I feel really bad for the CDC & can't begin to imagine the immense pressure they are under. It really doesn't help that a huge chunk of their budget was slashed by the current administration. So for all of you Trump supporters saying Democrats are just looking to blame Trump, I hope no one in your family gets infected & if they sadly do you'll understand everyone else's frustration with the utter incompetence of Trump & his administration. This is a crisis and we need someone who can provide accurate information and calm the nation not spew hateful conspiracy theories to his adoring supporters.
20
My husband does anesthesia at the hospital in Seattle where the COVID19 death happened Fen 26 but was confirmed today. Until now they haven’t been allowed to test *any* patients or staff, despite unusually bad respiratory illnesses circulating there (and in schools too) since early January. The CDC’s Trump-placating criteria *still* require travel to an “affected” country (like Washington state?) or a connection to a lab-confirmed case (never use a lab and you’ll never confirm a case, I guess?). Even now they’re only allowed to test employees who had direct contact with him—not the dozens of others who are calling in sick. Containment is not going to happen, you guys. The numbers are artificially low because we’re not testing.
38
Next up .. Trump appears in a white lab coat next to Anthony Fauci and other experts.
5
"There's only one hot spot" coz there're no testing yet at most of the countrt.
11
So what do you when you have no health insurance? Asking for a friend but seriously....because it seems like its here to stay for a while.
6
“Today we will issue new guidance from the C.D.C. that will make it clear that any American can be tested, no restrictions, subject to doctor’s orders,” Mr. Pence told reporters at the White House.
I'm not sure how to tell the NYT's but, "subject to doctor's orders," is a restriction (limit) on testing. This is another indication that test kits are not available.
Trump's decimation of the CDC and NIH, have shown that Steve Bannon's intention of disbanding the legislative state is taking hold.
8
One wonders if the fundamentalist Pence believes in the science of viruses, infectious diseases, and disease control any more than he believes in the science of climate change or all the scientific evidence that the Earth is more than 6000 years old? And HE'S the one in charge of planning how to deal with this pandemic?
9
The only conciliation I have about being in the COVID-19 high risk group is that most of the present Executive Administration is in the same category. So I am saying to them; “ Please get out there and campaign for the 2020 election. Shake those hands, wipe those brows and hug all your base. Maybe they will give back to you what you so unselfishly gave to some of us.”
10
Trump is ignoring the lessons of 1918 flu pandemic that killed millions, historian says [WASHINGTONPOST]
--The first wave wasn’t that bad. In the spring of 1918, a new strain of influenza hit military camps in Europe on both sides of World War I. Soldiers were affected, but not nearly as severely as they would be later.
--Even so, Britain, France, Germany and other European governments kept it secret. They didn’t want to hand the other side a potential advantage.
--A second wave swept across the globe, it seemed like it had started in Spain, even though it hadn’t. Simply because the Spanish told the truth, the virus was dubbed the “Spanish flu.”
--Now, as fears about the coronavirus spread, at least one historian is worried the Trump administration is failing to heed the lesson of one of the world’s worst pandemics: Don’t hide the truth.
--The Spanish flu had a mortality rate of 2 percent — much higher than seasonal influenza strains, and similar to some early estimates about the coronavirus.
--The Spanish flu killed more than 50 million people -- at a time when the world's population was around 1.8 billion. This death toll included more than 675,000 Americans. ... The flu outbreak hit the City of Brotherly Love a couple of days later, ultimately killing some 12,000 people in about six weeks.
--The planet's population today is 7.7 billion. X 2%
8
Any positive test is just the tip of the ice berg. The dangerous lack of testing has meant thousands of people are in the community spreading the disease. I’m an ER doctor in Solano county- county from which first community spread noted and home of Travis Air Force base. I see people everyday I would test but we are not allowed. We have to rangle to get N95 respirators and now surgical face masks. All I can say is stay home, wash your hands and maybe the CDC will let you get tested next week to my scared patients. Meanwhile staff are getting exposed left and right. Do we put everyone in negative pressure isolation? There is no endpoint cause there is no testing. America is going to have to come to a stark reality very soon: healthcare is a finite resource. When all the doctors and nurses are sick with coronavirus, who will care for you?
20
We should rename the organization:
The Centers for Disease Spread & Utter Confusion.
What a disgrace. Robert Redfield, among others, should be long gone. We have never needed the CDC more and yet they flail, and fail, with a great many lives in the balance.
SOS!
9
subway system is sanitized, i didnt see any buses sanitized??
what should we do?? children are going to school and we as a parent are scared ..
5
OMG, they should have been deep cleaning the NYC subway decades ago. Darn it, now that it is finally getting cleaned, I will be avoiding it. Seventy-Two hours isn’t frequent enough to stop it from being a contagious hot spot; confined spaces, close proximity to others, germ percolating subway handles; if someone coughs people are going to run to the other end of the subway car. I think it’s time to walk, scoot or ride your own bicycle. I hope it doesn’t get super bad, I’d like to finally experience a deep cleaned NYC subway car.
2
The Trump Administration waited far too long to drop limits on testing, probably because they were also extremely late obtaining test kits, which at first were untested and defective. They had several weeks to get goin but didn't, Why? Fear of the political and economic repercussions on an election year or did they still believe it was a hoax? Dereliction of duty comes to mind.
7
I know I am supposed to be brave and go about my job as a nurse practitioner in a family practice but I am not. I am second guessing my every little sniffle. Is this sniffle a cold, my allergies or the virus? I worry for the people I am in contact with but mostly my family who I live with. My anxiety is overwhelming and I should know better and I do, but I know our presidents response is egregious. Too many people will get sick and die. This is maddening.
15
It appears to me that the US government has deliberately slowed testing and under-reported the amount of cases in the country in order to keep the stock market from crashing due to the economic repercussions of the true scale of the outbreak.
Trump thinks the stock market is the only part of the economy that matters, and his idea of the "economy" is the only thing he can claim to have improved since he took office.
Slowing down or reversing a viral outbreak depends on testing as many people as necessary and isolating them as quickly as possible. The problems with the US health care system and the politicization of the CDC by Trump and his cronies are becoming more obvious daily and could end up causing a much larger pandemic. Meanwhile, the stock market will crash anyway when it becomes apparent that far more people are infected.
12
Why do bureaucrats have the authority to determine how many test kits are available and to whom? It would seem that letting the industry operate by supply and demand would be much more efficient...
1
@Sean
The Pharmaceutical Industry in control? Surely you jest.
2
I am horrified that a trade organization for physicians (the American College of Cardiology) is still planning to hold a conference in Chicago with 20,000 attendees and non-medical conferences are being cancelled all over the country. The leaders of this organization are putting their members and the communities in which they practice at unnecessary risk for corona virus.
11
If you ran a mission-critical health care project with life-or-death consequences, would you hire Mike Pence? I’m just asking for friends who are fans of The Apprentice. He’s good at nodding and answering questions with inane word salad I guess.
11
Does it matter if the United States has "the greatest health system on Earth" as Trump says, if 27.5 million people have no health insurance and even people with health insurance can't afford the copays and the deductibles?
22
The stats are clear... COVID 19 seems unlikely to be a huge threat to young and middle-aged healthy people. But to those in later life, and those with a compromised immune systems, the chances of dying from this virus rapidly increase from around 5% to maybe 20% or even higher (for a person, say, in their 80's with a compromised immune system). That is a 1 in 20 all the way up to a 1 in 5 chance of dying, absolutely horrendous odds. So dismissing this virus as just a variant of flu going around is uninformed, callous and inhumane. Are they saying this because they value the lives of those over, say, 60 years old, less than those younger?
Equally intellectually squalid is to say "Hey, 20,000 to 30,000 in the US die of the flu each year, so chill out, everybody". But this virus is conservatively ten times more deadly. So anyone saying this is also saying that they don't mind if potentially 200,000 or 300,000 more Americans die who might otherwise be alive. And we are not even talking about the rest of the world here. Although I am pretty sure that these people probably do not intend this cruelty, it has a disturbing resonance with the indifference towards human life that has helped drive genocides in the past.
25
Re MTA: "industrial -grade disinfectant?!"--Be nice to know what it is....maybe bleach and water? And how often are the trains disinfected? And , how often have the trains typically been cleaned? One positive, I have have noticed less coffee spills on the floors of the 1,2, and 3 line.
7
Trying to contain, or even slow, the spread of the CoVid-19 virus without widespread testing is like trying to win the World Series with every player blindfolded. The odds of success are not high.
20
I could not agree more. If they actually start testing, I wonder where we’ll be at this time next week....
6
It is amazing to what the extent the gullible public can be manipulated.
By any side.
Not really.....
1
It was obvious from the start that this could not be contained.
Too much bureaucratic paralysis.
I encounter it every day.
1
Make no mistake, this is not part of a well-thought out plan to contain this virus spread. It's a desperate shot in the dark by this absolutely horrible administration to placate the market. That's all it is. 50-point cut had the exact opposite effect, so they are trying something else. I am happy we will finally get more people tested, but this comes so late, it's criminal.
33
@VD Can you please stopt the "I hate Trump" litany. Its completely irrelevant to what is happening. NO president could prepare a country for this kind of panic. I hate the guy too but please give it a rest
2
The stats are clear... COVID 19 is be a huge threat to young and middle-aged healthy people. But to those in later life, and those with a compromised immune systems, the chances of dying from this virus rapidly increase from around 5% to maybe 20% or even higher (for a person, say, in their 80's with a compromised immune system). That is a 1 in 20 all the way up to a 1 in 5 chance of dying, absolutely horrendous odds. So dismissing this virus as just a variant of flu going around is uninformed, callous and inhumane.
Equally intellectually squalid is to say hey, 20,000 to 30,000 die of the flu each year, so this is nothing really. But this virus is conservatively ten times more deadly. So anyone saying this is also saying that they don't mind if potentially 200,000 or 300,000 more people die. Although these people probably do not intend this cruelty, it seems very similar to the indifference towards human life that has helped drive genocides in the past.
17
Why can’t the folks in Life Care in Kirkland be safely evacuated, quarantined, tested (and if deemed necessary, placed in a hospital with a bio-containment unit, like the one in Nebraska (or at least isolated?).
17
We don't want socialized medicine like all those other developed countries! They have long lines to see the doctor and limited treatment!
Oh, the U.S. government has decided to finally stop rationing health care in what is close to a pandemic COVID-19 health crisis. What a great health care system we have!
No Medicare for All here - just a bunch of fat cat health insurance, hospital, and drug company executives/shareholders and nearly everyone else in the private health care industry.
17
S Korea is testing over 10,000 cases per day
They now implemented drive-thru testing to minimize exposure to both tested and public health personnel
Also they are free after certain protocols and self quarantined patients are provide daily allowance by the government
It true they have high numbers of infected because of Sinchunji church, but health officials there are moving quickly to adapt to changing situations and reporting with transparency
23
So if you are the first to use the New York Subway you are good, right? Oh, wait, it's public transportation, so you're not the only human, and there are many other animals too. That's just plain absurd. Build restrooms and pay cleaning staff so people can wash their hands, that'd be much better.
1
Too little too late.
Community spread is rampant - this is obvious from the fact that most individuals presenting with "test positive" cases lack a link to known exposure, be it a prior positive or travel. Because there has been such limited testing we have NO IDEA about the actual burden of disease in any community.
I would argue that any community with a positive case unrelated to travel or known exposure has 100s -1000s of other cases brewing. And given interstate travel, this is an unstoppable epidemic. The only question is how fast it will spread. But we are all likely to be exposed at some point.
13
"“Today we will issue new guidance from the C.D.C. that will make it clear that any American can be tested, no restrictions, subject to doctor’s orders,” Mr. Pence told reporters at the White House." ….. so the uninsured and/or those with no prompt access to doctors' will NOT be tested -federal limits have NOT been lifted.
14
This pathetic, greedy, self-centered administration couldn't fight it's way out of a wet paper bag if that was what was called for. Their response to this novel coronavirus is an unmitigated disgrace---just as is EVERYTHING that they do, or don't do.
I'm getting a passport. I never thought I'd outlive my country. And, with Trump/Pence in charge, I may not even do that!
15
@Leslie Bye!!! Where will you go? What exactly do you think your hero Hillary would have done in the same circumstance?
One promise after another. Yet testing is still limited. Pence doesn't want to make Trump look bad. Look for testing to stay limited.
13
The most important thing at the moment is the credibility of the C.D.C. With rampant rumors, understandable fear, profit-seeking hustlers, and political opportunists everywhere, there must be one voice that Americans can count on to present the best understanding of the nature of the disease and its spread. This is a moment when the individuals who work for the C.D.C. must stand up as responsible Americans and not let external political pressure influence their best judgement.
hus it is quite problematic that the article, "U.S. Plans ‘Radical Expansion’ of Coronavirus Testing" stated, "The kits had three components but some of the components were producing an inconclusive result for many public health labs using the test. On Thursday, the agency announced that labs with two of three working components could go ahead and use the C.D.C. tests...."
Why should we have confidence in results of the "new" test? If the C.D.C. originally thought that all three elements were necessary for an accurate test result, how does simply eliminating one problematic element solve the problem and produce accurate results? Why should this not be viewed as more of a political solution -- let's get lots of "tests" out there to look good -- rather than a genuine public health/medical solution?
10
Sad 2 hear of infections and deaths, the big problem remains regarding fighting COVID-19 here in U.S. is testing and test kits, then treatments, supportive care, quarantines, the politicians say it was inevitable that COVID-19 would come to U.S. but seems like not much preparation has/is being done. Don't believe we are really prepared as they (locally and nationally elected officials) say, just hope you don't get it. Stay well.
7
The protective gear employed in the picture “Medics transporting a stretcher...” is total inadequate, heads uncovered, wrong masks, no eye protection, uncovered street pants and uncovered shoes. The medical workers shouldn’t even be in the building so poorly protected, much less in direct contact with a patient.
25
Yes, you’re right. Compare this to people disinfecting streets and public places in S Korea. The latter are better protected.
4
I just don’t understand why we weren’t increasing production of testing kits back in January
23
We have known this outbreak in USA would be inevitable since January. The virus was known to be very infectious with a high degree of stealth infections. The CDC and Trump government are acting as if this is a one week old problem. This is what happens when scientists, controls and planning are jettisoned for political reasons.
27
There was a great interview on Amanpour and Co from Penn: the hype around the corona virus is overblown - why are people being quarantined? So far deaths are at 9 the flu tens of thousands. Tornados today 24. The virulence in this country is unknown because of lack of planning to produce testing kits (planned?). Hard to imagine that the country mobilized under Obama to defeat Ebola cannot manage another coronavirus. What is truly sad is that Iran under crushing sanctions by the US is truly suffering.
3
Dr. Fauci and others appeared at the Aspen Institute on February 11 to discuss the Covid-19 outbreak. All candidly opined that travel bans are essentially useless once you have ‘community exposure.’ Such bans are also useless unless they apply to everyone coming from pockets of infection outside the country — whether American citizens or not. The virus doesn’t know citizenship; and an American exposed abroad poses the same risk as a foreign national.
A travel ban, in Dr. Fauci’s words at Aspen nearly a month ago, buys some time to prepare for an epidemic before the number of domestic cases moves us to the ‘mitigation’ phase of a response. It is not the final answer.
The problem is the Trump administration gutted the CDC pandemic response team before covid-19 hit China. He then relied solely on a travel ban and treated the virus as a ‘hoax’ and ‘the common cold’ for weeks: that was what his right-wing, science denying pals were saying on Fox and the Rush Limbaugh radio hour.
We now likely have thousands of undetected carriers of the virus. Only a handful of them will have symptoms that attract attention - most will think they have a cold and not seek out medical attention. Many will put off seeking diagnosis and care because they can’t afford it or can’t afford to miss work.
That’s the problem. We do not know how lethal this virus may be, because the data is insufficient. But it is unquestionably many times more lethal than seasonal flu, and that isn’t good.
10
9 deaths in the USA, with too few tested. Just for reference, from one of the most thoroughly testing countries so far, South Korea: when they had 8 deaths, they had 893 confirmed (positive) cases out of 36,716 tested. They have been releasing a daily summary, as well as several updates a day: https://www.cdc.go.kr/board/board.es?mid=a30402000000&bid=0030. The figures above are from the updates of 2020-02-25.
Today, Korea has 5,196 confirmed cases and 32 deaths. It is too early to tell, but early detection and intervention (isolation, supportive care) likely played a role in the unusually low mortality figure despite the high number of cases...and they are still struggling with containment. Imagine without the early detection.
10
Just waiting for Trump's tweet that only his supporter will get treatment and protective gear. SAD!
6
Are healthcare providers able to test people yet? Good advice from WHO:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
2
9... 330 million people. 9...
1
You do realize it starts with 1 and grows exponentially, yes? 9, that we know of, today. Look at France, Germany, Italy, and Iran for a hint of what is to come.
@Collinzes the rest of the sick are roaming the streets of PA
Don and mike, look out your window on this particular evening. Democrats are coming for your jobs. Start packing.
5
The Worlds leaders are letting everyone down by down-playing this very destructive & dangerous virus .The P.M in the U.K insists a virus won't stop him shaking hands ,while his Tory Govt has meant the U.K has only 28 critical care beds for patients with breathing problems!
In America Trump states "We’ve taken the most aggressive actions to confront the Coronavirus. They are the most aggressive taken by any country" ; a statement he made when testing was still unavailable to most of the U.S.A including people with Coronavirus symptoms !Like a little kid who believes their wish will come true ,he announced "we will all wake up one day and it will be gone , like a miracle !" What will be gone are the thousands of Americans who could not afford health care & died of the virus while their president played "lets pretend we are the best country in the world".
In France in direct defiance of the facts ,under cover gatherings of 5,000 are permitted as if this is somehow a "magical number"that inhibits airborne contagion .
In Australia flights from Iran & China have been stopped ,but not those from Italy or South Korea because our P.M thinks that would be too disruptive ! (What will be disruptive is the Coronavirus).In QLD the delusional health Minister has reassured the public that the 60 people exposed to an infected Beautician from Iran are not at risk if their facial was under 15 minutes !
This is not how you deal with a Pandemic. No lessons have been learned from 1918
6
The picture of the two men removing the patient from the nursing home makes me cringe. They are not properly suited for a virs of this magnitude. The masks are common masks used in hospitals but not the surgical masks that cover a greater area.
The plastic ponchos looks like something you have to buy at Disney when it starts to rain and you have to buy something quick.
It is no wonder that it is spreading in Washington
18
Weeks to prepare but, not prepared. Always one step behind. Government needs to be effective, but years of neglect show its immense shortcomings. Couple this with a phony administration with a pretend president and we have a disaster made worse. The story about the Life Care nursing home is an ongoing tragedy that will be repeated because there is no effective government response.
14
It's hard to square 77 deaths with only 2300 infections in Iran. A more extensive testing would probably uncover a much higher number. The same is true for the US. If we were capable of testing more people (learn from S. Korea to see how it's done), the number of cases would go up dramatically. But that would be bad for the Trump administration, so fewer the better.
20
@JB
77 deaths out of 2300 infections is 3.3 %. Somewhat higher than the typical currently calculated rate. The actual rate is almost certainly much lower due to the large number of people who have been exposed, but are completely asymptomatic.
I would bet you that in a population that has been properly assayed, and is not exposed to high levels of pollution damaging to the respiratory system, the mortality rate is well under 1%.
1
The testing kits allow for false positives right?
1
@Phil
More worrisome would be false negatives so the
initial test probably is geared to high sensitivity with a manageable false positive rate. It is not clear what the actual "test kit" is but it likely was an initial high sensitivity test followed by at least one confirmatory test.
Can we have a tabular presentation of those who died, including sex, age and underlying conditions please? A 50 year old NY man being in critical condition is concerning, so seeing the ages of those who passed may or may not be reassuring to the rest of us.
At this stage, with the 2nd person in NY who apparently spent some time commuting before he realized what it was, and his sons who live in NYC with one having symptoms, I think we are beginning to worry more about community spread in a densely populated urban center.
28
I agree. And what are these value “underlying conditions” to which they keep referring?
3
@CacaMera
Look at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and you might find some of the information you want.
3
If I was president this is what I would do
I would ban large gatherings in any city with a Corona case. Like they did in Japan. You can still have sports but they play in front of Empty arenas, the players themselves should demand this.
I would create a cough/ sick ban, if you are sick, by law you stay home and stay mass transit . Bus drivers , should demand this
I would have factories working 24 hours a day , to produce face masks, hand sanitizers , protective equipment , test kits, and anything else that is needed to stop a super flu from spreading, this would help beat the flu, it would also boost the economy and boost morale
I would put a billion dollar bounty for the company that can push a Corona vaccine in the fastest time . A race to the cure , we sent a man to the moon, we have gene editing and super computers , you can’t tell me we can’t create a vaccine in less than a year. Once again this would boost morale .
I would cut out the politics and embrace bipartisanship, bringing the country together for the good of the country, like after 9/11
I can also say that I would have banned the flights from affected countries weeks ago, but that is besides the point.
Everything I mentioned would bring a virus which reproduces through person to person contact and main delivery system is cough and sneeze , totally under control
I offer this advice to my president for the good of my country
God be with us all. I mean that. Praying never hurts .
28
Trump is currently very concerned with the performance of the stock market as this election is economy versus health care on the democratic side. He should be concerned.
40% of Americans don't have $500 in savings for emergencies
27 Million Americans have no health insurance
30% of Americans are on high deductible insurance plans
1 in 4 Americans have to refuse medical care because they can’t afford it
35% of Americans get no sick pay
40% of Americans don’t get flu vaccinations
I think we will have the biggest problem out of all western countries with the virus as un/underinsured people wont go to the doctor. A clear indicator will be If the death rate stays way above other western countries. Germany for example has about 200 confirmed cases and 0 deaths, we have about 100 and 6 deaths. Due to universal healthcare Europeans will contact a doctor when they notice the first symptoms. They don't need to worry about any copays or deductibles.
Besides the loss of life, the economic damage will be huge.
20% of infected need to get hospitalized
7% of infected end up in intensive care
1 - 2 % average fatality rate
We also need to work on communication. The people should be told and instructed on TV by the government about what to do and who to contact if they experience any signs of a possible infection. For example going to the ER is a terrible idea as other people might get infected. At least every county should have a designated contact number. Get prepared...
