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

[vevster]

You're better than me. I know you're in New York so your options are different but I don't plan on going outside unless I'm sitting on my porch or in the backyard. I'm only leaving to check on my family and pick up groceries for all of us.

I’m gonna try my courtyard tomorrow.

 

[C@ssandr@]

Ive been going out everyday for a run. There are usually a handful of people in the park. Half of them are usually running like I am.
The transition to remote work has been a challenge. Fortunately I live in walking distance to A park. A dose of sun once a day has been immensely helpful.

Eta: running is a newfound hobby. I picked it up once we started wfh.

 

[Neomorph]

Something else I am noticing is how the tune of those who work in healthcare are changing. I use to work in the healthcare field and know a lot of people who still do work in hospitals and other areas. It’s interesting to me how towards the end of February and beginning of this month it was a mindset of come on y’all the flu is worse and kills more people, all you have to do is wash your hands and not touch your face. And now those same people are talking about we need to take virus seriously and how crazy it is out.

Now I admit I was in the first group at one point, where I thought this is just a form of the cold. Just wash your hands, cough into your elbow, take cold medicine and be on your merry way. Now I know that yes those are good things to practice but it is scary because so much is unknown about this virus compared to a flu. And an unknown threat is always going to be more scary and worrisome to people than a threat we hear about and there have been studies of for years.

To the bolded: part of the reason why we don't know as much is because the family of coronavirus as a whole has been understudied for years. That's because of the now 7 types of coronavirus that can infect humans, 4 of them just give the common cold (they account for 1/3 of the common colds people get). There was an uptick in interest with SARS and MERS since they were far more dangerous, but not nearly as much as the amount of study interest (and grant money) the influenza family of viruses get.

Here's an article that breaks down some of the known science we have about coronavirus (and COVID19 in particular):

https://www.theatlantic.com/science...EmMos4n6s50tj0qCmUhkhaT1s6EPCkwxF2mZJZC8soO1g

 

[Black Ambrosia]

I just want to think of some good ways to make money during this time remotely and think of new businesses that will spawn as a result. I want to use my time wisely. Ideas anyone, Ideas? I know everyone is sewing masks, but beyond the masks.

Best,
Almond Eyes

This post reminds me of something I want to look into. Two articles recently referenced covid 19 certified cleaners. I googled and haven't found any info on what that means or how you get certified. I think that'll be in demand for as long as this is going on but may not be worth the risk. If I find anything I'll pass it along.

I know you're thinking in terms of businesses and products but I think there'll be a need for more healthcare workers after this is over. I pray for their safety but the urgency and fear in their pleas tells me they're concerned about surviving this. I think there'll be financial incentives for people interested in healthcare professions but we may not see that until we're 6 months to a year past this thing ending because educational institutions are closed right now. I don't think you can become a doctor or nurse completely online but idk for sure (obviously you can't do residency online). I think less is required to become a home healthcare worker. This should be in demand as well. I'm hearing more about people recovering but having long term respiratory damage. They'll need some help.

Also things that make life easier for people that are impaired like food prep, cleaning, etc. Years ago my sister and BIL had a medical transportation company. They'd pick up patients and take them to their appointments. I'll have to ask why they stopped doing that. It seemed lucrative at the time. idk how many people who recover will need this level of support but it's worth looking into in general because there's always a need among the elderly especially those at senior citizen apartment complexes.

I'll come back with other ideas as they come to me.

 

[Chicoro]

Ive been going out everyday for a run. There are usually a handful of people in the park. Half of them are usually running like I am.
The transition to remote work has been a challenge. Fortunately I live in walking distance to A park. A dose of sun once a day has been immensely helpful.

Eta: running is a newfound hobby. I picked it up once we started wfh.

You gone emerge super sexy after the quarantine. I see you!

I think we get 20 minutes here in France, but you got to have your "papers" here!

 

[NaturalEnigma]

Ive been going out everyday for a run. There are usually a handful of people in the park. Half of them are usually running like I am.
The transition to remote work has been a challenge. Fortunately I live in walking distance to A park. A dose of sun once a day has been immensely helpful.

