outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

Yerac, yea I found the same when I went to Sainsbury’s earlier - it is literally impossible to NEVER be in someone’s 2m space, tho most ppl were trying

yeah, I know it's not necessary to shower/wash clothes after being outside but it just makes me feel better since people seemed to be on my ass in the store. Plus, I just like showering.

here is the direct slack link xpost. https://join.slack.com/t/poxyfule/shared_invite/zt-csm19k0n-P_w0mauC3_sXUXus~TI0mw

the italy numbers are heartening - if they can achieve a reduction even with subpar efforts

Italy has been on lockdown for close to three weeks now so it would be horrifying if cases were still climbing. Even Spain is starting to level off IIRC?

As two or three people have pointed out, I've got to stop drawing inferences from weekend data. Canada's daily cases again took a big jump today.

Worldometers is at least recognizing their reporting of flawed data now:

Due to delayed and incomplete reporting from New York State, we had to make adjustments to yesterday's totals in order to maintain the correct attribution of historical figures. US figures for Sunday, March 29 could still be incomplete.

Instructions unclear, apocalypse imminent:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/30/astrophysicist-gets-magnets-stuck-up-nose-while-inventing-coronavirus-device

Obviously didn't read the customary warning on a box of magnets: "Keep out of the reach of small children and astrophysicists".

not having enough magnets saved him.

this is happening in Ireland

Update: #Coronavirus: HSE says it is working closely with pharma firms to ensure adequate stock of arthritis/lupus drugs - hydroxychloroquine and tocilizumab - that are now being used to treat critically ill #Covid19 patients - more here: https://t.co/YU7OEB0HGS via @IrishTimes pic.twitter.com/drYB7UUhUU

— Simon Carswell (@SiCarswell) March 30, 2020

so some doctors are using this drug to treat?

It’s doctors are using little a this drug, as a treat

Get it right

noted?

https://www.mediaite.com/news/johnson-johnson-to-begin-human-trials-of-coronavirus-vaccine-by-september-could-be-ready-in-early-2021/

yall, as noted above (i think in this thread): hydroxychloroquine is not a quack treatment, there is reason to believe it may be effective, and actual trials by reputable investigators are underway

one of the first people who was hollering about it in france is likely a quack for other reasons, so that kind of confused the argument

well, that and Trump was yelling about it, too

My cousin was diagnosed with lupus recently ☹️

it certainly would be nice to have a treatment option besides comfort care or ventilators.

There’s a lot of trials going on round the world. (Australia is trialing Chloroquine, plus test on retrovirals etc.)

I think they don’t like to shout too loud about them because these drugs are often toxic and people start hoarding them. Especially doctors it seems, stock of chloroquine are low in Australia because as soon as it became known that this was one possible avenue for a treatment doctors started self prescribing it.

re: vaccination, Israeli press has been reporting a company in Israel would have one ready for testing within weeks. This doesn't seem to be getting much attention.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-coronavirus-vaccine-israel-biological-research-institute-develope-1.8665074

not getting much attention because there have been numerous claims like that in the last few weeks. we're all rooting for all of them to work, and afaict none of them will be ready for the public until june

*june at the earliest

*hope i'm wrong

As soon as June? I thought it was early 2021 at best

I love vaccines but man I would not be enthusiastic about any vaccine offered in June 2020

D'OH

i thought akm's post was about a cheap, widely available test (like on the $1 level, with quick test turnaround times). now i see it's about a vaccine. sorry akm!

Yeah the problem with a vaccine is that you really need to test it properly by monitoring test subjects for a good few months or else you're potentially endangering the health of millions (billions?) of people.

Who's going to risk taking an experimental vaccine when the disease itself only kills 1% of people? Maybe if you're in a super high risk group, but even then would seem like a bit of a weird choice.

An experimental treatment when you're already in critical condition? That's a diffrerent matter.

yeah I'm not sure.

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-scientists-in-three-weeks-we-will-have-coronavirus-vaccine-619101

This indicates they should have it approved in 90 days. Is this a reputable news outlet? I dunno. Haaretz is though, more or less.

90 days would be exceedingly fast for any drug. It might be 90 days to first human trials. and even if they look at mass production in parallel there's still lot of work to get it out there. Even if it is safe you need to have people hang around for a while to understand how long immunity lasts for. There's no real way of accelerating that. Although if there is even immunity for a month or two that can be renewed with another dose that is at least something that would be very useful for people working in healthcare for a start.

