Conoravirus ...

[SemiSalt]

At various times in the past two weeks, we've seen poor reporting over weekends. I've no idea if it is poor reporting from medical facilities or the web sites not putting the data up.

I think we'll need to see at least a week of flattening to declining numbers before we can get our hopes up.

Whatever the cause of the dips in the graph above, its been followed by an alarming spike

[Benno von Humpback]

Hey, All.

Kim, what extraordinarily miserable bad luck. I'll hold you in the light. Hope everyone else has been doing well.

Eric

[Anomaly]

Whatever the cause of the dips in the graph above, its been followed by an alarming spike

Not sure that dip was even real--- don't see that when looking at the US on this site (you can select USA and then from there toggle between current and "yesterday" to look at one day differences in cases, deaths, etc.). Seems to me that the US is firmly on the steep climb of exponential growth

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

[Ajax]

Hey, All.

Kim, what extraordinarily miserable bad luck. I'll hold you in the light. Hope everyone else has been doing well.

Eric

We've all been speculating on what kind of TSA agent you had for your body cavity search. I hope she was a hot, Amazonian.

[Charlie]

Jamie,

Thanks for sharing that post from your boss. Really informative and reasoned.

Charlie

[Benno von Humpback]

Hey, All.

Kim, what extraordinarily miserable bad luck. I'll hold you in the light. Hope everyone else has been doing well.

Eric

We've all been speculating on what kind of TSA agent you had for your body cavity search. I hope she was a hot, Amazonian.

She had huge hands.

[Tim Ford]

Andy, you had asked what the deal was with our (tiny) family so I'll give you the Cliff Notes version:

- a couple of weeks ago, we had dinner with a couple who had just returned from a Nile River Cruise - remember, the first 3 cases in MD were in Montg. County, folks had returned from Nile Cruise
- a couple days after that, my wife got a bad cold and stayed home from work
- her boss then put two and two together to make 6 and decided she had CoV and closed the school - ok, abundance of caution, we get that
- in spite of her decreasing symptoms he insisted she get tested - this included numerous back and forth phone calls with her GP and with Tom Inglesby, a parent of a kid at her school
- lack of symptoms triggered no small amount of hostility and resentment at the testing facility, a strip mall Urgent Care shop in a less than fashionable county neighbourhood
- if she didn't have COVID-19 then, waiting for an hour in a small room with 15 coughing, hacking folks probably didn't help.
- got the results finally (negative as we were 99.9% sure) but now we have to isolate after the stint at the Urge Care place - no biggie, glad to help - plus I never need an excuse to stay home

there are a lot of other coincidental notes to this particular little anecdote and it certainly pales to the experience people who are genuinely sick are going through - but it was a somewhat troubling look at the public health response, at least in the initial phase here in Baltimore, and how circuitous and inefficient the bureaucracy is once you become a "Person Under Investigation (PUI)"

We both appreciate the folks at the Howard County Infectious Disease Program, although we have no idea how they became involved, since neither of us work or live in Howard County...again a small part of this bizarre little two-week pantomime.

Best wishes to all and prayers for those on the front lines and those under medical care (for whatever malady)!

[kdh]

Good to see you back here, Eric.

[Ken Heaton (Salazar)]

Our neighbour's directly across the street were very excited last fall when their daughter got a position as an an au pair in Milan, Italy for the winter. The are excited again now, but for much different reasons.

With Italy now in lock-down she is desperately trying to get home, but as of yesterday morning, had not found a way out of the country yet. I haven't been speaking to them yet today so I don't know if she has had any success escaping Italy.

Our neighbour's daughter got home a week ago last Friday ( so 10 days ago ). Her father picked her up at the local (small) airport and took her straight home. They immediately called the COVID-19 help line ( around here that is 811 ) who asked a few questions and on hearing 'Madrid" asked if she could come up to the local test site for a test. She did and was met at the door, taken straight in for a test by a staff member wearing protective gear, and was tested. The preliminary test came back negative, and was reconfirmed negative at the National Testing facility a few days later.

She still had to 'Self Isolate' at home, and the rest of her family has to 'Self monitor' for the full 14 days but she is almost through that now with no issues so far.

[Tim Ford]

she could come up to the local test site for a test. She did and was met at the door, taken straight in for a test by a staff member wearing protective gear, and was tested.

Wow! Go Canada!
Is N.S. still soliciting we below the border to move up there? They are offering cash incentives, right?

[Slick470]

Wow Tim. Sorry you both had to go through that, but glad to hear that you both are negative.

[Tim Ford]

My level of negativity right now actually transcends SARS CoV-2
S&P 500 is the root cause this morning....

be well folks!

[Benno von Humpback]

My level of negativity right now actually transcends SARS CoV-2
S&P 500 is the root cause this morning....

be well folks!

I'm not looking. Out of my control.

[Ajax]

My level of negativity right now actually transcends SARS CoV-2
S&P 500 is the root cause this morning....

be well folks!

I'm not looking. Out of my control.

I picture your TSA encounter as something like this:

[Tim Ford]

My level of negativity right now actually transcends SARS CoV-2
S&P 500 is the root cause this morning....

be well folks!

I'm not looking. Out of my control.

You are Smart Like Tractor. I have to abandon my morbid curiosity....somehow.

[Benno von Humpback]

My level of negativity right now actually transcends SARS CoV-2
S&P 500 is the root cause this morning....

be well folks!

I'm not looking. Out of my control.

