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In this article, it's claimed that 20% of the US thinks the US is handling the COVID-19 outbreak better than South Korea, 21% think it's about the same, 26% think it's worse, and 32% aren't sure. This is something I find surprising, since for the metrics I've been looking at, South Korea is doing better in every way: It seems obvious that the 41% of people who think the US is doing as well as or better than South Korea are looking at different metrics than me, and I'd like to know what these other metrics are. NB: I'm focusing on South Korea because although the original article also says the majority of Americans polled thinks the US outperforms China/Italy, there is a metric that I'm already aware of (total deaths, and in the case of Italy, total cases/deaths per capita) for which the US is doing better than those countries at the time of the poll, so if total deaths is what matters for most Americans then it's defensible to say the US is doing better. I'm not aware of any such metric for South Korea, however, which is why I'm asking. Alternatively, what else can explain the US poll data? | virus |
I am currently laid off from my job due to the Coronavirus outbreak. My employer informed my coworkers and I in a group meeting on the day before the lay-off that we would all be brought back to work when it is safe to do so. If my employer was to not bring me back to work after the outbreak is over, perhaps citing a work performance issue or something along those lines, can I sue them for wrongful termination after they verbally promised all of us that we would all have our jobs after the Coronavirus outbreak is over? | would |
I applied for a faculty position and did a video interview. It was supposed that they let me know if I have been selected for campus or not. In the middle of the interview with other candidates, this COVID-19 happened and I am not sure what strategy they will take as the target university has canceled all in-person classes and shifted to an online model. Would it be appropriate to ask the committee about the status of the search? What factors would affect the university's response in such a case? | would |
In libertarianism, each person is responsible for their own health. Nobody is forced to take health insurance, and a hospital is not obliged to provide care to an individual who cannot pay for the bill (either by themselves, via insurance, or hoping for donations). If you break your leg and can't pay for treatment, you don't get treatment. How does the inherently individualistic libertarianism deal with the inherently collective threat of a contagious disease, which may become an epidemic? If a sick individual is not treated, they may infect hundreds of others. Quarantining the sick individual against their will goes against individual freedom. In theory one could argue they may be liable for the medical costs of everyone they infect, but that is not helpful when people don't know who infected them and the infected individual can't afford treatment for hundreds of others. Most countries deal with this threat by collectively paying for healthcare and drastically reducing the freedom of infected individuals, effectively putting them under house arrest or forcing them into hospital against their will. Even the freedom of many healthy people is substantially reduced. What alternatives does libertarianism propose to this, if any? | virus |
I'm trying to understand this r/explainlikeimfive analogy. I rectified typos, and simplified some names and numbers. Won't Cal demand his principal back at some time in the future? Similarly, won't countries' sovereign debts demand their principal? For example, China holds much US treasuries and US sovereign debt. If China thinks COVID-2019 will cripple the US and wants to park its money else where, won't China demand all of its principal from the US so that it can buy Australia or New Zealand sovereign debt instead? 'Country A owes \$10 to country B, and has agreed to pay 2% interest annually. Call this Debt X. Country B owes \$15 to country A, and has agreed to pay 1% interest annually. This is Debt Y. Investor A is willing to purchase Debt X for \$12, because he values the steady rate of return, and believes country A is very likely to pay its debts. He isn't as sure about Debt Y, but he is willing to pay \$16 for it. Investor B thinks that investor A is going to change his mind about Debt Y and value it more highly, so he is willing to pay \$17 for it today. Debt is traded constantly and it's valued differently. Just because 2 countries owe each other similar amounts of money, doesn't mean the value cancels out in any meaningful way. Think of debt this way. You and your three brothers all own a house together. Each year you take up a collection of \$1000 a head for \$~4k annual upkeep on the house. One year, a tree falls on the roof, and the house needs another \$4000 bucks. Everyone could just chip in 1k each, but one brother is having a tough year, so instead, you loan the house \$4k, with the expectation that it will pay you 1% interest a year. Your brothers agree, and over the years, this comes up a few more times. You even use debt to finance installing a new hottub. You now own \$20k in debt from the house, 1 brother owns \$5k, and for some weird reason, your neighbor Cal wants to purchase the debt from you. (He really thinks your household is trustworthy, and wants somewhere to park \$20k for 1% interest). Now C owns \$20k of debt from your house, so C owns 80% of all your house's debt. Would you say C owns your house now? Well of course not, your house is likely worth many times more what C has claim to. If someone in your house is super worried about the situation, they could take up a collection in the house to buy the debt back from C, but it's not a popular idea, because most people can think of better things to do with their money than pay off C so they don't have to make the small yearly interest payments. | would |
Sorry for my lack of understanding, Why now, when people been eating bats for centuries? If bats are simply a vector, where does that virus come from? | virus |
I would like to have a confusing part of medicine cleared up. My experience of medical intervention is as follows. As pointed out in the answer to Does taking antibiotics make you immune to virus? antibiotics do not work on viruses. If I go to a doctor when suffering from the common cold, I am told to ride it out and take paracetamol for aches and pains. That makes sense as the common cold is caused by a virus. If visiting the doctor because a chest infection arises however, a course of antibiotics is often prescribed. How does a doctor manage to determine that the chest infection is a bacterial infection rather than a viral infection from the common cold virus? If the bacterial infection arose out of a common cold infection, why is it the bacterial infection occurred and not a viral infection? | virus |
Today the CDC released an official list of what kills the COVID-19 virus but the list does not mention 70% isopropyl alcohol. This is a fairly basic disinfectant and it seems it should have been on the list assuming it kills the virus and that is why I am asking. Thank you | virus |
I am wondering if Americans have a constitutional right to decline being tested for the COVID-19 virus. Consider a scenario in which the state police create a checkpoint on an interstate highway and begin administering a COVID-19 screening test on every person in every car that goes through this checkpoint. Do Americans have a constitutional right to decline being tested and be allowed to pass through this checkpoint, or does a national crisis/emergency negate an American's constitutional rights and thus every person must comply with being tested? EDIT To help clarify my inquiry, what I particularly would like to know is if you are directed to exit your vehicle by a state trooper at this highway checkpoint so a doctor/nurse there can administer a test on you to see if you have COVID-19, can you decline to exit your vehicle and also decline undergoing this medical test? Do Americans have a Constitutional right to decline complying with such a directive? | would |
My wife and I live in a major US city (Chicago) and are considering leaving for now to stay with family in a rural area a few hours away. Our reasons for this are mostly safety, seeing some of the reactions to toilet paper/groceries being low makes us both very concerned for what kind of civil unrest might happen in the coming weeks. Our thoughts for why it would be good to go: Avoid possible looting/rioting/violence Emotional reasons (being with family, having more space) Easier to keep distance from people with a much smaller population around you Possible reasons to stay where we are: Possibly spreading the virus (my wife has had a light cough for a few days, but no other symptoms) Health organizations asking us to stay put (although we would remain inside once we got to the new place) Maybe we're just overreacting and the chance of civil unrest right now is very low I would like to know if there are any official recommendations on if this kind of travel is discouraged/forbidden, or even unofficial reasons why one option might be better than the other. Please let me know if this belongs in another network or if I should add/remove anything. UPDATE: Thanks for the advice, you've all made us reconsider and we'll be staying put to not risk spreading anything. | would |
One hypothesis for which we have some supporting evidence is that the new virus (SARS-CoV-2) "enters human cells through an interaction with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2" see here. Although it is still unclear what genes to target in order to prevent the infection (entry or reproduction). Is there empirical evidence suggesting what genes can be modulated to fight the infection? | virus |
Due to the covid-19 pandemic, the Federal government has decided to extend its tax filing and payment deadline to July 15th. So, if I were to file today, will I get my refund check in the mail this month or will I not get it until after July 15th? I'd like to get it sooner than latter (of course). I am within the United States. I plan to e-file through an online service like CreditKarma or TurboTax. | would |
I'm experiencing some difficulties in the estimation of the parameters $\alpha, \beta, \gamma$ for the following discrete-time SIRD (Susceptibles, Infected, Recovered, Dead) model with sampling step of 1 day $$\tag{1}\begin{cases} S_{t}&=S_{t-1}-\alpha\frac{S_{t-1}I_{t-1}}{N} \\ I_{t}&=I_{t-1}+\alpha\frac{S_{t-1}I_{t-1}}{N}-\beta I_{t-1}-\gamma I_{t-1} \\ R_{t}&=R_{t-1}+\beta I_{t-1} \\ D_{t}&=D_{t-1}+\gamma I_{t-1} \\ \end{cases} \qquad \text{for} \,\, t=1,2,\dots$$ that I've found in this paper. In order to find the unknown $\alpha, \beta, \gamma$, I want to use the least squares regression in his closed-form solution. The parameter $N$ is the size of the population under study, so it is known and hasn't to be estimated. 1 Derivation of the LS estimator 1.1 definitions Let's consider the dataset $D_T\triangleq\{y_0,\dots,y_T\}$ up to the observation horizon $T$, where $y_t\triangleq[S_t, I_t, R_t, D_t]'$ is the vector of the observed values at time $t$ for the variables $S,I,R,D$. Here $'$ denotes the transpose operation, thus $y_t$ is a column vector in $\mathbb{N}^{4\times1}$; Let $\theta\triangleq[\alpha, \beta, \gamma]'$ be the generic vector of parameters. The prediction model $\hat{y}_t(\theta)$ is $(1)$, so $$\tag{2} \hat{y}_t(\theta)\triangleq \begin{bmatrix} S_{t-1}-\alpha\frac{S_{t-1}I_{t-1}}{N} \\ I_{t-1}+\alpha\frac{S_{t-1}I_{t-1}}{N}-\beta I_{t-1}-\gamma I_{t-1} \\ R_{t-1}+\beta I_{t-1} \\ D_{t-1}+\gamma I_{t-1} \end{bmatrix} \qquad \text{for} \,\, t=1,2,\dots $$ with the convention that $\hat{y}_0(\theta)\triangleq 0$; Let $V_T(\theta)\triangleq \frac{1}{2}\sum _{t=0}^T \|y_t-\hat{y}_t(\theta) \|^2$ the quadratic cost up to $T$. Here $\| \cdot \|$ denotes the euclidian norm. The least square estimator $\theta_\text{LS}$ of the 'real' parameter $\bar{\theta}$ is defined as $$\tag{3}\theta_\text{LS}\triangleq \arg\min_{\theta \in \mathbb{R^3}} V_T (\theta)$$ i.e. the minimum for the cost $V_T$. 1.2 analitic solution of $(3)$ the idea to solve $(3)$ is to use the standard technique by solving with respect to $\theta$ the equation $$\tag{4}\frac{\partial V_T(\theta)}{\partial \theta}=0$$ the solution is a minimum for $V_T$ since $(3)$ is a convex problem under mild assumptions regarding the dataset $D_T$ (invertibility of the next matrix $R_T$ defined below). In order to solve $(4)$, let's start by observing that the prediction model $(2)$ is linear in their parameters. In fact we can write that $$\tag{5}\hat{y}_t(\theta)=\varphi_t \theta + y_{t-1} \qquad \text{for} \,\, t=0, 1, 2,\dots$$ by introducing the regression matrices in $\mathbb{R^{4\times3}}$ $$\tag{6}\varphi_t \triangleq \begin{bmatrix} -\frac{S_{t-1}I_{t-1}}{N} & 0 & 0 \\ \phantom{-}\frac{S_{t-1}I_{t-1}}{N} & -I_{t-1} & -I_{t-1} \\ 0 & \phantom{-}I_{t-1} & 0\\ 0 & 0 & \phantom{-}I_{t-1} \end{bmatrix} \qquad \text{for} \,\, t=1,2,\dots$$ with the conventions that $\varphi_0, y_{-1}=0$. From $(5)$ it follows straightforward that the gradient of the cost $V_T$ is $$\tag{7}\begin{align}\frac{\partial V_T(\theta)}{\partial \theta} &= \sum_{t=0}^T - \frac{\partial \hat{y}_t (\theta)}{\partial \theta}[y_t-\hat{y}_t(\theta)]\\ &=-\sum_{t=0}^T \varphi_t'[y_t-(\varphi_t \theta + y_{t-1})] \\ &=\sum_{t=1}^T \varphi_t'[\varphi_t \theta - \Delta y_t] \\ &=\left(\sum_{t=1}^T \varphi_t '\varphi_t\right)\theta - \sum_{t=1}^T \varphi_t'\Delta y_t \end{align}$$ where $\Delta y_t \triangleq y_t-y_{t-1}$. If we introduce the matrix $R_T\in\mathbb{R}^{3\times3}$ and the vector $\tilde{\theta}_T\in\mathbb{R}^{3}$ $$\tag{8}R_T\triangleq \sum_{t=1}^T \varphi_t '\varphi_t \qquad \tilde{\theta}_T\triangleq \sum_{t=1}^T \varphi_t'\Delta y_t$$ the gradient in $(7)$ gets the following final sintetic expression $$\tag{9}\frac{\partial V_T(\theta)}{\partial \theta} = R_T\theta-\tilde{\theta}_T$$ now, by combining $(4)$ with $(9)$ and by resolving with respect $\theta$, we can finally conclude that the least square estimator that we are searching is $$\tag{10}\boxed{\theta_\text{LS}=R_T^{-1}\tilde{\theta}_T}$$ 2 Naive implementation in Python 2.1 dataset I want to estimate $\bar{\theta}$ for the COVID-19 epidemy in Italy, so I've built the dataset by retrieving from worldometers.info the number of infected $I_t$, recovered $R_t$ | would |
Why is the Seegene COVID molecular genetic test not approved by the FDA? Today's Google search with the the two keywords: FDA + Seegene returned an article (12-March indicating that the Seegene COVID 19 test is not FDA approved: FDA Has Not Approved South Korea COVID-19 Testing Kit Fast Automated Multiple Testing Genes, People Was the test evaluated by the FDA? I would think that there is more than enough sample data having been fielded in KR. What rigors did FDA approval of the Roche COVID test meet? | virus |
It's been said that SARS-CoV-2 can remain on surfaces up to 9 or 10 days. While I read that smallpox can survive out of a host even for years. As much as I know, since viruses are only protein capsules around RNA strands, thus they are comparable to rocks or metals. Why do they die out of a host? What happens to them that causes them to die? Do they consume energy and run out of fuel? Do they have mysterious half-life as in chemical elements? Do they have predators in food- chain and get eaten by something else? Why a surface diagnosed with a virus today, is clean after X daya/months/years? What happens to viruses on that surface? I searched this and I couldn't find answera for why. They only say how long it survives. | virus |
Emoji Puzzle - UNESCO World Heritage Sites Created by myself during Covid-19 lockdown. I've posted an image because emoji rendering as text are not working too well. | would |
I adopted two middle-aged (or older?) cats from the same shelter 3.5 years ago. Both were healthy until recently when one developed FIP. Since I adopted them they have had no contact with other cats, aside from whatever happens behind the scenes at the vet's office. According to this article from the Cornell Veterinary School, a cat can be exposed to the virus (with no symptoms) and develop FIP years later. So it sounds like it's possible that my cat came to me already infected and the disease only manifested now. (It's also possible that the other cat is a carrier who transmitted it to him without getting sick himself.) When is a cat with future-FIP infectious? Only during an initial exposure to coronavirus (when my cat caught this), or from that time onward? Only after developing FIP? If a cat has been exposed to coronavirus in the past but has never shown symptoms of FIP, can he transmit that coronavirus to other cats? I am trying to figure out the effect of this on my remaining cat, and whether I can safely adopt another cat to join him. There is no reliable test for FIP other than biopsies, so at best testing can tell us if he's been exposed to coronavirus (the test looks for the antibodies). But my biggest concern is whether he could be infectious. (If he's also infected then, sadly, there's nothing we can do about that. We can only test for coronavirus and coronavirus doesn't always lead to FIP from what I've read.) | virus |
Someone I know booked a return flight on Air Serbia from Vienna to Podgorica (Montenegro) via Belgrade, departing on 6 March 2020 and returning on 14 March 2020. On 10 March 2020, Air Serbia cancelled the return leg from Belgrade to Vienna without explanation; the passenger contacted Air Serbia by phone, who rebooked them on the next available flight, 24 hours later than the original return date. Air Serbia told them on the phone that reasonable transport, meal, and accommodation costs for the unplanned overnight stay in Belgrade would be compensated. According to Air Serbia's statement of passenger rights*, the EU Regulation 261/2004 on flight compensation is integrated into Serbian law, so we assume that the passenger is entitled not only to the costs for the stay in Belgrade, but also €250 in compensation for the cancelled flight. The passenger accordingly made a claim for compensation (both the overnight expenses and the €250 cancellation award) using Air Serbia's online form*, including all the relevant travel information and documentation (receipts, etc.). Air Serbia just now rejected the claim as follows: Thank you for your patience while the claim relating to your journey from BEG to PRG on 14.3.2020 was processed. After carefully reviewing your claim, I regret to inform you that we are not able to provide compensation in this case. This decision was reached taking into account the specific circumstances of your case, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Please note that the decision is final. We’re sorry that our service on 14.3.2020 did not meet your expectations and hope that we can look forward to welcoming you on-board an Air Serbia flight in the future. We are skeptical about this rejection for the following reasons: On the phone, Air Serbia had already promised compensation at least for the transport, accommodation, and meals in Belgrade. Air Serbia cancelled the flight before the governments of Serbia and Austria had imposed any restrictions on foreign travel relating to the coronavirus pandemic. At no time before now had Air Serbia indicated that the cancellation was due to the pandemic. According to the answer to another Covid-19–related question here (May I get a refund for a flight cancelled because of COVID-19?), "under EU rules you always get a refund". We would therefore like answers to the following: Under Serbian or EU law (whichever is applicable in our case), is the passenger in fact entitled to compensation in this case? If the answer to the previous question is "yes", then to what enforcement body can the passenger appeal Air Serbia's final decision? The EU helpfully provides a list of national enforcement bodies for EC 261/2004, but Serbia is not on this list. If there's no national enforcement body in Serbia, can the passenger appeal to the one in Austria, given that she bought the ticket and is resident there? * Note that due to Air Serbia's broken website, you may need to follow that link twice before the correct page appears. It seems that first-time visitors to the website are always redirected to its home page. | would |
2019 taxes i was filed as an adult dependant for the first tims in 15 years. I have every other year filed my own taxes. Will I qualify for a stimulus check or a $1200 refundable credit on my 2020 taxes? In 2018 i filed my own taxes and could not be claimed as a dependent. I don't understand why I would be excluded since they have said they would go by a person's 2018 return if they have not yet filed for 2019. People who made too much money in 2019 and have not yet filed for 2019 are using their AGI on their 2018 returns to qualify. | would |
Several articles describe the unique ways Covid-19 patients are being buried. For example, in this Reuters article about Israel: These included decontaminating and hermetically wrapping bodies in double layers of polyethylene. For Jewish dead, ritual washing of the body would be conducted in one of four special stations in the country, the document showed. And this LA Times article about Iran: Nor are they wrapped in traditional white cloth. They are covered in hospital plastic, marking them as victims — both young and old — of the coronavirus. People die from viruses all the time but I've never heard of victims being buried in this way. What is unique about Covid-19 ? | virus |
I bought 99% isopropyl alcohol and made 70% alcohol + 30% water in small spraying bottles as a disinfectant. I also read that this solution is safe and recommended by Apple for cleaning iPhones. My worry comes from reading on the 99% bottle how extremely dangerous it is to humans. Basically touching, inhaling and of course consuming it is very toxic. On the other hand 70% alcohol solutions are found in most hand and surface sanitizers which are usable against COVID-19. So my question is: how much should I be afraid when cleaning surfaces with my small 70% spray bottle? Since alcohol evaporates, I'd be naturally inhaling it, I mean where else could it go in the air? I'm also just spraying it on a wipe to clean my mobile, not using a rubber glove for that. What are the health concerns when using such solution? | would |
The US has enacted law H.R.6201 - Families First Coronavirus Response Act which seems to mainly tackle elementary/secondary students' food availability, but also expanded FMLA among other things. I've seen various posts on Facebook that are, at best, outdated or, at worst, straight-up false. Some of the posts I've seen state that the US is requiring 2-week paid leave. But the summary of the law makes it sound like that falls to the state's unemployment program. When reading the actual text of the law regarding paid leave, it states that the first 10 days are unpaid; any leave after that is paid. So what does paid leave look like then? For example, my place of business is shutting down next week, March 30th, and maybe subsequent weeks. I'm told that I can use PTO (of which I have none) or draw unemployment. Assuming that COVID-19 cases skyrocket in my county and we shutdown for more than 10 days, do I start getting paid on Day 11? To further muddy the water, there is an exemption for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. I think this replaces the previous exemption of businesses with more than 500 employees. If the above is correct, let's say my factory (in Kansas) has 150 employees, but is owned by a company (national, but headquartered in Michigan) with >>500 employees. The company is a subsidiary of a larger, international corporation (I have no idea how many are employed under the corporation). Do I still qualify for paid leave on Day 1? Day 11? Not at all (this is America; bootstraps etc)? Assume that I am a healthy, essential employee with no children. Why we're still shutting down despite being deemed essential is beyond me. | would |
Today, Hungary's parliament voted by 137 to 53 to enact the new COVID-19 bill, which apparently grants Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sweeping powers, in order to allow Hungary to deal with the crisis. The move, which includes no time limit on the extraordinary powers has been criticised by the Council of Europe; the Secretary General wrote in an letter to Mr Orbán that although "drastic measures" need to be taken: An indefinite and uncontrolled state of emergency cannot guarantee that the basic principles of democracy will be observed and that the emergency measures restricting fundamental human rights are strictly proportionate to the threat which they are supposed to counter. Although there has been much criticism of the bill, I have been unable to find precise details of the powers which it grants to Orbán and his government. What specific rights are being curtailed that the bill's critics find objectionable? | would |
In wealthy first-world countries, although social distancing hurts on a social and economic basis, it is at least feasible for a certain time. Basically every country world-wide has now implemented such measures. Reports from outside the first-world, however, make it seem like this is a much more challenging policy to implement. Police in South Africa are firing rubber bullets at shoppers who are violating lockdown and in India there are literally millions on the march home despite the country's lockdown order. Staying at home and keeping distance is impossible in slums with huts and no running water. Furthermore, poor people also much less able to survive a period without income and poorer countries are less able to provide them with support during this period. Is there good evidence whether or not current lockdown/social distancing measures are sustainable in poorer third-world countries? If not, are there any other options for such countries to fight global pandemic that can be sustained and enforced? | would |
Due to the recent COVID-19 event, all of the members in our group have been working at home. My advisor proposed to get us some items to make us more productive or happy when working at home. I feel like a tablet would be very helpful in reading paper and books. Additionally, I'm working home using my small laptop and the screen is really small. It also helps if I could get a large screen to connect to my laptop. I have a bit of a quandary because those things are kind of not really necessary because, after all, I can use my laptop to read paper and work. On the other hand, they are not cheap. Would it be selfish for me to ask my advisor to fund me to get a monitor and tablet, those things? | would |
Many human coronaviruses have ancestral host origins in species of bat. However, all instances I am aware of identified other animals as intermediary vectors: SARS-CoV: Human ← Palm Civet / Raccoon ← Bat MERS-CoV: Human ← Dromedary Camel ← Bat HCoV-229E: Human ← Alpaca ← Bat Are there any known cases of direct bat to human transmission of coronavirus? Source: Bats and Coronaviruses, Viruses (2019) | virus |
I am American and my girlfriend is a Chinese citizen who lives in the US. However, we were both in China in December and January (leaving on January 2nd, 2020) in areas that were unaffected by COVID-19 at the time. We have a trip booked to Mexico City for spring break, so should we anticipate any issues with both traveling to Mexico and returning to the US? I assume I'll be fine, but should we prepare proof that my GF will have been in the US for 2.5 months before going to Mexico (and returning)? | would |
I'll try and make it short. My spouse will be arriving at an airport in Germany from a Non-EU country outside Europe and she will need documents, which I have in original, in order to pass, given COVID-19 restrictions. Normally she would enter on a 90 days tourist visa, as we don't yet have a long term family reunification visa. How can I reach the border control at the airport, in order to hand her/help her at the border, with the required document in original, in order for her to be allowed to enter as my spouse? Documents would be our marriage certificate and proof of my residency in Germany, I am a EU citizen living in Germany and my spouse is moving in with me, so we will then further proceed in Germany for a long term visa for her. PS: No, we did not plan for things to happen like this. We planned for me to go to her and then come back together. COVID-19 really messed things up. I did think I could send the documents to her by post, but that feels extremely ridiculous given that I can wait for her with the documents at the airport + It would be very very concerning, if the originals get lost in the post, given the chaos caused by COVID, as her country is on the other side of the world from Germany. Edit - Appreciate all the answers. I've reached out to the relevant Bundespolizei and their answers are very cautious in this new world. I've sent out via 3 separate e-mails and received more ore less the following answer back from all 3: "without a residence permit, third-country nationals are not allowed to enter the country for the next thirty days. To what extent an exception is possible in your situation cannot be answered at the moment. In the course of your personal responsibility you/your wife should generally refrain from travelling!" So they have no clue how to address this. We've sent e-mails to the German embassy as well, to see if we can clarify via themselves, since the BP are asking for a residence permit or some kind of visa, where none should be required in the case of a EU Nationals' wife and which we can really only get in Germany now, since all relevant documents are here with me. | would |
An article from 2008: New way to kill virus: Shake them to death. Can ultrasound have the potential to treat COVID-19 infected humans at large-scale (because it does not require anesthesia)? I went through an answer on Quora. Is it a good idea to make a cavity with ultrasound for humans, specifically targeting the respiratory organs? My apologies if this seems dope, I myself am an engineer, but this COVID-19 seems to affect the future generations as well so I thought of asking here. Please validate it. References: Effects of ultrasound on living organisms | virus |
Right now there are large American states which have 50 times more Coronavirus cases in ratio/proportion than others, with hundreds of cases close to a thousand, and there are even small states where cases are zero or near to zero. Do American states have the power to close their borders from other states in a health emergency, is there a workaround to apply this, or can even the federal government give this power temporarily to states or something? | virus |
The next US census is scheduled for 2020-04-01. In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic it might become necessary to delay this. How can this legally be done (since the census is required by the constitution)? | would |
I have a question related to SARS-CoV-2 virus spreaded in the air. This Straits Time article from March 18 describes a new study: The tests show that when the virus is carried by the droplets released when someone coughs or sneezes, it remains viable, or able to still infect people, in aerosols for at least three hours. Examples of aerosol are fog, dust, particulate air pollutants (e.g. pollen), smoke, etc. That being said, is essentially saying that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is all over in the air, right? I am saying that SARS-CoV-2 virus can be everywhere in the world. Why? Because, for example, dust is everywhere in the air and air is not static, i.e. "it flies" from one site to another and hence it can move to a place where no infected people have been at. Am I understanding this correctly? Thank you in advance | virus |
On 16th March, 2020 the EU announced a 30 day travel restriction for all non-essential travel. On 6th April, 2020 Germany has announced the new updated travel restrictions to Germany. However, there is not much clarity for information about students. Can anybody provide information on what are the restrictions (if any) for people people who need to travel to Germany for their studies (starting summer 2020) on national visa (Type-D)? How will these restrictions affect people, who are about to come to Germany on student visa(s)? Any help would be greatly appreciated. | would |
Reading numerous news articles about COVID-19, I got confused as to what is its main transmission route. In particular, I am confused as to whether it is direct landing of respiratory droplets in mouths and noses, contaminated surfaces, aerosols (i.e., suspensions of the virus in the air rather than respiratory droplets quickly landing in mouths or noses or on surfaces), or something else. On the one hand, the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that contaminated surfaces are not thought to be the main transmission route: It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads. (Link) The same website appears to suggest that the main transmission route is direct landing of respiratory droplets in mouths and noses: The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person. Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet). Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO), like many other agencies, puts the main emphasis on washing hands. Here is the WHO's first and foremost piece of advice on how to prevent getting infected with the virus: Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Why? Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands. (Link) Social distancing is mentioned on that webpage only as a second piece of advice, and, furthermore, the webpage implies that it is safe to approach coughing people as close as 1 meter away: Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. Furthermore, I found an article saying that the virus wasn't detected in the air of hospital rooms with COVID-19 patients, but was detected on surfaces: When researchers in Singapore tested the air in the rooms of three Covid-19 patients, they found no virus particles on cleaned surfaces or in the air even when they took samples on days the patients were symptomatic and presumably shedding virus into the air, they reported this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In the room of the third patient, who shed more virus, virus particles were present on ventilation fans and numerous surfaces — but all air samples were negative. (Link) But the same article also says that Chinese researchers found COVID-19 aerosols near patients' toilets. My question: Actually what is the main way COVID-19 spreads? | virus |
