Coronavirus thread

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The handle-bars can turn completely around, so, believe me, it's quite possible to do it (for me anyway). No, my dignity was bruised but I was otherwise unscathed thank you. The story, known in the family as 'The Austrian Bike Ride' has provided hours of entertainment especially for my daughter who likes to tell everyone about it.

Loose handlebars on a cheap rental?  Or some design that I don't know about?  I haven't rented a bike in a gazillion years so don't know what's out there.  In any event, you're alive and have a tale of your own to tell!  So, there! 

Saw a really nice story on the news this morning:  people have come up with a way to lend their RVs to medical persons who need them.  Doctors, nurses, etc., who are concerned about spreading the illness to their family are being lent RVs to them by kind people.  This way they can stay sequestered but close to/see/interact from afar with their families and loved ones (like parking them in their driveways).  Keeps everyone safe and helps with lowering stress.   

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Back on topic I was very impressed by this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-52227222/coronavirus-bbc-presenter-emily-maitlis-criticises-misleading-language

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/emily-maitlis-praised-as-she-slams-language-used-amid-coronavirus-crisis-in-extraordinary-newsnight-a4410761.html

Good story and important thoughts about who is effected and how we should discuss the issues.  A number of stories on NPR about how black people are being disproportionally effected in the States and why.  Here's one of them:  https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/02/825730141/the-coronavirus-doesnt-discriminate-but-u-s-health-care-showing-familiar-biases

And another:  https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/08/830030932/cdc-hospital-data-point-to-racial-disparity-in-covid-19-cases

And small-town hospitals were already struggling with some having to close before this all began.  https://www.npr.org/2020/04/09/829753752/small-town-hospitals-are-closing-just-as-coronavirus-arrives-in-rural-america

[drogulus]

I'm aware this is slightly off topic, but this crisis has shown a strong acceleration of the decline of the influence of the United States on the world stage.

Q

     That's certainly true. It's turned out to be a bad idea, as international cooperation has declined with it.

[Kaga2]

From one of the articles linked above

The new Corona virus doesn't discriminate

This assumes a fact very much not in evidence, and foolish to assume. One thing we know is that ACE proteins are involved in the virus's ability to get into cells, and there are racial differences around ACE. We simply do not know if this matters. I wish people would stop asserting things they cannot know.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

From one of the articles linked above
This assumes a fact very much not in evidence, and foolish to assume. One thing we know is that ACE proteins are involved in the virus's ability to get into cells, and there are racial differences around ACE. We simply do not know if this matters. I wish people would stop asserting things they cannot know.

You might wish to listen to this:  https://www.npr.org/2020/04/08/829544245/morning-news-brief  There was a longer interview also NPR which I am trying to find broadcast sometime over the past few days which I think you would appreciate.

[Irons]

EU science chief resigns in stinging criticism of EU response of Coronavirus response.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/04/08/extremely-disappointed-eu-science-chief-resigns-in-stinging-criticism-of-coronavirus-response/#1077363a57c4

[Florestan]

EU science chief resigns in stinging criticism of EU response of Coronavirus response.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/04/08/extremely-disappointed-eu-science-chief-resigns-in-stinging-criticism-of-coronavirus-response/#1077363a57c4

EU is dead. Covid-19 killed it.

[Jo498]

But it had long suffered from pre-existing conditions.

[Florestan]

But it had long suffered from pre-existing conditions.

Excellent one! Really excellent.

[Kaga2]

You might wish to listen to this:  https://www.npr.org/2020/04/08/829544245/morning-news-brief  There was a longer interview also NPR which I am trying to find broadcast sometime over the past few days which I think you would appreciate.

Interesting. I didn't listen but looked through the transcript and it seems they are very careful to say we don't yet if there is a racial disparity in susceptibility. Isn't that what I said? In contradiction of the blithe assertion in the other NPR piece that there was none.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Interesting. I didn't listen but looked through the transcript and it seems they are very careful to say we don't yet if there is a racial disparity in susceptibility. Isn't that what I said? In contradiction of the blithe assertion in the other NPR piece that there was none.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you?  One of the main things that I took out of these articles and other things including that other interview which aired (I want to say within the past fews days) is that there are serious problems in our society in terms of equal access to decent healthcare and that it needs to be fixed.  (from one link):

'Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association has been pushing health officials to start monitoring race and income in the response to COVID-19.

"We want people to collect the data in an organized, professional, scientific manner and show who's getting it and who's not getting it," Benjamin says. "Recognize that we very well may see these health inequities."

The subjectivity of symptoms

Until he's convinced otherwise, Benjamin says he assumes the usual disparities are at play.

"Experience has taught all of us that if you're poor, if you're of color, you're going to get services second," he says.'

And from another of my links:

'KING: All right. So you're saying we don't have all of the numbers, but the numbers that we do have are pretty troubling. Why would one racial group be more affected by COVID-19?

GREENFIELDBOYCE: So the members of the Coronavirus Task Force say it probably comes down to medical conditions that disproportionately affect African Americans. We know that there are medical conditions that lead to bad outcomes when people get this virus. Here's how Anthony Fauci put it last night.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANTHONY FAUCI: When they do get infected, their underlying medical conditions - the diabetes, the hypertension, the asthma - those are the kind of things that wind them up in the ICU and ultimately give them a higher death rate.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Studies have shown that there are real, unfair differences related to health in this country. I mean, people of color are less likely to have access to quality health care when they get sick. They're less likely to get routine preventive care. And there is a lot of social and economic things that go into that. Dr. Fauci said it kind of reminded him a bit of HIV, which he spent his career working on. It hit the gay community and brought attention to discrimination against gay people. He said coronavirus is shining a light on the inequality in health right now for African Americans.'

You might also read this:  https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/factors-contributing-higher-incidence-diabetes-black-americans

[Kaga2]

PD
I am addressing only one point. It is this statement, which is my re wording of "the virus doesn't discriminate ":

"There is no heightened risk factor for any race. The higher death rate is attributable to other, known factors. Healthy affluent blacks are absolutely at no higher risk."

But we don't know that. There are drugs and diseases for which race is a risk factor, even when other factors are controlled for. It might be the case for Corona, and I have seen doctors argue that it is plausible because of racial differences iN ACE. And if race really is a risk factor we shouldn't tell people who are at a higher risk that they aren't. But npr blithely did.

[Mandryka]

Easter bunnies 2020 style

[drogulus]

     Boris Johnson is out of intensive care while still in the hospital receiving treatment.

[Karl Henning]

Easter bunnies 2020 style

Nice. Borrowing this.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

I'm not paranoid, but vigilant like everyone else, so  i spurt a mask plus a scarf it's bullet proof whit Lysol or 100% alcohol.

I take huge bath like extremely hot water, not boiling and sea salt ocean big salt it kill microbes were ever they are good for skin too...

This and I Purel when I venture and inside when i come back wash my hands 7-8 time a days.

I disinfected everything door nobs too  bathroom to walls, my keyboard, everywhere I use  Hertel and etc even my  mail box, especially my mailbox outside, even my recycling box is clean...

Extreme precaution means extreme cautions prudence is required in these days of age.

Don't forget to clean your house regullary if you can, not only wash your hand's and etc, eat oranges a lot, dark green wedgies and eggplant, boycott restaurant for a while , cook if you don't learn, I'm a good cook ,lucky about it, learned whit trial and errors. And that it stay healthy ,clean your house best you can too, my two cents.

[Ratliff]

For those of you who have noticed my whining, I finished my relocation.

To recap, I accepted a new job two months ago, sold the house, planned my move, then the pandemic hit. By some miracle, the house closing went through, the movers came on April 3rd, and we left that evening to drive from Central Coast California to the Houston Texas area. We stopped the first night in Pasadena, lunched the next morning in Palm Springs, CA, slept the next night in Phoenix AZ. The next day we lunched in Tucson AZ, had diner in Les Cruces NM, and slept in El Paso Texas. Got up, had lunch in Van Horn Texas, dinner in Odessa Texas and slept in Abilene Texas. The last day we lunched in Dallas Texas and arrived in Spring Texas.

Things were surprisingly normal, with a few odd touches. We had to talk to hotel clerks through the night check-in window, or from behind a plexiglass barrier. But everything was functioning more or less normally. Probably there was less traffic in the metropolitan areas we passed. We did check into all of those motels, and probably that is the biggest risk of exposure we have faced. We stopped in a Whole Foods Market in each major city we passed to get lunch and/or supplies for subsequent dinner, which we prepared in our hotel room with a hot plate and toaster oven we brought with us in the car. Some nights we stopped in two hotels, one to prepare our dinner and another to actually sleep. It added up to about 1,700 miles, 3,000 kilometers, and about 28 hours of actual driving.

Anyway, we survived, we are here. Now we wait and see if we got the virus...

[Herman]

Wishing you well, in Texas.
I couldn't help but notice that Spring's Wiki all but says "we're a very white town, very good".
You can't help that.
Good luck in your new job.

[Florestan]

Anyway, we survived, we are here. Now we wait and see if we got the virus...

Warm wishes and best of luck with your new circumstances. Stay safe!

[vandermolen]

Warm wishes and best of luck with your new circumstances. Stay safe!

From me too.