"The President Tests Positive For Covid-19" Topic

Dr. Sean P. Conley, the president's physician, confirmed yesterday that the President and the first lady have tested positive for COVID-19.

Dr. Conley wrote the following in an announcement that was released with the President's permission:

"This evening I received confirmation that both President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the SARS-coV-2- virus," Conley said. "The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence."

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I refuse to succumb!

He and the First Lady are in a lot of our prayers for a speedy and complete recovery.

Dave

Just another awful turn of 2020. I hope they don't get sick and this doesn't interfere with the election. But in the meantime we're in for a new storm of stupid. Here's the list of wonderful news articles and internet posts that we're going to see:

Someone got him sick on purpose (debate microphone!)
He knew before the debate but went ahead with it hoping to get Biden sick
He didn't self-quarantine long enough
He deserves it
People hoping he will die
The election results aren't valid because the president couldn't campaign
Are we voting for Trump or voting for Pence?
Miscellaneous 25th amendment comments
Look at a 74 year old man bounce back, the virus isn't serious after all

Plus, Biden has an easy out for the other debates.

And I'm certain that we'll hear even worse and dumber things than these. And they won't stop when his quarantine is over. I could barely stand reading the news before this and I couldn't bear to watch the debate.

This is bad no matter how you slice it.

Yep.

He's off to hospital now:

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For those so inclined, pray.

For what ? Well, that's quite a matter of
personal choice…

To pray for something negative is to expose your ignorance regarding what prayer is really about.

Looks like I missed on: "He's faking it because he's faced with losing the election!" Apparently Mia Farrow said that.

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," right there in the ol' Sermon on the Mount.

To pray for something negative is to be asking assistance from not "up" there, but "down" there. You do not want to be going there (literally and figuratively).

I guess it depends how severe it gets and if it is as mild as it seems to be for most (

"most will never even know they had it"

) then I predict someone may be rather vocal about how it is much ado about nothing and things will finally be getting back to normal.

It must be very confusing for those who think it (Covid-19) is "fake news" and doesn't really exist.

Apparently quite a few close co-workers have also become infected, including 2 senators, the chair of the RNC, Kellayne Conway and Hope Hicks :

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I don't think anyone ever thought the coronavirus was fake.

I predict, if the President recovers, he will proclaim it was "no big deal"

I don't think anyone ever thought the coronavirus was fake

Really? No-one?

My flabber is fully gasted.

The word is hubris that infected everyone first.
I feel deeply sorry for those that got infected. They thought the tests kept them safe. I pray everyone recovers.

Terry

Really? No-one?

My flabber is fully gasted.

I think it's widely known Covid-19 is far less harmful than what is often promoted, which is why so many are so frustrated with the economic hardship that has come about due to the widely perceived over-reaction.

That's far different from claiming it was fake.

Now, if others want to try to discredit those who had/have questions regarding the reaction to the virus … But that's just propagandistic discrediting.

widely known Covid-19 is far less harmful than what is often promoted

I think the actual numbers make the terms "widely known" and "far less harmful" pretty well specious.

By year end, more Americans will have died from Covid-19 in slightly over 10 months than died in all of World War 2. Over three times the worst flu outcome in the last 50 years.

The US has 4% of the world's population and over 20% of the deaths and the 8th worst death rate per capita.
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The President stated that the virus would be gone by April, that it was just another flu and mocked his opponent as recently as Tuesday for wearing a mask.

The current mask absent, social distancing absent, mass spreader Rose Garden Supreme Court event that seems to have resulted in the President of the US and significant portions of his staff coming down with Covid would seem to justify proper flabbergastitude as the very folks who continuously minimized the risk are hoisted on their own maskless non-distanced petard.

Why do you think the USA has 20% of the deaths?

(I am wondering if the USA has a combination of unfit people with underlying conditions and first-world health care that prolongs life?)

Sweden is not having a "second wave".

