• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

T R E 4 5 O N

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Second rate reporter says what?

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Republicans in disarray!

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Sunday/Monday, March 22/23

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Sunday/Monday, March 22/23

by Anne Laurie|  March 23, 20205:42 am| 51 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Foreign Affairs, Healthcare

FacebookTweetEmail

Milan: Stare a casa (stay at home)
Nanjing: Wear a mask
Dongguan: how about staying at home for the spring festival?
Ningbo: wear a mask, stay at home. pic.twitter.com/btp8ks7nhA

— Chenchen Zhang??‍♀️ is social distancing (@chenchenzh) March 22, 2020

Great @nytimes visual story on how unknowing travelers from the Wuhan area dispersed across China & the world as the virus was spreading regionally. There’s no doubt the official cover-up & delay in locking down the area helped the virus spread globally. https://t.co/8FHhmZoxRM

— Edward Wong (@ewong) March 22, 2020

Heard of #FlattenTheCurve & #StopTheSpread? Well, this is the graphic everyone needs to understand. We all have to change our behaviour NOW. So, WASH YOUR HANDS AND STAY PHYSICALLY DISTANT. Even better STAY HOME. Please share. #Covid_19 #COVIDー19 Thanks @XTOTL & @TheSpinoffTV pic.twitter.com/z455Lpr47O

— Dr Siouxsie Wiles (@SiouxsieW) March 21, 2020

#SciComm can be done for any outlet- ⁦@aetiology⁩ does a great job explaining differences between #flu & #COVID19: “Treating it as one underestimates a lot of what makes the new coronavirus puzzling and, as of now, much more dangerous than the flu.” https://t.co/5hluArZEZc

— Beth Linas, PhD, MHS (she/her) ?‍??‍? (@bethlinas) March 22, 2020

Louisiana and Ohio are joining California, Illinois and New York in mandating all residents stay at home to help stop the spread of the coronavirus https://t.co/IZeBV9CjjN

— Bloomberg (@business) March 22, 2020

South Korean company Sugentech is going into mass production of an immunoassay for #coronavirus #COVID19 that can determine whether you have ever been exposed to the virus. Takes 10 minutes.https://t.co/ytX9VrAER7 pic.twitter.com/7xCsRNDsue

— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) March 22, 2020

#Isolation is so important to prevent #coronavirus outbreak pic.twitter.com/NArQNUt5aw

— ????? ??????® (@aamiryounus) March 23, 2020

“Gorillas are very sensitive to human diseases."

Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo has closed over fears the #coronavirus could threaten endangered gorillas pic.twitter.com/F2bqes8teI

— QuickTake by Bloomberg (@QuickTake) March 23, 2020

My phone, which is satellite-tracked by the Taiwan gov to enforce quarantine, ran out of battery at 7:30 AM. By 8:15, four different units called me. By 8:20, the police were knocking at my door.

— Milo Hsieh (@MiloHsieh) March 22, 2020


“There is a possibility that #covid19 may not disappear within this year,” said Prof Ki Mo-ran, one of Korea’s architects behind drive-through test centers and social distancing campaign.
She adds schools may not be able to open on April 6. More below?1/ https://t.co/5WihKrYZMx

— Hyung Eun Kim (@BBC_Hyung) March 23, 2020

▶️ When coronavirus first started, we (researchers) all knew the solution. If every single person practiced complete, perfect social distancing for 2 weeks, we could end it (early). But there were some who didn’t and that’s why the current situation is getting prolonged. 2/

— Hyung Eun Kim (@BBC_Hyung) March 23, 2020

▶️ Can we uproot it completely? I’m not sure, unless the entire world works together really really hard, she said. Of six coronaviruses, four — excluding SAR and MERS — remain occurring all year round, like cold. Unlike cold, however, Covid19 kills lots of elderly people. 3/

— Hyung Eun Kim (@BBC_Hyung) March 23, 2020

Because there are observable factors in hospital strain domestically if the numbers are off and they can't cover current infection rate numbers drastically https://t.co/9kDQFdxx2R

— ? Rui Zhong, No Snakes Island Resident ? (@rzhongnotes) March 22, 2020

You cannot really cover up hospital pressure and keep it hidden from people who are used to analyzing current events in China on that large of a scale.

