I get how some people feel about wearing masks. I hate wearing mine when I go out. BUT… here in Ulaanbaatar, just like in some other places in Asia, wearing a mask is REQUIRED either by the stores or even to just be out in public. I was told more than a week ago that Mongolian gov’t authorities are now fining anyone in public without a mask. I still see a few people without masks, but they are now very much in the minority at least in the city. At some point the gov’t authorities in your neck of the woods may require masks in public as well.
So while I think wearing a mask may offer at least a minimal level of protection, the primary reason I wear one is so I can get groceries on my weekly trip. Well, that and being a foreigner makes me stand out enough already, thank you very much… 
BTW, at least for now after getting back home I (carefully) place my N95 mask on the window shelf in my office area (immediately wash my hands afterwards). It gets some sunlight each day and there’s one of those thin, semi-transparent decorative curtains that separates the area where I sit from the window shelf the mask sits on. Not the ideal solution, perhaps, but since I go out only twice a week on average and there’s no reported cases here yet I think it is good enough. If/when cases are reported here, I may switch to rotating between 3 or 4 masks.
Singapore is pretty much fully air-conditioned 
In Singapore there is now only a trickle of new cases and the total number of active cases has fallen to 30. We’re almost at the end of the virus outbreak but it’ll probably take a month or two as there are bound to be a few more imported cases. China is also far past the peak and the number of daily infections is falling fast. Despite some new clusters around the world I still believe we are past the overall global peak and that this will all blow over by the summer with in the region of 5,000-7,500 deaths in total (out of a world population of 7.8 billion people!). The harm to the world economy due to the panic over the virus will of course be considerable. I could be wrong of course, I guess that time will show?
@Nordic_Mist I think Singapore is the standout country for the control and treatment… bar none. Unfortunately, I don’t think what Singapore has achieved will be replicated by other countries (see pic below of cases outside China):
I wore my respirator on the bus/metro to work this morning, after the first 3 cases in the Czech Republic were confirmed yesterday afternoon. FYI, they are:
- Male born 1952, was at a conference in Udine, Italy
- Female, nationality USA, born 1999, studies in Milan.
- Male, born 1976, was on a skiing holiday in northern Italy with his family.
All 3 patients are apparently not in any kind of serious condition, but of course this number of ‘confirmed’ cases is just the tip of the iceberg.
I can confirm that the mask is highly uncomfortable. I pulled up my scarf over it but that just meant I looked a bit like a football hooligan and it also means your breaths out have nowhere to go. Wearing glasses also isn’t the most pleasant task with one of these masks, they seem to get steamed up quite easily (or else I didn’t have a proper seal?)
The overall response to the situation here is still quite lackadaisical. It is a theme of conversation yet the overriding impression I get is still one of ‘that kind of thing can’t/won’t happen here’ and that ‘something’ will come along to save the day. I believe it will start to hit home when/if further towns/regions in Europe start being quarantined, which is looking more and more likely now.
New York governor confirms first coronavirus case in state
“Cuomo said the patient is a woman in her 30s who contracted the virus while traveling abroad in Iran. He said the woman is in quarantine in her home.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-usa-new-york/new-york-state-confirms-first-coronavirus-case-governor-cuomo-idUSKBN20P037
NordicMist-
So, Singapore has a first rate system, and was all over this as soon as it happened. It furthermore imposed a travel ban, brushing aside China’s attempts to soft-power them into continuing to import cases.
Contrast that with Iran. And the rest of the third world. They don’t have the first, and didn’t do the second. My math says Iran has 15,000 cases - most optimistically - based on the number of deaths they’ve confirmed. At a doubling time of 5 days, in a month they’ll have half a million cases.
[Iran is an interesting study; a surprising number of their top people have been infected. That suggests high level contact with infected high level people from China. Do we think China notified Iran of the issue? I suspect not. They’d lose face if they did that. How do you imagine that is going over in Iran’s elite circles? The infection of a chunk of Iran’s elite is also probably why it was actually detected. I digress.]
What about Africa? Everywhere there are expat Chinese workers on all those “Belt & Road” projects, you can expect cases to appear, undetected by the non-existent healthcare in those countries. Think China is talking about that? I’m guessing, no.
Iran is not Singapore. Neither is the rest of the third world.
I think figuring this out is maybe a month away.
