|OT| Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) news & discussion - No, it's not just a flu

[texhnolyze]

There's a lack of coronavirus discussion here and I find it quite disturbing. It's time to stop ignoring the massive problem in front of us, let's educate ourselves and spread the awareness to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

WHO: It's officially a Pandemic.

Good afternoon.

In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled.

There are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives.

Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospitals.

In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher.

WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.

We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.

Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.

Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do.

We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus. This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus.

And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled, at the same time.

WHO has been in full response mode since we were notified of the first cases.

And we have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action.

We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear.

WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020

www.who.int

Frequently Asked Question

What is a coronavirus?
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recently discovered coronavirus causes coronavirus disease COVID-19.

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. Some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms and don't feel unwell. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment. Around 1 out of every 6 people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness. People with fever, cough and difficulty breathing should seek medical attention.

How does COVID-19 spread?
People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales. These droplets land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. People can also catch COVID-19 if they breathe in droplets from a person with COVID-19 who coughs out or exhales droplets. This is why it is important to stay more than 1 meter (3 feet) away from a person who is sick.

What can I do to protect myself and prevent the spread of disease?
Stay aware of the latest information on the COVID-19 outbreak, available on the WHO website and through your national and local public health authority. Many countries around the world have seen cases of COVID-19 and several have seen outbreaks. Authorities in China and some other countries have succeeded in slowing or stopping their outbreaks. However, the situation is unpredictable so check regularly for the latest news.

Useful infos:

• Symptoms
• Incubation Period
• Mortality Rate
• Age, Sex, and existing conditions of Deaths
• COVID-19 Testing Numbers by Country

Live updates:

Coronavirus Update (Live): 135,403,253 Cases and 2,931,116 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer

Live statistics and coronavirus news tracking the number of confirmed cases, recovered patients, tests, and death toll due to the COVID-19 coronavirus from Wuhan, China. Coronavirus counter with new cases, deaths, and number of tests per 1 Million population. Historical data and info. Daily...

www.worldometers.info

ArcGIS Dashboards

ArcGIS Dashboards

gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com

 

[ExistentialThought]

My wife has an volunteer who is being tested and we will not find out results until Friday. She has seen this person within the past week, so she herself has been exposed and I have obviously been exposed to my wife. To make matters worse, their group helps the elderly population.

The way the United States and so many of the companies operating within it have handled this has been a disaster in and of itself . There is zero reason I need to physically be in the office, though until they give the greenlight to work from home, I am not allowed to work from home despite having a company laptop for just such a scenario. I can only call out if I have symptoms, but by then how many folks would be infected? Oh but they are sanitizing the building tonight! Just tonight though, not like after tomorrow when folks start to come in they will not be touching their hands anywhere and everywhere. At least my wife's work is sanitizing daily throughout the day.

 

[708]

Things are bad here in Iran. To make matter worse, our government (as always), is lying and being incompetent. Who knows how many people will die...

 

[Acidote]

I work at a hotel and I'll be let go temporarily in the next couple of weeks. We've gone from a stellar year to a complete plummet starting next Sunday.

 

[curi0usBystander]

While most of us (at work) can work remotely I don't expect we'll be working remotely for the time being.

I'm still baffled by the government response to all this. On Sunday: It's all fine and encouraging people to go to demostrations, 24 hors later: making a 180º turn.

 

[Le Pertti]

Paris is pretty good at informing people. Hell they even have info in the elevator where I live.

I do hate though that people who clearly are sick still go to cinema and in busses and such. Sure it probably is a normal cold but even normally it sucks that people don't care more so now.

 

[Ge0force]

All our meetings are being cancelled here at work. I'm not too sad about it, because I've work enough to do here.

 

[texhnolyze]

March 11th was wild.

Coronavirus is officially pandemic
European countries closing schools and public gatherings
The US restricts travel from Europe
European Football league suspended
NBA season suspended
Famous people and athletes infected

 

[Le Pertti]

Yeah even I am now hesitant to go to the cinema. I go at least once a week and was thinking going today but decided to stay home.

 

[fantomena]

In Norway, grocery stores and other stores will be held open, but people need to take different sorts of precautions like staying at least 1 meter away from each other, all events are cancelled, schools, kindergardens, upper secondary school (ala college) and universities are closing today or tommorrow.

 

[Trisolarian]

Stay safe everyone.

Minor to major daily freakout about this. Woken up every morning being like "Oh yeah.... Fuck". Hands feels like sandpaper from cleaning so much. Stocked on food, still going to work and basically that's it. Trying to convince parents to take this seriously.

 

[curi0usBystander]

Looks like schools in my area are gonna be closed starting tomorrow, I expect that by the end of next week all schools in the country are gonna be closed

 

[Exzyleph]

I'm working from home for the next couple of weeks. Pants have been declared optional!

