So the new California case is in Solano County which is where many people from the Diamond Princess with the virus were also quarantined (at Travis AFB). It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that someone caring for or bringing food to these patients has become infected and thus passed it on to the wider community in the county. Please look into this further ny times!
10
This is the worst person to oversee health matters. This is the person who shut down health clinics and passed laws that harmed individuals during the HIV epidemic in Indiana. He will make this worse! We might as well have no one!
7
Go immediately to your bunker. Why?
“We’re very, very ready for this,” Mr. Trump said.
6
Oh,Pence is in charge!? Well then, all is well and not to worry, folks! Thoughts & prayers will re-direct the virus exclusively to the LGBTQ- community and then it will go back to where it came from. No worries!
8
What experience does mike pence have in pandemic diseases? Asking for a country.
20
Normally I'd think the risk is low based on statistics but when your current president says it's low I think you should worry :D
9
It won't be long before Trump blames this crisis on Obama and then uses it to increase his authoritarian powers.
12
Well, you know - all that medical training Mike Pence has had!
Thinking Trump is ultimately looking for a new VP. So he puts Pence in charge of coronavirus - no experience in national health crisis. Pence fails. Trump gets to blame and shame Pence then, and ultimately will announce a new VP candidate for election time.
Perfect scheme, Donald.
9
Who feels safer with Pence in charge of a potential pandemic?
11
I have a vital task for the government to take the lead on;
Airliners are pressurized in flight at higher altitudes. I have to assume that pressurization entails an amount of metered cabin air exchange to assure fresh air for the passengers and crew. That means that as fresh air is drawn in, some cabin air is exhausted, thus spewing out disease as it flies between cities. I thought of this after reading about the alarming rate at which the disease is spreading. It must be entrained in cabin air and the cabin air must be exhausted to atmosphere as fresh air is directed inwards.
It is imperative that a fast moving F.A.A. guided Government directed program commence to engineer and install cabin exhaust air filtration equipment. This is not rocket science. Utilizing off the shelf filtration media incorporated in quickly designed and built enclosures attached to airliners exhaust ports could happen quickly and very effectively slowing down atmospheric contamination by disease that could be carried by rain on to land. And as is featured in my filter units, Ultraviolet lights kill germs as they pass through the ultraviolet light, that like microwaves that cook food, are radio waves at light wavelengths the same size as the germs that are heated and killed by the lights.
Please just do it.
1
What I really do not understand is how this world panic and massive hysteria corresponds to the real threat of the virus? It does not. The fact is that the vast majority of the cases produce mild flu-like symptoms and that this is almost no different than the regular flu. I just do not understand this panic. What am I missing??
@Alex actually it is approximately 100 times worse than the flu: at least 20 times more deadly in total, probably 100 times more deadly for healthy adults under 60. And radically more contagious, so it can easily overwhelm the health care system, likely severely driving up the fatality rate for itself and for other conditions that suddenly can’t get treated.
7
Oh, it's because it allows people to give into some good ole xenophobia about Asians, travelers, and strangers in general.
3
Research has shown that treatment and prevention of coronavirus infection is likely to be successful with vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, magnesium and selenium. I'm taking these and I'm giving these to my family. It's too bad the WHO isn't advertising this simple inexpensive and safe preventive intervention. While it is unlikely to be 100% effective, it is likely to be more effective than what is being done now, and it may reduce the severity of the disease when it occurs by strengthening the immune system. Other basic immune booster dietary and herbal treatments are also likely to be helpful, if not perfect. The media seems uninterested in these intervention thus far, although I suspect that if the pandemic worsens, in desperation people may start turning in this direction.
17
You can also try to click your heals together or maybe do a rain dance. Those options are likely just effective as yours.
49
@SM Linus Pauling for president!
2
"Likely" is the key word here. WHO can never suggest something that is not thoroughly tested in such an irresponsible way. Anyone can come out with plenty of "likely" ways to cure a disease, but to have a definite scientifically backed and tested remedy is the harder part.
5
The US does not know if COVID19 is here. Only a few people are tested, because we do not have the kits available to test more. And, apparently they are expensive and not covered by insurance, even if you recently returned from China, and have symptoms. The danger is not acting fast enough, diagnosis and warning contacts. Which we currently cannot do. The tragedy would be if enough caught it and needed medical intervention which would not be available locally because of overrun demand. That is when the FEDS are supposed to supply the means to meet the demands in local hotspots.
9
@athena i think the horse has left the stable, probably three or four weeks ago. The patient at UC Davis in Sacramento got sick enough to miss work about two weeks ago. And was sick enough to be tested a week ago, but was not tested because the CDC was refusing to look for domestic cases.
7
Mike Pence is the coronavirus Czar? Based on -- his experience in public health? His medical expertise? Or the fact that he will do and say anything Trump wants him to.
As I recall, the one time Pence oversaw an epidemic, it was an HIV epidemic in his home state. And he disregarded the advice of public health professionals, making the problem worse.
49
Has anyone thought about the need for more nurses and allied health professionals during a major health crisis in the US, and how Trump's anti-immigration policies and outright hostility to people from the brown skinned regions of the world amplify that risk? For the past few decades, quite a lot of the people working in hospitals and clinics have come from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Now, when they may be most needed, we have an administration that screens them out, kicks them out, and promotes an atmosphere that leaves non-white visitors feeling unwelcome and unsafe. In turn, that makes the United States less safe for all.
21
Medical and nursing schools throughout the third world specialize in training medical personnel for export and to provide good paying jobs for their people. Recently in a London hospital with surgeons and nurses from Nigeria, Pakistan and Angola.. no native English. If the US could do a better job tapping into these groups we could double or medical personnel in no time. Of course the cost would double as well unless we could push the outrageous pay down and limit expensive treatments.
It is interesting to see the first case of community transmission of the virus is from Solano County, California.... Someone should probably have qualified the statement and said person came from the Travis AFB area. But, this would have caused panic as the county population realized one of the "virus free" people from China and Japan that passed through the base and their towns may have left something behind. Of course, in an unprepared and disinterested administration, disinformation is all part of the game. Wonder how long it twill take to make 2 or 3 million test kits?
15
Trump: “We’re very, very ready for this.”
Oh God, no we’re not. This same yammering fool also told us coal is coming back and that windmills cause cancer. Why should we believe him about this?
34
All the signs are in place for a global economic downturn triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic. The Stock Market went down 6% so far this week. That’s the beginning, not the end.
The crash may not happen this month, but it will come soon.
Such a crash will have major political implications. The high Stock Market seems to be Trump’s primary indicator of economic success.
Trump is concerned that this looks bad for him. His natural response to any crisis is to lie, cover up his own mistakes, and blame others.
In fact, after Trump cut the budget of the CDC two years ago, experts predicted that this would hurt American preparedness:
“Why American could become vulnerable to the next major pandemic”
https://time.com/5177802/cdc-budget-cuts-infectious-disease/
This problem cannot be solved with a Tweet!
15
If the budget had not been cut would those Americans who have been infected so far, have been spared?
1
And everytime ANY REPORTER Is around the Trump administration concerning the coronavirus, why do they not bring up an ask why did he fire all the top experts with pandemics in the CDC department?! In 2018 the Trump administration and Trump himself fired all the top experts in the CDC the deal with pandemics. Why?
20
What to do if you’re a family member and domestic partner of a physician, who may come into direct contact unwittingly (though likely) with an infected person? Feels a little like staying home could be more risky than being out! How does each person best prepare in this scenario? Suggestions?
5
That is a huge concern for your family! I wish you well and am very thankful for all the health care providers risking their own health to treat the sick.
9
@alimarq Thank you! Yes, it adds another layer of complexity to an already-intricate situation. I do appreciate your support.
4
My son is a physician in Rio, and a very dedicated father of two beautiful kids. He has already made plans not to come back home should the hospital where he works have patients infected or under suspicion of infection. He plans to take up a hotel room for the necessary period of quarantine. All to preserve his family the best he can.
6
How can the WH say we are ready for this when there aren’t enough test kits to check everyone who is self-containing at home? They say it expensive to test every possible case, well that’s why we pay taxes. We all deserve a chance to know if we have the Coronavirus. They made faulty tests, not every state has a testing facility, not enough beds, not able to find masks online or local retailers, lawsuits about where to place infected individuals, not placing self-quarantine restrictions from those coming in from Northern Italy. How can they say we are ready for this? Someone please explain our readiness.
I garnered more information about how to prepare for the Coronavirus from virologydownunder.com and from Singapore’s Ministry Of Health website.
18
Hopefully they will develop a vaccine soon for the coronavirus. The scientists are probably working on it now and it will be available soon.
1
The key experts say one year.
11
Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States of America.
Donald Trump should be removed from office at the ballot box in November.
All Senate Republican should be voted from office in November, too.
22
@KMW
as was explained at Trump's campaign event on the virus by Anthony S. Fauci head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases a vaccine is conservatively 18 months away.
11
Another reason for the Trump haters to find fault with President Trump. They are never satisfied. If he sat and did nothing they would condemn. Now that he has set up a plan and put it into place the Trump haters are not happy. These people are impossible.
1
Yes, there are many, many Trump haters.
Trump is disliked by many and hated by most people I meet and everyone I know socially.
How could one not intensely dislike, even hate Trump because he is endangering lives while destroying our Democracy?
30
It's the way he goes about it. His sentence structure is not reassuring.
8
@KMW I would argue that an administration that lavishes the military with the public’s tax money instead of investing in disease prevention and treatment is worthy of scorn.
18
Hailing from Europe. This is greatly exaggerated and very bad for business. The malls are almost empty, people buy food like crazy. I fear the global media is to blame. Keep your cool!
8
In addition to all the lies and misleading information during his rambling press conference, Trump also tried to blame the drop in the stock market on the Democratic candidates, called Nancy Pelosi incompetent, bragged about his approval ratings, mocked Chuck Schumer and mimicked his NY accent, kept trying to minimize COVID-19 by comparing it to the flu, boasted about how frequently he washes his hands (implying that if everyone else did the same, the virus wouldn't be a problem), lied about the mortality rate and disputed the 2% figure, boasted that we should credit his Muslim travel ban for stopping the virus from spreading to the U.S., and could not give a coherent reason for appointing Mike Pence to coordinate the administration's response to this.
I'm not feeling very reassured that the trump administration is handling this all too well.
50
What is the percentage of people who die who have contracted coronvirus? How does this percentage compare with that of other fatalities from other communicable diseases. When I look at the numbers, it appears that only a small number of people actually get this disease. There are over a billion people in China but only two or so thousand have died from coronovirus. But people need things to be afraid of and newspapers need things to write about that scare people. So let's all worry ourselves sick for th next few weeks.
2
Because the US is completely unprepared for a pandemic due to the president's penchant for tearing down *anything* with Obama's name on it, we are going to have to do what Gov Cuomo is doing as well as getting private organizations and scientific institutions coordinating with each other.
Putting Pence in charge? Seriously?
26
Europe's open borders are now coming back to bite them. Trump's isolationism, in contrast, is likely reduce in the impact of the virus in the U.S.
5
In one month you’ll be whistling a different tune, I guarantee it. If you’re still around to whistle at all.
4
@Jose Pieste So the borders between the US states are not open?
2
China may has underestimated the seriousness of the Coronavirus in the beginning, but once scientists and doctors documented the speed of the spread, the government took decisive actions by sealing a city of 11 million and a province of 58.5 million and force a population of 1.4 billion into strict quarantine without regard for the damages to the economy.
We made fun of the Chinese instead of using the window of opportunity to prepare for it. We called them the "Sick Man of Asia", we called Xi authoritarian as if he's incompetent as Trump. The action Xi has taken and sacrifice China made history will judge. WHO officials are in awe of what China did. The democratic candidates in the debate all made fun of Xi and China, which shows their own ignorance and the sham of democracy.
10
Yes once China stopped their authoritarian muzzling of those trying to get the word out about the virus outbreak in China and were once again embarrassed by their initial response to bad news, they began to address the problem. How many lives could have been saved if China’s authorities had openly communicated the problem as soon as it was aware of it?
3
Cases in Iran must be much higher than they announced. Three countries have been infected by people from Iran.
6
on the 60th case:. the article states "Until now, public health officials have been able to trace all of the infections in the country to a recent trip abroad or a known patient."
What this should say is that this is the first case that was TESTED that could not be traced because until now the conditions for running the test required a priori travel or other connection!!
Corona is out there and not sure why county /state health departments and CDC were not screening more people without a direct link earlier.
13
Not true, testing has not happened on all of the self-quarantine people around the country. Washington state alone had 724 self-quarantine cases! Thank goodness all but 200 have been cleared—but not by testing.
2
I hear conflicting advice: people in China are arrested if they leave their homes w/o wearing a mask. No one in this country suggests that a mask is useful as a precautionary device. What to do?
1
Wash hands and stay 6 feet away from people.
5
@fritz At this point, you would likely be depriving medical personnel of masks, particularly if you wanted a good one. So, would you prefer to wear a mask and not be able to see a doctor if you catch the virus, because they’re ill, or have a chance at being treated should you catch the virus, or have any other illness or injury?
1
I bought several masks years ago. I doubt that I am depriving anyone who needs one. When did you get yours or don’t you prepare for an emergency? I look at preparing as insurance. I insure my home for fires and earthquakes but I have never had either. I spend much more for that home insurance than for the modest emergency supplies that I have stored.
3
'The Indiana Model'
Good one Mr. President,
it's your first good joke.
16
Trump lies and he puts Pence in charge. I feel so much better knowing Trump controls the information highway!!!
3
Is anyone else NOT reassured that our president expressed amazement (repeatedly) that people die from the flu every year??
29
Huh? Pence? Well, it appears that we can forget about science and statistical analysis until this virus is contained. Next week's headline: "Prayerful Pence Prods Press to Push Prayer to Counter Coronavirus"
23
Putting Mike Pence in charge is almost a guarantee that little will be done. How about choosing someone with any kind of relevant experience. But, that is not Trump's way of doing things. Perhaps he will "step-up" and do something, but I am not optimistic. If ever we needed a leader who can listen to the experts and see the big picture. Again, not Trump's forte.
17
Apologies for the small, personal question, but my son is supposed to participate in a summer music festival in Vienna in June. I don't know if they will cancel it or not. At the moment, even if they don't cancel it, it seems like a pretty bad idea for him to travel to Austria, or to get on two international flights to get there. At some point might this lead to prohibitions on, or at least warnings against, travel from the US to affected countries (not that the US won't be affected, unless of course that magical vaccine suddenly appears, along with the miraculous curative powers of springtime!)?
7
Have him wear a mask (N80 or better rating) from the paint section at your local hardware store ( I'm serious, I worked with a local pharmacist for advice) and have your son GO.
I fly a great deal, don't like the threat but for now it's manageable.
3
@NGB There's no telling what the situation will be in June. As of now, my husband's company shortened his trip to Europe and they are canceling all international business trips. I was afraid he'd be stuck or worse, sick, in a country whose language and health system he is not familiar with. But it is a respiratory disease and they generally become less prevalent with warmer temperatures.
7
I say go on as life as usual. Good hygiene and stay away from people coughing. If things get worse, cancel last minute. IMO
6
Unless every single person is having blood work done to ID the cause of the fever or symptoms, how does anyone know the diff between coronavirus, a cold, flu, or some other issue?
21
For now based on travel or exposure to known CV patient. Once it becomes wide spread in US, you won’t know without testing. But then the question arises : what is point of testing? Other than flu there are no Rx medications that help. Even flu does not warrant Rx meds unless severely ill. Common cold usually does not have high fever and comes on gradually. Flu often starts abruptly and has more severe symptoms. Both flu and COVID19 should be a reason to stay home and away from others. Probably only people being tested will be those ill enough to be hospitalized. At that point it might impact treatment decisions.
7
So Pence is our Coronavirus czar. The most anti-scientific person in the World is now appointed to work with medical doctors and other scientists, to stop the spread of this illness
The World Health Organization, the international organization that must be worked with, if you are serious about controlling this disease, stated that 50 percent of those who used tobacco, died from smoking related illnesses.
So, what does Pence do? He was one of 97 House Republicans who voted against the Tobacco Control Act in 2009.
He got over $100,000 from tobacco companies.
Money trumps science, which is the motto of the Trump White House.
The only thing that is for certain is that Pence will pray to Jesus for his immunity against this illness.
The rest of us can go to that hot place below.
38
It will help reduce fear if every single article published about the virus will include the percentage of how many survive the illness. It would really help to see that 98% survival rate figure.
10
And how many ppl recovered from it. Viruses pass with time, right?
1
Viruses can also mutate and become more virulent.
2
It’s not a binary question: survived/died. It’s an incredibly debilitating and painful pneumonia and fever that goes on for a long time, for many patients. Survival rate isn’t the only concern.
9
Nothing like putting a know nothing in charge of the biggest health challenges in recent years. So much for national security and keeping people safe.
The real truth is that since trump came into office he has slashed the CDC budget to the point where retired officials are requesting donations. We are woefully unprepared.
29
To hear the President say "We're very, very ready for this" is not reassuring. He's probably fired anyone with any expertise in dealing with a looming crisis like this and has predictably put the matter in the hands of a political crony (in this case, the VP). This science doubter is probably getting his information from some Twitter or Facebook account or some internet troll.
I'm very worried.
31
I don't know about you but after that news conference, I think we better investigate the predication for the Coronavirus post haste. It sounds an awful lot like another Democratic conspiracy to derail Mr. Trump's reelection campaign by manipulating the stock market.
2
Or it’s facts and science and careful journalism. I know all of that sounds like hocus pocus and conspiracies to MAGAts, but it’s reality, and it’s about to capsize your little trump fantasy world.
2
Trump: “We’re very, very ready for this"
Just a few days ago he was indicating warm weather would save us. We can't possibly be ready if the people in charge are this poorly informed. And if they're spreading information that is incorrect.
We should have actual experts in charge of this. VP Pence is a very poor substitute.
Trump eliminated the CDC staff with the proper expertise for this sort of situation back in 2018. Apparently, noone in the Administration had foresight to understand the possibility of a situation like the present one, despite the fact that CDC staff attempted to explain the need. And despite the fact that SARS provided a clear notification.
Trump thinks it's more important to project a false image of preparation to calm the financial markets than to provide correct information that might save actual LIVES.
22
It appeared that, at minimum, every third statement made by anyone must include praise for Trump, who loomed large over his minions, making even this a campaign event, and giving me plenty to be sick about besides the coronavirus.
21
I notice that Trump and Pence didn't mention how much Trump cut the CDC budget.
17
Who do we trust more: Trump, who cut the pandemic response team in 2018, or Pence, whose defunding of public health caused an HIV outbreak in Indiana?
Also, how can Republicans boast their pride in the same country that they’ve fiscally sabotaged for last 30-some-odd years? It’s breathtaking!
18
Look at the bright side of this: no one will be able to say that either Pence or Trump “managed this well” if it really blossoms. Of course, incompetence hasn’t been a problem until now.
If the virus actually has a go at us, come November people will remember how the Republicans underfunded the CDC and made their lives unpleasant — to say the least. To say the most, some may get really, really sick and a small percentage will actually die.
People will remember that and they won’t like it when they go to the polls. It may be the only thing (other than the virus itself) that could cause some of these supporters or fence sitters to vote against the Republicans.
11
If we were "very, very ready" someone with a lot more knowledge would have been in place a month ago.
The best people? Boy are we in for it.
13
We had a qualified team of health professionals in the White House to handle this. Trump fired them,
We have highly qualified people at the CDC to lead the charge.
Trump puts Pence, a non-professional, "in charge."
You can't make this stuff up.
Kind of reminds one of when Bush kneecapped FEMA––then stayed on vacation while New Orleans drowned.
