Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #51

[margarita25]

Sure. Rabies.

I meant “respiratory” pathogens occurring via “zoonotic spillover” specifically.

(Added as eta for clarity)

 

[Henry2326]

Well, I’m an idiot. At least I admitted I’m a peon with no medical training.

Review of bacterial and viral zoonotic infections transmitted by dogs

“Dogs are a major reservoir for zoonotic infections. Dogs transmit several viral and bacterial diseases to humans. Zoonotic diseases can be transmitted to human by infected saliva, aerosols, contaminated urine or feces and direct contact with the dog. Viral infections such as rabies and norovirus and bacterial infections including Pasteurella, Salmonella, Brucella, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter, Capnocytophaga, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Coxiella burnetii, Leptospira, Staphylococcus intermedius and Methicillin resistance staphylococcus aureus are the most common viral and bacterial zoonotic infections transmitted to humans by dogs. This review, focused on the mentioned infectious diseases by describing general information, signs and symptoms, transmission ways, prevention and treatment of the infection. As far as the infections are concerned, the increase of the knowledge and the awareness of dog owners and the general population regarding zoonotic infections could significantly mitigate zoonoses transmission and consequently their fatal complications.”

—-

Okay let me rephrase, any “respiratory pathogens”?

Googling

—-

Canine Respiratory Coronavirus FAQ

“There is no evidence that CRCoV can infect other animal species or people.”

—-

“No human infections with canine influenza have ever been reported.”

Key Facts about Canine Influenza (Dog Flu) | Seasonal Influenza (Flu) | CDC

—-

The new article has these comments:

ACE2 is made in the human digestive system, at the highest levels in the small intestine and duodenum, with relatively low expression in the lung. This suggests that mammalian digestive systems are likely to be a key target infected by coronaviruses.

According to Dr Xia, humans are the only other host species observed to produce coronavirus genomes with low genomic CpG values. In a comprehensive study of the first 12 COVID-19 patients in the U.S., one patient reported diarrhea as the initial symptom before developing fever and cough, and stool samples from 7 out of 10 patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, including 3 patients with diarrhea.

Dogs are often observed to lick their anal and genital regions, not only during mating but also in other circumstances. Such behavior would facilitate viral transmission from the digestive system to the respiratory system and the interchange between a gastrointestinal pathogen and a respiratory tract and lung pathogen.

From his research findings, Dr Xia presents a scenario in which the coronavirus first spread from bats to stray dogs eating bat meat. Next, the presumably strong selection against CpG in the viral RNA genome in canid intestines resulted in rapid evolution of the virus leading to reduced genomic CpG. Finally, the reduced viral genomic CpG allowed the virus to evade human ZAP-mediated immune response and became a severe human pathogen.

Breaking! Research Indicates That Stray Dogs Could Be Possible Source Of SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus - Thailand Medical News

 

[margarita25]

The new article has these comments:

ACE2 is made in the human digestive system, at the highest levels in the small intestine and duodenum, with relatively low expression in the lung. This suggests that mammalian digestive systems are likely to be a key target infected by coronaviruses.

According to Dr Xia, humans are the only other host species observed to produce coronavirus genomes with low genomic CpG values. In a comprehensive study of the first 12 COVID-19 patients in the U.S., one patient reported diarrhea as the initial symptom before developing fever and cough, and stool samples from 7 out of 10 patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, including 3 patients with diarrhea.

Dogs are often observed to lick their anal and genital regions, not only during mating but also in other circumstances. Such behavior would facilitate viral transmission from the digestive system to the respiratory system and the interchange between a gastrointestinal pathogen and a respiratory tract and lung pathogen.

From his research findings, Dr Xia presents a scenario in which the coronavirus first spread from bats to stray dogs eating bat meat. Next, the presumably strong selection against CpG in the viral RNA genome in canid intestines resulted in rapid evolution of the virus leading to reduced genomic CpG. Finally, the reduced viral genomic CpG allowed the virus to evade human ZAP-mediated immune response and became a severe human pathogen.

