Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[celedhring]

Most discos only get crowded at around 3AM yeah. 

[Duque de Bragança]

I remember discos closing at 2, but that was provincial England. 

[Sheilbh]

I remember discos closing at 2, but that was provincial England. 

The town I lived in did not have a disco. But there was one pub (The Swan) with a late licence and a back room "club" that stayed open until 1am. If you wanted to drink after that you had to go to the Chinese restaurant which had an inexplicably late licence if you bought food.

You'd need to go to a city to get anything past 1am though

[Sheilbh]

Some good data visualisations of the excess morality in the US (something I've been wondering about for a while) - this really captures how much NYC is an outlier in the US, but it's also the case globally, which is why I'm not sure it's a relevant comparison point:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/12/us/covid-deaths-us.html

[Sheilbh]

Interesting new measures from Italy -they've closed all dance clubs, including outdoors, and will require masks 6pm-6am in outdoor spaces where people gather. Apparently comment from Health Minister that they need to be on guard as schools open.

It feels like a lot of places are facing the same balancing test of what might need to close down again/what additional measures you might need to get schools re-oened safely.

[celedhring]

Interesting new measures from Italy -they've closed all dance clubs, including outdoors, and will require masks 6pm-6am in outdoor spaces where people gather. Apparently comment from Health Minister that they need to be on guard as schools open.

It feels like a lot of places are facing the same balancing test of what might need to close down again/what additional measures you might need to get schools re-oened safely.

We've been doing this for weeks now. It has slowed the rise in transmission but doesn't feel like enough.

[Legbiter]

New Zealand is postponing their general election by a month because of...8 new infections. Auckland is going back into a hard lockdown

The prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, has postponed the country's general election by a month amid a spike in coronavirus cases.

The vote was due to take place on 19 September but will now be held on 17 October instead.

Ms Ardern said on Monday that the new date would allow parties "to plan around the range of circumstances we will be campaigning under".

Earlier this week, the country's largest city went back into lockdown.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53796434

Over here we've thankfully stopped trying to color code some countries as wrt safety. All incoming travelers will be tested on arrival, told to quarantine for 4-5 days and then get retested. We seem to be getting a handle on the outbreak, almost everyone diagnosed positive these days is already in quarantine. This second mini-wave is mostly 25-31 year olds getting infected after being out on the town. 

[Iormlund]

We've been doing this for weeks now. It has slowed the rise in transmission but doesn't feel like enough.

Seeing the latest numbers it looks like Rt has gone below 1 again in Aragón, Catalonia, Madrid and the Basque Country, which make up the majority of cases. School is only a couple weeks off, though ...

[Sheilbh]

Really awful report ahead of Panorama on domestic abuse during lockdown:

Domestic abuse surged in lockdown, Panorama investigation finds
One call relating to domestic abuse was made to police every 30 seconds in first seven weeks
Henry McDonald
Mon 17 Aug 2020 00.01 BST
Last modified on Mon 17 Aug 2020 04.37 BST

The coronavirus crisis has dramatically compounded domestic violence against women, new research has revealed.

Two-thirds of women in abusive relationships have suffered more violence from their partners during the pandemic, according to an investigation by the BBC's Panorama.

Three-quarters of victims also say the lockdown has made it harder for them to escape their abusers.

The joint investigation by Panorama and Women's Aid is the first in-depth study into how the nationwide shutdown in response to Covid-19 has impacted victims of domestic abuse.
Advertisement

Using statistics obtained from UK police forces under freedom of information laws, the Panorama programme, to be screened on Monday evening, reveals that there was one domestic abuse call every 30 seconds in the first seven weeks of lockdown.

The recorded calls include reports of violent offences such as kidnap, arson, revenge porn and even poisoning.

On the programme, presented by Victoria Derbyshire, one woman, using the name Jess, explains how the pandemic had intensified the abuse she was enduring. On the night the lockdown was announced, she said, her husband told her what this meant for her.

She said: "I was at home with him, we were both listening to Boris Johnson and he looked over at me, he had his arms folded back and chest out, cos he knew that would intimidate me, and he looked at me and he said: 'let the games begin'."

"And he said: 'If you think it was bad before with the rape, you're in for a rough ride.' So the rape started really, really, really bad, really bad. Curtains would get closed, TV would be up loud, front door would be locked, music would be turned up, so nobody could hear me screaming for someone, for anybody."

