Coronavirus Discussion

[Astreya]

Daily update for Oberhausen, NRW, Germany:

 

As of today, Wednesday, July 1, 09:00 GMT+2,  my home town (population 211 000) has 20 active cases, while 265 people have recovered. All in all there have been 296 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 3.3.

 

Currently 4 persons are treated in hospitals, none of them in intensive care. 11 persons sadly died. 72 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 13 814 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen up to Tuesday, June 30.

 

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

 

There are 9 people more quarantined than yesterday, so it is possible that there will be more cases after their tests come back even though there was no new case since Sunday otherwise.

 

By the way,  I think it is fascinating how much variability there is in the 7 day average of newly infected persons when the base number of infections is considerably low. This could be seen in the general German R-factor, too, when the good overall development was interrupted by the huge localised outbreak in the meat company in Rheda-Wiedenbrück in the Gütersloh region.

 

-----------------------------

Update: Talking about meat plan outbreaks - I just stumbled over this:

Quote

Revealed: Covid-19 outbreaks at meat-processing plants are being kept quiet

Testing has found positive cases at North Carolina facilities, but officials refuse to release the information

 

A chicken processing facility in western North Carolina reportedly underwent widespread testing for Covid-19 in early June.

 

Workers at the plant were scared. Several employees had already tested positive and the company, Case Farms – which has been repeatedly condemned for animal treatment and workers’ rights violations – was not providing proper protective equipment.

 

“We don’t have a lot of space at work. We are shoulder to shoulder,” said one worker, who declined to be identified, during a recent union call. “I’m afraid to go to work, but I have to go.”

The testing turned up 150 positive cases at the facility, the worker said. [Source]

 

Other than in Germany where the outcry was huge, the Tönnies meat plant in Rheda-Wiedenbrück was shutdown (albeit only after the meat already in it was processed to clear it) and the whole region was strictly locked down, in the US the reaction was different:

 

Quote

In late April, while outbreaks began emerging at meat processing plants across the country, Donald Trump signed an executive order forcing the facilities to remain open. That same month, the US exported a record amount of pork to China, despite industry claims of a domestic shortage.

(...)

Since the pandemic began, more than 36,000 meat processing and farm workers have tested positive for Covid-19 and at least 116 have died, according to a tally by the Food and Environment Reporting Network, though the true number is likely higher. [Source]

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Astreya

[olympe]

2 hours ago, Astreya said:

In late April, while outbreaks began emerging at meat processing plants across the country, Donald Trump signed an executive order forcing the facilities to remain open. That same month, the US exported a record amount of pork to China, despite industry claims of a domestic shortage.

Uhm, is this, maybe, Trumps attempt at ninja'ing the "Kung Flu" back to China???

[Astreya]

@olympe

That was my first thought as well - give them the virus back and even get money for that ^^

[Daydreamer09]

Nightline just put out a video about the how meat packing issues in the US are affecting farmers and workers here. I hate to say it, but from what I've heard from word of mouth, the anonymous meatplant worker they talked to sounds about right with how plants were handling things back in April.

 

 

[dragon_mando]

My city, which is around 630,000, is sitting at 2,178 confirmed cases with record new numbers in the last couple of weeks, 1,252 of which are recovered, 86 dead. 118,654 tests have been performed so 1.58% of tests are coming back positive. I can't find the numbers for deaths by unknown causes newer than 2017 for my area. The majority of cases are in individuals 20-29.

 

Total numbers for my state: 12,276 total infected out of 350,060 tested, for a rate of 3.5% of tests coming back positive. 1,928 of these have resulted in hospitalization and total deaths by COVID is at 500. 5,514 are being considered recovered. 127 are still in ICU.

 

While my city has a drastically lower rate of tests coming back positive than the rest of the state, I'm paranoid as heck about leaving my apartment. I have severe asthma so if I were to catch it, it would very likely be a dangerous outcome even compared to the debilitating effects those who have 'recovered' are seeing. I would almost certainly have to be on a ventilator and our hospitals are still running at 120% of capacity. I'd be lucky to even get seen, let alone treated. But I'm the only person in the house with a driver's license and so the only one capable of making supply runs.

[olympe]

55 minutes ago, dragon_mando said:

But I'm the only person in the house with a driver's license and so the only one capable of making supply runs.

Can't you offer to drive the person actually making the supply runs? At least they'd be a shield between you and countless other customers in the various stores.

