COVID-19

[vox_mundi]

CDC says US cases rise to 108
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-latest-updates-outbreak.html

The CDC said the number of cases in the U.S. rose to at least 108 as of Monday at 4 p.m. ET and that the agency has stopped reporting “persons under investigation” or PUIs, or people it’s tracking for possible infection. It also said it won’t provide case tallies over the weekends and warned that it won’t necessarily have the most up to date data on the outbreak in the U.S. “Now that states are testing and reporting their own results, CDC’s numbers are not representative all of testing being done nationwide,” the CDC said.

(.. That's a lame-ass excuse.

 If there were $$ signs in front of those numbers, i bet they could track them.)

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US currently has 10% of face masks needed for a ‘full-blown’ coronavirus pandemic, HHS official says
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-latest-updates-outbreak.html

Health and Human Services official Dr. Robert Kadlec estimates the country would need roughly 3.5 billion of medical-grade N95 masks, which filter out about 95% of all liquid or airborne particles. “We have about 35 million,” Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response, said before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Tuesday. “Ten percent, and we’re actively working on that.”

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Senator says first federal facility in the US closed due to coronavirus
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-latest-updates-outbreak.html

The first federal facility in the U.S. was closed due to the coronavirus, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) said at a Senate hearing on the outbreak. “Since we have been in this room, in this hearing since this started, we have now learned of the first full closure of a federal facility due to this virus,” she said. “It’s a DHS center in Tukwila, Washington in my home state.”

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2,000 surgical masks stolen from French hospital
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/coronavirus-deaths-china-cases-slow-live-updates-200303003539680.html

About 2,000 surgical masks have been stolen from a hospital in the southern French city of Marseille.

The Marseille hospitals authority said it "immediately launched an internal investigation to find the culprits".

It assured the Conception hospital had enough masks to continue surgeries as normal, but it ordered more and took steps to secure its stocks of both masks and sanitising hand gels.

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A 7th person with coronavirus has died in the Seattle area. This time, the infection wasn’t identified until well after the person's death.

The death was 6 days ago at Harborview Medical Center.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/world/coronavirus-news.html

Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said on Tuesday that test samples have tested positive for the virus. “In coordination with Public Health, we have determined that some staff may have been exposed while working in an intensive care unit where the patient had been treated,” Gregg said.

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The death toll from coronavirus in Italy has risen by 27 over the past 24 hours to 79, the Civil Protection Agency said. The total number of cases in the country reached 2,502, up from 2,036 on Monday. The agency said that of those infected, 160 people had fully recovered.

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The first coronavirus case has been confirmed in Argentina, it has been reported. The minister of health, Ginés González García, is expected to give more details of the case at a press conference later.

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Spain confirms first death

The first coronavirus death in Spain has been confirmed, the Reuters news agency reports; citing a Valencian health official.

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About 3.4% of confirmed cases of Covid-19 have died, far above seasonal flu’s fatality rate of under 0.1%, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

WHO officials make urgent plea for medical gear: ‘Supplies are rapidly depleting’
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-latest-updates-outbreak.html

“We are concerned that countries’ abilities to respond are being compromised by the severe and increasing disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment ... caused by rising demand, hoarding and misuse,” the head of the World Health Organization , Tedros Adhanom, said.

Tedros also spoke about the soaring prices of equipment, stating surgical masks had increased six-fold, tripled for respirators and more than doubled for medical gowns.

[kassy]

A man in Spain died three weeks ago.

Now the test shows the corona virus, says regional health chief Ana Barcelo in Valencia.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-03-03/spain-confirms-countrys-first-death-from-coronavirus-health-official

Tests showed the man, who died on February 13, was killed by the virus

[etienne]

I think Europe will become one big Wuhan, with Belgium as the epicenter

The problem we have right now in Europe are the winter holidays with people moving all around to go skiing. And people are only tested when coming from an infected country, which is each day more difficult to define.

[edmountain]

Health system in northern Italy stretched to the limit. 10 % of medical staff already infected. https://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0006393527

From the article:

Alarmingly, 10% of Lombardy’s doctors and nurses cannot work because they tested positive for the virus and are in quarantine, the region’s top health official, Giulio Gallera, said Monday.

I can't help but think that something was lost in translation. Italy has about 10.7 doctors and nurses per 1,000 people (source), hence probably about 107,000 doctors and nurses among Lombardy's 10 million inhabitants. If 10% have tested positive that's more than 10,000 cases just from doctors and nurses!

[vox_mundi]

NHS plans to deploy ‘Army’ of retired doctors and nurses if Covid-19 spreads
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/29/nhs-dads-army-plan-for-coronavirus-spread-pandemic-strategy

[etienne]

https://www.rtbf.be/info/insolites/detail_2-corona-achetees-une-mort-subite-offerte-l-action-qui-n-a-pas-fait-rire-delhaize?id=10446944
Mort subite or sudden death is a belgian beer. If you buy 2 Corona, you get one for free.

[Sigmetnow]

Typical of this administration.

Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) 3/2/20, 12:50 PM
BREAKING: The CDC has stopped disclosing the number of Americans tested for coronavirus.
On the left is how the website looked last night. On the right is what it looks like now, with the testing info removed.
The lack of testing is a scandal.
This is the coverup.
https://twitter.com/juddlegum/status/1234536619270688768
Image below.

Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) 3/2/20, 8:29 PM
UPDATE: Congressman Mark Pocan sent a letter to the CDC demanding an explanation as to why the number of tests conducted was removed from the CDC website

Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) 3/2/20, 7:42 PM
This is unacceptable.
I just sent a letter to @CDCDirector demanding answers to why their website removed public data on the number of patients tested in the United States.
The American people deserve answers.
https://twitter.com/repmarkpocan/status/1234640186966978567
Image of letter below.

[Sam]

the American system cannot possibly test all who need testing.

It most certainly can. It chooses not to.

Like with most diseases, the earlier these cases are caught, the better the likely outcome. Lack of testing means that people will not get adequate treatment in time. The US will have a very high fatality, thanks to Trump.

I pray summer limits this gross mishandling of the situation.

It's the democrat states that bring in almost all the cases, the open border states. Just look to Europe, they left all the borders open. Italy is already a disaster. Cases are going up fast in France and Germany. Today we had our first case of local transmission here in Belgium. It's the same lobbyists that you had from the anti-brexit camp. This is there next disaster.

Oh please. Infectious diseases do not care about such bilge.

[vox_mundi]

Mortality Rate of COVID-19 Climbs
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-latest-updates-outbreak.html

The mortality rate of COVID-19 is significantly higher than previous estimates, world health officials said. Globally, about 3.4% of confirmed patients have died, said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization. In comparison, the seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 0.1% of those infected. The WHO officials said last week that the mortality rate of COVID-19 can differ, ranging from 0.7% to up to 4%, depending on the quality of the health-care system where it’s treated. Early in the outbreak, scientists had concluded the death rate was around 2.3%.