Eta: running is a newfound hobby. I picked it up once we started wfh.

I went for a run yesterday at the park. I never liked running. I always feel like my lungs are going to explode but I was using the Peloton app and I had a great time! No wonder people run all the time. It’s so easy. At the gym I have to try to figure out what exercises I want to do, what body part to work on, how many reps, what size weights etc. but with running you just run. Lol it’s so simple. I’m going to try to run everyday now. Working from home and tuning in on news about the Corona Virus was stressing me out. My anxiety was like at 100. I need to get fresh air, and move my body.

 

[Chicoro]

To the bolded: part of the reason why we don't know as much is because the family of coronavirus as a whole has been understudied for years. That's because of the now 7 types of coronavirus that can infect humans, 4 of them just give the common cold (they account for 1/3 of the common colds people get). There was an uptick in interest with SARS and MERS since they were far more dangerous, but not nearly as much as the amount of study interest (and grant money) the influenza family of viruses get.

Here's an article that breaks down some of the known science we have about coronavirus (and COVID19 in particular):

https://www.theatlantic.com/science...EmMos4n6s50tj0qCmUhkhaT1s6EPCkwxF2mZJZC8soO1g

This is a great article, @Neomorph ! Thank you for linking it:


Science
Why the Coronavirus Has Been So Successful


We’ve known about SARS-CoV-2 for only three months, but scientists can make some educated guesses about where it came from and why it’s behaving in such an extreme way.

Ed Yong March 20, 2020

emarys / Getty

One of the few mercies during this crisis is that, by their nature, individual coronaviruses are easily destroyed. Each virus particle consists of a small set of genes, enclosed by a sphere of fatty lipid molecules, and because lipid shells are easily torn apart by soap, 20 seconds of thorough hand-washing can take one down. Lipid shells are also vulnerable to the elements; a recent study shows that the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, survives for no more than a day on cardboard, and about two to three days on steel and plastic. These viruses don’t endure in the world. They need bodies.

But much about coronaviruses is still unclear. Susan Weiss, of the University of Pennsylvania, has been studying them for about 40 years. She says that in the early days, only a few dozen scientists shared her interest—and those numbers swelled only slightly after the SARS epidemic of 2002. “Until then people looked at us as a backward field with not a lot of importance to human health,” she says. But with the emergence of SARS-CoV-2—the cause of the COVID-19 disease—no one is likely to repeat that mistake again.

To be clear, SARS-CoV-2 is not the flu. It causes a disease with different symptoms, spreads and kills more readily, and belongs to a completely different family of viruses. This family, the coronaviruses, includes just six other members that infect humans. Four of them—OC43, HKU1, NL63, and 229E—have been gently annoying humans for more than a century, causing a third of common colds. The other two—MERS and SARS (or “SARS-classic,” as some virologists have started calling it)—both cause far more severe disease. Why was this seventh coronavirus the one to go pandemic? Suddenly, what we do know about coronaviruses becomes a matter of international concern.


The structure of the virus provides some clues about its success. In shape, it’s essentially a spiky ball. Those spikes recognize and stick to a protein called ACE2, which is found on the surface of our cells: This is the first step to an infection. The exact contours of SARS-CoV-2’s spikes allow it to stick far more strongly to ACE2 than SARS-classic did, and “it’s likely that this is really crucial for person-to-person transmission,” says Angela Rasmussen of Columbia University. In general terms, the tighter the bond, the less virus required to start an infection.

There’s another important feature. Coronavirus spikes consist of two connected halves, and the spike activates when those halves are separated; only then can the virus enter a host cell. In SARS-classic, this separation happens with some difficulty. But in SARS-CoV-2, the bridge that connects the two halves can be easily cut by an enzyme called furin, which is made by human cells and—crucially—is found across many tissues. “This is probably important for some of the really unusual things we see in this virus,” says Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research Translational Institute.

