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This story is a roundup of several virus stories that were submitted over the past few days. This is a changing story, so some of what is posted below may have changed since the time of their originally being published.
What's in a name? One significant change is what the names are for everything. There is the question of what to call the actual virus and then what to call it when someone is infected.
Virus: The virus by itself is now officially referred to as SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). It was formerly known as 2019-nCoV (2019 novel coronavirus).
Disease: Those who have been infected by this virus are said to have a disease. The name of the disease is coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which is also known as 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease.
More details are available on Wikipedia.
The six submitted stories are presented below.
NIH Official Says Coronavirus 'on the Verge' of Becoming Global Pandemic Unless Containment Improves
Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CBS's "Face The Nation" that multiple person-to-person transmissions need to occur in multiple countries in order to reach the pandemic threshold.
[...] "Technically speaking, the [World Health Organization] wouldn't be calling this a global pandemic. But it certainly is on the verge of that happening reasonably soon unless containment is more successful than it is right now," he said.
Coronavirus Selections
To Tame Coronavirus, Mao-Style Social Control Blankets China:
Residential lockdowns of varying strictness — from checkpoints at building entrances to hard limits on going outdoors — now cover at least 760 million people in China, or more than half the country's population, according to a New York Times analysis of government announcements in provinces and major cities. Many of these people live far from the city of Wuhan, where the virus was first reported and which the government sealed off last month.
44 Americans on the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Diagnosed with Coronavirus:
Another 70 cases of the coronavirus infection have been confirmed aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, currently quarantined in Japan, according to Japanese health officials.
This brings the total number of cases aboard the vessel as of Sunday to 355, the largest confirmed cluster outside mainland China. People with confirmed infections have been taken to hospitals in Japan.
Tokyo Olympics Organizers Says There is no 'Plan B' for 2020 Summer Games Amid Coronavirus Fears:
Tokyo Olympic organizers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said there is no 'Plan B' for the upcoming summer games despite growing fears that the coronavirus could impact the event, which are set to begin in July, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking at a press conference Friday, the organizers took 11 questions, all of which were related to the virus, athletes and fans coming in from China, and the continuation of the planned events.
"Certainly the advice we've received externally from the WHO [World Health Organization] is that there's no case for any contingency plans or canceling the games or moving the games," IOC inspection team head John Coates said during the news conference, CBS Sports reported.
Coates also claimed he is "100% confident" that the Olympic games will continue as scheduled.
The White House Doesn't Trust China's Coronavirus Numbers - Here's why:
The White House said this week it does "not have high confidence in the information coming out of China" regarding the count of coronavirus cases, a senior administration official told CNBC. Meanwhile, China has reportedly been reluctant to accept help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and has reportedly suppressed information about the outbreak from scientists that it deems alarming.
U.S. officials' mistrust of China goes as far back as the 1950s, when national authorities set unrealistic production quotas that led local officials to inflate data. Mishaps with the 2003 outbreak of SARS, which sickened 8,098 people and killed about 800 over nine months, and discrepancies in reporting of economic data over the past two decades has only hardened the U.S. government's belief that China cannot be trusted, experts say. White House advisor Peter Navarro has even called China a "disease incubator."
See also:
ACE2 Expression in Kidney and Testis May Cause Kidney and Testis Damage After 2019-nCoV Infection
The possible origins of 2019-nCoV coronavirus (scrubbed or hoax preprint on ResearchGate)
China Washes Money in Bid to Stop Conovirus COVID-19
When the going gets tough the tough get washing. In a bid to stop the Coronavirus (COVID-19) China has taken to washing money using ultraviolet light or very high temperatures. This is intended to "secure the public's safety and health when using cash". This effort may not be required due to China's rising reliance on electronic payments.
Americans Trapped on Cruise Ship with Coronavirus get to go Home
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Approximately 400 Americans may finally get to go home after being trapped aboard a cruise ship in Japan with the largest outbreak of coronavirus outside of China.
Everyone aboard the Diamond Princess has been under quarantine on the ship in Yokohama, Japan (south of Tokyo), since February 3. At the start of the quarantine, there were 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew on board the ship. Since then, 285 cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) have been identified, according to the latest figures reported by the World Health Organization.
The outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the Diamond Princess is currently the largest of any cluster outside of China. Singapore is the country with the next largest cluster, reporting 72 cases.
According to the CDC, the itinerary for the extracted Americans will go as follows: buses will move the travelers from the ship to chartered planes. Travelers will be screened for symptoms of COVID-19 prior to boarding the aircraft to prevent any symptomatic travelers from leaving Japan. They will continue to be monitored for symptoms during flight and again upon arrival in the US. They will first arrive at Travis Air Force Base in California, which is already being used as a federal quarantine site for repatriated travelers. Some travelers will then be taken onward to another federal quarantine site, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas. The repatriated cruise-ship goers will be housed separately from others already in quarantine at both bases.
[...] During the quarantine, which was scheduled to last until February 19, passengers have largely been confined to their cabins. Some have reported problems with the delivery of food and supplies, such as diapers.
[...] The embassy noted that if any passengers "choose not to return on this charter flight, you will be unable to return to the United States for a period of time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make a final determination on this matter."
-- submitted from IRC
High-Tech Shortages Loom as Coronavirus Shutdowns Hit Manufacturers
There are now more than 45,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus dubbed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, and the disease has caused at least 1,115 deaths. The impact of the virus is now reaching way beyond public health: China is at the heart of global manufacturing, and as supply chains suffer, panic is beginning to set in.
In many provinces across China the government has urged hundreds of millions of workers to stay home to help reduce the spread of the virus. As a result, many factories have stayed closed since the Lunar New Year holiday in late January, halting the production of products and parts destined for countries around the world, including Australia.
Apple is one of the most high-profile companies affected, with its manufacturing partner Foxconn hitting a lengthy production delay, but they are far from alone.
The sectors hit hardest appear to be high-tech electronics, pharmaceuticals and the automotive industry.
Globalised supply chains and just-in-time manufacturing mean many seemingly unrelated products are vulnerable to pauses in the flow of goods from China.
It only takes one small missing part to bring entire supply chains to a standstill. If a tyre manufacturer in the United States doesn't receive valves from a supplier in China, a car plant in Germany won't receive any tyres, and therefore can't ship finished cars to its customers.
[...] For many industries the next few months will bring high levels of uncertainty, with disruptions certain to continue, before recovery programs can start to gain traction.
This is obviously a worry for many organizations, but could also be a period of new opportunity for others, as the world comes to terms with this latest global health crisis. Supply chains that are agile enough to react quicker than their competitors," or those with more robust risk management plans, might find themselves gaining greater market share as a result of this crisis.
Apple Warns Coronavirus Will Hurt iPhones Supplies
Apple warns coronavirus will hurt iPhones supplies:
Apple has warned that disruption in China from the coronavirus will mean revenues falling short of forecasts.
The tech giant said production and sales were affected, and that "worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained".
[...] "We do not expect to meet the revenue guidance we provided for the March quarter," the company said in a statement, adding that it was "experiencing a slower return to normal conditions" than expected.
With most stores in China either closed or operating at reduced hours, sales of Apple products would be lower, the company said.
Apple said that "while our iPhone manufacturing partner sites are located outside the Hubei province - and while all of these facilities have reopened - they are ramping up more slowly than we had anticipated.
"All of our stores in China and many of our partner stores have been closed," it added. "Additionally, stores that are open have been operating at reduced hours and with very low customer traffic. We are gradually reopening our retail stores and will continue to do so as steadily and safely as we can."
Previously:
MWC Barcelona 2020: "Mobile World Congress" or "Most Won't Come"?
Coronavirus Roundup
Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Roundup
2019-nCoV Coronavirus Story Roundup
Coronavirus Declared a Global Health Emergency by World Health Organization
In The Pipeline: Coronavirus
China Battles Coronavirus Outbreak: All the Latest Updates
Coronavirus: Millions Quarantined in Wuhan City
China Confirms Human-To-Human Transmission of New Coronavirus; CDC Confirms First US Case
China Reports 3rd Death, Nearly 140 New Cases of Coronavirus
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3 Original Submission #4 Original Submission #5 Original Submission #6
(Score: 5, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:10AM
Coronavirus cancels F1 and Formula E races, could make EU miss CO2 target [arstechnica.com]
No batteries? There's also the CO2 effects of running the incinerators 24/7.
A battery shortage is just what the tech
industryconsumercoronazombie doesn't need. Along with other factory shutdowns, it might be a good excuse to double the prices of phones and laptops. And Nintendo Switch [wccftech.com].Chinese activist detained after calling Xi Jinping 'clueless' on coronavirus crisis [theguardian.com]
This is not the only person to get black bagged lately, just a more prominent one. Some people are calling for revolution. Unfortunately, quarantine "wartime conditions" allow China to easily get very up close and personal with would-be activists. And if they die, the government can just incinerate the bodies and blame the virus.
