Week of Mar 30: COVID-19 info, facts & updates

[dragonfly]

Hi guys,
Because the other thread is already massive, I am going to be locking the COVID-19 threads each weekend and starting a new one.
Links to old threads will be included.

We are a global community. Let's keep each other posted about the real state of events.

Discussion is welcome.
NO FEAR MONGERING

1. Where do you live?
2. What is the current climate like where you're at?
3. Are news reports coming from your area accurate or no? What is going on?
4. What are your questions and concerns?
5. What has your government / administration done to address this (please try to keep this as politics free as possible, it is fine to state whether you agree/disagree with their actions etc) and, in your opinion, how is it working? Ex: Shelter in place orders, curfews, closures
6. Is your job affected, if so, how?
7. How are you and your family doing??

MLP Arena, our staff, and our members, are unable to provide any medical advice or diagnoses.
This is a new disease, which means that even the experts are learning as we go and the situation is rapidly evolving. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to the WHO (World Health Organization) website for information about the coronavirus, and the respiratory illness it causes, COVID-19:

Prevention, health, travel and safety guidance:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

Symptoms:
https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_3

FAQ:
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

Dispelling Myths / Misinformation:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters

CDC guidance:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html


Archived Discussions
March 12 - 21: http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,398121.0.html
March 21 - 30: http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,398198.0.html

[Ponyfan]

We jumped to 51 cases in my county. 13 of these are all related to the nursing home. Also my county has had the first death from coronavirus (not my uncle. He lived in a different state.) 8 cases are confirmed to be carriers that did not have any symptoms. The youngest person infected is 10.

The  mayor issued a stay at home order last night. This is basically what we’ve been under for the last 2 weeks except social gatherings of any size are now not allowed. Some of the schools had planned teacher parades so students could watch from their houses as teachers drove by in their cars but those have been cancelled now. Parks and golf courses are still open to the public.

The governor has issued mandatory quarantine for people entering the state from Louisiana, California and New York.  The Louisiana quarantine also includes coming in by road. The governor will announce later this week if schools will be allowed to reopen.

Stores are enforcing limits on high demand items and it seems to working as most people are able to find what they need.

Ponyfan




 

[lonewolf]

Kansas is up to 368 and 8 deaths. The nursing home in Burlington now has 10 cases, and 3 in Emporia are connected to it too. My county is at 2 now (actually heard the ambulance call on my scanner this morning for the 2nd one). KC metro area is still leading, but Wichita is getting up there with 49 cases.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

1. I'm about an hour from Philly. We've hit over 4k cases statewide, and I'm nearing 250 cases in my county. Philadelphia has about 25% of the state's cases.
5. All PA schools have been closed indefinitely, I think the April 6th date was rather optimistic and unrealistic, but that may be because my college has closed for the rest of the semester. Our stay-at-home order has been extended to the end of April.
They've set up a makeshift medical center in one of the buildings at my campus in Philly in case they need to use it.
6. I work at a grocery store. We've closed our buffet areas down. We are still serving pizza, subs, and coffee but there are ropes in front of the sneeze glass to keep people further away. Lots of tape still everywhere. Anybody who was handing out samples before is either bagging for other cashiers or is part of a "clean team" and cleans off handles, knobs, anything people would be touching a lot. At the accounting office, we have put plastic guards in front of our windows in case other employees cough on us or something. (I find it annoying as it muffles my voice). We have to wear gloves when we pick up money from the registers still, we still have our handwashing sink in the office which helps ease worries.
I did walk around the store yesterday in search of snacks...I think toilet paper stocks are trickling back up as people who have bought giant rolls already feel less like they need to stock up on that. Lots of purchase restrictions in place in our baking aisle; various baking staples are "one per person". I wanted to buy a gluten free bagel for my break but we were all out of Udi's and only had very expensive ones, and we usually don't have stock issues in that section, so I think people without allergies or anything are buying the gluten free staples too...I didn't rely on it for food but I do worry about people dipping into food meant for those with health issues. I did see normal bread was out and our deli section has very few meats to cut, but that might be less stock and more of a mandate.
Because the state stores have closed people are hounding our wine and beer section.
7. My mom is a nurse...she works with post and pre birth (natal? i don't know lol) patients and has actually been cancelled a few times this past week because people aren't coming in for little issues anymore. I do feel for the parents giving birth in this time. I worry for my mother's safety but it isn't nagging, I do feel as if she would be fine.
My dad is still working from home. He has said that they've been discussing furloughing and letting go people... I worry for our economy too but I know health comes first.
Everything said, I guess this whole ordeal is sort of kicking me to look into consumer behavior masters degrees (among uncertainty of the job market heading out). It will certainly be interesting to study once it's all over.

