Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[merithyn]

I'm aware.

[The Larch]

Yup, finally moving to phase 1! Can't wait to see my family in the flesh.

I'm trying to restart my boardgaming group, but one of my friends wants to wait to a bit (his mother already had a bout with pneumonia years ago, and barely made it), so for now we'll stick to tabletopia.

I'm reading in a paper that movement between the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area is not yet allowed, despite the whole province being in Phase 1 from monday. I was not aware of those restrictions, what's their deal?

[Sheilbh]

I said what I said.

Would love to go to Galicia in fairness. Haven't been to that bit of Spain yet.

Any particular motivation to visit Asturias?

No. I've just been before and liked it a lot.

Edit: And on Cummings the new Downing Street statement is nothing like a denial  and very legalistic:

Yesterday the Mirror and Guardian wrote inaccurate stories about Mr Cummings. Today they are writing more inaccurate stories including claims that Mr Cummings returned to Durham after returning to work in Downing Street on 14 April. We will not waste our time answering a stream of false allegations about Mr Cummings from campaigning newspapers.

Nowhere near a denial.

Edit: Downing Street's earlier statement said at no time was Cummings spoken to by the police. The police have now put out a public statement saying they did speak to him about this.

[Sheilbh]

So this is interesting and seems really weird:

Coronavirus: Immune clue sparks treatment hope
By Victoria Gill & Rachael Buchanan BBC News
    22 May 2020


UK scientists are to begin testing a treatment that it is hoped could counter the effects of Covid-19 in the most seriously ill patients.

It has been found those with the most severe form of the disease have extremely low numbers of an immune cell called a T-cell.

T-cells clear infection from the body.

The clinical trial will evaluate if a drug called interleukin 7, known to boost T-cell numbers, can aid patients' recovery.

It involves scientists from the Francis Crick Institute, King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital.

They have looked at immune cells in the blood of 60 Covid-19 patients and found an apparent crash in the numbers of T-cells.

Prof Adrian Hayday from the Crick Institute said it was a "great surprise" to see what was happening with the immune cells.

"They're trying to protect us, but the virus seems to be doing something that's pulling the rug from under them, because their numbers have declined dramatically.

In a microlitre (0.001ml) drop of blood, normal healthy adults have between 2,000 and 4,000 T-cells, also called T lymphocytes.

The Covid patients the team tested had between 200-1,200.

'Extremely encouraging'

The researchers say these findings pave the way for them to develop a "fingerprint test" to check the levels of T-cells in the blood which could provide early indications of who might go on to develop more severe disease.

But it also provides the possibility for a specific treatment to reverse that immune cell decline.

Manu Shankar-Hari, a critical care consultant at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, said that around 70% of patients that he sees in intensive care with Covid-19 arrive with between 400-800 lymphocytes per microlitre. "When they start to recover, their lymphocyte level also starts to go back up," he added.

Interleukin 7 has already been tested in a small group of patients with sepsis and proved to safely increase the production of these specific cells.

In this trial, it will be given to patients with a low lymphocyte count who have been in critical care for more than three days.

Mr Shankar-Hari said: "We are hoping that [when we increase the cell count] the viral infections gets cleared.

"As a critical care physician, I look after patients who are extremely unwell and, other than supportive care, we do not have any direct active treatment against the disease.

"So a treatment like this coming along for in the context of a clinical trial is extremely encouraging for critical care physicians across the UK."

This research has also provided insight into the specific ways in which this disease interacts with the immune system, which Prof Hayday says will be vital as scientists around the world look for clinically valuable information.

"The virus that has caused this completely Earth-changing emergency is unique - it's different. It is something unprecedented."

"The exact reason for this disruption - the spanner in the works of the T-cell system - is not at all clear to us.

"This virus is really doing something distinct and future research - which we will start immediately - needs to find out the mechanism by which this virus is having these effects."

[katmai]

Welp the Alaska State fair cancelled today. First time since 1942 no fair. My august calendar is wide open.

Can I come visit then?

14 day Self isolation  quarantine is still in effect. So be pretty boring trip.

In August?? 

no idea, currently Still applicable as of now.

[Syt]

[Threviel]

Swedish Department of social services has done some calculations. Apparently about 11,000 have died so far this year of all causes, compare to about 10,000 a normal year. They compared it to just a bit worse than a normal flu season.

[Josquius]

Swedish Department of social services has done some calculations. Apparently about 11,000 have died so far this year of all causes, compare to about 10,000 a normal year. They compared it to just a bit worse than a normal flu season.

That doesn't square with the general news from Sweden at all.

[The Brain]

Swedish Department of social services has done some calculations. Apparently about 11,000 have died so far this year of all causes, compare to about 10,000 a normal year. They compared it to just a bit worse than a normal flu season.

That doesn't square with the general news from Sweden at all.

What are the general news coming from Sweden?

[Richard Hakluyt]

Swedish Department of social services has done some calculations. Apparently about 11,000 have died so far this year of all causes, compare to about 10,000 a normal year. They compared it to just a bit worse than a normal flu season.

Both those numbers are too low if we are talking about Jan-May 2020; they must be using a shorter timespan.

[Zoupa]

Spain will open borders for foreign tourism in July.

Probably not to Americans.

[celedhring]

Spanish far right organized an anti-lockdown demo yesterday in several Spanish cities. It left quite a few choice pictures.

My favorite (it's a twitter video)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1264301077744287746

[Threviel]

Swedish Department of social services has done some calculations. Apparently about 11,000 have died so far this year of all causes, compare to about 10,000 a normal year. They compared it to just a bit worse than a normal flu season.

Both those numbers are too low if we are talking about Jan-May 2020; they must be using a shorter timespan.

I can't seem to find the article again, I read it a few days ago. IIRC the numbers don't square with my calculations a while back.

[Syt]

The minister president of Thuringia has announced that his state will end all Corona rules effective June 6th and instead consider them recommendations. He said he trusts in the "responsible solidarity" of the people.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah I think the FT excess mortality tracker has Sweden up by about a third over average.

Feels like it's only a matter of time before Cummings goes. Loads of Tory MPs of all types popping up and saying he needs to go. Grant Shapps was the only cabinet minister on the morning shows to defend the government on this, which is definitely the B team. And, interestingly, the most prominent cabinet minister who's not abased themselves issuing a statement/tweeting a defence is Priti Patel who has not said a word about this.