Covid-19 Discussion, arguments (please be nice 👍 ) thread

[Guest]

I’m sorry, @Farrar. I think *someone* in the opinion news world is spreading this belief. My dh and I had a similar conversation, though it didn’t take the same heated turn yours did. Dh speculated that the flu he had at our home before Christmas was probably actually Covid-19. I said I thought that was extremely unlikely...for, say, early February, yeah. But not back in December in Maryland. 

And then I reminded him that his mother stayed with us for the month of January and if there was any Coronavirus hanging around in our house, what does he think would have happened to her? 

It’s hard to listen to some people right now. 

 

[Farrar]

36 minutes ago, Paige said:

I think it's highly unlikely anyone in the US had this in January unless you have close connections to Wuhan. I'm basing it on the fact that it hasn't yet spread widely in the population and we haven't seen hospitals running out of ventilators. 

We also had a nasty virus in January. I am still coughing from it, but I have asthma. Nobody I know who had it, however, was hospitalized, including my dad. My dad is 70+ with a serious heart condition so if anyone was going to be sick with covid, it was him. 

My brother was talking about something he had years ago. He's engaged in conspiracy theories. He's convinced that the "flu" you get if you're at a week-long concert and everyone gets sick is a single virus, that no one has ever researched it because it's something "dirty hippies" get, and that it's probably the same virus that has now mutated into this illness because "these things don't come out of nowhere." Sigh.

But I have been hearing some stories from a couple of different friends with college kids about illnesses that swept campuses in late January/early February. A lot of colleges don't go back until the end of January and have tons of international students, including a lot of Chinese students. And now several of those schools now seem to have cases. I don't really know if it's true... but it does seem to make sense. So I don't think it's out of the ballpark to be a "random" American and have gotten this in late January. One of the things the South Korean numbers are telling us is that there may be large numbers of young people driving the spread.

[Paige]

1 minute ago, square_25 said:

Yeah, that wouldn't be surprising. However, then I'd expect reports of respiratory issues. 

Exactly. College students are young enough to weather this as a group relatively unscathed, but if it went through a college, a significant number would have still probably needed hospitalization even if they recovered. They would have tested and been negative for flu A and B. And, more importantly, there's no reason why it wouldn't have spread to the greater community and exploded like you see in Washington state, NYC, or Wuhan.

[Farrar]

8 minutes ago, Paige said:

Exactly. College students are young enough to weather this as a group relatively unscathed, but if it went through a college, a significant number would have still probably needed hospitalization even if they recovered. They would have tested and been negative for flu A and B. And, more importantly, there's no reason why it wouldn't have spread to the greater community and exploded like you see in Washington state, NYC, or Wuhan.

In the cases I've heard about, it was an upper respiratory "thing" but so few kids needed any medical attention that it didn't raise eyebrows at all. And that's in keeping with what we know about this disease tends to affect young people. I was certainly sick with flu (or something similar) at least twice in my college career. I never once went to the health services for it. Nor did most of my friends. It was just, you know, let's hibernate in our rooms and then pull ourselves together and head to class after a day or two. And that's what this would have felt like for college students.

I think that's exactly what may have happened in Boston though. And in Ohio. We don't know for sure if we're not testing.

[Farrar]

1 minute ago, Seasider too said:

 

What I don’t understand is why there (apparently) haven't been attempts to look into the international student connection. Maybe by this point it’s moot. 

Yeah. I think from a disease spread POV, it's probably totally moot to try and find the original vectors. There may be some superspreaders out there (there certainly seem to be) but generally, we just have to assume it's everywhere.

I assume that in a few years, when we're recovered and far enough out from this, that the original spread may be studied and better understood.

[PeachyDoodle]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

My brother was talking about something he had years ago. He's engaged in conspiracy theories. He's convinced that the "flu" you get if you're at a week-long concert and everyone gets sick is a single virus, that no one has ever researched it because it's something "dirty hippies" get, and that it's probably the same virus that has now mutated into this illness because "these things don't come out of nowhere." Sigh.

