Corona Virus - March Week 2 - Global/HK News

[sallecc]

... and then this (see reply below)... or maybe they didn't get the memo...

https://twitter.com/tkwlee/status/12...414080/photo/1

[MABinPengChau]

Being a smoker I had a think about this and scrutinized my actions whilst smoking. There is definitely a higher risk, being a smoker, of being infected with Covid-19 through the action of bringing the cigarette up to your lips. Most smokers will hold their cigarettes at the butts with their fingers and when brought up to the lips for a puff, the fingers on most occasions touches the lips or the face around it. The vast majority of smokers are not going to sanitize their hands before lighting up.

It's more that smokers have a much higher risk of pneumonia than non-smokers (also upper respiratory infections, for a lot of reasons)

Men and women who smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day were almost three times more likely to acquire pneumonia than persons who never smoked, according to a study in the August issue of CHEST.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0816073437.htm

More details on getting infections and why:

Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for acute respiratory tract infections, with both active and passive smoke exposure increasing the risk of infection.^{3, 5} Smoking increases the incidence, duration and/or severity of respiratory viral infection.⁶ The mechanism of this enhanced susceptibility is multifactorial and includes alteration in structural and immune defences—a substantial report of immunologic effects of cigarette smoking was published in 2004; it described the harmful effects on cell counts and distribution in peripheral blood and lung fluids as well as impairment of the functioning of white blood cells, lymphocytes (natural killer cells) and humoral immune system function (production of antibodies).³ Recent studies provide additional detail of the adverse effects on the immune system, such as those on the retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I),⁷ inflammatory factors in nasal lavage fluids (NLF IL-6)⁸, NF-kappaB regulation (regulation of critical defence genes)⁹, pulmonary T-cell responses¹⁰, type II interferon responses (antiviral mechanisms) in airway epithelial cells⁶, and the functioning of intelectin 1 (an immune defence protein).¹¹ There is also evidence that cigarette smokers have distortions to the normal microbial communities of the upper respiratory tract, which are thought to contribute to the prevalence of respiratory tract complications in this population.¹²

https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.a...ction-in-smoke

[Coolboy]

A case of long incubation:

https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compone...abChangeable=0

Does anyone have the stat on the average incubation period for cases in HK? The quarantine period is 14 days, but how many days are required for infected cases fall ill on average?

[chuckster007]

Original Post Deleted

even though many news sites says Songkran is cancelled, there will be plenty of people squirting all kinds of unknown liquids at each other, great for spreading all kinds of stuff LOL Enjoy

2020 13 Apr to 16 Apr Mon to Thu Songkran Festival

[sv336]

... Grew up in NYC suburbs....

You should've put that as a disclaimer into the original post - explains a lot. Anyway, those who are immune to fake news know where to go for real stuff. Not to this forum...

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...ntainment-zone

[sv336]

Yeah, I don't think it's a mistake, they've caved to China, like every other US org did over the protests.

Denial or memory lapse? Which countries enacted pro HK protests laws? US did, who else?

[CharSiuNow]

Denial or memory lapse? Which countries enacted pro HK protests laws? US did, who else?

Even worse, the Republicans (who I don't support) were among the most vocal on this. The idea that guys like Rubio and Cruz led this made me feel very conflicted, but support Hong Kong they did. Credit where credit is due

[mangoprawnsalad]

I think Israel was accused of over-reaction when it began in the last 2 days or so to require ALL international arrivals (including its own citizens) to be quarantined for two weeks. Yet Beijing now also requires the same? Should other countries be worried they're not taking more draconian measures when the guy with the best information is pulling out all the stops to keep himself safe?

Beijing on Wednesday (Mar 11) ordered people arriving in the city from any country to go into 14-day quarantine

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...ivals-12527308

[mangoprawnsalad]

More imports of cases from Philippines and Indonesia to Singapore which casts further doubt on these countries' reported numbers.

Case 178 is an imported case involving a 37 year-old male Filipino national who is a Singapore Work Pass holder. He had been in the Philippines from 11 February to 19 February, and again from 23 February to 2 March to visit a relative with pneumonia who has since passed on. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 11 March morning, and is currently warded in an isolation room at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH).

Case 172 is a 42 year-old female Philippines national who is a Singapore Work Pass Holder, and had been in the Philippines from 27 February to 2 March. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 11 March morning, and is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.

Case 170 is an imported case involving a 56 year-old female Indonesian national who had arrived in Singapore on 9 March. She reported onset of symptoms on 6 March while in Indonesia, and presented at SGH on 9 March after arrival in Singapore. Subsequent test results confirmed COVID-19 infection on 10 March afternoon.

https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highligh...tion-confirmed

[kimwy66]

In France many hospitals are only testing serious cases, symptomatic elderly and their care givers. In Mulhouse, where there is an outbreak from a large evangelical gathering, for the last week they have only tested those admitted in serious condition.

When you look at the figures for France - not updated today but yesterday up 30% to 1784, they must be significantly further along the path to being another Italy.

https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/artic...2554_3244.html