***NON-POLITICAL COVID-19 Discussion Thread***

[JakeF]

A couple of reminders...

Originally Posted by Bwana

Once again, don't come in this thread with some kind of political agenda, or you will be shown the door. If you want to go that route, there is a thread about this in DC.

Originally Posted by Dartgod

People, there is a lot of good information in this thread, let's try to keep the petty bickering to a minimum.

We all have varying opinions about the impact of this, the numbers, etc. We will all never agree with each other. But we can all keep it civil.

Thanks!

Click here for the original OP:

Spoiler!

Apparently the CoronaVirus can survive on a inanimate objects, such as door knobs, for 9 days.

California coronavirus case could be first spread within U.S. community, CDC says
By SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA, JACLYN COSGROVE
FEB. 26, 2020 8:04 PM

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating what could be the first case of novel coronavirus in the United States involving a patient in California who neither recently traveled out of the country nor was in contact with someone who did.

“At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown. It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States,” the CDC said in a statement. “Community spread means spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. It’s also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveler who was infected.”

The individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County, according to the state Department of Public Health.

The CDC said the “case was detected through the U.S. public health system — picked up by astute clinicians.”

Officials at UC Davis Medical Center expanded on what the federal agency might have meant by that in an email sent Wednesday, as reported by the Davis Enterprise newspaper.

The patient arrived at UC Davis Medical Center from another hospital Feb. 19 and “had already been intubated, was on a ventilator, and given droplet protection orders because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition,” according to an email sent by UC Davis officials that was obtained by the Davis Enterprise.

The staff at UC Davis requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, but because the patient didn’t fit the CDC’s existing criteria for the virus, a test wasn’t immediately administered, according to the email. The CDC then ordered the test Sunday, and results were announced Wednesday. Hospital administrators reportedly said in the email that despite these issues, there has been minimal exposure at the hospital because of safety protocols they have in place.

A UC Davis Health spokesperson declined Wednesday evening to share the email with The Times.

Since Feb. 2, more than 8,400 returning travelers from China have entered California, according to the state health department. They have been advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and limit interactions with others as much as possible, officials said.

“This is a new virus, and while we are still learning about it, there is a lot we already know,” Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “We have been anticipating the potential for such a case in the U.S., and given our close familial, social and business relationships with China, it is not unexpected that the first case in the U.S. would be in California.”

It is not clear how the person became infected, but public health workers could not identify any contacts with people who had traveled to China or other areas where the virus is widespread. That raises concern that the virus is spreading in the United States, creating a challenge for public health officials, experts say.

“It’s the first signal that we could be having silent transmission in the community,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. “It probably means there are many more cases out there, and it probably means this individual has infected others, and now it’s a race to try to find out who that person has infected.”

On Tuesday, the CDC offered its most serious warning to date that the United States should expect and prepare for the coronavirus to become a more widespread health issue.

“Ultimately, we expect we will see coronavirus spread in this country,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “It’s not so much a question of if, but a question of when.”

According to the CDC’s latest count Wednesday morning, 59 U.S. residents have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus — 42 of whom are repatriated citizens from a Diamond Princess cruise. That number has grown by two since Messonnier’s last count Tuesday, although the CDC was not immediately available to offer details on the additional cases.

More than 82,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported globally, and more than 2,700 people have died, with the majority in mainland China, the epicenter of the outbreak.

But public health leaders have repeatedly reminded residents that the health risk from the novel coronavirus to the general public remains low.

“While COVID-19 has a high transmission rate, it has a low mortality rate,” the state Department of Public Health said in a statement Wednesday. “From the international data we have, of those who have tested positive for COVID-19, approximately 80% do not exhibit symptoms that would require hospitalization. There have been no confirmed deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States to date.”

CDC officials have also warned that although the virus is likely to spread in U.S. communities, the flu still poses a greater risk.

Gostin said the news of potential silent transmission does not eliminate the possibility of containing the virus in the U.S. and preventing an outbreak.

“There are few enough cases that we should at least try,” he said. “Most of us are not optimistic that that will be successful, but we’re still in the position to try.”

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Donger

Yes, and the mayor's overall initial reaction was foolish.

NY is just a tough nut and should really be viewed in isolation in terms of how to deal with it.

