Big 12 just cancelled their tournament. I'd be surprised if the NCAA doesn't soon call off the tournament.

There’s no way the NCAA tournament goes on.

I suppose they could screen every player and lock them down on a secure site and play out all 63-65 games over the course of a week. That would be cool and a logistical nightmare.

The Big 10, SEC and American conferences just cancelled theirs as well. This isn't look good for March Madness

I'm glad that happened. Atlanta United had a home game scheduled for Saturday, and I was 90% on the side of not going (of course last week I was one of almost 70k at the home opener... doh).

NHL has now announced a suspension.

edit: well I guess not officially. But refs/game officials who are traveling have been instructed to return home

edit2: the suspension is now official

Well Georgia just announced its first death from COVID-19

Trudeau and his wife in self quarantine.

the movie "Outbreak" is #6 on Netflix today.

Not that these two fit the demographic, but with the typical age of legislators and executive branch leadership, given the stress they deal with, lack of sleep from travel, etc, it seems almost inevitable that at least one high-ranking official from the US or close ally is going to die from this, no?

That seems likely, yes.

It's dawning on the political class less "well known" as well... I work in public policy, and the likelihood of multiple people I know professionally dying from this seems very real.

We now have photographic evidence that Trump interacted with a positive case, but his narcissism will keep him from self quarantining. Sen. Scott did the right thing and announced he's in isolation after meeting the Brazilian last weekend.

Our big problem is the percentage of GOPers that still think this is no big deal. It may take high profile deaths to change that.

"Contagion" has been #1 on streaming sites for weeks.

See tweets that Duke has removed itself from the NCAA tournament. Looks like they are pushing the NCAA's hand into cancelling.

Give the title to us! It will give the NCAA something to take away after the investigation.


SI

Brazil's Bolsonaro now confirmed positive.

I’ve been following Minnesota’s Department of Health website the past few days. They have a running count of number of people infected and approximately how many tests they’ve administered. In case anyone was curious, it went from 3 and 133, to 5 and 225, to 9 and 316. So approximately 90 tests per day in our state at the moment.

Kansas just announced they are out. Game over.

And especially the elderly, some of whom ONLY trust Fox News and Trump.

A lot of big movie premieres, like Quiet Place 2 and the new James Bond movie are being postponed.

I'll keep going to the movies (as long as they're open), I tend to go at times I'm not sitting near anyone anyway. I'm curious to see how Regal will fill out the schedule or if they'll just reduce screenings.

Ugh.

Oh HELL NO! We get the title because we've actually qualified for the tournament with wins!!

Multiple positives now here in Newburgh.

MLB postpones opening by at least 2 weeks and cancels the rest of Spring training.

Ohio closing schools for 3 weeks starting after end of school Monday, calling it extended spring break.

Health Dept. head said that there is evidence to support that "community spread" has reached 1% of the Ohio population, which would be 117,000 people.

A lot of parents at my work are not happy since they have to find a babysitter or miss work.

Our government had an extended PM’s press conference on all the major channels today, and made a good point about this: shutting schools could mean the emergency babysitter is the grandparents... which brings the most vulnerable group into contact with the least vulnerable group who also show (generally) mild or no symptoms.

I have to say i was quite impressed with the whole message BJ gave with his medical & science officers, both in content and tone.

I heard another interesting point - 30% of all nurses are parents. With no school, nurses need to call off to stay with their kids. What would the impact of that be?

I wish I could be impressed with the message our head of government gave. At least Biden's message was good - unfortunately he can't yet do the things that would help the crisis.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp suggested (but not mandated) schools close for 2 weeks starting tomorrow. I work in Fulton County and they already closed schools on Tuesday and Wednesday. They re-opened today but it was already a planned teacher workday. Tomorrow is also a teacher workday. No announcement from Fulton yet on what they will do starting next week.

Maryland is about to announce statewide school closings next week.

We have one non-travel-related case in the state, as of now. But the buzz is audible here in state politics.

There's good evidence from 1918 that early school closing really reduced transmission. It's a hard decision to make, but it probably needs to be done nation wide.

Talked to my doctor today. He said Im a healthy T1D. So I have no worries.

He did suggest not flying unless absolutely necessary. But I havemy Dads 90th birthday. So that seems absolutely necessary.

My wife is a teacher and just got an email stating an announcement would be made soon.

Lindsay Graham now self quarantining.