Asked if she could recall how many times she was raped during lockdown, Jess said it was "a hundred easily, if not more".

Women's welfare groups warned that the lockdown would result in an increase in domestic abuse and violence. Nineteen days after lockdown began, the government announced it would give an additional £2m to domestic abuse helplines, and launched a social media campaign to encourage people to report domestic abuse.
UK firms face up to threat of domestic abuse as more staff work from home
Read more

But Fiona Dwyer, CEO of the women's aid charity Solace, told Panorama: "The timing was dreadful, it should not have taken 19 days to mobilise any sort of action. And what it highlights is that it wasn't a priority for the government, it wasn't thought about for the better part of three weeks ... and then £2m is just really ... it's a poor effort."

Victoria Atkins, the minister for safeguarding, told Panorama that she does not believe the government was too slow to act.

"When we were talking to charities in the very, very earliest days, we were very much responding," she said. "We said to them: what do you need for us to help? So we very much focused on that practical help whilst also preparing for the charities [fund] that the chancellor announced and then the additional £2 million for helplines."

    In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women's Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org

[Sheilbh]

New Zealand is postponing their general election by a month because of...8 new infections. Auckland is going back into a hard lockdown

And Trump is citing New Zealand's "big surge"

"The places they were using to hold up now they're having a big surge ... they were holding up names of countries and now they're saying 'whoops!.

"Do you see what's happening in New Zealand? They beat it, they beat it, it was like front-page news because they wanted to show me something," the US president said at a campaign rally in Mankato, Minnesota.

"Big surge in New Zealand, you know it's terrible, we don't want that, but this is an invisible enemy that should never have been let to come to Europe and the rest of the world by China."

On Monday Auckland recorded nine new cases of the virus, and 13 on Tuesday, while the US's Monday figure was just under 42,000.

[Valmy]

"Big surge in New Zealand, you know it's terrible, we don't want that, but this is an invisible enemy that should never have been let to come to Europe and the rest of the world by China."

Yep and hey you knew it was there and just dicked around and did nothing to stop it coming here Mr. President.

[Sheilbh]

Yep and hey you knew it was there and just dicked around and did nothing to stop it coming here Mr. President.

I mean, yes, but I also struggle with this criticism. I think it's impossible in a globalised world to fully stop it if you're the US, or have major international transit (London, Amsterdam etc). It might be plausible if you're New Zealand and a 4-5 hour flight from Australia.

[Valmy]

Yep and hey you knew it was there and just dicked around and did nothing to stop it coming here Mr. President.

I mean, yes, but I also struggle with this criticism. I think it's impossible in a globalised world to fully stop it if you're the US, or have major international transit (London, Amsterdam etc). It might be plausible if you're New Zealand and a 4-5 hour flight from Australia.

I am aware we disagree on this. But we have been the hardest hit country in the world and irresponsible statements and actions by the President and his supporters, as well their lack of leadership, have contributed quite a bit. I don't think the standard was entirely stop it.

But how can you say there was no stopping it spreading so therefore we should go easy on Donald Trump, when he himself is saying it should have been stopped? Who had more power to do that than himself?

[Sheilbh]

I am aware we disagree on this. But we have been the hardest hit country in the world and irresponsible statements and actions by the President and his supporters, as well their lack of leadership, have contributed quite a bit. I don't think the standard was entirely stop it.

But how can you say there was no stopping it spreading so therefore we should go easy on Donald Trump, when he himself is saying it should have been stopped? Who had more power to do that than himself?

Oh I totally agree he's hugely responsible and a large part of why it's spreading so much in the US is because of his decisions. But he's saying whatever comes into his head because he's a bullshitter who likes travel bans. If you've got a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

I just think once it gets out of Wuhan and into major Chinese cities, there's not really any way to stop it reaching other major global cities.  But while I think there's no stopping it getting here, but that's got nothing to do with how it then spreads. That can be controlled with testing, quarantining and track and trace. But it's impossible to have a fortress America/fortress Europe approach on this - as I say even New Zealand still has new outbreaks despite all their advantages.

[crazy canuck]

I agree Sheilbh, once it was out the issue became how to put measures in place to live with that reality.  That is where Trump not only failed completely but did and continues to do active harm.