Alan B wrote:Sanitizing gel. I just bought some at Boots. It contains 70% Ethanol which is OK. I also have some sanitizing gel which uses Propaniol (iso-propyl alcohol). Do all alcohols kill off this virus? Methanol, Butanol, etc.?

Despite the two pathogens' similarities, they are not behaving in the same way as we compare the current outbreak of COVID-19 to that of the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003. A recent and very detailed Twitter thread from Peter Kolchinksy, virologist and author of The Great American Drug Deal, gives an in-depth account as to why the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen is a "nastier" virus than that which caused SARS. The answers reveals why adhering to physical (social) distancing guidelines is so essential in halting the spread of this deadly pathogen.

Keep It Real wrote:EDIT: actually, no, scratch that. He merely hypothesised that the SARS2 virus "might" linger in the throat in a different way than SARS1 (for some people?). No evidence it does, so the blame for the pandemic status of SARS2 still resides firmly with humanity's unhealthy obsessive addiction to air-travel, in my book at least. The reason there are several times as many (reported) fatalities and cases in China compared to SARS1? Increased travel infrastructure (roads/cars/planes), hindering localised containment, and also increased testing/diagnosese since 2002/3.

Keep It Real wrote:My saying "humanity's unhealthy obsessive addiction to air-travel" was inspired by/a response to YOUR (fellto) posting that I, KIR, have an "unhealthy obsession with air travel." Congratulations ; )

ETA: by my count, I haven't flown for abt 20 years. Me? Obsessed? hahaha

Spearthrower wrote:Like everything viewed without gross simplification; there are pros and cons. While any given person might not fly, they invariably benefit from the existence of long-distance travel in the wide selection of goods available to them all year round.

SCIENCE
The Best Hopes for a Coronavirus Drug
If there is a way to stop COVID-19, it will be by blocking its proteins from hijacking, suppressing, and evading humans’ cellular machinery.

SARAH ZHANG
APRIL 8, 2020

theropod_V_2.0 wrote:If tigers can become infected with this virus is there a possibility that all cats can? If all cats can then could they also be a repository? How many other species could be infected?

RS

...
Some media reports have shown that the coronavirus can infect our companion animals -- and more exotic species like tigers and lions -- but cases are rare. It appears that transmission of the disease from human to animal is low, and there's no reason to think you might catch the disease from a feline friend who has been wandering the neighborhood. The World Health Organization states there is "no evidence that a dog, cat or any pet can transmit COVID-19."
...
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/coronavirus-and-pets-how-covid-19-affects-cats-and-dogs/

The coronavirus may be “reactivating” in people who have been cured of the illness, according to Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 51 patients classed as having been cured in South Korea have tested positive again, the CDC said in a briefing on Monday. Rather than being infected again, the virus may have been reactivated in these people, given they tested positive again shortly after being released from quarantine, said Jeong Eun-kyeong, director-general of the Korean CDC.

“While we are putting more weight on reactivation as the possible cause, we are conducting a comprehensive study on this,” Jeong said. “There have been many cases when a patient during treatment will test negative one day and positive another.”

...

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is the causative agent of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease pandemic. Initial estimates of the early dynamics of the outbreak in Wuhan, China, suggested a doubling time of the number of infected persons of 6–7 days and a basic reproductive number (R0) of 2.2–2.7. We collected extensive individual case reports across China and estimated key epidemiologic parameters, including the incubation period. We then designed 2 mathematical modeling approaches to infer the outbreak dynamics in Wuhan by using high-resolution domestic travel and infection data. Results show that the doubling time early in the epidemic in Wuhan was 2.3–3.3 days. Assuming a serial interval of 6–9 days, we calculated a median R0 value of 5.7 (95% CI 3.8–8.9). We further show that active surveillance, contact tracing, quarantine, and early strong social distancing efforts are needed to stop transmission of the virus.