General Coronavirus (COVID-19) chat

[Azrael]

What makes coronaviruses like sars cov 2 so difficult to vaccinate for then?

This is a good interview on the background.

In short, the challenges weren't all technical: there simply wasn't sufficient financial incentive to produce a vaccine for the coronaviruses already circulating in humans, given the symptoms. MERS is terrifying, but hasn't spread widely enough; and SARS was eliminated by old school public health methods.

Now we have of course have all the incentives we need to throw resources and expertise at the problem.

 

[William of Walworth]

Azrael : To summarise that piece in brief then :

"We should have funded (and done) much more vaccine research much earlier!"

I'd suggest that might not be a mistake that'll be repeated after all this?

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm spotting a bit of stretching the boundaries going on where I live - elderly parents showing up and more than meeting at 2 metres distance - obviously intelligent people so I'm guessing they've reasoned it out...

... so many people seem to have taken up regular cycling and running.

I braved the local shared path and most people were being sensible - not much change for me as I always wait until I can pass at the maximum distance - it wasn't very relaxing though ... constantly worrying about how far after passing a pedestrian to start breathing and rationalising that people who exercise are likely to be generally careful ... clusters of children are somewhat worrying - I passed some sort of play event at a local primary school playground with adult supervision - not sure how that works.

When I go shopping I quarantine things for days and then still sometimes wash cartons down with alcohol ...

 

[treelover]

just been out with carer for weekly mini exercise, huge amount of walkers and cyclists, this is just on the edge of suburban sheffield

 

[Orang Utan]

i'm just cycling on the road - keeping the footpaths clear for pedestrians and mobile chairs

 

[killer b]

just been out with carer for weekly mini exercise, huge amount of walkers and cyclists, this is just on the edge of suburban sheffield

Walking, running or cycling in the neighbourhood they live in is now the only exercise people are allowed, so you will see a lot more than perhaps you'd expect. There was loads out when I went to the park this afternoon too. I was one of them. So were you.

 

[treelover]

i agree, but it all may have consequences.

 

[killer b]

i agree, but it all may have consequences.

It may - but currently, guidance is that people can take daily exercise outside their houses - as long as they maintain 6ft between them and other people (I know this is sometimes a bit tricky, but mostly people do their best) then it's pretty low risk.

 

[Orang Utan]

been meaning to ask, can people pass each other outside or is the distance to be maintained at all times?

 

[killer b]

been meaning to ask, can people pass each other outside or is the distance to be maintained at all times?

you should try, yeah.

 

[Orang Utan]

you should try, yeah.

i didn't know wtf to do last week - I went for a walk on a path i thought would be deserted but a couple came round the corner and there was nowhere to go so i turned my back to them and let them pass. must have looked well strange

 

[killer b]

i didn't know wtf to do last week - I went for a walk on a path i thought would be deserted but a couple came round the corner and there was nowhere to go so i turned my back to them and let them pass. must have looked well strange

I've been doing that when people suddenly appear and there's not enough time / space to give them a wide berth. I don't think you should worry too much about what they thought tbh.

Mostly I've been finding the atmosphere on walks quite nice - everyone aknowledges each other in a way they never used to - there's a nod or a smile from 90% of the people I pass.

 

[Orang Utan]

I've been doing that when people suddenly appear and there's not enough time / space to give them a wide berth. I don't think you should worry too much about what they thought tbh.

Mostly I've been finding the atmosphere on walks quite nice - everyone aknowledges each other in a way they never used to - there's a nod or a smile from 90% of the people I pass.

it's like being on a walking route in the countryside - people always say hello (in the Dales and Peaks anyhow)

 

[two sheds]

i didn't know wtf to do last week - I went for a walk on a path i thought would be deserted but a couple came round the corner and there was nowhere to go so i turned my back to them and let them pass. must have looked well strange

Nah I think people will understand. For the first 5-6 years of having my (then aggressive) dog if I saw other dog walkers appearing on the path I'd give them a wave and put the dog on a lead and turn round go the other way. Mostly got a wave back.

 

[ska invita]

Coronavirus: EasyJet to leave middle plane seats empty

The airline plans to introduce social distancing on flights after the Covid-19 lockdown is lifted.

www.bbc.co.uk

this is bullshit surely. I remember being on a plane once and being told no one was allowed to eat peanuts because someone had a peanut allergy on the plane. Peanut dust could get into the recirculated air system and kill them. Sitting a few cms further away from someone is not going to make any difference.

Similarly im not happy about some of the easing of lockdown plans that are scheduled and happening in other countries. They want work to start again, but at what cost to the workers + wider population. Small shops cannot keep an effective hygiene regime.

Lots more half arsed measures are coming our way. I think they need resisting.

 

[ruffneck23]

Got my letter from the govt telling us to stay at home today , it didnt even say Dear Ruffneck , wankers

 

[Cid]

Coronavirus: EasyJet to leave middle plane seats empty

The airline plans to introduce social distancing on flights after the Covid-19 lockdown is lifted.

www.bbc.co.uk

this is bullshit surely. I remember being on a plane once and being told no one was allowed to eat peanuts because someone had a peanut allergy on the plane. Peanut dust could get into the recirculated air system and kill them. Sitting a few cms further away from someone is not going to make any difference.

Similarly im not happy about some of the easing of lockdown plans that are scheduled and happening in other countries. They want work to start again, but at what cost to the workers + wider population. Small shops cannot keep an effective hygiene regime.

Lots more half arsed measures are coming our way. I think they need resisting.

I think the peanut thing is probably more related to possible contact by sitting nearby, stewards handling multiple things etc. Commercial aircraft have pretty comprehensive hepa filtration for recirculating air afaik.

