First Case of New Coronavirus Detected in U.S.

Post by Fomite » Wed, Jan 22, 2020, 11:18 PM UTC

cameldrv wrote: post #201

Fomite wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From your second citation: "Although N95 respirators appeared to have a protective advantage over surgical masks in laboratory settings, our meta-analysis showed that there were insufficient data to determine definitively whether N95 respirators are superior to surgical masks in protecting health care workers against transmissible acute respiratory infections in clinical settings."

Insufficient data to show that N95 is better than a surgical mask, not insufficient data that N95 works. My guess is that whether the mask fits and makes a good seal, whether the user wears it consistently, and whether the user washes his hands before handling food or touching his mouth or nose all matter a lot more than the type of mask.

Post by Fomite » Wed, Jan 22, 2020, 11:24 PM UTC

dx034 wrote: post #186

Fomite wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple notes, from an infectious disease epidemiologist: - The CDC Director is, in rare form for this administration, not someone devoted to dismantling the agency he's in charge of. I work with the CDC fairly frequently, and they're in pretty good shape. - This is our third novel coronavirus, and the 2nd out of China. There's been a lot of prep work for this.

But wouldn't prevention require to screen all returning passengers from China and/or other Asian countries after Chinese New Year? I'm not sure how feasible that would be with the number of connecting flights with passengers from China arriving in the US each day. Or is it enough to isolate patients once they are ill enough to seek treatment?

Post by fat_turdsicle » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 3:45 AM UTC

aodin wrote: post #81

tptacek wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just according to superficial stats, it looks like the flu kills orders of magnitude more people than SARS and MERS. Is the public health response to these diseases really so effective as to account for most of this difference? I don't pay close attention but also wouldn't off the top of my head be able to describe anything that, say, Washington State does to effectively respond to CoV incidents to keep it from propa…

Yes, seasonal flu in the US alone kills around 30,000 each year, and may have killed as many as 60,000 during the 17-18 flu season alone [1]. MERS and SARS have each killed less than 1,000 worldwide. A few things that may interest you: * The rate of transmission for a disease is estimated by its R0 or basic reproduction number. R0 estimates the number of new cases from the unaffected population that one infection wil…

Post by Enginerrrd » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 9:51 PM UTC

Fomite wrote: post #211

cameldrv wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insufficient data to show that N95 is better than a surgical mask, not insufficient data that N95 works. My guess is that whether the mask fits and makes a good seal, whether the user wears it consistently, and whether the user washes his hands before handling food or touching his mouth or nose all matter a lot more than the type of mask.

Agreed, but many of these studies were done in a medical context, which is close to a best-case scenario in terms of training for the use of an N95.

Post by topmonk » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 11:49 PM UTC

yzh wrote: post #137

It is not SARS, but it is highly possible that it was caused by people who kill and sell wild animals in the live poultry market. Where these animals like gem-faced civet got virus from bats. It is a long-held tradition for certain regions in China to eat wild animals. We even have a Chengyu called: 山珍海味, meaning precious and tasty animals from mountains and seas. Most wild animals are not evolved to be eaten by huma…