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

[Marty1]

The politics of pandemics is about far more than what opposition parties make of it. Trump will be worried about the populace as a whole turning on his administration. And most of all I expect he worries that its going to fuck his sales pitch. Bragging about the economy is a big part of his routine. He will come out with a new framing of events if they reach a certain point, and the framing may be very ugly, he will either find someone to blame or he will say very odd things.

The blame game has already softly started - Mike Pompeo the US Secretary of State has just given a press conference in which he has criticised censorship in China of the Coronavirus spreading in part due to the expulsion of WSJ journalists.

Pompeo is claiming these journalists were booted out by China to prevent transparency as to the real situation unfolding with the virus and that this has had unnecessary consequences in getting accurate data and information on the situation.

Think I’ve read articles claiming China has tried to keep a lid on reporting of this in the early onset of the outbreak.

 

[Marty1]

Centers of Disease Control (CDC) is now advising Americans to start preparing before Coronavirus takes a foothold.

Coronavirus outbreak is coming to U.S. and it 'could be bad,’ CDC says

The thinking has changed. A coronavirus pandemic could actually hit the U.S., federal health officials say.

www.nj.com

 

[elbows]

No indication on whether hospitalised flu patients are being tested, right?

OK there is now info about this:

PHE introduces new surveillance system for early coronavirus detection - Latest Pharmacy News | Business | Magazine - Pharmacy Business

If you want to share your stories and/or experiences with us, please send an email to editor@pharmacy.biz

www.pharmacy.biz

Public Health England (PHE) today announced a new surveillance system for early detection of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

Part of the efforts to strengthen the existing systems and to prepare for and prevent wider transmission of the virus, the new system will be implemented in intensive care units and Severe Respiratory Failure (ECMO) Centres of some NHS hospitals.

It will enable the agency to identify early evidence of spread within England.

Samples will be tested from patients with severe respiratory infections who do not meet the current case definition of COVID-19. Depending on the results, patients will be given the support they need and rapid public health actions will be taken.

 

[elbows]

Sickest patients 'facing hours stuck on trolleys'

BBC analysis shows a surge in hospital delays as experts warn 'little in tank' to cope with coronavirus.

www.bbc.co.uk

Experts warned there was "little in the tank" to cope with the coronavirus.

There is mounting concern that the spread of the virus will lead to a pandemic with mass outbreaks in the UK.

The BBC research - based on analysis of NHS England data - found the delays faced by some of the frailest and sickest patients have risen sharply this winter.

 

[two sheds]

This is quite a good basic summary - everything has I think been covered by elbows and Supine and people

Covid: How well do face masks protect us against the virus?

How effective are face masks?

www.independent.co.uk

Facemasks more to protect other people once you've got it than to prevent getting it.

If people are worried about contracting infectious diseases there are more effective measures to be taken says Dr Dunning including “good personal, respiratory and hand hygiene”.

• 
  How to wash your hands correctly to limit spread of disease

The WHO advises people to frequently wash their hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or warm water and soap, cover their mouth and nose with a flexed elbow or tissue when sneezing or coughing and avoid close contact with anyone who has a fever or cough.

It also says to seek early medical help if they have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, and share their travel history with healthcare providers.

 

[spring-peeper]

This not the one I was looking for, but it will do



Washing with soap and water is the best way to clean your hands.

Canadian Health and Safety has revised their hand washing procedure.
It used to be that you had to use hot, hot water - as hot as you can handle.
It has been revised, cold water does just as good job.

I was taught it was the soap that cleansed your hand, water temperature has no influence.
Glad my teacher was right.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Thats why I refuse to touch the manky germ-vector keyboards at work. At least the germs on my laptop keyboard are my germs, not those of some filthy toerag of a colleague who doesnt wash their hands after a shit.

 

[IC3D]

If the virus is in aerosol form you can it up on your eyes so a mask is useless.

 

[MrCurry]

If the virus is in aerosol form you can it up on your eyes so a mask is useless.

But a mask plus a pair of wrap-around face hugging Ray Bans is set to become this year’s trendy look!

 

[Ax^]

news this morning that ski holiday are to blame for the downfall of western Europe


not sure I'm that surprised really

 

[Chilli.s]

Having had swine flu about 10 years ago, caught in a school, I'm aware that this has potential to get nasty. I can't see the nhs in its half starved present state being able to cope and it could be overwhelmed. Then sitting it out at home becomes the only option. Getting a stack of tinned food, bog roll, paracetamol and cough syrup doesn't seem too dum anymore.

 

[Poot]

In what way? I’d have thought restricting travel would help containment.

Restricting travel would be pointless. You would have to ban it completely. And that wont happen.

 

[Yossarian]

This not the one I was looking for, but it will do

View attachment 199834

"For our next experiment, we decided to see if the Chromebook mold was an effective antibiotic."

 

[TopCat]

I was going to say that indeed the Dems are generally crap, but you do love trump right or wrong don't you but sunnysidedown was much more succinct.

Hilary loves are the same trash.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I'm not calling the p word yet but I am starting to think about what I'd do if I caught it.

Problem is I work away from home 27-28 days per month. If I went home I'd be in close proximity to my mum who is 78. I'm thinking I'd need to go home and pack her off to stay with my sister. Can't see I could stay in hotels for two weeks while ill.

I work in schools and am self-employed. If schools start closing I'm fucked.

