Talk:Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020/Archive 1

Month navigation
I suggest that these monthly timelines should have previous/next month (that is February and April respectively for this page) in the template.

I don't know how/which template would be appropriate, so I put this up on the talk page for now. jax (talk) 16:57, 1 March 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅ Maybe a navbox should be set up instead? -- Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝)  18:24, 1 March 2020 (UTC)


 * Given the pace and scale of the spread of this bug, I would suggest that as an exigent Wikipedian matter that this page eschew nation-state positive cases counts & shift to major nation-state/global bureaucratic diktats. Similar occurred for the Swine Flu pandemic timeline, after all. kencf0618 (talk)

In/outside Mainland China distinction
I wonder if it still makes sense to use the in/outside Mainland China dichotomy into March. China's case numbers have been in decline, and current measures in mainland China have been largely focused on economic and business recovery. Outbreak has occurred in Italy (possibly the whole EU), Iran, and South Korea. It is possible that the United State will see a major escalation of case count in the next few weeks, given that the USCDC is now going to carry out testing at a large scale.

I propose separating by regions (such as (sub)continents), with each country its own subsection, and only one timeline by date instead of two like now. Rethliopuks (talk) 12:32, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
 * One timeline by date sounds good. Breaking out by country with its own subsection sounds too much. Daniel.Cardenas (talk) 23:59, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

links to relevant articles
Added in links to relevant articles in the standard form. THAT wikipedia has not stuck to a standard form nor got the articles as of yet is not a reason to avoid links. THIS gap highlights what editors have to do. Wikipedia does not have to be complete. OTHERs can add more links if they want or tidy them up. NOT just remove with no reason given.

see here Red link

" It is useful while editing articles to add a red link to indicate that a page will be created soon or that an article should be created for the topic because the subject is notable and verifiable. "

88.115.204.102 (talk) 11:50, 5 March 2020 (UTC)anon editor

BBC Live Coverage
The BBC having switched to live coverage, there is too much for me to keep up with. Have at it. kencf0618 (talk) 13:36, 6 March 2020 (UTC)


 * In fact, I we should summarize the WHO reports to begin with, and post all other relevant information from the media. Sound like a plan? kencf0618 (talk) 18:13, 6 March 2020 (UTC)

WikiProject COVID-19
I've created WikiProject COVID-19 as a temporary or permanent WikiProject and invite editors to use this space for discussing ways to improve coverage of the ongoing 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. Please bring your ideas to the project/talk page. Stay safe, --- Another Believer ( Talk ) 16:55, 15 March 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 17 March 2020
I would like it written that on the 16th of march there were 57 deaths in UK 22 more than the day before. 2A00:23C5:C01D:8E01:D5A0:EDA1:EF7C:F91 (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Tenryuu 🐲  ( 💬 • 📝)  05:03, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Pictogram voting comment.svg Note: closing answered request   Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    05:26, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 18 March 2020
It's official: The Euro Cup and the Copa America has been postponed until summer of 2021. 2607:FB90:5E9E:19AE:7DFF:684C:DC10:E7FC (talk) 03:07, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. QueerFilmNerd  talk 06:24, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Templates not showing up
At the bottom of this article, reflist and 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic aren't showing up. There has to be an alternative to using flagdeco an excessive amount of times. --Wow (talk) 04:56, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * It's possible we have too many templates on the page. Let me experiment for a moment.   Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    05:28, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Oops, should have checked this talk page. I did some experimenting too. The reflist is showing up for me now but not the pandemic template. Possibly we have too many citations on this page? Unsure how to progress but apologies if I messed up anyone's troubleshooting. Folly Mox (talk) 05:40, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Nooo whatever you did fixed the reflist part actually! I did an experiment tho by doing a test edit where I removed the entire section using the multiple flagdeco templates and that didn't restore the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic template. When previewing edits before publishing them the page is generating the following warning:
 * I'm not sure what else could be causing the issue to be honest.   Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    05:46, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Actually we may need to split this page and Timeline of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic in February 2020 into two parts. We have a similar issue on that page with some templates like 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic not showing as well. Plus the February timeline is currently #5 on our Longest Wikipedia pages and at the rate March is going it will soon join and possibly exceed February at this rate.   Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    05:58, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes split as non accessibility is a big concern as of now. The MediaWiki software that powers Wikipedia has several parameters that limit the complexity of a page, thus limiting the amount of templates that can be included. When a page reaches the template limit, the most common solution  is to convert some "citation templates"  to a  "manual style" citation.
 * Yes split as non accessibility is a big concern as of now. The MediaWiki software that powers Wikipedia has several parameters that limit the complexity of a page, thus limiting the amount of templates that can be included. When a page reaches the template limit, the most common solution  is to convert some "citation templates"  to a  "manual style" citation.

