SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

Locations like prisons, care homes and ships are easy to understand in this context.

But meat packing plants - why? A single site seems easy to understand, but what makes/made these sites so hazardous? The obvious things that could impact it like pay/sickpay/health insurance and even proximity would seem to apply to other workplaces. Is it because of their size or is it some other environmental/chemical/other factor?

I would assume the low temperature inside has something to do with it, allowing the virus to survive longer.
 
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Does anyone have a good guess why Western European countries have been doing so much worse than Eastern European countries? Especially considering that they have a significantly better medical system.

Also, it is surprising to see the massive difference between Latvia and Lithuania/Estonia, as is that between Slovenia and Czech Republic.
My father-in-law is a radiologist in Lviv, Ukraine. Can’t have a case if you don’t have a positive test.

There’a also less international travel to and from that part of the world, which may delay hotspots from developing there, and considering a lot of those countries did various forms of lockdown before even we did, that will buy them even more time.
 
My father-in-law is a radiologist in Lviv, Ukraine. Can’t have a case if you don’t have a positive test.

There’a also less international travel to and from that part of the world, which may delay hotspots from developing there, and considering a lot of those countries did various forms of lockdown before even we did, that will buy them even more time.
That’s true, countries like Ukraine and Belarus can’t be trusted when it comes to testing amounts and numbers. However, baltic states implemented lockdowns in early March with pretty strict rules and fines, they also were checking temperatures and taking contacts of every person that came through the Airport since February. These 3 countries have been testing like crazy as well, Lithuania and Estonia have highest number of tests per head in the whole Europe (excluding the likes of Luxemburg, etc).
 
Locations like prisons, care homes and ships are easy to understand in this context.

But meat packing plants - why? A single site seems easy to understand, but what makes/made these sites so hazardous? The obvious things that could impact it like pay/sickpay/health insurance and even proximity would seem to apply to other workplaces. Is it because of their size or is it some other environmental/chemical/other factor?

Maybe they’re the only “factory” still running as usual? It’s an odd one alright. Why not vegetable packing plants?!

Major source of clusters in Ireland too.
 
Anyone else concerned this virus is making a class of ultra nationalists? Or has it just heightened the gammon?

You look at responses to tweets questioning our response or trying to identify the truth, from either left or right wing sources and it's terrifying.

I've seen journalists called treacherous for explaining the testing figure. Seen people actually say they don't care about truth they just want journalists to support the government. Journalists attacked because what do they do and at least Boris is trying.

There's an undercurrent of actually welcoming propaganda because they prefer the patriotic ideal they've been sold to truth or reality.
 
95632761_10157437845571743_3097243759167930368_o.jpg


Does anyone have a good guess why Western European countries have been doing so much worse than Eastern European countries? Especially considering that they have a significantly better medical system.

Also, it is surprising to see the massive difference between Latvia and Lithuania/Estonia, as is that between Slovenia and Czech Republic.

From Estonia here, we managed to feck up ona few things. Firstly, we have a far-right party in the government and the minister of interior from the sod party downplayed the virus in early march. Just a week before then U-turn that saw a national state of emergency declared. Then you also had idiots ignoring the advice and took the virus to elderly care homes where a lot of people died. And finally, a volley ball team from our biggest island hosted a team from north of Italy in the end of February and basically the entire island was quarantined and a military hospital had to be set up to make more room for the covid patients. Seems the worse is over now, though. At one point we were in top 10 of cases per 100 000 in Europe, but we've had less than 10 new cases per day for a last couple of days.
 
How would a group of doctors know how many tests are carried out nationally?

They have charts and lists of patients who have had tests and who haven't. They have access to stock levels in their hospitals of kits. Doctors in the NHS generally connect between each other and have almost daily conference calls to discuss what is happening across different hospitals.
 
Anyone else concerned this virus is making a class of ultra nationalists? Or has it just heightened the gammon?

You look at responses to tweets questioning our response or trying to identify the truth, from either left or right wing sources and it's terrifying.

