The Covid-19 Thread: News, Preparation Tips, Etc

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
@Black Ambrosia ,

So it goes from one animal to one person, then after that all the rest of the infections are spread via person to person? Potentially, one little bit of animal boo boo can do all this? I am not trying to be funny. If that's the case, its amazing there isn't a new virus outbreak out there or anywhere in the world, every day.
Just saw this. Honestly I'm guessing the human body is resilient and comes in contact with unclean food and animal fecal material (on door knobs, faucets, etc) everyday but we don't realize it because it doesn't make us sick or we think it's a bug and never make the connection. I think the coronavirus, ebola, and SARS are just the right combination of deadly factors. Not saying eating animal poo is safe but I think we'd see more outbreaks if that's all it took. I'm thinking about people that sleep with their dogs, kiss them on the mouth, etc. I know there's some fecal matter they're in contact with all the time and nobody's dying.
 

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
Thai doctors have been using a cocktail of flu and HIV drugs to treat coronavirus cases
  • A combination of flu and HIV medications are helping treat severe cases of the new coronavirus, Thai doctors said.
  • Chinese health officials have already been administering the HIV and flu drugs to fight the coronavirus, but the combination of the three together in a cocktail seemed to improve the treatment.
  • Thailand currently has recorded 19 cases of coronavirus, eight have recovered while 11 are still under treatment in hospitals.
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai doctors have seen success in treating severe cases of the new coronavirus with a combination of medications for flu and HIV, with initial results showing vast improvement 48 hours after applying the treatment, they said on Sunday.

The doctors from Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok said a new approach in coronavirus treatment had improved the condition of several patients under their care, including one 70-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan who tested positive for the coronavirus for 10 days.

The drug treatment includes a mixture of anti-HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir, in combination with flu drug oseltamivir in large doses.

"This is not the cure, but the patient's condition has vastly improved. From testing positive for 10 days under our care, after applying this combination of medicine the test result became negative within 48 hours," Dr. Kriangska Atipornwanich, a lung specialist at Rajavithi, told reporters.

"The outlook is good but we still have to do more study to determine that this can be a standard treatment."

Chinese health officials have already been administering the HIV and flu drugs to fight the coronavirus. The use of the three together in a cocktail seemed to improve the treatment, the Thai doctors said.

Another doctor said that a similar approach in two other patients resulted in one displaying some allergic reaction but the other showed improvement.

"We have been following international practices, but the doctor increased the dosage of one of the drugs," said Somsak Akkslim, director-general of the Medical Services Department, referring to the flu medicine Oseltamivir.

Thailand has recorded 19 cases of coronavirus. Of the Thai patients, eight have recovered and gone home while 11 are still under treatment in hospitals.

Somsak said the health ministry will meet on Monday to discuss the successful treatment in the case of the 70-year-old but said it is still too soon to say that this approach can be applied to all cases.

"Initially we will apply this approach only to severe cases," he said.
 

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
Hong Kong announces new border closures, as China's coronavirus death toll overtakes SARS
Hong Kong (CNN) — In a matter of weeks, the number of Wuhan coronavirus deaths in mainland China has overtaken the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in the country, as Beijing injected billions of dollarsinto an economy hit by effective shutdowns to major cities.

Since its outbreak in December, more than 360 people have died of the disease in China, the country's health authorities said Monday. The total number of cases in mainland China stood at 17,205 as of Sunday evening, an increase of over 2,800 on the previous day, or almost 20%.

The 2003 outbreak of SARS -- another coronavirus strand -- infected 5,327 people in mainland China, with 349 deaths. There were 8,098 confirmed cases of SARS worldwide from November 2002 to July 2003, with 774 deaths globally.


The first death from the virus outside China was confirmed over the weekend. Philippine health officials said that a 44-year-old Chinese man died Saturday after flying into the country from Wuhan.
So far, more than 180 cases have been reported outside of China -- the majority of them with a direct link to the country -- across more than 25 countries and territories worldwide. Many countries have begun closing their borders to visitors from China, with major airlines canceling flights to and from the country.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Monday announced new border closures over the Wuhan virus, amid intense public pressure to stop anyone crossing into the city from mainland China. Lam said further measures were being taken "to ensure the control of the boundary control points to reduce people movement across the border," but fell short of a complete sealing off of the city.

