Welllcome back to the Coronavirus saga that continues to consume our everyday lives. I don’t know about you but I am constantly checking my news sources (mainly twitter not going to lie) to see whats happening with the Coronavirus. I did find out however that there was a recent death that happened because of the Coronavirus that was actually very important and tragic. It had to do with a doctor that apparently tried to warn the medical community about the Coronavirus just to get backlash and no one believing him…and look where we are now. Not only did an important doctor die, but also the first US citizen has recently died from the virus.
He tried to warn us…
According to a New York Times article, Dr. Li Wenliang was an ophthalmologist in Wuhan which is now the epicenter, meaning like the place where the outbreak began. He was 34, which is slightly scary as it has been recorded that most of the deaths are in patients that are older. Which makes sense, as in most of the viruses we have talked about, the elderly are one of the groups that are most susceptible and show more severe cases. But him being a relatively young doctor kind of is throwing everything out of proportion. NY Times reported that researchers said the median of patients contracting the Coronavirus was between 49 and 56.
Skettchhyyy
Another fishy thing with all of this is how his warning about this virus went down. New York Times said that Dr. Li posted a warning in a chat room which I’m thinking was full of other doctors. But he warned that there was this virus (the Coronavirus) that was spreading quickly within a small town of China that could end up growing out of control and being pretty bad. He related this virus to the SARS virus which is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. SARS had previously spread throughout China like 20 years ago and was also pretty bad. But apparently, the officials either heard about or saw his warning and went to Dr. Li. They forced him to sign this form that essentially said that his warning was just a rumor. Or as NY Times worded it “an unfounded and illegal rumor.” Which I was kind of taken aback when reading this because like he is a certified doctor right? So why would they just ignore him and force him to say it was just a rumor. And now look where we are like so many people could have been saved if they took his warning seriously. Apparently, after he died and they announced it the government tightened up their censorship in order to prevent the public outrage they knew was going to happen since Dr. Li had warned them but has now died of the same virus. Honestly, reading all of this not only kept me updated on like what’s going on with the virus but seeing how China’s government really is like with their censorship.
First US Citizen Dead.
According to another New York Times article, the first death of a US Citizen happened Saturday, so I think yesterday? They also brought up how this could cause like diplomatic tension as American Citizens are asking for helping in being evacuated from Wuhan to come back to America but aren’t really getting that much help from our government. Oh also, I forgot to mention the US Citizen that passed away was in Wuhan. But even though they are asking for help and not getting it, our government has said that they’ve already helped so many people. New York Times said that the State Department said they already helped 850 people. They said that their highest priority was getting people out, yet they don’t necessarily have plans now to help those out who are asking for it. *Eye roll* Like I don’t quite know how your top priority isn’t your top priority until the job is finished not just when you want it to no longer be your top priority. But whatever. There wasn’t much released about the citizen who passed away. The only information I think we know so far is that it was a woman in her 60’s, in Wuhan, and that she had underlying health conditions. Which all kind of seems pretty typical like with what we talked about with the underlying health conditions and her older age. Ouh I didn’t know this but in the New York Times article it said that our CDC program has been offering a hand in helping the Chinese’s official understand the virus but there has been no invitation to come. Sketchhyy. Like I don’t know about you but that feels weird especially when earlier in the article it said that China has like shown doubtful tensions about welcoming helping hands, especially from the US. But like… why? Apparently the World Health Organization offered help as well but yet also received no invitation. The article mentioned that they might be giving the cold shoulders because China doesn’t want to seem like they need outside help. But like honestly, so many people have been affected why not accept help at this point?
Correlations
With new updates about the virus itself being released, I’ve noticed some of the things they are learning are things that we have talked about in class whether within direct relation with this virus that Dr. Cramer has talked about or when talking about other viruses. For example, since the last time I talked about this virus there has been more information released on how they think it spreads. In my last post, they at least had some evidence that it spreads from human-to-human. But now on the CDC’s website they believe that it does for sure spread via human-to-human and most likely through respiratory droplets and someone inhaling those droplets. Which we have discussed that form of transmission in class. On the website it said that there was a possibility that it might transmit from feces so maybe fecal-oral transmission. Also, it said that they weren’t sure if it transmitted from touching something with a virus on it, which was what we learned to be fomites, and then transmitting it to themselves. But they did note how like with most respiratory viruses the time the patient is the most contagious is when they are showing symptoms.
Mo's Microbes 