COVID-19

Newark has imposed new restrictions as COVID-19 cases spike. 

https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2020/10/26/newark-mayor-imposes-new-restrictions-as-covid-19-cases-surge-1330820

Also, just want to be sure everyone knows about the "outbreaks" among Seton Hall students as well as So-Ma high school kids. I've seen reports on Village Green but missed them if there were here. Lots of cases in Orange, too.  Time for EVERYONE to be more vigilant.

berkeley said:

Also, just want to be sure everyone knows about the "outbreaks" among Seton Hall students as well as So-Ma high school kids. I've seen reports on Village Green but missed them if there were here. Lots of cases in Orange, too.  Time for EVERYONE to be more vigilant.

 37 at Seton Hall.

https://villagegreennj.com/towns/south-orange/seton-hall-covid-cases-rise-to-37-new-clusters-among-athletic-teams-and-a-greek-organization/

Essex Co. reported 371 new cases on Saturday, the most of any other county in the state. 

"There were 1,994 new positive cases confirmed by the state today (Sat. Oct. 24) with Essex County with the greatest increase in cases (371 new positives), Hudson (197), and Bergen (151.) The cumulative total of confirmed cases across the state is now 227,339. NJ Gov. Phil Murphy stated, "We haven’t seen daily case numbers this high since May. We’re still in the midst of a pandemic and need everyone to take this seriously."

https://www.tapinto.net/sections/health-and-wellness/articles/joe-d-we-are-experiencing-second-surge-of-the-virus-covid-19-cases-on-the-rise-in-nutley-and-across-nj

Curious about what explains the difference between one college and another.  I decided to check my two kids' colleges (they're years out, not a matter of personal worry) and the incidents of Covid are minuscule at both.  Are kids being more careful there?  Luck? Something about the policies in place at different schools?

They had some contact tracers in the Newark crew put in extra shifts this past weekend. We're getting lots of pushback from people. Not answering the phone. Directly refusing the call or not giving up any contacts. Demanding to know who the COVID+ person is. We don't get to know that info many times but even when we do, it is a huge HIPAA bad thing to divulge it.

bikefixed said:

They had some contact tracers in the Newark crew put in extra shifts this past weekend. We're getting lots of pushback from people. Not answering the phone. Directly refusing the call or not giving up any contacts. Demanding to know who the COVID+ person is. We don't get to know that info many times but even when we do, it is a huge HIPAA bad thing to divulge it.

 If I don’t recognize a phone number then I won’t answer it.  Most people don’t.  Leave a voicemail and I’ll call it back.  Today 99% of unknown numbers with a New Jersey area code are either a political poll or someone “trying to reach you about your vehicle’s extended warranty.”

berkeley said:

Also, just want to be sure everyone knows about the "outbreaks" among Seton Hall students as well as So-Ma high school kids. I've seen reports on Village Green but missed them if there were here. Lots of cases in Orange, too.  Time for EVERYONE to be more vigilant.

I've heard about several more cases among high school teenagers in SOMA than has been officially reported between the two towns.  

The problem is if information is not openly shared we get rumors.  If 10 people all come on here and say they've heard about a few unreported cases, but they're all talking about the same three people, it falsely magnifies the problem. 

I don't know who is responsible for reporting the numbers locally. But I could see a situation where someone's kid gets a fever and the family chooses to self-quarantine and not get tested. Especially if nobody in the home shows serious symptoms.  

mrincredible said:

The problem is if information is not openly shared we get rumors.  If 10 people all come on here and say they've heard about a few unreported cases, but they're all talking about the same three people, it falsely magnifies the problem. 

I don't know who is responsible for reporting the numbers locally. But I could see a situation where someone's kid gets a fever and the family chooses to self-quarantine and not get tested. Especially if nobody in the home shows serious symptoms.  

I'm talking about kids that tested positive. 

yahooyahoo said:

I'm talking about kids that tested positive. 

I conflated two issues. 

One is the possibility of undiagnosed or unreported cases.

The other is lack of communication of number of active positive cases. If the school district says "we know of three active COVID cases in the school population" but you know first hand of four teens who have tested positive there's a communication problem. Or a credibility problem.

If a person in town tests positive, presumably that positive test is reported to some public health agency and we should officially hear about it. That's how it's supposed to work, right? Or are people getting tested privately and nobody is communicating the results?

From everything I’ve read, it is quite likely that privately administered antigen tests are not routinely reported to public health authorities.  PCR tests are done by central labs with protocols and systems for reporting cases and statistics, but the number of rapid tests being sold dwarfs the reporting, from what I’ve read (there was a good AP article on this recently, but I’m not at my computer to find it)

Sign at Walgreens. I assume people are asking. 

nohero said:

Sign at Walgreens. I assume people are asking. 

we as a country are doomed, aren't we?

mrincredible said:

yahooyahoo said:

I'm talking about kids that tested positive. 

I conflated two issues. 

One is the possibility of undiagnosed or unreported cases.