35
This problem, being global, naturally needs a government's authority and resources to deal with it. When it comes to light that the government for varying reasons like the Spanish flu was poorly dealt with because the government wanted to hide the effects during war while Trump's government doesn't want the people to know the effects of this virus because they don't want it to effect the "economy" because Trump is hanging his hat on it in an attempt to be reelected.
People do indeed begin to get more emotionally heightened when we, the nation, are not getting properly prepared for the historically deadly virus. Remembering that the reason that this government isn't properly attacking this virus is because they want to lull people into believing that "there isn't anything wrong and the economy is GREAT".... well, both things in that statement are a complete lie.
10
If this virus gets out of control it may very well to be a turning point in allowing Americans access to universal health insurance and paid sick time. I truly hope that the suffering can be kept to a minimum but the more I read, the more afraid I become. How many people will delay getting tested because they cannot afford to pay. How many people will go to work knowing they have been around someone who has tested positive if they have no sick time. Some people without health care or paid sick leave will have hard choices, feed your children or go to work. There are so many serious problems that could arise that we are not prepared for, and again the poor will suffer the worst. Can't we set up free testing sites? Also, today I read that India will stop exporting some medications that we may need and the Chinese supply has already been impacted. Time for us to bring drug manufacturing back to the US. I feel all I can do is hope for the best and hope that this doesn't get out of control. Sadly hope will not help the many who may become infected.
15
Trump has failed miserably in dealing with his unexpected event as President.
So much is unknown and Trump has only added to uncertainty.
23
From the “Unconventional Indicators” file:
British bookmakers are giving odd the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games get cancelled. That would suggest a serious, months-long epidemic.
11
@T
Relax, they give odds on many things that they don't understand.
1
There’s a lot we don’t know yet, and an abundance of caution is warranted. It’s early days, and the patterns are unclear.
The seven new cases in King County are:
A female in her 40s, worked at LifeCare, never hospitalized and is recovering at home
A female in her 60s, family member of a confirmed case of COVID-19, not hospitalized
A male in his 70s, a frequent visitor of LifeCare, hospitalization status unknown currently
A male in his 20s, unknown exposure, hospitalized at Swedish Issaquah
A male in his 20s, unknown exposure, hospitalized at Swedish Issaquah
A female in her 80s, resident of LifeCare, never hospitalized, died at her family home on 2/26/20
A male in his 50s, resident of LifeCare, hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center and died on 2/26/20
14 other cases in King County alone, already reported earlier by Public Health, include:
A male in his 50s, hospitalized at Highline Hospital. No known exposures. He is in stable but critical condition. He had no underlying health conditions.
More here...
https://komonews.com/news/coronavirus/7th-coronavirus-death-reported-in-puget-sound-region
17
In their 20’s ..... scary. What is their condition?
3
Keep Calm and Carry On.
Wash your hands like you wish your doctor would! (They don't always)
Keep your distance from other humans. (I know it seems unfriendly, but they'll understand.)
Cough into than new handkerchief you've started carrying for just that purpose, if you have to cough (maybe you have no symptoms, but might have the virus anyway. Lucky you.)
Wash your hands again. A third of Americans don't wash at all when leaving the bathroom, and a big percentage of those that do don't use soap! Wash your hands like you're trying to win WW2.
The novel coronavirus is a bad new one, but the common cold is also a coronavirus. Use all the methods you might use to deal with it. Everything from Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to Zinc lozenges.
If you do go visit grandma, wear a mask and tape it to your face with bandage tape for 100% blockage. Wash your hands in Vodka (because the hand sanitizer is all out, goodness knows why.) Heck, gargle with the vodka. Couldn't hurt. Use a zinc lozenge if you think you have a tickle in your throat.
For now, we need to ruthlessly employ every method of disease vector control that has been devised since germ theory was discovered. We can get the transmission rate below 1 if EVERYONE does these simple, manual things. A transmission rate below 1 means the virus starves. For now, we have to stop this virus the hard way. A vaccine will arrive next year.
I'm sorry we don't have FDR or JFK to give you this lecture, but we don't. Just me, I guess.
30
@SB
You made me smile. We need a heck of a lot more people like you, with sound, practical advice and good hearts. (It's true what you say about the vodka and zinc. I just read about it!!)
4
True story. I just lent a family doc neighbor of mine my safety goggles for use in her practice. She couldn’t find any. This is how much Uncle Sam is helping so far. A few weeks ago, the WHO leader said China’s strong actions to contain the virus were buying time for the west to get ready. Gotta wonder if the WH was listening. After all, the brilliant Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had already opined that the virus might help the US economy by encouraging business to move to the US. You can’t make this stuff up.
36
I have spoken to an Iranian person who gets the "unofficial news" from Iran. The unofficial news is that the actual scenario is being suppressed. According to this person, 4000 people have died in Iran and 21,000 are infected.
11
The Spanish flu of 1918-1919 was the most deadly flu epidemic in history. Every flu has its own characteristic, Spanish flu was deadly for the young and healthy, the stronger your immune system the more deadly it was as your immune system reacted so violently it drowned you.
This flu, which looks as though it is going to join Flu outbreaks from 1960 and 1950 as a pandemic that kills millions has its own unique characteristic, in that the younger you are the more immune you are.
In science fiction, a brilliant scientist would use that clue to figure out away to combat it. But it seems on a planet with 7 billion people not one scientist can come up with anything. This is a failure of the human. This is not 1918, we have made incredible technological advancements we now have super computers and a way to rush groundbreaking medicine around the world, but it seems the only thing we can rush around the world is Corona virus, we are very good at that.
We have nobody to blame but ourselves, it’s just a flu, we had all this time to have a plan in place in case a super flu emerged, too much partying, too much stupidity , we might have bred-out the kind of minds that could solve and fight this virus. Well a lot will change due to the Corona, and scientists are going to become sexy again, science and scientists will be seen in a new light. This might be the planet saving itself, the skies are clearing in China, global warming is real, like this it is grounded in science.
3
We have done so much research on influenza and produced flu vaccines for so many years since the Great Influenza that I just have to laugh at this. We’ve prevented millions of deaths with the flu vaccines we’ve developed. We dug up corpses in the arctic and drilled their teeth to get pulp to test the DNA for the 1918 influenza. We’ve spent billions of dollars and scientists have devoted their lives to researching, preventing and treating influenza. Just because you haven’t been paying attention doesn’t mean the scientific community hasn’t been doing anything about influenza.
Btw - I was in my teens & early 20s in the 1970s and the obituary section of our local newspaper was usually 1 page. In February & March there were 2 and 2 1/2 pages of obituaries as older people died of pneumonia due to influenza. I would recognize the names of my friends’ grandparents & eventually my own maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather. Influenza deaths have been greatly reduced thanks to vaccines and better treatment since the 1970s -- let alone since 1918.
4
Praying is not going to solve the problem.
3
NZ has it's second case of coronavirus - it's a person who self isolated on their return from Italy.
4
And ninety people in Washington died of the flu and 25 died in stair falls, or something like that. But these deaths are unimportant to the media and their Democrat script. Sort of like ignoring the holocaust of Blacks in big Democrat run cities. Have the media neither shame nor honor/
1
@William Boyer: The dangers of the seasonal flu are well known, but here's the thing: each of us can, and about half of Americans do, receive an annual vaccine to help prevent influenza infection. It's not foolproof, but it's generally accepted that the annual vaccine that many of us seek out in October does a pretty decent job of preventing fatal complications if one does contract influenza.
The novel coronavirus is different. There is no vaccine, and there won't be one for at least a year, probably longer, and that's only if everything goes perfectly with development and testing. Our only real defense against COVID-19 right now is social distancing, and that is very hard to pull off. Few of us have the luxury of hunkering down for months until the danger has passed. This makes people understandably anxious.
The media are performing an important public service by distributing information about on-going outbreaks and how to combat the spread of not just COVID-19 but other dangerous respiratory infections, too. The same hygienic practices that will stop the spread of novel coronavirus will also stop the spread of the seasonal flu, protecting the unvaccinated.
I for one am very happy that the media are covering coronavirus so thoroughly. I don't find anything unnecessarily alarmist in the NY Times. On the contrary, after reading the coverage I feel more able to make good decisions that will protect both myself and my loved ones.
14
@William Boyer Hey Kansas; people are dying; ,you use it for political gain. Pence said 1.5 million tests will be done by the end of the week;last week CDC did what;1000;1500? Do you really believe Republican lies? Stay in Kansas
6
@Allison Spot on. Yours is a well-reasoned and well-written response and should put to rest this silly equation people are peddling that Covid-19 is like the 'flu.
The media is playing a very important role and the only way we can protect ourselves and the people around us is by being well-informed and passing on that knowledge to the cynics and naysayers.
If the CDC sends you to a hospital for the Coronavirus who pays? Two weeks in an isolation ward has got to be a huge bill. Does insurance pay? I probably couldn't even cover the co-pay on a bill that large. What is the average person supposed to do when something like this happens to them?
50
NY State has adopted some sort of order saying, I think, you can't be charged for test --actually no copays, deductibles, nada, for testing or treatment, regardless of what your insurance says. In NY city there are also several public hospitals. including Bellevue in Manhattan, where care is based on ability to pay. so free if you can't pay.
6
@Bruce1253 If you live in a Republican controlled state.....you are toast
7
I agree with one of the commentators, every day is a new low for the Trump administration handling this crisis. I am really angry that it shows no care for the health and lives of American citizens.
I am a university professor in Chicago, I care about my colleagues', my students' health, I tried twice to ask the administration of the university to be pro-active to protect all in the university, what I got is that it will follow the instruction the CDC. That makes me very worry, since the US is too slow to test people, there might be community spread already. The CDC keeps assuring that the risk of infection in the community is low, can we trust that (since all announcements about the spread of virus have to go through Pence)?
36
Is it a coincidence that the CDC is no longer providing data on how many tests have been performed, or the number infected or dead per state, and right after this change the federal limits on testing are lifted?
30
I recommend that people read the BBC website, which is doing a phenomenal job of reporting much that American media have ignored about this virus, infection rates in some nations, testing methods in other nations, etc.
49
Just wondering..
What will those governors who did not want the ACA expanded in their states do when this Coronavirus is found in their states and spreads?
What type of medical care will be available? Who will have access to it? For how long?
This may very well become a matter of life and death for thousands in this country.
25
@Mamma's Child Most likely, there will be much-touted emergency funding. What this means, of course, is that instead of getting a sane healthcare reform system that brings costs under control, the taxpayers will be forced (again) to subsidize the obscene price-gouging by hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.
4
@Mamma's Child
It's not just a matter of funding medical care at this time.
This effort has been so botched by lack of testing we are going to see a SIGNIFICANT number of health care providers get sick. You can't replace trained professionals no matter how much money you throw at it.
4
I keep seeing Trump, Trumpers saying that people should not get hysterical (deriving from or affected by uncontrolled extreme emotion). At this point I haven't seen anyone who is running around "extremely emotional". Then I hear people talking about Trump being calm... it is actually indifference.
The truth is, we have a virus that is a whisper away from being rated as a pandemic-an epidemic occurring on a scale which crosses international boundaries, usually affecting a large number of people. It is deadly, effecting a large swath of people from all over the globe.
Now like all great dangers, it would be natural for people to be aware of such a problem. It would be natural to want to evaluate the problem and figure out how to best deal with the threat... to survive it. People will naturally look at history to learn how to deal with what is happening now and in this case, people have a period of history to learn from... the Spanish Flu. It is considered to be very similar to the Coronavirus 2019 and has so far a mortality rate the same as the Spanish Flu... approx 2%. But, we don't know, for sure what this virus will in fact do. One thing the Spanish flu did was to fade during the summer giving people the illusion that it was gone but it then came roaring back only again to kill thousand more.
16
@Pray for Help
Tens of millions more, not thousands.
7
I practice internal medicine in Maine and our state currently has no testing capacity.
40
Lifting restrictions on testing is good, but because it’s taken this long to have access to the kits there’s going to be a huge uptick of infected people, more headlines, more hysteria. You have to wonder how many people are actually infected. We’re always a week behind (at least) on what’s actually going on.
12
We’re months behind. We have become a third world country.
23
In this particular case we're more like a month or more behind.
7
“We want New Yorkers to go about their everyday lives, use the subway, take the bus, etc,” city health commissioner Dr Oxiris Barbot said, adding that the coronavirus “is not an illness that can be easily spread through casual contact.” The Guardian
HOW does Dr. Oxiris Barbot get away with saying to the public who trust this doctor, the coronavirus "is not an illness that can be easily spread through casual contact" ??
Has he watched the footage out of Italy and Iran? 23 MP's in Iran have the virus. Of course it is spread through casual contact.
Can we please get the facts straight and honest?
49
Actually, Dr. Barbot is a woman.
You should also know that at his press conference today the Mayor said you can't get the virus from public transit like the commuter rail line the 2d victim rode into Manhattan or the NYC subway system!! He claims it is only transmitted through sustained close contact, which is why they are testing the patient's wife, but not his fellow train passengers.
2
The high death rate (9/122) in the limited US data could suggest that given the CDC mess-up with diagnostic tests and who they were restricted to that the US infection counts are substantially underreported compared to European states such as France and Germany. For instance, Germany has more confirmed cases but no deaths. This suggests that Germany responded well to the early data from China on the epidemic and prepared and effectively utilized a reliable diagnostic test in the earliest days of infection spread to Germany. The US apparently did not. A major question is why the CDC diagnostic kits failed and how was the manufacturer of those kits chosen. The CDC Director Redfield has a prior history of controversy around working on an AIDS vaccine which would had potential for a huge market. As other countries had developed effective tests, was there any financial ties within CDC decision makers that made sticking with the failed American test kits the initial response in the critical first weeks of Covid-19 transmission to the US.
21
How is it that the greatest health care system in the world (US) has a death rate near 10% which is greater than any other country?
25
@Nd: the US does not have the greatest health system when health is assessed as a whole. Infant mortality rates are higher than most developed countries for example.
38
But we don’t have the greatest health care system do we. It’s appalling.
I know... not just as a patient but as a physician practicing 40 years.
We have become a cog in the medical industrial complex and we are here to rip you off.
Not all of us.
Just most.
Carefully pick and choose your “caregiver”.
15
@Nb
I think it's time for Americans to take a good hard look at the truth. America has not been great for a long time. The health care system is no where near as good as many other countries around the world. Trump is not MAGA. He is making it worse.
It is time for a president who brings the country heals the division and puts $$ back into public services like health and education.
This coronavirus is a wake up call. Let's hope it is handled well. Under the skeleton crew of Trump's gov't, I have little faith.
14
The fall from grace of America is catastrophic.
America is failing because it is run by kings and their courtiers.
39
Corporations rule. When government is under total control of corporations it’s known as “ Friendly Fascism”.
11
The uninformed are busy with the hysterical comments--so some facts:
CDC estimates that influenza was associated with more than 35.5 million illnesses, more than 16.5 million medical visits, 490,600 hospitalizations, and 34,200 deaths during the 2018–2019 influenza season.
So far we have nine deaths from this virus but many more from the regular flu this year but the media and the Democrats are exploiting the illness of their fellow citizens--very sad.
1
@Jonathan You forgot a simple fact: 80K infected, 3,000 death with total lock down of Wuhan. What would the infected and death number be if Wuhan had not been locked down?
31
We’re just at the beginning. Also if I had to choose between catching this or the seasonal flu, I’d choose the seasonal flu any day.
15
@Jonathan
The coronavirus has a 20X higher fatality rate than the seasonal flu. So add that on top of the seasonal flu and I wonder how the hospitals will manage?
The Chinese acted swiftly which is why they have contained it well, but the first few months they too were in denial. Why should the USA make the same mistake?
15
From data (confirmed cases and deaths) provided 03-03-2020 by the NYT: at this point the mortality rate in the USA is 7.40%.
That is the third largest in the world, only behind Philipines (33.33%) and San Marino (10%). Fourth is China (3.67%), followed by Iran (3.30%), Italy (3.16%), Australia (2.63%), Taiwan(2.38%), Thailand (2.32%), Hong Kong (2%), France (1.96%), Japan (0.82%), and Korea (0.54%).
Just think about it. USA: 7.40%. Iran: 3.30%.
14
@Sara
Poor San Marino, population of 33,000 and now one of the worst-affected nations.
1
What does this indicate? Could this be a measure of the lack of US testing (improper denominator— many people with mild cases who are untested), or is it more of a sign of the virus hitting a nursing home where many elderly, vulnerable people live?
1
“Mortality rates” much lower in countries with wider testing. Ours (as you calculated) is high because we haven’t tested mildly symptomatic positives. It is an artifact.
1
Looking at the exponential growth other countries have seen for the outbreak, the US will have 1000s of confirmed cases by next week (if we test more) - Italy, France, and S. Korea, as well as China, are all ahead of us in terms of the time evolution of the epidemic.
https://avatorl.org/covid-19/?page=CompareCountries
Will Pence be able to save face and have the CDC and Congress do the right thing? (not holding my breath here)
The emphasis on not discrediting the armchair virologist in chief and the lack of action based on fact/science is hampering our ability to slow the virus. Not a surprise, but maddening.
12
Anthony Fauci submits to Trump.
1
@Jean-Paul Cozzatti
Italy and France might not be ahead of the US in the evolution of the epidemic, just in their use of testing. Only when we test will we know.
3
It seems absurd that “experts” are saying there’s a 1-2% death toll with this virus. Apparently some countries with out great healthcare are experiencing even a 25% death rate. America only has good health care for the rich or who those who are fortunate to have something through their employers, while there is virtually no healthcare for everyone else. If the masses can not afford healthcare and get sick, you can bet everyone will get it. Trump is incompetent and it could cost you your life.
20
I think if you Tweet about it enough, the president can make the coronavirus go away.
Or perhaps is the Vice President prays enough, he can make it disappear.
11
Wait! Trump promised the 15 original cases would become 0. Was he less than honest with us??
22
Well aren’t we lucky to live in the only first world nation on earth without free health care for all and guaranteed paid sick leave.
28
Wait. What?
I just don’t understand the lackadaisical approach to this by our government. Who is infecting these people? Seems like we are only reporting deaths but no infections. 9 dead and 100 infected? Numbers are way off! What we need to do is stop fooling around. Get your act together and get it together now! Trace this down. Isolate everyone. We are not stopping the spread. People who feel ok but are positive keep walking around spreading the virus.
12
Where is the outrage that this administration has completely dropped the ball on this?
We don’t know what we have because we don’t have tests available? Imagine the Fox News headlines if this was happening under Obama.
25
We richly deserve the consequences. Why do we have to wait so long?
Our dear leader says that the COVID-19 outbreak is all a HOAX!
"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." — George Orwell, “1984”
This is a key pillar of the trump agenda widely abetted by powerful GOP politicians whose thirst for power manifests a new reality of an emerging authoritative political system.
13
Anyone who believes China cases are "dropping", I have a shiny bridge to sell you!
It’s been REPEATEDLY demonstrated that China is MASSIVELY underreporting cases and deaths.
The media’s (and WHO’s) regurgitation of China’s propaganda is nothing short of criminal.
6
It’s criminal negligence.
Where has it been repeatedly shown?
trump is like an airline pilot who arrives in the cockpit and declares, 'he doesn't need to do a preflight checklist, he's the greatest pilot who has ever flown!' and takes the plane out to the end of the runway where he discovers the plane doesn't have enough fuel and has to bring it back to the flight line, find a new gate, off load the passengers, disrupt the whole flow of the airport, fuel the plane, and get a new departure time. All the while he is declaring himself a hero for saving all the lives on the flight because 'he found the fuel problem before takeoff!' We would have crashed if it wasn't for me!
18
NYTimes,
Why in the world haven’t you done a story about how Britain is treating this? (The new 111 emergency call system, the 3 types of places where they test, the fact that 10,000 have been screened Im a nation with fewer infected than are in USA.)
41
I would love Pence to clarify who pays for this testing. If I have mild symptoms and get the test am I going to be receiving a bill? If so, I can see a lot of people not being tested and therefore the extent of the pandemic being far from clear.
18
Exactly!
2
Why are American healthcare workers walking around with nothing more than a face mask after we have seen Chinese and South Korean officials don body suits. Is it because suits are over kill or because we lack the resources? Given we know based on international spread that health care workers are susceptible seems to me like it’s an important issue.
34
When will Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and their staffs head to the Seattle area Washington State frontlines of the coronavirus crisis to get first hand information and take charge?
When will President Donald Trump break away from one of his campaign rallies and fundraising or golfing trips and go visit Washington State to throw them rolls of paper towels while Melania does her fashion model message walk?
When will Senior White House advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner will volunteer to head to Washington State?
Or perhaps Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and Fox and Friends along with Don,Jr. and Eric Trump will head to Washington State?
29
When will Trump be brave enough to announce “ no more campaign rallies” with live crowds during the epidemic?
15
@Blackmamba
Never. That makes entirely too much sense and would leave the impression that they care more about facts and reality rather than Faux News, ratings and themselves.
The Coronavirus may be the one thing that will keep Trump from attending one of his ragers in person.
He will then appear via video.
Ps. I hope I have not planted an idea in his head.
2
50M people don't have health insurance in the USA; 60% of the people cannot afford a $400 emergency; minimum wage workers are fired for taking one sick day; an administration that doesn't believe in science; NO affordable healthcare for 60% of the US population; the CDC gutted by Trump and managed by loyalist idiots; the person in charge of this mess (Pence) doesn't believe in evolution. If this isn't a recipe for a disaster (pandemic), then tell me what is?
39
Yet the people vote for Biden. Who cares?
2
And when President Trump stopped flights from China weeks ago, he was called a racist
2
You know... China actually is putting us to shame with their response to the virus.
31
I work in a large psychiatric hospital and MANY of our patients come through Harborview. Many patients from Harborview return to jail and so you can imagine the radius of exposure.
You can bet I’ve been exposed as have most of my co-workers, and our friends and families.
My hope is the sick leave uptick doesn’t take out too many resources; we are understaffed as it is.
So much for having been required to get a flu shot or sign an affidavit this year.
29
@PsychDoc
Good luck and thanks for the care you are giving.
8
My hospital is understaffed and they allow people with respiratory diseases to come to work. Should I report this to Department of Public Health?
No!! You know how whistleblowers are treated?
7
Ugh that’s not good. I’ve been feeling depressed lately and so not want to go to inpatient or outpatient at a psych hospital. Ours is in Solano County. Just too risky to getting this virus.
