Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic

[Aleh]

I'm 100% sure those would've happened anyways, as people are dumb.

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Quite possibly, but the point is that the medical profession changed their naming practices specifically to avoid encouraging that sort of stupidity. I only brought it up to explain why doctors are refusing to use names like "Wuhan virus" or the like for the thing.

As for iamnuff's commentary, this whole thing is getting rapidly into Rule 8 territory, and so I'm not going to go there beyond acknowledging disagreement.

 

[wichajster]

It's kind of sad that people at the onset of panic went for only toilet paper instead of getting food, water, and toilet paper.

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1) Why you would be buying water? Is tap water not drinkable in USA (AFAIK Flint is an anomaly)?
2) It is a good thing that mass buying was limited, yes you should have stockpile of food. But creating it at such time is a coordination failure
3) Panic buying of food is less likely to end with empty shelves. Compare space taken by food and TP, compare how much you need to spend to empty shop out of all toilet paper and out of all food.

Panic buying in Poland was limited, ad AFAIK mostly ended.

And yes, you should go to shop once a week or less frequent.

 

[TanaNari]

1) Why you would be buying water? Is tap water not drinkable in USA (AFAIK Flint is an anomaly)?

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Drinkable, but some people for whatever reason believe bottled water tastes better... and I suppose some places the tap water does taste pretty terrible.

2) It is a good thing that mass buying was limited, yes you should have stockpile of food.

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Worst case scenario, I have the ultimate food stockpile. It's called "the outdoors". I got traps and know what plants are good. Most of the best plants aren't really up and running yet, but there's enough to live on.

I might even be able to start using my tobacco plants for bartering purposes. Heh.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

Drinkable, but some people for whatever reason believe bottled water tastes better... and I suppose some places the tap water does taste pretty terrible.

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Can confirm, tap water in Detroit taste bad without a filter.

-edit-

I also only like ice mountain bottle water. So if there's a zombie virus in the future with contaminated ice mountain water, I will go after brains.

 

[wichajster]

Iran has gone full conspiracy nut with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei alleges virus 'is specifically built for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians' and refusing American aid. That last part doesn't surprise me given the bad blood between the US & Iran but the conspiracy theory is silly.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...avirus-conspiracy-theory-200322145122752.html

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They had mass graves on 12th March already (found in the satellite imagery). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/12/coronavirus-iran-mass-graves-qom https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/13/middleeast/iran-coronavirus-mass-graves-intl/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Iran#Satellite_imagery_from_Qom_cemetery

"On 17 March the government warned that "millions" might die from the coronavirus if people keep ignoring health guidelines and continue traveling." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Iran#Government_response

 

[Imabot]

Drinkable, but some people for whatever reason believe bottled water tastes better... and I suppose some places the tap water does taste pretty terrible.

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Bottled water do taste better because tap water have minimal amounts of chlorine and some other stuff used as purifier. Amount in contains is save and not harmful but Human taste buds and nose are extremely sensitive to detecting it, so it kinda ruins taste. Using special water filters at home helping to remove it. There is one trade off for better taste of bottled water tho.

Tap water have to go through more strict tests for contamination ( chemical and biological) to be deemed drinkable when compared to bottled water. So technically there is greater risk that cheap bottled water will be contaminated in comparison to more expensive one or tap water. Also bottled water usually have less fluoride. Element that is added to drinkable tap water not to mind control citizens but to avoid heart and bone problems in population.

 

[Jiven]

Nah. People are now trying to pretend that we didn't call the Spanish Flu... well, that.

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Because that's a stupid name and 1918 Influenza/1918 Flu Epidemic is much better and informative ?
And no one is pretending that we didn't call it the Spanish Flu (see the wikipedia page).

 

[d.fish]

It's pretty catchy.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

Wat.

 

[d.fish]

Wat.

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Wat?

 

[LurkingInTheDeceit]

Wat?

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Vat? (Insert German accent)

 

[Megaolix]

Québec is going into shutdown, with all non-essential businesses being asked to close for 3 weeks. This happened because the number of cases in Québec tripled. Probably because they can run more tests now and well, it had the time to spread since then.

Nothing about provincial lockdown yet, but it will probably happen as well.

 

[Guardian Box]

Québec is going into shutdown, with all non-essential businesses being asked to close for 3 weeks. This happened because the numebr fo casses in QUébec tripled. Probably becasue they can run mroe tests now and well, it had the tiem to spread sicne then.

Nothign about provincial lockdown yet, but it will probably happen as well.

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Are you drunk out of despair?

'cause that's a lot of typos.

 

[Megaolix]

Are you drunk out of despair?

'cause that's a lot of typos.

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Neither. Just wasn't paying attention, I guess.

Also, corrected.

My workplace is listed as essential, so I'm still gonna work, I believe.

