Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Emergency #5

[JerseyGirl]

Norwegian Cruise Line cancels Asia voyages due to coronavirus

Norwegian Cruise Line has canceled its voyages in Asia through the third quarter of 2020 and expects to take an earnings hit of 75 cents per share for the full year because of the coronavirus.

Any guest or crew who have traveled to China, Hong Kong or Macau in the past 30 days, regardless of nationality, are not allowed to board Norwegian’s vessels. In a press release, Norwegian said it was implementing the measure as part of an effort to “protect the health, safety, security and well-being of its guests and crew.”

 

[Tadpole12]

**Warning Distressing Content & images at link**

Chinese officials 'round up and execute villagers' pets to stop the spread of coronavirus' despite WHO experts saying the disease cannot be spread to animals

Chinese officials continue to beat dogs to death in the name of fighting coronavirus | Daily Mail Online

Thanks for keeping track gjr,
It's gruesome.
I can not bear to read the material,
and even the headlines are a psychic wound,
but we can not fail to acknowledge this barbary.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Coronavirus cruise ship Diamond Princess will be back in service with another group of tourists on April 29 after it has been 'fully sanitized', its owners reveal

Coronavirus cruise ship Diamond Princess will be back in service in April after 'fully sanitized' | Daily Mail Online

Is anyone going to book?

Bookings: https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/results?ship=DI
then click "Sort by Date"

Next cruise - April 29, 2020:

6-Day Golden Week Korea & Japan Getaway
Roundtrip from Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan
4 Ports: Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan | Busan, South Korea | Kanmon Straits, Japan | Osaka (for Kyoto), Japan | Toba, Japan | Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan

Interior starting at $1,182

 

[JerseyGirl]

Coronavirus patient numbers double overnight in South Korea

Fifty-three new cases were confirmed, spiking the total to 104 infected as of Thursday evening local time. The number of cases are expected to increase in the coming days.

 

[gregjrichards]

Thanks for keeping track gjr,
It's gruesome.
I can not bear to read the material,
and even the headlines are a psychic wound,
but we can not fail to acknowledge this barbary.

I understand it is very, very difficult for me to read and post about but I feel it is too important an issue to ignore.

I just don’t understand why these terrible acts are happening. There are many animal lovers in China who are trying to change things for the better but I just wish there was a way to speed the process up.

I’m genuinely sorry if I have caused anyone any distress please know it isn’t my intention to do so.

 

[gregjrichards]

Bookings: https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/results?ship=DI
then click "Sort by Date"

Next cruise - April 29, 2020:

6-Day Golden Week Korea & Japan Getaway
Roundtrip from Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan
4 Ports: Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan | Busan, South Korea | Kanmon Straits, Japan | Osaka (for Kyoto), Japan | Toba, Japan | Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan

Interior starting at $1,182

I couldn’t believe it is £18,500 for a 21 day cruise with a balcony cabin in January. I would want to be on the Queen Mary for that kind of money. I genuinely wouldn’t get on the Diamond Princess even if the cruise was free.

 

[gngr~snap]

Coronavirus cruise ship Diamond Princess will be back in service with another group of tourists on April 29 after it has been 'fully sanitized', its owners reveal

Coronavirus cruise ship Diamond Princess will be back in service in April after 'fully sanitized' | Daily Mail Online

Is anyone going to book?

If someone gave me one million dollars, I would not board that ship.
MOO

 

[scandinavian girl]

I understand it is very, very difficult for me to read post about but I feel that it is very important to post about the barbaric and unnecessary suffering of animals in China.

I just don’t understand why these terrible acts are happening. There are many animal lovers in China who are trying to change things for the better I just wish there was a way to speed the process up.

I’m genuinely sorry if I have caused anyone any distress please know it isn’t my intention to do so. I just feel it is too important an issue to ignore.

I can´t thank you enough for the warning, it is impossible for me to read it. My cat just died 6 hours ago and I am a mess. I will never ever understand animal cruelty Moo.

 

[KALI]

Lots of people in California. Good news though, if they are an employee, they must be paid. If you're out sick, your company must pay you.
I do think that all people on quarantine should get a stipend. It would help them to stay home.

Thousands of Americans voluntarily self-quarantine after returning from China

Many states monitoring travelers from China who have agreed to lie low for a few weeks out of an abundance of caution:

California - there are more than 5,400 such people in the state.

Washington - 745 people have been asked to self-quarantine.

Georgia - health officials identified about 200 travelers.

Michigan - more than 300 people were referred for monitoring.