— ? Rui Zhong, No Snakes Island Resident ? (@rzhongnotes) March 22, 2020

Wow. This is a beautiful portrait from one of our readers of one of the two female medical workers @vwang3 and I wrote about here: https://t.co/vKl3gcSqTb https://t.co/ejCmDOzgvo

— Sui-Lee Wee 黄瑞黎 (@suilee) March 23, 2020

Old Delhi Railway station wears a deserted look as Indian Railways has cancelled all passenger trains till March 31, in view of Coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/ETNm7Nsb20

— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2020

A #curfew was clamped across #Punjab after general public failed to cooperate with the government during 'Janta curfew' on Sunday. #coronavirus https://t.co/4ap7ru62cR

— National Herald (@NH_India) March 23, 2020

This is a correct take. Russia's numbers are the classic take of 3.6 Roentgen. It's only this low because the meter doesn't go any higher, and the meter won't go higher because that's the only meter they will use. https://t.co/M5VfKKpe8x

— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) March 22, 2020

congratulations to Putin on keeping Russia's coronavirus cases down to 3.6 roentgens https://t.co/9IL3rS9EHg

— The Online-Normie Complex (@canderaid) March 21, 2020

Monday 23/3 – Graph of confirmed #COVID19 cases in OZ

Total known cases = 1641

AMA quick facts & info page: https://t.co/lPMl6MZncy @ama_media ?

PS – I've stopped tracking cases bc @COVID_Australia & @juliette_io are doing a better job!?#coronavirusaustralia #COVID19AU pic.twitter.com/Z2OsL6wQLp

— Virus Watch AU (@VirusWatchAU) March 23, 2020

"We are under siege and we have no medicine."

Gaza has confirmed its first coronavirus cases after two Palestinians returning home from abroad tested positive. pic.twitter.com/nUPE29tTDw

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 23, 2020

Madrid took a convention centre and turned into a hospital. This is what corona virus looks like. It’s not just a flu. pic.twitter.com/uJCiyYyLfB

— Maria Tadeo (@mariatad) March 23, 2020

Useful @washingtonpost story talking about the #Covid19 experiences of a bunch of people who would be considered mildish cases. Some felt nothing, others felt really crappy. Good idea to know what to look for. https://t.co/4Ma2bwhENw

— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) March 22, 2020

I wrote about the technical and regulatory challenges the US has faced in trying to ramp up testing here. Happy to answer any follow-up q's you may have.https://t.co/rVIyTdXOHO

— Anna Minkina (@Anna_Minkina) March 23, 2020

Update

Now that #COVID19 testing is finally becoming available, NP swabs – $0.20 pieces of plastic/nylon – are becoming limiting

If we can’t sample, we can’t test

This pandemic is exposing weaknesses in the global supply chain that were rarely considered at risk of breaking

— Michael Mina (@michaelmina_lab) March 22, 2020

https://t.co/OIatQjVUW2 This is by far the most specific and detailed piece on US medical supply chain issues that I’ve seen.

— Henry Farrell (@henryfarrell) March 21, 2020

Are you a life scientist battling Covid? Your data and ideas may be key to developing cures and saving lives. Are you a data scientist and want to pitch in with your time and expertise? We have built a platform to bring us all together. Join us now! https://t.co/hW4ZfuhFbG pic.twitter.com/5qQafCUEzp

— Data Against Covid (@DataVSCovid) March 20, 2020

Historians of this pandemic: this is our task now, to begin the painful documentation of the convulsions our world is undergoing. #COVID19 #twitterstorians #histmed https://t.co/QFCFvWAuuh

— Monica H Green (@monicaMedHist) March 22, 2020

? Worldwide Coronavirus Statistics
Confirmed Cases: 341,561 (+4,131)
Recovered: 99,040
Deaths: 14748 (+110)

? United States Statistics:
Confirmed Cases: 35,070 (+1,524)
Recovered: 178
Deaths: 458 (+39)#coronavirus #corona #covid19 pic.twitter.com/A9eq19nwGv

— CoronavirusBot (@CovidTweet) March 23, 2020

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « On The Road – Sister Golden Bear – Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Next Post: Monday Morning Open Thread: Our New Democratic Shadow Cabinet »

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  1. 1.