I received an e-mail yesterday about my monthly subscribe and save shipment from Amazon. Several of the items are out of stock and they could not give a date when they would become available. These were mostly some herbal supplements and vitamins which I have a good reserve of and could possibly get locally.
On another note, I’m thinking of starting a couple veg plants now that I can grow inside.
FDA allows new diagnostic technologies to test for coronavirus before receiving emergency approvalsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration said today that it would allow new diagnostics technologies to be used to test for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at elite academic hospitals and healthcare facilities around the country.
The agency’s new initiative comes as critics have assailed various U.S. government agencies for being woefully underprepared to effectively address the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country despite being aware of the potential risks the virus posed since the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China in early December.
These are about the right size and shape to be water troughs for cattle.
Virus Arrives Day 2
Test results have revealed a second (still presumptive?) case of covid 19 virus among the members of a group of Rhode Islanders recently returned from a school trip to Europe. This person is a teenager. A third person from the trip, who is said to be on staff, at a second high school is being tested. Both schools are closed today and tomorrow for “cleaning”. One of these schools is three miles from my house and was attended by one of my sons a number of years ago.
A Brown University professor recently returned from a conference in Europe has been ill since his return. He knows from the news that two of the presenters at the conference have tested positive. He sat next to one of the presenters during a session. He has been attempting to get tested. His doctor says that since the conference was not in Italy the professor does not fit the criteria for testing. No test will be provided. The professor also said he has had conversation with a colleague in Switzerland who was at the same conference and who was tested upon telling his doctor about his travels.
These events are reported on the Providence Journal website. https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20200301/update-2-have-now-tested-positive-for-coronavirus-after-saint-raphael-academy-field-trip-to-europe-students-chaperones-on-trip-quarantined
A concerned parent posted a question on my granddaughter’s public elementary school site demanding to know what, if any, steps the school has taken to protect students. He was seriously considering removing his child from school as of now. A concerned PTO member responded by saying the CDC and state department of health have issued guidelines and that the parent should not be such an alarmist.
This is happening in a state which, although the smallest in the union, can’t get the potholes filled in spring, has been cited for having the worse infrastructure in the nation and where a number of urban school districts are in total shambles. I am not optimistic about the state government’s ability to handle any of this.
JT
Sparky1 comment: 'Gotta protect us “vulnerable populations” from an “overabundance of information” and “anti-science messages” that create “rumors” or “panic” or “confusion about where accurate information can be found” concerning the novel coronavirus. Here all this time I thought the WHO, CDC and other “trustworthy” health officials were supposed to be fighting the coronavirus “emergency” (aka, pandemic).
How health officials and social media are teaming up to fight the coronavirus ‘infodemic’
Excerpts:
“The WHO defines an infodemic as “an overabundance of information — some accurate and some not — that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.” The problem is aided by the ease and speed with which false or misleading information can spread on social media.”
“In an effort to help people sort through the sometimes overwhelming amount of information online, Kuzmanovic said the organization is working directly with social media companies to ensure users are directed to trusted sources. Now, when social media users on a number of platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, search for “coronavirus,” they are directed first to information from either the WHO, the Centers for Disease Control or their national health ministry.”
[Seema Yasmin, director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative and a former officer with the Centers for Disease Control’s Epidemic Intelligence Service]
“We’ve seen the spread of rumors and anti-science messages during Ebola, during Zika,” Yasmin said…the anti-science messages are sophisticated, targeting vulnerable populations and really tailoring anti-science messages to groups that believe them."
“Yasmin urged news organizations to put resources toward doing health and science journalism and encouraged health officials to be proactive in fighting the ongoing issue of health misinformation online.”
“Some social media platforms have independently taken further steps to curb misinformation and panic surrounding coronavirus.”
"Facebook (FB) said several weeks ago it would remove content with bogus cures or other false claims about coronavirus or posts that could create confusion about where accurate information can be found. "
“The company will “remove content with false claims or conspiracy theories that have been flagged by leading global health organizations and local health authorities that could cause harm to people who believe them,” Kang-Xing Jin, Facebook’s head of health, said in a blog post…”
“Last week, a Facebook spokesperson told CNN Business that the platform is working with its fact-checking partners to debunk false claims about the virus. Once Facebook posts and links are fact-checked and found to be false, the spokesperson said, the platform “dramatically” cuts their distribution. People who see this content, try to share it, or already have, are alerted that it’s false.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/01/tech/coronavirus-social-media-reliable-sources/index.html
My limited understanding is that Singapore took active public health efforts to stop the spread of the virus, starting at the earliest stages.
