***NON-POLITICAL COVID-19 Discussion Thread***

[JakeF]

A couple of reminders...

Originally Posted by Bwana

Once again, don't come in this thread with some kind of political agenda, or you will be shown the door. If you want to go that route, there is a thread about this in DC.

Originally Posted by Dartgod

People, there is a lot of good information in this thread, let's try to keep the petty bickering to a minimum.

We all have varying opinions about the impact of this, the numbers, etc. We will all never agree with each other. But we can all keep it civil.

Thanks!

Click here for the original OP:

Spoiler!

Apparently the CoronaVirus can survive on a inanimate objects, such as door knobs, for 9 days.

California coronavirus case could be first spread within U.S. community, CDC says
By SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA, JACLYN COSGROVE
FEB. 26, 2020 8:04 PM

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating what could be the first case of novel coronavirus in the United States involving a patient in California who neither recently traveled out of the country nor was in contact with someone who did.

“At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown. It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States,” the CDC said in a statement. “Community spread means spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. It’s also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveler who was infected.”

The individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County, according to the state Department of Public Health.

The CDC said the “case was detected through the U.S. public health system — picked up by astute clinicians.”

Officials at UC Davis Medical Center expanded on what the federal agency might have meant by that in an email sent Wednesday, as reported by the Davis Enterprise newspaper.

The patient arrived at UC Davis Medical Center from another hospital Feb. 19 and “had already been intubated, was on a ventilator, and given droplet protection orders because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition,” according to an email sent by UC Davis officials that was obtained by the Davis Enterprise.

The staff at UC Davis requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, but because the patient didn’t fit the CDC’s existing criteria for the virus, a test wasn’t immediately administered, according to the email. The CDC then ordered the test Sunday, and results were announced Wednesday. Hospital administrators reportedly said in the email that despite these issues, there has been minimal exposure at the hospital because of safety protocols they have in place.

A UC Davis Health spokesperson declined Wednesday evening to share the email with The Times.

Since Feb. 2, more than 8,400 returning travelers from China have entered California, according to the state health department. They have been advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and limit interactions with others as much as possible, officials said.

“This is a new virus, and while we are still learning about it, there is a lot we already know,” Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “We have been anticipating the potential for such a case in the U.S., and given our close familial, social and business relationships with China, it is not unexpected that the first case in the U.S. would be in California.”

It is not clear how the person became infected, but public health workers could not identify any contacts with people who had traveled to China or other areas where the virus is widespread. That raises concern that the virus is spreading in the United States, creating a challenge for public health officials, experts say.

“It’s the first signal that we could be having silent transmission in the community,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. “It probably means there are many more cases out there, and it probably means this individual has infected others, and now it’s a race to try to find out who that person has infected.”

On Tuesday, the CDC offered its most serious warning to date that the United States should expect and prepare for the coronavirus to become a more widespread health issue.

“Ultimately, we expect we will see coronavirus spread in this country,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “It’s not so much a question of if, but a question of when.”

According to the CDC’s latest count Wednesday morning, 59 U.S. residents have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus — 42 of whom are repatriated citizens from a Diamond Princess cruise. That number has grown by two since Messonnier’s last count Tuesday, although the CDC was not immediately available to offer details on the additional cases.

More than 82,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported globally, and more than 2,700 people have died, with the majority in mainland China, the epicenter of the outbreak.

But public health leaders have repeatedly reminded residents that the health risk from the novel coronavirus to the general public remains low.

“While COVID-19 has a high transmission rate, it has a low mortality rate,” the state Department of Public Health said in a statement Wednesday. “From the international data we have, of those who have tested positive for COVID-19, approximately 80% do not exhibit symptoms that would require hospitalization. There have been no confirmed deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States to date.”

CDC officials have also warned that although the virus is likely to spread in U.S. communities, the flu still poses a greater risk.

Gostin said the news of potential silent transmission does not eliminate the possibility of containing the virus in the U.S. and preventing an outbreak.

“There are few enough cases that we should at least try,” he said. “Most of us are not optimistic that that will be successful, but we’re still in the position to try.”

[Fish]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I'm wondering if it is safe to eat take-out. I don't know if I can do this cooking shit much longer being someone who is used to eating out every single meal.

Take out from Chipotle, Panda, maybe Longhorn, Outback shit like that. Just hoping the workers are taking proper precautions when they are preparing the meal.

