This past Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence, the man charged with overseeing our nation’s response to the deadly coronavirus, promised that we’d have 1.5 million test kits in circulation by Friday. And, two days later, when Friday came around, Donald Trump announced to reporters, while touring the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, that “(A)nybody, right now and yesterday, that needs a test… gets a test.” [He went on to describe the tests as “beautiful,” for some inexplicable reason.] Of course, none of that was true. 1.5 coronavirus tests had not been distributed, and everyone who needed a test had not been given one. As of Friday, according to the Washington Post, “Public health labs had received tests for up to 75,000 people.” And, according to The Atlantic, as of Friday, they could only verify that “1,895 (people had) been tested for coronavirus in the United States.” And this, again, is over two moths after the outbreak began.
I was going to spend my time this evening trying to sort out what had gone wrong, and why it was that, despite the promises, and the fact that a test for the virus has been available since January 13, our nation was still lagging far behind other developed countries when it came to conducting the testing that would have given us the information we needed to take decisive action and slow the spread of the virus. But then I learned that the Washington Post had already done all the work. So I’m just going to suggest that you read their report, “What Went Wrong with the Coronavirus Test,” which goes into detail about what went wrong and why. What I will say here, though, is that it’s absolutely insane that we’re just now ramping up our testing regimen. Here, with more on how incredibly behind we are, is an excerpt from The Atlantic.
…Through interviews with dozens of public-health officials and a survey of local data from across the country, The Atlantic could only verify that 1,895 people have been tested for the coronavirus in the United States, about 10 percent of whom have tested positive. And while the American capacity to test for the coronavirus has ramped up significantly over the past few days, local officials can still test only several thousand people a day, not the tens or hundreds of thousands indicated by the White House’s promises.
…The figures we gathered suggest that the American response to the coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, has been shockingly sluggish, especially compared with that of other developed countries. The CDC confirmed eight days ago that the virus was in community transmission in the United States—that it was infecting Americans who had neither traveled abroad nor were in contact with others who had. In South Korea, more than 66,650 people were tested within a week of its first case of community transmission, and it quickly became able to test 10,000 people a day. The United Kingdom, which has only 115 positive cases, has so far tested 18,083 people for the virus.
Normally, the job of gathering these types of data in the U.S. would be left to epidemiologists at the CDC. The agency regularly collects and publishes positive and negative test results for several pathogens, including multiple types of the seasonal flu. But earlier this week, the agency announced that it would stop publishing negative results for the coronavirus, an extraordinary step that essentially keeps Americans from knowing how many people have been tested overall…
Speaking of the decision to stop sharing stats on the number of people being tested in the United States, here’s video of Surgeon General Jerome Adams struggling to respond to CNN’s Jake Tapper when asked how many coronavirus tests have been administered. [Adams also describes Trump as a near perfect human specimen, which speaks volumes as to his credibility.]
Surgeon General Adams can't give Tapper a straight answer (or any answer at all) about how many Americans have been tested for coronavirus pic.twitter.com/3G0mmVAUEM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 8, 2020
And, here, as long as we’re on the subject, are just two examples of people who have been told that they could not receive the test for coronavirus. [One would hope that both have since been tested, as test kits started rolling out in larger numbers over the weekend.]
This video got to me. It’s a statement being read for a nurse held in quarantine who cared for a patient who tested positive for the coronavirus. She hasn’t even been tested yet because Trump’s Gov’t denies it. WTF GOP!???!!#DemocraticResistanceTaskForce pic.twitter.com/5RYDdmO0t7
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) March 5, 2020
My brother's ex-wife returned from S Korea with what doctors believe is #COVID19, was admitted to GWU hospital, and against the Chief of Staff's recommendation, the Department of Health WILL NOT TEST HER. pic.twitter.com/YqQaBUetbf
— 🗽 Liz Gumbinner (@Mom101) March 7, 2020
I know it’s not exactly helpful to panic, and there’s reason to be at least a little hopeful, but when you read, as I just did, that Italy’s COVID-19 death toll jumped by 57% in just one day, it makes you wonder just how bad this might get, and to what extent things in the United States were made worse by the refusal early on to properly test people and track the spread spread of the virus. [The Italian death toll jumped from 233 to 366 in one day’s time, leading to one quarter of the country being locked down.]
143 Comments
Despite the obvious political problems here, US medical personnel have been doing an extraordinary job of slowing the spread of the virus so far. I think it’s inevitable that it will break out of control at some point though, and hopefully by that time, more can be done to ensure survivability at the individual level.
MSNBC is using music in their COVID-19 reports that sounds like it came from the 28 Days Later soundtrack.
At Evergreen Hospital where 16 people have died from COVID-19, there were 10 other deaths at the same hosiptal over the same periord of time from what was presumed to be flu. The news is reporting that they don’t know for sure because the other 10 dead have not been tested for COVID-19. I don’ t know what to make of that.
Another disturbing aspect being reported is that some of the residents at the Kirkland nursing home went from mild symptoms to needing hospitalization within a very short period..like within an hour. Again, I don’t know what to make of that because I don’t know how it compares to the flu in elderly people.
