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

Following the money science:


Most of the advice given to the UK government by SAGE is ignored or politicised, a member has alleged

'Speaking to the New York Times, Dr Susan Michie, a professor of health psychology at University College London, said that a SAGE committee on which she serves produced a study detailing the risks of reducing the social distancing rule from two metres to one.

However, little information about the risks of cutting the distance was given by prime minister Boris Johnson when he announced the upcoming reduction, the article says.

“The overwhelming majority of our advice is ignored,” Michie said, “but the pieces are picked up and used for political purposes.”'
 
Daily new cases In the US are going absolutely mental with close to 50k yesterday after a few days around 40k. Some States have closed bars/restaurants again after severe spikes and the whole country is so divided there doesn’t seem a way out of it when half the population do not take it seriousl.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
 
American Airlines, Air Canada, United, and Westjet state that they will no longer have social distancing on flights.
 
Flight into Danger
 
She can yell for 14 straight seconds without taking a breath. Her breathing seems fine to me.
 


Sometimes you wonder what they have between their ears.
 
I mean, people have the right to say that the "UK" has cocked up but I also have the right to say that Scotland clearly hasn't cocked up when you look at the drop in rates. I feel it necessary to point that out since everyone was accusing the Scottish government of just arbitrarily playing politics because their strategy was different from the Westminster one...but....you know...
 
Meanwhile, more 'truly remarkable progress':

Video appears to show Trump campaign removing social-distancing stickers in Tulsa
Washington Post shares clip of volunteers apparently pulling stickers saying ‘do not sit here’ from seats in BOK Center
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Trump visits private golf course as US battles rapid surge in coronavirus cases
US president heads to Virginia a day after saying he’d stay in Washington DC to ‘make sure law and order is enforced’ amid ongoing anti-racism protests
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Mr Pigeon said:
I mean, people have the right to say that the "UK" has cocked up but I also have the right to say that Scotland clearly hasn't cocked up when you look at the drop in rates. I feel it necessary to point that out since everyone was accusing the Scottish government of just arbitrarily playing politics because their strategy was different from the Westminster one...but....you know...
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I admit I thought they were playing politics, but I'm wrong half the time like everyone else, so which decisions of the Scottish government made the difference do you think?
 
Mr Pigeon said:
I mean, people have the right to say that the "UK" has cocked up but I also have the right to say that Scotland clearly hasn't cocked up when you look at the drop in rates. I feel it necessary to point that out since everyone was accusing the Scottish government of just arbitrarily playing politics because their strategy was different from the Westminster one...but....you know...
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They made exactly the same mistakes in the beginning though. Same decision as Westminster about sending hospitalised old people back to care homes without tests. Same on lack of testing and PPE in care homes. Same on taking ages to get testing anywhere near capacity. Even the same on government advisers getting caught out not following their own guidelines.

I think all the early mistakes are what's pushed Nicola to be tougher on relaxing restrictions now.
 
I HAVE ASTHMA AND HAVE WORN DOUBLE MAKS FOR 8 HOURS. WHAT THE feck DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE? LUNG CANCER?
 
berbatrick said:
I HAVE ASTHMA AND HAVE WORN DOUBLE MAKS FOR 8 HOURS. WHAT THE feck DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE? LUNG CANCER?
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Why the shouting? We can still hear you through your masks. :)

Anyway, I can't think of many medical conditions that would stop you wearing a mask - even if you're having nasal oxygen you can still cover your mouth. If you have no ears you can wear a tie-on one. And yes, it's hot in the sunshine states, but it's hot in lots of places. There are lightweight masks, you're not expected to have a full respirator over your face.

I'm making a collection. I have some proper masks with filters for the doctor's surgery and when I'm in a shop, and then I have a chihuahua print number and a gingham one for just walking outside in the heat. They could wear MAGA masks or Trump 20 masks if they wanted.
 
Penna said:
I'm making a collection. I have some proper masks with filters for the doctor's surgery and when I'm in a shop, and then I have a chihuahua print number and a gingham one for just walking outside in the heat. They could wear MAGA masks or Trump 20 masks if they wanted.
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For all the marketing genius that Trump is supposed to be, he is missing a trick here. Selling trump image or MAGA masks.
 
sglowrider said:
For all the marketing genius that Trump is supposed to be, he is missing a trick here. Selling trump image or MAGA masks.
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I can't believe they don't exist. Every supermarket and clothes shop I've been in has cheap lightweight masks in a variety of designs, and also little masks for kids with cartoon designs on them. It's a great idea.
 
