Coronavirus Discussion

[Classycal]

2 hours ago, olympe said:

On another note, a German train driver made an announcement that's kinda related to both covid and conspiracy theories. (Not a word-by-word translation, as I only have a summary of the beginning.)

"All passengers are required to wear a face mask. If you don't have a mask, you can buy one in the on-board bistro. And to all conspiracy theorists out there: Be aware that the government collects saliva samples in order to produce clones to replace you. Always wear a face mask to prevent the government from getting access to your DNA. Many thanks also from your fellow travellers."

 

That'll get 'em to wear a mask....   lol   I like this.  

 

I agree with this 

[Classycal]

Cute Golden Retriever finally got it right!

 

Sorry about the double post.  Edit was giving me grief again.

 

[Fuzzbucket]

@olympe where did you get that - I like to tweet with sources ! 

[Astreya]

Daily update for Oberhausen, NRW, Germany:

 

As of today, Wednesday, May 20, 09:00 GMT+2,  my home town (population 211 000) has 16 active cases, while 228 people have recovered. All in all there have been 253 people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 1.9.

 

Currently 5 persons are treated in hospitals, no one of them in intensive care. 9 persons sadly died. 64 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 8813 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen so far. There are further structured tests in care home, but fortunately so far there were no new cases in such.

 

Source: https://www.oberhausen.de/de/index/rathaus/verwaltung/umwelt-gesundheit-und-mobilitat/gesundheit/aktuelle_informationen/informationen_zum_coronavirus/aktuelle_meldungen.php

Edited May 20, 2020 by Astreya

[Fuzzbucket]

I.Do.Not.Understand.

 

Quote

Brazil has seen its most deadly day since the coronavirus outbreak began, prompting  Donald Trump  to consider a ban on travel to the US from Brazil as he declared the huge number of US cases of coronavirus was “a badge of honour”.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/global-report-covid-19-brazils-deadliest-day-as-trump-calls-us-cases-a-badge-of-honour

[olympe]

4 hours ago, Fuzzbucket said:

@olympe where did you get that - I like to tweet with sources ! 

Here: 

There's also a transcript in German in the comments.

 

[Astreya]

@Fuzzbucket

But Mr.Trump is very easy to understand:

- Facts he likes: good

- Facts he doesn't like: fake news

- Things he can't explain away: lie about them or twist them so that they sound like good news

 

Oh, and anyway...

“Oceanic society rests ultimately on the belief that Big Brother is omnipotent and that the Party is infallible. But since in reality Big Brother is not omnipotent and the party is not infallible, there is need for an unwearying, moment-to-moment flexibility in the treatment of facts. The keyword here is BLACKWHITE. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to BELIEVE that black is white, and more, to KNOW that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary.”

- George Orwell, "1984"

Edited May 20, 2020 by Astreya

[purplehaze]

50 minutes ago, Astreya said:

@Fuzzbucket

But Mr.Trump is very easy to understand:

- Facts he likes: good

- Facts he doesn't like: fake news

- Things he can't explain away: lie about them or twist them so that they sound like good news

 

Oh, and anyway...

“Oceanic society rests ultimately on the belief that Big Brother is omnipotent and that the Party is infallible. But since in reality Big Brother is not omnipotent and the party is not infallible, there is need for an unwearying, moment-to-moment flexibility in the treatment of facts. The keyword here is BLACKWHITE. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to BELIEVE that black is white, and more, to KNOW that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary.”

- George Orwell, "1984"

That sums him up very simply.

 

And that is a very scary quote. Just substitute today's US Republican party for Oceanic society. It was not always so. I have been a registered Republican all my life, but I am ashamed to be associated with the current Republican party.

