Coronavirus

Differing reports coming out of Tehran but looks like 50 people are dead in Qom, Iran.  It's fascinating to see the virus bring the Chinese economy to a halt.

The virus is coming!  The virus is coming!

>U.S. CORONAVIRUS SPREAD 'POSSIBLE, EVEN LIKELY': The World Health Organization holds a news briefing on the latest coronavirus updates. Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said this weekend that it is 'possible, even likely,' that the virus will spread to the U.S. The number of coronavirus cases is spiraling rapidly in South Korea, Iran, and Italy, provoking fear 'that the epidemic could turn into a global pandemic,' the NY Times reported.

That economy in China is gonna have major ripple effect. May turn into a tsunami. 

>>> We went to a CVS and Target yesterday looking for those face masks, all sold out.

Here's an idea, Ras. 

Any of you getting prepped ?<<<

Have been stocking up on food & Rx for at least a month ... but not just because of corona, lots of crap going down that's got the world on edge.

Want an example of how this virus can spread so quickly?

My wife went to a friends house this past saturday. Her friend was watching her two children, and three from another friend. She remarked to my wife that her parents had just left.

My wife said, Oh, nice, they were visiting?

Friend: Yes, they just got back from Hong Kong visiting my sister.

My wife: Yeah, cool-the coronovirus is active in Hong Kong?

Friend: yeah, but they had an nice visit.

So, two people went to Hong Kong last week, came back to KY, and contacted lots of folks. That's how viruses can spread.

Not to worry, His Majesty, Fat Donny "weighed" in 2 weeks ago>>>>

“A lot of people think that goes away in April as the heat comes in,” he said of the outbreak that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. “Typically that will go away in April. We’re in great shape though.

The president’s remarks set off some concern that he didn’t have a solid understanding of the threat at hand.       

“This statement minimizes the many critical factors needed for the containment of the outbreak and the prevention of further disease spread, such as adequate infection control measures and contact tracing,” Dr. Britta Lassmann, program director for the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

***He didn’t have a solid understanding of the threat at hand.***

??Our Commander in Chief making an uninformed statement??

Please don't panic.

I'm getting close to semi- retirement.  This will pass.

Influenza is scarier.

Stay Away From People and Wash Your Hands A Lot

I I had liquidity I would think of buying stocks in 3m face masks.  Yet i have zero knowledge of investments. That's why I have an adviser. 

Curious if anyone invested in Trojan condoms back in the 1980s,

I'm not worried or panicked about the virus. Flu is for now far deadlier. That being said, I'm more worried about the possible measures the US Govt takes to signal to the public (and wall street) that they are doing things to prevent the spread, i.e. quarantines.

Stocks be getting pummeled.  My exposure is fairly protected at the moment.

I've been battling a super sinus cold something which is bad enough.  Coronavirus, no thanks.

Just going to be another reason for some to want to reelect the big dummy.

Investing in masks is a better bet than wearing one.

CDC spokesperson about to get fired...

>>>>>i'm not worried or panicked about the virus. Flu is for now far deadlier. That being said, I'm more worried about the possible measures the US Govt takes to signal to the public (and wall street) that they are doing things to prevent the spread, i.e. quarantines.

Certainly, influenza (aka "the flu") kills tens of thousands of people in the United States annually.   However, it affects way more people.  For example, in th 2017-2018 flu season, 45 million people got sick. Of those, 61,000 died.  That's a high number for sure, but only represents 0.13% of all cases.  From what I heard on the news, about 2.0% of people who get the corona virus die.  A small percentage, but much higher than with the regular flu. 

Although I am not too worried about the corona virus itself, I am worried about all the quarantines, travel restrictions and shit, especially considering I will traveling to Asia in the less than three weeks.  

SARS was 10% mortality rate......

THANKS A LOT TRUMP STUPID FUCKFACE 

They're wondering now if they may have to cancel the Olympics.  

