Coronavirus thread

[vandermolen]

     Some reasons for this are discussed in a failing article in the NYTimes (or is it an article......oh never mind):

The average age of those infected is lower in Germany than in many other countries. Many of the early patients caught the virus in Austrian and Italian ski resorts and were relatively young and healthy, Professor Kräusslich said.

"It started as an epidemic of skiers," he said.

As infections have spread, more older people have been hit and the death rate, only 0.2 percent two weeks ago, has risen, too. But the average age of contracting the disease remains relatively low, at 49. In France, it is 62.5 and in Italy 62, according to their latest national reports.

Another explanation for the low fatality rate is that Germany has been testing far more people than most nations. That means it catches more people with few or no symptoms, increasing the number of known cases, but not the number of fatalities.



   

Thanks. Your last point rings true.

[Que]

How Greece is beating coronavirus despite a decade of debt

A great achievement after so much economic hardship! Chapeau to Greece.

Q

[Rinaldo]

Explain?

This is a good primer: 11 charts on the problems facing the NHS

Also:

The five-year financial settlement for the NHS provides much needed investment but is not enough to meet key waiting times standards and transform services for patients

Spending Round: major challenges remain for health, social care and wider public services

We can't clap away destructive NHS cuts – no matter how much we profess to love our carers

Not to mention the effects of Brexit..

[JBS]

A treatise on masks
https://www.noonecoming.com/masks-respirators-and-covid19/

[Irons]

The first thing I noticed was the disparity between the German send UK statistics.

It must be down to testing. That I think is the key.

Jeffrey, did you see the story of Captain Tom Moore who aged 99, a ton at the end of this month, bet £100 for the NHS with his family, that with the aid of his Zimmer frame he would do a hundred laps of his garden. So far he has raised £8 1/2 million and rising! A hero twice over, and a top man!

Edit : I missed that PD has raised a link above.

[Irons]

This is a good primer: 11 charts on the problems facing the NHS

Also:

The five-year financial settlement for the NHS provides much needed investment but is not enough to meet key waiting times standards and transform services for patients

Spending Round: major challenges remain for health, social care and wider public services

We can't clap away destructive NHS cuts – no matter how much we profess to love our carers

Not to mention the effects of Brexit..

Fair enough, it is a view, but to address some balance I think it should be pointed out that the NHS is the world's fifth biggest employer and the biggest employer in Europe. After all this I think there is a chance the NHS will overtake McDonalds and be fourth biggest! Anyway you are entitled to your views even if I think they are misplaced.

Nothing is black or white, perfect or not.

[drogulus]

     Why a study showing that covid-19 is everywhere is good news

     Yes, and if it's as everywhere as the article surmises, the true fatality rate is much lower. It makes sense, since so little testing has been done of people who aren't sick or who had symptoms so mild they didn't even call their doctors, or weren't even sure they were having symptoms. I sometimes wonder if I'm "coming down with something" and an hour later I forget all about it.

[mc ukrneal]

A treatise on masks
https://www.noonecoming.com/masks-respirators-and-covid19/

The author sure does use a lot of words.

My basic issue with masks, based on the studies that I have read, is that their use confers little to no protection to a healthy person. The reason we wear them, from what I understood,  is 1) Prevent an unhealthy person from breathing all over and 2) Prevent people from being stigmatized when they do wear masks (psychological).

[drogulus]

The author sure does use a lot of words.

My basic issue with masks, based on the studies that I have read, is that their use confers little to no protection to a healthy person. The reason we wear them, from what I understood,  is 1) Prevent an unhealthy person from breathing all over and 2) Prevent people from being stigmatized when they do wear masks (psychological).

     I don't see that as an issue with masks. I'm happy if the only masks that protect are the ones spreaders are wearing, and if wearing a mask makes it more likely spreaders will wear one too, I'm OK with it. I also have to consider that I'm a spreader. Who says I'm not? I think I'd better wear one.

     

[SimonNZ]

South Korea votes in first national election of coronavirus era

"Running for high office in the midst of a pandemic has forced candidates in South Korea to abandon tried and tested campaigning methods, as the country prepares to become the first to hold a national election since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

With a few exceptions, they have swapped handshakes for elbow bumps and delivered speeches from behind masks to small groups rather than hold mass rallies. Kissing babies is out of the question.

In less tumultuous times, the 15 April elections would have been dominated by job creation, wages and North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. But they have been overshadowed by president Moon Jae-in's response to the pandemic.