14 passengers on US charter flights evacuating the Diamond Princess have tested positive for coronavirus [cnn.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:24AM (5 children)
https://web.archive.org/web/20200214144447/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339070128_The_possible_origins_of_2019-nCoV_coronavirus [archive.org]
https://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.21799.29601 [doi.org]
That DOI link wasn't active before, but now it goes to a page that says "This content has been removed by the author
Sorry, the content associated with this DOI is no longer available on ResearchGate."
The paper was purportedly submitted by Botao Xiao, a researcher from the South China University of Technology.
So if it was removed by the author and it's not a prank paper, you could imagine someone was displeased with that conclusion.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:00AM (1 child)
There is no reason to be concerned about BL-4 labs nearby population centers. The risk of infection is very low and the best scientists will not work in the middle of nowhere.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:43AM
Ha ha. Reminds me of:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/08/china_seeks_director_largest_radio_telescope/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2171002/wanted-researchers-chinas-mega-telescope-interpret-signals-across [scmp.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by driverless on Tuesday February 18 2020, @11:14AM (2 children)
It's just today's conspiracy theory. The blindingly obvious, straightforward explanation is that it's a virus that jumped from animals to humans, as any number of similar viruses have done in the past, and it happened in a country where food hygiene standards are, um, questionable, which also makes sense. So of course people have to go out and invent the most improbable, ridiculous conspiracy theories to explain it because the blindingly obvious, straightforward explanation would never do.
(Score: 4, Touché) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:14PM
I wonder how stringent the hygiene and safety standards are in China's pathogen labs.
#PrayForBotaoXiao
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @07:43PM
you're a fucking idiot. i guess these bats have hiv insertions too?
(Score: 1, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:32AM (27 children)
Given the rates of contagion and mortality reported so far, the flu is a hell of a lot scarier and it's so boring that plenty of folks don't even bother with a flu shot. This is nothing but fearmongering clickbait.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:35AM (21 children)
It's just a flu, bro!
Get coughed on.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:43AM (20 children)
I wasn't talking about this story, I was talking about the whole global scare campaign. I've ripped farts that were more worrisome.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:58AM (4 children)
95% of vitamin C comes from China. Get as much as possible now, use a polarizer to test each batch for purity: https://www.facebook.com/hkust/videos/606119420178477/?type=2&theater [facebook.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:11AM (3 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:21AM
Also from china: https://www.amazon.com/Polarization-Polarizer-Educational-Physics-Polarized/dp/B06XWXRB75 [amazon.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:24AM (1 child)
Just put the polarizer in your gamma ray sterilization chamber.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:43AM
You mean out in the sun?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:20AM (12 children)
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/15/heres-why-the-white-house-doesnt-trust-chinas-coronavirus-numbers.html [cnbc.com]
China is definitely under-reporting infections and deaths. People appear to be spreading it during a long incubation period. Death rate can't be accurately nailed down until people start dropping dead outside of China because China's numbers can't be trusted. Even if it's just a 2% death rate, it looks like it's going to spread nicely before a vaccine is produced. Companies are already starting to lose money because of this, which would not be their first choice. The World Health Organization has bent over backwards to praise China's response and "transparency", which is not a surprise since they get a nice pile of funding from China. Here's a bonus [freedomhouse.org] from 2018 I just found. WHO is nudging social media sites to censor "misinformation" while promoting its own [voanews.com]. Mainstream media outlets are watering down their coronavirus coverage, not participating in a scare campaign. They could easily amp the fearmongering up to 11 if they wanted to.
It was only a matter of time before a pandemic was assisted by ubiquitous air travel. Compare the situation today to the 1968 flu pandemic, for example.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:24AM (1 child)
It is unlikely a useful vaccine will be produced. The attempts at a SARS vaccine made animals have extreme reactions when they were infected with similar viruses later: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335060/ [nih.gov]
One theory is China tested a SARS vaccine in Wuhan, then this virus got loose which is why things are so bad there.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by hendrikboom on Wednesday February 19 2020, @02:12AM
Development of the most promising candidate for a old SARS vaccine stopped the epidemic was successfully stopped, and there was no longer funding nor opportunity to test it.