Germany confirmed its 10th case on Sunday, and there were also new cases reported in South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Macao and Hong Kong. The United States, Australia and New Zealand have all announced that they will not allow foreign nationals who have traveled from or transited through China to enter. Nationals from those countries will face mandatory quarantine on arrival.

The G7 nations will hold a joint telephone conference to discuss how to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, German Health Minister Jens Spahn announced after talking with his American counterpart Alex Azar on Sunday.

Economic pain

In China, Monday is supposed to be the first day back at work after an extended Lunar New Year holiday ended on February 2.

However much of the country will not be returning, with multiple local authorities extending the break in an attempt to avoid further spread of the virus. Hubei, the central Chinese province of which Wuhan is the capital, will lengthen its holiday by an "appropriate extent," authorities said Saturday, while Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and the manufacturing provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang will also reportedly remain on holiday until at least next week.
With much of China's economic heartland still closed, concerns are growing over the impact to the Chinese economy. The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets -- which have been closed since January 24 -- plunged by around 10% on opening Monday.

The People's Bank of China said Sunday it would inject 1.2 trillion yuan ($173 billion) into the Chinese markets in order to ensure "reasonably ample liquidity" in the banking system and keep currency markets stable.

The net amount of liquidity being injected into the markets will be much lower, however. According to Reuters calculations using central bank data, more than 1 trillion yuan worth of other short-term bond sales will mature Monday. That brings the net amount of cash flooding into the markets down to 150 billion yuan ($21.4 billion).

State news agency Xinhua on Monday published a defiant commentary headlined "Chinese economy resilient enough to counter virus shock."
"The epidemic will eventually come to an end, just like the winter will fade away. The negative implications of the virus on the Chinese economy will be short-lived, and the economic fundamentals are solid enough to withstand its blow," Xinhua said. "Doomsayers take this chance to hype again the China-collapse theory. But seasoned observers disagree."

It quoted a former chief economist at the Asian Development Bank saying that while the economic impact in the first quarter will likely be big, perhaps driving nationwide annual growth down a percentage point, "it will be substantially offset by above-the-trend growth in the rest of the year if the epidemic can be contained soon."

Fight to control the virus

In Wuhan itself, the epicenter of the virus outbreak where most of the deaths have been reported, there was a glimmer of hope Monday, as the first of two purpose-built hospitals opened for business.

The hospitals, built in about a week by thousands of workers on round-the-clock shifts and based on a similar plan used during the 2003 SARS outbreak, will be run by People's Liberation Army medical personnel.
They will add thousands of extra beds to Wuhan's extremely strained medical system. Thousands of health workers, including PLA medics, have also been dispatched to help out in ordinary hospitals in the city and other parts of Hubei.

But while Wuhan should be seeing some additional capacity Monday, Hong Kong will be seeing the opposite. Health care workers in the semi-autonomous Chinese city began a five-day strike on Monday over what they see as the failure of the city's government to fully shut the border with China. They are demanding a full border closure and greater support from the government.

In announcing the new border closures, Lam said further measures were being taken "to ensure the control of the boundary control points to reduce people movement across the border," but fell short of completely sealing off the city.

Lam said the main land borders at Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau would shut as of midnight tonight, as would the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal.

That will leave all but three border crossings between Hong Kong and mainland China closed. Those which remain open are the city's international airport, the Shenzhen Bay border and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.

There is widespread fear in Hong Kong -- where 15 coronavirus cases have been confirmed so far -- of a repeat of SARS, which infected more than 1,700 people and killed 286 in 2003.

Most front line medical workers will not strike, their unions said, in order to continue serving the public, but backroom and support staff will walk out.

Studying infection


Many countries have begun evacuating their citizens out of the worst hit areas of Hubei, while other nations, in addition to closing their borders to all visitors from China, are ordering mandatory quarantines of nationals returning home.

Major airlines -- including British Airways, American Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa -- have canceled or slashed routes to China for the foreseeable future.

Much of the concern is driven by the lack of a confirmed cure or treatment protocol for the virus, which appears to be far more contagious -- though not as deadly -- as SARS. About 10% of SARS cases resulted in death, while the toll from Wuhan coronavirus cases stands at about 2%.

On Sunday, doctors in Thailand said they had successfully treated one Wuhan coronavirus patient with a combination of antiviral drugs.

Dr. Kriangsak Atipornwanich, a doctor at Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok, said at a Ministry of Health news conference that he had treated a 71-year-old woman patient from China with a combination of drugs used in HIV and flu treatments. He said the patient had previously been treated only with anti-HIV drugs.

