Yeah. And from the timeline, it could have been in Washington county for a month already.
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Washington, too:
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A woman in Northern California, a resident in northwest Oregon, and a high school student in Washington State have all tested positive for the COVID-19 novel coronavirus despite having no known link to any other outbreak or infected person. The cases indicate there may be active community transmission of COVID-19 in at least four separate communities on the West Coast — and more confirmed cases are extremely likely as state and local health officials continue to expand their surveillance and test more people.
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The CDC just issued a Level 3 Warning against travel to Italy. (That’s out of 4; Level 4 is “hide under your blankets”.) The following, from the Grauniad 2 days ago, is already way obsolete:
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This will be the real test of how well the fairly draconian Chinese response worked. If cases skyrocket again as the factories restart, that would constitute a failure.
Also,
Here it has found it’s way into the schools. Elementary school in California, high school in Washington, both from what appears to be endemic transmission. Barring Chinese-style quarantining of entire communities, that pretty much puts the kibosh on any attempts here at isolating individual cases. Buckle up, the ride gets rough from here.
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And some common sense advice:
Most of all,
WASH YOUR GOD DAMNED HANDS!!!
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And if things don’t go my way, I’m told he has a stockpile of 84.
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I was supposed to travel for work in a couple of weeks and the client canceled because new restrictions on visitors because of general coronavirus concerns. Sigh.
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R0 of around 2. That’ll do it.
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… yes and …
(with apologies if this has been posted already)
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WHENNNNNN???
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Every chance you get? 
[ETA: dumb typo fix…]
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If you have to ask, the answer is NOW.
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Greetings from Austin, Texas, where SXSW is definitely going ahead as scheduled.
People come from all over the world to be here. Well, mostly.
SXSW is typically a massive, super-crowded party for two weeks.
I work in a building (in 78704) that has for many years been (in one area) an AirB&B location. I am now thinking of how I can mostly work from home, and limit my time in the building for when I must have office hours.
As a daughter of an RN and a currently a caregiver for an elderly parent, I wash my hands a lot already. I’m going to have to start stuffing wee tubes of moisturizer in my pockets because my skin is drying out from all the soap. Argh.
Last resort: hand sanitizer with an alcohol content of 60% or higher. Good gravy does that dry one’s skin out! Oh well…
https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html
This year may be Austin’s SUXSW. Sure hope we are prepared. I simply can’t convey to y’all in words just how crowded this town gets during the event.
ETA: I avoid SXSW like… uh… yeah… the plague and have for years. I know plenty of Austinites tend to flee town for a while until it’s all over.
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No, it’s a serious, scientific question because the advice from medical pros cannot be “wash your hands all the time.” That’s impractical and unadvisable for many reasons. Any doc or nurse can tell you how hard it is to gain patients’ compliance or adherence to even the simplest instructions or medications. So telling people to wash their hands all the time is an obvious failure of correct messaging.
It has to be:
Specific - It is: wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, use soap and dry on a clean towel python.
Timely - Q. When is best to wash hands? You cannot wash your hands while riding the subway, so what is the fallback? A. Purell and also try hard not to touch surfaces, other people or your face. Wash your hands at earliest practical convenience afterwards.
Targeted - The advice campaigns should be concentrated near large public gathering and transit areas, and the locals need to set up extra hand washing stations out in the open for people to use.
Constructive - Hand washing at the critical times has been proven to stop the spread of flu by 24% to 69%.
That’s what I’m getting at…
BTW - you can follow it up with a good hand lotion (like Aveeno or Neutrogena or a store knock-off) to keep moisturized after the Purell. So, it means you have to carry two little bottles, but it’s worth it. There’s also moisturizer Purell, but I hate the way that slimy stuff feels.
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Let’s see, after bathroom breaks, before eating, after touching your face, before touching your face, after blowing/picking/touching your nose and/or eyes, before all of those as well, after touching another person, before touching another person. There are probably more, but thats what pops to mind right off.
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When you get home is a good addition.
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But honestly, it might not matter much population-wide. It will matter very much to you, as an individual, but overall? And here is why. In what has to be considered a brilliant move on its part, the virus has accessed our schools. Why is this so important?
A) Kids tend to have very mild symptoms. Good for them, but
B) Its cold and flu season. Those symptoms will largely be missed or ignored.
C) Kids are incredibly effective vectors. Have you ever tried to get a 5 year old to wash hands after going to the bathroom, let alone after every time they touch their face? Kids spread snot and slobber everywhere they go. Inevitably.
Case example. Do you know what the most effective public health approach for preventing flu in the elderly is? If you answered, “obviously, vaccinate them!” you are wrong. It is to vaccinate the preschool population. We have no COVID-19 vaccination. Strap in, folks.
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