Miscellany about COVID

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

FWIW: The flu that was responsible for the pandemic about 100 years ago is still with us.

Well, sort of. The exact 1918 "Spanish flu" isn't circulating, but direct descendants certainly have been ever since. I became personally acquainted with one of them, the 1968 "Hong Kong flu."

IIRC the genome of the 1918 flu virus was actually sequenced some years ago.

Right now this current pandemic may wind up being like the flu.

I assume you mean that at this point, it looks like it might wind up being a not-terribly-virulent endemic malady. (It doesn't appear to have the seasonal variation of the flu.) Let's hope it doesn't take a more virulent course...

One thing I have yet to see explained is the great disparity in case fatality rates for COVID-19 among different countries.

[MattcAnderson]

Hi all,

The creeping crud is the pits.
But seriously, Covid19 kills people.
We need a cure for that illness. Help find a cure for Covid19 by downloading and running Folding@Home, out of Stanford University. My dad died of 'gut rot' and modern medicines are a blessing.

Regards,
Matt

And another thing, the world's most powerful computer is a distributed computer. Lots and lots of people are working together for Folding@Home effort.

[Till]

13 of 61 passengers from South Africa to the Netherlands that were covid-positive have the omicron variant.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59451103


Less than I expected from news saying that the omicron variant would already be the dominating variant in South Africa.

[retina]

Originally Posted by MattcAnderson

But seriously, Covid19 kills people.

So does heart disease, stroke, cancer and car accidents. All of those kill more than covid-19, much more.

But we don't see those mentioned in the news because they are mundane and boring. The news sites only care if it gets people's attention, not whether it is actually important. They will try to make sensational things appear more impactful than they actually are. Beware about getting caught up in the hype.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

I assume you mean that at this point, it looks like it might wind up being a not-terribly-virulent endemic malady. (It doesn't appear to have the seasonal variation of the flu.)

Don't assume. It looks like it will be with us and will require routine shots because of new strains. It currently doesn't appear to be seasonal, because it is still novel. Last year's flu season in the USA was much better than normal because people were doing the things that they should for the flu because of COVID. Most likely it will start showing seasonality soon
(maybe this NHW).

[tServo]

Originally Posted by retina

So does heart disease, stroke, cancer and car accidents. All of those kill more than covid-19, much more.

But we don't see those mentioned in the news because they are mundane and boring. The news sites only care if it gets people's attention, not whether it is actually important. They will try to make sensational things appear more impactful than they actually are. Beware about getting caught up in the hype.

WRONG-O !
In 2020, only heart disease ( 690k ) and cancer ( 598k ) killed more people than Covid ( 343k ). Stroke and car accidents were quite a bit further down.


here are the numbers according to JAMA:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...rticle/2778234

[retina]

Originally Posted by tServo

WRONG-O !

Please note the use of "and".

Originally Posted by retina

... heart disease, stroke, cancer and car accidents.

Which BTW, all of those can be reduced by exercise.

So perhaps locking people down and restricting/banning exercise might have the long term effect of reducing productive life spans overall.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by retina

So perhaps locking people down and restricting/banning exercise might have the long term effect of reducing productive life spans overall.

Completely agree with your thesis that people should exercise. And eat well. OMG, the ads I see on TV (when I watch it (with protest to my SWMBO)) are ~50% promoting very unhealthy (but very inexpensive) fast food (the other ~50% are encouraging people to buy stuff; sometimes on credit...).

Another dimension to this is sometimes those with serious medical conditions do not seek (or are delayed) treatment for non-CV19 related risks to health simply because the health care systems are overloaded in many (many!) different jurisdictions.

We live in *very* interesting times...

P.S. My SWMBO and I listened to an interesting BBC Radio broadcast as we were driving up to visit some friends on the east coast (of Barbados; everyone in our bubble is fully vaccinated, and is very serious about managing this situation).

P.P.S. The BBC was talking about how some countries are dealing with those with TB who choose not to seek treatment until it is too late because they are afraid of being "locked up" (read: forcibly quarantined) if they tested positive for CV19. And, yet, statistically, TB is *far* more deadly than CV19.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Completely agree with your thesis that people should exercise. And eat well. OMG, the ads I see on TV (when I watch it (with protest to my SWMBO)) are ~50% promoting very unhealthy (but very inexpensive) fast food (the other ~50% are encouraging people to buy stuff; sometimes on credit...).

Another dimension to this is sometimes those with serious medical conditions do not seek (or are delayed) treatment for non-CV19 related risks to health simply because the health care systems are overloaded in many (many!) different jurisdictions.
<snip>
P.P.S. The BBC was talking about how some countries are dealing with those with TB who choose not to seek treatment until it is too late because they are afraid of being "locked up" (read: forcibly quarantined) if they tested positive for CV19. And, yet, statistically, TB is *far* more deadly than CV19.

This line of discussion may bear on the disparity in case-fatality ratios in different countries. I'm not willing to chalk it all up to variations in detection and the reporting process.

One issue that comes to mind is malnutrition. Not enough calories, not enough essential vitamins or minerals, or other dietary deficiencies or imbalances, can weaken the immune system and render someone less able to cope with the stresses imposed by disease.

Another is lack of medical care. If basic health care is unavailable or unaffordable for large segments of a country's population, there may be a high incidence of untreated "pre-existing conditions" that render people more susceptible to severe illness and death from COVID than would be the case with a population with better health care.

Another is endemic diseases. Besides major killers like TB which you mention, there could be any number of lesser maladies which render people less able to fight off COVID.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

One issue that comes to mind is malnutrition. Not enough calories, not enough essential vitamins or minerals, or other dietary deficiencies or imbalances, can weaken the immune system and render someone less able to cope with the stresses imposed by disease.

I completely agree with this argument.

While we in the "west" (read: rich countries) kill themselves by eating far more than we should (and taking serious drugs provided by Companies for profit), others are dying because they simply don't have enough to eat because of climate change.

Please Google for "Madagascar famine 2021". This is entirely because of Climate Change. Madagascar has no civil war. And, yet, children are dying because of a lack of food.

Shame on us! Humans should be better than this.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Three weeks ago, the Great State of Colorado activated Crisis Standards of Care for hospital staffing statewide. Here's an update. I noticed something bearing on the current line of discussion. (my emphasis)

Colorado COVID surge — and a staffing crunch — mean new crisis plans for hospitals

Now, hospitals are dealing with a crush of both COVID-19 patients and those needing other care, in many cases because patients delayed getting care during earlier parts of the pandemic. Hospitals face this high demand while simultaneously grappling with a severe shortage of staff.