Impact of the new Coronavirus where you are?

[JamesKPolkEsq]

Good news for BOTL

Low incidence of daily active tobacco smoking in patients with symptomatic COVID-19

Conclusions and relevance: Our cross sectional study in both COVID-19 out- and inpatients strongly suggests that daily smokers have a very much lower probability of developing symptomatic or severe SARS-CoV-2 infection as compared to the general population. 

Daily smokers are individuals reporting daily smoking or reporting a daily frequency of the number of cigarettes (manufactured or rolled) or other tobacco products (cigars, cigarillos, pipe, shisha). The quantities of tobacco smoked were calculated using the following equivalences: 1 cigar = 1 cigarillo = 2 cigarettes.

Because this is a cross-sectional study, we cannot confirm the causality of this association. We cannot also identify which of the many compounds of tobacco exerts the protective effect of smoking on COVID-19. There are however, sufficient scientific data to suggest that smoking protection is likely to be mediated by nicotine. SARS-CoV2 is known to use the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor for cell entry[14-16], and there is evidence that nicotine modulates ACE2 expression[17]which could in turn modulate the nicotinic acetyl choline receptor

Buy some lifesaving cigars at FoH ?

[Capt. Corona]

On 4/20/2020 at 3:02 PM, Habana Mike said:

So Georgia is opening up salons Friday and restaurants next Monday. Be interesting to see if we have another spike.

I'm staying in a little longer.

Oh, and 1000 posts in here!

 US...800K plus confirmed and sadly 45K plus dead.....What could possibly go wrong in the peach state ?  Last I looked 20K plus confirmed and 800 plus sadly dead and their numbers are showing no decline.  Could it all just be a dream and we haven't woke up yet ?

 

[7kingsguy]

 US...800K plus confirmed and sadly 45K plus dead.....What could possibly go wrong in the peach state   Last I looked 20K plus confirmed and 800 plus sadly dead and their numbers are showing no decline.  Could it all just be a dream and we haven't woke up yet 
 

Heres something to lose sleep over. Apparently the virus mutates more than we thought and it may affect lethality.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpost.com/health-science/coronavirus-has-mutated-into-at-least-30-different-strains-new-study-finds-625333/amp

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[Capt. Corona]

10 hours ago, 7kingsguy said:

Heres something to lose sleep over. Apparently the virus mutates more than we thought and it may affect lethality.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpost.com/health-science/coronavirus-has-mutated-into-at-least-30-different-strains-new-study-finds-625333/amp

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

I don't want to sound like I'm a really smart person, but I am, I get this stuff. ?  I'm not even a doctor but maybe I should have been.  I mean, what do you have to lose, just take the stuff. ?  It could be like it was sent from heaven. ? We have plenty of tests, millions.  Anyone who wants a test can get a test. ?

Now back to your regular scheduled show......?

I did see that and actually made the suggestion a few weeks back to my lockdown girlfriend, roomate, work cohort, sleeping partner, person I get to yell at for absolutely no reason at all, that I thought there may be different (i called them strengths) effecting people in different ways.

 

[SigmundChurchill]

16 hours ago, JamesKPolkEsq said:

Good news for BOTL

Low incidence of daily active tobacco smoking in patients with symptomatic COVID-19

Conclusions and relevance: Our cross sectional study in both COVID-19 out- and inpatients strongly suggests that daily smokers have a very much lower probability of developing symptomatic or severe SARS-CoV-2 infection as compared to the general population. 

Daily smokers are individuals reporting daily smoking or reporting a daily frequency of the number of cigarettes (manufactured or rolled) or other tobacco products (cigars, cigarillos, pipe, shisha). The quantities of tobacco smoked were calculated using the following equivalences: 1 cigar = 1 cigarillo = 2 cigarettes.

Because this is a cross-sectional study, we cannot confirm the causality of this association. We cannot also identify which of the many compounds of tobacco exerts the protective effect of smoking on COVID-19. There are however, sufficient scientific data to suggest that smoking protection is likely to be mediated by nicotine. SARS-CoV2 is known to use the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor for cell entry[14-16], and there is evidence that nicotine modulates ACE2 expression[17]which could in turn modulate the nicotinic acetyl choline receptor

Buy some lifesaving cigars at FoH ?