Officials at the news conference said the latest lab test showed there was no trace of the virus in the patient's respiratory system.

Hospitals in Beijing have previously reported using HIV drugs to treat coronavirus patients, though it is unclear if they have been successful.

With some apparent good news came another worrying development, however. Scientists in China discovered over the weekend that fecal samples from patients infected with the Wuhan coronavirus tested positive for the pathogen.

This means it is highly possible the virus can exist in and spread through contaminated fecal matter. Previously it had been thought the virus mainly spread through droplets emitted when a person coughs or sneezes, or through other direct contact.


One of the major SARS outbreaks during the 2003 epidemic was in the Hong Kong housing estate of Amoy Gardens. There, the virus is believed to have spread "via aerosolized fecal matter through the internal sewer system," according to a report by the US National Institute of Medicine.
 

Chicoro

5 Year Shea Anniversary: Started Dec 16th, 2016!
At the end of this video he talks about a 'Fecal plume'. This means that when you go to the restroom and have a bowel movement, this bacteria filled plume rises up and can travel. They found coronavirus in the stool of one person.

During the SARS epidemic, a man in a Chinese apartment building evacuated (had a bowel movement) and the fecal plume spread throughout the apartment building and contaminated many of the people in the apartment building.

This is why I tell people: DO NOT KEEP YOUR TOOTHBRUSH in the BATHROOM! Even if there is no virus in your fecal matter there is still bacteria there, in non-virus containing fecal matter. It can get in your mouth. I learned about this from the book, Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye, by Dr. Ellie, about 2 years ago.

 
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Reinventing21

Spreading my wings
@Chicoro said "This is why I tell people: DO NOT KEEP YOUR TOOTHBRUSH in the BATHROOM! Even if there is no virus in your fecal matter there is still bacteria there, in non-virus containing fecal matter. It can get in your mouth."

YES! I haven't kept my toothbrush in the bathroom for the same reason even though I didn't know the science behind it. I just have germaphobic tendencies.
 

Chicoro

5 Year Shea Anniversary: Started Dec 16th, 2016!
Ugh! One more thing to do! I’ll check out that book :)

No need to buy the book for that piece of info. She says pour a capful of plain Listerine on toothbrush, rinse the Listerine and store the toothbrush outside the toilet/bathroom where it can dry.
 

vevster

Well-Known Member
No need to buy the book for that piece of info. She says pour a capful of plain Listerine on toothbrush, rinse the Listerine and store the toothbrush outside the toilet/bathroom where it can dry.
No, I'm interested in the entire topic. But thanks for the listerine tip! I'm wondering if I get that gadget can that solution be used to disinfect toothbrushes. I'm thinking yes, because you can spray a binkie with it and put it back in the babies mouth......
 

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
Conoravirus case confirmed in Wisconsin, the 12th case in the U.S.
The patient had been around an individual with the virus while traveling in China.
Feb. 5, 2020, 7:42 PM GMT

Public health officials in Wisconsin have confirmed a case of the new coronavirus in that state, bringing the national total to 12.

The patient had come into contact with an individual with the virus while traveling in China.

The patient's illness is reported to be mild. Health authorities said the person is in isolation at home and was never sick enough to require hospitalization.

"At this time, the risk of getting sick from 2019 novel coronavirus is very low," Jeanne Ayers, administrator for the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, said during a call Wednesday afternoon with journalists.

The person had sought care in the emergency department of a hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. The health care workers who cared for the patient are now being monitored for symptoms.

There have been 11 other cases of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. One of those patients has been released from the hospital. The others remain hospitalized and are doing "well," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 

rayne

Well-Known Member
I'm behind in reading this thread, but I just saw this and had to post. A newborn has the virus. I hope the baby is ok.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...st-30-hours-after-birth/ar-BBZFMSb?ocid=ientp

ETA:
Baby tests positive for China virus just 30 hours after birth
AFP
8 hrs ago

UP NEXT
WHO says novel coronavirus does…

A baby in China's epidemic-hit Wuhan city has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus just 30 hours after being born, Chinese state media reported Wednesday.

The infant is the youngest person recorded as being infected by the virus, which has killed nearly 500 people since emerging late last year.

CCTV quoted experts as saying it may be a case of "vertical transmission", referring to infections passed from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or immediately after.

The mother had tested positive for the virus before she gave birth.

The official Xinhua news agency reported Monday that a baby born last week to an infected mother had tested negative.

