rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Wow that Corona virus might be worse than we are being told by the Chinese.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Where in Japan is that cruise ship anchored?

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Where?
Have not been there.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Back channels ,not mainstream media, are saying it's much much worse than what we are being told.

It's hard to know the truth, without being there but I certainly don't believe mainstream media. Some of the alt-media video from China is pretty scary. Friends have told me of seeing people being forced out of their homes. Police coming to houses escorting people peacefully to quarantine but then gunfire in the background. ?? What?? Reports of deceased bodies being burned.

But can you even believe what you see on video? Deep fakes exist, including video. I don't know what to believe but I think it is much worse than what we are being told.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

I definitely believe so. It is a socialist society where government works hand in hand with the media. Virtually impossible to get the truth, look how long it took to even admit the existence of the virus.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Yes. That is the case. Their government controls the media. Tv, radio, all the news channels.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

If I understand correctly, the “Diamond Princess” is quarantined in Yokohama port, the same city in which the conference is usually held.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

I imagine that one can book a tour at a very low "President's Day Sale" price.

SMPhotography Loc: Pawleys Island, SC

I am a retired clinical microbiologist and from my perspective on this, one that comes from many years of experience, this whole media fueled hysteria is so galactically stupid on so many levels it is mind numbing. If people use common sense and wash hands frequently and use hand sanitizer and limit touching your face, stay home if you are sick especially if febrile, and maintain at least 6-8 feet between yourself and anyone who appears to be unwell or especially is coughing and sneezing you should be fine. Now if you are immunocompromised for any reason; a transplant patient on immunosuppressant drugs, have AIDS, are a cancer patient and undergoing radiation or chemotherapy or have an autoimmune disease like lupus, RA, Crohn's, etc and on immunosupressant drugs, then by all means use extra caution and limit your exposure to crowds. Again, common sense. The very young and elderly are at greater risk because, respectively, their immune systems are immature and the normal aging process naturally weakens our immune response to pathogens. I for one simply refuse to change my lifestyle one bit. Your chances of becoming infected by the influenza A/B virus are an order of magnitude greater than the coronavirus and the aforementioned precautions should protect you from that as well.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

The experts are now saying that a person can ‘carry’ this virus without looking unwell. Medicare pays for an annual flu shot; I haven’t been sick since getting one, but there isn’t any “protection” currently available from any Coronavirus.

I pray that you will continue to not catch it.

SMPhotography Loc: Pawleys Island, SC

According to the CDC, who I place far greater faith and credibility in than the WHO, roughly 50% of the people who test positive for coronavirus are totally asymptomatic. Why? Because they have a strong immune system that takes care of the virus. Are they contagious in this latent stage? The jury is still out on that one. The current test for a coronavirus is a PCR DNA test. It is similar to the test we used to detect for Clostridium difficile in hospital patients with severe diarrhea. It is now the number one hospital acquired disease. But the test does not tell us if the patient normally colonizes it, which a lot of people do and it causes no problems. What we need now is an antibody based test to determine not only if the person has been exposed to coronavirus but their immune system has built antibodies to it. If they have, they are not a threat. Like I said, the jury is still out on coronavirus but people become contagious with the flu from at most one day before and during the next 3-4 days of presenting with symptoms. But if you go back to my first suggestion, you will go a long way toward protecting yourself. Like I said, use common sense precautions.

We really kind of dropped the ball this year on the flu vaccine. The current cocktail vaccinates against 4 strains (2 of flu A and 2 of flu B, which ones are out of the scope of this response) of the influenza virus. But there are many other strains floating around out there. It is impossible, however, to vaccinate against all of them. That is why common sense precautions are so important.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I am 72 and cannot take chances.

I trust that you will remain well.

SMPhotography Loc: Pawleys Island, SC

You fall into that demographic I already discussed; the elderly so you are wise to take extra precautions. Without going into the biochemistry behind it, the normal aging process slows our body's ability to react quickly to a "non-self" entity it detects in our body. I am almost 62 so I am on the cusp of falling into that demo as well. But I am using common sense precautions and so far I am perfectly fine.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

We, ‘the elderly’, get through each “flu season” by virtue of the shots which are provided free by Medicare. But - guess what - there is no “covid-19 shot”, so we are ‘protected’ only by the “herd effect”. If I encounter you, I could easily be infected by you, which may be why this show was terminated {which is where we started}.