Topic: Coronavirus outbreak

@Octane The big companies are equally screwed without governmental handouts (which they'll get.) An empty Starbucks is still just leaking cash that doesn't exist.

With a timeline like that, I don't see how the west continues to exist beyond as a banana republic. Second Great Depression may have been a cheery overstatement. This is truly the return of the dark ages. 50% employment will be a miracle. Candlestick maker might become a valid career goal again.

No economy can survive being completely shuttered for 2.5 months. Not one single country can endure that. It's both necessary and impossible at the same time. Contain the spread on one hand.....at the cost of having no life worth living to return to. Not much of win either way.

@NEStalgia @OorWullie
I do doubt it was intentional by the Chinese govt (though you can never truly rule it out completely). I think it was incompetence and they are indirectly responsible, because we all know the virus originated in the Wuhan bio-lab.

Do you know how big China is? It’s big. REALLY big. Over 1 BILLION people. And do you know how many bio-labs in China study dangerous viruses like Coronavirus? Just one. ONLY ONE. And do you know where it’s located? A few city blocks from the epicenter of the pandemic.

Now tell me the statistical likelihood of the one bio-lab in all of China that studies Coronavirus just so happening to also be located in Wuhan, where the outbreak occurred... And then the very next day, the govt issueing a new directive for bio-lab security targeting those which study dangerous viruses...

Ya.

Daily update 3/23/20

Going to be working from home for the rest of the week, possibly longer.

Even today they had the office closed to non-employees, so other than my cab ride to work I haven't had any contact with anyone other than a few co-workers who mostly kept to themselves.

Looks like the Olympics are indeed postponed. Not that that was really in doubt despite some of the Japan haters out there. As soon as I heard of one country pulling their athletes out, I knew it would be postponed because even if it wasn't, everyone else was going to follow their lead.

A couple of months ago, the question was, “will Tokyo be safe enough to invite the world to congregate there?”. Tokyo itself is not the issue anymore. Inviting an entire infected planet to congregate anywhere now seems absurd. In lesser circumstances, a delay of a couple of months would appear sensible; Tokyo is a humid, crowded sweat chamber at the best of times during the summer so and autumn Olympics may have actually been preferable. But... given the current circumstances, a two month delay seems impossibly optimistic.

@Anti-Matter Don't buy into that kind of thing. There is nothing to suggest anyone spread this virus intentionally. There's just a lot of bigots making up misinformation and other nonsensical stories with absolutely zero proof. Don't let yourself be fooled by people who just want to stir hatred and potentially even violence.

@Maxz Tokyo's not that bad in summer. I've been there several times now. Florida is much worse on the humidity front, and Texas gets hotter, albeit drier.

@JaxonH while it is entirely possible that something the Chinese were researching got out - I still really doubt it and am not about to lay the blame on them, directly or indirectly, without any proof. Honestly, I would not be surprised it this virus we caused by climate change. Last fall I read several articles about ancient virus found in thawing tundra that were "new" discoveries and were still very much "alive" after having been frozen for perhaps thousands of years. Or changing environmental conditions might have resulted in mutations in existing Corona Virus strains that led to this new outbreak.

But in the end, it doesn't really matter how it got started. Once the forest fire is put out, and we revise our plans for dealing with future fires, then we can hunt down the source.

I live in indiana and they've just issued a stay at home order until April 7th. I do wonder though if you happen to be out and about during that time will the cops actually stop you and order you to go back home? I've heard that restaurants probably won't be letting customers eat in the dining rooms until as late as june!

I wonder if it was this nuts when aids was first discovered? Glad i was a little late to that party.

@Zeldafan79
How is your condition lately ?
Getting better ?

@Zeldafan79
That is probably all they do most of the time. I would assume officers could technically make arrests but will probably only do so as a last resort.

Davidson County in Tennessee ordered a shut down for all non-essential businesses for two weeks. Davidson was hit the most in my state with number of cases still growing everyday. My employer shut down all stores regardless of County and will still continue to pay employees. I guess I got a sweet deal to stay at home to play Animal Crossing while still getting a paycheck.

Stay safe everyone. Don't communicate to people you don't know unless you have to, practice social distancing and only go out for essentials including work if you must.

@Anti-Matter
I'm pretty sure i just had a cold but i never got tested. I'm just coughing every so often but it's been going on for over two weeks. Everytime i do people start backing away like i got cooties. I always make sure to cover my mouth though.

@Zeldafan79

Call a doctor, and let him determine whether or not you should be tested. People who have COVID-19 could have one or more symptoms including just coughing, some people have it even when they don't experience any symptoms since they don't away occur right away. I suggest you get yourself checked. Hopefully, you will be fine but you should take precautions during this outbreak.