Are they still burning the bodies of the dead? And are they doing it outside of China also?
 

nobody burns people's bodies that die of influenza 

So, two people went to Hong Kong last week, came back to KY, and contacted lots of folks. That's how viruses can spread.

the fact that people are going to and from china in the beginning of a possible pandemic that originated there is mind boggling. read several reports of airlines deciding to suspend travel from mainland china at the end of jan - shouldnt the government have shut that shit down several weeks prior?  

No. That would create more unnecessary panic. This virus is already showing signs of playing itself out in places. 

I'm going to have some wook slinging these for me on Phish tour 

Cases in NY now...whoopie!

Most likely the virus has been circulating in the US for months - we finally are starting to test sick people with accurate testing. 

Good news: China is banning the trade of wild animals for consumption, Men are washing their hands

More good news, Bill and Melinda Gates are dropping $$ to find a vaccine...

80,000 died last year of the flu in the united states.......so far 9 or 10 from corona.  a few years back the media had Ebola being the walking dead plague of the century.  duck tape sales went through the roof.  now its hand sanitizer. 

Whenever I used to ride a plane,  my anti-sickness technique was multi-vitamins + extra Vitamin C.  My preference is Calcium Ascorbate.  Ester-C is one of the brand names.  1000 milligrams or 2000 seems to work.  So like a gram or two before and after a plane ride.

If you're on a passenger airplane,  the cabin "air" is recirculated.  so you're breathing the other people "Germs".

Personally I rarely get a Cold,  but my Home habitat consists of fridge-like temperatures where Husky feels Comfy

Then I go to work outdoors,  so it's a bit Chilly most of the Winter. 

Maybe I caught a cold two-three years back.  Probably too many Vegetables in my food that week.
Don't get me wrong;  I really enjoy the flavours and textures of Vegetables.  My belief is that the Enzymes and Vitamins from the (barely-cooked) Vegetables aid digestion of Fishes,  Poultry and Meat.

Heads up if you have any concert tickets, check with the venue. 

below is a message about Bing Concert Hall:

>In an attempt to try to cease the spread of this virus Stanford University is joining other educational institutions and companies to halt having events, performances or gatherings with over 150 attendees beginning March 5 - April 15..

I have Oysterhead tix I can't use because I have to go to a trade show, but now it looks like the trade show will be canceled so I was hoping I could go to the show, but probably not. 

I had tickets to Cake on Sunday night, but the afternoon of the show, they announced without explanation that the show was pushed back until October.   Was it related to the corona virus panic?  I have know idea.

Now that there are sort of official recommendations about canceling events, if venues don't cancel and there's a spread traced to said venue it become a liability issue. Mostly for the people working the events, I suppose. 

Is King Gizzard still playing Berkeley? 

I got tickets for Buzz Osborne and Trevor Dunn also but that's in July. 

Is Phish still playing SF in July?

.. if you have any concert tickets, check with the venue. 

>>>I have Oysterhead tix I can't use because I have to go to a trade show, but now it looks like the trade show will be canceled

HIMSS conference in Orlando?

About half of SF tech workers are working from home. This is going to get worse before it gets better, especially since the Trump regime is in complete disarray.

>The president called WHO’s official death rate a “false number” and suggested the sick should still go to work.

Some area schools are closing - cancelling all travel and outreach programs too. 

Here's what the "leader" of our country's effort says.....

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-coronavirus-work-reaction_n_...

“A lot of people will have this and it’s very mild. They’ll get better very rapidly. They don’t even see a doctor, they don’t even call a doctor. You never hear about those people,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “So you can’t put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and or virus. So you just can’t do that. So, if you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work. Some of them go to work, but they get better.”

We are so fucked

The stable genius knows more than the W.H.O. scientists. And Pence knows we only need prayers. Nothing to worry about.

I read people comparing this to the flu but I don't ever recall Italian soccer matches being postponed or played behind closed doors because of the flu. 

