Coronavirus - Global Health Emergency, 2019-nCoV #3

[JerseyGirl]

Electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn partially restarted production at its plant in Zhengzhou on Monday, but only about 10 percent of the workforce — or about 16,000 people — were reportedly able to return to their jobs.

The Chinese government also gave Foxconn the OK to reopen its factory in the southern city of Shenzhen..

The two plants contain most of Foxconn’s iPhone assembly lines.

Foxconn told workers returning to their jobs Monday to wear masks, follow a certain dining system and go through temperature checks.

https://nypost.com/2020/02/10/iphon...en-china-factories-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/

The expected delay in getting Foxconn’s factories back up and running could reportedly hurt the world’s iPhone supply. Full production at Foxconn’s factories likely won’t resume until late February because it will take one to two weeks to ramp up operations

 

[margarita25]

Electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn partially restarted production at its plant in Zhengzhou on Monday, but only about 10 percent of the workforce — or about 16,000 people — were reportedly able to return to their jobs.

The Chinese government also gave Foxconn the OK to reopen its factory in the southern city of Shenzhen..

The two plants contain most of Foxconn’s iPhone assembly lines.

Foxconn told workers returning to their jobs Monday to wear masks, follow a certain dining system and go through temperature checks.

https://nypost.com/2020/02/10/iphon...en-china-factories-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/

Gosh can you imagine how worrisome and upsetting it would be to return to work and see all the “missing seats” of your co-workers, wondering if they’re ill, in quarantine, dead....

 

[Tadpole12]

ETA Thinking it does the trick after all.

So you're gonna cross contaminate your kitchen saran wrap rolls,
and then what,
you're gonna need gloves to remove the contaminated saran wrap off the phone?
Without touching the sterile? phone?
or a surface area.
And then you have to dispose of the possibly contaminated saran wrap.

 

[JerseyGirl]

China’s president, Xi Jinping, who has been absent from public view as the crisis worsened, visited a neighbourhood in Beijing’s Chaoyang district. The president had his temperature taken and greeted residents and workers.

Xi Jinping appears in public as China returns to work after holiday

 

[KALI]

I'm thinking that Mr. And Mrs. Able have been sent to hospital. He hasn't posted anything for 3 days that I can find.

 

[JaneEyre]

This same thing happened in Hong Kong via SARS, iirc. Many, many people were infected in the same building, which brings the discussion back to the possibility of air vents. Maybe the contamination is via the elevators and/or stairwells also?

I’m thinking elevators. Grubby hands on numbers. I’m getting more OCD by the minute.

 

[JerseyGirl]

NYC’s three main Chinatowns — in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn — have seen business drop from 50 to 70 percent in the last two weeks. The owners of restaurants like historic Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Manhattan describe their environs as a “ghost town,” that business had reached a three-year slowdown last Monday.

Steve Ip, owner of Yin Ji Chang Fen, tells the Times that he’s been expecting crowds of international students visiting New York-based family during the Lunar New Year: They haven’t materialized, and business at Yin Ji Chang Fen is down by half.

The phenomenon is widespread. Restaurants in Boston’s Chinatown are suffering, too: At a time when businesses like New Golden Gate Seafood Restaurant are normally bustling, that establishment and others are practically empty.

Business leaders in Houston’s Chinatown are seeing the same situation. The owner of Houston’s Shabu house, Debbie Chen, said that she’s worried about being able to pay her staff.

Internationally, Chinatowns in London and Sydney observe declining business as well.

In San Francisco, Chinese Merchants Association spokesperson Edward Siu says foot traffic has dropped 50 percent in Chinatown.

The Effect of New Coronavirus on American Chinese Restaurants, Explained

 

[Amonet]

Holy Crap! 130 NOW!?!?!

Coronavirus infects 66 more passengers on Diamond Princess, bringing total to 130

I'm worried about the British couple, David and Sally Abel.

