Coronavirus COVID-19 Thread

Lorddarthvik

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Lately we're seeing 'Freedom Protest' groups. Guys who deliberately reject social distancing guidelines and come together in groups because...'Mah Freedumms!'

Like this idiot in my city who's made International headlines. You know you're a special kind of dumb when Seth Rogen of all people calls you a 'Fucking Idiot'.
"Ones freedom ends where the other ones begins " or something like that.
They really are fucking idiots!

Thanks for answering the question in my stead for @NaffNaffBobFace ! Said it better than I could!
I'd only add that early on according to the WHO, they estimated that possibly 50% of those infected don't show any symptoms. This number might have changed since then, I haven't checked, but there is just no way to know it at this point without testing everyone, and I mean everyone!

Now for some rumors:
According to my meds industry friend, the strain that hit the UK and Europe was an already mutated version that causes more problems, more aggressive, and lowered the age range of those in serious danger to much much lower. This hasn't really manifested yet in the statistics, although there have been reports of teenagers without any prior medical issues dying because of it.
Just saying this so as to punctuate how moronic those Spring Breakers were, they could be dealing with the same strain in the US/MapleSyrup Land as well.

Viruses mutate rapidly. Just like with the yearly flue, even if we find a vaccine against this one, there is no way of knowing if it will work next year, or we get a mutated version that our immune system won't be able to recognize and fight off. Actually there is a very good chance we won't be able to fight it any better than this one, but the virus could mutate into a less aggressive, less lethal version as well. Or we could get really really lucky like with the last Ebola outbreak, and it just mutates into something that our immune system fights off instantly without breaking a sweat.
.

@August
It's good to read your updates about kangoo land doing so well! Well done all of ya!
I got some extended family members living in Sydney, we don't talk much, but it's good to know they will be fine!
Btw, I think it's the smart move that they won't risk lifting the isolation rules without fully testing first with the possibility of asymptomatic carriers still being around. Could be another spike waiting to happen!

Stay Safe everyone!

Ps.: while typing this on my phone, @Bambooza gave some really clear and concise answers, thanks!
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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All asymptomatic carriers mean is they are infected without any outward sign of their infection. It does not mean they will not show signs or even if they are shedding (contagious). While it is still not known is if this strain is contagious prior to the typical manifestation of outward signs of infection. Compared to influenza which typically is contagious at the same time as the outward signs of the infection are shown ie fever, cough and runny nose. It is theorized that this strain of Coronavirus is often contagious prior to the onset of symptoms. Which makes it difficult for those who are infected to know they are infected and thus results in a higher R0 (the rate a virus spreads).

The other mention is that there could already be two strains of Covid19 which would show up on current tests as being positive while allowing individuals to be infected twice. There is still a lot of unknown



One other thing to remember is immunity (learned vs innate) doesn't mean that you cannot get sick. It just means your immune system is far quicker to identify and deal with the virus and thus often times there is zero or very minimal response due to the quickness of the immune response to the invader.
"Ones freedom ends where the other ones begins " or something like that.
They really are fucking idiots!

Thanks for answering the question in my stead for @NaffNaffBobFace ! Said it better than I could!
I'd only add that early on according to the WHO, they estimated that possibly 50% of those infected don't show any symptoms. This number might have changed since then, I haven't checked, but there is just no way to know it at this point without testing everyone, and I mean everyone!

Now for some rumors:
According to my meds industry friend, the strain that hit the UK and Europe was an already mutated version that causes more problems, more aggressive, and lowered the age range of those in serious danger to much much lower. This hasn't really manifested yet in the statistics, although there have been reports of teenagers without any prior medical issues dying because of it.
Just saying this so as to punctuate how moronic those Spring Breakers were, they could be dealing with the same strain in the US/MapleSyrup Land as well.

