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

Just looking at the worldometer website. Any reason people think there's been a sharp decline in worldwide cases for more than a month now? I guess half the countries having lockdowns and restrictions are having an effect and is the main reason. The situation in the US seems to have improved a lot despite not having full lockdowns.
 
Just looking at the worldometer website. Any reason people think there's been a sharp decline in worldwide cases for more than a month now? I guess half the countries having lockdowns and restrictions are having an effect and is the main reason. The situation in the US seems to have improved a lot despite not having full lockdowns.
A huge chunk of those daily cases were coming from the US.. It got close to almost 300k/day from what I remember.

Why a sharp decline.. who knows.. xmas , new years over.. elections/rallies over. People seeing the numbers go up that drastically and being a little more careful ..

I think the Christmas / New Years holiday period being over certainly wouldve helped.. globally.
 
A huge chunk of those daily cases were coming from the US.. It got close to almost 300k/day from what I remember.

Why a sharp decline.. who knows.. xmas , new years over.. elections/rallies over. People seeing the numbers go up that drastically and being a little more careful ..

I think the Christmas / New Years holiday period being over certainly wouldve helped.. globally.

The weather is getting warmer which will also help.
 
The Repubblica newspaper reports today that a hospital in the Veneto region has 22 elderly patients and 4 care staff who have tested positive, after refusing the vaccine. Whilst no-one can say for sure if the staff were the people who infected the patients, the local health authority is actually consulting lawyers about it. There have been statements to the effect that it's unacceptable for health care workers to refuse the vaccine when they're working with vulnerable people in hospital.

It raises an interesting question about the right of an individual to refuse the vaccine on "I just don't want it" grounds, when their work makes them more likely to spread the virus. I personally find it astonishing that a healthy person would turn it down when they're working in a hospital with daily patient contact.

What's the general % expected to take it up in Italy once the vaccine is in widespread use?
 
Just looking at the worldometer website. Any reason people think there's been a sharp decline in worldwide cases for more than a month now? I guess half the countries having lockdowns and restrictions are having an effect and is the main reason. The situation in the US seems to have improved a lot despite not having full lockdowns.
Lockdowns many places in the northern hemisphere are certainly a part of it. The US having an adult in charge of the federal government must certainly be having an effect too.
 
On reports that some UK holidaymakers are using Dublin to transit from Dubai to avoid British restrictions, Mr O'Brien said closing airline routes from Dubai to Dublin is not an option as that route is is an important access route to Australia and China.

People are a bunch of cnuts. No matter what rules you put in place some people think they are above that and will try to circumnavigate

as for the Irish government why are we keeping open a route to Australia and China? No one is going on holiday so why?
 
People are a bunch of cnuts. No matter what rules you put in place some people think they are above that and will try to circumnavigate

as for the Irish government why are we keeping open a route to Australia and China? No one is going on holiday so why?

Only Australia citizens and permanent residents are allowed in.
 
We have had a few quarantine hotel workers catching the UK variant in the last few days/weeks - looks like the UK variant travels through the air more easily, possibly via airconditioning - so that means aerosol transmission is more common.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-55929180
 
Just watching BBC news after the United game. No record of Corona in any animal in the wet markets so that's been ruled out.

They are claiming it couldn't possibly be from that lab that was experimenting on coronaviruses because there's no records of a virus like that in the lab and are suggesting the virus came to Wuhan in frozen food from abroad.

This is definitely making me think it was a lab all along.
 
Just watching BBC news after the United game. No record of Corona in any animal in the wet markets so that's been ruled out.

They are claiming it couldn't possibly be from that lab that was experimenting on coronaviruses because there's no records of a virus like that in the lab and are suggesting the virus came to Wuhan in frozen food from abroad.

This is definitely making me think it was a lab all along.
Accidentally watched the news too for the first time in ages and I couldn’t help but notice this disclaimer..
113,850
Total U.K. deaths

Deaths for any reason within 28 days of a positive test.


what the feck does that mean?
 