If the study’s conclusions are correct, and that is a big IF, then while nicotine might make one less susceptible to severe disease, I can tell you from personal experience, that people with COPD who DO have severe disease, die very quickly.  The ones that actually make it to the hospital alive, usually only last a day or less on the ventilator, compared to others who last 1-3 weeks.

[Nino]

Some countries get it - some people don't :

https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/commento/2020/04/21/news/unione_europea_coronavirus_vertice_ue_germania_angela_merkel_sa_dare_di_piu_-254649514/

[RichUK]

5 hours ago, SigmundChurchill said:

If the study’s conclusions are correct, and that is a big IF, then while nicotine might make one less susceptible to severe disease, I can tell you from personal experience, that people with COPD who DO have severe disease, die very quickly.  The ones that actually make it to the hospital alive, usually only last a day or less on the ventilator, compared to others who last 1-3 weeks.

My mother in law has very bad COPD. She is just holed up, not seeing anyone, completely self isolating.

[SigmundChurchill]

3 hours ago, RichUK said:

My mother in law has very bad COPD. She is just holed up, not seeing anyone, completely self isolating.

She’s a smart lady..

[hoyopr]

It appears in BC we are seeing the curve flattening and the efforts by all, show the resulting stats;

 

COVID-19 deaths per million residents

Of every jurisdiction in the United States, Canada and western Europe with more than five million people, B.C. has the fewest deaths adjusted for population.

 

New York

1,085

New Jersey

632

Belgium

576

Spain

482

Italy

430

Massachusetts

374

France

341

Michigan

310

United Kingdom

287

Netherlands

250

Sweden

213

Switzerland

184

Quebec

156

Illinois

140

Pennsylvania

136

Maryland

133

Colorado

122

Indiana

112

Washington

97

Georgia

87

Portugal

84

Denmark

70

Germany

69

Ohio

59

Austria

59

Ontario

58

Florida

51

Virginia

49

Wisconsin

45

Missouri

43

California

41

Minnesota

40

Arizona

38

Norway

37

South Carolina

32

North Carolina

29

Tennessee

25

Texas

21

Czech Republic

20

British Columbia

19

Numbers accurate as of April 24, based on 2019 or 2020 population estimates

Chart: Justin McElroy

Be kind, be safe and be calm is the motto here.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-covid-new-normal-activities-social-anxiety-1.5544951

 

[helix]

Jesus Christ , you always knew it would come down to the all mighty dollar . So here we are after all this social distancing , science , Dr. Fauci ,it comes down to whether or not you can afford to STFH or have to head out in search of work after eating your last potato.

Politicians are throwing society to the wolves, and, lets see who's still around in a year. Lord help us all.

[BrightonCorgi]

I my town, there are over confirmed 1,000 corona virus cases with 33 deaths.  That's more cases than the whole state of Maine! 

I wonder what the real count of infected in my town are?  For sure we know how many died, but infected???  Who really knows.

[CaptainQuintero]

7 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

I my town, there are over confirmed 1,000 corona virus cases with 33 deaths.  That's more cases than the whole state of Maine! 

I wonder what the real count of infected in my town are?  For sure we know how many died, but infected???  Who really knows.

  There's been a decent looking formula going round from that seems to hold some water to it.

  Take the number of deaths a country is showing and add 30% to it for deaths outside of hospitals (Care homes, deaths at home etc).

  UK has just started adding these 'community deaths' to their stats and it's roughly following this rule. I think only Belgium is currently adding these to their stats right now too. This probably isn't down to malicious reasons, those two nations simply have some of the fastest, most frequent and in depth death data registration systems.

  Eg the day before yesterday, the Italian stats agency ISTAT only just released their data for March. It showed 25,000 excess deaths and around double the amount previously linked to COVID19. Again it's following roughly this "add 30%" rule.

  Mortality rate still seems to be around 1% of those infected so take your recorded deaths, add 30% for true death figure and that number is also giving you roughly 1% of the total number of infected. 

