No meat at the grocery here, I saw two bagged roasters. no canned tuna, that kind of thing, they did have canned soup. No frozen veggies of any kind, no paper products, cleaning supplies, bar or any other kind of soap. No rice or dried beans Peanut butter . Pet supplies thin. So yea...I think people are whipped up enough. Manager says they have been getting double deliveries, yesterday their busiest day since opening.
If declaring a state of emergecny will help the kids that live on nothing but free meals at school something to eat while schools are closed, Im all for it.

perspective.....from CDC
In the spring of 2009, a novel influenza A (H1N1) virus emerged. It was detected first in the United States and spread quickly across the United States and the world. This new H1N1 virus contained a unique combination of influenza genes not previously identified in animals or people. This virus was designated as influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 virus. Ten years later work continues to better understand influenza, prevent disease, and prepare for the next pandemic.
Summary of Progress since 2009
Ten Years of Gains: A Look Back at Progress Since the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic
The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic: A New Flu Virus Emerges

The (H1N1)pdm09 virus was very different from H1N1 viruses that were circulating at the time of the pandemic. Few young people had any existing immunity (as detected by antibody response) to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus, but nearly one-third of people over 60 years old had antibodies against this virus, likely from exposure to an older H1N1 virus earlier in their lives. Since the (H1N1)pdm09 virus was very different from circulating H1N1 viruses, vaccination with seasonal flu vaccines offered little cross-protection against (H1N1)pdm09 virus infection. While a monovalent (H1N1)pdm09 vaccine was produced, it was not available in large quantities until late November—after the peak of illness during the second wave had come and gone in the United States. From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus.
Disease Burden of the H1N1pdm09 Flu Virus, 2009-2018

Since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the (H1N1)pdm09 flu virus has circulated seasonally in the U.S. causing significant illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Additionally, CDC estimated that 151,700-575,400 people worldwide died from (H1N1)pdm09 virus infection during the first year the virus circulated.** Globally, 80 percent of (H1N1)pdm09 virus-related deaths were estimated to have occurred in people younger than 65 years of age. This differs greatly from typical seasonal influenza epidemics, during which about 70 percent to 90 percent of deaths are estimated to occur in people 65 years and older.

Though the 2009 flu pandemic primarily affected children and young and middle-aged adults, the impact of the (H1N1)pdm09 virus on the global population during the first year was less severe than that of previous pandemics. Estimates of pandemic influenza mortality ranged from 0.03 percent of the world's population during the 1968 H3N2 pandemic to 1 percent to 3 percent of the world's population during the 1918 H1N1 pandemic. It is estimated that 0.001 percent to 0.007 percent of the world's population died of respiratory complications associated with (H1N1)pdm09 virus infection during the first 12 months the virus circulated.

The United States mounted a complex, multi-faceted and long-term response to the pandemic, summarized in The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic: Summary Highlights, April 2009-April 2010. On August 10, 2010, WHO declared an end to the global 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. However, (H1N1)pdm09 virus continues to circulate as a seasonal flu virus, and cause illness, hospitalization, and deaths worldwide every year.

Its the last sentence I find telling, are we going to shut down decades???

@gardenglory what store in Gainesville were you at today? They weren;t out when I was there this morning

joannakat said:I would like to encourage anyone who is sick in any way at all to stay home right now. It can't hurt you, and you never know how vulnerable others might be. Even catching the common cold can lower a person's resistance, making them more vulnerable to complications or to becoming sick when exposed to something like COVID 19. But I do understand that it can be difficult to stay home if your income depends on your showing up to work (mine does), and you need that income to cover your bills.

I'm happy to show something that Boston is doing to support artists, many of whom have a difficult time financially in the best of circumstances:
https://www.boston.gov/news/bo...

AND, a few suggestions for things to do if you find that it's best for you to stay home for a bit.

Gardening (of course!)

Do a free, online course (MOOC). Coursera has great ones from major colleges and universities, and there are others online too:
https://www.coursera.org/

Search Youtube for tutorials or lessons.
Beginning Ukulele:
https://www.youtube.com/result...

Beginning Guitar:
https://www.youtube.com/result...

I love cooking videos from all sorts of people. Want to learn how to make outstanding pita bread? Hummus? Braise or roast something? Yup, Youtube! Here's a great video with Gordon Ramsey, very elementary. 5 basic skills:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Research your family history, or organize all those family photos you have accumulated (I have a big box of them). Maybe finally scan them and send some out to family members!

Learn to use a new type of technology. Especially good for communicating with family members! Lots of tutorials online, or you can just use the user guide from whatever you've already purchased. My two favorites are audio-recording software and graphics. Have you been thinking about creating your own video? Lots of free apps for that!

