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Forums - General Discussion - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

crissindahouse said:

German expert who helped to find the SARS virus and worked on the test for Covid-19 said that up to 70% of all Germans could get in contact with the virus

He was also pretty mad about all this "our country is good prepared" bullshit by politicians who say that while also saying how hard it is for the countries to find enough medical protective equipment

What else could politicians say? "We're not prepared, you can panic now?" Certainly not.

Remembers me to about 10 years ago, when it was snowing so much and the governments were saying that they might run low on salt to clear the streets. Result of that remark: The people panicked and bought salt en masse to not run out, and because of that ran out, making it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Saying that the country would not be prepared would result in a rush to the pharmacies, and if they ran dry on medicine, potentially even a raid if people don't believe the apothecary staff members. They are already starting doing so for the face masks, so imagine what will happen with actual medicine.



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Bofferbrauer2 said:
crissindahouse said:

German expert who helped to find the SARS virus and worked on the test for Covid-19 said that up to 70% of all Germans could get in contact with the virus

He was also pretty mad about all this "our country is good prepared" bullshit by politicians who say that while also saying how hard it is for the countries to find enough medical protective equipment

What else could politicians say? "We're not prepared, you can panic now?" Certainly not.

Remembers me to about 10 years ago, when it was snowing so much and the governments were saying that they might run low on salt to clear the streets. Result of that remark: The people panicked and bought salt en masse to not run out, and because of that ran out, making it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Saying that the country would not be prepared would result in a rush to the pharmacies, and if they ran dry on medicine, potentially even a raid if people don't believe the apothecary staff members. They are already starting doing so for the face masks, so imagine what will happen with actual medicine.

That's what happens when you keep treating your people like children. Hiding the true facts because people can't handle it is what leads to panic, distrust, sensationalism by the media etc. Of course saying the country is not prepared is not going to help, explaining the steps that are taken and telling people what they can do themselves to help is what should be done. Instead it's, we're fully prepared, risk is very low, we have the best people on it, just live on as usual. The emphasis should be on explaining ways to identify the illness, stay home when you have a cough, always cough in your sleeve if you have no other option and change clothes as often as possible. Simple things like don't share water bottles (Sadly that earlier video proves people are still that stupid). No unnecessary travel, cancel travel plans. Self quarantine when you arrive back from Europe or other places with the virus. Developing faster tests would help (I read it's 2 days to wait for test results), perhaps sacrificing some accuracy (false positives) as a form of 'triage' to determine who needs the more accurate slower tests.

Screening at airports is that back yet? I remember with Sars they had scanners to look for body temperature anomalies, check for fever hot spots. They have all those fancy full body scanners for terrorist attacks, yet this is potentially millions of times more deadly.

My kid just got back from a sleepover party. I picked him up today and hear one of the kids left early (last night) sick. He got it from his sister who recently came back from Cuba. That's how easy things can spread! Luckily no cough, stomach bug. Hopefully my kid doesn't get it but at least it's not the virus. But yeah, I would like to know from the government when to start telling him he can't go to birthday parties anymore, perhaps now already is the time. It's less than 100km away in Toronto. (My wife has chronic respiratory problems, she's at high risk, just recovering from double pneumonia she has had for months)

Response is still lagging behind. American airlines is now suspending flights to Italy (citing reduced demand...), however it's already spreading through the rest of Europe. Italy is now on the high threat list, too late, too little.

The media and the politicians themselves continue to give the public mixed messages without any clear instructions what can and should be done. Any panic is up to the politicians themselves. It's been coming since Januari, there was plenty time to start preparing people. It's just human nature, if no imminent danger right at the door step, ignore it, carry on as usual.




Fun fact: all three instances of the Bubonic plague (Plague of Justinian, Black Death, third plague pandemic) originated in China. That would be an argument against the modern Wuhan-theory. Maybe eating those exotic animals is a gateway for infections.

Italy juts just 566 new cases in one day, reaching China levels of new infections. Overall fatality rate will probably stay between 1-2%, mostly older people. Total number of active infected is decreasing worldwide bc China is reporting more recoveries than new infections. We have to see if the spread outside of China will rise exponentially and raise that number again. 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/



numberwang said:

Fun fact: all three instances of the Bubonic plague (Plague of Justinian, Black Death, third plague pandemic) originated in China. That would be an argument against the modern Wuhan-theory. Maybe eating those exotic animals is a gateway for infections.

