China's New Outbreak Shows Signs the Virus Could Be Changing

[mfcorey1]

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese doctors are seeing the coronavirus manifest differently among patients in its new cluster of cases in the northeast region compared to the original outbreak in Wuhan, suggesting that the pathogen may be changing in unknown ways and complicating efforts to stamp it out.

Patients found in the northern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang appear to carry the virus for a longer period of time and take longer to test negative, Qiu Haibo, one of China’s top critical care doctors, told state television on Tuesday.


Patients in the northeast also appear to be taking longer than the one to two weeks observed in Wuhan to develop symptoms after infection, and this delayed onset is making it harder for authorities to catch cases before they spread, said Qiu, who is now in the northern region treating patients.

Second Waves That Are Hard to Trace Plague Asia’s Virus Recovery

“The longer period during which infected patients show no symptoms has created clusters of family infections,” said Qiu, who was earlier sent to Wuhan to help in the original outbreak. Some 46 cases have been reported over the past two weeks spread across three cities -- Shulan, Jilin city and Shengyang -- in two provinces, a resurgence of infection that sparked renewed lockdown measures over a region of 100 million people.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chinas-new-outbreak-shows-signs-the-virus-could-be-changing/ar-BB14leel?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

[janterry]

1. This is misleading

I was listening to a JAMA interview, and the experts there said - of course it is changing. If it wasn't - that would be the surprise.

I think, if I hadn't listened to the experts talking about it, I would have read this title and assumed that this was bad. It is what happens to a virus. The implication that it will defeat potential treatments and vaccines - the experts don't think that is the case.

HTH!

[Pacifist Patriot]

2. I fully expect viruses to mutate and to do so with relative ease.

The part that makes me jumpy is not an implication that it will defeat potential treatments and vaccines. It's the longer incubation and recovery times. I'm already afraid of getting this with my underlying pulmonary condition. The thought that it could take longer to recover, if I even do, is nothing short of terrifying to me.

[janterry]

3. I am also having a hard time calculating my risk

I am healthy, but middle aged with asthma (I saw data suggesting that asthma wasn't highly correlated with significantly poor outcomes - but, more than some, I know how hard it can be to breathe).

Plus, I have a teenager and I can't lock her up all summer because of me.

So, I hear the terrifying part. Very frightening.

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. I think that's where my terror comes from.

I already live with chronic sinus and lung congestion. I have coughing spells every day to clear out my lungs, primarily in the morning. I have cracked ribs in the past when bronchitis led to pneumonia. I have no idea how it feels to draw a breath without feeling like I have water in my lungs. The thought of having difficulty breathing with COVID-19 is the stuff of nightmares. I read one survivor's account and literally had a nightmare. First time in 27 years of marriage my husband woke me up from a bad dream because my thrashing and screaming woke him up.

But really. I'm a normal person. Usually. LOL!