Santa Clara County Asks Apple, Google and Others to Cancel Large In-Person Meetings and Conferences

[1345873]

I agree. The common flu so far just in the US has hit 30M. Where is the panic over this number? There isn’t, because the flu is just a fact of life. We’ll get through this. Don’t panic. Get back to work.
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I agree. It is a weak virus, but being made into a strong political weapon.

The media is salivating over all of this. They are playing their audience as fools.

Facts is: we still do not know.
Advise: follow the advise of experts (level of evidence 2b) will not hurt you but can be potential beneficial. Do not follow the advice of the ignorant (level of evidence 3) this can potential hurt you, is not beneficial.

trusted sources: WHO, CDC, your trusted physician. NOT YOU!

 

[smorrissey]

Thxs God!!

 

[DailySlow]

Santa Clara County, which includes cities like Cupertino, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and San Jose, today issued new health guidelines (via The Verge) recommending that companies minimize or cancel "large in-person meetings and conferences."

The updated guidance comes as six new COVID-19 cases were found today, which means there are now at least 20 people in the county with known coronavirus infections.

Santa Clara County is hoping to reduce the spread of the virus in the Bay Area, and in addition to recommending against in-person conferences, has provided additional guidelines for employers:

• Suspend nonessential employee travel.
  
• Minimize the number of employees working within arm's length of one another, including minimizing or canceling large in-person meetings and conferences.
  
• Urge employees to stay home when they are sick and maximize flexibility in sick leave benefits.
  
• Not require a doctor's note for employees that are sick as healthcare offices may be very busy and unable to provide that documentation right away.
  
• Consider use of telecommuting options for appropriate employees.
  
• Consider staggering start and end times to reduce large numbers of people coming together at the same time.

While Santa Clara County recommends postponing or canceling mass gatherings and large community events, it says if there's no option to cancel, extra steps should be followed such as providing more physical space, encouraging sick people not to attend, frequent hand washing, and avoiding close contact with others.

Google and Facebook have already canceled annual developer events that were set to be held in Santa Clara County, with Facebook canceling F8 last week and Google canceling I/O earlier this week.

Santa Clara County has no specific dates included in its recommendations, and Apple has not yet made any announcements about WWDC, which is typically held in June at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

Apple may still have some time before it makes a decision about whether to cancel WWDC this year because of the coronavirus, but with the county's recommendation and the fact that Google and Facebook have both canceled events, Apple may choose not to hold WWDC.

There were also rumors suggesting Apple would hold an event in March to announce new products like a low-cost iPhone, AirTags, and updated iPad Pro models, but that seems unlikely to happen at this point. Apple could hold an online only event or simply debut new products via press release.

Article Link: Santa Clara County Asks Apple, Google and Others to Cancel Large In-Person Meetings and Conferences

OK. I went ahead and had a new battery installed in my trusty old SE two days ago. Waiting this one out.

 

[1345873]

Thxs God!!

For what?

 

[cmaier]

It's a flu strain.

When the first four words of your post are so clearly and demonstrably wrong, why should anyone pay attention to the rest?
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I'm not so sure of that, it's already spreading undetected throughout the populations of countries on every continent (if we're honest it's probably in more or less every country already, detected or not). Actively containing it to prevent its further spread, at this point is more or less no longer... well I will say feasible rather than possible as such. It may burn itself out on its own eventually, or we might help it along with a vaccine, or it may just become another endemic virus, but I don't think we actually have control of the outcome at this point.

Imagine what could have been accomplished if we didn’t have this weird global movement of disputing science for some weird political reasons.

 

[Ryth]

This virus is 20 times as deadly as the flu, and we still have an opportunity to stop it. We should seize that opportunity!

The Spanish flu of 1918 had a similar mortality rate, and it killed tens of millions.

No it's not. And the mortality rate is going to be within a normal range that the flu kills if not just a tad higher...even the NYT is saying this that this isn't as bad as people are making it out to be and we're getting to the point of over-reaction.

Stop buying into the panic.

When the first four words of your post are so clearly and demonstrably wrong, why should anyone pay attention to the rest?
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They are almost identical in symptoms...it might as well be the Flu...and again, there's a good chance the Flu kills more people globally and the Corona Virus kills waayyy less.

 

[cmaier]

No it's not. And the mortality rate is going to be within a normal range for flu if not just a tad higher...even the NYT is saying this that this isn't as bad as people are making it out.

Stop buying into the panic.

THERE’S NO VACCINE.

Even if this is ONLY as lethal as the flu, the R0 is twice as high, meaning it is much more contagious, AND THERE IS NO VACCINE.