The disease is believed to have emerged in December in a Wuhan market that sold wild animals, and spread rapidly as people travelled for the Lunar New Year holiday in January.

China's national health commission said on Tuesday that the oldest person diagnosed with the virus is a 90-year-old, and that 80 percent of reported deaths have been of patients 60 years of age and older.
 
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Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
Corona beer maker shrugs off misinformation on coronavirus
January 30, 2020 / 1:39 PM
By Kate Gibson

Corona beer maker Constellation Brands is brushing off misinformation spread by social media users that erroneously links the Mexican beer brand to the deadly China coronavirus.

The fast-spreading coronavirus has killed more than 170 people in China and set off a flood of misinformation on Facebook.

People's wildly incorrect ideas extended to Corona beer, with the popular brew from Mexico seeing a deluge of Google searches in the past week along with the terms "beer virus" and "corona beer virus."

In the U.S., Google Trends figures that 57% of those that searched one of those terms in recent days searched for "beer virus," while the remaining 43% looked for "corona beer virus."

The search engine on Tuesday tweeted that "coronavirus symptoms" had jumped 1,050% this week.
A spokesperson for publicly traded Constellation Brands said the company is not overly concerned about its beer brand getting a bad rap.

"We believe that consumers, by and large, understand there's no linkage between the virus and our beer/business," a spokesperson emailedCBS MoneyWatch.

The U.S. company's stock price was about $190 a share on Thursday, down slightly from $195 last Friday.

______________

Saw this at work today
 

Everything Zen

Well-Known Member
At the end of this video he talks about a 'Fecal plume'. This means that when you go to the restroom and have a bowel movement, this bacteria filled plume rises up and can travel. They found coronavirus in the stool of one person.

During the SARS epidemic, a man in a Chinese apartment building evacuated (had a bowel movement) and the fecal plume spread throughout the apartment building and contaminated many of the people in the apartment building.

This is why I tell people: DO NOT KEEP YOUR TOOTHBRUSH in the BATHROOM! Even if there is no virus in your fecal matter there is still bacteria there, in non-virus containing fecal matter. It can get in your mouth. I learned about this from the book, Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye, by Dr. Ellie, about 2 years ago.


That case of SARS spreading from diarrhea. Jesus Christ...
 

Chicoro

5 Year Shea Anniversary: Started Dec 16th, 2016!
Can you keep your toothbrush head in a closed bathroom cabinet? I rinse it with hydrogen peroxide daily after use.

I don't know. I follow the simple process outlined her book, which is outlined on her website. I do not vary it. I do not modify the proceed. I do know that my teeth and those of my family, have greatly benefited from using her process.
 

Iwanthealthyhair67

Well-Known Member
No, I'm interested in the entire topic. But thanks for the listerine tip! I'm wondering if I get that gadget can that solution be used to disinfect toothbrushes. I'm thinking yes, because you can spray a binkie with it and put it back in the babies mouth......


I already rinse my toothbrush with listerine, I also want to read the book.
 

Ganjababy

Well-Known Member
I guess he is not dead after all. I hope he survived


Coronavirus: Chinese media confusion over doctor's death

Chinese media have changed a report that a doctor who blew the whistle on the coronavirus outbreak has died of the infection.

The state-run Global Times said Li Wenliang had died in Wuhan but later reported he was instead critically ill.

The People's Daily had earlier sent out a tweet saying Dr Li's death had sparked "national grief".

Dr Li warned fellow medics about the virus on 30 December but was told by police to stop making "false comments".

The coronavirus has now killed more than 560 people and infected 28,000 in China.

Five need-to-know things about virus

It causes severe acute respiratory infection and symptoms usually start with a fever, followed by a dry cough. Most people infected are likely to fully recover - just as they would from a flu.

How did the confusion occur?

Dr Li was declared dead at 21:30 local time (13:30 GMT) on Thursday, and the news was reported by Chinese state media outlets, triggering a huge wave of popular reaction on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter.

Journalists and doctors at the scene, who do not want their names used, told the BBC and other media that government officials then intervened.

Official media outlets were told to change their reports to say the doctor was still being treated.

Reports said the doctor was given a treatment known as ECMO (extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation) which keeps a person's heart pumping and keeps their blood oxygenated without it going through their lungs.

What is Li Wenliang's story?

Dr Li, an ophthalmologist, posted his story on Weibo from a hospital bed a month after sending out his initial warning.

