Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Let me file that under fuck it.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Republicans do not trust women.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Update (Informational / International Edition) – Sunday/Monday, March 8/9

COVID-19 Update (Informational / International Edition) – Sunday/Monday, March 8/9

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I suspect we’re reaching the point where these dawn updates become unnecessary, since we’ll be discussing the issue all day long in multiple posts. But I’ve gotten into the habit, so for now…

Excellent resource, for which I owe some commentor (dmsmilev?) a hat tip: “Don’t Panic: The comprehensive Ars Technica guide to the coronavirus“.

… You should be concerned and take this seriously. But you should not panic.

This is the mantra public health experts have adopted since the epidemic mushroomed in January—and it’s about as comforting as it is easy to accomplish. But it’s important that we all try…

… SARS-CoV-2 is here in the US, and it’s circulating—we are only starting to determine where it is and how far it has spread. Problems with federal testing have delayed our ability to detect infections in travelers. And as we work to catch up, the virus has kept moving. It now appears to be spreading in several communities across the country. It’s unclear if we will be able to get ahead of it and contain it; even if we can, it will take a lot of resources and effort to do it.

All that said, SARS-CoV-2 is not an existential threat. While it can be deadly, around 80 percent of cases are mild to moderate, and people recover within a week or two. Moreover, there are obvious, evidence-based actions we can take to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities overall.

Now is not the time for panic, which will only get in the way of what you need to be doing. While it’s completely understandable to be worried, your best bet to getting through this unscathed is to channel that anxious energy into doing what you can to stop SARS-COV-2 from spreading.

And to do that, you first need to have the most complete, accurate information on the situation as you can. To that end, below is our best attempt to address all of the questions you might have about SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, and the situation in the US…


Anyone got more info on this?

May he set a new fashion!

Reader Interactions

26Comments

  1. 1.

    MazeDancer

    Thanks for your “habit”, Anne Laurie.

    It is a lot of work. But valuable info.

  2. 2.

    JPL

    The lack of testing and tracking individuals with the virus is going to hurt us physically and economically.  Don doesn’t want the numbers to go  up so he is deliberately slowing down testing.   A few dozen people from the Grand Princess will be in quarantine in GA, which makes sense because they live here.   The local news said it’s important to remember that they did not test positive.   They didn’t mention that they haven’t been tested so the results didn’t come back negative either.

  4. 4.

    evap

    Thanks for the valuable updates, AL!

    Currently traveling (Germany and Ireland), but I’m returning to the US on Sunday and worried about my 92-year-old mother and her 92-year-old husband, who are both in reasonably good health (although he has dementia).  They are living at home with 24 hour care, and leave the house only for doctor appointments, so not much exposure.   I will be working from home when I return, but am wondering if I should stop participating in choir and volunteer work (at a school) in case I pick it up.  I think I would be okay, but it would be horrible if I gave it to my mom; I visit her frequently.  I would rather give up activities than visits to my mother!

  6. 6.

    Lapassionara

    So, here in St. Louis, a young woman who had been studying in Italy tested positive after she returned home. On Thursday, the family was told to quarantine, but the father took the younger sister to a “father-daughter dance” at the Ritz Carlton in Clayton on Saturday night instead.

    I’m thinking he is a Trump cultist and avid Fox News viewer. Given my age and my compromised immune system, I am social distancing as much as possible. Mr LP returns from a trip to the west coast this evening, so I am just hoping he has been taking the hand washing advice seriously.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    Just wanted to add my thanks too, Anne Laurie. You were on this issue before it was even a blip on most people’s radar, and reading your daily updates has helped me stay more informed and therefore more prepared. That’s a valuable service, and it’s much appreciated.

  9. 9.

    Nelle

    I value these focused morning updates.  Thank you. I hope you continue.  This affects my decisions and you are helping me.

    I’m leaving on a short trip by car this morning and thinking maybe I’m being stupid.  I haven’t entirely gotten rid of The Cough.  We are scheduled to go to Nebraska next week to view the sandhill crane migration and the week after to Arizona but I’m beginning to doubt that.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    Since Ted Cruz announced his intention to self-quarantine after shaking hands with someone at CPAC who later tested positive for C-19, paranoia is running rampant on con Twitter. Raheem Kassam, a pro-Trump podcaster:

    I have now spoken to a number of people who were in/around the green room at CPAC when the attendee with coronavirus was there.

    People are apoplectic about how they have not been better informed of what happened.

    The attendee was there for much of Thursday at LEAST…

    The reason I am tweeting this: I have been flu-sick unwell for the past week and now I am finding out there are people I was in direct contact with who were in direct contact with the infected.