Anyone else have ideas? Suggestions?

Please keep in mind that many pharmacies will deliver straight to your door. And I know that some people feel Amazon is a dirty word these days, but if you join Amazon Prime, they promise next-day delivery. If you happen to receive SNAP or if you're on Medicaid, their membership fee is very low. And please don't underestimate your friends. I know it's not easy to ask for help, but they may need you in the future and it's a lot easier for people who have helped to ask for help when they need it.

Just some thoughts. Stay well everyone.

Thanks, Joanna for all the great positive ideas!
Just what we need more of.

Hello everyone, this is a good thread for discussion of this ongoing virus theat.
For myself, apart from reading about covid-19, I also chose to read back in history how pandemics were handled. It was quite interesting actually. I watched a documentary on the Spanish flu of 1918. Same parallelisms of the spread, same complacency of different sectors, and the sad high morbidity of this illness, definitely much faster and more lethal than covid-19. And I do hope this covid-19 does not go that morbid. I have to admit, wow 1918 conditions and situation was truly scary, getting diagnosed ill in the morning and dead by nightfall. Thankfully covid-19 at least for now, some medical assitance can still be attempted, it just depends on the individuals specific endurance. And sadly, pandemics are such, there will be fatalities.

Sadly as we all have seen now, covid-19 is inflicting death. So what we all can do now is take advantage of communicating the need to continue sanitizing and implementing whatever means we can to abate the spread.
I do agree with what I have seen in several medical coverages online already that the virus is aleady here in the US probably since January. And sadly with the delay in testing, many more are going to be infected.

I just hope the healthcare system can catch up much faster.

Got to be thankful for small mercies, at least here in the US, this country is big and wide, albeit it also has one of the best hospitals. Imagine other countries, like my homeland the Philippines, right now also monitoring them there. It is a very densely populated country. The cases are beginning to rise too over there, with fatalities already as well. If there are lots of grey areas here, so much so there. By March 15 they will implement community quarantine in Metro Manila. Sounds good, but the logistics how that will exactly happen I don't know how. But there is some good news I saw, apparently our local scientists there found a way to make their own test kits that can be easily mass produced and at a much lower cost. Hopefully it does help. Any little sign of hope of better handling this pandemic is welcome. I was also hoping somehow that maybe the spread there of the virus will be dampened by our usual hot and humid weather there since it is officially summer there already. Temps there are always hot And it is said this covid-19 does spread and linger more during colder weather, thus the winter outbreak. But it is not always the case as already seen in tropical coutnries, so really got to keep up with this virus.

So in the long haul here in the US, I think we are now in the second wave of transmission. The pandemics are such they go in waves. And I have read the virus strain here may be different from the one that was in China. So really need to get more testing.

I have also been checking on my cousin and his family in MIlan. Truly draconian measures being done there. There is spraying being done at night in the Lombardy region. My cousin works in a hospital so he gets special clearance to go out. The family is doing okay thankfully. He showed me photos of new hospital beds being rolled out, specific to be used for the ICU cases.

I also watched some video footages that were obtained in Wuhan. They really tried to contain the virus. And it was a fact that there was a deliberate attempt to clamp down on the information. I am just thankful it has been rectified and thus lead to more aggressive approach to contain the virus. On the video they showed daily door to door temperature testing of residents in various communities. There is a healthcare community level group assigned to a particular grid. And at the same time those found with fever were being forcibly dragged away from their homes to be relocated to the designated hospital or medical area. And of course the province lockdown, layers of check point to control people's movement.

I remember thinking as I watched that video, wow, that approach of a lockdown and monitoring will meet high resistance here.

So got to keep learning and understanding how to address this virus outbreak. Let us all do our share to mitigate it as much as we can. I would not want any of us to be subjected to such unbearable hardships.

This year of the Rat is truly so ratty

Good informative thread. We are just back from a month in Panama where we largely ignored what was happening at home (so nice sometimes) and I was amazed at the ghost-town feel of things. I did, obviously, go grocery shopping to restock the house. Some elderly folks were sporting masks and gloves, but for the most part it was business as usual. We lay low mostly anyway, and will just continue to do so. My daffodils are blooming, the forsythia is ready to pop, but no sign of the spring peepers yet.

Grocery shopping is not one of my, or my husbands favorite things to do and we always seem to put it off as long as possible but we were running low on things so I decided to make a grocery run today while he went to the post office to drop off a package and then to buy dog food. I thought my trip to Winn Dixie (which is only a few blocks away) would be quick and I figured that I could get in and get out within thirty to forty five minutes but it ended up being more than 2 1/2 hours!

