Coronavirus - worldwide breaking news, discussion, stats, updates and more

[2hats]

Some people seem to have misunderstood the concept of quarantine.

Anyway, some handy advice:

From: Here’s how coronavirus spreads on a plane - and the safest place to sit

 

[Yossarian]

I think a lot of foreign residents in China - probably including some who suspect they have been exposed to the virus - are going to take the Australian move as a signal that they should get back to their homelands while they can still do so without being locked up when they get there.

 

[andysays]

I think a lot of foreign residents in China - probably including some who suspect they have been exposed to the virus - are going to take the Australian move as a signal that they should get back to their homelands while they can still do so without being locked up when they get there.

I think they should be locked up when they get here, or at least put into properly medically supervised quarantine.

If the situation is serious enough to evacuate them, it's serious enough for them to be quarantine.

 

[8ball]

Anyway, some handy advice:

So a slight trade-off between best place to sit to dodge the virus vs. best place to sit to survive a crash...

 

[Yossarian]

So a slight trade-off between best place to sit to dodge the virus vs. best place to sit to survive a crash...

Yep, but a crash could end up spreading the infected person's bodily fluids considerably further than one row.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Given the hit / miss healthcare structures in China, I would be looking to jump ship and get anywhere else to be looked after tbh

 

[Santino]

Some people seem to have misunderstood the concept of quarantine.

Anyway, some handy advice:
View attachment 196980
From: Here’s how coronavirus spreads on a plane - and the safest place to sit

What's up with 9C?

 

[andysays]

BBC now reporting that those evacuate will be quarantined "possibly at a UK military facility"...

 

[not-bono-ever]

I hear catterick is delightful in February

 

[2hats]

What's up with 9C?

Got up too often for the loo? Had a bit of a run in with 14C at the gate? Or simply a bit of scatter in the model.

BBC now reporting that those evacuate will be quarantined "possibly at a UK military facility"...

Diego Garcia? Gruinard Island?

 

[Cid]

Given the hit / miss healthcare structures in China, I would be looking to jump ship and get anywhere else to be looked after tbh

What I saw of healthcare in China was actually pretty good... I mean granted I lived in Nanjing, relatively wealthy and westernised, but that's the kind of place most westerners who are considering leaving will be. I'm sure it can be crap in more rural areas/smaller cities, but the hospital we ended up in when my mate fucked his knee was pretty impressive really. And no, not an expensive foreigner-oriented one.

 

[Supine]

When I almost died from pneumonia / altitude sickness the Chinese hospital I got taken to sorted me right out

 

[maomao]

What I saw of healthcare in China was actually pretty good... I mean granted I lived in Nanjing, relatively wealthy and westernised, but that's the kind of place most westerners who are considering leaving will be. I'm sure it can be crap in more rural areas/smaller cities, but the hospital we ended up in when my mate fucked his knee was pretty impressive really. And no, not an expensive foreigner-oriented one.

Only problem I ever had with Chinese hospitals is the total lack of privacy especially when they clock there's a big lump of foreigner there. I had complete strangers who weren't doctors helping to set my arms when I broke them and I had a wisdom tooth out in front of a small audience. But the quality of care and general cleanliness was as good as the UK.

Did get sent to a posh hospital once by my workplace as annual STI checks for all staff were mandatory and for some reason they decided that they didn't want me standing in the queue with my willy out (really) with the Chinese staff as I had in previous years. It was very posh and entirely deserted. Felt like something out of a science fiction film.

 

[Rimbaud]

Friend of mine in Guangdong reporting that the price of pork had quadrupled there over the last few days. I guess comes from panic buying and maybe disrupted supply lines.

This economic aspect could prove worse than the virus. A lot of people's livelihoods are already suffering - my friend told me there is a big flower market in her city that people usually go to at Spring Festival, and of course it was cancelled and all the flowers have since withered, and it's a big blow to the farmers who were relying on that expected income and had used their land to grow flowers specifically for that purpose. I imagine there are similar stories happening all over, and as always it is the poorest who suffer most.

 

[2hats]

Friend of mine in Guangdong reporting that the price of pork had quadrupled there over the last few days.

Excellent source of zoonotic infections.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Pork is stressed because of tge earlier swine virus leading to millions of slaughtered hogs - pork prices are he bellwether for many people.

 

[8ball]

Given the hit / miss healthcare structures in China, I would be looking to jump ship and get anywhere else to be looked after tbh

Anywhere else?

