Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Covid-19 pandemic

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    10,502 new deaths reported worldwide yesterday, a new high.

    Comment


      It's worth noting that for a lot of those states in Nef's tweet, the rise in infections isn't a feature of the rise in testing. The testing rate appears to be low in South Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming and Kansas.

      Comment


        The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has now passed all its safety checks and the reported efficacy is now 95% (as opposed to 90%)

        Comment


          41 deaths in Wales but new cases have dropped compared to yesterday so maybe the fire break worked and slowed transmission rate.

          Comment


            My mother in law was taken in hospital with Covid-19 last week but is home now and apparently recovering okay, which is a particular relief because I'd need more than the fingers of one hand to count her underlying health conditions.

            Meanwhile, everything I'm hearing from people I know who work in them is that it's really sweeping through care homes round here at the moment. My wife's next test is this Friday (she works in a care home), so we'll find out whether it's swept into our house yet then, I guess. Her best friend is self-isolating after a positive test at the end of last week.

            Comment


              Jesus. That's Good news about your MIL Ian. Hope you are all OK.

              We seem to be doing a better job at keeping it out of care homes this time. I mean it couldn't possibly be any worse. We emptied the hospitals before the development of a proper test, and sent covid positive patients into nearly every care home in the country, with horrendous results.
              Last edited by The Awesome Berbaslug!!!; 18-11-2020, 15:13.

              Comment


                Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                41 deaths in Wales but new cases have dropped compared to yesterday so maybe the fire break worked and slowed transmission rate.
                You've got to stop tracking the numbers of deaths. I stopped when I realised it was just making me too anxious, but also since there are often delays in reporting deaths, it's as much a measure of bureaucratic efficiency as any trend in the disease, and goes on for weeks after the number of cases collapses to near zero. the 14 day incidence per 100,000 is your best bet. That's where the impact of the measures is going to show up, also it doesn't jump around so much which helps with the overwhelming gloom and anxiety.

                Comment


                  Originally posted by The Awesome Berbaslug!!! View Post
                  the 14 day incidence per 100,000 is your best bet. That's where the impact of the measures is going to show up, also it doesn't jump around so much which helps with the overwhelming gloom and anxiety.
                  It's a good measure provided that effectively the same cohort is being tested at the same rate.

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by The Awesome Berbaslug!!! View Post

                    You've got to stop tracking the numbers of deaths.
                    I can't help it. It's like a compulsion.

                    Comment


                      2,909 deaths in the UK in the last week. 529 today.

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                        41 deaths in Wales but new cases have dropped compared to yesterday so maybe the fire break worked and slowed transmission rate.
                        Don't read anything into comparing day to day cases or deaths, it's a fool's errand, there's just too much variability. You want at least a week's data for any consistency at all, and even that's really too short.

                        Comment


                          Sadly, the Irish 14-day average has risen progressively again over the last week, as have the daily deaths.

                          Comment


                            603 deaths in Poland today, highest daily toll so far.

                            Comment


                              But still OPEN THE SHOPS scream "Retail Excellence Ireland". Am I wrong in thinking once upon a time RTE may have had someone representing the poor fuckers expected to work in the shops being interviewed as well as some bleedin industry lobby group?

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                It is as of Stanford saw John Yoo at Berkeley and said Hold my Beer
                                Well Stanford is the home of the Hoover Institute is more generally a hothouse of Randian exuberance, so they have previous.

                                (UC Berkeley as an institution and as a student population is far more conservative than most people reckon in any case.)

                                Comment


                                  I read today that Finland have trained dogs to smell corona virus positive people and they are proving more accurate (or close to) as actual tests. They use them at the airport and identify all the incoming people who need to be quarantined (or something like that). Why do other countries not do this? Or, alternatively, is this story bollocks?

                                  Comment


                                    NYC are closing schools again. No increase in infections have been tied to schools opening, and bars/restaurants and gyms are allowed to remain open.

