Coronavirus thread

[vandermolen]

Had my random sample Covid test today. I had to shove a probe down my throat and then up my nostrils (too much information! ) - a most unsavoury business - but not without interest.

[Mandryka]

Had my random sample Covid test today. I had to shove a probe down my throat and then up my nostrils (too much information! ) - a most unsavoury business - but not without interest.

I hope you remembered to register your test online before putting it in the designated post box. I nearly forgot.

[Mandryka]

Some questions about COVID which I can't find the answer to, maybe someone here can help:

1. In the UK, if you've been in contact with an infected person, you're asked to self isolate for two weeks even if you don't show symptoms yourself. Is Britain the only country doing that?

2. Is Britain the only country offering home swab tests?

3. As far as I understand it, just thinking intuitively,  the more rampant the disease is, the less likely false negatives are. I've forgotten all about Bayse's Rule, but am I right?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thanks for that one. In the Uk bars and restaurants need to hold contact details of every group of customers, so they can be contacted if a positive result comes to light, and all the contacts are being encouraged to self isolate whether they have symptoms or not. This should go some way towards what happens in S Korea.


Strange times we live in.

That would be smart!  If they even had one customer per group agree to provide their details--and to keep track of who all was in their group (and how to get ahold of them) and the date would help.

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

So, the UK has home tests?  I haven't heard about that happening in the US.   

Just heard that Croatia is allowing Americans in (only country in the EU to do so).  You do have, apparently, to have had a test no more than 48 hours before arriving in the country and bring proof that you were negative.  I think also show were you would be lodging too.

PD

[T. D.]

Hasn't the Republic of Ireland been letting US citizens in? I posted a link some days ago.

And...

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-bored-pandemic-until-told-015633030.html

Trump was 'bored' with the pandemic — until he was told it was hurting 'our people': fellow Republicans

President Donald Trump's advisers got him to pay more attention to the COVID-19 pandemic by informing him that the surge in cases is hurting "our people" in Republican states, an administration official told The Washington Post.

The tactic has seemed to "resonate" with Trump, The Post reported on Monday, as the president "hewed closely to pre-scripted remarks" in subsequent news briefings.

Previously, the president had been losing interest in a pandemic that has cost an average of 850 deaths a day and killed more than 147,000 Americans.

"The president got bored with it," David Carney, an adviser to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, told The New York Times earlier this month.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Hasn't the Republic of Ireland been letting US citizens in? I posted a link some days ago.

And...

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-bored-pandemic-until-told-015633030.html

Trump was 'bored' with the pandemic — until he was told it was hurting 'our people': fellow Republicans

President Donald Trump's advisers got him to pay more attention to the COVID-19 pandemic by informing him that the surge in cases is hurting "our people" in Republican states, an administration official told The Washington Post.

The tactic has seemed to "resonate" with Trump, The Post reported on Monday, as the president "hewed closely to pre-scripted remarks" in subsequent news briefings.

Previously, the president had been losing interest in a pandemic that has cost an average of 850 deaths a day and killed more than 147,000 Americans.

"The president got bored with it," David Carney, an adviser to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, told The New York Times earlier this month.

Ah, true!  The news station was either wrong...or I missed something.  It seems though, that Americans are supposed to self-quarantine for 14 days though....and a lot of them aren't doing it. https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/507497-american-tourists-are-ignoring-quarantine-rule-on-visits-to-ireland

From the US Embassy's Irish website:

"The Irish government continues to advise against all non-essential foreign travel, and requires visitors arriving in Ireland, with limited exceptions, to restrict their movements and fill in a COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form indicating where they will self-isolate for 14 days.  Failure to complete the form and providing false or misleading information is an offense under Irish law, with a fine of up to €2,500 (nearly $3,000) and/or imprisonment of up to six months.  Travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice.  There are no restrictions on flights from the United States to Ireland although the number of available flights is significantly diminished.  Aer Lingus, American Airlines, and United Airlines are flying to the United States from Ireland, with limited service from Dublin to Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Newark, and New York.   Health Service Executive (HSE) staff are present in at the Dublin and Shannon airports to assist arriving passengers who have concerns related to COVID-19.  If you are in Ireland and have symptoms, phone a doctor or dial 112 or 999 locally.  If someone tests positive for the virus, the Department of Health (DOH) will isolate and treat the individual."

Personally, unless I was going to be there for at least several months, I wouldn't bother going there now as there would go my vacation!   

PD

[T. D.]

You know darn well that (Ugly) Americans going to Ireland on vacation are not going to self-isolate for 14 days!
I posted this a few days ago: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-24/americans-spread-virus-fear-in-one-eu-country-they-can-visit

Personally, I wouldn't take any flight, so it's not an issue. (Disclosure: I'm 62 years old, American. I haven't even used a public toilet since mid-March; fortunately I work in a building which feels safe since I'm generally the only person there.) I'm of Irish descent and took several vacations there in the 1990s.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

You know darn well that (Ugly) Americans going to Ireland on vacation are not going to self-isolate for 14 days!
I posted this a few days ago: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-24/americans-spread-virus-fear-in-one-eu-country-they-can-visit

Personally, I wouldn't take any flight, so it's not an issue. (Disclosure: I'm 62 years old, American. I haven't even used a public toilet since mid-March; fortunately I work in a building which feels safe since I'm generally the only person there.) I'm of Irish descent and took several vacations there in the 1990s.

