Coronavirus thread

[Ratliff]

From what I understand (I did take a, albeit brief, look at your link) this virus is much more contagious than the average flu.

Definitive numbers are of course not available. But the consensus seems to be that the novel coronavirus has a transmission rate (R0) of about 3, meaning each infected person gives to 3 people on average. For the flu (including the 1918 pandemic flu) the corresponding number is more like 1.5.

For seasonal flu, mortality (percentage of infected patients who die) is about 0.1%. For the novel coronavirus it seems to be 1-2%, which would give it comparable mortality to the 1918 pandemic flu.

[BasilValentine]

Three people I know, my brother, my niece, and a friend, are pretty sure they contracted Covid-19. I say pretty sure because the symptoms were/are severe, long-lasting, and spot on with the descriptions we've all read. But they will likely never know for sure because they, like millions of others, went untested. The niece has recovered fully, my brother is on the mend after going through a crisis five days ago. My friend, a nurse, fully recovered from her bout by the beginning of March. I've had no contact with any of them as they live hundreds of miles away. 

[SimonNZ]

Twitter takes down posts promoting anti-malaria treatment for coronavirus

"Twitter has in the last week taken down multiple posts from public figures promoting an anti-malaria drug as a way to treat coronavirus.

On Friday, the platform removed a tweet from President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani claiming that hydroxychloroquine is a safe way to treat COVID-19, the disease resulting from the novel coronavirus.

A spokesperson for the platform confirmed that the tweet was removed for violating its rules on coronavirus misinformation.

Twitter earlier this month said it would begin removing coronavirus-related posts that deny expert recommendations, promote fake treatments and prevention techniques, or misleadingly claim to be from authorities.

Giuliani's now-deleted post included direct quotes from a tweet by conservative activist Charlie Kirk that has also been removed for violating rules.

A March 20 tweet from Fox News's Laura Ingraham claiming that hydroxychloroquine was in use "at many hospitals" and was showing "very promising results" was no longer available on the platform as of Monday. A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment on whether Ingraham deleted the tweet herself or was compelled to do so but did confirm that the post fell under the platform's health misinformation policy" [...]

[André]

Self medication with hydroxychloroquine resulted in 3 deaths in France. Health authorities warn NOT to attempt a treatment with the drug.

https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2020/03/30/le-gendarme-du-medicament-alerte-sur-les-possibles-effets-secondaires-graves-des-traitements-testes-contre-le-coronavirus_6034965_3224.html

[Ratliff]

A former work colleague seems to have contracted Covid-19 after traveling through San Francisco Airport.

[JBS]

Three people I know, my brother, my niece, and a friend, are pretty sure they contracted Covid-19. I say pretty sure because the symptoms were/are severe, long-lasting, and spot on with the descriptions we've all read. But they will likely never know for sure because they, like millions of others, went untested. The niece has recovered fully, my brother is on the mend after going through a crisis five days ago. My friend, a nurse, fully recovered from her bout by the beginning of March. I've had no contact with any of them as they live hundreds of miles away.

Once serelogical testing is fully implemented, they will be able to tell from that, since that looks for antibodies to the virus. The current testing is confined to looking for traces of the active virus.

[SimonNZ]

I'm going to start a rumor / misinformation campaign that eating a cd of Norton Anti-Virus will cure you.

[steve ridgway]

There is so much activity here I really can not read everything.  I hope that this observation is new.

One of the many aspects that my non-Americans have to understand that a significant segment of out society is anti-government and anti-science.  This animas started with the Reagan Administration.

According to some of the polls I have seen 40% of Americans do not believe in Darwin.  The appearance of the Coronavirus is the result of evolution and they do not believe in it.  I have a niece who told me dinosaurs were not real.  Fossils were planted by the devil to mislead man from the true word of God.

We in the United States are now paying the price for this ignorance.  We have many scientist and leaders who are aware of the problem and are fighting an uphill struggle with the enlighten geniuses who support Trump.  In the end, among the industrialized world, we will suffer the most from this catastrophe.

Hmm yes, many people don't get that science is a very careful and methodical search for facts rather than just another competing belief system .

[Florestan]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120666809/do-the-consequences-of-this-lockdown-really-match-the-threat

The figures of up to 900 deaths a day in Italy are alarming, and so is the nation's crude case-fatality rate of 9 per cent. However, a recent analysis of the deaths in Italy shows that only a small fraction were entirely due to Covid-19, occurring in people with no co-morbidities (3 out of 355; 0.8 per cent). Many deaths were hastily labelled as Covid-19 related when they were not.


