CoVid19 Part XI - 2,615 in ROI (46 deaths) 410 in NI (21 deaths)(29/03)*OP upd 28/03*

frillyleaf

RugbyLad11 wrote: »

It's unknown where the Spanish flu first started https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

Besides that was a different time back then, it occurred during WW1

One theory is it originated from a pig farm in Kansas. It’s not as different as you think in terms of disease control and movement of people. In fact now people are more freely able to move.

Obviously things like sanitation is better in developed countries but in developing countries it is still the same conditions as it was then, if not even worse due to more people

alan partridge aha

Gooey Looey wrote: »

Do you know who's recovered if you're busy concentrating on the influx of sick patients

Other countries seem able to and Dr Holohan said figures would be updated in the next few days and that's almost a week ago.

BrianD3

Roger_007 wrote: »

I was listening to BBC Radio 4 this morning and there was some boffin on analysing the statistics on deaths from Covid-19. I didn’t hear the beginning so I don’t know who he was or what his official status is.
His job, apparently, is to analyse the ‘normal’ rates and causes of death in the UK. They also factor in the occurrence of major health issues for different age ranges. This enables them to predict for any age cohort with various health conditions, how many of those people will likely die in a given period, say a year.
When they had sufficient data from deaths due to Covid, they found that so far it mapped almost exactly what they would have predicted for that cohort of people, but over a slightly longer period of time.
He made a prediction that at the end of the year the overall number of deaths from all causes will be the same as normal. What will be slightly different is the distribution timewise of the occurrence of the deaths.
I think the point he was making is that whatever the death toll is, due to Covid, it will not increase the overall number of deaths which would have occurred anyway.

I was thinking along similar lines. Let's say there are some late stage COPD patients who, if Covid19 didn't exist, are "destined" to die by September 2020 at the latest and Covid19 kils them in March instead - what is the significance of that from a public health and life expectancy point of view and how should this inform public policy. Regardless of the significance, obviously the deaths are tragic for the families and individuals involved.

What happens to those who were destined to die in 2021 - are those deaths also brought forward or would some form of herd immunity reduce that.

We keep hearing about people having underlying conditions. There is a massive difference between someone with late stage terminal cancer, COPD, ALS, MS etc. and someone with controlled hypertension - yet all are underlying conditions.

Stats on all cause mortality would tell a lot. I would like to see historical stats for Lombardy or some of the worst affected cities there e.g. Bergamo. I have looked online and not found anything, the language barrier doesn't help. We know that, on average ~1700 people die per day in Italy. Lombardy population is about 18% of Italy's population so the average for Lombardy would seem to be ~310 per day. Based on media reports, over 500 people have died from (or with?) Covid19 in Lombardy on many days during this crisis so all cause mortality has clearly been way higher than the average of 310. The question that would then be asked is, has there been major spikes in all cause mortality in other years in Lombardy and an uneven distribution of deaths throughout the year.

It could be the case that the age profile (with age associated underlying illnesses) of the region plus population density plus air pollution means that any contagious respiratory illness hits it hard. Were there a considerable number of deaths in other year also but spread over a longer time period due to less infectivity and a flatter curve that the health system was better able to deal with. Etc.

caveat emptor

Klonker wrote: »

Of course masks help, they're not 100%, not even close but they'll lower the chances of you catching thr virus or spreading it.

Saying that, I haven't even looked to buy any, I'd love if the country had enough for everyone to use but we don't. They should be prioritised for workers in healthcare, shops, pharmacies etc., not for people to go out and walk their dog.

I'd like to see the government put in place some production facilities within Ireland for such products, I'm not sure if they've looked to do so yet, I know some distillers are helping HSE with sanitiser production.

It is not an "of course"]

Many people believe official guidelines that they don't help and are in fact dangerous. This is just plain wrong.

Exactly my point and well put. We need to reorientate our society to deal with the threat. Much in the same way countries do in times of war. We were told rent controls were "unconstitutional". Has the constitution changed?

