Covid-19

[Orcs]

Watching BBC news last night. They keep sending reporters and cameramen out to Parks etc. to report on those there not social distancing and sunbathing etc.  The Guy last night was blocking the path forcing people to come to close as they walked by.

Surely sending a crew there is a non essential journey?  By being there they increase the congestion and more importantly give the impression that its ok to go to the park when you don't need to

Its time they shut all the parks, as people do not seem to be being sensible.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Norm - the flu vaccine is altered each year, but you can still get it. I assume same will happen with Corvid-19 - we will always be 1 step behind but the vaccine will mitigate the worst effects.

IanS

[Techno]

3. No long-term immunity - Many viral illnesses are one-off things (Measles, chickenpox), but some can infect a person again (Influenza).
Hate to be so gloomy.
Happy Easter all.

#3........Well that's not good news, Steve. 
That is rather gloomy information

I've been trying to check whether Covid 19 is a 'type' of influenza virus...But apparently, it isn't....Is this correct ?

Cheers - Phil

Happy Easter, anyway. 

[Steve J]

I know the lockdown is a bit of a pain, but looking in the bright side:

- The air quality is noticeably better, with at least a 30% drop in emissions in Bristol. Here in Hanham you can really smell the difference and it is a pleasure to go out for a bike ride.

- The sky is so much clearer without the vapour trails from the planes. The last time it was like this was during the Icelandic volcanic eruption that closed down air travel over the UK.

- It is sooooo tranquil without the constant sound of traffic in the background. Sitting in the garden last evening with our daughter, even she noticed the difference and I remarked that it must have been more like this when I was young. You can here the birdsong so clearly as well as the buzz of the insects and even the sound of the birds in flight as they drop into the shrubs etc. Utter bliss!

- I see so many more people out for walks, on their bikes as well as families playing with children in their gardens.

It would be nice to think that when this crisis is over, that we might have learnt some lessons and some of the above might carry on, but sadly I very much doubt it.

[Sunray]

Steve is unfortunately correct.   If the human body can't do its usual business of generating antibodies to combat the virus- be it naturally or with the boost of a vaccine - we are up the creek without a paddle.

But in terms of getting a handle on Covid 19, its early days.  So much we don't know.    

Sir Jeremy Farrar nailed it on the Marr Show this morning.  The key question  - has the virus gone dormant in the host and then somehow reactivated - or - is it infection by a separate virus ?   

When my daughter was reading zoology at the Glasgow uni  School of Life Sciences, I was fascinated by the research into immunity in animal DNA.  Some rare breeds have resistance to animal diseases.  It has not been politically correct to carry this premise into homo sapiens.  Yet we now know that many of our illnesses are to some extent "inherited " - cancer, heart & stroke etc.   It is now accepted to probe family history in terms of diagnosis.  

It may well emerge that the ravages of this virus is not all down to lifestyle or poverty. Can it be that different racial groups have inherited different levels of resistance to Covid 19?  Already possible trend that women tend to be  more resistant.    I would not run too far with the ethnic theory based on the USA model and current data.  Too many other underlying lifestyle, illness and age factors to shoot from the hip.

 

[toxicpixie]

Interesting article on the use of public space at this time.

We're lucky to have a garden. Unlucky to have one set of loud neighbours.

Dogs got very bored on the same circuit round the road everyday.

https://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-politics-of-covid-19-busy-parks-and-public-blame/?fbclid=IwAR2FfH_6ZWMbLaYEOJMFJJPL6kW4u8ROUPaqiG0P34i1rjWlJR71SbCI4VE

[Ithoriel]

It may well emerge that the ravages of this virus is not all down to lifestyle or poverty. Can it be that different racial groups have inherited different levels of resistance to Covid 19?  Already possible trend that women tend to be  more resistant

We also need to monitor where this virus is going in terms of mutation.  

The first seems quite likely.

Probably the best known example of racial groups having different genetic resistance to a disease is the gene that causes sickle cell anaemia. If you inherit one copy from your parents it boosts your resistance to malaria but get a copy from both and you get sickle cell  disease.

The fact that women inherit two complete sets of genes and men only one, plus a truncated second set, makes it more likely they will have a genetic answer to a medical condition. A downside to us men being mutants

As to the latter .... oh yes! I'm sure it's being researched as I type.