Viruses mutate rapidly. Just like with the yearly flue, even if we find a vaccine against this one, there is no way of knowing if it will work next year, or we get a mutated version that our immune system won't be able to recognize and fight off. Actually there is a very good chance we won't be able to fight it any better than this one, but the virus could mutate into a less aggressive, less lethal version as well. Or we could get really really lucky like with the last Ebola outbreak, and it just mutates into something that our immune system fights off instantly without breaking a sweat.
.

@August
It's good to read your updates about kangoo land doing so well! Well done all of ya!
I got some extended family members living in Sydney, we don't talk much, but it's good to know they will be fine!
Btw, I think it's the smart move that they won't risk lifting the isolation rules without fully testing first with the possibility of asymptomatic carriers still being around. Could be another spike waiting to happen!

Stay Safe everyone!

Ps.: while typing this on my phone, @Bambooza gave some really clear and concise answers, thanks!
Thanks for the extra details, dudes. Makes the original Herd Immunity theory the UK talked about for so long (which would have needed a vaccine to work anyway) seem totally and utterly ineffective now.
 

August

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As at 3:00pm on 16 April 2020, there have been 6,468 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. Of these 3,747 have recovered. There have been 21 new cases since 3:00pm yesterday. Of the current active cases 201 people are hospitalised and 66 are in intensive care.

Of the 6,468 confirmed cases in Australia, 63 have died from COVID-19. More than 380,000 tests have been conducted across Australia.

 
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Bambooza

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Thanks for the extra details, dudes. Makes the original Herd Immunity theory the UK talked about for so long (which would have needed a vaccine to work anyway) seem totally and utterly ineffective now.
You don't necessarily need a vaccine to allow Herd immunity work. Natural immunity through getting and surviving the virus has worked since the dawn of humanity. In fact, sometimes you don't even have to get the lethal virus to get the benefits like the case of cowpox protecting you from the far more deadly smallpox. Even when mutations and variants having had the virus before often times lessons the body response time to the new strain. This is why when you get a cold for the first time it's significantly worse than when you get it the next year, as long as you remain healthy.

Thus getting Covid19 and surviving could be beneficial to this falls outbreak. Especially if there really is a second weaker strain and it helps boost your immune response to all versions of Covid-19. As for drug treatment, there are two courses of action. One is in teaching your body to identify and destroy the virus and that is often done either with live deactivated virus injection or other virus markers that gets the body to react to the virus without the threat of the virus being able to invade and multiply. This is typically ideal as it boosts the immune response for a long time after and is the standard practice for the flu shots. The second is to inject antigens which helps with those who are currently infected to speed up the immune response and while it can be injected prior to being infected its short-lived immunity.

The length of immunity is dependent on the rapid evolution of the virus and how much it changes its signature (we can go into bind sites and molecular chemistry if anyone is interested) as well as the length of time the exposed helper t cells remain.

tldr; virus shots are all based upon helping your immune system identify the virus so that it quickly identifies and reduces the amount of time the virus can multiply and infect. Herd immunity works but the cost is the herd has to be infected and those who survive are now mostly immune.
 

ColdDog

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Linde summarized her country’s policy this way: “No lockdown, and we rely very much on people taking responsibility themselves.”

Herd immunity means sheltering only the vulnerable population and, in this case, exposing most of the general public to the virus to build immunity.
 
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Aramsolari

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Herd immunity
noun
noun: herd immunity; plural noun: herd immunities
  1. the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a sufficiently high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease, especially through vaccination.
    "the level of vaccination needed to achieve herd immunity varies by disease but ranges from 83 to 94 percent"
Herd immunity has nothing to do with sheltering vulnerable populations and has everything to do with getting enough populations vaccinated so as to build said immunity. As I type this, a vaccine still doesn't exist. The program only really works if we have a vaccine and only then if we vaccinate enough people. Sure you can let nature take its course before we build up immunity but it'll be catastrophic in terms of deaths and the strain on our health care systems.

'Exposing' most of the general public to 'get it over with' isn't going to work. It's not exactly chicken pox.

