Coronavirus COVID-19 Thread

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

A lot of countries have lists of countries that are considered more risky to travel to, so if you go there you have to quarantine for 14 days when you get back to make sure if you unknowingly picked up the contagion you don't spread it around.

France wasn't on that list so loads of people went there on holiday. Then suddenly, with 24 hours notice, it went on the list. People had minimum time to get back in the UK or they would be slapped with a quarantine order which some people who had jobs they could not do from home just could not allow to happen. People who'd just got to France for their holidays rushed back. People who'd been there for a week or more also rushed back. The cost of ferry and Euro Tunnel tickets shot up, especially as they were last moment bookings. It was estimated 500,000 UK people were in France who needed to get back. Bare in mind the emergency evacuation of Dunkirk in World War 2 bought back 338,226 people and that took 9 days. Yeah we now have Euro Tunnel and high capacity Ferries which are not being strafed by machine gun fire from the skies, but your still looking at way more needing to get back than 24 hours has the capacity to return.

Bit of a shitshow.

Then it was revealed that the government had originally intended it to be a 72 hour deadline but cut that to 24 before announcing it at retard o'clock on Thursday evening that the deadline to return without quarantine being enacted was 4am Saturday morning, giving next to no time for anyone to prepare to get back.

Now I'm not saying it wasn't the right thing to do. Confirmed daily infections in France are beginning to spike, but they are starting to spike in the UK too... However the low-to-no notice has understandably peeved a lot of innocent victims.

While I definitely I have sympathy for the travelers, I also wonder how anyone thought going on a trip aboard was a good idea in the middle of a global pandemic. The tourist industry starting up so soon always struck me as wildly optimistic and not at all sensible.

Oh wow. Yeah that is a shit show. "Oh btw, I know we said you all were good, but turns out youre not, so like, you have 24 hours to get home. Sorry if this message doesnt reach you. I really hope the 500k of you can get home in time. Good luck! Sorry for the inconvenience!"

Thank you for clearing that up.

 

[Bruttle]

- US: Reports indicate that takers of COVID tests are falling. Despite new daily confirmed cases and deaths remaining high, daily testing averages down 9% compared to the end of July.

This one's been weird for me. One of the buildings my company owns is right next to the drive through testing facility that a local hospital has been running since this whole thing started. Since a few weeks after the beginning, the line for testing has been down the street, around the block, and just jam packed all day. This has been a constant from about 1 hour before they open every day of the week. I am acutely aware of this because the line has been so packed, it has been difficult for employees to access our building. The line for testing quite often blocks off every entry to our parking lot.

That all changed last week. I don't know why. Suddenly, what was a constant daily line of 50-100 people waiting to be tested, dropped to about 10-20 average in line. It was strange to say the least. It's been the same every day for six months, but now dropped to basically nothing. Maybe people stopped giving a fk? I do know that many health care professionals and emergency personnel have started weekly testing as policy up here. So if anything, it should be more imo.

 

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

That all changed last week. I don't know why.

PTKFGS: 2020 Newspaper

Things are looking different in the PTKFGS timeline

ptkfgs2020.ytmnd.com

 

[August]

Check in from Victoria. Stage 4 isn’t fun.

Pandemic Order Register

Pandemic orders are issued by the Minister for Health to help contain the spread of COVID-19 and keep Victorians safe.

www.dhhs.vic.gov.au

It’s now 5 weeks in to the school term and both the kids are still at home, this is after the school holiday period being extended by a week. In real terms they haven’t been at school or played with their friends in 2 months.

Under stage 4 they can’t visit family and we can’t have visitors either. Since March the only adult I’ve had face to face conversations with for more than a few minutes is the wife; this has improved our relationship but it’s also maddening.

I’m still trying to make working from home with kids work, it’s not going so well. There is literally no time when I’m not around other people.

 

[Montoya]

Under stage 4 they can’t visit family and we can’t have visitors either. Since March the only adult I’ve had face to face conversations with for more than a few minutes is the wife; this has improved our relationship but it’s also maddening.

Yeah its tough on the kids, but tougher on parents that need to take care of the kids.

