PRINCESS SHIPS & CORONA VIRUS

[em-sk]

10 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Why don't they come into San Francisco Bay where it is more protected? Are they far enough offshore that they are in international waters and thus not fully subject to U.S. government control?

 

Not certain exactly where the dividing line for California but typically out at sea they can burn bunker fuel.  In port they have to switch to more expensive diesel.  

[brisalta]

Just now, em-sk said:

 

Not certain exactly where the dividing line for California but typically out at sea they can burn bunker fuel.  In port they have to switch to more expensive diesel.  

 

They are also restricted to engine idle time in San Francisco bay and need to hook up to shore side power

[Pushka]

4 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

No, they are in US territorial waters.

They are probably out there so they can make fresh water. They are not allowed to dock yet so would not be able to hook up to shore side water supply. Also they would not be able to hook up to shore side electric supply because they are not allowed to dock. San Francisco Bay has a limitation on how long engines can be run for cruise ships. Grand Princess switches to shore side power when it docks there.

I heard on our Aussie media today that if there is just one positive result then everyone will be put into isolation for 14 days. Now, our media is likely as bad as yours so I'll just put that out there. That's over 3000 people. If that turns out to be then tomorrow's discussion with Pence will be probably, awful. Because it's likely that amongst three thousand plus travellers from all over the world, the likelihood of one positive amongst everyone is likely high. Time will tell. Countries and ports cannot simply take on this burden. Especially in the Med. 
 

There are four Aussies onboard so the media here does have some skin in the game. 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Pushka

[brisalta]

16 minutes ago, em-sk said:

 

Not certain exactly where the dividing line for California but typically out at sea they can burn bunker fuel.  In port they have to switch to more expensive diesel.  

 

I think the limit for bunker fuel is 20 miles from land.

The North American Emission Control Area for Marine Vessels is actually described as a long series of longitude/latitude pairs.

By the way the dividing line between inland waters and Ocean waters is the Golden Gate Bridge area. the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin has charts you can download if your interested. You can view them with OpenCPN.  I sometimes use that when I am on a cruise.

Edited March 6, 2020 by brisalta

[emdia43]

10 hours ago, Reader0108598 said:

 

Folks keep a grip!  we have to live period! it is no worse than the flu! Wash your hands! Am I getting on a flight or a cruise ship soon no!  Panic will kill us before the corona virus!  I have more that one auto immune disease so need to look out but not panic!

 

 

This is what a pandemic looks like- 

 

[cruiserchuck]

24 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I heard on our Aussie media today that if there is just one positive result then everyone will be put into isolation for 14 days. Now, our media is likely as bad as yours so I'll just put that out there. That's over 3000 people. If that turns out to be then tomorrow's discussion with Pence will be probably, awful. Because it's likely that amongst three thousand plus travellers from all over the world, the likelihood of one positive amongst everyone is likely high. Time will tell. Countries and ports cannot simply take on this burden. Especially in the Med. 
 

There are four Aussies onboard so the media here does have some skin in the game. 

 

I suspect that will be the case if anyone onboard tests positive.  I do not think there is anywhere nearby to put 3,500 plus people into isolation, so I am not sure what will happen.  

[disneycruisinsusan]

On 2/26/2020 at 2:20 PM, Ereggae said:

Yep! We have two back-to-back 15 day Hawaii cruises scheduled for all of April on the Grand! In light of new developments yesterday, I am wondering if Princess will be cancelling more cruises on the Grand...Both my husband and I have had pneumonia several times, and are very susceptible to respiratory infections, so we are thinking we would NOT go if Princess does not cancel the April cruises on the Grand.

 

But now with the Grand sitting off the coast of California waiting, this is a second Princess ship that has had an outbreak of exposures! It is time to do something about cancelling cruises for a couple months...I know that they have in Asia, but now Hawaii is being affected and port cities and airports, etc.... We are waiting on cancelling, because we will lose a lot of money on two cruises back-to-back  if we cancel now, but if Princess cancels  between now and our cruise, we won't be penalized. They did cancel the current Grand cruise that was supposed to leave yesterday, I believe, or maybe today! I think they will cancel more!

