6516

The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absense, etc. etc.

Everyone’s risk threshold is different, there are some people who refused to touch cellular phones for a decade until there was good empirical evidence it didn’t affect long term health. With reasonable precautions the risk from food sounds very low unless the hygiene standards of where you’re ordering from is bad.

I would have thought Mr.GRIM is talking about the chef or food hand wearing gloves preparing your food, and those gloves may have touched an infected surface or their own face.

6517

CNN on the same subject:

Dr. Ian Williams, chief of the Outbreak Response and Prevention Branch of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

“There is no evidence out there that, so far with [Covid-19], that its foodborne-driven or food service-driven,” Williams said in an information webinar. “This really is respiratory, person-to-person. At this point there is no evidence really pointing us towards food [or] food service as ways that are driving the epidemic.”

The US Food and Drug Administration echoed that sentiment, saying on its website that it’s not aware of any reports suggesting Covid-19 can be transmitted by food or food packaging.

And more:

If you’re picking up takeout or getting delivery

More reassuring news: There’s little risk in contracting the virus from food or food packaging picked up at a takeout window or from a restaurant, said Benjamin Chapman, who is a professor and food safety specialist at North Carolina State University.

Even more comforting news: Even if you did eat food with the virus, there are not many receptors in the digestive track for the virus to cling to, so swallowing the virus would not likely lead to contracting the illness.

In other words, your digestive system would get rid of it, Williams said.

I’m going to go with those three cited doctors and their recommendations. Again, their qualifications: Chief of Infectious Diseases at UMD-UCH, Chief of Outbreak and Infectious Diseases at the CDC, and the food safety specialist at NC State. At least until we hear differently.

I am not a virologist. And respectfully, I don’t think many of us are.

I feel a lot more secure going with the recommendations of people who have the education and positions in virology and public health on stuff like this vs dudes on the internet.

6518

Not sure what to think. If thus data was deliberately concealed, then then a lot od western policy responses early were built on lies

6519

But he did not order all Texans to shelter in place, noting that there are still many counties in the state without confirmed cases and that he wants to see the full impact of an executive order he issued Thursday.

It’s all good guys - we still have TONS of places where we didn’t test / confirm anyone yet. We’ll think about more decisive actions when the infection spreads there.

In Houston they are just now opening tests to people with people with chronic illnesses. Previously, only healthcare providers, first responders and people 65 and older with symptoms received COVID-19 testing. Will be a while to get a good understanding of the scale of the infection…

6520

again, saying “studies have shown there is no risk” is a world of difference from “no evidence yet”. I would take solace in the former.

Thats slightly more comforting, but not definitive enough for my particular risk threshold at the moment.

6521

If it’s a family-owned mom and pop and you stick to take-out it’s probably pretty low risk.

6522

One of the recommendations I’ve seen elsewhere: stick to restaurants you know and trust. Even with chains and quick serve national brands, not all stores are created equal. There’s a good Popeye’s I know of near me…and a terrible one. I’d never order food – or takeout for that matter – from the terrible one, even absent coronavirus. :) The other one though? I swear you could eat off their floors. I’d feel safe as houses ordering from them.

6523

Ah, but if only Japan attends, won’t they will ALL the medals? /taps head

6524

Huh, so a UFO wacko second guesses the CDC for their lack of scientific rigor? Big surprise.

-Tom

6525

Meanwhile in London:

I don’t know if this is legit or not, but if it is, good lord…

6526

Can’t you instruct the bank to stop the payment?

6527

This right here is one of my biggest worries about all of this. If we get too isolated, it’s going to cause so many mental health issues.

6528

Judging from the pictures and videos I’ve seen posted of parks in London this week-end, I’m pretty sure it is. I had to go shopping for some essentials this week-end, and the main square of my local SE London town was bustling. We had to walk on the other side of the road to avoid the market which was open and as busy as usual.

My borough of 303K people has gone from 22 confirmed cases last week to 67 as of this week-end. Our local hospital has been receiving patients from elsewhere in London and is apparently starting to buckle under the strain. But Londoners don’t care.

Also:

image

6529

I think it’s easy to overstate the impact of things like busy parks. The chance of virus spread, assuming we are roughly right about the mechanism is spread, is very low unless people are really crammed together.

It’s more the flower market, people going on holiday, etc. etc. that bothers me. It’s clear some people aren’t listening at all. Having said that, if you just look at the media headlines that gives a misleading impression of things not been shut down - it really is people travelling to and from work + a small minority of idiots.

Of course, the idiots could end up killing non idiots very easily.

6530

I think you are right, also many of the pictures of the beaches are probably an exaggeration of the risk.
Except on super crowded beaches groups tend to place their towels more than 6’ apart. Now the spring breakers, with the drinking games, putting suntan lotion on each other etc, that’s a different story.

6531

My house has been in isolation for a week but I still speak to my neighbors by phone. The couple opposite us are in their mid-70s with pre-existing medical conditions and outright refuse to self-isolate. It’s not that they are stupid or unaware of the risk they are simply stubborn. I disagree with their actions but I wouldn’t condone measures to stop them. People must be able to make their own choice, of their own free will.

6532

So what about measures to stop drunk drivers? Should we just let people make their own choices there?

Fuck. Its worse than that. People “making their own choices” have exponential consequences on everyone else. If people acted with responsibility towards their fellow citizens we’d be through this relatively quickly and with few deaths.

Instead, people think they have a God given right to spread disease and overload the healthcare system on their whim. Fuck them.

6533

I mean, they’re mid 70’s, if it gets bad enough they won’t be overloading the healthcare system, because a doctor somewhere is going to say “Bad odds, better keep the resources for someone with a better chance”.

6534

That’s some fine Ayn Rand channeling right there. Fuck society, the world revolves around ME.

6535

Behavior like that keeps us all on a trajectory to that scenario. Ten percent being cavalier about their own health can push us from manageable to unmanageable.