U of Houston suspending all athletic workouts

[dinglefritz]

I think there are more young people with underlying health issues than some realize. Everyone wearing masks would keep this virus well contained. But just like people won't stop risky behaviors that spread the HIV virus, not many people seem to want to bother with a mask either. By the way, the latest info suggests that a mutation did occur somewhere in Italy and that strain is 10 times more contagious and is the strain that ravaged Europe and the East Coast. My guess is that strain now has made its way to LA, Arizona, etc just in time for the reopening of everything. Could get ugly again out there. Mask up!

I agree with your post except the part of a mutation making it 10X more contagious. The problem in the southwest U.S is that it's getting in to immigrant households. The same spike in cases has happened surrounding packing plants in the midwest with immigrant labor. In general, Hispanic gatherings tend to be large and there's absolutely no social distancing going on. I don't know where you got that but it sounds like junk science to me. There is NO doubt that there are large numbers of young people walking around in particular with asthma. The severity of their asthma does make a difference to their outcomes if infected by COVID-19. There's also a fair number of young people walking around with cystic fibrosis etc. I would hope that they are staying home and taking every precaution they can.

 

[dinglefritz]

Thanks but no thanks. I've masked up voluntarily for long enough. I'm done. I want life to come back. I'm no more worried about the Muhan virus than I am about any other virus. Democrats would LOVE to lock us at home and close businesses because of a new mutated virus. But real Americans should be done with this nonsense.

I wear a mask in public places where I know I might come face to face with a clerk or cashier. In general most people don't understand the 6' concept. So far the hospitalization rate in my area is still ridiculously small even though we only did a partial shut down.

 

[dinglefritz]

Never argue with dingle.

He stayed in Holiday Inn last night.

No but I slept with a boarded pulmonologist last night. My debate adversary is in a terrible spot to be for COVID-19. I feel his pain. St. Paul has large numbers of obese diabetic and heart patients in their minority population. On top of that their immigrant residents don't practice the best preventative procedures. They're really getting hit hard. Having people confined to their homes not getting any sunlight hasn't helped them IMO. Then you throw in over 2 weeks of protests and no doubt the hospital he works for is getting slammed. He no doubt is trying to get people to be more responsible with their behavior and in that regard he's correct. Unfortunately talking to college age and younger kids probably doesn't do a lot of good. IMO, that's why gathering a whole sports team instead of having them wandering around their home town is probably a very good idea. Moos was right when he said we could take better care of them on campus than if they were at home.

 

[dinglefritz]

seriously, what is your problem? Do you think I’m going to give you identifying information on a football board? I’m a board certified physician (all you need to know) who takes care of individual Covid pts, and is tasked with coordinating the care of all Covid pts in our system. “I don’t have access to that information”? Seriously, what is your problem? And I never commented on the pt needing a transplant. I documented the young woman in St. Paul who died a few days ago. Either you are Benignly mixing up posters, or your rage/agenda is getting to you.

It isn't rage. I don't appreciate the false narrative that you're spreading about the potential of serious illness from this for young healthy college aged kids. You are not a board certified pulmonologist or you would have said so. Spreading illogical fear has now gotten a large majority of people not taking this seriously. You shouldn't have access to the health records of the 30 year old at a different hospital and you know it. You have no idea what underlying health issues she had.

 

[schuele]

Spreading illogical fear has now gotten a large majority of people not taking this seriously.

Let me get this straight. You're NOT in favor of spreading illogical fear that causes people to take COVID-19 less seriously?

The whole deal really starts to smell like a political conspiracy to destroy our economy. I'm going to have to pull the old tin foil hat out of my closet. I don't think there's any doubt that China purposely facilitated the spread. It's amazing how quickly the progressive media dropped the topic when the riots started.