Why are "western countries" not modelling Sweden's success? It's an evidence-based model🌎followed pre-2020: no lockdowns, mass school closures or mandatory masks. No "second wave" in🇸🇪 likely d/t natural herd immunity. 🇸🇪shows us a logical path to balance risk, liberty & economy

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Sweden has the 6th worst deaths per capita globally and has the worst record among the Nordic nations, by far. A "second wave" was not predicted until winter. It should also be noted that Sweden still has not hit 10% of the population with possible immunity and the minimum number for herd immunity is considered to be 70%.

As to the US, disparity in things such as pre-existing conditions and obesity is not nearly that big a difference between the US and the rest of the West to account for the differentials in outcomes. Within the West, I would argue poor leadership, on many levels, seems to be the defining characteristic for bad outcomes. The better the governments have been able to convince their citizens to wear masks, social distance and wash their hands, the better they have done.

The US will, in 10 months or so, lose more citizens to Covid than all the soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen lost during the entirety of World War 2. The only proper adjective is pathetic.

I'm sure that 'pathetic' does not refer to the
deaths, but to the response to the Covid19 threat.

For that, our society as a whole bears the
responsibility.

My wife requires treatment periodically at Duke
Hospital.

We go about once/month. There are LARGE signs posted
on the University campus and the Hospital campus stating
that Duke students, University and Hospital staff
are REQUIRED to be masked AT ALL TIMES.

Our last visit was 9/28. She was seen by 4 doctors
and treated by 2 nursing staff. NONE of the doctors
were masked but each of the nurses wore a mask.
Walking through the hospital to the clinic I observed
more than a dozen maskless people, some wearing
scrubs or lab coats.

By my count, 32 people on the University campus and
the Hospital campus were not masked as required by
both Duke and local (Durham County) ordinance.

We, as a society, need only look into a mirror to
see where the blame lies.

One is a "leader" by actions. A number of nations' leaders have failed their populations badly.

Imagine a virus so deadly that you have to be tested to even know you have it.

Imagine a virus so deadly that you have to be tested to even know you have it.

Hepatitis, encephalitis and among other diseases also cancer and heart disease are usually discovered with testing.

Covid will certainly finish 2020 as the third leading cause of death in the US after cancer and heart disease.

210,000+ people over the past 8 months would seem to consider in deadly.

210,000+ people over the past 8 months would seem to consider in deadly.

Figures lie, and liars figure.

How many of those people had co-morbidities and would have died anyway? Or would have died if they caught the common flu. And how come everyone is not wearing masks every flu season if they really cared about saving lives. The answer is that it is mostly political.

"Imagine a virus so deadly that you have to be tested to even know you have it."

Not so. Friends and co workers who have had it know they are sick. I am talking about young (30's and 40's) people. You are sick as a dog and its not like the flu. Also we are just finding out now the long term damage it can do.

Figures lie, and liars figure.

CDC, NIH and the current Administration all agree on the current figures. Given the current Administration is getting reamed over various and sundry failures, they would surely dispute the figures since they control CDC, NIH and the FDA.

Or would have died if they caught the common flu.

Worst case ever absent the Spanish flu and given 100+ years of medical progress, 80,00.

How many of those people had co-morbidities and would have died anyway?

Most reputable authorities feel that if any errors exist, it is due to under counting as they believe many COPD and other respiratory deaths are reported as such without ever been tested for Covid.

It should also be noted, just because Grandma died 6 months early from Covid before lung cancer or CHF killed her does not make that loss any less tragic nor does it somehow not "properly" count as a Covid death. I am fairly certain Grandma wanted that 6 months and should have had, that 6 months.

Not in all cases. Some have very mild flu like symptoms.

The point is that the pandemic is indeed serious, but not catastrophic. It has been over played by an extremely biased msm with an agenda. Most people will survive. This is not the Black Plague which devastated Europe and wiped out up to a third of the population. Shutting down the economy will prove more devastating for most.

Most people will survive.

Current mortality rates for the Plague (bubonic and septicemic) are 5-15% based on access to health care. Given we are talking originally about a 74 year old obese male, those appropriate Covid-19 morbidity rates are 15%.

