SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

It's hard to know what to say on this anymore, I live in a fairly isolated area in England, and stupidly thought I was fairly insulated, yet my sister has had Covid-19 symptoms (returned from Portugal two weeks ago), rang 111, and they wouldn't test her, my brother's wife has just found out her friend ( a teacher) has tested positive, someone she has seen daily, he was ill 2-3 weeks ago, as was their son, as was I, as was my wife, as was my son, etc, the point is it's just all around us, there is no realistic way of avoiding it.

As I said yesteday since the first known case dates from mid November, the virus is already everywhere, the only way to avoid that would have been for China to totally isolate itself before they even realize that the virus is spreading. People need to keep in mind that Wuhan isn't a village, it's a massive city with lots of traffic, people coming from everywhere and leaving to everywhere. We are in management mode not protection or insulation mode.
 
Got an email this afternoon asking faculty and staff for volunteers to be reassigned to the medical system. I've had a cough from allergies for about a month and don't want to volunteer and freak everyone out with my coughing.
 


A 34-year-old man has died in California after testing positive of coronavirus just days ago, and 2 weeks after visiting Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida.

Jeffrey Ghazarian from Glendora, CA, died Thursday morning at a Pasadena hospital after spending 5 days hooked up to a ventilator and battling for his life ... according to his family.

Jeff's timeline regarding his COVID-19 infection is terrifying and should be eye-opening for people of all ages. According to his family, he flew from L.A. to Orlando on March 2 for a work conference, but stayed a few extra days to visit Disney World and Universal theme parks with friends.

We're told on March 7 he developed a cough, and the next day he coughed up blood. He flew back to LAX on March 9 ... and immediately went to the ER, where he also had a high fever.

The family says a chest x-ray confirmed Jeff had pneumonia, and he was tested for COVID-19 and sent home with fluids and antibiotics and instructed to self-quarantine until he got the results back.

We're told the results came back positive on March 13, and Jeff was provided a portable oxygen meter to keep an eye on his levels ... which took a turn for the worse that afternoon.

On March 14 he was taken by ambulance to the hospital and quickly transferred to the ICU when it was discovered his lungs were 60-70 percent blocked with pneumonia. Doctors decided the best path forward was to sedate and intubate, hoping a ventilator would help his lungs heal.

Sadly -- and despite the family claiming he was approved for antiviral meds -- the medication was delayed in getting to him, he took a turn for the worse ... and passed away Thursday morning.

It appears Jeffrey was higher-risk patient. He had a history of asthma and frequent bronchitis as a child, though he outgrew that. He also had undergone surgery for testicular cancer back in 2016.
 
What's the average being tested a day out of interest, any page online that gives a tracker daily?

Not sure. I can say it used to be about 3-4k for a while then it's gone to 6k and now 8k and soon should be 20-25k.
 


A 34-year-old man has died in California after testing positive of coronavirus just days ago, and 2 weeks after visiting Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida.

Jeffrey Ghazarian from Glendora, CA, died Thursday morning at a Pasadena hospital after spending 5 days hooked up to a ventilator and battling for his life ... according to his family.

Jeff's timeline regarding his COVID-19 infection is terrifying and should be eye-opening for people of all ages. According to his family, he flew from L.A. to Orlando on March 2 for a work conference, but stayed a few extra days to visit Disney World and Universal theme parks with friends.

We're told on March 7 he developed a cough, and the next day he coughed up blood. He flew back to LAX on March 9 ... and immediately went to the ER, where he also had a high fever.

The family says a chest x-ray confirmed Jeff had pneumonia, and he was tested for COVID-19 and sent home with fluids and antibiotics and instructed to self-quarantine until he got the results back.

We're told the results came back positive on March 13, and Jeff was provided a portable oxygen meter to keep an eye on his levels ... which took a turn for the worse that afternoon.

On March 14 he was taken by ambulance to the hospital and quickly transferred to the ICU when it was discovered his lungs were 60-70 percent blocked with pneumonia. Doctors decided the best path forward was to sedate and intubate, hoping a ventilator would help his lungs heal.

Sadly -- and despite the family claiming he was approved for antiviral meds -- the medication was delayed in getting to him, he took a turn for the worse ... and passed away Thursday morning.

It appears Jeffrey was higher-risk patient. He had a history of asthma and frequent bronchitis as a child, though he outgrew that. He also had undergone surgery for testicular cancer back in 2016.


feck me. I have a cousin who has asthma. I have another cousin who has lung problems since he was 15 years old.
 
Yes interesting. But he is thinking that this thing is already out of control and that its going the way of spanish flu.

He has repeatedly said that once china removes the lock down on its economy, the virus will return.

Last few weeks have shown we can only hope the virus spread slows at some stage (perhaps the summer) by then some reliable anti drugs (no idea on time scale for that) emerge that can act as sticky plasters for a while then winter comes and at least the message to stay in is easier with the darker nights and poorer weather (and many deaths from the first wave to act as the case study).

