Coronavirus

I've got to say, I'm glad some countries aren't pissing around waiting to see what'll happen before deciding public opinion and the economy are taking a nosedive anyway so they might as well take drastic measures.
 
Black Wizard said:
The Italians are keeping themselves occupied during lockdown:

www.bbc.co.uk

Italians sing from their windows to defy coronavirus

A countrywide lockdown has not stopped Italians from bursting into morale-boosting song.
www.bbc.co.uk

If we have lockdown here then I reckon we'll get videos of people singing 'Wonderwall' by Oasis and 'Angels' by Robbie Williams out of their windows. Better than 'God Save The Queen' anyway!
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I beg to differ!

 
All public events are banned till 1st of May in Estonia. They discovered 60 new infected on Friday so the number is at around 100 now. Surprisingly many of them, I’m probably safer in this remote part of Czechia.
 
Maturin said:
Sweden's doing nothing but limiting events of 500 and more... Which means that venues are doing gigs with 499 (and a half) people attending.
Let's see who's right. :cheers:
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Paid sick leave from day 1 instead of day 2 is a very good response, though I would have like to see stricter measures the next few weeks. And most events are cancelled or rescheduled. Most. Which is why I am expecting large layoffs at my workplace. Most freelancers in the event industry hade had their calendars cleaned out.
 
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LooseCannon said:
My country is shutting down almost completely. Gatherings of more than 250 are banned in most areas, major city services like libraries and pools are shuttered. Parliament has been suspended and the government is working remotely. The Prime Minister is isolated and his wife tested positive. International travel has been recommended against and curtailed. The Canadian Forces are on 24 hour standby to deploy in cases of emergency (read: rioting or outbreak isolation). Emergency testing centres have been set up in empty arenas, all major sports events have been cancelled.

And we aren't even at 200 cases yet, with only 1 case of community transmission being investigated.

Many businesses are implementing work from home rules, including the various governments and my work. Essential staff on premises only. A $10 billion line of credit for businesses has been established. Employment Insurance wait times have been waived. Major corporations have announced they will pay sick time. Further packages are coming as needed.

Social distancing has been agreed upon by all major and minor media outlets as the thing to do during this time.

This country is the most prepared in the world, and it might all be for naught if the US fucks up hard enough.
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It's interesting that Canada is shutting so much down with so few confirmed cases. It's very sparsely populated, apart from the London-Quebec City corridor of course, but I suppose that's where most of the population is anyway. I suppose being next door to the US with its shitty preparations makes it more dangerous for Canada.

The UK is doing something different from the rest of the world by keeping schools open so that medical staff don't have to stay at home and can focus on the patients. The reasoning is that this will ease the strain on the NHS as we're coming out of Winter so that it will be in a better position to deal with the peak in a few weeks time when we have warmer weather (and today is quite pleasant I have to say!). This approach has come under some criticism but the experts say their simulations suggest that this can work. I suppose that being an island helps us a lot in this regard. Switzerland's problems came from having an open border with the worst affected part of Italy, for example. Our only land border is with the Republic of Ireland which is shutting lots of things down and asking people to restrict their movement, which puts us as having de facto no land border. If Northern Ireland becomes a hotspot then the government can just restrict flights and ferries to Britain, which would be a similar situation to Brexit anyway! The Channel Tunnel is a restricted entry point anyway, and can be easily be shut down if France deteriorates badly.

I don't know if this approach will be a disaster or if it is a masterstroke from the government's scientific advisors, but it's what we're doing and we have to wait to see how it plays out. I just hope the government holds its nerve until the end of the month and can keeps schools and universities open until the Easter Break. We'll probably see an extended break period into April anyway. Fingers crossed for some decent temperatures to mitigate the effects of the virus!


This is the latest UK graph of confirmed cases:

1584201818836.png

We're increasing exponentially, as expected. The estimate from the government advisors is that there are probably 10,000 people who have it. So far 1,140 of them have been diagnosed and 21 people have died from the virus.
LooseCannon said:
Completely unfit to be president.
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@Travis The Dragon could you respond to this please?
LooseCannon said:
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.” (Wired)
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Don't forget that he claims his innate understanding of biomedical science comes from his uncle who was "some super genius at this stuff...he lectured at MIT for, I don't know... like, a record number of years".
GhostofCain said:
I beg to differ!

