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

Went out with a couple of friends for the first time since the lockdowns started (5 months ago). In downtown San Jose, the life apparently still exists. Almost everyone was wearing masks which was nice to see. Social distancing, less so (we even shared an Uber back home).

In Europe, it has been like this for some time now, and the situation is relatively stable, though in the US is still much worse.
 
711 said:
They don't exactly have to do a right lot to beat the US when it comes to covid though, do they?
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When it comes to the vaccine they do. Moderna's vaccine (together with the Oxford vaccine) have lead the way, and have done more tests than any other vaccine (hard to know in China, the data is limited, so they might have done thousands of tests too). Russia, from all the info I have seen, are essentially skipping the stage 3 of trials (which Moderna and Oxford are doing).
 
The number of deaths from coronavirus in Iran is nearly triple what Iran's government claims, a BBC Persian service investigation has found. Almost 42,000 dead.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53598965

No surprise, plenty of European countries a long way off with their data (Portugal, Netherlands, hell even the UK and US are someway short on excess deaths; and Belarus will no doubt be the worst in this part of the World).
I don’t think a single one of us believes the numbers coming out of China or Russia either.
 
Lots of studies now from France, US & Austria showing that public transport isn’t the huge risk many of us thought. No clusters appear to have started there.
Home, private parties and work are the big drivers.
 
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Jericholyte2 said:
It is completely preposterous that the government in their “wisdom” thought they could reopen everything whilst holding a pandemic at bay!

I could very easily see other restrictions coming ack to allow the schools to open, such as pubs closing again.
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Isn't it better to have had pubs open in the summer, without cases getting out of control, than not having them open at all? It doesn't seem that farfetched to think they suspected that having schools and pubs simultaneously would be too much, given pubs had proven to be problematic elsewhere and everyone is very wary about schools. So they allowed pubs to re-open in July with the vague plan that if it contributes to keeping cases higher than they'd like, then they would be the first to go. In a direct trade-off between pubs and schools I imagine most people would want it to be schools. You'd imagine it would make it easier for people to accept if they at least had the summer to go the pub.
 
Brwned said:
Isn't it better to have had pubs open in the summer, without cases getting out of control, than not having them open at all? It doesn't seem that farfetched to think they suspected that having schools and pubs simultaneously would be too much, given pubs had proven to be problematic elsewhere and everyone is very wary about schools. So they allowed pubs to re-open in July with the vague plan that if it contributes to keeping cases higher than they'd like, then they would be the first to go. In a direct trade-off between pubs and schools I imagine most people would want it to be schools. You'd imagine it would make it easier for people to accept if they at least had the summer to go the pub.
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Agree with you here. We hear of some isolated cases of certain pubs where cases have happened, but broadly my experience in pubs has been a positive one and everyone has done the right thing asked of them in terms of guidelines (and I haven't been contacted by one yet about an outbreak). The bigger challenge is with people's own indoor gatherings and probably where the majority of the cases are happening at the minute, however that doesn't make as good a headline as people in a pub spreading covid.
 
Regulus Arcturus Black said:
Lots of studies now from France, US & Austria showing that public transport isn’t the huge risk many of us thought. No clusters appear to have started there.
Home, private parties and work are the big drivers.
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I'd assume it's masks doing their job or the simple fact it's much harder and near impossible to trace contacts back to identify any clusters.

There's no way the underground on a packed commute wouldn't spread covid without masks. It's like being cattle at times with people breathing down your neck. I'm just glad most are now wearing masks responsibly.
 
Regulus Arcturus Black said:
The number of deaths from coronavirus in Iran is nearly triple what Iran's government claims, a BBC Persian service investigation has found. Almost 42,000 dead.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53598965

No surprise, plenty of European countries a long way off with their data (Portugal, Netherlands, hell even the UK and US are someway short on excess deaths; and Belarus will no doubt be the worst in this part of the World).
I don’t think a single one of us believes the numbers coming out of China or Russia either.
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You keep mentioning Portugal as not declaring the right numbers re data for deaths. Do you have any source?
 