UnrelatedPsuedo said:
Lots inaccurate here mate. Exports are up. Could be anecdotal and they had a big contract with somewhere that has stopped importing, but most NZ Agri sectors are doing better than pre Covid.

Also could be a dairy farmer. But that industry has seen scores of farms fold in the past couple of decades. Fonterra killing anything independent.
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I think he is a dairy farmer in fairness and may also be that he was struggling a bit beforehand and Covid was just the final straw. You're right though, it is very anecdotal and was not meant to be a generalised analysis of the Kiwi farming economy as a whole (on which I am clearly no expert).

Regardless, as lots of us have said, I'd much rather be in NZ or Australia at the moment. In fact, I'm kind of kicking myself for coming back from Australia last year now, for so so many reasons.


Stack said:
There is one thing we do know is coming and that is our 2nd quarter financial results will be the worst in our history because that is the period in which the strongest lockdown happened. So we are in for some tough news on the economy in the next week or two. I think those numbers will be pretty sobering.
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True, though I guess this will be the case for most economies worldwide at this point.

If things carry on the way they are here, I may be plotting my escape back to Australasia anyway. :D
 
Stack said:
I am interested in why the Kiwi farmer is talking about having to consider slaughtering his cow herd because of economic impacts? We have literally seen our beef exports have a huge jump in exports and also our dairy exports in the last 2 months. Farmers here are at full pace. I seriously doubt what you have been told. Also there is no complete business travel ban. People are coming in to NZ on business trips from selected countries with an ever increasing list of countries. There are restrictions that have to be met. Tests in the country of origin before leaving for NZ and then tests and 14 day quarantine once here. Japan has that access in place now for business related travel here. I know its restrictive but its not a blanket ban. People seem to be talking about absolutes. Elimination of the virus doesnt mean cutting ourself off from the rest of the world. Our exports are in full swing.
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14 day quarantine is basically the same thing as a blanket ban, when it comes to business travel. In my 20 years of corporate life I have travelled to hundreds of business meetings. Not one of them would have been worth a 14 day quarantine in the destination country. It’s pretty much the same as a blanket ban for tourists too.

Why do you keep mentioning exports, by the way? I don’t think covid is having much of an effect on exports anywhere. Other than the economic damage done to countries you might need to buy those exported goods. The problem of being isolated is about limitations on travel for people, not goods.
 
Victoria, Australia fighting to stop a second wave. Relaxed restrictions and winter conditions the main factors.

Many people who are made to do quarantine have been refusing testing for some reason so Victoria are now making it compulsory and other states are making people who refuse do another 10 days in quarantine - a total of 24 days.
 
Wibble said:
Victoria, Australia fighting to stop a second wave. Relaxed restrictions and winter conditions the main factors.

Many people who are made to do quarantine have been refusing testing for some reason so Victoria are now making it compulsory and other states are making people who refuse do another 10 days in quarantine - a total of 24 days.
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Why would people refuse testing? Too expensive or they just don't want to know?
 
JPRouve said:


Sometimes you wonder what they have between their ears.
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Pence just seems like a zombie all the time, like literally just standing and doing nothing or saying something really dumb. Zero personality. At least trump has some personality
 
Reports today that they could put Leicester into a second lockdown.

Having lived here for two years, it doesn't surprise me. A lot of the inner city is rundown and in plenty of cases, crowded. Bit of a perfect storm for increased cases.
 
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The Balkan countries have been having an awful time with the second wave yet we refuse to put any restrictions on travel to/from Croatia, which had more than 100 new confirmed cases per day in the last few days.

Cases have been steadily increasing over here as well, 9 new today and 14 on Friday, which is the most since the end of April. Mask's are now again necessary in closed off areas, everything else pretty much remains the same. I don't know, it's all quite easily avoidable, but I guess we're heading straight into a second wave, because our management post the end of lockdown has been pretty bad.
 
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