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Mrs. C and I plan to visit Anacortes next month with a one night in Bellevue. I wonder if we will need to quarantine ourselves when we return? I wonder who to ask?
My wife and I are both under 60, but not by much. We both work in downtown Seattle. Many from her company will be working from home, but she can not. On the plus side, the company will pay for her parking for the time being so she can drive rather than take public transit. As I’ve mentioned before, I work as a chaplain at a rescue mission, so I will continue to be among a high risk/high need population. But trusting God in that.
It’s all quite the adventure.
One thing I’ve been noticing is there seems to be a lot less traffic congestion on the freeways (state traffic monitoring website).
Thanks for the update; very interesting to hear how people in different areas and situation are coping/adapting.
I’m glad that, although Pittsburgh is only a little over an hour’s drive away, I’m kind of out in the sticks. Closest neighbors are about 1/4 mile away in both directions, up and down the road. If Mr. She and I had to hole up for a couple, or even a few weeks, it would not be hard.
He’s quite frail and susceptible to whatever’s going around, so he’s not going out at the moment, as I don’t think malls and restaurants are a particularly good idea right now. I’ve been stocking up (in a pretty sane way) on essentials for quite some time, and we always have at least a small cushion of stuff to see us through a cold spell or power outage, so I’m hoping, if Coronavirus gets to Western PA, we’ll be good to go. (So far, there are six “presumed” cases in PA, all on the other side of the state.)
Farmers have been thinking in terms of biosecurity for years, and generally have quarantine procedures in place for newly-acquired livestock, and other procedures to try to keep pests, predators and infectious diseases off the premises, so I’m just trying to follow along with those general principles. A stranger appearing in my driveway anytime in the next couple of months may be surprised to find himself subjected to a disinfectant bath (particular attention paid to ears, hands, mouth, and
hoovesfeet, and a few days and nights in isolation in a small stall, while I look him or her over for signs of disease. Just saying.There are three cases in my county in Maryland. The only tangible evidence of concern is that drug stores and grocery stores are all out of hand sanitizer and isopropyl alcohol.
I think that most people are waiting to get a handle on (a) how bad is the bug; (b) how contagious; and (c) when’s it gonna be over.
There is a lot of reporting and counting and warning but I don’t feel all that well-informed for being subjected to it.
We are on the front lines of confirmed cases and deaths because our number one tourists in Seattle happen to be Chinese. There are also large numbers of Chinese students at the University of Washington. Lord only knows how many carriers of the virus walked among us before the Chinese let us know just how serious the problem was.
I live in a condo complex in North Seattle. The three families in our building are all over 70 and retired, so our concern isn’t going to work, but we are all fairly paranoid and having groceries delivered by Safeway.com rather than leaving our homes. One of my neighbors who lives across the courtyard in a separate building came home from a cruise through the Panama Canal two weeks ago with pneumonia. The first week she said she was getting better but then took a turn for the worse. She was tested for the virus last week which came back negative much to everyone’s relief.
We can be proud of the work the UW is doing as far as producing testing, and the local press has been proactive with lots of the latest information and warning people, especially those over 60, to stay home. Amazon, Google, Microsoft and other employers have also stepped up to the plate by encouraging their workers to work from home.
If I have one gripe it might be that a lethargic Governor Inslee didn’t send authorities in to take over that nursing home in Kirkland where most of the cases have been reported, particularly in view of the fact that they were so secretive about keeping relatives informed about the condition of their loved ones. Apparently it took the Feds to go in there to see what the heck was going on. No one has mentioned this as of yet, but I have questions about the Evergreen Health Hospital where most of the deaths have occurred. What’s up with that?
The Gates Foundation announced they are donating home testing kits beginning next week, but I wonder how that will work when their ability to produce them is soon overwhelmed by people requesting them, particularly in light of the fact that we are in the middle of the “regular” flu season with similar symptoms.
Pence’s trip and accompanying bipartisan press conference was delightfully reassuring last week. Frankly, Trump’s calling Inslee a snake was not helpful. This virus doesn’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, and this is a perfect time for Trump to look magnanimous just like Pence did last week. Let the other side look petty and political!
Is Evergreen Health Hospital affiliated with Evergreen State College, the school whose knuckleheaded student body tried to ban white people from campus for a day?
I haven’t a clue but will do some research.
The Evergreen name is on numerous organizations around here, and the hospital is no way connected to the so-called college which is in Olympia. And Washington is the Evergreen State. I think the name has been way over-used and is just boring.
The presumptive nomer seems a formality. I live within 10 miles of 5 of the PA cases. Tests are done locally and called presumptive when positive, then confirmed after CDC reviews the tests. It seems like within a day, or less, the confirmation comes from CDC.
Once confirmation is done, then they release the township location information. So far all of our local cases are travel related, with mild symptoms, and home isolation. I think 2 are from international travel, and 3 are from traced travel in the USA where outbreaks exist.
The case in Wayne County is unfamiliar, and I thought that was out by Pittsburgh. Oddly enough, no cases in Philadelphia. Which seems very weird, almost false.
It is scary, and I expect the scenario will expand as the week progresses. I can only pray it stays mild.
Thankfully, I am a homebody, and just go to work, in the germ factory called school. 😷
My new mantra is Wash Your Hands.
Am I missing something?
As of early March, the Coronavirus has infected about 100 people in the U.S. and killed 9. In about the same period of time (in the four months before March), the various strains of the flue — you know, the ones that come around every year — has infected about 35 million people in the U.S. and killed about 30,000.
Yet most people seem to be afraid of the Coronavirus and not afraid of the flue. I think we’ve been bitten by the illogic virus.
