# Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [February 11, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758 "2020-02-11T01:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 147
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2928 "2020-05-03T01:34:24Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Holy crap. Panama had been holding fairly steady at between 150 and 240 new cases per day and looked like it had reached a plateau at least. But today there were 370 new cases, more than 100 more than the previous peak.:smack: > > We’ve been on pretty tight lockdown for over a month, with people allowed to leave their houses only for essential shopping for only two hours a day every other day, and a complete lockdown for everyone on Saturdays and Sundays. I don’t know how these new cases are being transmitted. I’ve read that Panama is an excellent place to retire on the cheap but Mrs. L is having none of it. I was about to point out your success to her but… Going through the canal is still on my bucket list, though. Being a crossroads of the world must pose special concerns. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2929 "2020-05-03T01:47:39Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > The fourth _what_, exactly? The point the author at the link is making is that these three types of places totally dominate the list of the largest such clusters. (And that this suggests a course of action going forward.) Where do hospitals fit in? How are they a fourth? Are there a nontrivial number of such clusters that were caused by a hospital? **57 hospitals where employees have tested positive for COVID-19** [https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/30-hospitals-where-employees-have-tested-positive-for-covid-19.html](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/30-hospitals-where-employees-have-tested-positive-for-covid-19.html) ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2930 "2020-05-03T01:57:09Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > We’ve been on pretty tight lockdown for over a month, with people allowed to leave their houses only for essential shopping for only two hours a day every other day, and a complete lockdown for everyone on Saturdays and Sundays. I don’t know how these new cases are being transmitted. At the grocery store? ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2931 "2020-05-03T01:57:40Z")
Swedens statistics authority reports that the reproduction number of the virus, R, dropped below 1 on the 20th of April and has been declining since. It is currently estimated at 0,85. This hopefully means that they are over the hump. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2932 "2020-05-03T02:00:55Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Tru dat, but is anyone planning to have another big event like that anytime soon? Probably the biggest crowds anyone will see anytime soon will be at the anti-shutdown protests. Well besides Trump election rallies there are also funerals such as: > [@](#): > > **Soon after a revered Hasidic rabbi died of the coronavirus** in Brooklyn on Tuesday, his fellow congregants informed the Police Department of an unexpected decision: Despite the coronavirus restrictions now in place, they would hold a public funeral. > > The local police precinct did not stand in their way, a testament to the Hasidic community’s influence in the Williamsburg neighborhood. By 3:30 p.m., police officers began erecting barricades, expecting a small number of mourners to show up. Loudspeakers were put up to help mourners hear while keeping their distance. > > But by 7:30 p.m., **an estimated 2,500 ultra-Orthodox Jewish men had arrived to mourn Rabbi Chaim Mertz, packing together shoulder-to-shoulder** on the street and on the steps of brownstones, clearly violating social distancing guidelines and turning the funeral into one of the most fraught events of the virus crisis for Mayor Bill de Blasio. > **[2,500 Mourners Jam a Hasidic Funeral, Creating a Flash Point for de Blasio...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/nyregion/coronavirus-jews-hasidic-de-blasio.html)** > > The event showed the challenges that officials have faced in addressing the flouting of social distancing in close-knit ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods. This should lead to more revered rabbis dying of coronavirus–and thus more big funerals. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2933 "2020-05-03T02:05:31Z")
Norways total number of COVID deaths are 211 so far. Meanwhile it has been pointed out that the anti-virus measures seem to have reduced flu deaths by about 1200. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2934 "2020-05-03T02:22:05Z")
A friend in Boulder Colorado said the police showed up at a Home Depot and gave out $500 fines for people not wearing a mask and standing to close. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2935 "2020-05-03T02:39:18Z")
Local high schools will be holding graduation at a drive in. [LINK.](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/495317-kansas-school-district-planning-graduation-ceremony-at-drive-in) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2936 "2020-05-03T04:12:14Z")
3,484,176 total cases 244,778 dead 1,121,539 recovered In the US: 1,160,774 total cases 67,444 dead 173,725 recovered Yesterday’s numbers for comparison: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 3,401,318 total cases > 239,614 dead > 1,081,705 recovered > > In the US: > > 1,131,452 total cases > 65,776 dead > 161,563 recovered ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2937 "2020-05-03T05:10:43Z")
