[QUOTE=ewmayer;540878]Getting back to the issue of the origins of the virus, we've heard way to much evidence-free speculating and conspiracy-theorizing of late. So how about some actual science?
[URL="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-origins-genome-analysis-suggests-two-viruses-may-have-combined-134059"]Coronavirus origins: genome analysis suggests two viruses may have combined[/URL] | The Conversation, March 18, 2020

The "another species" of the last sentence presumably includes the possibility of an exotic-species-eating or exoctic-species-catching-and-selling human.[/QUOTE]Or lab work. [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuhan_Institute_of_Virology#Coronavirus_research[/URL]
They published, in Nature, successfully genetically engineering a bat coronavirus to infect the HeLa human cell line in 2015.
Anyone care to pick an explanation for this? [URL]https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/03/24/21-million-chinese-cellphone-users-disappear-in-three-months-of-pandemic/[/URL]
Note also the extreme privacy issues with the phone tracking software required to do almost anything.

And on that FT link, NY state is shown to have just over HALF of the USA cases known.

a1call will be interested to hear this:

[url]https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00895-8[/url]
[quote]Hospitals in New York City are gearing up to use the blood of people who have recovered from COVID-19 as a possible antidote for the disease. Researchers hope that the century-old approach of infusing patients with the antibody-laden blood of those who have survived an infection will help the metropolis — now the US epicentre of the outbreak — to avoid the fate of Italy, where intensive-care units (ICUs) are so crowded that doctors have turned away patients who need ventilators to breathe…..As early as next week, at least two hospitals in New York City — Mount Sinai and Albert Einstein College of Medicine — hope to start using coronavirus-survivor plasma to treat people with the disease…[/quote]
Recalling our earlier subdiscussion (page 20 of the thread) re. passive immunity, in the context of the above, further thoughts. Recall one major issue with passive immunity is that the recipient of the antibodies (allegedly) does not develop immune-system memory of their own. But wait - that sounds like what happens when antibodies are given as a *preventive* measure. OTOH, using blood plasma (where the antibodies live) of recovered patients to help *sick* patients fight the virus while their own immune system ramps up antibody production could work - I just don't know how labor-intensive such treatment is, especially the antibody-extraction part. But might be something that could help the sickest patients.

[QUOTE=xilman;540876]Perhaps inspiration will strike and I will be able to up my game.[/QUOTE]Trump wants to open up the nation by Easter because he clearly observes Christian holidays. For example, he gave up your grandparents for Lent.

Not original, alas, but worth propagating.

UK readers might like to head over to [url]https://www.goodsamapp.org/[/url]

I signed up several hours ago.

Added in edit: might be appropriate elsewhere in the world. YMMV. HTH. HAND. TTFN.

[URL="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52029877"]Now over 500K registered[/URL]. Roughly 1% of the English population.

[QUOTE=xilman;540881]Trump wants to open up the nation by Easter because he clearly observes Christian holidays. For example, he gave up your grandparents for Lent.

Not original, alas, but worth propagating.[/QUOTE]

Easter is a Christian hijacking of much-older pagan Rites of Spring - just consider the definition - only the 'Sunday' part sounds non-pagan:

"...held (in the Western Church) between March 21 and April 25, on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the northern spring equinox."

[QUOTE=xilman;540882]UK readers might like to head over to [url]https://www.goodsamapp.org/[/url]

I signed up several hours ago.

Added in edit: might be appropriate elsewhere in the world. YMMV. HTH. HAND. TTFN.[/QUOTE]
There is this in the colonies:
[url]https://www.pulsepoint.org/[/url]

It also allows one to know about what is going on around them.

Thank you very much for the heads-up [B]ewmayer[/B].
I hope it all works out. According to the Chinese researchers the Plasma-Treatment approach does not always work and AFAIK so far they have not published any official papers on the subject.

o [url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90479846/the-untold-origin-story-of-the-n95-mask]The N95 mask: The untold origin story[/url] | Fast Company -- Really interesting history.

o [url=https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/24/massive-scandal-trump-fda-grants-drug-company-exclusive-claim-promising-coronavirus]'This Is a Massive Scandal': Trump FDA Grants Drug Company Exclusive Claim on Promising Coronavirus Drug[/url] | Common Dreams -- Hopefully bad publicity causes the Admin. to walk this one back. Sunlight is the best disinfectant!

Couple of more pennies:
In the hindsight, obviously humanity has been one step behind/too-late in containing this pandemic, moving to more and more extreme isolation measures such as closing boarders and banning travel only after significant local/within-boarders infections, thus rendering these measures ineffective. IMHO this might be a classic case of Garbage-in-Garbage-out based on the (perhaps) wrong assumption that asymptomatic-infected individuals are not major transmitters of this disease. There was a time not that long ago that health authorities would confidently/authoritatively state that asymptomatic individuals [B]could/would not[/B] infect others. As more and more community-spreading is observed in many locales some of these same health authorities would state that such transmission while possible is not considered to be a major method of transmission. I think that until such time that the health authorities realize that asymptomatic transmission is possibly very much one of the main modes of transmission, they are doomed to fail to reverse the existing quarantines if the asymptomatic-transmission-assumptions are false. Otherwise containing the outbreak would have been easily achieved by now.
As such the outbreak could easily be contained within any given area by moving pairs of boarders/limits/lines of impenetrable nature, along the said area. People could only pass from a hot-zone to the intermediate-zone if they are asymptomatic. People could only pass through the intermediate zone to the free-zone if they have stayed asymptomatic for long enough to have recovered from the disease if infected. The lines could be systemically moved to shrink the hot-zone/s to 0 span. The more number of intermediate zones, the more reliable such an approach will be.
Such an approach could eradicate Covid-19 in a matter of weeks rather than dragging it out for months.
IMHO:smile:

[QUOTE=a1call;540899]Couple of more pennies:
<snip>[/QUOTE]Have you heard of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_Mary]Typhoid Mary[/url]?

Maybe this virus can remain contagious after someone has contracted it, displayed symptoms, and subsequently diagnosed as recovered. I don't know, does anyone know yet? Has such scenario been provably ruled out?

[QUOTE=retina;540901]Have you heard of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_Mary]Typhoid Mary[/url]?

Maybe this virus can remain contagious after someone has contracted it, displayed symptoms, and subsequently diagnosed as recovered. I don't know, does anyone know yet? Has such scenario been provably ruled out?[/QUOTE]
Unless all people stay contagious indefinitely like Mary was the multiple intermediate zones between the hot-zone and the free-zone should work, again with better possibility of success with the greater number of intermediate zones.

OTH if (all) people stay contagious indefinitely, then there is not much that can be done. But I don't think that is a very likely scenario considering results from China and South-Korea.:smile: