The Fallout from Covid 19

buster · April 08, 2020, 03:27:59 PM

There is at least one animal at the Bronx Zoo who got covid 19 - a tiger. If it spreads too much to the natural world, and it can jump back to humans, we'll have some interesting speculation on TV each night.

buster · April 08, 2020, 03:57:50 PM

Sweden is using an entirely different approach to handling the Pandemic, and it mirrors some things that William espoused early on in the thread. Sweden only isolates the elderly and frail, and lets many social activities continue, especial for youngsters. A very interesting article arguing on behalf of Sweden. Of course at the end (?) of this we can tally up the wins and losses and declare a winner.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-response-sweden-avoids-isolation-economic-ruin/

Jason · April 08, 2020, 07:59:41 PM

Quote from: buster on April 08, 2020, 03:27:59 PM
There is at least one animal at the Bronx Zoo who got covid 19 - a tiger. If it spreads too much to the natural world, and it can jump back to humans, we'll have some interesting speculation on TV each night.

The CVMA (Canadian Veterinary Medical Association) is recommending people with COVID symptoms who are self-isolating not to touch their animals, keep a distance if they can and let others take care of them. There is evidence that pets can get it. But not the other way, at least not yet.

ssfc72 · April 09, 2020, 02:31:05 AM

Sooo, the US has enough covid testing kits to test a tiger, but not enough test kits to test all their citizens?? Hmmm.

Quote from: buster on April 08, 2020, 03:27:59 PM
There is at least one animal at the Bronx Zoo who got covid 19 - a tiger. If it spreads too much to the natural world, and it can jump back to humans, we'll have some interesting speculation on TV each night.

buster · April 09, 2020, 07:20:15 AM

We should keep in mind that humans are a dime a dozen. Tigers are rare. The planet has been turned into a human farm. I suspect this quote from 2015 will surprise most:

"Well if youâ€™re like me, then you would probably be pretty blown away by the idea that humans alone outweigh all the remaining terrestrial mammals on the planet by about seven times!"

And that includes elephants. Here's an article that is an easy read, and can even be skimmed to get the full impact.

http://www.kalaharilionresearch.org/2015/01/16/human-vs-livestock-vs-wild-mammal-biomass-earth/

Jason · April 09, 2020, 12:54:45 PM

Quote from: ssfc72 on April 09, 2020, 02:31:05 AM
Sooo, the US has enough covid testing kits to test a tiger, but not enough test kits to test all their citizens?? Hmmm.

They had enough test kits do test Trump and Pence. Personally, I prefer the tiger.

buster · April 10, 2020, 08:13:45 PM

"South Korean officials on Friday reported that 91 patients thought cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again."

Not necessarily a game changer, but it may make the end game a little more complex than we thought it would be.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/south-korea-coronavirus-covid19-reactivated-positive-1.5529066

And as if this isn't enough, we get this - "New Ebola case confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo". Suspect this wont amount to too much, but nature seems to be going all out to get us.

https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/10-04-2020-new-ebola-case-confirmed-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo

Jason · April 10, 2020, 09:46:57 PM

God, if people can be re-infected with COVID-19, we're fucked. But the article raises more questions than answers.

QuoteFalse test results could also be at fault, other experts said, or remnants of the virus could still be in patients' systems but not be infectious or of danger to the host or others.

Um, maybe triple-check the test results *before* reporting it? It's kind of important.

ssfc72 · April 11, 2020, 02:08:48 AM

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52196815

A New York, paramedics diary. A very good article about a paramedic's day during the start of the Covid emergency in New York city.

buster · April 11, 2020, 07:50:18 AM

Thanks Bill. Not a happy tale, but interesting. Think I saw it was a BBC article,which was a surprise.

Jason · April 11, 2020, 04:05:41 PM

I find that the BBC has the best unbiased (i.e. non-hysterical) coverage of US news. Their tech articles need some help, though.

buster · April 13, 2020, 12:31:18 PM

We have to find things to do while in isolation, so just want to say I'm not wasting my time. Buster is now a -

Spider Solitaire 2 Suits Hard GRANDMASTER 4, LEVEL 141 !!!

buster · April 16, 2020, 11:12:06 AM

So China may have to take some blame. If they did make it more difficult, this should be pointed out to them. But blaming everything on them avoids the issues, and it lets people hide our own flaws and get angry at others.

Getting angry at the Chinese ignores many things - we should have been prepared for this long, long ago; Trump's delay, and our own have increased the damage; our old folks' care facilities have been in trouble for years and we just avoided the problem; the hospital system in the States is not designed for this kind of fight and coordination; some of our citizens ignored social distancing far too long..... add some more if you think about some.

Maybe the Chinese just wanted to "Make China Great Again!" and used a "China First!" policy.

None of that matters at the moment. We have a battle to win.

But the blame is going to fill the media soon, as if this does anything to help us fight covid-19.

Jason · April 16, 2020, 04:41:54 PM

Scanning the news briefly today and I read little about China so I guess we'll see. But if the media does start on this course, it'll be just because their 'greatest hits' album is running out of songs. I did see that the US is trying to find out if it came from a Wuhan lab. I didn't know it was the government's job to investigate conspiracy theories. But of course, it's led by Donald Trump who can never find a problem he can't blame on somebody else. If you watch, Trump takes his lead from Fox News. They say it, Trump parrots it. I'm not sure if he put the idea to him the night before and they're just coordinating or he's just too much of an idiot to come up with his own ideas. A 'stable genius' who isn't stable and certainly not a genius.

But I agree, there's no point in casting blame now. There'll be plenty of time to do that later.

Jason · April 16, 2020, 05:02:07 PM

Btw, the bit about old age homes. I totally agree that there have been problems in them for years. But I just have to mention that the Ontario NDP was railing about the state of our LTC homes for years and nobody seemed to care much. Look at a single regulation they have and you know there's a problem - residents must be bathed a minimum of once a week. Once a week! Sure, I can get by with bathing only once a week but seniors should get better than that. I imagine that governments will make the usual noise about how important it is to up the standards and once this settles down go back to what they've always done, turn a blind eye to the conditions in LTC homes. Private homes are just warehousing people and non-profit homes don't get enough money. Along with Pharmacare, LTCs should be a included under Medicare.