1)CORONAVIRUS: WHAT IS HERD IMMUNITY AND IS IT A POSSIBILITY FOR THE UK?
2)Herd immunity is a fatal strategy we should avoid at all costs
3)What is Herd Immunity and How Can We Achieve It With COVID-19?

If you try and achieve 'herd immunity' by just letting people contract it, you'll collapse our health care systems. Sure it'll happen eventually but at what cost? Don't forget there are still people who need critical health care that is unrelated to Covid19. Consider the fact that the UK originally touted Herd Immunity at the beginning of this Pandemic. Notice how they don't really talk about that anymore. Boris Johnson for one has been silent about it (I wonder why?)

No, you need to maintain Social Distancing so as to mitigate the virus and give our health care workers breathing room. The other option of course is to let the virus carry on without us doing anything about it. I don't want to see that. I have too many friends and family (including my partner) in health care. The potential deaths of millions of Covid19 patients along with putting the well being of health care workers at risk is a price I'm not willing to pay.

I understand that a lot of people are angry. They're angry at job loss, seeing their retirement funds disappear, and reductions of their personal freedoms. Believe me, I'm one of those people affected too. I also realize that we need to be patient and not rush things. The tricky part right now is to time it right. Open things up too soon and you're risk a resurgence, keep it close too long and you'll crash the World Economy even more.
 
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Cool-Hand-Luke

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Positive News is hard to come by these days so I posted this. 125 patient test is not much but we can all hope for the best.

University of Chicago Medicine researchers said they saw “rapid recoveries” in 125 COVID-19 patients taking Gilead Sciences Inc.’s experimental drug remdesivir as part of a clinical trial, according to a Thursday afternoon report.

Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD, +2.55% jumped 12.7% in after-hours trading on Thursday following the publication of the Stat News report.
 

Aramsolari

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Positive News is hard to come by these days so I posted this. 125 patient test is not much but we can all hope for the best.

University of Chicago Medicine researchers said they saw “rapid recoveries” in 125 COVID-19 patients taking Gilead Sciences Inc.’s experimental drug remdesivir as part of a clinical trial, according to a Thursday afternoon report.

Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD, +2.55% jumped 12.7% in after-hours trading on Thursday following the publication of the Stat News report.
Sounds like a wonder drug. I did some snooping on Gilead and it seems their corporate practices have been....questionable (price gouging, predatory pricing in developing countries, abusing 'orphan drug' Act). All in all not unique for Big Pharma.

That said, I do hope the drug works and provides treatment. I just hope when it does, it's available to the masses and not only the wealthy. Don't forget if there's a vaccine or a silver bullet cure, the chances are high that YOU paid for it.

The US has spent almost $700 million on Coronavirus related funding to big Pharma since 2003.

Monopolies don't always work.

 

Radegast74

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Positive News is hard to come by these days so I posted this. 125 patient test is not much but we can all hope for the best.

University of Chicago Medicine researchers said they saw “rapid recoveries” in 125 COVID-19 patients taking Gilead Sciences Inc.’s experimental drug remdesivir as part of a clinical trial, according to a Thursday afternoon report.

Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD, +2.55% jumped 12.7% in after-hours trading on Thursday following the publication of the Stat News report.
FYI, this is a current rundown of the drugs being looked at for treating COVID-19:

This article had a nice little write-up about remdesivir...undoubtedly anything that is shown to be effective is going to be "fast-tracked", but note these paragraphs (in quotes):
However, the trial does not include what's known as a control group, so it will be difficult to say whether the drug is truly helping patients recover better. With a control arm, some patients do not receive the drug being tested so that doctors can determine whether it's the drug that is really affecting their condition.

Trials of the drug are ongoing at dozens of other clinical centers, as well. Gilead is sponsoring tests of the drug in 2,400 patients with severe Covid-19 symptoms in 152 trial sites around the world. It's also testing the drug in 1,600 patients with moderate symptoms at 169 hospitals and clinics around the world.

"We understand the urgent need for a COVID-19 treatment and the resulting interest in data on our investigational antiviral drug remdesivir," the company said in a statement to CNN. But it said a few stories about patients are just that -- stories.

