Merged 2019-nCoV / Corona virus

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William Parcher said:
You know, there has been so much media coverage that I would bet there are articles saying that the cold and SARS are coronaviruses. MERS is a coronavirus too.
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Skeptic Ginger said:
:confused:
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Technically speaking "coronavirus" is the term for a broad group of enclosed viruses in Orthocoronavirinae family of viruses that cause respiratory infections and includes viruses such as the Common Cold, SARS, and MERS. The term just isn't used that often in reporting, even by Doctors, when talking outside a clinical settings and so this is the first time the term coronavirus has been used widely by the media in reference to a specific outbreak.

The current virus is a specific strain of coronavirus called the Novel Coronavirus, strain 2019-nCoV if you want to get technical.

Interestingly this has lead to a recent UL where people have found labels on disinfects claiming to "kill the coronavirus," most notably the popular spray cleaner Lysol, and have crafted all manner of conspiracies around it.
 
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casebro said:
4,000 patients, 304 deaths in China.
100 patients, ZERO deaths in the rest of the world.

World panics. Really?
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I haven't noticed much in the way of panic in my neighborhood.


There seems to be a lot of caution, but things that grow exponentially might warrant a lot of caution even if there are currently few infections.

I can't profess to know what level of precautions, such as travel bans, quaranties, monitoring, whatever, is appropriate, because I don't know much about epidemiology, but to me it seems like this would be a good time to err on the side of caution.
 
Slightly off topic but used to have a really cool free game on my old android called Plague.

You pick what country it starts in and then can morph it and change its affects.

Might have to download it again

Goal being to wipe the globe.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Speaking of being in the library, there must be 10 inconsiderate people in here right now with disgusting coughs. I'm going to suggest they put hand sanitizer and masks with a sign at the door like the clinics all have.
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Do hand sanitizers work?

Hand sanitizers work by removing the outer layer of oil on your skin. ... If your hands are particularly dirty or grimy, hand sanitizer will likely not be very effective. Moreover, if you use a hand sanitizer that contains less than 60% alcohol, it will likely not kill most of the germs on your hands.
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Well, maybe, but like masks, of limited use.
 
AIUI the epidemic won't peak until the end of March. Until then, the number of infections/deaths is likely to be exponential. So, although today it is 'only 211' deaths, this is likely to increase alarmingly and mutate yearly (being a cold virus) if it becomes a worldwide infection.
 
Being a cold virus wtf?

Rhinoviruses cause common colds, upper respiratory infections. They are in a different family of viruses entirely.
 
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Vixen said:
AIUI the epidemic won't peak until the end of March. Until then, the number of infections/deaths is likely to be exponential. So, although today it is 'only 211' deaths, this is likely to increase alarmingly and mutate yearly (being a cold virus) if it becomes a worldwide infection.
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The good news is that the number of cases coming from China will not go up exponentially. This is because the number of people coming from China is going down. That is probably the most effective thing that can be done to slow its spread. Not sure how it would end except by everyone getting it or receiving a vaccine. It all depends a lot on how infectious it is. Best case is that there are very few cases where it is spread outside of China. Otherwise it goes around the world.
 
Vixen said:
Do hand sanitizers work?



Well, maybe, but like masks, of limited use.
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That's just a tad off. It's mostly accurate but what is this supposed to mean?
work by removing the outer layer of oil on your skin.
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That is not how they work. Maybe someone is confusing using alcohol to clean an area of skin before starting an IV or giving a shot, with using waterless hand cleaners.

I posted about hand sanitizers upthread.

First, alcohol based hand sanitizers of sufficient strength are effective against coronaviruses. While this strain hasn't been specifically tested, surrogate virus testing is generally reliable.

Second, always choose hand washing at a sink with running water if available. And you actually have to wash your hands, not simply rinse them and dry them off.

Third, hand sanitizers are not going to disinfect grossly contaminated hands. Use them on the way to the sink.

Fourth, use a sufficient amount so that it takes a minute or so to dry to allow enough contact time with the organisms.

Fifth, read the label because many/most of the hand sanitizers for sale in the local store are not alcohol based or they don't have 60% or more alcohol.

CDC Show Me the Science – When & How to Use Hand Sanitizer in Community Settings
Why? Many studies have found that sanitizers with an alcohol concentration between 60–95% are more effective at killing germs than those with a lower alcohol concentration or non-alcohol-based hand sanitizers 16,20. Hand sanitizers without 60-95% alcohol 1) may not work equally well for many types of germs; and 2) merely reduce the growth of germs rather than kill them outright.
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Venom said:
Being a cold virus wtf?

Rhinoviruses cause common colds, upper respiratory infections. They are in a different family of viruses entirely.
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No, there are ~200 known pathogens that cause upper respiratory infections and IIRC an additional ~35% of the total have not been identified.

Rhinovirus is a common cause of colds but there are many more including 4 strains of coronavirus.

CDC
Common human coronaviruses
229E (alpha coronavirus)
NL63 (alpha coronavirus)
OC43 (beta coronavirus)
HKU1 (beta coronavirus)
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rjh01 said:
The good news is that the number of cases coming from China will not go up exponentially. This is because the number of people coming from China is going down. That is probably the most effective thing that can be done to slow its spread. Not sure how it would end except by everyone getting it or receiving a vaccine. It all depends a lot on how infectious it is. Best case is that there are very few cases where it is spread outside of China. Otherwise it goes around the world.
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The airlines/governments left it too late. It is likely already circulating throughout the world.
 
Next week a lot of people who went home for Chinese New Year will be coming back and going to work again. Might expect a spike in infections at that point.
 
rjh01 said:
No need. Everyone else can see it is garbage. Have a think about what it would take for it to be true. Has this ever happened before? Is the source reliable? The answer to the last one is no, and has been mentioned in this thread so no need for elaboration.
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I'm just asking, if he has some arguments against claims in the article, because I'm genuinely interested in them. Most of those claims would be easily disproved.

And somehow people will tell you everything, but not single sentence: 'I can't disprove that'. Of course there is no need to disprove that. But then simply write nothing.
Saying 'nonsense' and not giving any arguments ? You call that skepticism ?
 
Meanwhile, in South Australia, the Health Department is now saying that all passengers from the couple's direct flight from China to Adelaide need to contact them immediately.

I just watched the evening news and they announced the airline, flight number, date and time etc.

You can see why I wasn't impressed with:

South Australia's chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said they believed no one else in the state had been exposed to the pair.
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:(

The couple are now in quarantine at the Royal Adelaide hospital.
 
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