International COVID-19 Megathread

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692 confirmed cases

749 now.

Why the hell am I posting this anyway. You can use the wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Poland

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OK, we're entering somewhat of a lockdown now (starting today and lasting until April 11. The government wants us all to get healthy in time for the presidential election )

The drill is basically:

1. You're not supposed to go out except for work, groceries, medical reasons or taking your dog out to take a dump. You can still go visit a family member "to help out" (like who's going to be checking it?)

2. No more than 2 people can be together outside... that should've been done a long time ago, when idiots were hanging out en masse on the Warsaw boulevard for example.

3. Only sitting places in the mass transit, at least one space away... like who's going to be checking it anyway? Not a driver for sure. And what about the people who need to get to work and simply has take that bus/sub/tram?

4. No more than 5 people can partake in the mass, priest and his helpers not counted.

5. Fine up to 5000 zlotys for violating the restrictions.


Essentially some of the restrictions will be difficult to enforce (because of either ambiguities or due to no personell available), and many come too late.

I hate to say this, but just declare the state of emergency, which would clarify the situation once and for all... except that would delay the election, so it's not going to happen.

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Also, our already dysfunctional public health system is now overstretched, leaving many people either suspected of having the virus or having completely unrelated, but no less serious (sometimes even more) conditions with inadequate to no help, especially if they're confined at homes. A close friend of me is in this very situation.

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Whilst the NSW Government were hassling people at Bondi Beach having a swim on a hot day, they were not checking the passengers getting off a Cruise Ship in the city.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/ruby-princess-coronavirus-someone-needs-to-take-responsibility/12086834

140 Corona Virus positive cases were set free into society.

Perth now has three Cruise Ship off our coast not allowed to dock.

Some of the ships have confirmed cases on board.

...

You've got to be s**ting me.

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I just read an article on the border controls Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have established to keep people (tourists) from other German states out. Weird stuff. The Balkanization of Germany has begun.

Freistaat Bayern über alles,
Über alles in der Land!

Abolish stupid post-1949 boundaries and return to the sane pre-1933 borders.

I want my Freistaat Braunschweig avatar.

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I'm not worried, since the government expect us all to get healthy in time for the May presidential election

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From what I've been hearing, we're expected to have a peak mid-April, but I can't cite a source.

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The parliament, in the middle of the night (the government's preferred way of passing more controversial laws), voted to amend the electoral code to allow people above 60 and those in the quarantine to vote via mail. PiS is absolutely determined to have the election in May proceeding, as they are aware that with the postponement, as the recession and fatigue from the pandemic fully hits the people in meantime, they're likely to lose. All that while even f-king Putin of all people caving in to the reality.

As a way of knowing, the presidential election is a bid deal, even though we have a parliamentary government. The President doesn't have actual executive powers (other than on paper), but (with exceptions for the budget and constitutional changes) can veto legislations, and it tkes 3/5 of MPs to override it, and that's the number PiS can't muster.

There's also a controversy arising that the government may not be reporting all confirmed deaths from the disease. Currently there are 18 deaths officially reported.

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I just read an article on the border controls Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have established to keep people (tourists) from other German states out. Weird stuff. The Balkanization of Germany has begun.

Freistaat Bayern über alles,
Über alles in der Land!

Actually one thing I learned from this crisis - and this is obviously the first state of emergency for me - is that most emergency powers rest with the states in Germany. The federal government can't do sh**t except to "coordinate" and "recommend", rendering it seemingly more powerless than in "peacetime". Angela Merkel's current role is somewhat reminiscent of that of the President of the European Commission or the President of the European Council, just at the federal level of Germany.

Hence the new inter-state border patrols in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-V., but also the sixteen different movement, assembly, and contact restrictions in place which follow loose guidelines of a "federal-state agreement".

Of course, one effect could be that this going to change through some constitutional reforms in the post-Corona aftermath.  There have already been propositions made to this effect.