    And yes, I know who it was.

    Here are some of the other people who may have been in the green room on Thursday afternoon at the same time as the CPAC #coronavirus infectee:

    – Rep Louie Gohmert;
    – Ronna McDaniel
    – Michael Knowles
    – Kay James
    – KellyAnne Conway
    – Betsy Devos
    – Rep Matt Gaetz
    – Diamond/Silk

    Thoughts and prayers!

  11. 11.

    Chyron HR

    Can a face mask stop coronavirus?

    Seems like you could put that information in your headline instead of driving clicks, you dicks.

  13. 13.

    MagdaInBlack

    I really dont see where I have much choice in this matter. I have contact with customers and vendors 10 hours a day. We have no sick days. Work from home is not an option. Company has done nothing more than post the CDC wash your hands guidelines.

    We have over 700 shops around the country, some in the Washington state hotspot area.

    Today I’m emailing HR.  I expect a “pat on the head, go back to work” response.

    Just a wee frustration vent.

  15. 15.

    Geminid

    It is very good to concentrate these news nuggets in one post. People need breadth and depth of information to understand and evaluate.

  16. 16.

    David C

    Richard Hatchett – my old boss! Glad that he (and my current up-the-chain boss, Tony Fauci) are getting some air time. One day in 2009 Richard was whisked away to the White House with a few other preparedness folks to deal with H1N1.

  17. 17.

    Princess

    @Betty Cracker: Why won’t they tell people who the infected person is? The rest of non-famous CPAC also deserves the right to decide they ought to quarentine themselves.

  18. 18.

    WereBear

    @Princess: Why won’t they tell people who the infected person is? The rest of non-famous CPAC also deserves the right to decide they ought to quarentine themselves.

     
    Asked, and answered. The little people deserve nothing.

  19. 19.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Princess: Raheem Kassam has put out enough information that it shouldn’t be too hard to identify them. They attended the Shabbat dinner and were in/around the green room between 1 and 5 pm, a period when people like Louis Gohmert, KellyAnn Conway, Betsy DeVos, Matt Gaetz, and Diamond and Silk were likely also there.

    He also says there’s rumors that they were the same people as the AIPAC guests, who shared a room during CPAC.

  20. 20.

    frosty

    I like your morning updates, although they sometimes make me want to pull the covers over my head and not get out of bed. There’s info here I don’t see anywhere else.

  24. 24.

    frosty

    @Nelle: We’re on a long-planned post-retirement cross country National Park road trip until some time in June. Great timing for a pandemic, eh?

    Worst case, they close the parks; best case, we take precautions and stay healthy. Middle case, we self-quarantine in the trailer. I’ve got 10 days of meals stocked right now.

  25. 25.

    Bill Arnold

    That last tweet by Dr Anthea Katelaris leads to this.
    The title (preprint fwiw) says it all (obvious to many of us here in outline; the details are nice). You’ll to download or browse the PDF:
    Pre-Emptive Low Cost Social Distancing and Enhanced Hygiene Implemented before Local COVID-19 Transmission Could Decrease the Number and Severity of Cases. (5 Mar 2020, Craig Dalton, Stephen Corbett, Anthea Katelaris)
    But see the (useful) boxes of recommendations, that could be easily shared with people in positions of responsibility:

    Box 1. Workplace Interventions
    Box 2. School Interventions
    Box 3. Household-based Interventions
    Box 4. Commercial/entertainment/transport setting Interventions

  26. 26.

    J R in WV

     

    Well, it is obvious that Trump won’t ever allow the federal government to test a sufficient proportion of the population to provide guidance to health management staff. In my book that decision falls somewhere between voluntary manslaughter and murder on Trump’s fault, and everyone who goes along with him is an accessory both before and and after the crime.

    Every falsehood he utters into the media/internet is another count, he isn’t just random nutjob ranting on twitter, he is the GD President of the United States and is responsible for properly executing routine precautions against this new disease!!

    Can you tell I’m pissed? Justice will be when he becomes positive for the virus from his schmoozing rich donors in Mar-a-Lago and at AIPIC and CPAC.

    ETA 1: We have been hermits since we retired, we both interacted with tons of people at work, and are both introverts, so that was a hard part of the job. Many of those people were overtly hostile, and all we could do was bite out lip and keep on keeping on. So not much has changed — hoping the internet keeps running while the emergency plays out!!!

    I will keep going to the stores once a week until that becomes obviously dangerous, then we will start reducing the stockpiles we have accumulated and are still building up. It is hard to stockpile wine !

    ETA2: I miss Steve in ATL, etc, etc. I hope he and his wife are doing OK. Same for Raven and his cute pooches.

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