Covid-19 #18: Everything Old is New Again!

[BigFatCoward]

Since the believed no of people of people who have been infected is still relatively low, its telling that the three biggest fuckup leaders have all had it. Trump, Boris, Bolsonaro. 

[Heartofice]

5 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

Since the believed no of people of people who have been infected is still relatively low, its telling that the three biggest fuckup leaders have all had it. Trump, Boris, Bolsonaro. 

Also Michel Barnier and Justin Trudeaus wife (probably him too).

[DireWolfSpirit]

I should also add that I ski and I'm a middle class liberal. It's those damn snowboarders that are the real problem!

Anywho I'm sure everyone has heard the tremendous news that Trump, Melania and Hope have all contracted the virus. So much winning, it's just delicious.

I actually have heard idiots in the lunchroom stating that covid is all fake news and that as soon as the election is over it will dissapear. I guess the reasoning being that the pandemic is just out there to make "Dear Leader" look bad.

So how will they square this, if it's fake how can their leader be announcing he has succumbed to it?

 

[Fragile Bird]

Good morning! I feel like I have a hangover because every time I woke up in the night I turned on my phone or tablet to check the latest news or to read the US Politics thread.

About skiing - to be fair, I think the comments about the rich refer to people who hop on planes and fly to whatever resort in the world has the best snow conditions that day or weekend, no matter what continent that is. I don’t think anyone in this Board has mentioned they do that. Or have the means to do that. Also, back in March and April we had a lot of discussion about Sweden and where people went to ski. Most went locally, not to Lombardy, iirc.

Knowing how much Trump lies, there’s a part of my brain that says this is fake news.

[A wilding]

Though re the skiing, there is one particular ski resort, Ischgl in the Austrian Tyrol, that has been accused of being an initial hotspot for the virus and of handling it very badly. Ischgl does have a reputation as an expensive upmarket resort.

[karaddin]

@Ormond late response to this post of yours in the last thread

The austerity in the UK over the last decade has been, as BFC noted, severe with a large literal body count being tracked as associated with it. The disabled community in particular have had a horrid toll with many kicked off benefits and yes literally starving to death in their homes with no one and no financial support to save them. It hasn't received near the media coverage it deserves.

[A wilding]

Not to mention the significant number of them who have committed suicide after benefits were withdrawn ...

[Starkess]

On 10/1/2020 at 12:31 PM, Zorral said:

I have no sympathy for this at all, and that's essentially what you all are arguing.  The rich continue to get theirs, with all the bailouts and transfer of public wealth of lands (as right here where I live where all the public space has been handed over to rich real estate owners so the restaurants can keep functioning and paying exhorbitant rents to them), as well as all other sorts of assets.  This further includes violently coerced labor -- as the rich in California whining that due to covid prisoners were given early release and that essentially non-paid, life-risking labor of fighting fires they've relied on (helping with taxes!) isn't available, so they should be rounded up again and forced to work.  Also goddamn it! teachers at every level are forced to go to work to keep the big real estate money generators like Columbia University, NYU, the U of Chicago going -- but what happens to the teachers and their families?  And they're not getting any financial help at all, and in fact their wages are cut -- to help out in this time.  But the President's isn't, the Board of Directors isn't, the star profs' aren't -- who aren't teaching f2f either.  The wages of the cleaners -- and even the staff of cleaners -- are cut.v  Still gotta fill up those vast dormatories and vast cash-generating services like the food courts.  But the cooks don't get wages or even protective equipment and have to work in non-ventilated kitchesn.  One can go on and on with example after example.

Do you actually know anything about what UChicago is doing?

[lessthanluke]

6 hours ago, karaddin said:

@Ormond late response to this post of yours in the last thread

The austerity in the UK over the last decade has been, as BFC noted, severe with a large literal body count being tracked as associated with it. The disabled community in particular have had a horrid toll with many kicked off benefits and yes literally starving to death in their homes with no one and no financial support to save them. It hasn't received near the media coverage it deserves.

And South Wales is one of the hardest hit parts of the UK. But Ormond obviously knows better. 

[A True Kaniggit]

I just drove by the local high school, and it looks like they’re having a football game. No social distancing whatsoever. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

I just drove by the local high school, and it looks like they’re having a football game. No social distancing whatsoever. 

I live right by a huge chain of football and soccer fields plus some baseball diamonds and two basketball courts. They've been packed for months. 

[Zorral]

4 hours ago, Starkess said:

Do you actually know anything about what UChicago is doing?

 My faculty friends keep me posted.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Football. Ugh. I went to my nail salon and usually stop at my favorite local bar on the way home to have their awesome jaleneno cheese sticks while sitting on the patio.

Their downstairs and upstairs patios were both packed, as was inside (I could see it through the windows). 

