Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Tamas]

I am kinda' worried by the fact that in Hungary two 28 years olds died in a matter of days of each other.

The second one had diabetes, but is that really reason enough to die of this so young? I worry about the conditions in the hospitals and perhaps the treaments they are using and what that can mean to my family members.

Especially as I read multiple times over the last few months how it has become established to -contrary to the early months- keep patients away from intubation as long as possible, giving them just oxygen. Hungary, however, bought an insane amount of respiratory/breathing machines back in the spring, filling the pockets of friendly companies in the process (obviously). I would not put past the system and old reflexes to have processes favouring the use of these machines to save face to the high-ups.

[Tamas]

I am reading that France is considering making stricter restrictions, stricter curfew in particular, because a large amount of people are ignoring them at the moment and the situation is getting worse than in April.

I fully expect the same in the UK. I'll need to go for a drive tomorrow, will be interesting to see if traffic will still be pre-lockdown level like the last couple of months.

[Sheilbh]

I fully expect the same in the UK. I'll need to go for a drive tomorrow, will be interesting to see if traffic will still be pre-lockdown level like the last couple of months.

Not sure - I mean it's not full lockdown like we were in before so it won't be as extreme as March/April.

It also turns out that students are flooding home ahead of the new restrictions which is, like so much (especially to do with education) recently, entirely predictable and a total surprise to the government. I actually sort of wonder if this could re-seed covid in areas where it's currently declining

[Tamas]

Ok now I most definitely heard right on Sky News that we have 20-some thousand people in hospital 22 hospitals worth as they also put it, which is the highest since early May and more than in April

[Sheilbh]

Ok now I most definitely heard right on Sky News that we have 20-some thousand people in hospital 22 hospitals worth as they also put it, which is the highest since early May and more than in April

Is that all patients rather than just covid though? Because covid patients look to be about half that number.
https://coronavirus-staging.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare

I wonder if part of the issue is just that we're heading into flu season. Hospitals are normally at capacity anyway and it really wouldn't take much of a covid wave + a normal flu year. And we are fucked if it's one of the years when the vaccine doesn't work

[Barrister]

Ok now I most definitely heard right on Sky News that we have 20-some thousand people in hospital 22 hospitals worth as they also put it, which is the highest since early May and more than in April

Quick googling suggests there are 1900 hospitals in the UK though.

[PDH]

Ok now I most definitely heard right on Sky News that we have 20-some thousand people in hospital 22 hospitals worth as they also put it, which is the highest since early May and more than in April

Quick googling suggests there are 1900 hospitals in the UK though.

Funny, you'd think they would be more modern...

[viper37]

I am kinda' worried by the fact that in Hungary two 28 years olds died in a matter of days of each other.

The second one had diabetes, but is that really reason enough to die of this so young? I worry about the conditions in the hospitals and perhaps the treaments they are using and what that can mean to my family members.

Especially as I read multiple times over the last few months how it has become established to -contrary to the early months- keep patients away from intubation as long as possible, giving them just oxygen. Hungary, however, bought an insane amount of respiratory/breathing machines back in the spring, filling the pockets of friendly companies in the process (obviously). I would not put past the system and old reflexes to have processes favouring the use of these machines to save face to the high-ups.

it's hard to tell because, to begin with, we do not know why individual X of 28 years old will be more affected than individual Y of 28 years old.

Diabetes plays into this because the virus will sometimes attack the kidneys, which are already damaged by the diabetes.  But outside of that, there are many factors that could explain why they both died, outside of mismanagement of their case in the hospital.  They might have died anyway elsewhere in the world too.

Dexamethasone is very useful for severe cases, but it does not work on everybody the same, and if administered too soon, it can result in fatality.  Administered too late, there isn't enough time to reverse the effects.

Intubation as you say, is done much, much later than last spring, but patients still need to be given oxygen to breath, and postionning them on the belly so the lungs have room to take in more air is also a good thing that will help more patients survive.

So, yeah, maybe they were overwhelmed at the hospital and they couldn't help them properly.  Or maybe they would have died anyway.  Hence why governments are doing lockdowns and restrictions, to insure hospitals still have the capabalities to treat their patients in a non rushed way.

[viper37]

Ok now I most definitely heard right on Sky News that we have 20-some thousand people in hospital 22 hospitals worth as they also put it, which is the highest since early May and more than in April

Quick googling suggests there are 1900 hospitals in the UK though.

number of hospitals is irrelevent.  it's the number of free ICU units that counts.  I figure the "22 hospitals" number is for the total number of beds, on average, in a UK hospital, not the ICU units, which is the important number.

[Zoupa]

Diabetes type I is 100% treatable. I assume that at 28 years old that's what his condition was.

It should not even be listed as a comorbidity at that age (or at any age really).

[Syt]

Highest new infection number for Austria reported yesterday for the day before (6000+). In a show of sympathy for the electoral process in the US, the state of Upper Austria added 600 cases they "overlooked" to Monday's count for Sunday, too.

[Tamas]

Ok now I most definitely heard right on Sky News that we have 20-some thousand people in hospital 22 hospitals worth as they also put it, which is the highest since early May and more than in April

Is that all patients rather than just covid though? Because covid patients look to be about half that number.
https://coronavirus-staging.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare

I wonder if part of the issue is just that we're heading into flu season. Hospitals are normally at capacity anyway and it really wouldn't take much of a covid wave + a normal flu year. And we are fucked if it's one of the years when the vaccine doesn't work

They meant all covid patients not just ICU.

[Syt]

While Austria has pointed out that ICU beds are fine so far, there's been comments that we would run out of medical staff before ICUs, so ...

[Tamas]

Diabetes type I is 100% treatable. I assume that at 28 years old that's what his condition was.

It should not even be listed as a comorbidity at that age (or at any age really).

Yeah they are funny like that. Few months ago there was a covid casualty guy, IIRC in his late 30s, they marked him as with pre-existing conditions, but the girlfriend claimed the "pre-existing" infection he had he caught in the hospital and according to the article I read it is indeed a common hospital infection (can't remember what it was).

[celedhring]

Looks like we're getting past the peak. R number is below 1 in most places of Spain that actually matter 

Of course, that's under very tough restrictions that in some places fall just short of full lockdown, I'm not sure how sustainable that can be.