Coronavirus: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Human beings are a virus, a disease, a cancer of this planet.
- Agent Smith from The Matrix
Unsurprising to scientists who study zoonotic viruses, bats are reservoirs for more than 60 viruses that can infect humans. They host even more per species than rodents which harbor around 68 zoonotic viruses.
These novel viruses can emerge from a nonhuman animal and possibly after passing through another creature as well.
In December 2019, a series of pneumonia cases of unknown cause emerged in Wuhan, Hubei, China, with clinical presentations resembling viral pneumonia. In-depth sequencing analysis from lower respiratory tract samples indicated a novel coronavirus, which was provisionally named novel coronavirus 2019 (nCoV-2019).
Since January 2, 2020, the three levels of WHO (China country office, Regional Office for the Western Pacific, and global headquarters) have been working together to respond to this outbreak of the new virus.
In January 2020, Zheng-Li Shi and her colleagues announced the zoonotic viruses found in bats were 96 percent identical to the Wuhan virus detected in humans.
On February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) tweeted COVID-19 as the official name of the disease. The novel Coronavirus, now called SARS-CoV-2, causes the disease COVID-19. The COVID-19 outbreak has emerged in China and spread to countries around the world.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the rapidly spreading Coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Despite continuous efforts, significant gaps and challenges exist in global pandemic preparedness.
COVID-19 is a new disease, and the authorities across the globe are actively learning how it spreads, the severity of illness it causes, and to what extent it may spread.
Let’s run the numbers to assess how bad the Coronavirus is.
At first glance, COVID-19 does not seem like a huge problem compared to Ebola, the flu, SARS, or the MERS outbreak. However, there are a few more components that make a disease a threatening global pandemic.
You need to take into account how the virus spreads and when the symptoms begin to appear. COVID-19 spreads through small droplets, and some preliminary reports do not rule out spreading through the air. Once on a surface, the virus can live for 2–3 days, which provides more than enough time for someone to come into contact with it.
COVID-19 symptoms become noticeable anywhere between 2–14 days from the time of infection, but people become contagious as soon as they contract the virus. Even though SARS is a significantly more fatal virus, an infected person becomes contagious after showing some symptoms, which allows them time to take the necessary precautions.
Taking all aspects of COVID-19 into consideration, it becomes more apparent as to why this is causing fear and worry on a global scale.
I am a high school junior from the Bay Area uncertain about what will happen in the following few months. Schools are closing across the country, and my high school is no different. So, I thought I would take this opportunity to hone my research skills by writing about a current global issue.
My goal is to attempt to separate the noise and fear from the reality surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic through crowdsourced input from around the world.
There are several ways to break down this issue, but I chose the mind mapping approach to explore the ubiquitous topic and to attempt to invoke a global discussion.
Current Situation
Can the Incubation Period be up to 24 days?
Treatment
Race To Vaccine as of March 14, 2020
Being Informed
Do we Know About Seasonality Impact on Novel Corona?
Relief for families impacted by school closure
Concepts
Incubation Period, Latent Period and Infectious Period
Flattening the Curve & Social Distancing
How Stock Market Affects Economy?
Technology
How China Built a Hospital in 10 Days
Can Data Science and AI replace expert epidemiologist or serve as a tool in helping them?
Four ways the government can use AI to track Coronavirus
Digital Disease Detection — HealthMap
Alibaba’s AI-powered diagnosis system
Bluedot’s Infectious Disease Surveillance
Google’s DeepMind accelerates protein makeup of the virus
BenevolentAI accelerates journey from data to medicine
SenseTime identifies people who might have a fever
Health Code, a public monitoring system
Insilico Medicine uses AI to find molecules to fight Coronavirus
National Institutes of Health Vaccine Development Strategy
Sonovia arm the Healthcare System professionals
Ocean Robotics kill Bacteria and Viruses
Pudu Technologies Disinfecting Robots
Leadership
US Federal Government Response
Indian PM Interaction with SAARC Leaders
Awareness Campaign in South Africa
Can some of the leaders cause a second wave of pandemic despite the current efforts across the globe to contain the current (first) stream, or should they act responsibly?
Stunning Supercut Exposes Fox News’ Dangerous Hypocrisy on Coronavirus
Indian Politician — Chief Minister of AP-State
South Korean self-proclaimed Messiah Asking for Forgiveness
Iran downplayed But Then Got Sick
Is this Misinformation?
Are these Really Predictions?
Is it a prediction, or were they better Informed, had better access to epidemiologists, dedicate time to global-scale problems, and shared logical conclusion?
Bill Gates in 2015: The next outbreak? We’re not ready
Beliefs
Is this a Prophecy, or they did some research?
God Has An Answer for the Coronavirus — Joseph Prince Prophesied The Coronavirus In 2018
Will this prevent it?
To Prevent from Corona Virus Sri Sakthi Amma Blessed the Devotees to Chant this Mantra Every Day
Social Disruption
Concerns arise over the mental health impact of isolation
Panic Buying — Is the non-perishability and sense of safety leading to “Toilet Paper” Syndrome?
Economic Disruption
Global Impact Due to Supply Chain Disruption
Wall St. Market Volatility — Financial Market on March 16, 2020
Global Market Financial Market on March 16, 2020
Global Trade and the Phase One U.S.-China Trade Deal
Market Outlook in China and the United States
Political Disruption
Trump declares national emergency over COVID-19
Creativity
Songs
Dance
Movies
Jokes
Did Asterix And Simpsons Predict Coronavirus?
Mockery
How you can help?
Unquestionably, this is an evolving situation. We, humans, are born irrational and grow under the influence of cognitive bias. But times have taught us that two things make humankind special: adaptability and grit.
