The French Health Minister has warned against handshakes. France has 57 confirmed cornavirus cases. 

https://www.reuters.com/article/china-health-france/france-reports-19-new-coronavirus-cases-warns-against-handshakes-idUSP6N29R02I  

I just got an email, a text and phone calls on my home and cell phones directing me to this update from the school district:

https://www.somsd.k12.nj.us/headlines/2020/02/28/coronavirus-update-from-the-office-of-the-superintendent-february-28-2020/

It sounds like reasonable preparations are being made. I don't know how soon they'll have to update the list of locations with sustained community transmission.

bub said:

One can only hope:

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-scientists-In-three-weeks-we-will-have-coronavirus-vaccine-619101

 Another Israeli firm, BATM Advanced, has developed a quick diagnostic kit for coronavirus. Production is underway at a facility in Rome.  

https://nocamels.com/2020/02/israeli-biomed-firm-diagnostics-kit-coronavirus/

New York is reporting it's first official case of COVID 19. The patient apparently caught it while in Iran.

The story accurately depicts that we'll have trouble containing the virus because some will not want to be tested. We'll see some who worry about the expense of tests and follow up care toughing it out. But they will be unidentified spreaders.

A law to assume all costs should be passed. That govt pays for all COVID deductibles and copays. Or pass insurance regulations disallowing them for this disease.

Not absorbing the medical expenses tells me government is really not serious in stopping this.

Worries about medical bills and lost pay will hamper coronavirus efforts

Would like to, when possible, post good news.  Here's an article about all of the drugs being developed or studied.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus-drugs-and-vaccines-in-development/

Incompetence at the CDC:

The coronavirus has found a crack in the nation’s public health armor, and it is not one that scientists foresaw: diagnostic testing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention botched its first attempt to mass produce a diagnostic test kit, a discovery made only after officials had shipped hundreds of kits to state laboratories.

A promised replacement took several weeks, and still did not permit state and local laboratories to make final diagnoses. And the C.D.C. essentially ensured that Americans would be tested in very few numbers by imposing stringent and narrow criteria, critics say.
...
Most disturbing of all: Did a failure to provide adequate testing give the coronavirus time to gain a toehold in the United States?

“Clearly, there have been problems with rolling out the test,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, former director of the C.D.C. “There are a lot of frustrated doctors and patients and health departments.”

Still, Dr. Frieden said he thought the situation was improving. Other experts, although supportive of the agency, were mystified that federal officials could have committed so many missteps.

“The incompetence has really exceeded what anyone would expect with the C.D.C.,” said Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard University. “This is not a difficult problem to solve in the world of viruses.”

Scientists didn't foresee diagnostic testing incompetence? How can you not foresee incompetence with an administration that severely cut the NIH and CDC budgets, that caused many of the competent to leave while loading agencies with political hacks. That appointed a big pharma lobbyist to be secretary of HHS. Professionals are now depending on the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for accuracy.

It should not be difficult to solve in the world of viruses? It seems, here, it was.

I have no confidence in the Pence led containment effort.

BG9 said:

The story accurately depicts that we'll have trouble containing the virus because some will not want to be tested. We'll see some who worry about the expense of tests and follow up care toughing it out. But they will be unidentified spreaders.

A law to assume all costs should be passed. That govt pays for all COVID deductibles and copays. Or pass insurance regulations disallowing them for this disease.

Not absorbing the medical expenses tells me government is really not serious in stopping this.

Worries about medical bills and lost pay will hamper coronavirus efforts

 A follow up:

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Tuesday that he is amending a paid sick leave bill he recently proposed to the state legislator to include a requirement for employers to pay for sick time related to coronavirus.

“Those who have to be quarantined should be paid during that period and their jobs protected,” said Cuomo during a Tuesday news conference in which he announced the state’s second coronavirus case.

On Monday, Cuomo announced a new policy requiring New York health insurers to cover costs associated with covid-19 testing, including urgent care, medical consultations and emergency room visits. Cuomo added that New York residents on Medicaid will be exempt from paying a co-pay for any coronavirus-related tests, while the state is covering the costs of all tests conducted at the State’s Wadsworth Lab.

“We can’t let cost be a barrier to access to Covid-19 testing for any New Yorker,” he tweeted.

With Cumo we see leadership, useful leadership.

Whereas with Trump we get the continuation of useless and ignorant dribble:

As a private citizen and candidate for president, Donald Trump was a proponent of vaccine skepticism — ignoring the scientific consensus on stuff like how vaccines don’t cause autism. As president, he is now surrounded by experts on the subject, including Monday, when he held a coronavirus roundtable with his task force and the heads of several pharmaceutical companies.

