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

[TJ13]

Looks like a State wide stay at home for Minnesota now.
Details to be announced at 2 pm.

 

[Biggles]

Sex discrimination by the coronavirus:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/health/coronavirus-gender-mortality-intl/index.html

 

[Dotini]

Sex discrimination by the coronavirus:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/health/coronavirus-gender-mortality-intl/index.html

Accordingly, I've heard some men have tried estrogen treatments.

 

[TexRex]

That's absolutely out there in fairy tale land. I would hope that even if that was a possibility, the churches would stay closed.

“Obviously Trump is not rooted in reality,” said Dr. Tina Tan, a board member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a staff member at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

“This is the making of a major public health disaster. I am not sure where he is getting his information from, but it is extremely flawed,” Tan said.

"TDS".

 

[Biggles]

Sex discrimination by the coronavirus:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/health/coronavirus-gender-mortality-intl/index.html

For those not reading beyond the headline: the suspicion is that much higher rates of smoking & drinking among men (higher rates of heart disease, stroke & lung disease) is likely the cause of higher mortality rates for men infected with Covid-19 - as much as 2.4 times higher in Italy.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Somebody needs to invent an at-home diagnostics machine. Like a printer, you buy chemical cartridges and the machine gets over the air updates for different tests. Everyone can test themselves for Covid (or whatever else) before leaving the house. If I understand correctly, there is already a fully-automated test for Covid. The biotech companies that build the machines could charge a monthly subscription cost (updates, chemical replacement) which could potentially help reduce the prices they charge for specialized medications as their income streams would be far more broad. The country, on the whole, could see a far reduced sickness rate and increased productivity. GDP would go up and everyone wins!

 

[sirjim73]

Some good news (relatively)...

New cases in Italy have increased by 5,210 which is 7.5%. The number of active cases has increased by 6.5% which is the 4th day in a row that percentage has decreased.

Number of deaths is not increasing now but not dropping much yet. Hopefully that might just be a time lag issue from serious cases over the last week.

 

[unit-one]

First death today. A 89-year old woman with chronic cardio-vascular condition.
More will die as 7 are in reanimation and 6 in critical condition.

 

[Danoff]

I'd say ambiguity in that phrase. In this case flattening the curve is considered a process to an end goal. If we don't reach the target we will not have flattened the curve. Of course delaying the spread is flattening the curve but the curve won't be considered flattened until we have reached a level deemed acceptable.

Exactly how much flattening is deemed acceptable? The goal is to flatten as much as practical or possible. Flattening more is always better from the perspective of health facility use.

I've been quite clear a number of times. If we can't stick to a date we shouldn't set one. That doesn't prevent us from returning to some kind of normality at any time. We already have targets. Just because we've been told this could go on for over a year doesn't mean it will. It's a worst case scenario after we find out that we are unable to flatten the curve. At the moment we're still trying to flatten the curve. We don't know how long it will take (we're learning as we go) or, if it happens, who will be allowed to get back to work immediately. it's a moving situation that will reward flexibility. Setting a date to stick to only works if we stick to it, and as you have acknowledged there are scenarios where we would be better off not sticking to it.

I'm not advocating that we be idiotic automatons and do what we forecast a month ago regardless of what the situation looks like. I am advocating that we set an exit date and we earnestly try to hit that date. Right now, that's not the case.

For example, as of today, I am under a stay-at-home order. The stay-at-home order expires on April 17, 2020 "or until it is extended" and they go on to say "superseded", "amended", etc. In other words, here's a date, we have absolutely no intention of sticking to it, do feel free to assume this could continue ad nausium.

This is lazy, and it's disrespectful of the critical role the economics plays in health and well-being. If we're going to set April 17, we should actually earnestly do what we can to hit that date. If not, we should set a different date. This "kick-the-can" technique is absolutely crushing businesses and livelihoods.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Sorry about my earlier post Mods, was a little frustrated.

As a more constructive insight. One of our 'smaller' jobs is manufacturing a suite of 5 components for certain medical appliances, normally this breaks down as a couple of thousand sets every couple of months. The customer today has ordered 10-15 times that for delivery ASAP. On the medical consumables side, lead-times for some materials required were typically 4-6 weeks, that's gone out to 12-16 weeks in some cases (I suspect partially because of reliance on Italy for certain raw materials), had it not been for pre-existing Brexit contingency stock there would be more shortages. We've shutdown any non-medical manufacturing and so have some of our customers/suppliers, there'll be a knock-on effect from this, there'll actually start to be issues with supply of some stuff, not simply caused by a panic-buying spike in demand.

 

[Dotini]

Some good news (relatively)...

New cases in Italy have increased by 5,210 which is 7.5%. The number of active cases has increased by 6.5% which is the 4th day in a row that percentage has decreased.

Number of deaths is not increasing now but not dropping much yet. Hopefully that might just be a time lag issue from serious cases over the last week.

