outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

I've been wondering if there's at least some small amount of protection for people in the socially regressive EU states by lieu of them being EU members? Obviously not everyone has the financial or social resources to flee, but...

xxp agree entirely

Impressed by the Czech response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhNo_IOPOtU

yeah, the US and other countries completely messed up communicating about masks.

'They're totally useless, also don't hoard them because healthcare providers will die without them.'

I think the message that they were useless was meant as a deterrent to buying them when medical staff were facing shortages but it doesn’t exactly engender trust.

Yeah, the initial (ongoing?) recommendation I thought was to leave the masks for the front line professionals, who need them more. Obviously if everyone wore masks that would help slow things down, but even then, only if you care, clean and replace the masks, which I doubt many people are doing. Staying home, washing hands and not touching your face remain the most effective ways to prevent getting sick, afaict.

the main message I got was "don't hoard them if you aren't sick, they're more important for keeping other people from catching what you have"

Not everyone needs a N95 just now. I'd feel a lot more comfortable my next grocery trip if everyone at least had a bandana (perhaps with some paper towel plies tossed in).

homemade face masks are better than nothing if you must go out.

this has been a really frustrating aspect of this to me, independent of preserving supply for health care workers, "experts" (and ppl itt!) recommending *not* wearing masks because "they don't really help" or "they make you touch your face more"

it has seemed like common sense from the outset that everybody keeping their mouths covered is the most immediate preventive measure

as a deterrent to buying them when medical staff were facing shortages

here in the US, those shortages are still a big problem with no surge in supply in sight

I pull my scarf over my mouth when I go into the grocery store or post office. Agree, it seems like basic common sense.

which is why it would help if all people wore even home made masks in public to help healthcare workers who don't have proper PPE.

I just hold my breath.

I just don't make eye contact with anyone

how's your arm?

Doctors in China are reporting cured patients who test positive again for the novel coronavirus days or weeks later but said they probably aren’t contagious if they remain asymptomatic.
These cases probably were false negatives earlier due to China’s patchy quality of nucleic acid testing, Tong Zhaohui, a Beijing-based infectious-disease expert, said in an online Q&A on Monday.

“My opinion is these patients likely were positive all along,” he said. “It’s just that the test came out negative. For instance, problems with the test kit, sampling or transportation could all result in negative results in a patient’s last two nucleic acid tests before discharge.”

There still isn’t comprehensive data for these “recurrent” cases in China. But in isolated studies in Wuhan, which was the epicenter of the virus outbreak, 5 percent to 10 percent of recovered patients tested positive again, with none of them found to be infectious, the state-run Life Times said last week.

Re: Orbam just catastrophic failure from the EU.

At the risk of irritating litigators:

22 Jun 2006: Six Respirator Manufacturers Warn President of Shortage of Masks

Costs of defending litigation, aside from settlements or verdicts, amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, currently, 90 to 94 percent of profits are being consumed to maintain litigation efforts.

Already, one major manufacturer has announced that it will no longer produce N-95 respirators for the industrial market. Another is seriously considering withdrawing from the market.

If I’m going into confined public space, scarf over nose and mouth, plastic/latex gloves.

I’ve noticed a lot of gloves-as-litter too.

lol grebt

yeah, I've been seeing empty shopping carts strewn with used gloves and disinfecting wipes. people so focused on self-preservation that it probably doesn't even occur to them that they might be posing an extra risk to fellow shoppers/workers/the environment

so many discarded gloves and masks on the sidewalks in brooklyn

worldometers.info's data sources are mixed local govt sources/media reporting (as well as binned in to GMT zone) so I would take all their data with a massive grain of salt.

that choir practice in WA where they didn't touch, hands were sanitized, they were spaced out and still 45 out of 60 now have covid...I mean, protect your face.

xp: (re: weekend dips in tallies which I noticed last Monday)

On a slightly unrelated note, I still have no idea what Sweden's game plan is.

*lagom plan

no idea what Sweden's game plan is.

World economic domination. For maybe a couple of weeks.

Carpe covidiem.

Speaking of, uh, Sweden, where did Fred go?

He tends to duck out for a while when he's had an especially major stint of annoying people.

California seems to be heading in the right direction...

One of the approx 1000 articles I've read very recently, like maybe this morning? said that there was decreasing evidence that ppl are getting covid from touching things, and more evidence that it's passed by inhalation. That would completely support that choir practice awfulness because people would be breathing deeply, frequently, in concert even though they weren't touching. It's horrible. Masks.

so where is everybody getting masks? I too heeded the advice that they were not necessary for the public / needed by health workers, so now I don't have one and can't think of a way to get one without going somewhere I wouldn't otherwise go

Well, I hope he’s ok - he posted itt about a member of his choir dying of covid a few days ago xps

I know most of us already do, but I feel like we all need one or more ILX buddies who can check in on us outside of the usual board parameters. Whatever the reason, radio silence at this particular time is disquieting.

old lunch go to the slack it is good

poxyfule.slack.com

clemenza (and others looking at global figures) i'd recommend you read this:

We are looking at national statistics – infections, tests, fatalities, hospitalizations. But these are likely illusory. There really is no national outbreak. There’s a big New York outbreak which still dominates the national statistics and will have its own discrete dynamics. It seems very likely you will have a series of other regional and metropolitan area outbreaks unfolding across the country in the coming weeks. So the national numbers will be misleading. In epidemiological terms the US is more like Europe as a whole, rather than any individual country, especially when states are playing such an outsized role combating the disease because of a significantly distracted federal response.

pretty much all of that applies to the world at large, to an even greater degree

like, when india's cases start ramping up, they're going to become the dominant force (unless it makes a comeback in china first, or things get worse in indonesia)

so where is everybody getting masks? I too heeded the advice that they were not necessary for the public / needed by health workers, so now I don't have one and can't think of a way to get one without going somewhere I wouldn't otherwise go

Ditto. Also I keep getting given scarves and gloves for Christmas and I hate wearing scarves and gloves so I got rid of all of them, bah!

It is also too warm for scarves and gloves, double bah

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LD7Iw_oXnxo

m bison, do I need an invite to slack?

i dont think so, you just sign up w your preferred name and email

A lot of people are making facemasks to distribute. This has several different tutorials. https://getusppe.org/makers/face-masks/

I know people are good about keeping their own space but you can't control other people and they are definitely getting too close and disregarding you. It was impossible in the grocery store to not brush against people even.

The number of new cases in Italy is continuing to fall.
- Thursday: 6,153 new
- Friday: 5,959 new
- Saturday: 5,974 new
- Sunday: 5,217 new
- Monday: 4,050 new https://t.co/MPHgZBc8gH

— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) March 30, 2020

awful numbers in absolute terms still but plausibly a trendline

Fingers crossed…