Novel Coronavirus COVID-19

[Ellener]

@gaius

Covid-19 is according to current info a 'droplet infection'. The droplets emited by coughing or sneezing can 'hang' in the air which is why WHO is considering additional precautions for medical staff exposed to the sick. But the main route of infection is where the droplets get onto our hands by touching people or surfaces which is why people are avoiding handshakes/kissing etc and washing hands frequently and cleaning surfaces where someone might have sneezed or coughed. 

This is the Wikipedia explanation, minus the online citations:

'The primary mode of transmission is via respiratory droplets that people exhale, for example when coughing or sneezing. Droplets stay suspended in the air for only a short time in air at 65% relative humidity (RH) and 21-23°C [70F to 73.4F[214] but may stay viable and contagious on a metal, cardboard, glass or plastic surface. The stability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the air and on various surfaces is believed to be comparable to that of other coronaviruses, some of which can survive for up to nine days at room temperature. Its similarity to SARS-CoV-1 in particular was confirmed in laboratory tests that found both viruses could survive up to or beyond 72 hours on plastic and stainless steel. A survey of research on the inactivation of other coronaviruses using various biocidal agents suggests that disinfecting surfaces contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 may also be achieved using similar solutions (within one minute of exposure on a stainless steel surface), including 62–71% ethanol, 50–100% isopropanol, 0.1% sodium hypochlorite, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide, and 0.2–7.5% povidone-iodine; benzalkonium chloride and chlorhexidine gluconate are less effective.

The WHO has stated that the risk of spread from someone without symptoms is "very low". However, if someone has beginning symptoms and a mild cough, there is a risk of transmission. An analysis of infections in Singapore and Tianjin in China revealed that coronavirus infections may be spread by people who have recently caught the virus and have not yet begun to show symptoms.'

[amaysngrace]

Does anyone else feel like they had it already?  Last week I felt like I caught a bug, had diarrhea for nearly two days, felt my cheeks flush a little during that time and also felt achey.  

I didn’t bother to take my temp because the flushing in my cheeks would come and go.

[Ellener]

1 hour ago, amaysngrace said:

Last week I felt like I caught a bug, had diarrhea for nearly two days, felt my cheeks flush a little during that time and also felt achey.  

Do you have a cough?

 

[Watercolors]

2 hours ago, amaysngrace said:

Does anyone else feel like they had it already?  Last week I felt like I caught a bug, had diarrhea for nearly two days, felt my cheeks flush a little during that time and also felt achey.  

I didn’t bother to take my temp because the flushing in my cheeks would come and go.

I thought I had it a week ago. But I also get PMS-flu every month which has the exact same symptoms of covid-19; cough, phlegm and nasal congestion, body aches, sweating & chills, nausea and a headache. So, it's anyone's guess. I'm still alive and I take 500 mg of vit C daily already so I hope that helps me a little bit. Could have been PMS-flu, the regular flu, perimenopause symptoms...covid-19. Who knows. At least I have bread and toilet paper!

Edited March 20, 2020 by Watercolors

[Ellener]

Houston's first drive through testing facility is open, only people with specific Covid-19 symptoms are being tested, the service is free and results take 24 hours, people are told to return home to await the result.

[littleblackheart]

5 hours ago, amaysngrace said:

Last week I felt like I caught a bug, had diarrhea for nearly two days, felt my cheeks flush a little during that time and also felt achey.  

Mild symptoms are: you have continuous cough, a high temp, a pain in the chest and you feel so exhausted you can't move for a steady 3 days.

[Woggle]

My state did a complete shutdown except for essential services and I wish the whole country would do the same thing.

[littleblackheart]

3 hours ago, Ellener said:

Houston's first drive through testing facility is open, only people with specific Covid-19 symptoms are being tested, the service is free and results take 24 hours, people are told to return home to await the result.

Smart policy. 

[Redhead14]

9 hours ago, gaius said:

I also highly doubt that China ever expected the west to handle this so poorly.

They handed us a very small problem, along with an effective blueprint on how to deal with it, and we refused against all sense to restrict travel and enforce mandatory quarantines. And now we've turned something that could have been squashed with a few months effort into an economy busting, potentially multi-year problem.

Make no mistake, we did this to ourselves.

Don't forget though that the Chinese didn't tell anyone for a few weeks or so . . . so they handed us a small problem a little late. They most certainly understood the need for speed so why try to cover it up if they really wanted to help the West prevent disaster.   By the time we got the word, infected people were already moving freely about and traveling, etc.  If they really wanted to give us a chance at being effective, they would have told us ASAP.   