At the end of this video NY Governor, Andrew Cuomo, criticizes the CDC for "not letting" the state of New York and other laboratories test for COVID-19. What did he mean by that? Does the CDC have some legal authority to prevent the State of New York and other private laboratories from testing for COVID-19? | virus |
On March 27th, President Trump signed the COVID-19 stimulus bill, the CARES Act, into law. This came after days of debate, where Democratic lawmakers insisted on the inclusion of oversight measures before they would agree to pass the bill. A few hours after signing the act into law, the White House released a signing statement, where the President takes issue with several provisions in the bill, and states his administration's intent to treat some of these provisions as advisory or hortatory. Of particular interest is the following paragraph: Section 4018 of Division A of the Act establishes a new Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) within the Department of the Treasury to manage audits and investigations of loans and investments made by the Secretary of the Treasury under the Act. Section 4018(e)(4)(B) of the Act authorizes the SIGPR to request information from other government agencies and requires the SIGPR to report to the Congress “without delay” any refusal of such a request that “in the judgment of the Special Inspector General” is unreasonable. I do not understand, and my Administration will not treat, this provision as permitting the SIGPR to issue reports to the Congress without the presidential supervision required by the Take Care Clause, Article II, section 3. This implies that the new position of Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) will be unable to perform their duties, as the President apparently reserves the right to supervise, and potentially suppress, any reports that the Special Inspector will attempt to make to Congress. Is the President able to effectively nullify these provisions of the bill unilaterally, or does this signing statement have no legal weight until tested in the courts? Are any oversight mechanisms aside from this Special Investigator available to Congress? | would |
During Covid19 pandemic I managed to save some money and I was thinking about repaying some of my debts, however, I'm not sure should I do it, or keep cash just in case things turn for the worse. This is my situation with concerns against repaying each debt. I have roughly 7000 GBP I have three debts: 6500 GBP overdraft (APR 35%) 2500 GBP PayPal credit (APR 19.9%) 1600 GBP Amex credit card (APR 23.5%) I could repay my overdraft, it would save me around 150 GBP each month and I could still use it as if money would be in my bank account in case of a real emergency. I could repay both PayPal and Amex cards saving around 120 GBP each month and have some money left. My concern is that PayPal Credit and Amex are the least acceptable forms of payment in the UK and in case I would need access to money there is a chance I won't be able to use. I can just keep the cash and pay interest on all three accounts until crisis is over. What should i do? | would |
Breaking news US President Donald Trump has announced sweeping new travel restrictions on Europe in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus. In a televised address, he said travel from 26 European countries would be suspended for the next 30 days. But he said the "strong but necessary" restrictions would not apply to the UK, where 460 cases of the virus have now been confirmed. [...] Mr Trump said the European Union had "failed to take the same precautions" as the US in fighting the virus. A Presidential Proclamation, published shortly after Mr Trump's address, specified that the ban applies to anyone who has been in the EU's Schengen border-free area within 14 days prior to their arrival in the US. N.B. additional reasons given in the US proclamation: The administration’s European travel proclamation notes that “the Schengen Area has exported 201 COVID-19 cases to 53 countries. Moreover, the free flow of people between the Schengen Area countries makes the task of managing the spread of the virus difficult.” What has the (official) reaction from the EU been regarding this US action? | would |
(First time posting on this SE, I hope it's not off-topic.) I have a friend who lives in the Netherlands, let's call her Allison. Both her and her neighbor (let's call him Bob) live in an apartment complex owned by a therapy organization they are both patients at, and their landlord is also the owner of said organization. Bob has lived there longer than Allison. Every once in a while (at least once a week, though sometimes a lot more often), Bob tends to be very noisy in his apartment, by listening to loud music or playing with a pinball machine (a physical, real life one, not a video game). This often also happens very late at night, which is obviously not allowed per contract, and the walls are incredibly thin. Allison has complained about this numerous times, as it prevents her from sleeping at night and her mental health is suffering because of it, which the therapy home was supposed to be helping with. The inhabitants of the other apartments don't hear any noise, as Allison's apartment is the only one that share's a wall with Bob's. The problem: Since Bob is a therapy patient himself, the landlord and the therapists appear to be protective of him. Supposedly, he has his own baggage that prevents him from noticing, caring or remembering that he's being inconsiderate. While they don't explicitly condone him doing this at night, they barely take any direct action. Instead, they advised Allison to use earplugs, since the person who lived in her apartment before her never complained about this and they figured she may just be too sensitive. When the earplugs didn't help, they told her to message Bob whenever he's being too loud, because he apparently needs constant reminding that he's not supposed to do this after a certain time of day. Allison tried this, and it helped, but the silence usually only persists for a few minutes before being broken again. On Allison's request, the landlord eventually agreed to order noise cancelling panels to be installed on the wall between their apartments. However, he only agreed to pay for the very cheapest ones available, which had to be shipped from China and are now being withheld due to the Corona virus. Furthermore, after it was clarified that these panels would need to be installed on Bob's side of the wall in order to have any effect, Bob suddenly expressed that he's not willing to put in the effort to do so. In other words, he refuses to actively do something to fix the problem he's causing, despite the panels being gifted to him (Allison has expressed willingness to invest into panels for her side of the wall out of her own pocket, just for added sound isolation, but as stated earlier, those won't do much on their own). Recently, Allison's therapist started encouraging her to look for other apartments, all of which turned out to be substantially more expensive than her current one (given similar size and quality). Despite knowing that Allison's financial situation isn't the | would |
I read on https://www.20minutes.fr/monde/2703219-20200125-coronavirus-troisieme-cas-confirme-france-15-nouveaux-deces-chine (mirror) that Groupe PSA is going to fly back their French expat employees located at Wuhan back to France due to the Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic. How can Groupe PSA do so despite the ongoing quarantine in Wuhan (mirror)? | virus |
My cat has been on Royal Canin Feline Urinary SO dry food for a couple of years. However recently Royal Canin changed the formula for that food and it is making cats puke. All reviews starting January 2020 have pet owners reporting this problem. I came across "Purina Pro Plan Focus Urinary Tract Health Formula Adult Dry Cat Food" which does not require a prescription. I would like to know if it is comparable to Royal Canin Urinary SO and if it can be safely substituted? | would |
I read an interesting article about two strains of the coronavirus: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2236544-coronavirus-are-there-two-strains-and-is-one-more-deadly/ I would like to know how the scientists used to classify a coronavirus as l-strain and s-strain. And more specifically I would like to have the genome(The DNA) for a l-strain and a s-strain. | virus |
I am travelling to Bangkok and just got to know that I will be flying on a 22 year old Thai Airways Boeing 777-200, how safe is it to fly on a plane this old? | would |
I am Canadian. Since I applied for the visa shortly before the situation got serious, I now have a valid work and travel visa for Germany, but I am afraid they will turn me away at the border/airport.. any thoughts on that matter ? | would |
It is my understanding that "epidemic" is an abnormally high amount of cases than expected. "Pandemic" refers to a epidemic that crosses continents (Please correct my understanding if it is wrong). My question is should coronavirus (that is, covid-19) be considered a "pandemic" ar this point, or is there some other criteria it would need to fulfill to be considered a "pandemic"? Perhaps an organization like WHO would need to designate it as a "pandemic"? | virus |
As we know that US government announced $2T Covid-19 stimulus package on March 24. It includes a payout of $1200 to all taxpayers. Who are the individuals who will get that benefit? Is it all US Taxpayers or only US Citizens? Will a resident alien on work visa, who pays taxes, get that benefit as well? | would |
I read on https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow/status/1247426702214451201 (mirror): As a foreigner, it’s a good idea to carry your passport around with you. Some places like banks won’t let foreigners inside unless you can prove that you haven’t been abroad recently. One American told me that she wasn’t allowed in just because she was American #Thailand Can a shopowner in Thailand ban someone from entering their shop on the grounds of their citizenship? | would |
How do biologist trace evolutionary history of virus, is there any article on this issue, e.g. how scientist got to know that coronavirus evolved from bat or camel or pig? | virus |
