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Medicine

Coronavirus Reportedly Spreads To Venice, California (twitter.com) 60

Posted by BeauHD from the ready-or-not-here-it-comes dept.
Twitter user Scott Bell is reporting that his uncle from Venice, California, has tested positive for the coronavirus. According to Bell, "he was skiing in the Italian alps with 6 other guys," 4 of which, including his uncle, now have the coronavirus. One is reportedly in a coma and two others are sick. Bell says his uncle "has not present any symptoms as of yet," but has chosen to self-quarantine himself. From the thread: A few days later they tested him and yesterday he found out he's positive. Meanwhile, they've told my aunt to wear a mask, stay 10 feet away from my uncle, and otherwise she is free to move about the community. And, she has -- to grocery stores, the hair salon, etc. [...] Believe me, I'm upset to hear that she did this. The crazier part is that they have not tested her, and will not, and again - advised her she is free to move at-will. This is how our health dept. is leading this effort. In an updated tweet, Bell says his aunt is now quarantined and the guy in the coma "is starting to improve."

Update: Patch is confirming the report.

Here's a screenshot of the thread:
CoronavirusVenice

UPDATE: A nurse from a northern California Kaiser facility issued a statement criticizing the CDC for delays in testing, and reporting that she is "currently sick and in quarantine after caring for a patient who tested positive."
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Coronavirus Reportedly Spreads To Venice, California More

Coronavirus Reportedly Spreads To Venice, California

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  • HIPPA? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Train0987 ( 1059246 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @04:52PM (#59800872)

    If a hospital employee had tweeted all that out they'd be looking at civil/criminal charges. Why no outrage about this guy doing it?

    • Re:HIPPA? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 05, 2020 @04:54PM (#59800878)

      Because it's illegal for a hospital employee to disclose patient information, but it's not illegal for a nephew to disclose information about his uncle.

      • Re:HIPPA? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Translation Error ( 1176675 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @05:09PM (#59800942)
        Correct. HIPAA only applies to organizations that work with personal health information. In fact, there's nothing stopping someone who legally receives another person's health information (such as a family member's) from a covered organization from subsequently spreading it around.

        • Aaaand google knows what hospitals youâ(TM)ve been to and when you go to the pharmacy. But donâ(TM)t worry they arenâ(TM)t a healthcare organization so HIPAA doesnâ(TM)t apply

    • Re:HIPPA? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bev_tech_rob ( 313485 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @04:55PM (#59800884)

      If a hospital employee had tweeted all that out they'd be looking at civil/criminal charges. Why no outrage about this guy doing it?

      Assuming he posted no identifying information about a particular person and mainly used general terms, I see no issue.

    • Re:HIPPA? (Score:5, Informative)

      by b0bby ( 201198 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @05:06PM (#59800924)

      A family member is not a covered entity, HIPAA does not apply. I can tell the world about my family's health issues; my doctor and insurer can't.

    • If a hospital employee had tweeted all that out they'd be looking at civil/criminal charges. Why no outrage about this guy doing it?

      I"m pretty sure HIPAA doesn't pose any limitations on what family members can say or do about health info....

    • Who Does HIPAA Apply to? HIPAA applies to healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses if those organizations transmit health data electronically in connection with transactions for which the Department of Health and Human Services has adopted standards.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      Because he's not covered by HIPPA [sic]?

    • If a hospital employee had tweeted all that out they'd be looking at civil/criminal charges. Why no outrage about this guy doing it?

      Because he is likely not a HIPAA covered entity. I know I am not. And I do not have any obligation to comply with the rules set forth by HIPPA, as they explicitly do not apply to me.

    • Just a nitpick.

      HIPAA – health info privacy law
      HIPPA – HR-related set of laws (or something like that)

  • Seems dumb to say she should stay (Score:3)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @04:57PM (#59800896)

    they've told my aunt to wear a mask, stay 10 feet away from my uncle, and otherwise she is free to move about the community. And, she has

    Why would you want to greatly increase the chance your aunt catches this also, by staying around him.