Yes, we should have done more and right away.  On one hand, I understand that if the US or other countries clamped down suddenly, there would be rebellion and probably more panic than there was.  The way this developed probably helped with that kind of thing because people were kinda spoon fed gradually about what was coming so they wouldn't choke.  I still say this whole thing is sketchy.  I'll admit my suspicion is driven by the fact that the Chinese weren't forthcoming right away, so I'm not trusting them.  And, I don't mean the everyday Chinese citizen.  I mean their government leaders.

Edited March 20, 2020 by Redhead14

[elaine567]

The problem for the Chines is that they didn't have the gift of hindsight when this thing started. They didn't know its potential.
For all they knew it may have been one of the these transient diseases that kill a few people and then essentially disappear or hang around at low levels.
WE on the other hand KNOW its potential and have sat on our hands and are still sitting on our hands...
WE have been slow to react and are still relying on hope that somehow it will all be fine.
Meanwhile the virus has got the bit between its teeth and is all set to win this race.

[serial muse]

Right. There's a big difference between saying "the Chinese handled this badly", which they obviously did, and saying "the Chinese created this on purpose to destroy the West", which as I said upthread would be like punching themselves in the eye in hopes that it would rebound and punch us too.

They screwed up in their way, we're screwing up in ours. Pretty much all there is to it, no deeper meaning or more nefarious intent required. Honestly, it's bad enough as it is. 

Edited March 20, 2020 by serial muse

[Redhead14]

Yes, we should have and should be doing more now for sure.   While our government is sitting on it's hands, there are millions of people who aren't even heeding the minimal measures that have been put in place.  I don't understand how anyone, at this moment in time, wouldn't be taking it seriously and have at least enough fear to want to take precautions.  Whether they think it's a serious threat or not, there's no downside to taking at least taking some precautions and not completely blowing it all off -- like the people at the beaches, etc. 

Individuals aren't heeding the threat.  This is the time for government to act and take control over this thing for the good of the entire country.  It's not about being authoritarian.  It's more like being the head of the household and pulling it together in a time of crisis by being well, the head of the household.

[littleblackheart]

30 minutes ago, elaine567 said:

WE on the other hand KNOW its potential and have sat on our hands and are still sitting on our hands...

I really, really hope Johnson's herd immunisation strategy is a winner.

 

This virus is now all over the UK without a shadow of a doubt.

 

I live in what is considered a 'hotspot' with a huge concentration of medical professionals (my local hospital received the first quarantined tourists from China), and gradually more and more people with symptoms (actual symptoms, not the sniffles) are coming forward and self-isolating.

 

Herd immunisation + no testing + no lockdown is one hell of a risk.

 

Normally not against a little risk, but it's easy for people who aren't affected by the actual stated symptoms of the virus to just 'chill'. Too many layers of risks involved.

[elaine567]

16 minutes ago, littleblackheart said:

I really, really hope Johnson's herd immunisation strategy is a winner.

Already been rubbished by the modellers advising the Govt.
Had it been allowed to continue then they estimated we were looking at 260 000 deaths.
That is why Boris did a bit of a U turn.
BUT we need further measures to control it further and he is still  hemming and hawing...
ITU/ICU consultant from London somewhere on radio last night, his ITU/ICU is full.
He said the people there  got the virus ~10 days ago and are very sick, so where will we put the ones who got the virus 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1... days ago. when they show up needing help?
That is the problem.

Edited March 20, 2020 by elaine567

[Azincourt]

11 hours ago, gaius said:

I also highly doubt that China ever expected the west to handle this so poorly.

They handed us a very small problem, along with an effective blueprint on how to deal with it, and we refused against all sense to restrict travel and enforce mandatory quarantines. And now we've turned something that could have been squashed with a few months effort into an economy busting, potentially multi-year problem.

Make no mistake, we did this to ourselves.

 

We didn't do this to ourselves. China did this to us.  And as always, China will not suffer the consequences of it's actions. Everyone is afraid of China.  They have far more men in the army reserves, not to mention the men they can conscript, than the entire western civilization has in the numbers of male citizens who aren't elderly/obese/overweight/etc etc

[thefooloftheyear]

It's an unprecedented event.....No different from 9/11 in the sense that no one would ever dream of a scenario like this...Its crazy when you stop and realize that just several weeks ago, life was just sailing along...mild winter, great economy,. everyone happy etc...

To start to sit around and judge how this was handled, or pick it apart is just Monday Morning quarterbacking....Shoulda, coulda, woulda....Most people doing the nit picking probably would collapse themselves of a nervous breakdown for a personal event not nearly of this magnitude..."Keyboard Commando's" as they say....

