COVID-19 Pandemic

[matty007]

6 minutes ago, Summer Sun said:

Londoners don't seem to have got the 'social distancing' message

 

A walking petri dish.

It will go everywhere.

 

[matty007]

3 minutes ago, Yarmy said:

Four players from the Brooklyn Nets have tested positive for COVID-19:

Kevin Durant among four Brooklyn Nets players with coronavirus - BBC Sport

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

---

Four Brooklyn Nets players, including 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant, test positive for coronavirus.

The virus must be way more widespread than thought. As mentioned by others above, it renders the recorded cases figures almost meaningless until random testing in the general population is performed. You wouldn't even need to do that many to get a better idea. How can you plan for anything if you don't know what the real situation is? 

 

Is this a surprise? The figures reported by the US have been a calamity for a long time now. There has been extensive community spread.

With a population the size of US, it will be rife by now. Don't want to sound alarmist, it's just a fact of science.

[kold weather]

Reported cases worldwide above 200,000. Reported deaths now above 8,000.

Worrying signs from Indonesia, 12 deaths reported today...

[Azazel]

8 minutes ago, matty007 said:

Yes, the doctor/nurse in the hospital was correct. It will surpress the immune system. Histamine is a product of the immune system , to prevent infection. So, Anti-Histamines would surpess that.

MRSA is typically treated with intravenous medication if in hospital, or an antibiotic such as minocycline if outside hospital. 

Oh for goodness sakes haha, everything I do is a scourge on my immune system. Ibuprofen? Check. Piriton? Check.

I do worry with regards to anti-histamines actually because if my allergies are really playing up, I can feel a little wheezy.

[matty007]

So, if we take that and say that we are roughly doubling every 5 days, in one month, there would be 25.6 million worldwide cases. Another month? 800 million.

Very inexact, but in the ballpark.

Edited March 18, 2020 by matty007

[Summer Sun]

Sky Sports now offer viewers the chance to 'pause' their subscriptions

Sky Sports now offer viewers the chance to 'pause' their subscriptions - Teesside Live

WWW.GAZETTELIVE.CO.UK

---

The company has announced a major change of policy

 

[Yarmy]

7 minutes ago, matty007 said:

A walking petri dish.

It will go everywhere.

I've heard a few stories about people being refused to allow to work from home, even though it's entirely practical (desk jobs with laptops, etc) and follows the government guidance. It's madness: if I were in that situation, I'd just tell them I had a cough and was self-isolating. 

[Sky Full]

35 minutes ago, matty007 said:

Not sure about tens of thousands, but certainly a fair amount. And there will be a very large percentage of people that have the virus, and are yet to show symptoms, but will soon.

Remember, the figures we have now, are from a week or more ago. Given the incubation of this virus is anywhere up to two weeks.

I agree that we are behind the curve in respect of the number of known cases and that this number is bound to accelerate for the time being.  But it seems to me that there is a small but growing body of evidence to suggest that there are many many people who are able to contract the virus and yet display no symptoms at all. 

These people would not be counted and would not self-isolate.  If they are carriers and spreaders then they would be moving around in society passing the virus on without ever being aware of it.

So it is at least possible that a large number of people, perhaps even the majority, could catch this virus and suffer no ill effects at all?  Without a test to check if someone has caught the virus and then recovered we will not be able to discount this completely.

Therefore, who can say at this time whether the number of fatalities per head of population will be much lower than presently estimated?

[kold weather]

2 minutes ago, Yarmy said:

I've heard a few stories about people being refused to allow to work from home, even though it's entirely practical (desk jobs with laptops, etc) and follows the government guidance. It's madness: if I were in that situation, I'd just tell them I had a cough and was self-isolating. 

Well eventually if people have to ignore what they have been told the government will have to become more stringent and that will just make life harder for all.

Good to see Sky finally using a little bit of common sense.

[jules216]

I work as main buyer of commodities from worldwide origins and also purchase many Chinese agriculture products, for example Pine Nuts or Goji Berries. We have always had terrible difficulties receiving product specifications from chinese suppliers. Goji berries have terrible pesticide problems and many European suppliers have to do additional testing. It was only matter of time that some more aggressive virus emerged from there. I would even go as far and say countries should seek some kind of reparation slash compensation from China because of this crisis.

[Azazel]

1 minute ago, matty007 said:

Ibuprofen won't surpress your immune system normally, for headaches etc. It only applies in the case of fever.

Antihistamines are known to lower the immune system, but for most, the positives outweigh the negatives

I dont often need to take one to be fair. Maybe once every couple of weeks - usually from dust or something similar. I do get hayfever though. I'll stick to only taking one if they get unbearably bad.

 

Thank you for all your advice:)

[Beverley Lass]

11 minutes ago, Summer Sun said:

Sky Sports now offer viewers the chance to 'pause' their subscriptions

Sky Sports now offer viewers the chance to 'pause' their subscriptions - Teesside Live

WWW.GAZETTELIVE.CO.UK

---

The company has announced a major change of policy

 

Tut, just after we cancelled ours and were told we had to pay for a full month before that cancellation takes effect.

[Norrance]

An appeal to people to remember you are reading posts from people you do not know, you do not know the background of and do not know their motivations - on a weather forum. 

If there are concerns about you or loved ones dial 111, look at NHS websites and seek professional advice.

NHS COVID-19 Overview Site

NHS 111 Online

Stay at home: guidance for households with possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection

Non-clinical COVID-19 guidance

Edited March 18, 2020 by BornFromTheVoid

[Azazel]

Researchers want to trial drug ‘cure’ for coronavirus on patients

AMP.NEWS.COM.AU

---

A team of Australian researchers say they’ve found a cure for the novel coronavirus and hope to have patients enrolled in a nationwide trial by the end of the month.

