Coronavirus Updates

[Sovereignty]

For the media to stop airing those press events live, and just report the stupid stuff he said as stupid after the fact. He can't do live rallies any more, so this is his substitute method to reach his base. The media can of course air clips of useful information provided the actual doctors and such, if they appear during the event.

My pet peeve about the news media is that they promote what I'll call soap opera news stories. They have trouble dropping the Trump character from their soap-operas.

In general the stories largely grow out of legitimate news then take on a life of their own. They follow plot lines, so to speak, based on emotional hooks like suspense (Who will win?), heroes (Who do we praise?), villains (Who is to blaime?), gripping visuals (No video? Don't run it.), and so forth.

Facts can get twisted in presenting the soap operas. People are made out to be more/less virtuous than they are. Alternative explanations of the facts may be ignored. Outright lies may be passed off as truth (FOX). FOX is able to blend in with large media outlets because everyone else is busy nursing their soap operas, too.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that to tell a story well, really grab an audience, it needs to breathe, grow, and fill the stage. Soap operas expand and suffocate other news stories that deserve coverage. Those other stories may eventually be made into great soap opera stories themselves, but they have to wait their turn.

The current pandemic is an example of a news story whose coverage suffered from the soap opera effect. It was suffocated in the U.S. by the Democratic primaries. MSNBC, which I follow online, was especially bad about this, but I don't want to pick on them.

 

[Kara Spengler]

For the media to stop airing those press events live, and just report the stupid stuff he said as stupid after the fact. He can't do live rallies any more, so this is his substitute method to reach his base. The media can of course air clips of useful information provided the actual doctors and such, if they appear during the event.

Yes, I have been on the 'do not air his rally substitutes' train since it was clear that is what they were. The media did the same thing in 2016 and was instrumental in why we have him in the first place.

 

[Pamela]

My pet peeve about the news media is that they promote what I'll call soap opera news stories. They have trouble dropping the Trump character from their soap-operas.

In general the stories largely grow out of legitimate news then take on a life of their own. They follow plot lines, so to speak, based on emotional hooks like suspense (Who will win?), heroes (Who do we praise?), villains (Who is to blaime?), gripping visuals (No video? Don't run it.), and so forth.

Facts can get twisted in presenting the soap operas. People are made out to be more/less virtuous than they are. Alternative explanations of the facts may be ignored. Outright lies may be passed off as truth (FOX). FOX is able to blend in with large media outlets because everyone else is busy nursing their soap operas, too.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that to tell a story well, really grab an audience, it needs to breathe, grow, and fill the stage. Soap operas expand and suffocate other news stories that deserve coverage. Those other stories may eventually be made into great soap opera stories themselves, but they have to wait their turn.

The current pandemic is an example of a news story whose coverage suffered from the soap opera effect. It was suffocated in the U.S. by the Democratic primaries. MSNBC, which I follow online, was especially bad about this, but I don't want to pick on them.

I follow msnbc because they do not give Trump sympathizers a platform, but cnn does a better job of more thoughtful interviews, because evidently msnbc thinks everyone has the attention span of a fruit fly. Everyone gets a half mintute to talk, two or three times. There’s no time to develop an idea. Then of course they all report the same stories. Maddow is the exception — she develops ideas and insights, and has one or two in depth interviews.

Overall though I am grateful for the effort our media puts forth. That of course why Trump wants to be rid of them, and will try.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Gates Foundation to build facilities for prospective vaccine manufacturers

Bill Gates is plugging money into building factories for seven promising coronavirus vaccine candidates, even though it will mean wasting billions of dollars.

On Thursday's episode of "The Daily Show," the Microsoft billionaire told the host Trevor Noah that his philanthropic organization, the Gates Foundation, could mobilize faster than governments to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

"Because our foundation has such deep expertise in infectious diseases, we've thought about the epidemic, we did fund some things to be more prepared, like a vaccine effort," Gates said. "Our early money can accelerate things."

Gates said he was picking the top seven vaccine candidates and building manufacturing capacity for them. "Even though we'll end up picking at most two of them, we're going to fund factories for all seven, just so that we don't waste time in serially saying, 'OK, which vaccine works?' and then building the factory," he said.

Gates said that simultaneously testing and building manufacturing capacity is essential to the quick development of a vaccine, which Gates thinks could take about 18 months.

"It'll be a few billion dollars we'll waste on manufacturing for the constructs that don't get picked because something else is better," Gates said in the clip. "But a few billion in this, the situation we're in, where there's trillions of dollars ... being lost economically, it is worth it."

The Gates Foundation "can get that bootstrapped and get it going and save months, because every month counts," he added.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Coronavirus UK death toll: why what we think we know is wrong

The figure we are all watching is likely to be an under-report, which is skewing the curve

www.theguardian.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

How science finally caught up with Trump's playbook – with millions of lives at stake

The president’s failure to heed the warnings about coronavirus and act quickly has set in train a domino effect that now imperils large swathes of the US

www.theguardian.com

 

[Kara Spengler]

Gates Foundation to build facilities for prospective vaccine manufacturers

Yes, saw that interview. I wonder if they will try to convert the 6 'losing' facilities? Surely most of the equipment is the same?

