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

[Keef]

Does anyone have personal experience doing workout (crossfit type) while wearing a mask? I'm talking about muscle / blood oxygenation.

I found this study concluding the impact's minimal, which seems to make sense.

I can't even sing along with my songs while wearing a mask. I literally can't breath fast enough. My masks are cloth and probably slow my inhales by 1/2. Singing in the car is surely different than working out which I avoid at all costs but either way it's really uncomfortable. It won't effect your O2 saturation though, you literally need some form of hypoxia to do that.

 

[Dotini]

Does anyone have personal experience doing workout (crossfit type) while wearing a mask? I'm talking about muscle / blood oxygenation.

I found this study concluding the impact's minimal, which seems to make sense.

I've tried numerous masks to make for easier breathing during my aerobic walking and sometimes anaerobic fencing activities. I've settled on a very light two-ply fabric cloth Maxboost brand as best for me. It comes in two sizes, and I recommend going with XL.

 

[McLaren]

Local hospital in my city has set up ER tents in their lobby due to lack of room.

I think we've tallied around 100 deaths for the first week of the year & may not slow down.

 

[PzR Slim]

It is a national disgrace that 10 months after this pandemic started the UK just announced its highest death toll in a single day.

 

[Outspacer]

It is a national disgrace that 10 months after this pandemic started the UK just announced its highest death toll in a single day.

Yes it is. Even more so when you consider that better treatment compared to spring is reducing that toll considerably.

 

[PzR Slim]

Yes it is. Even more so when you consider that better treatment compared to spring is reducing that toll considerably.

Yes, I've seen a report that new treatments and drugs improve survival rates by up to 25% compared to the first wave. Add 25% to the death toll yesterday and that gives you some idea of quite how serious the situation is now.

I was out this morning walking the dog for my one bit of exercise and there were people everywhere. Big groups, kids being pulled about on sledges. I'm not sure enough people are taking this lockdown seriously enough to make a difference. My wife is a deputy head and there are three times as many kids in school as in first lockdown. Don't tell me all of those parents have got a job in a critical position since the summer.

 

[Dotini]

Yes, I've seen a report that new treatments and drugs improve survival rates by up to 25% compared to the first wave. Add 25% to the death toll yesterday and that gives you some idea of quite how serious the situation is now.

I was out this morning walking the dog for my one bit of exercise and there were people everywhere. Big groups, kids being pulled about on sledges. I'm not sure enough people are taking this lockdown seriously enough to make a difference. My wife is a deputy head and there are three times as many kids in school as in first lockdown. Don't tell me all of those parents have got a job in a critical position since the summer.

In the US there may be 4000 dying per day of Covid, but there are 10,000 new births every day as well. So the situation, though serious, is not yet serious enough to threaten population growth. Though lockdowns may be wise - I think they are and I strictly abide by them - lockdowns are widely regarded as not particularly legal or enforceable, so many will do their own thing.

 

[Touring Mars]

In the US there may be 4000 dying per day of Covid, but there are 10,000 new births every day as well. So the situation, though serious, is not yet serious enough to threaten population growth. Though lockdowns may be wise - I think they are and I strictly abide by them - lockdowns are widely regarded as not particularly legal or enforceable, so many will do their own thing.

Except that is just COVID deaths you are considering... there's something like 8500 deaths every day in the US, but COVID deaths will be adding to that number quite substantially. What's more, the effect of COVID on healthcare provision (including the effects of lockdowns) will also lead to non-COVID excess deaths increasing as well - a situation that could start to become acute as hospital staff struggle to cope with surging demand for critical care.

 

[Dotini]

Except that is just COVID deaths you are considering... there's something like 8500 deaths every day in the US, but COVID deaths will be adding to that number quite substantially. What's more, the effect of COVID on healthcare provision (including the effects of lockdowns) will also lead to non-COVID excess deaths increasing as well - a situation that could start to become acute as hospital staff struggle to cope with surging demand for critical care.

I suspect that total deaths are not up by the net amount of Covid deaths. And I suspect that immigration into the US is ongoing. I don't really know. But you are right that in some places hospital staffs are struggling as demand for critical care surges to acute levels. Americans will generally do the right thing - after trying everything else first!

 

[ToyGTone]

So why did nobody talk about the cause of this whole disease? I mean those people who thought that eating bats, pigs, dogs, camels, horse, insects...whatever to be a good idea. Why nobody punished those who spread this whole ****** virus thingy?


