Coronavirus in the US

Parent Cafe
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Don’t blame your neighbors for empty shelves of sanitizer, masks, cleaning wipes etc. Guys like this drove around in UHaul vans cleaning out the stores. Now they are sad that Amazon and eBay have shut down price gouging :

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
Matt Colvin stayed home near Chattanooga, preparing for pallets of even more wipes and sanitizer he had ordered, and starting to list them on Amazon. Mr. Colvin said he had posted 300 bottles of hand sanitizer and immediately sold them all for between $8 and $70 each, multiples higher than what he had bought them for. To him, “it was crazy money.” To many others, it was profiteering from a pandemic…

Now, while millions of people across the country search in vain for hand sanitizer to protect themselves from the spread of the coronavirus, Mr. Colvin is sitting on 17,700 bottles of the stuff with little idea where to sell them…

In early February, as headlines announced the coronavirus’s spread in China, Mr. Colvin spotted a chance to capitalize. A nearby liquidation firm was selling 2,000 “pandemic packs,” leftovers from a defunct company. Each came with 50 face masks, four small bottles of hand sanitizer and a thermometer. The price was $5 a pack. Mr. Colvin haggled it to $3.50 and bought them all. He quickly sold all 2,000 of the 50-packs of masks on eBay, pricing them from $40 to $50 each, and sometimes higher. …

Chris Anderson, an Amazon seller in central Pennsylvania, said he and a friend had driven around Ohio, buying about 10,000 masks from stores. He used coupons to buy packs of 10 for around $15 each and resold them for $40 to $50. After Amazon’s cut and other costs, he estimates, he made a $25,000 profit.

Mr. Anderson is now holding 500 packs of antibacterial wipes after Amazon blocked him from selling them for $19 each, up from $16 weeks earlier. He bought the packs for $3 each.

Eric, a truck driver from Ohio who spoke on the condition that his surname not be published because he feared Amazon would retaliate, said he had also collected about 10,000 masks at stores. He bought each 10-pack for about $20 and sold most for roughly $80 each, though some he priced at $125.

“Even at $125 a box, they were selling almost instantly,” he said. “It was mind-blowing as far as what you could charge.” He estimates he made $35,000 to $40,000 in profit…

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Wow. Sounds like it’s time for these guys to absolve themselves by donating all the products to nonprofit organizations for distribution to people who are truly in need.

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The New York Times is also offering free virus related coverage. I’m not 100% sure but don’t think you need to sign up - they’ve just removed those articles from behind the paywall.

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There is a senior independent living building in Louisiana that is a cluster of cases. I found out yesterday that we have relatives affected.

https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_eb545a58-657a-11ea-9e78-bf3b9395d66f.html
The tally of elderly residents reported positive for coronavirus reached nine at the Lambeth House retirement home in Uptown New Orleans on Friday, more than doubling over a day even as test results on more than a dozen other residents awaited…

Five of the ill patients at Lambeth House have been hospitalized, while three are “on quarantine and in their apartments per CDC requirements,” Beuerman said. Information on the ninth case wasn’t available late Friday…

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The launch of Virgin Voyages new cruise line (Scarlet Lady) has been delayed until August. Plan had been for the first voyage to commence the end of this month.

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@TheBigChef , only 80,000 multiplied by probably ten times that many people, at least, who didn’t get diagnosed.

@“Snowball City” , I read that article. Notice his shirt that said Family Man? What a total jerk. Hope he gets what’s coming to him.

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Anyone worried about what will happen as you start to move into “storm” season?

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@gwnorth, I live in Wisconsin, so I’m not worried about my area. But I am worried about other people and places. Life’s other misfortunes and tragedies are going to continue despite the cancellation of the world (as one of my coworkers put it yesterday).

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There’re fringe elements (including some politicians) in each country who believe in this, or other similar, conspiratory “theories”. When the truth is not fully known, and we may never know the full truth (we still don’t know what exactly happened to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 to this date, and the missing flight inspired many more conspiratory “theories”).

