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Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

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Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#661

Post by kingosticks »

akg_67 wrote: post #415
rogy wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

on a side note, i have a week of PTO booked in tokyo then a week in kyoto/osaka, leaving friday. do you think its safe to travel?

Just FYI, this evening NHK news announced that most museums, theaters, and art galleries are being asked to close. Most events such as Sumo wrestling tournament are also considering closure. PM has asked all large events to be cancelled. In my city, not on your itinerary, all elementary and junior high schools are being requested to close. All community volunteer oriented events and classes are being cancelled for wh…

I don't suppose you have an (English) link to that news story? Im getting concerned about my (tourist) trip next week if stuff I want to visit is closed.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#662

Post by whoevercares »

heartbeats wrote: post #654
DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> those same authoritarian governments are the ones who played down the threat, lied, covered up to save face, imprisoned whistle-blowers, and refused to let international experts in. I'm scared that it will become a lot worse than that. The pandemic gives them a real-life stress test and lessons to harden the surveillance state and further improve technical controls and tweak the technology to become more effective.…

Yeah, but if 2% of all the Chinese die that's going to mess their economy up real good. Considering the whole thing is a house of cards, I'm bullish on the coronavirus.

For the virus the biggest challenge is if it survives the weather. If it’s in the same family as SARS, summer will kill it. The window is closing and My bet is it won’t have chance to infect more than 1M people within China. Btw I think 1M infected Chineses are bad enough to bring the economy down seriously, let alone 2% died of the whole population (280M dead people? Oh lord)

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#663

Post by iudqnolq »

stef25 wrote: post #525
DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having said that, I don't think it's the responsibility of the WHO to distribute masks to health professionals like your partner. it's the CDC's who acts on advise and recommendations made by the WHO. The WHO has in 2018 warned about a disease X[1], so the CDC and local health ministries would have had 2 years to prioritize and make sure there are enough stocks for PPE in the country. It's not only about the masks…

Hiring practices of elderly care facilities in Croatia aside, I very much doubt that EU hospitals are already short of facemasks at a time when there's less than 500 cases among a population of over 700 million. That there are no facemasks available to the general public is a result of people plundering the stocks of private businesses. European disease control agencies aren't even recommending that people wear masks…

N95 masks are available on eBay from sellers with good reputations for around 2x normal prices.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#664

Post by iudqnolq »

stef25 wrote: post #473
DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because you're angry over not getting a free face mask is a bit disrespectful toward the many people their working their asses off in times like these. my partner is a health care professional and there aren't enough masks for them (this is central Europe btw). but yeah tell me about how hard they work and how I don't appreciate them.

Here in Belgium it's almost impossible to find masks as well, except if you want to pay 70+ EUR https://i.imgur.com/dGd56Ng.png I suspect Asian customers have been plundering online EU shops for a while. Having said that, I don't think it's the responsibility of the WHO to distribute masks to health professionals like your partner.

N95 masks are available on eBay from sellers with good reputations for around 2x normal prices.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#665

Post by jacquesm »

blhack wrote: post #578

Ive been somewhat surprised at the coverage or lack thereof that this story has been getting on HN. This virus is disrupting manufacturing from China in a major way. It seems like one of the biggest tech stories of the last decade at least, and for some reason the stories about it seem to drop off of the front page really quickly. Are people flagging these or something for not being tech? Any of my network who does m…

> Are people flagging these or something for not being tech

Could be, or it could be because they don't want to fan the flames of panic or it could be because they'd rather not know.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#666

Post by jacquesm »

maxden wrote: post #421
AareyBaba wrote: post #118

Johns Hopkins has an world map with daily update of current coronavirus cases https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.h...

I would have expected to see Russia reporting more than two cases given the travel between the two countries.

Russia is not the most transparent country when it comes to such news, to put it mildly.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#667

Post by powerapple »

bitreality wrote: post #332
littlestymaar wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you really think it will be any different in the USA or Europe? Will the governments ban conventions? Close restaurants and bars? Shut down shopping malls? Look at Italy right now. > Or will instead, in the interest of "the economy" (ie, money) keep too light a hand on things. Sure, but this has nothing to do with authoritarian states vs democracy. You'll find a ton of authoritarian states doing exactly the same…

Here's the thing with Italy. They're the first Western country to get a major outbreak. They're being told to do things and assuming that it will stop the virus. But the truth is, containment does not actually stop the virus. It simply slows it. When or if this hits the US or elsewhere in Europe, and it becomes obvious that despite the quarantine in Italy, the virus still continued to spread, they will question the m…

I don't like the way how you characterize Chinese people. The fact is that most of Chinese trust the government and believe collectively they are making the correct choice. Maybe we don't think the same way as you, it doesn't mean we don't think.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#668

Post by mentat »

vbezhenar wrote: post #520
baq wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

slowing down the virus is required while hospital capacity is being scaled up.

Is it scaling up now? I live in Kazakhstan, we have huge border with China and a lot of people going through Kazakhstan transiting to other countries. I don't really see any scaling. I don't even see proper reporting, apparently we have no ill people. It sounds stupid and unrealistic, so nobody believe that, but officials say so. I'm prepared to get this virus soon enough, it seems inevitable. I'm young, so probably…

Thank you, I appreciate your perspective (and I think you're right)

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#669

Post by bryanrasmussen »

bitreality wrote: post #332
littlestymaar wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you really think it will be any different in the USA or Europe? Will the governments ban conventions? Close restaurants and bars? Shut down shopping malls? Look at Italy right now. > Or will instead, in the interest of "the economy" (ie, money) keep too light a hand on things. Sure, but this has nothing to do with authoritarian states vs democracy. You'll find a ton of authoritarian states doing exactly the same…

Here's the thing with Italy. They're the first Western country to get a major outbreak. They're being told to do things and assuming that it will stop the virus. But the truth is, containment does not actually stop the virus. It simply slows it. When or if this hits the US or elsewhere in Europe, and it becomes obvious that despite the quarantine in Italy, the virus still continued to spread, they will question the m…

>containment does not actually stop the virus. It simply slows it

If containment slows the virus then it might be wise to slow the virus if any of the following is true:

1. You expect to develop some treatment for it.

2. You think a slowly growing group of infected will allow you to study the infected and possibly discover a treatment (related to 1 but not exactly the same)

3. The virus is not expected to be a problem in the summer.

4. A slowly spreading virus means that you can better ramp up your facilities to take care of the infected. (related to 1 and 2)

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#670

Post by ghaff »

ainiriand wrote: post #381
asiachick wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think it will be any different in the USA or Europe? Will the governments ban conventions? Close restaurants and bars? Shut down shopping malls? Or will instead, in the interest of "the economy" (ie, money) keep too light a hand on things. Basically I don't expect the west to be able to react to this any better if it gets big. Their populations are uncontrollable (for mostly good reason) but in this par…

Barcelona cancelled the Mobile World Congress right away a few days ago. So yes, it is ready to do that.

The organizers of the MWC canceled it. Barcelona didn't want them to do so.
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