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Washington State Senator 'Frustrated' Residents Can't Get Tested for New Coronavirus
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/washington-state-senator-frustrated-residents-cant-tested-coronavirus-165100646.html

Sen. Patty Murray expresses frustrations on U.S. government's coronavirus response.

"To put it simply: if someone at the White House or in this administration is actually in charge of responding to the coronavirus, it'd be news to anybody in my state."

https://mobile.twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1234874659209871362

Video at link

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Tenet Healthcare Corp. one of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chains, is putting masks under lock and key over security concerns. “They get distributed as appropriate, including our surgical masks,” CEO Ronald Rittenmeyer said Monday at an investor conference. “So, there are no more just boxes of masks laying around. We’ve collected all that. And there are ample masks. We’re not worried about having, at this stage at least, sufficient supplies.”

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[Sam]

That is perhaps true if you are a health care worker who will be repeatedly exposed thousands of times, and who doesn’t mind risking ultimate exposure, illness, heart damage, lung damage, kidney damage, and death.

Yes sure, in that case, by all means use the piss poor protective recommendations from CDC. While you are at it, rely on their seemingly mostly ineffective test. 

Sam

What a strangely angry response. If the CDC IPC guidelines are "piss poor" I am curious what you think of the guidelines from the WHO, Health Canada, and other jurisdictions which are actually less strict than those from the CDC.

From his posts, Sam has to be a medical professional with infectious disease knowledge as he questions many of the statements made by the experts and almost all of the data is suspect due to efforts to conceal the seriousness of the pandemic. We know how doctors can have poor bedside manner and this must be the reason for the tone of some of his comments.

SH

Think. Think for yourself self. Stand on your own two feet. Do the math. Read the reports. Reach the obvious conclusions. CDC and frankly WHO, Canada and many others have missed the boat. The data from Wuhan initially, then from China at large, then Italy and others are abundantly clear.

This is a BSL 3, extremely contagious, high lethal virus. It cares not one whit about degrees, or anything like that. It respects cost-benefit analysis as much as it does starquakes on proxima - not at all.

The various organizations recommendations are based on outmoded ideas of infection control that are useful for seasonal flu and that fail utterly to recognize the consequences already seen from using even more stringent protocols in China. Hundreds perhaps thousands of medical staff there have fallen prey to this virus with many being critically injured or dying as a result. Using lesser controls will inevitably result in disaster here for medical and nursing staffs.

I fail to understand why so many people fall to their knees bowing to authority.

This is NOT the seasonal flu. This is an out of control pandemic killer. Treat it as such. Treat it with the respect it deserves. People should rightly be afraid. Priorities need serious realignment. COVID is a killer.

And as the data suggested for some time now, the CFR is in the 4-5% range.

Sam

[vox_mundi]

Man Hospitalized With New York’s 2nd Case of COVID-19 Virus
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/article240833006.html

A man from New York City’s suburbs was hospitalized in serious condition with COVID-19 on Tuesday, a case that prompted school closings and quarantines for congregants of a now-shuttered synagogue. The state’s second confirmed case also raised the possibility that the virus is spreading locally.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the 50-year-old lawyer from New Rochelle had no known travel history to countries where the outbreak of the new coronavirus has been sustained. But state and city officials said the man had done some traveling recently, including an early February trip to Miami.

The man’s college-age son has symptoms, while the younger daughter does not, officials said.

Westchester County Health Commissioner Dr. Sherlita Amler directed Young Israel of New Rochelle temple to halt services immediately. Congregants who attended Feb. 22 services as well as a funeral and a bat mitzvah on Feb. 23 were directed to quarantine themselves at least through Sunday. County officials said they will mandate quarantines for those who do not comply.

[Sigmetnow]

Scott Santens (@scottsantens) 3/2/20, 12:35 PM
In response to the nationwide school closures resulting from #COVID19, Japan is going to start paying parents $80/day to not go to work and instead stay home with their kids until the end of March.
#BasicIncome #CoronaOutbreak #YangGang

Govt. announces income compensation plan | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200303_01/

https://twitter.com/scottsantens/status/1234532782166151168


——-
Scott Santens (@scottsantens) 3/2/20, 12:57 PM
In Korea, it's been suggested that every citizen should receive a basic income payment of $413 in response to #COVID19, because "the fear of the virus spread has caused a serious economic crisis, which is spreading faster than the virus itself."

'Basic disaster income' suggested | The Korea Times
https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=285364

[wili]

Sam, note again that the 'authorities' themselves are saying that they are lost:

WHO chief, arguably the world's top 'authority' in such matters:

"We are in unchartered territory.

We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission..."

Same with the top financial authorities, the US Fed called by former chief economist at Morgan Stanley: 'a fish out of water'...

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/fed-is-a-fish-out-of-the-water-in-fight-against-coronavirus-former-morgan-stanley-chief-economist-says.html

This crisis would stretch the abilities perhaps beyond breaking of even the most competent, up-to-date and responsive leaders, but we have pretty much the opposite of those, so...what we have is clusterfucks on pretty much every level (particularly at the top, but then shit trickles downhill).

;;;;;;;

Don't remember if anyone posted this link already, but it has lots of handy graphs https://covid19info.live/

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Alex wrote: "It's the democrat states that bring in almost all the cases..."

Wowowowowow!!!! What an AMAZING insight!!!!!!

And look---obviously completely accurate, since...lookie there....North Korea has absolutely no cases at all!!!!

Absolute iron-clad proof of your perfectly perfect thesis!!!!

Obviously the whole rest of the world should become just exactly like this, clearly the most enlightened and prepared, nation on the whole planet!!!!

/sarc

(How are you even allowed to still post on this site??)

[edmountain]

WHO chief, arguably the world's top 'authority' in such matters:

"We are in unchartered territory.

We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission..."

That is an extremely misleading selective quotation you have just provided. The full statement from Director-General Ghebreyesus was:

"We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission but which can also be contained with the right measures."

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/02/811271217/coronavirus-update-we-are-in-unchartered-territory-who-says

[Sigmetnow]

U.S.

Scott Dworkin (@funder) 3/3/20, 7:27 PM
BREAKING: [Vice President] Pence and his coronavirus task force just held a press conference where there was no audio or video allowed. Someone tell the White House this is America, not North Korea. We need daily updates from the real experts, and they need to stop lying and hiding information.

https://twitter.com/funder/status/1234998845555130368

[vox_mundi]

Coronavirus: Iran Temporarily Frees 54,000 Prisoners to Combat Spread
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51723398

Iran has temporarily released more than 54,000 prisoners in an effort to combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease in crowded jails.

Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told reporters the inmates were allowed out of prison after testing negative for Covid-19 and posting bail.

"Security prisoners" sentenced to more than five years will not be let out



On Tuesday, the health ministry said the number of confirmed cases had risen by more than 50% for the second day in a row. It now stands at 2,336, although the real figure is believed to far higher.

