On Topic Discussion 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2)

[KaraBulut]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

As usual, Canucks can also continue to track cases in their province on Health Canada:

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html

Currently they note:

- 74% of cases are travellers and 11% are close contacts of travellers

Ironically, the President is about to announce that he's reducing border traffic between the US and Canada to stop spread to the US. I'm waiting to hear what this means for all of the healthcare professionals who live in Canada but work in the US (and who must cross the border daily for work).

I think he has that backwards since the US is probably more of risk to Canada than vice versa, but "to a hammer, everything looks like a nail".

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

I would be interested to see if there is any specific ethnicity is affected more than others.

Ethnicity, no.

What we know about communicable disease, both in human and animals is that genetically similar populations spread communicable and parasitic disease easier and they will suffer similar morbidity and mortality. Conversely, the more diverse the population, the less susceptible it will be to disease.

It's the reason that pig farming and chicken farming requires massive culling during disease outbreaks on farms- these animals have been repeatedly interbred to the point that they are so genetically similar that epidemics spread like wildfire.

The more genetically diverse a population is, the less susceptible they will be to mass contagions and the more adaptable they will be to threats to their population.

 

[rareboy]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Another story from inside Italy....the failure to prepare and the despair at being overwhelmed is tragic.

Our friends and family in Italy and Switzerland are telling us the same story.


A coronavirus cautionary tale from Italy: Don’t do what we did (The Boston Globe; March 13, 2020; Subscription Required)

Fortunately...Canada and the US has had adequate time to learn from other countries' successes and failures.

 

[cityboy-stl]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Apparently some researchers in Australia are claiming cure with a drug combo of an older HIV med and something used for malaria.

"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.
University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research director Professor David Paterson told news.com.au today they have seen two drugs used to treat other conditions wipe out the virus in test tubes."
.
“There have already been patients treated with these in Australia and there’s been successful outcomes but it hasn’t been done in a controlled or a comparative way,” Prof Paterson said.

Full Story: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/h...l/news-story/93e7656da0cff4fc4d2c5e51706accb5

 

[cityboy-stl]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

10 Good News CoronaVirus Items from Australia: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/10-...m_medium=weekly_mailout&utm_source=18-03-2020

 

[Telstra]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

locked down and over 40,000 medical people fought the virus? wow, the media didn't report this:

 

[Telstra]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Apparently some researchers in Australia are claiming cure with a drug combo of an older HIV med and something used for malaria.

Drugs that kills the virus,
thats quite a good news.

 

[justaguy]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Italy's high mortality (nearing 10% of cases) has two direct causes: 1) They didn't act quickly enough and 2) the population in northern Italy is disproportionately skewed toward older people. I made a comment in an earlier post that about 50% of the coronavirus cases in Italian ICUs are people under the age of 60. That's because a large number of the Italians over 60 years of age never survived long enough to make it to the ICU.

I think the biggest factor is testing. There are so many cases that they are just not bothering to test people with mild symptoms. The best places to look at mortality rates are from that cruise ship where everyone was tested (700 positives and 7 deaths, and South Korea where they have done heaps of testing and the mortality rate there is also quite low compared to the number of positives.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

I think the biggest factor is testing. There are so many cases that they are just not bothering to test people with mild symptoms.

That is true but also go back one step- the Italians were the first of the western countries to get hit and the citizens didn't listen when the authorities told them that it was serious. It's a behavior that we've seen repeated over and over again- including during the HIV epidemic.

There's a video earlier in this thread where Italians talk about where it all went wrong. Before you can get people tested, you have to work through human nature to deny that there's a problem. And then the next denial phase is when they do test positive, you have to convince them to isolate from society until they have no evidence of viral shedding.

What finally happened was that the Italian government ordered the entire country to stay at home. By then, it was too late.

And it's no surprise that it was the Italian experience that finally made the US wake up and say, "Oh shit".

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Speaking of "oh shit" moments...

NYC Officials Call for Release of ‘Most at Risk’ on Rikers Island as More Test Positive for Virus [4 New York]

A New York City corrections officer stationed on Rikers Island has tested positive for COVID-19, city officials announced Wednesday, just days after an investigator working at the jail died after testing positive for the virus.

A number of city leaders and public advocates are calling for immediate assistance to help the elderly incarcerated and to adequately the staff working inside the prisons. With more than 900 people over the age of 50 on Rikers Island, the majority having chronic medical conditions, officials say, many worry about the potential spread of the virus in close quarters...