And remember folks...The West/America isn't China...In the sense that we love and value our freedom and autonomy more than anything...And we accept that with this autonomy and freedom comes some risks..To now tell everyone to barricade themselves in and do what government tells us would never be easy and goes against everything that freedom of government intervention stands for......Its never happened in my lifetime, what makes people believe all of a sudden everyone would be good little soldiers here...?

For now we will have to take this on the chin, just like 9/11.....The only hope is that after this passes, new procedures and protocols will be set aside for an equivalent event...People now will have to orchestrate their lives differently than before......again...like 9/11....

Your best defense against this(or practically anything else for that matter), is to be healthy and strong....This virus seems to be taking out the compromised and elderly, but the strong are surviving...Some things you have control over and other things you don't...If you have a bug that compromises your respiratory system, it just stands to reason that if you cant walk across the room without losing your breath and have 75+ lbs of extra fat on your body, you will likely be a target....Not just for this, for anything else that may come along...Maybe if you value your life, take better care of it...

TFY

[littleblackheart]

@elaine567Yes, frontline workers are swamped, and private hospitals are making money out of it by renting their beds to the NHS. 

 

It's the asymptomatics or mildly impacted walking around unchecked who can transmit to literally anyone unknowningly, or simply because they think it doesn't matter or they think it's just a little cold.

 

Imagine being responsible for passing it on to an at risk person unwittingly? It's not just about whoever gets it, it's how much danger you are putting other people. I was told the period of incubation is about 14 days, and we don't know whether you are contagious in that time. You can't bank on people doing the 'right thing', most people only react when they start to see their own circumstances change.

Edited March 20, 2020 by littleblackheart

[gaius]

Keyboard commando, that's hilarious @thefooloftheyear. From the guy who's head was in clouds talking about how this was all media hype until a few days ago. Now trying to act like you're some kind of leader or authority figure. 

People who didn't think or pay attention helped this happen. You should take note of that for next time or else something like this could happen again.

[lana-banana]

Richard Burr dumps millions worth of stocks after receiving a classified briefing and makes a tidy profit.

A woman who had been senator for eighteen days (also in the briefing) does the same thing, AND buys stock in a remote networking/conference call program. And her HUSBAND is chairman of the NYSE????

This is utterly disgusting. These people knew for months that it was going to be a pandemic and they decided the best thing they could do was turn a quick buck. It's immoral, it's horrendous, it's appalling. Their constituents should physically remove them from office and throw them on a deserted island. And it should be illegal even if it technically isn't. Depending on the specific moves and the timing, it could potentially be legal, but it may not be; I'm no expert.

I have always loathed how the Hill and the rest of the national security world operate under different rules. When all the little people get indoctrinated into their various agencies, one of the first things they tell you right after they explain where the bathrooms are is that insider trading on classified information is insanely illegal, that it's one of the worst things you can possibly do, that they'll throw the book at you and send you to jail forever, etc etc etc. And people with higher level clearances have absurdly complicated annual financial disclosure forms that take at least as long as a tax return with investigators that check over every line and every account just to make sure you aren't making too much money. (Paid for your car in cash? Expect a phone call asking why you're so rich.) Meanwhile, on the Hill Congressmen get to file financial disclosures months after they do anything.

These people profited off a pandemic at the expense of Americans. It's just sick.

[Redhead14]

28 minutes ago, thefooloftheyear said:

 it just stands to reason that if you cant walk across the room without losing your breath and have 75+ lbs of extra fat on your body, you will likely be a target

 

There are lots and lots of people who are in that group.  Some of them succumb to other issues because of that.  Some of them succumb to "lesser" flus or catalysts.  And, some don't. That being said, I'm wondering just how vulnerable that really makes a person in general because there are millions and millions walking around like that.  They aren't being taken out very often comparatively. It appears that this particular flu is preying on those kinds of conditions.  So, we should bash people for not anticipating the one flu that would represent THE danger that this one does???  Yeah, we should try to be healthier for all kinds of reasons. 

Edited March 20, 2020 by Redhead14

[Azincourt]

30 minutes ago, thefooloftheyear said:

It's an unprecedented event.....No different from 9/11 in the sense that no one would ever dream of a scenario like this...Its crazy when you stop and realize that just several weeks ago, life was just sailing along...mild winter, great economy,. everyone happy etc...

To start to sit around and judge how this was handled, or pick it apart is just Monday Morning quarterbacking....Shoulda, coulda, woulda....Most people doing the nit picking probably would collapse themselves of a nervous breakdown for a personal event not nearly of this magnitude..."Keyboard Commando's" as they say....

And remember folks...The West/America isn't China...In the sense that we love and value our freedom and autonomy more than anything...And we accept that with this autonomy and freedom comes some risks..To now tell everyone to barricade themselves in and do what government tells us would never be easy and goes against everything that freedom of government intervention stands for......Its never happened in my lifetime, what makes people believe all of a sudden everyone would be good little soldiers here...?

