Re: Coronavirus
 

Jesus man, buy that shit up and store it in your lounge for the next 3 months.

Re: Coronavirus
 

On the San Diego reddit someone posted a picture from outside a local Costco with a massive line to get into the store, insanity.

Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle has been postponed.

https://www.kuow.org/stories/emerald...celed-for-2020

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More craziness over bog paper

Re: Coronavirus
 

On my Facebook feed today, a message from Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious diseases specialist in Ontario.

I'm a doctor and an Infectious Diseases Specialist. I've been at this for more than 20 years seeing sick patients on a daily basis. I have worked in inner city hospitals and in the poorest slums of Africa. HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis,TB, SARS, Measles, Shingles, Whooping cough, Diphtheria...there is little I haven't been exposed to in my profession. And with notable exception of SARS, very little has left me feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed or downright scared.

I am not scared of Covid-19. I am concerned about the implications of a novel infectious agent that has spread the world over and continues to find new footholds in different soil. I am rightly concerned for the welfare of those who are elderly, in frail health or disenfranchised who stand to suffer mostly, and disproportionately, at the hands of this new scourge. But I am not scared of Covid-19.

What I am scared about is the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic, stockpiling obscene quantities of anything that could fill a bomb shelter adequately in a post-apocalyptic world. I am scared of the N95 masks that are stolen from hospitals and urgent care clinics where they are actually needed for front line healthcare providers and instead are being donned in airports, malls, and coffee lounges, perpetuating even more fear and suspicion of others. I am scared that our hospitals will be overwhelmed with anyone who thinks they " probably don't have it but may as well get checked out no matter what because you just never know..." and those with heart failure, emphysema, pneumonia and strokes will pay the price for overfilled ER waiting rooms with only so many doctors and nurses to assess.

I am scared that travel restrictions will become so far reaching that weddings will be canceled, graduations missed and family reunions will not materialize. And well, even that big party called the Olympic Games...that could be kyboshed too. Can you even
imagine?

I'm scared those same epidemic fears will limit trade, harm partnerships in multiple sectors, business and otherwise and ultimately culminate in a global recession.

But mostly, I'm scared about what message we are telling our kids when faced with a threat. Instead of reason, rationality, openmindedness and altruism, we are telling them to panic, be fearful, suspicious, reactionary and self-interested.

Covid-19 is nowhere near over. It will be coming to a city, a hospital, a friend, even a family member near you at some point. Expect it. Stop waiting to be surprised further. The fact is the virus itself will not likely do much harm when it arrives. But our own behaviors and "fight for yourself above all else" attitude could prove disastrous.

I implore you all. Temper fear with reason, panic with patience and uncertainty with education. We have an opportunity to learn a great deal about health hygiene and limiting the spread of innumerable transmissible diseases in our society. Let's meet this challenge together in the best spirit of compassion for others, patience, and above all, an unfailing effort to seek truth, facts and knowledge as opposed to conjecture, speculation and catastrophizing.

Facts not fear. Clean hands. Open hearts.
Our children will thank us for it.

Re: Coronavirus
 

So you're living in China, are suspected of having the coronavirus, and have been placed in quarantine, and just when you think things can't possibly get any worse, the hotel where you've been quarantined, collapses! :blink:

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This photo from a San Diego area Costco. I am not too worried about the virus itself as chances are greater of not getting it, and even if I did, greater probability of it being mild and not life threatening, but I do feel concern for older adults and those with underlying health issues. We have a friend with cancer and doing chemo in the cancer center several days a week, so he is higher risk and can't stay isolated because the only place to get chemo is the cancer hospital.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sandiego/co...t_of_hand_why/

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...33cd7963a1.jpg

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It's spread to a care home in North Vancouver.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6645114/c...pdate-march-7/

It's being stressed to avoid or limit interactions at religious gatherings, as they have been a source of notable transmission.

A previously announced case was a care worker at the care home, 2 patients at the care home have tested positive so far.

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Where's the "[drooling with desire]" emoji when you need it...??

j/k!!

