Moderator notice: Please do not ask for medical advice in this forum!
- If you are interested in Crafting, maybe try ordering a craft kit online (something substantial that would take time would be best, like a Latch hook kit (and crochet hook if you don’t have one), a potholder loom and cotton loops, or cross stitch kit), to work on.
- learn something physical, like an instrument, how to sew or knit, etc
- a lot of museums and zoos and the like are doing virtual tours or free online classes, so keep an eye out for that as well.
- do a giant puzzle
- Join an online bookclub
- Take an online class
While the outbreak started around New Year's Day (12/31), it's picking up steam around the Asia-Pacific region especially since Mainland Chinese people tend to travel a lot.
For reference, the BNO Newsroom twitter has a special feed for any info on the coronavirus:
https://twitter.com/bnodesk?lang=en
The WHO has page about COVID-19 and any other concerns people may have. I suggest peeps go to the Q&A page to check for official details.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
Edited by nombretomado on Jun 3rd 2020 at 3:21:48 AM
Opened this.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanWelp, I live in Tokyo. Insert relevant Simpsons gif here.
It's been fun.Well, two people died in China as of today.
Edited by Ominae on Jan 17th 2020 at 6:17:14 AM
Two people who came down with pneumonia after travelling to Singapore from Wuhan have been flagged by the MoH as potential cases, bringing the number in the country to five (including one that has been dismissed as an unrelated illness).
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)Edited by eagleoftheninth on Jan 19th 2020 at 5:49:31 AM
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)Just saw on CNN, no link yet, that the CDC is about to confirm the first US cases.
Here we are.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/21/health/wuhan-coronavirus-first-us-case-cdc-bn/index.html
Edited by Rationalinsanity on Jan 21st 2020 at 3:09:04 PM
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.China’s credibility on the line as it tries to dispels fears it will cover up spread of Wuhan virus. Because, as history has shown (Chernobyl and SARS) communist dictatorships are not known for their skills at handling medical crises.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanThere are now 440 total cases, nine deaths in China, and people around Twitter were tweeting/memeing about how this coronavirus might be what ends the human race, adding that 1720, 1820, and 1920 all had notorious viruses/plagues, and to that I say:
Stop with all the fearmongering. That does nothing except make your own mental health worse, to say nothing of the mental health of everyone around you, or your physical health. Since when was it okay to worry about every single thing you read on Twitter?
On the lighter side of things, a few people also joked about the coronavirus and the similarly-named beer. It's good to joke about these things, but please, there's a fine line between joking and fearmongering, even on these forums.
Someone please provide a link, I can't be bothered right now.
Edited by AngrokVa on Jan 21st 2020 at 11:09:37 AM
And here's something that hits a bit close to home:
Taiwan News: Breaking News: First case of China coronavirus confirmed in Taiwan
Chinese tourist in E. Taiwan isolated for Wuhan coronavirus symptoms
Disgusted, but not surprisedStarting to wonder if the PRC's tourism restriction to Taiwan from last year was a mixed blessing after all.
Nature editorial: Stop the Wuhan virus
This follows the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia-like coronavirus, first reported on the last day of December 2019, that has so far claimed six lives in China. The World Health Organization is deciding whether to declare the situation an international public-health emergency.
The virus has been spreading. On 21 January, as Nature went to press, there were almost 300 reported cases — seven times the figure stated five days earlier. Over the past week, authorities in South Korea, Thailand and Japan have also reported cases. Researchers at Imperial College London who have modelled the outbreak on the basis of estimates of travel out of Wuhan say the virus might have infected as many as 1,700 people.
The virus, which still lacks a formal name, is being called 2019-nCOV. It is a relative of both the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) viruses. People with the virus report a fever along with other symptoms of lower-respiratory infection such as a cough or breathing difficulties. The first people infected in China are understood to have caught the virus in one of Wuhan’s live animal and seafood markets — probably from an animal. Some 95% of the total cases, including those in Japan, South Korea and Thailand, also involved people who had been to Wuhan.
The virus has not been found in humans before and knowledge of how it is spread is still evolving. Last week, government officials and researchers in China who are tracking the virus told Nature they didn’t think it spreads readily from human to human, at least not as fast as SARS. But this view is being revised following the intervention of SARS specialist Zhong Nanshan. After a visit to Wuhan on 20 January, Zhong, who directs the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease in Guangzhou, confirmed that 14 medical workers had been infected by one virus carrier, raising concern that some people might be ‘super-spreaders’ of the virus. Stopping the further spread of the disease out of Wuhan, possibly by banning infected people from leaving Wuhan, has to be a top priority, he said.
China’s health authorities and the government have been moving quickly. Also on 20 January, the national broadcaster reported that president Xi Jinping had ordered that the virus be “resolutely contained”, and Premier Li Keqiang announced a steering group to tackle disease spread. At the beginning of the month, local authorities in Wuhan closed and disinfected the animal market, and health authorities have reported the results of their disease surveillance efforts.
Researchers, too, have had a crucial role, in publishing and sharing genome sequences. Four different research groups sequenced the genomes of six virus samples — and analyses of all six agree that the virus is a relative of SARS. Researchers are to be commended for making sequence data available, and they should continue to do so. (Release of such data, as well as deposition of manuscripts on preprint servers, will not affect the consideration of papers submitted to Nature.)