"The totality of the data need to be analyzed in order to draw any conclusions from the trial. Anecdotal reports, while encouraging, do not provide the statistical power necessary to determine the safety and efficacy profile of remdesivir as a treatment for Covid-19," Gilead said.

I'm pointing this out because I had heard positive things earlier about favipiravir (the "Japanese Flu Drug" referenced in the livescience.com article), but haven't heard anything recently.

And oh yeah, what about hydroxychloroquine? These are the last two bits of info I've heard about it...NOTE TO FUTURE SCIENTISTS: You do not want to show up on RetractionWatch.com:


 

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to be honest im really enjoying this "working" from home stuff, im really getting to put some hours into lots of different games, i dont think ive ever tested out this many games in such short time before :P here in norways its not really spreading that bad, but most of us are still staying indoors, with the nice weather out its strange to see the bars by the ocean having just a few ppl sitting there, they are normally packed to the brim with ppl this time a year!
 
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Jolly_Green_Giant

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Coffee and cannabis woo.

I have a weird habit of writing things like this out and then deleting it before I post, but figured id post this one. I wrote it yesterday.

Its also something that all those "authoritative sources" you all keep relying on fail to mention for some reason...
This is something I feel compelled to comment on.


Lies by omission. It's almost as if "authoritative sources" intentionally leave out information (The other facts) to alter reality. It's almost as if, wait, get this, its all propagandized.



I've read Bernays and others. Propaganda Public Relations is a very very interesting field, or behavioral psychology in general for that matter. I'm not trying to sound edgy, but after I began to understand what drives all the advertising you see around you and every interaction corporations could possibly have with you through media, it really changed my perception of those we should normally consider the "arbiters of truth". I really dislike being deceived.

I don't think you're wrong, Negligence might well be the correct word for many things aspects regard to the response to this crisis, including the US and UK response to the contagion in the face of clear warnings:


The above is just an account for the UK. There are several others for several other countries who have had lackadaisical approaches to this outbreak, just singling my own country out my own country as not to offend anyone else. I'm not trying to defend any one country, but I'm also not trying to blame any one country either. China goofed. So did the UK. So did the USA. So did Italy. So did France. So did Sweden. So did, so did, so did. There are other ongoing, and will be future instances, of goofs in some countries too. The first instance of neglect does not excuse the following instances.

But:

I've said it before in this thread, and I'll say it now - The middle of a pandemic is not the time to politicize this. Right now it's the reaction to the current crisis within our own countries that takes precedence. No amount of finger pointing is going to pull asses out of this fire all it is going to do is flat-out kill more people. That is Gross Negligence. That is what the world will look back on in five years time and see, along with the circumstances of the emergence of the issue, it will be one long story. Chinas chapter will be just the beginning, the ending of the tale will be written by those who either fix the issue, or exasperate it.

Again, I don't think you are wrong there are many things many countries should have done differently - but didn't. There will be time to examine that after the threat has passed.

Being neglectful then blaming the first person in the chain who was neglectful doesn't make your own neglect any less negligent, they've gotta change their mindset in the short term or they will be the direct cause of more deaths and it won't matter a jolly rotating lawn sprinkler what the first case of negligence actually was.

For once, for those who think it is, politics really isn't the most important thing in the world right now.
We can multitask. I understand and respect the absolutely rational idea of doing the right thing and not politicizing any of this and working to fix the problem at hand, unfortunately it seems reality is taking a different road which is presenting more than one unique situation to us simultaneously. With world economies seemingly tanking coupled with china's intention to replace us as the world hegemony, fingers started flying in peoples faces months ago. The actions of the CCP we can talk about some other time, but I do want to add that they absolutely cannot be ignored for fear of adding to the strife in the world. The machine stops for no one man! Anytime the world falls onto hard times, you can guarantee the politicians, generals, businessmen and the "deep-state" bureaucracies will still be playing their game of 4D chess.

