Coronavirus

[XXL]

6 minutes ago, funkydita said:

And being, indirectly, read to filth by the WHO.  I really don’t understand the herd immunity approach, considering how little is known about the virus.  

It does worry me, particularly having a partner with diabetes, that essentially they’re intending on the vast majority of people to become infected and HOOE the nation will become immune.  And the increasingly depleted health service is supposed to manage, how?

 

I know right, frightening as hell

Herd immunity

The phrase alone scares me

 

We are cattle to these people basically. The whole "let's wait till peak phase" approach is extremely dangerous. For British citizens and the world at large

[XXL]

Health expert brands UK’s coronavirus response ‘pathetic’

Ministers ‘behaving like 19th-century colonialists playing a five-day game of cricket’, says Prof John Ashton

 

A leading public health expert has launched a devastating critique of the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, saying it is too little too late, lacks transparency and fails to mobilise the public.

Prof John Ashton, a former regional director of public health for north-west England, lambasted a lack of preparation and openness from the government and contrasted Britain’s response to that of Hong Kong.

 

 

 

“Right at the beginning of February, they [Hong Kong] adopted a total approach to this, which is what we should have done five weeks ago ourselves. They took a decision to work to three principles – of responding promptly, staying alert, working in an open and transparent manner,” he told the Guardian.

“Our lot haven’t been working openly and transparently. They’ve been doing it in a (non) smoke-filled room and just dribbling out stuff. The chief medical officer only appeared in public after about two weeks. Then they have had a succession of people bobbing up and disappearing. Public Health England’s been almost invisible.

“Boris Johnson should have convened Cobra himself over a month ago and had regular meetings with the chief medical officer with the evidence. The thing should have been fronted up nationally by one person who could be regarded as the trusted voice and who could have been interrogated regularly. That’s not happened.”

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/12/health-expert-brands-uks-coronavirus-response-pathetic

[Creepy Insane Person]

Kylie Minogue, please save us

[horn]

Kylie: You should be so lucky that you have yet to be infected!

[karbatal]

Well all populist shit politicians are embarrassing themselves while putting in danger the population. Who would have thought? 

 

[VogueMusic]

Unlikely, but maybe now folks will wake up to the utter disaster putting these crazy right-wing demagogues and populists in power was? And the price we all now have to pay...

[Creepy Insane Person]

Why is the outbreak so high in Italy compared to everywhere else? On top of that, why is the numbers in Italy still significantly rising when the whole country is empty and in lock down?

[karbatal]

1 hour ago, Jitterbug said:

Why is the outbreak so high in Italy compared to everywhere else? On top of that, why is the numbers in Italy still significantly rising when the whole country is empty and in lock down?

Numbers will keep rising because there's a incubation period. The curve takes days to go down.

About Italy, it seems it was because too much confidence in their control measures. As they immediately cut any air connection with China and had all ill people under control, they underestimate other people with no connection with China tourists. Lombardy was so far from Rome that there was no control. Nobody expected so many emergency cases in hospital at the same time. 

Excess of confidence is behind all failures nowadays regarding Coronavirus. In Spain happened the same. That's why Trump and Boris have been so incredibly reckless,. Now there's no turning back. We'll see the consequences in USA and the UK very soon. 

Bulgaria has been very clever taking all those measures so soon. That's the only way to ensure that critical cases can be treated. 

[Creepy Insane Person]

I’m soooo scared about getting it. I don’t want to get it. I’m waaaay to young to die and haven’t even lived half of my life, or do the things i wanted to do with my life, just yet  

[VogueMusic]

 

[Butter9]

A recent case in Thailand involved actor / singer Matthew Deane who tested positive for Covid-19 after going out to a bar with a. group of friends . 

That group involved people from Hong Kong. They shared drinks / cigarettes . 

Matthew Deane has a wife . Also a famous Thai actress/ singer called Lidia . 

Lidia has private lessons with my yoga teacher at her dance studio .

