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posted by Fnord666 on Friday March 27 2020, @04:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the every-cloud-has-a-silver-lining dept.

Coronavirus: Six heartening stories you may have missed:

It's been just over two weeks since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak, which first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December, a global pandemic.

[...] Infections, the rates of which have accelerated since the outbreak began, have touched nearly every corner of the world and prompted unprecedented and widespread travel restrictions and business closures that threaten a global recession. At least three billion people, including India's 1.3 billion population, have been ordered to stay home.

Even as new cases in China have dropped dramatically, leading to the easing of many restrictions, places such as Italy, Spain, Iran, and the United States have become new hot spots for the virus, for which there is no vaccine or proven treatment.

[...] WHO launches global trial of possible treatments

The WHO launched a global trial to quickly assess the most promising treatments for the virus and the disease it causes. The organisation is currently looking at four drugs or drug combinations that were developed for other illnesses and are already approved for human use and could be made widely available.

[...] UK call for volunteers exceeds expectations

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday night called for 250,000 volunteers to help deliver groceries and medicine to the most vulnerable citizens who have been ordered to self-isolate.

Within 24 hours, more than 400,000 people had signed up. That number soon rose to more than half a million, according to the BBC - larger than Britain's armed forces, which currently stand at just over 192,000.

[...] Air pollution drops

A silver lining of countries locking down across the planet, grinding transport and most industry to halt, has been a marked decline in air pollution.

Satellite imagery has shown pollution in China plummeting as large swaths of the country shut down at the height of the outbreak there.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) on Wednesday confirmed that the concentration of pollutants, in particular nitrogen dioxide, which is largely caused by road transport, recently massively declined in Europe "especially in major cities under lockdown measures".

[...] Italy coronavirus outbreak 'peak' may soon be reached

Italy has so far recorded more than 8,000 deaths and over 80,000 infections.

On Saturday, Italy recorded its highest daily death toll of 793 new fatalities from COVID-19.

However, since then the daily toll, while remaining high, has not surpassed that number. Daily new cases have also leveled off.

[...] US hospitals prepare to use blood plasma as treatment

[...] The US Food and Drug Administration said it is expediting approving the use of recovered patients' plasma to treat the newly infected.

When a person gets infected by a particular virus, the body starts making specially designed proteins called antibodies to fight the infection. After the person recovers, those antibodies float in survivors' blood - specifically in the plasma, the liquid part of blood - for months, even years.

Injecting the plasma into another infected patient could boost the body's ability to fight the infection, lessening the severity of the disease and freeing up hospital resources.

[...] Cuban doctors sent to help overwhelmed Italian health system

Cuba has dispatched a brigade of doctors and nurses to Italy to aid in the fight against coronavirus, following a request from the worst-affected Lombardy region.

[...] Cuba has sent its "armies of white robes" to disaster sites around the world since its 1959 revolution. However, the 52-strong brigade of medical personnel represents the first time Cuba has sent an emergency contingent to Italy, which has been brought to its knees by the pandemic, despite being one of the world's richest countries.


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  • (Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Saturday March 28 2020, @01:43AM (2 children)

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Saturday March 28 2020, @01:43AM (#976543)

    What we need is about 8 weeks of people fucking cooperating

    Ok... so 8 weeks of total lockdown for the entire world... and then what?

    Really? Then what? This virus isn't going to magically disappear. If it even slows down during warmer months remains to be seen. 8 weeks is not enough time to come up with a vaccine, properly test it, and make enough for the entire world.

    So, what? Just keep the world locked up for all eternity?

    Should I ask what your opinion is on driving cars, since thousands die in roadway fatalities every year?

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Saturday March 28 2020, @06:00AM

    by dry (223) on Saturday March 28 2020, @06:00AM (#976568) Journal

    People get sick and need hospitalization over a longer time span rather then overwhelming the medical system like Italy. If we're lucky, it mutates to a less serious variety or we get a vaccine.

  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday March 28 2020, @10:28PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Saturday March 28 2020, @10:28PM (#976760)

    Ok... so 8 weeks of total lockdown for the entire world... and then what?

    The point of those 8 weeks is that if you can get everyone who has the virus to be either dead-and-not-contagious or recovered-and-not-contagious, you've won. 8 weeks is the current estimate for how long it will take for that to happen. It sucks, but it's better than millions of people dying.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.