new coronavirus outbreak China, Korea, USA - mod warnings in OP (updated 24/02/20)

Kaya Prehistoric Landlord wrote: »

Any ideas on whether we legally can close our borders to EU countries in the event of them having epidemics?

Laws couldn't prevent the government from doing what it feels it has to, they just pertain to consequences later.

Kaya Prehistoric Landlord wrote: »

Any ideas on whether we legally can close our borders to EU countries in the event of them having epidemics?

What do you mean by close the borders? We're not self sufficient

Legacy Better Explosion wrote: »

Latest updates:

Iran loose a 6th person
The 'Ables' are said to be in a bady way
S.Kor's spread may have been due to a funeral (assume they do the let's shake everyones hand, and finger some ham sambos also).
The other plague (locusts) are darkening the skies in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and moving towards Pak/W.China
Offical drivers (of the 4 horsemen coaches), still aren't wearing their facemasks for the latest arrivals
Some of the Britons missed the latest flight, and were though to have 'made their own way off the plague ship'
Samsung closes factory that lake their latest flip phone yoke, due to an infected worker
Amzn are worried about their Prime day sales
The WHO have taken a couple off days off.

Imagine a bunch of infected workers at Amazon fulfillment centres; The virus on the packages which are then handled by couriers and postal workers who then go on to handle many more packages while asymptomatic. Not to mention the lucky recipients of the packages.

Mic 1972 wrote: »

Yep, and instead of stock piling food I wonder if it made more sense to slow down on social activities like going to the pub/concerts/etc.
Those are the places where people got infected in Italy

this. havn't been to the gym the last weeks...

Often use a train which is coming directly from the airport to the city center. Didn't think about it, got in, then, when seeing all the suitcases I realised it...

A couple with suitcases, sitting face to face not even half a meter distance between us...had the sudden urge to ask them WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??
But could contain myself...:D

Mic 1972 wrote: »

Yep, and instead of stock piling food I wonder if it made more sense to slow down on social activities like going to the pub/concerts/etc.
Those are the places where people got infected in Italy
Also Companies could start implementing work from home as a preventive safety measure
It may sound extreme now, but it's better than having to do it later once half the city is infected!

That's what I'm thinking.

Any epidemic here is likely to play out over months, peaking a few months after person-to-person transmission takes hold, and taking months to fall away after that.
In terms of practical things people can do to prepare, that time scale is important.

For people at risk of a poor outcome should they be infected, but who can take steps to avoid getting it at all, it would make sense to figure how to avoid infection.
That could mean things like:

• figuring out where to get good reliable information and advice on the progression of the epidemic and how to take care of yourself
• bringing forward essential travel to avoid travelling when infection rates are higher
• bringing forward minor and routine medical appointments and procedures to avoid needing medical services at the height of an epidemic
• choosing to avoid social gatherings you might otherwise want to attend - e.g. large family events
• restricting contact generally with people who might be infected
• seeing if you can get your groceries delivered rather than having to go to busy supermarkets

For people who are going out to work, living in city centres, travelling on public transport, dealing with large numbers of customers, avoiding infection is going to be much harder.
Though at least most urban-dwelling, bus-commuting shop workers are likely to be younger and so at lower risk of adverse outcomes.

For businesses, plans should be made for avoiding cross-infection between staff where possible, for operating during higher than usual staff absence, for home working etc.
We had the flu run through our office in December, and about a quarter of us caught it by the end. Some people were out for over a week. This new virus could easily be more disruptive than that.

auspicious wrote: »

Does anyone know is there any further detail about the two oaps which died in Italy; any underlying medical conditions?
Or has China released stats on how susceptible people with different conditions are to not recovering?

There are a couple of articles on the lancet about it:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30308-1/fulltext