
San Jose: Three TSA agents test positive for Covid-19 - godot
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/10/san-jose-three-tsa-agents-test-positive-for-covid-19/
======
RVuRnvbM2e
The US seems like it's pretty screwed at this point. All the recent cases here
in Australia have been people returning from the US.

Just look at the exponential growth on this plot:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_outbreak_in_t...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_outbreak_in_the_United_States#Timeline)

That's not a trend that's going to reverse quickly.

~~~
networkimprov
It looks that way because it's almost certainly been circulating in the US
since January [1], and testing was hardly available until recently (and is
still ramping).

Despite the long, largely unchecked circulation period, there's no
hospitalization crisis here.

And another record-hot Spring/Summer are on the way... take heart!

[1] [https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-03-10/us-
coronavi...](https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-03-10/us-coronavirus-
cases-far-above-official-tally-scientists)

~~~
Benjammer
"there's no hospitalization crisis here."

Yeah, there wasn't a crisis in Italy 3 weeks ago either.

------
sneak
I am slowly coming to the realization that a quarter to a half of a percent of
people who are alive on Earth today may not be in one year.

Please send the following links to your employers, especially if you work with
the public:

[https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-
peop...](https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-
die-f4d3d9cd99ca)

[https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronaviru...](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-
cancel-everything/607675/)

The _only_ way we will avoid swamping the healthcare system in the US is by
enacting widespread measures _before_ it seems necessary/imminent. NOW is the
time to act, not later.

~~~
in_cahoots
Given life expectancies, this is true every year. For people under age 50 the
stats look much better; for people over 80 yearly death rates are already in
the double digits. Whether coronavirus deaths are additive for the 80+ crowd
is yet to be seen.

~~~
freepor
Ultimately no death rates are additive. There’s a death for every birth,
sooner or later.

------
zone411
This piece of news is scarier:

Sacramento County Gives Up On Automatic 14-Day Quarantines

[https://www.npr.org/sections/health-
shots/2020/03/10/8139909...](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-
shots/2020/03/10/813990993/coronavirus-sacramento-county-gives-up-on-
automatic-14-day-quarantines)

~~~
oefrha
> Effective immediately, people in Sacramento County should not quarantine
> themselves if they've been exposed to the COVID-19. Instead, they should go
> into isolation only if they begin to show symptoms of the respiratory virus,
> the county's health department says.

> Sacramento County has at least 10 coronavirus cases, including one person
> who recovered.

10 cases and they already gave up on quarantines? The decision maker either
knows more about unpublished cases or don’t understand infectious diseases at
all... What a great way to make sure more people “show symptoms” two weeks
down the road.

------
killjoywashere
A useful number is that the deaths today represent the disease burden 3 weeks
ago. Propagating that multiplier forward, the deaths today represent 500-1000
infected individuals today. So the US has 16 deaths. You're looking at
8000-16000 infected individuals in the US today.

------
mdorazio
I hate to stoke FUD, but that's pretty much it for any semblance of
containment. If those TSA agents tested positive, 1) you can be sure other TSA
agents at other airports are also infected, and 2) I'd be extremely surprised
if they didn't pass Covid-19 to a significant number of travelers, 3) whatever
individual(s) gave it to the agents undoubtedly also gave it to other
travelers.

~~~
leggomylibro
Yeah, it's pretty clear by this point that the virus has been spreading widely
in the States for some time. Such is life.

Just wait until they actually start testing people in earnest; the infected
numbers will skyrocket in a very short period of time, causing another stock
crash and more mass panic.

It'll probably be at least another few weeks before it's time to buy with both
fists, imo.

~~~
usaar333
Are people not aware at this point that the US will look like Italy/South
Korea in a few weeks time? Hence, the hoarding of goods that has already
begun..

~~~
realusername
It's safe to say that the US will likely look worse than Italy or South Korea
since additionally the US also has:

\- Inconvenient labour laws regarding sickness, people are and will be afraid
to take sick leave

\- A lack of public healthcare, the US system does not seem designed for a
collective approach.

