New Coronavirus threat

[ngatimozart]

There is a hint that the next Olympics could be postponed as a result of this virus.

Japan Olympic Minister: Games could be held any time in 2020

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Olympic minister said Tuesday the contract to hold the Tokyo Games only specifies the event has to be held during 2020.

apnews.com

Australia and other countries are probably breathing a sigh of relief that they aren't hosting this year's Olympics.

Yep I saw that on theTV news last night, however the IOC are standing firm about the original dates at the moment. I would think that the IOC would see the wisdom of having a Plan B considering the crisis. Stubborn maybe, but we shall see.

 

[Nighthawk.NZ]

NZ military staff brought home from Korea as coronavirus cases spike
NZ military staff brought home from Korea as coronavirus cases spike

Seems they are bringing kiwi's NZDF families and non- esentials back home.

 

[John Fedup]

Yep I saw that on theTV news last night, however the IOC are standing firm about the original dates at the moment. I would think that the IOC would see the wisdom of having a Plan B considering the crisis. Stubborn maybe, but we shall see.

Never underestimate the IOC’s greed. They don’t want any delays in royalty payments. Zika wasn’t a concern for the Brazil Olympics in 2016 albeit its transmission mechanism is no where near as effective as COVID-19.

 

[John Fedup]

Just came across this article suggesting the world can expect an increasing number of new viral threats from Africa and Asia. The main reason is rapid urbanization which leads to loss of animal habitat which turn leads to increased human-animal interactions. Live animal markets further increases risk. IMO, the core problem is population growth, which effects not only pandemics but also climate change. These two mechanisms will ultimately address over population.

Coronavirus, Ebola and More: Why Do So Many Epidemics Come from Africa and Asia?

Get ready for the next batch of potentially deadly viruses.

nationalinterest.org

 

[John Fedup]

The US Army’s formidable resources wrt to diseases is being pressed to assist with the COVID-19 outbreak. A valuable ally for US healthcare.

Coronavirus: Army Experts Press Hard For Vaccines, Diagnostics - Breaking Defense

An elite team of researchers from Fort Detrick and Walter Reed briefed the Army Secretary and Chief of Staff last night. But are funding shortfalls, reorganization, and Pentagon politics getting in the way?

breakingdefense.com

 

[John Fedup]

Another US military/ commercial sector contribution to fighting pandemics. Early days for this technology but it sure seems like a great concept to keep ahead of pending outbreaks.

A Military-Funded Biosensor Could Be the Future of Pandemic Detection

If it wins FDA approval next year, the two-part sensor could help spot new infections weeks before symptoms begin to show.

www.defenseone.com

 

[Todjaeger]

Never underestimate the IOC’s greed. They don’t want any delays in royalty payments. Zika wasn’t a concern for the Brazil Olympics in 2016 albeit its transmission mechanism is no where near as effective as COVID-19.

Part of that lack of concern regarding the Zika virus I suspect had to with both the methods of transmission, and the potential impact of the virus on humans. AFAIK the primary threat to humans from the Zika virus are birth and/or developmental defects stemming from infection either while in the womb or shortly after birth.

 

[John Fedup]

Part of that lack of concern regarding the Zika virus I suspect had to with both the methods of transmission, and the potential impact of the virus on humans. AFAIK the primary threat to humans from the Zika virus are birth and/or developmental defects stemming from infection either while in the womb or shortly after birth.

Correct, but female visitors would have been somewhat concerned. Can’t remember how well understood the Zika virus was at game time... well enough in the IOC’s opinion I guess.

 

[Todjaeger]

Correct, but female visitors would have been somewhat concerned. Can’t remember how well understood the Zika virus was at game time... well enough in the IOC’s opinion I guess.

