Coronavirus - worldwide breaking news, discussion, stats, updates and more

[littlebabyjesus]

I think the only regions that were properly prepared were places in Asia like Singapore Hong Kong South Korea, and perhaps even China itself, while China misfired with it at first, when it got going it threw massive resource at the issue.

There is properly prepared, then partially prepared, then not fucking prepared in any way, shape or form.

And then there is reacting quickly and in an organised way, reacting quickly but in a disorganised way, and reacting really rather slowly and in a chaotic way.

Which of these describes the UK today?

 

[elbows]

Top European teaching hospitals from Sweden to Italy have said they will run out of vital drugs for Covid-19 intensive care patients within two weeks, as Spain passed 10,000 deaths from the pandemic and the US reported record jobless numbers.

As confirmed cases neared a million around the world and deaths passed 50,000 despite almost half of humanity living in some form of lockdown, the hospitals said that unless countries cooperated to ensure a steady supply, the critically ill would soon be deprived of essential medicines.

Hospitals needed protective gear and ventilators but also drugs to treat intensive care patients, the European University Hospital Alliance said in a letter to governments. Stocks of muscle relaxants, sedatives and painkillers were likely to run out in two days at the hardest-hit hospitals and in two weeks at others, they said.

More than a million confirmed cases of Covid-19 globally

According to Johns Hopkins University at least 1,000,036 infections have been recorded

www.theguardian.com

 

[Azrael]

I think the only regions that were properly prepared were places in Asia like Singapore Hong Kong South Korea, and perhaps even China itself, while China misfired with it at first, when it got going it threw massive resource at the issue.

Yes, those countries with a folk memory of SARS and the even more terrifying MERS were the fastest to respond. As you say, after their initial denial, Beijing clamped down hard on the coronavirus.

All the West's been caught flat-footed (except possibly Iceland, who has due warning, the advantage of a small population and being an island in the North Atlantic, and rushed to implement mass testing and tracing). The British response has, however, been particularly awful, with a decade of austerity mixing with godawful advice to bite hard.

 

[elbows]

From the 'whats the actual number of deaths/what sort of underreporting have countries done so far' department comes France now counting people who died in care homes:

The coronavirus death count in France surged to nearly 5,400 people on Thursday after the health ministry began including nursing home fatalities in its data.

Jerome Salomon, head of the health authority, said the pandemic had by Thursday claimed the lives of 4,503 patients in hospitals, up 12% on the previous day’s 4,032. A provisional tally showed the coronavirus had killed a further 884 people in nursing homes and other care facilities, he added.

This makes for a total of 5,387 lives lost to coronavirus in France - an increase of 1,355 over Wednesday’s cumulative total - although data has not yet been collected from all of the country’s 7,400 nursing homes.

More than two thirds of all the known nursing home deaths have been registered in the Grand Est region, which abuts the border with Germany.

It was the first region in France to be overwhelmed by a wave of infections that has rapidly moved west to engulf greater Paris, where hospitals are desperately trying to add intensive care beds to cope with the influx of critically ill patients.

France's coronavirus death toll jumps as nursing homes included

The coronavirus death count in France surged to nearly 5,400 people on Thursday after the health ministry began including nursing home fatalities in its data.

www.reuters.com

 

[weltweit]

BTW I like posts to say something like, that is interesting thank you for posting it.

 

[teqniq]

Apologies if it's already been posted, interesting:

Treatment of Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 With Convalescent Plasma

This case series describes clinical outcomes in 5 Chinese patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, ARDS, and high viral loads despite antiviral treatment who were given human plasma with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies obtained from previously infected and recovered patients.

jamanetwork.com

The piece is careful to point out pretty much at the beginning that:

...These preliminary findings raise the possibility that convalescent plasma transfusion may be helpful in the treatment of critically ill patients with COVID-19 and ARDS, but this approach requires evaluation in randomized clinical trials....

From.

 

[Azrael]

Reported that the NHS was planning to do similar a few days ago, and blood and transplant appear to be contacting people. Antiserums have been used for well over a century, so surely worth a try (hell, with informed patient consent, let doctors try whatever they think may work and is clinically justifiable).