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

In Louisiana it's 12,500 cases now and 410 dead.

 

[Sovereignty]

DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE.

I'm posting this well-known warning because apparently I did not heed it properly. I have some sort of viral infection despite being locked up in my house almost all the time since Feb. 28. I've had symptoms of some sort of infection since five days ago when I woke up with odd conjunctivitis symptoms in my left eye. I'm guessing I touched that eye.

Symptoms since have been mild, no fever, and of course I don't know what it is. Last two days my nasal parts have felt like I was coming down with influenza only it doesn't rapidly worsen like flu does. It just hangs around. Mild aches. Today, checked my smeller on a jar of fresh black pepper. Love the round bouquet of black pepper. I can smell it, but it's a chemical kind of smell, not working right.

As far as the advice I'm giving goes, it really doesn't matter what kind of virus I've got. The lesson is the same. I'm keeping my pronouncement simple. I could have washed my hands more frequently maybe, but in between washings the basic rule is still the same. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE.

 

[Sovereignty]

Thinking about it, it might be a good idea to wash/disinfect your hands right before going to bed. You don't know what happens while you sleep. Maybe it's wise to make your bed the cleanest part of your house. [added emphasis]

ETA: I should probably mention that I have received mail and a few packages of food. I bring those inside, set them in an out of the way spot, then immediately wash my hands. After 2-3 days I open the packages, remove the contents, and wash my hands. After a few more days I move the contents to a shelf for later use and wash my hands again. For mail, I open it 2 days later and wash my hands. I have not tried to disinfect mail, packages or contents relying instead on a presumed limited life time of viral particles on paper and cardboard surfaces. I do not shop inside stores. I picked up a prescription from a pharmacy and followed the same quarantine routine I use for mail and packages. Go figure.

ETA2: I do remember now that I brushed my upper left cheek, top of cheek bone, while going to wash my hands after handling a package. It was like I had an impulse to rub my eye and suppressed it somewhat. Maybe I brushed an eyelash. If I had been alert I would have tried to disinfect that part of my face. Better not to have touched it in the first place. That's still guessing at what really happened though.

ETA3: Maybe "suit up" with eye wear and mask before handling packages and mail. I have safety glasses I could have used. Oh well. [added emphasis]

 

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

 

[bubblesort]

Yes, saw that interview. I wonder if they will try to convert the 6 'losing' facilities? Surely most of the equipment is the same?

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

 

[Stora]

Why Dutch lockdown may be a high-risk strategy

The Netherlands has tried to adopt an "intelligent lockdown", but the infection is spreading rapidly and it has one of the world's highest mortality rates from the pandemic.

The Dutch have also been accused of failing to show solidarity with countries in southern Europe hit hardest by coronavirus.

So what are the Dutch trying to achieve and how has stricken Italy reacted?

Why Dutch lockdown may be a high-risk strategy

 

[Sid]

Why Dutch lockdown may be a high-risk strategy


Why Dutch lockdown may be a high-risk strategy

So far the intelligent lockdown works. Numbers of new hospitalizations are going down since this week.
And what we do over here, is almost exactly what other countries are doing.
Only we were doing it already when Bozo Johnson still was downplaying everything.

People have to stay inside as much as possible. Work from home when possible.
Social distancing.
No gatherings. Churches are excluded because of their rights in the constitution, but.... they all voluntarily are closed (intelligent lockdown).
Shops can stay open when they adapt to rules that guaranty social distancing. Some big ones like Ikea went to internet only for now.
Restaurants and bars are closed. Take aways can stay open.
Theaters, museums are closed. All (sport)events and (music) festivals are canceled. Hairdressers, manicure and pedicure businesses are closed.
Dentists are only open for emergencies.
Schools and daytime centers are closed, but primary schools are open for children from people that have essential professions like doctors, nurses, police etc.
No visitors in hospitals and care centers.
People with cold/flu symptoms have to self isolate at home. The GP will make house calls when needed.
Up to 400 euro fines when in groups bigger than 3 people and not at an appropriate distance. House parties like birthday parties are forbidden.

The high mortality rates don't tell much, only that we don't test until the symptoms become so severe that medical attention/care is needed.
So we have less officially tested corona infected people. The mild cases stay in quarantine at home and are never counted in the statistics. Hence, it looks like we have a higher mortality rate.

I think this article is more meant for the internal British market to make the British situation look good.

The solidarity thingy with southern European countries, I have already explained in the Brexit thread.

 

[Isabeau]

This only shows the death rate for each country (April 5th) based on confirmed cases (tested). But if you take the number of deaths vs total population, you may have a better, or at least, a different picture for comparison between countries that began having cases at the +\- same time. Although, there are other factors that probably affect each country, like population density, etc.