Yet despite the increasingly scary situation involving the disease and preparations having been underway for weeks, he still appears rather clueless on the subject.

At the event Monday, Trump peppered drug companies with questions that were some variant of, “How fast can you get it done?” But despite this having been a focal point in recent weeks, he still didn’t seem to process the fact that producing a vaccine means conducting months and months of trials before they can be deployed. He even at one point asked whether the flu vaccine could be used to combat coronavirus.

Whenever Trump opens his mouth we see another cratering of the markets.

A quote from the WHO guy today, which seems contrary to what we've been hearing:

First, COVID-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza. With influenza, people who are infected but not yet sick are major drivers of transmission, which does not appear to be the case for COVID-19."

He says evidence from China shows only 1% of COVID-19 cases don't show any symptoms and that most who do get sick present symptoms within two days.

bub said:

A quote from the WHO guy today, which seems contrary to what we've been hearing:

First, COVID-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza. With influenza, people who are infected but not yet sick are major drivers of transmission, which does not appear to be the case for COVID-19."

He says evidence from China shows only 1% of COVID-19 cases don't show any symptoms and that most who do get sick present symptoms within two days.

 Wow that is a 180 degree turn from what everything else I have seen from WHO, CDC, and others are saying.

I just got an email from United. They're waiving change fees for all travel booked in March.  So I guess they're concerned about losing business. 

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma-asia/china-turns-roche-arthritis-drug-actemra-against-covid-19-new-treatment-guidelines

So much for the virus not transmitting easily, as cited above.  A guy in New Rochelle got it from a community source.  Quickly his wife, daughter, and son got it.  The person who drove him to the hospital got it.  

You've probably seen that the New Rochelle guy is in serious condition, so this is worth noting about him:

The man, who commuted by train to work at a small Manhattan law firm and
has children attending a school and college in New York City, had an
underlying respiratory illness that potentially put him in more danger
from the disease, officials said.

mfpark said:

So much for the virus not transmitting easily, as cited above.  A guy in New Rochelle got it from a community source.  Quickly his wife, daughter, and son got it.  The person who drove him to the hospital got it.  

Scary.

They don't know much. Some tell us on surfaces the virus is short lived, others say its days and others say we don't know. Then there is the mortality rate. A bouncing up and down number with WHO now saying 3.4%. So much guesswork.

Which makes me rethink face masks. Its very nice to be told, don't bother, they're not much help. From the we're guessing a lot brigade. But if I'm near someone who coughs without covering with their spittle possibly hitting me, I'd feel better if something stopped that spittle from hitting my mouth, nose or eyes.

The stats are tentative and to be viewed with caution.  I jut noticed that the death rate in South Korea, where 1000s have the disease, is less than 1%.

At the risk of redundancy: Essex County's Fact Sheet...

-s.

https://slate.com/technology/2020/03/coronavirus-mortality-rate-lower-than-we-think.html

I have no reason to believe that I am at risk nor that I seriously have this virus. 
However as you might remember about a month ago, I was living with an almost constant case of asthma and briefly visited the airport for an hour. 
i have no ‘real’ symptoms yet whenever I leave my home I sweat profusely, and since last night I feel as if a fever (or a migraine) might be breaking out. The back of my throat is very slowly feeling slightly scratchy. I got hives 12 hours ago, and thought ‘well, that’s it’ but then I kept waking up in a heavy sweat yet my thermometer didn’t register a fever. I practice good hand hygiene, and generally am home-based. 
My doc has recommended I contact the local hospital; our city has a small number of people who don’t travel who have tested positive.  

joanne said:

I have no reason to believe that I am at risk nor that I seriously have this virus. 
However as you might remember about a month ago, I was living with an almost constant case of asthma and briefly visited the airport for an hour. 
i have no ‘real’ symptoms yet whenever I leave my home I sweat profusely, and since last night I feel as if a fever (or a migraine) might be breaking out. The back of my throat is very slowly feeling slightly scratchy. I got hives 12 hours ago, and thought ‘well, that’s it’ but then I kept waking up in a heavy sweat yet my thermometer didn’t register a fever. I practice good hand hygiene, and generally am home-based. 
My doc has recommended I contact the local hospital; our city has a small number of people who don’t travel who have tested positive.  

 Sounds like you have something but not "it", since there's no coughing or fever.  Scratchy throat and hives suggests an allergy, no?  You should see someone, Dr., hospital, whatever.  Have you actually been to your doctor?  

