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

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Trump's approval ratings intact

There's been a lot of criticism of US President Donald Trump for not taking the virus seriously early on and wasting precious time to prepare for the pandemic but that criticism doesn't seem seem to have hurt his approval ratings.
According to pollster Gallup, 49% of Americans approve of the job he does, while only 45% disapprove. The data is for the week 13-22 March and on par with the highest ratings he ever got in Gallup surveys.

Specific to the virus crisis, 60% say he's doing a good job versus 38% disapproving of the man at the helm.
Meanwhile, US infection numbers are rising sharply and there are warnings that the health system could collapse under a wave of patients.

via
 
Trump's approval ratings intact

There's been a lot of criticism of US President Donald Trump for not taking the virus seriously early on and wasting precious time to prepare for the pandemic but that criticism doesn't seem seem to have hurt his approval ratings.
According to pollster Gallup, 49% of Americans approve of the job he does, while only 45% disapprove. The data is for the week 13-22 March and on par with the highest ratings he ever got in Gallup surveys.

Specific to the virus crisis, 60% say he's doing a good job versus 38% disapproving of the man at the helm.
Meanwhile, US infection numbers are rising sharply and there are warnings that the health system could collapse under a wave of patients.

via

It makes sense, because whether you think the Coronavirus a complete hoax and a democratic attempt to topple the presidency or the "Chinavirus" is a dangerous and sweeping epidemic that our great leader has been at the forefront of fighting while state governors and local mayors sat on their hands, Trump's own position during the last few months has covered both angles.
 
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If we take the official numbers of cases and deaths, then you end up with eerily high (and also wildly inconsistent) fatality rates.
Which shouldn't be all that surprising, because of population demographics.
Anyone else thinks this was Kim Jungs Christmas present he promised us?
If you mean Kim Jong-un, then probably a few people think that... but it seems unlikely:

upload_2020-3-26_12-45-5.png
 
My two cents,

DO:
- keep calm
- think of the weaker ones
- avoid unnecassary contact but stay friendly
- listen/ follow instructions ONLY to/ from the authorities and officials
- eat healthy with enough vitamins and try to sleep enough (should be done anyway)

NOT DO:
- go crazy
- look/ listen to all the **** in social media
- listen to crazy concpiracy theories
- get unfriendly in supermarkets or anywhere
- lose hope
 
My big brother (36 years old father and husband) is now in induced coma. Ten days ago, everything was ok. Please, be careful This is like a never ending nightmare.

Sorry to read that. Hope he beats it and returns to the family soon. Do you know if he had any prior condition or is he an healthy person? 36 and in coma is such a hard hit! Again, all the best for you and yours.
 
The point of flattening the curve is to reduce the number of people admitted to hospital at the peak of the spread of the virus to a number that is manageable for the health service.

More manageable. Any improvement is an improvement.

Our efforts so far would be useless if we lifted the lock down tomorrow.

I literally just explained why that is wrong.

An extreme example maybe, but it proves that flattening the curve only works if we continue until the benefits can be felt. Otherwise the peak starts to rise again.

The what now?

But your plan allows for not carrying it out. That's literally what's happening now.

Ok... I do not advocate signing a contract that states that if we do not adhere to the date set forth all signatory government officials shall be executed. I thought I made this abundantly clear earlier - right now my government does indeed give me a date, a date that they have zero intention of holding to. This doesn't do much good. Colorado is currently underway on issuing a state-wide stay-at-home order (when they previously said that it did not make sense). This will supersede my local one. They are trying to give some lead time for the state-wide order, but it is yet another change of approach.

Instability, caused by confused leadership. Each time it results in wasted resources from countless businesses, and lost productivity. Each time probably a little less than the previous, because people are trusting these plans about as little as possible - knowing that, how did you put it "they haven't got a clue"?

Failure of leadership. It's costing us dearly. Even aside from economic costs, people will violate these stay-at-home orders when they realize that the people at the top are making it up (daily).
 
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The best case scenario prior to an effective (and readily available) drug treatment or vaccine is that transmission rates can be quelled and then we return to a containment phase i.e. super-tight monitoring and rigorous testing nationwide.

@Woodybobs is correct. Without stringent measures to contain the virus after a successful 'flattening' period, the transmission rate will just skyrocket again and you'll be back to square one.*

This is precisely the danger that South Korea is facing... the question is, can they maintain the extraordinary level of testing and national discipline to avoid a second peak? My guess is that they can, but they will need to keep doing this until a treatment or vaccine is available, and that is going to be mightily difficult to maintain. I also suspect that countries like the US and the UK have no chance of being nearly as successful as SK.

