Coronavirus

[Woodie]

9 hours ago, duke007 said:

I finished in Cambodia. Pity Laos was not there.

Here is a piece of useless fact. If asked to pick a number between 1 and 10, the most commonly picked is 7.

[Pdoggg]

6 hours ago, Woodie said:

I finished in Cambodia. Pity Laos was not there.

You cheated!    

[Woodie]

15 minutes ago, Pdoggg said:

You cheated!    

Me cheat?. Never.

[BigTel]

 

[Pdoggg]

10 minutes ago, BigTel said:

 

If this is blocked where you live then try this link.

[cobber32]

I tried the link as well, Pd, and it was blocked too. Never mind.

[Pdoggg]

9 minutes ago, cobber32 said:

I tried the link as well, Pd, and it was blocked too. Never mind.

I think this link should work.

[cobber32]

Thanks Pd. Yes, it worked. Great clip, both for the humour and the closing message. Thanks again.

[Ashoka]

[Pulci Gorgon]

Where are the highest fatality rates ?

I am not saying that fake news have been published by media but journalists only focus onto deaths per country, what doesn't really make sense. The USA have had the highest number but a higher population too. As I haven't any stat dealing with the subject, I did it by myself. (I chose for "day 1" the day the deaths rate reached 1 per million. So each country is at his own stage of the epidemic). 

No one mentioned the highest rate : today Belgium will reach 600 deaths per million inhabitant. It's almost 1 inhabitant out of 1,500. Second most dangerous country is Spain. Since Italy was the first European country affected by the pandemic, it took time to see it was worse in Spain that has a lower population whereas the country was already more affected than Italy. Italy, UK and France are following similar paths. I say that UK is more affected than France since the French government included deaths in nursing home what UK didn't. France was actually following a path similar to the Swiss and American ones when the government corrected. After searching and correcting my board, I can confirm this explains the atypical inflexion of the French curve. 

Switzerland and the USA have similar paths. A Swiss guy says their stats are a mix of German (low) rates and latine rates , what reflects the mix in the Swiss population. The Netherlands follow an average path between Swiss/USA and Italy/UK/France. 

Lower paths are German, Austrian and Canadian paths. 

Surprisingly the Brazilian path is very low too, as well as the Russian one (I might add it in the next few days since it seems to be taking off in Russia). 

Lowest paths are South Korean (bravo !), Australian and New Zealand's path. Stats are so low in NZ that they didn't published a time line. 

You can find the sources in Wikipedia. 

 

 

I didn't include Sweden in these stats for one reason : Sweden don't only publish stats every day. They also change numbers of the previous days. So the job wouldn't consist in adding a number but also update up to 10 numbers and change the curve. ( I don't have Excel, I use Microsoft office, so I draw curves in paint. This gives me time to know what I am talking about). I could create a separate board and graphic for Sweden only and draw several curves after each update. It could be interesting but it's too much work. 

I couldn't not every country. Many countries have very low stats. I found an explanation about a country like Greece : the country was hit during the low season of tourism so was lightly affected. Since the financial crisis in 2008 they have less foreigners visiting the country for business. This doesn't explain low rates for countries like Thailand or Vietnam (zero death officials say). 

It seems that many 3rd world countries do not follow up the pandemic. So I don't know what numbers published in Wikipedia mean. I also noticed that even countries that should be seen as the most developed ones (OECD) have bias in their stats. Most of them included only cases "officially" recorded. This means they didn't include cases who were not diagnosed in hospitals. This is the reason why I don't really pay attention the stats dealing with cases. Germany declares a high number  of cases but their policy aims at detecting all cases. This is more advisable to organize medical services and develop the after lock down policy. In France the National Institute for Economic Studies and Statistics (INSEE) recently published a study dealing with fatality this year. They highlighted an excess mortality from mid March (till March 13th, the rate of mortality was lower than in 2018 and 2019) average 13 % on this period and up to 38 % in the most affected areas. The shape of the curve of excess mortality is the same as the shape of the curve of deaths given by medical services but is higher. This can give an idea of Covid deaths not registered as such since people didn't die in the hospital or in a nursing home). 

After reading the curves, IMHO, the world champion of cheaters is ... China of course. They increased the number of deaths from  around 3,350 to 4,632. The point is not to charge them of cheating but to try to figure out the extent of their cheating. 4,632 deaths would mean 3.28 DPM what id lower than the Australia and South Korea. We should bear in mind that China was not (or even could not) be aware that first clusters of pneumonia would lead to an epidemic. The Chinese police even censored doctors who tried to alarm the administration and the population. I am not judging morals or political calculations, but just on a logical point of view, China did nothing while the corona virus was spreading and reached the largest cities in mainland China. Knowing that cities of which name I never heard have a larger population that Spain (45 million) and given the absence of social distanciation in China before the corona, it's impossible to admit that the virus spread less than in Europe, or maybe in the less populated areas of the country only. So If apply a rate of 10 DPM on half of the Chinese population and 182 DPM on the other half (that is the Swiss rate today) I find a total of 135,360 deaths, what is not so far from from Donald Trump estimations (but opposite to DT, I didn't calculate with my fingers in my ass). I chose reasonably low numbers. The truth might be far beyond these numbers but we'll never know. 

