Novel Coronavirus – China

[Cakie]

3 minutes ago, Snipper said:

Sorry that my brief light heated posting yesterday has upset some.
 

Yes I appreciate the seriousness as I am a prime candidate for ending up dead if it gets out of hand. 

No worries, I'm all for light hearted stuff. Things get 'lost in translation' sometimes

[Puddy Galore]

11 minutes ago, General Cluster said:

I know precisely how serious COVID-19 is likely to be, as I'm one of those who're more susceptible than most. Age matters!

That said, I think I'd rather shuffle off this mortal coil with my sense-of-humour still intact, than spend my last, say 6-months or 25-years, in a constant state of 'doomsday readiness'...Is life not too short as it is?

Absolutely completely and utterly agree with you.  Life is serious and hard enough.    However, I am so glad my parents instilled a sense of humour in me and I still retain it!  I cannot image going through day to day life without it.   

[Snipper]

Back to the “Pandemic”.  Well sort of.

If seasonal flu was new how would that be reported in the media?

[knocker]

29 minutes ago, Snipper said:

Back to the “Pandemic”.  Well sort of.

If seasonal flu was new how would that be reported in the media?

Never mind Flu how about a disease such as Polio. I am older enough to remember the post war epidemic and it was very frightening. And Polio is an example of how immunisation has revolutionised medicine and childhood.

 

[Snipper]

1 hour ago, knocker said:

Never mind Flu how about a disease such as Polio. I am older enough to remember the post war epidemic and it was very frightening. And Polio is an example of how immunisation has revolutionised medicine and childhood.

 

Yes I remember that.  Recall swimming pools being closed. 
 

Also the dreaded iron lung. 
 

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Snipper

[Gray-Wolf]

2 hours ago, General Cluster said:

I know precisely how serious COVID-19 is likely to be, as I'm one of those who're more susceptible than most. Age matters!

That said, I think I'd rather shuffle off this mortal coil with my sense-of-humour still intact, than spend my last, say 6-months or 25-years, in a constant state of 'doomsday readiness'...Is life not too short as it is?

As soon as I clocked this (and did the necessary background?) I knew that it was on its way Pete?

There are better or worse ways of that occurring but no stopping it (I believe?) so , much the same as a visit to the Dentists, you just have to accept that You will face it and lean on the current facts of it being 'mild in 80% of cases' and place your hope that You are in that group?

Edited February 24, 2020 by Gray-Wolf

[Gray-Wolf]

Mardi gras / Carnival time..... with some nations making a real big deal out of the festival we can expect a large potential for spread in the close quarters of the crowds...... things are really seeming to conspire against us eh?

At least we just do pancakes and they don't draw huge crowds........

[swebby]

On 22/02/2020 at 14:41, Gael_Force said:

Italy doing some testing of their 'bad flu' patients ...wonder where else in the world might get a surprise if they did the same.

Doctors in a different area.

 

A nasty shock i suspect.

Interesting possibility is being admitted to hospital with the Flu but also carrying Covid-19? 

The reported symptoms of Covid-19 seem to be very different to that of influenza and i would assume most medical staff would be likely to spot the differences at the early stages? Hospital admissions however probably already involve the presentation of pneumonia so they may not be concerning themselves overly with what illness the patient started with.

Edited February 24, 2020 by swebby

[swebby]

2 hours ago, Snipper said:

Back to the “Pandemic”.  Well sort of.

If seasonal flu was new how would that be reported in the media?

Similar to this i'd imagine. 

NB - if it was novel it would have a host population with no acquired immunity to spread through, may also mean symptoms could be worse, although flu is nasty to start with.  You may remember from history that European settlers introduced viruses to the Americas that wiped out groups of the indigenous populations.  The settlers had both acquired and herd immunity, the indigenous populations were defenseless in comparison.

[Dreckly]

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30420-7/fulltext

[swebby]

29 minutes ago, Gray-Wolf said:

Mardi gras / Carnival time..... with some nations making a real big deal out of the festival we can expect a large potential for spread in the close quarters of the crowds...... things are really seeming to conspire against us eh?

At least we just do pancakes and they don't draw huge crowds........

An outbreak in Rio favela would be the stuff of nightmares. Still crossing my fingers that this virus does not fair well in hot/summer conditions.

[alexisj9]

27 minutes ago, swebby said:

A nasty shock i suspect.

Interesting possibility is being admitted to hospital with the Flu but also carrying Covid-19? 

The reported symptoms of Covid-19 seem to be very different to that of influenza and i would assume most medical staff would be likely to spot the differences at the early stages? Hospital admissions however probably already involve the presentation of pneumonia so they may not be concerning themselves overly with what illness the patient started with.

The bad cough chest infection I nearly ended up in hospital with, started with a sour throat, had no snivels or sneezing, just went sour throat chough and weekness, rapid breathing and rapid heartbeat. Thought it was early flu, had it in late September. May be its already here. 

[Dreckly]

http://weekly.chinacdc.cn/news/TrackingtheEpidemic.htm#NHCFeb24

[swebby]

On 21/02/2020 at 19:06, CreweCold said:

I think it's inevitable this will run through the global population now. The fact the WHO have said the window is narrowing for containment suggests it is close to game over as far as containment is concerned.

I do wonder what happens when/if containment fails. Do governments let it rip through the population or will we see heavy disruption due to sick leave, cancelled events etc etc in a drive to try and minimise spread.

