aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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B-b-but march break! All the precious plans for disney world! We can't have that!!!
COVID-19 virus thread (formerly Wuhan coronavirus)
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B-b-but march break! All the precious plans for disney world! We can't have that!!!
Synobun
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*glances at Doug Ford*
Seems more likely he'll announce a tax cut for anyone who books an international flight in the next month.
This absolute buffoon told everyone to go travel and have fun over March Break. So severely inept in every way.
Timsup2nothin
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I went out and got Chinese for lunch. Out of respect for the pandemic I did not order any bat.
Zardnaar
Deity
Wife's aunt cruise has been canceled. She's stuck in Adelaide now. She can still fly home afaik.
The Advchina channel on YouTube has video of sanitary conditions.
The Advchina channel on YouTube has video of sanitary conditions.
Zardnaar
Deity
And some I told you so (not by me).
Just for the record
I guess that with full availability of standard good Intensive Care as usual in developed countries the overall (all age groups) death rate is approx 0.5%.
Hard work is done on drugs supporting our body immune system and it would not surprise me that we have in 3-6 months cocktails that will give a significant improvement on that 0.5%.
The vaccin will need more time.
I guess that with full availability of standard good Intensive Care as usual in developed countries the overall (all age groups) death rate is approx 0.5%.
Hard work is done on drugs supporting our body immune system and it would not surprise me that we have in 3-6 months cocktails that will give a significant improvement on that 0.5%.
The vaccin will need more time.
Zardnaar
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By the time they develop (if) a vaccine it will have burnt itself out.
Timsup2nothin
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I've read four different pieces on the Diamond Princess and as yet have not seen any clear statement regarding testing of people who were asymptomatic. That is thousands of people who might never have caught it and thus are appropriately not reflected in the fatality rate,, but also might have caught it but never been diagnosed and thus are wrongly left out of the calculations. Until there is extensive testing of the asymptomatic (ie, never) there is not going to be any kind of accurate fatality rate.
Speaking of idiots:
Live: Trump has 'no plans' for coronavirus test despite contact with infected Bolsonaro aide
Possible US travel restrictions would follow Europe ban; meanwhile photo shows Trump next to Bolsonaro aide who tested positive
Possible US travel restrictions would follow Europe ban; meanwhile photo shows Trump next to Bolsonaro aide who tested positive
hobbsyoyo
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They just closed Disneyland. I'm sure Disneyworld is shortly behind.
Timsup2nothin
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He was asked about this when he came back from CPAC and people there had it. His basic stance seems to be that whether he has it or not there's no point in him knowing because if he starts showing symptoms he'll get treatment then. When asked point blank "doesn't it concern you that you may be spreading it among the white house staff?" he just shrugged.
The internet is everywhere in schools here, so online classes have become the new normal for some schools and universities.83 cases here (no deaths, afaik) and now all the schools and universities are to close as a precaution.
Kids will love it - but not so much when they have to go extra weeks in school near the summer break
I did a survey of the cupboard and pantry, and will be placing a grocery order for tomorrow. No panic buying, just stuff I usually get, or am nearly out of. I do plan to ask my pharmacist about my medications, if there is any danger of shortage or interruption of supply.
I cannot fathom eating bats. Bats eat mosquitoes, which can spread diseases like malaria and West Nile.
Do they know if herd immunity even works with this? Considering that I've yet to hear anything definitive about whether someone can recover from it and be immune, or if they can be re-infected. The answer the health authorities say on the news is "we don't know yet."
That's why Maddy and I have separate bathrooms.
Halifax mayor in self-isolation.
Nothing confirmed yet but stay safe @Lemon Merchant
EDIT: Ah crap, it might be in my town.
Stay safe, and if your mother still won't wash her hands, throw a bucket of soapy water on her.
I've thought this for a couple of weeks now, but of course saying so on CBC or on FB would mean being vilified in various partisan attacks.
Anyhow... four more cases in Alberta, bringing the total to 23. One is a young child. Thank goodness no new cases have been reported for my zone.
Source.CBC.ca said:
Federally, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in self-isolation because his wife, Sophie, his daughter, and his mother all attended an event in the UK. When they returned, Sophie had symptoms, so the family has gone into isolation, pending further information from the testing (she was tested; he wasn't).
Justin, Sophie, and Ella-Grace (the daughter) are all young and healthy. There's concern for Justin's mother, Margaret, however. She's in the seniors' age group, so she's at risk.
And my home care nurse was just here, gave me a suspicious look when I said I still have a dry cough, so I told her, "I have a dry cough, occasional headache and dizziness, but it's a lingering cold with not a hint of a fever, AND I DO NOT HAVE THIS!" (pointing at the computer screen with one of the Covid-19 news articles).
(I know they have to be concerned, but some of the reactions have been a little... dramatic.)
This is what excessive rôleplaying gets you into.
Meanwhile there's a conspiracy theory circulating in China that it's foreigners' fault.
Socrates99
Bottoms up!
