I haven't been paying close attention to this thread, so apologies if this link has already been posted. Here is the BC government's official COVID-19 portal: http://www.bccdc.ca/about/news-stories/stories/2020/information-on-novel-coronavirus
(BC = British Columbia, the Canadian province in which IETF-107 is located)
On Tue, Feb 25, 2020 at 10:23 AM Alexandre Petrescu <alexandre..petrescu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Le 25/02/2020 à 16:58, John C Klensin a écrit :
>
> --On Tuesday, February 25, 2020 15:36 +0100 Alexandre Petrescu
> <alexandre.petrescu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>>> … Much is unknown about how the COVID-19 spreads. Current
>>>> knowledge is largely based on what is known about similar
>>>> coronaviruses. …
>> Right, it approaches a 'I dont know'.
>>
>> A better of that would be to ask to not look at them central
>> organisation holding the Truth, but go ask at the local
>> 'pharmacy' (emergency medical store? 'apotheke'?).
>>
>> For my part I went yesterday to 'pharmacy' asking for other
>> things non related to this situation.
>>
>> A person next to me asked for masks. The person behind the
>> counter replied 'what do you all people have, do you
>> synchronise to plan something?'; he replied 'I dont know, I
>> have kids, I worry'. For my part, I understand there are many
>> around me who want to buy masks.
>>
>> That kind of local data is of huge importance. It is real,
>> actual, first hand and non tweaked. It is not the result of
>> some committee deliberation.
> I don't understand your reasoning here. It seems to me that the
> very anecdotal local data you cite demonstrates two things:
I agree it looks strange.
It is however what I think works right now - that anecdotical data;
which is the only to rely on.
Later maybe the science will find the necessary rules to apply to all.
>
> (1) That one is a local pharmacist or other worker at the local
> pharmacy does not demonstrate that he or she is any of (i) a
> subject matter expert on COVID-19 or its global impact, (ii) a
> qualified and skilled immunologist, or (iii) a qualified and
> skilled epidemiologist. In the latter two cases, that they are
> following the reliable reports and literature carefully, not
> just believing whatever they read in the daily papers or on the
> Internet.
>
> (ii) Knowing that there are many around you who want to buy
> masks, or even many people globally who want to buy masks, is a
> measure of the level of local panic about COVID-19, not a
> measure of the spread, infectiousness, danger, or other measures
> about the virus and its epidemic properties. It does not tell
> us much about the level of local panic anywhere else and, even
> if it did, the IETF should not be making decisions about how to
> handle a specific meeting over global panic levels (even though
> individuals might).
>
> All in all, I think the policy Jay described is reasonable and
> probably the best that can be done. I think there is one
> strategic and economic (not health-related) issue that I fear
> has not received careful enough consideration but I suppose we
> will just have to see how that unfolds (and I'm not going to
> discuss it further unless Jay or members of the LLC Board ask).
I would like to know .
Alex
>
> best,
> john
>
>