    Mr. Mack

    March 23, 2020 at 6:02 am

    Good morning.  Lots of info in this post.  Thanks.

  2. 2.

    Quantumman

    March 23, 2020 at 6:07 am

    Question: if you are required to stay home, how do you get groceries or take your pet to a needed vet visit such as in an emergency? Anyone know how this works?

  3. 3.

    Jack Canuck

    March 23, 2020 at 6:15 am

    It’s looking grim down here in Australia. Government schools here in Victoria closed early for the Term 1/2 break today, while some private schools (like the one I teach at) are teaching online for the rest of the week. Nobody’s expecting to be coming back in mid-April for Term 2 in person, but how long? Who knows. The restrictions on businesses – gyms, cinemas, theatres, pubs, clubs all closed, cafes and restaurants only allowed to do takeaway business – is devastating the small business owners and leaving so many with no job. Depressing and scary, though my wife and I have the comfort of being pretty secure with work, both being teachers and unlikely to end up unemployed. Most states and territories are imposing mandatory quarantines on people coming from outside the jurisdiction, as is the country itself for overseas travelers returning (and only citizens and permanent residents allowed in now).

    On the plus side, all that pain is because the state and federal governments are getting serious. Only 7 deaths so far, but the curve of infections is going up fast, and the politicians and officials are justifiably scared (and pissed at the people who have been ignoring the social distancing rules put in effect previously). At the federal level, the Coalition government (right-wing, for you non-Aussies) is actually doing a decent job: massive financial payouts to help small businesses and the newly unemployed, abandoning the goal of a budget surplus, doubling the NewStart/Job Seekers Allowance (basic unemployment, essentially), adding on a coronavirus ‘bonus’ to anyone receiving assistance, at least trying to be proactive in a very uncertain and rapidly changing environment. The Labor opposition and the government appear to be working quite well together, with Labor promising support for necessary measures whilst still pushing for what it sees as improvements in those measures. The Greens are serving a useful purpose in persistently drawing attention to those hardest hit by this. The federal and state governments are working closely as well, though the states are often making calls that differ from what the PM would like to see, based on their assessment of the circumstances in each state. And at least this cooperation means the actions taken can’t really be turned into political point-scoring after the fact, since all the major parties have signed on to the actions jointly.

    Even if it works in terms of preventing large numbers of deaths in Australia, the economic pain is going to be huge, both from the internal disruptions and from the worldwide impact of the virus. Some people are grasping that things aren’t going back to normal anytime soon, but a lot of others still don’t really get it, and won’t until the police are knocking on their door telling them to get their act together – like the moronic North Melbourne footballers who had to apologise for an all-night party they just held. Meantime my wife’s family here are all at high risk in various ways (age in the 90s for her grandma & 70s for her parents, diabetes for her dad, one sister undergoing chemo for breast cancer), and mine are locked down in Illinois (my dad and his wife, both with MS and immuno-compromised) or in Indiana still (as of a week or so ago) going out to church functions in spite of my mom being in her 70s and her husband having a very difficult time going through chemo for a brain tumor with a bad prognosis to start with. And if anything happens to them, I’m not going to be able to get there.

    I didn’t have high hopes for 2020, but I didn’t think it would turn this shit this fast.

  4. 4.

    satby

    March 23, 2020 at 6:15 am

    That Korean antigen test with results in 10 minutes could be a game changer if they can ramp up production enough to disperse workdwide. And if governments get serious about proactive testing, tracking, and isolating. Which seems highly unlikely here in the US.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    March 23, 2020 at 6:19 am

    @satby: Just read that Trump offered to send tests to North Korea. Gob. Smacked.

