wuhan - coronavirus

[RootAnn]

First case in Rhode Island:

https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20200301/first-rsquopresumptive-positiversquo-coronavirus-case-confirmed-in-ri%3ftemplate=ampart

"The Rhode Island Department of Health has announced the state's first "presumptive positive" case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The person is in their 40s and had traveled to Italy in mid-February, the department says. The news release does not reveal the person's gender or hometown.

It says that the person has had "limited travel" in Rhode Island since returning from Italy, and that the person has not gone back to work since returning to the country."

 

[Pawz4me]

27 minutes ago, Pippen said:

And often it takes forever to get hot water to come out of the faucets. In my classroom I have to run the water for five minutes to get hot water. 

Okay, maybe I'm asking a stupid question, but -- does the water really need to be hot? Of course warm water this time of the year makes for a more pleasant hand washing experience, but I'm thinking as far as hygiene the important thing is lathering up and scrubbing well, and then rinsing thoroughly, and that the water temp doesn't really matter.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Pawz4me

[Laurie]

We're in Seattle.   

My husband had some kind of nasty respiratory bug in early Feb.   We assume he caught it from a co-worker who came back from a vacation with a nasty cough and then people in the office started getting sick.  (Every year this person comes back from plane travel with a bad cough and then it spreads around the office.  People always suggest going home due to the coughing but this doesn't happen.)   

At the time, I didn't think about coronavirus since the germy person was vacationing in S. California.  I did ask dh if he felt feverish, he said no, so I didn't try to make him take his temperature.  (We're total opposites...he's not concerned about germs at all.)

Now I'm wondering if he could have had this new virus?   It didn't seem like just a cold to me since the coughing was really bad and productive (ick).   The only time he noticed breathing problems was one night when the power went out and he woke up because his CPAP machine had stopped working.   (This is just a gross extra, but he didn't even care about cleaning the CPAP mask and tubing after his illness  but I made him take it apart and I cleaned it myself...and probably did a much better job than he would have done, if I do say so myself.)

 I used MANY antibacterial wipes and restricted his access to some places around the house to try to keep the rest of us from coming down with it.   (Our house  looks lived-in and cluttered, but I think you could eat off our doorknobs.)   He's better now and no one else got sick...unless there's a really long incubation period.  

 

 

[lmrich]

Our school only uses thieves spray for the desks. Anyone here have information on how effective that is? 

I have to say, this is such a great resource to learn about so many things. I appreciate all the knowledge I gain from your wisdom. 

[Lawyer&Mom]

16 minutes ago, Laurie said:

We're in Seattle.   

My husband had some kind of nasty respiratory bug in early Feb.   We assume he caught it from a co-worker who came back from a vacation with a nasty cough and then people in the office started getting sick.  (Every year this person comes back from plane travel with a bad cough and then it spreads around the office.  People always suggest going home due to the coughing but this doesn't happen.)   

At the time, I didn't think about coronavirus since the germy person was vacationing in S. California.  I did ask dh if he felt feverish, he said no, so I didn't try to make him take his temperature.  (We're total opposites...he's not concerned about germs at all.)

Now I'm wondering if he could have had this new virus?   It didn't seem like just a cold to me since the coughing was really bad and productive (ick).   The only time he noticed breathing problems was one night when the power went out and he woke up because his CPAP machine had stopped working.   (This is just a gross extra, but he didn't even care about cleaning the CPAP mask and tubing after his illness  but I made him take it apart and I cleaned it myself...and probably did a much better job than he would have done, if I do say so myself.)

 I used MANY antibacterial wipes and restricted his access to some places around the house to try to keep the rest of us from coming down with it.   (Our house  looks lived-in and cluttered, but I think you could eat off our doorknobs.)   He's better now and no one else got sick...unless there's a really long incubation period.  

 

 

I’m also in Seattle. I also had a nasty respiratory bug in early Feb.  Never had a fever that I was aware of.  I doubt it was the novel corona virus, but who can know?  It’s been a long slog of a winter for us with lots of bugs going around...

[The Governess]

I’m in So Cal and had the same nasty virus mid- January. Violent cough was the most prominent symptom. I also had two days of body aches and fever (around 100.5) around day 3-4. Maybe it’s the same thing? My dh and I both got it, the kids did not. I mentioned on an earlier post that the symptom similarity to Coronavirus was interesting.