The responses to COVID -19 are a mixed bag out here. Some of the health care professionals i have talked with are treating it the same as the flu. Others are more cautious and are concerned about containment. What is for sure is that the uncertainty around this is causing havoc out here. Because we don’t know, we have to assume the worst.
One effect of the school closures is that people now need to stay home with their kids… including health care workers. A friend told me that they are short on nurses at hospitals out here due to this development. There are more school closures coming this week too.
Don’t let this virus keep you from voting and canvassing for the best choice. Bernie 2020! Hell, getting sick fighting fascism would be an honorable way to go anyways.
Current recommendations for employees at my health care system is that if they get cold like symptoms at home is to stay home and then go from there. If they get it at work, then they are to get masked, call their supervisor and employee health, and then go home and go from there. The go from there part hasn’t been worked out yet as it presumes the availability of testing, which is not available. Nonetheless, immediate risk to patients has to be addressed.
John “Yr a Russkie Stooge” Brown wants to emulate the USSR. Mindboggling.
The real test is if the schools are closed. Then maybe a quarter to half of the workforce without options for childcare will not be working. Last time I checked, healthcare is a pink collar profession. We aren’t ready for this at all.
The only upside for those of us who don’t get it is that it might cost Trump the election. The stock market is crashing. There is an oil war on. His complete bungling of this epidemic is not sitting well with even his voters, except for the Alex Jones/Hyborian Shitforbrains wing. His lies and ineptitude isn’t going unnoticed.
Northshore School District ( my kid’s assigned district ) has 22,000 students and 2,100 employees. The whole district has been closed for a week now and switched to online learning. The initial closure was to be 14 days, but that could change. Many other schools are closing in the area as well, or are quickly preparing their staff to teach remotely.
The University of Washington, starting today, has switched classes to online only for the remainder of the quarter.
These closures are happening in most instances because they suspect someone MAY have the virus, but they are unable to confirm due to lack of testing resources.
Here is an article about the inequalities exposed from school closures:
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2020/03/what-will-happen-if-us-schools-close-coronavirus/607621/
Too bad you have no answer for the evidence I have already shown that Trump’s response has been more than timely. No doubt the prescient travel ban and quarantine, not to mention decreased illegal border crossings have decreased the spread of this disease. All you have is a weak ad hominem. So who is the shitbrain?
Another aspect of this that has not surfaced yet, but is likely to – the homeless encampments out here are extremely vunerable. They are already difficult to manage from a health care aspect. I am concerned that the virus impact on them may be similar to what has happened at Life Care Center, minus any form of medical resources.
There has been an implicit attitude for years that the Market will solve all problems. And now the Market is implicitly responding that it does not have the answers. This problem, and all the other problems it is exposing, requires capital investments that will not give the financial returns expected. It would give back many returns in social capital, but they don’t measure that on any of the indices. There is no 401k for community well being.
Luke 21:11
Jesus specifically warned us that there would be “pestilences” in the end times, and so if we really are approaching the time of His return a viral pandemic is one of the things that we should be watching for. There has been a rise in seismic activity in recent years, billions of locusts are devouring crops from eastern Africa all the way to China right now, and Australia just had the worst harvest season that they have ever recorded.
Better get ready – Jesus is coming.
Matthew 25:45
EOS – Get your spare bedroom ready. He is already here.
By the way: on 3/8/2020 feigning mystification the President coyly retweeted a meme with the phrase Nothing Can Stop What’s Coming. Q has written that nine times since 2018. Do anti-Q people still think Trump is not part of Q?
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1236778368533700609
HW,
I’m getting impatient. If nothing can stop it, when is it going to start?
Hilarious. Yes, EOS, this is all good news, and Jesus is coming back to give you your big reward for being such an awesome christian.
In other news.
BREAKING: A D.C. priest has Coronavirus. He offered communion and shook hands with more than 500 worshippers last week and on February 24th. All worshippers who visited the Christ Church in Georgetown must self-quarantine. Church is cancelled for the first time since the 1800’s.
Everyone is impatient. Doesn’t it seem that everything is lining up though? A massive criminal investigation into all the spygate players and more totally ignored by media? It has to be done properly because there is only one shot to get it right. I can wait till the time is right.
Reality is setting in.
HHS Sec. Alex Azar on Fox News: “This is a very serious health problem. Nobody is trying to minimize that.”
Except here, where people seem to think Jesus is coming back to lead the Q.
Max Boot: South Korea, with a population of 51.4 million, has already conducted 196,000 coronavirus tests. As of Saturday, the Atlantic could only confirm 1,895 tests out of a U.S. population of 327 million.
Trump is on duty and largely responsible for perhaps the worst day in the history of Wall Street. The oil dudes are predicting a long global recession. Italy is closer for business. His goose is gonna be cooked for realz.
It’s such poetic justice that Trump will be brought down by a virus and the Saudi Monarchy.
And Mayor Pete will be hosting Jimmy Kimmel live on Thursday. Landing right on his feet that boy. ❤️
It was a virus, wasn’t it, that saved humanity in War of the Worlds?
BSNBC is doing their best to portray this thing as if we’re living in 28 Days Later.
