Coronavirus Updates

[Lexxi]

Navy captain fired after writing letter asking for coronavirus help has reportedly tested positive

Capt. Brett Crozier began to show symptoms of COVID-19 before he was removed from the USS Theodore Roosevelt, The New York Times reported.

www.cnbc.com

• The now-fired Navy captain, who wrote a letter asking for help dealing with a coronavirus outbreak on his ship, has tested positive for COVID-19, according to The New York Times.
• Capt. Brett Crozier began to show symptoms of COVID-19 before he was removed from the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Thursday, The Times reported.
• He is being quarantined on Naval Base Guam, The Times said.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Bill Gates' plan to get a COVID19 vaccine fast: take the 7 most promising vaccines in development right now, fund the development and build manufacturing plants for all of them. Since every vaccine has different requirements this means seven different plants have to be build. Even if in the end only the best two are being picked and the rest of the plants will abandoned, it's just a few billions dollar spend in relation to a damage of several trillion dollars, but will speed up the development a lot.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Fionalein]

There are 8 strains of COVID19 going around, and they say some strains are dying on their own, so maybe he is planning to make vaccines for 7 of those strains, and let one die a natural death?

8 strains of the coronavirus are circling the globe. Here's what clues they're giving scientists.

Scientists sequenced the genomes of eight coronavirus strains circling the globe providing hints about the effectiveness of efforts to halt the virus.

www.usatoday.com

They wont stay 8 if we already got 8 by now, given usual developmemnt times of vaccines we will have thousands by then. I honestly doubt the vaccine will be as effective as promised, sorry to dissapoint you.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Good news: Kenneth Copeland destroyed COVID19 single handedly in the name of Jesus, the pandemic finally is over!

 

[Fionalein]

Good news: Kenneth Copeland destroyed COVID19 single handedly in the name of Jesus, the pandemic finally is over!

I usually don't wish people to catch it,... but if this dude caught it it would be strangely satisfying

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

New Jersey desperately needs COBOL Programmers

That’s what the State’s Governor, Phil Murphy, apparently meant today, when he said at a press conference that the State needed volunteers who with “Cobalt” computer skills to help fix 40-year-old-plus unemployment insurance systems that are currently overwhelmed as a result of COVID-19-related job losses.

COBOL, for those who are unfamiliar, is a computer language that is over 60 years old, and was once the staple of software development across industry and government. By the late 1980s, however, it had become sufficiently obsolete that many universities did not even include it in their computer science curricula. In fact, while there are certainly are COBOL systems still in use today, relatively few software developers under the age of 50 have ever seen, never mind written, even one line of COBOL. It is not surprising that even New Jersey’s 62-year old governor, who was an executive at Goldman Sachs for decades, had apparently not heard its name recently enough to remember it correctly.

COBOL’s heyday in the 1970s means that the majority of COBOL experts in America are likely well over 60 years old – making them significantly at risk for death or danger by COVID-19 – and probably a bit rusty at their former craft; many of them have likely not developed in COBOL since long before many of the readers of this article were born.

The danger of relying on COBOL despite its obsolescence is not a new issue.

COVID-19 Response: New Jersey Urgently Needs COBOL Programmers (Yes, You Read That Correctly) - Joseph Steinberg: CyberSecurity Expert Witness, Privacy, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Advisor

New Jersey desperately needs COBOL Programmers. That’s what the State’s Governor, Phil Murphy, apparently meant today, when he said at a press conference that the State needed volunteers who with “Cobalt” computer skills to help fix 40-year-old-plus unemployment insurance systems that are...

josephsteinberg.com

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I don’t remember much from high school when we used FORTRAN and COBOL for class.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Old news: Boris Johnson going to a hospital and shaking hands with everybody.

'I shook hands with everybody,' says Boris Johnson weeks before coronavirus diagnosis – video

'I was at a hospital where there were a few coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody,' the prime minister said on 3 March, weeks before contracting Covid-19

www.theguardian.com

Hot news: Boris Johnson admitted to hospital.

Boris Johnson admitted to hospital with coronavirus

Move follows rumours that prime minister’s condition had been worsening

www.theguardian.com

 

[Govi]

Good news: Kenneth Copeland destroyed COVID19 single handedly in the name of Jesus, the pandemic finally is over!

There's no one sitting in the front rows, the men on stage are all distancing from each other, and there are no shots of a (probably empty) auditorium. Someone is losing his belief in the "POWER OF THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY JESUS CHRIST!!!"

 

[Sovereignty]

A while ago I was looking for info to help put this pandemic in perspective. I liked this article on polio, partly because I remember the mass immunizations with the Salk vaccine, etc.

From Emergence to Eradication: The Epidemiology of Poliomyelitis Deconstructed

A couple of interesting points (among many):

"Only 1 in 150 primary poliovirus infections causes paralytic poliomyelitis; since most infections are subclinical, paralytic cases represent only the 'tip of the epidemiologic iceberg'."