Whilst I greatly appreciate the excellent coverage by the NYT, I keep wondering why the number of people treated and released is nowhere to be found in these articles .
Also, the statement that the US has more rigorous testing than other countries struck me as inaccurate and would be funny if the subject was not so grave . How rigorous can you really get when some of your testing kits simply are useless .
22
Just to be clear. There is zero testing in the US therefore zero mitigation.
11
Anti-viral medications are helping people survive in China. Will they be available in the USA and for how much?
13
Why doesn't our Republican-led administration turn to outsourcing? It's pretty clear that China has the expertise and the capacity to get a job done, once they put their mind to do it. They could probably belt out a million tests in a few days. After all, they built a hospital in 10.
13
Why is Los Angeles proceeding with a marathon expected to draw 23,000 runners —and hordes of viewers—this coming weekend?
Why is Seattle proceeding to allow an expected 50,000 fans in a stadium to watch a soccer game against Chicago this weekend?
22
@Jean - Clearly, these events should have been cancelled, or at least scaled down.
5
MONEY
4
@Jean
If one applies the Republican mentality, it is because of personal freedom. Nobody can tell you not to go to a game, and nobody forces you to go to one.
1
What if following the lead of America and it's President Donald Trump every nation state and it's leaders tries to make themselves great again by making and hoarding pharmaceuticals and medical devices for themselves first in the coronavirus crisis?
Trump has repeatedly dismissed and disrespected America's closest allies and friends from Canada to France to Germany to Mexico to the United Kingdom while embracing America's competitors, enemies and foes.
5
This president and his administration are shackled by fear, ineptitude and unpreparedness. We, unfortunately, will pay the price.
Fear of having some one who does not parrot the all is well propaganda line going public about the mess that is agencies that should be ready to render assistance.
Testing kits by the millions?? That is news to those companies that make them.
Vaccine in a few weeks?? That is news to scientists and pharmaceutical companies.
Enough masks for medical personnel? That is news to those front line medical workers.
Eradication when spring comes? That is news to the Corinavirus.
Oh.. I get it. Lower the interest rate.. That should solve all of the above. Huh??
Trump is trying to make us live in his head where all is great...so we do not realize how truly inept he is.
Don't believe the hype.
22
@Mamma's Child - If it looks like he's doing something, then people will think he is. That's his whole deal. Once people's parents and grandparents start getting sick and dying, all bets are off. Maybe.
5
What does Anthony Fauci think or say? Is he allowed to speak.
2
@Freedean
Sadly true.. Maybe not even then..
1
We're finally in a very dangerous situation that can't be made to "disappear" behind a cloud of lies. No matter what Team Trump screams, and no matter how much the "democrat comrades" are blamed, the disease will run its course and everyone will know what happens. As Richard Feynman famously said: "Nature will not be fooled".
74
The Emperor has not clothes. He knew everything he needed to know at least as of January 1st when the CDC announced that the animal market in Wuhan was the source of the infection. The Chinese Government reported all of the information, the fact that it was a new form of virus, a mutant, for which there was no treatment or vaccine available on December 31st of last year.
And behaving like a piece of wood the President was insisting in using the regular flu vaccine as of yesterday , exactly 61 days after the Chinese announcement.
I got it. Trump cannot help himself, he is unable to process information, And it's not his fault, he was born like that, but the singing chorus around him should not be caroling about the beautiful clothes of their Great Leader and Emperor.
83
@Leon I just wanted to add that such dereliction of duty may be criminal.
22
@Leon The World Health Organization seriously downplayed this, as did China, for WEEKS.
1
This disease respects no national boundaries, no ethnicity or religion. This is the natural world at work. It is so much better for the nations of the world to work together peacefully to contain this disease, instead of present disputes based on land grabs, mutual hostility, ideology.
20
NYC isn’t like any other city in this nation in terms of population density and public transit person to person interaction.
This latest case is truly problematic. I can’t imagine a scenario in which schools remain open.
10
I see that N. Carolina just confirmed a case of Covid-19 that is linked to the outbreak in Washington. No mention was made of how that person traveled across the country; whether they flew, drove, maybe Amtrak...the cat is now out of the bag in a big way.
14
Yes, Warren fought hard to make the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau more independent, but Larry Summers and President Obama wanted it under more control.
There is currently a case before the Supreme Court that will determine whether the CFPB and all other regulatory agencies will come under more presidential control. God help us if the Trump appointees decide to overturn a century of judicial decisions and bring these agencies under more political control. How many more will die in epidemics?
11
Since many individuals are asymptomatic to the Coronavirus it maybe that many more people are positive to the virus or were infected in the past (this can be verified by testing serum/blood specimens for antibodies against the virus), in whch case the mortality rate is comparable to the common flu. Coronavirus can be viewed as another flu virus variant. I am a professor of Medical Genetics and it is my view that the hysteria and panic spread by the hyped media is by far greater than the virus.
14
@lieberma
and yet the numbers are...
and the numbers remain...
mortality rate for "the flu"
is .01 percent
mortality rate for the novel coronavirus is somewhere between 2 and 7 percent based on numbers that are a moving target.
28
@lieberma
Of course, it is likely that many people have been infected but their immune systems worked well and they now have antibodies. I believe both Singapore and the US are developing such antibody tests.
3
@lieberma thank you! As soon as I saw the headlines about Covid-19 spreading undetected in Seattle “for weeks” my immediate reaction was that surely this is a good thing. Undetected = not serious/ asymptomatic. If the newspaper had a ticker with cases of flu and flu-related deaths there would be a similar hysteria.
2
I am concerned that when Azar and Trump talk about vaccines, they also emphasize the role of the "private sector." They always point out that "there has to be a role for the private sector in this." My great suspicion and concern is that behind the scenes, they are more concerned with capitalizing on this crisis for their backers in the pharmaceutical industry than containing the epidemic and caring for the American people and supporting all 50 states. This is where Trump's vindictiveness against blue states is especially fear inducing, and why I suspect that New York is taking a very proactive, state centered role, not awaiting federal support.
279
@Clarice Yep. Follow the money.
12
Why was an FDA official was denied entry to the CDC, then allowed in a day later as originally planned? Was the early arrival refusal connected to what a day later he found: that some of the labs were contaminated?
Was that contamination part of why CDC has been so slow getting test kits out across USA?
Is that contamination another reason why we desperately need the private sector to speed up the making of kits?
5
@Jean, I think it should not be your "great suspicion and concern". It should be your certainty.
All of a sudden, Sanders' "health care for all" idea that pretty much every other major country has adopted does not seem so far-fetched does it?
5
We need NYC to inform us now. From the examples of other countries, we'll need to know: exactly what to do if we start suspecting symptoms (self-isolate, avoid contact with public), how long to self-isolate and until what symptoms appear, what numbers to call (dedicated hotlines), and where to go (dedicated facilities for testing and supportive care) and how to get there (walk or take own car, avoid public transport, ask for help if none is possible). Many bigger things are needed and take a while (measures to cover sick days, facilities, transportation), but we need start hearing basics yesterday, or people will start walking into hospitals and forcing scores of medical personnel into quarantine. What is our plan?
11
The immediate need is for test kits. If you cannot define the extent of the disease, you cannot even begin to attack the problem. It's akin to flying an airplane, in the clouds, and with no operating instruments. You are not going to make it to a safe haven.
It is a fundamental issue for the healthcare system----and all of us as well.
13
The mortality rate in Italy is just at 3%, which is quite worrying. This is a developed country with first world healthcare, doing a lot of testing.
The eventual mortality rate may decline, but so far it remains stubbornly high. Much higher than the flu, and significantly more transmissible than the flu.
These are not happy thoughts.
13
mortality rate is also high in France, mainly with elderlies.About 130 contaminations so far with 2 clusters,one in Britany, the second in Oise county 100km north east from Paris. 10 deaths so far
8
@Gadea
There was an interesting comment yesterday from someone in France who said that people had more-or-less given up there, and were effectively resigned to the fact that "we will all get this anyway." They don't seem to understand the effect of their Gallic shrug on the world.
Seems a little unfair that testing leads to stigma. South Korea has the most extensive testing--that's why there are so many confirmed cases. NYC is now testing more than many other places, so they found a second case. But down here in Houston, the head of the county said yesterday that the local health department still does not have even the capability of testing. So who knows how many cases are in Houston?
21
Yes--South Korea has a lot of confirmed cases (5,186), but less deaths (32) so far compared to the other heavily affected countries--Iran (77 deaths) or Italy (who have also tested a lot--and have 2,502 confirmed, 79 deaths). It is too early to tell, but aggressive tracing and testing for early detection and intervention may be making a lot of difference.
6
South Korea also has designated areas where people are told to drive up in their cars, roll down window, and get tested from there!
9
@tanstaafl
And Houston is, what, the fourth largest city in the US? Incredible.
7
Everybody, please calm down and read the info on these two web sites before commenting..
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports
https://www.nih.gov/health-information/coronavirus
As for Anthony Fauci, he is a distinguished MD and administrator. NIH institute directors are not not political appointees.
4
I took your advice and read the information on the NIH website link above. Is this the information from the NIH that should calm us down:
“More cases of COVID-19 are likely to be identified in the coming days, including more cases in the United States. It’s also likely that person-to-person spread will continue to occur, including in communities in the United States. It’s likely that at some point, widespread transmission of COVID-19 in the United States will occur.
Widespread transmission of COVID-19 would translate into large numbers of people needing medical care at the same time. Schools, childcare centers, workplaces, and other places for mass gatherings may experience more absenteeism. Public health and healthcare systems may become overloaded, with elevated rates of hospitalizations and deaths. Other critical infrastructure, such as law enforcement, emergency medical services, and transportation industry may also be affected. Health care providers and hospitals may be overwhelmed. At this time, there is no vaccine to protect against COVID-19 and no medications approved to treat it. Nonpharmaceutical interventions would be the most important response strategy.”
check out the South Korean airport staff modelling some very fashionable masks!!
and Trump's surgeon general said what???
4
Sad fact is that the U.S. cannot produce enough masks for everyone, so they claim that the general public should not wear them. Yet masks are recommended for everyone in Vietnam, China, and South Korea--where they have no problem making enough.
17
Panic is much worse when everyone ignores a problem up until the last minute, then it bites them in the butt.
At least it’s getting warmer outside.
4
The deaths of nursing home residents who do not move around in general society means the virus was brought to them from staff and /or visitors. I hope they are now taking stringent measures to protect victims like this.
34
Note, the death toll in Washington State is now up to 9. Based on the initial Wuhan outbreak, we can expect the numbers to continue to climb, then shoot up rapidly. I know many people here are complaining that people are overreacting, but we need to be prepared to deal with this as the virus's effects start to hit all our communities and the numbers increase exponentially. That's what's happening elsewhere and there's no reason to believe it'll be any different in the U.S.
27
@Freedean Timely reading if self quarantining during the virus is The Decameron, 100 various filthy, funny, sad and tragic tales the author pretends were written to amuse those who locked themselves away to escape the plague. It is available in print and also in an Audio Book The beginning, describing the damage done by the plague to the people of Florence is read by the actor Simon Russel Beale. Makes you realize that even though the medical situation will never get as desperate as Florence in the 1300s, public and personal attitudes and behavior might not be all that different.
5
Note that 55,000 people attended the 3 day Pacific NW Flower & Garden snow in a single building , single floor, smack in downtown Seattle last weekend,
7
Coronavirus in NY is scary but no surprise: this is an incredibly international city with tons of human contact daily on trains, buses, and all around the city. What concerns me is the complete incompetence of the CDC and administration in testing. I posted here one or two weeks ago that my coworker’s husband and daughter had both had a serious flu with a high fever and pneumonia. Their doctors’ office had no coronavirus tests and couldn’t test. Meanwhile, she continued to come into work throughout. I had a cold last week while home with my 60s and 70s parents and was terrified of infecting them if my cold turned out to be more. With no testing, there’s no information and no way of knowing.
41
You may take comfort in knowing that today NYC's mayor announced you cannot get this virus from riding public transit like MTA commuter trains from Westchester (as most recent victim did) or NYC subway
He says it requires sustained "close" contact, which is apparently why they are checking the guy's wife and not his fellow passengers.
1
This isn’t true. Coronavirus lives on surfaces for hours. This morning subway cars were being emptied and cleaned during rush hour. You don’t need sustained contact. You need someone to sneeze.
11
The United States Food & Drug Administration has reported a growing drug/supply shortage in our country. So they contacted close to 70 suppliers seeking alternatives.
All of the companies that the FDA contacted are in China!
China, who produces a large percentage of our vaccines and medicines and most of their factories are shut down. The factory's trying to restart face shortages of workers!
India, which is also a major supplier of Generic Medicine for our country, just announced a ban on exporting medicine out of the country - including bans on the ingredients needed to make those medicines. They are wanting to keep the medicine for their own people!
So does anyone posting on this story have any idea as to what the United States makes anymore?
I really don't care who is in office because during a world wide crisis, you can throw International Agreements, Contractual Agreements, Free Trade and all that other tree-hugging propaganda out the window!
The CDC (before any budget cuts) can't make testing kits. We don't have enough labs or people to test the testing kits. We can't make cars, fighter jets, super-carriers, vaccines or medicine in this country... and the list goes on!
14
Sooner or later, almost everyone on Earth will be exposed (a recent article said 11--21% of the population were exposed to swine flu, but this is more contagious). Quarantines may delay this, but not for long.
So concentrate on developing a vaccine and finding chemotherapeutic agents, of which there are several promising candidates. And mass-producing them, without waiting for elaborate trials.
5
Most states, not testing for the coronavirus, are calling those sick and dying with the "flu".
12
Criminal negligence. Reckless disregard for human life. Fraud.
Starting with the failure of government health officials failure to follow basic prevention and containment procedures at Travis AFB. The failure to test. The non-stop lies. The burying of data. The failure to quarantine and restrict travel and crowd gatherings. The list goes on.
These are crimes, and bc of the number of victims, they’re crimes against humanity.
18
Ramping up the number and availability of testing kits, while moving in the right direction, is many weeks too late. The virus has had unrestricted freedom for at least a month.
Worst. Administration. Ever.
42
Why are so many readers shocked that nothing is really being done? This is America, where it's happy face, all the time. You know, "it all good" and all that. The US has had two months to prepare for this. China has detailed online counts and charts by town, city, province, and country since mid February - and these show number of people tested, confirmed, recovered, and dead at all those levels. The US has nothing - just more concerned with pumping up the Wall Street Casino than its citizens. China shut down it's country for a month to deal with this - you thing the US will care enough to do that. You're on your own here.
49
A website for Chinese students studying abroad has developed something similar to report cases in North America: https://coronavirus.1point3acres.com It’s in Chinese language but hope this this helpful: The orange number means confirmed, green means healed, and grey means dead. At the bottom it shows detailed information of each confirmed case and the information source.
I know I do not represent any country/anyone but as a Chinese international student, I sincerely apologize that China and its come incompetent officials caused this huge trouble to the world. I pray for everyone and I hope healthy people will stay healthy and those get sick will recover soon. We can do it.
3
Cities and states need to get the word out that if people are afraid they have caught the virus, they should CALL the hospital or an emergency number and not go to the hospital, infecting health care workers and anybody they encounter along the way (people on mass transit, taxi drivers etc.).
I am shocked this message isn't getting out there given that this is how health care workers are being infected!!! Is anyone really thinking about this situation in practical terms?
13
@Clarice - Tests should be delivered to and done in the home. We should be able to self-administer the test, seal it up, put it outside the door, and have someone pick up the sample and bring it in to the testing facility.
7
The “only one hotspot” comment is truly alarming. Isn’t the whole point of travel restrictions to prevent the proliferation of hot spots? If you wait until there are more hot spots, it’s too late.
16
Also, there is surely more than one hotspot. Seattle found out about this due to the infection at a nursing home. With the utter lack of testing, it seems like the only way the U.S. will find any other hotspot is if some place with a big vulnerable population, like a nursing home, gets infected.
7
I have a friend who just returned from a 5-week trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, exiting Asia via Japan. When she arrived in San Francisco, they asked where she had traveled but no questions about her health, encounters, etc. Also, no scans for fever or any other mitigation methods. And no recommendations for self-quarantine or other instructions in the event she gets sick. She then hopped on another airline to head back East. Geez!
33
@Sue - This shows that the talkers in Washington DC have no idea what really goes on in the real world. Yet they will continue to talk about how great all their travel restrictions are. Totally bogus!
11
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it will take up to 18 months to develop a vaccine for Covid-19. Trump suggests using flu vaccine on coronavirus.
Do you see the problem?
25
It's so comforting when the numbers coming out of the US look like those from Iran. Pathetic. What looks like a super high death rate is really due to the lack of meaningful testing. While the true death rate is most likely around 2% as reported elsewhere, this should offer little comfort. Because what this means is that Covid has already gotten a solid foothold in the US. Looks like this has totally gotten away from us despite weeks to prepare. It's like continuing to build sand castles while the waters recede before a tsunami.
18
So why didn't anyone think of postponing Super Tuesday? That's a lot of hands touching a lot of voting machines...
6
We're trying not to overreact but living barely 10 miles away from the "epicenter" where the death toll rises daily is starting to make us a wee bit nervous. My hands have never been so clean!
22
I think lots of people's hands have never been so clean.
5
Stay well! And at least use as a calming aid some of the great wine from all those Woodinville wine stores!
4
Would you be able to report how many people are RECOVERED each time you report the number of total people infected? It would help to know not just how many people have gotten corona virus, but also how many cases are still active. This would help put a little perspective on the issue.
8
@Lisa The problem is, they only started to do surveillance testing at local level at the end of last week. Based on what we know from the countries that have been logging a substantial number of cases earlier, it takes some 2-3 weeks for a patient to recover. So even if they start to track recoveries (and it might be very murky territory if they do as there have been a few cases of relapse reported in China and Japan), it can't be done till at least a couple weeks from now for all the cases they identify through this new depth in testing.
6
@LHY Thank you, very helpful.
2
@Lisa: Try https://covid19info.live for the latest updates on infections, deaths and recoveries.
2
I live 5 miles away from the epicenter of the Seattle outbreak. I had to travel for work and was worried the whole time if I am an asymptomatic carrier... if so, sorry to everyone on the plane!
Seriously though - this thing is going to disrupt life for a while. People should acknowledge that but not overreact.
9
Thank you for being concerned and attentive. Most of my relatives live in Seattle or nearby.
Stay well! And wear disposable gloves on public transportation.
3
@KH Stay well & wish you all the best.
This administration is the definition of reactive, rather than proactive. "We're not looking at that at all. There's only one hotspot." Trump's position, day after day, is outrageous. In Switzerland, one day after a case was confirmed, group events of more than 1,000 people were banned.
35
Washington state seems to be getting its revenge over the very limited and delayed testing which they have been rightly upset about for weeks. They've now reported 3 postmortem cases, bring the death rate in the US to 8%.
It's a dangerous game this administration is playing. By restricting testing to people who require hospitalization the virus will appear deadlier. Is the public going to be more comforted by fewer cases or a lower death rate?
By public, I mean the stock market.
34
Testing delays also put medical staff and first responders at risk. The city of Kirkland, where the nursing home fatalities were, had to put 1/4 of its 1st responders into quarantine because they were unknowingly exposed
14
Who cares what the stock market “thinks “ in the months ahead. I am more concerned that you and others stay well!
4
@Jean Same. I wish our president, everyone around him, and every Republican in congress felt the same.
We’re past the point of containment. It’s now mitigation time, treating the sick and staying healthy and hygienic. Everyone needs to come together, the public, healthcare systems and government it’s a massive effort for a long sustained period of time. People need to stop the blame game it’s not going to kill the virus but it may enable more human suffering and deaths. The planet is all in this together let’s all try to remember that.
15
@tiredofwaiting
Yes...I am appalled at the number of people who are still pursuing travel plans all around the world during spring break. If you think we have problems now, just wait until the end of March...when we start feeling the effects of that travel. These people will be the first to complain that there aren't any hospital rooms when they get sick. You know...in situations like this, it is not smart to let everyone just do whatever the want.
Quite frankly, we have a situation where hospitals have been forced into staffing to workload models, just in time inventory management and constrained physical space. This is due to the low reimbursement of government payers. Now that the ENTIRE world is using the same supplies at the same time, the healthcare industry can't even go to a default action like.... when in doubt, treat every patient who presents as a coronavirus patient. This is because the PPE supplies are limited due to demand surge and supply chain disruptions. The healthcare industry is left with navigating through murky algorithms in their attempt to distinguish between what is normal flu versus COVID-19. We can rule someone in with a positive test, but we can't rule them out with a negative test because the incubation period is so long. This is a nightmare to operationalize. We need to remember that this started in China and we should bill THEM for this mess! I am fed up with cleaning up abd paying for messes created by other people!
1
@tiredofwaiting
Yes...I am appalled at the number of people who are still pursuing travel plans all around the world during spring break. If you think we have problems now, just wait until the end of March...when we start feeling the effects of that travel. These people will be the first to complain that there aren't any hospital rooms when they get sick. You know...in situations like this, it is not smart to let everyone just do whatever they want.
Quite frankly, we have a situation where hospitals have been forced into staffing-to-workload models, just-in-time inventory management and constrained physical space. This is due to the low reimbursement of government payers. Now that the ENTIRE world is using the same supplies at the same time, the healthcare industry can't even go to a default action like.... when in doubt, treat every patient who presents as a coronavirus patient. This is because the PPE supplies are limited due to demand surge and supply chain disruptions. The healthcare industry is left with navigating through murky algorithms in their attempt to distinguish between what is normal flu versus COVID-19. We can rule someone in with a positive test, but we can't rule them out with a negative test because the incubation period is so long. This is a nightmare to operationalize. We need to remember that this started in China and we should bill THEM for this mess! I am fed up with cleaning up and paying for messes created by other people!
1
@Lyn Robins
So much for not playing the blame game...
5
Lost in all of this is that the tax cut passed in 2017 assumed that the US economy would continue to grow at 3%. Before the virus, it was 2%, and it isn't on track to be anywhere near 3%. Of course, many said this would happen, but that is all forgotten now.
When the Democrats get into power again, you can bet that screaming about the deficit will be the first order of business for the Republicans. I hope people remember the growth rate and the implicit assumption it would just keep on continuing, the way housing prices a decade ago were modeled to just keep on rising.
65
Case fatality ratio in the US is over 8% at this early stage of the epidemic. That’s a high ratio and indicates that a lot of cases have gone undetected.