If there are not enough masks. Lets make them If reusable ones aren't cost effective make reusable ones with filters.

If there are not enough machines to process test results. Get them. Or repurpose ones already in the state.

Happy4all

Why are the government hiding the information as to where clusters are?

Just Saying

timmy_mallet wrote: »

If the government can prove that that a lone jogger/cyclist causes community transmission then go ahead, but while people are still mauling the same packet of easy singles in Tesco as the next person, its absurd to restrict that.

I never made that point. My point is that the 2km rule was brought in to make it more difficult for people to socially interact with other households by using exercise as an excuse.

It directly follows on from this that by making it more difficult to have social interaction between households then community transmission reduces.

People really need to look at the bigger picture.

cnocbui

China wants to be seen as capable, advanced and in possession of the political system most suitable to handle the emergency, say China experts.

President Donald Trump does not want to be seen as responsible for the virus as it further grips the US, where there are 75,000 cases and over 1000 deaths so far, outpacing China in the number of infections. The Trump White House is adamant that any lasting blame should fall squarely on Beijing.

This battle for perceptions within the war against the virus exposes the anxiety of the great competition between China and the US in our time. A decisive winner could help convince the world of their political system’s superiority in the years to come.

President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan, the coronavirus epicenter, for the first time since the outbreak began there. It's a sign of Chinese confidence that the tide is turning.

For a White House consumed with messaging and public perception (and no stranger to disinformation itself), the idea that a pathogen with origins in China could tank the US economy and sap confidence is not something that would go uncontested.

While trying to ensure blame for the crisis flowed away from Washington and towards Beijing, Trump insisted coronavirus was the “Chinese virus”, whipping up anger against Asians and Americans who have Asian backgrounds.

A meeting of G7 foreign ministers on Wednesday ended without a joint statement after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed unsuccessfully to get member nations to agree to call coronavirus “Wuhan virus”.

The Trump administration is now reportedly considering forcing Chinese journalists it suspects of spying to leave the US.

Beijing has dialled up the volume and variety of messaging on coronavirus through diplomatic channels, state media and social media for weeks, to deflect blame for the outbreak and to try to position itself in the world’s eyes as the competent, generous problem-solver.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Group of Seven members were all aware of China's "disinformation campaign" regarding the coronavirus outbreak.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Group of Seven members were all aware of China's "disinformation campaign" regarding the coronavirus outbreak.Credit:AP

"The Chinese Communist Party is waging a propaganda campaign to desperately try to shift responsibility for the global COVID-19 pandemic to the United States," said a US Embassy spokesperson. "This campaign began when we started to call out the risk that was created not only for the Chinese people, but for people all across the world."

Images of Chinese aid have circulated widely on China’s Western-facing media and social networks. State media has leaned heavily into the idea that COVID-19 didn’t necessarily begin in China, and that democracies were incapable of meeting the challenge from it.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/the-war-within-the-war-over-coronavirus-20200327-p54ee0.html

When you think of the Chinese sending aid the Italy and the current Aerlingus flight to bring back PPE, they really are a good fit for a narrative that the China are working hard to project an image as the good guys and make political capital out of this.

Seamai

population wrote: »

My sister is nursing in a US hospital and everyone with a beard has been told to shave in order for the masks to work effectively.

Seems sensible, have a beard myself and would have no qualms about getting rid of it temporarily if it got to the stage where I had to wear a mask. No doubt there will be a few who will rail against it claiming their rights are being infringed. Suck it up for the greater good guys.

Tordelback

Dying is an utter crock of **** at the very best of times, but there are relatively peaceful deaths with the care of nursing staff and the comfort of family and there are unnecessary isolated deaths in overcrowded overrun facilities.

Arguing that annual mortality won't be much different- even if true, which I *deeply* doubt (1000 a day in Italy and Spaine from a single cause?) - is not far off saying "everyone dies in the end, so what's this whole healthcare lark in aid of?"

