SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

Alabaster Codify7 said:
Yeah Boris has been dropping the 12weeks thing here and there for a while, to properly get on top of the worst of the virus.

I think lockdown will start easing around mid-May, slightly. People to be back in work in June, that's my prediction anyway.
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I think every lockdown will need to be ended in stages, can't just have everyone mingling together. It will probably end up being 3 months but with gradual relaxation from 4-6 weeks.
 
arnie_ni said:
Yea that's how i understood it and my employer understood it. Its what we were advising clients before we closed.

Is your firm still open?
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We’re operating but the offices have been closed to staff since Monday and everyone is WFH, how about you?
 
JPRouve said:
On that topic, I have been wondering about how we are going to deal with the flu in the future. Until recently when the flu was suspected you were not tested or isolated unless if you end up at the hospital but with Covid19 having the same symptoms are we going to systematically test anyone that has flu symptoms? That would susbstantially increase labs workload.
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Maybe (given we're unlikely to have a safety tested vaccine for Covid19 within the year) we'll head down the opposite track - and look at mass vaccination with the best flu virus mix for next winter as an essential. That might reduce the routine burden of flu on hospitals and offer more breathing space.

The other game changers will be home test kits for Covid19 antibodies and for active virus. Again, that's maybe many months down the line, so everything we do right now is about buying time. It's also incidentally, utterly dependant on keeping the economy stable. The level of interdependency between different industries and the underpinning infrastructure services gets massively underestimated when people try to visualise what essential work looks like - particularly in a lockdown that lasts more than a couple of weeks.
 
jojojo said:
Maybe (given we're unlikely to have a safety tested vaccine for Covid19 within the year) we'll head down the opposite track - and look at mass vaccination with the best flu virus mix for next winter as an essential. That might reduce the routine burden of flu on hospitals and offer more breathing space.

The other game changers will be home test kits for Covid19 antibodies and for active virus. Again, that's maybe many months down the line, so everything we do right now is about buying time. It's also incidentally, utterly dependant on keeping the economy stable. The level of interdependency between different industries and the underpinning infrastructure services gets massively underestimated when people try to visualise what essential work looks like - particularly in a lockdown that lasts more than a couple of weeks.
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You are probably onto something, I forgot about Flu vaccines. I also imagine that we are going to see improvements in the tests techniques with the goal of increasing volumes, the faster and easier it is to test people the easier it is to contain a pandemic. The good thing about this pandemic is that a lot of people now realize how much we need to improve in terms of logistics, we need to be better at collaborating and more efficient when it comes to get and share information(I include testing in information).
 
Blackwidow said:
When it regards graphs about the development of the different countries I like the following:

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The x-axis shows the confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabits, the y-axis the deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. The little numbers near the flags tell the number of days the cases have doubled recently.
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Thanks for posting.

I've been looking for something like this. Ireland not look so good in that context.

Did you do it yourself or is it from a website which will be updated?

If so, can you post a link?
 
NYAS said:
Then what do you do when you get the second wave? Lockdown again?
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I don't think you really get a second attempt at an Italian style lockdown. Obviously a lot of restrictions will remain and some could be brought back but trying to shut things down completely a second time would likely see social unrest and less compliance, in the same way that trying to maintain the first beyond a certain point would.

According to the WHO testing and contact tracing will be key in determining what happens after the first lockdown and avoiding too high a second peak. Which is what Tedros means when he warns countries not to waste their second chance at fighting the virus (the lockdown) in the same way they did the first.
 
Daily US update (useful interactive map after the jump): https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA/0100B5K8423/index.html
123,329 from midnight this AM.

Chicago is racing ahead to join New Orleans and Detroit as new hotspots. I don’t know what happened in Detroit, with Chicago it just seemed like it was a matter of time.

Colorado has a fairly high number relative to population. They had some risk factors like people hitting the ski slopes one last time. Texas is still relatively low; I don’t know if the oil industry going into a tailspin at the start of this helped with people staying at home, but I don’t think that would explain all of it.
 
ManchesterYoda said:



I remember seeing Dr Zelenko talk about this treatment days ago. I think it's disgusting that people are trying to shove this under the carpet. Some governors are even banning it. The below tweet sums it up best.

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That's how science works. You test things first, and then if the tests work you go "nice! Let's do it!" You say the tweet says it best, and you're right, but for the wrong reasons. This is how it's supposed to work:

a bunch of idiots immediately say they are banning it, only to reverse themselves after trials prove positive.
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ManchesterYoda said:



I remember seeing Dr Zelenko talk about this treatment days ago. I think it's disgusting that people are trying to shove this under the carpet. Some governors are even banning it. The below tweet sums it up best.

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Don't mean to be an ass but do you know how clinical trials work? Did you read the French study regarding the treatments?

It is difficult to just give medications if there is little evidence because pretty much no medication is without risk.

It is important to note that those medications are now undergoing a shortage because some countries have been giving it (without the necessary evidence) and people who need it for their conditions and where it has actual proven efficacy (lupus for instance) are finding it difficult to get a hold of.
 
The news has slipped me for a while, has the lockdown in Italy helped or not?
 
africanspur said:
It is important to note that those medications are now undergoing a shortage because some countries have been giving it (without the necessary evidence) and people who need it for their conditions and where it has actual proven efficacy (lupus for instance) are finding it difficult to get a hold of.
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Some Norwegian doctors have been prescribing it to themselves and their families and friends, which is a big no-no, particularly after the authorities made it a more restricted prescription to safeguard the supplies in case the trials turn out well (and obviously for people who actually already need it for other conditions). Some of them will hopefully be in a little bit of trouble.
 
Lee565 said:
I thought all take away places had been ordered to closed, down the road from me a kebab shop, chip shop and curry takeaway place were all open and allowing customers inside whilst waiting for their food?

Im surprised people are still taking such a chance with ordering take away seeing as there is the potential for their food being handled without the proper hygiene requirements by someone that may have the virus.
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This is what worries me. My sister said that if you wear gloves and then take the items out of the packaging and then wash your hands you should be ok.

I am not taking the chance though and i love pizza at the weekend.

I could murder a whopper too.
 
Munkehboi said:
Good luck to her! My ward and almost all wards in my hospital have been made covid units now. I think we will see this in most hospitals in the coming weeks.

Just finished my 8th shift in 11 days and to put it bluntly things are getting worse. Here's a little insight:

Day 1-2: On my first couple days I was hearing of confirmd cases from other wards, areas but still working on my acute medical ward. No suspected cases for me, just another day.
Day 3-4: Had a day off and came back to be moved to Covid-19 triage in ED. Saw on average 12-13 patients a day. Only 2 patients we suspected of Covid-19 but they were not unwell enough to admit so sent them home.
Day 5-6: Been told my ward is closed. Being refurbed and prepared to be a covid-19 unit. All our patients moved into a holding ward where I was also transferred to work. Hearing of multiple deaths from Covid-19 now.
Day 7: Moved to a Covid-19 unit to learn about how we are treating Covid-19 patients, PPE procedures and general experience to feedback to the team. First time in contact with diagnosed positive patients.
Day 8: Moved back to my ward. We are fully Covid-19 now. Only three of us on, two nurses and an HCA. We opened with no patients but full to capacity within 4 hours. We are a 28 bed ward but due to Covid-19 everyone has to be isolated so we only have capacity for 8 patients, 4 bays and 4 siderooms. This will change if we have more than one confirmed positive patient as they can be cohorted together in a bay. All our patients tested and suspected and waiting for results.

Talking to a dcotor, around 70% of their handover from this morning are suspected Covid-19. Now a very small % will be posistive however, any type of cough, spike in temp or respiratory issue is being treated as suspected. For example I have a young person on my ward, 20 year old with tonsillitis, spiked a fever 38c. Lookig quite well, very chatty - now suspected Covid-19. This person will go home today. The whole hospital is full of it now. Other wards are closing to be made into Covid-19 areas. 12 more deaths in the night - its really ramping up now. We are suddenly seeing a lot more confirmed cases but It feels really real now.

I usually treat alot of CCF, CKD, pnuemonia/HAP/CAP/LRTI patients. The latter patients will be made as suspected Covid-19 but I just want to know where the hell have all my CCF and CKD patients gone? They have literally vanished from our hospital and not being admitted.
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Stay safe man. I don’t personally know what you’re going through, but I can see it when my wife gets home. Stay as rested as you can and make sure you’re minding your PPE. She’s off today, and will be interested in what you’ve said here, so I’ll show this post to her once she’s up.
 
Redlambs said:
If you are going to worry about that, then you may as well worry about every single item of food you are getting from the shops too.
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That’s my thoughts too. I was feeling a bit down yesterday so treated my family to a pizza delivery. You can only pay online, the delivery driver leaves it at your doorstep and calls you to say it’s there. He wore mask and gloves. No contact. Sure, there’s a small chance that you could get something off the boxes but there’s probably just as much chance if not more of getting something in a supermarket.
Anyway the food cheered us up which was great
 
Died in the same day he was admitted. Terriblem
 
@ryansgirl you've been bang on the money re Japan. Just saw that now after Olympics got officially postponed, Tokyo is about to get a lockdown, and cases suddenly spiked.
 
There’s still not enough info on who died OF Covid 19 compared to who died WITH it. Death is tragic in any circumstances but I feel this would fill in blanks in a similar way to the testing of asymptomatic.

Like if it spread in a ward or already critically ill patients, their death seems to be noted as “Covid 19” when a good portion of those people would have sadly succumbed to whatever illness they were already being treated for.
 
fergieisold said:
Just to add he had a medical condition that can impact the immune system. Very sad but don't want to be frightening people that are young and in good health.
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It's important to provide that information (haven't confirmed it, just got home), but I do want young and healthy people worried. Fear is protective, for the entire society.
 
fergieisold said:
Just to add he had a medical condition that can impact the immune system. Very sad but don't want to be frightening people that are young and in good health.
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He had severe psoriasis. Not exactly an immunodeficiency, they are at increased risk for some diseases, but to my knowledge infections aren't one of them (except skin, obviously).

Might have been something like a cytokine storm, the type that killed younger people in Spanish Flu. It was so fast... Merely speculating in this paragraph.
 
Redlambs said:
If you are going to worry about that, then you may as well worry about every single item of food you are getting from the shops too.
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Agreed. I only do one week shopping now and try to not touch my face until i have washed my hands.
 
Arruda said:
He had severe psoriasis. Not exactly an immunodeficiency, they are at increased risk for some diseases, but to my knowledge infections aren't one of them (except skin, obviously).
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The disease itself won't put you at increased risk of infection, but Psoriasis is treated with immuno-suppressing medicines, which certainly do increase risk of infection. If it was severe, then he may have been on multiple immuno-suppressants.
 
I'm glad we have plenty of smart posters here who can counter the scaremongering and sensationalism so quickly. But @Arruda isn't wrong that yoof need to be shite scared too.
 
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