Daily WHO Reports for the Coronavirus Outbreak (Link)

[Durg50]

Are your workplaces taking any measures to prevent the spread of Coronavirus other than telecommuting (providing you with masks/alcohol cleaning sheets/etc.)?

I noticed that at my local Starbucks, Tully's, supermarket, etc. every staff member is wearing a mask (which might not help much but whatever).

My workplace, on the other hand, is doing nothing. We actually don't even have any type of cleaner and the desks are almost never cleaned. Two days ago we ran out of tissue paper and we can't even dry our hands after washing them. We also don't have warm/hot water to wash our hands.

sounds like you need a new job

 

[Simonka]

Masks are only a thing in Asia... so do people in Asia get less flu or colds than the west? Have masks even been proven to be effective?

They are very effective for evading creeps who follow you on the street when you go back home late at night -_-‘’’ I haven’t worn masks in a while, but when I did I mostly used them to protect myself from dust/pollen or for personal safety.
Everyone around me (mask wearing or not) caught the influenza this year but I magically survived despite not wearing a mask.

I hope everyone stays safe and none of us end up being sealed in a plastic tube by the authorities

 

[just4fun]

They are very effective for evading creeps who follow you on the street when you go back home late at night -_-‘’’ I haven’t worn masks in a while, but when I did I mostly used them to protect myself from dust/pollen or for personal safety.
Everyone around me (mask wearing or not) caught the influenza this year but I magically survived despite not wearing a mask.

I hope everyone stays safe and none of us end up being sealed in a plastic tube by the authorities

If we live to see tomorrow we should have a huge orgy to celebrate.......just a random thought..........

 

[Juliet]

​

Masks are effective when they are worn by the infected. When worn by the non-infected, the empirical evidence is that they actually have a negative affect, because they impart a false sense of security and the wearers are more likely to touch their face and eyes without washing their hands first.

edit: not sure how that extra quote got in there...

this is what annoys me. I have caught a cold right now and I am sneezing constantly, but of course masks are all sold out so I can’t protect people around me from catching my cold... and I guarantee you most people wearing the masks aren’t even sick, they’re just using it for 予防, which hasnt even be proven to prevent illness... ugh.

 

[just4fun]

this is what annoys me. I have caught a cold right now and I am sneezing constantly, but of course masks are all sold out so I can’t protect people around me from catching my cold... and I guarantee you most people wearing the masks aren’t even sick, they’re just using it for 予防, which hasnt even be proven to prevent illness... ugh.

I really don't know but can't you wash a mask in hot water?

 

[Sudsy]

I really don't know but can't you wash a mask in hot water?

Cloth ones, yes. Paper ones, no.

 

[just4fun]

I wonder if some girls wouldn't mind dressing up as a Taliban female until this plague passes us by.

 

[Ken1988]

​

Masks are effective when they are worn by the infected. When worn by the non-infected, the empirical evidence is that they actually have a negative affect, because they impart a false sense of security and the wearers are more likely to touch their face and eyes without washing their hands first.

edit: not sure how that extra quote got in there...

There was an argument about this in Singapore a few days ago.
https://www.businessinsider.sg/clea...mask-moh-says-heres-the-correct-way-to-do-it/

Which reminds me of "smartphone as potential vector of flu" discussion a few years ago.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2013/01/24/can-your-smartphone-spread-the-flu/

In any case, washing hands often is the best practice for prevention.

 

[RandomTokyoGuy]

this is what annoys me. I have caught a cold right now and I am sneezing constantly, but of course masks are all sold out so I can’t protect people around me from catching my cold... and I guarantee you most people wearing the masks aren’t even sick, they’re just using it for 予防, which hasnt even be proven to prevent illness... ugh.

Could be that just some people took the opportunity to ship to China for a nice profit

 

[Juliet]

Could be that just some people took the opportunity to ship to China for a nice profit

I heard today that Japan imports 70% of masks from China, so that makes a lot of sense why we ran out so fast here. China really needs them for their own population right now.

