Comments

4

@2 is correct.

If you're not 60 or older, stop panicking, even if you have kids or babies - it is a very very very low risk factor. On the other hand, for those over 60 it is a risk. For 70-79 it's around 7.6% death rate, for 80+ it's 15.9% death rate.

So - WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WATER and sing the birthday song in your head, scrubbing between fingers, do the back of the hands, use a nice scrub brush to get under your fingernails. This is literally the most effective thing you can do.

Masks won't protect you - those are needed by medical personnel in areas that actually have people with illnesses. Surgical gloves are a waste of time, normal gloves are good(dress/spring/winter all are good), if you end up touching your face, use the back of the glove.

Dispose of tissues immeadiately (bathroom waste is fine). Most of the wipes won't really help that much, unless you can't get soap and water.

5

You can also make your own disinfectant with household bleach 1part bleach to ten parts water per the CDC.
@4 yes to washing hands, it absolutely is the most effective thing to do but doing it correctly is not normal for most people. Regular gloves are also effective but you need to wash them when you get home, hence the effectiveness of disposable gloves, which also need to be worn and removed correctly.

6

@5 there are videos on this thing called the Internet. you may have heard of it.

Some of them are quite funny. I like the ones in Finnish.

7

We have a moron in our office who is offering everyone latex gloves, which I've read are worse than going bare-handed. But I wouldn't mind if she didn't work here anymore, so I'm not saying anything.

8

Hand washing is a great suggestion, but in public settings, there are very limited number of hand washing sinks available. Even in my office, there are 4 sinks for the women and 4 sinks for the men for the entire floor and we have hundreds of people go through here all the time. The women want more toilets. Hahaha. That demand went no where.

It’s the usual MO, put out great public health recommendation, but lack the means to make following such recommendation possible. There are office mates here now who are working while sick and they’ll get on the bus sick. There’s too much pressure to be at work, to pay bills and not enough paid sick leave.

10

We can't afford Medicare for all
but we can afford to let the Citizenry
go to work fucking Sick? And infect the rest?!

Shit hole countries are the
ones that Cheat their Citizenry
at the Pleasure of the very very Few.

Time to change the World, America.

11

Everyone remember how the killing of Qassem Soleimani started a war with Iran?

That and other predictions from serial poster Pistofarian.

12

Gee. What could Trump do to mitigate the NOVID19?

How about not overturn the ACA or kick almost 30 million people off their healthcare?

How about use one of them executive orders to pass mandatory paid sick leave (being one of the only wealthy OEDC nations with out it). That way people don’t go to work sick.

Executive order to monitor and punish price gouging.

Executive order to protect jobs/create a fund for people who have to stay home and take care of kids when schools get cancelled.

Distribute free respirator masks at major airports and train/bus stations.

Make NOVID19 testing kits free.

Stockpile and start paying companies to triple production of ventilators and stored oxygen (also prevent price gouging of same).

Immediately begin building temporary ICU facilities in every major city. The US only has 100,000 ICU beds in the entire nation. Most occupied.

But of course he’d have to appoint someone in charge with a medical science background to lead these efforts. Instead of a young earth creationist.

13

Everyone remember how Trump and the trolls demand we close all the nations borders after one case of US Ebola?

14

We’re doomed.

15

@11 -- 'Everyone (anyone?) remember when trumpfy
tried to bring the Terrorism Home?'
--@mybestestFAN

I do.

17

more security/healthcare theater. this is uncontained and already sweeping the world. there isn't anything to be done at this point. i've seen pandemic specialists estimating between 40 to 80% of the world population is going to get coronavirus. most won't even notice it. here and there in the rare instances where it can be tested for, it will be found, and people will freak out and we will have another instance of security/healthcare theater.

18

@16 Cowbell!

The ladies of Slog sure are in a tither.

19

@14: Perhaps, but I have faith that polite society will survive.

20

Trump’s ignorance was on public display during coronavirus meeting with pharmaceutical execs. The president is pushing to get a Covid-19 vaccine before the election. It doesn’t work like that.

Trump on it taking up to a year to develop a coronavirus vaccine: "I mean, I like the sound of a couple months better, if I must be honest."

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/3/21162772/trump-coronavirus-meeting-pharmaceutical-executives-white-house-covid-19

Trump's stupidity is mind boggling.

21

@19

An armed society is a polite society.

23

I'm reading advice that it might be good to not shake hands, which should not be taken as rude like in business meetings. Also AA participants shouldn't hold hands for the serenity prayer.

Sad, as touch is so vital for the human condition.

24

@21 I dunno, a lot of people seem to think suicide is rather rude.

25

Trump's stupidity IS mind boggling, xina.

Yeah, but he hated the same human beings his most base* hated so they all get to "own" the libs, tear down the hated Gov't and put the coloreds, womenfolk, homos, Libs, commies and socialists under lock and key (coming soon!) in their never ever-ending Quest to MAGAt the fuck outta America.

*an YUGE part of the 'bottom' 90%
yet vote for top-down Billionaire and Corp Rule
EVERY Single Time.

And then, blame the Libs.
Fool Circle.

26

Damn, after reading this thread I had no idea that the coronavirus has already assumed direct control of all the world's resources, and that I am already dead.

Wash your hands, don't hang out in hospitals and don't be old. You will be fine.

27

"Wash your hands, don't hang out in hospitals and don't be old. You will be fine." --Teddy. Probably.

And, when you do get sick, if you're part of the 87,000,000 un- and underinsured (in thee wealthiest country, on this planet), you shouldda picked a more humane country (or a different planet, maybe?) to be born in (on).

Fool.

28

@27: You are already dead.

29

@26

I guess you don't have to worry about losing friends if you don't have any?

The rest of us, unfortunately, will lose someone close to us, or have someone close to us lose someone they love, if the disease becomes endemic before a vaccine can be produced in sufficient quantity.

But yeah, if it's all about you, no problem. You are a rock, you are an island.

30

@26 "Don't be old." I'm sure that will comfort my 71 year old mother and my 84 year old neighbor.

And the cases here in Oregon are related to a school and since children get a mild version and they touch everyone and everything and rarely wash their hands properly, they are super carriers and transmitters. That one school employee went home and infected the person who lives with them. How many other people will get it from their children and pass it along to others? The incubation period is 2 weeks, with outliers at nearly one month. Let's see what a smart ass you are being in those time frames.

31

Another case in Oregon, contracted after the man went to an event at a middle school.

https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/third-presumptive-oregon-coronavirus-case-announced.html

33

@32 Warm and tingly, of course, is one of the early symptoms.

34

Oh yes xina the balloon has most certainly already popped, sound just hasn't traveled to our ears yet!

35

@30 The reason kids are effective disease vectors isn't because they're filthy, repulsive little creatures (there's no shortage of adults with imperfect hygiene, you know) but because we send them off every day to spend hours and hours in close contact with hundreds of other people who all return to their separate homes in the evening.

It's the schools, not the children.

36

@32 The latest case is in Georgia. Might want to keep your gloating to yourself. Oh and learn how to spell. Oh and Mike Pence was exposed when he shook hands with 44 cadets whose classmate has the virus. So Trump might also be exposed and he's a prime candidate for death given his age and ill health. Be careful who laugh at, you could be next.

37

@35 Oh, we do have pretty tough immune systems. They only look weak when you compare them to those of people who routinely fuck livestock.

38

@29: Have some grains of salt. I find Theordore's dark snark a welcome change of pace from the hysterical concern trolls.

39

@35 We do the same with adults who have full time office jobs or full time jobs where they interact with the public. Children are "better" disease vectors in general, for the aforementioned reasons.

40

@38 That was kinda for Will, too, and others. Poor Teddy was just the closest target.

41

Wait why are there two comments @35. My response above was for robotslave.

43

@41: A bug. Always happen when two comments come in at the same time. Absolutely no reason a bit of code couldn't queue them up to assign proper comment numbering.

46

@39 You are vastly overestimating the number of people in an average office, vs. an average school. It's an order of magnitude difference. Most American workplaces have 40 people or fewer working in them.

