Probably quite a few unfortunately. The infection can be asymptomatic or with very mild symptoms, but still be transmissible. Some experts estimate that the number of people infected may be ten times that of officially tested and diagnosed cases, which is rather worrisome. My grandmother is 85 and has some substantial health issues already, so that is definitely one of my concerns during this outbreak. The elderly are especially at risk of critical illness or death during this outbreak, and even more so when they already have underlying health issues (which many of them do). And it only gets worse when health systems start to get overloaded during an outbreak. Before I give some of my personal comments I would like to say this: if we have any Italians on here (and I presume we do) I want to wish them and their compatriots the best of luck in these very tough times, and I hope they and their family and friends are able to remain as safe and comfortable as possible. I really hope things get better for you as soon as possible. Then, my personal thoughts about the current situation. I really dread opening the news websites and feeds these days, because each time it only gets worse and more scary, and it just spikes my anxiety and worry about this situation up even more. Comments by the German federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn, suggest that this situation could last another two to three months, and by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that up to 70% of Germans could get the virus, have especially alarmed me. This is bad and extremely frightening. Europe is in pretty deep doo-doo at this point and measures are getting stricter and stricter everywhere. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see much of Europe (and perhaps parts of other countries too) ending up in a situation more or less similar to Italy in a few weeks time, if only to try to not have the outbreak get out of control and end up in the same dreadful situation as Italy or to keep health care systems from being overloaded and collapsing completely. At this point it's probably best for all Europeans to do at least some preparations for some degree of home quarantaine. I have taken home my work laptop yesterday. I don't work on Wednesdays, have a work trip tomorrow and took a day off on Friday. Five days seems like a very long time at this point to be away from the office, a lot can change in that time. I expect I'll be working from home pretty soon, so I'll also be doing a systems check to make sure everything I need works. I wouldn't mind working from home at this point even though I'm not normally in favor of doing so and even if it would cause some inconveniences for me, because being on public transport is making me more anxious each day. Unfortunately I have to go on a work-related trip tomorrow (no large crowds, luckily, a few dozen people at most) that I cannot get out of. I have however decided to suspend all (ideas of) potential zoo visits for the time being. I would love to head to the zoo (Antwerp probably) the next time the weather allows, but at this time it just feels too risky to me. I'm sorry for the zoo, but at this point avoiding some potential risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 seems worth not going to the zoo for some weeks or even months. Normally we would be planning and booking our 2020 multi-day Pairi Daiza trip with a stay in their resort later this month, but given the uncertainty about how this epidemic will proceed we will likely have to postpone that - and hope there will still be an opportunity for 2020 once things have abated. In the meantime I'm trying to keep as much normality in my life as I can and trying to continue with daily activities and things I enjoy where and when I can and have the energy for it. Looking at things like the ZooChat gallery or animal and zoo-related social media at least offers me some comfort, relief and distraction from the anxiety and worry over the coronavirus. For my physical and mental health I cannot spend all my time reading and worrying about the coronavirus - I need to make sure to look at and listen to some fun and relaxing stuff too.
As of right now, March 11, 2020, 4:27PM, eight of CT's major universities have all closed their campuses and switched to online courses only. This includes both Yale and Harvard. Public schools and community colleges continue to close down as well. As I typed this, my own school just announced that, following this week, all classes will be online and the campus closed until at least April 5. The governor has declared a state of emergency for CT despite only a few cases stateside so far. He's done this as a precaution to secure federal funding for disease testing as well as in an attempt to get the NY-CT border shut down to stop the spread of the virus into the state (all cases here so far have originated from commuting New Yorkers). While I still plan to go ahead with my travel plans next week, I cannot say I'm not a tad bit worried about being either locked in Florida (where the virus is already more common), or being locked out of Connecticut. Not panicked yet, but I am concerned. EDIT: I've also just received word that one of the few victims of the virus in my state was found to have had contact with a student at my sister's high school since contracting the disease... ~Thylo
All 89 campuses of two of the three largest university systems in the US, SUNY (State University of New York) and CUNY (City University of New York), have been closed for the entire spring semester. Instructors will spend five days learning and planning for on-line classes, and all classes will resume online on 3/17/20. The number of New York cases increased by more than 15% overnight. Faculty and staff unions insisting on being part of this decision to protect members found they had nothing to fight, that all their demands and much more had already been decreed. These universities have never been closed in this way, for this long. Governor Cuomo and his advisors must have been warned that this will become far worse than we've suspected over the coming months.