YFlyer

BluePlanet wrote: »

Why? Is it because it's not part of western diets?

Carry out as normal then. Eating bats and have wet markets.

SeaBreezes

BrianD3 wrote: »

I was thinking along similar lines. Let's say there are some late stage COPD patients who, if Covid19 didn't exist, are "destined" to die by September 2020 at the latest and Covid19 kils them in March instead - what is the significance of that from a public health and life expectancy point of view and how should this inform public policy. Regardless of the significance, obviously the deaths are tragic for the families and individuals involved.

We keep hearing about people having underlying conditions. There is a massive difference between someone with late stage terminal cancer, COPD, ALS, MS etc. and someone with controlled hypertension - yet all are underlying conditions.

Stats on all cause mortality would tell a lot. I would like to see historical stats for Lombardy or some of the worst affected cities there e.g. Bergamo. I have looked online and not found anything, the language barrier doesn't help. We know that, on average ~1700 people die per day in Italy. Lombardy population is about 18% of Italy's population so the average for Lombardy would seem to be ~310 per day. Based on media reports, over 500 people have died from (or with?) Covid19 in Lombardy on many days during this crisis so all cause mortality has clearly been way higher than the average of 310. The question that would then be asked is, has there been major spikes in all cause mortality in other years in Lombardy and an uneven distribution of deaths throughout the year.

It could be the case that the age profile (with age associated underlying illnesses) of the region plus population density plus air pollution means that any contagious respiratory illness hits it hard. Were there a considerable number of deaths in other year also but spread over a longer time period due to less infectivity and a flatter curve that the health system was better able to deal with. Etc.

Wishful thinking..

Cause governments regularly crash world economies for an aggressive flu...
also you are forgetting the long term lung and organ damage this bug does.
The true death rate for this bug over the longer term has yet to be seen.

wellwhynot

Doc07 wrote: »

HSE didn’t say that.

According to RTE they just did say that at their news conference

Hector Savage

Week 2 of 24 of quarantine ....


load of bollix

wakka12

Tordelback wrote: »

Dying is an utter crock of **** at the very best of times, but there are relatively peaceful deaths with the care of nursing staff and the comfort of family and there are unnecessary isolated deaths in overcrowded overrun facilities.

Arguing that annual mortality won't be much different- even if true, which I *deeply* doubt (1000 a day in Italy and Spaine from a single cause?) - is not far off saying "everyone dies in the end, so what's this whole healthcare lark in aid of?"

The annual mortality rate will be different, numbers of deaths are up 5 five fold in Lombardia compared to March of previous years

timmy_mallet

degsie wrote: »

Remember folks, you are not responsible for your own health anymore, you are responsible for EVERYBODY's health!

Remember "folks", that includes mental health. Just because someone doesn't show up in the hospital, doesn't mean they aren't sick, ease up on the lockdown fetish.

Heres Johnny

Roger_007 wrote: »

They were only doing half tests anyway.

I had full test on Friday morning

caveat emptor

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Lets hope it works

https://twitter.com/adrianzenz/status/1243992460839321600

1. So start with masks don't work.
   
2. Then when people cotton on to that say we don't have enough and HCW need them.
   
3. Then when we get them. Say China is bad they made the virus and evil people didn't make good enough mask.
   
4. Nothing to do with the fact we didn't want to spend the money to procure them for the general population (unwashed masses).

Marsden35

cnocbui wrote: »

When you think of the Chinese sending aid the Italy and the current Aerlingus flight to bring back PPE, they really are a good fit for a narrative that the China are working hard to project an image as the good guys and make political capital out of this.

China did not send their 'aid' for free. I saw a tweet by a journalist that says it was made to look like that, but Italy was billed.