Voters, save the Republic!
23
Well, I feel much safer knowing Mike Pence is overseeing my well- being!
8
Trump is like Xi, downplaying it for the sake of staying in power.
10
Unbelievable. But in a way maybe not.
6
Based on his background and education, what exactly is Pence going to do? Pray? Write a legal brief? Where are the actual experts? Preferably with epidemiological and medical-backgrounds.
16
Can we admit that these viruses will become more prevalent due to overpopulation and climate change? The world goes on as normal, we talk about 'growth' with every company, there's holidays, superbowls, Olympics etc. but yet...the globe is heading toward disaster on a daily basis.
things are not normal!!!
will this wake the world up,at a horrifying cost?
7
Man, I feel high or like I’m watching a movie sometimes.
6
The good news is most of the deaths occur in those beyond childbearing age so population and economic growth won't be impacted. As older people die they pass their assets to younger ones that will boost the economy with spending.
I expected crazy would say the CDC is wrong and replace scientists and experts with Ben Carson. Am I joking?
7
Ben Carson would be a very good choice. He is a medical doctor(surgeon) and although not an expert in virology, infectious diseases nor epidemiology, he is certainly well educated and experienced enough to listen to the scientists and act accordingly.
5
Looks like Trump will finally get his travel ban:)
And I feel so good with Mike Pence in charge of this. Prayers and condolences. Just put your hand on the television screen and send Joel Osteen some seed money! Be gone, coronavirus!
Wouldn't it have made more sense to at least go with Dr. Ben Carson who is a world renowned neurosurgeon? His speciality is not infectious diseases but at least he has worked in a hospital and knows what intensive care units look like.
Fortunately, we all have local state departments of health we can count on. They actually know the local doctors and hospitals and are in a better position than some guy in D.C. who spends most of his life in a bubble at fundraisers.
5
After listening to this administrations’ - specifically Trump’s lies and ego salvos - for so long, should I criticize myself for no longer believing in this administrations capability to look out after us?
Trump puts Pence in charge of the corona-virus response team. Whoa! Is it not Pence who always stands quietly and obediently behind Trump like a cardboard cutout and says nothing when Trump veers off subject or slurs his words? Is Pence really the man who will come to our salvation?
6
A fact check by the Times re: the claims about the wonderful healthcare in Indiana would be greatly appreciated at this time. Thank you.
3
It’s like the Age of Enlightenment never happened.
28
This comment literally made my day. Humor can’t save us but it can lighten the load. Thanks.
7
Well, take heart that it won't reach us here in the US. Trump has it under control...just ask him.
6
“We’re very, very ready for this” said the president who has told over 16,000 lies since taking office.
14
@Somewhere - Trump’s ready for something, but it isn’t this. God help us.
3
Probably hopes and prayers will work for the Corona Virus as effectively as they have for mass shootings.
Pence is the wrong man for the job.
7
Mike Pence, who doesn't believe in evolution?
How can he possibly understand how viruses mutate??
18
Vice President Pence will send his thoughts and PRAYERS to the American coronavirus dead.
Many thanks to Trump and the GOP.
Yikes I need a mask.
9
Judging by how Pence responded to the HIV outbreak in Indiana as the governor, I don’t know if he is fit or empathetic enough for the job.
7
Mike Pence is in charge? The same guy who singlehandedly caused a preventable HIV epidemic in Indiana. We’re doomed.
17
Who is the one woman on the stage?
1
‘Recipe for a Massive Viral Outbreak’: Iran Emerges as a Worldwide Threat
Long a regional crossroads, Iran is spreading the new coronavirus to a host of neighboring countries. Many are ill equipped to cope.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/world/middleeast/coronavirus-iran.html
Somewhere in this series of articles the phrase "common sense" was used and I also just saw it in a comment below. To use that concept is imprecise, fuzzy and serves no purpose. Why don't people realize that there is no such thing as common sense? Sense is not common; that is, what seems like common sense to YOU may seem foolish or stupid to someone else. It just doesn't make any....SENSE...to speak of common sense. I am entirely serious about this.
1
China is lying about the numbers of course. They’d kill people before they’d tell the accurate numbers. They are the hub. It’s the Corona central.
1
Azar can blame Mike,
and Mike can blame Azar.
Then Trump will fire them both.
Perfect.
7
This needs to be said loud & clear: We have far far more than 15 cases that the fool keeps trumping on about. We have not been testing anyone lately, for weeks really, in the entire US, fewer than 500 people have been tested! Every expert knows there are far more than 15 cases. And anyone walking around with it, with or without symptoms, is spreading it to many more, and so on and so on, the circle widens. And therefore, the disease is, right now, this moment, spreading about our country. It will get far far worse before it gets better. What happened in Wuhan can happen anywhere and everywhere.
14
Pence will be really good at praying. Of course it was a Christian church in South Korea that massively spread the virus, so it does not look like Christians are getting any special virus consideration from God. Maybe it'd help if Pence asked Trump to give more food stamps, housing and Medicaid to help the poor as Jesus suggested a dozen or more times in the Bible.
9
Mike Pence, who still thinks you can “pray the gay away,” is in charge of this? Didn’t the state of Indiana have the worst epidemic of HIV during the time he was governor, due to his denial and bungling?
Awesome. Just awesome.
11
Here’s hoping we have a whole bunch of emergency funds for this virus and the future viruses coming from the countries Trump dismisses.
You know what I mean?
10
People infected with the Coronavirus virus can be asymptomatic. Therefore taking one’s temperature as a way to prevent sick travelers from entering planes is completely useless. This virus is spreading and nothing can be done to prevent it from running its course other than total physical isolation.
285
@Pascale Luse
All the more reason for the government to be telling the American people (especially the elderly) how to prepare and provide them with the tools.
24
@Pascale Luse
Not completely useless - it is a partial measure that will stop some cases. It is not sufficient, but nor is it useless. It's vital to remember that - a solution is found by combining many piecemeal measures that each help reduce the spread.
21
@Pascale Luse -- It spreads through the air easily -- washing our hands can only go so far.
9
What's all the fuss about?
The eminent specialist Rush Limbau has gone on record that this is just a common cold that has been weaponized to hurt President Trump.
With such depth of expertise in the US, Canada should seriously consider closing its common border.
68
@claude
Rush Limpbowel, showing how he "earrned" that Medal of Freedom every day.
6
Mike Pence in charge of fighting the coronavirus? I will now sleep so much better tonight.
6
VP Pence has no credentials of any kind on health matters, as his record shows, with no epidemiological experience at all. We need someone with a strong background in epidemiology, an M.D. at least, to coordinate efforts to effectively control the coronavirus. This is not a political issue, it is a health issue that poses a very grave threat to our country. Pence is not the person for this job.
47
"Containment" is the key here, therefore it does not make sense to say "it's not the right time" to ban people from South Korea and Italy coming into US. Most of the cases in Europe came from Italy. Waiting will make us miss the window to contain.
And this is not like the flu, not for the 50s. 60s, 70s, 80s who may be older or have underlying conditions, who would not otherwise have died if they had not contracted this coronavirus. For these people, the death rate is not 2% but much higher. It's like herd protection of vaccination--the less infected people around you, the less chances the older people will get it.
The time to act is now or never, so the chances of Americans getting infected will remain low. All it takes is one person, one infected person without symptom to come in, silently spreading the virus and chain infection while they go about their usual business.
Why do we bother to listen to Trump? When he is not lying, he gets the facts wrong, or he exaggerates.
35
First case in California not connected directly to travel??
2
It's already too late. It's silently creeping it's away across the country. 3 weeks time and we will know how bad it has spread. It's in NYC already. Start buying shelf life food to last a month long quarantine. Buy water bottles. Reschedule vacations that were supposed to occur a month from now. You might not be able to leave the country.
4
And so it begins. Pence will not meet whatever standard Trump comes up with and he will pick a new VP to run for 2020... Ivanka or Jared.
33
Pence is in charge -- that's reassuring. I'm sure he's already forming prayer circles.
69
One sure way to minimize the severity of anything is to put Pence in charge of it. We'll get thoughts and prayers for all who die from the virus.
34
Pence’s “leadership” will be nothing more than prayer.
27
also thoughts.
6
This morning the commentariat was slamming Trump for allegedly not doing anything.
Now, the geniuses herein don’t approve of what he’s doing.
Count me surprised...
3
It's the 21st Century. In addition to well-intentioned prayers we also have science. Lots of medical science that will help us in these troubled times.
I don't expect much of anything from this administration, with an 11th Century understanding of the World.
32
@EGD The problem is that Trump rambled, made no sense and appears not to understand the scope of the issue. I’m thankful for ‘deep state’ government employees at the CDC who will provide accurate answers and guide us through this process...hopefully without Trump interference.
28
@EGD
please provide a single detail of one thing Trump himself offered as a response.
3
Pence is in charge?
Time to sell short my 401k.
23
I feel much safer now. Pence’s lack of understanding and bad policies were the reason we had a major HIV epidemic in southern Indiana.
60
The same 20 words over and over again, and none of it substantive. Just generality after generality. Meanwhile, people are going to die. And he has the gall to pat himself on the back for a great trade deal with China? Irrelevant and crass. Trump doesn’t care about anyone but himself.
43
Trump says we're "very, very ready" and puts Pence on the job. Why am I not reassured?
27
We are in trouble when Pence is in charge. God help the World!
19
Thanks, President Trump, for anointing your Veep, Mike Pence, as our Coronavirus Czar in charge of the possible Covid-19 epidemic in America. No worries, now that Mike is on the job. The H1N1 Virus caused the Global Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918. Though this virus is a novel one, it may well cause illness and death here in America. Whistling past the graveyard and telling us we'll be fine and that the threat of Covid 19 in America is "lessening", doesn't cut the mustard when we have no memory of the global pandemic of Spanish Flu today. We can only hope that the anxiety over a flu epidemic maybe arriving here in America will be as faulty as the fear of Y2K disrupting the world 20 years ago Y2K didn't matter diddly back then despite worries that the world would change on a certain day. Life goes on or it doesn't.
5
Mike Pence? Mike Pence? Our nation's new infectious disease expert? The man who once tried to convince the people of Indiana that smoking didn't cause cancer? That Mike Pence? Be afraid, America. Be afraid.
53
Watching the Trump press conference on the corona virus, I was (again) taken aback by the simple mindedness of our president, as well as the subservience of Vice President Pence and Alex Azar, the health and human services secretary. This press conference was not really about the possible pandemic, like every other Trump press conference it was about the greatness of Donald Trump. It was embarrassing, it was pathetic; the guy has no clue as to what it means to be President of the United States. November can’t come soon enough.
51
Pence spearheading this “effort” is beyond theatre of the absurd. A parrot would be a better choice.
How many Americans will have to die before a grown up steps up and takes control of this?
25
Pence? He's teeing him up to be fired, isn't he? Pence won't be able to stop it and then he is lined up to be the fall guy.
20
Pence, fall guy now in place.
Trump washes his hands of the situation.
26
The good doctors trump and pence are on the case and leading the charge.
14
Trump thinks a sales pitch on how great the doctors are how how prepared everyone is will be enough to stop the virus in its tracks and boost the stock market. Not going to work this time. He sounded so inane and ill informed int he news conference that he probably made things worse.
24
Classic trump - situation with no upside? Give it to someone else. Check the bus schedules, Mr. Pence - looks like one already has your name on it!
19
I don't know if Mike Pence is the right guy for this job. Anytime he gives a briefing on the status of the coronavirus in the US, part of me will be going: "Here's what Pence really thinks about all this - either it's 'God's plan', or he's just thinks it's a big waste of time and something to do while we wait for the Rapture".
18
We are facing a pandemic which is already in our country, spread far more widely than our CDC (“we have tents! We’re prepared!”) will admit (being yet another unfounded agency run by Trump appointees whose last jobs were as cashiers at JC Penney), with NO way of knowing the real extent of it.
Suffice to say an administration which is fraught with lying and covering up anything they don’t like to hear is busy doing nothing else than that, at this point.
Mike Pence, Uncle of Darkness, will be “in charge”.
Trump will be at home, anxiously washing his hands in his gold toilet.
We will be on our own.
Recommend stocking up on dry goods and water.
17
there is not one corporate CEO in the world who believes what Trump has to say on the the Covid-19 pandemic.
20
Hand washing 101;
Water, & soap, scrub while singing Entire Happy Birthday Song.
Rinse, Dry,
Do NOT then touch bathroom doorknob to go out. Use towel or hanky.
13
@Fritz RN Haha yes almost right, only you have to sing Happy Bday twice!
I'm so glad trump put someone with scientific credentials in charge, and not someone who will rely on thoughts and prayers...
22
I had to turn it off it was so distressing and disturbing watching him up there completely clueless and totally without an ounce of empathy for the situation. He made a remark that it could be good for US tourism because less people would travel abroad.
I am thinking of something that Mayor Pete said at last night’s debate - Don’t you want to turn your tv on and see the president and find comfort and not have your blood pressure and anxiety go up? Yes Pete, I sure do.
48
Apparently Trump is NOT confident that the US has the CoronaVirus "totally under control". If he believed that he'd be all over being the 'point man' coordinating the US program.
By handing the 'opportunity' to Pence he has given himself the ability to blame someone else when disaster happens, and as long as the GPO is running the US into the ground we can be sure a disaster is close at hand. Now we'll see how well Pence can swim carrying an anchor like Trump on his back.
17
That press conference reminded me of the first cabinet meeting where everyone had to first praise Trump multiple times for his great leadership. Such sycophants. This is a serious national health emergency. Why do these executive officials need to spend half of their time giving accolades to Trump? I wonder if they are told what to say by Trump or if they feel so much pressure from Trump that they do it themselves. In other words, the statements made by the administration sounded like a campaign rally.
I don’t feel any safer after this briefing.
24
I rarely waste my time watching Trump, but I just watched his news conference. Putting it simply and in purely political terms: he did an excellent job. Nothing in his appearance will cost him a single vote (that is not already against him) and his demeanor some wavering voters will find reassuring. Even his gratuitous slaps at Pelosi, Schumer, and the Democratic presidential candidates were incorporated seamlessly in whatever he was talking about and with the same tone.
Why is it important to acknowledge what Trump did so effectively? Simple. If you want to beat him in the election, you have to deal with reality, not confusing such with either your fears, hopes, or previous beliefs.
2
Pence? What's he going to do, hold prayer meetings?
I hear Trump talking in the background: he's still obsessed with the stock market .... and making light of the serious concerns about an outbreak in this country and the world at large. Amazing, that someone with so little knowledge has so little humility, and no qualms about offering his opinion as if he were the expert on everything.
19
The government's response spokesman should be someone with a medical/scientific background, who is experienced in the field of contagious diseases, not a politician such as Pence who is nothing more than a Trump sycophant who will be tightly controlled by the White House, a spin doctor.
A pandemic is very serious business and should be treated as such, but as Trump has shown by his pattern of behavior, nothing is sacred or exempt from politics, not even the threat to the lives of his fellow Americans.
9
Good luck Mr. Pence. By the way, are zombies immune to the coronavirus?
9
Reminder: Trump's first thoughts every day are focused on planning his 16 years of presidency (if not more), and how much $$$$$ he can divert out of the US Treasury into the pockets of the Trump Organization. Nothing else matters to him. Medicine? Research? Science? These are professions that take years of intensive study and commitment with publication of research papers for peer review. Facts are checked. Salaries are modest. Cameras aren't lined up outside the lab. So Trump cuts their Federal budgets and hurls contempt at Federal scientific study across the board. "What do all these people do?" We may learn...very soon.
19
Ever since 24th January, I have personally been on high alert. I already changed habits: only work to home; otherwise, only family visits. No shaking hands; don't touch face; wash hands as per WHO standards, and frequently. I keep 6 feet between me and others most of the time. I have enough OTC anti-flu meds and proper foods, toilet paper and so on for weeks, should I be confined to home. I watch various sources for news, notably Dr John Campbell youtube. Ready as I can be. Good luck all.
7
What Trump is doing and speaking right now is exactly what the Chinese government did and spoke weeks before the Wuhan outbreak.
8
The contradictory subtext of the CDC doctors, pretty much saying we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg here, and the Trump/Pence spin saying it’s practically over already, is astounding. Scientists truth versus Trumplican lies.
15
This virus was caused by massive disruption of the natural world when millions of wild animals were sold live in public markets.
Nature is without morality but is paying us back anyway. Or trying to.
We don't deserve it, do we? Or do we?
9
Trump taps Wile E Coyote to lead the coronavirus response. You see, he has no scientist or doctor friends in his Rolodex. Those people did not buy degrees and then brag about their wealth. They weren’t good conmen either. So much for nepotism.
11
This will be Trumps biggest blunder. An election year fumbling of a pandemic. Forget about his tax returns, nature is reminding us of far, far more significant things. Like the price of ignorance.
14
Trump is questioning the validity of China's numbers.
1
Trump knows Covid-19 is not going to be pretty. This is his way of forcing Pence to do a job in which no one could be seen as successful, in order to make himself look better and consolidate influence. I despise Trump and the GOP but this is pretty smart on Trump’s part. And cynically quite funny that it’s happening to Pence.
6
As I often mention, there are way too many people in my state, so I look forward to a slowdown in population growth, especially if GOP and moderate Dem boomers start croaking off.
3
Wasn't Trump a bit reasonable and actually pleasant this evening? Is that the new strategy? To share measured responses, act like you are in control....what are those Democrats referring to?! I am a reasonable man!
Could be a sign of more to come. 2nd news conference? Not a coincidence.
1
I wonder what data was used in the John Hopkins readiness report that Trump cited we were #1 in the world. I'll bet it was from the Obama years.
7
I am sickened not by the coronavirus but by the number of people commenting here who have nothing but negative things to say about the Trump administration.
I hope Mr. Trump enjoys a landslide victory in November.
2
@David H
Trump earned every negative comment by lying over and over. He actually said that the virus was "in control".
He gutted the CDC and has rewarded slavish loyalty over expertise at the expense of the American people.
7
Oh good. Mike Pence. Virus czar. Savior.
21
O-M-G
Mike Pence ..... ‘only the best trained scientist and health coordinators will serve in my administration!’
18
"I am great. We are great. Pence is great. The Administration is great. Did I mention that Democrats are bad? Oh yeah, there is a virus as well"
OMG, what a buffoon. I feel so badly for my American friends. Trump is such an embarrassment.
41
Great, I think Pence will slightly alter the prayer he uses to pray the gay away to address the virus. Lord hear our prayer.
19
An anti-science administration led by a nincompoop who is more concerned about the stock market than human lives...you get what you vote for, people.
38
Pence?? Oh, no.
20
Wow Pence is in charge. We all will sleep well tonioght. Await thee the splendor and majesty of the most holy Pence's National pray the gay and/or Coronavirus away day. Take your pick folks.
13
Wait, who is this Pence guy?
4
We’re saved!
10
Wow, he didn’t pick Jared?
14
Oh great, the guy who doesn’t believe in evolution oversees control of a virus that may evolve.
29
How can we possibly believe a word Trump says??? Everything coming out of his mouth has been lies.
8
He just tossed the most amazing word salad!!! Said absolutely nothing!!!!!
20
Am I the only one who thinks that the ‘praise’ foisted upon our ‘Dear Leader’ at the outset of this news conference sounds as it could’ve been written by the North Korean News Agency? Beware America... it’s happening before our eyes.
22
Great Idea this VP guy is as useless as anything, guess thats what the role entails
9
Mike Pence, who doesn't believe in evolution, is going to be our corona virus czat
God help us all.