 

[just4fun]

Could be that just some people took the opportunity to ship to China for a nice profit

1st thing that came to my mind..........

 

[Ken1988]

NIID's first report on the cruise ship situation.
https://www.niid.go.jp/niid/en/2019-ncov-e/9407-covid-dp-fe-01.html

 

[monalisaoverdrive]

this is what annoys me. I have caught a cold right now and I am sneezing constantly, but of course masks are all sold out so I can’t protect people around me from catching my cold... and I guarantee you most people wearing the masks aren’t even sick, they’re just using it for 予防, which hasnt even be proven to prevent illness... ugh.

Definitely. One of my students told me she bought 800 masks.... and another one told me he bought 650. It's so completely nonsensical.

 

[Sudsy]

Definitely. One of my students told me she bought 800 masks.... and another one told me he bought 650. It's so completely nonsensical.

In some countries, hoarding during a crisis is punishable with heavy fines, jail time, and confiscation of the hoard.

 

[Juliet]

Definitely. One of my students told me she bought 800 masks.... and another one told me he bought 650. It's so completely nonsensical.

This is the type of personality in people that seriously pisses me off. It's not only immature and dramatic, but extremely selfish...

 

[Anna Summer]

This is the type of personality in people that seriously pisses me off. It's not only immature and dramatic, but extremely selfish...

this outbreak really brings out the worst in people.... and it’s starting to piss me off too. it’s hay fever season and I hate to reply on medication.... but since all masks are still sold out I have no other choice....

 

[surak]

Ok, here’s a good and balanced article based entirely on fact and not on rumour or embellishment/misinterpretation of data.
https://khn.org/news/facts-vs-fears-five-things-to-help-weigh-your-coronavirus-risk/

No, the article you quoted is not good, not balanced, an not based entirely on facts.

The following are a few flaws I found:

For example, influenza kills 0.14% of infected patients, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. But because the flu is so common — infecting up to 45 million Americans a season — deaths could climb as high as 61,000 people each flu season just in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

True but very misleading.

The methodology CDC uses to estimate death toll of flu is totally defferent from that China NHC uses to count death toll of NCP.

In CDC's own word, "Seasonal influenza-related deaths are deaths that occur in people for whom influenza infection was likely a contributor to the cause of death, but not necessarily the primary cause of death." (source: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/how-cdc-estimates.htm#References)

making comparison without properly acknowledging methodological deviances is misleading.

NHC happens to count their own death toll of flu in China, and they are using the same methodology they count NCP casualties. According to their latest data, monthly death toll of flu in November 2019 in China was 5 out of 156,205 confirmed cases (source: http://www.nhc.gov.cn/jkj/s7915/201912/1c872de08d834aa0b82d4b4b8cd78b8c.shtml), or a CFR of around 0.0032%, or about 1/718 as deadly as NCP.

Chinese officials Thursday suddenly changed their criteria for confirming the disease and added more than 15,000 cases to the patient tally

Ambiguous and misleading.

By changing their criteria (from PCR test to clinical diagnosis) on Thursday Feb 12th, Chinese officials only added 14,840 cases. That's below 15,000 cases.

There were other 313 cases added according to the original criteria, not the new criteria.

The World Health Organization “is relying on data from China and has no ability at present to independently verify those data,” Gostin said. That could change, he added, if WHO experts are allowed into the center of the outbreak, the city of Wuhan in Hubei province. “

False and very misleading. WHO experts have always been allowed into Wuhan, as well as other regions of China, from very early stage of the outbreak (source: https://www.who.int/china/news/detail/22-01-2020-field-visit-wuhan-china-jan-2020; http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-02/17/c_138791946.htm).

Outside China, health officials test anyone with a cough and fever who has visited Hubei — a much larger number — producing a mortality rate of 1.2% to 5.6%.

False. As far as I know, at least health officials in Pakistan and Indonesia didn't do tests on anyone with a cough and fever who has visited Hubei. Sometimes they just isolated them without doing tests.

