Fake web news reports on the coronavirus (OT)

Buddy Blank said...
DJIA futures down nearly 1300 points, S&P futures frozen, circuit breakers activated...

"LIMIT DOWN."

Maybe they ought to quarantine the stock market? LOL

That's what the "circuit breakers" are, in a way.

Well, my wonderful state now has it's first KNOWN case.
A lady visited Washington state.
She started feeling sick, got a mask and then flew back to KC.

At least she made the effort.
But that's what, a 2-3 hour flight plus time in the airports. 3-5 hours total approximately.
You mean to tell me, that you want me to believe that that vector, kept that mask on the whole time?

I am not buying it one bit.

Interesting information from South Korea. They have the highest test concentration by far. They have tested 2,138 people per million of population. The next country by concentration is Italy with 366 tested per million of population.

South Korea have tested 109,591 people through March 3 and are testing 10,000 per day. According to the Johns Hopkins Covid-19 information, they have 7,478 cases and 53 deaths. So roughly 6.8% of those tested are infected and .0071% of those infected have died. Of those tested, 0.00048% have died. Of course these are early numbers and will change with time and actual results, but it appears a trend is developing that could be instructive for other countries. Incidentally, South Korea is the size of Indiana. Their population density is 1,302 per square mile. The USA density is 90 per square mile. Clearly, a situation like the Grand Princess Cruise ship indicates that all their passengers and crew should be tested. But beyond such obvious, but rare situations, what should be done?

My questions include, who should be tested? What is “mass testing”? How is that done in a country the size of the USA in terms of population and land mass? Are urban areas criteria different than rural areas? How is it physically done? Do workers go to businesses and homes? Who are these workers? How many are needed? In our full employment situation where do we get them? Is this done like the 2020 census? We certainly shouldn’t encourage mass testing gatherings if we are attempting to practice social distancing. What is the effect of mass testing on the labs? Will it take precedence over other lab work? How will priorities be determined? Will current people waiting on important tests be at risk to favor Covid-19 testing? If we reach South Korea levels quickly that would mean about 7 million initial tests and an additional 70,000 per day to match their throughput. In the US about 7 billion medical lab tests are conducted each year, or about 1.9 million each day. What is the testing capacity and what would the effects of the added testing be? If at the end we have similar experience to South Korea regarding positive cases and deaths per test, is it worth the expense and shock to the economic system?

It is easy to ask the questions and criticize the decision makers, but difficult to direct actions that have the most positive overall benefits to the large society. And since we really don’t know everything, much of what is done or not done will probably be proven to be wrong. So it is basically a matter of how wrong and at what societal cost?

Germany urges events with more than 1,000 to be cancelled over coronavirus
https://www.thelocal.de/20200308/berlin-urges-events-with-more-than-1000-to-be-cancelled-over-coronavirus

This should be done here without haste.

Excellent thread on what South Korea is doing:

https://twitter.com/vicjkim/status/1236906182796644353

I just hope we don't have to look back at some point and decide that going forward with these large gatherings was a colossal mistake.

"A D.C. priest has Coronavirus. He offered communion and shook hands with more than 500 worshippers last week and on February 24th. All worshippers who visited the Christ Church in Georgetown must self-quarantine. Church is cancelled for the first time since the 1800's"
https://twitter.com/sweeneyabc/status/1237018677360410624

Precisely why we have to shut down church services, sports events, etc.

All good questions without clear answers. The burning question really is just how big a problem is it? It's a thread-the-needle issue. If you overstate, you can create panic. If you understate, you might end up looking stupid.

My personal opinion is to screen (test) based on known risk factors: Attendance at large crowd events, homeless/indigent who live on the streets or in shelters, air/train travelers. Urban over rural (how many people ride the subways in major cities?). No matter how you do it, many will get missed.

For me, there are two confirmed cases near me (Montgomery county PA), and more in New Jersey where I work.

Sure. It doesn't have a CFR (case fatality rate) as high as MERS, or SARS-1 (COVID-19 is SARS-2), and influenza kills a lot of people every single year. And? COVID-19 is much more infectious than MERS, SARS-1, or influenza. You do the math.

This may be BS but there may be something to reducing ACE2 to help fight virus....

Looks like Coronaviruses attach to cells via ACE2, Reduce ACE2 and maybe reduce one of the virus main attack pathways.

ACE2 is reduced by Vitamin D

Hypothesis Vitamin D will help block the new form of Coronavirus, COVID-19

- All Coronavirus attach to ACE2 enzyme in human cells
- Vitamin D reduces ACE2 enzyme

https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/2020/03/03/there-is-a-drug-already-used-in-japan-which-may-treat-covid-19-says-new-study/#271b97d94127

Certainly not a cure and the virus likely has other pathways, but if it helps a little then good, but this needs looked at much deeper...

Coronavirus can travel twice as far as official ‘safe distance’ and stay in air for 30 minutes, Chinese study finds
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3074351/coronavirus-can-travel-twice-far-official-safe-distance-and-stay

we're all going to die