Coronavirus Pandemic Information- Local and Worldwide

Water John

The Guardian have this on their front page, over 1,000 extra have died in nursing homes than are counted in the UK.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/covid-19-hundreds-of-uk-care-home-deaths-not-added-to-official-toll

Dakota Dan

emaherx wrote: »

Oh holy ****. :rolleyes:
I believe a simple tinfoil hat will save you from any effects

Whatever sponge head.

alps

_Brian wrote: »

To listen to the media you’d think Cavan Hospital Was a basket case. With something like 35 patients and I think 4 in ICU the reality is less sensational.

Are the reports of 70 doctors and nurses infected, incorrect? It's a hard to believe figure..

_Brian

alps wrote: »

Are the reports of 70 doctors and nurses infected, incorrect? It's a hard to believe figure..

I’d say it’s possible but have no idea.

Edit, yea 70 between positive and waiting on results.

yosemitesam1

Lockdowns are what 21st century mob rule looks like

At this point, many elected officials likely see being "asleep at the switch" as a more politically damaging charge than "being a tyrant." It's possible that this may change as the realities of mass unemployment and bankruptcy sink in. But for now most politicians, like the people who vote for them, are clinging to the idea that if the federal government prints enough money and bails out enough industries everything will soon return to normal.

The fact that business owners and entrepreneurs are being sacrificed is of little political import to elected officials or most voters. After all, only 10 percent of Americans actually make a full-time living from businesses they own. Only a small minority of the population understands firsthand how jobs are created and how payrolls are met. Much of the rest of the population thinks wages and wealth magically appear from the ether. If there is unemployment and low wages, it's because business owners are "greedy" or unwilling to share the wealth. Thus, if businesses are temporarily shut down "for our own good," then surely those business owners will just use their secret hidden wealth to start up those businesses again when the panic is over.

Thus, we're not witnessing a usurper regime imposing unpopular measures on a resistant but helpless citizenry. We're more likely witnessing widespread mob rule, the central characteristic of which is rule by the majority with no regard for the rights of dissenting minorities. The government may now be ruling by decree, but it is in many places doing so with the hearty approval of the majority. Politicians have calculated that they're likely to remain popular so long as they cultivate an image of "decisive leadership" through strong decrees and demands for compliance in the name of safety. As Cuomo's surging popularity suggests, this may be a safe political move.

Certainly there are those who resist. There are those for whom the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and basic freedoms actually matter. But for others, principles such as these are quickly forgotten once fear and anxiety enter the picture. The rights of minority groups (such as business owners or old-fashioned Bill of Rights enthusiasts) mean little or nothing once the majority—conditioned by years of public schooling to demand a government solution to nearly everything—decides that such rights are an inconvenient obstacle to "doing something."

The public demands action. Politicians are more than happy to oblige.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/covid-19-lockdowns-are-what-twenty-first-century-mob-rule-looks

longgonesilver

There are six doctors moving from Beaumont Hospital to Cavan to help out over the weekend. Large number of Cavan staff having to self isolate as they have had significant exposure.

_Brian

longgonesilver wrote: »

There are six doctors moving from Beaumont Hospital to Cavan to help out over the weekend. Large number of Cavan staff having to self isolate as they have had significant exposure.

Be welcome.
We have the oldest population in the country, nursing homes are very busy too with six patients who won’t be coming into hospital.

Mooooo

Maybe it's someone to manage the containment they need. It's amongst staff it's spreading? Heard on radio of staff changing / showering in patient bathrooms in a hospital in Dublin . Surely temp facilities could be set up for dtaff to wash or gown up or whatever

yosemitesam1

Mooooo wrote: »

Maybe it's someone to manage the containment they need. It's amongst staff it's spreading? Heard on radio of staff changing / showering in patient bathrooms in a hospital in Dublin . Surely temp facilities could be set up for dtaff to wash or gown up or whatever

The alternative explanation that the virus has just spread so widely through the population (largely unnoticed) that it's very hard for anyone to avoid picking it up, has yet to be disproven

Base price

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

The alternative explanation that the virus has just spread so widely through the population (largely unnoticed) that it's very hard for anyone to avoid picking it up, has yet to be disproven

Until antibody testing starts we just don't know the extent of the spread.

yosemitesam1

Base price wrote: »

Until antibody testing starts we just don't know the extent of the spread.

Which still means it's a very real possibility that all this was for nothing.
There should be a percentage of sampling carried out based on selecting random people even if they've no symptoms

Mooooo

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

Which still means it's a very real possibility that all this was for nothing.
There should be a percentage of sampling carried out based on selecting random people even if they've no symptoms

Doesn't explain the pressure health systems have been put under all over the world. Lorries of bodies in New York. If schools were still open and grand parents still minding em we could be in a much worse position. Tbh I'd hope you're right in the hope a lot of the population have got it already and no issues but I have my doubts. Know of a 37 yr old woman no underlying health issues in icu due to it

Gillespy

At least 15 out of 16 people with the virus haven't been confirmed with a test as having the virus. That's what the Spanish believe.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=113111192

The issue now is what's the exit strategy? Peak is when? Folks have died, but not at the rate touted a month ago. This talk of a second wave in the autumn, what then? Forget about a vaccine, that's too late. Sweden may well have played a blinder. No way of telling until well after the event when the true cost can be calculated.

paddysdream

Few observations.

