COVID-19 Pandemic

[matty007]

Many of the people who have had this, have remarked it as being 'The worst flu imaginable'. If you have a high fever, dry cough, sore throat and particularly shortness of breath, the chances are quite high you have this.

What makes this virus difficult to pinpoint however outside clinical testing, is the fact that many can also have very mild symptoms, comparable to a common cold, and in many, even milder.

There are varying degrees of severity with this virus, but if someone has shortness of breath and high fever, this makes COVID much more likely than common flu, in my opinion

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Edited March 16, 2020 by matty007

[Robbie Garrett]

12 minutes ago, Thundery wintry showers said:

I think many people's comments about the economy and mental health are being considered by the UK government and are probably part of the reason why the government has been more reticent about lockdowns than the governments of many other countries, refusing to being sucked into applying knee-jerk reactions which might be beneficial in the short term but backfire in the long term.  There are a lot of factors to consider and there is quite a wide range of possible "right" answers, as there is so much uncertainty over the current situation, let alone the likelihood of a second wave setting in this autumn, and in how quickly we will get a vaccine.

I get a sense that instead of going straight for a lockdown, our government aims to phase one in gradually as we head towards peak numbers of cases.  However, I expect that the government will end up pushing ahead with stronger measures at a faster rate than it had originally planned, as it looks like the situation is escalating faster than their scientific advisers expected.  It's not just the virus itself, it's also the knock-on effects on various outlets, e.g. panic buying and people voluntarily calling off events due to the fear of passing Covid-19 around to the relatively vulnerable and overburdening local health and emergency systems.

Like the USA, the UK is a strongly capitalist society and has created a society where many people can't self-isolate or work from home without incurring heavy costs (though my impression is that the British culture is mostly not quite as bad for this as the US culture), so there will probably need to be some (at least temporary) shake-ups to the terms and conditions of workplaces in order to make relatively extensive lockdowns feasible.  Maybe this is one of the reasons why the government has been reluctant to go straight ahead with strong measures, being keen to prepare us and businesses for them beforehand.

Yes transport systems, supermarkets and hospitals surgeries to be kept open.  Once MOD is ready along with the majority of people in the right position will a recommendation to stay at home be issued.   

One problem in the future we may face next; 4 weeks of delay due to lack of Transatlantic capacity! It coincides with a disruption in sea freight because empty shipping containers are stuck in China. However, UK Government was stockpiling for Brexit, so that may be used.

[booferking]

1 minute ago, matty007 said:

Umm, possbile if you have contact with the Chinese. Given that this virus can actually be traced back to mid November, it is highly probable it was quite widespread by the end of 2019.

The symptoms certainly sound like Covid. But then again, I can't say that you didn't have a particular strain of Flu. We can establish Covid very easily with nasal swabs, but outside of that, largely rely on shortness of breath and high fever to diagnose it.

Thanks for your information and replies.

[matty007]

1 minute ago, booferking said:

Thanks for your information and replies.

Pleasure.

[matty007]

Transplantation of ACE2- Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improves the Outcome of Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia

WWW.AGINGANDDISEASE.ORG

A coronavirus (HCoV-19) has caused the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, China. Preventing and reversing the cytokine storm may be the key to save the patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to possess a comprehensive powerful immunomodulatory function. This study aims to investigate whether MSC transplantation improves the outcome of 7 enrolled patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Beijing YouAn Hospital, China, from Jan 23, 2020 to Feb 16, 2020. The clinical outcomes, as well as changes of inflammatory and immune function levels and adverse effects of 7 enrolled patients were assessed for 14 days after MSC injection. MSCs could cure or significantly improve the functional outcomes of seven patients without observed adverse effects. The pulmonary function and symptoms of these seven patients were significantly improved in 2 days after MSC transplantation. Among them, two common and one severe patient were recovered and discharged in 10 days after treatment. After treatment, the peripheral lymphocytes were increased, the C-reactive protein decreased, and the overactivated cytokine-secreting immune cells CXCR3+CD4+ T cells, CXCR3+CD8+ T cells, and CXCR3+ NK cells disappeared in 3-6 days. In addition, a group of CD14+CD11c+CD11bmid regulatory DC cell population dramatically increased. Meanwhile, the level of TNF-α was significantly decreased, while IL-10 increased in MSC treatment group compared to the placebo control group. Furthermore, the gene expression profile showed MSCs were ACE2- and TMPRSS2- which indicated MSCs are free from COVID-19 infection. Thus, the intravenous transplantation of MSCs was safe and effective for treatment in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, especially for the patients in critically severe condition.

