COVID-19/Coronavirus Information and Support Thread (see OP for useful links)

[Touring Mars]

I would tell him (by email to create the paper trail) that if he wants in person meetings, then he is the one that needs to organise and find a space because you are not prepared to break university policy. If you attend a meeting after that, you were simply following the direction of your superior.

Yeh, that's what I've done... there's no way that we'll have a secret meeting if one of us is not up for it though - I reckon he is just frustrated and annoyed by what he considers to be overzealous or unnecessary safety precautions.

Is it feasible to point out to your boss that accepting a lesser risk (meetings) in addition to the larger risk you're already taking (lab work) is still an increase in overall risk?

I reckon the risk posed by in-person meetings is higher than our lab work. At the moment, three of us work almost entirely alone all day, and only spend a few minutes (or even seconds) in communal areas (with a mask on); whereas these meetings are often 1-1.5 hours in the company of multiple people, which is the only time that I would find myself in that situation in or out of work... at least until the pubs re-open...

 

[Blitz24]

Yeh, that's what I've done... there's no way that we'll have a secret meeting if one of us is not up for it though - I reckon he is just frustrated and annoyed by what he considers to be overzealous or unnecessary safety precautions.


I reckon the risk posed by in-person meetings is higher than our lab work. At the moment, three of us work almost entirely alone all day, and only spend a few minutes (or even seconds) in communal areas (with a mask on); whereas these meetings are often 1-1.5 hours in the company of multiple people, which is the only time that I would find myself in that situation in or out of work... at least until the pubs re-open...

Technically if all of you know about it, it's not a secret .

 

[Joey D]

If you like data-driven tools, Georgia Tech has a new one that's pretty interesting. The way it works is that if you're having an event (such as Thanksgiving dinner) you can input the number of people who will attend and it gives you a risk percentage:

https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/

Looks like it works for Western Europe as well.

 

[Danoff]

I've got the task of arranging our group meetings, and my boss is fairly insistent on meeting in person. The rest of us (6 of us) are also keen to meet in person, and we met two weeks ago in a large conference room, all socially distanced and wearing masks - and it worked very nicely.

Now, however, all in-person meetings are suspended and we are not allowed to book a room, and have been told to use Zoom instead. Unfortunately, my boss is really not happy and is arguing that there's more chance of us getting COVID from each other in the lab than at a group meeting. He also said that we should not bother booking a room and just have a meeting anyway...

However, I've made it clear that I think that is a very bad idea... I don't even think about it in terms of the risk of catching the virus from each other - it's more the fact that if the Head of School finds out that a senior academic is knowingly flouting COVID restrictions that most people (including us) are making such an effort to respect, then he (and we) could find ourselves in serious trouble. Maybe I'm just a stickler for the rules, but I honestly don't see why an in-person meeting is necessary, when the simple fact is that it isn't 'necessary', but merely desirable.

It is a bit awkward though, since I get the feeling that the others would happily ignore the restrictions and have a 'secret' meeting anyway. Fortunately it isn't up to them

Mathematical types often get hung up on what is objectively demonstrable and forget about doing something for the sake of solidarity and consistency of message. "Optics" does actually matter.

 

[TexRex]

Technically if all of you know about it, it's not a secret .

There's another word for that, but...not supposed to talk about it.

 

[Danoff]

This article appears to attribute falling mortality rates to incremental improvements in treating COVID, recognizing its progression and intervening more effectively at the right time.

 

[Joey D]

Well then, we've been stumbling along in the 2,500-2,900 range of cases per day, but it was just announced we hit over 3,900 cases (which is yesterday's number). That's a huge jump and it's mostly attributed to Halloween and all the rave-like parties that were going on down in Utah County (imagine a Mormon rave ).

 

[Barra333]

Ontario is rocking along setting daily records for cases right now too - 1400ish per day this week. At least we've had Thanksgiving already, so no family gathering peak coming up for that.
Here in London (pop 400,000) we are now getting about 20 new cases per day which is the worst we've had, but pretty good given what is going on in the rest of Canada and the US.

 

[TexRex]

(imagine a Mormon rave )

Edit: Ginger's dress flies a little too high at one point there, so not quite what I picture.

 

[Blitz24]

Woman is showing too much skin, possibly.

 

[TexRex]

Woman is showing too much skin, possibly.

Great minds and all. I just remarked on that in an edit.

 

[gnomefromnome]

Governor Dunleavy issued a mobile Emergency alert

Published: Nov. 12, 2020 at 10:57 AM AKST|Updated: 12 minutes ago


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - With surging COVID-19 cases throughout the State of Alaska, Gov. Mike Dunleavy used the emergency alert system to share a three and a half minute YouTube video message about escalating COVID-19 cases in the state.

 

[TB]

Went in for my weekly test and she tells me that she doesn't have any nasal swabs so I have to do a throat swab.

Yeah, not a fan.

 

[Barra333]

Are you telling us you deep-throated a Q-tip?

 

[Dotini]

In my State of Washington, cases have skyrocketed to multiple times greater than the first great spike of April. Percentage of positive tests have spiked to a new record over 5%. This is all despite everybody I see wearing a mask. What in the heck is going on here? Is it the weather? Has the virus mutated or found new pathways of infection?

 

[TexRex]

Is it aliens UFOs?

 

[Touring Mars]

In my State of Washington, cases have skyrocketed to multiple times greater than the first great spike of April. Percentage of positive tests have spiked to a new record over 5%. This is all despite everybody I see wearing a mask. What in the heck is going on here? Is it the weather? Has the virus mutated or found new pathways of infection?

It's a bunch of different things.