@Heavyarms55 You’re much hardier than I when it comes to humidity. I’ve never experienced Florida, so the closest I’ve come to melting is being sandwiched in a sea of humans as glass buildings on all sides mercilessly reflect the sun’s rays onto the tarmac below and prevent the air from circulating. I mean, I’m sure that could describe any number of major cities in summer, but to me it conjures up Tokyo.

Maybe being a limey in Hokkaido hasn’t really readied me for even moderately sultry climes, but Tokyo’s humidity was still enough of a concern for the organisers to move the marathon several hundred miles further north to Sapporo. The thought of having to share the sultry space with not only Tokyo’s resident population but also the congregation of entire world is... quite a sweaty one.

@JaxonH Source? I've seen quite a few hoaxes about this before. The company didn't even exist, or it was just a general bio company located 2000 km from Wuhan, etc.

@Heavyarms55 Nah. Occam's Razor. Over population and lack of rules/morality. Those wet markets in China are a nightmare. Hundreds of different animal species locked up in tiny cages, stacked on top of each other. Excrement, blood, pus and other bodily fluids drip down from animal onto animal. It's honestly a surprise this hasn't happened before. It's the perfect place for a virus outbreak, and this isn't the first time it started at a wet market.

@Zeldafan79 Yeah, I’ve got a friend in Indiana that works at the Toyota plant and he just called me yesterday to update me.
Police generally treat it like a hurricane evacuation, which (since I just realized that doesn’t give you context) means they stop and tell you to get to where you’re going, or get back safe indoors. They’re usually given more discretion in enforcement decisions, because who wants to worry about a license plate light bulb on a clean registration when there might be looters down the street. Not saying there is looting, just an example of hurricane protocol because that’s what I’m familiar with.

@Octane I’d originally seen on AP that there are 14 labs in China that work on biologics to varying degrees, and one just happens to be outside Wuhan in hubei province. The same report did state that specific facility was identified as the source of the SARS fiasco, due to containment protocols being less than desirable.

So Georgia is now where NY and Washington were a week ago, with over 800 cases and almost 30 deaths, yet the Governor still hasn’t called for anything more stringent than reminding Georgians to wash their hands... Stay safe out there, y’all. Be nice to my healthcare brethren.

@Octane
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-c...

Okay i am officially freaked out now! When i first started noticing i wasn't feeling well it began as a sore throat, cold chills and pretty intense headache. Then i went from cold to hot flashes and a persistant cough.
Now most of the sickness feels like it's on the mend but i still got a cough. I was looking up the known symptoms and i had just about every one mentioned. I kept telling myself no way it's just a flu or something. Surely I'm just being a hypochondriac. Now i think i should get checked out. Better safe than sorry.

@HobbitGamer TBH, I'm not a big fan of the conspiracy theories. But I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge at this point that the 2003 SARS outbreak originated somewhere around Guangzhou. Nowhere near Wuhan.

@JaxonH That reads like a total fanfic

There are a bunch of inaccuracies. The Harbin Veterinary Research Institute is also a level 4 lab in China for example. Despite the wet market being called the ''Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market'', they sell a whole range of animals, from badgers, pangolins and donkeys to ostriches, crocodiles and snakes. Which completely debunks his entire argument, because it all rests on the idea that Wuhan is the location of China's only level 4 biolab, and that pangolins and bats aren't sold at a ''seafood'' market.

''Strengthening bio-security'' in labs only makes sense when they are probably doing just as much research on the virus as other countries are. I fail to see how this proves that it is manufactured in a lab.

The rest of the article doesn't provide any sources either. A lot of claims, but no sources. ''lab animals are sold on the street as food'', well fine, but where did he get that from?

''You heard me right.'', ''I don’t buy any of this.'', ''I doubt...''. Ii reads like an opinion piece from someone who really wants to blame the Chinese government for something. I mean, I'm not saying wet markets shouldn't have been banned ages ago, but the idea that the Chinese are manufacturing viruses to do what, kill their own population? Infect the the rest of the world, on which they are economically dependent? Like I said, it reads like a fanfic

@Octane
Something wrong with Chinese delicacy like that. 🤨
That false tradition should be thrown away. (Yuna FF X)

@Octane
Be that as it may, some experts agree. And it seems the lab does indeed study Coronaviruses.

https://thebulletin.org/2020/03/experts-know-the-new-coronavi...

If new info comes to light I'll reevaluate but it all seems way too coincidental to me.