Coronavirus - Global Health Emergency, 2019-nCoV #3

[margarita25]

A Chinese citizen journalist who went viral for his reporting on coronavirus from Wuhan has gone missing, and his family says he's been forcibly quarantined
3 hours ago

Chen Qiushi, a Chinese lawyer and citizen journalist, went viral on YouTube and Twitter for reporting on the Wuhan coronavirus from the epicenter of the outbreak.
Screenshot YouTube/Chen Qiushi
—-

He spoke out about the Wuhan virus. Now his family and friends fear he's been silenced - CNN
Sun February 9, 2020

“Chen Qiushi, a citizen journalist who had been doing critical reporting from Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak, went missing on Thursday evening, just as hundreds of thousands of people in China began demanding freedom of speech online.”

[...]

“Li's passing ignited a storm of outrageacross China, with an intensity and scope rarely seen in its tightly-controled online sphere. People called for an official apology from the government and flooded social media with the hashtag "I want freedom of speech," a fundamental right supposedly protected under the country's constitution.”

[...]

“We're worried for his physical safety but also worried that while he's missing he might get infected by the virus," a friend who had been authorized by Chen to take over his Twitter account should he disappear told CNN. The individual requested anonymity for fear of reprisals by the government.”

—

He ducked Chinese authorities to report on coronavirus in Wuhan. Then he disappeared.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/02/09/chen-qiushi-coronavirus-wuhan/

““I’m afraid. In front of me is disease, behind me is China’s legal and administrative power,” he said, according to multiple translations. “But as long as I’m alive, I’ll speak what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard. I’m not afraid of dying. Why should I be afraid of you, Communist Party?””

—-

Chen Qiushi: A citizen journalist on the frontline of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

 

[gitana1]

A Chinese citizen journalist who went viral for his reporting on coronavirus from Wuhan has gone missing, and his family says he's been forcibly quarantined
3 hours ago

Chen Qiushi, a Chinese lawyer and citizen journalist, went viral on YouTube and Twitter for reporting on the Wuhan coronavirus from the epicenter of the outbreak.
Screenshot YouTube/Chen Qiushi
—-

He spoke out about the Wuhan virus. Now his family and friends fear he's been silenced - CNN
Sun February 9, 2020

“Chen Qiushi, a citizen journalist who had been doing critical reporting from Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak, went missing on Thursday evening, just as hundreds of thousands of people in China began demanding freedom of speech online.”

[...]

“Li's passing ignited a storm of outrageacross China, with an intensity and scope rarely seen in its tightly-controled online sphere. People called for an official apology from the government and flooded social media with the hashtag "I want freedom of speech," a fundamental right supposedly protected under the country's constitution.”

[...]

“We're worried for his physical safety but also worried that while he's missing he might get infected by the virus," a friend who had been authorized by Chen to take over his Twitter account should he disappear told CNN. The individual requested anonymity for fear of reprisals by the government.”

—

He ducked Chinese authorities to report on coronavirus in Wuhan. Then he disappeared.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/02/09/chen-qiushi-coronavirus-wuhan/

““I’m afraid. In front of me is disease, behind me is China’s legal and administrative power,” he said, according to multiple translations. “But as long as I’m alive, I’ll speak what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard. I’m not afraid of dying. Why should I be afraid of you, Communist Party?””

—-

Chen Qiushi: A citizen journalist on the frontline of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

BBM. These people are heroes.

 

[Henry2326]

Crazy that they don't appear to want help from the world....

__________________________

In other developments from China, the country has submitted several more genetic sequences to the GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data) database covering the Jan 10 to Feb 5 time span, and sequences have also been added by 13 other countries.

On Twitter, Jeremy Farrar, MD, PhD, director of Wellcome Trust, said the samples are important for understanding different aspects of the outbreak, including the evolution of the virus, the outbreak's scale, and transmission dynamics.

However, he said there haven't been any sequences from Wuhan since Jan 4, and that it's critical to have genetic information from the epicenter, where evolutionary pressure is greatest and information is needed to guide public health response steps.

China nCoV cases continue at stable rate, concerns rise about spread in Singapore

 

[asyousay]

Well they can hardly accept help when they are lying to the world can they ?!

IMO

 

[ArianeEmory]

Sorry Whatif.... quoting you again . I want to know if there is evidence of post-illness spreading as well.

I found this- its from January 31 though, so perhaps a bit dated at this point (?).

