The White House is now insisting that all scientific and government-health related communication about the cdc be routed through the Trump administration before going public. And that person in charge of this communication funnel? Vice President Mike Pence, who as a governor previously took his sweet-ass time doing anything to address a major HIV outbreak in Scott County, Indiana.

From The New York Times:

The White House moved on Thursday to tighten control of coronavirus messaging by government health officials and scientists, directing them to coordinate all statements and public appearance with the office of Vice President Mike Pence, according to several officials familiar with the new approach.

[…]

Officials insist the goal is not to control the content of what subject-matter experts and other officials are saying, but to make sure their efforts are being coordinated, after days of confusion with various administration officials showing up on television. And they say they are not focused on specific news releases rather with a streamlined effort around television appearances.

The instinct to try and control epidemic news isn't necessarily bad if it's in good faith. People can panic and make bad decisions when they're scared,  which can also make it easier for predatory conmen to exploit that fear for profit. Scared and panicked people could potentially overwhelm medical services out of paranoia, preventing people who are actually infected with the condition from getting the help they need. Hell, I can even understand why my own doctor lied to me about swine flu. Read the rest

This essay on the Wuhan coronavirus by Xu Zhangrun, translated from the original Chinese and annotated by Geremie R. Barmé on Chinafile.com, is absolutely amazing. I'm grateful it is now available for English-speaking audiences. Read the rest

The death toll from the Wuhan virus has officially passed 1,000, according to China's health commission. Read the rest

The so-called Wuhan Coronavirus has killed more than 700 people, mostly in Mainland China, and the outbreak continues to spread with new cases on new continents. In China, Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV is also exposing the surveillance state -- apps show locations of the infected, heat-sensing cameras spot feverish disease suspects, and identify them even with ubiquitous paper face masks on. Read the rest

Japan's Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday that Chinese authorities have blocked a plan by Apple supplier Foxconn to resume production at China factories on Monday, as Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV continues to spread. Read the rest

• Online tributes and expressions of grief for doctor who tried to sound alarm on NCoV

Online in China, where Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV has now killed at least 630 as of today, one death seems to have affected the entire country profoundly. Read the rest

The number of deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus now stands at 630, China state media reports today.

China's Hubei province reports 2,447 new cases of the deadly virus, and 69 new deaths as of Thursday.

Multiple news agencies are now confirming.

#BREAKING China virus death toll rises to at least 630, government says pic.twitter.com/27fW31NC9p

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 6, 2020

Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV continues to spread throughout the world.

#Update: #Hubei reported 2,447 new cases of novel #coronavirus on Feb 6, with 69 new deaths; total infection number of the province rose to 22,112, with 618 dead and 817 recovered. https://t.co/SZ98qVlYQd pic.twitter.com/0itVhu6nTA

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 6, 2020

Read the rest

Shares of Tesla Motors were down 19% on Wednesday after a senior executive with the electric vehicle company warned of delivery delays for Model 3 cars made at its Shanghai plant, because of the ever-worsening coronavirus outbreak in China. Read the rest

More Americans fleeing the coronavirus outbreak are being evacuated from Wuhan, China, to the U.S. On Wednesday, 2 State Department-chartered jetliners carried an estimated 350 U.S. citizens from Wuhan, China, to a U.S. military base in California. Read the rest

“In this day and age, you can trace everyone’s movements with big data,” Li Lanjuan, an adviser to the National Health Commission, said in an interview with state television.

Government officials in China are using big data to track the location and movement of people who are known to be infected with the Wuhan coronavirus, officially known as Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV. Read the rest

• Coronavirus, which WHO declared a global health emergency, threatens to disrupt Chinese manufacturing

The deadly virus outbreak that began in Wuhan, China continues to spread and claim lives around the world. At this time, still, the vast majority of infected patients and deaths are in mainland China, Hubei province.

The epidemic is also impacting business, finance, and technology production in China.

Apple's iPhone production relies in part on a Foxconn factory that has been shut down by the Chinese government.

If the halt is extended, Reuters reports today, this could impact iPhone production, availability, and sales. Read the rest

China’s central bank today announced plans to inject 1.2 trillion yuan worth of liquidity ($174 billion in U.S. dollars) into the financial markets via reverse repo operations on Monday, as stock markets prepare to reopen amid an escalating Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. Read the rest

“Punk,” says a Wuhan hardcore band member, “is a way to help me keep my mind fresh.”

The wonderful Aaron Stewart-Ahn tweeted today, “Something you haven’t been told about Wuhan during this outbreak is that it is China’s punk music capital.”

And he's right. Read the rest

• CDC issues federal quarantine orders for 195 Americans evacuated from China, who are being housed at March Air Reserve Base

• First CDC quarantine in 50 years. Last federal quarantine was issued in the 1960s for smallpox.

• The repatriated individuals will remain quarantined for 14 days, starting from when the flight left China.

FRIDAY, 1PM EASTERN, JAN 31 2020: The United States Centers for Disease Control, under the authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, says 195 American citizens are quarantined at a military base after having been evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of a growing global coronavirus outbreak.

The 195 quarantined persons arrived earlier this week at March Air Reserve Base in California. Read the rest

As we've been blogging here at Boing Boing, the Wuhan coronavirus continues to spread, and airlines have begun suspending flights to and from China, where most confirmed cases are located.

• As of Friday, 11AM Eastern time, the Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV outbreak has killed more than 200 people and infected an estimated 10,000.

• On Friday, the U.S. issued a travel warning telling Americans to stay out of China.

• The Chinese government replied by calling the U.S. 'mean' for the travel advisory. Read the rest