More at the link I just copied what I thought was most important https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/det...the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---3-march-2020 This virus is not SARS, it’s not MERS, and it’s not influenza. It is a unique virus with unique characteristics. Both COVID-19 and influenza cause respiratory disease and spread the same way, via small droplets of fluid from the nose and mouth of someone who is sick. However, there are some important differences between COVID-19 and influenza. First, COVID-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza, from the data we have so far. With influenza, people who are infected but not yet sick are major drivers of transmission, which does not appear to be the case for COVID-19. Evidence from China is that only 1% of reported cases do not have symptoms, and most of those cases develop symptoms within 2 days. Some countries are looking for cases of COVID-19 using surveillance systems for influenza and other respiratory diseases. Countries such as China, Ghana, Singapore and elsewhere have found very few cases of COVID-19 among such samples – or no cases at all. The only way to be sure is by looking for COVID-19 antibodies in large numbers of people, and several countries are now doing those studies. This will give us further insight into the extent of infection in populations over time. WHO has developed protocols on how these studies should be done, and we encourage all countries to do these studies and share their data. The second major difference is that COVID-19 causes more severe disease than seasonal influenza. While many people globally have built up immunity to seasonal flu strains, COVID-19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity. That means more people are susceptible to infection, and some will suffer severe disease. Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected. Third, we have vaccines and therapeutics for seasonal flu, but at the moment there is no vaccine and no specific treatment for COVID-19. However, clinical trials of therapeutics are now being done, and more than 20 vaccines are in development. And fourth, we don’t even talk about containment for seasonal flu – it’s just not possible. But it is possible for COVID-19. We don’t do contact tracing for seasonal flu – but countries should do it for COVID-19, because it will prevent infections and save lives. Containment is possible. To summarize, COVID-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, it causes more severe illness than flu, there are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics, and it can be contained – which is why we must do everything we can to contain it. That’s why WHO recommends a comprehensive approach. These differences mean we can’t treat COVID-19 exactly the same way we treat flu. But there are enough similarities to mean that countries are not starting from scratch. For decades, many countries have invested in building up their systems to detect and respond to influenza. Because COVID-19 is also a respiratory pathogen, those systems can, should and are being adapted for COVID-19.
It's arrived here boys https://abc13.com/health/presumptive-case-of-covid-19-found-fort-bend-co/5977165/
Hmm... I question some of the change that they added... For example we've been using the Coronavirus name here as a blanket term like we use influenza (that covers multiple strains of the flu, all are unique but share a very close relationship and obviously some are more deadly like Spanish flu, avian bird etc etc). With that said, for this outbreak - covid-19 / Coronavirus 2019, it's very much in the same class as SARS and MERS (meaning they're all Coronaviruses) I want to say an 80% relationship between SARS and this current strain, so cornonaviruses are specific class of viruses and under that you have - MERS SARS SARS-CoV-2 (this one) Also.. In the US the typical mortality rate is fortunately lower like 0.1 % mortality for regular seasons of flu, while this even at 1 to 3%+ can be a huge difference - so 10-30x more mortality, still low but I prefer less than a percent. Am I saying it's 1-3? no, but I'm also uncertain regarding it due to limited tests done and how recent this came about. I'm also not buying this on the spread yet. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but with the R0 all over the place it very likely is spreading now, with that said I do like some of the newer numbers. But R0 for typical flu is 1.3, in this case we've seen numbers all over the place 2-5 etc. So I'm not quite sure how they can state its not as contagious since 1 we haven't regularly been exposed to coronaviruses as strong as mers/sars (in general) and 2, we don't typically have the natural immunity/autommune response or some vaccine that can help with different strains. I'm also not sure with the statement "we're starting from scratch" - sure because it's a new mutation/strain, but similar approaches used for mers/sars will/have been used/tested for this (I'm certain), the change for this is because of the different characteristics to original SARS (20% dif). I know if we had like even basic coronavirus vaccines given long ago it wouldn't specifically help against this newer coronavirus but I do think it could allow the immune system to trigger a response better. That's why even when scientists/virologists get the flu strain wrong looking at trends and planning ahead of time with other countries research - kind of like using a series of models similar to an evolution tree but trying to look ahead to what's coming - I kind of made this simpler to not get crazy detailed but here's what I'm talking about - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-are-seasonal-flu-vaccines-made/ I honestly am questioning why after SARS they didn't come up with a vaccine that would be given readily or more research, I know a SARS 2003 vaccine wouldn't help directly (but maybe you might get an immune response faster - similar to how you can get a immune response even if they're wrong on flu strains). Also to add to this- it would have made us more prepared to have a vaccine, but the money side of things stopped the Vaccine plan once sars died out Here's a great quote/example : "“If we’re putting all our hopes in a vaccine as being the answer, we’re in trouble,” Jason Schwartz, an assistant professor at Yale School of Public Health who studies vaccine policy, told me. The best-case scenario, as Schwartz sees it, is the one in which this vaccine development happens far too late to make a difference for the current outbreak. The real problem is that preparedness for this outbreak should have been happening for the past decade, ever since SARS. “Had we not set the SARS-vaccine-research program aside, we would have had a lot more of this foundational work that we could apply to this new, closely related virus, ” he said. But, as with Ebola, government funding and pharmaceutical-industry development evaporated once the sense of emergency lifted. “Some very early research ended up sitting on a shelf because that outbreak ended before a vaccine needed to be aggressively developed.”" -https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/covid-vaccine/607000/ Anyway on the bright side, if there are 2 strains going 1 stronger - 1 weaker, this could be why some people get reinfected, and also why some people aren't showing symptoms, since they got the weak one.. Which Would be a positive Blah, I made this too long, haha
good info So, containment is the best strategy and is possible with a comprehensive approach. But we are failing so far since we lack testing.
You going to the Comic-Con?!?!?!? But, a lot of big comic's heavy hitters are not going for the convention. If they are skipping, so should you convention-related, or not. Knowing some bankers, a lot of restaurants on Bellaire are suffering big time. I personally saw an account went from spending 2K a monthly for 1 staple item to only spending barely over $1K for a staple item. This is like the Depression.
Went to Dave and Busters with my bud today. It was a ghost town, never seen it that dead. The fear is real
We do a lot of testing labs, presumptive positive is not totally positive. A lot of times, it comes back negative on the 2nd testing. Some of these tests maybe similar to corona virus, but it may not. I'm not saying it isn't, but we just have to be on-guard. My worst fear is getting it and transferring to my older family members.
