COVID-19 Coronavirus Thread

[Nigel]

Yes, living in a polluted city is probably just as bad as smoking in some ways, weakening the lungs and so less defences against coronaviruses.

You still catch the virus either way, the pollution damage allows the virus infection to spread rapidly through your lungs and cause serious damage and maybe death before your immune system finds a way of defeating the virus. It's those dieseasle cars wot done it! And for the elderly, the city smog back in the days when everyone used coal.

 

[joe384]

The damage doesn't stop you catching the virus, but it does allow the virus infection to spread rapidly through your lungs and cause serious damage and maybe death before your immune system finds a way of defeating the virus. It's those dieseasle cars wot done it! And for the elderly, the city smog back in the days when everyone used coal.

My mother is just old enough to remember this as kid, she grew up in london

Great Smog of London - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Nigel]

My mother is just old enough to remember this as kid, she grew up in london

Great Smog of London - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So is mine, and often says it damaged her lungs, even though she has been living somewhere clean ever since her youth.

 

[TonyM]

I'm going to be working from home / caring for my kids from tomorrow. No more driving. No need for a dashcam!

I just wish my 71 year old father would stop going out shopping every day, looking for bread and toilet rolls

 

[country_hick]

Here is a great ebay toilet paper ad.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174224858896
Toilet Paper and Paper Towel General Statement to Gougers and Hoarders

Item specifics

Condition:	New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is ... Read moreabout the condition	Brand:	Unbranded
Number of Ply:	0	Item Height:	None
Number of Rolls:	0	Theme:	None
MPN:	None	Type:	Dry
Features:	None	Number in Pack:	0
Color:	None	Number of Sheets:	0

THIS IS A GENERAL STATEMENT TO ANYONE SELLING TOILET PAPER AND/OR PAPER TOWELS FOR AN EXCESSIVE PROFIT AS WELL AS HOARDING THESE FOR THEMSELVES.

I AM NOT SELLING ANYTHING. DO NOT CLICK 'BUY IT NOW'. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE ANYTHING. ALL I WANT YOU TO DO IS READ:

You are the scourge of the world in times like these. You are selfish and driven by an unspeakable emotional disorder to place your own selfish capacity on a pedestal higher than humanity itself. There are people who actually NEED these products. Instead, you have these paper supplies sitting on your shelf sweating with desires of profiting from those in NEED. That is known as price gouging. It is NO different from over pricing generators, gas, etc. during and after disasters such as hurricanes. You are LOWER than a petty criminal. My hope is that you will experience the same type of situation in your future life, at which point someone like me would actually be willing to provide assistance without a thought of personal gain.

Here's what you CAN and SHOULD do right now: Lower your prices to standard retail pricing; a fair market value. If your heart and mind are capable of it, you COULD even bring the price down lower, yes LOWER than what you bought it for (if you did buy it) and consider it a gesture of human kindness. And one more thought that you probable won't consider: A CHARITABLE DONATION.

If you have such a blackened soul and feel no empathy nor capability from my words and enjoy watching others struggle and squirm, I have words for you that unfortunately this forum will not allow me to use. However, they do rhyme with JOE DUCK DOORSHELF.

If you are here looking for toilet paper, paper towels or anything else that is needed in this detrimental time, much luck to you and thanks for reading. Peace be with you and yours, and please feel free to share.

 

[DT MI]

I just wish my 71 year old father would stop going out shopping every day, looking for bread and toilet rolls

The panic buying is ridiculous - and self-perpetrating. If one person goes out and buys 10 times the amount of something they need it creates a shortage for 9 others who are then forced into doing the same. It doesn't take long for store shelves to empty out in that scenario.

The supply chain is intact (speaking for the US only as I don't know what type of border restrictions are in place elsewhere) but has a finite capacity that is being exceeded by the current 'craziness'. If people would just regain a hold on their sanity there will be ample everything to go around.

 

[kamkar]

It is just people that can not travel, cargo are coming and going as usual.
Though if they say the virus can suvive umpteen days on a cardboard box that might have to change.

 

[Matt_V939]

Wow, 18 months
"Coronavirus pandemic will last 18 months or more, could come in several waves and cause a critical shortage of medical supplies, 100-page federal plan warns"

U.S. Virus Plan Anticipates 18-Month Pandemic and Widespread Shortages (Published 2020)

The 100-page federal plan laid out a grim prognosis and outlined a response that would activate agencies across the government.

www.nytimes.com

Coronavirus pandemic will last 18 months or more, federal plan warns

A 100-page document, issued Friday as Donald Trump announced a state of emergency, says Washington should close schools and cancel public events to curb the spread of the virus.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[kamkar]

Today's Danish numbers:
Total tested: 9041
Confirmed infected: 1151
In hospital: 153
IN ICU: 30
ON ventilator 27
Total Death: 6

 

[joe384]

Today's Danish numbers:
Total tested: 9041
Confirmed infected: 1151
In hospital: 153
IN ICU: 30
ON ventilator 27
Total Death: 6

I wonder how soon the UK will do a full lockdown, yesterdays cases were ~2600, Italy started locking down around ~10000 cases and they have routhly the same population as us.
We must be getting quite close to the steep part of the curve now.

 

[Dashmellow]

The panic buying is ridiculous - and self-perpetrating. If one person goes out and buys 10 times the amount of something they need it creates a shortage for 9 others who are then forced into doing the same. It doesn't take long for store shelves to empty out in that scenario.