Attempts to contain the infection seems to be worth trying. According to Dr.Bruce Aylward (WHO, UN), the data from China shows, that there maybe are not that many latent (asymptomatic) cases. Instead, we have a virus that is highly contagious and indeed much more (factor of 7-20x) lethal than seasonal flu.
39
@Mikko Lehtovirta excellent summation of current virus capabilities.
I am so perplex that some other folks are still comparing this viral illness to the typical seasonal flu. IT IS NOT LIKE THE TYPICAL SEASONAL FLU!
Just stop it!!
8
@Mikko Lehtovirta
According to the WHO's largest and most detailed study of deaths, released today, the death rate is 3.4%, so 34x that of seasonal flu!
7
@Mikko Lehtovirta - It reflects no such thing. What it reflects the unfortunate fact that the washington state outbreak got into a nursing home. The most vulnerable.
6
According to the NYT, 1 in 10 members of the Iranian Parliament are now testing positive for COVID-19, probably from contact with constituents.
Political leaders and candidates in the US, on the other hand, are not paying much attention to this and rallies are still on the calendar.
50
Our genius president tells us rallies are safe! Safe until not safe isn’t taking this serious. Is anyone paying attention to this. Stop the spread of the virus!! Get serious and have that and the people in this nation as a priority over your reelection. That is what service is!!!
4
Living in Seattle I feel more urgent about COVID-19 prevention, makes me really sad that Trump doesn't take this as seriously as he should be. I guess things will have to change when the virus spreads everywhere else
49
What do you mean? Trump put a guy who is praying for the rapture in charge of the epidemic response. And THAT guy’s boss? The Devil.
10
@Tyler
Everyone at the federal level is taking this seriously. I also live in the Seattle area. Making this a political issue is really sad. If you are watching the liberal networks that will make you sad--because most of what they have on--and have had on, for the last three years is not true.
3
St. Charles Healthcare System in Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson County Oregon is requiring anyone entering their facilities who is experiencing coughing and runny noses to wear a mask.
11
Hopefully this is not different than any other year as that is standard practice during flu season in most hospitals. Additionally some units treating immunocompromised patients may not allow ill visitors or children younger than 12 onto the unit at all during flu season.
4
Here's St Charles' blog about this: https://www.stcharleshealthcare.org/news/st-charles-asks-patients-and-visitors-take-precautions. No indication of whether they will provide the N95 masks or not.
In other words, either follow the surgeon general's advice and buy an n95 mask on amazon (if you can find one), or skip the mask, and don't bother going to a hospital.
@Marry Elizabeth Lease
Where I am right (Switzerland) now the Reserve military has installed a tent way prior to the entrance of a hospital in order to check who wants (needs) to go into the hospital.
Everyone gets checked out. Of course they are covered in fully protective gear. That way they keep the virus way away from (already, also otherwise) sick people. People with a cold will be transported to a separate entrance, while the ones with a broken arm and the like can go on to the regular (main) entrance...
3
Why do they keep telling us not to be alarmed?
We’re watching how fast the virus spreads around the world, and the climbing numbers of deaths. Information about it “only” affecting people who are over 50 and/or with compromised immune systems isn’t reassuring. That’s a whole lot of people.
I’m keeping my hands clean and paying attention to the news.
So for the records, I’m alarmed.
73
Perhaps because we have an inoculation for the regular flu. It doesn’t always work and it never works when and where it is not utilized but we have a response. This epidemic — we don’t know how to stop it and the drastic measures we could apply? Well, we, the U.S., we are not taking any measures at all.
8
The new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus currently appears to be 7 to 20 times more deadly than a typical seasonal flu, and it appears to spread faster. Additionally, we have a vaccine for several flu strains each year, but we are unlikely to have a vaccine for this coronavirus in less than 12 to 18 months.
Some of these numbers may change in the coming months, especially if there are more mild cases than we've observed to date, or if any of the drug trials make progress. Here's hoping.
8
Stop worrying about the rest of the world. Be worried about the USA where absolutely no monitoring has been done WITH known community transfer for weeks now. Be very worried...
3
The situation in washington state does give me pause. Seems this virus really like to infect the old and medically infirm. In my area it seems the only plentiful multifamily housing going up last couple years has been senior housing. These are not the reduced income places but housing that requires bucks to get into and bucks to remain. These places seem ripe for infection. Lots of group interaction and no on site medical staff....Like a ticking bomb.
14
@tom
True, these senior communities are at risk, but we can all get this virus (because it is novel) and spread it to seniors, even if we appear asymptomatic. I'm not sure if it is inherently more dangerous for seniors to be in senior communities. We have to realize that the health of our communities depends on our choices and, while I do not think you would say this, I am alarmed by the tone of some younger people who think they can risk infection because they will not get too ill. They might not, no, but they might give this disease to those who might die from it.
50
@Julian while we can all get it the odds of dying from it would seem greater in a senior community than in a more mixed population. From the nursing home in washington the risk of dying seems much greater than say in a daycare center
5
@Julian: Thank you. You have described of the most disturbing aspects of the conversation surrounding COVID-19 in the above post. I'm sure all of us care about people who are elderly or medically fragile. For young people to discount the risk because it's unlikely that they will suffer fatal complications is very distressing. We need to take care of one another.
53
The most important thing at the moment is the credibility of the C.D.C. With rampant rumors, understandable fear, profit-seeking hustlers, and political opportunists everywhere, there must be one voice that Americans can count on to present the best understanding of the nature of the disease and its spread. This is a moment when the individuals who work for the C.D.C. must stand up as responsible Americans and not let external political pressure influence their best judgement.
hus it is quite problematic that the article, "U.S. Plans ‘Radical Expansion’ of Coronavirus Testing" stated, "The kits had three components but some of the components were producing an inconclusive result for many public health labs using the test. On Thursday, the agency announced that labs with two of three working components could go ahead and use the C.D.C. tests...."
Why should we have confidence in results of the "new" test? If the C.D.C. originally thought that all three elements were necessary for an accurate test result, how does simply eliminating one problematic element solve the problem and produce accurate results? Why should this not be viewed as more of a political solution -- let's get lots of "tests" out there to look good -- rather than a genuine public health/medical solution?
18
The WHO just announced that the death rate of the Coronavirus is 3.4. This could mean several hundred million people dying worldwide.
45
To clarify, that 3,4% is the global death rate but I don’t see how things will fare better here considering that we haven’t taken such measures as restricting large gatherings, having tests in place as soon as we saw what was happening in China, appropriate travel restrictions ( immediately) etc. it might still have been a done deal but we might have slowed it down.
7
@Sue
I didn’t believe you. The figure is significantly higher thane what I last heard. But I checked and you’re right.
https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---3-march-2020
One hopes the mortality rate is high because we don’t yet know how widespread the infections are, our ignorance suppressing the size of the denominator.
4
@Jenny they key word at that link is REPORTED cases. 3.4% of REPORTED cases. Do you think ALL the cases are getting reported? I actually find that rate to be somewhat reassuring. There is no way there are only 90k cases circulating.
I am so happy USA has now been put on my corporate do not travel list. The storm that is about to brew in some parts of the USA is beyond imagination. Not for the raw death toll but for the sheer kos this will create across all social, health and comic activities. Good luck and I hope someone will face Trump head on.
41
@Marc Peloquin
The virus is no doubt spreading in Canada as well, thanks to international travel in December and January.
1
Medicare for the uninsured? The irony!
[Wall Street Journal, 03/03/2020]
"The Trump administration is considering using a national disaster program to pay hospitals and doctors for their care of uninsured people infected with the new coronavirus as concerns rise over costs of treating some of the 27 million Americans without health coverage, a person familiar with the conversations said.
In natural disasters such as hurricanes, hospitals and medical facilities can be reimbursed under a federal program that pays them about 110% of Medicare rates for treating patients such as those evacuated from hard-hit areas."
19
Why are there no school policies yet for children, parents and relatives who recently traveled from the high risk countries? My sister-in-law just returned from Japan. She called her daughter's school to notify them upon her return to the US. The school told her that there's no official protocol as to what to do for any parents, relatives and/or children who have traveled from the impacted country. They suggested her to stay home for two weeks for isolation, and told her that they will still allow her daughter to study in school without any quarantine period. What if my sister-in-law got infected with having no symptoms, and passes the virus to her daughter? Her daughters can still attend the school and can spread the virus to the others while having no symptoms.
37
@Let's go: You are not alone in your worries. I contacted my school district last week asking for a statement about how an outbreak would be managed. I got crickets, which is not putting my mind at ease. It seems we're all floundering, trying to figure out what to do next.
16
Deepest Sympathies to the families of those who died that seem to be treated more as statistics than human beings.
With each case being detailed in public, enforcement of HIPPA regulations are in order to protect these families. I realize no names are revealed but in the internet age, anything is possible. The victims did nothing wrong to have this publicity.
19
I'm in Seattle, and I'm alarmed by how few people here seem to be taking this seriously. The virus has been circulating here for weeks, and due to lack of testing we don't know where it is or who is infected. Yet people are going about their daily lives as usual, on the assumption that "they" will tell us when it's time to start avoiding public spaces. There also seems to be a widespread assumption that this is basically the flu, no big deal. The reality is that even with the stringent measures China is taking to test, isolate and treat, the death rate outside the epicenter is still ten times that of the flu. Without those measures, the death rate will be much higher. And here we are, at the center of a new outbreak, blithely going to the gym and concerts and bars as if we're somehow the exception to the rule. Comic Con isn't even canceled. This is nuts.
166
@Katy
There was a comment yesterday from someone in France who reported a similarly blase attitude to the infection. If the tests do finally arrive and show what many of us expect, then perhaps people will sit up. The tragedy is that an ounce of prevention and "social distancing" now will help avoid a pound of pain and suffering later.
33
@Katy
I've spoken in recent days with numerous Seattlites over the age of sixty, and they are all extremely alarmed, even the ones known for their unflappability. So perhaps what you have witnessed is age related?
I also think the city should have been anticipating an outbreak weeks ago, given the steady flow of people between Asia and Seattle thanks to the tech industry and to the large number of Chinese nationals who own homes in Seattle and "commute" internationally. I see a lost opportunity to get out in front of the virus.
9
@Jackson For a full answer, I would suggest you read the newspaper articles about it. The short answer: a lot of people are sick. It's estimated that about 1,500 have the virus, but testing has been very limited so far, so we don't really know who has coronavirus and who has flu. Nine have been confirmed dead of coronavirus, but that includes some that were previously thought to have died of pneumonia, so it's very possible there are more.
2
I try not to panic, but we have two young children with no extended family support. How are we going to take care of them if my partner and I get sick? No one would want to come help even if we have money for a babysitter.
55
I'm appalled to see how the federal government is responding and withholding information. I live in Oregon, and the Oregon Health Authority sends information daily to keep us updated. Because the federal government is failing to do its job, I suggest you turn to your state health government website, they may be sharing information more quickly and accurately than the feds.
46
Did no one else hear in Pence and team's announcement about the privatization of testing kit manufacturing? Where are the questions and the news investigations? I can't be the only one who jumped out of their skin when Dr Hahn noted:
“On Saturday we issued new policy, allowing us to have some regulatory flexibility around those tests. So academic centers, private companies can develop these tests, tell us that they have validated those tests and then begin to use them.”
Meaning, Trump is actually farming out these tests to companies in which he or one of his pals most likely have an interest in.
In other words, these tests will be privately manufactured. The US government (US taxpaers) will pay for those privately manufactured tests (with zero oversight) and then these privately owned and operated manufacturers will tell the American public that the tests they are manufacturing with no oversight or regulations.....are "validated".
Did I get that right?? Are they kidding? We are in deep trouble if this is how this virus is being handled, but then consider who is leading the charge....
93
@LisaB They did that because the CDC was the only agency authorized to do the testing and they did not have enough test kits. This seems better to me. Don't we want more testing?
6
@LisaB You seem to want the testing kits manufactured by the government. Would you please tell us where those government facilities are and what their capacity is? If there are none, how long would it take to build them. But if the testing supplies are coming from a private company why shouldn't the company be paid? The company must buy supplies and employees must be paid - in this case a lot of overtime might be involved.
4
What has the presidential race or Trump to do with Coronavirus. So many people just turn any event into a Trump issue. Enough!
8
@lieberma
Trump's policies have EVERYTHING to do with defending against the consequences of a pandemic.
36
@lieberma - Did you really miss the fact that Trump weakened the organizations that are supposed to protect us in times like this?
37
@lieberma The NYT is politicizing the coronavirus as they politicize everything else. The ignorant Chinese are to blame, not Trump, with their disgusting wildlife/meat markets --- cruel, despicable, etc. Those markets need to be shut down forever. People I know who have been to China said they would never go back again after viewing those markets. And 10 million dogs and 4 millions cats are also murdered for food in China and/or Asia.
“Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, was pictured in state news media wearing plastic gloves, and he told the Iranian people to follow medical advice to help combat the outbreak, saying anything that “facilitates its spread is a sin.””
But US is not imposing domestic travel bans. Do we think this only happens to other people?
14
@Bs
Yes. Only to people "over there."
Meanwhile, 1 in 10 members of the Iranian parliament have tested positive and Iran just let about 45,000 people out of prison to stem prison outbreaks.
But no one here is paying much attention to that.
4
This will sound overly simplistic but I think as a society we need to - from very young childhood - emphasize the importance of covering our coughs and sneezes. Transmission of viruses is through these droplets of moisture. Civilized human beings don't vomit or defecate on one another. We should also emphasize not coughing and sneezing on each other. As for the rest of us, don't touch your face unless you wash your hands. It's a discipline but once it becomes habit you really do avoid many illnesses.
19
Blowing out candles on a birthday cake takes the cake!!
8
@Deb - Yes, and cover your face with your arm, not your hands.
1
Just today a stranger tried to hug me in an attempt to show gratitude for some trivial thing I’d done. Ridiculous.
I live in Seattle and I want to say that the medical response to this virus has been slow...as reported by doctor friends. There are docs and here who have not been instructed to wear even minimal protection in clinics. Maybe that is now changing, but i heard that there simply aren’t enough masks. A doctor I know is now under quarantine and he says he knows other docs who have been exposed and a few who are sick now. Not sure all of this is being reported. It seems there is a kind of medical knowledge underground among medical professionals. Many on this thread are saying this novel virus is no worse than the regular flu which kills thousands of people every year. Can someone make a counter argument? Does it have to do with who is impacted, the elderly vs. younger folks, etc. ? Are we over reacting?
26
@Debra The World Health Organization recently said that covid-19 has killed about 3.4 percent of those diagnosed with the illness globally – higher than what has previously been estimated. That is significantly more than the flu.
According to what I could find on the John Hopkins website last I looked ( John Hopkins keeps a map of diagnosed cases and deaths) , there have been over 90,000 cases globally.
For me, the word “ diagnosed” in the sentence above raises these questions, at least for me: how many people were never diagnosed, thought they had a mild illness, and recovered? How many never got sick but transmitted the disease? How do those factors relate to mortality?
The elderly and those with health issues such as pulmonary disease are at higher risk of death. Children are at very low risk - very, very low.
8
@Debra Here’s the map of confirmed cases and deaths from John Hopkins https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
2
@Debra
According to the WHO, the transmission rate seems less than the regular flu, but the death rate is higher (anywhere from 1-3%, so 10-30 times that of seasonal flu). The fact that the old are dying most does not help the young take it seriously, but they could infect older people.
4
This article makes a dangerous logical and statistical error when it states that "That brought the death toll to seven in Washington State, the only place in the United States that has seen fatalities so far."
A correct statement would be "That brough the death toll to seven in Washington State, the only state that has thus far definitively linked fatalities to the CoVid-19 virus."
The difference is important for public health. Due to the Trump Administration's botched coronavirus response, fewer than 500 people in the entire country have been tested. Given the shortage of tests, CDC guidance limited testing ONLY to persons who had been in China in the past 14 days and those already in the hospital with the full list of CoVid-19 symptoms. Until Saturday -- just a few days ago -- not even people with unexplained pneumonia could be tested. For that reason, we actually have no idea how many Americans may have already died from the virus, just as we have no idea how many people have it but are either not sick at all or only mildly ill and thus continue to go to work, school, etc., where they spread the virus to others who may not be so lucky.
Now that the FDA has finally (after weeks of fear-induced dithering by HHS Acting Sec. Azer) allowed more facilities to test, expect the number of confirmed cases to skyrocket in coming weeks. The CoVid-19 virus is already in wide circulation and the lack of testing is the only reason for so few confirmed cases.
105
The death toll is up to 9 now. All in WA.
3
@MorningInSeattle - True, but what is really interesting is that the reason for the increase was that now that UW can do its own tests and is not limited by CDC's overly strict guidelines, they have tested some patients who died earlier but who were not tested because they did not meet the CDC guidelines. It is no surprise that they have already found that one person whose death certificate originally said "pneumonia" has been found to have died of CoVid-19.
Once again, the difference is that Washington State is testing. There is no reason to believe that Washington is the only state with deaths. It is just the only state that is confirming that deaths did occur due to the virus.
9
One questioned not yet answered is, if this is like the regular flu, why are so many healthcare workers getting infected? And how will we cope if fire fighters, first responders and healthcare workers are getting sick?
45
@Sherry Healthcare workers are usually vaccinated against the seasonal flu (as are many patients), protecting a large percentage from infection or minimizing the illness itself.
16
Do you emergency workers do not get the flu?
2
Because health care workers are vaccinated against the “regular” flu.
11
I highly recommend that people, instead of freaking out, go to the CDC link below and apprise themselves of some facts. The top one being that this ordinary flu season, from October 2019 to February 2020, the estimated number of DEATHS from the ordinary flu is between 18,000 and 42,000. Why are not all headlines talking about this "pandemic"??
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm
6
@JimBob: Seasonal flu does cause a lot of deaths, and that is very concerning. The difference is in our sense of control over our vulnerability. I had a flu shot in mid-October, as did everyone else in my family. That doesn't mean we'll escape the flu entirely, but it's generally accepted that the vaccine reduces our risk of fatal complications should we become infected. That's not the case with COVID-19. Right now, we have no real defense other than social distancing, and that is very challenging to pull off for most of us, thus increasing our anxiety. I have a spouse who routinely travels for business; two children still in school, one of whom is scheduled for an international trip over Spring Break; elderly relatives with chronic health issues, and little possibility that any of us can successfully sequester ourselves to reduce our risk of contracting the virus. Many others are in the same boat. That's why we're losing sleep over this strain of coronavirus. Do you understand now?
46
@JimBob
Well, JimBob, this is something new, and so far, as I’m sure you know, the mortality rate of Covid-19 is significantly higher than that of the flu.
I’m not worried. Mike Pence is on the job. The same Mike Pence who exacerbated the spread of HIV in Indiana, and the same Mike Pence who in this century claimed smoking doesn’t cause cancer. This man is in charge. Why worry?
33
@JimBob
and the numbers remain...
mortality rate for "the flu"
is .01 percent
mortality rate for the novel coronavirus is somewhere between 2 and 7 percent based on numbers that are a moving target.
13
Although vastly different diseases, President Obama's administration built a team that dealt with the Ebola virus threat (admittedly minimal) competently and professionally, and it never came close to reaching our shores. As it is with everything, the only thing Trump has effectively accomplished throughout this growing (and potential) catastrophe is lie and deflect. Lives are in the balance but apparently his towering ego more important than maintaining the health of this nation.
21
@Andrew L. Apples and Oranges. A better comparison is H1N1.
2
@Andrew L. Three people in the US had Ebola. Two healthcare workers and one person who traveled to Texas. At least get the facts right.
1
Right now I'm wishing Obama could come out of retirement and record a reassuring but honest speech telling us exactly what is going on and what we should be doing. There is no leadership and the lack of testing in this country is criminal. From the beginning, anyone getting off a plane from Europe or Asia should have been tested. I'm just surprised Trump hasn't retreated to his bunker yet.
41
@figure8 Well, there's no golf course in the bunker.
What happens in a country like the United States during a world wide health crisis, and 40 million people do not have health insurance?
65
@Jackson For those with insurance probably too many. Just like all the people who run to the doctor when they have a cold, get an antibioti,c which will do nothing because cold are caused by a virus.
1
About Iran - anyone that knows this government will attest that when they announce a health disease number, one must add at least 2 zeros in front of it!
There are no medical facilities with proper medicine! People don’t know they need to disinfect and the situation is dire !
The sanctions has stopped imports of medical supplies and needs!
Please do something for three innocent people! It’s so important!
10
*If you have symptoms, the C.D.C recommends that you call a medical professional if you have recently been in an area with a coronavirus outbreak, or have had close contact with someone who has been to such an area.*
If this recommendation is followed, how is community spread identified?
9
@Petrichor - one would hope it is standard practice for the attending doctor to report to national public health officials who are co-ordinating information and response. I do hope this setup exists in the US. Perhaps the CDC could answer your question.
Why darken the picture of NY so much? Our mood already darkens enough with all the news. Give us pictures without adding a color filter. Thank You.
2
Mass-hysteria plain and simple. Supermarket shelves swept empty of water and bread and other essentials. Quarantines. Thousands and thousands of masks which do not stop particles as small as viruses. We need a vaccine for this virus for sure but this is not the bubonic plague or even SARS. It would also help if rude and thoughtless people stopped coughing and sneezing in public places without covering their mouths/noses.
4
@Sam. Agree, but I heard Anthony Faucchi (sp?) on news last night. He says it's looking like this coronvirus strain is 10x more infectious than the influenza. That is concerning if that figure holds up.
21
@LMT Hi. I'm not sure who you're referring to but I wonder if he is a scientist or disease expert or just a talking head. The flu is no picnic but it only severely impacts those who are already at risk due to compromised immune systems, old age or other pre-existing medical conditions, especially respiratory issues. Smokers have a higher risk of complications also. From an economic point of view, with thousands out of work due to this virus and thousands who cannot afford to be out of work spreading the virus further, it could have a major impact on productivity, etc. Having some extra Tylenol around, Theraflu, tea and honey and a vaporizer might be a good idea while we ride out this potential "super-flu" pandemic.
1
@Sam Quarantines are not hysteria, they are a way to manage the spread of a very contagious and deadly virus that there will not be a vaccine for until at least a year from now.
12
If HHS is closing their offices what are they forgetting to tell the general public?
1
For balance, it would help to see Coronavirus statistics against those for "regular" flu strains that kill 30,000+ per year.
