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

Kanky

Well-Known Member
I am also suspicious of these “open everything” protests. They are organized by politicians and a few small business owners who want the government and the media to convince people who are sheltering in place that it is safe to patronize their establishments.

Essential workers are still working, and everyone who can work from home is doing so. People who are laid off are collecting higher than normal unemployment benefits. In some cases the unemployment benefits are higher than the wages that the laid off employees would receive by working. The “open everything” protestors want their cheap labor and their customers back.
 

Dellas

Well-Known Member
Today my mom's first cousin, my second cousin died of coronavirus. We thought she would pull through. Now the family, including my mom and myself, are debating going to the funeral.
This has hit home for me even more. I literally have to choose showing respect and keeping family expectations or protect my health.
There are two things my family is about...funerals and reunions. Terrible position.
 

starfish

Well-Known Member
I had shortness of breath on 4/1 so I went to Urgent Care and got a Rona test. I had no other symptoms but shortness of breath and fatigue. So uncomfortable. I thought the doctor was going to shove that stick to my brain! I tested negative, it was just my asthma and allergies.

But check this out, I think I had the Rona in January. I thought I had a really bad flu and urgent care (it’s 2 minutes from my house and efficiently run by Carbon Health) gave me a breathing treatment, Tylenol, a scrip for Tamiflu and information about how to treat the flu. When I went online to check my Rona test results I went and looked up my labs from 1/20 and I tested negative for flu A and B.

I had all the Rona symptoms, very high fever for 5 days, a cough, couldn’t breathe, headaches, no taste, no appetite, sore throat, vomiting, diahrrea and extreme fatigue. I didn’t have these symptoms all at once, they appeared and disappeared and reappeared in the span of two weeks. I went to ER on day 6 because I couldn’t breathe. (I scared my husband to death when I started crying because I couldn’t breathe. I was really scared) They x-rayed my lungs for pneumonia, shot me up with a lot of steroids, gave me oxygen and some breathing treatments. I stayed overnight on oxygen and left the next day when my oxygen levels were up and stable. They told me to get a pulse oximeter and monitor my oxygen levels. I had to go back on day 9 cuz my oxygen levels were low again and I couldn’t breathe again and they kept me for 2 days on oxygen. More steroids and breathing treatments. They said my lungs were really inflamed but I didn’t have pneumonia. I thought it just was my asthma. The Tamiflu didn’t do anything, it mocked me. My husband got sick after me but he was only sick for 5 days. Low grade fever, headaches and diarrhea were his symptoms. If that wasn’t a flu then what was it? Was it just some odd strain of flu? I’m really interested in getting an antibody test to confirm my suspicions.
 

meka72

Well-Known Member
Today my mom's first cousin, my second cousin died of coronavirus. We thought she would pull through. Now the family, including my mom and myself, are debating going to the funeral.
This has hit home for me even more. I literally have to choose showing respect and keeping family expectations or protect my health.
There are two things my family is about...funerals and reunions. Terrible position.
I’m sorry to hear about your cousin and will say a prayer for your family. I hope people understand that these are unusual times and that people may not come to the funeral because of the danger of doing so.
 

meka72

Well-Known Member
Glad that you’re on the mend. Your experience sounds scary.

That does sound like corona. Do you know how you would’ve gotten it?

I had shortness of breath on 4/1 so I went to Urgent Care and got a Rona test. I had no other symptoms but shortness of breath and fatigue. So uncomfortable. I thought the doctor was going to shove that stick to my brain! I tested negative, it was just my asthma and allergies.

But check this out, I think I had the Rona in January. I thought I had a really bad flu and urgent care (it’s 2 minutes from my house and efficiently run by Carbon Health) gave me a breathing treatment, Tylenol, a scrip for Tamiflu and information about how to treat the flu. When I went online to check my Rona test results I went and looked up my labs from 1/20 and I tested negative for flu A and B.