I'm sorry your brother is being such a pain. I suppose it's normal for conspiracy theories to abound over something like this, but I just don't get it. In my religious community I keep hearing about how the big, scary government has banned church services and we have to refuse. No, the government has asked people to refrain from gathering in large groups in order to flatten the curve and protect the vulnerable. Big difference.

And then there's people like my parents, who aren't conspiracy theorists but just think the whole thing is blown out of proportion and have no plans to alter anything. Despite the fact that they just returned from traveling last weekend and promptly became sick. My mother at least went to the doctor and was diagnosed with flu A but my father "just has a mild cold" and has been out and about all day every day this week. Sigh.

[Katy]

I can't wait for an antibody test to be available. We got sick the last week of February & the first week of March after being in Chicago the weekend before, with someone who'd been in LA for a week.  So it's possible we had it, and it's possible we didn't and still need to be careful.

[Murphy101]

Life is fairly normal here.  No mass and no volunteering at church is the biggest change to leave large empty spots on our calendar. It’s spring break for college kids at home so we are doing what we normally would - some movies are being watched, cookies baked, games being played, walks and parks - though I’m choosing parks not well attended and in the open sunshine.  Tomorrow I’ll meet a couple friends for coffee at Panera at 6am.  Home schooling is as usual only instead of encouraging them to finish so we can do our usual activities, it’s so we can enjoy college kids being home.

I’m annoyed college dd is going to only switched to online classes but didn’t close their very small campus.  So they all get to share the dorms that have iffy hot water and the cafeteria and all the non-classroom buildings.  I guess the older staff that can work from home will be healthier for it and to hell with the young people still working and living on campus. They didn’t even extend spring break.

[Murphy101]

Just now, CuriousMomof3 said:

Why can't the students stay at home and do online learning from there?

 

Because for kids like my dd that would effectively put an end to her college. Her job that funds her college is on campus. If she doesn’t show up for work, she will lose her job.  But if the campus closes down, she can not only keep her job when campus reopens, but likely qualify for temporary unemployment.  The school knows this and in fact is claiming they are expecting the dorms to be 60-75% of students returning for financial reasons. 

[Murphy101]

5 minutes ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

 

That's nuts.  They need to close down.

well that’s my view too. They can’t have it both ways. It’s too dangerous for teachers to be in classes but well it’s not at all a problem to leave students in the dorms, cafeteria and other buildings. There’s really no way for me to read that as anything other than not giving a damn about the students health.

They can’t even blame large grouping for not having classes. The biggest class on the entire campus was 21 students. And most our less than 15. So to my mind either have classes or close campus.

[Murphy101]

Just now, CuriousMomof3 said:

 

Exactly.  Plus, the risk of sending students home for spring break, and then bringing them back magnifies everything.  

yep. That’s what I thought too. Makes no sense at all except the school is looking to avoid losing money. That’s the only reason I can think that makes sense to go this route. 

[TravelingChris]

15 hours ago, Arcadia said:

On the other hand another neighbor is seeing how she can after school her child while school is out for 3 weeks. So we were discussing free options like Coursera, Khan Academy, MOOCs and some paid online courses. 

Someone I know posted on Facebook a very long list of educational website that are helping.

[Murphy101]

1 hour ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

I don't even understand how that saves them money.  If they close down, they'll save on food and electricity etc . . . because as far as I know the colleges aren't reimbursing anyone.  That's got to be a bigger savings.  

🤷‍♀️

[Arcadia]

46 minutes ago, TravelingChris said:

Someone I know posted on Facebook a very long list of educational website that are helping.

Her child is in 9th grade so we discussed resources that would be most helpful for his current subjects since the district is not going to supply any work. The teachers are supposedly going to compress/compact the curriculum when school reopens.

[mathnerd]

I am still looking for hand sanitizer. I was told that American companies that make it are on the job and the supply would jump up in no time. Now, it has been a week and I cannot see any improvement in the situation. Anyone knows where there is still hand sanitizer to be bought? (I did not want to clutter up that other thread while I also wanted to whine about this. My child's tutor says to me: "You are very resourceful, can you please buy some hand sanitizer for me because I have kids coming into my home all day long?" 😬 )

[Liz CA]

I think some measures are partly dependent where we live and how many people are infected in the area. I live in a rural area but work in a metro area and so far we continue to provide BH services. All employees just received an email update from our CEO. Don't know where it will go but it seems to be a day by day decision.