Everyone at the bar watching the football game :/ I stayed the hell away. Cheese sticks will still be there some other time.

Little did they know Broncos vs. Jets would be a dumpsterfire! 

[Xray the Enforcer]

Whew!! I am so glad @Chataya de Fleury 

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Good news - after that potential exposure on 9/23, I had a PCR test last night, 10/2, which came back negative this morning.

I’d like to thank both Lady Luck and my trusty surgical mask.

Excellent news indeed!

[Zorral]

"Governor Andrew Cuomo identified the 20 ZIP codes in the state that are seeing increased positivity rates as areas of concern, including several in Brooklyn and Queens, he said in a release Saturday."

https://gothamist.com/news/coronavirus-updates-october-3-2020

Quote

 

....In the top 20 ZIP codes that have seen recent outbreaks in Brooklyn, Queens, and Rockland and Orange Counties, 8,676 tests were conducted Friday, yielding 450 positives or a 5.2% positivity rate.

"This pandemic is not over. We continue to closely monitor the data throughout the state, push our testing capacity to new highs and keep an especially close eye on the ZIP codes in hot spot areas, which represented 26 percent of yesterday's cases despite being home to 6.7 percent of the population," Cuomo said in his release. "We know that washing hands, socially distancing and wearing masks makes all the difference in our ability to tame this beast. So my message to New Yorkers is please stay vigilant and my message to local governments is do the enforcement. We can beat this thing if we work together and stay New York Tough."....

 

The second loop for NYC has begun.  I have no hope of containment of any kind.  For so many reasons such as what we see in this story in the Food section of the NYT, which includes the first in-door diner of the re-opening for such in the interviewee's place of work. "Close the windows," he orders.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/dining/restaurant-servers-coronavirus.html

"It’s Time for Diners to Ask the Servers: How Are You Doing?
As indoor dining returns to New York, the danger to restaurant workers increases. So does the need to protect them."

Then this on Staten Island -- a get well crowd rally, addressed by the cop in chief, all close together, and though there is more mask wearing, not anywhere near a majority of wearing.  This was organized, obvs, not spontaneous. But the cops aren't wearing masks.

 

[Zorral]

Breaking news -- NYC is shutting down several neighborhoods due to the spiking new virus cases:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/04/nyregion/nyc-covid-shutdown-zip-codes.html?

Quote

 

 

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday that he intended to “rewind” the reopening of nine neighborhoods in New York City that have had a testing positivity rate of more than 3 percent over the last seven days.

That means the closure of nonessential businesses and public and private schools in those neighborhoods, which are in Brooklyn and Queens. Many of them have large populations of Orthodox Jews, and the virus has been spreading rapidly in those communities in recent weeks.

“Today, unfortunately, is not a day for celebration,” Mr. de Blasio said. “Today is a more difficult day.”

The mayor’s plan, which still must be approved by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, marks the first major reversal in the city’s reopening since it was hit hard by the coronavirus in March.

The nine ZIP codes include portions of Far Rockaway, Borough Park, Midwood, Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Sheepshead Bay and Kew Gardens.

The city is also closely watching 11 additional ZIP codes that Mr. de Blasio described as a “real concern.”

In those neighborhoods, the city will curtail indoor dining, which has only just begun.

 

 

 

[Alarich II]

Had my personal little COVID scare last week, but the test came back negative, so all is good. Cases are rising again in Germany as well, however in my county, infections are still very low (1 oder 2 at the moment). Except the mask-wearing in public, we are still very relaxed. However the borders around us are closing, Czech Republic is no off limits, Poland too, but here, a lot of small businesses, restaurants and cafés have actually had a decent summer in terms of sales due to the massive increase of domestic tourism. So the travel warnings are also working as a domestic spending program.

[rotting sea cow]

Ok, This is around the news. Here is just one article.

Coronavirus: WHO estimates 10% of global population infected with COVID-19

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-who-estimates-10-of-global-population-infected-with-covid-19/a-55162783

I've no idea how they are calculating these numbers. 10% means ~750 millions of people.

The current death toll just surpassed 1 million, so even with vastly undercounting the IFR would be around 0.2%, hardly more dangerous than the Flu. It would also speak of a large fraction of asymptomatic individuals.

Something smell fishy here. Is this disease really dangerous? Or just too contagious?

 

[Crixus]

@rotting sea cowYes, good points. I understand they have to use language like 'may' have been infected, but it doesn't do a lot to inspire confidence. Perhaps if they shared more detail on the tools and methodology they've used to reach this 10% estimate, it would help? Because as you say, even with significant undercounting, this would put mortality rate far below what is currently accepted (I realise the death rate varies by age, overall health/comorbidity etc.)