Hospitals seem very quiet at the moment.We keep being told the "surge" is coming but each week it seems to be next week its gonna happen.
Two of my sisters,one sister in law and my next door neighbour all work as nurses and all say things are quiet,with staff not too busy.
One (agency nursing)working on Covid ward and told me days cut due to having nothing to do.Porters etc on different ,shorter roster .
Days she works are quiet.

Regarding tests,my mother was brought to hospital Sunday evening (5pm) by ambulance.Test back negative 2pm Monday so no delay there.You are placed on "dirty" ward until negative test is confirmed.
Doctors assume everyone has Covid 19 as far as I can tell.Phone call from hospital Sunday night telling me that she had all the sympthoms etc.

All this "front line "malarkey is stuff and nonsense.Nurses etc just working normal hours/shifts;nobody too interested in extra work.Work practices slightly changed re. hygiene but thats about it.

As for putting faith in experts?Mother collected yesterday with script that was totally incorrect.If I hadn't had my family to look at it she would have been ,at best,back in for the weekend and at worst pushing up daisies.Took our chemist 3 phone calls and two hours to sort it out.Not minor problems but major changes to heart meds.Make you wonder.
Anyone that thinks Tony Houlihan et al are following anything other than a CYA strategy is deluded.HSE has hardly changed that much in the last year.Civil Service mentality is ingrained at this stage.

Find it disappointing to put it mildly that Ministers are ceding total control to medical side only.I think they should be at least brave enough to say "we will take all available advice and WE will decide the best course of action".
It looks like a game of musical chairs with everyone involved afraid to make any move that could be perceived as causing even 1 death.
People die every day.Think its something like 30k in Ireland per year which is 80 per day.How many of the headline figure every night would have died regardless?
At some stage life has to go on I think.

yosemitesam1

Mooooo wrote: »

Doesn't explain the pressure health systems have been put under all over the world. Lorries of bodies in New York. If schools were still open and grand parents still minding em we could be in a much worse position. Tbh I'd hope you're right in the hope a lot of the population have got it already and no issues but I have my doubts. Know of a 37 yr old woman no underlying health issues in icu due to it

Take into account many hospitals are down quite a few staff, a standard flu season would have them under pressure with full staffing. Many hospitals in Europe outside of Italy/Spain have never been quieter.
It's possible to chain together (panic, stress, staff shortages, highly susceptible population's due to old age/poor air quality and a very small minority of otherwise healthy people being more susceptible to the virus) to give a very plausible alternative explanation to all of this that deserves every bit as much consideration as the hypothesis being followed by the who etc.
Maybe groupthink is at play, maybe they're afraid of being wrong but it is possible to test for antibodies at this time, not yet with mass produced test kits. But why isn't every effort being made to even pull a couple of hundred people at random and test for antibodies, it could be done.

_Brian

paddysdream wrote: »

Few observations.

Hospitals seem very quiet at the moment.We keep being told the "surge" is coming but each week it seems to be next week its gonna happen.
Two of my sisters,one sister in law and my next door neighbour all work as nurses and all say things are quiet,with staff not too busy.
One (agency nursing)working on Covid ward and told me days cut due to having nothing to do.Porters etc on different ,shorter roster .
Days she works are quiet.

Regarding tests,my mother was brought to hospital Sunday evening (5pm) by ambulance.Test back negative 2pm Monday so no delay there.You are placed on "dirty" ward until negative test is confirmed.
Doctors assume everyone has Covid 19 as far as I can tell.Phone call from hospital Sunday night telling me that she had all the sympthoms etc.

All this "front line "malarkey is stuff and nonsense.Nurses etc just working normal hours/shifts;nobody too interested in extra work.Work practices slightly changed re. hygiene but thats about it.

As for putting faith in experts?Mother collected yesterday with script that was totally incorrect.If I hadn't had my family to look at it she would have been ,at best,back in for the weekend and at worst pushing up daisies.Took our chemist 3 phone calls and two hours to sort it out.Not minor problems but major changes to heart meds.Make you wonder.
Anyone that thinks Tony Houlihan et al are following anything other than a CYA strategy is deluded.HSE has hardly changed that much in the last year.Civil Service mentality is ingrained at this stage.

Find it disappointing to put it mildly that Ministers are ceding total control to medical side only.I think they should be at least brave enough to say "we will take all available advice and WE will decide the best course of action".
It looks like a game of musical chairs with everyone involved afraid to make any move that could be perceived as causing even 1 death.
People die every day.Think its something like 30k in Ireland per year which is 80 per day.How many of the headline figure every night would have died regardless?
At some stage life has to go on I think.