My yoga teacher had never met Matthew but she's self quarantining herself for 14 days . 

My Yoga studio is now closed for a month and we were told to be vigilant regarding our health etc . 

The whole studio had also been disinfected .

That's how real it is .

[xtaticboy82]

Hats off to Singapore, Hongkong and Taiwan!

What We Can Learn From Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong About Handling Coronavirus

A man wearing a facemask walks past the Rain Vortex display at the airport in Singapore on Feb. 27, 2020. ROSLAN RAHMAN—AFP/Getty Images
LAIGNEE BARRON / HONG KONG March 13, 2020
Since she learned of the coronavirus outbreak, Amy Ho’s daily routine has gotten a bit more complicated. Coming home now involves sanitizing her shoes, washing her hands with soap and water, taking off her medical mask and changing her clothes.

The Hong Kong resident ventures outside only by necessity. She walks to and from work. Goes to the grocery store once a week. That’s it. Her teenage daughter has only left their apartment twice since the end of January.

“It’s annoying, sure. But our health is the most important thing,” she says.

Over Easter, the family looked forward to vacationing in the U.K. and Italy. But with the virus raging, they canceled.

Her precautions may sound drastic, but they’re hardly unique in a city that was among the first to be swept up in the global coronavirus crisis.

That Hong Kong has become a lodestar for its ability to seemingly keep the disease at bay, for now at least, is no accident: it’s desperate to avoid repeating the nightmare of a 2003 epidemic. Globally, SARS or severe acute respiratory syndrome, infected over 8,000 and killed 774, including 299 in Hong Kong.

Though SARS devastated many Asian metropolises, in its wake, some doubled down on preparing for the next crisis.

“Somewhat perversely, we can look at SARS as the dress rehearsal,” says Jeremy Lim, co-director of the Leadership Institute for Global Health Transformation at the National University of Singapore. “The experience was raw, and very, very visceral. And on the back of [it], better systems were put in place.”

Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been hailed for using those hard-won lessons to combat the new coronavirus—officially COVID-19 and a relative of SARS.

It’s still too early for anywhere to declare victory just yet. But against the odds, these enclaves have succeeded at keeping their virus numbers low, despite their links to China. Perhaps governments in North America and Europe, which are now bearing the brunt of the pandemic, can emulate their best practices, and turn the tide on an infection spreading rapidly through the global population.

Act quickly
For Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the story could easily have been one of catastrophe. The novel coronavirus emerged just in time for Lunar New Year, when millions travel across the region in the world’s largest annual human migration. All three territories are closely interconnected with mainland China, with direct flights to Wuhan, the outbreak’s epicenter.

Yet even as the virus continues its seemingly inexorable spread—ticking upward of 132,500 cases Friday—recoveries in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong are starting to outpace, or catch up with, active cases.

Key to their success so far has been the decision to respond aggressively from the outset.

In Taiwan, an island of 23 million, arrivals from Wuhan were subject to health screenings before human-to-human transmission of the virus was confirmed on Jan. 20.

By Feb. 1, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore had all proactively implemented travel restrictions on passengers coming from the mainland, contravening the World Health Organization’s [WHO] insistence that travel bans were not necessary. The precautions came at a significant economic cost to these international hubs, which all rely on mainland China as their biggest trading partner and source of tourists.

The three destinations were also well prepared, making rapid response possible.

Following SARS in 2003, Taiwan established a central command center for epidemics. By Jan. 20, it was coordinating the government’s response to the coronavirus. It quickly compiled a list of 124 “action items,” including border controls, school and work policies, public communication plans and resource assessments of hospitals, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“If you assume that containing an epidemic is like running a 100-meter dash, Taiwan had a head start because it was prepared,” says C. Jason Wang, director of Stanford University’s Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention, and one of the article’s authors.

Taiwan, just 81 miles from mainland China, was expected to have among the highest number of imported cases, he adds. But it has now tallied just 50 cases—fewer than Slovenia.

