Coronavirus (Sports-Related and General)

[phillychuck]

Let me jump in during a break...the INITIAL name of this virus was the Wuhan Virus. That didn't just start, look back at late December and early January press coverage. And I could really give a crap about the politicization of this pandemic. Both sides are doing it, with the left calling it "Trump's Chernobyl", the NYT proposing in January that we call it "Trump Virus", and the behavior cited above by the administration.

Hey, big news...politicians are acting like politicians in an election year.

[andyb]

Hey, big news...politicians are acting like politicians in an election year.

Well, it is kind of news if political messaging endangers lives. The partisan breakdown on people that think the virus is serious is frightening.

[julio]

And that is where it originated, so I see nothing wrong w/ that.

The problem emerges when you start blaming an "other," and after that when you expect the "other" to compensate in some way (monetary or not).

Here's a thought. If US politicians (and their public supporters) want to tar "China" (a monolithic "other" who we typically define as a foe) as "causing" this virus, and want to exact some kinds of penalties upon "China" - then we need to formally acknowledge that the so-called "Spanish Flu" that killed 30 million people around 1918 was in fact the "Kansas" flu (that's where it originated, in one county in Kansas, before it spread to a US military reservation and, with army re-assignments, around the world) as the "Kansas USA Virus"... and any penalties we want to impose on "China" should also be imposed retroactively on the United States. Reparations payments to descendants of those who died? Formal acknowledgment that it was the United States Army that was the proximate spreader of that flu?

Don't hold your breath.

What "conservatives" are doing is not "honest." It is a deliberate attempt to scapegoat an "other," for the basest of political reasons. It's really no different than blaming "the Jews" for the Black Death. The purposes are the same - avoid one's own responsibility for any spread, and at the same time, stir up animus against people you don't like.

[Purduke]

Punishment, no. It's to counter China's efforts to de-propagandize their responsibility as the source of all of these pandemics. China seldom responds to social pressure, especially when coming from diffuse sources. They probe for weaknesses in alliances, as with G5 etc. The Lenin approach: Probe with a bayonet. If you encounter steel, withdraw. If you encounter mush, push.

There is a significant need to reinforce our alliances in order to build steel instead of mush in some of these confrontations. We need to fortify all of our allies memories' of the costs of dealing with China -- their willingness to even suggest that they would reduce production of needed re-agents and PPE in the middle of a crisis should send shivers into most Western Governments. If calling this Wuhan virus better keeps this alive in those memory banks -- instead of H1N1 or H1N5 -- then I'm all in favor of doing so. It is a minor price to pay except to the most PC among us. I've never once took offense to someone with Lyme Disease saying "Oh Connecticut, that's where the first case of Lyme Disease occurred."

[rpmcmurphy]

I've never once took offense to someone with Lyme Disease saying "Oh Connecticut, that's where the first case of Lyme Disease occurred."

Maybe that's because no one suggested that the residents of Lyme, Connecticut were "responsible" for the outbreak.

[andyb]

Clearly we have veered far away from sports here, but check out the beach in Clearwater:

Florida governor refuses to shut down beaches amid spread of coronavirus

[Squire]

1. I can totally get why people think that its wrong for the Administration to be calling it the Chinese Virus or the Wuhan Virus.
2. That being said, and admittedly I won't be the target of any possible blowback for such designation it strikes me as about 1/100th or 1/1000th of the problem that the administration's actual past and current response toactually stopping/limiting the epidemic is.
3. I also agree that it strikes me as less about xenophobia and more as a counter to the recent Chinese Government officials publicly pushing the conspiracy theory that this was all some US backed CIA operation.

[LoneStarPhan]

My observation is that the use of the term COVID-19 has increased dramatically in the past week. Coronavirus still is being used, but as noted above, it is a term that is not specific to this current threat and ultimately may cause problems in understanding future or past coronaviruses other than COVID-19.

I have not heard the term Chinese virus being used other than by the President. Again, it is a dumb name for multiple reasons including that multiple viruses have evidently originated there. Clearly, there is a disreputable undemeaning to the use by some even as the name can be justified by others.

Perhaps the subject of this thread would be better stated as "COVID-19 and Sports".

[mdougherty12]

There are a boatload of drugs and vaccines in development, and the private sector has really come through quickly on testing once the CDC and FDA got out of the way.

Derek Lowe (a pharma industry chemist who writes a popular blog on drug discovery, etc., not the former MLB pitcher) had a good 2-part blog on potential therapies recently:

Covid-19 Small Molecule Therapies Reviewed

Covid-19 Biologic Therapies Reviewed

[Lawman]

Perhaps the subject of this thread would be better stated as "COVID-19 and Sports".

Or just COVID-19, as the sports element is not really part of the larger discussion at this point?

[LoneStarPhan]

I'd leave the sports in the subject since we hope sports will return and this would be a good thread to discuss how that will happen. Of course, a new thread could be dedicated to how COVID-19 is impacting sports.

[bkox]

Two people briefed on the matter said Wednesday that Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler agreed to close all their factories. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because the closings had not been announced. The move would idle about 150,000 workers, who are likely to receive supplemental pay in addition to unemployment benefits.

