SARS-2-CoV (COVID-19)

[Hozzie]

Just now, mikegideon said:

Trump just stopped all travel to and from Europe (excluding the UK) for 30 days. May be too late.

I got no problem understanding exponents.

I literally just book a flight for the end of the month today.  Curious to see how the airlines handle this.

[TGO David]

25 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

Hub Group said they are making sure employees have VPN access. 

Let's just say that I know a guy who works for an international medical company with an incredibly large workforce.  They don't scare easily when healthcare topics come up, and they certainly don't spend capital budget frivolously. 

Because of their relationships with various tech giants, they manged to purchase and receive equipment within the last 10-days that normally takes 30+ days to obtain.  It wasn't cheap and it's being used to expand their remote work capabilities far beyond what they previously were, and they were previously very adequate.

Logical people might draw logical conclusions about our assessment of things.  I mean their.

 

[AuEagle]

35 minutes ago, mikegideon said:

Trump just stopped all travel to and from Europe (excluding the UK) for 30 days. May be too late.

I got no problem understanding exponents.

Good thing The President put the travel ban to/from China early on.when he did, things could much different now.

[MacGyver]

NBA just suspended its season after Rudy Gomert tested positive.

Trump announced travel ban from Europe for 30 days.

The average American may begin to take this more seriously.

I’d avoid checking your 401k, but I expect we’re going to see circuit breakers tripped in the markets tomorrow.  

[btq96r]

The NBA has just suspended its season because a player tested positive.  If a grinding halt to a business with annual revenues in the billions doesn't make you think it's getting real out there and about to get worse, I don't know what will. 

[TGO David]

4 minutes ago, btq96r said:

The NBA has just suspended its season because a player tested positive.  If a grinding halt to a business with annual revenues in the billions doesn't make you think it's getting real out there and about to get worse, I don't know what will. 

[MacGyver]

5 hours ago, Wdodd said:

WD to Earth ……… "Anyone remember Y2K?" …….. Over & Out.

I’d be thrilled to have anyone tell me I was wrong 2 weeks from now.

Just do me a favor and make sure you’ve got a little bit of extra food in your pantry for when you’re right.  

[Grayfox54]

The March Madness Collage basketball tournaments have announced  that games will be played without fans in the seats. That's a loss of millions of dollars in ticket sales to the economy right there. 

Hate to say it, but I'm starting to think I may have been wrong and need to take this more seriously than I had been. I think this virus is just getting started. I believe its gonna  last quite a while, spread pretty much everywhere and get a whole lot worse. This is a whole new strain of virus. Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly what it is, much less how to fight it.  Most are guesstamating a cure or vaccine may be a year or more away.

But, of course, about all any of us can do is take reasonable precautions and hope we don't get it. I live pretty much like a hermit anyway. So I think I'll be alright. However, I am concerned for my younger son and his fiance. He works retail and she works in a school.  Not good at all for either of them. 

 

[Refleks]

One point of frustration for me is the attitude I'm seeing locally that "keep calm and wash your hands" equates to "we can stop this by washing our hands".   In other words, people are thinking that as long as susan over in so-and-so county doesn't screw this up, it won't even reach my hometown and will peter out.

That's not how this works.

Once it spreads beyond a certain point, the best case scenario isn't "it likely won't even reach me", it's instead "this is going to get significantly worse before it gets better, and the majority of the population is likely to be exposed at some point or another, and the knob we can control is getting the fatalities down near the bottom of the estimated rates if we all do our part" which is a very different takeaway when they say keep calm and wash your hands.

The cavalier attitude and bemused mood on social media is a bit disconcerting, considering an authoritarian regime with little to no individual rights to worry about was unable to prevent the pandemic despite clamping down relatively decisively (after the usual denial stage) with near draconian measures.  Maybe they should have just washed their hands?

