Hoosier

Can't remember where I saw it, but I read that the Regeneron antibody cocktail costs $20,000. If that is true, no bueno.

Covid hospitalizations in Indiana are at the highest number since late May. Still have a good amount of bed availability statewide, but case numbers per 100,000 residents are running higher in some of the rural areas so it's possible those hospitals don't have as much room.

I would ask that we get it back toward the way it was a week or two ago. The most powerful person in the country getting the virus is a big story, but it is going in circles at this point.

The toothpaste is out of the tube as far as masks. I don't know how you change that anti-mask attitude at this point. That is just one part of the problem though. Pandemic fatigue is a real thing. There were signs of it a couple weeks into this thing, and here we are many months into it. I think it is exacerbated by modern society for various reasons. You are not safe if you gather in a group of 4. Or even 3, or 2, if it happens to be the wrong person. Safer than a larger group, but not safe. It is a lot to ask people to give up all in person social interaction, but as long as it happens, it is a way to spread the virus especially if you're not wearing a mask. As far as a vaccine, there is a lot of mistrust with that. In fact, this may end up being the least trusted vaccine that we have seen in a long time in this country. Even if we are optimistic and say the vaccine will be effective at a rate of 70-90%, the impact will only be so much if less than half of the country gets it. Maybe we will see better treatments come out over time. Actually, I would expect that. But as far as putting an end to this pandemic, I don't really see it anytime soon, especially in the United States.

Watched the video of him walking up the stairs to the balcony. The pace looked fine, but once he got to the balcony and took off the mask, there were a few instances where it looked like he was taking deeper breaths. To be fair, I don't know what his normal physical fitness is, so perhaps he would've been a bit winded walking up those stairs before all of this happened. Okay, now I'm really done commenting on Trump.

Look, he's going back to the White House later. Unless his condition worsens, I'll be taking a break from talking about Trump. Some of this stuff is just rehashing old arguments.

In other virus news, they are really hypersensitive to the trends in New York, with closing or talking about closing things since the positivity rate has increased (but still at a low level).

The Euro winter prog was not the greatest look.

Humans should have the ability to adjust to new info they receive. I have to think just about everybody has watched tv or been online in the last 6 months. The change of tone on masking isn't a new development. As far as the state governors... yes, they make the call on masks, but I think there is an influence/feedback loop from the top that has made some of them reluctant.

I think so. That feels like a lifetime ago with this thing.

People listen to and pay attention to what the president does. If he can type a sentence to make covid/treatments out to be the fountain of youth, then he could've slipped in a mention about being careful.

In Trump's latest tweet announcing that he is leaving the hospital later today, there is no reminder about hygiene or mask wearing. This would have been an easy thing to mention.

Our population isn't the healthiest on Earth, that's for sure. For one thing, masks could've been pushed harder all over the country. We had March, April, May, June, July, August, September and now October.

Unfortunately I think we are pretty much near the bottom in terms of deaths, and they are likely to start rising gradually again soon. This is what the projections are suggesting (to varying extents) and it makes sense as hospitalizations have started to increase again.

I know it's tempting to veer into other aspects of Trump, but can we please keep it focused on what's happening with him vis a vis the virus?

Skepticism is healthy, but I think he really has it. It seems most likely that he picked it up at an event last Saturday. After his diagnosis was announced, a bunch of people who were also at that event announced positive results. They would all have to be in on it. But besides that, Trump loves to project strength. Going to the hospital isn't a good look, especially so close to the election. If it's all fake and some attempt to get a sympathy vote, I'd say it wasn't thought out well, because what it has done is put the virus even more in the news. Trump is very polarizing. I think most people want him to recover, but well wishes don't always equal votes. When you hear that he received antibodies, remdesivir and dexamethasone, it makes it seem like they are throwing everything they can at the patient because they are in extraordinarily bad shape. But this isn't an ordinary patient, and I think it's quite possible that they are bending the criteria a bit in his case. So far, we have seen a few photographs, some videos that are a minute or three in length, and a brief car ride before returning to the hospital. That is not that much to ask of a significantly ill individual. He is not running a marathon or golfing 18 holes.

I mean, I made a post on Friday saying "take the high road folks." It was in reference to the RIP/cheering on death type of stuff. I was hoping people would get the hint to stop posting things like that. Joe Biden is really not relevant to this thread at all right now. If he comes down with the virus, or wins the election and does something newsworthy, then that's a different story.

I don't support this president, but I don't like those comments either. It's hard to perceive it as anything other than cheering on someone's demise. Anyone is free to feel however they want, but it doesn't mean it has to be shared here. I'd rather we keep this focused on what is going on with his condition.

You can do almost anything you want when you're president. Actually true of life in general... different standards for people with status. At least his wave looked strong.

Unless he contracts covid-19, please don't mention Joe Biden.

I would hope that they were dressed properly and were in and out of there with the camera setup and not lingering in the room the whole time that the video was recorded, but I wouldn't count on that. The real tell of what his condition is like would be at the debate in a week and a half, but it is hard to imagine that taking place from a quarantine/infectivity perspective (would at least be cutting it close), let alone a physical standpoint. It is not easy to stand on a stage and bring the energy for 2 hours.

One of Trump's doctors said that the chest scan came back with expected findings. Didn't say it looked normal or good, though he did say it was not of major clinical concern. Also started dexamethasone.

Words of the day: expected findings

Really? I only saw a couple brief clips of it though. Right away you could tell that he looked kind of worn out. Not gonna post it here but there is a Vanity Fair article with Republican sources claiming that the fever was 103 and that they convinced him to go to Walter Reed when he did because of the risk of waiting too long and having to be taken out in a wheelchair or worse.

The other thing is that assuming he makes it through the acute phase, will he end up being one of the long haulers? He is in office for a minimum of 3.5 more months. A lot of the long hauler stories out there are such that it's not always a continuous streak of symptoms, but people who seem to recover for a while and then the symptoms sort of come back or are even different than the initial symptoms.