So far, only 7,800 Americans have been tested. This is absolutely criminal.
https://twitter.com/tvietor08/status/1238111345456734209?s=21
Sad, oh I expect Mayor Pete is going to do more than land on his feet. I expect he is going to get appointed by our next president to something big. Something that might get him the experience he needs to run for President again.
There’s still no coordinated federal testing protocol, and meanwhile the danger is growing exponentially.
A week has passed since I posted this, and only 28,000 people have been tested.
There are a lot of memes circulating which compare H1N1 full corse totals to COVID-19 totals now just a few weeks into the initial outbreak in the US. People are so dumb.
Here’s the moronic meme which is one of so many idiots are circulating on social media.
“President Trump:
COVID-19 Coronavirus
U.S. Cases: 1,329
U.S. Deaths: 38
Panic level: Mass hysteria
President Obama:
H1N1 Virus
U.S. Cases: 60.8 MILLION
U.S. Deaths: 12,469
Panic level: Totally chill
Do you all see how the media can manipulate your life?”
The vast majority of Americans who get sick from the COVID-19 virus will recover in a few weeks. But Americans will never recover from their astonishingly low intelligence. That’s an incurable condition.
Aloha Been neglecting my Putin puppet duties.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/03/15/putin-unleashes-strategic-hell-on-us/?fbclid=IwAR1RzWsPD-ZbM7uy-ZyLIH0yW78nsLJmdlD_KYh-FXcSlrffo8xonhx025I
Why do you think that is moronic? Seems to be self-evident. Mass hysteria for Trump’s relatively benign disease and totally chill for Obama’s deadly one…
Yeah HW and the global reaction really shows how there is a global conspiracy to stop Trump.
As always. Glad you’re here HW.
I thought they made no bones about that.
It’s moronic in a number of ways.
The hysteria is in reaction to what is happening in China, South Korea, Italy, and now Spain and other countries. It is not in reaction to what has happened in the US.
Morons might not remember, but there was nothing “totally chill” about the panic level during H1N1’s spread through the US population. I’m guessing that’s why the author didn’t call it by it’s more popular name, “Swine Flu.” Even the dumb folks might remember it then, and remember it wasn’t chill.
Most moronic is comparing H1N1 totals from its full run through the population to COVID-19 totals from the first few weeks since its broken out in te US. Anybody who isn’t a moron knows the H1N1 totals for the same first few weeks at the beginning of its run through the population were smaller. It should also go without saying that the initial first few week’s totals are always a minuscule portion of those of the virus’s full run through the population.
None of this should have to be explained.
So which one of you is the moron?
It’s you, Sad. I’m sorry.
“The hysteria is in reaction to what is happening in China, South Korea, Italy, and now Spain and other countries. It is not in reaction to what has happened in the US.”
So if coronavirus never made it to our shores there would still be hysteria in the USA.
I do have to say, though, it’s nice that Jean has been practicing social cyber-distancing. I haven’t seen anyone’s opinions misrepresented in a few days now.
HW: “So if coronavirus never made it to our shores there would still be hysteria in the USA.”
Yes, because there would be no doubt at least a few cases would make it here and begin spreading the virus here. People are anxious about what is likely to happen here, as it has in many other countries.
If there were no US cases and the media projected no danger then I don’t see why there would be any kind of panic.
“The hysteria is in reaction to what is happening in China, South Korea, Italy, and now Spain and other countries. It is not in reaction to what has happened in the US.”
Pretty sure Americans are hysterical about the disease spreading here, not so much in those places. What evidence could there be to support your idea?
If by some miracle, there were no cases in the US, there would be some considerable relief. When SARS was spreading around the world, the US was able to limit the cases here very effectively. Toronto was most impacted of North American cities. People in the US were sympathetic and also a bit worried the same would happen in cities here.
I would agree the media here loves to sensationalize everything they can. They’re losing audience and are desperate to hype everything that keeps anyone watching. I certainly would prefer an informative media instead of what we’ve got.
HW: “Pretty sure Americans are hysterical about the disease spreading here, not so much in those places. What evidence could there be to support your idea?”
Yes, HW, American’s are hysterical about the disease spreading here in the present and near future, in light of what it has done and is doing elsewhere.
But you are just reiterating your opinion. There is no support.
You disagree? Is your opinion that it is entirely the media which has caused the hysteria?
WHY ARE PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD DYING TO HURT DONALD TRUMP???!!!
“Is your opinion that it is entirely the media which has caused the hysteria?”
Don’t see why it should be impossible to get necessities due to a new but fairly mild illness.
In countries where it wasn’t taken seriously early enough, its fatality rate is much higher than the annual flu. By taking extraordinary measures early, countries are slowing the spread significantly and allowing for more comprehensive identification and care.
Mark has posted a graph regarding comparisons between countries. What is your takeaway from that information, HW?
The Dow is down another 2,300+ points this morning.
I have stated my case and I think it is superior. Early, early travel ban by Trump when it was politically risky. First quarantine in decades. It’s the equivalent of an early castle in chess.
Cancellation of major events? We seem to be pretty well on top of it.