Sounds familiar.

As I interpret the article, since polio was widespread to begin with (!), there never was a pandemic, just yearly local epidemics starting after about 1900 that mysteriously manifested as each summer wore on (seasonal disease). I could see COVID19 becoming like that only without the seasonality.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

AFAIK chances are quite high that this becomes seasonal.

Govi: I guess the lack of audience has nothing to do with fate, but stay at home regulations.

 

[Sovereignty]

AFAIK chances are quite high that this becomes seasonal.

Govi: I guess the lack of audience has nothing to do with fate, but stay at home regulations.

An FAQ posted by Johns Hopkins on March 30:
COVID-19: Immunity and seasonality

"If we look to the Southern hemisphere, in parts of South America and in Australia, we're seeing significant COVID-19 outbreaks even though this is their summer season. So we're expecting that the virus is going to be able to transmit here at least to some extent after the winter months."

There is ongoing transmission of the disease in the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, for instance. I checked the Manila temp a couple weeks ago and it was 94F with a 76F dewpoint on that day. Polio in contrast is extremely seasonal. See figure 4 from the polio article. (They've locked down the image so I can't link to it here.)

The marked seasonality of polio made it much more bearable since epidemics had to start over from meager beginnings each summer. From what I see, COVID19 is definitely not seasonal like polio or rotavirus (also mentioned in the polio article).

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

An FAQ posted by Johns Hopkins on March 30:
COVID-19: Immunity and seasonality

"If we look to the Southern hemisphere, in parts of South America and in Australia, we're seeing significant COVID-19 outbreaks even though this is their summer season. So we're expecting that the virus is going to be able to transmit here at least to some extent after the winter months."

There is ongoing transmission of the disease in the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, for instance. I checked the Manila temp a couple weeks ago and it was 94F with a 76F dewpoint on that day. Polio in contrast is extremely seasonal. See figure 4 from the polio article. (They've locked down the image so I can't link to it here.)

The marked seasonality of polio made it much more bearable since epidemics had to start over from meager beginnings each summer. From what I see, COVID19 is definitely not seasonal like polio or rotavirus (also mentioned in the polio article).

Yup, not surprised. My mom was saying 'They say its going to fade as it gets warmer' and I pointed out there they have cases in the Southern Hemisphere - but also, on the equator. This just confirms what I theorized, sadly.

Seasonal would be a godsend, but....

 

[Govi]

AFAIK chances are quite high that this becomes seasonal.

Govi: I guess the lack of audience has nothing to do with fate, but stay at home regulations.

Fate was never an issue, but instead I interpret their whole behavior as a confrontation between the dictates of their public beliefs, their public compliance with emergency social distancing laws, and possibly, their private acknowledgement of the proven facts of this pandemic. Though I disapprove of their exploitation of their congregants religious beliefs, I approve of their compromise: distancing and apparently no physically present audience.

 

[Stora]

Scotland's chief medical officer resigns over lockdown trip

Scotland's chief medical officer has resigned after apologising for visiting her second home during the coronavirus lockdown.

Dr Catherine Calderwood said she was "deeply sorry" and resigned "with a heavy heart".

She said she agreed with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that the "justifiable focus" on her behaviour risked distracting from the pandemic response.

Dr Calderwood was given a police warning after making the trip to Fife.

The chief medical officer was among those who have been urging the public to stay at home to save lives and protect the NHS.

Calderwood resigns over lockdown trip

 

[Tracer]

Stimulus checks - Business Insider

Latest stories about Stimulus checks on Business Insider

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Fionalein]

I don’t remember much from high school when we used FORTRAN and COBOL for class.

The difference between both is Fortran is very much alive and kickin - I would not understand a single line of ancient FORTRAN77 code save write it, but my compiler integrates old FORTRAN77 objects seamlessly into modern Fortran90 code so far.

 

[Ashiri]

Yup, not surprised. My mom was saying 'They say its going to fade as it gets warmer' and I pointed out there they have cases in the Southern Hemisphere - but also, on the equator. This just confirms what I theorized, sadly.

Seasonal would be a godsend, but....

I decided to look into why flu is seasonal (in higher latitudes) and the answers are quite interesting.
Lower humidity affecting dplet size and time it stays in the air along with effects of moisture on the virus, people closer together, possibly depressed immune system.
Why does this virus seem to be different, that's the question.

 

[Fionalein]

I decided to look into why flu is seasonal (in higher latitudes) and the answers are quite interesting.
Lower humidity affecting dplet size and time it stays in the air along with effects of moisture on the virus, people closer together, possibly depressed immune system.
Why does this virus seem to be different, that's the question.

because now it does not fight trained immune systems - yet

once everyone had it at one point in their lives it's mutant descendants will have a tougher time - might well go seasonal then