For example, most respiratory viruses tend to infect either the upper or lower airways. In general, an upper-respiratory infection spreads more easily, but tends to be milder, while a lower-respiratory infection is harder to transmit, but is more severe. SARS-CoV-2 seems to infect both upper and lower airways, perhaps because it can exploit the ubiquitous furin. This double whammy could also conceivably explain why the virus can spread between people before symptoms show up—a trait that has made it so difficult to control. Perhaps it transmits while still confined to the upper airways, before making its way deeper and causing severe symptoms. All of this is plausible but totally hypothetical; the virus was only discovered in January, and most of its biology is still a mystery.


The new virus certainly seems to be effective at infecting humans, despite its animal origins. The closest wild relative of SARS-CoV-2 is found in bats, which suggests it originated in a bat, then jumped to humans either directly or through another species. (Another coronavirus found in wild pangolins also resembles SARS-CoV-2, but only in the small part of the spike that recognizes ACE2; the two viruses are otherwise dissimilar, and pangolins are unlikely to be the original reservoir of the new virus.) When SARS-classic first made this leap, a brief period of mutation was necessary for it to recognize ACE2 well. But SARS-CoV-2 could do that from day one. “It had already found its best way of being a [human] virus,” says Matthew Frieman of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
This uncanny fit will doubtlessly encourage conspiracy theorists: What are the odds that a random bat virus had exactly the right combination of traits to effectively infect human cells from the get-go, and then jump into an unsuspecting person? “Very low,” Andersen says, “but there are millions or billions of these viruses out there. These viruses are so prevalent that things that are really unlikely to happen sometimes do.”

Since the start of the pandemic, the virus hasn’t changed in any obviously important ways. It’s mutating in the way that all viruses do. But of the 100-plus mutations that have been documented, none has risen to dominance, which suggests that none is especially important. “The virus has been remarkably stable given how much transmission we’ve seen,” says Lisa Gralinski of the University of North Carolina. “That makes sense, because there’s no evolutionary pressure on the virus to transmit better. It’s doing a great job of spreading around the world right now.”

There’s one possible exception. A few SARS-CoV-2 viruses that were isolated from Singaporean COVID-19 patients are missing a stretch of genes that also disappeared from SARS-classic during the late stages of its epidemic. This change was thought to make the original virus less virulent, but it’s far too early to know whether the same applies to the new one. Indeed, why some coronaviruses are deadly and some are not is unclear. “There’s really no understanding at all of why SARS or SARS-CoV-2 are so bad but OC43 just gives you a runny nose,” Frieman says.

Researchers can, however, offer a preliminary account of what the new coronavirus does to the people it infects. Once in the body, it likely attacks the ACE2-bearing cells that line our airways. Dying cells slough away, filling the airways with junk and carrying the virus deeper into the body, down toward the lungs. As the infection progresses, the lungs clog with dead cells and fluid, making breathing more difficult. (The virus might also be able to infect ACE2-bearing cells in other organs, including the gut and blood vessels.)

The immune system fights back and attacks the virus; this is what causes inflammation and fever. But in extreme cases, the immune system goes berserk, causing more damage than the actual virus. For example, blood vessels might open up to allow defensive cells to reach the site of an infection; that’s great, but if the vessels become too leaky, the lungs fill even more with fluid. These damaging overreactions are called cytokine storms. They were historically responsible for many deaths during the 1918 flu pandemic, H5N1 bird flu outbreaks, and the 2003 SARS outbreak. And they’re probably behind the most severe cases of COVID-19. “These viruses need time to adapt to a human host,” says Akiko Iwasaki of the Yale School of Medicine. “When they’re first trying us out, they don’t know what they’re doing, and they tend to elicit these responses.”

During a cytokine storm, the immune system isn’t just going berserk but is also generally off its game, attacking at will without hitting the right targets. When this happens, people become more susceptible to infectious bacteria. The storms can also affect other organs besides the lungs, especially if people already have chronic diseases. This might explain why some COVID-19 patients end up with complications such as heart problems and secondary infections.

