Coronavirus COVID-19 Thread

NaffNaffBobFace

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Brazil's president is a bit of a bell isnt he
When you compare him to the Prime Minister of Japan who offered a heartfelt apology for not being able to lift emergency measures in Tokyo yet, Brazils leader definitely doesn't appear to have much if any sympathy, does he?
 
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Radegast74

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Interesting article at the NYTimes on COVID variants in the US...it is behind a paywall, but I took screenshots of the relevant charts.

These are all estimates, because you need to sequence the DNA of the virus in order to determine what exactly it is. Currently in the US, we sequence about 0.5% (so, take the total number of cases and multiply by 0.005 ... that's how many); currently in the UK they are sequencing about 8%. They note that the US has increased testing very recently, and we may get to 3% SoonTM (CIG should sue for TM infringement, LOL)

Here is the US nationwide estimate of the UK Variant:
Screenshot_2021-03-06 U K Variant Is Spreading Fast in U S , Even as Overall Cases Level Off.png


Where the variant(s) has been detected, not just the UK (B.1.1.7) ... the Brazilian Variant, P.1 which is the new "up-and-coming" variant, has gained a toe-hold in the US:
Screenshot_2021-03-06 U K Variant Is Spreading Fast in U S , Even as Overall Cases Level Off(2).png


Estimates of the UK variant, based on the different states that they can make a guess:
Screenshot_2021-03-06 U K Variant Is Spreading Fast in U S , Even as Overall Cases Level Off(1).png


And finally, who has been sequencing...note this is on a log scale, which compresses the chart quite a bit.
Screenshot_2021-03-06 U K Variant Is Spreading Fast in U S , Even as Overall Cases Level Off(4).png
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Saturday 6th of March:

- World: 116,216,254 confirmed cases and 2,583,035 confirmed deaths.

- World: Passes 116 million cases, we passed 115 on Thursday so another million cases in the last 2/3 days.

- US: Senate passes $1.9 trillion relief package.

- UK: Government continues to defend itself amid 1% pay rise for NHS nurses, one Union indicates it was already budgeted in to be 2.1%, however government says finances are strained.

- UK: Helicopter pilot being investigated by the police for breaching Lockdown travel rules, as Social Media post revealed they flew 80 miles from Salford to Preston... to be handed a sandwich in a field.

- Dalai Lama: Receives first dose of vaccine, urges people to be brave and accept to come forward for vaccination. “In order to prevent some serious problems, this injection is very, very helpful.”

- Australia: Local cases were low enough to allow Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Pride event to proceed, Sydney's 43rd, with special provisions to ensure the risk of the virus was kept low.

- Ireland: Passes 500,000 vaccinations administered.

- Sweden: Police have to intervene and brake up COVID restriction protest in Stockholme.

- Finland: Postpones municipal elections due next month as cases rise.
 

PeppaPigKilla

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UK: Government continues to defend itself amid 1% pay rise for NHS nurses, one Union indicates it was already budgeted to be 2.1%, however, the government says finances are strained.
I'm rather pissed about this, not that they're not happy but that the public isn't supporting them.

Now here is my view on this.

They DO deserve better, people are spewing out shit like " loads of people have lost their jobs and the nurses, etc should be grateful they even have a job" Now, this statement pisses me off. Medical professionals have worked through the pandemic, they haven't been furloughed, they haven't had reduced work, they haven't do anything other than work and put their lives on the line more than the vast majority of this country. Now if they had been furloughed or had reduced work then i could understand the public opinion on not having a pay rise, however, they didn't. They deserve better.

Guess what, I worked as a critical worker all the way through this pandemic keeping the country connected. I had a couple of changes made to the way I work but for the most part of it, it was BAU and it was BAU and then some for the nurses. I got a pay rise this year because I still worked and rightly so.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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I'm rather pissed about this, not that they're not happy but that the public isn't supporting them.

Now here is my view on this.

They DO deserve better, people are spewing out shit like " loads of people have lost their jobs and the nurses, etc should be grateful they even have a job" Now, this statement pisses me off. Medical professionals have worked through the pandemic, they haven't been furloughed, they haven't had reduced work, they haven't do anything other than work and put their lives on the line more than the vast majority of this country. Now if they had been furloughed or had reduced work then i could understand the public opinion on not having a pay rise, however, they didn't. They deserve better.