An aside:

We are still in the early stages of this crisis all things considered. While yes the curves around the world are looking like they are leveling out, we can't live in social isolation for an extended period of time, due to mental health reasons, the necessity of people needing to work to feed themselves or a multitude of other reasons. I understand it's easy to say we can't let people go back to work because, you know, death. However, we need to remind ourselves millions of people right now are faced with the very real fact that what income they had is now gone and they didn't save any money to help them through tough times. I know some of you have or are living this way. This leads to relying on unemployment and food banks, food banks that I'm already seeing on the news with ridiculously long lines and limited or no supply. I'm seeing the unemployment system get overloaded on both a historical and exponential level, and I'm reading about how businesses don't have the money to sustain being shut down. Now let's ask ourselves, what happens when the moratorium on evictions lifts? As monolithic a country we may seem to be, our foundation that is modern society wasn't built to just completely come to a halt and restart again without any ramifications. We're a giant section in the web of global trade, and if our economy is getting hammered in a way not seen since the great depression, what do you think is going to happen to everyone else in the web as they themselves are also getting hammered.

Every system you might be able think of that could shield our way of life from the dangerous and the unknown has yet to be put into place, it's just not feasible. Now imagine if you knew a pandemic flood was likely to happen but all you did was buy a couple ventilators sandbags. Then you hired a guy who has a Ph.D in pandemics floods who advises you to get more ventilators sandbags but you definitely do not get more ventilators sandbags. Why? Because it's not a pandemic flooding at this very moment and they don't have the money budgeted to spend, or if they do have the money to spend they don't want to spend large amounts of it. Feigning ignorance is cheaper and easier to manage than acknowledging and preparing for some stupid pandemic flood that's so far beyond their understanding of what "global pandemic" "massive flood" means, they pretend like it's never coming. That's most of the world right now, that's what kind of systems we have in place when the cost of that system is undesirable to those signing the check to say the least.

Is it likely that the death toll from the virus or the inevitable overload of our healthcare system would be higher than what you would expect with the possibility of socioeconomic turmoil? I'm not certain on that one. At face value I'd say most definitely yes, the virus coupled with the overload of the healthcare system is deadlier, but I assume that's because this is our first time dealing with this specific kind of crisis in a generation, and we are now all feeling it one way or another around the globe. Shutting the economy down and social distancing seems like the decisive move considering we want to prevent a massive loss of life, and right now. It was however a reactionary move, meaning it's possible it wasn't the best move and we have to ask ourselves what that means and we have to ask what the consequences are for making those choices, whether were talking about reopening the economy or the decision to go into lockdown. With all things taken into consideration, I feel it is too soon to give a confident yes answer given all the variables in the equation. Only a Sith deals in absolutes!
 
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Aramsolari

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Lorddarthvik

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Coffee and cannabis woo.

I have a weird habit of writing things like this out and then deleting it before I post, but figured id post this one. I wrote it yesterday.



This is something I feel compelled to comment on.


Lies by omission. It's almost as if "authoritative sources" intentionally leave out information (The other facts) to alter reality. It's almost as if, wait, get this, its all propagandized.



I've read Bernays and others. Propaganda Public Relations is a very very interesting field, or behavioral psychology in general for that matter. I'm not trying to sound edgy, but after I began to understand what drives all the advertising you see around you and every interaction corporations could possibly have with you through media, it really changed my perception of those we should normally consider the "arbiters of truth". I really dislike being deceived.



We can multitask. I understand and respect the absolutely rational idea of doing the right thing and not politicizing any of this and working to fix the problem at hand, unfortunately it seems reality is taking a different road which is presenting more than one unique situation to us simultaneously. With world economies seemingly tanking coupled with china's intention to replace us as the world hegemony, fingers started flying in peoples faces months ago. The actions of the CCP we can talk about some other time, but I do want to add that they absolutely cannot be ignored for fear of adding to the strife in the world. The machine stops for no one man! Anytime the world falls onto hard times, you can guarantee the politicians, generals, businessmen and the "deep-state" bureaucracies will still be playing their game of 4D chess.

