Coronavirus Updates

[Clara D.]

So, you're eligible to get tested *after* you're sick enough to be hospitalized.

 

[Caliandris]

 

[Caliandris]

I've obviously listenedto/read too much David Sedaris, because the first thing I thought when I saw the photograph was...TESCO? Tesco was the best plastic bag he could come up with? Surely M and S or Waitrose....

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

It is completely fair to note that Trump isn't responsible for everything that will muck up the US's pandemic response. Our fellow citizens are quite well capable of pitching in:

New Hampshire's 1st coronovirus patient, told to self-quarantine, attends party in Vermont instead

State health officials said that the first coronavirus patient "attended an invitation-only private event on Friday" despite being told to stay isolated. That person has now been ordered to remain isolated and all others who came into "close contact" with them at the event were asked to stay isolated for 14 days.

The announcement on Tuesday came as state health officials said a second person in the state is presumed to have the new coronavirus, COVID-19. That person was in close contact with the first patient, and the officials expect more coronavirus cases may be found as they investigate.

Congratulations, dumbass.

 

[Caliandris]

WHO have just announced the death rate for Coronovirus is 3.4%. The UK government is planning on a contingency that around 80% of the population will get Covid-19. That's a LOT of people dying. As your risk of dying goes up very much depending upon your immune status and your age, that's a lot of elderly people in need of nursing.

I thought the whole justification for the private healthcare in the US was that it's better, more up-to-date etc than here, but that twitter stream indicates that it isn't very agile - they're surely long past the point where testing only the contacts of known sufferers is appropriate, given that you have cases of transmission in the community? Add to that the fact that you're denying testing to all others, and charging those that are community-minded enough to show up for testing in the only risk group allowed to do so... well words fail me. We're a small country by comparison, and things are chaotic enough, but at least they are testing people and not charging them for it. And we have a plan. A published plan. Edited to add link to the plan:
Coronavirus action plan

 

[Archer]

The problems in the US will be compounded by many things, beyond the lack of massive testing to determine scope. I think our fatality rate will be much higher because we failed to get a jump on the spread first and foremost. Also the lack of process is causing large numbers of healthcare workers to be quarantined when a case does test positive. That is not sustainable and will be a major impact as more people show up sick and there are shortages of staff to take care of them. People are NOT going to self quarantine as strictly as is needed, because they're people. As we've already touched on, most folks work in jobs where they will not get paid for being off work for 2 or 3 weeks when they are not even diagnosed with it, and will in all likelihood lose that job. Our society is just not set up for this kind of a situation, so it will be much, much worse than most people imagine.

 

[Stora]

Three days more sick pay for self-isolating workers

Workers will get statutory sick pay from the first day off work, not the fourth, to help contain coronavirus, the prime minister has said.
Boris Johnson said people who self-isolate are helping to protect others from the virus and should not be "penalised for doing the right thing".
It means those receiving statutory sick pay would get an extra £40.
England's chief medical officer earlier said it was "likely" the virus will become an epidemic in the UK.
Prof Chris Whitty also told BBC Breakfast that up to 80% of the population could be infected with coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, "in the worst-case scenario".

Three days more sick pay for self-isolating workers

 

[Luisa Land]

It is completely fair to note that Trump isn't responsible for everything that will muck up the US's pandemic response. Our fellow citizens are quite well capable of pitching in:

New Hampshire's 1st coronovirus patient, told to self-quarantine, attends party in Vermont instead



Congratulations, dumbass.

Yes, spreading and fighting the corona virus is not only a medical problem. It is also a challenge to our societies, our political systems and our economies. To what extent we do not yet know at the moment
It can be all the more successful if all parts of society work together. Here in Germany, for example, the now best-known virologist gives an interview almost every day and answers questions from the population that journalists have prepared. (published as a podcast)
The man certainly has a lot to do. Nevertheless, he takes the time to talk about new strategies, emerging problems, possible pragmatic solutions, even in the work of individual doctors, hospitals on the basis of what he knows and what he does not know.
He reported in his interview today that he gets a lot of attention... but also a lot of hate mails. The positive response outweighs the by far.
Still, sometimes in the face of this aggression he asks himself: should I not stop it

But "trust" is also important People need to see that everyone (doctors, politicians. representatives of the health authorities, media act and talk responsibly.
This, I hope, will also let a huge part of the citizens..certainly not all.. behave in a more responsible way.
And here the situation differs in individual countries.
Here Trump is to blame after all, certainly not alone...but his talking and negotiating already makes it more difficult to overcome the crisis

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

 

[Pamela]

 

[Beebo Brink]

Our society is just not set up for this kind of a situation, so it will be much, much worse than most people imagine.

