Coronavirus Discussion

[Gluria]

1 minute ago, Classycal said:

Did Trump really say he wanted a vaccine for just the US?  Surely that's fake news.  I know he's an idiot, but I hope he wouldn't do that.  (And he thinks he's going to be re-elected?  I'm a Republican, but I did NOT vote for the man.  But that's a story for another time.)

Not fake news. Was all over German twitter and all news channels today. The company is in the city I work at ... small world. Thankfully they won't sell their souls.

[olympe]

As far as I know, he did want the vaccine for the US *exclusively*. And, although the statement I heard from the heads of the company working on the vaccine, they never denied it. They stated that they had no plans to sell it with any exclusive rights to any one nation.

 

@Gluria: ninja'ed, and same about the news channels.

[Classycal]

18 minutes ago, olympe said:

And I can only re-iterate what classycal said - wash your hands, stay away from other people wherever you can, keep your distance. Avoid crowds! However, I have some other things to add:

• Don't shake hands. Seriously. Our hands come in contact with pretty much everything. Shaking hands makes us come into contact with everything the other person (and whoever they have shaken hands with) has come into contact.
• Ideal times to wash your hands:
  • When you arrive home.
  • After you have been in a public place - even if all you touched is a railing, a lift button or some change. Wash your hands. 
  • After the use of public transportation. 
  • Before you eat. Yes, especially finger food.
  • Before you prepare food.
  • After you had to sneeze and still put your hand in front of your mouth. Old habits die hard.
  • Yes, also after using the restroom. Obviously.
  • After every human interaction. Better safe than sorry. (Unless you live in the same household, in which case it's probably obsolete.)
• Don't feel safe due to using disinfectants. Most of them don't work against viruses.
• Don't feel safe because you use a face mask. Most of them let virus particles (as well as microscopic droplets containing viruses) through.
• When you need to go shopping, try to go at times where stores aren't usually busy. It helps to minimize contact, and also gives you better chances that the stores are stocked. (At least it worked here.) If you can, order online.
• If you have elderly / high-risk neighbors, ask them (via phone, or through the door, or via hand-delivered mail with your phone-number included) whether you can get stuff for them. This will help protect those who need it the most.

 

So we'll said Olympe that I felt it needed reposted...

[olympe]

I'm pretty sure I forgot some, though. Like washing your hands after blowing your nose? I'm sure there are a hundred other things to consider.

 

Another thing: Try to make your shopping trips rare. Buy whatever you need for a week or two, if you can.

 

There's also the common advice to not panic buy or hoard stuff. I'm not sure how to say this, but this only works if everyone follows this advice. Or do you feel like playing the prisoner's dilemma with your whole neighborhood? Other advice (outside of this crisis, obviously) is to always have food, drink and other necessities at home that last you (and your family) for two weeks. This should also include necessary medication. I'd also suggest medication against common ailments - like colds, diarrhea and a common headache, the latter of which usually also works against fever. Personally, I also got some vitamins. In case fresh fruit or veggies are not available for a longer time, this might be a good thing.

 

Maybe avoid raw food, too? I mean, ever watched the vegetable/fruit section in a supermarket, and how many people tend to touch that stuff before *maybe* buying it? Do you know what they touched before, or what germs they carry? Right now, I'd go with the advice against hepatitis in southern regions: Boil it, peel it or leave it. (Yes, baking, grilling and any other form of heating counts, too. No, removing the outer leaves from cabbage doesn't. A-choo happens. Gesundheit.)

 

I also forgot the one about sneezing/coughing into the inside of your elbow. (Personally, I often prefer the shoulder when wearing short sleeves. Just saying.)

[Classycal]

Well, I usually sneeze or cough down my shirt.  

 

My nutrition teacher always said that fresh fruits and vegetables (including lettuce and cabbage) should be washed with soap and water.  It's still good advice even if it was 40 some years ago.   (I'm telling my age, but Olympe knows how old I am anyway.) 

