"Coronavirus and the US" or "We are all going to die!!!!"

[Angry Floof]

I just wish we knew more. I hate not knowing. I don't want to worry unnecessarily and I don't want to be unprepared. I feel like the quarantines and such measures are kind of useless, and that anyone who can get the virus will get it. I have no actual clue, obviously, but that's what everything looks like from where I'm sitting.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I still have to ask if this 10mil isn't media hype. I am leery of blank claims that some unspecified "scientist" said so. "Undisclosed sources" is a piss poor authority to rely on.

Covid-19 should be a concern but when compared to a known death rate of a half million flu deaths/year the question of comparatively how much more we should be concerned with flu has to come up.

Look at the reported death rate and apply it to the world's population. It could easily add a 0 to that 10 million number.

The question is how much care should be exercised by the average American today or next week? Your 'math' needs to include the chance of being infected by this virus... that chance is almost zero for the average American today and yet I see people wearing masks and taking other precautions. The chance of the average American contacting seasonal flu is several orders of magnitude higher since there are flu carriers in every community in the country. Fortunately, the precautions people are taking to avoid the corona-19 will also help protect them from the flu. Of course, if this virus spreads significantly then the chance of running into someone infected will become significant.

Masks don't do much good anyway and are in limited supply, better to save them for when the risk is higher. At present we don't really know the risks--His Flatulence is pretending it's a nothing by slow-rolling the testing. We have plenty of examples of people who are almost certainly infected but were never tested and put in a position of likely infecting many others. Officially we have only 2 cases in our county and AFIAK those are still just presumptive diagnoses, the test results aren't back. A presumptive diagnosis only happens with the serious cases--how many more not as serious are walking around?

We have already started with a fair amount of isolation, including her taking about a 10% income cut by not seeing those whose life puts them at high risk.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Ohio is closing colleges. NYU in NYC is cancelling classes.

These things mean little if everyone doesn’t stay inside for a couple weeks.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Ohio is closing colleges. NYU in NYC is cancelling classes.

These things mean little if everyone doesn’t stay inside for a couple weeks.

Weeks?
But, my dealer cries if he doesn't see me for three days!

 

[James Brown]

If sunlight kills viruses, wouldn't being outside more be better?

 

[southernhybrid]

New evidence suggests that COVID-19 can be transmitted via feces, aka SHIT. Oh SHIT! We are all going to go insane trying to sanitize everything we touch before we all become infected.

I was reading an article from a medical publication that I subscribe to that made this claim, so I looked for some other articles and there were plenty of them. One theory is that this is why the virus is spreading so rapidly. It's possible to get the damn virus from breathing the air in a bathroom after someone has moved their bowels.

https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus-fecal-transmission

According to new research from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC), those with confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (aka, COVID-19) have live virus in stool specimens. That means, in addition to spreading via close contact with the respiratory secretions of patients (aka, droplets produced by coughing or sneezing), COVID-19 can also be transmitted via a fecal-oral route.
Essentially, COVID-19 can pass from person to person "if an infected person does not wash their hands properly after using the bathroom," Jeremy Brown, MD, director of the Office of Emergency Care Research at the National Institutes of Health and author of Influenza: The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History, tells Health. He adds that lots of infections—including Hepatitis, cholera, and viruses that cause gastroenteritis—are also transmitted this way.

The other article that I read mentioned that the hand dryers in public restrooms might harbor the virus, as well as sinks etc. One physician suggested that we should all be wiping the toilet seat with a lysol wipe before we use the toilet. He said we should do this at home as well as in public rest rooms. Gee. Maybe we should all walk around wearing Hazmat suits!

I can't keep up with this. I'm washing my hands so often that my skin is becoming a bit too dry. I just posted a link on FB on how to properly wash your hands, because less than 30 percent of people know how to do it. And I hope you all know that soap and water is much more effective than hand sanitizer. Only use hand sanitizer when you're desperate.

I also heard the CDC say earlier today that it's likely that over 150 million Americans will eventually experience this virus. I am now going to be afraid to leave my home and I used a rest room in a grocery store less than an hour ago. OMG! I wouldn't be so concerned if it were not for the fact that my husband has mild asthma and we are both over 65.

 

[southernhybrid]

If sunlight kills viruses, wouldn't being outside more be better?

Sure, but we've been having lots of rain here lately. I doubt sitting outside in the rain all day is very feasible. I do try to park my car outside if it's sunny outside, so the sun will kill the germs in car.

 

[skepticalbip]

.... I used a rest room in a grocery store less than an hour ago. OMG!

My Sympathies...

 

[Kharakov]

I shook hands with an Asian guy the other day, after I annoyed him by walking up and mispronouncing "你好", which I had just... failed to learn... on DuoLingo.

He told me a story about being at a wedding where he was surprised by the number of Americans who could speak Mandarin. He later found out they were all diplomats who had returned from an embassy in China.

Right away, before I could wash my hands, someone showed up who needed help. I forgot to wash my hands.

I swear, I was sick the next day. Fuck that "2-3 days" incubation period. Anyhow- it was horrific. 2 days after I was symptomatic, I got picked up by the police on a warrant for not paying a 3k fine.
They threw me in a cold, damp, concrete cell with a bunch of other people for about 24 hours. I don't know if it made it worse. After that, they threw me in gen-pop. A lot of the people in their were already sick, but I had something new. So now there was another virus in gen pop...

