Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[The Brain]

People in China are being born with Corona now?

[Zanza]

The x axis is not at zero, so you can go below it.

[The Brain]

Sigh.

[Razgovory]

So a study done by US veterans health administration showed that  hydroxychloroquine does not treat the coronavirus but does increase the fatality rate by a substantial amount.   
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/21/health/hydroxychloroquine-veterans-study/index.html

[The Brain]

Always read the fine print.

[crazy canuck]

Should have known CC would use a crisis to cheer about how great his country is. Why? No one knows.

It is a comparison. And troubling if you are American.  But go ahead and deflect.  It is what a lot of your fellow citizens do.

It's not, what is the population density of Massachusetts vs that of populated Canada?

The population of the GTA by itself is about 1 million less than the state of Massachusetts.  If you add the population of Vancouver the total population is roughly 2 million more.  Those two cities are more densely populated than the state.  If you compare what is happening in just those two cities the numbers are much worse.   That is why it is an interesting comparison, a state without a big population by American standards that is having a very difficult time.

Another comparison would be the GTA to Boston.  Boston is a smaller city but look at the differences in cases of infection and number of deaths. 

The abuse of some American posters aside, there is something seriously wrong in that country.  Their numbers are multiples of what is happening across the border.

[Razgovory]

Always read the fine print.

Fucking hell.  I fixed it.

[Eddie Teach]

I'm looking forward to the upcoming Grand Theft Auto: Greater Toronto Area.

[Zoupa]

Although how much of that is sustainability v sort of culture war and politics?

Nowhere else in the world has lifted a lockdown after three weeks. And everywhere else that's lifting lockdown has been doing it gradually so starting with lower infection risks like non-essential business (non-retail) and schools first and building up to bars/restaurants and gyms which are probably higher risk in terms of transmission. This seems very quick and very focused on things people will notice - or have the other bits (stop from working from home and schools, say) already been reopened/never closed?

I don't disagree with you on sustainability but this looks like a slightly odd version of it.

To be clear, this does not make sense. Cases are higher than they were before the lockdown went in place, and it seems like opening places like bowling alleys and massage parlors - which seem high risk and not essential - while leaving schools closed (which are lower risk) seems odd. It also seems odd that last weekend in the North Georgia mountains--where half the trails were closed (with almost no discernable reason for the closed trails versus open trails--I saw a Georgia State Trooper stationed at a trailhead to make sure no one started hiking there. The insanity of one weekend having police blocking a trailhead in an extremely rural area (that seemed senseless to close anyway) and the next weekend reopening bowling alleys in a major urban area...

That said, Tim posted something that something like 70/30 people are in favor of the lockdown. His point was that people are in favor and politically it is on strong footing. My point of view is that is disastrous if you want to have a long term lockdown/social distancing. You need broad buy in from society to make it work. You can't impose a lockdown with force--you aren't going to be able to throw people in jail to make this happen. If you have 70/30 as a split, in some areas (but not most) the 30% will control government and actually end the lockdown. But if you start having widespread civil disobedience in a month--where the 30% just ignores the rules--that goes a long way to nullifying the lockdown as well.

So predictable 

[11B4V]

People in China are being born with Corona now?

Did you get picked on in school?

[garbon]

Should have known CC would use a crisis to cheer about how great his country is. Why? No one knows.

It is a comparison. And troubling if you are American.  But go ahead and deflect.  It is what a lot of your fellow citizens do.

It's not, what is the population density of Massachusetts vs that of populated Canada?

The population of the GTA by itself is about 1 million less than the state of Massachusetts.  If you add the population of Vancouver the total population is roughly 2 million more.  Those two cities are more densely populated than the state.  If you compare what is happening in just those two cities the numbers are much worse.   That is why it is an interesting comparison, a state without a big population by American standards that is having a very difficult time.

Another comparison would be the GTA to Boston.  Boston is a smaller city but look at the differences in cases of infection and number of deaths. 

The abuse of some American posters aside, there is something seriously wrong in that country.  Their numbers are multiples of what is happening across the border.

Hry dickwad, what the fuck is wrong with you? Why do you feel the need to repeat over and over again that many Americans are going to die unnecessarily? We already know that you numbskull.

People are annoyed because we are helpless to prevent that and not a lick of good can come over you pointing it out over and over again.

It also is particularly galling given your originally relaxed stance on COVID.

[The Brain]

People in China are being born with Corona now?

Did you get picked on in school?

No.

[garbon]

Besides obvious concerns around the economy, what's changed fundamentally with the virus that many European countries (e.g. Spain) are talking about phasing out the lock downs from May?

[Eddie Teach]

People in China are being born with Corona now?

Did you get picked on in school?

No.

Do Swedish kids not do that?

[Sheilbh]

FT piece extrapolating from the statistics we have on excess mortality in the UK - this is just building out from the current statistics so they're not epidemiologists (it's done by their economics editor) etc:
https://www.ft.com/content/67e6a4ee-3d05-43bc-ba03-e239799fa6ab

Their estimate of excess mortality to date is over 40,000 more deaths than average