I HATE that the subways are running. I've said that from among my first few posts in this thread - they are pretty much a worst case scenario for spread and I don't see any way you could pay me enough to be on one right now.

But I also understand that NY has one of the largest populations of healthcare workers in the country and many people there simply don't have vehicles. How the hell are they supposed to get to work? Stores?

I hate that they're open...but I understand that they may be necessary evils.

And everyone lives in apartments and green space is limited and its crowded as hell and on and on and on. NY is an AWFUL environment for this thing and I'm not sure there's any such thing as a right answer. It's a busybody city (the energy there is unlike anything I've ever experienced) so putting them on lockdown immediately wasn't reasonable either because again - you have a clock on that cauldron.

I don't envy anyone involved in decision-making for NYC right now. Like I said, I'll defer completely to what their leadership on the ground wants to do and I would provide them support from a federal level to whatever extent possible. But I don't think it's reasonable to make wholesale policy decisions for the rest of the country based on what could happen there.

NY is just uniquely ****ed in this situation and they were always destined to be.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

NY is just a tough nut and should really be viewed in isolation in terms of how to deal with it.

I HATE that the subways are running. I've said that from among my first few posts in this thread - they are pretty much a worst case scenario for spread and I don't see any way you could pay me enough to be on one right now.

But I also understand that NY has one of the largest populations of healthcare workers in the country and many people there simply don't have vehicles. How the hell are they supposed to get to work? Stores?

I hate that they're open...but I understand that they may be necessary evils.

And everyone lives in apartments and green space is limited and its crowded as hell and on and on and on. NY is an AWFUL environment for this thing and I'm not sure there's any such thing as a right answer. It's a busybody city (the energy there is unlike anything I've ever experienced) so putting them on lockdown immediately wasn't reasonable either because again - you have a clock on that cauldron.

I don't envy anyone involved in decision-making for NYC right now. Like I said, I'll defer completely to what their leadership on the ground wants to do and I would provide them support from a federal level to whatever extent possible. But I don't think it's reasonable to make wholesale policy decisions for the rest of the country based on what could happen there.

NY is just uniquely ****ed in this situation and they were always destined to be.

True, but they should shut down the subway to only healthcare workers, IMO. Surely they have a contingency for that, right?

As to the rest? Uber, walk, ride a bike. Have the city/state arrange for taxis and limos to only transport healthcare workers in pools. Again, surely they have to have a plan for this.

[displacedinMN]

had to post this article about toilet paper

Spoiler!

Out of toilet paper? We've got some solutions and some precautions
There are viable alternatives to toilet paper, even some you can make yourself, but few belong in the toilet.
By Richard Chin Star Tribune MARCH 31, 2020 — 6:51AM


TP or not TP?

That is the question many of are asking as we contemplate shelves empty of toilet paper.

Even though the use of toilet paper hasn’t increased because of the coronavirus crisis, there’s been panic buying, hoarding, empty shelves at the stores and even reports of theft from rest stops and restaurants, when they were still open.

There shouldn’t be a shortage.

Manufacturers say they’re churning out toilet paper as fast as they can. Yet U.S. sales of toilet paper soared 213% for the one-week period ending March 14 compared with the same week a year ago, according to the Nielsen market tracking company.

That’s probably why we’re seeing DIY toilet paper alternatives surface.


Save some for the baby.
In one recent YouTube video, an “old truck driver” takes a roll of paper shop towels and cuts it to the same dimensions as a toilet paper roll. (“I’ve been doing this for years,” he says.)

On the “Survival Dispatch” channel, there’s a video titled “How to Make Toilet Paper in a Crisis.” The trick is to crumple phone book pages until they’re nice and soft. (You remember phone books. You probably have one right next to your landline.)

Polar explorer Aaron Linsdau recently posted a video describing how to make four rolls of toilet paper last three months. In Antarctica, you use chunks of snow and ice to do the “primary cleaning,” Linsdau explains. (Darn. If only it were still winter here.)

Away from the polar ice caps, you can get by with soap, water, wet wipes and a couple squares of toilet paper a day, Linsdau claims.

You can also find survivalist websites suggesting the use of a reusable, washable “family cloth” or recipes for homemade toilet paper, which involve boiling sheets of newspaper with grass and leaves until you get a pulp that you can roll out, dry and cut into strips.

(We suggest using the Star Tribune, but obviously this won’t work with a digital subscription. Thank goodness print isn’t dead.)