 

[August]

There are points of view which suggest that if the virus can flare back up again so quickly, then what’s the point of restrictions in the first place? Why put up with months of lockdown and imposition?

The answer is simply lives.

We’re all having a shit time here but the alternative is more death. Me being stuck at home is a reasonable price to pay to minimise transmission vectors.

it doesn’t make the experience any better but everyone else is doing their part to make sure my mum and her partner are staying safe. The least we can do is return the favour.

 

[Radegast74]

Just reading now that COVID19 is the #3 leading cause of death in the US:

"Covid is now the No. 3 cause of death in the US -- ahead of accidents, injuries, lung disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many, many other causes," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pretty amazing, for something that didn't exist a year ago...

Birx says she wishes US lockdown had resembled the one in Italy | CNN

Looking back to the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator said Monday she wished the United States had gone into a stricter lockdown.

www.cnn.com

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today Monday 17th of August:

- Sweden: Scandalous emails uncovered where chief epidemiologist appeared to ask if a higher infection rate in the elderly population would be acceptable to attain herd immunity faster, and others which specifically mention herd immunity. The government has previously denied that herd immunity was ever a strategic goal of its response to COVID-19.

- New Zealand: Greneral Election postponed for a month as Auckland Cluster grows to 58 cases.

- Spain: Over 16,000 new cases since Friday.

- UK: Following exams chaos, government abandons algorithm which appeared to favor pupils from privileged backgrounds, admitting there were too many anomalies and falling back on accepting students predicted grades to allow them to find places in higher education... if their grades had been marked down by the system. If they had been marked up by the algorithm, those results stand. Again I remind you - it was majority privileged backgrounds which were marked up, so in the greater scheme of things the disadvantaged remain at a disadvantage.

- Czech Republic: Public face mask wearing being reintroduced as cases start to rise again.

- Malta: Having previously hoped to continue hosting mass music festivals only to see them dashed as cases grew, Malta now closing Night Clubs in effort to curb rising tide.

 

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1295620064226443265

View: https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1295620064226443265


This is being praised as a sign of how well China is doing. Am I wrong in thinking the most rational response to this is "holy shit what are they doing" instead of "look how great they're doing!"? I mean I can't even think of why I would entertain that, even if it was somewhat true.

 

[Radegast74]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1295620064226443265

View: https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1295620064226443265


This is being praised as a sign of how well China is doing. Am I wrong in thinking the most rational response to this is "holy shit what are they doing" instead of "look how great they're doing!"? I mean I can't even think of why I would entertain that, even if it was somewhat true.

Just saw that on CNN...there are 2 schools of thought:
1. If you do a hard lockdown, for a long time, and seemingly eradicate the virus, you can get the pain over with sooner & get back to normal; or,
2. If/when the virus does come back, you just lockdown the entire city....again...for even longer, next time.

Based on what we know about the virus, I suspect it is being spread still, likely asymptomatically by younger people. However, if you have aggressive testing and contact tracing, you can react quickly and rapidly contain any new outbreaks. Didn't they literally test *every* person in Wuhan a couple of months ago? If you take a war-like footing in attacking the virus, you probably are on the right track.

As like anything, we really will not know what the outcomes are, or will be, for a while. I'd like to thank the people of Wuhan for participating in this experiment. I'd also like to thank everybody in the US, for testing out 50 or so different responses to COVID19. In about 6 months, we should have the results...

Wuhan hosts massive water park party as coronavirus concerns recede | CNN

Thousands of Wuhan revelers cram into a water park for outdoor rave more than eight months after Covid-19 was detected at the former ground zero.

www.cnn.com

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1295620064226443265

View: https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1295620064226443265


This is being praised as a sign of how well China is doing. Am I wrong in thinking the most rational response to this is "holy shit what are they doing" instead of "look how great they're doing!"? I mean I can't even think of why I would entertain that, even if it was somewhat true.

Just saw that on CNN...there are 2 schools of thought:
1. If you do a hard lockdown, for a long time, and seemingly eradicate the virus, you can get the pain over with sooner & get back to normal; or,
2. If/when the virus does come back, you just lockdown the entire city....again...for even longer, next time.

