COVID-19 >>"True and Helpful" Covid Information Thread

[Anonymous]

BEIJING -- Chinese authorities are testing millions of people, imposing lockdowns and shutting down schools after multiple locally transmitted coronavirus cases were discovered in three cities across the country last week.



As temperatures drop, widescale measures are being enacted in Tianjin, Shanghai and Manzhouli, even though the number of new cases remains low compared to the United States and other countries that are seeing new waves of infections.



Experts and government officials have warned that the chance of the virus spreading will be greater in cold weather. Recent flareups have shown that there is still a risk of the virus returning, despite being largely controlled within China

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/china-tests-millions-after-coronavirus-flare-ups-in-3-cities-1.5200364">https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavir ... -1.5200364">https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/china-tests-millions-after-coronavirus-flare-ups-in-3-cities-1.5200364

[cc]

So far China has been able to enact severe methods and stop it



(allowing that we don't really know for sure how well as we cannot trust what they claim)

[Anonymous]

China was treating some COVID patients with an injection of bear bile powder.

[cc]

As of today, we are not rising over last week, but still holding about same levels



You guys are really rising this week rapidly over the weekend



Both of us are now at the point where deaths will catch up to the past cpl of week's increases in cases



THIS IS LIKE A SNOWBALL ROLLING DOWN A HILL': HINSHAW



Hinshaw spoke briefly before heading to a meeting with the cabinet's priorities implementation committee, which was discussing that afternoon which restrictions to announce on Tuesday.



She did not specify what recommendations she'd be making to the officials, but reiterated change was needed to slow the spread of the virus.



"This is like a snowball rolling down a hill, growing bigger and faster and it will continue unless we implement strong measures to stop," Hinshaw said.



"We must take action. Waiting any longer will impact our ability to care for Albertans in the months and weeks ahead."



She also warned Alberta is likely to see a spike in hospitalizations and ICU admissions in the coming weeks, regardless of what restrictions are put in place, due to a seven-to-10 day lag period that she said generally follows a rise in cases.

[Anonymous]

I expect our stores and restaurants will be closed by the weekend.

[Anonymous]

Alberta had 1549 new infections today and five new deaths.

[Anonymous]

Today we frind out what new restrictions the provincial government will implement.

[Anonymous]

This editorial appeared in a local news source..



The author is saying that closing restaurants, hair salons, stores, and other personal services will no longer control the spread in this province..



We must send children home from school during the coldest months of the year.



That's the dilemma the UCP government of Premier Jason Kenney finds itself in over COVID.



Social gatherings



Our case numbers are skyrocketing because we all keep moving around. We keep going to parties and personal events (weddings, funerals, birthdays), and generally living our lives as ordinarily as we can (with masks on).



Until the last week or so, most of us had not worried too much about becoming victims. We'd been largely comfortable with the risks and content with the provincial government's targeted approach to slowing the transmission.



But as daily infections have grown past the 1,500 barrier, more and more Albertans have become a bit fearful of catching COVID.



We won't blame our own slack adherence for the last few months to the "don't socialize" advice of Kenney and provincial chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw. So increasingly people are looking to blame this government's lack of a lockdown (even though most of us didn't want another lockdown).



But a lockdown is merely a tool to stop people moving around. Restaurants, gyms, hair salons, retail stores aren't the sources of the pandemic. It's our insistence on being out and about that is. We're circulating so much 75 per cent of sufferers have no idea where they got COVID from.



Keep us at home



So if the provincial government announces Tuesday that any or all of the above establishments are going to have to close for a while, or indoor faith services must be cancelled, in reality those are measures designed not to keep us away from infected places, but rather to keep us at home and (literally) out of each other's faces.



Yet no government, left or right, is going to do the one thing that curtails movement the most — close the schools. Schools aren't pandemic factories, either. However, if the Kenney government were to suddenly ground half a million parents at home looking after their kids, that would certainly cut down on interpersonal movements, which are the source of the pandemic.



However, if you thought we had emotional and psychological problems in April when schools were closed the first time, at least we were entering spring and stay-at-home families could get out.



Now we're about to enter the two coldest, darkest months of the year. Not a great time to coup everyone up in their houses.



I hope we avoid another lockdown, but such calculations are now political.

[Anonymous]

Good information about which COVID patients have suffered the most. Better targeting of lock downs is required.



Latest StatsCan data offers more on COVID-19 comorbidities



A new Statistics Canada report sheds light on national comorbidity numbers for COVID-19 deaths that occurred during the first wave, the most detailed release of its kind to date.



"Of the over 9,500 COVID-involved deaths between March and July, the majority (90%) had at least one other cause, condition or complication reported on the certificate," explains the report.



