Coronavirus - are we all doomed?

[Jon]

Is it spreading? Can it be contained? Or is this going to be like the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918, that killed more than both two World Wars combined?

 

[Grumm]

As long as China does not reveal the actual extend of this epidemic, it is hard to say.
Here in Belgium they tell us that we are prepared... How can they be prepared ? Do they have a working anti virus ?
Why don't they share info and help all those people in China ?

 

[AccessBlaster]

Apparently some form of this has been around for decades if not longer. We have been exposed to theses virus for a long time. It's the ability to fly and travel undetected that should scare the hell out of all of us.

Coronavirus History

Coronaviruses were discovered in the 1960s; the earliest ones discovered were infectious bronchitis virus in chickens and two viruses from the nasal cavities of human patients with the common cold that were subsequently named human coronavirus 229E and human coronavirus OC43.[28] Other members of this family have since been identified, including SARS-CoV in 2003, HCoV NL63 in 2004, HKU1 in 2005, MERS-CoV in 2012, and 2019-nCoV in 2019; most of these have been involved in serious respiratory tract infections.

On 31 December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, officially designated as 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization, was reported in Wuhan, China, as responsible for the 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.[29] By 24 January 2020, 25 deaths have been reported and 547 confirmed cases.[30][31] The Wuhan strain has been identified as a new strain of Betacoronavirus from group 2B with an ~70% genetic similarity to the SARS-CoV.[32] The virus was suspected to have originated in snakes,[33] but many leading researchers disagree with this conclusion.[34]

Evolution

The most recent common ancestor of the coronavirus has been placed at 8000 BCE.[35] They may be considerably older than this. Another estimate places the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all coronaviruses around 8100 BCE.[36] The MRCA of Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus, and Deltacoronavirus have been placed at about 2400 BCE, 3300 BCE, 2800 BCE and 3000 BCE, respectively. It appears that bats and birds, the warm-blooded flying vertebrates, are ideal hosts for the coronavirus gene source (with bats for Alphacoronavirus and Betacoronavirus, and birds for Gammacoronavirus and Deltacoronavirus) to fuel coronavirus evolution and dissemination.[citation needed]

Bovine coronavirus and canine respiratory coronavirus diverged from a common ancestor in 1951.[37] Bovine coronavirus and human coronavirus OC43 diverged in 1899. Bovine coronavirus diverged from the equine coronavirus species at the end of the 18th century. Another estimate suggests that human coronavirus OC43 diverged from bovine coronavirus in 1890.[38]

The MRCA of human coronavirus OC43 has been dated to the 1950s.[39]

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, although related to several bat species, appears to have diverged from these several centuries ago.[40] The human coronavirus NL63 and a bat coronovirus shared an MRCA 563–822 years ago.[41]

The most closely related bat coronovirus and the SARS coronavirus diverged in 1986.[42] A path of evolution of the SARS virus and keen relationship with bats have been proposed.[43][44] The authors suggest that the coronaviruses have been coevolved with bats for a long time and the ancestors of SARS virus first infected the species of the genus Hipposideridae, subsequently spread to species of the Rhinolophidae and then to civets, and finally to humans.[citation needed]

Alpaca coronavirus and human coronavirus 229E diverged before 1960.[45]

 

[kevlray]

Fortunately, I am sure the virus can be contained. Unfortunately who knows how soon and how wide will it be spread before it is contained.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Given the way China plays their cards "close to the vest" I am unsure of the extent of spread. However, some of the things I have seen online are quite scary. Their travel quarantines have spread toe multiple cities and that tells me that so far, their containment is questionable at best. Of course, in terms of evolution, a really good pandemic is Mother Nature's preferred method of population control.

 

[NauticalGent]

We all gotta go someday...I had hoped my passing would be a little more cooler, but we dont get to choose everything, do we?

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

It is significant that China, a draconian government with practically total control over its people has been unable to contain it.

Interesting Questions Are:-

• Is there any benefit in China allowing the virus to spread worldwide?
• Should we all sit indoors and Order everything from Amazon Shunning contact with anyone.
• Can you catch the virus from watching porn?
• Could the virus be engineered to just kill politicians?
• Can I book a flight on FalconX to Mars?