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sc...s-spread-person-no-symptoms-found-germany/amp

“Meanwhile, one of her German colleagues fell ill on January 24 with a fever, sore throat, chills and muscle aches. His illness was brief, and he returned to work on January 27, the same day that the woman informed the company she carried the virus. Nasal swabs and sputum, or phlegm, samples from the man contained high levels of the novel coronavirus even though his symptoms had passed. More testing is needed to determine whether virus particles left after recovery from the illness are infectious, the researchers noted.”

“...These cases suggest that people shed the virus before they show symptoms and after recovery from the illness, say Camilla Rothe, a tropical medicine and infectious disease specialist at the University Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, and her colleagues.”

This specific case was later disregarded. It turned out no one actually spoke to the woman in question to see if she had symptoms or not. (She did.)

Study claiming new coronavirus can be transmitted by people without symptoms was flawed

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Do you have a link regarding the virus being shed after they have recovered? I haven’t seen that info yet and I would love to learn more about it.
TIA

Germany 4 cases - Google YouTube "Coronavirus Epidemic Update 7: Global Health Emergency Declared, Viral Shedding"
Or see original report shown in link below (Note Patient #1 had symptoms that resolved, and then was positive.)

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2001468

ETA, @whatif... this may not be the new definition of recovered Now because The new definition of recovery is two negative PCRs after Infection. Definitions are changing. The definition of recovery means no more shedding of the virus.. I misspoke and I should have said after symptoms are over. Sorry about that.

 

[Tadpole12]

Distance from Huanan Seafood Market, Jianghan District, Wuhan
to Wuhan Central Hospital

Having difficulty figuring out ie which Wuhan Hospital is at the epicenter.
Is it the one 3 mins walk from the market?
(makes more sense, near to fish market's underground parking lot?)


or the one by the river?
1h26min walk,
22min drive
(possible bus route)

***

CHINA
WHERE IS CHEN QIUSHI ?!

 

[Henry2326]

A bit over my head, but pulled out statements that we can infer....only 21 cases from Hubei in this testing sequence......

Louis du Plessis, University of Oxford, won't provide a population estimate. He needs more cases and data because the cases under investigation are very close to onset. He wants to see cases further from the root to see if its mutating....my interpretation...
_______________________

The phylogenetic tree of the currently available complete genomes is given in Figure 1. This shows that there is limited genetic variation in the currently sampled viruses but more recent ones are showing more divergence as is expected for fast evolving RNA viruses. But the lack of diversity is indicative of a relatively recent common ancestor for all these viruses.

The estimated dates for the most recent common ancestor (and the 95% credible interval) are compatible with the TMRCA from the beginning to middle of December (Table 2). The earliest reported date of symptom onset for the initial cluster of pneumonia cases was 8th December 2019 [4]

Most estimates since the first data was produced have produced a date that is consistent with the epidemiological reports of a first cluster of cases in December at a seafood market in Wuhan City. As more genomes have been generated, this is looking increasingly supported by the timing of the MRCA of the sampled genomes.

We can conclude therefore, based on available genome sequence data that the current epidemic has been driven entirely by human to human transmission at least since December. Although this virus may still exist in one or more non-human animal species this will not be of major consequence until the current human epidemic is brought under control.

Phylodynamic Analysis | 67 genomes | 08 Feb 2020

Phylodynamic analysis of nCoV-2019 genomes – 29-Jan-2020

 

[Henry2326]

Where did they go? Millions left Wuhan before quarantine
By Erika Kinetz - Associated Press - Sunday, February 9, 2020

Officials finally began to seal the borders on Jan. 23. But it was too late. Speaking to reporters a few days after the the city was put under quarantine, the mayor estimated that 5 million people had already left. Where did they go?

An Associated Press analysis of domestic travel patterns using map location data from Chinese tech giant Baidu shows that in the two weeks before Wuhan’s lockdown, nearly 70% of trips out of the central Chinese city were within Hubei province. Baidu has a map app that is similar to Google Maps, which is blocked in China.

Another 14% of the trips went to the neighboring provinces of Henan, Hunan, Anhui and Jiangxi. Nearly 2% slipped down to Guangdong province, the coastal manufacturing powerhouse across from Hong Kong, and the rest fanned out across China. The cities outside Hubei province that were top destinations for trips from Wuhan between Jan. 10 and Jan. 24 were Chongqing, a municipality next to Hubei province, Beijing and Shanghai.

The travel patterns broadly track with the early spread of the virus. The majority of confirmed cases and deaths have occurred in China, within Hubei province, followed by high numbers of cases in central China, with pockets of infections in Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing as well.

