The COVID-2019 Thread

[harrybarracuda]

He'll wonder how you swallow a microwave oven.

Hopefully he'll be teaching trumpanzees how to microwave their heads.

[misskit]

Hotline Struggles To Cope As COVID-19 Cases Spike

The National Health Security Office (NHSO) has pledged to improve waiting times on its 1330 hotline, citing increasing demand.


Dr Jadet Thammathat-aree, secretary-general of the NHSO, said the hotline has been bombarded with calls inquiring about beds and medical care since COVID-19 caseloads surged in recent weeks due to the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant.


The hotline has been receiving between 40,000 and 70,000 calls a day, and with no corresponding increase in staff numbers to meet the demand many people have been unable to get through, he said.


“Even though the NHSO has asked people to work as volunteers replying to questions, there are still more incoming calls than they can handle,” Dr Thammathat-aree said.


He asked people to add the @nhso ID on the Line app as an alternative means of communicating with the agency.


Dr Thammathat-aree said many non-urgent calls were being made to the hotline every day and implored people not to redial with the same questions.


He said that about 50% of the calls came from people who had tested positive and registered for home isolation. They had called to inquire about the progress of their registrations after several days of waiting for a response from the hospitals they registered with.


Such calls have prevented new and unregistered COVID-19 sufferers who are using the hotline from getting through, Dr Thammathat-aree said.


He urged those who have already registered for medical care to avoid making unnecessary calls as that would go a long way to easing the burden and help unregistered sufferers get quicker access to medical care, he said.


Dr Thammathat-aree added that as the number of patients continues to outnumber hospital beds in several areas, newly registered patients were being forced to wait, which led the Public Health Ministry to introduce the outpatient scheme for COVID-19 patients, which took effect on 1st March, as an alternative for those who have not yet registered for home isolation.


Under the scheme, people who test positive but show only mild or no symptoms can receive favipiravir or fah talai jone on prescription, or other medications if doctors consider them necessary. They can also seek assistance at hospitals where their health insurance or public welfare is registered.

Hotline Struggles To Cope As COVID-19 Cases Spike | Chiang Mai News - Daily News Stories From Chiang Mai & Thailand

[OhOh]

[misskit]

Thailand to expedite mailing of Favipiravir to COVID-19 patients, over 8,000 helped so far

The National Health Security Office (NHSO) and the Rajavithi hospital are speeding up the mailing out of anti-viral Favipiravir medicine to more than 3,500 COVID-19 patients in Bangkok and surrounding areas who are unable to access the home isolation program.


NHSO Secretary-General Dr. Jadet Thammathat-Aree explained yesterday (Thursday) that the main reason that this group of patients have been unable to get help from the NHSO so far is because its 1330 hotline system has been so overwhelmed with calls from patients that they cannot get through, and existing isolation facilities are full, causing another problem, which is a backlog of waiting patients who have already registered for isolation facilities.


After being made to wait for help for several days, he said that many registered patients have tried to contact the NHSO again via the hotlines and other channels, further overwhelming the system.


Dr. Jadet said that the NHSO has already increased the hotline lines and more people have been recruited to answer calls from the patients. They have also sought help from private call centres to ease the workload at the NHSO’s call centre, but still the hotline system is overwhelmed.


For the 3,500 plus patients who are waiting for help, he said that it would take about five days for the NHSO and Rajavithi Hospital to mail them the Favipiravir medicine, if their condition is not serious.


After having received and taken the medication, he recommends that patients stay home in isolation for about ten days.


Besides Favipiravir, the NHSO, in cooperation with the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine and the Army Region 1, have distributed more than 40,000 sets of Fah Talai Jone herbal tablets to more than 900 communities in Bangkok, for distribution to registered patients who are yet to get a response from the NHSO.


These patients, he said, can approach their community leaders or public health volunteers to receive the herbal medicine.


The Ministry of Public Health has distributed Favipiravir anti-rival medicine, Fah Talai Jone herbal medicine and other drugs to more than 8,000 COVID-19 patients in the four days since the launch on March 4th of the out-patient medical service program, known as “found, distribute, done”.


