Dissensus Coronavirus Hub

[constant escape]

"Sometimes being scared is an act of courage." - Sergio Benvenuto​

This will be informed by collective input. If there are any important questions that you do not see addressed in the original post, just mention them, and I will update it. If you have sources that address one or more of the questions compiled in the original post, draw attention to such and your source will be integrated accordingly. That said, theres a 10,000 character limit to this post, so some compressing may be in order

The whole point of this thread is to consolidate the data and opinions circulating the mediascape regarding Coronavirus, potentially pitting conflicting points against one another. This will provide an explicit point of departure for our own discussion - how do we make sense of it all?

​

SOURCES

1 - Climate and Capitalism - “Capitalist agriculture and Covid-19: A deadly combination”
(11 March) (https://climateandcapitalism.com/20...griculture-and-covid-19-a-deadly-combination/)

2 - NextStrain.org
(4 March) (https://nextstrain.org/ncov)

3 - National Health Service
(12 March) (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/)

4 - Center for Disease Control
(29 February)

5 - NPR Goats and Soda - "Why They're Called 'Wet Markets' — And What Health Risks They Might Pose"
(29 January)

6 - WHO - "WHO, UN Foundation and partners launch first-of-its-kind COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund"
(13 March)

7 - Neoscope - Dan Robitzski - "After the Coronavirus, some patients face ongoing lung damage"
(13 March) (https://futurism.com/neoscope/coron...gn=c3ceb85d2c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_13_07_53)

8 - Jingyuan Wang, Ke Tang, Kai Feng and Weifeng Lv - "High Temperature and High Humidity Reduce the Transmission of COVID-19"
(10 March) (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3553617)

9 - Giorgio Agamben - "The Invention of an Epidemic"
(26 February) (https://autonomies.org/2020/03/giorgio-agamben-the-coronaviris-and-the-state-of-exception/)

10 - Robert Esposito - "Cured to the Bitter End"
(28 February) (https://www.journal-psychoanalysis.eu/coronavirus-and-philosophers/)

11 - Sergio Benvenuto - "Welcome to Seclusion"
(5 March) (ibid)

12 - Divya Dwivedi and Shaj Mohan - "The Community of the Forsaken: A Response to Agamben and Nancy"
(8 March) (ibid)

13 - Yu Chen, Qianyun Liu, Deyin Guo - "Coronaviruses: genome structure, replication, and pathogenesis"
(20 January) PDF

14 - Wenfei Song ,Miao Gui ,Xinquan Wang ,Ye Xiang - "Cryo-EM structure of the SARS coronavirus spike glycoprotein in complex with its host cell receptor ACE2" (13 August 2018)

15 - chuangcn.org - "Social Contagion: Microbiological Class War in China"
(26 February) (http://chuangcn.org/2020/02/social-contagion/)

16 - Moderna - "Moderna Ships mRNA Vaccine Against Novel Coronavirus (mRNA-1273) for Phase 1 Study"
(24 February)

17 - The Guardian - "Behavioural scientists form new front in battle against coronavirus"
(13 March)

18 - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health - "Infectious Disease Experts Recommend Using Antibodies from COVID-19 Survivors as Stopgap Measure to Treat Patients and Protect Healthcare Workers"
(13 March)

19 - Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation - $2 billion required to develop a vaccine against the COVID-19 virus
(14 March)

20 - The Guardian - UK coronavirus crisis 'to last until spring 2021 and could see 7.9m hospitalised'
(15 March) (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...il-spring-2021-and-could-see-79m-hospitalised)

21 - CNBC - "Germany tries to stop US from luring away firm seeking coronavirus vaccine"
(15 March) (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/cor...stop-us-luring-away-firm-seeking-vaccine.html)

22 - Chung-Ming Chu, et al - "Initial viral load and the outcomes of SARS"
(23 November 2004) (https://www.academia.edu/4447835/Initial_viral_load_and_the_outcomes_of_SARS)

23 - U.S. House of Representatives - "Family First Coronavirus Response Act"
(14 March) PDF

24 - Wall Street Journal - "Coronavirus Symptoms Start About Five Days After Infection, New Research Finds"
(9 March)

25 - U.S. House of Representatives - "Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act"
(introduced 4 March)

