Coronavirus in the US

[katliamom]

@Sue22

SIL has purchased tickets
On a cruise
Leaving from Seattle
With her 80 year old mother
Who had a quintuple bypass and has had multiple additional medical issues.

She has so far has resisted any suggestion that this may not be such a good idea and doesn’t understand why we don’t want to put down a non-refundable deposit to join them.

Oy.

[ridingthewave]

Washington State up to 79 confirmed (from 70 yesterday)

County distribution -
King 58

Snohomish 19

Grant 1

Jefferson 1

https://www.doh.wa.gov/emergencies/coronavirus

[Cardinal_Fang]

"two top infectious disease experts with close ties to the federal government are advising people age 60 and older and people with immune issues to strongly consider avoiding activities that involve large crowds, such as traveling by airplane, going to movie theaters, attending family events, shopping at crowded malls and going to religious services.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health has made the same recommendations, but for people over 50.

Santa Clara County is Silicon Valley, btw, not some quiet backwater.

[nordicdad]

At least a few large silicon valley companies are telling most people to work from home. Many of my coworkers gathered a few things from the office, and got some software installed to work remote and headed back home.

[homerdog]

@milgymfam I’m so sorry.

I’m still sticking with my position that a lot of this is such an overreaction. Every time another person is diagnosed, it’s reported on television but most of these people are having mild symptoms and are quarantined at home. The media doesn’t report on every flu incident. This reporting is making people hysterical. Maybe if our government could get their act together and get us good info, people wouldn’t be so scared of getting sick. How long are we going to do this? What will make people feel like we can go back to normal?

We are a year or more away from a vaccine and the whole country is not going to keep on keeping on like this for that long. Our D had a cough and a small fever on Monday. Felt better and fever free yesterday. I kept her home for three days. Who knows? Maybe she had the virus? She’s almost 100% well today. I’m not being sarcastic. We’ve all been told that many people have already had the virus and just didn’t know that was it.

[doschicos]

"The patient who has tested positive in Vatican City participated in an international conference hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Life last week, a local source has told the Reuters news agency.

Participants at the three-day conference on Artificial Intelligence at a packed theatre close to the Vatican itself included top executives of Microsoft and IBM, Reuters reported.

The academy issued a separate statement saying it was informing all other participants of the development by email but did not say it was the same person whose case was announced earlier by Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni." (Guardian)

[Empireapple]

katliamom it isn’t a worry…it’s a feeling. Tuition may not be other’s lifesavings but it is for some. It’s a valid reaction.

[doschicos]

More on Pompeo’s TV performance today. So much for diplomacy…

Pompeo speaks of ‘Wuhan virus’ despite China’s protests

"For the second day in a row, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly referred to COVID-19 as the “Wuhan virus” or “Wuhan coronavirus,” a reference to the central Chinese metropolis that is hardest hit.

Asked in a CNBC interview about the success of Beijing’s response to the outbreak, Pompeo said, “I’m happy you complimented the Chinese Communist Party today, but remember this is the Wuhan coronavirus that’s caused this.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, asked in a briefing this week about the terms “Wuhan virus” or “China virus,” said it was “highly irresponsible” for media to use them." (Al Jazeera)

[Publisher]

Univ. of Washington in Seattle has cancelled in-person classes due to the outbreak.

Unfortunately, I do not have any further info.

[homerdog]

I think what I’m getting at is that cancelling in-person classes or keeping kids from going back to school could very well be a decision not based on facts.

H still has business travel set up for next week. His company canceled a big sales meeting but they are all still allowed to travel for work.

And I just heard on CNN from a doctor at the Nebraska Medical Center that this virus is actually harder to transmit than the flu.

So much angst comes from S19 not getting the experience we are paying for. They will absolutely have to refund room and board if they don’t invite students back. I imagine there will be some crazy bad press about a school who doesn’t refund that money and it will be bad feelings for parents of the kids who will be alumni. It would completely sour my feelings towards the school. This isn’t an “act of God” like a hurricane.

I am now going to try not to think about it so much now since there’s nothing I can do to control what’s happening!

[doschicos]

EU ministers urge members to share anti-virus gear

"Smaller EU member states raised the alarm Friday after Germany, France and the Czech Republic blocked the export of some medical supplies that could help slow the novel coronavirus outbreak.