* Well, not quite square one... the only saving grace is that maybe as many as 90% of all cases are going unrecorded, and thus there could/will be a very high number of people who should have acquired immunity during the first peak - which in turn will make future peaks less severe. The unknown factor, however, is how many people can develop COVID-19 from a second infection, and how different strains of the current virus might affect people who should otherwise be immune.
 
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I trashed a post I keep trying to make in order to respond to this. Just not enough time to say everything.

@Woodybobs is correct. Without stringent measures to contain the virus after a successful 'flattening' period, the transmission rate will just skyrocket again and you'll be back to square one.

No that's not correct. "Back to square one" is wrong. The transmission rate would go up again, but you'd have flattened the curve by delaying treatment due to the measures we're taking now. You're assuming that the virus can be contained, it cannot. Not only did we try that and fail already, but we cannot handle containment economically. This virus will ultimately spread relatively unchecked (at least in the US). Best we can do is isolate pockets of people and maintain some pragmatic telework and distancing. Schools have to reopen, and a lot of people have to just go back to work. Short of that, the cure is worse than the disease.

But even if the transmission rate does skyrocket again (and I suspect that's correct), a portion of the population will already have gotten the virus and gotten treated. That portion does not contribute to any subsequent peak. It is not back to square one, it is an improvement on square one. It's a delay to prepare, and a lower peak to handle.

Also, I'm not advocating for a lack of any measure after the hospital peak.

Edit:

Now I have to basically sign off for the rest of the day after my 10 minutes of GTPlanet and play daycare worker instead of actual worker.
 
Wait, we’ve gone from “we’re flattening the curve” to “we failed to contain the virus, send everyone back to work”?

We’re currently at 70,000 cases in the US. That’s nowhere even near a significant portion to have “caught the virus and been treated” of the population with a death toll still rising. Dallas County was at 2 deaths Sunday. It jumped to 6 Wednesday. They are expecting more. This quarantine needs to continue, we are still early into this to make such decisions to abandon it and get back to work.
 
While the US is magically creating $2 trillion out of thin air and trying to sneak through god knows what in the 1,200-page bill for the stimulus, other Congresspeople are working to investigate whether China is to blame or not:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/26/trump-china-coronavirus-148806

I do think China is responsible for COVID-19, but do we really need to waste time and money investigating it? It's not like China is going to pay up, treat the sick, or even admit fault so why waste resources on this? I do think Trump will go all-in with this as we get closer to November and make a campaign promise that he's going to somehow make China pay (kind of like Mexico paying for that wall). It'll all be for naught and essentially cost a bunch of money to investigate just so we can give China a formal finger-wagging. Also, I suspect Trump will somehow pressure Congress into formally naming the virus the "Wuhan Flu", "Kung Flu", "Chinese Coronavirus", or whatever instead of just simply calling it COVID.
 
Good 👍

Slovak covid patients are beginning to make full recoveries at home; two weeks of home quarantine followed by two consecutive negative tests.

Bad 👎

The politician responsible for purchasing respirators on behalf of Slovakia invoiced the government for 500,000 units but only 200,000 have been delivered. In a total coincidence, his son purchased two flats in the capital's old town, in cash, without any sort of mortgage.

There's never a bad time to defraud the public.
 
While the US is magically creating $2 trillion out of thin air and trying to sneak through god knows what in the 1,200-page bill for the stimulus, other Congresspeople are working to investigate whether China is to blame or not:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/26/trump-china-coronavirus-148806

I do think China is responsible for COVID-19, but do we really need to waste time and money investigating it? It's not like China is going to pay up, treat the sick, or even admit fault so why waste resources on this? I do think Trump will go all-in with this as we get closer to November and make a campaign promise that he's going to somehow make China pay (kind of like Mexico paying for that wall). It'll all be for naught and essentially cost a bunch of money to investigate just so we can give China a formal finger-wagging. Also, I suspect Trump will somehow pressure Congress into formally naming the virus the "Wuhan Flu", "Kung Flu", "Chinese Coronavirus", or whatever instead of just simply calling it COVID.
It's laughable. I'm not even sure how this can be fixed aside from banning live animal markets of non-domesticated animals.
 
I do think Trump will go all-in with this as we get closer to November and make a campaign promise that he's going to somehow make China pay.

