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

Had to drive across London to Reading for work, and to be honest it took the same time as usual. There is still so much going on.

I'm driving at one of the busiest roads in Belgium daily, and there's hardly anyone around. It's spooky actually. Last night when I drove home it took 5 minutes to see the first car, otherwise there are thousands.
The busiest street in Brussels was completely empty yesterday too.
 
It's not just behaviour that needs to change, it's mindset.

This is Barclays in the US, but its just leaked there, I have no doubt our financial institutions are doing exactly the same.

 
I think you're confusing overall wealth vs per capita wealth, there.

Obviously we will be behind Greece in total GDP, wealth overall because it's 12m vs 4.8m people.

Per capita we are 3rd in GDP (a bit misleading as we're a tax haven), 1st for opportunity, 3rd lowest below poverty line, 3rd most developed, 6th by min wage, 9th by average wage etc.

Regarding our health service, we actually spend more per capita than a lot of countries, the UK included, which is why it's such a disgrace that our health service is so crap compared to other European countries.
 
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I think you're confusing overall wealth vs per capita wealth, there.

Obviously we will be behind Greece in total GDP, wealth overall because it's 12m vs 4.8m people.

Per capita we are 3rd in GDP (a bit misleading as we're a tax haven), 1st for opportunity, 3rd lowest below poverty line, 3rd most developed, 6th by min wage, 9th by average wage etc.
Yea made a quick edit there. The link said per capita but the table is actually total.

Didnt actually know that. With the housing crisis, the bailout from the eu etc, just never felt like ireland fully recovered
 
It's not just behaviour that needs to change, it's mindset.

This is Barclays in the US, but its just leaked there, I have no doubt our financial institutions are doing exactly the same.



Peak capitalism is as fundamentally flawed as peak communism.

Communism will always fail people because ultimately people are selfish and greedy.

Capitalism will always fail people because ultimately people are selfish and greedy
 
It's not just behaviour that needs to change, it's mindset.

This is Barclays in the US, but its just leaked there, I have no doubt our financial institutions are doing exactly the same.

There must be something about banking that destroys your humanity.
 
A bit of good(ish) news from a published study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0822-7

Using public and published information, we estimate that the overall symptomatic case fatality risk (the probability of dying after developing symptoms) of COVID-19 in Wuhan was 1.4% (0.9–2.1%)

Note that that figure is based on symptomatic cases. Once asymptotic cases are accounted for that mortality rate will reduce significantly. The study also suggests that older people are more likely to develop symptoms. An earlier study estimated that 17% of those onboard the Diamond Princess were asymptotic, but this was from a population of average age 60+. In the UK the average age is 40. According to the new study "the risk of symptomatic infection increased with age (for example, at ~4% per year among adults aged 30–60 years)". If this is anything close to accurate it indicates that substantially more than 17% of our population will be asymptotic.

41591_2020_822_Fig2_HTML.png
 
Ultimately, most of the measures in place are not because the virus is debilitating, but simply to stop it spreading. This is key, and really, when it reaches a certain threshold or saturation point, it will surely become more effective to simply isolate the vulnerable groups and let everyone else carry on as normal.

If the virus was debilitating for a high proportion of victims it would be another story entirely, but it isnt. For most people it will be a mild to moderate illness. As someone who came back from Northern Italy just before this all kicked off, the massive concern for me at the time wasnt my own health but to avoid spreading it - especially to anyone vulnerable. I think we are close to reaching a point where it is simpler and more effective for the country to simply say anyone elderly, or with respiratory conditions, or otherwise vulnerable - stay inside and isolate, and everyone else crack on and keep the country running closer to "normal".

Based on the amount of asymptomatic cases, I think this would be more effective, myself.
 
Is ireland not one of the poorest mainstream European countries?
What the hell is a "mainstream country"?

I'm kinda picturing mass-produced countries, designed to appeal to the widest possible audience while in shadowy corners of Europe hide the hipster nations where everyone has a beard and a flannel shirt.
 
What the hell is a "mainstream country"?

I'm kinda picturing mass-produced countries, designed to appeal to the widest possible audience while in shadowy corners of Europe hide the hipster nations where everyone has a beard and a flannel shirt.

Countries that used to be cool but sold out.
 
What the hell is a "mainstream country"?

I'm kinda picturing mass-produced countries, designed to appeal to the widest possible audience while in shadowy corners of Europe hide the hipster nations where everyone has a beard and a flannel shirt.
UK Italy France ireland spain Germany, rather than smaller less touristy destinations was what i was getting at. But i was looking at the wrong figures
 
Yea made a quick edit there. The link said per capita but the table is actually total.