Based on what we know about the virus, I suspect it is being spread still, likely asymptomatically by younger people. However, if you have aggressive testing and contact tracing, you can react quickly and rapidly contain any new outbreaks. Didn't they literally test *every* person in Wuhan a couple of months ago? If you take a war-like footing in attacking the virus, you probably are on the right track.

As like anything, we really will not know what the outcomes are, or will be, for a while. I'd like to thank the people of Wuhan for participating in this experiment. I'd also like to thank everybody in the US, for testing out 50 or so different responses to COVID19. In about 6 months, we should have the results...

Wuhan hosts massive water park party as coronavirus concerns recede | CNN

Thousands of Wuhan revelers cram into a water park for outdoor rave more than eight months after Covid-19 was detected at the former ground zero.

www.cnn.com

Didn't they test every resident in one go? I assume this allowed them to pinpoint where the virus still was, about 300 people I believe I read at the time, and made sure those people were not able to spread it and that helped it go bye bye enough to put on a festival...?

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today Tuesday 18th of August:

- World: World Health Organization reports that contagion is now mainly being spread by those in their 20's, 30's and 40's who may be unaware they are infected and passing it on to more vulnerable groups.

- UK: Small study finds during COVID crisis number of childhood cases of Type 1 Diabetes doubled, suggesting a link between the two which requires further investigation.

- US/New Zealand: Prime Minister of New Zealand calls President Trumps remarks on her countries recent cluster of cases "patently wrong" after he described it as a "terrible" upsurge.

- World: Study finds countries lead by women had "systematically and significantly better" outcomes in the COVID crisis than countries run by men.

- Australia: Strikes a deal with AstraZenica who are part of making the promising Oxford University COVID vaccine, to secure access if it is successful. Australia will manufacture it on its own soil and treat the nation at no cost to the citizenry.

- UAE: Notes worrying rise in cases over the last two weeks.

 

[Radegast74]

Didn't they test every resident in one go? I assume this allowed them to pinpoint where the virus still was, about 300 people I believe I read at the time, and made sure those people were not able to spread it and that helped it go bye bye enough to put on a festival...?

Yes, just looked that up...they tested everybody in Wuhan (almost 11 million people) the last week of May/first week of June, after a cluster of new cases popped up.

Coronavirus: China's plan to test everyone in Wuhan

Officials said they planned to test all 11 million people in the city of Wuhan.

www.bbc.com

How many have been tested?
All the data we have comes from official sources in Wuhan, and there's no independent verification for the numbers.

As of 1 June, a total of 9.9 million people had been tested, according to the city health authorities.

They said this marks the end of the mass testing programme.

They also said that if you include one million people tested in the seven days before the mass programme began in their area (and who didn't need retesting), that's a total of 10.9 million people tested out of the population of 11 million.

It's taken longer to test everyone than the 10-day period that was promised when the plan was first announced.

Shows you what you can do, when you put your mind to it, and devote resources to it.

 

[Sirus7264]

Yes, just looked that up...they tested everybody in Wuhan (almost 11 million people) the last week of May/first week of June, after a cluster of new cases popped up.

Coronavirus: China's plan to test everyone in Wuhan

Officials said they planned to test all 11 million people in the city of Wuhan.

www.bbc.com

Shows you what you can do, when you put your mind to it, and devote resources to it.

to bad the rest of the world wont even do basic tests for everyone

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today Wednesday 19th of August:

- Sweden: Death tally for for the first six months of 2020, is the highest for the first six months of any year in the country going back 150 years.

- Italy: Pope calls for vaccine equality as the pandemic has shone a light on the equality between the rich and the poor, as number of new cases in the country are at the highest since the end of lockdown.

- New Zealand: Court rules the first nine days of the countries highly successful lockdown were unlawful, as the law that made it okay to tell people to stay at home wasn't passed until nine days after they started telling people to stay home. (Looking at the 14 days the UK had in pocket and squandered as COVID rolled over the country, I think this is a little nit-picky)

- WHO: Germany and France suggest providing the World Health Organisation with more money and legal powers as the COVID-19 has showed where the abilities of the organisation are not sufficient to allow it to protect the world from pandemic.

- Brazil: Indigenous tribes block motorway that passes through the Amazon in protests requesting more aid in the face of the pandemic.

