I’ve never been to China. But when my parents visited years ago, my mother said that Chinese people routinely spit on the street and blew their noses with no tissue (fingers only). Is that still common practice? I was wondering if that perhaps contributed to the rapid spread there.
San Antonio mayor blasts the CDC for mistakenly releasing quarantined patient
“Mayor Ron Nirenberg blasted the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for mistakenly releasing a COVID-19 patient who was quarantined near San Antonio, saying it was unacceptable. “We will hold the CDC accountable to providing complete transparency for the public,” Nirenberg said in a statement Sunday. “This situation is exactly why we have been asking for federal officials to accept the guidance of our medical community.”” (CNBC)
"Italian health associations are appealing for more blood donors as medics warn a fall in the number of volunteers amid the coronavirus outbreak could have serious repercussions for those in need of blood transfusions…
“It is important that all donors go, without fear, to donate,” he said. “I emphasise that there is no scientific evidence of coronavirus transmission through transfusion. So whoever is in good health, can donate, a rule that is always valid.” (Guardian)
Almost 9 times more coronavirus cases were reported outside China than inside in the last 24 hours
"In the past day, there have been almost 9 times more new coronavirus cases reported outside of China than inside, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said today. During a press conference, Tedros said, the epidemics in the Republic of Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan are the organization’s greatest concern.
“We appreciate that people are debating whether this is a pandemic or not. We are monitoring the situation every moment of every day and analyzing the data. WHO will not hesitate to describe this as a pandemic if that’s what the evidence suggests,” Tedros said.
He added: “We are in unchartered territory. We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures.” " (CNN)
Wow! That mother is going to pay a heck of a lot for a single item of clothing. Best of luck to her!
I think it spread quickly because it’s a highly infectious disease that causes mild illness in most people. The same will be true here. China was able to slow the outbreak with strict quarantine measures, but I’m not sure the US will go that route because it would be very difficult/maybe impossible to shut down our major cities. It would also come with its own set of problems.
SPAIN - 36 new cases for a total of 120.
KUWAIT - 10 new cases for total of 56.
NETHERLANDS - 8 cases totaling 18, almost all have traveled from northern Italy or are family contacts of a previous patient.
JORDAN - 1st case confirmed.
TUNISIA - 1st case confirmed, Jordanian coming from Italy.
RUSSIA - 1 new confirmed case for a total of 3.
A 29-year-old Russian man became the country’s first confirmed citizen while inside of the country. The other two are Chinese nationals, since released from hospital.
"David Berov, who had returned from a ski trip to northern Italy on 23 February and checked into a hospital several days later, had tested positive for the disease, Russian authorities said on Monday. Two tests had returned negative results before a third test showed Berov was indeed infected with the coronavirus…In a series of videos reposted by Russian media, Berov filmed scenes from his quarantine, where he was being held in a single room with other suspected coronavirus patients.
“When we got there we asked the medical staff why we are all lying together in the same room – any one of us could infect the others,”… Doctors at Moscow’s Infectious Diseases hospital No 1 had later told him not to tell Russian health officials that he had been held in a single room with other suspected coronavirus patients" (Guardian)
Unfortunately yes it is.
I traveled to China quite often in the past for work. I usually went to Xi’an and Beijing. I saw children (around 5 or less) doing #2 in the middle of the crowded market. My co-worker and I also stepped on fecal matter a few times. But of course we didn’t know if it was dog’s poops or human’s.
Sorry for the grossness of the post.
This discussion was created from comments split from: Coronavirus in the US.
And Denmark, Great Britain (UK) and Canada…
@Massmomm
I looked at her posting history after we argued and all I can say is her poor child. She’s buying into the conspiracy that this was deliberate on China’s part (manufactured virus released into the public) and cites “4 unnatural amino acids” as proof.
That was a new one to me and I can’t even find where she got that particular tidbit from. It scares me how many people out there are reading these conspiracies.
On the bright side, everyone who wasn’t the two item tossers tried to talk sense into them - even those very worried about the virus.
