Covid 19 virus

[Mr. Scram]

I really don't get how some people can be such awful diplomats, and still hold high positions...

I can't seem to find this news on any major news outlets or many other places at all. We have to be mindful that there's a lot of nonsense going around. I'm not saying this necessarily is, but controversial COVID-19 news is excellent material for anyone whose business model is based on clicks and views.

[Cerebus]

(Attachment Link)

Darwin award

Age 66? I think not, he'll have already spread his defective genes if he was going to.

[Simon]

darnit

[Mr. Scram]

Age 66? I think not, he'll have already spread his defective genes if he was going to.

He'll unfortunately also have spread his ideas into the minds of other people.

[Leo Bodnar]

Thanks for the links!  At the moment I wear PPE for my personal protection.  And, like anyone else here, I have read all relevant manufacturer and hospital procedures.  At some point in my life I had PPE training for use in radioactive environment and, independently, biochemical hazard training in the army.  This included running assault course in full hazmat suit. If you doff it wrong - you have to do it again.  So you learn pretty quickly to pay attention to details.
Leo

While you're being sarky with Le Scram, do you wear PPE on a daily basis in an infection control setting, or just an industrial one? If the later, are you assuming that your expertise in one area automatically transfers to the other?

[tinhead]

Brits PM Bojo got corvid19.

It's the first time he's done anything with a positive result.

Now, now.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone except Trump.

yeah .. but trump achived finally one step of the america first idea ...

[engrguy42]

My summary of today's WHO March 27 Situation update on COVID19, focusing on the US as well as the top 8 countries with the most total deaths to date. If you're interested in other data not included here, check the report yourself at:

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/

Again, the chart below shows total US deaths to date in yellow, and daily deaths in dark blue. The spreadsheet below shows what it shows. I focus on numbers relative to population for this reason:

If city A has a population of 100,000, and 500 residents have COVID19, but city B has a population of only 1,000 but then same number of residents (500) have COVID19, which is in better shape in terms of the future outlook, and ability of infrastructure to handle the disease?

- The number of deaths in the US dropped yesterday to only 107 new deaths, compared to around 200 deaths in each of the previous 3 out of 4 days. For the last 9 or so days, the US has averaged around 100 deaths total per day.

- The US is in the same position it was yesterday (relative to the 8 countries with most deaths to date) in terms of confirmed cases as a % of the population (#6) and total deaths to date as a % of the population (#7).

- The US remains #3 in terms of total confirmed cases (68,334) among those 8 countries.   

FYI, the reason I focus on deaths is because there are far too many unknowns, IMO, to draw any meaningful conclusions on the ultimate impact based solely on number of confirmed cases. For example, Spain and Germany have vastly different numbers of total deaths to date (4089 vs 253, respectively), but have 56k vs. 42k confirmed cases, respectively.

And in the last 2 weeks the US has had a fairly flat average death rate, which is certainly not directly proportional to the increasing # of confirmed cases.   

[tinhead]

FYI, the reason I focus on deaths is because there are far too many unknowns

i do focus only on deaths/death+recovered. Yes, not every country does report recovered, but taking infected as basis for % calculation of deaths is useless:
- the number of not reported infected is much higher that the number of not reported recovered
- every infected can die or survive, depending on lot of factors, so i can't take it into acount based on todays situation
- only China can take death/total infected into account, as they already managed to control currently infected and number of recovered+deaths ar almost equ to total infected.
- taking death/total infected is good for media or politicians, not for real "deaths rate statistic today"
 

[hamster_nz]

I wonder why the WHO data for the US lags other sources, like John's Hopkins. .

Are the US not sharing info in a transparent and timely manner?

(yes I guess tihis is 50% Troll and 50% serious qn)

[engrguy42]

I wonder why the WHO data for the US lags other sources, like John's Hopkins. .

Are the US not sharing info in a transparent and timely manner?

(yes I guess tihis is 50% Troll and 50% serious qn)

I believe (may be wrong) that the US government CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is the final US government authority on stuff like this, and I also assume that's where WHO gets its data for the US. And it seems like WHO data lags a day behind CDC, but I haven't researched that much. The good thing about WHO is it's presumably a reasonable comparison between countries. 

[engrguy42]

BTW, if you look at today's CDC report they show much higher numbers for the US confirmed cases and total deaths:

Confirmed = 85356 vs today's WHO of 68334 (diff = 17,022) which might put it in a tie with Italy and China for the lead in total confirmed cases unless they have a similar increase. But with the large US population it might remain down in #6 position of the top 8 countries in terms of confirmed cases as a % of population.

Total Deaths to Date = 1246 vs today's WHO of 991 (diff = 255). The 255 figure is highest of the daily death rates in the US so far (211 occurred in March 26 WHO report).

So I'm guessing that due to the time it takes CDC to finish its report then send it to WHO and have WHO incorporate it with all the others probably takes a day or so, and we should expect those CDC numbers to appear in tomorrow's WHO report.   

[Electro Detective]

assuming those organizations are receiving correct data and stats,
and still legit and not bought and paid for by the wealth shifters 

With all the conflicting and contradictory reports, data and news media hype BS,

plus afaict the selfish low life toilet paper hoarders and those that miss out are still in perfect health,

the whole thing is beginning to smell like yet another drawn out (WORD).... 

[drussell]

...

