The Mysterious Coronavirus Spreading Worldwide

[Barbllm]

16 hours ago, Cherie said:

Can someone please explain how the corona virus is spreading so quickly? It's even in Iceland. Did all these countries have persons who traveled to or from China contracted it then  brought it back to where they live? 

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00660-x - biochemical explanation of how it infects people

 

https://www.livescience.com/how-coronavirus-spreads.html - more of a layperson explanation; it's spread in a similar manner to the flu, although it (the virus) can also live on hard surfaces and come into contact with human tissue there, which is why everyone is disinfecting everything.

 

It's on every single continent on Earth except Antarctica.  Traveling is how viruses infect large groups of people because you're in close proximity to others who are sick or who might have been exposed but aren't showing symptoms.  Same principle applies to people living in close quarters like apartments or dorms in college.

 

 

[Tortuga]

29 minutes ago, cricket246 said:

I wondered if it could travel on envelopes or cardboard, since they advised everyone to wash their hands after handling money...

A sister in our congregation has a management position in the US postal service and she told me that anything coming from China is quarantined. I didn't ask how long it stayed in quarantine. 

[Todd komaniak]

There's a TV show called border security and it shows that is New York when things come over from all foreign countries they're all x-rayed but it takes so long for that to be done that there's no way that any virus could survive on it that long.

[Joey]

We’re not so far from each other I guess.So we share our diseases.

 

6 degrees of separation 

 

[Bluebell]

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-51829559

 

Hungary shuts universities and bans big gatherings

Hungary has banned inbound travel from Italy, South Korea, Iran and China for non-Hungarians.

The country's universities will be shut down and public gatherings of more than 100 people inside and 500 outside will be banned,

an official told a news briefing.

The restrictions will be in force until further notice.

Hungary has 13 confirmed cases of the coronavirus but no virus-related deaths.

[booboo]

Just heard on the local talk show, Michigan State University, in East Lansing( about the middle of Michigan Lower peninsula) has canceled classes due to a Covid 19 case there. Approximately 50 miles due west of me.  

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2020/03/11/michigan-state-university-moves-to-online-classes-only-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19-crisis/

Being in the high risk group, over 65, asthmatic and diabetic this is really giving me concern,  Ecc 9:4.  
stay safe my family.

[cme]

Has anyone noticed that the carribean Islands have not reported Coronavirus?  Or am I missing something?

[Bluebell]

3 minutes ago, cme said:

Has anyone noticed that the carribean Islands have not reported Coronavirus?  Or am I missing something?

Dominican Republic,   Martinique,   Saint Martin,  Jamaica, Togo etc they have cases already

[Lee49]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/politics/what-matters-coronavirus-is-about-to-change-your-life/index.html

 

Take this seriously. Coronavirus is about to change your life for a while

 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, issued a disturbing warning during a White House briefing Tuesday: Americans everywhere need to change the way they live their lives. Right now.

"we can't be doing the kinds of things we were doing a few months ago. It doesn't matter if you're in a state that has no cases or one case," Fauci said, referring Americans to the new federal Coronavirus.gov website for details on precautions to take at home, at work and out in the world.

"We are at an inflection point, "according to Thomas Bossert, a former homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump, 

Bossert also said Americans have to prepare to be out of their daily rhythms for weeks:

"How long? Epidemiologists suggest eight weeks might be needed to arrest this outbreak.

[Bluebell]

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-italian-doctor-says-fighting-covid-19-outbreak-is-like-war-11954229

 

A doctor at the heart of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy has spoken of the dramatic fight against the disease,

saying it is like relentless war and describing how wards are filling up and doctors are working non-stop to save lives.

...Dr Daniele Macchini likened the disease to a "tsunami that has swept us all".

As Italy battles Europe's worst outbreak, and with the virus spreading fast, doctors are making comparisons

to war-time triage medics deciding who lives, who dies and who gets access to the limited number of intensive unit beds.

[Friends just call me Ross]

Know Your Enemy

Knowledge is power.  So I decided to do a little research.

A cram course in Virus 101.

The first thing I discovered is that even virologists can't agree on what viruses are.

Quote

By Gege Li

 

Viruses are microscopic parasites responsible for a host of familiar – and often fatal – diseases, including the flu, Ebola, measles and HIV.

 

They are made up of DNA or RNA encapsulated in a protein shell and can only survive and replicate inside a living host, which could be any organism on earth. This means no life form is safe from infection by a virus.

 

So are viruses ‘alive’?

 

The answer is not as straightforward as you may think.

 

Since viruses were first discovered in 1892 by Dmitri Ivanovsky, our ideas of what they are have shifted from poisons to biological chemicals.

 

Some years after their discovery, scientists first raised the idea that viruses were living – albeit simple – organisms because they caused diseases like bacteria, which we know to be alive.

