Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Sheilbh]

I suspect many people thought it was Italians being stupid silly Italians, and that the stern, responsible, law-abiding [insert your nationality here] would of course be better.

Yeah. And I imagine Europeans and Americans generally thought this was a disease of dirty, over-crowded China not affecting us.

I thought weeks of seeing what's happening in other parts of Europe would have an effect on people's behaviour. Because we are later in the curve we would see what was happening and adjust what we're doing accordingly - and, in fairness, many people have most of my friends and colleagues are following this scrupulously from what I can tell. It just doesn't take many people in this sort of situation to ruin things for everyone.

Speaking to my parents today. Apparently they've heard the advice is if you've got a caravan or second home to go there and be in the countryside.
Doesn't affect them of course. But  this is madness. So much conflicting information flying about.

Yeah - and that's really not the message. I wonder how much dodgy information like that is being spread on social media.

A Spanish colleague of my mum's, who's based in Alicante, said this happened in Spain too were loads of Madrilenos suddenly popped up in their holiday homes and all the locals were like: STAY AWAY!

[Admiral Yi]

You know it feels weird, but my sisters unisono post on facebook that people should stay at home and self-isolate as if they're already infected. They bitch about people not taking the proposed social distancing measures seriously. I'm pleasantly surprised.

Have they deleted the hoax stuff, or is it still up?

[Syt]

I'd have to scroll through miles of their walls, so can't be bothered.

[Tamas]

Speaking to my parents today. Apparently they've heard the advice is if you've got a caravan or second home to go there and be in the countryside.
Doesn't affect them of course. But  this is madness. So much conflicting information flying about.

That is the exact opposite of what people are asked to do.

[Iormlund]

A Spanish colleague of my mum's, who's based in Alicante, said this happened in Spain too were loads of Madrilenos suddenly popped up in their holiday homes and all the locals were like: STAY AWAY!

Not so much Madrileños as people who work in Madrid and then escape to their hometown/village/beach-house. And it's happening in every city, although Madrid is the most populated. We should have closed the roads to anything but supply chains long ago.

[Sheilbh]

A Spanish colleague of my mum's, who's based in Alicante, said this happened in Spain too were loads of Madrilenos suddenly popped up in their holiday homes and all the locals were like: STAY AWAY!

Not so much Madrileños as people who work in Madrid and then escape to their hometown/village/beach-house. And it's happening in every city, although Madrid is the most populated. We should have closed the roads to anything but supply chains long ago.

It's one of my big fears if there's a London lockdown. I already know people who are thinking about going "home" to stay with their parents. I've told them that's the worst thing they can do but, we'll see - I think something similar happened when northern Italy locked down as well.

UK daily testing up a lot since yesterday (which went down dramatically - hopefully a blip), but still not close enough to the 10,000 and then 25,000 target. Cases up about 13% and deaths up another 50 or about 20%

[Syt]

Rand Paul has tested positive.

[Josquius]

Some real scummy behaviour out there.
My elderly aunt was booked on a holiday. Some weeks ago the company responsible contacted her and asked if she really wanted to go amdist all the fuss going on. They wanted her to sign something to say she no longer wanted to go. All very pressure pressure.
On my cousins advice she said she still intended to go, though she didn't.
Seems if she had said she doesn't want to go anymore they would have argued she wasn't eligible for a refund.
No idea whether it would have been or up but that they are specifically targeting older people...

[Legbiter]

It's one of my big fears if there's a London lockdown. I already know people who are thinking about going "home" to stay with their parents. I've told them that's the worst thing they can do but, we'll see - I think something similar happened when northern Italy locked down as well.

Yeah I speak to my 90 year old grandfather every day through whatsapp. He lives alone so it's nice he can see his great-grandsons even if only through a screen.

[Iormlund]

What's the plan up there in Iceland? With such a small population, wouldn't it be feasible to test you all?

[Josquius]

What's the plan up there in Iceland? With such a small population, wouldn't it be feasible to test you all?

Iirc that's what's happening?
It's why they've got the biggest number of recorded cases per capita after San Marino?

[Legbiter]

What's the plan up there in Iceland? With such a small population, wouldn't it be feasible to test you all?

Iirc that's what's happening?
It's why they've got the biggest number of recorded cases per capita after San Marino?

Yeah the plan is some hilariously naive epidemiological spreadsheet. The less said about it the better. The bits of the effort that work well are widespread testing, extremely good contact tracing and hair-trigger precautionary quarantining. We've sealed off all ours oldsters, no outside visitors allowed in hospitals and old folks homes. All it takes is one infected cleaning lady though. Schools and public gatherings are mostly shut down. Everyone who is hospitalized is getting that French malaria drug + antibiotic treatment. There is high social compliance, it's all hands on deck.

I should also mention extreme luck/God's grace so far.  No massive superspreader for instance.

[Admiral Yi]

My dad's retirement place has banned visitors, but allows residents to come and go.  Which is maybe not the brightest.

[Legbiter]

It's why they've got the biggest number of recorded cases per capita after San Marino?

Yes. We're basically doing a massive nation-wide search for the virus coupled with throwing everyone even a little bit suspicious looking into precautionary quarantine. Hence we find a lot of unreported cases. Time will tell if it's any good. Right now a big portion of the entire nation is quarantined.

[merithyn]

I'm at the local Winco right now. Paper towels and toilet paper secured. Most people are respecting the six-foot rule. Lots of gloves and masks seen.

I've decided I'm totally going to make some fun cloth masks. (CDC suggests four layers of close-knit cotton, of which I have plenty.)

If you want to make it more "surgical grade" try interposing a non-woven layer between the outer and inner cloth layers. Coffee filters might work. Or if you have some HEPA filter grade stuff laying around you could cut it into the proper shape.

You can buy masks on eBay still and get them shipped quickly. They have the stylish Asian resusable types in large supply and probably would work better than anything you could make personally. Hospitals would never use them so you're not depriving the medical system from vital materials.

There is an interface that's tightly woven and similar to coffee filters. I'll be using that as a lining between two layers of tightly woven cotton. Several make-it sites say those are as good as or better than the Chinese-made cloth masks.

I'm a crafter from way back, my friend. I have plenty of skills and materials knowledge as a cosplayer and historical recreator to bring to this. I've got this. (Plus, I do research for fun. I've already done enough over the past two hours on various medical journal sites on what materials work and which don't to probably write a paper for the CDC. )