HikeArizona.COM

Now that we are living in the era of "social distancing", it shouldn't be too surprising to see some hiking venues closed.

Here are a couple of examples:
* The Navajo Nation has closed all of their tribal parks: https://navajonationparks.org/public-notice/
* The road up to Kitt Peak is closed to the public...here is a pic that a friend took when he attempted to ride his bicycle up to the top: [ broken link removed ]

It would seem like hiking, especially in remote areas, would be one of the safer things that you can do...but with the frenzy that is going on, I imagine that there will be more closures in the coming days

RedRoxx44 wrote: ↑Apr 10 2020 6:52 pm When will Joe lock this thread?

This thread has morphed into something completely different than what I envisioned when I started the thread.

@DarthStiller
There's already a lab in Tucson offering it.

https://kvoa.com/news/2020/04/01/local- ... ntibodies/

Ventilators keep people who can't breathe from dying soon....they possibly will die later. Since everyone is giving their opinion I'll inject one too. When things start "opening up", people who venture out will have to play defense and look out for themselves. If you really don't want to catch this virus you'll continue to work from home and stay away from people and wait for a vaccine (or no cases in your area).

@RedRoxx44

RedRoxx44 wrote:When will Joe lock this thread?

If the "Mindless Chit Chat" forum is any indicator, then it appears we'll be reading about COVID-19 long after we're deep into our third or fourth pandemic.

cactuscat wrote:There's already a lab in Tucson offering it

From the latest information I've been able to locate, the first fully FDA approved anti-body test is from Cellex.
And further, the FDA was expected to approve one from the Mayo clinic as well.

However, referencing the KVOA news story (in the link cactuscat provided above) which was posted of today at 11 am, Tucson's ARCpoint-Labs tests have been FDA approved ONLY under its Emergency Use Authorization, which means they haven't been thoroughly reviewed yet by the agency.

Personally, while I might accept a free test, I wouldn't pay for one (on of the other news stations mentioned a range of $50-100 per test) until and unless they have pass thorough FDA review.

Since Tracey had a dry hacking cough for 2-3 weeks a month ago it would be nice if she could find out, especially since she works at a hospital with infected patients.

@CannondaleKid
Yeah ... the tests have already been going on for a while at some universities, etc and I know people in Colorado that were antibody tested - along with most of their community - a week or ten days ago.
Point is, the tests will presumably be widely available very soon.
And I will gladly pay the $60 to find out if I had it or not ... I think a lot of people will, since it's almost impossible to get tested here while you're actually sick.

Just checking in here. Things are pretty dire in NJ, since today we will have used up the last of the available ventilators. I've been trying to estimate the impact, and my best guess is that the death rate will go from somewhere ~3% to more like 10% of cases as detected under the current testing criteria.

There's no real hiking left in NJ. All state and county parks are closed. It's now illegal to park anywhere from which you could access the Appalachian Trail, so I've just been working out on the neighborhood hills.

I'll be going back to the office tomorrow after two week at home during a facility closure, with hospital-like procedures necessary to keep going. I've been working pretty much around the clock since this whole thing started, so I've missed a lot on HAZ.

Stay safe everyone!

@big_load Stay safe Alex! Hate to think of you in that hot zone!

Tough_Boots wrote: ↑Apr 10 2020 4:53 pm

nonot wrote:Besides, COVID is transferred via symptomless carriers, people who would never be tested, who are infected.

And also:

nonot wrote:If I feel ill, I don't go into work and spread it around to my coworkers, nor into stores and spread it around to other shoppers. That's my choice. I don't need a test to tell me how to practice hygiene, nor how to behave in a responsible way with respect to spreading illness.

What's your point? Symptomless carriers transfer disease. It's true of many diseases known to man. What's your proposal? Every single person on Earth gets tested? And how long between getting tested and finding out the results? If you feel fine but don't have your test results, you still stay in quarantine? And as soon as you get your test results, you get out and interact, so you have a chance to get infected by someone else "not following these rules". So then what? Everyone gets retested once a week and stays in quarantine 4 days a week? But then who is able to conduct the testing? Testing the entire world's population involves a whole bunch of people...

The best you can do is not spread things around when you suspect or know you are ill, it's basic courtesy and responsibility. If you are healthy but are just a carrier there aren't any practical solutions.