How many people die each year from the flu? Now imagine that everyone who has it infects twice as many people as a flu victim infects (and each of *them* infects double the number of people).

Why is this so hard for people to understand?

 

[Ryth]

I'm not so sure of that, it's already spreading undetected throughout the populations of countries on every continent (if we're honest it's probably in more or less every country already, detected or not). Actively containing it to prevent its further spread, at this point is more or less no longer... well I will say feasible rather than possible as such. It may burn itself out on its own eventually, or we might help it along with a vaccine, or it may just become another endemic virus, but I don't think we actually have control of the outcome at this point.

It's very possible that this has been around for a while...even back in Dec/Jan. You cannot trust China and when this actually started/spread and where it came from.

Many cases of the flu that killed people late last year/early this year could have possibly been this and not the flu and they might go back and relook at some of these cases most likely.

 

[smirking]

It's very possible that this has been around for a while...even back in Dec/Jan.

You sound so confident in your answer here. Allow me to assist.

On December 31st, the government in Wuhan revealed that they were treating over 2 dozen cases of a mystery pneumonia. They initially declared that it wasn't contagious and there was nothing to be worried about.

Two weeks later, Wuhan's hospitals were full and getting overrun by people desperately seeking help, yet the Chinese government continued to put on a happy face and insist there was nothing wrong.

By the end of January all major cities in China were in lockdown, paralyzing China's economy and much of the world's supply chain. The WHO declares a global health emergency on January 30th.

Man, that is some flu.

They should have kept with their initial instincts and just kept insisting that everything was fine. It would have ended up fine if they didn't panic like that. What an epic fail on the part of the Chinese for hitting a fly with a cruise missle.

 

[1345873]

You sound so confident in your answer here. Allow me to assist.

On December 31st, the government in Wuhan revealed that they were treating over 2 dozen cases of a mystery pnemonia. They initially declared that it wasn't contagious and there was nothing to be worried about.

Two weeks later, Wuhan's hospitals were full and getting overrun by people desperately seeking help, yet the Chinese government continued to put on a happy face and insist there was nothing wrong.

By the end of January all major cities in China were in lockdown, paralyzing China's economy and much of the world's supply chain. The WHO declares a global health emergency on January 30th.

Man, that is some flu.

They should have kept with their initial instincts and just kept insisting that everything was fine. It would have ended up fine if they didn't panic like that. What an epic fail on the part of the Chinese for hitting a fly with a cruise missle.

Now you’re exaggerating..
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It's very possible that this has been around for a while...even back in Dec/Jan. You cannot trust China and when this actually started/spread and where it came from.

Many cases of the flu that killed people late last year/early this year could have possibly been this and not the flu and they might go back and relook at some of these cases most likely.

Ok, any betting advice? Or do you give that also afterwards?

 

[wigby]

No, it IS a pandemic. By definition. It’s now a world wide disease. It hasn’t been declared a “legal” pandemic that triggers certain things, but the term “pandemic” does not refer to the legal declaration.

This isn't climate change where 99% of scientists agree. The scientific community is still divided on calling it a pandemic at this stage because lives are in the balance. They will all be calling it a pandemic soon but not yet.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

One thing that I haven't heard anyone comment on, is the food and food ingredients that are being imported, or 'processed' in China.

The FDA allowed meat companies to ship their raw carcasses to China to be 'processed', and the results to be shipped back here. 'Processed' could mean almost anything someone could imagine. (I think 'pink slime', but that makes me want to go vegan)

No one is talking about it. Odd?

 

[cmaier]

This isn't climate change where 99% of scientists agree. The scientific community is still divided on calling it a pandemic at this stage because lives are in the balance. They will all be calling it a pandemic soon but not yet.

Pandemic is a word. It has meaning. It’s not up to scientists to determine whether it meets the definition:

“A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν pan "all" and δῆμος demos "people") is an epidemic of disease that has spread across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or worldwide”

How does CV-19 not meet this definition?

 

[starman111]

The mortality rate is going to be within a normal range that the flu kills if not just a tad higher...even the NYT is saying this that this isn't as bad as people are making it out to be and we're getting to the point of over-reaction.

Stop buying into the panic.

Yesterday there was a doctor briefing Congress who felt that the mortality rate of 2% - 3% was too high. Based on his evidence, he thought it would settle in around .4% to 1.0% (4 to 10 times the mortality rate of influenza). He mentioned that the mortality rate was more like 10% for older patients, based on what happened in Washington state nursing homes.

So, let's assume we have a virus that spreads like the flu, is 4 times more deadly, has no vaccine, and seems to be killing people in nursing homes at a rate of 10%.

I'm not panicking, but I do think we should treat this very seriously. High tech companies should send their employees home to work if it's reasonably convenient to do so.