But why do some people with COVID-19 get incredibly sick, while others escape with mild or nonexistent symptoms? Age is a factor. Elderly people are at risk of more severe infections possibly because their immune system can’t mount an effective initial defense, while children are less affected because their immune system is less likely to progress to a cytokine storm. But other factors—a person’s genes, the vagaries of their immune system, the amount of virus they’re exposed to, the other microbes in their bodies—might play a role too. In general, “it’s a mystery why some people have mild disease, even within the same age group,” Iwasaki says.

Coronaviruses, much like influenza, tend to be winter viruses. In cold and dry air, the thin layers of liquid that coat our lungs and airways become even thinner, and the beating hairs that rest in those layers struggle to evict viruses and other foreign particles. Dry air also seems to dampen some aspects of the immune response to those trapped viruses. In the heat and humidity of summer, both trends reverse, and respiratory viruses struggle to get a foothold.

Unfortunately, that might not matter for the COVID-19 pandemic. At the moment, the virus is tearing through a world of immunologically naive people, and that vulnerability is likely to swamp any seasonal variations. After all, the new virus is transmitting readily in countries like Singapore (which is in the tropics) and Australia (which is still in summer). And one recent modeling study concluded that “SARS-CoV-2 can proliferate at any time of year.” “I don’t have an immense amount of confidence that the weather is going to have the effect that people hope it will,” Gralinski says. “It may knock things down a little, but there’s so much person-to-person transmission going on that it may take more than that.” Unless people can slow the spread of the virus by sticking to physical-distancing recommendations, the summer alone won’t save us.

“The scary part is we don’t even know how many people get normal coronaviruses every year,” Frieman says. “We don’t have any surveillance networks for coronaviruses like [we do for] flu. We don’t know why they go away in the winter, or where they go. We don’t know how these viruses mutate year on year.” Until now, research has been slow. Ironically, a triennial conference in which the world’s coronavirus experts would have met in a small Dutch village in May has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.


“If we don’t learn from this pandemic that we need to understand these viruses more, then we’re very, very bad at this,” Frieman says.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected].

Ed Yong is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers science.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science...EmMos4n6s50tj0qCmUhkhaT1s6EPCkwxF2mZJZC8soO1g

 

[Chicoro]

ACE2 mentioned in the article link posted by @Neomorph in post #1715 and pasted by me in post #1719 :

Are these related to the ACE inhibitor drugs taken by people with hypertension?

If so, this would help to explain:

1. Why on a particular day in Italy where 150 died, when those deaths were categorized, 99% of the dead had underlying medical conditions and of those dead 75% of dead had hypertension, where others had diabetes or some other condition.
   
2. Dr. Fauci said that he would assume most would be on ACE inhibitor drugs to control the situation. He added:
   • That he would consider the average patient healthy with hypertension controlled by ACE inhibitor drugs, if there were no other underlying issues.
   • He also stated that ACE inhibitor drugs create more ACE sites in the body. Thus, this creates more sites for the virus to attach which is explicitly stated in the article posted by @Neomorph .

 

[Black Ambrosia]

I appreciate that local governments are stepping up. I saw stories on the news about how New York is building temporary facilities to treat patients. King County in Washington is doing the same. I think they bought a motel too. Law enforcement and prisoners in Texas are distributing jugs of diluted bleach and people are lined up in their cars for miles.

 

[Chicoro]

Coronaviruses, much like influenza, tend to be winter viruses. In cold and dry air, the thin layers of liquid that coat our lungs and airways become even thinner, and the beating hairs that rest in those layers struggle to evict viruses and other foreign particles. Dry air also seems to dampen some aspects of the immune response to those trapped viruses. In the heat and humidity of summer, both trends reverse, and respiratory viruses struggle to get a foothold.

Beating hairs:
Cilia..they are finger-like things lining the pleural cavity of your lungs.

