Novel Coronavirus COVID-19

[vla1120]

Ugh. I've spent ALL day working on our school's response to this, including an online survey to determine which households do not have internet and/or devices for their kids to work online. When we started talking about this a few days ago, we thought any steps forward were going to be at least a couple weeks down the road. Now, I have to have all these things done by Monday!

IF school closes, all these parents then have to find care for their kids, OR stay home with them, some with no pay. On top of that, I'm hearing that grocery store shelves are emptying as I type this, so I'm told I better get to the store ASAP. Ugh. What a cluster f.......

 

[RecentChange]

Where are located that the grocery stores are getting cleared out @vla1120?

We have a number of cases in my area (I would guess we have the most outside of Washington) and grocery stores are stocked like normal.

Are people concerned that there will be some sort of shelter in place lock down?

I feel like because I do not watch cable news that I am really missing what is causing the hysteria. 

[d0nnivain]

I just booked a $300 per night hotel in NYC for $49.  The travel business is really hit hard because of this virus.  

[RecentChange]

3 minutes ago, d0nnivain said:

I just booked a $300 per night hotel in NYC for $49.  The travel business is really hit hard because of this virus.  

Dang.... Good idea, with all of these conference cancellations, the Mr and I can probably get a top notch hotel for cheap. We love doing staycations in San Francisco and Oakland (although we just did one over Valentine's holiday).

I am not eager to go to an airport right now, but I would stay at a hotel. 

[d0nnivain]

I did buy the trip insurance for our little jaunt . .  just in case.  Enjoy your staycation RecentChange 

[Redhead14]

2 hours ago, RecentChange said:

Where are located that the grocery stores are getting cleared out @vla1120?

We have a number of cases in my area (I would guess we have the most outside of Washington) and grocery stores are stocked like normal.

Are people concerned that there will be some sort of shelter in place lock down?

I feel like because I do not watch cable news that I am really missing what is causing the hysteria. 

if someone is diagnosed with it, they will be sent home and will be required to remain in quarantine there for up to 14 days.  If they only have a mild case of it, they will be stuck at home.  There is a possibility, depending on whether there is a high enough concentration of people infected, etc., a community or town could be "locked down".  I don't think that's a real possibility right now, but later, maybe.  Who knows?  Let's hope for the best and prepare for the not so good.  We don't have to panic or hoard.  Just get what you may need for a couple of weeks or so and hold on to it if you can.    

[RecentChange]

3 minutes ago, Redhead14 said:

if someone is diagnosed with it, they will be sent home and will be required to remain in quarantine there for up to 14 days.  If they only have a mild case of it, they will be stuck at home.  

Gotcha, I am still not running out to the grocery store to stock up. I have my earthquake kit, and s**** would really have to hit the fan for all of the many grocery delivery services in my area to shut down (and for friends and family not to be able to drop something off at my doorstep). Besides, my kitchen is small and I don't regularly consume quantities of non perishable foods - I feel like it would be a waste to buy food and prepare for something that has such a low possibility of happening.

Of course it's just me and my husband, if I had a bunch of kids to worry about perhaps I would feel differently. 

[Ruby Slippers]

Lots of online guides are showing how to make your own hand sanitizer from aloe vera gel and rubbing alcohol. My mom checked her closest grocery store and they were sold out of both. 

She offered to get me some cheap food staples she saw, dry goods that will keep forever, and I said go for it, never hurts.

My mom is the queen of both bargain shopping and backstocking staples. I told my boyfriend that if we need anything we can't find, I'm sure she has it hidden away somewhere. 

[basil67]

Recommendations here are that hand sanitizer is not as good as a thorough wash with soap and water.   Sanitizer is however good to have if you're out and about and don't have access to soap.   

[LivingWaterPlease]

Have been responding to posts by a naturopath who lives in Canada on a FB thread of my nephews. She says six people in her family have it.  Two, an adult and a child, are over it. She's still fighting it. And her 71 year-old mother is almost over it, From the way she posted it seems the mom has just gotten over it. She posted that her mom's symptoms were the mildest of any of theirs. 

