Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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Scientists are now saying that pangolins may have started this virus,a armadillo like creature found in Africa,pangolins are heavely traficked throughout Asia.

The may have been sold at meat markets and contacted people that way,so first it was bats,then snakes and now pangolins.We will see if this is true.

They are not recovering quickly:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

I do wonder if there is more than one strain infecting people in China and overseas? I initially thought the overall statistics suggest that maybe those who are in the severe range or whom have died have weak or undeveloped immune systems (the very old and very young). But there seems to be a lot of young healthy people getting infected?

Hubei province in China reported 81 deaths Saturday, which pushed the death toll for the virus to 811 -- past that of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which broke out on the mainland in 2002 and 2003.

The SARS outbreak killed at least 774, with 8,096 infections globally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The coronavirus, by comparison, has already infected at least 37,198 and has taken the lives of at least 811 people on China's mainland, as of Saturday night.

Source: Coronavirus deaths surpass SARS fatalities; at least 811 have died

Beijing locked down (in some form). South Korea's Gwangjiu 21st Century Hospital sealed off. Both Singapore and Hong Kong out of control. Several asymptomatic infection cases confirmed outside China. Given all the past experience on SARS, and we still see all these things happen. I'd say it's hard to keep optimism. The overall containment strategy is only partially successful. I'd say the overall picture is: we have been successful in delaying the arrival of the virus, but have not been successful in preventing it. In another week we'll know whether we'll need Plan B.

Apparently an infected person can transmit the disease up to...several hundred meters away. That's hard to imagine.

Worst case scenario?

China's economy grinds to a halt. Factories are shutting down completely.
The global economy takes a hit or worse, there is a global recession or even a depression.
Countries close their borders and seal themselves off.
Schools close or at least many parents refuse to send their kids to school for an indefinite period of time.
People stop going into work (a contributing factor to economic collapse).

The actual morbidity and mortality of the virus is one thing. Panic about the disease is a real issue and can take a toll on societies even more than the disease itself.

I've had influenza twice in my life and the last time it was tested to be of the H1N1 variety. I was around 40 years old at the time and it was terrible. I understood after having it how the weak or immune compromised could die from it.

The Coronavirus does not appear to be 'no big deal' or something not to be gravely concerned about.

Typically a virus weakens but doesn't kill its host. If killed everyone the virus would also die.

Problem is, when a virus jumps from one species to another, you can throw all the rules out the window.
This is why this one is such a concern, it jumped species so we don't know exactly what will happen.

Logically, people who are weak may be more vulnerable. But, strong people can also die if the the virus triggers a response that can't be turned off. You can have a virus that is more deadly to people with strong immune systems.

So this started from people eating bats and armadillos?

^ Presumably from something like that. The danger of having so much limitless information on the internet is not knowing what is fact or fiction. Case in point, I read something this weekend in which the virus' DNA was analyzed and some "marker" or part of the DNA seemed to be modified or allegedly according to those studying it, had to have been created or altered in a lab and couldn't have occurred naturally that way.

Most likely the bats are an intermediate host between the Pangolin and humans. Although not sure how a Bat catches a vrus from a Pangolin?

But no mystery on how viruses spread from bats though...

Trauma generally is manifest when an individual feels great fear and panic about something they cannot control. They are lost in a sea of uncertainty.

This year I took my wife on a cruise around Hawaii. It was a dream she has always had to visit Hawaii, so I made that dream come true. It was a good experience.

But in the present world, less than 6 months later, being on a cruise can be a trip to HELL. The coronavirus has made the difference.

There is a cruise ship called the Diamond Princess that is docked at a Yokohama port in Japan. People are trapped inside unable to leave because the ship is quarantined. The passengers have been confined on the ship for six days with limited outdoor activities. The ship is "host to the highest concentration of the coronavirus cases outside China." The report said 2,600 passengers have been holed up in their cabins, and some have spoken about their anxiety.

"My whole thing is just to stay calm, because no matter what, I’m here. But every day it’s anxiety-provoking when we see the ambulances line up on the side of the ship".

130 of the passengers are infected with the coronavirus and their total numbers increase daily.

Still not ONE confirmed case in NYC. NYC has a massive Chinese population going to/from China on a regular basis.

And the amount of new cases in Wuhan has declined for the first time.

Obviously, we should be vigilant----but I believe we might be "turning a corner."

A couple of hospitals were built in Wuhan over a period of 10 days. Not MASH units---but actual full-scale hospitals.

That's not the general feeling from the experts in the field. We are not turning a corner. We are losing a battle.

This is from Dr. Tom Frieden, ex-Director of CDC. https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/08/health/coronavirus-hospital-infections-frieden/index.html

... The next few days and weeks will determine:
- If sustained transmission begins in other countries, which unfortunately seems likely.
- If it does, whether it can be contained, which unfortunately seems unlikely.
- How severe the illness is among those who are infected, which we still don't know.

Not time to call for plan B, yet. But we will know in another week. Yes, there is a plan B, and it's not pretty. We are not talking about China. We are talking about the US. And please do notice: we have half a million homeless people here.

We'll see what happens.

Death toll in China exceeds 1000 and rising

I can't help but wonder if it's actually 10 times or even 100 times higher than that. Hopefully not, but how can we really know?