Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Fate]

Canada has around 3.5k ICU beds across the country. If 10% of cases are severe (requiring intubation) the breaking point for hospitals would be around 35,000 diagnosed cases. They can surge more ICU beds and squeak out some more leeway. So far Italy increased ICU capacity by about 20% across the country.

However you don't have 0% ICU occupancy right now because people get sick for other reasons and use the current beds. 24k probably ain't a bad guess.

[Admiral Yi]

Asoka.

Is the important distinction between ICU and normal bed the presence of a ventilator, or are there other special magical medicine powers involved?

[Fate]

It's a decent short hand for talking about the amount of critical care resources a medical system has which would include the # of ventilators but also the # of ICU physicians, the # of ICU nurses, and the # of respiratory therapists. We could put a bunch of ventilators in normal hospital rooms, which is going to happen, but we can't just create 50% more highly skilled ICU staff overnight.

China basically did the latter though. The state had the power to ship essentially an unlimited number of docs, therapists, and nurses to Hubei province.

[Admiral Yi]

Just did my online grocery ordering, first time slot available for *pickup* is 11:00 AM Monday.

[Tamas]

Just did my online grocery ordering, first time slot available for *pickup* is 11:00 AM Monday.

Lucky bastard.

[Admiral Yi]

Lucky bastard.

Seriously?  For pickup?  I could see for delivery, but I thought pickup would be quicker.

[Tamas]

Mate, over here I can't get a pickup slot to 3 weeks in advance.

[Admiral Yi]

Jimminy Cricket

[Zanza]

First assisted living home in Germany hit and nine dead within days. That should answer those conspiracies that Germany counts fatalities differently. So far, we were just lucky (earlier, broader tests, much younger infected age groups, hospitals not yet overburdened).

[Richard Hakluyt]

I've been assuming that Germany is simply managing to catch a higher proportion of people with moderate symptoms. So the UK has fewer cases than Germany but more deaths? I don't think so, it is more that we have an insufficient testing rollout and thus underestimate the prevalence of the virus.

[Tamas]

I've been assuming that Germany is simply managing to catch a higher proportion of people with moderate symptoms. So the UK has fewer cases than Germany but more deaths? I don't think so, it is more that we have an insufficient testing rollout and thus underestimate the prevalence of the virus.

Yes.

Also not to beat a dead horse, but I guess since we moved in less than two weeks from "yeah we know about Italy, just wash your hands, it's fine" to "pubs are closed" we can declare the early UK response a failure and wasted time.

[Syt]

So, a reporter threw Trump a real softball question, about with 14k people infected and 200 dead, what he would like to say to those in America who are scared right now.

Instead of leaping at the opportunity to say something inspiring or positive, Trump said the guy was a bad reporter, that it was a nasty question and went on another rant about how badly the media is treating him. 

[Eddie Teach]

I don't think many people are looking to Trump for inspiration.

[Tamas]

So, a reporter threw Trump a real softball question, about with 14k people infected and 200 dead, what he would like to say to those in America who are scared right now.

Instead of leaping at the opportunity to say something inspiring or positive, Trump said the guy was a bad reporter, that it was a nasty question and went on another rant about how badly the media is treating him. 

I mean, this situation would be a terrible strain on leaders with actual talent and the abilities to deal with it. Imagine if the only thing you were good at was to throw your feces at other people, and suddenly you are expected to be in charge of 300 million people fighting a pandemic. It's tough!

[celedhring]

I've been assuming that Germany is simply managing to catch a higher proportion of people with moderate symptoms. So the UK has fewer cases than Germany but more deaths? I don't think so, it is more that we have an insufficient testing rollout and thus underestimate the prevalence of the virus.

Same here, really. Our authorities have admitted as such and are trying to roll out faster testing procedures (we have some drive-thru testing sites up and running in some areas). Labs are a big bottleneck though - I think Italy is having the same issue.

This is going to be a bad week. Madrid health care seems to have reached the breaking point. They have added beds like crazy but some hospitals are overwhelmed and it's going to get worse in the next few days. Deaths in Catalonia are also rising faster than the country average, which is why our dear leaders are trying to deflect blame to Madrid and using it as yet another reason to demand independence. Cunts.