[Laurie]

10 minutes ago, Lawyer&Mom said:

I’m also in Seattle. I also had a nasty respiratory bug in early Feb.  Never had a fever that I was aware of.  I doubt it was the novel corona virus, but who can know?  It’s been a long slog of a winter for us with lots of bugs going around...

I hope they have a lot of test kits available for this coronavirus because unless they test everyone who comes in with a cough/fever I don't know how they'll identify/isolate the people who have it since so many people are already coughing!

I was looking at the KOMO news website this morning and it was odd to see the headline about the state of emergency declared in WA and right above the headline was an ad to "join us at the So Northwest Women's Show".     KOMO covered the news conference yesterday where the public health dr. was encouraging practices like "social distancing" but I guess the women's show must go on!

[Laurie]

13 minutes ago, lovelearnandlive said:

I’m in So Cal and had the same nasty virus mid- January. Violent cough was the most prominent symptom. I also had two days of body aches and fever (around 100.5) around day 3-4. Maybe it’s the same thing? My dh and I both got it, the kids did not. I mentioned on an earlier post that the symptom similarity to Coronavirus was interesting.

It is interesting, especially since kids aren't showing up with the severe complications.  The local high school student with the virus felt sick on a Monday and was already back in school later that week only to be sent home again after the test was positive.  

[The Governess]

Just now, Laurie said:

It is interesting, especially since kids aren't showing up with the severe complications.  The local high school student with the virus felt sick on a Monday and was already back in school later that week only to be sent home again after the test was positive.  

 

Yeah, I only took two days off work - the days I had body aches and fever. It definitely wasn’t like a normal flu where you are in bed with exhaustion for a week. Once the body aches were gone I felt pretty normal, besides the cough which lasted a good 2-3 weeks.

[Ausmumof3]

6 hours ago, regentrude said:

Worrying isn't going to do any good. The biggest danger I see is panic. When hospitals have to ration face masks for their surgeons because people are hoarding them, even though they are largely ineffective for a healthy person, we have reached an unreasonable point of worry. I think the best message is to be prudent, but not to worry. Worrying and anxiety lead to irrational behavior.

The issue with face masks started here before there was much thought of it reaching Australia seriously, due to people with Chinese family and friends buying them and sending home.  That may be less because face masks are effective than because you seem to be able to be to attract police attention by going outdoors in China without one.  

[Farrar]

1 hour ago, Pen said:

Does anyone know whether there is any follow up available on situations on Diamond Princess where one spouse was positive for Covid-19 and the other negative?

 I am wondering if the formerly negative spouses of positive spouses subsequently developed into positive for Covid-19?  Or if not is there anything about them we can learn about immunity, practices that might have helped them to stay free despite close contact with someone who had it? 

 

 

That was the case where the man wrote the op-ed for WaPo, right? That was just the other day and he said she's still negative. It's interesting for sure. But we don't know what their marriage is like or what steps they might have been taking in general to avoid contact after the outbreak.

[Ausmumof3]

3 minutes ago, Farrar said:

That was the case where the man wrote the op-ed for WaPo, right? That was just the other day and he said she's still negative. It's interesting for sure. But we don't know what their marriage is like or what steps they might have been taking in general to avoid contact after the outbreak.

There was a similar scenario in Aus I think and the spouse developed it too after a bit of time.  Possibly the couple where the man died in Perth.

[Ausmumof3]

Another question.

Given that panic buying is a thing.  We know it happens with a situation like this.  Why doesn’t every government in a country with a decent medical system either have a stockpile or a production facility for basic protective gear that can be kicked into gear as required.  And if there’s reason to suspect that there’s going to be a shortage they can be set to restricted purchase mode.  There’s no need to have all the stocks in pharmacies to be bought up.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Ausmumof3

[Farrar]

4 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Another question.

Given that panic buying is a thing.  We know it happens with a situation like this.  Why doesn’t every government in a country with a decent medical system either have a stockpile or a production facility for basic protective gear that can be kicked into gear as required.  And if there’s reason to suspect that there’s going to be a shortage they can be set to restricted purchase mode.  There’s no need to have all the stocks in pharmacies to be bought up.

Apparently some do. And apparently some hospitals do. But the US has refused to. Not sure about other individual nations, but I was reading about just this question today.

[Ausmumof3]

88,289 confirmed cases and 3000 deaths today.

outside China its 8,525 cases, 130 deaths, 243 serious/critical.

[Pippen]

1 hour ago, Pen said:

 

I wonder how you could deal with that in these circumstances?

Maybe get the water hot while doing other things and then have all kids cycle through proper washing while the class is working quietly on some content subject? Math problems or writing or whatever?

Perhaps also have an “everyone wipe your desks” routine?

I am wondering for my son too who is in public school at a devil may care sort of teen stage, and where teachers at the school are saying this is no big deal, no worse than flu, just media hype.  

If the school puts additional procedures in place, then I will follow them. They'd also need to provide enough wipes because I can't (and shouldn't have to) take on that additional expense.

[DoraBora]

5 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Another question.

Given that panic buying is a thing.  We know it happens with a situation like this.  Why doesn’t every government in a country with a decent medical system either have a stockpile or a production facility for basic protective gear that can be kicked into gear as required.  And if there’s reason to suspect that there’s going to be a shortage they can be set to restricted purchase mode.  There’s no need to have all the stocks in pharmacies to be bought up.

 

Just now, Farrar said:

Apparently some do. And apparently some hospitals do. But the US has refused to. Not sure about other individual nations, but I was reading about just this question today.

The US reportedly 40+ million masks stockpiled and reserved for medical use.  I suspect more are being manufactured as we speak.

[Ausmumof3]

Just now, DoraBora said:

 

The US reportedly 40+ million masks stockpiled and reserved for medical use.  I suspect more are being manufactured as we speak.

Australia has 20million supposedly although some were used for the bushfire. I do think switching to local manufacture is very smart at this point.  I don’t believe that’s been done here.

[DoraBora]

Just now, Ausmumof3 said:

Australia has 20million supposedly although some were used for the bushfire. I do think switching to local manufacture is very smart at this point.  I don’t believe that’s been done here.

They're probably more useful for avoiding smoke inhalation.

[Pen]

15 minutes ago, Farrar said:

That was the case where the man wrote the op-ed for WaPo, right? That was just the other day and he said she's still negative. It's interesting for sure. But we don't know what their marriage is like or what steps they might have been taking in general to avoid contact after the outbreak.

 

I don’t know. I am paywalled out of WaPo.  I think there may have been more than one couple with that sort of situation. And I think one couple was from Oregon (man okay, woman in hospital in Japan at time I last heard anything —I didn’t think to write down info to be able to search in future, but I think they gave their names).  Some as I recall were from other countries. Like one spouse in hospital in Japan and the other still testing negative) being repatriated to Australia.  

Im sure about the Oregon couple having noticed as it’s “my” state.  Not so sure about others. 

[Pen]

7 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

88,289 confirmed cases and 3000 deaths today.

outside China its 8,525 cases, 130 deaths, 243 serious/critical.

 

Outside China it looks like graph now is starting steep rise it had had in China back in January. 

 

[Ausmumof3]

1 minute ago, DoraBora said:

They're probably more useful for avoiding smoke inhalation.

I think they are useful for frontline medical workers (particularly during intubation etc) against coronavirus and they are useful for preventing sick people from infecting other people.  For the average person they only provide some level of droplet protection and a reminder not to touch your face which can be achieved better in other ways.  I don’t personally think most Australians are panic buying them.  Most Aussies would probably rather catch Coronavirus than stick a mask on.

[Renai]

2 minutes ago, Pippen said:

If the school puts additional procedures in place, then I will follow them. They'd also need to provide enough wipes because I can't (and shouldn't have to) take on that additional expense.

Wipes were always on my and other teachers' wish list for parents to bring for the classroom. That's the only way I kept stock in my prek classroom... I had the kids using them to wipe down the tables (just for establishing cleaning habits, we always had to use bleach solution and I didn't want the kids using that). At the beginning of the year, I believe wipes are on school supply lists as well.

[Pen]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

Okay, maybe I'm asking a stupid question, but -- does the water really need to be hot? Of course warm water this time of the year makes for a more pleasant hand washing experience, but I'm thinking as far as hygiene the important thing is lathering up and scrubbing well, and then rinsing thoroughly, and that the water temp doesn't really matter.