“Epidemic preparedness starts years before an outbreak,” Emanuele Capobianco, director of health and care at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, tells TIME. “If [the] number of beds or doctors were cut over the years, for example, it will be very difficult to compensate in a short period of time.”

He adds: “It is hoped that countries with strong health systems will eventually be able to manage this outbreak also, thanks to the lessons from Asia.”

Taiwan’s rapid mobilization contrasts starkly with South Korea and Japan, which are also proximate to China and enjoy advanced healthcare systems. They have faced criticism for their initially sluggish responses and the ensuing explosion of cases.

Rigorous detection and strict quarantine
When the virus began crossing China’s borders in January, Singapore appeared fated for a large-scale outbreak. The tiny city-state was the third country to report cases of COVID-19, and by mid-February, had recorded over 80 infections, the highest outside the Chinese mainland.

But the tally indicated more about the thorough testing conducted on the island of 5.7 million. A study by Harvard University’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics estimates Singapore detects almost three times more cases than the global average due to its strong disease surveillance and fastidious contact tracing.

In order to uncover COVID-19 infections that may have otherwise evaded detection, Singapore’s health authorities decided early on to test all influenza-like and pneumonia cases. They have also spared no pains in hunting down every possible contact of those infected. The process, which operates 24/7, starts with patient interviews, and has also involved police, flight manifests and a locally developed a test for antibodies, which linger even after an infection clears.

As of Mar. 13, the city-state had 178 cases and zero deaths.

Singapore is “leaving no stone unturned,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO.

Government advertisements carried on the front page of Singapore’s largest daily newspaper urge readers with even mild symptoms to see a doctor and refrain from going to school or work. And no Singaporean has to fear affording treatment. Testing is free, and the government foots the hospital bills for Singaporean residents who have suspected or confirmed cases.

To make quarantine less onerous, the government offers self-employed people $100 Singapore dollars ($73) per day, while employers are prohibited from detracting quarantine days from staffers’ annual leave.

But Singapore’s response may not be directly translatable elsewhere. Since independence in 1965, it has been ruled by a single party that maintains tight control and is rarely subject to public criticism. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, quarantine and isolation protocols are strictly enforced. A permanent resident who breached quarantine rules lost his status, while a couple was charged in court with providing false information about their travel history.

“It’s a mix of carrots and sticks that have so far helped us,” says Lim, at the National University of Singapore.

The U.S., he adds, “should learn from Singapore’s response and then adapt what is useful.”

Some suggest Singapore’s effective coronavirus response has less to do with its authoritarian streak than with transparency, comprehensive testing, and quick quarantining and isolation of suspected cases.

“Many have been praising authoritarian responses based on control and coercion, and yet I think what we are seeing is that good public health using modern tools [is] more important,” says Matt Kavanagh, director of Georgetown University’s Global Health Policy and Governance Initiative.

Social distancing and banning mass gatherings
Perched just across the border from the mainland’s health crisis, Hong Kong quickly put social distancing into practice. Schools remain closed through Easter. Normally bustling shopping streets, in some of the world’s most densely packed districts, are largely devoid of foot traffic as residents voluntarily stay sequestered at home. Many businesses have either shuttered or asked employees to work from home. Movie theaters, churches and basketball courts sit empty. Mass gatherings are canceled.

The measures appear to be working. Neighboring Guangdong province has recorded 1,356 cases, the highest number in China outside Hubei where the outbreak was first detected. But in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous entrepôt, the number of infections remains 131.

In a city deeply scarred by the SARS outbreak—and still populated with hand sanitizer stations—familiar reflexes, like proper hand hygiene, have snapped back into practice.

“People are quite cautious now when they face a major outbreak of an infection,” says David Hui, director of the Stanley Ho Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The precautions have been so effective, he says, that the city’s annual flu season has been dramatically reduced.

These gains come despite mistrust of the government, which runs deep after nine months of often violent street demonstrations. But faith in the public health system—one of the world’s best—remains intact. People don’t want to get sick, Hui says, “so they are actually compliant with public health measures even though they don’t like the government.”

