# 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:** 91
**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:** [April 1, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1803 "2020-04-01T16:37:03Z")
[https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-wuhan-writer-rages-against-chinas-communist-machine-and-becomes-an-online-star-11585733403](https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-wuhan-writer-rages-against-chinas-communist-machine-and-becomes-an-online-star-11585733403) Wuhan writer/blogger Fang Fang has amazing courage standing up to the CCP and its handling of the coronavirus. She had 4.2 million Chinese followers. > [@](#): > > Soon after the top official in China’s coronavirus-ravaged metropolis of Wuhan urged residents to show gratitude to the Communist Party for containing the contagion, a local literary star penned a stinging rebuke. > > “The government is the people’s government; it exists to serve the people,” wrote Wang Fang, a Chinese writer better known by her pen name, Fang Fang, in a social-media post. “Please take back your arrogance and humbly show gratitude to your masters—the millions of Wuhan people.” > > The March 7 post was the 43rd entry in Ms. Wang’s “Diary from a Sealed City,” a somber account of life and death under mass quarantine in Wuhan that has garnered millions of views and won praise from readers for its authenticity—a remedy to the chorus of state-media triumphalism about the Communist Party’s battle against the deadly pathogen. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1804 "2020-04-01T18:07:16Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > After hearing the term “coronavirus party”, I’m in complete agreement with you. The idiots among the Americans are going to get us all dead. [Early XKCD](https://xkcd.com/51/) My rural redneck retiree county easterly of Sacramento still reports only one isolated case from 12 days ago. The [info page](https://www.amadorgov.org/services/covid-19) lists a second case but that’s a resident who hasn’t entered the county since testing positive, so the one is all we have here. Do other counties, boroughs, or parishes in the US also report minimal cases? ---
**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:** [April 1, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1805 "2020-04-01T18:39:38Z")
I found this disturbing: conflicting information about COVID-19’s transmissibility and infectious capability via the digestive system. On the AP: [Why health experts aren’t warning about coronavirus in food](https://apnews.com/2a70719849f6643e4f721dca11148b96) > [@](#): > > The CDC and other experts note that the virus is new and still being studied. But they say there’s no evidence yet that COVID-19 sickens people through their digestive systems, though the virus has been detected in the feces of infected people. On Today’s website: [Diarrhea, nausea or vomiting may be first coronavirus symptoms in some patients (Some people may have the “gastrointestinal version” of COVID-19).](https://www.today.com/health/diarrhea-nausea-or-vomiting-may-be-first-coronavirus-symptoms-some-t177179) > [@](#): > > Digestive problems, particularly diarrhea, can be the first clue in a “unique sub-group” of patients who are infected with the new coronavirus, but don’t have the more well-known warning signs, according to [a new study made available before peer review by the American Journal of Gastroenterology Monday](https://journals.lww.com/ajg/Documents/COVID19_Han_et_al_AJG_Preproof.pdf). > > These people may only later — or never — go on to develop respiratory issues and fever. They’re also diagnosed later than other patients, which means they may unknowingly spread the virus. > [@](#): > > “COVID-19 is not just a cough,” Spiegel told TODAY. “Of course, we’re very focused on the lungs because that’s what can cause people to die. But this virus, if it gets into your saliva and you swallow it, can then enter the intestinal system." > [@](#): > > The virus enters the human body through a particular receptor that’s found in very high levels in the gastrointestinal tract, he noted. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1806 "2020-04-01T18:40:19Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Do other counties, boroughs, or parishes in the US also report minimal cases? Here’s [a dashboard for Alabama](https://alpublichealth.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/6d2771faa9da4a2786a509d82c8cf0f7) (which I look at on a daily basis, as that’s where one of my clients is located). As of right now, they still have eight counties without a reported case (all in the more rural southern half of the state), and a number of counties with only 1-3 reported cases so far. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1807 "2020-04-01T19:13:13Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > My rural redneck retiree county easterly of Sacramento still reports only one isolated case from 12 days ago. The info page lists a second case but that’s a resident who hasn’t entered the county since testing positive, so the one is all we have here. Do other counties, boroughs, or parishes in the US also report minimal cases? Finger Lakes New York: only one case diagnosed in my county so far, and also only one reported in another area county, two in another, four in a third. 36 in one of the adjacent counties, though. And of course almost nobody has been tested. I’m expecting the numbers to go up. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1808 "2020-04-01T19:21:40Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > After hearing the term “coronavirus party”, I’m in complete agreement with you. The idiots among the Americans are going to get us all dead. And here’s a story of “It’s my party, dammit!” Police charge parents with child endangerment after they throw a bat mitzvah Party with 50+ participants: [COVID-19: N.J. couple charged with child endangerment after hosting bat mitzvah with 50 neighbours | National Post](https://nationalpost.com/news/world/covid-19-n-j-couple-charged-with-child-endangerment-after-hosting-bat-mitzvah-with-50-neighbours?video_autoplay=true) ---