By then we limp close to March 2021 and perhaps a vaccine will be close but that still will need to be rolled out worldwide.

Very long timescale.
 
Being dipping in and out of this thread for last week. Just like the football I find it very interesting getting perspective from posters in other european and countries worldwide.

Anyway it's important to take 2-3 hour breaks from the relentless grind of sobering news so thankfully Hunted can take my attention away for a while. I imagine given they film this during the summer this will be yet another TV series scrapped for next year now so will enjoy last one for a while.:lol:
 
Just read an article that says 99% of deaths in Italy, people had pre existing conditions.

High blood pressure seems to be a huge factor. They are not sure why and loads of people have high blood pressure.

I saw a similar comments from a Chinese doctor. Many of the infected ones who did not make it in China has high blood pressure
 
Cheers. It was on my watch later list, will definitely watch it now.


I usually watch/listen to JRE but I avoided this one as I thought it'd increase anxiety - I did it today while WFH, it was really fecking good. Wasn't scare-mongering but definitely addressed the severity of the situation and stuff. Enjoyed it. Another weird WFH day here, this will be routine for a while now.
 
Probably jumping the gun here, but I’m starting to come around to the idea that this virus simply does not spread to the same degree in warmer climates. If it did, there would surely have been at least one severe outbreak in a tropical country that we’d know about by now?

It is going out of control in Southeast Asia.....
 
Being dipping in and out of this thread for last week. Just like the football I find it very interesting getting perspective from posters in other european and countries worldwide.

Anyway it's important to take 2-3 hour breaks from the relentless grind of sobering news so thankfully Hunted can take my attention away for a while. I imagine given they film this during the summer this will be yet another TV series scrapped for next year now so will enjoy last one for a while.:lol:

Yeah agree, I went and dropped some elderly relatives a few bits n bobs off today and they are sat there glued to the TV watching news. I have the news on for half an hour in the morning then try and switch off about it a bit. Will perhaps have a read of this thread and maybe check the news on my phone once or twice a day.

Enjoyed just watching a few films on prime or Netflix at night and switching off for a few hours.
 
As I said yesteday since the first known case dates from mid November, the virus is already everywhere, the only way to avoid that would have been for China to totally isolate itself before they even realize that the virus is spreading. People need to keep in mind that Wuhan isn't a village, it's a massive city with lots of traffic, people coming from everywhere and leaving to everywhere. We are in management mode not protection or insulation mode.

This is fairly clear now, it's just to be hoped suppression can save a few more than letting it go would, the fact I know of one person who definitely has it, and think there might be a few more, shows how out of control this is, I am just a nobody in the middle of nowhere.
 
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They also recently said 2 drugs seem to work well - some older antiviral, and one used to treat flu in Japan. Again, if they had a purely self-interested angle here, why would they push for medicines from where they don't get the money?
 
They also recently said 2 drugs seem to work well - some older antiviral, and one used to treat flu in Japan. Again, if they had a purely self-interested angle here, why would they push for medicines from where they don't get the money?

Less critical thought more infographics please
 
They also recently said 2 drugs seem to work well - some older antiviral, and one used to treat flu in Japan. Again, if they had a purely self-interested angle here, why would they push for medicines from where they don't get the money?

I agree with you in that what it's out in the news and what is happening in the UK are two different things. Yes the flu that the Japanese made worked in China. But only if the patient is not critically ill. By brother in law is a very senior doctor in the NHS. He said it does work but the British government is rudderless and they are telling the doctors to treat as pneumonia while it's not pneumonia. The other thing that seems to be working is what they use to treat for HIV.
The Chinese are the most knowledgeable on this for sure now. I am surprised that they have not sent a medical team to the UK. They are in France and Germany and Italy too.
 
I agree with you in that what it's out in the news and what is happening in the UK are two different things. Yes the flu that the Japanese made worked in China. But only if the patient is not critically ill. By brother in law is a very senior doctor in the NHS. He said it does work but the British government is rudderless and they are telling the doctors to treat as pneumonia while it's not pneumonia. The other thing that seems to be working is what they use to treat for HIV.
The Chinese are the most knowledgeable on this for sure now. I am surprised that they have not sent a medical team to the UK. They are in France and Germany and Italy too.

Ya, all I'm replying to are the people saying they "can't trust a word China says". It's ok to be suspicious but that's taking it too far.
 
Meh, China have been despicable throughout.

I disagree. Disregarding the fact that they were more likely to have it appear there, since it did, I find it hard to argue against how they dealt with, and how they've provided a roadmap for the rest of the world to follow. Had this happened anywhere else in the world, and I find no reasons so far to believe it would be better dealt with. We have all been a mess. Some less so than others.

Accessory geopolitical issues aside, can you give me examples of how the Chinese have failed from a Public Health (the only thing tgat really matters right now) perspective, how they have failed the rest of the world, and give examples of other countries who fared better?
 