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Yes, those countries with a folk memory of SARS and the even more terrifying MERS were the fastest to respond. As you say, after their initial denial, Beijing clamped down hard on the coronavirus.

All the West's been caught flat-footed (except possibly Iceland, who has due warning, the advantage of a small population and being an island in the North Atlantic, and rushed to implement mass testing and tracing). The British response has, however, been particularly awful, with a decade of austerity mixing with godawful advice to bite hard.

Yeah. Iceland has the massive advantage of size. It's only about the size of Cardiff, or the London Borough of Lambeth. There's a reason they don't really do surnames - everyone knows a fair chunk of the population, or at least knows someone who knows them. Test and trace not quite the daunting task.

However, that possibly also points to one of the secrets of success. Local organisation, local democracy and local authorities. All things that have been undermined here for the last 40 years.

 

[teqniq]

Exclusive: Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy

The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier docked in Guam with more than 100...

www.sfchronicle.com

Unsurpisingly:

Navy relieves captain who raised alarm about COVID-19 on ship

The Navy relieved the captain who sounded the alarm about an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[ice-is-forming]

Australia has about 5000 confirmed cases and 25 deaths. They have also tested more per capita than anywhere else ( sorry don't have a link atm)

The government have found the magic money forrest! Absolute massive hand outs and waivers for everyone/thing.

Tonight we start a hard border between NSW and Qld, and WA have isolated entirely.

I'm highly suspicious at our governments handling of it tbh .. it's very unusual for them to get it right

 

[Azrael]

Yeah. Iceland has the massive advantage of size. It's only about the size of Cardiff, or the London Borough of Lambeth. There's a reason they don't really do surnames - everyone knows a fair chunk of the population, or at least knows someone who knows them. Test and trace not quite the daunting task.

However, that possibly also points to one of the secrets of success. Local organisation, local democracy and local authorities. All things that have been undermined here for the last 40 years.

Exactly why I continue to lament our destruction of local government and autonomy in the '70s. Germany too has benefitted greatly from the Länder having independence from Berlin, and both the freedom and resources to pursue testing. England's become absurdly centralised, but it's a relatively recent development, and it can be reversed.

 

[elbows]

I'm highly suspicious at our governments handling of it tbh .. it's very unusual for them to get it right

if they turn out to have got it right then its partly down to the fortunes of timing - assuming the seeds of their epidemic are well behind those of many countries in Europe, they could learn lessons from and copy from countries measures and apply them to an earlier stage of their epidemic, without having to go out on a political limb. Although that timing is not just down to fortune, it does imply they did certain things right in terms of reducing the spread from imported cases earlier on. I havent been following their measures properly though, I dont know if they can sustain their early gains in this battle, that will come down to various measures, how well people stick to them, and things like their approach to infection control and testing in hospitals and care homes. And timing may turn against them in terms of the seasons, with winter looming in the distance.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Exactly why I continue to lament our destruction of local government and autonomy in the '70s. Germany too has benefitted greatly from the Länder having independence from Berlin, and both the freedom and resources to pursue testing. England's become absurdly centralised, but it's a relatively recent development, and it can be reversed.

Can it? You say relatively recently, but Thatcher started it. It's only us old fuckers who were alive before then. That's a long time.

I didn't want to mention Germany yet again, but yes, responsibility to coordinate responses to this crisis lies largely with the states, with overall federal coordinating support. The key to any robust system is that it doesn't rely on just a few people at its centre. The UK system really does (the English bit at least) and what a bunch of fucking twats those few people are.

 

[Azrael]

Can it? You say relatively recently, but Thatcher started it. It's only us old fuckers who were alive before then. That's a long time.

I didn't want to mention Germany yet again, but yes, responsibility to coordinate responses to this crisis lies largely with the states, with overall federal coordinating support. The key to any robust system is that it doesn't rely on just a few people at its centre. The UK system really does (the English bit at least) and what a bunch of fucking twats those few people are.

Will have to be mostly ground up, but university labs being enlisted is a positive sign. As the government drifts rudderless, local groups are of necessity being forced to take matters into their own hands.

