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I wonder if people will know that it’s covid-19 which they are suffering mildly with, rather than any other flu bug. If public services collapse through a shortage of workers, it might become quite handy to know for sure that you’ve had it and recovered from it, to allow people to volunteer to take up some of the inevitability large number of “situations vacant” which will pop up to keep everything going. Even if immunity against reinfection only lasted a few months, better to be able to make use of those months in the certain knowledge you’re over the disease, than to sit at home too scared to go anywhere in case you didn’t yet catch it.

Normally I would say most people will never know for sure, and governments wont bother. However if this thing pans out in a way that is far from normal, then all bets are off for me on this one. It would indeed be useful under such conditions for governments etc to be able to find a pool of people who had already been infected and recovered, and make use of them at the point of maximum strain on systems etc. But thats still a large undertaking that requires a significant testing capacity, and even if it could be done I dont know whether it would be deemed worthwhile due to questions about how good immunity is and how long it lasts.
 
I am reading the report on the WHO mission to China from 16-24 Feb:

The good

At the individual level, the Chinese people have reacted to this outbreak with courage
and conviction. They have accepted and adhered to the starkest of containment
measures – whether the suspension of public gatherings, the month-long ‘stay at home’
advisories or prohibitions on travel. Throughout an intensive 9-days of site visits across
China, in frank discussions from the level of local community mobilizers and frontline
health care providers to top scientists, Governors and Mayors, the Joint Mission was
struck by the sincerity and dedication that each brings to this COVID-19 response.


The bad

While the scale and impact of China’s COVID-19 operation has been remarkable, it has
also highlighted areas for improvement in public health emergency response capacity.
These include overcoming any obstacles to act immediately on early alerts, to massively
scale-up capacity for isolation and care, to optimize the protection of frontline health
care workers in all settings, to enhance collaborative action on priority gaps in
knowledge and tools, and to more clearly communicate key data and developments
internationally


Take away point for rest of the world:

Much of the global community is not yet ready, in mindset and materially, to
implement the measures that have been employed to contain COVID-19 in China.
These are the only measures that are currently proven to interrupt or minimize
transmission chains in humans. Fundamental to these measures is extremely
proactive surveillance to immediately detect cases, very rapid diagnosis and
immediate case isolation, rigorous tracking and quarantine of close contacts, and an
exceptionally high degree of population understanding and acceptance of these
measures.
 
Underlining some of the points raised upthread. Modelling would suggest thousands of incidences of infection in Italy right now and tens of thousands in Iran - community epidemics. So the aim is really to flatten out the peak(s) so healthcare and societal structures can better cope. Moving from containment to isolation - contact reduction, social distancing.
 
I don't like ScoMo, our Australian PM. But I have to say that I'm happy he's jumped the gun ahead of WHO and raised the level to pandemic. We actually only have 23 confirmed cases to date, but preparing for more is imo the key. Get people used to the hand washing, the self quarantine, the working from home etc.. before it's needed and it'll be inbedded into the national psyche ahead of time. Create awareness.

Today I was able to have a good chat with with my immunocompromised son about the coronavirus. He's been blase but is now getting a bit more practical. He says that he won't go to work ( BJJ) if it increases, that he'll get hand wash and use it more, and he let me buy him and his partner two N95 masks and eye wear to protect them.

Australia is heading into winter and our flu season, ive been tasked at work with preparing our policies regarding this ( cos I have experience in disaster management) Cleanliness ( we work with vulnerable people) getting people to understand when they need to stop coming into the office ( clients and workers alike) hand/ phone sanitizer. In house flu and pneumonia vaccines for free. Plus procedure for working from home should the need arise.

I'm annoyed that people are not getting that this is something different, but I recognise that's because I have skin in the game because of my son. Still makes me angry though
 
Underlining some of the points raised upthread. Modelling would suggest thousands of incidences of infection in Italy right now and tens of thousands in Iran - community epidemics. So the aim is really to flatten out the peak(s) so healthcare and societal structures can better cope. Moving from containment to isolation - contact reduction, social distancing.

Interesting bit in that 'the statistical picture of deaths we have today is where the virus was at 20 days ago'
 
wtf
Moscow authorities have carried out raids on potential carriers of the virus - individuals at their homes or hotels - and used facial recognition technology to enforce quarantine measures.
 
Is there a meme/panic/fear-mongering thread? I keep coming across loads of mental articles that I feel the need to share, but this thread is good and useful and I don't want to ruin it. :hmm:

You should start such a thread - may prove for some light entertainment perhaps?

There’s some hilarious tinfoil stuff going about tbf :D
 
Switzerland has banned gatherings of over 1000 people. Gatherings with less need permission after local government safety measures.

Hokkaido governor has declared a state of emergency provisionally until March 19. No one should go outside over the weekend as a minimum, the implication is to meet and speak to people, working on a farm or garden is OK.

Korea has a recovered patient cleared for release returning home but then testing positive again after staying at home 6 days without others.

Xuzhou in Jiangsu has had another similar scenario, testing positive after release, her home's apartment block is now quarantined no one allowed in or out foodstuffs to be brought to its main door.

But a chief in the National Health Commission has explained that in Hubei and Guangzhou there have been cases of reinfected or retested positive (depending on your scientific analysis) patients again testing negative after some days.

Iran's parliament will stop meeting.

Kuwait has suspended schools and universities for a minimum 2 weeks.

China is sending a team of 4 infection control experts to Iran to help with the situation there.

Another nurse in Wuhan had a heart attack on duty, is now being kept in an operating theatre.

On Weibo Chinese people spitting feathers at the lax attitude taken by Italian authorities.

In response to the news from Japan, many hope the death of a British person in Japan will encourage British people to take more preventive measures.
 
As far as testing for the virus* goes, I thought it was the case that what they actual test for is antibodies produced as reaction to the virus, and that's why there is a period after someone has been infected when they still test negative.

Is that right, or am I mistaken?

*this virus, any virus
 
Yeah TopCat what andysays is my thinking as well. Given your currant predicament I would suggest that you don't see your g/f for 14 days after she comes back regardless of whether she has any symptoms. Going to be a real shitter but it seems like the best thing to do.

I'm off to Cambodia tomorrow and I'm already letting relevant people know that I won't be seeing them for at least 14 days upon my return.
What? i want a bit of hows your father?>
 
Anybody know what's happening with DPRK? Quite a bit of border transit with china and wonder how north korea would cope health service wise

Closed their borders.


The quarantine will likely fail to stop the spread of coronavirus into North Korea, if it hasn’t already. Swine flu from China has infected North Korean boar stocks and leaked into South Korea for months across the demilitarized zone dividing the two countries. There is a low likelihood that January flight cancelations were put in place early or effectively enough to prevent Chinese tourist or North Koreans returning from overseas from bringing the coronavirus into the country.
 
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