Cases linked to Iran have also been reported by Afghanistan, Canada, Lebanon, Pakistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

[wili]

edm, you don't find any cognitive dissonance between basically we have no idea where we are or what to do and half a sentence later basically we know exactly where we are and what to do ??

 

[vox_mundi]

The Official Numbers on the Coronavirus Are Wrong, and Everyone Knows It
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2020/03/official-numbers-coronavirus-are-wrong-and-everyone-knows-it/163484/

Because the U.S. data on coronavirus infections are so deeply flawed, the quantification of the outbreak obscures more than it illuminates.

We know, irrefutably, one thing about the coronavirus in the United States: The number of cases reported in every chart and table is far too low.

The data are untrustworthy because the processes we used to get them were flawed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s testing procedures missed the bulk of the cases. They focused exclusively on travelers, rather than testing more broadly, because that seemed like the best way to catch cases entering the country.

...Now different projections estimate that 20 to 1,500 people have already been infected in the greater Seattle area. In California, too, the disease appears to be spreading, although the limited testing means that no one is quite sure how far.

In total, fewer than 500 people have been tested across the country (although the CDC has stopped reporting that number in its summary of the outbreak). As a result, the current “official” case count inside the United States stood at 43 as of Tuesday morning (excluding cruise ship cases). This number is wrong, yet it’s still constantly printed and quoted. In other contexts, we’d call this what it is: a subtle form of misinformation.

This artificially low number means that for the past few weeks, we’ve seen massive state action abroad and only simmering unease domestically. While Chinese officials were enacting a world-historic containment effort—putting more than 700 million people under some kind of movement restriction, quarantining tens of millions of people, and placing others under new kinds of surveillance—and American public-health officials were staring at the writing on the wall that the disease was extremely likely to spread in the U.S., the public-health response was stuck in neutral. The case count in the U.S. was not increasing at all.

Preparing for a sizable outbreak seemed absurd when there were fewer than 20 cases on American soil. Now we know that the disease was already spreading and that it was the U.S. response that was stalled.

... The point is that every country’s numbers are the result of a specific set of testing and accounting regimes. Everyone is cooking the data, one way or another. And yet, even though these inconsistencies are public and plain, people continue to rely on charts showing different numbers, with no indication that they are not all produced with the same rigor or vigor. This is bad. It encourages dangerous behavior such as cutting back testing to bring a country’s numbers down or slow-walking testing to keep a country’s numbers low.

The other problem is, now that the U.S. appears to be ramping up testing, the number of cases will grow quickly. Public-health officials are currently cautioning people not to worry as that happens, but it will be hard to disambiguate what proportion of the ballooning number of cases is the result of more testing and what proportion is from the actual spread of the virus.

People trust data. Numbers seem real. Charts have charismatic power. People believe what can be quantified. But data do not always accurately reflect the state of the world. Or as one scholar put it in a book title: “Raw Data” Is an Oxymoron.

The reality gap between American numbers and American cases is wide. Regular citizens and decision makers cannot rely on only the numbers to make decisions. Sometimes quantification actually obscures as much as it reveals.

[vox_mundi]

Amazon Says Seattle Employee has Virus (9:30 a.m. HK)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/markets/us-death-toll-rises-global-fatality-rate-34-25-virus-update/ar-BB10HLFp

Amazon confirmed the first coronavirus case among its U.S. workforce, an employee at its South Lake Union office complex in Seattle. The person left work on Feb. 25 due to illness and the company said it was informed Tuesday about the infection. Two Amazon employees in Italy were previously confirmed to have contracted the virus.

Silicon Valley’s Santa Clara County said it had two new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total there to 11. The city of Berkeley announced its first confirmed case, from a resident who recently traveled to an affected country. Marin County, north of San Francisco, joined the several areas in the state to declare a local emergency in preparation for potential cases.

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In a rundown of scenarios for the virus, Bloomberg Economics said the cost to global GDP would be $2.7 trillion if there was a global pandemic and every country took the sort of containment efforts made by China to bring the outbreak under control.

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California Taps Emergency Mask Reserve (7 p.m. NY)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/markets/us-death-toll-rises-global-fatality-rate-34-25-virus-update/ar-BB10HLFp

The California Public Health Department said it has approval from the CDC to tap an emergency reserve of 21 million N-95 face masks for certain situations. The masks may be past their manufacturers’ expiration date but have been stored in conditions that should prevent decay of the elastic that holds them in place, the department said.

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North Carolina Case Tied to Washington Outbreak (4 p.m. NY)
https://governor.nc.gov/news/north-carolina-identifies-first-case-covid-19

North Carolina officials reported the first presumptive case of the disease, and it appears to be linked to an elder-care facility on the other side of the country in Washington state, where several people have fallen ill and died.

The infected person from North Carolina traveled to Washington and was exposed at the long-term care facility, according to a statement from the office of Governor Roy Cooper.

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New Washington Deaths Bring U.S. Total to 9 (3:40 p.m. NY)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/markets/us-death-toll-rises-global-fatality-rate-34-25-virus-update/ar-BB10HLFp

Two deaths last week in the Seattle area are now confirmed to have been due to coronavirus, making them the earliest known cases in the U.S. as an outbreak spread unnoticed in a nursing home. That brings the total number of deaths in the U.S. and Washington state to nine -- eight in King County, which includes Seattle.

On Feb. 24, a 54-year-old male patient was transferred to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center from the Life Care Center home in Kirkland, Washington. Two days later, the patient died of what is now known to be Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, the hospital and the county public health department said Tuesday.

In the interim, the patient may have exposed some staff who were treating him in the intensive-care unit, Harborview said in a statement. Those workers have been contacted and are being monitored and screened daily. The hospital doesn’t believe other patients were exposed. A second resident of Life Care, a woman in her 80s, died at her family home the same day from the virus.

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Tesla Blames China Autopilot Issue on Supply Chain (1:45 p.m. NY)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/markets/us-death-toll-rises-global-fatality-rate-34-25-virus-update/ar-BB10HLFp

Some Tesla Inc. customers in China have complained they were sold locally assembled Model 3s with older Autopilot-related hardware. The electric-car maker responded by blaming supply-chain issues after a temporary virus-related shutdown of its factory near Shanghai.

Tesla said in a post on the social media platform Weibo that it plans to gradually replace the hardware free of charge.

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FDA on Watch for Drug Shortages From India (11:10 a.m. NY)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/markets/us-death-toll-rises-global-fatality-rate-34-25-virus-update/ar-BB10HLFp

U.S. health regulators are watching for potential drug shortages after India restricted the export of some raw pharmaceutical ingredients, a move that has potential to disrupt the global supply chain of drugs manufactured around the world.

Earlier Tuesday, India said it would limit export of some common medicines as concerns grow over shortages of chemical ingredients. Many manufacturers in China are shut due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Though India is the source of about 20% of the world’s generic-drug supply, the country is dependent on China for about 66% of the chemical components needed to make them. India wants to ensure that there are enough supplies at home for its citizens.

