Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[celedhring]

Russia and Brazil are looking really bad too. Time for those strong leaders to step up to the plate and, oh wait.

Lethality rate in Russia will also be inflated by all the unfortunate accidents of doctors and whisteblowers.

[Admiral Yi]

Got a letter from the IRS today signed by Donald Trump, in case those people who have direct deposit didn't know who they were supposed to thank.

[Monoriu]

I am a little surprised by the situation in the UK.  I thought they would be in same category as Germany, South Korea and New Zealand, coming out of this crisis as victors and suffering relatively few deaths.  It now looks like they are in the same boat as Italy and Spain, some of the worst performers.  I thought the UK would be good at this sort of thing, with their healthcare, technology, and good governance.   

[Eddie Teach]

good governance.

You haven't been paying much attention the last few years.

[Josquius]

I am a little surprised by the situation in the UK.  I thought they would be in same category as Germany, South Korea and New Zealand, coming out of this crisis as victors and suffering relatively few deaths.  It now looks like they are in the same boat as Italy and Spain, some of the worst performers.  I thought the UK would be good at this sort of thing, with their healthcare, technology, and good governance.   

And thats with the gift of having Italy and Spain's prior experience to learn from.
Just imagine we got it before them....

[Sheilbh]

Things don't look good in the US...

Not just new cases either. I know deaths are a lagging indicator but I understand they're declining in NY but there's still, at best, a plateau in deaths in the US overall.

[Sheilbh]

However its in development as a standard.
This seems the best way to go. What of for instance border communities having to use two different apps? One would be more sensible.

Most countries are developing their own apps. The countries that are following the decentralised model are incorporating work from the Apple/Google model. But for example Italy and Germany are developing their own apps based on the decentralised models (Germany recently switched horses).

But you're right I think a European base would have made more sense as it's not sure if the two systems can really talk to each other. My understanding is it's reasonably easy to set up for apps on one model to talk to other apps on the same model, the issue is between the two models. So on the centralised model you'll have the UK, France, Norway, I think Ireland (so probably not an issue for our border communities) and others, I think Spain too. On the decentralised model there is Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and others such as Estonia. I understand that there is talk at political levels to make sure they can all work together but I'm not sure how that's working technically.

The French have been pretty blunt in attacking Apple for not helping with apps that don't follow the model Apple like. Their digital minister basically said Apple could have helped, but chose not to and France will remember that when the time is right. They also said it is the responsibility of European governments/public health authorities to determine the response to the pandemic, not two American tech companies.

But as I say the advantage is the centralised is up and running - it's already in use in Norway, the French and the British versions were announced ready for testing on the same day. I think ability to get something in place is a virtue at the minute.

I'm pretty sure I recall reading the google/apple one though mostly working locally will also share basic information with the government?
TBH its not something I've paid overly much attention to.

My understanding is it doesn't because the processing around who you've been in contact with is done on-device. So the information doesn't go through a central server. This is better from a privacy perspective (but the privacy flaw of the centralised system is a design feature - they want to be able to identify outbreaks/do public health research with the information), but arguably worse from a security perspective especially because Bluetooth isn't great for that already.

As I say from a privacy and security perspective I think it seems pretty finely balanced - but I am always suspicious of Google/Apple posing as defenders of privacy because they do that regularly and then you discover they've been siphoning off a lot of the data anyway. It seems to make sense to go with the project that is quickest to develop and roll out, and there probably are benefits around being able to track on an agggregated level what's going on. So I'd probably lean towards a centralised model, but it's not clear one side is better.

The thing I find weird is the British exceptionalism in the reporting, which seems to indicate that either we're the only country smart enough to be developing an app or the only country stupid enough to develop it on this model. Neither is true and we'd be far better off if there was actually a bit more reporting on what other countries are doing/the issues they're experiencing.

[The Larch]

The Spanish parlament is currently debating the prorrogation of the state of alarm and it all points to its continuation, after some last minute deals yesterday, but the debate is being... bizarre. The highlight might be VOX claiming to champion the LGBTQ community and PP quoting Orwell.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Things don't look good in the US...

The perfect time to wrap everything up, disband the task forces, stop testing, and get back to work.

[The Larch]

Also, in  news...

Professor researching Covid-19 was killed in an apparent murder-suicide, officials say

(CNN)A University of Pittsburgh professor on the verge of making "very significant findings" researching Covid-19, according to the university, was shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide over the weekend, police said.

The research assistant professor, identified as Bing Liu, was found in his townhouse Saturday with gunshot wounds to the head, neck, torso and extremities, according to the Ross Police Department.

Investigators believe an unidentified second man, who was found dead in his car, shot and killed Liu in his home before returning to his car and taking his own life.

Police believe the men knew each other, but say there is "zero indication that there was targeting due to his (Liu) being Chinese," according to Detective Sgt. Brian Kohlhepp.

The university issued a statement saying it is "deeply saddened by the tragic death of Bing Liu, a prolific researcher and admired colleague at Pitt. The University extends our deepest sympathies to Liu's family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time."
"Bing was on the verge of making very significant findings toward understanding the cellular mechanisms that underlie SARS-CoV-2 infection and the cellular basis of the following complications," his colleagues at the university's Department of Computational and Systems Biology said in a statement.

Members of the university's School of Medicine describe their former colleague as an outstanding researcher and mentor, and have pledged to complete Liu's research "in an effort to pay homage to his scientific excellence."

[Sheilbh]

The Spanish parlament is currently debating the prorrogation of the state of alarm and it all points to its continuation, after some last minute deals yesterday, but the debate is being... bizarre. The highlight might be VOX claiming to champion the LGBTQ community and PP quoting Orwell.

I also saw the VOX leader accusing the government of killing far more than certain Civil War massacres which is quite the comparison

[Valmy]

Things don't look good in the US...

Yet we are ending the lockdown in most states this month...

[Caliga]

Things don't look good in the US...

Yet we are ending the lockdown in most states this month...

I think many people just aren't going to listen until they start getting sick, their friends and family start getting sick and dying, etc.

It's like the company I work for... nobody in management listens to anything until there's a crisis, so sometimes in order to get them to pay attention and cooperate, you just have to let a crisis happen.

[The Larch]

The Spanish parlament is currently debating the prorrogation of the state of alarm and it all points to its continuation, after some last minute deals yesterday, but the debate is being... bizarre. The highlight might be VOX claiming to champion the LGBTQ community and PP quoting Orwell.

I also saw the VOX leader accusing the government of killing far more than certain Civil War massacres which is quite the comparison

It's also funny because one of the usual lines of our hard and far right against the left is accusing it of being obsessed with the civil war. Just goes to show that absolute shamelessness has become an integral part of the discourse of the populist right.

[mongers]

I am a little surprised by the situation in the UK.  I thought they would be in same category as Germany, South Korea and New Zealand, coming out of this crisis as victors and suffering relatively few deaths.  It now looks like they are in the same boat as Italy and Spain, some of the worst performers.  I thought the UK would be good at this sort of thing, with their healthcare, technology, and good governance.