I was at Costco and toilet paper was almost sold out.  And people were buying bottled water in bulk.  I can understand the toilet paper, people don't want to have to go out to the store for the next few weeks, but bottled water?  Do people think something will happen to our water supply?  Almost every cart we saw leaving the store had two or three cases of bottled water.  One man had seven cases of bottled water, and employees spoke with him and took four cases off of his cart before he even got to the register.  I didn't hear what was said, but rationing is a possibility since there is such a rush on the stuff.  Cleaning wipes were nowhere to be seen, not surprising at all.  What was surprising was that regular household bleach, also listed as an effective disinfectant for coronavirus, was still stocked and basically untouched.

spontaneous said:

I was at Costco and toilet paper was almost sold out.  And people were buying bottled water in bulk.  I can understand the toilet paper, people don't want to have to go out to the store for the next few weeks, but bottled water?  Do people think something will happen to our water supply?  Almost every cart we saw leaving the store had two or three cases of bottled water.  One man had seven cases of bottled water, and employees spoke with him and took four cases off of his cart before he even got to the register.  I didn't hear what was said, but rationing is a possibility since there is such a rush on the stuff.  Cleaning wipes were nowhere to be seen, not surprising at all.  What was surprising was that regular household bleach, also listed as an effective disinfectant for coronavirus, was still stocked and basically untouched.

We are a nation of idiots, basically.

Hi.

Doc would not see me, told me to go Fever Clinic. The throat was turning to a dry cough by this morning, and my temperature was rising although not officially in the fever range. State Health Dept advice says to ring ahead; however the hospital said not to bother. The hospital switch also said not to bother the Fever Clinic unless I’d travelled, but ring our emergency nurse service - and the nurse service had originally told me (at 5am) to go to the Fever Clinic. So yeah, before I wrote my first post 4 hrs later,  I didn’t know what I was saying. 

One entry post at the hospital was dismissive, and didn’t listen. I’m certainly not panicking, but when the nurse told me to see my doc etc it was more than frustrating. Luckily D came through another entrance from the carpark, so we walked back that way, and passed another checkpoint. The nurse on duty there was amazingly observant and stopped me for a chat. She decided to send me to the Fever Clinic for obs and further investigation. Very detailed questions, temp taken twice (it’s gone down, finally!), precise instructions given for what to do next. The fact the Clinic nurses and doc had to discuss between themselves for almost 10 mins shows it was worth going in, in my case. And that’s why I’m posting: I could have been spreading this new virus to vulnerable people without being aware, through my group activities. It’s now after lunch (my time) and I’m self-isolating for a few days. I’ve been told if any one of my symptoms gets worse, to go back in for checking. 

.

More good news: Covid-19 has evolved into two types of the virus.   Good thing those in charge don't believe in evolution, climate change, etc.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3064908/coronavirus-south-korean-cases-rise-steadily-it-addresses

Just sharing.  Now you have it, too.

Ever since it was brought to my attention that you can say “Covid-19” to the tune of “Come on, Eileen,” I’ve been unable to read it any other way

— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 4, 2020

dave said:

More good news: Covid-19 has evolved into two types of the virus.   Good thing those in charge don't believe in evolution, climate change, etc.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3064908/coronavirus-south-korean-cases-rise-steadily-it-addresses

So mutating to different strains like the flu or the common cold. That was quick. I was hoping this wouldn't happen. Hopefully future strains will be less lethal.

This can be a serious obstacle to building an effective vaccine.

spontaneous said:

I was at Costco and toilet paper was almost sold out.  

 For some unknown reason, Australia has been hit by a surge of what could only be described as panic buying, with the most popular product being toilet paper.

It's thought the buying spree started after someone posted on social media - where else? - that toilet paper was manufactured in China and that supply would run out as that country effectively shut down.   The story wasn't true, of course, because most Australian toilet paper is locally manufactured.

The run on toilet paper has spawned quite a number of cartoons and memes.

One Australian newspaper - the Northern Territory News - has even gone as far as printing eight extra pages, with convenient cut lines marked on them, so that readers will still have a supply if they get caught short!

More on the story ...

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/mar/05/australian-newspaper-prints-extra-pages-to-help-out-in-toilet-paper-shortage

BG9 said:

So mutating to different strains like the flu or the common cold. That was quick. I was hoping this wouldn't happen. Hopefully future strains will be less lethal.

This can be a serious obstacle to building an effective vaccine.

 Apparently the “L” type is much more lethal and is killing its hosts (the poor people of Wuhan) off too quickly to survive much longer, but the less lethal “S” type is spreading like the flu.

Coronavirus in N.J.: Fort Lee Man Is State’s First Positive Test

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/nyregion/coronavirus-nj.html?searchResultPosition=1