Coronavirus

[Phoenix87x]

Thoughts on the Coronavirus?

How serious is it and how bad do you think it could get? Does it have potential to be a Spanish flu situation, or more of a SARS situation?

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EDIT BY BOSK1:  I am putting this link here in the OP so people can find it to track cases:  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

[axeman90210]

All I know is if I hear "Baby Can You Dig Your Man" on the radio I am packing my shit and getting out.

[T-ski]

don't drink Corona's so I think I'm good.

[Phoenix87x]

All I know is if I hear "Baby Can You Dig Your Man" on the radio I am packing my shit and getting out.

Captain Trips definitely crossed my mind as well 

[MirrorMask]

If at all it shows the definitive globalization of the world, for better (in some cases) or worse (such as this one).

I mean...
"There's been this outrbreak in China"
"Mh, sucks, at least China is far away and we're in no immed""BREAKING NEWS, POSSIBLE CASES IN AUSTRALIA AND EUROPE".

Geez.

The population of the cities being on lockdown amounts the population of Italy. Or, if you prefer, the population of California AND Florida combined. That's crazy.

[jingle.boy]

First suspected case in toronto this morning.

I think this will be like SARS - very scary for a short period of time,but much ado about nothing in the long run

[cramx3]

What's scary is how this became a thing in that market place in China. WTF is going on over there and worse when China covers a lot of it up to not make public how bad it really is.  I think in the end, people will continue to die from it but I'm not sure how bad globally it will be as people will rush to contain it as we've seen with other deadly virus'.  Just stay safe everyone who is traveling through airports.

[Cool Chris]

All I know is if I hear "Baby Can You Dig Your Man" on the radio I am packing my shit and getting out.

Is containment even a realistic possibility at this point (as MirrorMask referenced) if something that serious happens? Where do we "get out" to?

[Luoto]

There has to be more than 2000 cases. Many more. There's no way it would've already spread on every continent otherwise. The reported spread and confirmed cases pattern is almost exactly the same as when swine flu broke out in Mexico.

Even among publicly confirmed cases the mortality rate isn't any higher than seasonal flu, so for the time being it's not a serious concern as long as mortality stays down.

[Harmony]

I still can't get past the fact that 35 million people in China are under quarantine.

Think about being quarantined in your home town.  Every public place shut down.  No end in sight.  Hospitals so over-run that they are fast tracking the building of more hospitals.

Imagine being a hospital employee, an EMT, a police officer - meaning you are in the middle of it almost 24/7.

Those thoughts are almost scarier (to me) than the virus itself.

[millahh]

Just a zoomed out perspective...50,000 people in the US die from the flu, and nobody bats an eye...

[Chino]

Just a zoomed out perspective...50,000 people in the US die from the flu, and nobody bats an eye...

Yeah, but something like 80% of those deaths are the elderly. So the flu only kills 10,000, healthy/young people in the US annually. We lose more people to that in car accidents by Jan 4 of a new year, so the flu statistic is kind of moot. The difference with what's going on in China is this is a rapidly spreading, deadly disease that has already overwhelmed Chinese resources, and the rate of infected could continue to increase exponentially. 18 cities are now under quarantine, and Chinese New Year has been postponed by the government, who's telling people to stay in their homes. China has said 81 people are no confirmed dead, and something tells me that number might be low-balled a bit. We know what we're dealing with in regards to the flu. We don't really know what we're dealing with here.

[ErHaO]

I think the panicmode for these type of situations is actually a good thing. Even if it ends up being not that big a threat, no chances should be taken. When a non/poorly -treatable potentially lethal pathogen gets the opportunity to spread globally it can be devastating. Research has shown that there is a possibility of such viruses to arise. And some people I know tend to forget how vulnerable we are in absence of effective vaccines or antiviral compounds (or antibiotics in case of bacteria). Pathogens have devastated human populations in the past and that can happen again.

[Zydar]

There was a scare here in Sweden today with two possible cases of the Corona virus, but tests showed that it wasn't this virus.

[axeman90210]

All I know is if I hear "Baby Can You Dig Your Man" on the radio I am packing my shit and getting out.

Is containment even a realistic possibility at this point (as MirrorMask referenced) if something that serious happens? Where do we "get out" to?

Nebraska, obviously.

[millahh]

All I know is if I hear "Baby Can You Dig Your Man" on the radio I am packing my shit and getting out.

Is containment even a realistic possibility at this point (as MirrorMask referenced) if something that serious happens? Where do we "get out" to?

Nebraska, obviously.

Not Las Vegas?

[Chino]

You guys can come to my house. I'll make brisket.

[kaos2900]

I live in Nebraska so logically I'm not as concerned. 

Seriously though, I believe that the human population count is the root cause of climate change. There are just too many damn people living on this planet. We are due for a pretty drastic health event that helps cull the human population. Maybe this is it maybe it won't be. At some point the planet will wipe out a large amount of humans to right the ship.