Anita Blow

wellwhynot wrote: »

According to RTE they just did say that at their news conference

We have 11,000 beds total. Of these, 2100 are empty in anticipation of this surge.

We have ~250 ICU beds in public hospitals, a portion of these are occupied by COVID/non-COVID patients leaving 167. That however is just talking about our public hospitals. In addition to those 250 we have another 250 in the private system.

eagle eye

Happy4all wrote:

Why are the government hiding the information as to where clusters are?

Probably afraid people will get out of clustered areas and infect other areas. It's not likely to happen but there are a lot of incredibly stupid people in senior management positions in the public service in this country. Best way to the top in the public service is to kiss behinds or use political contacts, it's not very often that the person who should get promoted does.

timmy_mallet

wakka12 wrote: »

The annual mortality rate will be different, numbers of deaths are up 5 five fold in Lombardia compared to March of previous years

I think the point is the March dead wont be dying in September or October.

caveat emptor

Marsden35 wrote: »

China did not send their 'aid' for free. I saw a tweet by a journalist that says it was made to look like that, but Italy was billed.

It seems their communism doesn't extend beyond their borders. How dare they....

We get charged 50 euro to see a doctor. 500 a year for health insurance to be given the allusion that the care is better.

That bullsh!t illusion is firmly shattered.

YFlyer

MarkY91 wrote: »

That was 100 years ago. Different times.

How so? Caused by intensive pig farming at an army facility in Kansas.

Klonker

caveat emptor wrote: »

It is not an "of course"]

Many people believe official guidelines that they don't help and are in fact dangerous. This is just plain wrong.

Exactly my point and well put. We need to reorientate our society to deal with the threat. Much in the same way countries do in times of war. We were told rent controls were "unconstitutional". Has the constitution changed?

If there are not enough masks. Lets make them If reusable ones aren't cost effective make reusable ones with filters.

If there are not enough machines to process test results. Get them. Or repurpose ones already in the state.

Also, if for example China sees a surge in new cases again, will they allow exports of important medical supplies at the current levels? Who knows. Internal production is the only sure way to keep control of supply chains. As lots of non necessary factories are closing or seeing low demand for its products, theres a chance there to create jobs and create more secure production and supply lines.

niallo27

SeaBreezes wrote: »

Wishful thinking..

Cause governments regularly crash world economies for an aggressive flu...
also you are forgetting the long term lung and organ damage this bug does.
The true death rate for this bug over the longer term has yet to be seen.

Its impossible to know that it causes long term lung damage and if it does will it be the few or the many.

Humberto Salazar

Hector Savage wrote: »

Week 2 of 24 of quarantine ....


load of bollix

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Jim Corr...

wakka12

timmy_mallet wrote: »

I think the point is the March dead wont be dying in September or October.

That makes no sense, even if the excess death was limited to March, which it looks extremely unlikely to be, that would still increase the average mortality rate of the year overall

Shedidnt

At some point the country is going to have to begin to function again. You can't keep a whole country in lockdown for a year.

MrMusician18

Happy4all wrote: »

Why are the government hiding the information as to where clusters are?

Why do you need to know where the clusters are when you've been told to stay at home?

loughside

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Lets hope it works

https://twitter.com/adrianzenz/status/1243992460839321600

Shouldn`t really buy stuff off AliExpress





https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/china-delivered-faulty-coronavirus-test-kits-to-spain-czech-republic-120032800056_1.html


This comes after Spanish health authorities have warned that the rapid coronavirus tests that the country purchased from China are faulty. They are not consistently detecting positive cases, thereby showing an accuracy level below 30 per cent, making them unusable.
In view of the incredibly high error rate of the kits, Spain-- one of the worst-hit by Covid-19, with deaths surpassing over 4,800-- has announced that it is sending back the first batch of Covid-19 testing kits that it received from China.

niallo27

wakka12 wrote: »

That makes no sense, even if the excess death was limited to March, which it looks extremely unlikely to be, that would still increase the average mortality rate of the year overall

What is being said I think is that, if we get this some bit under control by September, there will be a lot less people older people that could die because the majority would have died in april and march.

