I work for a medical device company with critical ties to China. I am very, very worried. The economic ripples of this situation is going to put our global economy into a deep and terrible recession. And in six months our pharmaceutical pipeline is going to be reduced to a sliver of its prior capacity. Some ridiculously high percentage of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (the critical ingredients that make our medicines do what they do) are going to dry up completely for a while. Stock up on your Rx and on Tylenol and Advil while you can.
Oh for crying out loud. Turning the ones who recovered into some sort of lepers? I smell either ignorance about how sensitive molecular tests can be or a plot to keep the quarantine going… after all, what happened to the protests in Hong Kong?
I’m not concerned in the short term, but I do take a weekly class at the China Institute in NYC. DH and I have joked that if it comes to NY that’s certainly a place it could appear.
I think it might be a bit of a wake up call for US companies of some of the dangers of relying on the Chinese labor market.
I certainly hope that this isn’t the begining of a global recession, I swear, every time our downtown finally looks like it will get out of the doldrums there’s a recession!
COVID-19 is just an excuse for racists to act on their racism. The suspect in the NY subway assault obviously was not afraid of getting infected with COVID-19 or anything else – if he were, he would have moved as far away as possible, rather than made physical contact.
South Korea reports 3 military members infected with coronavirus
"Three members of the South Korean military, including an officer each from the army, the navy and the air force, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
All three had a connection to the Daegu region, one of the epicenters of the growing South Korean virus outbreak.
There are now 156 infections from the virus in South Korea, and one death." (CNN)
New case in BC, Canada - a woman recently returned from Iran. 6th case in BC, 9th for all of Canada.
A Hong Kong riot police officer has been infected with the virus. Another 59 officers are in quarantine
“Hong Kong has announced three new cases of the coronavirus – with a 48-year-old police officer among them. A total of 68 cases of the virus have now been confirmed in Hong Kong, including two deaths.”
"…the officer felt unwell on February 18 and sought medical treatment on the same day. He then tested positive for the coronavirus on February 20. The officer had not traveled overseas within the past 14 days… According to the police statement, the infected officer was the leader of the North Point anti-riot police squad. He had dinner with 59 other police officers at a restaurant on February 18. The Department of Health has defined all 59 people the officer dined with as close contacts.
One of the other cases, a 58-year-old man, worked as a taxi driver." CNN
"China’s Global Television Network is reporting that 200 (another part of the article says the number is 207) prisoners in a facility in the eastern province of Shandong are infected with Covid-19. The sources of the infection is reported to be an affected prison guard.
These prison cases may partly explain the spike in new cases today to 889" (Guardian)
Another doctor in Wuhan has died from the virus… 29 year…working in respiratory and critical care…contracted the virus and was admitted to hospital on 25 January, where his condition worsened by the 30th…held up as an example of the many doctors fighting on the frontline of the outbreak, featuring an article about Peng delaying his wedding in order to work." (Guardian)
I can’t decide whether or not anything being reported out of China is worth getting lathered up about. That it’s likely been worse than reported has seemed a given since this began. That there will be continued misinformation seems just as likely.
Assume the worst, hope for the best. Give it a few weeks and maybe the view will clear.
Will stock up on a crucial medicine for one of the dogs we have and I appreciate the couple of posts that have warned of possible tight supplies.
Another Chinese prison with 34 reported cases.
I do agree that it is hard to trust Chinese info completely given their historical record. However, I do have more faith in the info out of countries like Japan and South Korea where cases are increasing.
Hubei adds 220 cases to daily total to account for prisoner infections
“Hubei province has revised its new cases for Friday up from 411 to 631…
It also says 271 cases were reported by the prison department, of which 51 seem to have been counted previously, and the remaining 220 were added to the daily total of new cases today.” (Guardian)
Reports now say there are now 512 coronavirus cases in prisons across the country, 230 in a women’s prison.
No info on why multiple provinces chose to announce the infections inside their prisons today.
Read a headline. The virus may spread by feces. Not sure of the path of transmit. I would think it would be safe once flushed down.
I heard a news report on cable TV that explained the conditions in the market where the virus was believed to have originated. Filthy & disgusting. Caged animals stacked up on one another & animal waste falling from cage to cage.
The China based reporter then shared dietary practices common in the area which are quite difficult to believe, and clearly conducive to the spread of disease.
Hopefully, better practices will result from this horrific tragedy.
Consider:
Poor hand washing.
Low quality or dirty toilet facilities.
Poor sewage treatment.
Poor tap water treatment.
Animal handling.
Washington Post, in exclusive report, says that CDC experts opposed allowing coronavirus-positive Diamond Princess guests to fly on the evacuation flight. CDC experts were overruled by the State Department and “a top Trump administration health official” (I’m putting that last part in quotes because the article does not say what credentials, if any, the health official has in infectious diseases). CDC experts demanded that they not be included in any press releases about the evacuation flight, because they did not want to give the impression that they had approved allowing the positive guests to fly.
@iglooo There have been several posts here previously about the feces angle.
Sad but not unexpected.
In China (or Uzbekistan etc.), a short prison sentence might as well be a death sentence - TB prevalence in Chinese prisons is sky high (make your own conclusions). Add this virus, and it is very likely we will see that prisoners will have much worse outcomes.
Good hand washing to the rescue. 
It sounds like there’s a confirmed case in Humboldt County.