*at the 'start'

2 cases popped up in Allegheny county (Pittsburgh, PA, USA). The governor shut down public schools for 2 weeks minimum, and my college chose to follow suit, abruptly kicking the students out. I know some whose houses are in Philadelphia, which has had a COVID-19 presence for a while now, so that sucks. It doesn't help that Philly is also a major travel hub, especially for my country's East Coast trains.

I thought all the talk about toilet paper being gone from the stores was a meme that got way overused. It was not; it's real. Boy I sure do hope I won't have to spend a small fortune just to get tested.

There's no point in getting tested in the US; they won't test you unless you have symptoms - and by the time you have symptoms, you can just assume that you have it.

don't worry about the virus, worry about the people panicking over the virus.

Worry about toilet paper being gone

Panicking about coronavirus definitely helps. Just enjoy the memes m8s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlxrccYb7XM

3 in a nearby city... oh boy

Of note, unless you are living in China or Northern Italy: if you have symptoms, you are still more likely to have flu than Covid-19 for now, but this balance will likely tilt in the next weeks. But guess what: the same protective measures (washing hands, keeping distance, staying home) also reduce the spread of the flu so this is good advice anyway.

Again: there is still a wide variation in which direction this can and will go, and most non-verified sources are clickbait and/or guessing. Not even the best experts (some of which happen to be my colleagues) know how this will play out in the long run.

Interestingly, currently it looks like this will be more of a logistic challenge than a medical challenge.

The medical challenge is what researchers are looking at. Not much is known about the virus yet, but some key results include that (1) it's very contagious due to potential spreading while asymptomatic or mild symptoms, (2) more deadly than the flu but unknown whether this is due to viral properties or mainly the lack of resistance, (3) deaths are strongly like to pre-existing conditions with some surprising results (e.g. diabetes, coronairy diseases (heart and related) increase risk, reduced immune system (e.g. from HIV) seemingly does not increase risk) and some obvious results (elderly, people with lung problems are the major groups at risk). (4) Death is often due to a severe (viral) pneumonia. Remember that pneumonia itself kills 4 million a year (mainly among children and elderly and in LMIC), so this is nothing to sneeze at (pun intended, forgive the dark humor). (5) Spread and infectiousness is likely linked to geographical factors (mainly temperature and humidity) as it is with most viruses. So the idea that the situation will improve as temperatures rise, is not a myth. However, improving does not mean eradicating (you can get flu in summer, but less people get it), and it also implies it will likely return when autumn starts.

Now for the logistic challenge:
(1) There are several types of face masks with some give total protection and others not. While it is somewhat useful to wear a facemask that gives total protection yourself, you should always remember that there is currently a shortage of them. If you wear them as a young, healthy person, you are effectively taking them away from health care workers and risk groups who need them and have difficulty acquiring them. It's a selfish move that in the long run helps the spread and fatality rate of the disease and hence may not only put you and your family at an elevated risk in the long run, you may actively cause harm with others. People hoarding these masks should take a long hard look in the mirror and realise what kind of person they are.
(2) The main logistic problems next to the shortage of face masks (which is indeed a failure of the health care system), is simply the capacity of the health care system. Two important numbers to keep an eye on are (a) the number of active health care workers (a health care worker with corona reduces the capacity!) and (b) the number of ICU beds (number of places at any given moment on intensive care, or more specifically in this case: the number of patients that can get artificial respiration)
The system can only work if health care workers (doctors, nurses, ...) remain healthy, the lack of face masks is consequently a major issue! I heard from colleagues that in China up to 10% of health care workers are/were ill themselves which is a heavy burden on the system.
Additionally, the total number of coronacases doesn't matter as much as the peak number. If cases can be spread out over more time, the number of ICU beds should be enough and the system can treat everyone optimally, reducing fatality rates. However, a strong peak like Northern Italy experienced effectively overloads the system and has people requiring artificial respiration waiting in the corridor. This is why you should try to use common sense and protective measures. Chances are you still get it, but at least with some delay allowing the health care system to take better care of everyone and hence save more lifes that would otherwise be lost.

@Math Wolf, yes, it may be more deadly than the flu, but the virus's morality rate is only 1%.

Also, my school is out till April 14th

The UK official figures are only that which are sever and need hospital treatment where complications such as underlying health conditions are among patents. Screening has stopped. Figures would be many times larger than what's actually reported.

People at work have started fake coughing as a joke so now I won't be able to tell who is actually coughing. Nice work lads

46 cases of the coronavirus confirmed in Wisconsin

Macron made a good move, now I have read that troops have been sent to Paris to stop the spread of the coronavirus. well, we know who they'll stop...
[yellow vests]

School is out until the 30th

All the pharmacies are being plagued by the locusts of panic. They took all the fucking gummy vitamins. What the fuck.

gummy vitamins are the cure, didnt y'know

Perhaps there will be a time when the West consider about the “institutional advantage” of China. ( Although I thought that word mostly brainwashing) :D

Hahahahahahahahaha. Good one. Are these institutional advantages?

- Lying to the WHO and rest of the world about human-human transmission
- Covering up the mapped genome for a week
- Waiting 3 weeks from patient zero to notifying WHO
- Allowing 5 million people to leave Hubei before quarantine (that was planned in advance) for Lunar New Year festivals
- Lying about the origins of the virus (claims US military)

Or we can go back further:

- Learning absolutely nothing from SARS (deregulating wildlife trade)
- Censorship of those who criticize wildlife trade

The CCP is the greatest threat to human liberty and global security on the globe, bar none. They allowed this virus (that was created by unsanitary practices fostered and encouraged by Mao Zedong) to spread beyond their borders and now people in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, America, and elsewhere will pay the price for it. The looming global recession is all on them, and they should be held fully accountable for it. I feel for all Chinese people who realize that their government is of no benefit to them and hope they dispose of it.

The only "institutional advantage" the CCP has is their ability to get away with everything. Time and time again. They will collapse the global economy and get away scot-free. Hopefully we (America) don't re-elect the president who ignored the threat this had, calling it a "hoax". I still think that the human cost of the pandemic will be measured in the thousands not the millions, but the economic fallout will be immense.

This could have been prevented easily. But China('s government) had other ideas.

Edited 3/19/2020 02:52:40

stupid china('s government), thanks for making my walmart 99% empty (foodwise, at least)

Yawn, hypocritic sinophobia and hysteria as if pre-virus sinophobia wasn't bad enough.

How am I hypocritical or sinophobic? I started learning Chinese as a New Year's Resolution and love Chinese culture. The CCP is not China. The CCP is a global terrorist organization granted immunity from criticism by people who call you racist for criticizing them. Ask 95% of people from Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Tibet.

Left-leaning journalists agree with me.

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1240032102029996032?s=21