On a side note, I hate people who Scapegoats their government for the spread of the virus when they are literally spreading it themselves. If anything, it's the people who's ignoring health issues and causing all the mess. I'm not bootling licking anyone here but people are their own worst enemies sometimes.

 

[Famine]

So why did nobody talk about the cause of this whole disease? I mean those people who thought that eating bats, pigs, dogs, camels, horse, insects...whatever to be a good idea.

"Nobody" meaning "literally everybody"? I mean, go review the first page of this thread.

Also... pigs?

 

[RacingGrandpa]

So why did nobody talk about the cause of this whole disease? I mean those people who thought that eating bats, pigs, dogs, camels, horse, insects...whatever to be a good idea. Why nobody punished those who spread this whole ****** virus thingy? In fact, they literally caused

Oh nvm, because "it's racist" or some ****.

On a side note, I hate people who Scapegoats their government for the spread of the virus when they are literally spreading it themselves. I'm not bootling licking anyone here but people are their own worst enemies sometimes.

Likely because 1, we haven't found patient zero and 2. It's not that they did this on purpose.

Have you seen contagion? The bat infects a pig and then the pig is served at s restaurant and the virus spreads. It's not like this people said "well, we are taking a risk eating this. But we'll do it anyway".

 

[Outspacer]

Yes, I've seen a report that new treatments and drugs improve survival rates by up to 25% compared to the first wave. Add 25% to the death toll yesterday and that gives you some idea of quite how serious the situation is now.

I've read similar. If deaths per admission are reduced by 25%, then actually you'd have to add 33% to get comparable figures. The way things are going it may not take many more days to reach 1000 deaths per day again. Latest admissions figure was 3867, well above the peak in spring of 3565. The increase has been relentless this wave - in spring, there was about a month with admissions over 1500 per day, now, we've had about 2 1/2 months of over 1500 so far.

Admissions stats are what I use as a barometer, since the positive test results stat is so affected by how many tests are done. Quite useful when the number of tests is relatively static, but there has been a large increase in tests done over the last couple of weeks.

I was out this morning walking the dog for my one bit of exercise and there were people everywhere. Big groups, kids being pulled about on sledges. I'm not sure enough people are taking this lockdown seriously enough to make a difference. My wife is a deputy head and there are three times as many kids in school as in first lockdown. Don't tell me all of those parents have got a job in a critical position since the summer.

It's ridiculous, isn't it. People sort of respected the last one, but only by being bribed with being able to have xmas! Well, round here we weren't allowed, mine was on Zoom. But it didn't stop everyone, octogenarian couple down the road had their kids and grandkids for the day No doubt more gatherings that I didn't notice, but the ones I did there was no attempt whatsoever to conceal what they were doing. These days the neighbours' cars seem to come and go almost as much as normal, multiple times a day (not for work, not for shops, can't all be for exercise, so...?!).

 

[ToyGTone]

"Nobody" meaning "literally everybody"? I mean, go review the first page of this thread.

Also... pigs?

People immediately stopped talking about the origins of the virus and people responsible for the causes of this clustermess. I mean ****, SARS Cov 2 were called covid 19 because calling it "SARS 2" were deemed offensive somehow. That and nobody seems to question the lack of active cases in that big boy land, China.

And yes, pigs. I mean swine flu came from them but then again, consuming cows can be harmful so nvm that.

Likely because 1, we haven't found patient zero and 2. It's not that they did this on purpose.

Have you seen contagion? The bat infects a pig and then the pig is served at some restaurant and the virus spreads. It's not like this people said "well, we are taking a risk eating this. But we'll do it anyway".

Accidentally eating an infected pig makes sense but eating bat soup? I'm sorry if I sounded rude but that's a red flag from the start.

 

[Outspacer]

So why did nobody talk about the cause of this whole disease? I mean those people who thought that eating bats, pigs, dogs, camels, horse, insects...whatever to be a good idea. Why nobody punished those who spread this whole ****** virus thingy?

Oh come now, everybody knows it was a leak from the US funded virus lab in Wuhan doing gain of function studies! Why does that get dismissed as a conspiracy theory? /s /s

 

[ToyGTone]

Oh come now, everybody knows it was a leak from the US funded virus lab in Wuhan doing gain of function studies! Why does that get dismissed as a conspiracy theory? /s /s

*Sigh*

Why did I brought this up lol.

 

[Famine]

People immediately stopped talking about the origins of the virus and people responsible for the causes of this clustermess.

