Corona Virus: It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

[morlac]

I flew from Mexico to Pittsburgh yesterday. I thought there might be some change to the regular customs entry at the airport. But there was none. If anything I got through customs quicker than normal. Dude grabbed my passport, stamped it and sent me on my way. Didn't even ask me any questions. So apparently they're only worried about people possibly having corona virus if they walk over the border.

I picked up my sister from ATL airport yesterday. she flew in from Guatemala yesterday, landed at 12:23 and was out front on the curb by 12:46 with all her bags. I/she have never see anything like it. It was a ghost town at on of the worlds busiest airports. They did at least check her for a fever before she boarded in Guatemala but once state side it was come on in. Granted few confirmed cases in Latin America but still.

[Smoove_B]

Do they know something we don't or were they just trying to lower ALOS?

Doubtful. They know (as so many of my peers have been saying) that because we're not doing sentinel surveillance on the populations around the United States - the testing criteria doesn't allow for it - we have no idea where the virus actually is. Instead of proactively monitoring for it by checking people with possible symptoms (public health), we're only allowed to check for people that communicate travel from very specific areas and/or have contact with someone that is known to be infected (private health).

We're going after this one with both arms tied behind our back. I think the medical staff are likely suspicious it's circulating in the area but they can't prove it (yet). I also suspect they're right.

[Daehawk]

I flew from Mexico to Pittsburgh yesterday. I thought there might be some change to the regular customs entry at the airport. But there was none. If anything I got through customs quicker than normal. Dude grabbed my passport, stamped it and sent me on my way. Didn't even ask me any questions. So apparently they're only worried about people possibly having corona virus if they walk over the border.

I picked up my sister from ATL airport yesterday. she flew in from Guatemala yesterday, landed at 12:23 and was out front on the curb by 12:46 with all her bags. I/she have never see anything like it. It was a ghost town at on of the worlds busiest airports. They did at least check her for a fever before she boarded in Guatemala but once state side it was come on in. Granted few confirmed cases in Latin America but still.

Shes more likely to get it in Atlanta.

[Skinypupy]

Co-worker just checked the morning Salt Lake-->DC flight for next Monday. This is a flight I've been taking at 2-3 times a month for the past 10 years, and I have never seen more than 2-3 empty seats.

He said there were 103 empty seats for next week.

[Smoove_B]

Our regional newspaper just published information about how to register to vote by mail for the upcoming primaries (June) and elections. I don't know how many states offer this option, but getting this information out now is really, really smart.

[Jaymon]

Its official

World Health Organization declares the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/11/who-dec ... demic.html




The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on Wednesday as the new coronavirus, which was unknown to world health officials just three months ago, has rapidly spread to more than 121,000 people from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

“In the past two weeks the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher.”


(more in article)

[Defiant]

On the lighter side, I wonder how many births we'll see in about 9-10 months as a result from all of this.

Remember to stock up on all essential supplies you'll need while you're cooped up.

[Paingod]

They sent her home saying she is probably safer from the virus outside the hospital rather than in it.

That sounds right to me. Personally, I wouldn't want to be in a hospital at all over the next few weeks unless I was going there with the symptoms of this illness. I imagine they're going to be focal points of infection.

[LawBeefaroni]

On the lighter side, I wonder how many births we'll see in about 9-10 months as a result from all of this.

Remember to stock up on all essential supplies you'll need while you're cooped up.

Note: Condoms are FSA eligible.

[Blackhawk]

On the lighter side, I wonder how many births we'll see in about 9-10 months as a result from all of this.

Remember to stock up on all essential supplies you'll need while you're cooped up.

Joke aside, I'm thankful to Smoove for the advanced tip. We laid in a set of basic supplies a week before people started rushing the stores.

[Dogstar]

The Extraordinary Decisions Facing Italian Doctors

...Today, Italy has 10,149 cases of the coronavirus. There are now simply too many patients for each one of them to receive adequate care. Doctors and nurses are unable to tend to everybody. They lack machines to ventilate all those gasping for air.

