Merged 2019-nCoV / Corona virus

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Roboramma said:
By the way, I don't think I mentioned the latest news I have from here, which is that we've been told to stay closed until Feb 29. I think this applies to schools as well.

Went out for a walk today. Still very quiet in the streets.
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How are people getting food? Are utility employees still going to work?
 
Dr.Sid said:
Well there is at least one well documented case of person falling dead on the street, and medical personnel expects it is Wuhan virus.

https://correspondent.afp.com/life-time-coronavirus

Around 80% of the page.
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It could also easily be something else, like a heart attack. It's not like people stop dying of other causes. But even if it was, the fact that he collapsed in the street rather than receiving treatment at a hospital could still be due to the overloading of the medical system or even just the transportation system because of the virus.
 
Roboramma said:
By the way, I don't think I mentioned the latest news I have from here, which is that we've been told to stay closed until Feb 29. I think this applies to schools as well.

Went out for a walk today. Still very quiet in the streets.
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I mentioned upthread that I had been scheduled to travel to China, originally it was going to be this week. I would have been flying in to Shanghai (but staying in XiHu). That's been put on hold indefinitely.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
TA said "Right now, China has 2788 patients listed as critical."

There is no such data on that Wiki page, or anywhere else for that matter because the number is wrong.
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The Wiki page says "Serious" not "critical", but the 2788 number did come from that link.
 
Steve said:
I went to the pharmacy on Sunday to pick up some prescriptions. They had a sign prominently displayed that said they were sold out of masks. The interesting bit is that I have not seen anyone wearing masks in this area. Maybe someone is speculating and they will hit the streets at exorbitant prices if a case is discovered here.
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Sound idea. I went and checked NZ prices and it looks like people are already gouging on them. Online prices seem to be 50-100% higher than store prices - but there aren't any in stores.

And that's with no cases in the country so far.

I know of two kids who are being kept away from school as a result of parental fear about the disease. Both are Chinese families who haven't been anywhere near China.
 
The Atheist said:
Hell yeah, let the xenophobia flow, boys!

I'm pretty sure you are both American, and I'd trust Xi further than I'd trust your human mutation you have as president right now. I ask again, how do you think USA would respond to two states being cut off by armed guards.

If anything, you should be thanking your lucky stars this is happening in China - so far.

[bigoted ranting snipped]
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This is the third major zoonotic outbreak in China in the past 20 years.

Ironically, your post is probably the most xenophobic sentiment expressed so far.
 
The Atheist said:
Really? https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

I guess your sources are better than theirs, which seem fairly well researched.

"Critical", "serious", take your pick. It looks to me, with a death rate of over 40% of those patients, I'm pretty happy with critical.
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Like pulling teeth:
20,717
of which 2,792 (13%)
in critical condition
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How can you tell when they don't say where their data is from?
When their data doesn't match other sources?
When they don't even say where those people are?

And, most importantly that has to be a cumulative number given the 20,000 is and it looks like they just used 13% of that number rather than actually looking at current cases in critical care, which is what you claimed.
 
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Vixen said:
Perhaps you are the one that is ignorant and should look up stuff. Coronavirus is picornavirus like. Picornavruses are named thus because they are small. Try not to be rude in future.
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Picornavirus are named because they are small RNA-genome viruses - it's in the name. Their virions are are much smaller than those of the average coronavirus but so are their RNA genomes. This is unimportant, in fact, unless one is curious as to the naming: it has nothing to do with how picoviruses are related to other viruses (Herpesvirus are named after the Greek term for crawling or creeping, but they don't actually crawl). Qbeta viruses are also very small capsid/small RNA genome viruses; nonetheless they infect bacteria and not mammals and they are not related to picornavirus in any way.

Again: coronaviruses are not picornavirus like in any way. You may be confused because under the so-called "Baltimore scheme" they are both called "class IV" but this refers to all viruses with + strand RNA genomes. But this scheme is a only a conceptual way to help people organize different viruses schematically in their head; it does not organize them by their biological relatedness. And there are many other unrelated virus in class IV. This has been explained upthread. The picornavirus and coronavirus genomes are organized in completely different ways. Their virions are very different in structure, size, and appearance. There is no sequence relatedness between their genomes. Coronaviruses are not picornavirus-like.