The other is lack of communication of number of active positive cases. If the school district says "we know of three active COVID cases in the school population" but you know first hand of four teens who have tested positive there's a communication problem. Or a credibility problem.

If a person in town tests positive, presumably that positive test is reported to some public health agency and we should officially hear about it. That's how it's supposed to work, right? Or are people getting tested privately and nobody is communicating the results?

I think positive tests are reported somehow to the local Health Department which then communicates to the school district, public, etc.  My impression is that the school district will not say anything unless the Health Department says something first.

ml1 said:

we as a country are doomed, aren't we?

 No.

mrincredible said:

ml1 said:

we as a country are doomed, aren't we?

 No.

 Aren't we the optimist.

drummerboy said:

mrincredible said:

ml1 said:

we as a country are doomed, aren't we?

 No.

 Aren't we the optimist.

 Yes.

Ask the Experts Q & A - Sunday at 7:30pm

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From a Danish newspaper, I have gleaned two issues with vaccine distribution:

The first vaccine (Pfizer?) must be stored at -70C (= -94F).  Doctors offices generally do not have equipment to provide that low a temperature.  Do pharmacies???  

• I had not seen this detail previously, so I wonder whether the current administation's distribution plans are capable of managing this.
• They are working on a dry version, that can be stored at higher temperatures and dissolved at time of use, but it is not ready yet.  And, it will presumably have to go through separate testing/approval. 

Also, this vaccine is supplied in containers with 5-10 doses, which apparently must be used in relatively short order.  In other words, this is intended for use in high volume facilities; in low volume facilities, a lot of doses will likely be wasted.

The low required temperatures were well known at the time of the Pfizer announcement, and one would assume that both Pfizer and the task force knew about this long before then.

Anyway, here's what Pfizer has to say about the low temp requirements:

We also have developed packaging and storage innovations to be fit for purpose for the range of locations where we believe vaccinations will take place. We have specially designed, temperature-controlled thermal shippers utilizing dry ice to maintain recommended temperature conditions of -70°C±10°C for up to 10 days. The intent is to utilize Pfizer-strategic transportation partners to ship by air to major hubs within a country/region and by ground transport to dosing locations.

We will utilize GPS-enabled thermal sensors with a control tower that will track the location and temperature of each vaccine shipment across their pre-set routes. These GPS-enabled devices will allow Pfizer to proactively prevent unwanted deviations and act before they happen.

Once a POU receives a thermal shipper with our vaccine, they have three options for storage:

- Ultra-low-temperature freezers, which are commercially available and can extend shelf life for up to six months.
- Refrigeration units that are commonly available in hospitals. The vaccine can be stored for five days at refrigerated 2-8°C conditions.
- The Pfizer thermal shippers, in which doses will arrive, that can be used as temporary storage units by refilling with dry ice for up to 15 days of storage.

After storage for 15 days in the Pfizer thermal shipper, vaccination centers can transfer the vials to 2-8°C storage conditions for an additional five days, for a total of 20 days. Once thawed and stored under 2-8°C conditions, the vials cannot be re-frozen or stored under frozen condition

The various storage options at the POU allow for equitable access to the Pfizer vaccine to areas with differing infrastructure.

Here's a really good vaccine rundown:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html

And a similar one from Bloomberg, in case you're unable to access one due to paywall:

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-coronavirus-drug-vaccine-status/

How's everyone hanging in there?  We're hanging in, but the recent spike is a bit disconcerting.  

It is disconcerting. This race between the flare up and vaccine availability is like a thriller movie.

We all let down our vigilance a bit when the thing flattened in the spring and summer but we have to up our vigilance now. 

I have to travel again for the holiday and I must admit it‘s scaring the **** outta me.

ridski said:

I have to travel again for the holiday and I must admit it‘s scaring the **** outta me.

 If you can’t stay home and have to travel, either by train or airplane, I’d recommend trying to source an N95 mask.  Going to the store is fine in a cloth mask, but being in an enclosed space with a number of people outside your household for an extended period of time is an extra risk so you’ll want the seal that the N95 provides.

Story in today’s WSJ about the role grocery stores will play in the dissemination of the vaccine because of the freezer setups they have. 

Heynj said:

Story in today’s WSJ about the role grocery stores will play in the dissemination of the vaccine because of the freezer setups they have. 

 How are grocery store freezers even close to the low temperatures needed for this vaccine?

sac said:

Heynj said:

Story in today’s WSJ about the role grocery stores will play in the dissemination of the vaccine because of the freezer setups they have. 

 How are grocery store freezers even close to the low temperatures needed for this vaccine?

 I think the Moderna vaccine survives at normal refrigerator temperatures.

I think even the Pfizer vaccine is OK at regular fridge temps for 5 days or so.  So dry ice and monitors for transit, then use it up fast.  Good for high-volume places?  Or maybe it will be uncompetitive vs. the other vaccines, who knows.

I had my first covid test today. Not as bad as I expected.