I don’t worry about either, though I’m supposed to be in the high risk part of the population. (I’m 81.). I take no precautions, I wash my hands as I normally do (which is rarely), and I don’t buy extra bananas and toilet paper from Costco. I don’t even take the free flue shot that the V.A. offers.
I never get the flue. I don’t even get colds. I suppose I could get the flue and die. I just don’t worry about that eventuality. I could also get hit by a semi, garroted by my wife as I lie asleep in bed, beaten up by a gangsta, tripped by a jokester, bitten by a dog (I pet all dogs, even the “problematic” breeds), smashed flat by a chunk of ice that has fallen from the toilet of a plane flying overhead. I don’t worry about any of these.
I think you’re all Moms. If you’re not, you ought to be. (It’s raining, Johnnie. Wear your overcoat, raincoat, rubber boots, and gloves. Otherwise, you’ll catch a cold.”)
There are people working on this thing. Even if there weren’t, it will pass. I say, “Be happy and don’t worry.”
Yesterday at Mass they announced that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has directed that Eucharist will not be distributed by the cup, holy water will not be at the entrance (it generally isn’t during Lent anyway), shaking hands during the sign of peace should not be done, and that you should not hold hands during the Lord’s Prayer.
Sensible, I suppose.
@clavius, about your trip up here. Do it! And will you have some time to see us? I just received the notice of the Hillsdale National Leadership Seminar the 22nd and 23rd of April. We are both taking vacation both days so we can go.
If it also resulted in a ban on dorky new-agey music, guitars, tambourines and long sermons then it would be unambiguous that the virus has a divine origin and that my prayers were indeed efficacious.
Perhaps the significant item you’re missing is the exponential jump in cases throughout the world in numbers that are worrying. I go to this website for daily updates: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ . Most striking are new cases in countries that weren’t even showing up a couple of weeks ago. Corona spreads much faster than regular flu, but the problem the medical profession has with it is that it is unknown to them which means they don’t know how to treat for it. That, of course, will eventually take care of itself as they are able to study it and develop effective treatments and a vaccine.
In the meantime, we are left with an economy rapidly approaching a major recession throughout the world as tourism as well as local businesses see far fewer dollars. In fact, my concern is more economic rather than medical as my children tell me the effects they are seeing in their own professions. I don’t know how accurate these figures are, but I just read that worries over the virus have taken 2.7 trillion out of the world economy, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Does anyone have verification of that? I thought it was a terrible thing to say, too, but when I tried to verify it, everything pointed back to one woman’s Tweet.
We are in the midst of flu season. Vulnerable people are getting pneumonia and even dying. They will die in the tens of thousands in America, as they do every year. Odd that we are not seeing everything shut down for that deadly pandemic. Odd that the headlines are not about the experts failing to whip up a magic vaccine that actually immunizes us all.
There are a number of treatments but they are still not well documented. Both Chloroquin, an antimalarial drug, and Remdesivir, a new antiviral that was intended for Ebola are effective. In a NEJM case report, a Washington man was treated with it for pneumonia, a severe case, and the pneumonia cleared in 24 hours.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001191
Treatment with intravenous remdesivir (a novel nucleotide analogue prodrug in development10,11) was initiated on the evening of day 7, and no adverse events were observed in association with the infusion. Vancomycin was discontinued on the evening of day 7, and cefepime was discontinued on the following day, after serial negative procalcitonin levels and negative nasal PCR testing for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
On hospital day 8 (illness day 12), the patient’s clinical condition improved. Supplemental oxygen was discontinued, and his oxygen saturation values improved to 94 to 96% while he was breathing ambient air. The previous bilateral lower-lobe rales were no longer present. His appetite improved, and he was asymptomatic aside from intermittent dry cough and rhinorrhea. As of January 30, 2020, the patient remains hospitalized. He is afebrile, and all symptoms have resolved with the exception of his cough, which is decreasing in severity.
The most important problem going forward will probably be the limited number of machines to do PCR analysis of test material. That may not be as important in treatment but may affect statistics.
I might add that my wife and I are older (75 and 81) and have respiratory issues. However, we live in warm dry Tucson and on a street with 6 houses. So far we have gone to Costco for shopping once a week and are avoiding crowds. We do have a nephew and his son scheduled to visit from Chicago next month. We’ll see how that goes.
Unfortunately, I heard him say it in an interview on TV, not through someone’s Tweet.
Everyone who resides in, works in, or has visited in that nursing home in the last month is likely colonized. Those fourteen unfortunates didn’t get off the bus from Wuhan.
A doctor for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is in critical condition due to SARS-2-CoV.
Of course, he departed Egypt, alone on an international flight from Egypt, with empty airports and customs, Right?
Of course not. Who knows who he passed or infected on the plane, in either airport? How many dozens of children, colleagues, and family members before falling ill.
Our county says wait, don’t be nervous. So far, we only have 10 cases related to travel, no community infection.
Y.E.T.
Let’s wait 5-14 days to see if those in this Doctor’s contacts, and the contacts of the other 9 in PA get critically ill.
Un-B-Fn-Lievable. This is not the flu. Call long distance to Italy, South Korea, China, Iran.
That’s going to be one heck of a work comp situation
And away we go:
This is what I don’t understand. Isn’t that nursing home scenario community spread?
Yet why is the mantra, “travel-related?”
Weren’t these travellers in the community where they visited, thus they are community spread? Patient zero is the first to begin the community spread.
Am I confused?
When we were still at work, I was noticing faucets coming on too hot or shutting off too soon (or even refusing to start). So I would continue by moving to the next faucet over.