Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Flu also has existing antiviral treatments. No comparison

 

This, along with the fact that many people who get it don't have major symptoms, is the reason why it's such a big deal. Past iterations of coronaviruses like SARS and MERS were easier to contain because the symptoms were distinctive and severe. If you had it, you KNEW you had it, and you'd go to the hospital and get quarantined. COVID-19 is insidious because you may not realize you have it and could spread it to others who will have a much worse time of it.

So look: the reason to take this seriously is not because you specifically might get it bad. You might, if you're 60+ years old or have a history of respiratory issues like asthma or bronchitis, but you very well could get it and not feel worse than a multi-week long cold.

You take it seriously on behalf of others, and especially the health care system. You should want to avoid spreading it to at-risk people, and remember that hospitals only have so much capacity.

For instance in Lombardy, the richest region of Italy where Milan is, there are world-class health care facilities. However, they're overwhelmed by the number of patients because that's where the outbreak is at its worst. The death rate from the virus in Lombardy is more than double what it is in other affected regions. Health care workers are overwhelmed and starting to get sick themselves, beds are being set up in hospital hallways, and people are getting worse care than they would if the facilities weren't overtaxed.

The same thing happened in the Wuhan region of China where the virus originated: health care facilities were overwhelmed and the death rate was higher. There are real fears that Washington state could be in the same place later this month. Places that weren't caught off guard and had more time to prepare and initiate social distancing strategies have experienced lower death rates on account of the sick getting better care from below-capacity hospitals.

This virus doesn't have to be an outright disaster in any given place if people take it seriously, wash their hands, self-quarantine if they feel symptoms, and generally keep distance from one another for a while. You, personally, may or may not be at high risk, but it's about doing things on a societal level to help each other out and not get in a place where hospitals are overflowing.

 

Here's a link from the NY Post. The Guard isn't going to stop anyone from travelling in/out of the "hot zone," but will inform people they are entering or leaving it. The Guard will also be used to deliver food and supplies to those self-quarantining.

 

Here is a comparison of covid19 (red) to SARS (blue) and H1N1 (green).

 

How much of the money in cruises affects the U.S.? What does so many of them being "based" in Panama and other countries mean for taxation and credit? Do they get most of their credit from the U.S. (or is that an irrelevant question due to the global flow of money)? I'm ignorant on the subject (and wouldn't know where to begin looking on Google). How would an infusion of money help the cruise industry stay afloat, as it were?

 

Rumor here in the NW is that Seattle has plans for how to do it and is strongly considering locking down the city.

 

The cruise industry is a tiny sliver of the economy, not even a grain of sand on Pensacola Beach compared to the financial system. Same with hotels. These are leisure industries and will bounce back pretty fast once the virus is over. Put it this way, even the worst years of the norovirus barely had any impact on the cruise industry and I'll take this virus over a norovirus in a heartbeat.

 

Maybe if we spent that money on stopping the virus, we wouldn't need to spend it on bailing out industries affected by the virus?

 

And also, bear in mind that what we know out there is only a function of what we have tested. We really have no idea how many cases there are or how fast it is spreading. We just know that it's quite lethal (as @MetaGator noted) and that we do not know how many cases there are. No test = no cases, but that's not really reassuring....

 

We have no idea what the death rate really is, because we only know 26 have died. Until we know how many are infected we have no accurate idea of the death rate.

 

Curious what you mean by “footprint” with hotels. We’re set to see massive expansion in the coming five years. Marriott alone is planning to build 6,000 new properties by the end of 2025.

 

I’m against it. It will incentivize not being ready for the next rainy day.

 

No it hasn't. Where did you get that from? It has surpassed SARS and MERS, but isn't even close to catching up with H1N1. From Apr 2009 through Apr 2010 (that's one year for the mathematically challenged), 60,000,000 Americans had H1N1 with 12,000 dead. Globally, H1N1 infected 1.4 Billion with 575,000 deaths.

Before you nuke my post, here it is from the highest authority known to medical science:

2009 H1N1 Pandemic

The H1N1 was a close relative to the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 and targeted young healthy people. More young people died from H1N1 than will ever die from the coronavirus.

Obama declared a national emergency in Oct 23, 2009 after 1,000 had already died. A little known factoid is the Secretary of Health and Human Services issued a public emergency on Apr 26, 2009 when 20 were infected but no deaths. He also re-issued it on July 24th and October 1st. Most don't remember (I didn't) that H1N1 originated in Mexico in early March and quickly spread to the US.

From a CNN article dated October 23, 2009:

 

Would you have a link for charts?

 

The Obama thing is a myth that just won't die.

Did Obama Declare Swine Flu an Emergency Only After 'Millions' Were Infected?

Also you're comparing a year of H1N1 to a couple of months of coronavirus.

 

I think most young people get it sneeze once than get better. I think the death toll from this is going to be of the old and less than this years flu. Harvard is cancelling next semester. Overreaction is my guess but if I and everyone else is wrong it's an underreaction.

 

I have never understood the appeal of these massive cruise the Caribbean ships.

 

So in short, look at China. China is what we went through in 2009. The virus started sometime in December and in less than 3 months has infected 80,000 and killed 3,800. High numbers but stable numbers. On February 14, there were 74,000 cases in China. A month later, only 6,000 more. That means efforts have worked in containing the spread. That didn't happen in the US in 2009. We blew through the 80,000 and kept on going despite emergency measures. Within the same time period, we already had over 350,000 infections and the spreading of H1N1 was at pandemic levels.

What is different between these 2 viruses is H1N1 spread very fast, symptoms appeared very quickly, but for the most part was a bad flu. But 60,000,000 got it over that 12 month period. H1N1 also hit children and young adults very hard - most of the 12,000 deaths were to this group.

Covid19 doesn't spread as fast and symptoms take longer to show. It also is hitting the elderly very hard with almost all deaths to people 60 and older and those with compromised immunity. No deaths among children 9 and under.

 

The vector is more objectionable than the disease itself.

 

COVID19info.live

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