I've seen journalists called treacherous for explaining the testing figure. Seen people actually say they don't care about truth they just want journalists to support the government. Journalists attacked because what do they do and at least Boris is trying.

There's an undercurrent of actually welcoming propaganda because they prefer the patriotic ideal they've been sold to truth or reality.

I think these people always exist sadly (and in all countries). They're just more visible than ever with social media and are more vocal due to it being a genuine crisis. Sadly, criticism of governments is often frowned upon I guess while the crisis is still going on?

I imagine its part of the reason Starmer hasn't gone in too hard just yet on Boris and why even Sturgeon etc aren't being overly critical just yet. I think people won't look kindly on attempts to 'politicise' this situation, rightly or wrongly.

And some don't want to hear anything bad about their country full stop and will think the sun shines out of its ass.
 
95632761_10157437845571743_3097243759167930368_o.jpg


Does anyone have a good guess why Western European countries have been doing so much worse than Eastern European countries? Especially considering that they have a significantly better medical system.

Also, it is surprising to see the massive difference between Latvia and Lithuania/Estonia, as is that between Slovenia and Czech Republic.
We share a border with Italy, who I believe is also our largest trade partner (or it might be jut behind Germany). A significant amount of people work in Italy (although paradoxically the regions closest to the border were the least effected, a decent number of municipalities are yet to have a confirmed case) and there was a significant amount of border crossing even at the height of the epidemic. We also have a very high median age (7th highest in the world, according to Wikipedia). We were never getting out of this unscathed, but so far this we've managed to get the best case scenario.

Slovenia has also been counting all deaths, including the ones in care home facilities (which is a significant portion of them), so that might contribute to the relatively high number.

E: Today we've had no new confirmed cases for the first time since the 3rd of March.
 
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Professor Ian Diamond on Andrew Marr reckons the current UK figures are a good ‘starting point’ now with care home deaths added. He doesn’t think the UK will be the worst affected in Europe because he feels the reporting here is among the better in Europe and other countries have a lot to add. Something to do with how death registrations work or something. He’s sceptical of the FT’s projections and thinks 60% is too much to add to the UK’s current figures but wouldn’t commit to a guesstimate.

Also said that there will be a lag of indirect excess deaths in the next 3 years for people that can’t get diagnosed with cancer and so on because of the diversion of resources in the NHS.

Also heard a care home operator on the radio and he said that care home deaths are a threat to the sector because most need 80% capacity to stay afloat. The idea that less old people takes pressure off the system isn’t true because they are private businesses needing turnover to meet overheads.
 
Anyone else concerned this virus is making a class of ultra nationalists? Or has it just heightened the gammon?

You look at responses to tweets questioning our response or trying to identify the truth, from either left or right wing sources and it's terrifying.

I've seen journalists called treacherous for explaining the testing figure. Seen people actually say they don't care about truth they just want journalists to support the government. Journalists attacked because what do they do and at least Boris is trying.

There's an undercurrent of actually welcoming propaganda because they prefer the patriotic ideal they've been sold to truth or reality.

Nothing new though, right? This is just the same gimps who have been waging war on every tweet about Brexit but now they have a new hobby.
 
It's getting warmer here and we're starting to see the first mosquitoes of the year. So much for social distancing with these little feckers about.
 
Fearful Britons remain strongly opposed to lifting lockdown
Fewer than one in five of the British public believe the time is right to consider reopening schools, restaurants, pubs and stadiums. The findings, in a new poll for the Observer, suggest Boris Johnson will struggle to convince people to return their lives to normal if he tries to ease the lockdown soon.

The poll by Opinium, taken between Wednesday and Friday last week, found 17% of people think the conditions have been met to consider reopening schools, against 67% who say they have not been, and that they should stay closed.

Opposition to reopening restaurants and pubs – and allowing mass gatherings in sports and other stadiums to resume – is even higher. Just 11% of people think the time is right to consider reopening restaurants, while 78% are against. Only 9% believe it would be correct to consider reopening pubs, while 81% are against; 7% say it would be right to think of allowing mass gatherings at sports events or concerts to resume, with 84% against.

