The local rumor is that Wythenshawe hospital has its first case, lots of staff been sent home for self isolation !
SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)
- Thread starter Don't Kill Bill
- Start date
Hand sanitiser with alcohol is a tad overrated for killing germs tbh. Should only be used if an old fashioned hand-wash is not an option.
A proper hand-wash is by far the best way to make sure they are cleaned of infectants.
As has already been pointed out to you; it’s an Internet thing.
Whats the internet?
Been hearing from one of our idiot directors that all is normal in Milan and everybody is back to work now. I know he hates the concept of home working anyway, and when this first broke out he sent an email reluctantly suggesting working from home was an option but we should really be in the office. I decided I'd drive in for the first time today and got here to find every other office around us is totally closed, the roads are half empty, bars and restaurants are all closed, and it's just us here, despite some of our employees travelling in from heavily affected towns. 
I've got one meeting to do then I'm off.
I've got one meeting to do then I'm off.
All people seem to care about is money and ‘me’. It’s absolutely pathetic. Feck your boss.Been hearing from one of our idiot directors that all is normal in Milan and everybody is back to work now. I know he hates the concept of home working anyway, and when this first broke out he sent an email reluctantly suggesting working from home was an option but we should really be in the office. I decided I'd drive in for the first time today and got here to find every other office around us is totally closed, the roads are half empty, bars and restaurants are all closed, and it's just us here, despite some of our employees travelling in from heavily affected towns.
I've got one meeting to do then I'm off.
2 more cases confirmed here in Scotland. Raging.
Confused as feck as to whether these things are any good or not. Some guy from British Institute of Cleaning Science (its a thing) was on radio the other day saying if you use an alohol gel, you need to wash your hands within 15 minutes to kill the bugs that thrive off the alcohol.
Coronavirus: Chinese app WeChat censored virus content since 1 Jan https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51732042
It’s everywhere already and probably has been most the winter. The media circus around it is entirely unnecessary and as though there hasn’t been viruses around literally all year round for hundreds of millions of years.
It’s everywhere already and probably has been most the winter. The media circus around it is entirely unnecessary and as though there hasn’t been viruses around literally all year round for hundreds of millions of years.
Coronaviruses have a kind of shell around them that they use to attach to cells and infect us. Alcohol destroys the shell, but you have to make sure the gel coats the virus. It's better than nothing but hand washing is still the best.
Like M n M's?
Confirmed case in South Manchester.
Wythenshawe Hospital.
Wythenshawe Hospital.
Italy to close all schools and colleges for two weeks.
My company has cancelled all business travel until April 15 - I was going to go to Singapore & Miami in the next 2 months
Doesn't look like we're too far away from enforced remote working tbh.
Doesn't look like we're too far away from enforced remote working tbh.
Schools have already been closed in affected regions for 2 weeks. If they're closing schools in the whole of Italy for another 2 weeks then the spread must not be under control. One of the problems is parents will have to take time off work to look after their kids which brings further disruption to the economy. I really think Italy will go through a recession as a result of combating covid 19.
That could be messy.
No news yet on the origin of the case.
Wythenshawe Hospital has a 111 pod, so hopefully the risk to the hospital itself remains low.
Not long ago we heard hand sanitizer was too effective and we were killing all the good bugs on our skin. I'd like to see the study he's referring to. It may be real, once bleach decomposes it becomes a nice food source as well. He's not really helping the cause either way, covid will not thrive on alcohol and that needs to be the focus right now.
I mentioned earlier that I had fallen extremely ill on the first week of January. Started with a cough... no lies. I had a cough for a about 4 days, before a headache, runny nose and fever. Was ill from Sunday to Friday and took 3 days off work. The cough remained for about two weeks.
According to WHO world death rate is 3.4%. Hugely concerning.
We need to start closures before this gets worse.
Outside of China and Iran, the death rate is around 1%. Still high but as many have said, its based on reported cases.
Damn, the latest episode of "Debatten"(the most serious debate show on Norwegian TV) made me a little more nervous. It doesn't seem like most countries(Norway included) are even remotely close to being prepared for this virus. One expert even suggested that what we're seeing in Italy right now is the future for most European countries. Practically every expert on the field also agreed that a large portion of the population will get it(somewhere between 15% and 40% being the most likely). The biggest worry is the timeline. To paraphrase:
"We just hope that this lasts for 10 to 12 months, rather than being relatively extreme for 2 months. The latter would be a disaster that we can't deal with and many people will die simply because we don't have the necessary staff available. This also includes other patients with other diseases, naturally."
