COVID-19 — Coronavirus

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BlueAnorak said:
Travelling on public transport without wearing a surgical mask or better is just looking for the virus to be spread. It dramatically reduces the chances of the wearer spreading the virus though it doesn't do much to stop the wearer catching it - hand washing and not touching your face does that.
Sadly those that said wearing a mask isn't necessary will look to be cockeombles if the advice is changed.The sooner this is done though, the better for all, as without this measure, mass transit systems are virus spreading machines.
If you dont believe me ask yourself why surgery teams wear them?
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If I could get hold of a mask, I'd have worn that as well!
 
Ban-jani said:
Germany’s curve is flattening whilst Spain’s is awful.

The latter have more authoritarian measures in place.

How?
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/germany-low-coronavirus-mortality-rate-puzzles-experts

German politicians and senior health officials have been reluctant to comment on the low mortality rate while the situation is developing so rapidly. Lothar Wieler, the president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the government’s central public health body, has said he does not expect there to be a significant difference in mortality rates between Italy and Germany in the long run.

“It’s too early to say whether Germany is better medically prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic than other countries,” said Marylyn Addo, who heads the infectiology department at Hamburg’s University Medical Centre.

One likely explanation for the discrepancy in figures, Addo suggested, was that while northern Italy’s hospitals are being overrun with new patients, Germany’s are not yet at full capacity and have had more time to clear beds, stock up on equipment and redistribute personnel.

“One advantage Germany has is that we started doing professional contact tracing when the first cases were reported,” Addo said. “It bought us some time to prepare our clinics for the coming storm.”

Crucially, Germany started testing people even with milder symptoms relatively early on, meaning the total number of confirmed cases may give a more accurate picture of the virus’s spread than in other states.
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Marvin said:
I feel that once past the peak, the infection may collapse because active cases will shrink and the no. of new cases is a function of the active cases. That's why epidemics have that 'normal' peak shape which we are now familiar.

On top of that countries are improving their response. The most significant measure may be a 45 minute test which will allow the world for the first time to readily find the virus and therefore isolate it. Antibody tests are also in the pipeline. These are game-changers. But how long till they get properly rolled out?

For the vulnerable they are going to be 'shielded' for a while but for the mass of the population I think maybe things will normalise over weeks after the peak. It's very difficult to say. An unknown is the global effect. Is the virus going to be raging around us in nations like Turkey, Russia, India, South America? That affects travel etc

Depends how quick the science moves. Anti-viral trials and vaccine trials will have increasing effects but are probably a little too far away to have a significant impact now.
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In Italy there are perhaps 60,000 confirmed cases but with the number of deaths I'd guess they must have at least 5 times that in actual cases. Given Italy aren't testing very many then it's no surprise that 60,000 figure is probably wildly wrong.

Germany is doing A LOT of testing. Whilst Germany has confirmed more cases than the UK, I still reckon they do have far less actual cases. German people aren't any more immune than anyone else, it can only mean that less people have the virus.

I think if we tested the whole of the UK population then we'd find we didn't have 6000 cases but rather we'd have 100,000 or more.

2-3 weeks ago Italy probably had 100,000 cases and the exact same deaths we have today. But, because they weren't testing they probably had well less than 1000 confirmed cases so no problem....! Then the bomb dropped 2 weeks later when a % of that 100,000 cases turned serious.

The key to this virus is controlling the infection rate and TESTING as many as possible to measure progress so that governments can make decisions. If you don't test or take action today then how many die in 2 weeks time is a direct function of any inaction.
 
This Self Isolating thing is a load of bollocks unless you back it up with testing!. I reckon 99% of people SI for 7 days have a normal cold so after 7 days they come out to the world again and could pick it up. as I said without testing its complete bollocks. I cant understand why all govs are not making this their priority and getting them out in their millions!
 
paulchapo said:
Spain's deaths have jumped by 600+, this is in spite of being on lockdown for two weeks. Maybe this was expected as people were infected prior to the lockdown,?
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It will be at least ten days of getting worse for Spain.

I think a lot of it depends on where it hits. In Madrid they have been devastated in old people's accommodation which has inflated their numbers.
 
