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Things slowing down around the globe. Be it a travel restriction on Europe or a sales stop in Italy.
Not even -> Forrest Gump was able to -> outrun the pandemic.

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Too true, Gerd.

Local news reported, last night, that COVID-19 has landed in Warren, OH with one patient now, at St. Joseph Hospital.

I wish the media, government, and medical industry would shift some focus from containment and prevention to how individuals can survive the infection - with hospitalization being a last resort.

It is much like a cold virus eventually it will make its rounds to everywhere in the U.S. It isn't going to be contained.

Below is some info that is better than anything I've heard from the media outlets - updated after some fact checking

Docuent #1 THIS ARTICLE WAS EDITED AND UPDATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH NEWLY ACCEPTED FACTS ON 5TH MARCH 2020

1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you MAY have a common cold/flu it isn't necessarily that you've caught the virus

2. The term pneumonia describes the swelling of lung tissue. It's usually caused by a bacterial infection, and has been seen in Covid-19 patients. One of the most common symptoms of Covid-19 is a dry cough

3. Because the virus is relatively new, there's a lot not known about it, like the temperatures it can withstand.so early after the discovery of the virus. What we can do is look at related viruses. Coronavirus is a family of viruses including the common cold, SARS, and SARS-CoV-2

Because the virus is relatively new to us, there's a lot we don't know about it, like the temperatures it can withstand. What we can do is look at related viruses. Coronavirus is a family of viruses including the common cold, SARS, and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19).

Studies have found that another coronavirus, MERS, was more stable at lower temperatures, and a warmer, humid environment slowed its transmission. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says coronaviruses in general can be destroyed at cooking-levels of heat, at around 70?C.

4.It's difficult to say exactly how far droplets spread when you sneeze, as it depends on a factors like humidity and temperature. Research in recent years has shown that droplets from sneezes have the potential to spread several metres from the sneezing person.

5. The WHO says "Studies suggest that coronaviruses (including preliminary information on the COVID-19 virus) may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days.

6. On fabric it may survive for some hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it.

7.you should avoid drinking liquids with ice.

8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but - a lot can happen during that time - you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on.

9. Gargling with salt water is recommended by the NHS for adults who have a sore throat, but only to relieve symptoms once you have caught it, not as a preventative measure.

10. Can't emphasise enough - drink plenty of water!

THE SYMPTOMS

1.It will first infect the throat, so you may have a sore throat lasting 3/4 days

2. The virus can blend into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further.

3. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing.

In general, 1-3 are roughly an accurate description of the common symptoms of Covid-19, although some patients may experience other symptoms and the timing of those symptoms may differ.

The CDC (Centre for Disease Control) says that sore throat has been reported "in some patients". More commonly, symptoms include fever, a cough, muscle pain and shortness of breath. Not everyone who has Covid-19 will get pneumonia.

CDC advises that you use its 111 online coronavirus service should you suspect you have contracted Covid-19.

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Docuemnt #2 What I am doing for the upcoming COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. email from James Robb, M.D., F.C.A.P.

As some of you may recall, when I was a professor of pathology at the University of California San Diego, I was one of the first molecular virologists in the world to work on coronaviruses (the 1970s). I was the first to demonstrate the number of genes the virus contained. Since then, I have kept up with the coronavirus field and its multiple clinical transfers into the human population (e.g., SARS, MERS), from different animal sources. The current projections for its expansion in the US are only probable, due to continued insufficient worldwide data, but it is most likely to be widespread in the US by mid to late March and April. Here is what I have done and the precautions that I take and will take. These are the same precautions I currently use during our influenza seasons, except for the mask and gloves.

1) NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc.

2) Use ONLY your knuckle to touch light switches. elevator buttons, etc.. Lift the gasoline dispenser with a paper towel or use a disposable glove.

3) Open doors with your closed fist or hip - do not grasp the handle with your hand, unless there is no other way to open the door. Especially important on bathroom and post office/commercial doors.

4) Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available, including wiping the handle and child seat in grocery carts.

5) Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and/or use a greater than 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you return home from ANY activity that involves locations where other people have been.

6) Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at each of your home's entrances. AND in your car for use after getting gas or touching other contaminated objects when you can't immediately wash your hands.

7) If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard. Use your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on your elbow will contain infectious virus that can be passed on for up to a week or more!

What I have stocked in preparation for the pandemic spread to the US:

1) Latex or nitrile latex disposable gloves for use when going shopping, using the gasoline pump, and all other outside activity when you come in contact with contaminated areas. Note: This virus is spread in large droplets by coughing and sneezing. This means that the air will not infect you! BUT all the surfaces where these droplets land are infectious for about a week on average - everything that is associated with infected people will be contaminated and potentially infectious. The virus is on surfaces and you will not be infected unless your unprotected face is directly coughed or sneezed upon. This virus only has cell receptors for lung cells (it only infects your lungs) The only way for the virus to infect you is through your nose or mouth via your hands or an infected cough or sneeze onto or into your nose or mouth.