She said it hasn't been all it's cracked up to be but they aren't fooling around with it, in that they are doing natural things to boost their immune systems.

I read an article about a newborn who had it, is over it,  and hardly had any symptoms, too. Sounds to me as if it's pretty unpredictable.

When I was in my fifties a friend of mine, same age, got the regular flu. She's a tough cookie but had to be hospitalized with it for a week. Told me she thinks she'd have died had she not. Her bf wouldn't visit her in the hospital so I went to visit her as she was moping around that no one cared enough about her to visit. 

Well, I got it. That was before I knew as much about natural treatments as I do now. But, I did treat it with echinacea for a week at home by myself. It was awful, I was miserable, but I don't think I was anywhere near death.   

I now know about more natural treatments for viruses and I'm not concerned about death from Coronavirus but I don't want to get it just as I don't want to get the regular flu, which I haven't had since that awful time so long ago. I also don't want to get a cold and have some natural products here to keep me healthy. 

Editing to add, if I go to the grocery store and don't wipe down the cart handle I'll usually get cold symptoms so I'm used to washing hands, being careful what I touch, etc. I have disinfectant wipes in my car and also hand sanitizer. As soon as I get home from being out and about, I wash my hands. But, have been doing that for a long time.

The one thing I'm doing differently is being careful not to touch my face when out and about shopping, doing business, etc.

Went to the Dr. yesterday. He's a great Dr. and very touchy. Always shakes hand with me or hugs me. But he didn't do either yesterday. Makes sense!

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by LivingWaterPlease

[sothereiwas]

5 minutes ago, LivingWaterPlease said:

they are doing natural things to boost their immune systems.

For a lot of these flu-like viruses I'm fairly certain the immune response is actually what kills people. 

[LivingWaterPlease]

2 minutes ago, sothereiwas said:

For a lot of these flu-like viruses I'm fairly certain the immune response is actually what kills people. 

Hmmm, interesting, sothereiwas! Are you in one of the health care professions? Not challenging you as I don't have an opinion either way, just interested in what may lie behind your hypothesis. 

[sothereiwas]

1 minute ago, LivingWaterPlease said:

interested in what may lie behind your hypothesis.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140227142250.htm

[simpycurious]

2 hours ago, d0nnivain said:

I just booked a $300 per night hotel in NYC for $49.  The travel business is really hit hard because of this virus.  

It is amazing how inexpensive you can get high end rooms right now in many major cities.  This is a big time of the year

for major sporting events.  Will the attendance for these events be down? 

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

1 minute ago, simpycurious said:

It is amazing how inexpensive you can get high end rooms right now in many major cities.  This is a big time of the year

for major sporting events.  Will the attendance for these events be down? 

I read a couple of hours ago that they canceled the whole South by Southwest conference for this year.

[RecentChange]

2 minutes ago, sothereiwas said:

For a lot of these flu-like viruses I'm fairly certain the immune response is actually what kills people. 

Please explain? Those dying tend to be quite elderly or with compromised health - do you think it's their overly robust immune systems that are causing them to die? 

From what I am understanding those severely affected become very sick due to pneumonia.

Pneumonia often occurs when an infection (virus, bacteria etc) hamper the immune system, and the allow an over growth of bacteria (we are always covered in bacteria, but our immune system usually keeps that flora in balance).

That's why some people will be prescribed antibiotics for a "flu". Flus are not treated by antibiotics, but the secondary bacterial infection that often occur due to the immune system being weakend by the flu can be treated with antibiotics.

I have never heard of a robust immune system causing death due to flu.

Now over reactive immune system causing havock in the case of allergies etc sure... But the flu?

If you believe that, is a weakened immune system better for the flu? Maybe we should all stay up a few nights to boost our resilience.

[simpycurious]

2 minutes ago, CautiouslyOptimistic said:

I read a couple of hours ago that they canceled the whole South by Southwest conference for this year.

I was thinking about several MAJOR events which generate untold millions if not billions of dollars.

First and foremost, the upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournament (March Madness).  The tourney spans

several weeks and is literally spread across America.  The Masters will be here in the middle of April.

