Coronavirus kills in an average of 18 days, according to Chinese study
A study of patients in China shows median time to discharge was 22 days while average time to death was 18.5.
It was also discovered that patients who survived were infectious for up to 37 days, far longer than previously thought.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/12/coronavirus-kills-average-185-days/
needs a subscription
Quarantining someone in your home is very difficult. Unless your home is very large it is hard not to pass closely by the person you are trying to quarantine. When it is a family member I feel there is a prison like quality there. No one in our home is ill but recently arrived from Europe.
AT&T waives data overage fees for home subscribers; Comcast boosts speeds for some users
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Thursday it is waiving data overage fees for all home internet users who are not currently on unlimited data plans, citing the coronavirus outbreak, while Comcast Holdings Corp (CCZ.N) said it was raising data speeds on the internet service it offers low-income people.
Millions more Americans are expected to work from home as employers ask people who can telecommute to skip going to the office.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai was holding calls with industry leaders and groups on Thursday about the impact of coronavirus on networks and consumers, people briefed on the matter said.
AT&T has previously waived data overage fees for victims of natural disasters.
Comcast said it will give new low-income users 60 days of complimentary Internet Essentials service, which is normally available to qualified households for $9.95 per month, and will increase Internet speeds from 15/2 Mbps to 25/3 Mbps for all new and existing customers.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said the crisis will prompt agencies “to explore the expansion of telework, telehealth and tele-education.” She added that “where data caps are in place, we need to explore how those limitations can be eliminated.”
Rosenworcel also urged the FCC to work with “health care providers to ensure connectivity for telehealth services are available for hospitals, doctors and nurses treating coronavirus patients and those who are quarantined.”
Verizon Communications Inc said it would boost its capital guidance range from $17 billion-$18 billion to $17.5 billion-18.5 billion in 2020 to accelerate its “transition to 5G and help support the economy during this period of disruption.”
Verizon Chairman Hans Vestberg said the company is “very confident in our company’s ability to meet current demands in providing a great network experience.” Verizon is closely monitoring network usage in the most impacted areas and “will work with and prioritize network demand in assisting the needs of many U.S. hospitals, first responders and government agencies.”
Belgian government says schools, restaurants, clubs to close due to coronavirus
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium’s government on Thursday ordered schools, cafes, restaurants and some shops to close due to the coronavirus, following decisions by France and other European countries to limit all but essential activities.
The measures take effect from Friday at midnight central European time and run until April 3, although schools are set to be shut for five weeks, including the Easter holidays, Belgium’s caretaker Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes told a news conference.
“There is no lockdown,” Wilmes told reporters, stressing that supermarkets and pharmacies would remain open and other shops would only be required to close on weekends. “We want to avoid the Italian situation and avoid lockdowns.”
Portugal orders schools, night clubs shut due to coronavirus
LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal’s government ordered on Thursday to shut down all schools nation-wide starting on Monday to contain the coronavirus epidemic until further evaluation on April 9, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said in a televised address.
He also said cruise ships would not be allowed to disembark passengers except those residing in Portugal, night clubs will be shut and there would be capacity restrictions on entry to shopping malls and restaurants.
San Francisco public schools will close for three weeks
From CNN’s Cheri Mossburg
Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews
Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews KGO
San Francisco Unified School District will close for the next three weeks, starting Monday, and extending through the previously scheduled spring break.
“This is not business as usual,” Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews announced, adding, “This will require a measured, sustained response.”
In closing all schools, Matthews said this comes in an effort to prepare for a potentially longer closure.
“As testing increases, so will our number of positive cases,” he warned.
San Francisco Unified School District is California’s seventh largest, with more than 57,000 students.
New Jersey courts suspending all new jury trials to help minimize exposure to coronavirus
From CNN
The New Jersey court system is suspending all new jury trials until further notice to help minimize exposure to coronavirus, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced today.
“While jury trials are a critical component of our justice system, this extraordinary step is necessary to protect the health and safety of the community,” Rabner said. “At the same time, we will make every effort to keep our court system running in the face of this health crisis.”
“We are in full support of the Judiciary’s response to this public health emergency,” Gov. Phil Murphy added.
Acting administrative director of the courts Judge Glenn Grant said it was a critical decision.
“It is imperative that we take action to avoid large public gatherings at our court facilities,” Grant said. “At the same time, we will leverage our technological capabilities so that other court proceedings can continue with minimal disruption to our justice system."
It’s times like these that really allow us to see people’s true colors–for better or for worse.
