Covid-19 pandemic

[G-Man]

Bloody hell, Jimski, what a stressful situation! Glad your mom made it home. I hope she (or somebody on her behalf) will lodge a complaint regarding the unscheduled closure of the SA embassy.

That South Africa lock-down seems very harsh. Particularly considering how the less well off often live, entire large families in a 2 room home. I'd also be concerned with only going to your closest shop - if you happen to live to someone very expensive you could be utterly screwed. And it's not like all shops in SA carry a wide range of produce.

If your nearest shop doesn't stock the necessity you need, you can go to the next-nearest shop.

I have a hunch that the jogging and dog-walking regulations will be eased. I suspect the first objective was to enforce compliance and normalise the notion of isolation. On Day 1, people were still flaunting rules. Somebody I know even bragged about going to the barber this morning! Given that SA is in many ways a rather anti-authoritarian society (and in some ways not), going draconian first might be justifiable.

The ban on alcohol sales can been justified by (a) the inhibition-reducing properties of alcohol which might give rise to risky/non-compliant behaviour, and (b) fears that alcohol-consumption may increase violent behaviour in families that are locked down together. To that extent, domestic violence is one of the areas for which courts remain open.

The cigarette-sales ban has been explained to be for health reasons, given that Covid-19 is a pulmonary illness. But I suspect the real reason is enforcement, to prevent nicotine addicts from slipping out to stock up on their Benson & Hedges. Plus: this government is really anti-tobacco, so there's that as well.

[Patrick Thistle]

DCI Harry Batt

Yeah I might have inferred that because it was a lorry in a small lane.

I think EB was within rights to ask what the lorry was about if it was there at 11.00. We used to have an aggressive dickhead in my street who would park a huge truck anywhere he liked but would threaten you on your doorstep if you parked in front of his house.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I think if someone gets cross with you because you park on the road, then you've every reason to be annoyed by that. Certainly the guy threatening you on your doorstep for parking on the road was bang out of order. No-one owns the road outside their home.

[Balderdasha]

Philippines has more than 800 cases.

[Patrick Thistle]

27 year old on Anglesey dies of suspected coronavirus
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...-chef-17995200

Not been confirmed by a test as far as I can see, but sounds like it could well be. Poor guy had a son and a 10 day old daughter.

[Patrick Thistle]

Wales will top 1000 cases today. We had 900 and summat yesterday.

The Principality Stadium is being converted into a 2000 bed facility.

[NickSTFU]

There seem to be a lot of survivors of this virus. A lot more than the unfortunate deaths.

I am, by nature, an optimistic, happy-go-lucky type, so like to focus on these stats as well.

(Thinking about maybe OTF isn't the place for me (jokes)).

[tracteurgarcon]

Yes, I pondered whether deaths from traffic accidents would drop on the "minor pluses of Covid-19" thread.

One of the odd things about going on my one government mandated dog walk per day is that I can cross roads with impunity, there's virtually no traffic, but I'm having to be very careful on narrow paths and chokepoints to avoid fellow walkers, joggers and cyclists.

The roads are literally safer than the paths right now.

[Patrick Thistle]

You're right, Nick. And because we aren't testing everyone there are going to be a lot of survivors we won't ever know about. There's a good percentage of people who don't even exhibit symptoms apparently.

OTOH there are still some people posting on Facebook that flu kills x million people a year and trying to diminish the seriousness of this. So Balder's stat that this was the most deadly disease in the world yesterday is worth saying.

[Sporting]

If your nearest shop doesn't stock the necessity you need, you can go to the next-nearest shop.

What is a necessity, exactly (I'm sure everyone on here will have varying ideas on this)?

[NickSTFU]

You're right, Nick. And because we aren't testing everyone there are going to be a lot of survivors we won't ever know about. There's a good percentage of people who don't even exhibit symptoms apparently.

It's confusing.

A colleague (who I have never known be ill in the 4 years I have worked with her) said she displayed all the symptoms as per the BBC website. When she phoned NHS111, they said it wasn't Covid-19.

She has been ill all week, when I phoned her yesterday, she was getting there and is much better, but tired and weak. Like flu. So who knows.

[Satchmo Distel]

Cruise ship headed for Fort Lauderdale with mass infections:

https://www.fox4now.com/news/nationa...xz5K4RG_0LdI6k

[Patrick Thistle]

It's confusing.
.

Yes it is. The 27 year old in the news story I linked to hasn't been officially declared a Covid death as far as I can see.

[DCI Harry Batt]

What is a necessity, exactly (I'm sure everyone on here will have varying ideas on this)?