 

However, viruses lack the hallmarks of other living things. They don’t carry out metabolic processes, such as making the energy molecule of life, ATP, and they don’t have cells and therefore the cellular machinery needed to make proteins by themselves. The only life process a virus undergoes independently is reproduction to make copies of itself, which can only happen after they have invaded the cells of another organism. Outside of their host some viruses can still survive, depending on environmental conditions, but their life span is considerably shorter. This complete reliability on a host for all their vital processes has led some scientists to deem viruses as non-living.

However there is also a case to be made for viruses being alive.

 

For example, the discovery of giant viruses possessing hundreds of genes (the Ebola virus only has seven) suggests viruses are more than just simple, inert bundles of genetic material. Some of these giant so-called mimiviruses contain genes involved in metabolism and making proteins, and their genomes are even bigger than those of some bacteria – so does this indicate that viruses are living after all?

https://www.newscientist.com/question/are-viruses-alive/

 

 

Quote

Are viruses alive or dead?

Well, we know they’re not dead. Death is what happens when a living organism stops performing biological functions, and for the moment we’re only interested in the active particles. So were they ever alive? Most biologists say no. Viruses are not made out of cells, they can’t keep themselves in a stable state, they don’t grow, and they can’t make their own energy. Even though they definitely replicate and adapt to their environment, viruses are more like androids than real living organisms. (Think Data from Star Trek, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator, the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica or the robots in I, Robot). Just like crazy killer robots, viruses are created fully formed, and rely on host materials to build and power themselves.

Consider the following:

 

If a virus isn’t alive, does that affect how we deal with viral infections? Absolutely. Antibiotics, for example, are used to treat bacterial infections, and are useless at dealing with a viral infection like the flu or chickenpox. Antibiotics target certain parts of bacteria in the hopes of killing them; with viruses it’s hard to kill something that isn’t quite alive to begin with. Instead of destroying the virus, antiviral medicines try to shut off the replication cycle, like shutting down the android production line.

 

What happens if a virus infects another virus? Scientists found a bacteria-sized giant virus which they named mamavirus. Upon further study, it turned out that this giant virus actually had a smaller virus associated with it. When mamavirus infected amoebae, it created a giant virus factory, whose machinery was then hijacked by the smaller virus (Sputnik). Some scientists have pointed out the fact that if a virus can get sick, then it is should be considered a living thing. (Pearson).

 

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/viruses/a/are-viruses-dead-or-alive

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

https://microbiologysociety.org/publication/past-issues/what-is-life/article/are-viruses-alive-what-is-life.html

 

No, viruses are not alive

 

NIGEL BROWN

 

In many ways whether viruses are living or non-living entities is a moot philosophical point. There can be few organisms other than humans that have caused such devastation of human, animal and plant life. Smallpox, polio, rinderpest and foot-and-mouth viruses are all well-known for their disastrous effect on humans and animals. Less well known is the huge number of plant viruses that can cause total failure of staple crops.

 

In teaching about simple viruses, I use the flippant definition of a virus as ‘gift-wrapped nucleic acid’, whether that is DNA or RNA and whether it is double- or single-stranded. The gift-wrapping is virtually always a virus-encoded protein capsid and may or may not also include a lipid coat from the host. The viral nucleic acid is replicated and the viral proteins synthesised using the host cell’s processes. In many cases the virus also encodes some of the enzymes required for its replication, a well-known example being reverse transcriptase in RNA viruses.

 

Yes, viruses are alive

 

DAVID BHELLA

 

The question of whether viruses can be considered to be alive, of course, hinges on one’s definition of life. Where we draw the line between chemistry and life can seem a philosophical, or even theological argument. Most creation stories involve a deity that imbues inanimate matter with the ‘spark of life’. From a scientific perspective, attempting to find a working definition for ‘life’ seems to me to have little practical value, but it is fun to think about.

 

Arguments over the life/not life status of viruses are often rooted in evolutionary biology and theories of the origins of life. All cellular organisms can claim a direct lineage to a primordial cell or cells, a continuous chain of cell divisions along which the ‘spark’ has been passed. Are viruses able to claim a similar ancestry?

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Are Viruses Living?

9 JUNE 2004

Let’s first define life. According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, life is “an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction.”

 

Viruses are not living things. Viruses are complicated assemblies of molecules, including proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and carbohydrates, but on their own they can do nothing until they enter a living cell. Without cells, viruses would not be able to multiply. Therefore, viruses are not living things.

 

When a virus encounters a cell, a series of chemical reactions occur that lead to the production of new viruses. These steps are completely passive, that is, they are predefined by the nature of the molecules that comprise the virus particle. Viruses don’t actually ‘do’ anything. Often scientists and non-scientists alike ascribe actions to viruses such as employing, displaying, destroying, evading, exploiting, and so on. These terms are incorrect because viruses are passive, completely at the mercy of their environment.

 

http://www.virology.ws/2004/06/09/are-viruses-living/

 

 

 

Knowledge is not always power.  Sometimes knowledge is just plain confusing.  