Is that a “yes?”
It’s all or nothing then?
My comment which started all this was about how moronic the meme was which compares very early US COVID-19 numbers to the totals for the entire run of H1N1 (which was more than a year long). The meme is moronic. There’s no arguing it isn’t.
I was in favor of the travel restrictions on people coming in from China early on. I agree it was a factor in limiting the spread of the virus here.
I wasn’t attacking Trump. I was complaining about how dumb that meme is, and what it says about the intelligence of the people who spread it.
Anyway, with this 3pm closure of bars and restaurants in Michigan, who here is going out for lunch?
I’ll confess I’m considering it. There’s a pizza I really enjoy hot and fresh. The owner of the pizza place is a staunch Trump supporter, by the way. You like this guy, and he makes the best pizza around.
HW,
It’s only a minor illness if you are young and healthy. Within a year, it could solve our funding problems for Medicare and Social Security by killing everyone over 65, in addition to many on disability. Although I am not yet 65, it is not likely I would survive if I got it.
iRobert– you will be able to get to go food delivered curbside from many restaurants through the crisis.
HW– None of us has much means to prove anything because the president has suppressed testing. If you are showing symptoms and work in a cafe or restaurant, you can go home, but you can;t be tested, so all the people working with that person don’t know if they have been exposed and continue working.
We just don’t know how bad things are or aren’t here or where we will be, and it’s all because we don’t have the data. And that’s on Trump.
What we know is that hundreds of people died in Italy in one day. We can see what has happened elsewhere and then we must make assumptions. Risk avoidance practice would indicate now is the time to take whatever precautions we can afford.
“It’s only a minor illness if you are young and healthy. Within a year, it could solve our funding problems for Medicare and Social Security by killing everyone over 65, in addition to many on disability.” — EOS proves once again that they are criminally amoral.
Little bit LATE don’t you think?
On October 24, 2009, President Barack Obama declared Swine Flu a national emergency in the United States. On November 12, 2009, the CDC reported an estimated 22 million Americans had been infected with 2009 A H1N1 and 4,000 Americans have died.
“the president has suppressed testing.”
Evidence
“EOS proves once again that they are criminally amoral.”
No, you prove you are criminally stupid. You have no ability to determine context.
JH proves once again that her reading comprehension is severely challenged. I wasn’t advocating for it.
You repeat misinformation so fats HW that it’s hard to keep up. Swine Flu baloney: https://www.wonkette.com/a-truth-sandwich-on-barack-obamas-2009-swine-flu-response-for-president-gateway-pundit
Explain how what I have said is disinfo.
Re Trump suppressing tests, there’s abundant evidence of that (did you even read Mark’s blog post?). But Alex Azar, his Secretary of Health, confirmed in an interview that Trump did so for political reasons.
https://twitter.com/nprfreshair/status/1238186469690429440/photo/1
I have actual work to do here, HW. And a bored kid at home. I don’t take commands from you. It’s useless. Anyone with any reason can see you are working way too hard to believe your own nonsense. Feel free to believe on, Dude. I really don’t care.
Bunch of gobbledygook. You don’t want everyone to get tested when there are LIMITED tests, right? You don’t want tests to be like toilet paper where some people have more than they need and the ones who really need it to go without.
Like I told Lynne and Bob: if you can’t articulate your big fuckin’ issue then shut your ass up about someone who is able and willing to use knowledge to back up what he says.
Testing hasn’t saved a single person. Social isolation will prevent many from being infected and ultimately save many lives. Stay home. Cook your own meals.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/15/anthony-fauci-urges-coronavirus-national-shutdown/
For a while there I thought EOS might be messing around like GOP elected officials have been…wearing gas masks as jokes and making light of going out to restaurants with their kids.
Has FF had enough?
If I contract the COVID-19 virus, I’ll report every detail of my condition. I was hoping everyone else would promise to do the same.
I’ve already turned on my family. I’ve abandoned them. They’re all on their own.
Enough of what?
Why are there limited tests, HW?
Presumably because they just got invented.
The tests were limited until private/public collaborations could be set up to provide test sites in locations that wouldn’t expose individuals who didn’t have the virus to those who did. Now we have drive up locations in Michigan, with results within 24 hours that can provide assurance to those who don’t have the virus and directions to treatment for those who do. Prior to the testing, persons who thought they had been exposed were advised to self-isolate.
Obtaining a screening should not put an individual in harms way. Thanks to Trump, there will be fewer persons infected as a result of the delay, as they planned for safer procedures.
Enough of the comment section on this blog, FF.
I did what Devin Nunes told me to and went out and got lunch.
And who, HW, was asked to release emergency funds to fast track the test development and release and refused to do so, because he wanted to suppress the number of cases as it might negatively impact his re-election chances?
(I have already supplied verification twice– as have other on this blog)
Most of a Devid Remnick Piece in the New Yorker.
:Donald Trump’s ascent has been framed by two of his most characteristic remarks: “I alone can fix it” and “I don’t take responsibility at all,” and the journey from one to the other has been long and excruciating.