Effective communication
To ensure people remain vigilant, but don’t panic, experts say a government’s communication with the public is vital. No one appears to be doing it better than Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

After the government raised its outbreak alert Feb. 7 to orange, one level below the maximum, Singaporeans emptied supermarket shelves. To quell the anxiety, Lee delivered an address to the nation in three of the city-state’s four official languages. “I want to speak to you directly, to explain where we are, and what may lie ahead,” he said. The speech appeared to have an immediate effect as supermarket lines soon eased.

“It’s one of the most beautiful pieces of risk communication I have ever seen,” says Claire Hooker, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney who studies health communication.

The example stands out amid a series of blunders in coronavirus messaging elsewhere. President Donald Trump has contradicted government scientists to downplay the threat, suggest the imminent availability of a vaccine and, in his televised Oval Office speech Wednesday, deliver inaccurate policy pronouncements. In South Korea, President Moon Jae-in infamously declared the worst to be over just before cases mushroomed, prompting political backlash. And at the beginning in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was virtually absent.

“In order to be trusted you need to be open and honest and transparent. You need to demonstrate your competence, and you need to show people that you actually care,” Hooker says.

Concerns about the U.S.
Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore can’t offer the U.S. an exact virus-fighting blueprint. For starters, their geographic sizes relate more to U.S. cities or states rather than the nation as a whole. Taiwan, the largest of the three, packs its 23 million people into a landmass comparable to Maryland, making containment easier. But there are worthwhile takeaways.

On the side of the world where the virus emerged and the effects of mitigation efforts are now being seen, America’s slow and fumbled response has sparked alarm.

“To be honest, as a public health professional, I am deeply concerned about the U.S.,” says Lim, in Singapore. “It’s become politicized, making it difficult for the average citizen to know who to trust or what to believe.”

The scarcity of diagnostic kits nationwide and delay in testing cases has also led experts to warn that there is no way of even knowing where the hotspots are in the U.S. right now.

“The U.S. has enormous capacity,” says Wang, the Stanford professor. But he notes that it “needs to mount a coordinated effort, like Taiwan, because the infection impacts many aspects of society and really affects people’s lives.”

David Hui, in Hong Kong, says it’s vital that the U.S. starts limiting social contacts to avoid a large-scale outbreak with the potential to overwhelm the health system. Schools need to be closed and mass gatherings canceled—something that is just now beginning to happen.

“It’s clear that where people are more cautious, like Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Taiwan, we see a relatively lower number of cases,” Hui says.

“The facts speak for themselves.”

[Creepy Insane Person]

54 minutes ago, Butter9 said:

A recent case in Thailand involved actor / singer Matthew Deane who tested positive for Covid-19 after going out to a bar with a. group of friends . 

That group involved people from Hong Kong. They shared drinks / cigarettes . 

Matthew Deane has a wife . Also a famous Thai actress/ singer called Lidia . 

Lidia has private lessons with my yoga teacher at her dance studio .

My yoga teacher had never met Matthew but she's self quarantining herself for 14 days . 

My Yoga studio is now closed for a month and we were told to be vigilant regarding our health etc . 

The whole studio had also been disinfected .

That's how real it is .

Are you scared of getting it

[XXL]

2 hours ago, karbatal said:

Numbers will keep rising because there's a incubation period. The curve takes days to go down.

About Italy, it seems it was because too much confidence in their control measures. As they immediately cut any air connection with China and had all ill people under control, they underestimate other people with no connection with China tourists. Lombardy was so far from Rome that there was no control. Nobody expected so many emergency cases in hospital at the same time. 

Excess of confidence is behind all failures nowadays regarding Coronavirus. In Spain happened the same. That's why Trump and Boris have been so incredibly reckless,. Now there's no turning back. We'll see the consequences in USA and the UK very soon. 

Bulgaria has been very clever taking all those measures so soon. That's the only way to ensure that critical cases can be treated. 