And there's a few things we know about the Italians as fact: 1) they don't really give a shit about too much 2) they REALLY give a shit about soccer. they stab each other regularly over soccer matches and wearing the wrong jersey and shit like that. 

That's one reason I don't think this is like the flu. If the God damned Italians are concerned, then maybe we SHOULD be washing our hands on occasion. 

This is all Obama's fault.

Nope. It's BIDEN's fault!!!

>>>HIMSS conference in Orlando?

NAB in Vegas. Not officially canceled yet but not looking good.

So was on vacation in Kauai last week. The Grand Princes Cruise ship that is being held off the coast was parked outside my hotel for a day.  

Tech conferences canceled, postponed, or going virtual 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/coronavirus-update-2020-tech-conference-ca...

Adobe Summit (Mar. 29-Apr. 2 in Las Vegas) - In-person canceled; online-only event 

Aruba Networks Atmosphere 2020 (Mar. 23-26) - In-person canceled; online-only event

Atlassian Summit 2020 (Mar. 31-Apr. 2 in Las Vegas) - In-person canceled; online-only event

Black Hat Asia 2020 (Mar. 31-Apr. 3 in Singapore) - Postponed until Sep. 29-Oct. 2

Cisco Live Melbourne (Mar. 3-6 in Melbourne) - Canceled

DocuSign Momentum (Mar. 4 in San Francisco) - In-person canceled; online-only event

Domopalooza (Mar. 18-19 in Salt Lake City, Utah) - In-person canceled; online-only event

EmTech Asia (Mar. 24-36 in Singapore) - Postponed to Aug. 4-5

F5 Agility 2020 (Mar. 16-19 in Orlando, Florida) - In-person canceled; online-only event

Facebook F8 (May 6-8 in San Jose, Calif.) - Canceled

Facebook Global Marketing Summit (Mar. 9-12 in San Francisco) - Canceled

Game Developers Conference (GDC) (Mar. 16-20 in San Francisco) - Postponed to Summer 2020

Google Cloud Next (Apr. 6-8 in San Francisco) - In-person canceled; online-only event 

Google I/O (May 12-14 in Mountain View, Calif.) - Canceled

Google News Initiative Summit (Late Apr. in Sunnyvale, Calif.) - Canceled

Kaspersky's Security Analyst Summit (April 6 - 9 in Barcelona) - Postponed until Fall 2020 

Microsoft WSLConf (March 10-11 in Redmond) - In-person canceled; online-only event

Microsoft MVP Global Summit (Mar. 15-20 in Bellevue & Redmond, Wash.) - In-person canceled; online-only event

Mobile World Congress MWC Barcelona (Feb. 24-27 in Barcelona) - Canceled

Nvidia GTC - GPU Technology Conference (Mar. 22-26 in San Jose) - In-person canceled; online-only event

O'Reilly Strata Data & AI Conference (Mar. 15-18, San Jose, Calif.) - Postponed; Merged with Strata Data & AI (Sep. 14–17)

Oktane Live - (Mar. 30-Apr. 2) Online-only event

Oracle Modern Business Experience (Mar. 23-26 in Chicago) - Postponed until Sep. 21-24 to coincide with OpenWorld

Paris Blockchain Week Summit (Mar. 31-Apr. 1 in Paris) - Postponed until Dec. 9-10

Salesforce World Tour Sydney (Mar. 4 in Sydney) - In-person canceled; online-only event

Shopify Unite 2020 developers conference (May 6-8 in Toronto) - In-person canceled; online-only event 

SXSW (Mar. 12-22 in Austin, Texas) - Being held as scheduled (Apple, Twitter, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon Studios, IBM, and others have withdrawn)

TNW Conference (Jun, 18-19 in Amsterdam) - Postponed until Oct. 1-2

quite a few 

I have to say that I'm loving the fact that Trump is telling his Fox News followers that there is no problem and it is all being overblown by liberal media. The most at risk group are men over 60. Hmmm I wonder who watches Fox News?

