Covid-19 pandemic

[Amor de Cosmos]

A lengthy but excellent analysis of how the pandemic has been mishandled by US authorities. The comparison with the excellent job of air-safety by the NTSB seems extraneous but makes the central point suberbly. It woulda, coulda, shoulda been prevented, but wasn't, and still isn't.

[Diable Rouge]

EU green list published.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Leicester to be locked down, very conflicting reports about why Leicester and not other places.

[Fussbudget]

I see that Leicester's special measures include closing back the schools, "as children have been particularly impacted by this outbreak" (Hancock's words.) It's almost like they can spread the virus after all.

[Satchmo Distel]

Leicester worries me in that it could be turned into a racist story given the city's history of giving homes to refugees of Asian descent, which then led to white flight.

Meanwhile, in Florida:

[URL="https://twitter.com/da_soundman/status/1277675789446758400"]https://twitter.com/da_soundman/stat...75789446758400[/URL]

It's also suspicious that this account only sprang up this month, as if created by the Trump fascist bot factory.

[Snake Plissken]

Leicester to be locked down, very conflicting reports about why Leicester and not other places.

I’ll go with “drawing the short straw for another Cummings social experiment” for ?20, please Jim.

[Janik]

Leicester's significant BAME population and the demonstrated higher risk they have of the infection making people seriously ill are a good reason to take extra precautions regarding a spike there compared to other places with similar fresh outbreaks but different demographics.

[Uncle Ethan]

Leicester worries me in that it could be turned into a racist story given the city's history of giving homes to refugees of Asian descent, which then led to white flight.

Meanwhile, in Florida:

[URL="https://twitter.com/da_soundman/status/1277675789446758400"]https://twitter.com/da_soundman/stat...75789446758400[/URL]

It's also suspicious that this account only sprang up this month, as if created by the Trump fascist bot factory.

I did some idle checking yesterday and pretty much 90% of COVID conspiracy tweets and anti BLM tweets came from accounts that screamed BOT - anonymous, numbers in the user name, single or double figure followers, etc. Twitter surely knows this.

[ursus arctos]

I did some idle checking yesterday and pretty much 90% of COVID conspiracy tweets and anti BLM tweets came from accounts that screamed BOT - anonymous, numbers in the user name, single or double figure followers, etc. Twitter surely knows this.

At least in the US, the problem is that these attitudes are having real world effects, whether as a result of bot activity or something else.

[ursus arctos]

The county that includes Austin, Texas

https://twitter.com/jessicawluther/status/1277778810738483200

[caja-dglh]

This is a real tricky spot for me. I don't have an ounce of sympathy for these idiots doing their thing in an obvious international pandemic, because what are politicians say is what is right (my parents were like this and they can F-off too, as they now are all self-righteous they started isolating a week before Boris got his thumb out of his ass).

These states deserve to suffer, because they didn't want to know. It was in NYC. Not here. But at the same time, these folks are going to cause the death of a huge number of their elders in these towns and cities. I hope their "freedom" was worth that.

[Balderdasha]

Every day this week has seen more than 160,000 new cases globally.

[Balderdasha]

Libya has more than 800 cases.

[Eggchaser]

My Twitter account name has a number in it and I only have double digit followers, but I'm pretty certain I'm not a bot.

If I am, the presence of two children in my house points to some old school Scarlet Witch/Vision shenanigans (that's an old school reference right there).

[Sam]

Argentina went through 1,000 deaths (total) either today or yesterday. In much of the country it's business as normal minus the tourism, apparently, but those of us in non-essential jobs living in the Buenos Aires metro area are still in almost full lockdown. For the last couple of weeks we've been allowed out between 8pm and 8am, but it being midwinter that still means we haven't been able to enjoy sunshine since mid-March. The list of 'essential' jobs has slowly grown and most local businesses are open, though. And apparently they're now ramping up testing, although with the deputy mayor of the City of BA saying on TV that they're now up to 2,100 tests per day (in a city with a population of 3 million, and into which roughly another 3 million travelled to work each day in pre-lockdown times), I suspect it'll be a while before we get tested.

