First U.S coronavirus case of unknown origin confirmed in Northern California...

[herding cats]

Last edited Wed Feb 26, 2020, 09:10 PM - Edit history (1)

First U.S coronavirus case of unknown origin confirmed in Northern California, a sign the virus may be spreading in a local area

BREAKING:?The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been informed of the first case of the coronavirus in a person who did not recently return from a foreign country or have contact with a confirmed case, according to a person briefed on the case. Officials have begun tracing the contacts of the resident to find out how the person may have been infected and who else might have been exposed..
This is a developing story. It will be updated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/coronavirus-china-live-updates/2020/02/26/f889693a-580e-11ea-9000-f3cffee23036_story.html

A person in California who was not exposed to anyone with the coronavirus and had not traveled to countries in which the virus is circulating has tested positive for the new coronavirus, representing what may be the first case of community spread here in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.

“At this point, the patient’s exposure is unknown,” a C.D.C. statement said. “The case was detected through the U.S. public health system and picked up by astute clinicians.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/health/coronavirus-cdc-usa.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

[Leghorn21]

1. There it is

Thanks, cats

[herding cats]

4. You're welcome.

It's scary news to me as my family live in NoCal. 😟

[shanti]

5. Me too

[herding cats]

8. I hope they stay safe.

It's distressing to see this, but it's not unexpected.

[shanti]

40. Sacramento has become Ground Zero

It won't stay here though. Lots of commuters to downtown Sacramento, including people flying in for government business. And the patient was in the largest teaching hospital in the area. Great I would have figured that SF or LA would be the city that took the brunt of it.

Glad I bought a good N95 mask several weeks ago before this got super hot.

[Brother Buzz]

43. One could make the argument Solano County is ground zero

Sacramento is treating one patient
Sonoma is treating one patient
Contra Costa is treating three patients

All five (four from Travis AFB and one from Vacaville) contracted the coronavirus in Solano County.

[shanti]

44. Yeah

I think they were all connected to Travis. Sacramento is a major city that has lots of people in and out, and the other places, not so much. The patient was already vented before getting here. What do you think about the fact that no children have been affected? That is mystifying.

Stay safe, BB!

[Leghorn21]

6. Yes, that's way too close to home, cats

Hang tough, my friend, and please keep us posted as to how you and yours are doing with this bombshell in your neighborhood—

Also, this was news to me: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181323756

I have never properly washed my hands in my life, apparently - I found this to be supremely educational

[herding cats]

7. We all need to learn to wash our hands properly now.

I too am guilty of having done it wrong most of my life!

[Mike 03]

2. Forex Live reporting this too as a breaking headline

This is significant because its the first U.S coronavirus case of unknown origin confirmed

A coronavirus case has been found in California - of unknown origin
Wed 26 Feb 2020 23:50:25 GMT

Developing.

https://www.forexlive.com/news/!/a-coronavirus-case-has-been-found-in-california-of-unknown-origin-20200226

[herding cats]

9. We're about to find out how infectious it is in real-time.

We're also going to find out how prepared we actually are for COVID-19 here in the US.

[Delmette2.0]

3. Here we go, folks.

Doctors and officials don't know much about how COVID-19 is spread. By the time they do figure it all out, a lot of people will be infected.

[Sunsky]

10. Here we go...

I'd feel more at ease if these lying bunch of incompetents weren't in charge.

[Kermit the Prog]

11. We're doomed. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

Seriously, am I the only one not panicking over this?

This is about the 10th "pandemic" in my lifetime.

My grandfather's first wife actually died in the influenza pandemic of 1918–19.

[shanti]

41. Do you live in Sacramento?

[Crunchy Frog]

42. You joined yesterday just so you could come on here and scold us?

[Leghorn21]

12. Hey cats, just ran into this:

The patient is a resident of Solano County and receiving medical treatment in Sacramento County, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Link to tweet

Does this narrow the location down a little for you?

[herding cats]

13. Thank you for this update, Leghorn!

It's very helpful.

[Leghorn21]

14. You're welcome, cats --- now check THIS - the patient was already on a vent before getting tested!!

...snip

When the patient arrived, the patient had already been intubated, was on a ventilator, and given droplet protection orders because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition,” the email said.

“Since the patient arrived with a suspected viral infection, our care teams have been taking the proper infection prevention precautions during the patient’s stay.

“Upon admission, our team asked public health officials if this case could be COVID-19. We requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, since neither Sacramento County nor (the California Department of Public Health) is doing testing for coronavirus at this time. Since the patient did not fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19, a test was not immediately administered,” said the email, which added that, “UC Davis Health does not control the testing process.”

On Sunday, the CDC ordered COVID-19 testing of the patient and the patient was put on airborne precautions and strict contact precautions. The positive test results were announced on Wednesday.



https://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/newly-diagnosed-coronavirus-patient-being-treated-at-uc-davis-medical-center/

[herding cats]

15. I just read that, too.

They requested a test a week ago and were denied. The CDC finally tested them on Sunday and received the positive results today.

Then there's this:

“When the patient arrived, the patient had already been intubated, was on a ventilator, and given droplet protection orders because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition,” the email said.

This virus doesn't usually progress to the stage of needing intubation that quickly. This patient had most likely been sick for sometime before they were admitted to the hospital if they were that ill already.

None of this is good.

[Leghorn21]

17. I know, and then this part:

“because of the precautions we have had in place since this patient’s arrival, we believe there has been minimal potential for exposure here at UC Davis Medical Center,” the email said.

Nevertheless, a small number of medical center employees have been asked to stay home and monitor their temperatures.”