20
“Brownie er Azar whatever your foreign name is you’re doing a heck of a job on this Coronation Virus. Not-as world class like me but that’s life. “
“What’s most important What’s most critical, is that the stock market go back up. Way up. Important,important. People die all the time. All the time. That’s life. Adam Schif, deal with it. Corrupt so corrupt this Russia thing.
11
Holy Cow! Pence is the coronavirus guru...we are all going to die!
18
Thoughts and prayers should fix it. If not Trump will just redraw the map with his magic Sharpie.
10
U.S. soldier is infected with coronavirus as South Korean virus cases jump again
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-02-25/south-korean-virus-cases-jump-again-1st-us-soldier-infected
2
Pence? Control factor - why not Fauci?
5
I can see it now: “Prayer will protect Americans from the virus. Except gays and other sinners.”
16
So happy to have the renown medical expert and scientist Mike Pence on point. I’m betting nobody else would take a Trump-Czar job without hazardous duty pay... why trash your entire career to be the flunky Donnie blames when when-not-if happens??? And we get the extra juice from the Almighty with Mike on point.
10
"Vice President Pence will be in charge of coronavirus response"
So..., thoughts and prayers, and everything is the gays' fault? That about right?
12
He will do a lot of praying over Iraq.
He didn't know that tens of thousands die of the flu each year? "Who knew health care could be so complicated?" Everyone but you, O Stable Genius.
16
Listen to the CDC and the WHO and do what they say
14
so we're not only praying the gay away, but now the coronavirus as well?
9
Ignore everything the Orange Blob say's and listen to the expert's.
5
Well, that’s all folks.
7
Trump to the nation on Covid-19—thoughts and prayers.
5
Lest we forget, Governor Mike Pence was responsible for an AIDS epidemic in Indiana. His record on science in general is not any better. God help us.
16
What's Pence going to contribute? The power of prayer?
8
Since Trump brought 300 possible coronavirus carriers in on those chartered planes from the diamond Princess Cruise the United States is now dealing with the epidemic on US soil.
Way to go stable genius Trump!!!
5
Pence, really?
This has to be a future Lewis Black routine?
4
Orange hair, reptilian eyes, what a creature.
9
I'm reassured . . . Not.
3
An ignoramus science-denying president and a taxidermied unblinking vice-president, idolizing the former, make for a creepy tandem to speak to what will soon be a pandemic. Nothing they say can be trusted.
15
"And Jesus Wept". V.P. Pence could not lead America out of a paper bag.
12
Pence is in charge. Let us pray...
7
Who in their right mind can trust an anti-science, self-obsessed sociopath who will say whatever he thinks makes him look good in the moment? I've got a vaccine to sell you, real cheap!
7
Trump wanders about in answering a question as if he were "Professor" Irwin Corey on belladonna.
3
OMG. Pence in charge? What a travesty. I want the CDC “in charge.” Nothing coming out of the WH is believable. This administration is utterly incapable of truthful and safe management of anything much less an epidemic of the coronavirus.
10
His first order in disaster preparation: national prayer chain email.
What a time to be alive.
11
HALLELUJAH, Hallelujah
This is obviously a scourge from God for the sins of our country, the killing of his unborn children and the allowing of infidels to infest our country.
How brilliant of our leader to appoint one who identifies him self as a "Christian, a Conservative and a Republican, in that order."
And when the disease does run its course, as it certainly will, it will be a sign of a miracle brought on by this man of faith. And if it does before a vaccine is in use, it will further validate those who refuse all such medication and refute the lies of so called "scientists" who will be banished forever from despoiling this nation "under God."
1
Medical report underscores the limits of screening travelers for coronavirus
https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-02-18/report-shows-limits-of-coronavirus-screening
1
Mike Pence? We are doomed.
12
Can't rely on vaccines then?
1
Pence!?
Now, I really am starting to get a little worried.
Are we going to pray this outbreak away?
11
"Trump Taps Pence to Lead Virus Response"
I feel better already.
5
So they’re going to hold a prayer circle about it?
6
Don’t worry Pence will pray us out of this one...
5
Funny that he named Pence to lead the fight. Perhaps our national plan is simply to pray for divine intervention?
6
The clowns are addressing the nation. Spare me, what a sham spending cuts and all
6
I feel so much better now that Pence, a science denying religious fanatic is in charge. I’m sure he’ll push prayer over medicine and all decisions will he guided by the voice in his head that his delusions tell him is “God.”
12
Um, isn’t Pence one of the evangelical rightwing waiting for the Rapture??!!
If so, how is this news supposed to be comforting for those of us who would prefer to be able to carry on alive?
13
He makes me crazy the circles he talks in.
7
Wow. I have zero confidence that this administration can handle a pandemic. Mike Pence? This guy was completely inept in stemming a slow-moving HIV outbreak in his home state while governor. Heckuva job, Mikey.
17
I read your headline in disbelief. Mike Pence will coordinate our response to this virus? But then our new reality settled in. Pence makes sense. A man with no experience in health care. No experience in much of anything. Who else would he pick?
14
I'm waiting for April.
3
Just a brilliant to put such a man of science like Mike Pence in charge.
4
Brilliant! So w. Pence in charge of the corona virus response there'll be no heavy breathing and especially with women. I feel so much safer now knowing this sad sack is involved.
3
Pence'll pray it away. Or will he?
Great choice! Now send Pence to China ASAP and make sure to tell him that "real men don't wear masks"
9
Mike Pence... our hero, and "acting" coronavirus expert.
Prepare to die, America.
11
Having Pence heading the coronavirus response is a sad joke. As governor of Indiana, he literally said he had to “pray on” how to respond to an HIV public health crisis; the resulting two month delay created an even greater, needless public health crisis. See https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/08/us/politics/mike-pence-needle-exchanges-indiana.html?referringSource=articleShare. It was a defining moment of his term as governor, and not in a good way.
16
Dinner party started at 7.
He arrives at 10:15, ''very ready for this.''
4
Does Pence believe in science?
7
Well with Pence, we know the identity of the scapegoat for the coronavirus epidemic. Hold on Mikey, you're in for a ride that is totally out of your control. Probable cost, absence from the November ballot.
10
TRUMP: ... one of the patients, the one that's in the hospital, not doing so well ... very sick ... very, very sick. Not doing good at all.
THE PATIENT IN HOSPITAL: Wait, what? What did he say?
7
Trump taps Pence to lead virus response????
Great. So now we know the "response" will be to pray the virus away. Sure, that'll help.
5
Trump voters must be really naive. The US is a huge country.
Trump implies that he is personally running every decision for every aspect of every crisis. This is impossible because there are too many decisions, they are too complex, he is not an expert, and he needs to hire experts and allow them to make the decisions. He is a politician to the core, but his portrayal of government operations as all top down from the president is wrong, it is dumb, and I cannot believe even his supporters believe this. He sounds like a dictator, like Xi and Putin. They like to pretend that they run every little thing too. Not true for any huge country! Trump voters, wise up.
12
Very reassuring, a human parasite is now in charge of controlling a viral outbreak!
Wonder how that is going to work out!
5
Pence in charge, I guess we now have to pray for the virus, and viruses can only mingle with humans in pairs!
2
The guy who caused an AIDS epidemic in his own state is in charge of it. Great.
Also, shouldn’t this be getting like... Trump’s full attention? Like a hurricane or something?
6
Not interested in Donald or anything that he has to say.
6
Mike Pence oversaw an outbreak of AIDS as Governor of IN. This should go well.
11
So Mike Pence is going to be the coronavirus czar. Well, I guess we can all rest easy now.
6
Isn't Pence that governor that on his watch had the CDC quarantine part of Indiana over an HIV outbreak due to policy he had put in place. Great choice.!!!!
11
Pence is over his head. He will likely fail and then Trump will throw him under the bus. Sound about right?
6
So, the guy who doesn’t believe in science and is looking forward to the rapture is going to save us from a global pandemic.
We’re doomed!
10
Going to the old Thoughts and Prayers approach with Number 2. May be Pence will put the virus in conversion schools and turn them into good virus? The swamp continues
6
Because Mike Pence did such an outstanding job managing the HIV outbreak in Indiana in 2015-16.
9
As usual, he is talking gibberish and figures that have ZERO to do with the subject at-hand. This is a world health crisis, not a conversation about employment figures, GDP, General Motors, Boeing, or “points” of any kind. What is WRONG with this man?! We elected a crazy immoral narcissist to run this country. Wow. Just. Wow.
10
Waiting for “Virus-Force” to be mentioned.
7
So the man who oversaw a spike in new HIV infections in Indiana because he ignored science in favor of religious ideology is now responsible for leading the response against another highly infectious disease? I feel safer already.
8
They ask him one question...so he answers something else.
7
I am getting ready to read Poe's "The Mask of the Red Death: A Fantasy" while re-watching the Iranian Health Minister boasting as he dabbed his feverish brow. Things are not that bad yet. Just saying.
3
I’m sure the first recommendation will be “Build that wall!”
2
Mike Pence is a good choice considering he's a doctor with expertise in epidemiology, and he is not afraid to speak his mind. Oh, wait.
11
Don't worry. The president will make a fantastic deal, the best deal ever, you know it's really incredible, people are talking about, the best deal, with the virus, but the blah blah blah, I'm great and that's the only thing I ever talk about.
8
hopefully he uses the money for what they are supposed to be used.
3
Maybe forcing USDA scientists out and forcibly relocating the rest to Kansas might not have been a good move.
I hadn't known this previously but USDA scientists figured out how to mass produce penicillin so soldiers in World War II didn't have to die from infections.
http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2019-07-01
4
Is it possible for Pence to not grovel?
7
Suddenly the “deep state” CDC is good. Might help slow the stock market decline!
2
I've got six pence. Will he tell us to pray. This is going to end badly.
1
Ahhh. . . . Since Trump has gutted the entire administration of intelligent thinkers, their inept response to the Coronavirus will be blamed on Pence, the fall guy.
8
Putting Pence in charge. I guess that makes sense. Prayer is very inexpensive.
Get real!
6
We are not ready for it.
3
Trump looked like Frankenstein.
6
Drop back ten and punt.
1
Mike Pence says they have a vaccine that is ready to be tested. Volunteers (except gays) can apply online for this test at ....
3
Do you think he can do as well as he did for Puerto Rico?
3
Remind us, where did Pence get his doctorate in public health?
Oh, and remember how well he did with controlling HIV in Indiana
9
We're pretty much all goners then.
2
What’s Pence going to do - pray away the coronavirus? What a joke!
2
Why did Trump's news conference just remind me of Kevin Bacon in Animal House during the parade reminding everyone to remain calm? Pence in "charge". Good God.
1
Mike Pence in charge of this for America? Thoughts and prayers.
5
No one seems to want to mention the world's great genius cut all the funding to the World Health Organization in his new budget since it is connected to the UN.Mike Pence can he take time out from standing behind Trump looking stupid ever notice is that real hair is it painted on. Pence when he was governor of Indiana cut off the funding to clean the rest rooms on the highway. Think I make this up check back he said there would be volunteers and also cleaning products put outside the doors so people could help themselves. Yes he will is he person for the virus. Will him mummy come along. Jim Trautman
6
So the person put in charge also very much hopes for the world to end so he can be raptured to paradise leaving the rest of us to perish. This is very comforting, what could possibly go wrong?
9
Okay, Pence is in charge. Prayer circles to fight pathogens it is. And who says Trump is averse to expertise?
4
So at least now through experiment we’ll see prayer and the Bible doesn’t fight disease?
2
Pence will become the scapegoat, thereby giving Trump a excuse to dump him from the ticket.
6
I am very relieved to know that Mr. Pence will do what he does for every problem------commence praying the illness away. It gives one hope.
1
I won't believe the US is ready for this outbreak until tRrump upgrades his response from "very very" ready to "very very very very very" ready.
5
Trump claims the administration has everything under control and we're fully prepared to deal the corona virus epidemic. He referred to a recent report out of Johns Hopkins* about international epidemic preparedness and the fact that the US ranks number one.
Per the actual report, the bad news is the following:
'1. National health security is fundamentally weak around the world. No country is fully prepared for epidemics or pandemics, and every country has important gaps to address.'
'2. Countries are not prepared for a globally catastrophic biological event.'
So Trump says everything is ok, but the best science that he's comfortable referring to, but doubtless hasn't read, says NO COUNTRY is ready for a pandemic. Hold on to your seats. The ride could be very rough with a leader who is way out of his depth.
*https://www.ghsindex.org
1
Is that Dr. Pence? What Jared has something better to do?
5
Looks like Pence is dispensible in the 2020 election.
7
President Trump is a germaphobe. I can only imagine his paranoia in the Oval Office with the Covid-19 outbreak.
If any problem facing the US demanded adult attention from Trump, you would think it would be this.
Instead, we have a “thoughts and prayers” religious zealot running the show instead of a scientist with the expertise and respect of the front-line organizations.
Covid-19 cares little about titles and wealth.
5
Trump taps Pence? So, no one will get better but all the women will lose reproductive rights.
8
Pence as the Coronavirus Czar? Of course. We all know of his extensive medical background.
2
I assume Pence and Mommy will be tasked to pray away the coronavirus.
4
What would we base any trust on - why would anyone trust this administration?
1
And what’s Trump going to do? Tweet? Attack the media? Scream at rallies? What kind of a leader is that?
1
We have no experts left, but now at least we have God on our side.
6
didn't take him long to blame the stock selloff on the democrats though.
Is Kushner busy or has he fallen out of grace?
2
@Tropics When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
Dr Pence must be terribly conflicted in this appointment. Does he work hard to minimize the damage or does he promote that which he most desires...The Rapture
4
The worse thing about this is that Pence will give PR of sound bites out to the public to protect Trump’s stock market for his re-election. He will dish misinformation and mind his master. Anyone think that Pence wasn’t part of the Ukrainian team to get dirt on Biden? He will do anything for Trump.
4
Pence's leading the virus response will provide the perfect pretense to drop him from the ticket as VP and replace him with Nikki Haley.
3
Pence. Whew! I was worried for a minute.
5
5 minutes in, and Trump has already lied by saying a vaccine will be ready “fairly quickly.”
And they’re all standing up and verbally worshipping Trump.
This is outrageous.
6
You could see Trump was going nuts when Fauci was explaining how long it would be until there might be a vaccine. I thought he was going to push him aside.
2
It is telling how Azar is referring to the President as taking a leadership role that scientists 'support', rather than taking guidance from them and from professionals who have devoted their professional lives to understanding epidemiology and public health, and to find the best practices available to be prepared.
Everything has to be about this naked emperor. And heaven forbid that any accurate or true information irritate his supporters, lest they be doxxed. This is what politicized governing looks like. What a disgrace.
1
Oh, Azar is a hopeless Trump
sycophant, so don’t expect much of anything useful from him. I wonder is he agrees with Pence that prayer will save the day?
The CDC may try, with whatever experts the agency may still have around who are permitted to exercise their experience, to do something useful, even over Pence’s interference.
I’d rather put my confidence in state departments of health/public health, but I feel sorry for people in Trump-leaning states who can’t even rely any longer on their GOP governments!
“Trump Taps Pence to Lead Virus Response”.
If I was taking a sip of coffee when I read that headline, I would have spit all over my phone.
6
A devout Evangelical who is against science?
So we're just supposed to pray and accept God's will then?
If we could find a way to turn ourselves into fetuses, maybe we'd have a chance with Pence.
6
Great news. A person who believes in end times in charge of leading the national response to a pandemic. What could go wrong?
7
Having purged the public service of all of the expertise it would need to bring to bear to combat the pandemic, Trump now appoints Pence to take the fall for the inevitable disaster.
Why does the Republican Party continue to enable this sociopath?
4
Oh I feel so much better now! Put a guy a who believes that praying will solve problems in charge of something that only science can fix. We - are - doomed.
3
@Dan Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
or somesuch thing
So the former Indiana governor who had to pray about whether or not implement a needle exchange program during an HIV outbreak is now charged with overseeing the Coronavirus response for the entire nation. Glad I stocked up on whiskey.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/08/us/politics/mike-pence-needle-exchanges-indiana.html
8
Mr. Stephen King: Your The Stand is happening.
4
Well I feel much better knowing Pence is in charge - NOT.
1
Trump just announced Pence will be his Coronavirus czar. It’s a total setup. The government is clueless, in denial and will definitely mishandle this. What better way to ensure pence has no future.
3
I find the liberal response to the administration’s actions to address the corona virus appalling and despicable. Their hatred for Trump knows no bounds. Real experts agree that the actions taken by the administration have been quick and effective. But the onslaught of criticism by the liberals is never ending. Amazing.
@R.R
Rush and Hannity don't count as real experts. Neither do bootlicks who fear for their jobs.
8
@R.R by “real experts”, do you mean Pence, and the rest of a Trump’s yes women/men?
2
Sorry, but when a serial liar (and linguistic cripple) tells me the "vaccine is going well" I am not reassured, not am I reassured when a somnolent yes man who happens to be vice president is chosen to lead the government effort to protect us from the corona virus. I would much rather hear a candid and factual assessment from the head of the CDC or some other medical professional.
7
Putin really has to wonder if he pushed his luck too far with Trump. This virus is going to boomerang on him and everyone else. A responsible leader is desperately needed.
Trump ain’t it. Neither is Pence.
5
Oh, Pence is in charge! This should be good...
3
Am I supposed to feel better with toady Pence in charge?
Wouldn't it be nice for everyone to have health coverage and paid sick leave?
3
Mark the time when President Trump tweets out Vice President Spence who he has appointed to as the “Scar” and in charge of Coronavirus response.
2
Pence is taking the lead on this. God help us all.
4
Pence in charge?? Another Trump "best person"??
Pence CAUSED an HIV epidemic in his state of Indiana when he was governor when he shut down a rural testing site because it was at the Planned Parenthood. The number of cases dwarfed the number in NYC.
He prayed for days about whether to supply clean needles to his population until his Lt. Gov told him to get on it because people were dying.
9
First question Mr. Coronavirus Czar Pence - are you going to request that full funding be restored for the CDC and all science departments related to helping to find a cure or reduce the spread of the disease?
5
Tremendous economy, greatest unemployment figures - all campaign talk but no concrete measures or competent proposals or plans being taken re the crisis the country is facing. I am glad to be in Europe that 'prides itself in open borders'
1
Listening to the conference now, and it's clear that he doesn't understand what is happening. He doesn't get the subtleties. He's treating this like a quick hustle, trying to be reassuring, but coming across like he's a salesman pushing merchandise to a suspicious buyer, not dealing with life and death.
27
@LH yes, amazing that the doctors are telling him it’s serious, and he’s trying to tell us it’s not and that he’s in control, along with Pence!
3
We may need more than Pence's prayers.
18
They are talking from the one who knows nothing to the ones who know the most. Trump looked impatient and bored after babbling about different numbers. He looked disoriented and less articulate than usual.
18
Wow. Trump is virtually incoherent. How can he be permitted to remain in office??
29
@WDP
No kidding. This is the first time in no telling how long that I've seen him speak at length in real time rather than just seeing bytes on the news. He makes no sense at all. Responded to the question about whether he's working with China with bragging about some trade deals and didn't even mention the virus -- the whole reason for the presser. Whether it's dementia or old fashioned stupidity, we're in trouble either way.
7
Doctors and nurses fighting coronavirus in China die of both infection and fatigue.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-02-25/doctors-fighting-coronavirus-in-china-die-of-both-infection-and-fatigue
8
For Trump the only issues he sees with the virus is it can affect the stock market and his re-election. His press conference is a joke. Me, me, me. Now he’s berating the Fed. Oh my.
23
So when this blows up, Pence will get the blame.
Which means Trump wants someone else as a running mate next time around.
Will it be Jared? Or Ivanka?
26
Of course this is Trump's plan. That way when it implodes he gets to blame Pence.
And Pence -- you can't pray the virus away.