How do you know that, Mr. Thornley?

If you mean that the vast majority of people who died had pre-existing grave conditions, this is true but doesn't make their death any less related to Covid-19. They would have surely died some time in the rather near future compared to healthy people but there's no certitude they would have died this time of this year even if they didn't get Covid-19. So yes, the deaths are Covid-19 related. These people were not killed by their cancer, or diabetes, or heart diseases, they were killed by Covid-19 severely aggravating them.

We don't want to squash a flea with a sledgehammer and bring the house down.

If Mr. Thornley thinks that what we have now is just a flea in a house then I have no more comments.

[Que]

I know I said I'd only post humour but this makes interesting reading.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120666809/do-the-consequences-of-this-lockdown-really-match-the-threat

I found this very peculiar...

Death rate comparable to the flu? And the fact that population of Italy has more elderly, creates a bias in the average age of deceased  in comparison to other countries. Mostly elderly yes, but not all. And the young or middle aged might survive but their health can be seriously affected.

The coronavirus death rate in the US is far higher than that of the flu — here's how the 2 compare across age ranges

Q

[vandermolen]

My daughter said she's not coughing this morning and feeling much better. I know that the virus can come and go but this sounds encouraging. Thanks to all who expressed interest/concern and hope you all keep safe and well.

[MusicTurner]

My daughter said she's not coughing this morning and feeling much better. I know that the virus can come and go but this sounds encouraging. Thanks to all who expressed interest/concern and hope you all keep safe and well.

Even as an outsider, one couldn't help noticing the posts; so good to read those news.

...............................................................................................

From a different place, with a very different 'approach', detestable and bizarre, the ruler of Turkmenistan has simply forbidden mentioning the virus-word
https://rsf.org/en/news/turkmenistan-bans-word-coronavirus


In Europe, Lukashenko in Belaruss also tries to downplay it, but to a lesser degree
https://www.ips-journal.eu/regions/europe/article/show/belarus-unorthodox-corona-response-4193/

[vandermolen]

Even as an outsider, one couldn't help noticing the posts; so good to read those news.

...............................................................................................

From a different place, with a very different 'approach', detestable and bizarre, the ruler of Turkmenistan has simply forbidden mentioning the virus-word
https://rsf.org/en/news/turkmenistan-bans-word-coronavirus


In Europe, Lukashenko in Belaruss also tries to downplay it, but to a lesser degree
https://www.ips-journal.eu/regions/europe/article/show/belarus-unorthodox-corona-response-4193/

Thank you 

[ritter]

I'm late in commenting, vandermolen, but just wanted to say I'm glad your daughter is feeling better!

Warm regards from Madrid,

[Florestan]

My daughter said she's not coughing this morning and feeling much better. I know that the virus can come and go but this sounds encouraging. Thanks to all who expressed interest/concern and hope you all keep safe and well.

Excellent news!

[j winter]

Excellent news!

Indeed!  Here's hoping for more of it! 

[Irons]

My daughter said she's not coughing this morning and feeling much better. I know that the virus can come and go but this sounds encouraging. Thanks to all who expressed interest/concern and hope you all keep safe and well.

With all the positive vibes how could she not? Great news.

[Karl Henning]

My daughter said she's not coughing this morning and feeling much better. I know that the virus can come and go but this sounds encouraging. Thanks to all who expressed interest/concern and hope you all keep safe and well.

Good to hear!

[drogulus]

I found this very peculiar...

Death rate comparable to the flu? And the fact that population of Italy has more elderly, creates a bias in the average age of deceased  in comparison to other countries. Mostly elderly yes, but not all. And the young or middle aged might survive but their health can be seriously affected.

The coronavirus death rate in the US is far higher than that of the flu — here's how the 2 compare across age ranges

Q

     

During the 2018-19 flu season, about 35 million people in the US contracted the flu and about 34,000 died, according to the CDC. The agency estimates the total number of flu infections in the US via its influenza-surveillance system, which gathers flu data from state and local partners and projects nationwide totals using infectious-disease models.


     The difference between a 0.1% fatality rate and a 1-2% corona virus rate is that to produce the same number of deaths you only need 1.75-3.5 million infected.

     Variation among countries tells me that some countries will have lower death rates based on the age of the population and how well the older component has been protected at an early stage of the pandemic.

     

[vandermolen]

Thanks for all the good wishes about my daughter. They mean a lot to me.