Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Fate]

I don't have solutions. I don't see a european style shut down being at all sustainable however, and the current system doesn't seem like it will be effective.

Places will implement total shutdowns when the local hospitals get overwhelmed.

The point being: I don't know that hospitals are far from "overwhelmed" status in normal times.

How often do you hear about news stories where the local hospital has no PPE to protect its staff or of a wealthy place like Lombardia (or NYC in 10 days) where they're unable to give ventilators to all patients who need them?

This is orders of magnitude different than any normal week at a busy inner city hospital.

[Zanza]

Lock down alone won't solve this as it cannot be sustained long. We need post lock down plans around massively improved public hygiene, fast and efficient contact tracing, quarantines for foreign travellers, more and faster test capacities, continued social distancing where necessary etc.
The lock down makes sense now to control the initial outbreak, but we need a longer term view on how to fight this virus in the next year or two...

[Legbiter]

Yeah, I'm not terribly optimistic we'll avoid total health care blowup either. It is obscene how contagious it is and even with functional contact tracing and quarantine you're still almost only playing catchup as of 2 weeks ago.

We'll need ubiquitous masks for the public and fast testing to be able to get back to semi-functionality while we wait for a vaccine.

[Admiral Yi]

Just got back from my very easy to schedule grocery pick up. 

Lots of people still shopping in the store.  I asked the grocery dude if they were masking and he said they just don't have any.  His spirits seemed pretty good and I told him I appreciate the work they all are doing.  None of the people I saw walking in and out were masked.

Heard on NPR that somebody ranked states by virus response, Iowa got #2 after Wisconsin.

We're getting about 15-25 new cases a day in the state.  [Meri] But that's because we're not testing.[/Meri]

Saw a number of people out walking by themselves, then near home I see 4 teens walking together.  <social shaming>

[Sheilbh]

Lock down alone won't solve this as it cannot be sustained long. We need post lock down plans around massively improved public hygiene, fast and efficient contact tracing, quarantines for foreign travellers, more and faster test capacities, continued social distancing where necessary etc.
The lock down makes sense now to control the initial outbreak, but we need a longer term view on how to fight this virus in the next year or two...

Totally agree and I feel we need to work out how to do that without long-term instituting of the sort of surveillance and police powers that may be necessary at this point and for a short period of time to control this.

But I thinkt there'll be a base level of control measures that's going to last for a while.

[Admiral Yi]

They substituted store brand luncheon meat for Spam. 

[Legbiter]

In lighter news...

A man thought aquarium cleaner with the same name as the anti-viral drug chloroquine would prevent coronavirus. It killed him.

In Maricopa County, Ariz., a couple in their 60s watched politicians and news anchors on TV tout chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that has shown the ability to disrupt some viruses but that has not yet been proved effective against the novel coronavirus.

That pharmaceutical name matched the label on a bottle of chemicals they used to clean their koi pond, NBC News reported. The fish tank solvent that treats aquatic parasites contains the same active ingredient as the drug, but in a different form that can poison people.

"I saw it sitting on the back shelf and thought, 'Hey, isn't that the stuff they're talking about on TV?' " the wife, who was not named, told the network. "We were afraid of getting sick."

The couple reportedly poured some of the fish tank cleaning chemical, chloroquine phosphate, into soda and drank it.

The experiment has been done. Fish tank cleaner not efficacious against covid-19 under any circumstances.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/24/coronavirus-chloroquine-poisoning-death/

[fromtia]

Figures from the Health Secretary that now over 11,000 recently retired clinicians have volunteered to return the NHS which is very heartening - as mongers said the opposite of the selfish and hoarding behaviour we've seen elsewhere.

Also 5,500 final year medical students and about 19,000 final year student nurses are being rushed through and into hospitals. It's probably not enought but it is about another 35,000 staff on their way which is positive.

The London Excell Centre - a conference centre - is being converted by the military into a new 500 bed hospital at the moment and should apparently be open next week. Hopefully London's hospitals have capacity until it's online and receiving patients.

Edit: But it will be close - latest report I saw was that London's estimated to be four days from full capacity Hopefully that can be avoided.

There's more to patriotism than soldiers, planes and foreign wars. 

[Threviel]

I heard on the rumour mill that Barcelona is especially unsafe nowadays. Supposedly the criminals that normally target tourists are desperate and Barcelona is outright dangerous at night, even for the natives.

[Josquius]

In lighter news...