I'm also hoping for an update on the British newlyweds. Last I heard was that the husband was doing well, but I am concerned his wife might also come down with it after being shut in with him in a small cabin.

 

[JerseyGirl]

I'm thinking that Mr. And Mrs. Able have been sent to hospital. He hasn't posted anything for 3 days that I can find.

I wonder if the newlywed wife is still ok. Her husband was taken from the ship a few days ago, having tested positive.

 

[galiuro1]

Terrified here...my adult son who still lives with me is going for a wrestling meet in LA (i live in Arizona) this weekend with a bunch of macho guys. I have been hounding him to wash his hands and all that but afraid it will all go out the window for four days and then come home...I don't which I think is worse, me catching it or him catching it and me having to nurse him and then catching it...that was the worst part of mothering to me, nursing, as I am hypochondriac. I so do not want him to go but he loves doing this thing, he's taken off work...aghhh.

 

[Tadpole12]

I am glad whenever I see restrictions that are not just limited to the Hubei province, as we know Guangdong for example is highly infected as well, and has also proven to have accounts of spread from human to human transmissions, for example S. Korea patient. I’m worried that some of the protective measures that were initially geared only towards Wuhan/Hubei may have been helpful only partially.

—-

Beginning some research this morning as related to Guangdong:

Chinese cities try to flush out coronavirus patients by stopping cough medicine sales
February 9, 2020

“At least three Chinese cities announced in the past week that they would stop the sale of medicines for fever and cough, two of the major symptoms for the new virus, so that people will go to hospitals for treatment instead of self-medicating and staying home. Other symptoms of the virus include muscle ache and shortness of breath, which can then progress to more severe respiratory distress.

Hangzhou, an eastern city of almost 10 million that is home to Alibaba and many other Chinese tech giants, announced on Friday(Feb. 7, link in Chinese) that on the advice of its coronavirus management team, all pharmacies in the city would stop selling fever and cough medications (link in Chinese) effective the next day. The measure will apply as long as the city remains at the highest level of public health alert level. “Citizens with these symptoms should go to the hospital as soon as possible,” the notice said.

Following Hangzhou, Ningbo and Sanya (link in Chinese), two southern Chinese cities with a combined population of nearly 8.6 million, also announced over the weekend they would halt the sale of the two medicines, to better track and treat the coronavirus. Southern Guangdong province, home to the tech hub Shenzhen that borders Hong Kong, has asked residents (link in Chinese) to register with their real names at medicine stores when they purchase the two drugs, so officials can follow up with them.”

WOW
"stop selling fever and cough medications"
I did not see that coming!

 

[JerseyGirl]

Update from the David Abel, appears to be today?:

Coronavirus: 66 more cases on cruise ship as 'depression sets in'

On Monday, a week into their 14-day quarantine, some of the passengers were trying to fight off boredom by reading, watching live coverage of the Oscars, playing games or snoozing. Others were beginning to grow despondent, with at least another nine days to go before they will be allowed to disembark.

“Lots of the passengers now are getting a bit of cabin fever,” David Abel, a British passenger, said in a Facebook video. “Depression is starting to set in.”

Abel, who is with his wife, Sally, said he knew of passengers who were struggling with the meals being served during the quarantine period – a far cry from the wide variety of food and drink they had enjoyed until last week.

A lot of the food being served was “not to the passengers’ taste” and was going to waste, he said.

“It’s not right that I should grumble, but I am in that group. I’m not enjoying the food, it’s just not my choice of food. Even though I’m losing weight, it’s very hard to eat the type of food they’re providing for me,” Abel said, adding that lunch on Monday had been “two huge pieces” of salmon with vegetables. “Now I know that’s really good for me, but the salmon was so damn dry I couldn’t eat it.”

 

[Amonet]

This is actually "good" news. The virus did not infect that many people, 130 cases out of 3500 is less than 5% infection rate. So, maybe the ones infected were in close proximity to the initial case.

And perhaps the others have lower immunity, elderly or others.

I am relived that the number is relatively low.