Most people don't have cable or satellite tv. They just watch their local news

From a TPM reader who moved to China in January:

I’ve been following the COVID-19 cataclysm, as I believe it is, very closely. One reason is that I had the fortunate timing of moving to Beijing from San Francisco in January 2020. I’m far from any kind of expert on China or epidemiology, but as a longtime TPM reader and Prime AF member, I thought I’d share some experiences and thoughts.

The governmental response has been extraordinary, and the national quarantine is total. In February, I only had two places I could go: the place I was staying and the grocery store Carrefour. When entering either, I have my temperature taken by a security guard, and if it were elevated I would go into mandated quarantine. I got caught in a non-tier 1 city for the month after LNY, and for weeks returning to Beijing was out of the question. After I finally returned to Beijing, I received regular phone calls from the police to confirm I was abiding by the self-quarantine, including a door check. Recently it has been loosening up, but most white collar workers are still opting to work from home. Masks are required and ubiquitous. From a personal tech perspective, we are able to have groceries cheaply delivered twice per week, and when we purchase goods in person it’s all self-checkout via QR code, as potentially virus-carrying cash hasn’t been too common in China for awhile. In the past week, the only people I’ve interacted with in person are my security guard and my girlfriend.

Once the threat of COVID-19 was identified, the government was willing and able to sacrifice the economy–what too many Western observers think of as its sole legitimizer–and put all of Chinese society on a total wartime footing against the coronavirus, in the span of one or two weeks. And it’s been wildly effective. It’s really the most impressive deployment of state capacity I’ve seen. It wouldn’t happen in the USA, but moreover it couldn’t happen in the USA even if we wanted it to.

I joke with my friends now that I have a sofa they can crash on if things get bad stateside, but I’m only half joking. Singapore and Taiwan responded to coronavirus very effectively (preventing even the start of community spread), South Korea competently, Italy with a level of mediocrity, and Iran with deep incompetence. The US will likely end up somewhere between Italy and Iran. Because of the test kit fiasco and the resultant lack of rigorous contact tracing, as well as messaging from national leadership, we don’t even know where we stand now, and in the early stages of exponential growth that’s a very bad place to be. The government is unable and unwilling to take the actions necessary to slow the spread, apparently for fear of spooking the markets, which Trump identifies as *his* sole legitimizer. All of that is to say, I wouldn’t be surprised if China issues a travel ban
on Americans by April.

Amartya Sen argued democracy was the cure for disasters such as famine, because it and the free press facilitate the flow of information from the reality on the ground to the national leadership and provides the incentives to address issues correctly. And that argument still has some power: the disconnect between medical officials and bureaucrats in Hubei and the national Chinese leadership contributed to this disaster. But in a post-truth world where power wills its own reality, does democracy still have those feedback mechanisms that give it the edge? When I talk to people in China, the general sense is that China essentially got a pop quiz and scored a B+, while other countries are getting a take home exam and failing it. Buy into that analogy or not, if the USA and the West more broadly flunk this test, the Chinese model will be gaining legitimacy over democracy, not losing it. And that loss in legitimacy will happen everywhere, not just in China.

Here is a reasonably intelligent assessment. 

https://youtu.be/XUI6DIswmFk

After giving our son grief about returning to Shanghai, he's getting the last laugh. And reminding me that the Chinese regime can be more trusted than the Trump regime to deal with a public health crisis 

Except china rounded up all the early whistle blowers reporting about coronavirus. Threw them in jail

True, trump just fired most of the scientists And muzzled the remaining few

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/

Still, the scope of oppression is far from close at all.

supreme leader for life?  please

Of course, just saying that after a rocky start for about a week or two China  got their shit together a whole lot faster than the Trump regime in Terms of containment,  testing,  scientific data, and even building specialized hospitals at record speed

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/28837362/umkc-pl...

