Covid19

[BBB]

Looks like Australia - or at least parts of it - is going into lockdown from Tuesday.

Partial lockdown it would seem.

Some states and territories have closed their borders (WA, SA, Tassie, the ACT and the NT) and we have non-essential servcies in lockdown (pubs, resturants and cafes - save for take away, cinemas etc). State and Federal Governments are trying to stop people from congregating as seemingly we cannot be trusted to do this ourselves (if the scene at Bondi on Saturday is any guide). This is to run until 14 April, which is when most kids would be starting term 2 at school. I expect the lockdown will be extended at this point.

[j44ke]

This seems like an important possible symptom that may even precede a positive test for covid19. Not clear from the article(?) but might not be present universally. But nothing about this virus seems 100% consistent somehow.

Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection - The New York Times

[gt6267a]

If this is correct, the moment is now for GA ...

Coronavirus Act Now

Point of no-return for intervention to prevent hospital overload:
Mar 24 to Mar 29

[sk_tle]

This seems like an important possible symptom that may even precede a positive test for covid19. Not clear from the article(?) but might not be present universally. But nothing about this virus seems 100% consistent somehow.

Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection - The New York Times

Most smokers would not feel the difference anyway.

[Lionel]

Why people think that the higher temp will cook this virus where Australia and India going to lock down ? It's already warm there.

[BBB]

Why people think that the higher temp will cook this virus where Australia and India going to lock down ? It's already warm there.

And in Australia we are heading towards the cooler weather with the first month of autumn about to come to a close. We’ve got a way to go down here.

[Chik]

Why people think that the higher temp will cook this virus where Australia and India going to lock down ? It's already warm there.

Or anywhere in SE Asia.

It's an odd conjecture.

[guido]

How Social Distancing Is Spreading Across America, In Charts - The New York Times

[ides1056]

As a data point to all: my wife came down with this in January- she had every symptom and was at the time clearing out our apartment in NYC after the landlord bought us out because it was rent stabilized. Three people she came into contact with also got sick: two she had dinner with and a farrier she knows who came by the barn. All were out of commission for ten days at least and continue to have trouble breathing. She thought it was the flu and tested negative, but was given a course of antibiotics for pneumonia. I took care of her and did not get sick, nor did our two children, one of whom has asthma. The two she had dinner with are not the picture of health by a long shot and it's truly a miracle one of them did not die as he is a wreck physically and in his eighties. He just sat in a chair for days unable to breathe, calling no one for help. A tough bastard.

What makes her certain are the stories coming out about a loss of appetite and the sense of smell and taste. This lasted for a week or so.

[Saab2000]

As a data point to all: my wife came down with this in January- she had every symptom and was at the time clearing out our apartment in NYC after the landlord bought us out because it was rent stabilized. Three people she came into contact with also got sick: two she had dinner with and a farrier she knows who came by the barn. All were out of commission for ten days at least and continue to have trouble breathing. She thought it was the flu and tested negative, but was given a course of antibiotics for pneumonia. I took care of her and did not get sick, nor did our two children, one of whom has asthma. The two she had dinner with are not the picture of health by a long shot and it's truly a miracle one of them did not die as he is a wreck physically and in his eighties. He just sat in a chair for days unable to breathe, calling no one for help. A tough bastard.

What makes her certain are the stories coming out about a loss of appetite and the sense of smell and taste. This lasted for a week or so.

A friend of mine who is a flight attendant with a major international carrier had similar symptoms in January as well. She thinks she had it but had no tests done. But it's not unthinkable that she did have COVID-19. She is regularly in contact with people who travel all over the world and it's likely that this virus had spread worldwide long before alarms were raised and international routes to China were shut down. Her airline does lots of flying in that region of the world.

I too had symptoms of something about the same time. No idea if could have been COVID-19.

But all this makes me wonder who has already had it and moved on.

[rec head]

I had a horrible cold early February. No smell, no taste, loss of appetite and every time I thought I was getting better it would get worse. I don't think I had covid-19

[monadnocky]

This seems like an important possible symptom that may even precede a positive test for covid19. Not clear from the article(?) but might not be present universally. But nothing about this virus seems 100% consistent somehow.

Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection - The New York Times

Interesting... anosmia (as it's called) is linked to all sorts of interesting neuropsychological problems as well- there's even a few neuropsych tests for it. I've been pretty anosmic since a mountain bike crash I had when I was 17; I suspect that the crash caused some mild damage to frontal structures. As far as I know, it hasn't negatively impacted my sense of taste, but what would I know.

[Lionel]

Which brings a question. If you had it and recovered is there a test that tells you you had it ?

[guido]

A Different Way to Chart the Spread of Coronavirus - The New York Times

[Lionel]

Any curve talking about number of confirmed infection is not relevant as testing is massively lacking and also differs country to country. The only curve that can help for comparaison sake is death numbers.

[Walter Sobchak]

Any curve talking about number of confirmed infection is not relevant as testing is massively lacking and also differs country to country. The only curve that can help for comparaison sake is death numbers.

"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."

Translated: you're speaking in absolutes, which are not relevant either.

[sk_tle]

Any curve talking about number of confirmed infection is not relevant as testing is massively lacking and also differs country to country. The only curve that can help for comparaison sake is death numbers.

death number is directly corelated to the amount of hospital beds / population so not entirely perfect for comparison purposes.

[Lionel]

death number is directly corelated to the amount of hospital beds / population so not entirely perfect for comparison purposes.

Right good point. But number of infected is completely bogus.

[jclay]

I've been curious about viral particle settling rates in still air since shortly after this contagion got onto my radar. Contemplating fog in still air made me think that, 1) it's quite a while and, 2) that the 6 foot rule is not terribly effective and gives people a false sense of security. Unhappily, the work in the linked paper from the NIH seems to support my concerns though note that it was performed on influenza A particles; but it's still obviously relevant. According to study mere tidal breathing mobilizes infectious concentrations of viral particles at the smaller end of the size spectrum which remain dispersed in still air for longer periods than larger particles. Sections 3 and 6 present the findings. Curiously, the summary in Section 7 doesn't directly address this particular aspect of their larger question.

According to this work the settling rate of the smaller particles is so low that a 5 micron particle requires around an hour to settle from a 3 meter height; and lots of viral particles are smaller than that. It also notes that normal tidal breathing may contribute more viral particles to a given air mass than infrequent sneezing and coughing. It's not surprising and it's not good news.

Influenza Virus Aerosols in the Air and Their Infectiousness

[Walter Sobchak]

According to this work the settling rate of the smaller particles is so low that a 5 micron particle requires around an hour to settle from a 3 meter height; and lots of viral particles are smaller than that. It also notes that normal tidal breathing may contribute more viral particles to a given air mass than infrequent sneezing and coughing. It's not surprising and it's not good news.

Influenza Virus Aerosols in the Air and Their Infectiousness

Je suis Pigpen?