I had all the Rona symptoms, very high fever for 5 days, a cough, couldn’t breathe, headaches, no taste, no appetite, sore throat, vomiting, diahrrea and extreme fatigue. I didn’t have these symptoms all at once, they appeared and disappeared and reappeared in the span of two weeks. I went to ER on day 6 because I couldn’t breathe. (I scared my husband to death when I started crying because I couldn’t breathe. I was really scared) They x-rayed my lungs for pneumonia, shot me up with a lot of steroids, gave me oxygen and some breathing treatments. I stayed overnight on oxygen and left the next day when my oxygen levels were up and stable. They told me to get a pulse oximeter and monitor my oxygen levels. I had to go back on day 9 cuz my oxygen levels were low again and I couldn’t breathe again and they kept me for 2 days on oxygen. More steroids and breathing treatments. They said my lungs were really inflamed but I didn’t have pneumonia. I thought it just was my asthma. The Tamiflu didn’t do anything, it mocked me. My husband got sick after me but he was only sick for 5 days. Low grade fever, headaches and diarrhea were his symptoms. If that wasn’t a flu then what was it? Was it just some odd strain of flu? I’m really interested in getting an antibody test to confirm my suspicions.
 

Everything Zen

Well-Known Member
I usually don't watch the press briefings but I couldn't turn away yesterday. He really did say that mess about injecting disinfectants to kill the virus.

MAGATs are out here explaining it away with him being sarcastic. Then when you say that a press briefing during a pandemic crisis is not the time for sarcasm you get well maybe it is.... :censored: I can’t say what I want to say out loud, but God knows my heart. ;)
 

awhyley

Well-Known Member

They can have a few drinks while they're at it.

Dettol (on the rocks).jpg

So they had a spike of 30 idiots ingesting Lysol or bleach yesterday in NYC. Nobody died. But one man said the president said so.
I'm tired of saying I told u so with this dude. He is worse than anyone could have imagined.

Seriously? Was he on the news? Do you have a clip?
 

starfish

Well-Known Member
Glad that you’re on the mend. Your experience sounds scary.

That does sound like corona. Do you know how you would’ve gotten it?

I live in the Bay Area in California and there’s a lot of Chinese here. I went to a big NYE party given by someone from Shanghai so maybe I caught it then. I think there was community spread in California long before February
 

vevster

Well-Known Member
I had shortness of breath on 4/1 so I went to Urgent Care and got a Rona test. I had no other symptoms but shortness of breath and fatigue. So uncomfortable. I thought the doctor was going to shove that stick to my brain! I tested negative, it was just my asthma and allergies.

But check this out, I think I had the Rona in January. I thought I had a really bad flu and urgent care (it’s 2 minutes from my house and efficiently run by Carbon Health) gave me a breathing treatment, Tylenol, a scrip for Tamiflu and information about how to treat the flu. When I went online to check my Rona test results I went and looked up my labs from 1/20 and I tested negative for flu A and B.

I had all the Rona symptoms, very high fever for 5 days, a cough, couldn’t breathe, headaches, no taste, no appetite, sore throat, vomiting, diahrrea and extreme fatigue. I didn’t have these symptoms all at once, they appeared and disappeared and reappeared in the span of two weeks. I went to ER on day 6 because I couldn’t breathe. (I scared my husband to death when I started crying because I couldn’t breathe. I was really scared) They x-rayed my lungs for pneumonia, shot me up with a lot of steroids, gave me oxygen and some breathing treatments. I stayed overnight on oxygen and left the next day when my oxygen levels were up and stable. They told me to get a pulse oximeter and monitor my oxygen levels. I had to go back on day 9 cuz my oxygen levels were low again and I couldn’t breathe again and they kept me for 2 days on oxygen. More steroids and breathing treatments. They said my lungs were really inflamed but I didn’t have pneumonia. I thought it just was my asthma. The Tamiflu didn’t do anything, it mocked me. My husband got sick after me but he was only sick for 5 days. Low grade fever, headaches and diarrhea were his symptoms. If that wasn’t a flu then what was it? Was it just some odd strain of flu? I’m really interested in getting an antibody test to confirm my suspicions.
I am now hearing that this virus has been in the US earlier than previously thought.
 

vevster

Well-Known Member
So they had a spike of 30 idiots ingesting Lysol or bleach yesterday in NYC. Nobody died. But one man said the president said so.
I'm tired of saying I told u so with this dude. He is worse than anyone could have imagined.
And this from Twitter:
A patient in our ER gave himself a bleach enema. He is being treated for external & internal chemical burns & receiving a psych consult.
He said the president said it kills coronavirus.
 

