1% [now 2.0%] of the entire US population has tested positive for COVID-19

[sesquiterpene]

Vaccines are difficult to find.

And yet there are currently 100+ vaccine candidates in development, with perhaps a dozen already in clinical trials.

They have finally isolated two antibodies that are definitely the ones that fight/destroy Covid-19.
They are seeking to synthesize these and make them more stable.

And who exactly are "they"? Due to the way the body generates antibodies from a pool of tens of millions possibilities, everyone makes a different set, even to the same antigen. There is no one or two "ones that fight/destroy Covid-19" there are hundreds to thousands- and some are better than others at neutralizing a virus. You can't know which ones are really good without testing them in humans - exactly the same way you need to test vaccines.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

Yeah, if more people get tested, more are gonna test positive obviously. But most of them have no symptoms.

Or more have symptom. But thought they had a flu or sore throat. That's still lingering.

 

[sesquiterpene]

I actually am a wierdo who's wife works front row center of this research community. And I listen and understand lots more than the reporter writing the story. I'm not a research scientist...but I do converse with them.

I get it that you are trying to cheer on your wife's research project, but that's no reason to exaggerate either the benefits or drawbacks of vaccines or your wife's project. There are things that you are stating as fact that simply...aren't.

I'm trying to cheer on sound medical science - something that is at times in short supply in this pandemic. I don't see you contributing greatly to that.

 

[renniks]

Or more have symptom. But thought they had a flu or sore throat. That's still lingering.

Well here's the thing. So you have covid, and it's no worse than a cold, except for a minority of cases. But it's talked about constantly, unlike other virus'. Why would that be the case?

 

[essentialsaltes]

Well here's the thing. So you have covid, and it's no worse than a cold, except for a minority of cases.

9/11 destroyed a minority of skyscrapers.

But it's talked about constantly, unlike other virus'. Why would that be the case?

Because no one has immunity and it's killed more than half a million people?

 

[JohnDB]

I get it that you are trying to cheer on your wife's research project, but that's no reason to exaggerate either the benefits or drawbacks of vaccines or your wife's project. There are things that you are stating as fact that simply...aren't.

I'm trying to cheer on sound medical science - something that is at times in short supply in this pandemic. I don't see you contributing greatly to that.

She doesn't work on ONE project.
She sees a bunch of them...in the hundreds. We are friends with many of those involved or leading the projects.

 

[renniks]

Why do you believe no one has immunity? Most people who get it will not die. Only a tiny percentage. Why worry about something that is low on the danger list?

9/11 destroyed a minority of skyscrapers.



Because no one has immunity and it's killed more than half a million people?

 

[sesquiterpene]

She doesn't work on ONE project.
She sees a bunch of them...in the hundreds. We are friends with many of those involved or leading the projects.

Good for her. So what is the project you have been talking about? How far along in clinical development is it?

 

[essentialsaltes]

Why do you believe no one has immunity?

Because it is a novel coronavirus.

Why worry about something that is low on the danger list?

It's more than forty 9/11s of dead people just in the US. Terrorism is far lower on the danger list, and the US went bananas about that. Surely taking your shoes off and having your nail scissors confiscated was step one into leading Americans like sheep down the jetway to Auschwitz.

 

[renniks]

Because it is a novel coronavirus.



It's more than forty 9/11s of dead people just in the US. Terrorism is far lower on the danger list, and the US went bananas about that. Surely taking your shoes off and having your nail scissors confiscated was step one into leading Americans like sheep down the jetway to Auschwitz.

Well the clippers were overkill and yes, it did lead to too many restrictions in some ways.
We did not shut down the country for 911 though. Life must go on, and some danger is always involved.

 

[KCfromNC]

Well here's the thing. So you have covid, and it's no worse than a cold, except for a minority of cases. But it's talked about constantly, unlike other virus'. Why would that be the case?

Probably because there's 130,000+ dead Americans from one but not the other.

I'm surprised you'd have to ask. It has been all over the news recently.

 

[KCfromNC]

9/11 destroyed a minority of skyscrapers.

All buildings matter!

Oh wait, wrong thread.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Also in the 1% club are RI, MA, DC, CT, DE, IL, MD, MS, FL, IA, GA, NE, SC, AL.

Pace Ken-1122's clarification...

New additions are TX, TN, AR

 

[essentialsaltes]

Worldometers now showing

5 million US cases.
162,000 US deaths.

19.125 million global cases.
714,000 global deaths

The US represents about 4% of the global population, but
26% of positive cases, and
23% of deaths

 

[Nithavela]

Worldometers now showing

5 million US cases.
162,000 US deaths.

19.125 million global cases.
714,000 global deaths

The US represents about 4% of the global population, but
26% of positive cases, and
23% of deaths

Weeeeee

 

[essentialsaltes]

Weeeeee

Germany is 1.1% of the world's population, but it has 1.1% of the world's cases and 1.3% of the deaths.

Underachiever.

 

[Nithavela]

Germany is 1.1% of the world's population, but it has 1.1% of the world's cases and 1.3% of the deaths.

Underachiever.

We were also being hit as one of the first countries.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

What I find interesting is that there isn't a single study that is comprehensive and easy to understand. It seems that the more confused and uninformed we are the happier we will be.

 

[Nithavela]

What I find interesting is that there isn't a single study that is comprehensive and easy to understand. It seems that the more confused and uninformed we are the happier we will be.

It's almost as if reality is too complicated to fit everything on a napkin.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

It's almost as if reality is too complicated to fit everything on a napkin.

The statisticians make everything too complicated.

