Coronavirus Discussion

[olympe]

It's called genetic diversity. 🙂

[Astreya]

@Fuzzbucket

It would be logical that some people are immune - after all, there are always DNA sequences differing between people and having various mutations, so that for statistical reasons alone some should be immune, and these would of course have a better chance to reproduce in the end.

Here's an article that discusses this effect with respect to HIV: https://www.nature.com/articles/news050307-15

 

Oops, just noticed after posting that I was already ninja'd by @olympe

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Astreya

[Tiira]

Well we still have this problem here that many bars are open and crammed and the government won't be able to close them yet because of bureaucracy. I think I've been complaining a lot about my fellow citizens so I have to add that of course there are rational people here, too. I live close to the city centre so I really get to see every day how quiet the streets are compared to normal times when I go out for my daily walk (naturally keeping distance to everyone I see). I'm happy to be able to catch some fresh air.

 

The most important newspaper here in Finland also has some real-time graphics online that show, for example, how much traffic there is in the capital, on the streets, stations, borders and so on, at the moment and what's the usual situation. For many days the centre has been a lot emptier but sadly the traffic on the regional borders (which will be closed tomorrow) has notably increased. Some smaller municipalities have already reported that people escaping from the metropolitan area have started to show symptoms after arriving there...

[Confused Cat]

I'm beginning to understand why my grandmother thought "The General" (the man who was responsible for the Swiss army in WW2) was so great. Of course this is not a war, but still a crisis that changes everybody's lives. And during such times it feels good to believe(/pretend) the government - or someone representing it in some way - will take care of the problems and tell everybody what to do.

 

(I do know these feelings are dangerous. Sometimes that representative of the government who makes people feel better might be a bad guy... Let's hope Corona doesn't damage any democracies.)

[Lagie]

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2020/mar/26/breaking-news-minister-confirms-four-new-cases-cov/

We are now up to 9...

No news yet on extending the lockdown, but I expect that will be coming.

Our PM is a doctor so he's very good at putting things in perspective, as is our Minister of Health (he sounds like Spock when he speaks! ). 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Lagie

[Astreya]

@Confused Cat

I know what you mean. I'm pretty surprised that our government folks do an astonishingly good job, too, so far. But of course they took the scientists from RKI, Charité and other health institutes into the boat right from the start.

[Classycal]

The US had better kick it into gear.  We now have more deaths than China did.  There's no way we are going to be able to "reopen" things by Easter.  I'm staying at home and am dismayed when I see on TV that some people think it's all a hoax.  🤤

[purpledragonclaw]

The U.S. now has the most confirmed cases of coronavirus in the world. Classycal beat me to it. This news comes after Mississippi moved to keep businesses open with exemptions to social distancing, before taking it more seriously. 

 

Some people will always believe that, unfortunately, that this is a hoax, or it's not as severe as the media says it is, or it'll go away on its own. Hopefully people awaken to the truth.

 

 

 

[Lagie]

13 minutes ago, Classycal said:

The US had better kick it into gear.  We now have more deaths than China did.  There's no way we are going to be able to "reopen" things by Easter.  I'm staying at home and am dismayed when I see on TV that some people think it's all a hoax.  🤤

More cases, not more deaths

(according to WorldOMeter).

 

Scary stuff.

[Classycal]

Oh, okay.  

[Starscream]

@Confused Cat Doug ford, our trump wanna be leader in Ontario, is actually not holding back in his response to this situation. While I still don't like him and what he's done, I am hoping he can learn something from all this and become a better leader. I'm fairly satisfied with his response.

[Ruby Eyes]

10 hours ago, Classycal said:

There's no way we are going to be able to "reopen" things by Easter.

Unless the whole US population has been infected by then and either died or acquired immunity.

[olympe]

1 hour ago, Ruby Eyes said:

Unless the whole US population has been infected by then and either died or acquired immunity.

If the whole population gets the virus within this time, there'll be too many deaths + very sick people to keep everything running...

[Ruby Eyes]

I should add a "sarcasm" marker next time ...

 

[Classycal]

1 hour ago, Ruby Eyes said:

Unless the whole US population has been infected by then and either died or acquired immunity.

 

Yeppers...  (Sarcasm here, too.)

 

If the whole population got sick.....   Anarchy!!  That would be interesting.  (Take that with a grain of salt.)

Edited March 27, 2020 by Classycal

[Sashimi]

We have seven deaths and 32 in critical care 

 

I hate that the virus has been depreciated so much and still is. Like "only old and ill people get it", umm any one of us can be that unlucky healthy adult or teenager who dies from it. I think every possible action should be made to stop it. And how can making laws the rightful way be so much more important than the health of people?

 

Thank goodness I'm probably getting a lay-off. The public transport is scary even though mostly empty.

[Fuzzbucket]

I hate the way people are posting as if we will all DIE - when in fact the ENORMOUS majority of those infected recover just fine.

 

I am, by the way, "at risk" and I refuse to pull the "only old people and ill people" thing... ANY of us can get infected; almost all of us will recover. The big differential is that many more of the "old and ill;" will not recover. But that apples to almost every illness out there.

 

I'm not saying isn't this all wonderful - but while we need to take it very seriously, let's not go over the top. I bet I will be infected at some point - most people will be. I also expect to live to tell the tale.

Edited March 27, 2020 by Fuzzbucket

[trystan]

my brother (who will be 45 later this year) is pretty sure he and his 9 year old son had this thing - but their symptoms weren't quite matching, so my brother called his state's department of health, and they said as long as it wasn't serious, he didn't need to be tested.  they're both on the mend now and feeling much better, but... how many undiagnosed cases like this are out there? (not really an answerable question, just putting that out there.)

 

[Sashimi]

Well I hope the undiagnosed ones(who have mild symptoms) still follow the rules of staying home.

[trystan]

agreed!  and i'm sure my brother certainly did stay home.  

[Fuzzbucket]

There are MILLIONS of undiagnosed cases out there. Most people who contract it will probably never know.

[trystan]

that is very true, Fuzzbucket.

[olympe]

46 minutes ago, Fuzzbucket said:

I hate the way people are posting as if we will all DIE - when in fact the ENORMOUS majority of those infected recover just fine.

 

I am, by the way, "at risk" and I refuse to pull the "only old people and ill people" thing... ANY of us can get infected; almost all of us will recover. The big differential is that many more of the "old and ill;" will not recover. But that apples to almost every illness out there.

 

I'm not saying isn't this all wonderful - but while we need to take it very seriously, let's not go over the top. I bet I will be infected at some point - most people will be. I also expect to live to tell the tale.

You're right, not everyone will die. In China - which is at a very late stage of the pandemic - has 75 k recovered and 3.5 k dead from Corona. If you crunch the exact numbers, you get an overall death rate of slightly above 4%. More if hospitals get overrun with sick patients - which Italy, with (currently) slightly more affected people than China, proves quite drastically: They have almost three times as many people who died due to Covid-19 than China - and Italy is far from done, today they had over 900 new deads.

[Lagie]

Angela Merkel did an awesome speech.

 

Apparently, here, rumours abound that the 'whites' have put the lockdown in place to suppress the 'blacks'.  People never learn, do they?

Never mind the fact that both our PM and our Minister of Health and our entire government bar one Minister (without portfolio) are black... 

We are blessed with the fact our PM and our Minister of Health are both medical doctors.

[Classycal]

Hopefully there will eventually be a test to tell if you've got antibodies to the Corona virus.  That would tell you whether you have had the disease or not.  This will be some time in the future though.