Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[crazy canuck]

@ Tamas

Some of the cases in Washington State appear to be communal transmission

Yeah which sorta' reinforces my point, as IIRC the virus appeared in the UK first.

I am thinking, for example a colleague of mine has the flu. They are fairly certain it is not this virus, because the friend they likely caught it from already got tested and came back negative. Regardless, friend called the helpline and they were told what symptoms to look out for but otherwise they won't be tested for coronavirus.

Which is fine obviously, but also doesn't it mean that people who develop symptoms that are not serious enough for hospitalisation AND who did not travel recently, will not be tested?

Well, not here.  People who have the symptoms but do not need hospitalization are being tested.  Just because they are not a serious case does not mean they will not infect someone who will be much more adversely affected (ie the elderly).

[Tamas]

Some Seattle lady trying to be responsible and having herself checked out. Makes it sound the US of A is fucked:

https://twitter.com/into_the_brush/status/1234685467682979840

[Valmy]

Our health care system works very hard to discourage people to seek care. If you go in because you have a concern, get tested, and find out nothing is wrong you might still be out lots of money. Combine that with the fact that our business climate really encourages people to work through illness and...

[garbon]

Our health care system works very hard to discourage people to seek care.

I think this bit could be said of healthcare systems in general. Well, at least the US and UK systems.

[Grey Fox]

Good Luck USA.

[Legbiter]

Edit: But I think more widely they are expecting the "contain" stage of the response will fail/end.

Big Kahoona here outright stated that would eventually become the goal. They're expecting 4-5 month duration of the pandemic with work focusing on flattening the curve of new infections so as not to swamp the health services.

[alfred russel]

Interesting story on Guardian - which I'm pleased to see happen quickly. The Advertising Standards Agency have banned two companies' adverts which were appearing on Amazon and newspaper sites. The ads were for face masks that the companies falsely claimed could prevent the spread of coronavirus. The ASA said they were "misleading, irresponsible and likely to cause fear without justifiable reason", hopefully there'll be some more enforcement against them too.

Also NHS Trusts have been told to step up their plans - so far it's being managed through specialist sites but it's anticipated this won't be enough.

It seems likely that they can prevent the spread of corona virus. From the CDC:

The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.
Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/transmission.html

[Eddie Teach]

Two cases confirmed in Metro ATL.

Fun.

[merithyn]

I've been told to go to the ER for testing. I have a cold with a dry cough and some mild chest tightness. Any other year, I'd drink some orange juice, double my allergy medicine,  and move on. Today, I'm told to go to the ER.

I called the ER to make sure I shouldn't go into some special door or something. After a 15 minute hold on the phone, a doctor got on and told me to just go see my regular doctor - who told me to go to the ER - since it would be a lot cheaper, less wait, and the ER won't test for COVID-19, anyway. I asked if it's a problem to be going to a regular doctor's office under the circumstances, and he said he didn't see why not.

Since my regular doc is apparently uneasy with my going in and the ER says there's no reason to go in, I'm going to Urgent Care.

The chances of me having it are slim to none. Nonetheless, this feels very slipshod to me.

[Grey Fox]

That's basically the experience of the person in Tamas twitter link.

[merithyn]

The part that got me was the doctor repeated time and again that cost was the big factor. It will be cheaper, do you know your copays and deductibles, it will cost considerably less,  etc.

If this really does turn pandemic, we're fucked. A third of the country will be bankrupted, and hospitals will lose money hand over first.

Talk about a test of our healthcare. Oy.

[Valmy]

Our health care system works very hard to discourage people to seek care.

I think this bit could be said of healthcare systems in general. Well, at least the US and UK systems.

Maybe true . I only have first hand knowledge of our system.

[merithyn]

Some Seattle lady trying to be responsible and having herself checked out. Makes it sound the US of A is fucked:

https://twitter.com/into_the_brush/status/1234685467682979840

This seems legit based on my experience. I'm asthmatic, which is why I was sent in by my doctor.

[Sheilbh]

Situation in Iran

Coronavirus: Iran steps up efforts as 23 MPs said to be infected
Plans to mobilise 300,000 soldiers and volunteers as number of cases passes 2,300
Jon Henley
@jonhenley
Tue 3 Mar 2020 17.58 GMT
First published on Tue 3 Mar 2020 14.09 GMT

About 8% of the Iranian parliament's MPs have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials have said, as the country announced plans to mobilise 300,000 soldiers and volunteers against the deadliest outbreak of the epidemic outside China.