 

[dinglefritz]

Let me get this straight. You're NOT in favor of spreading illogical fear that causes people to take COVID-19 less seriously?

correct. IMO, there are people on the left who used this crisis. Do you remember "we have an opportunity to use this to advance our agenda."? CNN's and MSNBC's coverage of the crisis has been despicable. Neither of them have mentioned the incompetent handling of the crisis by their democrat governor and mayor buddies while blasting Trump. When he or we don't wear masks, we're murderers. When thousands of rioters and looters hit the streets wounding and in a couple of cases killing cops, they don't say a word. How many cases of COVID-19 do you think were spread by those rioters and not a word about the dangerous behavior from those people by CNN or MSNBC. I'm all for sensible behavior like social distancing as much as possible and wearing masks in public places. IMO, opening bars is going to lead to more spread but it is a free society and people make their choices. As a 60+ yaer old with asthma, I'm choosing to avoid crowds and I wear a mask. Educate people but for God's sake don't spread irrational fear to our youth. The disease facts don't support that.

 

[kidofSN]

This is from a Doctor on Staff for Nebraska Medicine..
This is an email from Nebraska Medicine critical care anesthesiologist Dan Johnson, MD, to his friends and family about the seriousness of COVID-19. It is shared with permission from Dr. Johnson.

Dear Family,

The COVID-19 pandemic will be a challenge to the USA unlike any we have experienced in our lifetime. For the last several weeks, I have been involved in multiple meetings each day where I get to hear the thoughts of experts in the field of pandemics, specifically about this pandemic, and what we need to do.

If anyone hears from family or friends who think this is “no big deal,” or that the USA’s response has been excessive, please know that they are very wrong. I’m sure you have all read about the many reasons that this is NOT “just like flu.” The numbers of infected, worldwide and in the USA, are extreme underestimates (because many infected have not been tested). The best metric to use, right now, is talking with hospital workers in the hotbeds, and asking them what their situation is.

I have been in communication with a friend who is a critical care physician from the Lombardy region of Italy. The health care workers there are living in a nightmare, having to decide who lives and who dies from lack of oxygen because their health care system is overwhelmed.

In the USA, we have three pathways for COVID-19:

1. The country views this challenge like WWI and WWII, and almost everyone does the right things, and we will be harmed but okay.
2. Many people do the right things, and many don’t, and we will have the same struggles that Italy is enduring.
3. People blow this disease off as no big deal, and our health care system (and life as we know it) will be crippled.

 

[jlb321]

Then knock yourself out and wear one. I will continue to pass. Cannot speak for others but for me the covid reaction feels a little scammy, I won't do a thing to legitimize it....and we also have about as many people who argue it does no good as we do who will argue the opposite. So it's certainly not a black and white issue by any means.

 

[dinglefritz]

This is from a Doctor on Staff for Nebraska Medicine..
This is an email from Nebraska Medicine critical care anesthesiologist Dan Johnson, MD, to his friends and family about the seriousness of COVID-19. It is shared with permission from Dr. Johnson.

Dear Family,

The COVID-19 pandemic will be a challenge to the USA unlike any we have experienced in our lifetime. For the last several weeks, I have been involved in multiple meetings each day where I get to hear the thoughts of experts in the field of pandemics, specifically about this pandemic, and what we need to do.

If anyone hears from family or friends who think this is “no big deal,” or that the USA’s response has been excessive, please know that they are very wrong. I’m sure you have all read about the many reasons that this is NOT “just like flu.” The numbers of infected, worldwide and in the USA, are extreme underestimates (because many infected have not been tested). The best metric to use, right now, is talking with hospital workers in the hotbeds, and asking them what their situation is.

I have been in communication with a friend who is a critical care physician from the Lombardy region of Italy. The health care workers there are living in a nightmare, having to decide who lives and who dies from lack of oxygen because their health care system is overwhelmed.

In the USA, we have three pathways for COVID-19:

1. The country views this challenge like WWI and WWII, and almost everyone does the right things, and we will be harmed but okay.
2. Many people do the right things, and many don’t, and we will have the same struggles that Italy is enduring.
3. People blow this disease off as no big deal, and our health care system (and life as we know it) will be crippled.