[jingle.boy]

I live in Nebraska so logically I'm not as concerned. 

Seriously though, I believe that the human population count is the root cause of climate change. There are just too many damn people living on this planet. We are due for a pretty drastic health event that helps cull the human population. Maybe this is it maybe it won't be. At some point the planet will wipe out a large amount of humans to right the ship.

Children of Men type of shit?  I can't say I disagree with you.  I already commented that in the climate change thread that the planet was fighting back (thru climate).  Maybe thru disease as well now.

[millahh]

I can't be the only one who's been playing a lot of Plague, Inc. recently, right?

[vtgrad]

All I know is if I hear "Baby Can You Dig Your Man" on the radio I am packing my shit and getting out.

Is containment even a realistic possibility at this point (as MirrorMask referenced) if something that serious happens? Where do we "get out" to?

Nebraska, obviously.

Mayhap so... mayhap so.  Can you dig it?    Maybe this situation will give SK another idea.

Contagion came to mind too... this mirrors the movie plot a bit in the early stages.  What's making me pay attention is the possibility of being contagious during incubation, the wide range of incubation estimates (BBC story said 1-day or up to 14-days), and the quick mutation possibilities.  That could be why the numbers of infected are climbing so fast.  Two possible cases in Virginia also caught my eye...

[Nekov]

I can't be the only one who's been playing a lot of Plague, Inc. recently, right?

I played it two times, the first time I didn't do much, the second time I wiped the earth. Nothing much to do after that 

[CrimsonSunrise]

So does the Corona Virus blend with Lymes disease???

Seriously though, like someone mentioned it's probably a good thing if there's a little panic.  Might make folks take some extra precautions.

[wolfking]

When I first saw the name at a glance and didn't read it properly, I thought it was a dinosaur or something.  That's my contribution to the thread.

[Cool Chris]

So does the Corona Virus blend with Lymes disease??

[MirrorMask]

Horror scenario: imagine an outbreak like this in North Korea.

People dying like flies, they are not equipped to deal with it and they stubbornly refuse to ask for help. Maybe out of spite Kim Fat Jun sends a fake defector over to South Korea to infect them. Eventually when the disease is mowing down people worse than the plague they cave in and ask help to China or Russia, and they don't even know how to begin to contain the virus.

Geez, let's hope nothing bad happens over there, considering that with all the wacky nuclear tests they're having, one day they might accidentally create Godzilla.

[Chino]

China and possibly Russia would come to NK's rescue without hesitation.

[Nekov]

Horror scenario: imagine an outbreak like this in North Korea.

People dying like flies, they are not equipped to deal with it and they stubbornly refuse to ask for help. Maybe out of spite Kim Fat Jun sends a fake defector over to South Korea to infect them. Eventually when the disease is mowing down people worse than the plague they cave in and ask help to China or Russia, and they don't even know how to begin to contain the virus.

Geez, let's hope nothing bad happens over there, considering that with all the wacky nuclear tests they're having, one day they might accidentally create Godzilla.

They don't let anyone out of the country. It would be a devastating event for the North Korean people but it would hardly affect the rest of the world.
And I do think China is downplaying how serious this is. They were forced to admit it after some time but if they had been able to contain it without much buss I'm pretty sure the world would have never known about this new virus.

[King Postwhore]

One confirmed 40 miles from where I live.

[Chino]

One confirmed 40 miles from where I live.

Where? I know two people in CT were getting checked out at Yale.

[King Postwhore]

One confirmed 40 miles from where I live.

Where? I know two people in CT were getting checked out at Yale.

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/lawrence-hospital-quarantines-possible-coronavirus-patient

[Northern Lion]

I heard on an alternative news outlet that the number of sick in China was more like 90,000 not 2,000 like what's being reported by the government.  I don't know how much truth there is in that, I guess we'll have to wait and see how it behaves in western countries to know how bad it really is.  (thank God for a free press)

This is a little conspiracy theoryish, but there are also some saying that it came from a government run infectious diseases lab instead of from animals.

Of course there's no way to tell if any of this is true.

But, still not even close to the numbers of the flu every year.

[vtgrad]

Search "Event 201" and read the first webpage and the explanation of the exercise; this took place last October in NYC.  Take from it what you will and form your own opinions.  Little unsettling that this exercise was modeled after a Novel Corona Virus/SARS.  They've issued a statement about nCoV and the similarities to the exercise.

Those hospitals that they're building in WuHan look to be very basic and quite large for 4,409 confirmed cases (4,474 confirmed globally by Johns Hopkins...).

Take care of yourself and your family King... just use good judgment.

[King Postwhore]

My wife works at a hospital so it's a plus.

[Luoto]

First case confirmed in Finland, a Chinese tourist from Wuhan.