Question about how the corona virus works, if anyone knows?

[ironpony]

I'm pretty scared of the corona virus right now, from what I keep hearing.  I tried doing research on it but couldn't find a lot, possibly since it's new.  I was wondering, if anyone knows.  Does it work like a cold, where your body can fight it out and then you will not have it anymore after a while, or is it like HIV, where as once you got it, you have it permanently?

[d0nnivain]

It's like a cold.   You get better 

[K.K.]

Yes ironpony, you get better from it as long as you’re relatively healthy to begin with. Older people and those with compromised immune systems have a harder time of fighting it. I think anybody that can put the hammer down for 2 hours without flinching or having a heart attack, would be plenty healthy enough to sail through this juuust fine. 🙂 Try not to worry too much.

[elaine567]

 A cold usually affects your upper respiratory system, your nose, throat and larger bronchi.

Coronavirus usually goes for the lungs causing pneumonia.

If you are fit and healthy your immune system will clear it fairly quickly.
If you are older (>60) or if you have existing heart/lung disease or your immune system is defective/reduced, then you may need further treatment in hospital(oxygen/antiviral) or even be put on a ventilator in intensive care... a % of those who need ventilation will die.

[carhill]

Immune system deals with it and it's gone if one recovers. Viruses mutate so re-infection is possible. Different than a protozoa like malaria that stays in body after infection symptoms subside. Saw that in Africa.

1 hour ago, K.K. said:

I think anybody that can put the hammer down for 2 hours without flinching or having a heart attack, would be plenty healthy enough to sail through this juuust fine

👍 painful but cutting down trees yesterday for four hours and didn't keel over. Chain saw got heavy after awhile though. 61 coming up.

[Ellener]

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html is the US CDC in depth page covering various aspects of the current coronavirus outbreak and infection control.

Here's the World Health Organisation general explanation of coronaviruses https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus

Covid-19 is transmitted by droplet rather than air-bourne which is why we are being told not to touch surfaces or our eyes/nose/mouth and to wash hands or use sanitising gel.

Re the AIDS comparison @ironpony recent report is a second man is still free from HIV-1 after stem cell treatment https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhiv/article/PIIS2352-3018(20)30069-2/fulltext so maybe that can be developed into a cure soon.

[ironpony]

Oh okay, it seems that so many people are getting it now to the point where it might as well be airborne, if it's not.  I live in Canada, and the Prime Minister's wife has it now, and I was on a movie shoot, as part of the crew, and the production was cancelled because of it, so events like these really make me scared therefore.

[d0nnivain]

ironpony 

There are reasons to be cautious but not scared.  In healthy people the virus is not deadly.  Most people who get it have a mild case like the flu, then get better.  Assuming you don't have a compromised immune system you will be fine; the danger is that you spread it to someone else. 

It is NOT airborne.  When people sneeze or  cough, microdroplets of water come out & spray through the air for about 6 feet.  That is why people must cover their mouths when they sneeze.  The droplets & virus can live on surfaces for about 12 hours.  That is how you get it if you touch stuff & why you need to wash your hands often for at least 20 seconds (sing Happy Birthday twice).  Do wash your house down with soap & water or a disinfect.  Washing clothes kills the germs.  

[Ellener]

8 hours ago, ironpony said:

Oh okay, it seems that so many people are getting it now to the point where it might as well be airborne, if it's not.  I live in Canada, and the Prime Minister's wife has it now, and I was on a movie shoot, as part of the crew, and the production was cancelled because of it, so events like these really make me scared therefore.

Not at all- if it were airbourne we would all have it. Follow the precautions.

The Arsenal football manager did not and has already apologised publically for being silly about that publically, minutes before receiving his positive test result.

Edited March 13, 2020 by Ellener
spelling

[Ellener]

8 hours ago, ironpony said:

I live in Canada, and the Prime Minister's wife has it now, and I was on a movie shoot, as part of the crew, and the production was cancelled because of it, so events like these really make me scared therefore.

All large events are being cancelled around the world, to limit the spread. 

 

[Ellener]

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ is an overview updated daily as figures are released.

[elaine567]

1 hour ago, d0nnivain said:

Assuming you don't have a compromised immune system you will be fine; the danger is that you spread it to someone else. 

Probably, but co-morbidities like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, lung disease, high blood pressure and cancer increase the risk of dying from it. 
No co-morbidity = 0.9% chance of dying according to the Chinese figures.
It rises to 10.5% for those with cardiovascular disease, 7.3% for those with diabetes, 6.3% for people with chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD, 6.0% for people with hypertension, and 5.6% for those with cancer.
About 60% of U.S. adults have at least one underlying health condition...

[d0nnivain]

Still is NOT an automatic death sentence.  

[elaine567]

10 hours ago, ironpony said:

events like these really make me scared therefore.

Why are you scared?
Scared for you or scared for older relatives maybe?

[carhill]

I'm more worried about humans than virus... getting freaky

[d0nnivain]

3 minutes ago, carhill said:

I'm more worried about humans than virus... getting freaky

True 'dat! 

[major_merrick]

From what I understand, coronavirus works somewhat like a flue with a potential follow-up of pneumonia.  Initial sniffles and a brief high fever, then it moves into the lungs and stays there.  Persistent dry cough.  Then you get better after a week or two. 

