Coronavirus Crisis

Login or Register to Hide This Ad
Jonesta6

Jonesta6

Feb 14, 2019
2,188
1,588
113
www.link-labs.com

Bluetooth Vs. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE): What's The Difference?

What's the difference between bluetooth and bluetooth low energy (BLE)? You'll discover that the key difference is low power consumption.
www.link-labs.com www.link-labs.com

The COVID-19 app uses BLE and though does technically draw power when sending/receiving the tiny bits of data for the tokens it's practically negligent when it comes to your phone's usual power discharge cycle.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zachary
Gavin

Gavin

It’s me, a ParkFan.
Administrator
Sep 27, 2009
4,866
4,315
113
28
Spotsylvania, Virginia
Basically your phone is shouting at other phones random numbers while listening for the numbers other phones are shouting. The reason this doesn’t cause any further drain is because your phone has already been doing this for years with other device.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BGWnut
BGWnut

BGWnut

Sep 24, 2018
2,501
4,530
113
WDWRLD said:
Interesting, I like how it says "without drainig your battery".........but if its constanty transmitting or searching for signals......yea ok.
Click to expand...
Like @Gavin said this is basically what your device is already doing all day everyday. Apple and Google just opened up the ability for states to provide apps that will access this log to let you know if you contacted someone who treats positive.

Of course it only works if you have the app and the person who treated positive has the app. So unless adoption is high then it seems unlikely to really be beneficial.
 
warfelg

warfelg

Mar 16, 2016
5,628
8,954
113
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/11/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html

Doctors are studying and noticing a link between having influenza vaccinations, MMR vaccinations, tuberculosis vaccinations to a lower likelihood of having symptoms or severe cases of COVID-19. The doctors have said the link has become more noticeable as more kids get sick, and often times the kids have not been vaccinated. This isn't in the article, but to me it could explain why minorities are being hit harder by this pandemic as there also tends to be a link from wealth to healthcare.

On an unrelated note:
I went to the doctor the other day for a sinus infection. He tested me for COVID doing both the nasal swab and antibody test. I got my results this morning, and while the nasal swab came back negative, the antibody test came back positive. Meaning somewhere along the line I was infected with this. I never experienced any of the symptoms, so my doctor and I theorize that I was either an asymptomatic carrier or when we thought I had a sinus infection back in February, I actually had COVID and the lack of test then couldn't confirm it.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: Merboy, belsaas, Mamunia and 6 others
Mamunia

Mamunia

Aug 22, 2016
79
132
33
I wondered if you could test positive for antibodies from something other than Covid-19. Turns out, yes:

“A positive test result shows you may have antibodies from an infection with the virus that causes COVID-19. However, there is a chance a positive result means that you have antibodies from an infection with a virus from the same family of viruses (called coronaviruses), such as the one that causes the common cold.”

www.cdc.gov

COVID-19 and Your Health

Get information about symptoms, testing, what to do if sick, daily activities, and more.
www.cdc.gov www.cdc.gov


That’s great. 😐
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nicole
B

bill s

Mar 18, 2017
413
326
63
This post has been edited to remove content which violated ParkFans’ prohibition against intolerance.
^^-- the antibody test is highly specific to COVID and I have recently heard that false negatives are the big problem. Some have tested positive, then negative, then positive again, as though it hides out in the body the same way it does in society. There is some evidence that symptoms (27 at least) are a better indicator than any of the tests.

The doctor at the test kept saying that maybe I got it "last winter" which seemed odd at the moment. I now interpret this as her believing it was very possible to get it back then, and wouldn't presume it was COVID. I had dizzyness followed by a sinus meltdown which didn't go into coughing like a cold sometime in January, the sinus possibly recurring in late February, with additional fatigue/dizzyness issues leading to a positive antibody test a couple months ago. I even think there is a possibility I got it at KD on New Year's Eve. However I also had a bizarre impulse to immerse myself in a crowd early April or May -- could that be a symptom?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: belsaas
warfelg