It also concludes that not a single Canadian under the age of 45 died of COVID-19 during the first wave without contending with "at least one other disease or condition".



The StatsCan report lists pneumonia as the top national comorbidity, applicable to 33% of first-wave COVID-19 deaths. The others include "hypertensive diseases (15%), ischemic heart disease (13%), respiratory failure (13%), renal failure (12%), diabetes (12%), symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (11%), chronic lower respiratory diseases (10%), nervous system disorders excluding Alzheimer's (8%) and cancer (8%)."



The report does not break down how many individuals suffered from more than one condition. Alberta released similar numbers around the same time, revealing that over 75% of Albertans who have so far died of COVID-19 were grappling with three or more underlying medical conditions. Other provinces have not proactively released their co-morbidity data.



It also tackles the question of how many people died "from COVID" as opposed to "with COVID". The report concludes that 730 of the 9,525 first wave deaths were in fact due to other causes, ranging from cancer (accounting for 170 deaths) to "accidental injury such as a fall".



The report also wades into the hotly contentious issue of comparing COVID-19 to the flu, noting that "as a point of comparison, the most common influenza comorbidities recorded between 2016 and 2018 were similar to those recorded for COVID-19 during the first wave."



"It's an essential part of this conversation," says Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, who currently treats COVID-19 patients in the ICU at Ottawa's Monfort Hospital. "Now that we're illustrating that or capturing that, I think it's excellent."



Kyeremanteng says he has yet to encounter a patient in hospital who doesn't have extensive comorbidities. He hopes more data can help both these patients have healthier outcomes while also allowing for a more targeted approach to lockdowns and restrictions.



"We have to do everything possible to not do generalized lockdowns and we have to be way more targeted," says Kyeremanteng. "In the last week I've seen more overdoses and substance-related admissions than I've seen COVID patients. We've talked to child psychology and child abuse specialists and we saw increases in that."

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/furey-latest-statscan-data-offers-more-on-covid-19-comorbodities">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnis ... orbodities">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/furey-latest-statscan-data-offers-more-on-covid-19-comorbodities

[cc]

Do you have any idea what they mean by "The StatsCan report lists pneumonia as the top national comorbidity, applicable to 33% of first-wave COVID-19 deaths."



Comorbidity is defined as :" the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient.

"age and comorbidity may be risk factors for poor outcome" ..

a disease or medical condition that is simultaneously present with another or others in a patient.

"patients with cardiovascular or renal comorbidities"



No goes around with pneumonia as pre-condition. It's not like a heart condition etc. etc. It is only an infection of the moment just like any other infection of the moment. It follows as a result of .. not precedes covid



Yes, having covid can bring on pneumonia and that can damage or kill. But the wording isn't saying that & appears to be trying to say a "result" of covid  is a pre-condition  

[Anonymous]

Do you have any idea what they mean by "The StatsCan report lists pneumonia as the top national comorbidity, applicable to 33% of first-wave COVID-19 deaths."



Comorbidity is defined as :" the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient.

"age and comorbidity may be risk factors for poor outcome" ..

a disease or medical condition that is simultaneously present with another or others in a patient.

"patients with cardiovascular or renal comorbidities"



No goes around with pneumonia as pre-condition. It's not like a heart condition etc. etc. It is only an infection of the moment.



Yes, having covid can bring on pneumonia and that can damage or kill. But the wording isn't saying that & appears to be trying to say a "result" of covid  is a pre-condition  

Perhaps that's what the writer meant.

[cc]

Yes, prolly so. But it is totally misleading. Medical people are usually more precise .. and do not combine / mix "preconditions" with "results of"



In reality there are "preconditions to (risk factors)" and there are "results of". I have never heard of a "result of" being called a comorbidity which is defined as a risk factor



I suspect most if not all  who have more than a mild case develop pneumonia as a result of covid .. .that's what causes the breathing  difficulty and use of supplemental oxygen

[Anonymous]

We find out at 4:30 today what new restrictions our provincial government will implement.

[cc]

Yes, looking at the prolonged steady rise in case numbers and the last 3 days spiraling something has to be done to slow it down.



I hope they make the right decisions hitting things that will really slow it down so your province can get back to if not normal, at least to the new normal

[cc]

I'm not sure exactly what they have done to decrease cases, but all 5 major European countries are down considerably to varying degrees



with France dramatically leading the way being down for the past two weeks and 113,500 from the previous week .. for a total of 170,000 for the past 2 weeks showing it can be done



Of course with the exception of the US, they got off to a much early start of increases several weeks ago and were forced to take action ahead of us



Sweden, initially touted as revolutionary in approach has conveniently not been reporting often .. the only major developed country to do so .. while the others report daily without fail.

While ~1/4 canada's population, it has over over 2/3 of our death number