 

While I'm here:

COVID-19 Statistics in Maryland (5/20/2020)

Number of confirmed cases : 41,546
Number of negative test results : 167,112
Number of confirmed deaths : 1,963
Number of probable deaths : 118
Currently hospitalized : 1,421
Acute care : 884
Intensive care : 537
Ever hospitalized : 7,199
Released from isolation : 2,868

Last 24 hours: +1,784 confirmed cases and +60 confirmed deaths

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by purplehaze

[olympe]

@Astreya I've noticed that trend of Trump trying to act out 1984 from early on. Alternative facts and ministry of truth spring to mind. People hailing the president for increasing the daily allot of chocolate to 100 (or was it 150?) g when it was 200 before the change - ahem, I meant to say hailing the president for doing "a good job, an amazing job" when he's clearly failing abysmally. Unfortunately, there's a similar trend in our local right-wing anti-government AfD followers. They not only have their own "ministry of truth" in the form of their own media, they also seem to have developed a language of their own, using weird terms like "linksgrünversifft" (don't ask...) or "biodeutsch" (biogerman). It's madness.

[Fuzzbucket]

@olympe Thanks heaps.

 

And yes - 1984 is about the size of it.

[trystan]

1984 is fiction, not an instruction manual!

 

as of yesterday (pretty sure) (from https://covid19-bucksgis.hub.arcgis.com/):

Total Confirmed Cases: 4,441

Recoveries: 1,337

Deaths: 399

New Cases, as of 5/19/20: 67 (https://bucksgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/a7e4f8a794a34bb5903813cdea584edb)

[Fuzzbucket]

16 minutes ago, trystan said:

1984 is fiction, not an instruction manual!

 

 

Best explain that to some people....

 

I'm not sure it is fiction any more.

[trystan]

4 minutes ago, Fuzzbucket said:

I'm not sure it is fiction any more.

over the course of 2017-2018, i read or reread: 1984, The Handmaid's Tale, and It Can't Happen Here.  they're all supposed to be fiction, i thought. 🤯

[Astreya]

@trystan

Add "Brave New World" and "Animal Farm" to the list, if you are interested. Oh, and "The Wave".

 

@olympe

With a little luck, the AfD might self-destruct and disintegrate into the radical Höcke fraction and the slightly more moderate Meuthen fraction and thus distribute their followers into the two fractions and maybe, just maybe push both below the 5 percent hurdle. Add to that the wild Widerstand 2020  resistance and conspiracy theorist party-to-be, this might actually dilute their political impact.

 

Actually I'm curious whether Mr.Trump and Mr.Bolsonaro might not catch Covid-19 in due time, the way they mix with people and shun all sense.

[trystan]

5 minutes ago, Astreya said:

@trystan

Add "Brave New World" and "Animal Farm" to the list, if you are interested. Oh, and "The Wave".

i did read Brave New World and Animal Farm not that long ago.  Funny story about The Wave: when i was in middle school (in the early 80s, now i've dated myself), in one of my classes, we'd get little magazines with short stories and plays/scripts in them.  i was introduced the movie/book The Outsiders; urban legends, speculative fiction, and whodunit mysteries.... and one of the plays one time was The Wave.  it was quite surreal then too.

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by trystan
proofread first, then post.....

[purpledragonclaw]

On 5/19/2020 at 1:04 PM, Astreya said:

@purpledragonclaw

You know there is a psychological defence mechanism called "psychological projection", where - in a nutshell - the person whose ego can'tcope with their own failures accuses some other targets of exactly the failures one refuses to see in others. 

 

So now you should be better able to understand why Mr.Trump accuses China, Russia and whom ever else he loves to target to do exactly what he is doing himself, that is, making data he doesn't like simply disappear (or at least call it "fake").

 

Oh yes indeed! Many in his administration and those who support him in political positions of power frequently scream about "the enemy" doing the thing they're doing. Watching politics now is like taking a Pysch 101 class. 