COVID-19 death rate by country 2022| Statista

COVID-19 deaths per capita were 2 to 3 times higher in Italy, the UK and Belgium than in the United States.

www.statista.com

 

[Kara Spengler]

So far the intelligent lockdown works. Numbers of new hospitalizations are going down since this week.
And what we do over here, is almost exactly what other countries are doing.
Only we were doing it already when Bozo Johnson still was downplaying everything.

People have to stay inside as much as possible. Work from home when possible.
Social distancing.
No gatherings. Churches are excluded because of their rights in the constitution, but.... they all voluntarily are closed (intelligent lockdown).
Shops can stay open when they adapt to rules that guaranty social distancing. Some big ones like Ikea went to internet only for now.
Restaurants and bars are closed. Take aways can stay open.
Theaters, museums are closed. All (sport)events and (music) festivals are canceled. Hairdressers, manicure and pedicure businesses are closed.
Dentists are only open for emergencies.
Schools and daytime centers are closed, but primary schools are open for children from people that have essential professions like doctors, nurses, police etc.
No visitors in hospitals and care centers.
Up to 400 euro fines when in groups bigger than 3 people and not at an appropriate distance. House parties like birthday parties are forbidden.

The high mortality rates don't tell much, only that we don't test until the symptoms become so severe that medical attention/care is needed.
So we have less officially tested corona infected people. The mild cases stay in quarantine at home and are never counted in the statistics. Hence, it looks like we have a higher mortality rate.

I think this article is more meant for the internal British market to make the British situation look good.

The solidarity thingy with southern European countries, I have already explained in the Brexit thread.

Those rules seem pretty close to what we generally have in the us when your governor happens to accept science as real (in others it is business as usual).

 

[Kara Spengler]

This only shows the death rate for each country (April 5th) based on confirmed cases (tested). But if you take the number of deaths vs total population, you may have a better, or at least, a different picture for comparison between countries that began having cases at the +\- same time. Although, there are other factors that probably affect each country, like population density, etc.

COVID-19 death rate by country 2022| Statista

COVID-19 deaths per capita were 2 to 3 times higher in Italy, the UK and Belgium than in the United States.

www.statista.com

Not sure why they do it by confirmed cases. That is all down to how much they test. The best measure is by population.

 

[Sid]

This only shows the death rate for each country (April 5th) based on confirmed cases (tested). But if you take the number of deaths vs total population, you may have a better, or at least, a different picture for comparison between countries that began having cases at the +\- same time. Although, there are other factors that probably affect each country, like population density, etc.

COVID-19 death rate by country 2022| Statista

COVID-19 deaths per capita were 2 to 3 times higher in Italy, the UK and Belgium than in the United States.

www.statista.com

The virus is not evenly spreading over a country / continent.
We have 3 provinces with far above average infection cases (Brabant, Limburg, South Holland) and a few northern provinces with considerable less cases than average. And that all in our tiny country.
So it is very hard to compare anything.

Fact is that this corona virus shows very different symtoms. Some get a light cold, most get flu like symptoms, some get severe lung problems and have a serious chance to die.

 

[Grandma Bates]

This only shows the death rate for each country (April 5th) based on confirmed cases (tested). But if you take the number of deaths vs total population, you may have a better, or at least, a different picture for comparison between countries that began having cases at the +\- same time. Although, there are other factors that probably affect each country, like population density, etc.

COVID-19 death rate by country 2022| Statista

COVID-19 deaths per capita were 2 to 3 times higher in Italy, the UK and Belgium than in the United States.

www.statista.com

There has been a lot of discussion about this. One issue is that different countries have different standards for reporting the cause of death. For example, Germany has been a statistical anomaly in all of this. Part of the reason is anybody who has tested positive for the corona virus and dies is counted as a death due to covid-19 combined with an aggressive testing policy. (Note: Italy has the same policy.) This is different from many other countries, and part of the reason that Germany recently saw a rise in the fatality rates:


It looks like Germany will be going even further in their tracking policies with new guidelines requiring blood serum samples:


When this is over, the epidemiologists will likely be using the German data as a baseline when trying to decipher what is happening in other parts of the world.


****************************************************************
Edit to add: There has been some dispute about what the latest statistics from Italy mean. Here is one change of heart given the larger emphasis that is being place on testing in Italy:

 

[Kara Spengler]

The virus is not evenly spreading over a country / continent.
We have 3 provinces with far above average infection cases (Brabant, Limburg, South Holland) and a few northern provinces with considerable less cases than average. And that all in our tiny country.
So it is very hard to compare anything.

Fact is that this corona virus shows very different symtoms. Some get a light cold, most get flu like symptoms, some get severe lung problems and have a serious chance to die.

Right, but what I meant was 1,000 deaths from anything in the US do not have the same impact as those same 1,000 deaths on a small island. Even better would be as a share of the country's typical mortality, or at least population. Not perfect (maybe if you had a further breakdown, not just country), but it would allow you to compare two countries if things like their rural/urban ratios were the same.