Unknown facts about Coronavirus

Trakrat · 03-16-2020, 07:21 AM

I know.. 'not another virus thread.'

I just have to get some thoughts out of my head, cause it's driving me nuts to know if others have the same thoughts.

So I've been following the media, (trying not too though)… but NO ONE has taken the time to verify certain facts.

--- I hear about "so and so was tested for the coronavirus out of caution and was positive. But we wanted to let you know that he/she is fine"
So WHY was a test wasted on someone who is 'fine'??????

---- No information about the accuracy of these virus tests? I've read that it has given false positives, as well as false negatives.

---- Some are saying this is NOTHING like the flu. But it gives the same exact symptoms as it has for others with the flu? maybe this is just a new 'influenza-c'?? (or whatever letter comes next)

---- H1N1 is known to have infected 60 MILLION people in the US with something like 80,000 people who died from it. And many as 80k people hospitalized at one time from it. So why isn't the media looking at HISTORY and asking why we are shutting down businesses and events??

---- Isn't this similar to what Germany did to the Jews prior to WW2? Shutting down their businesses, encouraging social distancing, etc...??

---- Do I have a right to REFUSE a coronavirus test if I'm sick?

---- Do I have a right to have a 2nd coronavirus test taken if I do not trust the results of the first test?

---- Do you know the difference if the media says someone is in 'critical' condition vs. 'serious' condition?

---- Why isn't the media following up on those who mention that they tested positive? From what I can tell, they felt 'under the weather' for a day.. and then they were fine after.

---- Did you know that if 1% of the population was infected... we would have to reach 70 MILLION infected? At the current rate of reported infection, that would take YEARS!!! Do we really need 70 million test kits?

---- How will lower interest rates help those people who can't go to work because they closed down the restaurant/bar/shop???

---- How many people will refuse to get tested when they are sick because they don't want to have to be quarantined, even though they have minor symptoms???

---- Can you have the common flu AND the coronavirus at the same time?

---- What if this 'virus' going around really is just a new form of the flu???

island911 · 03-16-2020, 07:30 AM

Thank you!

The vast majority of those with the virus do just fine.

H1N1, THAT was nasty. And we survived w/o killing commerce. ...shuttering business.

speeder · 03-16-2020, 07:44 AM

I remember that day when 368 people died in one day in Italy from the swine flu. Do you?

J/k. That never happened. This is not the flu.

wildthing · 03-16-2020, 07:47 AM

Critical and serious are for the media, I think, not really medical terms, or so I read on the Internet.

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

The big question, for me, is one that hasn't come up yet.

There's one anecdotal report of a coronavirus victim who went through it, survived, tested virus-free and then got reinfected. If that's true, and there's no immunity as a side effect, this is going to be a long slog.

Trakrat · 03-16-2020, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

I remember that day when 368 people died in one day in Italy from the swine flu. Do you?

J/k. That never happened. This is not the flu.

So.. the question then is... HOW did Italy determine that all these people died from coronavirus?
Were they tested, post-mortem?
And if they WERE tested, how did Italy happen to have 368 coronavirus test kits sitting around when the US can't even get enough test kits? (per the media)
And HOW did they die? if their heart stops, and they were tested positive for the coronavirus, is coronavirus automatically considered the cause?

And.. the BIG question... How many people, on average, die in Italy on a given day.. PRIOR to this coronavirus.

And yes... you WON'T know how many people died from the swine flu in a day because the media didn't obsess over it. As far as we know... 10,000 people in Italy could have died from the Swine Flu... but were they all tested? of course not!!

island911 · 07:59 AM

Thousands of people die every day in the US. It has been this way for decades.

in a pop of hundreds of millions... it just is.

But let's all whine about how 40 of them got pushed over the edge in the last month. --be afraid... be very afraid.

Sooner or later · 03-16-2020, 08:01 AM

Sad thread.

BReif61 · 03-16-2020, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

I remember that day when 368 people died in one day in Italy from the swine flu. Do you?

J/k. That never happened. This is not the flu.

Without context, that statistic is worthless.

I'd venture that there are that many deaths on a normal day in a country that large. 368 perfectly healthy people in their prime of their lives dropping dead would be shocking; 368 deaths of older people with pre-existing conditions that already put them close the edge is not shocking.

Context.

Sooner or later · 03-16-2020, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BReif61

Without context, that statistic is worthless.

I'd venture that there are that many deaths on a normal day in a country that large. 368 perfectly healthy people in their prime of their lives dropping dead would be shocking; 368 deaths of older people with pre-existing conditions that already put them close the edge is not shocking.

Context.

Northern Italy has people piled up like cord wood outside of hospital rooms.

For 80% of folks this will be like a cold or a mild case of the flu. The other 20% (age related or pre existing condition) will end up hospitalized. A quarter of those 20% will end up in ICU. They can end up staying a month in the hospital. One gets released and 4 require admission.

It can ravage a local area and vastly overstretch the local medical care.. That is what happened in China so they built additional hospitals to handle the overflow. That is what is currently happening in northern Italy. I am sure Iran is a total cluster f.

Most of the OP's questions have been discussed ad nauseam and backed up with legitimate sources.

93nav · 03-16-2020, 08:23 AM

I have also heard that several times. One expansion I read was that the test that came back negative could have been wrong. A false negative.

I have also read that none of these tests are 100%. More like in the mid 90%. I have not heard which ones, USA, S Korea, China, etc, are more accurate.

I also read that the virus can persist in the body up to 37(??) days. Not necessarily shedding/contagious, but still detectable. Not sure if you remember, but after the big ebola epidemic they were finding the virus in tears and semen (transmissible) up to 6 months after recovery.

There is still a lot we do not know about this virus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by techweenie

The big question, for me, is one that hasn't come up yet.

There's one anecdotal report of a coronavirus victim who went through it, survived, tested virus-free and then got reinfected. If that's true, and there's no immunity as a side effect, this is going to be a long slog.

Sooner or later · 03-16-2020, 08:26 AM

I read that tests are 98% accurate. Might be 95%

93nav · 03-16-2020, 08:27 AM

Reports I read last night out of Italy is that they are now getting more younger people in the ICU. I will try and find the report Younger as in 30 - 40 years old.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BReif61

Without context, that statistic is worthless.

I'd venture that there are that many deaths on a normal day in a country that large. 368 perfectly healthy people in their prime of their lives dropping dead would be shocking; 368 deaths of older people with pre-existing conditions that already put them close the edge is not shocking.

Context.

93nav · 03-16-2020, 08:28 AM

Different tests, different technicians, different reagents, lots of variables.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

I read that tests are 98% accurate. Might be 95%

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Quote: