Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Tuesday January 28 2020, @11:38PM   Printer-friendly
from the clearing-the-air dept.

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/01/27/coronavirus

As the world knows, we face an emerging virus threat in the Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak. The problem is, right now there are several important things that we don't know about the situation. The mortality rate, the ease of human-human transmission, the rate of mutation of the virus (and how many strains we might be dealing with – all of these need more clarity. Unfortunately, we've already gone past the MERS outbreak in severity (which until now was the most recent new coronavirus to make the jump into humans). If we're fortunate, though, we'll still have something that will be worrisome, but not as bad as (say) the usual flu numbers (many people don't realize that influenza kills tens of thousands of people in the US each year). The worst case, though, is something like 1918, and we really, really don't need that.

[Ed note: The linked story is by Derek Lowe who writes a "commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry". He is perhaps best known for his "Things I Won't Work With" blog entries which are as hilarious as they are... eye opening. I have found him to be a no-nonsense writer who "tells things as they are", holding no punches. The whole story is worth reading as he clearly explains what a coronavirus is, about the current one that reportedly originated in Wuhan, China, what could be done about it, how long that would likely take, and what can be done for those who have already been infected. --martyb]

Previous Stories Referencing Derek Lowe:

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:34AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:34AM (#950414)

    But basically you have to be proposing that it is not the sickest people who are getting tested for the virus.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:45AM (5 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:45AM (#950416) Journal

    Just give them vitamin C at the door. That will sort it out.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:55AM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:55AM (#950421)

      No, I mean you are saying that the Chinese are specifically not testing the patients most likely to die, or are hiding those test results. This is a level of corruption above and beyond what most are proposing.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:11AM (3 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:11AM (#950430) Journal

        I would agree with that conclusion, but I don't have any hard evidence to support it.

        You can find unverified videos floating around on social media of doctors and nurses contradicting official numbers and painting a grimmer picture than ~132 deaths.

        https://www.thedailybeast.com/deadly-coronavirus-throws-china-hospitals-into-chaos [thedailybeast.com]

        Another doctor in Wuhan wrote an open letter to Chinese officials on the message board of state-run publication People’s Daily, calling for an investigation of the Wuhan Health Commission. The doctor said that the commission attempted to cover up the coronavirus outbreak by banning mentions of lung infections in CT scan reports. (The post has been censored.)

        There is undoubtedly heavy censorship on Weibo et al. no matter what the real situation is.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:26AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:26AM (#950439)

          There are also a bunch of disturbing videos of people supposedly suddenly fainting/collapsing due to this virus but that is not a symptom according to any authority (WHO/CDC/etc).

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @05:37AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @05:37AM (#950515)

          If you are going to accept that degree of lying why not assume it is all fake and mean to suppress protests?