A man thought aquarium cleaner with the same name as the anti-viral drug chloroquine would prevent coronavirus. It killed him.

In Maricopa County, Ariz., a couple in their 60s watched politicians and news anchors on TV tout chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that has shown the ability to disrupt some viruses but that has not yet been proved effective against the novel coronavirus.

That pharmaceutical name matched the label on a bottle of chemicals they used to clean their koi pond, NBC News reported. The fish tank solvent that treats aquatic parasites contains the same active ingredient as the drug, but in a different form that can poison people.

"I saw it sitting on the back shelf and thought, 'Hey, isn't that the stuff they're talking about on TV?' " the wife, who was not named, told the network. "We were afraid of getting sick."

The couple reportedly poured some of the fish tank cleaning chemical, chloroquine phosphate, into soda and drank it.

The experiment has been done. Fish tank cleaner not efficacious against covid-19 under any circumstances.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/24/coronavirus-chloroquine-poisoning-death/

So...Trump is really stepping up how directly he kills people.

[Sheilbh]

A man thought aquarium cleaner with the same name as the anti-viral drug chloroquine would prevent coronavirus. It killed him.

In Maricopa County, Ariz., a couple in their 60s watched politicians and news anchors on TV tout chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that has shown the ability to disrupt some viruses but that has not yet been proved effective against the novel coronavirus.

That pharmaceutical name matched the label on a bottle of chemicals they used to clean their koi pond, NBC News reported. The fish tank solvent that treats aquatic parasites contains the same active ingredient as the drug, but in a different form that can poison people.

"I saw it sitting on the back shelf and thought, 'Hey, isn't that the stuff they're talking about on TV?' " the wife, who was not named, told the network. "We were afraid of getting sick."

The couple reportedly poured some of the fish tank cleaning chemical, chloroquine phosphate, into soda and drank it.

This seems cowardly - or am I wrong in thinking that only Trump is touting this?

[merithyn]

Just got back from my very easy to schedule grocery pick up. 

Lots of people still shopping in the store.  I asked the grocery dude if they were masking and he said they just don't have any.  His spirits seemed pretty good and I told him I appreciate the work they all are doing.  None of the people I saw walking in and out were masked.

Heard on NPR that somebody ranked states by virus response, Iowa got #2 after Wisconsin.

We're getting about 15-25 new cases a day in the state.  [Meri] But that's because we're not testing.[/Meri]

Saw a number of people out walking by themselves, then near home I see 4 teens walking together.  <social shaming>

I'm not the only one saying that, but yeah, let's be real about this. The US is orders of magnitudes behind other countries in testing. Even those with obvious symptoms aren't being tested. The tests just aren't out there to use, and the labs can't process more than 80-100 each day anyway. That hasn't changed in a week.

[HisMajestyBOB]

In lighter news...

A man thought aquarium cleaner with the same name as the anti-viral drug chloroquine would prevent coronavirus. It killed him.

In Maricopa County, Ariz., a couple in their 60s watched politicians and news anchors on TV tout chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that has shown the ability to disrupt some viruses but that has not yet been proved effective against the novel coronavirus.

That pharmaceutical name matched the label on a bottle of chemicals they used to clean their koi pond, NBC News reported. The fish tank solvent that treats aquatic parasites contains the same active ingredient as the drug, but in a different form that can poison people.

"I saw it sitting on the back shelf and thought, 'Hey, isn't that the stuff they're talking about on TV?' " the wife, who was not named, told the network. "We were afraid of getting sick."

The couple reportedly poured some of the fish tank cleaning chemical, chloroquine phosphate, into soda and drank it.

The experiment has been done. Fish tank cleaner not efficacious against covid-19 under any circumstances.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/24/coronavirus-chloroquine-poisoning-death/

Actually, it is very effective against the virus if you take enough of it. Much like cyanide, arsenic, and, say, 10,000 degree heat.  But not recommended if you want to survive the treatment.

[Legbiter]

It's being used here in combination with an antibiotic following some French protocol that seemed to work very well. In normal times this would never have been done but a lot of standard practice is being jettisoned for any sort of direct hospital therapeutic.

[celedhring]

I heard on the rumour mill that Barcelona is especially unsafe nowadays. Supposedly the criminals that normally target tourists are desperate and Barcelona is outright dangerous at night, even for the natives.

You might want to stop buying flour from that particular mill. Crime has fallen 70% since the quarantine began. For obvious reasons.