How many weeks/months old is that email? We all know that already from personal experience. Life as we know it is already F'd up beyond belief. Part of that was the hysteria of a few major news outlets. After outrageous prediction after outrageous prediction falling flat, people have tuned them out. Personally I have never said this is "no big deal for the country". This has been an unmitigated disaster in so many ways for us. This is NOT a big deal for the health of college aged kids. I was first on this board sounding the alarm to Marlowe's question about this virus. Unfortunately due to the stupidity of some of our governors and mayors they've made this much worse than it needed to be. I've said all along that nursing homes were going to get clobbered. I said almost from day one that cities needed to shut down mass transit specifically subways in New York. I also said almost immediately that we needed to shut down air travel. NONE of that happened. Italy's healthcare system was a mess before COVID-19 and the huge number of foreigners traveling to Italy from China clobbered them before they knew what was going on.

I've said for weeks that if you get on an airplane or go to a bar you need to assume you've been exposed. Right now the biggest problem is occurring in immigrant and low income communities where people either don't give a sh## or are too ignorant to take ANY precautions. That doesn't make the wealthy or cautious immune to getting the virus but their odds are a helluva lot better than the idiots who went out protesting these past 2 weeks. Where was all of the outrage from regionsdoc over that last week. I suspect he's getting to deal with some of the fallout of cases now from that deal. Promoting the idea that an 18-25 year old who is otherwise completely healthy has even a moderate degree of risk from this virus is just plain dishonest.

 

[Sodakred]

you have no idea what you are talking about - there are currently 400+ patients on ECMO related to COVID in the US - most with primary single organ failure - lungs

the virus primarily damages the lungs - when severe, the ventilator further beats the shit out of the lungs and they gradually become fibrotic and nonviable

Don’t bother with science. Science is mostly fiction. Masks are a waste of time to prevent a virus no worse than flu. Second hand smoke never hurt anyone. Vaccines cause autism. Darwin was a hack. Humanity is 10,000 years old and Dino was really a pet dinosaur. And above all, football is way more important than any stupid pandemic, whatever a pandemic is.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

View embedded media

I've seen soldiers in masks. My son and his entire class wore them when they graduated their training class for the Air Force a few months ago to. I was stoked to see who addressed those guys at West Point in your picture though, gave me chills actually.

 

[bshirt73]

How many weeks/months old is that email? We all know that already from personal experience. Life as we know it is already F'd up beyond belief. Part of that was the hysteria of a few major news outlets. After outrageous prediction after outrageous prediction falling flat, people have tuned them out. Personally I have never said this is "no big deal for the country". This has been an unmitigated disaster in so many ways for us. This is NOT a big deal for the health of college aged kids. I was first on this board sounding the alarm to Marlowe's question about this virus. Unfortunately due to the stupidity of some of our governors and mayors they've made this much worse than it needed to be. I've said all along that nursing homes were going to get clobbered. I said almost from day one that cities needed to shut down mass transit specifically subways in New York. I also said almost immediately that we needed to shut down air travel. NONE of that happened. Italy's healthcare system was a mess before COVID-19 and the huge number of foreigners traveling to Italy from China clobbered them before they knew what was going on.

I've said for weeks that if you get on an airplane or go to a bar you need to assume you've been exposed. Right now the biggest problem is occurring in immigrant and low income communities where people either don't give a sh## or are too ignorant to take ANY precautions. That doesn't make the wealthy or cautious immune to getting the virus but their odds are a helluva lot better than the idiots who went out protesting these past 2 weeks. Where was all of the outrage from regionsdoc over that last week. I suspect he's getting to deal with some of the fallout of cases now from that deal. Promoting the idea that an 18-25 year old who is otherwise completely healthy has even a moderate degree of risk from this virus is just plain dishonest.

Excellent post that's a very good read & well stated. Also having a boatload of common sense. It's crazy times to be sure. Anyways....thank you sir!

 

[kidofSN]

My post was first written in March and then he resent it out last week. Guess he still feels the same about the virus that some people want to ignore. As he said how can anyone suggest this is not real with over 400,000 people dead and another 3 million active cases along with many who have "recovered" scarred in ways we have no idea at this point!

 

[kidofSN]

I am thankful only one person in my family has been affected and thankful nobody in your families have been affected at this point!

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

My post was first written in March and then he resent it out last week. Guess he still feels the same about the virus that some people want to ignore. As he said how can anyone suggest this is not real with over 400,000 people dead and another 3 million active cases along with many who have "recovered" scarred in ways we have no idea at this point!