Do not flush

Unfortunately, you can’t flush away these toilet paper alternatives.

Store-bought toilet paper is engineered to dissolve in water. Local sewage and plumbing experts say it is the only thing you can safely put down the toilet, aside from pee and poop.

If you try flushing paper towels or even facial tissues, you run the risk of clogging your toilet, your pipes or even the municipal sewage system.

“You could end up having backups,” said Elizabeth Wefel, who does environmental lobbying for the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities.

“Paper towels, phone books, newspapers, God forbid, socks could be a big problem,” said Adam Gordon, a manager with Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, which operates wastewater lines and treatment facilities throughout the Twin Cities.

Even wipes that are labeled flushable don’t disintegrate as well as toilet paper and should be kept out of the toilet because they cause expensive problems to the sewage system, said Gordon.

“We’re a bit upset they could even get away with marketing [them] as flushable,” he said.

Concern about what people are flushing led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to recently issue statements reminding people that only the three Ps (pee, poop and toilet paper) are safe to put down the toilet.

The PCA even has a web page, www.pca.state.mn.us/wipes, devoted to the headaches disposable wipes are causing municipal sewer pipes and wastewater treatment facilities.


Nothing to sneeze at:

So what’s the answer if you run out of toilet paper and have to resort to using paper towels or, say, the Variety section?

Just use and throw it away.

“Those are things that are easily put in the garbage,” Gordon said. “It’s no different from cleaning up after a baby. We throw out diapers every day without thinking about it.”

If you feel squeamish about having a waste can full of soiled toilet paper alternatives in your bathroom, consider investing in an odor-controlling Diaper Genie pail that conveniently seals up your waste in a plastic bag that you can toss, suggested Joe Whitters, owner of Drain Busters, an Eagan-based drain cleaning company.

Or wash instead of wiping with a bidet toilet seat or bidet attachment that can spray water. You can find one as low as $25 at Home Depot. Whitters has even seen people rig kitchen sink sprayers to their toilets to create a makeshift bidet.

Barry Kudrowitz, an associate professor of product design at the University of Minnesota, praises the $200 bidet toilet seat that he uses at his house; it lets you adjust the water temperature, heats the seat and blows warm air to dry you off.

“Those are fantastic. It cuts significantly the amount of toilet paper we use,” said Kudrowitz, who has written about the history of toilet paper and its alternatives.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a bidet will reduce the impact on forests and uses less water than cleaning with toilet paper because of the amount of water used in the manufacture of toilet paper.


Be sure to avoid leaves of three.

Of course, Kudrowitz understands that many Americans think it would be weird to use anything but toilet paper.

“It’s taboo to use anything else,” he said. “People don’t like change.”

And make no mistake, Americans love their toilet paper.

Studies have shown that the U.S. leads the world in toilet paper consumption, flushing away nearly three rolls per person per week.

Maybe it’s because we don’t eat enough fiber, suggests Bogna Haponiuk, a civil engineer from Poland who recently created an online “Toilet Paper Calculator” to try to reassure people that they have enough toilet paper and don’t need to hoard.

“The less fiber you consume, the more toilet paper you need to wipe,” Haponiuk said.

“The American diet is infamous for the high amounts of sugar and fat, and low amounts of fiber. So, if you want to reduce the amount of TP used — try changing your diet habits!”

Maybe all those beans we’ve been stocking up with might help.





A brief history of toilet paper

Barry Kudrowitz, a toy designer and associate professor and director of product design at the University of Minnesota, finds toilet paper so interesting that he’s written an online history of the product.

His research includes data on back-to-front vs. front-to-back wiping, paper under or over the roll, and wadding vs. folding.

Here are some of his highlights on how humans have cleaned themselves down there over the years:

Pre-50 B.C.: Sticks, leaves, stones, water and snow are the preferred materials.

50 B.C.-Middle Ages: There’s an upgrade to cloth, wool, hay and a sponge on a stick.

Late 14th-late 19th century: Corn cobs, coconut shells, Sears catalog, Farmers Almanac.

1857-1999: The toilet tissue age, including the perforated roll (1890), “splinter-free” paper (1930), two-ply (1942), scented rolls (1964).

1999: The “paperless toilet” is introduced in Japan that can wash, rinse and blow dry.

