Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

Post Reply New Topic

.. sorry but could not resist being punny with this: Simple answer? stop drinking Corona beer ? or chinese fish?

It is overhyped. Be more worried about the flu...

If I am going to be afraid of this virus I should be considerably more afraid to get into a car.

You should be a lot more concerned over having to drive in the rain a lot. And seagulls crapping on you. And all the vampires.

You are totally correct, Ezra... you're more at risk every time you get in a car.
...
PS... And I agree about the vampires.

It's the end of the world as we know it... again.

In all seriousness, in a week or two it will be old news. It always is.

I still think that we live in a relatively safe bubble with regards to major disease outbreaks stands though.

New York, with a huge Chinese population, hasn't had ONE confirmed case of the coronavirus yet.

Still not ONE confirmed case in NYC.
...
Obviously, we should be vigilant----but I believe we might be "turning a corner."

We'll see what happens.

I believe China was trying to evade the coronavirus at the start-----but I also believe they were "caught" pretty early.

Unless you’ve come in contact with a person who has been in China recently , it’s extremely unlikely that your cold and flu would be caused by the Wuhan Coronavirus.

Not one case of this strain has been confirmed in NYC, which has FIVE Chinatowns.
...
I believe a corner has been turned.

Not exactly a global pandemic. We took the proper precautions, I believe.

There still has not been a confirmed case in New York City.

And we have five Chinatowns, and people who have (until recently) traveled to and from China on a regular basis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost about 7% over the past three days---most of the loss occurred on February 24th and 25th.

Following in the footsteps of San Diego County and the city of San Francisco, Orange County (California) officials today declared a local health emergency in response to the coronavirus.
...
There has only been one confirmed case of the virus in Orange County.

Like I said the media is probably making it seem worse then it is. ...

That does indeed look worse.

Not exactly a global pandemic. We took the proper precautions, I believe.

A group of us came back from an extended trip to the far east yesterday. There was no screening for Corovirus-19 (i.e., "Corona Virus", "Snake Virus", "Wuhan Virus", et cetera) at Los Angeles International Airport (e.g., "LAX") -- no infrared cameras, no remote temperature sensors, no thermometers of any kind, and no questions regarding where we had been, with whom we had been in contact, and how we were feeling.
...
There is a great disparity between the Media hype of this virus and the actual precautions being taken.

Yes ... let's wait a while before we encourage people to panic.

How about we just blame some past U.S. president and be done with it?

The cervezavirus gave us all immunity.

Are we all dead yet?

Like how they had functioning economies when they locked down entire cities during what where still much worse epidemics.
...
But as I said we are probably still far removed from this becoming a new Great Plague. And the media is most likely just hyping things in order to boost viewership/sells.

I still have a few of the Swine Flu emergency kits they gave us a few years ago. We got those along with an instruction pack on surviving the Outbreak. We did...but at what cost?

Wait it out. It's not something anyone would want to catch, but the media has a bad habit of turning everything into an Extinction Event. I place more faith in modern medicine than I do the media.

I don't find that there is reason to panic with this outbreak.

So some anonymous gray-haired white guy is telling me it's time to panic ... big, fat, hairy deal.

Nope ... sorry ... not panicked yet ... keep trying ...

Sure, and I am not trying to diminish the threat, I'm just trying to point out that there is no need for panic -- caution, yes, but not panic.

While prudence is sensible, the hysteria seems to be extreme at the moment.

There is a difference between prudence and panic.

I am sure most people are at least a little on edge about it.

People are being vigilant about the Coronavirus.

Actually, in my opinion, I didn’t see the mockery. Mostly, I saw an appeal for calm. Hysteria tends to get us nowhere.

I've been prepared for loss of loved ones. There's no stopping it. I've lost my faith in humanity years ago. The corrupt have too much power, money, and say. I don't care what happens. For many of us who die, I hope those who are corrupt go down with us.

