Wuhan virus 2020

[Jimbuna]

Health Secretary Matt Hancock led the UK briefing.
He was challenged by reporters on high deaths rates, especially among BAME communities in the UK
He said he was working with the UK Statistics Authority to " make sure statistics constantly improved", following criticism.

People from ethnic minorities are at a higher risk of dying from the disease, a report by Public Health England says.

UK MPs voted against an amendment which would have allowed remote voting in the House of Commons to continue.

Bars and restaurants are opening in France for the first time since lockdown.

India registers a new record daily spike with 8,392 fresh infections, even as country eases restrictions.

The number of people with Covid-19 to die in Mexico passes 10,000

Globally, there have been 6.2m confirmed cases and 375,000 deaths since the outbreak began.

[vienna]

Here's a potentially interesting twist on the nature of Covid-19:


Coronavirus May Be a Blood Vessel Disease, Which Explains Everything --

https://elemental.medium.com/coronav...g-2c4032481ab2





<O>

[Catfish]

Read about the linings of blood vessels and what Covid19 does to it, but this (^) is a bit unsettling.

[Catfish]

What a US exit from the WHO means for COVID-19 and global health

"If the US pulls out and leaves a vacuum, it will be filled by other countries, like China,” [...] “You’ll see a self-fulfilling prophecy.”"

[ikalugin]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Russia has confirmed 8,863 new cases and 182 new deaths, bringing its total number of infections to 423,741. The capital Moscow began lifting its lockdown on Monday, but some say the decision was political.

We do not want to inflict such a hardship to get US style riots.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Read about the linings of blood vessels and what Covid19 does to it, but this (^) is a bit unsettling.

It is that, but, hey, man, it just a flu, bro...


Something to consider when dealing with the idea of a cure or vaccine for Covid-19:

Viruses were first confirmed to exist circa 1896; in the intervening 124 years, how many viruses have been eradicated by human science and medicine?...

...class? ...class? ...Bueller?

The answer is exactly one (1) virus has been declared as eradicated and that's smallpox and eradication is a tricky term here; it doesn't really mean it absolutely no longer exists, just that it is no longer in "the wild" and can only be found in highly controlled labs; the possibility still remains some form of smallpox may still be lurking out there yet to be discovered...

Science/medicine has not been able to get anywhere near the level of eradication claimed for smallpox; the common cold, the flu, herpes, hepatitis, Ebola, SARS , even rabies, among other diseases, caused by viruses still plague humanity all without any cure, just treatments for symptoms or vaccines to hopefully mitigate the possibility of contracting the various viral diseases, and, at that, the vaccines are often of short term effect (there is a reason we have to keep getting flu shots once a year); the flu vaccine itself is a rather hit or miss proposition with medical experts trying to predict two or three of the possible flu strains to surface in a given year and fashioning a sort of 'vaccine cocktail' to try and fend off cases of the flu; sometimes the predictions can be off, resulting in a wider spread of flu viruses than expected or wished...

The only viral disease for which science/medicine has been able to get close to 'eradicating' is polio and even then the disease still pops up here and there...

All this makes the vaunted claims of a miraculous vaccine or cure for Covid-19 to be found in the coming months something to be taken with heavy grains of salt; based on past track records in fighting various past viral diseases, years may be a more realistic time frame rather than months...

...and then there is the specter of possible/probable mutations to have to deal with...


I really do hope at least treatment is found, if not an actual cure, but I'm not holding my breath: when it comes to viruses, those near invisible buggers have us complex sentient organisms beat by a long mile...







<O>

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Travellers from most European countries will be allowed into Italy from Wednesday, with no quarantine.

Italy is also lifting restrictions on domestic travel, allowing people to move between regions.

The UK government defends its 14-day quarantine for travellers, which begins on Monday.

The Lancet "raises concern" about a hydroxychloroquine study that caused the WHO to suspend trials.

Brazil's death toll exceeds 30,000, the highest in South America.

Globally, there have been almost 6.4m confirmed cases and 379,000 deaths.

[Jimbuna]

Germany will remove its general warning against travel to European countries from 15 June, the German foreign minister said on Wednesday.
However it will continue to advise against travel to Britain for as long as the UK government continues to demand a 14-day quarantine for new arrivals.

Russia has reported 8,536 new coronavirus cases and 178 deaths on Wednesday, bringing its nationwide infection tally to 432,277, the third highest in the world.
In total 5,215 people are confirmed to have died with the virus there.

China says a news report claiming it delayed sharing information on Covid-19 with the World Health Organization is totally untrue.

The US embassy in Tanzania has issued a fresh travel advisory for American citizens regarding the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Italy has reopened its borders and ended travel restrictions between regions, hoping to encourage tourists back in time for the summer. The country was the first in Europe hit hard by the outbreak and has recorded more than 33,000 deaths.

Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist, has conceded that too many have died in Sweden. The country is one of the few in Europe that has not imposed a strict lockdown. He told Sveriges Radio: “If we encountered the same disease with exactly what we know about it today, I think we would land midway between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world did”

The reproduction rate has risen to 1.95 in Berlin, authorities said – meaning each infected person in the German capital is passing the virus on to nearly two others. Berlin’s health minister Dilek Kolat said it showed a “trend reversal”

The German city of Göttingen wants to test all 700 residents of a residential complex after an outbreak following private Eid al-Fitr celebrations.