Confronted by crisis, Trump’s response has been to minimize it, downplaying the realities of the new coronavirus while bragging about what an “amazing” job he’s been doing. He squandered the most valuable resource in a pandemic: time.
When the virus was first identified, in January, Tom Bossert was one of several prominent voices in the realm of emergency preparedness to sound a warning. “We face a global health threat,” he said on Twitter. The problem was that Bossert—a Homeland Security adviser and an official with deep experience in emergency management—was a former Administration figure, having been pushed out last year. Scott Gottlieb, who called for immediate preventive measures, including the closure of public venues to slow the spread of the virus, was another such voice, but he was the former head of the Food and Drug Administration under Trump.
“What the American people need to brace themselves for is a large rate of sickness and death in this country,” Bossert told me. Actions to reduce the spread of the virus, and the timing of those actions, will have profound consequences. Bossert recalled the decision by Philadelphia authorities during the Spanish-flu epidemic of 1918 to allow a Liberty Loan parade to raise money for the war effort. On a late September day, two hundred thousand people marched up Broad Street and, at parade’s end, listened to a concert by John Philip Sousa. Within three days, the cities’ hospitals were overflowing; thousands were dead. “Bodies stacked like cordwood” became the phrase of the day. In St. Louis, by contrast, officials took quick, extreme measures to close schools, churches, theatres, and playgrounds––the measures that we refer to in our new language of pandemic as “social distancing.” In the end, the per-capita death rate from influenza in St. Louis was half that of Philadelphia.
It is a saddening experience to read Beth Cameron’s recent account, in the Washington Post, of what happened to the office she led during the Obama Administration: the National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense. In 2018, the Trump Administration closed it. Cameron writes that she was “mystified” by the decision, one that left the United States less prepared for pandemics such as the current one.
When Yamiche Alcindor, a reporter for “PBS NewsHour,” asked the President at a Rose Garden press conference last week why he shut down the office, Trump’s response was evasive and petulant: “I think it’s a nasty question.” Testifying before Congress, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, allowed, “It would be nice if the office was still there.” You had to wonder why Trump didn’t replace Fauci with Elizabeth Holmes.
Bossert, who has been pressing for a far greater sense of urgency since January, said he did not want to spend too much time criticizing anyone for actions taken or not taken in the early stages of the crisis. “While there are myriad questions that are legitimate about the Administration’s timeliness and decision-making processes, the President nevertheless did us a favor this week by yelling ‘fire’ while there is still time to do something about that fire,” he said. “That is critical. While the fire is still on the stove, you can’t sit back and watch it burn. It will spread.”
The Trump Administration has been more interested in setting fires than in investing in fire prevention or containment: it has been eager to dismantle the “administrative state,” to upend a raft of international agreements (notably the Paris climate agreement and the nuclear pact with Iran), and to reduce spending for science, health, the environment, and emergency preparedness. Expertise has offended Trump. He has found his enemies not among foreign dictators but among members of the American “deep state,” including career diplomats and intelligence analysts, as well as university teachers, journalists, congressional Democrats, and “disloyal” Republicans––dissenters of all kinds. His circle of loyalists is so lacking in policy expertise that the writing of his speech on the coronavirus from the Oval Office last week was left mainly to his nativist immigration counsellor Stephen Miller and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.”
Aloha, the Chinese published the dna of the virus in January. The Chinese offered us testing supplies then as well. Those countries that worked with China have been doing mass testing for over a month.
It was Trumps racist policies towards China which has caused the US to be way behind the curve on testing.
China and Cuba have both rushed aid to Iran. Cuba evidently has drugs that are effective in combating the disease. Because of Trumps foreign policy you will lack access.
The Bahamas is getting set to close its borders with US. They have better relations with Cuba though so Im hopeful.
The President has allocated billions and I think that claim that he tried to hold testing back is garbage.
The USA only starting testing thousands of people two weeks ago and the threat emerged weeks before that! It amounts to CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE on the part of Donald Twunp!!! WAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!! And he’s a waycist! And he’s a sexist! Waah!
Numerous famous and influential people have gotten the virus. Is that to be expected given the number of cases?
“Numerous famous and influential people have gotten the virus. Is that to be expected given the number of cases?”
Privileged people get tests.
Duh.
Here is some factual information on testing, you squirrelly little bastards. There were not “tests available in January and held back by the President”. There was one early German test distributed by WHO that presumably went mostly to Asia. Different types have been created since. Now we are rocking with thousands of tests a day.
One of the early PCR tests was developed at Charité in Berlin in January 2020 using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR), and formed the basis of 250,000 kits for distribution by the World Health Organization (WHO).[73]
The South Korean company Kogenebiotech developed a clinical grade, PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 detection kit (PowerChek Coronavirus) on 28 January 2020.[74][75] It looks for the “E” gene shared by all beta coronaviruses, and the RdRp gene specific to SARS-CoV-2.[76] Other companies in the country, such as Solgent and Seegene, also developed versions of clinical grade detection kits, named DiaPlexQ and Allplex 2019-nCoV Assay, respectively, in February 2020.