  6. 6.

    YY_Sima Qian

    March 23, 2020 at 6:20 am

    Very glad to see European countries building makeshift medical quarantine facilities out of convention centers. Spain, Italy and Germany have all been doing so over the weekend. Have to isolate the mild and asymptomatic (caught from contact tracing) cases from their families and communities, and place them under medical supervision. Not sure Spain and Italy’s testing infrastructures are up to snuff to support this strategy, though. Italy is still prioritizing testing of hospitalized cases, due to limit in lab capacity. One certainly does not want to mix the confirmed and suspect cases together. Suspect cases and close contacts have to be quarantined individually. Once their testing infrastructure catches up, they will need to convert more such facilities.

    A number of European countries and several of the US cities have already missed the boat to implement the South Korean strategy (let alone the Singaporean, Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Macau strategies), even if testing is not a constraint. There is far too much community transmission. Furthermore, most of them do not have the contact tracing organization to take advantage of improved testing capacity. The latter, without the former, is of limited utility. Mass testing still only gives a picture of the infections from a week ago. Mass contact tracing is required to get ahead of the epidemic and break the transmission chains. Strict lock down is now needed to contain and suppress mass community transmission, dial back the clock, so to speak. That allows time for testing and contact tracing infrastructures to be strengthened, so that one can then shift to a South Korean strategy. After the epidemic is largely snuffed out, then one can shift to a Singaporean strategy, or what China is now doing to detect and isolate the foreign introductions.

    Lastly, has to be careful with employing the rapid immunoassay test kits. The false negative rate is significantly higher than PCR swabs. In my understanding,, PCR test can produce positive result earlier during the course of infection and illness than antibody tests.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 6:21 am

    STL and STL county are in shutdown until April 22. Jefferson, Franklin, and St Charles counties probably will do the same in a few days. Fortunately, ST Louisans have their priorities straight: St. Louis Liquor Stores Deemed ‘Essential’ During Lockdown, Thank Christ

    Good news for fellow drunks: St. Louis-area liquor stores have been deemed “essential” by St. Louis-area officials and will be exempted from today’s “stay at home” order that will force businesses across the region to close in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus.

    The stay at home order, which goes into effect Monday in both St. Louis city and county, essentially strongly encourages people to leave their house only if absolutely necessary and mandates that businesses whose services are not deemed essential — tattoo parlors, movie theaters, playgrounds, bowling alleys, etc. — close their doors to the public for the time being.

    But there are exceptions for businesses that provide things that the public needs at this time. That includes health care facilities, of course, as well as grocery stores, farmers’ markets, produce stands, gas stations and the like.

    And, because the ability to get blind drunk in our homes in the absence of anything better to do is truly essential in these trying times, it also includes liquor stores.

    It’s just common sense.

  8. 8.

    satby

    March 23, 2020 at 6:28 am

    @Jack Canuck: I didn’t have high hopes for 2020, but I didn’t think it would turn this shit this fast.

    Truth! And the picture of the deserted railway station in Old Delhi is stunning. It normally teems with people 24/7. That entire area of Old Delhi does. I wonder where the homeless were sent.

  9. 9.

    Chyron HR

    March 23, 2020 at 6:29 am

    @satby:

    Which seems highly unlikely here in the US.

    THESE COLORS DON’T ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION!

    BACK-TO-BACK WAR CRIMES CHAMPION!

    THE ONLY ONE WHO TALKS BACK TO ME IS MY WIFE AND I SHOT HER, TOO!

  10. 10.

    WereBear

    March 23, 2020 at 6:31 am

    The one consistent message through all of this is: unless we get rid of Republicans, we will never get un-screwed.

    They believe in:

    • no rules, no regulations
    • scorn of science
    • IGMFY
    • libertarian assholery
    • religious solutions to real-world problems
    • whining and passing the buck

    We’ve seen what they have done so far, which is let it get as bad as possible and then continue to get in the way of actual experts and the officials who try to implement their good advice.

