Wuhan Coronavirus: Megathread - Got too big

[Iwasamwillbe]

This picture is reaction image-worthy.

 

[bippu_as_fuck_ls400]

Coronavirus rumors spread on app cripple LA’s Koreatown
https://apnews.com/bdd9d19f2fa9ded405e54cc1dcd9bd34 (http://archive.vn/AHL46)


LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a Koreatown restaurant known for its beef bone broth soup, the lunchtime crowd Friday was half its normal size. The reason was a virulent rumor about a customer with coronavirus.

Han Bat Shul Lung Tang was one of five restaurants that lost business after being named in posts on a Korean messaging app that warned a Korean Air flight attendant with the virus had dined there during a layover in Los Angeles more than a week ago.

“It’s fake news,” owner John Kim said, and he had proof. His restaurant was closed at the time because of a water leak, a fact confirmed by the Department of Public Health.

The rumor about the flight attendant was dispelled Friday morning by the Republic of Korea consulate in Los Angeles. In a statement posted in Korean on Facebook, the consulate general said the attendant who visited Los Angeles on Feb. 19-20 had gone to two businesses but neither was in Koreatown. Later in the day, public health officials said the flight attendant was not contagious while in the city.

The rumor and the impact on the restaurants was a prime example of how fears of the virus combined with the speed and reach of social media can quickly cripple the healthiest of businesses and focus suspicion on ethnic communities.

The virus, which began in China, has been spreading worldwide and has taken a big toll lately in South Korea. Lawmakers and advocates for immigrant communities have warned about xenophobia and discrimination aimed at Asian Americans.

State Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, said Chinese businesses, in particular, were experiencing large economic losses as a result of racism and fear.

A group representing Koreatown restaurants said business in general was down about 50% since the rumor spread on the Kakao Talk app on Monday.

One message circulating on the app provided details of the flights the attendant worked on and listed the restaurants that said she purportedly visited with the message: “Please share with everyone to avoid these ktown spots,” using an abbreviation for Koreatown.

“In the Korean-American community here, it went like wildfire,” Alex Won said Friday as he ate a bowl of beef brisket soup at Han Bat Shul Lung Tang. “It’s sad.”

Won said he got the message from friends and family members, but never really believed it because it wasn’t reported in the news. He stopped at the restaurant at the start of the week and found it closed because of a water leak. He was happy to return for a late lunch Friday and was surprised to find he was the only diner.

“I’ve never seen it this empty,” he said. “There’s always people here.”

Owners of other restaurants named in the post said business died almost instantly.

At Honey Pig, a Korean barbecue restaurant with 25 tables, only six parties were seated during one bad day of business this week, owner Chin Kim said.

Customers had been calling to inquire if the rumors were true, and some asked more outlandish questions, Kim said. One woman who had dined at the restaurant recently called to ask if it was safe to attend her daughter’s upcoming wedding, Kim said.

Owners were frustrated they couldn’t get more information from public health officials. Korean news media reported Thursday that South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a female flight attendant who tested positive for the virus had traveled to Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said it was aware of reports about the flight attendant but had no confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until late Friday. That’s when it said she did not develop symptoms of the illness known as COVID-19 until after leaving LA, so she posed no risk while in the city.

With a rumor they couldn’t confirm or deny, some restaurants took no chances. Video circulated on social media of a worker in a hazmat-type suit spraying down the floors at Hangari Kalguksu, a noodle soup house.

The sign outside Hanshin Pocha, a bar offering traditional Korean snack fare, boasts “never been closed since 1998.” Nevertheless, the establishment shuttered Tuesday to sanitize the restaurant. Bottles of hand sanitizer were lined up on a counter next to bottled water.

“It’s a bad rumor, but people like bad rumors,” said Jay Choi, manager of Hanshin Pocha.

Choi and others talked about the need to find and punish the person who started the rumor. He said he was looking into hiring a lawyer to take legal action.

On the streets of Koreatown, some pedestrians wore surgical masks. But they were not the norm.

Zhang Bin, a college student from China, and his roommate have worn the masks for protection since the virus broke out.

“I think even if the stewardess didn’t come to the restaurants, we still need to protect from the virus,” he said. “The speed and the spread of the disease is so fast.”

-----



On the topic of prepping, I'm going to skip the usual suggestions and give a couple of less common but still useful ones. You may need to spend some time travelling in your car due to unforseen circumstances. Here's two things that could come in handy and will only set you back $20 for both:

Cobra Products PST154 4-Way Sillcock Key https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002YVMEM/

In the past, most gas stations or buildings in general had a faucet that was easily accessible by any passerby. Those days are mostly long gone, especially in urban areas. With this tool, you can easily access the faucet located behind those locked covers and turn it on to get water for your pet/car/etc. Comes in very handy when you're travelling at night and all of the gas stations/stores you come across are closed.


Morakniv Companion Fixed Blade Outdoor Knife with Sandvik Stainless Steel Blade, 4.1-Inch, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BTJKB00/

For a $15 fixed blade, these knives can't be beat. The quality is on a level well above the purchase price and they're made in Sweden (not China like most cheap blades). Just be careful because these do arrive sharp from the factory. I don't think I need to list all of the reasons a knife is handy to keep in your vehicle.

