# Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758>\
**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:** 68

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 23, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1343 "2020-03-23T18:07:20Z")

</div>

> [@dtilque](#):
>
> Note that they may reset their day at 5pm PDT, but they leave the numbers up from the previous day for a few hours after that time. It’s usually somewhere around 8 or 9pm PDT that the webpage gets reset. I’m going to guess that they’re still getting reports about the previous day during those few hours.

It’s not that they “leave the numbers up from the previous day for a few hours” as much as it’s “don’t get new numbers to add to those because it’s frikkin’ midnight”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1344 "2020-03-23T18:46:40Z")

</div>

Spain is removing respirators from people over 65 to give to younger people.

> <https://twitter.com/WellingMichael/status/1241491706677284870>

This is heartbreaking.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1345 "2020-03-23T18:54:09Z")

</div>

> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> The US rate is the rate of testing, not the rate of spread. We’re still catching up.

Deaths OTOH are real. Looking day to day is noise, don’t believe two to three days flat OR one day tripled. But doubling the daily death number is real.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1346 "2020-03-23T18:56:23Z")

</div>

Kansas City just went into martial law or I guess they call it lock down/stay at home order.

Starting tomorrow if you are caught out they might ticket you if you dont have a valid excuse. Also Home Depot had several police at it and if you go there, you must have a BUSINESS reason. Not personal one. Or they might not let you in.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 23, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1347 "2020-03-23T19:18:10Z")

</div>

This morning’s email:

> [@](#):
>
> Whatcom County Health Department Identifies 29 Additional Cases of COVID-19 at  
> Shuksan Healthcare Center see below
> 
> BELLINGHAM, WA – Today the Whatcom County Health Department (WCHD) has identified 29 additional confirmed cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in an outbreak among residents and staff associated with Shuksan Healthcare Center. Twenty-three (23) of these cases are residents and six are staff associated with the facility.
> 
> The WCHD recently learned that the second COVID-related death in Whatcom County, announced on March 21, is also associated with this outbreak. The individual, a man in his 80s, was discharged from Shuksan Healthcare Facility on March 10. He developed symptoms after being discharged, was later tested, and the results of the test were confirmed as positive on March 21, the day following his death.
> 
> “The Whatcom County Health Department recognizes the significance and impact of this situation. We are working with Shuksan Healthcare Center to do everything possible for all patients, their families and staff,” said Mark Raaka, WCHD Emergency Preparedness Specialist also serving as Incident Commander under Whatcom Unified Command.
> 
> The cases announced today are in addition to three cases confirmed by the health department on March 21, bringing the total number of current cases associated with Shuksan Healthcare Center to 32. Of the total number of confirmed cases at Shuksan Healthcare Center, 26 are residents and six are staff. All residents continue to be cared for at the facility.
> 
> A total of nine residents and one staff person associated with the facility have tested negative for COVID-19. Results for two residents are still pending.
> 
> As of 6:00 p.m. today, the total number of cases in Whatcom County is now 48.
> 
> In response to the outbreak at Shuksan Healthcare Center, Whatcom Unified Command is actively pursuing several options to provide additional capacity for direct patient care and monitoring. PeaceHealth will be supporting Shuksan Healthcare Center by providing for all residents’ dietary needs. Additionally, PeaceHealth is actively working through Whatcom Unified Command to coordinate with the facility to provide timely care for any residents should they require hospitalization.
> 
> All Shuksan Healthcare Center nursing staff and other contracted medical staff who showed symptoms of respiratory illness were excluded from work starting March 21. Healthcare workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 will be excluded from work at any healthcare facility until: at least 72 hours have passed since their fever has ended and symptoms of cough and shortness of breath have resolved; and until at least seven days since the onset of their symptoms.
> 
> Disease investigators from the Health Department are in the process of identifying and informing all close contacts of the confirmed cases. During a contact investigation, public health officials talk with individuals who have a lab-confirmed case about where they were during their infectious period and with whom they may have had contact for more than 10 minutes in a space of less than six feet. Investigators then reach out to each person who was in close contact to let them know of their potential exposure to the disease and give them instructions about how to prevent infecting others.
> 
> Visitors to long term care facilities, such as Shuksan Healthcare Center, are prohibited by proclamation of the Governor.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1348 "2020-03-23T19:22:05Z")

</div>

> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#):
>
> Spain is removing respirators from people over 65 to give to younger people.
> 
> [https://twitter.com/WellingMichael/status/1241491706677284870](https://twitter.com/WellingMichael/status/1241491706677284870)
> 
> This is heartbreaking.

Dear. God. ☹

> [@Urbanredneck](#):
>
> Kansas City just went into martial law or I guess they call it lock down/stay at home order.
> 
> Starting tomorrow if you are caught out they might ticket you if you dont have a valid excuse. Also Home Depot had several police at it and if you go there, you must have a BUSINESS reason. Not personal one. Or they might not let you in.

If you’re retired, what constitutes a business reason? All my reasons and everything else these days are personal. 😕

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 23, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1349 "2020-03-23T19:27:27Z")

</div>

[AP photo article about health care workers](https://apnews.com/be207a20089d34a7eedbe06e65b7ba52).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1350 "2020-03-23T19:27:46Z")

</div>

> [@Urbanredneck](#):
>
> Kansas City just went into martial law or I guess they call it lock down/stay at home order.
> 
> Starting tomorrow if you are caught out they might ticket you if you dont have a valid excuse. Also Home Depot had several police at it and if you go there, you must have a BUSINESS reason. Not personal one. Or they might not let you in.

