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

[Rallywagon]

I was watching a modern movie a few days ago. One of the protagonists got out of her car and quickly went over to greet her friend with a hug. The proceeded to talk to each other about a foot apart, and I instinctively cringed.

I think the world has changed for a lot of people, at least until a vaccine.

That's kinda the crux of the matter ain't it? We make a vaccine, and luckily Covid appears to be slow on the mutations (and for that I say thankee sai) but a vaccine is only good for as long as it doesnt mutate, or another variation of corona cross-species mutates. Or another virus of a different kind altogether mutates/evolves.
Would it be a better idea, once, hell, while this is all going down, to restructure the economy and society in a fashion that is better prepared, perhaps even preemptively prepared to deal with these situations, rather than to try and just get the economy rolling again?
I hear a lot of noise on the right about "we need to get the economy going again." Here in MI that's quickly followed by "and I wanna golf!" I dont hear many of those people discussing what that should look like though. Not necessarily steps to take to restart it all, but the steps to take to make sure when the inevitable happens again the floor doesnt fall out from under us. I mean, the precedence has been set now. Every time someone sneezes there will be talks of "stay home" and "lockdown" for the next decade. If we just get the beast rolling again, without doing something about it now, I find it unlikely anything will get done. And when covid-SARS-3 rolls through, with the potential to be worse (or better) we are just going to tank all over again.

 

[Dotini]

The story of the novel coronavirus leaked from a Chinese biolab goes mainstream.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrap...n-focus-of-coronavirus-outbreak/#7cd95cee1ee1

 

[Dennisch]

The story of the novel coronavirus leaked from a Chinese biolab goes mainstream.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrap...n-focus-of-coronavirus-outbreak/#7cd95cee1ee1

A friend of mine had something smart to say about this, and he usually isn't the brightest mind.

It's a decent possibility that this virus came from that lab, but if it was intentional or not, we will probably never know. His idea about this is that the virus came from the lab, smuggled out with a test animal which was sold on the market as a delicious meal. I was oddly surprised by this brilliant pearl of wisdom.

 

[Dotini]

The US has cut off funding for the WHO.

 

[Dennisch]

And other countries should follow that example.

 

[DesertPenguin]

Really?

 

[Joey D]

Really?

I mean they're China's mouthpiece, said back in January that the virus wasn't that serious, bought into China's claim it couldn't be passed from person to person, and refuse to listen to anything Taiwan says.

 

[Milouse]

I'm just playing a statistics game. Undiagnosed hypertension is not what's being correlated with COVID deaths. Diagnosed hypertension is, probably pre diagnosed hypertension, because I find it unlikely that they're diagnosing hypertension for the first time in a COVID patient.

What's still unclear to me is if under control hypertension is considered as hypertension here. I read on The Lancet that ACE2 receptors are likely to be involved (and it has been mention here).

Here in Wisconsin, we have elections today. The GOP legislature, state supreme court, and SCOTUS went against the health and safety of all voters, no matter where they align politically

So, i read today that the supreme court seat election didn't go the GOP way despite their openly admitted efforts to reduce the turnout. Democracy has some sort of resilience, i guess.

High quality Chinese made PPE for medical staff...

I didn't find any mention of the China provenance in the original story. In fact, those boxes of gear were in stock for a while, way before the Covid-19 crisis. It is believed that 300 of the 10,000 pieces are affected, with the likely culprit being humidity level during storage.
The video is legit, but this tweet is dishonest.

200 per day reduction in traffic collision fatalities in CA alone.

Someone in Germany enjoyed the traffic reduction:

Agreed, although at some point in the future, the numbers outside of hospital will be added. It was suggested in today's briefing that those figures are not available in reliable numbers yet for the UK. Unlike the numbers for France which do include them.

Since France started to include this, we saw how ugly those cumulative figures are:
to date...
Deaths in hospitals: 10 129
Deaths in EHPADs (Home Retirement): 5600
That's a +55% correction of the death toll!

Would it be a better idea, once, hell, while this is all going down, to restructure the economy and society in a fashion that is better prepared, perhaps even preemptively prepared to deal with these situations, rather than to try and just get the economy rolling again?

