Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[The Brain]

What are you doing, step-continentals?

[The Larch]

Rather pathetic situation in Madrid at the moment.

Madrid in standoff with government over Covid-19 lockdown
Health minister urges regional authorities to 'listen to the science' as infections soar

The Spanish government and authorities in Madrid are locked in a standoff over how to tackle the second wave of Covid-19 in and around the capital, where more than a third of the country's 716,481 cases have been diagnosed.

As the number of infections continues to surge in Spain – by far the worst hit western European country – Madrid is at the centre of a medical, political and economic row.

The conservative regional government has placed 45 areas into a partial lockdown that affects just over a million people in Madrid, but it has rejected calls from Spain's socialist-led coalition government for the whole of the capital to be placed in limited confinement.

On Saturday, the national health minister, Salvador Illa, issued another call for a city-wide lockdown and urged the Madrid authorities to "listen to the science" and put aside politics.

"We're very worried about the situation in the Madrid region, where there's a serious healthcare risk not only for the people there, but also those in neighbouring regions," said Illa.

"It's time for proper action and to take control of the pandemic in Madrid with the aim of flattening the curve."

Illa has said that towns and cities with more than 500 cases per 100,000 people should go into lockdown. By Friday evening, the Madrid region had recorded 721.73 cases per 100,000 people over the preceding fortnight.

The average across Spain is 319.9 per 100,000 people. Over the past two weeks, the UK has recorded 96.2 cases per 100,000 people, France 229.1, and Belgium 160.7.

But the regional government, led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, of the conservative People's party, is refusing to implement the recommended lockdown.

The regional justice minister said there was no need for a "healthcare intervention" from the central government, adding that the regional authorities were exercising their healthcare powers "responsibly and with good judgment".

Ayuso is desperate to avoid another major lockdown and the attendant economic damage. She also questioned the need to extend the national lockdown in May, saying: "People get run over every day but that doesn't mean we ban cars."

According to reports, Ayuso has said Madrid will go into lockdown only if every Spanish town and city that met Illa's criteria follows suit – and if the central government guaranteed Covid tests at Madrid's Barajas airport and at the region's rail stations.

As protests have flared up in poor neighbourhoods where many feel unjustly confined, doctors have said urgent measures are needed before Madrid's intensive care units (ICUs) begin to collapse. At the moment, 40.12% of its ICU beds are occupied by patients with Covid, and some hospitals are already operating beyond their capacity. The average Covid ICU occupancy across Spain is 17.17%.

The average number of new cases reported each day is now higher than at the first peak of the virus at the end of March, when Spain logged 9,222 new cases in a single day. Much of the increase is due to massively increased testing – to date, Spain has carried out more than 8.5m Covid tests.

The death rate is much lower than it was six months ago, when 849 deaths were reported in a single day. But the figures are climbing, with 475 deaths recorded over the week to last Friday.

On Friday, Yolanda Fuentes, who resigned as Madrid's public health director in May following disagreements with Ayuso's administration, posted a clip on Twitter from the 1997 film Titanic. The video, which shows the captain walking around his sinking ship while the string quartet plays on deck, was accompanied by the hashtag #BuenaSuerta (Good luck).

The Spanish government declined to comment on reports that it was preparing to intervene in Madrid. On Sunday, the country's foreign minister said Spain was acting "as the canary in the coalmine" for the rest of Europe because it had relaxed restrictions earlier than its neighbours.

"A lot of my opposite numbers in other countries are asking me what we're doing because they're seeing the figures getting worse in their countries, too," Arancha González Laya told El Confidencial.

"The infection rate goes up when you open space for freedom of movement. It's higher in Spain than in other countries, maybe because we opened up earlier than others and gave ourselves less time between the de-escalation and re-opening measures."

[Josquius]

It took longer than expected but it has very firmly caught up with people in the north.

[celedhring]

Meanwhile the regional Catalan government has gone full Grinch and banned Christmas dinners with more than 6 people and cancelled all Epiphany parades 

[viper37]

Massive genetic study shows coronavirus mutating and potentially evolving amid rapid U.S. spread[/url[


The largest U.S. genetic study of the virus, conducted in Houston, shows one viral strain outdistancing all of its competitors, and many potentially important mutations.

Scientists in Houston on Wednesday released a study of more than 5,000 genetic sequences of the coronavirus that reveals the virus's continual accumulation of mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious.