At this moment, there’s no reason to dwell on the cause of this virus. Humanity needs to unite to fight this disease, which knows no boundary, certainly not national boundaries. Let’s focus our energy on winning this fight, and if we unite, we will win this fight. There will be a lot of lessons to be learned later but these are not the priorities right now.

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China has the authoritarian law and infrastructure to impose much tighter controls on the population than Germany (or the US or the UK or Italy or …) does.

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Chinese all over china have been indoors almost all the time for over a month now. The people there want to be indoors. The government isn’t forcing this everywhere, people are choosing it because they are afraid. some places have it mandated but not all.

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Trump disbanded NSC pandemic unit that experts had praised

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-disbanded-nsc-pandemic-unit-042918715.html

'For many years, the national intelligence director’s worldwide threat assessment has warned that a flu pandemic or other large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease could lead to massive rates of death and disability that would severely affect the world economy. Public health experts have been blowing whistles too.

Back in mid-2018, Fauci told Congress: “When you have a respiratory virus that can be spread by droplets and aerosol and … there’s a degree of morbidity associated with that, you can have a catastrophe. … The one that we always talk about is the 1918 pandemic, which killed between 50 and 100 million people. … Influenza first, or something like influenza, is the one that keeps me up at night.”’

'“Two years ago, the administration dismantled the apparatus that had been put in place five years before in the face of the Ebola crisis,” Connolly said. “I think, in retrospect, that was an unwise move. This bill would restore that and institutionalize it.”

Connolly said the bill is not meant to be critical of the Trump administration. He said it’s a recognition that Trump had to name a coronavirus responder just like Obama had to name one for Ebola in 2014. “We can’t go from pandemic to pandemic,” Connolly said.’

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Not yet. Numbers are still accelerating but there is a lag effect - we saw that in China as well. It would be worse without social distancing. However, there was more enforcement in China. Also, the Italy lockdown of the north was leaked and all kinds of movement happened both then and the total lockdown. Generalization but Italians aren’t as obedient as Chinese.

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Spanish government expected to introduce restrictions on “people’s movements”
From CNN’s Laura Perez-Maestro in Madrid

The Spanish government is expected to introduce new restrictions as part of its efforts to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, including “limitations on people’s movements,” a government source told CNN today.

While the Spanish government has yet to confirm the official details of its action plan, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to give a press conference this afternoon to further outline the government’s official response to COVID-19, following a meeting of cabinet ministers.

Some context: Spain has become the latest epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, having the most infections following Italy.

The surge in confirmed cases across Spain has led to the declaration of a 15-day state of emergency, Sanchez said Thursday.

New York looking to open another drive-through coronavirus testing facility
From CNN’s Linh Tran in New Rochelle

New York state is looking to open up another drive-through coronavirus testing facility, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a press call this morning.

“We’re looking at Jones Beach on Long Island as a possible site. We need a large, open area. Jones Beach has large open parking lots that are available. So we’re looking at Jones Beach literally this morning as a possible location for the next drive-through,” Cuomo said.

On Friday, roughly 150 vehicles went through the New Rochelle drive-through facility in what Cuomo described as the first public drive-through coronavirus testing facility on the east coast

“The way the drive-in works is a person calls first and discusses their situation to fit our protocol, and they then get an appointment and they have a time to show up,” the governor said.

“We had set 15 minutes per car. The actual performance was a car was being done in less than 15 minutes, which was good news. It means we can process more people faster than we had originally anticipated," Cuomo added.

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After the lockdown in Wuhan, the peak in cases was still two weeks away. This was due to the fact that people who were exposed before the lockdown took a week to show symptoms and another week to become critical.

Also I just read that an undergrad at Stanford has tested positive and everyone is being asked to leave, although I thought the campus was already shut down?

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Sorry if this is another repeat.

Additional cruise ship with infected passengers in the Caribbean:

https://www.stlucianewsonline.com/breaking-news-two-passengers-on-ship-turned-away-from-st-lucia-test-positive-for-coronavirus/
Two passengers, on a cruise ship that was recently prevented from landing in Saint Lucia, have been tested positive for coronavirus in Martinique.

