Coronavirus Thread

[June]

I wasn't aware that your syndromes were of that nature. Just brings this that much closer.
( and I admit - any reason to go out for a nice drive is a good reason ).

also just noticed that I said 6 dogs. Meant to say 6 total, 4 and 2. I mean 6 would be crazy right....kind of like......volvos ?

I say the more the merrier! For both dogs and Volvos!!!

For me as my son was going off to college my parents needed me more, and by the time my daughter went, I went from a son and daughter needing to be nurtured to a mother and father and fur baby needing it... I only have Munchy because he is completely possessive of me. He attacks any dog I've tried to introduce, even female Yorkies and my husband too. Mike deserves it though for teasing him ... He loves some, and tolerates all other people, just no dogs.

I was hearing on the news there are two types of Corona virus testing, pcr and a antibody test. One may be cheaper like someone was talking about in earlier posts and the other might be $1,400 the Mayo clinic preformed on me. I still feel like I called rotoruter to snake my left nostril!!!! I sure wish they used a nose numbing agent first. I can think of at least one out there ! June

[Sveedy]

[abscate]

IMHO:
1. We have a medical system that richly rewards those with money or good insurance. That leaves out maybe half the country or more. There have been many studies that show well off people have several years longer life than poor people. I don't think that is right.
2. Caregiving is very hard, even if caring for family. I have been there also.

volvolugnut

We spend twice as much as our peer countries for poorer outcomes. As a business guy if I had to spend twice as much for labor for poorer work I would go out of business. Why aren’t corporate heads telling our politicians to fix this ?

[June]

IMHO:
1. We have a medical system that richly rewards those with money or good insurance. That leaves out maybe half the country or more. There have been many studies that show well off people have several years longer life than poor people. I don't think that is right.
2. Caregiving is very hard, even if caring for family. I have been there also.

volvolugnut

We spend twice as much as our peer countries for poorer outcomes. As a business guy if I had to spend twice as much for labor for poorer work I would go out of business. Why aren’t corporate heads telling our politicians to fix this ?

Profits of course!!! And they pay those politicians not to fix things I'd imagine... June

[RickHaleParker]

I only have Munchy because he is completely possessive of me. He attacks any dog I've tried to introduce, even female Yorkies and my husband too.

My sister's Yorkie was the same way and she called it, of all things, Sugar.

Munchy is always behaving like he wants to kill something because he does want to kill something. Terriers where working dogs. They where breed to kill rats and mice. That is why Munchy has a short but powerful neck. They used whiplash to break necks and spines.

Big dog personality in a small package. That is what got Sugar killed. Sugar would not roll over to a much larger dog.

Enjoy your little killer.

[Cees Klumper]

Being European and having moved to the US two years ago for work, I can tell you that I am afraid the US health 'care' system is beyond repair.

For example, just before moving here, I had an emergency room event to diagnose and deal with a kidney stone. Was in there for a good couple of hours, all kind of tests, scans, doctor attention, pain killers and so on. I received all the bills to send to my insurance and the total came to a little over $350. This is in rural France.

About the same time, a colleague of mine in Los Angeles went through the same thing. Good insurance through our company. His total cost was $16,000. I have many examples of very stark contrasts between our native Dutch and French, and the US approaches to health care provision, none of them complimentary to the US. We kept our dentist in France, the difference in cost vis-a-vis a US dentist pretty much pays for the return trip if you need a crown.

Doctors in the US earn on average 3 times as much as in France. Many of the top earning jobs in the US are in healthcare. No total wonder total system cost is a multiple, while outcomes will likely not be better (because good outcomes cost money as opposed to generate profit for the provider).

That is what you get when healthcare becomes a for-profit business as opposed to a public service, over a period of decades. There would naturally be 'serious pushback' if anyone would try to fundamentally change it. That's why I think it's too late and we will be moving back to Europe when we retire in a couple of years' time, so we don't have to worry about this important aspect of life.

[RickHaleParker]

That is what you get when healthcare becomes a for-profit business as opposed to a public service, over a period of decades.

There a lot of dirty stuff in our for profit health care. For example: Hepatitis C treatment in the US, 12-week course $94,500. Other places in the world as low as $300.00 for something that is just as effective.

[volvolugnut]

More statistics on US states and COVID-19 growth rates. My raw information is from Worldometer. Any errors or misrepresentations are my own.

These tables show all available US states and territories and the COVID-19 data for the last 5 days. I have sorted the states alphabetically and added growth rates for last several days for all states with ranking of each day. Of course, this information changes daily. I have presented the table in two parts because of the screen shot, but it is actually one table in Excel.

Again, results change daily.

State growth rates for April 12, 2020. All information is based on reported information and actual results may be different.

For your information, the top 5 states or territories yesterday in growth rate (the worst containment) are: Minnesota (0.340) with 1621 cases, South Dakota (0.241) with 730 cases, Puerto Rico (0.147) with 897 cases, Rhode Island (0.138) with 2665 cases, and Nebraska (0.127) with 791 cases. I checked again today and found no information that South Dakota and Nebraska has Shelter in Place orders. I saw in the news South Dakota has a pork processing plant closed because of large percent of state cases of virus among employees. Link is https://apnews.com/0cd7680d2d221944ed05f86691bb3537

My calculated growth rate for USA is 0.0569 for yesterday, down from previous day of 0.0657. Progress is being made, but is is still a dangerous pandemic.

Stay safe out there.

volvolugnut

[Phainein7]

two types of Corona virus testing, pcr and a antibody test.

PCR detects for presence of viral genetic material, and antibody tests are for those who had COVID-19. But, last I knew, antibody test could detect a few other viruses-so, not 100%. Abbott is one company whose test is FDA approved for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), but I've not seen any specs on their product..

News bytes
===============
Apr 6 - The FDA said Monday it had received requests from more than 100 companies for emergency authorizations for antibody tests – Cellex being the first to receive authorization.
===============
Scott Becker, the CEO of the Association for Public Health Laboratories, said he has raised the concern of faulty tests with the federal officials – including Giroir. To their credit, Becker said, the FDA, CDC, and National Institutes of Health have responded well and indicated that they plan to roll out a government validation panel to review tests in the coming weeks.

[Phainein7]

Doctors in the US earn on average 3 times as much as in France.

US system is for profit, and there are abuses within it. But, this article indicates other factors should be considered.

MAY 8, 2014 - "What most fail to include when comparing physician salaries across countries is the cost of medical education and medical malpractice. Let’s consider France, the go-to country when pointing out how expensive health care is in the United States.

Medical education in France is government subsidized versus a median 4-year cost of a private American medical school of $286,806.

Medical malpractice in France is based on a national no-fault compensation scheme versus an American medical malpractice system where OB/GYNs in some New York counties pay annual malpractice premiums of $227,899:
...
Comparing physician salaries with those in other countries is fine. Even saying American physicians get paid too much is okay. But if you want to cut physician pay in the United States, also reform the cost of medical education and medical malpractice to match systems of those abroad. Don’t pick and choose numbers to fit an agenda."