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

Warning: slight power level
I would wager more than a few kiwis might take one of these too. I know adderall gets a bad rap here, but there are conditions that absolutely require it as treatment, and not just to study for finals. I know people on benzos that are absolutely homicidal if they miss even a day.

Should I call up my doc and ask for early refills? Several of these meds are controlled substances, so I'm really doubtful they would provide a script. I dont want to come off as paranoid either, since my doc is a boomer and I'm quite sure he would see it as that.

Another fellow medication taker here. Sure, ask your doctor for a few refills. I never had drama getting scripts for Adderall when I took it. They'll most likely give you a few if you explain why you want it. Maybe try to get generics if you really want to get some easier. I've gotten generics and the generics I take are made in India, not China. India does generics.
It's smart to stock up on your medication and your doctor should understand it. From what I experienced though, psychiatric generics were easier to take and easier to arrange with a doctor. Not sure how others worked.

 

[Without A Gout]

Shit might be getting real. Just a rumor, but that they're even putting this out there...

Spoiler: Shut it down?

New York Stock Exchange considers shutting trading floor amid coronavirus fears as Wall Street firms tell workers to prepare to work from home

Spoiler: Shut it down?

• The New York Stock Exchange is considering closing its trading floor amid concerns the conoravirus outbreak will spread into a wider pandemic
• Wall Street firms already have started restricting travel and advising workers they may have to work from home
• Most trading is done electronically and few traders actually still report to the trading floor, which is closed and will not reopen until Monday

The New York Stock Exchange is considering shutting its trading floor amid panic the spread of coronavirus could lead to a global economic disaster.
'NYSE preparing for possibility floor can't open amid panic,' Fox News reporter Charles Gasparino tweeted just before the markets closed on Friday.
Wall Street firms are also restricting travel and telling employees they may have to work from home, Gaparino said.

 <img id="i-36e2cd4e20380f81" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/22/25340224-8058017-image-a-6_1582930504635.jpg" height="262" width="634" alt="Fox News reporter Charles Gasparino tweeted about the possible closure of the trading floor just before markets closed on Friday" class="blkBorder img-share" /> 

Fox News reporter Charles Gasparino tweeted about the possible closure of the trading floor just before markets closed on Friday

 <img id="i-ba45134e799fcd4b" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/22/25340156-8058017-image-a-1_1582930267158.jpg" height="423" width="634" alt="The New York Stock Exchange is preparing for the chance that it may have to shut its trading floor amid a panic the coronavirus could spread into a wider pandemic. The exterior of the exchange is pictured on Manhattan's Wall Street Friday" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>
The New York Stock Exchange is preparing for the chance that it may have to shut its trading floor amid a panic the coronavirus could spread into a wider pandemic. The exterior of the exchange is pictured on Manhattan's Wall Street Friday

 <img id="i-42f310f8913bdd30" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/22/25340138-8058017-image-a-3_1582930280178.jpg" height="424" width="634" alt="The exchange is considering its options as worries over the virus becoming a pandemic could lead to a financial economic disaster. Traders are pictured during the opening bell" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>
The exchange is considering its options as worries over the virus becoming a pandemic could lead to a financial economic disaster. Traders are pictured during the opening bell

 <img id="i-541a88e53d863f62" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/23/25340140-8058017-image-a-15_1582932415395.jpg" height="424" width="634" alt="Traders are pictured on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, which is now closed and is not expected to reopen until Monday" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>
Traders are pictured on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, which is now closed and is not expected to reopen until Monday

 <img id="i-75b615f8c03e8d82" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/22/25340154-8058017-image-a-4_1582930298705.jpg" height="423" width="634" alt="A tourist is spotted wearing a anti-viral mask outside the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street firms have begun restricting travel and telling employees they may have to work from home" class="blkBorder img-share" /> 

A tourist is spotted wearing a anti-viral mask outside the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street firms have begun restricting travel and telling employees they may have to work from home
A spokesperson confirmed to DailyMail.com that 'NYSE is carefully monitoring the spread of COVID-19 and has robust contingency plans, tested regularly, to enable continuous operation of the NYSE exchanges should any facilities be impacted.'

 <img id="i-37e1e680b9972f2a" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/29/00/25342396-8058017-image-a-4_1582934995748.jpg" height="137" width="306" alt="" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>

The exchange floor was shut down after markets closed Friday, and was not expected to reopen until Monday.

US stock indexes fell sharply again on Friday as the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak raised the alarm for a possible global recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 357 points at the closing bell, or 1.4 percent, marking seven straight days of losses and the biggest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis

 <img id="i-e0aa53d05bc9a922" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/23/25340148-8058017-image-a-7_1582931303625.jpg" height="423" width="634" alt="A board from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. US stock indexes fell sharply again as the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak raised the alarm for a possible global recession" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>

A board from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. US stock indexes fell sharply again as the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak raised the alarm for a possible global recession.