[Bootsie]

13 hours ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

I don't even understand how that saves them money.  If they close down, they'll save on food and electricity etc . . . because as far as I know the colleges aren't reimbursing anyone.  That's got to be a bigger savings.  

My son's university has announced that they will be reimbursing for dorm and meal plan expenses, but they do not know how much that will be yet.

[Guest]

Have any of you seen the TED talk trending now where Bill Gates pretty much predicted exactly this situation. He made it four years ago. Ill see if I can find it and link it here. 

ETA: I can’t link it at the moment, but if you search those pertinent words, you’ll get it. 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Quill

[Katy]

45 minutes ago, Quill said:

Have any of you seen the TED talk trending now where Bill Gates pretty much predicted exactly this situation. He made it four years ago. Ill see if I can find it and link it here. 

ETA: I can’t link it at the moment, but if you search those pertinent words, you’ll get it. 

 

 

[wathe]

1 hour ago, OKBud said:

I mean in general I think it's been well-known for a long time that something was going to come down the pike and overwhelm our systems.

What I like about that guy's book in particular is how he gets into how globalization is actively harmful in these situations. He touches on it in this interview... with the example of how 80% of the world's IV bags are made in Puerto Rico. So one bad event (hurricane) in PR disrupts healthcare around the world. Then these kinds of things stack on top of one another. 

We really need to pressure people to change how healthcare is approached, from the foundation, up!

Or a COVID crisis interfering with the world supply of nasopharyngeal swabs (made in Italy!) that are used to test for COVID.

[almondbutterandjelly]

11 hours ago, mathnerd said:

I am still looking for hand sanitizer. I was told that American companies that make it are on the job and the supply would jump up in no time. Now, it has been a week and I cannot see any improvement in the situation. Anyone knows where there is still hand sanitizer to be bought? (I did not want to clutter up that other thread while I also wanted to whine about this. My child's tutor says to me: "You are very resourceful, can you please buy some hand sanitizer for me because I have kids coming into my home all day long?" 😬 )

Okay, Bath and Body Works makes those little hand sanitizers in fun flavors.  They were out last week, but have since totally restocked at our local Navy Exchange (who carries Bath and Body Works stuff among many other things).  That's my secret stash.  (Actually, I only needed one to put in my purse since I gave dd my purse bottle.)

[Arcadia]

7 minutes ago, perkybunch said:

Okay, Bath and Body Works makes those little hand sanitizers in fun flavors.  They were out last week, but have since totally restocked at our local Navy Exchange (who carries Bath and Body Works stuff among many other things). 

Bath & Body Works stores staff don’t think there would be replenishments coming. mathnerd and I are in the same county.

[mathnerd]

29 minutes ago, perkybunch said:

Okay, Bath and Body Works makes those little hand sanitizers in fun flavors.  They were out last week, but have since totally restocked at our local Navy Exchange (who carries Bath and Body Works stuff among many other things).  That's my secret stash.  (Actually, I only needed one to put in my purse since I gave dd my purse bottle.)

Thanks for the tip. I think that your Navy Exchange had some leftovers which the hoarders missed 🙂 

17 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Bath & Body Works stores staff don’t think there would be replenishments coming. mathnerd and I are in the same county.

 

I will keep checking Bath and Body Works often to see if the situation changes.

[Arcadia]

9 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

I will keep checking Bath and Body Works often to see if the situation changes.

When I was out for healthcare yesterday, the buildings hand sanitizers were mainly supplied by Purell and Ecolab. Think Purell might be too busy making hand sanitizer refills for hospitals to make more for consumers. 