22
Pence is in charge of a public health crisis response? The same Pence who wrote a 2001 newspaper column that said connections between smoking and fatal disease are overblown by nanny state politicians and “the media.” We are, indeed, very ready for this.
30
Not reassuring to have a guy, Pence, who counts on God to take care of everything, in charge of dealing with a potential epidemic.
19
Perfect. Few people realize that Pence is a world-famous, world-class epidemiologist and virologist. BLOTUS assured us during the 2016 that he knows all the best people and this is further proof of this outlandish and unfounded claim. Thank goodness BLOTUS’s gutting of the CDC and NHS will have no adverse affect on efforts to arrest and cure the Coronavirus.
17
@Donald Seberger
Thanks for that - I was one of the many suckered in by Pence's convincing cover as a lawn ornament.
3
Well, thank goodness Mike Pence is on the case. We can all rest well tonight!
17
@Concerned
"Mike will get it done."
Great, He will be screaming, "Lock her up." Then of course he will pray over it an it will all be fine. A simple job really for Dr Pence. What, Me Worry!
8
Trump seemed uncomfortable today talking about how much money the government should spend on dealing with COVID-19. I wonder if he's worried that it could cut into the money he's trying to appropriate to build his wall.
9
Oh great!
A divisive, evangelical, end-of-timer will "lead the response" to the viral pneumonia pandemic that already threatens millions with the proverbial "end" of times. What could go wrong here? Shouldn't he be disqualified for religious reasons because in his mind this virus portends what's "written" in that collection of ancient fairy tales and he's more apt to welcome it rather than prepare anyone to avoid it.
16
Trump taps Pence to manage our nation's future health?
Now, I starting to feel ill.
18
I’m surprised that Trump hasn’t added pandemic prevention to Kushner’s list of duties.
10
45's first instinct to a science-based crisis is to appoint someone in charge who believes that women were created from a rib, and have pain in childbirth only because they accepted a fruit from a talking snake.
30
Could we just, for one day, leave politics out of it and simply support each other? I shouldn’t have to preface this by saying that I despise Trump. But I want him to succeed in this. Shouldn’t everyone? Besides, this isn’t an American epidemic but a worldwide one. If there was ever a time to feel our connectedness, this should be it.
8
@Katie
You’re right, just that hating Trump is now a reflex.
2
Plausible deniability. If the Government contains the virus Trump will take full credit.The VP and senior officials will lavishly praise Trump. If a disaster occurs VP Pence wears it and Trump avoids personal responsibility. A typical Trump ploy.
8
Unfortunately when the president speaks, I cannot believe a word he says. And what makes him & his followers so sure they're immune to the Coronavirus?
14
Great! Now I feel safe.
4
Listening to him speaking at his press conference is like listening to a grade school child. He just keeps repeating himself over and over again. He provided information in the first minute after that its been repetitive dribble. Now he’s blaming the drop in the stock market to the democratic debate. I can listen to no more!
16
When it comes to Trump...no confidence, no trust, no credibility.
14
During the press conference, Trump looks like he's about to fall asleep. Oh, I forget, he is asleep---at the wheel, that is, except where it concerns him. That he states that "We're very very ready for this," makes me think otherwise. Never trust a pathological liar because they are usually wrong.
11
Mike Pence has just been appointed the fall guy. Trump needed a high roller to fire in case this just doesn't go well. VP Pence, watch your back!
5
I should feel better because Mile Pence is now in charge of the Coronavirus response, right?
7
This guy blames the drop in the stock market on a Democratic debate, backtracks on needing someone leading our pandemic efforts but says he isn’t, reverses his claim that it’ll all by over by April, uses this press conference to praise himself for everything, doesn’t own his cuts to CDC or failure to insist on US experts being in China to assist and coordinate, and on and on and on. Didn’t know how many people die from the flu.
Republicans, won’t it be fun if a literal virus from a dictatorial country takes down this reprehensible leader, instead of digital mayhem getting him re-elected?
8
Mike Pence? This is supposed to make me feel confident that our government is combating the virus effectively? Really?
8
Thoughts and prayers, especially prayers. And if things get bad, it's somebody else's fault.
4
Trump is comparing flu deaths to this virus. The flu has had plenty of time to become an effective predator. If we become laxed corona may equal the flu in 12 months.
4
By naming Pence to head the Coronavirus response, Trump now has someone to blame when it goes sideways.
5
I feel so much more assured now that VP. Pence is involved. Maybe he can appoint a few experts to his team, you know, like the entire crew of Doctors that were fired in 2018.
11
Listening to President Trump is horrifying. He keeps referring to “the problem.” I don’t think he actually understands what is going on. He can’t stop himself from pivoting to the economy and industries who are going to suffer losses and attacking his perceived enemies.
Investors are more concerned about dying a preventable death under the watch of this administration than the fluctuations in the stock market.
7
Ah yes, Mr. Pence, with the extensive medical/scientific background.
Perhaps he will deal with the possible catastrophe by praying for it not to affect the United States?
12
Just what we need- Trump is appointing a know nothing politician to try to save us from the coronavirus. This will not end well for our families, communities, and economies. Expect more collapse of global economy, more pandemic, more deaths, all while Trump keeps telling us that everything is perfect. Look no further than Trump’s example of dealing with global heating. He solved it by saying that it doesn’t exist and that all the expert scientists are wrong- all while people are losing their homes and communities to global heating. Trump even wants America to burn even more coal and oil! To think that our families’ lives are in the hands of Trump presidency is beyond bizarre!
3
Well, since he does not believe in evolution a vaccine may not be necessary. We can just pray it away.
7
It's nice watching President Trump address the nation in an emergency. Very real leadership on display! Now compare this to the Democratic Debate from last night.
1
Um, appointing an epidemiological expert to head up the coronavirus response would have shown leadership. Pence is famous in Indiana for having to pray on an HIV crisis for two months before he could act, the result being a full blown public health catastrophe.
4
He appointed Pence to coordinate the response.
So we're gonna pray it away.
4
Given the copious volume of cronyism, ineptitude, complete disregard for the less fortunate and blatant dishonesty we have witnessed from this administration, I am personally terrified … My only remaining hope for this presidency (please, please -let us not have a crisis of significant magnitude), is now gone. I should add that the sum of this administration's legacy (pre world wide health crisis) does amount to a crisis of significant magnitude on its own.
4
Maybe, maybe just maybe a microscopic virus could cause the collapse of the Communist regime in China.
That would be glorious.
The people of China are incredible friendly, curious, civil, law-abiding human beings.
While Pence doesn't make me feel all that confident. It could be worse. Trump could've put himself in charge!
2
Pence in charge? You mean the one who denies climate change and almost anything to do with science? He has ZERO training. AND he will say to the public whatever Trump tells him to say. This is going from bad to worse.
12
This, from Trump, shows how concerned his isn't:
1.35 Billion cut from the CDC on Feb. 9, 2018
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-will-cdc-cuts-affect-health-programs-abroad-and-at-home
12.5 Million he gives back on Dec. 20, 2019 -- for gun research only -- other research halted due to a lack of funding.
7
It’s a shame how Trump put Pence to oversee this large issue when he could direct people who specialize in the fields required to make sure we protect our citizens from the virus and protect those who do get sick with it and help them with the bills that can come about this. Our healthcare system is strained and the people who do contract it might not want to or be able to get help from hospitals because of the cost that comes with it. I just hope we can work to help fight against this virus and take all precautionary steps to fight this virus without being racist or prejudice to those who have contracted it and need help.
1
Good news that Pence has been appointed to this task. He will pray for us, and I'm sure this will be highly effective in preventing a pandemic.
13
Wash your hands but oddly I have not seen instructions in the media about how to do it. For those who rinse their hands and dry them, it's unlikely to do much good. Far better is a good scrubbing with soap and water, between fingers and around finger nails of each hand before a final rinse. It takes longer but should be worth the effort.
4
CDC website will help. I think it was established before Trump and Azar gutted the agency of all its experts.
The CDC needs to guide us on this. Not politicians. That might worsen a potential disaster.
3
Ann Schuchat (and her eyebrows) is my hero!
1
His pink tie was a nice change.
Everything else was as usual.
2
We and the rest of the world are facing a global health crisis, long predicted but ill-prepared. Having the president we do exacerbates the threat terribly. This may be the shock to the global system that everyone feels. And Trump cannot lull his base as a way out of this.
1
I ll be more reassured when the administration puts forward a scientific and researched method to handle this problem. And hopefully; they will re instate the pandemic- crisis team. This is not a problem that Pence can” pray away”.
4
Hopefully Pence will have a lot more than thoughts and prayers to bring to the effort.
2
Huge problem here: all authoritarian governments lie. And we now have an authoritarian President, with a well established pattern of lying. So whatever they tell us about the virus in coming days/weeks/months should be regarded with maximum skepticism.
5
The amount of trust that I have in Trump and his gang’s ability to contain and control coronavirus is a zero percent.
He gutted the agencies that would take care of pandemics. That says it all.
6
If Pence approaches this health crisis the way he responded to the Aids crisis in Indiana, we're in trouble.
As governor he went against the advice of the medical community and many of his advisors to allow a needle exchange program as a way to stem the spread of Aids in rural Indiana. His delay not only allowed the disease to spread but cost the unnecessary loss of lives.
Sorry, Mr. Vice President, prayer is not the solution.
8
He's speaking in platitudes, is providing no specific or useful information, and has no credibility due to the thousands of lies he has told since taking office. I am not reassured whatsoever by this press conference.
7
So.....our science-averse President placed our science-averse Vice President in charge of overseeing the response to a global pandemic that is still unfolding.
The facepalm moments continue to pile up with this Presidency. I am hoping we get out of this on sheer luck (i.e. CDC officials are really running the show) because it won't be on the prowess of the Trump-Pence brain trust.
5
So Trump has appointed Mike Pence as point person. As I predicted earlier today (Wed 2/26) Trump would pick a yes man and a sycophant who is utterly void of any expertise at all in epidemics, virology, disaster relief, or passing laws.
Whatever happens Pence has proven that he will praise Trump's expert handling.
"We're very, very ready for this ..." Oh come on, no we aren't, we don't even have the widespread testing capability to tell whether we have an epidemic here or not. If we were planning a road trip all the tires would be flat, the battery dead and no gas in the tank.
An emergency funding request has been sent to Congress, so we'll start hiring people to enable spending in a month or two. Good work Donald. Great strong leader when vacuous lies are in order. But not so much if there is a serious problem.
3
Trump may think he is saying the right things to calm people down. But, of course, since we know anything like that from his mouth will be a lie, really we need to be very, very concerned!
And having a prayer-meister in charge is not remotely soothing! Or likely to be able to solve the true virus problem!
2
Would you characterize the US as having open boarders between the states? It’s the EU, certainly not open boarders!
If Trump had paid attention in science class, he'd know that it will take months, maybe years, to develop a vaccine--if the Republicans don't completely cut research funding first.
13
We’ve been lucky Trumps incompetency has not been put to a real test. Looks like we just ran out of luck.
21
Pence is running the US Government’s Coronavirus response. The markets will really tank now.
23
Once again, Trump is playing the media like a fiddle and the media is allowing itself to be played by asking him questions that allow him to pivot to his perennial talking points. For facts about the administration response, questions should be addressed to the doctors who have to follow the Hippocratic oath. Will the media never learn?
15
The biggest issue with coronavirus in the US is the cost of healthcare. Who is going to go to the doctor or get tested for coronavirus (if/when an accurate test is developed) if there is the potential to get stuck there and slammed with thousands or tens of thousands in medical bills? I for one, if I contract this, will be staying at home.
20
I look forward to receiving a Pence coronavirus kit: a bible, and a cross.
117
Well, that update Trump was not very reassuring.
I was in Belize last week. When we disembarked from the plane, we were met by health officials who asked each passenger their travel history before we could proceed to passport check and customs. When we flew back to the US on Sunday through Dallas, we were met by no one. There was no extra screening, no additional questions asked and I don't even recall seeing a sign referencing coronavirus. Tremendous job?
68
Where’s the team of our best experts who will have the freedom to weigh in honestly and without coercion? So many experts throughout the government have been purged or threatened when they wanted to do what’s best for the country.
32
I find it odd that pretty much all of these speakers need to talk about the great leadership of Pres. Trump on this issue. It as though his team scripted their remarks.
Aside from that, it's also a bit odd that although there appears to be no current major threat in the US, they suggest it wouldn't be a bad time to dust off the old pandemic manual apparently all of us (and schools) keep close in hand.
But perhaps the best message this conference illustrates is this administration might actually have to rely on good science in order to make sound management decisions.
24
@warrior ant press
If you don't kiss his ring you're fired.
3
It's easy to have a low number of coronavirus cases when we only rarely test for it.
57
If this 'administration' believed in basic science and had not slashed funding for the CDC, NIH and other bulwarks whose mission is to protect the health and well being of the American people, the wouldn't be so vulnerable.
Prevention is the name of the game; not catch up.
47
The President has just pledged the full resources of our government to provide health prevention and care during this epidemic, for the public benefit.
In other words, Trump is putting into action the socialized healthcare that Sanders envisions - government providing healthcare for all.
28
@Bill
But of course they wouldn't agree to contain pricing for patients on a vaccine, once it's developed, because the 1% investors have got to get their cut from this disaster.
17
Winston Churchill prepared for imminent invasion from Germany during WW II. He knew we would be overrun before the Royal Navy could get back in time repel the bulk of the invasion. Thus, everything went into slowing down the pace of invasion until the Royal Navy could put a halt to German numbers, whilst the Royal Air Force put paid to any troops parachuting in. Britain had the only official Resistance movement assembled, organised and trained BEFORE an invasion in history. In the 70’s war games were played between Germany and Britain to ascertain the effectiveness of Churchill’s preparations. It was found the slow down was extremely effective.The Germans were stopped and invasion fought off.
It occurs to me that this pandemic is starting to look just as inevitable as an force invasion and the best we can hope for is a serious slowdown of infections so that medical services, supplies, supply chains and economies can avoid being so overwhelmed they suffer a complete breakdown.
21
@Emma - Don't expect much in the way of a proactive coordinated strategy from this pathetic seat-of-the-pants goon squad...
Mike Pence is no Winston Churchill.
1
Last year, the Fed issued a report that found that"four in 10 American adults wouldn’t be able to cover an unexpected $400 expense with cash, savings or a credit-card charge that could be quickly paid off."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/business/economy/fed-400-dollar-survey.html
Americans are already living on the edge financially - how in the world are workers here going to deal with the unpaid time off needed to stay home when they're sick? Or the medical bills that are going to result? The only reason China has been able to slow the contagion is because their workers are being paid to stay home, and they all have free healthcare....
95
Reuters:
"Through Tuesday, the S&P 500 had fallen 7.6% from its record high last Wednesday, wiping out more than $2.1 trillion of value in just four days, a historic loss in paper wealth."
And the coronavirus news really only hit America this week. Buckle up, folks.
26
Wiki--- “Paid sick leave is a statutory requirement in …most European, many Latin American, a few African Asian countries…”
It's also a common norm of decency--- and America doesn't have it.
Washington Post Feb 13—
“Employers who don’t offer paid sick leave are making flu season worse --- and hurting their own bottom line.”
Says … “ Per BLS statistics, 28 percent of U.S. civilian workers — about 45 million — have no access to paid sick leave.”
So millions of Americans “have a choice: go to work sick, or stay home and forgo pay.”
And millions need their pay for rent and food for their families.
NYT– How to Prepare for the Virus -----
… “many people who work in minimum-wage jobs do not get sick days. Sometimes they must work even when ill, despite the fact that they have a lot of contact with the public.”
Here is a vivid example of America’s backwardness and the effect that lack of national standards may have on our lives.. We the public come into contact with workers who come to work sick.
Thus, Universal Employee Paid Sick Leave must now be a huge issue for 2020 candidates in the debates and town halls.
And link it to America's unaffordable health care for multi-millions – now with an international threatening pandemic.
Some will argue--- but to keep us FREE FROM GOVT MANDATES is worth all the possible illness and deaths.
For some, it's worth it. That’s actually been the underlying argument against universal health care in US politics.
37
Those same people are going to have a tough time preparing for this virus. I’d love to know just how exactly people living paycheck to paycheck are going to afford to stock up on food and medicine to last a few weeks. My employer isn’t going to pay me early that’s for certain. And just try filling your meds early-insurance won’t pay for it.
24
@jackson. Not everyone has a job where they can work from home. Especially in retail. I'm a 911 operator how do I work from home?
12
@Jackson a gentle reminder that not everyone is an office/IT worker who can work from home. Most jobs that involved personal contact (usually low-paid) are jobs that must be done in person. I spent my working life in hospitals and I assure you that there was nothing that could be done from home.
4
I am not surprised by the short term memory of modern day people, especially in this day and age of computers!
People forget that Chinese doctors were punished for their warnings and ended up dying, all because of the oppressive socialist country in which they live!
People forget that the oppressive socialist country called China did not share vital information about Covid-19 with our CDC.
People forget that the head of WHO complained that there was no evidence that massive quarantines would work.
Despite having computers, people forget that history always repeats itself and if you want to see what is coming, Google 1918 Flu Pandemic and see what our leaders did and did not do in each town, city, county, state and country!
People forget that our current US Federal Budget is at $4.829 trillion and growing.
People forget that our country's financial resources are limited, that the word to always remember is "FINITE" that with all the threats out in the world, we can not be prepared for every possibility!
Government is not the solution - it is the problem and always will be!
So the question is not what Government is doing, it is what have you done to prepare?
Are you up to date on vaccines? Have extra food, water, gloves, cleaning supplies?
If you really want to place blame on something - stand in front of a mirror and take a good look!
During an emergency, the only one you can count on is yourself!
6
@The Critic: So you don’t visit a doctor when sick, don’t need the fire department because it’s your own fault if your home burns, don’t need police because you weren’t watching out for that mugger, etc., You just sit in your bunker with a face mask on, with a gun on sharp and food and water for three months, a generator and a tank full of oil, as long as it lasts. And you can afford to not go to work and be without a salary until the pandemic ends. Good luck with that!
36
@The Critic
Please explain how America's "socialism" caused 2 million deaths in this country during the Spanish flu epidemic?
All of what you think of as socialism here (Social Security, Medicare, TANF, Obamacare, minimum wage, etc.) were enacted partially because America was not socialist ENOUGH during that epidemic, which helped lead to the Great Depression.
You might also want to note that Trump is currently suing the NY Times for libel over their coverage of the Mueller report. and also his adoration of the authoritarian leaders of China and North Korea.
24
@The Critic - Got it! Government is ALWAYS the problem until you NEED it. Speaking of FINITE financial resources, on December 22, 2017, the word to remember was INFINITE financial resources with a $1,500,000,000,000 gift/subsidy to people who didn't need it with no hope of return.
25
A good question at the Democrat debate would have been, “President Trump has called for spending at least an additional 2.5 billion dollars to combat the Coronavirus in the US. What would you do differently than spending that added amount. “
5
@Rock Winchester
Maybe you missed it, but Trump has cut over $1 billion from the CDC's funding since taking office.\
A better question might be, "Will you as president restore funding for America's scientific agencies so they can do the job they were created for?"
57
@Rock Winchester A good reply would have been "It's great to see President Trump finally agrees with Sanders and is on board for government providing healthcare for all!"
6
@J Anders Also 2.5 million dollars transferred from such things as heat subsidies for the poor and monitoring for other viruses will probably be two few dollars tomake a difference and will have all sorts of secondary repercussions when the money goes missing from other places.
Just to quote the advice in the story:
"Most surgical masks are too loose to prevent inhalation of the virus.
If you are infected, however, a mask can help prevent the spread of a virus."