Elementary schools in particular seem to be obvious places where viruses are freely spread. Easy for me to say, as it would be only a minor disruption for us because I work from home and my kids are old enough that all I have to do is feed 'em lunch and they'll handle the rest. That said, I watched my next-door neighbors' kids (ages 7 and 9) jump straight out of their mom's car--directly after having spent that last 6 hours in a building with 800ish other children--and run go hug and kiss their 68-year-old grandmother who had just driven up at their house. That seems pretty dangerous in this situation.

I'm good just as long as they don't delay Top Gun 2.

School age kids are the carriers. And the problem is when they go hone where grandma is raising them and give it to grandma and it kills grandma. Who raises the kid then?

Shutting schools is a very smart move.

Can you update me as soon as she gets word? I'm a student teacher and don't have access to county announcements.

This is going to be a problem, no?

JetBlue passenger tested positive for coronavirus before taking flight

I thought the people who were being tested showed symptoms and were quarantined? I would be so pissed if I traveled for work and ended up stuck in a hotel room for 14 days.

Why would you get on a plane?

It takes 24 hours for some tests to get a result. So they could have let him go and called him with the results... but in that case.. WHY GET ON A PLANE!

And down goes Disneyland..

We were scheduled to go next week. I assumed it wasn't happening but am glad I have no choice. The thought of a ghost town Disneyland was a little tempting...

Will do although I've heard nothing yet. Seemed dumb to send an email saying "hey, we'll send an email later."

I'm in Dekalb, so the only thing that matters is who paid the BOE members more.

Looks like there's going to be an emergency school board meeting (by phone) at 530pm tonight.

I'm guessing all schools around the country will be closed soon. I know that helped a lot with the Spanish Flu. I guess the twist is that this virus doesn't seem to really be hitting kids.

Good. Now that we are done with all the mass sporting events, let's get back to the important stuff like toilet paper :)

I like Fauci. He is telling it the way he believes it regardless of whether Trump reams him or not. Keep at it, don't worry about a job, regardless of what Trump says to you, odds are looking good you'll have one in Jan 2021. He's my early favorite for Time Person of the Year so far.

Trump - this is a loss for you. Few will blame you for the coronavirus and early mis-steps are somewhat understandable, but your administration's current response (including you) is pretty underwhelming.

Joe - not sure if its a win for you yet, but looks like you have something to play with for the next 8 months.

Bernie - one more debate (because I want to see Biden one-on-one anyway), but then please do the right thing.

Stock Market - you do you. It'll get worse before getting better but I know it'll get better so get it all out and let's do another great bull run.

Like I said earlier, they are the carriers. That si the problem, they wont show the symptoms and take it home and get someone sick who ends up dying.

The numbers out of Italy are downright scary. I know it's an older population but their death rate is over 5%.

Supposedly Atlanta closed schools for 2 weeks but unsure of others. Cobb as well.

Might as well close down for four weeks at this point. Being out 2 weeks to come back for 1 just to go on spring break seems dumb given the circumstances.

Biden's idea to set up mobile hospitals seems like a good idea.

The United States has only 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. Italy has 3.2 beds per 1,000. We are moving rapidly towards a massive shortage: expanding hospitals, getting more beds, and figuring out how to make some mobile to handle local outbreaks is critical. pic.twitter.com/iVV8aZ0XmA

— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) March 12, 2020

Fulton closed until further notice. Very short email to staff that said more detail forthcoming in official communication.

Rudy Gobert's statement: "I hope my story serves as a warning and causes everyone to take this seriously." pic.twitter.com/X0ouGK5J7V

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 12, 2020

#Facts

Um... holy shit.

I just got off the phone with my doctor. The guidance she's getting is that for folks who are immuno-compromised. (I am, two medicines I take are immune supressants) are to avoid gatherings of more than 20 people, and I'm not to come in for scheduled follow-ups if the situation is fairly stable (of course, I have to report any symptoms IMMEDIATELY if not sooner).

This is going to be a crazy couple months.

Good luck man.

Washington announced all public schools in King, Pierce (that's me), and Snohomish counties are to close by March 17th and are scheduled to reopen on April 24th.

What was the reasoning behind cutting the pandemic response team a couple years ago? Doesn't seem like deficits matter much to Trump so it seems like a silly thing to cut.

Trump said it was a waste of money and he can get them back together if needed (spoiler: he can't).

Basically: "Obama created it? Get rid of it."

