Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[merithyn]

[PRC]

Trudeau's wife diagnosed with Covid19.

[Barrister]

Hockey Canada cancels all hockey in, well, Canada.

[Fate]

Why things might look more like Italy than Germany or South Korea in the US. We have way less hospital beds relative to the countries that have low mortality rates.

[mongers]

Mexicans wonder if Trump's wall could stop coronavirus spreading south.

True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump has warned coronavirus could spread from Mexico, touting his anti-migrant wall as a solution. Seen from south of the border though, the greater risk is infection from the much bigger outbreak in the United States.

Hey, maybe Trump's wall will have a use after all.

[Barrister]

So Josh was in tears that his final hockey tournament has been cancelled for this weekend.  Now this is a kid who likes but hardly loves hockey.  But I did take this as a sign that he's really shaken up by all the negative coronavirus news that's been out there the last few days.

[Razgovory]

China sends medical aid to Spain and Italy

A consignment of medical supplies sent by China to help Italy and Spain contain the coronavirus has arrived in Europe, the Chinese embassy in Madrid said on Thursday.

It's a amazing if you think about it.  100 years ago the first world preyed upon China.  Now China sends medical equipment to Europe.
Nice to see.

[Syt]

As mentioned, rumors are flying about that Austria might go into shutdown next week.

This seems to be supported by the government announcing that they will announce new measures some time today that will go into effect on Monday and the chancellor's warning that everyone should prepare to reduce social contacts to a bare minimum from Monday on.

I'll head to the store one more time today to top off supplies for the next 4 weeks, and I'll tell my cleaning lady not to bother coming on Monday.

[Admiral Yi]

What's good survivalist food besides Spam?  I need to buy food tomorrow too.

[Barrister]

What's good survivalist food besides Spam?  I need to buy food tomorrow too.

Pasta is good.

[Berkut]

I told my developers to work from home until further notice. I suspect we will just shut the office down.

[jimmy olsen]

Should no country shut anything down? Are Italy and South Korea only acting out of social media panic and not sound medical advice? Should they follow the advice of the BC CDC?

South Korea didn't shut much down. My understanding is there were local shut-downs for specific clusters, but the general South Korean approach has been voluntary social distancing, mass testing and communications. From the Guardian:

South Korea: drive-through testing, mobile alerts, mass screening

South Korea has the highest number of cases outside China but on Tuesday reported its slowest single day rise in two weeks, prompting President Moon Jae-in to suggest the country was about to enter a "phase of stability".

His optimism might have been slightly premature, as there were 242 new cases on Wednesday. However that is still a large drop from a peak of 916 on 28 February.

Moon told aides this week: "We must maintain this trend. We have come this far thanks to the citizens who were united and cooperated well with the government. But it's too early to be optimistic. Please be a little bit more patient and stay away from mass gatherings such as religious events."

The reference to religious events was significant. More than 60% of cases in South Korea have been linked to a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a secretive religious sect, in the south-eastern city of Daegu. While the outbreak placed huge strain on the city's medical services, new infections appeared to slow after health authorities completed Covid-19 tests on 210,000 Shincheonji followers. Identifying so many cases among a single group, and in a relatively confined geographical area, appears to have helped slow the rate of infections.

South Korea's government opted against localised lockdowns, concentrating instead on testing large numbers of people in an attempt to identify infection "hotspots", along with encouraging social distancing. As one of three designated "special care zones", Daegu received extra medical supplies and staff, and troops were sent to disinfect the streets.

The country is conducting about 15,000 tests a day, free of charge, and has carried out almost 200,000 screenings so far. It has also set up about 50 drive-through testing centres and distributed smartphone alerts about the movements of people who have tested positive.

Not everyone shares Moon's optimism. Noting that outbreaks had been observed at nursing homes and small hospitals, the conservative JoongAng Daily accused the government of "patting itself on the back" ahead of next month's national assembly elections.

There has been another uptick and it looks like there might be a new cluster in Seoul, and there are concerns about privacy around how much information the government publishes about confirmed cases. As I say I'd love to know more about South Korea in part because they appear to have bent the curve, but also because they're doing so much more testing than anyone else and I get the impression their approach has been different than some other countries.

Not many people out and about from what I've seen.

Government will text message you immediately on the emergency alert system that someone in your area tested positive, with their name and whereabouts for the last week.

Kim Minsu, age 46, of Suwon, address ... visited the pool hall at ... between 10pm-2am last night. Was a the ...pork restaraunt at ... between  7pm and 9pm, etc. etc.

[Admiral Yi]

Pasta is good.

Don't you want stuff that you can eat without cooking?  In case everyone at the gas company dies?

[Threviel]

Why things might look more like Italy than Germany or South Korea in the US. We have way less hospital beds relative to the countries that have low mortality rates.

If that thing is correct we are thoroughly fucked in Sweden, 50% less hospital beds than Italy.

This year has been horrible sickness wise, we have been more or less sick since January, first the flu, then a horrible cold worse than the flu, then stomach flu. I don't really worry about corona deaths in the immediate family, although the grandparents are old, they are between 60-70, so not so old as to be in the death zone.

I could probably work from home, but I don't like that and I have no real office to sit in, so the office it is for me. I will start to bring stuff back and forth so that if the shit hits the fan I can just stay at home.

[Syt]

Well, I sure am glad that I did most of my shopping yesterday.

Apparently the rumor that the hammer comes down on Monday has spread - though it's possible that the new measures which will be announced today won't be a lockdown.

I wanted to pick up some more things to "fill the gaps" early this morning when the stores opened. I first went to Spar to get some extra soy milk and musli (I have a reserve, but thought better be safe than sorry). Normal morning shopping crowd (school kids, on what's likely their last school day for a month or so, people commuting to work).

Then went to Aldi (which for reasons I don't understand is called "Hofer" in Austria) to find that all shopping carts and baskets were in use. 

I weighed my options and instead went to the small Billa halfway between Hofer and Spar and picked up a few more things. The shop was packed, but it was a mix of people stocking up and just doing their normal shopping.

At any rate, I have food and toiletries for about a month at home now - a first in my adult life, I suppose. The advantage of living by yourself and having plenty of shops in walking distance is that you rarely need to stock up and can just buy what you fancy at any moment.

I will also make use of ordering food delivery to preserve my supplies.