 

[BlanketAddict]

Yeah. Iceland has the massive advantage of size. It's only about the size of Cardiff, or the London Borough of Lambeth. There's a reason they don't really do surnames - everyone knows a fair chunk of the population, or at least knows someone who knows them. Test and trace not quite the daunting task.

However, that possibly also points to one of the secrets of success. Local organisation, local democracy and local authorities. All things that have been undermined here for the last 40 years.

I went to Iceland last year.
It's way bigger than Cardiff etc. I drove a fair bit over there, amazing landscape.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Australia has about 5000 confirmed cases and 25 deaths. They have also tested more per capita than anywhere else ( sorry don't have a link atm)

The government have found the magic money forrest! Absolute massive hand outs and waivers for everyone/thing.

Tonight we start a hard border between NSW and Qld, and WA have isolated entirely.

I'm highly suspicious at our governments handling of it tbh .. it's very unusual for them to get it right

given the economic environment issues that have been pedddled of late in Aus to justify everything, it is pretty astounding

 

[bendeus]

I went to Iceland last year.
It's way bigger than Cardiff etc. I drove a fair bit over there, amazing landscape.

At around 330,000 the populations of Cardiff and Iceland are the same. Cardiff has fewer volcanoes, though, and tends to use fewer syllables.

 

[little_legs]

 

[tim]

I have just seen video from India with thousands of people milling around outside trying to leave New Delhi - it seems they are directly flaunting the country's stay at home instruction.

The poor flaunting the government's stay at home and die of starvation if not the virus ruling.

 

[weltweit]

BBC USA Update

The commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt has been removed after saying the US Navy was not doing enough to halt a coronavirus outbreak on board the aircraft carrier.

In a letter, Capt Brett Crozier had urged his superiors to act to prevent US troops dying outside of wartime.

But acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the commander "exercised extremely poor judgement".

At least 100 people aboard the vessel have been infected, reports say.

It seems whistle blowers the world over are not welcome!
from US Navy removes captain who raised virus alarm

US jobless claims hit 6.6 million as virus spreads

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits has hit a record high for the second week in a row as the economic toll tied to the coronavirus intensifies.

More than 6.6 million people filed jobless claims in the week ended 28 March, the Department of Labor said.

That is nearly double the week earlier, which was also a new record.

The deepening economic crisis comes as the number of cases in the US soars to more than 236,000.

With the death toll rising to more than 5,600, the White House recently said it would retain restrictions on activity to try to curb the outbreak.

from US jobless claims hit new record as virus spreads

Things the US has got wrong - and got right

The US is now the global epicentre of the pandemic, surpassing the number of reported cases in China, where the virus began, and Italy, the hardest-hit European nation.

Although public health officials report that the peak of the outbreak in the US is still weeks, perhaps months, away, shortcomings in the US response - as well as some strengths - have already become apparent.

Masks, gloves, gowns and ventilators. Doctors and hospitals across the country, but particularly in areas hardest hit by the pandemic, are scrambling for items essential to help those stricken by the virus and protect medical professionals.

The lack of adequate supplies has forced healthcare workers to reuse existing sanitary garb or create their own makeshift gear. A shortage of ventilators has state officials worried they will soon be forced into performing medical triage, deciding on the fly who receives the life-sustaining support - and who doesn't.

According to Professor Levi, ramping up testing at an early date - as done in nations like South Korea and Singapore - is the key to controlling a viral outbreak like Covid-19. The inability of the US government to do so was the critical failure from which subsequent complications have cascaded.

"All of pandemic response is dependent on situational awareness - knowing what is going on and where it is happening," he says.

Without this information, public health officials are essentially flying blind, not knowing where the next viral hotspot will flare up.

from Things the US has got wrong - and got right
Lots more on that page

 

[weltweit]

That's confirmed cases, though. It's actually flattening out - a curve means not exponential - but it's such an artefact of the testing regime that it's very flawed as a measure, or at least, it needs caveats to be added. Germany is now conducting more than 50,000 tests per day. So only around 10 per cent of tests are coming back positive. It's conducting more tests than ever but its daily totals have plateaued over the last few days.

