That is heartbreaking.
I think people are âfreaking outâ because this disease is in addition to the flu. We all know (more or less) the flu statistics and how it varies from year to year, and how the effectiveness of the vaccine also varies. Now it seems like we have something like âdouble fluâ since we have something extra to worry about. And no vaccine in sight.
Honestly, I keep thinking of that first US case and how the man, aged 35 or so, developed pneumonia on day 9 of symptoms. Iâm more than 20 years older than him, and I have asthma so it is very worrying. I donât want 9 or more days of symptoms of anything!
Things Iâd like to know: one, would the pneumonia vaccine be an effective measure to lower mortality? And two would antiviral medications also lower mortality?
No one knows at this point, but getting those answers would be helpful.
My brother is a double lung transplant recipient. I always get a little nervous for him when there is a bad respiratory virus going around.
Yes, I know some lung transplant recipients as well as many with chronic lung disease. Many are quite concerned with flus and other conditions known to worsen respiratory conditions.
Some work on this by Thai doctors has been widely reported âŠ
Did the pet owners arrange pet care when they left? Can it continue another week while they are locked out?
Corona virus seems to be far more contagious than anything. It is rapidly passing SARS stats. Even if the fatality/symptom is only as severe as as flu, one should be very cautious. I donât understand the cavalier attitude.
In addition to the experimenting with anti-virals in Thailand, I saw a story reporting that Chinese doctors have had some success with AIDs/flu drugs as well.
ETA: Hereâs another story on testing different drugs.
âHealth authorities say Chinese researchers are looking to see if three existing drugs can inhibit the novel coronavirus. The first â a Remdesivir â was originally developed for Ebola and will be tested on over 200 patients.The other two are Chloroquine and Rito Navir. Data is now being collected in clinical trial to test their effectiveness.â
Why next week? Shouldnât they be there or going now? And why we need an org like WHO at times like this because of the politics addressed in this piece.
My company plant in China closed for a week due to the virus. Not sure what the plan/point was, i thought itâs kind of odd, itâs not like things will change after a week.
I think the idea was to have workers home so they wouldnât spread any germs around. Lots of businesses were closed. The government shut many public places and even businesses like movie theaters. They also extended the holiday so kids were off from school for extra time. Workers would likely need to provide care for their children.
^^ Ah I see.
I didnât read all the pages, so this may have been mentioned. But our local Home Depot stores are out of face masks. Apparently a lot of people bought all the masks in the US to send home to their families.
I was flying to San Juan, PR last week, and the only people on the plane who were wearing masks were Asian-looking. Everyone else was just going about their business. I do not plan to stop or change my travel plans for this.
@doschicos when I got the flu a few years ago, it was a really weird experience. I was only sick for about 2 days. I was very, very sick those 2 days and went in to the urgent care to have it confirmed that I did indeed have the flu. Then I was a little achey for a few days but felt mostly fine after about 36-48 hours of sickness. Very, very different from the other times I had gotten the flu (especially H1N1).
At first I assumed it was reduced severity because of the flu shot but as I did some poking around, I found out that one of my meds - Abatacept (Orencia) - has actually been shown to reduce the duration and severity of the flu virus. Itâs not an anti-retroviral but rather interferes with t-cells. I donât see any more recent research - just a few small studies about a decade ago that were promising.
Anyway, if theyâre looking at AIDS/etc meds, I wonder if theyâll start looking at meds like Abatacept.
âWhy next week? Shouldnât they be there or going now?â
It is not like these experts are stationed in a firehouse waiting for the alarm to sound. These people are likely U professors, WHO employees, diagnostic industry experts, etc. Let me guess that in addition to assembling the team, team members need to be briefed on what has been known to date and a plan needs to be developed based on the current knowledge.
A fairly disgusting but pragmatic thought occurs to me: For those of us who have our own septic systems and who have relatively new septic systems, the systems now come with a filter that needs to be cleaned every six months. If you do not clean the filter it can cause the system to back up.
Those of us who have relatively new septic systems might want to clean the filter now. That way if someone in the family gets coronavirus but you donât, you will not have to touch the filter for another six months. At least for those living in the northeast, the good news is that we have uncharacteristically small amounts of snow sitting on the ground right now, which will make this possible for many of us.
It sounds like there is a relatively good chance that many of us will have an unpleasant illness to get through sometime in the next few months. I do have my face masks, lemons, honey, and rum ready for use when needed (not all of which will be used at the same time).
Not to mention that China is a sovereign country and WHO just canât parachute folks in without permission.
Of course but China and the WHO seem to be cooperating just fine.
Sure, people have jobs but you donât declare an International Emergency and then take time getting over there. People can still scramble if needed. Itâs done for other situations. I stand by my statement. Might be hard nosed but some situations call for it. Get a move on. China built a whole hospital and a half in the same timeframe.
Permission seems to be granted, even the Americans:
https://www.physiciansweekly.com/china-to-allow-in/
"China has agreed to allow U.S. health experts into the country as part of a World Health Organization (WHO) effort to help fight the fast-spreading coronavirus, even as it accused the United States on Monday of whipping up panic over the disease with travel restrictions and evacuations.
âChina has accepted the United Statesâ offer to incorporate a group of experts into a World Health Organization mission to China to learn more about and combat the virus,â White House spokesman Judd Deere said."
dos: your reference it date-lined today. In other words, China just gave permission, or did late Friday night or over the weekend. Arenât you asking for a lot to expect private medical personnel to be on the next flight out?
Expectation that WHO will probably declare this an pandemic. ^
For those of you with boarding school students ( I know some concern was expressed here and elsewhere). I would imagine this is the same tack other schools will take as the new travel restrictions seem to make this the only way, unless something changes before the more typical extended March breaks.
" Private boarding schools in Maine are reacting to the Coronavirus by not allowing Chinese students to travel back home for February break.
That decision came late last week after a conference call involving the 34 private boarding schools in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont."
"On Sunday the Global Times, which is part of state run media outlet the Peopleâs Daily, relayed a grim new government decree: burn all coronavirus corpses.
âBodies of #nCoV2019 victims should be cremated close by and immediately,â it announced in a tweet, citing the Commission. âBurials or the transfer of bodies is not allowed. Funerals not allowed to avoid spread of the virus.â"
This is just horrific: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51362772
A 16 year old with CP was basically abandoned when the dad was quarantined.