On Saturday the psychologist Prof Dame Til Wykes of King’s College London said the public’s reactions to easing the lockdown were likely to reveal high levels of anxiety. “How reopening society is going to affect people has not really been examined in any detail,” she said.

“However, it is likely that most people will feel anxious and risk averse. We have been given strict behavioural advice for more than five weeks, and when that is removed people will feel pressured, and individuals who had pre-existing anxiety, particularly about their health, will be worst hit. It will take quite a lot of psychological treatment to get over this.”

She added: “Different groups will be more affected than others, in particular the elderly and also parents, who will worry about their children bringing home the virus from schools. What is needed is reassurance from scientists who can put the risks of the disease in context. How much more dangerous is getting Covid-19 than being in a car, for example?”

The poll figures, and warnings from experts, will fuel an increasingly tense debate inside Whitehall over how best to strike a balance between keeping the public safe and minimising damage to the economy in the next phase of the crisis.

Johnson said on Thursday that the UK had passed the peak of the virus but that people had to expect restrictions on their freedoms to remain in place for the foreseeable future. The prime minister will spell out his thinking in the latter part of this week on how the lockdown could be eased when infection rates have come down much further.

The Opinium poll shows the government struggling to hold on to public support over its handling of the coronavirus crisis. The percentage of people who approve of its management of the crisis has fallen from 61% three weeks ago to 47% now, with the proportion of those who disapprove up from 22% to 34%. The net approval rate has fallen therefore from plus 39% to plus 13%. Given the fragile state of support, ministers will be determined not to misread the public mood over easing the lockdown.

Adam Drummond of Opinium said that views among the public over what to do about the lockdown seemed to differ from those at Westminster. “The public’s appetite for lifting the lockdown measures remains minuscule,” Drummond said. “Very few people believe that conditions have been met to allow for public spaces and venues to reopen on 8 May, and while some are treating the rules less strictly, few admit to breaching them.

“The clamour to ‘reopen the economy’ is largely taking place in Westminster and is not really reflective of wider public sentiment.”

The battle over Britain’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis comes as Ireland has decided to extend its lockdown for a further two weeks to 18 May, when it will begin a five-stage exit over three months, culminating in the phased reopening of schools and universities from 10 August.
 
Anyone else concerned this virus is making a class of ultra nationalists? Or has it just heightened the gammon?

You look at responses to tweets questioning our response or trying to identify the truth, from either left or right wing sources and it's terrifying.

I've seen journalists called treacherous for explaining the testing figure. Seen people actually say they don't care about truth they just want journalists to support the government. Journalists attacked because what do they do and at least Boris is trying.

There's an undercurrent of actually welcoming propaganda because they prefer the patriotic ideal they've been sold to truth or reality.
It seems like it’s a further blow to globalisation and liberalism after brexit and the election. People and countries are becoming more introverted and there’s a lot of “look what’s going on over there”, type attitudes. That’s compounded by the travel bans and the utter destruction of the aviation industry. Whether than gives rise to increased nationalism or just makes people more vocal, we don’t know yet
 
Professor Ian Diamond on Andrew Marr reckons the current UK figures are a good ‘starting point’ now with care home deaths added. He doesn’t think the UK will be the worst affected in Europe because he feels the reporting here is among the better in Europe and other countries have a lot to add. Something to do with how death registrations work or something. He’s sceptical of the FT’s projections and thinks 60% is too much to add to the UK’s current figures but wouldn’t commit to a guesstimate.

Also said that there will be a lag of indirect excess deaths in the next 3 years for people that can’t get diagnosed with cancer and so on because of the diversion of resources in the NHS.

Also heard a care home operator on the radio and he said that care home deaths are a threat to the sector because most need 80% capacity to stay afloat. The idea that less old people takes pressure off the system isn’t true because they are private businesses needing turnover to meet overheads.
Re: last paragraph.
If there was less demand, and a number of the private care homes went under, it would consolidate the existing demand into the remaining care homes. It might not be nice for the ones that go bust but it would reduce the pressure on the sector overall
 
They got a smaller dose of virus in late Feb-early March. The most important factor in all these comparisons. I mean, surely fecking Belarus tells you that? Their leader still denies corona is even an issue.

