Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

[Griff]

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...out/index.html

For confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness and death. Symptoms can include:

Fever
Cough
Shortness of breath

CDC believes at this time that symptoms of COVID-19 may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after exposure. This is based on what has been seen previously as the incubation period of MERS-CoV viruses.

It looks like this thing spreads really easily.


Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet)
Via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.


Good luck if your immune system is compromised...

Also remember to buy low in the stock market when day traders get stupid.

[Luce]

There is now a case in California. Dude wasn't traveling and has no known contacts with primary cases.

Given the 14 day incubation period, that means a ton of people are probably infected.

[Griff]

Yeah, I was listening to a Black Plague podcast recently, incubation period is a big deal.

[glatt]

Took my wife to urgent care last night. She had all the symptoms. 104 fever. I was pretty sure it was the kung flu, because I'm convinced it is already here. But they did a nose swab and it came back as regular old influenza (type A, whatever that means.)

She had gotten the flu shot, but I guess this is a different strain.

I think of COVID-19 as just another strain of the flu, and just about as dangerous.

My wife should be OK. She's staying home, but it ruins a big weekend of plans.

She wanted to crawl into bed last night after getting back from urgent care, but spent two hours coming up with sub plans for work.

At urgent care, they asked if she had been to China.

[Luce]

Originally Posted by glatt

I think of COVID-19 as just another strain of the flu, and just about as dangerous.

From what I gather, it's actually less dangerous on a case-by-case basis, but also more contagious.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by glatt

....My wife should be OK. She's staying home, but it ruins a big weekend of plans....

Im so sorry buddy,ill say a prayer for your wife....

I hope she feels better soon

[xoxoxoBruce]

A seminar at Michigan Law focused on cholera, Spanish flu, polio, AIDS, SARS, and Ebola. Every disease provokes its own unique dread and its own complex public reaction, but themes recurred across outbreaks.

1. Governments are typically unprepared, disorganized, and resistant to taking steps necessary to contain infectious diseases, especially in their early phases.
2. Local, state, federal, and global governing bodies are apt to point fingers at one another over who’s responsible for taking action. Clear lines of authority are lacking.
3. Calibrating the right governmental response is devilishly hard. Do too much and you squander public trust (Swine flu), do too little and people die unnecessarily (AIDS).
4. Public officials are reluctant to publicize infections for fear of devastating the economy.
5. Doctors rarely have good treatment options. Nursing care is often what’s needed most. Medical professionals of all kinds work themselves to the bone in the face of extraordinary danger.
6. In the absence of an effective treatment, the public will reach for unscientific remedies.
7. No matter what the route of transmission or the effectiveness of quarantine, there’s a desire to physically separate infected people.
8. Victims of the disease are often thought to deserve the affliction, especially when those victims are mainly from marginalized groups.
9. We plan, to the extent we plan at all, for the last pandemic. We don’t do enough to plan for the next one.
10. Historical memory is short. When diseases fall from the headlines, the public forgets and preparation falters.

https://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/contagion/

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Luce

There is now a case in California. Dude wasn't traveling and has no known contacts with primary cases.

Given the 14 day incubation period, that means a ton of people are probably infected.

FIRST!


That's just ... great.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by BigV

FIRST!


That's just ... great.

Now second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. Tragic. There's a nursing home(?) where most of the deaths have occurred,but some in the the next county. Governor Inslee has declared an emergency. Schools have been closed. No masks or hand sanitizer to be found. Read an article today about how to make your own hand sanitizer, 2/3 99% alcohol mixed with 1/3 aloe vera gel or vegetable glycerin.

It feels grim.

[Luce]

Originally Posted by BigV

Now second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. Tragic. There's a nursing home(?) where most of the deaths have occurred,but some in the the next county. Governor Inslee has declared an emergency. Schools have been closed. No masks or hand sanitizer to be found. Read an article today about how to make your own hand sanitizer, 2/3 99% alcohol mixed with 1/3 aloe vera gel or vegetable glycerin.

It feels grim.

Masks: Three bandanas. Wear them around your face like you're robbing a train, change them out regularly, wash daily.

Sorted.

[Griff]

Be safe out there V. We are under assault from the plain old flu here but it's only a matter of time.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It's natural, it's organic, it's Libertarian, thinning the herd, culling the weak and unfit. Economic opportunity abounds, that $12 a week we were wasting on Grannie can be put to better use. Selling people what they think they need for obscene profits. Raise the cost of funerals to push people into buying insurance so we can raise the cost of funerals. The Soylent Green processing kills all viruses and germs.

[Clodfobble]

Mr. Clod is just barely over a moderately severe bout of flu-like illness (kept him out of work for almost a week, but nothing that needed hospital attention,) and now the rest of us all have it. Kids have been out of school since Tuesday.

I, too, believe it's already here and thoroughly widespread, and I think it's telling that a lot of people test negative at first, and then test positive up to 28 days after exposure. I'm actually hoping that we do already have it, and then we'll get better and have immunity for the remainder of the lockdown that is sure to happen to some degree in the coming months. Certainly the kids would appreciate a month or two of school closures.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Griff

These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

It was only a couple years ago that I first heard what sounded to me like the plausible explanation for why the winter months see more illness.

Droplets stay airborne longer in the winter because the cold air is drier than humid air in the summer, and the little atomized spittle droplets dry out more and are lighter and float around on air currents longer than in the wet humid summer. They are simply suspended in the air longer, giving you more time to breathe them in.

Indoors, the air is heated, and it gets super dry. Just think about your lotion needs in the winter. There are virus particles floating around all over the place.

Public buildings should install misters like in the vegetable section of the grocery stores just to keep everything damp and knock the germs to the floor.

[Griff]

Yeah, it seems like this thing is probably already widespread. The symptoms being the same as every other damn thing is going to mask it for a while.