[seven]

Ben Affleck Smoking in a Mask Might Be the Ultimate Coronavirus Meme

What do you do when a global pandemic is ravaging the world, isolating people from their loved ones, and the president is on TV recommending (“sarcastically”) that everyone shoot up with bleach? If you’re Ben Affleck, you throw on your face mask, shirsey, and a shoulder bag, wander outside, and shove that mask above your mouth for a good, old-fashioned smoke break. And while The Daily Beast is not in the business of endorsing tobacco use, I gotta say—this might be a meme for the ages.

[Pdoggg]

31 minutes ago, P&G said:

It seems that many 3rd world countries do not follow up the pandemic. So I don't know what numbers published in Wikipedia mean. I also noticed that even countries that should be seen as the most developed ones (OECD) have bias in their stats. Most of them included only cases "officially" recorded. This means they didn't include cases who were not diagnosed in hospitals. This is the reason why I don't really pay attention the stats dealing with cases.

It is very difficult to compare stats gathered in different countries due to data collection methodology to which P&G alludes.

For instance this link will bring you to worldwide penis size stats.   While it is to be expected that certain regions will be at the top of the charts, there seems to be considerable variation among countries within a particular region.  I suspect that's due to how deeply the fat pad is pressed during measurement.  

 

Quote

This is how it is measured
Basically, the length is always measured on the top of the stem root to the top of the glans. If a fat pad is located above the root of the penis, it may be pressed in slightly during measurement.

 

[rxpharm]

Another excellent video uploaded by Asian Boss - interview with Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of the International Vaccine Institute. Highly recommended viewing for facts about vaccines.

 

 

[rxpharm]

And now for something completely different a few videos by Vic Dibietto about his opinions on things in the US (some of it could apply to Canada too). If you don't like swearing be forewarned.

The Definition of Insanity

 

Nurses, Curses, Steaks and Planes

 

A Message to the Government

 

[Quinn]

EMERGENCY DECREE TO BE EXTENDED ANOTHER MONTH

https://thepattayanews.com/2020/04/27/emergency-decree-will-be-extended-another-month-says-thai-government/

[Quietguy]

19 hours ago, P&G said:

I didn't include Sweden in these stats for one reason : Sweden don't only publish stats every day. They also change numbers of the previous days. So the job wouldn't consist in adding a number but also update up to 10 numbers and change the curve. ( I don't have Excel, I use Microsoft office, so I draw curves in paint. This gives me time to know what I am talking about). I could create a separate board and graphic for Sweden only and draw several curves after each update. It could be interesting but it's too much work.

Sweden doesn't seem to be doing well compared to other Nordic countries

[Pdoggg]

6 minutes ago, Quietguy said:

Sweden doesn't seem to be doing well compared to other Nordic countries

Sure, but as long as their hospitals aren't overcrowded the real question is how will they compare to other Nordic countries a year from now.

[seven]

5 hours ago, Quietguy said:

Sweden doesn't seem to be doing well compared to other Nordic countries

If you say so. 

[seven]

 

5 hours ago, Pdoggg said:

Sure, but as long as their hospitals aren't overcrowded the real question is how will they compare to other Nordic countries a year from now.

Exactly. If only the experts could be like this guy. He's the former chief state epidemiologist, now retired. He employed the current one and still works as an adviser to the state health authority, highly involved in the fight against covid-19.

  At 0:44 into clip he pretty much quotes you , PD.

 

[Pulci Gorgon]

10 hours ago, Quietguy said:

Sweden doesn't seem to be doing well compared to other Nordic countries

 

This is another reason why I didn't include Sweden in my charts. I am glad to read it. Here our national radio says they do it good. They just have the advantage of a low density population. 

 

Good news on the horizon

Curves start flattening in Europe. Deaths rate are still growing in the worse affected countries but but less rapidly. 

Vietnam stopped their lockdown last Saturday. Many non essential businesses aren't allowed to open yet but people may go out normally. Quite a few hungry ladyboys have come out for more than a week what made me very busy to pin as many as I could in my address book. 

 

A new study is likely to change the deal from today
No Bullshit like chloroquine this time. A study conducted in the Paris hospitals organization found that a medication was efficient to significantly reduce the number of patients brought to intensive cares. This is the "first comparative test by lot" which "demonstrates a clinical benefit" of this treatment in Covid patients suffering from severe infection, said doctors who organized the operation.
Usually used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, this medication works by blocking the receptor for a protein in the immune system that plays an important role in the inflammatory process. Some patients with Covid-19 experience a sudden worsening of their condition after several days, causing acute respiratory distress. A phenomenon probably linked to an excessive immune reaction of the organism.
The medication was tested on samples of the 5 to 10 % of patients among those who are most likely to be placed on artificial respiration or to die.
The medication is an the immunomodulatory drug used to cure rheumatoid arthritis (tocilizumab). The APHP (Paris hospitals) hasn't published the study yet but results were communicated to the Authority and the WHO.