Not just females, as the virus can be transmitted male to female as well as the offspring conceived from an actively infected male are also subject to birth and developmental defects, microcephaly in particular. I was part of a public health push to educate people in the region I lived in about the Zika virus back in 2016 when some of the mosquitoes which are capable of being carriers/transmitters had spread to that area of the US. The information was about steps to mitigate the risk (insect/mosquito repellent, elimination of standing water, etc.) as well as to inform people about the primary and secondary at risk populations. Theses were essentially infants/newborns, pregnant women (first trimester in particular), women who are seeking to become pregnant, and males whose partners might become pregnant.

 

[John Fedup]

Interesting info. Haven’t heard much about another virus of concern from the past in North America, West Nile virus.

 

[hauritz]

One place that seems to have been fairly quiet in all of this is North Korea.

Defectors: North Korea Military May Become Hotbed of Coronavirus Infections

Crowded, often unhygienic barracks and soldiers' poor diet could lead to a rapid spread of the coronavirus, which in turn could pose a serious threat to the regime stability

www.voanews.com

If it hasn't already been covered up it would seem that it is just a matter of time before this virus rips through North Korea. With an almost non-existent health care system and a dictator more concerned with staying in power than looking out for the welfare of his people North Korea is a disaster just waiting to happen.

 

[ngatimozart]

An explanation on why so many epidemics come out of Africa and Asia Explainer: Why do so many epidemics originate in Africa and Asia?. It's quite interesting.

 

[John Fedup]

One place that seems to have been fairly quiet in all of this is North Korea.

Defectors: North Korea Military May Become Hotbed of Coronavirus Infections

Crowded, often unhygienic barracks and soldiers' poor diet could lead to a rapid spread of the coronavirus, which in turn could pose a serious threat to the regime stability

www.voanews.com

If it hasn't already been covered up it would seem that it is just a matter of time before this virus rips through North Korea. With an almost non-existent health care system and a dictator more concerned with staying in power than looking out for the welfare of his people North Korea is a disaster just waiting to happen.

I guess spy photos of the NK-PRC border would confirm a serious problem in NK. Increased Chinese presence has probably already been occurring as the last thing China needs is a new outbreak from NK. Indeed, a NK outbreak would be as serious or maybe even worse than a refugee outbreak in Turkey/Syria.

 

[ngatimozart]

Meanwhile in Australia brawls have been breaking out in supermarkets over toilet paper Violent fight breaks out at supermarket as toilet paper panic buying escalates. They manufacture their own dunny paper for gawds sake and the plants are operating 24/7. Aussies!!!!!.




So to help our Aussie cobbers out, the Kiwis have the above specials. Mates rates of course

 

[Nighthawk.NZ]

Meanwhile in Australia brawls have been breaking out in supermarkets over toilet paper Violent fight breaks out at supermarket as toilet paper panic buying escalates. They manufacture their own dunny paper for gawds sake and the plants are operating 24/7. Aussies!!!!!.

View attachment 47236

View attachment 47237
So to help our Aussie cobbers out, the Kiwis have the above specials. Mates rates of course

Well as far as I knew...

lol

 

[At lakes]

Visited local Woolies this morning Dunny roll shelf cleaned out, the manager stated there has been a run on Baked Beans also, I suggested to him that they needed something to use up the toilet rolls they are stock piling at their home. The panic buying has become a joke.
Suggestion as to where it originated from. When Iran was first identified as a hot spot for the virus a woman appeared on TV complaining that "we have run out of toilet paper" someone somewhere has heard that and run with it.

 

[Todjaeger]

Visited local Woolies this morning Dunny roll shelf cleaned out, the manager stated there has been a run on Baked Beans also, I suggested to him that they needed something to use up the toilet rolls they are stock piling at their home. The panic buying has become a joke.
Suggestion as to where it originated from. When Iran was first identified as a hot spot for the virus a woman appeared on TV complaining that "we have run out of toilet paper" someone somewhere has heard that and run with it.