So that's the reason there was no developed SARS vaccine for the previous SARS viruses.
But they learned a *lot* about corona viruses then, and a researcher in the Winnipeg virus research lab says that what they learned then is enormously helpful in dealing with the present virus. But they do say it can take about a year to develop a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. They'll have candidates sooner, but they have to be tested...
The researcher I heard interviewed says that collaboration on this research is international, and that the Chinese researchers have been extremely cooperative. (Apparently they'd really like to have a vaccine there in China!)
They say that the greatest obstacle to international collaboration is time zones. Thy just can't really get everyone together for discussion and planning because too many of the workers are asleep at any time of day or night.
-- hendrik
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:25AM (8 children)
The problem with that line of thinking is that cases that have made it outside of China and the near complete lack of it spreading in any of the cases that made it out. This looks a whole lot more like a bioweapon, either intentionally or unintentionally released, that has very low human to human infection potential.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:37AM (3 children)
Your nutter conspiracy theory has a gaping flaw if that is the case: it's not much of a bioweapon if there is very low human to human infection potential. If you are going to spread disinformation, next time at least pay attention to what you have written.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @01:15PM (2 children)
Yeah, I could see how that could confuse you if you refuse to turn you brain on. Who said it was being communicated human to human in China?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:35PM (1 child)
Look, I know that it is asking rather a lot for you to read and process what others are writing. But is it really asking so much for you to read and process what you have written? Go back, reread the conversation so far. After that you may (optionally) comment further. This is your last clue.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:59PM
He views Trump as a role model, nuff said.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:39AM (3 children)
The public has only been aware of coronavirus since January. It can incubate for weeks before symptoms appear. It's just going to take a while for it to spread in places like the U.S. and for the clusters of cases to be recognized.
As for the infection potential, you can just look at that cruise ship. It's getting the job done.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @01:23PM (2 children)
But it didn't spread to anyone else on the planes of the infected who returned from China? Come on, man, flying any significant distance drastically ups the communicability of most anything because of the close quarters and the recycled air drying out the nasal passages (snot is incredibly hygienic as long as it stays in your nose). If it were easy to spread, half the people who shared planes with them would be infected at the very least.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @01:38PM
https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-by-u-s-department-of-state-and-u-s-department-of-health-and-human-services-on-repatriation-of-american-passengers-from-the-diamond-princess-cruise-ship/ [state.gov]
It's an ongoing story.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:36PM
Why would it? Apparently, China is fairly effective at keeping people who are actually showing symptoms like fever, cough, etc from flying. That greatly reduces the infectiousness of the disease when when the people most actively spreading the disease aren't allowed on the flight. And there weren't that many to begin with.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @07:50PM
what makes me nervous is if it's spreading in china with them taking the measures they are taking how is it going to spread in the US where the gov can't do shit. If the gov tries to stop people form doing what they (think they) need to do, here people are well armed to resist.
If i'm being paranoid i would even have the idea that it would be the perfect way for a authoritarian regime to use a bioweapon. unleash it on their own people, use every measure to get through it, then watch as other countries fall apart when it gets to them. Who could accuse china of doing it on purpose when they had such a hard time of it? typical chinese. very sneaky. :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:15PM (1 child)
it's time to lay off the beans asparagus and ghost chilli combo my friend
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @01:15PM
NEVER!
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:45AM
Exactly. China has incinerators running 24/7 every flu season. /s
(Score: 5, Funny) by RamiK on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:32AM (2 children)
You're boarding a flight to China. What's more likely to kill you if...
1. You're in good health but the Chinese authorities mistook you for Falun Gong / Uighur.
2. You're in good health but the American authorities mistook you for South American / Muslim.
3. The plane was manufactured by Boeing.
4. You were prescribed pain meds by an American physician before the flight.
5. The bottled water is from a fracking state and may or may not carry a Danger: Combustible label.
6. Someone on flight caught a virus.
7. There's a live ammunition training exercise involving a F35 a few miles away from the flight path.
8. An anti-aircraft armed Russian / Iranian vessel is below the flight path.
9. UFOs been spotted by the navy next to the flight path.
10. You forget to take your vitamin C.
There, balanced fearmongering the way the news intended.
compiling...