At least until April 1st, we (The Netherlands) will be in some sort of semi lockdown. All 17M inhabitants are asked to avoid social gatherings as much as possible (everything of 100+ people is completely out of the question) and working at home is heavily encouraged (mandatory with any kind of symptoms of the flu). Curiously, all schools through the age of (+/-)18 are asked to stay open. Restrictions and requests are somewhat differently for those working in the cure and care sector (I'm in the later), as they're asked to stay available as much as possible, but we'll have to see where that goes for people just strictly working at the office (like me). Traveling abroad is discouraged (even forbidden for people in my area of business). Containing is the word now, it's clear that this is the only way to avoid widely fast spreading this thing.

A discouraging thing is that until about a week ago, all positive tests were said to be linked with people having returned home from (Northern) Italy (perhaps sample size issues at work here?), but that's no longer the case. Finding out where it started looks no longer possible. Too many people from across the country have been at massive social gatherings in the last weekend of February in the largest province of the country, which is also where the highest percentage of positive tests has been. A large test amongst hospital employees showed 4% tested positive in that province, regardless of whether they had any symptoms of the flu.

Has there been an explanation for the lack of tests and testing? Is it a supply issue? Coordination issue? It really seems like South Korea is doing an amazing job handling this. Their death rate is remarkably low compared to other areas of the world.

Coronavirus in South Korea: How 'trace, test and treat' may be saving lives - BBC News

Coronavirus Test Kits | Covid-19 Test Kits | Coronavirus Testing

(bit from the article)

There's a massive shortage of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) test kits in the U.S., as cases continue to skyrocket in places like Seattle and New York City. This is largely due to the failure of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to distribute the tests in a timely fashion.

But it didn't have to be this way. Back in January and February—when cases of the deadly disease began aggressively circulating outside of China—diagnostics already existed in places like Wuhan, where the pandemic began. Those tests followed World Health Organization (WHO) test guidelines, which the U.S. decided to eschew.

Instead, the CDC created its own in-depth diagnostics that could identify not only COVID-19, but a host of SARS-like coronaviruses. Then, disaster struck: When the CDC sent tests to labs during the first week of February, those labs discovered that while the kits did detect COVID-19, they also produced false positives when checking for other viruses. As the CDC went back to the drawing board to develop yet more tests, precious time ticked away..

All the NKY schools are closed starting Monday subject to change.



I'm flying to Newark tomorrow to hang out at EWR for 7 or 8 hours, subject to an assignment (for the 3rd time this month.)

It seems we are too greedy and need to squeeze a buck out of anything even citizens suffering.

They are the prime carries and transmitters I bet. I got five school age kids and my wife is a fifth grade teacher.

I am going to watch at least two episodes of this over the weekend and report back.

I will hold you to that! It is sooo bad, but I watched the whole series.

I was wrong. The numbers are still the same and I was wrong. I just wasn't seeing the bigger picture and underestimating the rate of spread, as well as the unreported rates.

The biggest issue right now is that there are no tests, hospitals have to assume that anyone with symptoms even close have it, and some of them are looking at the Italy situation and rightly freaking the fuck out.



It is what it is, and it's going to be a really rough year.

It can't be that bad, right? 260 episodes!

So I have a blood disorder that requires periodic phlebotomy and follow up. It is called hemochromotosis if anyone is interested.

I had a check up today to have a blood draw done and meet with my hematologist. I am fine and not really at higher risk, despite having Type 2 diabetes caused by this disorder.

When I have my blood drawn they do it right at the office, which is in the hospital in the oncology wing. Prior to even being allowed in the elevator they had a cop verbally screening people.

While in the exam room the phone rings and the guy doing the blood draw answers. It was the hospital phone, not his cell.

I obviously can only hear half the conversation but he is obviously exasperated, and saying things like

" wasn't she screened"

"didn't she have a masl"

:are you kidding me!"

There is a full lab downstairs on the first floor. turns out someone went to the lab who was systematic. The protocol is they immediately mask them and tell them they need to go home and call the health department for guidance. Turns out not only did they stay, but removed their mask and hung out for a while.

We are all so screwed.

If we shut down for a month or so it would make a huge difference, but I don't think we're going to be willing to do that until there are a lot of dead parents and grand-parents.

Stores out/shortage of TP?
No problem just buy multiboxes of kleenex/nose tissue.
Some brands may be fragranted, but it works works just as good.

Tell that to the sewer line.

If you are forced to stay home...just use the shower. Damn I don't get the TP hysteria...or use paper towels and a trash can like a large portion of the world.

Kleenex ain't strong enough for my shit.

But I got in early so have 2 months to Charmin extra strong TP and not sweating it.