Accidentally watched the news too for the first time in ages and I couldn’t help but notice this disclaimer..
113,850
Total U.K. deaths

Deaths for any reason within 28 days of a positive test.


what the feck does that mean?
That if someone had a positive test but died of anything else, they put Coronavirus as the cause of death I'm guessing.
 
That if someone had a positive test but died of anything else, they put Coronavirus as the cause of death I'm guessing.
I’ve seen ‘died within 28 days of a positive test’ but filled in the blanks and presumed it meant a covid related illness. Pneumonia etc. I’ve not actually seen it phrased like that.
 
Just watching BBC news after the United game. No record of Corona in any animal in the wet markets so that's been ruled out.

They are claiming it couldn't possibly be from that lab that was experimenting on coronaviruses because there's no records of a virus like that in the lab and are suggesting the virus came to Wuhan in frozen food from abroad.

This is definitely making me think it was a lab all along.
Yeah this whole investigation is rubbish. China have had a year to create (or remove) any evidence they wanted to. Not that it was necessarily from a lab, but just that this investigation is pointless.
 
We have had a few quarantine hotel workers catching the UK variant in the last few days/weeks - looks like the UK variant travels through the air more easily, possibly via airconditioning - so that means aerosol transmission is more common.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-55929180

Looks like an infected person was using a nebuliser that was venting into the corridor of the quarantine hotel that caused the spread.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...081476baec53af#block-602323b78f081476baec53af
 
Interesteind guote about vaccine effectuveness in South Africa in today's AU edition of The Guardian.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some medical experts are speaking at the National Press Club today.

Prof Robert Booy is first up. He is providing some analysis of the news that South Africa is pausing its AstraZeneca vaccinations after preliminary data showed it had a 10% effectiveness against the South African strain.

He says that economic and social issues in South Africa also effect vaccine effectiveness.

“We have had reports in the last week of Johnson & Johnson, of Novavax, having 90% protection but then in South Africa only 60% or so.

“I’d like to contend that the effect in South Africa may not just be the virus, but it might also be the population of the people because they live in such a crowded situation in many cases, apart from a few rich people...the virus can spread more easily from person-to-person.

“So a 60% effectiveness in South Africa might actually be 80% in a richer country with less crowding and a better health system.

“Now, the South African variant is worrying us. I’m not trying to down play it, I’m just trying to put it into perspective.”
 
Just watching BBC news after the United game. No record of Corona in any animal in the wet markets so that's been ruled out.

They are claiming it couldn't possibly be from that lab that was experimenting on coronaviruses because there's no records of a virus like that in the lab and are suggesting the virus came to Wuhan in frozen food from abroad.

This is definitely making me think it was a lab all along.
That's not what the report said. WHO suggested that the theory of a lab leak was 'extremely unlikely', and that they also explored the frozen foods theory but the most likely cause was still jumping from an intermediate, probably a bat. Your last sentence is dangrously close to sounding like a Q supporter.... "the scientists and medical professionals failed to convince me, therefore I will stick to the theories that I personally find most believable"
 
Just watching BBC news after the United game. No record of Corona in any animal in the wet markets so that's been ruled out.

They are claiming it couldn't possibly be from that lab that was experimenting on coronaviruses because there's no records of a virus like that in the lab and are suggesting the virus came to Wuhan in frozen food from abroad.

This is definitely making me think it was a lab all along.
No record of coronavirus in the wet markets .. can't be the wet markets.
No record of a similar virus in the labs -- must be the labs.
 
By far the most likely origin is a bat virus infected an intermediate host such as a pangolin and then from the intermediate host to a human, who then spread it around Wuhan with patient zero, or someone they infected, causing a super-spreader event at the wet market.

We also know it wasn't engineered for certain.
 