Many major sporting events which make LOTS and LOTS of money for the host cities. 

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

2 minutes ago, simpycurious said:

I was thinking about several MAJOR events which generate untold millions if not billions of dollars.

First and foremost, the upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournament (March Madness).  The tourney spans

several weeks and is literally spread across America.  The Masters will be here in the middle of April.

Many major sporting events which make LOTS and LOTS of money for the host cities. 

It will be interesting to see......I'm sure they will be impacted!

[LivingWaterPlease]

Seems some will be losing money and some will be gaining. Now, if only I owned (or had stock in) a company that makeshand sanitizer!

I got the last big bottle of it at a big box store yesterday. Was 3.97 but I got it for $2 because about a half inch of it was gone due to customers helping themselves, I guess. Am sure they'll get some more in, hopefully, anyway.  I did feel pretty smug about getting it for half price, though.

Edited March 7, 2020 by LivingWaterPlease

[RecentChange]

27 minutes ago, simpycurious said:

I was thinking about several MAJOR events which generate untold millions if not billions of dollars.

First and foremost, the upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournament (March Madness).  The tourney spans

several weeks and is literally spread across America.  The Masters will be here in the middle of April.

Many major sporting events which make LOTS and LOTS of money for the host cities. 

Depending on how things develop, I think they can expect some impact. I feel that more than anything, brands do not want to be associated with an outbreak. If people attend an event and 10 end up sick, it's going to be a lot of bad press.

San Jose Sharks has their game last night like normal, same for the Warriors.

Stanford announced for it's women's basketball ball game they are limiting capacity to 1/3 of normal to prevent crowding.

I can't help but think that $$ is behind which events are being curtailed and which are carrying on.

Also do not discount what a HUGE economic impact south by Southwest has on the Austin area - it's a big event, 75,000 attend, I know many people that go. Quick Google search says the event generates $350 million. 

Edited March 7, 2020 by RecentChange

[sothereiwas]

29 minutes ago, RecentChange said:

I have never heard of a robust immune system causing death due to flu.

It happens. For some 'severe' flus like the 1919 epidemic people with healthy immune systems were actually overrepresented in the final fatality count. A thing called a  “cytokine storm”: 

"A cytokine storm is an overproduction of immune cells and their activating compounds (cytokines), which, in a flu infection, is often associated with a surge of activated immune cells into the lungs. The resulting lung inflammation and fluid buildup can lead to respiratory distress and can be contaminated by a secondary bacterial pneumonia -- often enhancing the mortality in patients.

This little-understood phenomenon is thought to occur in at least several types of infections and autoimmune conditions, but it appears to be particularly relevant in outbreaks of new flu variants. Cytokine storm is now seen as a likely major cause of mortality in the 1918-20 "Spanish flu" -- which killed more than 50 million people worldwide -- and the H1N1 "swine flu" and H5N1 "bird flu" of recent years. In these epidemics, the patients most likely to die were relatively young adults with apparently strong immune reactions to the infection -- whereas ordinary seasonal flu epidemics disproportionately affect the very young and the elderly."

[From the link in a previous post] 

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

In case anyone cares, I read today (locally) that Bath & Body Works still has a lot of hand sanitizer.  

[carhill]

Thanks for the tip. Q&D method is isopropyl alcohol and aloe vera gel, mix to desired consistency.

59 minutes ago, sothereiwas said:

A thing called a  “cytokine storm”: 

Makes sense. A lot of what we call 'symptoms' of viral illness in the respiratory system is the body's immune system attempting to remove the invader. Go too far and we drown in our own mucous and fluids.

[SincereOnlineGuy]

 

Meanwhile:

 

Over the past 6 hours: 

 

"31 new related deaths" worldwide

"28 of those"  in the original epicenter in China.

 

and still, one death in North, South, and Central America combined outside of a small area in one state.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by SincereOnlineGuy

[gaius]

Two just dropped dead in Florida actually. One near Pensacola on the panhandle and the other further south. 

The state is like one big pre-nursing home in a lot of areas so I wouldn't be surprised if we see some Italian like numbers.