Coyote

https://www.rte.ie/player/onnow/66546216065

HSE Covid-19 Briefing Sunday 29/3/2020

after new critral = 15K to be tested
tested 11K have appointment
4K waiting for appointment
5K a day testing
opening more

plan to have 15K per day by end of the week

Klonker

wellwhynot wrote: »

According to RTE they just did say that at their news conference

That's currently free ICU beds, not including private hospital beds.

caveat emptor

Tordelback wrote: »

Dying is an utter crock of **** at the very best of times, but there are relatively peaceful deaths with the care of nursing staff and the comfort of family and there are unnecessary isolated deaths in overcrowded overrun facilities.

Arguing that annual mortality won't be much different- even if true, which I *deeply* doubt (1000 a day in Italy and Spaine from a single cause?) - is not far off saying "everyone dies in the end, so what's this whole healthcare lark in aid of?"

There are serious vested interests who in this time of need are not getting as rich as they usually do. They are deploying capital to shift public opinion in favour of restarting economy. One line is "people die all the time"

This is a war. People seriously need to look at our history and look at the sacrifices those people made. Government has put measures in place to insure people won't go hungry. I get people need to work. We need to take a break until this is eradicated or vaccine found.

Big business does not like this.

OscarMIlde

MipMap wrote: »

I have got all this years ago. Furthermore I konw how to wash my hands for 20 seconds without singing "Happy Birthday like Boris Does"


The big issue is the lack of supply. I have 100 masks and I would willingly give them to doctors and nurses on the front line if there was a mechanism to do this.



I would go without food to help them. Just don't lie to me though!

Contact the facility manager of the nearest hospital. They are the people in charge of distributing donations of PPE. They would be extremely grateful for your donation.

timmy_mallet

wakka12 wrote: »

That makes no sense, even if the excess death was limited to March, which it looks extremely unlikely to be, that would still increase the average mortality rate of the year overall

It's likely they otherwise would have died this year anyway, is what the original bloke on BBC4 was suggesting.

devnull

Some absolute shocking spin coming out of Tory HQ in the UK last night
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/response-to-the-financial-times-article-on-ventilators

The usual pro Brexit and pro government voices are echoing this kind of spin on twitter and calling out the Financial Times for reporting on what is actually going on behind the scenes.

Now is not the time for politics, but a lot of political game playing is going on.

The 28/03/20 edition of FT Weekend contains a number of inaccurate claims about the UK’s efforts to procure and manufacture ventilators in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Claim:
Several companies have complained that offers were not taken up to provide some of the additional machines needed to save the lives of people with acute respiratory difficulties caused by Covid-19.

Response:
The response we’ve had from British industry has been nothing short of incredible, with an overwhelming response from companies offering help including designing and building new devices, manufacturing components or transporting them to NHS hospitals. To say we have ignored suppliers is wrong – we have responded to all companies that contacted us with offers of help. We are working with a number of firms to scale up production of existing UK ventilator manufacturers, as well as designing and manufacturing new products from scratch, and procuring thousands more machines from overseas.

Problems with the above
- The FT never said you were ignoring suppliers
- The FT never said that you did not respond to companies
- The FT said that you didn't take up offers, which you haven't denied, I wonder why.

Claim:
The Government should have been in touch with companies sooner and has now missed out.

Response:
We would expect suppliers of ventilator parts, like MEC Medical, to receive orders from companies for some of the components needed to scale up production of UK ventilator manufacturers.

Huge deflection here, saying effectively it's not their responsibility.

Claim:
The Government doesn’t follow through with their promises that they’ll buy any new ventilators.