2
@KMT What we're seeing suggests that with really aggressive testing and treatment, and in areas where the hospitals are not overwhelmed, the mortality rate is ten times that of flu. Without that coordinated response, and where the cases are more concentrated, it's more like 40 times the flu mortality rate. However, it also seems more contagious and there's no vaccine. Does that provide balance?
16
@Katy This completely misses the thousands who had cold like symptoms or none at all. They believe there are over 1000 cases in Washington State based on the virus spreading over the last six weeks. The number you quoted cannot be considered accurate. Nothing can be at this point. Throwing fatality rates out there based on 100 cases in the US (NONSENSE) isn't helpful.
2
@Jonny Walker Of course I was referring to the cases in China, which has been very aggressive about testing and treatment, and to what the WHO is saying about mortality rates. It would be absurd to estimate mortality rates based on the diagnosed cases in the US when there are parts of the world that have had the disease for longer and are testing more widely.
Can't confirm cases if you don't test. Bingo! Foolproof strategy for lower numbers. There are likely hundreds more people infected, and probably showing symptoms, than the official number of cases being reported. It's easy to say case numbers are low when people are not being tested. I would not doubt this is a government strategy to make things seem under control more than they actually are, especially after what Trump has been saying. Either that, or the incompetence of health authorities all the way up to the White House almost defies belief. I'm not sure which would be worse.
How come Italy and South Korea and Iran can all test thousands of people for this disease without a problem but the U.S. can't? And the U.S. had more time to prepare! Maybe authorities can but doesn't want to right now...
119
In those countries healthcare is a ‘RIGHT’. In the US it is a corporate business opportunity
16
@jeng
At some point we will find out the extent to which non-medical people in the Trump administration overruled the career health professionals at the CDC and HHS.
3
@jeng A good leader is a leader you can trust. Not one who makes it a point to tweet 10 lies before breakfast, and has a record of something over 16,000 lies since he took office. A desperate president who blames the media and political leaders for death and disease is a liability, not a leader.
At this time your health and perhaps even your life depend on the honesty of our leaders. Liars and cheats need not apply
I was just in SF for work, including presentations and fair with over 1000 people. There were people from all over the world, including Chinese wearing face masks.
On the plane ride back, I started feeling sick, feverish and sore. So back in NY, I’m not able to work from home, don’t have any sick leave and can’t afford to miss work let alone what would likely be thousands of dollars in deductibles and co-pays.
Even still, I called around to see if I even could get tested as I slog around to pharmacies for pain meds and cough drops. Even calling most drs, I’m told they can see me in 6-8 weeks. I could go to the ER, wait 12 hours and expect to pay $3000, and they likely couldn’t even test me...
Meanwhile, I ride the subway and walk the streets, hiding my cough because I can’t miss work and don’t really know what to do.
Do I have coronavirus? Difficult to say; if I do, my symptoms aren’t super severe, so I’ll likely be fine but have likely already infected others while seeking help. But, it’s clear to me from my experience that our healthcare system and model of work and sick leave in the US is a glaring weakness.
359
They announced today that testing at the hospitals for Coronavirus is free! Worse case go to Bellview Hospital - they are a government run hospital! They will take care of you! Thx for sharing this note!
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@Snack Fu
An ER visit shouldn't cost you 3K if you have insurance. 150-300 is the usual co-pay for an emergency department visit.
5
For everyone's sake, please don a mask. It's the very least you can do.
14
I pray that we have a plan for our extensive prison population. Talk about a vulnerable group....
27
Forgive me but I’m more concerned for schoolchildren and the elderly than the convicted.
3
@Pigsy - It's being reported that Iran is "temporarily" releasing tens of thousands of prisoners -- if they pass a Covid-19 screening test. I guess they have more of those test kits in Iran than we do!
3
@HeyJoe
There are 2 concerns:
1- Is a humanitarian one. These are human beings locked up in crowded conditions, potentially with limited access to handwashing and hand sanitizer, where something like this would spread like wildfire. They are literally sitting ducks.
2- Despite our brutal prison system, we still allow visitors. We still have human guards/staff. Those lead directly to.....school children and the elderly.
1
Face it—to Trump we are all expendable. Why waste money he might be able to conceivably find a way to put into his pocket on expendables?
28
Perhaps, if the actual origin of the virus was pinpointed since there are original cases in America, understanding the spread of the virus would be better understood.
5
I realized last night after attending a well-attended public event that I am no longer comfortable being in crowds. As of today, I am sheltering in place barring necessary visits to the supermarket after my initial stockpile of food is consumed. Maybe this is premature, but with an underlying health condition I'm not willing to take any chances of becoming infected. I never imagined I would be willing to take such drastic measures as to cut myself off from my social support system, but here I am. Thank God for the internet.
65
don't forget to vote!
13
@karen: I dropped off my ballot last night on the way home, and when I made my final choice, how I imagined each of the candidates managing this crisis was on my mind.
In Colorado, unaffiliated voters like me can choose to vote in either primary. I ultimately voted in the Democratic primary, and while I'll keep my choice to myself, only one name truly inspired my confidence, which made my decision a whole lot easier.
11
Smart. In the absence of information, stay home and wait.
4
We had the opportunity to wipe this out from the US completely but lost it, had we started testing within the US at the time we banned Chinese visitors. We are repeating perfectly what China did in early Jan when they restricted testing for people who have visited the Seafood market when the infection first emerged. China thus completely missed the community infection for 2 weeks and then the situation was out of control. After they removed the restriction on testing, the cases explored, China then run into the problem that there was not enough test for the patients which require trained personnel, Level 3 lab and good sample and it takes time. The backlog led to even higher infection rate as patients looked for hospitals which can do the test so they have treatments. Eventually, Wuhan made the decision to admit anyone with similar symptoms without the testing first. It is only then the situation was under control. Now, two month into it, we repeated the exactly same mistake while laughing out China for being a communist regime. China is the first outbreak. What excuse do we have?
55
@joy Wuhan also hosted a banquet for 40k people in January, after they knew of the virus.
3
@joy - They started using lung CT scans in China to diagnose cases in lieu of test kits. That's when the numbers started to shoot up and they knew they had a huge problem on their hands. It looks like our test kit situation may be resolved shortly in the U.S. Well, hopefully.
4
There can be little doubt that COVID-19 has been coursing through US populations, awaiting detection. So the infection count is low; extremely understated. Which means that the death rate is overstated. A lot. We are in the midst of an hysterical overreaction fueled by social media, politics, distrust and fear of the unknown. This says something about the current state of affairs. I have a greater fear of future overreactions than COVID-19.
7
@MWR It's tempting to think that way, but the virus takes a long time to incubate, so a lot of cases simply haven't gotten severe yet. And what we're seeing in WA is that the severe cases were misidentified; at least one patient died before anyone knew there was an outbreak. It would be great if the number of mild cases were good news, but it's not. It's what allows this to spread so effectively.
11
@Katy - Yes. We need to go back and look into recent pneumonia deaths throughout the US to find out if a lot of Covid-19 cases were missed or mis-diagnosed. Regarding over- or under-reacting to the virus, there's no reason to believe the statistics here will be any different from China. Over there, they locked down entire cities to try to get the thing under control! Maybe that was an over-reaction, but their infection numbers seem to be improving as a result. So maybe we'll have to do something similar. Let's just be prepared.
8
It’s apparent the earliest mistakes was not taking this seriously late December and early January. Instead of “ don’t panic” and reassurances, taking action for preparations. His is where leadership in this country fails. Let’s not blame CDC, and other agencies who were stripped Of budget an even provider of information. not that thy were perfect. Let’s elect a president with a wider vision than the economy and borders. Trump has failed us miserably
30
I watched Trump hold a meeting with scientists, researchers, and representatives of drug companies yesterday, pushing them to fast track a vaccine, as if it was just an episode of The Apprentice. He's a germophobe and I don’t think even his ego will be able to protect him from anxiety if the numbers of seriously ill people soar. He may be sorely tested to act decisive and confident.
14
There will be checks at northern Italian airports of passengers before returning to the U.S. However, what of those people fleeing the north by going to the south of Italy? By doing so, isn't there the danger of an infected person spreading the virus and not being checked before returning to the U.S.?
8
Coronoacentric concern and panic is unjustified. Preparedness precautions and proper testing are essential but what I see is going disproportionately over board because of Seniors dying in one location (Kirkland, WA) in the country. The 10 leading causes of death among baby boomers and seniors remains the same as in the last several years and that does not include the Corona virus now. 150,000 people die every day and 100,000 of those deaths are age related. Get a grip America, Corona is the least of our worries. What is very worrisome is the panic pandemic causing dangerous irrational responses.
4
@Girish Kotwal: Why is it dangerously irrational to take steps now to protect yourself and your loved ones?
22
@Girish Kotwal
Get back to us in a week Girish Kotwal. Likely then the deaths will be more than a few seniors at one nursing home in Kirkland WA.
14
@Allison from Colarado Where have I said don't prepare. I am just saying prepare appropriately to protect but for heaven sake don't panic. All the time I have been saying panic and paranoia is never productive. Chicken little and the sky is falling scene is what is not helpful.
Sherry from Washington, please do get back to me if you and your family are alive and well in a week and there is not more than a dozen people total who are dead from Corona. There will be people still dying of non Corona diseases and I can predict that for sure.
1
Has anyone noticed the very few infections in Russia (2) and India (3)? (based on WHO stats). Is it reasonable that two large countries with a border with China would be spared?
10
@n aragon Chinese tourists are, for the most part, not interested in going to Russia or India. Even if they were, most of the traveling is through air and not land. In fact the land boarders are in some of the most remote areas in China. So yes, very reasonable and in fact not surprising at all.
7
The article, "U.S. Plans ‘Radical Expansion’ of Coronavirus Testing" stated, "The kits had three components but some of the components were producing an inconclusive result for many public health labs using the test. On Thursday, the agency announced that labs with two of three working components could go ahead and use the C.D.C. tests...."
Why should we have confidence in results of the "new" test? If the C.D.C. originally thought that all three elements were necessary for an accurate test result, how does simply eliminating one problematic element solve the problem and produce accurate results? Why should this not be viewed as more of a political solution -- let's get lots of "tests" out there to look good -- rather than a genuine public health/medical solution?
The most important thing at the moment is the credibility of the C.D.C. With rampant rumors, understandable fear, profit-seeking hustlers, and political opportunists everywhere, there must be one voice that Americans can count on to present the best understanding of the nature of the disease and its spread. This is a moment when the individuals who work for the C.D.C. must stand up as responsible Americans and not let external political pressure influence their best judgement.
5
@Steve Fankuchen - Unfortunately, anyone at the CDC who stands up and speaks too loudly and forcibly will be out of a job by week's end!
Turns out the reassuring news that Pence et al. delivered yesterday that there would be a million test kits by Friday was a big fat lie. I had assumed it was true, here in the epicenter of the outbreak, and felt relief.
It is a surprise and a kick in the gut even to this hardened cynic.
Every day is a new low for this horrendous Trump government,
593
@Julian There was another NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/health/coronavirus-tests-fda.html
5
@Julian
Read about tests here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/health/coronavirus-tests-fda.html
11
@Julian .. Trump Administration Sends Mixed Signals on Coronavirus Testing
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/us/politics/trump-us-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
10
"The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percentage point, sending stocks higher."
Half a percentage point? Wow! That's great! ... or is it panic? They know something, don't they? Now I'm scared again.
After a minor blip, stocks are selling off again.
Lets try a tax cut.
Better yet: keep washing your hands.
24
Empathy has always been one of America's more noble characteristics.
When President John F. Kennedy stood at the then-recently-erected Berlin Wall nearly 60 years ago and said, "Ich bin ein Berliner", he was projecting America's empathy. When President Ronald Reagan stood very near that same spot nearly three decades later and demanded that Russia "tear down this wall!, it was more of the same. And so it has gone with every earthquake, tsunami, hurricane or terrorist attack that has ever befallen our foreign friends and neighbors.
And as I looked upon the photo of some poor woman, afflicted with the coronavirus, ever so publicly being wheeled into a Washington hospital for treatment, I feel compelled to say:
I am a coronavirus victim too. She is all of us.
9
People are fretting and asking, “When’s it going to end?”. The more informed question is, “When’s it going to start getting super ugly?”.
30
This will probably get worse fast. China has taken draconian measures and it's still going, albeit slowing down from the exponential rate which would be expected. I think the US is going to do worse to contain it, at least in the initial phase. I hope I'm wrong though - God speed!
23
Three schools are closed so far, one within nyc borders. Get ready.
7
The virus was clearly circulating undetected in Seattle and California for weeks, and we only found out when it got to an already vulnerable patient with existing lung issues in Santa Clara County and a nursing home in Washington. Granted it has been a massive public health failure re containment of an unknown illness, but isn't it reassuring that clearly the VAST majority of cases are either extremely mild or asymptomatic? Doesn't this mean the overall fatality rate is probably much less than 1%? Why are we still panicking? Am I missing something here?
8
@Anne
Wait, things will, sadly, be worsening.
That is just the very very tip of the iceberg.
Look at Wuhan, look at Italy, at South Korea.
11
@Anne: What you're missing is there are a lot of healthy people caring for immuno-compromised patients or who have loved ones who are vulnerable (old, cancer patients, diabetes, etc.,) who may be not in much danger themselves, but who would be devastated if they got ill and infected their charges and/or loved ones.
17
@Anne
You might well be speaking too soon. We know that the church at the center of the outbreak in South Korea had members returning from Wuhan (presumably with the virus) about 6 weeks before things exploded in Daegu. I suspect that, if we are going to see the same, we will know in a week's time, but it is probably just too early to know yet. Supposedly there will be a million tests done in the US this week. Their results will help us know what we are facing.
4
There's a difference between being the most expensive healthcare system in the world and being the best healthcare system in the world. The U.S. has the former, but not the latter.
57
Step number one ban all unnecessary travel. Keep the states that are virus free safe. That is step one. This jumped to the United States very quickly. Ban all large gatherings. Keep people with coughs out of stores, planes and trains. The key now is to slow the spread, and hope ( pray ) it dies out, or the proper cures are found, maybe an antiviral will prove effective. We can defeat this with intelligence and by being smart, right now it seems nothing is being done. It has not spread to the middle of the country, they can still be protected. Magical thinking will not work only scientific fact .
5
@Lonnie Banning travel didn't even go without a hitch in China, you think the individual freedom-loving Americans will fall in line?
2
Why is it that in nearly every photo of health care workers and any worker in other countries working with coronavirus they are in full hazmat suits from head to toe while in the US, at best they're wearing floppy thin gowns, gloves and masks?
41
@Andrew
Seems to me another CDC failure, where is the quick advice + protective gear. It is absurd, and dangerous.
15
@Andrew , I agree Andrew, “Picture is worth a thousand words”! Even people wearing some PPE lack other items, like eye protection, shoe covers etc.This is not a first picture of this type. We are so arrogant that we think that we are immune to this virus or we are just lacking of all resources?
20
I keep thinking the same exact thing!
8
Re the Westchester County man who is sick in the hospital with Covid-19, Governor Cuomo said he had been in Miami a few weeks ago. I have been thinking all along that the Super Bowl could have been a huge early incubator of the virus here in the U.S. Note that the China travel ban did not take effect until the evening of the Super Bowl. So any infected travelers who had tickets to the game or the surrounding events would have been freely allowed in. I thought the moment it was announced that the timing was suspiciously late and was timed for economic purposes so as not to disrupt the game and associated events. (Since we knew all about the situation weeks before, why wait to institute the ban till the actual day of the game, when everyone would already already be here?) Let's see if others who travelled to Miami a few weeks ago also turn up in hospitals all over the country.
12
@Freedean Hate to break it to ya but very few people outside the US care about the NFL.
5
This can’t be cured with Tweeting.
9
I question the way in which this epidemic is reported. A statement like ‘x number of people have been infected’ is misleading because the times isn’t reporting recovery rates. For example here in Arizona the one case reported was quarantined and the patient fully recovered yet according to these data visualisations and articles you’d still think they were infected. I’m happy with my subscription but I suspect the way it’s being reported has something to do with getting consistent readers glued to a story and frankly it’s very transparent NYT.
2
Trump is more interested in the stock market soaring than the health of the plebeians who might be exposed to covid19 virus. All his actions to date align with this including the interest rate cut to keep him and his rich friends happy and his base brainwashed. This won’t end well for this administration as their disregard more than incompetence is in plain sight.
10
Not sure about anyone else at this point, but I've experienced most of the flu viruses on this planet, and survived. Whooping cough, measles, chicken pox, the list goes on and on.
As a matter of fact, I've lived a full and healthy life after many infections with these little pests. The way this is playing out is a shameful example of the coddled, helicoptered, Amazon-loving entitled. The real virus is in the corrupted conciousness following despicable patterns of infection that have been very successful in the world of OCD social media frenzy antics and election fraud.
Wake me up when it's over, if ever.
2
How nice for you. I live with a severely immune-compromised person who will likely die if he gets this virus. Check your privilege. Not everyone is going into this in perfect health.
2
Seems as though the pathology of the Coronavirus is similar to pathology of the Trump Virus . In systems analysis we know that “what got you in will not get you out”. Let this be the last blinking red light to the spread of both.
2
Accurate testing will remain key. Waiting for the vaccine against Corona virus COVID-19 is like waiting for the messiah or a "real stable genius scientific discovery" or until cows come home. Pandemic HIV infections have been managed without a vaccine for almost 35 years and even after billions have been spent, all vaccine rials have failed including a recent one in S.Africa. Attempts to get a vaccine against HINI pandemic in 2009 frustrated the Obama admin. by the delay in getting one which was only ready after the pandemic tapered off. Back then, H1N1 pandemic was making rounds and got me too and over a million and a half others; out of those infected 284,000 fellow inhabitants of the world died ie 17.4% fatality. Compare that to the fatality rate of 2% due to Corona virus predominantly killing the seniors in US, above 70, smokers and those with serious genetic or acquired immunodeficiencies and those on immunosuppresive therapy.
A vaccine against COVID-19 could benefit those with immunodeficiencies or those working closely with patients with immunodeficiencies. But with the uncertainty about, if and when a vaccine that can protect against COVID becomes available, I would count a possible vaccine out of the equation for changing the current course of spread.
Considering that the fatality due to COVID being very low and that too mainly among those with a weaker than normal immune system, providing the immune system advantages to clear the virus would be a way forward.
2
check out the photo of Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's mayor decked out in a mask surrounded by staff and security all decked out in masks...
what was it our Surgeon General said about masks?
11
So Cuomo...there’s no cause for alarm because it’s expected to spread? What?
6
“Governor Cuomo said that the news of a second New York patient should not be a cause for alarm, reiterating that health officials had expected that the disease would be found in multiple locations around the state and that it would be likely to spread.”
What spin! That’s like saying there should be no cause for alarm when scores of people get radiation sickness after an atomic bomb detonates because “it’s expected”.
What if someone infected with COVID-19 rides the subway rush hour? The speed and breadth of the disease’s spread would be immense.
Cannot help but feel skeptical and critical of any government effort to combat this thing. Thank goodness for the dogged reporting.
8
Hope the Fed can develop a vaccine as fast as their just announced rate reduction
5
Five scary strains of conservative comment:
1) It is no worse than flu.
2) It only kills old people so no worries.
3) It is a hoax and the response is panic-driven
4) We don't need China anyway.
5) Good excuse to ban travel to/from Europe.
35
The way it worked in China was everyone stayed in their homes for two months. Did people go a bit crazy? Yes, yes they did.
6
America's response to this looming pandemic does not instill a sense of calm or reassurance in this 'administration's' ability to confront the crisis. But let's move forward with vigor on the Space Force, folks, and certainly the wall. That makes oodles of sense. Boy are we doomed!
8
The time has come for a ”cough ban” you cant go to work, school, board a bus or a train with a cough. It's going to happen anyway. The MTA union should walk out till it has passed. It will happen anyway do it now.
Also ban large gatherings. If someone goes to a knicks game with the virus it will be a disaster and obviously you would think people would have enough intelligence to not go where there are a lot of people when sick but it happens all the time
Act now before it's too late
9
@Lonnie
Thanks. Riding the subway today between 10:30 and 11:00, I closely encountered 4 people coughing and sneezing whom I couldn't escape because the train was too crowded. They seemed oblivious to the reactions they were getting.
8
@Lonnie You are going to get sued into oblivion if you start banning employees that are the slightest sick from coming into work. They might love not going to work but they will sue you for discriminatory employer practice.
1
@Lonnie
Seattle Public Schools has advised parents to keep kids with cough (or fever above 100 or shortness of breath) home from school.
Six deaths at a nursing home facility might otherwise be the answer to six family's prayers who have been watching their failing elderly loved ones suffering linger on only because their bodies had previously refused to oblige. Right now the entire world is in a state of panic simply at the mere mention on the word death.
@John Doe
There was at least one middle-aged woman there who was recovering from a stroke; her husband was not allowed to visit her; and people are literally suffocating to death. But sure, make a comment that their families secretly wished this death upon them, and ridicule people's concerns about this virus. I'm guessing this is how it's being treated on Fox News, the masters of ridicule.
44
Every country has it's idiotic cultural aspects. Ours in the UK is looking back to the good old days (of what??) but that's offset in this aspect by the fact that we're a bunch of risk-averse pessimists. I feel for you guys having to deal with the mindless 'we're the good old USofA, bad things don't happen here because we're a nation under God' type of thing. It gives rise to a lack of awareness and cultural complacency which means that when seriously bad things happen, they always seems to take the USA completely by surprise and this is no different, as evidenced by the complete lack of preparation for widespread testing. By the time they get their testing act together, you probably should have moved to the 'delay' phase (see UK government high level planning below):
The overall phases of our plan to respond to COVID-19 are:
• Contain: detect early cases, follow up close contacts, and prevent the disease taking hold in this country for as long as is reasonably possible
• Delay: slow the spread in this country, if it does take hold, lowering the peak impact and pushing it away from the winter season
• Research: better understand the virus and the actions that will lessen its effect on the UK population; innovate responses including diagnostics, drugs and vaccines; development of the most effective models of care
• Mitigate: provide the best care possible for people who become ill.
Good luck to you all, you deserve better.
28
Seems like this is more important than the stock market.
2
@Maple Surple You think?
2
"After Gaps in U.S. Testing Draw Criticism, Officials Move to Ramp Up Screening"
too little and way too late.