What is essential travel?

[Bruno]

A few weeks ago, Iran was near the top of the headlines for being in the shit. Haven't heard them mentioned lately, here's an update:

In Iran, the false belief that toxic methanol fights Covid-19 kills hundreds

And here's an Iran-related story about Afghanistan:

Fresh from Iran's coronavirus zone, now moving across Afghanistan

[Freestyling buck wilding Stijn Stijnen]

Nope, malaria kills about 2,002 people worldwide daily.

I've been meaning to say this for a while, but I just want to thank you Balderdasha for the amazing work you've done here, you should be a journalist doing this for a newspaper. The updates, statistics and general information has been so helpful, and it allowed me and mine to see quite early on that this was developing in ways previous viruses hadn't.
I don't think it unrealistic to say that you have directly and indirectly saved lives here.
Poster of the year 2020, I salute you!

[Sean of the Shed]

Shopper in Lichfield throws tins at a shopworker after being told that they were restricted to a maximum of three.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sta...et-3992838.amp

[DCI Harry Batt]

Indeed, nice work Balders, and thank you.

[Antepli Ejderha]

The road outside our flat has slowly calmed down compared to the beginning of the week, there are also less people on the streets and in smaller groups. It's rare to see more than two people together however I'm still seeing the same group of kids riding their bikes around with no sign of parents.

A friend of Mrs AE has told her that she's arguing with one of her friends because the friend has COROVID19 but still insists on going out, apparently nobody or nothing can stop her living her life. How many people has she directly and indirectly infected? I advised reporting her to crimestoppers.

As for EB's dilemma, if they won't listen why don't you call up his company. Delivering a lawnmower at 11 at night is a little odd.

We also had the police in our apartment block, not sure why but someone's mentioned a rooftop party.

I despair, totally despair, that people are still acting in such an irresponsible way despite knowing the risks. There's a generation of young people who are so selfish, hedonistic and ignorant that only deaths in their social groups might stop their behaviour.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Why has the Chinese outbreak stalled or slowed at numbers less than we're now seeing in each Western country? Was it simply the strict enforcement of no travel from the worst affected area to anywhere else? Only it's struck me all week that China's got over a billion people. You'd expect by now their number of deaths to be much much higher than Europe and the USA combined, not for us to by overtaking them country by country.

[Janik]

Wuhan and Hubei province locked down after 30 deaths, Rogin. They moved far, far earlier and much more aggressively than western governments.

[Balderdasha]

Yes, and China continues to have more draconian policies than anywhere else. A short list off the top of my head of measures they took which have not been replicated elsewhere:

- only one member of each household allowed outside, once every three days for grocery / pharmacy shopping. As that person will inevitably be an adult, this means that children have been locked inside small flats non-stop for nearly three months so far.
- tracking virtually every citizen via their phones to enforce the lockdown.
- alerting individuals by text if they've been near an infected person.
- sending drones out to tell anyone outside "go home, go home".
- door to door checks. Anyone showing any symptoms (fever or cough) forcibly extracted from their house and sent to a quarantine centre (requisitioned hotels mainly).
- temperature checks of anyone on the street. Again if they showed a fever people were bundled into vans immediately and sent to quarantine.

[Satchmo Distel]

Full details on "cocooning" of over-70s and the vulnerable.

I'm conflicted about my mother (aged 71) going for a daily walk. I think it's OK provided she stays 2 metres away from any passing strangers, and there are definite benefits in terms of keeping her heart and lungs going and giving her a mental break from being stir crazy, but I also wonder how she could avoid an idiot or two walking too close to her.

[Logan Mountstuart]

I'm getting very, very worried for the Dutch. Just finished my last delivery of life- saving hamburger supplies in Tilburg. The Mcdrives are so full we can't get the trucks in. The car park for the DIY center opposite is full to bursting and in the centrum people are sitting around chatting and eating takeaways in the main square.

The 1.5m rule is a joke because it makes people think that 1m is OK really. People here seem to genuinely not give a damn.

950 deaths a day in Italy after 3 weeks of very serious lockdown. God knows what is going to happen here in a month's time. I'm scared and seriously pissed off.

[Fussbudget]

One of the odd things about going on my one government mandated dog walk per day is that I can cross roads with impunity, there's virtually no traffic, but I'm having to be very careful on narrow paths and chokepoints to avoid fellow walkers, joggers and cyclists.

The roads are literally safer than the paths right now.

The traffic here is a little bit quieter but most of the remaining drivers seem to be under the impression that speed limits no longer apply, so if anything I'm more careful when crossing the road now.