outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

Ok piece on Taiwan's response.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/07/coronavirus-outbreak-taipei-taiwan-china

I've done PCR DNA amplification in the lab

congrats? so have all my 10th graders

Quillette is trash.

just delurking to say that as a former employee of both the scripps institute of oceanography and the lawrence berkeley cyclotron, and as a current science teacher, i feel so much fucking shame and disappointment when i see ppl pay attention to sanpaku's puffed up credentials and jargon. it just means my profession has broadly failed to innoculate ppl against charlatanry.

Hey, look, if it's ever determined that a particular skull shape or jawline predisposes you to coronavirus, Quillette will 100% be first on the case. So why not give them, and those who link and quote their articles, the benefit of the doubt?

itt, admissions of broad failure to innoculate

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy reading Plasmon's inspired takedown of Sanpaku from years past.

Not really down with the occasional demonizing that goes on here.

Also great to see ya back even if fleetingly tlg

Silby: You don't know me. I'm the token lefty in my family. The crazy vegan bicyclist living in a $875 1 bdrm on a street where Norteño music gets loud Friday nights, because I don't need more, and I save where I can. The one who spent more on Warren's campaign last month than I spent on food, and more still at the therapist. I'm the autist without siblings and raised in a retirement community, so my entire childhood was reading. Books nearly killed me going up the outside stairs last move. If you think physically beating a person like me will make the world a better place, perhaps you should question who the goosestepper in our relationship is.

And just as I'm the leftist in my family, I'm the one that reins in alarmists on places like r/climate or r/collapse (which FYI is totally voting for Sanders, we drove out right wingers 3 years ago). Case in point, moderating the alarm when news of this outbreak, as there was no evidence yet of human to human transmission. It was only when papers/stats on the the R0 and CFR came out 3 weeks later that my eyes got wide. So far, my concerns have been paralelled by others who know far more about epidemiology than I do after reading all the pop cultural books by Laurie Garrett, Richard Preston et al.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcJDpV-igjs

pop cultural epidemics

what's wrong with norteño music pendejo

Nothing. Just means I have to turn the audio books up higher.

Burrito otm

I actually dunno if they are but i always wanted to type

Burrito otm

For those curious how Taiwan has been so successful controlling the outbreak (and with little of the coercion seen in mainland China), this is a good read. Especially the 100+ action items in the eSupplement.

Wang et al, 2020, Response to COVID-19 in Taiwan: Big Data Analytics, New Technology, and Proactive Testing. JAMA.

Using mobile phones to verify self-quarantines may rile those who value civil liberties over life. But jeez, they sent their army into support mask factories, and produced 44 M masks before their first confirmed case. It perhaps really helps to have an epidemiologist as national VP.

Sanpaku there’s no reason to take anything you say or link seriously because you’ve got very bad judgment

Stop misleading people on this thread about important shit

For an obsessive it’s astonishing how little you know what you’re talking about

sorry I need to keep touching my face

For the life of me

It'd be easier to just cut off all contact with the outside world for a month.

Latest case in Victoria went to a Vietnamese restaurant up the street from me I even walked past it (on my way to buy fish) a couple of hours before the patient went there.

Vic gov (and I’ll grudgingly admit, the feds) are doing a good job here getting the message out about where people have been whilst emphasising that it’s still safe to go to these places - I may get a bowl of pho there for lunch tomorrow.

Good to hear from the Vic health minister today that anyone who wants a test can have one on request, they’d rather overtest than undertest. I feel somewhat fortunate to be in a country where a shitty government is at least willing to listen to and, by and large, put themselves in the hands of experts (at least on this).

silby: that's a peer reviewed paper in one of the big 4 med journals. I mentioned upthread how Taiwan seems to be doing a good job, but didn't have a handle on how as it hasn't been well reported. That paper is how it was reported.

It literally doesn’t matter what you say, your judgment is terrible and your commentary is worthless, stop posting. Goodnight!

Fingers crossed:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/07/cpac-coronavirus-conference-trump-pence

just wonderful stuff

When asked whether his thousand-person campaign rallies would would continue in light of the CPAC case, the president replied: “We’ll have tremendous rallies.”

May this make up for Bush's little pretzel that couldn't.

his underlying health must make him a shoo-in for death if he catches it

Parma and SPAL players have just been sent back to the locker rooms while the Minister for Sport mulls over suspending the league. Idk how it can practically continue if Lombardy is on complete lockdown.

"Tom, how much do you need?"
"Two hundred and forty-two rolls."
"Aw, Tom, just enough to wipe your arse with til the panic's over"
"I'll take two hundred and forty-two rolls." pic.twitter.com/BxYEJw3Rr6

— Robert Peacock (@Peaky76) March 8, 2020

in huit clos ? that's what's happening in biathlon.

er huis clos

Yep. They’ve given the go ahead for the match, after a lot of deliberation. No word on whether the players will have to keep a legally mandated metre distance from each other while playing.

:-(

dude is probably just trying to get by. it sucks that he may have put others at risk, but not everyone can afford to take time off. https://t.co/C1sdul4zGA

— putting the pal in palestinian (@jennineak) March 8, 2020

There'll be no shortage of people who can't afford to take time off over the next few months

my best bud in Seattle is posting conspiracy memes about this now and saying it’s “overhyped” and he works in the service industry at a very popular and acclaimed restaurant there so... uh, good luck usa

Plz just say what restaurant some of us live here. Not that I’m likely to go to many restaurants for the next three weeks.

I would suggest not going anywhere in the James Beard situation til like summer if you want me to be explicit

no sign any species of panic buying has hit my local hackney corner shop yet

I have a ticket for a debate on Tuesday night in which Alexis Goldstein is going to demolish the competition in support of student debt relief and now I'm like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

No blatant panic buying at the supermarkets in my part of Williamsburg but I stopped by Whole Foods on Bedford Ave last night and there were whole sections denuded (pasta, rice, water, toilet paper, frozen vegetables).

this is a really pointless frustration to express but: why r people buying bottled water in new york!!!!! ugh

yeah I would also like to understand the bottled water thing. is the virus going to infect the water supply too?

ppl are irrational beasts

I found these helpful to get a solid sense (as much as possible) of what we know at this point and its implications:

Audio Interview: What Clinicians Need to Know in Diagnosing and Treating Covid-19 (March 5) https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2004244

Anthony Fauci NEJM editorial: Covid-19: Navigating the Uncharted (Feb. 28)

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMe2002387?articleTools=true

I'll post this again, too, which is pure stats and facts, updated regularly: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Thanks Josh. It's chhilling to see all those nation-states in that Confirmed Cases & Deaths table, and among them one row dedicated to "Diamond Princess"

On a personal note, I just received an email from my 75-year old brother-in-law. He went to the ER for flu-like symptoms, including fever and dry cough, tested negative for flu, pneumonia and strep, and was sent home with a face mask and without a diagnosis. He also has a heart arrhythmia. I'm hoping for the best possible outcome here, but he's clearly at risk.

Another brother-in-law and sister-in-law (both in their mid-70s) report they are quite ill with "a whopper of a cold/flu". I don't think they've sought medical care at this point. All three of these live in the Portland metro area.

I suppose if there is a 'good' time to catch this virus, it would be when ICU beds are still not over-booked and supplies still available. The inability to test them for a positive diagnosis is very frustrating to all of us.

The inability to test them for a positive diagnosis is very frustrating to all of us.

American exceptionalism at work.

Governor Cuomo asks New Yorkers to avoid crowded trains, buses and workplaces

Expecting the work from home message from corporate sometime today

And obviously, thankful I have the dumb luck of being ‘white collar’ enough that we are being offered that option