 

[Krizoitz]

I LOATHE college sports. All fall Saturday is nothing but college football. All spring is the March basketball crap.

I understand the gambling degenerates need SOMETHING to sink their teeth into, but can't they just put it all on a special cable channel and put on something watchable like re runs of Taxi or travel shows?

You know YOU can always change the channel or just turn it off. There are a massive number of books you can read, video games to play, places to go. Not to mention a virtual endless stream of entertainment on demand and entire channels devoted to non-sports entertainment. Expecting/demanding the world to change to accommodate your particular tastes is beyond arrogant.
Remember: It’s ok to not like things, but you don’t have to be a jerk about it.

 

[TheSapient]

Ebola has not really been "contained" in the sense I believe you are trying to say. Ebola at best can only really be considered to be in remission.

Ebola is contained. It is not exterminated. "Contained" just means we can limit it's reach and scale. When it enters a new area, we can lock it down and prevent further spread.

 

[shadowcatz23]

Ebola is contained. It is not exterminated. "Contained" just means we can limit it's reach and scale. When it enters a new area, we can lock it down and prevent further spread.

I am going to guess you missed the outbreak that spread to other countries a few years ago? Or howbthe virus is still active in Africa and how quickly that spread. We most deff do not contain how fast and far it spreads.

 

[hagjohn]

It's a flu strain.

The Coronavirus and the flu virus are 2 separate viruses.

WHO: Coronavirus is different from influenza, and that means it can be contained

WHO officials are pushing the message that while seasonal flu cannot be stopped, countries still have the chance to limit cases of the new #coronavirus, #Covid19.

www.statnews.com

“This virus is not SARS, it’s not MERS, and it’s not influenza,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing Tuesday, referencing other coronaviruses that have caused smaller outbreaks. “It is a unique virus with unique characteristics.”

 

[TheSapient]

I am going to guess you missed the outbreak that spread to other countries a few years ago? Or howbthe virus is still active in Africa and how quickly that spread. We most deff do not contain how fast and far it spreads.

It spreads, but the spread is stopped and reversed. That's containment. There are periodic outbreaks, with a rapid spread that is stopped. That is containment. In the last outbreak, 2 people with the disease unintentionally brought it to the US. It spread to two more. The four people were treated. One died, three recovered. But it did not continue to spread. Because we can contain Ebola.

Covid19 is not contained. It is spreading exponentially.

 

[Ruggy]

We really don't know enough about it yet but it probably will turn out to be about as deadly as flu eventually in my opinion, except the hospitals being over-run will be less able to cope with those that are seriously ill.
Since the corona virus came on the scene, roughly 90,000 people have died of flu.

And we really have no idea when it started or how many people have been infected in China. They have only tested the people showing symptoms of pneumonia and therefore people who are already quite sick.

It maybe that there are more than 1 million people in China that have had the disease with very mild symptoms meaning it's mortality rate is in fact a lot lower than it seems.

And, we should also factor in people that would have died anyway from something else- old age, heart condition, cancer, flu etc.
It's been stated that an 'underlying condition' makes the virus more deadly but this includes smoking and obesity- both which make breathing more difficult.

What's sure is if you don't test anyone then you don't discover how many case you've got and to be anything like accurate you need to test everyone.

South Korea is the only country doing this and they have conducted well over 150,000 tests now.
They have drive-by testing so consequently they have probably the most accurate figures available and they have only 61 deaths and 54 critical from 7750 cases.
Assuming all half critical cases die (which is what the Wuhan doctors estimate) and this is therefore a snapshot of all cases likely to die from the current number of confirmed cases then that gives a mortality rate of about 1.1% which is about the same as the flu in a bad year.

But it's all speculation. No one knows and no one will know for a while.

We also have no idea who will die from lack of medicine as the Chinese factories have shut down.

In New Scientist they reported that in 2013 the Wuhan institute of virology, who were studying bat viruses in local,- caves, found a virus that could be transmitted to human cells in the lab.
In 2016 a team at Harvard examined the same virus, found it could replicate in human airways and declared it was, 'primed for human emergence' but that was as far as they went because of US laws on tampering with viruses (so the report goes).
This virus is 96% identical to the current coronavirus. That's still quite a long way off however.

The original Wuhan team did further work and saw it could be passed to humans living near the cave and they posted an international warning that more should be done to monitor this virus. That's as far as anyone took it.

New Scientist also reported (but I can't find the article at the moment) that the team in Bejing who decoded the virus (which is why we can identify it in hospitals all around the world now) compared it to over 200 other coronaviruses and its closest fit is to a bat virus but with some modification from a snake virus.