COVID-19 hits Williamson County TN

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We haven’t yet made it onto the Johns Hopkins database, but should shortly. (That’s a very handy link, by the way, with the most accurate numbers you’
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We are bound to see it show up shortly where I live also.
Earlier this week a group of 19 flew in from a trip to Italy. There are in self-imposed quarantine for two weeks.

I have read the guidelines for testing are: having a fever, showing symptoms, and requiring hospitalization. If that’s the case, that’s too late. (IMHO)

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Elly, Myst, fernlady

Right now, most hospitals still have ventilator capacity. Once the need is more widespread and all the vents are in use, there’s not much benefit to hospitalization other than it being a more-enforced version of quarantine.

Testing guidelines in many places have another aspect – travel to areas of infection, or close contact with someone who has. This seems to have missed some cases, sadly.

A close family friend in Northern Italy has been on tenterhooks, after travelling in a car with someone who had work colleagues that tested positive. At this stage, all is negative. We hope it remains that way

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Elly, Myst

Travel to areas of infection and close contact seem to be guidelines for self-quarantine here
But not for testing.

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Elly

PKCano wrote:

I have read the guidelines for testing are: having a fever, showing symptoms, and requiring hospitalization. If that’s the case, that’s too late. (IMHO)

That is correct PKCano, and there are many cases to second this

* _ ... _ *

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Elly

It’s getting around.  Here at ground zero it’s been so strange seeing the store shelves empty and more and more schools close, employers having people telecommute.  VP Pence is showing up today to chat with our gov Inslee.  I think there are a LOT more cases here, but without much testing going on, who really knows.

My wife works in downtown Kirkland just over the hill, and just a few blocks from the infamous nursing home.  We are waiting for her employer to just say work from home.  Luckily I am in my home office.  So as long as there is internet, I’m good.

So wash those hands and stay safe!

Cheers!!
Willie McClure
“We are trying to build a gentler, kinder society, and if we all pitch in just a little bit, we are going to get there.” Alex Trebek

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SueW, Elly, Myst

I volunteer at a local health care facility here in NorCal, and there are many competent healthcare pros, doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, on hand. They are doing the best they can do to be vigilant and dedicated to their job. So far so good, there are no cases with residents at the facility, hopefully won’t be. Governor Newsom is at the front lines taking into account the new cases being reported in Los Angeles and in Placer County, and has declared a State of Emergency for California on the virus.

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Elly, Lars220, AJNorth, Kirsty

The following has been sent out by a firm that has retained me on as an outside advisor. I have modified corporate sensitive references.

Dear Employee

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread around the world, each one of us has an important role to play in preparing ourselves and our families for significant disruptions, and upholding our civic duty to help prevent further outbreaks. If we each do our part, we can help lessen the risk for everyone — for the elderly, sick, hospital caretakers, and those who lack the resources or time to prepare themselves. We can save lives.

To do our part as a company, effective immediately, we are implementing these additional safety precautions for the month of March:

 No International Travel

• All cross-border travel is prohibited. If you have international travel booked, please contact your travel service to cancel or update your itinerary. Instructions to assist you with this process can be found in the XXX Company Coronavirus Safety Guidelines.
• For those employees who live in one country and work in another, we ask that you work from home during this time.
• If you are currently traveling abroad, please return home as soon as the purpose of your visit is complete. If any portion of your trip can be accomplished through video conferencing, we recommend you adjust your trip and return home as soon as possible. If you have been traveling in a high-risk country, please refer to the work from home requirements and notification procedures in the XXX Company Coronavirus Safety Guidelines. If you have any concerns, please reach out to your travel service for assistance in changing your plans.

All Other Travel

• All domestic travel outside your regularly assigned work location is limited to business-critical matters and requires permission from an Executive Leadership Team member.
• Travel is considered business critical if it is necessary to our continued operations and would cause damage to the company if canceled. Please discuss your travel plans with your manager to determine whether your travel should continue.