Unfortunately, many people, especially in the US (seemingly especially Fox News viewers, apparently even some here in Canada) still believe this is all a made-up hoax.

... Or it isn't more deadly than the flu.
... Or it doesn't affect anyone under 80.
... Or

[maginnovision]

I'm curious, why does Johns Hopkins always show more than CDC? I'd expect CDC to be the authority.

[Someone]

While looking for some info on asthma vs. covid I've come across this picture - NO2 concentration in Europe. Would be interesting to compare covid data with the map..

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/satellite-images-emissions-climate-crisis-coronavirus-europe-map-a9426436.html
Infection rates are unlikely to be the correlation, its more about control measures/restrictions being applied in each area.

[drussell]

I wonder why the WHO data for the US lags other sources, like John's Hopkins. .

Are the US not sharing info in a transparent and timely manner?

No, probably not always.  I suspect that the individual areas are all trying their best in most places.  Due to the lack of a functioning, cohesive federal system there right now though, the states' individual totals are probably the most accurate.  There is going to be exponential growth for weeks, though, so the precise numbers aren't really all that important right this moment or the immediate future.  Eg, New York is going to be hit extremely hard, regardless of whether some specific 10 or 20 thousand new cases show up on today's update or tomorrow's, depending on precisely when you roll over your daily total counter clock.  While the ultimate accuracy is important, the precise sequence in the timing of reporting statistics (though it is helpful if they are least consistent,) is relatively inconsequential in the end in this particular case due to the high number of cases, unfortunately.   

Here in Canada, the official federal page even specifically says that if there is any disagreement between the federal and provincial numbers, the provincial numbers should be presumed to be the most up-to-date and are to be taken as correct.  Healthcare is administered at the provincial level here in Canada, though there is federal oversight and guidelines for care standards, etc.

It is nice to live in a country with rapid, continuous transparency on this kind of issue.  Personally, I really have absolutely no reason to doubt how current and comprehensive, nor the accuracy of any of my local data, including things like:

https://www.alberta.ca/covid-19-alberta-data.aspx#toc-0
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html#a1
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/health-professionals/epidemiological-summary-covid-19-cases.html

How quintessentially Canadian...
Every one of the Federal pages has a button at the bottom to "Report a problem or mistake on this page"

[drussell]

I'm curious, why does Johns Hopkins always show more than CDC? I'd expect CDC to be the authority.

The CDC's (and therefore the WHO, etc's) numbers significantly lag the individual states' disclosures.

[drussell]

So I'm guessing that due to the time it takes CDC to finish its report then send it to WHO and have WHO incorporate it with all the others probably takes a day or so, and we should expect those CDC numbers to appear in tomorrow's WHO report.

Yes, the most local individual statistics are most likely to be correct.

It necessarily takes time for aggregate statistics to move up the reporting chain.

[maginnovision]

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/27/822407626/mystery-in-wuhan-recovered-coronavirus-patients-test-negative-then-positive

Supposedly china doesn't count asymptomatic positives and they might be seeing reinfections.

[Cerebus]

I'm curious, why does Johns Hopkins always show more than CDC? I'd expect CDC to be the authority.

I'd guess, and I am just guessing, that Johns Hopkins, a medical school, is trying to get the latest raw data out as quickly as possible for the benefit of researchers around the world, whereas the Centre for Disease Control is trying to generate a more finished product, one that disease control policies can be safely based on and probably has some additional formal quality control and review steps to go through before officially publishing numbers. It's precisely because CDC would want to have the authoritative figures that they'd want to do that, and that takes a little time.

[bobcat2000]

I am going crazy staying home all days for months!!!!!!!
I am going see how long I can hold my soldering iron with my hand before it is too hot for me to let go!!!!!

[drussell]

FYI, the reason I focus on deaths is because there are far too many unknowns, IMO, to draw any meaningful conclusions on the ultimate impact based solely on number of confirmed cases. For example, Spain and Germany have vastly different numbers of total deaths to date (4089 vs 253, respectively), but have 56k vs. 42k confirmed cases, respectively.

And in the last 2 weeks the US has had a fairly flat average death rate, which is certainly not directly proportional to the increasing # of confirmed cases.

[drussell]

I am going see how long I can hold my soldering iron with my hand before it is too hot for me to let go!!!!!

Please start with it cold each time... 

[Dundarave]

FYI, the reason I focus on deaths is because there are far too many unknowns, IMO, to draw any meaningful conclusions on the ultimate impact based solely on number of confirmed cases. For example, Spain and Germany have vastly different numbers of total deaths to date (4089 vs 253, respectively), but have 56k vs. 42k confirmed cases, respectively.

And in the last 2 weeks the US has had a fairly flat average death rate, which is certainly not directly proportional to the increasing # of confirmed cases.

"Fairly flat" isn't how I'd define the US Covid-19 death rate, given the graphs compiled by these folks:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

[bobcat2000]

I am going see how long I can hold my soldering iron with my hand before it is too hot for me to let go!!!!!

Please start with it cold each time... 

I remember I had a high power laser unit with a huge power supply the size of a small microwave oven in the class.  We had 10 people in the class and the teacher ditched the class.  We were seating there doing nothing.  Instead of playing with the laser, we hold hands daisy chain together.   One guy holding the positive and the other guy holding the negative of that huge power supply.  We turned on the power supply and see who let go his/her hands first.  What an electric shock.