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Pence Visited School Where Student Is in Quarantine (9:40 a.m. NY)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-03/pence-visited-school-where-student-is-in-coronavirus-quarantine

A Florida student whose classmates shook hands last Friday with Vice President Mike Pence has been quarantined after his mother came into contact with a coronavirus patient.

Some White House aides were aware of the case in Sarasota, Florida, but there was no blanket notification about it in the executive mansion, according to people familiar with the matter. Some advisers to the vice president were unaware of the quarantine as of Tuesday morning.

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Hedge Fund Winners Warn of Bull Trap (6:42 a.m. NY)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-03/hedge-fund-winners-warn-investors-beware-of-buying-the-dip

Two of the best performing macro hedge funds of recent weeks have a tip for investors: buying the dip in stocks may not work this time. “This could become a textbook bull trap: the market rallies, you think it’s over, mommy and daddy are going to intervene,” said Quadriga Asset Managers’s Diego Parrilla, referring to central banks and governments. “If this doesn’t really play out, it’s game over.”

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Satellite Data Suggest China Is Getting Back to Work (6:30 a.m. NY)

Satellite data show economic activity in China could be picking up. Nitrogen dioxide levels rose across China’s industrial heartland, according to the most recent Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service data compiled by Windy.Com.

The reddish-brown gas mainly enters the air from burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. Levels plummeted in February after Chinese authorities locked down communities to contain the virus.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/04/coronavirus-live-updates-who-global-recession-fears-update-latest-news

... an important point; isolation, testing and quarantine measures are not designed to go on forever. If more widespread community transmission occurs -- and health authorities are preparing for that becoming the case -- the messages to the public and measures taken by health authorities would change

At the point of community spread, rather than diagnosing every person with symptoms, people who felt sick would be encouraged to stay at home and isolate themselves for 14 days. They would only need to call a doctor if they became worse.They should at that point alert ambulance or health workers on the phone ahead of time so health care workers could put measures in place such as wearing protective gear.

“While we have a strong emphasis on testing at this point in time we won’t be if there is community spread at significant levels,” Chant said. “It’s important the community understands the message will change depending on the circumstances. It’s not because we don’t know what we’re doing. We ask that the community follows our messages.”

[Andre Koelewijn]

US currently has 10% of face masks needed for a ‘full-blown’ coronavirus pandemic, HHS official says
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-latest-updates-outbreak.html

Health and Human Services official Dr. Robert Kadlec estimates the country would need roughly 3.5 billion of medical-grade N95 masks, which filter out about 95% of all liquid or airborne particles. “We have about 35 million,” Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response, said before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Tuesday. “Ten percent, and we’re actively working on that.”

35 million / 3.5 billion = 1%, not ten percent.
But it is very reassuring that they are working on it.

[silkman]

From the CNN live feed:

“As the Trump administration struggles to clear up confusion and mixed signals over testing amid concerns that tests were not being made available soon enough, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday evening said that "any American can be tested."

What Pence said: Pence said in an off-camera briefing at the White House that there was new guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that any American could be tested -- "no restrictions, subject to doctors' orders."

Pence said the new guidance will make clear "that any clinician or health authority can administer the test."

It seems to me they still don’t understand what’s going on. Pence is clearly indicating that folk with symptoms should consult their doctor which will drive suspected cases into healthcare facilities with all the associated issues of spread.

If you haven’t already seen this twitter thread started by a lady in Seattle you should - it’s terrifying:

https://twitter.com/into_the_brush/status/1234685467682979840?s=21

In the UK the advice if you have symptoms is to self isolate and call the helpline on 111. That makes all sorts of sense in the current situation.

A similar helpline is in place in the US but it didn’t help the lady who started the Twitter thread. Are they actively promoting its existence and planning to staff it to meet the expected volume of calls?

[Gray-Wolf]

Just me musing but did we not get warned by the 'Wuhan Whistleblower Dr' (who sadly died?) in january that the virus could live up to 9 Days on surfaces?

Our advice, in the UK, is that it survives only a matter of hours?

This 'quality' of the virus might be restricted to Wuhan's version but , and it's a big but, if not it puts a whole new spin on "Now wash your hands!"?

If, once the virus is here and infecting H2H, it might be serve you well to imagine ALL surfaces you touch as 'infected'?

It'll certainly get you washing those hands lest you 'self infect' will it not?

[vox_mundi]

Chinese Scientists Identify Two Strains of the Coronavirus
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/04/coronavirus-latest-updates.html

Researchers in China have found two different strains of the new coronavirus circulating in Asia.

In a preliminary study published Tuesday, scientists at Peking University’s School of Life Sciences and the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai found that a more aggressive type of the new coronavirus had accounted for roughly 70% of analyzed strains, while 30% had been linked to a less aggressive type.

The more aggressive type of virus was found to be prevalent in the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan — the Chinese city where COVID-19 was first detected late last year. But, the frequency of this type of virus has since decreased from early January [in China], the scientists said.

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Iran Has 92 Coronavirus Deaths, 2,922 Infections, Health Ministry Says



------------------------------------

Saudi Arabia has temporarily suspended Umrah pilgrimages to the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina for Saudi citizens and the kingdom’s other residents due to coronavirus concerns, the state news agency SPA said today.

The kingdom had already closed its two holiest sites to foreign travellers.

-----------------------------------

Iran Cancels Friday Prayers in Major Cities as Death Toll Rises
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/04/coronavirus-latest-updates.html

Friday prayers in Iran have been canceled across all provincial capitals amid the country’s growing coronavirus outbreak, state television said, according to the Associated  Press. The suspension of religious services on Friday, Islam’s main day of worship, comes amid a rise in the death toll from the coronavirus to 92 people, and concerns over the possible spread of the virus among government ministers.

-------------------------------------

Pakistan Adds Another Case
https://www.india.com/news/india/coronavirus-live-can-be-contained-as-its-not-influenza-says-who-health-ministry-to-chair-emergency-meeting-3960470/

A woman technician working in Hyderabad’s information technology park (IT Park) reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, causing panic in the area.

Some companies at Raheja Mindspace IT Park in the IT hub of Hitech City sent their employees home as a precautionary measure.

-------------------------------------

Delhi Police Suspend All Breath Analyser Tests, BJP

Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga has called for the suspension of breath analyser tests by the police for drunk driving cases as a precautionary step for coronavirus outbreak, alleging it might aggravate the situation. He said that the police can resume tests immediately as the epidemic is taken under control.

------------------------------------

All 1,150 students at a high school in Israel, plus the members of an elementary school class in a different school, have been instructed by the government’s health ministry to self-quarantine at home.

The instructions come after a teenager and a 5th-grade teacher were diagnosed with the coronavirus, the Times of Israel reports.

Football fans who sat in a particular area at a Tel Aviv match last week have also been told to go into isolation.

