outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

I wonder how long the Trump anti-afterglow will last. How many cycles before normal sounds normal and not like FDR?

don’t listen to them speak

^^ extremely otm

listen to whatever epidemiologists or public health officials are saying. they are the experts and know things. Pence is just a mouthpiece who'll edit and spin the info for maximum political expediency.

Is the Woz the last person on Swarm?

I'm not "listening" to them, I happened to be channel surfing. Nothing will ever "normalize" the Trump administration.

You still have channels?

Cold lookin' for that hero

I'm in Seattle, and it seems like there's a really broad range of reactions to the outbreak. I went to the store today and bought enough food that I hopefully shouldn't have to step inside a store for a long time. A few of the shelves showed signs of panic buying (no yogurt!), and I've been seeing pictures of empty shelves on social media. But almost everyone I talk to in the city is like, "Oh, we'll see, it'll probably turn out to just be a bunch of hype." It really seems like most people are just going to go about their lives as usual until further notice. At least I've finally convinced my parents to take it seriously and lock themselves down as much as possible; my dad has asthma and I really don't want him to get this.

I called the mosaic studio where I have a membership to see if I could put it on hold, explained that I'm trying to be extra-cautious about the coronavirus, and the woman was like, "Well, do you think you'll feel like resuming the membership in April?" HOW DO I KNOW????

the absolute worst thing is having medical professionals in the US call it a "hoax". That is completely ridiculous.

Medical experts at the White House have to patiently explain to Trump that his idea of using the flu vaccine to address the coronavirus will not work. pic.twitter.com/acghVStSvK

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) March 2, 2020

someone should say to his face that he's very stupid and cruel

just like some CEO he invites

What the absolute fucking goddamn motherfuck.

'How about Pepto-Bismol? Will that cure Caronavirus? Maybe some Tums? I'll just tell the American people to choke down some Tums, they'll be fine.'

no, one network of pharmacies will try and appease him because everybody's oh so afwaid of him and CVSs will release "coronavirus" vaccines that are just leftover flu vaccines and they'll claim it has a 65% success rate and anybody who gets sick they will say is part of the 35% failure rate.

Today, China reported 7 new infection cases imported from Italy in Zhejiang.

Vietnam already implemented a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all *inbound* travelers from Italy.

I was planning a trip to Taiwan soon. Though maybe this will mean cheap flights?

but she's touching wins' face now
he takes off her mask now
let me go

lol that one I know

The enormous suburban grocery store in upstate ny that I visited last night was fully out of all hand sanitizer, hand soap, rice, and almost all canned soup

I live in Seattle, I have all symptoms of COVID-19 and have a history of chronic bronchitis.

Since I work in a physical therapy clinic with many 65+ patients and those with chronic illnesses, I decided to be responsible and go to get tested. This is how that went.

— sketchy lady (@into_the_brush) March 3, 2020

I guess when all else fails, we still have hopes + prayers.

my good friend in NYC (she is elderly and just recovered from esophagal cancer two years ago) came down with symptoms this weekend. Her primary doctor told her to go to the emergency room right away. They told her she has pneumonia and gave her a prescription for antibiotics. No mention of corona.

Because maybe she didn't have the symptoms? (My pneumonia I had years ago was a conspicuously *wet* cough, not a the corona dry cough, and a chest x-ray clearly showed the infection). I think she'll know within a day or two whether the antibiotics are working.

i was under the impression it manifests as pneumonia? or was that only early reports. In any case, any vulnerable population especially in high density areas should be automatically tested. But I mean I know I am talking nonsense here. It's the US.

Well, I mean, at a certain point you've got to trust the diagnosis, right? Doctors should be able to tell the difference between viral and bacterial pneumonia, and if the doctor just prescribed antibiotics because what the hell, then they are a bad doctor. The corona test is there to confirm suspicion, not diagnose. That part is up to the doctor, who should be doing their due diligence.

Thought you might be curious to hear from someone who lives about 500 yards from the nursing care facility and down the street from the hospital at ground zero.

People here are actually quite calm and normal. There are grocery store runs on staples and you can’t get any hand sanitizer. As parents we feel doomed that open schools will mean inevitable spread to everyone.

The scandal is that no one is offering our community coordinated testing. We are totally in the dark about how widespread this is going to be. We are being given advice to avoid contact but go about our normal days, which is useless because it is contradictory and also it is advice given without any knowledge of the extent of the spread.

The national press briefings are clownish when people are dying a football field away from you. To hear every briefing kick off with a celebration of the President is insulting beyond belief to people living in an outbreak zone. Everyone should be hammering the administration for community wide testing and should be asking Trump right to his face when it will begin. Over and over and over again.