2) Stock up now with disposable surgical masks and use them to prevent you from touching your nose and/or mouth (We touch our nose/mouth 90X/day without knowing it!). This is the only way this virus can infect you - it is lung-specific. The mask will not prevent the virus in a direct sneeze from getting into your nose or mouth - it is only to keep you from touching your nose or mouth.

3) Stock up now with hand sanitizers and latex/nitrile gloves (get the appropriate sizes for your family). The hand sanitizers must be alcohol-based and greater than 60% alcohol to be effective.

4) Stock up now with zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven to be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other viruses) from multiplying in your throat and nasopharynx. Use as directed several times each day when you begin to feel ANY "cold-like" symptoms beginning. It is best to lie down and let the lozenge dissolve in the back of your throat and nasopharynx. Cold-Eze lozenges is one brand available, but there are other brands available.

I, as many others do, hope that this pandemic will be reasonably contained, BUT I personally do not think it will be. Humans have never seen this (edited: animal)-associated virus before and have no internal defense against it. Tremendous worldwide efforts are being made to understand the molecular and clinical virology of this virus.

Unbelievable molecular knowledge about the genomics, structure, and virulence of this virus has already been achieved. BUT, there will be NO drugs or vaccines available this year to protect us or limit the infection within us. Only symptomatic support is available. I hope these personal thoughts will be helpful during this potentially catastrophic pandemic. You are welcome to share. Good luck to all of us!

James Robb, M.D., F.C.A.P.

James Robb, M.D., F.C.A.P., is a consulting pathologist to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research (OBBR), and is also the Leader of the cancer Human Biobank (caHUB) Biospecimens Subgroup, Latin America Cancer Research Network (LACRN) Pathology Committee, and National Community Cancer Centers Biospecimens (NCCCP) Pillar. He also serves on the Board of Governors of the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Dr. Robb's research interests include molecular oncologic and neurotropic virology.

When later asked if he authored the message James replied "It was my email to my family and close friends ONLY. Someone put it on their Facebook page. It was intended to be a monologue - not a dialogue. I do not use any social media and may have been too naive about what "sharing" means today."

When asked about usage of zinc lozenges James replied "In my experience as a virologist and pathologist, zinc will inhibit the replication of many viruses, including coronaviruses. I expect COVID-19 [the disease caused by the novel coronavirus] will be inhibited similarly, but I have no direct experimental support for this claim. I must add, however, that using zinc lozenges as directed by the manufacturer is no guarantee against being infected by the virus, even if it inhibits the viral replication in the nasopharynx."

Mass graves in Iran is a bad sign. The USA is the only industrialized economy where the public health is not the primary objective of the system. For profit health insurance means just that. If things are anywhere near as bad as 1918, the death rate will skyrocket, and the private system will collapse.

Imagine how a for profit system would respond to a polio epidemic like the 1950's. All those uninsured children would be turned away.

Brace yourselves and get ready to spend a lot of time at home. Before this is over I'll wager we will all know somebody who fell dead.

I think it's way overblown! It's a storm in a glass of water. Last year we had over 30,000 Americans die of the flu and nobody batted an eye. If you are elderly and/or have a weakened immune system you'll be at risk but it's no different than regular flu.

On a different note but in all reality the same: every election year we had a health scare: 2016 Zika, 2012 Ebola, 2008 Mersa, 2004 avian flu, and I forgot what 2000 was but it had one as well. Coincidents???

Thank you Jason75 for that wealth of useful info - especially that the virus is NOT heat resistant. Hope the sun begins to shine more here
and the outdoor thermometer reaches the 80-degree mark sooner, rather than later.

I hope you are right about the collapse of today's for-profit system, Tim Cole. IMHO, HMOs are rip-off.

As my late mother lay in the hospital, waiting to be discharged to hospice care, someone came in to draw blood. When we asked what that was for, they responded that it was to check her blood sugar level because she was a diabetic. When we advised that she was NOT diabetic they quickly left, but not without those vials of blood in hand.

Too much emphasis on filling schedules and collecting fees these days. I liked it better when we had doctors who knew that if you cured (not merely treated) patients, the rest would follow (in most cases).

The good doctor says the virus on metal will last at least 12 hours and on fabric - 6-12 hours; then states if you sneeze into your elbow, your clothing can be infectious for a week. Which is it?!?!? I think I agree somewhat that this is being blown out of proportion. More people have died of flu than the total of all the wars added together and this malady is, like all the others, honing in on the sick, elderly and those with compromised immune systems. Not that anyone would WANT to get it, but from what I can gather, reading about it, a healthy person CAN contract it, and recover from it.

if the virus can't stand heat, how does it survive in a 98.6 degree human body??