International COVID-19 Megathread

[Middle-aged Europe]

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.

[FrancoAgo]

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

afaik the peak in mid April would be in the heavy hit area in north Italy, in late May early June would have peaked in all Italy.

we back to normal in July 2022, if vaccine will discovered, or if not, a "normal" like in the 60s with measles

[Antonio the Sixth]

The numbers are bad in Italy, but not catastrophically so. We've gone from 5000 new cases per day earlier to 6000 or so today and yesterday. Some of it might be due to ramped-up testing as well. But yeah, this isn't the slowdown we were hoping for, and if it continues I really don't know what else we can do.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

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.

I want to add in Alsace Lorraine to a German avatar.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Jakarta Post is reporting that Chinese workers are going back to work in manufacturing only to discover mass layoffs due to depleted demand.

https://www.thejakartapost.com/amp/news/2020/03/26/chinas-factories-reopen-only-to-fire-workers-as-virus-shreds-global-trade.html

[Meclazine for Israel]

Holy ship!

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/coronavirus/coronavirus-crisis-more-than-70-cruise-passengers-feared-to-have-covid-19-on-artania-in-fremantle-ng-b881502632z

Off my coast at the moment. The Government did not want the ship to dock, and the Premier said no.

But once they fell sick, we had no choice to start treating them.

[Velasco]

The numbers are bad in Italy, but not catastrophically so. We've gone from 5000 new cases per day earlier to 6000 or so today and yesterday. Some of it might be due to ramped-up testing as well. But yeah, this isn't the slowdown we were hoping for, and if it continues I really don't know what else we can do.

With regard to Spain, the Health Emergencies coordinator Fernando Simón has been saying there are a few signals suggesting a slowdown, as well he hopes the peak is reached this weekend. However, he says that cautiously and it sounds like wishful thinking. Given that Spain is trailing Italy by a week or so, I don't expect an improvement before April 11 (the state of alarm extension expires on this date)

[Tender Branson]

Intensive Care Unit beds in selected OECD countries per capita:

https://twitter.com/krone_at/status/1243787403850121221

The high number of beds in Austria and Germany has often been criticized and there were political calls to reduce it, but now our welfare states are turning out to help us ...

[Tender Branson]

In other news, cases in Austria have risen to 7.697 by 8am today - but with an 8% increase since 8am yesterday, this is the lowest percentage-wise increase since the virus came to the country.

Deaths: 68 (+10 since yesterday 8am).

[Tender Branson]

Meanwhile, #IschglGate is becoming more and more troubling.

Tyrol Governor Platter (ÖVP) has „banned“ the „nasty“ and investigative German ZDF from his press conference today, allowing only „Tyrol“ media.

[President Johnson]

Germany has hit 50,000 cases now. Still remarkable we have just over 300 deaths. Italy is a tragedy beyond any words.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Possible explanation for diverging death rates: Number of ICUs per 100,000 inhabitants (graphic from Austrian Krone newspaper):



Italy and Spain are screwed, but so are possibly UK and Ireland.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

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.

[Mike88]

Possible explanation for diverging death rates: Number of ICUs per 100,000 inhabitants (graphic from Austrian Krone newspaper):



Italy and Spain are screwed, but so are possibly UK and Ireland.

The numbers differ a bit from the data in this article: https://www.politico.eu/article/charting-europes-capacity-to-deal-with-the-coronavirus-crisis/

In this data, Germany has the highest rate of ICU beds, 29.2, and Portugal has the lowest, 4.2. Spain has 9.7, Italy 12.5, UK 6.6, Ireland 6.5.

[Tender Branson]

Here's another chart:

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

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.

[parochial boy]

Ha, surprising how mediocre Switzerland is on both the hospital beds and intensive care beds, despite having, by some distance, the most expensive healthcare system in Europe.

Maybe the private insurance model isn't all it's cracked up to be?

[Tender Branson]

Austria (daily 3pm update):

7.995 cases (+596, +8.1%)

68 dead (+10)

The 8.1% increase in cases is the lowest ever and the 596 increase in absolute cases the lowest in 6 days.

[Tender Branson]

Quarantine, Day 9: Germany.

https://twitter.com/evaschulz/status/1243822670640287744

[CumbrianLefty]

260 deaths yesterday in the UK, this looks set to peak around Easter.

[Tender Branson]

Quarantine, Day 9: Austria.

https://twitter.com/stefansargnagel/status/1242536194090700805

[Lord Halifax]

BoJo has tested positive.

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

[CumbrianLefty]

Yes rather unfortunate, but Khan was saying much the same as many others (our PM included) back then.

[Silent Hunter]

Ha, surprising how mediocre Switzerland is on both the hospital beds and intensive care beds, despite having, by some distance, the most expensive healthcare system in Europe.

Maybe the private insurance model isn't all it's cracked up to be?

Intensive care isn't something that private companies tend to touch - there's no profit in it. In the UK, that stuff is sent to the NHS.