warfelg

Mar 16, 2016
5,628
8,954
113
bill s said:
I have recently heard that false negatives are the big problem. Some have tested positive, then negative, then positive again, as though it hides out in the body the same way it does in society.
Click to expand...
So a few issues here:
1 - Pool testing. Meaning a lab will take multiple tests and test them as one. If they test 20 samples together and its under the threshold, the test will come back negative despite someone in that 20 being positive, as well as the flip of that.
2 - Are they testing immunoglobulin M (IgM), immunoglobulin G (IgG), or immunoglobulin A (IgA). The best tests are looking for IgM and IgG show that you have had it or are currently carrying the virus. IgA is the least reliable. Some tests lean more on IgM and other on IgG, with few on IgA. The test I had leaned on IgG that showed I have a longer term immunity to COVID due to having it. The positive-negative combo could be from two different brand tests that are looking for different things. If the first one keys in on IgG, then the second one keys in on IgM/IgA, then the last one keys in on IgG you can get that combo; and same for the other way around.
3 - The rate of false negatives is actually falling significantly as the tests get better, so the best advice is to look into what tests are quality and ask the testing center what test they are using before you go.
 
rswashdc

rswashdc

Nov 30, 2018
774
547
93
bill s said:
^^-- a 15 minute results antibody test is not pooling tests.
Click to expand...
These antibody tests should be a precursor for deciding whether to get a vaccine. We had what the doctor assumed to be the flu go through my younger kid back in February (didn't test because it was already too far along). My older child and I got meds to deal with the milder symptoms, but the symptoms are the same as COVID-19, so we have no idea if we had flu or COVID.
 
Nicole

Nicole

Administrator
Jul 22, 2013
9,641
24,954
113
Arlington, VA

Blaze is one of nine dogs enrolled in a University of Pennsylvania study into whether dogs can detect a distinct smell in people infected with the novel coronavirus. His triumph on that early July day — selecting a can containing urine from a hospitalized coronavirus-positive patient over an array of potentially confusing alternatives — is a key step in a training process that may one day allow dogs to pick out infected individuals, including those who are asymptomatic, in nursing homes, businesses and airports, potentially screening as many as 250 people an hour.
 
  • Love
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: DECoasteyGuy, Crunchewy, Zimmy and 2 others
ControlsEE

ControlsEE

I probably should be working...
Oct 2, 2018
615
1,157
93
rswashdc said:
These antibody tests should be a precursor for deciding whether to get a vaccine. We had what the doctor assumed to be the flu go through my younger kid back in February (didn't test because it was already too far along). My older child and I got meds to deal with the milder symptoms, but the symptoms are the same as COVID-19, so we have no idea if we had flu or COVID.
Click to expand...
My wife was sick with COVID symptoms in early December, went through her 600 person grad school like crazy. 99% sure it was COVID now. She thought it was pneumonia at first, but didn't have the key crackling sound in the lungs like pneumonia has. She was out of school for 3 days and back to normal in a week. Didn't even hear about COVID until 2 weeks later. I remember thinking in February that it was weird that we knew people who were infected, though levels at the time were below that of the swine flu, which I didn't know anyone who had or even thought they had it. I realize now that if this has been around a lot longer and spreads a lot faster than we thought, a lot more people were getting infected and didn't know it was the rona. Now back to burying my head in sand.
 
  • Wow
  • Like
Reactions: rswashdc and bill s
Zimmy

Zimmy

Nessie is lonely.
Silver Donor
Sep 28, 2013
5,749
8,290
113
Virginia Beach
Nicole said:

Blaze is one of nine dogs enrolled in a University of Pennsylvania study into whether dogs can detect a distinct smell in people infected with the novel coronavirus. His triumph on that early July day — selecting a can containing urine from a hospitalized coronavirus-positive patient over an array of potentially confusing alternatives — is a key step in a training process that may one day allow dogs to pick out infected individuals, including those who are asymptomatic, in nursing homes, businesses and airports, potentially screening as many as 250 people an hour.
Click to expand...
good puppy
 
  • Like
Reactions: Crunchewy
You must log in or register to reply here.
Login or Register to Hide This Ad