Wuhan Coronavirus: Megathread - Got too big

[Mike Stoklasa]

Hnnnnnnnng.... how much vacation time do I have?

Not enough.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Saw it hadn't been mentioned yet, the Arizona man who had the WuFlu has been released from isolation. No word on any others being diagnosed with it, but being a neighbor to California, it's probably somewhere out in the desert by now.

Oh yeah, the panic's starting to affect some Arizona businesses. We have reports of shelves being cleared where Corona-chan has visited, but has anyone else been noticing shops getting less traffic?

 

[Niggaplease]

Add me to the list of paranoid autists, for I have just caught up on the entire thread. Apparently I need to avoid all the international students at uni, not just the slants. There are more Arab international students here than Chinese, anyway.

I also just remembered that my professor had talked about coming back from visiting family (somewhere in China) over the break, well before the travel ban had been implemented...

Autistic overthinking aside, I found this article regarding possible school and business foreclosures--even if the US government were to try to implement this, would privately funded universities be subject to the command, as well? I'm not a law-savvy Kiwi by any means.

U.S. prepares for coronavirus pandemic, school and business closures: health officials

U.S. health officials on Friday said they are preparing for the possibility of t...

www.reuters.com

Spoiler: Full article text

(Reuters) - U.S. health officials on Friday said they are preparing for the possibility of the spread of the new coronavirus through U.S. communities that would force closures of schools and businesses.

The United States has yet to see community spread of the virus that emerged in central China in late December. But health authorities are preparing medical personnel for the risk, Nancy Messonnier, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters on a conference call.

In coming weeks, if the virus begins to spread through U.S. communities, health authorities want to be ready to adopt school and business closures like those undertaken in Asian countries to contain the disease, Messonnier said.

“We’re not seeing community spread here in the United States yet, but it’s very possible, even likely, that it may eventually happen,” Messonnier said.

“Our goal continues to be to slow the introduction of the virus into the U.S. This buys us more time to prepare communities for more cases and possibly sustained spread.”


The CDC is taking steps to ensure frontline U.S. healthcare workers have supplies they need, she added, by working with businesses, hospitals, pharmacies and provisions manufacturers and distributors on what they can do to get ready.

The World Health Organization has warned that the window of opportunity to contain the international spread of the epidemic that has killed more than 2,200 people was closing, as the virus has spread to some 26 countries with a large cluster in South Korea and recent outbreaks in Iran, Lebanon and Italy

“If we do well, we can avert any serious crisis, but if we squander the opportunity then we will have a serious problem on our hands,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva.

The United States currently has 13 cases of people diagnosed with the virus within the country and 21 cases among Americans repatriated on evacuation flights from Wuhan, China, and from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, CDC said.

Of 329 Americans evacuated from the cruise ship, 18 tested positive for the virus. Eleven of them are at University of Nebraska Medical Center, five are in medical facilities near Travis Air Force Base in California and two are near Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

No you need to pretty much keep an eye out for symptoms. :/ even if you did avoid minorities those minorities interact with others. At the rate corona Chan is raping people it's only a matter of time.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

All these articles about racism and xenophobia are doing is making those things seem rational. Most people aren't retarded Italian plague huggers. No shit racism is bad. So is being an idiot and not taking sane precautions that the East Asians in western countries are taking.

Quit humping Winnie the Pooh's cotton stuffed leg, WHO and friends.

 

[HonsPonzud]

Shit just got real in Italy, this isn't going to cause a Panic, at all...

Martha on Twitter

“Oh, wow! As a mayor of an Italian town under quarantine lockdown is being interviewed, the reporter noticed the mayor has symptoms and asked him if he's been tested. The mayor reluctantly admits Lombardy RAN OUT of preliminary #coronavirus test kits! #Covid_19 #CoronaVirusitaly...

twitter.com

This is the world we live in...

 

[JosephStalin]

Article on the real disease, xenophobia.