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www.facebook.com/678432351/posts/10156649516592352/

Mad dash for TP at Langley Costco. Absolutely stupid.

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You must have picked a bad day when the loonies were out, was there last week and everyone reasonably sensible.
But.. and there hasn't been any there for a while, I'll be joining the rush when HP sauce returns.

Re: Coronavirus
 

With Italy doing a larger scale quarantine, maybe these folks buying TP are the smart one's, if Canada had to do the same and say closed off parts of Vancouver and we couldn't easily get to the stores or the stores were closed, we only have about a week of TP, depending on my IBS could be as little as 3-4 days worth.

Might be able to push the food to 10 days if we rationed 2 meals a day. The dog has about 3 weeks of food.

I'd stock up a bit but not crazy amounts if we could, but disability is 3 weeks away.

Hopefully it doesn't get to that point, but if start seeing infections into the thousands they may very well start doing it, WA state is considering it if they need to in order to control the spread better.


California has also put through emergency orders in an attempt to remove barriers for testing and other needs.

health insurance companies must must lower to zero the cost for screening for the virus, including co-pays, deductibles, and coinsurance. This includes hospital and emergency room visits, urgent care treatment, and visits to provider offices. The directive also states insurers must waive preauthorization when the care involves COVID-19, permit out-of-network care when required.

That should remove the cost barrier for people, the insurance companies may not like it though.

Anyone who gets COVID and cannot work can apply for California Temporary Disability (EI basically, California one of the only states with such a program) which provides 60-70% of wages.

Paid family leave is available for up to 6 weeks for caregivers who may need to care for a family member.

The state has opened the UI Work sharing program which enables employers to curtail worker hours if necessary and allows employees to receive unemployment insurance benefits to make up the shortfall in wages.

Lawmakers have been asked for $20 million in funding, and California has released 21 million N95 masks from their emergency stock.

https://www.independent.com/2020/03/...id-19-testing/


Interesting how kids under 10 appear to not really get sick, they get a mild cold like symptoms it seems.

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It's just nature's way of telling us 60+ year olds that we've buggered it up, and who can disagree with that.
Looks like nature's decided to draw a line at 60 or thereabouts and's preparing to thin out the species.

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The young woman sat next to me on a flight this morning was wearing a facemask and latex gloves, and she wiped her seat down with a wet-wipe. I spent the flight willing up a great big greener wet sneeze, but alas, none was forthcoming.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

Nature?

Conspiracy theorists suggest......... <cough cough> is it possible that it's an 'engineered (man made) virus' to target certain age groups / health factors... strange that it's very mild in the youngest - which normally are the most at risk for virus's that affect the lungs. Weird how some labs were able to "recreat" the virus, isn't it? Wasn't this supposed to be a naturally occuring virus that evolved? Notice they said they have created and grown the virus and not 'cultured' it - how do you create something that evolved naturally? https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/w...fforts-404026/
:p

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millennials revenge on the baby boomers?

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First death in Canada.

A man who was a resident of the care home where an employee tested positive died Sunday.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6650774/b...update-monday/

32 cases now with 2 more imported cases 1 from Iran and 1 from Italy.

BC is advising anyone who is not feeling well to stay home even if they think its just a cold.

https://www.vicnews.com/news/b-c-up-...dent-has-died/

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I just can't get over the bog roll thing... why are people panic-buying bog roll?!

Even if diarrhea is a symptom of Wuhan flu, is that really the primary concern, that you might not have enough paper to bring your poor ringpiece to a heightened state of friction-induced rawness?

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Millennials will be too busy whining about something to engineer a virus! lol :rofl:

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Just been saying the exact same phrase to a friend of mine..... I don't understand the fixation.....I don't see the link. Highly confused! :confused:

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"The Force can have a strong influence on the weak minded"

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I wonder how the toilet paper supplies are doing in Italy right now? The ENTIRE country is on lock down!

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Costco car park was full today, as bad if not worse than Christmas. Although the store was busy there were only about 3 people at each register, almost all registers were open. We saw massive stocks of water, toilet rolls and kitchen towels. Most people had several of each in their carts, some couples had a cart each. The supermarkets seem to be fully stocked too, apart from disinfecting sprays and wipes.

