Coronavirus in the US

I think they have made the right call, even if this is self-limiting. But I feel for the people stuck in Wuhan and unable to travel for the Chinese New Year celebrations.

When I read “deployed”, I think of military. Is your relative a member of the military or a civilian health care professional? Just curious as to who all deals with this.

@doschicos - I think I generally assign the same connotation to the word “deployed” that you do, but in this case, the person is non military (is a civilian who works full time for a government agency in a role which is not usually related to airport screening/quarantine, and “deployed” is the terminology used by the agency in this case).

The 14-15 healthcare workers who got infected were operating on a patient who no one knew had the new corona virus at the time, from what I’ve read.

This is rather worrisome. OR personnel wear surgical masks. If EVERYONE in contact with this patient was infected, it either means they weren’t wearing their masks as they should, or the masks do not prevent transmission through the air. That would make this a very contagious illness.

They shut down public transportations but the road isn’t closed. They could take a car or a uber, etc. I wonder if family gathering for Chinese New Year will accelerate the spread.

All public transportation in Wuhan has been shut down. The virus has already been found in 2 people in a different part of China who had not been to Wuhan. It’s spreading!

And fast at that. I read the other day some 170 people, then there was a report yesterday citing abopur 300. Today they said over 500.

It must be really serious if China shut down ingress and egress to the hot spot.

@Nrdsb4 in relation to the masks, I was told that surgical masks are meant to prevent the wearer’s germs from getting out (into the surgical field). They are not the same as masks used to prevent germs from getting in. This is just what I was told yesterday by my relative who is doing airport screening - I am not an expert by any means!

Could you use the mask reversed then? What does your relative wear to keep them safe from the virus?

It really depends on what you read. I read earlier that over 1000 people were infected, mostly in Wuhan. Have read varying numbers and reports as well. Hard to get an accurate count and to know what to believe.

What’s the incubation period for the flu? Is the screening going to do any good?

I think people would need to wear a different mask to protect themselves, such as a N95 or N99 mask. These protect against inhaling small particles.

Have not yet read anything about incubation period and don’t believe it’s currently known. Much is unknown, including how deadly it is, how easily it is transmitted, whether or not its’s already mutated.

Here’s a Vox article updating the status of the virus. The full genetic info about the virus has been shared by a Chinese officials. WHO is gathering info about the cases. As of the writing of the article it hadn’t made an official declaration.

https://apple.news/A9SCui2D9RPycViQIfK1-FA

Virus tracker
not sure how often it is being updated, but this is as of noon EST today per the top band, then the right side data show very recent updates.

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

We were in China when SARs broke out. We then returned back to HKG before we came back to the States. By the time we got back to HKG there wasn’t one mask to be bought. It was the most eerie feeling when we walked through HKG airport because it was so empty.

At the immigration line there was someone ahead of me wearing a mask, he used a pen at the counter to sign a piece of paper and then he took off his mask to use the same hand to itch his nose. Needless to say, I didn’t use the same pen.

A friend who also came back from Asia about the same time called his doctor about some flu like symptom. The dr told him to meet him at a local hospital. My friend didn’t think much about it (figured the dr was doing his round at the hospital). When my friend arrived, there were people wearing white suits coved head to toes and a quarantine tunnel/tent set up to receive him. Luckily he didn’t have SARs, he just had a cold, but they kept him quarantined for few days.

Here’s a more recent article by CNET about the virus. Symptomatic treatment and support seems to be all that is available.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/coronavirus-reaches-us-everything-we-know-about-the-deadly-virus/

Scarier things to worry about in Seattle right now.

Not a unique situation. There are few viral infections that can be treated with an anti-viral drug.