Not to be a Germaphobe.... but...

[Rural]

NOT trolling here...

I'm having some DIY led diodes being delivered from China in about a week coming USPS.

Been hearing the Coronavirus could be as many as 100,000+ cases. China is not releasing credible intel.

Should I take steps to disinfect the package?

I'm being dead serious. A friend of mine cancelled his trip to a vendor conference in Atlanta (non reef related) where all the vendors just came back from a Chinese convention.

Long time Lurker drawn out of 4 plus years of lurking, 1st post...

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/transmission.html
Much is unknown about how 2019-nCoV, a new coronavirus, spreads. Current knowledge is largely based on what is known about similar coronaviruses. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in many different species of animals, including camels, cattle, cats, and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between people such as with MERS, SARS, and now with 2019-nCoV.
Most often, spread from person-to-person happens among close contacts (about 6 feet). Person-to-person spread is thought to occur mainly via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how influenza and other respiratory pathogens spread. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. It’s currently unclear if a person can get 2019-nCoV by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes.

 

[Sabellafella]

What hack website did you pull this from?

Not from a website, from a client who's a doctor that lives in China.

Witch is still purely anecdotal, but it's a friend so I'm willing to learn or listen.

 

[Cell]

Let's not disseminate that info as truth then. That is terribly irresponsible.

 

[Humblefish]

Q: Am I at risk for novel coronavirus from a package or products shipping from China?

There is still a lot that is unknown about the newly emerged 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and how it spreads. Two other coronaviruses have emerged previously to cause severe illness in people (MERS and SARS). 2019-nCoV is more genetically related to SARS than MERS, but both are betacoronaviruses with their origins in bats. While we don’t know for sure that this virus will behave the same way as SARS and MERS, we can use the information from both of these earlier coronaviruses to guide us. In general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures. Coronaviruses are generally thought to be spread most often by respiratory droplets. Currently there is no evidence to support transmission of 2019-nCoV associated with imported goods and there have not been any cases of 2019-nCoV in the United States associated with imported goods. Information will be provided on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus website as it becomes available.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html

 

[Sabellafella]

Some viruses can survive on surfaces longer than others. Some can survive being dried out. Others cannot.

You cannot catch coronavirus from a box.

Your right, probably shouldn't be telling people this either, would be incredibly irresponsible if they listened without any knowledge and got sick.

 

[Salt & Peper]

If a package from China could infect us. the whole world would be sick right now!

 

[Phildago]

NOT trolling here...

I'm having some DIY led diodes being delivered from China in about a week coming USPS.

Been hearing the Coronavirus could be as many as 100,000+ cases. China is not releasing credible intel.

Should I take steps to disinfect the package?

I'm being dead serious. A friend of mine cancelled his trip to a vendor conference in Atlanta (non reef related) where all the vendors just came back from a Chinese convention.

Coronavirus is like a joke version of the flu. If you're healthy you have nothing to worry about. The people in the media are sharks

On the other hand, if you're immunocompromised nothing is a joke, but you know the drill.

 

[Cell]

Until actual lab testing is performed the CDC cant state anything as fact. However, you can look at the real world and infer. If this coronavirus could survive long outside of the host we would be seeing a much more rapid and widespread infection rate. It would be a dangerous step closer to the very virus scientists and health officials around the world fear, that is one that is easily transmissible, stable for long periods of time outside of a host, and a high fatality level.

If the CDC was at all concerned that the virus might survive long on packages or surfaces, they would have said so by now and we would have seen evidence of it.

A little dose of common sense can go along way here.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Your right, probably shouldn't be telling people this either, would be incredibly irresponsible if they listened without any knowledge and got sick.

That’s true, but I think that as long as you say that this is info coming from a Chinese doctor beforehand, it’s ok. I would be inclined to trust someone with firsthand experience.

 

[Pickwun]

Just be sure to lick it clean before you put it on your tank.

 

[Sabellafella]

That’s true, but I think that as long as you say that this is info coming from a Chinese doctor beforehand, it’s ok. I would be inclined to trust someone with firsthand experience.

So the info i posted is from a member on r2r I've known for a very very long time, currently in school for pathology in China, also travels to Cuba 4 days a month for school. His buddy works on sars preventative research.

Here's his list of symptoms

 

[Sabellafella]

I can't even go to a drs office out here unless I'm wearing a mask.

