Topic: Coronavirus outbreak

Jared Leto's Twitter is weirdly wonderful to read, as it shows general amazement at the current situation.
He just came out of a two week long self-imposed isolation period in the desert, without any modern means of contacting people or staying up to date with news, so he's now dropped right in the middle of this chaos and his mind was literally blown.

So guys, we're closing on 200k officially confirmed cases. I'm guessing we're going to hit it before the end of the week. My mother in Arizona told me last night that they are closing down restaurants in her area, and that her sister in Michigan is livid because she can't go into work. My best friend in Texas said they wont test anyone under 60 without underlying medical conditions and that her job wont let anyone stay home without an official diagnosis. I was reading about massive overcrowding in the airports recently as people tried to get home before more travel restrictions go into place - with customs lines backed up for 6-7 HOURS. (Having flown overseas before, I thought 45 minutes was bad after getting off of a 12-13 hour flight. I can't imagine waiting in line for 6+ hours after! You want to talk about vulnerable to infection? My guess is rank exhaustion doesn't help!)

@Dezzy There are malicious actors out there spreading lies and conspiracy theories about this being a political ploy to take down various government leaders or to funnel more money to the world government and other nonsense. There's a scam going on that toothpaste made with powdered silver cures the virus and also invigorates you in... let's call it "adult terms".

@Heavyarms55

I think that kind of conspiracy theorizing is a quite distinctly american phenomena. People in england, especially conservative type people in the countryside, aren't like that at all. People here are very calm and traditional. They'll likely be ignoring any advice because they think it doesn't really apply to us. They'll assume it only applies to those noisy city folk.

@Dezzy I'm going to bite back my comment. I have an.......... extremely uncouth, opinion of American conservatives.

But yes. I haven't heard of such insanity from other places - at least not in the same numbers. The toothpaste nonsense was so widespread that of the people spreading it were sent cease and desist orders from the government. I'm not even in the US and I heard about it.

I've seen plenty of conspiracy theories doing the rounds (FB mostly) as well as actual news sources and informed pieces. The problem is, as with any situation, people are being taken advantage of. Either to generate clicks/attention, throw them into needless panic, or even worse practices like malicious emails, scams, or impersonating medical personnel ('"free" testing) to gain entry to a place of residence. This is the first I've heard of the toothpaste thing. Unfortunately, those most susceptible to this deception are more often than not the ones most vulnerable to the virus.

I live in a predominantly rural area, but officials are taking this seriously at the local, county, and state levels. Schools are closed until the end of the month, as are the dining areas of restaurants and bars. Many businesses, if they aren't closed entirely, are implementing stringent safety measures, reduced hours, social distancing, and allowing for remote work. All state parks, forests, and historic sites are closed. There are plenty of complainers and "It won't happen here"s (kinda similar to @Dezzy 's situation), but I think the illusion of safety was shattered for many when a case was found in a nearby county. It's very likely these safety measures will be extended.

The hoarding/shortages have occurred here too; before I learned evidence to the contrary, I thought this was mainly an issue in more populated areas. The town I live near and work in has a little under 15k people. It also caters to many smaller communities and has a lot of out-of-state traffic pass through as well. It's been pretty crazy for those looking for some supplies who actually NEED them.

To be honest, I'm still going into work as my home isn't the best equipped for remote work (We have the option if we can, but it isn't mandatory; I REALLY need a new desk at home for long-term use), but we've implemented social distancing quite well and, even before all this, are separated from the main body of the company I work for. Nor are we packed in close to each other. Adding in my usual introverted habits, decent hygiene, and the fact that I don't come into contact with people often, this situation hasn't affected me very much just yet. I expect that'll change when I need to go grocery shopping in about a week. Thankfully I'm well stocked on non-food items, which was true even before this craziness. I've just been traveling between work and home, keeping my head down, doing way too much paperwork (ugh, adulting), sticking to my hobbies, and enjoying a few TP and Mexican beer memes.

I do hope they don't close the trails here though; I sometimes hit them during my lunch when it's more isolated, but that didn't really make much of a difference today....Quite a few people out who were off work with their pets and kids.