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Apparently Trudeau said its Italy's darkest hour........ maybe someone should remind him of world war II. No wonder people are people are going bog roll crazy comments like that.....he doesn't live in the real world!

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Italy has 366 dead out of 4000 cases. Not far off one in ten. That compares to 240 deaths from regular flu out of 4,800,00 cases. That's a hell of a difference.

I think that's pretty dark and now the entire country is on lockdown.

Re: Coronavirus
 

B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is recommending cruise season be delayed, but it will ultimately be up to the federal government.

This would certainly hurt the local economy, and airport, without cruise ship season many of the flights added in the summer are not necessary.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6653317/b...U_AlKV7ZEfTddo

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No doubt its serious, but do we really need that kind of language? Maybe he meant the darkest hour so far.....but THE darkest hour?? its a bit dramatic....PMs should be carefully choosing their language in order to not stoke up already panicky people..... the media are doing a good enough job on that. Last night for example the opening lines were "First fatality in Canada from the Corona virus....is it time for Canada to cancel public events and lock down the public" talk about stoking public fear! the media are terrible for stuff like this.

How many cases have we heard where people have caught the virus and have full recovered? none. and lets not forget China's cases are now on the decline....this is hopefully a trend that will soon follow in Italy and Iran.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I think your anti-Trudeau bias is showing, that's all. Those figures relating to Italy and comparing them to regular flu in Italy or this virus compared to other countries are staggering.

You initially suggested darkest hour was an exaggeration compared to WW2. It's hardly a fair comparison; something in peacetime with something in war time.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Fair comment, cant really compare war time and peace time events, and yes your right I'm not a Trudeau fan.

Its just the media are really stoking this, they're worse than ever, and I don't think society copes with a crisis now as well like it once did, but times have changed I guess.....the media and the easy access of information is the biggest change.

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Expect to see a big increase in Canadian cases of Corona virus during the next 6 to 12 weeks as the snow birds return from their winter vacations.

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Times have changed.
People are still able to cope with adversity but in general their lives are so comparatively comfortable that they find themselves vulnerable to many more issues and what would once have been considered luxury is now commonplace and we like it that way.
This example of, what is really a virulent but generally safe for most, virus has provided a shock to society that demonstrates how quickly the herd reacts to percieved shortages of a luxury good.
It's actually society that's creating the problem for itself. I'd argue that the cure is more disruptive than the disease.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Worth keeping in mind the reported number infected is likely not everyone who is actually infected. A lot of people just get a high fever and carry on as normal, blissfully unaware they caught the virus. So the mortality % rate is likely a lot lower than what the numbers are telling us. Still terrible for the hundreds who have died and those who have lost loved ones to the illness of course.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...accine/607000/

Re: Coronavirus
 

I don't think this idea, advanced I believe by President Trump, holds. The mortality rate would not be a useful comparand if some Coronavirus sufferers failed to report it but all sufferers of swine flu or regular flu did report their condition. I think that unlikely. It seems to me that people are just as likely to go about their business with a touch of the ebola as they are with a touch of the coronavirus. That being the case, while the rate is not true in absolute terms it's fine for the purpose of comparison.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Do you have examples of unreasonable reporting from serious publications? I listen to the BBC "Italy in lockdown" they say, then they say that that is shorthand and describe the exact situation (for which "lockdown" seems a reasonable shorthand). I expect there's bollocks in the Sun and the Mail and the Enquirer but bollocks is what they're about.

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Anyone who has travelled in The Mid and Far East knows that life with toilet paper is possible. How did we survive before this abomination was invented ?

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Vox:

Why new diseases keep appearing in China

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I know exactly what you mean. My Wife is Filipino

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...175426bf6f.jpg

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We came face to face with this while staying in Manila many years ago. Not ideal

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In the early 90's a friend of mine stayed in a room in
Rome with those facilities. Since then I have come across them in France, Spain and South Italy.

Obviously not in tourist accomodations of course.

Re: Coronavirus