Have I been imagining the literal President of the United States calling it "china virus" for the last 15 months?

There's a huge number of search results in this thread for "China", "Wuhan", and even "bat". I don't think people have ever stopped talking about it, much less "immediately".

I mean ****, SARS Cov 2 were called covid 19 because calling it "SARS 2" were deemed offensive somehow.

I'm completely unfamiliar with these events. Who deemed it such and when?

In any case, it's bollocks. SARS-CoV-2 is a virus. COVID-19 is a disorder caused by the virus. They're two different things.

That and nobody seems to question the lack of active cases in that big boy land, China.

Again, it takes barely any digging to reveal almost everybody questioning China's official reporting of the numbers. Literally none of what you've said here is true.

And yes, pigs. I mean swine flu came from them but then again, consuming cows can be harmful so nvm that.

Consuming anything can be harmful. Prior to this, the deadliest disease outbreaks in the United Kingdom in the last century were E. coli 0157, spread by lettuce.

I don't see how pigs (one of the most widely consumed animals on the planet) and horses (widely consumed elsewhere in Europe) are connected to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like, at all.

 

[ToyGTone]

Nvm, let's move on shall we?

 

[Joey D]

That and nobody seems to question the lack of active cases in that big boy land, China.

No active cases being reported. It's likely that China is skewing its numbers. It's best not to believe anything official that China puts out in any capacity, especially if it poses to make them look weak or out of control.

He said it like few times in early days of pandemic in 2020 and people were upset over it, haven't heard of that moron saying it since then. That's not the point.

Trump and other Trumplicans have been calling the Chinese Virus since the beginning. Even a few days ago Trump said it in his video address. Yes, people are upset over it, but it's Trump, he was never going to say anything remotely intelligent anyway. The US government should refer to the virus by its name SARS-CoV-2 and the illness that's causing hospitals to go haywire, COVID-19.

I think we need to punish the Chinese government for all the mess they have created.

We're not 100% sure it even originated in China. It became known in China initially, but when a county has 1 out of every 7 people on the planet the odds of a virus emerging there are pretty good. There are still rumblings that the virus could've sprung up in South America or even Europe. It's unlikely we will ever know for sure unless someone stumbles onto something.

Unless we have concrete proof, it would be hard to punish any nation. Even then how would you punish them? Sanctions? Military action? A strongly worded letter? It's hard to say.

 

[Famine]

He said it like few times in early days of pandemic in 2020 and people were upset over it, haven't heard of that moron saying it since then.

He literally said it last week.

That's not the point.

Then what is? You claimed that people "immediately stopped talking about the origins of the virus and people responsible for the causes of this clustermess". They didn't; even a cursory look through this thread would have revealed, and the guy with probably the most famous Twitter account in the world repeatedly battered the message incessantly for an entire year.

I'm pretty sure WHO tried to avoid calling it SARS 2 because it's "offensive" and wanted to avoid naming stuff after regions or whatever.

Then your personal bar of being sure of something is set low. This never happened.

SARS-CoV-2 is the virus. The disorder it causes is COVID-19. They are two different things, like HIV and AIDS.

I think we need to punish the Chinese government for all the mess they have created.

Sure thing. What does this have to do with any of the patently false things you've been trotting out?

Perhaps when everyone's dealt with the whole dying of it thing, an appropriate investigation might take place and determine what course of action should be taken against those found to be culpable. For now it's like trying to sue Boeing while you're on a 737 MAX that's crashing.

They aren't connected at all but I can't see myself eating pigs for some reason. Also hold up, people actually consume horses!? Man and I thought people eating camels is odd.

My point stands, only morons ear bats

And now we're into finding eating habits from outside one's own culture to be wrong and weird, as if your diet has anything to do with anything.

Even bat meat isn't the problem itself. If we assume that the pandemic started because someone ate an infected bat (or pangolin), it wouldn't have started if the bat (or pangolin) had been cooked...

 

[ToyGTone]

Trump and other Trumplicans have been calling the Chinese Virus since the beginning. Even a few days ago Trump said it in his video address. Yes, people are upset over it, but it's Trump, he was never going to say anything remotely intelligent anyway. The US government should refer to the virus by its name SARS-CoV-2 and the illness that's causing hospitals to go haywire, COVID-19.

I dunno, I don't like that idiot but I don't see what trump did wrong with calling it a Chinese virus if it's from there. SARS Cov 19 is the virus and Covid 19 or Chinese virus is the disorder.