One of my good friends is a teacher at a high school in the Bronx. He told me his school is operating as normal until the virus is detected within their region, at which point all classes will be moved online. ~Thylo
Yes, usually CUNY and the NYC Board of Ed operate in relative tandem, making decisions on snow days and schedule alertts together so that all public schools are "on the same page." This is one of the very, very few times I can remember them following different paths. I suppose the difficulties of teaching especially young students in the public school system via online means makes this a more complicated call. That said, children are always more vulnerable, so it seems pretty risky to wait until someone in the vicinity has been diagnosed to start protective self-quarantine.
There are less than 10 cases in Panama (probably more) and the people is like crazy going to the supermarkets and buying everything they can meanwhile the capital city don't have classes until April. I am without classes one week and there's almost no alcohol nowhere and if there is,it isn't cheap.
China has at last controlled the spread by social isolation which is the approach epidemiologists recommend. These steps are intended to slow the spread. They do not prophesy coming doom. And yes, I do expect the coming couple of months will be unlike anything most of us have ever experienced.
A university near me said that after spring break they will not be accepting students inside any of the buildings and that all classes have to be completed online - I think that'a a bit ridiculous. As to how the coronavirus affects me, I didn't have any any plans for spring break, and currently don't. However, that may change, as plane tickets are very cheap.
Our prime minister announced this evening that Denmark will enter a shutdown of the public sphere similar to Italy (schools, libraries, museums and other non-critical government departments will be closed) for the next 14 days, so it has now affected me in the way that I won't be able to go to work for the next two weeks. Denmark has had Europe's most explosive growth in cases during the last few days (from around 30 when the weekend ended to more than 500 as of today), and we're a very small country so something needed to be done. Otherwise, I fortunately don't personally know any infectees yet.
The only thing that's causing large-scale societal and economical disruption are the "news" spreading this hysteria 24/7. To be honest I can't decide if I find it funny or sad that people are this easily led. Oh well... I guess I'm still too busy being worried about EVD, foot-and-mouth disease, avian flu, etc pp ad nauseam
Perhaps the RI and MA governors will be so incensed over travel up the I-95 corridor to their cities that we'll soon find them trying to ban CT motorists and rail passengers. Then outraged CT citizens can cough in their directions. At least the contiguous US ends not far up the coast, so perhaps Maine will not have to do any spitting or coughing.
Speaking as someone that is considered a high risk of catching this. All I can say is what an excellent idea get a cheap flight somewhere and find everywhere shut. There is a reason the flights are cheap, any right minded person can work it out.
Was out and about in town this afternoon and everything was business as usual. We've only had one case of COVID-19 in our relatively large county so far though. Probably helps being a couple hours away from any notably large cities.
Most places here in US aren't closed, but flights are still cheap. Even so, if I were to go on a trip my main goal would be birding, and it's not like birding spots will be closed.
You do understand that among the elderly this thing is killing between one in five and one in seven people who catch it?
First of all, without media of some kind, dispersing news of a serious pandemic would be limited to frantic men on horseback and the town crier of old. You act as if COVID-19 is nothing but world propoganda, a "hoax." If media is truly a concern, consumers have choices of which media to follow; it's quite simple to log onto the US Centers for Disease Control or the World Health Organization for factual, apolitical reports. I don't know why you find it funny that people apparently believe reports that there is a pandemic happening right now. Guess what? There's a pandemic happening right now, flourishing in many parts of the globe, and the virtually-unprecedented measures we see being taken indicate how very serious this is. About the worst thing one can do in a time like this is to yuck it up and scorn those who are following medical protocols.
Quite; this attitude is right up there with "oh, only old people and weak people will be likely to die, so that's alright as long as I'm okay" in terms of attitudes which really, really piss me off especially given the fact that, as noted previously, I may well be classified in a high-risk group myself. Or alternatively, my asthma is all in my mind because I am "easily led"
No smiling emoji appropriate here. I really wish I had been as frank as you were and expressed more of my disdain and anger at such insensitivity and stupidity. And saying all of this KNOWING you are in a high-risk group and are worried. @Najade needs some serious "mansplaining" or "humansplaining," but, of course, that would require him being a man or a human capable of compassion or considering needs beyond his own...... PS: While attributed to a post by me, the attitude TLD mentions here is not mine, but the one elucidated by @Najade.
