As a result they are operating at elevated risk. If something gets missed those beds will no longer be available.

Hopefully, the worst case will not be realized and we make it out with everyone intact. But if it does happen hopefully the pointed question of WITF was the WHO test available at the time of the first case not approved, manufactured, and pushed out when we still had time.

Given how precious bed space is right now and people trained to provide acute care, the loss of one of these facilities is gping to lead to an immediate cascading spike of cases and deaths.

Just food for thought...distance well, stay safe.

I'd say it's time for Americans to take matters into their own hands.

All of which bodes well for the novel coronavirus and a pandemic that could have an should have been nipped in the bud.

The only silver lining, perhaps?

We will all learn what we did wrong and make a concerted effort to make changes to everything from healthcare systems to solving the homelessness crisis; from improving global supply chains to mass migrations in the wake of war and climate change, not to mention the unregulated use of animals in our food chain.

It's a lot to learn and an endless amount of work ahead.

Once all of the data is in, I think the speed and comprehensive nature of the response by California to the outbreak will prove to be the biggest factor in flattening the curve.