Besides state and medical college hospitals, which have been providing out-patient medical services to between 200-300 patients each per day, he said that hospitals in provinces around Bangkok have also been instructed to provide similar services, via their acute respiratory infection (ARI) clinics, to accommodate as many as 18,000 patients who are yet to get access to help via the NHSO’s hotline system.


Dr. Kiattibhoom said the out-patient service program has reduced the calls to the 1330 hotline system of the NHSO from about 70,000 to about 50,000.


Thailand to expedite mailing of Favipiravir to COVID-19 patients, over 8,000 helped so far | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

[harrybarracuda]

^ Hoohoo is there some kind of point to you posting graphs?

If so, why don't you make it you fucking moron.

[malmomike77]

Its as his graph says "For some countries the number of deaths is lower than the actual number of deaths because the stats have been massaaged by the Peoples Party"

[harrybarracuda]

Its as his graph says "For some countries the number of deaths is lower than the actual number of deaths because the stats have been massaaged by the Peoples Party"

It would be quicker just to say "The chinkies are lying again".

[malmomike77]

The medical journal The Lancet has published a study on COVID mortality, some interesting numbers in the tables.

Summary
Background
Mortality statistics are fundamental to public health decision making. Mortality varies by time and location, and its measurement is affected by well known biases that have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims to estimate excess mortality from the COVID-19 pandemic in 191 countries and territories, and 252 subnational units for selected countries, from Jan 1, 2020, to Dec 31, 2021.

DEFINE_ME

[harrybarracuda]

The medical journal The Lancet has published a study on COVID mortality, some interesting numbers in the tables.

Summary
Background
Mortality statistics are fundamental to public health decision making. Mortality varies by time and location, and its measurement is affected by well known biases that have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims to estimate excess mortality from the COVID-19 pandemic in 191 countries and territories, and 252 subnational units for selected countries, from Jan 1, 2020, to Dec 31, 2021.

DEFINE_ME

Well come on then. What's interesting about them?

[harrybarracuda]

Some good news. Looks like the chinkies will be staying at home a bit longer.

China reported nearly 3,400 daily Covid-19 cases on Sunday, double the previous day, forcing lockdowns on virus hotspots as the country contends with its gravest outbreak in two years.
A nationwide surge in cases has seen authorities close schools in Shanghai and lock down several north-eastern cities, as almost 19 provinces battle clusters of the Omicron and Delta variants.

The city of Jilin has been partially locked down, with hundreds of neighbourhoods sealed up, an official announced Sunday, while Yanji, an urban area of nearly 700,000 bordering North Korea, was fully closed off.

China battles worst Covid outbreak for two years as cases double in 24 hours | China | The Guardian

[Shutree]

Some good news. Looks like the chinkies will be staying at home a bit longer.

Pretty much since the beginning I have felt that 'Zero Covid' was a poor strategy. Of course governments have to be seen to be doing something and most countries have struggled to keep their healthcare systems from overloading by smoothing the peaks, allowing the waves to be longer, not higher.
The thing is, you can hide for 2 years but when you come out the virus is still there. It will inevitably work its way through the population eventually. Just look at Hong Kong, followed the Beijing line for 2 years and has 3 weeks of quarantine for arrivals, then last week it topped the global 'deaths per million' chart.
My personal opinion is that China is desperately trying to copy an MRNA vaccine and produce a billion doses of it before letting life return to what passes for normal.

[harrybarracuda]

Pretty much since the beginning I have felt that 'Zero Covid' was a poor strategy. Of course governments have to be seen to be doing something and most countries have struggled to keep their healthcare systems from overloading by smoothing the peaks, allowing the waves to be longer, not higher.
The thing is, you can hide for 2 years but when you come out the virus is still there. It will inevitably work its way through the population eventually. Just look at Hong Kong, followed the Beijing line for 2 years and has 3 weeks of quarantine for arrivals, then last week it topped the global 'deaths per million' chart.
My personal opinion is that China is desperately trying to copy an MRNA vaccine and produce a billion doses of it before letting life return to what passes for normal.