26 - Kristian G. Andersen, et al - "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2"
(17 March) PDF

27 - globalhealthnow.org - "COVID-19’s Stop-Gap Solution Until Vaccines and Antivirals Are Ready"
(19 March)

28 - CNBC - "FDA grants ‘emergency use’ coronavirus test that can deliver results in 45 minutes"
(21 March)

29 - The Guardian - "How the Pandemic Will End"
(25 March)

30 - Chemical and Engineering News - "Structure of novel coronavirus spike protein solved in just weeks"
(19 February) (https://cen.acs.org/analytical-chem...ructure-novel-coronavirus-spike-protein/98/i8)



SECTIONS

- CORONAVIRUS ORIGINS / RELATED VIRUSES
- CORONAVIRUS SYMPTOMATOLOGY / INCUBATION / SPREAD
- HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS
- CORONAVIRUS AND AGRIBUSINESS
- CORONAVIRUS LONGEVITY / QUARANTINE / SURVIVAL TACTICS
- VACCINES / TREATMENT
- ECONOMIC IMPACT / GLOBALIZATION / CAPITALISM
- AUTHORITIES RE: CORONAVIRUS (TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS; POLICIES)
- TERMS / ETYMOLOGY

 

[constant escape]

CORONAVIRUS ORIGINS / RELATED VIRUSES​

from Source 1 (11 March)

[Yaak Pabst for the German socialist magazine Marx21] In many media it is claimed that the starting point of the coronavirus was an “exotic food market”« in Wuhan. Is this description true?

[Evolutionary biologist Rob Wallace] Yes and no. [...] Contact tracing linked infections back to the Hunan Wholesale Sea Food Market in Wuhan, where wild animals were sold. Environmental sampling does appear to pinpoint the west end of the market where wild animals were held.[...] The focus on the market misses the origins of wild agriculture out in the hinterlands and its increasing capitalization.

from Source 2 (4 March)

This phylogeny [re: map at top of this thread] shows evolutionary relationships of HCoV-19 viruses from the ongoing novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. All samples are still closely related with few mutations relative to a common ancestor, suggesting a shared common ancestor some time in Nov-Dec 2019. This indicates an initial human infection in Nov-Dec 2019 followed by sustained human-to-human transmission leading to sampled infections.
Site numbering and genome structure uses Wuhan-Hu-1/2019 as reference.

from Source 5 (29 January)

The stress of captivity in these chaotic markets weakens the animals' immune systems and creates an environment where viruses from different species can mingle, swap bits of their genetic code and spread from one species to another, according to biologist Kevin Olival, vice president for research at the EcoHealth Alliance.

from Source 13 (20 January)

Since the end of 2019, an outbreak of mystery pneumonia in Wuhan has been drawing tremendous attention around the world. [...] The causative agent of the mystery pneumonia has been identified as a novel coronavirus by deep sequencing and etiological investigations by at least 5 independent laboratories of China.

Generally, the alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses [which includes new coronavirus 2019-nCoV] can infect mammals, and the gammacoronaviruses and deltacoronaviruses can infect birds, but some of them can also infect mammals

Not all cases have apparent connection with the Wuhan Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market that is believed to be original place of the outbreak of the 2019-nCoV. [...] Although 2019-nCoV broke out in Hunan Seafood Market of Wuhan, the possibility of the 2019-nCoV transmission from seafood to human is unlikely.

from Source 16 (24 February)

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can lead to respiratory illness, including MERS and SARS. Coronaviruses are transmitted between animals and people and can evolve into strains not previously identified in humans. On January 7, 2020, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China.

from Source 26

SARS-CoV-2 [current virus] is the seventh coronavirus
known to infect humans; SARS-CoV, MERSCoV and SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe
disease, whereas HKU1, NL63, OC43 and
229E are associated with mild symptoms

It is improbable that SARS-CoV-2 emerged
through laboratory manipulation of a
related SARS-CoV-like coronavirus.

[...]

Instead, we propose
two scenarios that can plausibly explain
the origin of SARS-CoV-2: (i) natural
selection in an animal host before zoonotic
transfer; and (ii) natural selection in humans
following zoonotic transfer.

from Source 30

Coronaviruses are RNA viruses that typically enter human cells when their glycoproteins bind proteins on the cell surface. SARS-CoV-2 binds to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on human cells with higher affinity than does the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003.