Our healthcare system has no extra capacity. I was reading tweets out of Washington this morning, quite a few from healthcare workers. The local hospitals were already spiking to full occupancy just from the regular flu season and all the other ailments that people will insist on having regardless of the threat of coronavirus. The 2% fatality rate stat tends to focus attention on the worst-case scenarios, but there's at least 15% of cases that are life-threatening without hospitalization. If there's no capacity for those critical cases, then they'll end up as fatalities instead.

 

[bubblesort]

I keep seeing anecdotal stories like this. It looks to me like the media is reporting that there is no community spread, because the doctors refuse to test for community spread. It could already be all over the place, but we would never know, because people with symptoms are being stonewalled.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Three days more sick pay for self-isolating workers




Three days more sick pay for self-isolating workers

That's if you're eligible, of course, and not (for example) self-employed.

I don't see many uber drivers or many delivery drivers qualifying, for example, even though they're presumably at high risk, when the disease becomes epidemic in the UK, of both contracting and spreading it.

 

[Cristiano]

As an ER Doctor, I Need You to Know These Things About Coronavirus — VICE

We are willing to risk our own lives and safety, and those of our families, for the sake of yours.

apple.news

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I keep seeing anecdotal stories like this. It looks to me like the media is reporting that there is no community spread, because the doctors refuse to test for community spread. It could already be all over the place, but we would never know, because people with symptoms are being stonewalled.

Testing is expensive, of course, both because of the cost of the kits and because of the demands on the testers' and lab staffs' time, so it makes sense to concentrate -- at least at the moment -- on people who are known to have been in contact with confirmed cases of Corvid-19 or to have returned from particular areas.

Obviously people in the Seattle area are going to be concerned, but equally obviously the health authorities need to concentrate on testing folks who have some immediate connection with known cases and carriers, otherwise they'd be completely overwhelmed.

Here in the UK we're being told, for obvious reasons, not to book surgery appointments if we think we may need testing but, instead, to contact 111, the NHS helpline/website for further advice and information, so, out of interest, I did.

Get help for your symptoms - NHS 111

111.nhs.uk

After I answered the questions as I would if I were suffering symptoms that gave me cause for concern, but not having recently returned from Hubei, South Korea, Iran, parts of North Italy, and so on, nor having had contact with anyone who is a confirmed case, the app told me that I didn't need testing but that I should phone for advice on what to do about my symptoms.

If I did that, after answering some more questions about my symptoms and state of health, I'd get the same advice as if I phoned my regular doctor's surgery -- that is, I'd either be offered medical advice and possibly a prescription, or asked to come in for further examination and consulation.

 

[Caliandris]

A very interesting interview on BBC news just now, with a Professor of Microbiology from Italy. He had been calling for much stricter quarantine and better controls from the end of January. He said that Italy was initially doing what other countries have been doing and only testing people who had been in the high risk areas elsewhere in the world. The dramatic change in numbers of those infected in Italy came when the government decided to test all people admitted to hospital with pneumonia and respiratory infections, and then the number grew very fast indeed. He is calling on other countries to learn from the Italian experience and to prevent transmission by closing down places where people congregate etc. Edited to add: today's episode of PM will be available on this page after the programme is finished, although I have no doubt that excerpts of the interview may be used in the news bulletin at six pm BBC Radio 4 - PM - Available now

 

[Archer]

 

[Archer]

Noooooo, no facepalm reactions!!!

 

[Beebo Brink]

As an ER Doctor, I Need You to Know These Things About Coronavirus — VICE

We are willing to risk our own lives and safety, and those of our families, for the sake of yours.

apple.news

A very good read, with one of the best single pieces of insight I've read on the subject:

The only strategy the world has now is to slow the spread of COVID-19 and prevent everyone from becoming ill at once.

 

[Rose Karuna]

I don't think that there is anyway that Mitch and his minions can be much more despicable but then, I thought that about a week ago, so who knows?

 

[Soen Eber]

I heard on NPR this morning that the updated death toll reflects a disease in the early stages, when testing and treatment are more typical only for the more severely affected patients. Over time as everything normalize the death rate tends to go down.