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @01:24PM (1 child)
You forgot snakes.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @01:22AM
lolololol
(Score: 3, Informative) by https on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:46PM
Mortality rates from the flu [cdc.gov] are between one and two tenths of one percent. COVID is at least two percent and it seems reasonable to assume from revelations so far that China is fudging the numbers to make things appear better than the reality on the ground. If it ever approaches the same reach as the flu in the USA, americans (like yourself) will be looking at many hundreds of thousands dead instead of a few tens of thousands, and maybe even a million.
Plus, incubation/infection factors should be giving everyone nightmares. Weeks, asymptomatic.
The Mighty Buzzard (18), do you ever get the urge to just shut up and listen instead of beaking off like that? You should maybe listen to that once in a while. $LC_DEITY knows I'm not the boss of you, but I am wiser.
Offended and laughing about it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by HiThere on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:00AM (5 children)
That's barely a question anymore. Quarantine would need to be for 6 weeks (as far as we know) and asympotmatic transmission happens, so everyone who was possibly exposed would need to be quarantines separately for 6 weeks. This isn't going to happen.
AFAICT, the current purpose of the quarantines, etc., is to slow down transmission until the vaccine can be developed and produced. It's probably good enough for that. But with the incubation period ranging from 1 day to 6 weeks, and transmission possible without symptoms being present it's not going to manage containment.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:04AM (1 child)
Quar-antine = 40 days by definition.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:40AM
You err. That is a Quadratitine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:47AM (1 child)
Not true. And you would know this if you had bothered to do just a little reading. SARS and MERS were both contained in spite of there being no vaccine and only supportive patient care to offer. The purpose of the quarantine is to slow and arrest the spread of the disease; it is much easier to treat a few dozen or even a few hundred cases than it is to treat several million.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Wednesday February 19 2020, @04:08AM
In neither SARS nor MERS was there asymptomatic transmission. That makes a huge difference.
There are test kits, but they have had a very high failure rate.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @02:21PM
This vaccine is going to be an IQ test. Who is going to be dumb enough to take a vaccine that was rushed to market, when similar vaccines are known for sensitizing animals to coronaviruses so that their own immune systems kill them when exposed to a virus?
Ikanread, thats who.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:39AM (2 children)
First, I was so scared. It was American Carnage! Mostly, there was a Black man in the White House. But then Trump, ImPOTUS John, as we on the "inside" call him, stepped up to make me even more scared of rapists and murderers and some good people pouring over our borders where there was NOT EVEN A WALL! So I was more ass-cared. Then it was Those Chinese, laughing at us as they made money making i-stuff that we all need and depend on. Soybean farmers are screwed now, what with the trade war, and prices for everything have gone up, but thank goodness the Golden Pompador scared me about that. And then I was scared of the Ukraine, trying to throw American Elections in the dumpster, for the Trumpster! And now, a Globalist Liberal Conspiracy Epidemic, which Tom Cotton either has, or his congenital conspiracy disorder is kicking in to make him say scary stuff. I was walking down a street just yesterday, with jmichaelhudson, and there was this Chinese looking person, might have been Bulgarian, or Buttonese, or Pad Thai, I don't know, but we were plenty scared! Now I hear that MS13 is running the Corona Light virus in cases of Mexican beer through the Ukraine and selling it on the Black market to Cruise Ships that have Americans on them! I don't know how we are going to survive this!!!!
Panic now, avoid the rush later. And not so easy to do with a high fever and bleeding from your eyes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @05:21PM (1 child)
Everytime someone coughs a coronavirus earns its lime.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @09:07AM
I just pooped myself a little, to keep up with my MAGA brethern. One in the spirit, one in the fear, one in the stench. Trump Akbar!!!!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Mykl on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:41AM (1 child)
Indonesia is refusing to admit that they even have any cases [nytimes.com]. With their population density and proximity to China, they are probably already beyond any chance of containment.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @06:17AM
And the Japanese authority thinks it will die out when the monsoon season comes. Don't give a fuck. Cruise ship? Fuck off, not their problem. Despite half the passengers being Japanese.
It's the kamakaze spirit. Chicom, Japan, both one-party state, striking similarity.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:53AM
* must be sung with spanish accent with all the singers wearing coronavirus plushe style costumes
Corona coronavirus (trump riff) x2
corono, coronovirus, is this the work of Osiris?
Corona coronavirus (trump riff) x2
corona, coronavirus, it still hasn't killed Miley Cirus.
Chronos the chronovirus (trump riff) x2
chronos the chronosvirus yes yes we all going to die yes.