[Guest]

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan just recently announced further restrictions. Bars, restaurants, gyms and movie theatres closed. Carry out and meal delivery still okay. National Guard called into place and a bunch of other things meant to provide emergency medical help (i think he said 6,000 more beds). Retired medical personnel or out-of-state licensed medical personnel can assist. Gathering size is now restricted to 50 people or less. Also preventing utilities from levying fees for late payment and preventing eviction due to late rent. (That’s very pertiment to us because we are landlords.) 

I required my son to watch the broadcast. He is still being a turd, though. 

[Kassia]

6 minutes ago, Quill said:

 

I required my son to watch the broadcast. He is still being a turd, though. 

 

Mine are, too (2 out of 3).  All of the closings are forcing them to cut back.  

[J-rap]

On 3/14/2020 at 8:10 PM, Pen said:

 

How much should people socialize?

Go places?  (Where? What circumstances?)

Stay home?

Play dates?

Recreational travel?

Teens socializing?

Related question: Do school closures help?

 

To get back to your main questions, my thoughts have changed quite a bit as I have a better understanding of all of this.  So...  as of now, how much should people socialize?  As very little as possible.  No more recreational travel or events or socializing.  I figure if the government is shutting down our entire country and risking a financial depression, it's a small thing I can do to try and stop the spread of this virus.  I also have a 91-year-old father with heart failure so I think of him when I think of community protection for the vulnerable.  And of course I think of my dh too, with his multiple health problems.  And I think of my brother who is a pulmonologist, and I know through him that medical centers can only do so much once they get beyond their capacity.   He is already only getting a few hours of sleep a night, and we're not even close to a crisis point yet.   And I think of the multitudes of people who go into work every day and ride public transportation and help keep our country going.  And I think of our dd who works on the front-line testing people for the coronavirus.

I'm prepared to do more too.

I don't know why it took so long for me to understand the importance of all of this, but I think I have a better handle on it now.

[math teacher]

I just got a news update for my area that Wal-Mart will suspend grocery pickup starting tomorrow.

Whaaat?

[Kassia]

12 minutes ago, Math teacher said:

I just got a news update for my area that Wal-Mart will suspend grocery pickup starting tomorrow.

Whaaat?

 

I think ours did.  I am unable to place an order.

[Pen]

41 minutes ago, square_25 said:

Would you take kids to a park in NYC if you were me? We’ve been inside for like 5 days now and that’s probably not optimal, but NYC is SO dense.

I do mean a big park, not a playground.

 

Yes.  Very carefully.  Perhaps using stairs not elevator if that’s an option for your situation.

I would not take Subway etc.

I would avoid crowded times.

But yeah, if you are not officially in quarantine, and if you can get them (and yourself) out of doors and get some exercise and air at this time, I would do that.  

Especially if you have access to one of the really big parks. 

[Pen]

Btw feel free to discuss anything CV related.

the second post with series of questions was to get this thread going, but not meant as a limit to scope.

 

[Murphy101]

7 minutes ago, Kassia said:

 

I think ours did.  I am unable to place an order.

crap. I am supposed to pick up an order tomorrow. I hope I still get it.🤞🙏

I would not hesitate to take my healthy kids outside for a walk.  I’d stay away from others and not get on play equipment.

Honestly, the Covid19 doesn’t worry near as much as the people going crazy about it - that’s a good enough reason for me practice self isolation.

I am anxious about the long term nature of this and praying hard for the health of everyone.

[Pen]

9 minutes ago, square_25 said:

We’re staying the heck off transit. Perhaps I’ll stick DD3.75 in a carrier... it’s gonna be hard to get her to avoid people on the walk  otherwise.

We’re very close to Riverside Park, thankfully. I think that ought to be big enough.

 

Riverside Park would be great, IME, long with plenty of paths to walk / run! 

Gloves / mittens for 3.75 yo? With yarn going through shirt to help prevent loss and wriggling out like some of us do with little kids in winter?  

She probably needs to have some free movement and mittens might help keep fingers out of eyes, nose mouth  eta but probably carrier till at Park is good idea. 

maybe take a ball or something 

wash up well when you get home and plastic bag your outside stuff till you can wash it. 

