outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

but yes less dramatically of course there should be restrictions on freedom of movement rn it's a deadly easily-transmissible pandemic

i think it's surreal for republicans to be talking about all this direct aid to individual families

the world won't be the same after this that's for sure

jeez ulysses, that sounds rough xps

1400 cases in NJ over the weekend; 2800+ now.

It's truly surreal to see all of these progressive people essentially arguing for a police state, federal restrictions on gatherings & freedom of movement, etc

what exactly should the progressive view on this be, the longer people remain out and about the longer we all have to stay inside and the more people will die

i think the progressive view on this should be less focused on the containment/restrictions policy, and more about how the trillions of dollars we are about to spend

that new report about covid positive people losing their sense of taste and smell as a marker (and sometimes with no other symptoms) is kind of wild. Even if you are not congested and are breathing totally normally.

Holy shit, me a week ago:

My biggest issue these days is getting over a cold (yes, a boring cold, nothing but the sniffles) that my kid gave me that has somehow reduced my sense of taste to next to nothing.

!!!

I get it, but what enforcement could look like, and the possible effect on elections etc, just feels extremely dystopian.

xp

Oh wow

you probably had it josh. my surmise is that a larger percentage than we know have barely any symptoms at all.

Josh, can you please remove yourself from this thread ASAP?

I wiped my screen.

you probably had it josh.

This seems so unhelpful and irresponsible to post.

Not really?

sorry. i mean, he is ok right?

if he was still experiencing symptoms and anxious about it, i wouldn't do that and make him worry.

assume you didn't, for everyone's safety. because thinking you did is going to lead to riskier behaviors

influenza b was pretty widespread and iirc the one not covered by the flu vaccine. assuming anyone who was sick over three weeks ago had influenza b

assume you didn't, for everyone's safety. because thinking you did is going to lead to riskier behaviors

Exactly.

i wasn't suggesting he should imagine he is immune.

I don't assume or imagine I'm immune, but there is absolutely no way I had the flu, and barely had what I thought was a cold.

Anyway, I'm totally fine. It only struck me as curious because I'd never lost my sense of taste before (bad taste is another matter, lol), and what I thought was (and may have been) a cold was so mild it seemed odd to me at the time that it would totally wipe out my sense of taste and smell. No cough, no sneeze, no serious congestion, just a very modestly stuffy nose, which at the time I cited as indication I *didn't* have it, ironically. But there was a 3-4 day stretch where I could taste literally nothing, with no other real symptoms except maybe I felt a bit tired, enough so that I skipped running at the gym for the week. (Though that was really because I didn't want to get sick, also ironically).

A friend of ours described going through a terrible flu last month, after having had contact with her dad who came back from China (no symptoms for him), extreme weakness, fever, cough, etc, and I was shushed for saying that she almost surely had it, idgi.

Whatever, still leave the thread. You can post your replies in an adjacent thread, and we will disinfect and post them here.

Only choose a rubbish thread to post in tho, don't infect a good one

I Love Cooties.

A friend of ours described going through a terrible flu last month, after having had contact with her dad who came back from China (no symptoms for him), extreme weakness, fever, cough, etc, and I was shushed for saying that she almost surely had it, idgi.

don't feel too bad, a whole bunch of people were shooshed for advising caution the last few weeks

other than thinking you might be immune, thinking "hey, I had it and it affects me in a mild way" is also a risk

now I'm remembering my friend who ended up having bell's palsy a couple months back and how losing sense of taste was one of the first symptoms she had before waking up with half her face frozen :(

(she's better now)

ah I remember that, glad to hear it

i think we should be aware that people have it and have mild symptoms. all the more reason to be cautious. we do not know who is infectious.

and you don't know if you are infectious yourself. it could hit you and you wouldn't necessarily know, you might just think you feel sort of crummy.

we all feel sort of crummy right now imo

Yeah, it's worth remembering that COVID is by no means the only thing that causes you to lose your sense of smell. I mentioned earlier having a horrible cough for months last year that I totally would think was COVID if it were happening now. My dad caught it from me, didn't have it nearly as badly, but lost his sense of smell for months.

Again, this is presumably because of accelerated testing, right?

http://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/23/coronavirus-pandemic-is-accelerating-as-cases-eclipse-350000-who-says.html

partly. i think it's also like, unfathomably contagious

now that testing is a bit more widespread I'm seeing a lot of twitter threads along the lines of "I tested positive, I don't have the main symptoms but these weird things are happening instead", which thankfully wind up being pretty mild

All this uncertainty about 'did I already have it weeks ago' and 'did I spread it to another dozen people' and 'gee maybe I'm infected right now' is just us milling around in the dark, because the US testing regime is at least six weeks behind the curve. It is better to recognize the ignorant condition we are stuck in and try not to mill around any more than necessary.

try not to mill around any more than necessary.

let the record show that I believe Aimless to be otm here

Oregon just closed a very specific list of "non-essential" businesses that does not include mine, so I guess I will be coming in tomorrow as well

https://govsite-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/jkAULYKcSh6DoDF8wBM0_EO%2020-12.pdf

I never had a fever either, btw; I was taking my temperature daily. By "mild symptoms" I mean in my case really practically *nothing* but loss of taste, or at least loss of taste was the only thing I complained about to my family. No cough, no fever, nothing I would call congestion. Never even really needed to blow my nose. Just a little snuffy, a little more tired than usual, and total loss of taste.

Anyway, considering this was a week ago, and symptoms have gone from "complete lack of taste" to "nothing" (afaict) I'm pretty confident whatever I had has run its course. Fingers crossed!

My last few colds (over a couple of years) have left me unable to smell/taste for ages afterwards. I had a head cold last week (felt exactly like a normal cold, - just sneezing and post-nasal drip - except milder as I actually rested, no coughing/fever) and still haven't regained my sense of smell. I'm certain it wasn't CV.

my surmise is that a larger percentage than we know have barely any symptoms at all.

Both of the two situations where they've ramped up testing (Vo' and the Diamond Princess) have recorded that over 50% of the people with the virus are asymptomatic, just so you know.

Covid is coinciding with the end the influenza season and beginning of allergy season. I wouldn't trust a hunch for whether I was exposed (and hence very likely immune).

I doubt the rtPCR testing (which can capture the infectious stage) will catch up with the growth in cases, but serological blood testing should be available in a few months. Very important for health care and elder care providers, who should get priority, but if covert infection is as widespread as in say Italy, documenting immunity could be important for a lot of jobs.

Generally speaking, I agree with you. But I without question did not have the flu, and do not have allergies, and barely had would could be called a cold. The sudden and unexpected loss of taste was so weird it was all I complained about to my family, and in fact was the only thing that affected my quality of life.

(shrug)

Maybe you had the flu?

Wait, now the flu is going around, too?

Virginia now closing schools for the rest of the year

Sorry kids, third and seventh grades are gonna be an asterisk.

And the play you auditioned for and were thrilled to get a part in, nope

The school year or 2020?

academic year. no word on summer school, summer camps, or etc.

Also all parks, trails, and playgrounds ordered closed here.

Here, kid, when I was your age, all we had was a stick! Here's a stick! go to town.

Ontario should have done the same; they've instead extended the closure until May, which is just needlessly delaying the inevitable. (Mostly they've been doing okay, the past week or two at least.)

Report: Tokyo 2020 Olympics postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus