General Discussion/Q&A on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[blackcat20]

Was that the US one? I read something similar today too. We need some hope.

I think so.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

This one? Virus vaccine breakthrough announced

 

[Pushka]

I think she has done quite well in the circumstances.

Mmmm. Maybe you should try watch the video. It was pretty apparent she didn't know what she was talking about.

Having said that, the leaders must be running on pure Adrenalin and close to exhaustion. So yes, Australia has much to be proud of in their leaders, whatever colour they are.

Not from media sources but apparently the trial, as small as it is, seems very very promising.

 

[RooFlyer]

Snippet from today's Tas Chief Medical Officer briefing. They are seeing 'low levels' of virus persisting in patients for 'weeks, after they have 'recovered' , but 'its likely' that its not transmissible then. If these people then have to go to hospital (for any reason) then they are treated as if they have the virus, notwithstanding that they are officially 'recovered'.

I guess this means that whilst they have viable virus in their system, their bodies are still fighting on, but not yet won. From that, it seems to follow that if their bodies weaken, the virus might yet get on top and re-assert itself into symptoms.

So, question for doctors here: If that scenario is correct, then surely it shouldn't come as a surprise that the virus infection, with transmission possible, should re-emerge? Does this sort of thing occur in other viral diseases?

 

[p--and--t]

Might just be more talking heads and media inspired, but some interesting theories about the source and why the virus did not crossover in the wet market.

'Virus did NOT come from animals in Wuhan market', landmark study claims as Beijing thwarts global efforts to establish the source of Covid-19

 

[VPS]

Friend arrived back in SA on Friday from 10 days in Vic helping out family. Cops arrived unannounced at 7.30pm last night. Had to bring out ID

 

[drron]

Might just be more talking heads and media inspired, but some interesting theories about the source and why the virus did not crossover in the wet market.

'Virus did NOT come from animals in Wuhan market', landmark study claims as Beijing thwarts global efforts to establish the source of Covid-19

It is very likely true as none of the first 4 cases had been to the market.A human must have taken it into the market.
As well as that the bat corona virus that is closest to Covid 19 comes from caves in Yunnan province.

"In 2004, deep in the wilderness of China’s Yunnan province, a group of scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology discovered a cave full of wild bats carrying hundreds of SARS-related viruses.

Their work, published in a draft paper in 2005, unearthed the link between SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and bats for the first time.
Now the virologist who led that study, Shi Zhengli, has revealed one of the strains found in that cave — the exact location of which is a closely guarded secret — is almost identical to the 2019-nCoV coronavirus which has so far killed at least 1,115 people and infected more than 45,000 worldwide."

Coronavirus link to mysterious wild bat cave

In 2004, deep in the wilderness of China’s Yunnan province, a group of scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology discovered a cave full of wild bats carrying hundreds of SARS-related viruses.

www.news.com.au

Wuhan lab says there's no way coronavirus originated there. Here's the science.

Where did SARS-CoV-2 come from? Several ideas have been put forward from natural-borne in bats, an escape from a lab in Wuhan and others. Here's the murky origin story of the novel coronavirus.

www.livescience.com

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Might just be more talking heads and media inspired, but some interesting theories about the source and why the virus did not crossover in the wet market.

It has been known for quite some time (at least early February) that there are cases that pre-date the cases from the Wuhan wet market.

The outbreak of COVID-19: An overview - PMC

In late December 2019, a previous unidentified coronavirus, currently named as the 2019 novel coronavirus#, emerged from Wuhan, China, and resulted in a formidable outbreak in many cities in China and expanded globally, including Thailand, Republic ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Of interest too is that the first suspected case in France.

First French COVID-19 case was in December 19

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), formerly known as the novel coronavirus infection, was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan City in China. Many health experts believe that the virus had spread way before it was identified as the culprit for many pneumonia-like diseases. Now, a...

www.news-medical.net

The hospital in France identified the country’s earliest-known COVID-19 case on Dec. 27, 2019, as a man who was suspected of having pneumonia but actually had the novel coronavirus.

The patient had not traveled abroad, and it is still unclear if the virus came from his wife’s coworkers, who traveled from China.

So given his symptoms he would have had Covid 19 a little while before December 27. Plus he would have had to have gained it from someone who come from China, or another person that someone from China infected in between. So while possible it was someone from the market, it may be more likely that his source was not from the wet market.

 

[OZDUCK]

I have been puzzled about the ages of those unfortunate people who have died from Covid-19 in Australia. There have been only three deaths of people under the age of 60. One of these was in his 40's and was a crewman off the German cruise ship that pulled into Fremantle and thus was probably exposed to the virus multiple times..

Overseas I read about lots of deaths of younger people yet it has not happened here. People in the 20 - 30's bracket make up the largest percentage of infected cases yet there have been no deaths in that age group.I don't believe that it can just be due to the medical treatment given them. Is it due to the 'load' of infectious material they receive being so much less because there is so little community transmission or is there some other answer?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I have been puzzled about the ages of those fortunate people who have died from Covid-19 in Australia. There have been only three deaths of people under the age of 60. One of these was in his 40's and was a crewman off the German cruise ship that pulled into Fremantle and thus was probably exposed to the virus multiple times..