If I read Figure 2 of … the impact of influenza on excess mortality … correctly, the excess mortality due to flu in Italy during the peak weeks of the flu epidemic of 2016–2017 was about 800 deaths/day. This is way more than what is happening with Covid-19 now. How come the health system is so stressed now? Is it due to geographical distribution (Lombardy!) which Italy could not compensate by moving resources? Or is it a different distribution of deaths vs. being in intensive care? Or what? | virus |
Lately I'm reading about the good Coronavirus-Tests in South Korea, the faulty tests in the USA and the tests in Indonesia which are according to some Singapore newspapers not even working. I wonder why these tests are so different and can't find proper information on what which country is testing for. | virus |
I had a flight ticket from Madrid (MAD, Spain) to Miami (MIA, US) to fly in March with AirEuropa. I got an email saying the flight was cancelled 13 days and 21 hours before the flight. Am I eligible to get a cash refund? Am I entitled to further compensation? The flight was cancelled the day after Donald Trump forbade the entrance of non-residents to the US because of COVID-19. The answer from an AirEuropa agent is no, I am not. They offer a voucher that has to be spent within 2020, which IMO is very limited. As I understand the EU rules, I can choose to get a refund unless the carrier can prove the cancellation was because of extraordinary circumstances. I guess COVID-19 is extraordinary, but Trump did not forbid flights to the US, but the entrance of some people, so AirEuropa could have flown that day. | would |
EDIT: After reading the comments and learning more about the current outbreak, I see that the premise of my question is incorrect. I mistakenly believed that the virus' mortality rate was around the same as that of the flu, when in fact it's much higher. My understanding is that the virus' mortality rate is around 2%, which is similar to the flu. It's less deadly than SARS. So why are people so worried, and why are governments going to such extreme measures to prevent it from spreading? My guesses are: We don't know enough about the long-term effects of the virus, so better safe than sorry The economic and social disruption caused by robust measures (e.g., quarantining) costs less than letting a new disease become pandemic, even if it isn't particularly deadly Mass hysteria fueled by the media and misinformation Governments feeling like they have to appear responsive to popular concern lest they seem lazy This virus affects more developed parts of the world, so it's more visible The Chinese government's over-the-top, authoritarian, "only in China"-style measures have left everyone in such awe that they think, "this must be really serious!" (When in fact the government's real intention is perhaps to cover up how badly they botched their initial handling of the outbreak.) As for one's chances of coming into contact with the virus, the total number of confirmed cases in the world as of writing is around 80k. Let's say that the true number is double that, or 160,000. That's still only ~1.5% of the population of Wuhan, the city where the initial outbreak occurred. Why should anyone be in the slightest bit concerned about going for a stroll down the main street? I'm not an expert in public health or medicine. It would be great to hear an expert's take on this question! | virus |
Across all of Canada, all GoodLife gyms, Fit4Less gyms, university gyms, and presumably other gyms are closed, and for a long time. I am training for a powerlifting competition and do not have my own 20kg bar and certainly don't have 200kg worth of plates to continue practising deadlifts and squats. What is the best way to continue making progress on strength for deadlifts and squats? | would |
Multiple groups of scientists are trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine but they are not yet being fruitful. What challenges or difficulties are there in the process that slowing down and/or causing failure in development of vaccine? | virus |
I was invited to give a talk at an important conference, which has now been canceled due to coronavirus. Can I still list the fact that I was invited on my CV, with a parenthetical note? It's not the same as if I turned down an invitation or failed to show up. Obviously this is not really that big of a deal and I can accept it if that's not a suitable thing to do, but I'm trying to find a silver lining. | would |
For example: during the current covid 19 outbreak the reported numbers are number of infections after various measures like social distancing or quarantine have been used - so it doesn't make much sense to compare it to the r0 if a disease like flu, where similar measures aren't used. Is there an objective measurement? Something like what are the chances of getting infected in some controlled conditions | virus |
According to the World Health Organization's situation report for March 12th, the African region has only recorded 51 cases of the Covid-19 virus, and only one of these cases has been fatal. The disease has so far only been recorded in 9 of the 54 African countries, with only three of these countries reporting more than a couple of cases. Given the wider spread of the disease in practically every other region, and that the African population is around 1.3 billion, this appears to be a clear anomaly. What reasons are there for this apparent inconsistency with expectations? | virus |
Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, is generally considered a top contender to be Joe Biden's running mate. If she was elected Vice President, she would have to resign her seat in the Senate. How would her replacement be chosen? While I know the governor names an initial replacement, followed by a special election, but what determines the timing of this? Can the governor's decision be overruled by the legislature? | would |
All news I can see scientist telling that the SARS-CoV-2 virus survive more in cold and dry weather. I can understand cold as hot weather will desiccate virus, but why dry weather. Would not dry weather dry droplets of saliva sooner also desiccate virus, would not humid weather support virus? | virus |
I can see the chain of spreading disease: Humans usually get rabies from domestic animals, those usually get it from wild animals, wild animals in their turn get from the other wild animals and here I'm stuck. Well, so where do wild animals get it from initially? I know that rabies is a virus and it needs warm-blooded animals to live out. Also according to Wikipedia once an animal is effected it lasts, let's say, no longer than for 2 weeks. In other words, does it mean that there is a constant population of rabid animals that exists in order to pass this virus from one animal to another every 2 week on the average? | virus |
According to the Wall Street Journal, in order to attempt to slow the economic contraction caused by the Covid-19 virus, the Federal Reserve has promised to inject $1.5 trillion into the economy, by [making] vast sums of short-term loans available on Wall Street and [purchasing] Treasury securities in a coronavirus-related response aimed at preventing ominous trading conditions from creating a sharper economic contraction. How can such a large sum of money be allocated to this without any debate or official order by the government? Where does this money come from? And how does providing loans to Wall Street help prevent the economy from contracting further? | would |
My university, like many others, has recently moved to remote teaching in response to the corona virus situation. In my department, the faculty have taken the lead on finding and adopting solutions to the difficulties posed by the transition. I am a postdoc and not directly involved in a lot of the big changes. But I wonder if the faculty are sealing their fate, being so helpful when there is a counterparty, the administration, that may not have the faculty's best interests at heart (note, I have no direct knowledge either way). Specifically, barring any big disasters in remote teaching these next weeks/months, I would guess 1) smaller schools close to insolvency, many of which have closed these last few years, would instead have an opportunity to cut costs by dispensing with or heavily decreasing in-person instruction, without facing the PR issues or other pushback that would otherwise bring, and 2) even in schools with secure finances, or where it is unrealistic to get rid of in-person instruction, professors would lose a lot of bargaining power in any negotiations with the administration, since they will be regarded as that much less necessarily. Possibly the next few weeks/months will demonstrate that the professors are in fact less necessary, and remote learning is perhaps preferable. I am not really asking about that, my question is more selfish as someone going on the job market soon. Are these outcomes likely? This type of concern must be on the radar of professors' unions, no? | would |
I need to cancel or possibly change an international flight on United with a non-refundable ticket (class T). When I log in to the app and hit cancel, the credit shown is the exact amount I paid for the ticket - $953. Within the credit box, it says "change fees may apply," but doesn't show any sort of deduction. I've read online they can charge up to $400 in change fees. I'm scared to hit the confirmation button. Will I get back a full credit of $953? Thanks! | would |
I am a French citizen, legally married to a US citizen. I currently live in Germany while my husband lives in the US. I was supposed to fly to the US on Sunday (March 15) on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to visit my husband in the US for two weeks (until March 30). I am wondering if I can still get on the flight, and whether I should. It is clear in the presidential proclamation that the travel restriction does not apply to spouses of US citizens. However I wonder how this is enforced. I travel with my French passport and an ESTA (visa waiver), I do not have any spouse visa or anything. Is it the airline who decides to let me on the flight? Or is it up to the immigration officer once I arrive in the US? I also don't know if the flight is going to be cancelled. As far as the flight status shows, it is not cancelled, but I wouldn't trust that. To make matters more difficult for myself, I got a United reservation through Chase's travel rewards program for a flight operated by Lufthansa. If the flight is cancelled or I cannot get on it, any idea who I should turn to for reimbursement? So far I have not been able to get a hold of Lufthansa customer service, they must be overloaded. I have not yet tried United or Chase. Sorry this is such a specific and self-interested question, I just thought some of you might have similar situations or more information to share. | would |