An aside:

We are still in the early stages of this crisis all things considered. While yes the curves around the world are looking like they are leveling out, we can't live in social isolation for an extended period of time, due to mental health reasons, the necessity of people needing to work to feed themselves or a multitude of other reasons. I understand it's easy to say we can't let people go back to work because, you know, death. However, we need to remind ourselves millions of people right now are faced with the very real fact that what income they had is now gone and they didn't save any money to help them through tough times. I know some of you have or are living this way. This leads to relying on unemployment and food banks, food banks that I'm already seeing on the news with ridiculously long lines and limited or no supply. I'm seeing the unemployment system get overloaded on both a historical and exponential level, and I'm reading about how businesses don't have the money to sustain being shut down. Now let's ask ourselves, what happens when the moratorium on evictions lifts? As monolithic a country we may seem to be, our foundation that is modern society wasn't built to just completely come to a halt and restart again without any ramifications. We're a giant section in the web of global trade, and if our economy is getting hammered in a way not seen since the great depression, what do you think is going to happen to everyone else in the web as they themselves are also getting hammered.

Every system you might be able think of that could shield our way of life from the dangerous and the unknown has yet to be put into place, it's just not feasible. Now imagine if you knew a pandemic flood was likely to happen but all you did was buy a couple ventilators sandbags. Then you hired a guy who has a Ph.D in pandemics floods who advises you to get more ventilators sandbags but you definitely do not get more ventilators sandbags. Why? Because it's not a pandemic flooding at this very moment and they don't have the money budgeted to spend, or if they do have the money to spend they don't want to spend large amounts of it. Feigning ignorance is cheaper and easier to manage than acknowledging and preparing for some stupid pandemic flood that's so far beyond their understanding of what "global pandemic" "massive flood" means, they pretend like it's never coming. That's most of the world right now, that's what kind of systems we have in place when the cost of that system is undesirable to those signing the check to say the least.

Is it likely that the death toll from the virus or the inevitable overload of our healthcare system would be higher than what you would expect with the possibility of socioeconomic turmoil? I'm not certain on that one. At face value I'd say most definitely yes, the virus coupled with the overload of the healthcare system is deadlier, but I assume that's because this is our first time dealing with this specific kind of crisis in a generation, and we are now all feeling it one way or another around the globe. Shutting the economy down and social distancing seems like the decisive move considering we want to prevent a massive loss of life, and right now. It was however a reactionary move, meaning it's possible it wasn't the best move and we have to ask ourselves what that means and we have to ask what the consequences are for making those choices, whether were talking about reopening the economy or the decision to go into lockdown. With all things taken into consideration, I feel it is too soon to give a confident yes answer given all the variables in the equation. Only a Sith deals in absolutes!
Hahaha, I know that feeling, o do the same with writing and not posting.

Its a good thing then that I'm a Sith, because I'll absolutely tell you how right you are about the news!
What's interesting is how they went from "just" lies by omission to straight up lies in the last 10 years.
But anyways, that's not the topic for this thread.


Interesting thoughts, that's for sharing them, certainly something to consider.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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We can multitask. I understand and respect the absolutely rational idea of doing the right thing and not politicizing any of this and working to fix the problem at hand, unfortunately it seems reality is taking a different road which is presenting more than one unique situation to us simultaneously. With world economies seemingly tanking coupled with china's intention to replace us as the world hegemony, fingers started flying in peoples faces months ago. The actions of the CCP we can talk about some other time, but I do want to add that they absolutely cannot be ignored for fear of adding to the strife in the world. The machine stops for no one man! Anytime the world falls onto hard times, you can guarantee the politicians, generals, businessmen and the "deep-state" bureaucracies will still be playing their game of 4D chess.
I get where you are coming from, and earlier in this thread I had announced with most countries now with a plan of action in place it was likely time to start the theory-crafting as to what/who/how, however that was before the US threatened to destabilize the global effort.