When the state of emergency was declared in Hokkaido several weeks back (before the disease had spread much beyond East Asia), while social distancing and avoiding large gatherings were advised, jogging and walking were stated to be very low-risk activities.

I hope your trails stay open, as I think having some contact with the outside world and getting some level of exercise are both important. Anyone in their right mind should avoid gyms like the plague (that turn of phrase has never been more relevant), but going for a walk or run in the woods and seeing that - despite human society being thrown out of whack by the virus - there is still a world out there that keeps turning, is an important thing, I think.

...That’s a very convoluted sentence. Oh well. Anyway, providing it’s in line with sensible precautions, I think it’s important to do what makes you happy in time like this.

I do consider the trails low risk, if proper precautions are taken; unfortunately, I'm factoring pets into my social distancing as I don't know what sort of environment and people they're normally around. No dog petting. I'm not overly concerned about them closing the trails down unless they become extremely crowded, which doesn't happen often. That thought mostly came from all state natural areas getting closed down; I realize that the amount of people traffic is likely to blame there and that it's easier to close them all down vs. cherry picking which ones are open and closed, which would lead to more issues.

I'm still an indoor person at heart, but I don't mind getting out in nature for a little while for some fresh air and exercise. I much prefer the isolation, sights, and sounds to the noises, smells, and cooties found in gyms. Plus, it's one of the ways that I reduce my stress and cater to my self-therapy.

Not to mention many of the markers out there are stops in Pokemon Go....

One thing that I'm seeing a lot of and is really annoying is the idea that this is a "Chinese virus" or "Wuhan virus". A virus doesn't have a nationality and it certainly doesn't see nationality. To a virus, we are all homo sapiens. The same species of human being. Chinese, American, British, Japanese, etc etc... those are social creations, social divisions, not biological. This virus is more than capable of infecting and/or killing any of us, regardless of where we were born or what flag we fly.

@Heavyarms55
Don't forget with other virus classification such as MERS, Singapore Influenza, etc

@Anti-Matter Or the Spanish Flu. It's not a new idea, to try and label viruses like this and place the blame. But it's not only useless to do so, it's counter productive. This is the kind of issue that demands the world cooperate. If nothing else, we need to cooperate on dealing with this virus. Because a virus doesn't care what nationality we are, it doesn't care about what religion we follow, it doesn't care who we are attracted to, it doesn't care about who we vote for or what our political opinions are, it doesn't care what flag we fly. A virus doesn't care how much money we make, or where we live. CEO or fry cook. President or homeless. It doesn't matter.

To a virus like this, we are all human, we are all susceptible.

@Heavyarms55

Yes, except in this case, it genuinely IS the fault of the Chinese government. That wasn't the case with most other viruses/diseases. The Spanish Flu was named that because it happened during WW1 and so because Spain were neutral, they were the only country in Europe that were reporting on it in their national news. They were never the origin of it, or responsible for it in any way.

That's the exact opposite of what happened here. The only reason any of this happened is because the Chinese government deliberately shut down all discussion of what was happening back in December. The Chinese doctor who tried to tell the world was basically arrested, and has since died of the virus:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51403795

This is the only reason it spread to every corner of the earth. If they'd simply been open about what was happening, most other countries could've been completely saved from this by just temporarily cutting off transport links with China.

It's not counter-productive to point this out. Once everything has calmed down, it's important that the rest of the world puts a lot of pressure on the Chinese government to change their ways.

Apparently the ‘Spanish Flu’ got its name because Spain was the only country not censoring information on the number of cases at the time, making it look like the region was disproportionately affected. And yet the name is still around over 100 years later.

I agree it’s unhelpful to assign a nationality to a disease that can run rampant across the globe. There’s no doubt China has a huge responsibility to ensure its animal markets are better regulated from here on out, as well as foster a system that doesn’t suppress early warning signs, but the virus is unfortunately a very much international phenomenon and trying to somehow affix it semantically to a single country only distorts the idea of how this thing spreads.

@Dezzy It is very much counter productive. Save the blame game for later on. You can whine all you want about the mistakes of the Chinese government from before - it doesn't help anyone right now. What it does to, is make it harder to deal with the situation as it evolves. Once the situation is under control, the spread stopped and things under control - then we call out China and we probably do demand reparations or something.

