Corona Virus Now Spreading

[kittyluv387]

Wipes and hand sanitizer are good, masks are not. The only masks that will protect you are N95s which are sold out nearly everywhere and you have to be fit tested to ensure that they're actually doing you any good. Plus, if you wear a mask you are more likely to touch/adjust that mask which means you are touching your face more frequently which you should not do. Sick people wearing surgical masks can help some as it does a little to keep their sneezes and coughs contained but it doesn't do anything at all for those who are healthy.

But then I read things like this.

Professional and Home-Made Face Masks Reduce Exposure to Respiratory Infections among the General Population

Governments are preparing for a potential influenza pandemic. Therefore they need data to assess the possible impact of interventions. Face-masks worn by the general population could be an accessible and affordable intervention, if effective when worn ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[KittyFriday]

That's an interesting study, thank you. I'll admit I'm not a scientist; I'm basing my non-use of masks on the information I've been given by my coworkers who work with infectious pathogens regularly (we are a research office). It was also brought up as a potential concern by a doctor who gave a COVID-19 lecture to our building yesterday.

The study does mention that fit is a very important factor in the level of protection, and acknowledges that there are limitations within their study that could have impacted results.

I think as long as you can keep yourself from adjusting the mask constantly and touching your face, there's certainly no harm in wearing something on your face, but it may not protect you quite as well as you may think especially if you've not been fitted to the mask in question. Meaning I wouldn't be super upset if you couldn't find a mask for purchase and there are probably more effective ways to be battling the disease - handwashing constantly and keeping your hands away from your face being big ones.

 

[Willowy]

I think the problem with the study is that it measured how many particles got behind the mask, and of course masks keep particles out---that's what they're made to do. But germs are a little sneakier than that. Plus, most Americans aren't used to wearing a mask so most of us will probably be messing with it all the time and germing up our faces. In places like Japan and Korea where they wear masks a lot, it might be different.

Anyway I heard that the 3M plant in Aberdeen is working at full production 24/7 to try to meet the demand for N95 masks.

 

[Willowy]

Meme time!

And don't forget to disinfect your phone/tablet/mouse too!

 

[Harry6]

Coronavirus in cats is well known because it is the cause of FIP. People hear coronavirus and make that leap. They assume that there is one coronavirus and they are one in the same. This particular virus is.... completely different from the one that infects cats

Denise, I think you are very right - people hear "coronavirus" and leap to false information. Unfortunately, that sort of misinformation gets spread around. Coronaviruses of various kinds in people are actually fairly common.

 

[terestrife]

They won't accept you for hospitalization unless you're so sick you couldn't properly care for your cats anyway.

Now, the really hard one is not touching your face; we all tend to do a lot of face touching, and we never really think about it, and that's a hard habit to change.

Margret

That makes me feel better that I won't be forcibly taken if I end up infected. I don't often get sick so I'm not worried (knock on wood. Lol)

Something I've started doing is using my shirt to scratch my face. I get itchy from allergies and need to scratch my eyes. So i touch the outside of my shirt and use the inner fabric to scratch my eyes. Also I'm doing all the other steps just in case that you listed.

 

[muffy]

They now have 3 cases in Montgomery county in Maryland just outside of DC.

 

[les26]

Since Christmas me, Deb, people at work and many others here in Eastern PA. have been sick and it took each of us 2 months to get over it. Jokingly today someone at work said "we probably had it already", and when I looked up the symptoms sure enough we were VERY close matches to just about all of the symptoms including the intestinal part which finally sent me to the doctor awhile ago! I'm wondering if it was not just a virus borne out of this wacky warm weather like the doctors told us, perhaps did we have this Corona virus before they knew what it was????

 

[catapault]

les26 Reports of the first appearance of Covid-19 in China suggest that it first appeared Dec. 12 about 700 miles south of Beijing in Wuhan, a city with more people than New York and Chicago combined. It would seem unlikely that within another 12 days or so it had reached Bucks County, PA. Impossible? I'm not willing to go that far but remember that coincidence is not causality.

 

[susanm9006]

First case just reported in my County. A STUPID woman who was on a cruise ship with a reported case, got sick 12 days ago but only contacted authorities two days ago. Who knows how many she could have infected in that time.

 

[Willowy]

Reports of the first appearance of Covid-19 in China suggest that it first appeared Dec. 12 about 700 miles south of Beijing in Wuhan

That's the first time it was identified through testing. There's a fair possibility that it was going around for a while before anyone noticed a higher-than-normal incidence of pneumonia. No way to know. But that said, there are a bazillion different strains of respiratory viruses out there, could have been any one of them.

