# 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:** 78
**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 26, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1543 "2020-03-26T21:51:58Z")
[Remember the Grand Princess that finally docked 9 March in Oakland?](https://apnews.com/301c8b17ed5e11916a89e3b6893544e2) > [@](#): > > Two men who traveled on a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship stalled for days off the California coast have died, federal officials said Thursday, and they confirmed that fewer than half the ship’s passengers were tested for the virus despite assurances that everyone would be tested. > > The men, both in their early 60s, were on the Grand Princess sailing from San Francisco to Hawaii on Feb. 21 and died from the coronavirus, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. > > One of the men was transported directly from the ship to a hospital when it docked March 9 in Oakland in the east San Francisco Bay. It had idled for several days off the California coast. The other man was among hundreds taken to Travis Air Force Base in Northern California for a 14-day isolation. He was immediately taken to a hospital after developing symptoms, said Bert Kelly, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. > > One man died Saturday and the other Monday, Kelly said. > > There is still no accurate accounting of how many of the 3,500 passengers and crew from 54 countries were infected with COVID-19 after a Northern California man on a previous sailing returned home and died of the virus, sparking the investigation. > > Despite assurances from Vice President Mike Pence and California Gov. Gavin Newsom that everyone aboard the ship would be tested after the ship docked, only 1,100 passengers of about 2,400 have been tested, Kelly said. Many of the others declined testing after waiting numerous days in isolation. Kelly said of those tested, 103 have tested positive and 699 were negative. More results are pending. 17 days have gone by and not everyone has been tested yet. And of the ones who did get tested, many are still awaiting results. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1544 "2020-03-26T22:11:10Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [China](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china/) (scroll down a bit to the first graph: Total Coronavirus Cases in China) > > [United States](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/) (same thing; just scroll down a bit) > > China went over 1,000 confirmed infections on 24 January and hit 80,000 on 1 March, 35 days later. > > The US went over 1,000 confirmed infections on 11 March and hit 80,000 on 26 March, 15 days later. Thanks - yeah, I knew I could look at individual graphs. It would be very eye-opening to see them overlaid on top of each other so we could see the curves; so far the only ones I see are by actual date, not number of days since first infection. We really are overachievers ☹ I’m actually playing around on a site called data.world which has sets of statistics by country, day, and even geographic info. You can try doing SQL on the file though I’m running into some challenges there; also, the subset of data today is different from last night (e.g today it’s all from Johns Hopkins, and I forget where yesterday’s was). I’m actually doing this as a work-related learning exercise in statistics. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1545 "2020-03-26T23:00:31Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > No. > > Current standard already is to consider safe to return once 72 hours of fever-free and symptoms consistently improving. I don’t know exactly what data that recommendation has been based off of. Nevertheless for other viral infections it is established that some low level viral shedding long outlasts the period of meaningful contagiousness. The standard for influenza in comparison is safe to return after 24 hours of fever-free even though it is documented that _some_ viral shedding can last for up to ten days. For people who have _had no symptoms_ – those who would be found only by an anti-body test – there is no way the antibody test can tell if they _still have no symptoms_ or are recovered. One of my wife’s colleagues, a medical doctor, has been both positive and symptom-free for 3 tests over 10 days. He has been tested while symptom-free because of a known contact with the virus. However, one possibility is that he is symptom free because he is anti-body free. This is an interesting question that will only be answered when anti-body tests become available. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1546 "2020-03-26T23:45:06Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Only because Russia is being extremely cagey about numbers. Russia reports at lest four (4) people have died … :eek: Come on man you think they lie? :smack: Me too 😃 ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1547 "2020-03-26T23:59:00Z")
I’m more interested in the fact that Spain had more deaths than Italy today. Why are people not paying more attention to Spain? ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1548 "2020-03-27T00:07:01Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > I’m more interested in the fact that Spain had more deaths than Italy today. Why are people not paying more attention to Spain? Who isn’t? I think the reason Italy was so in the spotlight was that it was the first western country to experience that exponential growth in cases and deaths. Now we know that there will be many more, and no one will be all that surprised if the US blows past Spain0s daily totals in a few days. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1549 "2020-03-27T00:49:58Z")
At least 25 crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive, and the entire 5000 member crew is being tested. The ship is docked in Guam for now. > **[Rapid increase in coronavirus cases aboard US aircraft carrier | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/26/politics/coronavirus-cases-us-aircraft-carrier/index.html)** > > There are now 25 sailors who have tested positive for the coronavirus aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, just two days after the Pentagon announced that three sailors aboard the ship had tested positive for the virus, a Navy official... ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1550 "2020-03-27T01:33:08Z")
The widespread obsession, here and in the media in general, with total numbers of cases and deaths, puzzles me. Why is there so much discussion of totals by country, yet only sporadic mentions of numbers of cases per country _per capita_? There is so much hand-wringing over which country is ahead in total numbers. Italy for the win! Wait, Spain ahead by a length now! United States coming from behind, may take the lead next week! It sounds like a day at the horse races. Why is there so little emphasis on the numbers per capita? The Unites States is a big country. Seen that way, we’re nowhere near Italy or Spain in the numbers. Same remark applies to the numbers being tested. We may have tested more than South Korea by now, but does that mean we’re ahead of South Korea in testing? ---
**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 27, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1551 "2020-03-27T01:35:39Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > There is so much hand-wringing over which country is ahead in total numbers. Italy for the win! Wait, Spain ahead by a length now! United States coming from behind, may take the lead next week! It sounds like a day at the horse races. [gallows humor](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gallows%20humor): humor that makes fun of a life-threatening, disastrous, or terrifying situation ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1552 "2020-03-27T01:37:24Z")
Seen on TV last night (March 25), but I haven’t seen it in this thread yet. (Maybe I missed it?) Diana Koelliker, a medical officer in San Miguel County, Colorado, says the county will begin testing of county residents _en masse_ for antibodies. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1553 "2020-03-27T01:47:14Z")
