Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[merithyn]

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.

[mongers]

Here we're pretty much holding steady. We now have almost 1600 cases, almost 40 people are hospitalized and 4 people have died. All were elderly with a laundry list of ailments. The virus has popped up in a couple of retirement homes so that's very concerning. The strain on the health system is starting to be noted. By next week we'll have tested 10% of the entire nation.

War analogies come to mind, defences holding off the probing attacks?

[Legbiter]

Yeah Sheilbh, doctors here treating corona patients are saying it's not behaving only like regular pneumonia with complications but almost like high-altitude pulmonary edema as well. The virus is fucking with the red blood cell uptake of oxygen as well or something to that effect. One patient yesterday who died had just been taken off ventilator and then rapidly went downhill again.

[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.

[DGuller]

From what I've read, everything is a matter of degree.  Even if the mask doesn't protect you 100%, it protects you sometimes, and even when it doesn't it may still decrease the viral load you take in or put out.

[Liep]

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.

[Legbiter]

From what I've read, everything is a matter of degree.  Even if the mask doesn't protect you 100%, it protects you sometimes, and even when it doesn't it may still decrease the viral load you take in or put out.

Yeah even just a scarf is better than nothing. I really dislike this lying to the public for supply shortage reason.

[Liep]

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.

And...

Limit on 10 people gathered, closed borders, restricted travels until May 10 at least

[Barrister]

Here's a charming tidbit from NYC city council member Mark Levine.

On the average day in NYC pre-pandemic, they would get 20-25 deaths at home per day.  Now, it's 200-215.  Every day.  They don't have the testing resources, so these deceaseds are not being tested for coronavirus, and are not reflected in the city's 3000 deaths due to covid-19.

https://twitter.com/MarkLevineNYC/status/1247155043171741696

[Liep]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care after his condition worsened, Downing Street has said.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-prime-minister-boris-johnson-moved-to-intensive-care-after-condition-worsens-11969587

[garbon]

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.

[Tamas]

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.

The stupid fuck refused to relinquish power even for a week and might die because of it.

[Valmy]

Damn. I sure hope he recovers. That blows me away that a British PM would be in that kind of position. I guess I just figured people like him had a full time medical staff around him.

[Sheilbh]

Damn. I sure hope he recovers. That blows me away that a British PM would be in that kind of position. I guess I just figured people like him had a full time medical staff around him.

There's form. Lloyd George possibly had Spanish flu - he certainly had severe flu and was not functioning for big chunks of 1918. Churchill had a stroke and was basically incapicitated in 1953-4, the Cabinet basically kept it all very sequel (MacMillan in his memoirs describes it as quite a fun conspiracy). Eden was on a lot of drugs before and during Suez and was basically medically unfit for office - he makes JFK's pharmacy look light. Even recently Tony Blair didn't want his heart issues made public because of the fear of Gordon Brown and allies taking advantage ("the leader's incapicitated, launch the coup").

We're not a million miles from the US in the 50s when it comes to reporting health issues of the PM (edit: maybe even earlier? The White House was uprfront about Ike's heart attack). There's nothing like a Number 10 doctor or an annual health check up. But then this is a country where within the last 100 years the King's doctor killed the King early so it would be in the Times and not the (less-reputable) evening papers.

Given the questions and lack of clarity today, I think the government now need to be as tranpsparent as they can be about this (respecting Johnson's confidentiality/privacy) and also make it clear that Raab is now stepping in as acting PM until Johnson is, hopefully, fully recovered.

[merithyn]

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.