[petegz28]

Weird reporting today. Usually NY has some numbers in by now even if they aren't from NYC.

[O.city]

I did a shitload of yard work this weekend, we got our bedroom and bathroom painted.

Now I've got some brush to clean out. My dad freaked out on me cause he doesn't trust me with a chainsaw. I've used a chainsaw around him since I was like 15. I grew up in the country I know what i'm doing.

The ER doctor that sewed up my leg yesterday said he'd never seen a chainsaw cut that clean, so yeah, I can handle it.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by O.city

I did a shitload of yard work this weekend, we got our bedroom and bathroom painted.

Now I've got some brush to clean out. My dad freaked out on me cause he doesn't trust me with a chainsaw. I've used a chainsaw around him since I was like 15. I grew up in the country I know what i'm doing.

The ER doctor that sewed up my leg yesterday said he'd never seen a chainsaw cut that clean, so yeah, I can handle it.

We used a chainsaw doing some work in the yard we had been putting off. I ran it. My son is strong as an ox but if someone is going to cut off a leg or hand, I want it to be me.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Sports with no fans would be stupid.

It's better than having no sports at all.

[displacedinMN]

Originally Posted by O.city

I did a shitload of yard work this weekend, we got our bedroom and bathroom painted.

Now I've got some brush to clean out. My dad freaked out on me cause he doesn't trust me with a chainsaw. I've used a chainsaw around him since I was like 15. I grew up in the country I know what i'm doing.

The ER doctor that sewed up my leg yesterday said he'd never seen a chainsaw cut that clean, so yeah, I can handle it.

Oh my.....

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by O.city

I did a shitload of yard work this weekend, we got our bedroom and bathroom painted.

Now I've got some brush to clean out. My dad freaked out on me cause he doesn't trust me with a chainsaw. I've used a chainsaw around him since I was like 15. I grew up in the country I know what i'm doing.

The ER doctor that sewed up my leg yesterday said he'd never seen a chainsaw cut that clean, so yeah, I can handle it.

I have cut a lot of wood with a chainsaw throughout the years and I've come out it relatively unscathed. I have had a few close calls and did redesign a steel toe boot and a pair of Carhartt pants several years ago. They can be very unforgiving for sure.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by O.city

I did a shitload of yard work this weekend, we got our bedroom and bathroom painted.

Now I've got some brush to clean out. My dad freaked out on me cause he doesn't trust me with a chainsaw. I've used a chainsaw around him since I was like 15. I grew up in the country I know what i'm doing.

The ER doctor that sewed up my leg yesterday said he'd never seen a chainsaw cut that clean, so yeah, I can handle it.

Did you go with the grain, or against?

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Landlords just supposed to take it in the ass while the tenants get a free ride? Yeah that seems fair.

No but they shouldn't be kicking people on the street who lost their jobs because of the CoronaVirus either.

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

It's better than having no sports at all.

What would a home game be? What would an away game be? It'd be a fake season and a lot of other fans would feel the same way. Wait it out. With internet there's plenty of ways to entertain ourselves for a month or two.

[O.city]

I'm kidding about cutting my leg. But I did cut some stuff, got a lot more to go this week.

It's nice to live out in the country on land. I built the kids a homemade golf course in the yard so that's kept them busy.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by mililo4cpa

I posted this early, but last week my GF tracked down the girl that cuts my hair (but salon was shut down). After a brief health inquiry, we had her come over Friday afternoon and cut my hair in my home. I tipped very generously and it was way better than in the salon!

and letting significant others cut your hair is a good way for them to become ex-significant others....

Good for you. Hopefully I have the same luck, if not, if this goes on much longer, I'll be able to stand in for the Geico caveman.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by O.city

I did a shitload of yard work this weekend, we got our bedroom and bathroom painted.

Now I've got some brush to clean out. My dad freaked out on me cause he doesn't trust me with a chainsaw. I've used a chainsaw around him since I was like 15. I grew up in the country I know what i'm doing.

The ER doctor that sewed up my leg yesterday said he'd never seen a chainsaw cut that clean, so yeah, I can handle it.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by O.city

I'm kidding about cutting my leg. But I did cut some stuff, got a lot more to go this week.

It's nice to live out in the country on land. I built the kids a homemade golf course in the yard so that's kept them busy.

Are you circumsized now?