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posted by martyb on Monday January 27 2020, @08:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the stay-aware-and-wash-your-hands dept.

China Battles Coronavirus Outbreak: All the Latest Updates:

The virus thought to have originated in a Wuhan food market continues to spread as China steps up containment efforts.

[...] China is extending the Lunar New Year holiday for three days and enforcing strict containment measures in an attempt to curb the spread of a new coronavirus that has killed 80 people and infected at more than 2,700, most of them in the central province of Hubei where the virus first emerged.

The holiday season was due to end on Friday but will now be extended until February 2.

More than 56 million people in almost 20 cities, including the Hubei capital of Wuhan, have been affected by travel restrictions, introduced amid fears the transmission rate will balloon as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

[...] Health authorities around the world are taking action to prevent a pandemic as more countries report cases. Confirmed cases have so far been announced in several Asiancountries, Europe and North America.

[...] The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the respiratory illness, which has been traced to the city of Wuhan, is an emergency in China but the organisation said on Thursday it was too early to declare the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

Previously:


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by ElizabethGreene on Monday January 27 2020, @05:40PM (5 children)

    by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 27 2020, @05:40PM (#949422) Journal

    I agree with you that it's not time to move into the bunker, but it is a reasonable time to have a conversation about tripwires.

    e.g.
    At what point are you no longer willing to fly to the source province in China?
    To China generally?
    To stop international air travel?
    To stop all air travel?
    To stop all travel?
    To work only from home?
    To pull the kids out of school?
    To stay home, living off stored supplies?
    To move into the bunker?

    I travel for work a fair amount, mostly within the US. Speaking only for me, I will not travel to China now, and I'm hesitant to travel internationally or to any state with active cases. I'm following the cases here in the US to see the impact under competent medical care before making a decision about what moves us further down the list.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @06:28PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @06:28PM (#949453)

    i think you got your priorities wrong.
    mean shouldn't you save your kids very early on?
    i mean if you should run out of rations while in the bunker ... you still got the kids ...
    (i kid, i kid(no pun intended))

  • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday January 27 2020, @06:32PM (3 children)

    by Sulla (5173) on Monday January 27 2020, @06:32PM (#949457) Journal

    CDC has some information out now that is worth checking out. It would need verification (I don't have time right now) but I read last night on their website they were routing incoming flights from China through airports setup for testing everyone coming in from those regions. It might be worth it to avoid using those airports as hubs until we hear more.

    The big concern I have is that the virus appears to be able to spread when the host has not shown any symptoms. Cities with universities that host large numbers of students from China might also be risky until we are outside of the window from where we started testing people coming in, although maybe longer as the virus appears to last at least 24 hours on surfaces.

    --
    Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @07:02PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @07:02PM (#949475)

      What are they testing for?

      • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday January 27 2020, @07:35PM (1 child)

        by Sulla (5173) on Monday January 27 2020, @07:35PM (#949496) Journal

        Evidently pointless to catch the people who are asymptomatic

        https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0117-coronavirus-screening.html [cdc.gov] from the 17th

        Public Health Screening to Begin at 3 U.S. Airports for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (“2019-nCoV”)

        The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will implement enhanced health screenings to detect ill travelers traveling to the United States on direct or connecting flights from Wuhan, China. This activity is in response to an outbreak in China caused by a novel (new) coronavirus (2019 nCoV), with exported cases to Thailand and Japan.

        Starting January 17, 2020, travelers from Wuhan to the United States will undergo entry screening for symptoms associated with 2019-nCoV at three U.S. airports that receive most of the travelers from Wuhan, China: San Francisco (SFO), New York (JFK), and Los Angeles (LAX) airports.

        https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0124-second-travel-coronavirus.html [cdc.gov] from the 24th

        CDC is taking aggressive public health measures to help protect the health of Americans. While CDC considers this a serious public health threat, based on current information, the immediate health risk from 2019-nCoV to the general American public is considered low at this time. CDC is working closely with the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Chicago Department of Public Health, and other local partners. A CDC team has been deployed to support the ongoing investigation.

        However, CDC has been proactively preparing for the introduction of 2019-nCoV in the U.S. for weeks, including:

                First alerting clinicians on January 8 to be on the look-out for patients with respiratory symptoms and a history of travel to Wuhan, China.
                Developing guidance for clinicians for testing and management of 2019-nCoV, as well as guidance for home care of patients with 2019-nCoV.
                Has developed a diagnostic test to detect this virus in clinical specimens. Currently, testing must take place at CDC, but CDC is preparing to share these test kits with domestic and international partners.
                Implementing public health entry screening at Atlanta (ATL), Chicago (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), and San Francisco (SFO) airports. CDC is currently evaluating the extent and duration of this enhanced screening.
                CDC has activated its Emergency Operations Center to better provide ongoing support.

        “To further protect the health of the American public during the emergence of this novel coronavirus, CDC is beginning entry screening at three ports of entry. Investigations into this novel coronavirus are ongoing and we are monitoring and responding to this evolving situation,” said Martin Cetron, M.D., Director of CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine.

        Based on current information, the risk from 2019-nCoV to the American public is currently deemed to be low. Nevertheless, CDC is taking proactive preparedness precautions.

        Entry screening is part of a layered approach used with other public health measures already in place to detect arriving travelers who are sick (such as detection and reporting of ill travelers by airlines during travel and referral of ill travelers arriving at a US port of entry by CBP) to slow and reduce the spread of any disease into the United States.

        --
        Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @07:52PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @07:52PM (#949503)

          So they are screening for symptoms of pneumonia, even though we are told you can spread the virus without showing symptoms. Ie, there was that guy who got surgery and only then became symptomatic (probably because surgery depletes vitamin c). But before that he had still supposedly managed to infect 15 healthcare workers.

          And then there is the fact that I still haven't seen any proof this virus they have a sequence for is actually causing the symptoms. There are seemingly lots of cases with the same symptoms who test negative for the virus.