Token Sheet said:
You keep mentioning Portugal as not declaring the right numbers re data for deaths. Do you have any source?
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Absolutely and it’s been mentioned loads in here already. The Economist is doing some great work on increased mortality:

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/15/tracking-covid-19-excess-deaths-across-countries

Portugal likely missing over 100% up to June 30th.

I think more people should be aware of this rather than getting data from John Hopkins or worldometres which is likely way off for many countries. Just because a country like Portugal says it has had only 1700 deaths doesn’t make it true.
There are many reasons for countries to fudge the numbers, as has been proven by European countries like the UK demanding quarantine for people flying in from Portugal. That alone is reason for a country to bullshit as it can be a hammer blow to their already struggling economies.*

Feels a little harsh for the beeb to single out Iran when we have stats showing that plenty of Western countries are getting it incorrect.

* For the record don’t think countries are doing it purposely in most cases, it’s just a tricky thing to get right; but it’s naive to think that all countries will be honest when their economies, standing in the World and political standing are at risk.
 
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TwoSheds said:
My colleague's just gone to hospital with breathing difficulties after we just got back from the south of China :nervous:
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Presuming this was Covid, how did your colleague get on?

How naive were we all at the start of this thread?
 
Shane88 said:
Such a load of shit.

SARS was gonna kill us all. Swine flu and Bird flu was gonna kill us all. Ebola was gonna kill us all. I'm sure it's a serious illness but it's deadliness is amplified 6000% to fill 24 news cycles. No-one will care about this in two weeks.
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That’s a long two weeks fella
 
golden_blunder said:
Presuming this was Covid, how did your colleague get on?

How naive were we all at the start of this thread?
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It wasn't Covid in the end actually weirdly enough. The NHS were totally unprepared for it all at the start and quite blasé about it when he went but eventually he got better by himself and they asked if they could take his blood for an antibody test. Took 2 goes at actually getting an appointment and then 8 weeks to get the results but it was negative apparently.

Most of our Covid seems to have come from Europe e.g. that Liverpool game and Italian skiing holidays at half term etc rather than coming directly from China. There is another coronavirus apparently with quite similar symptoms to Covid, I think it's called OC43 or something, and I suspect my colleague may have had that though. On the other hand any kind of flu on top of the appalling air pollution in China in winter can't do you any good I'm sure, so maybe it was as simple as that.
 
TwoSheds said:
It wasn't Covid in the end actually weirdly enough. The NHS were totally unprepared for it all at the start and quite blasé about it when he went but eventually he got better by himself and they asked if they could take his blood for an antibody test. Took 2 goes at actually getting an appointment and then 8 weeks to get the results but it was negative apparently.

Most of our Covid seems to have come from Europe e.g. that Liverpool game and Italian skiing holidays at half term etc rather than coming directly from China. There is another coronavirus apparently with quite similar symptoms to Covid, I think it's called OC43 or something, and I suspect my colleague may have had that though. On the other hand any kind of flu on top of the appalling air pollution in China in winter can't do you any good I'm sure, so maybe it was as simple as that.
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Glad to hear he/she is ok. You’d be worried sick reading about this new virus, thinking you may have it.
 
The bar in Aberdeen with the 13 cases, seemed to be linked to a group last Sunday.

I was in on Wednesday, and they have all our details, but haven’t been contacted for a test. I assume that we should be fine to go ahead as normal?
 
Regulus Arcturus Black said:
Absolutely and it’s been mentioned loads in here already. The Economist is doing some great work on increased mortality:

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/15/tracking-covid-19-excess-deaths-across-countries

Portugal likely missing over 100% up to June 30th.

I think more people should be aware of this rather than getting data from John Hopkins or worldometres which is likely way off for many countries. Just because a country like Portugal says it has had only 1700 deaths doesn’t make it true.
There are many reasons for countries to fudge the numbers, as has been proven by European countries like the UK demanding quarantine for people flying in from Portugal. That alone is reason for a country to bullshit as it can be a hammer blow to their already struggling economies.*

Feels a little harsh for the beeb to single out Iran when we have stats showing that plenty of Western countries are getting it incorrect.

* For the record don’t think countries are doing it purposely in most cases, it’s just a tricky thing to get right; but it’s naive to think that all countries will be honest when their economies, standing in the World and political standing are at risk.
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Thanks.
 
