(Sorry I haven’t read all responses so my apologies if I’m repeating anything)
I’m worried for a few reasons. First, no one in my public health circles think that the chinese gov are being truthful. They think the number of cases is well into the thousands based on how quickly and how far it’s spread.
Personally, my sister’s husband travels to and from Asia (china and japan) constantly for work so I’m a little afraid of exposure. I haven’t talked to them to see whether he’s changing his travels at all or if he is taking other precautions.
Then my own pregnancy + all my vulnerable niblings has me on high alert.
I got H1N1 from someone directly from Mexico back in 2012 (?) so I don’t have the best track record with these things lol. I’m not super worried but enough to have me following it along.
I am grateful that travel in Wuhan has been temporarily shut down, since that does seem to be the virus hotspot. I’m sorry for the folks living there and travelers who may be stuck there but hope it keeps the virus from spreading further and hope the virus stops spreading sooner than later and doesn’t mutate into a more dangerous form.
Second city, the neighboring city of Huanggang with a population 7 million, has been added to the lockdown. Given how close the two cities are, it’s not surprising.
Given China’s centralized government and a population with a long history of having to tow the line, I wonder if it would be as easy to implement such measures/enforcement in the USA or other countries.
@Iglooo in terms of the masks, it’s my understanding that some of the airport screeners have masks and others don’t, depending on what their particular role is. Someone asking questions of all incoming passengers to determine if any of them need a more thorough screen does not have a mask (as of now…of course, the process could change). Screeners with masks are those doing the more thorough screen on people who report symptoms/have visible symptoms. I’ve heard that mask referred to as a “respirator” (perhaps that is of the category that @HImom is referring to)? Those wearing respirator masks apparently need to be fitted specifically for them.
Surgical masks can protect both the person wearing it and the patient. But they cannot prevent the transmission of all airborne particles. Certain microorganisms can infect someone wearing a surgical mask, but not all can. It has to do with the particle size of the infectious agent. Surgical masks are fine with large particle viruses.
My point was that this illness may require the use of special masks (which are not as numerous in terms of supply to the public) to prevent person to person transmission. This means that it is quite contagious.
Locked down in that public transport has been closed…or locked down in that ALL means of leaving these cities is closed.
What are other countries doing for their citizens who might be stranded in these places for extended periods of time…when they were just initially traveling on business or vacation?
“Late on Thursday, the local [Wuhan] authorities also announced that they would suspend for-hire vehicles and impose limitations on taxis, beginning at noon on Friday. Previously, there had been no official limits on car travel.” - NY Times
On a scale of ‘things that keep me up at night worrying about our demise’ a virus ranks way the heck above melting ice and the use of straws and whether or not my toilet paper bio-degrades in a week or a month.
My concern is that we - the Western World - would not have the guts to do what is actually needed to contain something like this. We would dither and dather discussing whether or not quarantines or travel bans were racist or politically motivated. Depending on the affected population we’d pack our backpacks and travel down the identity politics path arguing how quarantining one area but not another was just another example of some type of people attacking another type of person. (remember all the agonizing over the Ebola outbreak - how it was unfair and a whole list of ‘ists and isms’ to attempt a travel ban or a quarantine).
All the while a virus doesn’t give a dang about politics it just jumps from host to host.
Yes, it concerns me greatly if this happens among the ‘woke’.
@dietz199 -Sure you can worry about the politics behind such a potential situation. Have you also worried about how many fiercely independent and anti-government Americans would feel about obeying such government directives?
Yup, that’s the contingent I’d be the most concerned about.
In general, Americans are a pretty independent lot and not good loyal followers of authority. Plus, we definitely are not centralized in our government by design.
@sciencenerd Oh most certainly the ‘individual rights above all’ aspect would come into play.
We have the makings of a perfect storm: those in charge worried about what social media will say about them and individuals who have an issue with ANY authority.
Estimates on incubation of the coronavirus have ranged between days to up to two weeks, so there are concerns that These actions are somewhat belated in that the first case was late December. Its unclear how many may be infected already with no outward symptoms.
It’s also unclear how easily it’s transmitted—an entire medical team of 14-15 were infected while operating on an infected patient. That makes it seem it’s pretty contagious, since the team would have been appropriately gowned and masked.
@dietz199 Im don’t know about that. After 9/11, we are getting half naked in the airport without a peep. If we get scared enough, we will tow the line.
Well, in the case of air travel we had zero choice. If you want to fly, you follow the TSA rules ( I still think the fact we need to take off our shoes is security theater and it isn’t done in other countries - but there’s good old me being anti-authoritarian ).
I’m not so sure people would behave as well with a quarantine, for example, especially if they thought it put their lives and those of their own families at greater personal risk. Maybe I’ve watched too many apocalyptic movies.
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