Virginia - 138 residents are being monitored. "They were asked to remain at home and practice social distancing." Social distancing means avoiding public transportation (including taxis and ride-sharing) and large public gatherings and staying about 6 feet away from others.

Iowa - a total of 27 people are under voluntary self-quarantine

North Dakota - has 10 under voluntary self-quarantine.

Alabama - monitoring travelers, declined to provide exact numbers, which change daily as passengers continue to arrive home or finish their 14-day self-quarantine periods.

Indiana - monitoring travelers, declined to provide exact numbers, which change daily as passengers continue to arrive home or finish their 14-day self-quarantine periods.

Massachusetts - monitoring travelers, declined to provide exact numbers, which change daily as passengers continue to arrive home or finish their 14-day self-quarantine periods.

Texas - monitoring travelers, declined to provide exact numbers, which change daily as passengers continue to arrive home or finish their 14-day self-quarantine periods.

___

Infectious disease experts say that while quarantines can help slow the spread of a virus, they can't necessarily stop it from spreading entirely.

"It's like Swiss cheese," said Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minnesota.

"It is going to leak out. You're just trying to prevent the tidal waves."

 

[gngr~snap]

I've been burned by the DM before. Waiting for others to report before getting upset.

Are they killing the pets because the owners are deceased and the pets are starving with no where to go?
This is my fear.
MOO

 

[gngr~snap]

I can´t thank you enough for the warning, it is impossible for me to read it. My cat just died 6 hours ago and I am a mess. I will never ever understand animal cruelty Moo.

I'm so sorry for your angel cat!
Virtual hugs!
MOO

 

[gregjrichards]

I can´t thank you enough for the warning, it is impossible for me to read it. My cat just died 6 hours ago and I am a mess. I will never ever understand animal cruelty Moo.

I’m so sorry for your loss sincere condolences to you. My cat Winston turned 11 on Tuesday and I’m absolutely dreading anything happening to him.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

I can´t thank you enough for the warning, it is impossible for me to read it. My cat just died 6 hours ago and I am a mess. I will never ever understand animal cruelty Moo.

My heart goes out to you

 

[Tadpole12]

I'm so sorry for your angel cat!
Virtual hugs!
MOO

Ya hugs for you, Scandinaviangirl.
Very sorry for your loss,.

 

[KALI]

We cannot expect any honesty from North Korea. Not sure what their medical facilities are like. Probably not great.

Coronavirus in N Korea could be 'much more lethal' than in China

The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, citing the government, insisted there were no confirmed cases so far in North Korea, a nation of 25 million. WHO backed that statement, with a senior official telling reporters in Geneva "there are no signals ... no indications" of coronavirus in North Korea.

One South Korean media outlet that covers North Korea says that several people who exhibited symptoms similar to the coronavirus infection have died in recent days. Those reports could not be independently confirmed.

Meanwhile, more than 200 cases have been reported in the two Chinese provinces bordering North Korea.

The relative frequency of Chinese visitors entering through this border, both legally and illegally, and Beijing's initial slow response to raise the alarm, have compounded fears the virus may have spread to North Korea.

This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 15 shows people in protective suits spraying disinfectant at an undisclosed location in North Korea, amid concerns over the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak [AFP]

 

[gregjrichards]

Are they killing the pets because the owners are deceased and the pets are starving with no where to go?
This is my fear.
MOO

That is possibly happening too but that doesn’t seem to be the reason in the article I posted. I also worry about the pets dying because they have been left behind by families who have been evacuated or their owners are ill or deceased. Very sadly I don’t think the photos of what is happening are fake. If any animal needs to be euthanised why can’t they at least do it humanely with a veterinarian. It has been clearly stated that cats and dogs do not transmit the virus so why are they doing this?

 

[dixiegirl1035]

I’m not really sure what “method” they’re using to report these numbers, but I have to say that I’m just not buying it. IMOO, after watching a ship with fewer than 3,000 people, in a quarantine status, report 50 plus new confirmed cases on a daily basis... how could a province with over 50 million people in lockdown, at the epicenter of this pandemic, where people are being rounded up out of their own homes, new hospitals being built in a matter of days, tightening restrictions, and now monitoring individuals that recently purchased fever reducing OTC medicines, report less than 400 new cases????

Yes - I DO REALIZE THAT THE SHIP WAS A QUARANTINE DISASTER - BUT STATISTICALLY SPEAKING.....????? REALLY???