In other news, just got this from the wholesale sanitizer place: “Unfortunately, the item you ordered is completely out of stock and we will not be able to complete your order. We have cancelled your order and issued a full refund.”
Come ON.
**USA - Seeing confirmation of a case in NH. Dr. Benjamin Chan, New Hampshire State Epidemiologist, said at a press conference that one of the four people being tested for coronavirus came back positive. That person had recently traveled to Italy, an adult from Grafton County in the western part of the state. They are not sick enough to be hospitalized, but are on home isolation.
https://www.necn.com/news/national-international/1st-confirmed-case-of-coronavirus-in-nh/2239912/
"There are now 91 confirmed and presumptive positive cases of novel coronavirus in the United States, according to an update Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
45 people who were aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship
3 people repatriated from China
43 US cases.
US cases are those detected and tested in the United States through US public health systems since January 21. Among the 43 US cases, there have been 17 hospitalized. There have been two deaths.
For US travel-related cases, there are 12 confirmed and five presumptive positive cases for a total of 17 travel-related cases. Among US cases of person-to-person spread, there are four confirmed cases and 22 presumptive positive cases for a total of 26 cases of person-to-person spread.
The 43 US cases are in 10 states: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin…
CDC is generally updating coronavirus case totals only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and says the most up-to-date case counts will come from state and local labs." (CNN)
SAUDI ARABIA - 1st confirmed case, a Saudi male who returned from Iran through Bahrain crossing. He did not disclose at the Saudi portal about his visit to Iran.
SENEGAL - 1st confirmed case.
On people believing the conspiracy theory that China somehow manufactured this and accidentally released it - one of my neighbors has repeated this to us. This is a highly educated, very smart women (Tufts undergrad, Georgetown Law). It amazes me.
"New England Journal of medicine study on 1,099 Covid-19 patients
The New England Journal of Medicine published its latest report on the coronavirus, in which it extracted data regarding 1,099 patients with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 from 552 hospitals in 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China through January 29, 2020.5% were admitted to intensive care, and 1.4% died."
Does this not indicate a much lower than 2 percent and actually much lower than 1.4 percent mortality rate(since so few people are being tested and many are known to be asymptomatic and this number is only for confirmed cases)?
Flu is much more widely tested and initial indications are it has lower rate of very mild/asymptomatic infection.
NH case is a Dartmouth employee, female. Being reported as the 92nd case.
I am certain that many people were exposed to the virus, developed what they thought was a cold or mild case of the flu and recovered and never imagined that it was COVID-19. The base of infected people is deflated in these statistics resulting in a higher mortality rate being computed.
Who knows what the rate is? Italy has 2%+ and has been doing a whole lot of testing. China did a whole lot of testing, too. Wuhan was higher around 3.6% but that was partially due to a overcrowded and strained health care system.
Despite constant comparisons to seasonal flu, experts are saying Covid-19 certainly has a higher mortality rate.
So there is time to send him over to the bogleheads site to educate him on the futility of stock picking?
Italy has a relatively elderly population which may be contributing to its higher mortality.
WW2
Its so disheartening 
Spreading is more likely in the healthcare setting ( hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living communities ) and mortality rates are higher in those settings as well. Studies from China indicate that cardiac disease causes the highest risk for mortality ( 10% in hospitalized patient in China ) and I assume is probably congestive heart failure and severe coronary artery disease ( not simple HTN). Second place as far as mortality are patients with severe preexisting lung disease ( mainly COPD ).
Spreading in the US is unlikely to be same as China ( better hygiene and nutrition ) and probably slower than in Europe ( lower density of population- with few exceptions ). Mass quarantine is unlikely in the US, due to loss of income and legal implications but there will be probably temporary restrictions as far as hospital and nursing homes visitation protocols. I expect mortality rate to be in the 0.5-1% in the US, with concentration in the at- risk population.
Centralized testing and decision making does not make sense in a country like the US ( see the CDC debacle ) and communities who help themselves will get best results.
Plus a bad hospital protocol with the initial case who seems to have infected sick people and staff in a hospital. That’s been seen elsewhere as well.