Health Issues The Everything Covid 19 Thread

[Freesia]

Somebody just coughed when they were behind me in the shop. I was buying more toilet roll as the supermarkets I order online from are already running low.

During this lockdown I am probably just going to use online deliveries and two local shops. The local shops both keep their doors open and they aren't too busy. I hardly ever went in these shops the whole time I've lived around here but they have been getting quite a lot of my money since March!

I also designated some lockdown shops and supermarkets... it turned out to be a different aupermarket for each lockdown though.... it was winter for the second one so could do cosy winter things at least.

 

[Urban Gardener]

Very sad news.

Denmark to Kill 15M Animals to Stop COVID Mutation Spreading Back to Humans

Denmark’s prime minister said Wednesday that the government wants to cull all minks in Danish farms, to minimize the risk of them re-transmitting the new coronavirus to humans. Mette Frederiksen said a report from a government agency that maps the coronavirus in Denmark has shown a mutation in...

www.nbcnewyork.com

 

[Brian W]

I had to go to the passport office today to order a new National ID card - I really did not feel comfortable on the bus. There were too many people for my liking.

 

[Raven]

I also designated some lockdown shops and supermarkets... it turned out to be a different aupermarket for each lockdown though.... it was winter for the second one so could do cosy winter things at least.

Yes, some supermarkets seem too busy to go into. The two shops I go in have owners who both wear masks and have a screen up in front of the till so it feels safe compared to some other places.

So 4 more weeks of lockdown here in England. The rules seem much less strict than last time. Dentists and opticians are staying open. My husband has to get his eyes tested next week.

I should try and get out for a walk each day at least. Now you are allowed to sit on a park bench if you want as the government said that you couldn't last lockdown. How exciting!

 

[Lou]

I had to go to the passport office today to order a new National ID card - I really did not feel comfortable on the bus. There were too many people for my liking.

Public transportation is really taking it in the shorts around here. Our system was already underused.

Since the Train goes right to the stadium that the Giants play at, and there are so many baseball games a year, the Giants were pretty much keeping CalTrain in the black.

But there were was no one going to baseball games this year. no one wants to take a bus or train. and some people are either out of work or work from home.

We started opening up our county and some people have returned to work. the busses are still on a reduced schedule but the PTBs are thinking that maybe more busses would mean more riders.

Interestingly, after several months of poor car sales, car sales are going back up. ( the dealers now offer contactless car buying). * also bicycle sales are off the chart. Some purchase bikes to commute to work but i think a lot of others are just enjoying their free time.

Around here all the big corporations (Apple, Google, Facebook, Genentech), run shuttle services. Before the pandemic, they moved almost as many people as all the public transportation options combined. Now there are no more shuttles on the road. I suppose the drivers are on furlough but I think they will end up unemployed. I can't imagine what they are going to do with all those busses.

Anyway, I am thinking that the entire transportin sector (planes, trains, and automobiles and don't forget busses) will never return to normal.

* interesting side note. My sister wanted a new car and would not buy one without test driving it. she made an appt at the dealer, the salesman met her on the sidewalk, gave her some instructions. The car had just been "sanitized". She took it out without the salesman. The sale was initiated by my sister on the phone and completed on the computer. A few weeks later a flatbed truck with the car on it drove up to her house and unloaded the car. I don't think anyone buying a new car would want to go back to the old system

 

[Urban Gardener]

Public transportation is really taking it in the shorts around here. Our system was already underused.

Since the Train goes right to the stadium that the Giants play at, and there are so many baseball games a year, the Giants were pretty much keeping CalTrain in the black.

But there were was no one going to baseball games this year. no one wants to take a bus or train. and some people are either out of work or work from home.

We started opening up our county and some people have returned to work. the busses are still on a reduced schedule but the PTBs are thinking that maybe more busses would mean more riders.

Interestingly, after several months of poor car sales, car sales are going back up. ( the dealers now offer contactless car buying). * also bicycle sales are off the chart. Some purchase bikes to commute to work but i think a lot of others are just enjoying their free time.

Around here all the big corporations (Apple, Google, Facebook, Genentech), run shuttle services. Before the pandemic, they moved almost as many people as all the public transportation options combined. Now there are no more shuttles on the road. I suppose the drivers are on furlough but I think they will end up unemployed. I can't imagine what they are going to do with all those busses.

Anyway, I am thinking that the entire transportin sector (planes, trains, and automobiles and don't forget busses) will never return to normal.

* interesting side note. My sister wanted a new car and would not buy one without test driving it. she made an appt at the dealer, the salesman met her on the sidewalk, gave her some instructions. The car had just been "sanitized". She took it out without the salesman. The sale was initiated by my sister on the phone and completed on the computer. A few weeks later a flatbed truck with the car on it drove up to her house and unloaded the car. I don't think anyone buying a new car would want to go back to the old system

The MTA is struggling here. I don't know if it's made the news over there, but they're considering slashing services, shutting down half of the train lines. There's a lot of talk about increased crime on the trains. But compared to the 80's? Ahahaha, no.

 

[Mufflon]

Yes, a patient coughed near me yesterday and even though be both wore masks I felt incredibly stressed about this... unfortunately this only feels like the beginning of everything.

Anyway, I was a contact person again and also a colleague of mine who assisted me in a procedure and now we both have to take our temperature daily and take notes of any symptoms. Most of the time the patient was on ventilation and we wore N95 masks as required but it's a weird feeling anyway.

I guess, this will be the new reality until a vaccine is found or a test is invented that shows results faster than the procedure of getting-admitted-for-stroke-haveing-thrombectomy-going-to-stroke-unit-or-ICU takes to take place.