The Australians reporting great success with combo of Chloroquine and an HIV drug.

[Yarmy]

10 minutes ago, jules216 said:

I work as main buyer of commodities from worldwide origins and also purchase many Chinese agriculture products, for example Pine Nuts or Goji Berries. We have always had terrible difficulties receiving product specifications from chinese suppliers. Goji berries have terrible pesticide problems and many European suppliers have to do additional testing. It was only matter of time that some more aggressive virus emerged from there. I would even go as far and say countries should seek some kind of reparation slash compensation from China because of this crisis.

Governments are going to have to borrow a lot of money. From memory, China owns something like 20% of all US debt? There are going to be some interesting questions asked when this all finally ends.

[Sky Full]

1 hour ago, matty007 said:

Leaukmia would supress the immune system, greatly. So, I am not at all surprised he has died after contracting Covid.

Given that it was Covid that caused his death, and he would have survived without it, they must record it as Covid, I am sure.

I know this is how the system works to determine the cause of death but I can't help feeling that C-19 is going to take the rap for many many deaths which could equally be attributed to something else.  If someone has a pre-existing condition and then contracts C-19 which brings on death due to a lack of sufficient immunity, C-19 will be said to have killed them when in reality it is their lack of immunity which caused their death....so the leukaemia is the true villain, not C-19.   

Take a life-long heavy smoker, as another example.  They have already caused considerable damage to their bodies after inhaling millions of lungfuls of smoke but they still have enough lung capacity to enable them to stay alive.  If they contract C-19 and then die from pneumonia the cause of death will be recorded as C-19 but if they hadn't smoked for 40 years they would have survived.  In my view the cause of death would be pneumonia brought about by heavy smoking.  C-19 would be the trigger, not the bullet.        

[kold weather]

Just now, Norrance said:

An appeal to people to remember you are reading posts from people you do not know, you do not know the background of and do not know their motivations - on a weather forum. 

If there are concerns about you or loved ones dial 111, look at NHS websites and seek professional advice.

NHS COVID-19 Overview Site

NHS 111 Online

Stay at home: guidance for households with possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection

Non-clinical COVID-19 guidance

Yes, also use the NHS online page which will take you through two questions about whether you should self-isolate. If it recommends you to stay at home, you need to stay at home. I know that is going to prove difficult for some self-employed and zero hour contracts.

[pip22]

Sky News

@SkyNews·2m

Coronavirus: Filming of EastEnders suspended until further notice

[Gael_Force]

2 hours ago, matty007 said:

I also believe that the information regarding surface transmission is woefully underreported. All we're hearing about is 'wash your hands' and yes, this is important also. However, given that SARS-Cov2 viral particles were shown to be able to survive on stainless steel and plastic for up to 3 days, it is very important that we ensure we are also disinfecting surfaces regularly.

This is likely a very common mode of transmission, in my opinion.

We must also remember that it is highly likely that Covid is able to transmit via aerosolization

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v1.full.pdf

People talk about the success of some far eastern countries in limiting cases through testing and isolation; I'm sure their stringent policies on regular spraying and cleaning of surfaces has played a part. When you see hundreds of workers, in PPE, just devoted to the sanitisation of their cities it is a concept that's never seen in the west. 

[ArHu3]

18 minutes ago, matty007 said:

Ibuprofen won't surpress your immune system normally, for headaches etc. It only applies in the case of fever.

Antihistamines are known to lower the immune system, but for most, the positives outweigh the negatives

NSAID's are known to affect the renal arteries and as a consequence activating the renine angiotensine aldosterone system, perhaps this upregulates ACE2-receptors which COVID-19 uses to enter cells. And of course it can cause bronchospasms in susceptible individuals. Both effect could really be very negative in the case of an COVID infection

Edited March 18, 2020 by ArHu3

[matty007]

3 minutes ago, pip22 said:

Sky News

@SkyNews·2m

Coronavirus: Filming of EastEnders suspended until further notice

You know it's bad when Eastenders is put on hold

[snowdog]

2 minutes ago, pip22 said:

Sky News

@SkyNews·2m

Coronavirus: Filming of EastEnders suspended until further notice

We are Neighbours fans here.I understand from the BBC live updates they are also suspending filming! For one week at the moment, someone tested positive for C-19 on set

[Methuselah]

5 minutes ago, matty007 said:

You know it's bad when Eastenders is put on hold

And, for which glad tidings, may the Lord make us truly thankful?

Edited March 18, 2020 by General Cluster

[feb1991blizzard]

42 minutes ago, Summer Sun said:

Londoners don't seem to have got the 'social distancing' message

 

 

 

Can't really do much else though if you're in London and you have to travel, unless its only a few tube stations away and you can walk it - even then though in open air, if you have ever walked up Oxford street or Bond Street or anywhere in the West End at 4pm on a weekday, there are so many people you might still get it anyway.

[kold weather]

9 minutes ago, Azazel said:

Researchers want to trial drug ‘cure’ for coronavirus on patients

AMP.NEWS.COM.AU

---

A team of Australian researchers say they’ve found a cure for the novel coronavirus and hope to have patients enrolled in a nationwide trial by the end of the month.

The Australians reporting great success with combo of Chloroquine and an HIV drug.

There was another country doing some testing with a HIV drug last month, can't remember who.

Still this is good to see and hopefully it proves successful enough that it can be unrolled at some point in the near future.