Covid-19 pandemic

[Diable Rouge]

Northern Ireland, which has one-third of the Republic's population, now recording more deaths (10 to 9).

[Patrick Thistle]

[Diable Rouge]

Now over 500,000 global cases.

[Janik]

Was given option to go to the actual hospital but my reasoning is 'why take up a bed if not in immediate danger?'

Rev, don't be British about this, i.e. don't let yourself fall into 'I don't want to be a burden' thinking. Let the pros make the call. If they have offered you a hospital bed, which they will know better than anybody is a scarce and valuble resource, then take them up on it. For them to be offering that makes it very plausible their assessment of you is that you could suddenly find yourself in immediate danger at any time, and if you do and are still at home then the wait for an ambulance to get there is potentially crucial. Call 111 and get yourself admitted, mate.

[tracteurgarcon]

As AP warned earlier, the death rate in Sweden, which had been notably low until recently, has started to spike, and now stands at 66 today.

As I understand it, Sweden was one of the few countries that had taken the early UK approach of "herd immunity" and not locking down very quickly, so its not really a surprise they're seeing an increase.

[Diable Rouge]

China to close its borders to foreign nationals from this weekend.

[ursus arctos]

Unbelievable even from this lot. Is Cummings on some kind of bender? His lies are generally much accomplished.

https://twitter.com/johnestevens/status/1243221091679719427

[Hot Pepsi]

"Didn't get the email" is a new one. They have Google and, you know, M16, FFS. They know what is going on.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Rev, don't be British about this, i.e. don't let yourself fall into 'I don't want to be a burden' thinking. Let the pros make the call. If they have offered you a hospital bed, which they will know better than anybody is a scarce and valuble resource, then take them up on it. For them to be offering that makes it very plausible their assessment of you is that you could suddenly find yourself in immediate danger at any time, and if you do and are still at home then the wait for an ambulance to get there is potentially crucial. Call 111 and get yourself admitted, mate.

Agreed and there are lots of beds available in some trusts as they have cancelled surgery (not just routine stuff, even potentially life saving stuff like removing a malignant mole) to free up resources...

[scratchmonkey]

Hope you're feeling well soon Rev.

Interesting that dizziness is part of the symptoms, haven't heard that before and I was having that very strongly on Monday, to the point where I had to sit down several times walking around the house because I was worried I was going to fall over. I didn't take it as seriously as I should have as I'd actually been to the doctor six months ago about bouts of light-headedness and they couldn't find any underlying physical causes, so reckoned it was most likely my anxiety, which led me to believe that it was likely the same situation now, as these aren't exactly calming circumstances. Haven't had any fevers come back yet and feeling less fatigued as well. Wife continues to have a cough and shortness of breath, we're keeping an eye on each other and have plenty of friends in the area should the need arise.

[anton pulisov]

As I understand it, Sweden was one of the few countries that had taken the early UK approach of "herd immunity" and not locking down very quickly, so its not really a surprise they're seeing an increase.

Sweden still hasn't locked down. Pubs and cafés are open as I write this. And primary schools.

[Lang Spoon]

Fuckin hell.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Did the woman from the Daily Telegraph really just ask the Chancellor on national TV if he thought the cure was worse than the virus?

[Muukalainen]

Sweden still hasn't locked down. Pubs and cafés are open as I write this. And primary schools.

The government does understand the consequences of its course of action, doesn't it?

This side of the Baltic, we're pushing the 1000 mark in confirmed cases, something like 70% of them in the Helsinki area, which is now in lockdown. Two more deaths in the last 24 hours take our nationwide total to five.

[Diable Rouge]

https://twitter.com/KateEMcCann/status/1243200049875648512

[Hot Pepsi]

We expect more from Sweden.

I have a lot of dizziness lately, but when it started a few weeks ago, I had a whole blood test. If I had any virus, it would have been clear from that and yet all my cell counts were normal. So whatever I have is not that.

I have noticed a bit of congestion when I go out, but that’s just normal when it’s a bit cold. For me anyway. Besides, they say it’s a dry cough, right? I don’t think I’ve had a dry cough in my life. Just lots of snot.

[Incandenza]

I'd be curious to see a similar graph by US state. The FT has a separate chart for regions, and New York is in dire shape, worse than Lombardy at a similar point, whereas California is currently far less impacted (though we may have just been testing far fewer people).

[Hot Pepsi]

I don’t know if it makes sense to compare confirmed cases, either over time or between countries, because the testing is so erratic. Number of people hospitalized or number of people who have died, sadly, are “harder” endpoints.

[Nefertiti2]

I've just been looking at the facebook page of a church in Florida- talking about the many people "in good jobs" (they named chefs and dental hygienists) who are coming for care packages. as they still live from paycheck to paycheck -and there are no paychecks

[Nefertiti2]

Unbelievable even from this lot. Is Cummings on some kind of bender? His lies are generally much accomplished.

https://twitter.com/johnestevens/status/1243221091679719427

they know what they can get away with A bare face lie shows their power. They used the same technique hen the Greater london Authority was investigating Johnson and the Arcuri scandal

[treibeis]

Sweden still hasn't locked down. Pubs and cafés are open as I write this. And primary schools.

My stepmother-in-law, who's not normally stupid, insists that "we Swedes police each other".

[Nocturnal Submission]

One of my mates, who decamped to the south of Spain about six months ago, has just revealed that he has had the virus and spent time on a respirator, though he somehow seems to have managed to avoid passing it on to his partner and young children.

[Moonlight Shadow]

At this point, I am starting to think think that nothing but martial law would get people to behave in some countries. I feel rotten thinking about what the NHS staff is going through now, for obvious reasons. I am privy to some information not in the public domain and the coming weeks will see people finally realise what a cancer Covid is on the NHS.

Good luck everybody...

[ursus arctos]

I don’t know if it makes sense to compare confirmed cases, either over time or between countries, because the testing is so erratic. Number of people hospitalized or number of people who have died, sadly, are “harder” endpoints.

It really doesn't. This is becoming more and more clear, and there was a more learned article on just this point yesterday.

Different jurisdictions have very different regimes for both testing and reporting, and those different regimes are themselves in flux.

[Furtho]