All of the isles of canned goods, frozen foods, meats and deli area, as well as the produce area were quite sufficiently stocked, with two employees restocking in the produce area. The paper isle was a different story; there was no toilet paper, no napkins, no kleenex and there were only three packages of paper towel rolls remaining on the shelves. The isle with Liquid cleaners (bathroom cleaners, foams, sprays, liquid soaps, etc.) was getting very scarce.

The store was packed with customers and all but one register was open. The lines to check out were extremely long, stretching way back down the aisles but it was nice to see all of the customers waiting in line, being very patient and very pleasant as we chatted with one another. The young lady at the register where I was checking out had a really horrible cough and it was a bit disconcerting to some of the people in the line but I think she probably had no choice but to be at work.

Luckily, this particular store had a large container of sanitizing wipes just inside the front door and I took one and wiped down the cart before I started shopping and when I checked out, I grabbed another one as I helped pack my groceries and wiped the handles of each bag before putting it back into the cart. I have a package of sanitizing wipes in my car and as soon as I loaded my groceries into the trunk, I wiped down the car door handles, inside and out, the steering wheel and my car keys ... nothing to do with worries of the Coronavirus, rather, I did it to lessen possible bacterial contact since the cashier appeared to be sick and she'd handled the bags. As soon as I got home and put my groceries away, I went to the laundry room and put my shopping bags in the washing machine and then washed my hands and forearms thoroughly with soap and water. I'm not overly concerned but at my age of 72 and just having gotten over a cold, my immune system likely isn't totally back to it's best yet and I don't want a relapse.

We are all in this together and we need to be vigilant and aware of what's happening, use common sense and practice good hygiene by washing our hands often, stay home if we aren't feeling well but DO NOT panic. If we stay vigilant and take the necessary precautions, we will be fine.

Be well, my gardening friends!

My daughter who goes to UF and works at Panera said they are starting drive thru only. Worried about her job. Going to disney this weekend, curious if Mickey and friends are still taking pictures with visitors and such, or if it will be a shadow of its former self. A long as the dole whip is flowing, Im good.

Disney World is closed saw it on the news this morning.

In our county, as of this morning, 2 more additonal covid-19 cases. So that makes now 3. Though it was not identified which city has it. I read they will address the problem now more on mitigation and not anymore trying contact tracking. This is similar stand Sacramento county is taking, more on mitigation than containment.

And the governor has announced ban on mass gatherings of 250 people or other smaller gatherings that cannot ensure at least 6 feet distance per person.

So keeping this in mind, we will not attend mass in our church starting this weekend. Just going to do it on tv for now.

Disney is open thru sunday night in orlando

gardenglory said:Disney is open thru sunday night in orlando

Yes, that is the last day for Disneyworld.

Just on our news here, the governor of Florida has ordered ALL public schools closed.

I just heard on our news that they asked kids to stay out for spring break an extra week. Spring break just starts monday here. So two weeks. Back on the 30th, well unless the Gov. changes that.

Many things down this way are being canceled, music, art events, etc. They just announced on the news a few minutes ago that Sunfest in West Palm Beach has been canceled.

tarev said:
Yes, that is the last day for Disneyworld.

Until they re-open by July if not sooner.
We don't know, but we can hope.

BTW, no coughing, no sneezing, no fever,
and not even a sore throat today.

Down here only closed till end of month. Hope they can keep that schedule.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu


Trump declares COVID-19 national emergency, details sweeping testing program

Stephanie Soucheray | News Reporter | CIDRAP News | Mar 13, 2020
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COVID-19 coronavirus testing
Governor Tom Wolf / Flickr cc
Today President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in the face of a growing public health and economic crisis due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The proclamation of a national emergency allows the president to exercise an array of emergency powers and tap into $50 billion, which will be used in part by states to set up emergency centers effective immediately.

Trump also announced a new public-private partnership to address and remedy the shortage of coronavirus tests.

Half a million tests available soon
Trump said the tests were quickly developed by Roche and approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration. The president said half a million tests will be available by early next week, and 5 million tests will be available within 1 month.

Beginning Sunday evening, Mar 15, a website developed by Google will be made public and will include a symptom checklist. If symptoms suggest possible infection with the novel coronavirus, patients will be instructed to new drive-through testing facilities, which will be loaded in Wal-Mart, Target, and Walgreen's parking lots.

The swab-based test will provide results within 24 to 36 hours, officials said.

