Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Sheilbh]

Looks like UK is moving to more delay stuff.

Nicola Sturgeon saying after COBRA that they're banning gatherings of over 500 people and the UK is no longer in "contain" but entirely in "delay". I imagine Johnson will announce the same for the rest of the UK after this press conference.

Edit: But still not closing schools or colleges - if they do, as it stays under review, it will last until Summer. But international school trips are cancelled

[Valmy]

If it costs 100-150$ only to be tested, many people won't do it.

The huge charges we make people...well me in particular...to pay for tests and preventative medicine is really reckless and stupid.

But I guess it beats socialism.

[Agelastus]

So, a little more research suggests Washington may be an outlier. Possibly even an extreme outlier.

Picking states at random but trying to do a least some spread in size and economy.

Texas, Iowa and New Hampshire seem to have a ridiculously low capacity for tests (less than the Public health lab in Washington State has now ramped up to.) Especially so for Texas.

Virginia also seems to have done a ridiculously low number of tests but is no longer reporting the pending number of tests because testing capacity has expanded to include commercial labs (their figures don't seem to have been updated yesterday either despite the fact that they are supposed to be updated at noon, Monday-Friday.)

And while California seems to be saying they'll be able to test 5000 people a day soon (presumably a 10000 sample a day capacity) the actual number of people tested so far seems pathetic for a state that rich and populous.

[Sheilbh]

In potentially pointless travel bans, Slovakia is barring entry to all foreign visitors (except Poles) and the Czech Republic is banning entry from 15 countries (mainly European countries - plus China, South Korea and Iran).

[Sheilbh]

So, a little more research suggests Washington may be an outlier. Possibly even an extreme outlier.

Picking states at random but trying to do a least some spread in size and economy.

Texas, Iowa and New Hampshire seem to have a ridiculously low capacity for tests (less than the Public health lab in Washington State has now ramped up to.) Especially so for Texas.

Virginia also seems to have done a ridiculously low number of tests but is no longer reporting the pending number of tests because testing capacity has expanded to include commercial labs (their figures don't seem to have been updated yesterday either despite the fact that they are supposed to be updated at noon, Monday-Friday.)

And while California seems to be saying they'll be able to test 5000 people a day soon (presumably a 10000 sample a day capacity) the actual number of people tested so far seems pathetic for a state that rich and populous.

I think Washington has a particular crisis, which is possibly focusing minds.

But as I say the US testing capacity and positive results to tests seem like a real outlier compared with the rest of the world. It's striking.

Of course it's also striking that the President seems to have particular issues with the Governor of Washington, which is, I think, still the biggest hotspot in the US:

Speaking in Atlanta at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Trump went off on Inslee for saying that he wanted Trump to stick to the science when discussing the outbreak. Trump has repeatedly tried to downplay the gravity of the outbreak and floated his own hunches on matters of science.

"I told Mike not to be complimentary of that governor because that governor is a snake," Trump said, referring to Vice President Mike Pence. "So Mike may be happy with him but I'm not, OK?" [...]

"If we came up with a cure today, and tomorrow everything is gone, and you went up to this governor — who is, you know, not a good governor, by the way — if you went up to this governor, and you said to him, 'How did Trump do?' He would say, 'He did a terrible job.' It makes no difference," Trump said Friday.

[Zanza]

Case numbers exploding across Europe. Considering that noticed cases is much lower than real cases, we have to assume 10x or more as real numbers.
It is time for social isolation. Don't wait for your government. 

[Grey Fox]

Justin Trudeau is in self-isolation after his wife, returning from London, showed symptoms & was tested. Awaiting results.

[merithyn]

Can only guess the UK isn't included as that would be more legal work?

Or because that's where his hotels/resorts are.

[celedhring]

Case numbers exploding across Europe. Considering that noticed cases is much lower than real cases, we have to assume 10x or more as real numbers.
It is time for social isolation. Don't wait for your government.

We're moving our boardgame Sunday to Skype.

[Agelastus]

I think Washington has a particular crisis, which is possibly focusing minds.

So, I followed up on this and saw that Washington State does indeed have the most coronavirus cases; something I hadn't realised as the source I look at for coronavirus case number updates is a listing by country.

With New York and California being the next two states.

I'd already tried to find out testing capacity and numbers for California (less than a 1000 tested as of Monday this week apparently) so I thought I'd look up New York.

They are not releasing the figures concerning the numbers of tests done, only the number of positive results - while making press releases about how they are contracting at least 24 private labs and how they are ramping up capacity. I did, apparently, naively, think that states and major cities under Democrat control might just be a little better at responding to the crisis than this...

[PRC]

Case numbers exploding across Europe. Considering that noticed cases is much lower than real cases, we have to assume 10x or more as real numbers.
It is time for social isolation. Don't wait for your government.

We're moving our boardgame Sunday to Skype.

Have you done boardgaming by Skype before?  My wife wants to do some boardgaming with her siblings but has been struggling to figure out the best way to do it if they don't all have copies of the game.  Do you have one central copy and focus on the board, or everyone has a copy and moves each players piece accordingly?

[Sheilbh]

They are not releasing the figures concerning the numbers of tests done, only the number of positive results - while making press releases about how they are contracting at least 24 private labs and how they are ramping up capacity. I did, apparently, naively, think that states and major cities under Democrat control might just be a little better at responding to the crisis than this...

I think, and Americans can correct me if I'm wrong, that initially testing was tightly controlled federally through the CDC and only when it was clear that it was inadequate were local authorities authorised to test more widely.

But that did happen a couple of weeks ago and I'm still not clear why the US numbers are so much lower - for context I believe Senegal is now running more tests daily than the US.

[crazy canuck]

Reading comprehension is not your strong point.  Our model is a single payor system in which our medical professionals make decisions regarding medical matters - it is enshrined in our legislation.

I don't see Italy or UK as being vastly different than our model.
Yet, they have some problems.

But I am worried about the non insured people in the US.  If it costs 100-150$ only to be tested, many people won't do it.

You are missing the distinction between our Provincial Health Officials making the call rather than politicians - and especially federal politicians.

In Italy the PM made the call to quarantine all of the North, which caused a significant panic

The UK is closer to how we do things here but they are a unitary state and so I wonder how much control local officials have to craft responses suitable to local needs.

[Maximus]

Case numbers exploding across Europe. Considering that noticed cases is much lower than real cases, we have to assume 10x or more as real numbers.
It is time for social isolation. Don't wait for your government.

We're moving our boardgame Sunday to Skype.

Have you done boardgaming by Skype before?  My wife wants to do some boardgaming with her siblings but has been struggling to figure out the best way to do it if they don't all have copies of the game.  Do you have one central copy and focus on the board, or everyone has a copy and moves each players piece accordingly?

Depending on the game, there's tabletop simulator:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/Tabletop_Simulator/

[crazy canuck]

In potentially pointless travel bans, Slovakia is barring entry to all foreign visitors (except Poles) and the Czech Republic is banning entry from 15 countries (mainly European countries - plus China, South Korea and Iran).

I will put off going for yet another year.