While Cindy and I were out shopping yesterday (probably our last) to freshen our deep pantry, we grabbed an “extra to help others” of most things we bought, including (tho it was rough, given our distain for the things) a few cases of bottled water.
I can confirm you can still find N95 masks at farm, auto, and hardware stores. Picked up a 20 pack to share with others as well.
As the “go out to shop” time winds down, just food for thought for you all,
cindy & eric
China bans wildlife trade nationwide due to coronavirus outbreak
"BEIJING (Reuters) - China banned wildlife trade nationwide in markets, supermarkets, restaurants, and e-commerce platforms due to the coronavirus outbreak, the country’s market watchdog, agricultural ministry, and forestry bureau said in a joint statement.
Any places that breed wildlife should be isolated, and the transportation of wildlife should be banned, said the statement.
The ban will take effect from Sunday. "
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-wildlife-idUSKBN1ZP07Y
“HONG KONG – Protesters threw petrol bombs on Sunday night, January 26, at an empty public housing complex in Hong Kong that had been earmarked to become a temporary quarantine zone as the city battles an outbreak of the SARS-like Novel Coronavirus.”
https://www.rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/250261-proposed-hong-kong-virus-quarantine-building-firebombed-during-protest
Posted today by SharonSanders, FluTrackers, from translated Chinese news article:
“[Wuhan Pneumonia] Mayor of Wuhan: More than 5 million people leave Wuhan (23:35)
Figure 1-1-Wuhan Hankou Yanjiang Avenue is inaccessible today (26th). (Xinhua News Agency) The outbreak of new-type coronavirus in the Mainland continues. Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang said today (26th) that more than 5 million people have left Wuhan and another 9 million are still in the city. It is estimated that there may be another 1,000 confirmed cases in Wuhan.
In addition, China’s CDC detected for the first time from 585 environmental samples in the South China Seafood Market today that 33 samples contained novel coronavirus nucleic acids. These samples came from 22 stalls and a garbage truck in the market. Positive samples exceeded 90%. From the western part of the market, where there is a wildlife trade, it is highly suspected that the outbreak was related to wildlife trade.”
(Source)
One each in LA County and Orange County.
“Health officials said there is no immediate threat to the general public.”
https://abc7news.com/health/4th-case-of-new-coronavirus-confirmed-in-us/5879796/
I work in a hospital lab in a Wash DC suburb. Last night a GW student came into the ED with trouble breathing and a fever. He was in Wuhan 1 week ago. They sent his lab work to DCLS and he WENT HOME to George Washington University to go back to school. This is unacceptable but this is the situation currently in the US. He wanted to leave and no one stopped him or insisted he do any isolation protocols.
I don’t know if most people realize this but the yearly mass exodus of people traveling into, out of, and around China is the largest yearly mass exodus in the world. Many people start traveling up to two weeks before the holiday. This virus couldn’t have appeared at a more inopportune time. Probably more than 75% had already left prior to Friday. A good friend of mine left Shanghai on Friday and so beleive they are still allowing outbound flights from major airports.
Internally though, transportation is currently being shut down all over China. They have stopped bus service into and out of the small city about 40 minutes from my in-laws farm. Right now, my wife is worried about her father who is stuck at their farm with no way to get to town to get food and no way for anyone to get out to him.
My wife is from the province just North of Hubei and her cousin is currently in quarantine with a fever.
Thank god my wife is in the U.S. right now and has been since last July!
Wow, Karenf, that is a very sobering account that does not bode well for our broken health care/public health systems. I applaud any steps you are taking to personally and professionally to limit exposures.
Universities in particular may be new coronavirus contagion hot spots given their population’s diversity, mobility and congested environments. These are akin to small to moderate-sized cities with extremely limited health and medical resources.
I wonder if/what steps they may be following to educate, identify, isolate and treat students, faculty and staff about this growing epidemic. My guess is that it largely consists of flyers, email alerts, self-directed cursory health center visits with OTC meds, and referrals out to PCPs as needed. In short: an ineffective response. Something to keep an eye on for those of us living in communities with universities.
“The patient is a Maricopa County resident and a member of the Arizona State University community who recently returned from traveling in Wuhan, China, the department said in a press release.
ADHS added that the person, who does not live in university housing, is not severely ill and is currently in isolation to keep the illness from spreading.”
https://ktar.com/story/2941639/health-department-confirms-first-case-of-coronavirus-in-arizona/
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-09-surgical-masks-good-respirators-flu.html
(Below emphasis mine)
“Researchers may finally have an answer in the long-running controversy over whether the common surgical mask is as effective as more expensive respirator-type masks in protecting health care workers from flu and other respiratory viruses.”
“A study published today [9/3/2019] in JAMA compared the ubiquitous surgical (or medical) mask, which costs about a dime, to a less commonly used respirator called an N95, which costs around $1. The study reported “no significant difference in the effectiveness” of medical masks vs. N95 respirators for prevention of influenza or other viral respiratory illness.”