[StormBirdRising]

3 hours ago, Classycal said:

Did Trump really say he wanted a vaccine for just the US?  Surely that's fake news.  I hope he wouldn't do that. I'm a Republican, but I did NOT vote for the man.  But that's a story for another time.)

 

NO. You are right, he never said that. There is a drug company that has branches in Germany and in The US.   President Trump is working with them to fast track a vaccine. I believe he has allotted 3 billion dollars towards developing this  vaccine. A member of the press said that they heard that the German government felt that Trump was trying to get the vaccine for US citizens only, of course he had no other information.

 

It is totally untrue and totally fake news.  When you hear things like this, that doesn't even make any sense and is just inflammatory, just remember that people will attribute every bad thing that happens in the world to to the American President Donald Trump

 

I am surprised that fake news is not already offering conclusive proof that Trump started the COVID 19 corona virus for his political gains.

 

The situation that the whole world is in with COVID 19 is very serious and detracting from its seriousness with fake news is counter productive.

[Classycal]

Well, I'm glad it's fake.  But, you know, there are programs out there that can make people say whatever the programmer wants them to say.  But I figure if it were true that the US news would be all over it.  They don't give Trump any breaks (nor should they). 

[StormBirdRising]

5 minutes ago, Classycal said:

Well, I'm glad it's fake.  But, you know, there are programs out there that can make people say whatever the programmer wants them to say.  But I figure if it were true that the US news would be all over it.  They don't give Trump any breaks (nor should they). 

 

I know, we would have seen non stop coverage.   btw, I wash my fruits and veggies with soap and water too. It just makes sense to me, especially now, with this virus lurking around.

[StormBirdRising]

Update from California

 

Governor Gavin Newsom had previously declared Cali in a state of emergency. Almost all schools and universities have been closed.

 

Yesterday he  announced new restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19. He ordered the closing of bars, nightclubs, pubs and wineries and ordered restaurants to limit customers to half of their capacity

 

Newsom also called for all Californians ages 65 and older and those with chronic health conditions to isolate themselves at home.

 

He now has asked restaurants to limit their activity to take out and delivery only.

[Sashimi]

In Finland, they have stopped testing every possible patient. Only the risk groups and healthcare workers, who have symptoms. So we don't actually know how many cases we really have. They say we don't have resources to test everyone, but how can we have resources to treat everyone then?

 

As said in the other topic, I work in private dental care. We have no restrictions,  other than avoiding handshakes and telling people not to come in sick. I hope they do something about this soon. I don't understand how people still come in for checkups or cleanings. The aerosol can land up to two meters from the patient. We of course disinfect everything in every between, but we cannot ensure that for example the coronavirus would die. And we have also a lot of risk group patients. So I hope they will at least limit the dental care to urgent care only.

[Starscream]

we had a scare, a friend of mine, who glompped hugged me after just returning from the states, went to gte tested after showing some symptoms. But she came up negative.

[Astreya]

I'm living in the federal state NRW which is one of the centres of the Covid-19 outbreak in Germany, and here people are hamstering canned food, durable food stuffs and sanitary items, particularly toilet paper. In my hometown of 211 000 people, we currently have only 13 verified cases, and we have both three test teams that visit people who are not mobile plus one drive-in test centre. Our Gesundheitsamt (local health office) set into motion measures like closing down of swimming pools, museums, theatres etc comparatively early (it was announced well before the higher ups decreed it). The people are still pretty calm (if you don't look at the hamstering, that is).

[Astreya]

@StormBirdRising

Well, the news in Germany sound a bit different as even the German government stated that Trump indeed tried to buy out the company CureVac. Fortunately the main investor of CureVac blocked the buy out and he also said that they understood that Trump insisted he wanted the vaccine exclusively for the US, while they will design it for the whole world.

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Astreya

[demonicvampiregirl]

25 minutes ago, Astreya said:

@StormBirdRising

Well, the news in Germany sound a bit different as even the German government stated that Trump indeed tried to buy out the company CureVac. Fortunately the main investor of CureVac blocked the buy out and he also said that they understood that Trump insisted he wanted the vaccine exclusively for the US, while they will design it for the whole world.