 <img id="i-42c45bc48283f40f" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/23/25340220-8058017-image-a-8_1582932358672.jpg" height="524" width="634" alt="The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 357 points at the closing bell, or 1.4 percent, marking seven straight days of losses and the biggest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis" class="blkBorder img-share" /> 

The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 357 points at the closing bell, or 1.4 percent, marking seven straight days of losses and the biggest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis

 <img id="i-7d79e03608a51733" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/29/00/25342458-8058017-image-a-1_1582934960487.jpg" height="634" width="634" alt="" class="blkBorder img-share" /> 

Investors are reeling after virus fears wiped nearly $3 trillion off the combined market value of S&P 500 companies this week, with the index confirming its fastest correction in history in volatile trading on Thursday.
Globally, some $6 trillion, or about 10 percent, has been erased from stock values as markets in Asia and Europe plunged on fears that the outbreak will shrivel corporate profits there. At their heart, stock prices are determined by expectations of a company's future profits.
Even as the outbreak eases in China, investors have been rattled by the rapid spread of the disease in other countries, which now account for about three-quarters of new infections.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated the central bank was prepared to cut interest rates as necessary to help cushion the economy against the effects of the spreading virus.
'The fundamentals of the US economy remain strong,' he said in a statement released on Friday. 'However, the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity.'
'The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook,' he said. 'We will use our tools and act as appropriate to support the economy.'

 

[Sissy Galvez]

Coronavirus rumors spread on app cripple LA’s Koreatown
https://apnews.com/bdd9d19f2fa9ded405e54cc1dcd9bd34 (http://archive.vn/AHL46)


LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a Koreatown restaurant known for its beef bone broth soup, the lunchtime crowd Friday was half its normal size. The reason was a virulent rumor about a customer with coronavirus.

Han Bat Shul Lung Tang was one of five restaurants that lost business after being named in posts on a Korean messaging app that warned a Korean Air flight attendant with the virus had dined there during a layover in Los Angeles more than a week ago.

“It’s fake news,” owner John Kim said, and he had proof. His restaurant was closed at the time because of a water leak, a fact confirmed by the Department of Public Health.

The rumor about the flight attendant was dispelled Friday morning by the Republic of Korea consulate in Los Angeles. In a statement posted in Korean on Facebook, the consulate general said the attendant who visited Los Angeles on Feb. 19-20 had gone to two businesses but neither was in Koreatown. Later in the day, public health officials said the flight attendant was not contagious while in the city.

The rumor and the impact on the restaurants was a prime example of how fears of the virus combined with the speed and reach of social media can quickly cripple the healthiest of businesses and focus suspicion on ethnic communities.

The virus, which began in China, has been spreading worldwide and has taken a big toll lately in South Korea. Lawmakers and advocates for immigrant communities have warned about xenophobia and discrimination aimed at Asian Americans.

State Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, said Chinese businesses, in particular, were experiencing large economic losses as a result of racism and fear.

A group representing Koreatown restaurants said business in general was down about 50% since the rumor spread on the Kakao Talk app on Monday.

One message circulating on the app provided details of the flights the attendant worked on and listed the restaurants that said she purportedly visited with the message: “Please share with everyone to avoid these ktown spots,” using an abbreviation for Koreatown.

“In the Korean-American community here, it went like wildfire,” Alex Won said Friday as he ate a bowl of beef brisket soup at Han Bat Shul Lung Tang. “It’s sad.”

Won said he got the message from friends and family members, but never really believed it because it wasn’t reported in the news. He stopped at the restaurant at the start of the week and found it closed because of a water leak. He was happy to return for a late lunch Friday and was surprised to find he was the only diner.

“I’ve never seen it this empty,” he said. “There’s always people here.”

Owners of other restaurants named in the post said business died almost instantly.

At Honey Pig, a Korean barbecue restaurant with 25 tables, only six parties were seated during one bad day of business this week, owner Chin Kim said.

Customers had been calling to inquire if the rumors were true, and some asked more outlandish questions, Kim said. One woman who had dined at the restaurant recently called to ask if it was safe to attend her daughter’s upcoming wedding, Kim said.

Owners were frustrated they couldn’t get more information from public health officials. Korean news media reported Thursday that South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a female flight attendant who tested positive for the virus had traveled to Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said it was aware of reports about the flight attendant but had no confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until late Friday. That’s when it said she did not develop symptoms of the illness known as COVID-19 until after leaving LA, so she posed no risk while in the city.

With a rumor they couldn’t confirm or deny, some restaurants took no chances. Video circulated on social media of a worker in a hazmat-type suit spraying down the floors at Hangari Kalguksu, a noodle soup house.

The sign outside Hanshin Pocha, a bar offering traditional Korean snack fare, boasts “never been closed since 1998.” Nevertheless, the establishment shuttered Tuesday to sanitize the restaurant. Bottles of hand sanitizer were lined up on a counter next to bottled water.

“It’s a bad rumor, but people like bad rumors,” said Jay Choi, manager of Hanshin Pocha.

Choi and others talked about the need to find and punish the person who started the rumor. He said he was looking into hiring a lawyer to take legal action.

On the streets of Koreatown, some pedestrians wore surgical masks. But they were not the norm.

Zhang Bin, a college student from China, and his roommate have worn the masks for protection since the virus broke out.

“I think even if the stewardess didn’t come to the restaurants, we still need to protect from the virus,” he said. “The speed and the spread of the disease is so fast.”

