The SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 coronavirus

[loomer]

Spent the day sneezing in a supermarket because of an underlying health condition. Great fun being treated like a pariah.

[aerius]

Personal thoughts. North America is going to get fucked hard if the disease breaks out. Been talking with my parents in Taiwan and their monitoring & containment procedures are a hell of a lot more extensive than anything we can use over here. Example. They had a patient and some suspected cases who broke quarantine and started moving around. The authorities had them tracked by cellphone, transit pass, and credit card use, then pulled up surveillance camera footage of the people in question within hours. That footage was plastered all over the media along with an advisory that anyone who had contact with those people were to report for testing to ensure they were clean. There's public mask rules in place and production of masks & other protective gear has been massively ramped up so that protection is as available as possible.

There's nothing like that at all where I live. We can't track people like that and once a few cases get out in the wild there's no way to track & contain it. We're still running flights straight into the hot spots and god knows how many cases we've imported from Iran in the past week. There's no production ramp in sanitizers or protective gear, no increased sanitation programs, preparedness is a big fat zero.

[mr friendly guy]

Yes - so what the fuck is your point, shithead?

Or are you trying to see if you can fill and entire page with just one of your posts through use of excessive graphics?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EZJnBYMrtQ

This might explain a bit more than Shep does the UK's strategy if you watch the first 7 minutes.

The delay phase is meant to delay it pass the winter months, so the NHS isn't inundated with flu patients, which makes it easier to cope with covid 19. The problem is the NHS for years has been overstretched.

[ray245]

I think the recent issue with Trump failing to implement the right measures against the coronavirus due to his need to reassure the economy is fine really demonstrates why the fight against global warming is so difficult. There's a decent amount of world leaders that will do everything to pretend the economy is doing well, even if there is a looming crisis right ahead.

[Broomstick]

Personal thoughts. North America is going to get fucked hard if the disease breaks out.

It's not "if". It's starting already and, of course, the dumbfucks in DC are offering "thoughts and prayers". And trying to figure out how their buddies can profit off it.

There's nothing like that at all where I live. We can't track people like that and once a few cases get out in the wild there's no way to track & contain it. We're still running flights straight into the hot spots and god knows how many cases we've imported from Iran in the past week. There's no production ramp in sanitizers or protective gear, no increased sanitation programs, preparedness is a big fat zero.

Yep.

In the US, with the conservatives in charge, it's all "personal responsibility" and figuring out how to profit from this while doing as little as possible.

[The Romulan Republic]

When this is done, we ought to add every single US death by coronavirus to the charges against Donald Trump. Yeah, some probably would have died anyway, but he's done fuck all to help any of them.

[loomer]

When this is done, we ought to add every single US death by coronavirus to the charges against Donald Trump. Yeah, some probably would have died anyway, but he's done fuck all to help any of them.

Would you please stop calling for the abuse of legal processes?

[The Romulan Republic]

The rule of law died in America the day the Senate acquitted a man they knew to be guilty, without even allowing witnesses.

[loomer]

The rule of law died in America the day the Senate acquitted a man they knew to be guilty, without even allowing witnesses.

I see. And to you, this would make the continued abuse of legal processes moral and acceptable?

[bilateralrope]

There's no production ramp in sanitizers or protective gear,

That's the bit I find odd. Why aren't the companies that make sanitizers or protective gear responding to the increased demand by ramping production ?

Shouldn't that at least be a case where profits and the public interest align ?

[Col. Crackpot]

There's no production ramp in sanitizers or protective gear,

That's the bit I find odd. Why aren't the companies that make sanitizers or protective gear responding to the increased demand by ramping production ?

Shouldn't that at least be a case where profits and the public interest align ?

But what if it is in the interests of the country it is made in to keep it?

[aerius]

The rule of law died in America the day the Senate acquitted a man they knew to be guilty, without even allowing witnesses.

It was dead before you were even born. The entire healthcare, financial, education, and insurance industries have been operating in direct violation of 15 USC Chapters 1 and 13 for my entire lifetime and no one's ever gone to jail for it. It's only directly responsible for millions of deaths, countless millions stuck in permanent poverty, and a healthcare system that's currently scheming up ways to turn coronavirus victims into permanent wage slaves.

[aerius]

There's no production ramp in sanitizers or protective gear,

That's the bit I find odd. Why aren't the companies that make sanitizers or protective gear responding to the increased demand by ramping production ?