I have had a lifelong respiratory issue that has nearly claimed my life a few times to the point where I had to be resuscitated once. So there is probably a good chance this virus would kill me.

Which might be the reason why I have the attitude I do which got elk on a bridge jumping down my throat.

I think my attitude has been to my advantage in the face of adversity though.

Pneumonia is a big risk to me.

The why I look at it, it is like defensive driving. If someone is a driver with common sense, they will wear a seat belt, keep their hands at 10 & 2 on the steering wheel and keep scanning the road and traffic as they are driving. That does not mean that they are worried they are going to die every day they drive back and forth to work. It just means they are being sensible. Of course one does need a certain amount of healthy fear while driving and not become careless.

If you are frighted I am sorry. But do not take it out on others please.

I'm 63. I'll no doubt catch the virus , and die soon.

Just wash your hands, stay out of crowded places, and don't touch your face. You'll be fine.

You have all been duped by the Media into believing that the Wuhan virus is more deadly than any other virus. It isn't. So go ahead and wear your masks, use your hand-sanitizers, and "elbow-bump" people instead of shaking their hands. You will look no more silly than any hypochondriac out there.

I have a small bottle of hand sanitizer with me whenever I am out and use it frequently this time of year.

Condensed version of a blog I read somewhere:

Prevention

These are things we can do to reduce our risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (there is no cure in sight).
...
• Wash your hands for 20 seconds & more frequently than you do now Soap and water and then dry, or an alcohol-based hand rub, and air dry
...
Below we list things we'll need to have in case of a more major interruption to supply; a stock that will last 2 weeks.
...
• Alcohol-containing hand rub
...

I keep some hand-sanitizer at my desk and I use it whenever someone complains of having caught any kind of "bug".

Yes you have: me.

I do think the world is making such a big thing out of this. Yes it can be dangerous to the elderly or those with illnesses but so can about 500 other viruses and diseases that people die of every day. You can never be too careful.

People can make jokes and also view something as serious.

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

I definitely don't believe that it is/was a bioweapon/deliberately bioengineered for military use, but having done some more reading I'm also beginning to wonder if it really came from the market/the wild.

Apparently there is no significant local population of bats ( the animal that the virus genome indicates as most likely origin ), in Wuhan, for instance, contrary to what I had thought and the impression that is usually given/tends to be reported.

But apparently research on the coronavirus relies on travelling to rural areas with large local bat populations, because they tend to provide sizeable reservoirs of viruses to study, and bringing samples and animals back with them.

.... is it possible that the research lab in Wuhan, alone in the whole of China in having the premises and the license to carry out experiments on higher level/most dangerous or infectious diseases, and using relatively rare and/or wild animals for testing purposes, may have accidentally released this virus, via human error ( natural/inevitable ) or human cupidity ( eg the selling of dead laboratory animals/body parts for the large sums of money that certain rare parts fetch in China )?

*But* a named member of staff/worker at the Wuhan lab has sworn on their life that the lab is not responsible for the virus entering the general population. And the Chinese government has always stated that it came from the wet market.

On the other hand apparently the Chinese government recently, since the outbreak began, issued new directions and regulations to high level disease research labs, ( unnamed but there is only one in China which handles very dangerous ones, Wuhan ), to upgrade and tighten lab security protocols etc.

In the film Jurassic Park the owner and higher level officers could have sworn on their life that the escaped dinosaurs were not their responsibility, but it only took one dishonest disgruntled employee hoping to make money on the side to completely compromise the security systems.

https://www.thestreet.com/latest-news/w ... b-accident So, I am currently less certain that this virus came *directly* from "the wild".

Perhaps it was given a lift, an unnaturally rapid/almost instant transfer from relatively distant isolated rural/forest areas with low density populations to the inner city, via lab testing conditions/situations which, like the camp-hospitals during the Spanish flu in the last half of World War 1, may have inadvertently selected for the most active/adapted to survival in cities.