Guess what, I worked as a critical worker all the way through this pandemic keeping the country connected. I had a couple of changes made to the way I work but for the most part of it, it was BAU and it was BAU and then some for the nurses. I got a pay rise this year because I still worked and rightly so.
I could wax lyrical about this all day, but to show some restraint and cut a rant short: It's hard to see this as anything other than a problem of the incumbent parties own making which has been 10+ years in the writing.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Sunday 7th of March.

- World: 116,713,558 confirmed cases and 2,590,835 confirmed deaths.

- UK: Vaccines opened up to the 56 to 59 year old age group.

- UK: A woman is fined £10,000 under lockdown rules for organizing a protest in Manchester against the 1% pay rise for nurses. Government continues to insist 1% is all that can be afforded.

- UK: 75% of respondents on an independent poll indicate they believe the NHS has been better at responding to the crisis than independent companies have. "The response to Covid is best managed by people who know what they’re doing and have decades of experience working in public health, not by outsourcing companies." only 9% of respondents said they thought private companies did better.

- US: Has administered just over 90 million vaccines so far.

- US: Cases starting to plataux at around 60,000 to 70,000 a day. Dr Fauci warned against early lifting of measures in the face of some states already abandoning mask mandates: “We’re going in the right direction but we just need to hang on a bit longer,”

- Isle Of Man: Number of active COVID cases climbs to 315.

- Scotland: Football supporters break gathering rules to celebrate their team winning the Scottish Premiership. Small number of arrests are made.

- Israel: Restaurants reopen, Prime Minister indicates the country has almost emerged from COVID closures.

- Norway: Minister advises country via TV tougher measures will likely be needed as cases surge.

- Austria: Health Agency suspends inoculations with a specific batch of AsteraZeneca vaccine as a precaution, as one person dies and another falls ill following their injection.

- New Zealand: Auckland ends week long lockdown with no new cases of COVID-19.
 
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NaffNaffBobFace

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COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Monday 8th of March.

- World: 116,966,556 confirmed cases and 2,595,573 confirmed deaths.

- US: passes 29 million confirmed cases.

- US: Vaccinated people now allowed to meet indoors. "According to CDC guidelines released on Monday, those who have been fully vaccinated can visit indoors with others who are fully vaccinated without wearing masks. Additionally, those who have been fully vaccinated can safely gather indoors with unvaccinated people from a single household without wearing masks"

- US: Treasury secretary indicates the pandemic had a disproportionate and extremely unfair impact on womens incomes in the country.

- UK: Schools reopen en-masse.

- UK: British Petroleum (BP) tells office workers they will be expected to work from home for 40% of their hours (so two days a week) going forward even after lockdowns lift, indicating a huge shift in how the company will operate with its staff.

- UK: Crowdfunder to pay Manchester 1% NHS Pay Protest organizers fine reaches £14,000. The fine was £10,000.

- Italy: Approves Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for the over 65's.

- Italy: Passes 100,000 COVID deaths.

- Vaccines: Chinas Sinovac candidate may be effective against Brazilian variant, early data indicates.

- Thailand: To reduce mandatory quarantine from 14 days to only 7 for travelers coming into the country who have already been vaccinated in no more than the last 3 months.

- Syria: President and wife test positive for COVID-19, reportedly show minor symptoms and are in good health.

- Vietnam: Launches vaccination program.

- France: Government considers making vaccination compulsory for health workers after only 40% accept inoculation. “Everyone is rolling up their sleeves to get us out of this epidemic. Now they have to roll them up to the shoulder to get vaccinated.”

- France: Donates 15,000 vaccines to Slovakia.

- South Korea: Finds no link between Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and 8 recent deaths of people with underlying health conditions who passed away after having the vaccine, indicating there was no evidence it played a role.
 
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Bambooza

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One thing to take into consideration that the median time between onset to death is 18.5 days so there will be some lag time between when the vaccines are administered and when its expected to start seeing a dip in the number of deaths. The other thing to take into consideration that most of the initial rollout went to front line medical workers while they are the most likely to catch the virus they are not the most likely to die from it. So I would not expect to see a dip in the number of deaths until those in the 69 and older category get upwards of 50% coverage of both shots. The other thing to make sure to factor in is as much as countries have tried to flatten the curve and reduce the transmission of the virus it still has ran ramped through the worlds population and so there is already a natural reduction in the infection and death rate even before the vaccine rollout. The final consideration is that the northern hemisphere is on the wane side of the natural flu season (Oct through April)

One thing that has been puzzling has been the steady decline in confirmed cases especially given its not following the number of deaths. So far the consensus seems to be that while testing is easier and more available more people are no longer interested unless its severe.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Tuesday 9th of March:

- World: 117,360,637 confirmed cases and 2,604,802 confirmed deaths.