As to me being ignorant and should look up stuff: I trained as a virologist and was a virologist working with many different viruses for many decades. I still work with one particular virus. I've taught virology classes. Yet rather than depend on my memory I do continue to look up stuff in virology books and on line. I did so prior to responding to your post.

As to being rude: it is not rude to try to correct mis-information and, if someone continues to insist on an incorrect fact despite honest attempts to correct them, to suggest they look it up. In fact people pay me to do this. I not only do research but I also teach at my university: my very job is to provide facts and to correct misunderstandings and most of my students appreciate learning the truth rather than continue in error.
 
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One thing I do not understand. A number of people have left China with the disease, yet hardly anyone (or maybe no one) has caught it from these people. If it is an infectious disease some people on the plane and airport should have got it. But they do not appear to have done so. So what is happening?

One possibility is that they were wearing masks which prevented any further spread. If that is enough then the disease should stop spreading in China. This should have already happened.
 
rjh01 said:
One thing I do not understand. A number of people have left China with the disease, yet hardly anyone (or maybe no one) has caught it from these people. If it is an infectious disease some people on the plane and airport should have got it. But they do not appear to have done so. So what is happening?

One possibility is that they were wearing masks which prevented any further spread. If that is enough then the disease should stop spreading in China. This should have already happened.
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In may cases the "evacuees" are wearing masks. The flight crews too. Plus washing hands, etc.

There is some evidence that the rate of new infections in China is slowing, but the numbers are soft given the intensity of the situation in that country. The health care system is just so overburdened it is difficult to judge.

I have found it interesting that flying nationals out of China to their home countries is an evacuation and is approved, even arranged by their native countries, whereas banning Chinese citizens from traveling in the same way is a necessary quarantine. I understand the political differences, but medically the risk per person is the same.
 
Giordano said:
Picornavirus are named because they are small RNA-genome viruses - it's in the name. Their virions are are much smaller than those of the average coronavirus but so are their RNA genomes. This is unimportant, in fact, unless one is curious as to the naming: it has nothing to do with how picoviruses are related to other viruses (Herpesvirus are named after the Greek term for crawling or creeping, but they don't actually crawl). Qbeta viruses are also very small capsid/small RNA genome viruses; nonetheless they infect bacteria and not mammals and they are not related to picornavirus in any way.

Again: coronaviruses are not picornavirus like in any way. You may be confused because under the so-called "Baltimore scheme" they are both called "class IV" but this refers to all viruses with + strand RNA genomes. But this scheme is a only a conceptual way to help people organize different viruses schematically in their head; it does not organize them by their biological relatedness. And there are many other unrelated virus in class IV. This has been explained upthread. The picornavirus and coronavirus genomes are organized in completely different ways. Their virions are very different in structure, size, and appearance. There is no sequence relatedness between their genomes. Coronaviruses are not picornavirus-like.

As to me being ignorant and should look up stuff: I trained as a virologist and was a virologist working with many different viruses for many decades. I still work with one particular virus. I've taught virology classes. Yet rather than depend on my memory I do continue to look up stuff in virology books and on line. I did so prior to responding to your post.

As to being rude: it is not rude to try to correct mis-information and, if someone continues to insist on an incorrect fact despite honest attempts to correct them, to suggest they look it up. In fact people pay me to do this. I not only do research but I also teach at my university: my very job is to provide facts and to correct misunderstandings and most of my students appreciate learning the truth rather than continue in error.
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Vixen, my credentials may not be as good as Giordano's but I did intern at a national virology centre, when multiple people with technical expertise in the subject tell you that you are wrong, just accept it. Pico RNA viruses and coronaviruses are not the same thing.

PS DNA is not a protein and women do not have two Y chromosomes!
 
rjh01 said:
One thing I do not understand. A number of people have left China with the disease, yet hardly anyone (or maybe no one) has caught it from these people. If it is an infectious disease some people on the plane and airport should have got it. But they do not appear to have done so. So what is happening?

One possibility is that they were wearing masks which prevented any further spread. If that is enough then the disease should stop spreading in China. This should have already happened.
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These people are traveling to Western countries with proper public health infrastructure and isolation.

When a few more cases spread to India, some African countries, and areas of the world where wars are raging, you will see spread like we are seeing in China.

It may already be happening and going undetected.
 
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