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Unread 02-24-2020, 05:30 PM   #15
Rich Z
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Crawfordville, FL
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Name : Rich Zuchowski
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It appears that public transportation is one of the major avenues of infection being spread. It's all recycled air in those flying tin cans. Any filtration of the air is not going to stop this very small virus from passing through. There was an account, over in England, I believe, where a cab driver infected every fare he had before they pulled him off of the street. And don't even think about taking a cruise for a while.

It appears that the USA is just as bad as China concerning allowing status and news to escape to the public. Which means that things certainly could be a whole lot worse than we know about. But they aren't telling us anything about what is going on around us.

This coronavirus can live on a doorknob for up to 9 days. A person with the virus can be asymptomatic for as long as 24 days while the virus is incubating, and beginning on somewhere around day 2 or 3, be shedding those virus particles to infect others.

Most people will only have light to moderate symptoms. Others will quickly wind up in the hospital with pneumonia. Heart and kidney damage has been noted. Some will die. If you survive, you can be reinfected and have to start this all over again. And there is suspicion that even the people who have "recovered" may remain infectious intermittently afterwards. Apparently the survival percentage of that second infection is not too good.

There is a lot about this that is not known at this point. If it is a weaponized organism that escaped from that Wuhan BSL-4 lab, there is no telling what we are in store for. But I can't imagine it will be something we are going to be all that happy about.

My advice would be to avoid getting this virus if at all possible. "Bugging in" is a popular phrase I am hearing lately. Basically stocking up on food and supplies, and locking yourself away from the rest of the world as best you can till the storm passes over. But even then, there is a real good chance that this virus is going to be a permanent feature of the environment from now on. Perhaps unavoidable to become infected with it sooner or later.

But if you are going to get sick from it, try not to do it when the number of serious cases reaches it's peak, and the hospitals have gone far beyond their capability of dealing with the work load. There are only so many hospital beds. Only so many doctors. Only so many nurses. Only so much medication available. Only so many pieces of equipment to help you stay alive if you are one of the ones that wind up in intensive care with lung, heart, or kidney failures imminent.

And bear in mind that China has nearly shut down production of EVERYTHING. That means spare parts for things that break that are MADE IN CHINA, might be scarce. Medications relying on raw materials from China are going to become hard to come by. Anything MADE IN CHINA, for at least the near term, won't be.

So take a look around and try to figure out what you may need to "bug in" in the near term, and what you may need for the long term if it will no longer be made, or able to get spare parts for.

I certainly do hope that the worst doesn't happen. But this is the first time any of these sorts of disasters has had me feeling pretty damn nervous about it. So I just don't think it wise to ignore it thinking, "Hell, that couldn't happen here, could it?" Well, yes, it looks like a pandemic IS coming whether we like it or not.

Florida isn't telling about suspected cases or anything else concerning the virus. Is it safe to go to Orlando? Beats me. Safe to be going to Miami? Heck if I know. Safe to go to the local Publix here in Crawfordville? When should we be "bugging in"?

So best I can tell, the only warning we will get is when someone we personally know comes down with pneumonia. I'm not sure that Florida is even testing anyone for the virus. Last I heard the test kits for the USA were defective, with results being inconclusive. How great is that? If the source for those test kits is China, I'm sure they need all they can produce for themselves.

Best thing I can suggest is that you wash your hands every chance you get. Religiously! And never, EVER touch your hands to your face under any circumstances. And then just hope you didn't breath in some of the virus particles when you walked through a cloud of them that someone just sneezed out in the space you just walked through a few moments later.
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