-----



On the topic of prepping, I'm going to skip the usual suggestions and give a couple of less common but still useful ones. You may need to spend some time travelling in your car due to unforseen circumstances. Here's two things that could come in handy and will only set you back $20 for both:

Cobra Products PST154 4-Way Sillcock Key https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002YVMEM/

In the past, most gas stations or buildings in general had a faucet that was easily accessible by any passerby. Those days are mostly long gone, especially in urban areas. With this tool, you can easily access the faucet located behind those locked covers and turn it on to get water for your pet/car/etc. Comes in very handy when you're travelling at night and all of the gas stations/stores you come across are closed.


Morakniv Companion Fixed Blade Outdoor Knife with Sandvik Stainless Steel Blade, 4.1-Inch, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BTJKB00/

For a $15 fixed blade, these knives can't be beat. The quality is on a level well above the purchase price and they're made in Sweden (not China like most cheap blades). Just be careful because these do arrive sharp from the factory. I don't think I need to list all of the reasons a knife is handy to keep in your vehicle.

I still don’t understand the leap in logic from “coronavirus infected person dines at establishment and potentially infects servers and customers so we shouldn’t eat there” to “das racist towards Asians!!”. Like wtf, first you want people to protect themselves and self-isolate then you tell them “go dine with potentially infected people”. It has nothing to do with their race but who ate there and where potential travelers came from (liter hot zones).

 

[Glad I couldn't help]

NYT piece on how quarantines and travel restrictions are a useful tool in fighting infectious diseases. Note that while I agree with the trust of the article, I am more dubious about the stats that Cuba and China dole out.

NEWS ANALYSIS
To Take On the Coronavirus, Go Medieval on It
Quarantines and restrictive measures served a purpose in the old days. They can now, too.


By Donald G. McNeil Jr.
Mr. McNeil is a science reporter for The New York Times and has covered epidemics since 2002.
Feb. 28, 2020

There are two ways to fight epidemics: the medieval and the modern.
The modern way is to surrender to the power of the pathogens: Acknowledge that they are unstoppable and to try to soften the blow with 20th-century inventions, including new vaccines, antibiotics, hospital ventilators and thermal cameras searching for people with fevers.
The medieval way, inherited from the era of the Black Death, is brutal: Close the borders, quarantine the ships, pen terrified citizens up inside their poisoned cities.
For the first time in more than a century, the world has chosen to confront a new and terrifying virus with the iron fist instead of the latex glove.
At least for a while, it worked, and it might still serve a purpose.
The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, was able to seal off the city of Wuhan, where the Covid-19 outbreak began, because China is a place where a leader can ask himself, “What would Mao do?” and just do it. The bureaucracy will comply, right down to the neighborhood committees that bar anyone returning from Wuhan from entering their own homes, even if it means sleeping in the streets.

The White House, in defiance of recent American history, also opted to go medieval by aggressive measures like barring entry to non-Americans who were recently in China and advising Americans not to go to China or South Korea.
Over the years, states and cities have imposed local quarantines, but there have been no national restrictions on entry since 1892, according to Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian and the author of “Quarantine!”

In that year, President Benjamin Harrison ordered that all ships from Hamburg be kept offshore for 20 days because officials in that city, one of the world’s biggest ports, had lied about its cholera epidemic.
It apparently succeeded. The United States had cholera outbreaks in 1832, 1849, 1870 and 1910, but not in 1892.
Many public health figures consider shutting a nation’s doors to be an archaic tactic, and nearly impossible in the jet age.

But for Mr. Trump, such a move is natural. He was elected on a Build-the-Wall platform and in 2014, when a few heroic American medical workers got infected fighting Ebola in West Africa, he advocated leaving them there to die. (They were flown back, and survived.)

Also, this virus’s speed and apparent lethality gave the experienced doctors in the White House Coronavirus Task Force reason to be nervous. It is spreading between nations very quickly. And, while data is still sketchy, some measurements indicate that its fatality rate might be close to that of the 1918 Spanish flu.
As a result, they endorsed dropping the portcullis and shutting off air links to China.
They even created quarantine stations on military bases, the equivalent of Venice’s island lazarettos, where, in the time of the doges, the infected awaited their fate outside the city.
This has led to much consternation among other public health experts, who argue that travel restrictions can cause more panic, misery and death than they prevent. Crowds may besiege hospitals, supercharging the infection rate. Closed borders can cut off vital medications like insulin. Factory and shop closings mean lost wages, hardships and possibly recession.
Also, quarantines feed racism and stigma.
Officially, the World Health Organization opposes travel and trade restrictions. It reiterated that even as it declared the epidemic a global emergency on Jan. 30.
But it now admits that they helped. The head of the W.H.O. team that visited China said this week that China “took one of the most ancient strategies and rolled out one of the most ambitious, agile and aggressive disease-containment efforts in history.”
The W.H.O.’s epidemic-modeling teams concluded that travel restrictions had slowed the spread of the virus outside China by two to three weeks.

