Just when you thought it was safe...?

[Tommy T.]

Here's a scary story...

https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/world/beijing-goes-into-wartime-mode-as-virus-emerges-at-market-in-chinese-capital/ar-BB15qQ6k?li=BBr8Mkn

[JJReyes]

The main purpose of the global lockdown was to slow the virus so as not to overwhelm hospitals; give health services additional time to ramp up their capacity; and wait for either effective medicines or a vaccine or both.  As economies reopen, hot spots and increases in the number of cases are going up.  News media tend to exaggerate the situation through their headlines and reporting.  Each government calculates how many deaths to expect until a vaccine and medicines are develop. 

My opinion is the solution pessimistically won't be ready until the end of the year if we followed the normal protocols for medical development and testing.  However, I am confident it will be much sooner because so much money is pouring into multiple research and the pharmaceutical companies are aware of the huge payoff for success.  Additionally, governments will start cutting corners to come up with usable medicines and vaccines.  Good news for the present is social distancing and wearing a mask appears to be effective.  

[Old55]

Much of what we read from ccp is a lie or miss-direction to divert attention from what they are doing in Hong Kong.

[Mike J]

On 6/15/2020 at 7:26 AM, JJReyes said:

Additionally, governments will start cutting corners to come up with usable medicines and vaccines.

The USA is funding five companies to produce "promising" vaccines in bulk even prior to the final human testing.  The expectation is that at least one, maybe more, will be successful and the millions of doses already produced and ready for distribution.   Just one example of the ways countries are trying to speed the process of development, production, and distribution of a vaccine.

[OnMyWay]

31 minutes ago, Mike J said:

The USA is funding five companies to produce "promising" vaccines in bulk even prior to the final human testing.  The expectation is that at least one, maybe more, will be successful and the millions of doses already produced and ready for distribution.   Just one example of the ways countries are trying to speed the process of development, production, and distribution of a vaccine.

The upcoming dilemma for me will be, do I want my kids to get a vaccine?  My kids have very little risk and I may have to choose between them getting a rushed vaccine (from China!) or going to school.

Personally, since I have been an adult, I have probably had flu vaccines only 10 times.  More often than not, I get the flu right after the vaccine.  Hence, only 10 times.

[Mike J]

26 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

The upcoming dilemma for me will be, do I want my kids to get a vaccine?  My kids have very little risk and I may have to choose between them getting a rushed vaccine (from China!) or going to school.

Personally, since I have been an adult, I have probably had flu vaccines only 10 times.  More often than not, I get the flu right after the vaccine.  Hence, only 10 times.

I think many people will be going through the same decision process.  Tough choices for sure. 

[hk blues]

43 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

The upcoming dilemma for me will be, do I want my kids to get a vaccine?  My kids have very little risk and I may have to choose between them getting a rushed vaccine (from China!) or going to school.

Personally, since I have been an adult, I have probably had flu vaccines only 10 times.  More often than not, I get the flu right after the vaccine.  Hence, only 10 times.

I'm taking the view that education is non-negotiable so i either get the vaccine or move somewhere else. 

[OnMyWay]

12 minutes ago, hk blues said:

I'm taking the view that education is non-negotiable so i either get the vaccine or move somewhere else. 

Yes, same here.  I've been considering taking the family to the U.S., but I'm not sure I really want to live there anymore.  Wait and see.

I might get the vaccine, but why my kids?  I give them all the usual vaccines, but why take a risk when they are not at risk?

[GeoffH]

4 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I might get the vaccine, but why my kids?  I give them all the usual vaccines, but why take a risk when they are not at risk?

If you've got older relatives the kids might pass on the virus to them, you'd might want to vaccinate those older relatives to avoid that problem if you weren't going to vaccinate the kids.

[Tommy T.]

Here is another bit of news from a headline today.Note I found it in MSNBC - which I know a number of you distrust - but the actual headline is from the BBC. I copied the article to edit out some ads:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/flu-virus-with-pandemic-potential-found-in-china/ar-BB167fvB?li=BBnb7Kz

New swine flu found in China has pandemic potential
The new flu possesses 'all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans,' say the authors

Agence France-Presse
@afp
Published 7:51 AM, June 30, 2020
Updated 7:51 AM, June 30, 2020

WASHINGTON, DC, USA – Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published Monday, June 29, in the US science journal PNAS.

Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009.

It possesses "all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans," say the authors, scientists at Chinese universities and China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

From 2011 to 2018, researchers took 30,000 nasal swabs from pigs in slaughterhouses in 10 Chinese provinces and in a veterinary hospital, allowing them to isolate 179 swine flu viruses. (READ: [OPINION] The animal industry can be the next pandemic ground zero)

The majority were of a new kind which has been dominant among pigs since 2016.

The researchers then carried out various experiments including on ferrets, which are widely used in flu studies because they experience similar symptoms to humans – principally fever, coughing, and sneezing.

G4 was observed to be highly infectious, replicating in human cells and causing more serious symptoms in ferrets than other viruses.

Tests also showed that any immunity humans gain from exposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection from G4.

According to blood tests which showed up antibodies created by exposure to the virus, 10.4% of swine workers had already been infected.

The tests showed that as many as 4.4% of the general population also appeared to have been exposed.

The virus has therefore already passed from animals to humans but there is no evidence yet that it can be passed from human to human – the scientists' main worry. (READ: Human activity to blame for virus spread – study)

"It is of concern that human infection of G4 virus will further human adaptation and increase the risk of a human pandemic," the researchers wrote.

The authors called for urgent measures to monitor people working with pigs.

"The work comes as a salutary reminder that we are constantly at risk of new emergence of zoonotic pathogens and that farmed animals, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, may act as the source for important pandemic viruses," said James Wood, head of the department of veterinary medicine at Cambridge University.