"We just hope that this lasts for 10 to 12 months, rather than being relatively extreme for 2 months. The latter would be a disaster that we can't deal with and many people will die simply because we don't have the necessary staff available. This also includes other patients with other diseases, naturally."
That number will go up if this becomes pandemic and we start to exceed treatment capacity.
In general, alcohol kills most bacteria and some viruses. COVID-19 fortunately is one of them.
Hand washing, done properly, doesn't so much kill as simply remove from your skin any virus or bacteria. Soap kills some, but it's biggest job is removing the adhesive quality of them, allowing you scrub and rinse them off your skin. The net result when properly applied, is more thorough than alcohol and has the added benefit of being much more expansive with regard to all kinds of infections, as it removes dirt where it may hide, spores, etc.
The 'good bacteria' thing is probably true, but there is no studies showing that this has any negative impact. If it worries you, just touch your arm with your hand and voila, bacteria culture restored. Don't know about the bugs thriving on alcohol.
I know this only because I had to study hand hygeine when I studied nursing, and part of that was also examining the results in uv light and petri dishes after cleaning our own hands with alcohol, casual hand wash and proper hand wash. The healthcare professional advisory was that the basis is hand washing, but if you are certain no material contamination has taken place in touching something, then sanitiser can be used for intermittent sterilisation to relieve the skin, as too frequent handwashing every day can take its toll.
Coronavirus: top WHO official praises Hong Kong, Singapore for 'very effective' measures to suppress transmission of disease
Both Hong Kong and Singapore were one of the first few countries in the world (outside China) to get it hit by COVID-19, a couple of months ago.
Note the relatively low numbers despite living/working in congested areas, a large portion of elderly folks and very open borders.
I'm from Wythenshawe!!
Won't be long before someone I know will have it.
Won't be long before someone I know will have it.
The death rate is apparently heavily dependant on the treatment facilities available for those that end up in a severe state. The best place to get it, if your going to get it, is probably China, other countries more modern or not, arn't as well equipped for this. Iran will likely see a much higher death rate.
Euro countres seem to be going with the same strategy of contain and delay, as it is all about keeping enough treatment facilities available to cope with the demand. If we can delay a mass outbreak until after the flu season has finished, it will free up a lot of beds and be a big help.
Tell me about it. My hands are dry as feck and starting to crack having had to wash them so much over the last 2 weeks.
I guess the fact that its seemingly not as easily transmissable as the flu is a good thing.
People on twittter dont believe WHO though. Conspiracy nuts + pandemic = bad news?
Weirdos.
People on twittter dont believe WHO though. Conspiracy nuts + pandemic = bad news?
Weirdos.
I've already got some weird hand rash where my doc has told me not to use soap on them.
Its not as bad as it used to be, at one point most of my right hand was blistered and bleeding. Just two fingers on my left hand still have it because I do still use soap, cos I'm not a dirty git, I just apply steroid cream when it gets too bad.
All my hand ins are on the 2nd April, including my dissertation. I'm not going to lie, a part of me wouldn't say no to a couple of weeks extension on that
My colleague came back from Hong Kong during the outbreak. Was quarantined for two weeks but said that she barely went out during her time out there.
Judging by what she's said and this report by the WHO, if you act quick, it won't be an issue.
The R0 is higher than the flu.
It's a bit trickier than that. A flu patient infects on average 1.3 people. A COVID-19 on average 2.2 (last time I checked). So it does spread more aggressively, likely due to the lack of immunity.
The good news is that it does seem to be harder to transmit, meaning that we can take more effective countermeasures to contain it than we could against the flu (which would be nearly hopeless if it were as transmissible).
The bad news is that once transmitted, your odds of infection are much higher.
But it does offer hope that the 2.2 average can be brought down and contained more effectively than we might try to contain the flu.
Wife, daughter and I travelled to the USA mid November through to the beginning of December. We then all had flu-like symptoms for about a week each in the middle of December. I wouldn't be surprised if we picked it up in an airport via our toddler.
I think I've seen reported before that the normal flu around that time was particularly nasty. I caught it too mid-January, had to take several days off (which pretty much never happens) and had a persistent cough for a week or two afterwards. It was probably the heaviest flu I've ever had.
this flu season in general has been very virulent. wouldn't read too much into that, given the timeline.