Eighteen [Carnival Cruise ships](https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/photos-carnival-deploys-nine-ships-to-repatriate-crewmembers) are swarming off the Bahamas. They will transfer crew members from one ship to another putting all of one nationality or another on each of nine ships. These ships will then sail the crewmen home. I find it very sad that this needs to be done. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2938 "2020-05-03T05:46:42Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > At the grocery store? I doubt that accounts for most of it. One of the local groceries requires masks, and is being very careful, taking temperatures of anyone going in, etc. Another doesn’t, but it’s not that crowded. It seems that the police have been giving out tickets to an average of 600 people per day to quarantine violators. Panamanians have a reputation for the “juega vivo,” that is, always being on the alert to take advantage of any situation, and disregarding legality. So I think in places without a strong police presence people may not be following the restrictions closely. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2939 "2020-05-03T06:00:38Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > About two weeks from now, they will be forcibly brought back to mind. Expect this in early-opening locales. Sudden spikes in infections and deaths. Further economic downturns. Much horrible news. Will the [expletives deleted] leaders ordering such insanity say, “Oops, my bad” ?? Ha. No, they’ll only reinforce their security details. No budget for tests; much budget for reliable guards. Unmasked liberty-lovers not keeping distance show they don’t care if others live or die. ISTR a truism: Stupidity is a capital offence, self-executed. Thus IQ tests will need to be re-calibrated as dolts die off. That’s about the only positive I see. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2940 "2020-05-03T10:51:13Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > **57 hospitals where employees have tested positive for COVID-19** > > [57 hospitals where employees have tested positive for COVID-19](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/30-hospitals-where-employees-have-tested-positive-for-covid-19.html) The subject is sites of **large clusters** of new COVID-19 cases, not places where at least one person has tested positive. Now if you had **one** hospital where **57** people had gotten infected with the virus (not counting those who were brought in because they already had it, obviously), we’d at least be talking about the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2941 "2020-05-03T12:04:33Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Well besides Trump election rallies there are also funerals such as: > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/nyregion/coronavirus-jews-hasidic-de-blasio.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/nyregion/coronavirus-jews-hasidic-de-blasio.html) > > This should lead to more revered rabbis dying of coronavirus–and thus more big funerals. Good grief. :smack: But there aren’t a lot of “revered rabbis”, that was probably the funeral of the head rabbi of that community. He will probably be replaced with one new revered rabbi. Hopefully, it will be someone who tells his community to be more careful. Seems unlikely, but one can hope. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2942 "2020-05-03T18:36:46Z")
The mayor of Stillwater, Oklahoma had to rescind his mask order after store employees trying to enforce the order got verbally assaulted and one had a gun pulled. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2943 "2020-05-03T19:30:44Z")
Today in Austria: [ul] [li] Vienna International Airport is now offering **coronavirus screening tests for incoming passengers** for €190. Current pandemic control measures require incoming travellers to self-quarantine for 14 days unless they are in possession of a negative test result, no older than four days.[/li] [li] The **reproduction number** in Vienna is currently 0.9, and Vienna and Salzburg were the only states to report an increase in active cases today. The interior minister has expressed concern about this development, though the health ministry’s coronavirus task force reportedly sees no cause for alarm. They say that as long as the reproduction number remains under 1, there is no need to adjust the control measures, and in any case the reproduction number needs to be considered in light of the absolute number of daily new infections. (As of earlier this afternoon, Vienna had reported an increase of only 25 cases, and Salzburg just 2.)[/li] [li] Current statistics: 15,527 confirmed infections, 598 deaths, 13,228 recovered.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2944 "2020-05-03T19:32:40Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The mayor of Stillwater, Oklahoma had to rescind his mask order after store employees trying to enforce the order got verbally assaulted and one had a gun pulled. Time for the police to do their job. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2945 "2020-05-03T22:15:51Z")
I witnessed this when walking up to Menards on Friday when they instituted a mask policy, the employee at the front was getting verbally abused, as well as verbal confrontations between the people being turned away and those with masks standing in line. I shrugged and just went to Home Depot rather than do the same to a low wage policy has no control over the policy. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2946 "2020-05-03T22:32:52Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > I witnessed this when walking up to Menards on Friday when they instituted a mask policy, the employee at the front was getting verbally abused, as well as verbal confrontations between the people being turned away and those with masks standing in line. I shrugged and just went to Home Depot rather than do the same to a low wage policy has no control over the policy. ?? Did you leave because you didn’t have a face covering ?? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2947 "2020-05-03T22:34:23Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Expect this in early-opening locales. Sudden spikes in infections and deaths. Further economic downturns. Much horrible news. Will the [expletives deleted] leaders ordering such insanity say, “Oops, my bad” ?? Ha. No, they’ll only reinforce their security details. No budget for tests; much budget for reliable guards. > > Unmasked liberty-lovers not keeping distance show they don’t care if others live or die. ISTR a truism: Stupidity is a capital offence, self-executed. Thus IQ tests will need to be re-calibrated as dolts die off. That’s about the only positive I see. I agree in general, though there may not be as much need to re-calibrate IQ measures, given that the dolts will be infecting many smart people (doctors et al)–and possibly killing them. So, quite unfairly of course, it may all even out in the end. Mores the pity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=146) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=148)