The COVID-2019 Thread

[Bettyboo]

Here's another example of what the US corporate world can get away with; workers rights in Europe is far stronger...
Disney stops paying 100,000 workers during downturn - BBC News



That's the underlying problem here - billionaires, the fed and US government vs the populous.

[OhOh]

Regional cooperation vital for virus response


"The novel coronavirus pandemic could help China and neighbouring countries step up non-traditional security cooperation for a stronger community with a shared future as President Xi Jinping has been committed to promoting neighbourhood diplomacy based on the principles of friendship, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, experts said.

During his latest diplomatic interactions with neighbouring leaders last week, Xi told Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone that they should coordinate the two countries' actions to fight the virus. Xi and Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov also pledged to strengthen solidarity and cooperation at the bilateral level and in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. All the leaders agreed to jointly contribute to global public health security and economic recovery.

Addressing a special meeting on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic involving the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan and South Korea on April 14, Premier Li Keqiang said "the battle against COVID-19 has made us more aware that we are in a community with a shared future", and he called on the countries to send a message of partnership, solidarity and mutual assistance to boost confidence in the region and beyond.

A joint statement issued after the videoconference reaffirmed the countries' shared commitment to strengthening solidarity, enhancing cooperation and mutual support among them to control and contain the spread of the pandemic, and addressing the adverse socioeconomic impact of the pandemic.

China and South Korea established an intra-agency mechanism in mid-March to strengthen communication and coordination in epidemic prevention and control. During the videoconference held on Friday by Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng and his South Korean counterpart Cho Sei-young, they reached a consensus on facilitating travel by key personnel between each other's countries while epidemic prevention and control measures remain guaranteed.

Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing-based think tank, said regional cooperation has played a significant role in combating the virus, and the increasing solidarity among governments and communities in East Asia will promote further regional integration.

"While fighting the pandemic, countries should also learn the lessons that we all live on one earth with a shared future," Wang said in an article published on the website of the China Global Television Network. "Through cooperation, the East Asian community will eventually defeat COVID-19 and build a brighter future."

When China was at the most difficult time after the disease broke out in Wuhan, leaders from more than 170 countries and 50-plus international and regional organizations offered their support to its fight against the epidemic, and more than 70 countries and international organizations provided material aid. Its neighbors including Russia, Japan, Pakistan and South Korea were among them.



Masaaki Taniai, chairman of International Commission of the New Komeito Party of Japan, said the novel coronavirus outbreak "has reminded us that no country alone can deal with such a challenge. Countries must pool wisdom, united as one, and make concerted efforts".

Speaking during the same conference, Sujata Koirala, leader of the Nepali Congress and former vice-prime minister of Nepal, said the coronavirus pandemic is a new challenge for the entire world. "We cannot blame one country or the other, we have to come together to fight this mysterious virus."

While working to curb the domestic spread of the outbreak, China has also been supporting the global COVID-19 fight to the best of its ability. It has sent 14 medical expert teams to 12 countries, including its neighbors such as Cambodia, Pakistan, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Kazakhstan and Russia. The Chinese medical experts also shared their epidemic control experience with foreign counterparts via videoconferences.

As the pandemic has greatly affected industrial chains in East Asia and even the whole world, Zhou said, the realistic and grave non-traditional threats that countries are facing have become obvious, so people are more convinced that solidarity and cooperation need to be strengthened more than ever before.

During their videoconference on Tuesday, leaders of China, Japan and South Korea as well as those from ASEAN members reaffirmed their commitment to keep markets open for trade and investment, and enhance cooperation among the ASEAN Plus Three countries to ensure food security, and strengthen the resilience and sustainability of regional supply chains, while ensuring that they do not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disrupt regional supply chains, and abide by World Trade Organization rules.

Regional cooperation vital for virus response - Chinadaily.com.cn

[bowie]

Some points - along the lines of comparative data

we have different societal traits, different climates, different population densities, different cultures, different genes, basically differences - yet, we are trying to use comparatives (among all these differences) to judge performance.

Fact - we, at this point in time, do NOT have adequate metrics to track the virus, or, in other terms, to provide valid data for comparative purposes. How many infected have not been discovered because they have not been tested, do not show any signs. So, everything we use numbers to dictate an observation is purely speculative - although we do tend to present it as factual data.

Treatment - we don't have any. We do not know how to treat the afflicted. We do not have a curative regime, we are only treating the symptoms. We do not have a defined regimen that helps an infected person get better. All we really do is treat the symptoms until they are well enough to survive without intervention.

Vaccine - hopes and expectations - nothing more. If, a viable, useable vaccine is developed - we are still a couple years from it making any difference at all. It will take a long time to inoculate and a longer time for the impact of inoculations to show up statistically.

We are a very long way from the finish line. We now know more about Covid-19 than we ever had yet we still have a great deal to learn.

We have beefed up our medical to the best of our knowledge and ability today, we should be able to handle what the future brings.

