# 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:** 58
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1142 "2020-03-19T15:08:50Z")
> [@Weedy](#): > > A question for people in places where schools have closed, have the day-care centres closed too? Not here in St. Louis, MO. But I am keeping my day-care age child home since my older one has to be home anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1143 "2020-03-19T15:26:12Z")
[Some Blood Types May Be Slightly More Susceptible to COVID-19](https://www.sciencealert.com/paper-suggests-certain-blood-types-might-be-slightly-more-susceptible-to-covid-19) > [@](#): > > “Meta-analyses on the pooled data showed that blood group A had a significantly higher risk for COVID-19 compared with non-A blood groups,” the researchers write in their paper. > > “Whereas blood group O had a significantly lower risk for the infectious disease compared with non-O blood groups.” ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1144 "2020-03-19T15:45:43Z")
The low numbers of new infections in China would seem to indicate a much higher infection and recovery rate than shown. Hard to believe they could lock a country down that tight. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1145 "2020-03-19T18:03:03Z")
Italy’s deaths have now overtaken China’s deaths ☹ …another 427 today. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1146 "2020-03-19T18:08:43Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Italy’s deaths have now overtaken China’s deaths ☹ > > …another 427 today. But not in the real world, where China’s numbers were obviously a fraction of the reality. As are Iran’s. Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1147 "2020-03-19T18:16:51Z")
Hope you are mistaken, but I fear you’re probably right about Iran and maybe right about China. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1148 "2020-03-19T18:24:37Z")
> [@Weedy](#): > > A question for people in places where schools have closed, have the day-care centres closed too? Here in the Bay Area, day-care centers are allowed to remain open, but there are strict rules. As far as I remember: 1. No more than 12 children in a group together. 2. The same set of children must be in the group for the entire period. In other words, nobody can join the group after it forms. 3. The group must not associate with any other groups of children. Many day care centers are closing because they can’t or don’t want to follow these rules. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1149 "2020-03-19T18:28:01Z")
Latest news from Austria: [ul] [li] The final regular Austrian Airlines flight landed today, coming in from Chicago. The fleet will now remain grounded.[/li] [li] Yesterday Hungary opened its border with Austria for a few hours for Romanians and Bulgarians to travel home, resulting in highway backups of 50 km. Not everyone was able to cross in time, so Hungary is planning on briefly opening the borders a second time. But again, only Romanians and Bulgarians will be permitted to cross. There are still lots of Serbians stranded in Austria, but Serbia has completely sealed its border with Hungary; not even citizens are allowed to re-enter. So Serbians in Austria must stay in Austria for the time being.[/li] [li] By this afternoon, 186 people in Vienna had been cited or arrested for breaching the nationwide home quarantine rules. The federal health minister claims that overall cooperation with the rules is “excellent”, with an estimated 95% of the population strictly adhering to them. However, the number of citations in Vienna has subsequently almost doubled to 323 this evening.[/li] [li] The federal government has said that parks and playgrounds can reopen with the proviso that all users stay at least one metre apart from each other. This move has been criticized by the leader of the largest opposition party, who says that expecting children to adhere to this restriction is unreasonable. She argues for closing the playgrounds completely. In the absence of any firm guidance from the federal government, some cities and states, including Vienna and Innsbruck, have taken it upon themselves to keep their own playgrounds closed.[/li] [li]The Austrian Red Cross has released [a music video promoting hand-washing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa35TIWZY4w) and a coronavirus app that can help you track their daily contacts and alert them in case you come down with the coronavirus.[/li] [li]Innsbruck is setting up automated testing stations for use in clinics. They’re expected to become operational next week.[/li] [li]Supermarket shopping has long since gone back to normal. No signs of panic buying, and even disinfectants are back on the shelves today. I haven’t tried buying masks, though I see some pharmacies and drug stores have removed their “Sorry, we’re sold out of masks” signs. This is a stark contrast with photos my friends in the UK have been sharing, which show entire aisles of supermarket shelves almost completely empty.