 

[ska invita]

I think the peanut thing is probably more related to possible contact by sitting nearby, stewards handling multiple things etc. Commercial aircraft have pretty comprehensive hepa filtration for recirculating air afaik.

ah okay...still, I dont feel like one aircraft chair space in a sealed aircraft is a realistic health measure

 

[2hats]

ah okay...still, I dont feel like one aircraft chair space in a sealed aircraft is a realistic health measure

See previous post on this here (essentially highest risk is adjacent rows and two seats either side).

 

[treelover]

https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/OH-011.20-Coronavirus-and-fatigue-v2.pdf

Oxford Health NHS are proposing the same sort of treatment/programme of post c19 patients, many who had severe 19 will have post viral fatigue, as M.E patients, indeed they are saying that a number will go on to have M.E/Fibro, this happened post Swine Flu, etc

but their prescription is disasterous,, telling people to not sleep much(done nothing else hardly since C19), not to rest much, and the perenials CBT, graded exercise

 

[treelover]

even the dogs are joining in the 8pm clap!
I hope its not faked.

 

[Teaboy]

I have various benefits under an employee trust scheme. A long standing one of which is funeral assistance, which is a small lump sum paid to members next of kin to assist with funeral costs. This has been a benefit for years now but I've received a letter today explaining the policy and how it works.

Its quite brutal in a way but it's clearly the right thing for them to be doing. Sometimes in these strange days of horribly high numbers of deaths being on the news and suffering everywhere you look it can become almost commonplace and then just a tiny thing brings back the reality of it all.

 

[treelover]

whatever you think of the 8pm clap, this is stunning and moving artwork.

 

[William of Walworth]

Got my letter from the govt telling us to stay at home today , it didnt even say Dear Ruffneck , wankers

Blimey! I thought ours was late -- but we received it the day before Good Friday ....

 

[killer b]

Blimey! I thought ours was late -- but we received it the day before Good Friday ....

There was an initial list the government put together, then each GPs surgery have been adding to it and sending out further letters, so I'd imagine it'll depend on how efficiently this is being done at each surgery.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

A little bit of stuff for those who are following the chloroquine story (posted on 29 March so it's not current).

More on Hydroxychloroquine/Azithromycin. And On Dr. Raoult.

Dr. Didier Raoult of Marseilles and his co-workers have published another preprint on clinical results with the chloroquine/azithromycin combination that their earlier work has made famous. And I still don't know what to think of it. This is going to be a long post on the whole issue, so if you d

blogs.sciencemag.org

ETA The top and the tail of that article:


"Dr. Didier Raoult of Marseilles and his co-workers have published another preprint on clinical results with the chloroquine/azithromycin combination that their earlier work has made famous. And I still don’t know what to think of it.

This is going to be a long post on the whole issue, so if you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, here’s the summary: these new results are still not from randomized patients and still do not have any sort of control group for comparison. The sample is larger, but it’s still not possible to judge what’s going on. And on further reading, I have doubts about Dr. Raoult’s general approach to science and doubts about Dr. Raoult himself. Despite this second publication, I am actually less hopeful than I was before. Now the details.......
......All in all, I am pretty sure that I don’t care for Didier Raoult very much. And I don’t care for his style of research nor for his ways of expressing himself. Now, it would be a more simple world if assholes were always wrong about things, and I am not yet prepared to say that Dr. Raoult is wrong about hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. But neither does he seem to be the sort of person who is always a reliable source, either. I do not take pleasure in this. But I am less hopeful about this work than I was when I first read about it, and I can only wonder what direction those hopes will take in the weeks to come.

 

[Badgers]

Watching the update...

My hands are dry and cracked but I would happily smash them into Raabs feckless face until they break and bleed

 

[prunus]

Random unimportant in the grand scheme of things rant, but it’s really pissing me off that he’s saying “we can’t end the lockdown because we can’t be sure that the epidemic has peaked”. This contains the implication that if we did know it had peaked we could end the lockdown, which is bullshit - the peak of the epidemic is precisely the worst time to end the lockdown, as it’s by definition the point at which there are the most infectious people about. We can’t end the lockdown until the peak is long passed and the number of cases in the community are massively down on the peak, perhaps down as low as 10% or 20%. Presumably he knows this? He’s not that thick is he? Rant over.

 

[magneze]

Random unimportant in the grand scheme of things rant, but it’s really pissing me off that he’s saying “we can’t end the lockdown because we can’t be sure that the epidemic has peaked”. This contains the implication that if we did know it had peaked we could end the lockdown, which is bullshit - the peak of the epidemic is precisely the worst time to end the lockdown, as it’s by definition the point at which there are the most infectious people about. We can’t end the lockdown until the peak is long passed and the number of cases in the community are massively down on the peak, perhaps down as low as 10% or 20%. Presumably he knows this? He’s not that thick is he? Rant over.

The only way to know that it has peaked is to go past the peak. I don't believe that the plan is to lift the lockdown during it.

 

[HalloweenJack]

Random unimportant in the grand scheme of things rant, but it’s really pissing me off that he’s saying “we can’t end the lockdown because we can’t be sure that the epidemic has peaked”. This contains the implication that if we did know it had peaked we could end the lockdown, which is bullshit - the peak of the epidemic is precisely the worst time to end the lockdown, as it’s by definition the point at which there are the most infectious people about. We can’t end the lockdown until the peak is long passed and the number of cases in the community are massively down on the peak, perhaps down as low as 10% or 20%. Presumably he knows this? He’s not that thick is he? Rant over.

Seems less of a rant, more of a reasonable expectation.

The only problem is that it presupposes a Government with a clear plan.