@nonot
Earth to nonot!!! Not all diseases are created equal! You would be well served if you boned up on the R0 (R- Naught) factor. According to the Forbes article below, COVID-19 ain't your usual influenza virus; it's a BEAST:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle ... ebcb8c29a6

FUN FACT: Not everyone has an anus, as some have had it surgically removed due to a disease or trauma, requiring a colostomy.

However, these people still have opinions, many, and often about things which they are wildly unqualified to be an authority.

This is not directed at anyone in particular.
Carry on.

@Jim_H
HAHA you said anus---- literally not too long ago on an NPR program discussion of a "smart toilet" which can review your health depending on your " deposit". Then it was brought up how does the toilet know it's YOU making the poop. Yes, it scans your ANUS! Forget privacy-- just get your anus scanned and forget fingerprints!

nonot wrote:What's your point? Symptomless carriers transfer disease. It's true of many diseases known to man. What's your proposal? Every single person on Earth gets tested?

Don't get upset at me because your comment didn't add up. I'm not the only one that noticed.

There is no perfect solution (though there are good routines) and unless you are limiting contact as much as possible, you do in fact need a test to know how to "behave in a responsible way with respect to spreading illness" especially if the illness has a high number of asymptomatic carriers.

Going about your normal life until you feel symptomic is not behaving responsibly in our current situation. That is my point.

RedRoxx44 wrote:Yes, it scans your ANUS! Forget privacy-- just get your anus scanned and forget fingerprints!

Come on... who hasn't tried this with the office copy machine??

Tough_Boots wrote:Going about your normal life until you feel symptomic is not behaving responsibly in our current situation. That is my point.

Personally, I think this virus should be named Schrödinger's virus. Basically, we're supposed to act both like we have it and also like we don't. Ugh

SAMBA wrote: ↑Apr 13 2020 10:49 am @nonot
Earth to nonot!!!

Earth to SAMBA:
Follow the CDC guidelines: If you are sick, stay home to avoid spreading the disease, except to go to a doctor and get tested/treated. If you are not sick, cover your face when in public (a recommendation the CDC took 2 months to get to, because it has questionable value), practice social distancing, and wash your hands.

Testing will not solve this problem. Letting the disease run its course through the human population is what is going to happen. It already is halfway there.

At some point the recommendations to cover your face at all times and practice social distancing will go away, the rest is basic advice that should be followed regardless of the disease. If you are somehow claiming that I haven't previously emphasized I agree with the concepts of social distancing in the short term, you obviously don't know how to read very well.

The state, for those who have the under the rock lifestyle--not that that is bad--- has released zip code profiles for known cases. Quite a bit in my area which I expected, so I'll be a bit more vigilant in the grocery store trips. A local nursing home seems to account for a significant portion of that.

@RedRoxx44
Yeah, I was a little surprised by that; guess I'll stop shopping at your Walmart & Sprouts for awhile and go elsewhere. Meanwhile in Nevada: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grocery- ... 8f0eea9c69

nonot wrote:It already is halfway there

Probably not even close yet (Africa is likely far behind the rest of the world)... but without testing how will we ever know when it reaches that milestone?

By testing it's not just testing for who is currently infected, but anti-body tests to find out how many were but no longer are infected.

In that vein, the NIH is asking for 9,000(?) 'healthy' people (not currently infected and also not KNOWN to have been infected) to take a pin-prick test to get a handle on the percentage of people who had it but were asymptomatic.

With run-of-the-mill flu each person infects roughly 1.3 others (three will infect a total of 4).
However, COVID-19 appears (which is why NIH is doing this, the data from China being suspect) to be one person infecting anywhere from 6 to 10 others, which may bring us to the halfway there milestone sooner... which, IF the history of five widespread pandemics over the last 250 years holds true, the next wave may be arrive in October/November. Which if it DOES happen, will be the result of it's over now, let's get back to work and becoming lax on protective measures.

I sincerely hope not, but...
{Edit} NIH testing to quantify undetected cases

@rwstorm
I'm not too surprised. A lot of the older retired crowd love their cruising and international travel when they had money ( I bet the stockmarket has curbed that moreso than the virus); and then if sick would crowd into the tiny waiting rooms of the over crowded primary physicians down here coughing on whomever. Plus a lot of these folks have chronic cough conditions with bronchial problems and just innocently thought they had the flu or just an uptick in sinus problems. And if not too sick they tend to still go out; in some cases it's their only social activity. I used to see a lot of patients that were sick, just not too sick to go to PT. Some older people also can be very stubborn about changing their habits; like more of us than I would like to admit.