Coronavirus

[Joe Guy]

2021 - Trump is going to kill us all.

[BoSoxGal]

Life is going to kill us all.

[datsunaholic]

My answer to the original question, as to how the panic is doing here (since I live and work within 20 miles of where the first dozen US deaths occurred)...

A week ago (Feb 29) the line getting into the Costco across the street from where I work was a mile long, and they were sold out of hand sanitizer and toilet paper by Monday. Seems Washingtonians panic method is to buy all the bulk TP whenever a pandemic hits. All the Costcos around here got raided for TP. Well, I'm set, I bought TP a month ago, and as for hand sanitizer I found a 3/4 full bottle in a vacated unit at work last week.

I work in the hospitality industry, so I figure I'm gonna get it sooner or later. I'm in and out of a half dozen apartments daily (short term rentals/corporate housing) and the majority of our Clientele is international. We have seen a massive increase is no-shows, though, as our biggest customers (Amazon and Google) have curtailed all non-essential travel.

Traffic here is suddenly almost bearable. Amazon has basically shut down their Seattle campuses and gone work-from-home, taking close to 20,000 cars off the roads. This week, normal 65-minute commutes have been 30 minutes. Schools are shut down- my Barber today said her kids schools just closed for 2 weeks. Speaking of barbers, I went not knowing what to expect. Usually they're slammed with 3 or 4 chairs having 3-4 people waiting each. Today, only 2 barbers were in, and I walked in and only one chair was occupied. Then drove to the Museum, my normal 2 1/2 hour trek took 55 minutes.

[BoSoxGal]

Consider wearing disposable latex gloves while you're inspecting recently vacated units, that will cut your transmission risk significantly.

I wish I had time and money to travel to Italy right now - the crowds are gone, it's all wide open spaces. All I'd need would be to avoid people, which this introvert prefers anyway.

[RayThom]

And disposable Depends so when you get the virus you won't piss all over yourself.

[Scooter]

DONALD TRUMP: I just think this is something, Peter, that you can never really think is going to happen. You know, who -- I have heard all about -- this could be, you know, this could be a big deal from before it happened. You know, this -- something like this could happen.

I think we are doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down. We have really been very vigilant and we have done a tremendous job at keeping it down.

But who would have thought -- look, how long ago, is it six, seven, eight weeks ago? Who would have thought we would even be having this subject? We were going to hit 30,000 in the DOW like it was clockwork, right?

It was all going, it was right up and then all of a sudden this came out, all I say is keep calm. We have the greatest people in the world. Everyone is relying on us, the world is relying on us. They have done an incredible job in a very condensed period of time.

The thing is you never really know when something like this is going to strike, and what it is going to be. This is different than something else. This is a very different thing than something else. So, I think they have done a great job. And do you know what? If I didn't think they did, I would tell you.

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

[Scooter]

“I like this stuff. I really get it,” Trump boasted to reporters during a tour of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, where he met with actual doctors and scientists who are feverishly scrambling to contain and combat the deadly illness. Citing a “great, super-genius uncle” who taught at MIT, Trump professed that it must run in the family genes.

“People are really surprised I understand this stuff,” he said. “Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability.”

[BoSoxGal]

CNN ran an excellent town hall on coronavirus Thursday night that is likely available on YouTube or their website by now - participants included a number of actual experts with actual brains.

The more I read the more I’m convinced that the numbers here would be far higher if they were testing widely; people have been flying in from China and other effected regions for weeks now without screening or testing, then returning to their families, workplaces, schools, etc. to share their viral fomites. I predict we will have a fairly high death rate in the at risk elderly/immune compromised population, especially considering the lackluster public health response thus far and the fact that access to healthcare is so significantly rationed here compared to other countries where there is a national healthcare system. We have such a skewed framework here, where most will not want to miss work or incur medical bills they can’t afford, so they’ll continue in the usual course of things even when they aren’t feeling well until or unless they get so sick they can’t work.

[ex-khobar Andy]

We're going to see Emma tonight. We're both Jane Austen fans so we've been looking forward to it being released for months.