 

[constant escape]

CORONAVIRUS SYMPTOMATOLOGY / INCUBATION / SPREAD​

Not sure about more precise elaborations...

from National Health Service (12 March)

“Stay at home for 7 days if you have either:
a high temperature
a new, continuous cough.

from Center for Disease Control (29 February)

The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure. [incubation period]
Fever
Cough
Shortness of breath

from Source 7 (13 March)

In an analysis of 12 patients who recovered from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, doctors at the Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HKHA) found that several of them now have reduced lung capacity [...] That’s far too small a sample size to declare that COVID-19 necessarily causes long-term damage, but it could be a warning sign that doctors should keep an eye out for potential complications.

from Source 8 (10 March)

Our finding is consistent with the evidence that high temperature and high humidity reduce the transmission of influenza, which can be explained by two possible reasons: First, the influenza virus is more stable in cold temperature, and respiratory droplets, as containers of viruses, remain airborne longer in dry air. Second, cold and dry weather can also weaken the hosts’ immunity and make them more susceptible to the virus. These mechanisms are also likely to apply to the COVID-19 transmission.

Feb 8-29 stats from Source 8 (10 March)

from Source 13 (20 January)

Until now, two death cases have been recorded, and both of them are over 60 years old and have other diseases before the infection, one with abdominal tumor and chronic liver disease and the other with myocarditis and renal dysfunction.

from Source 13

The new CoV, 2019‐nCoV, which belongs to betacoronaviruses based on sequence analysis, can also infect the lower respiratory tract and cause pneumonia in human, but it seems that the symptoms are milder than SARS and MERS.

from Source 13

from Source 14 (18 August 2018)

Coronaviruses are a family of large, enveloped, positive-stranded RNA viruses that cause upper respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous system diseases in humans and other animals. Human coronaviruses HCoV-OC43, HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1 circulate in humans and cause mild respiratory diseases. However, the outbreak of SARS-CoV in 2002 and MERS-CoV in 2012 showed that coronaviruses can cross the species barrier and emerge as highly pathogenic viruses.

from Source 22 (23 November 2004)

We found preliminary evidence that higher initial viral load is independently associated with worse prognosis in SARS. Mortality data for patients with SARS should be interpreted in light of age, comorbidity and viral load. These considerations will be important in future studies of SARS.

from Source 24 (9 March)

Most people who catch Covid-19—the disease caused by the novel coronavirus—start showing symptoms roughly five days after infection, disease analysts at Johns Hopkins University said on Monday, in the largest such study of known cases world-wide.

 

[constant escape]

AUTHORITIES RE: CORONAVIRUS (TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS; POLICIES)​

from Giorgio Agamben (26 February)

It would seem that, terrorism having been exhausted as the cause of measures of exception, the invention of an epidemic could offer the ideal pretext for extending them beyond all limits.

The other factor, no less worrying, is the state of fear which has manifestly spread in recent years in the minds of individuals and which translates into a real need for collective states of panic, to which the epidemic offers again the ideal pretext.

Thus, in a vicious and perverse circle, the limitation of freedom imposed by governments is accepted in the name of a desire for security which has been induced by these same governments which are now intervening to satisfy it.

from Robert Esposito (28 February)

But once again, with regard to absolutely legitimate concerns, it is necessary not to lose our sense of proportion. It seems to me that what is happening in Italy today, with the chaotic and rather grotesque overlapping of national and regional prerogatives, has more the character of a breakdown of public authorities than that of a dramatic totalitarian grip.

from Source 17

The [British] government’s new measures, its experts said, took into account these behavioural factors, such as the potential for “fatigue” – the idea that public adherence to quarantines might wane over time.

The implied logic was that asking less of the public this week could buy greater compliance down the line, when it is most crucial.

According to [Prof. Susan] Michie [director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London], governments often use what is termed the COM-B model of behaviour change, which states that in order to arrive at a particular, desired behaviour, people need to have the requisite capability, opportunity and motivation (COM). “Unless you can tick all three of those, the behaviour is not going to happen,” she said.

from Source 21

Germany’s Health Ministry confirmed a report in newspaper Welt am Sonntag, which said President Donald Trump had offered funds to lure the company CureVac to the United States, and the German government was making counter-offers to tempt it to stay.

