Covid19 PSA

Fair enough.
Boredom+stress+panic+heavily armed populace = I don't know, but it's probably not good.

 

Other than yours and Broome’s insistence that novel viruses are more of a hazard than other viruses?

How do you catch the flu?

 

I would suspect being outside and not being cooped up in close quarters has a huge impact.

 

And the body’s production of vitamin D, and UV disinfection, and increased respiration and heart rate from physical activity to more effectively clear your body of toxins and microbic invaders...

 

Oh gee....both G and M were found in the Ausie study....

 

The article mentions folks with health problem in addition to those who are older, but the politician didn't. If a politician or anyone is going to make a statement like that at least be complete and clear. We don't need folks with diabetes, heart disease, lung cancer, immune deficiencies, etc. heading back into work on this idiots incomplete advice.

 

Imagine that...going out and moving around is good for you. Who knew.

 

some of us haven’t stopped working because of this bullshit

 

Also this (March 9, 2020):
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3550308

Interpretation: The distribution of significant community outbreaks along restricted latitude, temperature, and humidity are consistent with the behavior of a seasonal respiratory virus. Additionally, we have proposed a simplified model that shows a zone at increased risk for COVID-19 spread. Using weather modeling, it may be possible to predict the regions most likely to be at higher risk of significant community spread of COVID-19 in the upcoming weeks, allowing for concentration of public health efforts on surveillance and containment.

 

From Ben King, American pro cyclist who lives in Tuscany and is from Richmond VA:

After three weeks of quarantine in Italy, I am back in America. Before you call me irresponsible for travelling internationally during this crisis, trust that we took this decision very seriously and had good reason. Although we are healthy, we are still quarantining ourselves to avoid ANY risk. If you still feel our decision was irresponsible then you’re probably doing things right and this post is not addressed to you. However, I feel obligated to share my experience in hopes that it can make a difference.

As a professional cyclist I base in Tuscany, Italy during the cycling season. I was travelling to races at the beginning of the pandemic as the situation escalated in China. All of my races have been cancelled or postponed until the situation is under control. I observed the same stages of reaction in a diverse range of cultures and admit that I was not immune to all of them. I hope my hindsight provides you with some foresight to make good choices.

Stage 1: Downplaying
"This is China’s problem (now Italy). It’s not here. It’s fine. Lol, look at that guy. He’s not even Asian and he’s wearing a mask.”
Stage 2: Denial and lack of understanding
“I’m young and healthy. It’s just like a cold. Everyone is overreacting!”
Stage 3: Inconvenienced
“I can’t believe I can’t go out for a beer. I guess I’ll hang out with my healthy friends and go buy ALL the toilet paper before anyone else gets to it.”
Stage 4: Peer pressure, working from home or laid off, and nervous
“This is getting real. I’m not afraid to catch it but I don’t want to transmit it. I’m working from home but I’ll be back to work in a month. Poor Italians. I can’t imagine... I’ll practice social distancing but still meet my friends outdoors. I hope my parents don’t catch this.”
Stage 5: Government enforced quarantine
“I wish I’d known it would get this serious. I can’t believe people are still trying to go out. Stay away from me. I don’t want your COVID!”
Stage 5: One week into Quarantine, fear and anger
“People I know have this disease. Elderly people they know are dying. The statistics are not numbers. They are people with loved ones. Hospitals and morgues are overcapacity. Health workers are overworked. The local economy is crashing. Stay away from me!"

From what I’ve seen in the countries being hit hardest attitudes have followed these trends. Here are the facts. Many COVID-19 carriers are asymptomatic. Each positive person infects three others. The USA has not carried out nearly as many tests as Italy (implying what I believe to be much higher numbers) and yet we have one of the highest rates of transmission.

We departed from Pisa airport on Saturday morning. The airport was completely empty and shut down because our flight to Rome was the only flight that day. Rome was similar, eerily quiet and sterile. Every single person wore a mask and gloves. We had 40 people on our flight to JFK each seated in a row to themselves.

When we arrived in New York I got my first taste of the attitude that America is up against. I overheard a girl in her 20’s on our flight cursing at her sister because the family refused to send somebody to pick her up at the airport. I felt she was being irresponsible and selfish. Plus, who talks to their sister like that?

We won’t see our families for a minimum of two weeks. When we disembarked our temperature was taken. Passengers on our flight took off their masks just to clear customs and we proceeded to baggage claim. After three weeks in isolation, what I saw shocked me. Groups of Americans huddled together, brushing against other passengers to collect their bags. We stood back. On our drive from New York to Virginia we saw signs encouraging people to wash their hands and advertising at home deliveries. Children played together in parks. Parking lots were packed full of people carrying on as though nothing had changed. For them, it hasn’t… yet. I’m grateful to be home and closer to family, but honestly I feel more at risk in the USA than I did in Italy based on a mere 24 hours of observation. I'm still not afraid for myself but for the sake of those vulnerable to the virus. Please don’t take your freedom for granted. It's still your choice to take appropriate measures. I know you might think I am overreacting. One month ago, I would have too. But, we just experienced all of this. I don't want to preach or come across self-righteous, but I’ve seen where we are headed and it’s not pretty. It’s too late to stop it, but there’s still time to make a difference. This isn’t Italy’s problem. It’s ours too. It’s my problem and it’s yours.

With love, BK

 

I mean, you could read one of those links. But it's easy enough to look at the global map of hotspots. You're not gonna see this blow up in Macau or Sepang for instance.

 

Your turn now...

Is seasonal flu able to be spread for 2 weeks from an asymptomatic host? Seasonal flu has an r0 value of 1.3......COVID-19 is estimated to be more than double that.

 

Nah-nah-nah, you and Broome wanna play armchair immunologist, back it up.

How is the immune response to covid-19 any different than the immune response to the flu virus?

 

Not only have I been working but my lab is about to start two Coronavirus projects (names redacted so I don't get fired):

Hi Xxxxx – attached is a request for two different coronavirus projects.

1. We will produce PLpro which is the protease target that Xxx and Xxxx are screening with Reframe. We would use the protein for differential HDX of the confirmed Reframe hits. We can give the protein to others for additional assays if necessary. We are getting the plasmid from Xxxxx.

1. We are getting 3CLpro protein from Xxxxxxx’s lab, both the active and inactive proteins for differential HDX to look for insight into activation mechanism. We will also look at the active protein by differential HDX plus and minus several compounds from the Xxxx lab, some examples from the UK fragment screen as well as other putative inhibitors. This project would not be ready to start for ~2 weeks when we get the protein from Xxxx.

 

Well yeah, that's is what is supposed to happen when you get infected and recover. If it didn't then we'd be in a real heap of shit on this.

Find me where I said that human have no ability to develop immunity to COVID-19. I never once said that. I said there has thus far been no proven inborn resistance to it. Having a light or asymptomatic case of it does not equal you have inborn immunity to it.

 

and the fix is the same for those that don’t get flu shots.....

 

Uninformed answer is it tears the shit out of your lungs and we don't know why

 

I am not gonna read every damned link someone posts about the virus. I won't live long enough. I'm taking the steps I need to take to limit risks, beyond that, I simply don't need to wallow in details about something I can't affect in any manner other than what my current actions are. I got the common sense answer I was looking for.

 

2 weeks?!?! Get your ass in gear man!

 

Ro, Ro, Ro your boat...