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       #Post#: 5--------------------------------------------------
       Jan 2020
       By: gsgs Date: January 29, 2020, 5:52 pm
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       Jan.24:  Jeff Hogan
       many are concerned about the possibility of a new pandemic,
       and that is not outside the realm of possibility, according to
       Jeff Hogan,
       a professor and infectious disease expert at the University of
       Georgia,
       who studied the SARS coronavirus extensively.
  HTML https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200124/Coronavirus-could-turn-into-a-new-pandemic.aspx
       However, good old-fashioned public health measures such as
       quarantine, handwashing,
       surveillance of travelers and the use of advanced respiratory
       protection for healthcare workers
       was sufficient to end the pandemic in 2003 and are almost
       certain to do the same
       with the current outbreak."
       While WHO and other authorities have not declared this a
       pandemic, I do expect this type
       of announcement unless the rate of new cases begins to decline
       rapidly in the next 7-10 days."
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       Containing new coronavirus may not be feasible, experts say, as
       they warn of possible
       sustained global spread
       By Helen Branswell @HelenBranswell
       January 26, 2020
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       Jan.26 , Dr. Allison McGeer , Toront , infectious diseases
       specialist
       “The more we learn about it, the greater the
       possibility is that transmission will not be able
       to be controlled with public health measures,”
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       Jan.26 , Neil Ferguson , Imperial college
       Despite the enormous and admirable efforts in China and around
       the world,
       we need to plan for the possibility containment of this epidemic
       isn’t possible,”
       [having issued a series of modeling studies on the outbreak]
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       Jan.26 , Dr. Nancy Messonnier,  CDC
       transmission of the virus within the United States may be on the
       horizon.
       “We’re leaning far forward. And we
       have been every step of the way with an
       aggressive stance to everything we can do in the
       U.S.,”
       “And yet those of us who have been around long
       enough know that everything we do
       might not be enough to stop this from spreading in the
       U.S.”
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       Jan.26 , Trevor Bedford , computational biologist
       estimates are sobering and point to continued spread.
       “If it’s not contained shortly, I
       think we are looking at a pandemic,”
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       Jan.26  , Dr. Tom Inglesby, Johns Hopkins School of Public
       Health,
       urged countries to start planning to deal with global spread of
       the new virus.
       Such plans need to include far more aggressive efforts to
       develop a vaccine than
       have already been announced
       “I’m not making a prediction that
       it’s going to happen,” Inglesby said,
       though he noted
       the mathematical modeling, the statements from Chinese
       authorities, and the sharply
       rising infection numbers make a case for this possible outcome.
       “I think just based on
       those pieces of limited information, it’s
       important for us to begin some planning around
       the possibility that this won’t be
       contained.”
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       Oct.2019 , Eric Toner, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
       last year modeled what would happen if a deadly
       coronavirus reached a pandemic scale. His simulated scenario
       predicted that 65
       million people could die within 18 months.
       The virus in Toner’s simulation would be resistant
       to any modern vaccine.
       It would be deadlier than SARS, but about as easy to catch as
       the flu.
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       Jan.24 , Guan Yi  virologist , (SARS,2003) :
       A bigger outbreak is certain,”
       “conservatively, – that this outbreak
       could be 10 times
       bigger than the SARS epidemic because that virus was transmitted
       by only a few
       “super spreaders” in a more defined
       part of the country.
       “We have passed through the ‘golden
       period’ for prevention and control,
       “What’s more, we’ve got
       the holiday traffic rush and a dereliction of duty from certain
       officials.
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       Jan.26 , Dr Eric Feigl-Ding  health expert at Harvard University
       HOLY MOTHER OF GOD - the new coronavirus is a 3.8!!! How bad is
       that reproductive
       R0 value? It is thermonuclear pandemic level bad - never seen
       an actual virality coefficient
       outside of Twitter in my entire career. I’m not
       exaggerating...
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       Jan.24  Jonathan M. Read, Jessica R.E. Bridgen, Derek A.T.
       Cummings, Antonia Ho, Chris P.Jewell
       Centre for Health Informatics, Computing and Statistics,
       Lancaster Medical School,
       Department of Biology and Emerging Pathogens Institute,
       University of Florida,
       Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus
       Research, Glasgow,
       Our model suggests that travel restrictions from and to Wuhan
       city are unlikely to be
       effective in halting transmission across China; with a 99
       percent effective reduction
       in travel, the size of the epidemic outside of Wuhan may only be
       reduced by 24.9 percent,"
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       Jan.24 Theodore Standiford , professor of medicine ,interim
       chief Division of Pulmonary
       and Critical Care Medicine.
       “Also, the risk for pandemic spread of the virus
       has been minimized by the early
       actions of the Chinese health authorities, WHO and CDC,
       including prompt closure
       of the site where the infection originated
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       Jan.24 , Dr.Willaim Schaffner ,professor of preventive medicine
       and health policy , Vanderbilt
       “When we think about the relative danger of this
       new coronavirus and influenza, there’s
       just no comparison,Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in
       comparison. The risk is trivial.”
       “Familiarity breeds indifference,Because
       it’s new, it’s mysterious and comes
       from an exotic
       place, the coronavirus creates anxiety.”