For the United States, the delay was probably far greater. Air-traffic data shows that flights from China to the United States dropped much more than they did to Europe.
As of this writing, a single case not connected to any known transmission has turned up in California, but there are no indications of large outbreaks like those in Italy and Iran.
Harsh measures horrify civil libertarians, but they often save lives, especially when they are imposed in the early days.
The best-known modern example is Cuba’s AIDS epidemic. In the 1980s, Cuba and the United States were both hit hard by the AIDS epidemic. In Cuba, the virus first infected thousands of soldiers, doctors and nurses who had served in Africa.
The Castro regime’s response — roundly condemned by other countries — was to make H.I.V. tests mandatory, and to force everyone infected into quarantine camps. The camps were not hellholes: they had bungalows, gardens, theater troupes, medical care, more food than people outside often had, and less homophobia than gay men often faced in macho rural Cuba. But no one could leave, except for brief family visits with an escort whose main job was to make sure that no sex took place.
Meanwhile, the United States took a pro-legal-rights approach. Even offering an H.I.V. test was made illegal without a separate counseling session, which scared many away from testing. Although gay bathhouses were epicenters of transmission, there were long divisive fights over closing them.
After triple therapy was developed in the mid-1990s, most Cuban camps closed.
But the difference in lives saved by choosing brutality over freedom was stark: Cuba’s H.I.V. infection rate was for decades about one-sixth that of the American one. New York City and Cuba have roughly the same population. In the epidemic’s first 30 years, fewer than 2,500 Cubans died of AIDS. Over 78,000 New Yorkers — mostly gay men — did.


As the virus creeps closer, stark choices will arise. The United States cannot shut out the whole world. Even if all air travel were stopped, the virus could reach Latin America or Canada and enter over our land borders.
With luck, the extra time that China bought us by falling on its viral grenade will help produce a treatment or a vaccine. The threat will subside and reporters like me will be accused of alarmism.
Top American health officials now say “it is not a matter of if but when” the virus begins to spread here. But the American experience will not echo the Chinese one.
China has had imperial rule since 221 B.C. The United States, born of rebellion, prizes individual rights.
There will be no national lockdown. No threats to have anyone “forever nailed to history’s pillar of shame,” as one of Mr. Xi’s underlings warned those who hid cases of infection.
But local control — and the political factionalism that is endemic to democracy — can carry grave risks in the face of a crisis, Dr. Markel noted.
In 1918 and 1919, as the Spanish influenza swept across the country in waves, various cities reacted in their own ways.


Cities like St. Louis that reacted quickly — canceling parades and ballgames, shutting schools, transit systems and government offices, ordering the sick to stay home — ultimately had fewer deaths.
In cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, which were paralyzed by political feuds or pressure from local businesses to avoid shutdowns, many more ultimately died.
To overcome the divisiveness that would imperil a cohesive national response, Dr. Markel said, “you need leadership from the top — and there has to be trust. In an epidemic, the idea that ‘everyone is entitled to their own facts’ is really dangerous.”
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

Donald G. McNeil Jr. is a science reporter covering epidemics and diseases of the world’s poor. He joined The Times in 1976, and has reported from 60 countries.
A version of this article appears in print on March 1, 2020, Section SR, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: To Take On the Coronavirus, Go Medieval on It. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

 

[DDBCAE CBAADCBE]

Meanwhile I've been making a killing selling masks for painting to dumb white women who don't know any better here in the good old US of A.

 

[ditto]

Shit might be getting real. Just a rumor, but that they're even putting this out there...

Spoiler: Shut it down?

New York Stock Exchange considers shutting trading floor amid coronavirus fears as Wall Street firms tell workers to prepare to work from home

Spoiler: Shut it down?

• The New York Stock Exchange is considering closing its trading floor amid concerns the conoravirus outbreak will spread into a wider pandemic
• Wall Street firms already have started restricting travel and advising workers they may have to work from home
• Most trading is done electronically and few traders actually still report to the trading floor, which is closed and will not reopen until Monday

The New York Stock Exchange is considering shutting its trading floor amid panic the spread of coronavirus could lead to a global economic disaster.
'NYSE preparing for possibility floor can't open amid panic,' Fox News reporter Charles Gasparino tweeted just before the markets closed on Friday.
Wall Street firms are also restricting travel and telling employees they may have to work from home, Gaparino said.

 <img id="i-36e2cd4e20380f81" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/22/25340224-8058017-image-a-6_1582930504635.jpg" height="262" width="634" alt="Fox News reporter Charles Gasparino tweeted about the possible closure of the trading floor just before markets closed on Friday" class="blkBorder img-share" /> 

Fox News reporter Charles Gasparino tweeted about the possible closure of the trading floor just before markets closed on Friday

 <img id="i-ba45134e799fcd4b" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/22/25340156-8058017-image-a-1_1582930267158.jpg" height="423" width="634" alt="The New York Stock Exchange is preparing for the chance that it may have to shut its trading floor amid a panic the coronavirus could spread into a wider pandemic. The exterior of the exchange is pictured on Manhattan's Wall Street Friday" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>
The New York Stock Exchange is preparing for the chance that it may have to shut its trading floor amid a panic the coronavirus could spread into a wider pandemic. The exterior of the exchange is pictured on Manhattan's Wall Street Friday

