Definitely over exaggerating.
FRANCE - 13 new cases taking the number of cases to 207 with 4 deaths, 1 today.
âFrench officials have closed about 120 schools in areas that have reported the largest numbers of coronavirus infections, and more could be closed in the coming days, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said.â (Al Jazeera)
France is taking control of the nationâs supply of protective masks
"French President Emmanuel Macron has tweeted that the government plans to take control of the supply of protective masks in the country for those possibly affected by the virus.
âWe will requisition all the stock and the production of protective masks. We will distribute them to health professionals and the French people affected by the coronavirusâ. (CNN)
French MP in quarantine as case count hits 200
A French MP is in quarantine after holding a meeting with a mayor who later tested positive for coronavirusâŠPierre Vatin, MP of the Oise dĂ©partement, one of the worst-hit in France, said he would not be going to parliament for two weeks as he had met with Bruno Fortier, mayor of CrĂ©py-en-Valois, who it later transpired had picked up the virus. (Telegraph)
OMAN - 6 new cases raising the total number to 12. All new cases were related to travel to Iran of which four are Iranian nationals and two Bahraini citizens.
If it is being exaggerated, why did Trump just force the Fed to cut interest rates by an amount not seen since the 2008 financial crisis?
The economy crashes on its own every 10-15 years, maybe he is using this as a sort of cover. Something to blame the crash on.
My company has also cancelled all non-essential travel. I fly 2-3x per month so Iâll probably lose my Platinum status this year for both American and Marriott. Some hotels and airlines in Asia are giving 1-year status extensions for their members with home addresses in China, etc.
Hopefully the US vendors will follow suit - I expect a lot of the top-status members will also see their travel come to a screeching halt especially as those guys usually rack up the miles from international travel.
I cannot help but wonder if all of this disruption is truly necessary to save lives. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the economy is more likely to die of COVID-19 than the vast majority of people.
@doschicos - thank you for keeping us all up to date on the numbers. I just returned to work yesterday after a 2 1/2 week skiing vacation in 4 western states. H and I drove so no air travel. I have been following this thread during our vacation.
One of the people that works in my office (not in my company as we share space) returned from the middle east and is under quarantine at home. He and his wife were in a hotel that was shut down because an Italian sports team staying there brought the virus. The person from my office and his wife went to the doctor and have not tested positive, but were advised to stay at home for 2 weeks.
I see it as a move of desperation.
IOC insists Tokyo 2020 will go ahead
"The International Olympic Committee has insisted it expects Tokyo 2020 to go ahead as planned despite fears the Games might have to be delayed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The IOC announced on Tuesday that they remain committed to staging the event as scheduled between July 24 and August 9 after Japanâs Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto suggested it could be postponed until later in the year" (Guardian)
Vietnam hand wash dance challenge goes viral
A" public service announcement on proper hand hygiene in Vietnam has become an internet sensation after a video was posted on TikTok of two dancers enacting the lyrics of the song. âThe songâs incredible,â comedian John Oliver said on Monday nightâs episode of âLast Week Tonight with John Oliver,â adding that âSesame Streetâ character Ernieâs âRubber Duckieâ song on bath hygiene pales by comparison. The lyrics to the song for the Vietnam coronavirus dance challenge are: âWash our hands, rub, rub, rub, rub evenly. Do not touch eyes, nose, mouth. And limit visits to crowded places. Push back the virus Corona, Corona,â according to the showâs translation of the song." (CNBC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=42&v=zy21UGQ6yNA&feature=emb_logo
Fyi @doschicos âSARâ as in the school is pronounced as the spelling I.e. S A R. 
Itâs not exaggerated. Corona virus is more contagious than the flu and its fatality rate is around SEVEN TIMES that of the flu, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. There is no treatment or vaccine, and there may not be for another year.
There is no vaccine for the flu, they just try to guess the strand to help you become immune, 15000 people have died this flu season do to the flu. And a couple hundred thousand have been hospitalized.
