Coronavirus - Overall
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I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. This contagion coming from Wuhan in China looks bleak. Massive quarantine, but people have gotten out. Bat soup, ffs.
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I think it's early days. However this does meet a couple of the WHO's criteria for major pandemic - Central China at a time of major travel
There are reports that it is mutating fast but i hope that's just panic - of which there seems to be a shit load.
Ironically hysteria like this seems to make people less likely to report sickness as they are worried they'll be locked up and what will happen to their dependants. Also people start to think If the cities in lock down it must be serious I'd better get out. This is what happened with both SARS and ebola.
We supply critical services to hospital A&E's so we have warmed up our Pandemic Action Plan and ordered in masks, gloves, disinfectants and sterilising gels incase there is a rush on these items and it does go worst case. We also have a plan for remote working and social distancing.
This isn't meant to be alarmist it's preparing for a worst case scenario and is something we've been through at least twice before. All that's happened previously is staff got free bottles of hand gel.
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Seen a few vids of folk passing out on the street before being taken away by folk in hazmat suits...thats kinda scary.
Mixed feelings about this happening in China...on the one hand there is a Chernobylic feeling of government incompetence which might be at play..then on the other hand the quarantine folk arent going to be worrying too much about human rights in getting their job done.
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Was in pharmacy in Whangarei today, the lady was on the phone trying to order more face masks as they'd been cleaned out. None to be found in the country - LOL at panic buying prats.
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@Rembrandt said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Seen a few vids of folk passing out on the street before being taken away by folk in hazmat suits...thats kinda scary.
Mixed feelings about this happening in China...on the one hand there is a Chernobylic feeling of government incompetence which might be at play..then on the other hand the quarantine folk arent going to be worrying too much about human rights in getting their job done.
Basing that on anything except a bit of casual racism?
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@mariner4life said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@Rembrandt said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Seen a few vids of folk passing out on the street before being taken away by folk in hazmat suits...thats kinda scary.
Mixed feelings about this happening in China...on the one hand there is a Chernobylic feeling of government incompetence which might be at play..then on the other hand the quarantine folk arent going to be worrying too much about human rights in getting their job done.
Basing that on anything except a bit of casual racism?
Evidence of communist government incompetence and appalling human rights record in China? You serious here?
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The good news is if it's as contagious as normal seasonal influenza, it's unlikely to be as virulent as ebola. I've lived through a few of these now and I'm happy to state every time there's a benefit to being reasonably healthy in a first world country.
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@antipodean said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
The good news is if it's as contagious as normal seasonal influenza, it's unlikely to be as virulent as ebola. I've lived through a few of these now and I'm happy to state every time there's a benefit to being reasonably healthy in a first world country.
Big pharma and makers of medical masks and gloves love this stuff
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@canefan said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@antipodean said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
The good news is if it's as contagious as normal seasonal influenza, it's unlikely to be as virulent as ebola. I've lived through a few of these now and I'm happy to state every time there's a benefit to being reasonably healthy in a first world country.
Big pharma and makers of medical masks and gloves love this stuff
ably assisted by a complicit media that needs something to panic about
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@antipodean said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@canefan said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@antipodean said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
The good news is if it's as contagious as normal seasonal influenza, it's unlikely to be as virulent as ebola. I've lived through a few of these now and I'm happy to state every time there's a benefit to being reasonably healthy in a first world country.
Big pharma and makers of medical masks and gloves love this stuff
ably assisted by a complicit media that needs something to panic about
Good news simply doesn't sell as well as bad news
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@antipodean said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
The good news is if it's as contagious as normal seasonal influenza, it's unlikely to be as virulent as ebola. I've lived through a few of these now and I'm happy to state every time there's a benefit to being reasonably healthy in a first world country.
The last one of these [I think it was swine flu] meant that my mates work told him to stay home on full pay for three weeks to make sure he wasn't carrying it when he came back from overseas. He went fishing every calm day and watched rugby when it was too windy to go out and got paid for it, prick.
