JOE MOZINGOSTAFF WRITER MARCH 22, 2020 2:03 PM “The real situation is not as nearly as terrible as they make it out to be,” he said. Michael Levitt, a Nobel laureate and Stanford biophysicist, began analyzing the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide in January and correctly calculated that China would get through the worst of its coronavirus outbreak long before many health experts had predicted. Now he foresees a similar outcome in the United States and the rest of the world. While many epidemiologists are warning of months, or even years, of massive social disruption and millions of deaths, Levitt says the data simply don’t support such a dire scenario — especially in areas where reasonable social distancing measures are in place. “What we need is to control the panic,” he said. In the grand scheme, “we’re going to be fine.” Here’s what Levitt noticed in China: On Jan. 31, the country had 46 new deaths due to the novel coronavirus, compared with 42 new deaths the day before. Although the number of daily deaths had increased, the rate of that increase had begun to ease off. Essentially, although the car was still speeding up, it was not accelerating as rapidly as before. “This suggests that the rate of increase in number of the deaths will slow down even more over the next week,” Levitt wrote in a report he sent to friends Feb. 1 that was widely shared on Chinese social media. And soon, he predicted, the number of deaths would be decreasing every day. Three weeks later, Levitt told the China Daily News that the virus’ rate of growth had peaked. He predicted that the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in China would end up around 80,000, with about 3,250 deaths. This forecast turned out to be remarkably accurate: As of March 16, China had counted a total of 80,298 cases and 3,245 deaths — in a nation of nearly 1.4 billion people where roughly 10 million die every year. The number of newly diagnosed patients has dropped to around 25 a day, with no cases of community spread reported since Wednesday. A medical staff member disinfects equipment in a hospital ward that was used to treat patients with COVID-19. With cases falling, it will revert to being a public ward. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Now Levitt, who received the 2013 Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing complex models of chemical systems, is seeing similar turning points in other nations, even ones that did not instill the draconian isolation measures that China did. He analyzed 78 countries with more than 50 reported cases of COVID-19 every day and sees “signs of recovery.” He’s not looking at cumulative cases, but the number of new cases every day — and the percentage growth in that number from one day to the next. “Numbers are still noisy but there are clear signs of slowed growth.” Confirmed COVID-19 cases by country as of 6 p.m. Friday. Click to see the L.A. Times COVID-19 tracker. (Compiled by L.A. Times Graphics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Johns Hopkins CSSE, California Department of Public Health and reports from county public health officials.) In Iran, for instance, the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases remained relatively flat last week, from 1,133 on Monday to 1,148 on Friday. Of course, recovering from an initial outbreak doesn’t mean the virus won’t come back: China is now fighting to stop new waves of infection coming in from places where the virus is spreading out of control. Other countries are bound to face the same problem as well. SCIENCE How do you become infected with the coronavirus? March 22, 2020 Levitt acknowledges that his figures are messy, and that the official case counts in many areas are too low because testing is spotty. But even with incomplete data, “a consistent decline means there’s some factor at work that is not just noise in the numbers,” he said. The trajectory of deaths backs up his findings, he said. So do data from outbreaks in confined environments, such as the one on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Out of 3,711 people on board, 712 were infected and eight died. In his view, this unintended experiment in coronavirus spread will help researchers estimate the number of fatalities that would occur in a fully infected population. Levitt said the social-distancing mandates are critical — particularly the ban on large gatherings — because the virus is so new that the population has no immunity to it and a vaccine is still many months away. “This is not the time to go out drinking with your buddies.” SCIENCE Coronavirus tips: The dos and don’ts of social distancing March 18, 2020 Getting vaccinated against the flu is important because a coronavirus outbreak that strikes in the middle of a flu epidemic is much more likely to overwhelm hospitals and increases the odds that the coronavirus goes undetected. This was probably a factor in Italy, a country with a strong anti-vaccine movement, he said. But he also blames the media for causing unnecessary panic by focusing on the relentless increase in the cumulative number of cases and spotlighting celebrities who contract the virus. By contrast, the flu has sickened 36 million Americans since September and killed an estimated 22,000, according to the CDC, but those deaths are largely unreported. He fears the public health measures that have shut down large swaths of the economy could cause their own health catastrophe, as lost jobs lead to poverty and hopelessness. Time and again, researchers have seen that suicide rates go up when the economy spirals down. SCIENCE Why you should stop obsessing about coronavirus news, and how to do it March 11, 2020 The virus can grow exponentially only when it is undetected and no one is acting to control it, Levitt said. That’s what happened in South Korea, when it ripped through a closed-off cult that refused to report the illness. “People need to be considered heroes for announcing they have this virus,” he said. The goal needs to be better early detection — not just through testing but perhaps with body temperature surveillance, which China is implementing — and immediate social isolation. A guard holds a thermal gun to check the body temperature of visitors at the entrance of a restaurant area in Shanghai. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images) While the COVID-19 fatality rate appears to be significantly higher than that of the flu, Levitt says it is quite simply put, “not the end of the world.” Based on the experience of the Diamond Princess, he estimates that being exposed to the new coronavirus doubles a person’s risk of dying in the next two months. However, most people have an extremely low risk of death in a two-month period, and that risk remains extremely low even when doubled. “The real situation is not as nearly as terrible as they make it out to be,” he said.
Not trying to overly pretty up the situation, but no good news will be overlooked today either. If my dick falls off from all the bad news, I am going to pick it up and re-attach it. No help being requested, but thank you anyways. from BBC Coronavirus: South Korea reports lowest number of new cases in four weeks South Korea has reported the lowest number of new coronavirus cases since infection rates peaked four weeks ago, fuelling hope Asia's worst outbreak outside China may be abating. The country recorded 64 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 8,961 with 111 deaths. But health officials warn against complacency, saying the country still faces a long war against the infection. Europe is currently at the centre of the pandemic. Italy reported 651 new deaths on Sunday, bringing the total there to 5,476, while Spain added another 462 deaths in the past 24 hours for a total of 2,182.
Re: Italy,have spent a good deal of time there, once for 6 weeks. Older people all appeared to smoke like chimneys. Always a cig hanging in mouth , on table etc. They probably have damaged lungs. Same with Asians.
Okay fine, I guess. As the old lezbo Gertrude Stein said many years ago: "When it comes to sex, I don't care what people do as long as they don't scare the horses." Good thing these gals don't need to worry about that these days because there are not many horses out and about. Who says the lefties in Portland, Oregon don't know how to survive in the jungle?? You want fries with that? As an aside, y'all know that the funlovers of the world will create some pranks with this and call in an order to have it sent to their straight-laced boss or something so that four strippers show up when the wife answers the door. What the hell, gotta have a little fun in these times.
These numbers are complete horseshit. First, the virus has been running wild in the US since about December or so, which is also an estimate. Second, there's no way to tell how many people actually had it (again, the testing has only started recently). Third, does anyone believe India - next door to China is only 5 days into it with less than 200 cases? Sure, buddy.
I stopped watching at :10 when they said attractive women and those two velociraptors were walking carrying food