[...]

Welt am Sonntag quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

from U.S. HoR "Family First Coronavirus Response Act" (14 March)

The legislation provides paid leave, establishes free testing, protects public health workers, and provides important benefits to children and families.

[...]

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) – $500 million to provide access to nutritious foods to low-income pregnant women or mothers with young children

[...]

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) – $400 million to assist local food banks to meet increased demand for low-income Americans during the emergency.

[...]

$100 million for USDA to provide nutrition assistance grants to Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands tin response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

[...]

Includes $5 million for the Department of Labor to
administer the emergency paid sick days program.

[...]

Includes $250 million for the Senior Nutrition program

[...]

Waiver Exception for School Closures Due to COVID-19. Provides the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to issue nationwide school meal waivers during the COVID-19 emergency, which will eliminate paperwork for states and help more schools quickly adopt and utilize flexibilities.

[...]

This section defines an “emergency leave day” as a day in which an individual is unable to work due to one of four qualifying reasons related to COVID-19:
• The worker has a current diagnosis of COVID-19.
• The worker is quarantined (including self-imposed quarantine), at the instruction of a
health care provider, employer, or government official, to prevent the spread of COVID-
19.
• The worker is caring for another person who has COVID-19 or who is under a quarantine
related to COVID-19.
• The worker is caring for a child or other individual who is unable to care for themself due
to the COVID-19-related closing of their school, child care facility, or other care program.

[...]

$500 million would be reserved for emergency grants to states which experienced at least a10 percent increase in unemployment.

[...]

This section requires private health plans to provide coverage for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, including the cost of a provider, urgent care center and emergency room visits in order to receive testing. Coverage must be provided at no cost to the consumer.

[...]

This section requires the National Disaster Medical System to reimburse the costs of COVID-19 diagnostic testing provided to individuals without insurance.

HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS​

from Source 1 (11 March)

[Yaak Pabst] The neoliberal restructuring of the health care system has worsened both the research and the general care of patients, for example in hospitals. What difference could a better funded healthcare system make to fight the virus?

[Rob Wallace] There’s the terrible but telling story of the Miami medical device company employee who upon returning from China with flu-like symptoms did the righteous thing by his family and community and demanded a local hospital test him for Covid-19. He worried that his minimal Obamacare option wouldn’t cover the tests. He was right. He was suddenly on the hook for US$3270. […] The obvious solution is a national health service—fully staffed and equipped to handle such community-wide emergencies—so that such a ridiculous problem as discouraging community cooperation would never arise.

from Source 6 (13 March)

[re: Solidarity Response Fund] Funds will go towards actions outlined in the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to enable all countries – particularly those most vulnerable and at-risk, and with the weakest health systems – to prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 crisis including rapidly detecting cases, stopping transmission of the virus, and caring for those affected.

from Source 20 [15 March)

The [NHS] document also states that:

- The health service cannot cope with the sheer number of people with symptoms who need to be tested because laboratories are “under significant demand pressures”.

- From now on only the very seriously ill who are already in hospital and people in care homes and prisons where the coronavirus has been detected will get tested.

- Testing services are under such strain that even NHS staff will not be swabbed, despite their key role and the risk of them passing the virus on to patients.

CORONAVIRUS AND AGRIBUSINESS​

from Source 1 (11 March)

[Yaak Pabst] What effects to the production methods of agribusinesses have on this?

[Rob Wallace] The capital-led agriculture that replaces more natural ecologies offers the exact means by which pathogens can evolve the most virulent and infectious phenotypes. You couldn’t design a better system to breed deadly diseases.