And the contact is closer in schools, too, unless you're sharing craft materials in your office, and sitting twelve to a table at lunch, and your boss comes around to each of you a couple times every hour to see how you're doing, and you play Red Rover during your office recess.

It's the schools, not the kids.

47

New case in North Carolina related to WA cases; woman got on a plane and flew to NC. HOW THE FUCK DID THIS PERSON WHO WAS AT THE FACILITY WITH THE OUTBREAK GET ON A MOTHERFUCKING PLANE? God people are beyond stupid.

@46 split the difference?

And if this is true, Seattle needs to get a grip on things NOW.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/03/washington-state-risks-seeing-explosion-in-coronavirus-without-dramatic-action-new-analysis-says/

49

@28 -- I got better.

Et tu, teddy?

50

Jesus Christ. The dipshit trolls here just can’t be consistent. During Ebola they were shooting themselves in a panic. Now on the brink of recession, it’s “don’t panic, only old people will die.”

The point is, regardless of fatalities, what a pandemic will — is — doing to the world economy.

Go ahead. Try to order rice or beans on Amazon right now. Go on. Look. It’s sold out. That’s not just panic buying. That’s not just hoarding. That’s SPECULATION. Our mighty market. People are buying it out and then planning on re-listing it on Market Place for five to ten X as much. And we only have a few hundred coronavirus cases.

What do you trolling dumbfucks think is going to happen under Trump is this get worse? You honestly think your draft dodging game show host is going to help you?

And the fact that the US’s overburdened, most expensive, on the brink, private healthcare system can’t hardly handle even mild flu epidemics.

The NoVID-19 test costs $700 - $3000 WITH insurance. That is going to go up. A week stay at a US ICU averages anywhere between $5000-$20,000.

You think your shitty insurance is going to honor claims if there are tens of thousands of them all at once?

Wake up you stupid piles of shit. Quit trolling here and wake up.

51

@47 Seattle, King County, Snohomish, the school districts, etc etc... Every single institution or governing body involved is currently taking the approach of "No need to close that barn door, most of the horses are still inside."

Sounds like the NC case was exposed at Life Care Center before anyone there tested positive for the virus. That 14-day incubation period is bear.

And keep in mind that even where we've begun to test more people, we only have the rRT-PCR test for the presence of the active virus. We still don't have serology tests for antibodies. In other words, we can test people who are currently infected, but we have no test for people who we suspect had the virus and recovered, or fought it off without symptoms. This makes it a lot harder to track the spread and monitor potentially exposed people than it would be for, e.g., a flu virus.

52

50

gawd; we can smell the stale stench of your panic all the way out in The Heartland.

We don't expect The President to save us, dear fellow.

We bought our beans and rice and ammo years ago.

And those of our loved ones who might succumb are going to a better place.
As we all will in due time.,
Where will you and your's go?
Just curious.

Our President has appointed Judges who will keep your greasy mitts off our weaponry and that is plenty enough, thank you.

53

@not likely

54

@52 In a plague, nobody's gonna be storming your bunker. You don't even have to put up a "quarantine" sign-- if the door's closed, ain't nobody gonna want in.

The only thing those guns are gonna give you is the option to spare yourself some suffering down the line, once the cough starts.

56

@52 hahahaha.

Well. Comedy is always appreciated.

57

He’s a gonna shoot them viruses! Pew! Bang!

Hahahaha.

Oh. God. There is a silver lining after all.

59

@55 Which is it, little buddy? Is it "plagues don't last forever," or has the guns-n-bunkers bedwetter rapture finally arrived?

61

@60 It's considered poor sport to try stealing a joke, especially when you were the butt of it like just five minutes ago.

Sounds to me like you can't quite bring yourself to really believe the S is going to HTF, and you're feeling a little blue about it. Cheer up, old friend. For bedwetters like you the thrill is always in the anticipation, never in the event. Over and over again the most terrible disasters don't quite manage to topple modern liberal civilization, or even dent it really. It kind of works a lot like capitalism does for the radical left that way, you know?

Don't worry, you'll find a new disaster fantasy to polish your gun over, once this one has run its course and done its damage to everything except what you were hoping for.