[dragon_mando]

2 hours ago, olympe said:

Can't you offer to drive the person actually making the supply runs? At least they'd be a shield between you and countless other customers in the various stores.

I mean, I could try? But the other person I live with has moderate/severe agoraphobia and has panic attacks if she leaves the house without someone going into places with her.

[olympe]

14 minutes ago, AngelsSin said:

Florida has now topped 10,000 new cases.

Only a measly 20% (or less) of the whole US... At least if the numbers are from yesterday.

[olympe]

@AngelsSin Well, US numbers may still go up for a little while, so the 20% thing may still be true at the end of the day. Sad, but true.

[Astreya]

In Oberhausen we have the possibility for the next big outbreak at our hands, and this time is is sort of next door to me (about 2km away, that is). One worker at the local branch of the company MAN Energy Solutions SE was tested positive for Covid-19 on June 30. Now the 150 co-workers of his have been all tested and preventively sent to home-quarantine until the tests are back and verified.

 

The man, who is not living in Oberhausen, was already quarantined for a week due to his daughter having tested positive, so a possible infection of the other workers would date at least 7 days back. On the plus side (if there are no positive test results in the company by the day the test results are in) this would mean that they were lucky (it usually takes a short while until there are enough viruses in the soft tissues to detect them and 7 days are more than enough time to be sure). On the negative side (if there are positive results) it could mean that some people ran around with the virus for about a week and were able to spread it wherever.

 

The company themselves contacted the local health office and asked for the serial tests, and the city officials made sure everything could be completed within two days with the help of the Red Cross and the local fire brigade. The full results are expected by Friday evening. [Source] and [Source2]

 

Please keep your fingers crossed that everything will come up negative there!

 

---------------------------------

Daily update for Oberhausen, NRW, Germany:

 

As of today, Thursday, July 2, 09:00 GMT+2,  my home town (population 211 000) has 25 active cases, while 265 people have recovered. All in all there have been 301 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 3.3.

 

Currently 4 persons are treated in hospitals, none of them in intensive care. 11 persons sadly died. 76 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 14 038 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen up to Wednesday, July 1.

 

Strangely the Oberhausen Website had the numbers up, but someone must have messed with the Update and it was deleted a little later. The numbers are available here, too, though: https://www.lokalkompass.de/oberhausen/c-ratgeber/corona-fall-bei-man-energy-solutions_a1396650

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by Astreya

[Lagie]

If the links coming across my Facebook feed are true, some of the college covidiots are now having coronovirus parties where the first one to get sick after it gets a cash prize. How insane is that??? (Mind you, some of these people likely eat Tide pods, too.  )

[purplehaze]

Just now, Lagie said:

If the links coming across my Facebook feed are true, some of the college covidiots are now having coronovirus parties where the first one to get sick after it gets a cash prize. How insane is that??? (Mind you, some of these people likely eat Tide pods, too.  )

I saw that. The attitude of invincibility that some young people have is very dangerous.

[trystan]

18 minutes ago, Lagie said:

some of the college covidiots are now having coronovirus parties

they did/do this with "chicken pox parties" too.  i think the idea behind it is if you get it once, you can't get it again. i'm also not sure that covid-19 works that way, actually.....

 

and yes, covidiots.

[Lagie]

1 hour ago, trystan said:

they did/do this with "chicken pox parties" too.  i think the idea behind it is if you get it once, you can't get it again. i'm also not sure that covid-19 works that way, actually.....

 

and yes, covidiots.

Yeah, I knew that about chicken pox, but it wasn't quite the unknown and deadliness that Covid is.

[olympe]

1 hour ago, trystan said:

they did/do this with "chicken pox parties" too.  i think the idea behind it is if you get it once, you can't get it again. i'm also not sure that covid-19 works that way, actually.....

 

and yes, covidiots.

Well, chicken pox has a follow-up, though. Shingles. Which are way, way worse.

[trystan]

32 minutes ago, Lagie said:

but it wasn't quite the unknown and deadliness that Covid is.

agreed.

 

23 minutes ago, olympe said:

Well, chicken pox has a follow-up, though. Shingles. Which are way, way worse.

oh i know!  i had shingles about 20 years ago.... and from what i understand of shingles, i had quite a mild case!

[purpledragonclaw]

6 hours ago, AngelsSin said:

Florida has now topped 10,000 new cases.