Moreover, the mortaility rate outside of China is false as well. It's nowhere near 1.2% to 5.6%. It was around 0.39% by the date this article published (source: https://www.who.int/docs/default-so...00214-sitrep-25-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=61dda7d_2).

The rapid spread of the coronavirus suggests it is transmitted person-to-person, much like influenza: An infected person coughs out moist droplets containing the virus and another person breathes them in, said Schaffner.

Yes and no.

Yes it's much like influenza; but no, both flu and NCP are not only transmitted via droplets from coughs, but also via aerosols from exhales.

According to this study, coughless guinea pigs still transmit influenza to each other within a distance of 0.91 meters. (source: https://www.pnas.org/content/103/26/9988.short)

And according to this study, a flu patient exhales enough virus to infect a close contact within 15 minutes (source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0002691)

And in the case of NCP, NHC already officially declared that aerosol transmission is possible, especially in confined space for prolonged exposure (source: http://www.nhc.gov.cn/yzygj/s7653p/...c2/files/b218cfeb1bc54639af227f922bf6b817.pdf).

Because the moist droplets fall to the ground within 3 to 6 feet, patients are most likely to infect people with whom they are in close contact.

False. the droplets travel up to 2.5 meters (around 8.2 feet) until felling to the ground (source: https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...and-sneezing/475FCFCBD32C7DB6C1E49476DB7A7446).

While the Amoy Gardens outbreak was striking, experts believe it was a one-time phenomenon. No one has found another example of a coronavirus spreading through plumbing, said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

Could be false, but the latest incident happened only a few days ago, so there's no academic paper available at the moment (source: https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202002/11/P2020021100062.htm?fontSize=1)

Also, there are other means of airborne transmission than plumbing...

Anecdotal reports that patients without symptoms can spread COVID-19 have been widely publicized. But scientists have not confirmed such transmissions, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore.

Dr. Adalja might have missed a few interesting papers lately, such as this one (https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiaa077/5739751), in which a paralyzed old gentleman (who's apparently unable to get out of his own bedroom) was somehow infected before all his close contacts showed any symptom.

The quarantines imposed in China on major cities and a Japanese cruise ship aren’t effective, Gostin said.

Yes and no. Yes for Diamond Princess, but no for China, especially its major cities:

“They are overbroad and under conditions that could fuel the epidemic,” said Gostin, who is also faculty director at Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. “People are being forced to remain in close, congested conditions, so they are likely to spread infection among themselves.”

Depending on the situation, remaining in close, congested conditions doesn't always fuel the epidemic.

If everyone in the isolation ward is positive already, then there's no way the epidemic could get fueled up any further. Actually it's a very effective way to collectively quarantine the infected from the healthy majority.

The following is one of the newly built mega-size isolation wards in Wuhan, exclusively for the confirmed cases with mild or subclinical symptoms. Meals and basic supportive medicines are provided free of charge. Doctors are present 24/7. If someone turns negative s/he gets discharged; and if someone becomes sicker s/he gets transferred to a proper hospital.

Passengers should be asked to “shelter in place” at home for two weeks instead, he added.

Depending on their familial structures, self-imposed quarantine at home may or may not be a good idea, as familial cluster transmissions have been very visible in this outbreak (soure: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.03.20019141v3):

 

[surak]

In cases like that is "most" really enough?

Fail to comply an isolation or quarantine order is punishable by fines and imprisonment (source: https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/aboutlawsregulationsquarantineisolation.html).

So yeah it'll probably be enough in the states.

(Though I have no idea of the situation in Japan.)

 

[surak]

Interesting

Fact check: Wuhan Institute of Virology is not 280m away from the wet market as reported, but around 20km away across the mighty Yangtze River.

 

[surak]

Could be that just some people took the opportunity to ship to China for a nice profit

Used to be working, but not anymore.