------------------------------------

Outbreak in South Korea Shows Little Signs of Slowing Down
https://abcnews.go.com/International/coronavirus-live-updates-countries-scramble-outbreak-case-numbers/story?id=69381834

The South Korean city of Daegu reported another spike in new cases of the novel coronavirus overnight as the outbreak shows little signs of slowing down there.

South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded an additional 516 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country's total to 5,328. Over 400 of the newly confirmed cases were in Daegu, where a secretive religious sect has been linked to a majority of the country's infections.



-------------------------------------

1st Confirmed Case at EU Office
https://abcnews.go.com/International/coronavirus-live-updates-countries-scramble-outbreak-case-numbers/story?id=69381834

The first case of the novel coronavirus has been confirmed at a European Union office in Brussels, a spokesperson told ABC News.

The case is a male employee who works at the European Defense Agency and had recently traveled to Italy, where 2,236 people have been infected with the newly identified virus. The man tested positive Tuesday, according to EU press officer Claire Joawn.

-------------------------------------

German Cases Continue to Rise
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/04/coronavirus-latest-updates.html

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has risen to 240, from 196 cases on Tuesday according to the RKI health institute. North Rhine-Westphalia is the worst affected state with 111 cases; the capital Berlin has six cases.

-----------------------------------



-------------------------------------

Italy Considers Nationwide School Closures
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/04/coronavirus-latest-updates.html

Italy’s government is weighing up whether to close the nation’s schools, according to the domestic media, as the authorities struggle to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The closures could start from Thursday or at the latest, next Monday, and could last for 15 days, La Repubblica reported.

It said the government was meeting in Palazzo Chigi, the official meeting place of the Council of Ministers, to decide on the action. It added that Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte could make an announcement later on Wednesday. Earlier on Wednesday, Italy had the dubious honor of being the the worst-affected country from the coronavirus outside Asia, having overtaken Iran in terms of the number of deaths and infections from the virus.

-------------------------------



- Global cases: At least 93,400, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
- Global deaths: At least 3,190, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
- US cases: At least 108, according to the CDC.
- US deaths: At least 9, according to the CDC and state health officials.

[vox_mundi]

Kazakhstan's government says it has closed the country's Caspian Sea ports of Aktau and Kuryk to ships carrying passengers from Iran and Azerbaijan to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, according to the Reuters news agency.

https://m.dw.com/en/coronavirus-latest-cases-down-in-china-but-rising-in-the-west/a-52630937

---------------------------------

Italian Tourists Quarantined in India https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/italy-death-toll-jumps-global-outbreak-deepens-live-updates-200303233420584.html

A group of 17 Italian tourists taken to a quarantine facility in New Delhi have tested positive for the coronavirus.

The group entered India before the country began screening passengers from Italy. Their Indian tour bus driver was also found to be infected.

India has confirmed 28 cases of the coronavirus as of Wednesday, up from the earlier figure of five.

-----------------------

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he won't be taking part in this year's Holi celebrations over coronavirus concerns. The annual festival of colors is set to begin on Monday.

"Experts across the world have advised to reduce mass gatherings to avoid the spread of Covid-19 Novel Coronavirus," Modi wrote on Twitter. "Hence, this year I have decided not to participate in any Holi Milan programme."

------------------------

Germany is banning the export of medical equipment such as masks, protective suits and gloves to make sure health workers have enough supplies to tackle domestic coronavirus cases. The Interior Ministry said exemptions would only be allowed under strict conditions, such as for "concerted international aid actions.''
https://m.dw.com/en/coronavirus-latest-cases-down-in-china-but-rising-in-the-west/a-52630937

https://mobile.twitter.com/BMI_Bund/status/1235189571048140801

The announcement comes after similar steps by other countries, including Russia and the Czech Republic.

-----------------------

Health officials in France say around 8,300 masks and 1,200 bottles of sanitising health gel have been stolen from Paris hospitals.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/04/coronavirus-live-updates-who-global-recession-fears-update-latest-news

Another 2,000 surgery masks have disappeared from a hospital in Marseilles.

The French government says it will take legal measures to rein in the soaring prices being demanded for bottles of hand gel.

Anyone wanting to buy masks from a pharmacy will have to get a medical prescription.

------------------------

https://m.dw.com/en/coronavirus-latest-cases-down-in-china-but-rising-in-the-west/a-52630937

Major supermarkets in Australia are enforcing strict limits on toilet paper purchases after coronavirus fears sparked a rush of panic buying. The country's biggest grocer, Woolworths, said it was allowing each customer to buy no more than four toilet paper packs each "to ensure more customers have access to the products."

It said hand sanitizers would also be restricted to two bottles per person.

-------------------------

Russian President Vladimir Putin says "provocative fake news" from abroad is to blame for any hysteria surrounding the coronavirus in Russia.

In comments carried by state news agency TASS, he said the virus is being contained, and "nothing critical is happening" in Russia.

He urged the government to make sure citizens were correctly informed about the situation, adding that reports in the media about the threat to Russia aimed to "sow panic among the population."
https://m.dw.com/en/coronavirus-latest-cases-down-in-china-but-rising-in-the-west/a-52630937

------------------------

Lufthansa Grounds 150 Planes
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/04/coronavirus-live-updates-who-global-recession-fears-update-latest-news

The German airline Lufthansa has grounded 150 aircraft due to the coronavirus (as first reported by Reuters).

A spokeswoman told the Guardian that 125 of the grounded planes were continental and 25 were intercontinental.

Lufthansa has 752 aircraft according to its website so this amounts to approximately a fifth of its fleet.

--------------------------

British airline FlyBe risks becoming one of the first airlines to succumb to the turbulence being thrown up by the new coronavirus.

Sky News and ITV have both been reporting that it is warning that it is running out of funds.

--------------------------

Britain’s Department of Health added that it will no longer be tweeting information on the location of each new case from today, due to the number of new cases.

-------------------------

[vox_mundi]

There are now six confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York state, including 4 new cases today, according to the state’s governor Andrew Cuomo.

The wife, son, daughter and neighbour of a coronavirus patient in Westchester have tested positive.

-----------------------------

^ .... Getting Closer: 50 miles away

------------------------------

India’s top pharmaceuticals export group has said that an Indian government curb on some drug exports as the coronavirus outbreak spreads has caused panic in Europe and will “severely impact” businesses in the sector.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/04/coronavirus-live-updates-who-global-recession-fears-update-latest-news

The world’s main supplier of generic drugs has restricted the export of 26 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and the medicines made from them, in a move seen as aimed at tackling possible domestic shortages of medicine during the outbreak.

Dinesh Dua, chairman of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), told Reuters that some of the restricted APIs and medicines were widely exported to Europe and the United States.

“I am getting a huge number of calls from Europe because it is very sizeably dependent on Indian formulations and we control almost 26% of the European formulations in the generic space. So they are panicking,” Dua said.