"To do this level of mass testing, you need a public-private partnership," said National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci, MD. Fauci was one of several health officials and business leaders who appeared alongside the president in the White House's Rose Garden.

Trump also offered clarifications on his new travel-ban against travelers coming from Europe. He said Americans will be subjected to a 14-day self-quarantine upon return from Europe, and said he may consider extending the ban to the United Kingdom given that nation's rising case count.

Trump also announced he would be waiving interest on federal student loans until further notice, and said he would oversee crude oil purchasing.

"The next 8 weeks are critical," he said.

States roll out social distancing measures
By Friday afternoon at least seven states and Washington, DC, ordered public schools to close in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. According to CNN, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Michigan, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and New Mexico had all closed for at least 14 days and in some cases 3 weeks.

Major cities have also announced school closings, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, and New Rochelle, New York.

In Minnesota and Massachusetts, governors announced a ban on gatherings of 250 people or more. But in both states, governors said there would be no school closings.

During a press conference, Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcom said the state was not ready to close schools. Citing evidence from Hong Kong (which closed schools) and Singapore (which did not), Malcom said the data were not yet clear that school closures—especially short-term closures—made a significant dent in coronavirus transmission. The virus mostly spares children, and school closings may have to last 8 weeks or more to mitigate community risk, Malcolm said.

In Santa Clara County, California, which has 79 COVID-19 cases, including 43 cases involving community spread, officials rolled out some of the toughest social distancing measures in the country. The County Public Health Department announced today no public or private gatherings of more than 100 people, and no gatherings of 35 to 100 people unless certain conditions are met.

"As the outbreak of COVID-19 in Santa Clara County continues to accelerate, our aggressive measures are designed to slow the spread of disease and protect critical healthcare system capacity and other essential services," said Sara Cody, MD, Santa Clara County public health officer in a press release. "We recognize these actions will have a significant impact of the lives of our citizens, but we believe they are necessary to protect the well-being of our community."

The order will be in place for at least 3 weeks.

New York totals climb by 96
On Twitter, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said New York now had 421 cases, a 96-case increase since yesterday. Cuomo said private labs will begin testing for the virus next week in his state, and he expects daily testing to rise from 3,000 tests per day to 6,000.

"As we test more, the numbers will rise. But remember that the more positives we find, the more we can reduce the spread," he said. Today Cuomo also opened up the first drive-through testing center in New Rochelle, the Westchester County town that's been New York's ground zero for virus activity.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced today he has tested positive for the coronavirus. According to the New York Times, Suarez tested positive after coming into contact with Brazilian nationals who visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf resort this past weekend. Trump said today he has no symptoms of the virus and has not yet been tested.

On Friday afternoon, the New York Times tracker showed 1,875 US cases, including 41 deaths. Washington state and New York have the most cases, with 421 each, followed by California (252) and Massachusetts (108).

WHO: Europe now world's COVID-19 epicenter

Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News | Mar 13, 2020

Italian officials making announcement
Ajuntament de Valencia / Flickr cc
The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that Europe is now the world's COVID-19 pandemic epicenter, as cases in Italy and other nations on the continent soared, and as the WHO launched a new fundraising effort designed to expand donations from individuals and businesses to support the response.

At a media briefing today, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said global deaths from the novel coronavirus have reached 5,000, most of which are from China. But Europe is now reporting more cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, except for China.

"More cases are now being reported every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic," he said, urging countries to take a comprehensive approach that doesn't rely on testing, contact tracing, or social distancing alone.

Tedros warned that when countries observe what's happening in other countries and think it won't happen in their countries are making a deadly mistake. "It can happen to any country."

In another development, he announced the launch of the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, which includes partners from the United Nations Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation. It will allow individuals and organizations to contribute.

"Until now, we have been relying mainly on governments to support the response," he said, adding that funds will be use to coordinate the response, buy equipment for healthcare workers, improve surveillance, and invest in research. "Now everyone can contribute."

Italy: 2,500 new cases, 250 new deaths
Italy today reported 2,547 new cases and 250 more deaths, boosting its respective totals to 17,770 cases and 1,255 deaths.

In Spain, which has the second highest total in Europe, the health ministry reported 1,063 new cases and 53 additional deaths, raising its totals to 4,209 cases, 120 of them fatal. Health officials announced the first lockdown for Spain, which affects four towns near Barcelona and 60,000 people, the Associated Press reported. Shortly after, the southeastern region of Murica also announced a lockdown. Hospitals are rapidly filling in Madrid, and government officials in the region today said the city is short on medical supplies.

Spain is expected to announce a state of emergency tomorrow, which would last at least 15 days, Business Insider reported.

