Hoosier

The testing has to get A LOT better so we can track it better and just have better data. Sure, it is not quite as limited as a few weeks ago, but there are still a lot of stories about symptomatic people who can't get tested. As an example, there have been less than 600 people tested in the entire state of Indiana. That has got to change fast.

For all that has been learned so far, still more to learn. The thing about those with type A blood type perhaps being more at risk of contracting it than type O is interesting. I am either type A or O. Not sure which.

^who gave me the hotdog for that post? I mean, yeah, we should not be overly optimistic yet (look at the flu... we still have many thousands of deaths/year in this country even with a vaccine and tamiflu, etc) but maybe something can work.

Some positive info about a couple meds already in existence that seem to have effectiveness in treating this.

That is right. I got a text from a friend that said that essential stuff was going to remain open, which implied that everything else was going to shut down.

Missed some of it but sounds like Pritzker is dropping the hammer in IL.

Indiana schools closed until at least May 1. Not to get political but there is starting to be a conservative backlash against our Republican governor. It is what it is though... there is pretty clear authority for the measures taken so far.

Slight good news out of Italy. Deaths are down from yesterday but still over 400.

South Bend area going into partial lockdown with only essential travel allowed.

Latest case around here is a mechanic at a car dealership. He was off work for like a week so at least didn't keep spreading it to other employees and customers all this time.

We should go full on Wuhan style lockdown in the United States. It would suck and it may be illegal but short term pain for long term gain.

That does point to a much higher number of cases than have been confirmed. Nobody really knows but I have seen estimates that it may be 10x higher at a minimum.

Big jump in cases at that nursing home too.

A couple things we do have in our favor compared to Italy is that the US has a lower percentage of elderly people and overall, our population is much more spread out than Italy. The downside is that our response has been much more patchwork and inconsistent state by state so far. Because of that and when the restrictions are inevitably relaxed or people just get tired of following them, we may be playing whack a mole with hotspots/clusters for a while.

There is some pretty detailed info on the newspaper website about one of the local Lake county IN cases, much of which is from this sick woman's husband since medical officials are obviously limited with what they can release. She wasn't feeling well so she went to urgent care about a week ago, tested negative for flu and was diagnosed with a kidney infection and sent home. Then went to the ER on Saturday with an increasing fever and shortness of breath. Condition quickly worsened and then she was tested and came back positive on Monday night. Currently in critical condition.

It hasn't moved perfectly like that... there have been some ups and downs but the past 4 days or so have all been the worst.

475 new deaths in Italy, worst day yet and why it is important to not overwhelm the system because some of those people who have died would have otherwise survived.

Looks like non-essential travel between the U.S. and Canada is going to be banned sometime soon.

My cousin's aunt and uncle (not related to me though) got back from a Europe trip and the aunt is running a fever along with a sore throat. I thought she and her husband got back like a week ago but turns out they were caught up in that long mess at ORD this past weekend. The sore throat is one of the much less common symptoms but can happen. She should probably get tested just to know but no idea if she will.

I'm going to change it to evil foreign invader so as to not stigmatize a city.

The $1000 for everybody idea is sort of interesting. There is an Oprah meme for that.

For real. I have been trying to talk my mom into not going to the gym. She is not in the highest risk group but she is later 60s. She is good with sanitizing the equipment but still. Most of what she does she could figure out some exercise substitutions at home. I imagine the decision is going to be taken out of her hands in the very near future anyway.

The new report that came out is mind boggling... says the closings/social distancing may have to go on for up to 18 months or until a vaccine is widely available. Good luck getting people to go along with that. At some point I think people would just say screw it and if I get sick or die, so be it.

First 2 cases confirmed here in Lake county IN. Both currently in the hospital.

Ohio polls closed tomorrow. Hopefully the other states that are voting are doing whatever they can to minimize the risk.