Millions left Wuhan, China before coronavirus quarantine - Washington Times

 

[dotr]

This is how they track people possibly exposed to the virus in Singapore, wondering what kind of "tracking" system they might use in China..
Coronavirus: How contact tracers track down the people at risk of infection
by Salma Khalik
Feb 9 2020
''Dr Olivia Oh, assistant director in the Communicable Diseases Division of the Ministry of Health (MOH), said the hospital where the patient is warded would do an activity map - this refers to everything the patient has done and the people he has been with over the previous two weeks.

Her colleague, Mr Pream Raj, also an assistant director in the division, added: "The mapping is detailed, 24 hours, minute by minute, with no gaps."

If there are gaps, then the contact tracing team would call a patient to try and jog his memory. And if the patient is too sick, they would approach his next of kin instead.''

He said although 14 days may seem like a long time ago, most people have routines, so it is not that difficult to recall what they had been doing.

If they had meals with people, and because of Chinese New Year many did, they need to remember who was there. If it was at a restaurant, they need to recall if any of the serving staff spent much time with them, or if the contact was casual.

For the 17 patients from China who were confirmed with the virus here, Dr Oh said they would start the contact tracing from the time they arrived in Singapore, assuming that they had caught the virus while still in China.

They would get the list of passengers sitting in the same row, as well as two rows in front and two rows behind the patient, from the airline, and get in touch with them.

Mr Raj said the airlines, taxi companies and Grab, since quite a number of the visitors use that service, have all been very cooperative - they are obliged to provide all information required under the Infectious Diseases Act.

Sometimes, patients have no taxi receipt, remembering only that they were in a blue cab. The contact tracers would go through the closed circuit television footage at the hotel driveway to identify the taxi.''

 

[MJPeony]

This specific case was later disregarded. It turned out no one actually spoke to the woman in question to see if she had symptoms or not. (She did.)

Study claiming new coronavirus can be transmitted by people without symptoms was flawed

Yes, but in terms of viral shedding post- recovery.... appears more studies need to be done.

 

[Tadpole12]

Distance from Huanan Seafood Market, Jianghan District, Wuhan
to Wuhan Central Hospital

Having difficulty figuring out ie which Wuhan Hospital is at the epicenter.
Is it the one 3 mins walk from the market?
(makes more sense, near to fish market's underground parking lot?)


or the one by the river?
1h26min walk,
22min drive
(possible bus route)

***

CHINA
WHERE IS CHEN QIUSHI ?!

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

?
Distance from Huanan Seafood Market, Jianghan District, Wuhan
to Wuhan Central Hospital

ETA: Hospitals in Wuhan
hospitals in Wuhan - Google Search

***
CHINA
WHERE IS CHEN QIUSHI ?!

 

[JerseyGirl]

Arab media accuse US, Israel of coronavirus conspiracy against China

 

[JerseyGirl]

Amazon pulls out of major Barcelona telecoms conference over coronavirus

The online retailer is the fourth company to pull out of the annual gathering this week, following South Korea's LG Electronics, Swedish equipment maker Ericsson and U.S. chipmaker Nvidia.

 

[dotr]

Maybe he is in hiding and not telling family or friends?

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[mickey2942]

People who are from China, are now basically stuck here, because there are no longer any flights from the United States to China, or from China.

At least 73 airlines have canceled flights to China amid coronavirus fears — here's the full list

 

[JerseyGirl]

California health officials to perform coronavirus testing at Richmond lab | Richmond Standard

The state’s Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory at 850 Marina Bay Parkway is one of 16 laboratories statewide selected to perform tests for coronavirus, starting Wednesday, Feb. 12.

The state’s Richmond laboratory will be able to provide results within two days of testing patients, which is more rapid than the current pace by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is between two and seven days.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Seven people in Hawaii are quarantined at home because they had some contact with people from China.

Hawaii State Health Laboratory to begin testing for novel coronavirus

 

[Betty P]

Impacting the auto industry world-wide.
Coronavirus crisis could shut auto plants around the world - CNN

Dozens of auto industry-related plants have been closed in our state just in the last few years, some within the last 6 months. Same in Michigan. Won't be too hard to reopen them. Same with the steel, aluminum, glass and tire biz. Production capacity is here, as are skilled workers, its just dormant.

 

[dotr]

People who are from China, are now basically stuck here, because there are no longer any flights from the United States to China, or from China.

At least 73 airlines have canceled flights to China amid coronavirus fears — here's the full list

Absolutely nuts and no doubt unprecedented!
Wondering if by limiting all these modes of transportation and manufacturing plants ect., will that significantly lower pollution and smog levels and hopefully result in a healthier environment for the ill ?
imo, speculation.