It's interesting how the idea for a postwar reconstruction of Germany came to haunt it now in such times. The idea was, obviously, to give individual states as much powers as possible, especially in terms of security, so there would be no chance for a repeat of the infamous Gleichschaltung.

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Confirmed: 1638
Suspected: 1719
Recovered: 20
Dead: 21

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Belarussian Lukashenko still in denial about coronavirus. Now he is saying that he "cannot see It here"

I can't see "it" either. I literally can't.

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Dead: 21

Apparently someone came back from the dead, because now the figure is 20.

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Austrians need to wear masks when grocery shopping, starting Wednesday.

Does it mean you guys have no problems with obtaining them?

Asking cuz we sure have.

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Austrians need to wear masks when grocery shopping, starting Wednesday.

Does it mean you guys have no problems with obtaining them?

Asking cuz we sure have.

Apparently, 10 million masks are coming via Malaysia tomorrow and will be distributed to every supermarket, where they will be handed out for „a small fee“ at the entrance.

I’m not interested in this, so I smuggled a few worker (dust) masks out of our company today ...

Article:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-austria/austria-to-make-basic-face-masks-compulsory-in-supermarkets-idUSKBN21H16A

And we still have to rely on makeshift stuff.

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Austrians need to wear masks when grocery shopping, starting Wednesday.

Does it mean you guys have no problems with obtaining them?

Asking cuz we sure have.

Apparently, 10 million masks are coming via Malaysia tomorrow and will be distributed to every supermarket, where they will be handed out for „a small fee“ at the entrance.

Just what I want. Some random dude handing out masks who's probably touched god knows how many hands (and coins?).

I'm pretty sure they would have to wear gloves or something.

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We have new restrictions in place:

- Only people above 65 can be out between 10.00 AM and 12.00 PM, and only for essentially business like buying groceries or medications.

- Only three people can be admitted to any store at one time (reasonable).

- People younger than 18 can only be outside if accompanied by an adult.

- You have to keep a distance of minimum two meters while outside, family or not.

- Hotels are to be closed down, which poses a problem with travellers who are stranded there when the borders were closed down and the lockdown began.


We currently have 2311 confirmed cases which, I'm afraid, may be higher, due to inadequate testing. 

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The government is still determined to hold the presidential election in May, as scheluded, despite the majority of public opinion favoring a postponement. The opposition considers boycott if this goes ahead. Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Ryszard Terlecki actually threatened mayors who would refuse to organize voting precincts with dismissal and being replaced by government-appointed commissioners.

On the other hand Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin (of Solidarna Polska, one of PiS' satelite parties) broke the ranks and publicly favors postponing the election. PiS is on a hot spot here, because if he were to get sacked over this, they would likely lose their slender majority, so it's going to be interesting.

It's a no-win situation for PiS. If they postpone, they stand a good chance of losing a postponed election, with anger at misshandling the pandemic and recession fully hitting the electorate. If they go ahead with this, the opposition boycotts (I sure as hell am not going to vote under such scenario), Duda may be reelected with ridiculously low turnout, resulting in a massive political backlash, especially if people are going to die in result of going to the polls.

Holding the presidency is really a big deal for PiS. President is a largely powerless office, but Duda is useful as a rubber stamp for their legislative agenda. A President from the opposition could virtually stall PiS' agenda via veto power, to override which they simply have no votes.

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The government is still determined to hold the presidential election in May, as scheluded, despite the majority of public opinion favoring a postponement. The opposition considers boycott if this goes ahead. Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Ryszard Terlecki actually threatened mayors who would refuse to organize voting precincts with dismissal and being replaced by government-appointed commissioners.

On the other hand Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin (of Solidarna Polska, one of PiS' satelite parties) broke the ranks and publicly favors postponing the election. PiS is on a hot spot here, because if he were to get sacked over this, they would likely lose their slender majority, so it's going to be interesting.

It's a no-win situation for PiS. If they postpone, they stand a good chance of losing a postponed election, with anger at misshandling the pandemic and recession fully hitting the electorate. If they go ahead with this, the opposition boycotts (I sure as hell am not going to vote under such scenario), Duda may be reelected with ridiculously low turnout, resulting in a massive political backlash, especially if people are going to die in result of going to the polls.