 

On 5/19/2020 at 2:08 PM, trystan said:

also, because a Fox News host, Neil Cavuto, criticized trump for taking hydroxychloroquine (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/18/trump-goes-after-fox-news-host-in-twitter-flurry-267390), trump now wants a new network that will give him all that favorable coverage {{sigh}}

 

One America News (OAN) is already shaping up to be the Fox replacement. John Oliver did a great segment on it that's worth watching. 

 

11 hours ago, purplehaze said:

And that is a very scary quote. Just substitute today's US Republican party for Oceanic society. It was not always so. I have been a registered Republican all my life, but I am ashamed to be associated with the current Republican party.

 

Moderate Republicans are an endangered species now, I noticed that after 2010. When the Tea Party took over is when the party started changing. I firmly believe the party is not a lost cause, thanks to Republicans like you, Classycal, and my family. The extreme fringe of the party does not speak for all. 

 

8 hours ago, Fuzzbucket said:

@olympe Thanks heaps.

 

And yes - 1984 is about the size of it.

 

As Astreya mentioned, I think we're in straight up Animal Farm territory now. The sheep are happily repeating the pigs' talking points now. 

 

6 hours ago, Fuzzbucket said:

Best explain that to some people....

 

I'm not sure it is fiction any more.

 

Never forget Orwell called this in the 1940s. 

 

I forgot to share this yesterday, but a man who believed coronavirus was a "fake crisis" came down with it along with his wife. He recovered, but she's on a ventilator and might not recover. I'm trying to stay on top of this story, but unfortunately I don't know if she's alive or dead currently. He's now taking it seriously. In Georgia and Texas, two states that have fully re-opened and have now seen a surge in cases, two churches had to close after leaders and members came down with coronavirus. The scary part is both churches had been following social distancing guidelines and the virus hit anyway. I wish people would stop trying to return to normal life so quickly. Religion can be practiced from home.

Edited May 21, 2020 by purpledragonclaw
typo

[Lagie]

3 hours ago, purpledragonclaw said:

The One America News (OAN) is already shaping up to be the Fox replacement. John Oliver did a great segment on it that's worth watching. 

 

 

I forgot to share this yesterday, but a man who believed coronavirus was a "fake crisis" came down with it along with his wife. He recovered, but she's on a ventilator and might not recover. I'm trying to stay on top of this story, but unfortunately I don't know if she's alive or dead currently. He's now taking it seriously. In Georgia and Texas, two states that have fully re-opened and have now seen a surge in cases, two churches had to close after leaders and members came down with coronavirus. The scary part is both churches had been following social distancing guidelines and the virus hit anyway. I wish people would stop trying to return to normal life so quickly. Religion can be practiced from home.

When our main cable provider removed FOX News from its lineup, they replaced it with OAN. Now we have both...

 

Our churches have decided they are going to sue the government for not allowing them to reopen, claiming Bahamians need their spiritual leadership, when in fact, they're tired of trying to get people's tithes online.

 

I was told to reopen my Thrift Shop this week. Yes. Told. By the Board President and the shelter manager. Like they're the ones who will have to limit the numbers to three or four max at a time (on my second-to-last open day way back in March, we had over 100 people in four hours) and make sure they all have masks and all use sanitizer and all wait outside six feet apart, not to mention we are going to have to set time limits because our customers are used to browsing and chilling and chatting with their friends so have been known to stay for an hour or two or more. AND one of the housewares-allowed-to-be-open days (which is how they are justifying this) is a day I don't even normally WORK.

At any rate, we're ready for Friday. It will remain to be seen how smoothly this all goes. My brain is not ready for my shop to reopen, given that my type of shop is technically not meant to be open at this point.

 

On the plus side, we are now six days with no new cases, and no additional deaths.

Erm. Scratch that. One new case today, on this island.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Lagie
Updating

[trystan]

4 hours ago, purpledragonclaw said:

One America News (OAN) is already shaping up to be the Fox replacement. John Oliver did a great segment on it that's worth watching. 

i hadn't actually ever heard of OAN until... 2017. that's some really scary stuff in that vid, even if it is from the beginning of April.  and John Oliver is awesome.