In China, BGI Group was one of the first companies to receive emergency use approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration for a PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 detection kit.[77]
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is distributing the CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel to public health labs through the International Reagent Resource.[78] One of three genetic tests in older versions of the test kits caused inconclusive results, and a bottleneck of testing at the CDC in Atlanta; tests using two components were determined to be reliable on 28 February 2020, allowing state and local laboratories to complete testing quickly.[79] The test was approved by the Food and Drug Administration under an Emergency Use Authorization.
US commercial labs began testing in early March 2020. As of 5 March 2020 LabCorp announced nationwide availability of COVID-19 testing based on RT-PCR.[80] Quest Diagnostics similarly made nationwide COVID-19 testing available as of 9 March 2020.[81] No quantity limitations were announced; specimen collection and processing must be performed according to CDC requirements.
“Privileged people get tests.”
First they get symptoms I suppose.
I’m never again responding to HW or FF or Bob. Done. I welcome others of sound mind to join me. It’s just a total waste of time.
Not that anyone ever responds to Bob but HW anyway.
Life is too short.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nt-a81AlCw
You suck, Jean, All it takes to waste you is a bit of proper information. Then you are like “Hm! Why should I bother!”
That song is a waste of time. Not even a real band, right? Just a dumb movie.
That’s great that there is the availability of COVID-19 testing on demand with results available within 24 hours. This must be in virtual Michigan online. Where I am, which is a real place, none of this is true. There is not enough testing capacity to accommodate everybody who wishes to be tested. Tests that are performed are overwhelming the state lab, who had promised 1-2 day turnaround last week, but are not able to really do so. We are sending the noncritical tests to private labs. They promised 3-5 day turnaround last week as well, but have not been able to really do so.
I have a friend who was just tested. She was told it would be 72 hours before she could get results.
Here’s what she wrote to me. “There’s now such a large backlog of Covid-19 tests, I just learned it could take up to 72 hours before results are available.”
It also took her over 24 hours, I think, to get the test. She first had to take a number of different panels. The last one was a Respiratory Pathogens Molecular Study. And, when the cultures came back as negative, they sent them to be tested for COVID-19. Also, before they had an isolation room for her, they sent her out to wait in her car. This was IHA, I believe.
Maybe if the dems weren’t pimping that sham of an impeachment while the disease was breaking out we could have been in a better position to respond. Same as with Mueller (waste of time). Let’s not get anything good done. Just Get Twump! Waaah!
Yeah, maybe there are some real consequences when you choose to spend 2 years of your life being a fake-ass-little-boy-who-cries-wolf.
Gaslighter. Big liar.
waah!
I am hesitant to even say this, because I don’t want it to seem like I promoting an invalid theory, but I will say it it anyway. Myself and several people I know had a very mild, long duration illness that started out as a sinus headache, then aches, then high fever that came and went, extreme shortness of breath, more dry feeling, messed up lungs but it was never a very wet cough 9r super runny nose. It was flu-like but we tested negative. It felt like a mild flu but it dragged on for about 5 weeks. I was told by urgent care it is probably a “funky virus”.
The weird thing is that I and many 2 other people close to me experienced this starting in November.
Wondering if anybody else had the “funky virus” which seems very much like this virus?
Sorry, meant to say not a very wet nose.
The shortness of breath was very pronounced. I was thinking I had lung cancer for a minute.
Patient zero
Figures
A friend had a real funky sum’n or other in Dec lasting well into Jan. Do not know what.
…What a fascinating time this is. We are so information-rich compared to not long ago. It’s what I dreamed of as a kid but better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrOvrt99T1g
FF,
I work in an office of 20 persons. 5 of the 20 persons had a horrible chest cold that lasted two weeks or more. All were young and healthy, 3/5 had kids who were sick also. One was hospitalized with severe bronchitis. No one was tested.
It could be just another year with seasonal cold viruses passing along. I worked with my window open and a small fan blowing in fresh air.
This started in November. When I asked to work from home, I mentioned to my supervisor, that for all we knew, we could already be passing the corona virus among us. My request was approved immediately, nearly two weeks before the rest of the office was told to work from home.
Aloha FF, dont know if you had the virus or not. The Chinese want to know the ffacts on the strange vaping epidemic that we had last year. They have been unable to actually find a single source in Wuhan. Rather they have several patent 0 ‘s, which means the have not yet identified the source of infection.
China’s foreign minister believes virus was brought to China by US soldier who attended conference in Wuhan in December. They believe this pathogen was developed at our bio-weapons lab at Ft. Deitrich in Maryland, the place the anthrax came from in 2001. They do not believe (yet) that the pathogen was intentionally released.
Given our racist “exceptionalist” ideology and Sinophobia promoted by Trump, I can understand China’s suspicions.
Do we know what contaminated the vapes last year?
FF do you or your friends vape?
Figure the stock market has another 6000 points to drop to get to the 2008 high. I figure all the “wealth” created since the last crash was simply papering over the failures. Just like our shoddy throw away culture, we may be at the end of its planned obsolescence.
Wobblie,
FYI – the Chinese bio-weapons lab is located in Wuhan.
And the Vape problem was found to be due to persons vaping CBD oil that contained Vit E as the diluent. There was some confusion initially because people lied about what they were vaping.
