Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[merithyn]

Here's the optimistic take on the Wuhan virus.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3800632,00.html

TLDR: The virus is rapidly disappearing from China and can't, with strong control measures, maintain exponential growth for long. South Korea will be next to see a rapid decrease. Should be able to recede away a bit faster. Still gonna suck though.

The first case was supposedly on November 17. It's days shy of four months later.

First cases in the US were the beginning of February, I think? So we should anticipate this continuing until at least June, likely July.

This is going to be a long several months....

[merithyn]

And now UK to get hit with American travel ban.

We are not far away from restricting Americans from coming north

Wanna go to the Pompeii exhibit with us??

[katmai]

And now UK to get hit with American travel ban.

We are not far away from restricting Americans from coming north

Wanna go to the Pompeii exhibit with us??

no. I only have one day off.

[Tamas]

Trump's new "screening" protocol in action for US citizens returning from Europe.

Customs lines at DFW:



Custom lines at ORD:

According to the British science driving policy, such mSsing of people wint change that on average 1 sick person infects 3 others, so according to them that was no worse than if those people were dispersed I a few pubs around the country.

[Richard Hakluyt]

That works if the virus is uniformly endemic; but if there are hotspots then events/situations which gather people from different areas lead to a greater total exposure and spread.

[Syt]

True Brits:

British supermarkets' plea to shoppers - stop panic buying

Britain's food retailers appealed to shoppers on Sunday to stop panic buying during the coronavirus outbreak, saying purchasing more than they need would mean others will be left without.

Apparently it's happening a lot around here, on my way home this evening passed a Lidl with it's carpark unusually full for a saturday evening.

It was bad on Friday when there were rumors of a complete curfew, but it has normalized since then.

Chancellor made a bit of a speech yesterday, saying there's only 3 valid reasons to leave home:
- going to work if working remotely isn't possible (esp. medical personnel, employees in supermarkets, ...)
- buying food, medicine etc.
- supporting people who need help with shopping etc.

Of course people saw this is a reason to flock to bars and restaurants one last time which is not helpful, but understandable on a human level.

[Syt]

Oh, and Trump's test came back negative, unsurprisingly.

[garbon]

Oh, and Trump's test came back negative, unsurprisingly.

Yeah, there's no reason to believe any of that puppet theatre.

[Syt]

Meanwhile, comparison of obituary section in Italian paper at the start of the outbreak vs now:

https://twitter.com/benphillips76/status/1238854071509016577?s=20

[celedhring]

Sheilbh will probably like to see this, somebody posted it on the Spanish EUOT.



Apparently the cult that first acted as vector had many young members, which could explain the disparity (S. Korea doesn't have a particularly young age pyramid)

[Syt]

I read a comment that South Korea tested far more young people than Italy did (with Italy focusing on vulnerable people with symptoms?), which apparently heavily skews the comparison.

[Iormlund]

I guess the silver lining is that the demographic weight of the groups at risk more closely resemble the Korean than the Italian tested population.

[Tamas]

Yesterday, the Hungarian government (which means Orban, of course) decided to use up significant amounts from the emergency reserves. Approximate amounts in pounds:

6 million injection to the healthcare system
7 million to the Prime Minister's Office for the use of renovating church properties and other causes
24 million (additional) funds to the renovation of the Opera House in Budapest
12 million to some other Micky Mouse BS renovation project
18 million to the Innovation Ministry for waste handling and processing measures



Just in case you thought YOUR government was criminally negligent.

[Zanza]

The German government pledged half a trillion Euro in loan guarantees to support the economy with liquidity. Taxes will be deferred. They also legislated quickly to cover most of the cost of "short work" schemes, which allow capacity reductions without layoffs. So far the economic policy response here seems fairly reasonable and well targeted.

Next phase would be further measures to increase demand. They also talked about temporary nationalization of vital strategic industries in exceptional cases...

[celedhring]

Over here the more moderate and more leftie members of the cabinet are still fighting around the extent of economic measures. They were supposed to be announced yesterday alongside the lockdown but will instead be passed Tuesday.