[itwasntme]

Bangalore Municipality formally mandates wearing of masks within its jurisdiction. Failure to comply will mean an automatic INR 1,000 fine.

Will go some way to control spread of infection when we reopen.

[Dr.Naren]

Current Status: Maharashtra

#MAHARASHTRA COVID-19 DATA MAY 1, 8.30 PM
*Cases, 24 hrs: 1008 (highest)
*Total cases: 11506
*Deaths, 24 hrs: 26
*Total deaths: 485

*Tests: 153,125
*Tests, 24 hrs: 7327

*Total recoveries: 1879 (106 new)

#MUMBAI DATA
Cases, 24 hrs: 751
Total cases: 7812
Total deaths: 295 (5 new)


Point to note: 1/7 tests are positive for Covid-19 today

[wheelguy]

Stats, by 5pm today:

[splitsecond]

Originally Posted by m8002?

Isnt this contrary to the information available in public domain( including from doctors in this very same forum ) that 80% of the people are asymptotic and wouldnt even know that they are infected. That means their immune system can easily combat the virus. Even among those infected, there is a large % of people who show mild symptoms and can be cured soon. Its a very small fraction who need intensive care.

No, asymptomatic patients are not immune to covid, its just that due to some unknown reason they are not showing symptoms, may be its their genetics or their immune system can fight better or viral load they got was less, studies going on..
Since covid is new virus every human is susceptible to it, so if the spread is unchecked 60 to 70% will get infected for sure.

Originally Posted by m8002?

You are free to believe what you want. But would appreciate if you can send us some links where they prove that this impacts 60% of the population as claimed.
.

Its called Herd immunity threshold, its calculated from Ro of covid, which is around 2.5. Vaccinations are based on that.

Originally Posted by alpha1

Hey has anyone found out what makes this virus so easy to spread and propagate as compared to common cold and seasonal flu?

You can be in the close company of person who has either of the two for days but still not catch. But in case of covid it appears as if all you need to do is to just breathe in the air which touched a patient.

Good observation, since its new virus, no one is immune, unlike common cold or seasonal flue to which some people have immunity, so that they dont get infected at all and in effect Breaking the chain.
Other reasons Ro of covid is around 2.5 which is more than flue/common cold, asymptomatic carriers are spreaders etc

[falconion]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Hey has anyone found out what makes this virus so easy to spread and propagate as compared to common cold and seasonal flu?

You can be in the close company of person who has either of the two for days but still not catch. But in case of covid it appears as if all you need to do is to just breathe in the air which touched a patient.

Normal body temperature is roughly 37 C

Common cold or seasonal flu the virus needs roughly 33 to 35 C to replicate or propagate, thus we only see infections of nose throat etc. which are at cooler temperature to rest of the body.

Whereas covid 19 replicates at 37 C itself, which allows it to replicate faster as it matches our body temp and can then spread to lungs or other parts of the body.

Note# covid 19s replication temp is taken from previous similar viruses of coronavirus family

[Dr.Naren]

Why there is such a huge difference between NDMA and MOHFW releases / State bulletin numbers ?

NDMA



http://gis.ndma.gov.in/arcgis/apps/sites/#/data

https://www.covid19india.org/



It looks like a mistake in NDMA data for me. For example, NDMA says 11 confirmed cases in Goa while the state government says nil cases since couple of weeks and all 7 cases are discharged.

[JithinR]

Has anyone here got their hands on a pulse oximeter, blood pressure monitor? I am thinking of getting these considering that this thing will probably be with us for quite a long while.

Was just reading through this article: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/02/h...gbr/index.html and thought I should have these at home.

I am not sure of which brands are reliable in India for the above two items. If someone here has purchased them in the past any guidance on the same is appreciated.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Has anyone here got their hands on a pulse oximeter, blood pressure monitor? I am thinking of getting these considering that this thing will probably be with us for quite a long while.

I suppose because I have been used to it all my life (My mum saying, "Temperature normal: yes, you are going to school!") I have always had a clinical thermometer. I consider this a household essential. Having a fever needs objective confirmation and measurement. I can feel lousy with little or no fever: as the temperature rises, I make my decision whether I need a doctor or not.

Hint: take your temperature a few times to find out what your normal is: mine is quite low: a full degree-F lower than "normal."

We have a blood-pressure monitor (Omron) in the house. My wife has high blood pressure and uses it. I have never had any blood-pressure issues, and don't.

Nearly thirty years ago, I had major chest surgery. When I came around in a room-full of equipment, the nurse pointed to the thing she clipped on my finger and said, "This is the most useful among all these things." Now we can get them from Amazon!

Yes, I would like one. Neat little gadget and not expensive. I think it is another thing that we can maybe-usefully use as a health monitor.

Let us pause to remember that only a small percentage of those who get corvid19 actually get seriously ill, and even fewer die. Done that? Good!

OK... Not forgetting that I was reading that a few people can go from symptomless to seriously ill very quickly and that it has been observed that the virus has caused them to have very low blood-oxygen levels without obvious respiratory illness. A pulse oximeter could alert one to this. Mind you, the same article mentioned that levels vary (like temperatures) and one should ideally get to know one's own normal.

NB: My comments are just the wondering of someone with no medical qualifications whatsoever.

[deetee]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

she clipped on my finger and said, "This is the most useful among all these things." Now we can get them from Amazon!

Yes, I would like one. Neat little gadget and not expensive.