The city's jail system has about 8,000 inmates, most at notorious Rikers Island.

 

[frankfrank]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

As usual, Canucks can also continue to track cases in their province

I note that the demographics of the epidemic don't diverge much from the demographics of the population as a whole, but that's by no means surprising. A virus doesn't play favorites (though the severity differs according to age).

Apparently some researchers in Australia are claiming cure with a drug combo of an older HIV med and something used for malaria.

I copied that article link, and I'm going to send it to my primary doctor. (No, I don't have symptoms and I don't think I've been exposed.) I already sent him a clip from Anne Coulter on Fox News (!!!) who had a guy talking about hydroxychloroquine, and an article from Oxford talking about the same thing. Who knows, I'm not going to JUST ASSUME that my doctor has heard of this.

After all, is the AMA or Big Pharma going to mention anything about this old-school generic (and cheap) drug? NO WAY. It's not in their best interests.

I also read or heard about some doctors in Rajasthan (India) using "HIV medicines" with promising results. Not sure if this is the same thing or not.

 

[rareboy]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Wuhan China reports no new cases today for the first time since the outbreak began.

https://www.ladbible.com/news/news-...SOl8Gaa86LwL6lWkjvLbvXWTQzbXCWvZ2T8dk7SBrV8Pg

 

[rareboy]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

An informative look at the trends around the world based on new cases per week (or expressed per day for last week).

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...v6FnowZlA0zK0Z10T9F8Qz8sF9de-uuxGz6zDAK1hiN_s

 

[belamyi]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

17.147 cases, 767 dead

- - - Updated - - -

939 in ICU... in a total of 4627 available units in Spain.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

locked down and over 40,000 medical people fought the virus? wow, the media didn't report this:

A correction- the media covered this extensively. These workers were coerced to staff these hospitals and the western media pointed out that the Chinese used these workers as propaganda, portraying them as national heroes.

If you have any doubt, notice that most of these women have very short hair. There's plenty of videos from the western media showing these women getting their heads shaved by the government under the assumption that it would prevent the virus from getting into their long hair and that it would make their masks fit better.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

19-Mar-2020:

COVID-19 stats
Cases reported: 222,642 (up from 203,529 yesterday)
Deaths: 9,115 (up from 8,205 yesterday) - 910 people died yesterday

Cases reported in the US - 9,415 cases (up from 6,496 yesterday), 150 deaths

• The first cases in South Korea and the US were reported on the same day (19-January-2020). South Korea implemented mass testing of over 250,000 people. The US did not. Yesterday, South Korea reported 152 new cases. The US reported 2,919 new cases. Today, the US, France, Germany, Spain, Iran and Italy have more cases than South Korea.
• Iran has not received much press attention but they had 1,046 new cases yesterday. They had 149 deaths yesterday or to put it another way, at least one Iranian dies of COVID-19 every 10 minutes.
• Authorities in Spain are anticipating that 8 out of every 10 residents of Madrid will be infected with COVID-19.
• Boris Johnson's government in the UK seems to be living-in-denial. His government announced that they have no plans to close the metro system or stop travel in and out of London.

Global coronavirus cases in major countries:

• Italy - 35,713 cases (up from 31,506 yesterday) - 2,978 deaths.
• Iran - 18,407 cases (up from 17,361 yesterday) - 1,284 deaths
• Spain - 15,014 (up from 13,784 cases yesterday) - 640 deaths (still delayed from local numbers reported by belamo)
• Germany - 13,093 cases (up from 10,069 cases yesterday), 31 deaths
• France - 9,058 cases (up from 7,696 cases yesterday), 243 deaths
• South Korea - 8,565 cases (from 8,413 cases) - 91 deaths
• Switzerland -3,067 cases (up from 2,700 cases yesterday), 33 deaths
• UK - 2,644 cases (up from 1,961 cases yesterday), 104 deaths
• Netherlands - 2,056 cases (up from 1,710 cases yesterday), 59 deaths
• Canada - 727 cases (up from 598 yesterday), 9 deaths
• Australia - 681 cases (up from 568 cases yesterday), 6 deaths

United States: now in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the USVI

