# 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:** 82
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1623 "2020-03-28T16:51:14Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’m surprised by VT, I would have expected it to be behind the curve. Maybe it’s too close to NY. Or maybe it’s small and the stats were distorted by a small cluster of deaths. I think both of those things, but especially the small population. Anywhere less than a million people, and the deaths / million don’t compare well to the bigger places. ---
**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 28, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1624 "2020-03-28T16:51:45Z")
A shout out to the grocery store workers who are exposed to crap and enforcing the rules. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1625 "2020-03-28T16:51:59Z")
[QUOTE=Snowboarder Bo;22213380… Yesterday’s numbers for comparison: The US now has the most confirmed infections of any nation on the planet, as well as the most active cases. USA! USA! …[/QUOTE] That is, if you believe China’s reported numbers, which I do not. I think the real numbers in China are ten times higher. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1626 "2020-03-28T16:55:04Z")
powerball lottery lowers payout based on the virus > **[Coronavirus lowers Powerball jackpot, refunds issued to some players with...](https://www.wral.com/coronavirus-lowers-powerball-jackpot-refunds-issued-to-some-players-with-multidraw-tickets/19033141/)** > > The Powerball changes, which were announced on Wednesday, included resetting the starting Powerball jackpot to a guaranteed $20 million dollars, as well as setting the increase between drawings when the jackpot is not won to a minimum of $2 million... ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1627 "2020-03-28T17:52:45Z")
Just had someone tell me that Il Douche is trying to work it out so his name appears on the checks being sent out. Didn’t bother to check for a source, it would be nice if, for once, it weren’t true. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1628 "2020-03-28T17:57:35Z")
most people won’t get checks , they get a direct deposit. But I can see him wanting his name on checks. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1629 "2020-03-28T18:34:09Z")
Since when does Donald Trump enjoy signing checks? (When it’s not his money, obviously). ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1630 "2020-03-28T18:43:23Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > That is, if you believe China’s reported numbers, which I do not. I think the real numbers in China are ten times higher. Although the number of confirmed cases will likely be somewhat higher than the officially announced numbers, I do not think that there will be 10 times more. China has the WHO looking over their shoulder, and it does not seem to me that they would be able to hide too many confirmed cases (that is, cases that have been verified after testing). However, of course, there is the fact that for every certified case epidemiologists consider that there are about 16 that have not been tested. Multiply those numbers (verified cases) by 16 to have an idea of the rough number of infected people in a population. _ **In other news:** _ Spain has ordered **all** companies to close and stop their activity, except for non-essential activities. The closure will originally last from March 30 to April 9, all workers will have to stay home, and the government will pay the salaries of the workers affected by this measure. After the companies reopen, workers will be expected to recover the hours that they did not work between March 30 and April 9, slowly and gradually along the next months (roughly 1 extra hour worked per day, until they cover the hours that they did not work)… ---
**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 28, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1631 "2020-03-28T19:47:35Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Just had someone tell me that Il Douche is trying to work it out so his name appears on the checks being sent out. Didn’t bother to check for a source, it would be nice if, for once, it weren’t true. [Apparently true](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-want-signature-direct-payment-checks-coronavirus-package). This story references a paywalled WSJ story about it. ---
**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 28, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1632 "2020-03-28T20:19:00Z")
Large enough number of infections it was going to happen eventually, but just got report of a child under age 1 who died associated with COVID-19. In Illinois. First death under 10 years old. Kids remain relatively safe, at low risk, and still amazing it’s only one globally so far. But it will be news. And is sad. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1633 "2020-03-28T20:24:39Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Since when does Donald Trump enjoy signing checks? > (When it’s not his money, obviously). Or when he’s signing the back of the check. I noticed he got his name on the flyer they sent out, even though it was really the CDC who wrote it. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1634 "2020-03-28T21:05:48Z")
[New research suggests the coronavirus can damage the heart even in people with no history of heart disease](https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/the-coronavirus-can-damage-the-heart-even-in-people-with-no-history-of-heart-disease-new-research-suggests-showing-it-doesnt-only-affect-the-lungs/articleshow/74855807.cms) ---
**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 28, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1635 "2020-03-28T21:14:51Z")
Today in Austria: [ul] [li] One of the reasons that the number of infections in Tyrol is so high is because its earliest suspected case was never reported to the relevant authorities for fear of scaring off skiers and other tourists. So instead of the authorities starting containment procedures at an early stage, many tourists became infected with the virus and contributed to its spread after they returned from their holidays. The matter was referred to the prosecutor’s office last week, and as of today there are plans for a class-action lawsuit, mostly from German ski tourists, against those responsible for the cover-up.[/li] [li] On Monday the city of Vienna is launching a coronavirus information service in 22 languages. Questions about the coronavirus crisis can be submitted by e-mail, Facebook, or telephone, and will be answered within 24 hours in the same language.