As someone, I think it may even have been you lbj said recently to me, it is about the trends though When China and South Korea start dropping down this chart it is because their cases discovered in the last few weeks is reducing while their total cases remain the same. That is the clever aspect of this chart compared to others, that it shows trends.

Don't get me wrong, Germany may yet drop down, but it hasn't more than a little so far.

 

[weltweit]

Australia has about 5000 confirmed cases and 25 deaths. They have also tested more per capita than anywhere else ( sorry don't have a link atm)

The government have found the magic money forrest! Absolute massive hand outs and waivers for everyone/thing.

Tonight we start a hard border between NSW and Qld, and WA have isolated entirely.

I'm highly suspicious at our governments handling of it tbh .. it's very unusual for them to get it right

Are there hot spots in Oz ice-is-forming?

 

[kabbes]

Studies finding that 330 million people just in the world’s 9 largest economic have the “underlying health conditions” that mean danger

Hundreds of millions face severe coronavirus risk in developed world

There are approximately 330 million people at risk of contracting a severe coronavirus infection due to underlying health conditions in nine of the world's largest economies.

www.theactuary.com

It’s about 25% of the UK population that are in the “at risk” category.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

Studies finding that 330 million people just in the world’s 9 largest economic have the “underlying health conditions” that mean danger

Hundreds of millions face severe coronavirus risk in developed world

There are approximately 330 million people at risk of contracting a severe coronavirus infection due to underlying health conditions in nine of the world's largest economies.

www.theactuary.com

It’s about 25% of the UK population that are in the “at risk” category.

View attachment 204613

So the low numbers in China may be due in part to lower levels of underlying serious illness in the population, while the higher numbers in America may partly be due to higher levels of underlying serious illness.

But in addition to having less underlying illness, China also put in place better measures, while in addition to higher levels of underlying illness, America is just failing at any kind of management.

So with the double whammy of poor management and poor underlying health, things in America are going to come out really really really badly.

 

[kabbes]

So the low numbers in China may be due in part to lower levels of underlying serious illness in the population, while the higher numbers in America may partly be due to higher levels of underlying serious illness.

But in addition to having less underlying illness, China also put in place better measures, while in addition to higher levels of underlying illness, America is just failing at any kind of management.

So with the double whammy of poor management and poor underlying health, things in America are going to come out really really really badly.

Yeah, it doesn’t look at all good for the US, does it?

 

[MrCurry]

At the risk of making a pearoast, has anyone linked to the google mobility reports yet?

COVID-19 Community Mobility Report

See how your community is moving around differently due to COVID-19

www.google.com

Search any country and region and download a PDF showing how the about of movement has changed due to covid 19 in different categories of places, such as residential, retail, parks, etc... no doubt some interesting comparisons between countries will emerge from this data.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

Yeah, it doesn’t look at all good for the US, does it?

I’ve been saying since the very start that it’s going to be a complete shit show over there. Not only because of Trump and his hubris but because of the nature of American society.

Another major issue is that as/if/when the pandemic starts to flatten out and settle elsewhere on the planet, and America remains a hotspot, it will inevitably become a hot little ember that will spark up flare ups and returning waves in the future.

 

[weltweit]

I’ve been saying since the very start that it’s going to be a complete shit show over there. Not only because of Trump and his hubris but because of the nature of American society.
..

How do you mean SheilaNaGig, about the nature of their society?

 

[weltweit]

In looking for US stories online I have found some websites (CNN for example) almost unusable because of ads, is anyone else finding this? and are there any good sources of US news which don't have so many ads?

 

[weltweit]

Why Jeff Bezos’s $100 million donation to food banks won’t satisfy his critics

Jeff Bezos is giving $100 million to help America’s hungry during the coronavirus crisis, a gift that is one of the largest by a tech leader in response to the pandemic. But it also comes amid mounting concerns about how Bezos is treating his employees in his day job as CEO of Amazon.

Bezos announced on Thursday that he would be making the donation to Feeding America, a nonprofit that is serving as a clearinghouse to distribute money to food banks around the country.

from Why Jeff Bezos’s $100 million donation to food banks won’t satisfy his critics