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

Considering the grave situation in Italy at the moment, it's paramount that people follow the restrictions otherwise the virus will continue to spread. So 2 guys playing table tennis might not be such a problem, it gives the impression that it's ok to be outside socialising. I imagine these Mayors are under a lot of pressure to keep the situation in their towns under control.
Fair enough. I get that impressions mean a lot(The UK being a clear example)it's just at some point people can't being in lockdown 24/7.
I think they're just stressed out. The role of Mayor in Italy is more than just a ceremonial non-executive one, they basically run the smallest units of government (the municipalities, or Comunes). However, some Comunes are huge - Rome for instance is one Comune.

They have a lot of personal responsibility in times like this.
Ah cheers didn't know this
 
I'd have to go through the house. I'll do it but I'm gonna tell him to have the front and back doors open beforehand.

Gonna treat this like a game of "the floor is lava" except everything is lava.
Honestly - I'm not a doctor but there are simple precautions you can take. You don't have to be excessively worried.
Wear disposable gloves - fresh ones of course so you aren't leaving anything on door handles, surfaces etc. Do you have alcohol based wipes or at least wet tissues? I'm in Tokyo and there are plenty of sanitation products that are cheap if you can't afford or can't buy the more expensive ones because they're sold out.

If you can't get them wherever you are, take a clean cloth and some cleaner - bathroom cleaner, even a strong washing up liquid will do it. Clean any surfaces you touch if you can't avoid then use another clean cloth to dry the wetness. A clean scarf around your mouth and lower part of the nose will be enough to stop them breathing in any of your droplets. And wear a hat.

I think the authorities are becoming over-bearing. I went to see cherry blossom trees by myself yesterday in Tokyo and people, especially families, were not having the usual parties at those kind of locations but they were walking around looking and taking photographs. In fresh air and sunshine - two of the best natural antidotes to viruses especially the Vitamin D from the sun.

Authorities should worry about crowded shopping areas of which there are too many in Japan and employers should be staggering their workers' starting hours. Some are doing it but the subways and trains are still too packed. I have taken to walking to a big station that before I went to by my local subway line. The big station is only 5 minutes from the station I get off for my work. At night I do the same and walk home 30 minutes instead of riding my local subway line. Too many Tokyoites are still packing the trains until 10.30pm or so from early evening.

THAT'S the problem - not people walking around in fresh air and sunlight.
 
Just found out my cousin has it. Had a sore throat for a while then recovered before full blown symptoms. Burning hot, red face and sweating bad and can barely speak. They said she’ll be okay, thank God.
My sister is a deputy head at a school in London which isn’t closed for some reason, not sure why. Her boss is insisting she come in even though she told her boss she don’t feel good.
 
I've been checking that every day. A late surge from America but Japan have gone from 4th to 25th in three weeks. Relegation form that.
Ah yes, the wonders of not testing any apart from a miniscule percentage of the population especially in Tokyo and Greater Tokyo with around 13 million people.
And now the Olympics will be postponed - not if but when. I'd love to ask the neo-right wingers running Japan how worth it they think playing russian roulette with Japanese citizens' and residents' health is now?
 
Can't speak for America but I think I read Germany have been testing more people and also have more available beds and medical equipment to keep people alive. Basically they're still getting lots of sick people but are able to treat more. That's the only difference really. They are just better prepared.

It's also worth looking at the total number of recoveries in germany. They're at 422 out of 27k cases. France have had 16k cases and 2k recoveries.
 
True, my criticism would be that many governments have been reactive rather than proactive in stopping spread.

Many? A couple of governments... And not getting it doesn't really help unless we're all just going to live indoors indefinitely. It doesn't just go away... So are those more "proactive" governments (and really, it's just reacting faster) actually helping anyone?

There's no smart solution here, just plenty of guesses.
 