\- A higher rate of diabetes compared to the rest of the developed world which
seems to be affecting quite a lot the impact of the virus.

~~~
AnthonyMouse
On the other hand, the US has a lower population density and less use of mass
transit.

It's also not clear what advantage "public healthcare" is supposed to have in
this context. The CDC has the authority to test and quarantine people. For the
majority of people infected the "treatment" is to stay at home and recover. A
minority of people will require hospitalization, but most of those people will
have health insurance. The vast majority of those requiring hospitalization
will be elderly and eligible for Medicare. The large majority of the remaining
minority of a minority will have private insurance. And the remaining minority
of a minority of a minority who require hospitalization, aren't eligible for
Medicare and don't have private insurance will presumably still get treatment
and then have a bad day when the bill comes, which is a financial problem
rather than a medical one.

~~~
taborj
> still get treatment

Everyone always seems to forget about this. According to the Emergency Medical
Treatment and Active Labor Act[0], any hospital that accepts Medicare _must_
"provide an appropriate medical screening examination (MSE) to anyone seeking
treatment for a medical condition, regardless of citizenship, legal status, or
ability to pay." And if it's determined that treatment is required, or the
patient's health may be in serious jeopardy, the hospital is required to treat
them until they're stable.

In other words, if you show up at the ER, they're required to run tests to see
if you have a life-threatening condition. If you do, they're required to treat
you until you're stable.

Everyone makes it out like US hospitals will simply turn people away at the
door; in fact, they can't (assuming they accept Medicare, which most do).
They'll at least find out your status, and treat if necessary.

If you've ever been in an ER waiting room, you've seen this posted.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_an...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_and_Active_Labor_Act)

~~~
illumin8
I hate to break it to you, but when society starts to unravel because there
are 1,000 dying people lined up outside the hospital and no free space on the
floor for them to be treated, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor
Act won't be worth the paper it is printed on. Words and laws can't make 0
hospital beds fit 1,000 untreated patients...

~~~
AnthonyMouse
Not getting treated because there are no resources available is a completely
separate problem from not getting treated because you don't have insurance. At
that point you're down to solutions like converting the nearest hotel into a
temporary hospital.

------
01100011
It seems extremely irresponsible to not give more details on where the TSA
agents were working. Did they handle or inspect baggage? Were they working a
checkpoint? Which terminal?

They just threw a fear grenade out into the general public and now anyone who
went through that airport in the last week going to wonder if they need to get
tested or self-quarantine.

------
codezero
I flew out and back to SJC this weekend on a trip to Disneyland, so this
doesn’t bode well.

Upside, my company has mandatory work from home this month so I’m self
quarantined already.

------
sillysaurusx
I was going to attend Tensorflow Dev Summit. We dropped $350 on flights +
airbnb for this week. But even after Google canceled the summit, it was
_still_ tempting to fly out anyway and go enjoy a week in Sunnyvale.

Our plane took off at 3:30pm today without us. This article is pretty
vindicating.

Thank you to Google for making tough decisions early, like canceling the
summit.

------
animalnewbie
Serious question, even if dc drops the ball why can't states do something
about it? USA is a federation after all and states are responsible for the
welfare of individual citizens too?

~~~
freeone3000
You see a lot of individual states acting - Washington State has banned
gatherings of more than 250 people, NY has placed a town under lockdown and
the National Guard is distributing food, California has given up on quarantine
and headed to mitigation... As you can see, without direction it's a bit of a
mess.

~~~
dantheman
California is bigger and richer than most countries - why would they need
direction?

Of course it'd be good if the CDC released some general guidance, and was
doing better on providing stats, etc. But the States really need to handle
things.

------
timcederman
Are they wearing masks at the airports yet? I am still surprised at the lack
of deployment of temperature sensors and masks in the US.

~~~
cek
Masks do not help prevent spread when worn by someone who is not infected
(except by reducing hand to face contact to some degree). They help prevent
infected from spreading to others. [1]

[1] [https://www.cnet.com/how-to/which-face-masks-protect-
against...](https://www.cnet.com/how-to/which-face-masks-protect-against-
coronavirus/)

~~~
yibg
I hear this a lot but the whole message isn’t consistent to me. Masks (mostly
n95 respirators) aren’t effective for the general population but they are
needed by healthcare workers? How is it they are at the same time effective
and ineffective?

~~~
timcederman
Yeah, it's disingenuous the way the media saying handwashing is the only
important thing. Studies have shown surgical masks are actually pretty much
just as good at mitigating virus spread (reduced virus exposure helps, even if
you don't avoid it 100%) - [https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-
abstract/18481...](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-
abstract/184819)

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jdkee
This is the end.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VScSEXRwUqQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VScSEXRwUqQ)

~~~
dang
Please don't post duplicate comments.

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tus88
That doesn't sound good...