But he loves China.



It'll all be for naught and essentially cost a bunch of money to investigate just so we can give China a formal finger-wagging.

As if China gives a flying 🤬 what any other country thinks.
 
But even if the transmission rate does skyrocket again (and I suspect that's correct), a portion of the population will already have gotten the virus and gotten treated. That portion does not contribute to any subsequent peak. It is not back to square one, it is an improvement on square one. It's a delay to prepare, and a lower peak to handle.
Do we know for sure that the people who have already been treated won't be reinfected again if they come into contact with the virus? Because if they do, then surely they'd contribute to a subsequent peak.
 
While the US is magically creating $2 trillion out of thin air and trying to sneak through god knows what in the 1,200-page bill for the stimulus, other Congresspeople are working to investigate whether China is to blame or not:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/26/trump-china-coronavirus-148806

I do think China is responsible for COVID-19, but do we really need to waste time and money investigating it? It's not like China is going to pay up, treat the sick, or even admit fault so why waste resources on this? I do think Trump will go all-in with this as we get closer to November and make a campaign promise that he's going to somehow make China pay (kind of like Mexico paying for that wall). It'll all be for naught and essentially cost a bunch of money to investigate just so we can give China a formal finger-wagging. Also, I suspect Trump will somehow pressure Congress into formally naming the virus the "Wuhan Flu", "Kung Flu", "Chinese Coronavirus", or whatever instead of just simply calling it COVID.

Maybe it could be used as a reason to impose more tariffs.
 
Got this in text this morning.

At The Princess of Wales hospital. NHS staff have been sent this:

This is the advice given to hospital staff.
It explains the virus and hopefully, how to prevent getting it.
Please share with family, friends and work colleagues.

Virus Detection:

The simplest way to distinguish Coronavirus from a Common Cold is that the COVID-19 infection does not cause a cold nose or cough with cold, but it does create a dry and rough cough.
The virus is typically first installed in the throat causing inflammation and a feeling of dryness. This symptom can last between 3 and 4 days.
The virus typically then travels through the moisture present in the airways, goes down to the trachea and installs in the lungs, causing pneumonia that lasts about 5 or 6 days.
Pneumonia manifests with a high fever and difficulty breathing. The Common Cold is not accompanied, but there may be a choking sensation. In this case, the doctor should be called immediately.

Experts suggest doing this simple verification every morning: Breathe in deeply and hold your breath for 10 seconds. If this can be done without coughing, without difficulty, this shows that there is no fibrosis in the lungs, indicating the absence of infection. It is recommended to do this control every morning to help detect infection.

Prevention:
The virus hates heat and dies if it is exposed to temperatures greater than 80°F (27°C). Therefore hot drinks such as infusions, broths or simply hot water should be consumed abundantly during the day. These hot liquids kill the virus and are easy to ingest.
Avoid drinking ice water or drinks with ice cubes.

Ensure that your mouth and throat are always wet, never DRY. You should drink a sip of water at least every 15 minutes. WHY? Even when the virus enters water or other liquids through the mouth, it will get flushed through the oesophagus directly into the stomach where gastric acids destroy the virus. If there is not enough water, the virus can pass into the trachea and from there to the lungs, where it is very dangerous.

For those who can, sunbathe. The Sun's UV rays kill the virus and the vitamin D is good for you.
The Coronavirus has a large size (diameter of 400-500 nanometers) so face masks can stop it, no special face masks are needed in daily life.
If an infected person sneezes nearby, stay 10 feet (3.3 meters) away to allow the virus fall to the ground and prevent it from falling on you.
When the virus is on hard surfaces, it survives about 12 hours, therefore when hard surfaces such as doors, appliances, railings, etc. are touched, hands should be washed thoroughly and/or disinfected with alcoholic gel The virus can live nested in clothes and tissues between 6 and 12 hours. Common detergents can kill it. Things that cannot be washed should be exposed to the Sun and the virus will die.
The transmission of the virus usually occurs by direct infection, touching fabrics, tissues or materials on which the virus is present.
Washing your hands is essential.
The virus survives on our hands for only about 10 minutes. In that time many things can happen, rubbing the eyes, touching the nose or lips. This allows the virus to enter your throat. Therefore, for your good and the good of all, wash your hands very often and disinfect them.
You can gargle with disinfectant solutions (i.e. Listerine or Hydrogen Peroxide) that eliminate or minimize the amount of virus that can enter the throat. Doing so removes the virus before it goes down to the trachea and then to the lungs.
Disinfect things touched often: mobile phone, keyboard, mouse, car steering wheel, door handles, etc ....

