I'll say this, though: when the topic of the coronavirus appeared on this forum (which is how I became alerted to the issue in the first place), I got a sinking feeling of dread that "Wuhan pandemic" hysteria would morph into unconsciously racist anti-Chinese attitudes (the same way last summer's measles hysteria in NYC became an excuse for flagrant antisemitic behavior towards Orthodox Jews). So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't fall into that trap. Your post veers close.
Thank you for your post, @coyote. As someone who is ethnically Chinese who still has family in Asia, I very appreciate your mindfulness of this issue at this time.
When the AIDS crisis occurred, I heard a lot of "Well, what do you expect from a bunch of [INSERT HOMOPHOBIC SLUR HERE] who act like [INSERT HOMOPHOBIC STEREOTYPING HERE]."
I don't think it's appropriate or useful to send that energy out into the world ... well, ever... but especially at a time when so many need our help on both the spiritual and material plane.
Wash your hands, eat fruit and vegetables, get rest and regular sleep. Your immune system is your friend so treat it well at this time.
Thank you for your message. It seems that many Asians from across the globe are beginning to experience discrimination right now. The is heartbreaking.
Here is a BBC story about the issue in France, but I have heard of issues in Canada and the UK too. Probably in every country. The University of Arizona, (not Arizona State where a student contracted the virus) cancelled Chinese New Year celebrations for this weekend siting concerns about the virus. That bothered me as they should then think about canceling any activity that might bring people together if they are that concerned.
French Asians have taken to social media to complain of a backlash against them in response to the Chinese coronavirus outbreak.
China has already seen almost 6,000 cases and 132 deaths, and France has had four cases confirmed.
Anti-Asian racism has been reported in the UK and elsewhere, and now French Asians have complained of abuse on public transport and social media.
They have been using the hashtag JeNeSuisPasUnVirus (I'm not a virus).
There was an outcry when local newspaper Le Courier Picard used the inflammatory headlines "Alerte jaune" (Yellow alert) and "Le péril jaune?" (Yellow peril?), complete with an image of a Chinese woman wearing a protective mask.
The paper quickly apologised, saying it had not meant to use some of the "worst Asian stereotypes".
Stéphane Nivet, head of Licra (the International League against racism and anti-Semitism), said no newspaper would have dared use the headline "Black alert" so it was clear there was a problem.
More on this story can be found at the link below.
There are two sides to what I said, and my frustration with humanity in general came off slightly stronger. I am aware that many in China are light warriors too
I figured this was the case. The frustration is understandable. In many ways these months are the nadir of this dark period, but this too will pass (as the Buddhists say). Being sick with bronchitis and asthma probably isn't helping things either.
“It is Chinese policy that those with Chinese dual or single nationality can’t leave Wuhan through an assisted flight.” This is effecting UK dual citizens currently.
In evacuation news, hundreds of Britons are trapped in Wuhan after the UK was forced to cancel a planned evacuation flight. A commercially chartered jet was due to depart from the Chinese city on Thursday morning to bring around 200 British nationals home. The Chinese government would not grant permission for the flight to depart however. Apparently this was true for planes from other countries as well.
Three Japanese nationals who returned home from Wuhan have tested positive for the coronavirus, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said on Thursday, citing the health ministry. Two of the three had not shown any symptoms, the ministry said, according to NHK.
The total number of deaths is confirmed to be 170. This is up from 132 reported on Wednesday, and is a rise of of 29%.
Confirmed cases now stand at 7,711, up from 5,974. (Not sure if this includes the just announced 3 Japanese citizens).
It’s understood that 162 of the deaths – or 95% – are in Hubei province, where the outbreak started.
The World Health Organization has officially declared China coronavirus a global health emergency.
The fast-spreading coronavirus has now infected more than 8,200 people across the world.
The rare designation will help the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the virus.
The announcement comes just hours after the U.S. confirmed its first human-to-human transmission of the virus from a wife returning home to Chicago from China has now transmitted the virus to her husband.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/30/who-declares-china-coronavirus-a-global-health-emergency.html
Tick Tick Tick
They finally declared it...
Meanwhile Russia closed it's border with China.
People have been under a partial or full lockdown and 7,000 people were held on a cruise ship in Italy as 2 people were tested for the virus.