Shouldn't that at least be a case where profits and the public interest align ?

Next time you see a mask, rubber gloves, or hand sanitizer, take a look at the label to see where it's made or imported from. Let's just say I'm very unlikely to find "Made in Canada" on any of them. And we don't have the factories and machines to make that stuff since we outsourced nearly all of it to China, Mexico, and other countries. Oops. That was kinda dumb wasn't it?

[bilateralrope]

There's no production ramp in sanitizers or protective gear,

That's the bit I find odd. Why aren't the companies that make sanitizers or protective gear responding to the increased demand by ramping production ?

Shouldn't that at least be a case where profits and the public interest align ?

But what if it is in the interests of the country it is made in to keep it?

Fair enough.

Next time you see a mask, rubber gloves, or hand sanitizer, take a look at the label to see where it's made or imported from. Let's just say I'm very unlikely to find "Made in Canada" on any of them. And we don't have the factories and machines to make that stuff since we outsourced nearly all of it to China, Mexico, and other countries. Oops. That was kinda dumb wasn't it?

Hopefully governments think about that for next time. Probably not.

[whackadoodle]

The rule of law died in America the day the Senate acquitted a man they knew to be guilty, without even allowing witnesses.

It was dead before you were even born. The entire healthcare, financial, education, and insurance industries have been operating in direct violation of 15 USC Chapters 1 and 13 for my entire lifetime and no one's ever gone to jail for it. It's only directly responsible for millions of deaths, countless millions stuck in permanent poverty, and a healthcare system that's currently scheming up ways to turn coronavirus victims into permanent wage slaves.

You gonna post the link to kd or what?

[Broomstick]

There's no production ramp in sanitizers or protective gear,

That's the bit I find odd. Why aren't the companies that make sanitizers or protective gear responding to the increased demand by ramping production ?

They're all in Wuhan, China?

No, not serious (entirely), I actually don't know where all that stuff comes from.

Shouldn't that at least be a case where profits and the public interest align ?

In the US, apparently Big Pharma is looking at vaccines and medications for profits and for-profit labs are looking at billing people for their SARS-Cov-2 detection tests - with extra markup for Pandemic week!

[Broomstick]

The rule of law died in America the day the Senate acquitted a man they knew to be guilty, without even allowing witnesses.

It was dead before you were even born. The entire healthcare, financial, education, and insurance industries have been operating in direct violation of 15 USC Chapters 1 and 13 for my entire lifetime and no one's ever gone to jail for it. It's only directly responsible for millions of deaths, countless millions stuck in permanent poverty, and a healthcare system that's currently scheming up ways to turn coronavirus victims into permanent wage slaves.

Sad. but more true than I want to admit.

[SolarpunkFan]

Spent the day sneezing in a supermarket because of an underlying health condition. Great fun being treated like a pariah.

I really wish people would stop confusing colds with lung infections.

But it seems the average person thinks the lungs are in the nose.

[Gandalf]

You gonna post the link to kd or what?

kd?

[mr friendly guy]

There's no production ramp in sanitizers or protective gear,

That's the bit I find odd. Why aren't the companies that make sanitizers or protective gear responding to the increased demand by ramping production ?

They're all in Wuhan, China?

No, not serious (entirely), I actually don't know where all that stuff comes from.

China has ramped up production of masks from areas which aren't Hubei province. I think I posted a link earlier in this thread about it. Seriously, they converted factories which aren't into production of such gear into producing them.

Of the areas infected, I am aware of Taiwan having production capacity. Prior to covid 19 hitting them, they initially said they had enough masks, then 3 days later, oops no we don't. This sparked a controversy because some Taiwanese expected them to sell the masks to China. It turns out the government press conference prompted panic buying, and now they don't have enough. So might find it hard to source from there.

---------------------
further research

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-0 ... 835152.htm
China's own news agency is saying they can now produce 110 million units daily.

https://qz.com/1811316/us-will-buy-exce ... roduction/

The US government is promising to buy all leftover face masks and respirators manufacturers may have on hand once the coronavirus scare subsides and demand for them dries up, Quartz has learned.

Last week, a pre-solicitation issued to suppliers by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) laid out its intention to procure up to 500 million N95 respirators and face masks over the next 18 months for its Strategic National Stockpile. HSS says the masks and respirators will be used to protect healthcare workers and first responders from airborne pathogens, which is “essential to maintaining resilience of the US healthcare system.”