Sent in to us just now and we wanted to share this knowledge & advice with you all.

Please do the same and take care!
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the whole “virus hates heat so drink hot liquids” thing debunked.


Do we know for sure that the people who have already been treated won't be reinfected again if they come into contact with the virus? Because if they do, then surely they'd contribute to a subsequent peak.
It’s been claimed but scientists think there’s too many variables (faulty tests, virus never left, etc) right now. Last I read, most are still believing you can’t be reinfected; if you are, there’s an issue with your immune system.
 
Maybe it could be used as a reason to impose more tariffs.

That does make sense. Between COVID-19 and what will certainly be a collapsed economy, I could see Trump pushing to put tariffs on Chinese goods as retaliation for COVID and to help bolster the American economy. He'd get a ton of support for it too, especially with millions of people out of work. That's actually pretty worrying.
 
Got this in text this morning.

At The Princess of Wales hospital. NHS staff have been sent this:

This is the advice given to hospital staff.
It explains the virus and hopefully, how to prevent getting it.
Please share with family, friends and work colleagues.

Virus Detection:

The simplest way to distinguish Coronavirus from a Common Cold is that the COVID-19 infection does not cause a cold nose or cough with cold, but it does create a dry and rough cough.
The virus is typically first installed in the throat causing inflammation and a feeling of dryness. This symptom can last between 3 and 4 days.
The virus typically then travels through the moisture present in the airways, goes down to the trachea and installs in the lungs, causing pneumonia that lasts about 5 or 6 days.
Pneumonia manifests with a high fever and difficulty breathing. The Common Cold is not accompanied, but there may be a choking sensation. In this case, the doctor should be called immediately.

Experts suggest doing this simple verification every morning: Breathe in deeply and hold your breath for 10 seconds. If this can be done without coughing, without difficulty, this shows that there is no fibrosis in the lungs, indicating the absence of infection. It is recommended to do this control every morning to help detect infection.

Prevention:
The virus hates heat and dies if it is exposed to temperatures greater than 80°F (27°C). Therefore hot drinks such as infusions, broths or simply hot water should be consumed abundantly during the day. These hot liquids kill the virus and are easy to ingest.
Avoid drinking ice water or drinks with ice cubes.

Ensure that your mouth and throat are always wet, never DRY. You should drink a sip of water at least every 15 minutes. WHY? Even when the virus enters water or other liquids through the mouth, it will get flushed through the oesophagus directly into the stomach where gastric acids destroy the virus. If there is not enough water, the virus can pass into the trachea and from there to the lungs, where it is very dangerous.

For those who can, sunbathe. The Sun's UV rays kill the virus and the vitamin D is good for you.
The Coronavirus has a large size (diameter of 400-500 nanometers) so face masks can stop it, no special face masks are needed in daily life.
If an infected person sneezes nearby, stay 10 feet (3.3 meters) away to allow the virus fall to the ground and prevent it from falling on you.
When the virus is on hard surfaces, it survives about 12 hours, therefore when hard surfaces such as doors, appliances, railings, etc. are touched, hands should be washed thoroughly and/or disinfected with alcoholic gel The virus can live nested in clothes and tissues between 6 and 12 hours. Common detergents can kill it. Things that cannot be washed should be exposed to the Sun and the virus will die.
The transmission of the virus usually occurs by direct infection, touching fabrics, tissues or materials on which the virus is present.
Washing your hands is essential.
The virus survives on our hands for only about 10 minutes. In that time many things can happen, rubbing the eyes, touching the nose or lips. This allows the virus to enter your throat. Therefore, for your good and the good of all, wash your hands very often and disinfect them.
You can gargle with disinfectant solutions (i.e. Listerine or Hydrogen Peroxide) that eliminate or minimize the amount of virus that can enter the throat. Doing so removes the virus before it goes down to the trachea and then to the lungs.
Disinfect things touched often: mobile phone, keyboard, mouse, car steering wheel, door handles, etc ....

Sent in to us just now and we wanted to share this knowledge & advice with you all.

Please do the same and take care!
Has all of this been confirmed by (other) experts? Some sources would be welcome.
 
It makes sense, because whether you think the Coronavirus a complete hoax and a democratic attempt to topple the presidency or the "Chinavirus" is a dangerous and sweeping epidemic that our great leader has been at the forefront of fighting while state governors and local mayors sat on their hands, Trump's own position during the last few months has covered both angles.