Basketball games, conferences and conventions getting cancelled or skipped.  Companies telling their employees to work from home.  It's a little bizarre, and feels a little like the city is being made to wear a scarlet letter.  People are resilient here, I see the regulars and the local faces.  It's funny though, there is this detectable heightened concern for everyone else's health.  People really mean it when they say "how's it going?"   I've never had hands this clean.

It's sad so many folks died at that Senior facility in Kirkland.  One of my customer's yesterday said he's got an aunt who's there.  Said she is healthy, but quarantined, although he was puzzled why she hadn't even been tested for the virus yet.

Hopefully, this thing is contained, and people chill out soon.  The facemasks and empty shelves at the grocery stores are getting a little post-apocalyptic.  

more like a fee months

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/03/wuhan-coronavirus-coverup-lies-chin...

more on chinas repression of the early reports...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/health/virus-corona.html

and this...

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/08/803766743/critics-s...

...

https://www.businessinsider.com/china-information-crackdown-on-wuhan-cor...

Even so, with a Science denying Trump regime and a pray the virus away Veep spreading propaganda were not better off or better prepared than China when it comes to containing the spread of infectious disease, IMO 

https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1235616174899171328

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1236054778318393344

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1236059549540347905

Saw some story about how a dude with Corona virus went to a crowded Tool concert in New Zealand.

I am going to Tool on Wednesday night, but based on those stats above, people 70-years-old or older might want to reconsider going to the show.   

are we sure it originated in wuhan?

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/4/21156607/how-did-the-coronavirus-get-starte...

Corona virus blues

48 years ago

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x1YuCc9qJDk

Going to a concert in a house next week.

Should be cozy.

Went to my first large public gathering since the COVD-scare last night to see the stand-up comedian Doug Stanhope at an 1100 seat theater.   Didn't notice anyone ill or wearing a facemask.  Other than more regular hand washing and bumping elbows instead of shaking hands with my friends, it was a wecome sense of normalcy.  I understand the fears of those with compromised lungs and immune systems, but for otherwise healthy folks, my advice is to try to live your lives using reasonable precaution without becoming a prisoner to paranoia and irrational fear.

“ Can you believe that,with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf.Worse than Carter”
-DJT

“President Obama has a major meeting on the N.Y.C. Ebola outbreak, with people flying in from all over the country, but decided to play golf!”
-DJT

“ We pay for Obama's travel so he can fundraise millions so Democrats can run on lies. Then we pay for his golf.”
-DJT

“ Who plays more golf, yourself or the President? My money is on POTUS." You win!”
-DJT

“ I don't mind that @BarackObama plays a lot of golf. I just wish he used it productively to make deals with Congress!”
-DJT

“I play golf to relax. My company is in great shape. @BarackObama plays golf to escape work while America goes down the drain.”
-DJT

Shelves are emptying out around here for TP Paper Towels Water and Cleaning Supplies.

This shit is laughable. Social media, cable news and nanny-state bureaucrats all coming together to whip up a frenzy over the flu. 

The US is drastically underprepared for this obviously and the admin is more focused on rosey messaging than on plans.  I have a feeling the next two weeks are going to change things a lot for people. This thing is everywhere and we would know that if there was more testing but it's a case of see no evil, hear no evil because the diagnostics just arent online now.

Take care of each other out there folks. I think its going to get much worse before it gets better and "normal" is going to be very different for a majority of us for a while.  I hope I'm wrong though.

Our county health department says go see live music:

Going to Tool on Wednesday, ALO and Twiddle on Saturday, and then its off to Asia next week for R&R.

...

Went to a Infamous Stringdusters show on Sunday, 300 people in an indoor concert venue. GREAT show! The Dusters are SOOOOO good. 

CDC told someone in my office to self-quarantine at home for a couple of weeks. 