Why did New Jersey do so much better than New York?

Why did Massachusetts do even better still?

Also, why is that Belgium number on the map so incorrect?

Give it a couple of weeks, and you might have to revisit this question.
 
Re: last paragraph.
If there was less demand, and a number of the private care homes went under, it would consolidate the existing demand into the remaining care homes. It might not be nice for the ones that go bust but it would reduce the pressure on the sector overall

Fair point indeed. It would leave a lot of people unemployed too though.
 
Fair point indeed. It would leave a lot of people unemployed too though.
Yes, not nice for the people that contribute towards that demand reduction by dying, either! I’m talking specifically about the strain on the sector, which was already creaking.
The reality with these private care homes though, is that when go, the council steps in to pick up the care
 

All the President had to do was say "don't revolt" and half of these eejits wouldn't have felt empowered to do this shit. But, no, the President is a fecking child.
 
https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0503/1136306-coronavirus-world/

I really struggle to get our approach here in Ireland right now. How can these countries which were so worse hit than us be opening so much over the next few weeks yet we will be opening feck all until late June/July?
I wouldn’t be too hasty. I’ll be amazed if some countries or regions don’t reopen too soon and have a second wave possibly equalling or even surpassing the first. Judging success overall cannot possibly be done until at least after the next winter.
 
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Does anyone have a good guess why Western European countries have been doing so much worse than Eastern European countries? Especially considering that they have a significantly better medical system.

Also, it is surprising to see the massive difference between Latvia and Lithuania/Estonia, as is that between Slovenia and Czech Republic.

I'd say a simple answer regarding western Europe and western countries in general which also applies to South Korea that has been crowing and congratulating itself in its media on the supposed 'end of western superiority' - look at countries that allow multi-citizenship and so have many who live/stay in/visit their birth country, travelling back and forth, have significant numbers of residents who are not citizens but have the right to live, work and study there, and are highly attractive to visitors. The western European and western countries in a nutshell.

Eastern Europe does not match the same demographic/social/economic profiles although there is some tourism but not on the scale of western Europe. Population mobility in terms of the right to live in another country is the key factor. I've lived in South Korea and it is an incredibly restrictive country regarding working visas and permanent residency. It also lacks the variety and regional/urban differences that Japan has and so has never been and never will be as attractive to visitors as Japan.

Hence it could tackle its COVID-19 problem very effectively. Had Japan not been the designated Olympic host for 2020, it could have and would have shut out non Japanese and non residents much earlier. I am not excusing the recklessness which the authorities have shown in this pandemic. The virus was here earlier and instead of looking forward to some normalisation Japan is now going into the second month of its State of Emergency.

The socio-economic price is revealing itself and the different levels of govt have been neglectful of the financial and emotional health of ordinary people. To give you an idea - recently it was annnounced that all people in Japan that had an established residency including foreigners and so we should as we pay a shedload of taxes here, would be given a hardship payment of 100,000 yen which is about 1,000 Oz dollars.

It is supposed to be paid via bank account through our local government system but surprise, surprise in Tokyo many ward offices are saying they don't know when they can do it because it's too hard to organise etc. These privileged numpties need a good arse kicking and more. All they have to do is send a form to every household for those who aren't eligible to lodge claims online because they don't have an official identity card. They can do that for everything when they feel like it. Seems like they don't want to use our taxes to help us and I can tell you, with the current problems of many who are not working the money will cover just about one month of rent or rent and maybe a water bill.
 
@Revan, you aren't looking closely enough, I don't really like these maps because they don't give you an accurate or useful image. The answer is what London, Paris(Iles-De-France), Milan(Lombardia), Madrid or Barcelona have in common? I could add New York and it is even more obvious. It's not entire countries that have been hit but wealthy, densely populated and very international regions. They also all have in common that public transportation is key for all of them.
 
Confusing tweet typo. Should read "NOT" suitable for oral administration.