 

[TanaNari]

Well, Italy is fast becoming our window into what this lovely little plague looks like.

https://www.businessinsider.com/italy-coronavirus-old-population-cases-death-rate-2020-3

https://www.businessinsider.com/who...al-death-rate-rises-fatalities-numbers-2020-3

https://www.livescience.com/why-italy-coronavirus-deaths-so-high.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/03/italy-elderly-population-coronavirus-risk-covid-19

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-03-covid-children-parents.html



TL;DR? As earlier information (mostly based on SARS) predicted, this disease overwhelmingly impacts the elderly... as of right now, the average age of deaths in Italy is 80, and the youngest was a 55 year old with "significant health complications", which can mean almost anything. And the youngest 'healthy' victim to die was 61.

Ultimately the lethality sits at well below 1% for people under 50... and then it skyrockets to something well over 20% as the victim passes 60. For people under 40, it's exceedingly rare for the symptoms to even become significant... in those age groups, it really isn't much more than "just a flu". But that's only for children to young(ish) adults.

I suppose we should all be grateful we won't have to watch this kill our children as well as our (grand)parents. It is, however, going to kill a whole lot of grandparents.

... Looks like those assholes saying that the Boomers should just hurry up and die already are getting their wish...

So this is going to do fascinating things to places like Italy and Japan, with their disproportionately large senior populations, but ultimately means the disease will not be as destructive as its kill count suggests. Especially in unusually young nations like most of the Americas.

 

[alethiophile]

Ultimately the lethality sits at well below 1% for people under 50... and then it skyrockets to something well over 20% as the victim passes 60. For people under 40, it's exceedingly rare for the symptoms to even become significant... in those age groups, it really isn't much more than "just a flu". But that's only for children to young(ish) adults.

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Note well: for this age range, still around one in seven people need hospitalization (meaning they were having respiratory failure that might well be fatal if untreated).

It's far worse than the flu whoever you are, but it's true that the really alarming fatality rates are mostly among the elderly.

 

[seeing_octarine]

Note well: for this age range, still around one in seven people need hospitalization (meaning they were having respiratory failure that might well be fatal if untreated).

It's far worse than the flu whoever you are, but it's true that the really alarming fatality rates are mostly among the elderly.

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That directly implies that if/when the hospital system gets overloaded anywhere, the mortality for under 50s will start to climb towards that 1 in 7 figure. More or less.

 

[alethiophile]

That directly implies that if/when the hospital system gets overloaded anywhere, the mortality for under 50s will start to climb towards that 1 in 7 figure. More or less.

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Probably not that high. You can have really alarming respiratory distress, that well merits hospitalization, which you will nonetheless survive without it.

It's certainly true that you can expect fatality rates to rise if good healthcare is not available.

 

[TanaNari]

It's certainly true that you can expect fatality rates to rise if good healthcare is not available.

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Personally, I'm betting on that front, we'll be seeing more deaths from other things than direct kills. Advanced care does help, but right now this is one of those diseases in the "you're going to live or die on the merits of your immune system and we can't do much more than make you comfortable" camp. When the vaccine is up and running, that'll change the nature of the game... but until then, modern medicine barely means a damn thing.

However... taxed medical resources doesn't just mean cases of Wuhan Flu going untreated. It also means car accident victims who don't have an emergency room to go to, women going into labor at home (something that comes with numerous risks thanks to our poorly evolved bone structure), and probably a handful of tardnuggets who think drinking bleach will kill the minor sniffles that the panic-stricken hamsters that double as their minds think is all the plagues in human history combined. I guess bleach technically kills all possible diseases (including life), but I don't think it conforms to good medical practice.

 

[alethiophile]

Advanced care does help, but right now this is one of those diseases in the "you're going to live or die on the merits of your immune system and we can't do much more than make you comfortable" camp.

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This is somewhat true in that there are no (widely used) specific therapies, but modern supportive care is very, very good. If you're the only guy in the ICU, they can put you on ECMO and keep you alive through having no working lungs for days on end. (Plus of course all the less extreme options like normal ventilators, which can absolutely keep you alive through respiratory issues that would kill you otherwise.)

It is of course also true that if the ICUs are overflowing with corona patients, the guy who starts getting chest pains is SOL.

 

[henkalv]

Went to the store for the first time in 12 days today, felt surreal to be out of the house.

I live with my old father who is a retired doctor so we were ahead of the curve when it came to entering self isolation. He hasn't been called to work, don't think our hospitals need personell that badly and I'm profoundly grateful for that, with his health I'm convinced he wouldn't make it.

 

[wichajster]

Ultimately the lethality sits at well below 1% for people under 50... and then it skyrockets to something well over 20% as the victim passes 60. For people under 40, it's exceedingly rare for the symptoms to even become significant... in those age groups, it really isn't much more than "just a flu". But that's only for children to young(ish) adults.

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Yes, adults without health complications are very unlikely to die from it.

But many have health complications and are unaware and it is still far more deadly than flu.

It is not enough to cause massive deaths and societal changes, but enough to be wary about that. If you are apparently healthy adult below 45 it is one of the things that can kill you this year. It is behind usual things like accident, suicide etc, but even something like 0,05% chance is quite scary for me.

