Corona Virus

[Neil]

I’m not against Trump, Neil. He’s done several things right, so I’m not saying he’s all bad. But I don’t see how anyone could say he’s a good public speaker during all this. The point is that he needs to stick more to the teleprompter because his own thoughts are only causing more drama, and it seems like his crew may have finally convinced him to stick more to the text he’s given. I know nothing about politics, I’m only referring to his awful press briefings where he’s stirring up trouble for himself because he can’t control his mouth. Oh, he does go off-piste at times in an unproductive way. I'd definately agree if he reigned it it, the outcome would be for the better. And his suggestions that the Wuhan Virus wasn't going to be a major issue was unwise. That said, it's (hopefully) beginning to look like it could well be more akin to a seasonal flu in figures than first suspected... ie: A mortality rate approaching 0.1% instead of the 6% feared... - - - Updated - - - Recommendations for vitamin D. I've been taking alternating vitamin D and multi vitamins tablets each day for a while now, theory being, if I get CV19, I'll have a slightly better chance of fighting it...

[EvilNed]

Just seen an article that infact Sweden isn't actually doing very well compared to other Nordic countries? ie: Highest death count and highest death %age? Could stronger social distancing action help? That said, figures are still low... It's way to early to draw any conclusions regarding that. This epidemic is going to last months, maybe over a year. When we have the whole picture we see who has had the highest death and / or infection count. Sweden may be higher now, but lower in the long term if individuals end up immune. Furthermore, you cannot quite compare statistics between countries because each country tests on different scales. In addition, Deaths are counted on different scales as well. Sweden counts ALL deaths related to Corona, even people who die at home or in Elderly homes, as well as people who have died with the disease but not from it (as you said). Norway does not cast as wide a net as Sweden. Italy casts an enormous net, and I believe the US does too. The monthy death rate of March in Sweden was the lowest this year for like 5 years. So it does not appear to be that bad...

[Neil]

It's way to early to draw any conclusions regarding that. This epidemic is going to last months, maybe over a year. When we have the whole picture we see who has had the highest death and / or infection count. Sweden may be higher now, but lower in the long term if individuals end up immune. Furthermore, you cannot quite compare statistics between countries because each country tests on different scales. In addition, Deaths are counted on different scales as well. Sweden counts ALL deaths related to Corona, even people who die at home or in Elderly homes, as well as people who have died with the disease but not from it (as you said). Norway does not cast as wide a net as Sweden. Italy casts an enormous net, and I believe the US does too. The monthy death rate of March in Sweden was the lowest this year for like 5 years. So it does not appear to be that bad... All agreed... I am getting the feeling this thing is quietening down a bit quicker than people thought it might, and as if there a lot of infections going through the population not just unreported, but even unknown to the infected.

[MistressVirus]

Phew! That was a read!! Anyway, I agree with most of the above... I wonder if like, y know, we should be preparing for the apocalypse? LOL. I mean it's scary out there/here/everywhere. Is Neil a girl? Sorry I'm new. Stay home, stay safe! :* Hoping for the best for all of you all and yours!! <3

[Tricky]

Hi all! Thought I'd drop in and see how everyone is doing in these strange times, keeping safe I hope? I'm working from home on full pay and to be honest I think I want this to be a more permanent arrangement when things return to normal, far less stress and none of the hassle of commuting. I'm going out cycling a lot on an evening for my hour of exercise that we're allowed out to do here in the UK, and it's like something from a post apocalyptic movie going round the empty streets of York, makes for some great photo opportunities as the city is normally heaving at this time of year.

[MinionZombie]

Nice to see and old familiar face pop back in! I saw some of your pics - it's quite spooky seeing such a lack of activity. The perfect time to film a zombie movie (particularly low/no budget) and get some production value - but you can't, 'cos of lockdown.

[EvilNed]

Nice to see and old familiar face pop back in! I saw some of your pics - it's quite spooky seeing such a lack of activity. The perfect time to film a zombie movie (particularly low/no budget) and get some production value - but you can't, 'cos of lockdown. We can in Sweden! But there's still plenty of people out there... Our PM just held a speech where he sternly told everyone to not expect anything to open up (relatively speaking, of course) and sort of canceling Walpurgis, which is a big thing here. That's fine I guess. The experts suggest we'd be around 60% immune by end of May, which would make it very difficult for the Virus to travel through society. But the PM told us to expect a restrained summer, however I suspect he was talking mostly about travelling abroad since I think we're expecting most other countries to be suffering harder than we are. We'll see who's right in the end, I guess. We loose about 100 people a day right now. It's sad and weird. But overall our population is very healthy which I think contributes to the fact that we're managing through this.

[Neil]

I read that some research from the US implies the infection rate is 50+ times what the official reported figures are. This would put CV19's mortality rate down knocking on the door of seasonal flu. Of course that's not a comment on how contagious it is, or how bad its not fatal symptoms are...

[EvilNed]

I read that some research from the US implies the infection rate is 50+ times what the official reported figures are. This would put CV19's mortality rate down knocking on the door of seasonal flu. Of course that's not a comment on how contagious it is, or how bad its not fatal symptoms are... The idea that the actual mortality rate of Corona is low is not controversial or new. In fact, it's probably way lower than 1%. But since nobody is immune, or has any resistance to it, pretty much nobody is safe. That's the dangerous part, everybody getting it at once.

[MinionZombie]

The idea that the actual mortality rate of Corona is low is not controversial or new. In fact, it's probably way lower than 1%. But since nobody is immune, or has any resistance to it, pretty much nobody is safe. That's the dangerous part, everybody getting it at once. Indeed, and then the huge strain that would put not only public services under, but the wider economy - hell, the world in general. If you had a huge number of people out for the count with this ghastly virus you'd see so many things grind to a halt. Right now we're all keeping our heads above water, thanks to lockdown and managing the spread as a result. I wonder when we'll see stories about these "open up" protesters coming down with Covid-19.

