Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Sheilbh]

Guardian wrote its been spreading among gay men.

Yes. In the UK last week I think there were four cases discovered - all four were gay or bisexual men or other men who have sex with men.

I very much hoped we wouldn't be doing this again ever - but here's an interesting thread on current theories by a virologist
https://twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1527620942607749120

[Josquius]

And primates again too

[mongers]

Goodbye Covid-19?

[Tonitrus]

Are they chanting "USA, USA, USA" like ours were over the weekend?

I wonder what the US protesters are singing? 

Oh Canada?

I just hope it doesn't come out as "Oh Canada, ooooh Canada...oh Canada!"

[Barrister]

Alberta has gone ahead and lifted all remaining Covid-19 restrictions.

There weren't many: mostly just isolation requirement if you have Covid-19, and mandatory masking on public transit.  But they're gone now.

[Admiral Yi]

The Faucci has tested positive.

[Threviel]

Now there's been some time and data has been collected so it's time to start analyzing the different responses. Eurostat has statistics for excess deaths. I haven't figured out how to show it simple, but going to this place:

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/website/covid/vis/DIR_CV2/?simple=true&hideIndicators=true&indicator=0&lang=en

And comparing Sweden to EU is interesting. In short, me and Brainy were correct and the Swedish response seems to have worked.

[DGuller]

And comparing Sweden to EU is interesting. In short, me and Brainy were correct and the Swedish response seems to have worked.

I still think that the most fair comparison of Sweden's strategy is to compare it against their neighbors.  All Nordic countries look good against EU, as for one they don't have to count countries like Romania as one of their own.  If you compare Sweden against Norway, Finland, or Denmark, though, it's not at all clear that the Swedish approach was vindicated on deaths alone.

[Threviel]

And comparing Sweden to EU is interesting. In short, me and Brainy were correct and the Swedish response seems to have worked.

I still think that the most fair comparison of Sweden's strategy is to compare it against their neighbors.  All Nordic countries look good against EU, as for one they don't have to count countries like Romania as one of their own.  If you compare Sweden against Norway, Finland, or Denmark, though, it's not at all clear that the Swedish approach was vindicated on deaths alone.

Apart from an early big bump (which can be explained by Swedish health care not following recommendations early on) Sweden is mostly on the lower end also in that comparison.

[Sheilbh]

FWIW the WHO has done a similar comparison of excess mortality (there are some problems with it, I think particularly their Germany numbers).

But similarly the UK is basically exactly average, including in Europe, as is Italy - but narratives and perceptions were formed at the start that are how covid will be remembered. The really striking thing is divergence from official numbers - so the French excess deaths is far lower than the official numbers, presumably because they were accidentally over-reporting especially at the start.

[mongers]

The Faucci has tested positive.

It couldn't have happened to a nicer person.*

I DO hope we isn't badly affected, as it would be a bit of a tragedy if his health was damaged.




* I intentionally used that expression in the wrong way, as as written it's true of him.

[mongers]

Exactly a month since the last post in this thread, weird that this should become such a non-story, just a fact of life, currently it's killing an average of 60 people a day inthe UK and infection rates are high.

[Tamas]

Exactly a month since the last post in this thread, weird that this should become such a non-story, just a fact of life, currently it's killing an average of 60 people a day inthe UK and infection rates are high.

I think it's like the Brexit effect, just worldwide - people are exhausted and would rather pretend it's not a thing anymore, and it has decreased to a level where we can manage that.

[Josquius]

Even on a personal level these days it's "oh Sam's got covid again lol" rather than the dire "Holy shit is he OK?" it once was

Cheers vaccines.

[Josephus]

Yeah I went on a weekend trip to Montreal a couple weeks ago and came back with COVID. Nasty flu for a few days. Only annoying thing now is I'm testing positive although my symptoms have mostly dissapated.