Coronavirus thread

[Maple Syrup Actual]

So far, the only thing about US travel with Korea is a US State Department "Level 3: Reconsider Travel" warning for the country as a whole with a further "Level 4, Do Not Travel" to the Daegu area, but there is no outright restriction on travel, presumably even to Daegu. I am aware of at least one example of US national returning directly from Korea as recently as this past weekend with no additional screening and no advisory for home isolation, etc.

The only thing I can think is perhaps the official logic might be that the Korean outbreak is more thoroughly monitored and is more heavily concentrated around a specific metro area, whereas the Italian/European outbreaks are more diffuse and unpredictable. That's really just a wild guess, though.

This would also be my guess: the controls are effective enough that if the Koreans say they're not a risk, they're not a risk. I would trust the status of someone from a place with aggressive testing procedures and a high official incidence rate more than that of someone from a place with inadequate testing and a low official incidence rate.

[Aisin Gioro]

People in Loudoun County, VA have just woken up to the news that their kids are not going to school for the next week. This was done so the schools can be deep cleaned.

In other news, kids go back to school after a week off for cleaning and completely contaminate them on the first day back.

I think there is a widespread misunderstanding, based on the fact that there are very, very few cases of diagnosed COVID-19 illness among children and thankfully no deaths, that they are somehow immune to infection with SARS-CoV-2 virus itself. That does not appear to be the case...children can become infected sub-clinically, then act as the kind of asymptomatic carriers that are of particular risk and concern for the rest of the population, spreading clinical disease more widely and to more vulnerable populations. As the Austrian health minister just pointed out (when ordering a school closing), "While children are much less at risk from the disease, we know that they are strong multipliers [of infections among others]."

[Aisin Gioro]

Wake = 7
Chatham, Durham, Forsyth and Johnston = 1
Unkonwn = 1

From: https://coronavirus.1point3acres.com/en - this is a decent tracker in addition to some of the others shared previously.

Thanks for this excellent resource; the fact that they have a Chinese version is great!

[theJanitor]

LEVEL3 recommendations include 14 day self quarantine, and to avoid non-essential travel if possible

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...ecautions.html

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices...us-south-korea

eta: I have a trip to Australia coming up on tuesday. I FEEL like it's not any more dangerous than where I live. The hospital five minuted from my apartment has two confirmed cases, and many of the nurses live in my building

[Aisin Gioro]

From an email exchange with a close friend in Hangzhou. I was checking in with him to see how he and his family were doing...

Me and my family are all well, thanks… Kids has no school here, but take class online as normal, most company back to work already, and we always wear mask going out, government controlled very well here, still have local government work on all living area and office building to check ID and health code. Alibaba made a health app for every people in China, the App record where you have been, if I am safe, my code is green, if I went to dangerous area like isolation area or hospital, my code will change to orange, if people get infection, health will turn to red automatic, as this App connect with all government. My Code is green, so I didn’t feel any different as normal.

Um yeah, about that app...(though most people in China implicitly understand the subtext)

In Coronavirus Fight, China Gives Citizens a Color Code, With Red Flags

"A new system uses software to dictate quarantines — and appears to send personal data to police, in a troubling precedent for automated social control."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/b...77tion=topNews

[Caballoflaco]

@theJanitor depending on how much trust you have in the Chinese government response and scientists take a look at this case study on covid-19 transmission in a bus.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.scm...tance-and-stay

[JHC]

"Researchers looking at cases in China say patients could spread the virus for up to 37 days after they start showing symptoms, according to the study published in the British medical journal The Lancet. . . .
On average, survivors still had the virus in their respiratory system for about 20 days and could presumably continue to spread the disease, researchers found."



Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nat...#storylink=cpy

[Aisin Gioro]

LEVEL3 recommendations include 14 day self quarantine, and to avoid non-essential travel if possible

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...ecautions.html

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices...us-south-korea

eta: I have a trip to Australia coming up on tuesday. I FEEL like it's not any more dangerous than where I live. The hospital five minuted from my apartment has two confirmed cases, and many of the nurses live in my building

Very good point, and one that I think was probably not taken into account by the traveler. They went by USDoS advisory guidelines and appear to have been unaware of the CDC recommendations, but how much of that was a lapse in communication (maybe due to limited English proficiency; they are a naturalized US citizen but native Korean speaker even at home) or just plain lapse, I'm not sure.

As for Australia: Well, Tom Hanks. Just putting that out there... Actually, based on my experiences and observations of Australian public health systems and providers, I think they can generally be counted on for good information, and it doesn't seem like a high risk. They had early implementation of travel bans, very good contact tracing, extensive testing, and their case rate per 100,000 is still pretty low. I hate to say it, but it is likely a better-quantified risk than the US at this time.

[Stephanie B]

In Coronavirus Fight, China Gives Citizens a Color Code, With Red Flags

Funny that, even to the Chinese Reds, a red flag isn't good....

[Nephrology]

"Researchers looking at cases in China say patients could spread the virus for up to 37 days after they start showing symptoms, according to the study published in the British medical journal The Lancet. . . .
On average, survivors still had the virus in their respiratory system for about 20 days and could presumably continue to spread the disease, researchers found."



Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nat...#storylink=cpy

So far most of the published lit has suggested asymptomatic prodrome of 5 days (range 1-14). This sounds a bit extreme to me. Hopefully not the case.