News Coronavirus Pandemic Information and Support Group

[Avro Arrow]

FRIDAY

Toronto health officials: The number of cases are increasing. We really need you to continue with social distancing, and please do not host or participate in gatherings.

SATURDAY

Trinity Bellwoods Park-goers:

Toronto health officials:

 

[EmoBorg]

At this rate, the disease will be around for years. Air travel will be curtailed for a long time.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I agree.
I found a disheartening study last week: a hospital in Ratisbone had examined 36 nurses and doctors from a different hospital who had gotten infected and survived. Not even 1/4 of them had antibodies. Even if we take into consideration that the antibody test is famousely imprecise, an error rate of 66% is a bit too steep to believe. And even though 36 specimens are too small a group to count statistically, the study might show a certain trend at least.
That means: apparently not everyone who gets infected develops specific antibodies. And that in turn means: they can get re-infected any time. This will make a vaccination very difficult.

The study has been published in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology under the title: „Symptoms and immunoglobulin development in hospital staff exposed to a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak”
In the English one they speak of 31 specimens, in the German publication in the newspaper they say 36. I'd trust the latter as the first is only a translation ad hence prone to typos.

 

[Owain Taggart]

oronto health officials: The number of cases are increasing. We really need you to continue with social distancing, and please do not host or participate in gatherings.

SATURDAY

Trinity Bellwoods Park-goers:

Again, that's why I really wouldn't want to be in Toronto.

Overall, it's quite frustrating for those who are doing their due-diligence, only to have this happen and cases increasing. Heard today they've increased yet again.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Word of the day: "covidiots". Link

 

[cooleddie74]

Darwin is going to be a bitch.

 

[think]

 

[cooleddie74]

 

[Avro Arrow]

 

[fireproof78]

At this rate, the disease will be around for years. Air travel will be curtailed for a long time.

It probably will be around for a long time. What we are learning is that it isn't as deadly as was first projected (thankfully) and that we can learn new ways to manage it. We need facts and to study successful harm reduction.

I get that people are worried about cases spiking, but I am also worried about other costs, like the increase in suicides, due to continued shutdown.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

FRIDAY

Toronto health officials: The number of cases are increasing. We really need you to continue with social distancing, and please do not host or participate in gatherings.

SATURDAY

Trinity Bellwoods Park-goers:

Toronto health officials:

Amazing, seems the cretin and idiot gene is prevalent worldwide because here in the UK simlar stuff has been happening over the last week, just beggers belief.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

It probably will be around for a long time. What we are learning is that it isn't as deadly as was first projected (thankfully) and that we can learn new ways to manage it. We need facts and to study successful harm reduction.

I get that people are worried about cases spiking, but I am also worried about other costs, like the increase in suicides, due to continued shutdown.

Well, it is still pretty deadly, we've seen what it did to Italy, what it did to New York, but we, or rather the medical community, are finding ways to fight symptoms of the virus, which keeps down the cases ending in death.

And, yes, we learn about other contributing factors, but it is still not a good idea to go from overestimating the threat to underestimating it. It is far too easy to fall into the trap of the prevention paradox.

Just learned from German news that the infection of seven people has been linked to a restaurant in Lower Saxony, despite the place following the new guidelines. Fifty people that also were in that restaurant are now in home quarantine, awaiting further testing.

Little update, there have now been at least a dozen people infected in that restaurant, and questioning of the diners seems to indicate that the guidelines were not followed as previously stated by the restaurant.

 

[fireproof78]

Well, it is still pretty deadly, we've seen what it did to Italy, what it did to New York, but we, or rather the medical community, are finding ways to fight symptoms of the virus, which keeps down the cases ending in death.

And, yes, we learn about other contributing factors, but it is still not a good idea to go from overestimating the threat to underestimating it. It is far too easy to fall into the trap of the prevention paradox.

I agree, but I think right now there is a huge amount of overestimation, especially since I have concerns with going from "flattening the curve" to "can't open until there is a vaccine" and general risk aversion that seems more fear based. I'm not saying we shouldn't underestimate the threat, but I am worried about unintended consequences, and causing more harm.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I agree, but I think right now there is a huge amount of overestimation, especially since I have concerns with going from "flattening the curve" to "can't open until there is a vaccine" and general risk aversion that seems more fear based. I'm not saying we shouldn't underestimate the threat, but I am worried about unintended consequences, and causing more harm.