Breaking! Research Indicates That Stray Dogs Could Be Possible Source Of SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus - Thailand Medical News

Well let’s hope this theory can be ruled out

I know WHO will certainly be reviewing this.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Papers are starting to come out with evaluations of the antibodies tests, and a multidisciplinary team of researchers and physicians at UCSF, UC Berkeley, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, and Innovative Genomics Institute has put out a manuscript and set up a website for future studies at COVID-19 Testing Project . Last I heard, there were about 140 on the market. MOO

Dropbox - SARS-CoV-2_Serology_Manuscript.pdf - Simplify your life

Our data demonstrate specificity greater than 95% for the majority of tests evaluated and >99% for 2 LFAs (Wondfo, Sure Biotech)



ETA: And food for thought.... just saw this as it relates to studies showing rates of seropositives in differing places....

Michael Lin, PhD-MD @michaelzlin
·And now U Miami is stepping on the same low-specificity landmine.
They just claimed 6% of Miami-Dade county has COVID19 antibodies (https://miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article242260406.html). Sorry to break this to you but the Biomedomics test you used (https://cbsloc.al/3aO40gl#.XqPNveHnyfw.twitter) has 13% (!!!) false-positives.

 

[The Night Watchman]

We have no idea what the curve looks like for this pandemic. We are in the middle, not the end, of the first wave. We don't know whether waves are seasonal. There may be faulty assumptions that it is under control when the number of new cases slows for a week or two.

We don't know anything about this virus. We do know that many people are not too concerned about the virus, believing that healthy people under the age of 60 will have, at most, minor symptoms. We hope that is true, even though there are many counter-examples to this belief.

This deaths/million graph is based on available data, but we have to remember that many countries, such as China, are under-reporting and other countries, such as African nations, lack testing. The data is incomplete at this time.

There is no question that politicians have down-played the virus due to economic priorities. Government leaders want to sustain the pre-virus economic prosperity, and the only way to achieve this is to get everyone back to work immediately. However, there is no evidence of herd immunity today or in 1918, so increased exposure to the virus could result in increased death rate, and nothing will be gained.

Regarding age-related risk, in 1918 first wave, age 20-40 was highest risk. In the second wave, the older population was highest risk. We are blind regarding best decisions, although if we look at history and prevent transmission we may have a chance.

View attachment 244550

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) - Statistics and Research

I agree that we don't know what this wave looks like, and there could be another spike if we open too early. And we are opening too early in the U.S.

As far as age related risk, I have to refer to the U.S. because it is where I live and where I can get some stats. There are always counter-examples to data, but what matters is the overall statistics. Healthy people under 60 have little risk of dying from coronavirus in the current wave. This is what the data shows.

The data I showed was deaths per 100,000 people in the U.S. I don't know enough about the world health care systems or data collection to comment on other countries.

It is true we don't know precisely about CV and herd immunity, but we know the history of viruses. Dr. Fauci says-

"Generally we know with infections like this, that at least for a reasonable period of time, you're gonna have antibodies that are going to be protective," he said.

Fauci added that because the virus doesn't seem to be mutating much, people who recover will likely be immune should the US see a second wave of spread in the fall.

You say that politicians have downplayed it, but I see the opposite in the U.S. The epidemiologists overplayed it IMO, and the politicians are paralyzed into to following their recommendations in an election year. New data keeps coming out and I hope we react appropriately.

Your point about not knowing the potentially varying age target of a virus is not something I have not thought about. I would assume that it would be the same, but it might not as you say and that is scary.


Anthony Fauci says people who recover from the coronavirus should be immune through at least September. But some scientists worry that not all patients develop antibodies.

 

[margarita25]

Papers are starting to come out with evaluations of the antibodies tests, and a multidisciplinary team of researchers and physicians at UCSF, UC Berkeley, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, and Innovative Genomics Institute has put out a manuscript and set up a website for future studies at COVID-19 Testing Project . Last I heard, there were about 140 on the market. MOO

Dropbox - SARS-CoV-2_Serology_Manuscript.pdf - Simplify your life

Our data demonstrate specificity greater than 95% for the majority of tests evaluated and >99% for 2 LFAs (Wondfo, Sure Biotech)

View attachment 244592

Also, iirc it’s the “Solidarity 2” WHO project which is studying serology and antibodies if I’m not mistaken (eta: and will be interesting to keep an eye on, @dixiegirl1035. )

ETA / Apr 2:
‘These are answers we need.’ WHO plans global study to discover true extent of coronavirus infections | Science | AAAS

“In an effort to understand how many people have been infected with the new coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) is planning a coordinated study to test blood samples for the presence of antibodies to the virus. Called Solidarity II, the program, which will involve more than half a dozen countries around the globe, will launch in the coming days, says Maria Van Kerkhove, who is helping coordinate WHO’s COVID-19 response.”