Pay close attention to what's happening in Italy.  New York is going to be a canary, and will set the pace for what's to come.   Now of course we know that in almost every age bracket (except apparently the very young) there is a small percentage that someone will be killed by this, as with most viruses (including the Flu, to a lesser degree of lethality), particularly if they have comorbid conditions or other risk factors like high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and so on.   The problem is exacerbated, however, when the healthcare infrastructure is inundated with many new cases simultaneously, along with the staff becoming diminished as they get sick as well -- the end result being a certain percentage of people who ordinarily have no business dying from this under ordinary circumstances where they would receive more focused care may end up succumbing because we simply don't have the resources to help them all.  That's partially in our control (through the aforementioned best practices) but realistically there's only so much we can do to ameliorate this and stem the tide of new patients when combined with lack of testing resources and the apparent ability for this virus to spread prior to showing signs and symptoms.  The point being, by the time one case is actually detected in the AO (assuming we're not talking about a controlled point of entry),  there are almost certainly orders of magnitude more who have been exposed over the past several days.  You're late to the party if you wait till then to start wearing your respiratory protection, practice self quarantine and run to the store for last minute supplies.

People certainly shouldn't panic, but it's almost always a better approach to take it seriously and err towards the side of it being a little bit worse than the Government would have you believe.
 

[Swang]

every Hospital is typically pretty full, in comes an more people. Hospital won’t do you much good.

I am pretty healthy and not concerned.

The Guberment is already working on their vaccine... oh joy. That makes 7 shots per visit to your new baby.

have to say.... pretty coincidental they got a vaccine in trials in a couple months. 

[Erik88]

11 hours ago, MacGyver said:

I’d avoid checking your 401k

I feel for anyone that was just about to flip the retirement switch. This is going to get ugly. 

[Erik88]

On another note. I landed a new job that I am supposed to start 3/23. We were planning to list our house any day now. I don't know what they are legally allowed to do, but I'm halfway expecting them to either pull back my job offer or at least delay my start date.  Of course, I've already turned in my notice to my current job. So the next few weeks will be interesting for me. Best case, I'm starting a new job right as this pandemic starts to take off. 

[Snaveba]

9 hours ago, Refleks said:

You're late to the party if you wait till then to start wearing your respiratory protection, practice self quarantine and run to the store for last minute.
 

unless you are wearing a full face respirator, don’t bother as a means of keeping yourself from getting exposed  you are much more likely to pick up the virus by touching an infected surface and then rubbing your eye, touching your mouth, or picking your nose with the virus on you hands (hence the rational of washing handed a lot)  the a mask does not cover your eyes. Even if you are wearing a mask, if someone coughs in your face, your eyes are an easy entry point. Wear a mask if you are or think you are sick to protect others from YOUR coughs and sneezes. 

Self Quarantine is appropriate is you think you are infected, or think you have been exposed. Although as many have said, not all can work from home.

Stock up on essentials, but don’t go crazy. 

[E4 No More]

I just read a report on a study about how long the corona virus can "live" outside the body. Ignoring the debate of whether a virus is a living organism or not, it can live up to 3-days on stainless steel or plastic. It can live up to a day on cardboard, and 4-hours on copper. I then had a delivery at my house, and it made me wonder just where that cardboard box with the plastic tape has been. 

I'm not a germophobe but I certainly washed my hands really well after handling the box.

[Ronald_55]

1 hour ago, Erik88 said:

On another note. I landed a new job that I am supposed to start 3/23. We were planning to list our house any day now. I don't know what they are legally allowed to do, but I'm halfway expecting them to either pull back my job offer or at least delay my start date.  Of course, I've already turned in my notice to my current job. So the next few weeks will be interesting for me. Best case, I'm starting a new job right as this pandemic starts to take off. 

Your timing sucks.  

[E4 No More]

6 minutes ago, Snaveba said:

unless you are wearing a full face respirator, don’t bother as a means of keeping yourself from getting exposed  you are much more likely to pick up the virus by touching an infected surface and then rubbing your eye, touching your mouth, or picking your nose with the virus on you hands (hence the rational of washing handed a lot)  the a mask does not cover your eyes.