People have also stated stock-piling here, immediately after our government told people not to do that. It's dumb and will just result in shortages that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Thankfully I had gone shopping for basic necessities weeks ago, in preparation, though not in the kind of quantities that people are bringing home now.

Stay safe, everyone.

 

[Ge0force]

Looks like schools in my area are gonna be closed starting tomorrow, I expect that by the end of next week all schools in the country are gonna be closed

Schools are starting to close in some regions here as well. This is a problem for me, I can't take my daughter with me to work

 

[Ascheroth]

Schools are starting to close in some regions here as well. This is a problem for me, I can't take my daughter with me to work

My workplace hasn't said general homeoffice, but allows it if there are now children at home due to school closures and stuff like that.
(Though IT already got the directive to prepare everything for home-office for everyone just in case, so it might just be a matter of time).

 

[Acidote]

Looks like schools here will be closed country wide very soon. The national government has recommended the different regional governments to do it.

 

[Hektor]

All the toilet paper is sold out in my local Edeka lol

 

[Acidote]

Looks like schools here will be closed country wide very soon. The national government has recommended the different regional governments to do it.

Aaand it wa sjust announced all schools and public centers will be closed in my particular region starting Monday.

 

[Le Pertti]

Only thing I need to go out for is french classes but I can't imagine they will go on much longer.

 

[kio]

Over here (Portugal) things are also finally starting to close down. I wish this whole thing started sooner because I believe we're long past the point of stopping the mass propagation, even though the numbers don't quite show it yet.
At work ~60% were sent home to work remotely but of course I'm "indispensable" (their words) so I'm being left there to get sick and die. All hail the holy profit margin gods, have to appease the shareholders no matter what...

 

[LEANIJA]

The Guardian is pretty good at keeping up-to-date with development across Europe at least, and posted an overview of the measures here:

How do coronavirus containment measures vary across Europe?

Countries have announced a range of restrictions from public gatherings to flight bans to school closures. Information updated on 16 March at 11am GMT

www.theguardian.com

 

[Wok]

According to Reddit, the situation is getting out of control in some (previously) touristic parts of Thailand, which are now deserted due to COVID-19.

 

[Ge0force]

Belgium goes in lockdown as well. Schools, restaurants, pubs, non-essential stores... Everything closes for weeks. And we shouldn't bring our children to our parents. Let's hope I can work something out with my boss at work.

Edit: we were planning to go on a city trip this weekend, but all hotels are closed as well. Oh well...

 

[ZKenir]

 

[Hektor]

LOL

 

[Firewithin]

i for one welcome our isolation future. less human interaction the better

 

[texhnolyze]

Disneyworld finally closing. Took them long enough.

Walt Disney World Closing Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) Concerns

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

 

[Anteater]

Remember people were thinking companies were overreacting and we should be nice to those people who come up with conspiracy theories? Now the narrative is "not acting quick enough"? Yeah, fuck them.

Our city went through SARS before so the community have been reacting to it with extra precaution, although it might seem a little overboard it's a good thing to do, they were able to keep the number of cases low so it's effective, although they're slowly opening some of the more crowded places so we'll see if it'll spread again, I'm not too worried myself since I work from home, I'm more worried for my relatives that are mostly in their 50s and older, my parents are old.

 

[ExistentialThought]

Remember people were thinking companies were overreacting and we should be nice to those people who come up with conspiracy theories? Now the narrative is "not acting quick enough"? Yeah, fuck them.

Agreed!

I would also add I am so unbelievably frustrated by the number of folks I have heard at work say something to the effect of, "it has only killed X number of people, what's the big deal?" I just cannot believe how callous some folks are that the mere thought of trying to mitigate avoidable deaths has some sort of measure that until surpassed they are not concerned by the number of folks who have died or could die. I know folks who are specifically trying to NOT avoid places or holding gatherings because they think it is all overblown. Straight-up my wife was told by her work to keep it business as usual until someone is infected in the area (and they are still waiting on the test results from a potentially infected person, which means in the interim they could all be infecting others). Like holy toledo there are no adequate words...

 

[Ruvon]

France closing schools, from kindergarden to university from Monday.

Strange to hear our President re-discovering Welfare State and the importance of social protection after months trying to break it down because "socialism is bad and costs money".

In French

Mes chers compatriotes, il nous faudra demain tirer les leçons du moment que nous traversons, interroger le modèle de développement dans lequel s'est engagé notre monde depuis des décennies et qui dévoile ses failles au grand jour, interroger les faiblesses de nos démocraties.

Ce que révèle d'ores et déjà cette pandémie, c'est que la santé gratuite sans condition de revenu, de parcours ou de profession, notre Etat-providence ne sont pas des coûts ou des charges mais des biens précieux, des atouts indispensables quand le destin frappe. Ce que révèle cette pandémie, c'est qu'il est des biens et des services qui doivent être placés en dehors des lois du marché.