China closes its borders to foreign Chinese. People start worrying about the coronavirus impact on poorer countries. > **[The coronavirus could devastate poor countries](https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/03/26/the-coronavirus-could-devastate-poor-countries)** > > It is in the rich world’s self-interest to help ---
**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 27, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1554 "2020-03-27T01:58:15Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > For people who have _had no symptoms_ – those who would be found only by an anti-body test – there is no way the antibody test can tell if they _still have no symptoms_ or are recovered. … There is of course little data at all on asymptomatic infections. How contagious they are (or not) let alone for how long. The best guess so far is from a _Science_ article that estimated undocumented infections in China (which included asymptomatic and some number of mild infections) had likely been about 55% as infectious as infections bad enough to get documented. But for how long? Likely less long that symptomatic infections one would think, so likely by the time the antibodies are detected past the point? No one yet knows. Meanwhile I found [this 3/18 preprint article](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.18.20038018v1.full.pdf+html) that might be of interest. First the timing of the antibody response in symptomatic infections: > [@](#): > > The positive rate for IgG reached 100% around 20 days after symptoms onset. > The median day of seroconversion for both lgG and IgM was 13 days after symptoms > onset. Seroconversion of IgM occurred at the same time, or earlier, or later than that > of IgG Next they looked at identifying asymptomatic infections in a cohort of 164 close contacts of a couple with COVID19. Of the 164 close contacts 16 infections were identified by RT-PCR, 3 of whom were asymptomatic (13 symptomatic). All 16 were also identified by the antibody test, which also identified another 7 asymptomatic cases. Total symptomatic (not mentioned how symptomatic) 13; total asymptomatic 10 (most missed by RT-PCR alone). Better to do relatively large scale sampling in China or South Korea where they are past the (initial) peak than in NYC where the case number is still in the rapid rise phase. But this suggests that nearly half of all infections are _completely asymptomatic_, in addition to whatever number is mild enough as to not come to anyone’s attention or get labeled. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1555 "2020-03-27T02:33:02Z")
The much faster increase in the rate of infections in the US compared to China is that the US had presumably many places that the infection was brought into. China had only one point of origin, the US had tons. I agree that per capita numbers are probably better to focus on, but with so little that is known about asymptomatic people, the only numbers you can really look at are deaths, and those will also be skewed by longevity profiles of each country. ---
**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 27, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1556 "2020-03-27T02:51:35Z")
[I don’t think this was a good idea at all](https://apnews.com/45fdad55aaa3bccde3d09939c631c208): > [@](#): > > The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday abruptly waived enforcement on a range of legally mandated public health and environmental protections, saying industries could have trouble complying with them during the coronavirus pandemic. > > The oil and gas industry were among the industries that had sought an advance relaxation of environmental and public health enforcement during the outbreak, citing potential staffing problems. The EPA’s decision was sweeping, forgoing fines or other civil penalties for companies that failed to monitor, report or meet some other requirements for releasing hazardous pollutants. ETA: > [@](#): > > In a statement, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the open-ended waiver was temporary and retroactive to March 13. ---
**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 27, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1557 "2020-03-27T03:59:02Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Seen on TV last night (March 25), but I haven’t seen it in this thread yet. (Maybe I missed it?) > > Diana Koelliker, a medical officer in San Miguel County, Colorado, says the county will begin testing of county residents _en masse_ for antibodies. Does the antibody test require a blood draw? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1558 "2020-03-27T04:15:44Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > China closes its borders to foreign Chinese. > > People start worrying about the coronavirus impact on poorer countries. > [The coronavirus could devastate poor countries](https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/03/26/covid-19-could-devastate-poor-countries) I already posted the PRC MOFA’s announcement in this thread ([Post #1518](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22212139&postcount=1518)). The announcement did not distinguish between foreign citizens and those foreigners who are of Chinese ethnicity. ---
**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 27, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1559 "2020-03-27T04:23:37Z")
532,237 confirmed infections 24,089 dead 124,331 recovered In the US: 85,594 confirmed infections 1,300 dead 1,868 recovered Yesterday’s numbers for comparison: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 471,311 confirmed infections > 21,293 dead > 114,642 recovered > > In the US: > > 68,367 confirmed infections > 1,031 dead > 394 recovered The US now has the most confirmed infections of any nation on the planet, as well as the most active cases. USA! USA! It is now highly likely that worldwide infections will top 600k by this time tomorrow. It took 87 days to get to 500k. ---
**Author:** ![Harrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac8455/32.png) [@Harrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harrington)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1560 "2020-03-27T04:28:06Z")
We just have to be the best at everything. ---
**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 27, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1561 "2020-03-27T04:29:12Z")
#1! With a bullet, baby! ---
**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:** [March 27, 2020, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1562 "2020-03-27T04:30:41Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Does the antibody test require a blood draw? Yes and no. It requires blood, but at least some of the antibody tests that are being, um, tested, can be done with a drop of blood from a finger prick. Also, they can be done in 45 minutes, not the hours it takes to transcribe the viral RNA from a throat swab. (I no longer have the reference handy, but I googled a day or two ago and found a couple of companies that have not-yet-approved antibody tests already, along with details of how they work.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=77) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=79)