 

[Mufflon]

Btw, the current German "lockdown" is just a bad joke. We have no "lockdown" like in spring, period.

 

[Lou]

The MTA is struggling here. I don't know if it's made the news over there, but they're considering slashing services, shutting down half of the train lines. There's a lot of talk about increased crime on the trains. But compared to the 80's? Ahahaha, no.

In California they already reduced services. Especially busses. but they are now talking about increasing the number of trains and busses. the concept is to attract ridership by making it more convenient. It's also cost-effective to add more cars to a train to allow people to get farther apart from each other.

I haven't been on a bus lately but when they go by they look pretty empty. And i see some open windows.

this could be a good example of east coast thinking vs west coast thinking.

 

[Lou]

Very sad news.

Denmark to Kill 15M Animals to Stop COVID Mutation Spreading Back to Humans

Denmark’s prime minister said Wednesday that the government wants to cull all minks in Danish farms, to minimize the risk of them re-transmitting the new coronavirus to humans. Mette Frederiksen said a report from a government agency that maps the coronavirus in Denmark has shown a mutation in...

www.nbcnewyork.com

Holy F****
Ok I don't feel even a little bit sorry for the Mink farmers. I hope the whole industry goes Kapolei. The Government said they would compensate the farmers anyway.

BTW I didn't know anyone still bought mink coats.

I feel bad for the minks but it's not like we could release 100 million of them into the wild. And its not like they already weren't under a death sentence.

But a new covid. Covid-20? And already hundreds of people have it.

 

[Urban Gardener]

In California they already reduced services. Especially busses. but they are now talking about increasing the number of trains and busses. the concept is to attract ridership by making it more convenient. It's also cost-effective to add more cars to a train to allow people to get farther apart from each other.

I haven't been on a bus lately but when they go by they look pretty empty. And i see some open windows.

this could be a good example of east coast thinking vs west coast thinking.

Maybe. But the MTA genuinely lacks funding. There is no money to add more trains.

More BART trains and buses would be good. Service was pretty slow there, at least compared to NYC.

 

[Urban Gardener]

The media is reporting that COVID cases are on the decline in the NYC area. However, the numbers listed here keep rising:

New York COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

New York COVID-19 Coronavirus update by county with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, current active cases, recoveries, historical data, trends, projections, and timeline.

www.worldometers.info

Apparently, we had 369 new cases and 8 deaths just in Brooklyn (Kings County) today.

 

[Freesia]

My long time online friend says she has it now. Flu like symptoms, muscle weakness and fever. the symptoms went on for a week and have now passed and she will be doing 10 more days of isolation. i video chatted with her and at least she looked recovered, she said the coughing had stopped.

 

[Urban Gardener]

It's so hard to assess the actual risk. There's so much conflicting information.

 

[Mufflon]

It's so hard to assess the actual risk. There's so much conflicting information.

This.

I only get to see the worst cases and I have to remind myself that this is a huge confounder.

 

[KLS52]

So grandson’s school is closed for the week. Then they will go back to hybrid...two days a week in person learning.
I’m not sure what the point is of that unless it’s to just keep in person contact to a minimum so less chance of spreading germs than if the kids were together five days a week? It kind of feels like Russian Roulette to me.

 

[Lou]

So grandson’s school is closed for the week. Then they will go back to hybrid...two days a week in person learning.
I’m not sure what the point is of that unless it’s to just keep in person contact to a minimum so less chance of spreading germs than if the kids were together five days a week? It kind of feels like Russian Roulette to me.

If I understand the concept correctly, the tactic is that one infected student does not have the opportunity to infect the whole class but just half the class. social distancing can be more easily sustained if a classroom is half full. It also makes contact tracing 50% less difficult.

I am not sure about the math but there may be no statistical advantage for students individually.

I think it's also a compromise. You would probably get better results if classes were just once a week. there would be no more than 6 students in a classroom. But it would be harder for everyone.

 

[KLS52]

I just asked my daughter...18 kids when they do full time in person. Half that for hybrid. But parents that are working think hybrid is worse because the two days they are not in school they are with grandparents, in childcare or with sitters so it means more possible exposure.

 

[shyvas]

A vaccine which can prevent nine out of 10 people getting Covid-19 is set to be put forward for emergency approval.
Its developers, Pfizer and BioNTech, said it had been tested on 43,500 people, with no safety concerns raised.


https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-54880084

Coronavirus: The married couple behind the successful Pfizer COVID vaccine

Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci founded the pharmaceutical company BioNTech which has developed the 90% effective coronavirus vaccine.

news.sky.com

 

[Lou]

I just asked my daughter...18 kids when they do full time in person. Half that for hybrid. But parents that are working think hybrid is worse because the two days they are not in school they are with grandparents, in childcare or with sitters so it means more possible exposure.

Some California counties are experimenting with what I guess is now officially called a bubble or a social bubble. * It is a group of less than 12 people. and the only people you meet with are in that bubble. you can't be a member of more than one bubble. but they have extended that to students. Students will have their school bubble and their "home" bubble. the home bubble will include parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and babysitters.

Just like mask-wearing, the main benefit is not to the individual but to the population. It slows the spread and makes contact tracing easier.

I think even if you were in school 5 days a week students would still be interacting with people in their home bubble on a regular basis.

BTW, 18 students in a class is probably way less than normal. Twenty was the national average BC. Study after study has shown that elementary students benefit from smaller class sizes. We will have to wait for the results from the testing but I'm thinking that this may be another silver lining.


* there were a couple of other words being suggested - my favorite was a cohort. My least favorite was a quaranteam. The social pod was also being considered.