While China, where the virus originated, expressed hopes it was winning its battle and the World Health Organization (WHO) said it could be contained, Iran's deputy speaker, Abdul Reza Misri, confirmed on Tuesday that 23 MPs had caught the illness.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, ordered its armed forces to assist health officials in combating the outbreak. "Whatever helps public health and prevents the spread of the disease is good and what helps to spread it is sin," he said.

The government announced a death toll of 77 and a total of 2,336 confirmed cases in Iran, 835 more than the previous total. Experts fear the country's high ratio of deaths to infections – about 3.3% – may mean the actual infection figure is far greater.

Two senior Iranian officials have already died from the virus and several more are infected. Semi-official news agencies on Tuesday reported that the head of the country's emergency medical services, Pirhossein Kolivand, was now also ill.

Speaking in Geneva, the WHO head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said about 3.4% of confirmed cases of the coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, had died, far above seasonal flu's fatality rate of under 1%.

But he said the virus could be contained. "To summarise, Covid-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, it causes more severe illness than flu, there are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics, and it can be contained," Ghebreyesus said.

Fast-spreading outbreaks in the Middle East, Europe and South Korea – where authorities declared "war" on the virus after 582 new cases took its total to more than 5,000, with 34 deaths – contrasted with the apparent optimism in Beijing.

Chinese officials said on Tuesday the count of new virus cases fell again to just 125, after a six-week low of 202 the previous day, although China remains by far the hardest-hit country, with 80,151 cases and 2,943 deaths.

China's ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, said the country was winning its fight against the virus. "We definitely believe that with the coming of spring we're not far from the coming of the victory of the final defeat of Covid-19," he said.

The country, which imposed draconian quarantines and travel restrictions to keep large swathes of the population indoors for weeks, now appears as concerned about the risk of importing infections as it is about new domestic cases.

It has confirmed 13 such cases so far, including eight Chinese nationals who worked at the same restaurant in the Lombardy region of Italy. Guangdong province and Shanghai said they would require all travellers, including Chinese nationals, coming from South Korea, Iran, Japan and Italy to be quarantined for two weeks.

Globally, the virus has now killed more than 3,100 people and infected more than 90,000 in more than 60 countries, even as a clear shift in the crisis emerges, with nine times as many cases now recorded outside China as inside.

The most serious outbreaks are in South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan, the WHO said. In the South Korean capital of Seoul, drive-through virus-testing centres began operating, with workers in white protective suits leaning into cars with mouth swabs, and troops were dispatched across the city to spray streets with disinfectant.

President Moon Jae-in said the country was now waging "war" on the virus and the government would inject $25bn (£19.5bn) into measures to contain it, as well as funding clinics and offering aid for small businesses.

In Italy, Europe's worst-affected country, the death toll rose to 79 and the total infection count rose to more than 2,500, officials said on Tuesday, adding it could take up to two weeks to know whether measures including quarantines in 11 northern towns were working.

While Italy has placed a number of towns in lockdown, most countries have stopped short of following China by imposing mass quarantines, instead it has discouraged large gatherings, delayed sporting events and banned arrivals from virus-hit nations.

In other developments on Tuesday:
    Morocco, Andorra, Armenia, Czech Republic, Iceland, Indonesia and Ukraine confirmed their first cases.
    Australia, which has 38 confirmed cases, said it would use a little-known biosecurity law to restrict the movements of people suspected of having the virus.
    In the US, which now has more than 100 cases, a man tested positive in New York state, bringing the total there to two. Six people have died in Washington state. An emergency funding bill to fund vaccine development and offer disaster loans to businesses is in preparation.
    Japan's Olympics minister said the country was making "the utmost effort" to proceed with the planned opening on 24 July in Tokyo, but added the games could be delayed to later in the year if needed.
    Pakistan reported a new case, bringing its total to five since last week, while neighbouring India reported three more cases, including an Italian national.
    Germany's confirmed cases rose to 188 on Tuesday from 157 on Monday afternoon; the Leipzig book fair was cancelled.
    The Swiss army confined all its soldiers to barracks after a case was discovered in their ranks.
    French health authorities reported a fourth death on Tuesday, after 191 confirmed cases, and the president, Emmanuel Macron, announced the requisitioning of all face mask stocks and future production.
    Spain's confirmed cases rose to about 150 from around 120, while the number of cases in Sweden rose to 24 from 15.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7 group of leading western nations pledged after a conference call on Tuesday to use "all appropriate policy tools" to maintain growth as fallout from the epidemic continued to hit economies around the world.

[Admiral Yi]

It would be a delicious irony if it only hit men in Iran and women were protected by their religiously mandated Hazmat suits.