Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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Some pharmacies across the United States have reportedly sold out of surgical-style masks in the midst of the coronavirus that has crippled China and has since spread to several other countries.

The BBC reported that the masks began selling out in Seattle, where the first reported case of coronavirus was reported in the U.S. The outlet said other cities like New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles have had similar reports.

What is the liklihood of survival? who is getting killed? based on earlier viruses it tends to be the very old, very young and very sick

Melbourne city looked like this today



facemasks everywhere!!

Others have said it's over 2000 dead. I have a feeling the death toll is higher than what we are being told.

Little about the biology of this virus is being released? lets hope it's not like Ebola otherwise the death toll will be in the millions

i hope seattle is safe. i'm moving near there next week....would be very bad timing.

Israeli Mossad Lieutenant-Colonel claims the source of the virus is from a Bio-weapons lab in Wuhan

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/healt ... 91cc8d9c42

The way I look at these epidemics as far as dying from one goes, is that in the US there were 37,461 deaths caused by traffic accidents in 2019. If I am going to be afraid of this virus I should be considerably more afraid to get into a car.

Last edited by EzraS on 28 Jan 2020, 5:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

You should be a lot more concerned over having to drive in the rain a lot. And seagulls crapping on you. And all the vampires.

You are totally correct, Ezra... you're more at risk every time you get in a car.

I don't know why, but someone out there has a vested interest in scaring the sh*t out of us and the media are complicit.

... and those face masks don't work. After a few minutes breathing through it they get warm and wet... bugs just love warm and wet. You'd probably be better off wearing gloves... you're more likely to pick stuff up from handrails and door handles.

PS... And I agree about the vampires.

Concerns over the virus' fast-spreading nature have prompted the CDC to increase staffing at 20 U.S. airports that have quarantine facilities, The Washington Post reported.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it increased its travel warning to Level 3 on Monday, recommending travelers to "avoid all nonessential travel to China."

On Sunday, China's health minister Ma Xiaowei said the virus could be transmitted by an infected person before symptoms appear. That can pose a problem for containment of the virus. If people can contaminate others even before they begin to show symptoms, then containment will be very hard to implement. It may increase the pressure on airline travel bans.

On the good side, this new coronavirus doesn't seem to spread as easily among people as SARS or influenza. Most of the cases that spread between people were of family members and health workers who had contact with patients. That suggests the new virus isn't well adapted to infect people.

The outlet reported Germany's first declared case of the deadly virus late on Monday in Starnberg, a town 19 miles southwest of Munich. The patient is reportedly in "good condition" and is isolated under medical observation. Infections have now been confirmed in the China (including Hong Kong, Macao), the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Several other nations have suspected cases that have not been confirmed.

Hong Kong's leader has announced that all rail links to mainland China will be cut starting Friday as fears grow about the spread of a new virus. Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Tuesday that both the high-speed rail station and the regular train station would be closed.

Nope ... sorry ... not panicked yet ... keep trying ...

By gosh man you must be made of granite.

Nope. Just old enough to have survived more varieties of the "deadliest plagues" of flu in the last 60+ years than I can remember, and I'm tired of all the hype and bother about how the next virus is supposed to wipe out all of humanity in the most painful and disgusting ways possible.

Same for Global warming ...

... and GMOs ...

... and police violence ...

... and tainted water ...

... and public education ...

... and __________ (fill in the blank) ...

I feel the same way already.

It is a funny thing about panic. It is like a herd of buffalo. One buffalo senses danger and signals it to the herd. The whole herd can be grazing and all of a sudden one buffalo "on watch" smells, hears, or sees something. That buffalo "sets a point" with a tail signal and the whole herd comes to immediate attentions, starts slowly to form a tight formation and sounds the alarm.

Then the herd may panic and stampede. So when a panic sets in, there is not much to be done except go along with the herd.

So in some places such as Wuhan, China, they are in an action mode. The herd of buffalo is on the move. The streets are deserted, many store shelves are empty, transportation is at a standstill. They have adopted a shelter-in-place approach. In other places, people are taking precautions such as buying up face mask, quitely stockpiling food, medicine, drinks, pet food, toilet paper, vitamins, etc. in preparation for what may be turned into a global panic.

So although for the most part I am not concerned about this particular threat, I understand the tendency of the herd to panic. It can be prudent to take precautions early because many options will be rather limited if the herd of buffalo decides to stampede.

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About 50 years ago, I experienced a panic in California. The news announced over the radio that many of the companies that manufacture toilet paper were temporarily shutting down and that there would be a shortage of toilet paper. After work I went into the grocery store to buy some food and I notices many old ladies with shopping carts full of toilet paper pushing them to the checkout lanes. I walked by the aisles that held the toilet paper and they were empty. The shelves were completely bare. I went home and a day latter there was an announcement that the toilet paper scare was fake news that spun out of control.