[LadyMoondancer]

Just want to say:  please take this seriously even if your county currently doesn't have any known cases.  Skagit County (WA) didn't have any known cases until someone who wasn't showing symptoms unknowingly took it to their choir practice in early March, and then all of a sudden 45 of the 60 choir members caught coronavirus. Two died.

Anyway, Washington state currently has 4,896 confirmed cases and 195 deaths.  The good news is that the stay-at-home order is indeed slowing the rate of transmission.  CenturyLink sports field (where the Seahawks play) is being converted into a field hospital since the regular hospitals are overwhelmed.

[Taffeta]

I - and I think most people in the UK - are taking everything day by day.

We went walking this morning, everyone was practicing the distance keeping very well and being considerate in our local area. Some stories hitting the press of stupid people and of overzealous police doing mad things like dying water black...but on the whole people seem to be complying. Unfortunately all govt public transport stats were for TFL which doesn't help the rest of the country.

They're still saying more testing is needed here, but the testing is increasing so that's something I guess. The scientists are still not panicked by the figures/rises/data being gathered at the moment so I want to take that as a hopeful sign if we can keep it up going forward.

Some positive news about progress made by UK manufacturers in terms of ventilators and other breathing apparatus, one of which may be ready to go fairly soon if needed.

Estimates 1 in 10 hospital beds occupied potentially atm by Coronavirus patients, NHS not at capacity but some areas of London becoming stretched. Birmingham second most concentrated cases. That's not so very far away and I'm pretty sure the reason we have as many cases as we do in this county/district area is because there are a lot of people here with family/friends/jobs/studies in Birmingham or the Black Country.

Unfortunately more localised intel not available so it's hard to know how much any of this is impacting my direct neighbourhood. All we know is there are cases at the local hospital about a mile away.

Saw Trump's press conference last night as well. Glad that the US have some kind of an extension on the lockdown and hope it helps turn back the tide there soon.

[BlackCurtains]

Florida is an absolute mess.

We're up to 5,704 cases and 71 deaths.

The biggest problem is that the governor won't issue a stay-at-home order. Some cities have done it themselves but the airports are still open and people are still coming in. Four passengers from New York were asked (not told) to self quarantine for 14 days. You know they won't because they are here to party. This is the big "no rules" right now party state.

Some cities have started closing the boat docks because people won't stay off the beaches and islands. Of course, this angers people who want to fish and I'm sure there are a lot of innocent folks who just want to go out on their boats, but what else can they do? People (mostly the tourists!) aren't listening. Ft. Myers is thinking about locking down and issuing fines for people but we'll see if they follow through.

Even in my own family people can't stay home. My dad still leaves every morning, though I don't know what the heck he is doing because McDonald's is drive thru only, unless he is getting coffee and visiting with his friends in the parking lot (you would think the restaurant wouldn't allow this though), I don't know. My niece is visiting from Missouri and can't go home because of course Missouri is locked down, so she and her mom (my sister) have been going places and doing things every day! Like... what is wrong with you?? Stay home!

[Ponyfan]

My county just confirmed 26 new cases. This is starting to worry me as we’ve gone from relatively low numbers of new cases to jumping up by double digits for the last 3 days.

Restaurants are supposed to takeout/curbside only but a few have been found that were still allowing people to sit inside.


Ponyfan

[banditpony]

My county just confirmed 26 new cases. This is starting to worry me as we’ve gone from relatively low numbers of new cases to jumping up by double digits for the last 3 days.

Restaurants are supposed to takeout/curbside only but a few have been found that were still allowing people to sit inside.


Ponyfan

Rule of thumb is that it roughly doubles every 3-5 days, I believe. Whatever they have numberwise is not a good representation, because they aren't testing a lot of people.