 

In one day. One day. Melbourne, Australia is going back on lockdown after 148 new cases after two days. It blows my mind America isn't putting two and two together here. Heck, New Zealand's Health Minister is resigning after allowing those two British sisters to leave isolation to visit their dying parent, the two sisters who ended up catching covid-19, and taking his family to the beach. It's nice to see countries hold their elected officials responsible, whereas here we have Trump repeating he hopes the virus will just disappear. 

 

5 hours ago, AngelsSin said:

Also it is being reported that Herman Cain who attended Trump's rally has COVID and is in the hospital. Can't say I'm surprised. And if he's sick I don't even want to think about how many who attended now have it as well.

 

I believe Cain represents the first possible covid-19 case from the Tulsa rally, where he attended 12 days ago, maskless, without social distancing. He tweeted a pic of himself at the rally.

 

2 hours ago, Lagie said:

If the links coming across my Facebook feed are true, some of the college covidiots are now having coronovirus parties where the first one to get sick after it gets a cash prize. How insane is that??? (Mind you, some of these people likely eat Tide pods, too.  )

 

This is true, unfortunately. There are easier ways to make money, I think. 

 

I wonder if the people who do this are aware of the long-term negative effects coronavirus has on the body.

[trystan]

3 hours ago, purpledragonclaw said:

It blows my mind America isn't putting two and two together here.

some states are, i know in PA you have to wear a mask now whenever you're in public.  we used to have decreasing numbers, but now they're going up again in the Philly and Pittsburgh areas because of no masks and lack of social distancing. (https://6abc.com/health/truly-alarming-pa-officials-voice-concern-over-rise-in-covid-19-cases-/6292262/)

[AngelsSin]

And places like Florida are determined to do things the worst way possible. And are likely to never mandate masks, because it's what Trump wants. Despite having over 10,000 new cases and I wouldn't be surprised if those numbers continue to rise.

 

Also states like South Dakota who are going ahead with mass gatherings for 4th of July at Mount Rushmore cause Trump's gonna be there and there won't be safe practices happening. While I'm sure all the rational people will be celebrating at home and are not going to show up there. A state that hasn't had fireworks in almost a decade because of the high risk for forest fires, but hey since Trump's going, who cares about a little thing like forest fires. You know he is probably dreaming/planning if he wins the next election to have his ugly mug put up on Mount Rushmore. It's sick how people cater to his madness.

 

With cases rising extremely high and the 4 of July in a couple days we can probably expect to see a dramatic rise in cases following the holiday. This for us Americans at least is not gonna be over anytime soon as we have more stupid people than many wanted to believe. After all we have covidiots who have parties to catch covid for money. 

 

And it's insane the push to put kids back in school. I am glad I don't have any kids but if I did there is no way I would let them return to school. Just today a 11 yr old died here in Florida. Our governor can no longer spout his nonsense about no kids have died in our state, like location has any role in if a kid dies after getting covid. If they get their way and kids end up back in school we can expect to see another surge of new cases and I'm sure kids are gonna start dying in larger numbers. How people can rationalize putting these kids at risk is beyond my ability to understand.

Frankly I despair of our inability to make reasoned/rational decisions when it comes to this pandemic. We need to lance the boil that is the festering wound that is our country. Instead it seems people are determined to spread it around and keep this going forever? We have no idea still if people who get COVID are gonna end up as a Typhoid Mary. Who I believe had it till the day she died. That's a scary thought that someone who survived it might still be contagious to others long after they recover, especially given people months later either caught it again or had a relapse which might suggest that Typhoid Mary's might just be possible with this disease. As Well as the fact there is a new mutation of COVID which makes it even more contagious than that of the original. But People what to be stupid about it because that's their constitutional right at least in their warped minds.

We are in serious trouble my friends. Stupid people are running the world, though there are a few decent ones. I think it would be smarter of countries to keep their borders closed to all travelers till this is well and truly over, otherwise I believe those countries will come to regret opening their doors. But hey what do I know.🤔

Edited July 3, 2020 by AngelsSin

[Raikielia]

56 minutes ago, AngelsSin said:

we can expect to see another surge of new cases and I'm sure kids are gonna start dying in larger numbers.

 

I don't know about this. Kids don't really seem to get sick from Covid, though I have seen mention of kids with Covid getting rashes I don't know how serious that gets. There's a thing they get that's similar to Kawasaki disease that I think is fatal, but it's rare. Kids are excellent vectors, though.