The Covid-19 crisis looks like a good fast-paced demo of the climate crisis: humans are slow to see the warning signs, slow to accept the idea that it's real, then start to handle with a minimal cost + crossing-fingers strategy, some (mostly those who have a lot to lose) try the path of denial, and then eventually it bites us hard.
So, that would be a good start if we could collectively think that way.

 

[Dennisch]

Since France started to include this, we saw how ugly those cumulative figures are:
to date...

They released some number here too.

In the first 10 weeks of 2020 an average of 3100 people died per week. From week 11 it gradually rose and in week 14 (March 30th - April 5th) 5100 people died. The current amount of deaths tied to the virus stands at 2945. But we have 2000 extra deaths in just one week.

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the actual number of virus related deaths here in the Netherlands has surpassed 10k already.

 

[01GTP]

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.

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Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[gnomefromnome]

Nome's region has first confirmed case. The thing is...there's only flight service to the region.

 

[Joey D]

Thanks for clearing that up.

Clearing what up exactly?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Of course the WHO funding cut was probably mainly to service Trump's need of a scapegoat.

 

[Spacegoat]

The Ruby Princess cruise ship debacle

Not sure why no heads have been rolled over the Ruby Princess. What an absolute cluster:censored: that was.

 

[TexRex]

Of course the WHO funding cut was probably mainly to service Trump's need of a scapegoat.

That was quick.

 

[mustafur]

Not sure why no heads have been rolled over the Ruby Princess. What an absolute cluster:censored: that was.

It's probably going to cost the NSW Premier her job tbh, but I don't think anything will happen till the crisis is less serious.

 

[NotThePrez]

That was quick.

View attachment 910519

This is an example of why lurking is more entertaining than partaking for me.

 

[Spacegoat]

That was quick.

View attachment 910519

I'll be honest. It took me a second to notice. Well done. 👍

It's probably going to cost the NSW Premier her job tbh, but I don't think anything will happen till the crisis is less serious.

You'd think her or at the very least, the state health minster. Not expecting too much to come out of the investigation into it though.

 

[zzz_pt]

A friend of mine had something smart to say about this, and he usually isn't the brightest mind.

It's a decent possibility that this virus came from that lab, but if it was intentional or not, we will probably never know. His idea about this is that the virus came from the lab, smuggled out with a test animal which was sold on the market as a delicious meal. I was oddly surprised by this brilliant pearl of wisdom.

Why would a lab test animal be sold in a common market? Is that common in China? Sounds wierd. Unless made on purpose.

 

[Liquid]

My best friend is a musician on a cruise ship (not the Ruby Princess) that is, for want of a better description, stranded in the Indian Ocean.

The original plan was to sail to Singapore and have the crew fly out on a chartered plane to London or Malta (where, unsurprisingly, the ship is registered) paid for by the cruise company. There's just one problem with it: there is no agreement with Singapore. For what it's worth, the boat only has staff and crew onboard and everyone is confined to their cabins (and have been for more than two weeks already) but noöne knows if Singapore will allow passage into their waters nor whether the boat will have to remain docked in isolation for a further two weeks before being allowed to touch Singaporean soil.

The rumours running throughout the ship are rampant; sailing to Malta via the Suez, sailing to Southampton going all around Africa, sailing to Gibraltar via either two routes or even sailing to the west coast of the United States. The entertainment staff don't know but even the shipping crew don't know where they are supposed to be going.

Even today, he messaged me saying that they're definitely not going to Singapore any time soon because they need to refuel and have changed course for Indonesia instead.

Being trapped on land is bad enough but being trapped midsea, thousands of kilometres from any land with no ports accepting?

I am very concerned.

 

[DK]

I'm just thinking back to when I'd browse F1Rejects just because it was one of the few sites that'd load within a minute while I was taking the ferry between Dublin and Holyhead. I think I'd go mad on that stranded ship.

 

[Liquid]

I'm just thinking back to when I'd browse F1Rejects just because it was one of the few sites that'd load within a minute while I was taking the ferry between Dublin and Holyhead. I think I'd go mad on that stranded ship.

The onboard internet is just good enough for Facebook messenger to work. The food is quoted as ":censored:ing dreadful", consisting of rice that's as hard as bullets and 'meat' that's like stone.

