Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Grey Fox]

HIV, swine flu, avian flu?

ebola laughs contemptuously at those other diseases. ebola will end civilization as we know it. it is the true uber disease (that means it is to humanity what uber is to taxi drivers)

There's a vaccine 

[HisMajestyBOB]

HIV, swine flu, avian flu?

ebola laughs contemptuously at those other diseases. ebola will end civilization as we know it. it is the true uber disease (that means it is to humanity what uber is to taxi drivers)

Ebola is only kept afloat by venture capital money?

[Sheilbh]

Apparently interestingly different stories going on the two Reddits.

From my understanding, r/Sina is pro-CCP and r/China is more cynical.

[jimmy olsen]

Otherwise it would seem to be a huge over reaction by Bejing.

I would be interested to hear why you think so.

China just quarantined 20 million people because 200 persons died from a Virus.

17 people known dead out of 570 infected.  Which is a bad ratio if this goes on to infect hundreds of millions Spanish Flu style, but unless the authorities know more than they're saying, it seems premature to quarantine 20 million people.

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk-WVXVm-9k

Possible case in Texas.  Student at Texas A&M from Wuhan.

[jimmy olsen]

People just dropping in the streets

https://www.thepostmillennial.com/wuhan-residents-dropping-in-streets-after-city-is-quarantined/

Numbers rise - 830 infected, 25 dead (3% fatality rate, which would be bad if it spread out of control)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2020/jan/23/coronavirus-china-virus-flu-scotland-testing-wuhan-live-news-updates

[mongers]

I know it's too early to calculate a realistic death rate for this virus, but not to go all Timmay on it but:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51230011

On Friday, Chinese authorities said the death toll had risen to 25, with 830 confirmed cases.

Of the confirmed cases, 177 were in a serious condition and 34 have been "cured and discharged", the National Health Commission said. There are also 1,072 suspected cases, it added.

I'm guessing this is sloppy or poor numeracy from journalist, but that suggests of the 855 confirmed cases, 25 have died, 177 could go either way and only 34 have recovered so far?

But also 619 have it but it's not serious yet or at all?

[Richard Hakluyt]

Ebola is too lethal to be a global threat, it permits tough measures and tends to burn itself out. Paradoxically it may become more dangerous as it becomes less lethal.

This new virus is a far greater threat imo. The early stages look like any standard cold or flu virus, the mortality rate is relatively low, it seems it can spread via dirty doorknobs and so on. If it becomes a global epidemic then we could see a large number of deaths.

We shall see.

.......well, most of us 

[jimmy olsen]

I know it's too early to calculate a realistic death rate for this virus, but not to go all Timmay on it but:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51230011

On Friday, Chinese authorities said the death toll had risen to 25, with 830 confirmed cases.

Of the confirmed cases, 177 were in a serious condition and 34 have been "cured and discharged", the National Health Commission said. There are also 1,072 suspected cases, it added.

I'm guessing this is sloppy or poor numeracy from journalist, but that suggests of the 855 confirmed cases, 25 have died, 177 could go either way and only 34 have recovered so far?

But also 619 have it but it's not serious yet or at all?

That would seem a normal distribution from a bad flu. Most people aren't going to be seriously ill.

[jimmy olsen]

41 million quarantined!

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1220623209940185088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1220623209940185088&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums.somethingawful.com%2Fshowthread.php%3Fnoseen%3D0%26threadid%3D3912152%26perpage%3D40%26pagenumber%3D2%23pti19

[Legbiter]

Ebola is too lethal to be a global threat, it permits tough measures and tends to burn itself out. Paradoxically it may become more dangerous as it becomes less lethal.

This new virus is a far greater threat imo. The early stages look like any standard cold or flu virus, the mortality rate is relatively low, it seems it can spread via dirty doorknobs and so on. If it becomes a global epidemic then we could see a large number of deaths.

We shall see.

.......well, most of us 

Yeah the Chinese are right to be paranoid. The rate of infection is now roughly known. It's quite similar to the Spanish Flu.

We now know this is not a virus that will burn out on its own and disappear.

Only the decisions being made in China - including shutting down cities - can stop it spreading.

Scientists have revealed each infected person is passing the virus onto between 1.4 and 2.5 people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51230011

[viper37]

Rat or crocodile: the strange chinese market at the heart of the virus

  The Chinese market considered to be the epicenter of the new coronavirus was a kind of menagerie where strange species coexisted, such as the famous civet that caused the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003.
  The new virus, which has infected more than 500 people and killed 17 patients, appears to originate from the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, a metropolis of 11 million people in the heart of China.
  As its name does not indicate, the market sold many other species than seafood, according to an advertising brochure and a survey by a Chinese media.
  The site was closed last month as soon as the first cases of illness were discovered by market traders.
  Illegal wildlife sales were taking place there, the director of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, admitted on Wednesday, without being able to say whether game was indeed the cause of the epidemic.
  Bis repetita?  The Sras epidemic, which had killed nearly 650 people in China in the early 2000s, started with the civet, a small mammal close to the marten that was commonly found in the markets of Canton (south).

[mongers]

Stable door can you still smell the horse?

China coronavirus: UK tracing up to 2,000 Wuhan visitors

Officials are attempting to trace as many as 2,000 visitors who have flown in to the UK from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the new strain of coronavirus first broke out.

Tests on 14 people in the UK have come back negative, Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty said.

Prof Whitty said there is a "fair chance" Britain will see cases of the new virus, which has killed 26 people.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the risk to the public "remains low".

It came after Public Health England said that, while cases of the new virus in the UK are "highly likely", most of those affected abroad by the virus were making a good recovery.
......

Full item here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51232163

[Sheilbh]

Given the reaction it definitely feels like this started some time before.

[mongers]

Three confirmed cases in France, two in Paris one in Bordeaux; I think unconnected, one of them hospitalised.

No news of any confirmed UK cases.