 <img id="i-42f310f8913bdd30" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/22/25340138-8058017-image-a-3_1582930280178.jpg" height="424" width="634" alt="The exchange is considering its options as worries over the virus becoming a pandemic could lead to a financial economic disaster. Traders are pictured during the opening bell" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>
The exchange is considering its options as worries over the virus becoming a pandemic could lead to a financial economic disaster. Traders are pictured during the opening bell

 <img id="i-541a88e53d863f62" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/23/25340140-8058017-image-a-15_1582932415395.jpg" height="424" width="634" alt="Traders are pictured on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, which is now closed and is not expected to reopen until Monday" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>
Traders are pictured on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, which is now closed and is not expected to reopen until Monday

 <img id="i-75b615f8c03e8d82" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/22/25340154-8058017-image-a-4_1582930298705.jpg" height="423" width="634" alt="A tourist is spotted wearing a anti-viral mask outside the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street firms have begun restricting travel and telling employees they may have to work from home" class="blkBorder img-share" /> 

A tourist is spotted wearing a anti-viral mask outside the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street firms have begun restricting travel and telling employees they may have to work from home
A spokesperson confirmed to DailyMail.com that 'NYSE is carefully monitoring the spread of COVID-19 and has robust contingency plans, tested regularly, to enable continuous operation of the NYSE exchanges should any facilities be impacted.'

 <img id="i-37e1e680b9972f2a" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/29/00/25342396-8058017-image-a-4_1582934995748.jpg" height="137" width="306" alt="" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>

The exchange floor was shut down after markets closed Friday, and was not expected to reopen until Monday.

US stock indexes fell sharply again on Friday as the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak raised the alarm for a possible global recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 357 points at the closing bell, or 1.4 percent, marking seven straight days of losses and the biggest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis

 <img id="i-e0aa53d05bc9a922" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/23/25340148-8058017-image-a-7_1582931303625.jpg" height="423" width="634" alt="A board from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. US stock indexes fell sharply again as the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak raised the alarm for a possible global recession" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="true" data-id="0"></span><span class="fr-marker" style="display: none; line-height: 0;" data-type="false" data-id="0"></span>

A board from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. US stock indexes fell sharply again as the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak raised the alarm for a possible global recession.

 <img id="i-42c45bc48283f40f" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/28/23/25340220-8058017-image-a-8_1582932358672.jpg" height="524" width="634" alt="The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 357 points at the closing bell, or 1.4 percent, marking seven straight days of losses and the biggest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis" class="blkBorder img-share" /> 

The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 357 points at the closing bell, or 1.4 percent, marking seven straight days of losses and the biggest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis

 <img id="i-7d79e03608a51733" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/02/29/00/25342458-8058017-image-a-1_1582934960487.jpg" height="634" width="634" alt="" class="blkBorder img-share" /> 

Investors are reeling after virus fears wiped nearly $3 trillion off the combined market value of S&P 500 companies this week, with the index confirming its fastest correction in history in volatile trading on Thursday.
Globally, some $6 trillion, or about 10 percent, has been erased from stock values as markets in Asia and Europe plunged on fears that the outbreak will shrivel corporate profits there. At their heart, stock prices are determined by expectations of a company's future profits.
Even as the outbreak eases in China, investors have been rattled by the rapid spread of the disease in other countries, which now account for about three-quarters of new infections.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated the central bank was prepared to cut interest rates as necessary to help cushion the economy against the effects of the spreading virus.
'The fundamentals of the US economy remain strong,' he said in a statement released on Friday. 'However, the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity.'
'The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook,' he said. 'We will use our tools and act as appropriate to support the economy.'

Most trading is done by machines in New Jersey anyway. The trading floor is mostly for show.

I'll worry when the president starts coughing and sweating.

 

[Jump]

Shit might be getting real. Just a rumor, but that they're even putting this out there...

The actual trading floor, the thing they always show photo's when doing stories about wall street is mostly just for show. It's a social and status thing. No one is manually taking orders on paper anymore. It's all computers.

 

[bippu_as_fuck_ls400]

I still don’t understand the leap in logic ...

I don't think we can expect any sort of logic when it comes to race in these current times.

 

[Iuz]

Even the Spanish flu didn't stop Procter & Gamble from paying dividends.

 

[Iwasamwillbe]

Every second Corona-Chan becomes more powerful, every moment she grows in strength.

Who will stop her when she reaches her peak?

 

[RodgerDodger]

Most trading is done by machines in New Jersey anyway. The trading floor is mostly for show.

I'll worry when the president starts coughing and sweating.
View attachment 1167594

Forget Trump. He can remain pretty isolated. And being a Howard Hughes type Germaphobe he is pretty skilled at it. What are the betting odds on the Dem Candidates and Leadership? What's the Death Pool say about Bernie? Biden? Pelosi? etc? Also if half the California population dies before they finish the 2020 census how many Congressional Seats do they lose?

Every second Corona-Chan becomes more powerful, every moment she grows in strength.

Who will stop her when she reaches her peak?

It will take the power of a GOD

 

[ditto]

Forget Trump. He can remain pretty isolated. And being a Howard Hughes type Germaphobe he is pretty skilled at it. What are the betting odds on the Dem Candidates and Leadership? What's the Death Pool say about Bernie? Biden? Pelosi? etc? Also if half the California population dies before they finish the 2020 census how many Congressional Seats do they lose?

