nCoV_info

This is a long article, with a lot of useful info on how to handle a pandemic. I've posted just a small part of what they had to say.

There are links to the preparedness plan they put forth during the H5N1 scare, which are still applicable.

https://virologydownunder.com/past-time-to-tell-the-public-it-will-probably-go-pandemic-and-we-should-all-prepare-now/

We want – and need – to hear advice like this:

* Try to get a few extra months’ worth of prescription meds, if possible.
* Think through now how we will take care of sick family members while trying not to get infected.
* Cross-train key staff at work so one person’s absence won’t derail our organization’s ability to function.
* Practice touching our faces less. So how about a face-counter app like the step-counters so many of us use?
* Replace handshakes with elbow-bumps (the “Ebola handshake”).
* Start building harm-reduction habits like pushing elevator buttons with a knuckle instead of a fingertip.
There is so much for people to do, and to practice doing in advance.

What’s working for us
We’d like to share with you some of our recent everyday life experiences in talking about pandemic preparedness with people who perceive us as a bit knowledgeable about what may be on the horizon.  Some of this overlaps with the more generic comments above.

1.      We’ve found it useful to tell friends and family to try to get ahead on their medical prescriptions if they can, in case of very predictable supply chain disruptions, and so they won’t have to go out to the pharmacy at a time when there may be long lines of sick people.  This helps them in a practical sense, but it also makes them visualize – often for the first time – how a pandemic may impact them in their everyday lives, even if they don’t actually catch COVID-19.  It simultaneously gives them a small “Oh my God” moment (an emotional rehearsal about the future) – and something to do about it right away to help them get through the adjustment reaction.

2.      We also recommend that people might want to slowly (so no one will accuse them of panic-buying) start to stock up on enough non-perishable food to last their households through several weeks of social distancing at home during an intense wave of transmission in their community.  This too seems to get through emotionally, as well as being useful logistically.

3.      Three other recommendations that we feel have gone over well with our friends and acquaintances:

a.       Suggesting practical organizational things they and their organizations can do to get ready, such as cross-training to mitigate absenteeism.

b.      Suggesting that people make plans for childcare when they are sick, or when their child is sick.

4.      And the example we like the best, because it gives every single person an immediate action that they can take over and over: Right now, today, start practicing not touching your face when you are out and about!  You probably won’t be able to do it perfectly, but you can greatly reduce the frequency of potential self-inoculation.  You can even institute a buddy system, where friends and colleagues are asked to remind each other when someone scratches her eyelid or rubs his nose.  As we noted earlier, someone should develop a face-touching app – instead of a step-counting app to encourage you to walk more, how about an app to encourage you to auto-inoculate less!  And track your progress, and compete with your friends, even!

The last message on our list – to practice and try to form a new habit – has several immediate and longer-term benefits.

Having something genuinely useful to do can bind anxiety or reduce apathy.  You feel less helpless and less passive. And you can see yourself improving.

The bottom line
Every single official we know is having multiple “Oh my God” moments, as new COVID-19 developments occur and new findings emerge.  OMG – there is a fair amount of transmission by infected people with mild or subclinical cases!  OMG – there is a high viral load early on in nasal and pharyngeal samples!  OMG – the Diamond Princess, how can that have been allowed to happen!  And on and on. 

Officials help each other through those moments.  They go home and tell their families and friends, sharing the OMG sensation.  And then what do they tell the public?  That they understand that “people are concerned” (as if they themselves weren’t alarmed), but “the risk is low and there’s nothing you need to do now.”

Last update: 18 February 2020 at 6:27 p.m. ET

Mainland China
74,133 Total   
2,002 Dead   
12,017 Serious
13,818 Recovered
6,242 Suspected

Other Places
999 Total   
5 Dead   
30 Serious + 9 Critical
152 Recovered

Notes:

Hubei province, China: The numbers include clinically-diagnosed cases, which means they were not confirmed by laboratory testing.

Japan: The total includes 4 asymptomatic cases, which are not included in the government’s official count.

Japan: The 542 people from the “Diamond Princess” cruise ship are listed separately and they are not included in the Japanese government’s official count. Fourteen of them are Americans whose test results came in while they were being evacuated from the ship. 246 were asymptomatic.

Diamond Princess: The total does not include 2 employees of Japan’s Health Ministry, who were infected while working on the ship.

North Korea: Unconfirmed reports about 1, 5, or 7 cases in North Korea cannot be verified. If cases are confirmed by the North Korean government, they will be added to this list.

