Caronavirus & Tokyo 2020

Baal said:

An article that appeared in Nature Medicine on March 17 entitled "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2" by Kristian G. Andersen, Andrew Rambaut, W. Ian Lipkin, Edward C. Holmes & Robert F. Garry has used careful analyses of coronavirus genomes to convincingly disprove any conspiracy theories that the virus was human made and instead strongly supports zoonotic transfer (jumping from animals to humans), a process that has occurred many times with viruses. It also argues against leakage from a research lab.

The scientists who did this analysis are from Tulane, Edinburgh, Scripps in La Jolla, Columbia Univ, and Univ. of Sydney.

Click to expand...

Would be nice to read the paper and share that widely as well. It seems a very interesting coincidence that this just happened to start in a location where a lot of analysis of viruses in bats takes place.

Come to think of it, it actually makes sense and obviously leakage from a lab isn't likely.

Janard said:

Big Brother strikes ~

Coronavirus: Justin Trudeau hints at retaliation after White House orders 3M to halt ‘critical’ N95 mask exports to Canada health workers – https://www.scmp.com/news/world/uni...navirus-white-house-orders-mask-maker-3m-halt

‘An act of modern piracy’: A mask shipment from 3M bound for Germany was reportedly diverted to the US – https://www.businessinsider.sg/3m-m...iverted-united-states-report-2020-4?r=US&IR=T

3M refused Trump's demand to divert 10 million N95 masks produced in S'pore to the US – https://mothership.sg/2020/04/trump-3m-10-million-masks/

Click to expand...

Baal said:

By the way, if you are looking to make your own mask, a decent material to use are vacuum cleaner bags, the kind that keep allergens in the bag.

Click to expand...

Yes, exactly what I've done for my family.
Way better than the masks on the market.




The blue filter is between the other two of the mask.

https://www.azquotes.com/author/1590-W_E_B_Du_Bois



2/25/2020
https://youtu.be/yocQnKX5VHs?start=719&end=756

As I've stressed, when it comes to containment measures, we must examine it from the angle of epidemiology, and understand the characteristics of the virus, which is the expertise of Professor Yuen.

I've repeatedly pointed out to other experts early on. In drawing up measures, there's no room for other factors, politics included. Once you veer off from science, the whole containment could well be thrown into disarray.

Click to expand...

https://www.azquotes.com/quote/736845



https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ttacked-amid-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-52164358
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...al-conspiracy-theory-birmingham-a9446416.html

Regarding the various conspiracy theories that this thing was engineered or escaped from a lab:

See here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9



The authors are an international group of scientists from San Diego, New Orleans, Edinburgh, and Sydney Australia. Analysis of several aspects of the genome and the interaction of the S-protein with ACE-2 show it is definitely not engineered by people. It has none of the features one would expect for an engineered virus. It is also quite unlikely it escaped from a research lab because features in the SARS-Cov-2 genome not found in SARS, MERS, or other human coronaviruses were very recently found (i.e. after the emergence of the Covid-19 disease) in SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses from pangolins. It is highly likely that it was zoonotic transmission (jumping from animals to people, something that is a quite common occurrence). There may have been a period of unrecognized transmission of SARS-Cov-2 in humans after the initial zoonotic event but then a mutation occurred and the virus acquired something called a polybasic cleavage site which markedly enhanced its infectivity and which through natural selection became the dominant form.



The article is very technical and not particularly easy to read for people not deep into genomics. That is just how these things are sometimes. It took me a long time to slog my way through this and this is my job. (I constantly had to go stop, look up something, and then resume reading).



Quoting from the summary:


SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans; SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe disease, whereas HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E are associated with mild symptoms[SUP]6[/SUP]. Here we review what can be deduced about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from comparative analysis of genomic data. We offer a perspective on the notable features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome and discuss scenarios by which they could have arisen. Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.

Conspiracy theories sell ads and inflame emotions. Real science, not so much.

https://youtu.be/kEJYTTktOwo?t=1537

It is literally impossible to buy a mask anywhere in Houston. And there is evidence that masks are part of the reason things were less disastrous in Hong Kong and Singapore.

3/12/2020
https://time.com/5799964/coronavirus-face-mask-asia-us/

Cheryl Man is usually the only one wearing a face mask on her New York City subway train. She notices this, but other people on the train notice, too. Usually she just gets odd stares from other commuters. But on Tuesday morning, when she was walking to school, a group of teens jeered at her and coughed in her direction.

“I felt very humiliated and misunderstood,” says Man, a 20-year-old student and research assistant who is ethnically Chinese.
...
“Why do they think it’s about me? It’s a civic duty,” she says. “If I have a mask on, and if—touch wood—I’m infected, I could cut the chain off where I am. That could save a lot of people.”

Click to expand...

Roughly a week later, Ho Park Leung, the doctor and professor in the video embedded in the article above, even went on to circulate a small reminder to overseas students planning on returning.

https://www.thestandnews.com/societ...ctors-will-be-of-this-war-a-few-months-later/

We are going through the darkest time of the pandemic now. We need to be united to fight against this war against Coronavirus. We should not be intimidated by others’ teasing on our practice of personal hygiene. We have the freedom to wear masks even when abroad. Those who make fun of us now will soon find out who the victors will be of this war a few months later. Practicing personal hygiene demonstrates good civic awareness behaviour. They are teasing only because they are ignorant; we should just forgive them and not argue back.

Click to expand...