Although this won't stop Covid-19, it's a major change for every country still struggling against the disease. In the future, the rate of deaths is likely to be reduced sharply. Hopefully more studies results will be issued regarding other tested treatments in the next few weeks. 

 

[seven]

1 hour ago, P&G said:

Curves start flattening in Europe. Deaths rate are still growing in the worse affected countries but but less rapidly. 

Yes, we're getting there. We started to test workers in health care now so we'll see numbers of infected rise, but hopefully not diseased.

Good to read someone  optimistic. The doom and gloom fear mongering is making more people sick than necessary.

An interesting observation is neighbouring countries Belgium and Holland. While Belgium do the totalitarian lockdown and basically shoot offenders, Holland is doing the laissez-faire approach like ours, and Belgiums numbers (registered)  are the worst in the world per capita.

Regarding the study. We had reports of people with none or very mild symptoms just collapse and stop breathing, later tested positive to covid-19, and its suspected like you say, the immune system is attacking itself. Scary shit.

[rxpharm]

5 hours ago, seven said:

Yes, we're getting there. We started to test workers in health care now so we'll see numbers of infected rise, but hopefully not diseased.

Good to read someone  optimistic. The doom and gloom fear mongering is making more people sick than necessary.

An interesting observation is neighbouring countries Belgium and Holland. While Belgium do the totalitarian lockdown and basically shoot offenders, Holland is doing the laissez-faire approach like ours, and Belgiums numbers (registered)  are the worst in the world per capita.

Regarding the study. We had reports of people with none or very mild symptoms just collapse and stop breathing, later tested positive to covid-19, and its suspected like you say, the immune system is attacking itself. Scary shit.

Good news that your hospitals have not been overloaded!  I have a question for you - while Sweden did not impose a lockdown it did recommend that citizens and residents practice social distancing, etc. So it was voluntary. What percentage of Swedes and residents do you think actually did what the government asked?  I think it had to be a good percentage as the % and rates in Sweden did not get as bad Italy, Spain etc, but were higher than nearby countries.   I am not so sure that such a high percentage of people would comply in other countries.

Also - is there a shortage of COVID-19 tests? It would have been a good idea to test the health care workers and long term care workers all along, rather than waiting until now. That may have helped prevent the increased number of elderly deaths in the long term care centers from happening.

 

[seven]

18 hours ago, rxpharm said:

What percentage of Swedes and residents do you think actually did what the government asked? 

I'd say most take their responsibility, but like in any society there are idiots. Immortal teenagers behave like the 70+ did before it dawned on them they are in fact a risk group. They had to shut 5 restaurants/nightclubs/bars who ignored the recommendations last weekend. No loss if you ask me , as they weren't eligible for Guide Michelin. These places make Marine in Patts look like a posh HiSo place. Overall I think people are respecting the authorities recommendations and doing the best they can though.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sweden-shutting-down-bars-restaurants-150517251.html

18 hours ago, rxpharm said:

Also - is there a shortage of COVID-19 tests? It would have been a good idea to test the health care workers and long term care workers all along, rather than waiting until now.

We concentrated on saving lives at first with our resources. The testing was secondary in the beginning of the pandemic. I know they started test health care workers recently for immunity. Testing if people have covid-19 isn't a priority (hence our strategy) but of course those tests are being done too on people admitted to hospital care.

Stockholm where I live have 50% of the cases and our healthcare was on its knees, but it seems we're managing. The ICU units are almost full and the problem now will be the post rehab care. 2 weeks in IC with tubes down your throat is no picnic, young or old.

We are at least 2 weeks ahead of our neighbours in the pandemic and tonight the news said Finland with its Russian border should worry as they've probably only seen the beginning yet.

 

[duke007]

[seven]

On 4/28/2020 at 8:18 AM, rxpharm said:

Also - is there a shortage of COVID-19 tests?

Swedish official Anders Tegnell says 'herd immunity' in Sweden might be a few weeks away

Anders Tegnell, chief epidemiologist at Sweden’s Public Health Agency – the nation's top infectious disease official and architect of Sweden's coronavirus response –denied that "herd immunity" formed the central thrust of Sweden's containment plan, in an interview with USA TODAY. Yet he also said the country may be starting to see the impact of "herd immunity."

Tegnell: We are doing two major investigations. We may have those results this week or a bit later in May. We know from modeling and some data we have already – these data are a little uncertain – that we probably had a transmission peak in Stockholm a couple of weeks ago, which means that we are probably hitting the peak of infections right about now. We think that up to 25% of people in Stockholm have been exposed to coronavirus and are possibly immune. A recent survey from one of our hospitals in Stockholm found that 27% of staff there are immune. We think that most of those are immune from transmission in society, not the workplace. We could reach herd immunity in Stockholm within a matter of weeks. 

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/04/28/coronavirus-covid-19-sweden-anders-tegnell-herd-immunity/3031536001/