And Ukrainian football team Karpaty Lviv has been placed in quarantine for two weeks after 25 players and staff tested positive for the virus. The club’s next two games have been cancelled.

[Skybird]

They are testing Ibuprofen now.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52894638


That it goes back and forth with this and other drugs in trials, shows that we still know not much about this virus. The ever growing, sometimes changing list of symptomatic descriptions underlines that.

[vienna]

Then there is the possibility they are not dealing with a strain of the virus, but, rather, strains of the virus, each having its own properties...





<O>

[Platapus]

Has there ever been a single strain of a virus? I always thought that mutation was one of the key characteristics of a virus... and why they are hard to mitigate.

[Skybird]

As I predicted: I know why I got so angry about all that applause for nurses and hospital staff weeks ago. Cheap waste of time. The following is from an intensive care nurse working on a corona station in Berlin. Like many other nurses, he is desillusionised, and angry. On average Germna jurses must work 5-10 years longer than colleagues in other countries, and are so badly paid that they face an above-average risk of high age poverty after retirement. At the same time the job they do, even without Corona, is a bone wrecker. Nurses in caretaking homes for elde rpeopel now got a 1000 Euros payment: No regular raise for wages, not more personell being hired).


The "demonstration" that it is about. Last Sunday in Berlin:

Originally Posted by https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/intensivpfleger-ueber-rave-vor-krankenhaus-kann-man-unsere-arbeit-noch-mehr-verhoehnen/25882328.html

"Can our work get ridiculed even more?"


(Techno fans recently demonstrated on the water, Ricardo Lange is a nurse in a Berlin intensive care unit.)

It was nine weeks ago that I complained about clapping people on the balconies. At the time I was afraid that the applause would not be followed by any action. Too bad I was right.

Nothing has sounded from the balconies for a long time. Techno has recently been buzzing from rubber dinghies across the Landwehr Canal. The videos of the celebrants in the urban harbor on Pentecost Sunday really took me away.

I understand that young people have some catching up to do. I understand that club operators are entrepreneurs who fear for their existence. But does such a party have to take place in front of a hospital?

Patients and their caregivers fight for life in them. People need rest. Even without Corona and the possible consequences of this rave, I ask myself: can we ridicule our work even more?

But also in terms of politics, what I feared has happened. Because we - fortunately - have a good grip on the pandemic in Germany, talk shows no longer discuss care.

Jens Spahn's [the German health ministre] promises of a "Corona Bonus" have only reached a part of the "everyday heroes", the outpatient and elderly care workers who deserve it, of course.

However, nothing has arrived for me and my colleagues in the intensive care units, even though we are among those who have been in close contact with Covid 19 patients for weeks. Eleven percent of all people infected with the virus in Germany work in medical professions - we are still exposed to a particular risk.

Our working conditions have also become more difficult due to the wearing of (sometimes incomplete) protective clothing. The applause remained as a sign of appreciation.

My wishes for politics have not changed, even if there were no mountains of corpses like in New York or Bergamo. Corona did show us that the need for care is serious.

Verdi [German union] assumes 80,000 full-time positions, and the Böckler Foundation [socialist foundation attached to the German unions] even assumes 100,000 full-time positions that are missing in clinics. Young colleagues who are trained by us often throw in the towel after a few weeks because the working conditions are too hard for them. And many of my colleagues are older and will soon retire, who's coming?

I know intensive care nurses who had to be quarantined because of unprotected contact with a Covid 19 patient, who according to the health authority were not even able to bring the garbage down without being fined - but still had to go to work (with the risk of infecting already weakened patients). The reason? Of course, lack of staff!

The state is supporting Lufthansa with nine billion euros, and the auto industry is to help a new purchase bonus. And U.S?
Retirement age should be reduced

I hope that the retirement age for caregivers in shift work will be reduced. 67 is too late - we've already lost so much of our lives.

I would like better pay for the core workforce at the clinics: Those who work shifts and are responsible for human life should, including surcharges, earn 3,000 euros net.

I also hope that Jens Spahn will introduce correct minimum staff levels. Because of Corona they were loosened up, but even before that they didn't fit in with reality: They were viewed as average values, and so it happened that in some shifts I had to look after four patients intensively - instead of a maximum of 2.5 patients per nurse in the day shift and 3.5 patients per caregiver in the night shift. That makes a huge difference!
[I know of nurses who look after a dozen patients, this means not he is asking too much, this means only that thign sare much, much worse in parts of Germany, Skybird].


We need a clear definition in absolute numbers. So: A maximum of two patients per caregiver in the day and three per caregiver in the night shift. Especially since a few hospitals understood the lower and upper limits and even reduced staff.

And I wish that the rubber boat orgy from last weekend had no consequences. Because although I read that the number of Covid 19 patients in the intensive care units is falling in some clinics - with us they have increased significantly since last week.

[Ricardo Lange works as a nurse in a Berlin intensive care unit. ]

He says he wishes the partying plebs not to get ill. Well, I do. To drive by this hopefully some reason in their brutally egoist minds. Many will get infected by them who do not deserve it and are innocent, were not there. The R-value in Berlin last days was 1.9 and higher, is rising across all of Germany since almost a week, is above 1.0: it was down to 0.4 short time ago, and then the sun came out and stupid people flipped out. Christz9an Drosteh recently said he saw a chance that we could evade a second wave. That was before last weekend. If summer looks like this weekend's scenes, then he will soon eat his words.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]