Coronavirus Updates

Fionalein

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UCL are appealing for researchers to help us for about four months starting April who have experience of advanced data science (including statistics, machine learning) or mathematical model building (particular biomechanical models of physiology that could be applied to understanding how COVID19 affects patients’ bodies).

If qualified, apply here:
The COVID-19 CHIMERA Workstream - register your interest in helping
The hell I will do! They* didn't bother to hire me before the crisis and now they want me to work for free? Sorry, how about "NOPE!" ?

* the health sector in general
 
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Brenda Archer

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Meanwhile Washington may be on the path Italy has found itself on. They’re not unique, they just got there early.

 
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Caliandris

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Interesting article in the Guardian from a doctor in Scotland, outlining what has happened for him in the last few weeks. One of the things he reported was "A GP friend in Fife told me that she was convinced the disease was already widespread among her own patients – she was seeing more viral breathlessness than usual". This is something which has been discussed on social media A LOT...the idea that it may have been wild in the population for a lot longer than we think. Which would have implications for what is about to happen to the health service.
 

Caliandris

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The hell I will do! They* didn't bother to hire me before the crisis and now they want me to work for free? Sorry, how about "NOPE!" ?

* the health sector in general
Listen, I'm not in the business of forcing anyone to do anything, but I publicized the appeal for suitably qualified people and assumed there might be some among our number.

Bear in mind that breweries who usually charge are making hand sanitizer for free, corner shops which usually sell items to people are providing them to the elderly for free, in my own town we are donating to a project which is providing care packs for elderly people and supporting vulnerable families for free. We are all having to change our mindset in order to support the greater good, and I'm hoping that Boris and colleagues will be among those and provide Universal Income for all of us for at least the next few weeks.

I was just thinking that the Imperial team have made a royal cock up of the modelling if the Financial Times is anything to go by, and it is very important that the UCL group should do better. For all our sakes.
 

Innula Zenovka

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The far-reaching laws will enable police and the health authorities to place restrictions on a person’s movements and travel, their activities and their contact with others. The law states that both police and public health workers are entitled to enforce quarantine restrictions.

The government said that without the new powers the police would be in a weak position. It said that in the majority of cases “we do not anticipate the need to use them will arise”, adding that the measures are “responsible and proportionate”.

The emergency legislation will give the state more control over many aspects of life. It includes measures to cope with an “unprecedented” surge in deaths that will lead to existing provisions being “rapidly overwhelmed”.

Under present assumptions, half of all coronavirus deaths will occur in a three-week peak of the epidemic. The new legislation says burial sites could be directed to “increase body disposal capacity”. Local authorities could be given powers to order people to be cremated rather than buried.
 

Fionalein

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So the hand sanitizer trick worked? Without events spirits sales were expected to tank anyways, creating free hand sanitizers might seem philantropic to you, but in my eyes they capitalize on the pandemic by using it as a marketing ploy (if their behaviour changed what drink you will order once it's over the marketing worked).
 
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Bartholomew Gallacher

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Now some serious WTF stuff: early CDC corona tests were unable to spot the difference between the corona virus and lab grade water.


Meanwhile the "New York Intelligencer" praises Angela Merkel's no-nonsense speech to the German nation with "she nails it", where she's showing all the crisis management skills at large Trump is clearly missing. BTW if you didn't knew it Merkel is a scientist and holds a PhD in theoretical physics, also from a no-nonsense university.


 
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Bartholomew Gallacher

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Well Trump has management skills: he managed to procreate several times. He also managed to gain a fanatic supporter base, and being a tv persona.
 
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