Corona Virus

[The Feral Slasher]

Among the many noteworthy items mentioned in the documentary, the governor of American Samoa, upon learning some details of the outbreak, closed off his country to all outside contact. Amer. Samoa was about the only place in the world, besides Antarctica, to suffer no deaths from the disease. He warned the governor of the companion territory of Western Samoa to do the same but he didn't listen and they suffered one of the highest mortality rates of any country.

Social distancing and cancellation of events with many people is likely to come to America fairly soon. If not, things will only get worse.

[madducks]

[rhd]

BTW, the documentary I mentioned above was done in 2018, way before the current outbreak. It showed up in my recommended YT videos.

[madducks]

The mask shortage is real.

[Sour Masher]

An 8 am emergency meeting for chairs and directors was just called at my university for Monday. We are going to discuss plans for moving all instruction online if/when things get bad here.

[GwynnInTheHall]

A local Non Profit I volunteer for is holding their annual fundraiser and attendance is down...there's also concern about a few auction items which normally garner top bids--#1. a 7 day cruise, #2. 2 trips,one to Cabo the other to Costa Rica and #3. every Item that takes you into a public gathering (theatres, Concert venues, sporting events)

I am really wondering if it will impact the WSOP, that already is notorious for fostering illness during the 7 weeks people are cramming into the Rio and around poker tables--The actually had an outbreak of Legionnaires a couple of years back and with an international field and thousands crammed in the rooms and waiting in lines--it seems like a prime location for an outbreak.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Seattle Comic Con postponed--how will San Diego CC react?

[TS Garp]

Seattle Comic Con postponed--how will San Diego CC react?

It's at the end of July so they have some time to decide.

[The Feral Slasher]

It's at the end of July so they have some time to decide.

I've had this discussion with my wife...worry about immediate stuff for now and we will have more info later to make better decisions.

Of course if you need to plan far ahead that makes things more difficult. But at least consider what might happen

[TS Garp]

I've had this discussion with my wife...worry about immediate stuff for now and we will have more info later to make better decisions.

Of course if you need to plan far ahead that makes things more difficult. But at least consider what might happen

This may have been mentioned but Alaska Airlines is making all tickets bought after 2/27 refundable.

[The Feral Slasher]

The University of Washington will now have all courses online starting Monday. Most schools in Seattle still running normally. Not sure how long that will last

[nots]

Pirates and Orioles players (and probably the rest of MLB) no longer permitted to sign autographs during ST.

[rhd]

This is really scary if it's even partially true. Below is a link to a YT video that reads and comments on a series of tweets from an engineer describing her prediction of what will happen w the coronavirus in the US in the next couple of months based on the way it has developed so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3etuaYTDwFI

The part re: her info is from 13:36 to 27:02 of the video. Among other things, she says that at the current rate, there will be 1 million cases in the US by the end of April and 2 mil. by the 2nd week of May! She says we'll run out of available hospital beds for coronavirus cases (serious cases only) by early May and many health care workers will get infected and be unable to provide care. Because of the worldwide demand for effective surgical masks, by May there will be barely enough for 1 mask per day per healthcare worker. Basically, she says that unless we make drastic changes to how we're handling this pandemic the US healthcare system, as well as that of most other countries, risks failing in a couple months or so.

Sounds extreme, doesn't it? After you look at the video you may not think so.

I don't really know but I think that, among other things, we need to start thinking about prohibiting non-essential travel in or out of the country.

[rhd]

BTW, the tweeter mentioned above is named Liz Specht, who is the Associate Director of Science and Technology at The Good Food Institute, has a Ph.D. from UCSD and is an engineer and biologist. Her figures are based in part on an assumption that the number of cases will double about every 6 days. I know nothing about her but I saw at least one other published article that seems to be taking her seriously. The author of the article isn't necessarily as pessimistic as Ms. Specht but notes that Specht herself pointed out that "even if I’m wrong – even VERY wrong – about core assumptions like % of severe cases or current case #, it only changes the timeline by days or weeks."

[The Feral Slasher]

BTW, the tweeter mentioned above is named Liz Specht, who is the Associate Director of Science and Technology at The Good Food Institute, has a Ph.D. from UCSD and is an engineer and biologist. Her figures are based in part on an assumption that the number of cases will double about every 6 days. I know nothing about her but I saw at least one other published article that seems to be taking her seriously. The author of the article isn't necessarily as pessimistic as Ms. Specht but notes that Specht herself pointed out that "even if I’m wrong – even VERY wrong – about core assumptions like % of severe cases or current case #, it only changes the timeline by days or weeks."

I saw her twitter thread this morning. It is very sobering