[YP] How so?
[RW] Growing genetic monocultures of domestic animals removes whatever immune firebreaks may be available to slow down transmission. Such crowded conditions depress immune response. High throughput, a part of any industrial production, provides a continually renewed supply of susceptibles, the fuel for the evolution of virulence. In other words, agribusiness is so focused on profits that selecting for a virus that might kill a billion people is treated as a worthy risk.”
[…]
[YP] What would be sustainable changes?
[RW] In order to reduce the emergence of new virus outbreaks, food production has to change radically. Farmer autonomy and a strong public sector can curb environmental ratchets and runaway infections. Introduce varieties of stock and crops—and strategic rewilding—at both the farm and regional levels. Permit food animals to reproduce on-site to pass on tested immunities. Connect just production with just circulation. Subsidize price supports and consumer purchasing programs supporting agroecological production.
[…]
[RW]We should demand food systems be socialized in such a way that pathogens this dangerous are kept from emerging in the first place. [...]Big picture, we must heal the metabolic rifts separating our ecologies from our economies.

from Divya Dwivedi and Shaj Mohan (8 March)

In recent years, due in part to farming practices, micro-organisms which used to live apart came together and started exchanging genetic material, sometimes just fragments of DNA and RNA. When these organisms made the “jump” to human beings, disasters sometimes began for us.

from Source 15

[re: Rob Wallace's book Big Farms Make Big Flu] These epidemics can be loosely grouped into two categories, the first originating at the core of agroeconomic production, and the second in its hinterland.

Ironically, the attempt to suppress such outbreaks through mass culling—as in the recent cases of African swine fever which resulted in the loss of almost a quarter of the world’s pork supply—can have the unintended effect of increasing this selection pressure even more, thereby inducing the evolution of hyper-virulent strains.

 

[constant escape]

CORONAVIRUS LONGEVITY / QUARANTINE / SURVIVAL TACTICS​

from Source 1 (11 March)

[Rob Wallace] A sense of solidarity and common respect is a critical part of eliciting the cooperation we need to survive such threats together. Self-quarantines with the proper support–check-ins by trained neighborhood brigades, food supply trucks going door-to-door, work release and unemployment insurance–can elicit that kind of cooperation, that we are all in this together.

from Source 20

The coronavirus epidemic in the UK will last until next spring and could lead to 7.9 million people being hospitalised, a secret Public Health England (PHE) briefing for senior NHS officials reveals.

[...]

The document says that: “As many as 80% of the population are expected to be infected with Covid-19 in the next 12 months, and up to 15% (7.9 million people) may require hospitalisation.”

[...]

Experts advising governments worldwide on the way epidemics grow and eventually decline say there will be a rapid rise in cases to a peak – and then a falling off.

[...]

That will mean a peak at around the end of May to mid-June, when the NHS will be under great pressure. The strategy of all countries is to delay that peak and stretch it out over a longer period of time, so that health services are better able to cope.

[...]

In the summer months especially, the case numbers are expected to reduce

[...]

There is still a worry that the virus could resurge in the autumn or winter months, which means planning for the long term will be necessary.

also from Source 20 (England cases since March, intervals of days)

from Source 29 (25 March)

Models suggest that the virus might simmer around the world, triggering epidemics every few years or so. “But my hope and expectation is that the severity would decline, and there would be less societal upheaval,” Kissler says. In this future, COVID-19 may become like the flu is today—a recurring scourge of winter. Perhaps it will eventually become so mundane that even though a vaccine exists, large swaths of Gen C won’t bother getting it, forgetting how dramatically their world was molded by its absence.

VACCINES / TREATMENT​

from Source 13 (20 January)

There are various vaccine strategies for CoVs. Inactivated viruses, live-attenuated viruses, viral vector-based vaccines, subunit vaccines, recombinant proteins and DNA vaccines were developed but tested only in animals so far. As there is no effective therapeutics or vaccines, the best way to deal with severe infections of CoVs is to control the source of infection, early diagnosis, reporting, isolation, supportive treatments, and timely publishing epidemic information to avoid unnecessary panic.

from Source 18 (13 March)

In an essay published online today March 13 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Casadevall and Liise-anne Pirofski, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, write that the infusion of antibody-containing serum from convalescing patients has a long history of effective use as a stopgap measure against infectious diseases
[...]
In this instance, individuals who recover from COVID-19 and are still in their convalescent phase would be asked to donate serum containing the antibodies that would then be processed for injection into sick patients and in those exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
[...]
Casadevall and other physicians are now trying to establish the practice of using convalescent sera as a preventive and treatment for COVID-19, in specific U.S. hospital networks and ultimately nationwide.

