Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Tamas]

The main issue with the people who are super happy that they had it and are now immune, is they can still physically spread the infection via their own hands and clothing to new places and to people who are vulnerable. I fear many of these newly liberated will largely drop all preventative measures.

Yes but there's no helping that I am afraid.

[Tamas]

Thanks for the summaries Sheilbh. Sounds like getting infected within the next 7 days or so would be the worst timing. We are stockpiled for a week or two and my wife's workplace is just introducing temporary digital signatures so she might not have to go in anymore. With a bit of luck, we won't be among those overflowing ICUs over capacity!

Interesting on the testkits via Amazon as well. I don't suppose the'll allow shipping to foreign addresses. My sister and her little daughter are just recovering from what seemed like a minor flu, would be interesting to know if it was this thing.

[Syt]

Daily Fail:



(They seem to have corrected the map in the meantime)

[Caliga]

 

[Sheilbh]

The main issue with the people who are super happy that they had it and are now immune, is they can still physically spread the infection via their own hands and clothing to new places and to people who are vulnerable. I fear many of these newly liberated will largely drop all preventative measures.

Yes but there's no helping that I am afraid.

I think you're probably right, I feel like in general you could ask people who test positive (hopefully loads of people) to self-isolate for 14 days. Hopefully these tests will only be made available once there's guidance from the government also ready to go.

Thanks for the summaries Sheilbh. Sounds like getting infected within the next 7 days or so would be the worst timing. We are stockpiled for a week or two and my wife's workplace is just introducing temporary digital signatures so she might not have to go in anymore. With a bit of luck, we won't be among those overflowing ICUs over capacity!

I live very close to one of London's major trauma centres. So it's got about 1,000 beds (plus private wards which will have been requisitioned) and a helipad for the air ambulance. In recent days I've noticed a lot of flights over my flat. I feel like that wouldn't normally be the approach for coronavirus patients, but I'm wondering if they're maybe trying to distribute patients within the London ICUs (and possibly nationally) so if we have capacity within the system we try to use spare capacity elsewhere? No idea if that is what's happening with the air ambulance there's just been an unusual increase.

Interesting on the testkits via Amazon as well. I don't suppose the'll allow shipping to foreign addresses. My sister and her little daughter are just recovering from what seemed like a minor flu, would be interesting to know if it was this thing.

I think it'll be a national stockpile - I've seen a few statements by Matt Hancock yesterday about the UK buying millions of tests in coming "days or weeks". So I assume it's them and they're now just verifying them - not like the Chinese tests supplied to the Czech Republic that had an 80% incorrect rate

[Tamas]

This week, due to taxiing my wife and today going out for click and collect I spent 0.5-1 hour driving around each day. On each occassion I saw at least one ambulance. To be fair, I often saw them during my regular drives pre-pandemic, but still having near-deserted roads with these ambulances going around is eerie. 

[celedhring]

340,000 people in Catalonia now included in temporary layoff schemes.

That's 10% of the workforce.

[Syt]

136,000 layoffs in Austria, or an increase of 33% of the unemployed. It's roughly 3% of the workforce.

[Gups]

Also in potentially positive news:

Professor Sharon Peacock, Director of the National Infection Service, Public Health England, says antibody test could be ready for general public to be tested in Boots or at home within days "not weeks or months". Simple finger prick test....
Prof Peacock said the tests themselves are being tested in Oxford this week. If they do work people will be able to order them via Amazon to test themselves.

So we should all be able to do this and hopefully everyone's had it and it's been super-mild/asymptomatic. Even if that's not the case it'll hopefully give researchers a far more accurate picture of this disease.

Bit more detail on that. Does sound like potentially the best bit of news we've had for quite a while

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/uk-coronavirus-mass-home-testing-to-be-made-available-within-days

[mongers]

Gups welcome back. 

Hope you and family are staying safe.

[Gups]

Gups welcome back. 

Hope you and family are staying safe.

Thanks, I did pop in a month ago briefly and have lurked a bit.

All safe and well thanks. The boy (who Shelf met when he was a baby, damn time flies) has had A-levels cancelled, he's not sure whether he's pleased or not. 

Hope everything is OK with you.

[Sheilbh]

All safe and well thanks. The boy (who Shelf met when he was a baby, damn time flies) has had A-levels cancelled, he's not sure whether he's pleased or not. 

Wow.

Have they explained what's going to happen for A-levels yet?

[mongers]

.....
. In recent days I've noticed a lot of flights over my flat. I feel like that wouldn't normally be the approach for coronavirus patients, but I'm wondering if they're maybe trying to distribute patients within the London ICUs (and possibly nationally) so if we have capacity within the system we try to use spare capacity elsewhere? No idea if that is what's happening with the air ambulance there's just been an unusual increase.

Could also in part be because we're noticing more things in this quieter world; yesterday I took note of the few aircraft I saw in the sky, wouldn't have registered normally:

Aftern. in garden HS125 twin jet, probably a FR trainer flying into Hurn.
Evening whilst shopping military puma  helicopter overhead.
In the forest, a twin prop civilian light aircraft.
At night in distance one set of lights about Bm'th airport.

Otherwise no nothing, didn't see any high-flying aircraft.

[Agelastus]

Bit more detail on that. Does sound like potentially the best bit of news we've had for quite a while

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/uk-coronavirus-mass-home-testing-to-be-made-available-within-days

Good to metaphorically "see" you Gups.

And I agree as well; this may be the best bit of news in a while.

It sounds like a test NHS workers should be taking every day, though, if I read how it works correctly - so I do wonder whether they've ordered enough for the general public as well. We have a distinct tendency towards underestimation in this country.

[Legbiter]

We're up to 737 cases, an increase of 89 since yesterday.  The CMO says everything is going according to plan. I'm beginning to wonder if what will eventually completely crash the economy here is the fact we'll be too busy burying and grieving for our deceased parents and grandparents to be productive. They still think their linear, naive epidemiological spreadsheet will always allow them near-clairvoyance to always precisely enact a slow ratcheting of control measures. The ground effort is superb, the top...not so much.

Opaque tail risk with a high chance of total ruin dosen't even cross their mind.