Wow so Ohio head of state health department says they have over 100000 infected.
In Italy they have had to start with battlefield triage. For anyone who has not been in the military and especially combat that means they focus on those who can be saved and not spend resources or time on those who are unlikely to survive. Just make them comfortable and focus on those they can save. I saw a head of a hospital chain in New Rochelle they have to at least be prepared to d9 the same if too many get sick.
In Iran there is satellite evidence of them dig mass graves for the dead.

This. If needed you can you old cloth and wash it. Lack of TP isn't the end of society.

100,000?
Have you got any link for that?
That's the kind of fear mongering I just don't understand.

Disney World closing starting March 15th through the end of March. Crazy to think I was there just last week.

I saw similar.

It is less than 1% of their population. Do you really think thats such a large number?

Okay this one is strange. I called my daughter telling her to be prepared when they shut her school down (Southeast Missouri St.). An hour later she calls me back and tells me it is shut down. But weirdly enough, the dorms and Greek houses are staying open. WTF?

Whats the point of shutting down classes if you are not shutting down the dorms.

Then I ran into a girl that played ball with my daughter. They shut her school down during spring break ad wont let students back until April 6. She packed 4 days of spring break. WTF?

I stopped at Albertson's grocery store early this afternoon to pick up some chicken to throw on the grill. Normally, the parking lot is about 10% full at this time. I had trouble finding a space. First thing I see is some lady coming out with a shopping cart full of toilet paper and jugs of water.

When I get inside, there are "sheeple" with overflowing carts lined up 12 deep at each cash register, and the self-serve kiosks have about 20 people standing in line.

The irony is that if these idiots kept to their normal shopping patterns, they would be LESS likely to be at risk than packing themselves together like sardines.

I said "Fuck it" and went through the El Pollo Loco drive thru.

Little League International just contacted our local board and recommended that we shut down all baseball activities for Little League until April 6. Man, we don't even get local Little League, ugh.

Many schools are leaving the dorms and a "student union" eating spot open to accommodate the international students. If you are studying in Boston, but are from India, what would you do if they shut the dorms down for 2 weeks? You could fly back to India, but good luck getting back here when schools open back up (plus the expense of it all).

Got the call tonight.

My daughter's school district is closing Monday for 2 weeks then it is spring break.

So, 3 weeks then we'll see how it goes.

This is the most confusing thing ever. Does anyone really know what is going on?

I mean, one girls college shuts them out, another lets them live on campus.

What is going on? Italy is shut down, No news out of CHina recently. WTF?

This is the dumbest disease ever.

It's snowballing. Daughter's and wife's school systems are shut down for "indefinitely" right now. There is a school meeting to figure out for how long and how to do remote classes tomorrow.

My son also let us know today that college said shut down for a while, remote classes, and don't come back to the dorms after spring break (exception for foreign students). Not a big deal for my son, he is on an off-campus apartment.

Looks like many schools & universities are going to temporary shutdowns and remote classes.

I wonder if part of this is fear of being sued?

I went to Costco today. Bruh...

Ohio Health Department Director Believes at Least 100,000 Ohioans Are Already Infected With Coronavirus

Not fear monger if true. I actually saw it reported on Faux News. Lol

Considering it’s almost equal the confirmed number of cases globally ...yeah I think it’s pretty irresponsible.
It’s pretty much yelling fire in a crowded theater.

Why is that irresponsible. That very likely is the case. This thing has a R factor of 2or 3 which means it spreads like compound interest works.

Dola - to be clear I’m not suggesting it’s not an issue. It needs to be taken seriously and has been handled poorly, globally.

But it’s also not insta death end of the world stuff either.

But it isn't.

It is no secret we haven't been testing. Confirmed cases mean nothing.

If you look at the rate of transmition, exponential growth, etc...it isn't hard to fathom 1% of a states population could be carrying this.

Honestly I think the far more irresponsible thing is to pretend it isn't this bad and claim things are being blown out of proportion. Look how thats worked out so far.

There are 5 confirmed cases in Ohio.
5.
With a true r3 that’s 9 orders of magnitude. 9 Levels of r3.

South Korea who has done more tests than anywhere and has been dealing with this for much longer, before it contagious level was known ....has roughly 10% the number of infection in the entire country you suggest the state of Ohio has.

And that’s without taking into account hygiene and technology and density advantages Ohio would have.

But we are better than a large part of the world, we must use TP. And not that cheap shit either.


I don't get the TP hysteria either.

Ohio has now banned 100+ gatherings.

so much for my genesis recreation band concert at the end of the month. Several plays cancelled.

i was sick anyway so like....just every day for me sitting here