  So UK having 23,000 dead last week then added their community deaths which took it to around 30,000 deaths. Estimated infected would be probably around 3 million, which is also around current estimates.

  

[helix]

This is still part 1 of the Covid19 pandemic and the only tool , social distancing cannot be sustained much longer .

USA 40+ states are preceding with an opening that is probably going to cause the Virus rates to spin out of control .  Quebec wants to start sending kids back to school next week, such madness , it has highest infection and mortality rates in the country and sharply climbing.  

Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who has written about public health for years has some very sobering opinion's on where we are heading . 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-prediction-laurie-garrett.html

[NickV]

It’s pretty awful near me. NJ right outside NYC. I know people who have passed. People I work with have been infected. We’ve been quarantined since late March and there’s no sign of it ending any time soon as it was just extended another month the other day. At this point I just track my shipping and wait to smoke my daily cigar after working from home all day. 

[CaptainQuintero]

11 hours ago, helix said:

This is still part 1 of the Covid19 pandemic and the only tool , social distancing cannot be sustained much longer .

USA 40+ states are preceding with an opening that is probably going to cause the Virus rates to spin out of control .  Quebec wants to start sending kids back to school next week, such madness , it has highest infection and mortality rates in the country and sharply climbing.  

Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who has written about public health for years has some very sobering opinion's on where we are heading . 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-prediction-laurie-garrett.html

  Pulled a really insightful quote out of that, it probably sums up the shift that will be taking place.

So, I asked, is “back to normal,” a phrase that so many people cling to, a fantasy?

“This is history right in front of us,” Garrett said. “Did we go ‘back to normal’ after 9/11? No. We created a whole new normal. We securitized the United States. We turned into an antiterror state. And it affected everything. We couldn’t go into a building without showing ID and walking through a metal detector, and couldn’t get on airplanes the same way ever again. That’s what’s going to happen with this.”

  Less of the anti-terror state, but certainly set up to fight against transmission of disease. International travel, offices, restaurants, sporting events etc I think will have a similar level of screening and planning applied. 

  Probably a good time to get into the insurance business!

[Nino]

14 hours ago, helix said:

Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who has written about public health for years has some very sobering opinion's on where we are heading . 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-prediction-laurie-garrett.html

Thank you for the link - I subscribe the NYT and found the article and information very valuable and, being in the airline industry in 2001, quite accurate.

"New normal" is what will be with us a looong time ... sadly.

[helix]

Coronavirus seen buying toilet paper, heard Chuck Norris was in town.  ?Happy 80th Mr Norris. 

[prodigy]

I can only back this up with my personal opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. If things don't go back to "normal" soon, there's going to much worse problems than getting corona virus. Millions out of work... meat processing facilities closed, farms unable to harvest crops, food shortages, people flat out going crazy from being locked in their house for so long (I'm almost there myself!)

There has to be a point where keeping things closed is worse than the virus spreading, and I feel that tipping point is very near.

Just my opinion based on how I see things progressing. It wasn't long ago myself, and many others, thought this entire thing was a hoax!

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[Yellot00tr]

12:25 AM in NYC and I'm dealing with burglary alarms.  This doesn't happen "normally."  Idiots out there just trying to take advantage.  Got police on site and I'm sitting here bored.  Nothing happened, but someone tried to break in and a report has to be filed. We're in the middle of manhattan, so this usually would never happen. 

[Habana Mike]

3 hours ago, prodigy said:

I can only back this up with my personal opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. If things don't go back to "normal" soon, there's going to much worse problems than getting corona virus. Millions out of work... meat processing facilities closed, farms unable to harvest crops, food shortages, people flat out going crazy from being locked in their house for so long (I'm almost there myself!)

There has to be a point where keeping things closed is worse than the virus spreading, and I feel that tipping point is very near.

Just my opinion based on how I see things progressing. It wasn't long ago myself, and many others, thought this entire thing was a hoax!

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 

Agree people are reaching a breaking point.

Certain infrastructure needs to remain viable. Can't imagine how things will turn if people can't get basic necessities. 

