Covid 19 virus

[Bud]

What politics are you talking about? Are we better informed here in Canada than you guys down there that  vice president Pence was assigned to lead the coronavirus response ? 

[DrG]

What politics are you talking about? Are we better informed here in Canada than you guys down there that  vice president Pence was assigned to lead the coronavirus response ? 

Yes, I am aware of the situation. I was referring to my gut response - my inclination to respond in a manner that is disrespectful of the principle to leave politics out of the discussion.

[Stray Electron]

Who is in charge around here?!

I heard Pence ...?

  Only for about the past week (since the 27th). Before that the CDC was in charge and apparently running very much open loop.

[Nusa]

Search for "coronavirus politics" if you really want to find out. But no reason to bring it here. Those of us who care to know about relevant politics already know about them. Those of us who bury their head in the sand don't want to know at this time.

[VK3DRB]

The important thing is to keep big business going, to keep the share price high and maintain market share. Just ask the CEOs of most large corporations, the mega-rich, and Dr. Groeteschele from Fail Safe (1964). Why not just let everyone get the virus and and let the elderly die? Their use-by date has expired anyway. And they are not big spenders on Nike or the latest Apple products, so the losses are minimal. The share price - that is what is important!

Seriously though, it is fun to watch the greedy and amoral suffer as the share market crashes . Bad news though is the greedy might pour more money back into the housing investment market, making homes more unaffordable for genuine families than ever .

[Stray Electron]

What politics are you talking about? Are we better informed here in Canada than you guys down there that  vice president Pence was assigned to lead the coronavirus response ? 

   Bud, I don't think that that was directed at you. I think the previous poster was expressing his own dissatisfaction at the US's lack of testing and other failures with regard to handling the early outbreaks in the US.  I posted some similar days ago when I pointed out that the US had only tested 44something people whereas VietNam had tested over 1700 and South Korea had tested well over 100,000.  But to be fair, I will say this was when the CDC was in charge and before Pence was appointed to take charge.

   For the most part, everyone on this forum has done a good job of discussing the facts without veering off into politics. I hope we can keep it that way.

[Simon]

I don't think investors are too bothered other than those involved in short term profiteering. In the long term things will come back. I heard a guy on the radio the other day saying just that. He was not bothered because his investment business works in the years and decades not the 1 week panic mode.

[Leo Bodnar]

This is pretty close.  Here is a good primer of what R₀ is.
Remember that R₀ is not a rate.  It does not have time dimension in it.
Leo

As I understand it the R0 measure is for uncontrolled growth in the population (no vaccination, immunity, isolation). The idea is NOT to have the R0 materialize.

[Leo Bodnar]

I am all for social justice but you probably do not know that most of society's pension money is invested in stock markets.
Be careful what you wish for.
Leo

Seriously though, it is fun to watch the greedy and amoral suffer as the share market crashes .

[Simon]

Quite, not my problem as at 36 plenty of time to recover. As much as i hate the stocks and shares model it will be the source of my pension.

[DrG]

This is pretty close.  Here is a good primer of what R₀ is.
Remember that R₀ is not a rate.  It does not have time dimension in it.
Leo

As I understand it the R0 measure is for uncontrolled growth in the population (no vaccination, immunity, isolation). The idea is NOT to have the R0 materialize.

Yes, you are right and I was being sloppy. What I meant, of course, is that the idea is NOT to have the expected number of secondary infections determined by R₀ by introducing quarantine into the population in contrast to a "completely susceptible" population, which the R₀ assumes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/health/coronavirus-how-epidemics-spread-and-end/

[metrologist]

Seems grim

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1236095180459003909.html

[donotdespisethesnake]

There does seem to be a remarkable disconnect between what happened in China, and what the West were expecting. It seems that China is faraway and a distinct type of culture, so while we were LOLing at the Chinese building hospitals in 10 days, and declaring "war on Coronavirus", our mindset seemed to be "won't happen here, we are different".

We may will be different, but not in ways that affect a virus. The Chinese response was drastic and quite remarkable, and should have been a major heads up. In several ways they messed up the initial response, and the animal-human phase appears to have been overlooked, but then they got serious about it. Even with that warning, our governments have dillied about, and the public (no doubt prompted by our wonderful "free" media) go into panic mode.

There are interesting political angles which I won't go into. But it would be a good idea if the money that was chopped from budgets aimed at preventing pandemic outbreaks was restored... but what will probably happen is that after muddling through, people will say "that wasn't so bad" and go back to business as usual.

[Simon]

Well N10  have used war like language but the actual action has not been that forthcoming. It would appear that they are still hedging their bets that it won't happen but that will make it happen. My sister is due to have a baby in May, I am not happy, last thing she needs is a Covid-19 ridden hospital to give birth in because we lost control of it.

[SilverSolder]

Well N10  have used war like language but the actual action has not been that forthcoming. It would appear that they are still hedging their bets that it won't happen but that will make it happen. My sister is due to have a baby in May, I am not happy, last thing she needs is a Covid-19 ridden hospital to give birth in because we lost control of it.

Home birth?

[Simon]

Yes I had wondered if they would be organized for that.

[SilverSolder]

Yes I had wondered if they would be organized for that.

Anyone can request it in the UK,  the midwives come to your house.  So few people do it, that you will get far more attention than at a hospital.   You have to request it well in advance...

[Simon]

Sounds like the best thing. With hospitals cleaned by contractors employing staff on minimum wage I have no wish to have her hanging around in a hospital that is full of people being treated for Covid-19, with the best will in the world once they go full overload cross contamination will occur.

[DrG]

Decent tracking site here - https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

[metrologist]

I expect to see acceleration in China in the next few days while people start migrating again.

China continues to report unrealistically low numbers of new daily cases. Just 4 today.

[edavid]

Sounds like the best thing. With hospitals cleaned by contractors employing staff on minimum wage I have no wish to have her hanging around in a hospital that is full of people being treated for Covid-19, with the best will in the world once they go full overload cross contamination will occur.

Under normal circumstances, home birth is much more dangerous than hospital birth.  I don't envy anyone having to balance that against coronavirus risk.

[metrologist]

All of the roadside births I've heard about at the hands of cabbies or police officers have all had happy endings.

[donotdespisethesnake]

Italy now on countrywide quarantine. Whether you believe the Chinese figures or not, the ROW is really taking off. I expect more national quarantines like Italy.

[BU508A]

Time for a smile or two:

[Simon]

those are hilarious.