 

 

Oh, you have got to be kidding me. What makes me truly sad is people will still vote for this idiot come election day. My country is even more screwed up than I feared. 😕

Edited March 16, 2020 by demonicvampiregirl

[Astreya]

@demonicvampiregirl

I really hope the numerous mistakes the USgov made so far will not lead to a real health catastrophe in the US. Trump also declined the WHO offer to give the US the WHO approved Covid-19 test that was originally developed in Germany several weeks ago as he (and/or the CDC) decided they would prefer to create their own test kit - with the result that the original CDC test kit was faulty and didn't return useful result, so the US testing regime is very far behind.

[Alesita]

Hello from Austria!

Here the situation is not pretty too. Аll schools, kindergarten, museum and other public places are closed. The shops too. The only store's that are still working are the big supermarkets, pharmacies, drugstores and cigarette shops. The Bundeskanzler ( something like Prime minister, he rules the country ) say you can not go outside your home, if you are not alone, or whit family members you live whit. Its allowed to go outside only for buying food, going work, or jogging. . 

In Friday the situation in the Supermarket was very bad, no vegetables or fruits, no oil, pasta. flour, frozen foods, conserves, rise, yest, soap, and off course "the big problem" toilet paper. ( other product were missing too ). Friend of mine was in other stores and drugstores and showed me photos, same all over the town. In Saturday, the same situation, Sunday stores are not working ( usually its like this, Sunday no one work, everything is closed ). So today, the first need products are still missing, i guess this will be like a week or two, maybe more. 

The Covid 19, made a big panic. May be most of all this madness in not necessarily. Who is needing so much oil, pasta, flour, or the " 2020 treasure the toilet paper ". Okey, let say that people are expecting to close even the supermarkets, so there will be nowhere to buy food from. The possibility of this to happens its low, because there is no President who want their country to strawing.For example, In my home country Bulgaria, the situation is the same, but in the big stores, they let only 15 persons in it, the other are waiting outside the store. The security controls the people, to do exactly what they say! 

Hopefully after some time, the virus will be not so pandemic,will be controlled, and reduced, so everything will be back to normal. Then what the hell you do whit so much toilet paper? This is stupid. All the stuff you had buy, and realize you can not eat or use before their expiry data? Go to trash? So much money spended for them...

So in general my opinion is that the virus may be scary, but the mass panic is the bigger evil!

The fun side of all, now i feel really rich whit 3 liters oil, 5 kg flour, 1 kg pasta in my basement, i had buy before the virus hit. And my biggest "treasure" 1 1/2 packs toilet paper 😀

[olympe]

5 hours ago, Astreya said:

I'm living in the federal state NRW which is one of the centres of the Covid-19 outbreak in Germany, and here people are hamstering canned food, durable food stuffs and sanitary items, particularly toilet paper. In my hometown of 211 000 people, we currently have only 13 verified cases, and we have both three test teams that visit people who are not mobile plus one drive-in test centre. Our Gesundheitsamt (local health office) set into motion measures like closing down of swimming pools, museums, theatres etc comparatively early (it was announced well before the higher ups decreed it). The people are still pretty calm (if you don't look at the hamstering, that is).

It's pretty much the same here - but I'm also from NRW and only 60 km apart from Astreya. (Yes, you can google which town has that number of people. Mine, with 159,000 people, is a bit smaller.) Wherever you try to buy food that can last longer than a couple of days, you find empty shelves instead. It's madness. 

 

On the plus side, we have really nice weather for the first time since... January? Balmy, sunny, spring-like.  It feels kinda out-of-place.

16 hours ago, StormBirdRising said:

NO. You are right, he never said that. There is a drug company that has branches in Germany and in The US.   President Trump is working with them to fast track a vaccine. I believe he has allotted 3 billion dollars towards developing this  vaccine. A member of the press said that they heard that the German government felt that Trump was trying to get the vaccine for US citizens only, of course he had no other information.

