@Nrdsb4 from your post!!
In crowded places, masks help. Itās much more crowded in cities all over East Asia and Southeast Asia. Wearing face masks will reduce the amount of transmissions, even though they arenāt fully effective. Thereās a severe shortage of masks though, in this country and elsewhere, so the advice in countries other than the ones in Asia is to save the masks for the healthcare workers and the already sick.
Masks-what I think is that if you donāt touch your eyes, nose, and mouth more as a result of wearing one, and if you donāt botch how you put it on and remove it and touch your eyes, nose, and mouth in the process, then it can block droplets from sneezes and coughs, etc, even if imperfectly. If someone sneezes in my face, am I safer wearing a mask or not? I think having something between my mouth, nose and that sneeze is safer. I do not understand the governmentās insistence on not wearing masks other than that we have a shortage. If there were enough, I would think they would recommend everyone in areas that are getting more infections consider wearing them.
I think that if this thread is stressing anyone out, itās probably best just to skip it. Itās hardly the only source of information and if seeing it all posted in one place is too much to take, thatās totally valid. (But also, thanks to @doschicos for posting it for those who wish to follow.)
I personally donāt many people overreacting here. Itās confusing to know what to do or not do because our own government is giving mixed messages, sometimes within the same press conference!
Totally agree.
Nope. That is absolutely NOT whatI said.
I thought we banned flights coming from China. When did your friend get here?
^^^Having more information is better than having less. Donāt listen to the politicians. Assess your own risk independently and calmly. Never panic.
China is IN crisis mode. We are not. I happen to think the face masks even if not effective in screen out viruses are not only a good reminder t keep hands off face , but to remind others to keep away.
We do a lot of hugs and handshakes and light kisses when delighted to meet people, comfort people etc etc. Its automatic. When someone is wearing that mask, it does trigger a reminder that it may not be such a good idea to approach too closely. An elderly person going to family funeral, someone who has an important function to attend but is high risk for respiratory issues, would do well to wear a mask for those reasons and carry hand sanitizer in their pockets ready to use. So the masks have their used. The really effective masks are horrible to wear and anyone with breathing issues may not be able to bear keeping one on for any length of time.
@homerdog, for MOST of us, apparently this virus is not a huge health threat. Certainly not life threatening. But, personally, just a few years ago, it would have scared me terribly as I had two elderly mothers in my home, one in very frail respiratory health. With the outbreak 3 miles from my house, and caretakers and product likely to have come in contact with that cluster, yeah, Iād be nervous. Not for myself, but bringing the virus in house could have tragic consequences. There are a number of folks in this situation.
There are also those that are having trouble living paycheck to paycheck and a quarantine would be a financial disaster for them and their families. Thes folks tend to soldier on even when sick if they can possibly do so. Itās not going to be to their personal benefits to get tested. And many of those folks are our food handlers, work in Health care places, are in contact with the public. I remember sending some nursing and hospice aids home when they had the sniffles when I had elderly parents in the house. Maybe it was allergies, maybe not. At least a couple of time, it was not. My kids would be hanging around friends and classmates with terrible coughs and colds that made me shudder. RSV season was stressful, and with this virus in the picture that can be so deadly to certain folks would have made it more so.
Wondering what your thoughts are on this story.
"Facebook has confirmed that a contractor at a Seattle office has been diagnosed with the coronavirus and the social media giant said it would close that location until March 9.
āA contractor based in our Stadium East office has been diagnosed with the COVID-19,ā a spokeswoman said.
Facebook said it has notified employees, adding that workers in all Seattle locations were being encouraged to work from home until the end of the month." (Guardian)
There have been cases reported in China beyond 14 days. Also China has built facilities
where people who have "recovered"are then quarantined for an additional 14 days because some people have tested positive again later on. These instances are in the minority but I guess they are erring on the side of caution.
Another posted referenced that. 70% of strains were one type, which they called āL.ā The āLā strain was more aggressive than the remaining 30% of strains, which were dubbed āS.ā Many articles if folks want to read more. I did see a reference to one of the WA deaths presenting with both strains but was unable to find confirmation elsewhere.
Iāve seen reports from the UK that they are using 40% infected for their pandemic scenarios. In the USA with 325 million people, that would be 130 million. If you use the more conservative 2% mortality figure not the 3.4%, you are still talking 2.6 million deaths. Hopefully it wonāt come to that but thatās the math for a really severe, widespread breakout.
A popular hackathon scheduled to start at Caltech on Friday switched to remote participation for anyone who is not a Caltech student.
"Just anecdotal, but nurses on my nursing forum are reporting things like the following: patients/families/visitors have been stealing masks (for example, at stations where masks are available to visitors for reasons other than coronavirus, they are taking handfuls rather than the one mask). People have been going into stock rooms and stealing masks and sanitizers. So security have taken all masks usually available to HCW in the stock room and locked in other places, where they have to jump through hoops to get them. Some nurses are being told they wonāt be given masks for the near future period.Remember, coronavirus is NOT the only contagious risk to health care workers.
Patients/families/visitors have been stealing the hand sanitizers mounted outside of patient rooms."
@Nrdsb4 sorry I read too quickly. It was patients/families/visitors stealing hand sanitizer. Glad it wasnāt the health professionals. What does it say about how the messaging is going in the US, though, when people are stealing this stuff? Ugh.
I think in places like China the density of the people is the main scare and problem. The more dense the area the more prevalent the spread of anything contagious. So wearing masks might make sense. But after that first time use are they getting like new supplies of masks?
One issue is then removing and reusing that same masks. What people donāt get if it gets soiled or not used properly then you can have the infection on the inside of the mask when you put it on again. So itās a false sense of security and can harm you more compared to not wearing a mask.
She flew to Japan and then here. Once here she was asked if she would please self quarantine at home. She was told if she had to go to the store they asked her to consider going at night or other time when there were fewer people during that quarantine period. She stayed home 14 days. Each day someone from the government called to ask her about her temperature and health in general. She returned here mid-Feb and just got out of quarantine.
I have only read a few posts so this may be redundant.
CNN report:
Infectious disease expert in Japan claims that the official statement of just over 1,000 cases in Japan is under-reported due to Japanās insufficient medical infrastruture. Maintains that the actual number of cases is much greaterāabout 10,000 instead of 1,000, by his estimation.
CNN also reports that:
It is estimated that 64,000 breathing machines will be needed in the US for coronavirus patients. Currently, the entire US has just 64,000 breathing machines.
Wonder which company or companies manufacture breathing machines.
Donald Trump has declared live on television that he didnāt believe the World Health Organizationās assessment of the global death rate from coronavirus of 3.4%.
Video included.
Just reporting direct quotes.
I do not understand the governmentās insistence on not wearing masks other than that we have a shortage. If there were enough, I would think they would recommend everyone in areas that are getting more infections consider wearing them. In China you are supposed to wear them. Why are the Chinese having people wear them if they donāt work and cause people to touch their faces more and infect themselves more? Doesnāt make sense.
Totally agree.
My friend who just got back from China told me not to listen to the USA mask advice and that she wished everyone here would wear masks. She feels it is very unsafe to be out in the USA where people donāt wear them.
Good news !
A very distinguished, professorial-looking man in the check-out lane in the grocery store loudly announced that the coronavirus is a hoax designed to get us all to pay for new, expensive vaccines. And he was serious.
Whew ! Glad that thatās over.
I mentioned here before that during the SARS period, in my small state, the medical community was told that if there was a big outbreak they would need to rig up as many as 12 people to one machine. This scenario was told to me by several doctor friends.