General Coronavirus (COVID-19) chat

[Diatribe]

Also, apologies to Diatribe for the hazing. It's pretty normal for newcomers to get roughed up a bit, especially those who leap in with loud opinionated declarations. Don't take it personally, it's not you, it's us.

Also, if this really is the way they write naturally and it's not as affected and laboured as it seems, then I guess we'll just have to get used to it. Maybe they're a steampunk. Isn't this the way steampunks talk? All faux-Victorian? So maybe were out of order for attacking a cultural characteristic, or an inadvertent personal foible. I'll back off on the delivery.

I hope the content improves though.

Thanks, don't worry about it, I understand the ground rules.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

I fully appreciate that I stated I wouldn't further post on this thread, but I just can't resist this invitation from a fuckwit who has the temerity to question my command of the English language, particularly with ref. to poor punctuation.

''That's really really funny; not intentionally so but nonetheless really really funny..''

Surely you mean, That's really, really funny, not intentionally so, but nonetheless, really, really funny.

''As if MacNeice is remembered primarily as a playwright.''

I was merely utilising, in your words, circumlocution. Perhaps you would have preferred me to have copied and pasted the full repertoire of the life and times of Frederick Louis Macneice.

''As if I have claimed libertarian credentials.

There may well be a school of thought that would subscribe to your choosing the pseudonym of a person with libertarian views, you may also be of the same persuasion.

''As if you have rights to last words on a bulletin board...you verbose twit.''

Silly me, of course you would want the opportunity to dig an even larger hole to bury yourself.

Nope.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Let's all be nice shall we?

 

[bimble]

Does anyone else have coronavirus-themed nightmares ? Last night I dreamt i was lost in some city (that bit's normal) and the streets were full of crowds of people doing completely normal stuff like walking about having a good time in big groups. So I woke myself up in terror from trying not to be bumped into and infected by them. Grim. Probably an after effect of being hyper vigilant about the 2m thing.

 

[ruffneck23]

you want the Music streaming live right now! thread

Thanks buddy !

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I thought I was being smart when I ordered some liquid laundry soap from Amazon. It arrived wrapped in two layers of plastic bags in a plastic container. Opened it up to find a crushed cardboard package and laundry soap everywhere. It had all melted into one giant sticky lump. I was surprised when I asked for and got a refund in like 10 minutes.

 

[wayward bob]

i had my first ever panic dream located on a cruise ship the other night the content of the dreams generally follow a predictable pattern, but this was a completely new location...

 

[MickiQ]

Been out for my permitted daily walk, there are two houses along my regular route that have motorhomes and one with a caravan, none of these have budged this weekend which is good other I would feel morally obliged to go and slash their tyres under cover of darkness.
Social distancing is holding up really well here, a new convention seems to have grown up that people cross the road or shelter up a driveway and if all else fails then the one going against the flow of traffic goes out into the road.

 

[Sprocket.]

Just heard of the death, due to Covid-19 of a lad I knew.
Doncaster guitarist Paul Piercy, 52.
Lovely bloke, excellent guitarist.
Played with lots of bands over the years. He spent many years touring Europe with the Rush tribute band Bravado.
Very sad, thoughts to his family, friends and fellow band members.
RIP.

 

[Marty1]

I thought I was being smart when I ordered some liquid laundry soap from Amazon. It arrived wrapped in two layers of plastic bags in a plastic container. Opened it up to find a crushed cardboard package and laundry soap everywhere. It had all melted into one giant sticky lump. I was surprised when I asked for and got a refund in like 10 minutes.

And quite right that you got a refund.

Spoiler: Me bleating on about Amazon again

What happens after you ask for a refund is - the driver is awarded a concession against him (a black dot against his name) - the reason for the concession will then be appealed by drivers boss to Amazon on grounds that this wasn’t his fault which get reviewed by Amazon who then decide whether to remove it or not. Concessions affect drivers possibility of achieving pay bonus each week.

Sorry for this yarn but it’s cathartic for me

 

[treelover]

finding some of the posts on the main thread alarming and dispiriting, even if they are probably right, being already very ill and isolated, then being informed that many more weeks of this, is very hard indeed.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

And quite right that you got a refund.

Spoiler: Me bleating on about Amazon again

What happens after you ask for a refund is - the driver is awarded a concession against him (a black dot against his name) - the reason for the concession will then be appealed by drivers boss to Amazon on grounds that this wasn’t his fault which get reviewed by Amazon who then decide whether to remove it or not. Concessions affect drivers possibility of achieving pay bonus each week.

Sorry for this yarn but it’s cathartic for me

I'm fine with the idea that stuff gets broken in transit. I was surprised that it was delivered in that shape. Someone had obviously noticed it was leaking and wrapped in several layers of plastic bags. They should have stopped delivery right there and replaced it. In any case, I'm happy with the refund without argument.

 

[not-bono-ever]

So know a couple more cases. one is a fireman who lost 2 stone in 10 days. hes returning to work next week and has volunteered for extra duties- its the handling and transport of the dead.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Does anyone else have coronavirus-themed nightmares ? Last night I dreamt i was lost in some city (that bit's normal) and the streets were full of crowds of people doing completely normal stuff like walking about having a good time in big groups. So I woke myself up in terror from trying not to be bumped into and infected by them. Grim. Probably an after effect of being hyper vigilant about the 2m thing.

Same - dreamed my wife had decided we had to go out, and the streets were crowded. I was very angry with her for putting us all at risk.

 

[ska invita]

General question: lets say a vaccine is ready by arbitrary date of February 2021. What happens then? Who gets vaccinated and when? If you are already ill does a vaccine work at that point?Is there precedent?

 

[robsean]

An efficacious, safe vaccine mass produced for billions anytime soon is surely a very long shot so we've time to think about how it'd be rationed.

 

[ska invita]

An efficacious, safe vaccine mass produced for billions anytime soon is surely a very long shot so we've time to think about how it'd be rationed.

absolutely
I'm less thinking about the rationing, more the practicalities - which in turn adds to the length of crisis. If you fall ill and can get an injection to cure it that's a big difference - means it can be administered as necessary. If it needs rolling out in advance, that's a whole other timescale and practical problem

 

[magneze]

I'd be concerned about the safety of a vaccine that's been rushed through safety checks. If you're going to vaccine the world, be sure about the safety.

 

[ska invita]

I'd be concerned about the safety of a vaccine that's been rushed through safety checks. If you're going to vaccine the world, be sure about the safety.

definitely
its going to be a field day for the conspiraloons when that time comes

 

[LDC]

General question: lets say a vaccine is ready by arbitrary date of February 2021. What happens then? Who gets vaccinated and when? If you are already ill does a vaccine work at that point?Is there precedent?

No, if it worked when you had it it'd be a cure not a vaccine. AFAIK having a vaccines once you have the disease they protect against make no difference to the outcome although happy to be shown otherwise.

It's not hard to think of a priority list of people to get a vaccine if it's limited though.

Key workers, then vulnerable groups, then the rest of population by age category maybe? Something like that. Can imagine some possibly nasty scenes at vaccination points though when this gets announced.

 

[ska invita]

No, if it worked when you had it it'd be a cure not a vaccine. AFAIK having a vaccines once you have the disease they protect against make no difference to the outcome although happy to be shown otherwise.

Thanks, thats what I thought, wanted to be certain

 

[frogwoman]

Heard of several more people who have died of it now, one of them was former the caretaker of the synagogue I went to in oxford.

 

[scifisam]

Sorry to hear that, Frogwoman.

General question: lets say a vaccine is ready by arbitrary date of February 2021. What happens then? Who gets vaccinated and when? If you are already ill does a vaccine work at that point?Is there precedent?

In the movie Contagion they doled out the vaccine by birth date, kinda like how the US called people up for the Vietnam draft. It's one feasible way of doing it after vaccinating medical staff and other keyworkers.

 

[two sheds]

after vaccinating medical staff and other keyworkers.

this

 

[William of Walworth]

I'm no optimist (at all) about a reliable vaccine being produced any time soon
But I have read (in more than one source too) that there's a great deal of current work going on.
That doesn't mean a vaccine will be available ahead of next year, but I do think this constantly repeated talk of "12 to 18 months" as if that's set in stone, just MIGHT end up being contradicted and just possibly shortened a tad, given the amount of reaearch that's going on in several different nations.
And you can bet your life (IMO) that once a good and safe vaccine is ready/approved/tested, the pressure to make it as widely available as possible will be immense.

That's not the same as me hoping corners are cut, I should emphasise.

 

[Azrael]

No, if it worked when you had it it'd be a cure not a vaccine. AFAIK having a vaccines once you have the disease they protect against make no difference to the outcome although happy to be shown otherwise.

It's not hard to think of a priority list of people to get a vaccine if it's limited though.

Key workers, then vulnerable groups, then the rest of population by age category maybe? Something like that. Can imagine some possibly nasty scenes at vaccination points though when this gets announced.

Or employ the strategy used to eliminate Smallpox after years of untargeted mass vaccination failed: after key workers and the most vulnerable are given their jabs, don't try and vaccinate everyone, but use the vaccine in a targeted way to bolster test-trace-isolate methods, say by vaccinating people in areas of outbreaks. If a proper suppression and surveillance system were already in place, it could be slotted right in.

This is portrayed excellently in the "Living Longer" episode of the '90s series People's Century, which also, in its record of a string of public health triumphs, serves as a powerful antidote to the toxic wave of defeatism and therapeutic nihilism that's swept through government and its medical advisors. It doesn't have to be like this.

 

[Azrael]

I'm no optimist (at all) about a reliable vaccine being produced any time soon
But I have read (in more than one source too) that there's a great deal of current work going on.
That doesn't mean a vaccine will be available ahead of next year, but I do think this constantly repeated talk of "12 to 18 months" as if that's set in stone, just MIGHT end up being contradicted and just possibly shortened a tad, given the amount of reaearch that's going on in several different nations.
And you can bet your life (IMO) that once a good and safe vaccine is ready/approved/tested, the pressure to make it as widely available as possible will be immense.

That's not the same as me hoping corners are cut, I should emphasise.

I'm optimistic about a vaccine arriving before 18 months are up: the resources being poured into this are immense, and there's already a coronavirus vaccine used in animals, so there's proof-of-concept.

But regardless, we're not hostages to its development: we can begin an aggressive viral elimination campaign immediately via contact tracing and quarantine; and if it succeeded domestically in several countries, who's to say we couldn't at least consider allowing international travel between them without rigid 14-day quarantine on entry.

Its success ought to ensure our leaders never again surrender to a disease without even trying to fight. But then, who'd have thought our chief medical advisors would flush over a century of accumulated public health wisdom and regress us to sub-Medieval passivity? Eternal vigilance isn't just needed to fight novel diseases.

 

[2hats]

I'm optimistic about a vaccine arriving before 18 months are up: the resources being poured into this are immense, and there's already a coronavirus vaccine used in animals, so there's proof-of-concept.

Just a point and word of caution.

That vaccine is for an alphacoronavirus (other pig coronaviridae hail from the deltacoronavirus genus).

SARS-CoV-2 is a betacoronavirus. There has never been a human vaccine successfully created for a betacoronavirus before.

 

[Azrael]

Just a point and word of caution.

That vaccine is for an alphacoronavirus (other pig coronaviridae hail from the deltacoronavirus genus).

SARS-CoV-2 is a betacoronavirus. There has never been a human vaccine successfully created for a betacoronavirus before.

Indeed, which is why I'm only cautiously optimistic, and don't believe we can rely on a vaccine to get us out of this. We need to move now, throw all we have into containing and if possible eliminating the virus with tried and trusted public health methods, and hope the vaccine's available as soon as possible.

 

[frogwoman]

What makes coronaviruses like sars cov 2 so difficult to vaccinate for then?