Here's a short video about lung cancer. I am posting it because it breaks down the anatomy of the lungs. BUT it doesn't talk about them cilia things. I'm still looking! In the meantime, I posted the lung cancer video ONLY for the short, detailed, lung anatomy lesson it provides!


Edited: Found one that mentions cilia! I am posting these videos to help us understand the anatomy of the lung. So far, it's only smoking and cancer related topics. Nothing's perfect. The animations are clear. I'm running with them!

 

[Ganjababy]

793 dead in the last day in Italy. Omg.

 

[Chicoro]

793 dead in the last day in Italy. Omg.

Is that for yesterday or for tonight?

 

[Chicoro]

https://quizadvice.blogspot.com/2016/12/in-small-airways-of-lung-thin-layer-of.html

In the small airways of the lung, a thin layer of liquid is needed between the epithelial cells and the mucus layer in order for cilia to beat and move the mucus and trapped particles out of the lung.

 

[Ganjababy]

Is that for yesterday or for tonight?

It’s yesterday. Today’s stat is not in as yet.

 

[vevster]

I appreciate that local governments are stepping up. I saw stories on the news about how New York is building temporary facilities to treat patients. King County in Washington is doing the same. I think they bought a motel too. Law enforcement and prisoners in Texas are distributing jugs of diluted bleach and people are lined up in their cars for miles.

Maybe. Isn’t there someone on this thread that has severe symptoms and can’t get care?

 

[Chicoro]

Maybe. Isn’t there someone on this thread that has severe symptoms and can’t get care?

Good looking out, @vester!

That's @Guapa1 . She's told us she is good for now. Guapa1 lives in England, not in the United States. Thus, this would not serve her.

 

[vevster]

Good looking out, @vester!

That's @Guapa1 . She's told us she is good for now. Guapa1 lives in England, not in the United States. Thus, this would not serve her.

I’ve seen postings from NYC to not get tested. It sucks.

[URGENT: STAY HOME, NYC! If you are well, stay home. If you are mildly ill, stay home. Do not seek #COVID19 testing. A positive test will not change what a doctor tells you to do to get better. The best course of action is to stay at home.

 

[Black Ambrosia]

If anyone is looking for work Amazon, Publix, 7-11, and Walmart are all hiring. I heard Walmart is looking for 120k temporary workers. Not suggesting any of us put ourselves in danger but I know we don't all have the ability to work from home.

 

[Black Ambrosia]

Maybe. Isn’t there someone on this thread that has severe symptoms and can’t get care?

I'm not suggesting it's enough or that this makes up for the federal government's failures. I just appreciate that they aren't sitting on their hands. That diluted bleach will help several families and the temporary hospital sites will allow covid patients to be isolated and helpfully prevent those hospitals from being overwhelmed. Something is better than nothing but it's definitely not enough.

 

[oneastrocurlie]

Ive been going out everyday for a run. There are usually a handful of people in the park. Half of them are usually running like I am.
The transition to remote work has been a challenge. Fortunately I live in walking distance to A park. A dose of sun once a day has been immensely helpful.

Eta: running is a newfound hobby. I picked it up once we started wfh.

I wish the weather was nice enough here to be outside. I'd definitely be at least walking lol.

 

[Chicoro]

Optimizing Your Healthy Lung Function​

(I am in no way purporting that these things will cure the virus!)​

​

1. Deep breathing- Try stomach vacuums. They perform a two fold purpose: Tightening up your lower abs and strengthening your diaphragm to better help to expel toxins from your lungs.
2. Physical exercise - Kind of lik2e point 1, but will help expel more CO2 (Carbon dioxide) and bring in more O2 (Oxygen)
3. Drink water- Add some lemon to it, but rinse mouth with salt water to bring pH down in mouth after. Acidic things like lemons soften the enamel on teeth as the bring the pH down in the mouth. Salt makes the mouth immediately more basic, raising the pH and allowing leaving the enamel less soft, in theory, and less vulnerable. Never brush teeth right after drinking lemon water!
4. Omega-3- They help with the epitheliel but I sort of missed why (excuse me!)
5. Herbs that may help with cleansing and detoxifying the lungs:Make a tea with the leaves. Or, use a drop of essential oil or use some powder. Sage, thyme, fresh raw garlic, marshmallow root, peppermint, licorice root (NOT no candy!!!), oregano, eucalyptus.
   
