Coronavirus COVID-19 Thread

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Corner - Some reports from some news outlets from today, Thursday 14th of October:

- World: Global Confirmed 239,461,735 Global Deaths 4,878,818

- Furniture: Ikea warns stock shortages to last into next year

- Isle Of Man: Two more Covid-19 deaths confirmed on Isle of Man taking total to 56

- Tests: Lateral flow test more accurate than first thought

- Origins: New WHO group may be last chance to find virus origins

- Italy: Italy braced for unrest as Covid pass becomes mandatory for all workers

- New Zealand: New Zealand region could face up to 5,300 cases a week

- US: US advisers vote in favour of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine boosters

- Therapeutics: Merck & Co antiviral Covid drug sent for review - report

- Therapeutics: EMA to review AstraZeneca's antibody-based Covid therapy

- Russia: Russia again sets new daily records for Covid cases and deaths

- Hungary: New cases in Hungary rise above 1,000 for first time during fourth wave to hit nation

- WHO: More than 85% of Covid cases in Africa undetected

 

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

Ominous.

'Dark Clouds Ahead' for Global Supply Chain, 77% of Ports Face Delays (businessinsider.com)

 

[stockish]

Ominous.

Honestly, given that there is now supposedly a 24/7 policy coming to US ports to alleviate the wait times of cargo, and if that doesn't help things then a lot of the world will be feeling it.

Downside is even at 24/7, if there isn't enough workers it wont resolve the problem.

 

[Vavrik]

Honestly, given that there is now supposedly a 24/7 policy coming to US ports to alleviate the wait times of cargo, and if that doesn't help things then a lot of the world will be feeling it.

Downside is even at 24/7, if there isn't enough workers it wont resolve the problem.

Yeah that's true, and for a lot of ships, it's happening at both the origin and destination.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Ominous.

I'm not sure if I fully understand the causes of this. If it's spread across the supply chain is it quarantine and other precautions? Or is it simply enough people have been put out of action and there is no way of replacing them quickly? Or an issue of enough of the base raw materials not being able to be created for the rest of the chain to take advantage of as demand for all items begins to pick up again?

I recall back in the day arguments around locking down to reduce the amount of virus spread verses letting the virus run rampant and allow society and the economy to continue as normal. It appears that discussion is not moot - either way, the global supply chain was not resilient enough to withstand the pandemic and whether the spread of the virus was limited in a country or not, economies are impacted either way.

From my perspective all not curtailing the virus when we had the chance to did was cost lives and maybe even made the impact of the supply chain issues bigger, but then I don't fully understand the causes of this?

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Breaking UK COVID news, following inquiry on people getting positive Latteral Flow tests but negative PCR tests, a lab is suspended amid up to 43,000 incorrect negative responses being sent to people:

Covid test lab in Wolverhampton suspended over wrong results

Health chief says it's not clear what went wrong as 43,000 in England and Wales potentially affected.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bambooza]

I'm not sure if I fully understand the causes of this. If it's spread across the supply chain is it quarantine and other precautions? Or is it simply enough people have been put out of action and there is no way of replacing them quickly? Or an issue of enough of the base raw materials not being able to be created for the rest of the chain to take advantage of as demand for all items begins to pick up again?

I recall back in the day arguments around locking down to reduce the amount of virus spread verses letting the virus run rampant and allow society and the economy to continue as normal. It appears that discussion is not moot - either way, the global supply chain was not resilient enough to withstand the pandemic and whether the spread of the virus was limited in a country or not, economies are impacted either way.

From my perspective all not curtailing the virus when we had the chance to did was cost lives and maybe even made the impact of the supply chain issues bigger, but then I don't fully understand the causes of this?

The answer is all of the above.

The supply chain/ manufacturing chain over the years has grown lean and far more reliant on the reliability of transportation to deliver the necessary parts on time. This is coupled with a workforce that is hesitant to return to work due to overly generous government stimulus and/or fear of close proximity to other workers and increase risk of infection. This has led to a complete shutdown or limited capacity of the supply chain manufacturing and transportation. Some of it has also spilled into costs of supplies/transportation making it uneconomically viable to continue manufacturing until either the price of the final good can go up or the cost of production to go down.

Steel prices are up a 215%
Cargo Container Shortage
Where did all the shipping containers go?
Big chip shortage

Threat to Christmas supplies
U.S. Supply chain to snarled for Christmas fix.
Tame high Inflation, grocery store shortage

This is just the start of this fall out from the lockdowns and it's really just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Vikk]

This is just the start of this fall out from the lockdowns and it's really just the tip of the iceberg.

Not to "fear-monger" but I agree. It also doesn't hurt for everyone to take a few steps to prepare for any disaster. I remember living in Georgia around 8 years ago when an Ice storm hit. No one was prepared for the 4 days without power. Some were without power for more than 2 weeks. We were forced to bundle up in blankets as a family to say warm. Since that day I said "never again" and have taken some precautions to ensure we have a month or two of "backup". That was some years ago. But I have recently watched several of this guys videos.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltYwYvsr1RM&t=606s



This is a good one to start with. I suggest everyone stock up on a few supplies. For those interested. The rest of their videos are pretty informative for anyone wanting to take more than basic precautions.

Hopefully we'll never need any of it. But most of the things you can pick up never expire, or expire in 20+ years. So, a small price to pay for being ready for the unexpected.