Response:
This is untrue. We have over 8,000 machines arriving in the coming weeks and we are working to procure more everyday. We are also working alongside industry to scale up existing UK manufacturing and, simultaneously, design and manufacture new products. Of course, any new orders are all dependent on machines passing regulatory tests. We are rapidly ramping up ventilator production in response to this crisis.

So much so that they have actively turned down the chance to be involved in a European Project to do just this as they hurl full speed to a cliff edge no deal end of transition period Brexit at the end of the year, and view that peoples lives and coronavirus must not threaten a full, clean Brexit, excellent priorities there.

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/03/25/uk-not-working-with-eu-to-secure-more-ventilators/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-brussels-uk-ventilators-eu-scheme-communication-a9430571.html

And with one company, they even told them to make some before then withdrawing the request.

https://www.malverngazette.co.uk/news/18341698.worcesters-gtech-told-not-produce-much-needed-ventilators-government-chief-executive-says/

For all those who have problems with Leo and the leadership in Ireland, at least our focus is purely on ensuring that those who need help and our sick and coronavirus victims have as best chance as possible. Unfortunately some countries, such as the UK are still desperate to use this for political gain.

From slagging Sadiq Khan off in London for not running enough tubes, despite the fact it's because staff are self isolating or have the virus (lets not let facts get in the way of a cheap political point), putting politics before life saving equipment to ignoring their own advice on social distancing, resulting in the top of government getting coronavirus and instead a right wing press plot to blame Michel Barnier for infecting them rather than taking responsibility.

The UK is a shambles. Lets be thankful for what we have in this country.

Vicxas

Shedidnt wrote: »

At some point the country is going to have to begin to function again. You can't keep a whole country in lockdown for a year.

We're only in lockdown to flatten the initial curve as much as possible, after that it'll be a gradual ebb and flow until a vaccine is made.

s1ippy

s1ippy wrote: »

Great time to have this thought, 3:30am

What happens to all the nuclear reactors if there's nobody around to look after them?

little bess wrote: »

Well actually...

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/18/sellafield-nuclear-waste-plant-close-coronavirus-staff

Yep, and also this
https://www.thedailybeast.com/coronavirus-outbreak-on-aircraft-carrier-sends-troops-scrambling

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Why would there be no one around to look after them?

If there was some sort of extinction event. I dunno, like a virus maybe.

MipMap wrote: »

As far as I know we don't have any nuclear reactors in Ireland.

Yeah nuclear events are usually a solely domestic issue.

Fakediamond

alan partridge aha wrote: »

Why are we soooooo slow at showing recovery figures?

They don’t have the time or resources to retest people to deem them clear of the virus In order to accurately report the figures. Maybe someone could set up a page on social media, where recovered people could post, but that would be open to people falsely claiming they had the virus and had recovered. It’s a difficult one to police.

Phoebas

loughside wrote: »

Shouldn`t really buy stuff off AliExpress

One batch of faulty goods from one factory and we should stop buying stuff from China?
Should we get that Aer Lingus plane to return home empty?

People need to start applying common sense.

caveat emptor

Shedidnt wrote: »

At some point the country is going to have to begin to function again. You can't keep a whole country in lockdown for a year.

WW2 lasted 6 years more or less. Expand your time horizon. Face reality embrace it my fellow citizens. Why do I have a Conor mcgregor accent when I type?

MrMusician18

eagle eye wrote: »

Probably afraid people will get out of clustered areas and infect other areas. It's not likely to happen but there are a lot of incredibly stupid people in senior management positions in the public service in this country. Best way to the top in the public service is to kiss behinds or use political contacts, it's not very often that the person who should get promoted does.

You need to have a good long hard look at yourself tbh. Absolutely pathetic.

pc7

Vicxas wrote: »

We're only in lockdown to flatten the initial curve as much as possible, after that it'll be a gradual ebb and flow until a vaccine is made.

