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A thread full of good news
As mentioned in another thread, the coronavirus has a capability to spread exponentially, but human ingenuitys curve is faster and much steeper.
Heres a thread for some good news. Optimism has a variety of benefits, and one of them is boosting immunity.
Witness this story from Italy, which is in a rough spot right now. The ventilators at an Italian hospital werent working because they were out of a certain type of valve. These are of course in short supply.
So a local company that does 3D printing drove over, examined the valves, and was able to print working replacement valves.
By evening, at least 10 patients were on ventilators repaired with the 3D printed valves. The company will not charge the hospital a dime.
Amazing.
[link=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-italy-valves-idUSKBN2133D2]https://www.reuters.com/a…y-valves-idUSKBN2133D2[/link]
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2 Replies
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Good stuff. We’ll make it
Any death is tragic but the death rate continues its decline. 1.7%
3.5% a week ago. Data will show sub 1% soon. But more pain before that.Check in on your neighbors. Call or message. Be good to others. Don’t hoard. There is plenty for everyone as long as we are considerate
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In Seattle today, the first trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine began. It’s a first stage study of a vaccine that was developed in an incredibly short amount of time.
The science behind how they created it is pretty incredible. It uses mRNA, so patients cannot get infected since the viral material itself is not used in the vaccine.
It’s a much faster way of producing vaccines rather than using weakened versions of the virus itself, and as one researcher noted, going from barely knowing about the virus two months ago to having any sort of vaccine is an amazing accomplishment.
It will still likely take months to produce a vaccine in mass quantities as well as ensure its effectiveness and a lack of significant side effects, but still, this is an amazing thing in itself, will likely save lives as well as provide a massive amount of information and techniques for developing future vaccines.
Also of note are the volunteers. As one person said, We all feel so helpless. This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something.”
Good for them. Another example of people being great in a time of crisis.
[link=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/coronavirus-vaccine-test-opens-as-us-volunteer-gets-1st-shot/ar-BB11gCN6]https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/coronavirus-vaccine-test-opens-as-us-volunteer-gets-1st-shot/ar-BB11gCN6[/link] -
Quote from radgrinder
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I sense a simultaneous sipper, haha.
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Quote from Knob Creek Rye
Quote from radgrinder
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I sense a simultaneous sipper, haha.
Indeed! -
I saw this response, given by CS Lewis in 1948 when he was asked how can we live ourlives in the age of an atomic bomb.
i thought his answer is perfectly analgous to the corona virus.
His answer:
In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. How are we to live in an atomic age? I am tempted to reply: Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestorsanesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human thingspraying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of dartsnot huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.
On Living in an Atomic Age (1948) in [link=https://www.amazon.com/Present-Concerns-Journalistic-C-Lewis/dp/0062643592/?tag=thegospcoal-20][i]Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays[/i][/link]
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It’s gonna spread like wildfire in the US and halt the economy. Americans don’t even wear masks.
Why is this in the Radiology forum? -
Quote from comet tail
It’s gonna spread like wildfire in the US and halt the economy. Americans don’t even wear masks.
Why is this in the Radiology forum?
I don’t think anybody here is disputing that ^. I found that quote to be a good way to try to keep some perspective though.
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Its an excellent quote, raduser. CS Lewis gets better the older I get. I need to read some more.
An example of how people in Canada are practicing ideals that Lewis would approve of:
[link]https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51915723[/link]
Forming Facebook groups to support each other, particularly those who are isolated, scared or in need. People cooking meals for the elderly and disabled, bringing groceries to a single mother with a baby, and giving grocery store gift cards to people who lost their jobs.
Human beings have a great capacity for goodness and generosity even in times of crisis, and now we see that capability amplified many times over through an amazing technology like Facebook. This has lasting effects both during a crisis and after, as many people now know that they are not alone in the world and there is always someone out there willing to help.
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People willing, able & actually helping was never in doubt. Its human nature.
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Nice thread. Kudos to radg
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nice post!! thank you radg.
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I mean rad user!!
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In our field, it is interesting to note to how quickly valuable information can be obtained and disseminated across the globe.
One such contribution from our colleagues in China was received in mid-February and published online in the AJR at that time. In times past, it could take months for medical information and lessons learned in one part of the world to reach medical providers in another part of the world.
Now we have access to images and data that we can put to use immediately. Very appreciative of our friends in the Chinese medical departments and our journal staffs here for recognizing the importance of this kind of thing and communicating it quickly. There are several more, and I found this one to be a very good example in particular.
[link]https://www.ajronline.org/doi/10.2214/AJR.20.22976[/link]
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An open-label non-randomized clinical trial has some results coming out that a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin may help reduce viral load in people with COVID.
Below is an article that has what seems to be a fairly balanced look at this. One of the good things about this possibility is the relative abundance and inexpensive nature of both medications.
[link]https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/927033[/link]
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[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-18/kudlow-says-gm-ceo-offered-to-make-ventilators-for-outbreak?srnd=premium]GMs CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization[/link]
