customs Sangster

[Accompong]

I agree whole heartedly with MissJen. The flu is everywhere and we have always traveled anyway. Now there is a particularly nasty strain, and the media is doing what they do. Trying to make it a big story so they can keep your attention. That's their job, to get people to read, watch, click on their stories. I am flying to California tomorrow. We will do what we always do on airplanes, keep my fingers away from my face, and mouth, wash my hands, and try to use common sense ( that last part is a big challenge for me). I won't stop traveling, and I wont worry, worry never helped anything.

The big difference? There is a flu shot available. Imagine if a strain of flu develops and spreads that there is no known vaccination to slow it down or stop it. Right now, that is what we have with the coronavirus.

Taking precautions will obviously help but it is pretty easy to spot a person sick with the flu in the communicable stages. Easier to avoid that than a person who looks like everyone else and still in the incubation process.

I am buying a ticket to go back to Jamaica this year and this won't change my plans either.

[rtitle]

I think what rtitle is saying is there are tourists coming from all over to Jamaica, so chances are, coronavirus is there, and now it's a matter of time. The precautions put in place are basically "security theater". The precautions in place aren't going to help anyone. It can take up to two weeks for any symptoms to show. So, I could carry it into Jamaica after being exposed, and then fly out a week later and still feel OK - meanwhile the virus has been spread to all the people who I interacted with for a week. It only takes one.

Lets not even talk about the fact that there are resorts that cater to italians, where theres an outbreak. Lets not acknowledge that the USA is not really doing much to stop the spread.

Yes exactly. Thank you for explaining.

[rtitle]

Now I'm panicking!!!

Don't panic. Just take sensible precautions.

[rtitle]

I prefer to wait until scientists find out more about the disease before I would classify media coverage as hysteria. As often happens, too many people are willing to speculate because there is no consequence for being wrong or right in the end. I have seen virus' come and go in Jamaica and all have been accompanied by hysteria at some level due to not understanding the difference between facts and suss. What is known about the coronavirus is based on a scarce volume of information and will continue to be updated as millions more are tested and when the ones who test positive are investigated to uncover even more who have or have had it.

I personally that that since a vaccine is maybe 18 months or more away, speculation on the spread of this disease is inexact and will probably exceed most current expectations anyways.

Yes that is true. In 18 months things will have ... stabilized.

This is only an issue for people planning travel in the next few months.

[rtitle]

How do you know that the virus is already in Jamaica?

The first post DOES NOT state otherwise.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/n...refutes-claims

Please stop posting false information..

I am not posting "false information". I am posting my deductions. You may think my deductions are incorrect. My deductions may in fact be incorrect. But since I have an advanced degree from Harvard (mathematics) and have studied and/or worked professionally in computer science, biology (evolutionary and population biology (which includes epidemiology)) ... my deductions are more likely to be correct than yours, Rob. However I do thank you for replying to my post. And for being a moderator on this forum.

[Accompong]

Yes that is true. In 18 months things will have ... stabilized.

Is this an informed medical opinion or a gut response? I don't see any evidence that might be true. More testing will undoubtedly uncover more cases and, in some countries, they are either unable or unwilling to go to the extreme measures necessary to stop the spread.

Thinking that warm weather will stop the virus and similar attempts to tamp down fear are like whistling past a graveyard.

In my opinion...

[Rob]

I am not posting "false information". I am posting my deductions. You may think my deductions are incorrect. My deductions may in fact be incorrect. But since I have an advanced degree from Harvard (mathematics) and have studied and/or worked professionally in computer science, biology (evolutionary and population biology (which includes epidemiology)) ... my deductions are more likely to be correct than yours, Rob. However I do thank you for replying to my post. And for being a moderator on this forum.

I didn't post any deductions, I posted the facts.

If you want to post your deductions, please qualify them as such. To state your deduction as a fact, you are posting false information no matter what your degrees...

[rtitle]

Is this an informed medical opinion or a gut response? I don't see any evidence that might be true. More testing will undoubtedly uncover more cases and, in some countries, they are either unable or unwilling to go to the extreme measures necessary to stop the spread.

Thinking that warm weather will stop the virus and similar attempts to tamp down fear are like whistling past a graveyard.

In my opinion...

See my preceding post.

[rtitle]

I didn't post any deductions, I posted the facts.

If you want to post your deductions, please qualify them as such. To state your deduction as a fact, you are posting false information no matter what your degrees...

OK. I will continue to post. Please don't censor me.

[The preceding was neither a deduction nor was it "information". It was a request.]

[JDd]

does anyone here know if you have to keep eggs in the fridge...?