You're talking about filling out insurance forms while the house is still on fire. We need to put the fire out first! Then sue the idiot who threw the cigarette on the porch.

@Heavyarms55

Oh yeah I agree in terms of the timing. There's no point worrying about that now. That's an issue to bring up in like 6 months time.

The only reason people were calling it the Wuhan virus now is because a series of US news channels all randomly decided that it was "racist" to call it the Wuhan virus, even though they'd all called it that themselves repeatedly. So people were doubling down on calling it that as a justifiable middle finger to their hypocrisy. This youtube channel made a nice compilation of all the times CNN had called it that themselves:

@Dezzy I avoid mainstream US cable news almost more strongly than I do the virus. They're all corporations seeking a profit. They treat real issues the way decent people treat sports teams or preferred video game consoles. And they are always more than happy to cash in on disasters and catastrophes. Natural or man-made, it doesn't matter.

@Dezzy I think it’s important to consider statements relative to the point in time they were made.

Calling a coronavirus that almost exclusively exists within Wuhan a ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ does not seem like an unreasonable way of identifying it. Calling a coronavirus that almost exclusively exists within China a ‘Chinese coronavirus’ is... admittedly a little more shaky, as people who identify with the adjective ‘Chinese’ are far more widespread and may be unfairly associated with the disease despite having no connection. Even so, I feel using the term ‘Chinese coronavirus’ to refer to ‘the coronavirus in China’ is still somewhat justifiable, as prefix describes the location of the disease, and for a long time, the disease was almost entirely contained within China.

At the current point in time however, it is a truly global disease, and China is actually posting some of the lowest levels of new confirmed cases. It is no longer simply a Chinese phenomenon, it is a global phenomenon. Continuing to refer to the disease as ‘Chinese’ as if the disease itself has some sort of inherent ethnicity or nationality is misleading and unhelpful. As @Heavyarms55 says, it does not see race or respect national borders.

It’s also worth noting that ‘COVID-19’, not any other official way of identifying the virus really existed in the early stages, so referring to it by location was somewhat inevitable.

By continuing to use the term ‘Chinese virus’, you talk about it as something distant, foreign, or associated with Chinese people, as opposed to something immediate, pressing, and potentially carried by anyone. Insisting on using the term ‘Chinese virus’ at this late stage reeks of puerile, petty denial of its true nature and a desperation to lay blame through name calling. Blame should be appropriately apportioned through full, unambiguous remarks and followed up with thorough, in-depth investigations. The ‘he who smelt it dealt it’ mentality and use of language by BigT is not unexpected, but also not something to be emulated by anyone outside of the conspiracy theorists that make up such a unique part of America’s social fabric.

I wouldn't say I'm the biggest fan of the current potus, but the way in which everything he says is jumped upon as if it's the most outrageous thing to ever happen is getting really old and really embarrassing for those that oppose him.

Chances are that if he keeps calling it Chinese Flu and somehow links Joe Biden's third cousin to China, he will hammer it home for the next 8 months and still find enough Americans to reelect him on that basis alone.

Calling Trump a racist for nonsense like this is not going to convert anyone who previously voted for him.

Well, the problem comes that there's indeed people attacking Chinese people for it even though for example:

1. They never set foot in China
2. Only live in America their whole lives

All because they are Chinese descent.

Not helped with how at the beginning of the spread, the news media is using asian wearing mask as cover picture instead of those that already confirmed to got the disease (or maybe just the virus picture?)

I hadn't heard about it. They don't use ''Wuhan/Chinese coronavirus'' over here, I've only heard ''coronavirus'', and in recent weeks it's COVID19.

@status-204 Spanish flu didn't originate in Spain though.

Even if it was 100% fair to blame the Chinese for this (and I do think their government deserves some level of blame for silencing the doctors there who were trying to warn people about this threat early on; then again, America's president was actively gaslighting people about the threat level of the virus for weeks instead of urging preparedness, so that's fair game too), why people think randos of Chinese descent somehow deserve blame for the actions of a totalitarian government on the other side of the world will always escape me.

With that said, it makes no more sense to call this a "Chinese disease" at this point than the Black Death, which also originated in China.