There has been some hoarding in the US as well, with some stores like Costco (a discount warehouse store which sells items in bulk) putting quantity limits on how many items of a certain type a customer can purchase. IIRC the limits were 5 cases of bottled water, and 5 bulk packs of baby wipes. Toilet paper has apparently seen runs (gross pun intended) on it, but has not yet been max purchase quantity restricted. Yet.

If more cases start getting reported, then there might be further hoarding of items viewed as "important".

As it is, one of the major areas of concern is the potential for absenteeism to start occurring in among critical personnel like first responders and their support staff. Some local gov'ts have started to look at how some of the critical personnel needs can be met should absenteeism start occurring among such personnel in an effort to avoid exposure.

 

[Todjaeger]

An explanation on why so many epidemics come out of Africa and Asia Explainer: Why do so many epidemics originate in Africa and Asia?. It's quite interesting.

IMO that is a partial explanation, but there are a few factors which I feel the article missed. As the article did note that parts of Africa and Asia (and likely portions of Central and South America as well, for the same reasons) have large pools of pathogens, largely due to a climate which suits them being warm/hot and humid/wet. What I feel the article missed is that as local or regional climates change from what has been previously observed, more and more areas are becoming 'environmentally friendly' either for pathogens themselves, and/or host vectors. The Zika virus I mentioned in an earlier post being a good example. A particular genus of mosquito can spread the virus to/between humans when they bite. Where the change in climate came into play is that this particular genus was more partial to warm weather environments but the regional climate had warmed enough so that some of the more southern coastal areas of the Northeastern US, like portions of the state of Connecticut in New England, and Mid-Atlantic states like New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia now had populations of this particular genus.

 

[ngatimozart]

IMO that is a partial explanation, but there are a few factors which I feel the article missed. As the article did note that parts of Africa and Asia (and likely portions of Central and South America as well, for the same reasons) have large pools of pathogens, largely due to a climate which suits them being warm/hot and humid/wet. What I feel the article missed is that as local or regional climates change from what has been previously observed, more and more areas are becoming 'environmentally friendly' either for pathogens themselves, and/or host vectors. The Zika virus I mentioned in an earlier post being a good example. A particular genus of mosquito can spread the virus to/between humans when they bite. Where the change in climate came into play is that this particular genus was more partial to warm weather environments but the regional climate had warmed enough so that some of the more southern coastal areas of the Northeastern US, like portions of the state of Connecticut in New England, and Mid-Atlantic states like New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia now had populations of this particular genus.

Yep, and here in NZ we could end up with malaria, dengue and the Ross River virus etc., due to the climate becoming warmer. We've recently had occurrences of tropical fish and sea snakes etc., being found in our waters, although sea snakes have been found here before. We had a marine heatwave in 2017/18 that was the hottest in recorded NZ history (last 170 years), with sea surface temperatures reach 6°C above normal in places off the east coast of the country and 2°C above normal in the Tasman Sea which affected the weather (predominatley westerly winds) and significantly increased the snow melt and ice in the Alps and on the glaciers. Not looking good for the future as climate change kicks in further.

 

[John Fedup]

There has been some hoarding in the US as well, with some stores like Costco (a discount warehouse store which sells items in bulk) putting quantity limits on how many items of a certain type a customer can purchase. IIRC the limits were 5 cases of bottled water, and 5 bulk packs of baby wipes. Toilet paper has apparently seen runs (gross pun intended) on it, but has not yet been max purchase quantity restricted. Yet.

If more cases start getting reported, then there might be further hoarding of items viewed as "important".

As it is, one of the major areas of concern is the potential for absenteeism to start occurring in among critical personnel like first responders and their support staff. Some local gov'ts have started to look at how some of the critical personnel needs can be met should absenteeism start occurring among such personnel in an effort to avoid exposure.

I was actually at a Costco store in Toronto yesterday and noticed a high number of toilet paper and bottled water packages in people’s carts but assumed they were the weekly deep discount items. Your post now makes me wonder if panic buying is starting here too. When the email spam messages on used toilet paper at 50% off start arriving we will know stuff has hit the fan.