On healthline it's mentioned a recent study that came out of Wuhan, China; it’s published on a website, but hasn’t yet been reviewed by peers. In the study, scientists looked at the blood types of 2,173 people who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and compared that with the blood types of the general population in that region. They found that in the normal population, type A was 31 percent, type B was 24 percent, type AB was 9 percent, and type O was 34 percent. In those with the virus, type A was 38 percent, type B was 26 percent, type AB was 10 percent, and type O was 25 percent. The researchers concluded that “blood group A had a significantly higher risk for COVID-19 compared with non-A blood groups. Whereas blood group O had a significantly lower risk for the infectious disease compared with non-A blood groups.” In 'non-medical' or easy to follow terms/explanations, Why is that? Why does blood type A is more at risk? and Why does blood type O has less risk? Thank you in advance | virus |
I am a 67 years old Canadian Citizen who came to US to visit my son on Feb 29th, 2020. Can't go back due to Covid19, how can I get insulin? | would |
According to Coronavirus has mutated at least once The novel coronavirus that has infected thousands of people across the world may have mutated at least once — meaning there may be two different types of the virus causing illnesses, a new study conducted by Chinese scientists suggests. Scientists with Peking University’s School of Life Sciences and the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai in a preliminary study found that one strain — type “L” — of the virus was more aggressive and accounted for about 70 percent of the strains analyzed. The second — type “S” — was less aggressive and accounted for about 30 percent of analyzed strains. But also several webpages theorized the virus has mutated before passing from animals to humans. This page What we know about the Wuhan virus says This virus belongs to a family of viruses known as coronaviruses. Named for the crown-like spikes on their surfaces, they infect mostly bats, pigs and small mammals. But they mutate easily and can jump from animals to humans and Where did the new coronavirus come from? The new virus likely came originally from bats, scientists say. It isn’t known exactly where or how it jumped to humans, though. Viruses from bats often infect another mammal first and then mutate to become more transmissible to humans. though Coronaviruses can also jump directly to humans, without mutating or passing through an intermediate species. Is something more known about this? Is it possible the virus has mutated twice in a period of time of months? | virus |
FactCheck.org considers Trumps claim that he inherited a broken CDC system to be 'misleading', and has given a long description of why they made that ruling. It effectively boils down to the claim that the CDC was never intended to be the sole producer of tests. Instead they claim that the CDC was always intended to work with third parties and private sector to support the production of tests and other resources if a pandemic happened, and that the delays with testing was due to the CDC not allowing private sector agencies to build tests originally. If it's true that the intent of the CDC was to support/regulate private sector test development, and that the CDC failed to do that, then the next question is why didn't it? Why did the CDC not immediately open up production of tests to the private sector and support and vet those tests as factcheck.org claims was the original design intent? Is there a specific individual or group of individuals who had the ability to decide to open up testing to private sector and failed to do it? Was Trump or the white house in any way responsible for this decision to not open up testing to the private sector? | virus |
On what grounds will a tourist be sent back from South Korea? Especially in the midst of the coronavirus 2019-nCoV? I’ve returned to Indonesia from China at the end of December, and have not shown any symptoms ever since. I plan to travel to South Korea some time this month. Is there a slightest possibility of me being sent back to Indonesia from the South Korean airport even after having my visa approved by the Korean embassy? | virus |
As Nepal is neighbouring country of China as well Nepal is celebrating visit Nepal 2020 this year. Updates about COVID-19 in Nepal. This is useful for all travellers who are planning to travel in spring 2020. | virus |
This decision means what? Sufficient justification for the purpose and circumstances of the intended stay was not provided. The specific purpose for which the visa was applied for is no longer valid or will cease to be valid before you arrive in the member state of destination. No other (secondary) purpose was stated at the time of the application, of if it was, insufficient documentation was provided to demonstrate the purpose of the stay. Therefore, your application for a visa is refused. | would |
From different sources we hear that a coronavirus vaccine might be ready in weeks / April / 3 months, but that they would require testing and mass production and it won't be ready to use until 12/18 months. For example, this website states, Human trials for a coronavirus vaccine could begin ‘within a few weeks Human trials testing a potential vaccine to prevent COVID-19 could begin “within a few weeks” with a vaccine ready for public use within the next 12 to 18 months, a top U.S. health official said. But according to, 2009 flu pandemic vaccine After a meeting with the WHO on 14 May 2009, pharmaceutical companies said they were ready to begin making a swine flu vaccine and As of September 2009 a vaccine for H1N1/09 was expected to be available starting in November 2009, with production of three billion doses per year. As of 19 November 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that 65 million doses of vaccine had been administered and that it had a similar safety profile to the seasonal flu vaccine, with no significant differences in the adverse events produced by the different types of vaccine Why it's said a coronavirus vaccine wont be ready for using in 12-18 months when for the H1N1 2009 outbreak there were vaccines available in 6 months? | virus |
One question we often get on this site in one form or the other is: Is my paper under review (or similar) for too long and if yes, how should I react? Now, suppose I have gone through all the steps to answer this question in a normal situation: I have procured statistics of the journal’s handling or peer-review times, added a fair margin for individual variability, etc. My question is: How should I modify these in lights of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis? I do not want to bother editors more than appropriate. The obvious thoughts are: Some reviewers and editors are busy with challenges arising due to the crisis, e.g., due to having to switch to online teaching, having no childcare, etc. On the other hand, some reviewers and editors now have more time available due to conferences being cancelled, not being able to access their labs, and similar. Some fields are obviously directly affected by the crisis, in particular medicine, virology, and epidemiology. I am not considering those. I am only interested in answers that go beyond such obvious thoughts, for example being based on experience as an editor. The ideal are answers based on statistics, but those likely do not exist yet (but will be welcome when they eventually will). | would |
There are numerous articles talking about how people are tired of staying in lockdown: As Greece enters its third week since restrictive measures were first imposed to combat the spread of coronavirus, there is mounting concern that fatigue is setting in amid signs of people beginning to flout the policies. Speaking to ANT1 TV, the government spokesman Stelios Petsas said the centre-right administration was now considering placing a time limit on the movement of citizens outdoors, the Guardian reports. Are there any polls which attempt to track how much people are content with staying under lockdown? | would |
Like many, I and my family are stuck indoors for the duration of Covid-19. I would like to try growing plants on the available windowsills, preferably edible plants. However, I've no ideas for what would practically work. What can grow, just on a window sill, in a plot, and be useful? Location is UK, SSE facing. | would |
On Apr 9 2020, the Fed for the First Time Can Buy Junk Bonds. That Should Help ‘Fallen Angels.’ The Federal Reserve is making its first-ever foray into the junk-rated corporate bond market, saying it will consider buying noninvestment-grade corporate bonds and exchange-traded funds. As part of an effort to make available \$2.3 trillion in new loans amid the coronavirus crisis, the central bank said Thursday that it would buy the bonds of “fallen angel” companies, or companies that get downgraded from investment grade to junk. Companies will qualify if they had an investment-grade rating on March 22 and have since been downgraded to one of the top three tiers of the high-yield bond market (BB+, BB or BB-). Bloomberg has a title "Moral Hazard". Can't companies "leverage themselves into oblivion and when they all [fail] the Fed will just buy their worthless bonds"? But the nature of the Fed’s actions pass the traditional boundaries of the central bank to purchase lower-rated debt and the credit of municipalities, raising questions about its future role. ”That does present some moral hazard but a lot will depend on how these programs are executed and how they’re unwound,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities. “Are they executed in a way that doesn’t unduly benefit people? If the programs are devised effectively, hopefully that won’t be the case.” Are these Reddit comments below correct? I edited r/economics. Let’s call it what it is, junk bonds. They don’t care about municipalities, this is buying up corporate garbage debt to bail out the rich. Corporate bonds was bad enough, junk bonds are straight garbage that WAS SUPPOSED TO BE RISKY so why is the Fed buying it. This is no benefit to Main St. at all. If your argument was the municipalities need to issue debt to function and this helps grease that market, the right answer is that municipalities that cannot clearly afford projects should not issue debt. Let’s be honest, boomers had so much money they threw it at high yield, enjoyed the gains but now it’s garbage so the taxpayer is bailing them out. This is the end of capitalism and free markets. You could argue that a few banks were too big to fail, maybe they should have. Now you are talking about 100’s of companies like Best Buy and Macy’s that we’re already doing bad so we are throwing cash at them in the form of loans and also bailing out their debt to people who shouldn't have bought it. Don’t forget how much these CEOs and boards make. I hate to be political but let’s remember T[ARP] actually made money, it was risky but the QE was limited in amount and by assets that were “good”. Look at the group of individuals in charge now and their financial history, the idea that the Fed will get its money back is an absolute joke. Junk bonds are junk because they are risky. By definition they don't deserve to be saved by the government. Its purpose is to place cash on | would |
Are there any countries that won't let foreigners leave the country or return home during pandemics? Governments might charter planes to bring their citizens back home, but are there countries that wouldn't allow that to happen? | would |