Now the Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) has published guidelines for the criteria that doctors and nurses should follow in these extraordinary circumstances. .... “It may become necessary to establish an age limit for access to intensive care.”

Those who are too old to have a high likelihood of recovery, or who have too low a number of “life-years” left even if they should survive, will be left to die. This sounds cruel, but the alternative, the document argues, is no better. “In case of a total saturation of resources, maintaining the criterion of ‘first come, first served’ would amount to a decision to exclude late-arriving patients from access to intensive care.”

In addition to age, doctors and nurses are also told to take a patient’s overall state of health into account: “The presence of comorbidities needs to be carefully evaluated.” This is in part because early studies of the virus seem to suggest that patients with serious preexisting health conditions are significantly more likely to die. But it is also because patients in a worse state of overall health could require a greater share of scarce resources to survive: “What might be a relatively short treatment course in healthier people could be longer and more resource-consuming in the case of older or more fragile patients.”

[Daehawk]

On the lighter side, I wonder how many births we'll see in about 9-10 months as a result from all of this.

Remember to stock up on all essential supplies you'll need while you're cooped up.

Joke aside, I'm thankful to Smoove for the advanced tip. We laid in a set of basic supplies a week before people started rushing the stores.

The only thing I noticed was at my local cheap food store. They had printed sheets saying some items like wipes, sanitizer, and cleaners were limited to 3 per person. They didn't even have any sanitizer. I almost bought toilet paper as I have only enough for a week. But its a week. Normally Id be good. Shall see.

[Grifman]

Dr. Fauci of the CDC was testifying before Congress today and was giving honest, factual testimony, warning of the serious issues we may face in the future as the disease progresses. But suddenly he had to leave before his testimony was completed, called away for a previously unscheduled "emergency" meeting at the White House on the virus. Does anyone really believe this? I wonder if he will still have a job after today's hearing.

[gameoverman]

“In the past two weeks the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher.”

I guess this is sort of political so I will post this comment in this thread. This kind of statement is what cost authorities credibility, and a time like this is a time when maximum credibility would be extremely helpful. I myself, a non medical non scientist member of the general public, could see this was a 'pandemic' weeks ago just like many other people. March statement "we expect to see..." then they list things that were happening in January.

Look at it this way: when it goes from China to South Korea, you can say the number of countries affected has doubled. When it pops up in Japan, the number of countries has tripled from how many were involved at the start. Everyone also knows testing is not widespread, which means the 'new' cases might not actually be new. Maybe that thirteenfold increase in cases is related to a large increase in testing these last two weeks. In effect it makes them sound like they have been triggered just now to declare a pandemic when that trigger was obvious almost two months ago.

[Grifman]

E3 has been cancelled:

h[url]ttps://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2020-cance ... 0-6474647/[/url]

[LordMortis]

Dr. Fauci of the CDC was testifying before Congress today and was giving honest, factual testimony, warning of the serious issues we may face in the future as the disease progresses. But suddenly he had to leave before his testimony was completed, called away for a previously unscheduled "emergency" meeting at the White House on the virus. Does anyone really believe this? I wonder if he will still have a job after today's hearing.

Cite? I want to know more. I was reading on Reuters about the White House classifying information related to Covid 19 today.

yay for caching URL histories...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... SKBN20Y2LM

[Blackhawk]

It wasn't just Fauci. It was all of the witnesses that were called away for a 'vital' meeting just when the oversight questions were getting tough.

[stessier]

“In the past two weeks the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher.”

I guess this is sort of political so I will post this comment in this thread. This kind of statement is what cost authorities credibility, and a time like this is a time when maximum credibility would be extremely helpful. I myself, a non medical non scientist member of the general public, could see this was a 'pandemic' weeks ago just like many other people. March statement "we expect to see..." then they list things that were happening in January.