If the mask is too loose, why would there be a difference between inhaling and emitting the virus?
6
@Ambrose
It's VIRAL PNEUMONIA. You can catch it through the membrane in either eye.
7
@Moehoward
Banks have quiet protocals these
Outlier events can cause increase in cash withdrawals
We need to calmly take a few steps without the nanny state
Talking down about common sense advise. KIDS Need to be watched and protected if this gathers steam
@Ambrose my friend went out in the last snowstorm with a jacket that was too loose. But it helped.
1
Guns are still far, far more dangerous than the Coronavirus. No panic from the media.
21
@DSD Exactly. Over 100 people die by gun per day in the U.S. Four children per day die by gun in the U.S. But that’s old news to Americans, nothing to fret about.
7
@DSD
IGNORANCE, such as the above, is more dangerous than anything you could ever imagine.
5
@DSD So nobody should worry about viruses until guns are outlawed ?
Don’t panic! I’m sure trump will assign someone very competent and NOT trained in epidemiology to develop a cure. At his press conference today we will learn that this is all a liberal hoax and Jared and Ivanka will add this to their portfolios to develop a cure.
74
@Oliver Your prediction of someone very competent and not trained became true: Mike Pence. I feel so comforted...not.
1
I hate to break your anti-Trump bubble, but Trump just quoted Dr. Fauci.
1
Apparently it's Pence 🤦🏻♂️
So the GOP happily put a bunch of incompetents in government in exhange for some tax cuts for the rich.
Well we are all about to experience the consequences. Underfunded government. More without insurance, anti-science people running hugely important institutions.
And that trump bump will of course evaporate.
Greedy Old Party will destroy us all.
59
@scientella
actually a bunch of individual voters happily put a bunch of GOP incompetents in government in exchange for some tax cuts for the rich and corporations.
11
@Mary Elizabeth Lease you're right, and they're still out there and ready to vote for him again. Not a reassuring time.
6
Has Donald Trump put American lives at risk? I think so. In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. President Barack Obama had set up that organization after the 2014 worldwide Ebola outbreak when Obama realized that the multiple U.S. government departments and agencies were not speaking to one another or coordinating effectively. Now thanks to Trump that’s all gone.
43
Wrong. They are trying to slash the budgets for those agencies.
10
@Jackson No, I did not, considering he cut their funding in every budget he has produced.
3
What is your source? All sources I find say Trump significantly cut the funding of the CDC and task forces the Obama administration put in place used to battle pandemics.
Even with our current flu outbreak (basically swine flu), 50% of Americans are not vaccinated against it. It already has killed over 10,000 this year. This means that I'm not holding my breath to see whether Americans actually abide by the personal hygiene procedures that the Chinese have been carrying out, much less actually take a vaccine. Let me guess. The enlightened US response will be, 'We don't need no stinking shot!'
13
@Dan Holton Good point. Holding your breath won't do anything -- unless you can hold it a really, really long time.
At best, the short to medium term plan is containment, so that outbreaks are localized and do not overwhelm the health care resources of that locality. But sooner or later, the virus will come to every place until there is a vaccine.
The economic dislocation will be serious, because every good and service relies on a location that could be under lockdown. The longer a supply chain, the greater the odds a lockdown will affect it. I imagine that just as the Apple factories in China reopen, the port of Los Angeles will close, as an example. And as soon as the Port reopens, UPS will close.
But the worst case scenario isn’t the virus , it is the mutation that will come when a billion humans in total have become hosts of the current virus.
19
@Yeah Virus strains that are less likely to kill their hosts are more likely to be transmitted. Consequently once the epidemic is initiated, usually by interspecies transfer, pandemic viruses mutations invariably reduce the death rate, ultimately making the virus innocuous. This is why pandemics usually peak within a few months and then disappear.
13
@Yeah Yes, first a billion humans and pretty soon we're talking about real numbers !
So Trump is holding a news conference today to blame the media for covering the story and to blame the Democrats for not doing anything about the coronavirus. I assume he’ll bring his sharpie pen to mark up a map to show us what’s really going on.
219
@Richard Fleming
And don't forget, he will find a way to blame Obama!
18
The U.S. is going to be in a vulnerable place with this president when it comes to battling an infectious disease, not least because he's a liar and his instinct will be to downplay it so that it doesn't affect his precious economic boom. Good luck guys.
66
@Mandylouwho
Great post, except that it is not his economic boom. The growth trends started under President Obama and, if anything, have slowed under Trump while the deficit has exploded.
15
My daughter is a doctor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She told me her hospital has a COVID19 case as do several other hospitals in the area and they're not being publicized because they're trying to 1) control hysteria, 2) abide by HIPAA laws, and 3) prohibit access by the media. These cases have been reported to the appropriate health entities such as the CDC yet the public is being kept in the dark.
536
@Sue
Her hospital is being irresponsible if it is suppressing the truth. And as to HIPAA laws, it doesn't prevent any doctor from talking about a potential public health problem. What it does restrict is the physician's ability to name any individual patient which would be irrelevant.
And it would be especially important to know if the CDC, the agency we are expecting to keep us informed and provide us with advice, is deceiving us as you imply. Could it be that the CDC has been unable to confirm the diagnoses your daughter says her hospital has made.
49
@Sue
Absolutely no surprise.
SF China town has a large population.
Other major cities are probably keeping it quiet as well.
Meanwhile no one is at the helm. Trump had appointed no "Covid 19 Czar" to coordinate the government efforts to prepare for when this pandemic takes hold in the US.
The Dept of Homeland Security is shockingly unprepared. They have no idea how many cases even exist in the U.S., much less how many test kits are estimated to be needed.
Even Republican Senator John Kennedy has expressed alarm at the lack of coordination and the limited funding.
41
@Sue
Someone commented that SF had declared a State of Emergency now. One might assume that's to start preparedness but it may be that the facts on the ground do include active coronavirus cases now. The delay in information flow has been disheartening all around, but actively withholding information egregious. When did your daughter say this case came to light?
34
our great leader and stable genius will just use a sharpie and draw a circle around the country so the virus can't enter. If that doesn't work, surely the wall will.
133
@MB
If we were serious about dealing with COVID-19 we'd be promoting tax cuts and smaller government.
That's the cure for everything.
5
I have zero confidence in Trump and his criminal syndicate to confront this crisis head-on. Ignorance will reign supreme. He’ll blame some ‘crooked’ organization or claim that it’s a ‘deep state hoax’ or something equally detestable. Americans: You’re on your own when it comes to the coronavirus. People will die, markets will tank, schools and businesses will shutter, and Trump will go golfing. Time for Evangelicals to weigh in: Is this the End of Days? Your man is at the helm. Please advise.
274
We are all connected, for good and ill. If we kill off international institutions that bind us together in the human community, we will face tragedies in isolation. That is the Trump way.
If we build up international institutions that genuinely foster mutual human care and concern, we will face both challenge and opportunity together as the human family.
That is the only authentic future.
1023
@Paul C. McGlasson
The authentic present is under the management of a stable genius. Therefore, I presume there is nothing to worry about.
9
@Paul C. McGlasson
Yet in 21st century woke people choose just the opposite.
They want Dickensian 19th century style ethnocentric nations and their way of thinking such as antiVaccine etc.
Somehow we are not seeing same anti Vaccine ilk protesting when this type of issues.
Why they are not going out and protesting for no to development of vaccine against to Covid 19 ?, Why they are discrimination SARS, H1N1 and Covid-19 from the other viral infections?
4
@Paul C. McGlasson As a brotherhood of man as you point out, we are should ALL not point fingers and blame. Even people you don't like or disagree with. We ALL listen deeply to the others. For example, eating pangolin and bat which is clearly how this virus jumped species , perhaps we try to educate MAN as a species about not eating other species. No focusing on politics and the small stuff. This is much bigger .
11
The elite have tried everything to derail Trump. They got so frustrated they released a virus. Tells you everything you need to know.
1
I have a vital task for the government to take the lead on;
Airliners are pressurized in flight at higher altitudes. I have to assume that pressurization entails an amount of metered cabin air exchange to assure fresh air for the passengers and crew. That means that as fresh air is drawn in, some cabin air is exhausted, thus spewing out disease as it flies between cities. I thought of this after reading about the alarming rate at which the disease is spreading. It must be entrained in cabin air and the cabin air must be being exhausted to atmosphere as fresh air is directed inwards.
It is imperative that a fast moving F.A.A. guided Government directed program commence to engineer and install cabin exhaust air filtration equipment. This is not rocket science. Utilizing off the shelf filtration media incorporated in quickly designed and built enclosures attached to airliners exhaust ports could happen quickly and very effectively slowing down atmospheric contamination by disease that could be carried by rain into land.
Please just do it.
@PATRICK
Or if you could heat the exhaust past 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the virus would be killed.
2
I have to say that we are actually doing nothing to prevent Coronavirus in the US, except suggesting people not travel to certain areas. There are only 15 labs able to test for it, so how do you think we will even know how many cases we really have? We have a shortage of medical masks and gowns already and it hasn’t happened yet. When the virus makes its way to our shores we will be sorely unprepared and people will die because of it. I ask myself when did we stop being the “can do nation” and become the fumbling chaotic mess we are today?
12
I am astonished to see the negative undertone about European borders in your article about the spread of the coronavirus ("In the European Union, which prides itself on open borders ..."). I find this phrase out of context. Having open borders in Europe means no ID checks or visa requirements for traveling within the Schengen Area. Keeping the virus from spreading is not about border controls but about keeping it contained in the cities and areas it has already affected. How would a passport check at the border contain the spread of the disease? This sort of comment unnecessarily fuels far-right recriminations about closed borders.
19
I thought the exact same thing!!
3
@Marta
Me too
3
“About 175 people in Nassau County, which borders New York City, have been asked to self-quarantine for some period of time since the authorities started taking that precaution several weeks ago, he said.”
Of these only 83 agreed to self- quarantine??
How about the others??
6
@Stephan V
They’re at the supermarket, touching things.
4
Open borders are grand, until they're not.
2
Good lesson they just invited in the bubonic plaque of the 21 century.
1
To help combat the Coronavirus, Trump plans to “steal” over 500 million dollars that has been set aside to develop an Ebola vaccine and to control Ebola in the US. Democrats are very upset. Of course an Ebola vaccine has been in use for over a year and there have been only eleven cases of Ebola in the US in the last six years and none in the last three years. I guess that Democrats believe that it is better to prepare for a disease that has not been afflicting Americans for several years rather than a disease that is threatening the US today.
1
@Rock Worcester The perspective of Ebola as a world virus and not just US is what epidemiologists and prevention such as vaccines is looking at. Spread of diseases are a worldwide issue not just nations in isolation. Ebola is still an issue and needs a vaccine.
Just like the CDC needs the budget and manpower that has been already shockingly been reduced under this administration.
2
"In the European Union, which prides itself on open borders..."
Are you deliberately trying to help justify Trump's inhumane immigration policy with this?
8
The Planet just got turned upside down. The President of El Salvador has announced residents of Italy and South Korea are restricted from entry into the country. The Pandemic Announcement can't be that far away.
1
A simple question: are we even testing people, who go to U.S hospitals with flu symptoms, for the Coronavirus?
7
@maureen
As of 2/26 we have tested 445 people in the US. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html This is in contrast with 10s of thousands tested in other countries. Apparently there was a flub with rolling testing kits this week https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/25/cdc-coronavirus-test/
10
@maureen
Nope, not testing anyone.
We have far more cases than what is being quoted. It is not 15 people. Far more.
3
@maureen nope. took my kid to the local ER for lingering cough and fever, despite having flu vaccine. had traveled out of the country in the last two weeks. they only swabbed him for flu.
I have been observing the availability and prices of face masks for about a month and a half now and I have a few remarks. Perhaps most importance was the really thoughtless invention decades back called "on time production" that was designed to reduce costs associated with manufacturing inventory of both raw materials and finished products. I believe it originated in Detroit, and consider how that methodology worked out. So supplies of masks are hampered by a lack of inventory and as is the reality of many in business from face masks to oil, the prices have gone through the roof. Retailers would say it is due to "Supply and Demand" but my view is their price gouging is more along the line of "We have the supply, so we demand what we want". I'm an old guy who like all others know one thing about all of our people; that if there is someone to rob, there will be robbers.
But past the griping, the government has correctly diverted production to supplying health care centers and offices where the sick will be concentrated. I agree with that entirely, but why wasn't there adequate inventory in commercial businesses aside from the government emergency supplies likely only stocked for medical disciplines? Perhaps now, policy makers and business leaders will address shortages with 24/7 expanded production of traditional products and other needed products. Like the old Boy Scout Motto says; "Be Prepared". And Boy Scouts don't panic, we lead. Thanks.
6
The masks are readily available in local stores.
The lede "In Europe, which prides itself on open borders..." is patently offensive and borderline borderpatrol fascism. The spread of the disease in countries with tightly controlled populations such as China and into the USA despite the overspending of resources and verbiage on closing our borders renders the reference to free movement within European irrelevant and lends support to racism and nationalism. Europe's open borders are still more closed than interstate travel in the USA, over approximately the same geographical area. Are you suggesting passport checks along the Hudson? You owe your readers more.
29
February 1, 2018:
CDC to cut by 80 percent efforts to prevent global disease outbreak
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/02/01/cdc-to-cut-by-80-percent-efforts-to-prevent-global-disease-outbreak/
Smaller government theology is great. Until it's not...
12
Could someone explain why the database maintained by John Hopkins lists 57 confirmed Caronavirus cases in the US ( see link below) when I repeatedly read kn other major media sites that there are only 15 or 16? Also, a woman wrote, in a NY Times comment section recently, that her daughter, a nurse, knew of cases reported to the CDC but not released to the general public!. This is not reassuring when it comes to the “radical transparency” promised by the CDC and related agencies, https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
8
@Jace
42 of those cases are people who were passengers on the Diamond Princess in Japan. Fourteen of those passengers were known to be positive when they were flown back to the U.S. Apparently, another 28 have tested positive during their time in quarantine. This is interesting because this information hasn't been clearly disclosed to the public. Recall that some of these passengers were complaining about having to serve another 14-day quarantine after they returned to the U.S. That caution now seems warranted.
5
“In the European Union, which prides itself on open borders (...)” An American journalist struggles to understand European values. Queues in front of passport control points wouldn’t stop the epidemia.
17
We get it. There are Corona virus (CorV) infections more than Severe respiratory distress syndrome (SARS) CorV earlier this century which was wiped out from our planet. So in a way it is not new. Been there done that. Use the full force of the power of collective scientific knowledge to repeat the feat of eradicating viruses like smallpox and rinderpest.
Glad to notice that we as a nation is shifting from a panic mode to a preparedness mode while recognizing that TRAVEL to and from continents by infected persons could spread COVID-19 and restriction of travel from and to places where there are infected persons could stem the spread. Right now all continents on our planet except Africa and Antaractica are free of the virus but that could change.
Always thought the stock market will start creeping back again. Those who sold at a loss are at a loss. Never thought that trade war will be credited with preparing US for the war against CorV. Govts across the world have been awakened. Not sure whether it is because 3,000+ people will have died or because a dark cloud of global panic has set in due to ignorance or because inhabitants of the world are holding the feet of govts to fire. I read that President DJT is trying to appoint a CorV Czar. I hope it is some independent and not a donor or buddy of the admin. but someone who has a proper understanding of viruses foremost and will carry a blue print for a multi-pronged approach to the eradication of CorV before the end of June.
1
So an infectious entity has managed to spread across the continents, wreaking havoc and causing pandemonium. You can easily substitute the virus for humans and their effect on mother Earth.
6
*spectators. Thank you for keeping us informed!
The time of reckoning is coming for the United States and our broken health care system. It’s a minor miracle that we haven’t seen COVID-19 rip through American cities and towns. With tens of millions of Americans without healthcare insurance, we’re completely ill equipped to handle the virus. Faced with financial ruin, Americans who might have good reason to feel they’ve contracted the virus will attempt to self-treat and self-quarantine. This goes for Americans who face huge out-of-pocket co-payments if they access the care.
One thing that the U.S. federal government can do right now is to set aside funding so that the cost of test and treatment for COVID-19 and similar illnesses (flu and pneumonia) is completely paid by the government. This is one affirmative step that the government can take that will obviate the most vexing problem in an epidemic — people avoiding testing and treatment and becoming super-spreaders.
9
Unfortunately in the US there are only about 1000 test kits and about 800 tests per kit, per reports..Everything you write is true, except most will turn up in ER rooms due to their health and overcrowding, and lack of capacity of trained health workers and abundant sanitary supplies per populations will land up succumbing also, spreading the virus to many more. The for profit health system is not meant to handle and large populations of contagious persons. They business model is just that. They are based on treating what is most profitable and what strikes US patients most: heart care, cancer care and diabetes care and orthopedic replacements. These persons will be the most compromised and will be the most effected by the virus. Many rural hospitals are no more. City center hospitals are overcrowded and underfunded with academics carrying the load. Suburban hospitals are the most profitable but are severely unable to care for mass contagions. We will all wait to see what happens. Wash your hands all the time people!
1
Dear NYT:
You are missing an important part of this story: there is not sufficient testing of patients in the US.
Send any sick staffer with a cold to the doctor and see if they bother to test that person. I can tell you that here in NJ, we have not heard of anyone being tested. Perhaps that is the protocol but I would like an apples to apples comparison on how these countries are identifying who is sick and how that process would fare in the US.
I would also like to understand how sick the patients outside China are....How far into their disease are most patients? What are the outcomes thus far?
I ask because a Chinese friend showed me a hospital with dead bodies in the halls--a photo he got from a relative. While I don't know the origins of the photo, there is a disconnect from that photo to the American response. So either outcomes are better in Western countries, or perhaps outcomes are better if people are treated early in the disease....but if the tis the case, hear in the US, we are sitting targets. Especially in and around NYC.
We need more details.
8
Britain is preparing for mass testing through the General Practitioner system.
1
@GWE Before yesterday the cases in France had fully recovered, except for the elderly Chinese tourist who passed away who had come from Wuhan.
Then last night 60 year old French man from the northern part of France passed away; details are not know yet about his prior health before getting the virus, but he had not traveled to China nor Italy. There are 3 other cases: a 55 year old man in critical condition (again, prior health issues unknown but from the same town as the 60 year old who passed away), a 36 year old man who had traveled to Lombardy in Italy and is in stable condition, and a 64 year old man who also traveled to Lombardy and is in stable condition. Brings the total to 18 cases here for now.
The Paris-Milan train line has been stopped for now. School trips are being cancelled. The last days of the Nice Carnaval (not far from Italy border) where cancelled as well. I am still bracing myself.
There are hospitals designated in each region of France now to treat those with Coronavirus. Anyone who has to be placed in isolation even as a precaution will be able to receive up to 20 days of paid sick leave.
In any case, I am grateful to be in a country that has quality universal healthcare. I have had a better experience with it overall (and actually, LESS wait times) than when I was in the U.S.
3
GWE,
Britain is preparing mass testing of anyone with flu-like symptoms regardless of travel to infected regions. The NHS will begin these tests as a fact finding / research exercise with the intention of providing an early warning system if the virus appears to be spreading throughout the community without travel to infected areas. Until now, only those who’ve traveled to infected regions have been tested. A total of around 8000 tests have produced 13 positive tests, with 4 coming from the Diamond Princess and others from travel within France or Italy. All are quarantined on a base near Gatwick airport. There are 8 hospitals, representing each region of the country and hundred & hundreds of GP surgeries throughout the U.K. to monitor each county, though that is expected to increase, particularly through NHS senior medical homes. Though today several schools closed down in “an abundance of caution” after children returned from half-term holidays to Italy and two offices were emptied and self isolated after travel to Italy proceeded a positive test. All positive test locations are being mapped and the info distributed to the public by the BBC news service.