Damn, man. Take this opportunity to learn how to do some cooking. You might find it quite enjoyable. I do. You'll save a lot of money too.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I'm wondering if it is safe to eat take-out. I don't know if I can do this cooking shit much longer being someone who is used to eating out every single meal.

Take out from Chipotle, Panda, maybe Longhorn, Outback shit like that. Just hoping the workers are taking proper precautions when they are preparing the meal.

No less safe than normal. Three months ago you simply had to hope the same things.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I think this states my opinion about it well:

A school Superintendent said something profound in his address cancelling school for the next 3 weeks. “In the end, it will be impossible to know if we overreacted or did too much, but it will be QUITE apparent if we under reacted or did too little.”

Hear those words my friends.

— Douglas Massengill, Ed.D. (@drmassen) March 14, 2020

My worry is how quickly this overton window is shifting and how obviously that kind of thinking yields an even faster shift.

We have people in this very thread advocating martial law. Literal boots on the ground and ordering people back into their homes (and folks, the implication in that is gunpoint because how else does one compel adherence in a situation that dire?)

And it's worse on social media. People requesting genuinely authoritarian measures. And the problem with that is you have maybe 4-6 weeks of runway before this population (which is absolutely more defiant of...everyone...than pretty much any population in the world) looks around and says "y'know what, 80% of us aren't going to be impacted by this at all and we suddenly have troops in the streets ordering us into our homes? ****. This."

We can't just say "there's no such things as 'too much'" because it ignores the relatively near-term consequences. People will burn out on it. At that point you have one of 2 outcomes - people start ignoring directives outright or those directives becomes more and more harshly enforced (the former being more likely than the latter, which could easily serve to do more harm than good and simply push your 'spike' out a month or so).

Yes, you CAN do too much here. And to sit there and say "oh well, if it turns out we overreacted I guess we'll never know..." is to preemptively insulate yourself from ANY criticisms for decisions made that absolutely could've been hugely damaging to this nation. When concede that type of thinking, it gives decision-makers a pass and again, leads to the decision-lens ratcheting in only a single direction, towards ever increasing draconian measures. The overton window just continues to slide and slide and slide until 'normal' is "well at least they aren't making us execute our pets like Chernobyl. This is fine...."

I'm not saying that we shouldn't err on the side of caution, but we damn sure shouldn't just accept leaders going out there and saying "if we overreact...oh well...."

That's not acceptable either.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

My worry is how quickly this overton window is shifting and how obviously that kind of thinking yields an even faster shift.

We have people in this very thread advocating martial law. Literal boots on the ground and ordering people back into their homes (and folks, the implication in that is gunpoint because how else does one compel adherence in a situation that dire?)

And it's worse on social media. People requesting genuinely authoritarian measures. And the problem with that is you have maybe 4-6 weeks of runway before this population (which is absolutely more defiant of...everyone...than pretty much any population in the world) looks around and says "y'know what, 80% of us aren't going to be impacted by this at all and we suddenly have troops in the streets ordering us into our homes? ****. This."

We can't just say "there's no such things as 'too much'" because it ignores the relatively near-term consequences. People will burn out on it. Yes, you CAN do too much here. And to sit there and say "oh well, if it turns out we overreacted I guess we'll never know..." is to pre-emptively insulate yourself from ANY criticisms for decisions made that absolutely could've been hugely damaging to this nation. When concede that type of thinking, it gives decisionmakers a pass and again, leads to the decision-lens ratcheting in only a single direction, towards ever increasing draconion measures. The overton window just continues to slide and slide and slide until 'normal' is "well at least they aren't making us execute our pets like Chernobyl. This is fine...."

I'm not saying that we should err on the side of caution, but we damn sure shouldn't just accept leaders going out there and saying "if we overreact...oh well...."

That's not acceptable either.

Who on here advocated martial law?

I don't see how shutting down certain businesses that are not essential to human survival is not worth saving lives. But hey if you think getting drunk and partying at bars and restaurants is more important than saving people's lives and stopping the spread of the virus then maybe your priorities are a little off to say the least.

[Donger]

I've got a colleague under state-imposed self-quarantine right now because she got McDonald's drive thru and the guy ended up with COVID-19. Luckily, she's a freak and bathes in hand sanitizer.

