Coronavirus

[flash2015]

Anyway, I'd better go stock up on the toilet paper. Apparently, that is all the rage...

[orathaic]

... The worst thing to happen would be to be sick in quarantine in a foreign country for several weeks.
<snip>

I mean, if you are stuck in a room playing online diplomacy, with nothing else to do, does it matter that you are in Europe rather than at home?

A few million dead is still nothing to...uh...sneeze at though. I really hope that is wrong too.

Also, the elderly/immunocompromised can hear you saying this. The best way to protect them would be to intentionally infect ~80% of the population while isolating the at risk categories.

Get to a place where the majority of the population is immune and the virus can't spread anywhere near as fast. Unfortunately the vast majority of people can't afford to intentionally infect themselves and then self-isolate... But if you are going to visit your parents, I recommend two weeks isolation before visiting.

[orathaic]

https://scontent.fdub4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5E80B8E4


Has this been verified?

Basically Trump being asked if he thinks he should cancel campaign evengts.
He replies "No I haven't... We had tens of thousands of people standing outside the arena"

Questioner: "is there a risk that there's that many people so close together?"

Trumo: "it doesn't bother me at all"

[Randomizer]

This from a man who originally cancelled going to CDC because there was a rumor someone there had the coronavirus. Trump has been seen in the White House telling people to get away from him, "I can't get sick."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/03/politics ... index.html

However Trump is seen out in public shaking hands and touching his face.

[flash2015]

https://scontent.fdub4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5E80B8E4


Has this been verified?

Basically Trump being asked if he thinks he should cancel campaign evengts.
He replies "No I haven't... We had tens of thousands of people standing outside the arena"

Questioner: "is there a risk that there's that many people so close together?"

Trumo: "it doesn't bother me at all"

yes, he said it while visiting the cdc:

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-s ... led-2020-3

[flash2015]

My company banned all travel starting immediately...so looks like I won't travel today.

[MajorMitchell]

Daffy Donald Trumptoad's description of the availability and beautiful nature of Coronavirus testing in the USA has that classic "Trumptoad's​ total BS" stink of untruthfulness & deceit. Gee, I'll have to remember to thank in my prayers the Omnipotent and loving Gods who give us such wonderful gifts such as Trumptoad, the Taliban, Iran's and North Korea's leaders & countless other blessings, and remind the Almighties of eternity that if Coronavirus is a message/lesson/expression of Divine Wrath from their godly entities to humanity that we have an impeccable track record for completely ignoring such caring missives.

[flash2015]

Come a little closer, huh, a-will ya, huh?
Close enough to look in my eye, Corona
Keeping it a mystery, it gets to me
My medical conditions underlie, Corona.

M-m-m-my Corona
M-m-m-my Corona

The COVID-19 song:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3 ... g-COVID-19

[Octavious]

Beautiful :p.

I have to say there's been almost zero reaction in my part of the world. The Cheltenham Festival has just started pretty much as normal, and I've not seen anyone wearing a mask, other than one chap on Friday.

On the other the start of WW2 was marked by millions of Brits asking "is this it?" and wondering what all the fuss was about. But it does seem odd for there to be so little going on when over the Channel the entirety of Italy is in lock down.

[orathaic]

I have not see face masks advised to stop you getting the virus. They are recommended if you have the virus to reduce the chances of you spreading it...

Also, it feels like things have stepped up a notch in Ireland, St. Patrick's day events have been cancelled; but many are travelling over to Cheltenham as Irish horse racing is pretty big over there.

Here is to hoping the virus is contained.

[Octavious]

The WHO advises wearing them to stop the virus if you're in close contact with someone who has it, but not generally, no. I believe that they have been promoted by government advice in various Asian countries, and they're certainly common place in Italy and parts of America. I guess a lot of people wear masks in Asia anyway, so it's not much of a change for a government that wants to appear to be taking action to ask for.

I think the hope it can be contained is pretty slim, to be honest. It seems to be doing ok in Australia, which is further evidence that it won't be killed off by a northern hemisphere spring and summer. It remains impossible to detect in early stages, and no amount of temperature scanning at airports will make a blind bit of difference when you have plenty of carriers without any increase in temperature.

So St Patrick's day will be more like it used to be when all the pubs were shut? That'll make a nice change :)

[orathaic]

Em, no. I don't think the pubs are going to shut... They are currently losing a lot of business from people not going outside unnecessarily, and today's government announcement (~3 billion in emergency funding which had been put aside for a hard Brexit) said nothing (that I heard) about small businesses.

Yes, containment seems likely to fail. But containment measures can help slow the spread and thus leave health services with a slow trickle of patients which they can handle rather than a torrent which they will have to triage and only offer ICU beds to those who they have a chance of saving... Ie the worst cases will be given palliative care and die in hospital.

And yes, I was talking to a friend on South Korea, who hasn't gone outside for weeks, not because of virus fears, but because the air quality is too poor for her 4 month old. Face masks are already more common because not only is air quality really bad, the Koreans, Chinese and Japanese all blame each other for it while polluting their own cities...

[Octavious]

I think the choice is more likely to be between a torrent and a raging torrent rather than torrent and slow trickle, but I broadly agree.

It is rather amusing that the more extreme Remoaner predictions of shortages in supermarkets, financial crashes, and travel to Europe being extremely difficult after Brexit have kind of come true :p.

[orathaic]

In fairness, the UK has left the EU but hasn't left the single market yet.

ie they still abide by all decisions of the EU Council/Parliament/Commission, they just don't have any say in these decisions. Expect this to change at the end of December, unless there is a trade deal.

[Octavious]

In all honesty I'm a little worried about the EU at the moment. The Italian economy wasn't in a good place even before they decided to close the country for a month, and the EU's room for manoeuvre to fix it is somewhat limited. If I was a betting man I'd not touch it with a barge poll and bet on something else.

Speaking of which, Lostintranslation for the Gold Cup?

[orathaic]

Did you hear they signed a big deal with China?

https://www.euronews.com/2019/03/24/chi ... ad-project

And now China are sending Italy doctors and supplies:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/akwa ... s-outbreak

[Randomizer]

Trump's restricting flights from infected Europe.

Trump wants business as usual at hotels and resorts, especially at his hotels and resorts to keep them from losing even more money. He's having trouble when even the Republicans don't want to go back to the moldy Doral resort he tried to get for the G-8 meeting site.

[orathaic]

From the schengen area, so not the UK or Ireland (as we have a separate common travel area).

[Randomizer]

As if Trump wasn't a medical genius who inherited his knowledge from an uncle, Jared Kushner had to sign-off on what the government would recommend:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-coron ... 36018.html
Just what the country needs, a slumlord deciding medical policy.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mos ... 10003.html

[Fluminator]

https://nationalpost.com/news/these-can ... e-infected