There's multiple versions of the virus around now. Respiratory viruses are well known to affect people (in the Northern hemisphere) more during winter months. FAR more people are being tested (hence more cases)... but also, the second wave was always going to be worse than the first simply because the virus is more prevalent this time around - and, a consequence of this is that 'small' differences in behaviour that didn't matter so much before (like large gatherings etc.) now make a BIG difference.

Thankfully, this massive up surge in cases (the UK is currently recording ca. 5 times more cases per day than the maximum of the 1st wave...) isn't translating directly into hospitalisations and deaths, again for multiple reasons... more effective treatment, better shielding, behavioural changes in the population, and perhaps even a change in which forms of the virus are more dominant* (note that virus doesn't necessarily need to 'mutate' or 'change' beyond what it has already done... there's so many variants of SARS-CoV-2 already, it's more a question of which form or forms are most prevalent, and the more deadly a form is, the less likely it is to become the dominant form...). And there is also the sad reality that the virus has already picked off a lot of the most vulnerable people in the 1st wave.

This should all be quite reassuring, but for one major caveat... what gains we make on bringing the case mortality rate down, we stand to lose by the sheer weight of numbers of infections... there's not much good in cutting the death rate by half if case numbers increase ten-fold, for example.

As has been said many times in this thread, mask wearing is just one line of defence - a major one, but only one nevertheless, and it cannot be (and never was) the be all and end all of tackling this virus. Most nations are facing the uncomfortable prospect of COVID fatigue, and rapidly increasing case numbers in spite of all of our personal efforts may seem discouraging.... but it is probably wise to bear in mind that it could be ALOT worse than it already is, and hence everybody needs to keep doing everything they can for the time being.

 

[Danoff]

but it is probably wise to bear in mind that it could be ALOT worse than it already is

 

[Biggles]

FWIW: I just received a quote for annual supplemental travel insurance - something I have had for years because I typically travel a lot outside Canada (where I am covered by Ontario health insurance), in the US & elsewhere. I was quoted $368 to cover both myself & my wife for a year for any trips up to 31 days away from Canada. It covers Covid as well as any other medical emergency. It isn't a noticeable increase over previous years which would suggest that Covid isn't seen as that great a potential risk exposure by the insurance company.

 

[TB]

Are you telling us you deep-throated a Q-tip?

 

[Adamgp]

Mayor Beetlejuice has just issued a 30 stay-at-home for Chicago effective Monday, among other restrictions. Luckily I'm outside the city, but it sounds like Gov. Jelly Belly will follow with a similar order for the whole state of Illinois.

I doubt either one of them will follow their own rules, as usual.

 

[MaxAttack]

RE: Unsureness about vaccines

As a 26 year old relatively healthy chap who survived a few childhood flus and nasty bugs, and still lukewarm convinced I may have had COVID-19 in early December '19, I'll gladly step up first and attempt to dispell any lingering mistrust or conspiracy.

Should I have that opportunity, I'll report any unexplained cancerous growths or bouts of telepathy.

 

[Blitz24]

Apparently the Cruise industry convinced 53 imbeciles that it is safe to go on a cruise ship again. Oh wait, it isn't? Darn. I thought being on a boat trapped with others for days would be COVID free!

 

[Stotty]

the UK is currently recording ca. 5 times more cases per day than the maximum of the 1st wave...

This data point is completely misleading.

Cases look higher because UK are testing massively more people than they were back in March/April... 7 day testing average is 300,000/day as of Nov 5... more than 10 times the testing volumes as of April 24.

Meanwhile, deaths are running around a third of peak and are leveling off (before any impact from the latest lockdown), despite us being well in to the usual autumn/winter respiratory illness season. Nothing like the shape of an epidemic.

 

[Dennisch]

 

[Dennisch]

Sorry for the double post but this opportunity cannot go to waste.

Are you telling us you deep-throated a Q-tip?

It could be worse.

 

[Joey D]

Sorry for the double post but this opportunity cannot go to waste.



It could be worse.

I think rectal COVID swabs are a thing, or at least we have an order built for it in our system. I'm not sure if it's for active COVID though or to get a better picture if you still have the virus RNA in your system. Either way, you're going to get probed. The drive-through version of that might be a little suspect, although the image would be rather entertaining seeing a bunch of asses hanging ten out the side of a minivan.

 

[Danoff]

This article appears to attribute falling mortality rates to incremental improvements in treating COVID, recognizing its progression and intervening more effectively at the right time.

This data point is completely misleading.

Cases look higher because UK are testing massively more people than they were back in March/April... 7 day testing average is 300,000/day as of Nov 5... more than 10 times the testing volumes as of April 24.

Meanwhile, deaths are running around a third of peak and are leveling off (before any impact from the latest lockdown), despite us being well in to the usual autumn/winter respiratory illness season. Nothing like the shape of an epidemic.

Mortality has been coming down, the article I linked tried to explain why. Doctors are getting much better at treating the disease, but it is still clogging up hospitals and people are still having a very difficult time with it.

COVID is not killing the way it once was. That's good news. The bad news is that it can still cause triage if it gets out of hand (as is currently happening in my state), and it is still a terrible illness (in cases where it hits hard). As colorado cases have skyrocketed, I've started getting some very close to home covid sightings - such as among teachers at my kids' school, and in the families of my children's closest friends.

Let's not over-react, but let's also take this very seriously. Is that possible? Can we do that?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Yep, looks like Wisconsin hospitals are getting filled. There's also been an increase in COVID patients in Illinois hospitals.

 

[Joey D]

Well, things are going well here:

Utah hospital stops conspiracy theorists attempting to sneak in, disprove ICU capacity claims