In all seriousness, you should stock up on basic supplies like food, water, and probably hand soap and sanitizing wipes. Any kind of medical mask will be useless at preventing you from catching the illness, but will be UTTERLY ESSENTIAL for you not spreading it to others around you. The thing about these medical masks they sell in stores is that they're not properly fitted around the outside of your mouth, so particles can get in just fine but anything leaving your mouth will have trouble. Even the custom fitted masks they give to surgeons won't work, because they're only intended to be used for a few hours. The best way for you to not get sick is to avoid places where large numbers congregate, wipe down things like doorknobs and shopping cart handles before you use them (although good luck not looking paranoid), and staying the fuck home when you are sick.
You are welcome.
3M masks. Order them off Amazon. You want the 9500s, the ones with the filter attachment. The mask itself is disposable, you should be good using each one a couple times, but use your judgement. You can get them in cases of 100, I'd get as many as possible. If this all blows over, it's possible to sell them individually on eBay.
I haven't heard of any besides those. Just watch out for obviously sick people in public, step up the hygeine, remove shoes and change clothes when coming home.
twitter.com
There are two probable cases of coronavirus in NSW and five other people possibly have the disease, health officials have announced.
All seven patients are undergoing hospital testing and the two probable cases have been fully isolated.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said she expected test results for one of the two probable cases later this afternoon.
Results for the other case would be available on Sunday morning at the earliest.
The announcement comes after Australia's first coronavirus patient was confirmed in Melbourne on Saturday morning.
All six NSW patients have recently returned from visits to Wuhan in China, which is the epicentre of the cornavirus outbreak. While in China, one of the patients had contact with a person who was sick with the disease, Dr Chant said.
Dr Chant estimated the two probable patients had crossed paths with "many tens of people" since their arrival in Australia, but NSW Health is awaiting exact figures.
"At this stage we are contacting everybody in accordance with the national guidelines and treating them as if they are confirmed," Dr Chant said.
While authorities do not fully understand how the coronavirus spreads, it is thought to be less contagious than measles and only transmissible once a patient has started showing symptoms.
"The risk of transmission is still very, very low," Dr Chant said.
"So if we can get that message, that if you get the symptoms after returning from overseas, or you have been in contact with a known case of coronavirus, seek care immediately. Seek care urgently."
Passengers from Wuhan arrive at Sydney Airport on the last flight out of the city on Thursday. CREDIT: JANIE BARRETT
The symptoms of the new virus are similar to a cold or flu and can include breathing difficulties.
In China, the official death toll from the coronavirus has jumped from 26 people to 41 people overnight.
More than 1,300 people have been infected globally, as health authorities around the world scramble to prevent a global pandemic.
The total number of confirmed cases in China now stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said in a statement on Saturday.
China Eastern Airlines flights from Sydney to and from the Chinese city Xi'an via Wuhan have been cancelled through to March 29. The airline is contacting affected customers.
"The health and safety of our customers and employees is our number one priority," a statement from the airline said on Friday.
With AAP
Ninja'd.Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding on Twitter
“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD - the new coronavirus is a 3.8!!! How bad is that reproductive R0 value? It is thermonuclear pandemic level bad - never seen an actual virality coefficient outside of Twitter in my entire career. I’m not exaggerating... #WuhanCoronovirus #CoronavirusOutbreak”
From Epidemiologist.
"we predict the epidemic in Wuhan will be substantially larger by 4 February (191,529 infections; prediction interval, 132,751-273,649), infection will be established in other Chinese cities, and importations to other countries will be more frequent. "
"SUMMARY: so what does this mean for the world??? We are now faced with the most virulent virus epidemic the world has ever seen. An R0=3.8 means that it exceeds SARS’s modest 0.49 viral attack rate by 7.75x — almost 8 fold! A virus that spreads 8 faster than SARS... "
Its cheep.