 

[Teaboy]

I've just come back from a work meeting at Heathrow T2. Wandered through check-in at the time to see a lot of presumably Chinese nationals checking in for their flight to Beijing. They seemed pretty chilled and they were smiling and joking*. Interesting juxtaposition when I got back to my car and listened to the radio and UK expats getting all upset because they are their whole family (regardless of nationality) wasn't being flown to the UK (gratis) immediately.

* Probably got suitcases full of face masks to flog for big money when they get back.

 

[two sheds]

All masks will reduce in efficiency over time with usage.

A mask only rated for PM2.5 isn't going to effectively filter out this virus. PM2.5 particles, where it is most efficient, are (surprise) 2500 nanometres in size. This coronavirus is going to have dimensions of something like 100-150 nanometres. The mask you describe will probably filter some of the virions but with much reduced efficacy (varying with mask manufacturer). Much better if it is rated N99 or FFP3; then it will provide some degree of protection if fitted properly (tight seal around the mouth and nose with no leakage) - the vast majority of people will have masks that either don't fit properly, or they do not know how to fit them properly, or they readjust them for comfort whilst wearing them, leading to poor fitting.

Any mask (even a clogged one) will however reduce (see previous other discussion) your ability to touch your mouth and nose, so reducing the likelihood of virion ingress through those entry points (which just leaves your eyes, which clearly nothing other than a full face respirator helps protect).

In summary: wash hands regularly, thoroughly, don't touch them to the soft wet entry points (wear a mask if this helps achieve that), know where your food came from/who prepared it, and try to avoid other people.

Presumably 250 nm masks will block water droplets which would be a carrier?

 

[8ball]

Any mask (even a clogged one) will however reduce (see previous other discussion) your ability to touch your mouth and nose, so reducing the likelihood of virion ingress through those entry points (which just leaves your eyes, which clearly nothing other than a full face respirator helps protect).

I think a motorcycle helmet might help a little.

 

[editor]

This fucking idiot should be jailed

The Chinese embassy in Paris has tracked down a woman from Wuhan who said she took tablets to pass airport health checks.

The woman boasted on social media that she had been suffering from a fever, but managed to reduce her symptoms with medicine.

She later posted pictures showing herself dining at what she claimed was a Michelin-starred restaurant in Lyon.

Coronavirus: Chinese embassy in Paris finds woman who 'cheated' checks

The woman boasted about taking medicine to bring her temperature down in order to clear customs.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[8ball]

Not good.

 

[planetgeli]

My girlfriend's university has a exchange programme with...university in Wuhan.

Those students aren't returning to their families anytime soon.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

It appears pharmacies here in Ireland are running out of masks.
And there isnt even one case here.

 

[elbows]

This fucking idiot should be jailed

No, I wouldnt say that, especially as some details of this story were not clear when it was reported, such as various travel and entry dates being missing. But it does say she left Wuhan last year, so I'm not going to judge her actions by the standards we would have started to demand in the last week or so.

edited to add - she was still reckless and an idiot, and my opinion of that could strengthen if I knew certain dates, but at least she was so stupid as to speak on social media of what she did, so this instance was picked up on.

 

[editor]

No, I wouldnt say that, especially as some details of this story were not clear when it was reported, such as various travel and entry dates being missing. But it does say she left Wuhan last year, so I'm not going to judge her actions by the standards we would have started to demand in the last week or so.

edited to add - she was still reckless and an idiot, and my opinion of that could strengthen if I knew certain dates, but at least she was so stupid as to speak on social media of what she did, so this instance was picked up on.

She clearly was fully aware of the virus, tweeting, "'Just before I left, I had a low fever and cough. I was scared to death and rushed to eat [fever-reducing] medicine.'
'I kept on checking my temperature. Luckily I managed to get it down and my exit was smooth.'

 

[maomao]

But it does say she left Wuhan last year,

No it doesn't. It says the corona virus was discovered late last year. It says she left while thermal scanning was in place. And some confusion over 'year' caused by cny I think. Assuming 'last year' means year of the pig rather than 2019.

 

[elbows]

Ah yes, sorry for my reading comprehension error.

Anyway, personally I dont believe in jail for that sort of thing, fear leads to all sorts of inappropriate decisions, including by those who are making the rules, not just those breaking them. I empathise with anyone caught up in this, including those who do something stupid to evade certain checks.

 

[Callie]

I think they should be locked up when they get here, or at least put into properly medically supervised quarantine.

If the situation is serious enough to evacuate them, it's serious enough for them to be quarantine.

What do we reckon then? Shove them all on the Isle of Wight??

 

[Callie]

Excellent source of zoonotic infections.

Mmmm hepatitis E