6. Zinc rich foods may not help with the lungs specifically but zinc helps with immunity. (Lentils, shitoki mushrooms, tofu, oatmeal)
   
7. Sufo???- Lightly steamed cabbage and raw radishes. Both of these have a sulphur based ingredient. I can't access the video from which it came right now. I'll come back later to fix it and put in the corrected term.
   
8. Spices - You can put these in a tea! Black pepper, ginger, tumeric, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne pepper
9. Chicken Soup!
10. Tea-Chai, Hibiscus and Green tea

 

[CurlyNiquee]

Sheesh.

 

[BackToMyRoots]

 

[Jmartjrmd]

If I was working I wish an administrator would physically take a mask off my face. These hospitals do not care about their workers as long as they are present. It's sad it was this way even before this outbreak.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/new...hqjDjqRWTxxtC9HdvypAon7jGy7C5bd3BEUnP2vBKcAjU

 

[Chicoro]

Sheesh.

Commissioner Omari Hardy

The Exchange Became Heated as Hardy Accused Triolo & City Manager Bornstein of Failing to Adequately Respond to the Crisis

During the exchange, Hardy accused Mayor Triolo and City Manager Michael Bornstein of “turning off people’s lights during a global health pandemic.” He also said Triolo had refused to call an emergency meeting to work on the city’s response to the crisis.


Things got heated when Triolo asked for a second and a vote, and Hardy interrupted, saying “are you telling me that you’re going to keep me from talking right now?” Another commissioner answered, “you’ve talked all evening.”


Hardy then said, “Look here, you’re calling me disrespectful because I’ve interrupted people. But this gentleman [Bornstein] has turned off people’s lights in the middle of a global health pandemic. That’s what that gentleman did. And you think I’m disrespectful for interrupting.”


He said, “this gentleman has had the opportunity to do a number of things. He could have banned large gatherings, we could have closed the beach, we could have put a moratorium on utility shut-offs.”
Triolo called a recess and tried to leave the room as Hardy yelled: “This is a banana republic is what you’re turning this place into with your so-called leadership.” He said “we should have been talking about this last week. We cut people’s utilities this week and made them pay, with what could have been their last check, to us to turn their lights on in a global health pandemic.”

He then yelled, “But you don’t care about that! You didn’t want to meet! But every other year you go around and beg people for their votes.” He said, “You care more about your relationship with [Bornstein] than you care about the relationship with the people who don’t go to work in this crisis.”

Mayor Pam Triolo

City Manager Michael Bornstein

https://heavy.com/news/2020/03/omari-hardy-lake-worth-mayor-coronavirus/

 

[Chicoro]

Sheesh.

She tells Omari, "You are done."

It looks like she might be done. But people are funny. The constituents may forgive her and re-elect her again anyway.

 

[sheanu]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politi...end-constitutional-rights-coronavirus-970935/

This article is downright scary.

 

[Chicoro]

Beautiful Ladies of LHCF, I leave you with this: Ephesians 6: 17 -18

The Full Armor of God ​

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed, and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace.

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.

Stay Strong and Focused!​

 

[TrulyBlessed]

 

[Chicoro]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politi...end-constitutional-rights-coronavirus-970935/

This article is downright scary.

Thanks for the heads up for us, @sheanu !


[...] The Trump Department of Justice has asked Congress to craft legislation allowing chief judges to indefinitely hold people without trial and suspend other constitutionally-protected rights during coronavirus and other emergencies, according to a report by Politico’s Betsy Woodruff Swan.


While the asks from the Department of Justice will likely not come to fruition with a Democratically-controlled House of Representatives, they demonstrate how much this White House has a frightening disregard for rights enumerated in the Constitution. [...]