ETA2 : Additionally re: Solidarity II / Qmfr:

Apr 15 / WHO / source

“Helen Braswell: (40:22)
I was hoping maybe Maria or Mike could give us some information about serology testing. I know that a number of countries have been starting to do this work. Is there any picture yet of how good the serology tests are, how reliable they are, and what is being seen in the testing that has been done to date?

So, hi Helen. Yeah, I will start with this and perhaps Mike would like to add. So yes, we are working with a number of countries across the globe on looking at the use of serologic testing for COVID-19. So as you know there are a large number of rapid tests that are available now commercially to purchase and we’re working with FIND and we’re working with labs that have experienced with coronaviruses to look at validation of those with well-characterized Sera. It’s important for us to be able to evaluate how these actually work with clinical samples. So, that is a process that is ongoing.

There are a number of countries right now that are conducting serologic studies, which are looking either at stored samples that were collected throughout this pandemic for other clinical reasons, blood bank, blood donations, or are doing these studies prospectively. Today we had a teleconference with 160 groups, 160 people, who are working with us on our early investigations, which we’re calling the unity studies now. These are early epidemiologic investigations that focus on cases and contacts, that focus on healthcare workers, that’s a separate protocol, a separate protocol for household transmission, and a fourth protocol looking at age, population based sera surveys.

We had a call with them today to see where they are. We have more than 40 countries who are utilizing these core protocols in their own countries, and we’re starting to see some results from some of them from the molecular testing, not yet from the serology. And they’re asking us what are the tests that we can use. So we’re working very hard to validate those tests so that we can be able to say here are four or five serologic assays that could be used so that we can have a better readout on how they actually work.

In addition to that, we have another serologic solidarity study. It’s called the solidarity two study, which is working to estimate global sera prevalence and the first thing that this study is doing, it’s called solidarity two. It’s working on pulling together a serum panel, a standardized serum panel, across the globe so that they could standardize assays and that they can use one protocol to estimate global sera prevalence. That is a process that is ongoing and we’re hoping that we will get some results from that in the coming months.

Having said that, there are some serologic studies that we’re now starting to see being published. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen full papers of these using full methodology. I’ve seen a study from Denmark, I’ve seen a study from Germany suggesting around at 3.5 to 14% sera prevalence. We need to really understand the methods that were used, the assays that were used in terms of their sensitivity and specificity before we can have a good understanding of what this actually means. But of course these numbers are lower, the sera prevalence in these two studies which is not representative globally are lower than I think what many people were expecting. Certainly lower than what some of the models had predicted.

But we’re working with our partners to understand what all of this means in terms of our understanding of the epidemic waves that may happen with this pandemic virus.

Mike?

Dr. Michael J. Ryan: (43:59)
And just to add Helen, and Maria is there really speaking where sera epidemiologic studies, where the testing is done and validated labs as well. Where the testing is benched on in labs. There is a whole other world of rapid diagnostic test or point of care diagnostics and people are talking very much about can we do the diagnosis at the bedside, either a PCR based or there are new diagnostic tests based on antigen detection. And what they do is they detect the proteins of the virus in the sample. Or rapid diagnostic test based on the antibody that’s developed by the body in response to the virus. And there’s a lot of very important innovation going on in that space, but there are real…

We need to be very, very careful antigen tests the sensitivity of those tests can be low. In other words, they may pick up anything from 30 to 80% of true infections. In other words, you can have people who get a negative test who actually have had the infection. The same with some of the antibody tests.

The important consideration with antibody tests is that many people take up to two weeks or more to develop the antibodies in response to having the infection, so they could actually turn out to be negative on the antibody test but actually have had the infection.

Now, none of those are barriers to introducing these products as part of a comprehensive strategy, but we do need to be careful to ensure that introducing rapid test is done as part of a comprehensive diagnostic strategy, a comprehensive testing strategy, and where governments can have validated tests that they introduce into the system in a way that adds to the control of the virus, that adds to surveillance, that adds to diagnosis and doesn’t cause unnecessary confusion. And many governments around the world are doing that just now.”