 

Actually Italy was the first and only European country to take stringent measures from the start. The suspension of all flights from China was decided almost a month before the first cluster in the Lodi area was discovered. It was the first and only country to do that in Europe. At that point, mid January we had zero cases.

No other country in Europe took such drastic measures, even though the first positive cases were in France for instance.

Only now, three to five weeks later, they are starting to ramp up precautionary measures and to follow suit, with the closures of schools, suspension of sporting events, closing borders etc etc, because of the sudden spike in number of positive cases in other continental European countries. 

Italy has a higher number of cases also because it has carried out more tampon tests from the very start of this nightmare than any other country in the EU. We don't know the actual number of cases in other countries based on that single fact alone

[XXL]

1 hour ago, xtaticboy82 said:

Hats off to Singapore, Hongkong and Taiwan!

What We Can Learn From Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong About Handling Coronavirus

 

Totally. Those countries have had the foresight to act quickly and effectively

 

https://time.com/5802293/coronavirus-covid19-singapore-hong-kong-taiwan/

[Creepy Insane Person]

9 minutes ago, XXL said:

 

Actually Italy was the first and only European country to take stringent measures from the start. The suspension of all flights from China was decided almost a month before the first cluster in the Lodi area was discovered. It was the first and only country to do that in Europe. At that point, mid January we had zero cases.

No other country in Europe took such drastic measures, even though the first positive cases were in France for instance.

Only now, three to five weeks later, they are starting to ramp up precautionary measures and to follow suit, with the closures of schools, suspension of sporting events, closing borders etc etc, because of the sudden spike in number of positive cases in other continental European countries. 

Italy has a higher number of cases also because it has carried out more tampon tests from the very start of this nightmare than any other country in the EU. We don't know the actual number of cases in other countries based on that single fact alone

But people in Italy are dying left and right, something’s not right. It seems to be easier to catch the infection in Northern Italy than anywhere else.

 

[Creepy Insane Person]

6 hours ago, horn said:

Kylie: You should be so lucky that you have yet to be infected!

Bababhhjhhhhhhaha i have full faith she will get the world out of this mess. She’s angry at Italy right now and this is her revenge doing

 

kilo is working on a vaccine right now so relax

[Creepy Insane Person]

Australia needs to learn from the other Europe countries and close its borders, cancelling all international flights in thr country (and forcing citizens returning) to be self quarantined before it becomes like Italy.

[Butter9]

1 hour ago, Jitterbug said:

Are you scared of getting it

Yes I am but I am also following ALL the necessary precautions . 

I posted them on few pages back . 

Don't panic and just know your facts .

 

 

 

[Creepy Insane Person]

1 minute ago, Butter9 said:

Yes I am but I am also following ALL the necessary precautions . 

I posted them on few pages back . 

Don't panic and just know your facts .

 

 

 

I know unless its airborne then you are screwed.

 

i wonder how madonna is coping with this.

[XXL]

13 minutes ago, Jitterbug said:

But people in Italy are dying left and right, something’s not right. It seems to be easier to catch the infection in Northern Italy than anywhere else.

 

There is a number of factors that could be contributing to this. Any virus can have several strains for instance. People are dying all over Europe right now, not for nothing the WHO has declared Europe as a whole the new epicenter of the pandemic since it's obviously not China anymore. Like I said tests are not being carried out throughout the rest of Europe in the same capacity Italian sanitary authorities have been for the past four weeks.

We don't know anything about actual traceable numbers. So quite the opposite it's true. Italy, after those above mentioned South East Asian countries and China, has been by far the most virtuous country as far as containment goes and add to that a total self-imposed lockdown on its borders.

Lombardy is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, some virologists have suggested that this virus could have been incubating as far back as November so .... More than ample the time to lie undetectable and explode weeks and months later, given that it's airborne and super highly contagious, you do the math

[Martin B.]

10 minutes ago, Jitterbug said:

But people in Italy are dying left and right, something’s not right. It seems to be easier to catch the infection in Northern Italy than anywhere else.