62

@14 That's exactly what I was thinking after reading about Trump's meeting with Big Pharma CEOs in the Post this morning. Almost saw my life flashing in front of my eyes. The man is dumber than a sack of hair!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/03/trumps-baffling-coronavirus-vaccine-event

Meanwhile, the Senate is spending their time and effort on investing Biden and Burisma!

There's a really sad story in the Seattle Times about Chinese restaurants in Seattle really suffering, because bigots think only Asians can carry this virus or something. I went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant yesterday and there was only another diner there, they had three of their employees not come in because of the reduced business. How are these poor people going to pay rent? Humans are the suck!

63

If this virus hits the At-will employment states, and those states that refused to expand Medicaid or increase minimum wage, HOW are Trump peeps going to get infected people to stay home from work and self quarantine for 14 days?

64

@63,

Thoughts and prayers?

65

@46, Amazon shouldn't worry then, right? After all they can't possibly have as many people crammed into their offices as any local school. https://www.geekwire.com/2020/amazon-employee-seattle-tests-positive-coronavirus/

66

@kristofarian, Catalina Vel-DuRay, xina, German Sausage, ProfessorHistory, iseult, Pridge Wessea, Will in Seattle, and others--thank you and bless you all for so beautifully beating me to it. I can't think of anything more to add.

67

But but but -- it Can't affect Amazon!?

Without our Amazon, WHAT ever will we D:O?
Siri?

68

Da nada, and stay Healthy, @ auntie Gee!

69

@68 kristofarian: You and everyone stay healthy, and keep kicking serious ass, kris!

70

@52 & @54: B-but! You can't eat ammo! Oh, that's right...maybe you ARE desperate....
@57: Professor History for the WIN! LOL At least @52 and his / her fellow gun worshippers will go out with a bang and not a whimper.

72

@troll -- Office Space
= petri dish. telecommute
Baby. or Bust

73

This might be a Good
time to quit smoking.
Again.

74

@65 Sigh. I wrote "average office vs. average school," xina, and you damn well know it, too. My point stands.

75

A former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention hypothesizes that children, who are rarely being diagnosed with the illness -- perhaps because they don't exhibit as intense symptoms as adults -- may be the secret carriers of the disease.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/03/03/kids-may-be-the-hidden-carriers-of-covid-19.aspx

76

The number of diagnosed coronavirus cases in children may be an underestimate — in case studies from China, children seemed less likely to develop severe disease, Live Science previously reported. Thus, it's possible that many children could be infected and passing the disease along, without showing many, or any, symptoms.

It's likely that at least some school closures will occur. If we later learn that children are not the primary vectors for disease, that strategy may change, Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, previously told Live Science. Either way, you should prepare for the possibility of school closures and figure out backup care if needed.

https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-myths.html

77

It is kind of funny how it is always the same three or four people on here panicking about literally everything that happens, pretending the world is ending.

78

Theodore dear, you have to admit that the entire town has gone a bit bonkers. I did not market this last weekend, so you can imagine my shock and surprise when I went into the Shoreline Fred Meyer on Monday night to find out that the screaming mimi's had stripped it of toilet paper, paper towels, many of the canned goods, bleach, hand sanitizer, and bottled water.

79

Those few who have bathrooms with bidets are having a good laugh.

80

I bet. Nothing like a little
black plague / Pandemic
to really bring out the 'humor.'

81

Is Pence bring thousands of 2019-nCvD tests with him?

Because BC cranked out that many in a week.

Maybe he should do that, instead of being AN ACTIVE CARRIER ...

82

And @40, I'm just a realist. Seriously though, wash your hands with soap and water and stop panicking, it won't help you. Masks won't protect you. If you're freaking out, just a pair of street gloves - wool or cloth, take them off when you get to work or home - will help a lot. Especially if it gets you to stop touching your face (which you will still do, but maybe you'll use the back of your gloved hand).

83

Thank god our president and his family have placed the blame squarely on Mexicans and Democrats, that should clear this mess up quick-fast-in-a-hurry.
I see some of you fuckers have been slacking off on the prayers, we're going to need those too if we want to solve this problem.