Most people survive the plague as do most with Covid. I believe the effect of a previously unknown virus becoming the third largest cause of death in the US within 8 months, devastating significant portions of the economy and radically accelerating a set of technology and behavioral trends that will change many sectors of the economy (airlines, real estate and retail notably) forever qualify as catastrophic. I believe the tragedy is one of under-reacting leading to actions far too little and far too late.

The US did not have to have the dubious distinction of 4% of global population with 20% of the deaths.

Why do you think the USA has 20% of the deaths?

Politics.

1) Politics –
2) Lack of Federal coordination – The countries that dealt with the pandemic effectively did so nationally, early and empowered epidemiologists to run the show early.
3)
4)

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"Imagine a virus so deadly that you have to be tested to even know you have it."

Flu is the wrong paradigm here. Think polio where most people will get infected with no long-term ill effects, some will die and non-negligible percentage get life-long complications caused by the infection

Looks like it was not that bad.

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said he is "feeling really good," calling on Americans to not "be afraid of COVID," referring to COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

"Don't let it dominate your life."

"I feel better than I did 20 years ago!"

2) Lack of Federal coordination – The countries that dealt with the pandemic effectively did so nationally, early and empowered epidemiologists to run the show early.

Like Sweden.

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And Turkmenistan.

"Looks like it was not that bad."

Right. What all is he hopped up on? Steroids and who knows what else. And he seemed to have some labored breathing for that photo op.

Back in the White House, putting everyone who works there at even further risk.

Like Sweden.

Actually the US is better than Sweden from the standpoint of deaths per capita with the US merely being eighth worst in the world and Sweden sixth. Sweden also has the 9th worst case fatality ratio on the planet (7.1%) despite having a first rate health system whereas the US does pretty well at 24th with 3.3%.

Statistically Sweden would do far better to emulate the US or Norway or Denmark or Finland.

Seems he win… (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

05 Oct 2020 6:53 a.m. PST
One is a "leader" by actions. A number of nations' leaders have failed their populations badly.

I'm reminded of the Bill Mauldin cartoon that has Willie and Joe crouched in their foxholes, shells bursting overhead. "Patton" (he hated Mauldin… Fake News?) is standing there with hands clasped behind his back.
Caption. "Uh, General Sir? Could you please go and inspire some other troops?"

When,after testing Corona positiv, you don't say anything or even organise and attending meetings, aren't you guilty of causing physical harm to others?

Did the USA president do that?

We have a president?

It's true that the U.S. death toll from 1968's flu has been estimated at 100,000. But that's atypical. As CNN noted today,
More people in the United States have died already from coronavirus than those who died from influenza during the past five flu seasons combined….

According to CDC estimates, this is how many Americans have died from the flu in recent seasons:

2019-2020: 22,000 (preliminary)
2018-2019: 34,000 (preliminary)
2017-2018: 61,000 (preliminary)
2016-2017: 38,000
2015-2016: 23,000….

About 178,000 people died in the five flu seasons running from 2015 until 2020, while more than 210,000 people died of coronavirus this year.

And the people who die of the flu are, for the most part, precisely the people dismisses as not worth mentioning with regard to COVID.

Although influenza can affect individuals of all ages, most influenza-related deaths occur in the elderly (65 years of age and older) and in those with underlying cardiovascular and respiratory comorbidities. The elderly make up almost 15% of the U.S. population but represent 65% of the hospitalizations and 90% of the deaths associated with influenza. In 2006, influenza and pneumonia were the eighth leading cause of deaths, overall, in the U.S. and the seventh leading cause of death in the elderly.

shrug off any COVID deaths among the elderly or those with comorbidities – but want to count all flu deaths, even those among people in the same categories. You can't have it both ways.

By the way, let's not forget that Trump is elderly and has comorbidities. It may be inappropriate to say this, but if he doesn't make it, his demise shouldn't be attributed to COVID, should it? According to his own reasoning?