I think, in principle, the country "rallies around" in moments of crisis - the same way Bush Jr's approval ratings shot up after 911. Also, aside from his "Chinese flu" thing, Trump has been relatively restrained over the last couple of weeks. His waffling on the seriousness of the virus & the effects on the economy probably reflect what the vast majority of Americans are thinking. Optimism is one of the most enduring (& endearing even) traits of the American national character.
 
Latest news from Facci says that we're now seeing COVID in the southern part of the globe as their transitioning into "winter" making the threat of a second infection likely if the steps to get a vaccine or drug isn't in place before that happens.

Flattening the curve is good but how good can it be if the surge of a secondary run happens in the fall?
Will we have to do all this again? :banghead:
 
Latest news from Facci says that we're now seeing COVID in the southern part of the globe as their transitioning into "winter" making the threat of a second infection likely if the steps to get a vaccine or drug isn't in place before that happens.

Flattening the curve is good but how good can it be if the surge of a secondary run happens in the fall?
Will we have to do all this again? :banghead:
Perhaps they are trying to tell us the new normal is one epidemic after another? Can we be reinfected by the novel coronavirus? How about the mutated version? Will the current pandemic have one peak, two, or even three like the Spanish Flu did over 22 months? All these questions may have the answer "yes".
 
More manageable. Any improvement is an improvement.
Manageable. The aim is to make sure we have enough space, staff, and equipment to effectively treat those who need it.

I literally just explained why that is wrong.
You haven't. We may well already be on course for crippling the health service due to the spread before the the restrictions. Sending people back to work too early could result in a second peak and a protracted period between the peaks during which the health service is overcrowded, understaffed, and under-equipped.


Ok... I do not advocate signing a contract that states that if we do not adhere to the date set forth all signatory government officials shall be executed. I thought I made this abundantly clear earlier - right now my government does indeed give me a date, a date that they have zero intention of holding to. This doesn't do much good. Colorado is currently underway on issuing a state-wide stay-at-home order (when they previously said that it did not make sense). This will supersede my local one. They are trying to give some lead time for the state-wide order, but it is yet another change of approach.

Instability, caused by confused leadership. Each time it results in wasted resources from countless businesses, and lost productivity. Each time probably a little less than the previous, because people are trusting these plans about as little as possible - knowing that, how did you put it "they haven't got a clue"?

Failure of leadership. It's costing us dearly. Even aside from economic costs, people will violate these stay-at-home orders when they realize that the people at the top are making it up (daily).
They're absolutely confused. They're not prepared for this. They're waiting to see how this strategy plays out and they can't force it to hurry up. This is the strategy until it works or they change it. They won't tell us they're changing it until they think this strategy has failed. If that happens it won't be for a number of days at least.
 
I just spotted (and heard) my first landscaping crew of the year. Seriously? Is that essential to our well-being? They're not gonna get residents sick but what about each other?
 
Got this in text this morning.

At The Princess of Wales hospital. NHS staff have been sent this:

This is the advice given to hospital staff.
It explains the virus and hopefully, how to prevent getting it.
Please share with family, friends and work colleagues.

Virus Detection:

The simplest way to distinguish Coronavirus from a Common Cold is that the COVID-19 infection does not cause a cold nose or cough with cold, but it does create a dry and rough cough.
The virus is typically first installed in the throat causing inflammation and a feeling of dryness. This symptom can last between 3 and 4 days.
The virus typically then travels through the moisture present in the airways, goes down to the trachea and installs in the lungs, causing pneumonia that lasts about 5 or 6 days.
Pneumonia manifests with a high fever and difficulty breathing. The Common Cold is not accompanied, but there may be a choking sensation. In this case, the doctor should be called immediately.

Experts suggest doing this simple verification every morning: Breathe in deeply and hold your breath for 10 seconds. If this can be done without coughing, without difficulty, this shows that there is no fibrosis in the lungs, indicating the absence of infection. It is recommended to do this control every morning to help detect infection.

Prevention:
The virus hates heat and dies if it is exposed to temperatures greater than 80°F (27°C). Therefore hot drinks such as infusions, broths or simply hot water should be consumed abundantly during the day. These hot liquids kill the virus and are easy to ingest.
Avoid drinking ice water or drinks with ice cubes.

