International COVID-19 Megathread

[Gass3268]

UK is encouraging young and healthy people to get it, under a herd immunity model?

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1238536850047995904?s=21

Is this really a good idea?

[DaWN]

UK is encouraging young and healthy people to get it, under a herd immunity model?

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1238536850047995904?s=21

Is this really a good idea?

No

[parochial boy]

Probably a little point worth being aware of. If you fall sick avoid ibuprofen, aspirin and other anti-inflammatories.

A number of younger people in France who have developed serious symptoms all seem to share the fact that they took ibuprofen to manage their fever in the early stages of the disease.

[Tintrlvr]

To the people here who doubt China's reports of reducing its new infections to just a few dozen a day -- how would you explain the nearly-equal success of countries like Singapore, Korea (despite Christian apocalyptic cult), and Japan to reduce their new infection rates as well, and with less draconian measures than China at that? With the exception of Korea, none of these countries have faced the exponential growth and spiking death rates seen in the southern European outbreak.

Japan is having "success" for the same reasons the US is reporting dramatically lower numbers than other countries...

I don't know. You can't hide hospitalizations and deaths, at least not in a democracy with a free press. Japan is probably understating cases due to a lack of testing, but not by the huge margins that this seems to imply.

I think a big part of it is the generally less contact-oriented culture in east Asia (bowing instead of shaking hands, no hugs or kisses with friends or acquaintances, etc.). And there is a greater social fear of disease and pandemics to begin with, so people started isolating almost immediately, people who were coughing immediately started wearing masks, people were already more thorough with hand-washing, etc.

[CumbrianLefty]

UK is encouraging young and healthy people to get it, under a herd immunity model?

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1238536850047995904?s=21

Is this really a good idea?

The idea that this infection can be "targeted" in such a way is pure pie in the sky, and frankly smells of Cummingsite "edgelord" social experimenting. Hopefully the grown ups will bin all this nonsense soon.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Japan is probably understating cases due to a lack of testing, but not by the huge margins that this seems to imply.

Unlike political discussion, you cannot just make up wild stories about medically reported infections and deaths from Corona-virus in Japan.

Japan has extremely robust medical treatment and reporting. Their numbers are legit.

[CumbrianLefty]

21 deaths in the UK now - that number has doubled in the past few days.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Belgium advises not to travel to foreign countries anymore.

[Tender Branson]

Just did some shopping.

Everything very normal, the shelves are full and only a few people in there - but still a lot of tourists around.

Tomorrow, all ski resorts in Austria will close early and hotels are also closing, which means most tourists are gone by next week.

This is terrible, because about 20% of Austria's GDP is tourism-related.

[Tender Branson]

Something I find interesting:

Italy borders 3 Austrian states (Tyrol, Salzburg and Carinthia).

But while Tyrol and Carinthia have long borders with Italy and several road crossings, Salzburg only has a mountain border that is not really accessible unless you are a professional skier at 3000 meters.

Yet Tyrol has the most infections so far with 250, while Carinthia has the lowest with 5.

[Helsinkian]

The official number of cases in Finland is a little over 200 currently, but the statistics will soon lose credibility, as testing will be prioritized to health-care workers and people in risk groups. Young people outside of risk groups who feel sick but don't develop serious symptoms will be told to stay home, but they will never be tested and thus will never know for certain if they had the virus.

At least for the moment the government has not ordered the closing of schools, so they might be following a similar strategy as the UK, but they are not outright saying so.

My local supermarket was fully stocked in everything except toilet paper which had been hoarded -- despite the fact that Finland is a major producer of toilet paper and is extremely unlikely to run out.

[President Johnson]

Wow, according to Tagesschau, Italy now over 21,000 cases. For the first time in weeks, there are also more current than recovered cases (75k versus 72k).

Many German cities have now prohibited any kind of events. Nightclubs, operas, cinemas etc. are closed per order by local authorities. Visits in hospitals and senior's homes are restricted as well. Restaurants remain open so far.

[Mike88]

Wow, according to Tagesschau, Italy now over 21,000 cases. For the first time in weeks, there are also more current than recovered cases (75k versus 72k).

Many German cities have now prohibited any kind of events. Nightclubs, operas, cinemas etc. are closed per order by local authorities. Visits in hospitals and senior's homes are restricted as well. Restaurants remain open so far.

Yes, Italy has now 21,157 cases (17,750 active). However, the number of recovered patients is just a bit higher than the number of active cases: 74,262 vs 74,219.

[President Johnson]

Wow, according to Tagesschau, Italy now over 21,000 cases. For the first time in weeks, there are also more current than recovered cases (75k versus 72k).

Many German cities have now prohibited any kind of events. Nightclubs, operas, cinemas etc. are closed per order by local authorities. Visits in hospitals and senior's homes are restricted as well. Restaurants remain open so far.

Yes, Italy has now 21,157 cases (17,750 active). However, the number of recovered patients is just a bit higher than the number of active cases: 74,262 vs 74,219.

Not all sources give the exact number at the same time. I'm looking at this map from German Tagesschau.