On the one hand, I'm glad Argentina locked down so early and so strictly, and a glance across the borders with Chile (4.5 times as many deaths in a country with less than half the population) and Brazil (Brazil) illustrates why that was the right decision. On the other, it's starting to feel a little like even the cautious opening up they've done so far (which for most people, myself included, doesn't feel like an opening up at all really) has been done faster than testing capacity will allow. Still, at least we've now passed the shortest day. In a couple of months the sun will start creeping onto our balcony in the afternoon again. I'm resigned to that happening before I next get to take my cue out and bash a few balls around on a table.

Here in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, we're heading back into phase 1 of lockdown (only allowed out for essentials; non-essential businesses not allowed to open) starting at midnight tomorrow night and lasting until the 17th. The plan is to buy the health service time to clear the current load on hospital beds (intensive care beds are at 54% of capacity right now) and to train up staff to then (seemingly) hit the streets with some hardcore track and tracing when a tentative reopening is allowed on the 18th. In other words after 103 days of this ('this' being not an awful lot different from what we're going back into, in our experience; the only real difference to us is that for the last three weeks we've been allowed out for a walk after 8pm, and it being the middle of winter that's not an offer we've taken up more than a couple of times), the government seem finally to have realised that they need an actual plan before taking 13 million people out of quarantine. This time the list of essentials has been expanded a bit so banks and restaurants offering takeaway/delivery will be allowed to stay open. I'm hoping money transfer services will be as well, or I'll have to owe my girlfriend loads of pesos to get through July. Bit annoying as I've just had by far my best month so far as a proofreader, and was planning to buy myself a nice bottle of whisky or rum to celebrate.

The plus side is that what looked at the start of the month like an impending disaster in the city's slums seems to have been averted. Unless one believes the people suggesting that the government's simply covering up huge numbers of deaths. I'm not sure, but I do know that the people saying that are supporters of the previous president, who wanted Argentina to follow 'the English approach' to the pandemic (source for that quote: his own Twitter account). So, y'know.

Speaking of the English model: people in the UK: how long were people actually unable to go to the pub for? I've read a lot about what a struggle it's been, and it's made me sad to remember the British Blitz Bulldog Spirit that used to make it a country that was so good at handling a crisis (I'm being sarcastic, Satchmo, no need to correct me). Here it's been three and a half months since we could last do anything at all social, and I can't even imagine how it's going to feel to have a pint and play a game of pool again. I'm pretty sure I've forgotten which end of the pointy stick thing I'm meant to hit the balls with.

[Balderdasha]

Pubs in the UK have so far been closed for 14 weeks and 1 day, and in theory they can start reopening in 4 days time, though only with table service.

[Sam]

Oh, okay. Similar time to here, then. I had the impression they'd taken a lot longer to shut them than that.

I still reserve the right to be envious of the 'only leave the house once a day for exercise, but do so for as long as you feel like' thing, though. First time we Zoomed my best mate and his girlfriend I felt like Crocodile Dundee. 'That's not a lockdown ...' (I appreciate that anyone responsible wasn't taking advantage of that phrasing, but it really would be nice just to know the option's there, in many ways.)

[Sam]

When I say 'anyone responsible', of course, what I mean is any person with a reasonable sense of responsibility for their fellow people. A lot of those responsible for the policy have absolutely been taking the piss all along.

[Balderdasha]

I miscounted slightly. They've been closed for 14 weeks and 4 days.

[Balderdasha]

But yes, it's never been a full lockdown. And currently people are allowed out of their house as many times as they like and for as long as they like and don't really even have to pretend to be exercising.

[Sporting]

Or wear face masks.

[elguapo4]

Here in Ireland, some pubs were allowed to open yesterday under certain conditions

1) Table service only, and tables had to be pre booked

2) Maximum 4 people per table, and each person has to order a substantial meal.

3) Maximum time allowed in pub, 105 minutes

Here's what happened ( one case, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't typical behaviour)

Around 7 PM last night, I got a text from a friend with a picture of a pint and "great to be back "

Around 11 PM, I got a second text "still here, place is hopping like new year's eve.

We're fucked, back in lockdown in a week.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

105 minutes is 90 minutes plus 15 for half-time. Someone's thought about that.

[Sporting]

105 minutes is 90 minutes plus 15 for half-time. Someone's thought about that.

And extra time and penalties?

[Belhaven]

Everybody out with three minutes of stoppage time still remaining.

In Oslo pubs were back to regular hours last weekend resulting in a lot of crowd congestion and a fair amount of aggessive behaviour. The police wasn't happy and the city is considering introducing stricter measures again already next weekend.