• The US exceeded 1,000 cases on 11-March. Yesterday at this time, it was slightly below 4,000 cases. New cases reported yesterday - 2,919. Expect that the US will easily exceed 10,000 cases today. The increased infection count in the US does not indicate new infections- it is because the US has finally implemented testing sites and is able to find people who infected who were never counted before the tests became available. The infections that were diagnosed yesterday occurred in the past 2 weeks before the National Emergency was declared.
• New York added over 1,200 new cases yesterday. California and Louisiana have a growing number of cases- Louisiana added 84 new cases yesterday, California added 237 new cases yesterday.
  - New York - 2,914 (up from 1,653 cases yesterday), 21 deaths
  - Washington - 1,187 (up from 1,012 cases yesterday), 67 deaths
  - California - 833 (up from 596 cases yesterday), 17 deaths
  - New Jersey - 427 (up from 267 case yesterday), 3 deaths
  - Massachusetts - 256 (up from 218 cases yesterday)
  - Florida - 322 (up from 210 cases yesterday), 7 deaths
  - Illinois - 288 cases, 1 death
  - Louisiana - 280 cases (up from 196 cases), 7 deaths
  - Massachusetts - 256 cases
• Other states are nearing the 200 mark: Georgia - 197, Colorado -183. Texas has 108 cases and is one of the few states that has not banned large gatherings or closed restaurants state-wide nor have they implemented large-scale testing programs.
• Two members of Congress have tested positive for the virus: Rep Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Rep Ben McAdams (D-UT). Sen Rick Scott (R-FL) remains in quarantine after meeting with the Brazilian President who has tested positive for the virus.
• The media has been focusing on the shortage of ventilators in the US. What has become an even more critical is a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE)- the visors, gloves, masks and gowns used by healthcare workers on the front lines in emergency rooms and isolation rooms in the US. Hospitals have already begun cancelling elective surgeries. Cities like NYC and Seattle that have large numbers of cases are already beginning to experience supply chain issues with getting PPE to workers.
• Alabama has 51 cases. They also have some really nice beaches that people on Spring Break have been visiting... until today. Alabama has announced that they will be closing their beaches effective Friday.
  

 

[zoltanspawn]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

I've taken chloroquine before when traveling in malarial areas.

If you take it long enough, your hair falls out. (It doesn't sound like the course of treatment for covid-19 would require that length of time.)

I imagine that people would probably take it in concert not just with azithromyacin, but with Rogaine.

Joking aside, any ideas on why taking an antibiotic would help with a viral infection? Is it because it suppresses secondary bacterial infections that weaken the immune system and 'provide cover' for the virus?

 

[belamyi]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

^ It will never cease to amaze me the comparatively vast pharmacological savviness of the [STRIKE]druggies[/STRIKE] pharmies out there.


BTW, don't you rather mean "-mycin"? Just speaking from my own Greek-savviness, with a frosting of general biology.

 

[rareboy]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

locked down and over 40,000 medical people fought the virus? wow, the media didn't report this:

Uh yes. They did. Intensively and extensively. For weeks.

You only seem to get your information from youtube videos.....there is a staggering amount of news carried by all media....but the best information is in printed sources.

Your isolation from in-depth news is a scary reminder that there are probably millions more like you who are not keeping themselves fully informed of what is happening around the globe with this pandemic.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

...Joking aside, any ideas on why taking an antibiotic would help with a viral infection? Is it because it suppresses secondary bacterial infections that weaken the immune system and 'provide cover' for the virus?

Quinine products are used primarily as antiprotozoals (plasmodium is classified as a protozoa) even though they are known to have antiviral and antibacterial properties. The mechanism of action isn't fully understood but from studies of malaria and dengue fever (which is caused by a virus), it seems to alter the acid-base balance in cells. This alteration changes the pH inside the cell which interferes with different processes in the cell which accounts for why it interferes with a viruses' ability to hijack a cell to make more virus.

Quinine was proposed as an HIV medication before the antiviral meds like AZT, DDT and DDI were discovered to be effective. It wouldn't surprise me if quinine is quickly abandoned for coronavirus treatment, in favor of drugs that are more specific to coronavirus.

There was a White House press conference this morning where there was a lot of optimism about drug therapy for coronavirus. It might be overly optimistic to think this is a solution since most cases of coronavirus are mild and don't cause severe disease. The patients who are dying of COVID-19, aren't dying of the direct effects of the virus. They are dying of the body's response to the pneumonia called ARDS that develops over days or sometimes even weeks after infection. ARDS is an auto-immune phenomenon that causes the lung to fill with fluid and become increasingly unable to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide.

They're going to have to run studies to see if inhibiting COVID-19 results in a elimination of ARDS before they'll know if it lowers the mortality rate.

I suspect the vaccine solution is probably going to prove to be a better option.... assuming those trials go well.