If the medical center employees weren’t 100% hazmatted and protected and dressed out and on high-quality respirators around this poor man, well guess what??!

No, there’s nothing “good” happening here, where are our fkn TESTS ffs??!!

arrghhh

[herding cats]

18. That truly doesn't sound good.

I'm also wondering if this was a transfer patient from another facility? They extremely ill and one would think they'd have at least sought medical care someplace before this point.

[Leghorn21]

20. Yes, he was a transfer:

“Simmons said the patient was transferred to UC Davis from “another Northern California hospital” on Wednesday, Feb 19.”

So THAT hospital’s personnel are probably...on high alert

Brother Buzz’ post points out the proximity of Travis AFB...seems as if it might have started emulating from there - ?

[herding cats]

22. Thank you, I'd missed that.

Also, any other medical care (clinic, doctors office, etc.) they may have sought out while this progressed to the severe state.

This truly is a nightmare scenario.

Yes, Travis AFB is a possible exposure link. I'd tend to think if they had direct contact to there this would have been a faster test by the CDC. So, perhaps it's secondary exposure via another person?

[Brother Buzz]

16. Travis AFB is smack dab in the middle of Solano County

Some of the Americans passengers on the Japanese cruise ship were sent to Travis AFB.

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to make an educated guess what the source 'might' be. And I find it curious the powers that be seem to be intentionally neglecting to mention the possible Travis connection from the local news.

[herding cats]

29. It was mentioned in one local ABC article I read, but it's mostly ignored.

It is possible there's a link there, and if there isn't it's one hell of a coincidence.

[Iggo]

19. "A person in California who was not exposed to anyone with the coronavirus..."

Bullshit.

"At this point, the patient’s exposure is unknown..."

Better.

"...had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual..."

Even better.

[Brother Buzz]

23. Occam's razor says there a Typhoid Mary walking around....

somewhere in Northern California.

[herding cats]

24. That seems a real possibility.

This person caught it from someone. Who?

[Brother Buzz]

28. Someone from Travis AFB. The sneaky coronavirus made a prison break and is on the lam

[herding cats]

30. Lol! 😄

As always, your humor is a pleasure BB!

Is it possible it's an asymptomatic person in the support staff from there? Who knows. This person caught it from someone though.

[Brother Buzz]

34. That's my working theory until I learn otherwise

And I suspect it's not someone on the support staff that had direct, albeit protected, contact with the patients. The safety protocol broke down, somewhere down the line.

[herding cats]

37. That's possible.

At this point it works for me, too.

Until I know otherwise, it's the most likely vector. Also, it's a bit comforting to think it came from there rather than an asymptotic person wander in the wild. So, I'll take it!

[Brother Buzz]

38. I don't find much comfort knowing it escaped. Escaped is escaped

For all we know, it could be civilian contractor with lax sanitary practices tasked to deal with the contaminated garbage, and he NEVER misses happy hour at the 'Dew Drop Inn', just off base.

[herding cats]

39. True, even if a dark scenario.

We don't know.

An aside, +100 for the 'Dew Drop In' reference!

[FM123]

27. Scary thought!

[Pachamama]

35. On 2/24 there were about 20,000 people in Staples Center in LA for Kobe Bryant's Memorial

Who wants to bet there were at least a dozen people from Italy there who knew Kobe and his father and just arrived from Italy?

Kobe grew up in Italy when his father played pro basketball there and his Italian is perfect along with the mannerisms and gestures. He named his daughter "Gianna" and maintained many close relationships....

And as all those people were in close proximity and lots of cry and sniffing, that when Jimmy Kimmel told everyone to turn to a neighbor and reach out to them....

Occam's razor indeed....

(at 4 mins, Kimmel encourages those 20K people to "reach out and touch someone" )

[herding cats]

25. That was poorly worded, I agree. NT

[babylonsister]

21. This is a BFD, folks. Stand by, it's about to get worse. Maddow

educated me on this tonight. Frightening.

[herding cats]

26. I'm about to watch her here.

Was it informative?

[babylonsister]

31. Very. nt

[Pachamama]

32. And so it begins....but don't fear....IMPotus says its all fine....

[RockRaven]

33. We're all going to be exposed to this. We might as well accept that and act accordingly.

Destroying our economy and society by trying to hide from something which cannot be hidden from seems like it's just piling self-inflicted injury upon unavoidable-injury.

Impotent fatalism is a bad look, I know, but it might be more rational than the bloviating bravado from the WH.

It is virtually certain that any top-down directives from Trump's White House are going to be ignorant, counter-productive, and solely focused on short-term 24-hr news cycle optics rather than actually minimizing morbidity, mortality, or economic cost.

[herding cats]

36. I'd rec this if I could.

This is a nerve wracking situation under the best of times. Sadly, we don't live under the best of times. Far from it.

This is a virus, stopping it's spread isn't going to happen. Even if it becomes seasonal (which we don't know yet if it will yet) it will return long before we can hope to have a vaccine available.

We currently need to focus on expanding ICU beds, ventilators and PPE for medical staff. We also need to consider how we're going to slow spread here within our own borders. Which will mean more self-quarantine and qualified staff to check in on quarantined people.

All we've gotten so far is bravado and now Pence. We've been wasting time we should have been spending on preparing our medical infrastructure.

[Brother Buzz]

45. This thing just went sideways

Turns out, it's a woman, and she spent eleven days in a Vacaville hospital, and it appears she wasn't in isolation! It wasn't until her condition went south and she was transferred the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento where she was tested for coronavirus.

Eleven days! And there's no way of telling how many people she came into casual contact with!

Hell, even my next door neighbor works there so I guess I'm going to avoid her like the plague for the next two weeks.