 

My husband's best friend works on the ship and he texted us and said it was bad, not good at all! 😷😷😞😞 Lots of sick people, some most likely with the flu, but definitely some with Coronavirus! And crew are getting sick as well! 😳😳. Does not sound good for the Grand! More quarantined and sickness! At least they are close to where they can be treated in American soil! 

 

We are praying for everyone who has been exposed and hoping that if it develops, it will be a very mild case!  GOD Bless all of those exposed to this virus....🙏🙏🙏🙏💙💙💙💙

 

 

 

Got this from the Princess Website. 

 

 

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/coronavirus-update.html

Issued yesterday but we know talk is cheap and whether these steps are being taken is another story.  I have a cruise coming up in a few weeks but will not cancel in advance but will play it by ear.

 

[Oville]

59 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I heard on our Aussie media today that if there is just one positive result then everyone will be put into isolation for 14 days. Now, our media is likely as bad as yours so I'll just put that out there. That's over 3000 people. If that turns out to be then tomorrow's discussion with Pence will be probably, awful. Because it's likely that amongst three thousand plus travellers from all over the world, the likelihood of one positive amongst everyone is likely high. Time will tell. Countries and ports cannot simply take on this burden. Especially in the Med. 
 

There are four Aussies onboard so the media here does have some skin in the game. 

 

33 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

I suspect that will be the case if anyone onboard tests positive.  I do not think there is anywhere nearby to put 3,500 plus people into isolation, so I am not sure what will happen.  

Are you two sailing on Princess or Celebrity?  You are  appearing on  both forums, just curious.  Trolls?

Edited March 6, 2020 by Oville

[cruiserchuck]

I have sailed with Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, Seaborn, Oceania, and Carnival in the past.  I do not have any future cruises booked right now.  I was planning to do a transatlantic and/or Europe cruise in the April/May time frame, so I have been following the threads on many boards regarding the virus.  

 

I just got home from a Nile cruise at the end of January, and felt lucky I completed the trip before the virus scare took off.  We were around many folks who were coughing/appeared sick on the trip, but there was not much in the news yet about the virus, so we were not worried about it.  Ignorance was bliss.

[Pushka]

31 minutes ago, Oville said:

 

Are you two sailing on Princess or Celebrity?  You are  appearing on  both forums, just curious.  Trolls?

That's a pretty disgusting comment. I had respected your contributions until now. 

Why should I restrict my cruising to one cruise line? I have cruised with Princess (Diamond, Dawn, Golden and Pacific) Cunard - QM2 several times, RCL and Celebrity (multiple times) and Viking. I have several cruises booked on three different cruise lines. What do you make of that then?

 

On the other hand you frequent Celebrity site and roll calls so why don't you apply the same logic to your own posts?

Edited March 6, 2020 by Pushka

[caribill]

17 hours ago, GonzoWCS said:

Yes how many cruises will be affected especially after Princess' "EXTENSIVE" screening techniques?

 

Wake up Princess and get a grip on your processes!

 

No process will detect the virus in people infected, but not yet showing observable symptoms.

[disneycruisinsusan]

On 2/28/2020 at 9:16 AM, elliair said:

What I find really interesting on the list in the article are the dogs that got infected! This IS originally an animal virus that jumped species to humans from animals at the market in Wuhan. That means that if we get it, those of us with pets, cats and dogs and other animals susceptible to this particular Corona Virus, we could pass it onto them!

 

And therein lies a big problem of it making it's way through the animal population everywhere as well as humans! It could be transferred back and forth. Someone may be exposed to it in a Veterinary Clinic by an animal that has it! Pretty sobering if you think about it. Where does the exposure stop? In this scenario, it doesn't! I am just hoping and praying that the Health Organizations are close to finding a vaccine for it! I read an article that a University in Queensland had reached a pinnacle in their researchh, in that they believe they have a vaccine, but it must be tested and tested...The link is in another thread about the virus here in the Princess boards. I will try to locate it. 

 

 

 

Do you still stand by that statement - 27 days later?

 

First Brit dies from the coronavirus, he was aboard the Diamond Princess.  Fear mongering?  I cancelled our cruise to Alaska in May, I'm not willing to chance being sick again from the cruise crud.