- South Africa: Probe begins on dodgy COVID related business deals worth over £220 million.

- Australia: Prime Minister has to backtrack after previously saying any eventual COVID-19 vaccine would be mandatory, now saying it would be encouraged with a desired 95% takeup. Concerns arise that an antivaxx movement could scupper the ability of a vaccine to protect a population if there is a civil backlash.

 

[Bambooza]

to bad the rest of the world wont even do basic tests for everyone

It is foolish to think it's possible to test everyone at the same time and have guaranteed results on those who are and those who are not infected, so there is no guarantee the population doesn't have current active carriers of the virus that failed to be screened by the testing especially if it's only done once given the false-negative rate and incubation period before enough of a virus load to correctly test positive.

You would need to test the whole population every few days for a month or two to be able to safely say the virus is contained in a population and then the population would need to have a border lockdown on par with max security.

 

[Sirus7264]

It is foolish to think it's possible to test everyone at the same time and have guaranteed results on those who are and those who are not infected, so there is no guarantee the population doesn't have current active carriers of the virus that failed to be screened by the testing especially if it's only done once given the false-negative rate and incubation period before enough of a virus load to correctly test positive.

You would need to test the whole population every few days for a month or two to be able to safely say the virus is contained in a population and then the population would need to have a border lockdown on par with max security.

think of it this way if they were in quarenteen for 14 days and then tested thats enough time for the incubation period. I know here for my job when they get here they go through a 14 day quarenteen before boaring the flight. Then once they arrive in japan they go into another 14 day quarenteen before they are allowed to come to work. during that time they can't leave their designated quareteen area food etc is brought to them and sanitized on the way out. no direct contact. The tests are done tword the end of the quarenteen times if they are good to go then they can fly out.

 

[Bambooza]

think of it this way if they were in quarenteen for 14 days and then tested thats enough time for the incubation period. I know here for my job when they get here they go through a 14 day quarenteen before boaring the flight. Then once they arrive in japan they go into another 14 day quarenteen before they are allowed to come to work. during that time they can't leave their designated quareteen area food etc is brought to them and sanitized on the way out. no direct contact. The tests are done tword the end of the quarenteen times if they are good to go then they can fly out.

Not a bad policy and the double quarantine would help. But could you imagine a whole city population attempting to achieve how do you know those along the food supply chain are not infected? When one goes down to the number of direct and indirect interactions everyone experiences daily its amazing we don't get sick more often.

 

[Aramsolari]

Not a bad policy and the double quarantine would help. But could you imagine a whole city population attempting to achieve how do you know those along the food supply chain are not infected? When one goes down to the number of direct and indirect interactions everyone experiences daily its amazing we don't get sick more often.

Little update from me.

My first day back at work since the industry shut down in mid March is tomorrow.

I've already been sent lengthy PDFs of new Covid19 safety protocol. Videos to watch and a shit ton of waivers to sign. Crew members will be classified in three categories based on colors...Green, Yellow, and Red. Red zone will be the guys working closest to the cast. Those guys basically have to wear full on hazmat suits next to the actors. Throw in the heat wave we have at the moment and things will be....interesting. Yours truly will try and get himself on Green zone duty. I plan to be far away from the action. It's a shitty Netflix horror show anyway.

Some other show wanted to test every crew member at the beginning of the work day EVERY single day regardless of symptoms. The union (IATSE) and most of the crew said no and the show was canceled (lol). I think they're on the way out anyway and just needed a justification to bypass the insurance companies and their liabilities.

 

[Thalstan]

I was lucky in that my industry is critical, but my company can do remote work. Our office has been officially shut until next year. They planned on April, then June, then September, and now it’s at least January for even minimal staffing. My company is also spending a lot to ensure those that don’t have an optimal work from home experience can get to a better spot.

Our CEO said if he had known it was going to be almost a year instead of a month, he would have done things differently from the start. It also looks like our meeting schedule for next year will be mostly virtual depending on how effective the vaccine(s) are. For a company of 200 that does over 6 million miles of air travel a year just for us to go to meetings, which does not include some of our biggest meetings that have people come to us, that’s a huge change.