That's a pretty standard reaction for a lot of Americans. This thing's going to spread fast. Just hope they can keep the death rate down.
Zardnaar
Deity
This is what excessive rôleplaying gets you into.
Meanwhile there's a conspiracy theory circulating in China that it's foreigners' fault.
American and South African who lived in China for 12 years.
Timsup2nothin
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USians may suck, but I think he is past our normal limit. I have what I am fairly certain is a cold. I'm limiting my contacts somewhat, and even limiting them somewhat more than I normally would if I had a cold. I think that is typical USian. But if I had this what I think is a cold AND I knew I had recently shaken hands with someone who has the coronavirus even *I* would self isolate, and I'm pretty certain only a spectacular scumbag like Big Donny Dump wouldn't.
Usually I'd put a text this long between spoiler tags, but it shouldn't be overlookable in my opinion:
Donald Trump is the very worst person to handle the coronavirus crisis
The president responded to the pandemic with denial and blaming foreigners. His incompetence and selfishness will be lethal
Coronavirus is the first major crisis Donald Trump has faced that is not of his own making. People who know what it is like to be in charge when disaster strikes have warned us this moment would come eventually – and we can now see why they were so terrified.
Trump in a time of coronavirus is a lethal combination. Everything about the president – his reliance on his gut instincts in place of expertise, his overwhelming selfishness, and his unfailing tendency to lash out at others when things go wrong – make him the worst person imaginable to hold the world’s most powerful job in the face of pandemic.
Confronting the threat requires global cooperation, perhaps more than at any time since the second world war. But Trump and his junior imitators around the world have taken a sledgehammer to the very notion of international solidarity.
America’s closest allies were given no notice of his decision on Wednesday night to suspend flights from Europe. The EU mission in Washington only found out about it when journalists started calling.
The president has dealt with coronavirus the same way he approached every other challenge in his administration, first trying denial – and when that failed, blaming outsiders. The disease has slid from a Democratic “hoax” to the “foreign virus”. It came as little surprise that his speech had been written by Stephen Miller, the author of the administration’s cruellest anti-immigration policies.
The declaration of a European travel ban was only the second time Trump has addressed the nation from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. The first time was to announce the building of a wall on the Mexican border. The administration has made xenophobia its defining ethos.
It can stir up passions and corral votes, but railing against foreigners is useless against a virus that is indifferent to ethnicity and nationality.
Slamming the gates shut is also pointless in the face of a disease that already has taken hold within. Its incidence appears lower in the US than in much of Europe so far – but almost certainly because US has barely started testing.
And the US is only shutting some of its gates. The exclusion of the UK and non-Schengen countries like Ireland from the ban makes no sense if stopping the spread of disease is really the aim. Contrary to Trump’s claim, the UK is not doing a “great job” in containing coronavirus compared with most of its European neighbours.
It may or may not be a coincidence that Trump has golf resorts in the UK and Ireland. Given Trump’s preoccupation with his investments throughout his time in office, it is as plausible an explanation as any for an otherwise pointless decision.
On the one strategy known to be effective in curbing the pandemic – screening for the virus and organised social distancing – the US is far behind most of the countries it has now cut off.
The production and distribution of diagnostic tests has been a fiasco. The initial test distributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was flawed and had to be recalled. Production of new tests has been held back by a global shortage of a key component, reagents used to extract RNA from samples. Largely because of complacency at the top, the US was last in line putting its order in.
The same complacency has allowed the institutions that the US now most needs to wither and die. Trump’s third national security adviser, John Bolton, axed the office in the national security council to coordinate a US response to pandemics, which was established after the Ebola outbreak.
Bolton, like Trump, did not see it as a real national security issue, like China or Iran.
“Who would have thought we would even be having the subject?” Trump wondered aloud, in explanation of why the administration had been taken by surprise.
With an eye fixed on the money markets, the president has sought to cover up the real lack of resilience in the system, insisting: “We’re testing everybody that we need to test.”
But the truth has quickly become felt around the country, as people with symptoms and risk factors have been denied testing.
The CDC director, Robert Redfield, an evangelical conservative with no previous experience in managing a large state agency, revealed how out of touch the administration was with the reality on the ground on Wednesday.
When asked by the House oversight committee why the US was not providing drive-through tests, as have been introduced elsewhere – he replied: “We’re trying to maintain the relationship between individuals and their healthcare providers.”
Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat pointed out to him that most Americans do not have a regular doctor, and certainly do not see a physician often enough to have a “relationship”. When they get seriously ill, most head for the emergency room of the country’s overstrained hospitals.
The lack of tests means that the country is stumbling blindfolded into the worst health crisis in decades. Despite warnings from his own experts, the president reportedly clings to the relatively low number of confirmed cases as a sign that the US might be spared the worst.
When the country is struck by the inevitable wave of sickness and deaths, sweeping aside Trump’s reassurances, it is hard to predict how he will react.
We do know he will see it through the prism of his prospects for re-election, and we can be fairly certain he will look for someone to blame along with a distraction, most likely some form of conflict at home or abroad.
The scale of the debacle will require a major distraction. Awful as the coronavirus pandemic looks now, Trump’s backlash could be even worse.
The president responded to the pandemic with denial and blaming foreigners. His incompetence and selfishness will be lethal
Coronavirus is the first major crisis Donald Trump has faced that is not of his own making. People who know what it is like to be in charge when disaster strikes have warned us this moment would come eventually – and we can now see why they were so terrified.
Trump in a time of coronavirus is a lethal combination. Everything about the president – his reliance on his gut instincts in place of expertise, his overwhelming selfishness, and his unfailing tendency to lash out at others when things go wrong – make him the worst person imaginable to hold the world’s most powerful job in the face of pandemic.
Confronting the threat requires global cooperation, perhaps more than at any time since the second world war. But Trump and his junior imitators around the world have taken a sledgehammer to the very notion of international solidarity.
America’s closest allies were given no notice of his decision on Wednesday night to suspend flights from Europe. The EU mission in Washington only found out about it when journalists started calling.
The president has dealt with coronavirus the same way he approached every other challenge in his administration, first trying denial – and when that failed, blaming outsiders. The disease has slid from a Democratic “hoax” to the “foreign virus”. It came as little surprise that his speech had been written by Stephen Miller, the author of the administration’s cruellest anti-immigration policies.
The declaration of a European travel ban was only the second time Trump has addressed the nation from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. The first time was to announce the building of a wall on the Mexican border. The administration has made xenophobia its defining ethos.
It can stir up passions and corral votes, but railing against foreigners is useless against a virus that is indifferent to ethnicity and nationality.
Slamming the gates shut is also pointless in the face of a disease that already has taken hold within. Its incidence appears lower in the US than in much of Europe so far – but almost certainly because US has barely started testing.
And the US is only shutting some of its gates. The exclusion of the UK and non-Schengen countries like Ireland from the ban makes no sense if stopping the spread of disease is really the aim. Contrary to Trump’s claim, the UK is not doing a “great job” in containing coronavirus compared with most of its European neighbours.
It may or may not be a coincidence that Trump has golf resorts in the UK and Ireland. Given Trump’s preoccupation with his investments throughout his time in office, it is as plausible an explanation as any for an otherwise pointless decision.
On the one strategy known to be effective in curbing the pandemic – screening for the virus and organised social distancing – the US is far behind most of the countries it has now cut off.
The production and distribution of diagnostic tests has been a fiasco. The initial test distributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was flawed and had to be recalled. Production of new tests has been held back by a global shortage of a key component, reagents used to extract RNA from samples. Largely because of complacency at the top, the US was last in line putting its order in.
The same complacency has allowed the institutions that the US now most needs to wither and die. Trump’s third national security adviser, John Bolton, axed the office in the national security council to coordinate a US response to pandemics, which was established after the Ebola outbreak.
Bolton, like Trump, did not see it as a real national security issue, like China or Iran.
“Who would have thought we would even be having the subject?” Trump wondered aloud, in explanation of why the administration had been taken by surprise.
With an eye fixed on the money markets, the president has sought to cover up the real lack of resilience in the system, insisting: “We’re testing everybody that we need to test.”
But the truth has quickly become felt around the country, as people with symptoms and risk factors have been denied testing.
The CDC director, Robert Redfield, an evangelical conservative with no previous experience in managing a large state agency, revealed how out of touch the administration was with the reality on the ground on Wednesday.
When asked by the House oversight committee why the US was not providing drive-through tests, as have been introduced elsewhere – he replied: “We’re trying to maintain the relationship between individuals and their healthcare providers.”
Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat pointed out to him that most Americans do not have a regular doctor, and certainly do not see a physician often enough to have a “relationship”. When they get seriously ill, most head for the emergency room of the country’s overstrained hospitals.
The lack of tests means that the country is stumbling blindfolded into the worst health crisis in decades. Despite warnings from his own experts, the president reportedly clings to the relatively low number of confirmed cases as a sign that the US might be spared the worst.
When the country is struck by the inevitable wave of sickness and deaths, sweeping aside Trump’s reassurances, it is hard to predict how he will react.
We do know he will see it through the prism of his prospects for re-election, and we can be fairly certain he will look for someone to blame along with a distraction, most likely some form of conflict at home or abroad.
The scale of the debacle will require a major distraction. Awful as the coronavirus pandemic looks now, Trump’s backlash could be even worse.
Formula 1 cancelled and Australia v NZ cricket happening behind closed doors. Other sport still happening, we're in that surreal zone when a lot of stuff is shutting down but the relatively low number of confirmed cases and community transmission has authorities holding off, paralysed or in denial...
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6676541/pms-footy-plans-stun-infection-expert/?cs=14231
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6676541/pms-footy-plans-stun-infection-expert/?cs=14231
Thanks Aimee, I'll do my best. You do that too.Halifax mayor in self-isolation.
Nothing confirmed yet but stay safe @Lemon Merchant
EDIT: Ah crap, it might be in my town.
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