 

Ps: have fun!!! 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Pen

[Pen]

2 hours ago, Plum said:

@Pen I think a thread for facts we know so far would be helpful. There's probably a lot of people that are avoiding the big thread, but they are missing a lot of good information. I know I avoid the Ignore this thread thread because of the number. But a TLDR summary would give everyone a quicker way to catch up. 🙂

 

I think my suggestion for “just the facts” catch ups would be to check in on the “News” part of Worldometer.info and / or the daily updates on YouTube by Dr John Campbell. 

Dr John did 2 today here’s one of them:

 

[Guest]

My daughter has decided to come home from France. But it’s complex and I think she’s way overwhelmed with what to do. She made this decision after Macron’s announcement today. She figures she has a small time window tommorow morning to go back to the town where the rest of her stuff is, pack everything, go to the bank, then get back to the train station to train into Paris. Spend the night in Paris. Fly out of CDG and into Dulles Wed. 

I’m relieved she came to this conclusion, but it really stinks gigantically that it’s so difficult. She must quarantine here and that will be hard. Not embracing her at the airport will be weird, even. 

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, Quill said:

My daughter has decided to come home from France. But it’s complex and I think she’s way overwhelmed with what to do. She made this decision after Macron’s announcement today. She figures she has a small time window tommorow morning to go back to the town where the rest of her stuff is, pack everything, go to the bank, then get back to the train station to train into Paris. Spend the night in Paris. Fly out of CDG and into Dulles Wed. 

I’m relieved she came to this conclusion, but it really stinks gigantically that it’s so difficult. She must quarantine here and that will be hard. Not embracing her at the airport will be weird, even. 

 

I am so sorry that her plans are destroyed.   I am sure it is going to be so stressful for her to get everything done to get back.   I know it will be odd to not get closer than 6 feet, but I am sure it will be so good to have her home. 

[pitterpatter]

I just received an e-mail survey from one of our state's congressmen asking whether I support the president's decision to suspend travel to the United States from Europe? Why would he want to know this? Why would people be against it?

[Pen]

39 minutes ago, pitterpatter said:

I just received an e-mail survey from one of our state's congressmen asking whether I support the president's decision to suspend travel to the United States from Europe? Why would he want to know this? Why would people be against it?

 

A lot of people right here on Wtm are upset because travel plans are being messed up. 

I expect they want to know either for political reasons or for judging how people are tesponding in weighing how much can be done to stop the CV threat versus people threatening rebellion against restrictions.  

Assuming it is real, not some fake phishing scam, I personally would give my honest answer if I got something like that.  Course I’ve been calling and writing to my elected reps, so I guess they already more or less know how I feel.  

 

[J-rap]

My (adult) ds is pretty sure he has CV.  He has all the symptoms, and breathing is becoming difficult.  But, he called his doctor and she said he would first need to check into an urgent care or emergency room and take a test for influenza, and after that, he could take the CV test.  He is thinking he won't do that, but will just self-isolate unless it gets too bad.   He doesn't want to infect people in urgent care, and doesn't know if his insurance would cover all of that anyway (before finally getting to the CV test, which we assume is free.)  This is Chicago, and I think the main problem is that there just aren't enough tests.  

In talking with several doctors I personally know, they are surprisingly all suggesting that unless his breathing really gets difficult, he should just stay home and rest and not even bother with the test.  That attitude surprised me.  It makes me wonder how many other people just don't bother to test.  It's very possible that the numbers we are seeing are very off.

Edited March 17, 2020 by J-rap

[vonfirmath]

24 minutes ago, J-rap said:

My (adult) ds is pretty sure he has CV.  He has all the symptoms, and breathing is becoming difficult.  But, he called his doctor and she said he would first need to check into an urgent care or emergency room and take a test for influenza, and after that, he could take the CV test.  He is thinking he won't do that, but will just self-isolate unless it gets too bad.   He doesn't want to infect people in urgent care, and doesn't know if his insurance would cover all of that anyway (before finally getting to the CV test, which we assume is free.)  This is Chicago, and I think the main problem is that there just aren't enough tests.  

