General > General Technical Chat
Covid 19 virus
Stray Electron:
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on March 17, 2020, 07:06:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: Stray Electron on March 17, 2020, 05:30:00 pm ---I can't believe that seemingly intelligent people in this forum and elsewhere continue to believe that this isn't extremely serious and still want to compare it the annual flu!
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You have completely misunderstood what I and others have said.
The point is that flu is dangerous: very deadly pandemics occur about three times a century.
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My comment was not directed at you. I think you understand the situation better than most. My comment was directed at those who keep yelping that this virus doesn't matter because 20,000 people have already died this year in the US of the annual flu and of how many die yearly in auto accidents and other totally irrelevant numbers.
nctnico:
--- Quote from: Bud on March 17, 2020, 07:32:29 pm ---
--- Quote from: SilverSolder on March 17, 2020, 07:10:54 pm ---
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on March 17, 2020, 07:06:12 pm ---[...] influenza and coronaviruses are among the things we should be prepared for. [...]
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There really should be portable equipment/resources at the EU level that can be flown in to hot spot areas to help quell outbreaks, without each member country having to shoulder the cost of maintaining a high level of preparedness. A perfect job for a shared institution like the EU.
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Has an emergency response plan even ever existed in EU? Does not seem to be so.
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Even if such a plan existed it doesn't help because the EU as a whole is so densily populated that a problem quickly spreads across all countries.
flyte:
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on March 17, 2020, 07:06:12 pm ---There is nothing surprising, nothing exceptional, in this coronavirus pandemic. It, or something like it, was fully expected; just not when or which virus.
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Yes there is. The combination of infection speed (how contagious it is) and long incubation period, makes it very dangerous. It basically means any measures you take are too late and within two weeks a good part of the world population is in a hospital bed.
Where you are right is that the pharmaceutical conglomerates did not find it lucrative enough to develop antiviral drugs for corona-type viruses like SARS and MERS, as is the case for e.g. HIV. There industry and governments massively failed there. If we had those drugs developed and on stock, it could have saved all those worst patient cases, and it could have terminated the global spread.
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on March 17, 2020, 07:06:12 pm ---The Chinese response to the outbreak is absolutely commendable.
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Well, the second part of it when the whole world knew about it and it got out of control. However, it is my understanding in the first part they tried to dismiss and ignore it, and even went as far as silence those who reported it. Let's say they were very effective in cleaning up their own mess. The fact they took unprecedented emergency measures soon after it was in the media, tells me they knew about it long before.
not1xor1:
--- Quote from: Bud on March 17, 2020, 02:16:23 pm ---BBC suggested air pollution in northern Italy caused lung problems in general and that contributed to high mortality from the virus. Is that right?
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yes... both air pollution and tobacco smoke seem to make the disease outcome much worse
these are just preliminary data although they are quite plausible
rgarito:
--- Quote from: james_s on March 17, 2020, 07:44:02 pm ---
--- Quote from: not1xor1 on March 17, 2020, 06:37:24 pm ---I even read US people are going to buy weapons like crazy ... I do not know if they are afraid somebody comes and steal their stock of toilet paper or if the pretend to kill the virus by shooting :-DD
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Normally I would dismiss those guys who hoard guns and ammo as lunatics however watching this unfold makes them look not quite as crazy. I would not be hugely surprised if some areas start to have problems with groups of people going around robbing others of supplies or taking advantage of the quarantines and distractions keeping law enforcement busy to start looting businesses. Unfortunately there are always those who will take advantage of any situation to help themselves, we see it all the time, a natural disaster hits and people start looting stores, stealing TVs and computers and stuff like that which is obviously not essential.
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We have a running bet at work on when the riots start...
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