Containment was good idea when there were variants with a higher mortality rate, but Omicron is about 40% worse than 'flu so its no longer really needed.

[harrybarracuda]

March 15 (Reuters) - The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was estimated to be 23.1% of the coronavirus variants circulating in the United States as of March 12, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday.
Scientists are tracking a rise in cases caused by BA.2, which is spreading rapidly in parts of Asia and Europe.
According to the CDC's data, the sub-variant now makes up 39% of total cases in regions including New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.

In states such as Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island, the sub-variant now makes up about 38.6% of total cases.
U.S. daily cases have started to decline in recent weeks after touching record levels in January, with the CDC dramatically easing its COVID-19 guidelines for masks, including in schools. read more
Initial data for the BA.2 sub-variant, which has begun to replace Omicron's more common BA.1 variant, shows no significant difference in disease severity, the World Health Organization said last month. read more

Other Omicron sub-variants that have been circulating since December, called BA.1.1 and B.1.1.529, now make up for around 66.1% and 10.8% of circulating variants, respectively.

Omicron sub-variant makes up 23.1% of COVID variants in U.S. - CDC | Reuters

[OhOh]

"For some countries the number of deaths is lower than the actual number of deaths

Same source, same graphs used for months. No choice of numbers of cases/deaths per numbers of tests, unfortunately.

Some "exceptional" countries have stopped/reduced testing, QED their numbers are worthless.

Those countries that are testing, I suggest, are more informative for the interested.

Sunny afternoon awaiting the tide to come back in, what to do, what to do ....

Tucked away in the dunes at Studland Bay on a sunday afternoon, springs to mind:

[malmomike77]

Some "exceptional" countries have stopped/reduced testing, QED their numbers are worthless.

Those countries that are testing, I suggest, are more informative for the interested.

Some countries fudge their stats to suit their national narrative and hence are bottom of the table - they did well

[OhOh]

Some countries fudge their stats to suit their national narrative

Agree. Whatever the position in the now, years worth of data posted. However, the trends, as illustrated on my sole source's graphs, tend to indicate the overall picture more usefully, than daily numbers.

The graphs "bottom feeders" have indeed done well. One hopes more countries reach the same continuous "bottom feeder" status.

[harrybarracuda]

Some countries fudge their stats to suit their national narrative and hence are bottom of the table - they did well

'fudge their stats", is that like "lie through their teeth to pretend their shit vaccines actually work"?

[Shutree]

I am not the only one who sees China's, and therefore Hong Kong's, Zero Covid policy as a failure.

My view is that this thing has a way yet to run in China.

[OhOh]

I am not the only one who sees China's, and therefore Hong Kong's, Zero Covid policy as a failure.

Have you contacted the data provider?

Two years into this pandemic and nobody has checked the numbers?

[malmomike77]

Two years into this pandemic and nobody has checked the numbers?

No one can check China's numbers and you know that. You also know they flat out lie as any truth would be an admission of failure and the fragile little yellow fella with the purple lips can't have that.

[harrybarracuda]

No one can check China's numbers and you know that. You also know they flat out lie as any truth would be an admission of failure and the fragile little yellow fella with the purple lips can't have that.

The beauty of it is that they've been using lockdowns and isolation to protect themselves, so while everyone else is opening up, the chinkies are shit scared.

If Omicron got loose in chinkystan now it would cause massive problems.

They may stay locked away for another couple of years.

That would be fucking great.

[OhOh]

No one can check China's numbers and you know that

Who checks your countries numbers?

[malmomike77]

If Omicron got loose in chinkystan now it would cause massive problems.

It already is, they are playing lockdown whackamole across Chinky land.

[OhOh]

It already is, they are playing lockdown

One hopes you are not using China supplied information to make that observation.

Or is it foreign, free press, experts, within China, that are revealing the "secret" information?

[malmomike77]

Well it's certainly not the news pipe you are smoking