Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Maladict]

69 cases in San Marino 

[Sheilbh]

The number of tests done per day seems to be declining which is worrying, I suspect the NHS and 111 are a little overwhelming - plus it is still cold/flu season.

But we've done over 27,000 tests (or 350 per million which is about the same as the Netherlands) with a relatively low positive rate. That seems normal in other countries - with the exception of the US which has almost 1,000 cases but has only done (from what people can tell) about 6,000 tests.

But the track we're on is a tiny bit under-trend, but basically the same as everywhere else:


NHS, Royal Colleges and GMC have done a joint letter:

The chief medical officers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern have instructed doctors to change the way they work to deal with "very abnormal emergency situation".

In a letter they warned that the expected epidemic will be a "challenge" and exacerbate staff shortages in the NHS.

It says doctors will be required to temporarily work in "clinical areas outside their usual practice for the benefit of patients and the population as a whole".

It adds: "Clinicians may need to depart, possibly significantly, from established procedures in order to care for patients in the highly challenging time-bound circumstances of the peak of an epidemic."

[katmai]

https://apple.news/AL9TZ0OtLSs-d7G1vAAbK-Q

Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, said he expects 70 million to 150 million people in the U.S. will become infected with COVID-19, NBC News reported Wednesday.
Monahan made the comments during a closed-door meeting Tuesday that included Senate administrative office staff and personnel from both parties, but no senators, according to NBC News.

[celedhring]

Real Madrid quarantined.

Should have been done years ago. 

[Syt]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-secrecy-exclusive/exclusive-white-house-told-federal-health-agency-to-classify-coronavirus-deliberations-sources-idUSKBN20Y2LM

Exclusive: White House told federal health agency to classify coronavirus deliberations - sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government's response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials.

The officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key player in the fight against the coronavirus.

Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said.

"We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go," one official said. "These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary."

The sources said the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification."This came directly from the White House," one official said.

The White House insistence on secrecy at the nation's premier public health organization, which has not been previously disclosed, has put a lid on certain information - and potentially delayed the response to the crisis. COVID19, the disease caused by the virus, has killed about 30 people in the United States and infected more than 1,000 people.

HHS oversees a broad range of health agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which among other things is responsible for tracking cases and providing guidance nationally on the outbreaks.

The administration officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said they could not describe the interactions in the meeting room because they were classified.

An NSC spokesman did not respond to questions about the meetings at HHS. But he defended the administration's transparency across federal agencies and noted that meetings of the administration's task force on the coronavirus all are unclassified. It was not immediately clear which meetings he was referring to.

"From day one of the response to the coronavirus, NSC has insisted on the principle of radical transparency," said the spokesman, John Ullyot. He added that the administration "has cut red tape and set the global standard in protecting the American people under President Trump's leadership."

A spokeswoman for HHS, Katherine McKeogh, issued a statement that did not address questions about classified meetings. Using language that echoed the NSC's, the department said it that it agreed task-force meetings should be unclassified.

Critics have hammered the Trump administration for what they see as a delayed response to coronavirus outbreaks and a lack of transparency, including sidelining experts and providing misleading or incomplete information to the public. State and local officials also have complained of being kept in the dark about essential federal response information.

U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence, the administration's point person on coronavirus, vowed on March 3 to offer "real-time information in a steady pace and be fully transparent." The vice president, appointed by President Donald Trump in late February, is holding regular news briefings and also has pledged to rely on expert guidance. Katie Miller, Pence's press secretary, said Wednesday that since being appointed the vice president has never requested that HHS hold meetings in the SCIF or treat information as classified.

The meetings at HHS were held in a secure area called a "Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility," or SCIF, according to the administration officials.

SCIFs are usually reserved for intelligence and military operations. Ordinary cell phones and computers can't be brought into the chambers. HHS has SCIFs because theoretically it would play a major role in biowarfare or chemical attacks.

A high-level former official who helped address public health outbreaks in the George W. Bush administration said "it's not normal to classify discussions about a response to a public health crisis."

Attendees at the meetings included HHS Secretary Alex Azar and his chief of staff Brian Harrison, the officials said. Azar and Harrison resisted the classification of the meetings, the sources said.

HHS did not make Azar or Harrison available for comment.

One of the administration officials told Reuters that when complex issues about a quarantine came up, a high-ranking HHS lawyer with expertise on the issue was not admitted because he did not have the proper security clearance. His input was delayed and offered at an unclassified meeting, the official said.

A fifth source familiar with the meetings said HHS staffers often weren't informed about coronavirus developments because they didn't have adequate clearance. He said he was told that the matters were classified "because it had to do with China."