Not talking toilet paper, if the food supplies deteriorate so will the society.

Can't say I am sure it is lucky, I can say our state Georgia has taken a stance to reopen businesses the last week or so. Anxious to see how that works out.

It's possible that with the observance of proper measures there may not be a huge uptick of new cases but it remains to be seen.

Stay safe and well y'all....

[Str8BlkCoffee]

Oof.

Kuwait just ordered a 100% curfew lock-down until 30May. If you have to go out you will need to apply for a permit from the MOI ahead of time i.e. grocer, pharmacy, Dr., ect. or risk 10KD fine (33kUSD) and 1 year in jail and/or deportation with the burden of repatriation placed on your sponsor. There are 2 cities who have been in total quarantine for over two weeks with concertina wire and barricades due to the high infection rate and it doesn't look like it will be getting any better.

Basic needs are being met via on-line delivery and drop off. All banking and non-essential services stopped. All non- essential govt. services stopped. Some are going without salary or partial salaries which is elevating a sense of crisis. People are worried.

I tried to buy groceries the other day and the line was out the door and down the street. The last time I waited in queue it was over 2.5 hours and I only purchased 2 small bags of items and the line was not even a fraction of the size it was the other day. I had been stocking up since I had been getting hints that something drastic was in the works and people were asking if I had plenty of drinking water and meat stocked. So I began picking up extras here and there.

Worst of all FOH stopped deliveries to me, so I had to reroute a purchase to the States. I still have a good number here, but resorted back to smoking my pipes more and placed an order for more pipe tobacco only to find it too will be delayed until the end of the month ? No worries since have several tins and a 1/2 lb of bulk I had stashed away. Plenty of smoke to be had. 

If I run low on food I can fast for a few days make it stretch  I made it 4 days on a water fast last year, I was dreaming of eating a steak in my sleep though... 

[JR Kipling]

I live in a rural farm community in the western USA. The biggest industry is Ag related, though there are some big company internet facilities here attracted by the cheap electric power. Life is fairly normal in many ways. Very few wear masks. The local police wouldn’t even consider giving anyone a ticket for not doing so. In the towns some small businesses are opening; if they don’t they could lose everything. Big corporate chain stores such as Walmart have remained open. That’s where you see the most facemasks - worn by employees, not customers. - Officially, the governor of our state still has most things locked down. Adherence to the restrictions seems dependent on how conservative or liberal is a particular county.

[Kitchen]

Just read this by an economist in Asia, and it is depressing to say the least.  

https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1913836/its-time-to-face-grim-covid-19-reality 

Something I never considered was that if we were to get a vaccine, we would still be limited by our production capacity on how fast we could produce it.  There are 70 labs working on it and if we assume they combined can produce 1M doses a day (an optimistic prediction) it would take 21.4 years to produce enough doses for the world.  

[joeypots]

1 hour ago, Kitchen said:

Just read this by an economist in Asia, and it is depressing to say the least.  

https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1913836/its-time-to-face-grim-covid-19-reality 

Something I never considered was that if we were to get a vaccine, we would still be limited by our production capacity on how fast we could produce it.  There are 70 labs working on it and if we assume they each can produce 1M doses a day (an optimistic prediction) it would take 21.4 years to produce enough doses for the world.  

I hope a vaccine is developed but there are no guarantees. There's no vaccine for HIV. More than 35 years since that virus was identified and we have treatment but inoculation has been elusive. 

[BellevilleMXZ]

10 hours ago, Kitchen said:

Just read this by an economist in Asia, and it is depressing to say the least.  

https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1913836/its-time-to-face-grim-covid-19-reality 

Something I never considered was that if we were to get a vaccine, we would still be limited by our production capacity on how fast we could produce it.  There are 70 labs working on it and if we assume they combined can produce 1M doses a day (an optimistic prediction) it would take 21.4 years to produce enough doses for the world.  

Oh, that's not good. 

Here in Ontario,Canada, cases and deaths are dropping good, so they are slowly opening things back up....hopefully we don't get a spike back up.