Italy juts just 566 new cases in one day, reaching China levels of new infections. Overall fatality rate will probably stay between 1-2%, mostly older people. Total number of active infected is decreasing worldwide bc China is reporting more recoveries than new infections. We have to see if the spread outside of China will rise exponentially and raise that number again. 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Check this page
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-cases/#newly-infected-newly-recovered

Especially the total cases outside China graph, it's growing exponentially, even slowly accelerating on the logarithmic scale. Growth factor outside China is about 1.3 and I bet the number of new cases is still under reported (not all get detected)

Italy almost China in new cases for today, South Korea already has.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 01 March 2020

For those who didn't hear it yet: The Virus has been renamed to SARS CoV-2 now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2

However, the disease is still called Covid-19



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Bofferbrauer2 said:
For those who didn't hear it yet: The Virus has been renamed to SARS CoV-2 now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2

However, the disease is still called Covid-19

It was always named that but the WHO didn't want to use that name to prevent panic reactions. Instead they have been referring to the virus as the virus responsible for covid-19.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it

https://www.newscientist.com/term/covid-19/
Covid-19 stands for Coronavirus disease 2019
SARS Cov-2 stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2



SvennoJ said:
Bofferbrauer2 said:
For those who didn't hear it yet: The Virus has been renamed to SARS CoV-2 now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2

However, the disease is still called Covid-19

It was always named that but the WHO didn't want to use that name to prevent panic reactions. Instead they have been referring to the virus as the virus responsible for covid-19.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it

https://www.newscientist.com/term/covid-19/
Covid-19 stands for Coronavirus disease 2019
SARS Cov-2 stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2

Ah okay, thanks for the clarification!



drkohler said:
sethnintendo said:

Is everyone dead yet?  You guys know the regular flu has killed 5 times more people in just USA alone.  The young and old will always die.

Extremely naive viewpoint.

The flu is everywhere. The coronavirus is basically contained in a major city thanks to a totalitarian regime. You better pray a vaccine will show up one day before the coronavirus gets as widespread a the flu.

I never got the swine flu vaccine and that has been long history.  I'm not worried and I don't go out much.  I don't even get flu shot and haven't had flu since kid.  Ill worry about it when I'm on my death bed.



sethnintendo said:
drkohler said:

Extremely naive viewpoint.

The flu is everywhere. The coronavirus is basically contained in a major city thanks to a totalitarian regime. You better pray a vaccine will show up one day before the coronavirus gets as widespread a the flu.

I never got the swine flu vaccine and that has been long history.  I'm not worried and I don't go out much.  I don't even get flu shot and haven't had flu since kid.  Ill worry about it when I'm on my death bed.

I'm not worried for myself either, however I assume you might still have parents or even grand parents or other people you know and care about that don't have an iron immune system.

The virus arrived in NY, it's closing in from 2 sides. 81 cases in the US, 24 in Canada. How long to risk sending the kids to school still :/ By the time a case is discovered it has already spread on. March break is up in 2 weeks, couldn't come at a worse time for people to go on holiday.



Sounds like covid19 has been spreading undetected and unchecked for quite a while. One article claims there is strong evidence suggesting that it has been spreading for the last 6 weeks in Washington state, before china even locked down their own cities.

Definitely seems like it's impossible to stop and it's just a matter of time before you become infected. I wonder how skewed some of the stats on covid19 are though. Are severe cases/deaths over represented because only hospitalized patients really get tested while others with mild symptoms continue on as normal just thinking they have a cold? Testing is slow and severely limited and it's impossible to test everyone with cold/flu like symptoms.

Not even sure if it's worth taking any extra preventative measures to avoid contracting it. All it takes is one unhygienic asshole not washing his/hers hands, accidentally coughing your way or in your food or playing on their germ-covered phone then going back to their job. I see it all the time, people taking their phones into the bathroom, playing on it, then not even bothering to wash their hands or just running water over them for like 5 seconds. People really can't afford to miss work and are unlikely to let minor cold-like symptoms stop them from showing up. Cash, shopping carts, doorknobs, handles, etc... So many ways to catch stuff

For those that care to read the article

"WASHINGTON — The coronavirus has been circulating undetected and has possibly infected scores of people over the past six weeks in Washington state, according to a genetic analysis of virus samples that has sobering implications for the entire country amid heightening anxiety about the likely spread of the disease."

https://www.boston.com/news/health/2020/03/01/coronavirus-may-have-spread-undetected-for-weeks-in-u-s