Coronavirus 2019-2020 thread (no unsubstantiated rumours!)

[Mt1701d]

Have the Italians come out with the full decoding of the virus genome? It's possibly very telling in terms of the variant of the virus and where it first appeared in the timespan of the appearance of the virus.

It's interesting to note that the first genome of the virus in Wuhan that was decoded in China is the variant B type and samples of the variant A type (which is the parent of type B) was only found later around the world during the course of the pandemic.

I think the Italians have been reporting genomes for a while.

The problem with variants argument is the assumptions used. The variant A, B and C argument from the UK study is based on the the assumption that the bat variant is the starting variant. The west have already tried to discredit the study saying that the assumption of initial variant should be based on the variant first discovered in China.

 

[Intrepid]

Frozen meat are not being cooked right away. They are defrosted, cut to pieces and sold as retail. The cutting board gets infected, Butcher/cutter gets infected. And eventually customer gets infected directly from butcher or through handling the meat before cooking.

May be, the same reason why slaughterhouses are hotspots? Additionally to the living conditions of the workforce?

 

[Dolcevita]

May be, the same reason why slaughterhouses are hotspots? Additionally to the living conditions of the workforce?

Exactly. This is just an extension of the infected slaughterhouse after meat are defrosted. Anyone who handle the meat thereafter before cooking run the risk of being infected. Handle frozen meat with care. wash hands and disinfect surfaces often.

 

[plawolf]

How effective would ultraviolet light disinfection work at combating COVID19 in frozen foods?

Obviously it would only work on surface areas without defrosting, but that could be made to work if packaging regulations were introduced requiring food to be packaged in such a way that all surfaces would be able to be reached by UV disinfection lights.

 

[solarz]

I don't know if it's still like this, but from what I remember, Chinese supermarkets sell meat unwrapped and anyone can go pick it up and inspect it, which is obviously very unsanitary.

 

[AndrewS]

How effective would ultraviolet light disinfection work at combating COVID19 in frozen foods?

Obviously it would only work on surface areas without defrosting, but that could be made to work if packaging regulations were introduced requiring food to be packaged in such a way that all surfaces would be able to be reached by UV disinfection lights.

How well does UV light travel through the ice on the surface of a food product?
And does the ice have dirt or other contaminants which would block UV rays?

I think we may be looking at the end of frozen/chilled food imports into China for the foreseeable future

 

[AndrewS]

May be, the same reason why slaughterhouses are hotspots? Additionally to the living conditions of the workforce?

It's the overall environment.

1. The slaughterhouses are kept cold, so all viruses survive for a longer time.
2. In cold conditions, human bloodflow (and therefore antibodies) is redirected to the body core rather than to the extremities like the nose for example.

 

[AndrewS]

I don't see what the point of that would be. From the information available, human-to-human transmission seems to be by far the biggest cause of the virus spreading. I'm not aware that food stuffs are a significant vector, and if they were you'd probably need to the same with all exports and imports.

Besides, you can spray fruit that has a disposable husk with an antiseptic spray. You'd just need to wash them afterwards with plenty of water.

You seem to have missed that human-to-human transmission was virtually eliminated in China.
And China has imposed severe restrictions and monitoring on people travelling from abroad.

So once the existing transmission chain is broken, the biggest vector would be frozen/chilled foodstuffs imported into China.

And also remember that China can go without imports of chilled/frozen foods, which is predominantly meat/seafood/luxuries.
Eating less meat and seafood is healthier anyway.

 

[Dolcevita]

You seem to have missed that human-to-human transmission was virtually eliminated in China.
And China has imposed severe restrictions and monitoring on people travelling from abroad.

So once the existing transmission chain is broken, the biggest vector would be frozen/chilled foodstuffs imported into China.

And also remember that China can go without imports of chilled/frozen foods, which is predominantly meat/seafood/luxuries.
Eating less meat and seafood is healthier anyway.

There is also a recent cases of recurrence of cluster of cases in HK facility who import and package fruits and vegetables from England. So I would not completely rule out fruits and vegetables either

 

[B.I.B.]

I don't see what the point of that would be. From the information available, human-to-human transmission seems to be by far the biggest cause of the virus spreading. I'm not aware that food stuffs are a significant vector, and if they were you'd probably need to the same with all exports and imports.

Besides, you can spray fruit that has a disposable husk with an antiseptic spray. You'd just need to wash them afterward with plenty of water.

At the height of the covid scare in NZ I heard a microbologist warned in a radio program that fresh fruit and vegetables can be contaminated along the whole supply chain. With the large outbreak of covid in South America, I hesitate to consume any form of farmed seafood product from that region.