Last week I visited someone in the hospital ICU and I caught what appeared to be a common cold (a coronavirus). I'm feeling better, but if this is my last post:

I love you all. 

You were a good friend Johnny D

Love you too, Johnny. I'll pour whiskey on your grave. 

Shoot dude, you can't go yet. You and Kai got traveling to do. 

Johnny D, I love you and hope to see you in April. Please don't die until after that.

p.s. you're young and as far as I know a healthy guy. Your level of risk of complications is very low.

They just canceled NAB in Vegas which is mid April. It is the third largest convention in Vegas every year. 

Also canceled is the BNP Paribas Open, the huge tennis tournament scheduled to have begun yesterday at Indian Wells, in Riverside county, southern California. Not only is it very important in the tennis world, it is a huge contributor (50M) to the economy of Riverside county.

All of my convention/expo floor work for the next two months has canceled. Glad I got a few in before the shit hit the fan. Granted, I may have contracted the virus at those events. I feel ok. I think. 

On a positive note, our local Jazz/NPR station cancelled their Spring Fund Drive to give full attention to reporting on the pandemic.

Hmm...

Exclusive: White House told federal health agency to classify coronavirus deliberations...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials

The officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key player in the fight against the coronavirus.

Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said.

"We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go,” one official said. “These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.”

The sources said the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification.”This came directly from the White House,” one official said.

The White House insistence on secrecy at the nation’s premier public health organization, which has not been previously disclosed, has put a lid on certain information - and potentially delayed the response to the crisis. COVID19, the disease caused by the virus, has killed about 30 people in the United States and infected more than 1,000 people.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-secrecy-exclusive/...

Impeachable?

CU Boulder just canceled classes for the rest of the semester. Online classes start Monday. 

Cheeto just suspended all air travel from Europe to the US for the next 30 days.

I have a friend who is visiting Vienna and had planned to return on the 19th. I wonder what she will do?  She might enjoy remainging there; she's staying wtih relatives.

Another one is in Myanmar, and a friend is here from Germany. Is there any restriction on returning to Europe?

Not sure about returning, but I imagine routes will be cut dramatically.  Typically the same planes go back and forth all day everyday, to and from the same cities. Don’t know if they’ll fly an empty plane back to USA, ya know what I mean?

Here is some great bureaucratic bullshit.  I’m sure most will blame trump but it’s just the way our government works regardless of party.  Let’s make government bigger!  Jeez.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/us/coronavirus-testing-delays.html

Our daughter is in London for spring semester. The group flew to Dublin today. They sent email today saying they intend on finishing the semester. Not sure if they're going to make it to May 1. 

Ireland sounds like a safe place to me, there’s like what under 3 million people in the whole country?

and of course the whiskey.  That’ll cure all!

I'd forgotten about the back-and-forth-all-day thing... hmmm.

Funky business in the NYT link. Thanks.

I wonder, could one fly through Canada from Europe?

I am sure there will all sorts of work arounds like flying through Canada.  Like many things Trump, not sure if they thought this through much.

Or take a train to the UK and fly back.  Don’t know if they’ll allow EU nationals on the plane but possibly USA citizens.

NBA postponed their season.

player tested positive.

Wow... Tom Hanks has it and the NBA just suspended their season.. Still no cases in Alabama.. Were still undefeated.. RTR.. not even the corona virus wants to come to Alabama. We'll probably get it 20 years after eveyone else does though lol

if you can get to England by Friday, looks like it might be alright.

((((Rerouters via Canada))))

Here’s an official statement about travel ban.  Interesting it’s only Shengen area of EU.

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/11/homeland-security-acting-secretary-c...

Thanks, Racket.

Damn, has there been a virus? How have I not heard of it? I guess I should stay on the Zone. ahem... Viva. 

My, how many worlds we've come since Covid first  hit the zone 

Shall we retrace them, or let them fly in the wind?