Careful using Expedia or Orbitz. I tried to change flights because of the virus and neither Orbitz nor Expedia have links that work for changing or cancelling flights, and their phone lines no longer work. If you do a google search, you’ll see that they have basically abandoned customers who are trying to change or cancel plans during this crisis. I was able to change my flights, but only by going directly to the airlines themselves.
It may have been mentioned before, but there’s a hoax email out there entitled “Tips for Coronavirus” that states, among other things, that your stomach acid will kill the virus and to drink lots of water every 15 minutes to wash it down. :bawling:
Ann Arbor and other local public school districts canceled.
Ohio Health official estimates 100,000+ cases of COVID19 in the state.
Japan to import Chinese tests that can detect virus in 15 minutes.
New York governor announces first public drive-through coronavirus testing facility on East Coast
New York state will have the first public drive-through coronavirus testing facility on the east coast, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today.
Thumbs up 
News is showing the National Guard bringing food/meals to New Rochelle. Within the 1 mile containment area live many Orthodox jews. Wonder if there was any provision for kosher meals?
If they are bringing MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat), then there already are kosher (and halal) versions for military service members with those religious dietary restrictions. There are also kosher for Passover MREs.
Special Report: Italy and South Korea virus outbreaks reveal disparity in deaths and tactics
MILAN/SEOUL (Reuters) - In Italy, millions are locked down and more than 1,000 people have died from the coronavirus. In South Korea, hit by the disease at about the same time, only a few thousand are quarantined and 67 people have died. As the virus courses through the world, the story of two outbreaks illustrates a coming problem for countries now grappling with an explosion in cases.
It’s impractical to test every potential patient, but unless the authorities can find a way to see how widespread infection is, their best answer is lockdown.
Italy started out testing widely, then narrowed the focus so that now, the authorities don’t have to process hundreds of thousands of tests. But there’s a trade-off: They can’t see what’s coming and are trying to curb the movements of the country’s entire population of 60 million people to contain the disease. Even Pope Francis, who has a cold and delivered his Sunday blessing over the internet from inside the Vatican, said he felt “caged in the library.”
Thousands of miles away in South Korea, authorities have a different response to a similar-sized outbreak. They are testing hundreds of thousands of people for infections and tracking potential carriers like detectives, using cell phone and satellite technology.
Both countries saw their first cases of the disease called COVID-19 in late January. South Korea has since reported 67 deaths out of nearly 8,000 confirmed cases, after testing more than 222,000 people. In contrast, Italy has had 1,016 deaths and identified more than 15,000 cases after carrying out more than 73,000 tests on an unspecified number of people.
Epidemiologists say it is not possible to compare the numbers directly. But some say the dramatically different outcomes point to an important insight: Aggressive and sustained testing is a powerful tool for fighting the virus.
Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, said extensive testing can give countries a better picture of the extent of an outbreak. When testing in a country is limited, he said, the authorities have to take bolder actions to limit movement of people.
“I’m uncomfortable with enforced lockdown-type movement restrictions,” he said. “China did that, but China is able to do that. China has a population that will comply with that.”
The democracies of Italy and South Korea are useful case studies for countries such as America, which have had problems setting up testing systems and are weeks behind on the infection curve. So far, in Japan and the United States particularly, the full scale of the problem is not yet visible. Germany has not experienced significant testing constraints, but Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her people on Wednesday that since 60% to 70% of the populace is likely to be infected, the only option is containment…
Seoul says it is building on lessons learned from an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015 and working to make as much information available as possible to the public. It has embarked on a massive testing program, including people who have very mild illness, or perhaps don’t even have symptoms, but who may be able to infect others.
This includes enforcing a law that grants the government wide authority to access data: CCTV footage, GPS tracking data from phones and cars, credit card transactions, immigration entry information, and other personal details of people confirmed to have an infectious disease. The authorities can then make some of this public, so anyone who may have been exposed can get themselves - or their friends and family members - tested.
Read the article - too much to post here. Lots of good info, comparing and contrasting - differences in approaches, characteristics.
I think they are also bringing meals to the kids who get free lunch at school.
I have a (likely, dumb) question: What is the definition of a “gathering”?
I am specifically thinking about restaurants. If a restaurant has the capacity to hold 150 people, and “gatherings” of 100 people are banned, how is that applied to venues that have capacities that exceed that? Does it only apply to places that have side-by-side type seating such as theaters, stadiums, and arenas?
@ucbalumnus - the photos of the prepared food being delivered in New Rochelle were clearly not MRE’s. Maybe they had some elsewhere, but not in the video they showed.
@Hoggirl good question…I’m in the middle of planning a retirement party for two people. Guest list is just about 120. Wondering if this should happen? Party is June 9.