Coronavirus Updates

[Kara Spengler]

Another thing is entertainment. I already mentioned theme parks and movies. Movies have the out of streaming but it will be interesting how they can film multiple people in a scene. CGI for everyone and pay likeness rights? Comics, for multiple reasons, are basically done for. They have electronic versions as well but that will cause some other problems.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

While it seems like the change would be easy a big part is the random networking in chance encounters.

I owe my current employment, in what has turned out to be pretty much the ideal job in my semi-retirement, to a chance encounter in SLU.

Fortuitous events happen fortuitously.

 

[Clara D.]

Covid-19 causes sudden strokes in young adults, doctors say | CNN

The new coronavirus appears to be causing sudden strokes in adults in their 30s and 40s who are not otherwise terribly ill, doctors reported Wednesday.

www.cnn.com

 

[Caete]

The USA are demanding that China should close its wildlife wet markets permanently. This is a demand which makes actually quite much sense.

“Given the strong link between illegal wildlife sold in wet markets and zoonotic diseases, the United States has called on the People’s Republic of China to permanently close its wildlife wet markets and all markets that sell illegal wildlife,” Pompeo said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Pompeo: U.S. calls on China to permanently close wildlife wet markets

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States has called on China to permanently close its wildlife wet markets, citing links between those markets and zoonotic diseases.

www.reuters.com

I agree, however in reality, it isn't going to happen.

Officially, the live-bird markets in Beijing have been shuttered for years. In reality, guerrilla vendors run furtive slaughterhouses throughout this national capital of wide avenues, gleaming architecture and more than 20 million residents—despite warnings that their businesses could be spreading deadly new strains of the flu.

We were quite lucky that H7N9 did not mutate to be able to be transmitted between people. As of 2017

H7N9 first spread from birds to humans in 2013. Since then, there have been five waves of the virus. The fifth wave began in October 2016. By September 2017, it had infected 764 people—far more than any of the four preceding waves. Health officials recently confirmed that there have been 1,589 total cases of H7N9, with 616 of them fatal.

Is China Ground Zero for a Future Pandemic?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Revealed: UK ministers were warned last year of risks of coronavirus pandemic

Briefing, which recommended stockpiling PPE among other measures, intensifies focus on No 10’s handling of outbreak

www.theguardian.com

But one source with knowledge of the Cabinet Office document said the UK had not properly focused on the pandemic threat, and had been caught flat-footed.

“The really frustrating thing is that there were plans. But over the last few years emergency planning has been focused on political drivers, like Brexit and flooding.

“There was a national plan for dealing with a pandemic that should have been implemented. But who took control of that? And who was responsible for making sure that plans were being made at a local level? The truth is, I am not sure anyone was doing this.”

The source added: “We have been paying for a third-party fire and theft insurance for a pandemic, not a comprehensive one. We have been caught out.”

 

[Ashiri]

Things will change, whether we need them to or not.

I'm wondering what the airline business is going to look like,

I've been quite struck by some of the photos in the local media showing aircraft parked up, engines covered. Domestic flights will resume but International travel will be greatly curtailed. International tourism was a big part of the economy.
The curve here has been well flattened but we'll still have severe restrictions for at least 2 more weeks. Even after that, the new normal will still be restrictive.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The hunt for a coronavirus vaccine – a perilous and uncertain path

The pressing need to find a solution to the pandemic means risks and shortcuts may have to be taken

www.theguardian.com

 

[Romana]

I read these things, about it lasting years, and bring with us curve, and I think, "this is not a world I want to live in". I can't live the rest off my life being afraid. Dying from the virus, though, is agonizing; drawn out, not over years, but any amount of time can feel that way when you can't breathe.
I’m really not sure what I’m going to do.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I read these things, about it lasting years, and bring with us curve, and I think, "this is not a world I want to live in". I can't live the rest off my life being afraid. Dying from the virus, though, is agonizing; drawn out, not over years, but any amount of time can feel that way when you can't breathe.
I’m really not sure what I’m going to do.

From everything I've read, though, if someone's experiencing breathing difficulties too severe to be remedied with oxygen alone, they're at the least very heavily sedated when they enter the ICU.

I've had a lot more experience than I'd like of invasive medical procedures involving my throat carried out under heavy sedation, and while I was aware something unpleasant was happening, it was more of a nuisance than anything else, a bit like an irritating noise in the background that I kept on tuning in and out.

The way I handled my fears and concerns then, and I'm trying to do the same now, was to tell myself there was absolutely no point in worrying about what might happen in the future, since I couldn't do anything about that, so I should concentrate instead on what was under my control, which now is doing all I can to minimise the risk of catching it.

If I do, then I'll worry about what might happen in hospital, but until then, I'm focussed on never having to find out.

 

[Romana]

What's under my control is whether I'm going to stick around for all this. My dog's been keeping me alive but sometimes I'm not even sure if he's enough.
I just want it all to stop.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Tired of the president creating fake news. Decided to create some of my own:

 

[Kara Spengler]

I owe my current employment, in what has turned out to be pretty much the ideal job in my semi-retirement, to a chance encounter in SLU.

Fortuitous events happen fortuitously.

While I can see it working it would be all sorts of fun to convince companies paying 100s of dollars for some industry conference they should let their employees use something that looks like a game instead of doing something with zoom.

 

[Free]

 

[Free]

 

[Sovereignty]

Could you give me some more details of this chap's "work educating medical professionals," please?

He runs a website selling investment advice, with a particular emphasis, it seems to me, on encouraging people to buy precious metals, and has no professional medical qualifications that I can see -- according to his biography on his site,

so it's unclear to me why either medical professionals or anyone else would turn to him for advice on medical matters or, indeed, any topic other than their investment portfolio.

I don't know how it works in the US, but in the UK doctors, or doctors working for the NHS certainly, follow guidance issued not by laypeople with YouTube channels but by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), whose current guidance on Covid-19 is to be found here.

NICE must use the same sources for their evidence reviews as does he, and have the advantage of being medical experts rather than specialists in energy and resource depletion, and the moment, the most that can be said of all these studies about potential therapies for Covid-19 is that they suggest some particular drugs currently used to treat other conditions may be useful for Covid-19 too, but the available evidence is insufficient to allow anyone to form a firm conclusion.

That's why Oxford University and the Nuffield Foundation are running, at this moment, the large-scale clinical trials to which I referred early -- to gain sufficient evidence for sound medical decisions to be taken, and when those trials have concluded, NICE then will consider their peer-reviewed findings and update their advice as appropriate.

I'm puzzled because I don't see how this chap's YouTube channel is supposed to help in this process -- my GP's decision making is guided by NICE and her professional expertise and experience, and I'm guided by her, which is why I was puzzled by that advice that

The context, you will recall, is that I said my local GP is participating in clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine, which means that, should I become infected and decide to participate in the trials, I'll either be given hydroxychloroquine or a placebo, and neither of us will, at the time, know which it is.

So I just don't understand why I "need to watch this video," or any other video about possible treatments for Covid-19.

What benefit would I gain from watching it that I wouldn't equally gain from watching any other informative video on a scientific topic (or, indeed, people's videos of their pets at play)?

I just don't see what part of my, or my doctor's, decision-making processes are supposed to be informed by this kind of video, and I'm asking someone to explain it to me -- am I supposed to show my GP the video in the hope of persuading her to prescribe me something, or what?

I was afraid we were talking at cross purposes. I am responding to your general slam against all doctors posting videos on YouTube. I am not endorsing the comments made by anyone else on this forum.

Roger Seheult is not Chris Martenson. Just go to Medcram.com if you want to learn about Seheult or watch his videos on youtube.

I am not pushing him as a source of information to replace your doctor. Seheult himself is very professional in what he says, always telling people to consult their physicians.

It seems to me that you did not read my post very carefully.

 

[Anya Ristow]

 

[Sovereignty]

Eric Topol is giving a "hot take" based on some graph he saw. Going deeper (only a tiny bit) than the superficial hot take level ...

The US graph is dominated by New York state. It would be interesting to see the US without New York state. It would give a quite different curve. I think some interesting stuff could be done by contrasting cities with rural areas and also comparing states with social distancing to those without.

Fatalities are a lagging indicator, by a few weeks. The best indicator is hospital admissions, but it still lags maybe a couple of weeks. Topol would have done better if he posted a graph of admissions.

If Topol wants to compare among countries, it would be hospital admissions per capita. Of course, if someone just wants to give hot takes, then ideas like these are really just a nuisance.

 

[Free]

Of course, if someone just wants to give hot takes, then ideas like these are really just a nuisance.

Despite this being a..."hot take" and all, it's a comparison of same to same. All he's really looking at is the trend. And when you're comparing apples to apples for that, fatalities are not a bad fruit to be looking at.

You want an in-depth examination of the various statistical indicators? Stay away from Twitter posts.

 

[danielravennest]

It is really all pretty loosy-goosy -- remember, when people came up with this, technology was pretty darned limited but they still managed to come up with bread most days.

Yeast are evolved to eat pretty much any plant sugars or starches (which are chains of sugars). They are most everywhere in the environment, and only need some water to go from inactive spore to live yeast. The first fermented products were natural ones, where a grain or a fruit got wet and then sat around for a while. Then we learned how to do it on purpose and got bread and beer. Any place that ground grains regularly would inevitably bring in some yeast spores, who would make a home there.

With modern grain processing into flour and cleaner kitchens we cut down a lot of the naturally occurring spores. A sourdough starter can take the natural spores from the air, but it takes longer to be ready, because it starts with fewer spores. Adding yeast from a jar or packet works much faster because you are adding so many more of them.

 

[danielravennest]

In the US, Trump has clearly told his scientific advisors to come up with a strategy for lifting restrictions and restarting the economy as quickly as possible.

The obvious reason for which is he owns a bunch of hotels and resorts which are shut down at the moment, so he's rapidly going broke. Pure conflict of interest. Kill more Americans to save his business.