 

My state's governor, Abbott, has finally mandated masks. Hopefully he learns from this and keeps it up, though, so far he seems more inclined to give into the anti-mask people.

[Confused Cat]

After most restrictions have been lifted, Covid-19 numbers are rising again.

So Switzerland is finally making masks mandatory on public transport (starting from Monday).

They're still not mandatory in stores.

 

I normally order our groceries online, but had to go to a store this week. I saw one (1) other person wearing a mask. It was not really crowded, so people not wearing masks was understandable seeing as our government only tells us to wear masks "if it's not possible to keep your distance". And no one wants to stand out...

 

So I'll make sure to wear a mask every time I go into a store. Because it has to become normal. 

(Good thing it feels a bit like hiding from the other people. That almost makes up for the standing out and for the fogged glasses.)

Edited July 3, 2020 by Confused Cat

[Astreya]

I just had an argument with my father - he called me on the phone and said "Guess what I got a positive result from the Corona test - it was negative". And when I told him that I didn't consider this a particular good joke and he'd better not say something like that outside to other people, he was very cross and meant I don't have any humour. I guess he doesn't realise that in a pandemic situation people will stop listening after the first part of the sentence and things would likely go downhill fast after that...

 

------------------

Daily update for Oberhausen, NRW, Germany:

 

As of today, Friday, July 3, 09:00 GMT+2,  my home town (population 211 000) has 22 active cases, while 269 people have recovered. All in all there have been 302 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 4.3.

 

Currently 4 persons are treated in hospitals, none of them in intensive care. 11 persons sadly died. 76 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 14 175 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen up to Thursday, July 2.

 

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

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by Astreya

[Ruby Eyes]

At least not with people who care about you. Definitely not with people who care about you.

 

[AngelsSin]

12 hours ago, Raikielia said:

 

I don't know about this. Kids don't really seem to get sick from Covid, though I have seen mention of kids with Covid getting rashes I don't know how serious that gets. There's a thing they get that's similar to Kawasaki disease that I think is fatal, but it's rare. Kids are excellent vectors, though.

 

I wasn't saying they are gonna start dying in numbers like adults but those numbers will go up IMO quite a bit. Kids aren't as healthy as when I was a kid. They have a lot of underlying conditions now.

Me I had asthma worse as a kid, I also had a friend who for reasons unknown to me her heart just stopped one day when we were 11 and she died, no one had any clue she had anything wrong with her she appeared healthy and took gymnastics. It came as a shock.

Nowadays kids have diabetes, asthma, heart issues, epilepsy, obesity, etc which are underlying conditions and are at high risk with covid. And those are the things that are usually known then you have the kids who likely have an unknown medical issue. I don't agree with people deciding to put other people's children at risk and if you can't absolutely guarantee that there is zero risk to the kids then IMO I don't think it should be done.

  Anyone who wants to put them together in a small classroom with air conditioning knowing that kids aren't usually capable of wearing those masks constantly, is disregarding the issues.

What do you do when it's lunch time and masks need to come off? What about those kids with known or unknown medical conditions?

It's a lawsuit waiting to happen the moment any kid dies after getting covid after going to school when they are reassuring parents that safety measures are in place to protect them. When I was in school you had around 40 kids to a classroom with inches? Between kids, even if you halved the numbers that's still a lot of kids in a small classroom. And we know indoors with air conditioning are at higher risk of spreading it through the room. There is no way I can see that they can truly say there is little to no risk to those kids. Yes kids do better than adults but that is healthy kids not kids with underlying conditions.

These kids can get their education online and I get that there are some issues with that but they are safer getting that education at home right now. And people saying kids need to socialize is rationalizing away the issues of the pandemic. I think It can be problematic that kids aren't capable of being on there own any more, one might argue that their dependence on constantly needing to be around others is detrimental to there development. There is always a flipside to everything.

This (putting kids at risk) is one of those issues I feel very strongly about.

Edited July 3, 2020 by AngelsSin

[Raikielia]

@AngelsSin Maybe. So far it hasn't seem to affect kids too badly, other than the inflammatory disease. But that doesn't mean it doesn't or it won't(my mom was reading something that said even asymptomatic carriers are getting lung damage from Covid). As for schools opening up, the way I see it, anyone who can home school should so that the people who can't can send their kids to school and they can hopefully try to keep the kids as safe as they can. Unfortunately, I don't actually see that happening since this pandemic has shown that a lot of people seem to have zero interest in actually taking care of and teaching their kids.