Coronavirus

[nebo113]

Finally hitting nursing homes here.  Schools seem to be doing sorta OK, though not so in surrounding counties.

[Kron3007]

The Pfizer vaccine news seems like real cause for optimism!  Nice way to start the week.

Cautious optimism. Even if a vaccine arrives, production and distribution are a problem, and it gets compounded if the conferred immunity is relatively brief or boosters are required. Billions of people need to vaccinated against COVID-19 at least once, maybe twice (or, worse, yearly!). But we also need to maintain the production and distribution of extant vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson is planning to scale up to a billion doses a year (IIRC by far the most of any single producer). CureVac's at 400 million. If we estimate 3 billion doses a year--which seems rather optimistic--that's still more than half the world getting zero doses. If you need two doses, we're down to a quarter of the world. And if you need yearly boosters, we're fucked. And all that's assuming no significant mutations (see: Danish mink).

So: cautious optimism. I'm not expecting to get it for a couple years, at least, and Canada has been really proactive about securing enough doses for the entire population (twice over or more).

I think if there was the will, it would be doable.  However, I don't know that there will be.

[spork]

Although the absolute numbers are still very small, especially compared to some other campuses in the larger geographic area, the number of positive cases at my university has doubled since Halloween weekend. All cases are students, except for a faculty member, who appears to have been infected through a family contact rather than from anyone on campus.

[hmaria1609]

From WTOP Radio: Gov. Northam of VA announces limits on gatherings and more starting Nov. 15th
https://wtop.com/coronavirus/2020/11/virginia-coronavirus-update-november-13/
Virginia leads the capitol region in the number of total confirmed covid-19 cases.

[Hegemony]

I have been keeping track of the daily diagnosis numbers in our relatively isolated county. A snapshot of the numbers of COVID+ diagnoses same week in three different months:

Six months ago (June): 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0.

Five months ago (July): 10, 18, 10, 13, 4, 8.

This month: 75, 57, 36, 49, 51, 65.

[nebo113]

From WTOP Radio: Gov. Northam of VA announces limits on gatherings and more starting Nov. 15th
https://wtop.com/coronavirus/2020/11/virginia-coronavirus-update-november-13/
Virginia leads the capitol region in the number of total confirmed covid-19 cases.

Most of the surge in cases is in SWVA where cult followers have eschewed masks with extreme defiance.

[science.expat]

I've just read that the Dakotas have the highest Covid rates per capita in the US. With 260k cases linked to that motorcycle rally back in August.

[apl68]

A neighboring library has just shut down after two staff members tested positive.  They don't have a lot of space there to practice social distancing, so the whole place is now quarantined until after the holiday.

A salutary reminder to our staff to keep from getting lax on our own social distancing and masking among ourselves.  It kept us from having to shut down months ago, when two of our staff tested positive.

[apl68]

What are people's thoughts here about the practice of meeting customers at the door, grilling them on how they feel, and zapping them with a temperature test?  I've seen that sort of thing described as "theater," meant to reassure customers that you're trying to do something even though there's no evidence that it actually works.  The temperature checks are of little benefit due to asymptomatic cases.

We've been asked why we don't do at-the-door screening like that.  Partly it's a staffing issue.  Mainly it's because it would be a lot of trouble to go to for little or no actual benefit.  We're masking, social distancing, and disinfecting after people.  Those are the real front-line defenses against the spread.

[spork]

What are people's thoughts here about the practice of meeting customers at the door, grilling them on how they feel, and zapping them with a temperature test?  I've seen that sort of thing described as "theater," meant to reassure customers that you're trying to do something even though there's no evidence that it actually works.  The temperature checks are of little benefit due to asymptomatic cases.

We've been asked why we don't do at-the-door screening like that.  Partly it's a staffing issue.  Mainly it's because it would be a lot of trouble to go to for little or no actual benefit.  We're masking, social distancing, and disinfecting after people.  Those are the real front-line defenses against the spread.

Yes, at this point it's theater, for the reasons you mention. In March, before people knew that such a high portion of infections were asymptomatic, it made a minimal amount of sense in certain situations, like entering a hospital for an appointment. But not now.

[Anselm]

What are people's thoughts here about the practice of meeting customers at the door, grilling them on how they feel, and zapping them with a temperature test?  I've seen that sort of thing described as "theater," meant to reassure customers that you're trying to do something even though there's no evidence that it actually works.  The temperature checks are of little benefit due to asymptomatic cases.

We've been asked why we don't do at-the-door screening like that.  Partly it's a staffing issue.  Mainly it's because it would be a lot of trouble to go to for little or no actual benefit.  We're masking, social distancing, and disinfecting after people.  Those are the real front-line defenses against the spread.

Yes, this reminds me of the soldiers in airports in 2001 whose rifles had no bullets.  It was all just to make people feel safer. 

I suppose the true answer can be given by the disease experts who have studied all of these measures and their effectiveness.   For things like masks and gloves they have actual numbers on the reduction in disease transmission.

[fleabite]

In my area, which is in pretty good shape, temperature tests are done routinely on entry to doctors' offices and museums but not libraries. I think the protocol is unlikely to catch more than a very small number of cases, but those it caught would likely be infectious (given the fever). That being so, I think it adds a little security that is useful when people will be entering areas populated with many vulnerable individuals (medical settings, nursing homes) or spending a long time inside (museums). For the moment, our libraries let people in only to pick up previously ordered books. I'm guessing that you don't have patrons spending a long time browsing inside at the moment, so I suspect taking temperatures would provide a relatively small benefit.

[kaysixteen]

Our local pl does not do temp checks, but does require every visitor, every time, to fill out a questionnaire wrt potential covid symptoms and contacts with covid + people, and give one's own contact info.   Walmart requires the staff to answer similar questions on reporting to work, and gives the temp check.   The temp check will of course tell whether you actually have a fever, but will do nothing for those asymptomatic cases.   However, of course, staff desiring not to be sent home from work could of course lie (as for that matter could library patrons).

[hmaria1609]

Here's the update about reopening plans in DC:
https://wtop.com/dc/2020/11/dc-coronavirus-update-november-16/
Posted on WTOP Radio online (11/16/20)

[FishProf]

Smolt's Karate does a temp check.  That will, at least, catch symptomatic cases (of something).  Which is all that can be done until real time Covid tests in <5min are available everywhere.

Is it Theater because it doesn't catch everything?  I would call it Theater when it doesn't do anything (like requiring a mask while you are driving in your car on the highway by yourself).

What's the alternative?