[From here.](https://www.kansascity.com/news/coronavirus/article241400106.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Trips to essential businesses such as grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware stores, doctors’ offices, dry cleaners, laundromats, banks, and restaurants will be permitted.
> 
> Essential businesses will also include hospitals, and organizations that provide food, shelter and social services to the homeless and impoverished.
> 
> Employees can report to work, as can those providing care for their children. They can only serve 10 children at a time, according to the order.
> 
> Parks will remain open and residents can go outside so long as they adhere to social distancing, which means staying six feet away from others, avoiding handshakes and covering coughs and sneezes.

Most lenient martial law ever.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1351 "2020-03-23T19:29:27Z")

</div>

> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Dear. God. ☹
> 
> If you’re retired, what constitutes a business reason? All my reasons and everything else these days are personal. 😕

[https://www.kcmo.gov/home/showdocument?id=4065](https://www.kcmo.gov/home/showdocument?id=4065)

You’ll be fine. Section 3.A.1.iii:

> [@](#):
>
> To obtain necessary services or supplies for themselves and their family or household members, or close personal acquaintances, or to deliver those services or supplies to others, such as, by way of example only and without limitation, canned food, dry goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, pet supply, fresh meats, fish, and poultry, and any other household consumer products, and products necessary to maintain the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences;

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 23, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1352 "2020-03-23T19:35:49Z")

</div>

Oregon is locked down similarly. You can go out to walk if you distance, go to the grocery, etc. The governor asked people to distance themselves if they went out; people flocked to the coast; coastal communities raised alarms that their harder-to-get supplies were being wiped out and their more elderly communities put at risk; the governor changed her request to an order. I’ve just wiped down the house after the furnace maintenance guys left. I can’t say enough good about maybe not having to go out or have anyone in for a few weeks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 23, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1353 "2020-03-23T20:04:09Z")

</div>

There’s been some news lately of vacant University dormitories being converted to hospital/hospice facilities along with hotels, school gymnasiums, etc.

[Russia has decided, impart, to follow China’s lead and is using 5,000 workers to build at least one new 500 bed hospital from scratch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONAywF9jCeM) (1:19 video).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1354 "2020-03-23T20:05:16Z")

</div>

Indiana has a stay at home order now, effective 11 pm tomorrow.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1355 "2020-03-23T20:43:11Z")

</div>

> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> As I’ve posted multiple times, I post numbers from World O Meter.

I’m sure you have. But remember that this thread is over 1300 posts long. I got the numbers of deaths from your 9pm PDT posts going back to March 10, and I didn’t see a link on any one of them.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1356 "2020-03-23T20:49:31Z")

</div>

Nobody else seems to have posted it, so I will: the UK is now locked down.

[Details here](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-52000039).

j

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1357 "2020-03-23T20:56:26Z")

</div>

Missed the edit: there is a fine discrimination in the small text:

> [@](#):
>
> This is not a lockdown, but it’s as close as you can get to one without it being called a lockdown.

:dubious:

j

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1358 "2020-03-23T20:57:31Z")

</div>

> [@DSeid](#):
>
> Deaths OTOH are real. Looking day to day is noise, don’t believe two to three days flat OR one day tripled. But doubling the daily death number is real.

This.

Expanding a bit on what you said, deaths are real. Hospitalizations would be real too, but we don’t have any good numbers on those. But given the paucity of testing, the count of confirmed cases is really only a floor for the true number of cases, and there’s no reliable ratio that can be formed using that count.

And as you also said, day to day is noise. Small numbers like that, whatever they might represent, tend to bounce around like a major-league knuckleball. You’ve got to look at the trend. In cases like this, taking the average of several consecutive time periods (days, in this case) and observing the trend of that average, is more informative than the individual numbers.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 23, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1359 "2020-03-23T20:59:28Z")

</div>

> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> I’m sure you have. But remember that this thread is over 1300 posts long. I got the numbers of deaths from your 9pm PDT posts going back to March 10, and I didn’t see a link on any one of them.

Ya know, when I re-read that post a couple of hours later, I said to myself “ouch; that sounds unnecessarily snarky”; I apologize for that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1360 "2020-03-23T21:02:13Z")

</div>

> [@JohnT](#):
>
> IOC member Dick Pound…

Well that’s an unfortunate name. Golly.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1361 "2020-03-23T21:06:59Z")

</div>

Dick Pound: Mine is an unfortunate name. I hope nobody one ups me on that.

Dick Trickle: [Hold my beer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Trickle).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 23, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1362 "2020-03-23T21:12:05Z")

</div>

[Mormons do something stupid](https://apnews.com/14fc5e1316fb7c74daeb7043f367c19f)

> [@](#):
>
> U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney and Utah state leaders on Monday criticized as irresponsible a weekend gathering of hundreds of people at a Salt Lake City airport parking garage to welcome home 900 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints missionaries returning from the Philippines.
> 
> The people who showed up Sunday evening, some hugging arriving loved ones, should have heeded warnings to keep their distance to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, said Romney, Utah’s governor and lieutenant governor and the church itself.

There’s pics so we know it happened.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=67)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=69)