Yep, pretty much don't give the virus any help penetrating the mucosa. 

[Hozzie]

42 minutes ago, Snaveba said:

Stock up on essentials, but don’t go crazy. 

I saw a guy yesterday while I was getting groceries at Kroger (normal shopping not panic) that literally had to have had 100 rolls of toilet paper.  He looked at me and said "that's the only thing I need".  I told him if you need that much, you have something majorly wrong.   If I had thought of it I would have said, if there is any Karma you will need to use every single sheet of that this week.  As he was buying the cheapest crap they make, he wouldn't have been able to sit down anyway if he had to use all of it.

I don't do well with idiots.

[Swang]

25 minutes ago, Hozzie said:

I saw a guy yesterday while I was getting groceries at Kroger (normal shopping not panic) that literally had to have had 100 rolls of toilet paper.  He looked at me and said "that's the only thing I need".  I told him if you need that much, you have something majorly wrong.   If I had thought of it I would have said, if there is any Karma you will need to use every single sheet of that this week.  As he was buying the cheapest crap they make, he wouldn't have been able to sit down anyway if he had to use all of it.

I don't do well with idiots.

Probably an evil reseller that uses such events to profit

[DWARREN123]

I do not suggest being cavalier about it but do not go crazy either. Neither  extrememe will help.

[Refleks]

1 hour ago, Snaveba said:

unless you are wearing a full face respirator, don’t bother as a means of keeping yourself from getting exposed  you are much more likely to pick up the virus by touching an infected surface and then rubbing your eye, touching your mouth, or picking your nose with the virus on you hands (hence the rational of washing handed a lot)  the a mask does not cover your eyes. Even if you are wearing a mask, if someone coughs in your face, your eyes are an easy entry point. Wear a mask if you are or think you are sick to protect others from YOUR coughs and sneezes. 

Self Quarantine is appropriate is you think you are infected, or think you have been exposed. Although as many have said, not all can work from home.

Stock up on essentials, but don’t go crazy. 

 

Yes it’s true that eyes are a vector for infection, but it’s irresponsible to tell people that if you don’t have a full face respirator you may as well not even bother.   When it comes to mitigation measures across populations  we do not take an all or nothing approach .  Respiratory protection is not a panacea, but as one part of a comprehensive strategy they can and do help, and in more ways than most people might think.  Though you can still rub your eyes if only wearing half face protection, it’s a lot more difficult to inadvertently touch your nose or mouth.   Even surgical masks, which provide negligible protection for those who aren’t sick, perform this function, and if you ARE sick and don’t know it, it’s a silly simple way to insure you’re covering your mouth when you cough and sneeze and reduce the distance at which aerosolized droplets will travel.

 

Finally, it’s fairly trivial to complement a half face mask respirator / disposable mask with eye protection. The most important thing is education and ensuring the average baseline literacy on the subject is increased across the population, but organizations endeavor to keep things simple and that sometimes leads to misunderstandings and people drawing their own conclusions to the detriment of the objectives.

 

These little measures do add up, and are most effective it implemented early, but significantly less so if people wait until it’s in their local community where self quarantine starts to become crucial

Edited March 12, 2020 by Refleks

[Swang]

Think I will just pull some panty hose over my head next time I go out. That way I’m fully covered

[bud]

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Edited December 24, 2020 by bud

[bud]

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Edited December 24, 2020 by bud

[DaveTN]

Dr. Fauci says they don’t know for sure how long the airborne virus can last, but he suspects hours. If someone else thinks it can be days; so be it. You have the information to make educated choices.

I watched a special report on it and Dr. Fauci thinks having a vaccine in 12-18 months would be very aggressive and that’s what he told the President. Of course I’m guessing a cure or vaccine could be stumbled on quickly. But it still will take time to deploy.

The loss of life and the damage to our economy could be staggering.

[Erik88]

My job just told us to work from home for the next few weeks. No end date has been specified.