I disagree. Disregarding the fact that they were more likely to have it appear there, since it did, I find it hard to argue against how they dealt with, and how they've provided a roadmap for the rest of the world to follow. Had this happened anywhere else in the world, and I find no reasons so far to believe it would be better dealt with. We have all been a mess. Some less so than others.

Accessory geopolitical issues aside, can you give me examples of how the Chinese have failed from a Public Health (the only thing tgat really matters right now) perspective, how they have failed the rest of the world, and give examples of other countries who fared better?

People are failing to grasp that early on they actually could not have been sure that the whistleblower doctor was right.

Or what is the alternative, they actually wanted 80k infected in their own country?

It was a case of poor judgement, sure, but I see no bad intentions in jt.
 
I disagree. Disregarding the fact that they were more likely to have it appear there, since it did, I find it hard to argue against how they dealt with, and how they've provided a roadmap for the rest of the world to follow. Had this happened anywhere else in the world, and I find no reasons so far to believe it would be better dealt with. We have all been a mess. Some less so than others.

Accessory geopolitical issues aside, can you give me examples of how the Chinese have failed from a Public Health (the only thing tgat really matters right now) perspective, how they have failed the rest of the world, and give examples of other countries who fared better?

If I have one criticism is that they didn't shut their borders from the inside sooner but I agree with you on the rest, no one fared better, everyone made the mistakes that China made but these mistakes were understandable because it would have been very difficult to lockdown cities and entire regions before the public realize how critical the situation was.
 
People are failing to grasp that early on they actually could not have been sure that the whistleblower doctor was right.

Or what is the alternative, they actually wanted 80k infected in their own country?

It was a case of poor judgement, sure, but I see no bad intentions in jt.
Even my mid-January they were saying that it is doesn't spread human to human. They were trying to protect their economy by controlling the information (as in 'move along, nothing to see here').
 
I know that they covered it up initially
Did they?
Maybe their very different culture pushed them into trying to contain it before it booked a flight.

I believe they did what they thought was necessary at the time and have been falling over themselves ever since trying to help. The rep who dismissed the original concern from the young doctor who died is probably missing now
But that's not our business.

China looks bad now but they'll look a real super power when life returns to some sort of normality for everyone.
 
People are failing to grasp that early on they actually could not have been sure that the whistleblower doctor was right.

Or what is the alternative, they actually wanted 80k infected in their own country?

It was a case of poor judgement, sure, but I see no bad intentions in jt.
Not only that, some people make it sound like there was an effort from the central government to shut down things, and that the whistleblower doctor was massively persecuted or something.

By 18 December there were 8 cases of pneumonia of unknown origin or something like that. As a doctor I find it hard to guess how they could have picked up something was wrong far before that. Yet by then it had already been national news in the entire country by state radio so they weren't exactly trying to cover it up. Soon there were international scientists there helping to study the thing.

The whistleblower was probably one of the first few people to realize the true world-changing potential of what was going on and was discredited by the local government, either because they wanted to avoid panic or were just as dumb as western governments have been. He wasn't arrested or anything, he kept working until he got ill and died.

The fact Italy has now surpassed China in terms of deaths (and yes, numbers are reliable, in fact Covid-19 science is as open-source as something can be and the Chinese are part of that) is a testament to how badly our governments have failed us, how people whose job is to keep track of these things either failed at their jobs or or were ignored virtually everywhere.

The below piece, by a very famous author, is an example of how there is Western propaganda in the US very much akin to the WMD in Iraq issue. Lies, lies and misreprensentations to hide their asses.

The government only instituted a lockdown in Wuhan on January 23—seven weeks after the virus first appeared. As events in Italy, the United States, Spain, and France have shown, quite a lot can happen in a week, much less seven.

Pretending what we realized by early January was known by December 1st. Cnut.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/china-trolling-world-and-avoiding-blame/608332/
 
Not an expert, but I was wondering if it's just that checking people off as recovered is less of a priority. I think at one point the process for being officially recovered required 3 negative tests - has that changed? Can't imagine Italian doctors are particularly fussed about carrying out a third test on someone that's had no symptoms for a few days.
Thanks for the reply, following on from that maybe they dont have enough tests to keep retesting to identify the recovered? As you say using them for the people with symptoms.
 
I disagree. Disregarding the fact that they were more likely to have it appear there, since it did, I find it hard to argue against how they dealt with, and how they've provided a roadmap for the rest of the world to follow. Had this happened anywhere else in the world, and I find no reasons so far to believe it would be better dealt with. We have all been a mess. Some less so than others.

Accessory geopolitical issues aside, can you give me examples of how the Chinese have failed from a Public Health (the only thing tgat really matters right now) perspective, how they have failed the rest of the world, and give examples of other countries who fared better?

I think I've been pretty clear than the entire world has handled this very, very poorly. As for China being bad, I have two colleagues - one from Shanghai and one from Hong Kong who were in the heart of the outbreak, and they're pretty much disgusted with their country. Not only from a hygiene perspective, but one of my colleagues dismisses almost all positive news coming out of China.