-------------------------------

Pet dog belonging to Covid-19 patient infected, Hong Kong health authorities confirm
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3065016/coronavirus-pet-dog-belonging-covid-19-patient

Pomeranian first tested ‘weak positive’ last Friday, suggesting it was surface contamination, with dog picking up traces of the virus in its nose and mouth

Animal now has low-level infection and experts unanimously conclude human-to-animal transmission (... n=1)

“It is positive to tests and has been infected, so it is now quarantined in a centre by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department,” health minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee said during a regular press briefing.

[Shared Humanity]

“While we have a strong emphasis on testing at this point in time we won’t be if there is community spread at significant levels,” Chant said. “It’s important the community understands the message will change depending on the circumstances. While it is true we don't have a clue, this is not because we don’t know what we’re doing. We ask that the community follows our messages.”

 

[gerontocrat]

Coronavirus live updates: number of confirmed cases in UK jumps to 85
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/04/coronavirus-live-updates-who-global-recession-fears-update-latest-news

But it seems all but 3 cases linked to foreign travel.

Nevertheless  Covid-19, coming to a place near you.

[vox_mundi]

Update:: Origin and Continuing Evolution of SARS-CoV-2. (Open Access)
https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwaa036/5775463

Two separate types of the novel coronavirus — one more aggressive than the other — could be infecting people during the sweeping outbreak, Chinese scientists revealed in a new study.

https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwaa036/5775463

The preliminary study, conducted by researchers from Peking University’s School of Life Sciences and the Institute Pasteur of Shanghai under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed that the infection has evolved into two major types, designated L and S.

The L type, which is more aggressive, was more prevalent during the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan — the original epicenter of the virus — and accounted for about 70 percent of analyzed strains. About 30 percent of those strains were linked to the S type, considered less aggressive.

The prevalence of the L type decreased after early January, researchers found.
The S type, which is considered an older, “ancestral version” of the coronavirus, has become more common since then.

The researchers explained that this could have to do with the rush to treat patients infected with the L type virus, whose symptoms are far easier to detect than the weaker, milder S type.

“If the L type is more aggressive than the S type, why did the relative frequency of the L type decrease compared to the S type in other places after the initial breakout in Wuhan?” they wrote. “One possible explanation is that, since January 2020, the Chinese central and local governments have taken rapid and comprehensive prevention and control measures.”

“These human intervention efforts might have caused severe selective pressure against the L type, which might be more aggressive and spread more quickly,” they explained. “The S type, on the other hand, might have experienced weaker selective pressure by human intervention, leading to an increase in its relative abundance among the SARS-CoV-2 viruses.”

[El Cid]

These two strains could explain the different CFR between wuhan and the rest of the provinces

[wili]

Exactly what I was thinking, Cid.

[Bruce Steele]

The first US Covid-19 case in Seattle was a direct transfer from Wuhan .

https://bedford.io/blog/ncov-cryptic-transmission/

So I wonder whether the Washington Covid-19 is L type.

Also if dogs can be a corona virus vector I wonder if dogs at the wuhan wet market might have transferred the virus originally?

[etienne]

In Luxembourg, we are probably going to have a big problem. They only test people coming from infected areas, Infected areas are defined according to https://www.ecdc.europa.eu, which unfortunately stopped defining it on March 2nd.

One of my sons has fever with flu symptoms since this evening, and called a friend who is already a few days sick and was skiing in France 2 weeks ago to ask what his medical doctor said. Nothing to declare, normal flu, he was not in an infected area.

I checked what the government says (http://sante.public.lu/fr/prevention/coronavirus-00/index.html). Surprisingly, the information is not the same in all the languages, but the most important one is available in all languages :

COVID-19 is not a sexually transmitted disease. However, the virus being present in the respiratory secretions and being able to be transmitted by direct contact of person to person, sexual intercourse is favorable to a transmission of the virus, if one of the partners is infected.

In the FAQ, you find

I have symptoms (cough, fever, breathing problems), but I have not been in a risk zone in the past 14 days. What should I do:

If you have not been in close contact with a sick person who has recently been in a risk area, you should not worry. You may have a seasonal flu. In this case, consult your general practitioner.

Well, the situation is changing quite a lot and maybe these information will become obsolete quite soon.

[vox_mundi]

I hope for the best for you and your family, etienne

-----------------------------

Coronavirus: Europe Readies Plans for Worst-Case Scenario
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-03-coronavirus-europe-readies-worst-case-scenario.html

From calling in the army to requisitioning hospital beds, European nations are drawing up emergency plans should the coronavirus outbreak reach pandemic proportions and severely disrupt daily life.

... FRANCE

The French army is "ready to intervene if it becomes necessary", Defence Minister Florence Parly has said, without giving details.

Military hospitals are on standby to take in COVID-19 patients, she added.

GERMANY

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said health workers would focus on "the most acute" cases if the outbreak worsens, meaning planned, non-urgent surgeries could be postponed.

Sealing off entire towns or villages if they become affected by the virus "would be a last resort", Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has said.

NORWAY

Health authorities have drawn up contingency plans for a scenario under which 25 percent of Norway's population becomes infected.

In such a situation, almost all scheduled surgeries not linked to the virus could be postponed to ease the burden on hospitals, especially intensive care units.

POLAND

Poland's parliament has passed legislation giving the government emergency powers to fight the virus's spread. That could include calling in the army, intervening directly in the market for medicines or restricting people's movements.

--------------------------------

There Are Now 137 Coronavirus cases in the US
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-04-20-intl-hnk/index.html

There are 137 cases of the novel coronavirus, including nine deaths, in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as state and local governments.

According to the CDC, there are 49 cases from repatriated citizens. According to CNN Health’s tally of cases detected and tested in the United States, there are 88 cases in 13 states. Bringing the total of coronavirus cases to 137.

Here's the state breakdown of the US cases:

Arizona – 2
California – 33
Florida — 3
Georgia — 2
Illinois — 4
Massachusetts — 2
New Hampshire — 2
New York — 6
North Carolina — 1
Oregon — 3
Rhode Island — 2
Washington state — 27 (includes 9 fatalities)
Wisconsin — 1

-----------------------------

Vice President Pence Says New Guidance Coming for US Nursing Homes After Coronavirus Outbreak
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-04-20-intl-hnk/index.html


it works on either side of the 'pond'

As the US tries to clear up confusion over virus testing, Mike Pence says anyone can be tested

Pence said in an off-camera briefing at the White House that there was new guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that any American could be tested -- "no restrictions, subject to doctors' orders."

... “We’re issuing clear guidance that subject to doctors’ orders, any American can be tested.”

... On Monday, the Trump administration suggested that the US would be able to test close to 1 million people for coronavirus by the end of the week.

During a Senate hearing Tuesday, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn was greeted by skeptical lawmakers and pushed to explain how he thinks the United States could do a million tests when, to date, it has only been able to perform about 3,600.

"I want to distinguish between the ability to get the test kits out to the laboratories with the ability of the labs to actually do the tests," Hahn told lawmakers, offering no clarity on how many tests could actually be run by the end of the week.

-----------------------------------

There are Six New cCoronavirus Cases in Los Angeles County
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-04-20-intl-hnk/index.html

The LA County Department of Public Health confirmed 6 new cases of coronavirus, county officials said in a news conference.