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Amazing how decent we look when not facing that aussie attack!
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@canefan said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Amazing how decent we look when not facing that aussie attack!
indeed....
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@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@canefan said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Amazing how decent we look when not facing that aussie attack!
indeed....
Oops wrong thread.....
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@canefan said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Amazing how decent we look when not facing that aussie attack!
Wait, did the Aussie weaponize a virus to decimate our team before the Sydney test?
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@TeWaio said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@canefan said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Amazing how decent we look when not facing that aussie attack!
Wait, did the Aussie weaponize a virus to decimate our team before the Sydney test?
The eyeball test would suggest so. Looks like the Indians contracted the same virus. Unfortunately at least in the early overs it appears they have also recovered
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I found this comment and responses - most amusing, I say:
"I doubt any exchange visit with 200 students from Wuhan to NZ will now go ahead given the rising apprehensions – will be interesting to see how Your Duchess Jacinda Kardashian handles this one."
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Hug each and every one of the 200?
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Wearing a cheongsam?
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Big disinfection campaigns in China, and everyone firmly encouraged to wear masks in public.
Government has responded pretty quickly to this, and the message is prevalent in wealthy cities at least. Chinese healthcare system is not at the level of advanced nations, and some regions are under-administrated, but they can respond quickly and forcefully if motivated.
This doesn't look to me to be particularly worrisome. I read something recently about it having the same glycoprotein binding domains as SARS, which made that infection difficult to transfer. I would need to double check that, and review the recent literature, to say anything with confidence though.
Would be great if people stopped eating things like bats though!
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Probably the best news source is Nature News:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00166-6
WHO website is a good info source too:
Initial estimates of R0, the ratio of cases generated per infected person, seem to be lower than for SARS as well. Public health campaigns in SARS may have reduced this to < 1. i.e. stopped it effectively spreading.
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To put this into perspective, the 2009 swine flu (H1N1) killed an estimated 151,000-579,000 people, whereas SARS had 774 reported deaths.
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@Tim said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Big disinfection campaigns in China, and everyone firmly encouraged to wear masks in public.
Government has responded pretty quickly to this, and the message is prevalent in wealthy cities at least. Chinese healthcare system is not at the level of advanced nations, and some regions are under-administrated, but they can respond quickly and forcefully if motivated.
This doesn't look to me to be particularly worrisome. I read something recently about it having the same glycoprotein binding domains as SARS, which made that infection difficult to transfer. I would need to double check that, and review the recent literature, to say anything with confidence though.
Would be great if people stopped eating things like bats though!
The filthy things carry all kinds of diseases and the Chinese cook them whole . They are a source of a type of Ebola in China too https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00022-2
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@Tim said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Would be great if people stopped eating things like bats though!
Absolutely.
There is supposed to be a Cantonese saying "if something's back is facing the sky, it is for people to eat". Not sure whether it is true or not, or whether bats fit that category.SARS was civet cats. It was a bit scary, mainly because when you arrived at the airport, they checked your temperature, if it was high you could end up in a SARS ward - where you would catch SARS. Then they would give you Tamiflu, which won't help with SARS but will give you kidney failure.
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@Snowy If it's any consolation, I'm developing the first real high throughput screening assay for viral protease and neuraminidase inhibitors (e.g. tamiflu). See you in 15 years with a product. (less than 10% chance)
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@Snowy said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@Tim said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Would be great if people stopped eating things like bats though!
Absolutely.
There is supposed to be a Cantonese saying "if something's back is facing the sky, it is for people to eat". Not sure whether it is true or not, or whether bats fit that category.SARS was civet cats. It was a bit scary, mainly because when you arrived at the airport, they checked your temperature, if it was high you could end up in a SARS ward - where you would catch SARS. Then they would give you Tamiflu, which won't help with SARS but will give you kidney failure.
I bought a can of this at the time because people didn't believe me when I said it was for sale, surprisingly it wasn't exactly flying off the shelves.