    If she's not sick why should she be stuck in an environment where she could likely be infected?

    I'll grant you they should test her also, but since the uncle is not yet presenting symptoms it seems likely she would not have it [cdc.gov]. If he starts presenting symptoms, that would be a different matter.

    • Just had through the rest of the Twitter thread, and in the end she is quarantined anyway - so there's not even a basis for complaint! The CDC did exactly what you wanted, sealed your aunt up in an infected chamber like those scientists in the later Alien movies.

      Hopefully they really quarantined here in a separate area.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Quarantined after coming in contact with her infected husband then commuting about the town

    • Re:Seems dumb to say she should stay (Score:5, Insightful)

      by lazarus ( 2879 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @05:03PM (#59800914) Journal

      Did you read the content in the link you posted?

      Some spread might be possible before people show symptoms; there have been reports of this occurring with this new coronavirus, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.

      • Did you read the content in the link you posted?

        Did you?

        Some spread might be possible before people show symptoms

        Do you understand the meaning of the word might?

        There is also some probability *you* have come into contact with someone who had non-presenting corona virus. You also MIGHT have it, should we quarantine you now? Or maybe just everyone, based on a small chance?

        You don't even know if she took other precautions or not while out - like mask or gloves.

        Disease control is about risk management, and

        • She was living in close contact with a person who was found to have the virus - that's hardly low-risk, or in any way comparable to a random person on the street.

          Good risk management would demand that any persons who had significant contact with someone who tests positive should be themselves immediately quarantined and tested. NOT quarantined with the uncle, which would only guarantee she gets it, but separately. Which I thought would be obvious.

          • You are making the assumption that whoever is responsible for the "Good risk management" does not want the aunt to to get the virus. ;-)

    • There you go. Acting on information. Facts.
      You should know better. You aren't hyping up the paranoia. You aren't driving views and exploring the depths of YouTube.
      We should be locking up everyone against their will creating additional opportunities for the virus to spread like they did on the Princess Cruise in Japan.
      All because I heard one guy with no appropriate credentials say that is how it should be done.

    • So SK, when did they move you from the 'denying global warming' team to the 'denying corona virus' team?

      I assume that is a promotion, congratulations!

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by SuperKendall ( 25149 )

        from the 'denying global warming' team to the 'denying corona virus' team?

        Apparently you'll join any "team" as long as it offers unlimited irrational fear and the ability to control other's lives.

        I fight for freedom and reason, as I have always. My only "team" is on the side of those who think rationally. The pay sucks and you'll get zero respect in this time of hot-takes, but you may want to try it as the feeling of not being beholden to thought masters and actually understanding situations is pretty nice

    • Re:Seems dumb to say she should stay (Score:4, Informative)

      by capedgirardeau ( 531367 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @07:09PM (#59801392)

      While they are not speaking about this exact case, these folks are really among the best for science and facts, what few we know, about this. Smart, honest science.
      https://twitter.com/KrutikaKup... [twitter.com]
      https://twitter.com/aetiology/ [twitter.com]
      https://twitter.com/ScottGottl... [twitter.com]
      https://twitter.com/angie_rasm... [twitter.com]

      • Good information from some of those people, the first on the list posted a link from the EPA on products they know are effective at cleaning coronavirus [cnn.com]... that's probably more useful to know than most things. Purell Professional Surface Disinfectant Wipes are on the list, which means the hand sanitizer is also by extension effective (though a wipe is better of course).

        I've used the Clorox wipes as well, when on planes or even starting to use that at restaurants on chair surfaces. Good to know for sure the

  • They’re dropping like flies on Muscle Beach!

  • A "Spread"? (Score:3)

    by the_skywise ( 189793 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @05:09PM (#59800940)

    Is this an unreported case or is this one of the cases that California has already reported on but didn't specifically name?

    • I can't answer you question directly but NYT has this chart of the number of new cases diagnosed each day:

      https://www.nytimes.com/intera... [nytimes.com]

      Note this is not the cumulative total or number of currently active cases, but the number of cases announced each day. It's on the upward trend and yesterday was a new high for one day with 34.