XENOPHOBIA AND COVID-19
February 20, 2020
by Hugh Shirley
On January 30, the WHO declared the emerging coronavirus epidemic in China as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). On February 11, the disease was officially designated COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), and the virus was designated SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome virus 2) as a result of its similarities to the original SARS virus identified in 2003. As of February 19, China’s National Health Commission has reported 74,576 cases nationwide, the majority of which have centered around the city of Wuhan, and the WHO has reported 924 cases outside of China.
The epidemic has dominated headlines and captured international attention in recent weeks. This is, in part, because in our globalized world, an outbreak in one country is just a plane flight away from anywhere on the planet. Issues of sensationalized reporting and “fake news” can create challenges for credible health authorities trying to deliver accurate information to the public. Xenophobia is the fear and dislike of outsiders or strangers—including those of different nationalities, races or ethnicities, religions, or societies—and it can be exacerbated by the spread of misinformation and miscommunication about infectious diseases. COVID-19 is the latest in a long line of infectious diseases that have been used by some to justify discrimination and xenophobia under the guise of protecting the public’s health.

HISTORICAL EXAMPLES
Xenophobia can rear its head during outbreaks, particularly for poorly understood or novel diseases. This disease-related racism has manifested in profound ways across history. The emergence of syphilis, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, and the 2013-16 West Africa Ebola epidemic are three examples of international disease outbreaks that sparked fear and discrimination.
The exact origin of syphilis is still debated, but when it began widely circulating in Europe and Asia in the 1500s, many countries blamed their more promiscuous neighbors for the disease. A popular origin story at the time was that an encounter between a Spanish sex worker and an individual suffering from leprosy was responsible for the disease’s creation. In 1492, Spain expelled its Jewish population, numbering in the thousands, and many of them traveled to Rome, where a syphilis outbreak killed 30,000 people. The Jewish immigrants were blamed for the outbreak, which led to further persecution.
In 2009, a novel strain of H1N1 influenza resulted in a pandemic. Although it was unofficially referred to as “Swine Flu”—a name derived from its similarity to influenza strains that circulate in pigs—this name failed to capture the full picture. The virus contained a mix of genes from both pig and bird influenza strains, but the name Swine Flu stuck. In April 2009, Egypt’s government justified the culling of 300,000 pigs over concerns about H1N1, despite the fact that no cases had been identified in the country and that the virus had not actually been found in pigs. Egypt’s majority Muslim population does not consume pork, and the pigs were principally raised by the country’s minority Christian population, leading some to condemn the effort as discriminatory. Additionally, because some early cases of H1N1 were reported in the vicinity of Mexican pig farms, individuals of Mexican and other Latin American descent were stigmatized and blamed for the emergence and spread of the virus.
The 2013-16 West Africa Ebola epidemic brought the filovirus to an international and popular media stage. The epidemic demonstrated what happens when fear and the unknown allow misinformation to pervade public discourse. When Eric Duncan, a Liberian man, was diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas, Texas, rhetoric stigmatizing Africans and African-Americans quickly followed. According to Robin Wright, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, Ebola recast Africa as the “Dark Continent” in many people’s minds. This stigmatization resulted in numerous instances of sweeping generalizations about Africa broadly and those of African descent, which highlight how xenophobic responses to epidemics can impact livelihoods and opportunities for even those who have no association with infected individuals or even affected countries. For example, students from Nigeria were denied entrance to a US school, despite the country being declared Ebola-free at the time, and some parents pulled their children from class over fears about a principal’s trip to Zambia, a country unaffected by the epidemic. Fears of Ebola reignited prejudice and xenophobia against Africans and those of African descent around the US.