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/coronavirus-cases-surge-across-europe-hong-kong-dog-tests-positive-live-updates?utm_campaign=&utm_content=ZeroHedge%3A+The+Durden+Dispatch&utm_medium=email&utm_source=zh_newsletter

 

[caribill]

8 hours ago, Pushka said:

Yes. But at least the bars and restaurants will still be operating. I love a good storm at sea. 

 

They do say that alcohol can kill the virus.

[disneycruisinsusan]

16 hours ago, capriccio said:

What do you propose?  I think asymptomatic patients are the biggest threat to the healthy population but, as the virus spreads, they can’t be identified without testing of everyone.  

When a person is asymptomatic, the virus is not as easy to catch. It is not impossible, but less likely to pass to someone ela else. After symptoms start, like coughing, the virus is much easier to spread. I am NOT saying that you cannot catch it from an asymptomatic person, just that it is much more difficult to pass unless you touch that person or get very close to them. And then there are those who have the virus, but have such a mild case, you would not even know they are sick! Those people would be far more dangerous!!! 

[disneycruisinsusan]

16 hours ago, billco said:

Important question of the day! Just how do you sanitize the thongs in the buffet line?

 

I NEVER wear my thongs to the buffet! Of course, I am so old I don't wear thongs at all, that would be very scary!!!! 😲😲😲😲 I wear granny panties!!! 😂😂😂😂

Just a little lighthearted humor to give everyone a smile amidst all the angst....😁😁😁😁

[BulldustHHH]

With regards to the buffet a good solution would be for the cruise lines to have boxes of the food service thin plastic gloves for patrons to use. That way no one would be contacting the tongs (or thongs, if things get frisky) with their skin. The non-reusable plastic at sea policy would have to be relaxed for a while...

[disneycruisinsusan]

16 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Perhaps, but that is not practical.  It takes hours to even get a preliminary result and several days to get confirmation from either the CDC lab or other labs who meet CDC guidelines.  There are still shortages of the test kits.  Also consider that one would need to test all the workers at all the ports and those tests would not be valid once the employee has contacted any other folks.  And if one is tested positive then what?  The norm would be to tell them to self-quarantine in their own home, but that does not work for those in travel status.  To sum it up, this virus has created a mess which might have been best expressed by a Disease Specialist physician we heard on TV who said something along the lines of "I am going to get this virus and you are also likely to get this virus.  Most folks will experience mild to no symptoms and will likely not even know they had the virus."  And therein lies the big problem.  With most folks exhibiting mild or no symptoms it becomes nearly impossible to stop the spread.  And we have not heard anyone answer a simple question.  If one has had this COVID-19 virus can they get it again?  What a mess!

 

Hank

 

 

Yep, Hank, you are absolutely correct!  This is the 100% truth about the way it is! And now, add to it the pets that catch it and pass it along to other animals, (pets) and people too! It came from animals and has since infected dogs. Some dogs have tested positive for it! It can be passed back and forth! That is how it started in the first place in Wuhan, from animals. Coronavirus's  are animal virus's that can and will and have jumped species, at least 3 times in the 2000's! SARS, MERS and now COVID-19. They are all Corona viruses.  They call them that because of what they look like under electron microscopy! They look like crowns. Very common in wild animals like bats, civets, and other wild creatures. Now, common in humans. We have another disease to add to our never-ending list of what we can catch!

 

My  somewhat educated guess is that once you have had it, you probably have active immunity to it. Your body recognizes it in the same way that if you have had one type of flu or the vaccine for that type of flu, you won't catch it again. That's how vaccines and active immunity work! ! Having studied some microbiology, pathology and virology, that is just my guess. But we don't know for sure right now. Anything is possible. It seems to be more mild in younger healthier people and rather virulent in older, or immunocompromised folks.

