Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Valmy]

Specifically about the churches though-- just move to online services.

Yeah I have been doing that for the past month or so. It has been kind of weird.

Easter at home is going to be lame

[Legbiter]

A friend of mine that works in pharma tells me that the fact there's no vaccines for human coronavirus is due to lack of incentive. Common colds don't merit the investment, and SARS died out quickly, but they believe a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 should be feasible. Also coronavirii don't mutate that quickly so it shouldn't be a flu situation either, where you have to reformulate the vaccine every year.

An intermediate solution could be an antiviral that blocks the viral protease much like HIV positive and Hepatitis C individuals are given today but I have no idea if there's anything in the pipes.

[MadImmortalMan]

Wasn't there a pastor arrested for holding services against the curfew a couple days ago? In Louisiana or somesuch?

[celedhring]

A friend of mine that works in pharma tells me that the fact there's no vaccines for human coronavirus is due to lack of incentive. Common colds don't merit the investment, and SARS died out quickly, but they believe a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 should be feasible. Also coronavirii don't mutate that quickly so it shouldn't be a flu situation either, where you have to reformulate the vaccine every year.

An intermediate solution could be an antiviral that blocks the viral protease much like HIV positive and Hepatitis C individuals are given today but I have no idea if there's anything in the pipes.

They are testing lots of existing antivirals to see if something sticks, because those can be deployed quickly since dosages and potential side effects are already known. Brand new antivirals is much more dicey - development will be pretty long and there's a decent chance the vaccine will be found sooner.

[Legbiter]

Here many churches just do livestream sermons which have been unexpected big hits. Of course there's no Eucharist but other than that the church has made do quite well.

[Iormlund]

A friend of mine that works in pharma tells me that the fact there's no vaccines for human coronavirus is due to lack of incentive. Common colds don't merit the investment, and SARS died out quickly, but they believe a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 should be feasible. Also coronavirii don't mutate that quickly so it shouldn't be a flu situation either, where you have to reformulate the vaccine every year.

An intermediate solution could be an antiviral that blocks the viral protease much like HIV positive and Hepatitis C individuals are given today but I have no idea if there's anything in the pipes.

There are trials with quite a few drugs including HIV drugs. Last one I've heard about is an anti-parasite called Ivermectin which has recently tested successfully in vitro.
And surely some other treatments are in the works, like antibody therapy.

[Legbiter]

Brand new antivirals is much more dicey - development will be pretty long and there's a decent chance the vaccine will be found sooner.

Yeah, maybe there's just nothing sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting to be mass produced in time to make a difference. But hell let's just test everything that's available and see if any works.

[Sheilbh]

Here many churches just do livestream sermons which have been unexpected big hits. Of course there's no Eucharist but other than that the church has made do quite well.

Quite a few (including the Pope) are doing livestreamed services.

Bizarrely, in my opinion, CofE bishops are asking vicars to stop doing streamed services. This request seems really confusing and sort of backwards to me but I assume it's caused by some incidents:

It feels extremely hard to ask this of you, this week of all weeks.

But you will know that some people believe that being in our churches to stream, even if it is accessed by a door in your home, is encouraging others to want to travel to their church, and for others to ask for churches to be open to the public.

We would not want to be seen to encourage any laxity in the requirement to stay indoors except for designated reasons, because this will save lives, and protect the NHS.

Edit: Slidepack from today's briefing, hospitalisation appears to be flattening (slide 3):
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/878518/FINAL_Press_Conference_slides_7_April.pdf

Most regions look like they're starting to flatten with the exception of the North-West which is spiking and Wales and the South-West which seem reasonably constant. General trend: "Over the last 24 hours, hospitalisations for COVID-19 rose by 2% across Great Britain (lacking data for Northern Ireland) and by11% in the North West".

[celedhring]

That seems a quite convoluted reasoning 

Streamed sermons have been a big hit over here too in these dates. Also public television still broadcasts church services (hooray for separation of church and state) that nobody watched but now draw quite decent audiences.

[derspiess]

Specifically about the churches though-- just move to online services.

Yeah I have been doing that for the past month or so. It has been kind of weird.

Easter at home is going to be lame

My kids will love not having to dress up.  They will miss the Easter egg hunt at my parents house, though I guess there's probably a way we could pull that off if we wanted to.

[Valmy]

We painted Eggs yesterday so we are certainly having the egg hunt and all that good stuff.

Just I kind of miss all the people and little traditions as a community.

Ah well.

[The Larch]

Streamed sermons have been a big hit over here too in these dates. Also public television still broadcasts church services (hooray for separation of church and state) that nobody watched but now draw quite decent audiences.

Nobody our age watched, but they're a huge hit for the elderly. One of my grandmas would watch it religiously and sometimes even do double sessions with national and regional tv services.

[derspiess]

Religously, you say? 

[Sheilbh]

I never go to mass but I am tempted to watch one of these streams at the weekend - or the BBC religious program. As much as anything it's like the clapping on a Thursday evening thing, It would be nice to feel part of something almost social - other people also tuning in - rather than just stuck in my flat.

[Sheilbh]

Oh and on churches - I posted earlier about the Pentecostal pastor round my way selling "Plague Protection Kits" (£91 - actually red string and a bit of oil) and "Sacrificial Seeds" (£270 per person or £910 for the family - unclear what this actually is). Popping out for my exercise yesterday and I spotted that one of my neighbours has a piece of red string tied around their front door handle