COVID-19 (coronavirus disease)/SARS-CoV-2 virus

He just said that about schools, they didn't even cancel events with over 1k ppl as France and Germany did yesterday.

He should have though.

 

Unfortunately insisting on being reactive instead of proactive.
Here the same.
We have closed schools only in 3 counties where they found clusters and banned the old people clubs.
And football behind closed doors (no big deal since it happened often even before the virus).
Unfortunately the state still doesn't dare to face up with the church and ban communion.

Maybe when we have some deaths people will wake up. But then it will be too late.

 

lol what a disaster.
not only are suspected cases and contacts hiding and refusing to get tested and cooperate but now even a few doctors refused to report to the hospitals.
The government should start handing out heavy fines and send people to jail.
This is only the beginning, what will happen later if everyone cares only about themselves?

 

Luckily, I found out that in the case of the doctor that works with my wife, he rerouted his vacation and is going to the UK instead.

 

I don't know how much lucky it is but at least a little better. The UK has already been found to be exporting cases to other countries.
There is significant community spread there as well and the cases should explode in the next week.

 

Stock market looks like it is going to get wrecked today, again.

 

Woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose. Have an infant and elder in the house too, not sure how I should feel about this.

 

In case this is a serious question and not sarcasm : a runny nose is a very rare symptom of the covid19.

It's more likely you have a cold or the flu.
Also children even infants have very low chance of getting it seriously.

However if you develop high fever and difficulty breathing then, you may want to visit your hospital for a test.

To be safe you can try to keep some distance from the elder in your house.

 

Mia Khalifa?

 

Yes no sarcasm unfortunately

 

Here is a testimony of a surgeon working in the heart of Italy's coronavirus outbreak. It might explain some of the situation.

Excerpts:
...
Well, the situation is now nothing short of dramatic. No other words come to mind. The war has literally exploded and battles are uninterrupted day and night. One after the other, these unfortunate people come to the emergency room. They have far from the complications of a flu. Let's stop saying it's a bad flu. In my two years working in Bergamo, I have learned that the people here do not come to the emergency room for no reason. They did well this time too. They followed all the recommendations given: a week or ten days at home with a fever without going out to prevent contagion, but now they can't take it anymore. They don't breathe enough, they need oxygen. Drug therapies for this virus are few.
...
I can also assure you that when you see young people who end up intubated in the ICU, pronated or worse, in ECMO (a machine for the worst cases, which extracts the blood, re-oxygenates it and returns it to the body, waiting for the lungs to hopefully heal), all this confidence for your young age goes away. And while there are still people on social media who boast of not being afraid by ignoring the recommendations, protesting that their normal lifestyle habits have "temporarily" halted, the epidemiological disaster is taking place. And there are no more surgeons, urologists, orthopedists, we are only doctors who suddenly become part of a single team to face this tsunami that has overwhelmed us.

The cases multiply, up to a rate of 15-20 hospitalizations a day all for the same reason. The results of the swabs now come one after the other: positive, positive, positive. Suddenly the emergency room is collapsing. Emergency provisions are issued: help is needed in the emergency room. A quick meeting to learn how the to use to emergency room EHR and a few minutes later I'm already downstairs, next to the warriors on the war front. The screen of the PC with the chief complaint is always the same: fever and respiratory difficulty, fever and cough, respiratory insufficiency etc ... Exams, radiology always with the same sentence: bilateral interstitial pneumonia. All needs to be hospitalized. Some already needs to be intubated, and goes to the ICU. For others, however, it is late. ICU is full, and when ICUs are full, more are created. Each ventilator is like gold: those in the operating rooms that have now suspended their non-urgent activity are used and the OR become a an ICU that did not exist before. I found it amazing, or at least I can speak for Humanitas Gavazzeni (where I work), how it was possible to put in place in such a short time a deployment and a reorganization of resources so finely designed to prepare for a disaster of this magnitude. And every reorganization of beds, wards, staff, work shifts and tasks is constantly reviewed day after day to try to give everything and even more. Those wards that previously looked like ghosts are now saturated, ready to try to give their best for the sick, but exhausted. The staff is exhausted.
...

 

If you want to put your mind to rest asap, then you can go to a doctor to get a cheek swab to eliminate the flu.
This is widely available, fast test and (should) be very cheap..

It is the first step of elimination for the coronavirus your doctor should be ready to check it for you.

 

Minister of health in Egypt.

 

I read this and I want to cry.
This will be me and my country in 1 week from now. Who knows if in a month I won't be in a hospital myself.
We are their neighbours it is impossible to escape this disaster. And if it is a new strain it will come here too.

 

One day at a time, malakas. Let’s all keep each other posted. Strength to you and yours!

 

Most likely either allergies (oak pollen is really high if in Houston), or the onset of a cold. But if it gets worse and especially if you have fever, like malakas said, just go get a flu swab at any local clinic.

 

Stay strong. From your posts I see you have been well prepared for the disease from early on so I believe you and your family will get over this.

As of now there is no scientific indication that the Italians have been infected by a new strain of the virus. The latest study shows that there have been two strains of the virus that have only tiny differences. Both strains existed in China. To me it seems to be more likely that the higher death rate is caused by limited testing, overwhelmed healthcare system, and relatively late treatment of the infected patients.