InVOLuntary
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2012
- Messages
- 56,932
- Likes
- 124,915
Might be a bit hasty. This is likely to be a long, slow burn. I’m an ER doc in the epicenter. We’ve had three positives including the non-travel-related one yesterday. The very limited initial geographic requirements for testing and problems with test development has meant that we haven’t tested a good number of folks with a reasonable story. As a result, I believe that it has been lurking in the community for at least 2-3 weeks. My guess is that we’ll see things mushroom in the next few weeks in gateway cities and gradually spread from there. Once that starts, fear spikes and lots of things happen simultaneously - prolonged school closures (I heard an interview with a US expat in China yesterday- has sent his kids back, as schools not expected to reopen until April to avoid rekindling the epidemic), decreased domestic travel, decreased economic activity as people hunker down, lost productivity due to illness. Medically, I’m not that concerned outside of the elderly or chronically ill. Societally, this is going to be a giant mess that is likely to take a good while to sort out, and will be a big drain on the economy for some time. Wash your hands, cover your cough and never, ever touch your face without washing your hands first (My main rule to live by in the ED).First corona death in Washington state. Time to buy next Friday midday