       The U.S. dodged a bullet with SARS,
       [this is out of context, leaving out : "by the end of the season
       (... the risk is trivial)"  ]
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       Jan.28 , Xinhua , Prof. Zhong Nanshan , expert for respiratory
       diseases
       Es ist sehr schwer konkret abzuschätzen, wann der Ausbruch
       seinen Höhepunkt
       erreichen wird. Aber ich denke, circa einer Woche bis etwa 10
       Tagen wird es soweit sein.
       Danach wird es keine Steigerung mehr geben“.
       Nachdem die Menschen aus den Ferien zurückkehren wird es keine
       Massenerkrankungen
       geben. Dennoch müssen Vorsorge- und Erkennungsmaßnahmen strikt
       fortgesetzt werden.“
       Der Ausbruch des SARS Virus dauerte etwa sechs Monate, aber ich
       denke nicht,
       dass der Ausbruch des neuartigen Coronavirus lange anhalten
       wird. China hat eine
       Reihe wirksamer Maßnahmen ergriffen, insbesondere die
       Früherkennung und die
       frühzeitige Isolation. „Wir sind zuversichtlich, einen
       schweren Ausbruch oder ein
       erneutes Auftreten zu verhindern, solange diese beiden
       wichtigsten Maßnahmen
       eingehalten werden. Allerdings brauchen wir Wissenschaftler noch
       Zeit, den Virus
       genauer zu erforschen und nach einem geeigneten Medikament zu
       suchen.
       „Mit Hilfe aus dem ganzen Land wird Wuhan es schaffen, die
       Krise zu bewältigen.“
       [is he saying what he really thinks or what China wants him to
       say ? ,
       compare with Guan Yi from Hong Kong , Jan.24]
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       2020/01/28
       Experts from Hong Kong today said sustained novel coronavirus
       (2019-nCoV)
       transmission is under way in China's largest cities, putting the
       world on the verge
       of a global epidemic
       At a media briefing in Hong Kong today, experts from the
       University of Hong Kong (HKU)
       estimated that the number of cases in Wuhan as of Jan 25 was
       dramatically higher than
       the country's official totals and may be as high as 44,000. They
       also estimated that the
       city's cases will double over the next 6 days.
       Media reports detailed the estimates from Gabriel Leung, MD,
       MPH, and Joseph Wu, PhD,
       both with the HKU medical school. The scientists also posted
       their slide presentation
       on HKU's website.
       They said that about 25,000 people in Wuhan are likely
       symptomatic and the others
       are still in the incubation period.
       They warned 2019-nCoV may be about to become a global epidemic
       and that sustained
       human-to-human spread is already occurring in major Chinese
       cities.
       The experts added, however, that quarantines would have limited
       impact. Leung and Wu urged areas with the closest travel links
       to China to be ready to deploy their preparedness plans on short
       notice.
       Based on outbreak data and train, air, and road travel from
       Wuhan—which is central China's transportation
       hub—they said Chongqing could be the next most
       affected city, becaue of its strong transport ties to Wuhan.
       They said outbreaks in Chongqing, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou,
       and Shenzhen could peak in April or May and gradually slow in
       June and July.
       China's nCoV cases pass MERS total
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       ~Jan28, Mike Ryan ,WHO
       "We are at an important juncture in this event. We believe these
       chains of transmission
       can still be interrupted,"
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       Jan.29 , Rolf Hilgenfeld , Professor Luebeck, Coronavirus expert
       "These RNA viruses are self-limiting. That means after a certain
       time,
       most people have developed antibodies against the virus, even
       though they
       did not fall sick. Then they are immune against the infection.
       These outbreaks typically end by themselves after a couple of
       months",
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       2020/01/26 , Dr.Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health
       Officer
       With no active spread of the virus in Canada, and a diminishing
       number of travellers from
       China, Tam repeated the mantra that the risk to Canadians
       “remains low.”
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       2020/01/30 , Peter Sandman, risk communication
       questioning the “no reason for alarm” messaging.
       “Officials and experts are alarmed already — reason
       enough for the public to gird
       up its loins as well,” .
       “Worry is about the future. Telling people not to worry
       about an emerging infectious
       disease because it isn’t a significant risk here and now
       is foolish,”
       “Given the real possibility that the coronavirus might
       start spreading locally in
       North American cities, now is the right time to worry and
       prepare, at least emotionally
       and perhaps logistically as well.”
       Masks may or may not prove to be useful,. “In case they do
       turn out useful,
       buying them now is provident, not panicky.”
       More importantly, suggesting people are foolish to worry about
       an emerging infectious
       disease is patronizing, “when what is needed is
       empathy.”
       Officials and the media should focus more “on the high
       likelihood that things will get
       worse and the not-so-small possibility they will get much
       worse,”.
       “I think there is little need to ameliorate public
       over-reaction now. The bigger need is to
       reduce public over-reaction later to predictable bad news that
       will take people by surprise
       insofar as they weren’t sufficiently forewarned and
       didn’t get enough chance to
       rehearse emotionally.”
       #Post#: 270--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Jan 2020
       By: gsgs Date: December 31, 2020, 7:53 am
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       At the the time, Prof John Oxford told @BBCRadio4
       "I'm not worried at all. I really am not. It's very small
       numbers we're dealing with here.
       I'd be more worried about measles..." (on 23 Jan 2020)
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