Love in the Time of Coronavirus (#3)

[JGP]

Ooh. I like that.

[Gertrude]

7 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

I am partial to that "elbow nod" Pat and Mat tend to do (just the last part of the gif, I cannot find one where they don't shake hands first).

Is Pat and Mat a widely known thing? I know them because I teach kids Czech (well, assist) and they watch it sometimes. Just surprised to see it referenced

[Buckwheat]

23 minutes ago, Gertrude said:

Is Pat and Mat a widely known thing? I know them because I teach kids Czech (well, assist) and they watch it sometimes. Just surprised to see it referenced

I am in an ex-socialist country, and they are widely known here, together with Bolek & Lolek and Jajo & Pajo and maybe some other old Czech-Slovak and Polish programmes (edit: Krtek/Small Mole!). I suppose it is similar in other countries near here, but I don't think they are widely known in the West. I knew somebody who had the Pat & Mat theme song as their ringtone. And I am childish enough that I still find them funny.

[RhaenysBee]

25 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

Jokes aside, here is a website that regularly posts statistics about the situation: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR2WhtIvODVjwxZEszArsVM0ypi0ZJvQ3SVjdnjuyl9ViV2IZPnIdKS5rto

Well. That’s worse than what our government site quotes. Then again they update that about twice a day, so I suppose it makes sense. 

[Fez]

Fucking hell...

Newsom is way worse at this than the other Governors taking major actions, and that includes Republicans like Mike DeWine in Ohio; who's been a pleasant surprise in how serious and proactive he's been.

[JGP]

3 minutes ago, Fez said:

Fucking hell...

Newsom is way worse at this than the other Governors taking major actions, and that includes Republicans like Mike DeWine in Ohio; who's been a pleasant surprise in how serious and proactive he's been.

Mmn hmn. Especially considering this:

 

edit: considering the RO of coronavirus...

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

I'm in New York and the they capped public gatherings at 500 effective 5pm on Friday, except for Broadway theaters which is effective starting today.

[Rippounet]

Well, fuck. France is officially closing all schools and universities effective next monday.

I mean, it's a good thing of course (it shows Macron can do some things right), but I'd planned all my tests for next week so now I have to figure out a way to test the students remotely.

[Fez]

I feel like that would honestly be really good if Ohio did have that many infections, since there aren't reports of mass deaths or overwhelmed ICUs there yet. So it would suggest that the virus is behaving rather mildly.

I don't know how to square that with what's going on in Italy or Iran though, which would suggest that there should be well over 1,000 Ohioans in critically ill condition with an infection rate that high.

[Maithanet]

8 minutes ago, Fez said:

Fucking hell...

Newsom is way worse at this than the other Governors taking major actions, and that includes Republicans like Mike DeWine in Ohio; who's been a pleasant surprise in how serious and proactive he's been.

Goodness.  I'm gonna remember this when he's running for President, not that my opinion counts for anything. 

[JGP]

@Fez

 

Under representing, would be my go to guess. For most people the symptoms are mild. Add punitive cost and/or strictures on qualifying for testing, and the spread is out there. I hope nursing homes and assisted living facilities, et stuff like, are being super diligent. Because whew...

[Guest]

State of Ohio just closed all schools.

[Gertrude]

20 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

I am in an ex-socialist country, and they are widely known here, together with Bolek & Lolek and Jajo & Pajo and maybe some other old Czech-Slovak and Polish programmes (edit: Krtek/Small Mole!). I suppose it is similar in other countries near here, but I don't think they are widely known in the West. I knew somebody who had the Pat & Mat theme song as their ringtone. And I am childish enough that I still find them funny.

Ah, ok. The only other one I know is Krtek. Perhaps I should look some others up for class!

[The Anti-Targ]

47 minutes ago, RhaenysBee said:

We don’t have an appointment, the vet is open on weekdays from 5-8pm. The reason for the visit is that added to his existing health issues (dislocated discs in the lower spine area, allergy and related skin symptoms that renew periodically) I have noticed his lower abdomen is bulging and hangs lower than it should. It is quite visible after he feeds but barely noticeable when he walks or runs. No idea what it is but I’m concerned about it, and another steroid treatment for his spine is due every half year anyway.
As for the follow up question, not at all, it’s really not about money. I suppose I just didn’t describe the locations well enough, the vet is not far away, it’s 30 minutes from my home town where the dog is (he’s a family dog and lives at my mother’s house). It’s closer and easier to access than city vets, it would be a nightmare to get him to one of those. 

Hmmm, distended belly is a symptom of hyperadrenocorticism (too much cortisol in your system), it's normally a kind of permanent state with that condition, but it could initially manifest as distension when there is increased abdominal pressure, such as due to having just eaten. Basically the high amount of cortisol over a long period of time causes weakening of the abdominal muscles. In an unmedicated animal that can have a few causes that you would not like. But in an animal that has had long term steroid use for other problems the steroid treatment can mimic the symptoms. I assume the steroid treatment is anti-imflammatory corticosteroid, and not an anabolic, it typically is for long term disc problems that aren't going to be surgically corrected. Of course I can't diagnose anything over the internet so you should see your vet. But if it is basically a medically induced hyperadrenocorticism, as I suspect it might be, there's not a lot that can be done, because long term steroid treatment is about the only non-surgical option for your dog's disc problems.

Re the EU travel ban. Unless the UK has a ban on mainland EU travel, then I guess the main effect of the ban is to help the UK economy by having a bunch of EU travellers having to go to the UK as the leaving point for their flights to the USA. Or is the ban for anyone with a non-UK European passport?

[Fez]

8 minutes ago, JEORDHl said:

@Fez

 

Under representing, would be my go to guess. For most people the symptoms are mild. Add punitive cost and/or strictures on qualifying for testing, and the spread is out there. I hope nursing homes and assisted living facilities, et stuff like, are being super diligent. Because whew...

True, but still. It seems like the bad numbers should be much higher at this point, too high to hide or call other things. Unless the virus is way weaker in most people than even the most optimistic projections (and that South Korean testing has missed a lot of weak cases); because "mild" means everything short of requiring supplemental oxygen. Or she's wrong in her assessment.

I hope she's right.

[Buckwheat]

13 minutes ago, Gertrude said:

Ah, ok. The only other one I know is Krtek. Perhaps I should look some others up for class!

You can, they are funny. But I am not sure which ones are Polish and which ones are Czech/Slovak.

My apologies for the thread derail, everybody.

[Fragile Bird]

7 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

 

Re the EU travel ban. Unless the UK has a ban on mainland EU travel, then I guess the main effect of the ban is to help the UK economy by having a bunch of EU travellers having to go to the UK as the leaving point for their flights to the USA. Or is the ban for anyone with a non-UK European passport?

From what I heard today, even Brits who travelled to the continent are banned until they go through 14 days of isolation. So you'd have to travel to the UK and wait 14 days?

[felice]

22 minutes ago, Fez said:

I feel like that would honestly be really good if Ohio did have that many infections, since there aren't reports of mass deaths or overwhelmed ICUs there yet. So it would suggest that the virus is behaving rather mildly.

There's typically a couple of weeks between catching the virus and being hospitalised, and with exponential spread the bulk of that estimate is presumably made up of people still in the incubation stage. If the estimate is correct, expect things to get bad over the next week or two.

[The Anti-Targ]

25 minutes ago, Fez said:

Fucking hell...

Newsom is way worse at this than the other Governors taking major actions, and that includes Republicans like Mike DeWine in Ohio; who's been a pleasant surprise in how serious and proactive he's been.

Hopefully Americans are being sensible and 1) not travelling out of their home city / town in large numbers, and 2) deciding for themselves to avoid places where large crowds gather. Theoretically in a free and well educated country it should not be necessary to put bans and check points in place to control disease. An informed public should have enough people making the right decisions based purely on advice so that "herd immunity" comes into effect, so that even the idiots who ignore all advice are somewhat protected by most people doing the right thing.

The problem is, with vaccination herd immunity only really kicks in at a very high rate of vaccination (90%+ for a disease like measles for instance). My impression is that without hard bans in place in any country, not just USA, we'd probably be lucky to see 50% of people doing the right thing based on advice alone. A bunch of people are likely to also listen to the wrong advice, say Gwyneth Paltrow telling her Goop followers to just steam their junk before leaving home and they will be protected for 24 hrs (not that this is advice she's given anyone).

The USA might be an interesting involuntary experiment into exactly how the disease will run its course with very few effective control measures being put in place to slow down the spread. There will be a lot of other countries in the same situation because of a lack of an organised or effective govt and limited healthcare, but the USA might be the biggest country where there has at least historically been an organised and somewhat effective govt and good healthcare facilities, albeit difficult to access for a lot of people.

[Fez]

4 minutes ago, felice said:

There's typically a couple of weeks between catching the virus and being hospitalised, and with exponential spread the bulk of that estimate is presumably made up of people still in the incubation stage. If the estimate is correct, expect things to get bad over the next week or two.

Is it that long? I know the 2-week quarantine is to be safe because some people take that long. But I thought most people develop symptoms in 5-6 days, and it's not that long after that for the virus to get from the throat to the lungs; if it's going to get there.