Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

This seems like high stakes to me. For same reason I’m not visiting grandparents next week. Would defo postpone.

Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland!

Any links for this? I'd like to watch it

Fuck me, over 1,000 deaths in Italy now.

I watched it live on the BBC - some clips here but I can't find the full thing

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-51847128

I’m in a weird position I don’t think what we are doing is correct but I thought the CMO was very clear and sensical.
Bold call to go against the grain of what others are doing... longtime before we find out if it’s the right one.

Bold call to go against the grain of what others are doing... longtime before we find out if it’s the right one

Right up there with taking back control and separating ourselves from forins

Hmm it’s possible we and others don’t appreciate the final scale? Making judgements just on the present might not be the best.
Easy to look at a few thousands here and there but nothing on 60% of the world population etc.

Just been given an overdue and there obv out of date (only by a few days mind) coronavirus briefing by my manager.

Still very much in ‘blame the forrins’ mode. As I’ve not been to China or Italy I’ll be totally fine!

FFS.

He isn't. He is a Growth, Product and Marketing leader though.

Vitamin D is necessary for proper immune function. Most people in Britain don't have enough.

A very credible study found that taking vitamin D supplements helps protect against acute respiratory infections including colds and flu "...and could have major implications for public health policy".

COVID-19 is an acute respiratory infection.

What am I missing?

That's too soon. They've obviously not been listening to the Chief Medical Officer.

If the peak isn't for another 10-14 weeks (according to Government experts) what are your firms intending to do for the next 3 months?

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Not sure if a boosted immune system is all good.

Only decades later were scientists able explain the phenomenon now known as “cytokine explosion.” When the human body is being attacked by a virus, the immune system sends messenger proteins called cytokines to promote helpful inflammation. But some strains of the flu, particularly the H1N1 strain responsible for the Spanish flu outbreak, can trigger a dangerous immune overreaction in healthy individuals. In those cases, the body is overloaded with cytokines leading to severe inflammation and the fatal buildup of fluid in the lungs.

Also. Took my mum shopping earlier and now she texted me saying she felt kind of off. Fuck.

Boom. Been on 6,000 iu’s a day for years.

See you all on the other side.

We've just been told that we should work from home for the rest of the month.

Prog on later r4 with bods that Know

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000g3gf

Until you provided the paper, quite a lot.
It's a meta analysis, which is good as it brings together the results of lots of trials. Publishing caveat: only positive results are published. Very few negative results are. So as the authors say, there may be a huge negative study out there but they haven't seen the results. But they think their analysis is robust enough.

The greatest benefit is in those with really low (guessing malnutrition levels?) And those taking a weekly dose. Theres no point banging it down now and hoping it'llprovide some benefit.

It's not a vaccine. It shouldn't be pushed as "this is protective" by people on here. Evidence suggests it might be a good thing, from this trial, in areas of malnutrition (which could include the UK true) but there are conflicting data out there in the subject area.

Is it ethical to suggest taking vitamin d will protect you from a cough or cold? Perhaps not.
Is it ethical to suggest, based on this analysis (and not a randomised clinical trial) that vitamin d will protect you from covid 19? Probably not.

Will there be any harm in taking it? Only if you take too much (which is quite a lot).

Is it ethical to suggest a randomised clinical trial of taking vitamin d during covid 19? Probably not.
What about another clinical trial?
Quite probably. How would you do it?

Does anyone on here actually know someone with Covid-19? Cant recall anyone saying so.
Would like to compare now and a fortnight.

What I have said a few times up thread.

@Stonehedge one for you to reply to ;)

Yes

Vitamin D info from gov.uk https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-get-vitamin-d-from-sunlight/

We need vitamin D to help the body absorb calcium and phosphate from our diet. These minerals are important for healthy bones, teeth and muscles.

In the UK, sunlight doesn't contain enough UVB radiation in winter (October to early March) for our skin to be able to make vitamin D.

During these months, we rely on getting our vitamin D from food sources (including fortified foods) and supplements.

Some groups of the population are at greater risk of not getting enough vitamin D.

The Department of Health recommends that these people should take daily vitamin D supplements to make sure they get enough.

These groups are:

all babies from birth to 1 year old (including breastfed babies and formula-fed babies who have less than 500ml a day of infant formula)
all children aged 1 to 4 years old
people who aren't often exposed to the sun (for example, people who are frail or housebound, or are in an institution such as a care home, or if they usually wear clothes that cover up most of their skin when outdoors)
For the rest of the population, everyone over the age of 5 years (including pregnant and breastfeeding women) is advised to consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms (μg) of vitamin D.

But the majority of people aged 5 years and above will probably get enough vitamin D from sunlight in the summer (late March/early April to the end of September), so you might choose not to take a vitamin D supplement during these months.

How do I break up the quotes?

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https://ihlayanews.com/first-reported-case-of-coronavirus-in-south-africa-turns-out-to-be-a-hangover/

Edit: In hindsight this may be Africa's Daily Mash.