[Neil]

The idea that the actual mortality rate of Corona is low is not controversial or new. In fact, it's probably way lower than 1%. But since nobody is immune, or has any resistance to it, pretty much nobody is safe. That's the dangerous part, everybody getting it at once. Agreed... And it's looking as if the morality rate is akin to flu, which is around 0.1%. The thing to take away from this is there could well be millions of people now walking around with immunity, who aren't even truly aware of it. And secondly, given that, at what expense of a lockdown vs mortality rate, do we say, enough? ps: I'm not against a lockdown, and indeed it's been vital I'd suggest here in the UK for example. But at what point is it then counter productive?

[Exatreides]

Hey folks, This has been a good read moving through. As a nurse who worked in Liberia during the Ebola outbreak, we often made fun and mocked the WHO for how they handled that outbreak, and I was a little disappointed with their actions here as well. I don't agree with the funding cuts from the US to the WHO and think it's a poor short sighted move that's more about polling political points than actual reasoning. The WHO did eventually step up and mount a successful response to Ebola in Liberia and West Africa, along side of the nations ministries of health, US, and NGO's in the region. I do not agree at all with Trump using the funds that went to the WHO and directing them towards Samaratins purse, which is a very religious NGO that I've had rough experiences in the past. Locally the major concerns have been with PPE shortages and economic impacts. I've encouraged many of my nurse and provider friends to refuse assignment without proper PPE, and many of them have. While treating patients is important, healthcare workers can not, and should not sacrifice themselves for others. There is no emergency in a pandemic.

[Neil]

Hey folks, This has been a good read moving through. As a nurse who worked in Liberia during the Ebola outbreak, we often made fun and mocked the WHO for how they handled that outbreak, and I was a little disappointed with their actions here as well. I don't agree with the funding cuts from the US to the WHO and think it's a poor short sighted move that's more about polling political points than actual reasoning. The WHO did eventually step up and mount a successful response to Ebola in Liberia and West Africa, along side of the nations ministries of health, US, and NGO's in the region. I do not agree at all with Trump using the funds that went to the WHO and directing them towards Samaratins purse, which is a very religious NGO that I've had rough experiences in the past. I think the US is correct to remove their funding from the WHO, and hope others follow suit if there are not serious changes made within the organisation. The US are the biggest contributor, and I believe a large proportion is voluntery too? That said, I'd have prefered to have seen Trump give a six month warning of the removal of funds, given everything else they do. Mind you, I can easily see the argument of $300b might be better spent elsewhere at the moment to the betterment of the US than proping up the WHO. The WHO's dealings with CV19 were worrying, and almost certainly costly in lives and economic outcomes. The fact they seemingly took China at their word, repeating propaganda, is very concerning. Let's remember in mid Jan WHO were repeateding China's lies that there was no person to person transfer, something China clearly knew was not the case, and something that Taiwan had already told WHO in Dec was not the case... They then continued to suggest preventing flights from China would not be beneficial. We can only imagine what more insightful advice might have meant to Italy, who seemingly suffered due to direct flight from Wuhan. Locally the major concerns have been with PPE shortages and economic impacts. I've encouraged many of my nurse and provider friends to refuse assignment without proper PPE, and many of them have. While treating patients is important, healthcare workers can not, and should not sacrifice themselves for others. There is no emergency in a pandemic. Indeed it's easy to imagine how PPE shortages are common, with huge proportions of the world requiring them, and the rate of knotts they can be used up That said, I hate how here in the UK this shortage is being used politically to aggressively attack the government, with the media more than happy to repeatedly stick the knife as well. For example, we had a case here in the UK over the weekend where papers ran a story of a nurse tweeting to Matt Hancock (Conservative Secretary of State for Health) about her daughter in tears over her lack if PPE. The papers of course failed to mention said nurse also tweeted before celebrating Boris on ICU when he had CV19, or to mention that she's a Labour Party Vice Chair, or that she'd donated PPE to local volunteers the day before her tweet. If only the press did just a modicum of due diligence, or tried to be even slightly non-partisan. The press ignore all her toxicity and agenda to create yet more doom and gloom... I'm fed up of the press continually dooming and glooming everything they can at the moment, out of all sense and reason... Where's a bit of British stiff upper lip and national pride when required?

[EvilNed]

Haha, there's a bit of those clumsy attempts at striking political points here as well. The Christian democrats publically derided the government because the sickness got into the elderly homes in Stockholm. The government quickly replied that the elderly homes are administered on a regional level ... And the political party in charge of the Stockholm region are the Christian democrats. The Moderate party, also in opposition, have kept most of their mouth shut however. Probably because, together with the Christian democrats, they run the Stockholm region healthcare and their long time policies of completely disassembling it have become apparent as disastrous. There's no surplus of anything, and the only thing keeping Stockholm floating is thanks to the efforts of the government (and army, actually).

[Neil]

Haha, there's a bit of those clumsy attempts at striking political points here as well. The Christian democrats publically derided the government because the sickness got into the elderly homes in Stockholm. The government quickly replied that the elderly homes are administered on a regional level ... And the political party in charge of the Stockholm region are the Christian democrats. The Moderate party, also in opposition, have kept most of their mouth shut however. Probably because, together with the Christian democrats, they run the Stockholm region healthcare and their long time policies of completely disassembling it have become apparent as disastrous. There's no surplus of anything, and the only thing keeping Stockholm floating is thanks to the efforts of the government (and army, actually). It's appalling and sad how it's being politically weaponised