Jesus, that guy sounds healthier than me and what he went through sounds horrendous. :nervous:

Pretty scary isn’t it, and to have just had it dismissed by doctors and so boarded a long haul flight after feeling better is maddening. Hopefully he’d have been past the contagious stage by then but who knows.
 
It's also worth looking at the total number of recoveries in germany. They're at 422 out of 27k cases. France have had 16k cases and 2k recoveries.

I wouldn't read too much into those stats to be honest. The same site says the UK only has 20 people in critical condition in the entire country. Do you believe this?
 
Pretty scary isn’t it, and to have just had it dismissed by doctors and so boarded a long haul flight after feeling better is maddening. Hopefully he’d have been past the contagious stage by then but who knows.
I think the scariest part is how many people he has been in contact with in the 3 weeks since his symptoms (largely) cleared up. Three airports, two flights, a stag, family get-togethers etc. I'm sure he's far from the only person that happened with, either. I'm not sure how the test-kits work but if they can still detect covid-19 in him does that not mean he was still contagious for those 3 weeks? Or would the virus in him be docile by then?
 
It is interesting watching him squirm as he desperately tries to balance between protecting his own assets and keeping his re-election hopes alive.
 
I think the scariest part is how many people he has been in contact with in the 3 weeks since his symptoms (largely) cleared up. Three airports, two flights, a stag, family get-togethers etc. I'm sure he's far from the only person that happened with, either. I'm not sure how the test-kits work but if they can still detect covid-19 in him does that not mean he was still contagious for those 3 weeks? Or would the virus in him be docile by then?

Agree 100% and I’ve no idea on the question of whether he’d still be contagious at that point.

The numbers of cases of this thing are unquestionably being enormously underreported due to not being tested.
 
I think the scariest part is how many people he has been in contact with in the 3 weeks since his symptoms (largely) cleared up. Three airports, two flights, a stag, family get-togethers etc. I'm sure he's far from the only person that happened with, either. I'm not sure how the test-kits work but if they can still detect covid-19 in him does that not mean he was still contagious for those 3 weeks? Or would the virus in him be docile by then?

A woman died from COVID-19 here today. A day after returning from Los Angeles. Apparently collapsed at home after being picked up at the airport! She'd also recently travelled to France and Tahiti.

I'm amazed at the decisions some people are making right now.
 
That can’t be serious? He’ll be lynched. Locally and globally.

What happens if this doesn't go away for 6-8 months? Are we all supposed to stay at home for that long? It's not possible at all. Eventually we are all going to have to crack on as it were as tough as that may sound. What choice do we have if it doesn't go away any time soon? Most people can't survive longer than a few months with no cash.
 
Can't speak for America but I think I read Germany have been testing more people and also have more available beds and medical equipment to keep people alive. Basically they're still getting lots of sick people but are able to treat more. That's the only difference really. They are just better prepared.
Nah. It is bcs their cases are from travelling to Italy and Tyrol. So infected are younger, where as in Italy, Spain and US it was going longer unnoticed, so also old people got infected. Germany's FCR will rise. And Italy only tests people that are quite sick. They don't have time to test people under 50. FCR is about 0.5-2% everywhere when population and testing is similar
 
Working in a school. Most students havent shown up however we have some in. Of all the the children who are in today not one of their parents/carers are key workers. So basically they're using us as a glorified day care centre because they don't want their kids at home all day.

Why don't you ring the parents up and tell them not to send them back?
 
What happens if this doesn't go away for 6-8 months? Are we all supposed to stay at home for that long? It's not possible at all. Eventually we are all going to have to crack on as it were as tough as that may sound. What choice do we have if it doesn't go away any time soon? Most people can't survive longer than a few months with no cash.
If everyone would actually follow the self-isolation rules strictly, it's bound to go away between now and the summer. The problem is that each country has decided to tackle this on its own, and that a lot of people just don't give a feck about it (e.g. partying kids in Florida).
 
I'm really curious to see how the french government is going to handle the next phase. The health minister announced Saturday that they are putting in place mass testing which will occur when hospitals aren't as busy and will coincede with a relaxing of the lockdown.
 