I heard it was 4 million, or was it 40???.....and my twin sister, who is a nurse, has it. She doesn't want us to shut the world down again, I actually asked. She said no.

 

[dinglefritz]

My post was first written in March and then he resent it out last week. Guess he still feels the same about the virus that some people want to ignore. As he said how can anyone suggest this is not real with over 400,000 people dead and another 3 million active cases along with many who have "recovered" scarred in ways we have no idea at this point!

Yeah and I know a left wing pulmonologist who is still fear mongering too. The other docs in his group are ready to bash his head in over his incessant Facebook posts. Never mind that New York's beloved governor just said, "We've tamed the beast. We're opening back up". That is why I asked how old that email was. We get it. It's serious. We've gotten better at treating it and IF people choose to be safer they can be. BTW, the consensus seems to be that lockdowns did little or nothing to help New York's cause. Some common sense things like shutting down the freaking subways would have done WAY more than the stay at home orders did.

 

[dinglefritz]

I am thankful only one person in my family has been affected and thankful nobody in your families have been affected at this point!

hope things are going okay for your family member. As I told my Pastor back in early February when she was reluctant to cancel a church supper, "we're going to have members die from this. Most of our attendees are elderly and have some health issues". Well so far it's just been one guy in his late 50s who has gotten it., brittle diabetic, obese with end stage renal disease on dialysis. He's been hospitalized for over 2 weeks but he's out of ICU and I'm not sure but I don't think they ever put him on a vent. He keeps posting on Facebook and says he's doing better.

 

[Iroh2]

The lockdown did arrest transmission across the state if you look at the data. The big takeaway was that national leadership went AWOL when the early decisions needed to be made so this is the mess we were left with. We had a chance to stunt the spread early but declined to step up to the challenge. Weak national leadership was killer...

 

[dinglefritz]

The lockdown did arrest transmission across the state if you look at the data. The big takeaway was that national leadership went AWOL when the early decisions needed to be made so this is the mess we were left with. We had a chance to stunt the spread early but declined to step up to the challenge. Weak national leadership was killer...

Was it the lockdown or was it rational citizens taking precautions they were given. We had advice and leadership from the CDC. Much of it was bad advice. Weak leadership at the state level was the killer. F'n DeBlasio should have be removed from office by now. And I'm serious, Cuomo should be prosecuted for murder for forcing nursing homes to take positive patients. They're idiots. WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH VENTILATORS. Oh wait I guess we do. We'll give the extras away. Stay in your cramped crappy apartments with all of your neighbors. Oh wait, Maybe that didn't help. Maybe some sunshine and excercise might have been good. Head to China town for dinner, DeBlasio's and Polosi's best lines. Yeah it was a national problem....not.

 

[TheWayITellEm]

Then knock yourself out and wear one. I will continue to pass. Cannot speak for others but for me the covid reaction feels a little scammy, I won't do a thing to legitimize it....and we also have about as many people who argue it does no good as we do who will argue the opposite. So it's certainly not a black and white issue by any means.

I agree. The mask has become a symbol of Communism, it really has. A symbol that we're sheep under total government control....perfectly willing to be locked at home with businesses closed and our life rationed in random and stupid ways as dictated by our rulers. Look at the glee the Communist media gets from masks....they even wear masks in their profile-photos on social-media.

 

[BigBL87]

My family is headed to Galveston, TX for a quick beach vacation next week, so hopefully things have leveled out by then. I think we've all been exposed anyway, but I'm not too concerned. We'll either be in our hotel room enjoying the ocean view or on the beach practicing social distancing. I don't see too much more risk than I already have with my job.

 

[jeans15]

Apparently Iowa St has about 19 cases. Prior to practicing. So it's good they caught it.

 

[dinglefritz]

Apparently Iowa St has about 19 cases. Prior to practicing. So it's good they caught it.

Was it good that they caught the virus or good that they caught that they had the virus? Asking for a friend,

 

[dinglefritz]

My family is headed to Galveston, TX for a quick beach vacation next week, so hopefully things have leveled out by then. I think we've all been exposed anyway, but I'm not too concerned. We'll either be in our hotel room enjoying the ocean view or on the beach practicing social distancing. I don't see too much more risk than I already have with my job.