Unless he meant it in a really derogatory way which I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case and so I think that's wrong.

We're not 100% sure it even originated in China. It became known in China initially, but when a county has 1 out of every 7 people on the planet the odds of a virus emerging there are pretty good. There are still rumblings that the virus could've sprung up in South America or even Europe. It's unlikely we will ever know for sure unless someone stumbles onto something.

Unless we have concrete proof, it would be hard to punish any nation. Even then how would you punish them? Sanctions? Military action? A strongly worded letter? It's hard to say.

I mean you guys have no problems with invading and ruining the lives of people in West Asia (a.k.a "middle east") for the last 60 years for literally petty reasons, I don't see how cutting ties and doing blockades to the CCP is a problem.

"But Everything made in china!" Then make it in other nations including your own.

He literally said it last week.

Then what is? You claimed that people "immediately stopped talking about the origins of the virus and people responsible for the causes of this clustermess". They didn't; even a cursory look through this thread would have revealed, and the guy with probably the most famous Twitter account in the world repeatedly battered the message incessantly for an entire year.

My point was as I said earlier

I think we need to punish the Chinese government for all the mess they have created.

...

Then your personal bar of being sure of something is set low. This never happened.

From WHO themselves:
"Using the name SARS can have unintended consequences in terms of creating unnecessary fear for some population".

SARS-CoV-2 is the virus. The disorder it causes is COVID-19. They are two different things, like HIV and AIDS.

I actually thought that both are the same thing, just one is the scientific name and other is the one used outside of medical discussions. Kinda like calling a cat "felis varus" in biology.

So thank you for correcting me.

Sure thing. What does this have to do with any of the patently false things you've been trotting out?

Perhaps when everyone's dealt with the whole dying of it thing, an appropriate investigation might take place and determine what course of action should be taken against those found to be culpable. For now it's like trying to sue Boeing while you're on a 737 MAX that's crashing.

So saying that china been responsible for the not preventing the spread of the virus is false news? I wasn't saying any conspiracy BS. I'm just saying that the lack of action taken against them is lacking.

That and if people truly cared about stopping this virus then they wouldn't be walking outside, in heavy public places, with no masks, doing stupid ****. How hard is it to stay away from others for a bit? Definitely too much for some.

I understand this is a very serious situation so let's just stop right here, Okay? Let's not derail this thread over petty stuff. I apologize.

 

[Famine]

From WHO themselves:
"Using the name SARS can have unintended consequences in terms of creating unnecessary fear for some population".

I'm pretty sure WHO tried to avoid calling it SARS 2 because it's "offensive" and wanted to avoid naming stuff after regions or whatever.

Not wanting to spread fear and deeming something offensive (which you put in quotes) are also entirely different things. As I said, your version of events never happened.

So saying that china been responsible for the not preventing the spread of the virus is false news? I wasn't saying any conspiracy BS. I'm just saying that the lack of action taken against them is lacking.

No, claiming that "nobody" is talking about it, or that "everybody immediately stopped talking about" it is false (I don't know why you've felt the need to append "news" to that statement). It is pretty evident that it's still being talked about, it's just that there's other things that are currently more pressing.

My point was as I said earlier

I think we need to punish the Chinese government for all the mess they have created.

...

And that will, if appropriate, happen... once we're not in the middle of the plane crash.

 

[PeterJB]

Considering the crowded conditions and the questionable sanitation in China, the only way I could believe their claims about the virus effectively disappearing from the country would be if for the whole of last year people were locked in their homes and had groceries delivered to them by the army, and if anyone tested positive or went outside they and their family were swept off to some camp hidden in the Tibetan plateau, never to be seen again.

 

[Joey D]

I dunno, I don't like that idiot but I don't see what trump did wrong with calling it a Chinese virus if it's from there. SARS Cov 19 is the virus and Covid 19 or Chinese virus is the disorder.

Unless he meant it in a really derogatory way which I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case and so I think that's wrong.

It's Trump, the likelihood he meant is as anything other than a derogatory term is slim to none.

But here's the thing, we don't know for a fact that it originated in China. It could be from Brazil or could even be from Italy. We just don't know and likely won't ever know, or if we do figure it out, it won't be for some time since most scientific efforts are focused on containing the virus.

I mean you guys have no problems with invading and ruining the lives of people in West Asia (a.k.a "middle east") for the last 60 years for literally petty reasons, I don't see how cutting ties and doing blockades to the CCP is a problem.