I am asthmatic and as a result have a fairly persistent cough, by which I mean at some point every day I will have a coughing fit, often two or three times a day. I also cycle a lot, and bought, some time ago, a box of procedure face masks to avoid swallowing insects on sunny days cycling in the countryside. So, since the CV-19 outbreak, I wear a mask and gloves when going to the supermarket; it seems like good manners. One woman decided to tell me that a mask wouldn't help. At that precise moment, I had one of my coughing fits. By the time I was able to look up again, she was gone. I mean out of sight. I found it amusing. It is more common to see masks now, but still regarded as strange by most people. Personally, I can see no downside to wearing one in public, even if it doesn't protect the wearer.

Well the good news is, I suppose, that orders were eventually placed.

The Associated Press reports that newly obtained federal purchasing contracts show "federal agencies largely waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers."

Baal said:

It is literally impossible to buy a mask anywhere in Houston. And there is evidence that masks are part of the reason things were less disastrous in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Click to expand...

Been very difficult online as well to get anything close to a face mask with less than 2-6 weeks wait time as well.

Using needle and thread, whether it is by hand from a $1 cheepo sewing kit or a sewing machine, Americans USED to have this skill in every household, but now, MAYBE 10% of households do that... and that is being generous.

Time for some home-ec again for many in USA.

Right now, making your onw face masks and wearing them when outside home to show everyone you are doing your part to not spread through mouth is the only practical way available right now to get a face mask and wear it outside.

China
Provinces: Siblings

US
States: Neighbors
Federal: Property management
Trump: Property manager

Pandemic in the US: Water leaks
NYS: Accuses property management for lack of maintenance
Property Management: Not my problem. You're on your own
Neighbors: Yea, mine is leaking, too. Come fix it
Other neighbors: Stop blaming others for your own problem. Why is mine not leaking?
Yet other neighbors: God's will. It rains, therefore it leaks

https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1178838



Coronavirus death toll: Americans are almost certainly dying of covid-19 but being left out of the official count
https://www.washingtonpost.com/inve...d67982-747e-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html

Justin Trudeau fires ambassador to China after remarks on Huawei case
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...lum-canadian-ambassador-to-china-fired-huawei

Ivermectin, a drug that kills parasitic worms and head lice, blocks Covid-19 in cultured cells according to a group at Monash University in Australia. Hopefully a clinical trial is done soon.

The olympics will probably be postponed and it will be TOKYO 2021 many countries have cases of corona

https://japantoday.com/category/cri...-granny-feed-him-gives-her-10-masks-in-return

At around 11 a.m. on the morning of March 31, an 88-year-old woman living in Iwamizawa’s Kurisawacho Kurigaoka neighborhood was startled when a man barged into her home through an unlocked back door. The man, said to be in his mid-50s or early 60s, had a saw, which he was waving around as he advanced into the house.

“Give me food!” the man shouted repeatedly, and so the woman did just that, and with unusually thorough hospitality, considering the circumstances. “I gave him both rice and okazu,” the woman says, the latter referring to the main course and non-rice sides that make up a traditional Japanese meal. “I think he broke in because he was hungry.”

Rather than take his order to go, the man ate his brunch right there, and even asked for a refill of his rice bowl, which the woman provided. When he was done, he had another demand. “He said ‘Give me money!’ so I gave him 2,000 yen),” the woman said, according to reports.

Apparently it was enough to satisfy the man, because he took the offered bills and left…but not before leaving behind a stack of about 10 masks for the woman.

Click to expand...

socrateosApr. 6 01:19 pm JST

I read a Japanese article and found a few other things.

When he requested money, he actually said "お金ちょうだい", which is not a threatening words like "Give me money" but more like "Would you please give me some money."

He also cleaned the floor before he left because he was wearing a pair of shoes in the house. In a Japanese house, you are supposed to take off shoes.

Click to expand...

https://japantoday.com/category/ent...designs-signature-song-as-hand-washing-melody

https://blog.gaijinpot.com/abes-covid-19-two-mask-policy-becomes-laughing-stock-on-twitter/

Abe’s COVID-19 Two Mask Policy Becomes Laughing Stock on Twitter

Each household in Japan will receive two cloth masks to combat the coronavirus. Good luck to families of three or more.

Click to expand...

Dude from Taiwan bought over 100 masks from 3 pharmacies in Guangzhou, while those in Taiwan have to queue up in line to pay for a ration of 9 masks every 14 days, after spending NT$200 million of taxpayer's money to increase capacity to 10 million pieces a day, only to donate 10 million masks to Europe and America, which is criticized by the public as a poor political attempt to compete against mainland China in medical aid.

It's hilarious so many locals consider this "good diplomacy". They're so cute.

In the press conference on April 5, Taiwan CDC demonstrated how to "revive" a used surgical mask with a rice cooker. Apparently, the minister has never cooked before.

Vanessa L 13 hours ago
Lol even the American made stuff is made by Chinese in America

Click to expand...

I have been playing with the idea of closing this thread and opening a new thread with the subject:

SARS-CoV-2 - CoVID-19 - Coronavirus Updates

The idea would be:

1) Making it about Updates people would be interested in about the disease, its spread, and possible treatments.
2) Leaving out the subject of the Olympics since the delay, for now, seems to be settled.
3) Trying to make this about the disease and treatments and trying to make the thread as A-Political as possible. Something not backward looking. Something not about blame. Something forward looking, about things that we can and should do to slow the progress of the disease and possible treatments and vaccines that may be on the horizon.

Any thoughts before I do it?

Baal, Zeio, Langel, NextLevel, Yoass, FreeBird, any thoughts?

Well, that ‘carona’ has been sticking out like a sore thumb. And indeed, Tokyo 2020 is history.

Forward-looking is always the right thing, even though that might, under circumstances, entail pointing out obstructional road blocks in the way forward.

A solid yes on all counts, then!