Or until a good treatment is found which could be sooner

1641

I don't think it is safe to generalise from the effectiveness and value of masks in a health care setting onto their value and effectiveness in general use by the average Joe in the community. Health care staff are trained in their use. Their efficacy depends not only on skill but on behavioural change. For one, it is recommended that we don't touch the mask or our face. But there are studies that suggest that on average we touch our faces about 20 times an hour - this being habitual and unconscious.

I suspect that for a layperson like myself it is likely that this touching behaviour would increase with a mask - it being so uncomfortable. But even it it didn't, the mask is only likely to give a false sense of security.
Risk compensation is a recognised phenomenon. When we feel endangered we are more likely to engage in safety behaviour - like most people are complying now with pretty draconian distancing instructions. If we feel there is less of a danger (of either catching or spreading the infection) we are likely to be less guarded. So if we feel more protected by a mask we are likely to compensate in other areas, eg, going out a bit more - thus actually increasing risk. An extreme example would be Titantic behaviour - it was considered "unsinkable" so it paid less attention than it should to reports of large icebergs. Because face masks are so visible and obvious they are more likely to induce such flase sense of safety.
"Invisible" or quickly forgotten safety features are less likely to create such false compensation, eg, a smoke detector in the house does not tend to promote more riskly behaviour regarding fire because we forget about it being there. Similarly with side airbags in a car. On the other hand, the sense of safety in a a big SUV may result in more risky driving. Other examples, the introduction of some safety equipment in American football was followed by some more ferocious tackles - not because of maliciousness but because in a misplaced belief in safety. In turn more severe penalties had to introduced to counteract such tackling.

Also, masks are meant to be disposed of safely after each use. Most people will have few masks and will be tempted to re-use them. Or just take it off when arriving home and put it down on a surface - bringing any contamination into the house. Or they will partially or fully remove it when out and then put it back on again. Etc, Etc. We can each say that we are so smart that we wouldn't do any of these things but in reality most of us would - they being largely unconscious behaviours. Given that the advantages (it any) of masks are likely to be limited at population level it seems right that the concentration of advice is on the hand-washing, social distancing, isolation, etc.

Ger Roe

Vicxas wrote: »

We're only in lockdown to flatten the initial curve as much as possible, after that it'll be a gradual ebb and flow until a vaccine is made.

We are not in 'lockdown'. Still planes landing and taking off and plenty of people still going to work, public transport operating - the list of 'essential services' that must be maintained seems to be broader than most people would have expected.

We are in a period of 'additional restrictions' not a 'lockdown'.

BanditLuke

all about the mane wrote: »

No they won't

Yeah because the HSE never flip flop


http://www.redfm.ie/news/coronavirus/department-of-health-blanket-ban-on-visitors-to-hospitals-and-nursing-homes-amid-coronavirus-unnecessary/

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/coronavirus-ten-more-deaths-in-ireland-as-six-clusters-in-nursing-homes-990410.html

cameramonkey

flashforward wrote: »

Some key questions are being consistently missed at these briefings.

HSE briefing today states that they are doing 5000 swabs/day
**How many lab results are they getting a day?**

We have 500 ICU beds and will secure/convert more
**Do we have the staffing to man these beds?**

No point in pressing swabs if we cant convert to results
No point in adding beds if we dont have the trained personnel to operate the equipment.

Average of about 700 tests per day done during the outbreak in Ireland from the last statistic I saw. That was up to the 23 March.

coastwatch

Anita Blow wrote: »

We have 11,000 beds total. Of these, 2100 are empty in anticipation of this surge.

We have ~250 ICU beds in public hospitals, a portion of these are occupied by COVID/non-COVID patients leaving 167. That however is just talking about our public hospitals. In addition to those 250 we have another 250 in the private system.

Is there is any sharing of experience, lessons learned or effective treatments so far, between frontline medical professionals around the world?

cloudatlas

Good interview with Noam Chomsky. Remarks how Cuba are helping Italy by flying doctors out but Germany can't help Greece when they are struggling financially and people are drowning in the med.