NAMING INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Even the name of a disease has the potential to incite and circulate xenophobia. Historically, many viruses were named after locations or people associated with the disease. For example, Zika virus and Ebola virus are named after the areas where they were initially discovered. And Legionnaires’ disease received its name because it was first identified in attendees at an American Legion convention. Over the years, it has been observed that naming pathogens and diseases after specific locations or people can result in stigma and discrimination against associated populations, and naming conventions have changed to focus on characteristics of the pathogen or disease. In an early example of this recognition, a hantavirus initially named Muerto Canyon virus and then Four Corners virus, after the area in the American Southwest where it was discovered, was eventually renamed Sin Nombre virus (ie, the virus without a name) after the Navajo Nation and local communities called attention to the stigma and discrimination associated with the original names.
Before the official names were announced, both the disease and virus associated with the novel coronavirus epidemic were generally referred to in an official capacity as 2019-nCoV. Social and traditional media, however, utilized other names—including popular hashtags like #WuhanFlu, #WuhanPneumonia, and #WuFlu—to describe the growing outbreak. While these names are catchy, they can have harmful side effects. These terms called undue attention to and stigma against the city of Wuhan and individuals of Chinese descent. In addition to violating the WHO’s naming conventions by referencing a specific place, the term “Wuhan Flu” also incorrectly refers to the pathogen as influenza, which it is not. The WHO and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses worked to identify disease and virus names (COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2, respectively) that adhered to the current standards and avoided stigmatizing the victims or associated populations. Having a pronounceable, non-inflammatory name is an important way to combat misinformation and xenophobia in the midst of an outbreak and facilitate effective communication about the pathogen, disease, and outbreak.

XENOPHOBIA AND COVID-19
There are numerous examples of anti-Chinese rhetoric linked to COVID-19. For example, when a Chinese man suffered a heart attack in Sydney, Australia, passers-by reportedly kept their distance for fear of catching COVID-19, and the man ultimately died. As an Asian man, he fit the mass media description of a COVID-19 case. In this example, xenophobia likely manifested as a behavioral change that was informed not by logic, but by stereotyping and sensationalized reporting. The potential for xenophobia to cause harm underscores the necessity of accurate reporting and trust in public health authorities.
Other recent instances of xenophobia include a social media post by a University of California Berkeley account that suggested that xenophobia was a normal response to COVID-19. The university apologized and withdrew the infographic in response to criticism about the post. Additionally, Japanese tourists in Bolivia were detained at a hospital over fears of COVID-19, even though none exhibited any symptoms of the disease or had recent travel to China. In Canada, people have reported racial discrimination at work, distrust on public transit, and at school as individuals of Asian descent are singled out and discriminated against over concerns about COVID-19. An Asian-American teenager was allegedly bullied and assaulted in Los Angeles over fears surrounding COVID-19. There are numerous reports of sharp declines in business at Chinese restaurants and stores in cities across the US, particularly in Chinatown neighborhoods. In San Francisco, city and festival officials received public opposition to their decision to hold the Lunar New Year parade, and the economic disruption has prompted some local governments to implement campaigns to reassure the public and help entice customers to return.
Xenophobia may have also influenced national response measures to the epidemic. Officials in multiple countries have implemented policies that restrict travel to or from China, despite the WHO recommending against the usage and implementation of travel restrictions. One recent commentary published in The Lancet noted that “travel restrictions...stigmatise entire populations, and disproportionately harm the most vulnerable among us.” An article recently published by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Washington University found limited-to-no evidence that travel bans successfully halted the spread of recent infectious disease outbreaks, such as Zika and SARS. Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, Director of Outbreak Observatory, also testified at a recent Congressional hearing that travel bans have limited efficacy, especially for an epidemic the size of COVID-19. The Lancet article above also cites delays to supply shipments and international response activities as consequences of travel restrictions.

CONCLUSION
Xenophobia is a threat to public health control measures. COVID-19 has been used to justify anti-Chinese and anti-Asian rhetoric and actions as a means of protecting the public’s health. To combat and mitigate the risk of xenophobic behavior, public health officials and journalists should use care when discussing the epidemic, utilizing terminology that accurately characterizes the pathogen and disease. Communication should focus on the outbreak and the disease rather than associating a specific place or people with the outbreak. While it may be tempting to use sensational language or catchy taglines to boost readership, neutral and factual terminology is best. Utilizing the pathogen’s and disease’s official names will be more informative for readers and allow them to focus on the facts rather than frightening narratives. Xenophobia can compound the already difficult public health challenge of combating and emerging epidemic by contributing to misinformation and harmful policies, such as travel restrictions. The WHO has worked to fight xenophobia in infectious disease outbreaks through naming guidelines and policy recommendations. Government officials, subject matter experts, and the media must be mindful of the threat of xenophobia in the context of COVID-19 and future outbreaks in order to reduce discrimination and harm against people associated with the disease.
The Center for Health Security has published guidance for policymakers to help mitigate the risk of stigma and xenophobia in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic.