Early indications are that the virus has failed to deter voters, with predictions of a record turnout by the time all the votes for the 300-seat national assembly have been cast on Wednesday evening. On Friday, more than 5 million people cast their ballots early – a record high since advance voting was introduced seven years ago."[...]

[JBS]

https://www.businessinsider.com/fisher-island-richest-zip-code-coronavirus-antibody-tests-2020-4

I first heard this story on CNBC, and even their reporters and anchors were put off by it. One even mentioned that a lot of these tests were still unreliable, and said it in a tone of voice that implied she hoped Fisher Island was wasting money on the tests.

[drogulus]

     Here's a feasible timeline for US reopening:

     

[vandermolen]

It must be down to testing. That I think is the key.

Jeffrey, did you see the story of Captain Tom Moore who aged 99, a ton at the end of this month, bet £100 for the NHS with his family, that with the aid of his Zimmer frame he would do a hundred laps of his garden. So far he has raised £8 1/2 million and rising! A hero twice over, and a top man!

Edit : I missed that PD has raised a link above.

Yes, I think you're right about the testing Lol.
Yes, the Captain's story is very heartwarming. I was moved to make a small contribution to his fund yesterday. Nice to have some good news. I see that Matt Hancock mentioned him in his TV briefing yesterday and rightly so.

[Irons]

Yes, I think you're right about the testing Lol.
Yes, the Captain's story is very heartwarming. I was moved to make a small contribution to his fund yesterday. Nice to have some good news. I see that Matt Hancock mentioned him in his TV briefing yesterday and rightly so.

Talk of a knighthood for him. Hancock I have always thought slightly strange but he has performed well over the crises, until today that is. Piers Morgan asked him some relevant questions on the gradual lifting of restrictions which he refused to answer, instead repeating the mantra,"stay at home.........". The most disturbing part of the interview was him freely admitting "only" 16,000 fly into the UK each day including from the current epicentre of the virus, New York, without testing of any form!

[Mandryka]

Coronavirus: Armed Michigan residents protest against stay-at-home order calling it 'tyranny'


https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-armed-michigan-residents-protest-against-stay-at-home-order-calling-it-tyranny-11973905?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter&awc=11005_1587026289_d9fb309c5e9ab53241774fd026a5b78a

[Mandryka]

First sign of a rift between government and medical advisors in the UK

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/apr/16/coronavirus-uk-live-news-covid-19-lockdown-extension?page=with:block-5e9800a88f08ea7431f43be7#block-5e9800a88f08ea7431f43be7

I'm reminded by the fact we had a Department for Brexit for government - that was a major national emergency, as it were - and we're faced with something which is, at the moment, even larger than Brexit and yet I don't see quite the same evidence for that level of organisation.

[Mandryka]

[Herman]

Coronavirus: Armed Michigan residents protest against stay-at-home order calling it 'tyranny'

OMG, long time ago I used to live in SE Michigan, for five years, and loved it. But there is a kooky white guy brand of Michigan men, who like to fantasize about living commando and acting as if there's an imminent civil war.

I used to wonder if it would've different if the Upper Peninsula was Canadian, 'cause toughing it out in the wild there has been an abiding fantasy since the days of Hemingway's Big Two-Hearted River.

Part of this is, of course, the conflict Trump has been creating with Whitmer because she's a undowdy woman. Women in power is a very hard thing to take for these men.

[vandermolen]

Talk of a knighthood for him. Hancock I have always thought slightly strange but he has performed well over the crises, until today that is. Piers Morgan asked him some relevant questions on the gradual lifting of restrictions which he refused to answer, instead repeating the mantra,"stay at home.........". The most disturbing part of the interview was him freely admitting "only" 16,000 fly into the UK each day including from the current epicentre of the virus, New York, without testing of any form!

Yes, the mantra is very irritating now and possibly less efficacious the more it is repeated - a case of 'less is more' I think. It is also used as a way of avoiding answering questions directly.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Talk of a knighthood for him. Hancock I have always thought slightly strange but he has performed well over the crises, until today that is. Piers Morgan asked him some relevant questions on the gradual lifting of restrictions which he refused to answer, instead repeating the mantra,"stay at home.........". The most disturbing part of the interview was him freely admitting "only" 16,000 fly into the UK each day including from the current epicentre of the virus, New York, without testing of any form!

I thought that it was pretty cool that donations were coming from all over the world.