NOPE!!!! I’m not buying it for a minute. I tried to give China the benefit of the doubt regarding the numbers they had been reporting, but after seeing just how fast this thing can spread in group settings and tight quarters, I was ready to call BS at 2000/day!!

Definitely my own opinion, but I’m afraid that we won’t know the true scope of this thing until it completely blows up somewhere in the world other than China!!

Yeah, think about all those positives on the ship. As WHO said, the numbers in China are the tip of the iceberg. He meant it MOO as the two posts I did earlier upthread are pretty much showing that as of February 11th, they were only reporting 62% of the cases to WHO, those that had positive tests and had symptoms.

That means that 38% were not reported. The suspected category was really gaining steam.. (those who had they symptoms and were traced back to a positive person..but not tested due to test kit shortage and lack of hospital to get that confirmatory xray to get into clinically positive) but has NEVER been on the Johns Hopkins graph or reported to the WHO.

And the graph even at the 11th showed that China couldn't keep up with getting suspected folks tested or CAT scan of lungs, yet they report to their government they are COVID cases. As you can see in graph, those suspected cases were growing and growing even as of the 11th, and you can bet they are extremely large in numbers now and growing vs. these reported cases today. MOO (see green daily numbers on graph)





Graph source: Lance article The Epidemiological Characteristics of an Outbreak of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Diseases (COVID-19) — China, 2020

 

[JerseyGirl]

"Wartime" measures have been implemented in some parts of the Chinese province of Hubei. Some residents have been barred from leaving their apartments, and officials in protective suits were going door-to-door in Wuhan this week looking for infected people.

"This must be taken seriously," Wang Zhonglin, Wuhan's newly selected Communist Party secretary, said.

Medical personnel are seen walking among patients with mild symptoms of coronavirus resting at night in a temporary hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, China, February 18, 2020.

Coronavirus live updates: Inspectors in Wuhan go door-to-door searching for every coronavirus case

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Ive had a theory on why the numbers started going down but I cant find the exact date that the Chinese official took over and began to put pressure on their cities to do more stringent lockdowns.

From what I remember , some big wig Chinese official more or less took over and ordered the main affected cities to have more stringent lockdowns, etc.

If his visit and announcment coincided with the decrease in numbers, then my theory is that the cities are pressured to reduce the case counts by any means, even if it means reporting things incorrectly or changing the reporting to include statistics that make it seem like things are getting better.

I hope I am wrong and hope their numbers truly are going down.

Here are some timeline numbers of shut down for ya. Doesn't have all of the different provinces, which might be what you are asking for. HTH

"A cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin in Wuhan, China caused concern among health officials in late December 2019. On December 31, an alert was issued by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, a rapid response team was sent to Wuhan by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), and a notification was made to the World Health Organization (WHO) (1–4). Likely potential causes including influenza, avian influenza, adenovirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) were ruled out. Epidemiological investigation implicated Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which was shut down and disinfected, and active case finding was initiated and vigorously pursued (2,4–5).

On January 7, 2020, the causative pathogen was identified as a novel coronavirus, and genomic characterization and test method development ensued (2–6). Now named 2019-nCoV, the virus is distinct from both SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, yet closely related (5,7). Early cases suggested that COVID-19 (i.e. the new name for disease caused by the novel coronavirus) may be less severe than SARS and MERS. However, illness onset among rapidly increasing numbers of people and mounting evidence of human-to-human transmission suggests that 2019-nCoV is more contagious than both SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV (3,8-11).

On January 20, China’s “National Infectious Diseases Law” was amended to make 2019-novel coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) a Class B notifiable disease and its “Frontier Health and Quarantine Law” was amended to support the COVID-19 outbreak response effort. Then, on January 23, the Chinese Government began to limit movement of people in and out of Wuhan, and two days later, it announced its highest-level commitment and mobilized all sectors to respond to the epidemic and prevent further spread of COVID-19."

The Epidemiological Characteristics of an Outbreak of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Diseases (COVID-19) — China, 2020

 

[JerseyGirl]

WHO says "window of opportunity" to contain coronavirus outbreak still open

WHO will work with health authorities in Africa to coordinate a response to the potential arrival of the new coronavirus on the continent. The focus will be on countries where health systems are weaker.

Tedros stressed that it was still possible to contain the outbreak.

"Let's not squander the window of opportunity we have," he said. "The number of cases in the rest of the world is very small compared to China, but that may not stay the same for long."

Coronavirus live updates: Inspectors in Wuhan go door-to-door searching for every coronavirus case