This Week in Virology

I decided to listen to the podcast, This Week in Virology; Kai sent me the link. I decided to start listening to it from the week before they started broadcasting about the coronavirus up to their most current podcast. It is very interesting and geeky with virology-related puns and references. They provide links to things they talk about as well as their personal science article of interest for the week. Here's what I got as takeaways from the 2 podcasts I listened to:

• (This Week in Virology Episode #581) 01/05/2020 - your gut microbiome may influence responses to vaccinations, there is a website that sells retrovirus cookie & other science related cookie cutters (they're really cool!);
• (TWiV 582) 01/12/2020 - new coronavirus found in China end of December, 59 people tested positive, no deaths, but not much information coming from China, whole genome sequenced so PCR assays can be developed (for testing), it is a zoonotic infection, rapidly developing story, viruses have no borders; SARS emerged in 2003 in China from live animal meat markets, have been looking for similar SARS viruses since then, prior to 2003 no one paid attention to SARS viruses but suspect was causing more deaths in past; gene sequencing has helped diagnose SARS caused diseases & deaths and others; infection control helped stop SARS; influenza vaccines

 

I skipped the walk this morning, I was tired again. I think it might have been from getting chilled yesterday and I even tried to warm up by drinking a mug of hot tea.

I made another Pizza Topping Casserole for lunch while I was listening to This Week in Virology. I used some of the things I found in the refrigerator & freezer like the capers and vegetarian breakfast sausages. It was very good!


I also made some Avocado "Toast" using a Perfectly Crisp cheese crisp instead of toast. I had mixed the avocado with shoyu to make it a savory spread.

Avocado with shoyu.

Avocado Cheese Crisps.

After lunch I ran some errands; I needed to pick up some new food for Keala and a new irrigation system for the Kohala house. Since Keala is not a kitten, and I needed to fill up her feeder before my trip, I headed to Petco. At the end of the block there was a HECO crew installing a pole to replace one that was knocked over in an accident early this morning. When I got to Petco and went to the entrance I got stopped by an employee; they were limiting the number of customers in the store to 15. I only had to wait less than a minute before another customer walked out.



I left Petco and headed to Lowe's to get the irrigation system. On the way there I saw the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship at the dock. Originally it and the Maasdam were only going to be allowed to refuel; no passengers or crew were going to be allowed to disembark in order to minimize the possibility of any COVID-19 exposure. Both ships had already been turned away from several other ports. But on its way here the Norwegian Jewel developed propulsion problems so the passengers were allowed to disembark, board buses, and got taken to chartered planes that would return them to their home countries; that happened over a 3-day period with passengers only getting off the boat long enough to get on the bus then the plane.


At Lowe's I was able to find the irrigation kit easily; I checked the kit to make sure all the parts were present unlike the earlier one I bought last summer. Lowe's was not limiting the number of customers entering, but at the registers they had blue tape on the floors marking the 6 feet distance recommended by the CDC.

Before I left the Lowe's parking lot, I called Aloha Salads and ordered a Kamuela Cobb for dinner. It should have taken me about 25 minutes to get there but there was so little traffic it took me only about 15 minutes! Kahala Mall also had very little traffic. Seating in the food court area had been removed and many stores were closed; there were very few people there. 

This is the food court without tables & chairs.

Most stores are closed.

You can almost hear the echo.

During the start of the evening news the breaking news about COVID-19 was interrupted by breaking news about a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the Kuril Islands; a tsunami watch was issued and anticipated to arrive around 10:45 p.m. When it rains it pours! An hour and a bunch of data later, it was determined that no tsunami had been generated by the now 7.2 magnitude earthquake. During the 10 p.m. news they reported that during that almost 1 hour period some people again bought 2-weeks worth of emergency supplies! Aue!


I let Keala out of the utility room; I put her in the carrier and set her on the family room floor for S'mores and Luna to meet her. S'mores was very interested in Keala and Keala was curious about S'mores. Luna, however, was extremely cautious and snuck out the cat door and spent most of her time outside. I let Keala out and she slept on me for about 2 hours; she also watched S'mores and Luna walk by then went to sleep again.

S'mores takes a food break.

There are now 90 cases of COVID-19 identified here; the numbers won't add up because the data reporting has changed. The graphic shows area of residence so non-Hawai'i residents are not included. The one COVID-19 death reported earlier was apparently an error; the test was apparently misread. (The test was administered posthumously, i.e., the person was tested after he died although he had been treated as if he had COVID-19 while he was being cared for.) Since more tests are being administered, more positives will be found; one problem is that although the swabs have been taken, results for about 3/4 of them have yet to be returned. An employee for a health care provider has tested positive and another health care provider is asking for donations of personal protective equipment. Public school students will not be returning to classes until the end of April, and banks and other businesses are encouraging social distancing while at the business.









Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Ron!