    We need to purge these all Republican toxins from our body politic, and the sooner, the better.

  11. 11.

    Jack Canuck

    March 23, 2020 at 6:31 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Bottleshops have been deemed an essential service here in Victoria too. The pictures of the mobs in them yesterday when the impending restrictions were announced – but before it was known whether or not they’d apply to the liquor stores – were depressing. Really people? Can’t survive without your booze for a while? Sad.

  12. 12.

    satby

    March 23, 2020 at 6:32 am

    @Betty Cracker: Jeezus! No words.

    Yeah, words. I wish he’d get sick enough to get taken out of commission so competent people could take over. Because with Trump out of commission even for a little while we’d maybe have a chance.

  13. 13.

    WereBear

    March 23, 2020 at 6:37 am

    @satby: I have to hope our elderly leaders, like Nancy Pelosi, had the good sense to take precautions early and often, while ones like McConnell blithely assumed their interests would always be served and lived the “it’s just the flu” message they pushed.

    CPAC an extinction event? I’m okay with that. Seeing all the preventable suffering around me turned up to eleven, I’m actually harshly wishing for it.

    Reality knocks, and this time they have to open the door.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 6:40 am

    @Betty Cracker: Yep, but our governors need to get off their asses and get ventilators, masks, gowns, etc on their own. trumps too busy saving Wall Street and golfing.

  15. 15.

    satby

    March 23, 2020 at 6:40 am

    I talked to a friend of mine yesterday, she’s an O.R. nurse at the U of Chicago Hospital and her son is a paramedic in the ER, and she says it’s already getting bad, with PPE and masks running low. All elective surgeries were stopped about a week ago, so she’s been home. She’s 66 and has high blood pressure, so higher risk; but expecting to be called back as other medical personnel get sick and are rotated out. She just had a new baby granddaughter over the weekend, her first grandchild, and they can’t go see her. She’s a bit terrified she never will see her.

    Edit, and this is with the bed capacity of the hospital still not at its limit.

  16. 16.

    Edmund Dantes

    March 23, 2020 at 6:42 am

    @Jack Canuck: Alcoholism detox is no joke.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 6:44 am

    @satby: We are separated from our granddaughters for at least a month. It is what it is.

  18. 18.

    satby

    March 23, 2020 at 6:45 am

    @Quantumman: the stay at home orders usually allow for getting food and get care as well as walking dogs.

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    March 23, 2020 at 6:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Trump’s offer to provide tests to North Korea is a completely empty promise, of course. But it amazes me that he made it in the middle of a crisis in his own country that his administration has bungled so terribly, notably by a failure to make tests available. I get mad at myself every time I’m surprised by some fresh outrage — nothing should be surprising at this point!

  20. 20.

    satby

    March 23, 2020 at 6:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I know, but you at least got to meet them first.

    And it’s just one little story in a world full of much worse ones, tbh.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 6:47 am

    Adding insult to injury? Zagreb hit by earthquake while in coronavirus lockdown

    A strong earthquake has shaken the Croatian capital, Zagreb, bringing much of the population on to the streets after social distancing regulations to prevent the spread of coronavirus had been put in place.

    The quake, which struck shortly after 6am local time on Sunday, caused widespread damage, including to the city’s cathedral, and the evacuation of hospitals. A 15-year-old was in a critical condition and 16 others were injured as a result of the quake, Croatian authorities said on Sunday afternoon.

    The epicentre was four miles north of Zagreb at a depth of six miles, and the 5.3-magnitude earthquake was followed by a number of smaller tremors. The prime minister, Andrej Plenković, said the earthquake was the biggest in Zagreb in the last 140 years.

    Many buildings in the capital cracked and walls and rooftops were damaged. Streets were littered with debris. Concrete slabs fell on cars and chimneys landed in front of building entrances.

    Great timing God.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 6:49 am

    @satby: And it’s just one little story in a world full of much worse ones, tbh.

    And there it is.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 6:50 am

    @Betty Cracker: He hasn’t begun to scrape the bottom of the depravity barrel.