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) - vaccine funding plan


from Source 27 (19 March)

In a March 13 Journal of Clinical Investigation article, Casadevall and Liise-anne Pirofski of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine proposed the stop-gap measure of using plasma (serum) from the blood of survivors until a vaccine and antiviral medications are available.

In this Q&A with Global Health NOW, Casadevall says clinical trials could begin in 3–4 weeks provided that they clear all the regulatory steps. If that happens, he anticipates widespread availability by early summer.

from Source 28 (21 March)

Diagnostics company Cepheid on Saturday said it has received emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use its rapid molecular test for point-of-care patients that can detect the virus that causes COVID-19 in 45 minutes.

[...]

Cepheid said tests will begin to ship on Friday, March 27 with plans to roll it out by Monday, March 30.

[...]

The test, called SAR-CoV-2 Xpert Xpress, was developed by Cepheid, a Sunnyvale, California, company was designed to detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that is causing COVID-19.

Cepheid uses a testing machine called GeneXpert that can run a full test in 45 minutes. There are currently more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert systems worldwide, with nearly 5,000 of them in the U.S., Cepheid said in a statement.

from Source 29 (25 March)

Existing vaccines work by providing the body with inactivated or fragmented viruses, allowing the immune system to prep its defenses ahead of time. By contrast, Moderna’s vaccine comprises a sliver of SARS-CoV-2’s genetic material—its RNA. The idea is that the body can use this sliver to build its own viral fragments, which would then form the basis of the immune system’s preparations. This approach works in animals, but is unproven in humans.

ECONOMIC IMPACT / GLOBALIZATION / CAPITALISM​

from Source 15 (26 February)

Because the fact is that, despite the government’s call to isolate oneself, people may soon be forced to “gather together” to tend to the needs of production. According to the latest initial estimates, the epidemic will already cause China’s GDP slow to 5 percent in this year, below its already flagging growth rate of 6 percent last year, the lowest in three decades. Some analysts have said Q1 growth could sink 4 percent or lower, and that this may risk triggering a global recession of some sort. A previously unthinkable question has been posed: what actually happens to the global economy when the Chinese furnace begins to grow cold?

prior to circulation enhancing the resilience of such diseases, the basic logic of capital helps to take previously isolated or harmless viral strains and place them in hyper-competitive environments that favor the specific traits which cause epidemics, such as rapid viral lifecycles, the capacity for zoonotic jumping between carrier species, and the capacity to quickly evolve new transmission vectors. These strains tend to stand out precisely because of their virulence.

 

[constant escape]

AUTHORITIES RE: CORONAVIRUS (TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS; POLICIES)​

from Giorgio Agamben (26 February)

It would seem that, terrorism having been exhausted as the cause of measures of exception, the invention of an epidemic could offer the ideal pretext for extending them beyond all limits.

The other factor, no less worrying, is the state of fear which has manifestly spread in recent years in the minds of individuals and which translates into a real need for collective states of panic, to which the epidemic offers again the ideal pretext.

Thus, in a vicious and perverse circle, the limitation of freedom imposed by governments is accepted in the name of a desire for security which has been induced by these same governments which are now intervening to satisfy it.

from Robert Esposito (28 February)

But once again, with regard to absolutely legitimate concerns, it is necessary not to lose our sense of proportion. It seems to me that what is happening in Italy today, with the chaotic and rather grotesque overlapping of national and regional prerogatives, has more the character of a breakdown of public authorities than that of a dramatic totalitarian grip.

from Source 17

The [British] government’s new measures, its experts said, took into account these behavioural factors, such as the potential for “fatigue” – the idea that public adherence to quarantines might wane over time.

The implied logic was that asking less of the public this week could buy greater compliance down the line, when it is most crucial.

According to [Prof. Susan] Michie [director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London], governments often use what is termed the COM-B model of behaviour change, which states that in order to arrive at a particular, desired behaviour, people need to have the requisite capability, opportunity and motivation (COM). “Unless you can tick all three of those, the behaviour is not going to happen,” she said.

from Source 21

Germany’s Health Ministry confirmed a report in newspaper Welt am Sonntag, which said President Donald Trump had offered funds to lure the company CureVac to the United States, and the German government was making counter-offers to tempt it to stay.