“This study showed there is no difference in incidence of viral respiratory transmission among health care workers wearing the two types of protection,” said Dr. Trish Perl, Chief of UT Southwestern’s Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine and the report’s senior author. “This finding is important from a public policy standpoint because it informs about what should be recommended and what kind of protective apparel should be kept available for outbreaks.”
Note: I’ve also read that the medical masks are much more comfortable to wear, as compared to N95 masks.
Do any PPers have any data (not just feelings, please) that contradict the above study?
FYI, I just ordered from Amazon 50 medical masks for $8.15 ($.16/each):
Yes, alot of students travelled back to start the new semester at the UC’s here in CA. I have a young family member in Grad school at one, it is a worry. I know this student has a few N95 masks, with respirator valve ( due to the bad wildfires near there last year) and I personally gave this student 2 8oz jars of home made elderberry last month. Other than that, well, luckily college age arent in the worst category if they get sick, because, yea, until told to, none of them are going to stay home and miss class ! Although, the particular program this student is in, it is common skip some lectures, however, going to all labs they always do !
This is the family member I worry the most about, being away from family and all. But, the friend groups there so seem to be close knit and look out for each other.
The old folks of mine, well, they are in poor health. They of course, would be much, much more at risk.
Just an anecdotal tale from today. I always keep a few n95 masks laying around for cleaning the chicken coop. On Friday I swung by the Home Depot and bought a couple 2 packs thinking I already had several in my shop. Turns out I only had one left, so my wife ordered a 10 pack on Amazon. The delivery date on the Prime masks is now pushed out till mid February and I wonder if I’ll ever even see them. Went back into Home Depot today and they were close to cleaned out. I grabbed a few two packs. There was a younger retired couple ( probably Californians) looking for 10 packs and I asked them if they were trying to beat the rush. The wife said they already had several boxes. I replied that they might want to leave some for others. The husband said he didn’t really care about anyone else. I think that his take on the situation would be shared by many. If there was even a hint of a full blown contagion, it would be Lord of the Flies.
371 new cases of novel coronavirus confirmed in Hubei
Three hundred and seventy-one new cases of novel coronavirus were confirmed on Monday in central China's Hubei Province, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 1,423 in the area as of midnight January 26.
Twenty-four more deaths were also confirmed in the province, according to local health authorities, raising the total number of deaths to 76.
===================
23:03, 26-Jan-2020
Coronavirus outbreak: At least 2,070 cases confirmed in China, 56 dead
Coronavirus ‘whistleblower’ nurse says China has 90,000 sick
Coronavirus: 100,000 may already be infected, experts warn
Ferguson, whose team have been modelling the disease for the World Health Organization, said they estimated the virus had a reproductive rate of 2.5-3, meaning that each person infected would potentially transmit it to up to three others. “My best guess now is perhaps 100,000 cases right now,” he said, although it could be between 30,000 and 200,000. “Almost certainly many tens of thousands of people are infected.”this info is beyond the discussion here, so far.
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/world/china-barricading-people-in-infected-cities-roads-being-blocked-with-piles-of-dirt-phone-lines-off-hospitals-out-of-supplies
46 MILLION PEOPLE UNDER QUARANTINE
The number of infected people has risen to slightly over three million and the death toll now stands at a MINIMUM of 156,000.
90,000 DEAD IN WUHAN ALONE!
So, this afternoon I’m thinking it’s probably a good idea to get some more N95 masks.
I already have some because of home/hobby maintenance regarding sanding, scraping paint, moving large amounts of dried leaves, etc., etc., etc.
But, because of reading CM’s most recent posts, I’m thinking, yeah, it’s probably a good idea to pick up some more right about now.
Going online, Amazon is out.
Walmart is out.
I went to my local pharmacy, they were completely out.
The local Home Depot is completely out.
I found one box at my local hardware store. It had dust on the top. Been there a long time, I’d suspect.
And many, many other big suppliers in the online environment are completely out.
Point is . . .
What does that tell you? This phenomenon has barely touched our shores and many suppliers are completely out at this time?
When I came home with the prize box, I posed the same question to my wife.
She said . . . . Well, are you familiar with the phrase “early adopters”?
Yup. We here are the ones getting the early preps in. After which the masses finally figure it out, annnnnnnd . . . . there’s nothing left.
the procedural/surgical masks. Yes , they are imperfect, the ease of replacement and disposal helps me insure a different form of security. OBTW I am horribly claustrophobic in a N95 mask.
This thought just occurred to me and has me freaked out. As far as I know the last time a global pandemic really swept the globe in a meaningful way in 1918. The global life expectancy actually dropped for a few years. In 1918 there were about 1.5 Billion people on the planet. Today it is 7.8 billion. If people are a virus’s energy source and the energy in the system in 5 times greater than it was before…what does this do to the virus? I know the Spanish flu started mild and then came back stronger, is there any reason to think there is a correlation between that and the number of hosts the virus has to feed on which gives it the ability / time / space / energy required to make those kinds of mutations? So for example, in 1918, how long did the virus have to persist, to infect the 100,000 suspected infections we have today? How many infections had to occur to practically ensure the negative mutations would manifest themselves? I don’t know enough about virus’s to even guess. Can you guys shed any light on this?