The Coronavirus Hunter Is Racing for Answers in a Locked-Down Lab

The Coronavirus Hunter Is Racing for Answers in a Locked-Down Lab
A University of North Carolina scientist who has been chasing viruses for decades may hold the key to a cure

By Robert Langreth
March 4, 2020, 7:00 AM EST

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-04/this-coronavirus-hunter-is-racing-for-answers-in-a-locked-down-lab

The deadly coronavirus arrived by courier on February 6, delivered to a windowless air-locked laboratory in a secret location on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. It came sealed in two 500-microliter vials, wrapped inside plastic pouches, placed inside a third sealed plastic container, all packed with dry ice.

A team of scientists — protected head-to-toe by Tyvek body suits with battery-powered respirators — opened the vials, got down to work and haven’t stopped since. Members of an elite lab of virologists at the university’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, their mission is to come up with a drug to treat the pathogen that has already infected over 90,000 people and killed more than 3,000.

For veteran researcher and lab leader Ralph Baric, it’s the moment he has both long feared and expected. As early as the 1990s, Baric’s work was raising red flags: Coronaviruses — so named for the crown-like spikes that help them invade cells — had an extraordinarily high ability to mutate and adapt. That suggested new coronaviruses might spread into humans in the future. In one study, he showed coronaviruses that infected mice could rapidly adapt to invade hamster cells.

Ralph Baric at a University of North Carolina labPhotographer: Christopher Janaro/Bloomberg

“It was not that difficult to evolve strains that could jump between species,” Baric says.

Almost 30 years later, that’s exactly what’s occured with the deadly new coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2. Scientists believe it began in a cave somewhere in China, with bats flying off to spread the virus to other animals in the wild. Some of those animals eventually wound up in one of China’s open-air, or so-called wet, markets where live animals are caged in close proximity — a perfect setting for transmitting viruses to humans.

Until two months ago, Baric was little known outside academic circles. When he began his career, coronaviruses were understood as causing little more than a common cold in people. But his work has suddenly taken on new urgency with the appearance of the new coronavirus.

Lots more at the link.

Covid 19, Update 2

NC's second coronavirus case originated in Italy; Chatham man now isolated at home
Posted 10:25 a.m. today
Updated 44 minutes ago

By Matthew Burns, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor, & Sarah Krueger, WRAL Durham reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — State health officials said Friday that a second North Carolina person has tested positive for a new strain of coronavirus and is believed to have contracted the COVID-19 illness.

The test results need to be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

A Chatham County man traveled in late February to an area in Italy that now has a COVID-19 outbreak, officials said. He reported having two days of mild, flu-like symptoms while in Italy. His fever resolved and symptoms were improving, and he flew back to the United States the following day.

The man also was in contact with someone from Georgia who contracted COVID-19, so the Georgia Department of Health alerted North Carolina health officials, who then tested him Thursday.

He is now in isolation at home, and his wife is quarantined there, although she's not showing any symptoms of the illness, officials said.

The Chatham County Public Health Department is working to identify his close contacts to monitor their symptoms. Also, because he had been symptomatic before traveling, the CDC will identify close contacts on the flight who could be at risk for the virus and notify the appropriate public health agencies, officials said.

"I was really surprised because Chatham County is a small county out of all of North Carolina. So, I was thinking, how can this be the second case in the state?" said Shanna Person, who lives and works in the county.

"I would suspect that, sooner or later, it’s going to be everywhere. There’s just no way, with the travel today, there’s just no way you’re going to be able to stop it from moving all over the place," said Vince Walker, a retired nurse who lives in Chatham County. "It’s something you have to watch out for."

State Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Tilson said officials are still trying to determine the timeline of when the man arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and his subsequent movements.

"I get that, understanding people's concerns – Was I at risk? Was I exposed?" Tilson said during a Friday afternoon news conference.

Close household contacts are considered at high risk for virus transmission, she said, while are people who are in "sustained and close proximity contact," defined as being less than 6 feet away for more than 10 to 20 minutes, are considered at moderate risk.

"If you are just walking through a public setting – you're walking through the airport, you're walking through the grocery store, you're walking through the library and by this person – that is not considered a risk," Tilson said.

"I think that it’s a little frightening," said Sara Garner, who noted that she and Person are both bank tellers in Pittsboro and have to handle a lot of cash that others have touched.

Video at the link.

https://www.wral.com/nc-s-second-coronavirus-case-originated-in-italy-chatham-man-now-isolated-at-home/18996626/

ETA: Ted Talk

Covid-19, Update 1

NC has reported first case is in Wake County. The North Carolina person from Wake County traveled to the state of Washington and was exposed at a long-term care facility where there is currently a COVID-19 outbreak.

https://www.wbtv.com/2020/03/03/first-person-tests-positive-coronavirus-north-carolina-health-officials-say/

Additionally, we now have a way to test cases in the state. It is at the NC State Laboratory of Public Health.

https://www.wbtv.com/2020/03/03/nc-now-has-laboratory-test-patients-coronavirus/

I will do my best to keep the group informed as we watch this health threat unfold.

❤ lmsp

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