84

Hey mods, can you get rid of the troll at all? Ban the IP or something?

85

@82 Unless you're washing your gloves at least as often as you wash your hands, or carrying around a few dozen pairs of single-use gloves (and you know what constitutes a single use and how dispose of them safely) then your gloves are just a nice safe nest for any pathogens your hands encounter in the course of your day.

If you're a realist, then you're a realist with no friends or loved ones. The realists who do have a normal number of people to care about -- young and old, fit and frail -- are worried. They're worried because for them, the realistic calculation can not be solely about themselves, and their own individual odds of surviving if the disease becomes endemic before a vaccine is widely available.

87

@84 Just report anything abusive using the "Report this" link on the comment. The form has a space where you can add some extra description of the problem or suggest remedies, if the spirit moves you.

The 404 troll, or "Feebles," as he likes to be called, is already reported regularly, of course. A comment or two of his are deleted every day, too. But the taller the stack of complaints gets, the more likely someone might get around to doing something about the underlying problem.

88

Oh to be a fly on the wall when Pence and Jay Inslee meet. I hope Jay has the fortitude to frankly speak his mind.

89

@88
Pence - "Just pray the gay away."
Inslee - "I'm straight, dammit!"

90

Let's gather as many positive coronavirus carriers as possible in that meeting with Pence!

91

@85 stop using surgical gloves. stop freaking out. you're not helping by panicking.

use soap and water. there is a reason you keep hearing that.

no, you won't get a vaccine before next year.

it's just a cold that has a higher lethality for old people. use common sense. fear never helps.

93

@91: robotslave doesn't sound like someone who's panicking. Those are the folks buying up the toilet paper.

95

@93 You know, now that I've had another look at it, this coping mechanism where one puts up a dense psychological barrier that protects one from even entertaining the idea that the disease might harm one's family and friends and co-workers and acquaintances, and not just oneself -- well, that sounds...

...kind of panicky tbh.

96

"Italy is shutting down its schools for two weeks, as the government works to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak that has hit the European country particularly hard.

Officials said the new coronavirus has infected more than 3,000 people and killed at least 107 in the country as of Tuesday. As a result, all schools, universities, and day cares will be shut starting Thursday and will remain closed until at least March 15.

'It is a prudent decision to contain the virus because we have a health-care system at risk of being overloaded,' Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a statement Wednesday."

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/4/21164938/coronavirus-italy-schools-closed

97

Imagine if there was this much hysteria and panic around the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused in this country every year for completely avoidable causes like those around drug use and obesity/sedentary lifestyles.

People will buy boxes of face masks, clear all the Purel out of stores, but refuse to stop smoking or eating garbage like a beast of the fields, or get up and walk around the block every other day.

People are strange, but I guess that is what makes them so wonderfully fascinating.

99

If this pandemic was centered in the swing states (as opposed to west coast states) you bet there would be a more vigorous response from the Executive branch.

100

Donald Trump calls it the Corona Flu and calls death rates fake numbers.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/5/1924525/-Trump-calls-Sean-Hannity-to-downplay-COVID-19-as-corona-flu-and-call-the-death-rate-fake-numbers#read-more

The ONLY way he will care about this and stop spewing lies if he gets it.

102

@100 -- I've always called it the trump-Swine Flu
but, if he catches it, all the King's horses, etc.

To get better, trumpfy's gonna
require a head (body] transplant
all's he needs is a proper 'donor.'

103

What happened to ProfessorHistory? He’s up and vanished like a fart in the wind from Slog, gone 404, after demanding summary executions during one of his many viral panic attacks (pun intended).

104

@log lost manhood -- You got him tossed?
Whoa. We got us an Expert here.
WELL Played.
I tip my hat.

105

12 dead in the US. (1 in Cali).
100,000+ ~confirmed~ cases globally.
With possibly 200,000 more "asymptomatic" infected people globally.
Total estimate at 300,000 infected, globally.
Things move fast.