Overseas I read about lots of deaths of younger people yet it has not happened here. People in the 20 - 30's bracket make up the largest percentage of infected cases yet there have been no deaths in that age group.I don't believe that it can just be due to the medical treatment given them. Is it due to the 'load' of infectious material they receive being so much less because there is so little community transmission or is there some other answer?

It has not really been high anywhere.

Ignoring the health workers overseas who mainly seem to get infected in overloaded hospitals (ie high viral loads, lack of PPE and issues such as tiredness that may cause mistakes etc), here in Australia it is the situation that as our number of cases has been very low:

• That all presenting patients get very good care
• That people have not been avoiding hospitals as much (for fear of catching Covid 19), and some people people thereby present too late.

I do not have the link, but a treating Doctor in NY related his experience that many patients at his hospital were presenting for treatment at the hospital too late, and this worsened their likely outcomes.

In addition the other factor is that we have only had 100 deaths. So as our deaths as small in total number, it is also harder to have had deaths in the lower age ranges.

Pensioners 34 times more likely to die of Covid-19 than working age Brits, data shows

Death rate among working population is relatively low but risk varies by gender, ethnicity, class and ‘exposure to people’

www.theguardian.com

COVID-19 death rates by age group in New York City 2022 | Statista

The death rate in New York City for adults aged 75 years and older was around 4,135 per 100,000 people as of December 22, 2022.

www.statista.com

Italy: coronavirus death rate by age group 2023 | Statista

COVID death rate is higher for older people. The highest death rate is recorded for people aged 90 years and older. Figures are updated weekly.

www.statista.com

COVID-19 deaths by age group and sex

This graph shows the number of COVID-19 associated deaths in Australia for males and females by age group since the first case was reported.

www.health.gov.au

 

[mrsterryn]

Just curious for people who import from China to here. Are you having issues with the imports ? Just reading about various places eg Kmart etc who are apparently starting to struggle with stocking shelves
Please note that that is heresay

 

[p--and--t]

Just curious for people who import from China to here. Are you having issues with the imports ? Just reading about various places eg Kmart etc who are apparently starting to struggle with stocking shelves
Please note that that is heresay

I can vouch for many shelves in a KMart store near Melbourne being empty and many items out of stock.

 

[Pushka]

Just curious for people who import from China to here. Are you having issues with the imports ? Just reading about various places eg Kmart etc who are apparently starting to struggle with stocking shelves
Please note that that is heresay

I can vouch for many shelves in a KMart store near Melbourne being empty and many items out of stock.

That explains it. I went into Kmart in Adelaide yesterday and there was free space and empty shelves throughout. At the time I thought there had been iso panic buying and those 'influencers' trotting out the latest KMart hack. Or that KMart were in financial trouble and downsizing their stock.

 

[OZDUCK]

It has not really been high anywhere.

Ignoring the health workers overseas who mainly seem to get infected in overloaded hospitals (ie high viral loads, lack of PPE and issues such as tiredness that may cause mistakes etc), here in Australia it is the situation that as our number of cases has been very low:

• That all presenting patients get very good care
• That people have not been avoiding hospitals as much (for fear of catching Covid 19), and some people people thereby present too late.

I do not have the link, but a treating Doctor in NY related his experience that many patients at his hospital were presenting for treatment at the hospital too late, and this worsened their likely outcomes.

In addition the other factor is that we have only had 100 deaths. So as our deaths as small in total number, it is also harder to have had deaths in the lower age ranges.

Pensioners 34 times more likely to die of Covid-19 than working age Brits, data shows

Death rate among working population is relatively low but risk varies by gender, ethnicity, class and ‘exposure to people’

www.theguardian.com

COVID-19 death rates by age group in New York City 2022 | Statista

The death rate in New York City for adults aged 75 years and older was around 4,135 per 100,000 people as of December 22, 2022.

www.statista.com

Italy: coronavirus death rate by age group 2023 | Statista

COVID death rate is higher for older people. The highest death rate is recorded for people aged 90 years and older. Figures are updated weekly.

www.statista.com

COVID-19 deaths by age group and sex

This graph shows the number of COVID-19 associated deaths in Australia for males and females by age group since the first case was reported.

www.health.gov.au

Maybe it was just because the death of younger people was highlighted that it seemed like a higher rate was present.

 

[drron]

The problem is a child with a potentially fatal disease is great for the MSM to blaze over the front page.You have probably seen the articles on Kawasaki disease in the press which is described as due to Covid 19.It is not.It is a well known but uncommon disease and 80% of patients are under the age of 5.There is no definitive proof of cause but is believed many occur as a result of infection in people genetically predisposed to develope this reaction.It is far more common in people of Japanese or Korean ethnicity.

Kawasaki disease

Kawasaki disease is a condition that mainly affects children under the age of 5. It's also known as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome.

www.nhs.uk

About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC

Kawasaki syndrome (KS), also known as Kawasaki disease, is an acute febrile illness of unknown etiology that primarily affects children younger than 5 years of age.

www.cdc.gov

From the CDC article you can see the disease is not uncommon in the USA-in 2009 5447 children under 5 were hospitalised for Kawasaki disease.