Outbreak Observatory aims to collect information on challenges and solutions associated with outbreak response and share it broadly to allow others to learn from these experiences in order to improve global outbreak response capabilities.

The FAQ is interesting with such helpful advise, such as:

View attachment 1158575

View attachment 1158574

Looks like they got the support of one e-cleb (of sorts):

View attachment 1158541

Now, this is as fucked up as the doctors in Wuhan being arrested. I swear to God I thought people where this dogshit was written might use their brains. Obviously not. NOTHING wrong in avoiding people you don't know of ANY race/color/whatever these days. Shit, avoid me. No offense taken, and in these times only an UTTER limpdick would be offended. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to be prudent. You have the right, least in the USA, not to associate with anyone you don't want to.

Don't die for the sake of political correctness. Nothing wrong with avoiding ANYONE, but no need to fuck with anyone because of this shit, either.

Hope the motherfucker that wrote this piece of shit catches the virus. He needs to be taught a lesson.

If people have all this time to "research" and write such putrid garbage, they have time to work on getting an effective response to this virus.


Hey, you can to to the article and leave comments. I did. Harold P. Ness has spoken.

 

[pairaducks]

Passenger from Iran on flight from Montreal to Vancouver tests positive for novel coronavirus

Passenger from Iran on flight from Montreal to Vancouver tests positive for novel coronavirus

montrealgazette.com

"A woman aboard an Air Canada flight from Montreal to Vancouver on Feb. 14 has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the airline learned on Saturday."

"The risk is considered low enough that crew would not have to be isolated, but should monitor their health for a 14-day period and report any symptoms to a health professional."

I'm gonna fucking scream lmao
Even though we've seen how HIGHLY contagious this thing is in enclosed spaces they're gonna let everyone just walk free and potentially infect how many people in the process?

Call me MOTI but this has me fuming.

I have said it before in this thread but I fucking hate the incompetence that is being shown throughout Canada

It's not like this is the beginning of this, we've seen several cases already where someone has travelled with this and have infected those around them, yet they're treating this exactly as they have since the start; with I'll willed optimism and a lack of sense

 

[HonsPonzud]

Dr. Campbell thinks the WHO is off its meds at this point.

From two of Dr Campbell independent sources, a doctor has died a week ago in Iran from the coronavirus, he was tested at it's latest stages, infecting probably all of the patients he treated and then some because he kept working for weeks before getting seriously sick and dying.

His sources also told him the Mayer from Tehran's District 13 was infected while attending the friday prayer with 10,000 people, wich also includes traditionnal sitting very close to each other, cultural kissing of the face and shaking hands...

Numbers out of Iran are vastly under-reported knowing all that...

Iran is done.

Well... Looks like we got a problem, Israel :

Steve Lookner on Twitter

“28 of 39 South Koreans who recently made a group pilgrimage to Israel have now tested positive for coronavirus https://t.co/DWFeVgYzlg”

twitter.com

Hmmm, yeah, we definately have a problem there :

Israel orders pupils to self-quarantine over coronavirus fears | The Japan Times

Israel ordered nearly 200 pupils into home quarantine Sunday after they were in proximity to South Korean tourists carrying the coronavirus, as the prime m

www.japantimes.co.jp

 

[Feline Supremacist]

Now, this is as fucked up as the doctors in Wuhan being arrested. I swear to God I thought people where this dogshit was written might use their brains. Obviously not. NOTHING wrong in avoiding people you don't know of ANY race/color/whatever these days. Shit, avoid me. No offense taken, and in these times only an UTTER limpdick would be offended. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to be prudent. You have the right, least in the USA, not to associate with anyone you don't want to.

Don't die for the sake of political correctness. Nothing wrong with avoiding ANYONE, but no need to fuck with anyone because of this shit, either.

Hope the motherfucker that wrote this piece of shit catches the virus. He needs to be taught a lesson.

If people have all this time to "research" and write such putrid garbage, they have time to work on getting an effective response to this virus.


Hey, you can to to the article and leave comments. I did. Harold P. Ness has spoken.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this article is part of a larger attempt by China to obfuscate their role in creating and then spreading the bat flu.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

china will accidentally do in 6 months what the US has tried and failed to do for 2 decades

Canada is fucked now.