 

Virologists can't even agree on what viruses are--alive or dead.  

 

 

In my research I also discovered that viruses can be infected by other viruses.

Du-uh!  There's the solution.  Just give the virus a virus of its own to deal with.

One that would only infect the virus and not us...no...wait...viruses are constantly in flux,

mutating and mutating.

 

On second thought...nix that notion.

 

Come to think of it, my time would be better spent doing my Bible Reading.   

[luisenriquereyes]

13 minutes ago, cme said:

Has anyone noticed that the carribean Islands have not reported Coronavirus?  Or am I missing something?

In the Dominican Republic, currently there are 5 confirmed and 8 suspected cases with possibly 1 death:

 

Dominican Republic: Two new suspected cases, eight pending results

 

Dominican Republic: Authorities waiting to confirm whether Belgian died of coronavirus

Officials today announced to prepare for an epidemic:

 

The Dominican Republic must prepare for a coronavirus epidemic

[Doug]

3 hours ago, carlos said:

 

Since all meetings have been cancelled here in Madrid until further notice, we don't know what will happen with our Memorial. I had already printed a considerable number of Memorial invitations but now we have been asked to print then with just a link to JW.org > About US > Memorial > Find a location near you. 

 

 

So, it's conceivable that the FDS could provide a recorded video Memorial that could be viewed in the homes (or Service Groups) of those affected by cancellation ?

 

They could easily have the audio part translated as needed.

 

One way or another - the Memorial celebration will go on as scheduled !!!

[Zebra555]

12 minutes ago, Doug said:

So, it's conceivable that the FDS could provide a recorded video Memorial that could be viewed in the homes (or Service Groups) of those affected by cancellation ?

 

They could easily have the audio part translated as needed.

 

One way or another - the Memorial celebration will go on as scheduled !!!

It's already available. 

[Todd komaniak]

A conference scheduled to be held in New York about the coronavirus has been canceled because........ you guessed it the Coronavirus.

[booboo]

Just now on CBC Canadian News Station WHO declares covid-19 a Pandemic

Edited March 11, 2020 by booboo

[Nirex]

Now it definitely feels like the game. Has Madagascar been hit?

[Lee49]

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/11/21156325/coronavirus-pandemic-who-declares-covid-19-outbreak-global-h1n1

It's Official!  

WHO declares the outbreak of the new coronavirus is a pandemic

 

[Tbs77]

Stay the course...don't panic...

I'm reflecting on:

Isaiah 41:10 Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be anxious, for I am your God. I will fortify you, yes, I will help you, I will really hold on to you with my right hand of righteousness.’

Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah.

Agape

[Barbllm]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared the coronavirus a pandemic.  A pandemic is defined as "an epidemic of disease that has spread across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or worldwide."

 

"In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of COVID-19 cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher. WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.
We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic"- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. (from WHO's Facebook page)

 

Notice the word "inaction".  In the US, not everyone with symptoms is tested.  The reasoning behind this is that if you don't test, then the numbers won't go up (infected, positive, etc).  It makes the government look good.  But the data, the actual number of positive cases, tells a different story.

 

There's a scene from the HBO miniseries Chernobyl that is more terrifying than the actual explosion itself.  It's a  meeting between Communist Party members and the plant's engineers and staff.  The Party members explain the importance of controlling the narrative and ensuring that people don't question the Party, and not actually solving the problem.  Party before people. 

 

I'm not sure the disease is the scariest thing out there now. (1 John 5:19)

 

 

[Chris7]

2 minutes ago, Tbs77 said:

Stay the course...don't panic...

I'm reflecting on:

Isaiah 41:10 Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be anxious, for I am your God. I will fortify you, yes, I will help you, I will really hold on to you with my right hand of righteousness.’

Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah.

Agape

Indeed, also  *** Bible Citations ***
(Lu 21:31) Likewise also you, when you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near.

[Dages]

3 minutes ago, Barbllm said:

There's a scene from the HBO miniseries Chernobyl that is more terrifying than the actual explosion itself.  It's a  meeting between Communist Party members and the plant's engineers and staff.  The Party members explain the importance of controlling the narrative and ensuring that people don't question the Party, and not actually solving the problem.  Party before people. 

That was a great show... 

 

"Do not be afraid" is repeated many times in the Bible, for a good reason 💪

[My little flower]

The only to sort this out is to shut down all public gatherings, religious gatherings, public schools, all companies through out the world.the only thing that should be left to function are hospitals then virus will be contained.

[Dustparticle]

 

 All

 

 Don't forget about three weeks ago mention the disease is a Pandemic. I guess I'm a prophet of doom!!!

[Dustparticle]

3 hours ago, Littlecat said:

Do you think you can get Covid19 from the mail?

It stays on surfaces that’s why I wondered. I get packages from China sometimes. 

 I wonder if package from overseas will be banned? I just order a book from Rolf Furuli. I told him do it as so as possible because it is getting crazy sis.