Apparently, according to one of your links, travel is down about 95%.  I'd like to think that most people would mind the rules, but I'm probably being overly optimistic (I try and believe the best of folks). Again, one of the stories that you had linked to found out that the dreaded American lived there, but I'm sure that there are some stubborn folks who aren't following the rules.  I imagine that some of those too were/are probably staying with family/relatives (but that is certainly putting them at risk too as well as anyone else they or the relatives interact with).  Not a good scenario at all!  And if they are not following the rules, they certainly should pay the consequences. 

Last time I was there, I was a teenager....would love to go back...one day.   

Sláinte,

PD

[Todd]

UK, Germany warn against travel to Spain as Covid-19 re-emerges


Rise of new COVID-19 cases in Europe during tourism season triggers new restrictions

[Que]

 'One big wave' – why the Covid-19 second wave may not exist

With no evidence of seasonal variations, the WHO warns the initial coronavirus pandemic is continuing and accelerating


Hopes of a temporal reprieve over the summer have gone up in smoke...

Long term restrictions will have to stay in place or reintroduced in Europe and Asia to keep the spread of the virus under control.

Meanwhile things are out of ontrol in the Americas, Russia and India....

Are we heading for a crash? 

[Todd]

Hopes of a temporal reprieve over the summer have gone up in smoke...

Covid is non-seasonal, spreads in all climates, and is more contagious than influenza.  Earlier in the month, the NIH Director cautioned that two doses of vaccine may be needed - provided one that works is found.  It is conceivable that routine boosters will be needed.  Economic and public health devastation on a global basis is still in an early phase.  Millions will likely die from Covid, perhaps more, and millions more will die as a result of medical and economic dislocation.  Worst case, not only could an economic crash come, but the conditions for large-scale warfare could arise, with or without an economic crash. 


On the research front:

The hunt for the origins of SARS-CoV-2 will look beyond China

The virus may have been born in South-East Asia

[Karl Henning]

Why are sports in trouble in the U.S.? Because we didn't do the work.

[Karl Henning]

https://www.youtube.com/v/2uLJkpH__os

[T. D.]

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/29/louie-gohmert-coronavirus/

U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert [R-TX - surprise], a mask skeptic, tests positive for coronavirus
Gohmert, 66, said in a televised interview that he wonders if he may have caught the virus from wearing his mask.

[Karl Henning]

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/29/louie-gohmert-coronavirus/

U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert [R-TX - surprise], a mask skeptic, tests positive for coronavirus
Gohmert, 66, said in a televised interview that he wonders if he may have caught the virus from wearing his mask.

Medical genius.

[T. D.]

Medical genius.

From such a profound genius, there's of course much more... The following is from back in April. I'm sure one could find far more inanity, but I'll pass...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-us-congressman-louie-gohmert-germany-powder-cure-a9474416.html

...congressman Louie Gohmert falsely claimed that Germany is using a powder to help prevent health care workers from contracting Covid-19.

Earlier this month [April], during an interview with KLTV in Texas, Mr Gohmert claimed that health care workers were being protected from coronavirus by the substance.

"It is being used in Germany as a mist," Mr Gohmert said. "Health care workers go through a misting tent going into the hospital and it kills the coronavirus completely dead not only right then.

"Any time in the next 14 days that the virus touches anything that's been sprayed it is killed."

Mr Gohmert said the government was trying to get approval for the treatment in the US.

Madlin Mekelburg, of Politifact, fact-checked Mr Gohmert's claims in an article for the Houston Chronicle.

Head of the German Hospital Association, Dr Jörn Wegner, told Ms Mekelburg that the congressman's claims are incorrect.

"What your congressman said is absolute nonsense," Dr Wegner said. "There are no such tents and there's no powder or magical cure."

[JBS]

In the cause of re-opening, Gohmert is trying to ensure his staff gets sick
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2020/07/29/why-the-capitol-needs-testing-489917

[T. D.]

Kinda scary and sad to say, but I believe that moron Gohmert is far from an outlier in the US House of Representatives.

And, as we've known all along:

https://news.yahoo.com/didnt-run-plays-ex-officials-trump-administration-didnt-081634259--abc-news-topstories.html

President Donald Trump proclaimed in late March that "nobody knew there'd be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion." Confronted with criticism of a lethargic national response, he lamented "a system we inherited" from past administrations.

The problem with both statements, according to former public health officials, is that prior administrations not only "knew there'd be a pandemic," they planned for it – extensively.

They did so by crafting so-called "playbooks" and engaging in "table-top exercises" for hypothetical outbreaks – the results of which bore a striking resemblance to gaps that have emerged in the federal government's response to COVID-19.

[Karl Henning]

Ayyup: criminal incompetence.