Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
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Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
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Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#2In the preparation list, scaling ICU is most needed.
A lot of people survived thank to intensive care units. There might not be enough to cope with the peak
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#3The lack of testing and testing capacity in the US is deeply alarming. They’ve only run 500 tests so far and criteria still require the patient to have recently traveled from Hubei! By comparison South Korea is running thousands of tests per day, which is why it is picking up so many cases. Absolutely unforgivable complacency and lack of transparency from CDC.
There is almost certainly community spreading in the US that is going undetected.
Once local cases finally start getting reported and tested in the US, there will be panic and a lot of the same irrational hoarding behavior and shortages observed elsewhere. It would be better if the CDC mentally prepared and educated the public for what is to come. Normalcy bias is very real, and people here are still culturally not ready for this reality..
Edit: Some background for the above comments:
Epidemiologist at Harvard/ Brigham and Women’s responsible for virology testing there: https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/12315038051598131...
“Reminder: As of today (Feb 23), the US remains extremely limited in #COVID19 testing. Only 3 of ~100 public health labs have @CDC test kits working and CDC is not sharing what went wrong with the kits. How to know if COVID19 is spreading here if we are not looking for it.”
“Now >10 days since CDC recalled kits w still no explanation for failure. Failure to share what went wrong hinders progress by all labs nationwide. Expeditious sharing of information is a must during epidemics. We say this to China and CDC should practice as well.”
“Without more information, public health labs & well resourced hospital labs setting up CDC published assay in-house are held at complete standstill, unable to prepare for what will inevitably be concern for local transmission.”
“Without rapid diagnostics ready to go, healthcare infrastructure may become rapidly inundated, even if cases turn out all negative - an abundance of caution will require quarantines until test rules out a case. Any backlog can quickly hamper hospitals.”
“Additionally, recommendations for testing continue to tie in to recent travel to China or some contact. With cases in at least 28 countries, and local transmission increasing, testing and surveillance nationally must move forward”
“We cannot know if there is coronavirus here in US if we are not testing. We must get the US up to speed for diagnostics and we need expeditious information sharing from @CDC to the lab testing community here and abroad.”
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#4The lack of testing and testing capacity in the US is deeply alarming. They’ve only run 500 tests so far and criteria still require the patient to have recently traveled from Hubei! By comparison South Korea is running thousands of tests per day, which is why it is picking up so many cases. Absolutely unforgivable complacency and lack of transparency from CDC. There is almost certainly community spreading in the US t…
FYI, the article you linked is the same one the OP links to. Did you mean to link something else?
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#5The lack of testing and testing capacity in the US is deeply alarming. They’ve only run 500 tests so far and criteria still require the patient to have recently traveled from Hubei! By comparison South Korea is running thousands of tests per day, which is why it is picking up so many cases. Absolutely unforgivable complacency and lack of transparency from CDC. There is almost certainly community spreading in the US t…
FYI, the article you linked is the same one the OP links to. Did you mean to link something else?
Sorry! Just edited that out
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#6The premise of this article is that we should essentially press the “panic button” now, to get people through the shock of preparing for a pandemic while we know it’s safe to do so.
> Suggesting things people can do to prepare for a possible hard time to come doesn’t just get them better prepared logistically. It also helps get them better prepared emotionally. It helps get them through the Oh My God (OMG) moment everyone needs to have, and needs to get through, preferably without being accused of hysteria.
> It is better to get through this OMG moment now rather than later.
The preparedness tips in the article are generic enough, but worth skimming. Basically:
- Get extra prescription medicine now if you might need it
- A couple months of non-perishable food storage is a good idea
- Practice band washing and avoid touching your face.
- Cross train employees at work to minimize the impact of absences.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#7As Hacker News is usually full of people that can provide good advice: What should I personally do to prepare? I'm living alone and have the ability to work remotely once the virus starts spreading here.
My guess is mostly stocking up on food, which I've planned to do for a long time - sounds like a good motivation to finally prepare a list and get shopping.
Should I bother with a N95 mask? I already have surgical masks that I used last year when I got a cold, but FWIU they only help protecting others when you're already sick. I can spare the money for a N95 mask even if I don't end up using it, but I'm not sure it'll actually help.
Touching your face less and using knuckles to touch buttons as well as washing your hands more often are things I'm already working on. I guess I'll start carrying hand sanitizer when leaving the house.
What else can/should I do?
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#8I think the WHO not declaring a pandemic is mostly wishful thinking on their part, the longer they wait the bigger the impact to the system. There are now 30 countries with known infections, a large number with likely undetected cases due to lack of local infrastructure. Impact to the economy and general panic are on the one side of the scale, there is still only a very small chance that they will be able to contain this.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#9Recommendations for what individuals can do are buried but very practical:
* Try to get a few extra months’ worth of prescription meds, if possible.
* Think through now how we will take care of sick family members while trying not to get infected. Cross-train key staff at work so one person’s absence won’t derail our organization’s ability to function.
* Practice touching our faces less. So how about a face-counter app like the step-counters so many of us use?
* Replace handshakes with elbow-bumps (the “Ebola handshake”).
* Start building harm-reduction habits like pushing elevator buttons with a knuckle instead of a fingertip.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#10The lack of testing and testing capacity in the US is deeply alarming. They’ve only run 500 tests so far and criteria still require the patient to have recently traveled from Hubei! By comparison South Korea is running thousands of tests per day, which is why it is picking up so many cases. Absolutely unforgivable complacency and lack of transparency from CDC. There is almost certainly community spreading in the US t…
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