For more severe cases, it moves into the lungs and you develop pneumonia.  The lung tissues fill up with liquid that can't be removed.  Many people recover after a while.  The ones who die suffer from overwhelming pneumonia or a weird "cytokine storm" effect where the virus turns a person's own immune system into a weapon.  From what I've read, these things are pretty rare.

So the big risk is to old people, who are more likely to develop pneumonia from colds and flu.  Places like China and Italy have high mortality rates because of a large population of older adults.  If you're under 60, not pregnant, not a baby or toddler, and not immune-compromised, you'll be fine.

[ironpony]

Well it turns out I lost my current job I just got a few days ago because of the virus.  The business just shut down, and other businesses are as well, which makes it harder to find work.  But everyone is saying just wait a few months and places will reopen.

But I don't understand why people think this way?  Wouldn't it just spread more and get worse later?  Everyone acts like this is such worldwide pandemic, and maybe it is.  But if it's a pandemic, why do people think it's going to blow over then?  Why do people think that a problem so huge, is just going to fix itself in a few months?

[SincereOnlineGuy]

14 hours ago, ironpony said:

Well it turns out I lost my current job I just got a few days ago because of the virus.  The business just shut down, and other businesses are as well, which makes it harder to find work.  But everyone is saying just wait a few months and places will reopen.

But I don't understand why people think this way?  Wouldn't it just spread more and get worse later?  Everyone acts like this is such worldwide pandemic, and maybe it is.  But if it's a pandemic, why do people think it's going to blow over then?  Why do people think that a problem so huge, is just going to fix itself in a few months?

It began in the largest country on earth.   They needed to build a couple of new hospitals in ten days for all of the patients.

 

Even though that country has upward of 80,000 confirmed cases... and likely 800,000 or more total cases.

 

The virus is NOT spreading to THAT many more people there as of mid-March... and those hospitals they raced to construct, are not so much needed anymore.

 

SO IF the virus behaves in the same way in smaller and more civilized populations around the rest of the world, it will not have too long of an effect.

(the virus has been identified for long enough so that they can gen-er-al-ly gauge its capabilities vs. those of man, to control its spread)

 

As of right now, there have been 30 times as many deaths from coronavirus in Europe as in all of The Americas (North, South, Central combined)  even though "The Americas" have more people than Europe.

Furthermore,  most of the people who died from coronavirus in Italy so far, are upward of 80 years old.

(if it were going to just wipe-out the planet, it would have swallowed lots of teenagers by now too)

 

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by SincereOnlineGuy

[ironpony]

Oh okay, it's just that I do not understand why people think this will blow over soon.  Maybe it will but people are treating the virus like it's an unstoppable force, and an unstoppable force, just doesn't conveniently blow over in a few weeks or months.

[sothereiwas]

It's getting closer to summer, when most flu-like bugs tend to taper off for whatever reason. Also, given the pattern in China, and the fact that a vaccine is entering testing, it looks pretty good overall. On the other hand I would like to see us keep some of our new hygiene habits after the scare is over. 

[elaine567]

1 minute ago, sothereiwas said:

It's getting closer to summer, when most flu-like bugs tend to taper off for whatever reason.

Viruses love it when people huddle together in unventilated spaces. Winter is perfect for them.

[ironpony]

1 hour ago, sothereiwas said:

It's getting closer to summer, when most flu-like bugs tend to taper off for whatever reason. Also, given the pattern in China, and the fact that a vaccine is entering testing, it looks pretty good overall. On the other hand I would like to see us keep some of our new hygiene habits after the scare is over. 

But this is what I don't get, is that people are so optimistic this thing is going to go away, and yet they treat it so horribly.  The flue hasn't even gone away and it still goes around.  Maybe not during the summer time, but during winter.  The cold does this as well.  So after summer is over, corona will just start back up again.  So what are people suppose to do then, shut down the whole country every time winter rolls around?

Also, I don't believe they will have a vaccine anytime soon.  There are so many viruses they can't even invent a vaccine for, so to think that this is one that is going to be successful, vaccine wise, again why do people believe in miracles so much.  How did all this miracle believing start?

[sothereiwas]

49 minutes ago, ironpony said:

So what are people suppose to do then

Be vaccinated. 

[Azincourt]

On 3/12/2020 at 5:04 PM, d0nnivain said:

It's like a cold.   You get better 

You get better if you are young and healthy, and even then there's no guarantee that being young alone will save you. A 36 year old dude died in China from it. There's 15 year old girls getting hospitalized in Europe, and there's lots and lots of old people around who are going to either die from it. Not to mention you might carry it and not suffer ill effects from it, but the people around you will easily catch it.

Some of us have elderly parents. Some of us have grandparents who are almost 90, and some of us have great-grandfathers who are almost 115 years old.

In the states the panic ain't set in yet because of how slow the medical authorities are when it comes to responding to this. Norwegian Universities are urging their students who are studying in the USA to return to their nation, claiming the USA is not prepared to deal with it, for several reasons with the main one being the low quality of service provided by the American professionals.

I'm an American living in Europe and honestly I'd rather be here with all of this going on than in the USA. Free healthcare, baby!

Edited March 17, 2020 by Azincourt