[FloridaMan88]

At my voting precinct in Miami they had to call an ambulance to help a lady who fell after slipping on spilled hand sanitizer.

Hilarious.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Fish

Damn, man. Take this opportunity to learn how to do some cooking. You might find it quite enjoyable. I do. You'll save a lot of money too.

I've tried. I used to do more cooking when I was poor college student and I hated it. I hated the dishes. I hated the time it took to prepare things. The time I had to go to the store. Some things you can't store for more than a week or it goes bad. Once I started eating out every meal, it liberated my mind & psyche. I highly recommend never cooking, never ever.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

You would be surprised. Especially if you're a cash payer.

Originally Posted by Rausch

I can't imagine dentists are begging to go to work either...

Originally Posted by Rausch

What the hell do they do? They have no choice but be all up in your face and mouth with slobber everywhere...

Uh, yeah. It's not ideal. But we deal with shit all the time. We follow strict infection control all the time regardless.

Just doing screening and not seeing any sick obviously right now. Probably gonna have to close for a few weeks.

[stumppy]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I don't quite understand it either. Germany is also very old in population, albeit not quite as old as Italy. Also Japan is the oldest avg age population in the world. They aren't really even testing people much, like us, and they don't seem to be having terrible results yet. Perhaps they are just ignoring it and it's about to blow up.

Probably because way before Corona a lot of them wore masks all the time when out in public.

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

At my voting precinct in Miami they had to call an ambulance to help a lady who fell after slipping on spilled hand sanitizer.

Hilarious.

Real hilarious. You have proven to be a shit human being.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by penguinz

Real hilarious. You have proven to be a shit human being.

Lighten up, the woman was fine.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I've tried. I used to do more cooking when I was poor college student and I hated it. I hated the dishes. I hated the time it took to prepare things. The time I had to go to the store. Some things you can't store for more than a week or it goes bad. Once I started eating out every meal, it liberated my mind & psyche. I highly recommend never cooking, never ever.

"B" Stand for "Big"?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I'm wondering if it is safe to eat take-out. I don't know if I can do this cooking shit much longer being someone who is used to eating out every single meal.

Take out from Chipotle, Panda, maybe Longhorn, Outback shit like that. Just hoping the workers are taking proper precautions when they are preparing the meal.

Denver's restaurants are now closed for eight weeks to dine-in, but they're open for takeout. If you consider the risks of 30 seconds of takeout contact versus being in a grocery store for 30 minutes, takeout might actually be more secure. But dump the food out of the wrappers and containers before you eat.

At least, that's my thinking. Maybe I'm wrong, but the wife and I decided that we'd go do takeout on occasion during the eight weeks.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Who on here advocated martial law?

5300 posts brother - I ain't finding 'em all.

But I know oakland hater has and a couple other people have responded to suggestions of 'a national lockdown' with some version of 'extreme times, extreme measures...' If you don't believe there are several people in this thread (and honestly, I'm sure you're one of them) who are calling for martial law without realizing that's what they're calling for, I don't know what to tell you.

Again I ask you - what do you believe a 'national lockdown' is? A federally mandated, federally enforced edict from the government ordering you to stay in your homes.

Do you think the federal government has police powers? Don't answer, I'll just tell you - they don't. The Constitution does not grant the Federal Government the right to patrol the streets enforcing measures for the public health. That is specifically reserved to the states and that order (or enforcement) cannot by law come from on high. In order for the federal government to actively involve itself, they effectively HAVE to declare martial law.

If you can find a mechanism to enforce a national shutdown WITHOUT the imposition of martial law, I'd like to hear it. Within the boundaries of our Constitution, the most the federal government can do is encourage states to do it on their own (though they could tie federal aid to it if they wanted). If they attempt to do more than that, they would essentially have to suspend the Constitution.

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I've tried. I used to do more cooking when I was poor college student and I hated it. I hated the dishes. I hated the time it took to prepare things. The time I had to go to the store. Some things you can't store for more than a week or it goes bad. Once I started eating out every meal, it liberated my mind & psyche. I highly recommend never cooking, never ever.

Cut up some onion and bellpeper. Season with pepper and garlic salt. Saute it in olive oil until the onions are nice and translucent. Drain.

Boil your Ramen noodles and drain. Combine your onion/bellpepper, ramen seasoning and enjoy your new "elevated" Top Ramen.