The supply chain is intact (speaking for the US only as I don't know what type of border restrictions are in place elsewhere) but has a finite capacity that is being exceeded by the current 'craziness'. If people would just regain a hold on their sanity there will be ample everything to go around.

I basically agree with you but people are filled with fear and uncertainty about what to expect going forward. There are some legitimate concerns.

For one example among many, numerous US agricultural crops are harvested by temporary guest workers coming from other parts of the world such as Mexico and Jamaica as part of the H2, H2A and H2B Guest Worker Program(s) which have been in place since 1942. Between 150,000 and 200,000 foreign workers visit the US for several months a year to harvest crops and then return home. In New England for example, workers have been coming here from Jamaica for generations as part of the H2A program to harvest our apple crop. They are a welcome and integral part of our community every year at harvest time and I've even gotten to know a few of them who have been coming here for years as a result of encountering them at our local stores. The New York Times article does an excellent job of telling this story. Although the story focuses on New York state, it is virtually identical to how things work in here Vermont. A multi-generational orchardist in the article describes the Jamaican apple pickers as "part of the family".

Of course, here in Vermont, the apple harvest is still eight months away so things may work out ok by then but we don't yet know. Some workers come here months early to do other tasks and prepare for the harvest. Apples are only a small part of the equation. Mexican, Central American and other foreign temporary farm workers are here in this country right now and they rotate out for new workers as the harvest season for many types of produce progresses in states like California and Arizona.

So what happens to our fresh food supply when these vital workers are suddenly forbidden to legally come and go across our borders?

Panic buying and hoarding is not a good thing but the fact is that much is unknown on many fronts about what we face going forward long term.

 

[kamkar]

We might have to be content with just feeding us self this year, and that we can hopefully rise the manpower to do.
But the juicy export of agricultural items might have to be paused, though most crops are not as manpower intense as they use to be.
In Denmark it is mainly meat, and it don't take more than a handful of people to run a massive meat / dairy farm, but also here that are often done with the help of people from another less arrogant country.
Cuz to most Danes a job like that would be a insult, and to a large degree it is the government itself that is to blame for that attitude.
Even trades like masons / carpenters / painters / metal workers ASO are finding it very hard to man their jobs as they are not trendy enough, and getting young people to enter those trades are very tough.

 

[Nigel]

I wonder how soon the UK will do a full lockdown, yesterdays cases were ~2600, Italy started locking down around ~10000 cases and they have routhly the same population as us.
We must be getting quite close to the steep part of the curve now.

If we do it at the same number as Italy then it is a week away, but Italy had a problem that all the cases were concentrated in a small area and they couldn't cope in that area, the UK appears to have spread them all out fairly evenly, so the 10000 figure is probably not relevant, especially if the London lockdown brings London back in line with the rest of the country. At some point the amount of immunity we have will start to slow the infections, and that may start to take effect before we need a total lockdown, even if it doesn't, the lockdown is likely to be quite short. Also, keeping the schools open will have spread the load on the hospitals out over time so that the peek is reduced, reducing the need for lockdowns.

Only way to find out is to wait and see. Currently we have no idea of the workload for the hospitals because we don't know the hospitalisation rate for the working age people, it has not been too good in the elderly, but that tells us little about working age people, which may mean that the load on the hospitals will be a lot less than in Italy and further restrictions unnecessary, or only precautionary for a short time. Also, our NHS has had more time to prepare, and the army are now training up to help the NHS, so we probably will have more capacity than Italy when the peek arrives. The only treatment in high demand will be ventilators, and it probably doesn't need a medical degree to operate them in an emergency, or at least to support the fully trained staff.

 

[Dashmellow]

Worthwhile article from Wired Magazine.

How to Clean and Disinfect Yourself, Your Home, and Your Stuff

 

[kamkar]

BUT ! I don't have a wife to do all that stuff.

 

[Dashmellow]

BUT ! I don't have a wife to do all that stuff.

You're on your own kiddo!

 

[Nigel]

BUT ! I don't have a wife to do all that stuff.

Just wait 3 days and it is guaranteed disinfected, no need for nasty chemicals that might damage your lungs and make you more susceptible to the virus!
I tried that with the mail, but the postman keeps reinfecting it by dropping more on top!

 

[kamkar]

Italy have now passed China in # of dead people

 

[Dashmellow]

Just wait 3 days and it is guaranteed disinfected, no need for nasty chemicals that might damage your lungs and make you more susceptible to the virus!
I tried that with the mail, but the postman keeps reinfecting it by dropping more on top!

Wait! You mean this whole herd immunity business that you keep promoting doesn't apply to you? It's for everyone else?

Based on your ongoing table pounding about this one might think you'd go out and get yourself infected for the common good!

That is one reason why the herd immunity approach is preferable to lockdown.

Slowing the spread just delays the time at which we achieve herd immunity,

more lock downs will prevent your country becoming immune

 

[Nigel]

Based on your ongoing table pounding about this one might think you'd go out and get yourself infected for the common good!

Illogical; our government is still trying to slow the infection rate, everyone should follow the instructions for the the common good.

Of course from a personal point of view, this would be an excellent time to catch it. If hospital care was needed, they are currently waiting for patients after halting all non-essential work, so the care would be excellent, and of course once you have had it and are immune, you don't need to worry about being infected any more, or worry about infecting anyone else. In fact if you know that you have had it then you are free to break all the quarantine rules

You have also unwisely made the assumption that I haven't already had it, when you have no evidence of that being true, about 1 in every 1000 UK people have already caught it, with a 0.2% death rate, mainly elderly.