Look at it this way: when it goes from China to South Korea, you can say the number of countries affected has doubled. When it pops up in Japan, the number of countries has tripled from how many were involved at the start. Everyone also knows testing is not widespread, which means the 'new' cases might not actually be new. Maybe that thirteenfold increase in cases is related to a large increase in testing these last two weeks. In effect it makes them sound like they have been triggered just now to declare a pandemic when that trigger was obvious almost two months ago.

I don't understand how this costs him credibility. Everything he said in your quote is true.

The difference with scientists is they need proof rather than a gut feel before they say something (or at least the good ones do). So your "obvious trigger two months ago" doesn't mean anything. Bring me data, then we'll talk.

[Isgrimnur]

It wasn't just Fauci. It was all of the witnesses that were called away for a 'vital' meeting just when the oversight questions were getting tough.

Which, of course, are now classified.

[Smoove_B]

I guess this is sort of political so I will post this comment in this thread. This kind of statement is what cost authorities credibility, and a time like this is a time when maximum credibility would be extremely helpful. I myself, a non medical non scientist member of the general public, could see this was a 'pandemic' weeks ago just like many other people. March statement "we expect to see..." then they list things that were happening in January.

I blame loosey-goosey use of public health terms by the media.

Epidemic - when the number of cases observed exceeds the number of cases expected. This is always going to be in a discrete geographic area - a town, a city or a state. Might be an entire country. Regardless, there is no magic number. Ebola in NJ? 1 case is an epidemic. Influenza in NJ? Might 5,000 cases in the state or 100 cases in a County during the first week of January. Comes from the ancient Greek for "what is upon the people". To trace epidemics, public health *must* be conducting surveillance at all times - to monitor when observed goes above historical expected.

Pandemics are just epidemics simultaneously occurring around the entire globe all at the same time. This is why they always wait to call it because they need the data to confirm it. Generally speaking the WHO is going to verify that the disease is present on all continents and is currently active (i.e. circulating) in all places. For consistency, pandemic comes from the ancient Greek for "what is around all the people". Let's pretend there's a country that refuses to test or acknowledge a disease is present. That of course slows down their ability to declare it a pandemic, above and beyond that country actually being able to appropriately respond.

And since we're doing it, endemic means "what is in the people" - a disease that is always at a constant low rate in a population at any given time. It's a way to potentially measure disease burden *and* given you a point of reference that would allow you to determine if something has switched from endemic to epidemic. We don't know yet, but word on the street is that this new virus will possibly become endemic in humans and have a seasonal variation, similar to the common cold and seasonal influenza.

The point here is that the terms and labels have very specific meanings.

[Alefroth]

Has there been any news of Trump stopping his rallies?

He didn't have any on Big Tuesday which is unusual.

[LawBeefaroni]

At the gym, they replaced all the little equipment wipe down towels and spray bottles with disinfectant wipes. They also put signs up in the showers saying anyone urinating or spitting in there would be kicked out immediately and lose their membership. All well and good but how would they know if someone is pissing in there? I will say it was joyfully devoid of the usual echoing sound of old men hacking up massive loogies though.


Oddly, the signs were in English and Korean only.

[morlac]

On the lighter side, I wonder how many births we'll see in about 9-10 months as a result from all of this.

Remember to stock up on all essential supplies you'll need while you're cooped up.

1. bottled water
2. cases of dry noodles
3. Hookers
4. Blow

[Defiant]

Senate GOP Blocks Emergency Paid Sick Leave Bill From Moving Forward

[LawBeefaroni]

Senate GOP Blocks Emergency Paid Sick Leave Bill From Moving Forward

Alexander said that paid sick leave is a “good idea.” But if lawmakers want to require employers to provide it, then the federal government should have to foot the bill, he argued.

And cut the payroll tax! We should just print our money on alcohol wipes and run the presses double time.

