Coronavirus: US declares national health emergency, with quarantine order issued for nearly 200 Amer

[Dennis Donovan]

Source: Independent UK

Clark Mindock New York @ClarkMindock
2 minutes ago

The United States has declared a national public health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, as the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has quarantined 195 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan, China.

"The United States government will implement temporary measures to increase our abilities to detect and contain the coronavirus proactively and aggressively," said Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar, during a press conference in the White House.

The decision to raise that alarm came just hours after those 195 people were evacuated, in an a rare mandatory order for Americans that has not been issued in more than 50 years.


The disease, so far, has spread to 10,000 people globally, and has been confirmed in patients in a growing number of countries that now include the US, Canada, the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Japan and India, among other countries.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-us-symptoms-quarantine-national-emergency-wuhan-china-flights-a9312316.html

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Unprecedented?

[Turbineguy]

1. Excellent briefing

although it reminds one of the "Plunge Protection Team" after a 700 point drop in the Dow.

Very little trump brown nosing.

[Devil Child]

2. Good

Despite the needed declaration I have little faith in the current administration for combating this virus in the US.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

9. The US is NOT equipped to handle an epidemic. Of any kind.

No country really is equipped to handle something like this. Look at the chaos this is causing in China. If this virus is exported to other nations in greater numbers than what is already known, and gains greater traction, there is going to be panic. It remains to be reported on how long contagion takes and other important real time information. It is always what people DON'T know/understand that creates the most fear. And we don't know nearly enough yet about this virus.

Sadder still, is that trumpie is the LAST person I would trust to spearhead an effort to reign in a medical crisis. Add to that how much scientific brain drain there has been since he took over, and started placing all of his drooling, know-nothing political appointees in jobs that really need to be filled by scientists or medical people.

P/S -- YES, by all means, wash your hands. Hand-washing is the first and most important line of defense in containing germs and microbes from spreading to others.

[Ms. Toad]

11. And don't touch things with your bare hands.

I haven't touched doorknobs, etc. with my bare hands during flu season since ~2009. That's kept me from virtually all flu (maybe twice in that period - I can only specifically remember once) and no more than one mild cold a year.

[Tech]

3. In watching 7 white guys telling us everything is fine.

Call me biased, but not comfortable with a lawyer who worked for and lobbied for the pharmaceutical industry leading the task force. I guess it's ok, he keeps telling us the risk is low, but I'll bet drug companies are trying to figure out how to make money on it all.

Trump has eroded my trust in everyone and everything.

[Warpy]

4. Everything is fine, at least for now

and the chance of being a random person in the US and catching this one is statistically negligible.

One thing seems clear, that close contact is needed, meaning that between family members or caregivers to patients. Proper protective gear will protect the latter, something they hadn't realized in China before they isolated this particular virus.

We don't know yet if sharing an airline cabin for 8+ hours with a contagious person is a problem. We should know that by the end of next week.

[Baclava]

5. Quite right, still a lot of things they' re not sure of, an once of prevention and all that...

What we do know, people without symptoms can be infected and infected people without symptoms can spread the virus to other people.

Good reason to be cautious, even if the risk of contracting the disease here is low. No deaths outside of China so far and we should keep it that way

[Warpy]

6. Needs clarification.

Wash your hands.
Cough into your elbow.
Wash your hands.
Sneeze into your elbow.
Wash your hands.
If your nose itches, scratch it with the back of your wrist.
Did I mention wash your hands?

I never caught anything from a patient using this, nor did my patients catch anything from me if I started to feel like I was coming down with something after I started a shift. You don't need to isolate or wear a hazmat suit.

I'll say it again, wash your hands, dammit.

[Baclava]

7. Hand washing is the #1 disease prevention for ALL kinds of disease, so at least that's being said

[Kaleva]

16. Unfortunately, very, very few wash their hands properly.

One can observe most everyone in a public bathroom doing little more then removing visible signs of human waste off of their hands. It's extremely rare to spot someone doing the following:

"How to wash your hands
It's generally best to wash your hands with soap and water. Over-the-counter antibacterial soaps are no more effective at killing germs than is regular soap.

Follow these steps:

Wet your hands with clean, running water — either warm or cold.
Apply soap and lather well.
Rub your hands vigorously for at least 20 seconds. Remember to scrub all surfaces, including the backs of your hands, wrists, between your fingers and under your fingernails.
Rinse well.
Dry your hands with a clean towel or air-dry them."

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/hand-washing/art-20046253

[paleotn]

8. Funny thing about viruses....

and other pathogens. It's as though they have come kind of collective consciousness. No matter how hard we try to contain them, they find a way to slip past our quarantines. Particularly in the winter when we're in closer contact with others. The trick is to replicate and shed as much virus as possible while the host is asymptomatic. The most successful viruses are masters at just that. Insidious little buggers they are. In short, this may slow the burn, but probably won't stop it.

[Ms. Toad]

10. Thank goodness.

The screening + 3 day quarantine originally proposed was ridiculous, given the current exponential growth of infected individuals (holding relatively steady at about 2.6x in 3.5 days), and a death rate that continues to hover above 2%.

If the number of confirmed cases is below 13,650 after tomorrow's update, it is slowing. Otherwise - not yet. It was at 2019 last Saturday; between 5 and 6,000 at midnight on Tuesday (3.5 days later). Multiplying that by 2.6 (the R0 I've beeen using) that would make 13,650 by tomorrow after the update. It's at 11,374 now (up about 1600 from yesterday)

[Baclava]

13. Canada's first patient identified infected coming from China released from hospital after treatment

Stories of nurses in Wuhan after being infected and receiving treatment are now going back to work.

It's not the zombie apocalypse! lol

[Ms. Toad]

14. Not quite sure what the point of your comment is.

But it's a serious virus (currently killing between 2 and 2.5% of people who have been infected - a death rate that is likely to grow, since more than 10,000 of the infections are less than a week old). It is growing exponentially in China, and there is evidence that people are infectious both before being symptomatic, and before testing positive on the rapid tests currently available. It would be assinine to evacuate people from the epicenter of the virus to the US, without a screening tool that is effective in the early stages of the disease, without imposing a quarantine that is long enough toprevent spreading the disease.

Nothing to do with a zombie apocalypse - just good common sense. A few more days of inconvenience for people whose lives have already been disrupted by the evacuation is worth it to minimize the risk that the few US cases will turn into an epidemic.

[Baclava]

15. The public health systems are working around the world, deaths still confined to China

Risk is low to people outside China at this point, 2% death rate is only if you believe China that only 8000 have been infected, other estimates are close to 100,000 infected, with mild cases not even being reported, so death rate could be much, much lower, like regular flu