If this turned out to be true, that perfectly ordinary human error or cupidity caused the outbreak, then in theory, as you and ... commented above, the Chinese government might be held responsible for a a very big bill for costs worldwide arising from the outbreak, and would explain why it made such extraordinarily gigantic efforts to contain it.

But as far as I can see it wouldn't make any difference to how world governments approach it. Only perhaps aggravate the already horribly widespread racial hostility being shown to Asian people.

According to this article it appears that the virus had very probably already been circulating in Wuhan and the surrounding area, and even already abroad from as early as the beginning of October. But they still do not know who the true patient-zero was, nor where the virus came from.

https://sciencespeaksblog.org/2020/01/2 ... ypothesis/

It is an extraordinary coincidence that a new coronavirus pops up right next to the only laboratory in the whole of China which is licensed to experiment with level 4 infectious diseases eg coronaviruses, ( and apparently coronaviruses had escaped the previous lab three times before this, but been caught more quickly ), but it may be an accident.

Another strange headline in the news was:

Over China, coronavirus coincides with plummet in nitrogen dioxide



And they had satellite photos to prove it.

My mind went into cause/effect mode. Then it became obvious. Nitrogen dioxide is a major component of smog. If people don't drive and stay sheltered in their home, they will produce very little smog.

But nowhere in the article do they use the word "smog".

Time for a recap on the most salient contributions.

Sample joke.


No need to worry. Except when they do worry, they call themselves "prudent."






False prophets.





Now you see.
You mean pretty late, right?
Tell that to the community-spread cases in the US, now.

Unrepentant.

Yeah right.

Keeping up with your five Chinatowns.

What? What happened to the not-one-single-confirmed-case in the five Chinatowns in NYC?


Really? But I'll give credit to this person's self-correction.



Please reconcile between you two.




Diehard number one






Denying that the virus will have economic impact.


Does this guy have idea about the societal cost of the virus so far?


Media conspiracy again.


When describing others, these people use the word "panic", "hysteria". When describring themselves, these people use the words "caution", "prudence", "vigilant".











Talking about personally dying from the virus.





What? You are the one talking about dying. But hold on, you are not the only Dr.-Jekyll-Mr.-Hyde, wait until you read about the section about hand sanitizer below. This is so funny. You talk about how other people panic, and you are the one talking about dying.







Hand Sanitizers
So, sanitizer or no sanitizer?

So using hand-sanitizer means hypochondriac.

Ezra must be a hypochondriac, then.

Wait, are you recommending hand sanitizer, now? And surprise! I found this one thread:

https://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=374431&p=8192842&hilit=+sanitizer#p8192842

What? You keep a hand-sanitizer and use it? Hypochondriac! Hypocrite!

To panic or not to panic?


You don't sound like you are panicking. You sound prudent.



Why not joke?

There is a time for everything. This one had a bad timing. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/08/scaramucci-stephen-colbert/536901/

Finally, some wisdom.

That's a rational way of looking at thing, just like most participants in this thread. Yet, how come there are so many comments about media hype, so many people jumping out to say "no need to panic," when there are no people panicking? My best take is that Dr.-Jekyll-and-Mr.-Hyde is at play. Who exactly are panicking? Makes you wonder ...

Americans are basically more likely to suffer more than anybody in China or even in Europe, because the people are going to be going to work because they can't afford a sick day, people are going to send their kids to school because they can't afford a nanny and they can't take a sick day, people are going to lose their jobs because they're hospitalized for a week or two. Everything the government has refused to fix in the American health system is basically all going to come crashing down at once.

We shall see what hot spring days bring....

On the other hand apparently the Chinese government recently, since the outbreak began, issued new directions and regulations to high level disease research labs, ( unnamed but there is only one in China which handles very dangerous ones, Wuhan ), to upgrade and tighten lab security protocols etc.
But as far as I can see it wouldn't make any difference to how world governments approach it.