 

I think it’s better if hot — but just the wash even if cool almost certain to be better than nothing

soap can be harder to wash off in cold

[Pen]

2 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I think they are useful for frontline medical workers (particularly during intubation etc) against coronavirus and they are useful for preventing sick people from infecting other people.  For the average person they only provide some level of droplet protection and a reminder not to touch your face which can be achieved better in other ways.  I don’t personally think most Australians are panic buying them.  Most Aussies would probably rather catch Coronavirus than stick a mask on.

 

Not sure whether to give this a like, sad face, or laugh face emoticon 

[Kassia]

Travel packs of Clorox wipes are out of stock at Target.com and my walmart grocery pick up.  

[Pawz4me]

4 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

soap can be harder to wash off in cold

Huh. I almost always wash my hands in cool or cold water because I have super dry skin and hot water dries it out even more. I haven’t noticed that water temp makes any difference in rinsing, but maybe  I haven’t paid close enough attention. 

[Ausmumof3]

MotoGP organizers say the Grand Prix of Qatar has been canceled due to coronavirus (this comment made me smile: “Ironic, considering that coronavirus is safer than racing motorcycles”)

1st case in Scotland

30 more in France - total 130

Washington state reports 2 new cases of coronavirus in King County; both are in critical condition with underlying health issues (apologies if this has already been shared and I missed it)

The pope apparently doesn’t have coronavirus according to the Italian news report on it last night.  They used the word influenza but I think in Italian they use that word to describe a range of sickness not is it influenza a.  
 

Morocco are postponing major sport and cultural events even though there are no known cases in the country. 
 

1st in Dominician Republic
 

1st 3 presumed cases in Czech Republic 

566 new cases and 5 deaths for Italy.

 

[Pen]

Worldometers.info:

 

[Ausmumof3]

6 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

Not sure whether to give this a like, sad face, or laugh face emoticon 

I feel kinda the same.  Like our spirit but hope it doesn’t turn out badly!

I felt kind of surprised to see that sales for corona beer were down.  Again because culturally here people are more likely to buy a carton just because of Corona virus.  Must be some serious misinformation going around somewhere.

[TravelingChris]

Report from grocery store run today-- Publix located in area that tends to have a lot of highly educated people.  I didn't see much shortages.  I can't recall the one thing I couldn't buy but it wasn't anything to do with cleaning or disinfecting or any food people might hoard.    There was a big container of Clorox wipes in the medical supplies area near the pharmacy.  There were only 2 bottles of rubbing alcohol left and I bought one of them.  I was basically doing normal shopping but making sure that we had extra bottle of Olive Oil -=-- and those prices have risen a lot-- I ended up buying the cheaper Spanish Olive Oil- 2 regular size bottles.

On another note, handwashing---- At a few places yesterday, I noticed people have either followed the suggestions of how to properly wash hands because of the recent publicity or maybe they already were doing it, but it seems like more people were washing hands for longer than I have noticed before.  Oh and for me, soap is fine but hand sanitizer really makes my hands extra dry.  The long washing isn't good for my hands either but I am taking to using more moiturizer too.

 

[Pen]

From graph, Seems like confirmed cases numbers outside China are doubling every 2 point something days or so, maybe every 3 days at most for doubling—

[TravelingChris]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

Okay, maybe I'm asking a stupid question, but -- does the water really need to be hot? Of course warm water this time of the year makes for a more pleasant hand washing experience, but I'm thinking as far as hygiene the important thing is lathering up and scrubbing well, and then rinsing thoroughly, and that the water temp doesn't really matter.

You are completely right.  The heat does nothing because our hands cannot stand to be in hot enough water.  It is the rubbing while washing and also rubbing while using a towel too.

[Ausmumof3]

Global Times: China’s Ministry of Transport issued a document on Sunday, suspending ride-share businesses from entering and exiting Beijing to enhance epidemic prevention and control work in the capital city.

[Ausmumof3]

15 minutes ago, Pen said:

From graph, Seems like confirmed cases numbers outside China are doubling every 2 point something days or so, maybe every 3 days at most for doubling—

I imagine the sharp increase is somewhat representative of the level of testing more than the actual spread.

[Ausmumof3]

La republicca are reporting that Italy is being designated in 3 zones till the eighth of March

Red zone: municipalities of Bertonico, Casalpusterlengo, Castelgerundo, Castiglione D'Adda, Codogno, Fombio, Maleo, San Fiorano, Somaglia, Terranova dei Passerini; in Veneto the municipality of Vò) 

yellow zone: L'Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Veneto, the provinces of Pesaro and Urbino, Savona

And rest of Italy

In the red zone: can’t leave or enter, no events, schools closed, museums and cultural institutions closed, public office activity suspended except essential services, non-essential commercial activity suspended, public transport closed.

