Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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This is my atomizer...



... it's 100% guaranteed to disinfect all surfaces.

Dr Fauci warns of another coronavirus outbreak in the fall. Here's why he says it will be 'very different'

It’s name is Fatman.

Omg... I googled it... The bomb that dropped on Nagasaki?! That's awful. I thought it was a blimp or whatever those things are called (similar shape and float in the sky)

One of the discussions on this thread was the use of face mask by the common man.

During the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918, everyone was encouraged to wear face mask. When the coronavirus struck China and other oriental countries, one would see the masses wear face mask.

But we were told by our experts and leaders that face mask should be reserved for the medical staff only. Some experts even went as far as telling us they were of no use to the common man. Most humans are herd creatures. They will follow the herd. At the moment when you travel about the U.S., most people go about without wearing masks.

But now I am seeing a few more individuals wear mask, or scarves about their faces.

So there is an interesting article in the news today:

Should the general public wear masks during the coronavirus epidemic in the U.S.?

The debate over wearing face masks to protect against the novel coronavirus is wide-ranging, with health officials signaling a possible shift in the recommendations for the general public.

Currently, major health organizations -- including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) -- have continued to urge those who are healthy to leave surgical masks and the more protective N95 respirators to medical professionals, who across the country are reusing single-use medical masks due to widespread shortages.

As the pandemic rages on, however, some have challenged such recommendations. On Twitter, social media users on Monday slammed a tweet from the U.S. Surgeon General that linked to an article about the WHO standing by its recommendations for healthy people to not wear face masks.

But officials at the CDC are now mulling a change to current guidelines, recommending all Americans cover their faces with nonmedical homemade masks, scarves or even bandanas when in public, The Washington Post reported.

“If the CDC does put out such guidance, I would respect it. I can tell you having drafted many CDC guidelines over the years that these are done very carefully and on the best available evidence,” former CDC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Amler told Fox News on Tuesday. “Those guidelines, when they do go out, are not casual or frivolous.”

“It’s protective for people around you -- that’s going to be the case whether or not there is a shortage,” he added of masks.

Though such guidelines have yet to be confirmed -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told CNN on Tuesday that “the idea of getting broad community-wide use of masks is under active discussion” at the CDC -- experts seem to have mixed opinions, some encouraging the change while others expressing worry it could give people a false sense of security and ultimately lead to less adherence to crucial social-distancing guidelines.

“Homemade masks theoretically could offer some protection if the materials and fit were optimized, but this is uncertain,” Jeffrey Duchin, a health official in Seattle and King County, Wash., home to the first major COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., told the Post. “It’s also possible that mask-wearing might increase the risk for infection if other recommendations (like hand washing and distancing) are less likely to be followed or if the mask is contaminated and touched.”

Others argue there is little proof that masks do much to prevent acquiring a disease, but could be useful to stop the spread from asymptomatic carriers, as the virus can be transmitted via respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Even walking through a crowded area could heighten the risk of coming into contact with infectious droplets, experts say.

Additionally, Amler and other medical experts have expressed concern specifically about the general public using N95 respirators, an important piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) that filters out some 95 percent of particles, including bacteria and viruses. These respirators require training to use properly -- training that most people in nonmedical fields don’t have. Though the CDC may change its guidelines to recommend the public cover their faces while in public, the use of N95s would not be included in such advice.

Source: Coronavirus outbreak sparks face mask debate: Should you wear them?

Now eikonabridge would advise everyone in the U.S. to have and use common face mask when they are up and about. His logic is that the mask will prevent you from inadvertently touching your face and infecting yourself. I can respect that.

But jimmy m. would advise everyone in the U.S. to stockpile a few N95's once they become available again. N95s can also block viral transmissions through the air. IMHO the coronavirus will die out as humidity levels rise and return to the normal 40-60% relative humidity range. But the virus may reappear again in the fall/winter as humidity levels drop again. If N95s are critical for medical staff, they are also critical for the common man. Now one of the statements made in the above article is "These respirators require training to use properly -- training that most people in nonmedical fields don’t have." Do they actually think the common man is a moron? Here is a YouTube video on how to properly use an N95.



If one looks at the Spanish Flu Pandemic, it is said that there were few casualties in the initial wave of the virus in the U.S. It was during the second wave in the fall that people were dropping like flies.

Coronavirus: UK considers virus-tracing app to ease lockdown
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52095331

The first participants have been enrolled by Illinois-based Northwestern Medicine in a new clinical drug trial that aims to tackle coronavirus.

“The drug being tested is remdesivir, a novel antiviral drug developed to treat Ebola and which has subsequently been found, in animal models, to have antiviral activity against coronaviruses including MERS and now SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes [the] COVID-19 disease,” Northwestern Medicine told Fox News. “The randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the drug in hospitalized adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19.”

The medical system explained that the first Chicago-area patient to receive the drug at Northwestern Memorial Hospital is an 89-year-old man in intensive care.

“Participants in the trial receive either a placebo drug or remdesivir intravenously once a day for a maximum of 10 days. If a patient recovers sooner, the treatment is stopped. The patient will be evaluated for 30 days,” Northwestern Medicine explained. “About 50 sites around the country will enroll 440 patients in the trial.”

The international trial, which is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, will last three years.

“I think we’ll get our results soon because the enrollment pace is very quick,” said principal investigator Dr. Babafemi Taiwo, chief of infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Medicine. “I hope that in a matter of months, we’ll be able to tell whether this therapy is effective or not.”

Source: In effort to tackle coronavirus, Northwestern Medicine launches antiviral drug trial