“Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing.” — @DrTedros on #COVID19, the name of the disease caused bye #2019nCoV https://t.co/TnXj8Gnaz7
— Andrew Joseph (@DrewQJoseph) February 11, 2020
#COVID19: China’s Feb. 11 numbers are up. +2015 confirmed cases, +97 deaths. Totals are 44,653 confirmed cases & 1113 deaths. pic.twitter.com/Wv14i3m3V7
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 12, 2020
The fact that @WHO went with a naming convention that they say allows for any future coronavirus spillovers to be easily slotted in (Covid-22, Covid 25, e.g) seems to convey the realization (not present at time of SARS) that these kinds of outbreaks are going to keep happening.
— Megan Molteni (@MeganMolteni) February 11, 2020
Coronavirus likely now ‘gathering steam’ https://t.co/uM98AUZtpW
— Matt Watson (@BioAndBaseball) February 12, 2020
This is incredibly sad. And very unsettling. #COVID19 #2019nCoV https://t.co/2rgk73fSqn
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 11, 2020
The quarantine on this ship is unacceptable: it’s concentrating people into what is increasingly looking like an environment that’s facilitating transmission. Whether a city of 11 million or a ship of 3000, simply cordoning people off is not an ethical or effective quarantine. https://t.co/xZitZ5B5rR
— Dr Alexandra Phelan (@alexandraphelan) February 12, 2020
This is a hard truth- while the IPC measures against #2019_nCov are not new & HCWs already have the skills, this doesn’t prep us for PPE shortages & the exhaustive challenges of hospital prep that are often not a priority until the last minute. We need to do better in healthcare https://t.co/jCTgbtpqSD
— Dr. Saskia Popescu (@SaskiaPopescu) February 11, 2020
Scary article — worth reading:
Another citizen journalist covering the coronavirus has gone missing in Wuhan https://t.co/jVswKUhTeT
— Quartz (@qz) February 12, 2020
Singapore’s biggest bank DBS has evacuated 300 staff from its head office as a precautionary measure following a confirmed #coronavirus case at the lender https://t.co/MGLOmoEMur Follow the latest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak: https://t.co/RW95u2iLOR pic.twitter.com/qBVw1w7Di2
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 12, 2020
#2019nCoV: a short report on Nepal’s first case. Helpful to get a sense of what a case — not severe but not nothing either — actually entailed. https://t.co/MowiKmoQ9j
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 11, 2020
The recovery rate for the novel #coronavirus across China rose from 1.3% on Jan 27 to 10.6% on Feb 11, with more patients discharged from hospitals, according to China’s National Health Commission. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/oTzCJPncui
— People’s Daily, China (@PDChina) February 12, 2020
The Sociology of an Outbreak: Stigma and economic impact “the outbreak has had a decidedly dehumanizing effect, reigniting old strains of racism & xenophobia that frame Chinese people as uncivilized, barbaric ‘others’ who bring with them dangerous, contagious diseases.” #medsoc https://t.co/wAuC9Br8O1
— Richard M. Carpiano (@RMCarpiano) February 12, 2020
Disinformation vector:
Steve Bannon and his billionaire benefactor’s debunked theory about coronavirus has made the jump to Fox News.
Unsurprisingly the conduit was Tucker.https://t.co/P6MsgMUa0z
— Madeline Peltz (@peltzmadeline) February 11, 2020
Tucker Carlson is “just throwing this at you” not endorsing it….he’s just wondering if the Chinese government created the Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/iUlPY6FOkD
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) February 11, 2020
Chris T.
Is it just me, or does Carlson have Resting Idiot Face?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Chris T.: It’s not just you.
OzarkHillbilly
Carlson is a known carrier of the moronivirus.
YY_Sima Qian
Citizen journalists essentially run naked in China. Accredited journalists from accredited domestic media have their editors and bosses to run interference for them, and give them guidance on what kinds of stories are currently safe, what kinds of stories are currently taboo, and what kinds of stories are currently in the grey zone. Accredited domestic media also generally have supporters and backers at different levels of the CCP bureaucracy, who can provide some protection. A reporter can be reprimanded, or even fired, but rarely arrested and imprisoned. Citizen journalists have none of these protections. The first eight whistle blowers got what amounted to verbal warnings when first interviewed by police in the beginning of Jan., and the High People’s Court in China has since essentially exonerated them in a commentary in late Jan., but that was enough intimidation to keep medical professionals in Wuhan and elsewhere quiet during the crucial first three weeks of Jan. People trying to capture the ugly reality of the overwhelmed medical system in Wuhan and Hubei, and the human tragedies that result, in gruesome detail will likely be detained under “disturbing social stability”, if not charged and sentenced to prison.
It’s not that people in China (especially people in Wuhan) don’t know about the ugly reality (extremely overcrowded hospitals, severe and critical cases and their families desperate for a chance at a hospital bed in isolation ICU, infected people dying painfully without ever getting confirmation and proper treatment, medical personnel on the front lines without adequate PPE and getting infected themselves). Those of us in Wuhan have all heard horror stories first and second hand. The situation has been widely (though often obliquely) alluded to in Chinese media, and heart rending tales abound on Chinese social media (so far not censored), including direct pleas for help (with photos of the patient and CT scans to prove authenticity) from the distraught families with severe and critical cases stuck at home, watching their loved ones slowly succumb to suffocation. However, the regime must fear that such widespread tragedies made even more real in photos or videos will cause a popular emotional backlash.