Kentucky has just reported its first coronavirus diagnosis. It's 60 miles away but we're taking no chances. We'll get to the theater early and sit there, coughing regularly. No-one will sit within 20 feet of us. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Burning Petard]

Nah. we gonna die from skin irritation from all that Purell hand sanitizer. real scientist would be working on a way to use this cross-species infection for useful purposes, like a special DNA targeted version of this El Corona that attacks the owners of pit bulls or mastiffs who train them into viciousness.

snailgate

[Scooter]

[datsunaholic]

And disposable Depends so when you get the virus you won't piss all over yourself.

I wasn't aware that incontinence was one of the symptoms.

[BoSoxGal]

Speaking of incontinence . . . Trump at a meeting with first responders and others in Nashville this week:




Apparently a recent radio interview of a former production assistant on The Apprentice revealed he’s been wearing adult diapers for years - as well as being an Adderall addict who also uses cocaine and other uppers, then balances with benzos. This explains a lot about his speech patterns, constant sniffling and wacky behaviors in rallies and other public appearances.


Note: I would normally not be mean about someone needing adult diapers - I work with elders and I know we ALL break down in the end. But Trump is a beast who is mean to his core and he don’t deserve no empathy from me.

[Gob]

I'm having that!!

[Gob]

Superstition trumps science...

NHS officials have considered telling paramedics they must be clean shaven to protect themselves from coronavirus.

London Ambulance Service said in a draft memo - seen by the BBC - that its ability to handle potential Covid-19 cases was "adversely affected" by crews unable to wear respirators properly.

The service said staff had been asked to consider shaving but it had decided against mandating they do so for now.

The Department of Health said there was no national policy on the issue.

The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust - which employs first responders across the capital - wrote in the unsent internal bulletin that "all staff in patient-facing roles must be clean shaven when on-duty".

The trust's current policy asks staff to consider shaving to ensure respirator masks fit tightly against the face.

The draft memo, issued to a group of managers on Saturday, said the service's "ability to respond to potential Covid-19 patients has been adversely affected by the low availability of crews who are successfully [tested for respiratory masks], which is partly driven by crew staff not being clean shaven".

The memo said 50 clinical staff had failed so-called "fit tests" for protective masks due to their facial hair.

The memo suggested staff with protected characteristics - such as religious beliefs or a disability - who could not clean shave would "be engaged with on a case-by-case basis and a number of alternative options have been identified to support this".

A later email to staff, seen by the BBC, said the trust had chosen to hold off issuing the new policy until further guidance from Public Health England.

[ex-khobar Andy]

That's long been an issue in the hazardous waste business. In my company, anyone who worked in the lab or in the field - investigating potential Superfund sites or whatever - had to be fit tested for a respirator and many (depending on the level of severity of the site) had to be authorized for full face masks with self contained breathing apparatus. We used to have training sessions where people played soccer wearing either respirators or, for the really hardy, with a 40lb air tank on their backs and in full tyvek suits. I wish I'd taken photos.

We simply could not allow beards. A respirator will not adequately seal on your face to guard against vapors and airborne pathogens if you have too much facial hair. As it happens, if you are on a very hazardous site which requires SCBA then a full face mask will seal regardless of hair.

So if you went around our HQ and saw someone with a beard he was in accounting or IT or whatever. Not a field guy.

[Bicycle Bill]

“I like this stuff. I really get it,” Trump boasted to reporters during a tour of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, where he met with actual doctors and scientists who are feverishly scrambling to contain and combat the deadly illness. Citing a “great, super-genius uncle” who taught at MIT, Trump professed that it must run in the family genes.

“People are really surprised I understand this stuff,” he said. “Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability.”

Even people who are completely stoned can't believe it.....



-"BB"-

[Scooter]

[BoSoxGal]

Every few hours I visit CNN’s website and the number of infected keeps jumping up and up and up. I can see why people are panicking a bit. Meanwhile I have to go on a search for toilet paper tomorrow because the three stores closest to my house are sold out and I’m almost on my last roll. At least I don’t have a stock portfolio to worry about.

A most inconvenient virus, indeed.

[BoSoxGal]

Apparently Trump shook hands with the coronavirus positive person who attended CPAC; so did Ted Cruz and many of our other favorite conservatives.