Well, I think it's human nature to want to have things go back to normal as soon as possible. People are anxious, and maybe even overly anxious. Summer is naturally inductive to encouraging large groups of people to be together. I think the fear is warranted, especially given that we're now starting to loosen the restrictions and seeing some increase in cases, because then it leads to the question of, "Well, what then?" We're currently living amid factors that are not under our control and doing our best to mitigate them. Those congregating in crowded beaches and parks are going to undo all that hard work. This is just something the whole world needs to be smart about. If it were up to me, I'd just close beaches and parks as that's only going to encourage the crowds, which imho sends the wrong message. The brain sees crowds, which then leads more to believe it's safe, which leads to more crowds. It's important that we don't get too lax given that we don't fully know how this virus operates.

 

[Delta Vega]

People congregating on beaches and crowded parks are simply just selfish bastards
The world is nowhere near ready for going back to normal
It's depressing

 

[fireproof78]

People are starved for social connection. They might be selfish but maybe it might prevent the suicide rate from going up.

I know, it's a freaking rock and a hard place. I agree we need to be smart about it, but there is a genuine human need that needs to be understood and try to meet.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

People congregating on beaches and crowded parks are simply just selfish bastards
The world is nowhere near ready for going back to normal
It's depressing

Can you imagine this generation having to deal with the life altering changes that some of the past generations went through, like those who went through 5 years of WWII, when this gen can't deal with a few months of lockdown inconvenience with their phones, tablets, food, gaming and the internet, which gives them the total sum of all human knowldgeat their finger tips......but all that just seems to be asking too much from them.

 

[Owain Taggart]

People are starved for social connection. They might be selfish but maybe it might prevent the suicide rate from going up.

I know, it's a freaking rock and a hard place. I agree we need to be smart about it, but there is a genuine human need that needs to be understood and try to meet.

Well, there are always video calls like Zoom & Skype. In fact, the pandemic has highlighted the need for mass-communication via video, which has brought about Google to introduce their own version of a meeting tool. The use of Zoom had also increased rapidly in a way the makers weren't expecting, uncovering some security holes that otherwise would have gone undetected, which they've gone and patched up since. I belong to a club which has started doing Zoom meetings, and we've decided to keep doing them over the summer, something we used to never do. It's also opened up the opportunity to have speakers from everywhere, not limited by travelling constraints. So, it definitely has its upsides.

I get it though, and I agree. It's in our human nature to want social connection. It's also the nature of being outside and feeling free. The problem though is when a lot of people have seen the restrictions lowered, and parks and beaches opened, they've gone in droves to these places. It wouldn't be so much a problem if they would follow the social distancing guidelines, but many clearly aren't as evidenced above. From what we've seen so far, I'd classify those as high-risk. And speaking of risk, here are two good articles that lay out activities via risk factors:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health...of-14-summer-activit?utm_source=pocket-newtab

https://www.vox.com/2020/5/22/21266756/coronavirus-pandemic-covid-risks-social-distancing-chart

 

[marillion]

Well, there are always video calls like Zoom & Skype. In fact, the pandemic has highlighted the need for mass-communication via video, which has brought about Google to introduce their own version of a meeting tool. The use of Zoom had also increased rapidly in a way the makers weren't expecting, uncovering some security holes that otherwise would have gone undetected, which they've gone and patched up since. I belong to a club which has started doing Zoom meetings, and we've decided to keep doing them over the summer, something we used to never do. It's also opened up the opportunity to have speakers from everywhere, not limited by travelling constraints. So, it definitely has its upsides.

I get it though, and I agree. It's in our human nature to want social connection. It's also the nature of being outside and feeling free. The problem though is when a lot of people have seen the restrictions lowered, and parks and beaches opened, they've gone in droves to these places. It wouldn't be so much a problem if they would follow the social distancing guidelines, but many clearly aren't as evidenced above. From what we've seen so far, I'd classify those as high-risk. And speaking of risk, here are two good articles that lay out activities via risk factors:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health...of-14-summer-activit?utm_source=pocket-newtab

https://www.vox.com/2020/5/22/21266756/coronavirus-pandemic-covid-risks-social-distancing-chart

Zoom and Skype can only go so far before people start to fatigue. For several weeks, we Zoomed with a big group of friends every Friday night for a couple of hours. Over the past three weeks, the numbers have dwindled and last week we hopped on, said hi and then bailed.

Conversely, we met with a couple a couple weeks ago and had a social distance picnic out on the lawn and we talked, ate and drank for two hours. And it was AMAZING. It was so refreshing to have actual face to face contact.

The idiots that were out enmasse this past weekend are going to ruin any kind of "getting back to normal" for the rest of us.

 

[bigdaddy]

FRIDAY

Toronto health officials: The number of cases are increasing. We really need you to continue with social distancing, and please do not host or participate in gatherings.

SATURDAY

Trinity Bellwoods Park-goers:

Toronto health officials:

Friend of mine posted a picture of a local park that was about 300 white people. No Asians, blacks, Islanders, no one by super white dumb fuckers.

Which looks like Toronto is about the same.