I wouldn't have returned to my "don't destabilize pointlessly during the pandemic" line if it weren't for that. It's gone from an administrations choices potentially harming tens of thousands of people in just the one country they preside in, to their choices potentially harming hundreds of thousands across the globe if that funding hit effects the WHO's ability to operate effectively.

They have put themselves in the position of going from having accusations that need to be investigated to having pressed a course of action that other counties can now in turn base accusations on if it can be proved that action directly contributed to deaths. Hero to villain. Global Policeman to Global Villain.

There was absolutely no reason to do that one third of the way into a global contagion other than political reasons, it could have waited until the world was in a safer place.
 
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NaffNaffBobFace

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UK numbers for today 17th April:

108,692 total confirmed with 5,599 new, 14,576 total deaths with 847 new.

It seems hopeful that this is the plateau as rates have been the same or similar for quite a few days now. Government won't entertain the idea of relaxing the measures until we have had a prolonged period of declining cases and deaths. Fingers are crossed.

Chartorama17-04-20.jpg


Todays status is bought to you by the current discussion around whether the UK population should be advised to start wearing masks. There is a worry it could impact PPE (personal protective equipment) levels on caregivers if they do and there is also a worry they don't do anything to help anyway.

My take on this is: A home-made mask cannot cause more harm to its wearer than not having one on. Issue advice that masks/mouth and nose blocks like scarves/snoods are to be worn outside of the home, but clinical masks/PPE must be reserved for health staff.

It can't hurt just to wear one - but it must be made clear that it is to reduce the amount of respiratory droplets in the air and is not an excuse or substitute to reduce social distancing and leave the house if someone has otherwise been successfully staying at home - it is in addition to to make those measures even stronger.

I think a big attitude change that needs to happen is worrying the public will misinterpret the advice and fuck it up. In the early days they said they were delaying introducing social distancing as people will get bored of doing it and go back to being too close just when the contagion was at it's peak. Well if someone is stupid enough not to listen to the instruction they are stupid enough to be not listening right now and going to BBQ's, parties etc. If they are going to bugger up future advice, they are buggering up the current advice. Stop making life less safe for most of us because you are worried the minority are going to be bellends - they already are being bellends so it makes no difference other than delaying trying things that might just work unnecessarily.
 
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NaffNaffBobFace

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Donor
Jan 5, 2016
11,753
43,207
3,150
RSI Handle
NaffNaffBobFace
Todays numbers for the UK (18th April):

Total confirmed 114,217 with 5,526 new, total dead 15,464 with 888 new.

Chartorama18-04-20.jpg


Todays status is bought to you by:

Captain Tom has now raised £23 million, his 100th Birthday is on the 30th.

And:

Amidst shortages of personal protective equipment in hospitals, a shipment of 84 tonnes is expected to arrive in the UK tomorrow... it is estimated to be all of 3 days worth.
 

August

Space Marshal
Officer
Donor
Aug 27, 2018
2,789
10,363
1,750
RSI Handle
August-TEST
As at 6:00am on 19 April 2020, there have been 6,586 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. There have been 53 new cases since 6:00am yesterday.

Of the 6,586 confirmed cases in Australia, 69 have died and 4,163 have been reported as recovered from COVID-19.



not out of the woods yet. That there are still new cases presenting every day means all we’re doing is limiting the spread to manageable levels.
 
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Jolly_Green_Giant

Space Marshal
Donor
Jun 25, 2016
1,309
4,602
2,650
RSI Handle
Jolly_Green_Giant

NaffNaffBobFace

Space Marshal
Donor
Jan 5, 2016
11,753
43,207
3,150
RSI Handle
NaffNaffBobFace
UK numbers reported today 19th April:

120,067 total confirmed with 5,850 new, and 16,060 total deaths with 596 new.


A marked drop in deaths, but then it has been repeatedly clarified that not all instances make it into the report on the weekend:

Chartorama19-04-20.jpg
 
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