11
The leaders of the British government are preparing and planning based on a worst case scenario. Meanwhile our government's leader is planning on a no-case scenario, calling the whole thing a hoax. What a joke. Except the joke's on us, since we citizens will be the ones to suffer from our president's medical malpractice.
498
@Nelle Engoron Heartening that Boris believes in science. I'm surprised, to be honest.
27
@Nelle Engoron Not exactly. The Fed did lower rates a 1/2 percentage point. That's the true story. They are panicking.
13
@Nelle Engoron The media MUST stop quoting Trump!!! He is telling outright lies as usual, but, in this case, it is a true matter of life and death. If the media does not wish to be culpable in the illnesses and deaths of Americans, they need to STOP quoting Trump's lies. Lying is not "news!!" It is lying!!
5
Someone should tell Trump that his rallies are putting his supporters and him in danger of Coronavirus. I would like to see the reaction.
9
We need congressional hearings to answer the following questions:
1. Why was the CDC testing criteria set so stringent? And who made that decision
2. Why did the US not adopt the already-validated WHO corona virus test weeks ago? And who made that decision?
3. What instructions has HHS and the CDC received from the White House over the past month?
18
In France the government has just unblocked 260 million euros for hospitals. More will come if needed. All Medical Docs. and health workers can pick up masks from pharmacies. They have all been requisitioned.
10
If only the government would mandate school closings countrywide, and encourage those who can, to work from home. It would reduce human traffic and contact everywhere and maybe we could buy time to get plans in place. This is mild only for the young and healthy. But there is a large population of unhealthy and a large population of vulnerable elderly. Why are we waiting? Instead of the FED cutting a near zero interest rate further, why not boost the confidence of the population by actually taking action? Children and the young may not be affected, but that makes them possibly, deadly asymptomatic spreaders of the virus to the rest of the susceptible folks. I can't stand this silly inaction by schools where people are weighed against dollars.
12
Now is a good time for capitalists in healthcare to make a killing.
The vultures in Trump’s government are already soaring hungrily above the country; they've insisted on getting private labs involved in testing because we can’t have price controls, no no no.
No one regulates hospital prices except for Medicare, which is set at actual cost (and oh do they wail and moan and gnash their teeth about Medicare rates); (and no one regulates drugs at all).
On average, hospitals charge their privately-insured 400% actual cost. Some charge more than ten times cost. The sky’s the limit. Scans that actually cost $300? That Medicare pays $300? Hospitals charge $3,000. But why not $6,000? What about for saline drips? Masks? No patient afraid of Coronavirus and naked on a gurney can say no. While the very dear doctors and nurses on the front line risk their lives to save us, CFOs in the boardroom are "adjusting" their chargemasters in light of increased demand, (and then suing patients afterward who survive and can't afford their bills.)
With a virus for which there is no vaccine, a death rate 20 times the flu, and the threat of the agony suffocating to death from Coronavirus, it’s time for increased prices and executive bonuses, per Trump et al.
11
My wife and I are retired, and of late have participated in community and city council meetings for the purpose of informing ourselves on the plights of the unsheltered homeless. To anyone who has not witnessed life in the encampments, imagine living in close contact with others, with a communal portapotty without running water or electricity, amid piles of junk trash and garbage, and of course rodents. The advised hygiene measures are impossible. Believe that the Corona virus likely will sweep through quickly and kill many.
14
In recent days, I have imagined just this scenario playing out in Seattle, where approximately half of the large homeless population lives unsheltered on the cold, wet streets, in tent encampments, and beneath highway underpasses. If the homeless contract the virus and perish in high numbers, it seems to me that this will facilitate the spread of the virus in the community at large.
2
There is our mayor DeBlasio, spending his time on Twitter trolling for Bernie Sanders. The complete breakdown in leadership at the local, state and federal level is appalling. I have never missed President Obama more than now.
11
I sincerely apologize for a seemingly silly question, but if experts at the CDC state the coronavirus isn’t believed to be an airborne virus, why is everyone wearing masks?
Makes me wonder how true and/or accurate the data from the CDC truly is. . .
2
@Marge Keller Where did you get that idea? It's airborne when infected people cough or sneeze.
9
@Marge Keller It is airborne within three to six feet of an infected person. Also was confirmed yesterday that testing from Wuhan indicates that it will live on surfaces for up to forty-eight hours.
7
@Sue
I read it in one of the many CDC reports that were included in many of the articles written thus far.
This is why I am asking the question.
1
Recipe for teaching hand washing at home:
Buy a can of gel-style shaving cream.
Get a watch with a sweep second hand, or use the timer app on your cellphone (things may get slippery so don't drop phone).
Gather your family around the sink to play a game.
Everybody together spreads shaving cream all over their hands from the wrists to making sure there is gel under your fingernails.
One by one, time each other washing every last bit of the gel off, everything needs to be squeaky clean, no slippery to qualify.
That's how to properly wash your hands.
If you have extra shaving cream and nobody shaves or wants it, I'm sure there are videos online on how to use it to learn how to take off nitrile gloves properly.
2
The Virus and the Election:
Here’s my greatest concern right now:
Four Elderly Men are the top contenders for the White House. Two of them have underlying health problems (Obesity for Trump; recent heart attack for Sanders).
The Virus is more lethal the older one gets, for males especially.
This leaves Elizabeth Warren as more likely than the 4 men to withstand this virus.
Stop and think about that!
3
@TheraP
Bloomberg also has a history of heart issues, for what it's worth.
2
Best thought I’ve had all day.
"Coronaviris kills six near Seattle," Front page today.
How about stopping the melodramatic headlines for the Coronaviris stories OK? Viruses do not set out to premeditatedly kill human beings or any other organism.
People may die from exposure to the virus if their immune system is unable to withstand the contact and they don't get adequate medical treatment. But, these organisms are not going "on a RAMPAGE to get US!"
The spread of this particular virus is a serious health threat. Treat it as such: "Six People Die From Coronavirus Near Seattle." Then tell readers most vulnerable to the virus how to avoid exposure, or what to do if exposed.
@Robert Marvos Newspaper reporters use the active rather than passive voice. It is reflexive because that is the way they are instructed in most style manuals.
8
After infectng the world, China imposes bans? I understand why but just noting the irony.
3
"Lawmakers were also negotiating the possible inclusion of language to ensure vaccine affordability".It takes your breath away.
7
It's worth pointing out again that most of those virus fatalities in Washington State were elderly people in a single nursing home, not random individuals in the general population. As the CDC has stated, those most at risk are people over 65 and young children. And, as usual, the best treatment for this new virus is the same as with the usual flu: drink plenty of fluids, self-isolate, get bed rest and treat the symptoms.
4
This might seem picky - but the image of a "...researcher developing coronavirus testing kits in a lab in Nutley NJ..." doesn't look right at all. What is she doing with all those agar plates? It seems more like a stock image of a microbiologist. The test is based on real time PCR, no Petri dishes are necessary. The image with Boris Johnson in a laboratory in London looks more like it.
11
Governors and Mayors of cities that cases should encourage employers to have their non-essential employees telecommute. Most employees have this capability.
The same state and city governments should set the example by requiring non-essential staff remain home. This is done during snowstorms and hurricanes, so there is precedent for this.
They should also cancel functions where many congregate.
Some of us have sick leave and have less risk of getting seriously. Others don't, and government needs to step in. At the end prevention is less costly, can save lives and prevent a recession.
7
A few days ago, an article (either here or in Politico) discussed a person who went for Wuhan Coronavirus testing and was charged several thousand dollars when the test came back negative. Until there’s universal healthcare (or at least free testing and treatment for pandemic diseases), we don’t stand a chance.
14
It's remarkable how not just the media, but even the comments can spin simple things. Someone below said that we need to be frightened since 20% of the infections are considered serious. Nobody ever said any such thing. Medical experts believe that 80% of infections are mild. It does not follow that 20% are "serious" and saying so is misleading. But it certainly sounds more dramatic.
3
@Jonny Walker
the more concerning element still not reported widely is reinfection rates.
and as long as we are taking a harsh look at numbers...the mortality rate of "the flu" is .01 percent while the novel coronavirus is somewhere between 2 and 7 percent based on incomplete and dubious totals.
2
@Jonny Walker it was said, Jonny. Last week, on The Daily podcast from the NY Times, a public health journalist explained that 80% of the infections would mimic the common flu. 20% would be more serious and likely require medical attention including respiratory machines, which we simply do not have enough of.
12
@Mary Elizabeth Lease Incomplete dubious totals is right. 100 cases in the US. Sure. LOL. How about 100,000?
I continue to hear Cuomo saying that 80% of people that get it have mild symptoms and will recover no problem. Thankfully I am young, and despite having EIB I almost never get colds or the flu. But that's not reassuring if you don't know how much risk one in that 80% may place on people that are in the 20%. Spring break is coming up, things are happening so fast, and I do not know what I need to consider in order to decide whether it is still save to visit my (elderly) family in NYC. If only there was some sort of flow chart that could dictate what types of travel and contact are safe. I don't want to underestimate the value of washing your hands, but with the virus (maybe being) asymptomatically transmissible, I'm sure many of us feel lost on how to protect our loved ones.
6
@Sonya - Ask them. It may be a risk they are willing to take in return for the joy of spending time with you. But know that however small, it is a risk.
5
Let's not make this political. Trump and Fox news does this, but so do the comments here reflect this. Spoke with my 79-year-old mother in law in PA last night and she's not yet willing to take precautions because she thinks that the "democrats are trying to use it to criticize and undermine the president." I don't love Trump, and it's good to call out government inaction or ask questions about what more needs to be done, but we shouldn't use every conversation right now about it as a voter rallying cry or turn the focus of a potential pandemic into a political conversation. Focus on being unified and working together to track this and contacting our local, state and federal reps, whoever they are and no matter what party they belong to, to provide accountable info and practices.
4
@Favs
Except voters say the number one issue in the country is healthcare, and Republicans want to take it away. Sorry, but this is a political issue and there is an election. We can either have millions and millions uninsured and dying (vote for Republicans) or we can have a better healthcare system with better coverage (vote for Democrats; and vote for Sanders if you want Medicare for All).
This is a perfect teaching moment: to stop the spread of an epidemic you want everyone covered and no one afraid to go to the doctor when sick because of cost. That's how it is in every other modern country. I'm not sure what Republicans want, but it seems like they want the "freedom" of the poor, weak, and vulnerable to get sick and die. Being silent about the stark difference in values is wrong when so many people will die as a result of Trump and Republican values.
14
I agree with you. Unfortunately many millions of people in America are being told in no uncertain terms that the Democrats and the media are using this as an attack on the President (even when that is not what we are doing.). They’re convinced that we are because of liars like Rush Limbaugh.
All we can do is take care of ourselves - and VOTE
6
@Favs - Yes, but if the virus spreads here like it has elsewhere, and there's no reason to believe it won't, your 79-year-old mother in law should start thinking about taking some precautions. The numbers don't lie.
5
I think there needs to be two maps of the USA: 1) the current map with dots and circles that symbolically depict size and locations of cases, and 2) the previous map that showed the actual number of confirmed cases in each affected state. Dots and circles provide very limited information; give us the per-state number of confirmed infections.
4
I live in WA state, about 75 miles southwest of Seattle. My son lives in Tacoma which is just south of Seattle. A lot of Tacoma residents work in Seattle and commute back and forth each day. I am terrified for my son. This virus is going to spread and there will be many more deaths.
Trump is doing everything he can to try to make this virus look like nothing to be concerned about. He is more concerned with the performance of the stock market, and it affecting his ability to win reelection in November.
It is time for every American who is 18 or older to vote this man out of office.
84
@Lindsey, I commute back & forth from Tacoma to Seattle for work. Everyone seems well on the train and express buses; no signs of illness. We’re being extremely careful not to bring this to our community. I feel I have a responsibility to my neighbors here. We all do. There is a shared sense of this among commuters and we’re all cautious; especially when we’re in Seattle.
Try not to worry; I know it’s hard but I hope my comment helps.
8
Relax. The chances of your son getting infected at this point are minuscule. Don’t mix politics with science. Check the wa state website for current information.
1
@Lyndsey
You’re actually ‘terrified?’
Really?
1
There have been 80,000 flu-related deaths in the U.S. this season. Not one peep from the press on this. Why the hysteria over Coronavirus with six deaths and nothing on the real threat, the flu virus?
2
@peversma
It is terrible that so many die of the flu in the US even though there is a vaccine. Everyone should be vaccinated against the flu, and I wonder why they aren't?
That said, Coronavirus is twenty more deadly than the flu, more contagious, and there's no vaccine.
I think that we need to address the flu deaths, but we shouldn't use that to suggest that we shouldn't also worry about the Coronavirus.
9
@peversma With a 2-week incubation window and a far higher fatality rate, the likelihood of this sneaking up on us and then spreading rapidly is, as we are seeing elsewhere, very real.
8
Not even close. In fact, since the flu season isn’t over, they haven’t released numbers for this year.
Last year was far less than half the number you quoted. Be careful about the kind of information you spread. The facts are only a google search away.
3
So, so far the death rate in the US is 6%. Not encouraging. But it probably means there are far more infected than the official numbers, because of inadequate testing.
599
@Paul Adams More infected is an understatement. They think there might be over 1000 cases in Washington State alone.
71
@Paul Adams I can never keep that numerator and denominator thing straight.
14
@Paul Adams said "So, so far the death rate in the US is 6%."
That's because a nursing home was infected with covid-19. It's not surprising that the most vulnerable population of over 75 with underlying medical ailments has such a high fatality rate. Depressing but not surprising.
As far as I know, China doesn't really have nursing homes nor does Iran?
16
I am not generally an alarmist and I know that most people will have mild and manageable symptoms, but I live in a timely apartment with a severely immune compromised person who I love very much. So if I go out and pick this thing up and bring it home, this will be a major health event for someone who will likely not survive it. I’m the caretaker and in this case I would also be the executioner. So for anyone in this thread saying to calm down it isn’t that bad, I will respectfully tell you to check your privilege and understand that not everyone in the world is in robust health.
1405
@Deb Martin: Thank you, this needed to be said. My mom is very elderly and susceptible to lung infections, but with good care she has a few more meaningful years enjoying her grandkids and great-grandkids and they her. With this thing she could be dead tomorrow. Who do people think they are to judge her life is expendable? Because that’s what they do if they say not to worry, it’s not that bad.
404
@Deb Martin
My heart goes out to you -- as I hope yours does to all of the many Americans who have inadequate healthcare. Voters of good conscience can no longer vote for a candidate who does not support guaranteed healthcare for all, even if just for their own self interest. We all need to be covered and no one too afraid of the bill to get the care (and timely diagnosis) they need. Bernie/Elizabeth 2020 Vote!
141
@Deb Martin. My sentiments exactly. Someone very close to me currently has a compromised immune system due to cancer treatments. Her prognosis as a cancer survivor is excellent. I just hope her active life, filled with love for her kids, community, and friends, isn’t cut short by coronavirus. Even if the mortality rate from this disease is “small,” that statistic is meaningless to those of us who love people at higher risk.
212
I fail to see how lowering interest rates halts a pandemic.
923
@ Jeff
Trump is watching out for his own interest; not America’s. Maybe he shouldn’t be president. His chances of re-election weaken with dropping financial markets. Lowering interest rates help bolster the markets. But you knew that. Befitting Sarcasm.
56
Wait, didn’t you know . . . interest rate cut now have previously unknown anti-viral properties. /s
99
@Jeff
The right wing never misses an opportunity to capitalize on any situation that can help them transfer wealth into their own pockets and consolidate political power.
97
First off, someone needs to tell Trump that the U.S. doesn't have "the greatest health system on Earth." In fact, far from it. Numerous surveys put U.S. health care system at the bottom of the pack compared with other developed nations, despite being the most costly in the world per-capita.
Also, the outcome of his "great meeting" with a lot of "great companies" wasn't that vaccines would be available "relatively soon." In fact, Dr. Antony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said to Trump's face that a vaccine would be ready "at the earliest, a year to a year and a half, no matter how fast you go."
Trump lives in his own alternative reality where he feels just because he says something and enough people believe it, then it's got to be true no matter what anyone else says. The only problem is that he can fire staff that don't endorse his lies, but you can't lie a pandemic away. Good luck.
945
@JHM
It takes six months to grow a vaccine, minimum. That doesn't include the time for development, testing and distribution.
33
@JHM I wonder how trump would feel if he or his children and grandchildren were to catch the corona virus?
27
@JHM while health care delivery is not the best on earth, the U.S. is miles ahead in health care innovation and discovery. Sadly this is due to the exclusive rights given to companies responsible to sell them for years which make them prohibitively expensive until the come off patent.
12
President Tremendous and Pastor Pence to the Coronavirus rescue !
The Federal Reserve is working on a vaccine as we speak !
Republican 'thoughts and prayers' have been dispatched to all 50 states.
"We're generating a tremendous amount of bloviation to get ahead of this thing and we gave great people bloviating. This is the greatest pandemic response in the history of all bloviators....we're also working on a tax-cut vaccine that we think will be tremendously effective.....thank you....thank you so much."
Nothing says award-winning ignorance, incompetence, and malpractice like this Administration and its abandonment of the common good.
221
@Socrates
Thanks for the Wisdom - in Humor Form!
At times like this, we need wise advice. And good coping methods: Humor is one of the Best!
26
@Socrates
There are millions who would line up for the tax cut vaccine. Did the President and the GOP indicate how long it would take to develop, considering that Trump has gutted the CDC et al. This is such exciting news; to think that the Federal Reserve is on the job. No doubt Pence, of Indiana HIV fame, will explain it in depth.
9
@Socrates - The Fed just cut us an interest rate vaccine. The CDC is producing a test kit that will check to see how well it works. Not sure how long that will take, though.
8
A million tests? This week? Sounds like a hoax.
21
Out of all the counties, Westchester County gets a Corona.
4
The incompetence and dishonesty of our so-called President and his team of sycophants is breathtaking. The utter lack of leadership in the face of a crisis that could conceivably kill millions of Americans is terrifying.
Many of us may survive this with mild symptoms, but those with compromised lungs or immune systems (like one of my close relatives) likely will not. This is really serious, and the folks “leading” us are not.
27
Seems that the "Hoax" is real.
trump is no match for Mother Nature.
8
“Testing millions” is pure hogwash, a publicity stunt. If there are millions of symptomatic Americans, why hasn’t the Administration said so? The number was likely pulled out of a hat. The whole thing feels like when TSA pulls aside an older white lady in a wheelchair (my wife) and does a pat down and body search. It pads the numbers, “proves” they are not profiling and is totally useless.
12
And they literally don’t have the tests...
4
In trying to devise a way to avoid catching the coronavirus I have developed a novel approach. First keep your house warm and humid and remain inside unless conditions allow outside since the virus doesn't travel well under such conditions. Keep your blood alcohol level above normal to present as hostile an environment so that the virus is deprived the ability to enter mitosis as alcohol dissolves the virus cell's outer surface on contact.
This approach allows the body's own defenses to counteract any exposure by destroying the virus' RNA before the thing spreads throughout the body resulting in sepsis and death.
Please note: I have on hand enough antibiotics to hunker in place for at least three months should pneumonia present itself with any symptoms of bacterial infection.
I have stockpiled food, dry goods, and water enough to last as that long as well.
I am also taking a daily poation made up of highly acidic and spicy liquids, including vegetable juices, steak sauce, and hot sauce, topped with lemon juice and black pepper on a layer of ice cubes in a salt rimmed and chilled glass. I call it a "bloody mary", minus the celery stalk. Not strong enough to kill me, but bad news for a viral invader trying to swim in blood filled with what is naught but a toxic brew waiting for it.
Should JAMA publish this information I could use a brand new black Miata, with hardtop and soft top, manual transmission, and for laughs a fin.
Toodles, Noodles.
10
@Abo
And your medical background is what?
For example, using alcohol on a round the basis, to keep blood alcohol level up? This helps your immune system? Please provide a link and an explanation for why, if this is wise advice, the CDC and WHO are not giving it out.
3
@TheraP
my reply is having lasted over 70 years through the epidemic peak of the polio, chicken pox, mumps, rubella, oh and not to mention the atmospheric fallout from above ground nuclear testing throughout the 50's and then the whole smorgasbord of the social unrest of the 60's 70's 80's 90's and the new world order of disorder of the 2000's now 20 years on, survivors do what they need to do to survive. You want a link?
what will you do when the lights go off and you need a link?
1
Suggest adding vodka and kombucha.
Together or separately.
It’s a good thing.
2
In times like these British must feel a great deal of comfort knowing their response to the virus is well-thought out and coordinated across their healthcare system. Here in the US it’s all ad hoc and chaotic. Between the feds, the states, the counties and cities, down to each individual hospital it’s a mad grab bag of priorities and policies.
Good luck America. Cause that’s all we have.
47
Ramping up testing in the US? This is roughly six weeks behind Asia, Europeans, Canadians and other nations (many if them Third World places)!
What kind of country is this that the head of state is not being forced to resign over this? This failure will end up costing innumerable lives.
58
I noticed Dr. Fauci on TV last night say something deeply concerning: “15-20 percent of those who get sick require significant medical care such as intubation or ICU” (on CNN)
33
Yes those figures came out of China weeks ago and were widely reported while Trump et al sat on their doing nothing to prepare.
26
@David
I imagine the less prescient among us will understand what that means when hospitals stop accepting new patients. It is quite worrying.
6
Here in the Live updates it says:
“Officials promised to speed up delivery of testing kits, saying that they hoped to distribute more than a million by the end of the week.”
But in your headline story entitled “Close to a Million in U.S. Could Be Tested for Coronavirus This Week“, it says:
“WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said on Monday that nearly a million tests could be administered for the coronavirus in the United States by the end of this week.“
Big difference between (hopefully) distributing a million tests and (possibly) administering a million tests.
It’s hard to know what’s worse: squishy talk from the administration or vague reporting on their talk.
11
With respect to the President*s latest statement on the virus.
At least Yogi Berra made sense when you thought about it.
6
The following citations from Albert Camus' novel, "The Plague," seem very apt today:
"Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise."
"We tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn't always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away."
"He knew quite well that it was plague and, needless to say, he also knew that, were this to be officially admitted, the authorities would be compelled to take very drastic steps. This was, of course, the explanation of his colleagues' reluctance to face the facts."
"Who taught you all this, doctor?"
The reply came promptly:
"Suffering."