- World: Passes 117 million cases, we passed 116 on Saturday meaning another million cases in the last 3/4 days.

- UK: A high-up official in the NHS confirms 2.1% was the budgeted plan for health worker pay rise before the pandemic, but indicated it was understandable the crisis changed that. Government continues to be on the defensive, this time with the health minister stating "nurses are well-paid for the job" while also singing praises for their work over the last year.

- UK: Falling cases see most of the Nightingale field hospitals being moved back into mothball'd status.

- Isle Of Man: Confirmed active cases now stands at 506.

- France: Paris sees Non-COVID hospital care cut by 40% as it faces a surge in cases.

- Scotland: Outdoor meetings of limited people to be permitted from Friday.

- Phillipines: Personal Protective Equipment like masks found to be littering reefs in seas near the country capital of Manila.

- Palestine: Country leader says the hospitals are overfull with COVID patents with some facilities operating at 100% capacity.

- Denmark: Official indicates there are grounds to consider easing of its lockdown.

- Austria: Investigation into the death of a Nurse who had taken the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine indicates the dose came from a batch which went to 17 countries.

- EU: Johnson and Johnson advise the Bloc it is facing supply issues which may hamper its ability to deliver the ordered number of vaccines.

- Bosnia: Foreign minister indicates their and their fellow country officials displeasure as they still wait for Covax to deliver: "We expect Covax to fulfill its contractual obligations ... Our citizens are justifiably unhappy ... Every day counts. We’re talking about people’s lives."
 
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PeppaPigKilla

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- UK: A high-up official in the NHS confirms 2.1% was the budgeted plan for health worker pay rise before the pandemic, but indicated it was understandable the crisis changed that. Government continues to be on the defensive, this time with the health minister stating "nurses are well-paid for the job" while also singing praises for their work over the last year.
They're really not

The current average starting salary for a Band 5 Nurse in the UK is £24,907 per year (minus tax and pensions).
This is according to the Agenda for Change, as of April 2020.
(That’s the minimum and does not include any allowances or location weighting.)
Roughly after all stoppages, nurses get between £1,600 - £1,800 per month.

I think they deserve more for what they do.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Wednesday 10th of March:

- World: 117,717,343 confirmed cases and 2,613,276 confirmed deaths.

- EU/UK: New row blows in following an EU leaders suggestion that the UK has a ban on the export of vaccines produced on the island. "The United Kingdom and the United States have imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory." and later tweeted that there were "different ways of imposing bans or restrictions on vaccines/medicines". UK prime minister states: "Let me be clear: we have not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine or vaccine components."

- UK: Study by researchers in the Universities of Exeter and Bristol suggests UK COVID Kent varient B117 is twice as deadly as the previous widest spread version. "In the community, death from Covid-19 is still a rare event, but the B117 variant raises the risk." [...] "Coupled with its ability to spread rapidly, this makes B117 a threat that should be taken seriously."

- UK: Government continues to defend itself on the 1% NHS pay rise, this time stating the starting pay had risen for nurses, too.

- UK: UK's £37 Billion Track and Trace (in connotation with the NHS if you can remember that running gag from a few months ago) system found to be spectacular waste of money by the Public Accounts Commission, stating the budget was unbelievable and that even at the vase expense it didn't have a clear impact on reducing infection rates.

- Vitamin D: Two early studies on hospital case data fail to find any link between Vitamin D and resistance to COVID infection, illness or death. Experts concede that this is not conclusive but strongly suggests there is no benefit. Controlled trials continue and will provide more definitive data once they conclude.

- US: Texas lifts mask mandate, however many shops will still require them and Austin votes to retain mandate, inviting the state of Texas to sue them if they disagreed.

- Brazil: Report warns health system in most major cities close to collapse.

- Czech Republic: Number of active patents in hospital reaches new record high.

- Hungary: This wave has passed the previous ones peak in December.

- Vaccines: Jordan, Morroco and Kenya approve SputnikV candidate.

- Israel: 600 children between the ages of 12 and 16 injected with Pfizer vaccine, no serious side-effects observed.

- Pakistan: Opens vaccine program to the general public.

- China: No new symptomatic COVID cases reported in the last 2 weeks, and no active sick remain in hospitals - Only asymptomatic carriers detected by random tests known.

- Mauritius: Goes in to lockdown.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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COVID Catharsis Corner - reports from around the world from today, Thursday 11th of March:

- World: 118,318,924 confirmed cases and 2,624,609 confirmed deaths.