You really think the ministers (landlords, National school teachers and farmers) should be making the decisions over medical experts with training in infectious diseases.

See how that it working out in America - no thanks.

yosemitesam1

_Brian wrote: »

You really think the ministers (landlords, National school teachers and farmers) should be making the decisions over medical experts with training in infectious diseases.

See how that it working out in America - no thanks.

Extend that logic further and you probably wouldn't have most of the experts in charge either. For the majority of health professionals learning about epidemics was a largely theoretical exercise, for agricultural scientists it's bread and butter. How teagasc's crop department monitor disease is vastly superior to how our health experts are managing this

paddysdream

_Brian wrote: »

You really think the ministers (landlords, National school teachers and farmers) should be making the decisions over medical experts with training in infectious diseases.

See how that it working out in America - no thanks.

Yes I do actually.

I believe that ministers can and should look at the big picture.Medical experts are far from infallible and will only look at their own area.Not too many of them have covered themselves in glory so far,its all playing catch up as far as I can see.

We send people to Dail Eireann to make decisions.Thats their job and what they are paid to do.Buck passing is not in the official job description although sometimes I wonder.

Not saying we should disregard their advice,rather that we should have
a government running the show,not any one sector having a veto.

Presume medical advice would be to keep lockdown until vaccine/no more deaths etc and whilst that is a laudable and understandable position in reality life will have to go on.

Looking at western world over the past 40/50 years there seems to be an idea that people should die of nothing only old age and that at 90 plus.
People are born ,get married and die each and every day.Nothing changes in that regard.
Have no issue with the handling of this pandemic as such ,rather with the hysteria surrounding it.You would swear nobody under 100 ever died in Ireland before this all started

Gillespy

_Brian wrote: »

You really think the ministers (landlords, National school teachers and farmers) should be making the decisions over medical experts with training in infectious diseases.

See how that it working out in America - no thanks.

America are doing about as well as us. Similar stats per million of population. Devastating numbers out of work as a result of measures. Absolute nonsense to suggest they went a different path. Why are millions out of work if they ignored medical advice. By the way, how's the dire predictions those decisions were based on working out? 250,000 deaths it was.

alps

3 more weeks....hope to **** he give some indication that they have a plan..

yosemitesam1

alps wrote: »

3 more weeks....hope to **** he give some indication that they have a plan..

No doubt our plan is to keep pushing things out until Italy, Spain etc come up with and implement a plan. Then we'll copy it and say we went with best practice

Say my name

alps wrote: »

3 more weeks....hope to **** he give some indication that they have a plan..

Wasn't there a government employee on this very thread posted that it was going to be six weeks.
The two week spiel to the public was their version of boiling the frog.

yosemitesam1

An antibody survey conducted in a German town. 14% of people tested had coronavirus antibodies and an estimated fatality rate of 0.37%, we are getting closer to a flu mortality rate the more research such as this is carried out.

emaherx

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

An antibody survey conducted in a German town. 14% of people tested had coronavirus antibodies and an estimated fatality rate of 0.37%, we are getting closer to a flu mortality rate the more research such as this is carried out.

Are we though has flu ever been tested to that level?

yosemitesam1

emaherx wrote: »

Are we though has flu ever been tested to that level?

Surveys are carried out every year to estimate how much of the population suffers from flu. A few thousand samples extrapolated to give a countrywide estimate, on top of that flu deaths are actual flu deaths. Coronavirus deaths are with coronavirus.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Gillespy wrote: »

America are doing about as well as us. Similar stats per million of population. Devastating numbers out of work as a result of measures. Absolute nonsense to suggest they went a different path. Why are millions out of work if they ignored medical advice. By the way, how's the dire predictions those decisions were based on working out? 250,000 deaths it was.

That death rate was calculated using the R0, the rate of transmission from an infected person to those they are in contact with. It was at 6 before the first restrictions, fell to 4 soon after, was at just over 2 when the latest restrictions were announced and are currently at around 1.

Even at an R0 of 1, it means there is no reduction in cases so we need to get the transmission rate below 1, well below 1, before any restrictions can be eased.

If you want to see what would happen if no restrictions were announced, keep an eye on Africa. There's few enough countries there would be able to handle the infection rate here now never mind what's coming down the tracks.

zetecescort

New York looks grim at the minute. who'd have thought you'd see mass graves in America?

_Brian

zetecescort wrote: »

New York looks grim at the minute. who'd have thought you'd see mass graves in America?

Somebody above saying we are in a similar path to the US would do well look at the details and see it’s a complete shiit show compared to here.

Water John

Some posters are great at looking in the rear view mirror and saying, I told you so, about the low numbers, relative to the early models.
We didn't know much of how the virus behaved 3 months ago. Those who believed and implemented the precautionary principle, have fared best. That's the simple fact.

emaherx

zetecescort wrote: »

New York looks grim at the minute. who'd have thought you'd see mass graves in America?

Apparently they are common enough. RTÉ news say they normally burry about 25 a week that way. But 25 a day is still a fair step up from the norm.