Coronavirus - why you need to watch the Diamond Princess

What do you think would constitute a "good test case"?

I see that may be taken as being snarky, but that isn't the intention at all.

To me, a closed system wherein the non-symptomatic spreaders have those to who they spread contained, is the most logical method of ascertaining the two giant questions we have from the total misinformation coming from China.

Those questions:

1) How transmissible is this actually among people not confined to the same living quarters, but in close proximity like a work place or shopping scenario?

2) What are the rates relating to severity of the infection? What percentages with stipulated demographics manifest in a) testing positive b) having symptoms c) having severe symptoms d) mortality from the virus.

I'll admit that I have a lot more questions, but those appear to be the two most important questions.

They are all being exposed in similar fashion. Yes, there may be variables as in the couple 2 doors down became symptomatic versus people two floors up became symptomatic.

I realize fully how horrific it would be to be kept in an effective floating prison with an invisible killer roaming seemingly at will. I get the optics, and I get the empathy, too.

But we all have to have answers. It's without a doubt all around the world by now. Maybe Antarctica hasn't been exposed, but every other continent has, if not every country.

To me, having these answers may be the very critical difference between complete and total breakdown of ALL civilization, and the understanding that this is going to be difficult, but we have a path to moving beyond this....Which could very well save humanity.

This ship was delivering the real numbers, so governments rushed to get people out of there before the dead started to appear.

Agreed - BUT - what if it is airborne and the ship's internal air-ventilation system is spreading it to the people isolated in cabins?

Plus, the people with outside decks are allowed outside, and they talk to their neighbours with only a couple of feet separating them.

Aren't only some guests getting the strict quarantine?

I think they have been using cruise ships for testing for some time. Norovirus.

I have serious doubts about the asymptomatic spread in the early stages of infection. Viruses first infect the host and then multiply rapidly, as soon as that happens you see an immune response in the infected and the infected then begin to shed virus. How can this virus be so different in that respect?

I think the asymptomatic spreading may be due to the HIV components of the engineered virus. Retroviruses are often communicable when asymptomatic.

The lab rats are all infected, it was a perfect Petri Dish.

Today they are reporting 2 dead on the Diamond Princess Cruise ship.

[link to gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com (secure)]

634 confirmed cases on the ship, 1 recovered.

the ship holds 3700 passengers and crew

Cambodia let them all go, to all ports of entry to fly home...Yiks!!!

The floating petri dish (Diamond Princess) stats.. out of 3700 crew and passengers, about 700 became infected and symptomatic, 7 died. Over half have recovered after several weeks of initial exposure. Several passengers were elderly (initial passenger from Hong Kong was 80).

That comes out about 20% became sick, and .2% death rate. This out of all the passengers exposed under optimal spread/exposure conditions (on a cruise ship).