But manufacturers have long warned that US face mask production wasn’t robust enough to keep up with demand in the event of a pandemic. Companies are already struggling to meet demand, which is reportedly outpacing supply. As of a few days ago, the US had roughly 30 million masks on hand.

I am going to be cynical. Anyone want to check if any of the mask manufacturers are Trump's friends or donors?

[Ralin]

That's the bit I find odd. Why aren't the companies that make sanitizers or protective gear responding to the increased demand by ramping production ?

Shouldn't that at least be a case where profits and the public interest align ?

I don't have a link handy, but I read a little while back that there's a production bottleneck for hand sanitizer. If not for the ingredients in the sanitizer itself then for the bottles they put it in. Also some of the production process may be in China. I forget the details.

[mr friendly guy]

The virus appears to be mutating.. for the better, maybe. Let me explain. Human selection pressure may have forced the more aggressive L type strain of the virus down, while the older and less aggressive S type strain becomes more dominant.

https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-ar ... 36/5775463

ABSTRACT
The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic started in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since impacted a large portion of China and raised major global concern. Herein, we investigated the extent of molecular divergence between SARS-CoV-2 and other related coronaviruses. Although we found only 4% variability in genomic nucleotides between SARS-CoV-2 and a bat SARS-related coronavirus (SARSr-CoV; RaTG13), the difference at neutral sites was 17%, suggesting the divergence between the two viruses is much larger than previously estimated. Our results suggest that the development of new variations in functional sites in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike seen in SARS-CoV-2 and viruses from pangolin SARSr-CoVs are likely caused by mutations and natural selection besides recombination. Population genetic analyses of 103 SARS-CoV-2 genomes indicated that these viruses evolved into two major types (designated L and S), that are well defined by two different SNPs that show nearly complete linkage across the viral strains sequenced to date. Although the L type (∼70%) is more prevalent than the S type (∼30%), the S type was found to be the ancestral version. Whereas the L type was more prevalent in the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan, the frequency of the L type decreased after early January 2020. Human intervention may have placed more severe selective pressure on the L type, which might be more aggressive and spread more quickly. On the other hand, the S type, which is evolutionarily older and less aggressive, might have increased in relative frequency due to relatively weaker selective pressure. These findings strongly support an urgent need for further immediate, comprehensive studies that combine genomic data, epidemiological data, and chart records of the clinical symptoms of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

But, some people have apparently been reported to carry both strains. Oh joy.

https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/virus-has ... o-strains/

These findings mean that there is an urgent need to conduct further comprehensive studies combining genomic data, epidemiological data, and chart records of clinical symptoms of patients with the coronavirus disease in 2019.

In addition, it is worth noting that these 103 samples showed that most patients were infected with only one of the L or S subtypes.

However, a virus sample isolated from a US woman in Chicago who had a recent history of travel to Wuhan suggested that she may been infected with both the L-subtype and S-subtype. A man in Australia may also have been carrying at least two different strains when he returned, they said.

Meanwhile, the authors said the possibility of new mutations could not be ruled out at this time.

[Broomstick]

Two strains might also explain the folks who were sick, recovered, then quickly reinfected?

[aerius]

Of the areas infected, I am aware of Taiwan having production capacity. Prior to covid 19 hitting them, they initially said they had enough masks, then 3 days later, oops no we don't. This sparked a controversy because some Taiwanese expected them to sell the masks to China. It turns out the government press conference prompted panic buying, and now they don't have enough. So might find it hard to source from there.

According to my parents, Taiwan had a production capacity of around 1.5 million masks/day when covid-19 first hit. As soon as the shortages started and they realized how serious the situation was, there was a meeting between government & industry leaders to get production ramped up ASAP. Funding was secured, logistics were arranged, and they built, converted, and flew in a bunch of machinery from Europe to drastically increase their production capacity. They're at around 7-8 million masks/day now and it's scheduled to reach 10 million by the end of the week. They still have a rationing system in place based on health card numbers but the supply situation is a lot better now than it was a month ago.

As for selling to China, yeah that's a bit controversial. There's quite a few folks from my parents' generation in Taiwan who'd be perfectly happy to see everyone in China drop dead.

[mr friendly guy]

Australia has now added Italy and South Korea to the list of travel bans along with existing bans from China and Iran.


https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-u ... b5214c0945