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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Coronavirus traces in Massachusetts sewage hint at much higher levels of infection than official numbers |
| 2020-04-10 |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Research carried out by biotech startup Biobot Analytics found more traces of the pathogen than expected in the waste water, considering the number of confirmed cases in the area. The findings suggested there could be as many as 2,300 people infected with the virus in the region. At the time the study was taken in mid to late March, there were 446 confirmed cases in the area, according to the researchers. A team of scientists from startup Biobot Analytics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT,) Harvard University, and Brigham and Women's Hospital tested water at an urban treatment facility over the course of seven days from March 18- They found higher quantities of the virus than predicted. Eric Alm, one of the authors of the study, told Newsweek: 'At Biobot, we have been using wastewater based epidemiology to generate data on the opioid crisis in the US... 'Even if those viral particles are no longer active or capable of infecting humans, they may still carry genetic material that can be detected using an approach called PCR (polymerase chain reaction,) which amplifies the genetic signal many orders of magnitude creating billions of copies of the genome for each starting virus.' The state of Massachusetts has 18,941 confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease, as of Thursday. The death toll stands at 503, the state Department of Public Health announced. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #16 Latest German study shows that probably only 6% of infections are actually detected. This is the study European Conservative refers to, above. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-04-10 15:56 |
| #15 Could be but [Daily Mail, where America gets |
| Posted by: Woodrow 2020-04-10 15:31 |
| #14 😅 |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-04-10 14:25 |
| #13 In this case, Lex - it's a literal shitshow! |
| Posted by: Raj 2020-04-10 14:05 |
| #12 Raj's Rule assumes that news coverage in this country = Shitshow. A wise assumption. |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-04-10 13:59 |
| #11 Remember Raj's Rule for Reading anything in any newspaper or online - when you read a story, the question that must always be asked is this - 'how are these cock$ucking bastards lying to me now'? A brief Google search on the underlying number of these plants throughout Mass. leads me to believe this story suffers from misrepresentation and / or omission of accompanying facts. |
| Posted by: Raj 2020-04-10 13:37 |
| #10 ...tested water at an urban treatment facility over the course of seven days from March 18- One fucking plant? Which plant are they talking about? There are at least 1,000 certified wastewater treatment plants in Mass, and I'm trying to identify the major ones, of which there seem to be at least 20 throughout the state. If I had to bet they're sampling from Nut Island in Boston and if that's the case, they're talking about the immediate region of Boston. This would skew, in my opinion, the results of the test (either by accident or design) by leaving the rest of the state out. Huge grain of salt on this one. |
| Posted by: Raj 2020-04-10 13:32 |
| #9 highly contagious disease, So it is said, especially when coupled with "deadly coronavirus". But if it is highly contagious, then it's not very deadly. So far. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2020-04-10 13:28 |
| #8 Of course. But if only 6% of infected people are actually detected, this has consequences for the death rate. Also, if you do a comparison by country: The methods differ and only per capita rates should be used for comparison. Sweden still has a lower per capita rate of infections than Norway and Denmark (strict lockdown), but a much higher death rate. OTOH Sweden has tested far less people per capita than Norway and Denmark, so the rate of infections is probably much higher. If so, Sweden doesn't look that good any more with its relatively relaxed approach. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-04-10 13:07 |
| #7 #6 But the light form can still infect others - do the math. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-04-10 12:45 |
| #6 Latest German study shows that probably only 6% of infections are actually detected. Do the math. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-04-10 12:38 |
| #5 #4 Well UK wasn't spooked in the beginning. So weren't Italy & Netherlands. Sweden still not spooked. Israel was spooked. Germany was spooked. Care to compare & contrast? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-04-10 12:36 |
| #4 hint at much lower levels of fatality than official numbers... So what spooked the world into shutting down? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2020-04-10 12:28 |
| #3 Will they use camera snakes to I.D. all these infected people ? I'm seeing some synergism with that AI bunghole recognition story we had the other day. OK, "seeing" is the wrong word... |
| Posted by: SteveS 2020-04-10 11:31 |
| #2 TOILET TRACING.... Will they use camera snakes to I.D. all these infected people ? |
| Posted by: crazyhorse 2020-04-10 10:49 |
| #1 Good, it means most people get it in light form. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-04-10 10:46 |