Coronavirus Pandemic: Apocalypse Now! Or exaggerated scare story?

[Andrian]

My daughter is in Pavia, Lombardy, studying Genetics and Molecular Biology. She told me that eight cases treated at the Policlinico San Matteo are in recovery. The atmosphere is alert but calm. Studies, even exams have been suspended for a week. I believe that is a momentary arrangement which could be extended depending on the developments. She went shopping this morning and she said that supplies were flying off the shelves. So far so good. People there take this infectious disease seriously hoping to prevent an epidemic.

Totally agree, importantly is to manage the whole thing in a reasonable way and not let yourself sucked in by the panic.

 

[Woodsman]

I recently learned an interesting factoid regarding those disposable face masks which have become so popular...

If you use one for more than an hour or so, warm moisture from your breath causes the paper to change its initial property so that rather than repelling pathogenic particles, it captures and collects them. The mask becomes, rather than a filter, instead a reservoir, increasing the possibility of infection for the wearer.

Something to keep in mind perhaps.

 

[loreta]

I recently learned an interesting factoid regarding those disposable face masks which have become so popular...

If you use one for more than an hour or so, warm moisture from your breath causes the paper to change its initial property so that rather than repelling pathogenic particles, it captures and collects them. The mask becomes, rather than a filter, instead a reservoir, increasing the possibility of infection for the wearer.

Something to keep in mind perhaps.

I think you are right plus these paper masks are not good against virus. The best mask I think is this one:

 

[liam1310]

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I think you are right plus these paper masks are not good against virus. The best mask I think is this one:

Yeah, was looking at that type of mask on Amazon. Not that expensive and no harm in having one in the house along with a few suits and goggles.

 

[Emet-Selch]

Hi guys have a good day :)

I would like to share my story about the coronavirus, days before the news was released, I had some strange dreams, the first dream I had was related to a part of the movie The X-Files: Fight the Future, In my dream I and many other people had the symptoms of the virus that appears in the film, particularly the eyes wrapped in what appears to be black smoke, if they have not seen the film, it is recommended it is very interesting

My second dream has more to do with the appearance of a creature, in my dream I saw a creature similar to a rat but crimson and without its fur with many deformities on the body, this creature had the ability to teleport a child place to another as if it were taking dimensional jumps, similar to the creatures described in one of the chapters of the wave: "the fallen of dimensional windows" I saw this creature jumping through the drain in several cities and putting the population in panic.

Anyway guys this is just dream, and I wanted to share this, some curious facts about my dream would be:

-The coronavirus has a red color some have called them the red plague, In my dream the criature tht i saw had a crimson red color

-It seems that the virus is more spread by drainage systems and that is why some cruise ships have had difficulties

-Another interesting fact is that in China it was celebrated a few days later the year of the rat

But what I see most important is that it was just a dream, the important thing is to focus on our reality, our environment, have more information and seekers of the truth

 

[3DStudent]

I think you are right plus these paper masks are not good against virus. The best mask I think is this one:

If you're serious about using one of these, you may get some strange looks. It reminds me of post-apocalyptic themes. Maybe carry some spray paint to look like you're a graffiti artist? Those masks are also uncomfortable and will leave marks on your face for a few hours afterwards. FWIW.

 

[loreta]

If you're serious about using one of these, you may get some strange looks. It reminds me of post-apocalyptic themes. Maybe carry some spray paint to look like you're a graffiti artist? Those masks are also uncomfortable and will leave marks on your face for a few hours afterwards. FWIW.

Nooo, but they are very good. I used to have one like this when I worked taking tomatoes from a camion, there was so many dust. Perfect for the Corona virus and also very good for the Sirocco. But I don't have anymore one mask. Too bad.

 

[Yupo]

You can buy those better ones at auto paint shops. Some of that paint is very toxic and is sprayed by technicians in hazmat gear. I live near a chemical storage facility, so I wanted a set of these for family members in an emergency. They are useful for all manner of emergencies.

 

[Evan]

Odds on where the first report of crimes being committed by persons wearing face masks to disguise their identities occurs, causing some sort of public (media-hyped) outcry followed by “efforts to control the problem” by authorities.
**As an American I’m bound by national pride to bet on my home team.

 

[SOTTREADER]

Short clip.

 

[dantem]

I would llike to add a quick update on the situation in Italy, so at this very moment there are 129 infected or presumably infected people, about 50000 people from 11 countries that have been put in quarantine where police is not allowing anyone entering or leaving the said

Yeah, people in Lombardy and Veneto are experiencing very bad days!
Now that Italy just reached 157 positive COV19 infections, the odd news is that the supposed patient-zero and so called 'plague-spreader', a 38 y.o. manager returning from China, turned to be a negative. Never had the virus! About the 3 dead people: 77 y.o. and up, health quite compromised, the last one was a woman being treated for cancer in Crema, supposedly in chemio theraphy.

 

[MK Scarlett]

Maybe the reason why we may not considerate COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) as nothing more than a common flu could be that human coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), are known to cause respiratory and enteric symptoms.

The Lancet published a study on February 19, 2020:

Enteric involvement of coronaviruses: is faecal–oral transmission of SARS-CoV-2 possible?

