Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston, Harvard: campus, winter, Chinese)

[mdovell]

NY is crazy. India might be more so. Full lockdown of 1.3 billion for three weeks. Can't even leave the house. India has been very quiet prior to this.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

NY looks to be in very rough shape. The cases continue to rise steeply and they don't have enough masks, they don't have enough ventilators, and they don't have enough hospital beds. Apparently the assistance being provided by the federal govt is too little and is taking too long. I fear the toll there will be great.

Here in ME a lot of snowbirds and/or summer residents have come up early since everything where they winter is shut down anyway. A lot more NY plates than normal for this time of the year. Could pose some major problems down the road.

[Louisville Slugger]

What I would like to know is how many people per day is NY testing compared to other states. Are other states testing as many people as NY?

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Louisville Slugger

What I would like to know is how many people per day is NY testing compared to other states. Are other states testing as many people as NY?

I just read this article this AM on it. NY was testing a lot. I believe MA was 6600 tests so far. Let me see if I can find it


EDIT:

NY state has done 60,000 tests. The most by a long shot. That's why their case count is so high

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/on...cid=spartanntp

[brightdoglover]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/us/ha...rnd/index.html

[porterhouse]

Interesting that they both got tested one day after developing symptoms that did not warrant an ER trip and appear to have received the results in less than 24 hours.

Has testing vastly improved suddenly or are we seeing yet more preferential treatment for the rich and privileged?

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

I agree. Most people don't need hospitalization, but it's hard to find information about people who are hospitalized and then come out OK. Hearing about BostonMike's experience has been comforting to me as one of those people much more likely to be hospitalized, but also fairly likely to be able to pull through so long as there is a bed for me.

Thanks.

Next step is getting home and continuing recovery there. She feels WAAAAY better and fever has been gone, but it's almost like fighting a physical battle in which she tires easily and gets winded easily. Climbing stairs is impossible right now

We asked the Dr, "how do we get her home" to which got a response of basically "that's a good question, let me talk to the infectious disease dr". She will be the first discharge from the hospital in her region, so paving new ground here.

Long story short, no clear answer. Tests are in short supply, so no retest will be given. They assume she is no longer contagious, but they still gown up and wear masks around her.

SO like I alluded to in another post, I will be donning a full Tyvek 1-peice suit, N95, glasses, gloves and booties. We will drive her home in her own car so to not contaminate any of our cars. My brother-in-law went shopping and stocked up her house with food and essentials (ready to eat meals or precooked meals) and relocated her mattress to the lower floor so she's all on one level. At that point, she wants to remain isolated until she deems herself fully recovered.

Once I drop her off, i'll trash my protective garb, hop in the garage, change my clothing, and then soap my face and hands down well before I drive home.

Overkill perhaps...but not taking any chances.

BTW, her partner had been caring for her and visiting her in the beginning for almost a week. He even drove her to the ER the 2nd time to get tested without a mask or any protective gear on (she didn't have a mask). He's been in home quarantine for 11 days now without any symptoms. Not enough tests to go around, so no idea if he's asymptomatic, or never caught it.

She was in our house 2 days before developing a fever, and at a kid's bday party with 14 guests. We tested neg and none of the other guests developed symptoms.

Originally Posted by porterhouse

Interesting that they both got tested one day after developing symptoms that did not warrant an ER trip and appear to have received the results in less than 24 hours.

Has testing vastly improved suddenly or are we seeing yet more preferential treatment for the rich and privileged?

If I had to guess, preferential treatment, however the results for my MIL were delivered in less than 24 hours about two weeks ago. However, recent testing has taken far longer. I think initially the delay was actually having the testing done. Now it seems the delay is processing. It took us 6 days to get our kids test results back, and a coworker had theirs done and it also took 6. I also have family members who are first responders who were awaiting test results and had to go back to retest because the "private lab was too backed up so they will do another test to see if the state lab could do it faster". It's been 3-4 days for them in quarantine. SO right now, there's a huge bottleneck of getting the actual tests processed. First responders and medical personnel should be prioritized, but I guess the rich and famous gets theirs quicker.

It's sad that I know maybe half a dozen people at this point who have been tested (with reason). Only one positive though.


BTW, no idea what the financial impact will be on our family. My MIL was working and did have insurance, but no idea how good it is. 2 separate ER visits, plus a 9-day hospitalization. Not gonna be cheap. As for our testing cost, no idea yet. I believe the test itself is free, but it was an ER visit so no idea what that copay will be. At least for us, that cost is inconsequential.

[wolfgang239]

As I posted earlier, if we don't know what types of symptoms are the threshold other countries are using for testing (or ours for that matter state by state) it is really hard to know what is happening. We're still seeing figures estimating hospitalization rates based on people who are mostly being tested in hospitals and pretending it means anything. Unequal time to death in different systems, different healthcare models, number of ICU beds per 1000 people, etc. all over the place. Is Italy making no distinction between dying with and dying of COVID-19?

It isn't possible to say "look at Italy, that will be us in 2 weeks". Maybe in some places, maybe not, or maybe it really is as bad as the doom and gloom numbers are saying. But it isn't like that in Washington for example, or other regions of Italy. You'd expect it to be much worse by now and I really hope that it doesn't escalate.

I don't think "its just the flu bro" or that we are presently overreacting, but it is entirely possible that with proper data, continuing isolation of vulnerable populations and testing for antibodies that things will need to start getting back to normal in a few weeks to not let the non COVID impacts start making things even worse. The key right now seems to preventing the hospitals from being overrun according to the believable experts in the federal government.

More info from France "The actual number of infected cases in France is probably much higher than the observations: we find here a factor x15"

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

As I posted earlier, if we don't know what types of symptoms are the threshold other countries are using for testing (or ours for that matter state by state) it is really hard to know what is happening.

It's very fluid even on a local level. The threshold for testing has changed at my local hospital, on a daily basis.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by massnative71

It's very fluid even on a local level. The threshold for testing has changed at my local hospital, on a daily basis.

Same observation. Every step of the way has been fluid and changing each day.