A Temporary Halt to Fossils on Wheels Programs

[fossilsonwheels]

3 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Very sad to hear this. 

But anyway.

Hope you have a good day. 

Thank you very much. My kids made it an enjoyable B-day for sure. 

[dinosaur man]

13 hours ago, Monica said:

Hey Kurt!

 

It is indeed too bad about having to suspend your program, but that just seems to be the way things are going.  Just yesterday around 5pm we found out that Ontario schools will be closed for 2 weeks after March Break, so after today we're not going back to school until early April.  Hopefully this imposed self-isolation will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 here in Ontario.

 

If the weather continues to cooperate I'm planning on doing a bit of fossil-hunting during this 3-week break, as well as work on my practicum for my Principals' Qualification Program (teaching has prevented me from finding spare time to work on it, so perhaps I can get a chunk of it done while I'm off from work ).

 

Best of luck with the micromatrix!!! 

 

Monica

Agreed, since I have no school for two weeks after March break, I’m going to get out and do some spring fossil hunting. And the common flu has killed more people than the Coronavirus. And @fossilsonwheels hope you get your program back to normal.

[Troodon]

2 hours ago, dinosaur man said:

And the common flu has killed more people than the Coronavirus.

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-new-coronavirus-isn-t-like-the-flu-but-they-have-one-big-thing-in-common

[Kane]

Rumour, opinion, gossip, and conspiracy travel faster than any virus. 

 

Please take this outbreak seriously. Acquire and verify all information through credible health science bodies, and all official statements of the local health authority.

[siteseer]

1 hour ago, Troodon said:

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-new-coronavirus-isn-t-like-the-flu-but-they-have-one-big-thing-in-common

 

 

Troodon,

 

Thanks for the dose of science.  Part of the government had been downplaying the danger for weeks but a national emergency was declared earlier today.  It's not just a flu that threatens the old.  A common flu is bad enough with the body aches, congestion, chills, and weakness but this new virus carries unknowns.  It is without a specific treatment procedure and without a vaccine.  We might have to wait until this time next year or longer for an effective vaccine.  This virus might already exist as more than one strain.  There's no cause for panic but no one should be ignoring what's going on. 

 

Jess

[jpc]

8 hours ago, Ruger9a said:

During the 2017-2018 flu season in the USA - 45,000,000 caught the flu, 21,000,000 visited medical facilities for treatment, 810,000 were hospitalized, 61,000 died. Most were elderly and/or had preexisting health problems.  I am concerned as I fall into the "not so young with preexisting health problems" category.  However, I don't remember a single school being closed, the elimination of live audiences for sports events, cancellation of com

munity events, hospitals stating they were overwhelmed, restriction of flights or sold out shelves related to sanitation or cleaning supplies.

The scary part of this one is that it can infect a person and not show any signs for a couple weeks, and yet that person is contagious... as I understand it.  Much more contagious.  And the death rate is 10 - 20 times as high as a regular flu.  the 61000 deaths is about .1 percent.  this thing is killing more than 2% is some countries... 100 of your friends get sick, two of them will die.  

 

edit:  from the WHO website... I was off a bit about my non-symptomatic comment:

Can CoVID-19 be caught from a person who has no symptoms?

The main way the disease spreads is through respiratory droplets expelled by someone who is coughing. The risk of catching COVID-19 from someone with no symptoms at all is very low. However, many people with COVID-19 experience only mild symptoms. This is particularly true at the early stages of the disease. It is therefore possible to catch COVID-19 from someone who has, for example, just a mild cough and does not feel ill.  WHO is assessing ongoing research on the period of transmission of COVID-19 and will continue to share updated findings.    

 

 

[Ruger9a]

5 hours ago, fossilsonwheels said:

Very true, flu season in general can be very bad. I think there is a lot of panic right now which is never good but hopefully these drastic steps do slow the spread. 

Lets hope so.  I'm looking forward to some normality in the community and a conversation that doesn't include the pandemic status. 

[fossilsonwheels]

6 minutes ago, Ruger9a said:

Lets hope so.  I'm looking forward to some normality in the community and a conversation that doesn't include the pandemic status. 

I absolutely agree. Well said

[connorp]

This is crazy. Feels like my whole life has been cancelled. Our graduation was just cancelled and finals moved to online, so I'm moving home from the rest of college. And on the fossil side, I was really looking forward to a few shows and field trips to mines, but those have all been cancelled. I completely understand why this has to happen, it's just a bit of a whirlwind, this all seems to be happening so fast. Hope everyone here is doing all right, health comes before all.

[fossilsonwheels]

3 hours ago, connorp said:

This is crazy. Feels like my whole life has been cancelled. Our graduation was just cancelled and finals moved to online, so I'm moving home from the rest of college. And on the fossil side, I was really looking forward to a few shows and field trips to mines, but those have all been cancelled. I completely understand why this has to happen, it's just a bit of a whirlwind, this all seems to be happening so fast. Hope everyone here is doing all right, health comes before all.

I am sorry to hear that Connor. I work with college students and one of my fellow supervisors may miss graduation as well though we are hopeful that does not happen. Same for my daughter with her HS graduation.

[fossilsonwheels]

8 hours ago, Troodon said:

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-new-coronavirus-isn-t-like-the-flu-but-they-have-one-big-thing-in-common

Of course Frank brings the science lol Thank you. We had some pretty interesting information at the museum from various sources. We were going to put together a small exhibit but the closure halted that.

[FranzBernhard]

7 hours ago, siteseer said:

This virus might already exist as more than one strain.

That´s one of the problems. Everything is very, very new and knowledge and science is in its making.

 

I have heard in our local official news, that in Bergamo many young (age 30-50) people need intensive care. And of 6000 infected people, 50 are physicians (Hope, I remember the numbers correctly). This could very well point to another strain.

 

So, avoid crowds, keep distance, wash you hands regularly, go out alone, eat freshly growing herbs if possible, like wild garlic or wood garlic (both can already be harvested in our garden). I don´t know if they really help, but they can do something do your mind set. And most important: Keep calm and relax! Strengthen your immune system. Not every contact with a few viruses infests you, if your immune system is quite ok. That´s a fact, observed in many singular cases, where all contact persons around one infested person have been tested and isolated for two weeks. Only very few contact persons got Covid-19. But I don´t have the exact numbers though. However, existence of more dangerous strains can not be excludes as can not be excluded further mutations.

 

Well, here in Austria about 6000 people where tested until now and only suspected persons were tested. Of these, 503 are positive until yesterday afternoon.

 

All the best!
Franz Bernhard