I had just watched the movie contagion for the first time last night, it's all about the WHO and CDC trying to deal with a viral infection. Without a doubt a interesting movie to watch in this current era. Guys should give it a look!

 

[Rilo]

Still wether or not its compared to the flu, they've shut entire city's, cruise ships, hotels, towns, entire providence's down. Hyundai stopped producing cars for the time being.

Something like that doesn't sit well with me. That's enuff to scare me to be a little cautious now with daily living

They've done things like shutting down entire cities because of the epidemic nature of it. China has built entire hospitals to treat patients that strictly have the corona virus. People should take the precautions mentioned for coronavirus, which seem to be precautions to prevent lots of diseases. (We're also hearing all these extremes from the epicenter where the virus occured. If we go to other locations the virus is much less extreme.)

Sounds like you live in the United States so thankfully we live in a place where the situation is being dealt with very well (If I lived in a poorer country, then It'd be more worrisome.). If packages had been infecting many in our country would be reported infected by now and shipment of good from china here would be stopped.

The most responsible thing that should be done even after the coronavirus fear mongering that is going on in the media is gone should be to follow common sense health and cleanliness habits and not let it affect our quality of life.

As well as not going to extremes like wearing face masks. Which is made to prevent patients from spreading contamination not for the people wearing them to not be contaminated.

 

[Cell]

N95 rated marks will indeed protect you from the virus. Surgical masks, as you describe, will not.

 

[Joekovar]

NOT trolling here...

I'm having some DIY led diodes being delivered from China in about a week coming USPS.

Been hearing the Coronavirus could be as many as 100,000+ cases. China is not releasing credible intel.

Should I take steps to disinfect the package?

I'm being dead serious. A friend of mine cancelled his trip to a vendor conference in Atlanta (non reef related) where all the vendors just came back from a Chinese convention.

Are any of the diodes UV spectrum?
Plug those suckers in as fast as possible so the UV kills the germs!

In all seriousness though, maybe let the package sit in the garage for a week? I would think that'd be enough time for the germs to die off, though, I'm no doctor.

 

[Infidel]

NOT trolling here...

I'm having some DIY led diodes being delivered from China in about a week coming USPS.

Been hearing the Coronavirus could be as many as 100,000+ cases. China is not releasing credible intel.

Should I take steps to disinfect the package?

I'm being dead serious. A friend of mine cancelled his trip to a vendor conference in Atlanta (non reef related) where all the vendors just came back from a Chinese convention.

If you are worried about it, you could open the package while wearing nitrile gloves and a respirator... then expose everything to intense UVC light.

I doubt you have any cause to worry as it's transferred directly from an infected, symptomatic carrier to a host within fairly close proximity.

 

[tdlawdo]

They have dine the studies this virus does not survive off the host for more than a few hours tops. While it is a coronavirus like MERS and SARS it is no “weaponized” The early data showed there was over 2% mortality but those numbers have now been recalculated to be somewhere south of 0.5%. And the data is still dirty. The typical US flu season shows about 0.1%. I have had a few meetings with CDC officials and the party line is still that there is no live virus on packages shipped from anywhere. So leaving them in your garage or using nitrile gloves etc is overkill. Be healthy my friends!

 

[themcnertney]

Simpsons did it first..

 

[Reef AquaCult]

If you’re this worried about Coronavirus then I’d advise you to get a flu vaccine each year. The flu causes 30-60 THOUSAND DEATHS IN THE USA EVERY YEAR. 3 thousand deaths worldwide from Coronavirus this far. While I see your concern about the package from China it’s not warranted, the virus cannot survive on a box for very long. You should be much more concerned about getting infected from your grocery store visit today. Practice good personal hygiene and make precautions to prevent getting infected in your community. Don’t worry about the box, unless your local UPS guy has the virus :) and sneezed on it of course.

I think I'm at least.... going to buy 90% rubbing alcohol and put it in a spray bottle and mist as I open the package

You may be laughing and think it's all funny until you catch a deadly virus.

I had a weird strain of the Flu 2 yrs ago a Major Hospital couldn't ID.

Spent 4 days at the hospital on anti-viral med in saline bags. My heart began to build fluid around it. At 104° temp I know know what its like not being able to walk bc you're so sick and dying seems like a relief. $10,000 in med-bills later, I fully recovered

 

[hubcap]

I worry for this country.
I, truly, do.

And not because of a corona virus.