Probably make big gains. The dead always vote Democrat.

 

[TheRedChair]

I went to Target today to get chocolate chips, and entire sections of the food isles had been cleared out. I'm glad I did all my prepping weeks ago, because people are beginning to panic buy.

View attachment 1167245
View attachment 1167234

This is what I see. Entire sections of cheap shit has been removed. This is nothing fucking new. Even with your own damn picture you just proven it was a standard sale. Why is is there is still food and lots of it... INCLUDING the more expensive items in this picture??? This is fucking common when you have sales when the Ghetto people come out in their fancy ass cars and buy up shit. Seen this happen where I live so Show me something of mass panic items when entire rows of product have been removed from the shelves... THEN you might have something about people panic buying. This is fucking normal where I live.

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

Apparently the minister of Singapore held a conference in February about the virus and the transmission.

I'm not sure if it was ever linked, but it was interesting to watch. I don't know if it was linked since this thread goes so fast. If it was, then sorry.

Based on what he said, it seemed like transmission had a better chance of traveling from short distances and airborne had a better chance if infecting with surfaces and touches by hands. This video's been going around recently.
Edit: I am wondering how much truth is in this video.

 

[Slap47]

NYT piece on how quarantines and travel restrictions are a useful tool in fighting infectious diseases. Note that while I agree with the trust of the article, I more dubious about the stats that Cuba and China dole out.

NEWS ANALYSIS
To Take On the Coronavirus, Go Medieval on It
Quarantines and restrictive measures served a purpose in the old days. They can now, too.


By Donald G. McNeil Jr.
Mr. McNeil is a science reporter for The New York Times and has covered epidemics since 2002.
Feb. 28, 2020

There are two ways to fight epidemics: the medieval and the modern.
The modern way is to surrender to the power of the pathogens: Acknowledge that they are unstoppable and to try to soften the blow with 20th-century inventions, including new vaccines, antibiotics, hospital ventilators and thermal cameras searching for people with fevers.
The medieval way, inherited from the era of the Black Death, is brutal: Close the borders, quarantine the ships, pen terrified citizens up inside their poisoned cities.
For the first time in more than a century, the world has chosen to confront a new and terrifying virus with the iron fist instead of the latex glove.
At least for a while, it worked, and it might still serve a purpose.
The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, was able to seal off the city of Wuhan, where the Covid-19 outbreak began, because China is a place where a leader can ask himself, “What would Mao do?” and just do it. The bureaucracy will comply, right down to the neighborhood committees that bar anyone returning from Wuhan from entering their own homes, even if it means sleeping in the streets.

The White House, in defiance of recent American history, also opted to go medieval by aggressive measures like barring entry to non-Americans who were recently in China and advising Americans not to go to China or South Korea.
Over the years, states and cities have imposed local quarantines, but there have been no national restrictions on entry since 1892, according to Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian and the author of “Quarantine!”

In that year, President Benjamin Harrison ordered that all ships from Hamburg be kept offshore for 20 days because officials in that city, one of the world’s biggest ports, had lied about its cholera epidemic.
It apparently succeeded. The United States had cholera outbreaks in 1832, 1849, 1870 and 1910, but not in 1892.
Many public health figures consider shutting a nation’s doors to be an archaic tactic, and nearly impossible in the jet age.

But for Mr. Trump, such a move is natural. He was elected on a Build-the-Wall platform and in 2014, when a few heroic American medical workers got infected fighting Ebola in West Africa, he advocated leaving them there to die. (They were flown back, and survived.)

Also, this virus’s speed and apparent lethality gave the experienced doctors in the White House Coronavirus Task Force reason to be nervous. It is spreading between nations very quickly. And, while data is still sketchy, some measurements indicate that its fatality rate might be close to that of the 1918 Spanish flu.
As a result, they endorsed dropping the portcullis and shutting off air links to China.
They even created quarantine stations on military bases, the equivalent of Venice’s island lazarettos, where, in the time of the doges, the infected awaited their fate outside the city.
This has led to much consternation among other public health experts, who argue that travel restrictions can cause more panic, misery and death than they prevent. Crowds may besiege hospitals, supercharging the infection rate. Closed borders can cut off vital medications like insulin. Factory and shop closings mean lost wages, hardships and possibly recession.
Also, quarantines feed racism and stigma.
Officially, the World Health Organization opposes travel and trade restrictions. It reiterated that even as it declared the epidemic a global emergency on Jan. 30.
But it now admits that they helped. The head of the W.H.O. team that visited China said this week that China “took one of the most ancient strategies and rolled out one of the most ambitious, agile and aggressive disease-containment efforts in history.”
The W.H.O.’s epidemic-modeling teams concluded that travel restrictions had slowed the spread of the virus outside China by two to three weeks.