I think we in the US look at Italy as the most likely model of our own course. Their cases appear to have slowed, but we need another week or two to be sure.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Back at the shop today and its starting to look a bit better now, we weren't supposed to have a delivery today but two wagons turned up this morning with 30 pallets of dry goods, and we spent the day filling up some mostly empty shelves so the shop is looking much better now and we had toilet paper that actually lasted the whole day!

Customer wise it was pretty steady, this was the first day I was in work since the lockdown started, we had some busy spells but it wasn't packed with customers. most people were doing the social distancing of 2 metres whilst queuing but we were told not to enforce that rule to people who don't.

The journey into work was like I was dreaming!, so few cars on the road and people about, I have to walk through Wrexham town centre and today only two shops were open. It was surreal.

 

[Touring Mars]

Of course, "flattening the curve" carries with it it's own price.... longer lockdown.

The whole idea of flattening the curve is to spread cases out over as long a timeframe as possible by keeping restrictions in place long enough to avoid a massive spike.

China's approach has been somewhat different - they've gone down the eradication route, which is fine but is far, far harder on people in the short term, and also has a very heavy long-term price (i.e. total quarantine of all incoming people for 14 days). It looks like it is working, but the problem China faces now is that they must remain closed until the pandemic has run its course throughout the rest of the world before it can re-open its external borders, even partially. This is the reason why the UK (and virtually every other country in the world) has not shut down airports and is not going down this route - because it has a very high chance of causing maximum economic damage for little (if any) long term gain.

As such, we face a long, drawn-out but less severe outbreak, or a shorter (still months long) period of maximum damage. Alas, there is only least-worst options here, and thus far it is looking like lockdown, coupled with rigorous testing and trying to get back to a new containment phase.

@MUSC4EVER Great stuff, it is really encouraging to hear from someone in the business, and I hope it continues to improve for you guys.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

"TDS".

Speaking of TDS, Trump has his own businesses riding on the outcome of this.

 

[JKgo]

....The South African government has made available the list of dos and don'ts during the lockdown. I got a feeling that there is some difference in priorities between my nation and the European ones while reading through the list.

- No jogging outside whatsoever. Same thing for walking the dogs. You get caught doing that, it's pay-or-spend-a-few-days-in-jail time.

- No sale of alcohol nor cigarettes. The Police Minister publicly said in the press briefing: "Please stay sober for the next 21 days."

- People spreading fake news will be prosecuted. Three individuals suspected of spreading fake news on social media will be charged, apparently.

- Even shopping centres are out of bounds, although I can see why.

- You can only drive alone in a car designed for 4 passengers, while minibus taxis can only carry max number of three people. All public transport will effectively put under curfew too, except during a couple of hours in early mornings and evenings.

 

[Dotini]

Apparently their is pending US federal legislation which assigns blame for coronavirus to China.

 

[Woodybobs]

Exactly how much flattening is deemed acceptable? The goal is to flatten as much as practical or possible. Flattening more is always better from the perspective of health facility use.

Until we can proceed with some confidence that flattening the curve has worked, is working, or is not going to work.

here's a date, we have absolutely no intention of sticking to it

I think it's possible the first dates were panicked guesses, more in hope than expectation. We haven't got data to confidently predict anything. While the cases keep rising exponentially nothing will change unless we give up. How can they stick to a date they have no confidence setting?

feel free to assume this could continue ad nausium.

If nothing changes it could. Something will change though. We're just not at that point yet.

we should actually earnestly do what we can to hit that date. If not, we should set a different date.

That's what's happening currently. Doing what we can involves staying in our homes to try and stop the spread. It's too early to call if it's going to work. On the 17th you go back to work... unless they set a different date.

 

[MatskiMonk]

No sale of alcohol

We've classed off-licenses as essential.

Makes me proud to be British.

 

[Liquid]

Slovak MPs have passed a temporary measure allowing the Ministry of Health and "associated agencies" access to phone tracking and network tracing information for the rest of the year to determine if people who are supposed to be in quarantine have stuck to it or if people have left the country and not informed authorities upon returning. The information allowed to be passed on is all stored information with the exception of the contents of messages.

Thanks for telling us you're going to do this; now all anyone has to do is simply leave their phone at home.

If you were going to pass an evil snooping measure like this, you might as well have just done it and not told anyone so that it might actually work.

 

[Touring Mars]

@Liquid That is pretty daft indeed.

-

Sadly, some of the news stories I've seen in the last couple of days have sickened me to the core.

Last night, a man attempted to break into my local pub - this and several other properties, including a church that was attacked in broad daylight, are now boarded up to prevent repeat attacks. NHS staff are being assaulted and robbed of their staff IDs so the thieves can claim benefits reserved for essential NHS staff. Thugs have stolen oxygen canisters from hospitals, and set fire to food delivery vans. Pharmacists are being verbally abused and threatened. There are even reports of elderly people being coughed and spat at and threatened by gangs of youths.

To paraphrase the late great Christopher Hitchens, it's a pity there's no Hell for these utter :censored:s to burn in.

 

[DesertPenguin]

youths

I'm gonna assume all of this is being done by youths?