[...]

Welt am Sonntag quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

from U.S. HoR "Family First Coronavirus Response Act" (14 March)

The legislation provides paid leave, establishes free testing, protects public health workers, and provides important benefits to children and families.

[...]

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) – $500 million to provide access to nutritious foods to low-income pregnant women or mothers with young children

[...]

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) – $400 million to assist local food banks to meet increased demand for low-income Americans during the emergency.

[...]

$100 million for USDA to provide nutrition assistance grants to Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands tin response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

[...]

Includes $5 million for the Department of Labor to
administer the emergency paid sick days program.

[...]

Includes $250 million for the Senior Nutrition program

[...]

Waiver Exception for School Closures Due to COVID-19. Provides the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to issue nationwide school meal waivers during the COVID-19 emergency, which will eliminate paperwork for states and help more schools quickly adopt and utilize flexibilities.

[...]

This section defines an “emergency leave day” as a day in which an individual is unable to work due to one of four qualifying reasons related to COVID-19:
• The worker has a current diagnosis of COVID-19.
• The worker is quarantined (including self-imposed quarantine), at the instruction of a
health care provider, employer, or government official, to prevent the spread of COVID-
19.
• The worker is caring for another person who has COVID-19 or who is under a quarantine
related to COVID-19.
• The worker is caring for a child or other individual who is unable to care for themself due
to the COVID-19-related closing of their school, child care facility, or other care program.

[...]

$500 million would be reserved for emergency grants to states which experienced at least a10 percent increase in unemployment.

[...]

This section requires private health plans to provide coverage for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, including the cost of a provider, urgent care center and emergency room visits in order to receive testing. Coverage must be provided at no cost to the consumer.

[...]

This section requires the National Disaster Medical System to reimburse the costs of COVID-19 diagnostic testing provided to individuals without insurance.

 

[sufi]

I have a question which i havent seen covered clearly anywhere.
Viral Load.
The brave whistleblowing doctor in Wuhan died aged 33 as he'd been in contact with masses of patients (unless you think he was assassinated etc ), i heard that although he was not in a high risk group he died as a result of that heavy exposure. How does that work?

• More specifically, if you have 2 postive people isolated together, is there a risk that they can increase one another's infection if they don't segregate from each other?

 

[Mr. Tea]

I have a question which i havent seen covered clearly anywhere.
Viral Load.
The brave whistleblowing doctor in Wuhan died aged 33 as he'd been in contact with masses of patients (unless you think he was assassinated etc ), i heard that although he was not in a high risk group he died as a result of that heavy exposure. How does that work?

• More specifically, if you have 2 postive people isolated together, is there a risk that they can increase one another's infection if they don't segregate from each other?

I would guess - and this is only a guess - that because viruses can mutate so quickly, there may have been multiple strains around even at that very early stage, and a doctor in contact with many patients might have been infected with more than one strain, which may have caused slightly different symptoms that exacerbated each other, and would have put extra strain on his immune system at any rate.

 

[constant escape]

TERMS

epicurve - portmanteau of epidemic curve; y axis denoting number of cases, x axis denoting time passed, each interval between measurements consisting of, traditionally, one fourth of the incubation period (useful explanation from CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/training/QuickLearns/CreateEpi/)

immunogenicity - the ability of a foreign substance, such as an antigen, to provoke an immune response in the body of a human or other animal.

zoonotic - “A zoonosis (plural zoonoses, or zoonotic diseases) is an infectious disease caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites that spread from non-human animals (usually vertebrates) to humans.”



ETYMOLOGY (from https://www.etymonline.com/)

bacteria - plural of Modern Latin bacterium, from Greek bakterion "small staff," diminutive of baktron "stick, rod, staff, cudgel." So called because the first ones observed were rod-shaped.

contagion - "a communicable disease; a harmful or corrupting influence,"
com "with, together" + tangere "to touch,”

corona - "a crown," from Latin corona "a crown, a garland,"

disease - "lack, want; discomfort, distress; trouble, misfortune; sickness,"
des- "without, away" + aise “ease"

epidemic - "common to or affecting a whole people,"
epi "among, upon" + dēmos "people, district”

immune - immunis "exempt from public service, untaxed; unburdened, not tributary," literally ""not paying a share,”
in- "not, opposite of" + munis “performing services" (compare municipal)

pathogen - "disease-producing micro-organism," pathos "suffering, disease" + gene- "give birth, beget,"

vaccine - from Latin vaccina, fem. of vaccinus "pertaining to a cow”

viral - “poison” “to melt away, to flow”


MISCELLANEOUS

Rosetta@home - a BOINC protein-sequencing project that uses your computer's spare processing power to feed Coronavirus research.