Try not to worry a lot. Just don't go out unless you need to, and treat everyone like they have it as they could be asymptomatic. At best, we only can do our part... you know.

Do you have any orders in place for your city or state? If so, are there any penalties for those who eat inside of restaurants. Police? Health Dept? If you do, I'd take a picture and tell someone.


Locally...
Battelle finally got full FDA approval, so they are distributing machines that can sterilize masks.

Nothing really major new happening. Hospitals are prepping for the surge, and I don't go out to know what's happening on the outside. Most people I know are taking it seriously though, young and old.

[Minty_Magic]

Over 1000 cases in Arizona and 20 deaths. Nearly 700 of the cases are in my county, which makes sense since it’s by far the most populated county here.

Our governor has issued a stay at home order that goes into effect at 5pm tonight. Except it doesn’t really do anything at all. Some of the “essential” businesses on the list that will remain open are beauty salons and golf courses. Golf is not an essential business right now. Also there will be no enforcement of it. You don’t need to provide any reason for going out. I appreciate that I can still go for walks around the neighborhood, but we really need to do more. I’m extremely disappointed in this order because if it was a proper stay at home order we might have been able to flatten the curve. With this I fear people will continue to go and not practice social distancing. I’ve stopped going to the parks around here because everyone is packing into them and definitely not practicing being apart.

[Pokeyonekenobie]

Utah announced 2 more deaths yesterday.  One was a 77-year old man, the other was a 24-year old woman with type 2 diabetes who'd had heart surgery 2 years ago.  Her dad had symptoms first and then other people in the family got sick and she and her mother were admitted to the hospital but she just didn't pull through it.  So now the father is urging everyone to take it seriously and stay home because he never thought it would happen to him or his family.

I've got another co-worker who's out for 2 weeks because of a cough.  if we show any symptoms we're being told to stay home for 2 weeks regardless of what we might actually have, even if we are sure it is only allergies.  So far we haven't had anyone at my workplace confirmed to have COVID-19 but better to take precautions than not.

[Wardah]

Over 1000 cases in Arizona and 20 deaths. Nearly 700 of the cases are in my county, which makes sense since it’s by far the most populated county here.

Our governor has issued a stay at home order that goes into effect at 5pm tonight. Except it doesn’t really do anything at all. Some of the “essential” businesses on the list that will remain open are beauty salons and golf courses. Golf is not an essential business right now. Also there will be no enforcement of it. You don’t need to provide any reason for going out. I appreciate that I can still go for walks around the neighborhood, but we really need to do more. I’m extremely disappointed in this order because if it was a proper stay at home order we might have been able to flatten the curve. With this I fear people will continue to go and not practice social distancing. I’ve stopped going to the parks around here because everyone is packing into them and definitely not practicing being apart.

I don't like golf but it is something that could be played while socially distancing unlike most other sports. Just as long as you limit it to going by yourself or with people you live with. However beauty salons are really risky and I'm surprised they are staying open.

[Ponyfan]

My county just confirmed 26 new cases. This is starting to worry me as we’ve gone from relatively low numbers of new cases to jumping up by double digits for the last 3 days.

Restaurants are supposed to takeout/curbside only but a few have been found that were still allowing people to sit inside.


Ponyfan

Rule of thumb is that it roughly doubles every 3-5 days, I believe. Whatever they have numberwise is not a good representation, because they aren't testing a lot of people.

Try not to worry a lot. Just don't go out unless you need to, and treat everyone like they have it as they could be asymptomatic. At best, we only can do our part... you know.

Do you have any orders in place for your city or state? If so, are there any penalties for those who eat inside of restaurants. Police? Health Dept? If you do, I'd take a picture and tell someone.

We are in a city wide shelter in place. Someone did report the restaurants that were allowing people to sit inside and also that people were not following the no social gathering guidelines in the parks. City police will now be checking on restaurants and parks to make sure everyone is following the rules.

Schools are now closed until May 4th.


Ponyfan   

[lonewolf]

Kansas is now up to 428 and 9 deaths, and my county is up to 3 now.

[Koudoawaia]

In KY we're now up to 591 cases when it was 480 yesterday...so possibly our biggest jump in a day..plus 7 more deaths