outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

btw, how is this going to kill me -- dehydration? fever? pneumonia?

Pneumonia, I think.

Poll

prob won't kill you also

no buboes, no pox, no credibility

I just got a pneumonia vaccine, will that save me?

nm, nothing to worry about

"We have contained this, I won't say airtight but pretty close to airtight." -- Kudlow, on @CNBC now.#COVID19

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) February 25, 2020

I am prepared for the expectation that this might be bad

it's kind of crazy that they aren't even testing for more in the US but i guess deductibles...

man, kudlow is dumb as rocks if he thinks we're containing this. who is he even listening to?

"We have contained this, I won't say airtight but pretty close to airtight."

I'm picturing him saying this while holding some sort of vacuum-sealed viral containment device that has sprung a leak and is hissing directly into his right eye.

kudlow's just trying to head off further panic on wall street. priorities!

who is he even listening to?

His associates, who are all Trump's "best people", who keep telling each other that the IMPORTANT THING in a situation like this is to avoid a PUBLIC PANIC, because that might cause stocks to fall and that would be BAD FOR THE ELECTION.

tbh i might be ready for the GMU professor's program of forced infection -- could stand to lose some weight, wouldn't mind some time off work, don't particularly care about living or dying

lol "airtight"

if i get coronavirus before i leave I am going to tell everyone I have cabernetmono.

My cold-bloodedly practical MD mom said the one good thing about it spreading is that it will also spread immunity.

Seems there’s a decent chance this could be Trump’s Katrina. Let’s hope for all our sakes it isn’t.

heh, was just musing along similar lines in the democratic primary thread

i think there's a very good chance it will be like a slow motion katrina for trump. they are so, so incompetent. incompetence + budget slashing + antigovernment (in a situation which begs for governmental leadership) + cynical motive to downplay severity for political reasons

your cold-bloodedly practical MD mom otm. the biggest reason why this is more dangerous than the flu is that roughly 0% of the world's population has an acquired immunity from it. but, practically speaking, acquiring that immunity from a vaccine would be the ideal method.

Barring that: coronavirus parties!

My cold-bloodedly practical MD mom said the one good thing about it spreading is that it will also spread immunity.

what makes you think that people might be getting reinfected? is there a source for that?

Apparently it's possible, because no one knows how long immunity lasts. Whooping cough, chickenpox ... a lot of people are vulnerable to things they've been vaccinated against because vaccines wear off eventually.

True, plus always a possibility the infection didn’t fully heal, like those colds that hang around for ages. Don’t say this thing doesn’t have its advantages though; just managed to dissuade a man with a horrendous-looking burrito from sitting beside me because I happened to be blowing my nose at the time.

seems like a mighty short immunity cycle if the virus was discovered only a few months ago and most known cases occurred in the past two months.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/covid-vaccine/607000/

Lipsitch predicts that, within the coming year, some 40 to 70 percent of people around the world will be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. But, he clarifies emphatically, this does not mean that all will have severe illnesses. “It’s likely that many will have mild disease, or may be asymptomatic,” he said. As with influenza, which is often life-threatening to people with chronic health conditions and of older age, most cases pass without medical care. (Overall, around 14 percent of people with influenza have no symptoms.)

Lipsitch is far from alone in his belief that this virus will continue to spread widely. The emerging consensus among epidemiologists is that the most likely outcome of this outbreak is a new seasonal disease—a fifth “endemic” coronavirus. With the other four, people are not known to develop long-lasting immunity. If this one follows suit, and if the disease continues to be as severe as it is now, “cold and flu season” could become “cold and flu and COVID-19 season.”

The emerging consensus among epidemiologists is that the most likely outcome...

^ that makes more sense than the idea that people are already getting reinfected.

If coronavirus is indeed a "seasonal disease", does it not stand to reason that if we can contain it until mid-spring, infection rates will begin to drop and we can buy time to develop vaccines?

When I had so-called Asian flu in 2003 I had a relapse a month later and got it even worse. Either that or it went dormant or something. Maybe the first infection messed up my immune system, making me more susceptible? Anyway, re-infection is a thing, not trying to scare anyone or anything.

yeah, I always think that you are more likely to get things once your immune system is so weakened.

good thing I use an immunosuppressive drug for a chronic condition!

xpost did you get tested and was it confirmed to be the same strain? how did you know it was the same thing? (not saying it wasn't)

It's common for viral pneumonias to be followed weeks later by bacterial pneumonias (like Streptococcus), that thrive in the aftermath of lung damage.

Anyway, hand washing is always a good idea. But for perspective, over the 2018-2019 U.S. flu season there were apparently an estimated 42.9 *million* cases, nearly 650,000 hospitalizations, and maybe 60,000 deaths. That's the boring ol' flu, that's only the U.S., that's just last year. Tbf that's with some semblance of a vaccine, but still, people get sick all the time.

If coronavirus is indeed a "seasonal disease", does it not stand to reason that if we can contain it until mid-spring, infection rates will begin to drop and we can buy time to develop vaccines?

the article also goes into why that's easier said than done

i actually am not worried about the illness. It's more what happens when shit gets real if they have to start quarantining more places.

sounds sensible

I mean, they already postponed filming the next "Mission:Impossible" sequel, I think the end is here.

It's unlikely a vaccine would show up in under a year, which would bring us through this season and then land us smack dab in the middle of next year's flu season, assuming this goes seasonal. That's better than nothing, I guess.

Yeah, same here. I'm supposed to move back across the pond in less than three weeks. Sticking around for longer would likely cost a fortune.

2xp

i was slightly hoping I would be quarantined. I have a really nice view and I just got a ps4.

I think we still have some no deal food stashed away but it’s probably not a horrendous idea to put some stuff away because people will be stupid and panic buy because that’s what they do in almost any situation

I'm sure the no-deal scare (which is still sort of ongoing) gave a headstart to quite a few Britons.

We have a giant Costco box of Pirate's Booty, we should be good until summer.

I can't wait to die. Bring it on.

i feel like we somehow accumulated 6 months worth of protein powder.

my wife has decided to make her own whey protein powder somehow. these are the skills we'll need, people.

Just wait until the Whey Virus kicks off.

oh damn. zombie apocalypse fap at tracer hand's house.