Ban-jani said:
Germany’s curve is flattening whilst Spain’s is awful.

The latter have more authoritarian measures in place.

How?
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I think the Germans live in communities more akin to ours. Whereas in Spain and Italy in some families a lot of generations of the same family all live together.
 
twosips said:
everyone hates the UK.
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We don't, not in particular at least. The neighbours we love to hate are others ;)
Ban-jani said:
my point is that it lays a carpet out for future would be dictators.
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Not any more than the previous normal situation. I can only talk for my country, but the government we have in place now would never go down that road. Once this thing goes away, government powers will go back to normal. We may leave too much freedom of speech to neofascist twats but our current constitution was written in 1947, which means it's extremely hard for one to easily seize that kind of power again. It's hard for a strong single party to gain power at all really, in this country.
 
Marvin said:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...tbreak-cases-meetings-bans-update-latest-news

Germany: signs exponential growth curve of new infections levelling off for first time
Kate-Connolly.jpg

Kate Connolly

In Germany, there were signs that the exponential upwards curve in new coronavirus infections is levelling off for the first time due to the strict social distancing measures in force, the head of the country’s public health institute said on Monday.

However, Lothar Wieler, the president of the Robert Koch Institute, urged caution, saying many health authorities had not yet submitted their data from the weekend. “I will only be able to confirm this trend definitively on Wednesday,” he said. But he said he remained optimistic.

Germany has closed all its schools, and on Sunday ruled that no more than two people can gather at once, except for families or people sharing a household.

Wieler said that current data on Germany´s Covid 19 cases indicates that the average age of those infected is 45, the average age of those who have died is 82. Fifty-seven per cent of those with confirmed infections have so far been men, 43% are women. Of the symptoms people have experienced, the most common is coughing (55%) and fever (40%).

In his daily briefing, which has just ended, he appealed to German medical students to volunteer in the increasing effort to track all new cases, which he said continued to be an important part in the fight against the virus.

A nationwide collection data point called Cosmos, which is gathering data on how the illness is being fought, shows a considerable increase in awareness of the virus, but still a considerable gap between awareness and behaviour, he said. Mobile phone data monitored anonymously at the weekend, of 30 million mobile phone users, showed that people have considerably reduced their mobility, but still not as much as was necessary, he said. Keeping a distance, regular hand washing and sneezing or coughing into the elbow still remained the most effective ways to avoid the spread of coronavirus, he added. “Keeping your distance is the order of the day,” he said.

There are about 24,859 cases of coronavirus in Germany. There have so far been 97 reported deaths.

Wieler responded to reports that Germany was not being upfront with the number of deaths owing to the fact the figure is relatively low compared with other countries. He confirmed that in Germany anyone who has died having been diagnosed with coronavirus is registered as having died from the virus, even if they had other illnesses, or medical complications.

Meanwhile, Angela Merkel, who has been quarantined at home since yesterday after a doctor who administered a vaccine to her was tested positive for the virus, reportedly dialled in via telephone to the cabinet meeting of her government this morning.
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"Meanwhile, Angela Merkel, who has been quarantined at home since yesterday after a doctor who administered a vaccine to her was tested positive for the virus"

I wonder what she was being vaccinated against. It's the wrong time of year for the Flu vaccine and I suspect she does not have any upcoming travel plans to somewhere tropical. Maybe she has volunteered for clinical trials of a covid-19 vaccine.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
we have decided to call it at our house today?

I have had a scratchy throat for a couple of weeks, an irritant cough, but nothing persistent. No real temperature. Last two days my cough has become more regular and working hard to hack and clear my airways (without much luck) I also have a leaky nose. It's my eyes though, they feel really dry and stingy - is that even a symptom?

I have purposely stayed at home the majority of this time and stayed away from people, wife and kids have no symptoms. Just keep our distance from each other and enjoying the garden.

All of the above I would also get for allergies/hay fever but not sure if even the season for it?

I'm frustrated by this because feel strong. My little girl's birthday tomorrow. The plan is for me to sleep in my office and continue to work in there through the day, with the kids being home in their own rooms studying.

