And now, the snake flu.
Most of this is bad advice. Antibiotics are ineffective against viruses so there is no point in stocking up on them. Antivirals are only available with a prescription so it is illegal to stock up on them. There are no known effective natural products that protect against viruses. Unless your guests are from China, there is no point in not inviting people over. Skiing or snowboarding will not increase your chance of getting this disease unless you do it in China.
So far this disease is most like SARS which was also a coronavirus, it infected about 8,000 people and killed slightly less than 10% of them. The fatality rate was highest in Canada, so unless you are from the frozen north, it is probably not a big deal.
Qadgop the Mercotan is a doctor, and I believe Jackmanii is a pathologist. I doubt they will recommend any “natural remedies” unless there is science to back them up.
In general, sure, but it won’t affect your chance of getting this new strain of coronavirus. There is no vaccine for that strain as of yet.
I doubt if the demand for antibiotics is going to be affected, since this is a virus and antibiotics have no effect on viral infections.
To date, this appears to me to be a somewhat more serious strain of flu. A 1-2% mortality rate is nothing to sneeze at ( 
) but it is also not the end of the world.
Wash your hands avoid contact with anyone who traveled thru the affected areas of China. Maybe the situation is much worse than we think - China is not real good at reporting these kinds of things, for many reasons - but maybe not. As usual, I expect it will affect those who are already in compromised health or are very young.
I prefer to wait until the last minute to panic.
Regards,
Shodan
I’m all set… got a metric shit-ton of Forsythia, a couple pallets of ramen noodles and I’m avoiding shaking hands with any chefs in Asia.
Naw, I have “crisis” burnout. Couldn’t be arsed to increase my blood pressure if a tiger jumped on me at this point. I’m a long way from China–a big ocean and a couple mountain ranges–and anyone I actually care about lives within 5 miles of me. The only thing about a worldwide plague of lethal influenza that mildly concerns me is the health effects of so many rotting and unburied corpses. But I recon that’d be a fairly brief matter because stuff can’t rot forever.
Thanks very much Shodan.
I guess I owe “people like you” an apology. On our plane out of the US I saw a passenger wiping everything down and pointed him out to my gf. We had a laugh about the germaphobe.
On our flight home we sat on a crowded plane while a repair was made which took 90 minutes (and made us miss our next flight) and now we are both sick.
Hm. The only case in the U.S. so far is in Everett, Washington. We’re flying to Everett this April for a vacation. That guy better stay in the hospital until he’s completely well and not pass his bug on to people in the area.
I just want to +1 what puddleglum said. Antibiotics are utterly and completely useless against viruses. Antibiotic overuse/abuse is an ever-increasing problem, causing a rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fewer useful types of antibiotic. [/hijack]
Charlie Wayne, the whole reason we have elected officials is so we don’t have to think all the time. Just like that rain forest scare a few years back. Our officials saw there was a problem and they fixed it, didn’t they?
I’m not too worried about it myself. I think the R0 for SARS was brought down to 0.2 due to public health containment efforts in China. Hopefully they’ll do the same with this virus.
Every time viruses get mentioned, someone has to bring up antibiotics, someone else then has to recite the “overuse/ineffective” speech yet again … I guess I don’t understand how that hasn’t sunk in more thoroughly.
I mean, the majority of people are familiar with “Look both ways before you cross the street” and “Call 911 in emergencies.” I didn’t think this was more complicated, but O.P. isn’t the first person I’ve heard THIS WEEK talking about antibiotics as a magic cure-all that you can take - and critically, STOP taking - whenever you feel like it.
Anyway, I also have to wonder what, if anything, “staying indoors for a week” would accomplish. Unless you have industrial-scale filters for your home HVAC intake (and you don’t … ) then being inside wouldn’t provide any additional protection.
Air conditioning and Netflix, sure. But not protection from viruses.
I’m not overly concerned, but I have steel supplier in Wuhan, and I’ve been there myself. Potentially my Chinese materials engineer could have visited, returned to Nanjing, passed it to someone visiting us here, and infect half of SE Michigan. Six degrees of separation, and all. Oh, and because DTW is a hub, 60% of the people on the plane will disperse to other US and Canadian cities.
I have in-laws in China, of course, but not in Wuhan. Some of them I might credit with eating anything that’s sold live, so they may be patient zero for something else in the near future.
double
Let’s not forget those Mad Cows.
My imminent-disaster folder is full and has been for awhile now. I’d have to delete something to make room.
Ramen noodles??? Are you crazy? Those things are Asian. You’re just begging to be infected by the… the… say, does this new virus have a catchy name yet? How can I panic appropriately if I don’t know the correct name? Flunado! Virpocalypse! Flurus!
Not only that, but the average person will have a difficult time stockpiling antibiotics, since virtually all of them are prescription only. Unless we’re talking about using Neosporin as a sandwich spread.
Agree with Little Nemo, Shodan, and several others.
Seen this movie too many times. If this thing is just SARS, H1N1, Mad Cow, Ebola, etc. all over again … I’ll be totally safe.
If this thing is Captain Trips, then there wasn’t anything I could have done to protect myself anyway.
…
I am curious as to how one stocks up on antibiotics in the U.S. Are there states where over-the-counter antibiotics are legal? Or do you just go and feign symptoms and get several doctors to write you prescriptions? Or else … is raiding PetCo for fish antibiotics still a thing?
You snake the antibiotics (along with all the yummy yummy valium!) from the pharmacy after society has collapsed. They won’t help you with the virus, but if you survive the Captain Tripps apocalypse you may need them for some other eventuality. If not, no big loss.
I mean, there’s going in April. That’s quite a bit of time to see how this develops.
My mom goes about once a year for work. She HAS gone in April before, but seeing as she was last there in October, I doubt she’ll be going back so soon. It usually depends on airfare prices. This is a good thing to keep an eye on, though. If it moves toward Shanghai (where she always goes), hopefully she won’t risk it. If it gets that dire though, she probably won’t have a choice.
Unrelated to the virus, I’ve been to Shanghai and Beijing once. Beautiful country with incredible history. You really get a culture shock, going from a country with a little over 200 years of recorded history to one with thousands. I’d absolutely visit again. I hope this virus subsides, and no more people are hurt/killed.