@doschicos - thank you so much for sharing your info this past week. it’s been so helpful. I hope you keep going. truly appreciated.
New TSA rules. Don’t place items in security bins.
https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/tsa-says-not-to-place-personal-items-in-security-bins
Agree. The recommendation not to wear masks is more to keep the precious few masks available for frontline healthcare workers. It makes sense from a top level but is hard to justify to scared individuals. So our officials are downplaying effectiveness rather than appealing to people to self-sacrifice.
If there were plenty of masks available, I think they’d find the benefits overall for society as a whole would outweigh the risks mainly because there are so many undiagnosed people out there who are contagious before they even know it. If a reasonable number of them were wearing masks as a “preventative” measure as people do in Asia, it would keep their contagious coughs and sneezes contained. But in a country that could soon be faced with forcing healthcare workers to wash and rewear protective gear, the responsible thing is to get masks for the healthcare workers first.
[quote=“doschicos, post:5900, topic:2080517”]
I wish they had been honest about it if that is the case, which I strongly suspect. It isn’t like everyone in China and Japan and etc where they are all wearing masks is an idiot. why are they all wearing masks? I don’t know why the media so unquestioningly sang the ‘masks don’t work’ song for the past two months. They kept saying, ‘it won’t protect you’ and some were honest and said, ‘it will only keep you from spreading it to others.’ Good reason for everyone to wear them. Apparently there might have been one study that had mixed results and seemed to show some people touch their faces more when they wear masks. I don’t think that sounds convincing enough to say they ‘don’t work’ which is what we have been hearing. I wish they had tried to gear up mask production to meet demand. I believe it was Taiwan that used prison labor to make masks. They are one of the most successful places with regard to controlling the virus spread. Everyone is wearing masks there.
If someone were to get sneezed on right in their face with the virus, would they 100% for sure get sick? What percent get sick with exposure?
It does no good to recommend wearing face masks if they aren’t available. Besides, with the current shortage, we need to preserve them for our front line healthcare workers. In terms of effectiveness, I’d think masks offers some, but not complete, protection by blocking some, but not all, viruses in both directions. The degree of effectiveness depends on the type of masks.
Northshore School District in Washington State, who took classes online last week, is now ceasing the online instruction, as of this upcoming Monday. Various rumors about why. Students will be out of class until at least April 24.
I thought an issue with the masks were that if you are not used to them, you will touch your face more often adjusting it/tugging at it/etc which is something you don’t want to do.
I had an interesting conversation with my blueprint guy who is Korean-American. He says the government is able to contact all cellphones and people get alerts constantly telling them if they are in the vicinity of a place where someone was recently tested positive. Apparently there are so many alerts it’s really annoying.
But they are obviously doing something right!
edited to add: My Hong Kong not yet in-laws think we Americans are absolutely nuts not to be wearing masks.
I do think it will be an interesting look back at the technology used by several of the Asian countries in their efforts to battle the virus.
In the UK, the infection is expected to build to a peak in May or June. Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, said that worst-case scenario planning projected that 80% of the country would contract the virus, with a 1% mortality rate. This equates to more than 500,000 deaths in the UK
Very sobering
Coronavirus: China’s first confirmed Covid-19 case traced back to November 17
Government records suggest first person infected with new disease may have been a Hubei resident aged 55, but ‘patient zero’ has yet to be confirmed
"Chinese authorities have so far identified at least 266 people who were infected last year, all of whom came under medical surveillance at some point. Some of the cases were likely backdated after health authorities had tested specimens taken from suspected patients.
Interviews with whistle-blowers from the medical community suggest Chinese doctors only realised they were dealing with a new disease in late December.
Scientists have been trying to map the pattern of the early transmission of Covid-19 since an epidemic was reported in the central China city of Wuhan in January, two months before the outbreak became a global health crisis. Understanding how the disease spread and determining how undetected and undocumented cases contributed to its transmission will greatly improve their understanding of the size of that threat.
According to the government data seen by the Post, a 55 year-old from Hubei province could have been the first person to have contracted Covid-19 on November 17.
From that date onwards, one to five new cases were reported each day. By December 15, the total number of infections stood at 27 – the first double-digit daily rise was reported on December 17 – and by December 20, the total number of confirmed cases had reached 60.
On December 27, Zhang Jixian, a doctor from Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, told China’s health authorities that the disease was caused by a new coronavirus. By that date, more than 180 people had been infected, though doctors might not have been aware of all of them at the time. By the final day of 2019, the number of confirmed cases had risen to 266, On the first day of 2020 it stood at 381.
While the government records have not been released to the public, they provide valuable clues about how the disease spread in its early days and the speed of its transmission, as well as how many confirmed cases Beijing has recorded.