For now we will have to take this on the chin, just like 9/11.....The only hope is that after this passes, new procedures and protocols will be set aside for an equivalent event...People now will have to orchestrate their lives differently than before......again...like 9/11....

Your best defense against this(or practically anything else for that matter), is to be healthy and strong....This virus seems to be taking out the compromised and elderly, but the strong are surviving...Some things you have control over and other things you don't...If you have a bug that compromises your respiratory system, it just stands to reason that if you cant walk across the room without losing your breath and have 75+ lbs of extra fat on your body, you will likely be a target....Not just for this, for anything else that may come along...Maybe if you value your life, take better care of it...

TFY

Come on ,bro. You know nothing will change.  Most of the terrorists who took part in 9/11 were Saudis, the Saudi royals knew about it and supported it

Quote

The Saudi government still says it had no connection to the hijackers. Newly released classified information proves otherwise.

Quote

sometimes, reality is so absurd that it outstrips anything conspiracy theorists could come up with. More than 13 years after the congressional investigation published its report into the events surrounding the 9/11 attacks, the much discussed “28 pages” on Saudi involvement in the terrorist assault, which had been held back as too sensitive to publish, have been released. As it turns out, there are 29 pages, not 28, numbered 415 through 443 in the congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks. And deletions on the pages — sometimes words, often whole lines — add up to the equivalent of a total of three pages. So we still are not being given the full story.

And still the US governament considers Saudi Arabia it's most important and closest ally, and will use American troops to protect Saudi Arabia

As long as Saudi Arabia keeps buying American guns and keep selling oil to America,  Trump and every other US leader will look the other way. I mean, you people still pretend to believe American lives matter when there's a dollar to be made? That's how these folks think. Protect yourself from the virus and don't rely on Trump and his people to solve the corona dramatics,  because the govt. doesn't care much, only that you keep paying your taxes, buying exorbitantly expensive houses, and keep supporting the military budgets.

We need more and more guns, bigger airplanes and nukes to make up for our small peepee inferiority complex.

Edited March 20, 2020 by Azincourt

[thefooloftheyear]

6 minutes ago, gaius said:

Keyboard commando, that's hilarious @thefooloftheyear. From the guy who's head was in clouds talking about how this was all media hype until a few days ago. Now trying to act like you're some kind of leader or authority figure. 

People who didn't think or pay attention helped this happen. You should take note of that for next time or else something like this could happen again.

Got news for you, pal.....Its still more hyped than it should be...And the people doing the most criticizing never ran anything or had to be responsible for anyone...Let them do it, than they can tell me about all their insights and executive acumen..

I did(and am doing)everything leadership has instructed.. More than that I don't know what anyone wants me to do..I just choose to not let it turn me into an emotional wreck...You want to continue to play "Chicken Little" and armchair QB, than be my guest,  All you and the others are doing is making the point that in times of crisis, people fall apart...Not just with this, with anything that is outside of their own comfort zone..

TFY

[Ellener]

Our free area testing is up and running- already had to tell people it's for those with significant symptoms...this was just on local news:

'Next Level Urgent Care will begin drive-thru testing Friday morning at several locations across the area. With insurance, you are looking at your co-pay. Without insurance, it’ll be a self-pay rate of $200.'

Fortunately another organisation Legacy Community Health is also oening satellite clinics and will work with anyone who has symptoms and needs a test, regardless of ability to pay.

[Ellener]

49 minutes ago, lana-banana said:

These people knew for months that it was going to be a pandemic and they decided the best thing they could do was turn a quick buck. It's immoral, it's horrendous, it's appalling.

It's illegal if it's considered insider trading. They will be prosecuted and their assets confiscated.

 

[Redhead14]

1 minute ago, thefooloftheyear said:

Got news for you, pal.....Its still more hyped than it should be...And the people doing the most criticizing never ran anything or had to be responsible for anyone...Let them do it, than they can tell me about all their insights and executive acumen..

I did(and am doing)everything leadership has instructed.. More than that I don't know what anyone wants me to do..I just choose to not let it turn me into an emotional wreck...You want to continue to play "Chicken Little" and armchair QB, than be my guest,  All you and the others are doing is making the point that in times of crisis, people fall apart...Not just with this, with anything that is outside of their own comfort zone..

TFY

No one here is falling apart.  We're just having a conversation and exchanging ideas, concerns, theories PERIOD.  I am following guidelines and I am advocating for heavier measures.  At the same time, I'm having thoughts, concerns, ideas, theories and expressing them in an environment that was designed for that.