 

[NauticalGent]

I like your 4th bullet...

 

[Jon]

All good points Uncle.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

We all gotta go someday...I had hoped my passing would be a little more cooler, but we dont get to choose everything, do we?

Well, if we get to express our preferences in this matter, I want to leave this world at age 105, shot by a jealous husband who catches me in the ultimate moment of passion.

Uncle Gizmo: You realize that you have started the conspiracy theorists at full involvement now, right?

"Is there any benefit in China allowing the virus to spread worldwide?" - yet another Chinese plot to take over the world and they are using human viruses because their own telcom system can't handle the traffic of computer viruses without attacking their own systems.

"Should we all sit indoors and Order everything from Amazon Shunning contact with anyone." - it's all a big marketing ploy by Amazon to increase their business through paranoia and disease threats.

"Can you catch the virus from watching porn?" - it's all a big lie being spread by organized religion to try to frighten us into moral behavior.

I'll leave the "Mars" bullet alone. But the "engineer the virus to kill politicians" is SUCH a great idea... do you know anyone who would help with that project? And can we attack USA Democrats first?

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

"engineer the virus to kill politicians" is SUCH a great idea...

The doing away with politicians idea is very attractive isn't it..

Would it be possible to identify a genetic trait that all politician have?

Any ideas?

• Long noses?
• Ability to talk nonsense for hours
• Able to convince anyone that black is white and vice versa
• Can fill out expenses claim forms imaginatively
• Can ride a bike, a woman and a London Double Decker Bus

 

[Jon]

Uncle, isn't it a bit late for you? It's late in the Uk!

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

It's late in the Uk!

I'm in the UK!

Well, I was going to bed, but somebody changed the forum Style!

 

[Jon]

Yes, I know you are. That's why I said! Ahh, haha. Well, I hope it cut down on the pre-bed light.

 

[Deleted member 147267]

Rather than start my own post I'll piggy back on this one with my rant since it's related.
I go out with 2 to 3 other guys for lunch on a weekly basis. We had plans to go to a Chinese buffet this week. My friend of about 12 years, who is OCD and somewhat autocratic (but will deny both of those claims even though his wife has said as much) called me and said he's moved the location to some other place. I'm so pi$$ed right now and am not sure why. Maybe I'm tired of him ruling everything (but I'm an add on to an old tradition so I have my place I guess) or maybe I'm just disgusted with his racism and xenophobia. I think it's that mostly. At first I accepted the change, but have decided to take my wife to the Chinese buffet on the appointed date and time rather than join my xenophobic friend and his placating partner.
Comments?

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Micron, as far as I'm concerned, you are justified in taking your wife out for a lunch/dinner date ANY time. My wife and I have these "impromptu" dates where we just get up and go somewhere for a meal and some semi-private "us" time. You NEVER need an excuse for that.

And if your friend is OCD, you might be over-reading his reaction. Some OCD types are SO afraid of germs that if you SAY the word "sneeze" they will cover their face and look for the antiseptic air spray. So with the concern over the corona virus, maybe his OCD is kicking into high gear.

 

[SQL_Hell]

A Chinese bloke coughed at me on the tube this morning, now I am starting to convince myself that I am getting a sore throat, I might be a little paranoid

 

[Deleted member 147267]

Doc Man, you might be right about that with some people but I think that in his case it may not be that relevant. His logic is that because the servers at the restaurant are Chinese there is a higher probability that they have associated with other Chinese which therefore raises the probability that they have been in contact with infected foreigners. He even cited some numbers when he gave me that explanation. At all other times, he's not that OCD about germs.

I remember one time we were driving on a long trip and he had a bad cold, sneezing and coughing into his hand and whatnot, then sticking his hand into a bag of some kind of unwrapped candy we were sharing on the trip. So no, I don't see him as being germaphobic from observations over the past decade. Wouldn't it be ironic if the other two go to the other restaurant and pick up the disease from there?

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Poetic justice, certainly.

 

[kevlray]

While the Coronavirus is nasty and spreading quickly. The flu (influenza) has already killed hundreds of people around world.