Enhanced Office Protocols

• Visitors to our offices will be asked if they have traveled to high-risk countries (i.e. mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea & Italy), and asked about symptoms as a part of the sign-in process. Please take note that this means some visitors (including customers) may be turned away.
• As accustomed as many of us are to greeting one another with a friendly handshake, for the sake of good health, let’s all take a pause on handshakes until the threat has passed.
• Finally, know that we are taking additional precautions with extra cleaning of our offices. We are also adding hand sanitizers to all of our social lounges, reception areas, and other locations. Please use it liberally!

XXX Company Events

• All customer facing events in March will be canceled.
• At this time, we are not canceling internal meetings (that have not been previously canceled). Our Global Safety & Security team is working closely with local leadership and the event venues to do a risk assessment and ensure that we are meeting or exceeding the precautionary guidelines set by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and regional public health authorities. Please watch for further information from event organizers.
• If you believe an internal event should be canceled due to health and safety reasons, please contact the event organizer and local leadership. If you are an event organizer with questions on whether an internal event should proceed, please reach out to the Safety & Security and Employee Communications teams to coordinate.
• Please use video conferencing whenever reasonably possible for meetings with people from outside XXX Company — whether held at XXX Company or elsewhere.

Non-XXX Company Events

• For the next month, we are asking all employees to cancel their attendance at business-related conferences or large group meetings outside of XXX Company with 50 or more people.

Exceptions to the restrictions above may only be granted by the Executive Leadership Team.

We’d also like to ask that you take a few practical steps to protect yourself and your family, and help prevent further outbreaks.

1. Please, please, please work from home, or stay home and rest if you are experiencing any symptoms of illness, of any kind. Doing so will make it easier for everyone to confidently come to the office without fears of getting sick. And, do not return to work until you have fully recovered.
2. If you haven’t already, get a flu shot. The flu shot not only reduces your risk of having to go to a doctor, it also helps prevent you or someone else getting the flu and COVID-19; having two chronic illnesses at once can drastically worsen outcomes.
3. Stock up now on non-perishable foods so you are prepared in the event of a local quarantine or if you are required to stay home for an extended time. Buy things you would eat anyway and save yourself a few extra trips to the grocery store! Rice, beans, salsa, ramen, some sort of cooking oil, oatmeal, nuts, and dried or canned fruits and vegetables can be purchased at relatively little cost and take up fairly little space. Ready.gov also recommends securing a two-week supply of water.
4. Check your medicine cabinet. Make sure you have all your prescriptions (ideally a four-week supply), and stock up on your favorite cold, cough, stomach, and herbal remedies. Avoiding the pharmacy will also help keep you away from people who may be contagious.
5. Soap. Hand Sanitizers. Soap. Hand Sanitizers. (Repeat!) If there’s one thing you want to ensure you have in inventory, it’s soap and hand sanitizers.

You can find the latest updates and links to more information in the XXX Company Coronavirus Safety Guidelines. This is a rapidly-developing situation so please keep up to date on evolving information and guidance.

If you have questions or concerns, please head to the Coronavirus Chatter group or email XXX.com We are monitoring this situation closely and are ready to help.

Thank you for your ongoing support and doing your part to ensure the safety

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Elly, SueW, AJNorth, woody, samak

So why don’t they do this every flu season, when millions of people around the world are infected and thousands die?
Another Chicken Little scare.

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sproket90

Hopefully it will be no worse than the common flue. But currently the mortality rate, particularly for vulnerable portions of the population, is significantly higher than the common flue.

The article at the link  https://ourworldindata.org/spanish-flu-largest-influenza-pandemic-in-history is an excellent retrospective assessment of the Spanish Flue and a peak into what we may be experiencing today.

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Elly, AJNorth, Wheel_D, Myst, samak, Kirsty

I just received an email from Medicare that says:
“Your Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) covers a test to see if you have Coronavirus” and “the immediate health risk remains low”

In my state (RI), some schools are closed (student trip to Italy). Cox cable closed it’s main office due to infection. I wonder if that means I don’t have to pay my bill? (wishful thinking)

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Elly, Myst

[nazzy]

Coronavirus = 3000 deaths globally (mostly in China) in two months.  Annualized = 18,000 deaths per year.