Passenger aboard Air Canada flight to Vancouver from Montreal tests positive for COVID-19

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/passenger-aboard-air-canada-flight-to-vancouver-from-montreal-tests-positive-for-covid-19-1.5473283

Air Canada has confirmed that a passenger aboard one of its flights from Montreal to Vancouver on Valentine's Day has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

The airline said health authorities confirmed the case on Feb. 22, more than a week after the flight. Air Canada says it's working with public health authorities and has taken "all recommended measures."

• Families with members stuck in China call for third Canadian rescue flight

The Montreal Airport Authority told CBC News that it had not been informed about the case by either Air Canada or B.C. public health authorities, but it also wouldn't expect to hear if they did not feel it was necessary at this stage.

The plane departed from Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport. The airport said it doesn't know how long the passenger may have been in the airport.

I guess the Chinese will see this as revenge for the arrest months ago.

 

[737 MAX Stan Account]

Since we're into the last week of February, any bets on how far this will go into March?

 

[Glad I couldn't help]

Since we're into the last week of February, any bets on how far this will go into March?

It will easily blow through March. I think there's a strong possibility that it will last until the Olympics, maybe even till the Presidential election.

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

Apparently federal agents are angry that the city of Costa Mesa rejected the Coronavirus patients from being housed in Fairview. They're saying that it's "disruptive" and "premature." It's almost like it's a shitty idea to just sneak them into a populated area without warning the officials, and a bad idea to house them in dilapidated housing area that hasn't been updated in ages that was never built for quarantines. But hey, that's just me.

Alabama's doing the same thing. They rejected housing the Coronavirus patients after Costa Mesa did it. The funny thing is seeing all the tweets and comments trashing Costa Mesa for not taking them in.
It's way too much of a risk.

 

[feral cat #6385]

Since we're into the last week of February, any bets on how far this will go into March?

31 days.

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

A breaking news story just came out.

'Ill-Informed And Legally Baseless': Federal Government Urges Court To Lift Injunction On Transfer Of Coronavirus Patients To Costa Mesa

The federal government has called the city of Costa Mesa's attempt to block the transfer of coronavirus patients to the city "ill-informed and legally baseless."

losangeles.cbslocal.com

They're urging Costa Mesa to lift the ban.

 

[Autistic lurker]

Italy has the highest number of coronavirus cases outside China, this is probably why

"I'm Not a Virus": Chinese-Italian Man Fights Coronavirus-Related Racism with Free Hugs

A group called the Italian-Chinese Youth Union has made a powerful video in Florence commenting on coronavirus-related discrimination and racism

radiichina.com

The amount of people supporting this is scary.

 

[Pokemonquistador2]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but everyone's favorite Youtube Doctor (and medical alarmist if you're the type to panic easily,) has posted a video about Corona-chan:

He links to some other YT vids covering it. Also, apparently the right way to say Wuhan is Ooo-han, if you're a native speaker.

 

[737 MAX Stan Account]

"I'm Not a Virus": Chinese-Italian Man Fights Coronavirus-Related Racism with Free Hugs

A group called the Italian-Chinese Youth Union has made a powerful video in Florence commenting on coronavirus-related discrimination and racism

radiichina.com

The amount of people supporting this is scary.


View attachment 1158680

Imagining endangering the health and safety of others for internet asspats

 

[Eryngium]

New confirmed case of coronavirus in Toronto after previous three cleared of COVID-19

Officials say a woman arrived in Canada from China on Friday and went to a Toronto hospital with an intermittent cough

www.google.ca

Rip Canada

The province says it’s unlikely that the woman was infectious.

It says she “followed all protocols and wore a mask throughout her travels back to Toronto.”

Kek

 

[Medical Hawaii]

No you need to pretty much keep an eye out for symptoms. :/ even if you did avoid minorities those minorities interact with others. At the rate corona Chan is raping people it's only a matter of time.

fücking hell. Was it really that hard for China to have some accountability about this disease shit for once?

And I’m trying to convince some family members not to go on a Rome trip in a couple weeks, too, especially with such close quarters like international flight, not to mention the public transport in Europe. Europe in general, I guess.