Characteristics of Persons Who Died with COVID-19 — United States...
Table 1). Median decedent age was 78 years (interquartile range (IQR) = 67–87 years). Because information about underlying medical conditions was missing for the majority of these decedents (30,725; 58.9%), data regarding medical conditions were not analyzed further using the case-based surveillance data set. Because most decedents reported to the supplementary data program were also reported to case-based surveillance, no statistical comparisons of the decedent characteristics between the data sets were made.

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[paste:font size="5"]Discussion
Using national case-based surveillance and supplementary data reported from 16 jurisdictions, characteristics of >10,000 decedents with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were described. More than one third of Hispanic decedents (34.9%) and nearly one third (29.5%) of nonwhite decedents were aged <65 years, but only 13.2% of white decedents were aged <65 years. Consistent with reports describing the characteristics of deaths in persons with COVID-19 in the United States and China (2–5), approximately three fourths of decedents had one or more underlying medical conditions reported (76.4%) or were aged ≥65 years (74.8%). Among reported underlying medical conditions, cardiovascular disease and diabetes were the most common. Diabetes prevalence among decedents aged <65 years (49.6%) was substantially higher than that reported in an analysis of hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged <65 years (35%) and persons aged <65 years in the general population (<20%) (5–7). Among decedents aged <65 years, 7.8% died in an emergency department or at home; these out-of-hospital deaths might reflect lack of health care access, delays in seeking care, or diagnostic delays. Health communications campaigns could encourage patients, particularly those with underlying medical conditions, to seek medical care earlier in their illnesses. Additionally, health care providers should be encouraged to consider the possibility of severe disease among younger persons who are Hispanic, nonwhite, or have underlying medical conditions. More prompt diagnoses could facilitate earlier implementation of supportive care to minimize morbidity among individuals and earlier isolation of contagious persons to protect communities from SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

The relatively high percentages of Hispanic and nonwhite decedents aged <65 years were notable. The median age of nonwhite persons (31 years) in the United States is lower than that of white persons (44 years); these differences might help explain the higher proportions of Hispanic and nonwhite decedents among those aged <65 years. The median ages among Hispanic and nonwhite decedents (71 and 72 years, respectively) were 9–10 years lower than that of white decedents (81 years). However, the percentage of Hispanic decedents aged <65 years (33.9%) exceeded the percentage of Hispanic persons aged <65 years in the U.S. population (20%); the percentage of nonwhite COVID-19 decedents aged <65 years (40.2%) also exceeded the overall percentage of nonwhite decedents aged <65 years (23%) in the U.S. population (8). Further study is needed to understand the reasons for these differences. It is possible that rates of SARS-CoV-2 transmission are higher among Hispanic and nonwhite persons aged <65 years than among white persons; one potential contributing factor is higher percentages of Hispanic and nonwhite persons engaged in occupations (e.g., service industry) or essential activities that preclude physical distancing (9). It is also possible that the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected communities of younger, nonwhite persons during the study period (10). Although these data did not permit assessment of interactions between race/ethnicity, underlying medical conditions, and nonbiologic factors, further studies to understand and address these racial/ethnic differences are needed to inform targeted efforts to prevent COVID-19 mortality.

The findings in this report are subject to at least five limitations. First, despite >90% completeness for age and race/ethnicity variables in the supplementary data set, the proportion of missing data for some variables, such as underlying medical conditions, clinical course, and race/ethnicity in case-based surveillance, and location of death, was higher than that for other variables; accordingly, the proportions reported for these variables should be considered minimum proportions rather than robust estimates. Second, reporting practices varied by jurisdiction, and several states bundled underlying medical conditions into organ system–specific categories (e.g., hypertension was included as cardiovascular disease) or did not code specifically for a given condition (e.g., immunosuppression was only specifically coded in 10 of the jurisdictions). These differences in reporting structure precluded evaluations of specific conditions other than diabetes using the entire data set. Third, generalizability of the findings from either data set to all deaths among persons with COVID-19, either within the individual jurisdictions or across the United States, is unknown; COVID-19 testing practices for decedents might differ among jurisdictions. Fourth, information from the supplementary data set provides additional insight into decedent demographic and clinical characteristics; however, these data are a convenience sample from 16 public health jurisdictions. Therefore, because the age-race structure of the underlying population is not known, age-standardized mortality rates could not be calculated. Although more than 90% of decedents resided in just three jurisdictions, and most are represented in case-based surveillance, they represent a subset of deaths reported during this period. Therefore, neither calculations of mortality rates nor statistical comparisons between the demographic characteristics of the decedents with available supplementary data and those from case-based surveillance were possible. Finally, these data were collected during a period before dexamethasone was shown to reduce deaths among ventilated patients; implementation of dexamethasone and other therapeutics, as well as shifts in the ages of patients and geographic locations of cases might affect the generalizability of these data to the current period.

Despite these limitations, this report provides more detailed demographic and clinical information on a subset of approximately 10,000 decedents with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. Most decedents were aged >65 years and had underlying medical conditions. Compared with white decedents, more Hispanic and nonwhite decedents were aged <65 years. Additional studies are needed to elucidate associations between age, race/ethnicity, SARS-CoV-2 infection, disease severity, underlying medical conditions (especially diabetes), socioeconomic status (e.g., poverty and access to health care), behavioral factors (e.g., ability to comply with mitigation recommendations and maintain essential work responsibilities), and out-of-hospital deaths. Regional and state level efforts to examine the roles of these factors in SARS-CoV-2 transmission and COVID-19-associated deaths could lead to targeted, community-level, mortality prevention initiatives. Examples include health communication campaigns targeted towards Hispanics and nonwhite persons aged <65 years. These campaigns could encourage social distancing and the need for wearing cloth face coverings in public settings. In addition, health care providers should be encouraged to consider the possibility of disease progression, particularly in Hispanic and nonwhite persons aged <65 years and persons of any race/ethnicity, regardless of age, with underlying medical conditions, especially diabetes.