Coronavirus Updates

[Sovereignty]

Is he talking asymptomatic for the entire infection period (which I keep hearing as 14 days) or just when the test was done, which is commonly put at 5 days? If the latter the general numbers tossed around [not sure of the accuracy] puts you in the low 30s.

I'm fairly sure Kim is referring to the entire infection period.

From the video, the strengths of South Korea's approach include close monitoring of people who test positive but either lack symptoms or have mild symptoms. They put an app on people's smart phones and require them to check in twice a day and give temp and other symptoms. If they don't check in, they get a visit from authorities. I assume they get better compliance than some other countries would. They must be supplementing that with testing to see if they are free of the virus. Of course, things get messy if they have false negatives that lead them to believe people are virus free. (I'm going with Seuhult's interpretation of reinfections given on MedCram.)

I suppose if you don't have a smart phone they lend you one. Since they don't have a real lockdown, they are really forced to go with strict monitoring on top of widespread testing. They had real problems with SARS in 2003 and ramped up to deal with swine flu and MERS as well. So they've been thinking carefully about what to do for a while. Kim did say that of these diseases CoVid-19 is the most challenging. It spreads so easily and has lots of asymptomatic carriers to boot.

Kim whole heartedly endorses the general public wearing masks. WHO does not recommend them because of shortage and priority given to medical staff.

Lots of good info in the video eku zhong posted.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Sovereignty]

Well, as long as people are 2 metres apart on Ostara you should be fine.

The Ostara reference [may] make this moot, but read this. ETA: [may]

Choir practice turns fatal. Airborne coronavirus strongly suspected

Though I thought the Diamond Princess showed that some airborne transmission does occur. I don't buy the two meter business as sufficient indoors. Now the singing may have something to do with it. Kim attributes the spread within the South Korean religious group to singing and shouting, forcefully expelling air without sneezing or coughing.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

That's kind of a weird and misleading headline by The Hill. What they mean by "Zuckerberg and Gates team up to contribute $25 million" is that Zuckerberg just donated $25 million to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill and Melinda themselves have already put like $35 billion into the foundation.

Epidemic response has been one of the foundation's projects for a few years and they started giving money to companies working on a coronavirus vaccine a month or so ago.

 

[Caliandris]

Those smartasses ... - Europe does not have enough masks in place and here in Germany surveilance laws forbid veiling your face during public gatherings...

They cleary forgot to factor in the culture aspect on this one.

Maybe they need to change that law ASAP

 

[eku zhong]

I am gutted that Ken Shimura died last night from coronavirus...

 

[Caliandris]

The problem is there are not enough masks to go around even for the priority places like hospitals.

that's true - and I think it is the reason for the anti-mask propaganda. But you can make your own. There are more and more patterns and designs for free, and they can be simply made even if you aren't really a seamstress.

 

[Kara Spengler]

that's true - and I think it is the reason for the anti-mask propaganda. But you can make your own. There are more and more patterns and designs for free, and they can be simply made even if you aren't really a seamstress.

True, but there are still places that desperately need them and would welcome handmade ones.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

True, but there are still places that desperately need them and would welcome handmade ones.

And if enough of us who can sew were to make up a bunch of them and they were sanitized, then maybe we could slow this down enough so that hospitals aren't as bad off. Its not like we couldn't do the same.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

 

[Rose Karuna]

Alright I gotta say it...

Chocolate in general, is not the greatest thing ever and is highly overblown.

This goes for "real" (not american) chocolate too.

And I like chocolate but people talk/act like it's vry srs bidness.

Same goz for wine and other things people get snooty and nose raisey about.

Now if you will excuze me I'm off to judge peoples tastes on fried potatoes some more. *Flys away on the wings of my own self satisfaction*

Real answer: yay cheap chocolate!!!

I actually used to hate chocolate when I was younger (I think it was because I had so much chocolate pudding in the hospital when I had my tonsils out and it tasted horrible).

A couple of years ago, I was somewhere and someone gave me coffee with chocolate in it and I liked that and then I also discovered that if chocolate is combined with peanut butter it's not bad either. It's just not my favorite thing.

Give me hot tamales, spice drops, licorice or peeps any day of the week and I'm a happy camper! I guess I have pedestrian tastes in candy. (Mostly I like Peeps because I can make hilarious dioramas with them and they are fun to watch explode in the microwave.)

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I LOVE Licorice, 'specially the salted stuff.

 

[Fionalein]

Why masks won't work...

Spoiler

Look at German politician Armin Laschet...
Laschet trägt Schutzmaske falsch

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Why masks won't work...

Spoiler

Look at German politician Armin Laschet...
Laschet trägt Schutzmaske falsch

And beware of magnets --- protip: do not stick them up your nose.

Astrophysicist gets magnets stuck up nose while inventing coronavirus device

Australian Dr Daniel Reardon ended up in hospital after inserting magnets in his nostrils while building a necklace that warns you when you touch your face

www.theguardian.com

 

[Isabeau]

German state finance minister found dead

Police suspect Thomas Schäfer died by suicide after his body was found on train tracks near Wiesbaden. He was the finance minister for the state of Hesse, where Germany's financial center Frankfurt lies.

www.dw.com

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

German state finance minister found dead

Police suspect Thomas Schäfer died by suicide after his body was found on train tracks near Wiesbaden. He was the finance minister for the state of Hesse, where Germany's financial center Frankfurt lies.

www.dw.com

You know when the entire accounting department of the company abruptly quits with no warning? That, but bigger.

 

[Clara D.]

I actually used to hate chocolate when I was younger (I think it was because I had so much chocolate pudding in the hospital when I had my tonsils out and it tasted horrible).

Chocolate pudding and cheap ice cream are made with artificial chocolate flavoring, which is terrible.

I turned my nose up at chocolate ice cream when I was a kid because of this.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Billionaires, please back off – we can't all self-isolate on a giant yacht

David Geffen and the world’s second-home owners need to stop with their social media smugness. Not everyone can ride out the crisis like them

www.theguardian.com

 

[Kara Spengler]

I LOVE Licorice, 'specially the salted stuff.

Yay for salmiakki!!!! If you want to see something hilarious look on youtube for americans trying it.

 

[Isabeau]

Would this be possible? I mean, suing is big in the US.