Holding the presidency is really a big deal for PiS. President is a largely powerless office, but Duda is useful as a rubber stamp for their legislative agenda. A President from the opposition could virtually stall PiS' agenda via veto power, to override which they simply have no votes.

What's the likelihood of it already having been decided that there'll be no election in May but that Duda wants to avoid the appearance of seeking to postpone the elections for fear of being called a "Putin" if he just came out right away & said "No elections right now"?

Well, Kaczyński's been essentially "absent" now, and some people think it's so he can reappear and overrule his stupid drones by declaring the election must be postponed because of "public good". As of Duda, he'll say what he's told to say.

Wouldn't be surprised if they actually want to go through with this, though. We shall see.

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Uh oh.

The government just relaxed the restrictions. First off, the hunting parties are exempted. PiS is well known for having a strong hunting lobby. At one point they even passed a law that allowed you to hunt in someone's private forrest, and said person not only couldn't complain, but also be physically present at the time. This particular law was rescinded since, but says a lot about their mindset. Second, you the mass can now be attended by up to 50 people because, you know, muh Easter.

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Oh, do I smell a disappearing majority?

Gowin received an ultimatum from PiS to adhere to the line (presidential election held as scheluded) or be sacked, which would inevitably mean the government losing its' slender majority. So far Gowin essentially said "bite me".

Naturally the opposition wouldn't be able to form a government on their own (no one is allying with the Confederacy, apart from other factors), and there's no interest on either side to dissolve the Sejm, so it would mean PiS running a minority government.

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Oh, do I smell a disappearing majority?

Gowin received an ultimatum from PiS to adhere to the line (presidential election held as scheluded) or be sacked, which would inevitably mean the government losing its' slender majority. So far Gowin essentially said "bite me".

Naturally the opposition wouldn't be able to form a government on their own (no one is allying with the Confederacy, apart from other factors), and there's no interest on either side to dissolve the Sejm, so it would mean PiS running a minority government.

What would that be like?

They would have to legislate on case-to-case basis, without the possibility of just steamrolling stuff through the Sejm in the middle of the night (nightime sessions are their favourite way of passing anything remotely controversial), seeking additional support from other parties, which for most stuff should be possible.

Unless you'll have a successfull vote of no confidence (something, as I mentioned, isn't likely during the pandemic), or Sejm votes to dissolve itself (again, very unlikely at the present time), the government stays in place, but with a limited ability to steamroll their legislative agenda.

The combined opposition can't put together a working majority, because even with PO, the Left and PSL somehow managing to settle their differences (something that was only barely accomplished for the purpose of organizing the Senate) still lacks votes, and including the Confederacy is impossible. Even a minority opposition-led government isn't feasible.

A notion of a "national government" to deal with the crisis isn't entertained by anybody, even jokingly, for PO and PiS forming one (even with the exclusion of other parties) would be like Schumer and McConnell somehow agreeing to share power and institute a joint agenda.

tl;dr: we're stuck with the current government, but there's now a possibility for some checks to its' power.

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Looks like the Ministry of Health may be deliberately lowering the death rate. We've been hearing that hospitals are reporting deaths from the virus, but the ministry is refusing to include them into official figures, claiming "these people died from other conditions". The official figure at this moment is 45 vs. 47 recoveries. With limited testing being done the number is likely higher anyway.

Reminds me of a sudden increase in deaths from heart attack in Russia

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Worldwide number of infections as crossed one million now (deaths and receovered included).

...with no end in sight... Dreadful is the only word for this.

No panicking in this thread.

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Possible breakthrough in the hunt for an anti-Covid drug:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trial-drug-covid-19-ubc-1.5519348

The team is led by an Austrian scientist at a Canadian university.

It would be most appropriate for an Austrian to save the world for a change.

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I suppouse copyright rules no longer apply when you post pictures of Austrian politicians wearing masks. Three times in a row today.