Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[merithyn]

PM just announced that schools will open Tuesday after Easter (up to 5th grade), day care centers will open as well. Also, the ban on large gatherings will be in effect until August cancelling all the festivals this summer.

Maybe this is to try and get kids and (younger) parents infected as they have been talking a lot about herd immunity lately.

That's pretty awful.

[Josquius]

So lovely the British government decides to lie again. Telling public that Boris was only in as a precautionary measure...and yet now he's been moved to intensive care.

Wow.
I can't seriously wish death even on a slime bag like that.
But I do hope the resources being put into keeping him alive are the same that anyone else would get. If someone else dies because of his idiocy...

[merithyn]

So lovely the British government decides to lie again. Telling public that Boris was only in as a precautionary measure...and yet now he's been moved to intensive care.

Wow.
I can't seriously wish death even on a slime bag like that.
But I do hope the resources being put into keeping him alive are the same that anyone else would get. If someone else dies because of his idiocy...

Not this death. I can't wish this death on anyone.

[bogh]

PM just announced that schools will open Tuesday after Easter (up to 5th grade), day care centers will open as well. Also, the ban on large gatherings will be in effect until August cancelling all the festivals this summer.

Maybe this is to try and get kids and (younger) parents infected as they have been talking a lot about herd immunity lately.

That's pretty awful.

Reopening schools and daycares is all about freeing up the parents - in order to get the reduce the drag on the economy. Our health care sector can withstand a significantly higher infection rate than the current one, so a relaxation makes sense (yes, we could keep the thing at bay forever doing this, but our society would crash completely). This is probably the area that will have the biggest (indirect) impact on productivity. The government has flat out denied that herd immunity is the chosen strategy, BTW - but it's hard to see other ways to resolve this ultimately.

[Liep]

Reopening schools and daycares is all about freeing up the parents - in order to get the reduce the drag on the economy. Our health care sector can withstand a significantly higher infection rate than the current one, so a relaxation makes sense (yes, we could keep the thing at bay forever doing this, but our society would crash completely). This is probably the area that will have the biggest (indirect) impact on productivity. The government has flat out denied that herd immunity is the chosen strategy, BTW - but it's hard to see other ways to resolve this ultimately.

Indeed, if this is all they open and it seems to be so until May then it'll be hard to infect enough to talk about herd immunity. So it seems like a controlled opening instead.

[Gups]

So lovely the British government decides to lie again. Telling public that Boris was only in as a precautionary measure...and yet now he's been moved to intensive care.

Wow.
I can't seriously wish death even on a slime bag like that.
But I do hope the resources being put into keeping him alive are the same that anyone else would get. If someone else dies because of his idiocy...

Big of you

[Sheilbh]

Just watching the news and this is one of those moments where it doesn't quite feel real. I'm sure it will tomorrow but at the minute this it feels like news clips in a film like Contagion or something - like when there was footage of field hospitals being built in Central Park.

[The Larch]

Facemasks become mandatory in public from next week (not sure where people are supposed to get masks, but ok ...)

There are a ton of cottage industry cloth mask makers in my circle of friends right now. They're making them and selling them at cost. I have one friend who does fabric stamping and design, so she's going to make a bunch of fabric and send it to me. I'll sew them up into masks, and send half out to her and keep the other half. My half I'll donate to my local grocery store.

Do you follow some kind of sanitary standard for mask making? IIRC over here there were some concerns about homemade masks and how they didn't really protect from disseminating CV19, as they didn't really block sneezing. I believe the simpler sanitary ones (without special filters, like the FFP2 and FFP3 ones) are 2-3 layers of interwoven cloth of some particular specification. You can do a simple homemade test with a spray to see if it's really effective at blocking.

These aren't N95-level of protection, but using three layers of poly-cotton tightly woven fabric gives around 70% protection while still allowing you to breathe comfortably. That's why I'm not rushing to make any for the hospitals, but am making them for others on the front lines, so to speak. Every little bit helps.

Sure, if you don't have access to one it's better than anything, but I don't think that hospitals should be supplied with homemade stuff, no matter how good the intentions or skills of the makers are (unless the alternative is not having anything, that is). Medical professionals should wear the proper ones, but homemade ones can be a nice option for others that don't need such a high level of protection.

[Sheilbh]

Sort of strange seering Huw Edwards (news presenter for BBC News at 10) who was in hospital with this until yesterday presenting tonight with this lead story

[merithyn]

Sure, if you don't have access to one it's better than anything, but I don't think that hospitals should be supplied with homemade stuff, no matter how good the intentions or skills of the makers are (unless the alternative is not having anything, that is). Medical professionals should wear the proper ones, but homemade ones can be a nice option for others that don't need such a high level of protection.

I was responding to Syt asking how people can get masks to meet the public requirement.

[Razgovory]

So lovely the British government decides to lie again. Telling public that Boris was only in as a precautionary measure...and yet now he's been moved to intensive care.

Wow.
I can't seriously wish death even on a slime bag like that.
But I do hope the resources being put into keeping him alive are the same that anyone else would get. If someone else dies because of his idiocy...

Not this death. I can't wish this death on anyone.

Yeah, I thought that as well, but I'm kind of moving in that direction.  Like that shitbag preacher in Florida who was telling his congregation that they couldn't get Covid-19 while in his church.

[Iormlund]

My sister and mother are making masks with two layers of cloth and room in between for paper. That's essentially what proper masks are, cellulose between cloth.

For stopping power apparently vacuum bag material is best, but I did the spray test with toilet paper and a couple sheets stops anything from visibly passing through.

[mongers]

My sister and mother are making masks with two layers of cloth and room in between for paper. That's essentially what proper masks are, cellulose between cloth.

For stopping power apparently vacuum bag material is best, but I did the spray test with toilet paper and a couple sheets stops anything from visibly passing through.

Good to know.

[celedhring]

Cool, as opposed to face masks, toilet paper is widely available.

[11B4V]

PM just announced that schools will open Tuesday after Easter (up to 5th grade), day care centers will open as well. Also, the ban on large gatherings will be in effect until August cancelling all the festivals this summer.

Maybe this is to try and get kids and (younger) parents infected as they have been talking a lot about herd immunity lately.

That's pretty awful.

Governor of Washington just closed school for the rest of this year.