Clearly this is not an apples for apples comparison owing to the relative tiny-ness of our little island, our NHS system and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), but I hope this helps give an indication of what other countries are up to.
It's not been spread from Italy, come on, is already everywhere form months...
4
The US is underprepared for emergencies of all types because we have gone 70 years flushing money down a toilet to shoulder the military expenses of freeloading countries in the NATO alliance. More money for a variety of domestic needs will be available when we cut off profligate spending to those bums and tell them to form an EU Military.
3
@Dan M
Best way for the US to reduce defence spending would be to cut to the NATO target of 2% of GDP.
Why does the US spend nearly DOUBLE what it needs to on defence and then whine about countries which spend only slightly less - like France, 1.9%?
Canada is one of the biggest NATO laggards. How is that an EU responsibility?
2
Dan M,
You seem to be under the delusion that previous US presidents were such softies they just contributed cash to NATO members, rather than those presidents calculated the situation, though not ideal, was in the best interests of American military governance. An EU military force, made from all 28 nations and capable of rivalling the USA has been consistently dis-encouraged by US presidents and military.
You may get your wish though. Trumps clear demonstrations that America’s word can no longer be trusted and makes a very poor military alliance have been very c,ear. Why do you think Macron spoke of NATO “brain death” following Americas isolation? EU leaders are now trying to move public discussion in favour of an EU Armed Force.
Given the USA is also the only member state of NATO to invoke Article 5 (after 9/11) and as such decrease the number of US lives lost in the Mid East. Norway for instance, has lost proportionately more countrymen than the US in your wars. But then the Kurds lost 10,000 to your 12 men in Syria and we know how that turned out for them and America’s supposed allies. When Trump pulled out without notice, he left trapped 2000 from France alone.
Past US presidents however, did not view money alone as the cost of war.
The map showing cases in Japan is misleading, as it includes all the cases from the Diamond Princess ship. The WHO says there are 164 confirmed cases in Japan.
Once again, "The Wall" street tries to control minds by calling a potential upcoming recession; a "Black Swan".......Swans are good, not bad. And I remind everyone that there is a financial company called "Black Rock" that may be a more fitting characterization after decades of "The Wall" street empires exporting American industries and capital to China which has led us to the potential recession alluded to.
1
As usual, the "experts" were too little too late, appearing more concerned about upsetting China than saving lives. Iceland's has had a ridiculous policy of letting Chinese tourists in without restriction but quarantining Icelandic citizens who had been in China. Their explanation? It wouldn't be possible to quarantine the Chinese tourists, aka, Iceland would lose too much money. This short term, dishonest thinking will come back to bite all who chose to ignore the threat in spite of its clear risks!
4
America's public health system has been part of the GOP's "starve the beast" agenda for decades. Now we're going to find out how deep the water really is under the thin ice we've been skating on.
13
Bring it on. 8 billion people on the planet. Many living in close quarters and/or squalid conditions. Not enough food, animal species in danger of extinction, people killing each other all around the planet. Buy not fast enough. Mother nature's taking a swat at the pesky mosquitoes. Bring that population down to 4.5 to 5 billion and that will cure a lot of problems. Hunger, climate change and the traffic commute will all be improved. No need for congestion pricing and you will even get a seat on the subway.
5
The stark reality that there are too many people on the planet.
2
Why are we caught surprised by this new development？Didn't we all think it's a Chinese epidemic？This global spread proves that we've all been too complacent and that the WHO is incompetent or even irrelevant.
1
Our dear leader is attempting to downplay the risks of COVID19, the coronavirus, all for one purpose. The stock market is tanking because of the risk a pandemic poses to the world's and or economy. If the highly anticipated outbreak in the US does occur, it will bring down the Dow-Jones index and with it the a major bragging point for Trump. Without a booming stock market and the 401K's of the wealthy, his chances of re-election, even against Bernie become bleak.
2
But Goldman Sachs put out a report last month saying everything was fine.
It's not so much open borders as we are a globally connected world of travelers.
6
Although we haven't seen any wide spread of Coronavirus in this country, I haven't seen any concrete effort to prepare the upcoming anti-virus challenges. CDC warned us a day or two ago that virus will come for sure.
The problem is that we cannot take draconian measures such as China did to lock down towns or cities. We can only alert and remind people how contagious and fast spreading this virus is. Our health workers need to remind us constantly. A pound of preparation is worth more than ten pounds more of healthcare effort.
127
@Usok
"...we cannot take draconian measures such as China did to lock down towns or cities."
oh but we can and will...
17
@Usok - It hit Seattle about a month ago so its a little late now to panic:)
At this time of year, I think nothing of spending a month indoors. Usually, come early spring, neighbors will see me and say things like "we thought you either died or moved because no one has seen you". One winter the landlady talked to the maintenance man about entering my apartment to see if I had had a seizure or something. I laughed and told her why go outside when I have 16 hours a day of full spectrum lighting inside, a home gym, Netflix, Greatful Dead videos, bags of raw coffee beans from Ethiopia to roast, and if I need anything, I can simply call Jeff and ask him to leave it on my porch? When I look outside and see the cherry trees blooming, I will start to venture back out. But otherwise why? Its been dark and raining since Halloween. Three different times I thought my next door neighbors had moved because I had not seen or heard a sound next door for months at a time.
21
@Mary Elizabeth Lease That's silly. Families can't even get their kids to stop vaping, let alone stay home. People drive around with license plates that say "don't tread on me" even when noone is. I'd like to see this government try to "lockdown" a town / city.
3
We’d be in better shape here if Trump hadn’t fired the entire pandemic response team in 2018.
1207
@Arnold Johnston Also if he didn't create propaganda and lies to subvert the truth any time it suits him. This is a serious crisis, his constant lies have put him in the position that most people no longer believe anything coming out of the White House.
32
I agree! What could possibly go wrong with that?
13
@Arnold Johnston -- You are correct, Trump did it -- I didn't hear about replacing the response team (or haven't yet, since Trump is still talking):
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/
16
“In the European Union, which prides itself on its open borders, new cases were recorded...”
Border controls would not have stopped the virus as we can see with China.
And you can compare the open borders in Europe with the open borders between the US states. So I think the reference to the open borders in this context is misleading.
336
@Dirk V
In the US there are not millions of people who believe it culturally appropriate to slaughter wild animals in open air grocery markets or who hold backwards ideas about eating specific animals to treat medical conditions.
We're all one country and largely one culture.
So being able to move about within one nation is not the same as importing people from different nations and cultures with remarkably distinct ideas about cleanliness, medicine and diet.
11
@Dirk V that is not just misleading, it is purposefully derisory of one of the greatest achievements of Western Europe.
29
@Dirk V that is not just misleading, it is purposefully derisory of one of the greatest achievements of Western Europe.
3
I don’t like the way we speak of the elderly and infirm: “yeah, older people and the weak may die but the rest of us will be fine.” How cruel is that? Just because someone is older does not mean they are ready to die. Older people by and large enjoy life even more than younger people (“youth is wasted on the young”) and don’t deserve to be killed from the very painful inability to breathe - no one does. As for the infirm and the immune compromised, what are we saying here? “Well, you have weak genes, that’s not my problem.” A little compassion, people!
537
@AD
I agree. My beloved dad almost died two years ago from a diff strain of Coronavirus. His heart is held together now by scotch tape (I exaggerate but he has 15 stents, has had open heart, now has heart failure). He is practically quarantined at home and I am frantically barking at my kids to not get germs because then we can't have him over.
It is for him that I am most terrified.
And he is precious, important, beloved, necessary and I don't want to lose him until the last possible unpreventable moment.
83
@GWE
Beautiful comment. So sweet. I shared it with my own family.
33
@AD If the choice is between me (old) and my grandkids (young), the choice is easy. The kids stay.
14
Good christian Republicans who work by day in the corporate suites are working on giving back billions of dollars a Republican Congress gifted them with tax breaks to help keep the nation prepared for dealing with the pandemic.
1
Another excellent video from your graphics team. It was very important to watch for all, even though I had to supress my laughter at the rap portions when seconds later, I realized it was a serious matter, but then again, perhaps the humor helps alleviate any fear people have, so really good job.
I was washing my hands with bar soap and water almost exactly like the W.H.O. technique with sanitizer for twenty seconds as recommended, but I learned from the video just a few adjustments to practice. Thank you. I'm not sure about the 40 seconds with sanitizer recommendation because the sanitizer dries within about 20 seconds. Well, it can't be bad really.
Let's hope the decrease of new cases in China is an indication that the virus is winding down.
1
SO what is the US doing to enhance surveillance for coronavirus?? When will that be public? Britain is randomly resting people with flu symptoms at 100 locations... just when will local health departments here have the ability to test? How will we know when it is here if no one has the ability to test but the CDC?
3
Will all our oligarchs now flee to some island and leave us behind with our decimated health system and infrastructure? The tax cuts they received sure made it possible to amass enough wealth to run away while the rest of us had to have our means of protection repeatedly cut to pay for their tax cuts.
9
We should ban anybody traveling on an Italian or South Korean passport from entering the US. That won't protect us completely but it will trim down the risk of the virus spreading here. The Italians have already exported cases as far away as Brazil.
There is a patient in France and another one in Germany which have no connection to any previously known clusters. That could indicate that there are several more undiscovered clusters of infection within Europe. The State Department should issue a travel warning for countries bordering Italy including France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia.
The was also a report from Japan that a man was infected while visiting Bali, Indonesia. The Indonesians aren't admitting to any infections but it seems unlikely that they don't have any. Inbound travelers from Indonesia should be checked for fever. Travel from Indonesia should be shut down if further infections are detected.
Fever screening of all inbound international passengers from Europe, Africa and Asia would help to alert us if a country starts exporting cases in our direction.
We also need to look for undiscovered clusters of infections in the US.
3
The so-called media "frenzy" is all any of us really know about the disease, and it simply influences us to not travel to China, S. Korea, Italy, or Iran (maybe just stay home, period)-- and to be vigilant if we already have recently. And if we have flu-like symptoms, to stay home mostly and wear a mask in public if we go out. And to not panic and sell all of our stocks. And we might want to think twice about going to really crowded places like music festivals-- the spread in Iran is attributed to religious pilgrimages to Shiite shrines. The beach or the mountains are good options for the restless. I'm sure the metros in Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul are a bit less crowded these days. Common sense.
1
I wish the media would stop using words like "surge" when describing numbers synonymous with dying from freak accidents.
All the media is achieving right now is to spread mass hysteria over a nasty pneumonia-like illness.
If you're one of those at risk from these kinds of illnesses, then maybe you should be concerned and seek real medical advice. For the rest of us.. it's a little early for pandering to teens who want to skip school or declaring emergencies in cities that have yet to report a single case of the virus.
1
My very small company is supposed to exhibit at a trade show in Atlanta in early May. I’m watching this situation and wondering whether the trade show will be canceled. Or worse, NOT be canceled but people stay away (so a big waste of a lot of money for my small business - money we can’t afford to waste!!!
Then there is the concern about putting ourselves at risk if the virus is still spreading but the show isn’t canceled - the travel, exposure to thousands of people from all over the country, you name it. IMO, no amount of financial loss is worth risking your life or the lives of your family or employees!
We are watching and waiting to see what we will do. I’m sure many people and companies are doing the same. Will this still be a problem in early May? Time will tell. But it makes it extremely difficult to plan anything right now!
1
The big trade show in Milan -- the furniture and design show -- has been postponed from April to June. Lucky they were able to reschedule on short notice as I understand it is huge.
1
I'm sure someone has already pointed this out, but . . . what about non-direct flights from Asia? I mean, I can fly from Shanghai to Boston via London, Frankfurt, etc. Is anyone monitoring the 'transfer' airports?
4
I had a crazy thought but what if global leaders around the world instituted some kind of ban on travel except for certain instances for a month or so to try to keep the virus contained during this critical time period? It feels like keeping it contained to the current centers and not having it spread further would prevent much bigger harm to our world — to global health, the economy, etc. I don’t know if the WHO has any purview to press for such a thing but it seems it would need to be enacted very, very soon before this window closes.
3
What about pet food? A very large percentage of brand-name pet foods are manufactured and processed in China and Thailand, where outbreaks are spreading rapidly, how do we know if they’re safe??
1
@bobandholly I believe modern canning processes use ultra -high temperature steam or similar tested methods to sterilise the cans and their contents. Pathogens cannot survive .
1
Looking at the data, I’m not seeing some positive results of the public health approach to the virus. The data from China showed a slowing growth rate over a week ago but this but there was a concern that the Chinese were messing with the numbers. Now we have data from Italy and Korea (mostly free and open society) and it is showing the same slowing growth rate after the initial outbreak.
@Chris
Cases in Italy, South Korea and Iran are increasing exponentially each day.
Not sure where you're seeing "slowing growth rate", except in China where a large percentage of the population is quarantined. They can't stay indoors forever, though, so how will even China continue to curb the spread of this disease which none of us have any immunity to. (Except, perhaps, survivors of MERS and SARS.)
3
@J Anders - Hi. By slowing growth rate, I means that the velocity of the virus is decreasing. Like a car slowing down before a stop light, it’s still moving forward but it will likely stop soon. Hopefully.
Viruses follow a classic S Curve so when the growth rate starts to slow down this is good news.
@Chris
True, all pandemics slow eventually. But the Spanish flu epidemic killed 20 million people before it sputtered out.
2
Epidemic - a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. The USA has experienced a Flu epidemic yearly for a long long time.
Pandemic - Cases reported and documented in each country (all countries).
This virus has accomplished more than all the democrats and liberal media giants put together over the last 3 years. It has destabilized the stock market. If you don't believe that the coronavirus is the Democrats "BFF" then you are either blind or in denial. The Dems are in love with anything that damages Trump
5
@DED
How this is trumps fault, only democrats seem to be able to comprehend. It really is incredible.
1
@DED, I don't think people are blaming Trump for this pandemic. We are, however, critical of his lackadaisical response to it.
1
It is a virus. It does not care about the borders or who you are. People need to change to survive!
2
I'm afraid we're getting ready to see exactly why letting Trump pressure the Fed to use its recession-fighting tools to prop up the stock market for his reelection was a VERY BAD IDEA.
8
@J Anders
How in God's name is this thought at all relevant to this discussion? You think if stocks were lower there would be less of a sell off? Maybe, but only because there was less value to sell off. At the end of the day when you sell everything, you're still left with nothing.
1
The central scandal here in the US is our lack of testing capacity. How are so many other countries able to tests hundreds if not thousands of samples a day, when we are doing only 14 a day? It's clearly NOT a technological challenge, if countries as diverse as Italy, Iran and Korea can handle it. This is a logistical failure and I believe will come to be recognize as a very costly one that missed the beginnings of outbreaks throughout the country.
19
A potential or real pandemic could be the number one reason, among hundreds of them, that Donald Trump must be removed from office.
He is already blaming the media for spreading fear (translated: causing stock market to lose points), and seems to be saying that everything will be ‘alright come Spring’.
We can only hope that the media will fact check everything the president says during his press conference tonight- and broadcast /publish the corrections loud and clear. This is no time for the media to coddle this president.
11
People need to stop traveling. Just stay put, unless absolutely necessary. Put off your vacation plans by 6 months. Video conference for that work meeting instead. Leverage technology as much as possible to maintain connections for family and work. As more and more people contract the virus, running the six degrees of separation exercise becomes totally unsustainable.
13
"In the European Union, which prides itself on open borders, new cases were recorded in Austria...." This seems very biased and speculative and not good objective journalism....
15
Please check me on this, but knowing that airliner's cabins are pressurized at higher altitudes leads me to believe there must be a measured inflow of fresh air and egress of cabin air during flight, which means airliners may be streaming the virus during flight, if it exists in the cabin air.
I would certainly calmly and gradually prepare.
3
Like during the famous Apollo mission rescue in which a Carbon Dioxide filter was improvised, I would think a retrofit of all airliners with a good sized filtration medium could be done very quickly at really minimal cost and worth every dollar.
That’s why I walk around with an umbrella now. Viruses falling from airplanes.
4
The coronavirus maybe a once in a generation black swan event in American politics. If it spreads here, it will once again demonstrate the incompetentence and cavalier attitude the GOP has with our wellbeing. It may also push more of us for Medicare for all which Bernie and Elizabeth are proposing.
19
I see that many Trump critics are eager for the conovirus to spread to the US, just as they have been eager for a new recession. Any calamity they think might hurt Trumps reelection. How is that not a derangement syndrome?
12
It absolutely is! TDS has been rampant for over three years now.
2
@CJT
Trump critics live in reality.
It's time Trump supporters do the same.
5
I'm an Italian girl who lives in Milan, Lombardy.
I'm in perfect health as almost of us.
The newspapers are creating an exaggerated psychosis.
Remember that we are the second oldest nation in the world.
Do not consider us as greasers, do not close every door, it' an unfair isolation.
Our hospitals and doctors are fighting every day to contain the problem.
Our government has made mistakes, but we do not deserve to be discriminated against in this way.
If all the other countries did our own checks, maybe we wouldn't be the third most affected nation.
Other cases will emerge in other countries but not for our fault.
Zero solidarity and only accusations.
Because of prejudice and discrimination we are collapsing.
We are a country in the forefront of the medical field, trust in us.
Thanks for your support and help.
Giorgia
41
@Giorgia Piano
This has nothing to do with ‘fair’ or ‘unfair’. Discrimination? Oh please...
Stopping a potential pandemic requires fast, appropriate action. Travelers are spreading this virus globally, so it makes perfect sense to severely restrict travel. Period.
5
@Susanna dear Susanna, thanks for your reply :) My fear is that these restrictions can be used beyond solving the problem. I hope it's just my paranoia :)
Please NYT circulate this site to other national newspapers as saw many readers comments asking what we should know. Yes this source is more scientific/technical ...but given the level of disinformation, perhaps those who seek to be responsible and embrace educating themselves they will do so by researching more clinical medical terms ...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/virology
1
Why is the CDC not screening more patients with flu-like symptoms for Corona irrespective of travel history? The cat is clearly out of the bag. There are too many global travelers to tie up all the loose ends. It is here, now, in our communities, and we are simply not detecting it because the conditions for testing are far too restrictive.
12
@glorynine Exactly. The whole "have you travelled to China recently or been in contact with someone who has?" question needs to be thrown out--it is completely irrelevant at this point!
4
They were supposed to start doing that in several cities, including NYC, and they announced it but I don't recall hearing about any results so wonder if they ever did it. There is a feeling in some quarters coronavirus is already among us so they were going to test people who seemed to have seasonal flu but didn't test positive for it, as well as people with pneumonia.
I know CDC has had a lot of trouble with test kits, recalling most of those they sent out. So maybe dealing with that issue has limited their ability to do other things.
Not only that, there is a severe shortage of test kits. It's hard to track if you can't test for it.
1
Thanks to our ultra-expensive healthcare system and huge deductibles—or complete lack of insurance—many Americans will NOT go for testing if they fear they’re infected.
I saw a story yesterday about someone who went for testing, WITH insurance, and was billed for thousands. Although they ended up negotiating it down to something like $1500 out of pocket for him, many Americans don’t even have $400 for an unexpected bill.
Feeling lucky? Confident that your fellow Americans will bankrupt themselves to keep you safe? Not me.
53
@S T
That's hard.
All the testing in the UK, the testing will be entirely free - for everybody. As with 99% of reasonable health needs, the National Health Service will pick up the tab - not just the cost of tests but any, and all the costs of treating cases of Covid-19, no matter how high.
But, feel free to continue to dismiss 'socialised medicine' as an invention of the Devil.