 

[mickey2942]

How the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic affected Utah

I don't remember my Grandparents or Great Grandparents ever discussing this Pandemic. It sounds so similar to this virus. "Deep chest congestion". My Grandmother would have been about 30 years old. She never mentioned it to me. Ironic, that a century later, we really don't have any other magical science or additional medical resources to combat this virus. It is telling, that this flu had three distinct waves.

History does repeat itself.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Thanks for your perspective. I agree The Worst Hard Time was an excellent book, and often distressing because of how people suffered. Another interesting book based on diaries is Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey, about women pioneers and their many hardships. And A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird, a 19th-century Englishwoman. That one is based on her letters and is really interesting.

I'd also like to recommend Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett. It's a collection of stories and the title story (a novella) is about a young doctor who treats patients during the tragic typhus epidemic among Irish immigrants in Quebec in 1847. They were fleeing the great famine and arrived in "coffin ships" full of dead and dying people. Which of course makes one think of cruise ships full of people sick with the coronavirus.

Andrea Barrett is one of my favorite authors.

Thanks for the recommendations! I think I have Women’s Diaries on my kindle, but I’ll look for the others.

 

[The Night Watchman]

The media has such power over us to react a certain way in the fight against coronavirus. They have scared us into compliance. Which is good, because it takes everyone to be compliant in a lockdown.

Great for ratings, but showing masses on people of beaches will also have people react a certain way as well.

"That looks really fun, f"it, if they can do it, so can we". Not just the beach, but breaking isolation wherever they are in the country.

What looks like an innocent story can break the dam.

People crowd Southern California beaches despite coronavirus concerns - CNN

 

[Yesiamapirate]

From our local paper. Even if you are not a sports fan, there is no doubt to the economic impact this will have on our country. Think of the restaurants, bars, parking lots and hotels near venues. Think of the vendors that make their living selling food and drink to that stadium. And the food suppliers themselves when no food and drink is needed at the event. It will trickle right down to the lady making the plastic beer cup in the factory. It’s overwhelming. I fear we will not be able to open the economy enough to avoid widespread disaster. Hunger, homelessness and deep depression.

Mitch Albom: Despite 2020 NFL draft, we’re nowhere close to normal

 

[katydid23]

Again, I agree with you. I posted this several days ago.

How Economists Calculate The Costs And Benefits Of COVID-19 Lockdowns

When you look at what the majority of economists say, they are not saying the same thing as the politicians who are using scare tactics to try to open us up too quickly.

Stop covid or save the economy? We can do both.

“
But his essential argument remained: that in the coronavirus pandemic, there is an agonizing trade-off between saving the economy and saving lives.

Evidence from research, however, shows that this is a false dichotomy. The best way to limit the economic damage will be to save as many lives as possible.”

In reading your second link, it seems to be agreeing with what I was saying, that we will need to restart the economy gradually at some point. But it was published on April 8th, three weeks ago. So his assertions that we have no tests available are out of date now.


Reviving the economy
These days Paul Romer sounds exasperated. “We’re caught up in the trauma: kill the economy or kill more people,” he says. There is so much “learned helplessness, so much hand-wringing.” The New York University economist and Nobel laureate believes he has a relatively simple strategy that will “both contain the virus and let the economy revive.”

The key, says Romer, is repeatedly testing everyone without symptoms to identify who is infected. (People with symptoms should just be assumed to have covid-19 and treated accordingly.) All those who test positive should isolate themselves; those who test negative can return to work, traveling, and socializing, but they should be tested every two weeks or so. If you’re negative, you might have a card saying so that allows you to get on an airplane or freely enter a restaurant.

Testing could be voluntary. Romer acknowledges some might resist it or resist isolating themselves if positive, but “most people want to do the right thing,” he says, and that should be enough to snuff out the spread of the virus.

Romer points to new, faster diagnostic tests, including ones from Silicon Valley’s Cepheid and from the drug giant Roche. Each of Roche’s best machines can handle 4,200 tests a day; build five thousand of those machines, and you can test 20 million people a day. “It’s well within our capacity,” he says. “We just need to bend some metal and make some machines.” If you can identify and isolate those infected with the virus, you can let the rest of the population go back to business.

Indeed, in an early April survey by Chicago’s Booth School, 93% of the economists agreed that “a massive increase in testing” is required for “an economic restart.”