On other topics, I have no idea why quarantine is so anathema to so many people. Quarantine alone is not effective to contain the virus, but it is an effective delaying action to give the rest of the country and world a chance to be better prepared. If the lock down of Wuhan and Hubei was not declared on 1/23, after the scale of the epidemic and the reality of widespread human to human transmission became opening acknowledged, there would not be 9 million people in Wuhan right now, may be half of that instead. Just the epidemic in Wuhan and Hubei has already stressed the world’s supply of PPEs, imagine multiple Wuhans around China, across E & SE Asia, and with other hot spots around the world. There would be critical shortage of PPEs everywhere. The rest of China would not be in a position to reinforce Wuhan and Hubei in personnel and materiale, as they are doing now.
Consider Japan, which I read has a total of 1800 beds in isolation wards across the entire country… That is why Japan and South Korea have been very high profile in providing vocal and material support to China, in spite of the historical animosity. What happened in Wuhan can happen anywhere, if the spread is not contained very early.
However, the sad reality is that the infected persons from Wuhan and Hubei who got out before the lock down currently have better chance for survival elsewhere in China if he/she requires a lot of medical intervention. The dark joke on Chinese social media is that in other cities in China, there are 10 doctors treating each patient, while in Wuhan there are ten patients to each doctor. Exaggerated, surely, but gets the point across. And that is with over 10 thousand medical personnel sent to Wuhan from the rest of China. Classic prisoner’s dilemma.
The cruise ship is a different matter, though IMO. One would hope Japan could have accommodated 3000 people in quarantine on land, sort through the infected from non-infected, provide care for the infected, and not place risk on the general population. There are so many islands in Japan.
Cermet
First, thanks for your detailed reports – we all here appreciate both your efforts and the stress this flu has upon you ad your family/friends – stay strong and keep updating us. The rest of the world has a lot to be thankful relative to the Chinese people and government in their efforts to contain the spread of this illness. As you pointed out, this has dramatically slowed its spread giving all of us more time to reach spring when (hopefully!) this flu cycles down. Maybe we get a return come fall but by then (again, hopefully), everyone is more prepared and a vaccine might be ready (I bet EVERYONE will want it here in the US so it will be restricted further increasing its demand – even the beyond stupid anti-vaccer’s will demand this shot – lol.)
satby
A friend just got back from visiting his elderly mom in Singapore and wasn’t feeling well yesterday. so went to urgent care. Hopefully he’s fine, but haven’t heard anything further about it. Don’t think they’re screening passengers from other countries on arrival, just China.
Princess
@YY_Sima Qian: Thank you for your comments, and I send fervent wishes that you keep free from all dangers. I agree with you about the cruise ship. I have read that the people on the ship all want to be tested but Japan says it does not have the capacity to test 3,700 people. That is concerning for many reasons.
YY_Sima Qian
@Princess: Given the large amount of goodwill Japan has recently garnered in China, I am surprised Japan doesn’t just ask China to release a batch for them to purchase. China must be producing and consuming high thousands of test kits per day. On the other hand, early on during incubation, an infected person may not show positive test result. The safe and humane course of action should be to quarantine everyone from the ship on land for 14 days, and isolate the people from each other during that time period.
Emma
My mom is supposed to fly out this Saturday from Singapore to visit us… sigh. EVA has so far not cancelled the flight, but apparently, there is talk now of upgrading the threat level to red next week. (She’s friends with relatively senior doctors, so I put a bit more credence into her hearsay.)
Hermann Fegelein
I’m going to continue to think of it as the Wuhan Coronavirus because I’ve got a friend in Hubei County (not sick, fortunately) and I’m worried to death and very angry at the CCP, and thinking of it as the Wuhan Coronavirus brings the reality and the stakes home to me more strongly.
If you want some really good information about this, go on Youtube and look at laowhy86, sperpentza, ADVChina, and Zooming In with Simone Bao (news and analysis from Taiwan, I guess this is a show on a Taiwan TV network)
Feathers
Maybe it’s because I’m in a bubble, but I’ve seen zero racism, but all my social media feeds are filled with people denouncing racism towards the Chinese. I don’t doubt that there has been in person racism, but we also do have to be careful of the ways that anti-“bigotry” work can make the word “bigotry” trend on social media and increase the pressure on those feeling the effects of whatever hate is current.
Really just wondering, because I am certain that what I am seeing would be against best practices if we knew what those were.
ema
Mr. Fang Bin is a very courageous man. He knows government agents who mean him harm are just outside his door and he still manages to remain calm and collected.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
This is a bit concerning but may just mean more mild cases are able to be tested and more fatal pneumonia cases are being definitively identified as caused by the virus.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3050354/coronavirus-hubei-province-reports-sharp-spike-new-confirmed
Emma
@Feathers: You’re very lucky then. I’ve seen assholes come into cute animal tweets to say shit like “China called, they’re waiting for their food.” Anecdotally, I hadn’t seen that on Twitter until the coronavirus became a media thing. At a Costco 30 minutes from me, a food sample person visibly recoiled from a Chinese American family because the child was wearing a mask, and refused to serve them because that child must have the virus!1!!1
So, count your lucky stars that you haven’t encountered racists, I guess.