[Daehawk]

I would like a stimulus check. I promise to go out and spend it.

[Alefroth]

Portland distillery Shine starts producing and giving away hand sanitizer.

[Defiant]

Here’s how long the coronavirus can live in the air and on packages

Cardboard Delivery Box - 1 Day
Plastic - 3 days
Stainless Steel - 3 days
In the Air - 3 hours

[Fretmute]

I just received, in back to back emails at work, a message informing me that all non-critical face to face meetings are prohibited, and an invitation to Pie for Pi Day next week.

Good times.

[rittchard]

Whoever fixed it thank you so much!!!!

[Defiant]

A good writeup someone posted on the Medium

Here’s what I’m going to cover in this article, with lots of charts, data and models with plenty of sources:

How many cases of coronavirus will there be in your area?
What will happen when these cases materialize?
What should you do?
When?

When you’re done reading the article, this is what you’ll take away:
The coronavirus is coming to you.
It’s coming at an exponential speed: gradually, and then suddenly.
It’s a matter of days. Maybe a week or two.
When it does, your healthcare system will be overwhelmed.
Your fellow citizens will be treated in the hallways.
Exhausted healthcare workers will break down. Some will die.
They will have to decide which patient gets the oxygen and which one dies.
The only way to prevent this is social distancing today. Not tomorrow. Today.
That means keeping as many people home as possible, starting now.

[malchior]

True words!

https://twitter.com/scottjshapiro/statu ... 1290067968

The Black Death was so devastating because scientists hadn't yet discovered tax cuts

[hentzau]

Spotted on Twitter today:

"How's the US handling the Coronavirus?"
"OK, so imagine you shut off all of your error handling in production."
"And?"
"That's it."

[malchior]

Fun rumor is Trump is waiting on Jared to do research on it. Reboot the simulation. It has gotten completely absurd.

[Smoove_B]

Nah, it's unfolding as we all expected:

Lobbyists representing the oil and gas industry met with White House policy staffers Wednesday morning to discuss coronavirus, the state of the economy and the market, a representative for the American Petroleum Institute told CNBC.

The meeting comes as the market has been roiled by fears of coronavirus and deteriorating OPEC talks. After negotiations between OPEC and Russia fell apart on Friday, OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday slashed its oil prices and announced plans to increase production. This led to a selloff in oil markets and pressure on U.S. energy producers.

[Smoove_B]

Oh good. As if I haven't been drinking enough every night, let's have an drink-along with tonight's 9pm Oval Office chat:

President Trump is set to deliver a national address from the Oval Office at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, following the World Health Organization declaring the outbreak a pandemic and with Washington lawmakers scrambling to propose ways to contain the economic fallout of the fast-spreading virus.

He's either going to be doped to the gills and mushy-mouthed -or- completely unhinged. I am not sure which will be worse.

[Daehawk]

I haven't listened to a word the bullshitter has said in 3 years and dont plan to start.

[The Meal]

A good writeup someone posted on the Medium

Here’s what I’m going to cover in this article, with lots of charts, data and models with plenty of sources:

How many cases of coronavirus will there be in your area?
What will happen when these cases materialize?
What should you do?
When?

Thanks for sharing that. It was worth a focused read from top to bottom.

[Blackhawk]

A good writeup someone posted on the Medium

Here’s what I’m going to cover in this article, with lots of charts, data and models with plenty of sources:

Yeah, that was a good read. More people need to be aware of what's going on between the tests.

[Skinypupy]

Co-worker is still firmly convinced that CV is entirely a political stunt because, and I quote, “if you look at the places that are most affected, they’re all liberal”. Because as we all know; the disease vectors and media coverage in Seattle and NY are exactly the same as Bumfark, AL.

This was right after our discussion about how the LDS church announced that their April general conference (which brings about 100k people to Utah each year) would be virtual only. And we all know how liberal the LDS church is!