Ensure that your mouth and throat are always wet, never DRY. You should drink a sip of water at least every 15 minutes. WHY? Even when the virus enters water or other liquids through the mouth, it will get flushed through the oesophagus directly into the stomach where gastric acids destroy the virus. If there is not enough water, the virus can pass into the trachea and from there to the lungs, where it is very dangerous.

For those who can, sunbathe. The Sun's UV rays kill the virus and the vitamin D is good for you.
The Coronavirus has a large size (diameter of 400-500 nanometers) so face masks can stop it, no special face masks are needed in daily life.
If an infected person sneezes nearby, stay 10 feet (3.3 meters) away to allow the virus fall to the ground and prevent it from falling on you.
When the virus is on hard surfaces, it survives about 12 hours, therefore when hard surfaces such as doors, appliances, railings, etc. are touched, hands should be washed thoroughly and/or disinfected with alcoholic gel The virus can live nested in clothes and tissues between 6 and 12 hours. Common detergents can kill it. Things that cannot be washed should be exposed to the Sun and the virus will die.
The transmission of the virus usually occurs by direct infection, touching fabrics, tissues or materials on which the virus is present.
Washing your hands is essential.
The virus survives on our hands for only about 10 minutes. In that time many things can happen, rubbing the eyes, touching the nose or lips. This allows the virus to enter your throat. Therefore, for your good and the good of all, wash your hands very often and disinfect them.
You can gargle with disinfectant solutions (i.e. Listerine or Hydrogen Peroxide) that eliminate or minimize the amount of virus that can enter the throat. Doing so removes the virus before it goes down to the trachea and then to the lungs.
Disinfect things touched often: mobile phone, keyboard, mouse, car steering wheel, door handles, etc ....

Sent in to us just now and we wanted to share this knowledge & advice with you all.

Please do the same and take care!
Sever all ties with the person that sent you that text.
Wait, we’ve gone from “we’re flattening the curve” to “we failed to contain the virus, send everyone back to work”?
The curve-flattening thing is part of the "delay" phase, rather than the earlier "containment" phase.

Essentially step one of fighting a viral epidemic is "containment". You identify those who have the virus and those who may have been exposed to the virus, and quarantine them until they are virus free (recovered or dead), to prevent the spread to the wider population.

When containment fails and the virus is in the wider population, you seek to "delay" the spread. While knowing that it will eventually reach a large number of the population, you reduce the rate of spread of the virus by limiting movement and activity among all people in an affected area, so that those who have the virus are less able to pass it to others, reducing the number of people who become ill and thus also those who become seriously ill and those who die - the "flattening the curve" process of kicking several cans down the road so you only have to deal with a few cans at a time. Containment is moot at that point because there's simply too many moving parts to contain it.
 
The UK (and presumably the US also) decided a long time ago that containment was not going to work - it is the first choice strategy for an outbreak, but by the time an outbreak becomes a pandemic, it is arguably not going to work unless every country on Earth independently succeeds at containment simultaneously...

Countries like China (?) and South Korea have successfully contained the virus... but, paradoxically, the earlier and better the containment, the more at risk they are of a more severe second wave (because not enough people caught the virus and recovered in the first wave). In order to keep up containment, China and SK would have to adopt crippling restrictions for as long as the virus remains anywhere in the world, or until a vaccine is developed... both are a long, long way off.

The hope is that by flattening the curve now but allowing a sizeable chunk of people to become infected over as long a time-frame as possible, the inevitable second wave (once restrictions are either eased or become intolerable in their own right) is lessened... but it could still be far more severe than the initial wave that is currently engulfing our countries as we speak.

The other danger is timing - spreading cases out as much as possible makes sense, but the one thing we want to avoid is a large 'final' wave in flu season when the healthcare system is already at full stretch... and, coming at the end of what promises to be a bitter and long battle against what will probably be a relatively small wave (which is still capable of totally overwhelming healthcare systems), there is a risk of capacity being substantially lower than it is today.

Perhaps the least bad scenario is cycles of containment and delay/flattening over the next 12-18 months, by which time hopefully a vaccine will be available and/or herd immunity will be achieved. But either way, it's going to be a long, hard road.
 
I have been deemed essential so at least I will keep working for now. It is slowing down though so it may not last long but at least I will be able to build up my reserve a little more.

I just spotted (and heard) my first landscaping crew of the year. Seriously? Is that essential to our well-being? They're not gonna get residents sick but what about each other?

They’re probably at little risk of spreading it as long as precautions like cleaning equipment after use are taken.
 
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