And now WHO is doubling down on 'no masks if you aren't sick'

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/world/coronavirus-who-masks-recommendation-trnd/index.html

I suspect that is a calculation based on availability of masks, they will have modelled this - it is much worse if healthcare professionals and verifiably sick people don't have masks so where there is a mask shortage you don't want to be recommending well people use masks and deprive those who need them more - as we have seen time and time again the human animal is a selfish arsehole on average. You don't want the marginal benefit of fewer well people getting sick fro other asymptomatic people is symptomatic people are infecting many red people or doctors and nurses are getting knocked out.

When this is all done I'll be interested to see what the real effect of masks are. Societies than mask up on the regular and therefore have a lot of masks around and/or ramped up production and use quickly (Japan, Taiwan, Korea even China) seem to be doing better. Although Japan is seriously behind on testing so I assume has a big hidden problem.

My wife has been sewing masks and my doc recommended using a bandana. It definitely doesn't make anything worse so I would do it.

The WHO has been kind of fucking things up lately though it seems.

I see the CDC may start recommending face coverings for people going out in public.

Also, I seriously don't know what the deal is with what is going on with the WHO right now. I haven't been paying that much attention to them but they seem really problematic.

A number of coronavirus-related commercials (not PSAs) during Better Call Saul tonight, almost every one for a company promising to defer or help with payments due. Hope they were all as altruistic as they sounded.

Also, I seriously don't know what the deal is with what is going on with the WHO right now. I haven't been paying that much attention to them but they seem really problematic.

Not making a Keith Moon joke rn

newsreader pronounced it that way last week and now isnt the time but if we both make it through this im making it my business she never gets another job in this town

A possible peak into our dystopian future where we have to show our infections status passes.

https://www.techinasia.com/phones-qr-indispensable-beijing

The US government and various state governments within the US are not even close to being that organized for creating the kind of system described in that article. We US citizens shall be as free as sewer rats to scurry about and mingle as we please for quite a while yet.

the mask guidance has pissed me off because many of us repeated the "don't wear a mask unless you're sick" edict to our family and friends, and now health experts are realizing "hey if so many asymptomatic people are sick, why don't we have most people wear masks so they don't pass it on".

even my old friend, who is a doctor, shared a private article from one of the internal medical zines that her and other doctors subscribe to, and said "I was wrong in telling people not to wear masks".

I'm starting to feel less confident in sharing any advice now

My wife and I have isolated ourselves so effectively over the past five weeks that I am 98% certain we are not infected and are incapable of passing the virus along to others. But I would definitely wear a mask if I were advised that it would reduce my chances of becoming infected.

On NPR heard 2 segments of q and a with infectious disease experts, 1 national on All Things Considered and 1 local. They both still advising against wearing masks. National lady: it gives you a false sense of security, and many ppl do not wear them correctly. Wtf??? That's like saying hey don't wear a Kevlar vest in a war zone cause gives you false sense of security and you may put it on wrong. Local guy said don't wear them cause may cause those who truly need them to not have access. Which obv at least makes sense.

gives you a false sense of security

I'd say my powerful sense of insecurity is sufficiently strong to override any possible false sense of security that might arise from wearing a mask.

Asymptotic transmission. One wears a mask to be courteous/careful/polite to, and for others.

The presentation of mask wearers as paranoid nutters will soon end. In its place, will be an understanding that those who are wearing masks are trying in their way to not spread COVID-19, and despite social derision are small heroes of the current situation.

I still have 2 flat-pack (and unfitted) N95s (others given to more vulnerable in my circle). For the purpose of limiting aerosols transmission to others, a bandana folded over a piece of paper towel seems almost as useful.

And honestly, I'd look way better with a bandana mask than the white fish fin affixed to my face at the market.

But... hospitals and doctors are still desperately short on masks? Maybe this'll change within the next two weeks but it still looks pretty grim out there

holding out for the Banksy mask

You can't provide them with N95s, now. They're all competing for a limited supply, due to terrible communication from top levels, and guidance on sterilization etc. There were nurses going through 50 masks a shift until recently, endangering themselves with every change, just because their organizations weren't setting up COVID-19 wards and floors.

You can reduce the chance that you'll be an asymptomatic transmitter to people at the market or on transit. A bandana with a paper towel tossed in might not benefit a nurse much, but it can prevent you from exhaling a bronchial aerosol to others.

Masks are for the benefit of others.

You read some wild shit on this forum

Each member of my family has an N95 mask. We bought them a few years ago for a trip to San Francisco during a time when it was all smokey from brush fires. Now I regret choosing not to wear my mask when I traveled a couple weeks ago because I was convinced that wearing a mask was actively harmful if you were healthy, which of course makes zero sense.

This is the kind of frustration I feel with the guidance we receive. I'm the type of person where whatever the official CDC line is, I try to take it literally rather than reading between the lines or making inferences, even if deep down it doesn't make much sense and sounds closer to ass covering than useful advice.