- World: Passes 118 million cases, we passed 117 on Tuesday meaning another million in the last 2/3 days.

- World: One year to the day since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a Global Pandemic.

- US: $1.9 trillion relief package passes Senate and is passed into law. News reports note that the package which has 75% public support was not supported by a single Republican politician.

- Vaccines: research suggests a single dose of Pfizer vaccine is less effective in cancer patents than it is in people who do not have the condition.

- Treatments: Early trial data as yet unpublished shows monocolonial antibody treatment VIR-7831 can reduce hospitalization or death by 85%.

- UK: Four more cases of Brazilian variant located taking total to 10.

- UK: Launches major research study into long term impact of COVID infection on 1,500 individuals who were confirmed to have had the virus. “We're all very proud of taking part in it, and feel that our little bit can help somewhere along the line for the rest of the world,"

- UK: NHS waiting list for routine operations hits record high of 4.6 million following delays and postponements following COVID-19 case rates.

- Vaccines: Norway and Denmark suspend use of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine after woman dies from blood clot following injection. Manufacturer indicates the treatment is safe and there is no evidence that it was the vaccine which caused the clot. UK government official says: "We're very confident as a result of the rigorous domestic checks we had that the vaccine is safe to take, but of course we at the same time respect that each country wants to follow their regulatory processes very carefully."

- Brazil: Passes 2,000 deaths in a single day for the first time.

- France: Reduces restrictions on travel.

- Gambia: Launches vaccination program.

- Malawi: Launches vaccination program.

- Uganda: Launches vaccination program.

- Isle Of Man: Active virus cases rise to 580.
 
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NaffNaffBobFace

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COVID Catharsis Corner - reports from around the world from today, Friday 12th of March:

- World: 118,798,642 confirmed cases and 2,633,768 confirmed deaths.

- Vaccines: WHO approves Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

- Vaccines: Bulgaria becomes latest country to pause Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine use and Thailand and the Democratic Republic of Congo delay the jabs rollout following reports of blood clots forming after injection, WHO sticks to line of advice which says there is currently no evidence to suggest a link. Investigations ongoing.

- Transmission: Study by Public Health Scotland and the University of Glasgow suggests transmission drops by at least 30% after one dose of a vaccine. Those who'd had two doses were at least 54% less likely to transmitted the virus.

- Austria: Chancellor makes accusation that vaccines are not being equally distributed through the Bloc and suspects there may be secret private contracts made by some countries.

- Long COVID: Working age women hospitalised with COVID 5 times more likely to suffer Long COVID than men under the same circumstances.

- Australia: Brisbane hospital in lockdown after staff member tests positive having been infected by a patient.

- India: City of Nagpur will be the first to enter second complete lockdown since the lifting of the first national lockdown.

- Azerbaijan: Approves SputnikV vaccine.

- Italy: Reports suggest Italy will enter national lockdown over the Easter weekend.

- Isle Of Man: Suspends passenger ferry crossings for 25 hours after two crew potentially exposed to the virus. Active cases Reach 644.
 
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NaffNaffBobFace

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COVID Catharsis Corner - reports from around the world from today, Saturday 13th of March:

- World: 119,335,338 confirmed cases and 2,644,090 confirmed deaths.

- World: Passes 119 million, we passed 118 million on Thursday meaning another 1 million cases in the last 2/3 days.

- Austria: City of Wiener Neustadt, which has a high COVID rate, blockaded by police to stop anyone from leaving as rules coming requiring a negative COVID test to pass by the check points.

- UK: Party which was breaching Lockdown in Gloucester found to have attendees from over 250 miles away.

- France: Actress attending France's version of the Oscars, the Cesar Awards, strips naked on stage to protest lack of support for the arts.

- Greece: Artists in Athens protest for their right to work, as restrictions have kept theaters, galleries and other places closed.

- Norway: Three health workers being treated for blood clots following Oxford/AstraZeneca vacceine injection: “They are quite sick ... We take this very seriously.”

- Vaccines: AstraZeneca indicates no link between its vaccine candidate and blood clots having analyzed data from 17 million doses: "In fact, the reported numbers of these types of events for Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca are not greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in the unvaccinated population,"

- Jordan: Health Minister resigns after an oxygen shortage on a COVID ward kills six patients.

- Italy: Tightens restrictions in the face of a new wave.

- Isle Of Man: Active cases now at 780, first death from COVID recorded in 4 months taking the total to 26.
 
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