...-- Moxy 🍁 06:13, 18 March 2020 (UTC)


 * Thanks that clears everything up actually.    Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    06:26, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 18 March 2020
Slovakia confirmed its first death. https://spectator.sme.sk/c/22362049/a-woman-positive-with-coronavirus-has-died.html 78.99.161.240 (talk) 14:35, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅. Username6892 21:09, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Reference fix
Any idea how to fix the reference so that it shows in the diagram? The ref list does not show up. Thanks. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 18:47, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * The page will likely have to be split, unless someone feels like converting six hundred or so Template:cites into manual citation style references (see above discussion, and also proposal at Talk:Timeline of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic in February 2020). Folly Mox (talk) 20:22, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Like Folly Mox said we either have to convert a whole bunch of references manually (sad doggo) or find a reasonable solution to split both this timeline and last month's timeline into two (or three) separate articles. Otherwise the more we add to this article with more references with Template:cite the more other templates will stop loading.   Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    21:14, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * A suggestion would be to split the chronology and the government responses into their own pages. Though, considering the month is not over yet it might result in need to split into into further pages. Maybe split the government responses into a china response page and elsewhere in the world response page.Elishop (talk) 21:26, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Another possibility would be to split the article by location. For example Timeline of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic in Europe. We could even completely reorganize all the timeline articles into timelines by country or continent. The main thing is to get the number of references down so that the reflist shows up. Wikipedia wouldn't be Wikipedia without WP:RS and if readers don't have access to these reliable sources, then nobody will know how accurate anything on the page is.  Bait30   Talk 2 me pls? 22:16, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Split Proposal
A split proposal is currently being discussed at the COVID-19 project talk page. See Wikipedia talk: WikiProject COVID-19. Username6892 01:13, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 19 March 2020
For Italy, on March 18, the total number of cases is stated as 37,513. But 35,713 is consistent with the stated number of new cases. I think you have transposed the 7 and the 5. 73.50.183.32 (talk) 06:49, 19 March 2020 (UTC)fch 73.50.183.32 (talk) 06:49, 19 March 2020 (UTC)
 *   Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    09:07, 19 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done Yup it was a mathematical error or the numbers got transposed I corrected the error based on your request and added a source as well.   Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    09:14, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Bug
After saving this edit, I was taken to Timeline_of_the_2019–20_coronavirus_pandemic_in_March_2020, when I should have been taken to Timeline_of_the_2019–20_coronavirus_pandemic_in_March_2020. Has this happened before? — Preceding unsigned comment added by BEANS X3 (talk • contribs) 13:39, 19 March 2020 (UTC)
 * This has also happened to me before, although I'm not sure if it's always been like that. Alpha Centauri 5932 (talk) 02:20, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

Another bug?
Speaking of bugs, starting from reference 722 in the References section of this article, instead of seeing the actual reference, I just see either Template:Cite web or Template:Cite news, or even #invoke:citation/CS1, with only 4 references after 722 actually displaying correctly. Am I the only one seeing this? And why is it displaying like that? Some error in the way the references were created? Or something else? (Edit: Also, it only seems to happen on this article: everywhere else displays them correctly.) Alpha Centauri 5932 (talk) 02:23, 20 March 2020 (UTC)
 * The page is at its template limit, there's a discussion linked above somewhere to split this page because it won't load anymore templates, most of them being references. QueerFilmNerd  talk 03:51, 20 March 2020 (UTC)
 * How often has this limit been hit? kencf0618 (talk) 00:06, 21 March 2020 (UTC)
 * The discussion about splitting this page and last month's timeline is here. We're currently using an older method to display some of the references but not all will display.   Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    16:14, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

This page is probably going to need to be split again. There will probably be several hundred more references by the time March is over. Swordman97 talk to me  00:25, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

bad math or bad data?
The last bullet under March 2 ("Five more deaths were also confirmed, bringing the total number to 6.") must be incorrect if the previous day's account ("The United States reported the second confirmed death in Washington state.") is correct. So if someone could verify the facts, the change would either be "Five more deaths were also confirmed, bringing the total number to seven." or "Four more deaths were also confirmed, bringing the total number to six." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Adcva (talk • contribs) 21:05, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

Ballotpedia
An excellent omnibus source for the state and municipal levels. I'll mill through this in segments from

the beginning alongside my focus on Idaho.

https://ballotpedia.org/The_State_and_Local_Tap:_State_and_local_governments_respond_to_coronavirus_pandemic

kencf0618 (talk) 15:06, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

Add Jordan!!!
Jordan closed all schools for 2 weeks, all tourist sites for 1 week, and asked restaurants to keep customers apart on 14 march 2020. They closed all places except essential places for 2 weeks on 18 March. Jordan imposed a curfew indefinitely on 20 March that began 21 March. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ellidon217 (talk • contribs) 09:20, 22 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Ref pls?  15:12, 24 March 2020 (UTC)