I read something interesting about this strain. Kids are not being affected. Those that have tested positive were only tested because of other people in the home having it, not because they were very sick. No kids have gotten pneumonia because of it. They don't know if that's because kids have fresh lungs, or if people who have been previously exposed to a similar strain of coronavirus are having a more severe reaction, or what. But it's unusual for babies and small children not to be affected by a respiratory virus---usually they have about the same hospitalization rates as elderly people.

 

[Texaskitty]

meme time?

 

[kittyluv387]

I'm absolutely outraged hearing about people throwing their pets out the window in china...wow. Read an article with pets it's so sad. I read an article with pics...of cats. Even if my cats could and were infected that would just mean I'm getting it with them..hmph.

 

[Margret]

I have been reading where some people have been stocking up on guns and ammunition to prevent mobs from looting what they have.

For some people, a gun is a lot like Linus's baby blanket. It doesn't make sense to me, but that's probably because it's emotional rather than sensible.

Not to be rude, but heavens, contaminated tap water? Seriously? In California?

No one's told me. I use it all the time. I've seen no evidence of any kind whatsoever that there's anything wrong with the drinking water here. One of my neighbors had "brown water" because her home's pipes had rusted. That went away when she repiped (with the aid of my cat-loving handy helper.)

I remember back in the 1970s LA and So-Cal in general were big markets for bottled water (in spite of perfectly decent tap water), because, according a 1979 National Geographic article, it was very aggressively marketed here. I think that's true, honesty. That's been a 40+ year habit, which appears to have spread to the rest of the country.

I was in southern California (Orange County) visiting my brother in early 1983, and the tap water then truly was undrinkable. When I went up the coast to Santa Barbara for a couple of days I didn't have any purified water along and ended up drinking tap water in my motel room and it made me sick. This is the only place in the country where this has happened to me.

I read something interesting about this strain. Kids are not being affected. Those that have tested positive were only tested because of other people in the home having it, not because they were very sick. No kids have gotten pneumonia because of it. They don't know if that's because kids have fresh lungs, or if people who have been previously exposed to a similar strain of coronavirus are having a more severe reaction, or what. But it's unusual for babies and small children not to be affected by a respiratory virus---usually they have about the same hospitalization rates as elderly people.

The quote I heard said that kids are affected "differently" than adults. They did not elaborate.

Good article that I ran across: A View From China.

Margret

 

[maggiedemi]

I have a doctor's appointment on the 17th and a dentist appointment on the 25th. Should I cancel? I'm not sure I want anybody's hands in my mouth.

 

[susanm9006]

I have a doctor's appointment on the 17th and a dentist appointment on the 25th. Should I cancel? I'm not sure I want anybody's hands in my mouth.

I wouldn’t cancel - get them out of the way. And I am sure they will be gloved.

 

[Margret]

I wouldn’t cancel - get them out of the way. And I am sure they will be gloved.

And masked, presumably.

Margret

 

[terestrife]

why are people worrying about catching the virus from animals? do people get that close to their pets mouths? i found a funny picture of cats wearing masks and then found out why they were wearing them. i feel sick to my stomach.

 

[Winchester]

They now have 3 cases in Montgomery county in Maryland just outside of DC.

And there are two cases now in Pennsylvania

I have a doctor's appointment on the 17th and a dentist appointment on the 25th. Should I cancel? I'm not sure I want anybody's hands in my mouth.

I also have a doctor's appt later on this month and am seriously considering re-scheduling for later on in the spring. My appt is strictly a blood pressure check and to get yelled at about my weight. I'll be honest, I don't want to walk in there and sit with a bunch of sick people. I just don't. They can always call down new prescriptions to get me through to an appt in the spring.

 

[muffy]

And there are two cases now in Pennsylvania



I also have a doctor's appt later on this month and am seriously considering re-scheduling for later on in the spring. My appt is strictly a blood pressure check and to get yelled at about my weight. I'll be honest, I don't want to walk in there and sit with a bunch of sick people. I just don't. They can always call down new prescriptions to get me through to an appt in the spring.

I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday and I never gave it a thought. There were only a few people in the waiting room.

I saw on the news last night that there was a run on the warehouse stores like Sams Club because the virus was found in 3 people in northern Maryland.