Romans Used to Ward Off Sickness With Flying Penis Amulets.

[atlasobscura.com]

This is serious business. My daughter works at NIH. This is not the seasonal flu, it is much more deadly to the elderly and we are not testing enough. I do not understand why people find that so hard to fathom. You do not have to be a scare monger but you should take this seriously. There is no vaccination, we have very few test kits and it lives quite awhile on surfaces.

Once upon a time I was an NBC NCO, so when I hear the term Novel Virus, my military mind turns on.

Novel, with virus, means new in the way an 18 month old discovers the newness of an open razor blade, they cannot comprehend the possible dangers, they are ignorant of them and learning in real time. Like we all are now.

What I can discern from what is available through CDC WHO, and other viable sources, experts and data.

C-19 is in the Corona family, which means it is likely persistent in the environment for hours or days. France thinks 9 days (CRAP, thats a long time!), China says 72 hours (more common). So its is at least somewhat a waterbourne agent.

All medical personnel are required to ppe with N95 or better, that is aerosol, fully airborne particle small enough to breathe and float/hang in the air.

TO ME this means its BOTH. If your close to an infected 6 ft or less, you can just breathe it in.
AND, that sneeze or cough creates droplets which linger on surfaces, get picked by hands, to the face, to your insides.

I have been monitoring this through Johns Hopkins since it was announced because of my background and the reality I am in that at risk population for which c-19 is lethal. We are now in the Viral Bloom, rapid spread. The best we can do is stay OUT of the world as much as possible, and use all precautions for when your in the world.
We need to do that not for hours, or days, or weeks, but UNTIL THE BLOOM ENDS
and we have no good idea when that will be.

PERHAPS the biggest problem with ALL EPIDEMIC EVENTS is human psychology. People, all of us, tend to deny a viral reality and downplay it in order to lessen panic reflex, which can be as or more devastating that the virus, depending on the bug.
OR
They panic the opposite way and think its apocalypse.

The Black Death was not the end of the world, but it was a horror. The 1918 influenza killed more people than ww1, ww2, Korea and Vietnam combined. Ask a native about how Smallpox affected their tribal history sometime.

The issue will be SLOW the spread, in order to maintain a functional heal care system, if we fail that and the sys becomes overwhelmed, then it could get very bad.

For instance to treat 20% of our population with c-19 we need 200,000 repirators, breathing machines, we only have half that. So how fast and well we respond will be vital, but we are on the roller coaster of an outbreak now folks, we ride the wave or drown in it.

[gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com]

The local Unitarian church just announced that they are cancelling all activities indefinitely.

They're going to come out and tell us to limit out person to person interaction. Could you and your family stay home for 2 weeks? If not, go to the store and get what you need. Stock up on medicine you need and stay home. Talk to your bosses and work from home if you can. We would do us all a huge favor and just stay home. This is how China beat it.

I work in a business that does pre-authorizations for a large number of insurance companies, my company also was taken in by one of the major insurance companies a year or so ago.
There was an announcement through an email earlier today that this company will pay claims without charging deductibles and copays for any Covid-19 treatments and care.
They are also going to make testing available at no cost.
I am impressed with my company.

The few people I met while in Kansas City know I am in healthcare. Took a job with the state department in Iraq for various reasons. We are tracking this daily and sometimes hourly. It seems like my life has now been consumed by this, and disaster planning for it.
WHO just declared COVID-19 a pandemic: [usatoday.com]

What to do? Wash hands frequently, don't touch your face, maintain social distance-at least 6 feet.
Do masks work? Sometimes. They limit spread of particles when someone sneezes or coughs. But if they are sick, they shouldn't be out.
Who is going to get it: I think ultimately all of us. It seems to be affecting older people more, rates going up after age 50. More health problems, higher risk of complications and death.

If I catch it I can only hope to get Lyme disease with it.

I am not getting my knickers in a knot. People have caught it and some died ... but the chance of me getting a heart attack or maybe run over by a car - much greater.

I’m not sure why anyone thinks the media is over blowing the treat this virus poses. I think they are simply doing what they do...reporting what information they have on the subject. There clearly was a lack of factual information and now it seems some think there may be too much. The problem as I understand it with this virus is it is being spread way before the typical flu like symptoms become obvious. Compound that with people not being able to tell if they have just a cold or regular flu or the corona virus. There is no way to tell for most people who are just sick at home until they develop severe life threatening symptoms. By then they have already infected numerous others, who have themselves passed it on.
I believe this will become worse before it gets better. I just came back from our local Walmart where few products containing chlorine bleach could be found. Toilet paper is still on the shelves, but people are clearly panic buying.
I already had a case of the flu this season. I’m really hoping it was the corona virus...so I have already developed some protective antibodies against it. At present I’m walking around as if I’m immune. But this is clearly a dangerous issue that needs to be taken seriously. I’m not panic buying, but I am trying to stock up on a few things. Refilled my prescription for example. I won’t run out for 90 days. Plan for things getting a bit worse...can’t hurt.

A recent bulletin released from the C.S.L. ( Commonwealth Serum Laboratories) in Australia claims that their are approx. 6 to 12 months away from developing a safe vaccine for Covid 19 after they had grown the virus in the Labs soon after it emerged.
Aussie ingenuity comes to fore once again it seems.

The link to the group: "COVID-19"

I have bronchial asthma issues and don't know if that would put me at higher risk ; and I certainly cannot afford to get sick. I also don't want to expose my elderly parents to it.

My ex was going to travel from Vietnam to take care of the business so I can take my bi-annual break/vacation (I was going to go the the atheist convention in Phoenix in April). Well, we discussed it, and decided it will be better if he doesn't even try to come at this time and I have decided not to go to the convention .

Other than that, I do my best to keep my hands away from my face. I have always been good about washing my hands; now I am even better about it. As I work from home, going to a job and being around others for long periods of time is not an issue. I do have concerns about the virus affecting my sales--given they are my only source of income.

Something that concerns me is that Mike Pence is leading the charge in the US and this is a man who believes in divine judgment, has no faith in science and is fully indoctrinated in the Koch Brother's ideology.
It is ironic that the Council on Foreign Relations had to cancel its conference on how to Do Business With the Coronavirus because of, you probably already guessed it - The COVID-19 Outbreak.

I am currently overseas (Australia - home of the TP panic buying syndrome) and have a trip back home scheduled for the end of this month. I have a little less than 2 weeks to decide if I should continue with my plans or just sit tight until things settle down. I am actually not concerned about catching the virus as much as I am concerned about being in lock down (my daughter lives on a Coast Guard base) and or quarantine if I enter the U.S. My entry point is SFO which is already in state of emergency mode. Decisions decisions.

Maybe it is just a tool to control the elderly population developed under the directives of the Chinese communist party?

Jebus response in the meme should be .. "Sending thoughts and prayers".

If you could, please post a link to the group here. I just spent 10 minutes looking for it and didn't find it.

...just heard 350 students quarantined at Wits university in Johannesburg. Started with a medical student being affected. Scary times for the entire world.

The nice thing about being an Atheist is that most of us have one of these kicking around the house and know how to use it properly.

So Do Not Panic but do take proper steps to be prepared to weather this storm, avoid spreading the virus and to protect your loved ones.

We seem to be due for one of these every two years or so.

This is NOT a pandemic!

I'll join.