In talking with several doctors I personally know, they are surprisingly all suggesting that unless his breathing really gets difficult, he should just stay home and rest and not even bother with the test.  That attitude surprised me.  It makes me wonder how many other people just don't bother to test.  It's very possible that the numbers we are seeing are very off.

 

The test is evidently fairly costly and with at least one limited reagent to do.

Yes, it is assumed the numbers we have do not begin to count every case.

 

[Amira]

4 hours ago, pitterpatter said:

I just received an e-mail survey from one of our state's congressmen asking whether I support the president's decision to suspend travel to the United States from Europe? Why would he want to know this? Why would people be against it?

I don’t know why your congressperson is asking that, but I’m against the travel ban.  COVID19 is widespread in many communities in the US already and these bans really won’t make a difference. Check for temps on people coming in and enforce a self-quarantine on recent arrivals.  That last measure alone would curb travel for pleasure.  But it would leave room for people who need to travel to the US.  I don’t live in Europe, but most flights from where I live to the US transit through Europe.  It’s getting very difficult for US citizens to get to the US, much less anyone else. 

In fact, the US travel ban makes it more likely that I would get evacuated to the US, even though I’d rather stay where I am. Many people frantically flew to the US ahead of the ban, people who would have stayed outside the US.  I can’t honestly see any positives to the ban.

[Pen]

1 hour ago, J-rap said:

My (adult) ds is pretty sure he has CV.  He has all the symptoms, and breathing is becoming difficult.  But, he called his doctor and she said he would first need to check into an urgent care or emergency room and take a test for influenza, and after that, he could take the CV test.  He is thinking he won't do that, but will just self-isolate unless it gets too bad.   He doesn't want to infect people in urgent care, and doesn't know if his insurance would cover all of that anyway (before finally getting to the CV test, which we assume is free.)  This is Chicago, and I think the main problem is that there just aren't enough tests.  

In talking with several doctors I personally know, they are surprisingly all suggesting that unless his breathing really gets difficult, he should just stay home and rest and not even bother with the test.  That attitude surprised me.  It makes me wonder how many other people just don't bother to test.  It's very possible that the numbers we are seeing are very off.

 

This sounds typical of stories I hear irl in my area too.  

(There May also be some other very bad virus now. Someone in our local area who did manage to get testing had neither influenza nor CV19 test positive, yet is quite sick as I understand it. So not a good thing whatever it is.)

 

There are more tests becoming available, but still limited by key items.  And they are trying to save them for most likely people to have it. As more and more places in world have troubles, it also increases the global burden, not just local for reagents, sterile swabs, etc.) 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Pen

[Bootsie]

7 hours ago, pitterpatter said:

I just received an e-mail survey from one of our state's congressmen asking whether I support the president's decision to suspend travel to the United States from Europe? Why would he want to know this? Why would people be against it?

I don't know why your congressman would want to know, but my opinion is that the travel ban was not thought through clearly and communicated effectively, and likely led to unnecessary exposures.  I left the US for Europe before things were so serious.  I had planned to fly out this past Sunday.  When the president issued the ban, he stated that all travel was being halted, even goods, and did not say that US citizens would be allowed back in the country.  This was not, in fact, the policy, but it did send panic among a number of people on business trips, visiting family, study abroad students, tourists, etc.  It surprised the European governments and overwhelmed the airlines that did not know what was happening.  I had a connecting flight in ATL.  What would I face as far as screening?  Given that I would undergo 14-day self-isolation, would I be able to go through the ATL airport, get on another plane and fly to my final destination and then go into self-isolation?  Or, would I get stuck in quarantine at ATL and not be able to reach my final destination?  It was impossible to find answers to these questions.  I know that it is a fluid situation, but policies that aren't clear induce panic and fear.  

Personally, I chose to hunker down where I am.  I tried contacting the airline on Saturday to change my flight to a later date; I was in a messaging queue for over 48 hours!  When I saw the lines and chaos of people entering the US, I am glad I remained where I am.  I think the ban caused people to travel who might not have traveled otherwise.  I think it also caused those same people to be in prolonged close contact, which is what was to be avoided.  From what I have heard the "screening" was minor.  The stress of an international flight, crowds, uncertainty, and long lines is not good anytime, but definitely is not good when you are trying to maintain a healthy immune system.