Mmmm I dunno. You'll likely be mingling at that beach with large numbers of people who don't practice ANY prevention techniques. Just keep your distance from people and you'll be fine. Hotel hallways or elevators are a risk. Personally I would mask up in the halls and not ride an elevator with any strangers.

 

[BigBL87]

Mmmm I dunno. You'll likely be mingling at that beach with large numbers of people who don't practice ANY prevention techniques. Just keep your distance from people and you'll be fine. Hotel hallways or elevators are a risk. Personally I would mask up in the halls and not ride an elevator with any strangers.

That's pretty much the plan. We were going to Mississippi but the tropical storm wrecked the beach we were going to stay at. Beaches in Galveston haven't looked super packed during the week (they have live camps where you can check them out) so hopefully that holds for next week.

I really think the reason alot of places are peaking now is a combination of reopening and the the geography of the spread. The popular map circulating right now shows Texas, Arizona, Florida, etc with the greatest increases and Illinois, New York, etc. with the best decline rates. Part of that may have to do with lockdowns, but alot of it probably has to do with Illinois (Chicago) and New York being ground zero for where it entered the US. Both saw their peaks sooner, and surrounding states probably did as well.

 

[dinglefritz]

That's pretty much the plan. We were going to Mississippi but the tropical storm wrecked the beach we were going to stay at. Beaches in Galveston haven't looked super packed during the week (they have live camps where you can check them out) so hopefully that holds for next week.

I really think the reason alot of places are peaking now is a combination of reopening and the the geography of the spread. The popular map circulating right now shows Texas, Arizona, Florida, etc with the greatest increases and Illinois, New York, etc. with the best decline rates. Part of that may have to do with lockdowns, but alot of it probably has to do with Illinois (Chicago) and New York being ground zero for where it entered the US. Both saw their peaks sooner, and surrounding states probably did as well.

The beaches in Mississippi are probably nicer after a tropical storm than the beach at Galveston is on its best day. Have you ever been to Galveston?

Much of New York's decline IMO now is because of how HUGE of a problem they had early and how poorly they handled it then. When you purposely introduce COVID-19 to the most susceptible people on the planet, of course your case load is going to go down months later after the thing has wiped out a large percentage of nursing home patients. The virus has likely already run through most of the people whose activities or location make them most at risk there. It's interesting that we keep hearing about a "spike" in cases and yet nationally our number of average daily deaths continues to slowly fall.

 

[BigBL87]

The beaches in Mississippi are probably nicer after a tropical storm than the beach at Galveston is on its best day. Have you ever been to Galveston?

I have not. However, if it had just been the beaches being iffy in Mississippi after the storm we probably would have still gone. Unfortunately, all 26 miles of beach along where we were planning on staying were closed. My wife wanted to stay beach front for relatively cheap, and we couldn't find anything close pricewise nearby. Texas also has the bonus of her sister (Arkansas) being right in our route for a quick stay too.

We're also staying at the Doubletree, which is supposedly across from the nicest beach there from what we've read.

 

[Huskers_Rule]

I'm not sure how anyone can view this as different with covid than any other year players aren't paid?

again, football is much more dangerous than the coronavirus for 18-22 year olds.

college football has been gladiatorial in nature for a long, long time.

Players are paid of course. If you don't think they are talk to a walk-on that actually has to pay for school, room and board.

 

[huskerssalts]

Yep, this is well on its way to being LOCKED.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

Players are paid of course. If you don't think they are talk to a walk-on that actually has to pay for school, room and board.

School is now free for families making <$60k/year.

 

[tpmcg]

a recent party in stillwater ok ended up with 4 fresh covid cases.
one party.
severity? i have no idea.
spoke recently to folks who complained about only one case in whole county.
its gonna test our resolve.

 

[dinglefritz]

I have not. However, if it had just been the beaches being iffy in Mississippi after the storm we probably would have still gone. Unfortunately, all 26 miles of beach along where we were planning on staying were closed. My wife wanted to stay beach front for relatively cheap, and we couldn't find anything close pricewise nearby. Texas also has the bonus of her sister (Arkansas) being right in our route for a quick stay too.