 

I have had pneumonia twice, bacterial pnemonia, treated with antibiotics. BUT, that makes my respiratory system more vulnerable to catching any type of pneumonia and this causes viral pneumonia which cannot be treated with antibiotics! So I really must steer clear of this virus! 😷😷

 

I am really rooting for the team's working on this bugger to find it's weakness, to find a vaccine or even treatment for it!!! I am cheering them on and praying as they work all hours to try to find that magic bullet! And I am praying for those exposed, that they only get mild cases of it.....🙏🙏🙏🙏💙💙💙💙I

 

GOD Bless all those who have been exposed and GOD Bless the scientists and health pros that are searching for answers to this new threat! 🙏🙏🙏🙏

 

In the meantime, let's just hope they keep testing and quarantining and isolating those who are positive! 👍👍

[caribill]

23 minutes ago, disneycruisinsusan said:

My  somewhat educated guess is that once you have had it, you probably have active immunity to it. Your body recognizes it in the same way that if you have had one type of flu or the vaccine for that type of flu, you won't catch it again. That's how vaccines and active immunity work! ! Having studied some microbiology, pathology and virology, that is just my guess. But we don't know for sure right now. Anything is possible.

 

I read today that three strains of this virus have been identified.  I have no idea if having had one protects you from the other two.

[BulldustHHH]

I am no biochemist or pathologist or whatev, but there are many strains of the virus, as you can see on this fascinating (highly technical) web site:

https://nextstrain.org/ncov

The two main strains reported previously were the 'L' and 'S' strains, which are covered in the following Medcram video:

The virus is RNA-based, as opposed to DNA-based. RNA mutates much more readily than DNA, which means the virus can change relatively quickly. Ebola, which is RNA-based, actually mutated into a benign form which inoculated the population against the lethal variant. In the case of Ebola we got lucky. We might get lucky with this one as well, but it's not an optimal strategy to rely on luck.

So yeah, short version, there are subtle genetic varieties of this virus running around. It could mutate into something nastier, or wipe itself out by inoculating the population.

RNA is also the basis for common flu and colds, which is why we never really get rid of them ... they keep mutating into new forms. They are sneak little bast...*snip*

 

[disneycruisinsusan]

10 hours ago, LDVinNC said:

Yes, but SARS sickened 8,000 people.  COVID-19 is now over 85,000 and growing.

 

 

This is a long time post, but full of interesting facts about Corona Viruses....

 

They were able to contain SARS, as it was in only a couple of select areas  (clusters) (Toronto mainly, a few other places and of course the source in China)and never really went beyond that! That is why it did not break out pandemically! They caught it and got it under control quickly! 

 

THIS current virus was out there BEFORE some of the carriers were symptomatic and that is why you had the "unexplained" cases! People flew back from China BEFORE the Chinese finally copped to what was going on there in Wuhan! Remember, they silenced the first doctor who tried to tell the WHO about it...He later died from it himself!! 😞😞 

 

So it was out in the world before anyone knew it was around! Everyone thought that it was just in China at that point, but it had already caught flights to other countries out of China!  And the Chinese government tried to keep it under wraps and not warn the WHO! That was the main reason it spread so quickly! China's deceotion! 😠😠 People had flown home from China to other countries or Chinese people flew to other countries on business or for family and exposed others VERY EARLY ON, BEFORE ANYONE EVEN KNEW WHAT THE HECK IT WAS!!!!

 

That's why it spread so quickly in Italy, Hong Kong, and Seattle. Someone who had it, flew into Seattle and then at some point either exposed someone else who went to the  nursing home or they themselves went to the nursing home and exposed all those elderly people. The person may not have even known they even had it! That's why Seattle had so many cases and deaths so quickly! They were all in the same nursing home, elderly patients!

 

That is the difference between why SARS did not spread and this did! SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is a very nasty Corona Virus itself. It was the first one that came from China between November of 2002- January of 2003. The WHO called it out in March 2003 and alerted the world medical officials about it and it was around in clusters for a couple years. But they were able to control the cluster outbreaks, then there was another slight surge of it in 2004 and then it all but disappeared! SARS is VERY virulent and nasty!

 

MERS, (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome), also a Corona Virus, was not as virulent. I believe they suspected camels as the host animal for it. It was contained very rapidly without spreading! 

 

And now COVID-19! This is the third Corona Virus that we know about that has spread to humans from animals. And it is nasty to those who are older or compromised, but young, healthy people should get no more than a mild case or some may have a bit worse case, but they should recover well! It has spread quickly because of our world being so connected! And the fact that when one is asymptomatic, they can travel and spread it without knowing! That and the fact that it was already spreading while China stonewalled the Health Organizations! 