I assume this will pass and we’ll be fine but not because of our elected government but in spite of it. That is the shame of living under incompetency and sycophancy of this administration. It would give me hope if the press was angrier and more aggrieved at being bathed in lies about this very real crisis.

Demand testing. It’s what matters. Take it from people in an outbreak zone.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/kirkland-washington-coronavirus-covid-19

NY's governing prince has used this opportunity to seize greater executive power.

"We understand the need to act swiftly and secure appropriate funding, but the legislation that is being considered tonight significantly expands the emergency powers of the governor, an act that should never be taken lightly," New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement. "Such a change requires thoughtful consideration and an open and informed debate – which has not happened."

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Legislature-give-40m-broad-powers-to-Cuomo-15101092.php

Everything about Seattle's response is driving me fucking insane. There's some panic buying, but everyone seems to be just going about their lives as usual, and I think there's a general feeling that it would be wrong to give in to anxiety and start changing our way of life. I feel strongly that this is the time for people to start avoiding public spaces whenever possible so as to slow the spread of the virus and protect the vulnerable. But everyone's just doing their normal thing, going to the store, going to the gym, assuming someone will tell us what to do once it gets bad. No one seems to get that it's already bad, we're no safer than any of those cities we've seen on the news, and we need to adjust our way of life now.

I had a long argument about this with my housemate, whose attitude was, "Well, I can't stop going to my job, so I may as well go to all the other places I would normally go, because I'll get it no matter what." I pointed out that if he only went to his job and not to the gym, etc., he would spread it less once he got it. Housemate maintains that the CDC doesn't want us to do that, and that it won't work anyway because even if 80% of people change their routines, 20% won't, so it's not worth doing anything except handwashing.

Eventually, it will presumably get bad enough here that people start changing their routines, but by then it will be too late for it to make much difference.

Legit can’t decide whether to start working from home on my own initiative or wait until we’re told to.

at this point i think it's good that panic hasn't really set in but i guess i'm gonna catch and spread this virus so ymmv

like my workplace + the subway is basically a terrarium for disease, we're getting it

lily all of that would drive me insane too. even here in chicago, i don't understand why my workplace isn't advising everyone to work from home - something that many of us do multiple times a week anyway.

but your roommate has a reasonable take, too. all the usual authorities aren't advising to stay at home or avoid public places. even as simultaneous news keeps coming that the virus has been community spread for weeks now and is beyond containment.

most people assume that the State will provide justice and protection. but it takes competent people to do that

Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be modest, that was all, and thought that everything still was possible for them; which presupposed that pestilences were impossible.

department downstairs is having a mandatory work-from-home day as practice. i still use 3g broadband so that's not going to be great for me.

I haven't left my apartment since I came back home Saturday morning and don't plan to for the full two weeks. I don't have symptoms but it's easy for me not to go anywhere and I was in a place dense with asian tourists for two months. I really would prefer not to be the person unknowingly spreading it in a country where there are currently no cases.

like my workplace + the subway is basically a terrarium for disease, we're getting it

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, March 3, 2020 10:51 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes, I assume that those factors (particularly with my open-plan workplace, where we're on top of one another like goddamn sardines) + the fact that my gf is a preschool teacher = when, not if for me.

lol mookie i'm actually about to start reading the plague

speaking as a cancer patient w/ a wrecked-by-meds immune system, que sera sera

The Plague is such an amazing book, I was just thinking I should reread it today.

i've been reading magic mountain which also feels v relevant to our pandemic times (tho on top of it i'm going thru a flare-up and am on prednisone so the synchronicity is off the charts).

there's also a part about listening to records, so you're going to be so seen

i mean in five years when you get to that part

mordy get thee to the ilb magic mountain thread!

They listen to records in The Plague, too! "Saint James Infirmary" on repeat, iirc.

Also I was posting upthread that my housemate (not the one I was arguing with, one of the other four), came back from Hawaii three weeks ago with something corresponding to the symptoms of coronavirus and couldn't get tested. The last case of it in my household was about a week ago, so I'm treating myself as a potential vector just to be on the safe side. The only person who's going to be inconvenienced by that is me, so I don't see any reason not to be cautious. Given how many people in Seattle have now been exposed one way or another, I don't see why that's not the general mentality.

I hate that I'm turning into a full-on "WAKE UP SHEEPLE, THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW HOW BAD THIS IS!" doom merchant, because I don't listen to those people either. But every time I run the calculations, that's what it adds up to.

"saint james infirmary" one of the few songs i can play well on the piano uh oh

I don't think there's anything wrong with voluntarily staying home or avoiding public places, but I wouldn't expect to see this become more widespread without specific guidance from the CDC and state health agencies that we should all be doing this. At that point, I'd expect to see more businesses and schools encouraging it where possible.

some jewish schools in NY closed including SAR which honestly based on the name seems about right