You are Smart Like Tractor. I have to abandon my morbid curiosity....somehow.

Oh, it takes a lot of discipline.

[Ajax]

I spoke to my office mate today.

First, he is at work but feeling pretty afraid. For himself and his live-in mother in law, who has the ubiquitous "underlying conditions."

He says that plenty of people are still working simply because they don't want to use their vacation. This is just stupid, we are a large, global defense contractor with paid leave, not a dry-cleaning service. The Gov. of Maryland just announced that all non-essential businesses will be shut down, beginning at 5pm today. In his decree, there were some exemptions, specifically Paragraph E, section ii: Civilian contractors supporting defense and intelligence agencies.

Yes, that aptly describes my employer but the REALITY of the situation, is that we could function with a skeleton crew of 4 people indefinitely, instead of asking 166 people to come in every day. The company says that they will be drafting "hall passes" to hand out to employees to show police, should they be stopped and questioned about their activities.

[Tim Ford]

My level of negativity right now actually transcends SARS CoV-2
S&P 500 is the root cause this morning....

be well folks!

I'm not looking. Out of my control.

You are Smart Like Tractor. I have to abandon my morbid curiosity....somehow.

Oh, it takes a lot of discipline.

I wish I were still involved in dollar cost averaging...you folks in the work force will make a killing!

A KILLING I'LL TELL YA!

Rich are you saying it's a bad time to get a "hall pass?" Wish I had one...we are running low on Chicken Soup and Matzah.

[Jamie]

I bet my boss VIX would get to $100 by the end of April. (The usual amount - it's not orange juice futures)

[Tim Ford]

So sick of CNN.

I swear, if the FDA approves a vaccine, CNN will run a crawl that says:
"TRUMP ANNOUNCES RUTHLESS PLAN TO INTERRUPT THE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS OF A BILLION OR MORE INNOCENT MICROORGANISMS."

not a fan of Drumpf but I mean, come on...

[H B]

/snip/ The Gov. of Maryland just announced that all non-essential businesses will be shut down, beginning at 5pm today. In his decree, there were some exemptions, specifically Paragraph E, section ii: Civilian contractors supporting defense and intelligence agencies. /snip/
.

Wait, does this include liquor stores? My local West Marine yesterday told us they were considered 'essential' so they are staying open. Only 10 people allowed in the store at once.

[Ajax]

/snip/ The Gov. of Maryland just announced that all non-essential businesses will be shut down, beginning at 5pm today. In his decree, there were some exemptions, specifically Paragraph E, section ii: Civilian contractors supporting defense and intelligence agencies. /snip/
.

Wait, does this include liquor stores? My local West Marine yesterday told us they were considered 'essential' so they are staying open. Only 10 people allowed in the store at once.

Yes, liquor stores will remain open. It's more to prevent violence from alcoholics and also to keep generating revenue rather than any attempt to let people have even a modicum of joy in this mess.

Tim, you don't need a hall pass to buy food, but you might be questioned about your "business."

[TheOffice]

Newport to Bermuda is cancelled. Still hoping to sail to Bermuda.

Lawyers are considered essential in Maryland. who knew? Of course, with courts closed there isnt much business.

Bought new golf cart batteries for the boat on the way home. That's essential!

[Tigger]

Telephone conference this afternoon to update our will. We should have done it 10 years ago. Something tells me that 31 year old twins don't need a provision telling them who is going to look after them if there parents pass away at the same time.

[Benno von Humpback]

Newport to Bermuda is cancelled. Still hoping to sail to Bermuda.

Lawyers are considered essential in Maryland. who knew? Of course, with courts closed there isnt much business.

Bought new golf cart batteries for the boat on the way home. That's essential!

That sucks about the race, but I hope you guys do get to Bermuda. I probably haven't thought it through, but right now I can't see why we shouldn't be able have a sailing season, even if rafting up is not advised. Janell and I were going to help deliver a dockmate's Sabre to Portland over Memorial Day and that may be off.

I'm hoping the Montgomery county cops don't interpret Hogan's stay-at-home order to prohibit solo cyclists on the roads. Last week was fantastic, if a little lonely.

[kimbottles]

Hey, All.

Kim, what extraordinarily miserable bad luck. I'll hold you in the light. Hope everyone else has been doing well.

Eric

Thanks Eric,

Well I did manage to get my mastectomy done before the virus hit the hospitals hard. So at least I am home now and isolated.

My oncologist (who I am borrowing from my wife, he is her oncologist too) does not want to risk my coming in for my oncology appointment tomorrow, so we have figured out via emails back and forth on how to get it done via phone/FaceTime.

So actually I am fine for now. (Going to my first chemo appointment might be interesting, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.)

(Having a younger brother who is a pathologist and his wife the OB/GYN breast cancer doc has certainly been very helpful!)

So I am actually a pretty lucky guy.

Cheers,
Kim

[kimbottles]

My level of negativity right now actually transcends SARS CoV-2
S&P 500 is the root cause this morning....

be well folks!

I'm not looking. Out of my control.

Very wise!

[IrieMon]

Will be interesting to see how New York's chloroquine trials go (the anti-malarial drug which Dr Fauci seemed to dismiss at a press update last week):

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/03 ... 5924/?ls=2

More info on the positive French trials of chloroquine:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/186Bel9 ... HnGbj/view

[Ajax]

I think he was just managing expectations.

[Jamie]

remdesivir - that's reading out soon. It's one of our best short-term shots. Finger's crossed.