Didnt actually know that. With the housing crisis, the bailout from the eu etc, just never felt like ireland fully recovered
The bailout was paid off back in 2015 or something. We've generally recovered really well from the recession. Unemployment is low, growth has been high.

Housing and health are our main issues and a big failing of the government since the recession but both of those have arguably been brought on by our return to prosperity and being a boiling point for other countries due to the big wages in areas like IT and finance. Also the housing crisis gets overblown, most wealthy countries have the same problem in their main cities. The likes of London, Amsterdam, Stockholm are just as bad.
 
We've just had a notice from our friend here who acts as an official point of contact for the immigrants like us - beaches, parks, playgrounds and public gardens are now all closed (there's been a problem with people gathering on beaches and in parks).

Any walking for health or to exercise pets must be done very close to your home, and you have to go out alone.
 
It's not just behaviour that needs to change, it's mindset.

This is Barclays in the US, but its just leaked there, I have no doubt our financial institutions are doing exactly the same.



These people need to be strung up and publicly executed. They are everything that's wrong with the world.
 
France has tightened the rules of who can go out by banning cycling and demanding runners and walkers limit the distance they take from home to a maximum 1-2km and 20minutes.
 
What the hell is a "mainstream country"?

I'm kinda picturing mass-produced countries, designed to appeal to the widest possible audience while in shadowy corners of Europe hide the hipster nations where everyone has a beard and a flannel shirt.

HgoQB1h.jpg


"Your England's, your France's, your Germany's, your Spain's"
 
The bailout was paid off back in 2015 or something. We've generally recovered really well from the recession. Unemployment is low, growth has been high.

Housing and health are our main issues and a big failing of the government since the recession but both of those have arguably been brought on by our return to prosperity and being a boiling point for other countries due to the big wages in areas like IT and finance. Also the housing crisis gets overblown, most wealthy countries have the same problem in their main cities. The likes of London, Amsterdam, Stockholm are just as bad.
The housing and health is virtually all you hear about up here when it comes to Ireland.

If they can sort it to some degree i really could see a united ireland some day. Not to stray of topic to much
 
What grates me is when I hear people around me talk about how hard it is to isolate. Holy feck, you have a roof on your head, food, entertainment etc. and you can't sacrifice your social life to save lives?
That's an unsurprisingly simplistic view of the problem. I have two very ill relatives in their 70s up north who I am worried about, but cannot visit for several reasons. Not everyone is just at home bored of their latest PS4 game.
 
O'Neills factory on strabane has shut down laying of 750 staff. They make all the gaa gear and a good amount of rugby gear across the country.

Surprised the didnt hold of until the chancellor speaks tonight
 
Quite a lot of reports of american senators selling of stock in February after a behind closed doors meeting on the virus.

Anyone have more on this, surely thats insider trading?
 
China reporting a second successive day without any new cases, there is good news out there.

Also, people are not respecting social distancing so I have decided to cough anytime someone comes near.
The latest I saw from them was +39. Which is obviously still good compared to a lot of countries.
 
Are you quarantining due to precaution or have you had symptoms? Are there any local facebook support groups or anything like that?
A mix of both. Have had a cough for ten days so went into self imposed quarantine ten days ago, but by the time it was clear it wasn’t corona, the entire place was on lockdown anyways .
 
The bailout was paid off back in 2015 or something. We've generally recovered really well from the recession. Unemployment is low, growth has been high.

Housing and health are our main issues and a big failing of the government since the recession but both of those have arguably been brought on by our return to prosperity and being a boiling point for other countries due to the big wages in areas like IT and finance. Also the housing crisis gets overblown, most wealthy countries have the same problem in their main cities. The likes of London, Amsterdam, Stockholm are just as bad.
The bailout was refinanced for the most part. We just owe the money to different people

We have a national debt of €200bn.

This crisis will need a 15 billion bailout.

https://m.independent.ie/business/i...e-financial-pain-of-coronavirus-39059859.html

It's another decade of austerity on the way.
 
China reporting a second successive day without any new cases, there is good news out there.

Meanwhile, the UK has the second steepest mortality curve of any country on the planet. In the least surprising development of all time, it turns out that those "herd immunity" twats have completely f*cked us.
 
Maybe an important study starting at the University of Utah: https://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/covid-19-physics/

They're building mock Covid-19 cells and testing how they react to a variety of temperature and humidity changes. Hopefully it doesn't take long to complete and discovers that the little feckers disintegrate when it's damp and/or warm.
 
What the hell is a "mainstream country"?

I'm kinda picturing mass-produced countries, designed to appeal to the widest possible audience while in shadowy corners of Europe hide the hipster nations where everyone has a beard and a flannel shirt.

arnie_ni

;)