Tag: coronavirus

Here is what the founder of the Shincheonji church had to stay about the spread of the virus through his church in Daegu:

Lee Man-hee, founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, issued an apology Monday as his secretive sect is investigated for manslaughter for refusing to cooperate to stop the deadly coronavirus outbreak.  

“Regarding the mass infections linked to Patient No. 31, I, as the leader of Shincheonji, offer a sincere apology to the people,” said Lee, 88, in a press conference. “We had no intention [to allow it], but many were infected. We did our best, but we could not completely stop [the spread of the disease]. I apologize to the people.”

After Patient No. 31, a 61-year-old woman and a Shincheonji follower in Daegu, was diagnosed last month, health officials said she may have helped spread the disease. As of Monday morning, 3,260 infections were reported in Daegu and nearby North Gyeongsang. 

In his first public appearance since the church emerged as a nexus in the outbreak, Lee, who founded the controversial doomsday sect in 1984, said Shincheonji is “actively cooperating” with the government and all gatherings of the followers have been stopped. “We will do our best to offer all human and material resources to the government,” he said. 

After reiterating apologies and begging for forgiveness from the government, Lee dropped to his knees and touched his head to the ground twice. “Now is not the time to investigate who is at fault,” he said, “and heaven will help us.” He also asked the public not to “misjudge” his followers. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but Lee Man-hee seems a bit shall I say not all there. However, prosecuting this guy for manslaughter seems to be political to me, unless the church was intentionally spreading the virus which I have seen no evidence of.

All the best to this family in South Korea:

A 45-day-old baby has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, health authorities here said Sunday, becoming the youngest patient in South Korea. 

Health authorities said the baby boy, born on Jan. 15, 2020, tested positive for COVID-19 after their parents had contracted the virus. 

According to the authorities, the baby’s father first tested positive for the novel coronavirus last Thursday.

The baby and her mother have entered self-quarantine at their house in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, after doctors said they are in good condition. Health authorities said they will transfer them to a hospital after monitoring their health situation.

Korea Times

This news caused me to wonder how at risk children are to be infected with the coronavirus? Below is an excerpt from an interview the Harvard Gazette recently did with one of the university’s epidemiologists about this topic:

GAZETTE: What do we know about for sure about how children are affected by this virus?

LIPSITCH: We know that the cases of children sick enough to get tested is much lower per capita than those of adults. And we also know that, in China outside of Hubei province, the difference between children and adults is smaller. Children are still underrepresented, but they’re a larger part of the total than inside Hubei province. That would suggest that part of the equation is that they are getting infected but they’re not that sick — it’s easier to identify less-severe cases in a system that’s not overwhelmed as it is in Hubei. But we don’t know whether they’re infected and not as sick or whether there are a lot of kids that aren’t getting infected even when they’re exposed.

Harvard Gazette

Here is some more interesting information from the interview:

GAZETTE: You mentioned children having been hit only lightly by this. What about other parts of the population? What do we know about the impact of this from a demographic standpoint?

LIPSITCH: It’s definitely the case that the older you are, the more at risk of getting infected you are and, if you get symptomatic infection, the more at risk of dying you are. Men also seem to be overrepresented among those getting severe illness. The reasons why are a really important research question. One thing that also needs to be looked at is the impact on health-care workers because they are at high risk of getting infected, and I would like to know whether they’re at higher risk of getting severe infection. Some of the anecdotal cases of young physicians dying make me wonder whether they’re exposed to a higher dose and that’s making them sicker.

It appears that along with an elderly age and preexisting medical conditions, that men are more susceptible of being infected with the virus.

With news like this, people need to make sure they practice good hygiene when at Incheon International Airport:

A Chinese student who is self-quarantined at a dormitory associated with Catholic Kwangdong University has tested positive for coronavirus, the first Chinese citizen to do so on Korean soil. 

The school and the Gangwon Province government announced the case on Sunday. 

The student, 22, is being treated at Gangwondo Samcheok Medical Center. 

The student entered the country on Feb. 22 on a flight that left Shenyang Taoxian International Airport at 11:15 a.m. and landed at Incheon International Airport at 2:20 p.m. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The coronavirus continues to spread in South Korea, mostly from the Shincheonji church members that were exposed to it:

After the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections surged to nearly 4,000 Sunday, the government said it would revise virus-response measures to prioritize hospitalization of those with severe symptoms. 