Yeah this whole investigation is rubbish. China have had a year to create (or remove) any evidence they wanted to. Not that it was necessarily from a lab, but just that this investigation is pointless.
It feels like an exercise in futility for me too. What evidence could they possibly find in a totalitarian state a year after the fact? What's the point?
 
What's the general % expected to take it up in Italy once the vaccine is in widespread use?
I just found some info from a survey of 800 people which was carried out towards the end of last year, and 40% of them said they had misgivings. Obviously it's a small sample.

I know in the village here every single person in our care home had it (residents and staff), but that was probably because it was administered by our village GP who has been here for decades and is highly-regarded by everyone. And of course, he'd already had it himself by that point.

https://www.euronews.com/2020/11/26...alians-hesitant-about-taking-covid-19-vaccine
 
That's not what the report said. WHO suggested that the theory of a lab leak was 'extremely unlikely', and that they also explored the frozen foods theory but the most likely cause was still jumping from an intermediate, probably a bat. Your last sentence is dangrously close to sounding like a Q supporter.... "the scientists and medical professionals failed to convince me, therefore I will stick to the theories that I personally find most believable"

My comment was sightly tongue in cheek. I didn't believe it was from a lab in the first place.
 
Looks like an infected person was using a nebuliser that was venting into the corridor of the quarantine hotel that caused the spread.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...081476baec53af#block-602323b78f081476baec53af

This is actually reassuring in a way. If it was just from naturally produced aerosols at such a distance, that would mark a significant step up in the airborne transmission risk. Hopefully this whole thing gets properly investigated and written up as a case study.
 
_116886429_gettyimages-1200012759.jpg

This remarkable French nun, Sister Andre is Europe's oldest person and the second oldest person in the world (she's 117 tomorrow). She has just recovered from Covid and she didn't even have any symptoms. If only we could bottle the DNA of these super-centenarians.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56005488
 
By far the most likely origin is a bat virus infected an intermediate host such as a pangolin and then from the intermediate host to a human, who then spread it around Wuhan with patient zero, or someone they infected, causing a super-spreader event at the wet market.

We also know it wasn't engineered for certain.
Could it not have been simply extracted from a bat for scientific purposes and then somehow the virus got out?
 
_116886429_gettyimages-1200012759.jpg

This remarkable French nun, Sister Andre is Europe's oldest person and the second oldest person in the world (she's 117 tomorrow). She has just recovered from Covid and she didn't even have any symptoms. If only we could bottle the DNA of these super-centenarians.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56005488
Personally I don’t think these cases are to do with super dna or such, think it’s more to do with how much you got exposed to. That’s my theory at least
 
Anyone see the RTE documentary filmed in TCU last night? VERY sobering. Don’t know how anyone could watch that and still harp on about 99% recovery rates, etc

@Pogue Mahone did you see it?
 
Anyone see the RTE documentary filmed in TCU last night? VERY sobering. Don’t know how anyone could watch that and still harp on about 99% recovery rates, etc

@Pogue Mahone did you see it?

Yeah it was good. I know a couple of the docs featured in it, so had been getting the inside track on how grim things have been for a while now.
 
Anyone see the RTE documentary filmed in TCU last night? VERY sobering. Don’t know how anyone could watch that and still harp on about 99% recovery rates, etc

@Pogue Mahone did you see it?


Can you post it?

I reckon the Beeb and others should have been regularly screening reports from IC wards every night for 15 minutes at primetime just to remind people what's at stake.
 
Can you post it?

I reckon the Beeb and others should have been regularly screening reports from IC wards every night for 15 minutes at primetime just to remind people what's at stake.

Completely agree Grinner. I've been critical of the journalism throughout the whole thing. It's like they've had a hard on for any negative news, but not been responsible enough to show the consequences of the virus, grieving families, dying patients etc. It's like there has been a detach from the numbers of deaths and infected, from the real human cost.
I for one want to know how people are recovering, long term health effects from this 'cold' want it to be shown how debilitating it can be. Empty places at the dinner table etc.
Might have a watch at the program later if a link is available?