The experience, as a whole, was positive. If I hadn't been sick before I went in, I would have blamed them if I caught something. Maybe they (or someone nice) deliberately infected me before I went there, after all, the last thing I did on this computer (the day before I was picked up) was render a webGL blue square... and you stand on a blue square when you go in. And I learned that police still pretend to be nice (they don't want to look bad in front of the complacent, stupid public... just in case- surveillance states can protect us from police- happier slaves are better producers (and safer to be around) than unhappy slaves- according to hustleocratic rule theory).

I suppose it's about learning to be tough enough to be useful to others, when you're not getting a fair share of the proceeds of your labor, when you're going to do the work anyway, because it's the best option available to you because your life is that shitty because you live in a society run by corrupt pieces of shit.


The one thing I know about these pieces of shit- they'll let you take a break between jobs, if it will increase your ability to work.

 

[Tharmas]

The NBA just announced they are suspending all games until further notice. Apparently a player showed up sick with the virus. He'd had a lot of contact with the media. They canceled the game just before tip off and sent everybody home.

 

[Angry Floof]

The next few weeks or months are not going to be pretty. Viruses don't need a high death toll to be massively disruptive.

 

[blastula]

fyi, not every possible symptom is common in covid.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Hospital my Dad is in palliative care wing is limiting visitors to two people at a time, in the building (which makes sense,
no point creating waiting rooms stuffed with people).

 

[barbos]

Assuming their data can be trusted, totalitarian China seems to be doing well. Italy not so much. at this rate they will surpass China in a week. But my suspicion that won't happen.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Assuming their data can be trusted, totalitarian China seems to be doing well. Italy not so much. at this rate they will surpass China in a week. But my suspicion that won't happen.

While we can't be sure that they are telling the complete truth there's no way they could cover up if it was anything like it was before--the crowds of sick people were obvious. Note all the video that leaked. They didn't magically manage to stop all leaks, thus there must not be scenes like before.

 

[George S]

Just heard a mathematician claim that Washington state is our Wuhan. We have about two weeks for the epidemic to reach the other corner, southern Florida. May your case be a mild one.

 

[Elixir]

Just heard a mathematician claim that Washington state is our Wuhan. We have about two weeks for the epidemic to reach the other corner, southern Florida. May your case be a mild one.

Zackly. May your case be a mild one.

‘It’s Just Everywhere Already’: How Delays in Testing Set Back the U.S. Coronavirus Response

That article is enlightening and alarming. It would be just our luck to suffer a viral pandemic just as we have an administration at an unprecedented level of incompetence. At least it's not a nuclear war (yet).

“It must have been here this entire time,” Dr. Chu recalled thinking with dread. “It’s just everywhere already.”
In fact, officials would later discover through testing, the virus had already contributed to the deaths of two people, and it would go on to kill 20 more in the Seattle region over the following days.
Federal and state officials said the flu study could not be repurposed because it did not have explicit permission from research subjects; the labs were also not certified for clinical work. While acknowledging the ethical questions, Dr. Chu and others argued there should be more flexibility in an emergency during which so many lives could be lost. On Monday night, state regulators told them to stop testing altogether.

A truly dazzling array of facts pointing to the worst possible management of every aspect of this pandemic.

 

[Copernicus]

Just heard a mathematician claim that Washington state is our Wuhan. We have about two weeks for the epidemic to reach the other corner, southern Florida. May your case be a mild one.

Could you give more details on your source, e.g. a link? Just because someone says something alarming, that does not make it credible.

First of all, we do not know the extent of the outbreak in the Seattle area or elsewhere, because we have not had the tests to gather meaningful statistics. Secondly, much of the hype is over the unusual number of deaths. As of March 13, we know of 37 deaths and only 568 confirmed cases, but 25 of the 37 deaths are associated with one nursing home, Life Care Center of Kirkland. The rapidly rising number of cases confuse the rising number of tests being done with the rising number of people actually becoming infected. It is inevitable that the numbers will go up as the means to discover them goes up. I'm not saying that the Seattle area is not having a major problem, just that whatever numbers that mathematician had, they probably weren't very meaningful.

 

[George S]

Just heard a mathematician claim that Washington state is our Wuhan. We have about two weeks for the epidemic to reach the other corner, southern Florida. May your case be a mild one.

Could you give more details on your source, e.g. a link? Just because someone says something alarming, that does not make it credible.

First of all, we do not know the extent of the outbreak in the Seattle area or elsewhere, because we have not had the tests to gather meaningful statistics. Secondly, much of the hype is over the unusual number of deaths. As of March 13, we know of 37 deaths and only 568 confirmed cases, but 25 of the 37 deaths are associated with one nursing home, Life Care Center of Kirkland. The rapidly rising number of cases confuse the rising number of tests being done with the rising number of people actually becoming infected. It is inevitable that the numbers will go up as the means to discover them goes up. I'm not saying that the Seattle area is not having a major problem, just that whatever numbers that mathematician had, they probably weren't very meaningful.

We were discussing this:
[YOUTUBE]Kas0tIxDvrg[/YOUTUBE]

And (both on YouTube) MedCram and Peak Prosperity who seem to think more in the range of a month or two for all of US to be infected.
We can't contain it so only non-pharma intervention -- self-quarantine -- to flatten the curve.

 

[rousseau]

We can't contain it so only non-pharma intervention -- self-quarantine -- to flatten the curve.

That's the gist of the approach in Ontario right now. Our medical leaders are assuming it can't be contained so they're mitigating impact by slowing the spread. Schools closed, day-cares closed, leagues canceled. On the bright side my wife just won herself a three week paid vacation.