36
I’m British—I don’t. I’m absolutely bewildered by American tolerance of this system, or lack thereof. My family in the UK is gobsmacked by the massive premiums, co-pays, and co-insurance we must pay, and yet I still have to pay cash and import Seretide from Turkey. It’s insane.
10
Perhaps the reason that person got such a large bill was that the test was deemed medically unnecessary. You don't just decide to go get a test out of curiosity. I think people generally get it because they are sick and the doc orders it
If you look at the demographics associated with Coronavirus fatalities you should be concerned that if it becomes widespread in the US before the party conventions it might have a high impact on the presidential race. Only one of the current viable candidates is less than 65 and several have pre existing conditions,( though bone spurs don’t seem to add to the risk).
10
@doug mclaren and the candidates are all out there, of course, meeting with the public. I think you are right. How many voters will go to the polls in areas where there are significant outbreaks? Interesting year.
1
History should inform those who think that humans can control this by quarantines. After 1492, small pox did not decimate the native population off the Western Hemisphere, it left ten percent alive. It did so before any Europeans came into contact with those who died. The pandemic spread far beyond where contact with Europeans was occurring. When a pandemic occurs it will spread as it does and nobody can prevent it. The only thing that can be done is learn everything about it and prepare for the reasonably determined risks.
8
The current scenario and it's effects has exemplified the following facts:
The population explosion is a mortal threat to our species.It is responsible for climate change and the potential for the rapid spread of contagious diseases.
The vulnerability of our world economy is exposed when one country alone produces most of the manufactured goods.
17
Can the Times not provide some perspective wrt its daily coverage of COVID-19? Maybe publish similar graphics and stats regarding the garden-variety flu, which is all over the US right now; does affect children moreso than COVID-19; and which, for example, closed schools in Minnesota before Christmas? Every year 100s of thousands get the flu, and thousands die from it, but from your coverage, one would think this coronavirus is the scariest bug out there. It is not.
9
@MER
It's not; there are many things I fear more (Ebola being one) but you are the one who needs a little perspective to understand why the CDC has kicked into high gear.
Regular flu has a fatality rate of .1%
C-virus has a fatality rate of 2% -still well below SARS, MERS ( 7% ) and Ebola( 90%). Nonetheless, that makes the C-virus literally 20 times more deadly than the regular flu. When applied to the world population that's a hefty difference.
I don't think anyone should panic, but there is plenty of reason for concern.
---
I'll be interested to see if the 2% holds up; it does seem that China is bouncing back fast so that number may change.
5
Nice to see the stock brokers scared some shareholders and took their money.
Now things are back to normal.
4
It's going to take a lot of education just to get people to wash their hands and not touch their faces and then touch surfaces. This morning's subway ride felt like a slow motion horror film. As I looked around, it was as if every other passenger was remotely commanded to rub their nose or cough into their hand. Yes: gross.
I would recommend an immediate public service campaign--posters everywhere instructing and reminding people. It's basic, and it might help contain the spread, but most people are absolutely unaware of the amount they touch their face unnecessarily, or that they cough or sneeze into their hands. It's as if at some level they are thinking, "I don't have any germs--no worries--other people have germs." People don't seem to understand that in order to contain the spread, they have to stay healthy by not spreading the virus or receiving the virus from others. They have to become aware. And heaven forbid you say something to someone you don't know--immediate hostility would ensue.
15
@Clarice Exactly right. People who even cover their mouth/nose when they cough or sneeze are few and far between. And the number of people who spit on the sidewalk...yikes.
5
I would welcome more of the Japanese hygiene philosphy where everyone is very comfortable sporting masks if they are sick, so as not to discourteously spread their illness. I sometimes see this in the US and think of immune compromised or allergen issues. People are protecting themselves. It would be nice to see hygiene that's both self and other-focused here.
Years ago, I started wearing lightweight driving gloves nearly year round and have found they keep me from touching my face by default. When younger, I did some modeling and print work, including hand-modeling specifically, for clients like Coke, Bellsouth and others. (It's someone's hand holding that cold cola on the billboard or screen!) I took to protecting my hands from sun and elements then and still do. Just gloving your hands year round will do much to reduce hand to face transmission. Lightcolored isotoner drivers work well for all but the height of summer; warmer leathers for winter.
Handwashing, as simple as it seems, is so important for health at any time, yours and others. I have a beneficial handwashing habit from later working in healthcare. Though I've seen even a few nurses commit "gross" and unsanitary infractions in a healthcare setting. I would gently and diplomatically address it. It's important to speak up if something is egregious. We need a campaign, a la Singapore, where health messaging is ubiquitous. Health agencies have a role in shaping behavior so we don't have to monitor each other.
4
We're going to learn in the hardest way possible what was truly meant by a global economy and interconnected world. This epidemic is being exacerbated at every turn by selfish, greedy politics.
We'll see the convergence all of our wrongheaded disparate policies converge into one coherent disaster. At the very moment we need a robust CDC, we've one reduced to a skeleton crew thanks to DJT. Ditto the WHO and UN. But he wasn't content with simply dismantling the firewall between us and pandemic. Nope. He had to go one better and work to ensure that we still have no universal healthcare and work to create a reality where low wage workers are so poor that staying home if sick, the only way to prevent the spread, is a luxury too many Americans cannot access.
To exacerbate things further, because he ascribes to magical thinking and decrees that "April" will "vanquish" this "bug," we have also failed to do any of the commonsense planning other nations put in place months ago. We're still letting sick patients fly. Still no mandated temperatures at airports. Still no attempt to actually assess the health of those being let in. And little effort to keep us informed about exact symptoms and how to know when to go to the hospital, for those lucky enough to be able to afford healthcare.
We've done none of the things we should've done, and have done all of the wrong things when it comes to long range planning. This is a disaster in the making. Only dumb luck may still see us through.
9
Europe prides itself on open borders? That’s rich! Open borders between European countries are still less open than the borders between American states in the USA, and that’s what you need to compare those “European open borders” to.
10
@Anna
I'm not sure that's correct. Internal borders between most EU countries ARE open. Many of these areas are no more than country lanes. A sign, if you're lucky but zero controls - or even humans, there. The EU's EXTERNAL borders are certainly tightly controlled with border facilities like you'd see anywhere in the world.
I said 'most EU countries'. Ireland has not signed the Schengen treaty so has NO open borders. Norway is an associate EEA country not signed up to Schengen, Switzerland, another EEA member, has open borders with the EU but not with its non-EU neighbours.
Actually, your USA state border analogy IS a good description for what happens in the EU.
3
Let's face the reality.
Covid 19 infection spreading to world. So far China's response and coping with enormous number of patients , their tour de force medical technological show in their hospital severely underappreciated by western world.
Now you should ask yourselves, in same level of sick patients your beloved western country and medical might can cope with this .
In USA, we the medical doctors not in government institutions have high doubts.
If things get worse as China, I do not see the same results in any of western nations.
6
The big news today is that Pakistan just confirmed 2 cases.
Pakistan is one of the last places on Earth that still has polio infections. It does not have the health infrastructure necessary to contain or even treat this disease if it spreads to their general population. If it takes a hold there, it will act as a reservoir for future infections globally. We need a vaccine.
14
The US has it already and it is spreading. We just haven't tested anyone, only testing people from China.
13
One recent deadly case in France: someone who did not visited Italy or China. So?
5
Could we stop dising the CDC? I can assure you that they’re prepared for this. They run simulations on this and other scenarios over and over. There’s no need for them to tell you every resource and measure at their disposal.
Did you notice how quickly and quietly those quarantine complexes popped up in California and Texas?
What I’m worried about is civil unrest. Americans don’t like to be told what to do. And we don’t trust The Government. And we have lots of guns.
10
CDC test kits malfunctions and only three or four states have kits so how the heck do we know how many people have the sickness/ virus?
8
MSC Meraviglia has an admittedly ill with “flu” crewmember aboard and was turned away from two scheduled port stops in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Given the living quarters of the crew and the way they interact with passengers, others aboard the ship may also be sick. The Caribbean countries are right in their decisions.
1
The good news is that live or die this outbreak will crest in between 1-2 months from now, we have to assume that everyone will be infected (perhaps not the preppers who will get it when they surface for supplies).
Death rates are about 3.5% mainly old and those who have prior conditions.
By July we should see the recovered come back to work and whatever parts of the economy which are not broken, slowly start recovery as well.
Here is the thing, assuming no vaccine is found in time, the best strategy is to get the infection EARLY, while the medical system is still operational, which it might not be at the top of the contagion, this looks like an exponential up and exponential down profile.
At the moment doubling time is 3-4 days so all 7 billions world inhabitants will be infected inside 75 days.
Worryingly there is no data for babies and infants
2
@PaulDirac
epidemiologists are predicting 40 to 70 percent of the global population will contract the Covad-19 virus over the next year.
Lest we forget, many people travel internationally and how good are the filtration systems on passenger aircraft. This is literally a time bomb. Also, the US doesn’t have universal health insurance. Many will for fear of the medical expenses not go to the doctor. Plus an administration that is practicing slash and burn on the CDC and anything else (that benefits the majority) they can decry as socialism. The perfect storm.
11
@Alienist
You don't need to worry about filtration on airplanes so much as direct transmission from all the people sardined along with you. People in the US typically don't go to the doctor for a cold or flu and in any case most people *do* have health insurance and deductibles for office visits are not that high.
And in case you missed it, the CDC just asked Congress for another $2.5 billion or so for preparations.
1
I will believe Trump is serious about this virus when he cancels his rallies.
Till then, it’s pure Delusion.
36
Trump is not serious about anything like this, he thinks that his money will always save him. The rest of us are on our own with Trump.
7
@TheraP He won't cancel his rallies, he's addicted to them.
So "Europe prides itself of its open borders". Does the US have borders between states? WHAT are you talking about?
31
Exactly what I was thinking!
4
Agreed. Sooooo annoying.
2
I am supposed to visit relatives In Italy in the Veneto region in a couple of weeks. My concern now is not that I will get the virus, but that I will not be allowed back in the United States.
21
@Liz
And you shouldn’t be. Travelers are now wholly responsible for the spread of this virus. The more travelers, the higher the risk for everybody.
12
That is no my concern. I would love to stay longer in Italy and have an ironclad excuse.
8
Well, fortunately for us here in America, we are being protected from this pandemic by the one and only stable genius.
30
What an odd comment. As if we don’t have millions that can’t even see a doctor now, and can’t even get in line, as they don’t have insurance and are too poor to pay out of pocket.
2
Here’s an idea that might help slow the spread of the virus:
Stop traveling!...and close borders to incoming travelers. Stay in your own country for the foreseeable future! Is that so difficult?
31
@Susanna
Let’s just take that one step further — stay in your own home, don’t go to work and don’t welcome any guests (including neighbors, adult children and other family members) for the foreseeable future. Is that so difficult?
17
@ Susanna
If your job depends upon travel, yes, it is hard. If your boss says to go, and you need your job, you go.
And those jobs help fuel the economy.
7
@Dunn Arceneaux Why can't you see that home quarantine is the next inevitable outcome if outbreaks aren't kept outside a country's borders? Suspending travel (with exceptions to import/export of crucial goods) is a logical step to preventing further draconian measures.
10
Scary times.
This incompetent administration in the US is not going to be ready to handle this pandemic. They will be looking for ways to line up their pockets by farming out contracts to their cronies in the name of “confronting “ the problem. Don’t be surprised if Eric prince gets the contract to quarantine people who test positive.
25
@Climate Change
So what exactly should be done? I see lots of people criticizing the administration but no details of what actions should be taken. Anything?
@Locke_
Good question. Many things.
1. Port of entry screening and health questionnaire for people entering the US ( currently not done)
2. Isolating people who have fever and do a quick viral screen ( nasal swab) . Results back in 2 hrs
3. Those who test positive for corona virus , further sub typing to see if it is COVID -19 and quarantining positive cases until results
4. Tracking down all contacts of positive tests and ensuring no further spread and screen as above regardless of symptoms ( incubation time > 14 days and people can be a symptomatic)
5. Ensure enough funding and personnel in local public health departments and extra vigilance in high risk areas ( more visitors from affected countries)
I could go on but you get the point. None of this is being done now. CDC has been sending defective test kits to more than 30 states and Wilbur Ross , the commerce secretary who has one foot in the grave commenting that this pandemic is a good thing.
@Climate Change
Your ideas sound great on paper but won't work...
Remember, one person from China took Tylenol to reduce her fever and lied to officials then took selfies at a five star French restaurant bragging how she snuck into the country while being infected with Covid-19.
So forget about forced quarantines as well - we already had people trying to avoid quarantine. In the US, it is "All about Me" and we can't even get people to be responsible towards others by getting their vaccinations - which is why we have had epidemics of measles and whooping cough in this country... including flu.
There are a lot of false negatives with current testing, not enough testing facilities and no such thing for as a two-hour nasal swab that untrained TSA officials can use. So that idea isn't great.
At 4.6 Trillion plus budget, the largest employer in the US is the government and with a current flu epidemic going on... who are you going to get for tracking people down... people who lied to get into the country, took OTC's to lower their fevers and who don't want to be in quarantine will get into this country!
Remember, China and the head of WHO said that the US was wrong about imposing quarantines and blocking entry from people who were in the Wuhan area.
So you and others can blame whoever you want, the sad truth is you have not come up with any practical idea that would work!
"President Trump said he would hold a news conference with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the White House on Wednesday."
Every scripted word spoken at today's "news conference" will be an element of a purposeful lie. The unscripted parts will just be Trump whining, and denigrating actual intelligent people. Feeling great about America yet?
19
Comments on here seem to be stoking panic that our government hasn't been responsive enough to this outbreak of COVID-19. Don't let politics blind you. Our government has been incredibly responsive which is why, even with a population that experiences high levels of foreign travel, incident rates have been incredibly low.
We've literally brought in more infected people on purpose, for care, than the number of infected people just arriving into our communities.
I urge you to view the work done by the government and CDC to date as evidence.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html#risk-assessment
17
@PB
Is that why Senator Blumenthal yesterday, after a classified briefing, said he was astonished at the lack of preparation?
"This morning’s classified coronavirus briefing should have been made fully open to the American people—they would be as appalled & astonished as I am by the inadequacy of preparedness & prevention.
9:48 AM · Feb 25, 2020"
https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1232316382253133824
18
@PB .
As I asked you before just what just what has the government done in your view. Please tell us.
The link does not spell out how they have been incredibly responsive. Nothing how they are working on a reliable test of vaccine. The links just spells out guidelines which have been in place before. Soory, I disagree with your assement.
5
@PB
If the CDC is doing such a great job, why have they only tested 445 people in the US https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html when medical professionals assume there are thousands of people in the US with the virus (some of which are undoubtedly sick in hospitals and remain un-tested?) Why? because we had a flubbed roll-out of test kits https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/25/cdc-coronavirus-test/
Don't get me wrong, I applaud our government disease control professionals, but their work has been hamstrung by budget cuts.
15
GENEVA (AFP) - More new cases of the coronavirus have been reported outside China than inside the hardest-hit country for the first time, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday (Feb 26).
"Yesterday, the number of new cases reported outside China exceeded the number of new cases in China for the first time," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told diplomats in Geneva, according to a written version of his speech.
The UN health agency put the number of new cases in China at 411 on Tuesday and those registered outside the country stood at 427.
Governments worldwide are scrambling to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus after a surge of infections in Italy, Iran and South Korea.
Dr Tedros said the "sudden increase of cases" in those countries was "deeply concerning", adding that a WHO team would travel to Iran this weekend to evaluate the situation.
6
Coronavirus is a serious problem - but the media needs to tone down the hysterics. Six of the top stories on the NYT are all about the coronoavirus. Really? I am not one of these people who is saying "what about the flu", I do take coronavirus seriously and am thinking about how to keep myself isolated for several weeks if it spreads here. Even so, I think the media is fanning the flames of hysteria. I appreciate that the NYT is keeping us informed with good information but it all doesn't need to be front and center with 20 articles as if this were the black death.
5
@Dave
They would not be publishing were people not reading!
Every day people thank the Times for their coverage.
25
This is a MAJOR world story that deserves 5-6 articles minimum.
8
Since the CDC is only looking for people who’ve been to Wuhan or have been in contact with someone who’s been to Wuhan and has been identified as infected; and since the test kits we do have are proven flawed; and since only three out of 50 states have the ability to test for COVID-19 at all; I think we can easily conclude that there are at the very least 49,000 or more untracked coronavirus cases in the US already, and that it is spreading like wildfire, untracked and unchecked.
The massive coverup of US coronavirus epidemic is there to achieve only one thing: keep the Obama stock markets from completely collapsing under Trump.
Utterly immoral, and insane; even Iran is doing a better reporting job than we are!
19
@Steven
And yet the government officials at the press briefing yesterday kept insisting it is "contained." Easy to say when they haven't tested anyone. "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."
5
We are not prepared. I'm an RN, as was my late husband. Training, if any, on the use of specialized isolation gear is pretty much look at the Power Point. No actual hands-on experience. Ready availability of same equipment? An inadequate supply, in sizes that don't fit, stored in a place that nobody remembers where we put it, locked up with a key that nobody seems to have access to.
53
I have the same impression and experience from the hospital I work at. No official announcements, training or contingency plans we are aware of.Some healthcare workers are even downplaying it, thinking it is another flu epidemics. I am pragmatic person, but objectively in my opinion we are in a big trouble.
31
As a medical professional (retired) I find the above 3 posts appalling. Where the heck do you work? What’s wrong with your unit staff developers? While employed in the hospital setting, everyone actively participated in annual drills for all types of systems wide response. You had to do an active competency demonstration. If your hospital or medical center isn’t conducting such emergency response drills, get active! Start on your own unit, & at the same time go up the chain of command. It is our sworn ethical duty as medical professionals to protect the health of both patient & community.
7
@Mme. Flaneuse My husband, until he got sick (quite recently) worked for one of the largest Catholic health companies in the US. (I also worked there also but left a while back). He worked med/surg/oncology, I worked med/surg/orthopedics. Then he had to get his medical care for lymphoma from the same organization, because of our insurance, so our experience is both as employees and patients. When our hospital was bought by this company, it became instantly clear that the only thing that matters to this organization is money. Staff is undertrained, especially our new grads. Suggestions for hands-on training are met with blank stares. (Lucky for us, he and I are/were old and experienced). Supply levels are determined by IT personnel, who don't listen or understand when the floor RN's try to explain why we need more than two O2 masks in our supply room, or extra isolation gear during flu season. RN to patient ratios have been raised to dangerous levels because our management doesn't want to pay for sufficient staff. Experienced staff are pushed out because new grads are cheaper. Positions for adjunct workers have been cut. I could go on all night. Oh, and while we are struggling in the trenches the CEO of the company has gotten a raise of over a million dollars a year for the past 6 years. His salary even drew criticism in a well-known hospital business publication. If/when my community is hit by Covid-19, it is going to be truly ugly.
3
There is no stopping the trend towards open borders. But we can change our behaviors to respond to crossborder threats such as the coronavirus. Some thoughts for policymakers. Outside of China, the mortality rate may be less than one percent. It may not be worth shutting down the entire economy and transport system and the millions it would affect negatively to save a few thousand.
2
Go pick a few thousand people and randomly tell them that they are not worth it. See how it goes.
22
I tell my fifth graders all the time that we don’t need to *say* every thought bubble that appears over our head. This is a perfect example.
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@LCalllahan
Tell the tens of millions that lose their jobs and their homes, tell that to the millions of children that will do without. Without employer provided healthcare.
