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You use the word "pneumonia" to describe seriousness, but this IS a viral pneumonia. The virus infects the lung first. Detection is through the sputum coughed u

You use the word "pneumonia" to describe seriousness, but this IS a viral pneumonia. The virus infects the lung first. Detection is through the sputum coughed up from the lung. If you test positive you basically have pneumonia. China's definition of a serious case is blood oxygenation less than 93% without assistance.

Barrin92 7y ago
the virus does not cause pneumonia in the majority of cases. A pneumonia is an infection of the lower respiratory tract (which is a quite serious condition leading to significant symptoms). In the majority of patients this virus causes an infection of the upper respiratory tract, which causes symptoms comparable to a common cold.
- fspeech 7y ago
  The virus infects the cells through ACE2 receptors, which are highly expressed in some lung cells but not the upper respiratory tract. High fever and dry cough are the most common symptoms while runny nose is rare. So no the symptoms are not comparable to a common cold.
- carbocation 7y ago
  I don't know that you are wrong, but Toni Fauci seems to say otherwise (around 2:50 in this video): https://www.nbcnews.com/video/dr-fauci-explains-how-coronavirus-spreads-why-it-is-more-serious-than-common-cold-or-flu-80004165932 https://www.nbcnews.com/video/dr-fauci-explains-how-coronavi...
  - mantap 7y ago
    The majority of cases do not have pneumonia. They have a dry cough and fever. In a minority of cases this develops into pneumonia. The part about the upper respiratory tract is wrong though, cold-like symptoms are not a normal feature of COVID-19.
zaroth 7y ago
To be precise, the COVID-19 virus is not “viral pneumonia”. Viral pneumonia is a symptom (pneumonia caused by a virus) which results from COVID-19 in the minority of cases. Studies of the number of known cases which resulted in viral pneumonia find, for example; “A total of 81% of cases in the JAMA study were classified as mild, meaning they did not result in pneumonia or resulted in only mild pneumonia.” That is not to say that 20% of all cases are severe, but 20% of the cases in that study were.
- fspeech 7y ago
  Pneumonia is the inflammation of the lung. You will find covid patients more reliably through lung CT than nucleotide tests of swabs. People are confused about what "mild" means: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/health/coronavirus-china-aylward.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/health/coronavirus-china-... What were mild, severe and critical? We think of “mild” as like a minor cold. No. “Mild” was a positive test, fever, cough — maybe even pneumonia, but not needing oxygen. “Severe” was breathing rate up and oxygen saturation down, so needing oxygen or a ventilator. “Critical” was respiratory failure or multi-organ failure. So saying 80 percent of all cases are mild doesn’t mean what we thought. I’m Canadian. This is the Wayne Gretzky of viruses — people didn’t think it was big enough or fast enough to have the impact it does.

Barrin92 7y ago

the virus does not cause pneumonia in the majority of cases. A pneumonia is an infection of the lower respiratory tract (which is a quite serious condition leading to significant symptoms). In the majority of patients this virus causes an infection of the upper respiratory tract, which causes symptoms comparable to a common cold.

fspeech 7y ago
The virus infects the cells through ACE2 receptors, which are highly expressed in some lung cells but not the upper respiratory tract. High fever and dry cough are the most common symptoms while runny nose is rare. So no the symptoms are not comparable to a common cold.
carbocation 7y ago
I don't know that you are wrong, but Toni Fauci seems to say otherwise (around 2:50 in this video): https://www.nbcnews.com/video/dr-fauci-explains-how-coronavirus-spreads-why-it-is-more-serious-than-common-cold-or-flu-80004165932 https://www.nbcnews.com/video/dr-fauci-explains-how-coronavi...
- mantap 7y ago
  The majority of cases do not have pneumonia. They have a dry cough and fever. In a minority of cases this develops into pneumonia. The part about the upper respiratory tract is wrong though, cold-like symptoms are not a normal feature of COVID-19.

zaroth 7y ago

To be precise, the COVID-19 virus is not “viral pneumonia”. Viral pneumonia is a symptom (pneumonia caused by a virus) which results from COVID-19 in the minority of cases. Studies of the number of known cases which resulted in viral pneumonia find, for example; “A total of 81% of cases in the JAMA study were classified as mild, meaning they did not result in pneumonia or resulted in only mild pneumonia.” That is not to say that 20% of all cases are severe, but 20% of the cases in that study were.

fspeech 7y ago
Pneumonia is the inflammation of the lung. You will find covid patients more reliably through lung CT than nucleotide tests of swabs. People are confused about what "mild" means: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/health/coronavirus-china-aylward.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/health/coronavirus-china-... What were mild, severe and critical? We think of “mild” as like a minor cold. No. “Mild” was a positive test, fever, cough — maybe even pneumonia, but not needing oxygen. “Severe” was breathing rate up and oxygen saturation down, so needing oxygen or a ventilator. “Critical” was respiratory failure or multi-organ failure. So saying 80 percent of all cases are mild doesn’t mean what we thought. I’m Canadian. This is the Wayne Gretzky of viruses — people didn’t think it was big enough or fast enough to have the impact it does.