[/li] [li] Yesterday I reported on new restrictions on cross-border workers from Hungary that require them to quarantine themselves for 14 days upon arrival in Austria. It seems to have dawned on the federal government that the vast majority of these workers cross in and out each day to go to work, and so it’s not enforcing the new quarantine rule. Still, it remains on the books, which is causing no end of angst for the foreign commuters and for the state of Burgenland which is particularly dependent on them.[/li] [li] The state of Lower Austria, with the consent of the federal foreign ministry, is flying in 250 health care workers from Romania and Bulgaria. They’ll be quarantined for 14 days, following which they’ll start work in Lower Austria.[/li] [li] Current statistics: 8122 confirmed infections (up 434 from yesterday), 75 dead (up 17 from yesterday), 410 recovered (up 401 from yesterday). The percentage growth in confirmed cases is the lowest recorded in the past two weeks.[/li] [/ul] ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1636 "2020-03-28T21:16:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Since when does Donald Trump enjoy signing checks? IN 1990, _Spy Magazine_ did a bit where they sent out very progressively smaller [checks](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/trump-files-spy-magazine-prank/) to see who would bother to cash them. The last ones were for 13 cents. Trump and an arms dealer were the only ones to cash them. I had no idea who Trump was when I started reading _Spy_. Soon I learned all about the short-finger vulgarian. It has been astonishing how he’s gotten away with so much for so long. ---
**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 28, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1637 "2020-03-28T21:31:12Z")
I didn’t see this elsewhere, but Trump is now considering enforced quarantine of three states, including NY and NJ: > [@](#): > > “There is a possibility that sometime today we’ll do a quarantine, short term, two weeks, on New York, probably New Jersey, certain parts of Connecticut,” said Mr. Trump, a former New Yorker who now is officially a Florida resident. “They’re having problems down in Florida. A lot of New Yorkers going down, we don’t want that, heavily infected.” [NYT article.](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/world/coronavirus-live-news-updates.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1638 "2020-03-28T21:36:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I didn’t see this elsewhere, but Trump is now considering enforced quarantine of three states, including NY and NJ: > > [NYT article.](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/world/coronavirus-live-news-updates.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage) Reposting from the Constitutionality thread Rhode Island is basically already doing this. Rhode Island is hunting down and quarantining New Yorkers on order of their governor. [https://news.yahoo.com/rhode-island-...211405349.html](https://news.yahoo.com/rhode-island-...211405349.html) > [@](#): > > Rhode Island police began stopping cars with New York plates Friday. On Saturday, the National Guard will help them conduct house-to-house searches to find people who traveled from New York and demand 14 days of self-quarantine. > > “Right now we have a pinpointed risk,” Governor Gina Raimondo said. “That risk is called New York City.” ---
**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 28, 2020, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1639 "2020-03-28T21:39:03Z")
This looks like good news, about a new, faster RNA test: > **[A new COVID-19 test can return results in 5 minutes](https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/28/21197944/coronavirus-test-fast-doctors-office-abbott-fda)** > > Samples don’t have to spend days waiting in a lab > [@](#): > > Mar 28, 2020, 10:25am EDT > A new COVID-19 test from the medical device company Abbott can return positive results in five minutes — and it can be run in a doctor’s office. The test was approved for emergency use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration last night. > … > Doctors could take a swab from a patient’s nose or throat and insert it directly into the machine, and have results within 15 minutes (it can take up to 13 minutes if the sample is negative for the virus). > … > This is the second point-of-care test for COVID-19 approved by the FDA. The first, from the biotechnology company Cephid, takes 45 minutes. That test is primarily intended for emergency rooms and hospitals, not for doctors’ offices or urgent care clinics. > … > Abbott says it plans to start shipping 50,000 ID NOW COVID-19 tests a day starting next week. ---
**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 28, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1640 "2020-03-28T22:15:34Z")
Earthshaking breaking news: the Oregon Provost Marshall has temporarily set aside the requirement for Oregonians to have their gas pumped for them. I can’t wait for the first self-immolation. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1641 "2020-03-28T22:16:49Z")
Right now, around 10% of all cases in Aus, 300 people, are from one cruise ship, the Ruby Princess, which docked in Sydney and was allowed/directed to disperse it’s passengers throughout Australia. Previously, all cases in Australia were attributed to their state of diagnosis, so people landing in Sydney were “Sydney Cases”, but in response to this debacle (for which they were responsible), the NSW health department has stopped including cases in their numbers after they have moved them interstate. I had been thinking that the Australian inter-state quarantine rules were populist / xenophobic fear-mongering politics, but I can see the justification now. NSW just doesn’t seem to have been able to handle quarantine. They are using at least one hotel now (for passengers from a cruise liner which docked in WA), but they were forced into that. Predictably, one of the passengers in quarantine in the NSW hotel has complained that it’s “worse than being in prison”, because there are security guards and she can’t order in take-away. After 3 flat days, a sharp rise in Australian numbers. The numbers are still small enough that can happen. I think it’s cruise ship numbers. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1642 "2020-03-28T22:20:41Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Earthshaking breaking news: the Oregon Provost Marshall has temporarily set aside the requirement for Oregonians to have their gas pumped for them. I can’t wait for the first self-immolation. I imagine the gas pump handle is a prime spot for germ transmission. Be sure you treat it as an infected surface and dispose or immediately sanitize whatever you use to hold it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=81) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=83)