Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Zanza]

Numbers growing exponentially everywhere in Europe now. 

[Maladict]

Government advisors now asking for a hard lockdown, including closing all schools.

[Barrister]

Alberta has been very adamant about no further hard shutdowns, that it's too harmful to the economy.  Our budget deficit of $24 billion accounts for almost half of all government spending in this province.

Not that there aren't lots of restrictions, masks everywhere, etc., but businesses supposedly aren't going to be ordered closed.  We shall see.

[DGuller]

Holy shit, that's just things completely spinning out of control.  How do Asian countries avoid such spikes?  Or are they?

[alfred russel]

Remember how I told you guys the excessive lockdown stuff was going to backfire? I don't want to say I told you so, but....

Ahead of a lockdown protest scheduled in Georgia, the governor has announced that gyms, bowling alleys, salons, massage parlors, and some other stuff can open by Friday, and by Monday we are reopening restaurants.

How is the idiocy of the Governor of Georgia attributable to excessive lockdown measures? Seems the culprit here is his own stupidity.

So Malthus, you still have this opinion? It seems most countries belatedly followed Georgia's lead in reopening. The anti-lockdown protests are not just a US phenomena.

[viper37]

Holy shit, that's just things completely spinning out of control.  How do Asian countries avoid such spikes?  Or are they?

SK is easing on the restrictions, whatever they did, it has to be working.

[Sheilbh]

Good news from the north east. Case numbers on decline again. Seems it was just freshers flu

Guardian seem to be monitoring this on their map (in the "on the rise" tab) which compares the last 7 days with the previous 7 days and it does seem to be on the decline in big bits of the North-East and Central Belt (and, possibly some of the North-West too) which is good:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/23/covid-cases-and-deaths-today-coronavirus-uk-map

[Tamas]

Hopefully people have come to their senses then.

[Syt]

Austrian numbers not looking great.
Thin line: daily new cases. Thick line: 7 day rolling average.

[Iormlund]

Numbers growing exponentially everywhere in Europe now. 

It would be interesting to cross this with school openings in each country.

[Richard Hakluyt]

It would be best to use a logarithmic scale offset by a fortnight or so.

[Sheilbh]

What's also interesting is that it seems wearing masks or not doesn't actually make that much of a difference. Nordics are the lowest rate of mask wearing and Spain and Italy are the highest but, from what I understand, they're all seeing a similar second wave.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I think the mask wearing is of minor importance. but if it reduces spread by 5-10% (say) is worth it for the minor inconvenience. Some countries have made mask-wearing mandatory outside, I think that is ridiculous.

[Sheilbh]

I think the mask wearing is of minor importance. but if it reduces spread by 5-10% (say) is worth it for the minor inconvenience. Some countries have made mask-wearing mandatory outside, I think that is ridiculous.

Yeah - totally agreed. I think it's worth it and makes sense on public transport and in shops and I can see the logic when you're not at your table in a pub/restaurant/cafe.

But wearing it outside feels crazy (unless, maybe, you're all jammed in together like in a full stadium). But we've not re-opened enough for that to be an issue yet.

[Josquius]

What's also interesting is that it seems wearing masks or not doesn't actually make that much of a difference. Nordics are the lowest rate of mask wearing and Spain and Italy are the highest but, from what I understand, they're all seeing a similar second wave.

I'd be reluctant to read too much into that without a very solid investigation. Correlation doesn't equal causation et al. There'll be other factors at play too. Latin folk being naturally far more in each other's face and living in more densely inhabited countries, particularly lived-in density, for example.