"Reading the federal government’s new case study on the spread of the novel coronavirus in Chicago feels like watching the movie “Contagion,” as Gwyneth Paltrow’s character returns from Macao to Minnesota. It’s a real-life reminder that a single person can trigger a deadly chain reaction.
The story laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention begins with a funeral in February. Patient Zero, a friend of the deceased who had recently traveled out of state and was experiencing mild respiratory symptoms, came to a dinner the night before the service. He shared a takeout meal from common serving dishes with two family members of the deceased at a house.
Three days later, one of the dinner hosts started to show symptoms of the coronavirus. Two days after that, the other did too. A third member of the family, who hugged Patient Zero at the funeral, got sick.
A few days after the funeral, Patient Zero – still only experiencing mild symptoms – went to a birthday party with nine other people. Seven of them soon fell ill. Two have died.
Three of the seven people who would get sick after the birthday party then went to church. Someone sitting within a row of them in the pews during the service, who was passed the offering plate, soon developed symptoms.
The first host of the dinner from the night before the funeral was hospitalized as their condition deteriorated. A ventilator would not be able to save this person, but a family member who came to visit the hospital soon developed a fever and cough.
All these infected people unwittingly transmitted the disease to other loved ones, fellow parishioners, home health workers and so forth. This happened before Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) banned gatherings of more than 50 people and, four days after that, issued a stay-at-home order.
This is how clusters form. Such seemingly innocuous person-to-person contact is the way places turn into hot spots. In New Orleans, it was Mardi Gras. In Italy, it was a soccer game. In France, it was a ski resort.
This is why it is so risky for the citizens they are supposed to serve that seven Republican governors persist in their refusal to issue stay-at-home orders, even as the United States now has about 15,000 confirmed deaths, including at least 1,924 on Wednesday, and 432,000 confirmed cases. This is why it is reckless and irresponsible for those few pastors who are defying federal social distancing guidelines to hold in-person services during the Holy Week."
Written by
MBAnderson
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It simply means they care that an honest, accurate, spin-free version of their facts and figures is conveyed to the more discerning Americans on a consistent, ongoing basis and this - of course - best takes place under the auspices of the Covid-19 Task Force's daily briefings at the White House. They, like the majority of discerning Americans, are well aware that CNN and CNBC exist solely to rile the foaming/sputtering TDS masses nowadays and refuse to indulge their efforts.
With a few exceptions, I've noticed the press (certainly here in Australia) are trying (for once) not to be alarmist, although in the US I think that would be a bit difficult at the moment, looking at your situation from the outside.
They were not barred because they were concerned about spin on CNN. Just the opposite. Pence said they were barred because CNN did not give them enough coverage. Think about that.
The question is, but will it work? after reopening what will happen? Are we willing to face a famine and related social unrest that will inevitably lead to a police state?
We tended to look to the US for leadership, but no more. While the rest of the world is having mixed success, the US is fumbling.
Our government in Australia, both State and Federal, have united to fight the virus. We have a National Cabinet set up consisting of all our State Premiers and our Prime Minister. They are both Conservative and Labor parties and normally don't agree on anything. Our Federal Government is Conservative. They have been totally united. We do only have 6 States, which makes consensus a little easier.
We are in almost total lock down over Easter and beyond. Only a few reasons to leave the house. No gatherings, with a couple of exceptions (5 people at a wedding, 10 at a funeral with social distancing), no visiting, unless care giver, and on it goes.
I think everyone is very scared, so we are sticking to the rules. Our infection rate was rising quickly. Now it's dropped dramatically over the past couple of weeks.
Our economy is being decimated of course, with huge unemployment, and the Government is pouring money into schemes to help the unemployed, or for companies to keep people employed with subsidies.
What a disaster for us all. But I'm very thankful for this forum. I thank you all.
They used to say that people could not be sent back to work where they would have contact with several dozen customers or colleagues unless it was known that they were not contagious.
That 1st isolation, contact tracing, and quarantine, had to be in place which required antibody testing. Now Fauci is saying we can reopen the economy based on the contagion of a community, not the individual. The standard is if a community's case number has dropped for 2 consecutive weeks they're eligible to be reopened.
Keeping in mind that the number of people who are contagious as the curve bends down is the same number of people who were contagious at the same point when the curve was on its way up.
This "roadmap" for reopening the economy is not precise enough, specific enough, to keep seniors and vulnerable populations such as PWP alive.
In addition to the federal government's declination to be fully involved, surely, there is a way to get food that is currently being destroyed instead to the food banks
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