He had noticed seven cases of a virus that he thought looked like Sars - the virus that led to a global epidemic in 2003.

The Chinese doctor who tried to warn others

Diary of a life in locked-down Wuhan

A visual guide to the outbreak

On 30 December he sent a message to fellow doctors in a chat group warning them to wear protective clothing to avoid infection.

Four days later he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter. In the letter he was accused of "making false comments" that had "severely disturbed the social order".

He was one of eight people who police said were being investigated for "spreading rumours" Local authorities later apologised to Dr Li.

In his Weibo post he describes how on 10 January he started coughing, the next day he had a fever and two days later he was in hospital. He was diagnosed with the coronavirus on 30 January.

What is the latest on the virus in China?

China is introducing more restrictive measures to try to control the outbreak.

Beijing has banned group dining for events such as birthdays and weddings while cities such as Hangzhou and Nanchang are limiting how many family members can leave home each day.

Hubei province, the worst hit by the virus, has switched off lifts in high-rise buildings to discourage residents from going outside.

Its capital, Wuhan, has a lack of beds and equipment, one senior city official said. Despite the rapid construction of two hospitals, the volume of patients is causing severe strain.

Reports on social media say the Wuhan government is to carry out door-to-door temperature checks on residents.

The city of Dali in Yunnan province was accused of requisitioning a shipment of masks bound for Chongqing. Dali's government said it could not do anything as the boxes had already been distributed.

The cities of Qingdao and Shenyang also reportedly squabbled over a medical shipment.

There has been criticism of the crackdowns, with Human Rights Watch saying China was "treating public health with a sledgehammer".

Meanwhile, Hong Kong has seen panic buying of goods, including toilet rolls, and there have been huge queues for masks.

What's the latest on infections?

Although the virus has spread overseas, with confirmed infection in some 25 nations, there have so far been only two deaths outside mainland China - one in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.

The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency, saying if funds are not allocated now to tackle the outbreak, nations would pay for it later.

Coronavirus: What it does to the body

Although the official figures in China are of 28,000 infections, some scientists have estimated that the actual rate could be 10 times higher, with the majority of infected people only presenting mild symptoms, not receiving treatment, yet passing on the potentially deadly disease.

The UK on Thursday confirmed a third case of the virus.

Some 3,700 people on the Diamond Princess cruise vessel moored off Japan face testing and quarantine for at least two weeks. It has seen on 20 virus cases.

Another cruise ship with 3,600 passengers and crew is quarantined in Hong Kong with three cases on board.

Learn more about the new virus

How worried should we be?

The city now in lockdown

Can wearing masks stop the spread of viruses?

Coronavirus: A visual guide to the outbreak

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Kitamita

Well-Known Member
I guess he is not dead after all. I hope he survived

Dr Li was declared dead at 21:30 local time (13:30 GMT) on Thursday, and the news was reported by Chinese state media outlets, triggering a huge wave of popular reaction on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter.

Journalists and doctors at the scene, who do not want their names used, told the BBC and other media that government officials then intervened.

Official media outlets were told to change their reports to say the doctor was still being treated.

Reports said the doctor was given a treatment known as ECMO (extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation) which keeps a person's heart pumping and keeps their blood oxygenated without it going through their lungs.

"Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, also known as extracorporeal life support, is an extracorporeal technique of providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to persons whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of gas exchange or perfusion to sustain life. Wikipedia"

So basically he is on life support... I do genuinely hope he makes it, though it doesn't look good. :(

He is only 34yrs. So you would think he could beat it but if the Tencent numbers are anywhere close to being correct... :eek: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3871594 The article is unsubstantiated so I didn't take it as a fact but who knows if china is reporting accurate facts.
 
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Kitamita

Well-Known Member
I can also stick it in vinegar for 1/2 an hour..... ugh, one more thing to do!
I already rinse my toothbrush with listerine, I also want to read the book.
I don't know. I follow the simple process outlined her book, which is outlined on her website. I do not vary it. I do not modify the proceed. I do know that my teeth and those of my family, have greatly benefited from using her process.

Here you go ladies: https://brushspa.com

Brushspa is a unique toothbrush cleaner and sanitizer that offers one of the best ways to keep your toothbrush clean at home or on the go. With Brushspa, we bring you a product that eliminates bacteria and germs from your toothbrush in just a matter of few minutes. Its unique features help disinfect and sanitize your toothbrush, while stopping the bacteria on its surface from spreading in your mouth.
 
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