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@Tim Well we missed our Christmas beer at the Tahi bar, so should arrange to have a Golden Circle SARS in 15 years time? Less than 10% chance of course.
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@Snowy I'll try not to be jetlagged then!
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@Tim said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Big disinfection campaigns in China, and everyone firmly encouraged to wear masks in public.
Government has responded pretty quickly to this, and the message is prevalent in wealthy cities at least. Chinese healthcare system is not at the level of advanced nations, and some regions are under-administrated, but they can respond quickly and forcefully if motivated.
This doesn't look to me to be particularly worrisome. I read something recently about it having the same glycoprotein binding domains as SARS, which made that infection difficult to transfer. I would need to double check that, and review the recent literature, to say anything with confidence though.
Would be great if people stopped eating things like bats though!
The Chinese Government is building a new hospital just to deal with this issue. It'll be completed on Feb 3.
Fuck they get shit done when they want to.
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@mariner4life said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@Tim said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Big disinfection campaigns in China, and everyone firmly encouraged to wear masks in public.
Government has responded pretty quickly to this, and the message is prevalent in wealthy cities at least. Chinese healthcare system is not at the level of advanced nations, and some regions are under-administrated, but they can respond quickly and forcefully if motivated.
This doesn't look to me to be particularly worrisome. I read something recently about it having the same glycoprotein binding domains as SARS, which made that infection difficult to transfer. I would need to double check that, and review the recent literature, to say anything with confidence though.
Would be great if people stopped eating things like bats though!
The Chinese Government is building a new hospital just to deal with this issue. It'll be completed on Feb 3.
Fuck they get shit done when they want to.
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@mariner4life said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
The Chinese Government is building a new hospital just to deal with this issue. It'll be completed on Feb 3.
Fuck they get shit done when they want to.
This.
Visiting some of the sights/touristy-shit in China, it's not so much just the thing itself which is awesome, but thinking... “some fluffybunny thought this up, AND had the will/power/mandate/manpower to actually DO it. WTF?”
Great Wall & Terracotta Warriors especially, but more recently Three Gorges Dam. -
@Tim said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@Snowy If it's any consolation, I'm developing the first real high throughput screening assay for viral protease and neuraminidase inhibitors (e.g. tamiflu). See you in 15 years with a product. (less than 10% chance)
to quote Dave Warner
SPEAK ENGLISH
seriously, what does that mean for a layman?
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@nzzp said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@Tim said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
@Snowy If it's any consolation, I'm developing the first real high throughput screening assay for viral protease and neuraminidase inhibitors (e.g. tamiflu). See you in 15 years with a product. (less than 10% chance)
to quote Dave Warner
SPEAK ENGLISH
seriously, what does that mean for a layman?
I believe that @Tim is working on an attempt to produce a mass produced solution for the avoidance of certain types of viruses.
How did I do? Both of you.
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Or "medicine" might have worked too.
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@Snowy said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Or "medicine" might have worked too.
Ah! Essential oils!
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Coronavirus has appeared in 'straya!
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Got two mates in China currently. One I think is in Zhenjiang, she reckons the Chinese government are massively underplaying it..while the western media is massively overplaying it. The other is in Shenzhen where there have been some cases, haven't heard back from him yet, he's picked a hell of a time to introduce his Australian bride to his family.
Flying to NZ tomorrow. Should be a paranoia filled flight if we have someone coughing through it.
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@nzzp said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Ah! Essential oils!
If you like.
Knowing @tim it is likely to be slightly less "hippy" and a little more scientific, but yeah why not.
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@Rembrandt you might want to practice breathing through your ears
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Next time anyone wonders why science research should be better funded think of this
Amazing
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@Rembrandt said in Coronavirus: should I be panicking yet?:
Flying to NZ tomorrow. Should be a paranoia filled flight if we have someone coughing through it.
I read on BBC and NYT sites today that carriers are passing on the virus with zero symptoms. People could have it and have no idea, certainly for several days at least.
And if anybody can explain this twitter thread to me, I’d appreciate it...