 

[Pickman's model]

I work in schools and am self-employed. If schools start closing I'm fucked.

schools have started closing

Chaos and confusion over coronavirus in UK schools

Public Health England is not advising schools to close but headteachers have taken action after some staff and students came down with 'mild flu-like symptoms' after returning from the Alps.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[not-bono-ever]

Chevron London sent some of its its worker drones home after suspected infection .

 

[ska invita]

Will the coming of spring and temperatures going up help?

 

[TopCat]

Canary Wharf offices in lockdown after worker suffers coronavirus symptoms

American oil giants Chevron advised staff to work from home until the employee's test results come back.

metro.co.uk

 

[not-bono-ever]

Risk wise, I view colder winters / hotter summers as a better bet for minimal disruption than mediocre versions of each season. If that makes sense.

 

[elbows]

I have endured listening to a rather tired but interesting Bruce Aylward for ages, and he finally got to this point just before opening up to questions. I have paused watching it for now and can expand on what he said about this point.

He mentioned the fog of war. He mentioned people talking about the tip of the iceberg, and suggested that actually he hadnt seen evidence of huge community transmission beyond that which could be seen clinically. He mentioned existing influenza-like illness sentinel surveillance systems and how when China went back to look, these didnt show anything of the Covid-19 outbreak in November or December, but did in January, but only in certain locations, not nationally. He also gave an example of a location where they tested 320,000 people and had positive rates of 0.49% that later fell to 0.02%

But, crucially, he went on to mention a topic that came up earlier in this thread on a number of occasions - serology surveys. Thats where you sample the population and look for signs of past covid-19 infection in their blood, rather than looking for cases that are infected with the virus at that moment in time. And he said that China has now just started doing these tests. So then he joked that maybe in a weeks time he will be sitting here giving a different picture about how widespread mild cases have actually been.

An article covering the main point he made, which has drawn much skeptical attention. Sadly the article did not cover the remarks he made that gave him some wiggle room. This is why I sometimes have to watch press conferences myself, although this was the first time I felt the need to do so in regards Covid-19.

New data from China buttress fears about high coronavirus fatality rate, WHO expert says

A WHO expert who visited China said he did not see evidence that a large number of mild #coronavirus cases are evading detection, meaning its lethality has likely not been exaggerated.

www.statnews.com

 

[Fez909]

Will the coming of spring and temperatures going up help?

Yes, it should help a bit. But not loads, I wouldn't think.

1) Flu and cold season is called that for a reason - once flus and cold cases die down for the year, it'll be more obvious when someone has C19, whereas now it could be any one of a number of seasonal viruses causing your cough etc.
2) I never used to believe this, but apparently being cold does affect your ability to catch viruses. It's to do with mucus clearance speeds in the nose etc. Cold means it hangs about longer, meaning anything trapped in the mucus (viruses, for instance) have longer to get into your body
3) If you're warmer, you'll be outside more, meaning not in close confinement with lots of other people. Although this also means you're probably coming into contact with a greater number of new people, so potential to spread is greater. Not sure on this one whether it's balanced out or tips one way...

I'm sure there's other factors. Availability of food might be one. Winter = less fresh fruit and veg. Also less Vitamin D from sun, which someone said up thread is important for fighting infections.

 

[elbows]

Oh god. Another press conference I will probably have to watch.

 

[Callie]

How many people think their workplace would be able to shut down for a couple of weeks or advise working from home?

I think we could run a skeleton staff rota but have to have people working to process samples e.g. for influenza testing some people in the dept could potentially work from home but we don't have enough laptops with access to do so!

 

[ska invita]

How many people think their workplace would be able to shut down for a couple of weeks or advise working from home?

would financially fuck many a precarious small business, particularly ones reliant on the public coming through the door

 

[2hats]

I'm sure there's other factors. Availability of food might be one. Winter = less fresh fruit and veg. Also less Vitamin D from sun, which someone said up thread is important for fighting infections.

Also a lot less UV in the environment to help limit virion longevity.

 

[elbows]

Reuters are reporting these comments on their live page:

"Using the word pandemic carelessly has no tangible benefit, but it does have significant risk in terms of amplifying unnecessary and unjustified fear and stigma, and paralyzing systems. It may also signal that we can no longer contain the virus, which is not true." -World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

undefined | Reuters

www.reuters.com

Their stance is understandable but quite doomed and counterproductive at this point. At this stage you do not reduce fear and panic by railing against the word pandemic. Not when so many media and national disease control authorities have said a pandemic is almost inevitable. All they are doing with this is creating a vacuum for others to fill, and making themselves less relevant.

They may well have maintained consistency in their own message, but overall they are just adding to the mixed messages from different countries and different authorities. Their instincts in regards limiting the infodemic are flawed, largely because of the range of political, diplomatic, economic and practical considerations they have to try and balance.

I shall have to review their approach in the fullness of time. To judge conclusively now would be a mistake, as there are more twists and turns to come.

 

[elbows]

 

[dylanredefined]

Relax. Everything is under control. I have just spent the morning putting up posters telling people to wash their hands.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I was amazed taking my mother for a hospital appointment on Monday that no questions were asked about any recent travel/holidays to Covid-19 hot-spots, despite loads of other questions about various possible infections, including if she had caught anything during her many recent hospital stays, such as MRSA.

I posted this on another thread...

I was amazed yesterday when my mother was asked if she had lived or worked aboard in the last 12 months, bearing in mind she's 85 & in a wheelchair, I joked she had just got back from her job as a gym instructor in Wuhan, and was shocked when they laughed & said, 'oh, we haven't been told to ask any questions on that subject.'