[senior ridge]

Couple of points:

1. List of Coronavirus symptoms (comparing to cold and flu) have been printed in the newspapers as well as online.

2. Regarding Behavioural Science, Professor NN Taleb (@nntaleb) has again criticised, see tweet dated 15 March 2020 1.28pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[matty007]

Goodnight everyone.

[Allseasons-Si]

Hi all

it has been a while since the virus took over now but is there any reports of the recovered in the UK?

is there any stats?

i feel as though i am so-comb to my own household and it is getting surreal each and everyday ,this weekend has flown by and do i go to work tomorrow?

a part of me says no but the other part of me says yes because we need the money coming in,i feel as though i have a death wish now every day i go to work

it is frightening that one day i may get infected from work crowd and not knowing that i will get it,scary stuff

a last note(i feel like the queen here when i say this),god save our country.

I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANYMORE DEATHS,

stay focused people,we are one.

night 

 

[emax]

16 minutes ago, senior ridge said:

Couple of points:

1. List of Coronavirus symptoms (comparing to cold and flu) have been printed in the newspapers as well as online.

2. Regarding Behavioural Science, Professor NN Taleb (@nntaleb) has again criticised, see tweet dated 15 March 2020 1.28pm.

1. Yes obviously, but its a very vague way of deciding if you have it or not

2. That bloke is a philosopher, not a behavioural scientist. Yes he gets plenty of praise, but he's by no means someone that any government should consider taking advice from.

[northwestsnow]

NYC and California now closing all bars and restauraunts.

Germany pretty much closing borders...

Is it ok to ask what exactly is going on with our Government and its advisors????

[northwestsnow]

Australian states preparing to declare a state of emergency and they have a fraction of our infected.

 

[Cheshire Freeze]

Yes I'm disappointed in Boris and how he has approached this. The warnings were there in terms of China, Iran and Italy. Quick, decisive and robust action from the off and we'd still have under 500 cases now IMO.

The last week of inaction has probably set in motion the eventual deaths of people who needn't have otherwise died. Such a sad state of affairs.

There's crippling the economy then there's effectively killing the very people that voted you in. I'm sorry but money does not and never will have importance over human life. We're not a third world country and any economic turmoil would have been temporary. Harsh for some, yes, but not terminal. Death is terminal.

Edited March 16, 2020 by CreweCold

[northwestsnow]

Just now, CreweCold said:

Yes I'm disappointed in Boris and how he has approached this. The warnings were there in terms of China, Iran and Italy. Quick, decisive and robust action from the off and we'd still have under 500 cases now IMO.

The last week of inaction has probably set in motion the eventual deaths of people who needn't have otherwise died. Such a sad state of affairs.

I'm furious.

I'm going to say an emotional goodbye to my beloved parents this morning as i am frightened of visiting them incase i am infected and inturn infect them.

 

[Styx]

Cases surge in Australia today. State of Emergency was recently declared during the bushfires and has been used during big floods and Queensland cyclones. Clearly this is much more serious and probably indefinite.

  

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, CreweCold said:

Yes I'm disappointed in Boris and how he has approached this. The warnings were there in terms of China, Iran and Italy. Quick, decisive and robust action from the off and we'd still have under 500 cases now IMO.

The last week of inaction has probably set in motion the eventual deaths of people who needn't have otherwise died. Such a sad state of affairs.

There's crippling the economy then there's effectively killing the very people that voted you in. I'm sorry but money does not and never will have importance over human life. We're not a third world country and any economic turmoil would have been temporary. Harsh for some, yes, but not terminal. Death is terminal.

Strong and emotive words there, Crewe. I agree 100% 

[knocker]

An extract

Evolutionary psychologists have long talked about “the negativity bias”; our tendency to hold on to negative information and dwell on it in a way we don’t with positive information. For cavemen, a bias towards the frightening was a matter of survival; it was more useful to focus on the sabre-toothed tigers than the beauty of the sky. And so when we bathe our brains in news which is both terrifying and hopeful, negative and positive, it is largely the scary stuff that sticks. It is wise, therefore, to expose ourselves to the minimum amount. A few days ago the Dalai Lama tweeted: “It’s not enough to pray for peace of mind, we have to examine what’s disturbing us and eliminate it.” He’s right, I realised, and eliminated Twitter. Many are self-isolating from others to preserve their physical health; for the sake of our mental health, many of us would benefit from self-insulation from 24-hour news too.

