https://www.ready.gov/pandemic
Basic things the US gov recommends in the case of a pandemic.
I personally went out and got 2 weeks of supplies last night.
Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
21–30 of 394 posts
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#22The 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…
Do you have a source for this analysis? Or for the numbers?
Generally, the CDC is quite good at their jobs. If you think they’re shrugging their shoulders right now and being lazy or complacent about something, you’ve probably misunderstood part of the story.
It’s virtually tradition for Internet comment sections to fill with overconfident armchair experts who claim to know better than the professionals as well as the general public in these cases of outbreak. The arguments usually hinge on one or two “gotcha” statistics that they think are evidence of a larger problem. IMO, it’s not helpful. Let’s focus on actionable tips like this article instead of armchair criticisms of professionals based on unsourced information.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#23In 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
That 'might' is probably safely replace with 'are'. No country - even the richest - is prepared to deal with this many ICU cases. For instance in the UK (which has a very good healthcare system) there are about 6k ICU beds on a population of ~65 million. And then there is the risk of having ICU personnel become infected themselves. This is not a trivial challenge.
In this case, I guess we have to just trust the people that go through the most competitive and intellectually demanding decade of school and professional training on the planet. They have the benefit of being on the front lines themselves, with the lives of themselves and their coworkers at risk.
edit: if it helps avoid distractions, let me say it is obviously not a "benefit" and medical professionals are underappreciated heroes. They deal with infections disease every day, sometimes far more dangerous than covid-19. For them, the danger and planning isn't hypothetical like it is for a vast majority of the commenters here. I trust the medical community to plan for this appropriately more that I trust any other group of professionals.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#24As 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 ma…
> As Hacker News is usually full of people that can provide good advice:
Be careful. Comment sections tend to attract overconfident armchair experts rather than professional advice. This is a forum where technology people congregate, not virologists.
You may get repeated advice about general prepper techniques, but in my experience the mainstream prepper types can be over focused on unlikely doomsday scenarios instead of more realistic extended economy-slowing scenarios.
> What should I personally do to prepare?
I suggest reading the linked article. This is exactly what the article is about.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#25We will see. The graphs of numbers of confirmed infected all seem to be bending down, but of course there's the possibility of biases like unreleased numbers and incomplete testing. I guess we will know in a few weeks which direction it is going to go. That being said, with death being so rare among the young, I don't see why most people should panic more than they do about flu season. Obviously it is a serious conce…
Most have older family no?
Sure. And we should be concerned for them. But I sense that many people are scared for their own lives and those of their children, which I feel is not really warranted. Maybe I'm generalizing my personal experience of my own mental state and who I've talked to, but that is what I've been exposed to. And of course the items discussed in the rest of my comment should modulate people's fears as well.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#26We will see. The graphs of numbers of confirmed infected all seem to be bending down, but of course there's the possibility of biases like unreleased numbers and incomplete testing. I guess we will know in a few weeks which direction it is going to go. That being said, with death being so rare among the young, I don't see why most people should panic more than they do about flu season. Obviously it is a serious conce…
The big population centers in poor countries are the ones to watch, especially where there have been wars and where there is very little infrastructure. Iran, Iraq, Syria, most of Africa, the poorer parts of Asia and Latin America, though countries with higher temperatures seem to be so far mostly spared. But those with lower temps will be the hardest hit if this is not contained, and likely that is a passed station already, containment has failed so now we need to brace for impact.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
> There is almost certainly community spreading in the US that is going undetected.
So basically you are making unsubstantiated claims so then you can be "correct" in your assertion there will be massively stupid group think actions afterwards.
There is always massively stupid group think. That's how this works.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#28We will see. The graphs of numbers of confirmed infected all seem to be bending down, but of course there's the possibility of biases like unreleased numbers and incomplete testing. I guess we will know in a few weeks which direction it is going to go. That being said, with death being so rare among the young, I don't see why most people should panic more than they do about flu season. Obviously it is a serious conce…
Death and rate of serious (ECMO/intubation) is much higher than the flu and this is much more contagious. Most of the reason we're seeing a bend in the numbers is also due to extraordinary measures being taken to slow it down.
It's hard to tell what's alarmist with quarantine and shutdown of schools/businessess coming down so hard on the affected areas. People aren't used to that sort of thing.
The right steps are being taken in general. If this does continue to spread, which seems likely, people will need to exercise calm and patience.
Otherwise, I think this assessment is dead on.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
That 'might' is probably safely replace with 'are'. No country - even the richest - is prepared to deal with this many ICU cases. For instance in the UK (which has a very good healthcare system) there are about 6k ICU beds on a population of ~65 million. And then there is the risk of having ICU personnel become infected themselves. This is not a trivial challenge.
In this case, I guess we have to just trust the people that go through the most competitive and intellectually demanding decade of school and professional training on the planet. They have the benefit of being on the front lines themselves, with the lives of themselves and their coworkers at risk. edit: if it helps avoid distractions, let me say it is obviously not a "benefit" and medical professionals are underappre…
That's not a benefit. And given that these people will try to do their jobs even when under=equipped and understaffed they are paid too little to begin with.
Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now
#30> One horrible effect of this continued “stop the pandemic” daydream masquerading as a policy goal: It is driving counter-productive and outrage-inducing measures by many countries against travelers from other countries, even their own citizens back from other countries. But possibly more horrible: The messaging is driving resources toward “stopping,” and away from the main potential benefit of containment – slowing the spread of the pandemic and thereby buying a little more time to prepare for what’s coming.
I don't get this part of the article at all. What's exactly counter-productive about not allowing civilian travellers from affected provinces? That seems like the best method to slow the spread to me. The longer we can keep it away from anybody, the better, because the more time we have to come up with a vaccine or alternative ways to combat the disease.
It's definitely possible that covid-19 will eventually reach all parts of the globe, but we should try everything possible to not let it reach those parts before we have come up with a vaccine.