Déléguer notre alimentation, notre protection, notre capacité à soigner notre cadre de vie au fond à d'autres est une folie. Nous devons en reprendre le contrôle, construire plus encore que nous ne le faisons déjà une France, une Europe souveraine, une France et une Europe qui tiennent fermement leur destin en main. Les prochaines semaines et les prochains mois nécessiteront des décisions de rupture en ce sens. Je les assumerai.

Translation in English

My dear compatriots, tomorrow we will have to learn the lessons of the moment we are going through, question the development model to which our world has been committed for decades and which is revealing its flaws in broad daylight, and question the weaknesses of our democracies.

What this pandemic is already revealing is that free health care, regardless of income, background or profession, and our welfare state are not costs or burdens but precious goods, indispensable assets when fate strikes. What this pandemic reveals is that there are goods and services that must be placed outside the laws of the market.

Delegating our food, our protection, our ability to look after our living environment to others is madness. We must regain control of it, build even more than we already do a France, a sovereign Europe, a France and a Europe that firmly hold their destiny in their hands. The coming weeks and months will require decisions to break with this. I will take them.

That's a stunning surprise, coming from him.

 

[Wok]

Do not be that guy. Stock up!

Seriously, there are a few things which I wish I had bought before they were out of stock: hydro-alcoholic gel, masks, white vinegar (to clean the house), and cheese (some kind of cheese was out of stock). I am going to stock up on milk so that I can eat a bowl of cereals at home when I need it.

 

[Le Pertti]

Do not be that guy. Stock up!

Those who make toilet paper has to be happy at least!

 

[Ge0force]

I just went to the store as we had nothing fresh to eat (we were supposed to go on a city trip the next 4 days). No toilet paper left and huge amounts of people buying way too much food. People are worried...

 

[Acidote]

My boss just asked me to help the hotel IT manager set up remote work for as many people as we can (just a few since this is a hotel) until we temporarily close shop. So I'll probably start working from home as soon as next Tuesday, maybe even Monday.

 

[texhnolyze]

Those who make toilet paper has to be happy at least!

It's time to switch to bidets, people.

 

[Wok]

Germany, what is your secret to keep people alive?

Reference: Coronavirus Update (Live): 135,803 Cases and 4,990 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Outbreak - Worldometer

 

[lashman]

Germany, what is your secret to keep people alive?

 

[Ruvon]

So Belgium and North of France should be fine

 

[Acidote]

Germany, what is your secret to keep people alive?

Reference: Coronavirus Update (Live): 135,803 Cases and 4,990 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Outbreak - Worldometer

Forbidding the export of respiratory machinery to other (even EU) countries to begin with. Other countries, mostly Italy for now, are facing scarcity of those machines (and having to choose who gets to breathe and who doesn't). Germany is not.

 

[Wok]

Forbidding the export of respiratory machinery to other (even EU) countries to begin with. Other countries, mostly Italy for now, are facing scarcity of those machines (and having to choose who gets to breathe and who doesn't). Germany is not.

Interesting!

Moreover, it seems that Germany has more aggressive testing since January (so better diagnostics and early care)

https://www.thelocal.de/20200310/what-explains-the-low-coronavirus-death-rate-in-germany

 

[Acidote]

Also, we should expect a higher death rate in most of the EU compared to China (with the exception of the red zones in the Wuhan region, that's been a mess), because our average age is higher. We have a way higher percentage or elderly population.

 

[Hektor]

 

[fantomena]

ahahahaha

 

[Trisolarian]

Man, day 12 since I really started taking this seriously. Had a nightmare about it last night. Didn't sleep well, needless to say. Taking temp in the morning and night.

Its Friday though and I'm looking forward to the weekend of doing some indoor things and a traditional walk in a park or even a hike. Something to distress myself. Seeing the GF and my brother at some point so it'll be Vulcan greetings all around.

 

[Anteater]

Coronavirus live updates: Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro tests positive, local media report

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro 'tests positive for coronavirus'
The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has tested positive for coronavirus, according to local media.

 

[sprinkles]

Ok I am starting to panic a bit. My company finally allows Home Office starting Monday, the problem is: IT has not been prepared and we have too few Notebooks. Trainee in my office (sitting 3 m from me) just got sent home because a friend he visited this week tested positive today. We are living with my old (in her 80's) mother, so I am freaked out now. Debating sending her to her nieces until we get word if the Trainee got it as well.

 

[Acidote]

Shit's hitting the fan in Spain. State of Alarm declared for at least the next two weeks.

 

[texhnolyze]

My company is finally going to enforce work from home in an emergency meeting next Monday. We'll have small meetings every now and then if needed.

It's probably going to be the last day we'll be together for a while.

 

[curi0usBystander]

Shit's hitting the fan in Spain. State of Alarm declared for at least the next two weeks.

I'd have been nice if something had been done before but here we are.

And my boss just send me a message to work remotely next week.

 

[Acidote]

Yeah, I start working remotely on Monday too.