Corona Virus Feb 2020

[rich01]

I added the date to the title because I think there might be several threads started over the next year.

There are many medical professionals predicting that as much as 70% of the world's population will be infected with the nCoronaVirus. We just had a local woman return from China and somehow was able to fly into Raleigh International Airport before returning to her home in VA. According to the article, she is self-quarantining for 14 days at her home. I don't think this woman did anything wrong, but why didn't she have to fly into one of the government specified airports and be quarantined there? To me, this shows why the epidemic will spread to US. There appear to be holes in their plan.

The heart is one of the organs targeted by the virus. In addition to a replacement valve, many of us also have heart disease. Some likely have lung problems or other health problems that make them high risk patients if they get the corona virus.

So what can we do to protect ourselves. There's the obvious of wearing a N95 mask and goggles, gloves when needed, washing hands, keeping hands away from face, stay away from sick people, etc. But, we need food, we need medicine, we may need to see the doctor, etc.

I have started stocking up on food. For example I use almond milk and I bought some with a long shelf life so I can store it in a cabinet. I prefer the refrigerated almond milk, but this is for an emergency if it comes to that. I also bought extra over the counter meds like benedry and aspirin, so I have enough for several months if I can't get to the store. I take Plavix, which is pretty inexpensive, so I get a 3 month supply when I get my prescription filled and will see if I can pay out of pocked for another 3 months, so I will always have at least 3 months of Plavix. I have been able to save up some of my BP med over the last couple of years, so I will have at least 3 extra months of that as well.

I was going to plant a small garden this year, but am going to rethink how much to plant. Aside from a hospital or doctor's office, the 2 places I really want to avoid are Walmart (my pharmacy) and the grocery store. There is food delivery and mail order pharmacies, but you have to be careful about the virus being on the packaging.

Share your thoughts. I would love to see the virus die out, but everything I am reading say that isn't likely. I thought warm weather would stop it, like it does the flu, but I don't hear any of the experts predicting that will happen.

 

[Paleowoman]

I've been particularly concerned about this virus because I have a chronic respiratory condition very similar to asthma, the preventer inhaler I use daily is what's used for asthma, and anyone with a respiratory condition is more likely to have complications with this virus. There is already an announcement about the coronavirus and asthma on the main AsthmaUK website. I had no idea that the virus can also affect the heart.

I live on the edge of London and the virus is already in London. On the door of our GP surgery it has a notice which reads "If you have the symptoms of coronovirus do not enter the surgery but go home and phone NHS 111". 111 in the UK is the service which is similar to emergency and they dispatch an ambulance with paramedics, in protective suits if anyone is suspected of having the virus, to take them to special isolation units which are now being set up next to A&E's (ER) in hospitals here.

Judging by the way this virus spreads - incubation around two weeks during which the person doesn't know they have it but they are infectious - this is an extremely contagious virus. Public transport is not a good thing to use while this virus is around ! (My son, who has special needs and doesn't know how to care properly for himself, uses public transport arond London loads )

Facemasks are not really helpful. Handwashing is the most helpful. I had to see my GP last week and she said when I left, regarding the virus, to make sure I wash my hands well when I got home.

 

[LondonAndy]

I think the American government is not alone in having holes in their plan to prevent transmission of the virus - it took the UK government a while to implement measures too, and of course because of the long incubation period there seems to be limits to the effectiveness of such steps. Wider infection seems inevitable, but as many of us are indeed in the "at risk" category we should take all reasonable precautions until such time as a vaccine can be developed and distributed in sufficient quantity, which of course will take quite a while.

I live in London, and will have to use public transport, mostly the underground, to get to my office in the centre. Thankfully I am currently abroad on vacation followed by some time at home, and won't have to do this until 2 March. I will assess the situation then, and work from home if infections significantly increase. Otherwise it will be lots of hand washing - remembering that we need to scrub with hand wash for about a minute to be effective, on arrival at either home or office.

 

[Protimenow]

I don't think many of us know about the 1918 flu pandemic, but this reaction worldwide may be somewhat related to that terrible set of events.

There have been questions here about the virulence of this new virus -- do people who get it have more symptoms than they would have with a cold (so it's not diagnosed as a Corona virus caused illness (they've given the virus a new name, but we all seem to remember Coronavirus), what are the fatality rates and how do they compare to the flu?, and other epidemiological questions that may reduce the panic that is spreading in most developed countries.

Wearing facemasks isn't supposed to be effective against the flu virus - the viruses can pass through the masks.