The coronavirus epidemic originated in China and the administration's main focus to prevent spread early on was to restrict travel by non-U.S. citizens coming from China and to authorize the quarantine of people entering the United States who may have been exposed to the virus.

One of the administration officials suggested the security clearances for meetings at HHS were imposed not to protect national security but to keep the information within a tight circle, to prevent leaks.

"It seemed to be a tool for the White House - for the NSC - to keep participation in these meetings low," the official said.

Two Democratic senators, both senior members of the Intelligence Committee expressed dismay Wednesday in statements to Reuters.

"Pandemics demand transparency and competence," said Mark Warner of Virginia. "Classification authority should never be abused in order to hide what the government is doing, or not doing, just to satisfy domestic political concerns."

Ron Wyden of Oregon said: "The executive branch needs to immediately come forward and explain whether the White House hid information from the American people as a result of bogus classification."

[Tamas]

Trump's reelection chances >>>> controlling a pandemic

[Tamas]

Real Madrid quarantined.

Should have been done years ago. 

[Tamas]

The number of tests done per day seems to be declining which is worrying, I suspect the NHS and 111 are a little overwhelming - plus it is still cold/flu season.

But we've done over 27,000 tests (or 350 per million which is about the same as the Netherlands) with a relatively low positive rate. That seems normal in other countries - with the exception of the US which has almost 1,000 cases but has only done (from what people can tell) about 6,000 tests.

But the track we're on is a tiny bit under-trend, but basically the same as everywhere else:


NHS, Royal Colleges and GMC have done a joint letter:

The chief medical officers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern have instructed doctors to change the way they work to deal with "very abnormal emergency situation".

In a letter they warned that the expected epidemic will be a "challenge" and exacerbate staff shortages in the NHS.

It says doctors will be required to temporarily work in "clinical areas outside their usual practice for the benefit of patients and the population as a whole".

It adds: "Clinicians may need to depart, possibly significantly, from established procedures in order to care for patients in the highly challenging time-bound circumstances of the peak of an epidemic."

Thanks!

[celedhring]

Honestly, it would help the situation if our dear leaders didn't look like they are flip-flopping as events catch up on them. They look like deers caught in the headlights.

Catalan councilor of Education yesterday: "We aren't closing schools"
Today: Catalonia closes schools.

[Tamas]

People are fucking stupid and selfish.

In Paris the show goes on, as smaller concert halls find creative ways to get round France's ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

While Madonna cancelled the last dates of her tour in Paris, the US rock band Nada Surfgot got round the ban by playing the same Paris concert twice in one evening.

La Cigale concert hall, where the band performed, is among several smaller venues to have resorted to asking bands to play one set starting at 7 or 7.30pm and another at 9 or 9.30pm, with no opening act.

The concert hall, which has a capacity of 1,500, asked ticket holders who could come to the early show to make every effort to do so, so that as many people as possible could be sure to see one of the performances.

The veteran Irish singer Van Morrison also played two shows in Paris's Olympia concert hall, which has a capacity of 1,900, on Tuesday evening to get around the crowd limit, and other venues holding fewer than 2,000 spectators are taking similar steps.

It is unclear, however, how long the strategy will continue to work as President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announced stricter containment measures when he addresses the nation on Thursday evening.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah I find that stuff about people who know they have it but choose to go ahead with events/plans absolutely enraging.

It may be my Scottish childhood showing, but we really need a mechanism to publicly shame them. Like the old cutty school outside the Kirk for sinners to sit on.

[garbon]

Trump's reelection chances >>>> controlling a pandemic

But won't the latter tank the former?

[Tamas]

Yeah I find that stuff about people who know they have it but choose to go ahead with events/plans absolutely enraging.

It may be my Scottish childhood showing, but we really need a mechanism to publicly shame them. Like the old cutty school outside the Kirk for sinners to sit on.

We have a mechanism it is called Twitter.

[Syt]

Honestly, it would help the situation if our dear leaders didn't look like they are flip-flopping as events catch up on them. They look like deers caught in the headlights.

Catalan councilor of Education yesterday: "We aren't closing schools"
Today: Catalonia closes schools.

So far the Austrian politicians look surprisingly competent. They basically don't rule out anything, warn that things will likely get a lot worse before they get better, and usually give a bit of a heads up of the measures being contemplated. I think they were a bit slow at the start, but have come around now.

[Tamas]

Trump's reelection chances >>>> controlling a pandemic

But won't the latter tank the former?

Only if it gets so bad by election time that Fox News can't hide it anymore.


But yeah what's probably happening instead is Trump can't handle criticism and only people who are absolutely subservient to him remain around him, and then they hire similar people around them etc. These people will move without order from the Orange God to suppress dissenting voices, since to allow those voices is to be seen as disloyal and thus worthless.

It is everyday reality in eastern dictatorships.