Coronavirus thread

[vandermolen]

I've decided to only post coronavirus humour as I'm all Covided out!

This is a classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KPbJ0-DxTc

Contains bad language:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WOLG2nBQ-Ns

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The first patient here in my town, Woburn, Mass. has recovered and is out of isolation. We now have but two confirmed positives.

Yeah re out of isolation.

Heard stories of people who are using 3-D printers to make those clear plastic face shields that doctors use.   

PD

[geralmar]

As long as we're having a bit of fun about the coronavirus...  WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hks6Nq7g6P4

Actually, very powerful.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

On CNN's website, check out these various re-makes:  https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/03/23/sweet-caroline-coronavirus-remix-moos-pkg-ebof-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/wacky-world-of-jeanne-moos/

[milk]

Here in Japan, we've not seen lockdown and mass unemployment (yet). But watching the news in the States is filling me with anxiety and dread. It doesn't seem real. I hope we find ways to connect and support each other through these times.

[geralmar]

Here in Japan, we've not seen lockdown and mass unemployment (yet). But watching the news in the States is filling me with anxiety and dread. It doesn't seem real. I hope we find ways to connect and support each other through these times.

As half my family (on my mother's side) live in Japan I appreciate your concern.

[Rinaldo]

Ed Yong is one the best science writers out there, recommended reading:

How the Pandemic Will End: The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it's going to play out.

With little room to surge during a crisis, America's health-care system operates on the assumption that unaffected states can help beleaguered ones in an emergency. That ethic works for localized disasters such as hurricanes or wildfires, but not for a pandemic that is now in all 50 states. Cooperation has given way to competition; some worried hospitals have bought out large quantities of supplies, in the way that panicked consumers have bought out toilet paper.

Partly, that's because the White House is a ghost town of scientific expertise. A pandemic-preparedness office that was part of the National Security Council was dissolved in 2018. On January 28, Luciana Borio, who was part of that team, urged the government to "act now to prevent an American epidemic," and specifically to work with the private sector to develop fast, easy diagnostic tests. But with the office shuttered, those warnings were published in The Wall Street Journal, rather than spoken into the president's ear. Instead of springing into action, America sat idle.

[drogulus]

      Trump is instantiating the "headless chicken" model of supply management.

      The government needs to "intrude" resiliency into a system that's too expensive for the private sector to maintain on its own initiative. It's what government is for, of course. That's where collective foresight is stored, and where it's used. You need a bridge, a social program, an army for maybe a little longer than the next quarter? You need these for approximately ever? Then you do it. Doing it teaches you how and why if you don't know already. Knowing already is a good idea, though.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

For a bit of levity, this cracked me up (also read the following comment and his reply):

https://twitter.com/stanwawrinka/status/1241424531098656768

p.s.  Trying to figure out how to embed a Twitter tweet/thread?   

[drogulus]

For a bit of levity, this cracked me up (also read the following comment and his reply):

https://twitter.com/stanwawrinka/status/1241424531098656768

p.s.  Trying to figure out how to embed a Twitter tweet/thread?   

     If it's really necessary make an image of it and host it somewhere.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thanks.

[Irons]

I'm puzzled by the USA situation. In grave cases such as this, who is directly in charge of managing the situation nationwide? I see Trump wants everybody going back to business as usual before Easter (which would be insane) while some state governors have imposed or recommended partial lockdown (wise move and be prepared for a total one). Does Trump have the power to override their decisions? It's all such a confusing mess.

More then puzzled but worried. Each country has to deal with this as it thinks fit, but what I see of the situation in New York and the sage words of Trump I am scared. If the US goes down the toilet, much as I hate to say it, the rest of the world will follow.

[drogulus]

I'm puzzled by the USA situation. In grave cases such as this, who is directly in charge of managing the situation nationwide?

     In a national emergency, the federal government is in charge subject to limits due to the federal nature of the country. The US and Germany are federal states. For the present crisis the US federal government has vast positive powers in that it has huge provisioning power. It has less negative power to prevent states from taking emergency action on their own.

