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posted by takyon on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the last-week dept.

Coronavirus declared global health emergency by WHO

The new coronavirus has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China.

"The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The concern is that it could spread to countries with weaker health systems.

1st Person-To-Person Spread Of Coronavirus Has Occurred In U.S., CDC Says

Coronavirus: US reports first person-to-person transmission

Chicago health officials have reported the first US case of human-to-human transmission of the deadly coronavirus.

The new patient is the spouse of a Chicago woman who carried the infection back from Wuhan, China, the US Centers for Disease Control said on Thursday.

The discovery marks the second report of the virus in Illinois and the sixth confirmed case in the US.

This paper provides early estimates of 2019-nCoV epidemiological parameters: Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV: early estimation of epidemiological parameters and epidemic predictions (open, DOI: 10.1101/2020.01.23.20018549) (DX)

Used model does not offer much grounds for optimism.

Previously:


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2Original Submission #3

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @11:51PM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @11:51PM (#951486)

    "The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

    The concern is that it could spread to countries with weaker health systems.

    This got me curious. Is there any global rankings of healthcare systems?

    Playing on stereotypes, I'd rather be ill in Sweden than in China, but I'd rather be ill in China than in Somalia. I wonder if there are any real metrics about health care systems qualities.

  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @11:53PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @11:53PM (#951488)

    I'd rather be ill in China than healthy in Somalia.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @12:10AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @12:10AM (#951494)

      Yes, everyone would rather get in at the beginning of the ponzi scheme, before the socialist system runs out of other peoples money.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Revolutionary_Socialist_Party [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @02:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @02:26PM (#951775)

      I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @12:11AM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @12:11AM (#951495)

    It sounds like they're insinuating that the US is one of those countries "with a weaker health system."

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @12:25AM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @12:25AM (#951501)

      What health system?

      • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday January 31 2020, @02:03AM (2 children)

        by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday January 31 2020, @02:03AM (#951554) Journal

        The one making all the money

        --
        La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @03:01AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @03:01AM (#951603)

          That's not "the US's" health system. That's the health system used by many US citizens, but it belongs to the corporations that compose it. Well-developed nations have universal healthcare, belonging to the people of the nation (or at least the govnt), instead of private-sector, belonging to shareholders.

          This is the same difference as between "the US Army" and "Blackwater". One is a mercenary entity, and one is - ostensibly - tasked with the well-being of one aspect of a nation.

          • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @03:54AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @03:54AM (#951633)

            They can both f-off until they do the most obvious thing in the world and test one of these patients for vitamin c levels as far as I'm concerned. I am 100% confident I am better off at home with 10 kg of vitamin c than at a hospital full of infected people and exhausted doctors with depleted immune systems.

            Do you remember the swine flu vaccine and how only Ron Paul and another doctor in congress voted against it? Then it had to get withdrawn for making so many people sick. I bet a repeat of that is coming too.

            https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-apr-27-sci-swine-history27-story.html [latimes.com]
            https://quoththeraven.podbean.com/e/quoth-the-raven-171-dr-ron-paul/ [podbean.com]

      • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday January 31 2020, @01:18PM

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 31 2020, @01:18PM (#951745) Journal

        Well, saying that "will ignore the problem as long as possible" is dealing with it well is a matter of categorization, but if that's what you mean...

        The thing is, so far this disease isn't that dangerous. It is, however, one of the kinds of viruses that mutate rapidly. I was told it was of the same general family as "the common cold". So maybe it's safe to pretty much ignore it, after all most people won't get that sick, and only a few will die. But this could change.

        --
        Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday January 31 2020, @12:57AM (3 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Friday January 31 2020, @12:57AM (#951518)

      I think they're more worried about small island nations, and poor countries that might not cope well with a large number of sick people.

      I'm sure the US will deal with this fine.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday January 31 2020, @04:27AM (1 child)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 31 2020, @04:27AM (#951646) Journal

        I'm sure the US will deal with this fine.

        I don't know... You make it sound like "Meh, being a zombie is not that bad, at least if you do it part time"

        (grin)

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Saturday February 01 2020, @11:13PM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Saturday February 01 2020, @11:13PM (#952548)

          I wouldn't want to make a career out of it, but it's a diverting hobby. :-)

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Friday January 31 2020, @05:17AM

        by sjames (2882) on Friday January 31 2020, @05:17AM (#951656) Journal

        The U.S. does have some advantage due to experience. We're quite used to untreated illness and going to work while sick.

        On the other hand, that's a perfect setup for a pandemic.