Community Chat

[denisemb]

I keep up with news, but don't panic over it.  DH & I are both retired and pretty much homebodies to begin with.  Generally keep plenty of supplies  on hand.

I'm also old school - washing hands with hot water and soap, so only used hand sanitizer for the 1st time today when picking up two pair of glasses - that was more to reassure the optician fitting them as we were passing them back & forth.  Also always wash hands before and when arriving home from an "outing".

However, I DON"T disparage those wearing masks, etc.  I have no idea if they may have compomised immune systems or anything that would put them at risk.

Just have the hardest time keeping my hands from my face - doesn't anyone else's nose itch??  LOL

[gidgetgh]

I actually drink bottled water, so....I bought bottled water.  

On the chance that we might have to stay home for an extended period of time, I figured we would need extra bottled water along with extra many other things.  So....I bought extra.  Not a hoard of water by any means, but a larger supply than I usually do when I buy our groceries. 

[Sooner]

Remember the Hanta (SP?) virus some time back?

[DiAnne]

I need to shop tomorrow.  I have Costco, grocery store and library on my list of stops. I am living my life as usual just not eating at restaurants for a while.  

[Boehm Collector]

@hummermom  .. I am by no means minimizing the potential dangers of the coronavirus.  But as of February 14, 2020,  14,000 people have died and 250,000 people have been hospitalized during the 2019-2020 flu season in the USA, according to preliminary estimates from the CDC. 

[Linmo]

I went to the post office and the UPS store today.  At the post office, the clerk cleaned his station with disinfecting wipes after every customer.    At the UPS store, the clerk used Purel after our transaction and offered it to me as well.  I didn't see anyone wearing a mask.   I'm in an area of CA with mulitiple cases so I appreciated the extra measures people are taking.  Hopefully, our businesses will keep it up in the future.  It would probably help to keep down the spread of colds and flu every year in addition to the coronavirus.

[lovesrecess]

They are saying only sick people should be wearing a mask....seems to me if they are sick, they should be at home, with or without a mask!

[lovesrecess]

It is so hard to even know what to believe with such conflicting info on social media and on tv. Since we have a dr in the family, we have been bugging him about this virus and he just said to wash your hands, stay out of places where you are crammed together with lots of people, and wash your hands with soap and water. He said the hand sanitizer hype is silly and soap works the best. Use the sanitizer if you can’t be around water to wash your hands. He just gets mad if we ask about the masks now....he said don’t waste your money but wear one if you are sick with coughing and sneezing so you don't get the rest of the family sick....same precautions as during flu season. He did say to be careful eating out if you aren’t pretty certain the food is prepared by people who follow proper hygiene. How could you ever be sure?

[pitdakota]

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@Boehm Collector wrote:

@hummermom  .. I am by no means minimizing the potential dangers of the coronavirus.  But as of February 14, 2020,  14,000 people have died and 250,000 people have been hospitalized during the 2019-2020 flu season in the USA, according to preliminary estimates from the CDC. 

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And herein lies the problem @Boehm Collector since I know you said you are not downplaying the seriousness of coronavirus.  But many people are.  It is not an either or.  Both the flu and the novel coronavirus are concerns of their own accord.  It is not one versus the other.

With the flu, we are concerned about the deaths, especially because we have vaccinations, 2 anti-viral medications that can be started if symptoms are caught fairly early, and many people walking around have some immunity to at least one substrain of influenza.  We have years of experience of treating individuals with complications of influenza in critical care units.  But yet we still have a number of deaths each and every year related to influenza.

With the onset of the coronavirus, there is no human out there that has any immunity to it when this first started.  And those that have not been exposed, still have no type of immunity.  There is no vaccine, and no known medications currently to give at the onset of symptoms.  It seems to be highly infective & there are evidently some scientists now questioning if there are not 2 different strains.  Don't know, will stay tuned on that accord.

It is very concerning that we might be possibly be looking at a signficant number of increase in cases when testing does become more available.  So people do need to be careful.  Especially those that have underlying medical conditions, are older, etc.  A vaccine is at least a year to a year and a half away from being available to the population.  

So they both should be of major concern for everyone at this point in time.  It will take a while for the coronavirus to flush out and figure out the specific details.  After all, it is an emerging disease.  With a fairly impressive fatality rate at this time.  And yes, right now it does have a higher fatality rate than influenza.