The new report, however, did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes. All viruses accumulate genetic mutations, and most are insignificant, scientists say.

[The Code: How genetic science helped expose a secret coronavirus outbreak]

Coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are relatively stable as viruses go, because they have a proofreading mechanism as they replicate. But every mutation is a roll of the dice, and with transmission so widespread in the United States — which continues to see tens of thousands of new, confirmed infections daily — the virus has had abundant opportunities to change, potentially with troublesome consequences, said study author James Musser of Houston Methodist Hospital.
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[Syt]

Once again, some animals are more equal than others.

[Tamas]

Yeah this and the exemption grouse shooting really drives the class system home.

Hungarians get to enjoy the same superior ruling class as well, because their hobbies and events are largely exempt as well.

[Syt]

It's not so much about whether or not these exemptions make sense - it's the signal they send. I mean, read the room.

[The Larch]

Aw crap, Van Morrison is a covidiot. 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/18/van-morrison-fascist-bullies-anti-lockdown-covid-songs

Noel Gallagher as well.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/15/noel-gallagher-says-he-refuses-to-wear-a-mask-despite-uk-laws

Why, Right Said Fred, why? Too sexy for a mask?

[Tamas]

Musicians have a vested financial interest in ending restrictions.Of course several of them is going to discover deep moral misgivings about restrictions.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah this and the exemption grouse shooting really drives the class system home.

I don't get the grouse shooting thing except that the optics are bad. Organised sports events are exempt - I'm not sure why outdoor shooting wouldn't be included in that category. The optics are bad but, to me, it's a logical decision that follows from allowing organised sports.

Once again, some animals are more equal than others.

This is a technicality from an initial weirdness - they're not licenced. So the curfew basically amended every bar/pub/club's licence to stop selling and close at 10pm. But the bars in Parliament don't have licences so they don't need to worry. The House of Commons facilities team have since clarified that bars won't be selling booze or open after 10pm (despite not having a licence).

Musicians have a vested financial interest in ending restrictions.Of course several of them is going to discover deep moral misgivings about restrictions.

I really, really doubt the potential benefits of Right Said Fred doing a tour are that big

Yeah there is a thing though - Gallagher, Ian Brown etc. I think it's probably the same with actors - lovely people, very creative and important, but fundamentally they cannot be trusted

It's like Mark Rylance, who is one of the best actors working but, in terms of conspiracy theories etc, clearly has an entire beehive in his bonnet.

[The Larch]

Lots of performers of every kind (musicians, actors, etc.) are simply either not very bright or way over their heads, they just don't really live in the same "mental space" as regular people, and the more famous they are, the worse it can get.

Regarding Right Said Fred, following the tweet where I saw that it mentioned that back in the day they collaborated with a charity that worked with Hepatitis patients, and got tested for a spot or documentary they did, and in an interview they gave about that they apparently openly said that they were not aware that sharing razor blades in, for instance, a gym (they were quite the gym rats back in the day), was a risky practice. On top of that one of the two brothers seems to also be quite the conspiracy nut, so not the best possible combination.

[Tamas]

Calling grouse shooting a sport is where the problem starts. Either you do it get food in which case it is work, or to cull the population for professional reasons in which case it is work, or you do it for fun in which case it is a perversion.

[Sheilbh]

Calling grouse shooting a sport is where the problem starts. Either you do it get food in which case it is work, or to cull the population for professional reasons in which case it is work, or you do it for fun in which case it is a perversion.

I mean I call snooker and darts sports

Sadly as indoor sports they are more restricted. But I won't get into is it a sport or not (I know someone who thinks all sports have to be outdoors or they don't count/aren't really "sports), but if we're allowing 11 v 11 amateur football to go ahead - I'm not sure what the grounds for banning grouse shooting would be. It's a group of people rambling on moors shooting birds.

[garbon]

Calling grouse shooting a sport is where the problem starts. Either you do it get food in which case it is work, or to cull the population for professional reasons in which case it is work, or you do it for fun in which case it is a perversion.

I mean I call snooker and darts sports

Sadly as indoor sports they are more restricted. But I won't get into is it a sport or not (I know someone who thinks all sports have to be outdoors or they don't count/aren't really "sports), but if we're allowing 11 v 11 amateur football to go ahead - I'm not sure what the grounds for banning grouse shooting would be. It's a group of people rambling on moors shooting birds.

I don't really get why killing living things for fun should get an exception.