Jean has threatened to quit her futile “discourse” here more than once. Jean, I don’t care if you never speak to Bob again but please don’t give up your back and forth with the Trump cult. It’s futile and ugly but your interaction with the dopes will be valuable for anthropological epidemiologists to understand the Trump contagion.
Bob should post as Pudlord more often. It is true art that captures the times. If only HW would rap back at him, using the best words, the most beautiful, perfect words.
Hear that everyone? Vaping is actually safe and maybe we all had the Corona virus already but don’t know it! Which might mean Trump was right all along and this is no big deal. Maybe nobody’s really dying and all those people in the ICU are crisis actors paid by George Soros. Ok, everyone, discuss with Jean please.
It might capture your times but you aren’t too bright so there you go.
Bob: “pud”
Stupid Hick: “Hhheeeeeeeehhh…”
stupid hick,
Maybe you should just PM Jean and save us all.
Oooh! Me! Me! I’d like to be put in charge of deciding who gets the respirators and who doesn’t.
So, FF, do you think you’ve possibly already had COVID-19 and are now immune to it?
“Given our racist “exceptionalist” ideology and Sinophobia promoted by Trump, I can understand China’s suspicions.”
Do you have headaches a lot? That is some headache-inducing shit.
I should cut you some slack. You are a self-admitted stupid hick. The majority of the cases are very mild. However, it is not mild for those at risk – they die. The Millennials can save the Boomers if they self-isolate. Or not.
But EOS what happens to people that are in car accident, a heart attack etc. if the hospital is overwhelmed with sick boomer?
what are you worried about, EOS? We’ll all be fine. This administration won’t let us down.
Sad,
They will definitely be impacted. I think this is a serious problem and don’t understand why anyone might think I don’t. They will probably be using dorm rooms near the U Hospital for additional patient beds soon. And they will need to triage patients to determine who gets the respirators and who is left to die.
Having said that, young, healthy persons should recover from the virus easily.
I doubt any COVID-19 was ever released in the US in 2019. It’s so highly contagious, it would have spread the way it is doing now, and actually much worse because none of the early carriers would have been isolated for several weeks.
In 2019, any death would have been attributed to the seasonal flu.
EOS, any death in 2019 would strongly suggest there were 100 or more others who survived it. Those 100 would have spread the thing fast, far and wide.
COVID-19 was not stateside in 2019.
We can’t say whee it originates, but it was first released into a public population in Wuhan. That’s clear.
Because of how quickly the virus made it from Wuhan to Teheran, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mossad agents did some sharing. The geezers who comprise Iranian leadership are mature alright, just like Wobblie says. Now some of them are good and dead too.
iRobert,
All I am saying is that we weren’t testing for it, so we don’t know when it first got here. I think you are right. We would have noticed a large uptick in persons with flu symptoms if it were widespread. UM just started drive-up testing today. We’ll soon see how far it has already spread.
I think HW is right about at least one thing. The travel restrictions placed on people coming in from China did slow the initial seeding of the US with carriers. Without it, the west coast would have been saturated long before now.
iRobert,
I absolutely (!) am not behaving like I am immune that’s for sure.
I also would not give the child involved a false sense of security by suggesting they already had it.
There is a lot more to the story that I do not want to share here. FWIW, from my perspective, I would not dismiss what EOS is saying. Multiple things add up that suggest to me that what EOS is suggesting is at least possible.
Again, I hesitated to bring it up here. Ultimately, I do not think it matters if it was running around Ann Arbor earlier. I think we are going to have to deal with what is directly in front of us now—together.
I just read your comment SH,
Yuck! Why so stupid? Why do you assume others are so stupid? I was just sharing a bit of personal info in an attempt to see what other people have experienced. I am cautious about forming theories and I am not forming a theory here and certainly not letting anything change the way I am behaving in accordance with a very real threat. I will tell you it goes a lot deeper than what I shared. If you knew the whole interwoven story you would not assume I am such a fool to mention it here in the hopes of getting a bit of feedback.
I think what was circulating around earlier was an entirely different virus.
I don’t know exactly what EOS is hinting at, but I’m open to hearing it.
Most of all though, I think it’s time to make the immediate situation the center of all of our attention.
Everyone needs to do whatever they can to slow the spread of this and all viruses right now. We’re all on the same team in this situation. There really isn’t any time for BS now.
I think EOS was just holding out a possibility that it was circulating earlier. I hold that possibility open given my experiences. I would not bet on it though because the speed of transmission is a powerful argument. However, it is possible this stays in your system longer. One of the cruise ship cases is at day 40. Always felt fine and is still testing positive.
The doctor I saw twice said he suspected that I “had two things”.
I am not a doctor. I don’t know much about medicine. I rarely go to the doctor even. So I am just throwing some things out there and sharing a bit of my experience.
https://nypost.com/2020/03/17/86-of-people-with-coronavirus-are-walking-around-undetected-study-says/
FF-
There was a quick interview on KUOW yesterday with Laurie Garrett. She was asked what she would do if she had all the resources she needed. Her response was that she’d go back to look at samples dating back to November to the present of patients to review those labeled “pneumonia of unknown etiology”.