Ordering groceries online may keep you from going outside, but what guarantee is there that the person who packs the groceries, or the one who delivers them haven't been exposed to the virus? In fact, wouldn't a delivery person, with many stops before your delivery, be MORE LIKELY to come into contact with the virus than you would be making a quick trip to the store?

I stay inside most of the time. I DO go shopping a few times a week. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'm not especially paranoid about the virus affecting me or my wife.

 

[rich01]

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'm not especially paranoid about the virus affecting me or my wife.

Yet.

 

[Protimenow]

Lets revisit this in a year.

 

[pellicle]

Firstly the medias ATP is "hysteria" ... if it bleeds it leads. Secondly the Jurnos often know less than the average guy and love to change what the academic said in interview ( oops, did I drop that word? I didn't understand anything they said anyway, I failed school that's why I did journalism, but I know I'm pretty good looking and aggressive which landed me this job).

So this tracker may be handy or informative (as indeed are the links to the WHO, CDC and other proper sources). I wouldn't use CNN, Fox, Sky or those as even toilet paper (as its likely to kill my septic tank with its toxic bullshlt)

 

[pellicle]

I don't think many of us know about the 1918 flu pandemic,

A link for those not acquainted. (underline mine)

It infected 500 million people around the world,[2] or about 27% of the then world population of 1800 or 1900 million, including people on remote Pacific islands and in the Arctic.
... To maintain morale, wartime censors minimized early reports of illness and mortality in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.[9][10] Papers were free to report the epidemic's effects in neutral Spain

 

[Protimenow]

As a journalist, I have to defend my craft. There are many good journalists out there - careful journalists who adequatelyresearch, who understand the subject matter, and who are motivated more to deliver what they believe is the truth than they are to exaggeration, sensationalization, and ratings.

Of course, these outlets that you listed, and many others, aren't true journalists. They are driven by ad revenue -- to increase revenue, they have to build their audiences. To do that, unfortunately, often removes the grip of truth. And, if that's not enough, many have to toe a party line in order to keep their jobs.

 

[pellicle]

There are many good journalists out there

its not what I see ... I mean in the mainstream establishment AND on the occasions my friends have been interviewed. I see that perhaps there may be one or two.

Also, when was the last time you worked in journalism? I suspect that things were better then than they are now.

Here's a wonderful example of the empty headed dopes who do Journalism in Australia (and this is from the Government run outlet):

Coronavirus keeps spreading on board the Diamond Princess. Is the quarantine working?

well if its not spreading to the mainland where the ship is docked, quarantine IS working ... as to the insides (with no control over AC, and as pointed out by the Japanese authorities they may not be new cases)

simply hard to defend that.

 

[Protimenow]

You haven't worked with the journalists that I've worked with. We're not ALL doing sensational journalism.

I've worked with many other journalists - technology, computer technology, storage technology, and other areas that aren't improved by coming up with untrue information.

 

[LondonAndy]

There is always a degree of sensationalism in the media of course – they are trying to sell newspapers or gain ratings – even the BBC here, despite its current public funding status. And a technical journalist friend of mine was not above using some titbit of information unrelated to his area of specialism to provide what I had considered a private comment to a journalist friend of his who could use it. As a result I have never trusted a journalist since.

However, as an insulin dependent diabetic with a consequently weakened immune system, living and working in probably the most international city on Earth, commuting on the wonderful London Underground but where it is poorly ventilated, warm and humid (ideal conditions for viruses) and so close to my fellow passengers that I feel I should be introduced to their parents following such almost intimate contact, I intend to continue to take reasonable precautions. If I lived in a small town or rural location I would be much more relaxed.

 

[pellicle]

We're not ALL doing sensational journalism.

Quite true.

Now looking honestly at the amount of media do you think it's as many as 5% working in the honest peer reviewed truth? Just peruse the supermarket first...

 

[pellicle]

, I intend to continue to take reasonable precautions. If I lived in a small town or rural location I would be much more relaxed.

And so you should. Were I still doing the sardine run in Tokyo I would be wearing a respirator.

 

[Paleowoman]

.....commuting on the wonderful London Underground but where it is poorly ventilated, warm and humid (ideal conditions for viruses) and so close to my fellow passengers that I feel I should be introduced to their parents following such almost intimate contact, I intend to continue to take reasonable precautions..