Layluh

Well-Known Member
Never heard of a flu / virus causing strokes. #manmade?
I'm not an expert (of course) so I can only go by what scientists tell me. But I was told that if it were man made, youd be able to tell by its genome sequence which has been published online.

When I looked into what I was told further, I found this:
"By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural processes," one of the researchers, Scripps Research immunologist Kristian Andersen, said at the time."

and this:
"If you were going to design it in a lab the sequence changes make no sense as all previous evidence would tell you it would make the virus worse. No system exists in the lab to make some of the changes found."

https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s...k-of-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-lab-rumour
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/sa...-not-man-made-comparative-genomic-study-finds
 

BonBon

Well-Known Member
Written in 2016.

The illegal trade in wild-animal meat could cause the next global pandemic

September 29, 2016

By Akshat Rathi

Senior reporter

At first glance, there seems to be nothing unusual about Ridley Road Market. Like any other London market, there are stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables, cheap electronics, artificial jewelry, and other bits and bobs.

Then, the smell hits you. Behind the makeshift stalls are butchers’ shops. There are a dozen of them within 300 feet, each displaying a panoply of meats and hung carcasses. There are beef ribs, pork shoulders, lamb shanks, chicken thighs—all the standard offerings found at most butchers. But there are also more unusual cuts like lamb heads, ox kidneys, cow hooves, and others I don’t recognize.

Some of the butchers show questionable hygiene: they handle meat with bare hands, blood oozes out onto shop floors, and flies settle on some of the meat. Most things are unlabeled. None of this deters shoppers, but it’s not what I expected from a market that has already been under the spotlight for selling smuggled bushmeat.

Bushmeat is a catchall phrase for the meat of wild animals found in the tropics, principally West and Central Africa. It is illegal in the UK and many other countries, which were forced to adopt strict rules following disease outbreaks that were linked to the import of wild meat.

Humans have, of course, hunted and eaten wild animals for hundreds of thousands of years. Before we invented agriculture and domesticated animals, wildlife was a key source of nutrition (and still is in some parts of the world). Without such hunting, we would never have become the planet’s dominant species.

But the equation has changed. There are now too many of us and too few of them. Worse still, the imbalance we’ve created has opened us up to diseases that would have otherwise remained in wild animal “reservoirs.” If a specific set of circumstances align, an infectious disease that jumps from an animal to a human can spread rapidly and kill indiscriminately in our hyperconnected world.

Hosting deadly viruses
Infectious diseases are caused by pathogens of all shapes and sizes—from single molecules called prions to multicellular parasites like tapeworms. These pathogens can lead to a range of illnesses, from the mild, like the common cold, to the devastating and fatal, like rabies. Together, infections cause one in five deaths every year, and make billions of us ill.

Fortunately, not all pathogens are capable of creating the next pandemic. Black death, which killed a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century, was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. With modern antibiotics, we generally don’t need to worry about bacteria —at least not until a superbug resistant to all antibiotics finds a way of spreading.

But some infections have the potential to cause what scientists simply call the next big one. “Next” because this sort of thing has happened before—think about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic—and “big one” because the scale and cost to society can be tremendous. The next big one could be a known threat, such as Ebola or bird flu, or it could be something you’ve never heard of.

The experts I spoke to agree that the agent most likely to cause the next pandemic will be a virus—more specifically, an RNA virus. These viruses are the bêtes noires of infectious-disease specialists, and are responsible for influenza, MERS, Ebola, SARS, polio, and HIV, among others.

They also cause lesser-known diseases with the potential to become the next big one: Marburg, Lassa, Nipah, Rift Valley fever, and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever to name a few. (In early September a man died from Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever in Spain, reportedly the first case in Western Europe in someone who hadn’t travelled to areas affected by the disease.)