 

This is where the big question comes in! Can I get it again? Again, I personally believe active immunity plays a huge role in viral infection. That is,  if you have had something, you are less likely to get it again for most viruses. THAT IS MY PERSONAL OPINION, NOT FACT BASED ON RESEARCH. BUT, because we have never seen this particular virus before,  they do not know for sure, because this is a very new virus to humankind. It's been out there for probably hundreds, if not thousands of years, just like other microbes and the conditions at that nasty Wuhan market were just right for animal to human transfer! They call it zoonotic when humans can catch something from animals. Many animal diseases we just cannot catch, like Parvo in dogs, Distemper in both dogs and cats, but some can cross over species liked the Corona Viruses! Corona Viruses are obviously zoonotic, as all three have affected humans! 

 

So, to be clear, the scientists and health professionals don't know enough about this Coronavirus to know if it creates immunity as many other viruses do!  THEY JUST DON'T KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT IT YET,  TO SAY WHETHER OR NOT A PERSON CAN CATCH IT AGAIN! But they will find out if the body builds immunity to it. They will discover so many of the secrets this little microbe has! They will know so much about this virus, the information will fill thick books! 👍👍

 

Now we have our virologists, epidemiologists, and other amazing lab people and techs trying to take this virus apart to find it's weakness, to find where we can stop it or at least weaken it! I have great hope that they will do it! I have worked in a lab with a microscope and seen what can be done in that tiny world under the lens! I have not worked in a CDC lab, or used an electron microscope and I have never tried to take apart a virus to find it's weakness, to be sure, but I know how dedicated these folks are! k

 

Don't listen to the government bull, listen when the Health Officials are talking! Listen to what they say! Follow their directions! WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!  👐👍 Keep wet wipes or hand sanitizer with you and wipe your hands whenever you have touched anything! Don't touch your face! Stay a good distance from others if you are able to!  Don't shake hands, 👋high five, ✋or fist bump 👊! Try to keep touching others to an absolute minimum unless you know for sure they are negative! 

 

I don't go out of the house much, except when we cruise or travel, too busy studying up on the Coronavirus right now, (I like to stay as informed as much as possible on new developments in the Health Industry and what is new in the microbe world and this is the most important thing going on in the world right now!!) I also love reading, taking care of things at home and unfortunately,  I catch things too easily, ( I can catch everything that is going around, especially respiratory things and get Bronchitis, colds, flu, tonsillitis, and have very bad allergies to a lot of pollens, dust and other allergens)  so my hubby does most of the shopping and I make him wash his hands as soon as he walks in the door!  I make sure he has wet ones or hand sanitizer at the store!

 

I have been to the hospital more times than I care to think about in the past 2 weeks for MRI, Catscan, Bone Density scan, X-Rays and Doctor Appts.and I hate going there! I have severe Osteoporosis (thanks mom, for the genetic gift! 😕) very painful spine issues and really bad knees, so we are trying to figure out what to do! I carry sanitizer or wet wipes everywhere! I wash my hands obsessively! But I have cats that I am allergic to 😞😞 (I won't get rid of my 3 furkids!!😻😻😻) and I love to pet them so I  Do have to wash my hands very often! 

 

Just use common sense and take care of yourselves...eventually this WILL burn out, like most viruses do, but in the meantime people are going to get sick and it will take some time to get through. Let's all try not to panic and be patient and do our best to do the right hygienic things! We can do this together! 💙💙  We really can! 

 

We will get through this! Our society and financial markets may take a beating, but we as a human race will bounce back from this one. It is NOT a civilization ending event, by any means. We have seen people get well from it! We have seen some people exposed and not even catch it!  I am not trying to underplay it's serious nature, but common sense and our great health organizations will pull us through! This too shall pass....🙏🙏🙏🙏💙💙💙💙

[Justalone]

15 minutes ago, disneycruisinsusan said:

 

 

This is a long time post, but full of interesting facts about Corona Viruses....

 

They were able to contain SARS, as it was in only a couple of select areas  (clusters) (Toronto mainly, a few other places and of course the source in China)and never really went beyond that! That is why it did not break out pandemically! They caught it and got it under control quickly! 