Scientists are now keen to identify the so-called patient zero, which could help them to trace the source of the coronavirus, which is generally thought to have jumped to humans from a wild animal, possibly a bat. Of the first nine cases to be reported in November – four men and five women – none has been confirmed as being “patient zero”. They were all aged between 39 and 79, but it is unknown how many were residents of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei and the epicentre of the outbreak…
Previous reports said that although doctors in the city collected samples from suspected cases in late December, they could not confirm their findings because they were bogged down by bureaucracy, such as having to get approval from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, which could take days. They were also ordered not to disclose any information about the new disease to the public.
As late as January 11, Wuhan’s health authorities were still claiming there were just 41 confirmed cases.
No, but we don’t know what the percentage would be.
The data on Covid 19 seems to indicate that prolonged exposure is more likely to cause infection – so it will spread among families and that is probably why they are closing schools and canceling large gatherings or events.
But individual susceptibility is variable and I don’t think there is any way to assign a risk percentage to it. There could be all sorts of things at play – strength of immune response, genetic predispositions, etc.
In China, the authorities discovered that most infections occurred between household members, as Calmom says,
For that reason, Chinese people were monitored, There were checkpoints with infrared thermometers to discover if someone had a fever, and if they did, they were whisked off to a fever clinic, where they got further tests: first a flu swab, then if that was negative a quick CT scan (they have quick CT scans) and if the CT scan showed the classic signs of lung damage, a covid19 test. The person would have to sit there for four hours, waiting for the result.
People who tested positive would be removed from their family, so they couldn’t infect them.
(All this was from a Rachel Maddow interview with a health reporter who has written extensively on China’s response to this crisis.)
Cases rise in sub-Saharan Africa
Gabon and Ghana confirmed their first cases of coronavirus on Thursday, becoming the ninth and tenth countries in sub-Saharan Africa to register positive cases.
Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Togo, South Africa, Burkina Faso and Democratic Republic of Congo have also registered cases.
In a statement, Gabon’s government said its case was a 27-year-old Gabonese man who had returned from France on March 8. Ghana’s health ministry said its two cases were people who had returned recently from Norway and Turkey.
Sub-Saharan Africa did not confirm its first coronavirus infection until Feb. 28 in Nigeria, but experts warn that rising cases could test already fragile health systems.
(Telegraph)
Cases climb in Washington state
The number of cases in Washington state has risen to 457, an increase of 91 from the day before, mostly in the Seattle area.
The Life Care Center of Kirkland, the Seattle-area nursing home is at the epicenter of one of the biggest coronavirus outbreaks in the US.
The statewide death toll from coronavirus is 31, up one from Wednesday.
[ so this, obviously is just one state but if you measure it against the caseloads of the countries of the world, it would rank 16 currently]
The funny thing about this is that there was some trademark issue with “Happy Birthday” which is why it’s not normally on TV shows I believe (?) and now it’s being recommended hither and yon to billions of people. 
SOUTH KOREA - 110 new cases totaling total 7,979, continuing the downward trend. 7 new deaths totaling 67.
** Justin Trudeau’s wife tests positive for coronavirus
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie has tested positive for coronavirus, AP reports.
More on Sophie Trudeau’s positive diagnosis now:
The wife of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has tested positive for Covid-19 following a trip to the United Kingdom.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau announced Thursday evening that she had tested positive for the coronavirus and plans to remain in isolation for the next two weeks. Her symptoms have been described as mild.
“Although I’m experiencing uncomfortable symptoms of the virus, I will be back on my feet soon,” she said in a statement. “Being in quarantine at home is nothing compared to other Canadian families who might be going through this and for those facing more serious health concerns.”
The prime minister remains “in good health with no symptoms” according to his office, but will work in remotely for the next two weeks. He plans to address Canadians on Friday. (Guardian)
Diplomat from Philippines first known coronavirus case at U.N. in New York
A female diplomat from the Philippines mission to the United Nations tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, according to a note sent to U.N. missions, making the woman the first known case at the world body’s New York headquarters.
Apple Inc is reopening all 42 of its branded stores in China on Friday, a company spokesman said, more than a month after they were shut in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
So with Maryland (next two weeks) and many other states closing schools, what happens next? What happens after two weeks? Close for a month, two months, until summer? What about parents that now need daycare? Where does it stop?
How about we focus on trying to protect our most vulnerable citizens (elderly, health compromised individuals) and isolate them from this virus while letting it run it’s course in the general population? Yes, for healthy people it would suck to get it, like the regular flu, like chicken pox, like other ailments but then the majority of the population would be immune and the others would be protected through herd immunity. I’m just not sure protecting healthy people should be our priority. I’m also not sure keeping kids out of school for two weeks over 12 cases in a state of 6 million people is the most sensible move. What then?
Many people seem to question the validity of Chinese research and the quality of their medical care (surely it was overwhelmed at the peak) but the reports make it clear to me that they are much more advanced in some ways.
@MarylandJOE , i hear you, i think the public health officials seek to prevent surge in cases that would overwhelm hospitals.