Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Josquius]

I never cease to be amazed that Sweden of all countries proved to be europes idiot.

Wait for the epidemic to pass before making judgments,

True. Leicester did win the premier league that time afterall. I wouldn't put money on it though.

[Tamas]

A minor issue in the grander scheme of things but it was just highlighted how controversial the publication of Covid fatality data is in Hungary, not sure if any other country doing it like this.

Basically, they make a full list public daily, it is anonymous, but it lists age and pretty much ALL other medical conditions, including absolutely unrelated stuff like if they were treated for depression.

To me that feels like looking for excuse as in "look they would have died anyway".

This is an issue when the age make it obvious to identify them. For example the fairly young British diplomat who died a couple of months ago was super-easy to identify and thus get medical history on.

The more recent example was the death of a beloved TV personality at age 102. He was a sort of "gardener of the nation" a very positive and kind personality who was a horticulturalist who spent decades offering advice on TV and remained active via Facebook up until fairly recently.

So, because not that many people live to 102 it wasn't hard for people to get his medical background this way when he showed up among the Covid casualties. As an aside, his family is convinced he caught it in the hospital because he allegedly had no symptoms before getting in there due to other reasons. But who knows.

This 102 years old guy is quite a story himself BTW. His Jewish family had a mid-size farm before WW2, out of his extended family only him and and one of his sisters survived the concentration camps. While still abroad following being liberated from the camp he was urged to go the USA but decided to go back home. After surviving the nazi regime he was harassed by the communist one, as the family farm made him an evil oppressor of the peasantry (a kulak). He suffered a lot of indignities and couldn't get a job in his field, but then sort of managed to get back to his field of expertise via journalism, his gardening articles proved so popular he published some books and then came TV. I have found it pretty amazing he could maintain the positive personality he showed despite the horrors he went through.

[The Brain]

AFAIK what you describe would be illegal in Sweden. Not gardening and being a great guy, the other stuff.

[Josquius]

I've noticed far right trolls online love following this path when they decide to downplay corona. Completely warping numbers to say only the 3000 (or whatever) deaths that had absolutely zero underlying conditions are actual corona deaths. Person with mild eczma dies of corona? It was eczma.

[Tamas]

I've noticed far right trolls online love following this path when they decide to downplay corona. Completely warping numbers to say only the 3000 (or whatever) deaths that had absolutely zero underlying conditions are actual corona deaths. Person with mild eczma dies of corona? It was eczma.

The earlier mentioned Spanish result of supposedly finding the virus in 1.5 years old poo have seems to given a bit of ammunition to the sceptics.

[Razgovory]

There are a plethora of other long-terms effects apart from dying. We're getting new information daily about lung scarring, pancreas shutting down, circulation problems etc etc ad nauseam.

Taking it on the chin is a terrible idea. Being careful until the vaccine arrives is the way to go. The US is fucked up either way currently, there is community spread in too many places.

My brother got this sickness several months ago.  He has never fully recovered.  He still is short of breath and is resigned to the fact that his lungs might be permanently damaged.

[Iormlund]

It's disturbing on many levels.  It maybe indicate that even among seriously sick immunity won't stick.  If that's the conclusion, then maybe taking it on the chin is the only strategy that will work?

Taking it on the chin solves nothing if there is no lasting immunity.  The virus will keep on jumping from population to population, unless you plan to inoculate every human being in a matter of weeks (killing millions in the process).

[The Minsky Moment]

I think taking on the chin means accepting the virus will become endemic and that absent a vaccine a bunch of people will get sick and some will die every year. 
That is certainly where the USA is headed.

[Zanza]

Spain has started the pilot test of its contact tracing app. For what I understand (which is probably little) it seems to work similar to Germany's. How's that one working out?

About 15-20% of the population installed it. I have it for 13 days now, still green. The uptake is enough to make a difference apparently, but not as many as would be helpful. People are extremely sceptical, despite the app needing much less authorizations than popular apps like WhatsApp. But even our ethical hacker NGO has no security concerns.

[Syt]

Young lady in Dallas, TX "slightly disagrees" with having to wear a mask at the supermarket.

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1277327743773016064?s=20

[Admiral Yi]

"How much protein does meth have." 

[Sheilbh]

LA county - where gyms are open - is reporting that their situation is deteriorating rapidly and there's widespread community transmission.

Again from that Bloomberg piece, California re-opened with higher case numbers per million than its "peak" in lockdown.

Edit: Also:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53218704?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bbbc.news.twitter%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D&at_custom2=twitter&at_medium=custom7&at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D&at_custom3=%40BBCNews&at_custom4=956036C2-BA3D-11EA-97C6-67EF4744363C&at_campaign=64

Flu virus with 'pandemic potential' found in China
By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online

A new strain of flu that has the potential to become pandemic has been identified in China by scientists.

It emerged recently and is carried by pigs, but can infect humans, they say.

The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak.

They say it has "all the hallmarks" of being highly adapted to infect humans - and needs close monitoring.

As it's new, people could have little or no immunity to the virus.

[Valmy]

Jesus Christ China at least let us survive the last one first.

Though now would be a fine time to start working on a vaccine for this new flu.

[Barrister]

Jesus Christ China at least let us survive the last one first.

Though now would be a fine time to start working on a vaccine for this new flu.

They do that every year.  It's called a flu shot.  I just wonder if there's time to include that flu strain in this winter's flu shot.

[Tamas]

Meanwhile England will have its first local lockdown, Leicester, a city of 300k where 900 new cases were registered in a fortnight. So schools are closintg back, so do non-essential stores, and they won't have pubs opening on Saturday.

The city's mayor actively fought this until like a couple of hours ago, btw.