We're also staying at the Doubletree, which is supposedly across from the nicest beach there from what we've read.

I guess it depends on what you want to do. I wouldn't be real wild about swimming there. The couple of times I've been there most people generally just fish, wade or play in the sand. The times I've been there the water has been kind of murky. It's still fun to visit though.

 

[BigBL87]

I guess it depends on what you want to do. I wouldn't be real wild about swimming there. The couple of times I've been there most people generally just fish, wade or play in the sand. The times I've been there the water has been kind of murky. It's still fun to visit though.

Ya, our 2 year old won't be that picky, haha. I'm willing to bet he plays in the sand more than the water in any event. We aren't expecting Clearwater Beach quality water.

 

[dinglefritz]

Ya, our 2 year old won't be that picky, haha. I'm willing to bet he plays in the sand more than the water in any event. We aren't expecting Clearwater Beach quality water.

The sand is coarser and has more clay in it probably than you might be used to. It's definitely not the kind of sand you get on the Redneck Riviera. There is a fun water park there but that's probably not age appropriate for a 2 year old. IF you want to drive inland to Kemah, there's a restaurant called the Aquarium with huge tropical fish tanks etc. (40 min drive maybe depending on traffic). There's carnival rides there too. Not sure if they're open or not. Houston was at least considering shutting things down supposedly due to a rise in CV cases.

 

[BigBL87]

The sand is coarser and has more clay in it probably than you might be used to. It's definitely not the kind of sand you get on the Redneck Riviera. There is a fun water park there but that's probably not age appropriate for a 2 year old. IF you want to drive inland to Kemah, there's a restaurant called the Aquarium with huge tropical fish tanks etc. (40 min drive maybe depending on traffic). There's carnival rides there too. Not sure if they're open or not. Houston was at least considering shutting things down supposedly due to a rise in CV cases.

We may have to check that out, he'd love the fish.

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

All these players which currently have it, with no checking who has already had it,no symptoms,over it.
One wonders just what percentage have gotten it?

 

[jlb321]

All these players which currently have it, with no checking who has already had it,no symptoms,over it.
One wonders just what percentage have gotten it?

All the current testing suggests only around 5-8% of the population - even in some of the hardest hit regions. Maybe up to 10-15% in a few isolated cases.

 

[dinglefritz]

All the current testing suggests only around 5-8% of the population - even in some of the hardest hit regions. Maybe up to 10-15% in a few isolated cases.

So much for asymptomatic transmission. The numbers would be WAY higher if asymptomatic transmission were as common as we were led to believe before. There have been workplace cases where they've found over 40% positives with most them being completely asymptomatic. The one navy ship found over 60% positive via either antibody or antigen testing with a large percentage of those with no symptoms. My suspicion is that college aged people maybe don't take social distancing very seriously and that we would find a higher percentage of them who have had the virus and never knew it IF we did antibody testing.

 

[jlb321]

So much for asymptomatic transmission. The numbers would be WAY higher if asymptomatic transmission were as common as we were led to believe before. There have been workplace cases where they've found over 40% positives with most them being completely asymptomatic. The one navy ship found over 60% positive via either antibody or antigen testing with a large percentage of those with no symptoms. My suspicion is that college aged people maybe don't take social distancing very seriously and that we would find a higher percentage of them who have had the virus and never knew it IF we did antibody testing.

the 5-8% I quoted above were antibody testing results

as I have stated above - I am not sure the current plans of extensive testing and isolation of the + cases is compatible with having sports this fall, even after being symptomatic a + test only reflects RNA particles and not necessarily active infection that can be passed on

 

[dinglefritz]

the 5-8% I quoted above were antibody testing results

right. But has anybody done a study of exposure in college aged people? I would think it would be logical given the lifestyles of a lot of these young men that they would have a higher exposure rate than the average citizen. I've not seen a single person that age wear a mask unless their employer or the store they were in required it. I've also seen large numbers of college aged people hanging out without any thought to physical distancing. I don't blame them I guess. There's virtually no risk to them and IF they're healthy and don't become symptomatic they most likely won't spread it.