                                    Comment


                                      Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                      I read today that Finland have trained dogs to smell corona virus positive people and they are proving more accurate (or close to) as actual tests. They use them at the airport and identify all the incoming people who need to be quarantined (or something like that). Why do other countries not do this? Or, alternatively, is this story bollocks?
                                      Dogs have already been used to detect diabetes and cancer (detecting some kinds of cancer with 97% accuracy in tests) so it's not a huge leap to them being able to detect people who have COVID. I suspect that it hasn't caught on because it would take a fair bit of time and money to set up (Finland is still a very small country and I imagine that they don't have that many people flying into it on a daily basis, especially when compared to somewhere like Germany) and considering that anybody who was detected would still have to then get a regular test, there might be some resistance to adding an additional screening process; although I suspect that it's mostly because most non-East and Southeast Asian governments still are doing a fairly poor job of managing this thing/taking it seriously.

                                      Comment


                                        Yeah I know that they can even smell parkinsons disease

                                        Comment


                                          The Guardian reported on this Finnish dog story at the end of September. They (not The Guardian) trained sixteen dogs to smell Covid in your sweat, several days before you would start showing symptoms. It makes sense that dogs, with their substantially better sense of smell than humans, can be trained to do this.

                                          Sixteen dogs are likely to suffice to cover international travel at Helsinki Airport, but I imagine that there are substantial problems in scaling this up to a global level. Not enough dogs, not enough trainers, not enough time to train.
                                          Last edited by Wouter D; 18-11-2020, 21:01.

                                          Comment


                                            Originally posted by Incandenza View Post
                                            NYC are closing schools again. No increase in infections have been tied to schools opening, and bars/restaurants and gyms are allowed to remain open.
                                            de Blasio finishing strong in his campaign to become the worst mayor since the fall of Tammany

                                            Comment


                                              Georgia has now reported more cases than China, and 815 deaths.

                                              Comment


                                                Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                                I read today that Finland have trained dogs to smell corona virus positive people and they are proving more accurate (or close to) as actual tests. They use them at the airport and identify all the incoming people who need to be quarantined (or something like that). Why do other countries not do this? Or, alternatively, is this story bollocks?
                                                I need to get out more. I hadn't heard about this before, but a quick bit of searching reveals this to be true -- and also two months old. The current funding is for a 4 month trial to about the end of this year. From what I can gather the performance of the dogs is very good, so presumably further funding will be found for next year.

                                                https://www.finavia.fi/en/newsroom/2...at%20airports.

                                                https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/uncertain_future_for_airport_covid_sniffer_dogs/11589182
                                                Last edited by Muukalainen; 18-11-2020, 22:19. Reason: Added a couple of links.

                                                Comment


                                                  Do we reckon anybody (governmentally-speaking) outside East Asia has actually learned anything about handling pandemics from this?
                                                  It seems that many (most) of the same mistakes are still being made now as they were earlier in the year, so I'm leaning towards we'll be equally screwed when the next one comes along (maybe more, maybe less, depending on how the virus (or whatever) compares with the current one). All this not being helped by those in government who see their role as making money for themselves and friends rather than actually addressing the issues at hand. Or are the same mistakes being made simply because they've given up? Some countries may be exceptions.

                                                  Comment


                                                    Originally posted by S. aureus View Post
                                                    Do we reckon anybody (governmentally-speaking) outside East Asia has actually learned anything about handling pandemics from this?
                                                    It seems that many (most) of the same mistakes are still being made now as they were earlier in the year, so I'm leaning towards we'll be equally screwed when the next one comes along (maybe more, maybe less, depending on how the virus (or whatever) compares with the current one). All this not being helped by those in government who see their role as making money for themselves and friends rather than actually addressing the issues at hand. Or are the same mistakes being made simply because they've given up? Some countries may be exceptions.
                                                    I think the continent of Africa is faring pretty well especially being what one would expect to be a perfect breeding ground for Covid.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X