I think part of the problem could be restrictions on how many tests can be processed each day. So most of those people were probably infected prior to the quarantine, or acquired it from their partner who was infected because of being shut in the tiny cabins for days?

They really need to get huge numbers of fast turnaround tests sorted out and sent around the major cities of the world in large enough numbers to get people tested faster.

 

[JerseyGirl]

David Abel uploaded a recent video on his Facebook page:

David Abel

 

[mickey2942]

I think part of the problem could be restrictions on how many tests can be processed each day. So most of those people were probably infected prior to the quarantine, or acquired it from their partner who was infected because of being shut in the tiny cabins for days?

They really need to get huge numbers of fast turnaround tests sorted out and sent around the major cities of the world in large enough numbers to get people tested faster.

Right, 130 cases out of how many actually tested?

 

[Amonet]

Here is an interesting study done for a set of patients that were already in the hospital for the virus. 26% are in ICU and 4.3% died. Wow.

Question What are the clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)–infected pneumonia (NCIP) in Wuhan, China?

Findings In this single-center case series involving 138 patients with NCIP, 26% of patients required admission to the intensive care unit and 4.3% died. Presumed human-to-human hospital-associated transmission of 2019-nCoV was suspected in 41% of patients.

Meaning In this case series in Wuhan, China, NCIP was frequently associated with presumed hospital-related transmission, 26% of patients required intensive care unit treatment, and mortality was 4.3%.

Clinical Characteristics of Patients With 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)–Infected Pneumonia in Wuhan, China

If that's the same study I read, which I'm sure was of 138 patients, it said that some of the people were existing hospital patients who acquired the infection from other patients. So they were probably already on a ward for people who had coexisting conditions. That would increase the % who needed intensive care as well as increasing the mortality rate.

IIRC SARS got into at least one nursing home for the elderly? Places like that need extra precautions taken as the people in them are often already in a precarious health situation without getting flu or coronavirus on top.

 

[Tadpole12]

I'm thinking that Mr. And Mrs. Able have been sent to hospital. He hasn't posted anything for 3 days that I can find.

Thank you , KALI.
I've been looking, too.
Wonder if other passengers are posting or doing interviews still?

ETA thanks JG

 

[JerseyGirl]

Thank you , KALI.
I've been looking, too.
Wonder if other passengers are posting or doing interviews still?

David Abel and his wife appear fine. They posted videos today on their Facebook page:

David Abel

ETA: I just started watching the latest video and I see he has a dry cough. He's blaming it on the air flow system. The Captain advised them today that it is fresh air from outside, not recycled air.

 

[sloane7777]

This same thing happened in Hong Kong via SARS, iirc. Many, many people were infected in the same building, which brings the discussion back to the possibility of air vents. Maybe the contamination is via the elevators and/or stairwells also?

Apt building , Cruise ship,

So you're gonna cross contaminate your kitchen saran wrap rolls,
and then what,
you're gonna need gloves to remove the contaminated saran wrap off the phone?
Without touching the sterile? phone?
or a surface area.
And then you have to dispose of the possibly contaminated saran wrap.

Anyone have a giant clean room with disinfection entryways and willing to post address to only us ?

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Hangzhou, an eastern city of almost 10 million that is home to Alibaba and many other Chinese tech giants, announced on Friday(Feb. 7, link in Chinese) that on the advice of its coronavirus management team, all pharmacies in the city would stop selling fever and cough medications (link in Chinese) effective the next day. The measure will apply as long as the city remains at the highest level of public health alert level. “Citizens with these symptoms should go to the hospital as soon as possible,” the notice said.

So everyone with regular influenza or other ailments that involve cough or fever now has to get their medication by going to the hospital, which then exposes them to CV?

I understand wanting everyone with those symptoms to get checked, but so many more people will have flu or bronchitis or pneumonia etc and need cough medicine or fever reducer, and those people, whose immune system will already be compromised, now have to go in to a place where CV is known to exist... There must be a better way...