That's scary but don't take individual experiences out of context yet.
I spoke to somebody the other day who is fairly sure they experienced the new virus in January this year after going home for vacation via Hong Kong in December.
It was around 17 days after they were around in HK for their layover.

Back at work they felt strange, had digestive problems and a small gastro-intestinal problem, felt nauseous and had chills. This lasted about 5 days.
The chills showed infection but some people's temperature doesn't rise - it goes down as the body's way of fighting infection varies from person to person.
They think they might have had COVID-19 but its effect was different from some usual symptoms. This person is rarely sick and seems to have a great immune system.
 

They've clearly cleaned it massively, it's spotless - so whats the point in the first place? They want people to copy them with a dirty one?

Dirty disgusting person. Hope they catch it!
 
A woman died from COVID-19 here today. A day after returning from Los Angeles. Apparently collapsed at home after being picked up at the airport! She'd also recently travelled to France and Tahiti.

I'm amazed at the decisions some people are making right now.

I don’t know about that woman but in the Dan Mace video I posted, he sought medical opinions from two doctors and only travelled after his symptoms had passed and he mostly felt fine.

Those docs ruling out the virus and refusing to test for it are the problem, and there will be thousands like him who’ve done the same I’m sure.

It’s worth pointing out that he was screened for fever on arrival in Cape Town and it was only once he lost his sense of taste and smell that he spoke to a local doc and got tested immediately and received confirmation of a positive result.
 
I’ve read things like this before, what are people collapsing and dying from? I understand people are dying of respiratory failure, but collapsing and dying?

She was infected with COVID-19 so it's likely she had some form of pneumonia and collapsed due to exhaustion. It's said she had shortness of breath and a cough but wasn't picked up by screening at airports.
 
Yeah I read that earlier, it's a fascinating read. The most important conclusion is that buying time right now by imposing heavy measures will be invaluable to be much better equipped by the time we relax those measures. Higher availability of personal protection equipment, faster, more reliable and more widespread testing, better and more focused treatment of patients, more ingrained good practices by the public to avoid spreading the infection and a general greater knowledge about the virus. It boils down to, would you rather fight the peak empty-handed right now or use all of the aforementioned weapons to fight it in a couple of months? I know what option I'd pick.
 
So, just had an email from a hobby shop saying they are preparing for completely shutting down for 5 weeks starting on Thursday.

I suspect they've already been told to do this and they have come out before the official announcement.

They say:
  • We are making plans for a Government enforced 5-6 week despatch operation shutdown
  • We are acting as if this will commence on Thursday 26th March
 
Last edited:
Yeah I read that earlier, it's a fascinating read. The most important conclusion is that buying time right now by imposing heavy measures will be invaluable to be much better equipped by the time we relax those measures. Higher availability of personal protection equipment, faster, more reliable and more widespread testing, better and more focused treatment of patients, more ingrained good practices by the public to avoid spreading the infection and a general greater knowledge about the virus. It boils down to, would you rather fight the peak empty-handed right now or use all of the aforementioned weapons to fight it in a couple of months? I know what option I'd pick.

This is a perfect summary of the situation. Heavy handed measures now will not take away the problem, but every day is another day of scientists working 24 hours on treatment, factories switching to making ventilators and equipment and supplies being stocked.

The more time we can buy, the better prepared we can be.
 
It's not odd at all. It's a possible symptom in respiratory affections.

Wasn't being reported at all though in any official sources throughout all this, 'til very recently.

Never had a blocked nose massively destroys your taste/smell, majority of your taste is the smells you pick up

I don't think the people describing this symptom, as in the video that @Rado_N posted are simply suffering from a 'blocked nose'.

I've had chronic sinusitis for over a year and a permanently blocked nose because of it, but can still taste / smell.

People are describing a complete loss of smell and taste that continues after they've recovered.