In the yellow zone, sports matches can only be played behind closed doors (I’m assuming that means empty stadium but live broadcast scenario), cultural, recreational, sporting and religious events (cinemas, theaters, discos) suspended, places of worship open conditional to measures being taken to avoid large gatherings, schools closed, museums open but with restrictions, bars and restaurants open but customers must have a metre of distance between and no customers without seats to be served, limited visitor access to hospitals, health and technical services leave suspended, large shopping centres, gyms and sport facilities closed in some areas, shorter schedule for judicial offices 

rest of Italy: hand sanitiser available in all public buildings, information campaign to businesses, extra sanitisation for public transport, anyone returning from China or red zone must notify authorities, educational trips suspended to March 15, work from home options encouraged

[Ausmumof3]

Also Delta airlines are suspending flights to Milan

[Ausmumof3]

26 new cases in Spain today.  Total of 84.  5 in critical condition. 

[Pen]

56 minutes ago, TravelingChris said:

You are completely right.  The heat does nothing because our hands cannot stand to be in hot enough water.  It is the rubbing while washing and also rubbing while using a towel too.

 

Yes and no.

the heat doesn’t directly kill viruses because as you say we could not stand that hot

but , as I understand it, including having worked in medical office situation, the heat helps to wash off skin oils and soap which helps get virus (also bacteria, dirt...) off our hands along with soap and oils and helps send the viruses down the drain. 

Edited March 1, 2020 by Pen

[Pen]

1 hour ago, lovelearnandlive said:

 

Yeah, I only took two days off work - the days I had body aches and fever. It definitely wasn’t like a normal flu where you are in bed with exhaustion for a week. Once the body aches were gone I felt pretty normal, besides the cough which lasted a good 2-3 weeks.

 

You had Covid-19? 

[SeaConquest]

My friend (a peds nurse) is working at our children's hospital in San Diego today, and they are out of regular masks that loop around the ears. We normally have tons of boxes of these masks. They are stocked in every patient room. They now have to use the masks that you tie behind your head, which is annoying because you have to put on a new mask, gloves, and gown every time you go into a patient's room who is on isolation precautions, which is tons of patients (MRSA, C Diff, VRE, etc.), and now it takes extra time for already stressed out nurses to tie a stupid mask. Apparently, the looped masks are made in.... you guessed it... Wuhan.

Edited March 1, 2020 by SeaConquest

[Ausmumof3]

The Age:  Workers at the Louvre in Paris refused to open the iconic museum on Sunday over fears visitors could infect staff with COVID-19.

[Ausmumof3]

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN20O27C?__twitter_impression=true
 

people in lockdown at the Tenerife hotel will be free to leave if they get negative test results.

[Shoeless]

There's a lot of attention on not hoarding masks, but around me, masks have been out of stock for weeks.  You can't hoard them because you can't buy them. 

As soon as Wuhan was locked down, people here started buying masks to send to China.  There was also a lot of people buying masks to flip for profit on eBay and Amazon.  There's over 30k listings for N95 masks on eBay.  Most of what I'm seeing are the kind you'd buy at Home Depot for wood working or painting projects, not the ear-loop medical style masks.  They seem to be selling for about $25 PER MASK. 

If masks are being produced anywhere in the US, they aren't hitting the shelves near me, so there isn't an opportunity for people to panic-buy them. 

 

[Arcadia]

2 minutes ago, MissLemon said:

 

If masks are being produced anywhere in the US, they aren't hitting the shelves near me, so there isn't an opportunity for people to panic-buy them. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/3m-ramps-up-n95-respirator-production-amid-global-coronavirus-outbreak.html

PUBLISHED FRI, FEB 28 20207:35 PM EST

“To fill the surge in demand for the devices, particularly the N95 respirator, 3M is ramping up production, which means hosting job fairs, making offers on the spot and expanding its assembly line with robots.

In Aberdeen, South Dakota, more than 650 employees at one of 3M’s largest manufacturing facilities are working overtime to increase face mask production.

“We immediately ramped up production in this facility,” Andy Rehder, plant manager at 3M, said. “We have capacity to do that and we did that immediately ... really from a more standard five-day to a seven-day week.”