Pulse oximeter is available as a sensor in some Samsung phones (S series and Note series ). I had a Samsung S7 earlier and it had the pulse oximeter at the back, beside finger print scanner.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Has anyone here got their hands on a pulse oximeter, blood pressure monitor? I am thinking of getting these considering that this thing will probably be with us for quite a long while.

Was just reading through this article: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/02/h...gbr/index.html and thought I should have these at home.

I am not sure of which brands are reliable in India for the above two items. If someone here has purchased them in the past any guidance on the same is appreciated.

Hi Jithin
I have been using this one since the past 4 years (since my Ladakh trip) and it works pretty well.
http://www.amazon.in/dp/B00TCIFFIS/r..._pOzREbMWEWEFT
A pulse oximeter is a good device to have during the corona pandemic and will show immediately if a person is in respiratory distress.
Normal blood Spo2 level should be greater than 95% . Anything lower than 90% for prolonged periods generally need hospitalization and oxygen, but that depends on overall health of the individual. (When we had gone to Leh (by Flight) when we landed the blood oxygen levels had fallen to 85 and we rested for a full day and then they went back to 95+)
I also have an Omron electronic BP meter and am happy with that too, but I have generally seen that electronic BP machines are not too accurate.

[Thermodynamics]

Music video by ARR, a fund raising effort towards PMcares fund.

https://youtu.be/JnoxxON1QHE

[mvadg]

Another sobering note on the SARS-COV2 vaccine. It may be a long wait. (Read the comments section, some interesting perspectives)

Nytimes article

[The Rationalist]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

I also have an Omron electronic BP meter and am happy with that too, but I have generally seen that electronic BP machines are not too accurate.

The practical blood pressure monitors like Manual and electronic have many limitations, but that is not the major problems. Before you check blood pressure make sure
1) Sit in a chair with back support and arm should be rested on a flat surface (Yep, as per a study > 90% of readings are taken in the wrong way!)
2. Don’t take blood pressure after having any activity (15 minutes rest at least)
3. Don’t take caffeinated drinks
4. Use the right cuff for the instrument, cuff is that part which is tightened above your elbow. Its length should be 80% of arm circumference.
5. Take multiple readings over the day as there is diurnal variation

-Blood pressure surges on arising, one reason why most Myocardial infarctions and stroke occur during early hours
- Home readings are always more reliable as in clinics most will have something called ‘White coat hypertension’ (Yep, doctors increase the blood pressure!)
- Electronic blood pressure monitors should be calibrated yearly, but I hardly see anyone doing that
- Blood pressure variations of 10-15 mm Hg are normal

[born_free]

I did a cluster analysis for the data at country level to find if we can fit the countries in distinct clusters based on below fields.

1. TotalCaserPerM
2. DeathsPerM
3. TestPerM
4. DeathRate

I used these fields as they are not absolute numbers which might otherwise not give true picture.

The data was used from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries as on date 2nd May 2020.

I used KMeans clustering algorithm on data using python scikit-learn library. I can share the GitHub link to the Jupyter notebook if anyone is interested.

Countries which had any of the above fields missing were removed. 151 countries data was used for doing the analysis.

Optimal number of clusters were identified using silhouette score and in this case it came out to be 3 . The aggregate results for all three clusters are shown below.


Cluster 0:
There are 15 countries belonging to this cluster. On an average the countries in this clusters show below characteristics

1. Highest total cases per million
2. Highest deaths per million
3. Moderate tests per million
4. Highest Death rate

These countries fared worst when it comes to handling the covid situation



Cluster 1:
There are 117 countries belonging to this cluster. On an average the countries in this clusters show below characteristics.

1. Lowest total cases per million
2. Lowest deaths per million
3. Lowest tests per million
4. Moderate Death rate

Majority of countries belong to this cluster including India, the deaths per million is low and so are the number of tests per million.
Only top countries with highest number of cases shown below.


Cluster 2:
There are 19 countries belonging to this cluster. On an average the countries in this clusters show below characteristics.

1. Moderate total cases per million
2. Low deaths per million
3. Highest tests per million
4. Lowest Death rate

It could be argued that these countries managed covid situation in best possible way.


Please note that there may be come countries which may lie at boundary of two clusters as some overlap will always be there.

The full list of countries with their clusters is attached as excel file.

[am1m]

Question for the doctors (all of whom have been such a refreshing source of facts and information on this and other covid-19 threads, heartfelt thanks!).

Are any lessons/learning from our country's experience with polio warranted? Or are the two completely different situations?

From my hasty reading and (very) limited understanding, I understand that polio was about as infectious/contagious as this one (I also understand that a direct comparison using the R0 number is not as simple as that), but it was obviously very serious and widespread during our grandparents' and parents' times, and even with a vaccine available and a committed drive, it still took a very long time to eradicate completely. Decades.

Obviously times are different, the way we create vaccines, the resources we can throw at an epidemic, awareness, etc. But the population situation remains. So just like polio, this is going to be with us for several years, not just 1 or 2, even after a vaccine is available, is that correct? So learning to live with it for a few years, I think is inevitable. Also I doubt anyone, however worried they are about this virus can remain super-cautious and vigilant for that long? So going about normal life is also inevitable even before a vaccine and before it is administered throughout the population?

(These are all just questions, based on my limited understanding, could be completely off-tangent here, would love to learn more.) Thanks in advance for your time.