 

It is totally untrue and totally fake news.  When you hear things like this, that doesn't even make any sense and is just inflammatory, just remember that people will attribute every bad thing that happens in the world to to the American President Donald Trump

 

I am surprised that fake news is not already offering conclusive proof that Trump started the COVID 19 corona virus for his political gains.

 

The situation that the whole world is in with COVID 19 is very serious and detracting from its seriousness with fake news is counter productive.

And because it's totally untrue and fake news, it has been confirmed by several of our highest-ranking politicians. Of course.

 

Just a note: If you try to prepare a coup against the rest of the world, you don't talk about it. Because it won't work if you can't keep quiet about it. That would explain why he didn't say so to the US public - and, as a consequence, the rest of the world.

Your allegation that everything bad that happens is somehow being attributed to Trump sounds more like Trump's own paranoia speaking that anything at all. Nobody has ever made any such ridiculous claims as blaming him for Corona.

[Ruby Eyes]

Another city in NRW, nearly half a million of population Kind of between olympe and Astreya, on a certain train line.

No more school for a few weeks and such a great weather, so ALL the teenagers are outside having fun right now.

 

17 hours ago, StormBirdRising said:

just remember that people will attribute every bad thing that happens in the world to to the American President Donald Trump

Nope, only things that have to do with a certain white-painted building with a supposedly oval-shaped office inside.

The problem with this specific news (the US trying to hog an upcoming vaccine exclusively) was, it was just *too believable*. America First, isn't that his approach to the world?

 

Alternative facts, and all, you see.

[Confused Cat]

2 hours ago, Alesita said:

Then what the hell you do whit so much toilet paper?

 

At least toilet paper doesn't go bad. Which is what I used to tell myself whenever it was on sale in the past, so I already have enough for a few weeks and don't need to panic-buy now. 

 

The situation in Switzerland is similar to Austria and Germany. Our government just announced that all the stores (except for food stores and pharmacies) have to close. Additionally (and I guess that's sort of a big deal?) the army will help with medical care and other tasks. One of our government people (don't know how to translate "Bundesrat") said there's no need to hoard food, Switzerland will keep working fine, etc. - and I believe it will, but it did sound just a little bit too much like "We will not go quietly into the night". 

 

To those who think everybody is overreacting:

The problem is the limited number of available hospital beds and doctors etc. This one thing cannot be disputed. We cannot build unlimited numbers of hospitals.

And if too many people catch the virus at the same time, the small percentage of patients who need hospital care will be way too many in absolute numbers. No matter how great your country is. What can doctors do when their hospital is more than full and all their respiratory devices are in use? They'll have to let some people die who would not die if fewer people were sick at the same time. That's what the governments are trying to prevent by "flattening the curve". That's why they tell us to stay home and limit interactions with other people. And that's why people prepare to stay home for who knows how long, and one thing they do to prepare for that is buy the things they think they'll need when they can't go shopping for some time.

 

It appears to be irrational when you only look at people buying a ton of toilet paper, but when you look at it from the root cause of the problem, it's quite logical.

 

 

I don't mind not shaking hands, by the way.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Confused Cat

[Lagie]

11 minutes ago, Confused Cat said:

I don't mind not shaking hands, by the way.

Perfect. We geeks are ready for it.

 

 

Our schools and university are now closed.

[StormBirdRising]

7 hours ago, Astreya said:

@StormBirdRising

Well, the news in Germany sound a bit different as even the German government stated that Trump indeed tried to buy out the company CureVac. Fortunately the main investor of CureVac blocked the buy out and he also said that they understood that Trump insisted he wanted the vaccine exclusively for the US, while they will design it for the whole world.