Meanwhile, the Flu kills between 300,000 to 650,000 globally per year (2017 collaborative study by CDC and partner health groups).  Yet nobody seems to care.

Even if the death rate for Coronavirus increase as we get more information, it still has a long, long way to go to catch up to the mortality rate of the Flu.

What’s scary about Coronavirus isn’t the virus itself.  It’s the fearmongering by the media that’s bankrupting companies and crashing stock markets that’s truly scary.

Our local Costcos are out of water and rice.  It’s ridiculous.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by nazzy.

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sproket90

“Our local Costcos are out of water and rice. It’s ridiculous.”

Ha ha. At least it’s food and water. In Australia the shelves have been stripped of toilet paper.

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

I agree Nazzy. I’m old and in poor health and I’m not panicking. To be honest, I fear the flu more and get edgy when around children who are coughing and sneezing.

I wish the media would back off some and try and keep things in perspective. While this is a serious health issue if not contained, it’s not there yet. Of course this is from someone who grew up in the pre-vaccine era when measles, chicken pox, mumps, tb, etc. were common.

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Mr. Austin

Hear, hear – I’m always first in the queue for my ‘flu jab. But this Coronavirus brouhaha is a wonderful excuse for a bit of drama, isn’t it? I think we’re all secretly enjoying the excitement.

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Carl

Of course, I do have to add that I’m more likely to have a heart attack because of Coronavirus when I see what’s going on in the stock market – my 401c has tanked (DOW 26,000).

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Myst

[geekdom]

The Johns Hopkins information shows  COVID-19 cases along the coast line and very sparse in central United States. The cases are gradually moving inward central United States.

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• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by geekdom.

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Myst

It isn’t an aggressive stance; it is a stupid stance.

The only way the school needs ‘deep cleaning’ is if there was an infected person there.  If there was an infected person there, then all the stupents and teaplers are quarantineable.  The schools should therefore be closed a minimum of two weeks.

If none of that happened, then they are just faking Do-ing Some-thing, to avoid closing the schools pre-emptively, which is what should happen.  Waiting until after the spreading starts is a mistake everybody seems determined to repeat.

anonymous wrote:

The only way the school needs ‘deep cleaning’ is if there was an infected person there. If there was an infected person there, then all the stupents and teaplers are quarantineable. The schools should therefore be closed a minimum of two weeks.

From what I understand, the virus does not survive long outside of a warm body.  Just closing the school for a certain amount of time should actually be enough without any more cleaning (when the time is over) than they would normally do.

This all seems really overblown.  The media spectacularizes it (as they do), and people end up afraid of the equivalent of being attacked by an escaped lion while ignoring the much more mundane but deadly threats like driving or riding in motor vehicles.  It’s always the unusual ways to die that scare people… the ones that are the actual threats are so common that they’ve just been accepted as normal.

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Wheel_D, Elly, Cybertooth

This is a serious problem, because the virus might not have made those many people sick, yet, but it is propagating both quickly and far afield and what can be the appropriate treatment is not that well understood yet. Also: no vaccine shown to be safe and with a well-understood dosage for the various kinds of people at risk shall be available for a several more months.

But, as far as TV news go, this is a replay of the Ebola scare: when that one was going on, a cousin of mine came from abroad to visit me and we went together to New York for a few days’ vacation. We were having breakfast at a very large and quite nice restaurant where a TV was on, off to one side, showing one of the news channels. There, in huge, thick black letters, one word and an exclamation mark: EBOLA!. So I turned to my cousin and told him as someone who is explaining something remarkable in a serious way: “In this country the news media are very straight in the information they provide the public and always tell people what they need to know without sensationalism; particularly when an alarming situation is developing, they do this and help calm things down.” Then pointed to him the TV. After a few seconds, he caught on, and we had a good laugh.

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Cybertooth

I’m closing this thread.

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