The flattening of the curve - may well be on the basis of testing - as more and more persons are tested the positives make up less of a percentage.

We appear to have a grip on the medical aspects of our problem.


Attention must now be directed to minimizing the financial impact - if an economic collapse occurs it would drain considerably from the medical side. Unemployed people typically care only about getting employed. The vast number of unemployed must be provided work, a method by which they can improve their situations.

Until the general publics lot in life is improving, they will not care or act concerning the potential societal medical catastrophe - they just don't care if others die and their Only focus will be on themselves and their livelihood.

Leave me alone I have far bigger problems than wearing a stupid face mask.

[Seekingasylum]

To summarise, the US is different and it's all too difficult so we should all just get along, let the vulnerable die and try to make money while the majority can stay fat as pigs and watch TV.

Christonafuckingbike, Americans can be just so repellent, eh?.

[lom]

What's your take on it, Lom?

I thought it had something to do with being able to overthrow a rouge government.

[Bettyboo]

I thought it had something to do with being able to overthrow a rouge government.

Yes, it's certainly framed that way, but since the fed took over and crony capitalism has been the order of the day, I haven't noticed Billy the Kid and his militia with their Colt 45s taking on and beating the army with their tanks and drones.

Interestingly, when I looked at a few legal articles, they suggested it was about the governments right to have an army. New to me, but makes sense...

[bowie]

Well, I always thought it was so I could use an RPG to off Bambi, or, in the case of this thread, my AK47 to eliminate viral menaces...

[panama hat]

Jacinda Ardern, the NZ PM, just announced that NZ will stay under Level 4 Lockdown (the highest level, which we've had for three weeks plus) for another week, after which there will be a lessening of economic restrictions for Level 3.

Not a fan of hers, but she is handling this nicely and actually accepts (for a change) that this will make her unpopular for some.

[MaxLee]

Here's another example of what the US corporate world can get away with; workers rights in Europe is far stronger...
Disney stops paying 100,000 workers during downturn - BBC News



That's the underlying problem here - billionaires, the fed and US government vs the populous.

You gotta be kidding me,.... unbelievable

[Klondyke]

The US is a template in much the same way the UK is, a complacent ignorant public slept walked into a disaster created by a negligent government with a buffoon as leader.

Unfortunately, the "complacent ignorant public" had been trustfully waiting on the call by their "buffon", so they hadn't been told in the early stage of the world pandemic how to protect themselves and how to keep a distance (6 ft?)...

Anyway, later they will have a chance to retaliate, taking off their lovely "buffon"...

[harrybarracuda]

Regional cooperation vital for virus response

If only the chinkies had thought about that in January.

[NamPikToot]

Re-opening for business?, i think the next 2 months will be interesting to see if the relaxation of isolation measures results in a "second wave".


Several European countries are starting off the new week with tentative steps to ease the strict lockdowns in place.

On Monday, in Germany small shops will be allowed to open and schools will resume for those classes that have graduation exams coming up.

Last week Berlin said the infection rate had slowed and that the outbreak was under control - while warning that people had to remain vigilant to avoid a second wave of infections.

Also from Monday, Poland will re-open parks and forests and in Norway, nursery schools will reopen their doors to children. The Czech Republic will allow open-air markets to trade and in Albania, the mining and oil industries can operate again.

However, Spain, which has one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns, and France have both decided to hold off on relaxation of measures for a few more weeks. In Spain though, children will be allowed some time outside from next week.

[HermantheGerman]

Apparently Plasma therapy is the key!

Not true!

[Bettyboo]

Here's a couple of divergent news sources...


Alarm as medics at Mumbai hospital infected with virus | India News | Al Jazeera

Bangladesh funeral attracts 100,000 people, shattering coronavirus social distancing rules | Fox News

[bowie]

Novartis, US drug regulator agree to malaria drug trial against Covid-19
PUBLISHED MON, APR 20 20202:29 AM EDT

The decades-old generic medicine got FDA emergency use authorization this month for its unapproved use for coronavirus disease, but so far there is no scientific proof it works. There are currently no approved COVID-19 medicines.

Novartis plans to start recruiting 440 patients for its Phase III, or late-stage, trial within weeks at more than a dozen U.S. sites. Results will be reported as soon as possible, the company added.


Amazing ain't it - how long has the Covid Pandemic been on-going? They just got authorization this month? What am I missing here?

[bowie]

http://www.newsweek.com/covid-19-cor...higher-1498740

ANTIBODY STUDY SHOWS COVID-19 RATE OF INFECTION MAY BE UP TO 85 TIMES HIGHER THAN REPORTED

BY BRENDAN COLE ON 4/18/20 AT 10:27 AM EDT

Study in a county in California suggests that the prevalence of people infected with the coronavirus is much higher than previously thought, potentially complicating decisions on whether to end widespread lockdowns.