"But Everything made in china!" Then make it in other nations including your own.

There's way more it to it than that. China is a global power and would likely ally itself with Iran and Russia if there was a conflict, which would most certainly spell World War III. The US can't simply launch a strike on Beijing due to a virus since there's no casus belli.

As for economic sanctions, the world's economy is dependent on China. It's not so simple to move manufacturing to another country since that takes a ton of effort and money. Many companies in the US are attempting to do this, but it will take several years before they can do so, and that's assuming they start now. Traveling also is very restricted so being able to visit other countries to see if their infrastructure would work isn't doable.

This also still assumes the virus originated in China, which is something we don't know.

Considering the crowded conditions and the questionable sanitation in China, the only way I could believe their claims about the virus effectively disappearing from the country would be if for the whole of last year people were locked in their homes and had groceries delivered to them by the army, and if anyone tested positive or went outside they and their family were swept off to some camp hidden in the Tibetan plateau, never to be seen again.

*Looks at China's authoritarian regime*

So you're saying there's a chance then?

 

[ToyGTone]

Our total case been rising up. It's around 3000 active cases. Shame really because we were doing much better a while back and been aggressively testing everyone.

There were never a full on lockdowns yet but people seemed to start not care anymore. This is ridiculous, kinda blame all the businesses for continuing to forcing everyone to attend to their workplace.

 

[Novalee]

A good contrast of styles in dealing with covid virus.
I will add that all of the countries big or small that pretty much followed the same course to keep infection rates down .
The countries that are now suffering did not and i am in one of those countries myself .
I wish my leader had been more like the leader of New Zealand and less like the leader of the United Kingdom.

 

[Outspacer]

A good contrast of styles in dealing with covid virus.

Not good at all, but what else would one expect from Momentum?! I don't recall Corbyn et al espousing a plan that was much different to Boris' at that time. No, they relaxed in knowing they didn't have to make decisions. So pfft. Compare a country that has one of the biggest hubs for international air travel to a country with 1/15 the population (heck, 1/2 of London's), no dense cities, in the opposite hemisphere, which had a time advantage of watching as it spread around Europe, and sure, the options and outcomes are different.

Of course I'm not defending Boris and have criticised many of his choices myself, but this kind of video is just seedy.

 

[T_revisio]

 

[UKMikey]

View attachment 983692

Do you have overall numbers of beds or just percentages? Hasn't our capacity been expanded in order to deal with the crisis?

 

[Famine]

Do you have overall numbers of beds or just percentages?

Or indeed a source. The NHS Statistics part of the official Gov.uk website provides this data... but in considerably more depth and by quarter, not by week.

There is no data newer than Q2 2020-2021 (which is July-September, as it's by financial year), so there's no Q3 (October-December) data available. What it says for Q2 is:

Q2 2020-21
Total beds: 132,091
Day beds: 11,263
General/acute day beds: 11,175
Overnight beds: 120,828
General/acute overnight beds: 94,787

Occupied day beds: 7,871 (69.88%)
Occupied general/acute day beds: 7,805 (69.84%)
Occupied overnight beds: 93,091 (77.04%)
Occupied general/acute overnight beds: 73,321 (77.35%)

Total occupied general/acute beds: 81,125 (76.56%)


The equivalent figure for Q2 2019-20 is 101,249 and 89.45%, and for Q3 2019-20 is 104,227 and 91.19%. None of these figures tally with anything in the presented image, and while the numbers for 2020-21 indeed appear lower, the NHS Statistics site also adds this interesting note:

Note for 2020-21 data
Hospital capacity has had to be organised in new ways as a result of the pandemic to treat Covid and non-Covid patients separately and safely in meeting the enhanced Infection Prevention Control measures. This results in beds and staff being deployed differently from in previous years in both emergency and elective settings within the hospital. As a result caution should be exercised in comparing overall occupancy rates between this year and previous years. In general hospitals will experience capacity pressures at lower overall occupancy rates than would previously have been the case.

Source.


Edit: According to another document, specifically dealing with COVID-19 and providing daily data, Week 52 of 2020 saw a mean of 14,584 unoccupied adult General and Acute beds. I can't find a figure for how many G&A beds there were at the same time, however data from November 2020 suggests around 89,000. That's an 83.6% occupancy.

Data from the most recent day, January 5th, has just 6,516 unoccupied adult G&A beds.

Source