Baxter said:
The bar in Aberdeen with the 13 cases, seemed to be linked to a group last Sunday.

I was in on Wednesday, and they have all our details, but haven’t been contacted for a test. I assume that we should be fine to go ahead as normal?
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If I was you I’d ring the helpline for advice or at least your local GP
 
So alongside the government being on a health campaign and complaining people aren't taking precautions, you can now get a McDonalds half price tax payer funded but only if you go eat in. Is this actually the most stupid thing this government have done yet?
 
We took the home test today. No symptoms really but gf had a sore throat and felt a bit tired so an app she is using told her to test.

Could barely swab my tonsils. My tongue gets in the way when I try to look :lol: Nose bit was fine though, stuck that shit up to my brain.
 
Solius said:
We took the home test today. No symptoms really but gf had a sore throat and felt a bit tired so an app she is using told her to test.

Could barely swab my tonsils. My tongue gets in the way when I try to look :lol: Nose bit was fine though, stuck that shit up to my brain.
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The nose bit was bloody awful for me, triggered a hayfever fit :lol:
 
Baxter said:
The bar in Aberdeen with the 13 cases, seemed to be linked to a group last Sunday.

I was in on Wednesday, and they have all our details, but haven’t been contacted for a test. I assume that we should be fine to go ahead as normal?
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I think they only text people that were in on the Sunday. Mates were in on Tuesday and didn’t get a text. They were all out with one of the 13 on Friday (he didn’t test positive til Saturday) though so all my mates are in isolation now. Worth getting tested if you’re worried.
 
Solius said:
Could barely swab my tonsils. My tongue gets in the way when I try to look :lol: Nose bit was fine though, stuck that shit up to my brain.
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I get tested twice weekly at work, the tonsil bit screws me up, my gag reflex is awesome! The nose though ... it's amazing how far your nostrils go back, it's like a 'watch the swab disappear' magic trick!
 
711 said:
A lot of pubs and clubs in Britain will never reopen. They were on their last legs anyway, barely scraping along, now they'll be sold for conversion or as building plots.
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It breaks your heart seeing them spending so much on extra staff and all the cleaning/social distancing stuff to operate at a maximum of 50% of their previous turnover. Not a hope of making any kind of profit, just trying to offset losses.
 
Solius said:
We took the home test today. No symptoms really but gf had a sore throat and felt a bit tired so an app she is using told her to test.

Could barely swab my tonsils. My tongue gets in the way when I try to look :lol: Nose bit was fine though, stuck that shit up to my brain.
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What do you do if you've no tonsils?

Obviously I have no knowledge about home tests.
 
oates said:
What do you do if you've no tonsils?

Obviously I have no knowledge about home tests.
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Not sure, I just went as far back and to the side as I could until I gagged.
 
Danish daily infections are now firmly on the rise. I was hoping it was just a small bump like the one we saw around the last week of June, but we're now back to as many daily cases as in the middle of May (around the time we "reopened" schools for everyone). It's not awful or anything yet, but school starts next week and I'm guessing they'll want us to go back to more normal teaching (which wasn't the case before the summer holidays).
It could be as a result of everyone going on holiday the past month and thus a lot more mixing between different regions, but I'm worried it's more a case of people letting their guard down and having more social functions and gatherings (and parties) again.

The goverment has recommended people wear masks in public transport but I don't really see anyone doing that until it's actually a requirement. You see very few masks at this point, at least in the small town I'm in.
 
Scholesy's vision problems are well-documented. He's clearly using the medically-approved "Microphone or Cucumber?" eyesight test with the help of his carers.
 
UK deaths 9 and 938 cases

100 of them might be from Scholesy's house mind.
 
redshaw said:
UK deaths 9 and 938 cases

100 of them might be from Scholesy's house mind.
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I'm not liking the look of the new case numbers, is this the start of the second wave or did we not finish the first ?
 


Think we might be next for a local lockdown. Lots of rumours going about and photos of packed bars at the weekend doesn’t look great.
 
April


August
Just over 5,700 dead in a country of almost 85 million. Hopefully he didn't waste too much time worrying.
 
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