The Bay Area is Right - Home Lockdown is Thus Far the Best Containment Measure
Parikia, Paros Island, Greece, March 17th, 2020
Salaroche


That is the way the Chinese have managed to largely contain the spread of Covid-19, isolating people from other people and isolating entire cities from the rest of the country.

According to data provided this morning, March 17th, by local health agencies, hospitals and the C.D.C., there were over 700 daily new infections detected US-wide over these past Saturday and Sunday, which is data we should take with a grain of salt, as testing is nowhere as widespread as it should have been by now, so that nobody really knows how many people are already infected (to see the charts in question click here)

As expected, Trump is not accepting any responsibility for the delay in which his administration reacted to the crisis and he has even gone as far as recently giving himself a 10/10 for his performance to date on this issue. By now, however, we all know that that is exactly the kind of assholism we can anticipate from the present asshat in chief.

In that guy's moronic view, everybody is responsible for anything that may go wrong in the country, particularly Democrats, but not him. He is never to be blamed for anything. He is perfect. The gravity of the situation is now so evident that, at least, he is no longer going around blurting out stupidities like the whole thing was a Democrat's hoax or that it would all magically disappear come spring. The idiot in chief.

Looking at the map whose link is included above, we can see that New York and its neighboring states are highly contaminated, with as many as 1323 cases and 12 deaths reported as of today. Washington State has a lower number of detected cases, 787, but a higher number of deaths, 48. California is number 3 in that scale, with 583 reported infections and 10 deceased people.

The recent directive for Bay Area residents to hunker down at home is their best bet in trying to control the spread of the virus, particularly as many new infected people have no record of having travelled outside the US over the recent past, which is telling us the virus is now circulating mostly among and between residents, hence the need to isolate as much as possible everyone from everybody else.

Worldwide, while detected infections have noticeably decreased in China, they have increased in Spain and France, where governments have taken severe measures, like fining people who walk around Paris with no urgent need to do so, or the Spanish government taking charge of private healthcare institutions.  

Here in Greece, the number of detected infections has grown to 352, with 4 confirmed related deaths, but it is still impossible to assess what the numbers really are, as there is not much testing available. Yesterday I was talking to one of the local pharmacists here in Parikia, Paros island, who said there were no testing kits available in her pharmacy and she did not have any news from the medical authorities in Athens.

I also got a call today from a Russian friend who lives in St. Petersburg, telling me she was now trapped over there, as the government has banned all flights in and out of Russia. She called me as she was walking from the Gym to the metro station and said the people in St. Petersburg are not avoiding crowds and are not keeping a safe distance between them while in line at the supermarkets, etc. According to the table, there are 93 infected cases in Russia and no related deaths reported thus far, so I just told her I hoped those numbers would not increase in any alarming way.

In my neighborhood, on the other hand, people are now keeping a safe distance between them when lined up anywhere and most bars and restaurants are closed. So are schools.

By the way, the maps and info referenced in this commentary are updated on a regular basis. To view those maps, etc., you can click here.

For my part, I am planning to follow the local directives to stay home as much as possible and will only go out shopping or to get some of that tasty take-out food they have at a restaurant located barely 100 meters from my place. One of my favorite dishes they have there is a fish soup with carrots and potatoes, which I had for lunch today and is indeed delicious. Bon appétit

Meanwhile… the beat goes on…

Salaroche