Considering it is so infectious. And yet people can apparently be spreading the disease before they even have any symptoms. But how is that possible ? Even people who have symptoms typically have a dry cough, a fever and shortness of breath. None of those symptoms should be conducive to spreading the illness. Sure if you've got a runny nose and you're sneezing, coughing and spluttering you're going to be a demon spreader. But with coronavirus I just can't see it.
And another thing is that a common early symptom is diarrhea which would suggest the virus is being taken in via food and drink. So is it just me or have I stumbled onto a grand conspiracy here ? Are people being infected through the food supply ?
I remember back in the late 70s there were PSA commercials called FYI that featured Hal Linden from Barney Miller fame. The one I remember most was about the spread of the common cold. Apparently there was research at the time where they had sick individuals with colds sneezing and coughing on healthy people and the transmission rate wasn’t very high. Instead the main cause of transmission was a sick person rubbing their nose, touching an object, a healthy person touching the same object and then rubbing their nose. I don’t know if that research has held up over the past 40+ years but considering that any infected droplet would have to travel from the sick person’s nose and mouth to the healthy person’s nose and mouth out of all possible trajectories I would think the rubbing of the nose would be a more efficient way to pass the illness.
Yes but there has to be a medium via which the virus is transferred. And if a person infected with coronavirus isn't a snot factory then what is the medium ?
It seems that the coronavirus replicates in huge numbers in the throat (that was found in Germany a few days ago), about 1,000 times more than other coronavirus. Probably because of the amount of virus produced, it's contagious even before you cough or sneeze.
Another thing, the main mechanism of contagion doesn't seem to be floating droplets, but the virus staying in surfaces. You touch it, then you touch your face, that's how it (mostly) transmits.
Yes but there has to be a medium via which the virus is transferred. And if a person infected with coronavirus isn't a snot factory then what is the medium ?
Coronavirus seems in most people to be a dry illness.
No snot means people aren't blowing their nose and getting their hands covered in snot then touching and contaminating surfaces. No sneezing and no snot means no big droplets expelled into the air. Got anything else ?
Dry coughs would expel very tiny droplets of moisture which would be much less likely to infect people not 1,000 times more likely. It doesn't make sense.
It's not different. Just more vicious.There's a much higher fatality rate among people (medics, priests etc) working with those that are highly symptomatic (lots of snot), even though they don't have underlying health problems, due to the larger dose they're being exposed to. If that makes you feel better.
No expertise. Just passing on the same elementary facts that kukuxu is providing without drawing insults. Your basic assumptions have been refuted by two people now. TTFN.
I've repeatedly become sick by having people with colds just talking or breathing close to me. Even my taking one breath in is enough for me to get sick. Maybe I have a very sensitive nose, but their breath smells differently too so I can usually tell how sick a person is and who gave me the cold.
When people breathe or talk, virus is released in the air from their saliva (water vapor).
People are still contagious after they've recovered from the cold (no symptoms) for a few days afterward.
As for the Coronavirus, I'm doing my best to keep 6 ft away. If someone walks pass me on the street especially if they're talking or jogging (breathing heavy), I look away, hold my breath and close my eyes.
The reason why Coronavirus is so contagious right now is because we literally have no immunity against it unlike the cold or flu. Think of it like small pox and we are Native Americans. Europeans had immunity so would largely survive while whole tribes were wiped out.
Also, this new version of the coronavirus is very strong. A doctor said it will likely mutate to a weaker strain in a few years.
God another self appointed nay saying "expert"! This thread is full or them. So how do you know you were infected by their breath rather than by them contaminating a surface that you touched ? The answer is you don't.
My respiration system is super sensitive. Big difference bet. a cough from a cold and just a cough. I get colds 95% from breathing in germs. A few times from some idiot preparing my food who had a cold.
I wash my hands constantly. Not possible to get a cold unless you touch something contaminated and touch your face which I never do.
"If someone walks pass me on the street especially if they're talking or jogging (breathing heavy), I look away, hold my breath and close my eyes."
I've been doing this.
Last night in line at the grocery store, even though we were spaced supposedly 6' apart, there was a man right ahead of me who kept turning around and talking to another man 2 people behind me. Which meant he had to speak with more effort than usual.
Every time he did that I turned to face away from him. Finally he stopped, thank god.
The point being there's still too much about this particular virus we don't know, and it makes sense to me that under the conditions you and I described a microscopic virus could float in the air long and far enough to land on us.
I've been trying to avoid lines and crowded stores for that reason. Some people have no common sense.
Even the mask aren't 100% because a virus can go through the material. Now, I'm noticing people who wear them have a false sense of security and aren't keeping 6 ft away.
I think they provide a little protection, but I'd still keep 6 ft way and wash hands frequently.
Most of the people I'm seeing wearing a mask are being good about maintaining distance. In fact it seemed to me they were even more concerned about it than those who weren't.
Right, the masks aren't to prevent the virus from entering or leaving through it but to prevent the droplets they're in from doing either. I would have felt a lot better about that man talking if he'd been wearing one.
Everyone keeps saying the #1 and #2 best things you can do are wash your hands thoroughly and frequently, and don't touch your face. Makes sense to me.
Yeah, the jerks who jog right by you when there's plenty of room for them to job 6' around are the worst. (Well, not the absolute worst, but the relative worst. Okay, okay, let's just say they're not good.)
Not necessarily. It could be just evolution. Virus must face natural selection, the same than any other organism. If they don't bring anything new under the sun, chances are they'll fail to spread and won't survive.
Thank you professor expert in evolutionary biology and virology. How exactly does a new virus that's the same as existing ones find a niche for itself?
Which school teaches that there's never anything new under the sun anyway?
Viruses mutate all the time. The reason why people need a different flu virus each year is because it mutates. The reason why we don't have a vaccine against the common cold is because there are too many mutations to effectively create a vaccine.
Coronavirus likely mutated and jumped from an animal to human. Only one mutation is enough for that to have happened. That's not uncommon. Scientists and doctors have been warning against a possible pandemic because of how common it is.
More bad news. It's not enough to control coronavirus just in the U.S. or Europe. It needs to be controlled worldwide including poor countries because it's still mutating. It only needs ONE mutation and it could become something much deadlier.
The OP is a troll. They started this thread based on their expert opinion that the virus can't spread without lots of snotty coughs and then insults people who point out that this basic assumption is flawed to begin with.
Actually. They only insult some of the people who do that. One particular poster did that and it looks like they might be getting a room. Funny that.
I'm not buying either that it's spread just by coughing or sneezing,the fact that it's worldwide so quickly,there's something weird about the whole thing.
Yes, it is airbourne and spread through breathing and talking too. Also, if you touch something with the virus on it like a doorknob and touch your eyes, nose or mouth then you can get it.
The cold and flu don't spread to everyone because some people have immunity or have taken a flu vaccine so there are many people in the population who can't become sick.
They concluded that if this new coronavirus resembles other human coronaviruses, such as its "cousins" that cause SARS and MERS, it can stay on surfaces — such as metal, glass or plastic — for as long as nine days (In comparison, flu viruses can last on surfaces for only about 48 hours.)