In a piece called “National Coronavirus Response: A roadmap to reopening,”former FDA director Scott Gottlieb also argued for ramping up testing and then isolating those infected rather shutting in the entire population. Likewise, Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s department of medical ethics and health policy, called for increasing testing in a New York Times piece called “We Can Safely Restart the Economy in June. Here’s How.” Harvard medical experts, meanwhile, have outlined similar ideas in “A Detailed Plan for Getting Americans Back to Work.”

The proposals differ in details, but all revolve around widespread testing of various sorts to know who is vulnerable and who isn’t before we risk going back to business.

....snipped for space...
One day we will have to reopen the economy. Perhaps we’ll be able to hold out until the pandemic is showing signs of receding, or perhaps the economic suffering will prove intolerable both to those in charge and to those living in hard-hit regions. When that day comes, if we do not have widespread testing, we will be sending people back to work without knowing if they’re at risk of getting the virus or spreading it to others. “We’re thinking about this the wrong way,” Romer says. The idea that one day you will be able to restart the economy without massive testing to see if the outbreak is under control is just “magical thinking.”


[TESTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN EVERY STATE THAT IS AFFECTED BY THE VIRUS. So this article is in agreement that a gradual reopen of the economy is a necessity. ]

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Also, iirc it’s the “Solidarity 2” WHO project which is studying serology and antibodies if I’m not mistaken.

ETA / Apr 2:
‘These are answers we need.’ WHO plans global study to discover true extent of coronavirus infections | Science | AAAS

“In an effort to understand how many people have been infected with the new coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) is planning a coordinated study to test blood samples for the presence of antibodies to the virus. Called Solidarity II, the program, which will involve more than half a dozen countries around the globe, will launch in the coming days, says Maria Van Kerkhove, who is helping coordinate WHO’s COVID-19 response.”

ETA2 : Additionally re: Solidarity II / Qmfr:

Could this team may be part of that WHO effort? dunno? ... btw.. did you see my ETA I just added to my post above?

 

[katydid23]

The media has such power over us to react a certain way in the fight against coronavirus. They have scared us into compliance. Which is good, because it takes everyone to be compliant in a lockdown.

Great for ratings, but showing masses on people of beaches will also have people react a certain way as well.

View attachment 244593

"That looks really fun, f"it, if they can do it, so can we". Not just the beach, but breaking isolation wherever they are in the country.

What looks like an innocent story can break the dam.

People crowd Southern California beaches despite coronavirus concerns - CNN

I am curious to see if these sunny beach days spread the virus tremendously, or not.

There was some research saying that sunny, open air locations did not have the same impact as close contacts indoors, or with shared air like a/c, etc.

I guess we will find out in 2 to 5 days...

 

[Deleted member 158085]

The media has such power over us to react a certain way in the fight against coronavirus. They have scared us into compliance. Which is good, because it takes everyone to be compliant in a lockdown.

Great for ratings, but showing masses on people of beaches will also have people react a certain way as well.

View attachment 244593

"That looks really fun, f"it, if they can do it, so can we". Not just the beach, but breaking isolation wherever they are in the country.

What looks like an innocent story can break the dam.

People crowd Southern California beaches despite coronavirus concerns - CNN

I hope most people will wait and see what happens with these folks offering themselves up as guinea pigs. I expect numbers to increase shortly in areas like this.

 

[KALI]

I am finding comfort by watching "The Walking Dead" series.
I mean heck.
These people have a very serious problem!
I look at the zombies as big virus.
Figure out how to kill them, realize that there are more, everywhere and hunt the suckers down.
Yup. That's my plan.

 

[Sundog]

This is a decision each client would have to make, but personally, I would never go back if my hairstylist was willing to break the law (in my state it’s a misdemeanor) and risk my health by working from home like this. Thankfully, she’s called me to cancel my appointment before I had a chance. I don’t color my silver locks and I can whack away at my very forgiving hair until she reopens and can fix it.

I feel the same way, and I am not sure if I will go back to my hairstylist, even though I have been going to her for at least ten years, maybe longer. I don't imagine I will have to make a decision any time soon, though, since I will be staying at home for as long as possible.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

In reading your second link, it seems to be agreeing with what I was saying, that we will need to restart the economy gradually at some point. But it was published on April 8th, three weeks ago. So his assertions that we have no tests available are out of date now.