Apart from that, I do the 14-days - they do seven - we just retain two metre distance within our own home?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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14 days for everyone.
 
bbrother1968 said:
This Self Isolating thing is a load of bollocks unless you back it up with testing!. I reckon 99% of people SI for 7 days have a normal cold so after 7 days they come out to the world again and could pick it up. as I said without testing its complete bollocks. I cant understand why all govs are not making this their priority and getting them out in their millions!
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Lack of testing kits I would guess.
 
Cheer Up Peter Reid said:
"Meanwhile, Angela Merkel, who has been quarantined at home since yesterday after a doctor who administered a vaccine to her was tested positive for the virus"

I wonder what she was being vaccinated against. It's the wrong time of year for the Flu vaccine and I suspect she does not have any upcoming travel plans to somewhere tropical. Maybe she has volunteered for clinical trials of a covid-19 vaccine.
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Pneumonia I think I read somewhere.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
we have decided to call it at our house today?

I have had a scratchy throat for a couple of weeks, an irritant cough, but nothing persistent. No real temperature. Last two days my cough has become more regular and working hard to hack and clear my airways (without much luck) I also have a leaky nose. It's my eyes though, they feel really dry and stingy - is that even a symptom?

I have purposely stayed at home the majority of this time and stayed away from people, wife and kids have no symptoms. Just keep our distance from each other and enjoying the garden.

All of the above I would also get for allergies/hay fever but not sure if even the season for it?

I'm frustrated by this because feel strong. My little girl's birthday tomorrow. The plan is for me to sleep in my office and continue to work in there through the day, with the kids being home in their own rooms studying.

Apart from that, I do the 14-days - they do seven - we just retain two metre distance within our own home?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, Calcium and Potassium rich foods mate.

Gargle some salt water. Boil the water first, wait for it to cool a little, put sone salt (sea salt or pink salt) in and gargle.

Boil some water and put salt, ginger and lemon in it and inhale the steam for a few minutes.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
we have decided to call it at our house today?

I have had a scratchy throat for a couple of weeks, an irritant cough, but nothing persistent. No real temperature. Last two days my cough has become more regular and working hard to hack and clear my airways (without much luck) I also have a leaky nose. It's my eyes though, they feel really dry and stingy - is that even a symptom?

I have purposely stayed at home the majority of this time and stayed away from people, wife and kids have no symptoms. Just keep our distance from each other and enjoying the garden.

All of the above I would also get for allergies/hay fever but not sure if even the season for it?

I'm frustrated by this because feel strong. My little girl's birthday tomorrow. The plan is for me to sleep in my office and continue to work in there through the day, with the kids being home in their own rooms studying.

Apart from that, I do the 14-days - they do seven - we just retain two metre distance within our own home?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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other way round tolmies hairdoo you do 7 days your family do 14 , that its to allow them to show any signs. Doesn't mean you will be well enough for work in 7 days but that's the guidelines
 
jay_mcfc said:
Yesterday’s numbers were a positive sign for the UK but the epicenter in Italy was already well into locked down by this point. The UK v Italy comparisons will come down to London v Lombardi.

If the UK can restrict deaths to less than 2-300 per day throughout this tricky period then you’d consider the tactics to be successful imo. But with the social gatherings still continuing you’re looking at least another 5 weeks before and real significant progress will be seen.
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No it wasn't. Lombardy lockdown started yesterday in equivalent terms, with full Italy lockdown this Thursday. You should read the stories on how people ignored advice before and after the lockdown in Italy as well.
 
SWP's back said:
Yep.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/coronavirus-and-the-myth-of-blitz-spirit-

All crime up 57% during the war including murder.
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Everything in that article squares 100 per cent with what my late dad told me about the war and what it was like in Manchester. He served in the army and used to laugh his socks off at the propaganda version of events in ourr media. He said "Dad's Army" (which he loved) was a more accurate observation of the disorganised state of our country in wartime. He also had no time for politicians who liked to bask in the reflected glory of Remembrance Sunday events. He used to switch off the TV when those events came on.
 
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