For the United States, the delay was probably far greater. Air-traffic data shows that flights from China to the United States dropped much more than they did to Europe.
As of this writing, a single case not connected to any known transmission has turned up in California, but there are no indications of large outbreaks like those in Italy and Iran.
Harsh measures horrify civil libertarians, but they often save lives, especially when they are imposed in the early days.
The best-known modern example is Cuba’s AIDS epidemic. In the 1980s, Cuba and the United States were both hit hard by the AIDS epidemic. In Cuba, the virus first infected thousands of soldiers, doctors and nurses who had served in Africa.
The Castro regime’s response — roundly condemned by other countries — was to make H.I.V. tests mandatory, and to force everyone infected into quarantine camps. The camps were not hellholes: they had bungalows, gardens, theater troupes, medical care, more food than people outside often had, and less homophobia than gay men often faced in macho rural Cuba. But no one could leave, except for brief family visits with an escort whose main job was to make sure that no sex took place.
Meanwhile, the United States took a pro-legal-rights approach. Even offering an H.I.V. test was made illegal without a separate counseling session, which scared many away from testing. Although gay bathhouses were epicenters of transmission, there were long divisive fights over closing them.
After triple therapy was developed in the mid-1990s, most Cuban camps closed.
But the difference in lives saved by choosing brutality over freedom was stark: Cuba’s H.I.V. infection rate was for decades about one-sixth that of the American one. New York City and Cuba have roughly the same population. In the epidemic’s first 30 years, fewer than 2,500 Cubans died of AIDS. Over 78,000 New Yorkers — mostly gay men — did.


As the virus creeps closer, stark choices will arise. The United States cannot shut out the whole world. Even if all air travel were stopped, the virus could reach Latin America or Canada and enter over our land borders.
With luck, the extra time that China bought us by falling on its viral grenade will help produce a treatment or a vaccine. The threat will subside and reporters like me will be accused of alarmism.
Top American health officials now say “it is not a matter of if but when” the virus begins to spread here. But the American experience will not echo the Chinese one.
China has had imperial rule since 221 B.C. The United States, born of rebellion, prizes individual rights.
There will be no national lockdown. No threats to have anyone “forever nailed to history’s pillar of shame,” as one of Mr. Xi’s underlings warned those who hid cases of infection.
But local control — and the political factionalism that is endemic to democracy — can carry grave risks in the face of a crisis, Dr. Markel noted.
In 1918 and 1919, as the Spanish influenza swept across the country in waves, various cities reacted in their own ways.


Cities like St. Louis that reacted quickly — canceling parades and ballgames, shutting schools, transit systems and government offices, ordering the sick to stay home — ultimately had fewer deaths.
In cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, which were paralyzed by political feuds or pressure from local businesses to avoid shutdowns, many more ultimately died.
To overcome the divisiveness that would imperil a cohesive national response, Dr. Markel said, “you need leadership from the top — and there has to be trust. In an epidemic, the idea that ‘everyone is entitled to their own facts’ is really dangerous.”
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

Donald G. McNeil Jr. is a science reporter covering epidemics and diseases of the world’s poor. He joined The Times in 1976, and has reported from 60 countries.
A version of this article appears in print on March 1, 2020, Section SR, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: To Take On the Coronavirus, Go Medieval on It. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Imagine using the Corona virus outbreak to glorify China when they literally failed horribly.

Imagine praising Cuba for making a gay concentration camp.

 

[RodgerDodger]

Apparently the minister of Singapore held a conference in February about the virus and the transmission.

I'm not sure if it was ever linked, but it was interesting to watch. I don't know if it was linked since this thread goes so fast. If it was, then sorry.

Based on what he said, it seemed like transmission had a better chance of traveling from short distances and airborne had a better chance if infecting with surfaces and touches by hands. This video's been going around recently.

That's mainly how it works. For most Flu and Cold type viruses the aerosol transmission normally needs fairly close contact, say 2 meters or less. It dilutes pretty quickly in open air. And it probably takes a decent virus load to get cooking in you. Outside of that most secondary infection is normally surface contaminants. Things you touch with your hands that then get transferred to your face.

Now as to why people and governments are praying for warmer weather. Viruses are very fragile. And can only tolerate some narrow ranges outside of a host. For most cold and flu type viruses warm weather and sunlight sanitizes them. They work the opposite of bacteria, fungus and some jungle diseases. 80 degrees F, high sunlight days and rising humidity cause them to distort and break up. That's what the experts are hoping will happen here.

 

[Pina Colada]

It's strangely reassuring that I haven't been outside much save for work, exercising around the dorm buildings, and class once a week.

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

That's mainly how it works. For most Flu and Cold type viruses the aerosol transmission normally needs fairly close contact, say 2 meters or less. It dilutes pretty quickly in open air. And it probably takes a decent virus load to get cooking in you. Outside of that most secondary infection is normally surface contaminants. Things you touch with your hands that then get transferred to your face.

Now as to why people and governments are praying for warmer weather. Viruses are very fragile. And can only tolerate some narrow ranges outside of a host. For most cold and flu type viruses warm weather and sunlight sanitizes them. They work the opposite of bacteria, fungus and some jungle diseases. 80 degrees F, high sunlight days and rising humidity cause them to distort and break up. That's what the experts are hoping will happen here.

It was interesting to watch this video because the germs in air thing has always confused me. Of course I'm not surprised that touching by hands especially outside is an issue. I am wondering what will happen come Spring to late Spring up to Summer. Heat waves are quite common out here.