I stumbled upon this boiled down news article which makes the statement that if we get the doubling time for coronavirus cases above the incubation period (5.8 days), we will be able to effectively "flatten the curve". Could someone explain to me the logic behind that statement? Can't wrap my head around it. Even if the doubling time is 6 days, in theory (I realise the curve will naturally flatten as a result of population size and number of people already infected) you're still going to see an exponential increases in cases (i.e. 50000, 100000, 200000, 400000...) | virus |
Consider the following scenario: Person A has been infected with some virus (for example, SARS-CoV-2) Person A has recovered From this scenario, I assume Person A has managed to develop antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. If so: For how long, after recovery, would Person A have antibodies for the virus running in their blood? If Person A donates blood to Person B, would Person B have better responses against the virus, by using the antibodies received along the blood from Person A? (assuming the donation is successful without issues) Is there any paper / study building upon this idea for combating SARS-CoV-2? Notes: I am not expecting exact quantitative answers to these questions. I just want basic understanding for reasons this could or could not work. | virus |
The COVID-19 virus causes respiratory illnesses. The virus does so by changing the generic code of our cell. If a virus can cause a change in our body, like respiratory illness, can the same techniques in a controlled manner be used in a constructive manner, for example treating cancer. Simply if I ask, can we create a virus like a thing to work for good in our body, just like nuclear fusion used for bombs and electricity. | virus |
I live & work in the UK. A few weeks ago, I had a verbal offer accepted on a house (I am a first time buyer). I had initially offered a bit lower than the asking price, that offer was rejected, and I ended up offering the asking price- and asking the sellers to include some fixtures & furnishings. This offer was accepted. Since then, the coronavirus has broken out in the UK, and the markets have all dropped considerably (I was intending to put money saved in a Lifetime ISA toward the deposit- so this has obviously lost considerable value). Most things I've read are saying that we have no idea how long term the impact of the coronavirus will be on the financial markets, or whether it will impact the housing market in terms of house prices. Mortgage rates are already very low, so are unlikely to get any lower, particularly now that the Bank of England base rate has been dropped to 0.1%. I'm unsure what to do regarding the offer I have put in on the house. I am not buying for any reason other than owning my own home, and to establish that for myself and my family. I am fortunate that my job is relatively secure- even if there were to be a recession, and even if I were to lose my job, I have a trade to fall back on which is still in a growth industry in the UK. My experience to date has been that it generally takes me between 1-2 months to apply, interview for & receive an offer for a job. So, given that I am not looking at the house for any reason other than to establish a home (i.e. it is not primarily a financial investment), should I contact the vendors to reduce my offer, given all the uncertainty going on at the moment? If so, how would it be best to approach this, and how much should I reduce my offer by? If not, why not? Are there any other factors that I should be taking into consideration here? If it makes a difference- there is no chain on the sellers' end, and I heard recently that they had also had an offer accepted, so was expecting to hear on completion dates relatively soon. | would |
To break the title down into parts: There exist serology tests that detect the amount of an antibody (Ab) against a specific pathogen/antigen. Every human produces their own Ab for a specific antigen by (relatively) random combination of different gene segments in their B cells, until one that recognizes the pathogen is found and produced in massive amounts. One portion of every Ab is constant, whereas the portion that recognizes the antigen is variable. Even for antibodies (in different humans) that recognize the same antigen, albeit to a lesser degree. What exactly does an antibody titer/serology test detect in the blood so that it can accurately measure the amount of antibodies against a specific antigen? I am assuming they use antibodies against the antigen-binding/variable portion of an antibody. But if the variable region differs from person to person, how can a universal antibody (to be used in serology tests) against it be generated? Is the variable region not that variable, so that any lab-generated antibody against any functional antibody against a virus works well enough for an accurate measurement of antibodies against that virus? But even so the concept sounds hard to believe since even a single antigen can have multiple epitopes, and one person might have an Ab for epitope 1 of antigen X, while the other would have an Ab for epitope 2 of antigen X. And they would still be immune to the same virus, while a universal Ab titer test for the virus would be unable to detect antibodies from one of them. Do they perhaps employ multiple lab-generated antibodies against most of the possible variations of human-generated antibodies in the tests? | virus |
So far it appears that Western countries especially in Europe (e.g. Italy, Spain, UK, France, Germany) struggle to curb the spread of COVID-19. This is in contrast to most Asian countries (China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore) which were hit by the virus earlier, but managed to reduce the contagion through drastic containment measures. While it's probably too soon to evaluate the effect of the strong measures which have been implemented in the past few days in many European countries, it looks as if Western countries have been reluctant and/or unable and/or inefficient at implementing the methods used in Asia to fight the contagion. It also looks as if Asian countries are expected to be more disciplined and/or organized than Western countries (example). Are there any objective reasons why Western countries are less efficient than Asian countries in the fight against COVID-19? Added: For example, are there different political choices which were made before and during the outbreak? Are there structural differences, for instance in the way governments can deploy resources in a crisis? | virus |
I read in this answer by lambshaanxy: the Philippines have also banned foreign visitors from countries with "local coronavirus transmission" Where can I find the up-to-date list of countries with "local coronavirus transmission" that Philippines banned foreign visitors from? | virus |
I am building my first road bike. I have been an avid biker rider for quite sometime and always thought about getting a road bike, just never got around to it. Fast forward to now, my neighbor (pro rider) threw his Scott CR1 carbon fiber frame in the dumpster along with a MOST carbon handlebar and Cosmic wheel set. Now that I acquired all this stuff for free, time to finally build a bike! My point of this post is first to get some advice on ... where to start? How do I find out what is compatible to this bike from a component group, to putting everything together etc. I know I won't be able to do everything but I know I can get pretty far then I am planning on taking it to a local guy to do a tuneup before I get her out on the road. I want to build as tough and reliable as possible on a budget (don't want to spend a ton but want a quality bike). Let me know if anyone can help out with where to get started, also if you have parts for sale or anything or want to trade for something, I am wide open to that as well. Picture is attached, let me know what year as well if anyone knows. Thanks David | would |
First of all, I will honestly admit that I adopted the style of question from the following thread: Is traveling to Italy safe during the COVID-19 outbreak? However, unlike Nevi, I intend to disclose personal information s.t. it can be objectively judged whether traveling to Spain is secure or not. I am under 28, male and have no disease or anything similar - as far as I know, anyway. I intended to travel to Barcelona from 15th March to 05th April, getting there by train via Hannover-Cologne (ICE), Cologne-Brussels (ICE), Brussels-Paris (Thalys) and Paris-Barcelona (TGV). On the return journey: Barcelona-Paris (TGV), Paris-Frankfurt (TGV), Frankfurt-Hannover (IC). The plan was to go to a language school by midday and in the afternoon, get to know Barcelona itself. This trip is being offered by my scholarship that I have for my studies. I haven't reached out to them yet, because usually, if canceling a trip to a a language school, they require you to pay the entire fee of 1,000 € (no spelling error), unless you prove you were ill (by going to a doctor). But maybe, they make an exception due to the circumstances - I think I should reach out to them soon. I currently live in Germany in a big city and my dad is a taxi driver who often has guests from the airport as well, so the question is: Aren't I equally exposed to the Corona-virus in Germany, i.e. at home? On the 6th April, my term officially starts, and from mid-April, I wanted to start my Bachelor Thesis, so it would be great if I weren't in quarantine in April. Also, I care about getting the virus to my home community - I mean, who doesn't? But then, the question is, shouldn't my dad stop taxi driving for a while? I told him my opinion, but he said we need money for a living. I have already booked the tickets for 360€ and after having informed myself, I probably would get back only 44€. However, I understandably don't care about the money right now. EDIT: Alright, I searched for an alternative and found one: I could take a "Flixbus" from Frankfurt (Main) Central Station to Barcelona directly and vice versa. The costs for the entire trip would be around 100€, and I can get easily from Hannover to Frankfurt/from Frankfurt to Hannover with an IC(E). However, the only question is whether I have to travel or not ... I mean, if the situation should escalate in Barcelona/Spain/Europe, then I could be in quarantine and that wouldn't be great. EDIT EDIT: If sb wants to now, I decided to cancel my trip. I will lose around 1,050 € at least, since my scholarship isn't ready to officially cancel the trip. Best regards, MathIsFun | virus |
There have been "suggestions" (facebook, media etc) that the novel coronavirus is heat sensitive. Specifically that the virus is "killed" or impotent when subjected to temperature of 77F. Are there any peer-reviewed studies that would support such a contention? More broadly, are there any peer-reviewed studies on the viability of the virus in other naturally occurring circumstances? (As I am not a medical professional or researcher, I'm a bit lost on how to do my own research to find appropriate and reliable information on this - I'm not even sure that I'm using the appropriate terminology. This is why I've come to this site: for guidance on how to get the information ) | virus |