Go to minute mark 5:28 for the question and her response….
https://kuow.org/stories/we-re-going-to-be-tested
Mega resignations going on right now in the corporate world. Lots of them in big time companies. Lil ol’ feller named Gates for example. I know Mr. Gates has an interest in vaccines. It’s interesting timing. Q circa late 2017: “track resignations”.
I sneezed three times on Friday and got a slight runny nose on Saturday and Sunday. Should I get tested?
Thanks nobody. That was interesting! I am highly ignorant about this stuff so I apologize if I am not using the right terminology… I just know that the illness struck me as very strange at the time, I now see that it matches the mild/ medium symptoms of Corona, but the diagnosis given to one person in our group, after a test, did not match the symptoms of the thing they tested positive for which was very weird. What’s more is the people who were seemingly ”infected” by the person who tested positive did not test positive when they went to the doctor…
I have spoken to those people that seemed to get infected from my group and they also found it strange at the time in terms of the mildness but persistence (in terms of longevity) as well as the oddness of the test results. The test results were not matching up across infected individuals and each of the other person’s separate doctor seemed kind of confused.
Again, I understand if people here think I am being narcissistic and/ or a bit of hypochondriac. Not looking for attention. Just sharing my experience and wondering if anybody had a similar experiences with illness that was very puzzling at the time but matches up with Corona in terms of the milder reported symptoms.
I apologize for sounding like an idiot about this.
I too have had flu-negative pneumonia of unknown etiology that was unresponsive to antibiotics. And I have heard from a number of Nurses and Doctors that they have seen many cases, but due to lack of tests don’t know if these l=illnesses are an expression of Covid19 or some other virus. It’s definitely a virus and it’s definitely been around since December at least. It seems that if it was covid-19 we would have seen a spike in illnesses and deaths already so it’s probably something different. I was at the pulmonologist 2 weeks ago and they were not concerned. They ordered me antibiotics (which did nothing) and I’ve just been staying home and social distancing for the duration. It would be great if it is covid 19 because that would mean it’s not as bad here as elsewhere and we will all be heading back to work, school etc soon. We just don’t know.
We lack the necessary information and yes, that’s the president’s responsibility.
Although you vowed to not interact with me again thanks for the feedback, Jean.
My kid had pneumonia back in December. Scared the hell out of me. They could not identify what the cause was, but fortunately it cleared up with antibiotics.
All this stuff is very confusing to me as well. My mental models of how these things work are simplistic at best, and the terminology that experts use can make my little sandcastles start dissolving. I think Anthony Fauci is doing a great job of keeping it simple. I’m not a fan of the president, but he seemed humbled the last few days and has been allowing those that have better working models get in front to talk in the best plainspeak they can. That was a good move.
I think it is ok to acknowledge ignorance. It helps us ask better questions so that our mental/working models are more accurate, or defer to those who have better knowledge of the hows and whys of different aspects of things.
The internet has given us the temptation to believe we are experts… I have, and occasionally still do, fallen into that trap.
It is ok to say “I don’t know”.
A guy at the pizzeria yesterday coughed right toward me at a distance of about four feet. He didn’t bother to cover his mouth at all when he did. I was pissed. I expressed my astonishment and annoyance at him for doing such a thing and he genuinely seemed unaware that he did it. He coughed a few more times within several minutes. He then went outside for a smoke.
HW: “Why do you think that is moronic? Seems to be self-evident. Mass hysteria for Trump’s relatively benign disease and totally chill for Obama’s deadly one…”
Do you see why it’s moronic yet, HW?
iRobert
Posted March 16, 2020 at 4:22 am | Permalink
Here’s the moronic meme which is one of so many idiots are circulating on social media.
“President Trump:
COVID-19 Coronavirus
U.S. Cases: 1,329
U.S. Deaths: 38
Panic level: Mass hysteria
President Obama:
H1N1 Virus
U.S. Cases: 60.8 MILLION
U.S. Deaths: 12,469
Panic level: Totally chill
Do you all see how the media can manipulate your life?”
Hyborian Warlord
Posted March 16, 2020 at 7:09 am | Permalink
Why do you think that is moronic? Seems to be self-evident. Mass hysteria for Trump’s relatively benign disease and totally chill for Obama’s deadly one…
Here’s the moronic meme with the updated numbers.
President Trump:
COVID-19 Coronavirus
U.S. Cases: 4,604,738
U.S. Deaths: 154,591
Panic level: Mass hysteria
President Obama:
H1N1 Virus
U.S. Cases: 60.8 MILLION
U.S. Deaths: 12,469
Panic level: Totally chill
Here’s the moronic meme with the updated numbers.
President Trump:
COVID-19 Coronavirus
U.S. Cases: 16,295,458
U.S. Deaths: 302,750 (& climbing 3k+ per day)
Panic level: Mass hysteria
President Obama:
H1N1 Virus
U.S. Cases: 60.8 MILLION
U.S. Deaths: 12,469
Panic level: Totally chill
Do our slower commenters see what made this moronic yet?
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