[/li] [li] Some supermarkets have started allowing their cashiers to accept tips.[/li] [li] So far the federal government says there is no serious health care crisis; there are still plenty of hospital beds and enough health care workers (even though, in Vienna, 203 of these workers are having to self-quarantine after testing positive for the virus or coming into contact with the infected). Hopefully we won’t see the complete breakdown of the health care system that is happening now in Italy.[/li] [li] There has been concerns about an increase in domestic violence sparked by the requirement that everyone—even couples in unhappy or abusive relationships—remain at home together. The government is trying to shore up its services for victims of domestic violence, including hotlines and women’s shelters.[/li] [li]Latest statistics: 2013 infected, 6 dead, 9 recovered. The curve finally appears to be flattening—today’s daily increase in infected was 22.3%, compared to 40% on this day last week. But since Sunday night, 74,400 people have registered as unemployed.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1150 "2020-03-19T19:07:09Z")
Thanks! I appreciate reading local and international posts. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1151 "2020-03-19T19:15:16Z")
This [Daily Kos](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/18/1928623/-Reports-reveal-what-officials-are-being-told-about-COVID-19-and-it-s-not-what-they-are-telling-us?fbclid=IwAR1QSp9305oasa4QAvZa_esZhIFEEZdwjJ5AOO9xFV1eEKpd96D9bJpwlxI) article is very sobering. It’s basically about reports that governments aren’t sharing with people. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1152 "2020-03-19T19:31:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Innsbruck is setting up automated testing stations for use in clinics. They’re expected to become operational next week. What are these? Does this mean a robot will stick a swab into your nasal cavities? Or have they found some non-invasive way to test for the disease? ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1153 "2020-03-19T19:55:38Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Hope you are mistaken, but I fear you’re probably right about Iran and maybe right about China. I’ve seen no claim from Iran that they have a real handle on this at all. So with all due concern for human suffering there it doesn’t seem that relevant to the battle in countries which have anything much on the ball in trying to fight it. Which China would seem to. So it’s pretty important if we literally believe their reports of as little as zero new ‘domestic’ cases in a day, we think that’s subject to asymptomatic cases under radar like all other case numbers to some degree, or we think there is some much higher known number they are covering up. But I’m wary of approaches which completely assume away what China is reporting and replace it with astronomically higher numbers that are also purely assumed. Or maybe ‘according to models’. Problem I referred to in another thread. S. Korea’s govt is reasonably credible. They say they are down to \<100 new cases per day adding to some 1,000’s cumulatively in a country of ~50mil. That doesn’t seem headed for ‘30-70% will get it’ in other than a quite long time frame, with some big reversal from the current trend. It’s just not clear, seems to me, that you can’t slow this to a crawl at a small % of the population affected. The places where that seems to have happened could be different in various ways than whatever country we might care more about, or the world as a whole. And govt’s might lie. But if you have to just assume the real situation in China say is totally different than what they report, you have to realize you’re speculating and can only put very limited weight on whatever conclusion you reach. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1154 "2020-03-19T19:58:32Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > What are these? > > Does this mean a robot will stick a swab into your nasal cavities? Or have they found some non-invasive way to test for the disease? There aren’t many details yet that I can find. Here’s the relevant live-blog from _Der Standard_: > [@](#): > > **Automatisierte Corona-Tests** > > In Innsbruck sind automatisierte Corona-Tests derzeit in Planung. Die dafür notwendige Maschine ist laut Auskunft der Tirol-Kliniken schon bei der Firma Roche bestellt. Damit könnten dann pro Tag wesentlich mehr Testergebnisse geliefert werden. Wie lange die Lieferung brauche, könne nicht genau gesagt werden. Von mit der Sache vertrautem medizinischem Personal hört der STANDARD, dass aktuell Grenzkontrollen, Exportstopps für medizinische Produkte und die riesige Nachfrage aus unterschiedlichen Ländern zu einer