[Mike88]

Wow, according to Tagesschau, Italy now over 21,000 cases. For the first time in weeks, there are also more current than recovered cases (75k versus 72k).

Many German cities have now prohibited any kind of events. Nightclubs, operas, cinemas etc. are closed per order by local authorities. Visits in hospitals and senior's homes are restricted as well. Restaurants remain open so far.

Yes, Italy has now 21,157 cases (17,750 active). However, the number of recovered patients is just a bit higher than the number of active cases: 74,262 vs 74,219.

Not all sources give the exact number at the same time. I'm looking at this map from German Tagesschau.

Right. I'm following this one: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

It seems really good and has statistics for the major countries affected.

[parochial boy]

Lots of countries aren't really reporting recoveries. Eg, both those sources show Switzerland as having 4 recoveries, but Zurich's own website is counting 11 recoveries in the canton alone. Most other cantons and the confederation aren't releasing any numbers on recoveries at all. So obviously you are going to be overstating the number of active cases, potentially by a lot, when you don't really have any statistics on recoveries to go by.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Probably a little point worth being aware of. If you fall sick avoid ibuprofen, aspirin and other anti-inflammatories.

The correct drug to take if you have a fever (amongst other things it brings down temperatures etc; it's really very useful) is paracetamol. Correct dose for an adult would be two tablets (no more!) every four hours (minimum gap).

[Middle-aged Europe]

In Berlin, kindergartens, schools, universities, theatres, operas, museums, swimming pools, pubs, and clubs have either been completely shut down or will be until Tuesday.

Berlin has just extended these shutdowns to cinemas, all kinds of sports venues including gyms, and bordellos (*lol*). They're also effective immediately and not on Tuesday.

Public and non-public assemblies with more than 50 attendees are also banned.

Exempted are only restaurants, snack bars, and non-smoking cafés because they're providing food to the population. However, there are legal requirements regarding the minimum distance between tables.

[Velasco]

Probably a little point worth being aware of. If you fall sick avoid ibuprofen, aspirin and other anti-inflammatories.

The correct drug to take if you have a fever (amongst other things it brings down temperatures etc; it's really very useful) is paracetamol. Correct dose for an adult would be two tablets (no more!) every four hours (minimum gap).

Exactly, paracetamol is the best remedy. I guess you mean two tablets of 500 mg, because the dose for adults is 1 gram or 1000 mg.

Last night I took a 1000 mg tablet because I felt a bit sick. Discomfort disappeared when I woke up, so today I took no more. Hopefully I'm free of coronavirus, but I'm isolated at home and getting prepared for several weeks of minimal contact with the outside world (I have to buy food and maybe go to the chemist) and no social interaction (except my immediate family). Guess I'll go out sometime to take a walk alone, avoiding contact with other humans, because otherwise I could go mad. We are in State of Alarm, you know

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Day 10 since the the first case was established in Poland:

103 confirmed cases
521 suspected cases
3 deaths
13 recoveries

As far as I know, the dead ones were, predictably, older people with additional illnesses.

Oh, and we are on the right track for toilet paper to become more valuable than gold

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Seen at a Vienna supermarket:

Next winner of the Darwin Award?

[Tender Branson]

The Ibuprofen story has been debunked as fake news:

No evidence of negative effects of medication

There is no scientific evidence of a negative impact from taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or ACE inhibitors or sartans in Covid-19 patients or those infected. This was explained on Saturday evening by MedUni Vienna Rector Markus Müller and pharmacologist Michael Freissmuth to APA.

The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen and the so-called ACE inhibitors or angiotesin II receptor blockers (sartans) were mentioned in this context. "There is nothing there. The thing with ibuprofen is the problem of a subgroup analysis," said Müller. It is clear that people who get headache or flu-like symptoms increasingly resorted to such nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Constructing a connection with Covid-19 from this is wrong.

"When it comes to blood pressure medication, it is impossible to say whether it has any effect on Covid-19," said Freissmuth. There are both opinions that they can protect and the opposite. There was no scientific data at all.

The European Cardiology Society (ESC) has already given a clear statement: "These speculations about the safety of ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers have no solid scientific basis."

Googletranslated from derstandard.at

[Velasco]

Pedro Sánchez is speaking to the country right now, after a long and stormy cabinet meeting. He is emphasizing the need for unity of action and coordination between administrations, as well for solidarity and social discipline...

[Velasco]

We can go out only to work, buy food, doctor, chemist... we can't go to the beach, to have a drink or a coffee, not even to take a walk

Spain, 2020

[Tender Branson]

We can go out only to work, buy food, doctor, chemist... we can't go to the beach, to have a drink or a coffee, not even to take a walk

Spain, 2020

That’s also what Kurz advised Austrians to do, just a few minutes ago during an interview ...

„There are only 3 major reasons to leave the house right now: to buy food/important medicine, go to work that cannot be done at home, or to volunteer and show solidarity with those who cannot help/provide for themselves.“

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/sebastian-kurz-es-gibt-nur-drei-gruende-hinauszugehen/400781522