Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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Whatever gave you THAT idea?

Maybe. Or maybe not. It was in January you say?

NEWS FLASH!

NSW:
Yay!
$1,000AU dollar on the spot fines for those breaching government requirements regarding coronavirus measures.
No more warnings!
Hoowa!

That's awesome! Too many turkeys have left the coop!

This is a country of opulence.

Union Locates 39 Million N95 Masks for Healthcare Workers, Local Governments
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/coronavirus/seiu-locates-39-million-n95-masks-for-healthcare-workers-local-governments/2262072/

I mean, it's mind-boggling that by just "looking around," a labor union has found 39 million N95 masks lying around.

I am not a medical doctor so I will only offer the following suggestions:

Discuss this with your general practitioner or specialist.

Many hospitals treating coronavirus patients are ceasing elective surgery/diagnosis. I believe EEGs for epilepsies is elective. You should be able to delay the test until after the infected numbers go down without severely affecting your health.

If you are in a region where there is relatively few patients, this may not be much of a threat at the moment; but you need to think 2 weeks in the future and take into account that the virus is spreading into new regions.

If doctors and nurses are coming down with this virus and they are exercising extreme caution; then if it were me, I would not go to a hospital except under the most dire emergency. I would wait at the sidelines and let the doctors and nurses concentrate their efforts on the coronavirus patients.

That is an accurate description. Most of the Chinese families in the US have bought and shipped masks back to China. Interestingly, many of them have asked their relatives to buy masks now and ship them to the US, so to donate to hospitals. It's quite a hurdle because China did have a ban on exporting masks, but I believe they are relaxing that restriction, now. In a sense, the Chinese Americans are a mixture of people. I would say the absolute majority of them kind of feel squeezed between the two cultures. They care about their relatives in China. But they also care about the people, all people, in the USA. They joke around that the masks just keep flying around the world, first to China and now back to the US. The absolute majority of them are decent and caring people. Most of them are fairly scared nowadays. They fear for hate crimes. Most of them don't dare to wear masks, except when going to Asian grocery stores. In fact, as ironic as it may sound, many of them nowadays only go shopping in Asian grocery stores, because they feel safer that way: they won't be stared at for wearing masks there. It's funny that they think Asian grocery stores are safer from the virus than regular grocery stores, but they've truly got a point. I can't say I don't think the same way. The other day my wife told me to order take out. She asked me whether we should order Japanese or Mexican food. The local Japanese restaurant was run by a Korean family. I immediately chose Japanese food. Why? Because I trust the Korean family much more on being careful about the virus, than the workers in Mexican food restaurants.

Sure, there are also some problematic Chinese Americans. I wouldn't even use the word "American" on them. I don't think I need to elaborate. We all know. They are there. But the absolute majority of Chinese Americans are quite alright. They can even tolerate my opinions and stay friendly, and that says a lot about them. Ha ha. They generally steer clear from politics when interacting with me.

Nope, not me. It was Pepe that wrote that!

Thank you. Those were my thoughts, too. I assume they will send notice that it is rescheduled or postponed for several months. I had forgotten about it, and thought it was strange I hadn't heard anything. I realise the hospitals must be very busy though. I don't think it's the right time to be going. Thanks again for your input.

I am kind of on the same boat as you. I did have some labs/visits scheduled for a few weeks ago. I cancelled all of them.

Many of the local clinics have closed their offices, due to low number of patients. The main hospitals of course are open. But, I mean, that's where the COVID-19 patients go, too. Sure, they would separate respiratory section well enough from the rest of the hospital, but as we have learned from China, a lot of non-respiratory-care doctors/nurses got infected, because some COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic, and visited the hospitals because of other issues.

I think generally speaking, at this moment it is better to wait, if you can wait. At least that's what I am doing. Of course, if I have some more serious conditions, I wouldn't hesitate to go to the hospital. You kind of have to do the calculation inside your head.

Pharmaceutical companies throughout the world are working around the clock to develop effective coronavirus treatments or a vaccine with no clear breakthroughs.

President Trump has spoken out about the importance of trying new treatments in hopes that we can learn where there's room for optimism and where there is not. He has touted drugs used in malaria cases as a possible response to the coronavirus and now the Food and Drug Administration put in place an emergency use authorization to try these drugs despite clear evidence of their effectiveness.

Politico reported late Sunday that the drugs included hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine.

Chloroquine, also known as chloroquine phosphate, is a drug normally used to prevent or treat malaria caused by mosquito bites in countries where the disease is most common. It usually comes as a tablet that you can take by mouth.

As for the coronavirus, chloroquine and a similar drug, hydroxychloroquine, have shown encouraging signs in small, early tests against the virus, but they have yet to be studied during a controlled clinical trial.

Both are oral prescription drugs that have been used for the treatment of malaria and certain inflammatory conditions since the 1940s.

Politico, citing three officials, reported that the move would allow more manufacturers to produce the drugs.

Source: FDA OKs emergency authorization of drugs touted by Trump to fight coronavirus

^^ Thanks to you as well. I also have a brain MRI scheduled for 25 May, and my mother is supposed to have both shoulders replaced the next day at a different hospital (both hospitals have treated COVID). I've yet to hear about either of these but I assume the surgery will most certainly be postponed. I will put the MRI on hold indefinitely.

Does it concern you that the common cold, which can be caused by one or more of several different viruses including rhinoviruses, ( 50-65% of cases ), coronaviruses, ( 7%-15% of cases ), and the influenza virus ***, is not included in the official list of causes of death and is therefore never considered to have caused anyone's death despite the fact that an outbreak of it is known to increase the death rate on certain hospital wards and in care homes by up to/between 3% - 6%?

Covid19 is caused by a coronavirus. Evidence increasingly suggests that it is no more dangerous than a bad cold or bout of flu, ie harmless even asymptomatic to the vast majority of infected, ( 95% ), an unpleasant illness for another 4% - ~5% of infected and ( mostly ) only a fatal risk to people with underlying/existing illnesses especially if old, exactly like colds and flu are.

And yet it is already included in the list of official causes of death. Why are "colds", ( rhino viruses, the common coronaviruses etc ), not included on that list? Does that bother you?

I'm more bothered by the weirdly instant inclusion of Covid19 in the official list of causes of death, before they even know what its case fatality rate and infected fatality rate are. It seems premature to say the least.

*** I was very surprised to discover that the influenza/"flu" virus is known to be one of the viruses causing the "common cold", but it seems that influenza virus is not exactly considered an official cause of death either, is frequently not even tested for, even in hospitals, and instead people dying of anything that looks/seems to behave like flu are often ( but not always ), considered to have died of "Acute Respiratory Disease". In other words the official list of causes of death is a surprising muddle of organ related ( heart failure, acute respiratory disease, etc ) and cause based ( Covid19 ).

You are absolutely right. We should worry more about influenza and COVID-19. They are deadly diseases. I proposed to shift all non-essential spending towards influenza and COVID-19. Especially, when other conditions are not nearly as deadly. See, autism is not deadly, and it barely affects 2% of the population. I propose to immediately stop all autism-related support, and spend that money instead on influenza.

What do you guys think?

I think that you seem to be using sarcasm, and I'm afraid that I don't understand what point you're making as a result, because I'm trying, and failing, to disentangle the true from the deliberate "fake"/exaggeration. Can you please ask me whatever your question is again but non-sarcastically?

I think you're being a jerk.