**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:** [April 1, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1809 "2020-04-01T19:32:31Z")
The Coast Guard is telling cruise ships with sick passengers to stay out of US ports, and to go to the countries whose flags they sail under. > **[Coast Guard Tells Cruise Ships With COVID-19 Cases To Stay Away From U.S. Ports](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/01/825205607/coast-guard-tells-cruise-ships-with-covid-19-cases-to-stay-away-from-u-s-ports)** > > By registering ships in the Bahamas and other countries, many companies can avoid U.S. laws. The Coast Guard says they should seek medical aid from those countries rather than rely on the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1810 "2020-04-01T19:37:21Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The Coast Guard is telling cruise ships with sick passengers to stay out of US ports, and to go to the countries whose flags they sail under. > [https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/01/825205607/coast-guard-tells-cruise-ships-with-covid-19-cases-to-stay-away-from-u-s-ports](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/01/825205607/coast-guard-tells-cruise-ships-with-covid-19-cases-to-stay-away-from-u-s-ports) Wow! This is shocking considering that those ships are often packed with Americans. I could maybe understand only allowing Americans to disembark, but this seems pretty extreme to not allow anyone off the ship. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1811 "2020-04-01T21:18:20Z")
With almost 7,000 confirmed infections, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finally issues a stay-at-home order. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1812 "2020-04-01T21:33:06Z")
In America, younger patients seem to be at a higher risk than in other countries: [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/coronavirus-in-young-people-ny-patients-skew-younger-some-die](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/coronavirus-in-young-people-ny-patients-skew-younger-some-die) Personal hypothesis for the discrepancy: > **[Does Smoking and Vaping Make Coronavirus Worse?](https://health.usnews.com/conditions/articles/smoking-vaping-coronavirus)** > > Smoking, vaping and illegal drugs lead the list of dangerous habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you vape or smoke, you might want to be extra careful. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1813 "2020-04-01T21:58:14Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > [Early XKCD](https://xkcd.com/51/) > > My rural redneck retiree county easterly of Sacramento still reports only one isolated case from 12 days ago. The [info page](https://www.amadorgov.org/services/covid-19) lists a second case but that’s a resident who hasn’t entered the county since testing positive, so the one is all we have here. Do other counties, boroughs, or parishes in the US also report minimal cases? I think all states have them. Just Google some variation of say “Kansas virus rates” or something. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1814 "2020-04-01T22:53:08Z")
[More evidence indicates healthy people can spread virus](https://apnews.com/5c4992645fee551994325093858c14a4) > [@](#): > > A study by researchers in Singapore became the latest to estimate that somewhere around 10% of new infections may be sparked by people who carry the virus but have not yet suffered its flu-like symptoms. > > In response to that study and others, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed how it defined the risk of infection for Americans. The agency’s new guidance targeted people who have no symptoms but were exposed to others with known or suspected infections. It essentially says that anyone may be a carrier, whether that person has symptoms or not. > [@](#): > > The newest research was published online by the CDC. It focused on 243 cases of coronavirus reported in Singapore from mid-January through mid-March, including 157 infections among people who had not traveled recently. Scientists found that so-called pre-symptomatic people triggered infections in seven different clusters of disease, accounting for about 6% of the locally acquired cases. > > One of those infections was particularly striking. A 52-year-old woman’s infection was linked to her sitting in a seat at a church that had been occupied earlier in the day by two tourists who showed no symptoms but later fell ill, investigators said after they reviewed closed-circuit camera recordings of church services. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1815 "2020-04-01T23:26:15Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > With almost 7,000 confirmed infections, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finally issues a stay-at-home order. He reminds me of the Mayor of Amity Island in the movie _Jaws_ (scared of losing tourist revenue). The lady on the Task Force (Brix?) said yesterday that stuck with me, as a warning for states and cities that are being slow to act: “If you wait until you see cases appearing in your area, the virus has already deeply penetrated your community”. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1816 "2020-04-02T00:27:54Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [More evidence indicates healthy people can spread virus](https://apnews.com/5c4992645fee551994325093858c14a4) Technically, if they’re infected with a virus, they’re not healthy, are they? 🙂 Which brings to mind something I’ve been wondering: does using “asymptomatic” to describe a person mean that they’re only not showing symptoms right at that moment? If so, do such people develop some kind of symptom 100% of the time? I was wondering if this really was like Typhoid Mary (who never showed or felt any symptoms of typhoid, thus a big reason she was hard to contain). ---