 

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

The big takeaway from every article I read on the subject is that we have a major worker shortage. Why we have a shortage has been explained in different ways by different people that all make sense but there's nothing definitive. I just want to reiterate that we called all of this at the very start of the pandemic (february-ish of last year) so we can all see where this is going. I figured it would be a slow decline over a decade, so far its looking that way. I know I've seen hopeful estimates that things will "normalize" sometime in 2023, but who knows. Only time will tell.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Corner - Some reports from some news outlets from today, Friday 15th of October:

- World: Global Confirmed 239,833,044 Global Deaths 4,885,464

- UK: Military drafted in to under-pressure NHS boards

- US: US to lift travel ban on 8 November

- UK: Investigation ordered into Covid lab test failings

- UK: Patients stuck in hospital wait for care home beds

- Isle Of Man: Covid ward re-established as hospital cases rise

- UK: Wales, and Ozone machine school plans scrapped over safety

- Australia: Sydney to scrap quarantine for Australian travellers

- EU/Romania: EU sends drugs and equipment to Romania to tackle Covid crisis

- Russia: Russia sets another new record for daily recorded deaths and daily new cases

- US: Applications to US nursing schools rise as students want to ‘join the frontline’

 

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

The Energy supply of the world is what makes it work and if were talking about impacts on the economy, this is the big one.

The first big energy shock of the green era | The Economist

Energy crisis could threaten global economic recovery, says IEA | Reuters

Your Evening Briefing: Global Energy Crisis Increasingly Includes Oil - Bloomberg

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Corner - Some reports from some news outlets from today, Saturday 16th of October:

- World: Global Confirmed 240,278,867 Global Deaths 4,892,799

- Russia: Russia's daily Covid deaths hit 1,000 landmark

- US: US throws out millions of doses of Covid vaccine as world goes wanting

- UK: Conflicting Covid test results leave Britons suspicious of PCR tests

- New Zealand: Covid ‘vaxathon’: over 2.5% of New Zealanders get jabbed in one day

- Malaysia: Authorities in Malaysia will “continue to make life difficult” for those who refuse to be vaccinated.

- Italy: Thousands of anti-facists march against last weeks anti-vax riots.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

The big takeaway from every article I read on the subject is that we have a major worker shortage. Why we have a shortage has been explained in different ways by different people that all make sense but there's nothing definitive. I just want to reiterate that we called all of this at the very start of the pandemic (february-ish of last year) so we can all see where this is going. I figured it would be a slow decline over a decade, so far its looking that way. I know I've seen hopeful estimates that things will "normalize" sometime in 2023, but who knows. Only time will tell.

This is this mornings take on it from the BBC:

Shipping disruption: Why are so many queuing to get to the US?

A surge in demand for toys and sports equipment has contributed to logjams at US ports.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Vavrik]

This is this mornings take on it from the BBC:

Shipping disruption: Why are so many queuing to get to the US?

A surge in demand for toys and sports equipment has contributed to logjams at US ports.

www.bbc.co.uk

Like they said, that kind of backlog isn't going to end soon. You can't actually fix it much faster by staffing or 24 hour shifts without risking lives and it's more than ships backing up. It's also where do you put the cargo and the means to move the cargo to market? That's just import. Then also you have the export side of things that is also backlogged. This is skilled labor too, longshoremen, truck drivers and sailors don't grow on trees.

It's also not just happening on the US West Coast, it's happening everywhere - no, not just in the US, everywhere.

"Well then" some people say, "We'll just start making the stuff here!"... oblivious to how long it takes to make a new factory are we? Then someone starts to build it and... the same guys are lined up in arms because "Not in my back yard"... You need to smell a plastics factory to understand why it's better over there. Waaaay over there. Yeah China isn't a bad place for it after all...

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Corner - Some reports from some news outlets from today, Sunday 19th of October:

- World: Global Confirmed 240,553,753 Global Deaths 4,897,304

- Russia: Russia records record level of coronavirus cases

- Australia: Melbourne to lift stay-at-home orders this week

- UK: UK Covid cases remain high

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Corner - Some reports from some news outlets from today, Monday 20th of October:

- World: Global Confirmed 240,805,141 Global Deaths 4,901,012

- Vaccines: Positive trial results for Valneva Covid vaccine

- UK: Number 10 denies Prime Minister broke Christmas Covid rules

- Australia: Flying Doctors take vaccines to Australia's outback

- Australia: More than 40 Victoria police officers have been stood down for rejecting vaccination.

- UK: Amazon offers £3,000 bonuses to attract staff

- UK: Britons warned of difficult months ahead as cases rise

- US: Colin Powell, former US secretary of state, dies from Covid complications

- UK: Two doses of Covid vaccine offer similar protection as natural infection – ONS analysis

- EU: EU has exported over 1bn vaccine doses worldwide – von der Leyen

- Russia: Russia sets another new daily Covid case record

- UK: UK lab investigated for false negative Covid tests is not fully accredited

 

[Vavrik]

- UK: UK lab investigated for false negative Covid tests is not fully accredited

Ouch. That's a mistake not just by the company, but just as grievous on whoever in the Department of Health thought they were approved- what on hearsay? "You didn't bother to look up the records?"

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Ouch. That's a mistake not just by the company, but just as grievous on whoever in the Department of Health thought they were approved- what on hearsay? "You didn't bother to look up the records?"

I can't comment without sacrificing my impartiality however I will say that is an incredibly polite way to put it

 

[stockish]

I can't comment without sacrificing my impartiality however I will say that is an incredibly polite way to put it

I usually put it this way

View: https://youtu.be/y6rZfpSL1RQ

 

[Vavrik]

I can't comment without sacrificing my impartiality however I will say that is an incredibly polite way to put it

I am Canadian eh. I only live in Texas cuz my wife doesn't do snow (or mountains apparently). I keep pointing to BC, she never responds but keeps pointing to the sky with her middle finger. I think she's afraid of mountains.