 

It is just a load of crap. First German news said that Trump tried to STEAL the formula for the vaccine for the COVID 19 virus (there is no vaccine) Then when people realized it is too stupid to believe, they said that Trump tried to buy a German pharmaceutical company, really, how do you buy a pharmaceutical company from another country, give me a break. And anyway the US and other countries, including the UK, Sweden, and Holland,  have state of the art pharmaceutical companies that are working on the vaccine since the outbreak began. And they are working on finding a vaccine for everyone, since it is a global disease and it wouldn't even make any sense for one country to keep it to themselves, the chances of reinfection from outside their country would be too great.

 

Trump has invested 3 billion dollars to try to fast track a vaccine for the COVID 19, he met with all of the US pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, which is an American company since 1917 that Germany still claims that the US stole from them. Good Grief. How do you steal a pharmaceutical company? All this tragedy and sickness and death going on in the world, and people still have to take the time to trash the US and President Trump. It is pathetic, move on already.

 

California news about the COVID 19 - Los Angeles City is basically on lock down, everything except emergency facilities are supposed to be closed. Outside of Los Angeles all civilians age 65 and over are asked to self quarantine to prevent getting infected, since they are the most susceptible to the COVID 19.

 

US news - President Trump will be meeting with the CEOs of American grocery store chains to see how the US government can assist in keeping their supply chain moving, to make sure that stores stop running out of essentials during the duration of the COVID 19 crisis.

 

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) continues to advise everyone to use the protocols of washing their hands with soap and water or antibacterials, and to wipe down hard surfaces with antiseptics and antibacaterials,  and to avoid people with coughs or other symptoms. It is good advice to follow all the time.

 

Keep a good mental attitude, the prognosis is very good. Every country's  leaders are doing everything to protect their citizens. This is a global battle, and we all have to stick together to combat it.

 

 

 

[Ruby Eyes]

25 minutes ago, StormBirdRising said:

how do you buy a pharmaceutical company from another country, give me a break

YOU know that. Does HE know that? He appears to be the kind of person who tries to solve all issues with money.

Not that it really matters. Someone lost their job for visiting the White House at the wrong time, and that's about it.

Would be good if someone actually DID find a cure or somesuch soon ...

 

27 minutes ago, StormBirdRising said:

How do you steal a pharmaceutical company?

Actually, plenty of German companies have had all of their equipment and papers stripped and shipped to other countries after both world wars. I don't know if that specific pharma shop was part of this, but well, that's about the answer for you: take all their stuff. (I don't think the new owner would keep the old name though ...)

[StormBirdRising]

24 minutes ago, Ruby Eyes said:

Would be good if someone actually DID find a cure or somesuch soon ...

 

 

 

We are having bets here at work about who will formulate an effective vaccine. Most people think Eli Lilly or GlaxoSmithKline, but my money is on Merck. But really, I don't care who it is, I just hope it is soon. Too much suffering and angst because of this disease.

[Auriene]

Where I live, the situation is not bad, at least in my town - schools and other public places are closed, people try to stay at home, the streets look positively deserted even though we have no confirmed COVID-19 case in our area yet. The panic buying hit us last wednesday, but before the weekend it was pretty much over. When I went to the local pharmacy today, people were waiting in a neat queue in front of the door, keeping a reasonable distance between each other. I really hope that this 'flattening the curve' strategy will work out well. So far, people around try to be cooperative and hopefully, it will stay that way.

 

I am a bit worried about how long it is going to take for things to return to normal, though. Many people are worried about the Coronavirus impact on the economy, especially small business owners and their employees. I live in Poland. Our job market was skewed enough even without a pandemy, I don't want to imagine another crisis hitting it now...

 

As for the whole 'stay at home' thing... The ironic thing is, I've spent almost all December, January and most of February at home due to my anxiety getting worse. Around March, I've finally managed to gather enough strength and courage to do something about it - I began to go out more frequently, I've even returned to my uni and was excited to continue my studies... And now I'm sitting back at home again

[Astreya]

@Confused Cat

Heh. I'm using the Vulcan salute a lot, too - particularly among other geeks. With "normal" people I prefer to go for the Namaste greeting.

 

@StormBirdRising

Well, I know whom I'd believe - and that's not the person who is on record spreading lies about everyone and everything all the time.