This brings the count to 7 cases for the county.

Los Angeles County has declared a local emergency to fight coronavirus, said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

--------------------------------

1,000 people in self quarantine in Westchester
https://abcnews.go.com/International/coronavirus-live-updates-countries-scramble-outbreak-case-numbers/story?id=69381834&cid=clicksource_4380645_4_three_posts_card_hed

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave an update on the coronavirus situation in Westchester County, and said about 1,000 residents have been asked to self-quarantine.

At least eight employees at Lawrence Hospital, where a 50-year-old man who contracted the disease was first admitted, are being tested for the virus, according to Cuomo.

-----------------------------

Death toll in Italy passes 100
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-51734185

The death toll from the coronavirus in Italy has now risen to 107 (3.9%), the authorities say.

They say 2,706 people have tested positive in the country - Europe's worst-hit.

The country's education minister also confirmed earlier reports that schools and universities throughout the country would be closed until mid-March.

------------------------------

French Government Will Take Control of Country's Masks During Coronavirus Outbreak
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-04-20-intl-hnk/index.html

The government of France is taking control of the stocks and production of surgical masks in the country in response to the coronavirus outbreak, Health Minister Olivier Véran announced today.

------------------------

Iran Using Tent Hospitals As It Faces Shortage of Beds
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-04-20-intl-hnk/index.html

The Iranian city of Qom is facing a shortage of hospital beds for suspected coronavirus cases, with officials saying they had been forced to use tents.

Ali Abrazi, Vice Chancellor of the University of Qom’s School of Medical Sciences, said five hospitals in Qom were facilitating suspected patients but there was still a shortage of beds, Entekhab reported.

“We were forced to stand up tent hospitals,” he said.

--------------------------------

Iran's Hand Sanitizer Supply Not Meeting Demand, Despite Alcohol Production Increase
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-04-20-intl-hnk/index.html

Iran is facing a shortage of hand sanitizer as demand increases following the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.

Mahdi Shah-Moradi, a board member of Iran’s National Medical Equipment Producers’ Association, said Iran had increased its production capacity of alcohol -- a major ingredient in sanitizer -- since the coronavirus outbreak.

But he said that with “the logistics and distributions timeframes, it becomes a time consuming cycle.”

The official told semi-official news agency ISNA on Wednesday that there was a shortfall in daily production of disinfectants and that the virus had disrupted the balance of demand and supply in Iran and globally.

-----------------------------------------



-------------------------------

Speaking of CFR

... “If you add many, many people that have it and they don’t know they have it,” the President said during a meeting with airline executives on Wednesday. “I think that number will probably be a lot different number.”

Yogi Berra couldn't of said it more clearly. 



"Messages saying we'll protect the US from COVID-19 could backfire, because when this starts spreading in our country, confidence in government will be severely challenged."
-Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH

---------------------------------

[vox_mundi]

The first US Covid-19 case in Seattle was a direct transfer from Wuhan .

https://bedford.io/blog/ncov-cryptic-transmission/

So I wonder whether the Washington Covid-19 is L type.

Also if dogs can be a corona virus vector I wonder if dogs at the wuhan wet market might have transferred the virus originally?

Interesting! ; that would explain the high mortality on the west coast and it might also suggest, that patient-zero in Italy was carrying a Wuhan sub-type

[TerryM]

etienne
Best of luck.


How will he be handling this period?
Does he live alone, or in your home?


While total isolation would undoubtedly be the safest for everyone, I can imagine that even with a normal flu reaction looking after myself would difficult to pull off.


Is it possible to deliver food stuff and other necessities without face to face contact?


We're all likely to be facing something close to your situation in the coming weeks. Any information about what does or doesn't work might be of help to others.


Please keep us up to date & stay healthy.
Terry

[Tor Bejnar]

Congress reaches deal on $8.3B bill to battle coronavirus

WASHINGTON (AP) — ...
The measure immediately went to the floor for a brief, bipartisan debate; the House will vote on the bill later Wednesday and Senate leaders are pressing for a vote in that chamber by the end of the week.
...
The legislation came together in little more than a week, a rarity in a deeply polarized Washington. It more than triples the $2.5 billion plan unveiled by President Donald Trump just last week.
...
... more than $3 billion would be dedicated to research and development on vaccines, medicines for treatment, and diagnostic tests, including $300 million for the government to purchase such drugs from manufacturers at “fair and reasonable” prices to distribute them to those who need it — which is the standard applied in earlier crises like the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak.

It also would provide more than $2 billion to help federal, state, and local governments prepare for and respond to the coronavirus threat, including $300 million for the Centers for Disease Control’s rapid response fund. Another $1.3 billion would be used to help fight the virus overseas.

Another almost $1 billion would provide medical supplies and other preparedness steps like $350 million to aggressively go after the virus in “hot spots” like Washington state, $500 million to buy drugs, masks, and other medical supplies for states, local governments and hospitals, and $100 million for community health centers. It would devote $500 million to Medicare for remote “telehealth” consultations that would permit sick people to get treatment without visiting a doctor.
...
Separately, the Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday it is providing $35 million to 28 states and localities to help their public health departments respond to the outbreak and also increase their surveillance for the virus.

Washington state, which has seen 10 deaths, will get $2.75 million, while California will get $4.5 million. The money should be available to the states by early next week, federal officials said, and comes from more than $135 million that HHS Secretary Alex Azar transferred from other department accounts to help with the coronavirus response.

[emphasis added - so non-American audience's attention would be caught]
We (the US) can do some things right, once in a while ... 

[etienne]

He is only 13 years old, with us at home. And he was not in contact with any identified case, so I guess I'll have to go to work tomorrow.

He is really ok, a mild case if it would be the coronavirus.

[TerryM]

2 seperate types of infection damn near puts us back to the beginning when attempting to plot the infection/cure/death ratios.
A single L case might be much worse than a handful of the less virulent S cases. Are their tests that can differentiate between them, or do we just follow the course of the disease to see how it plays out?


This is the second time I've come across posts about infected dogs. If a number of mammals are susceptible this will make things much more difficult for Bruce & a friend of mine who has a dairy farm.
If the farmers and herdsmen leave their herds, food sources will disappear rapidly - not a possibility that I'm willing to look at at this time. I suppose it's no different than having food rot at the docks while the populace starves, but it seems much closer to home.


Stay healthy everyone
Terry

[etienne]

 2 different viruses could explain reinfections.
Etienne

[TerryM]

Thanks etienne


Best of luck under very trying circumstances.
I know that if I were a co-worker of yours I'd prefer it if you remained at home until this resolved itself.


Locking him in his room is probably the safest course, but I know of no parents of a 13 yr. old who could manage it.


All the best
Terry

[KiwiGriff]

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html

Updated March 4, 2020
This page will be updated regularly at noon Mondays through Fridays. Numbers close out at 4 p.m. the day before reporting.