"If you are healthy, go eat in [restaurants] and support local businesses."
FUCK NO. Primary transmission is via "large droplets" and "contact" -- either direct contact between people, or via surfaces (e.g. cutlery, door knobs, etc.), then touching your face. You can also get it intestinally (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea). Eat up. Yum yum.

I've watched restaurant workers and their casual approach to contact hygiene. I've seen them touch money and then my food with the same "gloved" hands.

YOU go risk infection & speed up transmission by eating at a restaurant.
Report back in 5-24 days (incubation period) please.

@91 - "just a cold" with an excessively high transmissability rate: Ro = 2.5-2.9 ...Maybe more, we still don't know. SARS was Ro = 3.
Oh, wait, this IS SARS 2.0. Literally: SARS-CoV-2. With an molecular binding technique similar to HIV & Ebola, making it very virulent. "just one drop..."

But yes, frequent hand washing, and not-touching-your-face, (as well as frequent surface disinfecting) is the best approach, apparently.

106

Actually, the UW will suspend in person classes starting Monday. Everyone's going to be remote viewing.

No word on the other universities and colleges.

107

The situation calls for ACTION. I'm declaring an official PANICADEMIC.

109

It's not like increasing infection numbers indicate the real time march and conquest of COVID-19, we're just unveiling the data of infections that already exist.

But still...

110

Sure your mom might die this week but we all owe the president a big 'Thank you' for being able to wish everyone at the funeral a 'Merry Christmas'.

112

@111
The Supreme Leader is doing his best -
after all, didn't he say that the virus would die off by April?
Oh, and it's any further mention.

113

Actually, Trump is being kinder to Inslee than he is to the Americans on the cruise ship in CA. The NYT reports that he said he would prefer that they are not allowed to come onto American soil, because he doesn't want the total number of infected people in the U.S. to increase! I guess they can just float around on the ship until they all die then - a small price to pay so Trump doesn't look bad!

And they don't even get cake!

114

I wonder if Trump's supporters will change their minds as the virus spreads. Just the other day they were gleefully pointing out that only blue states were affected (can't fix stupid, the coasts are the entry points, idiots).

When they look at this map do they still cheer with glee? Will they continue to cheer with glee when they realize Trump will do nothing to save them? Or will they, like Jim Jones' followers, not change their minds about him until they feel the fear that comes when they realize they are dying? Even Jim Jones had to shoot some of his believers in the head to get them to comply.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

115

"Microsoft announced that it will continue to pay its hourly workers (cafe workers, shuttle drivers, etc.) normal wages even if their hours are impacted by a telecommuting workforce.

Amazon followed suit and announced it will do the same, adding that it will subsidize a month of rent for small businesses operating inside Amazon's buildings."

Our Billionaires can be Good Billionaires.
Excellent. Well Done.

117

@116 -- "... who could have believe Dr Wonder herbal herbs cured me from my herpes virus... "

Well, not me.
Gotta wonder about 'doktor' Wondor
Gonna need a little Proof, I'm afraid....

Hmmm ... Have you before and after pix?

And, since we're on the Subject, how's 'doktor' Wonder with the dreaded Corona Virus? Has he got a Miracle Cure™ for that? We're in Dire need here, and could really use Wonder's Expertise. Thanking you already.

118

Reverend Jim Bakker has a cure for Corona, but Big Pharma is keeping him down. https://www.kiro7.com/news/trending/ny-ag-orders-televangelist-jim-bakker-stop-advertising-unproven-coronavirus-cure/RYLWOPVRXVAAVFT2J4MOCEBOEI/

119

@118 -- Heaven?

120

Seattle Colleges are going to online instruction on Tuesday.

121

Xina dear, I have two very dumb brothers-in-law, and both of them voted for trump. Both of them now despise him. That’s just anecdotal, of course, but I find it very interesting. They haven’t changed any of their generally retrograde policies, they just have turned on trump.

123

@121: More than anecdotal, that defines a subset. Those in 2016 who wanted to take a gamble on Trump and thought he would "pivot" to being a professional president. They're totally exhausted now, and want a change.

126

Fly, pelican! Fly! Come onnnnnn, pelican!


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