Situation führe, in der die Hersteller auf eine Angabe des Lieferdatums verzichten. > > Bei den Tirol Kliniken rechne man derzeit damit, dass automatisierte Tests nächste Woche in Betrieb gehen können. Auch ein privater Arzt in Tirol würde über ein solches Gerät schon jetzt verfügen, dieses muss noch der Qualitätskontrolle unterzogen werden, sagt ein Sprecher der Tirol Kliniken zum STANDARD. Basically, it says that Tirol Kliniken, the operator of all state hospitals in Tyrol, has ordered an automatic testing apparatus from Roche (a Swiss pharmaceutical company) but that delivery is being held up by export freezes on medical technology. It also says that doctors with their own practices could avail themselves of such machines. My guess is that the testing isn’t _fully_ automatic from the patient’s point of view—a doctor or other health care worker still has to take the swab and prepare it for the machine. But from that point the machine takes over. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1155 "2020-03-19T21:23:01Z")
The US is now only second to Italy in new cases today, with over 4000 so far. In other news, worldwide deaths have now crossed 10,000 with no signs of slowing. ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1156 "2020-03-19T22:05:01Z")
It’s officially in my area, as of today. Good grief… [https://www.wthitv.com/content/news/Vigo-County-has-first-confirmed-case-of-COVID-19-568940901.html](https://www.wthitv.com/content/news/Vigo-County-has-first-confirmed-case-of-COVID-19-568940901.html) ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1157 "2020-03-19T22:07:41Z")
The US is now only second to Italy in new cases today, with over 4000 so far. In other news, worldwide deaths have now crossed 10,000 with no signs of slowing. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1158 "2020-03-19T22:43:09Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > There aren’t many details yet that I can find. Here’s the relevant live-blog from _Der Standard_: > > Basically, it says that Tirol Kliniken, the operator of all state hospitals in Tyrol, has ordered an automatic testing apparatus from Roche (a Swiss pharmaceutical company) but that delivery is being held up by export freezes on medical technology. It also says that doctors with their own practices could avail themselves of such machines. > > My guess is that the testing isn’t _fully_ automatic from the patient’s point of view—a doctor or other health care worker still has to take the swab and prepare it for the machine. But from that point the machine takes over. Aye; that’s it in a nutshell. I saw a piece on this the other night; [here’s something directly from Roche](https://www.roche.com/media/releases/med-cor-2020-03-13.htm). > [@](#): > > Hospitals and reference laboratories can run the test on Roche’s fully automated cobas® 6800 and cobas® 8800 Systems, which are widely available in the U.S. and around the world. > [@](#): > > The widely available Roche’s cobas 6800/8800 Systems, which are used to perform the cobas SARS-CoV-2 Test, provide test results in three and half hours and offer improved operating efficiency, flexibility, and fastest time-to-results with the highest throughput providing up to 96 results in about three hours and a total of 384 results for the cobas 6800 System and 960 results for the cobas 8800 System in 8 hours. The test can be run simultaneously with other assays provided by Roche for use on the cobas 6800/8800 Systems. Prior to this most or all of the work had to be done by hand, one test at a time. IIRC the processing time was also much, much longer. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1159 "2020-03-19T23:22:17Z")
Is it just me or is the World O Meters site not responding for anyone? I don’t even get an error; the page just hangs there trying to load. ETA: The whole site, I mean; not just the COVID-19 page. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1160 "2020-03-20T01:49:04Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Is it just me or is the World O Meters site not responding for anyone? I don’t even get an error; the page just hangs there trying to load. > > ETA: The whole site, I mean; not just the COVID-19 page. Loaded for me (COVID-19 page), but you asked a couple of hours ago so maybe they cleared something up. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1161 "2020-03-20T01:50:29Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > The US is now only second to Italy in new cases today, with over 4000 so far. In other news, worldwide deaths have now crossed 10,000 with no signs of slowing. And not a very distant 2nd. New cases today: Italy = 5322, US = 5006. At this rate, the US is going to overtake Germany’s total number of cases either tomorrow or the next day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=57) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=59)