As China’s government has recognized, the authorities fumbled in their response to SARS, which spread globally, killing more than 770 people in 2002–03. Fifteen per cent of those infected died, a rate that seems much higher than that of the current outbreak — at least from what is known so far. In contrast to SARS, the response this time has been faster, more assured and more transparent.
But there is still much to do, and quickly. The virus’s original source must be confirmed — something that is proving difficult. Researchers have found virus traces in swabs taken from the animal market. The authorities, rightly, made closing and sterilizing the market their first priority, but in their rush to do so they might have missed a chance to test the animals. In the case of SARS, we now know that bats transmitted the virus to other animals, which then passed it to humans. Other questions include confirming the method of transmission for new cases, as well as understanding the virus’s ability to cause serious illness. Virus genomes from infected people will need to be sequenced continually to understand the extent to which the virus is evolving.
China’s health authorities did well to act more quickly than in the past. Now, they must continue to report what they know and what more they are uncovering. The emerging situation requires global coordination and leadership from the World Health Organization, with the support of public-health agencies worldwide. Researchers must work fast, collaboratively and transparently to address the key research questions. The world has had plenty of practice with SARS and avian flu — we should know what to do.
Around 7 million people are preparing to fly from China to 400 cities in 100 countries to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Now is the time to stop this outbreak spiralling into a global health emergency.
"A fever and respiratory difficulties". Great, exactly what I needed to read in the middle of flu and cold season.
It's been fun.It's apparently less lethal than SARS, but that's cold comfort. It also doesn't help that this is going to be peak travel season for mainland China.
Disgusted, but not surprisedWorth noting that January is conference season for the CCP, which might be a reason for the initial coverup. The first government statement on the outbreak came out around the time the Hubei Provincial People's Congress wrapped up.
From what we've seen so far, it looks like Chinese healthcare workers are trying to be more transparent than in the past, as well as cooperating closely with the WHO to contain the outbreak. The censorship culture isn't going to go away overnight, though. And the Chinese populace is far more internationally mobile now than during the SARS crisis, especially with the Lunar New Year approaching.
Edited by eagleoftheninth on Jan 22nd 2020 at 12:25:39 PM
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)Chinese authorities believe that the virus originated from wild animals sold at Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Market, possibly civets (which are known reservoirs for the SARS virus).
Edited by eagleoftheninth on Jan 22nd 2020 at 5:51:01 AM
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)Why am I not surprised.
Disgusted, but not surprisedChinese article: local doctors estimate that the number infected could exceed 6,000.
Another Chinese article by Sanlian Lifeweek. Not much new stuff apart from interviews with some infected locals and hospital staff, but it highlights the shortage of isolation wards in local hospitals and how medical workers didn't start putting on protective equipment until days after the virus had spread, causing many to get infected themselves. Some of the interviewees also initially refused to disclose their address and symptoms to the hospitals for fear of being turned away.
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)Good summary by VICE.
RNA sequence analysis on virus samples suggests that snakes were the primary reservoir. Huh, it's usually Cantonese cuisine that features that kind of danger noodle.
Not 100% related, but here's a relevant historical vignette from the 1910 bubonic plague outbreak in Harbin, aka that other time China had to quarantine a major city on the eve of the Lunar New Year.
And here's an NYT live report from inside the quarantine zone.
Edited by eagleoftheninth on Jan 23rd 2020 at 2:33:56 AM
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)Well snap.
Someone from Wuhan may have snuck around airport temperature checks.
Several Wuhan virus victims did not have fever; it may be harder for govts to detect infections
Details released by China's National Health Commission show five of the 17 people who died after being infected with novel coronavirus displayed other symptoms such as breathing difficulty, chest tightness and coughing.
Patients in Scotland tested for coronavirus
All the patients had respiratory symptoms and had been in Wuhan, thought to be the source, in the last 14 days.
Wuhan has gone into lockdown, along with another Chinese city, Huanggang.
Three of the patients in Scotland are being treated in Edinburgh with a fourth thought to be in Glasgow.
It is not yet known which hospitals are treating them.
Prof Juergen, head of infection medicine at Edinburgh University, said it was "very likely" that cases would be confirmed in the UK.
"In any European countries there is a danger that these cases occur," he said. "Here at the University of Edinburgh we have more than 2,000 students from China and they are always coming and going back to China so we are relatively sure we will have cases in the UK from travellers coming back from China."
He warned that the spread of the virus might increase as more people travelled around for Chinese New Year, within China and to other countries.
Edited by GoldenKaos on Jan 23rd 2020 at 3:22:14 PM
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."Let’s hope this virus doesn’t reach any of the African countries any time soon, else it would not be able to be contained without extreme measures.
Instead of focusing on relatives that divide us, we should find the absolutes that tie us.Note, Brazos County is the location of some major Texas universities, such as Texas A&M and about 100 miles out from any other major metro area.
Edited by tclittle on Jan 23rd 2020 at 2:39:24 PM
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Moderator notice: Please do not ask for medical advice in this forum!
While the outbreak started around New Year's Day (12/31), it's picking up steam around the Asia-Pacific region especially since Mainland Chinese people tend to travel a lot.
For reference, the BNO Newsroom twitter has a special feed for any info on the coronavirus:
https://twitter.com/bnodesk?lang=en
The WHO has page about COVID-19 and any other concerns people may have. I suggest peeps go to the Q&A page to check for official details.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses
Edited by nombretomado on Jun 3rd 2020 at 3:21:48 AM