Coronavirus - Pittsburgh news (pirates, inventor, kids, official)

[gg]

PIAA is cancelled for now and the Big 10 and ACC that involves Pitt is also cancelled.

[Knepper3]

Not much changed for us at work, I work from home so really a non issue for me but we were told any meetings of 50 or more people we are not allowed to attend. I was supposed to be in DC end of April for a FEMA conference but I'll guess it gets canceled.

[gg]

NHL suspends season.

https://www.wpxi.com/sports/nhl/pitt...KGA5DDW6PMCT4/

Riverhounds suspended for 30 days.

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020...son-suspended/

[WhoIsStanwix?]

The Allegheny County Health Department just held a press conference. Nothing major of note that I could discern from the parts I was able to watch. There were reps from ACHD as well as AHN and UPMC. They commented on number of hospital beds available, testing capacity (we aren't testing nearly to lab capacity right now), and of importance of social distancing, especially for elderly and those with preexisting conditions. I'm not sure if anyone else who caught the presser gleaned anything else useful from it. For me, it seemed like a bit more of a downplay of the concern and downplay of necessity to test more.

[tyovan4]

That press conference can be viewed here: https://www.wtae.com/article/coronav...cials/31449137

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

The Allegheny County Health Department just held a press conference. Nothing major of note that I could discern from the parts I was able to watch. There were reps from ACHD as well as AHN and UPMC. They commented on number of hospital beds available, testing capacity (we aren't testing nearly to lab capacity right now), and of importance of social distancing, especially for elderly and those with preexisting conditions. I'm not sure if anyone else who caught the presser gleaned anything else useful from it. For me, it seemed like a bit more of a downplay of the concern and downplay of necessity to test more.

Kudos to them. Downplaying isn’t a bad thing as people are already scared to death and making a bad situation way worse.

[Blue Shift]

Coronavirus fears spark panic-buying in Western Pa

As the novel coronavirus shuts down schools, sporting events and concerts, locals were stocking up Thursday on essentials — especially toilet paper.
. . .
Many shoppers came through the aisles and shook their heads at the empty, overturned Charmin boxes.

Judy Parry of Lower Burrell wasn’t buying it, literally or figuratively.

“It’s a bunch of crap,” she said of the covid-19 panic. “I needed toilet paper, so I’m buying some. I wish people would stop hyping (the virus panic). More people get hit by cars.”

Heh

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by erieguy

Kudos to them. Downplaying isn’t a bad thing as people are already scared to death and making a bad situation way worse.

My personal belief is that transparency is the best policy. That said, I can see why they were not transparently answering questions about how many tests have been done and how many can be done - it is because the county and other local healthcare organizations do not have the capacity to adequately test the population relative to the level of testing recommended by many experts. Revealing that information could, indeed, start a panic among the uninformed. Among the informed, the county’s press conference seemingly confirmed fears based on the absence of certain information.

Any one individual, especially a relatively healthy one, is at low risk for death and moderate risk for hospitalization. That said, the risk could greatly be reduced if our local health authorities were quickly pinpointing sources of infection and working to stamp out each chain. Without information, we have the situation that exists today in the Pittsburgh area, which is every individual, business, school, and other institution forced to make its own best guess of how to handle the situation.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by Blue Shift

Coronavirus fears spark panic-buying in Western Pa



Heh

The panic buying is truly as hilarious as it is ridiculous. On the bright side, closing borders has become quite popular.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

My personal belief is that transparency is the best policy. That said, I can see why they were not transparently answering questions about how many tests have been done and how many can be done - it is because the county and other local healthcare organizations do not have the capacity to adequately test the population relative to the level of testing recommended by many experts. Revealing that information could, indeed, start a panic among the uninformed. Among the informed, the county’s press conference seemingly confirmed fears based on the absence of certain information.

Any one individual, especially a relatively healthy one, is at low risk for death and moderate risk for hospitalization. That said, the risk could greatly be reduced if our local health authorities were quickly pinpointing sources of infection and working to stamp out each chain. Without information, we have the situation that exists today in the Pittsburgh area, which is every individual, business, school, and other institution forced to make its own best guess of how to handle the situation.

Downplaying it and being/not being transparent are 2 different things. Most everything is being closed down as precautions. What do you think they’re not telling you?

What are you going to do differently to what you’re doing now if/when the virus is confirmed in the area?