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 here reached 3,736 with 20 reported fatalities as of 10 p.m., with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and Daegu City Government reporting 731 additional infections.

Of the 731, more than 70 percent are linked to the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. The KCDC said that the latest fatalities involved those who had been waiting to be hospitalized, while the 18th was a male Daegu resident aged 83 who had also suffered a stroke and had hypertension.

An 86-year-old woman, who had been in self-quarantine at her residence while waiting to be hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19, was transferred to a hospital early Sunday but died due to dyspnea, according to the Daegu City Government. She also suffered from diabetes and hyperlipidemia.

Another victim was an 80-year-old man who had been to a clinic in the neighboring county of Chilgok. The man, who also suffered from hypertension, tested positive Friday and had been hospitalized.

Korea Times

The fatalities continue to come from the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions. Younger and healthier people seem to be able to recover from this virus.

Due to the spread of the virus, now 79 countries have travel restrictions in place on South Korea.

South Korea has reported 813 new cases bringing the total to 3,150 people infected, mostly in the Daegu area. This number is only going to continue to rise as more of the Shincheonji church members are tested. Of these cases 17 have died. Here is the most interesting news from the article:

The country also reported its first case of reinfection by the new coronavirus, with a 73-year-old woman testing positive for the novel coronavirus for a second time, even after being released from quarantine.

Yonhap

This seems potentially scary, but the article did not provide any context though on what this means. Here is an article I found that provides some context:

“Everyone, by the time they reach adulthood, should have some immunity to some coronavirus,” said Tim Sheahan, a coronavirus researcher at University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. But because it doesn’t last, older people can get reinfected. The elderly also have a higher death rate from coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS, a pattern 2019-nCoV is following.

“There is some evidence that people can be reinfected with the four coronaviruses and that there is no long-lasting immunity,” Dr. Susan Kline, an infectious disease specialist at of the University of Minnesota. “Like rhinoviruses [which cause the common cold], you could be infected multiple times over your life. You can mount an antibody response, but it wanes, so on subsequent exposure you don’t have protection.” Subsequent infections often produce milder illness, however.

The common-cold-causing coronaviruses are different enough that an infection from one won’t produce immunity to another. But the novel coronavirus overlaps enough with SARS that survivors of the 2002-3003 outbreak might have some immunity to the new arrival,  Sheahan said: “Is it enough to prevent infection? I don’t know.”

Stat News

The coronavirus is similar to the common cold virus to where people can build limited immunity, but can still catch it again; especially older people with weaker immune systems.

It seems that the coronavirus is following this same pattern. The article goes on to speculate that COVID-19 could go on and just become the fifth form of seasonal coronaviruses that appear during the colder months. However, according to the article there is much still unknown about this virus that requires further research.

It would be interesting to see complete statistics from South Korea in regards to the ages and health status of those infected with the coronavirus. That would help determine how much more older people and those with preexisting health conditions are at risk of contracting the virus than younger people.

If the virus does spread in North Korea it will be interesting to see if the Kim regime even admits to its spread or not:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned top party officials of the “serious consequences” of failing to prevent an outbreak of the new coronavirus in the country, state media reported Saturday.

The impoverished nation, with a weak and ill-equipped healthcare system, has closed its borders to prevent the spread of the disease into its territory.

Kim told a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea that the fight against the virus was a “crucial state affair for the defence of the people” that required maximum discipline, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“In case the infectious disease spreading beyond control finds its way into our country, it will entail serious consequences,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Two senior officials — party vice-chairmen Ri Man Gon and Pak Thae Dok — were sacked, and a party unit disbanded for corruption, the report said, indicating that they may have been involved in graft linked with the anti-epidemic measures.

“No special cases must be allowed,” he added, and ordered officials to “seal off all the channels and space through which the infectious disease may find its way”.

AFP

You can read more at the link.

All the best to this family as they deal with a difficult health situation now affecting the entire family:

The wife of an American soldier who tested positive for the new coronavirus also has been infected, the military said Saturday as the total number of confirmed cases in South Korea soared past 3,000.

The soldier was the first U.S. service member to contract the pneumonia-like illness, which has spread rapidly since first appearing in China late last year.

His wife and their baby were transported from Daegu to an isolation unit at Camp Humphreys where the soldier also is being held, officials said.

The woman had been in self-quarantine since Wednesday, when her husband tested positive, according to U.S. Forces Korea. She also was confirmed to have the virus earlier Sunday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.