“I always carry my own pen! At the store pin pads I either press the buttons with my pen or put my finger inside my sleeve before I touch.”
Empireapple, it is great that you do that, however it would take a lot of either education or fear to convince most people to do the same. And even then, you still have the school system, which is the biggest Petri dish of a civilized nation and also happens to serve as a free daycare for working parents.
AP confirms the connection between the case in Spain and the people in Germany:
“Spain confirmed its first case — a German man who had close contact with an infected person in Germany and then traveled to the Canary Islands with friends. Four friends who were hospitalized with him have not shown symptoms.”
Australia, which had planned to charge $1,000 to those citizens it was evacuating has reversed the decision to charge.
FWIW, re: CVS, at least here if you do pick-up on your phone (do the payment and everything there) and get your scripts through the drive-thru, you don’t have to sign their stuff. You “sign” on your phone.
No one claims that the flu shot is 100% effective. In fact, it’s very well-known that it’s not.
HOWEVER, even if you’re not protected against X strain of the flu, getting the shot before contracting the flu reduces the likelihood of being hospitalized or experiencing serious complications by something like 75%.
ETA: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/spotlights/2017-2018/vaccine-reduces-risk-severe-illness.htm
I would assume that a quarantined person would be limited to their own apartment and not using common spaces. It would be interesting to know the logistics of the monitoring.
This seems far more deadly than the flu, with a higher percentage of deaths and people in critical condition. And it appears to be just getting started. I can definitely see why it would be scarier to people than the flu, it’s the unknown.
@busdriver11 - no, so far, it does not appear to be deadlier than the flu. This is just ONE US county. Despite the fact that folks have the option to get vaccinated.
“People who die from the flu often have complications stemming from the virus, so the flu isn’t always identified as the cause, Duchin said. Public Health estimates there are 70 to 500 flu-related deaths in King County each year.”
Over 8000 people have died of flu this year in the USA. No huge media coverage with a nice graphic?
Re the quarantine in the apartment building. I’d be more concerned about the ventilation. Is the air being circulated throughout the building, or does each apartment have its own system? I don’t know if that’s so important for Coronavirus, but could be an issue for other illnesses (like measles?).
First 2019-nCoV related death outside of China. 44 year old man in Philippines. Man had come from Wuhan.
"officials in the Philippines said the man had “mixed pathogens” in his system, including “Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenza type b.”’
While boarding a plane this morning my daughter swallowed her coffee wrong and had a brief coughing fit. A woman already seated freaked out, glared at her, and covered her face with her newspaper. This was a domestic US flight and my daughter is not even Asian. ?
I’m going to a meeting tomorrow about a chronic lung disease with H. Patients and providers will be in attendance. I warned H that some have chronic cough (as I do at times). It does NOT mean we are ill with anything contagious. Originally he said we’d have to leave if anyone coughed or sneezed.
It really shouldn’t matter what nationality anyone is. There are folks of all nationalities who have the regular flu, colds, and have been in and out of a China and other places in the world.
It’s very upsetting that folks are using this new coronavirus as another reason to discriminate against Asians and especially Chinese.
Well, the flu’s one thing, the coronavirus is another. Other than a shot that may or may not help, the mortality from flu is going to be what it is. and another chance at dying is entirely another. Especially since the infection rate and mortality from the coronavirus is kind of up in the air.
There’s a report that a patient in Washington state had a stool sample test positive for the virus:https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/coronavirus-lurking-in-feces-may-reveal-hidden-risk-of-spread/ar-BBZxuIv
They mention the resemblance to SARS in that respect, along with the suspected transmission mechanism behind the Hong Kong Amoy Gardens outbreak of SARS.
Looked up the US papers on the same and found dry floor drain traps that wouldn’t block sewer gases from back venting to the showers and restrooms were thought to be to blame. Virus survived in the moist environment of the sewage system and didn’t dry out after being pulled back by fans into a humid environment.
Good plumbing and hygiene may save the day.
@catahoula - let’s nip the BS and speculations in the bud. The internet is already full of misinformation. Let’s not continue to spread unsubstantiated rumors.
Oh, I had read that the mortality rate is over 2% for the Coronavirus, but is generally much lower than that for the flu, most years. Apparently not?
@busdriver11 — everything I’ve read by the experts is very carefully written because it’s so hard to get an accurate handle on how many actual cases there are and what the mortality rate really is.
There are at least 6 different test kits in China and it’s not clear how many others out there. Have read of nasal swabs, now stool samples, xrays, ct scans, and who knows what else. There can be several negative tests before the same patient has a positive test, so sensitivity and specificity is not very good with some of the testing. There may also be some problems with getting consistent sampling and who knows what else.
Here’s one of many articles about flu and the new coronavirus.
Yeah, there has been plenty of news coverage of the flu. Maybe someone should start a flu thread so they can amplify the message to their liking.
Back to the point of this thread - coronavirus.
India reports their 2nd confirmed case.
Didn’t figure Bloomberg to be counted as BS, and neither did I consider the NEJM to traffic in it.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa032867
Lot of people are fooled into thinking something in a journal about climate change is real, rather than speculative hooey… maybe I fell for some epidemiological bs?
It does sound like ventilation systems may be an important piece of this—thanks for these links.
@catahoula - that reference is from 2004 and is dealing with SARS. Not the current strain. Not all coronaviruses are the same! Didja know that cats - yes, house cats! - harbor coronaviruses? Yup. Sometimes, those viruses cause FIP in felines. Chances are, if you have a cat, that cat has a coronavirus. So do you need to worry about that feline virus? Heck no.
Let’s wait and see what we learn about this new virus. Meanwhile, WASH YOUR HANDS.