Experts told CNBC the supply of masks could play a role in the speed at which the COVID-19 virus spreads, and with no vaccine on the market medical workers are relying on protective gear to reduce the risk of infection.

“I think that the biggest challenge for everyone around the world is how fast this is moving around the globe and that it is right now affecting every continent except Antarctica,” said McCullough, who helped develop the N95 respirator. “So every country around the world is trying to respond.”

The Department of Health and Human Services said earlier this week the U.S. currently has a stockpile of roughly 30 million N95 respirators; however, it needs nearly 300 million as the risk of a U.S. coronavirus outbreak continues to rise.

Prestige Ameritech, based in North Richland Hills, Texas, said it received a total order of 100 million N95 respirators from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The N95 respirator filters 95% of airborne particles, and can even filter out bacteria and viruses, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Many face masks on the market, including surgical masks, do not effectively filter out particles in the air.

Health-care professionals are concerned that 3M and other respirator manufacturers like Honeywell and Kimberly-Clark won’t be able to fulfill all the orders flooding in.

“We know what we have to do and we know we have to keep our numbers up and we know we have to keep ourselves safe and we need to put out great quality and that’s what we come out here to do,” said Tim Hofer, a 3M machine production operator.

For factory workers inside the 450,000-square-foot 3M facility, the global demand for their product is providing some perspective for their work.

“It’s easy to get caught up in just the monotony of factory work,” said Amber Lutz, 3M’s lead machine operator, “and when you sit back and think about what we’re doing is really so impactful on people.””

 

[Carrie12345]

2 minutes ago, MissLemon said:

There's a lot of attention on not hoarding masks, but around me, masks have been out of stock for weeks.  You can't hoard them because you can't buy them. 

As soon as Wuhan was locked down, people here started buying masks to send to China.  There was also a lot of people buying masks to flip for profit on eBay and Amazon.  There's over 30k listings for N95 masks on eBay.  Most of what I'm seeing are the kind you'd buy at Home Depot for wood working or painting projects, not the ear-loop medical style masks.  They seem to be selling for about $25 PER MASK. 

If masks are being produced anywhere in the US, they aren't hitting the shelves near me, so there isn't an opportunity for people to panic-buy them. 

 

I’m semi-rural, and my Walmart was out of loop masks by 1/28. I know because they couldn’t give me any in my pick up order.

[HSmomof2]

36 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

You had Covid-19? 

I don’t think she knows she had Covid-19.....just has been ill within the last couple weeks and living in Seattle area. I think a lot of us in the area are wondering if our recent illnesses were Covid-19. Our family has had a ‘flu-like’ illness over the last few weeks. We’re all flu vaccinated, and it didn’t feel like flu. Mild fevers (~100) for two days, slightly achy, headache, dry cough, sore throat, some congestion. It seemed more like a cold on steroids, but not as bad as influenza. Dry cough lasted 2-3 weeks. We’re in a suburb of Seattle. 

[TravelingChris]

In my Publix run this afternoon, I didn't check for masks.  They do not carry N96 anyway.  We have at least one at home and probably more for two reasons-  dh woodworks and I have asthma and burning really triggers it. So when we were going on a vacation out west for the Solar Eclipse and forest fires were in the area, I bought some.  

[Pen]

4 minutes ago, HSmomof2 said:

I don’t think she knows she had Covid-19.....just has been ill within the last couple weeks and living in Seattle area. I think a lot of us in the area are wondering if our recent illnesses were Covid-19. Our family has had a ‘flu-like’ illness over the last few weeks. We’re all flu vaccinated, and it didn’t feel like flu. Mild fevers (~100) for two days, slightly achy, headache, dry cough, sore throat, some congestion. It seemed more like a cold on steroids, but not as bad as influenza. Dry cough lasted 2-3 weeks. We’re in a suburb of Seattle. 

 

Ah.  I wish it were a typical get it once and become immune type illness so that if you have had it already, you would be done with it!

 I wonder if OP, if @gardenmom5 , illness could be the Covid-19 , or partly so — I can’t recall timing for her. 

[SeaConquest]

My friend just reported this on FB from her Costco in the San Fernando Valley (I redacted for language):

Omg I am at @costco(pacoima) and holy sh*t the amount of bottle water cases being bought is like we are gearing up for some kind of massive storm seriously unseen before here more of something back east you would see!! Every cart is packed with cases