But you get reports like this on SBS.

What is Kawasaki disease and how is it linked to coronavirus?

Scott Morrison has called on health experts to look into a new auto-immune disease found in children, but what is the link to coronavirus and are Australian kids at risk?

www.sbs.com.au

But it goes on to say there has been no increase in Kawasaki disease in Australia which normally has ~ 300 cases per year.So when you see alarmist reports of 100 children dying of Kawasaki disease in the US in 2 months it certainly is not an increase in numbers.

What is sad is that there is recognised treatment for Kawasaki disease of aspirin and IV immunoglobulins.The mortality rate should be less than 3%.My concern is that with the concentration on corona virus the diagnosis is not being made early enough.This report from the UK is really concerning.

Mother issues warning to parents to be aware of Kawasaki disease

A mother has urgently advised fellow parents to look out for Kawasaki disease affecting their children after her five-year-old son fell seriously ill with the condition.

www.dailymail.co.uk

So a 5 year old boy is admitted to hospital with symptoms pretty typical of Kawasaki disease after being treated by his GP for tonsillitis for a week.He was put into a ward with Covid positive patients.Then he is treated with IV fluids,antibiotics and steroi_s.Steriods have been used in treatment but no mention of the usual treatment for the disease.And the boy tested negative for Covid twice.

So it is quite probable that Covid infection has precipitated this disease in some children but it is not by itself a cause of this disease.I personally have seen it in a young adult some weeks after having the flu.

 

[Princess Fiona]

The problem is a child with a potentially fatal disease is great for the MSM to blaze over the front page.You have probably seen the articles on Kawasaki disease in the press which is described as due to Covid 19.It is not.It is a well known but uncommon disease and 80% of patients are under the age of 5.There is no definitive proof of cause but is believed many occur as a result of infection in people genetically predisposed to develope this reaction.It is far more common in people of Japanese or Korean ethnicity.

Kawasaki disease

Kawasaki disease is a condition that mainly affects children under the age of 5. It's also known as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome.

www.nhs.uk

About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC

Kawasaki syndrome (KS), also known as Kawasaki disease, is an acute febrile illness of unknown etiology that primarily affects children younger than 5 years of age.

www.cdc.gov

From the CDC article you can see the disease is not uncommon in the USA-in 2009 5447 children under 5 were hospitalised for Kawasaki disease.

But you get reports like this on SBS.

What is Kawasaki disease and how is it linked to coronavirus?

Scott Morrison has called on health experts to look into a new auto-immune disease found in children, but what is the link to coronavirus and are Australian kids at risk?

www.sbs.com.au

But it goes on to say there has been no increase in Kawasaki disease in Australia which normally has ~ 300 cases per year.So when you see alarmist reports of 100 children dying of Kawasaki disease in the US in 2 months it certainly is not an increase in numbers.

What is sad is that there is recognised treatment for Kawasaki disease of aspirin and IV immunoglobulins.The mortality rate should be less than 3%.My concern is that with the concentration on corona virus the diagnosis is not being made early enough.This report from the UK is really concerning.

Mother issues warning to parents to be aware of Kawasaki disease

A mother has urgently advised fellow parents to look out for Kawasaki disease affecting their children after her five-year-old son fell seriously ill with the condition.

www.dailymail.co.uk

So a 5 year old boy is admitted to hospital with symptoms pretty typical of Kawasaki disease after being treated by his GP for tonsillitis for a week.He was put into a ward with Covid positive patients.Then he is treated with IV fluids,antibiotics and steroi_s.Steriods have been used in treatment but no mention of the usual treatment for the disease.And the boy tested negative for Covid twice.

So it is quite probable that Covid infection has precipitated this disease in some children but it is not by itself a cause of this disease.I personally have seen it in a young adult some weeks after having the flu.

This paper in The Lancet from Bergamo . There was a thirty fold increase in patients presenting with a Kawasaki like disease during the pandemic.
Older age group and higher rate of cardiac involvement. Fortunately all survived.

New York has reported 85 cases associated with Covid-19 and 5 deaths.

Most of us treating kids acutely are very aware of Kawasaki, and were so prior to Covid.
The current Covid iteration is Paediatric Multi System Inflammatory Sydnrome Covid-19 (PMSIS).
The link between Novel Coronavirus and Kawasaki disease was first established in 2005.

 

[p--and--t]

Quite a few things in one article.

10min tests are rubbish
A380s to go (showers)
30,000 staff to go
No free WiFi for anyone

Big Shuffle At Emirates: Covid Testing Stopped, A380s Retired, Free Wifi Cut, 30% Staff To Be Laid Off

Emirates prepares to make deep cuts in company overhaul.

loyaltylobby.com

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Only around 40 A380s will be retired. They have 115!

 

[TheRealTMA]

Only around 40 A380s will be retired. They have 115!

Thank Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Love the 380!

 

[p--and--t]

Only around 40 A380s will be retired. They have 115!

.....only 40 so far in the first announcement