  24. 24.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    March 23, 2020 at 6:51 am

    Just saw on the Twitters that Facebook is releasing 750,000 face masks from its “emergency reserves”  WTF?  Why does Facebook have “emergency reserves” of 750,000 face masks?

  25. 25.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 23, 2020 at 6:52 am

    @Betty Cracker: Yeah, there might be a place closer to North Korea that has tests and experience with the test.

  26. 26.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 23, 2020 at 6:54 am

    @WereBear: Someone needs to go listen to episode 538 of The Professional Left podcast.

  27. 27.

    JPL

    March 23, 2020 at 6:54 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I face timed with my one year old grandson.    It was interesting to say the least.   The DIL is doing a great job sending the grans pictures.    It’s going to be awhile before we visit again.

  28. 28.

    Betty Cracker

    March 23, 2020 at 6:57 am

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I saw that too. WTF?

  29. 29.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 23, 2020 at 7:00 am

    @satby: Years past 2015, where’re the self-walking, floating dog leashes?

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 7:01 am

    @JPL: We will be doing the same, although I’m not sure how much I will be participating. That kind of tech stuff really drives me up the wall. I’m just too 16th century.

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 23, 2020 at 7:03 am

    @Betty Cracker: You’re surprised by the literally anti-American actions of a Soviet shitpile mobster crime family?

  32. 32.

    Mr. Mack

    March 23, 2020 at 7:04 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Are you on a laptop?

  33. 33.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 23, 2020 at 7:06 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Wish it was Zergnet instead.

    Statement, not question.

  34. 34.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 23, 2020 at 7:08 am

    @Mr. Mack: Sixteenth-century laptop.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 7:16 am

    @Mr. Mack: Yes. I’m not too fond of the phone either.

  36. 36.

    Mr. Mack

    March 23, 2020 at 7:20 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I hear you.  I use text to exchange information, or a quick hello.  Most people have no problem having entire conversations via text.  I just can’t stay engaged that way, maybe cause I type to slow on the phone.  Thoughts come and go too fast.  I mention the laptop because love it or hate it, the Facebook messenger app works better than Zoom, if you ask me.  I stay in touch with my loved ones that way.

  37. 37.

    phdesmond

    March 23, 2020 at 7:28 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: liquor stores sell Slim Jims and bags of boiled peanuts, which are essential to mental and physical health.

  38. 38.

    Shalimar

    March 23, 2020 at 7:34 am

    Numbers the last 3 days now that we are finally testing have been really bad. We should pass China and Italy for most cases in the world in a week or less.

  39. 39.

    phdesmond

    March 23, 2020 at 7:35 am

    @Betty Cracker: i wonder when he will play golf again.

  40. 40.

    Quantumman

    March 23, 2020 at 7:45 am

    @satby: thanks.  I thought so but have not been sure.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 7:51 am

    @Mr. Mack: I don’t even know how to open a text on my phone. Probably a couple hundred piled up in there, which is fine because nobody who knows me would ever text me. On the phone I like to say what I have to say, settle whatever needs to be settled, and get off.

    I make exceptions for my sons, especially the NOLA one who I talk to once a week if I’m lucky. But it’s hard, really hard for me.

  42. 42.

    Immanentize

    March 23, 2020 at 7:52 am

    @Litlebritdifrnt: You know that if Facebook is releasing 750k masks from their strategic reserves (?) That they have as many or more still held back.

  43. 43.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2020 at 7:56 am

    @phdesmond: The corner stones of any balanced diet.

  44. 44.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 23, 2020 at 8:02 am

    Well the virus isn’t an automatic death sentience for the elders, talked to an on line friend in India, the guy is 92 and had the virus. He was never ill enough to be sent to the hospital but he was sick with all the symptoms for four weeks. And of course since he didn’t require hospitalization they didn’t give him the test so it’s not just our government that is hiding from the problem.

  45. 45.

    Splitting Image

    March 23, 2020 at 8:31 am

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Just saw on the Twitters that Facebook is releasing 750,000 face masks from its “emergency reserves” WTF? Why does Facebook have “emergency reserves” of 750,000 face masks?