 

THIS current virus was out there BEFORE some of the carriers were symptomatic and that is why you had the "unexplained" cases! People flew back from China BEFORE the Chinese finally copped to what was going on there in Wuhan! Remember, they silenced the first doctor who tried to tell the WHO about it...He later died from it himself!! 😞😞 

 

So it was out in the world before anyone knew it was around! Everyone thought that it was just in China at that point, but it had already caught flights to other countries out of China!  And the Chinese government tried to keep it under wraps and not warn the WHO! That was the main reason it spread so quickly! China's deceotion! 😠😠 People had flown home from China to other countries or Chinese people flew to other countries on business or for family and exposed others VERY EARLY ON, BEFORE ANYONE EVEN KNEW WHAT THE HECK IT WAS!!!!

 

That's why it spread so quickly in Italy, Hong Kong, and Seattle. Someone who had it, flew into Seattle and then at some point either exposed someone else who went to the  nursing home or they themselves went to the nursing home and exposed all those elderly people. The person may not have even known they even had it! That's why Seattle had so many cases and deaths so quickly! They were all in the same nursing home, elderly patients!

 

That is the difference between why SARS did not spread and this did! SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is a very nasty Corona Virus itself. It was the first one that came from China between November of 2002- January of 2003. The WHO called it out in March 2003 and alerted the world medical officials about it and it was around in clusters for a couple years. But they were able to control the cluster outbreaks, then there was another slight surge of it in 2004 and then it all but disappeared! SARS is VERY virulent and nasty!

 

MERS, (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome), also a Corona Virus, was not as virulent. I believe they suspected camels as the host animal for it. It was contained very rapidly without spreading! 

 

And now COVID-19! This is the third Corona Virus that we know about that has spread to humans from animals. And it is nasty to those who are older or compromised, but young, healthy people should get no more than a mild case or some may have a bit worse case, but they should recover well! It has spread quickly because of our world being so connected! And the fact that when one is asymptomatic, they can travel and spread it without knowing! That and the fact that it was already spreading while China stonewalled the Health Organizations! 

 

This is where the big question comes in! Can I get it again? Again, I personally believe active immunity plays a huge role in viral infection. That is,  if you have had something, you are less likely to get it again for most viruses. THAT IS MY PERSONAL OPINION, NOT FACT BASED ON RESEARCH. BUT, because we have never seen this particular virus before,  they do not know for sure, because this is a very new virus to humankind. It's been out there for probably hundreds, if not thousands of years, just like other microbes and the conditions at that nasty Wuhan market were just right for animal to human transfer! They call it zoonotic when humans can catch something from animals. Many animal diseases we just cannot catch, like Parvo in dogs, Distemper in both dogs and cats, but some can cross over species liked the Corona Viruses! Corona Viruses are obviously zoonotic, as all three have affected humans! 

 

So, to be clear, the scientists and health professionals don't know enough about this Coronavirus to know if it creates immunity as many other viruses do!  THEY JUST DON'T KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT IT YET,  TO SAY WHETHER OR NOT A PERSON CAN CATCH IT AGAIN! But they will find out if the body builds immunity to it. They will discover so many of the secrets this little microbe has! They will know so much about this virus, the information will fill thick books! 👍👍

 

Now we have our virologists, epidemiologists, and other amazing lab people and techs trying to take this virus apart to find it's weakness, to find where we can stop it or at least weaken it! I have great hope that they will do it! I have worked in a lab with a microscope and seen what can be done in that tiny world under the lens! I have not worked in a CDC lab, or used an electron microscope and I have never tried to take apart a virus to find it's weakness, to be sure, but I know how dedicated these folks are! k

 

Don't listen to the government bull, listen when the Health Officials are talking! Listen to what they say! Follow their directions! WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!  👐👍 Keep wet wipes or hand sanitizer with you and wipe your hands whenever you have touched anything! Don't touch your face! Stay a good distance from others if you are able to!  Don't shake hands, 👋high five, ✋or fist bump 👊! Try to keep touching others to an absolute minimum unless you know for sure they are negative! 

 

I don't go out of the house much, except when we cruise or travel, too busy studying up on the Coronavirus right now, (I like to stay as informed as much as possible on new developments in the Health Industry and what is new in the microbe world and this is the most important thing going on in the world right now!!) I also love reading, taking care of things at home and unfortunately,  I catch things too easily, ( I can catch everything that is going around, especially respiratory things and get Bronchitis, colds, flu, tonsillitis, and have very bad allergies to a lot of pollens, dust and other allergens)  so my hubby does most of the shopping and I make him wash his hands as soon as he walks in the door!  I make sure he has wet ones or hand sanitizer at the store!