Blood from 3,300 volunteers living in Santa Clara was extracted from a finger prick and analyzed at the start of April. The Stanford University study, which has not been peer reviewed yet and was posted on medRxiv, found that between 2.5 percent of 4.5 percent of people tested positive for antibodies.

Extrapolated over the county's population of two million, the data predicts that between 48,000 and 82,000 people could have been infected with the virus at that time. The upper estimate is more than 80 times higher than the official case count of 1,000.

"Our findings suggest that there is somewhere between 50- and 80-fold more infections in our county than what's known by the number of cases than are reported by our department of public health," Dr. Eran Bendavid, who led the study, told ABC News.


The results also suggested that the upper limit of the coronavirus's mortality rate was only 0.2 percent, much lower than the nationwide death rate of 4.1 percent.

[OhOh]

Another 8 specialist's views on virus risks etc.:

8 MORE Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic

8 MORE Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic – OffGuardian

[Dillinger]

Only 36 reported cases in Malaysia and just 27 in Thailand today.

[HuangLao]

Another 8 specialist's views on virus risks etc.:

8 MORE Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic


8 MORE Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic – OffGuardian

This questioning and challenging among medical/health scientists has become some what of a counter-fashion and growing movement that the dominant paradigm refuses taking heed to.

....and it's everywhere to be found today. Experts that might be curious into examining an alternative as to why this is the path we are choosing.

[Cujo]

Will trump listen?

[Cujo]

Another 8 specialist's views on virus risks etc.:

8 MORE Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic


8 MORE Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic – OffGuardian

'Experts'? By whose reckoning?
I'd rather listen to the THOUSANDS of experts who disagree with those 8,
Next you'll be telling us 5g towers are spreading it.

[Troy]

Another 8 specialist's views on virus risks etc.:

8 MORE Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic

8 MORE Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic – OffGuardian

Some interesting quotes in that article. The view that the lockdowns imposed is disproportionate to the danger is one that Iceman and myself have tried to explain several times.

The problem is that once you have committed to a lockdown how do you safely come out of it. How long can you keep the lockdown going before economies collapse?

[HuangLao]

Astoundingly enough, the measured ratio of general recovery still hovers around 97/98 percent of total documented cases.

Kind of reflective of what's marketable and what's not.

The sky is falling ​scenarios are much better selling points.

[harrybarracuda]

'Experts'? By whose reckoning?
I'd rather listen to the THOUSANDS of experts who disagree with those 8,
Next you'll be telling us 5g towers are spreading it.

It's another one of HoHo's whackjob websites.

It prides itself on:

OffGuardian was launched in February 2015 and takes its name from the fact its founders had all been censored on and/or banned from the Guardian’s ‘Comment is Free’ sections.

Judging by their silly content it was for trying to post HoHo-style whackjob bullshit.

[bowie]

Well, can’t really argue with the credentials these folk present.
Article redacted – otherwise a considerably long read – if interested see link.


Is the Coronavirus as Deadly as They Say? From the Wall Street Journal. - Murray Darling Basin Citizens Association

IS THE CORONAVIRUS AS DEADLY AS THEY SAY? FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. March 28, 2020 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Current estimates of the Covid-19 fatality rate may be far too high.

By Dr. Eran Bendavid and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. Professors of medicine at Stanford University. Neeraj Sood also contributed to this article. March 24, 2020 6:21 pm ET

If it’s true that the novel coronavirus would kill millions without shelter-in-place orders and quarantines, then the extraordinary measures being carried out in cities and states around the country are surely justified. But there’s little evidence to confirm that premise, and projections of the death toll could plausibly be far too high.

Fear of Covid-19 is based on its high estimated case fatality rate; 2% to 4% of people with confirmed Covid-19 have died according to the World Health Organization and others. So, if 100 million Americans ultimately get the disease, two million to four million could die.

We believe that estimate is deeply flawed.

An epidemic seed on Jan. 1 implies that by March 9 about six million people in the U.S. would have been infected. As of March 23, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 499 Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. If our surmise of six million cases is accurate, that’s a mortality rate of 0.01%, assuming a two-week lag between infection and death. This is one-tenth of the flu mortality rate of 0.1%. Such a low death rate would be cause for optimism.

This does not make Covid-19 a nonissue. The daily reports from Italy and across the U.S. show real struggles and overwhelmed health systems. But a 20,000 or 40,000 death epidemic is a far less severe problem than one that kills two million.

If we’re right about the limited scale of the epidemic, then measures focused on older populations and hospitals are sensible. Elective procedures will need to be rescheduled. Hospital resources will need to be reallocated to care for critically ill patients. Triage will need to improve. And policy makers will need to focus on reducing risks for older adults and people with underlying medical conditions.

A universal quarantine may not be worth the costs it imposes on the economy,
community and individual mental and physical health. We should undertake immediate steps to evaluate the empirical basis of the current lockdowns.