President Donald Trump's White House physician said in a memo Wednesday that the president has been free of symptoms for a full day and that his blood tests show the presence of antibodies for SARS-CoV-2

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If that is the true, that helps make the case for so-called "herd immunity".

The vulnerable are protected and isolated while the rest continue to function and economies do not have to suffer (which really translates into the poorest suffer the most).

Public perception:

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From the White House Doctor who admitted he lied?

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In an unprecedented move, the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday published an editorial written by its editors condemning the Trump administration for its response to the Covid-19 pandemic — and calling for the current leadership in the United States to be voted out of office.

"We rarely publish editorials signed by all the editors," said Dr. Eric Rubin, editor-in-chief of the medical journal and an author of the new editorial.

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Wow – you get a lot of flu in the USA.

For the UK the figures are quite differrent.

We've had ~48000 Covid deaths and ~400 Flu Deaths this year

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If I scale that up to the population of the USA then that'd be ~220,000 Covid deaths and ~ 1,900 Flu deaths.

The USA seems to have a tenfold death rate (in a good year) to a thirty fold death rate (in a bad year) from flu compared to the UK. Is this a vaccination thing? In the UK they are looking to vaccinate half the population this year, and in a normal year would vaccinate ~ 1 person in 3.

US stats mix flu and 'flu related' deaths as one stat.

This means opportunistic secondary infections, notably pneumonias get bundled in.

In the UK they are separated.

So we had c13,500 pneumonia deaths in the UK this year but only 400 flu deaths.

In America this would be reported as c 14,000 flu related deaths.

From the White House Doctor who admitted he lied?

I believe this has been throughout history as national security. I guess a comparison could be done between administrations.

Especially with the newly declassified documents.

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Back when I raised cattle, it was axiomatic: Never let a sick cow die without trying dexamethasone, the powerful steroid that persuaded Trump he was 10 feet tall and bulletproof. I've seen it bring animals too weak to stand back to their feet, although not for long, unless the underlying infection had been suppressed. It's a stimulant, not a cure.

In humans, dexamethasone also has psychiatric side effects. (In cows, you can't tell. Possibly Layla the abandoned twin calf imagined herself tyrant queen of the herd before disease carried her away. It's impossible to know.) The most common problems in human subjects are irritability, aggression and what the drug label calls "psychotic manifestations."

And wouldn't that be wonderful?

That's just one of the reasons nobody but Trump would have been released from the hospital before his treatment regimen was finished. If he weren't going to a fully equipped White House medical clinic, that phalanx of white-jacketed physicians who staged press conferences outside Walter Reed would have been flirting with malpractice to let him check out.

Wow. An opinion piece. Must be accurate.

From a reliable news outlet, during an election year, known for:

Editorially, they favor a liberal perspectives and often report negatively on President Trump: The case for impeachment over censure for President Donald Trump.

The Sun-Times also often endorsed Democratic candidates since 1980.

Side Effects:
Important things to remember about the side effects of dexamethasone:

Most people do not experience all of the side effects listed.
Side effects are often predictable in terms of their onset and duration.
Side effects are almost always reversible and will go away after treatment is complete.
There are many options to help minimize or prevent side effects.
The following side effects are common (occurring in greater than 30%) for patients taking dexamethasone:

Increased appetite
Irritability
Difficulty sleeping (insomnia)
Swelling in your ankles and feet (fluid retention)
Heartburn
Muscle weakness
Impaired wound healing
Increased blood sugar levels. (Persons with Diabetes may need to have blood sugar levels monitored more closely and possible adjustments to diabetes medications).
The following are less common side effects (occurring in >10%) for patients receiving dexamethasone:

Headaches
Dizziness
Mood swings
Cataracts and bone thinning (with long-term use)

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USAFpilot 05 Oct 2020 12:48 p.m. PST

Imagine a virus so deadly that you have to be tested to even know you have it.

The obvious point is that COVID-19 is a communicable disease. Testing, tracing and isolating is the best way of limiting spread, especially that this virus can spread asymptomatically.