Ironically, if I had remained in the US,, rather than coming on my trip to Europe, I know I would have had contact with someone who has been hospitalized in coronavirus.  

[Bootsie]

9 hours ago, Quill said:

My daughter has decided to come home from France. But it’s complex and I think she’s way overwhelmed with what to do. She made this decision after Macron’s announcement today. She figures she has a small time window tommorow morning to go back to the town where the rest of her stuff is, pack everything, go to the bank, then get back to the train station to train into Paris. Spend the night in Paris. Fly out of CDG and into Dulles Wed. 

I’m relieved she came to this conclusion, but it really stinks gigantically that it’s so difficult. She must quarantine here and that will be hard. Not embracing her at the airport will be weird, even. 

Wishing her a smooth, safe, healthy trip home!

[pitterpatter]

This was what the e-mail stated. The only answers we could choose were yes, no, and unsure. All links were to and from .gov sites.

-----

On Friday, in response to the spread of the coronavirus in Europe, which had over 34,000 cases of the disease at the time, President Trump suspended travel into the United States from the European Continent. 

Do you think that we should suspend travel from severely affected countries to preserve the safety of U.S. citizens?
 

11 hours ago, Pen said:

 

A lot of people right here on Wtm are upset because travel plans are being messed up. 

I expect they want to know either for political reasons or for judging how people are responding in weighing how much can be done to stop the CV threat versus people threatening rebellion against restrictions.  

Assuming it is real, not some fake phishing scam, I personally would give my honest answer if I got something like that.  Course I’ve been calling and writing to my elected reps, so I guess they already more or less know how I feel.

 

[Pen]

4 minutes ago, pitterpatter said:

This was what the e-mail stated. The only answers we could choose were yes, no, and unsure. All links were to and from .gov sites.

-----

On Friday, in response to the spread of the coronavirus in Europe, which had over 34,000 cases of the disease at the time, President Trump suspended travel into the United States from the European Continent. 

Do you think that we should suspend travel from severely affected countries to preserve the safety of U.S. citizens?
 

 

 

I’d go ahead and do it. 

I don’t usually fill out such things, but I’d want my view counted along with other views. 

Because maybe my views would be typical of “don’t answer surveys” type people— in which case results could skew towards however frequent survey respondents tend to answer. 

[Murphy101]

The mail system is likely the safest way to share stuff. And I think there’d be outright riots within 24 hrs if the mail or utilities were disrupted. If they are disrupted at all, it will be because of a workers shortage due to sickness/quarantine - not because anyone is shutting stuff down.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Murphy101

[vonfirmath]

15 minutes ago, OKBud said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether or not postal service will be disrupted? 

I have several orders in at places with 10+ day projected shipping delays. 

I also have a GRIP of homeschool books I was about to post for sale on FB but I assume that's futile for the time being.

 

The lockdown over in California counted postale service in essential services. That's giving me some peace.

(It also counted pet supply)

[Pen]

32 minutes ago, OKBud said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether or not postal service will be disrupted? 

I have several orders in at places with 10+ day projected shipping delays. 

I also have a GRIP of homeschool books I was about to post for sale on FB but I assume that's futile for the time being.

 

It will be considered an essential service and will stay open.  

Might be good time to sell homeschool materials if there are families switching to actual homeschool, or starting new toddlers to it while stuck at home. 

[J-rap]

8 hours ago, Pen said:

 

This sounds typical of stories I hear irl in my area too.  

(There May also be some other very bad virus now. Someone in our local area who did manage to get testing had neither influenza nor CV19 test positive, yet is quite sick as I understand it. So not a good thing whatever it is.)

 

There are more tests becoming available, but still limited by key items.  And they are trying to save them for most likely people to have it. As more and more places in world have troubles, it also increases the global burden, not just local for reagents, sterile swabs, etc.) 

Yeah, I guess it does make sense.  I suppose at some point they won't be as concerned about certain statistics anymore because it will just be assumed to be everywhere.