 

[FPV MIC]

Not sure why no heads have been rolled over the Ruby Princess. What an absolute cluster:censored: that was.

We'll probably never know the true extent of the spread from it either.

The hospitality worker super-spreader incident in Victoria spread far further than has been reported. It travelled as far as my local area here in Adelaide and resulted in the first Sth. Australian death (and a small cluster).

 

[strela]

Being trapped on land is bad enough but being trapped midsea, thousands of kilometres from any land with no ports accepting?

I am very concerned.

It's just a standard procedure. You tell the captain to drop the anchor and you are sure there won't be any breach of isolation. In 2014 I joined a ship in Camerun when the Ebola was found in Guinea. Every ship that docked in African ports in that period was forced on a 30 day quarantine. We run out of food and water. It was hilarious.
But I still don't understand why they couldn't resupply in Singapore. I guess is just the company policy.

 

[UKMikey]

My best friend is a musician on a cruise ship (not the Ruby Princess) that is, for want of a better description, stranded in the Indian Ocean.

The original plan was to sail to Singapore and have the crew fly out on a chartered plane to London or Malta (where, unsurprisingly, the ship is registered) paid for by the cruise company. There's just one problem with it: there is no agreement with Singapore. For what it's worth, the boat only has staff and crew onboard and everyone is confined to their cabins (and have been for more than two weeks already) but noöne knows if Singapore will allow passage into their waters nor whether the boat will have to remain docked in isolation for a further two weeks before being allowed to touch Singaporean soil.

The rumours running throughout the ship are rampant; sailing to Malta via the Suez, sailing to Southampton going all around Africa, sailing to Gibraltar via either two routes or even sailing to the west coast of the United States. The entertainment staff don't know but even the shipping crew don't know where they are supposed to be going.

Even today, he messaged me saying that they're definitely not going to Singapore any time soon because they need to refuel and have changed course for Indonesia instead.

Being trapped on land is bad enough but being trapped midsea, thousands of kilometres from any land with no ports accepting?

I am very concerned.

There seem to be more than a dozen ships in this situation.

https://thepointsguy.co.uk/news/cruise-ships-stranded-as-ports-close-coronavirus/

I don't understand - have these ships been travelling since before the outbreak? Not sure why they would be allowed to set sail otherwise.

 

[Touring Mars]

The US has cut off funding for the WHO.

I mean they're China's mouthpiece, said back in January that the virus wasn't that serious, bought into China's claim it couldn't be passed from person to person, and refuse to listen to anything Taiwan says.

Sources?

AFAIK, the WHO never said the coronavirus outbreak 'wasn't that serious', nor did it ever say that it couldn't be passed from person to person... the may have said there was no evidence of human to human transmission when none existed, but I don't recall them even saying that - it's a respiratory virus.

The WHO is not "China's mouthpiece" - that is a Trumpian slur that basically holds no water.

200 per day reduction in traffic collision fatalities in CA alone.

Car-owner virus has peaked...

 

[Dotini]

Sources?

I'm surprised BBC did not report the news.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/14/trump-world-health-organization-funding-186786

Edit:
Oh wait, they did!
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52289056

 

[Touring Mars]

I'm surprised BBC did not report the news.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/14/trump-world-health-organization-funding-186786

Sorry, I was referring solely to Joey's claims in response to your post.

 

[Dotini]

Sorry, I was referring solely to Joey's claims in response to your post.

I've been spending some time on several Reddit forums. Reddit has multiple coronavirus forums, distinguished by varying levels of moderation. The criticism of WHO is uniformly very strong on all those forums. I haven't made it my interest to delve into all the complaints, but it would appear that WHO may have been compromised by financial and political considerations.

 

[strela]

I don't understand - have these ships been travelling since before the outbreak? Not sure why they would be allowed to set sail otherwise.

Those ships travel all around the world. You may close the ports in US but passengers can board in Jamaica. Also those companies never stopped with their business. I'm more amazed people are willing to take a risk of being trapped in small cabins if a virus break out. Dimond Princess never happened for them.
I also want to know what is going on with thousands of merchant ships around the world no one will ever speak of.