**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:** [April 2, 2020, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1817 "2020-04-02T00:31:18Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > In America, younger patients seem to be at a higher risk than in other countries: > > [Bloomberg - Are you a robot?](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/coronavirus-in-young-people-ny-patients-skew-younger-some-die) > > Personal hypothesis for the discrepancy: > > [https://health.usnews.com/conditions/articles/smoking-vaping-coronavirus](https://health.usnews.com/conditions/articles/smoking-vaping-coronavirus) > > If you vape or smoke, you might want to be extra careful. Another hypothesis - size of the n. Higher risk individuals, understanding themselves to be at high risk, are more commonly more compliant with social distancing as best they can. They are less likely to be in the “essential” workforce delivering food, packages, at the check out lines … Younger individuals? More often among the non-compliant and among those out there because they have one of those “essential” jobs. The number of infections are NOT likely to be evenly distributed by age cohort at this point but heavily overweighted to the younger who feel more invincible. (Making it up) 10% as likely to get very sick but ten times more likely to get infected by virtue of behaviors would mean same numbers per population size of the group. 13% of NYC is 65 plus. 44% is 19 to 50. I’d suspect the number infected among the 19 to 50 crowd is many more times that of the number of 65 plus individuals with infections. Another something we’ll only know after seroprevalence studies are done. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1818 "2020-04-02T00:36:53Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Technically, if they’re infected with a virus, they’re not healthy, are they? 🙂 > > Which brings to mind something I’ve been wondering: does using “asymptomatic” to describe a person mean that they’re only not showing symptoms right at that moment? If so, do such people develop some kind of symptom 100% of the time? I was wondering if this really was like Typhoid Mary (who never showed or felt any symptoms of typhoid, thus a big reason she was hard to contain). Technically one can be infected and not ill. No symptoms, no dysfunction, and you are among the healthy even if you had the virus and cleared it. If they develop symptoms they were, in retrospect, “presymptomatic”. The truly asymptomatic never get any symptoms. The grey zone are those who might develop some symptoms so minimal that they never even consider themselves as having been sick, let alone considering a COVID-19 diagnosis. It will be hard to parse those out. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2020, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1819 "2020-04-02T01:28:43Z")
**DSeid** , I’m curious about your views on the “pristine lung hypothesis”. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2020, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1820 "2020-04-02T01:33:36Z")
The US State deaths / million as of now, per worldometer (deaths) / wikipedia (pop), small territories mostly removed. These are going up FAST. Italy…218 Spain…201 New York…114.1 Belgium…71 Netherlands…68 France…62 Louisiana…58.7 Switzerland…56 Luxembourg…46 New Jersey…40 Iran…36 UK…35 Michigan…33.8 Washington…33.4 Vermont…25.6 (relatively Luxembourg-sized small population) Sweden…24 Connecticut…23.8 Denmark…18 Portugal…18 Massachusetts…17.6 Ireland…17 Austria…16 District of Columbia…16 (relatively Luxembourg-sized small population) USA…15 ---
**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:** [April 2, 2020, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1821 "2020-04-02T02:36:43Z")
[https://www.wsj.com/articles/italys-coronavirus-death-toll-is-far-higher-than-reported-11585767179](https://www.wsj.com/articles/italys-coronavirus-death-toll-is-far-higher-than-reported-11585767179) Italy death toll higher than expected because many dead not being tested for the virus. > [@](#): > > These aren’t isolated incidents. Italy’s official death toll from the virus stands at 13,155, the most of any country in the world. But that number tells only part of the story because many people who die from the virus don’t make it to the hospital and are never tested. > > In the areas worst hit by the pandemic, Italy is undercounting thousands of deaths caused by the virus, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows, indicating that the pandemic’s human toll may end up being much greater, and infections far more widespread, than official data indicate. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/1822 "2020-04-02T02:57:12Z")
Just a couple of pixels in the bigger picture, but the White House Correspondent’s Association has kicked new Trump favorite One America News Network out of pool coverage of the daily WH press briefings, for violating social distancing guidelines two days in a row: > **[One America News Network Removed From Donald Trump Briefings Over Violation...](https://deadline.com/2020/04/coronavirus-donald-trump-one-america-news-network-1202898220/)** > > UPDATE: One American News Network’s Chanel Rion said that she will again attend the White House coronavirus briefing, even though the White House Correspondents’ Association removed the… I’ll be gobsmacked if Mr. Trump doesn’t have something to say about that tomorrow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=90) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=92)