[Techno]

Just seen on one of the local paper's site, some 18 year old has been arrested, after previously incurring 5 FPNs, and STILL just feeling it's OK to just drive around as he pleases. 

Also, Pembrokeshire police have told a London resident to go back home, after they caught him on the A40......You really couldn't make it up. ....I trust they gave him a FPN, too.

Cheers - Phil

[Orcs]

Just seen on one of the local paper's site, some 18 year old has been arrested, after previously incurring 5 FPNs, and STILL just feeling it's OK to just drive around as he pleases. 

Also, Pembrokeshire police have told a London resident to go back home, after they caught him on the A40......You really couldn't make it up. ....I trust they gave him a FPN, too.

Cheers - Phil

They should impound his car

[steve_holmes_11]

#3........Well that's not good news, Steve. 
That is rather gloomy information

I've been trying to check whether Covid 19 is a 'type' of influenza virus...But apparently, it isn't....Is this correct ?

Cheers - Phil

Happy Easter, anyway. 

I agree, it's a gloomy outlook - but let's look on the bright side.

We only have headlines at present, little hard science.
Those who caught it a second time could simply be people who self-isolated due to "symptoms" but had something else.
We will learn more in due course.

There's a good chance that Covid-19 will become yet another persistent, low level threat that we learn to manage, just like Hepatitis, Measles, MERS ...
Even if we cannot find a vaccine to immunize the world and eliminate it, we will devise tests to detect it early, and medicines to reduce the symptoms.
Like those other conditions, it will take a few of us each year, but we will outlast it.



I'll do my best to answer about whether it's a type of influenza, but the question is well above my pay-grade.
(Disclaimer: I don't even have an O'level in Biology, but I am close to 3 senior doctors - 2 medical ones working frontline in hotspots - and one Microbiologist who is  leading "next stage" initiatives for NHS Scotland and Wales).
I'm therefore gaining some very direct insights.

The Coronavirus family is a different virus to the Influenza family.
This means that a simple tweak of the 'flku vaccine is unlikely to help.

Coronavirus has 4 human affecting strains - and another for alpacas.
Covid-19, SARS and MERS are of the Beta strain (Also found in mice, bats and hedgehogs).
The other 3 strains have been found in bats, pigs, birds, mice, and the beluga whale.

[Sunray]

The fascinating   element - and it is still early days, based on Chinese experience - is the level of resistance shown by children.   

Do kids respond with antibodies sooner? Or does the virus attack children in a different way?   

So much we don't know.   That is the frightening aspect.   I know its hindsight 2020, but too many government advisors counselled that this was just another flu type virus.  Only Farrar was the voice crying in the wilderness .  the WHO however listened - hence their mantra "test test test".

[Ithoriel]

As I understand it Covid-19 doesn't kill you. What kills you is your own bodies reaction to it - your immune response goes into WTF! OMG! OMG! OMG! mode and it's overreaction overwhelms your ability to breathe.

I've seen it suggested that kid's immune systems aren't developed enough to go into panic mode.

Absolutely no idea if that's true, but it makes a sort of sense.

It may be an example of Cohen and Stewart's "Lies to Children" as popularised in Terry Pratchett's "Science of Discworld" .... or it may just be lies

[Techno]

They should impound his car

They should, Mark....But whether that's the case we'll have to wait and see......If the car (or he) was uninsured, they'd have taken it off him, in a flash.

Cheers - Phil

[Westmarcher]

Here's one ....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-52227363

Two men arrested for licking their hands and wiping them over supermarket food.   

Beggars belief! If this was during a Medieval plague ... cut their tongues out?

[Techno]

Yes.....Did hear (or read) about that one, Davy....

Beggars belief ? .....You're not wrong, Matey. 

Now..is it my imagination, or did someone here predict a rise in DIY accidents ?
Item on the news...(unfortunately I can't remember from which hospital.)......Stating that they'd seen 6 serious eye injuries in the past week, caused by DIY.....whereas under 'normal circumstances' they'd only see a single one in a fortnight...People forgetting to use safety goggles....apparently.

I imagine A&E departments are having to deal with fewer RTAs......But then, in one of the bigger hospitals in Wales, almost half of the A&E staff...Consultants & nurses, have tested positive for Covid 19.

Cheers - Phil.