Absolutely agree with that strategy. It was last November that I was on a London Underground train sitting next to and opposite people who obviously had extremely bad colds/infections: red noses, mouth breathing coughing - it was from them that I caught the same which due to my respiratory condition developed into a bacterial infection for which I was given antibiotics which led to side effects from which I am only now recovering. My son is always travelling on the Underground and London buses which are almost as bad for catching infections as the Underground. London and it’s environs where I live are so populous, so crowded Wish I lived in the countryside far from London.

 

[Protimenow]

There is always a degree of sensationalism in the media of course – they are trying to sell newspapers or gain ratings – even the BBC here, despite its current public funding status. And a technical journalist friend of mine was not above using some titbit of information unrelated to his area of specialism to provide what I had considered a private comment to a journalist friend of his who could use it. As a result I have never trusted a journalist since.

However, as an insulin dependent diabetic with a consequently weakened immune system, living and working in probably the most international city on Earth, commuting on the wonderful London Underground but where it is poorly ventilated, warm and humid (ideal conditions for viruses) and so close to my fellow passengers that I feel I should be introduced to their parents following such almost intimate contact, I intend to continue to take reasonable precautions. If I lived in a small town or rural location I would be much more relaxed.

Certainly a warm, humid, poorly ventilated environment would be an idea place for bacterial growth, but I'm not convinced that viruses would get any benefit from the warmth and humidity. What WILL help spread the virus is how closely people are in that environment (who knows what's being spread in the trains), and the inability to clean every surface down there, all the time.

 

[Protimenow]

Quite true.

Now looking honestly at the amount of media do you think it's as many as 5% working in the honest peer reviewed truth? Just peruse the supermarket first...

I AM looking honestly. Do you really believe that 95% of journalists are writing for those supermarket rags? Do you believe that some of them are doing news? And do you really think that the people who write those inaccurate blogs are actually journalists?

This is a good profession, marred by a percentage of 'journlists' that make us all look bad.

 

[rich01]

I AM looking honestly. Do you really believe that 95% of journalists are writing for those supermarket rags? Do you believe that some of them are doing news? And do you really think that the people who write those inaccurate blogs are actually journalists?

This is a good profession, marred by a percentage of 'journlists' that make us all look bad.

There are many honest, hard working journalists. On the other hand, there are few honest newspapers and news programs. If I was younger, I would start an online news reporting service that was as honest as humanly possible. No opinion pieces, no editorials, no letters to the editor.

Focus would be on in-depth news stories and 1st person accounts. I had the idea of recruiting volunteer citizen journalists from all over the world who could provide 1st person accounts of events as they happened, without the filter of the major news networks and stringers.

 

[pellicle]

Hi

Do you really believe that 95% of journalists are writing for those supermarket rags?

I raised that as an example of what can be found (say in a large wallmart magazine area) as a good representation of 95% of what's written

Do you believe that some of them are doing news?

I don't understand this entirely , but assuming you mean do I believe some of them are telling the honest truth I think less than 5% ... because it has to get past the editors. Even the 95% who write bollox do make at least a clause or two which can be taken a face value, seldom an entire sentence.

And do you really think that the people who write those inaccurate blogs are actually journalists?

I was not even including that difficult category.

This is a good profession, marred by a percentage of 'journlists' that make us all look bad.

I believe its the 90% who make the 5% who are good look bad (there's a 5% who waver). This is based on decades of reading and back in the 70's it was better.

If one only reads journals (peer reviewed journals) nothing else than I'd say its more like 90% of what's written can be trusted (to not be sensational, but may still require a critical evaluation). Stuff like this:
Chemical Engineering Journal
Current Opinion in Toxicology
https://www.journals.elsevier.com/vaccine-reports
fluff like New Scientist (once a mildly respectable laymans magazine) is increasingly relegated to the 5% is not skewed or miswritten ... I cancelled my subscription back in 2015

My only regular read is this one (which is owned by the Royal Society of Australia)
About Us | Cosmos
and they present snippets for the curious to go and explore further (rather than outright lie to make it sensational).

I believe your views are skewed by your own involvement and personal professional pride and are no longer reflective of the present so much as when you were actively writing (when was that?).

 

[Protimenow]

No. I don't agree. I certainly don't agree with your 95% figure.

It's the sensational crap that gives us ALL a bad name.

I've been an editor. I didn't make decisions of what to use and what not to use, or edit it for sensationalism, just to get more readers.

I think YOUR views are skewed - you're not taking in the breadth of journalism and focus on the ones that you call the '95%'

As far as 'when was that?' I've been doing it since 1983, although not as much as I would like in the past few years. My last work was for Forbes Insights. I'm always looking for more freelance work, but I consider myself to still be a journalist.