[rpmcmurphy]

I agree, LoneStarPhan. BTW, this thread has become a great resource for me. I was laid off from my position two days ago, initially for two weeks but I know that it will be for much longer than that.

I am fairly new here so maybe I’ll take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am a veterinarian. I sold my private practice in 2014, where I worked for 30 years, and I an currently working as one of the shelter vets at our local SPCA. We are closed to the public now, and there are two much younger vets who can handle the reduced workload and take care of the in-house animals as well as strays and surrenders, which we are still accepting.

I’ve been a lurker for many years, reading this board as part of my daily sports education. Now it is part of my daily pandemic education! I like and respect all of your opinions, even as we disagree with one another about this or that.

We can be a valuable resource for one another in these strange and trying times. Thank you all for being here!

[xogfog]

COVID-19 is a Coronavirus, corona comes from Latin for crown and the Coronavirus was so named because under the microscope it has a crown like structure.

[allentown]

Welcome. I'm sorry there really isn't any baseball to discuss.

[phillychuck]

Those are two really interesting articles (above from the science magazine blog).

In today's news there is discussion of a (controversial?) French-discovered therapy that may speed recovery and diminish symptoms, and an Aussie doctor who is using an AIDS drug (Keletra) on patients with anecdotal success.

COVID-19: Could Hydroxychloroquine Really Be the Answer?

Australian researchers have found a CURE for coronavirus

Daily Mail is sensationalizing the Australian cocktail results, I think, but the potential of hydroxychloroquine and Kaletra seems like it might be real. Not cures or vaccines, but treatments.

[el-pietro]

Italy had 2,706 confirmed cases and 107 deaths on March 4th. They were in a nationwide lock down on March 9th. The UK had 2,626 cases and 104 deaths as of yesterday.

Similar size of population (60M vs 66M) and population densities (Italy: 206 per km sq, UK 259 per km sq).
Its hard to look at the trends in both countries and elsewhere and see anything but a total lock-down in the UK being imminent.

Italy has a higher median age (45.5 vs 40.5) which is an advantage to the UK, but such a significant portion of the population being crammed into the greater London area has to be a concern (4,542 per km sq according to google/wiki). On the other hand, London has a lower median age than the rest of the UK at 36.5.

The UK government has moved away from their "Herd Immunity" approach in the last few days and today announced schools will close except for children of health care workers and some others. I worry it is too late.

I'm very worried about the effect this is going to have in Ireland, very soon. The virus seems to grow at roughly the same rate in every area regardless of total population (I'm sure density is a factor, as are behaviours of the population). Italy was completely overwhelmed at about 10k cases and was making decisions about who received treatment not long after. Ireland has just 8% of the Italian population and likely a similar proportion of doctors/hospital beds. Will we be overwhelmed at 1k cases? 2k? We have taken some actions to slow the spread but we should still reach 1k cases over the weekend and 2k early next week unless we see a significant slowdown.

Already 140k plus people are out of work as a result of the efforts to slow this down, my sister who works in a Chinese restaurant/takeaway is one of those. We do have a social welfare safety net which will help, and the government have taken actions to ensure those out of work, or on sick leave can access welfare/sick pay as soon as possible.

The UK is about to see first hand what Italy has been dealing with, and I suspect we won't be long behind. English language media should help hammer home how serious this is for the US. Your country is larger and as a result likely has more leeway before your hospitals are overwhelmed. I hope its not too late for your government to take action.

[zambonir]

I think we could use a new sports-specific thread at this point. There is a lot of great information and thoughtful discussion here but when I come to the site after a day's absence and see 60 posts, I'm not necessarily going to read them all, and would therefore miss the one about MLB banning scouting activity (even though I saw it this time).

This is almost as a busy as a game-day thread, and it's always nice to know that, even if news does break on a game day thread, it's probably going to turn up in a general news (or stand-alone, if big enough) thread too.

But for now I'll just say it's hard to really care what happens to the baseball season. Not just in the "there are more important things' sense but just because any season will be short and weird. Nick Pivetta sucks? Alec Bohm never gets called up? Oh well. (Of course if things break the Phillies way it would still be fun. Just don't think losing will hurt as much.)

[el-pietro]

I'll just say it's hard to really care what happens to the baseball season. Not just in the "there are more important things' sense but just because any season will be short and weird.

I miss baseball. I miss all sport. Especially now that I'm stuck at home, all but quarantined.At this point though it feels so utterly meaningless. I usually hate when someone dies and people say "this puts how meaningless sports are into perspective", but this is a whole other scale. We've never seen anything like this before. Not since WWII at least and with the war it wasn't going on everywhere, even if there everyone was impacted in some way, people could still live sort of a normal life.
I was really excited for 2020. Could the Phillies be good? Would Bryce continue his performance from the second half? Would Nola rebound with a new pitching coach? How special a season was Trout going to have? Ohtani? At this point I would bet against there being any competitive baseball before July at the earliest and if there were odds on there being no season I'd probably take that bet.

[el-pietro]

I have a health insurance question if someone can answer.

If your insurance is tied to your job, what happens if you lose your job? Do you immediately lose your insurance coverage? What if you are unable to work because of health problems? How does that work?

This seems like a serious issue that may compound the seriousness of this crisis in the US.