Country list
The list of countries affected is almost just a list of countries in the world at this point. From a quick glance at a map there are really only a handful of countries not infected. Might it be better to simply state that most of the world is infected, rather than having a long list of flags on the article? --ERAGON (talk) 17:54, 23 March 2020 (UTC)


 * Perhaps we should list all the countries and territories where no cases have been reported so far then. --Extended Cut (talk) 23:02, 24 March 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree, that could work. --ERAGON (talk) 23:04, 24 March 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 March 2020
19 March
 * Peru confirms 234 cases and first 3 deaths. 190.233.93.57 (talk) 16:10, 20 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: Source provided does not explicitly state 234 cases and 3 deaths on March 19. However, I did add 2 new deaths and death toll at 9. PLEASE copy and paste the code to reply (Talk) 21:34, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

Proposal
I speak less English and native Portuguese. I proposed that article can be divided in Timeline of the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 in America, ... in Asia, ...in Europe, others. But, other major in China.2804:431:D729:18E8:45C6:F3AE:A96A:C415 (talk) 20:23, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

External link: Spreadsheet for March cases
I plan to add an external link to a spreadsheet showing how the pandemic has developed in March (as described here).
 * Added jax (talk) 07:06, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

I would like to broach it here first, because
 * 1) I am maintaining it (there is no "original research", only derived values like CFR) and don't want to toot own horn
 * 2) I really think this should be maintained by Wikipedia
 * 3) If it won't I look for those of you who would like to do so (contact me if interested, I could make spreadsheet open for all to edit, goal after all, but on own I can't both maintain and screen for vandalism).

The template cannot maintain all these data (it is used in too many contexts), but there should be a Wikipedia page with key values (maybe not all the functions in the spreadsheet). jax (talk) 09:23, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

What's going on with the references?
Reference list is not being displayed. "Template:Reflist" is displayed instead.

I guess the last edit was an attempt to fix this. I have no idea how to fix this as well.

Cheers

Feelthhis (talk) 17:20, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
 * See the above discussion. There are so many references that the templates are breaking.  Bait30   Talk 2 me pls? 17:44, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

Splitting
As per the WP:COVID talk page, we've decided to split the page was we are unable to see the references now. I am pinging the participants of the RfC to come to a conclusion of where to split. This page is 430 bytes, we need to split it. ,, , , , , , , , , , , , , , and  QueerFilmNerd  talk 23:54, 28 March 2020 (UTC)
 * EDIT: According to Draft:Reactions to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, the size of the page would be about 130b, which would put the page size at about 320b. QueerFilmNerd  talk 01:46, 29 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Split into "Pandemic chronology of the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic in March 2020" and "Responses to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic in March 2020". With some foresight I think we should consider splitting next month's timeline as such as well. Tenryuu 🐲  ( 💬 • 📝)  00:58, 29 March 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't understand, if the WHO Situation report is already cited, the citations for each bullet point seem unnecessary. Removing all those extra citations should make it possible to see the ref list. If not, you can also split off the reactions section.  Bait30   Talk 2 me pls? 01:03, 29 March 2020 (UTC)
 * From my understanding, the WHO report is the report as of that day, but does not include that day. The individual citations are reports per country for that day, usually reported the day after. QueerFilmNerd  talk 01:37, 29 March 2020 (UTC)
 * In that case, Split per Tenryuu. If it's still needed, we can remove some of the citations. We don't need multiple citations for things like "Malaysia reported 3 new cases today" or whatever.  Bait30   Talk 2 me pls? 17:06, 29 March 2020 (UTC)


 * It is cited, but some sources can't be seen due to the huge number involved. As for splitting, it's the best solution. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 01:36, 29 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Split the pandemic chronology and responses sections into separate pages, as per Tenryuu.  06:13, 29 March 2020 (UTC)


 * I agree with the proposal from as well where we split the pandemic chronology and responses sections into separate pages.    Alucard 16  ❯❯❯ chat?    21:13, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * EDIT 3/30/20: Alright, if someone wants to move the pages and everything, you're free to since it's clear how we want to split. The images aren't on the Reactions page yet because they can only be in the main space. I'd move this page myself but I fear breaking it.  QueerFilmNerd  talk 21:19, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * This is just a small thing, but can we call the new article Chronology of instead of Pandemic chronology of? I feel like having "pandemic" twice in the title is repetitive and/or redundant.  Bait30   Talk 2 me pls? 22:57, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Definitely agree, Chronology of... sound way better. QueerFilmNerd  talk 19:59, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
 * A question: Do we honestly think that the solution to spiraling page sizes about individual days of a pandemic is to split them further? Shouldn't we be following common sense, WP:NOTNEWS and summary style and trimming content here heavily instead? Most of this article is data points that belong in a graph, not piled in with random factoids from a dozen other countries. The information is less than useful as presented here. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs  talk 11:43, 31 March 2020 (UTC)