Compared to the cells that make up living things, viruses are lean. They carry only as much genetic code as needed to enter a cell and take over its machinery. And RNA viruses lack the genetic code to make an error-correcting enzyme called DNA polymerase. This means that they suffer many times the mutation rate of any other kind of organism.

Such a high mutation rate would be a curse for a large organism, but for RNA viruses, it is a boon. Most mutations will render a virus less powerful, but every so often one will give it a nasty new power, say the ability to be more harmful to a new host. If such an evolved virus were to find a new host, it could unleash a new epidemic.

The other thing that experts are quite sure about is that the next big one will be a zoonotic disease—one capable of jumping from animals to humans. The fear of such an event, often called a “spillover,” is why bushmeat gets a bad rap.

Unlike smallpox and polio, which have been eradicated and nearly eradicated respectively, zoonotic diseases cannot be entirely wiped out—unless we can also destroy all the species that serve as reservoirs for these pathogens. Black death, Spanish flu and HIV—causes of the three biggest known pandemics—are all zoonotic diseases, and so, almost certainly, will be the next big one.


In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a list of the top emerging diseases that are “likely to cause severe outbreaks in the near future.” It’s no coincidence that all the diseases on the list are zoonotic diseases caused by RNA viruses, which turn animals—mostly wild ones—into reservoirs to hide in.
 

MomofThreeBoys

Well-Known Member
I'm not an expert (of course) so I can only go by what scientists tell me. But I was told that if it were man made, youd be able to tell by its genome sequence which has been published online.

When I looked into what I was told further, I found this:
"By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural processes," one of the researchers, Scripps Research immunologist Kristian Andersen, said at the time."

and this:
"If you were going to design it in a lab the sequence changes make no sense as all previous evidence would tell you it would make the virus worse. No system exists in the lab to make some of the changes found."

https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s...k-of-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-lab-rumour
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/sa...-not-man-made-comparative-genomic-study-finds
Here is some information on strokes and COVID

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/24/strokes-coronavirus-young-patients/
 

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
I don't know about the man made claims and would like to read about it. I can say 100% that this virus was here at least several weeks before the first post.

On a good note, many positive things will come including much cleaner, hygienic restaurants experiences. Maybe we can make a new thread about some of the positive outcomes?
 

MomofThreeBoys

Well-Known Member
I’m not one for shaming people’s cultural eating habits in other parts of the world but China Knew this was the cause of SARS and knew the dangers of these wet markets. Furthermore, their society (communism, no free press) is incentivized to hide when these things happen and therefore puts us all at risk. This is an opportunity to put pressure on China with our pockets and force them for more transparency If they want to participate in the global economy.

Written in 2016.

The illegal trade in wild-animal meat could cause the next global pandemic

September 29, 2016

By Akshat Rathi

Senior reporter

At first glance, there seems to be nothing unusual about Ridley Road Market. Like any other London market, there are stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables, cheap electronics, artificial jewelry, and other bits and bobs.

Then, the smell hits you. Behind the makeshift stalls are butchers’ shops. There are a dozen of them within 300 feet, each displaying a panoply of meats and hung carcasses. There are beef ribs, pork shoulders, lamb shanks, chicken thighs—all the standard offerings found at most butchers. But there are also more unusual cuts like lamb heads, ox kidneys, cow hooves, and others I don’t recognize.

Some of the butchers show questionable hygiene: they handle meat with bare hands, blood oozes out onto shop floors, and flies settle on some of the meat. Most things are unlabeled. None of this deters shoppers, but it’s not what I expected from a market that has already been under the spotlight for selling smuggled bushmeat.

Bushmeat is a catchall phrase for the meat of wild animals found in the tropics, principally West and Central Africa. It is illegal in the UK and many other countries, which were forced to adopt strict rules following disease outbreaks that were linked to the import of wild meat.

Humans have, of course, hunted and eaten wild animals for hundreds of thousands of years. Before we invented agriculture and domesticated animals, wildlife was a key source of nutrition (and still is in some parts of the world). Without such hunting, we would never have become the planet’s dominant species.

