Facts are out there, you just need to know where to look. I recommend the following sites:Wineguy89 said:Baylor3216 said:
Friend of mine in Sri Lanka says over 15,000 people reported dead
Terrifying if true.....sure wish we could get the real facts on this out of there.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338689521_Bioinformatics_analysis_of_the_Wuhan_2019_novel_coronavirus_genome
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltext
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-02-coronavirus-ncov-largest-meta-analysis-sequenced.html
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/249868-novel-coronavirus-what-we-know-so-far
At this time, the virus can effectively be described as similar but weaker to the SARS virus (also a coronavirus) discovered in 2012, but not related to the MERS virus (also a coronavirus)
The term 'coronavirus' refers to a virus which is so-called due to the spiked-protein shape of the virus,
https://www.livescience.com/what-are-coronaviruses.html
and coronaviruses can be shared between mammals and avians, including bats. The first coronaviruses were identified in the 1960s. When a new coronavirus is discovered, it is initially designated Novel until a formal name is assigned. Prior to the Wuhan outbreak, six strains of human coronaviruses had been identified:
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The new variant discovered in Wuhan has been named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization
https://www.sciencealert.com/who-has-finally-named-the-deadly-coronavirus
The Chinese government failed to quickly identify and contain the initial outbreak, delaying analysis and response. The more recent response from the Beijing government has been far more satisfying, including the inclusion of virologists from around the world, especially Singapore and Japan (a tacit acknowledgment that the PRC considers this serious, as they seldom want to cooperate with Japan on much of anything), the rushed construction of two hospitals specially for COVID-19 patients (more on why that's important in a moment), and over 57 million Chinese citizens in sixteen cities have been locked from entering or leaving.
The known qualities of COVID-19 include an average incubation period of 5.2 days (ranging from 2 to 10 days, making the 15-day quarantine period a little more than necessary but an appropriate precaution), an average age of patient around 49, male-to-female ratio of patients is 2.75 to 1. Fatality rate from COVID-19 is about 2% worldwide, but is much higher when the patient is over 60, and when the patient is in close proximity to other COVID-19 patients.
1,116 people are known to have died from COVID-19 so far, but only 2 outside mainland China. In fact, over 90% of deaths from COVID-19 occurred in the Hubei Province, and 80% within the limits of Wuhan itself. This is both good news and bad news. It suggests that the virus can be spread relatively easily when antiseptic precautions are not taken, but it's actually less likely to kill you than other more common virus variants.
For comparison, over eighty thousand people died from the flu last year in the United States,
https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-flu-deaths-20180926-story.html
a number which gets surprisingly little attention, probably because we have a vaccine available and because we are familiar with "ordinary" flu risks.
The bad news from COVID-19 is that when a large number of people are infected, the virus apparently becomes much more dangerous, with a fatality rate around twenty (20%) percent in Wuhan for known cases. This would explain the videos of bodies found and left untouched, as the delay in initial response led to the virus gaining concentration. It would also explain why China is willing to accept the devastating costs of closing ports across the country and abandoning New Year's celebrations (New Year's celebrations in China generally occur in February and last for weeks with large public celebrations, but all have been cancelled this year). It would also explain why hospitals were built specifically for COVID-19 patients - China wants to protect the patients in regular hospitals from exposure to this virus.
Experts predict that promising research indicates a vaccine will be ready by April, well in advance of normal vaccine development, and experimental treatment using the medicines used to treat SARS show very good results, although it's too soon to know if there are complications or contra-indications from such drugs for COVID-19 patients.
That which does not kill me, will try again and get nastier