There was for example this famous cause of 21 year old dying, he was unaware about his leukemia. https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...ronavirus-he-didnt-know-he-also-had-leukemia/

 

[cross_grave]

1) Why you would be buying water? Is tap water not drinkable in USA (AFAIK Flint is an anomaly)?
2) It is a good thing that mass buying was limited, yes you should have stockpile of food. But creating it at such time is a coordination failure
3) Panic buying of food is less likely to end with empty shelves. Compare space taken by food and TP, compare how much you need to spend to empty shop out of all toilet paper and out of all food.

Panic buying in Poland was limited, ad AFAIK mostly ended.

And yes, you should go to shop once a week or less frequent.

Click to shrink...

Can confirm, the shelves don't look as tragic as in US. Things are looking reasonable on that front, but I have concerns whether the society will actually work to stop the spread, since we already had dumbasses trying to escape quarantine.

 

[d.fish]

They make you scan a QR code now at every entrance to every place. It's this thing where they use your phone service provider and the CCTVs to track where you've been for the last fourteen days so that they can be absolutely certain you haven't been in contact with an infected.

 

[evildice]

It's pretty catchy.

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In the context of that, I feel like it might be okay to post this here (mods please let me know if I'm wrong):

Ooh my little batty one, batty one.
When you gonna cost me some time, Corona?
Ooh you make my fever run, my fever run.
Got my lungs full of slime Corona
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty hand. Always wipe it up for a touch
where the sneezes land. My my my i yi woo.
M M M My Corona

Come a little closer huh, ah will ya huh.
Close enough to land in my eyes, Corona.
Keeping it a mystery gets to me
Running down my pasta supplies, Corona
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty hand. Always wipe it up for a touch
where the sneezes land. My my my i yi woo.
M M M My Corona
M M M My Corona

When you gonna give it to me, give it to me.
It is just a matter of time Corona
Is it just destiny, destiny?
Or is our health care system a crime, Corona?
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty hand. Always wipe it up for a touch
where the sneezes land. My my my i yi woo.
M M M My Corona
M M M My Corona
M M M My Corona
M M M My Corona
​

In addition to being mildly topical and/or amusing, I've removed all the pedophilia from the original lyrics. Bonus!

 

[TanaNari]

In addition to being mildly topical and/or amusing, I've removed all the pedophilia from the original lyrics. Bonus!

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Huh, I was just talking about how well it'd work.

Now all you have to do is a song called Necrophilia to Oh Cecelia.

But it's probably better for everyone if you don't.

 

[alethiophile]

In the context of that, I feel like it might be okay to post this here (mods please let me know if I'm wrong):

Ooh my little batty one, batty one.
When you gonna cost me some time, Corona?
Ooh you make my fever run, my fever run.
Got my lungs full of slime Corona
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty hand. Always wipe it up for a touch
where the sneezes land. My my my i yi woo.
M M M My Corona

Come a little closer huh, ah will ya huh.
Close enough to land in my eyes, Corona.
Keeping it a mystery gets to me
Running down my pasta supplies, Corona
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty hand. Always wipe it up for a touch
where the sneezes land. My my my i yi woo.
M M M My Corona
M M M My Corona

When you gonna give it to me, give it to me.
It is just a matter of time Corona
Is it just destiny, destiny?
Or is our health care system a crime, Corona?
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty hand. Always wipe it up for a touch
where the sneezes land. My my my i yi woo.
M M M My Corona
M M M My Corona
M M M My Corona
M M M My Corona
​

In addition to being mildly topical and/or amusing, I've removed all the pedophilia from the original lyrics. Bonus!

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If we're doing this:

 

[Solvakian]

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo issues a 'Stay Home Work Safe' order for Houston and all of Harris County.

Figured I go ahead and post this here.

 

[magic9mushroom]

I've got a hoard, but I'm probably going to have to risk one more shopping trip (in a week or so, when I predict the supermarkets will have relaxed "no hoarding"), as otherwise I'd have to restock in about a month and that'll be during the peak.

(I seem to be a lot more rational than most of the hoarders, insofar as I went for an actual balanced diet and only stuff that wouldn't go to waste. Cereal, treacle and long-life milk for breakfast, muesli bars for lunch, SPAM-a-like and rice plus carrots for dinner, ice cream for dessert, plus dark chocolate and prunes for snacks. Hits all the vitamins (A from carrots, B1-3 and 9 from fortified cereal, B6 from the meat and chocolate, B12 from meat, C from prunes, D from supplements I was taking anyway, K from the milk and ice cream), reasonably tasty, all non-perishable and surprisingly cheap - it was about $180 AUD for a month and a half of all those plus half a week of normal groceries, only about 10-15% more than I'd have paid for my normal diet.)

EDIT: I'm a fair bit below the "adequate intake" for biotin, but nobody actually knows how much biotin you need (the "adequate intake" is a known overestimate based on "we know infants get enough when breastfed, so scale a 100%-milk diet up to an adult's weight and if you've got that much it's definitely enough") and it's no lower than my normal diet. I could probably do with some nuts from time to time, though.

 

[wichajster]

I would argue that buying food for month that you will eat is not hoarding.

Hoarding is buying more than you will actually consume within a reasonable time. Some stockpile is a good thing.