Also, will there be an incentive for sick leave? Some companies won't pay and people still have bills to cover...so much to be resolved going forward.

Interesting consideration that. Around 800,000+ people on zero hour contracts (2.5% of the work force). If the UK goes down Italy's route and declares that all non-essential workers must stay at home, someone is going to have to step up to the plate and support these workers and that presumably would be HMG. Think Mr Cummings, sorry, Mr Sunak, may need to leave some slack in their spending provisions in the upcoming budget? The alternative, only "advise" non-essential workers to stay at home, but you can pretty much give up the idea of any level of containment?

[swebby]

21 minutes ago, Dreckly said:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30420-7/fulltext

From the paper

"On Feb 3, 2020, the only African countries with laboratories that could test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were South Africa and Senegal. This scarce capacity was a major concern for a continent bracing for possible infections. Just a fortnight later, WHO had sent testing kits to 27 countries on the continent, which are already being used.  By the end of this week, the number of countries able to detect COVID-19 is expected to have risen to 40. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has led training for these countries in Senegal, with further sessions scheduled for the week of Feb 24, 2020, in South Africa."

Population for Kinshasa is 11+ million people (same as Wuhan) - food for thought?

[nick sussex]

Unless this virus behaves in a very weird way then transmission rates should fall in spring/summer .

Warmer conditions mean the virus will have a harder time staying airborne . Also the virus likes to enter the nasal passage and multiply there , the nose is the coldest part of the body , a cold nose in winter is the perfect breeding ground for the virus .

Of course close contact and being coughed or sneezed on won’t be mitigated by warmer conditions but general transmission will be more difficult .

[Dreckly]

http://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/e53946e2-c6c4-41e9-9a9b-fea8db1a8f51

[Summer Sun]

5 people have died in the past 48-hours and more than 200 have tested positive for Coronavirus in Italy as health officials rapidly search to find the 'superspreader'. 4 of the deaths have occurred in the Lombardy region.

3 of the 5 deaths were aged between 77 and 84 at least 3 of the 5 who've died had serious underlying health problems.

The last two days of Venice Carnival called off.

[nick sussex]

Touch wood the virus can be contained enough and then spring and summer we can see things improve .

Still just the 9 cases in the UK and 12 in France .

The 4 new ones in the UK shouldn’t be counted as part of the total as they clearly caught that from the cruise ship in Japan .

[Snipper]

I know this is in the Mail but must be some truth in it. 
 

China BANS eating wild animals amid fears the practice sparked coronavirus outbreak  | Daily Mail Online

WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

---

China 's top legislative committee on Monday passed a proposal to ban all trade and consumption of wild animals, a practice believed responsible for the country's deadly coronavirus outbreak.

 

[swebby]

8 minutes ago, Summer Sun said:

5 people have died in the past 48-hours and more than 200 have tested positive for Coronavirus in Italy as health officials rapidly search to find the 'superspreader'. 4 of the deaths have occurred in the Lombardy region.

3 of the 5 deaths were aged between 77 and 84 at least 3 of the 5 who've died had serious underlying health problems.

The last two days of Venice Carnival called off.

That is assuming they have a super spreader to deal with.  Sadly i would err towards the possibility that it has spread significantly in various Northern Italian communities and has taken a while to be picked up.

[nick sussex]

Just now, Snipper said:

I know this is in the Mail but must be some truth in it. 
 

China BANS eating wild animals amid fears the practice sparked coronavirus outbreak  | Daily Mail Online

WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

---

China 's top legislative committee on Monday passed a proposal to ban all trade and consumption of wild animals, a practice believed responsible for the country's deadly coronavirus outbreak.

 

It’s only taken them the Sars and now this virus  to realize   that the rest of the world might be getting just a little hacked off that we’re dealing with something that could have been prevented.

Hopefully the penny might drop with members of the public as they continue to lose relatives .

 

 

 

[swebby]

5 minutes ago, nick sussex said:

It’s only taken them the Sars and now this virus  to realize   that the rest of the world might be getting just a little hacked off that we’re dealing with something that could have been prevented.

Hopefully the penny might drop with members of the public as they continue to lose relatives .

 

 

 

Doubt their decision is based on what the rest of the world think, more an entire province being closed down and big impacts on their economy.

[Methuselah]

I can still recall visiting Bletchley's meat market, as a child, back in the early 1960s: pigs, cattle, sheep and goats, all confined in adjacent, filthy pens; and the biggest treat of all? Being allowed to watch the headless chickens run around in circles!...And you should see some of the filthy practices that still go-on inside British abattoirs!

It ain't that long, since we ourselves partook of some rather unwholesome/highly questionable practices, regarding our food-production...?

[feb1991blizzard]

1 minute ago, General Cluster said:

I can still recall visiting Bletchley's meat market, as a child, back in the early 1960s: pigs, cattle, sheep and goats, all confined in adjacent, filthy pens; and the biggest treat of all? Being allowed to watch the headless chickens run around in circles!...And you should see some of the filthy practices that still go-on inside British abattoirs!

It ain't that long, since we ourselves partook of some rather unwholesome/highly questionable practices, regarding our food-production...?

Cruelty wise yes - people in glasses shouldn't throw stones but hygiene wise i doubt our practises compare to china's, although i think practises in small butcher shops are poor over here, they use the same instruments to serve different types of meat, alse the pork pies and cooked food etc are far too close to raw meat for my liking.