SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Out here, the new protocol is even more narrow: no test unless the result would make a difference in the patient's treatment.

We are well past the point where containment is possible. Now it is more a matter of slowing the spread, and building / converting / obtaining more resources to handle the flood.

 

Out here, King County is doing that. They have purchased a couple hotels to use as recovery housing, and are putting up several rapid-assembly tent-based temporary buildings to be purposed as- and when-needed. Yesterday's local news displayed major assembly progress in what was a local soccer field earlier in the week.

 

ma: 5000 tests, 500 cases. good news, hospitalizations dropped from 14 to 11%

 

"On or about January 15, someone infected by the coronavirus arrived in the Seattle area, Bedford’s research would later show. The virus began to silently spread in the region. It would not be detected for another six weeks."

That is the timeframe commonly mentioned here, based on genetic forensic estimates. But the spouse and I are suspicious: might it actually have been here earlier? We both experienced a very unusual (for us) form of cold/crud/flu four weeks earlier, starting lower in the lungs instead of the usual upper respiratory tract. If not for the timeframe mismatch, we'd believe that we already had this Covid-19.

The Seattle Flu Study, which began taking samples last year in a new effort to track the regular annual influenza season, likely has the evidence to confirm or refute or refine this timeframe, stored in its archived samples. But as previously mentioned in someone else's post, the SFS was ordered by Federal and State authorities to not test those samples for this virus. (Participant consent issue. Testing for Covid-19 was not part of the original consent agreement -- because it didn't yet exist.) They defied that order for a while, under guidance from their ethics panel, then ceased under increased pressure from above.

How Seattle Flu Study defied federal government to test for coronavirus

‘It’s Just Everywhere Already’: How Delays in Testing Set Back the U.S. Coronavirus Response - The New York Times

Updates from the Seattle Flu Study

 

Per 3/21/2020 9:13:23 PM Johns Hopkins on cases, we #3:

• 81,345 China
• 53,578 Italy
• 26,574 US
• 25,496 Spain
• 22,364 Germany
• 20,610 Iran

Bob Wilson

ps. Thanks @fuzzy1! I left Spain off.

 

For a long time, we were #8. Then we passed France and South Korea to #6, holding that position through yesterday.

This morning, we were #4, overtaking Iran and Germany. And late in the same day, moved up past Spain to #3.

 

This item is buried in a string of many Live Daily Update items on the same page, so I copied the portion of interest.

"6:42 pm
Lost or diminished sense of smell could signal coronavirus in people with no other symptoms

An early warning sign of COVID-19 may be a loss of smell, particularly among patients showing no other symptoms, a medical group in the United Kingdom said Saturday. The observation could help reveal otherwise hidden carriers of the illness, whose lack of symptoms have fueled its rapid spread.

“There is already good evidence from South Korea, China and Italy that significant numbers of patients with proven COVID-19 infection have developed anosmia/hyposmia” – lost or decreased sensitivity to smells, wrote the leaders of the British Rhinological Society and ENT UK, a professional group for ear, nose and throat surgeons. “In Germany it is reported that more than 2 in 3 confirmed cases have anosmia. In South Korea, where testing has been more widespread, 30% of patients testing positive have had anosmia as their major presenting symptom in otherwise mild cases.

“In addition, there have been a rapidly growing number of reports of a significant increase in the number of patients presenting with anosmia in the absence of other symptoms – this has been widely shared on medical discussion boards by surgeons from all regions managing a high incidence of cases,” wrote Professors Claire Hopkins and Nirmal Kumar.

They acknowledged the chance that this “apparent increase” may be a result of all the attention on COVID-19, and that more typical viruses – which account for up to 40% of anosmia cases in adults – could be the cause.

That said, they wrote, “There is potential that if any adult with anosmia but no other symptoms was asked to self-isolate for seven days, in addition to the current symptom criteria used to trigger quarantine, we might be able to reduce the number of otherwise asymptomatic individuals who continue to act as vectors, not realising the need to self-isolate.”

Patients arriving with anosmia should also trigger the use of full personal protective equipment by healthcare personnel, they wrote.

—Benjamin Romano"

 

Both are better than loss by hydrogen sulfide.

 

Thank you for this information. Additional information: coronavirus has been around since the 1950's, when I lost a lot of my sense of smell.

 

Yeah, Tom Clancy predicted such in his past books & even gave the military lectures on the subject.

 

Note that there are hundreds of varieties of coronaviruses. 7 are known to afflict humans: 4 mild varieties that cause common colds, and 3 serious varieties: SARS, MERS, and this new Covid-19.

The many others afflict various other mammals.

 

Maybe someone can explain to me why recovery in China is about 90% and in all other regions of the world is at 4-7%?
Data is taken from here 2 days ago, now China has 90% recovery.

 

Is it coincidence that China’s reports improved after they kicked the US press out of the country? How do we know what is really happening?

 

China took draconian measures to limit the spread. Of course, they also delayed the start of those measures, but they did.
China’s populace also followed those directives.

 

most experts say they believe china 'until proven othrwise'.

many dissadents claim it's all lies and propaganda. same thing happening in russia.

 

You shouldn't talk so much truth. communist china (always small letters) will take exception to you.

 

It appears that some Asian countries are experiencing a second round of coronavirus. Is communist china (always small letters) one of them? Plus, communist china (always small letters) was lying about the cessation of coronavirus in communist china (always small letters).

 

Here is a "coincidence". My wife heard a doctor from Italy claim this is not a virus, but a pneumonia.
I now see reports wondering if Russia has low Coronavirus numbers because they are calling them pneumonia. Apparently their pneumonia numbers are higher than in previous years.