 

I have been to the hospital more times than I care to think about in the past 2 weeks for MRI, Catscan, Bone Density scan, X-Rays and Doctor Appts.and I hate going there! I have severe Osteoporosis (thanks mom, for the genetic gift! 😕) very painful spine issues and really bad knees, so we are trying to figure out what to do! I carry sanitizer or wet wipes everywhere! I wash my hands obsessively! But I have cats that I am allergic to 😞😞 (I won't get rid of my 3 furkids!!😻😻😻) and I love to pet them so I  Do have to wash my hands very often! 

 

Just use common sense and take care of yourselves...eventually this WILL burn out, like most viruses do, but in the meantime people are going to get sick and it will take some time to get through. Let's all try not to panic and be patient and do our best to do the right hygienic things! We can do this together! 💙💙  We really can! 

 

We will get through this! Our society and financial markets may take a beating, but we as a human race will bounce back from this one. It is NOT a civilization ending event, by any means. We have seen people get well from it! We have seen some people exposed and not even catch it!  I am not trying to underplay it's serious nature, but common sense and our great health organizations will pull us through! This too shall pass....🙏🙏🙏🙏💙💙💙💙

Good summary.

But you left out advice to don’t cough or sneeze in your hand.  Cough on your arm/sleeve.  Use tissue and deposit it after use in a covered trash can.

Edited March 6, 2020 by Justalone

[disneycruisinsusan]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

I read today that three strains of this virus have been identified.  I have no idea if having had one protects you from the other two.

Very good point! If they are talking about the 3 strains of Coronavirus as in SARS, MERS, and COVID19.... Then those are 3 different  coronaviruses and they have different ways they attach to cells, so I doubt that you could get immunity to all three of those by contracting only one....though it may be possible I suppose... Interesting... I think this is what they were referring to.... 

 

I wonder....is it possible to have immunity to all 3 if you contract one of them? Hmmmmmmm....Very good question! 😕😕

 

 

[disneycruisinsusan]

2 hours ago, BulldustHHH said:

I am no biochemist or pathologist or whatev, but there are many strains of the virus, as you can see on this fascinating (highly technical) web site:

https://nextstrain.org/ncov

The two main strains reported previously were the 'L' and 'S' strains, which are covered in the following Medcram video:

The virus is RNA-based, as opposed to DNA-based. RNA mutates much more readily than DNA, which means the virus can change relatively quickly. Ebola, which is RNA-based, actually mutated into a benign form which inoculated the population against the lethal variant. In the case of Ebola we got lucky. We might get lucky with this one as well, but it's not an optimal strategy to rely on luck.

So yeah, short version, there are subtle genetic varieties of this virus running around. It could mutate into something nastier, or wipe itself out by inoculating the population.

RNA is also the basis for common flu and colds, which is why we never really get rid of them ... they keep mutating into new forms. They are sneak little bast...*snip*

 

Very cool...yep they do mutate and it is a possibility that it could mutate itself out of existence to cause disease! Wouldn't that be nice? I don't like the other scenario tho, mutating to become more lethal... 😲😲

 

Most viruses are RNA based. They are not even life forms though. They are simply a capsule  with an envelope (what would be the "wall" or "skin" of the virus) with the RNA strand that attaches to a cell and gets inside to our cell's nucleus and they begin to replicate themselves until the cell bursts open with them and they continue to do this cell by cell! Viruses are fascinating little buggers because they are not real life forms. They just use other life forms to replicate themselves....but not even really a parasite....They are nasty and there are lots of them out there! Some we have not even found yet, or rather they have not found us yet! 😳😳

 

Bacteria are so much easier to understand and figure out... Viruses are so complex.....but they are fascinating...

[kibutzer]

Please be careful about posting videos and links to "medical " advice that is not CDC or infectious disease personnel..

[Honolulu Blue]

Here's a link to an article from The Guardian that tells the Diamond Princess story from the crew's perspective:  https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/06/inside-the-cruise-ship-that-became-a-coronavirus-breeding-ground-diamond-princess