 

4 hours ago, purpledragonclaw said:

Religion can be practiced from home.

 

3 hours ago, Lagie said:

churches have decided they are going to sue the government for not allowing them to reopen, claiming Bahamians need their spiritual leadership, when in fact, they're tired of trying to get people's tithes online.

when my Fellowship changed from in-person worship to Zoom, the email and facebook post said, in part, "When the disease doesn’t spread to our beloved community, we will never know if it was due to our actions or whether it would have been that way all along."  religion/spirituality can be practiced from home.

[Astreya]

Daily update for Oberhausen, NRW, Germany:

 

As of today, Thursday, May 21, 09:00 GMT+2,  my home town (population 211 000) has 16 active cases, while 228 people have recovered. All in all there have been 253 people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 0.5.

 

Spoiler

We are this little green spot in NRW the pink arrow points at - that's quite fascinating! [Source]

 

Currently 5 persons are treated in hospitals, no one of them in intensive care. 9 persons sadly died. 59 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 9053 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen so far. There are further structured tests in care homes, but fortunately so far there were no new cases in such.

 

Source: https://www.oberhausen.de/de/index/rathaus/verwaltung/umwelt-gesundheit-und-mobilitat/gesundheit/aktuelle_informationen/informationen_zum_coronavirus/aktuelle_meldungen.php

[Raikielia]

19 hours ago, purpledragonclaw said:

 The scary part is both churches had been following social distancing guidelines and the virus hit anyway.

 

Even if they social distanced, if they weren't wearing masks and didn't stay in the same spot the whole time, then everybody were probably touching all the same things.

[purplehaze]

Today's figures where I live:

COVID-19 Statistics in Maryland

Number of confirmed cases : 43,531
Number of negative test results : 176,702
Number of confirmed deaths : 2,045
Number of probable deaths : 114
Currently hospitalized : 1,374
Acute care : 848
Intensive care : 526
Ever hospitalized : 7,485
Released from isolation : 3,099

1200+ new cases, 41 new deaths

Edited May 21, 2020 by purplehaze

[Morphie]

So um. I was supposed to go to Washington D.C and Disney land to end 8th grade.
DC? Postponed at first, than cancelled.

Disneyland? No word from the school, but cancelled.

Worst part of it?

My mom paid $7000 for DC and we're not getting a single penny back. I go to a catholic school and apparently they're willing COVID-19 an "act of god" to say "Oh yeah, we're taking your money because god made coronavirus."

I was really looking forward to going to both of those places, but now I can't go to either and we can't even use that money for things like bills and food, which are extremely expensive. (I live with 4 of my 5 siblings) 

 

OH AND ANOTHER THING: My sister was graduating this year and all the jobs that were hiring are not not because of corona. 

[Uther_Pendragon]

Morphie, I certainly hope your mom will fight them on that! That is theft. If it were me, I'd be (politely) screaming the place down until they returned my money. (Regarding your sis, check your local news stations websites. Many are helping hold virtual hiring fairs, and posting lists of places that need workers. Prob not a dream job, but there is work to be had.)

 

I have been reading along and appreciate seeing so many ppl who get it. Thank you for being so cautious and caring of others! Also thank you for all the info, I've learned so much of what's happening around the world just from this thread.

I'm so very angry at the ppl I see who aren't taking the virus seriously, pretending it doesn't exist or is 'just like a flu'- or the worst one, that it's a hoax. People who, through their actions (or inaction), are (possibly) harming others. It's sickening. My heart is breaking for all the souls who have lost the fight. This didn't need to happen at this scale.

Like it or not, as a species, we are all entwined. Where your rights end, mine begin. I cannot wrap my mind around the blatant disregard, and absolute dismissal, concerning the health and lives of others. It's disgusting. I'm enraged at how this entire pandemic has been handled by our country's leaders. Shameful. Inexcusable!