This is from the CDC; it's long so I won't post it.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/infection-control.html

One important thing is their recommendation of: Adherence to Standard, Contact, and Airborne Precautions, Including the Use of Eye Protection.

Early in reporting, one of the infected doctors thought he had gotten it through eye contact. He claimed to have had conjunctivitis as a first symptom but I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere else. It also does not seem to be a symptom so maybe his case was just a coincidence.

Last update: 8 February 2020 at 6:28 a.m. ET

There are currently 34,957 confirmed cases worldwide, including 725 fatalities.

Mainland China

34,610 Total   
723 Dead   
6,101 Serious
2,050 Recovered
27,657 Suspected

Stephen Chen in Beijing
Published: 11:30pm, 3 Feb, 2020

Researchers studying a cluster of infections within a family in the southern province of Guangdong said the genes of the virus went through some significant changes as it spread within the family.

Two nonsynonymous changes took place in the viral strains isolated from the family, according to a new study by Professor Cui Jie and colleagues at the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai.

Cui’s team also detected a total of 17 nonsynonymous mutations from cases around the country between December 30 and late January, they wrote.

Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, mutated at the speed of 1 to 3 changes per thousand “sites” each year, according to previous studies.
Shi said that scientists still did not know the mutation speed of the new coronavirus because “most of the available [viral gene] sequences are not complete. They come in fragments.”

But on Saturday, the Zhejiang Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC) said it was teaming up with tech giant Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, to develop a new method of genome analysis using artificial intelligence to study the virus from patient samples.

The Zhejiang CDC said the new technology was expected to cut the sequencing time from several hours to about 30 minutes, allowing scientists to track mutations quicker and more precisely.

It is not clear yet what the mutations mean for patients. Qiu Haibo, a member of the national expert panel advising the government on the fight against the virus, said on Sunday that so far there was no evidence that mutations could cause “repeated infections”.

More at the link
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3048772/striking-coronavirus-mutations-found-within-one-family-cluster

There are currently 17,486 confirmed cases worldwide, including 362 fatalities.

Last update: 3 February 2020 at 5:02 a.m. ET

Mainland China:

17,300 Total   
361 Dead
2,296 Serious
475 Recovered
21,558 Suspected

Info about the husband:

21 People Under Investigation for Coronavirus in Illinois: Health Officials
Last week, a Chicago woman became the second person in the US to contract coronavirus after a trip to Wuhan, China
Published January 30, 2020 • Updated on January 30, 2020 at 8:05 pm
 
The latest patient, who is in his 60s, had "close contact" and recently reported symptoms, health officials said
It is the second person in Illinois to be diagnosed and the sixth confirmed case in the U.S.
The man's wife first contracted the virus after she traveled to Wuhan, China - the epicenter of a recent outbreak. She returned to the U.S. on Jan. 13 and later started experiencing symptoms

At least 21 people are currently under investigation for potential coronavirus exposure after a second person tested positive in Illinois, marking the first case of human-to-human transmission in the U.S., health officials said.
.....

The man's wife first contracted the virus after she traveled to Wuhan, China - the epicenter of a recent outbreak. She returned to the U.S. on Jan. 13 and later started experiencing symptoms including a fever and shortness of breath. She was listed in good condition at a Hoffman Estates hospital and remains stable, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

more at link
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/21-people-under-investigation-for-coronavirus-in-illinois-health-officials/2210342/

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(I'm going to include this in case they are wrong)

UPDATE: Man infected with coronavirus was not contagious during recent trip to Cleveland
 By John Deike | January 30, 2020 at 6:18 PM EST - Updated January 31 at 5:24 AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The first human-to-human transmission of coronavirus in the United States was documented in Illinois, and there is a connection to Cleveland.
The city of Cleveland confirmed to 19 News that the husband traveled to Cleveland for one day on Jan. 14, but he did not show coronavirus-like symptoms during his time in the city.

He also was not contagious when visiting here:

Ohio Dept of Health✔@OHdeptofhealth
ODH, CDC, CCBH determined that the sixth U.S. confirmed coronavirus case was not infectious during his day trip to Cleveland. It is important to remember the U.S is still low risk for nCoV. There are no additional PUIs related to this case in OH.

However, the husband did start showing symptoms this past Tuesday.

More here:
https://www.cleveland19.com/2020/01/31/man-infected-with-coronavirus-recently-visited-cleveland/