[03/03/2020 Tues. 9:31am Greenville NC]
21
Unfortunately, I believe we will quit counting; sooner rather than later, too.
7
Let's compare USA response to coronavirus to other countries:
Organized disinfection spray of mass transit/streets/public places
USA NO Other Countries YES
Volume testing
USA NO others YES
Preparation for higher hospitalization
USA NO others YES
Accurate Count (USA has no idea because they don't test)
USA NO others YES
86
VOTE SECURITY - in the Time of Corona Virus
It is vital that this nation swiftly do one thing, which will both protect the vote and protect people from “sharing” the virus:
Every state must immediately pass legislation ensuring VOTE BY MAIL (except this states that already mail a ballot to each registered voter).
Please, Times, could the Editorial Board consider writing in favor of this???
Standing in voting lines, voting in crowded spaces, when it could be done safely in one’s kitchen or living room, is a recipe for spreading the virus.
VOTING BY MAIL ensures that every registered voter can cast a vote - safely - and protects us all.
25
@TheraP, I'm sure it will help the election workers having all ballots with envelopes licked by the community at large.
1
I'm guessing that the Trump's administration to not aggressively test for Covid19 early on was a feature not a bug. I would not be suprised if we learn in the near future that the administration knew of community spread months ago. Yet another cover up/disinformation campaign from this terrible president.
Meanwhile, in my town of 100,0000 3 hours east of Seattle, in the east slopes of the Cascades we have 2 potential cases. Yesterday, both hospitals set up intake, triage tents in the parking lots to keep covid19 patients away from the ERs. We are instructed to phone triage first before setting foot in any hospital ER. Thankfully we have a competent governor and health department in my state. I am getting all my information from them, not this WH. Get prepared folks; it is coming for your community too.
54
I just saw a video where Fauci contradicted Trump about the delivery time for a vaccine. Fauci will be out within two weeks, maybe sooner.
23
No he won’t, because Trump knows flubbing even more with this virus will get him kicked from office.
As long as we've known this guy Trump, its still stunning how childish is his intellect, vocabulary, and moral understanding
74
To all my American relatives and friends - it must be frightening to think that millions of people sick and potentially infected with the corona virus are walking around because they can’t afford to get to a doctor!
I would be!
Your healthcare system is very sick and needs to be fixed. Use your vote to pick people who believe science is important and that all Americans deserve a safe, regulated and clean environment!
Good luck.
39
The two viruses this season (Covid & Flu), one after the other can weaken and perhaps kill your 80 year old grandmother. Two viruses could bankrupt a family if the bread-winner(s) doesn't have adequate sick time. Two viruses can spread throughout a school system in days and sicken many and potentially kill children with impaired immune systems. Two viruses can spread to staff and cause day cares, schools etc. to close, forcing parents to stay home, often without pay. Two viruses can put healthy newborns at risk.
For those slightly smug healthy people: ENOUGH discussion that it will only affect those who are "not healthy."
68
@CMac and your intention is to what? Start a full scale panic?. We don’t need this, we need calm and pragmatism and common sense.
3
@CMac And let's not forget the three young, healthy Chinese doctors who are now dead. The claim that only the "not healthy" are affected is just lousy rationalization from trump followers.
37
Exactly this.
7
So far, the only country winning the war on Coronavirus is China. The superiority of Chinese system is on full display.
12
@S. C. yes, after China ignored warnings from the doctor who immediately went to his superiors when he saw something different about it (RIP Li Wenliang). Not only did they ignore his warning, he was castigated. The Chinese govt was in denial for way too long, hence the huge spread. China is a sign of the path the US could be on now if our government doesn't take this seriously.
@S. C. Are you serious? They covered this up for weeks.
1
Really? When they created the crisis and didn't do anything about it at all for 2 months? When there wildlife markets, which are illegal in all developed nations, have created SARS and now this disease are not yet shut down nationally! Yep that's some system.
Everyone posting here has a valid view, whether it is to be alert and bunker down or to just go about your business without fretting. Both are reasonable messages.
Both these are reasonable because we know so little, because there are not (not yet anyway) tsunamis of illness and deaths, and because most people afflicted survive.
Most of us need to be out in the world at work, in schools, at healthcare facilities.
We can all be prudent but not panicked, practice excellent hygiene (washing your hands, then grabbing a dirty cellphone to plaster against your mouth is pretty pointless) and, if possible, avoid crowds.
In about a month we will have a far clearer idea of what is going on here. I have an important dental appointment next week.
Do I go, do I not go? All such questions call for personal discretion, at least for now. You may go to the salad bar; I would give it a 20 foot berth. We each must decide.
All media has a pony in the race for ratings. But assess any "breaking news" report and consider: Is this new news or a rehash?
We need to collaborate and cooperate, not politicize a concern of universal import.
11
@HotGumption
I’m not sure the Bots have a valid view. But every person does; no question.
Except for that tiny quibble, excellent advice!
Thanks. We need to counter the divisiveness sown by this White House. Let’s be respectful of each other.
3
Perhaps the democrats should cancel their primary today. Is it worth the risk of spreading the virus? We will have millions of democrats sharing voting areas. Do we have the proper sanitary procedures set up to clean the voting areas after each vote?
The democrats should call off all campaign rallies also. Let’s not spread a deadly disease over politics.
1
@Jim As long as those who need to cough and sneeze into their elbow and everyone washes their hands or uses hand sanitizer after voting, I don’t see a huge risk. No more than going to the grocery store. And the primary is about more than “politics.” It’s about saving our democracy from a dictator.
17
Funny how Republicans are calling for an apolitical virus response after they’ve spent the past three decades making EVERYTHING (including Obama’s eating of Grey Poupon) a battleground for their inane culture war.
The great tragic irony is that the virus could easily decimate their voter base (older Americans with limited access to healthcare).
1
This virus gives more faith in China than another country and it seems Chinese Scientific and Medical teams are working more seriously so automatically China will become more convincing than USA. This will have enormous reflection in the future including human resources, economy and power. May God bless to all!!
5
The US has a ridiculously expensive healthcare system ...but not enough masks, gloves or other protective materials.
The US has a ridiculously expensive healthcare system ...but not enough ICU beds, testing kits or Preparation for emergencies that are in plain sight !!
The US has a ridiculously expensive healthcare system ...time for a new healthcare system. The time is now for universal healthcare.
40
We should all assume it’s already circulating throughout the United States and be vigilant about protecting ourselves.
When I read about the two cases in Atlanta Fulton County, my immediate thought was, okay, this means potentially millions of people in my neck of the woods have been or will be soon exposed because so many people commute to Atlanta to work. So when I voted this morning (for Joe!) and saw that they didn’t have hand sanitizer on the tables, I went to the store and bought some for them. I have no idea exactly how many people in my Alabama-Georgia border county work in Atlanta but I know many who do. Plus it’s just common sense to provide hand sanitizer when everyone is sharing pens. Go vote! And then go wash your hands! :)
23
I don't want to hear any more boastful babbling about how well he is handling the coronavirus from an obviously out-of-his-depth president. I don't want to hear any more reassurances from his vice president, who is too terrified to correct Trump's constant downplaying of the facts. I want to hear sane, sober and factual assessments from medical professionals. Then maybe I won't panic.
64
@Christy there was a news conference on Sunday where respected medical professionals and politicians were giving their honest and comprehensive assessment on the task at hand. To be honest they have done and are doing great job so far. Perhaps you were too busy watching the political bomb throwing on CNN and MSNBC to notice
2
This presentation of this article reminded me that the way to weaken Trump is to print transcripts of what he says.
20
@Pam Right, and his supporters will still claim it is biased.
6
The NY Times has been providing excellent coverage of COVID-19 since the beginning, giving us regular updates about Wuhan, China and expanding as the virus has spread.
What hasn’t been talked about much is the US government’s role in failing to take adequate measures to protect the communities where the evacuees from the ill-fated cruises were “quarantined” once they reached US military bases.
We are pretty sure that the stringent rules of test administration and their unavailability have artificially suppressed reporting the number of people in the US who are known to have the COVID-19, and we are about to learn how poorly organized and uncoordinated the US response has been.
In President Trump’s stunning press conference only last Saturday, he claimed we have control of the situation, that only 15 people were infected, that the COVID-19 virus effects are not much worse than the common flu, and Democrats are perpetrating a hoax about its seriousness in order to damage his presidency.
Many of us will pay the price of our lives for the inept and ham-handed approach the Trump administration has taken to deal with yet another very real threat, partially because he won’t admit the problem because he perceives it as a threat to his position.
In this sense the COVID-19 problem is similar to the “Russian hoax” as Trump refers to the real and documented threats Russian interference continues to pose to our free and fair elections and from which the Republicans refuse to protect us.
36
The Mad Hatter and his questionably able assistant have spoken. Fine..NOW let us get now on with the very serious business of listening to the experts in infectious diseases and epidemiology. There is a consistant rising of independent expertise backed up by professionalism of many decades...thankfully.
9
@Jacob Krakel
Yes, identification of those infected and subsequent quarantine must be carried out to slow the spread of the virus - I would never suggest otherwise. I just hope that the relevant authorities in each country will be provided with all the necessary resources to carry this out before it is too late to be effective.
4
I do not subscribe to conspiracy theories and I am certainly not trying to encourage any but, on a projected basis, which demographic groups would be most likely to avoid the polls should the COVID-19 scare last into November? Which candidate would be the most likely to profit from a low voter turnout? I don’t know the answers.
Besides maybe recommending mail-in ballots, what plans does the federal government have to handle possible voter fears of going to the polls in November?
3
@Oceanviewer
Ever see the unrated version of Plan B (Brad Pitt's company) "World War Z"? There you go, only not zombies, fewer deaths.
Life has a 100% mortality rate. But it's ok, sort of, because it comes at different times for people. So, mortality rate is not all that determines the impact of a disease. How infectious is it? How many people get seriously ill? These are the other important questions. Right now, this looks scary because it seems to be quite infectious and a significant number of people(20%) become severely ill. The key is to stagger infections. Then those who die, don't all die at once. Those who can be saved are able to benefit from optimal medical care. Not everyone is out of work at once. We don't devolve into anarchy. We get time to develop vaccines/treatments. Right now, we can't do a lot about severity or death rate(given access to optimal care) but we can take steps to manage how many people get it at once. We must take those steps.
8
Medicare for all is looking pretty good at this point. Reasonably comfortable voters of good conscience can no longer hide behind ignorance or the lesser of two evils. As this crisis makes daily more apparent, everyone in this country must have a baseline of guaranteed healthcare or those we love may well be compromised by the person who fears a bill and therefore doesn't get the care they need/goes to work sick/doesn't get diagnosed. This is no way to run a country in 2020. Bernie/Warren 2020 -- vote as if your life depended on it.
85
Governments have not been able to organize the storage and production of masks to protect healthcare workers, and we now have a case of full blown capitalism with masks being sold at a much inflated price on the internet. Black markets have always existed, but Amazon certainly is an enabler here.
Also, I read yesterday that Amway, which is apparently very present in China, was optimistic about the future because they sell supplements 'marketed' (I quote, it struck me as important) as boosting the immunity (such groundbreaking innovations as vitamin C and echinacea, i.e. the next best thing to snake oil). When you know the close relations between the Republican party and the DeVos family, who own Amway and Spectrum Health, you know public health is going to be thrown under the bus. 'We made death and sickness profitable' should be the motto of the Grand Oil Party.
37
@Marie ooo
And why is there not a concerted effort for mass production of masks? This media blitz seems more than counter-intuitive that masks do nothing to protect the general public but rather should be reserved for healthcare workers in the frontlines or for those who are already infected. With these kinds of public service announcements, who can you believe to advise you and keep you safe?
2
@Marie If the government was on top of things months ago, mass purchases of masks would not have been allowed.
2
@smithe Months ago, when there were no confirmed cases in the US? And can you imagine the vitriol heaped on Trump if citizens couldn't buy masks?
Why have we not seen a bipartisan move to re-establish funding to bring back the pandemic response team (at the CDC? DHS?) that Donald eliminated in his effort to move money and focus to his Big Beautiful Wall, and to push through the tax cut for the wealthy? I'd think we could all agree that the current situation proves that a strong public health infrastructure is imperative for national security. We are experiencing the free-market health care (DIY, every man for himself) that Donald and the GOP have been touting, and it is not inspiring my confidence.
43
@ARNP
The latest budget set aside $50 million for such things...
"officials carved out an extra $50 million for global health security, which are measures aimed at disease detection and emergencies."
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-cut-cdc-budget/
People are so focused on names anymore. Just because you don't call it a pandemic response team, doesn't mean the measures and funding aren't there. They are.
"The public health system has a playbook to follow for pandemic preparation — regardless of who’s president or whether specific instructions are coming from the White House. Those plans were put into place in anticipation of another flu pandemic, but are designed to work for any respiratory-borne disease."
https://apnews.com/d36d6c4de29f4d04beda3db00cb46104
@ARNP because you can’t have bipartisan bills when you’re dealing with Trumpists.
5
@ARNP
Fake news. Trump didn't eliminate anything. Proposed cuts and actual cuts not the same thing in the actual world.
This is the best wake up call for all US manufacturers, who put their eggs in one basket and sent it to China in the last century.
Now is the time to bring that activity and jobs back home.
8
That is a race to the bottom. Those jobs aren’t going to come back until the costs are favorable to businesses. Those jobs will and are going to South and Southeast Asia before they come back here. Just being pragmatic here and not anti patriotic. But some would say, letting businesses dictate how they run their business IS patriotic.
6
For that we have to accept immigrants worker and cost efficient business strategies.
2
@Nung Bedell Robotic manufacturing will allow the manufacturing to be brought back to the US. Only a few jobs will be created/ Learn how to manage the robots, it is only a small step over learning management of the large machines of our old manufacturing processes.
Trump Strategy--
1.Limit information, or change CDC reports to exclude certain information, or minimize the gravity, in order to keep Wall Street from panicking. (based upon the assumption that WS analysts rely upon information controlled by US government. They don't.)
2. Bully the Fed to force interest rate reduction. This will attempt stabilize a shaky stock market, not by increasing demand and health of economy, but by limiting investment choices.
A pandemic recession results in a demand reduction, particularly in travel and leisure. In particularly hard hit areas with large populations of impoverished people who are at high risk, worker shortages could occur, leading to possible plant shutdowns. Global companies who cannot redirect like Apple will be at risk. An interest rate reduction will do nothing to promote this demand. The demand is unrelated to capital injection. The interest rate reduction only attempts to force investors to stay in the market by reducing income from safe alternatives.
We have a President terrified of losing an election. If he loses, he no longer has DOJ protection, legislative protection. He will have to face a criminal trial. He could care less about the health of this country. He does not want to go to jail.
106
@Ann Hey Ann, Trump isn't bullying anybody. The G7 is pushing for central banks everywhere to lower rates in response. You know, countries like Germany, France, the UK? Are you ready to levy charges of bullying on Merkel and Macron? No, didn't think so.
And the President doesn't wan the market and it's investors to panic. That - is - what - a - President - does!!! A market panic makes the economy worse, which would, you know, hurt ALL AMERICANS.
So, you want Trump to just tell everyone to go inside, fear for their lives, and wait for military led medical officials to come investigate them and their families to contain this terrible plague (which, BTW, isn't all that deadly for gross majorities of the population)?
What the heck do you want? Please, outline it for us?
1
@PB Good points. I bet you're in the stock market, as opposed to someone depending upon fixed income. We know G-7 is considering measures. However, it is Trump who bullies our supposedly independent Fed to do his will. Why, in our current environment, would lowering already low interest rates help a pandemic demand crisis? And so let's do it and it doesn't help. People stay home. Workers get sick. Demand freezes. Oil and gas starts to have trouble, and all those packaged deals backing oil and gas projects? Another financial implosion. We dip into a recession. Now interest rates are already close to 0%, we have $1 trillion deficit? And potential stagflation due to shortages. We are limited. Stock guys depend waaaay too much on liquidity. Pay attention to fundamentals. And as far as panic. Here's a way to ease panic. Panic goes down when we TRUST who is in charge of information.
9
We would be far safer if sick people weren't afraid to go to the hospital for fear of being financially wiped out by medical bills. That includes many people with health insurance who are increasingly likely to encounter "out of program" laboratories and MDs.
220
@M Davis
By design. Donald and wealthy Republican members of congress (not to mention billionaire health insurance and pharmaceutical execs) can easily afford to pay out of pocket for whatever they need. The rest of us can eat cake.
33
@M Davis
Not really. People have to go to the hospital for other things and those people and the hospital workers are better off if people with this condition are self treating at home. For all but the most serious cases requiring oxygen and possibly a vent, there isn’t much treatment will do. The first thing for everyone to do to help their community is to take care of themselves and stay out of the way of those who can’t.
As with so many you are nailing your own pet issue to the wagon that happens to be passing.
Public health measures do not require an insured population. We know that from fighting yellow fever, malaria, tuberculosis, endemic congenital syphillis, small pix and polio in a largely uninsured population. It does require aggressive authoritative and sometimes controversial apolitical action, mostly by state and local governments where the necessary sovereignty and police power lies.
4
@KBronson
Public health requires evidence-based scientific approaches, and adequate funding for research and action. And uninsured/under-insured people tend to be sicker than those who can afford timely healthcare, so those who already have other chronic or acute ailments will also have a harder time surviving Covid 19. But then health and life are my own pet issues.
11
President Trump can deliver his promises by cancelling tariffs of all the Chinese imports. And president Xi Jinping can do the same returning the favor. Then, China will fulfill its promise to purchasing more American goods & services. Stock markets will restore the lost ground.
COVID-19 is under control, and China is getting production back. Pretty soon it will be back in full production mode. In addition, their medical production facilities have already produced more than before, including all kinds of masks, medication & disinfection supplies, and equipment. On a friendlier term with China, we will have our supply chain back. It will benefit both of us.
It is up to Trump to decide.
7
@Usok
Suspend maybe, not cancel. America industry needs the financial pressure to diversity production to minimize single source dependency.
1
@Usok - Maybe COVID-19 is under control where you live but Friday, I thought nothing of this bug. Today, I'm starting to get a bit spooked. Most of the following happened over the weekend:
Several schools will be closed today for disinfection, Metro is trying to clean the entire bus fleet, the F5 tower in the heart of downtown is closed for disinfection after an employee (one of 1,500) tested positive and I doubt the deaths at the nursing home are over. Over one hundred employees have been exposed at the facility alone and I'm sure they all went home after their day a week ago before anyone knew.
Twenty-five firefighters have been quarantined, and a USPS worker is positive.
5
@tom harrison
I live in Houston. Situation here seems calm, and business as usual. It is comforting to know. But we do need continual supply including medical stuff from China in many different categories that wouldn't surface during trade negotiation.
1
I, for one, hope the commanders do whatever they believe is best to protect their troupes--our daughters and sons--without hesitation. That they should have to worry about massaging the man-baby's ego before exercising their authority to fulfill their responsibilities is absurd.
29
@ARNP
Each base is making its own decisions and some of them aren’t promising. That has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the military’s long tradition of fouling things up due to deadhead boot licking brass thriving in positions beyond their competency.
1
Trump should do one important thing... tell the nation that and his top commenders in civilian (CDC) and military spheres that this pandemic is NOT about him. Do not screen news or tailor it so that is is favorable to him. Make that very plain at rallies or in news conferences, or however he wants to proclaim it.
9
This President should not talk about how much he loves our troops when his Defense Secretary tells commanding officers to “check-in” before communicating, planning a response to the Coronavirus as relates to troops under their command. Esper and the WH are more concerned about preventing “messaging” that conflicts with the President’s message. Shame on Esper. Shame on this President.
50
Why haven't we heard a joint statement by both parties to the following effect:
"Dear Americans--and anyone else resident in this country:
The US government, the most powerful in world history, will do what it takes to harness the richest society on earth and in world history to pay for any costs -- any costs -- associated with Covid-19 for any American or resident. You're quarantined and miss work? We got you. You have symptoms and get a test? We got you. Have no health insurance? We got you. Funeral costs? We got you. We will figure it out whatever the costs are later, just as we did in WWII--when we were much, much poorer. We came up with trillions in the past two decades for wars and the global economy. We can take care of our own, and we will, because that's the decent thing, the American thing, to do. In addition, since we're telling you to prepare, and most of you live paycheck to paycheck, we'll direct deposit into your account, or otherwise handle, whatever costs you need to get some extra dry goods and whatnot. The details we'll iron out. And after this is all over, we'll get back to tearing each other to shreds about all kinds of issues. This is not about 'being nice,' even, though it is: if people can't afford to stay home from work with symptoms, that hurts others. And so on. Biology demands this. Morality demands this. Oh, and, we're jointly, both parties, coming up with a way to have an election this year, too. More later in our next joint fireside chat."
28
@Doug Tarnopol Bernie's, Elizabeth's and Andrew Yang's platforms all contain/ed portions of this ethos -- that we need to care for one another as a society in order to thrive. Biden the the "moderates" not so much.
4
This is not the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu pandemic. Heck, the death rate from the coronavirus is less than half of the 2018-2019 flu that hit the US according to the CDC. Should we take precautions, I guess but the strum und drang surrounding this is almost laughable. The media in their need to fill 24 hours of coverage and to beat the other outlets are turning a not pleasant event into the bubonic plague. People should turn off their iPhones, TV's radios etc. for a while.
10
How many have died from regular strains of flu during this same period?
The CDC reports that that have been between 12,000 and 61,000 deaths from the flu annually since 2011. Most are the elderly, very young, and those with already compromised health.
Isn’t this being blown out of proportion?
4
@Gary
From what I could find, the death rate in the US from the Spanish Flu was 2.5%. That is so far about equal to Covid 19. Keep laughing, but I am not.
22
@Gary You have your facts wrong. Like Donald, you are confusing death rate with death toll. Death rate is the number of infected persons who die, which is currently several percent from Covid 19, and about 0.1 percent from the 2018-2019 flu (about 30 times less).
2
PS: We need better hand-washing infrasctructure. It's critical to to dry your hands thoroughly after washing them, yet many public bathrooms have hand dryers that don't work (I'm talking to you, 53rd Street New York Public Library) and no paper towels.
Also, why have hands-free faucets in a bathroom but no easy way of opening the door to exit without touching the door itself? We need hands-free doors as well as hands-free faucets.
And institutions have got to start providing a lot more hand dryers and the ones that are there have to actually work.
27
@Thea
Restroom hand dryers blow fecal material around when they are turned on. Avoid using them.