     The US is doubly burdened by incompetence and dogmatic negativism at the top. Their job in practice is "not their job" in theory. And as you know all too well, belief makes it true.

[Marc]

In Belgium, bars and cafés closed to business for 3 weeks as of yesterday night. But not before a last pint !

Belgians understand carpe diem in their own way. Yesterday evening in Brussels, police had to remove revellers from bars well past midnight...

Yep. Carpe diem.

Poor wise guys and chicks.

https://world-today-news.com/young-people-who-held-lockdown-parties-are-now-on-ic-abroad/

Today, Dutch influencer Paul Goudsmit, who as King Alert has 176,000 followers on YouTube, also argued that the seriousness of the situation does not get through to young people. He points to influencers in an article on the opinion page of De Telegraaf. "Children are being brainwashed by their idols. It doesn't matter what a virologist says? It doesn't matter what politicians say either.... Because according to their idols, "it is not so bad after all."

[drogulus]

More then puzzled but worried. Each country has to deal with this as it thinks fit, but what I see of the situation in New York and the sage words of Trump I am scared. If the US goes down the toilet, much as I hate to say it, the rest of the world will follow.

     The US is the biggest buyer of the world's goods. Damn right the world will follow. If we run out of dollars to save ourselves we won't be the only ones to suffer. Everything tells me that an unprecedented dollar runout is in the works. Senators are complaining that the rescue package is too generous to the poorest workers. They are preparing the battlefield by treating recovery as an unmerited gift, and pointing to where this lack of merit can be found.

     

[Florestan]

For the present crisis the US federal government has vast positive powers in that it has huge provisioning power. It has less negative power to prevent states from taking emergency action on their own.

Good.

[mc ukrneal]

Some of you were wondering earlier why Germany had so few deaths compared to tested. Here is an article that attempts to explain that:
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/coronavirus-why-germanys-death-toll-is-so-low-125400840.html

[drogulus]

Some of you were wondering earlier why Germany had so few deaths compared to tested. Here is an article that attempts to explain that:
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/coronavirus-why-germanys-death-toll-is-so-low-125400840.html

     Yes, I asked that and got some answers I kept to myself.

Making direct comparisons between national mortality rates can be misleading, not just because of recording lags and different methodologies on reporting cases and deaths, but also because of the extent of testing. The more aggressively a country tests for coronavirus, the more cases of mild infections will be found and recorded in the statistics, which pushes the fatality percentage down. 

Various medical experts have attributed the low mortality partly to the fact that the first wave of coronavirus cases in Germany happened among younger people, many of whom had returned from ski holidays in other European countries, especially resorts in Italy and Austria, and recovered.

     

[Marc]

Nobody deserves it.

"Deserve's got nothing to do with it."

It's tragic though... spoke to my employer on the phone 2 days ago, and one of his main sources in these turbulent times is a dude called Robert Jensen, broadcast-dj and 'free-thinking' opinion maker, who's also got a YouTube channel. This Jensen is convinced that it's the governments who create this panic on purpose, to silent the 'ordinary people'. I begged him, cuz he's got children, to pay no attention to fools like Jensen and just try to live by the regularions and advices from government and National Health Organisations. Well, he promised he would try to do that.

[Kaga2]

"Deserve's got nothing to do with it."

It's tragic though... spoke to my employer on the phone 2 days ago, and one of his main sources in these turbulent times is a dude called Robert Jensen, broadcast-dj and 'free-thinking' opinion maker, who's also got a YouTube channel. This Jensen is convinced that it's the governments who create this panic on purpose, to silent the 'ordinary people'. I begged him, cuz he's got children, to pay no attention to fools like Jensen and just try to live by the regularions and advices from government and National Health Organisations. Well, he promised he would try to do that.

This worries me too. I am debating, if that is the word and it really isn't, with deniers on a popular blog. Their ignorance and certainty are scary. I have no fear that they will directly influence government decisions, but I worry a lot that they will lead to non compliance with quarantines and distancing. People who think it's a sham are more likely to say "the hell with it".  My wife asks why I waste my time when I cannot convince them. My answer is that I am trying to convince other people who read it.