On Tue, 17 Mar 2020 17:36:04 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



Certainly not a scientific analysis but I was looking at
different countries and when the first case of covid-19
was confirmed and how those countries
are currently affected.


China:

Reported it's first case on November 17 according
to Chinese media sources.


Italy:

Reported it's first two cases on Jan 31. They were two Chinese
tourists who became sick and were hospitalized in Rome.

Feb 6th, a third case (also person from Wuhan, China)
was confirmed.

Feb 16th - a cluster of 16 cases were confirmed.

Today (March 17th) Italy has had 31,506 confirmed cases
and 2,503 deaths.

USA

The first confirmed case in the USA was on January 20th.
It was a man who had recently returned from Wuhan, China.

Today (March 17th) USA currently has total cases: 4,226
Total deaths: 75


Italy confirmed it's first case 11 days after
the USA confirmed its first case.

So, we are not doing bad, all things considered.

We do tend to be more spread out and once you get out of the fetid
cities, people are usually practicing social distancing as their
normal course of being. I never did like people standing too close to
me and now I have a reason to avoid those ridiculous hand shakes.
I think the countryside might be OK for a while but, like I said, this
thing wend around the globe in a month or two. We are all going to be
exposed eventually.

I did have a thing at our annual meeting and ramp key swap. It was
pretty cold for us (55-60 with 10 out of the north) so people chose to
stand in the sun, fairly far apart. I talk loud so I could give my
reports from pretty far away and just when I thought I was going to
get out of there clean, some woman came up and hugged me. I didn't
punch her in the gut but I thought about it. ;-)

I am doing what they say about washing your hands and not touching
stuff. I have a whole routine every time I get in the car, spraying
myself and wiping down everything I might touch but I know I am
literally whistling through the graveyard.
I am planning on getting my 80cu/ft O2 bottle ready to go and on a
dolly in case we do have problems. I am still debating about going to
the welding store and getting a big one while they are still around. I
am just not sure how much it would help if you are really sick.