 

   I currently live in a rural spot in Tennessee, and it boggles my mind how few ppl are wearing masks or gloves. Sure, we have fewer cases in our county, but it's still here! And spreading.
   Our state is opening quite rapidly, and while I do understand the need for the economy to restart, it blows my mind that ppl seem to believe that because things are reopening, that the virus is contained. They don't seem to understand that the lockdowns were to keep from overwhelming hospitals and other medical venues, not that the virus has magically vanished.

 I have stayed home since beg of Mar - I panicked early, lol - Except for a few forays out for replenishing supplies, (masked, gloved and armed with sanitizer!) I have gladly stayed home. I am terrified every day. I'm high risk, but my husband is extremely high risk. I would never forgive myself if he caught it because of me. 
 

Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone for sharing what's happening in your state or country, and for sharing great info and links!

[Fuzzbucket]

Such casual disregard for others.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/21/trump-ford-factory-mask-michigan

[Astreya]

@Mergo

There were actually even more virologists who have been involved in researching the various corona viruses who were aware of the huge reservoir of them in various kinds of bats.

 

E.g. some people were astonished that the first PCR test for SARS-CoV2 was available so fast after the virus genome was published in mid-January. Prof.Christian Drosten, the leading virologist of the Charité in Berlin published an article about how to design tests for this in 2004, too:

Quote

This report describes the application of real-time PCR for testing antivirals against highly pathogenic viruses such as Lassa virus, SARS coronavirus and Ebola virus. The test combines classical cell culture with a quantitative real-time PCR read-out.

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354204000907

 

Here's another article from 2012, this concerning MERS, which was also caused by a corona virus:

Quote

"Scientists who helped to fight the 2003 epidemic of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) have sprung into action again to investigate the latest threat: a new SARS-related virus that has killed one man and left another seriously ill. Last week, the researchers reported the genome sequence of the new coronavirus and the first diagnostic tests to screen for it — two major advances that will help in efforts to control the pathogen if it turns into a wider menace.

 

The SARS virus was identified in March 2003 as the cause of an epidemic that had emerged in China several months before, and which had spread rapidly around the world. It caused nearly 8,500 cases and 916 deaths before it was finally contained in July 2003. At the time, scientists knew almost nothing about the virus — coronaviruses had received scant attention until then because they had previously caused little more than colds.

 

The research and public-health networks established during the SARS epidemic — and the body of coronavirus research that followed — puts scientists today in a much stronger position to understand the latest virus and to develop countermeasures such as drugs and vaccines, should they be required. “We are all collaborating again,” says Christian Drosten, director of the Institute of Virology at the University of Bonn Medical Centre in Germany, who has been involved in developing diagnostic tests for the pathogen. “This is the old SARS club."

Source: https://www.nature.com/news/sars-veterans-tackle-coronavirus-1.11513

 

The main problem is that politicians simply didn't realise the gravity of the danger and thought doing preparations for a pandemic would cost too much money, and thus they didn't stock of with the necessary equipment, even though there were pandemic plans available years ago (mainly concerning an influenza pandemic, but certain strategies do not really differ, no matter which pathogen is involved), and scientists published numerous articles about the dangers of upcoming pathogens.

 

  

 

Daily update for Oberhausen, NRW, Germany:

 

As of today, Friday, May 22, 09:00 GMT+2,  my home town (population 211 000) has 18 active cases, while 228 people have recovered. All in all there have been 255 people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 0.9.

 

Currently 5 persons are treated in hospitals, no one of them in intensive care. 9 persons sadly died. 56 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 9053 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen so far.

 

Source: https://www.oberhausen.de/de/index/rathaus/verwaltung/umwelt-gesundheit-und-mobilitat/gesundheit/aktuelle_informationen/informationen_zum_coronavirus/aktuelle_meldungen.php

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Astreya