Latest Updates
- The death toll stands at 213 inside China and confirmed infections are 9,096
- Possible infections are at 12,167 inside China with recoveries listed as 163
- The World Health organisation has declared a global public health emergency because of the spread of the virus outside China, describing it as an “unprecedented outbreak”.
- Cases outside China of the virus are increasing and is estimated to be over 100.
My question?
Only 163 recovered and 9,096 confirmed infections ???
????????
Who understands this stat??? It seems so incredibly low.
That is a great question.
The World Health Organisations stats are slightly lower with 7818 cases confirmed globally as of 30 January.
For the low number of recoveries, the only thoughts that come to mind for me are that:
1. There is probably a time lag in collecting statistics, especially as the number of new infections grows. This article from the guardian today about the awful situation in Wuhan, made me think that resources are stretched.
2. The low number of recoveries may also reflect the overall cycle of the infection, or the way a recovery is defined. It seems to take up to 2 weeks for symptoms to appear and then perhaps another 1 to 6 weeks for people to get well (this is pure speculation, I have no idea how long it takes for an infection to run its course). If that is the case, we may start seeing more recoveries 4 to 10 weeks after the first infections appeared in late December. Perhaps we will see higher recovery numbers from mid February onwards?
Maybe someone with public health expertise can shed light?
The coronavirus has now erupted in anti Chinese sentiment in America. Putting light around our Chinese American sisters and brothers. light to Chinese Americans. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/01/31/metro/fears-coronavirus-fuel-anti-chinese-racism/?p1=Article_Feed_ContentQuery
"Only 163 recovered and 9,096 confirmed infections ???
????????
Who understands this stat??? It seems so incredibly low."
"The low number of recoveries may also reflect the overall cycle of the infection, or the way a recovery is defined. It seems to take up to 2 weeks for symptoms to appear and then perhaps another 1 to 6 weeks for people to get well (this is pure speculation, I have no idea how long it takes for an infection to run its course). If that is the case, we may start seeing more recoveries 4 to 10 weeks after the first infections appeared in late December. Perhaps we will see higher recovery numbers from mid February onwards?
Maybe someone with public health expertise can shed light?"
Jeanne has public health degree and experience.
I have a Harvard masters in public health and I would say you have answered the question in the wake of not much information being released so far. The number of recoveries likely depends on two factors:
1. The definition of what constitutes a recovery. Since the disease has involved pneumonia for some then it could be a longer drawn out recovery which means we won’t know much for a few months.
2. Their data on the number of recoveries also depends on how many people who got sick have confirmed with them that they recovered, so there is likely a reporting error.
We don’t know what their procedures are for confining people who are confirmed cases and whether there is a likelihood of their losing track of them.
Early studies showed a 3 percent death rate. But nothing on recovery rates. I bet that death rate will go down once the Chinese health authorities are able to get more detection information out there and also able to get more test kits and prevention information and facial shields and plastic gloves out there. They have huge populations to deal with at an order of magnitude way beyond any US city.
There might be more information released by the Centers for Disease control that we could find. I suggest going to the website of the CDC for more information. I will also do a little looking when I can.
Update so far for today.
-
The death toll increased to 258, with more than 11,000 cases confirmed in mainland China.
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The UK, Russia and Spain recorded their first cases.
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The US declared a public health emergency and announced it will temporarily bar entry for people traveling from China unless they are Americans or immediately related to US citizens.
Thank you for shedding some more light.
@lovendures thank you for keeping track of the virus here. Botswana registered its first confirmed case today as well.
Thank you for adding Botswana
. I was thinking that people may get tired of seeing these posts. I feel that this news could easily get buried by what is happening in the US right now with impeachment and so forth. I have discovered The Guardian to be an excellent source for tracking information, other sources, not so much .
Here is the latest new information to add.
- The number of confirmed deaths from China’s coronavirus outbreak has risen to 259, as authorities in hardest-hit Hubei province reported 45 new fatalities.
- Cases of infection in China now stand at more than 11,790.