    Because they bought up a few million of them intending to sell them at a high mark-up (as a public service) when everyone else started to run out?

  46. 46.

    Fair Economist

    March 23, 2020 at 10:15 am

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    Lastly, has to be careful with employing the rapid immunoassay test kits. The false negative rate is significantly higher than PCR swabs. In my understanding,, PCR test can produce positive result earlier during the course of infection and illness than antibody tests.

    That’s normally the case, but is complicated by the fact that the virus often isn’t in the nose much and so the swabs miss it. Not sure how it works out in practice.

  47. 47.

    Fair Economist

    March 23, 2020 at 10:21 am

    @Shalimar: I saw someone on Twitter claim that in 10 days we’d be up to a million cases. I marshaled my arguments to say that was alarmist, but as I ran my own calcs I realized it’s a pretty good estimate of the number infected then, maybe even a bit low. Cases won’t be that high because of incubation/underdiagnosis, but any argument would have been quibbling so I didn’t make it.

  48. 48.

    Robert Sneddon

    March 23, 2020 at 10:35 am

    @Litlebritdifrnt: They bought them in for their office staff years ago after H1N1, SARS and MERS hit the headlines and they’ve been languishing unused in their storerooms ever since. Whether they’re any good now, years later I’ve got no idea — medical items like that have an expiry date as the materials age after manufacture and they stop being as effective as they used to be.

     

    Front-line medical staff dealing with proven COVID-19 cases really need Ebola-style full-face masks and protections. The standard “N95” masks are meant to prevent exposure to low levels of coronavirus, bacteria and other viruses and they won’t stop the wearers being contaminated in seriously compromised environments.

  49. 49.

    Robert Sneddon

    March 23, 2020 at 10:39 am

    @Fair Economist: Proper sampling involves taking sputum and mucus samples from the back of the throat since coronavirus isn’t a rhino-virus (i.e. it doesn’t specifically infect the nose). That’s more difficult to do since folks will gag and cough in many cases when the swab stick is pushed far enough down their throat to get a good sample.

  50. 50.

    gvg

    March 23, 2020 at 11:42 am

    @Quantumman: Different rules by local government make that an “it depends” question but I can say my Vet sent and email that they are essentially doing curbside pick up for prescription food and that we need to wai in the car for vet appointments, Call ahead, call again when in their parking lot and they will cakk you back when they have a free exam room. No waiting room.

     

    I presume if you call about a trivial issue, you won’t be allowed to make an appointment.

  51. 51.

    Jay

    March 23, 2020 at 1:17 pm

    @Splitting Image:

    because some Companies / Corporations stockpiled PPE for their employees when the Anthrax attacks happened and in the aftermath various domestic terrorist groups continued to plot/plan/prep bioterrorist attacks against “their enemies and targets of media import”.

    As an example, where I am working, we are cleaned out of all masks, gloves, tyveck suits and have been for months, for sale to customers. As fast as we get stock, we get cleaned out, and there are hoarders.

    because of my job, I need that PPE daily, and all out stores have a large stock of that PPE, plus sanitizer and disinfectant chemicals for employee use. Because of Covid19 and because we are still open, that PPE has been extended to all employees. I’ve just had to advise people in proper wear and fit, and remind them not to “waste” the gear.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • mrmoshpotato on The Funniest Thing About All of This (Mar 30, 2023 @ 10:24pm)
  • Bill Arnold on War for Ukraine Day 400: Russia Takes a Hostage (Mar 30, 2023 @ 10:24pm)
  • Shalimar on War for Ukraine Day 400: Russia Takes a Hostage (Mar 30, 2023 @ 10:24pm)
  • Tony G on Open Thread: Red Staters for Moloch (Mar 30, 2023 @ 10:22pm)
  • mrmoshpotato on The Funniest Thing About All of This (Mar 30, 2023 @ 10:22pm)

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Seattle Meetup coming up on April 4!

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!