They have been confisticating masks lately, and now whoever got caught selling masks at higher than normal prices will be put in jail for a really long time (source: https://www.singtao.ca/4098671/2020-02-16/news-嚴懲產銷黑心口罩+最高可判無期徒刑沒收全部財產/?variant=zh-hk)

By the way, the price on amazon.co.jp looks even higher than in China now...

 

[surak]

Here's another fear-mongering:

The whole symptom-based screening processes they have been doing in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and many other places, but especially in the case of Diamond Princess, might be flawed.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2001899

 

[split]

My company canceled a major milestone event they were to have, but it was a little too late and 250+ esteemed customers, professors, other individuals of importance were already on their flights from Asia, Europe, and possibly the U.S. and landed in Tokyo with nothing to do. Baaooops!

No one here properly washes their hands. It’s depressing being in a crowded public restroom and seeing every woman lazily swipe her hands under the water for 2 seconds before running off... and yet they’re wearing masks to prevent illness. Oh, the irony.

I thought only the men did that! It doesn't seem to matter what level of company you work at either. It's ubiquitous.

Cloth ones, yes. Paper ones, no.

You could probably use 99% ethanol sprayed from a bottle on the paper masks once or twice without affecting the integrity. Amazon/drug stores. It evaporates fast when aerosolized.

Used to be working, but not anymore.
They have been confisticating masks lately....

The ones we sent to family in China 3 weeks ago got opened up, held in customs for import duties.

 

[oLUXo]

this is what annoys me. I have caught a cold right now and I am sneezing constantly, but of course masks are all sold out so I can’t protect people around me from catching my cold... and I guarantee you most people wearing the masks aren’t even sick, they’re just using it for 予防, which hasnt even be proven to prevent illness... ugh.

It may just be the pollen in the air. A coworker was sneezing constantly, but he said because the pollen is starting.

 

[warubuta]

Definitely. One of my students told me she bought 800 masks.... and another one told me he bought 650. It's so completely nonsensical.

No. It is so completely dastardly genius. I bought about 4500 boxes of 1000 several months ago when you fools were just hearing the word ‘corona’ applied to something that was not a beer. I plan to old onto them until Peak Panic at which point I will sell them individually on Yahoo Auction for 1,000 yen each not including shipping. I will then escape from Japan in a mini submarine to a tiny island that is off the coast of an uncharted island in the South Pacific. Haha hahahaha !

 

[Sudsy]

No, the article you quoted is not good, not balanced, an not based entirely on facts.

That article was fact checked by medical professionals.

Not by some low level Chinese bureaucrat (yes, I mean you) trying to sow FUD at every opportunity.

Do everyone a favour and crawl back under your rock.

The methodology CDC uses to estimate death toll of flu is totally defferent from that China NHC uses to count death toll of NCP.

One is a known quantity that can be expressed statistically and averaged year to year. The other is a new issue that has no historical data.

That doesn't make the comparison invalid, unless you're a hack looking to spread fear.

Chinese officials only added 14,840 cases. That's below 15,000 cases.

You've apparently never heard of "rounding". Clutch at straws much?

False and very misleading. WHO experts have always been allowed into Wuhan, as well as other regions of China, from very early stage of the outbreak (source: https://www.who.int/china/news/detail/22-01-2020-field-visit-wuhan-china-jan-2020; http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-02/17/c_138791946.htm).

A field visit is NOT the same as full access to verify numbers, and you know it.

False. the droplets travel up to 2.5 meters (around 8.2 feet) until felling to the ground (source: https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...and-sneezing/475FCFCBD32C7DB6C1E49476DB7A7446).

Your source says no such thing. You seem to be linking random sources to try to lend legitimacy to your claims.

Honestly, I can't be bothered going through the rest of your response - too much of what you write is you lying, nitpicking, or cherry picking articles you think support your case.

Fact of the matter is that you're just trying to spread doubt and fear.

Edit: Perhaps saying that you lie is uncharitable... I think you might honestly believe your delusions.