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Ugh. If someone starts playing/singing The Sex Pistols during a lockdown I will do everything possible to get this virus and die as soon as possible. :down:
 
LooseCannon said:
As President Trump attempts to blame President Barack Obama for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, it’s important to document his own comments during this public health crisis.

These are not utterances from some of his more rambling news conferences or from his advisers. These are Trump’s most direct statements as a global pandemic took hold of the world.

January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.” (CNBC)

February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.” (Fox News)

February 10: “A lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat—as the heat comes in.” (Bloomberg)

February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock market starting to look very good to me.” (Twitter)

February 26: “It’s going very substantially down, not up… The 15 within a couple of days, is going to be down to zero.” (CNN)

February 27: “It’s going to disappear one day, it’s like a miracle.” (Twitter)

March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.” (Wired)

March 6: “I didn’t know people died from the flu.” (CNN)

March 6: “I like the numbers being where they are.” (Washington Post)

March 10: “It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” (Twitter)

March 13: “I don’t take responsibility at all because we were given a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time.” (New York Times)

Completely unfit to be president.
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Fake news libtard NPC this is clearly a Chinese conspiracy on Trump
 
Black Wizard said:
I don't know if this approach will be a disaster or if it is a masterstroke from the government's scientific advisors
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My thoughts exactly. I dont like to prejudge so am keeping an open mind but there is little to make me trust the British government.
As far as I know, one school in NI has decided to close all of next week. They are due to open on Monday 23rd but will monitor the situation. And some bishop has asked that all schools close. And still no green Pot Noodles in my local tesco.
 
LooseCannon said:
Completely unfit to be president.
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Yeah, sorry about that.
LooseCannon said:
This country is the most prepared in the world, and it might all be for naught if the US fucks up hard enough.
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There is clearly only one solution — you need to build a border wall and make the U.S. pay for it! And if those filthy infected Americans hop the border, throw them in cages and take their children away! That’ll teach ‘em.
 
Dutch researchers find antibody which may lead to anti-corona medicine

Researchers from the University of Utrecht and the Erasmus medical centre have developed a human antibody which, they say ‘offers potential for prevention and treatment of COVID-19’. It is important not to give false hope but the discovery is promising, research leader Berend-Jan Bosch says on the UU website. ‘But it is still too soon to speculate about its eventual working on people.’

The research is currently awaiting peer review before it can be published in the prestigious science journal Nature. The researchers are now trying to get a pharmaceutical company on board that can produce the antibody on a large scale as a medicine. ‘Before it can be marketed, the antibody must go through an extensive development phase and be tested for toxicological properties,’ Erasmus professor Frank Grosveld told Erasmus Magazine.

‘That process is now underway. In addition to the development as a medicine, we also want to use the antibody to set up a diagnostic test: one that everyone can do from home, so that people can easily find out whether they have an infection or not.’ Grosveld says he expects that if the medicine were taken, it would stop the infection and give the patient time to recover. ‘But prevention is of course better than a cure,’ he says. ‘A real solution is therefore a vaccine, others are working on that. However, developing a vaccine can easily take two years. Our medicine, if it all works as it should, could be here sooner. Only, it is more expensive to produce.’

Caution

However, virologist Ab Osterhaus, who was also involved in the research, told the Telegraaf that optimism about a medicine should be tempered. Osterhaus said he could ‘think of a lot of reasons’ why the antibody might not lead to a medicine. Many of these sorts of findings don’t make it, he said. ‘You must not think that you can make a few kilos of this medicine and the world will be saved,’ he told the paper.

= = =


Unique discovery in Erasmus MC: antibody against corona

Unique discovery in Erasmus MC: antibody against corona

A world premiere from Erasmus MC and Utrecht University: they found an antibody against COVID-19. The scientific publication of the group of ten scientists is ready for assessment by the leading journal Nature.

Frank Grosveld Erasmus MC coronavirus antibody foto Marko de Haan

Believe it or not, it was already there on the tenth floor of Erasmus MC: the antibody that is able to block an infection of SARS1 and SARS2. In other words, a first-ever antibody to the coronavirus. Professor of cell biology Frank Grosveld (71) keeps his cool: “I am too old to jump on a table.”
(continue article on website: link in title)
 
Except that Trump's exclusion of Britain from the travel ban most likely was political. There's one heck of a lot of politics and economic strategy involved in decision making everywhere.
 
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