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Coronavirus outbreak likely now ‘gathering steam’

news.harvard.edu

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Re: Coronavirus outbreak likely now ‘gathering steam’

#11

Post by kulahan »

joeyspn wrote: post #8
haunter wrote: post #6

>But there is some evidence — and we’re working on quantifying it — that coronaviruses do transmit less efficiently in the warmer weather. So it’s possible that we will get some help from that, but I don’t think that will solve the problem, as evidenced by the fact that there’s transmission in Singapore, on the equator. There have been several research about seasonal influenza and how it correlates with weather, like…

Singapore is having 30ºC days, yet the epidemic is progressing and the city is already bracing for the worse...

"warm weather may have an effect on transmission" and "a warm city is dealing with infections" are not mutually exclusive statements.

And for the record, as of a little over a week ago, there were only a dozen cases in Singapore according to the WHO. Even if they were mutually exclusive, Singapore isn't exactly the best example.

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situati...

Re: Coronavirus outbreak likely now ‘gathering steam’

#12

Post by catalogia »

joeyspn wrote: post #8
haunter wrote: post #6

>But there is some evidence — and we’re working on quantifying it — that coronaviruses do transmit less efficiently in the warmer weather. So it’s possible that we will get some help from that, but I don’t think that will solve the problem, as evidenced by the fact that there’s transmission in Singapore, on the equator. There have been several research about seasonal influenza and how it correlates with weather, like…

Singapore is having 30ºC days, yet the epidemic is progressing and the city is already bracing for the worse...

Singapore also has a lot of air conditioning. Perhaps the transmission is occurring primarily indoors, away from the 30ºC heat.

Re: Coronavirus outbreak likely now ‘gathering steam’

#13

Post by tim333 »

It's interesting that chloroquine, an old anti malarial drug is "highly effective in the control of 2019-nCoV infection in vitro". I wonder if anyone's doing a study to see if that stops it spreading in the real world? I almost thought I could do a double blind study myself with a website and a bunch of chloroquine pills and aspirins and randomly post volunteers one or the other. Dunno if the post works in Wuhan though. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-020-0282-0.pdf

Re: Coronavirus outbreak likely now ‘gathering steam’

#15

Post by ipsum2 »

tim333 wrote: post #13

It's interesting that chloroquine, an old anti malarial drug is "highly effective in the control of 2019-nCoV infection in vitro". I wonder if anyone's doing a study to see if that stops it spreading in the real world? I almost thought I could do a double blind study myself with a website and a bunch of chloroquine pills and aspirins and randomly post volunteers one or the other. Dunno if the post works in Wuhan thou…

Not a biologist, but "in vitro" isn't really that informative. Many things, including fire, are highly effective in stopping diseases in vitro.

Re: Coronavirus outbreak likely now ‘gathering steam’

#16

Post by jvm___ »

ipsum2 wrote: post #15
tim333 wrote: post #13

It's interesting that chloroquine, an old anti malarial drug is "highly effective in the control of 2019-nCoV infection in vitro". I wonder if anyone's doing a study to see if that stops it spreading in the real world? I almost thought I could do a double blind study myself with a website and a bunch of chloroquine pills and aspirins and randomly post volunteers one or the other. Dunno if the post works in Wuhan thou…

Not a biologist, but "in vitro" isn't really that informative. Many things, including fire, are highly effective in stopping diseases in vitro.

https://xkcd.com/1217/

Re: Coronavirus outbreak likely now ‘gathering steam’

#17

Post by [deleted] »

ipsum2 wrote: post #15
tim333 wrote: post #13

It's interesting that chloroquine, an old anti malarial drug is "highly effective in the control of 2019-nCoV infection in vitro". I wonder if anyone's doing a study to see if that stops it spreading in the real world? I almost thought I could do a double blind study myself with a website and a bunch of chloroquine pills and aspirins and randomly post volunteers one or the other. Dunno if the post works in Wuhan thou…

Not a biologist, but "in vitro" isn't really that informative. Many things, including fire, are highly effective in stopping diseases in vitro.

[deleted]

Re: Coronavirus outbreak likely now ‘gathering steam’

#18

Post by ourmandave »

teeray wrote: post #4
ourmandave wrote: post #3

It's now officially named COVID-19 by the WHO.

Despite that, I think it’s too late to rename this virus. People have called it “coronavirus” for weeks now and the name will likely stick, correct or not.

It's to help coordinate a cure and containment if everyone (e.g. researchers, doctors, public officials, reporters.) knows it by one official name.

Also COVID-19 is neutral, so it doesn't generate negative bias like the Spanish Flu. (Which didn't originate in Spain.)

Re: Coronavirus outbreak likely now ‘gathering steam’

#19

Post by nosborn »

kulahan wrote: post #11
joeyspn wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Singapore is having 30ºC days, yet the epidemic is progressing and the city is already bracing for the worse...

"warm weather may have an effect on transmission" and "a warm city is dealing with infections" are not mutually exclusive statements. And for the record, as of a little over a week ago, there were only a dozen cases in Singapore according to the WHO. Even if they were mutually exclusive, Singapore isn't exactly the best example. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situati...

As of yesterday it’s 47 cases in Singapore.

https://www.moh.gov.sg/2019-ncov-wuhan

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