Reviving the economy
These days Paul Romer sounds exasperated. “We’re caught up in the trauma: kill the economy or kill more people,” he says. There is so much “learned helplessness, so much hand-wringing.” The New York University economist and Nobel laureate believes he has a relatively simple strategy that will “both contain the virus and let the economy revive.”

The key, says Romer, is repeatedly testing everyone without symptoms to identify who is infected. (People with symptoms should just be assumed to have covid-19 and treated accordingly.) All those who test positive should isolate themselves; those who test negative can return to work, traveling, and socializing, but they should be tested every two weeks or so. If you’re negative, you might have a card saying so that allows you to get on an airplane or freely enter a restaurant.

Testing could be voluntary. Romer acknowledges some might resist it or resist isolating themselves if positive, but “most people want to do the right thing,” he says, and that should be enough to snuff out the spread of the virus.

Romer points to new, faster diagnostic tests, including ones from Silicon Valley’s Cepheid and from the drug giant Roche. Each of Roche’s best machines can handle 4,200 tests a day; build five thousand of those machines, and you can test 20 million people a day. “It’s well within our capacity,” he says. “We just need to bend some metal and make some machines.” If you can identify and isolate those infected with the virus, you can let the rest of the population go back to business.

Indeed, in an early April survey by Chicago’s Booth School, 93% of the economists agreed that “a massive increase in testing” is required for “an economic restart.”

In a piece called “National Coronavirus Response: A roadmap to reopening,”former FDA director Scott Gottlieb also argued for ramping up testing and then isolating those infected rather shutting in the entire population. Likewise, Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s department of medical ethics and health policy, called for increasing testing in a New York Times piece called “We Can Safely Restart the Economy in June. Here’s How.” Harvard medical experts, meanwhile, have outlined similar ideas in “A Detailed Plan for Getting Americans Back to Work.”

The proposals differ in details, but all revolve around widespread testing of various sorts to know who is vulnerable and who isn’t before we risk going back to business.

....snipped for space...
One day we will have to reopen the economy. Perhaps we’ll be able to hold out until the pandemic is showing signs of receding, or perhaps the economic suffering will prove intolerable both to those in charge and to those living in hard-hit regions. When that day comes, if we do not have widespread testing, we will be sending people back to work without knowing if they’re at risk of getting the virus or spreading it to others. “We’re thinking about this the wrong way,” Romer says. The idea that one day you will be able to restart the economy without massive testing to see if the outbreak is under control is just “magical thinking.”


[TESTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN EVERY STATE THAT IS AFFECTED BY THE VIRUS. So this article is in agreement that a gradual reopen of the economy is a necessity. ]

As they say, the key is testing and most places are still not in a great place with that.

 

[The Night Watchman]

I hope most people will wait and see what happens with these folks offering themselves up as guinea pigs. I expect numbers to increase shortly in areas like this.

But they're not really guinea pigs. They are mostly young and either know they are not at much risk or don't care (all Mardi Gras). But they put many other people at risk, mostly the vulnerable people by spreading the virus. A national shutdown was the only real effective solution and that wasn't done.

 

[abanddb123]

How does a pandemic ever end?

 

[margarita25]

From April 15 WHO Conference, some comments in response to a question about weather & climate:

Dr. Michael Ryan: (59:14)
“The direct impacts of climate on coronavirus incidents are not known yet. We do simply do not know what the impacts of humidity, temperature, and other factors are on this particular virus. We do know that other viral pathogens are affected and often occur in seasonal epidemics. The extent to which climate and humidity and other cold affect that are in some cases well known, in other cases not so well known. But in this particular case, we don’t know yet. And quite frankly, I’d much prefer, in some senses, never to know. I will prefer to get rid of this disease than have to wait around long enough to know. But we may have to learn how to live with this virus. And we will certainly have to learn how to control this virus in high density urban settings.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove: (01:00:07)
Only to add to that. So Karen, thank you for your very kind words and for all of the kind words that we’ve received since the start of this. It’s very nice to hear. With regards to humidity and temperature, and if you remember, this began in very cold temperature, very dry temperature, very dry, low level humidity. And we are seeing this virus have the capability to accelerate in a number of different climates. As Mike said, we don’t know how this virus is impacted completely yet. It’s still new. We’re still in the early stages of this pandemic in our fourth month and we need to treat this virus everywhere it shows up as aggressively as we can so we don’t give it a chance to take off.”

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