The Costa Magica was quarantined off the coast of the French island after five passengers reported sick and French authorities suspected the virus. It was expected to land on Thursday in Fort-de-France…

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A physician with White House just took the temperatures of everyone in the press area
From CNN’s Jason Hoffman

A member of the White House physician’s office, along with a press aide, made the rounds of the press area this morning to take everyone’s temperatures.

Temperature checks have become more common around airports in an attempt to screen for coronavirus.

Soon: White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham announced that Vice President Mike Pence would hold a 12 p.m. ET news conference with members of the Coronavirus Task Force from the White House.

Grisham said President Trump is leading this morning’s task force meeting. It is unclear if Trump will be at the conference.

ETA:
Journalist denied entry into White House press briefing after having fever
From CNN’s Jason Hoffman

A journalist was denied entry into the White House press briefing on the coronavirus today after having a 99.9 fever.

He was trying to get access to the briefing and was turned away and is being held by the press office on the White House driveway.

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A relative of mine who lives in an Atlanta suburb took her spouse to a hospital for a completely unrelated issue from this virus. She said that there was a tent in front of the ER where they were screening people before entry to the ER. She said she showed a temp of 101 degrees (and swears she didn’t realize she was febrile). She said she was then tested for coronavirus and tested negative.

Should I doubt this story? Georgia has tests for febrile people with no other risk factors (no recent travel or exposure to anyone sick) and can get results quickly?

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Switzerland bans public gatherings of more than 100 people to curb coronavirus spread
From Nadine Schmidt in Berlin

The Swiss government announced its response to the coronavirus pandemic and has called for the closure of schools across the country until April 4 and the ban of public gathering of more than 100 people, according to a press conference Friday.

During the televised event, the government also said the border with Italy would remain open but further restrictions would apply.

To help support local businesses, the government also announced it has offered the equivalent of $10 billion in aid to support the economy.

[236 new cases today for 1375 total and 2 new deaths for 13 total]

Several medical sources disagree with White House decision to not test Trump for coronavirus
From CNN’s Jamie Gangel

President Donald Trump touches the microphone while speaking at a news conference about Coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House on Friday, March 13. [PHOTO]

Two doctors who have knowledge of the White House medical office and normal procedure disagree with the decision by the current White House doctor to not test President Trump for the coronavirus

“While we would recommend that a patient who has been in direct contact with multiple people infected with COVID-19 self-quarantine, since the President of the United States has singular responsibilities, he should be tested so as to avoid having to isolate for 14 days," said renowned George Washington hospital cardiologist and professor Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who worked at the hospital that treated former Vice President Dick Cheney and has worked with and advised the White House medical team for many years.

A second doctor with knowledge of how the White House medical team works also believes Trump should be tested.

“It is truly unbelievable the spin that is used. This is political,” this doctor said.

This source characterized the White House decision as “spin, irresponsible, and an attempt to mitigate the political fall out from the lack of testing.”

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Texas governor waives trucking regulations to help keep supplies stocked
From CNN’s Melissa Alonso

Texas is waiving some state trucking regulations in an effort to keep grocery stores stocked, according to a news release from Gov. Greg Abbott.

Following Friday’s state of disaster declaration, Abbott issued waivers to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles allowing oversized commercial vehicles on roads and suspending several other “DMV safety limitations,” the release said.

“As the state of Texas works to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus, we are taking precautionary measures to ensure that Texans have access to the goods and supplies they need,” Abbott said.

Abbott added: “Suspending these state trucking regulations will improve our ability to deliver the necessary supplies throughout the state so that grocers and retailers are able to continually stock their shelves. I want to remind Texans that stockpiling resources is neither necessary nor productive.”

CDC says short school closures would have minimal impact on spread
From CNN’s Gregory Clary

School closures of two to four weeks are unlikely to have an impact on mitigating the spread of the coronavirus and may negatively impact older caregivers at home, according to guidelines release by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said longer closures of eight weeks or more may have an impact on mitigating the spread though any closure would mean students could congregate with others outside of school, where they may still spread the disease.

The CDC acknowledged there would be a significant negative impact on academic outcomes with longer closures. The Department of Education recently issued guidance to schools about certain flexibilities it could waive in regards to student absences and testing standards.

[Other countries must disagree]