1. Testing the sick to aggressively to identify and quarantined the infected. 2. Liberal testing policy to identify asymptomatic and minimally sick--the "engines of transmission." 3. Reduced group gatherings early. 4. Gave citizens accurate information. 5. Asked citizens to voluntarily participate in disrupting contagion.They halted their societies function in order to stop contagion. --------------------- Contrast this with the USA and much of the rest of the world where
1. Hospitals and Public Health Authorities apply overly restrictive protocols to refuse testing those already sick with viral respiratory illness unless they meet strict inclusion criteria that are already widely understood to be inadequate. (Travel to Wuhan, known exposure to already diagnosed person, 14 day time limit, other respiratory virus and flu tests must first be negative). 2. Refusal of the public health department to test the asymptomatic who are the unknowing engines of transmission. ("you do not meet criteria for testing.") 3. Refusal to test the minimally ill, who request testing, who do not meet limited criteria. 4. Discouraging used of protective masks even though both COVID infection mechanisms (fomite and aerosol) involve entry to the body through the nose and mouth. 5. Not interrupting public gatherings / transportation where most contagion occurs. 6. Use of "happy-talk" by officials to keep the public believing that the risk level is very low. (just the flu, keep calm and wash your hands) 7. Gave falsely low statistics to the public to give the appearance of low risk level.This approach is guaranteed to grow the pandemic. And guaranteed to leave the public unprepared. Is this obvious to everyone?
The game plan has been the exact opposite of containment. Even our own local mayor told people not to worry about touching surfaces on the train (big city mayor). Why they would facilitate widespread contagion is hard to understand, but I really think it is as simple and sad as many here have said-to protect the markets long enough to achieve certain ends. Even Ebola got better coverage and advice to people in my area. Now the health systems are in a state of denial too. That to me is frustrating because I get no support for taking protective measures in my own situation and get treated like Henny Penny by normally heroic men and women in denial. The messaging has worked but a bit too well.
These are long enough to accommodate a coffin, whereas most troughs are shorter and rounded. Both burial liners and troughs can be plastic but often the latter are galvanized metal. It’s not surprising that FEMA would have a stock of liners for use in a disaster. It actually shows some good planning, as liners are necessary in some parts of the country. Now if only the CDC had had as much foresight.
Frustrated ER doctor at big NY Hospital: McCarthy, a staff physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, says he still does not have access to Coronavirus test kits. “I’m here to tell you, right now, at one of the busiest hospitals in the country, I don’t have it at my finger tips,” he said. “I still have to make my case, plead to test people. ***This is not good. We know that there are 88 cases in the United States. There are going to be hundreds by middle of week. There’s going to be thousands by next week. **** And this is a testing issue.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus-new-york-city-doctor-has-to-plead-to-test-people.html
Here’s a link to a study suggesting fasting can help with cytokines. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2016/1698071/
I fast most Wednesdays as it helps maintain/lose weight and resets my hunger signals. Anywhere from 18-36 hours. I’m not super strict as I drink coffee/broth but when I feel the need to be strict I take a caffeine pill.
Your reply makes no sense - its like it was not referring to my post. WHere do you see I am sitting waiting for a sick delivery man to deliver my things - thinking that amazon and walmart will magically have stuff? I didnt say anything to that effect at all - not even close. What I said , is food stocks are on shelves , there is more on the way. as the way the govt is now handling it evne if people are sick they are still producing. I never said the items at the store are free of infection. I said the exact opposite. you will need to go our and get provisions with ppe after this next week , I believe. As for deep pantry i have at least 1 year of food for my fmaily of 3 plus indoor garden. plus generator , plus uvc and ozone. But the point is while there are still stocks on the shelves , i will not start to consume my provisions… that time will still come… - you need to weigh the risk of getting ill with starting to consume your provisions- no one said anything about waiting for walmart to magically bring things when no one is left to work… I am not sure what prejudice you read with… but the reply made zero sense to my post
I agree you need to be checked. Since you recently traveled, your symptoms sound a lot like a possible blood clot. Don’t wait.