      California now has the most of the US states, with 54, compared to 46 in Washington. So, there are some new cases in California for sure.

    • I believe that his twitter posts post-date the announcement of the LA-area infection total. So this would be one more for LA.

  • The virus is out. The cat is out of the bag, you won't be getting it back in.

    However, nobody should be surprised here. It's been obvious that this wasn't going to be contained to China and that it had spread beyond it's source weeks ago. Now that we are seeing cases classed as 'community spread' it means it's in the wild, and we don't have much hope of stopping it now.

    Now, all we can really do is slow down how fast this spreads and hope we don't exhaust the medical resources in the country in the proces

    • 28 days later... catchy title

    • Now, all we can really do is slow down how fast this spreads and hope we don't exhaust the medical resources in the country in the process. If we can hold this off long enough, maybe a vaccine can get out of human trials

      While that would be nice the spread will die down naturally as we enter summer, as it does for any other form of coronavirus that affects people during the winter.

      It probably will resurface next winter so hopefully we have a solid vaccine and improved treatment options by then, one would hop

      • Sweet, I'm going to stock up on 30k rolls of toilet paper this summer when it dies down so this winter I can sell it to the assholes that panic and whose first thought is "Oh shit, what if I can't wipe my ass, I better go buy a shitload of TP".

  • The reason that so many people who obviously should be tested aren't getting tested is that we just don't have the capacity to test everyone yet.

    • Underrated. As of yesterday, Florida reported 4 cases and 0 test kits. "Why weren't the families of the infected members tested?" Repeat: 0 test kits.

      CA should have some kits by now, but it is highly unlikely that they have enough kits to test the people *in* the hospital for a (COVID || flu) test - people without any symptoms? 2nd tier at best.

  • "has to go to the hair salon" (Score:3)

    by gl4ss ( 559668 ) on Friday March 06, 2020 @12:08AM (#59802118) Homepage Journal

    WHAT THE F?
    Oh let me guess, quarantined people in usa are not compensated for lost income and she _WORKS_ at a hair salon? while using the same toilet? come on. that's not the way to go about it. what are you guys, Italian? that's why you have a city called Venice?

    *look, the quarantine needs some compensation system for the quarantined or they will f out and go to work. I guess it's same problem in italy as restaurant etc workers are commonly paid "black", skipping taxes, so they can't ask for compensation for lost income, because officially they don't have income, because they're italian.

    She doesn't _need_ to go anywhere. Items can be provided to their door for the 14 days or whatever. the attitude that she _needs_ to go these places is what will spread it over the population in california. for the same reason it spread in italy.

    • Ever heard of sick leave? Rather than talk compensation why not simply join the rest of the world with basic worker protections.

      Also have you never heard of the same city in different countries? Do you not realise how people spread around the world?

  • According to the LA Times [latimes.com],

    "If at any point we think that there’s good reason for us to be worried about extensive, extensive community transmission we may ask for modifications at large public events," L.A. County health director Barbara Ferrer said. "This could be that games are played but there are no spectators. ..."

    I'm trying to imagine a professional baseball game without any fans there cheering. Just silence, except for the sound of the ball being hit, or the umpire calling a strike, or whatever. You hit a home run, and instead of thousands of people cheering, only your team members cheer.

    I'm guessing it would be harder for the players to get all revved up, and take the game seriously.

    • They could use a "clap track", similar to the "laugh track" from Seinfeld and prior shows (Friends).

      Just don't show the empty seats. The new XFL has been doing this, but in St. Louis we have been selling out every time and they are opening upper level seating because of this. They show the fans a lot because there is a sea of them.

      In the end, why can't it just be the Sandlot? (I know, it wouldn't pay very much) Great movie by the way. Incredible actually (up there near Stand By Me).

  • "Scott bell" isn't a blue check, so could he be a fake? Has this post been confirmed by anyone else? And, how old were the 4?

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