U.S. Homeland Security Department temporarily closes office in Washington State amid coronavirus concerns
âThe U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) temporarily closed an office in Washington state on Tuesday amid concerns over the possible spread of the coronavirus, acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said during a congressional hearing.â (Reuters)
SWEDEN 9 new confirmed cases taking the total to 24
In the majority of confirmed cases in Sweden, the infection can be traced to Italy.
On Monday, the health authority raised its assessment of the risk of a widespread outbreak in Sweden to âmoderateâ from âlowâ, and the risk of imported cases and of Swedish citizens being infected abroad to âvery highâ from âhighâ.
Swedish-Danish airline SAS on Tuesday suspended flights to the north of Italy.
Fourth death in France - 92-year old man in the Morbihan in Brittany.
- Fatality rate for flu is 0.1%. Note where this decimal point is ;)
- Coronavirus has a fatality rate of up to 2%. Note where the decimal point is.
- It's estimated 70% of the world's population will be infected with coronavirus, which is far more contagious than the flu.
You do the math.
I donât think there is enough firm evidence yet to say definitively that the mortality rate is that high. It is clear that community transmission is the wild card in this. People with zero connections in far flung places from known cases (Florida, for example) have contracted it. That implies that the number of people walking around with COVID19 who donât even realize it must be much higher.
And yes, I do think there is way too much hysteria. The people who are most likely to succumb are mostly high risk, given the available information. This is nothing like the Spanish Flu of 1919, which killed millions of previously healthy and young people.
This doesnât mean we should ignore the WHO or CDC guidelines. Believe me, Iâve been washing my hands more than ever and have urged all of my family to do the same. I am worried about the economic effects due to this. Anyway, itâs coming and we should be prepared.
I happen to be familiar with that school because I did some architectural work there many years ago. It was designed in the 1960s in the heyday of the open classroom. There are no walls between any of the classrooms, so if the manâs child who attended the school is a carrier, everyone at the school has been exposed. Among other things, the entire school gets together at the end of the day for davening.
Some other posters have highlighted comments from Dr. Aylward. Here are others.
Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director General - WHO, World Health Organization Joint Mission to China:
"I think the key learning from China is speed â itâs all about the speed. The faster you can find the cases, isolate the cases, and track their close contacts, the more successful youâre going to be. [âŠ]
People keep saying [the cases are the] tip of the iceberg. But we couldnât find that. We found thereâs a lot of people who are cases, a lot of close contacts â but not a lot of asymptomatic circulation of this virus in the bigger population. And thatâs different from flu. [âŠ]
China got patients in treatment early and have highly sophisticated health care treatment procedures. They are really good at keeping people alive with this disease. They have a survival rate (with a mortality rate of just under 1% outside of Hubei province) for this disease I would not extrapolate to the rest of the world. What youâve seen in Italy and Iran is that a lot of people are dying.
Panic and hysteria are not appropriate. This is a disease that is in the cases and their close contacts. Itâs not a hidden enemy lurking behind bushes. Get organized, get educated, and get working."
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/2/21161067/coronavirus-covid19-china
Doesnât it seem like people are over exaggerating the corona virus, I mean, doesnât the flu spread really quick too, and kill thousand of people a year? It seems like since it came from China, people are afraid.
Arizona tested 30 this week and only one just came back positive. This is the 2nd case here. The first has recovered. H has customers coming to AZ to golf. They are arriving on their company jet.
Decline in coronavirus cases in China is âreal,â WHO official says
"The World Health Organization has seen a steady decline in novel coronavirus cases in China since the end of January, including in Hubei province and the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.
âWe questioned these numbers while we were in China, we scrutinized this data and we believe that this decline is real,â Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of the World Health Organizationâs Health Emergencies ProgrammeâŠShe said they believe this because of the extent of case finding, contact tracing and testing among other surveillance systemsâŠâWeâve seen the comprehensive measures that China has taken and ⊠we believe that that has had an impact on changing the natural trajectory of the outbreak in China,â she said. âWe believe that this is possible in other countries.â
For countries other than China â including Italy, Iran and Korea â that means having an aggressive approach to looking for contacts, social distancing, hand washing, respiratory etiquette and readying systems, she said." (CNN)