* long note trumpet ending then everyone falls over dead *
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @06:44AM (4 children)
FUCK WHITE PEOPLE.
,,,,,,,,,mmmmmmmmmmm,,,,,,,,,,,
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @06:59AM (2 children)
Blond or brunette? Or perhaps redheads?
Be bit more specific.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:45AM (1 child)
he means Barry.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:18PM
he means michael jackson
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:22AM
Off to the coof camp with you.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:20PM (5 children)
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-japan-cancels-tokyo-marathon-as-deadly-virus-fears-take-hold/news-story/510c9a8fa386c1cf4ede6c4bb5222ecf [news.com.au]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:49PM (4 children)
Getting the entire 2020 Summer Olympics cancelled (starts in July) would make this strain truly memorable.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @02:09PM
i think 2021 also has a summer ... also one more year removed from fukushima won't hurt.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:11PM
That it would. I'm a casual Olympic observer, but my wife is still into watching it.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:25PM (1 child)
Hmmm....possibly millions of people dying VS cancelling the Olympics.
Whelp, it's a tough call!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday February 19 2020, @01:01AM
It's like that man hesitating to press button meme. On the one hand, millions (potentially) die, on the other... $26 billion [latimes.com].
You would hope that they make the correct decision when the outcome is more clear, but we'll see.
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(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @08:29PM (5 children)
So far mortality % seems taboo. But I have not seen any serious information about why. If calculations can only be done X days after last case, or after Y days since discovery, or after Z number of patients, or some other condition, why not say so? There must be some moment in which the numbers can be run.
At first glance, the formula looks simple: A / (A + B) (and by 100 if you want %), where A is dead people and B is cured people. We can hope that as time passes better treatement will develop, so the ratio will go down. Ill and contagious people, C, will go into A or B sooner or later, and reports of infected should be taken as C + A + B. Or do I miss something?
As of 18th [wikipedia.org] the numbers are 1875 deaths, 12712 recoveries, 12.8%. Three days ago, 15th [wikipedia.org], 1527 deaths and 8422 recoveries, 15.3%. Six days ago, 12th [wikipedia.org], 1357 vs 5127, 20.9%. Maybe do this for all the days, and see when it stabilizes? It would be a start.
I know about China stats being considered fuzzy, WHO trying to be "polite" towards them (the West let them play "weak, poor and dumb" until they are not anymore but we don't seem to wake up, see the postal rates controversy of last years), the economic impact of halting things, the doubts about if 14 (21?) days are enough quarantine, but at some point numbers have to appear. Not doing so adds to the scare they want to avoid. And better if measures derived from information fall on the cautious side than "braking too late". We should learn from things like Y2K bug, "nothing serious happened... because lot of work was done to make sure it was that way", better be praised for "time waster" than for "inept that caused lot of damage".
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday February 19 2020, @01:07AM (4 children)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/18/wuhan-china-coronavirus-hospital-director-dies-covid/4792597002/ [usatoday.com]
I was just going to present this guy's death to poke at the idea of it killing only 2%. 1 in 50 and it kills your hospital's director/president? I did not expect to see the bolded line.
Also, China gives money to the World Health Organization. I trust the CDC over WHO.
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(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Wednesday February 19 2020, @01:41AM (3 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday February 19 2020, @01:53AM (2 children)
Infect everyone in the hospital (not all at the same time, hopefully). If mortality rate is 2-3% as was claimed early on, that's not so bad for those individuals. You are also likely to have your condition discovered earlier so treatment can begin sooner.
The real mortality rate is clearly closer to 20%, if not higher. Hospital directors beware.
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday February 19 2020, @03:31AM (1 child)
Clarification: I don't mean deliberately infect, just that even if you assume everyone in the hospital will get infected, 2-3% mortality rate is preferable to what the coronavirus actually appears to be doing.
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(Score: 1, Troll) by aristarchus on Wednesday February 19 2020, @09:11AM
Why is it that hypochondriacs like takyon take so much interest in medicine, when they are so sure that it will avail them naught? Just admit it, takyon, a 2% mortality rate means that the world is domed, that the earth is not flat, the China will still have more people than the US, and that socialism is medicine is still the way to go. Just say it, takyon. You will feel better, even if you have a 100+ fever, and Corona leaching about the precipices of your caput.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @10:14PM
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8009669/Did-coronavirus-originate-Chinese-government-laboratory.html/ [dailymail.co.uk]