EU health ministers were meeting to plan a coordinated response to the epidemic, but Germany has banned exports of face masks and gloves and France has requisitioned all its own stocks.

“There are legal grounds that make such measures possible, but these kind of unilateral measures first have to be notified to the union,” EU crisis management commissioner Jenaz Lenarcic said.

The article contains a sign reading:
President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will requisition all face masks produced there, a de facto export ban " (Al Jazeera)

[eastcoascrazy]

@homerdog wrote:
“But we aren’t paying $54k per year for online classes. Sorry. And, if kids don’t go back to school after spring break, there’d better be a refund for those weeks of room and board. This is one reason why I think colleges will let kids come back after spring break. Online class is not anything like class in person. I don’t even get it for UW since kids still on campus trading germs for the next two weeks. May as well be in class.”.

I’m pretty sure this was mentioned upthread many pages ago, but there have been instances when colleges and universities have just shut down completely and ended the semester - before the time of online anything made completing classes online even a remote possibility.

Spring of 1970 after the Kent State shootings, Grinnell shut down completely, sent everyone home, and gave pass / fail grades based on work done to that point.

[janesmith]

FSI, the Foreign Service Institute that trains US diplomats, will go to all online instruction as of next week.

Also, the Atlanta day school where my daughter teaches has asked their teachers to start to plan how they could do classes online. No cases there so this seems precautionary.

[doschicos]

@doschicos

Dr. Mark Rupp, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC).

But we should still be cautious: “This is a very serious event and one that we need to take seriously and prepare for and do everything we can to blunt the spread of this pandemic,” he added, warning that a worst case scenario could lead to “Millions of potential infections, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.”

(CNN)

@homerdog

And I just heard on CNN from a doctor at the Nebraska Medical Center that this virus is actually harder to transmit than the flu.

So much angst comes from S19 not getting the experience we are paying for. They will absolutely have to refund room and board if they don’t invite students back. I imagine there will be some crazy bad press about a school who doesn’t refund that money and it will be bad feelings for parents of the kids who will be alumni. It would completely sour my feelings towards the school. This isn’t an “act of God” like a hurricane.

I am now going to try not to think about it so much now since there’s nothing I can do to control what’s happening!

Above is a quote from the Dr. from Nebraska who has been talking on CNN, Dr. Mark Rupp, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), that I posted yesterday. He says to take it seriously.

If this isn’t an “act of god”, what do you consider it? It isn’t something the schools caused themselves through negligence or mismanagement.

Who knows? Maybe they will refund you. Pull out your contract and check the language if it comes to that.

[BunsenBurner]

Seattle U moves instruction online:

"11:39 am
Seattle University cancels in-person classes for 2 weeks

Seattle University has joined the University of Washington in cancelling in-person classes for the next two weeks to try to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The school, with about 5,000 students, said it has no confirmed cases of the virus, and its campus would remain open."

[BunsenBurner]

Updates from the hospital at the center of coronvirus fight:

https://www.evergreenhealth.com/coronavirus

[Cardinal_Fang]

Tweet from University of Washington Virology, which is doing fantastic work:

“To date, @UWVirology has performed approximately 400 tests for #COVIDー19. We are seeing a consistent positivity rate of 5-7% among specimens submitted to the lab. We are able to meet all current testing demands with capacity for over 1,000 tests per day.”

This same group has sequenced DNA from some of the specimens, allowing us to better understand the spread of the disease in Washington.

[PetraMC]

@homerdog I feel like I missed something. Are they talking about shutting down Bowdoin after Spring Break?

[homerdog]

@doschicos If it’s proven that keeping everyone at home under quarantine is important then schools should keep kids home. I just listened to a very long press conference with Senator Durbin, doctors, and scientists in Illinois. They said chances of the people of Illinois getting the virus is “low”. There are five people known with the virus and 13 million people in Illinois. Can’t we keep this in perspective?

They all said to wash your hands. Stay home if you feel sick. That’s it. Not “cancel all travel and keep your college kids in your house”.

[Cardinal_Fang]

ComicCon, a 100,000 person convention in Seattle scheduled for next week, has been cancelled. Good for them. Sad for all the vendors whose yearly income would have come from this convention and for all the fans who were looking forward to going.