There has been quite a bit of misinformation flowing about COVID-19, some of it has even been reported on major news agencies, the one most heard about being Fox and Friends claiming, falsely, that the ability to hold your breath for 19 seconds is a good indicator of COVID-19 infection; but this is hardly limited to one show or wrong fact. Given the threat of COVID-19, and how each infection increases the risk of future infections exponentially, the misinformation being spread could realistically put lives at risk. Now I'm not suggesting anyone be punished for COVID-19 misinformation specifically, for many reasons. However, it got me wondering at a more general level if there are forces in place to handle more direct and blatant spread of dangerous misinformation via the news. It does make me wonder what laws exist for intentional spread of misinformation. Slander and Libel laws only apply to misinformation about an individual, they wouldn't apply to other forms of misinformation. The FDA has stepped in to stop false claims about drugs and medication, but again that is only one specific type of misinformation. What about more general misinformation? If some news agency decides as an April fools joke to report that the government is encouraging all kids to play on highways today, or some other grossly negligent and potentially dangerous fact, and there is reasonable evidence to suggest it was done intentionally what laws may be used to penalize such a dangerous spread of misinformation? | virus |
There are four drugs being tested for effectiveness against COVID-19 in the SOLIDARITY trial. Three of them have obvious potential mechanisms of action: Remdesivir is an RNA polymerase inhibitor. It might stop the virus from multiplying once it infects a cell. Hydroxychloroquine may interfere with the spike protein the virus uses to attach to cells. Interferon beta has general antiviral effects. But I can't find anything that would explain why the Lopinavir/Ritonavir combination is expected to do anything. Both drugs appear to be protease inhibitors that are fairly specific to HIV, while SARS-CoV-2 isn't even in the same general group of viruses as HIV. | virus |
According to the data on the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracker, as of 3rd February 2020 there were 17491 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, 536 total recoveries and 362 deaths. From my non-expert calculation this implies a mortality rate of: (Nd / (Nd + Nr)) * 100 = 41% where: Nd is the total number of deaths, Nr is the total number of full recoveries. This leaves 16593 people still suffering from the disease who have neither recovered or died. This is in stark contrast to the publicly disseminated value of ~2% mortality, so have I made a mistake in my calculation or assumptions, or is COVID-19 much more dangerous than commonly claimed? [After a helpful discussion in the comments, 'mortality rate' is not the correct term to use here, instead I should say 'Case Fatality Rate'.] | virus |
I have the impression that Italy has adopted some if not all the "Chinese playbook" on COVID-19, including a large scale lock-down. That may well be justified given that the number of new cases appears to be declining in China, something that the WHO has labelled "impressive". What I want to ask though: is there a more detailed "checklist" of measures contrasting how Italy and China's responses to the virus compare? E.g., what precise activities were restricted. | virus |
Like a lot of amateurs, I would like to see how well the evolution of Covid-19 is predictable. So I imported the data (here, for Italy) and fitted a logistic curve. Then I added the 90% and 95% confidence bounds. I got the following plot: Great. The next day, I updated my plot with the latest data and realized that the estimation was had been quite optimistic and the asymptote is now much increased (same scale in both pictures): Questions I understand that if the logistic model had been good, the next point should have been in the confidence range with a probability of 90% (or 95%). Can I conclude that the logistic model is not a good model here? Are there some standard procedures to assess the validity of the prediction by taking into account the uncertainty on the model? Also, the difference between the two asymptotes gives me an indication of the precision of the prediction (it is not off by 1 or by 10^5 but by about 500 deaths). Is there some classic methods to take this into account? Edit 21/03/2020: clarification in response to hakan's answer The model I fitted is $$\dfrac{c}{1 + a e^{-b x}}$$ and with $a=514434$, $b=-0.276$ and $c=5568$. Of course, this model is the same as @hakanc's, with a different parametrization (e.g. his $K$ corresponds to my $c$). The corresponding covariance matrix is $$\begin{bmatrix} 1.1\times 10^{10}& 641 & -2.5\times 10^7 \\ \star & 3.8\times 10^{-5} & -1.6\\ \star & \star & 80\times 10^3 \end{bmatrix}$$ I believe the low sensitivity to $c$ ($=K$) is described by the $(3,3)$ component of the covariance matrix, $\sigma=\sqrt{80\times 10^3}\approx 280$. So though I understand (and agree with) the argument of low sensitivity, I believe it is already included in the "confidence band". | virus |
My cat (approximately 16 years old, short hair, no specific breed, indoor cat) has been vomiting pretty much every day (sometimes multiple times) for almost a month. She had a scare with her kidneys about 2 years ago (elevated results of urea and creatine) and has had blood tests regularly since but her levels fell and have been good ever since. Her brother passed away a few years ago from stomach cancer, and he showed similar symptoms in the beginning but when we've taken her to the vets they've done X-Ray and ultrasound and other than a slight thickening of the stomach lining couldn't see any lumps or anything out of the ordinary. She has also had blood tests and everything looks fine, very good kidney results, no sign of liver issues, no sign of diabetes. She's been on antacids and laxatives from the vet (as much as we can get in her, she's not good with meds and gets very distressed) but they don't seem to be having any effect. When she's been in to the vets they sometimes give her an anti-nausea injection which stops her being ill for a few days and then it starts up again. She's also had antibiotics, dewormer, B12 and a steroid injection at various times. Any improvement is only temporary for a few days and then she starts vomiting again. She's a fussy eater and she gets dry food (Purina One, various flavours), tuna and white fish. Also occasionally ham. She won't eat much else. She gets sick mostly in the morning and we suspected Bilious Vomiting Syndrome, but she already has food down through the day and gets other regular food throughout the day too, including late at night and that hasn't improved anything. Most days she might be sick once (and it tends to be thick and dark brown, occasionally with food in or clumps of hair but mostly liquid) but sometimes it's two or three times. She's otherwise eating fine, drinking and urinating a normal amount and pooing regularly (not sure the laxative is making any difference). The vets seem to be a bit stumped and just keep telling us to give her the laxatives / antacid but there's obviously something else going on. The only major change recently is that we were giving her a glycosamine and mineral supplement for arthritis which we were mixing with milk to get her to take it as it was the only way to guarantee she'd take it all. We ran out of the first course a couple of weeks before she started getting sick and didn't get any more before she got ill, so it's been about six weeks since she had the supplement or any milk. We're really worried but don't know what else to do. Everything is also complicated by the fact we're in the UK and the country is on lockdown because of Coronavirus so while the vet is still open it's not easy to get an appointment. We're waiting on a stronger antacid from the vets and we're going | would |
I am wondering if President Trump has the constitutional authority to ban all remaining presidential primary elections in all the states in an effort to contain the Coronavirus outbreak? | would |
Does anyone know if a good anime sound bite repository exists? I know someone who is considering incorporating silly/hyperbolic/cute sound bites from various animes into her reviews as reactionary bits. Unfortunately YouTube doesn't allow sorting or searching clips by time length (of seconds) and I haven't seen too much on archive.org. I can't think of other good sources aside from manual extraction. | would |
A January 14 WHO tweet that has been widely re-broadcast months later by the right-wing US press (e.g. NYPost, WashExam but not exclusively by them, e.g. Bloomberg opinion piece, Politico o.p.) said that: Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China. The WHO is lampooned for this moment by the aforementioned media pieces, but these don't really say when the WHO came to a different conclusion regarding human-to-human transmission. So when did that happen, and what information source did the WHO use for the latter determination? | virus |
I am curious if there has ever been a (modern) clinical study where a healthy volunteer was purposefully infected with a pathogen in order to test the effectiveness of a therapeutic or preventative measure (like a vaccine)? If not, would the FDA allow for ethical exceptions in cases where there is an extreme case of urgency (like in a pandemic)? Obviously these would be willing volunteers who signed waivers, etc. So Nazi experimentation, the Tuskegee trial, and other studies without total consent from the participants wouldn't qualify here. Edit: Self-experimentation wouldn't qualify here either because the bioethics of self-experimentation are different than testing on others. | virus |
We would buy a mobile air purifier in our home. Against the smoke of the city, etc. It would have a HEPA + activated carbon filter. They are marketing it as: "filtration process captures 99.97% of airborne particles down to 0.1 micron in size." and having also: "encapsulated ion particle charging chamber" But the question: Would the mentioned filter+ion charger also help cleaning the air from bacteria and viruses? Ex.: "Coronavirus/2019-nCoV" is about "Coronavirus virions are spherical with diameters of approximately 125 nm" - but I just Googled it, not from an official source. And 0.1 micron is 100 nm. UPDATE: would it be more effective, if it would have UV-C light in the air purifier? | virus |
I'm an electronics engineer. I was thinking about how to detect the presence of COVID-19: Obtain the sample. Increment image/sample, (I need the real size to determine increment/magnification) Digital image processing — detect presence using artificial intelligence or Recognition. What is the approximate size of COVID-19? Is there a real image of COVID-19? | virus |
(lay person here) I have been following recent developments in DIY ventilator design, which are normally focussed on a contraption to send positive pressure in a controlled cycle. The counterargument against these initiatives is that modern ventilators are complex and do, among other things, aspiration of liquid from the lungs because patients are intubated. Intubation itself requires sedation for long periods, which brings it's own problems. Why is such intubation necessary. Why not have a well-sealed mask? | would |