Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Josquius]

In Spanish Aachen is called "Aquisgrán". 

But nothing beats Munich in Italian, "Monaco di Baviera". 

Similarly, the old Catalan name for Siracuse was "Saragossa de Sicília".

I like this approach.
It's not Lisbon, it's Portuguese London.
Sintra? Windsor.
Porto? Manchester.
Azores? Isle of Wight.

[HVC]

Whenever an 'ão' shows up, that should be pronounced like 'an' right?  So São Paulo = 'San Paulo', João = 'Jon', etc.?  Right?

It's a very slight nasal n.  So much closer to Sow (rhymes with cow) than to Sown.

Trying to think, but i can't come up with an equivalent English sound to ão.

[Admiral Yi]

Trying to think, but i can't come up with an equivalent English sound to ão.

You don't like slight nasal n?

How about Ow with your nostrils flared?

[HVC]

i agree on the nassaly part, just trying to think of a word in English to help cal out. Might be the canadian in me, but they way i pronounce cow is different then the ão sound. the ending of the word draws out the w sound. 

Cal, go to google translate, type in cão, and listen to the audio.

[Admiral Yi]

Come to think of it, you're right.  It's more like Sa-oo(n) than Sow(n).

[The Larch]

Back to Covid news, apparently the situation in Manaus, the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon province, is utterly dramatic, with hospitals running out of oxigen so it has to be rationed, and patients having to be evacuated by the air force.

Brazil rushes to save premature babies as Covid-19 swamps Manaus hospitals
State hopes to transfer at least 60 babies from neonatal units
Air force evacuates coronavirus patients from Amazon city

Authorities in the Brazilian Amazon are reportedly racing to save dozens of premature babies after a surge in coronavirus cases caused a catastrophic breakdown in the oxygen supply to hospitals and clinics.

On Friday, CNN Brasil reported that the northern state of Amazonas was seeking to transfer at least 60 babies from neonatal units in its capital, Manaus, to hospitals elsewhere in the country.

The emergency request to other state governments came as Brazil's air force began evacuating coronavirus patients from the riverside city after a deadly interruption in the oxygen supply on Thursday morning.

That outage – caused by a sudden jump in hospital admissions that meant oxygen demand dramatically outstripped supply – left doctors and nurses desperately battling to save Covid patients with manual ventilation. Those who could not be saved were reportedly given morphine and the sedative midazolam to reduce their suffering.

"This is an unprecedented calamity," Jesem Orellana, a local epidemiologist, told the Guardian. "In the coming hours Manaus is going to be the protagonist of one of the saddest chapters of the Covid-19 epidemic in the world."

Manaus was one of the worst-hit Latin American cities in the first wave of the epidemic last April, with authorities forced to dig mass graves. On Friday, there was growing anger at the state and federal governments for failing to avert or prepare for what medical professionals called a tragedy foretold.

Much of the indignation was directed at Brazil's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly downplayed the epidemic and undermined containment measures. Key Bolsonaro supporters, including his politician son Eduardo, had voiced support for protesters who took to the streets of Manaus last month and managed to overturn state government efforts to impose a lockdown.

"Bolsonaro wants to turn Brazil into one big Manaus," tweeted the leftwing politician Marcelo Freixo. "Our choice is between impeachment or more death."

Pot-banging protests against Bolsonaro – the first in months – are planned for Friday night while activists in Brazil's sixth biggest city, Belo Horizonte, are organizing a drive-by demonstration on Saturday. Brazil's official death toll now stands at more than 207,000, second only to the US, with vaccination yet to begin.

Bolsonaro supporters sought to deflect blame for Manaus's latest calamity on to the state government. They called for the impeachment of the Amazonas governor, an apparently out-of-favour Bolsonaro ally called Wilson Lima.

"It's terrible, the problem in Manaus," Bolsonaro told supporters outside his residence in the capital, Brasília. "But we did our bit."

[mongers]

Over the last ten days, since the UK went above 1,000 deaths reported for the first time  during this 2nd wave, the daily average works out at 1,099 deaths.

At that rate, we'll pass 100,000 official deaths by the end of the month. 

[Tamas]

Over the last ten days, since the UK went above 1,000 deaths reported for the first time  during this 2nd wave, the daily average works out at 1,099 deaths.

At that rate, we'll pass 100,000 official deaths by the end of the month. 

[Tamas]

Because a toothache and the resulting financial hit was still not hardcore enough for me, took the survey-test this morning, courier collected it not long ago.

I do wonder if I did it correctly, but I sure tried. I have no nostrils and the "do it where they used to be" instruction was a bit vague, but I did my best guess.

[Threviel]

I do wonder if I did it correctly, but I sure tried. I have no nostrils and the "do it where they used to be" instruction was a bit vague, but I did my best guess.

Do the have special instructions for people without nostrils?

[Sheilbh]

So I've mentioned a few times that the Welsh government's been handling the crisis generally a lot better than the other nations in the UK

BUT they are taking some decisions on vaccinations that are - generously - fucking mental. In particular they are slowing down the distribution of the vaccine so that it is spaced out evenly over the next six weeks (when there's a new delivery) rather than distributed as quickly as possible

It's a vaccine, not a treat that you don't want to rush or binge. I can't see any benefit whatever to choosing to distribute it more slowly?

I was also reading about EU procurement and saw that a number of countries decided to buy fewer doses than they were allocated (these then went back into the pot for other countries to buy which Germany, especially, did) and I just do not understand that decision process. There is no way the cost of buying doses would outweigh the cost to GDP of still having covid cases (especially if, across Europe, countries actually end up re-openinng at different speeds - I think it's plausible the UK might be back to normal while continental Europe isn't, but then there's also the possibility of, say, Denmark being back to normal before France and the Netherlands - I don't know what that means for travel). Again I just can't understand the decision - if it is just about not wanting to spend money on procuring vaccines it's the definition of pennywise and pound foolish.

[Tamas]

I do wonder if I did it correctly, but I sure tried. I have no nostrils and the "do it where they used to be" instruction was a bit vague, but I did my best guess.

Do the have special instructions for people without nostrils?

Yes. "swab were they would be".

[Threviel]

I do wonder if I did it correctly, but I sure tried. I have no nostrils and the "do it where they used to be" instruction was a bit vague, but I did my best guess.

Do the have special instructions for people without nostrils?

Yes. "swab were they would be".

That is detailed instructions.

[The Larch]

No nostrils? 

[Tamas]

No nostrils? 

I have meant tonsils obviously. Sorry, it's been a rough couple of days.