Meanwhile, France reported 785 new cases and 18 more deaths, pushing its respective totals to 3,661 and 79. The French government today banned gatherings of more than 100 people, and two top tourist attractions—The Louvre and the Palace of Versailles—announced they were closed until further notice, Reuters reported. French officials have warned that the country is facing in Italy scenario, and though the country has shuttered schools, but has not called off nationwide local elections slated for Mar 15 and Mar 22, according to the Financial Times.

Elsewhere in Europe, the WHO's online COVID-19 dashboard shows that Germany has 2,860 cases, and several others have topped 600 cases. For example, the United Kingdom today reported 208 new cases and 2 more deaths, lifting its respective totals to 798 cases, 10 of them fatal.

More cases in South Korea, other Asian nations
The pace of new infections in South Korea continues to slow, with 110 more, plus 1 more death, reported today by the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The country's respective total is now 7,979, including 67 deaths.

In other Asian developments:

Japan today reported 8 more cases, raising its total to 684, 26 of them fatal. The country's hardest hit areas are Hokkaido, Aichi, and Osaka prefectures.

Singapore today reported 13 more cases, raising its total to 200. One is part of a dinner party cluster, nine are imported cases, two are linked to earlier cases, and an exposure source is unknown for one, according to the country's health ministry.

China today reported 8 new cases, 5 from Hubei province and 3 imported, according to the National Health Commission. The country's total is now at 80,813 cases, 3,176 of them fatal.
Developments in Iran, Africa
Iran, another main pandemic hot spot, today reported 1,289 cases and 85 more deaths, boosting its total to 11,364 cases, 514 of them fatal.

The country announced several new measures to curb the spread of the virus, including clearing the streets of people checking all citizens for the virus over the next 10 days, the South China Morning Post reported. Top officials also ordered the military to lead the effort.

In Africa, Kenya reported its first case, which involves a citizen who had traveled to the United States, the WHO's African regional office said on Twitter today. So far, 15 countries in the region have reported cases.

Ohio schools are closed, too. And today, the public library of Cincinnati closed until further notice.

Karen

A very quick update as I'm just now home from work and grocery shopping.

On Fridays, I work a few cities east of where I live, and there's a nice strip mall there with a huge Market Basket. I was hoping they would have some TP, but no luck! The store looked pretty much like the Market Basket by my house. Not a roll of TP in the place, and only a scarce amount of paper towels, canned fish, coffee and the like. Yeast and scratch-baking supplies all gone. Disposable plates, cups, etc., gone. Bottled water, gone. But the store did have lots of meat and fresh produce, dairy, eggs, etc.

Only one of my students has dropped out due to COVID 19, but he's not ill. His mother actually had the nerve to tell the studio to hold his time slot until he returns after the pandemic is over, but refused to pay. Of course, I said he'd be welcome back anytime, if I have an opening. I wouldn't have minded holding his slot if his parents had been willing to pay...

I was really, really happy to see signs all over the store and studio space asking people to wash their hands before handling merchandise, and to stay home if they feel at all sick, even slightly or even with something other than COVID 19.

As for all the people in the grocery store, I didn't see even one person who seemed ill. All the cashiers and stock people looked very healthy (but kinda tired) and wore gloves, which made me feel very good. There were frequent announcements over the loudspeaker thanking people for being loyal customers, and saying that the store will stay open as usual, and also that they're making every effort to restock missing items ASAP. Nice!

A large number of my students are kids and teenagers. I don't know why it's said that schools in MA are not being closed--every one of these students reported that their schools are closed at least until April 1st, and will be re-evaluated after that. We even discussed creative, musical things they can do while home.

Traffic out this way (north-central Massachusetts) seems normal, especially in comparison to what I saw in Boston the other day.

Did I miss anything? Oh, yes! Kanopy. It's a great website where you can stream really good movies (up to 4 per month) for free as long as your library is signed up with them and you are signed up with your library. You can take a look at it here:
https://www.kanopy.com/

New Jersey cases went up to 50 today with 3 people in my county waiting for test results. All children were sent home with tablets for online learning as the schools are now closed. A couple of my neighbors were sent home from work due to companies closing. American Dream was supposed to fully open next week but the whole complex has shut down to sometime in April . I went shopping and I guess I was lucky to go in the early afternoon since they said it was very bad early. Walmart was really not that bad more like going on a busy Sunday and they had just received some toilet paper about 15 min .before I got there. Still the shelf was just about empty when I got to it. Then went to Shop-Rite where everything but the meat counter was stocked well. No luck with hand sanitizer but had everything else I wanted. Just wish I did not have to work till this is cleared up.