In the SARS outbreak of 2002–03, 16–73% of patients with SARS had diarrhoea during the course of the disease, usually within the first week of illness. SARS-CoV RNA was only detected in stools from the fifth day of illness onwards, and the proportion of stool specimens positive for viral RNA progressively increased and peaked at day 11 of the illness, with viral RNA still present in the faeces of a small proportion of patients even after 30 days of illness. The mechanism for gastrointestinal tract infection of SARS-CoV is proposed to be the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) cell receptor.

In the initial MERS-CoV outbreak in 2012, a quarter of patients with MERS-CoV reported gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea or abdominal pain at presentation. Some patients initially presented with both fever and gastrointestinal symptoms before subsequent manifestation of more severe respiratory symptoms. Corman and colleagues found MERS-CoV RNA in 14·6% of stool samples from patients with MERS-CoV. In-vitro studies have shown that MERS-CoV can infect and replicate in human primary intestinal epithelial cells, potentially via the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 receptor. In-vivo studies showed inflammation and epithelial degeneration in the small intestines, with subsequent development of pneumonia and brain infection. These results suggest that MERS-CoV pulmonary infection was secondary to the intestinal infection.

In early reports from Wuhan, 2–10% of patients with COVID-19 had gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and vomiting. Abdominal pain was reported more frequently in patients admitted to the intensive care unit than in individuals who did not require intensive care unit care, and 10% of patients presented with diarrhoea and nausea 1–2 days before the development of fever and respiratory symptoms. SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been detected in the stool of a patient in the USA. The binding affinity of ACE2 receptors is one of the most important determinants of infectivity, and structural analyses predict that SARS-CoV-2 not only uses ACE2 as its host receptor, but uses human ACE2 more efficiently than the 2003 strain of SARS-CoV (although less efficiently than the 2002 strain).

Data exist to support the notion that SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV are viable in environmental conditions that could facilitate faecal–oral transmission. SARS-CoV RNA was found in the sewage water of two hospitals in Beijing treating patients with SARS. When SARS-CoV was seeded into sewage water obtained from the hospitals in a separate experiment, the virus was found to remain infectious for 14 days at 4°C, but for only 2 days at 20°C.
[...]
The possibility of faecal–oral transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has implications, especially in areas with poor sanitation. Coronaviruses are susceptible to antiseptics containing ethanol, and disinfectants containing chlorine or bleach. Strict precautions must be observed when handling the stools of patients infected with coronavirus, and sewage from hospitals should also be properly disinfected. The importance of frequent and proper hand hygiene should be emphasised.

Future research on the possibility of faecal–oral transmission of SARS-CoV-2 should include environmental studies to determine whether the virus remains viable in conditions that would favour such transmission. Study of the enteric involvement and viral excretion of SARS-CoV-2 in faeces is required to investigate whether faecal concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA correlate with the severity of the disease and presence or absence of gastrointestinal symptoms, and whether faecal SARS-CoV-2 RNA can also be detected in the incubation or convalescence phases of COVID-19.

I wonder what happens when this virus enters sewers and if it can spreads through animal organisms that can carry the virus within it could mutate and then pass it on to humans, again... but differently.

 

[Abats]

I'm really wondering with all those crazy reactions both by government and some people if this might be the beginning of some kind of worldwide quarantine

 

[United Gnosis]

Regarding that 'the flu is much more deadly' affirmation, that is such a semantic overstretch as to be criminally negligent. The number quoted being, out of 5 million severe cases, the flu causes 500k deaths. That is 10%, so of course it looks like a large number. But this is an obvious misrepresentation of the truth. Each human catches the flu more than once a year on average, so that would be a crude estimate of 10 billion cases. Let's completely play it safe, though, and assume that there are only 1 billion flu cases a year. 5 million severe cases is at most .5% of total cases, and 500k deaths at a total 0.05% mortality. And remember that this is a grossly overestimated mortality rate.

Meanwhile, - assuming that all of the credible information regarding misreporting/burning of dead bodies is wrong, and that the official numbers are to be believed - which is increasingly the case as the pandemic brings various decentralized observers - 20% become severe cases, of which a third - 7% require intensive care, facing multiple organ failure, septic shock etc, and a third of which - 2% of original cases - die even with the best care.

Now the total number of cases is low, because this just started. However, there is every reason to believe that CoViD is as infectious as the flu, and could easily become globally endemic within the year. So now, imagine a billion cases of CoViD. This implies about 200 million severe cases, and 20 million deaths - notwithstanding that by this point, with overwhelm and unavailability of care, most intensive cases facing shock or sepsis will also die, as well as a smaller fraction of the non-critical cases, a wild guess would be about 5%. But let's set that aside, assume that the medical system will not overflow, and that all cases will have the same quality of care - even then, 500k deaths vs 20 million, which would be worse?

There is a lot of sophism required to believe the flu is deadlier. It kills more, because it is already endemic, but it is far less deadly. To say otherwise is a mathematical misrepresentation, intellectual dishonesty.

 

[Ina]

I wonder what happens when this virus enters sewers and if it can spreads through animal organisms that can carry the virus within it could mutate and then pass it on to humans, again... but differently.

I wonder if the water recycling and treatment plants are equipped with such technology in the water purification processes that would eliminate or neutralize the virus. I believe bottled water will become very sought after, more so than the masks.