CDC is responding to an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus. The outbreak first started in Wuhan, China, but cases have been identified in a growing number of other locations internationally, including the United States.

COVID-19: U.S. at a Glance*
Total cases: 80
Total deaths: 9
States reporting cases: 13

John Hopkins gives 148 cases 11 deaths

Why is the CDC unable  to keep  up to date ?
It is supposed to be the "center for disease control and prevention" in a first world nation .
it just received $300 million for the Centers for Disease Control’s rapid response fund.
Yet  they do not have a full time person updating the data in real time instead of once daily from the last days numbers ?
If i was in the USA I would be very afraid of the governments total incompetence.

[Alexander555]

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html

Updated March 4, 2020
This page will be updated regularly at noon Mondays through Fridays. Numbers close out at 4 p.m. the day before reporting.

CDC is responding to an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus. The outbreak first started in Wuhan, China, but cases have been identified in a growing number of other locations internationally, including the United States.

COVID-19: U.S. at a Glance*
Total cases: 80
Total deaths: 9
States reporting cases: 13

John Hopkins gives 148 cases 11 deaths

Why is the CDC unable  to keep  up to date ?
It is supposed to be the "center for disease control and prevention" in a first world nation .
it just received $300 million for the Centers for Disease Control’s rapid response fund.
Yet  they do not have a full time person updating the data in real time instead of once daily from the last days numbers ?
If i was in the USA I would be very afraid of the governments total incompetence.

Maybe it's the cases of the cruise ship. And at least one of the fatalities in the US today also was on the cruise ship.

[TerryM]

nanning approached me ~a week ago inquiring of my email address. I'd put off replying because I very seldom read my email.
With this virus spreading so close to home I thought I'd go a different way and post my address.


TWEMoran@G-Mail.Com


Don't expect a reply in anything like a timely manner. It's sometimes months before I check for mail.
Terry

[SteveMDFP]

One of my sons has fever with flu symptoms since this evening, and called a friend who is already a few days sick and was skiing in France 2 weeks ago to ask what his medical doctor said. Nothing to declare, normal flu, he was not in an infected area.

I'd be concerned, too.  One point to keep in mind is that it's perfectly feasible to do a rapid test for influenza (A and B) in the office setting.  Procedure *should* be that anyone with fever + respiratory symptoms gets a rapid influenza test.  If negative, coronavirus test. 

Some of the proposed antiviral treatments have anti-influenza activity.  I can't provide any information on demonstrated efficacy of any coronavirus treatment.  Chinese authorities seem to have information on that, but I've not seen any details.  Remdesivir may be favored there, but it's investigational use only in the US and probably EU.  Tamiflu (oseltamivir) for influenza has been hypothesized to be possibly useful for coronavirus, but I've only  seen speculation and an anecdote or two.

[Bruce Steele]

Terry, I have mentioned that pigs in one half of Calif. all go to one slaughterhouse. Workers are not paid very well but it is still a skilled labor and can’t be readily replaced if they get sick. What if slaughterhouses close? Food security isn’t something most people think about until there is an issue and then it is pure panic.  People working while sick also may compromise food safety. I haven’t seen whether this virus survives freezing.
 Dairy is probably safe because milk is pasteurized.
 When the Diamond Princess debacle was ongoing I saw pictures of food served to passengers including fresh salad from infected crew. Vegetables and fresh fruit that is not cooked is a transfer risk. Again farm labor is low paid and done by people who can’t afford time off, there is no sick pay for farm labor.
When traveling in Mexico my diet is tamales and beer. Tamales are steamed and come in a corn husk so nobodies hands can touch your food. Beer is also mostly sterile .
 I think the restaurant business is going to be hit very hard by this disease because people will hole up at home and avoid crowds. People’s trust in restaurant food will collapse when the first outbreak is tied to a restaurant kitchen.
 In China takeout food helped feed people locked down in compounds. If food was steamed, like tamales or egg rolls, inside a sealed tin then people could still order out with some confidence. Most restaurants operate on thin margins and a big slowdown in business will bankrupt them.
 
Etilenne, Couldn’t you get a flu test done to take some guesswork out of your decision matrix?  Way more worried about you than a healthy thirteen year old. Severity of symptoms in a thirteen year old isn’t much of an indication one way or the other IMO.

ps, SteveMd is a better source of advice than this old pig farmer.

[pikaia]

Lourdes Shrine Closes Healing Pools as Precaution Against Coronavirus. 

http://cny.org/stories/lourdes-shrine-closes-healing-pools-as-precaution-against-coronavirus,20662#.Xl-vHcPoqFs.twitter

[Tor Bejnar]

... but you can still glue a plastic [saint of your choice, or even a spaghetti monster] to the dashboard of your car (if you have one).  Something's gotta work.  [/sarc]

[TerryM]

... but you can still glue a plastic [saint of your choice, or even a spaghetti monster] to the dashboard of your car (if you have one).  Something's gotta work.  [/sarc]

Ramen!!
May his warm noodly appendage bring you solace.
Terry

[TerryM]

Bruce
I hadn't considered bottlenecks within the food processing system.


It certainly wouldn't take much to shut the whole chain down.


I have thought about energy distribution, refrigeration and AC.
This is going to be a warm summer. Crowded beaches, public pools and Air Conditioned Malls will be closed or avoided. We've moved into desert regions by the millions and while A/C may be seen as a luxury in cooler climes, in the desert we need tons of cooling, each.


Those that provide electricity, cooling and refrigeration are fairly well paid, but there are a limited number with the needed training, and many of them fall into the demographic this virus seems bent on attacking. PG&E has had trouble keeping California up and running for years. Take out a hundred key techs and the power will go down for weeks - maybe months.


Take out 20 key techs in Las Vegas and the commercial kitchens, grocery store refrigerators and Casino A/C will shut down - even if electricity should be available.
I wonder if other communities, other trades, aren't in as precarious a situation.


I like the steamed tamales & egg rolls idea!
I'm not sure that I'd survive even a moderate flu so I'll simply be sitting this one out. If we lose power I could never make the 16 flights of stairs, so stocking up with frozen food makes perfect sense. If the grid goes I'll shut down too.


I suppose the pigs don't have too many visitors so they should remain healthy for as long as you and yours. If COVID-19 moves into feral populations we shouldn't worry too much about the future.
Stay Healthy
Terry

[wili]

I join with others in wishing etienne's kid a fast recovery with no spread to his folks.

I am down with a bad cold, but of course these days one wonders. I hear that my bro and sis in law have very bad flus. While I'm at it...my new daughter in law was just diagnosed with MS--bad week for illness in my extended family :/

Also, my teaching assistant informed me yesterday after class that he had been in his office the day before that with a student from another class he is TA for. The student was explaining that he wouldn't be in this week because of illness; he was coughing and sneezing the whole time. My TA learned later that the student went from there to the doctor, who told him to self quarantine for at least 7 days (why only 7, I'm not sure).

This is life in our new reality...