Use paper (Carry your own Kleenex?) on the bathroom door.
BTW, when toilets are flushed, a fecal spray emanates from it unless the lid is down; contaminating the environment, and that includes paper towels and toilet paper.
2
As the weather warms expect to see a decline in Covid-19. Don’t relax your vigil. The 1918 Pandemic subsided in the Spring and Summer only to become more virulent in Fall and Winter. More deaths in 1919 than 1918.
21
@Zev - I don't know about that. Daffodils have been up a couple of weeks now, cherry trees are in bloom, and I have even started to see tulips. And we are just having our first deaths. We had 2 inches of snow back in December that lasted 48 hours (never stuck to the cement) and that was the last time I wore my winter coat. The rest of the winter I just wore a hoody and very light, thin rain jacket and gloves.
4
@Zev exactly, and that’s something they should be telling us. It’s going to get better and then it’s going to get worse. Probably during the election. And trump will lose his spit over it.
4
Right now the Times is running a story with this lede:
"Global Stocks Rise on Hopes of Help Over Coronavirus: Live Updates. Wall Street was poised for an upbeat open, as investors awaited news on whether central banks would unleash their financial firepower."
The powerful interests who control our economy (and this includes the leaders of BOTH parties) see the coronavirus not as a threat to human life but as a threat to their pocketbooks.
Anyone who is voting today should think hard about whether or not these are the values we want in our leaders.
If you believe that this is a morally bankrupt response to a potentially catastrophic threat, vote for Sanders or Warren: the only two candidates committed to providing affordable health care for all and to reducing the staggering income inquality which our leaders now take for granted.
59
Everyone who has their pension in a fund is negatively influenced by the dip in the stock market. Companies whose stocks are doing well are more likely to grow and employ new workers. The renewable energy industry has grown to fight climate change with a boost from investment on Wall St. The stock market is not an enemy, it is a tool that helps small investors as well as the wealthy, to save to buy a house, put kids through college, and save for retirement.
10
@M Perez
Stock market is only a tool for those that have a pension and/or some assets to put into it. For many people, and a majority under 50, the stock market is simply negative in that the race for the almighty earnings report has and continue to hasten the ethical and economic dissolution of our society.
If the rich/comfortable enough don't care about us enough to pay their taxes and see that everyone has a chance at a healthy life and an education, why on earth would we unwashed masses care about them and their stocks?
6
@Old Bond Man Global stocks don't move in response to the coronavirus because of "moral bankruptcy". And there's no secret cabal of old white establishment men running things, as much as they might wish to. These are savings of people, from billionaires to teachers. When whole countries start blocking travel and such, many of those people and the institutions that manage their savings understandably are afraid and take some cash out, just in case. And when governments say, "don't worry, we won't allow catastrophic financial disruption," they ease off the brake in cautious relief. That's all. Your type of interpretation is actually what turns some people away from candidates like Bernie, as morally inspiring as he is. Does he stand for a solid public healthcare system but also for shutting the stock market due to its moral bankruptcy?
1
How can we be certain that another country will share a vaccine with the world if they create a vaccine first?
6
I see a lot of reminders to "wash your hands" but not a lot of reminders about how to do it, so here goes:
Turn on the faucet with a paper towel (don't touch it with your hands)
Scrub like Lady Macbeth for a full 20 seconds, including in between fingers and backs of hands.
Turn off water without touching faucets.
DRY your hands very thoroughly -- and if you are in a public bathroom, exit bathroom without touching door knobs or anywhere on the door with your hands.
13
Your allusion to Lady Macbeth will be lost on most Americans. That's a big part of our national problem -- gross under-education.
Sorry if I'm sounding elitist. I'm only the grandchild of immigrants and middle-class to my bones.
3
I would rather see doctors and scientists instead of seeing Pence at the podium. I would rather hear about testing than Trump bashing people and gloating over the stock market (this week). Last week....silence or rather blaming the Democrats. Is it just me or does the CDC seem to be perilously playing catch up? And last but not least....no discussion of the cost for tests, quarantine, medication etc. With the Republicans getting ready to dump the ACA, I would say get ready. We are in for a bumpy ride.
26
I wonder why the CDC is so lukewarm about masks, even though in todays NYT, an article explaining how it spreads, clearly states that a important path to infection is from droplets from an infected person sneezing that land on your face.
And everybody in China musr wear masks.
This doesn't make sense.
10
@Alex Mask wearing has a cultural component too. I lived in Japan for several years and everyone wears masks this time of year in many Asian cultures. I would say the one benefit of wearing a mask would be to prevent one from touching their nose and mouth.
11
@Alex
I believe the CDC gives a mixed message because there are NO masks available that would thwart this virus. It can move right through the everyday mask; supposedly only a certain respirator mask works.
If the CDC said everyone should wear a mask there would be panic because all the specific N95 masks have been bought up and are also challenging to fit correctly.
4
@Alex ,For mask to really protect you, you really need N95 respirator.Training and Fit Test is needed to properly use it, also you need eye protection.If somebody sneezes at you while you wearing protective mask, there will still be infected particles on your forehead, hair etc.Then you would touch your face, remove mask and introduce pathogen into your mouth or eyes. It is not that simple.Leave masks for those taking care of infected patients. Everybody in China does what their supreme leader tells them to do.
3
This is were rugged American individualism , expressed itself in a healthcare system that leaves huge swathes of the population exposed and vulnerable, has a reckoning. We have an issue that in involves the whole herd of the population, like it or not.
33
@Ian
As opposed to that stellar Canadian system that leaves patients waiting for months to see specialists.
How long will Canadians have to wait for corona virus help with your current marginal and overwhelmed system?
1
Canada has already tested thousands...we have not.
6
In the US, your server, your Uber driver, your child’s daycare worker, your mothers home health aide, your grocer cashier, your sales clerk—and many of your neighbors—can’t afford to see a doctor. No insurance or insurance with high deductibles.
Only in the USA
2
If the coronavirus is as contagious as we have been told, and the development of a vaccine is estimated to take at least a year; then unless you can isolate yourself from the rest of humanity for that time, you will eventually be exposed to it, no matter what precautions you take.
Hopefully the virus isn’t as virulent as we have been led to believe. If it is, we need to find a way of coping when a significant proportion of the working population is laid low with it over a relatively short period of time.
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@Joanne Dean
The bottleneck is the number of beds in intensive care. If you don’t want the people dying on the corridor you must decelerate the spread of the virus by isolation of the contagious. This of course requires their identification beforehand.
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the most important thing that scared me is those people who show no signs could surround me
2
@Joanne Dean Also to find a way of coping with losing relatives, friends, etc.
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Coronavirus clearly doesn't care about human gender, color aka race, ethnicity, national origin, faith, education, politics nor socioeconomics.
In that respect it is akin to the coronavirus known as the common cold aka rhinovirus.
But unlike the common cold which focuses on infecting the upper respiratory tract,
Covid -19 seems determined to infect the lower respiratory tract which can be far more life-threatening and difficult to diagnose and treat. Particularly in a novel viral form.
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Who are these millions of people who are going to be tested? Are that many people showing up to their doctor’s office and hospitals? Or is Trump going to test everyone coming into the country from areas with significant outbreaks? What does the CDC recommend? I can imagine this being a stunt on the part of the Trump administration: see how aggressively we’re going after this? But is it really effective? If Trump wants to control the spread of the virus, he should hold a press conference and stress the importance of hand washing, not touching your face, and staying home and keeping your kids home when sick. And then offer assistance to those who can’t afford to stay home.
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@Galfrido Right now the protocol is to testing those with symptoms that came from hotspots (China, Italy, Iran, Korea, Japan, etc.). If one of those people is found positive, then they will test everyone that infected person has had known contact with, as well as the physical places they visit, ie work building, apartment building, etc. At some point we may start testing anyone with fever or respiratory illness regardless of travel history or known contacts with hotspot travel history, especially in the spring and summer months as we all know common cold and flu cases decrease then. Right now, we probably don't have the capacity to test everyone that has cold/flu symptoms because the most likely outcome is that they are negative for Coronavirus and they just have cold/flu.
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Imagine a normal President: there’s a prime time press conference. The President comes out and tells us that the virus is likely to spread but that we should not panic but rather prepare and start using best practices at home, 20-second handwashing, not touching our faces, keeping a distance from people. The President assures that all information will be shared so that we can make safe choices.
Instead we have half the population claiming this is liberal alarmism. A friend told me about a couple glibly saying they were not only going to not wipe the tray tables on a plane—as many others were doing—but spit on them. The Sec of Defense is telling the armed forces not to “surprise the President.” Information is disappearing from the CDC website.
Nevermind Trump’s belated travel bans on people coming into the US. If we continue on our current road the US will become a dangerous source of viral spread.
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Sorry but I am now restricted to go to the USA as it’s a well known suspicion that covid has been rampant for days. You can screen incoming flights but you should definitely screen every Hopsital entry in Wash, California and New York. The numbers in 10 days will be astounding. However that information will be valuable.
20
Why is the CDC quietly removing COVID-19 testing statistics from public records on its site?
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@Alex Because so few are being tested likely. The Trump strategy seems to be. dont test, then he can claim the virus is minimal.
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@Alex
I must assume that "Dr." Pence decided this. This is how he calms the nation and bolsters Donald's image.
30
The CDC updates their statistics every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so their numbers sometimes look like they’re behind what you read in the news.
9
If I see one more person who gets on tv and praises Trump instead of giving me current facts and predictive analysis....
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@Charles
Thanks so much for the laughs this morning. Given what we are experiencing in WA State, I didn't expect to laugh today.
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@Charles I'm not sure why you need to bash Obama while praising Trump. That in itself speaks volumes. So are you saying that while we are unable to see anything good about Trump, you are unable to see anything good about Obama? This is the current problem in this country, a me vs. you philosophy. We are all in this situation together. It's okay to criticize the government when we're unhappy. I am personally very unhappy at the lack of testing that is going on. I wish that in addition to blocking people from many countries that the government had insisted on more testing and self-quarantining. If Obama was president right now, I would be equally critical (and I love Obama, but am able to see flaws in any official that I vote for).
10
@Charles I know, right? Trump helped us all by dismantling the pandemic branch of the CDC. And don't forget, Trump helped us by putting Pence in charge of fighting the virus - the Governor who caused a spike in HIV cases in his state due to his wise policies. "The U.S. is the world's biggest business." I know, right? That's why so many people have two jobs, because business is booming. Right?
11
Garlic is the answer. But I don’t know the question. I note that Chinese, French and Italians love to cook with garlic.
8
Garlic has antibacterial properties on contact. It doesn't kill viruses, but if you eat a lot of garlic, people won't come close, which reduces your chances of infection. You could also try exhibiting erratic behavior in public, or, of course, coughing, to maintain people at a safe distance.
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By the way, prices for garlic are expected to explode. Garlic #1 producer ? China....
1
So Italians, who eat lots of garlic, have one of the highest rates in the world of COVID19 because...?
2
The fact that the US has an incompetent President and a fawning administration has already made the corona virus much worse. The delayed response to recognizing its severity and the limited availability of test kits has cost lives and increased the number of infected persons. Also, blaming Democrats and speaking in hyperbole about the US’s preparedness demonstrates an inability to confront conditions as they are. It is very troublesome that most state governments are better prepared than the federal government at a time of national crisis.
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China appears to be getting through this because they have an authoritarian government. In China you do what the government tells you to do.
Here in the US, under our democratic system, efforts to control the outbreak are scattered and largely voluntary. Voluntary efforts of any kind are usually weak.
To make matters worse the flow of information to the public is terrible. For many, if not most, the only source of information about this, and any other crisis for that matter, is cable news and word of mouth: neither of which is reliable or has the depth that people need right now.
And then, to make matters really worse, there's no strong leadership from the White House. Compare this crisis with the attacks of 9/11. Despite his falts George W. Bush did show leadership and helped the country heal in the days after the attacks.
The current 6 percent death rate in the US is not encouraging.
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@BruceM The vast majority of people that get this will only experience mild cold symptoms. Kids have no symptoms at all. It's near impossible to find those people in testing during cold/flu season. Right now there is a severity bias, only the most severe cases will come to light because they are the ones seeking medical treatment, and of course you can't hide dead bodies. The CDC bungled the testing but soon we will be running thousands of tests a day, and the infected number will go up but most of those will be mild cases. It will be scary to see the infected number increase (probably by a lot), but it also means the death rate goes down because the denominator is higher. In the long run as the majority of the population gets tested, the death rate might not be much worse than regular flu with deaths concentrated in elderly and sick population. So the lesson in this the elderly have to be very careful, and especially careful around kids who are often asymptomatic.
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@Not 99pct
Fine but why would the US run a totally different approach compared to EU countries or China?
The only obvious differences are a profit driven health care industry and a lying president who smells that he bungled this big time.
2
Why exactly is this virus targetting over 65's who can be previously well, and also often fit, may even have run marathons. In truth, however we try to outwardly or inwardly stay young, the immune system starts to age. There is a reduced production of lymphocytes, and the lymphocytes produced do not function as well.
16
I thank NYT for the global coverage of this pandemic.
I was amused to read that China is now asking overseas travelers to force themselves in a quarantine.
There is a word for it - chutzpah.
I am following Congress response on an emergency funding for this Wuhan virus.
The virus of adding unrelated items in an emergency funding appears to be still alive and well.
POTUS asked for $2.5 billion - yes, that's with B.
Congress is about to pass an authorization - giving him $8 billion - yes, another B.
He should have asked for some Wall money.
May be, Congress would have stuck to his original request.
10
It may be chutzpah but it makes scientific sense. The people in China are not immune. They have gotten some control via social distancing measures. A new spread can readily occur if they are not vigilant.
Real chutzpah would be offering to send a team to observe and advise us as this thing goes viral (sorry, couldn’t resist) in the US. Then and again, we might find that helpful.
3
@Neil It seems that people who are not themselves or who do not have loved ones in the at risk group have the luxury of being amused. The privilege of having paid sick day leaves and back up child care arrangements are often assumed. While facing global public health concerns, it’s not helpful to blame the victims and it’s certainly not amusing.
5
You are creating widespread panic with the sensational headlines. Not everyone has a statistics background like me and can keep their calm in times of crisis like this. I already feel waves of irrational panic all around me and most of the responsibility are dense Tajo always headlines and articles like these.
10
You can't blame the media for the failures of government, and not only the American one (but, arguably, it does take the cake, and noticeably the French news are less overpowered by the virus because the government is doing something). Politicians fear to be blamed and want to show they took strong measures. This was understandable in China since they didn't know the lethality of the virus - also, not that it is an excuse, but it's a dictatorship- but now, it seems a bit too much and not enough at the same time. For example, the shortage of masks for health care professionals could have been anticipated and stocks bought at the same time as local production was organized. As it is, French doctors are in a position to spread the virus, and I suppose the same is true in other countries. Similarly, it's probably doable to protect the elderly and those whose immunity is compromised. This would at least limit the strain on hospitals, which some experts think in part explains the higher mortality rate in Wuhan.
3
The ratio of fatalities/confirmed cases is about 6% for US compared to 5.5% for Iran. Are American physicians inapt barefoot doctors or conceals the US Government the true extent of the disease? Given the number of fatalities we must expect 500 to 1000 Corona cases , assuming up-to date medical care. In retrospective China’s communication as well as medical response look more professional than US crisis management.
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@Jacob Krakel - Read and think, the outbreak in Washington State was in a nursing home. So far we know the elderly with pre-existing conditions are the highest risk.
14
@Jacob Krakel: That would be because of basic math. Our total number of cases is very small ( the denominator) and unfortunately centered on an elder care center with people who need 24 hour nursing care. As our number of identified cases goes up, the denominator is going to get bigger, and the fatality rate will go down.
Of course, if this is just a smug attempt to rail on Americans because you’re an enlighten and entitled European, then press on with that.
6
It's not a true fatality rate, which will probably not be known accurately for a while. The virus was spotted in a nursing home, which inflates the death count, but somebody who is now healthy probably brought it there (yes, some of the mask hoarders may well already have had the virus). Besides, I heard yesterday a doctor explaining that the first French patient died WITH coronavirus not BECAUSE OF coronavirus, so comorbidity could explain the nursing home deaths. The only valid numbers seem to come from the Chinese regions outside of Wuhan, where greater availability of healthcare resources give us a fairer point of comparison, and they are reassuring.
4
“We’re going to reduce the severity of what’s happening. The duration of the virus, we discussed all of these things, we will bring these therapies to market as rapidly as possible. And I have to say with a thriving economy, the way it is, and the most advanced health system on Earth, America is so resilient, we know what we’re doing. We have the greatest people on Earth, the greatest health system on Earth.”
There are people who are actually comforted by this garbled nonsense? I assume it goes on like this:
“The greatest Earth. It’s really great, isn’t it? The moon too. And we have the greatest wall, the tallest. The Democrats will try to convince you it isn’t done. It’s done, finished. Big beautiful wall. They say it can keep out anything, even this virus. The virus, you’ve heard about this? Terrible. Strong though. You gotta respect it. They say I shouldn’t say it so I’m not gonna say it. But I really do respect it. Strong, powerful disease. Good friend of mine, we have a great relationship. The economy is great too.”
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And the media repeats this without noting that
a) there was never a travel ban on US citizens coming from anywhere, screening was haphazard, workers lacked training
b) we certainly do not have the best health care on the Earth and our rural hospitals will be the first to be overwhelmed.
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@Meghan Murphy Rural hospitals? Epidemics spread in dense populations. Too silly. We do have the best healthcare on earth. I remember taking my little one into a bright, friendly clinic in Norway with a raging ear infection, worried her eardrum might burst on our flight the next day. We walked in and out without payment, and the doctor agreed her eardrum might burst, suggesting we put some warm oil in her ear. So we also walked in and out without treatment. Because you get what you pay for.
2
Priceless! You made me laugh out loud.
15
So, Trump is willing to delay protective measures for US troops until he can spin or bury information he deems unfavorable to himself.
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@T
Does this honestly surprise you? Look at the demographics of who serves: the poor, the brown and black, the rural whites from Appalachia and the deep South -- in other words, our own class of expendable canon fodder. Supposedly "moderate" Democratic voters need to take a long look in the mirror instead of at the 401ks and wake up! Bernie/Elizabeth 2020. Time to tackle the inequality that is tearing out society apart.
4
Yeah. America is a full-blown dictatorship now.
4
We have a far, far better chance of dying in our cars tonight...or tomorrow. Nobody lives forever. Relax.
7
Do you wear your seatbelt when you are in a car?
16
@Lowell - I live in Seattle and don't own a car:)) You might find it easier to relax if your doctor's appointment next week wasn't at an infectious disease clinic at a hospital. Its bad enough there on a good day:))
5
Prior to trump instituting autocratic oligarchic subterfuge about Covid 19
Dr.Fauci’s team was ready to act appropriately. Transparency was always practiced at CDC and Congress always supported their needs proactively to warn and instruct and care for the public good and support medical personnel in the trenches in counties and communities.
Under pence and Trump we have fake news hoax talk instead of enough test kits.
As a health professional this scenario will devastate America and trump is using it to attack political opponents rather than have decency of intent and doing the correct thing.
That would be turning over management to Dr Fauci and leaving him to do the work that will save patients and bring about medicine to help.
China started this mess without sharing data at first. At least that was what we are told by trump. But come on !
He contacts the other autocrats , especially Putin on unsecure phones all the time. He admits his contacts .
I have never experienced a situation this dire since Reagan ignored AIDS till babies and children were dying from blood products in the 1980’s.
At that time I worked in a hemodialysis unit and transplantation. My patients had “ failure to thrive” when they should have been rallying. We had no name for what was attacking their immune system. Our epidemiologists told us it was an entirely new virus emanating originally from wild animals on the African continent. All we had for protection was PPE and bleach water to clean .
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This is what a propaganda state looks like. The virus originated in China and spread to these other countries.
Now, the propaganda will be “we’re protecting you from the virus *which is coming from outside of China.*”
Wait a year and the Chinese textbooks will be claiming it all started in Iran and made worse by Western powers.
Rinse, repeat.
40
The funny thing is, it will be made worse. Look at the way we are bumbling this in the US. China tried to contain news about the virus in the beginning. Once it spread they shut down a city and bought the rest of the world time. We squandered that time in the US, making a faulty test kit and pretending a ban on non US Citizens would keep out the virus.
Then we failed to test people with symptoms because, well after the virus had spread to Iran and Italy, the CDC guidelines said that only people who had been to China or in contact with someone known to have the virus could be tested.
5
So the circle is closed.
5
Forget the masks. Forget the mass quarantines.
The best thing anyone can do to ward off COVID19 is to make themselves healthy - e.g., eat well, exercise often, and avoid smoking, drugs, and alcohol.
Of course, a little travel insurance would help.
13
Washing your hands is not important? Also the mask works as you touch your face 90 times a day
16
Most experts say the mask does not work, or prevent face touching. Also most people touch their faces 23 times an hour.
6
@Barry
Right you are. I was thinking more about worries once you get it. But washing hands is certainly best for avoiding it.
2
We shall see if the CDC processes a million tests and discloses the numbers of positive results (doubtful). The sheer ineptitude, in the face of a growing pandemic, can only be attributed to a directive to keep the numbers low. Thankfully we have many states performing their own tests (“presumptive positives”) so we may be able to get an idea of where this virus has spread. Of course it is nationwide, of course there is vast community spread, of course we are at the mitigation stage, not containment. But you be you, Mike Pence, and keep lying to the American public.
106
@Carla
But, it's not 'CDC', is it? Tests can now be performed by any old US lab able to say they have a Coronavirus test. No other country in the world has been so cavalier about diagnosis. But, I guess there's a lot of frightened people over there - and a lot of money to be made.
Consider this. The WHO, with a lot of advice from the Chinese, developed the protocol for a Covid-19 test weeks ago. And every country in the world has picked that up and rolled it out under the governance of its own national public health authority.
Except one country.....
295
In all fairness, you do realize that two corporations control the hugely lucrative lab testing market in the US, not the CDC? If we want to do systematic, controlled testing it will be at the hands of these companies, not the CDC.
If Trump were not the president, but instead was just another person, I wonder what the stable genius would be saying about the president’s management of the crisis ?
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@David Martin
Then it would follow that he would give himself a good talking to.
"So I says to myself, Donald I says..."
4
@David Martin Well, it would depend on whether the other president were Democrat or Republican.