- Both the US and Australia have announced travel bans for anyone coming from mainland China, except for citizens and residents. Citizens travelling from China will be subject to a two week quarantine
- Multiple airlines have also suspended flights to mainland China until 29 March, including Australian airline Qantas which has cancelled flights to Shanghai and Beijing and Air New Zealand which has suspended flights to Shanghai
- Australia now has ten reported cases of coronavirus
- The UK government is withdrawing staff from embassies across China
- Beijing has criticised the US government’s decision to raise their travel warning advisory on China to the highest level of risk.
- According to a Reuters report, coronavirus has led to a damaging drop in tourism for beach resorts in Thailand which are hugely popular with Chinese tourists. Reduced travel from China alone could result in 50 billion baht ($1.52 billion) of lost tourism revenue, the Thai Tourism Ministry estimated.
- Sweden and Spain have verified cases of the virus.
- Cases recorded in Thailand, Taiwan, Germany, Vietnam, Japan, France and the United States involved patients who had not been to China.
This is also an interesting fact.
US preparedness to deal with the threat of coronavirus has been hampered by the personnel and budget cuts made by the Trump administration over the past three years, according to health experts.
There is no one in the White House tasked specifically to oversee a coordinated government-wide response in the event of a pandemic, since the post of senior director for global health security and biothreats on the national security council (NSC) was eliminated last May. The post was eliminated by John Bolton.
Funding has also been cut drastically to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), forcing it to reduce or discontinue epidemic-prevention efforts in 39 out of the 49 countries it had been helping.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/31/us-coronavirus-budget-cuts-trump-underprepared
You can now add Boston to the list.
Health officials in Massachusetts confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the state after a man returning from Wuhan, China, tested positive for the infection.
The man is in his 20s and lives in Boston, the state's Department of Health said in a press release on Saturday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified health officials about the case late Friday evening, the release stated, adding that the risk to the public is low.
China’s new confirmed infections from the coronavirus outbreak increased by a daily record, up by 2,590 cases on Saturday to top 14,380 as the quickly growing epidemic prompted global travel restrictions and evacuations. 304 people have died. 14,542 people have the virus worldwide.
The first known death of someone outside of China happened in the Philippines today.He was a 44 year old resident of Wuhan and the second confirmed case in the Philippines. He had traveled with a friend who was the first reported infection in the country, also from Wuhan.
As this virus continues to expand, I am sleepless tonight thinking about the suffering of Chinese and Chinese Americans who have to endure not only the horror of this virus in their mother country but the racist sentiments unfairly expressed against them. I apologize for any pain any reader of Chinese descent has experienced from what was written here and promise you that we will strive to correct any wrongs that occur in this forum and speak to the wrongs that have occurred elsewhere. People falter. This forum must be a place that is safe for everyone.
We must also be a place where people can make mistakes and be lovingly and gently reminded.
Johns Hopkins has an interactive dashboard that depicts the current number of infected as well as the current number of deaths and recoveries.
The number of recoveries has gone up a bit in the last couple of days and has now surpassed the number of deaths, which is reassuring.
Also all of the deaths are in China, with nearly all of them in Wuhan; I'm sure there are several reasons for this but perhaps these were early infected who thought they just had a cold and did not seek medical attention quickly enough. Also China's poor air quality would exacerbate lung problems brought on by the virus, although I am not certain re: the level of Wuhan's air pollution.
At any rate, this graphic is good for seeing the number of recoveries go up, which might bring some comfort to those worried about the virus:
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
Thank you so much for this information. It is so helpful to have easy access to an actual statistics readerboard for those who are concerned about the spread of this virus to get quick updates without caring and concerned members having to keep reporting updates here.
Love to you @lovendures with thanks for all your personally involved hard work ytying to provide so much information on so many places. We keep your family and your daughter and her college family in our thoughts and prayers that all will be well ? Love to you wonderful wonderful lady ?
It's incredibly important to be aware and informed. We have so many empathic and very sensitive as well as sensitized readers here who take news of outbreaks personally when risks in their area are low.
Treading the waters of informational statistics and being aware of spreading panic during these times will become ever more important in the changing times so this is great to know about!
Thank you so much Sistermoon. We appreciate your input on this site and I feel badly that there was a bit of mix up as threads were merged that we couldn't find your posts right off to welcome and reply to you.
Welcome welcome welcome! I am so truly happy to have you here as a member of our often very human but deeply caring tribe. ???