 

Italy has one of the oldest populations in the world. The average age of people who succumb to the virus in Lombardy is 81 years and 80% of these people had a preexisting health problem which is common at this age.In addition, it is the ability of the health system to absorb the sudden increase in the number of patients that hurts in Italy today.

[Creepy Insane Person]

Blame the Chinese wet markets for this. Now the criminal syndicates have instead moved to meighbouring countries and are still selling diseased wild animals

[Creepy Insane Person]

1 minute ago, Martin B. said:

Italy has one of the oldest populations in the world. The average age of people who succumb to the virus in Lombardy is 81 years and 80% of these people had a preexisting health problem which is common at this age.

Oh thats a bit of a relief. So 80% of people who died from it either were old or had health conditions.

 

im dying for the treatment and vaccine to come out. Please hurry up. I’m paranoid about getting it, i can’t even go out confortably anymore.

[XXL]

8 minutes ago, Jitterbug said:

Australia needs to learn from the other Europe countries and close its borders, cancelling all international flights in thr country (and forcing citizens returning) to be self quarantined before it becomes like Italy.

 

Well yes

All countries should be doing that

Then you have the two extreme cases

The UK and the US 

But then again they are led by two morons

Still pondering if and but ...

Failing to realise the danger is HERE & NOW

 

[XXL]

18 minutes ago, Martin B. said:

Italy has one of the oldest populations in the world. The average age of people who succumb to the virus in Lombardy is 81 years and 80% of these people had a preexisting health problem which is common at this age.In addition, it is the ability of the health system to absorb the sudden increase in the number of patients that hurts in Italy today.

 

Yes, it is also that

But that is a problem that the entire European continent is soon going to have to face. Here the government has just passed a law where they can basically use hotels and other facilities to treat new potential cases and military hospitals and military bases as well

And the US will be far worse off in this sense than Europe. Considering the ratio of number of hospital beds per person in Europe in general is higher than the US number for starters

Lombardy has an OECD rating of 9.5 in terms of sanitary efficiency, a state like Wisconsin has about a 6 score on the same ladder, to give an idea of the state of things in the only western country that still insists on not having universal medical care, among other things

[XXL]

14 minutes ago, Jitterbug said:

I'm dying for the treatment and vaccine to come out. Please hurry up. I’m paranoid about getting it, i can’t even go out confortably anymore.

 

No panick darling

Besides, up until the previous page you were "praying to Kylie Minogue" that everything would be fine, too much of a contrast, some way in the middle is great

[Martin B.]

26 minutes ago, Jitterbug said:

Oh thats a bit of a relief. So 80% of people who died from it either were old or had health conditions.

 

im dying for the treatment and vaccine to come out. Please hurry up. I’m paranoid about getting it, i can’t even go out confortably anymore.

Remember: follow the prescribed hygiene guidelines, respect government requests, avoid reading social media all day long which only increases your anxiety watching others' anxiety and reading information not always of quality. Yes, it is a pandemic. Yes, it is more virulent than simple influenza. Yes, we are all looking forward to a vaccine but remember, if you are healthy, young and follow the rules, you will have only mild to moderate symptoms. Panic and anxiety are never good advice.  The current solution is to react collectively in the most calm, respectful and united way possible. In a few weeks, things will be much better.Hugs.

[XXL]

19 minutes ago, Jitterbug said:

Blame the Chinese 

 

Oh just stop

[XXL]

3 minutes ago, Martin B. said:

Remember: follow the prescribed hygiene guidelines, respect government requests, avoid reading social media all day long which only increases your anxiety watching others' anxiety and reading information not always of quality. Yes, it is a pandemic. Yes, it is more virulent than simple influenza. Yes, we are all looking forward to a vaccine but remember, if you are healthy, young and follow the instructions, you will have only mild to moderate symptoms. Panic and anxiety are never good advice.  The current solution is to react collectively in the most calm and united way possible. In a few months, things will be much better

 

Absolutely