1
During concern about the H5N1 virus about 15 years ago, I worked for USDA. Every Agency, down to the lowest office had to have a pandemic plan. I know because I was in charge of this for our Agency in my state. We had to submit plans, we had conference calls, there was constant contact and planning. Luckily we never had to implement any of our plans. Unlike the current Administration, they have no plan and even fired the pandemic coordinator. Anyone who thinks the current Administration is prepared for this is fooling themselves. The test kits being used in China reportedly are very unreliable. It's going to spread and nothing is going to stop it - we live a world that is mobile and globally connected. People have been traveling around that did not know they were infected - until there is a vaccine we are going to have to cope with this. Of course the Trump Administration's current budget drastically reduces the budgets of the CDC an NIH -smart move.
33
Sorry, but I have to roll my eyes when I hear about the spread of coronavirus and how many people could get sick and die. I wish journalists and readers had a better sense of epidemiology and case identification. Testing positive for COVID-19 does not mean the person is sick or symptomatic or even capable of spreading the virus. Many people, except if they are older and/or have diabetes, have relatively mild symptoms. The progression of the virus in populations is rapid when there are large numbers of people in close proximity, as is the case in Chinese cities, large cruise vessels, and Korean religious cults. I wish we could all get a grip on our emotions and fears, but I admit that the media is not helping in this regard, especially when it can get more attention by hyping the epidemic. That is not to say that quarantine is not necessary, or that fairly draconian measures must not be taken to prevent the spread of the disease, especially in the hot spots. But panic is not the proper response.
12
@Moso:
It seems you've contradicted yourself. On the one hand you say this new virus is no big deal, and on the other, "That is not to say that quarantine is not necessary, or that fairly draconian measures must not be taken to prevent the spread of the disease, especially in the hot spots."
So which is it? If it's no big deal, why take "draconian measures"?
As for "panic is not the proper response," we know. That's why news reports are conveying factual information, quoting epidemiologists, public health officials, and other scientists, and not encouraging panic.
36
What happen when it hits NYC. Quarantine 10 million people? Trump gonna send the national guard to shut off Manhattan and Brooklyn to the world?
4
Wuhan has 11 million people. Just imagine: that city, bigger than NYC, has been effectively shut down for a month.
1
Close the borders to International personal travel other than repatriation. It will be a lot better than fighting an outbreak, although we are still likely to have an outbreak, the US is really not ready for anything like this. Reduce the number of outbreaks as much as possible. International travel is only necessary for the tourism industry and that just has to suffer. All business travel can be done on the internet.
15
If only 1% of the world's population becomes infected with this virus (and that is not far fetched given how contagious it appears to be) we could have up to 2 million deaths from this new virus alone, using a 2.5% fatality rate as the current estimate.
If 1/3 of the world's population ultimately become infected as in the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, upwards of 65 million people could die.
The media and Wall street are correct to respond with alarm.
Governments and health officials throughout the world should take all prudent measures to contain it.
31
Are you ready for a serious economic dislocation? The possibility that this coronavirus shuts down our economy for an extended period is real, and could lead to periods of unemployment and hardship. Especially for households burdened by debt and lacking savings. And like a household, we have a government burdened by debt and lacking savings to take us out of a coronavirus induced recession. Meanwhile our president says everything is fine. We have a reality TV president facing a crisis, what could go wrong?
26
If i was in China, and flew to Japan, which has no travel ban, then flew to the United States, and when customs gave me the temperature scan, and asked me if i had recently been to China, and i said "No, i have not." would they allow me entry, or is their a way to check that i had recently flew out of China?
3
Look at your passport is simple enough.
24
They look at your passport for Visa stamps. If you get caught in a lie with a Customs agent, expect to spend the rest of your day there. The system relies on trust. If you demonstrate untruthfulness, Customs likely wonders what else you may be concealing.
4
Enough with the sensational headlines, how about talking about the disease itself and the thousands that have already recovered? Just how bad is it? Is it much worse than a cold or the flu? Do most get over it with the same care they practice for those diseases? How long are they typically ill? What are the stages of the disease? Surely all these answers are known and all would help folks put the sensational headlines into perspective.
11
Trump may be a germaphobe and believe his henchmen when they say that the US is sealed airtight, all to artificially inflate the financial markets. But the wall they are building on the southern border will not keep this virus out. Coronaviruses are agnostic and don’t really care whether they infect Republicans or democrats, liberals or conservatives, fox or cnn; it doesn’t require that those people listen to one another. They just have to breathe the same air. Mr Trump, despite his inflated sense of self, breathes that air too, and by denying the problem exists, he exponentially increases risk of his own exposure. He will soon find that his Make America Great Again rallies will morph into Make America Sick (Again) and infect people in (coughing) droves. What happens when he tweets to 20M people in respiratory failure that their inability to breathe is fake news and that Obamacare should be rescinded? Tragically, they might not be able to hear him.
9
Now is the time for the Dems to be pro-active in its approach to the coronavirus. While Trump is in India getting roasted by Modi and looking foolish with his comments downplaying the threat, we can prepare the American people and show leadership where its lacking. We have safety videos on aircraft promoting safety before takeoff, we can surely do national public service announcements during primetime showing Americans how to wash their hands, avoid public contact in high risk areas, and how to cough properly. C'mon Dems, take charge of the situation.
5
@passepartout You want Democrats to take charge of a situation? Seriously?? Sorry, not in their DNA..
The Democrats should be hammering Trump on how he has cut funding for our health agencies and all the firings of those who were in place to handle a pandemic in the US.
16
The NY Time writes
"In Europe that prides itself on open borders, cases were..."
The UK left just in time
3
@LArs
It hasn't fully left yet. All the rules and regulations and the ability to travel freely within the EU, ares still in place during the transition period.
9
@LArs How open are the borders between the states of the USA? At least as open as those between the members of the EU but with much less distributed medical provision
1
Millions of organ recipients around the world, and millions more being treated for chronic diseases - all are immuno-suppressed. I have not seen or heard one news story about them, and what they should do to protect themselves. Any chance the Times could address that story?
11
Never mind, America.
You have Mr.Trump, he could deal with all of problems in the world.
8
Please create an Upshot on steps people can do to protect our health and our loved ones.
The Times is breathlessly covering the Coronavirus like sport but we would all be better served if every article includes a link to “How to protect yourself from Coronavirus”
18
Numerous articles are available. They can only repeat the same four things so many times.
3
Worse than the foolish bluster of Trump & Minuchin -which prioritizes Trump's re-election needs over American safety- is the fact that Trump eliminated crucial guardians of US health.
In his vengeful rage at Obama, Trump fired or defunded the systems that were set up to protect us from Ebola & SARS.
The Pandemic watch dogs and NSC global health experts were purged--for no good reason but now leaves this administration mobilizing only spin doctors.
37
Hehe, open borders in Europe of some 350 million ppl, no borders in the US of some 350 million ppl.
Good luck to us all. Avoid crowded places, wash the hands and don’t pick nose.
9
POTUS Trump has told the nation that there is nothing to worry about.
@John McLaughlin Do you really think a Democrat as President would be doing things differently? Have you watched the debates? Good grief!
5
@John McLaughlin
No worries- Jared is on it.
3
One can't get N95 masks via Amazon without massive back-order wait times (June/July) or shady sellers price gouging.
30 million masks in the nation stock pile is nothing. That's not enough for hospital staffs, FEMA, EMS, CDC, NIH.
Germaphobic, divisive president...will he unify? Will he blackmail states that didn't support him? Will he fire staff that speak openly and honestly to the public? (Remember redrawn hurricane maps? He is a petty man.)
9
Democrats and ‘progressives’ herein are falsely claiming Trump ‘fired the global pandemic team.’
A team under the NSC was created under Barack Obama to deal with the ebola outbreak and when its existence was no longer needed to deal with an ebola crisis that ended it was disbanded.
If a new pandemic team is needed, it can be created. Just like Pres Obama did.
5
@EGD. That would be reassuring if Trump had a history of appointing experienced experts in their field instead of pandering toadies...
16
@EGD
IF (big if) Trump believed in science, he would that climate change may “resurrect” long dormant diseases. I’m not saying COVID-19 falls in that category.
What I am saying is, IF (big if, again) Trump could see farther than his own ego, he would have retained and renamed the Ebola team to handle future disease outbreaks.
1
Covad-19 has paid a visit to Israel.
"South Korea’s Center for Disease Control said Wednesday local time that a female flight attendant who serviced a flight Feb. 15 from Tel Aviv to Seoul had tested positive for the virus.
"On board the flight was a church group returning from a pilgrimage to Israel; 30 other infections have been connected to the group so far, according to local authorities."
"The South Korean media outlets reported that the same flight attendant had serviced flights KE017 and KE012 on Feb. 19 and 20 to and from Los Angeles International."
10
Let’s move to Sierra Leone.
1
@Zola Having dealt with Ebola, they know a thing or two about containing an outbreak.
2
@Zola
Too late. Confirmed patient in Brazil. It looks like Antarctica is the only untouched continent.
Currently on an extended stay in southern Spain. Back home in Canada, after SARS, hand sanitizer stations and posters on hand washing became ubiquitous. As far as this little corner of Spain is concerned, it seems like those lessons have not yet been learned.
3
We are entering a second chapter in the emerging pandemic, and it has only been 2.5 months since we think this first emerged. The time frame between the first infection and this early global spread is significant. Remember there must be many, many people with the virus who have been traveling around the world all this time. The disease mimics the flu, and no one will test for this virus unless they have either been to China (or one of the new outbreak countries coming online), or been in contact with someone who has.
Common sense dictates we should plan seriously for this. This has the potential to be a new experience for everyone on the planet, and this is still just the beginning. The more it spreads, the more we will learn about its rate of infection and lethality, and things are not looking up at the moment.
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@Ty Coronavirus is not a pandemic. Wake me up when the WHO and CDC state otherwise. Did you vaccinate against influenza this year? Those who did not are hypocritical and feeding into a media frenzy about a chinese epidemic when they should be practicing good hygiene regardless and protecting their communities from influenza deaths (which are MUCH more rampant yet get less attention).
8
@Bhy
Yes, I did get vaccinated against influenza, as I do every year. I read epidemiological studies and pay attention to science and to evidence. And I take this new coronavirus very seriously.
Everyone who claims that this is all media "frenzy" is saying implicitly that China has thrown its country into chaos for nothing, that the five Chinese physicians -- all young -- who've died from COVID-19 didn't know what they were doing, that health officials all over the world are overreacting and don't know what they're doing, that the PPE suits and N95 respirators that workers are wearing are all for naught, etc.
Thanks, but I'll take advice from scientists, not from random know-it-alls in comment sections.
126
@Ty, What most troubles me is the relatively high rate of contagiousness and especially that infected carriers can transmit even before they show signs or symptoms.
26
All the figures I've seen show a death rate between 2% and 3%, but the figure listed here (nearly 3,000 out of 80,980) is higher than that - more like 3.75%. Anyone know if they are revising these figures?
It seems that lots of these one-off cases, whether in Brazil, Switzerland or Innsbruck originating from people who travelled to Italy would indicate that there may be a much higher infection rate in Lombardy than is currently showing up. After all, if only 325 people have the virus there, what are the odds of having so many new cases globally deriving from Italian visits?
5
@Joy I'm convinced the death rate is lower than 2%. This is because there are probably a lot of asymptomatic people or people with mild symptoms that were not diagnosed. It's much easier to hide a person that is infected mild to no symptoms than it is to hide a dead body.
1
From Feb 12 to Feb 21st I traveled from USA to Singapore and Malaysia, back to Singapore and returned to the USA entering customs and immigration through San Francisco, CA.
In Asia, I, and everyone entering Changi and Langkawi airports were heat/temperature body scanned before approaching the customs counters. I was asked about travel to China, I was asked if I felt physically well. There are copious signs in Singapore reminding people to wash hands, immediately seek medical care if feeling any respiratory illness, where to go, numbers to call, etc.
In contrast, returning to the USA on Feb. 21, I was greeted at a chaotic customs area, stained and dirty carpets, confused lines, no questions from officials about my health or if I visited high risk areas at all. No body heat scans - the contrast was striking and troubling.
Since I’ve been back in my own country, I read about the virus spreading worldwide. I’m concerned about the clear lack of infrastructure here in the USA to protect our citizens and visitors from this massive and global health threat.
The irony that our administration is building a physical wall on our Southern border with Mexico but meanwhile lacks simple posters reminding all people to wash hands and monitor our respiratory health is terribly troubling.
2103
It shows clearly who we are as a country. Uneducated and ill-prepared ... and somehow proud and confident that these traits will see us through. Lord help us. (And i say that rhetorically not as a prayer, which is our other national go-to, save the day call to action)
506
@Lydia Lacey The United States is dealing with a 21st century world with a 16th century mentality.
482
Thanks for sharing your experience. The idea that the virus has not already begun to spread through the US is laughable. We have a CDC that sent faulty tests out to the states, a president tweeting false reassurances from the land of wishful thinking about a vaccine just on the horizon and encouraging us all to buy stocks, a massive population of uninsured and underinsured adults who will be unable to access testing and treatment - and here is the NYT sniffing about the challenges of Europe's "open borders." Please.
400
The irony is China government is the only government that is able to trigger such a large scale outbreak and in the meantime end it efficiently and swiftly.
Though it is not fair to say Chinese government should be hold fully accountable for the outbreak, but its clamp on press and speech freedom did play a key part in setting off a global health crisis that originated from a dozen of infections in Wuhan.
On the flip side, it is the tight grip on the society down to communities that has given it unparallel resources, mobilizations and communicating information in response to an outbreak of such a scale.
7
@Sprinkler
Really? The Chinese government should be credited with ending the outbreak?
Don’t you think you’re whistling a happy tune a little too quickly. Yes, the number of new cases seems to be diminishing within Hubei, but is that an anomaly?
Moreover, given the Chinese government’s reluctance to share data and information about this [now] pandemic, how can we trust the most recent figures? But, then, a lot of us have trust issues these days — for good reason.
2
Our healthcare system is so disjointed and unprepared for an outbreak of this virus in our country. The CDC and our government are not on the same page on how to prepare for this.
As a healthcare provider I urge all citizens to be prepared to shelter in place. We have allowed capitalism to control our healthcare for far too long.
9
@Barb Please describe how Medicare for All, or any other socialized healthcare system for that matter, would change our current predicament? The virus has come to our country via international travel. Lack of public health in the US - begun long before President Trump - is the culprit. Enhanced health screening at airports and at our borders would be a good start.
7
For one, people would not be terrified at the cost to go to the ER if they were seriously ill. Or terrified of the cost of testing.
What is the right response if a child in an elementary school tests positive for coronavirus?
2
@Peter Silverman Close the school and send the kids home till the danger passes. Home health visits to check the kids who shared the sick kid's classrooms.
5
Forget trade imbalances from imports. This viral product trumps that.
2
My grandfather died of the Spanish flu in December 1919 in Detroit. My mother found him leaning against a lamp post Friday night two weeks before Christmas, unable to walk home in the snow from the bus stop after work. He died at home that Sunday night and buried Wednesday, leaving a mother and five children. The flu pandemic then was a multi-year event, as this one might be. She said it came in waves over 2-3 years. My mother recalled quarantine window stickers on homes in Detroit.
Recalling a fascinating book from 25 years ago, "The Coming Plague", where bacterial infections can be far more lethal, quarantines are more effective, because of the shorter incubation period. Contrary to that, viruses, the author explained, though maybe not as deadly, are more insidious because of their habit of not emerging in an infected patient before it has a chance to spread to others.
I may stand corrected (please do), but I recall the author explaining that viruses become less deadly over time (1-2 years) because the germ has less interest in killing its host, and eventually recreates itself as more innocuous. Still, a 2-3 percent fatality rate, what we're seeing today, seems extremely high.
It's too bad Congress has cut the NIH and CDC budgets repeatedly in recent years. The budget cuts are an attack on national security.
20
@Citizen - “the budget cuts are an attack on national security”. Well said. Thank you for that
4
It was striking how little attention the emerging Coronavirus pandemic got during last night's Democratic debate. This could be the proverbial 3 a.m. moment Hillary Clinton highlighted in 2016.
If, as it now appears, the Trump administration is singularly unprepared for this, the Democratic candidates could have demonstrated their grasp of the facts and how they would handle the U.S. response. They should start talking about the Coronavirus now.
8
This is what happens when you dismantle and de fund our research programs.
16
The mention of “ open borders “ in that article is redundant in this context.
The first coronavirus death in Italy was a 78 year old man who had never even been to Asia , while the Rome government was the first to stop flights to China.
As others have pointed out , European countries are all bunched close together.
From London I can be in Paris in just over two hours. By train !
Disease pays no attention to border posts , and in densely populated continents will spread regardless , unless a country decides to go full North Korea, and even then its not a guarantee.
I’m afraid that this illness might be weaponized , to use the current terminology , by the rising far right demagogues and populists as yet another call towards closed countries and an excuse to indulge in open racism towards Chinese communities in Europe.
Cooperation is the only way thru this, not useless isolation and hate .
11
My husband and I share your fear that this virus will be weaponized to increase fear of “the other”, in places worldwide where rightwing voices are increasingly loud and here in the U.S. where the loudest and most frequently heard such voice was allowed to have the power of the presidency.
Ironically, the world in 2018, was much better prepared to address a pandemic than the world today.
3
I can guarantee you that President Trump will most certainly aim to politicize and weaponize an ongoing pandemic for his own personal benefit, and as a tool to stay in power. I promise. He has already, you said?
11
What happens to "confirmed cases"? This is an important question because assumptions about the trajectory of recovery/stasis/death are central to the strategy of using quarantines and large-scale lockdowns for containment. We have had a coronavirus outbreak for two months now, so we have data on at least a few hundred people. Are some of the bubbles on the NYT map actually getting smaller? What happened to the single case reported weeks ago in Nepal?
I would like to see some journalism about the long-term course of the disease. Understandably the media are more interested in the spread of the disease to new hosts, but long-term effects are also important.
4
Nothing wrong with being safe than sorry
Till we get Mid April, when even Flu begins to dissipate, in the warmer more humid weather, May the further north you go.
Keep about 4 weeks food stuff in the house to avoid unnecessary shopping if things get bad.
canned foods, peanut butter and jelly, orange, apples, all kinds of nuts, chocolate(yum) all have a long shelf life. Toilet paper also seems to be a thing that goes fast when people panic and begin to hoard.
shop at later hours when stores are less crowded
use stores with self checkout options
do your best to avoid touching doorknobs in high traffic areas.
on the street give the people their own personal space
don't spit on the sidewalk
remove your shoes upon entering your home
use plenty of lysol , spray your shoes after you take them off.
avoid places where lots of people congregate
just act like somebody who has not taken a flu shot
be cautious and be prepared, ignorance may be bliss but its dangerous also.
You may see some strange things till this thing blows over, like the NCAA tournament played in empty gyms, the same for MLB baseball games.
Restaurants may suffer but if they are smart they can do a nice delivery service. Work it out that people pay by credit card and the food is left outside the door so the delivery men cant catch or spread anything.
But this will pass.
And it doesn't help to pray and give thanks from time to time.
can't hurt.
10
@Lonnie
Wash your hands frequently.
3
@Lonnie Right. I was thinking to approach this like entering hurricane season. Having some nonperishable supplies on hand, for people and pets, can't possibly hurt. We could be very glad later that we did so.
3
Trump and his administration will be unable to do anything effective regarding Covid-19’s impending visit to the United States other than spinning nonsense, raising fear, and blaming others. As for actual response? He has effectively gutted the CDC and has shifted critical resources to self enrichment. Besides...to date, he has shown zero ability to face any issue squarely and truthfully...as will be required by the difficult situation this country will soon be facing.
7
Correction: All schools and preschools were closed down in the district of Heinsberg, not just the city of Heinsberg. This affects vastly more people (children and respective parents).
5