We don’t yet have an antidote to coronavirus, but a partial antidote to corona-anxiety may be to tune out the endless news which is not personally relevant, tuning in to the natural world more, and choosing courtesy over rancour where possible. We may not be able to control the pandemic itself, but for the sake of our state of mind, we must be careful to control how we respond to it.

Clare Foges,The times 16 March

[The PIT]

A rather subdued bbc breakfast this morning.

[Climate Man]

1 hour ago, knocker said:

An extract

Evolutionary psychologists have long talked about “the negativity bias”; our tendency to hold on to negative information and dwell on it in a way we don’t with positive information. For cavemen, a bias towards the frightening was a matter of survival; it was more useful to focus on the sabre-toothed tigers than the beauty of the sky. And so when we bathe our brains in news which is both terrifying and hopeful, negative and positive, it is largely the scary stuff that sticks. It is wise, therefore, to expose ourselves to the minimum amount. A few days ago the Dalai Lama tweeted: “It’s not enough to pray for peace of mind, we have to examine what’s disturbing us and eliminate it.” He’s right, I realised, and eliminated Twitter. Many are self-isolating from others to preserve their physical health; for the sake of our mental health, many of us would benefit from self-insulation from 24-hour news too.

We don’t yet have an antidote to coronavirus, but a partial antidote to corona-anxiety may be to tune out the endless news which is not personally relevant, tuning in to the natural world more, and choosing courtesy over rancour where possible. We may not be able to control the pandemic itself, but for the sake of our state of mind, we must be careful to control how we respond to it.

Clare Foges,The times 16 March

Indeed, whilst normally fit, active and working, my wife and I were both housebound with unrelated medical issues last week. (Also unrelated to COVID 19) The news was on in the background. I was able to take my son on a gentle run on Saturday morning. How much better I felt instantly....out in the real, normal feeling world, in the sunshine. 

[Climate Man]

1 hour ago, Onding said:

Strong and emotive words there, Crewe. I agree 100% 

Yet there are those that blame austerity (the economy) for thousands of deaths and this may also come again once the virus has gone. Maybe not in terms of austerity but as a result of destroyed world economies.

[kold weather]

24 minutes ago, Climate Man said:

Yet there are those that blame austerity (the economy) for thousands of deaths and this may also come again once the virus has gone. Maybe not in terms of austerity but as a result of destroyed world economies.

I think whilst it probably has led to us being somewhat under-prepared, I think the extent of this problem is so extreme I'm not sure even if you boosted the NHS to twice the size it is, it'd still probably not be able to cope with what is to come.

We really are being caught out with this one, even the USA is doing more than we are now and they were caught badly lacking to start. We continue to have concerts and large gatherings, and carry on as if nothing has happened. They will have blood on their hands unfortunately.

[northwestsnow]

Head of France health service..

'Situation in France deteriating very quickly'

....

[kold weather]

4 minutes ago, northwestsnow said:

Head of France health service..

'Situation in France deteriating very quickly'

....

I'm afraid we are very much on the cusp of the biggest disaster Europe has seen since WW2 now. Unfortunately we have such a long way to go.

I really am at a loss why we are just waiting and waiting to bring in restrictions. The models they are using better be amazing otherwise we are being led up the garden path.

[Weather-history]

Soviet Union 1990

UK 2020

[Guest Delete Me]

Roads were eerily quiet this morning on the way into work, what is usually a 20-30 minute drive took 10 minutes and thats through roadworks

[BornFromTheVoid]

6 hours ago, emax said:

2. That bloke is a philosopher, not a behavioural scientist. Yes he gets plenty of praise, but he's by no means someone that any government should consider taking advice from.

No, he is not. He's a world expert in mathematical risk analysis and the study of complex systems. He literally wrote the book on Black Swan events, rare and significant events that shape the world in disproportionate ways. Because he also does some philosophy doesn't mean you can simply dismiss him as a philosopher. That's incredibly disingenuous. 

Edited March 16, 2020 by BornFromTheVoid