 

[Touring Mars]

I'm gonna assume all of this is being done by youths?

No, not all.

The collective term for these people (well, the AUP-friendly one anyway) is scum.

Since there is likely no Hell, I reckon a minimum of 5 years in jail for targeting NHS staff might work.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Slovak MPs have passed a temporary measure allowing the Ministry of Health and "associated agencies" access to phone tracking and network tracing information for the rest of the year to determine if people who are supposed to be in quarantine have stuck to it or if people have left the country and not informed authorities upon returning. The information allowed to be passed on is all stored information with the exception of the contents of messages.

Thanks for telling us you're going to do this; now all anyone has to do is simply leave their phone at home.

If you were going to pass an evil snooping measure like this, you might as well have just done it and not told anyone so that it might actually work.

As soon as Boris said "We'll look at the data", I thought GOOGLE - it knows about traffic flows, and it knows when places are busy. Personally I'm not against it, I intentionally let google track me as much as possible. It will have seen the number of other signals, requests etc. etc. connecting within my vacinity has dropped, big style.... the paranoids (in the house tonight) might leave their phone at home now, but they're likely to be the anti-authoritarian kind that's already working hard to flaunt the restrictions.

 

[PzR Slim]

@Liquid That is pretty daft indeed.

-

Sadly, some of the news stories I've seen in the last couple of days have sickened me to the core.

Last night, a man attempted to break into my local pub - this and several other properties, including a church that was attacked in broad daylight, are now boarded up to prevent repeat attacks. NHS staff are being assaulted and robbed of their staff IDs so the thieves can claim benefits reserved for essential NHS staff. Thugs have stolen oxygen canisters from hospitals and set fire to food delivery vans. Pharmacists are being verbally abused and threatened. There are even reports of elderly people being coughed and spat at and threatened by gangs of youths.

To paraphrase the late great Christopher Hitchens, it's a pity there's no Hell for these utters to burn in.

Yeah, there are some horrendous stories like the six ambulances that had all their tyres punctured the other night. I mean what does someone get out of doing that? However, the good acts far outweigh the bad. My wife got an email from a friend who had been speaking to a consultant at the Newcastle RVI, they were desperate for old baby monitors so they could communicate with Covid-19 patients without having to fully suit up each time and so wasting PPE. We got in touch with a couple of people and asked them to ask around. Within an hour we got a message back to say thanks but could we remove the ladies details from where ever we had posted. They had been inundated with offers for them and now had enough. I also saw a guy on Twitter who had made a 3D printed visor. He made the file available and my wife got in touch with the DT staff at her school and they are going to use their two 3D printers to start making them.

 

[baldgye]

We've classed off-licenses as essential.

Makes me proud to be British.

First time that’s happened in years

 

[Adamgp]

Learned today through a work email that the company I work for has offered up their 3D printing capability to produce plastic face shields for healthcare workers and first responders. They have plants all over the world, so once they get that up and running, they should produce a lot of them.

It's also fun listening to our recently released from prison former governor on morning radio making more sense about how to handle this situation in IL than what our current governor Jelly Belly is doing.

 

[UKMikey]

Coronavirus test: UK to make 15-minute at-home kits available 'within days'

‘Once they have been tested this week and the bulk of tests arrive, they will be distributed into the community,’ says Public Health England director

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-symptoms-public-health-england-a9424741.html

 

[Joey D]

So we're now being told the peak of the virus will arrive in Utah on May 18th, which seems really specific. But due to that, the government is considering putting everyone in lockdown for the next three months, which seems like a horrible idea. While I can certainly work from home, most of the state can't. We have extremely high rent and housing prices too which will hit a wall if no one can afford to pay. If we really are going to have to stay in our homes until July, we're going to need something from the government who's forcing us to do this, otherwise, we're all going to be in a world of crap. I'm guessing other states are in a similar situation too.

With this I'm having a harder and harder time accepting we're doing the right thing here. I can probably make everything work financially, but that's only if there are no unforeseen circumstances.

 

[sirjim73]

Coronavirus test: UK to make 15-minute at-home kits available 'within days'

‘Once they have been tested this week and the bulk of tests arrive, they will be distributed into the community,’ says Public Health England director

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-symptoms-public-health-england-a9424741.html

Obviously they have to make sure they work first, but this will be a big help for key workers (health service in particular) who might be self isolating as a precaution but might be suffering from flu or cold or whatever and not the virus). With the peak expected in next 2 to 3 weeks, every nurse/doctor etc that can be cleared by testing is another person in the front line 👍

 

[TB]

While I obviously don't condone the other actions in TM's post, under the, well, wrong circumstances, I understand feeling desperate enough to steal oxygen, and frustrated enough to yell at pharmacists (I've spent an hour over the last two days standing in a pharmacy waiting to get some of my son's prescriptions refilled, so I absolutely get it )

HOWEVER.

What possible benefit is there to this:

set fire to food delivery vans

And how 🤬 up it is to cough on anyone, especially the elderly. Absolute. Morons.