Folding@home - similar, I presume

Fold it - "Solve puzzles for Science"

Coronavirus phylogeny, geography and diversity

 

[constant escape]

Haven't heard of viral load before - thanks for the lead. As far as my own reasoning goes, it does make sense that diverse exposure can compound symptoms, etc.

Found this, from 2004, but haven't finished it yet - https://www.academia.edu/4447835/Initial_viral_load_and_the_outcomes_of_SARS

"We found preliminary evidence that higher initial viral load is independently associated with worse prognosis in SARS. Mortality data for patients with SARS should be interpreted in light of age, comorbidity and viral load. These considerations will be important in future studies of SARS."

Moreover, it seems to say that ICU admission might ramp up this kind of diverse exposure, which makes sense:

"In a previous small-scale study (23 patients), a high plasma or serum concentration of the SARS coronavirus was correlated with the short-term adverse outcome of admission to the ICU"

"SARS is associated with significant mortality, and in this study increasing age and presence of active comorbid condition(s) were associated with worse survival."

 

[kevinoak]

China has stopped its entire economy, implemented a quarantine so severe people are welded in their homes, and cranked censorship up to 11. They did all that after trying to cover up the virus. So far quarantine methods have been effective here. Other countries do not have that much power over their populace so no one knows how it will spread. I've also heard inconsistent numbers on it's incubation period.

 

[constant escape]

Well the incubation inconsistencies might have something to do with a multitude of strains, which could theoretically compound, as sufi was getting at. I'd like to look more into that.

As for the governmental power-over-populace allowing a more tightly regulated quarantine, that makes sense. I figure that the vast majority of humans are going to get this thing in some form, unless they already have it in a latent capacity - but that's not to discredit quarantine. As you argue, quarantine is effective - and it could even prevent already infected people from catching additional strains (assuming that is how it works).

Even the CDC incubation window is vague. 2 to 14 days? Admittedly I haven't compared that to CDC's finding for other diseases yet, but it seems like that doesn't say much.

 

[luka]

China has stopped its entire economy, implemented a quarantine so severe people are welded in their homes, and cranked censorship up to 11. They did all that after trying to cover up the virus. So far quarantine methods have been effective here. Other countries do not have that much power over their populace so no one knows how it will spread. I've also heard inconsistent numbers on it's incubation period.

Kevin Oak is editing posts. This is a whole new generation of bot. The most advanced in existence. Skynet is here.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Kevin Oak is editing posts. This is a whole new generation of bot. The most advanced in existence. Skynet is here.

Scary part of all this is that he often makes more sense than some of the rest of us.

 

[luka]

Someone else suggested 'he' copies comments from one forum on a given topic and posts it in the relevant thread of a different forum

 

[catalog]

Poll: kevinoak vs beagle

 

[Mr. Tea]

Is this worth sharing here?

Study suggests having blood type A makes infected people more likely to require hospitalization, and those with type O less likely. Compared to B and AB types, I guess.

Might be worth asking your GP to dig out your blood type, if you don't know it already?

Note that this is only about how badly you get the disease, not whether you're more likely to catch it.

 

[luka]

Doesn't matter who cares. You can't change your blood type. Obviously in an ideal world we'd avoid catching it altogether.

 

[yyaldrin]

Someone else suggested 'he' copies comments from one forum on a given topic and posts it in the relevant thread of a different forum

yeh i found that out

i'm starting to think now he's an actual person paid to spam.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Doesn't matter who cares. You can't change your blood type. Obviously in an ideal world we'd avoid catching it altogether.

Obviously not but if you're in the more vulnerable group then you might want to take extra precautions or something, I dunno.