But the equation has changed. There are now too many of us and too few of them. Worse still, the imbalance we’ve created has opened us up to diseases that would have otherwise remained in wild animal “reservoirs.” If a specific set of circumstances align, an infectious disease that jumps from an animal to a human can spread rapidly and kill indiscriminately in our hyperconnected world.

Hosting deadly viruses
Infectious diseases are caused by pathogens of all shapes and sizes—from single molecules called prions to multicellular parasites like tapeworms. These pathogens can lead to a range of illnesses, from the mild, like the common cold, to the devastating and fatal, like rabies. Together, infections cause one in five deaths every year, and make billions of us ill.

Fortunately, not all pathogens are capable of creating the next pandemic. Black death, which killed a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century, was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. With modern antibiotics, we generally don’t need to worry about bacteria —at least not until a superbug resistant to all antibiotics finds a way of spreading.

But some infections have the potential to cause what scientists simply call the next big one. “Next” because this sort of thing has happened before—think about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic—and “big one” because the scale and cost to society can be tremendous. The next big one could be a known threat, such as Ebola or bird flu, or it could be something you’ve never heard of.

The experts I spoke to agree that the agent most likely to cause the next pandemic will be a virus—more specifically, an RNA virus. These viruses are the bêtes noires of infectious-disease specialists, and are responsible for influenza, MERS, Ebola, SARS, polio, and HIV, among others.

They also cause lesser-known diseases with the potential to become the next big one: Marburg, Lassa, Nipah, Rift Valley fever, and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever to name a few. (In early September a man died from Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever in Spain, reportedly the first case in Western Europe in someone who hadn’t travelled to areas affected by the disease.)

Compared to the cells that make up living things, viruses are lean. They carry only as much genetic code as needed to enter a cell and take over its machinery. And RNA viruses lack the genetic code to make an error-correcting enzyme called DNA polymerase. This means that they suffer many times the mutation rate of any other kind of organism.

Such a high mutation rate would be a curse for a large organism, but for RNA viruses, it is a boon. Most mutations will render a virus less powerful, but every so often one will give it a nasty new power, say the ability to be more harmful to a new host. If such an evolved virus were to find a new host, it could unleash a new epidemic.

The other thing that experts are quite sure about is that the next big one will be a zoonotic disease—one capable of jumping from animals to humans. The fear of such an event, often called a “spillover,” is why bushmeat gets a bad rap.

Unlike smallpox and polio, which have been eradicated and nearly eradicated respectively, zoonotic diseases cannot be entirely wiped out—unless we can also destroy all the species that serve as reservoirs for these pathogens. Black death, Spanish flu and HIV—causes of the three biggest known pandemics—are all zoonotic diseases, and so, almost certainly, will be the next big one.


In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a list of the top emerging diseases that are “likely to cause severe outbreaks in the near future.” It’s no coincidence that all the diseases on the list are zoonotic diseases caused by RNA viruses, which turn animals—mostly wild ones—into reservoirs to hide in.
 
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Reinventing21

Spreading my wings
I like many others wondered whether this virus was man made. Yet there seems to be compelling evidence that it wasn't.

However, knowing that is a nature made virus does not assuage fears over the role man possibly played in its spread.

What better way to hide a bioweapon if you use a nature made virus? You could deliberately inject it into the population, and then later feign innocence by showing how the virus was not designed in a lab.

Someone ( forgot who) cited an article about a book a Chinese man wrote about how to bring down the U.S.
 

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
But i also wonder what they mean when they say the virus would be "worse" if it were built in a lab. Cause if its causing strokes in young people, that's pretty damn bad. Then again, there is a 98% survival rate (or whatever it is). So, i don't know.
The stroke could be the result caused by physical and mental stress. People minimize the serious effects of constant stress.
 

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
With new blood clots forming before the doctor’s eyes as they remove the old clots? Stress doesn’t do that.

And a lot of people’s lives have become less stressful. No commute, less work more free time.
Really? May I ask how did you come to that conclusion?
 
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